Further away, Knuckles, Tikal, Ralph, Shade, Gabor, Jon and Kneecaps laughed in triumph. Remington and Julie-Su, although at first they were not convinced to come with the rest of the group, could not deny that they had a lot of fun ditching Espio.
"All right! It worked!" said Knuckles.
"We lost him!" Tikal gave a thumbs up.
"With that little trick we pulled, I don't think we have to bother with him for a long time!" Grinned Jon.
"We should do that again someday." Laughed Shade.
"Did you see the bit with the elephant?" Gabor hooted.
"And the bit with the raft!" Ralph fell on the ground, hollering.
"What about the 'Tree Of Mobians?'" Added Kneecaps.
"I am a genius." Knuckles said with a smug smile.
"Hey genius, it was my idea." Tikal argued.
"Yeah, but I pulled it off." Knuckles remarked back.
"With all of us!"
"Oh yeah?"
He tried to tackle Tikal, but she managed to pin him down.
"Ha! Pinned ya!" Laughed the orange echidna.
"Guess you're not as strong as you look." Giggled Julie-Su.
"You'll never pin anyone down like that." Added Remington.
Knuckles groaned in annoyance when he heard what his friends were saying. "Hey. Let me up!"
Tikal got off of him, and he caught her off guard as they tumbled down a hill. When they hit the bottom, Tikal was once again on top of Knuckles.
"Pinned ya, again."
"Oh yeah? I call best out of five!"
Before they could go again, they stared in awe as they looked around.
"Hey, are you ok down there?" Asked Jon.
"Yes. Come. Look what we found." replied Knuckles while Tikal got off him again, and helped him to his feet.
Shade, Julie-Su, Gabor, Jon, Kneecaps, Ralph and Remington rushed over to their friends.
"This is it. We made it."
They looked around at some busted robots.
"Whoa."
"It's really creepy." Julie-Su commented.
"Yeah." Knuckles agreed. "Isn't it great?"
"We could get in big trouble." Shade winked, as she relished in her mischief.
"I know."
The 9 of them looked at the robot remains. It didn't look like a complicated design, but none of them had really seen something like this before, and all had a thirst for curiosity (Jon, Kneecaps and Gabor especially for being the youngest in the group)
"I wonder if it's 'brains' are still in there." Ralph carefully ventured toward the robot pieces.
"There's only one way to know." Knuckles signalled for the 'code handshake' they always do for good luck. "Come on, let's go check it out!"
The 9 echidnas were about to go exploring, but they didn't get far. Julie-Su and Remington gave each other a cautious look before deciding to head out with the rest.
"Wrong!" Cried a familiar voice, and Espio popped out of nowhere. "The only checking out you will do will be to check out of here!"
"Aw, man!" Knuckles sighed.
"We only just got here." Added Ralph in irritation.
"We're way beyond the boundary of Angel Island!" Espio gulped.
"Look, the little chameleon is scared." Snarked Knuckles, Jon, Kneecaps and Gabor.
Espio glared at the 4 echidnas, "That's MISTER chameleon to you, redheads. And right now, we are all in very real danger."
Knuckles smirked. "Danger? Hah! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha ha!"
Suddenly his laughter was cut short when laughter came from more reminds of robots. He gasped in fright, and hid behind Tikal and Espio. The others present could only watch with worry.
Three mobain birds emerged from behind the robot remains with evil smirks on their faces.
The first mobain bird is a hawk with two shades of green on his feathers as well as hints of white and red, a golden yellow beak and azure blue eyes. He wears yellow and white goggles with grey strapping, white gloves with red and white cuffs, and red, black and white boots with grey soles. His name is Jet.
The second mobian bird is a swallow with two shades of purple on her feathers with some hints of heliotrope, a golden beak and cobalt blue eyes. She wears red boots with white accents, gold sunglasses, white flare trousers, a white tube top, white necklace with red gem, a white bandanna and white gloves with golden bracelets. Her name is Wave.
The third and final mobain bird is an albatross. He has two toned grey feathers with hints of red, white and black, a golden beak, and blue eyes. He wears tan gloves, black, yellow, white and grey sneakers, white socks, small beige goggles and a necklace with three gray pieces strung on. His name is Storm.
"Well, well, well, Jet. What have we got here?" Asked Wave.
"I don't know, Wave. Uh, what do you think, Storm?"
"Well, are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jet?" Storm asked through his laughter.
"Yeah, just what I was thinking." Jet approached Knuckles, Tikal and Espio. "A group of trespassers!"
"And quite by accident, let me assure you." Espio said nervously. "A simple navigational error."
At that time Storm are approached to the other echidnas to intimidate them. Ralph and Remington were put in place to protect to Julie-Su, Shade, Gabor, Jon and Kneecaps, while retreating to join the other three.
Before the group could leave, Wave stepped on Espio's tail!
"Whoa, whoa, wait wait wait! I know you. You're Locke's little stooge."
"I, madam, am the guardian's majordomo."
As the rogues circle around their intruders, Jet looked at Knuckles. "And that would make you-."
"The future guardian!" Knuckles said bluntly.
"Do you know what we do to guardians who step off their island?" Wave asked.
Knuckles scoffed. "You can't do anything to me."
"Uh, technically, they can. We are on their land."
"But Espio, didn't you mention something about them making clobbering mangy stupid clunkers?"
Tikal, Gabor and Ralph had to bite back they laughter on Knuckles' joke.
"Ix-nay on the oopid-stay." Espio muttered.
"Who are you calling oopid-stay?!" Jet said as he got in Espio's face.
"My, my, my! Look at the sun!" Espio gestured for the 9 echidnas to move it. "It's time to go!"
Wave quickly blocked them. "What's the hurry? We'd looove you to stick around for a while."
"Yeaaaah!" Jet agreed. "We could welcome whoever's… kidding around!" He laughed at his own joke.
"Wait, wait, wait, I got one, I got one!" Wave went on, "Should we tuck them in bed while we're at it?"
As they laughed, Storm joined in, but realised something. "Guys, we've got a problem!"
"What, Storm? What is it?" Wave asked.
Jet looked at where Storm was pointing.
"Hey, Wave, did we order these prisoners to go?"
"No. Why?"
"CAUSE THERE THEY GO!" Jet yelled out as they looked to see to Espio and the 8 echidnas running away.
Knuckles was carrying his cousin Jon in his arms. Tikal held onto her younger brother, Gabor. Ralph was running as he grabbed Julie-Su's hand so they could make a quick getaway, while the pink echidna carried Kneecaps on her back. Remington carried Shade in his arms as the fear paralysed her so much she couldn't move.
Wave quickly caught Espio who yelped in fright.
The echidnas didn't realise this when they got a fair distance away however.
"Did we lose them?" Asked Gabor, nearly collapsing onto Tikal.
"I think so." Knuckles and Tikal caught their breath and helped Gabor back to his feet.
"Wait," Knuckles realised, "where's Espio?"
"You don't suppose…" Jon stuttered, and all four got a nasty feeling…
Near a geyser, Jet held onto a screaming Espio.
"The little majordomo chameleon hippity-hopped all the way to the chameleon-boiler!" He stuffed the chameleon into the geyser, plugging it up.
"Oh no! Not the chameleon-boiler!" Espio screamed when the geyser shot off in a puff of steam.
The Babylon Rogues laughed hysterically until Knuckles called from the top of a hill.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
"Like you?" Wave asked, grinning.
"Uh… oops…"
All of the kids screamed as the Rogues started chasing them. In a desperate attempt to escape the nine end separated into 3 groups. Knuckles was alone with Tikal. Remington ended up with Shade and Gabor, the red echidna on the orange one's back. Finally, Ralph was with Julie-Su, Jon and Kneecaps, both cousins were riding with the purple and pink echidnas.
Jet, Wave and Storm darted around the red echidna and the orange echidna, and poked their heads through an active methane vent.
"BOO!" They laughed, and the chased them up and over some busted robots, and Knuckles and Tikal slipped away by sliding down a slope.
They shot off the end, and landed on a hillside of parts as the rogues chased them.
"Knuckles!" Tikal cried out.
Knuckles turned around, and gasped in horror when he saw his friend screaming as she was slipping back down the pile.
He ran back bravely, and before Wave could capture Tikal, he punched Wave in the face, and the echidnas ran off.
Wave became enraged as she, Storm, and Jet perused their prisoners.
Knuckles and Tikal tried to climb up a cliff, but they fell down into a cage, and they were trapped.
"Here, little echidna." Jet said in a taunting voice.
Knuckles tried to use some power from a chaos emerald, as he's witness his father do, but it was only a spark.
The Rogues laughed.
"Ha! That was it?" Taunted Jet. "Hah! Do it again. Come on."
So, Knuckles tried again, but a lot of chaos energy then appeared out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Not only were the Rogues confused, but Knuckles was too. Tikal first thought Knuckles caused the spark, but when he told her he didn't, she was confused too.
Suddenly, Locke appeared, and the Rogues tried to fight him, but he was too strong for them, and he managed to pin them down. The rogues cringed in fear.
"Oh, please, please. Uncle! Uncle!" Wave begged.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Groaned Jet.
"SILENCE!" Locke roared out in rage.
"Oh we're gonna shut up right now." Jet shook in fear.
"Calm down." Wave chuckled nervously. "We're really sorry."
"HAVE MERCY!" Storm cried out in fear.
"If you ever come near my son again, you will be SORRY!"
Wave gasped. "Oh this is... this is YOUR son?!"
"Oh, your son?"
"Did you know that?"
"No...me?"
"I-I-I didn't know it. No. Did you?"
"No! Of course not!"
"No."
Both Jet and Wave looked at Storm. "Storm?"
Storm nodded. "Yes, I knew!"
Locke growled very loudly as the rogues screamed in terror.
"Toodles!" Jet chuckled nervously.
The rogues screamed as they ran away in fear.
Espio went up to Locke, and nodded at him, only to cringe when the guardian gave him an angry glare.
Ralph, Gabor, Julie-Su, Jon, Kneecaps, Remington and Shade arrived and were pleased to see that Knuckles and Tikal were safe.
Knuckles approached his father cautiously. "Dad, I-"
Locke glared down at his son. "You deliberately disobeyed me."
"Dad, I'm-I'm sorry."
"Let's go home!" Locke said in a stern tone as he began to walk away with Espio following him.
As they followed Locke and Espio, Tikal looked at Knuckles.
"I thought you were very brave." She whispered.
"Yeah." Ralph added, "You were going to take on the Rogues solo, just to protect Tikal back there."
"That was really awesome, coz." Grinned Jon.
"Yeah, and you weren't scared when the rogues started taunting ya." Added Gabor.
"And you stood up for Espio too." Grinned Shade.
"That was really brave." Smiled Kneecaps.
"I couldn't have done that." Remington admitted.
"You were great, Knuckles." Finished Julie-Su.
The red echidna smiled the tinniest bit at all his friends.
"Thanks, you guys."
Little did they know that they were being watched by Finitevus, who was not looking very happy about what had just happened.