FicWad

The sun was setting as soon as they left the forest and entered Mobodoon (or what was left of it).

Sonic motioned to an abandoned shack in the clearing. "There's a decent place to spend the night." He said. "Manic, can you start a fire while I scout ahead?"

"Yeah, I'll teach Sonia how to do it herself while I'm at it." Manic replied.

Sonic ran off in the direction of Mobotropolis.

Sonia and Manic headed inside the shack.
*
Sonic peered around a tree as he waited for a couple of echidna warriors to step away from a tent, somewhere between Mobodoon and Mobotropolis.

He caught a glimpse of a green glow coming from inside a guarded tent. "What is that?" He thought.

As soon as the guards stepped away to make their rounds, Sonic ran to the hut and slipped inside.

In the center of the hut was a giant glowing green gem on a pedestal.

Sonic stared at the gem. "The Master Emerald. It's real after all." He thought. He heard voices and slipped out the window.

He raced back to the shack.
*
Sonia sat by the fire, warming herself while Manic dug around in his bag.

"Do you have any family?" Sonia asked.

Manic shrugged. "I guess I did. I was taken as plunder when the echidnas raided my village when I was three years old." He replied. "I ran away when I was seven. I've been stealing to survive ever since."

"You poor thing." Sonia said.

Manic took some jerky out of his backpack and gave a piece to Sonia. "So this is personal for me."

Sonic ran in. "You won't believe this."

"I'm pretty open minded." Manic said. He took a bite out of his jerky.

"The echidnas have the Master emerald." Sonic said. "It's real after all. That thing is huge."

"So we crack it open and take the Chaos Emeralds out." Manic replied. "That's what powers it, right?"

"I'm not sure and it's not that easy." Sonic said. "Have you heard how powerful that thing is?"

"Yeah." Manic replied.

"Wait." Sonia said, turning to face Sonic. "Why didn't you take it while you were there? If it's real, then it's probably as powerful as the legend says it is. You could've gotten it back and defeated the echidnas single handedly."

Sonic slapped his hand over his face. "I heard some echidnas talking and I didn't even think of that." He replied. "I was so shocked to see that it was real, it never occurred to me to do that."

Sonia sighed. "So do we head back to camp or…?"

"No, they probably suspected someone was messing around." Sonic replied. "We'll have to give them some time to let their guard down, then head out."

Manic adjusted his bag and leaned against it, using it as a pillow. "How'd they get it again?"

"They killed the last owl guardian." Sonia said, taking her backpack off to use it as a pillow. "Supposedly, an orphaned hedgehog was going to be trained as the new guardian, but he disappeared when the guardian was killed. That's if he ever existed at all."

"I heard that before." Manic said. "I lived in this town before the raid, but I don't remember much of any of it."

"It was me; I was going to be the new guardian." Sonic said. "Longclaw told me to go to Knothole when the echidnas were approaching the palace. She didn't want me to get killed and I had only told a few others where I was from aside from you two. I didn't know the echidnas were there to take the emerald. I didn't even know the Master emerald was there until now. I thought it was a myth like everyone else until today."

"The Emerald palace is a little out of the way to Mobotropolis, but Sonic can get us to both places there fast enough." Sonia said, spreading her cloak over herself. "We'll see if there's any useful information there in the morning."
*
The hedgehogs arrived at the Emerald palace.

The old monastery was in surprisingly good shape to say it was raided several years ago.

"They only destroyed the original gate." Sonic said. "The old one was emerald green."

Manic looked at the dark red gate. "I thought they would tear it down."

"They may still need it." Sonic said. He got ready to spin dash. "Stand back."

Manic and Sonia stepped aside.

Sonic spin dashed the iron and wood gate, but it didn't come down. He slid down the door and sat there, holding his head in his hands.

Manic held his hand out to Sonic. "You okay?"

Sonic slowly got up, holding his head. "Ugh… so that didn't work." He said. "Any ideas on how we'll get in?"

Manic took his ear cuff off and flipped it open. He started picking the lock on the left side of the gate. He smirked as he pushed the door open.

"Why didn't you do that to start with?" Sonic asked.

"Because you said to stand back." Manic replied.

The three hedgehogs walked in the palace, looking around in awe at the old palace, which was surprisingly in good shape inside as far as the structure went.

The mosaic tile floor was only scratched and dirty.

The elaborate tapestries on the walls were ripped and/or burned.

The hedgehogs finally made it to the resident's quarters, which was on the second floor.

"Here's my old bedroom." Sonic said, pushing a door at the end of the hall open.

The hedgehogs walked into the room, which was only lit up by the skylight and the stained glass window.

"It wasn't much, but it was a nice place to live." Sonic said, motioning to his little bed.

Aside from the bed, there was no other furniture.

Something caught Manic's eyes and he walked over to the far wall.

"Look at this." Manic said.

Sonia and Sonic walked over.

A drawing of a younger Sonic and another little green hedgehog with two older hedgehogs (a teal male and and a light blue hedgehog) was on the wall.

"I know I drew it and I guess that was my family." Sonic said. "But I don't remember anything about it."

"Huh. The other little hedgehog in the picture looks like Manic." Sonia said.

Sonic took the necklace that was hanging on the wall beside the drawing.

Manic looked at Sonic. "My necklace. Why do you have it?"

"It was hanging up beside the picture." Sonic replied.

"Were you brothers?" Sonia asked.

"I don't remember having a brother." Sonic replied.

Manic furrowed his brow. "Me either." He said. "I remember running back to the cottage to find Ma. I lost my necklace, probably when an echidna warrior caught me. That's all."

"I only remember running to the Emerald palace, then going back to my village and finding the necklace." Sonic replied. "I don't remember why I headed back there."

"Do you know if there's any journals?" Sonia asked.

Sonic shrugged. "There's an archive room on the west wing." He replied. "Maybe there's something useful."

The three hedgehogs headed down the hallway.

Sonic handed the necklace to Manic.

Manic slid the necklace back on and looked at it. "I think Ma made this for me."

Manic lit some of the torches that were still in their sconces while Sonic started a fire in the fireplace of the archive room.
*
Sonia set a book on top of a stack of books. "So we have to outwit them to get the stupid thing back."

"I hear they're not very bright." Sonic said, leaning on the stack of books.

Manic flopped down on an old couch. "Why would someone make that stupid emerald?"

"It fell out of the sky or so the legend says." Sonic replied. "The echidnas found it and were trying to use it to take over the world. The owls were able to outwit them and seal the Master Emerald away in one of the rooms here in the monastery. I guess it was in the sacred room. I was never allowed in there and it was always bolted shut. I was told there were a few traps in the room."

"Now they have it back." Sonia said, picking up another book.

Manic scoffed. "Uh-huh. That thing fell out of the sky. Sure."

Sonic nodded in agreement.

Sonia looked up from the book. "So you can accept that it exists, but not that it just dropped out of the sky?"

"Something had to have dropped it, probably one of the owls." Manic replied. "It didn't just appear out of nowhere."

"You don't know that it didn't." Sonia said. "Also, how can you explain the way it works?"

"Simple. We just don't know how it works or how to duplicate it yet." Manic replied. "Like the pyramids or… any highly skilled trade, really. How did anyone figure out glassblowing the first time?"

Sonia huffed. "You're not as open minded as you say you are."

"I didn't say I was stupid or gullible either." Manic said, stretching out on the couch. He pulled his cloak over himself.

"Neither am I." Sonia replied. "I got more of an education than you ever did and I'll admit there may be some things that are beyond explanation."

Manic turned over, putting his back to Sonia and Sonic. "Credat Judaeus Apella, non ego."

Sonia and Sonic flinched back in surprise, then looked at each other.

"Was that Latin?" Sonic asked.

Sonia nodded. "To put it simply, he disagrees with me."

Sonic glanced at Manic. "He's full of surprises, huh?"

Sonia raised the book up again. "I kinda want to read some more of the books," She said. "I'll take the first guard shift. You can get some sleep."

Sonic yawned. "Fine with me." He stretched out on his cloak that he spread out by the fireplace and fell asleep.
*
Manic woke up for his guard shift and got off the couch. He walked over to Sonia.

Sonia handed Manic a book. "You're Sonic's little brother."

"What?" Manic asked.

"According to the palace records, you and Sonic were playing in the forest when the echidnas raided your village." Sonia replied. "He didn't realize how fast he was and thought you could keep up. Once he realized you weren't with him, he went back to rescue you. All he found was your necklace and they assumed you were killed since the echidnas usually didn't keep very young children as slaves."

Manic sighed. "I don't even remember him or most of my life before the raid."

Sonia yawned. "G'night, Manic." She said, walking over to the couch. She stretched herself our on the couch.

Manic sat down near Sonia and covered her up with his cloak. "G'night, Sonia."