Samantha27: Believe it or not, I'm with you ;) A lot of Sonic's remarks about Tails were uncalled-for...I think it was mainly his being annoyed with Knuckles and only slightly less annoyed with Tails that did it :P It's like when you're in a foul mood, you say (or in Sonic's case, write) the first things that come into your head and never mind whether you mean them or not. As to the Amy thing...believe it or not, it did serve some purpose besides pure comedy ;)
EvilRobotZombieLoofaOverlord: YAY; another review! Thanks :D Snuckles? frowns slightly in perplexity Jeez, what put that in your head? is honestly puzzled then shrugs Oh well. The answer's no; it's not on the cards anywhere in this fic ;) Or any of my fics, come to that
BlueCheetah: blushes Thanks; I'm glad the extra Tails meets with your approval ;) I'll try and keep it up
Guardian's Log No. 11456
If we survive this, it will be a great pleasure to me to kill Sonic slowly and painfully! If we don't, it won't matter since the tide of liquid energy currently rising towards us will do the job for me. It's a shame though; that race through the city was more enjoyable than I'd expected. I was almost – dare I say it – looking forward to trying out these Casino zones, especially after the stories Sonic and Tails have been telling me about them.
So. Once again, Sonic's daredevil ways have dropped us in a pile of something warm and brown. Admittedly the last near-death experience was my fault, but I have never, ever gone looking for trouble like this guy! Granted I usually don't have to – it seems to find me without too much difficulty – but that's not the point!
I wonder what's going to happen when I die, to the Master Emerald I mean. I wonder if anyone will ever find it before Robotnik, if it'll make its own arrangements somehow.
I'm also starting to seriously wonder about this hedgehog's sanity.
--Knuckles the Echidna
My Memoirs by Me
Why do these things always happen to me? What are the odds that after a spectacular leap off a ramp and through the air onto a platform in a power plant, what are the odds that the level of liquid energy would pick that moment to rise?
I guess it's my fault we're in this mess. Actually, that's not true; I know it's my fault. Maybe if I hadn't been as tired through taking so many watches looking out for the Cerise Stalker (aka Amy Rose) I'd have been able to think things through a little more. Tails did offer to watch that first night, but I turned him down. The kid was practically asleep on his feet; I'm sure he'd have tried his best, but I'd lay odds his body would've turned on him and he'd have fallen asleep at his post.
I have to say, though, I'm glad Knuckles is with us (and I never thought I'd write that, particularly given how sensitive the guy's been lately!) If it hadn't been for him, Tails and me might not have known about the energy rising. Knux scared the crap out of me then, although I'd never admit it. I've never seen the guy lose it like that; he's usually so stoical and in control.
Not entirely sure what we're gonna do now though. Something'll turn up; it always does.
--Sonic the Hedgehog
Dear Diary
Sonic and Knuckles almost had a fight today. They've argued before but not as badly as this. I'm glad they patched things up though; it was fun racing Knuckles through the city!
I think Sonic might have made a slight mistake with the power plant. That's kinda hard for me to write or believe, but it's true. If it hadn't been for his wanting to make that jump, we probably wouldn't be here.
Still, he'll probably think of a way out. He usually does.
--Tails
"Any ideas, genius?" Knuckles said, eyeing the buzz bombers nervously. Apart from circling, they didn't seem too bothered about shooting the trio; maybe some circuit or other told them it was pointless.
"You could smash them?" Tails suggested. The echidna turned an incredulous look on him.
"How will that help us? We're gonna need ingenuity to get out of this one, not brute force!"
"Hey, we're in luck," Sonic said, grinning. "Ingenuity's my middle name."
"Really? I thought it was M—" Tails began. Sonic glowered at him and the fox subsided. "Okay. Ingenuity. Got it."
"Yeah?" Knuckles said edgily. "You got any ingenious ideas for getting us out of this one, then?"
Sonic looked around rapidly, then his grin broadened.
"I might. Think you could throw me at those buzz bombers, Knux?"
"You want me to what?"
"Just do it! And Tails—" Sonic pointed at the fox— "you keep ol' Knucklehead above the energy for as long as you can, okay?"
"And just what are you planning to do?" demanded Knuckles, who hadn't much liked the comment about as long as you can.
"See that panel?" Sonic pointed to a patch of bright lights, standing out starkly against the wall. "I think it controls this place. I'm gonna try and figure out how to work it. Maybe I can do something about this energy, get it to go down again or something."
Tails and Knuckles exchanged apprehensive looks, both thinking the same thing. Sonic and electronics had reached an agreement some years ago; he wouldn't touch it and it wouldn't explode.
"C'mon, just throw me!" Curling into a ball, Sonic leapt at Knuckles, who caught him reflexively and launched him at the buzz bombers, then leapt to grab Tails' ankles again, watching as Sonic bounced off one buzz bomber onto the next and from there onto the platform just in front of the console. Pulling open the flimsy glass door, he started flicking switches and pushing buttons at random.
"That's not it, nor that either, it..." Sonic paused for a few moments, then suddenly grinned. "Found it!"
He reached out and pressed something that was too far away for either Knuckles or Tails to make out. There was a loud clanking sound as, one by one, the ramps started receding into the wall.
"Sorry! My bad." Sonic flicked the whatever-it-was back up again and, to the shared relief of the others, the ramps extended again.
"Knuckles?" Tails was panting hard and when the echidna looked up, he saw the pain and effort etched on the fox's face. "Knuckles...I don't think I can fly much longer."
Alarm welled up in Knuckles' eyes and he looked down to where the energy was almost seeping over the surface of their ramp. The heat radiating off it was incredible – which wouldn't help the kid any, Knuckles realised. He looked back up at Tails and put as much encouragement and strength as he could into his voice.
"Hold on a little longer, okay? Sonic'll think of something." The hedgehog may have lacked discipline, but in all fairness Knuckles had never met anyone who could think on their feet like Sonic.
"If I can just..." Sonic's voice dropped and neither Knuckles nor Tails could hear what he was mumbling until it rose again on, "...and that bit in there, I can—oops."
"What d'you mean, oops?" Knuckles demanded stridently.
"Nothing!" Sonic said hastily. "It's just...I...well, I think I might've broken it."
"Oh, terrific!" Knuckles looked down at the energy level, which was so close he had to curl both legs into his chest to avoid his feet being burned, then back at Sonic. "Can you get out?"
"I think...yeah. Yeah, I can take the lift from here up and there's some kind of handle I can grab. I think it'll take me out. But I'm not leaving you two!"
"You don't have to." Knuckles looked up at Tails. "I need you to do something. Fly me over to the wall and as high up it as you can, then try and throw me into it."
Tails stared at him as though he'd run mad.
"What?"
"It's alright. I have a plan." Knuckles tensed. If that plan went wrong...well, it didn't bear thinking about.
Panting hard, Tails fought for altitude and slowly gained it, inching over to the wall and not throwing Knuckles so much as sliding him down it. The echidna turned both fists, digging the spikes into the metal. To his relief, they caught and hold firmly.
Something large and furry seized him tightly around the neck at that point, dragging him down until the heel of his boot was a bare centimetre above the energy. Sheer panic enabled Knuckles to scramble some ten feet up the wall before slowing to a pace that was a little more sedate and, he hoped, one that he would be able to keep up all the way to the top.
"I'm sorry!" Tails' near-frantic voice sounded in Knuckles' ear and the echidna realised just what it was that had grabbed him. "I just...I got a cramp in my tails and couldn't fly so I—"
"It's alright, kid," Knuckles cut across rather brusquely. "Hang on. We're getting the hell out of here."
He hauled himself another few feet up, focusing on nothing but the wall in front, then risked a quick look down at the energy. It wasn't rising that quickly, but that was alright as far as Knuckles was concerned because he wasn't climbing all that quickly either. It had become a slow, grinding rhythm; hook one fist into the wall, pull up, hook the other fist in, pull up. Several times he slipped and had to dig both sets of spikes in with a screech that set his teeth on edge.
He'd almost reached the rim when a slender hand appeared in his line of vision. There was a sudden scrabbling on his back as Tails clambered over him to seize it and get hauled to safety. Then the hand was back, this time extended towards him, and Knuckles was too exhausted to do anything other than take it.
Sonic braced both feet against the platform and pulled as hard as he could, and gradually the echidna slid up and over the tank onto a platform. Rolling over, he watched as the liquid energy continued to rise, finally stopping about a foot below the rim of the tank. At that distance, the heat was just about bearable.
"Did you guys bring any marshmallows?" Sonic said. "I didn't think to."
Oh sure, Knuckles thought but couldn't find the strength to say. Yeah, I always carry a packet with me for just such an occasion!
Sonic put his head on one side and looked at the echidna curiously.
"That wall-climbing trick's pretty neat. Did I know you could do that?"
"You tell me." Knuckles sat down, rubbing his aching arms; Tails wasn't excessively heavy, but such a long climb was tough by anyone's standards.
"Knuckles?" Tails said suddenly.
"What?"
"Thanks. You saved my life."
Breathing hard, Knuckles somehow managed to shrug.
"You saved mine, kid. We're even. That's all."
"SON-IC!"
Sonic cringed.
"How? How did she follow us here? I thought we'd lost her!"
"Why don't you just tell her to leave us alone and stop following us?" Tails asked.
"Do you think I haven't?" Sonic grated. "Every time I try it, she just insists I'm playing hard to get and goes after me with even more determination. If I really wanna shake her off, I just gotta keep running."
"Which will probably only increase her obsession," Knuckles remarked, apparently to the sky.
"What the hell do you know about it, anyway?" Sonic demanded. "You've never had a girlfriend."
"No, I haven't, and after seeing the kind of crap you have to put up with from Amy..." Knuckles shook his head, smirking. "Not gonna happen."
"Amy is not my girlfriend! Trust me, Knux, there are no words that can describe the relationship between us because there is no relationship!"
Something clicked in the echidna's mind, something which should have been obvious right from the start and he smiled suddenly.
"You really are scared of her, aren't you?" He shook his head at Sonic's expression, the smile broadening into a grin. "Jeez, Sonic, she's a twelve-year-old kid! How frightening can she be?"
"Tails is an eight year old kid," Sonic retorted, "and I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him!"
"True," Knuckles conceded, glancing over at Tails, whose chest had swelled rather alarmingly at Sonic's words, "but he's also somewhat...unusual. C'mon Sonic; why d'you show off so much if not to get the girls?"
"I...you..." Various words fought for control of Sonic's vocal cords at this point, very few of which were complimentary. Finally he managed, "Look, if she was fifteen or sixteen, maybe – maybe – I'd be interested. But she's not, I'm not and I do not want to get into a relationship with a twelve year old kid! I may be wild and reckless, Knuckles, but I'm not a sicko!" He turned. "C'mon. We gotta go."
"We are not going anywhere!" Knuckles seized Sonic in a death grip, lifting him six inches off the ground.
"Hey, get off me, Knucklehead!" Sonic yelped, writhing to free himself.
"No, I won't 'get off you'. You've been running like hell every time you hear that girl's voice. Why don't you just talk to her?"
"She doesn't want to talk, Knucklehead." Sonic kicked back, raking one heel down the echidna's shin. With an oath, Knuckles dropped him, glowering.
"Then what does she want? Maybe she has something important to tell us."
"Like the day of our wedding, perhaps?" Sonic shook his head. "No way. She just wants a quick snog."
Knuckles shrugged.
"So snog her. One kiss and we can get going."
"What!" Sonic stared at the echidna. "Look, no matter how irresponsible and immature you think I am—"
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I being that obvious?" Knuckles said, his voice dangerously sweet.
"—I am not that kind of hedgehog! If I kiss her, she'll probably think I mean something by it! Even if I peck her on the cheek, she'll hear wedding bells!"
"She's been hearing wedding bells ever since she met you," Tails put in helpfully.
"And I don't want to encourage that! I don't want a relationship with her but I don't wanna hurt her either. I don't want to lead her on and then dump her." Sonic considered. "Maybe I should suggest being just friends."
Knuckles winced.
"Your funeral, Sonic. If you're gonna do that, at least let me reach a safe distance first."
"How far's that?" Tails asked curiously.
"About six thousand miles should do it. Maybe seven; I don't wanna take chances."
"Sounds good to me." Sonic started to spin, only to find himself grabbed and lifted firmly into the air. He kicked back again, but Knuckles had learned his lesson and positioned himself firmly out of range.
"Not you. You're staying to sort this out."
"Knuckles, I wouldn't stay here if you buried me under half a ton of rubble!"
There was a glint in Knuckles' eyes which said he'd quite like to test that theory, and Tails hastily intervened.
"Maybe she does just wanna talk."
"She never just wants to talk. She—oh hell!" Sonic froze in Knuckles' grasp as Amy rounded the corner, looking very out of breath.
"SON—oh, you're here!" Bending double, gasping for oxygen, Amy was speechless for a few moments before finally straightening up. "I've been looking for you all over!"
"You don't say," Sonic muttered, not quite under his breath. "Is anyone else with you?"
Amy shook her head.
"No. Cream and Mr Big stayed behind. Cream said she thought you three were avoiding us."
"Imagine that," Knuckles murmured. Sonic heard the too-innocent tone in his voice and cringed inwardly; although Tails had reamed Sonic out for provoking a fight with Knuckles unnecessarily, the echidna was more than capable of doing similar things for his own entertainment.
"Exactly," Amy said. "I told them my little Sonny-Won wouldn't do anything like that—"
"Amy!" Sonic all but wailed in protest. To their credit, neither Tails or Knuckles said anything, but Sonic could feel Knuckles' body shaking with suppressed laughter as he writhed in the echidna's iron grasp.
"What? Oh. Right. Not in front of the guys." Amy giggled. "Sorry. Forgot."
"Seeing you after all this time must have turned her head, Sonic," Knuckles said, the barest hint of a quiver in his voice. With a truly amazing effort, Sonic managed to wrench one arm free and turn to glare at the echidna.
"You know, I think I preferred it when you were a boring old fart!"
Instead of the offended dignity and challenge he was expecting (and fervently hoping would distract Amy's attention long enough for him to make a clean getaway) Knuckles snickered quietly.
"That right, is it?" He shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Guess there's no pleasing some folks."
Amy fixed Knuckles with a stern look.
"Can you get off my fiancé now? He and I need to talk."
"Knuckles," Sonic said in a low voice, "if you really are my friend, don't leave me with her!"
"I don't remember ever claiming friendship with you, Sonic," Knuckles said steadily, as he stepped away, "and I still owe you big time for that fiasco in the power plant!" He looked at Amy. "He's all yours, but please try and leave him in one piece."
"Where are you going?" Amy asked Sonic.
"Place Too-Dark All-Time," Sonic answered, ignoring the pained expression on Knuckles' face.
"He's talking about Ples Tudak-Oltaim."
"What he said," Sonic agreed. "And we gotta get going. Now," he added, when neither Tails or Knuckles seemed inclined to move.
"I'm coming with you!" Amy said.
"You're damn well not!" Knuckles and Sonic said in perfect unison.
"If my boyfriend is going off, I want to—"
"I am not your boyfriend!" Sonic said stridently.
Amy broke off with a jerk, then narrowed her eyes at Sonic.
"You had better not be breaking up with me, Sonic!"
"Uh." Sonic eyed Amy's hammer nervously and coughed. "Well, I...that is..."
"I think what he's trying to say is that he doesn't consider himself your boyfriend," Knuckles said, so pleasantly that Sonic wasn't sure if the echidna was trying to help him or drop him in it. "He once told me that no words could possibly describe the relationship between you two."
Amy shifted the laser stare onto Knuckles, and saw nothing but open honesty in his gaze.
"Thanks a lot," Sonic muttered out the corner of his mouth.
"Anytime," Knuckles told him, smirking, then looked back at Amy. "Just out of interest, were you following us for some other reason than to declare your undying love and obsession for Sonic?"
Amy nodded vigorously.
"Yeah. I heard Robotnik's been seen in and around this city recently. Some of his bots took over the power plant. I wanted to warn you not to go through it."
Knuckles stared hard at Sonic, who suddenly seemed very interested in the opposite wall.
"Is that so?"
Sonic shifted his look onto Knuckles.
"Well, I wasn't to know, was I?"
"If you hadn't spent so much time running away, we could have avoided all that...that...palaver!" Knuckles shook his head. "Next time someone shrieks your name, we stop and talk to them! I don't care how shy you're feeling!"
"Shy?" Amy looked from Knuckles to Sonic with a look that wavered between tenderness and awww. "You were shy?"
"Knucklehead's just trying to embarrass me," Sonic said, glaring at the echidna. There was an awkward silence.
"So how do we get to where we're going, anyway?" Amy asked at the end of it. Sonic opened his mouth to say that they didn't, at least, not if Amy Rose was including herself in that, but Knuckles beat him to it.
"Take a left here and go straight for seven hundred miles. Turn right and keep going until you come to a tree that was hit by lightning. We'll meet you there."
"Yeah," Sonic agreed, a little too quickly. "We got some stuff to take care of."
"I'm not leaving you, Sonic!"
"You gotta, Amy. We need you to keep the rendezvous point safe."
Amy stared at him proudly, chest visibly inflating.
"You do?"
"Oh yeah," Sonic assured her, with more fervour than Amy would have believed. "We do."
"Well...how long are you gonna be?"
"Excuse me?" Knuckles said disdainfully. "This is Sonic we're talking about. How long do you think he's gonna be?"
"Well...okay. If you're sure you can manage without me—"
"We're sure," Sonic and Knuckles said together. Noticing she didn't look totally convinced, Sonic went on, "C'mon; there's nothing on Mobius can beat me and you know it."
"Alright then." Amy shot them a dubious look, one which said she thought something was wrong, but had no idea what, then set off, still casting questioning glances at them over her shoulder. As soon as she was out of earshot, Sonic rounded on Knuckles.
"What tree that was hit by lightning?" he demanded, only just beating Tails' identical query. Knuckles shrugged.
"Damned if I know. But there're plenty of thunderstorms on the surface. There must be one somewhere, right?"
Sonic laughed.
"Jeez, you got a serious evil streak in you, anyone ever tell you that?" He shook his head. "C'mon. We can probably get clear before she figures out what happened."
The three of them set off, Sonic racing, Tails and Knuckles trudging; apparently the fox didn't feel up to flying again so soon. None of them spoke until they reached the outskirts of Casino Night Zone and got into the lift to take them to the pinball, slot and bingo machines right at the top, but the silence was comfortable rather than strained.
The lift doors slid open with a ding, informing anyone who might be interested that it had stopped moving. Stepping out, Sonic inhaled deeply, relishing the scent of fast-food.
"Man, smell that air. And listen to those crazy tunes! I mean, oh jeez, Knux, admit it; this place rocks!"
"It's alright, I suppose."
"Alright? Alright? How can you call it 'alright'?" Sonic shook his head. "Look, even if gambling's not your thing, you gotta admire the view, right?"
Knuckles had to admit he did. Some kind of machine or shield kept this zone in permanent darkness, and he could see the bright lights of the buildings stretching out beneath him. It was breathtakingly beautiful, in the same way as an electrical storm was; a beauty that was shot through with a strange kind of danger.
"So!" Sonic turned to the other two, grinning. "What d'you guys wanna do first?"
"How 'bout sleep?" Tails yawned. The grin dropped off Sonic's face and he looked contrite.
"You're right. Sorry little bro. I forgot you were beat. Yeah. You go find somewhere we can catch some Zs and then come back here, okay?"
Tails nodded vigorously, trying not to look too pleased.
"Okay. See you guys in a few." He took off, noticing with relief that both tails seemed to be working fine now, with no hint of the paralysing cramp that had seized them earlier.
Sonic smirked at Knuckles.
"So. Whaddaya think?"
"I think we may well find something here we could use," Knuckles answered, taking care to keep his tone calm and matter-of-fact.
"I get it. You're itching to play," Sonic said shrewdly. "I thought you would be."
"I am not," Knuckles said stiffly, rather annoyed at this correct interpretation of his words. "I just think it could be useful, that's all."
Sonic shook his head, smirking.
"Uh huh. You just keep telling yourself that, Knux. Me? I'm gonna go play the pinball machines." He waved his fingers bye-bye and sped away. "See ya!" Knuckles dimly heard him yell, followed by a loud war-whoop as Sonic leapt into the air to land squarely on a giant pinball table.
The echidna shook his head in despair; sometimes Sonic's eternally playful attitude seriously got up his wick.
Then he shrugged and went to find a bingo slide.
"Sonic!" Tails erupted into the air in front of the platform a few minutes after Knuckles had left. "Sonic, I found the perfect...Sonic? Knuckles?"
No answer. Probably off riding pinball machines or bingo slides or something similar.
Tails shrugged and sat down, then, for want of something better to do, opened the small bag Sonic kept the Chaos Emeralds in to sneak a quick look. The sight of the gems still awed him, even now.
As he started to close it, he noticed a slim black book at the bottom of the bag. Curious, he reached in and pulled it out. There was no title, but in the white space on the front was written My Memoirs by Me.
In the furtive manner of one whose curiosity has managed to temporarily overcome their guilt, Tails opened the journal and started to read.
That's it for now...if you liked it, please review! Thanks :D