Samantha27: Yep...it is kind of a shame ;) You'll have to keep readingto get the full story though ;)Thanks for reviewing btw, I really do appreciate it :D
Guardian's Log No. 11454
So. Sonic the Hedgehog, Mr I'm-Just-So-Totally-Coolamundo has girl troubles. I guess I find that mildly amusing, although I'd never betray such a weakness to Sonic or Tails; I am, after all, the Guardian of the Master Emerald. Any show of emotion may be exploited by my enemies and could result in my discharging my duties in a less-than-perfect manner...although admittedly it's hard to discharge those duties when you're miles underneath them.
But it was pretty funny seeing Sonic's face. I couldn't resist teasing him a little either. Unprofessional of me, I know, and I'll probably wind up having to be even colder than usual to make up for it, but it was too good to pass up. Maybe he and Tails were right, perhaps I do need a short vacation.
Not that I'd ever give either of them the satisfaction of knowing, of course.
--Knuckles the Echidna
My Memoirs by Me
AAAAAUUUGH! Why me? Why me? Why me? Why couldn't Amy have fixated on some other blue hedgehog superhero? And why did she have to start playing happy families in front of Knuckles – who I doubt ever had a family – and why did she have to try and KISS me in front of him and why the HELL did she tell Knuckles we were going to be MARRIED? Me and Amy, that is, not me and Knuckles; he's so not my type, even if I was that way inclined, and I'm not marrying Amy either! I'm not the marrying kind and I'm too young to settle down! There's too much I haven't done and seen! I'm just so glad she didn't call me Sonny-Won like she's been doing recently; if that ever got out, I'd never live it down. And ol' Knucklehead was of NO help whatsoEVER! Bet he wouldn't have found it so funny if Amy had tried to snog the Master Emerald.
Still, we got away just in time. The only snag was that we went straight into the forest, where it's too dense for Tails to fly, so the kid had to walk for once. We made good time, but we could have made even better time if we hadn't had to stop every two hours for Tails to rest his paws.
--Sonic the Hedgehog
Dear Diary
We met up with Amy and Cream today. Sonic wasn't too happy, but it cheered Knuckles up. I'm glad; I'd hate him to be tagging along wishing he was somewhere else. He's always so serious the whole time, I never expected him to start ribbing Sonic. It's nice to know he can do something as normal as teasing.
I wish I knew why Amy's so in love with Sonic though. I mean, besides the whole saving the world stuff. I wonder if she'd still like him if he hadn't happened to defeat Dr Robotnik lots of times.
--Tails
"So what'd you tell Amy, anyway?" Sonic asked. Knuckles shrugged.
"That we were heading for a place she probably wouldn't know."
Sonic shook his head.
"That won't work. She's been everywhere, that girl. She even knows about Angel Island."
"Yeah, well—she what?" Knuckles stared at Sonic. "How the hell'd she find out about that?"
"Sonic told her," Tails said from somewhere above their heads – the forest canopy was too dense to make him out very easily. "He didn't tell her about you or the Master Emerald, but he told her him and me crashed into a floating island."
"No, Tails, you crashed into the floating island," Sonic said acerbically. "I crashed into a certain echidna's fist!"
Knuckles gave an exasperated sigh.
"How many times? I was told you were coming for the Master Emerald. To be honest, I was glad; I'd started to wonder if my job wasn't a little redundant...a seriously unworthy thought in a guardian."
"Oh goody!" Sonic said with heavy sarcasm. "I'm so glad your beating me to a pulp gave your life meaning!"
"As I was saying," Knuckles said, in tones which said he wasn't going to dignify that with a response, "Amy won't have heard of this place. It's only really mentioned in echidna slang."
"Yeah?" Curious now, Sonic shot him a glance. "What's it called?"
"Ah...various things. The most commonly used name is Ples Tudak-Oltaim."
"Ples Tudak-Oltaim?" Tails repeated, causing Knuckles to wince slightly at his pronounciation.
"Where's that? It sounds kinda exotic."
"A close translation would be something like 'the place where the sun don't shine'."
Sonic laughed.
"Oh man, now that's exotic! Thanks Knux; I owe ya one."
"You owe me a lot more than just one, Sonic," Knuckles answered, in the tones of one who seriously doubts he'll see recompense for any of them. Sonic waved a hand.
"Yeah, and one day I'm gonna repay you, believe me. Until then..." He shrugged easily, and Knuckles rolled his eyes.
"Just get me to some of that so-called fabulous treasure and we'll call it even."
"Well...there might not be any really good treasure in the Casino Zones," Tails said nervously. "It kinda depends on what people are gambling."
Knuckles shook his head. Although he wasn't grinning, there was a definite glint in his eyes now that hadn't been there before.
"Doesn't really matter. You guys still got credit from that whole Amy thing. That alone made this whole trip worthwhile."
"Ha flipping ha," Sonic informed him acerbically. "You had to pick that time to try jokes, didn't you? Jeez, up until now I'd never have believed you even had a sense of humour!"
"Why? Because I don't make a big joke out of everything?" Knuckles said flatly. "Unlike you, Sonic, I happen to have a sense of maturity and responsibility."
Sonic shook his head, an expression of mock sadness on his face.
"Aw. Don't worry, Knucklehead. I'm sure you'll grow out of it."
"I was hoping you were going to grow into it," Knuckles informed him crisply, refusing to rise. Sonic stopped and stared at him with a look of almost comical horror.
"You what? Jeez, Knux, what'd I ever do to you?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"No!"
"Then I'd say...you were born."
"OooOOOooh." Sonic blasted off on a supersonic speed run, returning a few seconds later to race around and around Knuckles in a circle before leaping into the air, being caught neatly by Tails and landing at the top of a tree, which bent over obediently until he was on an eye-level – albeit an upside-down one – with the echidna. Catching hold of a young sapling, he held himself in that position, smirking. "Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the hoard this morning. What's your deal, Knux? Someone leave a fingerprint on the Poobah of Powerful Pebbles?"
Knuckles drew one fist back to his shoulder so fast it was a blur. Sonic's eyes widened; the echidna's strength was no laughing matter.
"Hey! Hey, c'mon, there's no need for that! I was kidding!"
Knuckles let fly, diverting the punch at the last second to crush the sapling. Weakened, it snapped, and the tree Sonic was sitting in whipped back suddenly, flinging its occupant some thirty yards.
"That was fun," Knuckles remarked, to nobody in particular. "I feel a lot better now."
There was a blur as Tails shot past him, coming to a halt just in front of the echidna's face and looking very much as though he'd like to bite it.
"Why'd you do that?" he demanded. Knuckles briefly considered bluffing it out and then, with the honesty which the echidna race had once been famous – or more accurately, notorious – for, shrugged and said, "Because he's a cocky little prick who's been getting on my last nerves, and because I don't think he'd hesitate to do the same thing to me. Anyway, he did want to know what I do for fun on Angel Island."
"And that's your answer, is it?" Sonic said grumpily, having already zoomed back to join them. "You fire poor helpless little hedgehogs at brick walls?"
"I do if I think it might help the poor, helpless little hedgehogs to think twice about insulting a sacred duty and gem, both of which have been passed down through a thousand generations."
Sonic's eyes glazed over slightly.
"About five hundred years," Knuckles said eventually, after two or three minutes had gone past without the hedgehog working it out. "What did you mean, brick walls?"
Sonic gave him a pitying glance.
"Jeez, Knux, all that staring at the Master Emerald musta screwed up your vision. I mean that brick wall." He pointed.
Now that his attention had been drawn to it, Knuckles didn't know how he could have missed it. They'd been walking while talking (or at least, Knuckles had been walking. Tails was flying and Sonic was amusing himself by rushing to the edge of the Zone and back and trying to beat his personal time) and were now standing almost at the bottom of a hill. At the top, a brick wall stretched across, so far that they couldn't see where it ended. The bricks were a pristine white – which, on the outskirts of a forest and muddy paths, was a near-miracle in itself – and the whole thing would have looked welcoming if it hadn't been some forty foot high.
"What's it for?" Knuckles said suspiciously.
"Oh...uh...nothing." Sonic suddenly seemed very interested in refastening one of his sneakers.
"People don't build walls that size for nothing."
"We don't have to worry; we can just go through the door," Tails offered. Sonic shook his head.
"It's locked, barred and bolted from the other side."
"People don't lock, bar and bolt doors for nothing either."
"Oh shut up," Sonic muttered, not quite under his breath.
"What was that?" Knuckles said, a little too politely.
"Can't you spin through it?" Tails asked.
"Not up this hill, not unless..." Sonic paused. "Knuckles?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you throw me at that door?" Sonic asked, then placed a hand over his eyes. "Did I really just say that out loud?" Knuckles heard him mutter, and quirked an eye ridge.
"I thought you'd already collected more than your fair share of beatings from me, Sonic."
"Look, you throw me and I spin, slice through the door and bam! We're in."
"Yeah? Why don't you just spin by yourself?"
Sonic rolled his eyes, at the same time wondering why he was arguing so hard about this.
"Because this wall is on the top of a hill, Knucklehead. Maybe you don't have walls on hills back on your beloved island, but I need to get some serious momentum behind me to carve through it."
"I'll do it," Tails volunteered. Sonic shook his head.
"No go, little bro. You don't have spines, so you can't slice anything, and you're not strong enough to toss me anywhere." He looked at the echidna. "Like I said, I want you to throw me as hard as you can at that thing."
Knuckles hesitated, then scooped up the hedgehog in one hand.
"You understand that I assume no responsibility for this?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Knucky. Just do it."
The grip shifted to Sonic's ankles and he found himself rising slowly through the air, upside-down, and rotating gently in a semicircle to come face to face with Knuckles' less than gentle expression.
"Knucky?" the echidna repeated, in a tone that could freeze oxygen.
Sonic squirmed.
"Uh. Heh heh. Did I, uh, did I really say that?"
"Knux I can just about live with. Knucklehead was pushing your luck to breaking point. Knucky is one step too far, and only one other step away from something Amy or Cream might come up with. You got that?"
Sonic's squirming increased – Knuckles' hold really was uncomfortably tight now – then nodded.
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say. Can you throw me now, please?"
"I just wanted us to be perfectly clear on that point." Knuckles started to spin, swinging Sonic round over his head in an ever increasing circle. Sonic had just about decided to shout that he'd changed his mind, that there had to be a better way to do this, when Knuckles let go and, for the second time that day, Sonic flew through the air.
He had just enough time to curl up and start spinning when he hit the door, hard. The impact rammed up through Sonic's body, jolting him to the core. He was dimly aware of rubble crashing down around his head, and the thought occurred that he should probably move, but he couldn't seem to get his breath.
"What the hell kind of door was that?" he demanded, as soon as he had enough oxygen to speak.
"Uh, Sonic?" Tails said, as delicately as he could. "That was the wall. The door's a little more to your left."
"Yeah, I missed," Knuckles added by way of explanation.
"No kidding!" Sonic got carefully to his feet and examined the wall, or more precisely, the hole where part of the wall used to be. "That oh-so-smooth warrior thing is just a front with you, isn't it?" he asked Knuckles.
"You pointed at the wall and told me to throw you at it, Sonic. It's not my fault you weren't specific enough."
Tails glowered at the echidna.
"You did that on purpose!"
"I do everything on purpose," Knuckles answered. Tails' mouth opened and shut a few times, but no sound came out.
"So can we get in or not?" he said eventually.
"Sonic and I probably can," Knuckles said. Sonic glanced at him somewhat sourly.
"Okay, fine. But watch where you're throwing me this time! I don't want to plough through another stone wall!"
"No need. I think we can go through here." Knuckles nodded towards the hole. "And I want an understanding between the pair of us before we go any further," he added coldly. "You swear to watch out for me – especially since if I die, the Master Emerald's free for the taking, and don't think Robotnik isn't going to try for it again at some point – and I'll do my best to return the favour."
Sonic gave a mock pout.
"Aw, Knux, I'm hurt! You mean you don't trust me?"
"You're damn straight I don't," Knuckles answered in a tone that wiped the pout off the hedgehog's face. "I'm not the trusting type."
"Jeez, you're serious?" Sonic shook his head. "Why not? I've never done anything to you. And if you're thinking of dragging up past history, may I remind you that you were the one who attacked me back on Angel Island!"
"You may, if you don't object to my reminding you that your exploits with Robotnik left most of the plantlife burned to the ground. You also drained several of the lakes which meant I couldn't even use water to put out the fires."
Sonic snorted.
"What, you can fight fires now?"
"I can do many things, Sonic. In that case, I had no choice. The only food and water I get is what I can find or catch on the island. In case you haven't noticed, I live about a mile above the planet's surface. I can't exactly nip down to the local fast food joint like you two."
Sonic shook his head.
"Okay, but that's no reason for you not to trust me!" He opened his eyes as wide as they would go, putting on his best innocent expression. "I'm a very honest and trustworthy person."
"Yeah?" Knuckles said icily. "You didn't tell me about the two Emeralds that had gone missing until very recently. You didn't tell me about the sudden re-emergence of botniks either. What else aren't you telling me, Sonic?"
Sonic paled until he was almost sky blue, swallowed once or twice and then said, "I swear."
"Good," Knuckles said, while a small part of his brain that seemed to operate independently from the rest of him stored up Sonic's unusual reaction for later analysis. He looked from the hole to Sonic and back to the hole again. "Shall we?"
"I'm coming too!" Tails said quickly. Even more quickly, Sonic spun around and held up his hand in a clear STOP signal.
"Nuh uh! This is too dangerous for you, little bro. We'll clean the place out and come back for you when it's safe."
"Sonic!" Tails protested.
"The kid can fly," Knuckles said flatly. "If it's too dangerous for him, you can count me out as well."
"Coward," Sonic said with a grin.
There was a long, long silence, during which Tails took one look at the expression on Knuckles' face and flew to the very top of the wall. It seemed the safest place to be.
"You get that one for free, hedgehog," Knuckles said eventually, in tones that chilled even Sonic. "Try it again and I won't be so generous."
Up at the top of the wall, Tails let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.
"So can I come?" he said, in an effort to divert the pair's attention.
"When it's safer," Sonic answered immovably. "This place is...well, it's too dangerous for you right now. Let me and Knuckles go on ahead."
"I seem to have missed the whole part where you asked Knuckles' opinion on this," Knuckles said with heavy sarcasm.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry Knux. D'you wanna go in first or last?"
"Never. The only place I want to go is back to my island."
"Even though I promised you fun?"
"You promised me treasure, Sonic, and that's the only reason I agreed to this screwed up journey. You can keep your idea of fun; reckless, suicidal attacks are not high on my list of entertainments." Knuckles shoved past angrily and stalked through the hole. Sonic stared after the echidna for a few seconds, then raced to catch up.
They'd been travelling in a hot and angry silence for about half an hour before Sonic said abruptly, "Look, Knux...about what I sai—"
"Forget it." Knuckles bit the words off at the end in a way which suggested that Sonic's remark was a long way from being forgiven, and forgotten wasn't even on the horizon yet.
"I was just kidd—"
"I said forget it."
Sonic took a deep breath.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?"
"Sonic, if you think—" Knuckles began, then broke off abruptly. "What's that sound?"
"What sound?" Sonic said edgily. "I can't hear any sound. What are you talking about?"
Knuckles favoured him with a hard look.
"That grinding sound coming from behind us, Sonic. And don't try to tell me you don't hear it; I'm reclusive, not retarded."
"Uh. Yeah. Heh. You know you asked me what that wall was for?"
"Ye-es...?" Knuckles said, in the slow, suspicious tones of one who suspects they don't want to hear the rest of the sentence.
"Well...that's kinda it. See, people in the Bridge Zone aren't too fond of visitors."
"I know how they feel," the echidna muttered.
"They, uh...maybe it's simpler if you just turn and look."
Somewhat apprehensively, Knuckles did so and immediately wished he hadn't.
The wall was grinding towards them. Not too fast – both of them could outrun it without too much trouble – but in a way that said it would stop moving when the sun stopped rising, and not a minute sooner.
"Just don't let it crush you and you'll be fine."
Knuckles shook his head, staring coldly at Sonic.
"And you wonder that I don't trust you. Why didn't you mention this outside?"
"Because I'd never have gotten you to come with me if I had," Sonic said simply.
Knuckles curled his lip.
"I guess that makes sense, in a deceitful, manipulative kind of way."
"It's not as bad as it looks, really," Sonic said, letting the insult slide for now; he supposed he deserved it after what he'd said to Knuckles (although he was sure it wasn't his fault if the echidna had no sense of humour).
A loud bang alerted the pair to danger and both leapt into the air, Knuckles instinctively flaring his spines to glide just as a mortar shell exploded where they'd been standing.
"What the—That wasn't here last time!" Sonic protested.
"Talk to the spikes, hedgehog," Knuckles said acidly, adding the appropriate echidna gesture. "And while you're at it, tell them how the hell we get out of this place!"
"I don't know! I haven't been here for about three years! It's changed!"
"Oh, now he tells me!" Knuckles broke into a run, seeking to avoid both cannon fire and the relentlessly approaching wall. A few seconds later, Sonic whizzed past him and out of sight, then shot back again to say, "Jeez, what's taking so long?"
"Not everyone can run at supersonic speed."
"What?" Sonic cupped a hand to his ear in an exaggerated fashion. "Did I just hear the great Knuckles, oh-so-mighty Guardian of the Master Emerald, admit to not being omnipotent?"
"Be careful, Sonic," Knuckles told him through clenched teeth. "You're pushing your luck."
"Will you lighten up, you—" Sonic's next words were lost in the cannon fire, and Knuckles wasn't interested in trying to read his lips. "—follow me!" was the next thing the echidna heard.
"We're not getting anywhere following you!" he yelled over the increasing sound of cannon fire and grinding mechanisms.
"Okay, fine!" Sonic halted abruptly, the screech setting the echidna's teeth on edge. "You lead the way then!"
Knuckles swung his head from one side to the other, then broke into a sprint, Sonic following as the path led them up and over in a loop, then across a twisting bridge which ended abruptly in a cliff that crashed down from under them to a pit of spikes too far below for Sonic and Knuckles to survive the drop, and too far to jump across.
There was a whine of electronics and the wall stepped up a gear as it rose up the hill after them, effectively trapping the pair. Knuckles glared at Sonic.
"Not one word, Sonic. Not. One. Word."
A/N: So what do you think so far? Love it? Hate it? Want more? Please review (so I don't have to ask Sonic & Co to come jump on your computer ;))