Amy’s wooden house had enough room for the sleeping bags the siblings had brought-they guessed ahead of time that they might need to stay a bit-and she shared what little food she had with them. After eating, they set up their sleeping bags in the guest room. Manic, after unrolling his, noticing something atop a dresser drawer. It was a withered old rose in a beautiful green vase. He blinked, then widened his eyes and ran over to it.
“That’s the rose I gave you!” he said in a gasp. Amy walked over and nodded.
“I wanted something to remember you by. I missed you every day, Manic.” She looked to him, and he looked back at her. He felt his face heating up, seeing those emerald green eyes. “Things just weren’t the same without you.”
Manic gulped. “I…I uh…missed you too.” He then found the floor very interesting, since that was all he could stare at.
“Time to snooze!” Sonic suddenly yelled, diving into his sleeping bag. “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let ugly ol Buttnik bite!”
Amy burst into giggles. “Buttnik, that’s so clever! Is your brother always this funny?”
Manic just mumbled something and crawled into his sleeping bag.

Morning seemed to come too early for Manic, as the sun shot through the windows onto his face. Grumbling, he wearily opened his eyes and yawned. He noticed his sister’s sleeping bag was empty, meaning she was already up. Stomach growling, he headed for the kitchen, although a pang of guilt came with him, knowing Amy barely had anything for herself. He heard two voices from the kitchen, and stopped walking.
“So, Sonia…have your brothers always been like this?” Sweet, gentle Amy’s voice, with a touch of curiosity.
“Since they were born.” Came the laughter of dear sister Sonia, ready to answer all questions.
Manic hid behind a wall, tilting his ears a bit, deciding to listen in some more before entering.
Amy sighed a bit.
“Is something wrong?” asked Sonia.
“Oh, no, it’s just…your brother.”
“Uh, which one?”
“You know…” a pause, then a giggle. “The cute one.”
Manic felt a blush coming onto his cheeks.
“Uh, right…what about him?” Sonia actually had no idea which one Amy meant.
“Well…this may seem sudden, I mean he just got into town…but he’s so…different.”
“Different?”
“I mean, I’ve never met anyone like him. So...handsome, and charming, and witty…”
The blush on Manic’s face got larger.
“A...huh.”
“It seems to fast, but…I think I may have gotten a crush on him.”
Manic felt like he had been hit by a Swatbot smack in the face. Jaw dropping open, he panicked. His best friend-who, he now had to admit, was WAY more than just attractive-was in love with him?!? He gulped…then, thought ‘What’s so bad about that?’ his cheeks turned from red to pink, a smile forming.
“But we all just met!” Sonia yelped, surprised.
“Oh, I know, but I can’t stop thinking about him…those gorgeous eyes…”
Manic shifted his shoulders, smiling more.
“That incredible smile…”
Manic straightened his jacket, looking proud.
“His perfect blue fur…”
He began smoothing down his arm fur when it hit him what she just said.
“Wait, BLUE fur?” Sonia stuttered.
“Yeah! Sonic is just soooooo cute…you think he likes me the same way? He called me pretty and intelligent…he’s so nice to me!” Amy squealed, giggling again.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but Sonic says that to all the girls he meets.” Sonia sighed, glancing to the room they were just sleeping in. Sonic was snoring quite loudly, but she spotted one of Manic’s ears poking out from a wall.
“Oh…really?” Amy sounded heartbroken.
“Hey, cheer up, maybe you can find someone else…maybe Man-”
“GOOD MORNING!” Manic yelled as he suddenly ran into the kitchen, desperate to shut his sister up. “Say, why don’t we skip this whole breakfast ordeal and go straight to business? Come on, sis, buttnik’s waiting!” His words were spewed so fast it was almost impossible to tell what he was saying as he frantically grabbed Sonia by the wrist and began dragging her rapidly out of the room, leaving one very confused Amy behind.
Sonia, when out of Amy’s seeing and hearing range, snapped her arm free from her brother’s grasp. “You like her, don’t you?” She spat, a coy smile on her face.
“NO! Nooo, don’t be silly.” Manic stammered, looking away. He tried poking his brother in his sleeping bag to wake him up. “We, uh, just gotta, you know, work! Work to save the, um, village, yeah!”
“You’re head-over-heels for her.”
“Am not.”
“You haven’t stopped staring at her since we got here.”
“She’s changed.”
“In an attractive way, thanks to a little thing called puberty. She’s not six anymore, you know.”
“She’s not attractive. Nuh uh. No way. Come on, Sonic, get up!”
“Five more minutes…” Sonic mumbled, turning his head slightly.
“You were listening to me and Amy’s conversation, weren’t you?” Sonia crossed her arms.
“I just happened to overhear.”
“You’ve been jealous of Sonic getting Amy’s attention.”
“I couldn’t care less if Amy liked me.” A pause. “I MEANT SONIC! I don’t care if she likes SONIC!”
“OKAY, I’m up already!” Sonic shouted, sitting up and rubbing his aching ears.
Sonia giggled, heading for the door. “Quite an interesting soap opera this is turning into…”
“I DON’T LIKE HER LIKE THAT! …Wait, I MEANT AT ALL! I DON’T LIKE HER AT ALL!” Manic shouted, chasing his sibling.
Sonic just blinked, confused beyond reasoning, and followed the two.

At the outskirts of the village, Sleet and Dingo’s famous scorpion-shaped flying device was parked many miles away from Seeing Eye view. Dingo was making his way to one of the exits, tiptoeing carefully. He had to make sure Sleet wouldn’t find him, if his plan would work.
Now up to this point I’ve made Dingo look mildly intelligent. I think it’s time we actually had him do what he does best…act like an idiot.
Which is why when he couldn’t find the exit-on his own vehicle, for Queen Allena’s sake-, he decided to make his own by trying to rip open a wall, causing several alarms to go off. Sleet, and two Swatbots, found him quickly.
“WHAT are you doing?” Sleet snapped, glaring his stupid companion down.
“Uh…looking for the bathroom?” Dingo replied, nervously grinning.
“You couldn’t find it in our own vehicle? For the love of…wait, isn’t that your transformation device?” He pointed to Dingo’s left hand, indeed holding said device.
“…Uh, I thought it was the remote.”
“To what?”
“A TV, of course.”
“We don’t HAVE a TV.”
“Oh.” Dingo looked down at the device, gulping hard. “Uh, well, you see-”
“Shut up for a few seconds, we can discuss this later. I need to know more about these time stones, so you will sneak into the village, disguised and get the dirt out.”
A very, VERY dim light bulb went off in Dingo’s head. “OOH! OOH! CAN I BE KNUCKLES? CAN I CAN I CAN I? HUH HUH HUH?” he hopped up and down eagerly, like a child in a candy store.
Sleet raised an eyebrow, but gave it a good deal of thought. “Hmmm…they do trust that idiot echidna a lot…and we could get secrets from the Underground as well! What a brilliant idea…I’m glad I thought of it.”
“You’re so smart, Sleet.”
“I know.” Sleet grabbed the transformation device and zapped it at Dingo. Now whenever Dingo transforms, at least one thing about him stays the same. When he’s an inanimate object, sometimes his fur color and face stays. When he’s a person, his voice and color might also be there. This time, Dingo had researched and watched the videotapes of Knuckles so much, his DNA almost looked exactly like him…except he was orange. Sleet ‘hmm’ed a bit, then came up with a simple solution-dumping red paint on Dingo, and then painted on the white crescent on his chest.
“There. Now, we’re a days walking distance from the town…you should arrive by tomorrow. Knowing you, you’ll mess this up somehow, so….” Sleet took out a small computer chip and inserted it into the ‘ear hole’ that echidnas have on the side of their heads. They’re small and unnoticeable, which was a perfect place to hide the small chip. “I’ll tell you what to say through here. You have to talk like Knuckles, after all. If you mess up, and you will, I’ll be able to help you. Now get moving!”
Before he knew it, Dingo the echidna was walking toward Lilinilia, an evil deed set in him, and a vile idea in his mind.

Now of course the royal siblings had no idea that in two days Sleet and Dingo were heading their way. Right now they were more confused on the dying crops as they inspected the brittle fields before them. Using a portable laptop, Sonia had sent plant samples to Syrus, their main–technology-man. Sonic and Manic walked around the fields, checking the dirt. Manic, however, seemed to be distracted.
“Bro, why did you flirt with Amy?”
Sonic looked up and raised an inquisitive eyebrow to his brother. “ ’Cause she was cute. No biggie. Why?”
“Well…well I don’t want her to get her heart broken! Yeah, that’s it.” Manic quickly looked back to the dirt, kicking some of it awkwardly with his foot. Sonic just shrugged.
Sonia walked over to the two. “See anything unusual?”
“Yeah.” Said Sonic. “These plants are dying for no reason.”
Sonia rolled her eyes. “In other words, nothing new. This is too strange…the dirt looks fine, nothing wrong with the plants themselves, what could be killing them?”
Manic looked at one the plants and tugged at it a bit. One of the leaves curled up, looking a frill. A frill…just like on Amy’s dress. Amy…
Sonic blinked. “What’s with Manic? He’s so spaced out he could be an astronaut.”
Sonia giggled. “Oh, don’t mind him, he’s lovesick.”
“I AM NOT!” Manic shouted, glaring at his sister.
“Aren’t what?”
The three looked behind them to see Amy walking up, looking curious.
“Oh, uh, nothing Ames.” Manic stuttered, accidentally pulling the plant out.
“Ames?” Sonic asked.
Amy giggled. “It was his nickname for me. His was Manny. You found out anything?”
‘Other than Manic is a hopeless lovesick fool?’ Sonia thought, but shook her head. “Nothing so far.”
Amy sighed. “I wish I could help…all I ever do is check the irrigation system.”
Sonia blinked. “Irrigation system?”
“Oh, yes. Underground we have a system of pipes that lead from a far away waterfall. The pipes carry the water here, watering the plants. My job is to make sure the pipes run smoothly, and they have been.”
Sonia stroked her chin. “Interesting…”
Sonic yawned. “Maybe the plants committed vegi-cide…”
For once Amy didn’t laugh. The brothers looked at her when she didn’t respond, until she sighed again.
“I’m getting really scared. Sleet and Dingo could be here any day, and that means robotization for all of us. I don’t know what to do! If the Resistance can’t do anything…”She sadly trailed off.
“Don’t worry, Ames!” Manic said defiantly. “We’re not giving up! Something is killing these plants and we’re going to find out what, or my name isn’t Manic Hedgehog!”
“How can you be so sure, Manny?” Amy sniffed.
“Because we never gave up as kids! We knew times were tough, and sometimes food was scarce, but we didn’t give up! You remember how I used to go for days without stealing and try to earn money honestly, just because you said it wasn’t right to take from other people? I did it for you, because you said we couldn’t give up on being honest and true! And I’m not giving up now!”
Amy stared at Manic, but soon a smile came upon her face. “I can’t believe you remember that far back…”
Sonic was trying his hardest not to laugh at that speech, but Sonia helped him by whacking him over the head.
”Of course I remember! I remember the day you skinned your knees and I carried you on my back all the way to your parent’s place, and your 6th birthday when you wanted a real birthday party and I invited all the kids in the city, and the time when…you...uh…”Manic was trailing off, due to the smirk he was getting from his sister. “…Uh…Oh, I think I heard Syrus calling for us!!!!!” With that, he ran as fast as he could out of the field and scrambled to their van.
Sonic was now holding his gut laughing. Sonia whapped him again, then to looked to a confused Amy.
“Hey Amy, you can go home. We’ll keep inspecting.” Sonia said, patting Amy on the shoulder.
“Okay…thanks.” She slowly replied, walking off.

End of Chapter Three~