((( well aren't I amazing this week? One whole year it took me to come around and start writing again. The muses took a vacation from me because I annoy them. Wa. I just want to say I regret calling my cockatoo Amy (originally supposed to be Ume but it sounds too much like Uma Thurman) because... well, frankly I hate Amy (the hedgehog, noh dah). In SA2 race mode she says weird things like "I'm getting excited!" and "I'll 'try' to do my best, Sonic!" like she's about to blow him or something..."";; and when she does her little stupid attacks she sounds like she's getting raped AND I can't stand it when she goes all "waitaminute!" and pink hearts and shit... Ok, I believe I shall cease my ranting and raise my IQ to a level that permits a larger vocabulary. Nyaa.)))

Sonic: hey, if she did blow me at least she'd be good for something.

Knuckles: XD HA!

A: hmmm, maybe I'll introduce Tarsa in this chappy. Or perhaps Zephyr/Aria? I don't even know what to name her anyway, so she can wait till I've decided.

K: chanting Tar-sa! Tar-sa!

S: when are ya gonna introduce me to Velociti? She sexeh. ;p

A: when I feel like it.

S: -shakes fist- damn you omniscient omnipresent being!

A: ahh, it's great to be me.

$ oh please. Sonic was probably invented before I was five. You can't think I was some sort of child prodigy, can you? $

Chapter 2– What Are Friends For?

"LOVE the new pad, Red!" Mighty stated as he fell heavily onto the slightly- used couch that took up the majority of the small living/dining room.

"Watch it, I just had that cleaned..." Knuckles warned. He now wished he had never invited them over to begin with.

"Pfff! You're funny. You know that?"

"...no."

"Hey, there's a comic store across the street!" Tails shouted cheerfully from the fire escape.

'That kid...' Knuckles thought to himself. 'he sure has grown, hasn't he? Almost 12 already. I cant believe its been five years...' his thoughts were interrupted as he felt a small hand tug lightly at one of his "dreadlocks". (AN-I like to call them tendrils.)

"Hey, Knux, you know, it IS my birthday in a week..." he began, throwing on the big sad puppy eyes. (AN- aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwh! -picks up Tails and huggles-)

"And you know how I've been collecting the Fantastic Panic series..."

"I do?"

"Yeah, well," he pointed in the direction of the fire escape. "They have the one issue I've been looking for... the one where the little mouse guy meets the thunder dragon. It's in the window, even."

"Ask Sonic."

"Did."

"Ask Amy."

"Did."

"Ask... ask anyone but me."

"B-but... why?" throwing on those big watery eyes again.

"Because your Jedi mind tricks are useless on me."

"Aw, damnit." He kicked at the shabby carpet and walked back to the fire escape. Knuckles continued to unpack his effects.

"So, you kill that Remington guy yet?" Espio asked while flipping through channels on the small TV.

"It's on my to-do list. If I ever see that bitch again, it'll be too soon."

"Remington?"

"Julie." He sighed at the sound of her name from his own lips, stared down at the box and table in front of him. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, continuing to unpack. "Even though Remington 'is' a little bitch. You shoulda seen 'im. Crawled under the bed in fear."

Both Mighty andVector burst out laughing at the mental image.

Just then Charmy kicked open the door while carrying a large and heavy box.

"Where do you want this, Knux?"

"Oh, uh, next to the couch is fine."

He set it down, sighing with relief and drawing an arm across his forehead.

"Whoo… it sure is hot in here…. When are you gonna get an AC, huh?"

"When I get a job. And money for a change." He threw down the folded bedclothes he had in his hand. "Gawdamnit, I can't live like this."

"Watch your language, I'm twelve." Tails shouted.

He resumed ranting. "I mean, I was content with just living on Angel Island! Mindin' my own fu- uh, freakin' business and being able to eat for free. Y'know? Life was great before technology came along and kicked me in the ass."

"Bill gates." Vector, who had been silently watching TV until that moment, stated out of nowhere.

"What?"

"Blame Bill Gates, tha bastard."

"No, I blame Bush. President Bush is the cause for all unnecessary evils in this God-forsaken country." Tails commented.

"... I see." Knuckles blinked absently at this, then collapsed the empty box and moved onto the next one.

Espio gave the child an uneasy glance.

"What's up?" Sonic panted as he stepped through the open door.

"Nothin' much. These guys were just leaving." Knuckles said, putting away a package of paper plates in the kitchenette.

"We were?"

"Yes. You were. It's small enough in here without you sittin' around and taking up space. And drinking my beer..." He directed this in Vector's general direction.

"Hey, man, what're friends for?" he replied happily, raising his stolen Corona in a salute. (AN- personal preference. Kirin ichiban would have been too out-of-place and heffeweisen is just too much of a mouthful. Besides, Knuckles just seems like a Corona kind of guy.)

Knuckles stormed over, snatching the bottle from his hand and angrily bellowing "Out!"

Sonic blinked a couple of times in surprise as the four moochers in question reluctantly stood and filed out the door.

"Seeya Friday, Knux?" Charmy asked hopefully, standing in the door.

"I doubt it."

"...okay, Saturday then. Not like you have plans or anything..." And he quickly closed the door as our disgruntled echidna propelled a package of plastic cups in his direction.

"So why are you here?" he addressed Sonic without looking up from his box.

"Came to pick up Tails. And check up on you."

"Don't bother. I'll be fine."

"Hey, I know a couple places where you can get a job in this town."

"I don't need your sympathy."

"Seriously, I've got connections."

Sonic, by the way, a month from being 19, had graduated tech school and had a reasonably-paying job as a web designer and programmer. He definitely had some contacts in Monotreme. This was where the company he worked for derived its best business. (AN- think of Mobius as New York, New York while Monotreme City is like Chicago... Only much closer together, nyan. YES I KNOW MOBIUS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PLANET. Bear with me.)

"What kind of job could I possibly get? Garbage man? Bartender? Construction worker? Fuck it!" his voice climaxing at the last statement, he turned and stormed to the fire escape.

"It's all your gawdamn fault, you little conniving, two-tailed squirrel!" he screamed at the poor boy, who was now cowering in fear.

"Hey, man, don't blame him! He helped you!"

"Helped me? HELPED me? HE RUINED MY LIFE!" and with this, he picked the fox up by the scruff of his neck and boot-kicked him off the fire escape. Tails flew away hastily, crying.

"What the hell is wrong with you? He's just a kid!" Sonic demanded, rushing to him and smacking him none too gently upside the head.

"The little bastard stole my purpose in life." He growled, turning away from him and walking back into the shade of his small apartment.

"think...," Sonic began, following him. "Think of it more as... He gave you a break. He gave you a life to do what you want. A normal life."

"This," he opened his arms to indicate the cramped space, "is NOT normal. Not for me."

"Well, it is for all of us down here, so like it or not, we make the best of it, alright? Besides, it's cruel to alienate someone like that. Haven't you ever even wondered what it's like to be one of us? Live down here where chili dogs are only a buck ninety-nine and you can party all night on Saturdays, just get shitfaced drunk with your buddies and laugh at MTV?"

Knuckles just stared in silence at him for a moment, one eyebrow cocked in an expression that asked, "Are you on crack?"

Sonic sighed. "Look, just try it for me, please? Just a month. And if it's really all that terrible, I'll find you a nice, quiet, secluded place in Knothole where you can relax. I promise I won't bother you unless the world's coming to an end."

"... awright. Fine. One month. No longer. I can't stand the air."

"Pollution is the price we pay for convenience."

"It sucks the big one."

"I know."

-----------------------------------

"Waddaya mean I have to show you my ID? Don't I LOOK 21?"

"Sorry, sir, but I will need to see some form of verification or I can't sell you this liquor."

"of all the mother fuc- NNNHH!" Knuckles stamped his foot in rage, refraining from swearing in public. "I left it in my other freakin' pants, a'ight?"

The dog behind the cash register looked at him blankly, then down, because- you see- Knuckles doesn't exactly wear pants.

"Y'know what? SCREW YOU! I ain't givin' you my money. Just see if I ever come back HERE again!" and he stormed out the door.

He strode angrily down the sidewalk for a few minutes, grumbling to himself. A whole damn month. In hell. 'Why me, God? What did I do to offend you?' he thought, pausing to look to the slightly browned sky for a moment. (AN- like in Santa Rosa Valley, koff koff)

He looked back down to the sound of a bell tingling as someone left a store. 'What the hell, I'll give this place a try.' He opened the door, bells chiming once again.

"Hey, you guys sell liquor?" he asked the empty counter and open door to a back room as he stepped into the small food market.

"Yeah, just a minute, please." answered a feminine voice. Soon a large box appeared, being lifted by periwinkle-blue hands. The door was kicked shut as the woman struggled with the weight.

"In the back, to the way left. Can't miss it." She grunted, trying to carefully set the bulky object on the counter.

"Oh, here, let me help-"Knuckles took the box from her, setting it down in its presumed destination.

"Oh, thank you! You're a sweetie! " she said, brushing an unruly strand of blue hair from her face. The girl, as it turned out, was an echidna as Knuckles himself, though none like he had ever come in contact with. She was a light twilight-blue all over; clad in a baggy white tee and some baggy overalls about two sizes too big. Her disheveled blue hair spilt messily over her pastel leaf-green eyes in places and the majority of it was tied back in a loose ponytail with her long, multiple tendrils. She smiled shyly at him, then opened the box to continue her chore of putting away some packaged dry goods.

(AN- there's a pic of her in my MSN space.Last album, past the Shadow piccies.)

Knuckles looked at her for a moment, brow furrowed in thought, then smiled.

"Nice to see a familiar face around here." He winked at her, then turned and walked to the back of the store.

The girl, now thoroughly confused, opened her mouth as if about to say something, then closed it and walked from behind the counter.

"I... don't believe we've met...?"

"Oh, yeah, my name's Knuckles." He took her hand and shook it politely.

"Yes, but, you said a familiar face...?"

"Yeah, I was beginning to think I was the only echidna in Monotreme." he laughed, snatching a bottle of vodka from a shelf.

"Eh- a ... what did you say?"

"Echidna. What's wrong?"

"So... that's what I am! I'd always wondered..." she walked off in absent thought.

"You didn't know?" he asked, following her to the counter and placing a bottle of Smirnoff and a bottle of 1800 on it.

"Oh, no I was adopted. No one really knew what to make of me. Heh heh!" she laughed a little sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well, that's what we are... eh... echidnas... Yeah... How much will this be together?"

"Oh, that'll be...(punching it into the register) $24.45. Knuckles, right?"

"Yeah. And you are?"

"My name's Tarsa. Thanks for solving the mystery for me." Her pale green eyes sparkled for a moment in self-discovery.

"Hey, uh..." Knuckles began.

'shit, I'm no good at this. Damnit, just ask. It can't kill you to try.'

"you wanna hang out sometime? I mean, hell, we're the only two echidnas in Monotreme! I gotta have someone to talk to..."

"Yeah... yeah, I'd like that."

"You, uh... um... number?"

'DAMN YOU! Why can't you speak! Idiotidiotidiotidi-'

"Here," She jotted something on a purple post-it note.

"uh, great! I'll, um,... you know..." he stammered, taking it from her.

"Call me?"

"Yeah, that's it, I'll call you. Yeah, um, seeya around." He grabbed the paper bag and hastily retreated into the sunlight.

"Damnit, I'm an idiot. Idiotidiotidiotid-"

((yes, that chapter was slightly longer. I hope it meets your satisfaction. I'm taking a break for the weekend so I shall not be here to pulp out any more inspiration. Wow, this is the fastest I've written since 8th grade! I feel so accomplished! So, love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think.)))