S. Chensu: Hello people, we've updated! This episode is the start of the search for Shadow and you'll meet some characters you might recognise. If you don't want to know who they are yet, I suggest you don't read the disclaimer…
Luff: Stop giving the plot away! And why is it you never let me talk?
S. Chensu: Because I'm the older one! (Look at profile for further info on us). Strokes chin in thoughtful way for a few moments before clicking fingers. I know, you can read the disclaimer!
Luff: Oh, you're /so/ generous…
S. Chensu: I know!
Luff: Sighs as she produces piece of paper with /way/ too much writing on it. Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters in this story i.e. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow and Eggman (They're owned by Sonic Team). For this episode, we do not own Polar Bears, Topis, Popo, Nana, DK (owned by Nintendo) and Banjo and Kazooie (Rareware). We also don't own Alice in Wonderland (C.S. Lewis does, although he is dead…) and the song "Just a little" (Liberty X do, although I thought it was a cover…)
However!
We do own our version of the Queen of Hearts (Not the name, again C.S. Lewis), as she's an ape. Now that I've read it out properly this time, I'm not going to again!
S. Chensu: As an afterthought we do own the story… Also note the title. Like it? Influenced by the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Luff: We don't own that either!), a great film in my opinion! Especially the bit where… Continues going down memory lane
Luff: While she's busy, let's get the show on the road! Sits down with big box of popcorn in hands.
This episode is dedicated to our two reviewers Yersi Fanel and RI2. I hope they're both spelt right.
(Note: Thoughts or lyrics, /emphasis/)
Episode two: The hot, the cold and the downright silly…
Deciding to wake everyone up from their thinking, Tails banged the plane down onto the ground and everyone jumped to attention. He smiled sweetly, trying to act innocent.
"Right everyone awake? Let's go and get this done as soon as possible, I don't want to get frostbite." He lowered himself down onto the ground and the others followed suit. Although it was summer, that didn't stop it from being cold so everyone put their extras on. Knuckles was very glad because he didn't have to make eye contact with Rouge then, which was making him blush very badly.
"I have to tell her about my feelings, I don't care how she feels about me." He whispered to himself and he walked over to where the others were. Sonic turned to him.
"Can you sense anything Knuckles?" Knuckles closed his eyes and he did what he did best. He connected himself to the surroundings and asked it if anything strange had been happening. But the signs were all negative and he opened his eyes. He shook his head but suddenly he felt something.
"Something's here but I can't tell what it is…" The others looked hopefully at him. "It's not Shadow but…whatever it is might be able to help us." Sonic started jogging on the spot.
"Shall I have a look around?" Rouge raised an eyebrow.
"With tennis rackets on your feet?" Sonic stopped and looked down.
"I had better take them off then." He put his trainers back on. "I'll contact you via the walkie talkies." And with that he sped off into the horizon.
"Shall we do the same as well?" Tails asked. The others nodded and they flew off in different directions.
Rouge flew around but nothing appeared and she sighed, landing on the ground in her boredom.
"There must be something around here somewhere." Sighing, she looked around and saw a cave. Deciding that she may as well do something, she walked over to it. Peering in, she saw that it was dark and so being cautious, she entered the cave. But before she had even gone one step something hit her on the head. She just had enough time to shout out before her world turned to blackness…
"Arrrgh!" All three of them heard the shout at the same time.
"Guys, did you hear that? It sounds like Rouge is in trouble!" Knuckles called over on the walkie-talkies.
"Which direction did she go in?" Sonic asked.
"She went south." Tails replied. "Ok if we all go back to where we were standing together, we can go from there." Everyone ran back to where the Tornado was standing.
"Right, south is this way." Knuckles headed south and the others followed him. They went slowly though because Rouge had flown for most of the way and so hadn't left any tracks. Knuckles had to keep checking that they were still going south and they were all getting tired when they finally saw tracks.
"At last, some tracks, now we can go faster." Sonic went to speed off when Tails grabbed his arm.
"Doing that will lead us straight into whatever got her. We won't help if it hurts us as well. Let's go about this a bit more slowly." He walked gradually forward and the others followed him. They soon found the entrance of the cave and Rouge's walkie-talkie!
"How are we going to find her in here?" Tails cried out when he saw how dark it was.
"Follow me, this should be a breeze." Knuckles commanded and he grabbed Sonic's arm. "Sonic you should hold onto Tails so we don't lose each other." He headed in, his eyes glowing an eerie white. He turned back to see if the others were ok.
"Oh don't do that Knuckles, you're giving me the creeps." Tails whined. Knuckles turned around again and carried on until they reached a fork.
"Why have we stopped Knuckles?" Sonic asked.
"We've come to a fork. Give me a moment, I'll see if I can find any tracks." He bent down and looked closely at the ground.
"Lucky old you Knuckles. I can't see anything at all, let alone any tracks." Tails laughed. Knuckles then found that the dirt had been scrapped in one direction and was almost definitely the sign of something being dragged along the ground. It could only be Rouge.
"Ok guys, I think I've found the way." He took the left fork and they travelled again in silence until they saw a silvery light at the end of the tunnel. They headed for the light and grew more confident in their footing until it became obvious that they had to slow down or risk exhausting themselves. Especially as the end of the tunnel didn't seem to be nearby.
"Where am I?" Rouge groaned as she woke up. She felt bruised everywhere and when she tried to move she saw that she was tied to a rock. "What's going on here?" She called out, in the hope of getting a response from her kidnapper. She was disappointed when no reply came and she resigned herself to looking at her surroundings.
She was in a cave and the light was coming from glowing icicles hanging around the room. They glittered in the light and her eyes widened in delight. She rapidly became horrified though when she saw pools of blood dotted throughout the room and a trail of it leading towards her. Looking at an icicle she saw she had a cut in her head. The blood had dried now luckily but it was matted in her fur.
"Oh dear, it's gonna take ages to wash this out. Oh what I would do for some shampoo and conditioner…" She complained. Just then, the ground started shaking and she looked around in fright. From the shadows emerged a huge polar bear with sunglasses and pink shorts on!
"So you're awake at last. Now you can tell me where your little brat of a brother is! You don't realise what damage you did to me in Icicle Mountain!" Rouge realised that the polar bear thought she was someone else. She decided to play it safe and not say anything. "Not talking eh? Well I'll just have to force the answers out of you then!" He walked forward and picked up the rock she was attached to. "Hmm…you've certainly changed since we last met Nana!" He frowned, put her right by his eyes and took his sunglasses off. She attempted to stare at him but his eyes were like pools of ice. "Wait a minute, you're not Nana! So who are you?" Instead of calming down as Rouge expected he grew angrier. "That means you're trespassing! And do you know what I do to trespassers?" Rouge shook her head. "I play with them and then destroy them! I would play with you but I had enough fun dragging you along the ground and hitting your head on stones!" Rouge winced as she found out what had happened to her when she was knocked out. "Any last words before you die?"
"Yeah, just you wait until Knuckles finds you! He'll kill you, no problem!" She kicked out her foot and hit him in the eye. All he did was blink though so she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the worst but it never came. Instead she was dropped and her body jarred as she landed on the ground.
"So there's someone else around here eh? I'll have to find them too and kill them!" And with that, the bear stomped off.
"Oh what have I done? I hope Knuckles and the others will be all right…" She sighed and tried to wriggle free of her bonds. They had loosened but she didn't have enough room to slip under them. She looked around and saw she had landed by some icicles. She stretched as far as she could and started rubbing her bonds against the sharp edge of the lump of ice. As she did so, she wondered why Knuckles' name came first into her head. It's not like I have any preference towards him. But her mind told her she was wrong. All right, so maybe I do like him a little… Okay, a lot then!
She had soon broken the ropes that tied her wrists and set about untying the rest of the rope. With that done she stretched and walked around.
"Well I may as well do some exploring while I wait for that monster to come back."
"Sonic, can we stop for a minute? I'm really tired." Tails asked.
"We can't, Rouge might be in trouble." Sonic replied but Knuckles interrupted, knowing that Tails was right.
"Tails has a point. Plus we'll need a plan, we can't just storm in there." Sonic sighed.
"Oh all right. Let's stop here, we should be ok." Sonic agreed and he sat down. The others followed him and Tails relaxed himself against the wall.
The polar bear had been following them but when they stopped, he couldn't see them. His eye was itching like mad now and it was starting to swell up. If it kept going like this, he wouldn't be able to see! He grabbed blindly in the dark and picked up Tails.
"Aaaahhhh, help me!" Tails yelled out and the bear laughed.
"I have you at last Knuckles, do you think you could escape the might of Dipstick?" Sonic nudged Knuckles.
"Did he just call Tails you?" He asked, confused.
"It would seem so. We had better make sure we're not seen by it though." Knuckles replied. So while Tails was carried to the cave, Knuckles and Sonic followed making sure they stayed in the shadows.
When they entered the cave they heard Dipstick shout,
"I found your boyfriend little rat!" He threw Tails down by Rouge and Knuckles went magenta at the thought of him being Rouge's boyfriend. Rouge picked Tails and held him up.
"Tails are you ok? Why does he think you're Knuckles?" Rouge asked.
"When he grabbed me, he must have just assumed I was Knuckles. I have an idea of how to get out but we have to make sure that Knuckles doesn't try to show himself." Tails explained and Rouge thought about this.
"Well why don't you contact them on one of their walkie-talkies?" She suggested and Tails turned his on.
"That's a great idea! Sonic, Knuckles are you there?"
"Tails, you're all right! I was so worried there." Sonic replied.
"Yeah I'm fine, both of us are. Anyway, I have a plan. Whatever you do, don't let Knuckles tell Dipstick who he is! When I tell you to, I want you and Knuckles to attack him, ok?" Tails explained hurriedly.
"Ok, but how are we meant to attack him?" Sonic asked.
"Hit him in his eyes. You already have a head start because it seems that Rouge has attacked him there as well." Just then, the polar bear leant down to grab him. "Got to go!"
He dropped the walkie-talkie, which Rouge picked up and turned off. She then watched as Dipstick swung Tails around the room, hitting his head against the icicles around the edge of it. He let go and Tails flew through the air, eventually hitting one of the walls and slumping to the ground.
"Ta-Knuckles!" Rouge screamed and raced towards him. It took all of Knuckles' effort to stop Sonic from running to him too.
"We still have to do our part, remember?" Knuckles told him. Sonic stopped struggling and sat down.
"Yeah, but how are we gonna be able to tell when we're meant to attack him if Tails is knocked out?" Knuckles frowned.
"I don't know actually. We will know though, one way or another." Rouge was shaking Tails, trying to wake him.
"Tails please wake up, please…" She stopped and started crying. Because of this, she didn't notice Tails open his eyes.
"Rouge I'm all right, I'm awake now. I just wish, you hadn't shaken me so hard…I hurt all over." He groaned and she stopped crying.
"You're awake! What are you going to do now?" Rouge asked.
"I'm going to wait for him to pick me up again and at the right moment, you fly up and grab me and Knuckles and Sonic attack him. You must wait before you get me ok?" Tails stared at Rouge.
"Ok Tails, whatever you say. Quick, he's coming again!" Rouge called out.
Tails winced as he was grabbed and lifted into the air. Before any of them realised it though, Dipstick lifted Tail to his mouth and opened it.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Screamed Tails and Rouge took that as a cue.
"Sonic, Knuckles, as soon as I've got Tails, you attack him ok?" Rouge shouted into Tails' walkie-talkie before taking off into the air.
She flew as fast as she could and managed to grab Tails just as he was falling into Dipstick's mouth. She turned a sharp corner and flew back down to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Knuckles and Sonic jump forward to attack Dipstick. She laid Tails down on the ground.
"Thanks Rouge for saving my life even when I told you not to move until I said so." He whispered.
"Of course I wasn't just gonna let that thing eat you. I'm not that cruel." She sighed. She looked at Sonic and Knuckles who were attacking his face but not doing much. Seeing where Rouge was looking Tails asked,
"How are they doing?" Rouge smiled tightly.
"They're doing fine, don't you worry." But she thought to herself. It's going to take a miracle for them to win.
Just then they heard a huge crash and something flew into the room. Or rather two things. They were both small and wore Eskimo suits. One was pink and the other was blue and they both carried hammers. They walked up to the polar bear and shouted in surprisingly loud voices,
"Oy Dipstick! Leave them alone and fight us like you wanted to!" Dipstick batted Sonic and Knuckles away and Knuckles quickly glided while Sonic hung onto his legs. They skidded to a stop a short distance away from where Rouge and Tails were. They walked over and stood together as the Eskimos attacked Dipstick. Occasionally they shouted out 'Squall hammer', 'Blizzard' and 'Belay' and it wasn't long before Dipstick had been mashed to a pulp. He ran away and as he did so, he shouted,
"I'll get you one day Ice Climbers!" And with that, he disappeared.
The Ice Climbers landed and walked over to the group.
"Hello, who are you? We're the Ice Climbers. I'm Popo and this is my sister Nana." The one in the blue suit said.
"Hi, I'm Sonic, and these are my friends, Tails, Knuckles and Rouge." Sonic answered, pointing to himself and the others in turn. "Um, this may sound strange but what was all that about?"
"Oh you mean us beating up Dipstick? He's always threatening to destroy Antarctica so we have to keep him under control. We saw what he did to your friends Tails and Rouge, are they ok?" Nana asked, looking round at them.
"We're all right I think but how did you know about us?" Tails asked.
"Topi told us. He's a spy who stays here and tells us whenever anything happens." Popo replied. "Topi come and say hello." He called out and from behind a rock appeared a white fluffy creature. It was small and round with a beak. He came over and waved shyly.
"Anyway, I think we need to tend to your friends. Come with us to our hut."
Nana and Popo led them out of the cave and around the side of the mountain to a small wooden house. They entered it and others crowded in behind him.
"Right you two, sit on the bed there and we'll get some bandages for those cuts." Tails and Rouge sat on the bed and a few minutes later, Popo came back with a first aid kit. He placed it on the table and Sonic and Knuckles sat on the two chairs. Nana took a bottle of antiseptic spray and a bandage. She stood in front of Rouge.
"Sorry if this hurts but it's to make sure your cut doesn't become infected." She sprayed a small amount into the wound and while Rouge slightly winced, she wrapped the bandage around her head. Meanwhile Popo was dealing with Tails.
"Ok, where does it hurt?" He asked.
"My head hurts a lot and I think I've done something to my wrist." Tails held his wrist delicately and Popo took it gently. He pressed the wrist a couple of times and watched Tails' reaction.
"It feels like you've just sprained your wrist. Just make sure you don't put any pressure on it." Popo told him. He wrapped the wrist up and sprayed his head wounds with antiseptic.
"Ow, that hurts!" Tails cried out. Popo looked apologetic.
"Sorry about that. I'm done now." He quickly put the bandages on and stood back. "What do you think?" He asked holding out a mirror. Tails looked at himself and gasped. He didn't realise quite how many scratches and bruises he had on his head.
"Ugh, I look awful! I hope these heal quickly!" He closed his eyes and opened them quickly again. They were still there. "All well, it was worth a try!" He sighed. Rouge then looked into the mirror.
"At least the dry blood is covered up." She said and then stood up. "Right shall we go then?" The Ice Climbers shook their heads.
"You may have got concussion, after all you were whacked around a fair bit. You would feel a lot better after having a night of rest and Tails' wrist should heal as well." Popo explained. Sonic shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't suppose it would hurt to stay the night. But where are we going to sleep?" He asked.
"Two of you can sleep in these two beds here and if you come through here…" They pushed a door open and there were another two beds. "Two of you can sleep here. That's everyone isn't it?" Nana asked.
"Yeah but where you will sleep? I don't want you to sleep on the floor or anything…" Tails asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, we have a bunk bed that we sleep on." Popo replied.
"How come you have so many beds?" Knuckles asked.
"We look after people if they become injured. We're a bit like a hospital but we don't do operations or anything." Popo explained.
Nana walked to a door and entered what turned out to be the kitchen.
"So then, what does everyone want? We don't have much meat unfortunately because we're vegetarians but we do have some sausages and burgers." Nana clarified. "Any veggies here?"
"I would prefer vegetarian food if you have it." Knuckles admitted.
"I don't mind what I have to be honest I'm just hungry." Rouge said as her stomach rumbled. Nana looked in some cupboards.
"Hmm…we seem to have stocked up on soup recently. Ok, you have a choice of tomato soup, vegetable soup and pea soup. Popo, what will you be having?"
"I'll have tomato soup please." Popo answered.
"What will you four have?" Nana asked. They all thought for a moment.
"I'll have vegetable soup." Knuckles said. Sonic had the same, Tails had tomato soup and Rouge had pea soup. Rouge set the table and Sonic got the other chairs.
Soon, Nana and Popo came in bearing a tray with six bowls of soup on it. There was also a small basket with pieces of French bread stick in it. Everyone sat around the table and once everyone had their bowls and enough bread, they started eating.
"So then," Popo asked a few minutes into the dinner. "Why are you here?"
"We're looking for our friend Shadow. He fell to Earth but we don't know where he is." Sonic paused. "I don't suppose you've seen him have you?"
"We haven't had news of anyone around here for the last week. I'm sorry. If you want, we could ask the Topis if they have seen anything. What does this Shadow looks like?" Popo asked.
"He's black with red streaks in his spikes. He's a hedgehog as well." Rouge replied. Nana walked over to a cupboard and opened it. There was a screen and she turned it on. She seemed to be talking to some people and about ten minutes later, she came back again.
"No, no one has seen anyone of that description. Where will you look now?"
"Hmm, we could go to Brazil, it's the nearest country to here." Knuckles suggested.
"Well if you're going to Brazil, make sure you go to the Amazon rainforest and ask for an ape called DK. Tell him we sent you and he'll be happy to help." Nana sat back down and they finished their soup.
By now it was dark and the Ice Climbers told them they were going to bed.
"Wake us up before you go ok?" Popo asked.
"Of course we will." Tails replied. They disappeared and the four of them stood in the room.
"Ok, who's gonna sleep where?" Sonic asked. Tails suddenly had a thought. This would be the perfect time to start his plan so before anyone could say anything, he cleared his throat.
"Um Sonic, this may sound weird but could I sleep with you? Otherwise I'll be scared." Tails asked, putting on his young and innocent look. Sonic's face softened.
"Of course you can. But you've never been afraid of the dark before…you don't mind do you Knuckles and Rouge?" He asked.
"Of course we don't mind, do we Knuckles?" Rouge asked sweetly. Tails saw that Knuckles was looking very uncomfortable but he sighed.
"Whatever." Knuckles said offhand but he glared at Tails. "I'm gonna get you Tails for this." He growled and stormed off to the room.
"What's wrong with him?" Sonic asked confused.
"He's probably just tired that's all." Rouge said vaguely. "Anyway, goodnight you two." And with that she went to the other bedroom. Sonic and Tails got into their beds.
"Goodnight Tails."
"Night Sonic."
Meanwhile in the other room Knuckles and Rouge were sitting on their beds. They weren't saying anything to each other when Rouge came over and sat down next to Knuckles. He flinched when she sat down and she sighed.
"Knuckles are you ok? Every time I talk to you, you act like you hate me. Do you want to tell me something?" She asked. He looked up and stared at her. His brain was telling him to tell her but his mouth wouldn't obey.
"Um…eh…nothing. No, I'm just very sensitive to other people and their emotions that's all. I don't hate you in fact…" Tell her his mind was screaming. "You're not that bad." He ended with. She smiled.
"That's ok then. Well goodnight Knuckles." She went over to her bed and got into it.
"Night Rouge." He also got into bed and turned the light off.
"Thank you for letting us stay here Nana and Popo." Sonic said in the morning before they left.
"We're always happy to help others in need. Sorry again for not being able to help you in your search but if you ever see DK, he will be pleased to help you." Popo replied.
"Bye!" The group waved to Nana and Popo as they headed back to the Tornado. Tails noticed that Knuckles didn't appear to be quite so nervous now and knew that things in his plan were going well. They sat in the Tornado and it launched into the air.
"Tails, can we go back to the ARK first please? I don't think we're going to need these clothes for Brazil. Plus I really need a wash." Rouge asked.
"Yeah, we may as well. Let's go." And with that, Tails flew the Tornado to the ARK.
They landed and took their suits off. While Tails contacted Eggman, Rouge went about looking for a bathroom. She found one just as Eggman's reply came.
"Well you had better hurry then if you're going to find him. You say you're going to Brazil? Make sure you don't get bitten by insects then. I've managed to decide on one place but it will be some time before I can get it furnished. I have to go through all of the legal rigmarole first. Oh and say thank you to Rouge as well for the disguise. It's working like a treat! Over and out." Tails put the walkie-talkie down and walked over to where the others were standing.
"Right this way to the bathroom!" Rouge left the room with the others following her. They found the bathroom and they entered it, Rouge gasping as she took in everything.
"I've never seen a bathroom this big before! And look at these towels, they're so fluffy!" She exclaimed as she opened a cupboard full of dressing gowns, towels and washing stuff. She grabbed a towel, dressing gown and several bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. She even managed to find a loofah. "Well I'm ready, I'm not sure about you lot." But the others seemed embarrassed. She stared at them. "What? Why are you all staring at me like that?"
"Um…well…you're a girl Rouge." Sonic said.
"And?"
"Well, we're boys and we are in a bathroom." Sonic explained. Rouge's eyes widened a bit.
"Oh…I see what you mean. For goodness sake, there are curtains and to be honest I don't care. I'm more concerned about being clean than about the fact you are boys."
She walked over to one of the baths and stood in it. She put the towel and dressing gown on a hook and pulled the curtain across the bath.
"She is right I suppose. But how am I gonna have a bath with my wrist?" Tails asked.
"Don't worry Tails, I'll help you." Sonic replied and with that they went to the other bath and got Tails ready. They then heard Rouge shout out,
"Can someone catch my clothes please as they come over the curtain?" Sonic and Tails looked at Knuckles.
"What? Why me? Why do I have to do it?" He asked accusingly but they just turned away and acted busy. He sighed to himself. "Ok Rouge I'll catch them."
"Oh thank you Knuckles." Just then her shoes flew over.
"Arrrgh!" Knuckles shouted as he tried to avoid and catch them at the same time.
"You ok there Knuckles?" Rouge shouted.
"Fine, fine." He replied. The clothes kept coming and soon Knuckles was actually quite embarrassed. And then came a bit, which nearly made him shout out in fright. Her knickers flew through the air and landed on his head! He did gasp though and Sonic and Tails looked at him as he tried to hold on to her clothes and take them off at the same time.
"Way hey Knuckles, you're getting in there!" Tails called out but Sonic shushed him.
"What's going on here?" Rouge poked her head around the curtain. "Oh…they look very nice Knuckles." She winked and disappeared again.
"I didn't…they…landed…" He stumbled.
"Whatever Knuckles." She replied lazily and turned the taps on. He quickly found a chair to put the clothes on and dropped the knickers on top of the pile as if they were poisoned. He turned around when he heard sniggering. Sonic and Tails instantly stopped laughing and tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably. He turned away in disgust and sat down on the floor. Just then he heard Rouge singing (Note from S. Chensu: This is Rouge's theme song!).
"Sexy, everything about you so sexy
You don't even know what you got
You're really hitting my spot, oh yeah, yeah." Knuckles had gone bright red and closed his eyes, praying that this wasn't real. The song continued though, much to Knuckles' distress.
"And you're so innocent
Please don't take this wrong 'cause it's a compliment
I just wanna get wit' your flow
You gotta learn to let go
Oh baby won't you…" Knuckles could hear Sonic and Tails snorting behind their hands and Knuckles was ready to run out of the room. It got worse though, much worse.
"Work it a little
Get hot just a little
Meet me in the middle
Let go just a little bit more
Give me just a little bit more." Knuckles then had a thought.
What if she's talking about me? But the thought made him hide his face in his hands. She's a really good singer actually. Will I ever tell her how I feel? He sighed. His heart was beating really fast and he had to breathe in deeply to stop himself from fainting. He was obviously failing though as he slumped to the ground, closing his eyes. Hearing a sound, Sonic turned around.
"Knuckles, Knuckles are you all right?" He called out and when he didn't respond, he gave the towel to Tails, who was nearly dry and bent down to him.
"Hmm…it looks like he's fainted." Just then he heard Rouge ask,
"What's happened? Is Knuckles ok?" She sounded worried.
"Yeah, he just fainted. I think your singing did it." He replied and she giggled.
"Oh was it? I would say it was the song actually, not the singing." Tails snorted with laughter at this. She stepped out of the bath with her dressing gown on and sat down next to him. Just then, he stirred and opened his eyes. Seeing everyone look at him, he jumped up.
"I'm fine, nothing's wrong with me." He laughed uneasily but the others looked unbelieving. "Oh good, you've finished Rouge. I'll just go now and have a shower." He grabbed a towel and a bar of soap before jumping into the shower. Tails tapped his fingers together evilly. The plan was going along perfectly…
"That reminds me. I had better go and have one too." Sonic remembered. He also grabbed a towel and got into the shower. Tails put his shoes and socks on and put the dressing gown away. He found a hairbrush and did his fringe while Rouge got changed and put her make up on. They waited while Sonic and Knuckles had showers and when they were ready the group set off for the Tornado. Yet again they sat in it and the door opened as they set off for Brazil…
They landed by the southeast edge of the Amazon rainforest and after hiding the Tornado they cautiously entered the forest. They had only been standing there for a few moments when Rouge announced,
"Am I hot or what? I didn't quite realise how bad it was here." She complained.
"Me too. Let's get this over and done with. Where shall we go first?" Tails asked, while fanning himself with one of his tails.
"We may as well just follow the path here." Knuckles pointed out.
They trudged along this path when up ahead they saw a bird in a tree. This bird was unlike any bird they had seen though. It had a hammer for a head and it was busy attaching a sign to the tree. It flew away and they walked up to the sign. It read 'The garden'. The group shrugged their shoulders.
"It's as good a place to start as any." Knuckles said so they followed the path until they came to a fork. Yet again there was two signs.
"'The garden' or the 'March Hare's house'." Rouge read. "Shall we carry on towards the garden?" They suddenly heard a voice.
"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you go to the garden, you'll meet the Queen of Hearts and she's in a frightful mood today." They looked up and saw a tabby cat sitting in the tree. If that weren't strange enough, it was grinning as well.
"And why is she in a bad mood?" Tails asked. It swished its tail at his question.
"She hasn't found anyone to execute in a whole day. If you're not careful, it could be you."
"But we haven't done anything illegal. And anyway, who are you? And would you stop grinning, it's making me feel weird." Sonic complained.
"I'm the Cheshire Cat. You can't do anything illegal here because there are no rules! I can't stop you if you want to go and see her but be prepared to play croquet." The cat replied. Just then they heard running behind them and a white rabbit appeared.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!" It kept repeating to itself. The rabbit ran towards the garden and disappeared.
"Well that's my cue to go. I'll see you later, even if you don't!" It faded away until all was left was its grin. That vanished with a pop and the group stared at each other.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going totally insane?" Rouge asked. The others didn't reply, although they felt the same way. They walked towards the garden and managed to arrive without anything else happening.
They walked through a laurel arch into a huge garden. In the distance they could see a castle with red hearts in every window. As they looked around they saw lots of rose bushes, all of them red. They stood there, not sure what to do when they heard a fanfare. They looked to the side and saw a procession of playing cards walking towards them with an ape in the lead! Not sure what to do, they remained where they were and as the procession reached them, it stopped.
"Who dares not bow before the Queen of Hearts?" The ape shouted in a high-pitched voice.
"Well I'm Sonic and this is…" But he didn't get any further than that.
"You were not meant to answer you impertinent thing…off with his head!" The Queen shrieked and a group of cards ran to capture Sonic.
"Oh no you don't…" And with that he ran off, causing the Queen to stomp her foot.
"You let him get away you fools! Off with your heads!" The ape ran off in the same direction as Sonic.
"Come on you guys, we have to follow them!" Tails shouted and he flew away with Knuckles and Rouge following him.
I don't like this place, it's too strange. Sonic thought to himself as he ran along. He wasn't worried about the ape catching him up but he wanted to be careful, just in case. At last, feeling safe Sonic slowed down and walked along the path. He suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder and without looking said,
"Hello Cheshire Cat, it seems you were right, the Queen /was/ in a bad mood."
"Yes and she still is. Although you can't see her she is nearby."
"Oh and why did you say she is a Queen, she's obviously a boy." Sonic asked.
"Why do you assume an ape is a boy?" He asked instead. And with that the Cheshire Cat disappeared. There was silence for a moment before Sonic heard a snapping twig, causing him to start sprinting again.
Ah this is more like it, running as fast as I can… He thought and quickly looked behind him. True to the Cheshire Cat's word, the Queen was running behind and was gaining on him. He was too busy looking at the Queen to notice he had got to the edge of a cliff and so flew over, panicking as he felt a sensation of falling. The Queen stopped and roared her head in anger before turning back to the garden.
"RAH!" They heard the Queen shout.
"Oh no, Sonic's been hurt!" Tails exclaimed. They landed and started running towards where the noise came from. Unlike Sonic though, they saw the edge of the cliff so they slowed down and stopped, seeing him sail towards the valley below.
Just then they saw something brown fly past them, heading for Sonic. It grabbed him and jumped to the side of the mountain before climbing up. When it reached the top of the cliff they could see who rescued Sonic. They backed away in fright when they first saw it because they thought it was the Queen of Hearts but they were soon put at ease.
"Hi, I'm DK. We all have questions for each other and we can answer them but I'd prefer to do it back at my tree house before my sister makes another appearance."
They followed him and he led them off the path up into a large tree. While Knuckles and Rouge could climb up it and Sonic could home attack onto the branches, Tails couldn't reach them.
"How am I going to get up?" Tails asked.
"Climb up on this rope." DK replied and a rope ladder unrolled towards the ground. Tails smiled and climbed the ladder. He soon reached the top and in between a split of two branches, there was a tree house. He walked through the front door where the others were already sat down around a table. Tails took a chair next to Sonic and listened to him explaining about Shadow.
"So I was wondering if you've seen him? Or if not would you at least tell us if you know anyone who could help us." DK scratched his head.
"And the Ice Climbers told you about me?" Sonic nodded his head. "I don't think I've seen or heard anyone of that description. The Cheshire Cat would have told me and I check my part of the Amazon every three or four days." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Well thank you anyway. You said that you would answer our questions and I have one for you. Why did we have to get away from your sister?"
"My sister is the Queen of Hearts. I suppose I should explain about the Cheshire Cat as well. I don't know where he came from because he has always been here. But his disappearing act is very useful, especially when I want to irritate my sister!" He laughed. Just then, the Cheshire Cat appeared in the middle of the table. "Oh hello, Cheshire, we've just been talking about you." He grinned as usual.
"I'm flattered. And before you ask, no I haven't seen anything interesting unless you count the Queen storming the jungle to find speedy blue boy here. You should have seen it; I think it may be her best performance so far this year." DK groaned at this news.
"Another one of my sister's acts that I missed! Never mind, I'll go down and see her later. One of her servants will no doubt tell me about it." He turned back to the group. "Although I can't help you directly, I can direct you to Banjo and Kazooie in Egypt. They're the only members of the old Nintendo gang that I keep in touch with now, apart from the Ice Climbers."
"Egypt did you say? That's great, we were planning to go there anyway. Thank you for your help but I need you to do one more thing for me. Would be able to guide us out of the jungle without bumping in the Queen? Somehow, I don't want to see her again." Sonic shivered at the thought of her.
"Of course. Can you surf trees? It makes things a lot quicker if you can. I assume that you three can fly or glide?" They nodded their heads.
"I've never tried surfing trees before. Is it like grinding by any chance?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know much about it but with trees, you just follow where they lead. I'm sure you can do it. Shall we get going?" The others stood up.
"Yes, let's. Goodbye Cheshire Cat, it was nice to meet you." Sonic said.
"Maybe we'll see each other before the end." Was all he said before vanishing.
They left the tree house and climbed a little bit further before reaching the canopy of the trees.
"Right, the exit you will want is that way." Said DK, pointing to their left. "Sonic, you follow me and do what I do ok?" They nodded their heads and everyone went in their separate directions. It wasn't long before they were at the entrance again and saying goodbye to DK.
"Thank you for your help again. I just wish I could say goodbye to the Cheshire Cat." Sonic sighed.
"And so you can. Goodbye all four of you, but especially you, speedy blue boy." The Cheshire Cat was sitting in a tree swishing his tail. He disappeared and the group walked to the Tornado after DK turned back.
"So far, we had two big adventures in as many days! I wonder if we will have anymore?" Tails pondered.
"I certainly hope not. So far, something's happened to Sonic and Rouge, which leaves just you and me. And I certainly don't want to be chased by anything." Knuckles commented.
"Oh don't look at it like that Knuckles. We still have another five countries to go so it may be a couple of countries before you get attacked." Rouge said optimistically.
"What you just said there was a great comfort to me…" Knuckles growled.
"Well of course something's going to happen to you. Someone seems to have it in for us but I don't know who." (S. Chensu: Too true, I'm going to kill them all, mwahahaha!). Rouge looked up at the sky and saw a girl typing on a computer. She blinked and the image was gone. She shook her head and jumped into the Tornado. The others followed her and soon they were in the sky yet again, heading for Egypt.
S. Chensu: Phew, another episode done! It's going all right so far I think…
Luff: Well, the reviewers seem to like it.
S. Chensu: They do, don't they? Turns to STREKS Gang. How much did you pay them?
Sonic: Hides money and chocolate Nothing!
S. Chensu: Hmm, suspicious if you ask me. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed, all comments have been taken into consideration.
Knuckles: As long as they don't involve any more underwear shivers.
Luff: We'll see about that. If she has her way, there'll be a lot worse than that…
Knuckles: Eek!
S. Chensu: Hey this is a PG-13; I'm planning to stick to that.
Luff: Anyway, we'll stop now. Please read and review, we make the time to review others so it would be nice if you did the same.
S. Chensu: Any flames will be used to set fire to Dipstick!
Dipstick: Hey, I didn't agree to that!
Sonic: Goes up and gags Dipstick Shut up!
(Note: We'll update faster if you review. More reviews means more demand!)