Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The trio hedgehogs made it down to the front door with ease; and in a new record time, 15 seconds. Sonic looked at the door for a long moment until he finally grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Outside in the heavily falling rain and flashes of lightning was Knuckles the echidna; his bold eyes looked at the trio with seriousness but his eyes weren't what caught Silver's attention. In Knuckles' arms was a young hedgehog that was maybe 10 years old, and standing behind Knuckles were three other anthros that were hidden in the darkness of the night.

"Knuckles? What… who are they?"

"Just let me in, I'll explain all that I know," he replied quickly and urgently. Shadow took the hedgehog from Knuckles' arms and carried him to the couch in their large living room. Shadow frowned as he glanced back at the others; Knuckles walked inside and he turned around.

"Come on in… it's safe."

The three anthros gave fearful glances at Sonic and Silver as they slowly and cautiously walked in. In the light, the trio hedgehogs realized they weren't just one species. There was a bat, a chameleon, and a cat. Knuckles motioned toward the chairs that sat scattered across the room, and as though they were controlled, they all sat down obediently without a word.

The chameleon stuck out as the strangest one out of the bunch, she was red with gold eyes. She wore black gloves and black and white boots.

The bat was next strangest; he had midnight black fur, with orphan blue eyes. He had dark blue wings, but one seemed strangely crooked, wore white gloves, black ninja outfit that made Shadow think it was the one similar to Rouge's except without the chest plate, and blue and white knee high boots. Around one of his arms, was a white bandage that had a slight red line running down it.

The cat was quiet as she sat down. Her pure white fur and black design on her back made her seem adorable, but her fierce light blue and gray mixed eyes made her seem slightly scary. She had a long tail that wrapped around her legs nervously. She wore black and gray running shoes, white gloves that had black cuffs, and a long cloak that went down to her knees.

"Who do we have here?" asked Silver as he looked at the cat. He began thinking about Blaze who he hadn't seen in ages, and how he missed her a lot.

"Well I only got two names out of the four of them. The bat is named Cylis, and the hedgehog is named Zero," replied Knuckles sadly.

Shadow, Silver and Sonic all sat down on the floor and looked up at Knuckles as though it was story time for a bunch of little kids.

"What's the story on this one?"

"Well… it started off like any other night like this, I was reading, trying to pass the time…"

X X X X X X X X X X X

The rainfall had just gotten heavier and the crash of thunder made reading no easier for Knuckles the echidna. He was halfway through the book that he already had read more than 3 times already; with a bored sigh he placed the book aside. He was under a hand made tent and he had made himself a hammock for the night.

He gazed at the flashes of lightning and tried to imagine them as fireworks… very dull, colorless fireworks. Knuckles sighed again and he rolled onto his side in his hammock, "might as well try to get some sleep," he mumbled as he already felt his eyes droop. When they closed he was flung into his pleasant dream.

The sudden sounds of shrieks, whimpers, and a loud explosion was what woke Knuckles from his slumber and caused him to be furious at the source of all the commotion. As soon as he sat up, the sound died down and the only sounds were whimpering. The echidna got out of the hammock and followed the sound of the whimpers and he soon saw what caused it.

"Hello? Are you okay?" he questioned as he saw the bat, chameleon, and cat surround a small figure in the grassy plains. They all looked at Knuckles and they moved away from him. He held up his hands as though to tell them to hold on a second, and they didn't move. He slowly walked toward them; he knelt beside the hedgehog that lay on the ground. He checked for a pulse and was relieved to feel the faint pulse.

"Who is he?" asked Knuckles as he looked at the bat.

"Zero is his name sir," replied the bat.

"And who are you all?"

"I'm Cylis the bat."

Knuckles waited for the others to say their name but they said nothing. "Why aren't they-"

"They're scared of you."

"Scared of me?"

Cylis nodded. "Please… help Zero… he got the worse damages."

Knuckles nodded as he lifted Zero and realized what Cylis meant; Zero's head was badly banged up, and his body felt very limp. He looked at Zero carefully and realized he looked a bit like Sonic; he had dark colored fur, maybe a mix between black and dark teal, and he wore gloves very similar to Sonic's and running shoes that were white and green. He looked at the trio, taking in their appearances for future references and he said, "I know where to get help, but you have to follow me and promise you won't fall too far behind."

The trio nodded slowly and they swiftly followed Knuckles.

X X X X X X X X X X X

"So we all ran here as fast as we could and that leaves us to what's happening now," finished Knuckles as he looked at Sonic, Silver and Shadow for a reaction. He jumped slightly at the sound of thunder in the distance; the storm was passing now.

Sonic yawned widely as he rubbed his eyes, Shadow nodded as he glanced at the bat, and Silver seemed the most attentive out of the trio. Knuckles then asked, "So can you help?"

"Well… Tails is out of town so we really can't do much for Zero, but as for the others, we should check for injuries."

"Did that. They're perfectly okay, except Cylis and Zero. Cylis has a broken wing and a bad cut on his arm, which I treated already, and Zero has the worse damages. That's all I know," Knuckles replied automatically and he sighed.

"Okay so if we know that much, lets let them sleep. We all need the sleep, in the morning we'll figure this out."

Knuckles nodded to that idea along with Shadow. Sonic looked at Zero and he said, "You guys go. I'll catch up on my sleep some other time."

"Huh?"

"Well we don't know much about them. I just want to make sure they don't try anything funny."

Shadow nodded, "do you need help with that?"

"No I should be fine. Tails will be here in the morning anyways so we'll wait. Get some sleep guys."

Silver nodded, Shadow shrugged and replied, "eh, your loss."

Knuckles looked at the trio, "Zero will be fine, Sonic will watch him, for now though please follow me."

The trio got up and followed Knuckles to the guest bedrooms. The duo hedgehogs glanced at Sonic and darted off back to their room in black and silver blurs. Sonic sat down in a recliner and he leaned back in it, making it almost as flat as a bed would be. He looked at Zero and he whispered, "night Zero… hope you get well soon…"