Chapter 2: "Rob 'o the Hedge"

	By morning, Martyn and Jonathan came upon a bridge.
	"Mart, look up ahead!" Jopnathan pointed out.
	Ahead was what had to be a city of treehouses!
	"Wow..." they breathed. Martyn looked at Jonathan. "Come on, maybe 
someone up ahead can help us!"
	As they ran forward, a hooded figured leaped into the way, 
blocking the bridge. "HOLD!"
	They stopped. "Hey, what's the big deal?" Martyn asked.
	"Stand and deliver, varlets!" he growled.
	The two boys took on a look of annoyance. They were from the United 
Kingdom, and the old english speech sounded like a mockery. "Yes, we're 
brittish, but that doesn't mean you have to make fun of us," Martyn pointed 
out.
	"What happened, did we land in America or something?" Jonathan 
asked.
	"America? Never heard of such a land. You two are in the land of 
Mercia. Now stand and deliver!" the figure yelled, pulling out a bow and 
arrow.
	"Who do you think you are? Robin Hood?" Martyn asked.
	"Nay!" he said pulling olff his hood. What they saw was a teal 
hedgehog. "The name is Rob o' the Hedge."
	Their jaws hung open. Martyn was the first to recover and held a 
finger up. "Could you excuse us for a moment?"
	He turned around and huddled with Jonathan. "Ollie, do you know what 
this means?"
	"Yea!" Jonathan whispered back. Then he thought of something. "No, 
wait..." There was a pause before he shook his head. "No, what?"
	"Shayne told me about this before. Rob o' the Hedge was a hedgehog 
from the Sonic comics. Bull-headed really, looking for a fight with anyone 
he doesn't know or trust. We're on Mobius, and I think if we're going to get 
any ground out here, we gotta get some respect. We need to take him on!"
	"But Mart, he's got an arrow."
	"Relax. Remember our training. 'Sides, I heard this guy's a 
pushover."
	The two got up and approached Rob. "Okay, here's the deal. We take 
you on. If we prove worthy, we want to band up with you. If not, we turn 
around and go back the way we came."
	"Sounds like a worthy deal indeed," he said putting away his bow and 
arrow. "I fight with honor, and therefore I shall use no weapons against thou 
before me who bear no weapons."
	"And we shall keep the odds even by you only fighting one of us," 
Martyn said, stepping up.
	"Ah, so overlanders CAN show some respect. You shall be a very 
honorable foe indeed!" Rob said, and came charging forward towards Martyn.
	Just when it seem that Rob was to strike him in the gut, his fist came 
short of the connection. He swung again and missed. Over and over he swung, 
with Martyn doing little more than merely holding the charging Rob back with 
his hand against his forehead, yawning.
	He watched Rob swing blindly and rolled his eyes toward Martyn.
	Rob began to tire out from all the swinging, and Martyn took this cue 
to pick the hedgehog up by the back of his cloak. "Whoop!"
	Martyn took the swinging hedgehog and hung him in the nearest tree.
	"What's the big idea, come on and fight!" Rob yelled.
	Martyn faced him calmly. "Listen, we're not here to pick a fight. All 
we need is some help. And, Rob, can you try using your head? I'm big enough to 
take you on, I know this, but you know what? I don't fight people that are not 
my enemy, and you, Rob, are not my enemy."
	He thought about this. "You may have a point there."
	"So, we let you down, can ya help us?" Martyn asked.
	"Yes yes! Get me down and I shall take you to my camp," Rob said.
	The boys looked at each other, nodded, and got Rob down.
	Rob brushed himself off. "Very good, my friends, you've kept your word, 
and I shall keep mind. Follow me, and we shall hear of your story!"
	"Alright, but can we ask ya one favor?" Martyn asked.
	"Surely, lads. What can I do for you?"
	Martyn gestered to their attire. "How about some decent clothes?"

	That night, Martyn and Jonathan were gathered around a campfire with Rob 
and Mari-An the Echidna, listening in to their story.
	"Amazing!" Mari-An said. "So, on your world, our lives are chonicled in 
your books of fiction and fairytales?"
	"Well, that's one way of putting it," Martyn said. "Honestly, Ollie and 
I never heard of your group until our friend in America told us about you."
	"There's one thing I still don't get," Rob said. Martyn and Jonathan 
looked at him. "Is that, until now, we've never heard of the characters Sonic, 
Tails, or even Knuckles. Mari-An and I just happened to of met when her tribe was 
passing through the land of Mercia."
	Martyn and Jonathan looked concerned. "Really? That's weird." Martyn said.
	"Yes, strange indeed. However, we HAVE heard of the lands you've spoken of, 
and they sound like the lands of the Mobotropolis Continent and the Christmas 
Isles," Rob pointed out.
	"Really? Interesting..." Jonathan said.
	"And an interesting turn of events," a voice said, as a translusent figure 
of the creature Shayne and Ken saw appeared over the fire.
	"Stand and deliver!" Rob said, bolting to his feet, but Martyn and 
Jonathan held him back.
	"Hold on Rob, I think we know this guy!" Martyn said.
	"Who is he?" Rob demanded, settling down.
	"That, Rob?" Jonathan asked. "That is the Oracle of Delphius."