26. No Echidna is an Island: Chapter 2: A period of adjustment

by NetRaptor1

Chapter 2: A period of adjustment
___________________________________________________________________

When Knuckles awoke the next morning, Zephyer's side of the bed was empty, but there was a pink
hibiscus flower beside his head. He looked at it for a moment, then sprang out of bed to find his wife.

Zephyer was in the kitchen, washing an assortment of fresh fruit in the sink. "Hello, sleepyhead," she
said. "It's a gorgeous morning, and you've missed most of it."

He kissed her and said, "What's all this?"

"Breakfast," said Zephyer. "Remember when you had to worry about feeding me? Now I get to feed
you."

Knuckles grinned. "If I had known that marrying you would be this convenient, I'd have done it
years ago."

They ate breakfast and breathed the morning breeze that blew in through the open windows. "When
do you want to start hiking?" asked Knuckles.

Zephyer examined a star-shaped fruit. "Well, there's all that stuff we need to haul in from Knothole,
and what should we do about Talon? Should we leave him there, or bring him here and leave him to
the mercy of the Chaotix?"

Knuckles chewed and swallowed before answering. "Let's bring him home. He hates leaving the
island, you know."

Zephyer nodded. "I thought it was only an echidna thing."

Knuckles shrugged. "The island has that effect on everybody."

There was a moment of silence, and a flock of parrots flew by outside the window, chattering.
"Could we adopt him?" asked Zephyer.

Knuckles looked at her. "I've thought about it. I couldn't do it before, being single and all."

"Well, if he's going to live with us, we might as well adopt him," said Zephyer. "Do you realize we
could be charged with kidnaping?"

"Yeah, and what if we had to take him to a hospital or something?" said Knuckles. He sighed.
"What worries me is that we'd have to find his uncle."

"Yeah." Zephyer made a face. "Anybody who builds himself a daughter and doesn't tell her about it
has got to be loony." She licked her fingers. "I think we could leave this afternoon."

Knuckles nodded and carried his plate of rinds and seeds to the garbage. "It's great to see you eating
again."

"It's amazing how much better I feel without the armor on me," she replied. "But you know, I kind
of miss it."

Knuckles gave her an odd look.

"I had it so long," said Zephyer, "and I treated it like armor. It did protect me from the biotics."

"What did Zinc do when he saw you'd been derobotized?"

"He started crying. That reminds me--I need to pick up the chao, too."

"I'll come with you," said Knuckles. "We'll get all the work out of the way, first."

* * *

"The tiger develops a taste for blood, and begins hunting in secret," said the video, showing footage
of a Mobian tiger undergoing a werewolf-transformation.

"She doesn't know how to tell her friends, and retreats from society. Her instincts take over and she
becomes active at night." Shots of the crazy-eyed tigress stalking through the woods.

"This is known as Mobian Regression. The final step along this path is when she begins walking on
all fours." An image of the tigress crouching, now indistinguishable from a non-sentient animal.

"That is such bunk," said Tails. "Turn that off, will you?"

Talon switched off the television. "That doesn't happen?"

"No way," said the fox. He had an electronics kit spread out on the floor of his hut, and was building
a second television. Talon had been watching the one already built. His eyes were wide. "Are you
sure?"

"That was broadcast from the human colonies," said Tails. "They study us and think they know
everything. They're a different species! How can they know what a Mobian's feeling?"

"It does happen, though," said a voice. The pair looked up and saw Zephyer looking in through the
screen door. "I met a relapsed wolf once, and it was scary as heck."

"You did?" Tails gave her his full attention. "What happened?"

"He tried to eat me and Spike," she said. "Several times. I think he went after Slasher, too."

"Whoa!" Tails and Talon looked at each other. "So if I tasted blood, I'd, like, turn crazy too?" Tails
asked.

Zephyer shrugged. "I don't know what causes it. Talon, do you want to come home, or stay here
with Tails for a week?"

"Go home," said Talon, jumping up. He grabbed his backpack and was out the door, calling
goodbye to Tails.

Tails waved, then reached over and turned the TV back on.

Amy Rose was babysitting the chao. When Zephyer knocked, she discovered Zinc and Chimera
were dressed up in doll clothes, and Amy was having a tea party with them. Zinc had a patient,
angelic look on his silver face that Zephyer recognized as the way he looked just before he shredded
something.

Chimera, the dark red dragon chao, had no such reservations and was shredding his napkin. There
was a pile of shreds beside him, and Amy looked exasperated.

"Hi Zephyer," she said as the echidna stepped in. "Could you tell Chimera to behave? He's been a
brat all morning."

"I'm going to take them off your hands," said Zephyer. "Thanks for babysitting them."

"You're welcome," said Amy, undressing Zinc, who stared straight ahead. Zephyer knew the
look--Zinc was fighting the urge to rip Amy's face off. Fortunately for Amy, Zinc was too
well-mannered to do such a thing.

Chimera, on the other hand, tore off his doll clothes, threw them on the floor and stamped on them,
then ran outside. "Brat!" Amy yelled after him.

Zephyer picked up Zinc, trying to keep from laughing. "Sorry about that."

"I don't want to see him ever again!" fumed Amy. "But you can bring back Zinc any time."

"Yeah right," said Zinc, once they were out of Amy's hut. "Zephyer, if I have to spend one more
hour in that hedgehog's presence, I'll kill someone."

"She was a bad choice as a babysitter," said Zephyer, striding through Knothole with Talon at her
heels. Talon was laughing.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Chimera ripping apart that dress." He snorted. Zephyer had only heard him
laugh twice in her life, and she liked the sound. Talon was too solemn for a pup his age.

She arrived at the fenced area by the teleporter, and found a stack of boxes beside the gate. Sonic
was running from the village to the teleporter and back, bringing more, and Knuckles was loading
them on the lens and beaming them out as fast as he could go. Chimera was perched on a box, giving
Knuckles a scornful account of Amy's babysitting style.

"Can we go through?" Zephyer asked.

"Sure," said Knuckles, stepping back and wiping his forehead. He picked up Chimera in one hand
and handed him to Zephyer. "Go with her, and don't you dare bite her."

"I can, you know," said the dragon-chao to Zephyer. "You aren't made of metal anymore. But I
won't bite you, because I'm nice."

"And if you do, I'll thrash you," said Zinc from Zephyer's other arm.

Zephyer and Talon stepped onto the lens and beamed out to the island. There was a pile of boxes
beside the receiver plate, and the Chaotix were busy carrying them up to the house. "Hi Zephyer,"
said Espio, who was stacking boxes. The chameleon studied her. "Being married hasn't made you
look any different."

"Did you expect me to sprout a third eye?" said Zephyer, stepping off the plate and setting down the
chao. Talon jumped off the plate and ran up toward the house, the chao pursuing. "Hey, get back
down here and carry stuff!" Zephyer yelled after them.

Espio handed her a box. "I figured Knux would have beat the snot out of you by now. You're the
only person with the nerve to make him that mad."

"We'll see how the honeymoon goes," said Zephyer. "If he hits me, I'll hit back, that's all."

"If he hits you, he'll kill you," said Espio, lifting a box and picking up another in his prehensile tail.
"You aren't robotized anymore."

"I know." Zephyer looked up the path. "Hey, what's Slasher doing here?"

The velociraptor was trotting toward them, her head bobbing like a bird's. "Hello," she said as she
reached them. "I got recruited to help move you in." She picked up two boxes in her forearms and
strode up toward the house. Zephyer and Espio followed.

With all of them working, the boxes were moved in half an hour. They stacked them in the living
room, and Zephyer said, "I'll unpack them when we get back. Thanks, everybody."

"Welcome!" chorused the Chaotix, and stampeded outside, shouting something about the swimming
hole. Slasher followed them out the door, leaving Zephyer and Talon alone.

Talon was staring after the raptor. "Slasher scares me."

Zephyer patted his shoulder. "I don't like her much, either." She raised her voice. "Where have those
bratty chao gone?"

"In here!" came Chimera's voice from the kitchen. "We're eating lunch."

Talon ran to the kitchen. "What're you having?"

Zephyer left the house and stood on the porch, looking across the lawn and trees to the sea. "I'm
here," she thought. "I'm finally home." She felt that roots were growing from her into the island's
soil, binding her there like a tree to the earth. Body and soul, she belonged on the Floating Island.

She heard footsteps and saw Knuckles and Slasher walking up the path toward the house. Knuckles
was talking, and Slasher was nodding. Her angular, reptilian face was strange to Zephyer, and she
could not read the raptor's expression. Knuckles looked serious, and Zephyer wondered what he was
saying. Watching him, Zephyer remembered that she was married to him now, and the shock
stunned her a little. At first she was afraid, then she felt shy, then she was gloriously happy.

Zephyer watched him as he approached, and met his eyes when he looked up. Something like an
electric charge passed between them, then it was gone and Knuckles was stepping up on the porch.
"Zeff, I asked Slasher to stay with Talon and Zinc and Chimera while we're gone. Is that okay?"

"Fine with me," said Zephyer, wondering what had just happened. "Slasher, do you think you can
manage? I hardly know what to tell you."

"Talon will show me around," said Slasher, her teeth flashing in the sunlight. "And there's the
Chaotix if all else fails. Don't worry about a thing."

Zephyer was looking at Slasher's claws and trying not to think, "Predator!" "Come in, I'll tell them
what's going on." She looked at Knuckles, who was watching her with amusement. He recognized
her uneasiness.

Talon was none too happy with the new arrangements, but tried not to show it. Zinc and Chimera
were familiar with Slasher because of her chao Chalcon, and they laughed and promised to give
Slasher a hard time.

"Better not act up or I'll eat you both," she threatened with a wink. She waved a three-fingered hand
at Knuckles and Zephyer. "Get lost, you two. Everything will be standing when you get back."

"It'd better be," said Knuckles, shaking a fist. "I lost a fight to you once, Slasher. I wouldn't do it
again."

"Hear that, guys?" said Slasher to the chao and Talon. "He just said he wouldn't fight me again!"

"You beat Knuckles once?" said Chimera, round-eyed. "How?"

"Well, let me tell you," said Slasher, crouching down to the eye level of the chao, "it was a dark and
stormy night ..."

Knuckles and Zephyer each had a backpack and a sleeping bag. "What about a tent?" said Zephyer.
"You know, if it rains?"

Knuckles gave her a condescending look. "This is the Floating Island, home of the echidna clan for
generations. Don't worry about shelter."

They put on their packs and slipped out the back door. "Which way?" asked Zephyer, inhaling the
breeze from the ocean.

"Southwest," said Knuckles, leading the way into the trees. "There's plenty to see, and the country's
not so rough as in the interior." He motioned to the mountain range in the island's center.

Zephyer gazed at the slopes until the trees hid them from view. "What's up there?"

He flashed her a smile. "Secrets." He took her hand and they walked for a while without speaking,
enjoying the words.

"You don't like Slasher, do you?" said Knuckles suddenly.

"I don't mind her," said Zephyer, disentangling her hair from a twig, "but she kind of scares me.
She's so ... animal."

Knuckles laughed. "And we're not? I know what you mean, though."

"I hope Talon's okay with her," said Zephyer. "He's scared of her, too."

"He'll get over it," said Knuckles. "She's a big teddy bear once you get to know her. And she kind of
... I don't know ... she has this ingrown mothering instinct that she lavishes on anybody who will let
her."

"Might be good for Talon," muttered Zephyer, trying to picture Slasher with an ingrown mothering
instinct. "I hope you know what you're talking about."

They skirted a fallen tree bigger than a semi-truck. They were descending into a marshy valley, and
the trees were fewer and larger. "Mushroom Hill," said Zephyer, recognizing it.

"Yep," said Knuckles. "I learned to glide down here."

"Could you teach me?"

He looked at her dreadlocks and stroked them appraisingly. "Maybe. A bit of chaos field is involved,
but hey, you're a Guardian now."

"You gave me some of yours, remember?" said Zephyer. "And how hard can gliding be, anyway?"

"That was life I gave you, not chaos," said Knuckles, continuing to stroke her hair. "It's like
punching through rock--you can't do it cold turkey."

"So why'd you do your training down here?"

Knuckles kicked at a nearby mushroom. "There's a spot around here where these cover the ground.
It's like falling on a mattress."

She looked up to reply, and again that pulse of electricity darted between them. This time Knuckles
felt it, and they froze. "What was that?"

"I don't know," said Zephyer. "That's the second time now."

"That was weird!" said Knuckles. "Let's do it again." They looked away and looked at each other
several times, but nothing happened. Knuckles rubbed his temples. "One more thing I wish I had
asked Dad."

"I never knew any echidnas who had that happen," said Zephyer. "I thought it was love."

Knuckles threw back his head and laughed. "Love! What a concept! Maybe it is. Or maybe it's
because we're Guardians. Or maybe we're just nuts." He pulled her into a rough embrace and kissed
her on the lips, then they walked on.

"Show me how to glide," said Zephyer.

"Not now," said Knuckles. He ran a finger along her arm, which was scored with fresh scars. "I don't
want you to get hurt again."

"I wouldn't get hurt!" said Zephyer. "I feel fine! And I'd be falling on soft mushrooms, so what's the
problem?"

"You were on your deathbed less than two months ago," said Knuckles. "I'm not going to let you kill
yourself."

"You're too protective, Knuckles Echidna," said Zephyer, glaring.

"And you're too foolhardy," said Knuckles, glaring back. "Fine, try gliding. You won't be able to do
it."

"Show me where the mushrooms are, and I will," said Zephyer.

Knuckles turned right and led her downhill, into the marsh. Crickets sang all around, and gnats rose
to meet them in clouds. "This is why I don't come down here much," he said, waving a hand in front
of his face. "Here's the spot."

The ground dropped, and reddish-brown mushrooms covered the ground in a twenty-foot circle.
Zephyer slipped off her backpack and handed it to Knuckles. "Hold this. I won't be a minute."

Knuckles bit his lips to keep from grinning.

Zephyer strode to the edge of the hollow, shaking her dreadlocks to fan them out. Then she leaped
out over the hollow in what she thought was a glide position. But instead of floating on the air, she
fell flat on the mushroom bed, which was floating on the surface of a muddy pond. She splashed
down in the water and came up gasping for breath.

Knuckles doubled up laughing.

"You!" Zephyer choked, for she had knocked the wind out of herself. "You knew this was a pond!"

Knuckles was laughing too hard to answer.

Zephyer waded ashore, covered in mud and kicking mushrooms out of her way.

"You should have listened to me," said Knuckles, enjoying the look on her face. "Gliding is harder
than it looks." Then he turned and ran for his life as she charged at him.

* * *

Knuckles and Zephyer had been gone ten minutes when Talon slipped out of the house and ran
north, toward the hills. He gained the cover of the trees, struck a thin trail, and followed it up a
hillside. He crested the hill and bounded down its side toward the outskirts of a bamboo forest.
Every few years Knuckles attacked it with various weed killers, but the bamboo persisted in
spreading across the island.

When Talon had first come to the Floating Island, he had discovered a sofa-sized boulder on the
border of the bamboo. In the three years he had lived there, the bamboo had encircled the boulder for
ten feet in all directions, and only Talon knew it was there.

The anteater pushed through the stiff green stems of the bamboo, knowing it was time to borrow a
machete to hack a clear path again. It took all of his strength to force himself to the boulder. He
climbed up on it, panting. The bamboo formed a deep green hollow all around the stone, the tops
meeting overhead. It was like a secret cave, and while Talon sat there, no one on Mobius knew
where he was. It was a pleasant thought.

He drew his knees to his chin and gazed at the bamboo curtain around him. Everything had changed
suddenly, and he wasn't sure he liked it. Knuckles had married Zephyer, and she had come to live on
the island. It seemed the very atmosphere of the island had changed. Talon liked Zephyer and
wanted Knuckles to marry her, but he had not realized how it would affect his own life. Now there
were strangers in the house.

Slasher was the strangest of all. Talon was acquainted with her from his time in Knothole, but he
disliked her claws, and her leathery skin, and her green eyes with their slit pupils. He felt he had to
watch her all the time, because if he turned his back she would eat him. But he despised himself to
feeling such things. The chao trusted the raptor (and they were much more fragile than he was), then
why couldn't he?

He just couldn't, that was all. Talon slid off the rock and reached into a hollow under the boulder.
Inside was a collection of action figures that he had bought in the human colonies. He began to play
with them, making them venture out into the bamboo where harrowing adventures awaited them. In
this way he escaped from the discomforts of his own world for a while.

After an hour he tired of his solitary play, and decided to spy on the house to see what was going on.
He pushed his way out of the bamboo and retraced his steps up the hill and down the path toward
home. As the house came into view, Talon left the path and crept through the trees so as to avoid
being seen. The yard was empty. Talon stood and watched, wondering where everyone was.

A shadow fell over the grass, and Talon looked up, shrinking back into the trees. Slasher was
circling overhead, her golden wings open in a glide. Talon watched as she circled lower and lower,
finally landing on the lawn. As she folded her wings, he saw Zinc and Chimera in her arms. Their
shrill voices reached him, begging for another ride. "Not now," Slasher laughed, which was a harsh
croaking in her throat. She set them down and trotted around the corner of the house, the chao racing
after her. Talon watched them go. He had forgotten that Slasher could fly; was nowhere safe from
her?

"Boo!"

Talon jumped a foot in the air and spun around. Espio's outline appeared against the brush, and he
shaded into sight, grinning. "Gotcha."

"Don't do that," gasped Talon.

"What's the matter?" said the chameleon. "Watching ferocious predators make you nervous?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Talon, avoiding the question.

"Sneaking," said Espio. "Keeping an eye on things, you might say. I didn't think you got along with
Slasher very well."

"No." Talon looked toward the house. "Can I stay with the Chaotix until Knuckles and Zephyer get
back?"

"Sorry kiddo," said Espio, slapping him on the back. "Knux didn't want us torturing you when he
wasn't around to supervise." Talon gave him a skeptical look, and Espio grinned. "Really, those
were his exact words. 'You guys better not pick on Talon or I'll bust your heads.'"

Talon nodded. "I wish he'd get back soon."

"Separation anxiety alert!" said Espio, waving his arms. "Doctor, doctor, we have a patient over
here!"

Talon only looked at him.

Espio sobered. "Sorry, Talon. It was just a joke. You know. I do that."

Talon turned away, and Espio kicked himself. The oddest things made Talon shut down, and
Knuckles had warned all of them in private that if any of them pushed Talon to that point, then
Knuckles would think of a harmless yet awful punishment for them. Espio hated to think of what
that might be.

Talon dashed toward the house, reached it unmarked by Slasher, and slipped inside. Espio watched
him go, wondering whether he felt sorry for Talon or wanted to string him up by his ears. Probably
the latter.

* * *

Slasher did not see Talon until sundown, when he emerged from hiding to eat dinner. Slasher tried to
speak to him, but he avoided her gaze and fled from the house as soon as the meal was over.

It hurt her to see him act that way, but she pretended to ignore it. The chao constantly wanted to
play, and thus she had no time to chase after Talon and talk to him. He would have to warm up to
her on his own.

That night the chao begged her to sleep in their room, but Slasher refused. "I'm going to sleep in the
living room. I can stretch out." She bade them goodnight and closed their door, and padded to
Talon's room. A single sniff informed her the room was empty. She sighed and returned to the living
room, flopping on the rug. Her wings needed preening after all the flying she had done that day, and
she extended one and began straightening the feathers with her teeth. The house was quiet, and she
could hear the voices of the chao in their room.

A long primary feather pulled loose, and Slasher laid it on the floor and looked at it. She was due to
molt her winter plumage, a process she dreaded. She was a month overdue, and her old feathers were
thin and ragged around the edges. The new feathers would smart and itch as they grew.

She continued preening, making a pile of feathers that fell out. The chao would enjoy playing with
the big ones--after all, it wasn't every day you received a raptor feather.

The front door eased open. Slasher ignored it and went on with her preening. Talon's brown and
black face peered in, and he watched her for several minutes. When the velociraptor gave no sign
she saw him, he slipped inside and sprinted for his room. "Goodnight, Talon," said Slasher before the
door closed. She heaved a sigh and set to work on her other wing.

* * *

Knuckles and Zephyer were up before dawn the next morning. They hiked to the outer edge of the
island and watched the sun rise over the mainland, and faced the cool breeze. "Fair weather," said
Zephyer, inhaling. "For today and tomorrow, at least."

"There'll be some wind," said Knuckles, also breathing the air. "Looks like you'll get some lessons in
using the Master Emerald."

Zephyer's eyes lit up. "Really? All right!" She looked at her hands out of habit, and laughed to see
they were not metal. "I still haven't got used to this," she said, taking Knuckles's hand. She looked
out at the horizon, and Knuckles studied her face. There was a thinness about the hollows of her face
that showed she had not recovered from the traumatic derobotization. Zephyer had to heal in her
own way, and it might take several years for her to bounce back.

She looked at him. "What're you looking so sober for?"

"Sober?" said Knuckles brushing away his worries. "I was just wondering where to go today."

"Wherever's closest," said Zephyer. "Hopefully somewhere with a teleporter, so we can visit Hidden
Palace."

"Emerald addict."

Zephyer bowed. "So I am. And I married a bigger one."

Knuckles grinned. "I can't deny it. Let's see ... the nearest teleporter is in Marble Gardens, about two
day's walk from here."

"Then let's get moving," said Zephyer, hoisting her pack.

They were deep in the Mushroom Hills, and giant silver trees rose above them like pillars, sheltering
the mushrooms beneath them. The previous day Zephyer and Knuckles had had a raging mudfight
until they were coated in it. Then they found a stream that wound down into the marsh and washed.
They camped beside the stream that evening, because there were fewer flies and the air was more
wholesome.

Now the Guardians hiked on, Knuckles pointing out things that only a Guardian would care about.
Which trees had survived the terbium blight. Which mushrooms were rare, and which ones were
edible. The tree where he had carved his initials when he was seven.

They hiked the rest of the day, resting whenever Zephyer began to tire. The trees shrank and thinned
out, and the mushrooms vanished. Before them stretched the green, rolling country of Marble
Gardens, once a major echidna city, but now only a ruin falling to dust.

"Why did they abandon it?" Zephyer asked as they made camp that night. She stood at the top of a
hill, watching the setting sun outline the distant ruins in gold.

Knuckles was lighting their campfire. "It dates back to Pachachamac's time. He was chief of the
mainland tribe, and he led a rebellion against the Guardian tribe on the island. Except he tried to
take the Master Emerald and ticked off Chaos." He blew on the smouldering tinder and watched the
flames grow. "Chaos killed everyone in Marble Gardens and all the lowland cities."

"How sad." Zephyer stood looking at the ancient city until the sun sank from view, then descended
the hill to their camp. "Nobody ever tried to rebuild it?"

"No." Knuckles sat back and looked at her. "The Guardians thought it should be left as a warning to
all the tribes. That was when they moved the Master Emerald to Hidden Palace."

"I'm surprised there's any ruins left," said Zephyer, opening her pack and rummaging around for
food. "How many thousands of years has it been?"

"Only one thousand," said Knuckles, gazing into the fire. "When all that stuff happened with Tikal
and Perfect Chaos ... she let me see into the past. The echidna glory days. We're the last of a species,
Zephyer. Those glory days are long gone."

Zephyer looked at Knuckles in surprise--she had never heard him talk like this. "No need to get all
melancholy," she said. "I never realized you knew so much history."

"It's something to do," said Knuckles.

She handed him a toasting fork and a slice of bread. "Here, toast this. What you need is food."

He gave her a quick smile. "Thanks, Zeff."

* * *

Slasher lay in the brush, hidden from all eyes. She was up the hill from Chaotix Central, where the
Chaotix were having a barbecue. She could smell the roasting steaks, and her mouth watered. But
for the moment she needed a break from babysitting the chao, and Talon needed a break from her.
She watched him running around down below as Vector warned him away from the barbecue.

Supposedly the Chaotix were having a party to celebrate Knuckles being gone, but she knew they all
missed him. Charmy had marked a calendar with a red X on the day the newlyweds would return.
Slasher had noticed each of the Chaotix sneaking up to the calendar to count the remaining days,
and she felt sorry for them.

Earlier that day, she had entered the house for a snack, and heard voices in Talon's room. She looked
in and saw Talon and Mighty the Armadillo seated in opposite chairs, books and papers strewn all
over the bed beside them. Talon was bent over a mathbook, and Mighty was explaining how to work
a pre-algebra problem. Slasher slipped away, impressed. It seemed that Talon's schooling had not
been neglected.

Slasher watched the crocodile inspect the steaks, and licked her chops. The Floating Island's
inhabitants rarely ate meat, but Vector always had some frozen steaks somewhere in case of an
emergency. Slasher was glad he had brought them out--plant food was all right, but she needed
protein to sustain her carnivorous body.

Vector slapped the slabs of juicy meat on a plate and bellowed, "Hey Slasher! Dinner!"

The raptor sprang out of hiding and ran down the hill, teeth shining in a grin. Espio, Charmy and
Mighty scattered with mock screams, and Vector pretended to ward her off with the tongs. "Back!
Back, monster!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have called the monster's name," said Slasher. "Can I have one now?"

"Sure," said Vector, lifting a steak in his tongs.

Slasher grabbed the steak in her claws, ripped off a chunk in her teeth, swallowed it whole, and
finished the rest of the steak in three bites.

"Still hungry?" said Vector, watching in admiration.

"Sure," said Slasher, devouring a second steak. She licked the juice off her claws and sighed with
satisfaction. "Ahh, that was good." She gave Vector a slanted look. "Bet you can't eat two steaks that
fast."

"Bet I can!" Vector grabbed a steak and ripped it in half with his jaws, but had to chew a few times
before swallowing. "Gosh Slash," he said, licking his teeth, "how do you do that?"

"Habit," said Slasher. "I've got to go wash now. I'll come back for dessert." She trotted away across
the lawn in the direction of the river.

"We have dessert?" said Charmy.

"Yeah, you," said Espio. "Come on, let's eat. Where's Talon and Zinc and Chimera?"

"Cowering indoors," said Vector, carrying the remaining two steaks into the house.

Talon had watched all this through a window, but pretended he hadn't. He and the chao were taking
turns cranking an old-fashioned ice cream maker, and it was wearing them out. Then Mighty entered
and took over. "You wimps!" he said, turning the crank easily.

"It's almost done," shot back Chimera. "I can smell it. You're just too strong."

"There's no such thing as too strong," said Mighty. He pulled the crank handle out of its socket and
held it up. "Oh no, I broke it! Must mean the ice cream's done."

"See, I told you it's done!" crowed Chimera as Vector entered with the steaks.

Dinner was a noisy affair. The Chaotix were extra-outgoing to make up for Knuckles's absence.
Talon tried to enjoy it, but was listening for the click of claws on the front porch, and the squeak of
the opening door. He kept thinking of the television program he had watched with Tails about a
Mobian going feral. Slasher ate like an animal, and spent a lot of time by herself ... what if she
started hunting them? What if she attacked one of the chao like she had the steak and--

Talon nearly jumped out of his seat as Slasher entered the kitchen through the back door. "You guys
ready for dessert?"

"Yeah!" chorused everyone except Talon. Charmy and Mighty got up to serve the ice cream, and
Talon slid down in his seat to avoid the velociraptor's gaze.

Slasher laughed and joked with the rest of them over dessert, sometimes speaking to Talon. He
cringed whenever she glanced at him, and was relieved when the meal was over. Slasher took
Chimera outside, and Talon, Zinc and Charmy washed the dishes.

"She won't eat you, you know," said Charmy Bee.

Talon's ears flattened. "I know. But she still scares me."

"You have to get to know her," said the silver chao, polishing a plate as tall as he was. "And if she
still scares you, look at her chao Chalcon. Only a kind heart could have pulled him out of himself
like she did."

Talon thought of the silent undersea base where Chalcon had been mortally wounded, and where
Talon himself had nearly perished. The period after that was a blur, and he couldn't remember
seeing Slasher at all. But someone Chalcon had rehatched as a snow-white chao, bigger and stronger
than all the rest.

Talon put away the last dish and sidled toward his room, but Charmy darted after him. "Come
outside with us, Talon! It's a beautiful evening."

"You're not my dad," murmured Talon, but he allowed the bee to lead him out of the house. As he
stepped onto the grass, he missed his mother and father so bad it was like being twisted in half. "I
don't belong here," he thought, looking at the Chaotix with a stranger's eyes. "I want to go home."
But he didn't have a home anymore--his parents were dead and their house burned. And he didn't
want to go back, not to his old horrid life, not really.

He blinked back tears and drifted toward the edges of the lawn. Escaping the Chaotix was easy, if he
remained inconspicuous. He circled the base of a tree, then keeping it between him and the others,
slipped into the evening shadows of the wood.

* * *

The days passed. Slasher tried and filed to befriend Talon, and the Chaotix helped the raptor look
after things.

Knuckles and Zephyer hiked all the way to Sandopolis. Along the way Knuckles showed Zephyer
the old broken emerald shrine, how to use one of the hovertops, and the inlet for water from
Hydrocity. They entered the desert and explored the ruins there. Knuckles introduced Zephyer to the
secret library, and they spent a day pouring through the old manuscripts and the pile of notebooks
containing Knuckles's translations.

Zephyer drank it in like a sponge. Every day was like living in a dream; she was with Knuckles, on
the Floating Island ... and she was a Guardian now! Sometimes it worried her, especially as she was
falling asleep at night. Happiness like this had to have a catch. Reality would rear its ugly head, and
she would find out that she wasn't allowed to marry him, or the island would crash, or someone
would die.

As they were leaving Sandopolis, Zephyer voiced this fear. Knuckles laughed out loud. "Why
should anything have to happen? People get married every day, Zeff. There's no penalty for being
happy."

"There is for me," said Zephyer. "Every time I'm really happy, the world blows up. Just watch."

"You're just paranoid," said Knuckles, grinning.

That evening a storm blew in out of the west, and it began to rain so hard it was like standing under
a waterfall. They saw it coming, however, and ran to the nearest teleporter. They reached it as the
rain began, but in the few seconds it took for the machine to warm up, the echidnas were soaked
through.

They beamed down in a dark cave lit by a single yellow crystal, and stood panting and dripping in
the sudden silence.

"Well," said Zephyer, "now I know to pack a raincoat, no matter what you say."

"I didn't advise against a raincoat," said Knuckles, kneeling to adjust the teleporter's setting. "Just a
tent. Looks like we'll be camping underground tonight."

The teleporter lit up again and transported them to the high teleporter hall outside of Hidden Palace.
As they stepped off the receiver plate, Zephyer asked, "What was that other place we were in?"

"Storage cavern," said Knuckles, wringing out his dreadlocks one by one. "Let's walk down to Lava
Reef, it's warmer there."

The damp pair strolled through the crystal gardens and grottos, toward the heat radiating from the
molten core of the Floating Island. They reached an antechamber with a small lava pool in one end,
which was so hot their fur began to steam at once. They lingered only a few minutes, then bolted for
the coolness of the higher passages.

"Can we camp in Hidden Palace?" Zephyer asked, eyes dancing.

"Sure," said Knuckles leading the way. "I'll show you some more Master Emerald commands, too."

Staying in Hidden Palace was luxurious after camping out in the wild. The rock around the emerald
chamber was riddled with tunnels and caves. Some had caved in over the years, but some Knuckles
had cleaned out and reinforced. Knuckles showed Zephyer two rooms he used for storage, but he
became oddly quiet when she asked about a third room.

She walked in for a look, and found it was stacked to the ceiling with crates marked 'weapons'.

"Weapons?" exclaimed Zephyer, turning and staring at her husband. "What do you need weapons
for?"

"Stockpiled them after the ARK incident," said Knuckles. "If a thief gets to the emerald chamber
again, I'm not messing around."

Zephyer looked at him with new respect. "You make me wish I still had that pistol in my hand.
Where'd you get all these?"

Knuckles avoided her eyes. "The island floats over a lot of territory."

"Ahh," said Zephyer with a knowing nod. "I pity the fool who tries to break in here now."

Knuckles led her back to the emerald chamber, uncomfortable with talk of weapons and semi-shady
dealings. "I'll show you how to stabilize the Floating Island," he said. "Watch." He placed one hand
on the green gem and said, "Master Emerald, stabilization anchor." The emerald lit with yellowish
light.

"No skill involved," he explained. "It wears off after a few days, so if you want to keep the island
stationary for longer than that, you have to come back and repeat the command." He touched the
Master Emerald again and said, "Free." The emerald dimmed.

"Let me try it," said Zephyer, stepping up to the pedestal. She mimicked Knuckles's actions, and the
emerald's response was the same.

"There's also an island defense command," said Knuckles. "I just found out about it. Apparently the
Master funnels all its power into the Guardians so they can wipe out any enemies that might be
threatening the island."

Zephyer looked at him. "Have you ever tried it?"

He smiled sheepishly. "I don't have the nerve."

"Is there a users' manual somewhere, where I could learn all these commands?"

"Nope," said Knuckles. "One of the Guardian laws is that no Master Emerald commands may be
written down in one place. Imagine if they fell into the wrong hands!"

"I didn't think of that."

Knuckle stepped down from the pedestal and opened their backpacks. "Where do you want to
sleep?"

"Right here," said Zephyer. "As close to the heart of the island as we can get."

Knuckles gave her an odd look. "Heart of the island?"

"Sure," said Zephyer, as if it was something everyone knew. "The Master Emerald is what makes
the Floating Island what it is." She rubbed its smooth top as Knuckles unrolled their sleeping bags.
She looked down at the seed crystal bed around its base, and wondered how much of the Master's
power they had absorbed. She touched one, and its green glow flickered. She teased its pointed tip
without paying attention to what she was doing. The shock of a wetting, then being suddenly warm
and dry, had made her drowsy.

"Zephyer!"

She jumped and looked around. "Huh?"

Knuckles rose from their packs, staring. "How are you doing that?"

Zephyer looked down and saw the crystal she had been teasing was six inches longer than before.
"Whoa. Did I do that?"

"Yeah." Knuckles touched the crystal, but nothing happened. "Do it again."

She touched the tip again, and the crystal resumed growing like a time-lapsed video of grass.

"I think you've rediscovered a trick of the ancients," said Knuckles in awe.

Zephyer watched the crystal grow, fascinated. "I'll bet this is how they made the Emerald Sword."
She released the crystal. "Think I can do it to other crystal colors?"

They two snatched some snacks and ate while they wandered through the lower caverns. All the
crystals responded to Zephyer's touch, even ordinary quartz. Knuckles remembered something he
had read a long time ago--the abilities of female echidnas were different from the males. Females
were not warriors, but craftsmen and artisans.

At last they returned to Hidden Palace and crawled into their sleeping bags. "That's a nice thing to
do," said Zephyer, yawning. "But I'd rather glide, like you."

Knuckles gazed at the ceiling. "I'm glad you can force-grow crystals. It's a lost art."

They were silent a moment, each busy with their thoughts.

"What day is it?" asked Zephyer.

"Friday, I think," said Knuckles. "Gosh, time flies."

"Friday?" said Zephyer. "As in, the honeymoon's over tomorrow?" Knuckles shrugged, and she
heaved a sigh. "Oh well, at least we had fun. Tomorrow, real life starts. Do you want to try to adopt
Talon?"

Knuckles hesitated a second, shifting his brain to this sudden new subject. "Uh. Yes. I don't know
anything about adoption, though."

"I think we have to work with the laws of the country he's from," said Zephyer. "Do we know where
he's from?"

Knuckles wracked his brain. Talon's explanations of his previous home had been vague and elusive.
"I have an idea he's from somewhere in the Ausif ocean. He was flying northwest when he got here."

"There's a jillion islands down there," said Zephyer, frowning. "We'll have to ask him which one."

"Easier said than done," said Knuckles, placing both hands behind his head. "The kid doesn't talk
about his past. All I know is that his parents died in an arson fire."

"I know," said Zephyer. "He needs a stable home, and I think we can give that to him."

They talked about the pros and cons of adopting Talon, and of what things an adoption agency
might ask. Zephyer finally dozed off, but Knuckles lay awake for a long time, listening to her
breathe and thinking about the future.

This story archived at: The Domain of NetRaptor

http://www.netraptor.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=1020