Treasurehunter: Heh heh (grins) Thanks; I'm glad you're still reading and enjoying it :D

FriedBrickWall: Never stop you reviewing...I'm very happy to hear it! And as for the hug...I still say it would probably blow poor Tails' mind if Knuckles gave him a proper hug. Tails is your favourite character, you say? Hmm...I never would have guessed ;) As to the making things...well, read on ;)

Ri2: Yep, I think Tails is indeed starting to bond with Knux. It's kind of a slow process; Knuckles isn't the easiest person to get close to, but it's happening.

Chaos Control 7: Thanks for reviewing :D I'm glad you liked the last chapter; to be honest I wasn't sure how it was going to go down ;)

Guardian's Log no. 11463

This is very weird. Not often a word I use, but there's nothing else to describe it. In all my experiences – and I've had plenty – serving as a fox kid's mattress/pillow/comfort blanket/giant plush toy is something very new to me, and I'm not sure how to react. Again, not something I say very often.

I gave Tails the toolkit though. I'm pretty sure I did the right thing; the kid was animated for the first time since Sonic's death. Jeez, has it really been a week? Tails was right; it doesn't seem real.

The kid's asleep right now. Correction; he's asleep with both arms wrapped around my waist and his head on my ribs, and that seriously unnerves me because like I said, I have no idea how to react to it. I'm not sure which disturbs me more; having him snuggled up against me like this or having him clinging onto my leg like grim death as he did earlier. At least this way I get to keep the feeling in my extremities. Right now I'm leaning back on my hands (it beats sticking my arms straight out to the side) and—oh crud! Tails just wriggled in his sleep and in doing so somehow managed to clamber fully into my lap. Now his legs are around my waist, his arms around my damn neck and his head's snuggled into my shoulder! I'm starting to have my doubts as to how asleep he really is, but I don't want to risk waking him. Guess I'll just have to put up with it for now.

Still feels damn weird though.

--Knuckles the Echidna

Dear Diary

I guess Knuckles is nice really, no matter how much he tries to hide it. He's usually too proud to display anything other than superiority and contempt, but I felt him stroke my fur like Sonic used to whenever I was ill or upset. I won't mention it to Knuckles though; I don't want to embarrass him. He probably thought I was asleep. Well, I kind of was, or at least half asleep. Also, he didn't seem to mind when I used his boot and his ribs as a pillow. Actually, I think he did mind a little – he got all stiff and junk – but he never said. I won't mention that to him either.

--Tails

Knuckles was not comfortable.

It had nothing to do with the rock he was sitting on – after growing up in a cave, this felt like home from home – or the thought of the void outside. It did have something to do with the chill in the air – the caves back on Angel Island were at least warm! – but his discomfort was mostly down to the fact that Tails now had the echidna in a tight grip with all prehensile limbs, tails included. Knuckles hadn't reacted or done anything to encourage this (at least, he didn't think he had) but something had obviously sparked in the kid's mind and he'd moved in his sleep, climbing into Knuckles' lap and snuggling his head into the echidna's neck. Briefly Knuckles wondered if Tails had ever clung to Sonic like this. Probably, although Sonic's spikes would have made it tougher.

He wished Sonic was there, and not entirely because it meant the kid would have wrapped his arms around the hedgehog's neck instead, if he wrapped them around anyone's. Sonic had been someone who could actually relax in a situation like this.

Knuckles shifted his weight edgily. The last time he'd been in a situation like this, he'd been four years old and the one doing the clinging. He could vaguely remember looking out at the world through his mother's spines and pretending he was in a cage. That had been just after his father had died; Knuckles' mother had told him that his father had had to go on a long journey and wouldn't be coming back, leaving Knuckles the puggle with the mother of all guilt trips. He'd been exploring the caves where they lived a couple of days later and found his father's body where it had fallen onto a cluster of stalagmites. The carrion eaters had got there first though; whole segments of flesh had been chewed away and both his father's eyes had been reduced to nothing more than hideous red sockets. His mouth had been open, giving the impression that he'd died screaming in agony.

The echidna shivered. He'd done his fair share of screaming at that point as well, screaming and running. It had taken his mother over an hour to calm him down and even now, twelve years on, he still had the occasional nightmare about it.

Something pricked Knuckles' eyes; tears. The echidna blinked hard, furious at displaying such a weakness and growled in frustration.

"Huh?" Tails opened groggy eyes, looking around. "Sonic?"

"Close," Knuckles muttered, "but no cigar."

Tails looked up at him, remembering. "Oh...Knux. Why'd you growl?"

"Cramp in my leg," the echidna lied. "Get off me, kid; I need to stretch it out."

Tails wriggled off Knuckles' lap obligingly and watched as the echidna slid off the rock and strode over to the entrance, limping a little more heavily than was strictly necessary.

"Is the void-thing still there?" he said between yawns.

"Yeah. And I think it's still growing. We gotta keep tunnelling."

"Oh right." Tails yawned again. "What can I do?"

"Whatever you want," Knuckles answered crisply. "Get some more rest, or have breakfast. I think most of the tunnelling's gonna be my problem; you got a lot of talents, kid, but even you can't plough through solid rock."

Tails frowned at the solid rock in question, then opened his toolbox and started sorting through the objects again. Knuckles left him to it; so long as the kid was occupied and not moping, he could safely be ignored while Knuckles himself got on with the tunnel.

He'd been going at it for several hours when there was the sound of squeaking and a strange, spindly contraption on wheels trundled up next to him. Tails waved at him from the driver's seat. "Hi Knuckles!"

The echidna turned and his jaw dropped. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Well, you said I can't plough through solid rock and you were right, but I can build a machine to do it for me. I call it the Mole. Like it?"

"Hell yeah!" Knuckles said, and meant it. At the front of the Mole was a drill bit so large that the machine spent most of its time looking like it was going to fall forward. "How's it powered?"

"I wired up an internal combustion engine to the drill," Tails said as though it was nothing. "Pull the ignition chain and the drill spins and goes through the rock."

Knuckles stared at him. "Where the hell did you manage to find an internal combustion engine in the damn mountains?"

Tails shrugged. "Smashed a bot for it."

"Oh right." Knuckles started for the passage he'd created, ready to resume tunnelling, then turned to stare. "You went outside?"

"Yeah." Tails braced his feet against the wall and yanked on the ignition chain. Reaching out, Knuckles caught hold of the kid's hand and removed it from the handle.

"To the void?"

"I didn't go in the void, Knux. I just stood up, waited for the bots to chase me and smashed the first one that caught up."

The echidna shook his head. "You shouldn't've gone out there on your own, Tails."

"Huh?" Tails fixed him with a look that was half pained, half perplexed. "How come?"

Because I don't want you to get hurt, the echidna started to say and then clamped down on that, hard.

"Because it's selfish," he said eventually. "You're not the only one who likes smashing bots."

"Oh. Okay." Tails jerked the chain again and this time was rewarded with the sound of the engine belching into life. He sat there for a few minutes, then shut it off and came to stand in front of Knuckles, tracing embarrassed patterns on the floor with his toe.

"Something wrong?"

"Uh. Sorta. Can you give me a push? I, uh, I just realised I forgot to add an accelerator to the Mole."

Knuckles suppressed a sudden urge to grin. "Sure. Take a seat."

"Alright!" Tails leapt into the driver's seat again and flexed his fingers readily. "C'mon, let's go!"

Shaking his head wryly, Knuckles reached out with one hand and took hold of the Mole. "Okay, fine. You ready?"

"You bet!"

"Okay." Knuckles shoved hard and the machine chuntered forward. There was a grinding sound that set the echidna's teeth on edge as metal screeched against rock.

"Uh, Tails?" Knuckles hollered over the noise of the Mole. "I'm gonna go get some shuteye. You keep drilling, okay?"

He didn't hear if the fox answered, but one hand came out in a thumbs-up gesture. Relieved, Knuckles turned and lay down, hands over his ears. The Mole might well be efficient, but it was too damn noisy for his liking!

Left alone, Tails continued to trundle along the tunnel, heading for the end of it. The Mole was moving nicely; Knuckles' push had sent it careering along the rocky ground, causing Tails to wish he'd thought to install a steering wheel.

He wished it a lot more a few minutes later, when the Mole's front wheel hit a ledge and spun over, sending him sprawling. He cracked his skull against the rock wall and dropped into blackness.

When he opened his eyes, it was to a splitting headache and the sight of a very familiar boot. An upside-down Knuckles stood over him, arms folded, foot tapping, but with a definite glint of humour in his eyes. "Don't tell me. You forgot to add brakes as well."

Tails rubbed the back of his head and managed a sheepish grin, then rolled over and got to his feet.

"Uh. Yeah. I, uh, I had some stuff on my mind and I must've forgotten. Sorry."

"Don't apologise to me, kid; you're the one who almost had his brains leak out. Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Tails took a step, swayed and leaned against the wall. "Head hurts, but I'm okay."

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"One and it's a thumb." Tails started to walk but his ankle twisted under him and Knuckles barely managed to catch the fox before he hit the ground.

"You hurt your leg?"

"My ankle. 'Sokay though; I can walk."

"The hell you can." When Tails continued to glare at him obstinately, Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. But you lean on me; I don't want that ankle getting any worse."

"I said I'm okay!" Tails started to shove the echidna away, but a sharp pain shot through his leg and he collapsed.

"Yeah, kid. You sure look okay to me." Knuckles shook his head. "C'mon." He reached down and hauled Tails upright, slinging the fox's arm around his shoulders. "And if you bite me again, I'll twist your other ankle," he added pointedly.

Tails started to protest, but Knuckles stepped forward and the fox's attention was suddenly diverted to the more pressing problem of how to stay upright.

By the time they were back in the main chamber, Tails' body was quivering with exertion and he was very glad to drop onto the floor and sleep. Knuckles turned to go, intending to excavate some more of the tunnel, but Tails stirred and caught hold of the echidna's leg. Knuckles groaned aloud.

"Oh hell, not again."

This time he waited for half an hour before pulling out of Tails' hold and walking away. Jerked out of sleep by the action – although in fairness Knuckles had done it as gingerly as he could – Tails raised his head and looked around.

"Huh? Wha..."

Catching sight of Knuckles' figure walking silently into the tunnel, he realised what had happened and lay back down again. Oh well. It had been nice while it lasted.

Knuckles had been tunnelling for so long that he was more asleep than awake. The motions had long since become mechanical, constant punching over and over again. Progress had slowed, but was still occurring.

There was a faint whoosh from behind him and he frowned quizzically, then a sudden instinct warned him and he turned to the left and tripled the pace, digging and excavating furiously until there was a niche there big enough for him to hurriedly cram himself into.

Something fast and incredibly hot roared past him, hit the wall and exploded, showering red hot fragments of rock and debris all around. There was the sound of somewhat irregular footsteps and Tails arrived, strongly favouring the bad ankle.

"Did it work?" he said eagerly.

Knuckles pushed himself out of his hastily constructed sanctuary and spat soot out of his mouth, then glared at Tails. "Just because I pissed you off last night is no reason to sic a torpedo on me!"

"I wasn't aiming for you. I built a rocket to try and blast some of the rock away." Tails examined the hole that the rocket had created, all four feet of it and his face fell. "Kinda disappointing. Maybe if I built another one with more explosives—"

"No," Knuckles said sternly. He didn't think he'd ever forget the sensation of incandescent heat blasting two inches away from his face as the rocket whizzed past to smash into the wall. "Look, Tails, I admire your enthusiasm, I really do, but if you got to build high-powered gizmos then at least try and build ones that won't get us both killed!"

The fox looked so downcast that Knuckles was moved to give him a nudge on the shoulder. "C'mon, kid, I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just asking you to try and leave us alive and unharmed at the end of it." He racked his brains for something else to say. "That Mole was a good idea; why don't you try and build it again, only this time add pedals?"

Tails shook his head morosely. "Can't. The drill was smashed and I haven't seen another bot with the right size." He perked up. "But I guess I could make something like a mechanical shovel."

"Yeah. Great." There probably wasn't much damage the kid could do with a mechanical shovel, after all; at least, not to Knuckles. "Good idea. Yeah, you do that."

"Knux?"

"Yeah?"

Tails looked down at his sneakers. "You think Sonic'd mind?"

"Mind what?" As if I didn't know.

"Well...I feel kinda like...like..."

"Let me guess; you feel like you don't have any right to have fun now Sonic's not here?"

Tails nodded mutely, and Knuckles sighed.

"Put it this way, kid, I don't think he won you that toolbox just so you could look at it. He'd've liked to know you were using it."

Tails cheered up, but only slightly. "I guess..."

Despite Knuckles' determination and Tails' enthusiasm, it took a full three weeks before they managed to tunnel out into the open air and another month before they managed to find their way back to the path. A bot ambush – too many and too powerful to fight – had sent them into a run. Unlike the ones they'd seen earlier, these bots hadn't given up as soon as they were a certain distance away but continued pursuing them, never close enough to attack but not far enough away to let them rest either. After two days and nights of this, Tails was almost asleep on his feet. Knuckles, who was still drawing from the Master Emerald, was fine for the moment but knew full well that he was pushing his luck. The Master Emerald would demand repayment from him, and soon.

"Knux?" Tails hauled himself onto a rocky ledge and dropped onto his side, chest heaving. "Knux, please. I gotta stop."

The echidna knelt down next to him, then threw himself flat as bullets whined over their heads. "Two minutes, no more."

"Nothin' here anyway," Tails mumbled through his fur. "No 'scape. No trees. No food. Jus' rocks an' those three ridges over there."

"What did you say?" Knuckles said sharply. Tails glanced at him.

"I just said there were those three ridges over there."

"Hm." The echidna rose to his feet, shading his eyes against the setting sun with one hand.

When moons and sun both form a bridge

You'll find us in the second ridge.

"What?" Tails said.

"Just...something I heard once, that's all." Knuckles hadn't realised he'd spoken the couplet aloud. Sun and moon forming a bridge; anyone knew that meant the last part of the lunar cycle, when the two moons were for an hour or so aligned in a straight line with the setting sun. Knuckles had understood that part of the rhyme, but not the second. Not until now. Last night had been Bridge Night, and if he got it right...

Knuckles glanced over his shoulder. So far, there was no sign of pursuit, but he was pretty sure that would change before too long.

Crouching down to avoid being silhouetted against the setting sun, Knuckles crept over to where Tails was already dozing and nudged him hard.

"Wha...?"

"Come on," Knuckles said quietly. "Get on your feet. We're moving."

Tails fixed a bleary-eyed look on him. "Where we going?"

"We're going to see a few old friends of mine, that's all. Once we're there, you can sleep to your heart's content."

"You have friends?"

"You don't have to sound quite so surprised," Knuckles said bitingly. Tails yawned.

"'S just I thought all you did was stay on the island. Didn't think you got to meet people."

"These ones showed up after you left. Robotnik tried to put the snatch on the emerald again by turning 'em into robots. I freed one of them and got rid of Robotnik with the help of that guy and his buddies."

"Who are they?"

"They call themselves the Chaotix Detective Agency; CDA for short. They know a lot about things; if anyone can tell us where to find Robotnik's fort, they can." Knuckles stepped forward and shook the already dozing Tails, not roughly but insistently. "C'mon. We have to make it to those ridges before dark."

"Wha?" Tails yawned again, curling up into a ball for warmth. "Knux, I'm so tired. Can't we jus' res' f'r few mo' minutes..."

"Not here. I thought it was the best of a bad lot but that was before I saw those ridges. We're gonna have to move and move fast; those caves are the one place the bots won't get to us. I'll carry you if I have to, but we are going there and we are going there now."

Tails blinked at him owlishly, then raised both arms over his head. Knuckles grimaced inwardly.

Guess that'll teach me, huh?

"Alright," he said wearily. "C'mere." Crossing over to the fox, he bent down and scooped him up into his arms, cringing inwardly as Tails half turned to snuggle against him, still semi-curled. This was starting to become a habit, and for a minute Knuckles seriously considered dumping Tails in the dirt.

Then he sighed, shifted his arms to get a more secure grip and jogged on, trying not to jounce the fox too much. He barely felt Tails' weight; the kid was little more than a feather in his arms and only a serious problem when the echidna had to climb over rocks and couldn't use his hands. The second ridge drew closer every minute, and as long as he could keep moving reasonably fast, the bots didn't fire on him. In fact, they seemed to be falling back, but Knuckles didn't plan on testing that and didn't even slow or stop until he reached the cave at the base of the ridge.

Great, Knuckles thought grimly. More damn tunnels.

"Hey!" he shouted. Tails didn't stir, even when a three-foot shuriken whizzed past, missing him and Knuckles by bare inches and embedded itself in the wall. Knuckles glowered into the darkness. "Espio, I know that's you! It's me; Knuckles, I've had a couple of incredibly crappy months so if you don't show yourself this instant I'll throw whitewash at you, see if you can camouflage that!" He knew Espio could – the chameleon was a master at what he did – but at least the threat made him feel better.

Espio shaded into view, still holding a shuriken in one hand.

"Knux, hi." Espio's tone and expression never changed, but Knuckles knew the chameleon too well to be fooled; Espio was pleased to see him. "Long time no see." Espio was known for being opinionated and somewhat self-obsessed, suspicious of everything he didn't know well and with a strong military bearing in his manner, the end result being that he and Knuckles understood and got along with each other extremely well. For some reason, people always assumed Espio was the brains and therefore the leader of Chaotix, instead of Vector. There had been quite a few arguments about that, now Knuckles thought about it.

"Yeah. You got somewhere I can dump this guy?" Knuckles said, nodding towards Tails; the fox was starting to get heavy. Espio glanced down.

"Alive or dead?"

"Alive and whole. And I want him kept like that," Knuckles added sharply. Espio merely snorted.

"What kinda guys you think we are? Who is he?"

"Tails. He was Sonic's sidekick, best buddy, adopted little brother." Knuckles shrugged. "Pick your connection."

Interest sparked briefly in Espio's eyes, then faded again. It was almost unnoticeable unless you were looking hard.

"Sonic ditch him?"

"No, he..." Knuckles glanced down at Tails, then up at Espio. "Look, we'll talk about that later, alright? Where can I put the kid?"

There was a sudden movement and a small bee exploded into the room waving a spatula and wearing a chef's hat.

"Let me at 'em! Let me at 'em!"

Knuckles bent down to lower Tails gently to the floor, then straightened up and threw up a hand in time to field the bee out of the air. Holding it by its wings, he lowered it down to his eye-level and took the spatula in his other hand.

"What were you planning to do, Charmy; flip me to death?"

"Knux!" Pulling free, Charmy zipped around the echidna's head so fast that Knuckles sheered back, startled. "Where've you been? Whatcha doing here? Who's the fuzzball?"

Knuckles took a deep breath. "Angel Island, looking for answers, and Sonic's sidekick Tails."

"Sonic? Cool!" Charmy twirled around several times before hovering just in front of the echidna, darting from side to side to peer over both his shoulders in turn. "Is he coming? Where is he? When's he gonna get here?"

The echidna felt a queer sensation, as though someone was drawing all the air out of him. Charmy's hyperactivity had almost pulled him out of his funk until the bee mentioned Sonic's name.

"He's not," he said. "I need a bed for the night. Or rather, Tails does; poor kid's been going flat out for almost a full week now."

Espio and Charmy exchanged looks, then Espio jerked a thumb towards a small tunnel. "Through there. He can sleep as long as he needs. Charmy?"

"Aw, Espie! Why d'you always send me away when it's getting interesting?"

"Because I have a set of shuriken that can impale you to the rock, that's why. Take him and make him as comfortable as you can." Once Charmy had left, dragging Tails behind him and complaining under his breath the whole time, Espio nodded towards the desk. "Take a seat."

Knuckles did so, settling himself on the edge of a chair.

"So what about your friend?" Espio added. The echidna shook his head.

"Let the kid sleep; he's no danger to you." Knuckles took hold of a fruit and bit into it with every sign of enjoyment. "You and me, we need to talk. Something's happened."

Espio raised cool eye-ridges. He and Knuckles had been allies since the incident on Angel Island, when Knuckles had freed him from one of Robotnik's traps. The echidna was one of the very few people that Espio genuinely respected and trusted, and he knew the feeling was mutual on Knuckles' part.

"It must've been bad, to drag you all the way down here from your precious island."

Knuckles glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Tails was sound asleep before leaning in close and lowering his voice anyway.

"Sonic's dead."

Nothing ever caused external surprise in Espio. Even this news didn't cause him to do much more than blink once, slowly, before shifting his weight back. Sonic had never done business with Chaotix, but he'd never been named as a target or tried to rip them off either.

"How?"

"We were grinding along the railtrack by Bullet Station. Sonic missed one of the rails and fell. It was an accident, that's all; he was showing off. Bottom line, the kid blames Robotnik and he's hellbent on revenge." Knuckles shook his head. Sonic, dead. It hardly seemed real. Even now, it hardly seemed real.

Espio's eyes, which had flared up at the mention of Robotnik's name, settled back to their normal hooded expression. "The kid's blaming Robotnik for a stupid, pointless accident?"

"I said he was resourceful. I never said he was rational. Grief takes people different ways, and I guess blaming Robotnik is easier than blaming himself."

"Hm," Espio said noncommittally. "So what do you want from us?"

"First, a place to spend the night. Since mountain caves aren't owned by anyone – at least, not by you – that shouldn't be a problem, and we'll be gone in the morning. Second, I want to know if anyone's been asking for us recently; good, bad or indifferent, or if anyone's been hanging around here."

Espio shook his head, smiling slightly. "Even for you, Knuckles, that kinda thing's gonna cost. Vector would have my tail if he knew I'd been giving out freebies."

Without taking his eyes off the chameleon, Knuckles pulled out a small, tightly-woven bag and handed it over. Espio took it and opened it, examining the contents minutely.

"Ooh!" Charmy zipped over Knuckles' head to peer at the jewels inside, eyes so huge they seemed to fill his whole head.

"I'll keep the bag," Knuckles added, holding out his hand for it. Espio shrugged and handed it over, taking care to tip the jewels out beforehand and even going so far as to run one hand around inside to make sure no jewels had stuck to it.

"Okay. There're usually people who ask us to find others; that's pretty much what we do for a living. Nobody's been hanging around here for the last couple of days, but there were a few bots lurking not too far from here. Vector sorted them, though; they won't be troubling you." Seeing Knuckles' sceptical look, Espio added, "He had to; bots machine-gunning anyone who comes this way really puts a dent in business. And yeah, there have been one or two people asking for you."

"One or two?"

Espio shrugged. "Alright then, seven. Like I say, we get a lot of that. I remembered this though, because you said you never left the island, so I wasn't sure why anyone would be expecting to find you here on the surface. They were Robotnik's henchmen mostly, or bots." He shook his head. "You're playing in the big boys' league now, Knuckles. I hope you know what you've got yourself into. Any other questions?"

Knuckles hesitated. He had several, but a very limited amount of finance, and picking the most important questions wasn't always easy. Eventually he said, "What's Robotnik doing to the sky? That patch of...of...well, of nothing?"

Espio shook his head. "I'll answer that one for free, Knuckles; we don't know. Nobody does. Whatever it is, though, it seems to be spreading. The Master Emerald'll probably protect itself, though, and indirectly you. You got any sense, you'll stay on that island of yours and never leave."

"Like you guys did?" Knuckles said pleasantly.

"We go where there's business," Espio answered, not taking offence. "Which reminds me, if you're planning an offensive, there's someone here who may be able to help you."

The fruit in Knuckles' hand hesitated on its way to his mouth, then dropped back to the plate. "Yeah? Who?"

Espio turned his head. "Omega!"

There was a clanking, a series of whirrs and a robot lumbered forward into the room. Not just any robot either; this one seemed to have weapons on top of weapons. It was the same one that had attacked Knuckles and the other two in the Casino Zones.

Knuckles tensed.

"Don't tell me you're back for more. Where's bat-girl?"

"Rouge dumped him to go treasure-hunting," Espio answered.

"Worthless consumer model!"

"Right, right, Omega." Seeing Knuckles' startled look, Espio added, "Something of a killing insult among robots. Rouge dumped him and he wound up here. Vector took him on; Omega's the only one besides me who can go into Robotnik's lair without being detected."

"Robotnik's lair?" Knuckles echoed, picking up the pella fruit again and turning it over and over in his hands as though he wasn't remotely interested in the conversation. "That nearby, is it?"

"Fairly near. You're talking a two hour run."

"Really," the echidna said idly. "You, uh, you wouldn't happen to have a map, would you?"

Espio looked at him through wary eyes. "What are you thinking, Knuckles?"

"Tails wants revenge."

"Then let him have it," Espio said steadily. "Why should you get involved?"

Knuckles shrugged. For want of a better word, he felt responsible for the fox. Tails hadn't asked for any of this to happen, and the echidna knew the kid was headstrong enough to try and blast into Robotnik's lair single-handedly.

"Do you have the map or not? I'll pay, if that's what's bugging you."

"What about Tails?"

"What about him?" Knuckles shook his head. "Look, I go and check the place out while he's asleep, come back and then when he wakes up we can talk about plans. I don't plan to be all that long. If he wakes up before I get back, just tell him where I've gone."

Espio considered the idea for all of three seconds before nodding once, curtly. "Alright. Here." He passed a folded sheet of paper over to the echidna. "Omega helped us compile it. It's sound. If you die in there, I'll kill you."

Knuckles snorted. "I don't plan on dying anywhere except my own Angel Island, and that in execution of my duty."

"Ask Sonic if he planned on dying, Knuckles."

The echidna looked away and didn't answer that. Eventually he got rather jerkily to his feet, said, "Take care of the kid while I'm gone, Espio," and strode out.

So that's it for another chapter...please leave a review!