The Gang's All Here

29: Find Manic

Sonic, Mephiles, and Fleetway (who was carrying Scourge) ran in the direction that Manic had gone. They were using Fleetway's nose to detect Manic's trail, until they came to a hallway with two rooms.

On the right side of the hall, there was a room with an open door. The room seemed to be some sort of control room, as there were several screens showing different areas of the building, and what looked to be an intercom system.

At the very end of the hall was another room, but the door appeared to have been ripped off. The room was completely dark.

Along with that, Fleetway smelled blood coming from the room.

"Uh, let's go in here for a while." Fleetway said, walking into the control room.

Once in the control room, Fleetway carefully sat Scourge down on a table as Mephiles and Sonic looked at the screens.

Leaning on the panel, Sonic accidentally pressed a button.

Conveniently, the button was the audio control for the dark room at the end of the hall. And from the dark room, someone could be heard breathing.

Sonic became nervous. "The camera for that room isn't working, but there's breathing coming from there. Should we be scared?"

Mephiles thought. "I'm not sure. But the room should probably be examined either way. I'm the strongest in here, and I can see in the dark, so I'll go."

Fleetway immediately rejected the idea. "Woah, no no no, Mephiles, that's too risky. We have no idea what's in there. What if you get hurt?"

"A valid concern, yes," Mephiles responded. "But I can take the most damage out of all of us. Manic could be in that room, so someone has to check."

Fleetway still didn't like the plan, but he finally sighed and agreed.

Mephiles walked over to Fleetway and hugged him.

Fleetway picked Mephiles up and tightly hugged him back. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will."

Fleetway put Mephiles down, and Mephiles left.

Fleetway then noticed that Scourge and Sonic were smirking at him. "What?"

"You wuv him~" Sonic said.

"How you just picked him up, it looked like you wanted to give Mephiles a big kiss~" Scourge added.

Fleetway's face turned red. "Shut up."

"Why not just tell him you like him?" Sonic asked. "Because it's kinda clear that you do."

Scourge sat up. "And, jokes aside, have you really never kissed Mephiles? On the mouth?"

Fleetway sighed. "Well... I did kiss him, but it was on accident. And I really want to try again, for real this time, but I'm kinda nervous I'll mess it up. Or that he'll think it's weird."

Fleetway held his face in his hand. "These feelings are complicated."

"I'm sure they are. I know from experience," Sonic said. "But if you don't tell him how you feel, you may end up missing your chance."

Fleetway was going to say something in response, but was interrupted by hearing Mephiles's voice over the intercom:

"Um... I'm beginning to regret coming in here."

Fleetway walked to the control panel. "Mephiles, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm not hurt, but I'm... There's blood everywhere. The smell is really strong, and the mess, it's all making me queasy. I'm starting to feel light-headed."

"Well, that's not good," Scourge said quietly.

Fleetway thought of telling Mephiles to come back, until he remembered one of Mephiles's abilities.

"Mephiles, go to sleep."

Everyone, including Mephiles, thought that this was odd.

Scourge spoke first, "Wait, you want Mephiles to go to sleep? In that room?

"How's that gonna help us find Manic?" Sonic asked.

"Fleetway, now really is not a good time for jokes," Mephiles added.

"There's not much more time before you faint, Mephiles. Just trust me. Wherever you're standing, right now, go to sleep."

"This floor is probably filthy," Mephiles sighed. "But alright."

After a moment, a small *thud* and snoring could be heard from the room.

"You've got to be kidding. He's actually asleep?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, it's actually really easy for Mephiles to go to sleep, as long as he's not cold," Fleetway answered. He turned back to the intercom system, "Mephiles, stand."

A shuffle sound was heard.

"Mephiles, find Manic."

There were some very quiet footsteps. As they continued, Sonic, Scourge, and especially Fleetway grew worried.

Sonic was more confused than worried, though, and he asked Fleetway, "So Mephiles can follow commands in his sleep, you have laser vision, and you two can fuse yourselves. Are there any more abilities you two have?"

Then, there was a *pop* sound from behind them.

Nervously, they all turned.

And Mephiles was standing, still asleep, carrying a very scared Manic.

"And he teleports. Right." Sonic said.

Fleetway was the most relieved of them all. "Thank goodness. Mephiles, wake up."

Mephiles's eyes snapped open. Then he realized that he was carrying Manic. "What? I already found him? I don't even remember-"

"It's fine, Mephiles, I'll explain later. Let's go back to Silver and Shadow," Fleetway said, scooping up Scourge.

"Just a moment," Mephiles objected. "Manic is filthy."

Sonic almost became offended. "What do you mean, he's filthy?"

Mephiles tilted Manic so that everyone could see Manic's front.

Manic's hands and hoodie were covered in blood.

Scourge shuddered. "I don't even want to know how all that happened."

Mephiles took Manic's hoodie and gloves off and tossed them away. "We're going to have to find him some new clothes and most likely a therapist once we leave."

Mephiles looked at Scourge. We also need to have your ankle checked, so let's hurry."

As they all went back into the room they awoke in, Fleetway began smelling something familiar.

'That smells like... perfume? Why would I smell that here?' he thought.

Similarly, Mephiles began sensing a familiar aura.

'I must need more sleep. Surely my senses are acting up,' he thought.

Suddenly, Manic jumped from Mephiles's arms and dashed off. Again.

Mephiles chased him. "Manic, no! You can't keep running off on your own!"

Everyone followed, until they turned the corner and froze.

Carrying Manic and kissing his forehead, was a tall hedgehog lady with long, light-gray quills and orange eyes. She smiled at Manic as he buried his face into her pink sweater hugging her tight.

Then, she looked at Scourge, Fleetway, and Mephiles.

"Hello, boys," Lora said.