Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are my fan-characters, although Ruth doesn't appear again for a long time.

            Thanks to those of you who have reviewed for me! At least I know some people read past chapter 1!

            This chapter centers on Sonic and Knuckles, with some funny parts. I like to write about them because they're always fighting and it makes for some humorous conversation. Pretty short once again, but remember- I always save the longest for last.

Chapter 11: Fiasco at Sky Mountain

            Sonic was falling. He went whooshing through a puffy cloud on his way down.

            Plop! Knuckles only bobbed down a bit as Sonic landed on his back. He rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, that's the third time you've fallen off that cliff! You know, you'd be long gone if I weren't here to save your…"

            "Oh shut up," Sonic argued. "You fell off it too!"

            "No, I only jumped off it in order to save you from certain death."

            "Yeah right. Sure looked like falling to me."

            The spat continued as Knuckles attached onto a cliff and pulled Sonic up. A few minutes ago, they had entered this new zone, Sky Mountain Zone, consisting of only clouds and a colossal mountain. Sonic was convinced that another Chaos Medallion had to be at the top.

            "So you never answered my question," Knuckles said as he ran up the mountain path beside Sonic. "What are these Chaos Medallions?"

            "I don't know," Sonic said, "But I know they must be connected to the Chaos Emeralds somehow, and that guy Drake is looking for them. When some strange guy is searching something that starts with "Chaos" it usually means something bad." He glanced sideways at Knuckles. "And I still think you know more about this than you're telling me."

            "For the last time!" Knuckles yelled, "I'm not related to Drake! I'm not his brother; I don't know where he came from. He just appeared out of nowhere!"

            "Out of nowhere?" Sonic said.

            "Yeah. I was just standing at the Master Emerald's altar, and all of a sudden this echidna guy named Drake appeared out of this portal with blue light…"

            "Portal with blue light?" Sonic repeated.

            "Stop repeating I'm saying!" Knuckles snapped.

            Sonic was deep in thought. He ran right off a steep cliff at the end of the path.

            Knuckles watched him fall and sighed. "Here we go again." He jumped off the end after him. "This makes number four!"

            Several more arguments later, Sonic and Knuckles finally reached the top of the mountain. Sonic had been right, and a spinning aqua medallion was sparkling in front of them. He grabbed the medallion from its place.

            "Yes, I found another one!"

            "So that's a Chaos Medallion?" Knuckles said, crossing his arms. "How do you know they're not just cheap imitations of Chaos Emeralds?"

            "I can feel their power radiation," Sonic answered. "Even just holding this one next to the other one is heating up my…yeowch!" He dropped the aqua and yellow Chaos Medallions as they burnt a small hole in his glove.

            Knuckles bit his tongue and held back laughter.

            "Great, how am I going to carry them if they burn me just being together?" Sonic said to himself. Suddenly, he jumped up and shoved the aqua Chaos Medallion in Knuckles' hands. "Here, you carry this for a while, but you're not keeping it, it's mine."

            "Why would I want it?" Knuckles replied. He stared at it for a long time, carefully examining every side. "What do the markings in the center mean?"

            "How should I know?" Sonic said. "Why have I been having problems with zone-transporting light lately? Hello, we need to get out of here!"

            Knuckles was too busy staring at the markings to notice Sonic. He squinted at the lines a few times and turned the medallion around. "Well, if you hold it this way, it kinda looks like a ball sitting beside a river…" When there was no response, he called, "Sonic?"

            Knuckles finally took the medallion away from his face and set it on the ground. "Now where did he go? If he fell off that cliff again…" he stopped short as a pair of hands appeared over the side of the cliff.

            Drake clambered onto the mountaintop, out of breath. His rocket-booster shoes just picked the worst times to run out of charge. "Oh no," he panted when he saw Knuckles.

            "That's right," Knuckles said, putting up his fists. "You better be afraid. After you destroyed my emerald and had the nerve to follow me into a cinema for some nonsense about a passage, I have a right to be fed up with you!"

            Drake gasped and jumped upright. His half-closed eyes popped all the way open. "Oh my God! That plane just exploded in mid-air!"

            Knuckles whipped around and looked into the sky. "Where?"

            While he was distracted, Drake grabbed the Chaos Medallion and ran for his life.

            "What plane?" Knuckles asked, still totally oblivious. "I don't see any…" he turned around again and realized what had happened.

            "Oooh, that slippery little worm!" The enraged echidna began shaking. "Next time I see him, he is going to get it!" The white light then transported him out of the zone.