^This video is not mine, it belongs to Caleb Hyles. I'm just using it so you can hear what Manic, Silver, and Scourge are singing. You should check out Caleb Hyles though. His singing is awesome. 😀

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"*sigh* Alright then. Thank you for your time."

Shadow hung up his phone for the 12th time that morning. He'd called every local furniture store for miles around, seeing if they had even one vase that looked like his.

No luck.

He'd begun pacing to try to think of where he'd gotten the vase, when Sonic walked around the corner.

"Mornin' Shadow! What're you doing up so early?"

Shadow stopped pacing and turned to Sonic. "Thinking about something, Faker. What about you?"

Sonic was all smiles as he said, "I was going to visit my brother today."

Shadow facepalmed when he heard that. He finally remembered how he'd gotten the vase, and why it wasn't in any of the local stores. It was something he'd gotten from Manic, Sonic's brother. Manic had ordered the vase, but somehow ended up with two. He only wanted one, so he'd given the extra one to Shadow.

All that time spent calling stores for nothing.

"You okay, Shadow?" Sonic asked.

Shadow looked up. "I just remembered something. Is it alright if I go with you to visit your brother?"

"Uh, sure. But I thought you said he was annoying?"

"Manic is tolerable. I said you were annoying."

Sonic pouted.

~Later~

"🎵Leave my door open just a crack🎵"

"(🎶Please take me away from here🎶)"

"🎵'Cause I feel like such an insomniac🎵"

"(🎶Please take me away from here🎶)"

"🎵Why do I tire of counting sheep🎵"

"(🎶Please take me away from here🎶)"

"🎵When I'm far too tired to fall asleep?🎵"

"A-CHOO!"

Silver and Manic pause in their music when Scourge sneezes loudly.

"Dang it, Scourge, we were killing it." Manic says, lowering his drumsticks.

Scourge sneezes again before saying, "It's not my fault man. *sniff* I told you to keep your cat away from me."

Manic, Scourge, and Silver were in a band. Silver was the lead guitarist, Scourge was bass guitarist, and, of course, Manic was the drummer. They alternated with being lead singer, and Silver was lead singer for song.

They were doing pretty well, but Manic's cat (the one thing that Scourge was allergic to) kept rubbing against Scourge's legs, making him sneeze.

"It sounds great so far. And I'm sure Manic's cat won't be joining the performance." Sonic said from the couch. He and Shadow had walked in earlier, and decided to let Manic finish practicing.

Shadow picked up and began petting Tux, Manic's gray and white cat. "I think he just likes Scourge."

"Okay, let's take a break." Manic said, putting his drumsticks away.

Sonic followed Silver and Scourge out of the room to talk to them.

Shadow turned to Manic, who was grabbing a cupcake from the fridge. "Manic, I need to ask you something."

"Sure, wassup?" Manic said with his mouth full.

"Do you remember the vase you gave me?"

Manic turned to Shadow. "Yeah, why? Did you smash it?"

Stroking Tux's fur, Shadow replied, "No. I'm just trying to figure out some things. What store did you order it from?"

Turned out that Manic hadn't ordered it from a specific store. He'd ordered it online, and from a different country.

Shadow figured that this thief wouldn't go that far to find a vase. But he had to find one for his plan. "Do you still have the other?"

Manic nodded and pointed to the side of the furthest couch. There it was. Large, deep red in color, with two handles and a lid. The twin vase.

Shadow thought.

"Manic, you live alone besides Tux, correct?"

Manic nodded. "Scourge and Silver were gonna move in next week."

Shadow sighed. This probably wasn't going to go too well.

"Shadow, are you okay? You look... confused."

Facing Manic, Shadow tried to explain. "Manic, I think your house is being targeted for a robbery."

...

Manic's eyes went wide. "...Are you serious?"

Shadow nodded and put Tux down. "There's been a large number of robberies recently, and the thief seems to be stealing things that look like my own furniture. The only thing missing is the vase, which you just so happen to have a twin of."

Manic let out a huge sigh of relief. "For a second there, I thought you meant someone was after me or Tux. Or my drums." He thought for a second. "What should we do to catch this thief, though? I don't want to just let someone take my stuff."

"Aren't you a pickpocket?"

"Well, yeah, but that's different. I don't break into people's houses, or steal furniture. The most I'll take from someone is a few bucks. And that's only if they're rich. Stealing from poor people is just wrong."

Despite that Manic will steal occasionally, Shadow already knew that Manic wasn't the one that was committing these robberies. These robberies were done way too quickly, and way too much was taken at one time. Manic couldn't have done it.

"Well I have a plan to catch the thief, but we'll need Silver, and possibly Tails's help."

"Help with what?" Silver asked, entering the kitchen.

"I'm trying to find someone. Haven't you built tracking devices?"

"Yes, but the range... Wait, who are you trying to find?"

Manic answers, "He's after the Ghost Thief."

Silver went pale. "The... Ghost Thief? Th-The same one that stole from three different neighborhoods in one night, yet hasn't been seen even once? That thief?"

Manic explains to Shadow. "There's been a lot of rumors about whoever this person is. I think it's getting Silver paranoid."

"It's just that they've taken from homes and stores that are supposed to be really secure, but they've never set off an alarm, never been seen by a guard, nobody's even caught them on camera. And the fact that they've done all this without a trace terrifies me. People are starting to think they really are a ghost!"

Shadow put his hands on Silver's shoulders. "Silver, stay with me. I need a tracking device."

Trying to stay calm, Silver nodded. "I have a few hidden around this house. I'll go get one."

Shadow removed his hands, and Silver flew off.

"...wait..." Manic said, thinking. "He has tracking devices in my house?"

"At least he didn't say he put one in you." Shadow replied.

"I don't know about that. Sometimes, I swear I see a really small flicker of red light on my arm."

He and Shadow jumped at hearing loud, girly, screams.

Sonic, Scourge, and Silver came running into the kitchen.

"Manic, you need to move. TODAY." Silver said.

"You can live with me if you want." Sonic said.

"It's the Ghost Thief! It's coming after us!" Scourge said, hyperventilating.

Manic was trying to process this. "What are you guys talking about?"

Silver explained. "I was in your room, looking for one of my tracking devices (which is kinda ironic when you think about it). Scourge and Sonic came in to talk about something, then we saw books falling off the book shelf!"

Manic sighed and grabbed his favorite wooden baseball bat. "Alright. I'll go see what it is. If I don't return, Silver can have my clothes, Scourge can have my shoes and my music stuff. Sonic, split everything else with Sonia."

Shadow asked, "What about Tux?"

Manic thought for a moment. "I want you to take care of him. I honestly don't trust anyone else with Tux."

"I'll be the best cat parent possible."

"Thanks, Shadow." Manic waved his bat. "Wish me luck."

Manic walked into his room and shut the door.

"...should we go after him?" Scourge asked quietly.

Suddenly...

Everyone heard Manic screaming, along with the sound furniture crashing to the floor.

They were about to run into the room, but Manic ran out, slamming the door behind him. "That wasn't a ghost! THAT WAS NOT A GHOST!"

This made everyone nervous. "Well what was it?" Silver asked.

"What could be worse than a ghost?" Scourge added.

Panting, Manic answered, "It was way worse than a ghost! It was a mouse!"

Just like that, everyone's (except for Manic's) panic went away.

"...wut?" Scourge asked.

"It was a mouse! Some mangy rat got into my room!"

Silver quietly corrected, "Actually, rats and mice are two different things-"

"Now is not the time for your corrections! Just get it away from my room!" Manic interrupted.

"Well, sor-ry you big baby. I'll go get it."

Silver flew off.

"Why are you so scared of a little mouse?" Scourge asked.

"A rat bit his tail when we were 5." Sonic answered. "He ended up needing to get a rabies shot. He was crying the entire time."

"And who was crying right along with me?" Manic asked Sonic, smirking.

Sonic didn't answer.

Manic leaned toward Sonic. "And who was crying right along with me?"

"Look, that's not the point. And Sonia cried too. We're triplets, we always cried at each other's pain."

"Yeah, but she only cried for like, five minutes. And that was only when she realized I was getting a shot. You went past ten minutes and hadn't even found out about the shot yet."

"Aww..." Scourge said.

"Shut up!"

"Alright, your mouse problem is fixed." Silver said, flying back in. "And I got the tracking device."

"Great." Shadow responded. "How far is the range?"

"I was bored when I made it, so it's only about a hundred miles."

"That doesn't sound bad."

"Maybe not, but I still suggest having Tails work on it. Just to be sure that you catch whoever this is."

Shadow thought. "Alright then. Thanks." He took the small device.

"Anything I should do?" Manic asked.

"Yes." Shadow answered. "You (and everyone else) need to stay out of the house. But Tux should stay here."

Manic was surprised. "Why? What if the thief attacks him?"

Shadow picked up Tux, who had begun rubbing against his leg, and asked everyone, "Imagine you all are robbers, and you're in someone's house. Would any of you attack this?"

A bit embarrassed at being suckers for cute animals, everyone said no.

"If anything, I'd start petting him." Silver admitted. "That's probably how I'd get caught."

"And why is that?"

"Skin cells on the fur, or fingerprints on the collar. Or just taking too much time out to play with him."

This is when everyone caught on to Shadow's plan.

"Oh, that's clever."

"Thank you." Shadow said, putting Tux down. "Now I need to find Tails, then place the tracker."

Manic thought for a second, then ran off.

"Where is he going?" Shadow asked.

Scourge answered. "He must've gotten an idea. I don't know what he could've thought of, though... Why does he have a teddy bear?"

Indeed, Manic came back with what seemed to be an average stuffed bear. He took a good look around the room, then sat the bear on the coffee table.

"...Manic... What's with the bear?" Sonic asked his brother.

"Silver gave it to me on my birthday. There are cameras in the eyes."

Shadow turned to Silver, "What is it with you and watching people?"

"Don't worry about that. By the way, you said we need to be out of the house, right? I suggest we all meet at my house. We can monitor the tracker's movement from my computer."

Scourge thought. "Do ya think you could hook up Manic's teddy bear to the computer, too?"

Silver nodded. He took the bear from the table and began fiddling with the camera inside. After a second, he placed it back down. "Done. We should be able to watch the footage from my computer."

"Great." Shadow said. "Now I'd better hurry and get Tails to modify the tracker."

Shadow was soon running to Sonic and Tails's house, feeling more determined than ever.