The night lingered on as I tried to plan my way into defeating Robotnik and all the other things I promised; so far, ideas weren't exactly flowing like water. I was still sitting in the indoor garden with Tik'al sitting by my side and it would most likely be daybreak in some number of hours.

'Okay, I'm at a loss for ideas right now.' I thought to myself, 'Maybe if I just had a place to start, someway to deal with an evil mastermind and his massive machine army

I ran through numerous computer files and came across the location of a large supply base, which coincidently was the one that I first had started my little journey from.

'Maybe those Freedom Fighters could lend a hand,' but then I stopped to think about the conversation I heard about while I was walking around that one night, they were also after those emeralds and might not be the most cooperative, but I think I can handle them all the same, at least easier than an entire island of echidnas on the warpath once they find I've got Tik'al.

"So have you come up with something yet?" Tik'al said leaning on my shoulder

"Almost." I said leaning my head on my hand thinking

"Well while you're doing that, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Remember when we picked up those people in the forest and you stayed back for a while to deal with something?"

"Yeah."

"What exactly was that something?"

"Nothing important."

"Seemed to me like you were in a fight." She said looking at my injured chest

"Well I've been in quiet a few of those lately."

"True, but none of them left marks like that one." She said poking the laser burn on my chest making me wince a bit from the sting

"It's nothing."

"Looks like a painful nothing."

"Of course not, I feel that little scratch mark."

"So it doesn't hurt when I poke it like this?" she said poking harder

"Only a whole lot." Pushing her hand back

"Well tell me what happened, it's not like it's a secret or something."

"Well there was only one robot this time, and the strange thing is..."

"What?" she asked waiting patiently

"It looked like that blue hedgehog that was with the Freedom Fighters."

"Hmm, I remember hearing about something like that."

"Yeah, well it was a bit tougher than I thought and it knocked me around pretty bad."

"Looks like you won though."

"Not really, it was more or less a draw." I said shaking my head, "I'm lucky that I got out of that alive since it seemed pretty dead set on tearing that emerald from my body."

"Well I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm also confused about something else myself."

"Hmm?"

"Well after the fight, I noticed that the thing had one of those chaos emeralds inside it, just like I do."

"That is something to be worried about."

"Well anyhow, I think I've got something as far as a plan goes."

"Let's hear it then."

"Well first we need to get off this island; and the best place I can come up with is Knothole, not that I feel all too comfortable going there."

"Why's that?"

"Well remember that night that you couldn't sleep when we were there?"

"Yeah, I do; you left me alone wondering if something might come get me."

"Sorry, but still while I was gone I overheard a conversation between that Sally person and someone else about me and some plan involving the emeralds."

"What else did you hear?"

"Well they said they picked up two signals that were chaos emeralds; one of them was always near you and I figured that was me and another one was moving around somewhere outside."

"What was it?"

"I don't know myself," I said shrugging my shoulders, "I never got a chance to look into it since I got caught eavesdropping and came back to the room."

"Well I'm guessing you might not be that popular, not after making such a scene before we left on the airship."

"They were the ones that started it anyway."

"You were still being rude."

"We still need to go back and start from there as far as a mode of transport, cause I'm not walking everywhere we go and I doubt you want to do the same."

"True, but what about that one thing you said about them trying to take that emerald from you the next time?"

"Well I can deal with that when the time comes."

"So what do we do now?" she said after some silent seconds had passed

"I suggest we leave early and get out of here before someone starts to wonder where you are." I said standing up and helping her to her feet

"I just hope that we are doing the right thing."

"Whether or not it's the right thing to other people isn't that important, it's about making sure you do what you think is the right thing."

"I think that I'm doing the right thing."

"That's good enough for me, let's go."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"To the airship." I said as I walked towards the front of the palace

"You do realize that it's right in front of the palace, where everyone can see, and there's guards there, don't you?" she said following me

"Yeah, well I can deal with a few guards."

We got to the doors leading outside to the front where the airship was; the air was thick from the tropical atmosphere that enveloped the entire island, I pulled open the doors let Tik'al go ahead of me.

"You first, I'll be right behind you."

"Why me first?" she said stopping in the doorway

"Someone has to deal with the guards outside, and I can make sure you get on the ship first so I can 'persuade' them to let us go."

"They'll most likely try to stop you and not listen to reason."

"I'm sure they'll listen to my kind of reason, now just start walking and ignore them if they try to stop you." I said nudging her out the door

Everything seemed to be going well and there wasn't a guard in sight as we walked towards the aircraft, it's metal plating reflecting the mixture of moonlight and torchlight along with faint reflections of the surroundings. We got closer and I was able to see four reflections, Tik'al, two others, and me.

'Time for my half thought plan' I thought as I turned and saw two echidna guards walking towards us

"Princess where are you going?" one of them said

"Just ignore them, I've got it under control." I whispered under my breath

"Just what do you think you're doing? The elders specifically ordered that the princess is to remain here."

"Well I was just kidnapping the princess if you don't mind." I said as if it wasn't a big deal

"What! How dare you!" one of them said as he charged; I quickly sidestepped him, grabbed his arm and threw him forcefully at the other guard knocking them both down. I darted through the airship door and closed it and hurried into the cockpit.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?" Tik'al said sitting in the co-pilot's seat next to me

"Not yet, but I do need to get this thing off the ground before the real pilots or more guards come." I said frantically working the controls to get the engines to fire up

"Well I hate to tell you but it's too late for that." She said pointing outside of the cockpit window at what seemed like a gathering bloodthirsty horde surrounding the ship; a deafening roar of shouting could be heard along with the pounding from someone trying to smash in the door.

"Come on, start damn it!" I said furiously slamming my fist on the console causing it to light up and the start the engines. The ship gave a powerful shudder as it awkwardly began to ascend into the air; the backwash from the turbines pushed back the closest assailants from the ship and cleared several feet of maneuvering space. I began leveling off the ship as it propelled forward somewhat unsteadily, we climbed over low lying building and temples and cleared the city and barreled over the jungle, scrapping branches off of some of the taller trees and scattering wildlife from their nocturnal resting places. Cries of anger could still be heard through the mix of shouting and the mechanical workings of the ship; it was as it the entire island was awakened and aware of my crime. As we left the Angel Island completely the sun began to rise and it's light piercing through the blanket of clouds.

"Looks like it's going to be a good day today." I said as I made a few more adjustments to the ships computer

"You're kidding, right?" Tik'al said laughing, "That was possibly the worst way to start the morning I could possibly think of."

"We didn't get caught, I had the whole situation under control."

"I saw you about to break into a terrified sweat back there earlier, don't tell me that what you call under control."

"Well I didn't get killed you didn't get hauled back to the palace and we've got transportation to our next destination."

"Do you really think that Sally and the others will be willing to help us, or should I say help you."

"I'm sure they will if you ask nicely for me." I said descending the ship slightly, just low enough to skim the surface of the ocean of orange and yellow clouds before us

"Why me?"

"You're both royalty, I'm sure you'll be able to reach a mutual understanding and get some useful information from them; I'd ask myself but after how rude they were to me the day we left."

"I think you have it backwards, you were the one threatening to kill people."

"She called the armed guards on me."

"They just want that emerald, if you could just get it out of you it wouldn't be a problem."

"Well I can't help it if I don't understand what's going on, my own body is a mystery to me."

"It would make things a lot easier for me if you'd apologize for earlier when we get there."

"I told you I'd think about it."

"That was yesterday."

"...I'm still thinking."

"I guess I just won't help you with getting any help from Sally then, I'm sure you'll be able to do just fine with your winning personality."

"Oh no, don't make me have to use that on her." I said laughing, "I'm pretty sure I'd be much more rude then before, I might even have to have a 'violent conversation' with one or two people."

"Maybe we could get Sonic, or one of the other founding members to help out."

I looked down below the ship and saw that we were passing over one of the desolate, old cities that dotted the maps I've seen; it wasn't exactly the one I had seen before but it didn't differ much. It was aglow with a bright intensity from spotlights sweeping back and forth and neon lights; it also covered a great deal of land, choking off what remained of the silent forests.

'For a city it's pretty amazing.' I thought pulling the ship down a bit lower gazing at its grandeur when my internal computer identified it as Casinopolis.

"What a fascinating place." Tik'al said in awe as she looked out the window

"It's the city of Casinopolis."

"I've never been to one of the cities before, but I've heard of this one though."

"You've never been? Not once?" I said somewhat surprised, even though I knew very well that she wouldn't be allowed in a place like that, but she wasn't exactly one to follow the rules

"No." she sighed

"Do you want to go, right now?"

"Aren't we a little too conspicuous to be taking in the sights?"

"Yes; but I want to see this place as well, and it would also give you a chance to out more."

"You really just live for the moment and the heck with the consequences, huh?" she said amused

"You noticed that too?"

"It's rather hard not to."

"Well?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to go? You might not get another chance to, I'm probably one of the only people you know that'll take you just about anywhere regardless of some musty old rules and traditions, especially since I'm the one watching over you."

"I'd like to think of it as a mutual experience, I'm taking care of you too."

"I see, well I hope you've decided that you wanted to go to the city since I've been descending towards the outskirts of the city for the last few minutes." I said making a wide turn and heading towards a landing pad for Robotnik's regular swat patrols

"What? You do remember we should be trying to put an end to Robotnik's evil right?"

"So you want to forget it then, you want to go back to our original course?"

"Well..." she trailed off at the thought of having the chance to see

"I'll assume that's a yes." I said leveling off the ship above one of the pads

The ship pulled in close and shuddered from the less than graceful landing, the engines shut off down as I powered down all of the systems.

"Let's get out and take a look around, shall we?" I said getting out of the seat and heading for the door and stepping outside with Tik'al following.

The area was occupied by about a dozen or so other airships similar in design, but luckily there were no guards about. I walked out towards the city streets, nearly blinded by the lights and deafened by the sounds of music and heavy traffic.

"Such a busy place." Tik'al said; only to have her voice drowned out by the sound

"Yeah, it should allow us to blend in pretty well without being noticed." I said walking out into the crowd with Tik'al holding onto my arm

"Don't walk off without me, I might get lost."

"I won't let anything happen to you, just relax."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to worry about anybody pushing you around."

"Well anyway where do you want to go first?" I said as we pushed through the swarming crowds of people

"How about that building over there? The music coming from it sounds...interesting, to say the least." She said pointing with her other hand at a large building with blinding neon lights and thin wisps of smoke wafting out of the doors

"Alright, but I should warn you that some places may not be, well, to you liking in a manner of speaking." I continued walking inwardly laughing to myself, mostly because I knew very well what that building was, but I just didn't want to say anything since it would be worth it to see her expression

"What's that mean?" she asked curiously

"I'm sure we'll find that out after it happens." I said, accidentally letting out a small chuckle under my breath