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The hedgehogs finally made it to a little chateau beside a hot spring in a beautiful valley dotted with wildflowers.

"You two make camp, I'll scout the area." Sonic said, setting Sonia and Manic down inside the chateau.

"But Mother is scouting the area." Sonia replied.

"So I'll give her backup." Sonic said over his shoulder as he ran out the door.

Sonia got up. "I suppose I'll- what's wrong, Manic?"

Manic rested his arms on the balcony railing of the window ledge. He stared at the waterfall.

"Manic?" Sonia asked. She walked over to stand beside him. "What's wrong?"

Manic finally looked at her with an almost haunted look in his eyes. "I don't think I'll make it out of this alive."

Sonia hugged Manic. "Don't talk like that." She replied. "You'll be okay. You and Sonic are the toughest hedgehogs I've ever met."

Manic grinned weakly. "Thanks."

Sonia let Manic go and looked around. "If anything, Sonic should worry," She said. "Mother's right; he is too cocky. He's impulsive as well. You are pretty cautious, but I guess you've had reasons to be wary."

Manic leaned away from the railing. "You couldn't trust anyone while living on the streets."

"I'm so sorry, Manic." Sonia said.

"It's fine, Sonia." Manic replied. He walked back inside. "I better get a fire started."

Sonia followed Manic inside. "I can do that unless you want to get cleaned up."

"No, go ahead." Manic said.

Sonia got her extra set of clothes and headed to the hot spring.
*
Sonia smoothed out her new dress (that Aleena had given her in Tashistan) and brushed back her slightly damp spines and bangs.

She looked up and froze as she saw an echidna male, who looked to be close to her age, standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Sonia shrieked. She grabbed her sword.

The echidna held up his hands. "I just walked up. You were already dressed, I swear."

Sonia unsheathed her sword. "Like I'd believe that or care?" She asked. "You're an echidna."

"I don't like what my tribe is doing, miss." The echidna replied.

"So why don't you speak up?" Sonia questioned. "What's your name?"

The echidna lowered his hands. "I'm Knuckles." He replied. "I have, but I don't have any say. I'm still a warrior apprentice and my father's not the chief anyway."

Sonia put her sword back into the scabbard. "I'm Sonia."

Knuckles grinned weakly. "Nice to meet you."

"You seem nicer than the rest of the echidnas." Sonia said.

"Some of us really don't like what's going on." Knuckles replied.

Sonia sat down on a rock and motioned for Knuckles to sit down as well.

Knuckles sat down on another rock across from Sonia.

"So why don't you stand up to them?" Sonia asked.

"I'll dishonor my tribe, my family." Knuckles replied. He propped up his head with his fists. "That is a major offense in my culture. We are honor bound to uphold the echidna ways and respect our chief with undying loyalty."

"Do you really want to uphold the ways of warmongers?" Sonia asked. "Your tribe has destroyed so many lives. I have two friends who were personally affected by your tribe's brutality."

"It's not as easy as you seem to think it is." Knuckles replied. "Even if the punishment for rebellion was only banishment, I'd have nowhere to go. Echidnas are hated and not trusted everywhere."

"I would trust you and would do my best to help you." Sonia said, reaching out to hold his hand. "I'd admire you for taking a stand. Doing the right thing is never easy."

Knuckles slid his hands down. "I suppose that's true." He replied. He stood up. "I'll think about it, Sonia."

Knuckles took a few steps and picked a beautiful reddish-pink wildflower he saw on the ground. He turned around and handed it to Sonia.

"Thank you, it's beautiful." Sonia gushed.

Knuckles gave her a shy grin. "You're welcome." He said. He hurried away.

Sonia sighed as she watched Knuckles run away. "I don't believe he's as evil as they are."
*
Sonia walked into the chateau, holding the flower and smiling.

Manic was sitting by the fire, trying to cook something on a rotisserie spit. He looked up. "You got a secret admirer, Sonia?"

"Sorta." Sonia replied. She sat down across from Manic.

"Who is he?" Manic asked.

"Some guy named Knuckles." Sonia said, coughing over the name.

Manic furrowed his brow, then his eyes widened. "Him?! An echidna warrior in training?!"

"You know him?" Sonia asked.

"I was his family's slave." Manic replied. "That stupid kid hit me pretty hard in the crotch because I boiled water wrong once."

Sonia shook her head. "You're making that up."

"They make up reasons to torture servants when they're training apprentices, Sonia." Manic said, narrowing his eyes. "If you blinked funny, you'd catch a pretty brutal beating."

Sonia flipped the flower around in her hands. "He- he's not like that."

Manic looked at Sonia incredulously. "You're in love with one of the guys trying to kill us?"

Sonia slowly nodded.

"Oh, wait til Sonic hears this." Manic said, leaning back against his bag.

Sonia knelt down in front of Manic, clasping her hands. "Please, don't tell him." She begged. "I'll make sure all charges you have are wiped off the record."

Sonic raced in.

"He needs to know." Manic replied.

"Know what?" Sonic asked.

"Sonia's in love with an echidna warrior." Manic replied.

"For the love of all that's holy, Sonia!" Sonic yelled. "Why do you have such poor tastes in guys?"

Sonia crossed her arms. "Knuckles has been very nice to me."

"For what? Five minutes?" Sonic asked.

Sonia gave Sonic a sheepish grin.

Manic rolled his eyes. "Even if he's not trying to find some way to trap us, it would never work out." He said. "Fraternizing with the enemy is definitely not tolerated in echidna culture. The rest of his tribe will have you and him executed before you could blink."

Sonia bit her lip. "I… uh…."

"I've witnessed a few, Sonia." Manic continued. He shook his head. "Not a pretty sight. Still have nightmares about it."

Sonia gulped.

"Anyway, bro, what did you find?" Manic asked.

Sonic smirked and tossed Sonia and Manic two jewels that could barely fit in both of their hands.

"These are Chaos emeralds that Tails made." Sonic said. "They're pretty powerful, but not quite as powerful as the Master emerald."

"How are those fitting in the swords?" Manic asked.

"They're not for the sword. You'll see." Sonic replied. He sniffed the air. "I think whatever you're roasting is done, Manic."

Manic flinched and pulled the branch out of the fire. "Thanks." He said. "It's still edible."

Sonia motioned to their dinner. "What is that?"

"Roasted mice." Manic said.

"Eww!" Sonia cried.

Manic shook his head. "Then starve."

Sonic sat down and took one of the roasted mice off of the branch. "What did you expect him to do?" He asked. "To make prime rib or get caviar?"

"Fine, I'll try it." Sonia replied.

"Thanks, that's all I ask." Manic said. "Good thing you were never homeless. You'd be dead in a few days."

Sonia finally took a small bite. "It's … not as bad as I thought it would be."
*
Manic jolted awake, breathing heavily. He glanced around and realized that he was still in the chateau.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "It… it was just a nightmare." He whispered.

Manic looked to see if Sonic and Sonia were awake.

The moonlight barely lit up the room, but Manic could see Sonic kicking his legs in his sleep while Sonia was sleeping peacefully.

Manic took a sip of water from the waterskin, then laid back down. He curled into a ball, slightly afraid to go to sleep again because he could have another nightmare.

He had dreamed that the echidnas caught him. He woke up right before he could be executed for being a runaway and for trying to fight back.

He had those dreams occasionally for years, but this felt different to him.

He tried to convince himself that he was anxious until he finally fell asleep.
*
Sonic, Sonia, and Manic headed out to meet Tails bright and early that morning (and after Sonic ran to Tashistan to get their breakfast).

Manic looked at his Chaos Emerald. "So how does it work?"

Sonic sighed. "Don't ask." He replied. "I knew you were gonna say that, so I asked Tails."

"What did he say?" Manic asked.

"He bored me with a lot of stuff I didn't understand to save my life." Sonic replied. "A lot of technical stuff."

Manic nodded.

Sonic noticed Tails in the distance. He grabbed Sonia and Manic by their arms and rushed over to meet him.

"Ok, the echidnas have a new warrior." Tails said. "It's gotta be spawned from the Master Emerald because it glows green and sparks with electricity. He's called Knightshade and you'll have to take him down, Sonic. Sonia and Manic will fight the others. If anything goes wrong, Queen Aleena will aid you. She'll be watching through the portal mirror I set up near the battlefield."

The hedgehogs nodded.

"Use the Emeralds when I say to." Tails said. "Let's go."

Tails led the way to the echidna camp.

"So… Tails." Manic said, catching up to walk alongside him.

Tails shook Manic's hand. "Nice to meet you, Manic." He replied. "Sonic mentioned you. If you're like your brother, I'll bore you with the technical details."

Manic rolled his eyes upward.

"Oh, one thing." Tails said. "This should be a one, or maybe two at the most, usage. It made me a little sick when I tested the emeralds. I'm not sure what the long term effects of it are."

"Wonderful." Manic and Sonic muttered sarcastically.

"It'll change your fur, eye, and spine color when it starts working." Tails continued. "The effects only last about a day at the most. I'm not sure how it'll react around the Master Emerald. Your swords and armor shouldn't affect it, but another stronger emerald in the area may counteract it."

"Gotcha." Sonic said. "We'll defeat them before they even have a chance to find out if it will or not."

"We're still outnumbered." Tails replied. "Don't underestimate the situation or overestimate your abilities."

Manic slumped his shoulders. "I should've taken my chances back in Knothole." He muttered under his breath.

Sonia patted Manic's shoulder. "You'll be okay."

Manic looked over his shoulder and gave her a weak grin.
*
The hedgehogs and Tails arrived at the camp.

The echidnas gathered in the center of their camp with their new warrior: a large echidna in full armor that glowed green.

"Now." Tails said.

The hedgehogs took the emeralds out of their bags and held them.

Manic scoffed. "It's not working. I don't feel any different."

Sonic looked at Manic. "Why's your spines glowing silver then?"

Manic noticed that his armor was glowing greenish-black and had occasionally lightning-like streaks arcing off his body. His spines were silver and glowing.

Manic looked at Sonic and Sonia.

Sonic's entire body and armor had turned gold, his eyes slowly turning from green to red.

Sonia's fur turned slightly darker and sparkled. Her amber eyes were now sparkling dark purple. Her armor was a sparkling red/violet color.

Sonic smirked and charged at Knightshade.

Manic and Sonia charged into the battle.

Sonic and Knightshade sparred a bit while Manic and Sonia easily took on the other echidna soldiers.

A scarlet echidna warrior looked at another fellow warrior. "How are they doing that?"

"They have more emeralds." The maroon echidna warrior said. He whipped around, looking for someone. "Knuckles!"

Knuckles hurried over. "Yes, father?"

"Bring the Master Emerald." Knuckles' dad said. "It's supposed to shut down the lesser emeralds."

Knuckles noticed Sonia fighting a couple of echidnas. "But-"

"Do as I say." Knuckles' dad ordered.

Knuckles sighed. "Yes, father." He said. He ran back to the tent where the Master Emerald was kept. He picked up the Master Emerald. "Maybe I can get them to let her be a slave."