Deliver Us (version 8)

Many thousands of years ago, before Christianity existed, before Columbus discovered the Americas, and before the British Empire, there was royalty in Ancient Egypt. Back when the Pharaohs ruled, a race of religious Mobians known as the Hebrews were enslaved by the royals, robots alike. In the desert on a boiling day, thousands of slaves were pulling the head of a statue of the current Pharaoh while slave drivers whipped them to make them work faster.

Slaves: Mud! Sand! Water! Straw! Faster!

Other slaves were mixing sand, straw, and water into mud with their feet to create bricks for the monuments they were forced to build while others dumped sand, water, and straw in the mixing areas, and the water landed hard on some of the slaves, making them fall in the mud and the slave drivers whipped them. Many other slaves placed the brick mixture in molds to make the bricks while the others carried a load of them to where the monuments were being built and many other slaves dug through the sands with pickaxes.

Slaves: Mud! And lift! Sand! And pull! Water! And raise up! Straw!

The slaves near the Nile pulled large vats of water from the river and others lifted the bricks up to the other slaves building the monuments. Some slaves threw straw in the mixing areas, and a robot chicken named Scratch roared as he whipped a slave, "Faster!" As the slaves worked, they sang out loud and Sir Ffuzzy Logik whipped Mighty the Armadillo, who was nearly exhausted from carrying a load on his shoulders, on the back.

Slaves: From the sting of the whip on my shoulder With the salt of my sweat on my brow Elohim, God on high Can you hear your people cry? Help us now This dark hour

Throughout Egypt, the slaves worked harder and harder to get through their work and the 'camera' zoomed out to get a larger glimpse of Egypt, and we see slaves carrying heavy stacks on their backs while many others mounted a monument of the Pharaoh. An anthropomorphic crocodile known as Vector the Crocodile collapsed on the ground, exhausted, and reached his hand for help before he could die from exhaustion, and an anthropomorphic chameleon, Espio the Chameleon grabbed his hand and helped him up. He comforted the crocodile until Dragonbreath came over and shoved the two slaves to make them get back to work and kept a close eye on the rest of the slaves.

Slaves: Deliver us Hear our call Deliver us Lord of all, remember us here in this burning sand Deliver us There's a land you promised us Deliver us to the promised land!

At a Hebrew village outside the city, guards were swarming around the streets. The Pharaoh feared that one day, the Hebrew population would rise against him, so he ordered his guards to rid the Hebrews of newborn baby boys, only to spare the girls. From one of the homes, there lived an anthropomorphic, quill-less female hedgehog with peach skin and dark purple hair, as well as thistle pink fur and black eyes, wearing a turquoise long-sleeved, loose dress, and a long, lavender headscarf. She was also holding something close to her scarf. Her name was Queen Aleena.

In the hut with her were two young hedgehog children. One of the hedgehog children was an anthropomorphic 6-year-old female hedgehog with fuchsia pink fur, pink hair in a style of curly spikes and a full fringes, peach skin, and black eyes like her mother, wearing a red short-sleeved, loose dress, and a purple sarong. Her name was Sonia the Hedgehog, Aleena's daughter.

The other hedgehog child was an anthropomorphic 6-year-old male hedgehog with peach skin, green fur, black eyes, and shaggy green quills, wearing a white long-sleeved, loose tunic and a red sleeveless, buttonless overcoat. His name was Manic the Hedgehog, one of Aleena's sons and Sonia's twin brother.

As Aleena watched the guards ran through the streets, she sang in Hebrew as she held the bundle protectively.

Aleena: Yal-di ha-tov veh ha-rach. Al ti-ra vel al tif-chad.

She pulled her scarf back, revealing a baby hedgehog with blue fur, blue quills, green eyes, and the same peach skin and black nose as his mother and siblings. She sang to the baby as she wrapped a blanket from his cradle around him to keep him warm.

Aleena: My son, I have nothing I can give But this chance that you may live I pray we'll meet again If 'He' will deliver us

Aleena and her children heard screams coming from the outside and watched out the window as the guards searched through the village, stormed into the Hebrew homes, took away and killed every baby boy they can find. Coconuts shoved Vanilla the Rabbit out of his way and came over to where her newborn son was and took him away, and he left the house as Vanilla cried over the loss of her child. Aleena and her children snuck out of the house while she hid her newborn in her arms, and Sonia carried and hand-woven basket in her arms.

Slaves: Deliver us Hear our prayer Deliver us From despair, these years of slavery grew too cruel to stand Deliver us There's a land you promised us Deliver us, out of bondage and... Deliver us to the promised land!

When the coast was clear, the hedgehog family ran through the streets to find a way out of the village. They came to a stop, and Aleena pulled Manic over to her when they saw more soldiers running above the streets. When they were gone, the family kept running through the streets until they were out of the village. They ran across a small part of the desert to the Nile and hid in the oasis to make sure they weren't seen.

They hid deeper in the reeds until they got to the shore. As Sonia set the basket near the water, the baby started to cry, and Aleena comforted him. She sang to him softly as she placed him in the basket.

Aleena: Hush now, my baby Be still love, don't cry Sleep as you're rocked by the stream Sleep and remember my last lullaby So I'll be with when you dream

The baby hedgehog moved around in the blanket and got his arm free and gripped Aleena's finger gently and started drifting to sleep. Aleena leaned down to kiss her baby son on the head and closed the basket as the baby yawned and fell asleep. Once her son was safely inside, Aleena went into the water and placed the basket down on it and sent it drifting down the river.

Aleena: River, oh river Flow gently for me Such precious cargo you bear Do you know somewhere he can be free? River deliver him there...

As Aleena finished her song, tears of sadness flowed down her cheek, saddened at giving up her beloved child. Sonia followed the basket down the river through the reeds to make sure nothing happened while her baby brother was in there. The basket drifted down the river while some monkeys, sitting on a branch watched the basket drift past them. A bunch of fish jumped out of the water and birds flew over it.

Suddenly, a giant Nile crocodile jumped out of the water and a bunch of hippos came out of the water and started fighting each other while making the basket jump over them. Sonia kept up with the basket and gasped as she saw it drift near the fishing boats. The fishermen pulled the net full of fish up while the basket fell out of the net and back in the water and drifted through the other boats. Sonia ran into the river, but she stopped and watched as the people in the people in the boats row their paddles and the basket drifted through the strokes and she gasped when she saw the basket heading towards a boat.

Then the boat came past the basket, and the waves it made caused the basket to drift towards the palace. The basket went through the curtains and herons flew out of the water to move out of the way and it drifted to the land.

At the steps of the water gardens, there was a tall and obese, but beautiful, woman with fair skin, short, curly, auburn hair, teal eyes, and red lips, wearing a royal white sleeveless Egyptian dress, gold wristbands, matching armbands Egyptian make-up on her face, and small, golden sandals. She was also standing in the shallows. Her name was Ella, the queen of Egypt.

In her arms was two young male hedgehogs — one two years older than Sonia and Manic and another four years younger. The first one was an 8-year-old male hedgehog with green fur, peach skin, green quills, a black nose, and blue eyes, wearing white gloves and a matching kilt with orange lines. His name was Scourge the Hedgehog, Ella's oldest son. The second one was a strict and brood-looking 2-year-old hedgehog with black fur, red markings all over his body, black curved spiky quills with red markings, tan skin, red eyes, a black nose, and a white wing-shaped patch of fur on his chest, wearing white gloves with red rims, gold ring bracelets, and a white kilt with orange lines. His name was Shadow the Hedgehog, Scourge's little brother.

Shadow was reaching out to a water lily floating in the water. Ella picked up the lily and gave it to the little hedgehog, and he and Scourge started pulling off the petals in curiosity. She looked down and saw the basket floating towards her. She put her sons down on dry land and leaned down to look inside the basket. Sonia gasped, believing her brother would be killed if the royal members found him.

Ella opened the basket and gasped in surprise at seeing the baby hedgehog wake up from his nap. He smiled at the queen and she gave him a soft and gentle smile. Sonia sighed in relief and smiled at the sweet happy moment. She sang as she watched Ella take the baby hedgehog out of the basket and hold him gently.

Sonia: Brother, you're safe now And safe may you stay For I have a prayer just for you Grow, baby brother Come back someday Come and deliver us, too

She watched happily as Ella held the baby in her arms and the baby hedgehog tugged her hair with curiosity and interest, and Ella kissed him on the head and held him close. She had taken an immediate love for the baby and decide to adopt him as her own. Sonia gave her baby brother one glance and left to go find Aleena and Manic to tell them the baby was safe.

Ella came onto the dry land and came over to the servant women, who were looking over the baby hedgehog and they looked at the baby hedgehog with shocked looks and disapproval as the baby cooed happily at his new adoptive mother. The girls looked at the baby, but Ella glared at them and they looked away. Scourge and Shadow held their arms up to her and tugged on the queen's skirt, wondering what she found. Scourge said to her, "Mother..."

"Mommy..." Shadow stammered.

Ella looked at her firstborn son and his youngest brother and smiled as they walked, "Come, Scourge, Shadow. We will show Pharaoh your new baby brother..."

She finished as the baby hedgehog cooed and she gently touched his nose, "Sonic." The queen, the baby hedgehog, the servants, and the two hedgehog children made their way to the palace to show the Pharaoh his new adopted son while the Hebrew Mobians worked in their slavery day and night and sang out loud.

Slaves: Deliver us Send a shepherd to shepherd us And deliver us to the promised land Deliver us to the promised land!

The song started to coming to an end as we get a glimpse of the rest of Egypt and the Hebrew village as the sun began to set.

The scene ended, and Aleena's voice was heard, finishing the song.

Aleena: Deliver us!