Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Underground Reloaded 2 ❯ Chapter 3

Shadow sat on his bed and put his air shoes on. "So where are you going?"

"I'm supposed to have tea at Lady Windermere's." Aleena said, brushing her spines and fur. "What are you going to do?"

"Take the boys shopping for supplies." Shadow replied. "Sonic repeated the story to me exactly the way he told it last night. I'm still not sure if I believe him, but I'm not taking chances."

Aleena set her brush down.

Shadow handed Aleena his gun. "Here. Just in case."

Aleena nodded and put the gun in her leg holster. "Don't you need it?"

Shadow showed her the rings on his gauntlets. "I have these. Just one will put a hole in the wall that Sonic can drive his van through."

"Uncle Chuck's not making those for the boys, right?" Aleena asked.

"Right." Shadow said. He kissed Aleena goodbye. "You remember our codes?"

Aleena nodded. "Text you a green heart if something's wrong. Our code word is green."

"Right." Shadow replied. "We're getting supplies and we'll check out Sonic's story afterward."

Aleena hugged Shadow. "Be careful," She said. "I love you."

Shadow let Aleena go. "I-"

"C'mon, Dad, we're waiting." Sonic called.

"That is so annoying, bro." Manic replied.

Shadow sighed.

Aleena laughed. "Try not to wring their necks while you're out."

Shadow smirked. "No promises."

Aleena settled into one of Lady Windermere's patio chairs. "Sonic snuck out for a run last night," She said. "He swears that he saw Robotnik."

"Really?" Lady Windermere asked. "That's good."

Aleena furrowed her brow. "Excuse me?"

"No offense to you or your husband, but Shadow is living in the past." Lady Windermere continued. "Robotnik did a lot of good things for us."

"Uh-huh." Aleena said, easing her right hand to her holster. She checked her watch, which was on her left wrist. "Oh, it's getting late. We're meeting Sonia's fiancé tonight."

"Oh, but I had someone for you to meet." Lady Windermere said.

Aleena got up. "I'm sorry, but I do have to go." She replied. "Maybe another time."

Aleena walked over to the table near the door and picked up Sonia's motorcycle keys. She kept her eye on Lady Windermere the entire time. "I'm taking Sonia's motorcycle home."

Lady Windermere furrowed her brow. "Her motorcycle?"

Aleena did her best to keep a straight face. "Yeah, I got it for her and I'm the one who taught her how to ride." She replied. "She just kept it here until Shadow said it was okay for her to have it."

"Oh, right." Lady Windermere said, nodding. "Well, do come over when you have time."

"Of course." Aleena replied.

Aleena hurried out of the house and got on Sonia's motorcycle.

The villagers stared at Shadow, Sonic, and Manic as the three hedgehogs walked down the street.

Manic noticed a couple of villagers pointing and whispering at them.

Manic leaned closer to Shadow. "Is it me or is everyone acting weird?"

"I noticed that too." Shadow said. He grabbed Sonic and Manic by their arms and ran back to the palace.

Sonic was able to keep up with Shadow while poor Manic was dragged along.

Shadow stopped at the palace gate.

Manic exhaled loudly. "Finally." He muttered.

"It probably has something to do with Robotnik and that weird ship I saw last night." Sonic replied.

"Robotnik is dead." Manic said exasperatedly. "There's no way you saw him."

Shadow opened the palace gate. "He may have more family that decided to come here."

Shadow, Manic, and Sonic walked inside the gate.

Shadow started to close the gate behind them, but held it open when he saw Sonia's motorcycle and Argus' car in the distance.

"Why?" Manic asked.

"Why not?" Shadow replied. "They're more focused on the fact they can do something with no regard to the consequences."

Manic nodded. "I guess that's true."

Aleena stopped the motorcycle inside the gate while Argus drove his car to the palace garage.

Aleena climbed off the motorcycle and slid the helmet off.

Shadow closed the gate. "Aleena?"

"Ma?" Manic asked. "You can ride a motorcycle?"

Aleena hugged Shadow while crying.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.

"I just got back from Lady Windermere's." Aleena sobbed. "She's acting weird, saying Robotnik was a hero. I'm certain she was trying to hand me over to someone."

Manic scoffed. "Typical of that crowd."

Shadow let Aleena go. "Manic, she sided with us and told us that the other aristocrats sided with Robotnik. She secretly funded the resistance."

"I'm sorry." Manic said.

Aleena wiped her brow.

"Did you drink any of that tea?" Shadow asked.

"One tiny sip." Aleena muttered.

Shadow noticed Aleena swaying and picked her up. "You'll be okay." He whispered. "Sonic, get the doctor. Manic, you get the door."

Sonic raced out of the gate.

Aleena woke up, realizing that she was lying on her bed.

Shadow stroked her hair. "Are you feeling okay?"

Aleena slowly sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Shadow kissed Aleena's forehead. "Good." He said. "Sonic couldn't get the doctor to come here. He must've sided with this other Robotnik too."

Aleena climbed out of bed. "We better get ready for dinner."

Shadow got up as well. "We can cancel on him."

Aleena pulled a satin lavender dress out of her closet. "I wish."

Shadow pulled a black button up shirt out of his closet. "Do I really have to dress up to meet this jerk?"

"I don't like him either, but we have to go through the motions." Aleena said, brushing her fur.

"So what happened with Lady Windermere?" Shadow asked.

"I don't believe it was her." Aleena replied. "She was all for Robotnik and not fond of you. I tested her by saying that I bought Sonia the motorcycle, I taught her how to ride, and we kept it there until you approved of Sonia getting it. She believed it. I didn't finish my tea because I figured it was spiked."

"Half the village was staring and talking about us and the doctor told Sonic that our whole family needed to drop dead." Shadow said, buttoning up his shirt. "I believe Sonic did see one of Robotnik's family members."

Aleena set her brush down. "Let's get this over with."

"Thanks, Dad. I'm sure you'll like him." Sonia said, hugging Shadow.

Sonic and Manic rolled their eyes.

"I have my doubts." Shadow replied. "I'm not thrilled that you were engaged to him at just fifteen. How old is he anyway?"

"Just two years older than me." Sonia said, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress with her hands.

Shadow shook his head. "You were too young and you never should've gotten back together with him."

"Give him a chance." Sonia said, clasping her hands together. "Please."

"I'm reluctantly hearing him out over dinner, aren't I?" Shadow asked. "You should be grateful I even agreed to it at all."

Manic glanced up from his drawing. "Ma talked you into it, huh, Dad?"

"No, we have to give approval or disapproval to anyone you're in a serious relationship with." Shadow replied. He noticed that Manic was still drawing and he could hear music through Manic's headphones. "Didn't I tell you to put that away and turn your music down?"

Manic sighed and turned his phone off. "Do I have to be here?"

"You're family, so yes." Shadow said. He looked at Manic's drawing of the family. "Your skills have improved."

Manic grinned. "Thanks."

Uncle Chuck walked in. "Sonia, that boy is here."

Sonic helped Manic take his art supplies to his room.

Shadow had to tune out half of Bartleby's long winded tangent about how they could run the kingdom better. He already made up his mind that he couldn't stand the pompous mink, so why bother to hear him out?

"Are you crazy?!" Sonic snapped.

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts.

"Sonic, calm down." Sonia said.

"He's agreeing with the guy who messed up our lives." Manic protested. "Do you want to hand over our kingdom to a Robotnik? He's all for it."

"No, of course not." Sonia said. "He didn't mean it like it sounded."

"I thought Robotnik died." Shadow said.

"He- he did." Bartleby stammered. "I was just saying he wasn't a completely bad ruler."

Uncle Chuck simply shook his head.

Shadow briefly thought about blasting Bartleby with the power rings.

The rings started to glow faintly.

Shadow noticed the rings starting to glow brighter and quickly took them off.

The last thing they needed was some incident that Robotnik and his allies could use to their advantage.

Uncle Chuck glanced at Shadow, but didn't say a word.

Aleena looked at Shadow. "Well?"

"I'm glad she's got two brothers ahead of her in the succession line." Shadow said. "No, I don't approve. I think it's obvious why I don't approve of this clueless, self-absorbed snob."

Sonic and Manic snickered.

"I wouldn't have been so blunt, but he's right Sonia." Aleena said. "I agree with him."

"It's not my decision to make, but I agree with them." Uncle Chuck said.

Sonia hung her head. "Yes, Dad."

Bartleby looked at Sonia, then to Shadow. "So you approve of having a thief in the palace, but not a nobleman?"

"We've never condoned Manic's actions." Shadow said. "But he was smart enough not to side with a tyrant and he hasn't stolen anything since he tried to pick your pockets after we reunited. You realize Robotnik tried to have us all killed, including Sonia?"

"Even if he denounces Robotnik, you still won't approve because you don't trust him." Sonia said.

"You're right." Shadow replied. "You haven't quite learned to think for yourself, unlike your brothers, which is another reason why I'm glad they're ahead of you. If it hadn't been for me, you would've died with that cult you nearly joined last year. That level of naivete is not a good match for potential leaders."

Sonia sighed and got up. "He won't change his mind. I'll show you out, Bartleby," She said. "I'm sorry."

Sonia walked Bartleby out.

Shadow shook his head as he sent a message to Argus to keep an eye on Sonia. "This was a waste of time."

Manic held up a card. "Not really."

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

Manic smirked. "A Robotnik security pass." He replied. "Which gives me access to the basic info, then I can hack into the rest of his system. Sorry I didn't believe you at first, Sonic."

"You're… forgiven." Sonic said, pressing a button on his phone.

"What's with you?" Manic asked.

Sonic set the phone down. "You're on speaker, Sal, what-"

"Sonic?" Sally asked. She took a few shaky breaths. "Daddy's acting weird, talking about Robotnik. I'm on my way, not the main route, but-"

"Where are you, Sal?" Sonic asked. "I'll come get you."

"I'm at- Gotta go. Swatbots." Sally said softly. She hung up.

Sonic frantically checked his phone. "I can find her location through- she turned off her location."

"That doesn't help us, but it doesn't help Robotnik either." Manic said.

"There's at least three other routes that'll get her here fast." Shadow replied. "We'll search those trails and meet on the main route, Sonic. Manic, you start hacking Robotnik's files."

"Sure." Manic said.