Disclaimer: Mournfully not mine.
A/N: A drabble request for the prompt 'Sonic, Knuckles and the essence of their friendship'.
Invisible Walls
© Scribbler, October 2008.
Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. – Anonymous.
"Yowch! This place is even hotter than me - and that's really saying something!"
Knuckles ground his teeth and counted to ten. "Of course it's hot. We're in a volcano."
Sonic stuck out his tongue. "Smarty-pants." He tipped his head back, spikes dripping with sweat that had worked its way from under his fur. It plopped towards the lava far below their ledge, evaporating as it fell. "So where's the piece of the emerald you've been tracking?"
Knuckles looked at the skinny barb of rock in the very centre of the lava. Something sparkled at its apex.
Sonic followed his gaze. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding."
"I don't need your help, hedgehog." Knuckles limped forward. He'd already been hurt on this quest to recover the scattered chunks of the Master Emerald. He never cried out, but he couldn't mask every crumb of the wince that wanted to scrunch up his face.
Sonic rolled his eyes and followed. "Sure you don't. And I'm not the fastest thing on two legs."
Fin.