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Manic put on his favorite green and black striped tie. "How's this?"



"You need to take the safety pins out of your tie." Sonic said. "You want to look more respectful."



Manic started taking the pins out.



"Have you ever been in legal trouble before?" Sonic asked. "Other than the time Sleet framed you and when we were considered fugitives."



Manic slid his blazer on. "No, I think I'm losing my touch."



"Don't say anything like that in court." Sonic said, shaking his head. "You need to act like you're genuinely sorry for what you did, not sorry you got caught."



"Right." Manic replied. "For the record, I am genuinely sorry. I never stole from the poor before. That was my code."



"You really are acting on impulse now, huh?" Sonic asked.



Manic nodded. "So… do I really have to beat up the biggest guy in the yard?"



Sonic sighed exasperatedly. "Manic, I don't know where you got that idea, but that's absolutely insane." He replied. "Just try to stay out of trouble and don't curl into a ball unless you're trying to spin dash like I taught you."



"Why?" Manic asked.



The brothers walked to the door.



"Because I've heard that if you do that in prison during a fight, they'll pee on you to make you uncurl." Sonic said, with the most deadly serious face he could muster for that sentence.



Manic chuckled nervously. "No way. Right?"



Sonic groaned. "Oh, boy, you're in trouble."



Manic blocked the door. "I can't do this. Let me get a head start and hide out on the floating island."



Sonic grabbed Manic by his shoulders and moved him aside. "They'll find you and you'll be facing felony charges if you run." He said. "Oh, and you could get killed or something in any of Knuckles' traps. You can get through this if you do what I told you to do. Plea guilty and they might give you counseling instead."

Manic took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Okay. Let's get this over with."
**
Manic barely listened as the judge, some gray Mobian tenrec male, read off the charges. He wanted his lawyer to ask for a lighter sentence, but he was told it would be better if he didn't so he wouldn't look like a royal spoiled brat.



"How do you plead to these charges?" The judge asked.



"Guilty, your honor." Manic said. He bit his lip as he waited for what felt like hours for the judge to pronounce the sentence.



"Now, you are not above the law because you are royalty." The judge said. "I will go a little easier on you since you plead guilty and you seem to be genuinely remorseful. I sincerely hope you use your sentence to get the help you need. You are hereby sentenced to two years in the Mobotropolis prison. It could be less with good behavior."



Manic started hyperventilating as soon as he heard what his sentence was.



"Two years?" Manic thought. "How am I gonna do this? Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo are there. They'll kill me."



The officers stood him up and let him tell his mom and siblings goodbye.



Queen Aleena wiped her eyes while Sonia cried on Knuckles' shoulders.



Sonic hugged Manic. "It'll go by fast." He whispered.



"Not fast enough." Manic whispered back.
**
Manic felt like his insides were shaking as he was being led to his cell. He tried his best not to show any reaction, but he still had his spines raised out of instinct.



He felt slightly relieved that he didn't have a cellmate. As soon as he was locked in, he curled up and tried to take a nap.





Which was hard to do with loud voices and the cell doors opening and closing with a loud, metallic echo.



He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "Two years or less of this."



He turned over and finally noticed the toilet in the corner of the cell.



"At least I'm not in one of those cells with bars for doors." Manic thought.
**
Manic was finally led out of his cell again for dinner.



He followed the other prisoners and a couple of guards to the dirty, little cafeteria at the end of the hall.



He quietly waited in line occasionally looking to see what was being served.



"Some kind of stew and bread?" Manic thought. "Ugh. I hate stew. It looks like someone already digested it."



He'd never complain out loud though. He had worse food before, when he was still living on the streets and was in the resistance.



Manic finally got his tray of food and headed to his table.



"Ah, Manic." Robotnik said, sitting down beside the hedgehog.



Manic flinched.



"The black sheep of the royal family." Robotnik continued.



Now everyone was looking at Manic, whispering about him being a prince.



"They cut me out of everything." Manic said. "I'm not royalty now."



They really hadn't cut ties with him but, if the other prisoners knew that, he'd have someone trying to extort money out of him.



However, he didn't get much money from his family because they wanted him to learn his lesson, so he really was cut off financially to a point.



"You mean to tell me your dear mother wouldn't even so much as visit her baby boy?" Robotnik questioned.



Manic nodded. "Why would a queen come here?" He asked. "She gave me up, didn't she? Sonic and Sonia are the golden kids. I grew up in a sewer while they had good homes."



With that, Robotnik said nothing else to Manic.



Manic knew he wouldn't have to put up with Robotnik too much longer since the tyrant had been sentenced to roboticization, the final robotization before Queen Aleena will make it illegal and have all records and blueprints of the evil machine destroyed.



Manic thought that was fitting, though Queen Aleena didn't until she found out the full scope of Robotnik's crimes, which included releasing the Mobian flu strain that nearly killed Manic.



Sonic, who had to be at Robotnik's sentencing to learn how to handle his duties when he was crowned king of Mobius, told Manic that the youngest sibling's brush with death was what made Queen Aleena agree to carry out such a sentence.