Manic helps Mina

On shore, under his castle, Manic played the same song Mina sang to him on his clarinet, Cheese lay nearby as Manic played his clarinet. He stopped and sighed and got up off of the rock. Cheese started walking around, getting Manic's attention and causing him to get excited.

"Chao?" asked the Chao.

"That voice." Manic said, "I can't get it out of my head." He turned to Cheese, saying, "I've looked everywhere, Cheese. Where could she be?"

Not far away, Mina and her friends finally managed to get her to the shore. It was exhausting, but everyone made it to the shore.

Silver, Charmy, and Basil were the only ones exhausted and weary that they collapsed near the rocks!

Mina started to wake up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. As she did, she noticed her new tail and knees and was caught by surprise. She raised one of her legs above water and saw a foot with no toes (Mobians have four — or five — fingers on their hands, but no toes). She waved her foot and was fascinated. She had finally gotten her wish of having legs and a tail and being a normal mongoose. As she marveled at her new legs and tail, Jeremy flew overhead and landed on Mina's leg.

"Well, look at what the catfish dragged in!" he exclaimed, "Look at ya! Look at ya! There's something different. Don't tell me, I got it. It's your hairdo, right? You've been using the dinglehopper, right?"

Mina shook her head no, but kept smiling.

"No? No, huh?" Then Jeremy thought for a moment and said, "Well let me see. New . . . seashells?"

Mina didn’t respond, but smirked at Jeremy, hoping he’d find out the answer. "No new seashells."

Mina shook her leg to get Jeremy to notice, and he stood on her leg, annoying Basil. "I gotta admit I can't put my foot on it right now," he said. "But if I just stand here long enough I know that I'll -"

"SHE'S GOT LEGS AND A TAIL, YOU IDIOT!" Basil shouted.

Finally, Jeremy jumped up, seeing Mina's legs, and rose up in a flutter at the outburts.

"She traded her voice to the evil Sailor Scout and got legs and a tail." Basil explained, "Jeez, man . . ."

By that time, Jeremy had flown and sat on a rock by the mouse. "I knew that."

While Mina attempted to stand, Silver and Charmy explained to Jeremy what was going to happen.

"Mina's been turned into a normal mongoose." said Silver.

"She's gotta make the male green hedgehog fall in love with her, and he's gotta ki- he's gotta kiss her." added Charmy.

Her legs were a little wobbly. It was as if watching a baby try to stand on its own with no support for the first time.

"And she's only got three days." said Basil.

Mina managed to get on her feet, but quickly found herself unable to stand still. She quickly lost her balance and fell over in the water, causing a splash that got Silver, Charmy, Basil, and Jeremy wet and causing Jeremy to have a piece of seaweed hanging off his beak. Another piece of seaweed was on top of Mina's purple hair.

Basil got frantic. "Just look at her. On legs and a tail. On normal mongoose legs with a normal mongoose tail! My nerves are shot. This is a catastrophe! What would her uncle say? I'll tell you what her uncle'd say, he'd say he's gonna kill himself a mouse, that's what her uncle'd say!" he complained, turning his attention to the hedgehog and bee.

Other than Basil's frantic yelling, Mina was getting up and getting the seaweed out of her hair. Hearing this, she saw Kaa starting to head into the water, and then she picked him up and shook her head frantically, trying to make him change his mind. Mina didn’t want her uncle to find out about what she just did, and, picking him up and shaking her head no are in an attempt to stop him from going to tell Top Cat.

Basil carried on complaining. "I'm gonna march meself straight home right now and tell him just like I shoulda done de minute . . . and don't you shake your head at me, young lady." Eventually, he stopped complaining and spoke in a normal tone of voice. "Maybe there's still time. If we could get that Sailor Scout to give you back your voice, you could go home with all the normal fish, and just be . . . just be . . ."

Basil's hope for Mina started fading away when he saw Mina's sad, gloomy face. Fearing that Mina would get more depressed than she was when her grotto was destroyed by Top Cat's anger, Basil finally started to give in, saying, "Just be miserable for the rest of your life. All right, all right. I'll try to help you find that hedgehog."

Mina smiled and kissed the mouse before putting him down.

"Boy. What a softie I'm turning out to be." he said.

Jeremy came across what appeared to be a black cowboy hat with a purple ribbon around the "dome," a purple bandana, black, fringed, leather gloves, a seafoam shirt, a purple tattered skirt, a black belt with a gold buckle, and black cowboy boots (similar to Red Hot Riding Hood's cowgirl outfit). Jeremy grabbed the cowboy hat, bandana, gloves, shirt, skirt, belt, and cowboy boots.

"Now, Mina, I'm tellin' ya," said the crow, "If you wanna be a normal mongoose, the first thing you gotta do is dress like one. Now lemme see."

Before that, he noticed that with Mina's mertail gone, she wasn't wearing anything from the waist down, …except her tank top and shorts.

Meanwhile, Manic continued trudging down the beach, unable to take the girl’s voice out of her head. But as he walked, Cheese detected a scent, one that he recognized from before. Suddenly getting excited, he tried getting Manic to follow him. "Chao!" cried the Chao.

Manic looked stunned. "Cheese? Huh . . . what,"

Cheese just happily started flying ahead of Manic. The guy saw his pet Chao rush off. "Cheese!"

Back with Mina's friends, they managed to dress Mina up in the black cowboy hat, purple bandana, black gloves, seafoam shirt, purple skirt, a black belt, and black cowboy boots. She felt giddy wearing her first normal mongoose clothes. Jeremy gave a wolf whistle as he checked out his friend. "Ya look great, kid!" he said. "Ya look - sensational." Silver and Charmy agreed, but Basil felt skeptical about the cowgirl outfit.

"Chao!"

Suddenly, everyone heard Cheese's excited shouting nearby and looked. They spotted Cheese flying towards them. Silver and Charmy yelped, got spooked, and hid under the shallow water.

Jeremy flew off, and Basil, knowing that Mina would need him, rushed to the girl and hid in her skirt. Mina tried getting away from Cheese. But the hyper chao kept intercepting her at every turn. Mina got on a small boulder at the beach as Cheese kissed her face.

"Cheese!" Manic called from a distance.

Cheese stopped licking Mina, turned, and ran to his master, leaving Mina to smile at the Chao.

"Cheese!" Manic called before seeing his pet, and tried to calm Cheese down. "Quiet, Cheese! What's gotten into you fella?"

As Manic petted his pet, his eyes widened when he noticed A sitting on the boulder. "Chao!" Cheese said.

"Oh . . . Oh, I see." said Manic, as he approached the girl. Mina tried to compose herself by moving her headband back on her head.

"Are you O.K., miss?" asked Manic, as he playfully ruffled Cheese's head. "I'm sorry if this knucklehead scared you." he said, "He's harmless, really - . . ."

Manic stopped talking and stared at Mina, but as he did, he started having a feeling. There was something familiar about her. Mina smiled very lovingly at him.

"You . . . seem very familiar . . . to me." Manic said skeptically, "Have we met?"

Mina nodded yes with a big smile on her face. "Chao!" Cheese cried in excitement. He tried to lick her, but he was pushed down by Manic.

"We have met?" asked Manic, as he grasped her hands, "I knew it! You're the one - the one I've been looking for! What's your name?

Cheese turned to Mina with excitement and also started feeling joyful and curious. "Chao, chao?" he asked. Mina tried speaking. But with her voice gone, nothing came out of her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Manic asked, "What is it?"

Mina patted on her throat and showed Manic her neck, trying to show that she couldn’t talk.

"You can't speak?"

Mina shook her head sadly. This caused Manic to feel down. "Oh." he said, "Then you couldn't be who I thought." He was sure that this girl was the one who saved him.

Cheese rolled his eyes in frustration. "Chao!" Mina is his master's rescuer! Couldn't he see that?

Mina did the same thing before coming up with an idea. *I know!* Mina thought. She moved her arms and hands around as if she was trying to do pantomime or charades. Manic tried to figure out what Mina was trying to say.

"What is it?" he asked, "You're hurt? No, No . . . You need help."

Mina tried to make more hand movements to communicate. But then, she lost her balance and fell off the boulder!

"Whoa, whoa, careful," said Manic, as he caught Mina in his arms. "Careful. Easy."

The two stared at each other in a shocked and awkward way.

"Gee, you must have really been through something." said the green hedgehog, "Don't worry, I'll help you. Come on . . . Come on, you'll be okay."

As Manic put Mina's arm over his shoulder, she glimpsed behind her and gave her friends a big grin. Silver, Charmy, and smiled at her and wished her good luck. Manic guided Mina toward his castle. Walking was very hard for someone who spent their whole life swimming! Regardless, Manic was patient and made sure Mina did not fall. Eventually, they arrived at Manic's castle.

Later in the day, Mina was introduced to the Mobians working at the castle. The first order of business was to clean Mina up and get her washed for dinner. In her tub filled with bubbles, Mina played with them, overcome by fascination.

Pouring warm water from a jug over her head was an anthropomorphic, quill-less, female hedgehog with peach skin, purple fur, a black nose, long eyelashes, long, dark purple hair, and black eyes, wearing a yellow cloak, a gold crown, a matching, slightly thick piece of cloth at the front end of her cloak, a white dress of armor covering her body, cream-colored shoes, a gold pendant of three crystals on the bottom of her dress, and a cream-colored belt with a cerise jewel in the middle of it. Her name was Queen Aleena, the castle maid and Manic's mother. She was nearby, and she helped in getting Mina cleaned up.

"Washed up from a shipwreck?" gasped Aleena, "Oh, the poor thing! We'll have you feeling better in no time.

Basil, who was hiding in Mina's skirt, peeked out, but saw Aleena overhead, taking the shirt, skirt, and bandana and preparing to leave the room. "I'll just - I'll just get these washed for you." she said.

In another room, the shirt, skirt, and bandana were put in large tub, and Lady Windermere, Mindy LaTour, and Vanilla the Rabbit wash them. Unfortunately, Basil was still stuck in these clothes, and he couldn’t get out.

"Well, you must have at least heard about this, girls." Lady Windermere said, beginning to talk.

"No!" Mindy exclaimed.

Lady Windermere washed the shirt, skirt, and bandana, causing Basil to feel uncomfortable with each scrub and movement, saying, "Keiko says she's a princess, but since when has Keiko ever gotten anything right? I mean really, this girl mongoose shows up in rags and doesn't speak-"

"Madame," said Basil. "Please!"

As this conversation went on, he was squished by a presser, along with the shirt, skirt, and bandana, but he recovered immediately afterward, though he landed on the clothes in the laundry basket.

"Not my idea of a princess." said Lady Windermere, as she took the shirt, skirt, and bandana and hung them on a clothesline one by one, "If Manic's looking for a girl, I know a couple of highly available ones right here."

As the clothes were hung from the clothesline, they were moved towards the nearby castle. Basil jumped out of the skirt and landed in a room through a window. Relieved to be out of that experience, Basil started to get up. But as he did, he saw something absolutely horrifying: beheaded fish with sharp blades, cooked squid and octopi in a pan, and worst of all, deep-fried mice on a plate. This was the castle kitchen, and the sight of so many dead sea creatures was too much for Basil to take. He fainted in fear.