Manic Hedgehog Background
Manic was born to Queen Aleena as a prince of Mobotropolis. However, when he was still a baby Mobotropolis was taken over by Dr. Robotnik and the royal family was forced into exile. In order to help fulfill a prophecy that would bring peace to Mobius, Queen Aleena had to give up her children. Manic was left on the doorstep in a lower class section of the city, but was picked up by a thief no sooner than Aleena had left and taken in to be raised by Farrel. At a very young age he began to learn how to steal, but Farrel raised him with plenty of kindness so despite having very little, Manic was pretty content with his life.
One night, many years later, he heard a song from seemingly nowhere. While he found this strange, he apparently didn’t bring it up to anyone. Shortly after that, he heard a guitar riff that he recognized while returning home with Farrel and, after telling Farrel he'd see him back at the hideout, followed it to a club where he ended up in his first jam session with Sonic and Sonia.
The club was suddenly raided by Sawtbots and Sonic helped him and Sonia escape after telling them that they were all siblings, also promising to meet up with them later and explain things. Manic returned to the hideout to find Farrel missing, having been arrested during a raid. With nowhere else to go, he met up with Sonic and Sonia again, finding that they were both in a similar situation. Just as they resolved to work together to save their families, the Oracle of Delphius appeared to inform them that they were too late...their guardians had already been roboticized.
He then set them on the path of "discovery and bonding" they’d need to follow to eventually defeat Robotnik, giving them a map to follow. They spent the night in a safehouse, but were nearly captured by the bounty hunters, Sleet and Dingo, as they were about to set out on their journey. They escaped and exited the basement through the sewers...Manic and Sonia developing their first, and recurring, disagreement: the subject of sewers. Along the way they began to learn a little about each other and though Manic tried to avoid telling them he was a thief outright, Sonic caught onto his occupation easily. Overall, it went over better than expected, since none of them had actually chosen the lifestyles they'd found themselves in.
When they reached the forest they’d been traveling to they met Gondar, who had been sent by the Oracle to train them in their natural abilities. While Sonic and Sonia;s training focused on using their speed and power to attack, Manic learned to use his drumsticks as effective and accurate weapons...but he felt that his abilities weren’t on par with those of his siblings and considered leaving so that he didn’t slow them down. Gondar informed him that this was a mistake, and that he would one day find his own hidden talents.
Sleet and Dingo arrived to capture them again, but were defeated by the trees in the forest, which shot sap over their fleet and gummed up the engines to make the airships crash. Gondar then gave them a scroll, which transported them to the temple in Trelata where they would continue their training. Upon arrival they learned that their medallions were a source of great power, the most basic use being the power of music. The other powers would require the siblings to find harmony with each other.
The first training session involved the illusion of a locked room and a large monster. Sonic had rushed in to try to take on the beast, but Manic knew the lock and got the door open instead. When Sonic was caught by the monster, Sonia got herself caught trying to save him and they failed training. The monk told them there would be no more training, pointing out that Sonia had her heart in the right place but used poor judgement and Manic's actions had been correct...if they'd worked together they'd have escaped easily. Sonic realized it was his fault they'd failed, but while he was being berated by the monk over his recklessness Sonia and Manic defended their brother.
That, it turned out, had been the real test and it was determined that their training would continue. The rest of that day, however, was spent jamming out on their new instruments.
The next training, they focused on trying get their weapons to work and use them to defeat a dragon. When Manic used his drums to shoot a rock at the dragon, the resulting earthquake caused Sonic to berate him over using an earthquake on a flying enemy, which broke their harmony and caused their weapons to vanish. After Sonia noticed the dragon never landed and hadn't let the launched rock touch it, she brought up the theory that it must be an air element and directed Manic to use his drums to shoot a hunk of rock at it. The dragon was destroyed and the training was passed. Manic also learned that his medallion was the most powerful to balance out his lack of physical power.
Moments later, they found out that Trevor, one of Sonic’s friends in the resistance, had been captured by Robotnik. Since Sonic was determined to return to Robotropolis and save him, Sonia and Manic joined him. Manic got them into the stronghold through the route he’d used in his early thief guild missions in the Mouse Patrol. They spied on a conversation between Robotnik and Sonia's fiance, Bartlby. Robotnik had figured he'd know where Sonia was. They also saw Sonia's caretaker, now a serving robot used to wait on the tyrant. When the coast was clear they entered the room, and Sonic and Manic had to talk Sonia out of going after her caretaker...there was no way to return her to normal after all.
While Sonia looked for Sonic’s friend using the computer, Manic busied himself with stealing a few things from Robotnik that he figured might come in handy…which Sonic got on his case for. Before they could go after Trevor, they overheard a conversation between Robotnik and Sleet, talking about the Oracle. His home had been located and Robotnik planned to eliminate him. The hedgehogs decided to warn him as soon as they were done saving Trevor.
They found Trevor and, deeming it the only way to escape, made their way to the hangar to “borrow” a ship...because stealing was wrong. Manic had stolen the frequency harmonizer necessary to board a ship and they escaped the fortress while Trevor acted as their decoy. Robotnik found out and took control of the ship, activating the self-destruct sequence, but Manic had also stolen the master override key and they were able to escape before the ship exploded.
Sonic’s rash actions got them into a small amount of trouble, but while he and Sonia argued about it, Manic’s attention was caught by an apparition of their mother. She’d come to encourage them to devote themselves to each other and their cause, saying that without the Oracle their cause would be lost. Sonic and Sonia made up, but before they could leave, Sleet and Dingo showed up again. The siblings used their weapons to drive them off, then Manic used his drums to down any ships and save the Oracle. He appeared to them, revealing that their teamwork and willingness to help others had unlocked their powers, which could now be used at will.
[There's a bit of confusion as to when this episode took place, so I'm putting it here in case it is the proper time.]
Sometime later found the three of them living together, and mostly getting along. Manic was still getting scolded by Sonic because he still stole on a whim....because you never know when you might need something. One day, while they were out, there was an announcement from Robotnik that he was to marry Queen Aleena. Manic was the first to come to the conclusion that it was obviously a trap. It was decided that if there was even the slightest chance that their mother was there, then they had to go check it out though. So, at Sonia's suggestion, they went and convinced Bartlby to get them in as musicians…since Robotnik said he’d allow music.
They recorded some music and left it playing while they searched the castle for signs of their mother, Manic using a secret passage he'd found. They all found the bridal chamber at about the same time but no Aleena, just Dingo in disguise and a trap...which they were momentarily relieved about.
Sonia was captured and Sonic and Manic escaped through the secret passage. To save Sonia they realized they needed a diversion, so Manic planned to impersonate Queen Aleena. But he was captured before he could provide the needed distraction. He escaped from his cell easily enough but by the time he caught back up to Sonic, Sonia was already saved. Sonic and Sonia were surprised to learn he hadn't been the one to cause the diversion that let Sonic save the day, and they all realized it must have been their mom who had done it.
[End of section.]
One day they overheard a transmission from Sleet, who was in pursuit of Argus, the captain of Queen Aleena’s personal guard. The hedgehogs rushed to the rescue in hopes of also being able to learn where the queen was, but weren’t able to get there before he was arrested and roboticized. Instead, they disguised themselves as soundbots and infiltrated the inauguration for Argusbot. Using the power of their medallions, they restored his free will and escaped with him. The freedom was only temporary though, and they had to leave him after only learning that he was supposed to have been meeting the queen in the underground water channel. Manic suggested that they try the thieves’ network for leads as to where the exact meeting place was.
They got one, but it was a trap by Sleet and Dingo. They managed to lure away Argusbot again to restore his free will one more time. He was able to point out the meeting place, where a disguised Dingo was trying to lure Aleena out. Manic's board was busted, so he couldn't go warn her, so he and Sonia had to leave that to Sonic while Argus used the last of his free will to help them join Sonic. Despite the fact that it meant they missed her again, Sonic blocked her exit so she couldn’t be followed by Sleet and Dingo by caving in the tunnel she had run into. Stating that they'd meet her next time, the siblings then hurried off to avoid being captured themselves.
On their sixteenth birthday, Manic convinced his siblings to search for Mobodoon, the magical city that was rumored to be their birthplace. It only appeared once every four years on the same day under certain conditions, but Manic was positive that if it showed up their mother would too. They found Mobodoon and, upon learning that it was indeed the case that they'd been born there, Manic decided that he was going to stay. But then Sleet arrived with a convoy of robots, demanding back taxes from the city, even though it didn't run on money.
The hedgehogs were unable to drive the bounty hunters off because their medallions were drained from a recent use, so Sleet and Dingo looted the city, taking anything and everything of value, sentimental or otherwise...including the crystal that was the source of the city’s power. Without it the city's beauty faded and, if it faded from Mobius without the crystal, it would never appear in Mobius again.
Working together, the siblings ambushed the convoy and Manic recharged their medallions on the power crystal. They retrieved everything, and returned the crystal in time. Their mother had visited while they were away, leaving a happy birthday for them though she hadn't been able to wait for them. Although he almost stayed, Manic decided that his place was not in Mobodoon, but with his family and the resistance.
The Sonic Underground rescued a street kid from Sleet and Dingo one day. Manic was taken back to his time at the thieves’ guild watching him and his friends work a crowd for money. Sonic and Sonia didn't approve of the stealing and realizing his siblings were right, Manic said the same. They decided to get the kids new homes through a Duke they were friends with and arranged for them to meet him during a costume ball they were playing at that night.
While they were discussing it, another kid was brought in...Urchino. He was a slick talker and Manic didn't really like him. Sleet and a squad of robots attacked and Sonic was able to get everyone but Urchino out. They left Manic in charge of getting the kids ready for the ball. Upon realizing Urchino had been left behind, Manic was about to go save him, but he came up fine.
Before Sonic and Sonia got back, Urchino brought up the idea of scoring a fortune for the resistance. He said they could steal the Duke's tax money. Manic wasn't about to agree to something like that, but Urchino continued that he'd heard Sleet was picking up the money that evening, so it they stole it from Sleet then the Duke wouldn't get in trouble but Sleet would take the fall. Manic liked this idea, but Urchino said he wasn't sure Manic still had the necessary skills and challenged him steal a single coin from the Duke's vault to prove himself.
Manic did as dared, sneaking off in the middle of the ball, but not long after he got back Sleet barged in, claiming the money the Duke owed wasn't present. With Manic was arrested when the coin was found on him and the Duke, enraged that his friends would betray him, ordered everyone arrested. Thanks to Sonic and Sonia everyone else escaped, but Manic was locked up.
Sometime later, Sonic busted him out as part of a ploy to lead the policebots to the real culprits...Sleet and Dingo. The bounty hunters had tricked Manic into taking the fall so they could get rich. The Duke apologized for mistrusting his friends and agreed to give the children a home. Manic decided then that he was a freedom fighter and not a petty thief...but he still has trouble keeping to that.
One night, after a nearly failed mission, Sonic introduced Manic and Sonia to Cyrus, an old friend with a favor to ask. His father was being forced to help Robotnik make a portable Roboticizer and Cyrus needed help to rescue him. While they were talking, Trevor came by to remind them about Sanctuary, so they had to turn him down.
They were attacked by a battalion of robots and escaped with Cyrus’ help. Afterwards they traveled to Sanctuary, where the resistance left their children to keep them safe. Then they planned to find and free Cyrus’ dad.
After the plan was already in motion, Cyrus warned Sonia and Manic that it was a trap. But it was too late and Sonia, Manic and Cyrus were captured. Sonic was able to save them, but not before it was revealed the Cyrus’ father had been roboticized already. Back at Sanctuary the siblings spent a little while comforting Cyrus over his loss.
While in Port Mobius looking for their mother, the siblings found that the entire town was loyal to Robotnik. In fleeing, they ended up on the Queen Aleena, a show boat captained by the only member of the resistance in Port Mobius...Captain Squeedge. He informed them that the townspeople had all joined Robotnik because he promised protection from Moby Deep, a legendary sea monster that was sinking ships in the area.
With the high probability that it was a trick by Robotnik, the hedgehogs decided to investigate. Manic came up with the idea to use sound waves to listen underwater and try to tell whether it was a sea monster or submarine sinking ships. Sonic, who had decided someone should watch Sleet and Dingo as an exscuse not to go out to sea, arrived on the real Moby Deep to warn them that it was a sub made to look like a sea monster and they were about to be sunk.
Manic came up with the idea to force the submarine, used by Sleet and Dingo, to surface with music so it could be destroyed. They got rid of it and freed the town, but found no trace of Aleena...though she had apparently been the one to lead them to Port Mobius.
While looking for their mother’s journal in Tashistan, the Sonia went missing. When searching on foot and Manic’s connections in the thieves’ guild turned up nothing, Manic suggested that he and Sonic used music to find her. She did turn up, but was captured along with another resistance member moments later.
While trying to rescue Sonia, Manic’s predictability turned out to be a hindrance, as Sleet foresaw the probability that he’d suggest the sewer as a way to sneak and sent Dingo to guard that route. After failing to get past him, the boys decided to disguise themselves as belly dancers to fool Sleet. This worked and they managed to get Sonia’s medallion, and find the dungeon. Sonia was already free, but looking to save her friend from being roboticized. They were only partially successful on this though, as her friend was roboticized from the waist down before they freed him.
After escaping another Robotnik trap, the siblings arrived in a place Lake Valley Resort. Oddly this place was left completely untouched by Robotnik. Sonic was suspicious of this as Stripes, who was in charge, said they were left alone because they didn't oppose him so he didn't care about them...but they knew that if Robotnik didn't control it then he cared about it. Sonic cautioned Manic against mentioning the resistance, even as they decided to stay for some rest.
After getting caught for stealing, and being given free food rather than getting into trouble Manic accidentally revealed that he was resistance and caused an uproar because the villagers believed that the resistance fighting Robonik was the reason that Mobius was in such a terrible state. Sonia was indecisive on where she stood with Stripes, who she was developing feelings for, because he believed the only way to save Mobius was to make a deal with Robotnik. While Sonic went to see what Stripes was up to, Manic tried to comfort Sonia.
But Stripes ratted them out and Sleet and Dingo turned up...not only to catch them, but to destroy the valley and roboticize the residents as Stripes wasn't needed anymore since he turned over the hedgehogs. The hedgehogs teamed up with the villagers and saved the valley, and Stripes realized that he had been wrong to think that making a deal was the way to go.
Later two problems came up at once. First was the building of an intelligent ship with a brain, called the Predator, which would travel the world catching freedom fighters to be roboticized. Dealing with the Predator was handled by making it possible to control it, and Sonia was to pilot it...Sonic and Manic failed the flight simulation test for pilots, in a spectacular fashion.
Second, and just as serious, was Sonia suddenly becoming very distracted, to the point that she spaced out frequently at once got captured because of it. Sonia’s distraction had to do with a special ball she wished to attend, which they only found out about because Manic picked her pocket for the invitation she'd received. They were able to make it so that she could make a brief appearance, before her mission in hijacking the Predator, so she was happy.
After a trap to catch Sonic with a speedbot failed, Sleet and Dingo set another trap for the siblings. Disguised as Aleen, Dingo let Manic spot him dropping a letter. The letter stated that Sonia had inherited a castle, so she and Manic went to check it out. Manic didn’t really want to stay in the creepy, vermin-infested place, but when Sonia called him on being scared he felt obligated to prove he wasn’t.
They discovered that it was a trap from the caretaker, but when they went to find Sonia, she'd entered a magic mirror. Sonic went after her, leaving Manic to wait for them in her room. He fell asleep and was visited by Aleena who told him the mirror would be their way out. He recalled this as the castle was being bombarded by enemy fire and everyone escaped before it was destroyed.
The Sonic Underground infiltrated a “party” Robotnik arranged to hear an announcement he was supposed to give. He’d found the lost city of Mobopiktu and was auctioning off priceless treasures to raise money to build more Swatbots. Not willing to stand by and see this, they interfered and Manic smuggled off one artifact without telling anyone and pawned it for money to help the resistance. Unfortunately, the “artifact” was really an old bomb from the last great Mobian war. By the time they got back to the guy he’d sold it to, it had been sold to Bartlby. They managed to save the pompous noble and drive away Robotnik, and even found the real Mobopiktu.
While out thermal surfing one day, Manic was attacked by a jetbot. Sonic saved him, but got on his case a little saying they needed to go together next time, but also offered to teach him some thermal surfing techniques. He then told Manic he’d just heard some news about their mom and they set off to meet Sonia.
Later, Manic constantly and purposely hitting potholes made them have to stop and repair their van. A freedom fighter named Rudy came to them for help because he’d seen some glowing insects leave his village right before his friends turned on him and tried to take him to Robotnik. Sonia told Sonic to check out the village but when he didn’t take Manic, the green hedgehog got upset and decided to go catch one of the insects on his own. Unfortunately, this resulted in him being stung by one and, under the influence of the serum it pumped into him, he walked right into Robotnik’s clutches.
Seeing this as a chance to catch the others, Robotnik slipped a radio-controlled Flybot into his waist pouch, which he could use to periodically regain control of Manic. He then ordered the hedgehog be dropped back in the Outback.
At first, Robotnik's plan went smoothly, Manic radioing him every time they, along with Rudy, relocated...but Sonia caught him and they found the flybot and destroyed it, and then saw to destroying the rest of the little annoyances and the serum.
Upon returning to Rudy's village, the found that some of the freedom fighters had escaped harm that night Rudy had been ambushed. Manic also promised he wouldn't try to do things on his own anymore.
In Sonic Tonic, Manic and Sonia got fed up with Sonic and his speed...though it didn't stop them from rescuing him when Sleet and Dingo caught him because of the special tonic Robotnik had made to make them fast. Saving Sonic and stealing the Sonic Tonic, they then headed for the hanging gardens of Mobius to make sure Robotnik couldn't make anymore...it had the added side effect of making Dingos(and unbeknown to them, Sleet's) feet grow to unmanageable size, and Sonic was worried Robotnik would test it on other people to perfect it.
When Sonic's self-important attitude pushed them too far, Manic and Sonia used the Sonic Tonic and left Sonic in the dust for once, leaving for the garden without him just to show him up. But the same side effect happened to them when they confronted Sleet and Dingo. Sonic threw the vial of the remaining tonic into the water, where it restored the ruined garden to its original state, as well as saved them from being captured. Sonia and Manic admitted they were stupid for using the Sonic Tonic, but Sonic admitted tha i was really his faul for teasing hem abou being slow and promised not to do it anymore.
Friend or Foe was an important point in the story. Following rumors that their mother was there, the hedgehogs traveled to a floating island to find her. The Oracle had warned them that they should beware the echidna(Gee, echidna on a floating island...who could this mystery character be? and that the island was fraught with danger...a warning that Sonic didn't heed. The echidna guarding the island attacked, under the impression that they were trying to steal the Chaos Emerald, and nothing they said could make him think otherwise.
When Manic and Sonia were separated from Sonic, they stumbled upon the truth via a pet dinosaur. It had swallowed a projector that had a recording of them planning to steal the emerald. Realizing Sleet and Dingo had tricked him, they tried to catch them before they got the Chaos Emerald and the island fell. Knuckles was much more open to their presence after that, especially when he learned that they were Queen Aleen's children, and lead them to where she left a prophecy stating that as Robotnik's tyranny neared its end allies would join them...Knuckles being the first.
Later Aleena guided them to Speedster Island, where the natives were being forced to sell their island to Robotnik because they no longer had the resources to provide for themselves. They befriended Mantu, who had asked help from the island guardians, three statues that looked like them. Sonia and Sonic went to try to talk sense into Bartlby, but Manic stayed to study the statues instead.
He figured out the markings he'd noticed were musical notes and that playing them activated the guardians, using this to drive off Sleet and Dingo when they showed their true colors. After that, they stayed to party with the villagers to celebrate.
Time passed and they continued to make progress...though how much was questionable, with no clue to Aleena's whereabouts, and no sign that they were closer to beating Robotnik. Sonia suggested they see the Oracle for answers. He told them that he'd share his visions with them...in exchange for an act of valor.
He sent them through a portal to an opressed kingdom, without their medallions. They arrived apart from each other, and Manic was soon arrested after saving a peasant girl from being trampled. Sonic and Sonia soon joined him in the dungeon, lacking their powers as well as their medallions. Manic came to the conclusion that if this world was like Robotropolis then they wouldn't like music...and if someone came to stop them it might be a chance to escape.
The escape didn't go as planned, and Sonic was taken to the gladiator pit, while Manic was forced to be palace juggler and Sonia to be a personal servant...or be fed to the lions. They wound up in the lions' den anyway, but not before finding out about the true ruler and his daughter. Escaping, they found Sonic, freed the emperor, dethroned Sleetus, and reclaimed their powers.
Reappearing in the Oracle's home, it was revealed that they would fulfill the prophecy someday if they remained true to themselves and their powers.