ACT FOUR

ON MANIC

Sonic soon comes. He stands next to him.

SONIC

I understand.

MANIC

(sounding kind of like a brat)

Understand what?

He walked over to a bench and sat down angry yet sad.

SONIC (CONT’D)

How you feel.

MANIC

You’ve never even had a girlfriend.

SONIC (CONT’D)

Look.

He sat down next to him.

SONIC (CONT’D)

When I was just a little hedgehoglet, my foster parents told me to run to my Uncle Chuck’s and not to look back. I ran, but not even halfway there, I ran back and saw that Robotnik had taken my parents. My house was on fire, too.

MANIC

Those are step-parents. Big difference.

SONIC (CONT’D)

No. I mean, I know how it is to loose someone you love with all your heart.

MANIC

She thinks I’m all negatives. I…

SONIC

She’s getting angry at you. Why? Because Mom’s sick. I know. There’s nothing positive about it. But sometimes, girls are hard to understand. Especially when they’ve just changed from evil to hero.

Manic got up and started walking.

SONIC

Where are you goin?

SONIC (CONT’D)

(thinking)

Maybe I’d better follow him…

He followed him.

CUT TO:

INT. WHEREEVER ALEENA AND TAILS ARE - NOON

Aleena is still on the bed. She is looking a bit worse. She is coughing uncontrollably. Tails isn’t in the room at the moment. Then the Oracle appears.

ALEENA’S P.O.V.

It’s really fuzzy in her view. There is a strange green and purple figure.

ALEENA

(faintly)

Is

(cough)

that you

(cough)

Oracle?

(cough, cough, cough)

ORACLE

Yes. You must be sick.

ON ORACLE

ORACLE (CONT’D)

You know, not to get you worried, but you’ve caused quite a problem.

ALEENA

(faintly)

What

(cough)

do you mean?

Oracle poured her something to drink. He handed the cup to her.

ORACLE (CONT’D)

Your children found out you were sick. I had to tell them the truth that it caused slight exposure. Manic took it hard being the one to go the closest, and his new girlfriend got angry at him for ‘looking at the positives’.

ALEENA

I

(cough)

did that?

(cough)

Oh dear. I

(cough)

didn’t know it would cause

(cough)

all that.

(cough, cough, cough)

Oracle looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. Then turned to her.

ORACLE

That’s something like what Manic said. Now, I must go. I’ve things to be doing.

After he was gone, Aleena collapsed into tears. She soon started coughing and sobbing at the same time. Tails came in.

TAILS

Aleena I’m—

His eyes got humongous at the sight of Aleena.

TAILS’ P.O.V.

Aleena is just laying there. Tears were coming from her eyes, but she wasn’t making a sound.

ANGLE ON ALEENA

Tails ran over to her.

TAILS (CONT’D)

ALEENA! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? TALK! MOVE! OH MY GOSH!

(NOTE: When Aleena talks, the … mean she’s getting fainter, and trying to catch her breath)

ALEENA

(very faint and scratchy)

Tails… get help fast…

Tails immediately went outside. He had a very worried face.

EXT-ALEENA AND TAILS’ HIDEOUT-MORNING

Tails had just got out and was running. He then ran into someone.

TAILS

(frantically)

Sorry! Excuse me, I got an emergency!

The camera moved to reveal Manic sitting down. He was holding his head dizzily. 

He then shook his head.

MANIC

No worries.

He stood up. He then got a surprised look on his face.

MANIC (CONT’D)

You’re with Aleena! Did you say emergency?

TAILS

Yeah. No time. Aleena’s in a real emergency! I’ve got to warn the hospital.

He then ran off. Manic just stood there. He then sat down and started crying. 

Sonic then came.

ANGLE ON SONIC

SONIC

I finally found—Oh no. What happened?

He sat down by him. He asked him again and again what happened. Manic wouldn’t answer. Soon after, Sonia and Mai showed up.

SONIA

You know, it wouldn’t hurt just to talk to him. Mai?

Mai wasn’t answering. Sonia looked in the direction she was staring. She gasped.

SONIA

Oh… What happened?

SONIC

I don’t know. He won’t answer.

The two girls walked over. Mai sat down next to him. Sonia stood behind the bench. Mai put his hand in between hers.

MAI

Look. If you don’t tell us what’s wrong, we can’t help you. Is it important? Is it something I did? Something I said?

Manic wasn’t answering. Finally Mai bent over and kissed him on the cheek. Manic raised his head out of his hands. He sighed.

MANIC

It’s mom.

SONIA

Oh no.

MANIC (CONT’D)

I ran into Tails. He works with Mom, right?

SONIC

Why do I have a real bad feeling about where this is headed?

MANIC (CONT’D)

He said he didn’t have much time to talk. He said there was an emergency, and that he needed to inform the hospital. I think it has something to do with mom.

MAI

Oh my! Wait! I think I know where they are! That place they were at when Oracle showed us what was going on, it has to be Diamond Myne.

SONIC

They were in a mine?

MAI (CONT’D)

No! Diamond Myne. M-Y-N-E. It’s a legendary 7-star hotel. Every hotel worker’s dream to work at.

SONIC

Umm… I thought the “star chart” only went up to five.

SONIA

Exactly!

MAI (CONT’D)

Anyway… I’ve got a plan! You guys can’t see her. But who here can?

She raised her hand.

MAI (CONT’D)

Now, here’s the plan…

FADE OUT

FADE IN:

INT. DIAMOND MYNE HOTEL - NIGHT

ON ALEENA

Aleena is on the bed. We hear the door open. A young maid comes in and parks the cart she has at the foot of the bed. She moves her head toward the door and hollers.

MAID

ROOM SERVICE!

She then goes over to Queen Aleena. She takes off a rather cute work visor with a fancy DM symbol on it, slips her hair tie holding her hair in a pony-tail, and shakes her hair, revealing her to being Mai.

MAI

Are you all right? If you don’t mind, I need some pictures.

ALEENA

(very faint and scratchy)

Who… are you? Are… you trying… to hurt… me or something…

Mai started taking pictures while she was talking. She had a small, gray digital camera.

MAI

(gently)

Oh! No. I’m doing this for your children. They’re really worried about you.

ALEENA

How… do I… know you’re telling the… truth?

MAI

Trust me! Now! I’ll be back soon.

She lifted the window. Then she looked out.

ANGLE FROM OUTSIDE

Mai looked down and signaled the triplets. Soon after a rope shot up. She slid down it.

ON TRIPLETS AND ROPE

When Mai got to the end of the rope, she handed them the pictures to Sonia. 

Manic and Sonic looked at them over Sonia’s shoulders. They looked through them as Mai talked and paced.

MAI

This is very serious. I’ve seen it a few times in my life. I know what type of medicine it takes. It’s a type of pill called, “Seltasposure.” It’s very expensive, though. I don’t know if I have enough.

MANIC

No problemo!

He reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a small bottle of medicine. The others looked at him funny.

MANIC

What?

SONIA

You stole medicine?

MANIC (CONT’D)

Well you never know when this stuff comes in handy! And besides, I was bored! My drumsticks were broken.

SONIA

Whatever.

Manic handed Mai the medicine. She took it and grabbed the rope,

MANIC

Wait!

He reached into his fanny pack. He then pulled out a thin book. It looked like a journal, but with a lot of decorations. We aren’t able to see the cover just yet, though. Mai looked at it. She smiled, opened it, and looked at the backside of the front cover. She closed it and got back on the rope. Sonic then pulled on the other side of it. Mai held on as the rope went up. When she got thru the window, she handed Aleena the medicine.

MAI

Here. You need to take two of these once a day. One morning, one night is what I would suggest. By the way…

She handed Aleena the book. Aleena looked at it.

ALEENA’S P.O.V.

The cover has a drawing of the Sonic Underground. The title says, “Sonic 

Underground” And at the bottom it said, “Adventures from the Sonic Underground! Written by Manic Hedgehog.”

WIDE ANGLE

MAI

That’s from Manic. Now, that should be all. Good-bye! And hope you recover!

She got on the rope and slid down. Once at the bottom, Mai nodded at them. Then they walked to the hotel. Unfortunately, the sign told them there was no vacancy.

ON THE GROUP

They were a long silence. It was finally broken by Sonia.

SONIA

Well, I guess this means good-bye.

MANIC

Yep.

(gives her a suspicious face)

Unless you’re just saying that so I can’t hang out Mai…

They all laughed.

SONIC

Been nice knowing ya! C’mon guys. Time to get in the van.

SONIA/SONIC

Good-bye!

MANIC

No guys, we’re not saying good-bye! Just so long! We’ll see Mai again. You can count on it!

MAI

Yep! From one to ten, and back again!

Sonic ran back to get the van. Sonia went with him. While they were gone, Mai and Manic did some final things. It all started with holding each other’s hand. It then spread to continuous looks at each other. And finally it ended in a kiss (we do not actually see their faces while this is happening). It was interrupted by the van coming, though. He got into the van, letting go of her hand at the top stair. The door closed, and they drove away. Out of silliness, Mai ran after them.

INT. SU VAN - MIDNIGHT

SONIC’S P.O.V.

Sonic is looking in the mirror attached to the ceiling of the van.

SONIC

Yo, Manic! Look in the mirror.

MANIC’S P.O.V.

Manic looks in the mirror and notices Mai running after him.

ON MANIC

MANIC

Yo Sonic! Roll down the window!

The window rolled down, and Manic stuck his head out. He waved. Mai reached her hand out toward him. He reached his toward hers.

ON HANDS

They were just about to touch when Mai’s small hand finally fell. She had stopped running.

ON MAI

She waved good-bye as the van drove away. The camera moved up to watch over the whole town. Then Aleena’s voice was heard. While she talked, that subject was shown in action.

QUEENA ALEENA (V.O)

And so, my children were reunited. What happened to me? Well, thanks to Mai, I made it back to full health. The Oracle told my children about this recovery. Later, Mai got what she wanted. A job at Diamond Myne Hotel. She always dreamed about the day she would see her boyfriend and his siblings once again. Manic dreamed about seeing her again, and never gave up hope of seeing her. A few months later, she quit her job, and became a freedom fighter. One of the top freedom fighters, as she knew quite a lot about Robotnik. Manic’s book got published, and soon became a best seller. Here’s something from it:

MANIC (V.O.)

Dear reader,

I have written this based on my real experiences with my sister Sonia, brother Sonic, and many others. I have found a girlfriend, and my mother is Aleena. I wish to see her, as we have been separated. Please enjoy reading this. Also, something many misunderstand, yes, I did grow up in the sewers. But, I did have a good time as a kid. I grew up with my step-dad, Farrell, until he was roboticized, and soon joined the Sonic Underground. I enjoyed every second as a child. I do have a magical medallion. Most authors would tell their address. I am not one of them. I must keep it secret, for I do not wish for Robotnik to find it.

                                                 So, Enjoy!

FADE OUT.

THE END

"Love's Strong Will, Part Two"

NEW SONIC UNDERGROUND

Written by: Graycie Eastman