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Sonic walked around the burned tents. "No one." He said. "I guess it's on to Tashistan."

Manic picked up a burned doll. "Poor little girl." He said softly. "They never kept really little kids as slaves. I don't even know why they spared me. I was a three year old and a runt when they captured me."

Sonia put her hand on Manic's shoulder. "Hey, there's other little girls who need our help out there. We can't give up."

Manic nodded slowly. He set the doll down.

Sonic wiped his forehead. "Do we have any water?"

Manic held up a waterskin. "I found this. It's full of water." He said. "Enough to get us to Tashistan."

"In drought season?" Sonic asked.

Manic gave Sonic a blank stare. "You're faster than anyone on Mobius, you can get us out of Tashistan and Hamarapi faster than we can blink."

Sonic smirked. "So true."

The three hedgehogs took a drink of water before Sonic picked up Sonia and Manic and raced off again.
*
Sonic set Sonia and Manic down inside the town gate of Tashistan.

"Okay, I think you two can walk the rest of the way." Sonic said.

The three hedgehogs walked the city's massive marketplace, careful to keep from getting separated in the crowd.

Sonic glanced around at a few female Mobians, wearing veils, walking by. "Uh… Sonia? Is that a major custom here?"

"I don't know; maybe." Sonia replied.

Manic stared at a troupe of belly dancers walking by, particularly a dark green hedgehog. "Not with them."

Sonic looked over his shoulder and stopped walking. "Manic?"

Manic had stopped walking and had turned all the way around to watch the hedgehog belly dancer.

Sonia smacked Manic on the side of the head. "Snap out of it."

Manic looked at Sonia. "What?"

Sonia folded her arms. "We have a meeting to go to. We don't have time for you to watch her."

Manic sighed. "Fine."

Manic continued walking along with Sonic and Sonia, occasionally glancing over his shoulder.

Sonia spotted something in the distance and nodded. "This way."

Manic looked over his shoulder at the girl and stopped.

Sonic grabbed Manic's arm and turned him around to face him. "Look. You can do whatever you want once we defeat the echidnas. Now let's go."

"Fine; I'm sorry." Manic muttered.

Sonic and Manic noticed a cloaked figure disappear into a tent.

Sonic and Manic drew their swords and took a step toward the tent.

"That's just a poor servant, boys." Sonia said.

Sonic and Manic resheathed their swords.

A male lion walked out of the tent.

Sonic grinned. "Cyrus? What're you doing here?"

Cyrus shrugged. "I was sent here by King Acorn to smooth things over before he arrives to sign a peace treaty with the sultan." He said. "Though the town's pretty much wiped out."

"We'll need all the help we can get." Sonic replied. "The echidnas have the Master emerald."

Cyrus nodded. "It doesn't surprise me."

Sonic furrowed his brow. "What?"

"King Acorn, Tails, and my father have known that the Master Emerald wasn't a legend for about two weeks now." Cyrus said. "We haven't told anyone except you three and Queen Aleena, but a mine full of Chaos emeralds has been discovered in Mobu Pinchu."

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic gasped.

"The echidnas don't know about the mine yet." Cyrus replied. "Longclaw did because the guardians discovered it. She sent a coded message with Sonic that my father was finally able to translate."

"What did it say?" Sonic asked.

"The owls discovered the mine, which would be very difficult for anyone to find unless you can fly or are willing to climb the Mobian mountains." Cyrus replied. "The owls designed the Master Emerald and sealed seven of the most powerful Chaos emeralds they found inside the Master emerald. It was meant as a weapon against evil. Unfortunately, it was too heavy and they dropped it on the way to the Emerald palace. You know the rest of the story."

Manic gave Sonia a smug grin.

Sonia sighed.

"The ones we found in the mine aren't as powerful as the ones in the Master Emerald or the Master Emerald itself." Cyrus continued. "We've made these upgrades for your armor and weapons with the weaker chaos emeralds. It's better than not having any powered weapons at all."

Manic pointed at the small capsules. "These?"

"Yeah." Cyrus replied. "I'll install them."

The hedgehogs handed their swords to Cyrus.

Cyrus opened the hilts of their swords and dropped one chaos emerald capsule into each sword. He closed the hilts.

"Okay, turn around." Cyrus said.

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic turn around.

Cyrus opened a panel on the back of their armor and put one capsule into each hidden compartment of their armor.

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic turned around once that was done.

"Another thing." Cyrus said. "The Master Emerald has this unique ability."

"Oh, this sounds bad." Sonic replied.

"It has the ability to bring whatever you think into reality." Cyrus said. "There's been stories of strange creatures seen around Mobius."

"Strange creatures?" Sonia asked. "Any details?"

"I've heard one looks like a dragon." Cyrus replied. "That's all I know."

Sonic groaned. "Dragons, echidnas, the Master Emerald… what's next?"

"Don't say that." Manic said, giving Sonic a look. "It's tempting fate."

The hedgehogs and Cyrus flinched as the villagers screamed.

Sonic and Manic raced out and froze once they saw the reason the villagers were running and screaming.

A large, dark crimson and black dragon hovered over the street, roaring at the hedgehogs.

Manic eased back. "It's not landing." He said. "How are we supposed to slay it?"

Sonic shoved Manic out of the way as the dragon breathed a blast of fire at Manic.

Sonia caught up to them.

"It's an elemental dragon, Manic!"

"So?" Manic asked.

Sonia dodged a blast of fire. "Dirt will kill it!"

Manic scrambled to his feet and drew his sword. "Aim where I want the dirt to fly." He said under his breath. He struck the ground with his sword.

Larger (compared to the test run) chunks of earth flew out of the ground, slamming into the dragon.

The dragon shrieked as it quickly disintegrated.

Manic smirked as he put his sword back into the sheath.

The villagers cheered.

Sonic patted Manic on the back. "Great job."

The hedgehog belly dancer ran over and hugged Manic. "Thank you for saving our village."

Manic grinned from ear to ear. "You're welcome." He replied. "So…."

Sonic and Sonia stepped aside for a moment.

Sonia pulled a scroll out of her messenger bag.

"Where'd you get that?" Sonic asked.

"Cyrus." Sonia replied.

"So what does it say?" Sonic asked.

Sonia read the scroll. "We need to head to Hamarapi right away." She replied. "A mysterious creature was spotted by the royal pyramids. It seems to be a shapeshifter."

"A shape shifter?" Sonic asked. "Like that weird lizard from that old fairy tale?"

Sonia furrowed her brow, then nodded. "Ah, the legend of the Dragon Warrior." She replied. "Maybe; get Manic and let's go."

Sonic ran over to Manic.

Manic angled himself completely away from Sonic. "So Jade, I-"

Jade pointed at Sonic. "Uh, Manic, I think your brother wants to talk to you."

Manic slowly turned to face Sonic. "We have to go, don't we?"

"Sorry, little bro." Sonic said. "Another monster was spotted in Hamarapi."

Manic turned back to Jade and held her hands. "Sorry, Jade. I'll do my best to come back here once this is over with."

Jade hugged Manic. "Stay safe, Manic."

Manic let Jade go and turned around.

Sonic took Manic's arm and ran over to Sonia.