Chapter 17 – Getting There's Half the Fun…
A/N: Right, bit of a new system here; as there are going to be more groups of people in these and future chapters, XXX will mean a change in group i.e. the action could flick from Sonic and Knucks talking to Tails and Cream catching Rouge and Shadow at an embarrassing moment (oops, hope I didn't give too much away there…:-)). I'd like to thank Liquid Silver for suggesting this system.
HHH – Two partly sane flying creatures – I think you mean three (you forgot about Charmy – poor little guy's always getting left out).
With a sudden jolt, Amy threw herself upright, eyes open and pulse racing as she threw herself out of her dream and found herself back in her own body. Wow; she brushed back her quills with one hand as she calmed down and recalled the last sensations she could remember; that was some dream – I was going at an all out sprint. She chuckled quietly as she rubbed her tongue with her teeth; ah well, at least there were no dark tunnels or, hold it! With a sudden sharp intake of breath, Amy realised that she actually could taste something in her mouth – her brain racing as it registered the slight smokiness that she detected on her tongue. It was too faint to recognise though, and in a second that was forgotten as the sudden urge that had probably caused her to wake up demanded her attention. As she rose to head for the loo, she paused for a second in amazement; if her bedcovers were anything to go by, that must have been a really realistic dream – they were churned up as though she'd dived onto them and scrambled about a bit.
A few minutes later, Amy was ready to go back to bed, but for some reason she felt strangely disenchanted with visions of sleep. Though it was still pretty early, just past six o'clock, she really didn't feel tired at all. Probably just excitement; she told herself as she headed for the kitchen – it wasn't every day Knuckles made the offer he had the previous evening and she had some serious planning to do regarding the best way to make the most of it. She had just begun to plan ahead as she entered her modest kitchen; she took one look around and all those thoughts few away like a flock of frightened birds.
Though she appeared energetic and perhaps even a little random at times, the pink hedgehog was by and large a creature of habit; she had a set routine and didn't like to deviate from it too much. One of her habits was that she always did the clearing away from her meal before she went to bed; she knew from long experience that if she tried to kid herself she'd do it in the morning she could guarantee that before she knew it there would be an absolute mountain of dirty dishes to wade through. The sight of a single cup, upended and resting on the draining board, therefore set off several alarm bells; she wouldn't have left it like that, not in a million years. Amy stiffened, thin tendrils of unease beginning to percolate down into her mind as she walked slightly closer to the offending mug, sticking up from the stainless steel draining board like a sore thumb. Curious, Amy reached out a hand and picked the porcelain utensil up; she gasped as her fingers came into contact with the smooth material – it was still damp! She quickly picked it up and upended the cup, watching with a thrill of horror as the small drops in the interior flowed down to the bottom of the cup to form a rivulet of water. That was done recently, and; Amy looked closely, running her tongue along her teeth again to jog her memory as she caught sight of a small brown stain on the lip of the mug; yes, if I'm any judge, I'd say there was coffee in this.
For a few minutes she was immobile, holding the cup in one hand as her brow was furrowed; she couldn't be a hundred percent sure because she hadn't really been paying attention, but she could almost remember that, when she'd woken up there had been a feeling of dampness on her hands, especially her left one. Could that have been caused by washing something like a cup? Groaning, the pink hedgehog pulled out her seat and slumped down, holding her head in both hands; another outbreak of sleepwalking was really not what she needed right now. It wasn't something that happened to her often, but every time she went wandering in the night something embarrassing happened; she chuckled a little and her cheeks went red as she remembered the last time. Her shock had being woken up by her next-door neighbour, having somehow managed to walk out the front door, lock it behind her and then fall asleep on the landing dressed in only her nightie, had been exceeded only by her embarrassment. Luckily the human had been sympathetic; he had suffered the same problem as a child and promised to keep her secret and due to the early hour she'd been able to get back to bed before anyone else caught a glimpse of her. Still, if we're up there in the open, that could be a problem; Amy was smart enough to realise that wandering off in the middle of a winter's night on Angel Island could be at best a serious problem and at worst potentially fatal; I'll have to let Knucks know about that – he'll know what to do.
Knucks; the name intrigued the being as its vast processing capacity managed to effortlessly join the dots; someone lives upon Angel Island – could he help me find out? How could I approach him, and what does the host know about Angel Island? For a second, the being realised it had a source of information available that had never occurred to it before – apparently, the host herself had some experiences with Angel Island, a place lodged prominently in the memories of the being. Could I access the host's memories safely when I have control? An interesting theory; all avenues of opportunity should be explored, it's the only way to properly come to a conclusion, my experiments taught me that, whatever those experiments actually were.
It was probably the coffee that meant she couldn't go back to sleep, and now she was awake at this time Amy really realised just how boring the world is at six-thirty in the morning. There was absolutely nothing on the telly that she could muster the slightest interest in, no-one was up and about at this hour and she was even denied the pleasures of cooking a big breakfast. The last thing she needed was to feel travel sick on the Tornado, especially as she couldn't exactly expect Tails to stop on the hard shoulder for a couple of minutes; so it was that she spent most of the time until the appointed meeting with the Chaotix wandering around her apartment, occasionally browsing some of the books on her shelves, fixing herself a light breakfast when the time came and stretching out. Eventually she was able to catch a little shut-eye as she cat-napped for minutes at a time, resting herself for the festivities that were bound to start happening when they arrived on Angel Island.
XXX
"C'mon, c'mon", Charmy, up, washed and dressed, burst into the other bedroom that Vector and Espio shared, sprinting over to the bed that contained the crocodile and shaking the covers, "guys, get ready; we don't have all that long left". There was a sudden growl and a scaly green arm shot out from under the covers, cutting the bee off by the simple process of squeezing his vocal chords shut. A guttural growl sounded out as the leader of team Chaotix emerged, every tooth exposed as he dragged the insect closer.
"Charmy, how many times have I told you…"
"But…" Vector widened his satanic smile as the bee struggled to breathe,
"…in this weather, Espio and I need to sleep as much as possible…"
"I know but…" Charmy tried to prize off the grip around his neck as Vector fought down the urge to have an impromptu breakfast in bed. Shaking the younger Mobian a little as he loosened his hold a fraction, the crocodile explained the situation again,
"…we need our sleep to stop freezing to death…" Heaving a deep breath into his lungs, Charmy finally managed to wrench himself free and bawl at the top of his lungs,
"Vector, it is nine thirty in the morning; we have one hour to get ready and get to the park!" For a second it didn't sink in; the crocodile flicked his glance sideways to the battered bedroom clock; as he caught sight of the flashing digits displaying 9:31 he gave a whole new meaning to the term 'cold-blooded'. Panic washed into him as he threw himself out of bed, bellowing,
"Esp, get going; we're late", as the chameleon groaned and rolled over, Vector turned his furious attention to Charmy once more, "why the hell didn't you get us up earlier?" As the bee mock-hanged himself, the crocodile realised the stupidity of his question and gave another almost-blush.
"Ah, yeah, sorry".
"Save it", the bee forgave the crocodile just to speed things up a little, realising that time was of the essence here, "just get the Karate Kid presentable and I'll try and get breakfast fixed". There was an irritable snarl and a purple hand emerged from under Espio's blankets, holding something silver; Charmy dashed outside and slammed the door just as a ninja star thunked into it.
"Damn, missed".
A short while, a very rushed breakfast and a grudging apology from Espio later and the Chaotix were ready to roll. Vector hastily threw the last bag in the boot of the car and closed the lid down gently; even in his haste he recalled that slamming it could result in the bumper falling off and he had neither the time nor the inclination to weld it back on again. Running a checklist off, he realised he had forgotten at least a dozen things but, he decided, forget it; the plants could look after themselves for a couple of days and worst come to worst Charmy could drink a couple of extra pints of milk, sour or otherwise. Throwing his hands up at it all, the croc opened the driver's door and thrust his keys into the starting motor, twisting around as the engine spluttered and then coughed into life,
"Buckle up and hold tight, we're still runnin' a bit behind schedule so I'm going to have to up the tempo".
"Right", Espio gripped onto his seatbelt as nightmare visions of the last time Vector had driven a little faster than normal; prolific swearing, a decidedly dodgy set of traffic lights and a roundabout with tyre tracks going over the top of it featuring predominantly, "shall I take medical insurance or just write a will here and now?"
"Can it frilly"; looking behind him, Vector simultaneously pulled out and closed Charmy's book, "don't read in the car, it'll make you ill. Right, we're off". Before either of his team mates could protest, the croc's foot hit the floor and with a stomach-churning lurch, they were on their way.
XXX
Where am I? Knuckles wasn't exactly a morning person; it normally took him a few seconds to gain his bearings after a heavy night's sleep and this was no exception – he was convinced his ceiling had never been that shade of grey. Come to think of it; the echidna squinted up at the offending roof; wasn't my cabin made of wood? He shut his eyes and counted to ten, his fuzzy memory eventually clearing and allowing him to remember where he was – he was in Haven, the ancestral home of his five grandfathers and his father; I came here yesterday and, more importantly; he smiled as he glanced over to his left; I didn't come alone. Knuckles smiled as Rouge slumbered still, her gentle breathing pervading the air as he decided that it was time for them to both be up. He couldn't be sure of the time as the view of the sun isn't so great when you're who knows how far underground, but he was almost certain that it was time to get up and face the fresh new day. He didn't rush unduly as he was fairly certain that his ancestors would have a way for him to get to the Tornado's landing strip in plenty of time, but still, it was better to be safe than sorry. Now how was he going to wake Rouge up – he smiled at how she'd managed to get one over on Sojourner and secretly he agreed with what she'd done, but still, she didn't know that and if he remembered rightly, she was ahead of him by a bowl of bitterroot soup. Hmmm…aha!
Rouge felt something gently tickle one of her ears and swatted at it sleepily, moving slightly as she remained mostly unconscious. Knuckles smiled as he gently touched her ear again and saw a small frown break out on the bat's face,
"G'way" she murmured, rolling away from him as he decided to end this; he flicked the bat's ear and jerked away as she sat up straight, glaring at him as she stretched off,
"You have no idea how much I want to kill you right this minute", she announced bad-temperedly, flexing her wings as Knuckles tried to look innocent at the same time as grin widely, "torturing my poor ears; how low can you get?"
"A lot lower", Knuckles smirked and wriggled his fingers, "it could have been your feet".
"Don't you dare", the bat's legs shot upwards as she hugged her knees close, shuddering as memories of last time flooded through her mind, "try it and I'll shave your dreads off". The guardian laughed and reached across; Rouge hissed and stuck her tongue out, but overall didn't resist as he hugged her, speaking light-heartedly,
"I don't doubt it, but anyway", he released her and sat back, looking down for his shoes, "we've gotta get going; I'm not sure what time it…" There was a sudden bang as the door to their bedroom shot open and chaos arrived unannounced.
"Hello third-son and pretty Rouge".
"Athiar!" Knuckles felt his cheeks burn as he hid both himself and Rouge under the blanket, forgetting that she was wearing pyjamas and he hardly wore clothes anyway, "do you mind…"
"Not at all"; the flying brown echidna breezed over to the bed itself; it was only then that Knuckles realised he was wearing a colourful apron and most of his equally colourful spines were obscured by a voluminous chef's hat, "I love cooking and grandfather Spectre said I could make you breakfast in bed".
"Really", Rouge spoke with a hand obscuring her lips; she didn't want to risk offending the third-father as she realised just how silly he looked, "that's very nice of him, and you". Athair smiled over at her as he settled down at the foot of the bed,
"Yes, he said 'if he can survive your cooking we'll know he's the guardian', so I tried my hardest to make something special". He set down the two trays he'd carried in with him on the covers as Knuckles looked dubious – it didn't seem like grandfather Spectre made jokes often, but then again Athair's cooking couldn't be that bad, could it? Compared to Shadows? He rolled his eyes down at his tray and his stomach immediately added its vote to the 'yes' majority.
"Well Athair", Rouge eyed the steaming grey mush as though it could leap up and bite her, which given the way it seemed to be sloshing about on the plate, she wouldn't have put past it, "that's, er, well it's certainly different". The brown echidna nodded until his chef's hat slipped over his eyes; as he straightened it he spoke again, proud of his achievement,
"Yes, all my recipes are unique"; praise the Lord; the thoughts of more than two bowls of this stuff existing could have put Knuckles off eating for life, "I don't like book recipes, they're all so hard to follow, so I make it up as I go along. This is made from pepper, batter mixture, sugar, marzipan, treacle, nuts, chopped apples and raisins – I call it Guardian's Relish. Now hurry up", he pointed at the spoons he'd left in the bowls, "grandfather Sojourner is ready to take you to where you need to go". If there was anything he could have said to drag Rouge's attention away from the slithering creation in front of her that was it.
"Wait, Sojourner's taking us?" Athair's smile dropped for just a second and he bowed his head as he caught sight of her disbelieving face,
"Yes pretty Rouge; grandfather Thunderhawk told me what happened last night and I can only say sorry. Yesterday was a, well, it would have been my mother's one hundred and second birthday".
"Oh Athair, I'm sorry", the bat bowed her head as a tear appeared in the brown echidna's eye and Knuckles realised why Sojourner had been so tightly wound up last night. The flying echidna smiled as he wiped his eyes with his free arm and spoke again,
"It's not your fault; Sojourner wanted to spend the day alone like he normally does but grandfather Spectre said he couldn't – he was going to meet the new guardian", Athair beamed at his third-son as Knuckles understood the situation better with each passing word, "so, he wasn't in the best of moods – he never is on those two days".
"Two?" Rouge spoke before she could stop her natural curiosity welling up; if nothing else she wanted to know when else to avoid the elder guardian's foul mood. Luckily Athiar didn't take offence to the question,
"He's alone when it would have been mother's birthday, and on the day of her death, he locks himself alone in her room. But anyway, no more of this", he clapped his hands as though scaring away the darkening mood that had crept up on the room, "eat up and then he'll take you to see your friends. Oh I can't wait; I'll have to look my best to meet the guests". Without a second look, the loony echidna span overhead and rocketed out the room, shutting the door behind him.
"Guardian's Relish he calls it", Knuckles took a spoonful and let it fall off the spoon, upon which it fell and impacted on the rest of the gruel in the bowl with an audible splat, "I call it how to poison your relatives in one easy step". Rouge found herself sharing his sentiments; much as she liked Knuckles' madcap grandfather she just could bring herself to even consider eating any of the soggy newspaper I front of her.
"Just for once I agree with you; question is, how are we going to get rid of it?"
"Trust me I'll think of something", Knuckles looked at his supposed meal again and shuddered, "when it's either an excuse or eat something that deadly there's not really an option".
About fifteen minutes later, Knuckles wandered into the main meeting hall of Haven, rather unsurprised to see most of the other guardians present; only Athair seemed to be missing and, not wishing to speak ill of his family, he considered that a bit of a mercy. Sabre glanced over; it was only as the light reflecting off the doctor's monocle shone right into his eyes that Knuckles realised what was different today – the lights were back on.
"Greetings grandson, where's Rouge?"
"Just getting washed up and dressed", Knuckles took a seat between Spectre and, to his chagrin, Sojourner as well and waited patiently for Rouge to appear. Just as he made himself comfortable, he felt a tap on his arm. Glancing down, he saw a small parcel was being offered to his seventh-father; keeping his eyes straight ahead, Spectre breathed out the corner of his mouth,
"Guardian's Relish?" Realising the apparent want of secrecy, Knuckles whispered back,
"Yep".
"Flush it?"
"'Fraid so". The ancient echidna rolled his eyes and used his emerald power to tap Locke on the side of the shoulder; when the mechanic looked around, Spectre mouthed 'plumbing'. I think I just lost my appetite; Locke slowly sank his head into his hands as memories of the last time any of Athiar's food had gone down the drain; set like cement and didn't taste much better either.
XXX
Tails had gotten everything he could prepared; it was now just a matter of waiting for the others to arrive. He wasn't all that surprised, therefore, when the doorbell rang ten minutes before it was supposed to – Sonic had never been on time for anything in his life as he always, no matter what time he set off, managed to arrive early. The fox hopped off his settee and stretched, heading for his front door as the bell went once more. Reaching up, Tails pulled the heavy wooden structure open and began,
"Hey bro, fancy a…Big!" The huge purple cat smiled down as Tails did some frantic reconfiguring in his head; before even his fantastic I.Q. could make much of a start on it though, the cat spoke,
"Hullo Tails; don't worry, I won't be staying long".
"Umm, right, oh sorry, please come in"; Tails stepped to the side to let Big enter his home but the mighty Mobian smiled and gently shook his head, raising one of his plate-sized paws,
"No need, listen I just came here to say this", he crouched down, lowering his voice to sort of a baritone whisper, "I went for a bit of a night fish yesterday, and while I was landing a large brown trout, something in the water caught my eye. I went in and fished it out, no pun intended", Tails smiled as the cat licked his lips, "and after I wiped the mud off it I realised what it was. It was a Chaos emerald".
"You went fishing and found a Chaos emerald?" Tails had to laugh after taking a couple of minutes digesting this news, "it could only happen to you Big". The cat replied with a gruff chuckle, his yellow eyes crackling with mirth as he nodded in agreement,
"Yeah, I know; after the trouble they caused me last time, I don't want anything to do with them. I wasn't sure what to do, so I thought I'd come here first thing".
"Good idea", Tails lit up as he realised this could be a really good stroke of fortune; neutralise a Chaos emerald as well as have some fun – I like it; the fox looked up at his oversized cat friend, "do you have it with you?" To his disappointment though, Big shook his head,
"Nah, sorry; I wasn't sure if it would get in the way of your experiments, so I left it at home". Tails sighed in defeat, though he rekindled himself enough to pat Big on the arm,
"Well, don't worry; reason I asked is because we're off to Floating Island not long from now; we'd be able to take it to Knuckles and he'd get rid of it for us. Still, no matter; thanks for letting us know".
"My pleasure, I don't like those rocks, they made Froggy go all ill". At that moment, a second voice cut in as Sonic made his belated early appearance, Shadow by his side.
"Hey Big, what're you doing here – Knucks invite you too?"
"No, I don't think so. I haven't heard from him since Christmas, Rouge either for that matter. What's the invitation?"
"Knucks said something about a New Year get-together", Sonic grinned as he shook the cat's paw, though he became slightly more serious as he remembered some of the conversation he had overheard, "what was that about a Chaos emerald?"
"I found one last night while I was fishing, it got stirred up when the fish I was fighting thrashed in the shallows. I wanted to know what I should do with it; I'm no expert on the things so I came looking for someone who was".
"Don't look at us then", Shadow broke in, chuckling as he too greeted the purple Mobian, "what colour was it?"
"Umm, it was the yellow one, I think, or was it green; I haven't really had a good look; I just want it off my hands". Tails decided the best course of action from this information and snapped his fingers,
"Well I'll tell you what Big; next time we're off to visit Knuckles, I'll drop by and collect it. And anyway, we're all off to Angel Island now as it is; why don't you come, I'm sure neither Knuckles nor Rouge would mind". I don't expect him to…nah; gee Big, what is it with you and going places?; the kit held back a sigh as Big shook his head,
"No thanks; I'm not keen on flying, but if you don't mind, who else is going?" Shadow thought for a second as he silently counted his fingers; after a couple of mental notes, he stood tall to answer the cat,
"There's us three, Amy and Cream as well", Big smiled as he pictured meeting his tem mates again, albeit a bit unexpectedly, "and, I don't know I you know the Chaotix?"
Laughter boomed out suddenly as Big's memories were jolted by the name; with crystal clarity, memories of a silly little fight over nothing, some reparations and then fighting together to defeat the deadly Metal Overlord flitted past in the cat's head.
"Yes, I remember the Chaotix – Vector Crocodile, Espio Chameleon and Charmy Bee; I just hope they don't remember me too well". Impressive; Shadow looked anew at the purple cat as he recited the names; I hardly even knew them, but then again…yeah, now's as good a time as any; clearing his throat, the black hedgehog looked up as he remembered the events of a few days ago.
"Speaking of memories, how did you draw those pictures for Amy and Cream?" Shadow pressed on as Tails and Sonic both realised he had a point here that had slipped both their minds, "those were works of art man; how'd you do it, and from memory as well?"
Uh oh; Big licked his lips as he tried hard to hide his nervous smile; there was a very simple reason why he'd been able to do it but he really didn't want the rest of his friends to find out; I know I'm a freak, I remember the calls – it'll never happen again. Twisting and wringing his massive hands, the cat shuffled his canoe-like feet and looked sheepishly at the two hedgehogs and fox,
"I, er, just practised a lot, and took a lot of time over them; I've got lots of spare time on my hands, especially when it's raining, so slow and steady won the race", he tried to change tack slightly, "did they like them?" Tails pricked his ears and smiled a little before glancing upwards,
"Tell you what Big; stick around for a couple of minutes and you'll be able to ask them yourself".
XXX
Back in Haven, Knuckles was pretty much ready to go; Rouge was just finishing off what Thunderhawk had passed to her under the table; the look on the lavender echidnas' face had spoken volumes about what he thought of Athair's refined palate. As the eating finished, Spectre rose to his full height and addressed the entire room.
"Right, seventh-son and Rouge, you know what you need to do, correct?" The current guardian nodded sombrely,
"Yes, we are to bring the eight who have seen the Master back to Haven; however", all four echidnas paused as Knuckles echoed Spectre in rising to his feet, "I want to make a few points clear before we do". Spectre nodded as Knuckles held up a single hand,
"Firstly, none of these guys are echidnas, but they are all my friends; I want you all to understand that and try to act accordingly", he gave Sojourner a piercing look, though the fifth-father didn't appear to notice as he sipped from his drink, looking tired and pale as he reflected on a long night of remembrance, "I hate to say it, but blood isn't yet thicker than water in this case".
"Understandable", Spectre empathised with his much younger descendent; he was quietly impressed that Knuckles had managed to come to terms with the fact that, quite literally out of nowhere, suddenly a large family had appeared in front of him and wanted him to be part of it. It took me weeks to accept I was no longer alone; was it due to these friends that he was able to adapt so quickly; Spectre stored that line of enquiry away as he realised his seventh-son was speaking again,
"Second, I might need to explain some things before I can get them to come with me; how much can I say?"
"As much as is necessary", Spectre answered without a moment's hesitation, "tell them everything if they need to hear it; believe me seventh-son, nothing at the moment matters more than determining what these individuals think of the Master. I do not wish to think ill of your friends, but until I can prove they are as trustworthy as you say they are, we must assume they are a threat to the safety of Angel Island and"; no harm in reminding him; "all the echidnas of Echidnopolis as well". The black echidna hid the fact that these Mobians were, in fact, the second most important thing on his mind at the minute well as Knuckles nodded; in his ancestor's shoes he'd probably have felt the same way.
"And last but not least", Rouge piped up, causing everyone to look at her as she smiled benignly, "how do we get from the Tornado's place to here, and does this place have parking for something a fair bit larger than the car we arrived in yesterday?"
"Good point"; Knuckles turned to his seventh-father, arms wide as though embracing the truth, "no point getting them on the island if we can't get them to Haven". Spectre allowed a devious smile to appear on his lips, watching with amusement as all the other echidna barring Knuckles shifted backwards at this, remembering the last time he'd smiled such a smile with perfect clarity. As well they might; Spectre gave a snort of laughter even as his mind traced backwards the route it needed to take and sorted the best way to transfer the data to Knuckles; locking them in a cupboard playing elevator music was the least they could expect after that little stunt with the vacuum cleaner and the ping-pong balls on All Fool's Day.
"Come here seventh-son", Spectre pulled off one of his gloves as Knuckles approached, having a vague idea of what the black-furred elder was planning and trying to clear his mind in an effort to be ready for it, "I'm just going to give you the route in a manner that will ensure you won't forget it".
"I don't think that's possible; if it's in there, good ol' Knucklehead'll find a way to forget about it", Rouge winked and blew a kiss as Knuckles smiled at her promisingly before inclining his head to let Spectre reach up and graze his scalp with his finger tips.
True to his word, Spectre ensured the route remained lodged in Knuckles' mind for years afterwards; it would later become a party piece of his to draw the line from the Master's shrine to Haven on a plain map of Angel Island with his eyes closed. The way was shown from above, from ground level, as first-person, third-person and as an omni-present being all at once and separately. To the guardian it felt as though a lifetime had been spent memorising the same details over and over; when he was released from his apprenticeship, he staggered backwards, catching his balance just as Spectre seated himself again.
"I, er, I see what you mean seventh-father", Knuckles put a hand to his clammy forehead, swiping the cold sweat from his brow as he looked at his relative anew, "that was, most thorough".
"Glad you appreciate it" Spectre replied with a small smile as he gestured to Sojourner; without a word, the smallest guardian stood and beckoned with each of his hands, "Sojourner will take you to the shrine of the Master; it is best for him to transport you all to a place he is familiar with". Rouge looked up at Spectre's grandchild with a calculating expression of compromise; don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. His face didn't change, but she reckoned that had been enough to get through as he offered a hand to her first. She took hold, but just before Knuckles could take his, a voice rang out across the hall.
"Wait a second".
It was Locke; the former guardian rose from his seat and strode over to stand in front of his son. Knuckles' face betrayed nothing, not even when Locke reached over and put a hand on his shoulder and spoke gravely,
"Good luck son; once more the safety of Angel Island is in your hands".
"I know" was all he said in reply; nodding politely, he brushed past his father before taking hold of Sojourners other hand. With a final glance around the hall, the fifth-father suddenly activated his emerald power and with a bright green glare vanished from Haven, taking the pair of guardians with him.
Locke remained where he was for a few seconds, aware of the eyes of his grandfathers on him but strangely not caring as Knuckles' impassive face manifested itself in his mind's eye. The elder echidna closed his eyes, trying to grapple with the feeling of hollowness that expression gouged in him; my own son refuses to recognise me. Much as he accepted the fact he had been a terrible parent and an even worse husband, the realisation that Knuckles wouldn't yet trust him as a son should trust a father bit him deeply. Slowly, he made his way back to his seat, slumping down in it just in time to hear Sabre's voice in his ear,
"I know son", Locke glanced over as his own father tried to give a reassuring smile, "it is the same for all guardians – it will take time for Knuckles to realise you for who you really are. I had the same trouble with you; remember how long it took you to come to terms with me as your father?" There was a chuckle from across the table as Thunderhawk, tone mirthful but eyes serious and agreeing with Sabre, nodded,
"And just our luck that Knuckles seems to have inherited your stubborn streak". Much as he tried, Locke couldn't stop himself smiling at this, even if he did still have concerns that, though his son might recognise him as a father, he might never accept him as such; I hurt his mother and him badly, through my own idiocy; Locke shivered as his mind grudgingly entertained the malevolent possibility that Knuckles would hate him for that terrible betrayal. Still, there was no point worrying about it now; as grandfather Spectre had impressed on them all, their efforts had to now be focussed wholly on solving the riddle of the past and preventing the Cataclysm that was hinted at. Locke was not a scholar; his talent lay with machines and science, so most of his effort had been focussed on keeping Haven running. It had taken him half the night to figure out what was wrong with the lights and it had been very late indeed before he managed to crawl into bed after jury-rigging some wiring to keep it in place for a couple more days. Just need a couple of hours to rewire the circuit breakers, should be able to do that before the guests arrive. Still, it can wait for a bit. Locke didn't often forget things due to his attention to detail; however, the many and varied misadventures that were to characterise the rest of the day would eventually prove to much for even his memory and the task slipped away. However, as things turned out, Locke's forgetfulness of that one little task would prove invaluable to help another member of his family a short while in the future.
XXX
The interior of the Master Emerald shrine lit up as Sojourner arrived, releasing his charges as he crouched and took a deep breath,
"Is this alright; you can find your way to where you need to go from here?"
"You bet", Knuckles eyed his fifth-father with something approaching concern as he realised how much the Chaos Control seemed to have taken out of Sojourner, "are you alright?"
"No fifth-son, I'm not; using my gift is draining but", the smaller echidna turned around and both Knuckles and Rouge raised eyebrows as he appeared to bow slightly at the giant form of the Master Emerald before approaching it reverently, "the Master will aid me; this is another power you will realise Knuckles, you can call on the Master to replenish your strength should you have need of it – what the Master takes with one hand, it gives with the other". Sojourner placed a single hand on the nearest facet and stood still as that side of the great gem glowed strongly; Knuckles couldn't be sure but he almost felt like he sensed a sudden change of something, some power within the structure of the shrine itself moving, filtering into the immobile form of Sojourner himself. Without another word, the former guardian suddenly vanished once more, leaving the guardian and Rouge alone in the wilderness of Angel Island once more. The echidna was stunned for a second as he took this news in; soon I'll be able to harvest the power of the Master itself; it took a shake on the arm from Rouge to snap out of it.
"Come on Knucks, the others won't take long to get here and it's still a bit of a way to go to the landing pad; race ya!" Without a backwards glance, the bat span on her heel and ran; Knuckles took a second to catch up and tore after her, roaring,
"Cheat; just wait 'til I get my hands on you". Rouge shot back over her shoulder,
"Wow Knucks – one night of abstinence and you're a maniac next day". Just for once Knuckles counted himself lucky that he was behind the bat; at least this way she couldn't see the blush spread over his cheeks as he heard her laughing.
"Shut…up…batgirl". He snarled as she leapt into the air and flew over a clump of bushes in the way, earning more of a lead as he had to slow down and wade through them for a second; if I beat you there batgirl, I swear you will never live it down!
XXX
Cream peered out of her window, gasping in anticipation as the roof of her friend's house became visible in the distance; soon she'd be flying in the Tornado again. She loved the feeling of controlling a vehicle like that in the air; the sense of freedom and release from the worries of the world and school like nothing she'd ever had before. I'm so lucky I've got a friend like Tails; the rabbit smiled as she remembered the fox patiently explaining the controls of his vehicle, sitting next to her as she took her first flight in the mighty machine and, she shook with silent giggles, plotting with her as they got even with the three hedgehogs teasing them by fooling them into thinking she was flying the plane badly.
"Come on mum, faster, faster, we're nearly there". Vanilla chuckled as she saw her daughter press her face almost to the glass of her window; she changed into fourth gear as she made the last turning towards the fox's home and simultaneously answered her child,
"Nearly there are we", she pressed the brake a little, "well you know what they say; more haste less speed…" Cream's face fell as she realised what her mum was up to and she flopped down in the seat and crossed her arms, face frowning as she muttered under her breath, unfortunately forgetting just how good her mothers hearing actually was,
"No fair, big meanie mum", Vanilla pressed the brake slightly harder, dropping into third as Cream darted a mutinous glance her way, "just lives to spoil my fun", second gear was beckoning as the car bled off speed and Cream finally saw the error of her ways. Thinking fast, the younger rabbit beamed like a sunrise and spoke again in a wonderful, praising voice,
"I mean, er, she's great and caring and kind and…" Vanilla finally let out her repressed snigger as she gunned the accelerator and pinched her daughter's cheek,
"And you're a little sweetie when you want something"; Cream went slightly red as she fought off her mum's fingers and poked her tongue out the corner of her mouth, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw there was only about five hundred yards away. A couple of minutes later, the car came to a complete halt and Cream threw her door open, fumbling with the catch for her seat belt as she realised with joy that there was an unexpected friend present.
"Hi everyone"; all four other Mobians waved and shouted hellos as Cream appeared from the passenger seat of the car, bounding around to the boot as it popped open. The younger rabbit threw the boot open and flew upwards, using her ears to levitate as she reached in for a large rucksack; as she pulled it free from the boot, Vanilla appeared from around the other side of the car and walked over to the rest of the Mobians clustered in and around Tails' front door.
"Hey Vanilla; traffic alright?"
"Yeah, it's actually fairly light today", the elder rabbit smiled as Sonic grinned; luckily he'd never been bothered too much by other road users as he was usually nimble and quick enough to avoid them, "so, all ready to go, and when can I expect my daughter back again?"
"Knuckles said not too long; well before school time if that's what you're worried about". Vanilla realised this was fine; she trusted the others implicitly, especially Amy as it appeared Cream had adopted the pink hedgehog as an older sister and in her more whimsical moments, Vanilla could see where she was coming from in that.
"That's all okay; I spoke to Knuckles last night and he said he'd make sure she stayed safe…"
"And he's not alone in that" Shadow added, quick to offer further reassurance to the rabbit as she smiled; at least she's got friends she can trust, which reminds me…; Vanilla suddenly put her hands on her hips as she glared up at Big, remembering something that had happened just a few days ago.
"Which reminds me you", the cat lowered his ears as the rabbit made her feelings very plain indeed, "why on earth didn't you let me drive you back to the Ruins; I knew you wasn't coming to the Boxing Day Bash, but really Big, it wouldn't have taken thirty minutes". The cat looked at the floor and flushed; he didn't think he'd done anything wrong,
"Didn't want to cause a fuss", the cat mumbled, looking up shyly as the rabbit frowned, "I enjoy walking and I knew you'd be tired, so I just let myself out and walked home. Good day for it as well" he remarked as Vanilla sighed,
"Well", the explanation and the tone it was delivered in had knocked the stuffing out of any residual anger she may have felt, "all right, but next time at least leave a note". Big smiled and nodded as Cream, hovering slowly as she dropped her bag to the side of her, flew right into him and hugged the soft fur on his chest.
"Hey Big guy"; the gentle giant rubbed his smaller team mate's back gently as she flew up to perch on his shoulder, "thanks a lot for the picture; it's really good and mum got it framed for me. Can you teach me to draw like that?" Once more a few choice memories resurfaced in the large cat's mind and, after a minute, he discerned an answer that would both satisfy Cream's curiosity and keep his rougher edges hidden,
"Well, there's not really much I can teach there", he continued quickly as Cream's face fell at this, "it's just a matter of taking your time, remembering all the little details and just being patient. In the end how I drew them doesn't matter", he reached up and plucked the rabbit off his shoulder and set her on the ground, "the question is if you liked them or not".
"You bet I did" Cream assured him before turned and making introductions to the others; by great good fortune she managed to remember in the nick of time that Sonic despised the word Mr. As she finished giving Shadow his customary hug around the neck, a sudden bang and clank of metal caused all five heads to turn.
Never again; Amy swore to herself; never, ever again. At least it was finally so nearly over – the pink hedgehog saw the familiar outline of Sonic's brother's house with an undisguised sigh of relief. She was not the only one either,
"Okay guys, nearly there" Vector announced cheerfully, provoking a storm of thanksgiving from the back,
"Thank you", Amy did a double-take as she realised it was Charmy rather than Espio who was delivering the prayers of deliverance; the bee rubbed his sore abdomen as the past fifteen minutes driving took its toll, "oww, my poor stinger; Vec, I know you're not the biggest bang in the firework display, but generally in the realms of common sense trying to go cross-country in a car with no suspension is a very, very bad idea".
"Hey, we got here quicker didn't we?" Amy glanced over disbelievingly as her tail throbbed from the repeated shocks of going over more potholes that she had thought existed,
"Yeah, but we're all black and blue…"
"Not us", Espio smirked as he realised how lucky he'd been, "Vec and I can't feel much through our skin; ain't it great to be a lizard?"
"You said it Esp", Vector spoke sagely as Amy was sorely tempted to test that statement with a little help from her trusty Piko Piko hammer; before she could reach for it though, the crocodile spoke again, pointing ahead over the dashboard,
"Hey, looks like we're just in time; no need to thank me…"
"Just as well", Charmy muttered from the back, still irritable from the bumping his butt had received, "we weren't going to". Sighing as once again his brilliance was drowned out in ingratitude, the leader of Team Chaotix pulled their car to a halt outside Tails' place, just behind the green convertible he assumed belonged to Cream's mother. Unclipping his seat belt, the crocodile threw open his door and emerged into the nippy air.
Yes, that's Vector; Shadow counted off the members of team Chaotix as they emerged from the car; now I know he's a chameleon but his name's gone and, why's Amy walking like that? The black hedgehog grinned as Amy, and the bee as well, walked towards them stiffly, faces pinched in pain as though movement itself was a torment.
"Hey everyone", Vector waved as he took in who else was here; he hid his trepidation of the big purple cat that had sat on him last time they'd met, along with the little rabbit; all of team Rose now we've brought Amy. Fortunately neither of them seemed like they wanted an encore to that last misunderstanding; the cat nodded in greeting as the rabbit shrank a little closer to the fox Vector recognised as Tails, seemingly scared of the large crocodile as he approached.
"All right Vector", Sonic feared no-one, least of all someone he had at least a passing acquaintance with; he held out a paw that the crocodile gently slapped with his tail before he laughed and pointed at the two lagging passengers, "what did you do to those two?"
"We took a bit of a short cut", Charmy used his wings to spare himself the chafing as he walked, "TGG over there decided we ought to save time by cutting across a couple of fields".
"So, I do that all the time when it's safe to" Tails put in; Amy silenced him with a paralysing look,
"There's no suspension in that car; my tail is completely numb and I've got two dead legs". There was an outburst of giggling as this sank in, though Tails managed to recover and ask the bee,
"Sorry, but what's TGG?"
"Tall, green and gruesome", a voice from nowhere answered, chuckling as everyone bar two looked around in confusion; Vector merely crossed his arms,
"Esp, quit fooling around".
"Just training", the chameleon defended himself as he rematerialised in his normal purple colour, "no-one saw me disappear due to my ninja stealth".
A short while later, once all the introductions were made, Shadow clapped his hands and addressed the rest of them,
"Right, we're all present and accounted for. Now we need to get going; Knucks said he wanted us there by the morning and if that echidna's anything he's got a keen eye on the time. So, Tails, is the Tornado's ramp down?"
"Yeah, I've stored all my luggage and I'm waiting for the rest of it; after that it's a plain flight". The blue hedgehog gave his brother a thumbs-up before Shadow continued,
"Right, so if we all get packed up; Cream can say goodbye to her mum and then we'll be on our way. How's that sound?"
"Fair enough"; Amy spoke for the general majority as the proposition made a good deal of sense, "throw us the keys Vec and I'll get the bags out the car". With a tinkle and flash of flying metal, a set of car keys flew through the air towards the pink hedgehog's waiting hand. Espio moved with her to carry the bags as most of the remaining Mobians hefted their meagre packing and headed around the back of the house towards the waiting plane. Cream hung back a little, flying up to hug her mother one last time,
"Bye mum; see you in a few days". Vanilla squeezed her child reassuringly, kissing her softly as she set her back on the floor,
"Take care Bun, but remember to have fun; school next week". Cream clamped her hands over her ears and moaned,
"Noooo, don't remind me; I can't wait to grow up and get away from there". There was a deep bass chuckle as Big rubbed the back of her head and scratched her ears,
"Don't feel bad about it Cream, at least you'll be able to see all your friends again".
"I guess", the rabbit glanced up, somewhat mollified by the cat's words but still a little put out by the mention of the dreaded six letter S-word; she smiled up as Big cast a glance behind him, "are you going soon Big – I know you're not coming with us?"
"Yeah, I've said what I needed to, so I may as well…"
"Get buckled in", Vanilla finished for him, sternly smiling as the cat looked up alarmed, "I'm not letting you get away a second time; I'll drive you to the outskirts of your home and you can walk from there". That's nice of her, but really, I don't want to be a bother; Big twiddled his thumbs as he tried to answer the older rabbit,
"Thanks for the offer Vanilla, but really, don't trouble yoursellfff"; the rest of his sentence was cut off – the rabbit had seized him by a couple of whiskers and smiled politely, Cream in the background trying not to laugh at her huge friend's predicament,
"Sure you don't want a lift?" The cat was smart enough to take a cue and shook his head as much as was possible without plucking out his own fur,
"I'd be delighted".
"Good, glad I could persuade you", Vanilla dropped her hold on the cat and hugged her daughter one last time, "see you later Bun; now go catch up with the others".
"Bye mum, see you Big". Both older Mobians waved as the rabbit hefted her bag and disappeared around the side of her two-tailed friend's house, waving as she went; the last sight she had was of Big being led towards her mum's car; poor guy, but then again mum always said she had a great talent for persuasion.
"Hey Cream, all sorted?" Sonic called over as he caught sight of her approaching the Tornado, a rucksack over one shoulder as she took to the air in short, skipping steps. He jogged over and took the weight off her arms, allowing her to hover freely by his side as he walked back to the Tornado comfortably,
"Yeah, just said goodbye to mum; she's really jealous you know", Sonic raised an eyebrow as Cream smiled and explained, "she's got to go back to work tomorrow and she's really not looking forwards to it – she wants to go to Angel Island someday".
"Well, if she gives us a bit of warning I'm pretty sure I could beg, whinge and plead something off Knuckles; Big gone too?"
"Yeah, he said bye – well, actually he said 'ow, ow, ow, ow'; mum offered him a lift back to his home in the car and twisted his whiskers until he said yes". Sonic tried to picture this and in the end snorted with laughter; the vision of Vanilla quite literally leading Big by the nose was just too funny not to laugh at, especially as the fully grown rabbit barely came up to Big's chin (which, he reminded himself, was a good deal further up than most of the others came).
"What are you giggling at Sonikku?"
"Apparently Vanilla's got a bit of a mean streak; she just dragged Big into her car to drive him home, not taking no for an answer if Cream's telling it right". Amy flicked her eyes to her airborne friend and smiled,
"Mean, pushy, downright devious at times; reminds me a bit of Cream on a good day".
"Hey", the rabbit upped her speed and careened towards Amy, snarling as she recognised the gentle rebuke and exaggerated her reaction to it, "you better apologise for that Ames, or feel the wrath of the Cream Constriction". Latching on to her elder sister the rabbit wrapped both arms around the hedgehog's neck and squeezed gently, avoiding Amy's attempts to grip hold of her by pulling herself in close to her back.
"Sonic, help!" The rosy rascal fell to her knees, twisting to look at her friend pleadingly, eyes theatrically wide and voice strangled, "get her off!" The blue hedgehog felt his shoulders shake at the sight in front of him; tempted though he was to pull the rabbit off Amy and team up on her, his sense of fair play wouldn't let it happen,
"No way; say sorry after that".
"Never", Amy hissed, beginning to lower herself to the floor, falling under the insidious influence of the choke-hold, "I'll not say it", she fell to her hands and knees, trying to twist her head and look Cream in the eye, "you'll, have to, kill…meee!" With that, she collapsed to the dirt, eyes closed as Cream finally let go, poking the hedgehog with a toe as Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Reckon we ought to bury her?" Result; Cream grinned a little as she realised this was one way to get the better of the blue hedgehog; widening her eyes to puppy level, she turned and looked up at him tearfully,
"Sonic, please help her; I like her, I never meant to hurt Amy, you can save her".
"Really?"; news to me; "how?"
"You wally"; you can thank me for this later Ames; "use the kiss of life".
Sonic's face fell through the floor, but to his credit he managed to reassert control after a couple of seconds, thinking desperately of a way out of this one. Cream had just suckered him into the neatest trap he'd ever been set, and from someone who was used to verbally scrapping with Rouge that was saying something. Luckily, working his memory backwards a little did the trick; time to play these to at their own game.
"You're right Cream"; really?; "she needs help and only I can do it – stand back, this could be dangerous". The rabbit goggled as Sonic set his jaw and moved up next to her prone friend; she'd been expecting him to race aboard the Tornado. Meantime Amy's eyes snapped open in disbelief, though she managed to remember she was supposed to be comatose and shut them before anyone noticed. She felt and hear a pair of knees press into the ground by her side; her heart was racing as she felt herself being rolled over, she fought to keep her breathing steady as she prepared for the kiss she must surely be receiving – then she shot three feet off the floor as Sonic bellowed,
"Clear!" and pressed his fingers into her sides. The pink hedgehog shrieked and pummelled at the ground, desperate to get away as she rolled up to her haunches and glared at Sonic. The blue hero gave a victory pose before blowing on his fingertips and holstering a pair of finger-guns,
"Yep, the good old 'electric shock' got the old ticker going again".
"Git" Amy declared, sticking her tongue out to conceal her embarrassment as Cream shook her head at the pair of them. Just then, a wolf-whistle broke the silence accompanied by the sound of applause; glancing up, the trio saw Tails waving encouragingly from the cockpit of the Tornado and Shadow framed in the doorway, clapping with a smile on his midnight face.
"Very nice; an Oscar is at this very moment on the way for that piece of drama; now if you've quite finished", the black hedgehog stepped back and to the side, ushering the other hedgehogs in as Tails beckoned Cream from the cockpit, "we'll be on our way".
"Right", Sonic hoisted the rabbit's bag over his shoulder as Cream took off, "well, if you're sure you've recovered enough to fly?"
"More than you know" Amy promised him, thinking about getting revenge; not aware that, as Shadow disappeared into the interior of the fox's mecha, he had a neat, if unmeant, solution to that little puzzle.
Tail's voice crackled over the internal communication systems within the Tornado as Sonic and Amy boarded, looking around in dismay as they realised that there was nowhere left for them to sit; the last seat had been buried under a mountain of satchels, bags and rucksacks,
"Sorry you two", the fox spoke over the radio, "I realised there wouldn't be enough seats, so I had to do the next best thing. Look to your left, near the cockpit", a couple of straps hung down from the roof, "standing room only I'm afraid".
"It's cool Tails" Amy assured him; as she took hold of the leather straps Vector decided it was time to prove that chivalry wasn't dead,
"Charmy, be a gentleman and offer the lady your seat". Just for once, Charmy didn't have to think about something funny to say; it appeared magically in his head and before he realised it he had shot back,
"Why don't you stand up and offer them both a seat?"
Espio disintegrated; it was just so off the cuff, said at such a perfect tone and induced an expression of such horror and disbelief from his crocodile friend that his ninjitsu training was swept aside and he howled with laugher. He was swiftly joined by Amy and Shadow – both hedgehogs saw Vector's peach of a look and collapsed helplessly. As Charmy grinned and reached down for his buckle, the chameleon forestalled him, unclipping his own belt and standing up,
"No Charmy", he managed to gasp, "stay put, that was clahahass! Ames, take it". He stumbled forwards, still shaking with laughter as the pink hedgehog look disbelievingly at Vector. Smarting from the verbal pummelling, the croc growled,
"Old team thing; Charm makes Esp laugh, Esp has to help the little buzzer out".
"Well, much as I appreciate it", Amy kept her face straight as a plan materialised in her mind, brought about by Charmy's quip, "Sonic, have a seat". She gestured towards the vacated spot as most of the others goggled at her, least of all Sonic himself,
"But Ames, no, it's for the lady…"
"I'm into equality on all things", the pink hedgehog explained before putting some steel into her gaze, "now go sit down". Fair enough, that was nice of her; Sonic shrugged, nodded at her politely and turned away; as soon as he had Amy put her finger to her lip and tip-toed up behind her hero. Just as Sonic turned to sit down she pounced; before even Sonic's brain, fantastically attuned to working at high speeds, could react Amy was sat squarely on his lap, smiling up at his as he felt blood rise up in his cheeks.
"There we go, a seat for both of us". Speaking through gritted teeth, aware of Shadow's quickly hidden grin and Espio's roll of the eyes, the blue hedgehog tried to argue the case,
"Amy, no, I'm not sitting like this all the way to Angel Island".
"Why not?" Amy's memory triggered from not too long ago and she beamed devilishly, "you've done it before, with Shadow if I remember rightly". Sonic opened his mouth, closed it, thought for a second then opened it again before finally conceding, shifting to try and make the best of a bad situation. It's not really that bad is it? – yeah, she's all over me and… - shut up, you're not fooling me this time, it's a bit embarrassing but it's worth it to get this close and have a reason for it – it's still embarrassing – live with it bucko; Sonic played down his internal struggle, realising with a thrill of both panic and reluctant acceptance that, much as might be loath to admit it, the other side was starting to have more and more of a point. He did like being close to Amy, much more than he had been before when all she'd been after was a bone-rending hug; now she was a lot calmer and more mature, he felt a strange warm glow, much like he had at Christmas, whenever he was near her and not goofing up. With a sigh, he gave up the battle as lost,
"All right, you win", still can't let her get away clean; Sonic edged on a wicked grin as he moved his hands surreptitiously, "after all, such a close call with death, you never know when you might need a second shock".
"Don't you dare!" She tucked her arms in hard to her sides before Sonic chuckled into her ear, noticing she still had the piercing he had given her at Christmas in place,
"Psyche". Amy scowled and jabbed an elbow backwards softly, rewarded with a small grunt as Sonic took his cue for silence. As the Tornado began to vibrate and taxi down for a take off, she shifted, reaching down into her dress pocket, pulling out a small paperback novel and smiling over her shoulder,
"Want to read with me?" Glimpsing the title and ensuring himself that it wasn't a slushy romance novel, the blue wonder raised his eyebrows and settled his chin on her shoulder, reading over it as the Tornado soared aloft towards Angel Island.
A/N: And next chapter, these eight meet the Brotherhood nine as well as Knuckles and Rouge. I don't think nutty quite describes it.