Stealing a Rose

Another uneasy night in Mobius. Another night of gaining rest after trying to defeat Robotnik’s plans to conquer the entire planet. The royal siblings wearily crawled into their makeshift beds in their ‘underground’ HQ, tired from destroying Swatbot after Swatbot. Sonic dreamed endlessly of a giant mountain of chilidogs, making him drool over his pillow. Sonia dreamed about reuniting with sweet mother, having an easy rest. Manic, unlike the other two, was less ‘dreaming’ and more ‘remembering’, for the visions he saw in his sleep were of past memories. He had not grown up with family, like Sonic, or with wealth, like Sonia, but fought for his life in the band of thieves he lived with. He loved his adoptive ‘father’ dearly, but often he longed for companionship growing up. His wish came true when he was so little, and this night he recalled fond memories of such a blissful time…

“Look, Manic! They’re selling roses in there!” a small hand pointed to a large window.
“Just like your name.” He replied, smiling. “But they’re not as pretty.”
She giggled. “You’re silly. But look at them…they’re really beautiful. Flowers like that get more rare every day…”
“That’s cuz Robotnik’s machines are killing plant life.”
She sighed sadly. “I wish there could be flowers everywhere like that…”
He looked to his pink companion, then to the store. He slid into the store, grabbed one of the stems, then ran out before the shopkeeper or his friend could notice. He handed the rose to her, smiling brightly.
“Oh! Manic! Thank you! How did you pay for it?”
“Four finger discount.”
“Maniiiiiic.” She tsked, but giggled anyway. “Thanks. You’re sweet.”
“Anything for you, Amy…”
“Aw, Manic…”

“Manic…”

“MAAAAAAAAAANIC!”   

A screech by a voice that was definitly NOT his friend from so long ago caused Manic’s eyes to bolt open and sit up at once. “WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?” he yelped, looking around and expecting danger. Instead he spotted his brother glaring him down, impatiently tapping one of his fast feet.
“You overslept! How are we supposed to kick Bot Butt when you’re off in la la land?” He snapped, crossing arms.
Manic rolled his eyes, slipping out of bed. “Sorry.” He muttered, heading to the kitchen to eat. Sonic followed, and both sat at a small table. Manic picked at some microwaved waffles, while Sonic swallowed down chilidogs. The blue one noticed green’s unusually unhappy disposition.
“Nightmare?” he asked, licking some sauce off his mouth.
“Nah. Just rememberin’ stuff.” Manic mumbled, letting loose a small sigh. ‘How many years has it been?’ he thought, moving his fork slowly around the plate. ‘Seems so long ago that she had to move away…’
“Glad you two are up!” came the high-squeaked voice of Sonia, strutting in. “We’ve got urgent news!”
“We’re the Sonic Underground, news is ALWAYS urgent.” Said Sonic with a grin.
Sonia rolled her eyes. “Funny. Listen, I’ve gotten reports that Sleet is leading a convoy of Swatbots to this town called ‘Lilinilia.’”
Manic’s ears popped up.
“It seems that they haven’t been able to pay their taxes, so-”
“Did you say Lilinilia?” Manic interrupted, now fully paying attention.
Sonia blinked. “Yeah. Why?”
Manic smiled. “That’s awesome! My best friend is there! This girl I met growing up! Dude, this is awesome! Awesome!” he repeated, looking happy as a kid in a candy store.
“Well she’s in trouble, then!” Sonia snipped. “Because, as I was saying, they haven’t been able to pay their taxes. A drought has wrecked their crops, so they can’t ship anything in order to make money. No money, no paid taxes. No paid taxes, robotization for the entire town!”
“Not if we have anything to say about it!” Sonic shouted, standing up. “What are we waiting for? It’s spin and win time!”
Manic was already running to their van. “Amy Rose, here I come!”

End of Chapter One~