Treasurehunter: (smiles) Thanks. Ah yes...will Tails escape, won't he? (Knuckles: I was a puggle! How was I to know the Master Emerald was so important? I only ever said it to her once though.) Yeah, I bet you did, Knux...

SaffraEchidna: Thanks, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you too :D Knuckles admiring Tails...ooh, now that's a strange thought :P You're probably right though; I think in a way he does (though you'd never, ever get him to admit it) ;)

Ri2: Yep, looks that way ;) As for the rest, you'll have to wait and see :P

FriedBrickWall: Heh heh...you were right ;) The overseers...to be honest, I hadn't thought about that (shrugs) You'll probably find out soon enough though :P They're not any kind of weird and not-so-wonderful aliens, if that's what you're asking me ;)

PyroHedgehog4Ever: Thanks ;) And yeah, I'm sure Knux would've loved to read them...maybe he'll still get his chance though :P

Kj: Thanks, and more is here ;)

Toboe16: Glad to hear it :P Is Tails gonna die...well, you'll have to keep reading to find out ;)

SecretSniper: Thanks for reviewing :) Treating Tails as a side character...apart from liking him myself, with some of my reviewers being who they are (coughfriedbrickwallcough ;)) I wouldn't dare! Well...actually, that's not strictly true; I hadn't planned to include Tails so much in this one (since the prequel had Tails as a very major character) but I gave in to reviewers' requests and put him in. I'm glad I did too; it works better this way (not least 'cause I can now spin out cliffhangers for twice as long) and at least now I know what the Caves of the Ancients actually are :P

Parslie: Heh, thanks :) You'll get to catch up on one of those sides right now (weg)

Asher Tye: You're right; Tails is probably the only outsider who could crack the echidna language all by himself :P As for the rest...read on ;)

Guardian's Log no. 11477

I'll say this much; when travelling with Sonic, you learn something new every day. In this case, I learned that Bait's father died, his mother killed herself before her mate was cold in his grave and Raker twisted that around to make Bait blame himself for it. I'd say that might have been Raker's own grief coming into play, except...no. No, I don't think he feels grief. I don't think he feels anything except superior, as Tails once accused me of.

I am a little curious about why Bait's mother really committed suicide, though. That's the ultimate act of cowardice and dishonour, at least, it is in echidna society. Though there is one exception to that; if you contract some kind of fatal disease and there's nothing that can be done...yes, then it's considered honourable, or at least, not shameful to end things on your own terms. I wonder if that's what Bait's mother had? Probably not; most non-echidnas tend to bump themselves off for the most paltry of reasons.

Tails. Damn, kid, where are you? I had a stranger dream than usual last night; instead of being trapped in caves, I saw Tails trapped inside an hourglass. What the hell does that mean? I'm running out of time? And why the hell do I get the feeling that I already know where he is? Whenever I try to think about it, it goes; it's like trying to remember a dream, or at least a normal dream. Sonic and I are practically fighting each other for the night watch now; neither of us want to go to sleep. Well, we do and we don't; there's always the chance that Tails will be a little more explicit, but neither of us like seeing him like that.

Whoever did this to him is going to pay. Big time.

--Knuckles the Echidna

My Memoirs by Me

Bait told Raker he wasn't going to go with him. That almost gave me a brain haemorrhage, I don't mind admitting. I would have laid money on Bait's caving in and following Raker meekly.

That Raker is one sick puppy. It's a miracle Bait isn't all screwed up inside. What kind of evil bastard takes something as traumatic as a parent's suicide – by drowning no less, yeesh, I can think of much easier and quicker ways to do something like that – and twists a three year old cub's mind around into a corkscrew about it, deliberately making him think that it was his fault? I knew he wasn't all the ticket when Bait said about that burn he got (the beating thing's extreme but sadly I know that Raker isn't the only one who does that kind of thing to try and keep discipline) but I never, ever suspected things were as bad as that.

I'm not violent by nature, but like I told Bait, if I ever have Raker in front of me again, it'll be a damn pleasure to break every bone in that jerkal's body!

--Sonic the Hedgehog

Bait's Jurnal

Why? Whyd I tell Raker I wasnt gonna go with him? Hes gonna be seriusly mad now, if he isnt alreddy. Its just...I like these guys. Well I like Sonic and Nux probly isnt as bad as he seems. Leest he hasnt hit me yet. Nor has Sonic. Their...I dunno. Their weerd, scarey almost cos unlike Raker I dunno wat their gonna do to me at all, but I like there kind of weerd.

--Bait the Jakkel

Sonic put the last bit of his burger into his mouth and chewed absently, almost mechanically. For the first time in his life, he was literally forcing himself to eat, knowing if he didn't that he'd pay the price later on. Burning the kind of energy he did...you couldn't afford just to skip meals like that.

He was alone in front of the fire; Knuckles had gone in search of something 'more wholesome', as he put it (which usually meant something six-legged) and Bait had finished his own breakfast long before Sonic was a quarter of the way through – the jackal always snapped up his food in as few bites as possible, as though frightened someone was going to steal it from him, which, Sonic admitted to himself grimly, might well have been the case – and then gone for another swim.

Swallowing, he glanced over to where Bait was treating the rapidly coursing river like a slide; leaping in and riding the currents down to a landing point, then getting out and racing back to where he'd started and doing it all over again. Watching the jackal's obvious enjoyment, Sonic began to think that swimming did look like fun, if you ignored the part with the water.

Knuckles came back at a jog – it was too cold to move much slower than that – and sat down crosslegged by the fire. To his surprise, the hedgehog didn't greet him or even acknowledge his presence, resulting in an awkward silence which stretched out until Knuckles was sorely tempted to go and root out some more sugar ants.

"I dreamed I was drowning last night," Sonic said suddenly. Knuckles glanced at him.

"Is that your way of working up to telling me you pissed in your sleeping bag?" he said, lack of sleep and added concern over Tails making him more irritable than usual. Sonic, who knew the echidna well enough by now to know his moods, threw a clod of earth at him.

"No it's not! It's my way of working up to telling you that we have got to do something about Bait!"

"What?" Knuckles blinked. "What's Bait got to do with drowning?"

Sonic shivered. "That's how his mother killed herself. Tied a rock around her neck and jumped into the lake. Just thinking about that kind of death makes me feel funny, Knux, the struggling, the water going into your eyes, up your nose, into your mouth, trying to breathe in air that's not there and only filling your lungs with water which floods your nose and runs down the back of your throat, trying to cough out the water and only ever taking more in..." He shuddered again. "Man, there's gotta be easier ways of killing yourself! If you want to die for some weird reason, fine, but that doesn't mean you have to suffer."

Knuckles let out his breath with a soft hiss. "Drowned, huh? That can't have been pleasant for the kid; I know what drowned bodies look like."

"Yeah. And that made me think of something else; I think Bait needs a new name."

The echidna stared at him. "You think what?" He shook his head. "Look, Sonic, your sense of responsibility to Bait is all very admirable and I was pretty impressed by how you handled the whole stealing thing, but don't you think you're overstepping your bounds just a little?"

The hedgehog sighed. "Yeah. You're probably right. It's just...when he said they called him Bait, I thought it was a name rather than just a description."

"It can be both. Usually is on Mobius."

Sonic snorted. "Yeah, and in Bait's case, that's where I have a problem. C'mon Knux, you at least ought to be able to think of something. What's the echidnese for bait?"

The echidna shot him a look. "What, so instead of calling him Bait in Mobian you plan to call him it in Sagayan? Forget it, Sonic. Changing the language doesn't change the meaning."

Sonic thought about this. "Hm. Good point. Okay, what's the Sargaryarn word for jackal?"

"Ngarrun. But if you just want to call him jackal, I think he'd be better off with Bait. At least that's a name of sorts. Have you even asked him if he wants to change it?"

Sonic looked astounded. "Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, but this isn't me we're talking about."

The hedgehog propped his chin on his hand thoughtfully. "Okay. So Bait's out, and so's that ingaroon, which is a shame 'cause that's a pretty cool name. But you're right; I wouldn't like it if I was just called hedgehog all the time. Hm. What do you say to someone when you can't remember their name?"

"Usually what's your name. Why, what do you say?"

Sonic, catching sight of a barely hidden gleam in the echidna's eyes, folded his arms. "Very funny, Knucklehead! You know what I mean."

"Ngaramira, then." He shook his head. If Sonic really wanted Sagayan words... "Look, karagi, will you forget this crazy idea?"

"Karagi? Now that's a cool name. What's it mean?"

"Crazy, insane. Or a lunatic, or occasionally an idiot."

Sonic opened his mouth, then glared at Knuckles as memory surfaced. "Oh, so that's what you yelled at me in Robotnik's fortress, was it? You crazy coward piece of gutcheck...what's gutcheck?"

"Gujek. I'm not telling you until Bait's a good few years older and preferably out of earshot."

Sonic snorted. "In that case, forget it; I don't think I wanna know."

"What's that kid trying to do in the river anyway, catch a fish?" Knuckles demanded, tossing a few more branches onto the fire and edging closer; the winter air was crisp, cold and with a biting wind chilling them to the bone. "If he is, I hope he plans to share. I haven't had fish since I left Angel Island."

"I'm more worried about him catching a cold," Sonic quipped, then suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead. "Damn, I didn't think! Bait! Bait, get out that water now!"

This was easier said than done, as Bait had just cannonballed happily into the river for what must have been the hundredth time and was now being swept along by the current to his landing place.

"What's your deal?" Knuckles said, staring at Sonic.

"He's used to living in a tropical Zone, Knux. I'm not sure he appreciates the different climate here or how easy it'd be to get a chill. Bait, you get back here right now, you hear me?"

Apparently Bait did; he cast a nervous look at Sonic over his shoulder, then shook himself off and raced over to them.

"Here." Sonic gave him a sausage. "Get that down you, and stay out of the water."

"Huh?" Bait looked as though Sonic had slapped him. "How come? I dint do nothin' wrong, mister, honest!"

"I'm not doing it to punish you, I'm doing it because winter's on its way and we're heading further north. You'll get a chill." Sonic glanced up at the sky. "I don't like the look of those clouds either."

"Clouds?" Bait looked up to where the sun was shining through pale white clouds, giving it an interesting halo effect. "Aw mister, you dunt need to worry 'bout them. 'S only black clouds which rain."

"That's one hell of an oversimplification, Bait." Sonic shook his head and pointed. "Look. See that halo around the sun? You only ever get that with cirrostratus clouds. And those—" moving the finger— "are cirrus."

"So?" Bait looked at the cirrus clouds, which were even wispier than the cirrostratus. "They're white too."

"Yeah, but the cirrus formation is also changing to cirrostratus, and the cirrostratus are getting smaller." Seeing that Bait looked none the wiser, Sonic rolled his eyes. "Look. If cirrostratus clouds get smaller, that's a sign of rain. It doesn't matter what colour they are. And if cirrus formation changes to cirrostratus and the blue in the sky gets as dark as it is now, it's pretty much guaranteed that rain or snow is coming. Didn't anyone ever teach you how to read the weather signs?"

"Like who?" Bait said matter-of-factly. "Look mister, all I know is it's on'y black or grey clouds like to dump their loads on you an' I still don't see what some dumb clouds got to do with whether or not I can swim."

"You'll see when you get sick," Knuckles informed him. "Still, you want to swim in snow, that's your business."

Sonic shot him a you're-not-helping look and received a not-my-problem one in return.

"What's snow like, mister?" Bait said.

Sonic glanced at him, startled. "You don't know?"

"I know it's white an' cold, mister, but I never seen it. Can you swim in it?"

"No, and if it comes down at all, you won't be doing any swimming unless it's either in a heated pool or hot spring."

Bait looked hurt. "How come?"

"Partly because it freezes the water and partly because it's so cold you'd come down with every bug and virus going," Knuckles answered him shortly. "You're a long way from the Emerald Hill Zone, kid."

"You ever have a snowball fight?" Sonic said to Bait, who looked positively alarmed.

"You fight with this stuff? Dunt that hurt?"

"Only if you hide a rock in the snowball," Knuckles said, apparently to the sky.

"Don't listen to him," Sonic told Bait, "he's taking the piss."

"I'm not. Have you ever been hit by a snow-covered rock? It hurts, Sonic, hurts a lot."

"Yeah?" Sonic raised an eye ridge. "When have you ever had a snowball fight, Knux?"

"Mighty and I used to have them a lot in the Ice Cap Zone when we were younger." Knuckles considered. "Actually, he still likes to throw the odd snowball at me if he thinks I'm not looking."

Sonic winced. "Ouch. What d'you do to him, Knux?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Knuckles got to his feet rather abruptly. "Just because I tend to run you off my island whenever you show yourself doesn't mean I treat everyone that way. Mighty happens to be a good friend of mine. Now, are we going or are you planning to spend all day talking about the damn weather?"

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and strode away, and despite Sonic's best efforts, refused to say another word until they reached Oil Ocean Zone, and even then all he said was, "Man, this place stinks."

Sonic did a double-take. "Wow! It talks!"

"Don't start," Knuckles said flatly. Next to Sonic, Bait – who had also been uncharacteristically silent – spoke up.

"Mister, why's the water all black?"

"That's not water, Bait," Sonic said. "At least, not anymore. That's oil."

"Oil?" Bait stared at the black liquid, so thick now as to be a kind of sludge. "I thought that was bad for the water."

"It is. When the drilling station was first established, they decided to pump all the oil into this small ocean, the thinking being that they'd rather have extreme pollution in one ocean than average pollution in all of them." Sonic shivered. "It's disgusting, sure, but rather here than all over Mobius. Knux, the matches are safely hidden, right?"

"They were the last time you asked me, Sonic. And the seventeen times before that."

"Huh?" Jogging both to keep up and keep warm, Bait rubbed his hands up and down his arms rapidly. "Why've they gotta be hid?"

"Because it's Amy's birthday in two weeks and we don't wanna spoil the surprise," Sonic said loudly as they passed one of the numerous security guards who patrolled this particular Zone.

Bait frowned, not understanding but not dumb enough to question. "Okay mister, if you say so."

"Matches and anything remotely flammable are banned from this Zone on pain of imprisonment," Sonic explained as soon as they were out of earshot. Noticing another security guard, he raised his voice slightly and added, "And that's why we didn't bring any, right Knux?"

Bait glanced up at Knuckles. "Mister, can I talk to you?"

"You're talking right now, aren't you?" Knuckles said shortly. He knew he ought to be more patient with the kid, try and get him to relax more, but damned if he was going to try a stunt like that; selling Tails as a slave wasn't something the echidna was going to forgive easily, and forget wasn't even on the horizon yet.

Bait ducked his head. "Yeah, right mister. But..." he glanced at Sonic and then lowered his voice, "can't you tell your buddy not to keep shoutin' 'bout not havin' no matches? 'Cause the more he shouts, the more suspicious people're gonna start gettin'."

"He's got a point, Sonic," Knuckles remarked to the hedgehog.

"What? Who's got a point?"

"Bait." Glancing over his shoulder to make sure they couldn't be overheard, Knuckles lowered his voice. "If you don't stop yelling about how we have no matches, no matches here and especially not in our bag so please don't trouble yourself searching it—" he took a deep breath— "someone's gonna search us just on damn principles."

"But what's so bad about it?" Bait wanted to know.

"Huddle!" Sonic ordered sharply, seeing another security guard eyeing them with obvious suspicion. Turning away from him, he lowered his voice and spoke rapidly. "Okay Bait, listen. There's a whole lot of oil here and that means a whole lot of flammable gases. One match – no, one spark – and the whole Zone would explode like a...well—"

"Bomb?" Knuckles suggested nastily, keeping one eye on Bait's expression as he did so. Sonic punched him hard in the chest.

"Leave the kid alone, Knucklehead! But yes, like a bomb."

Bait shivered. "Wow. Guess we better get clear of this place soon before Raker decides to bring in a flamethrower, huh?"

Sonic snorted. "Oh c'mon, Bait, there's no way he'd do something like that. The guards'd never let him through, anyway."

"And flamethrowers happen to be expensive."

Sonic quirked an eye ridge at Knuckles. "Really? How would you know that?"

"Everyone knows that."

"Yeah, mister, but there's somethin' you ain't takin' into account," Bait said patiently. "Raker dunt pay for nothin'. He always said, what's the point in payin' for anythin' when you can nick it?" Bait himself still couldn't quite see the point in paying for anything you could steal either, but he kept that particular gem to himself. Experience had taught him that Sonic's understanding and sympathy – while normally more prolific than any the young jackal had encountered before – was almost nonexistent when it came to the subject of stealing.

"I think even Raker would be hard pushed to smuggle a flamethrower out without anyone noticing."

"Prob'ly he would, mister," Bait agreed. "That's why he'd jus' walk in, set the others to scare the fur off the storekeepers an' walk out again. Stealin' ain't always done in secret. Raker'd think of it as muggin' on a bigger scale an' without anyone gettin' hurt." He considered. "Least, long's they dint do anythin' dumb like argue or put up a fight."

"Oh yeah," Knuckles said, coating every word with as much sarcasm as he could. "The Emeralds forbid that they should dare to stand up for what's theirs or protest at a stranger removing a large chunk of their livelihood."

Bait flattened his ears slightly. "Yeah, mister, well, when you an' Raker come face to face again and he's standin' there with his knife or claw gloves an' you're bein' pounded on by his heavies, then you c'n tell him yourself all about the Emeralds an' what they forbid."

"Claw gloves?" Sonic echoed.

"Gloves with claws attached," Bait said simply. "He likes the pers'nal touch."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.

"Does he use anything else?" Sonic said, his tone deceptively casual.

Bait shook his head. "Nah. Least, not often. He always said it was bein' a coward, relyin' on weapons too much. It was somethin' of a moral with him, he said when he dealt out beatin's, it would be with his own fists."

"Someone like that doesn't have any morals." The cold fury in Sonic's voice startled even Knuckles. "He's nothing more than an arrogant, sick, foul-minded—"

"Easy, Sonic," Knuckles cut across curtly. "That's the kid's brother you're talking about."

Sonic looked at Bait, who was studying his feet with single-minded intensity and shook his head.

"How? Just tell me that, Bait. How, after all Raker's done to you, how can you still feel any kind of loyalty towards him?"

"Oh, I don't know," Knuckles said, when Bait didn't answer. "How about we ask Tails to explain it to you, when we catch up with him? Because you turned your back on him, didn't you Sonic? In the space of about ten minutes you turned your back on him, you insulted him, you deliberately and cold-bloodedly hurt him as much and as badly as you could every single way except physically – and that's probably only because he hit you first – and yet, after it all, Tails still never gave up on you."

Sonic came to an abrupt stop. "That's not the same thing at all, Knuckles!"

"Isn't it? Well, it sure seems like it to me."

"Look, Knucklehead, what I said and did back in Robotnik's fortress...that wasn't...I didn't do it to punish the kid!"

"Oh no," Knuckles said, his tone now at its smoothest and most dangerous. "No, you just did it because he was there, didn't you?"

"I wasn't myself," Sonic said, with as much dignity as he could muster. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. That's what everyone says and since I'm an echidna, I'll give you an echidna's typical answer; who the hell were you, then?"

"It was a one-off!"

"So was Robotnik's destroying your feet. Does that mean you've forgiven him?"

Sonic threw the echidna a dirty look, although he couldn't stop the shiver that ran through his body. "Look, Knux, I am not like Raker in any way, shape or form, alright?" He paused. "Besides, I didn't do...what I did, I didn't do it for fun."

"Raker dunt do it for fun, mister." Bait's interjection made them both jump; they'd all but forgotten he was there. "He on'y does it if I screw up or if I start muckin' about with whatever bomb I'm s'posed to be fixin' or if he got someone needs trainin'—" He shut his mouth with a snap but it was too late; Sonic and even Knuckles were both staring at him, appalled.

"Training?" Sonic echoed. "They use you for...what? Target practice?"

"'S nothin' deadly, mister. Nothin' deadly an' nothin' that's gonna leave much of a mark or break bones neither."

"Oh, well, that's alright then, isn't it?" Sonic shook his head. "Mucking around with explosives...well, yeah, I see where he's coming from on that one, even if he is somewhat extreme, but telling his guys to use you as a kind of practice run..." He ran a hand over his forehead. "Brother or no brother, he is one sick puppy."

"I don't mind," Bait said stoutly. "I'd rather him get some use outta it than jus' playin' Hide'n'Hunt when he got bored."

"Hide and what?" Knuckles said.

"Kid's game," Sonic told him in an aside. "Mighty and I used to play it all the time back in Green Hill Zone. One person hides, the rest look for him and when they find him they chase him. If he manages to get Home before they catch him it turns into a race and the last person back to Home has to hide."

Knuckles blinked. "Well, that sounds alright."

Bait squirmed. "Well...yeah, it is, mister, 'cept..." He broke off.

"Except what?" Sonic said. Bait shook his head stubbornly.

"Nothin', mister. Forget I mentioned it. It dunt matter anyhow."

Sonic opened his mouth to press the issue and then shut it again, partly because Knuckles had – possibly accidentally – stepped on his foot and partly because they'd run out of ground. Ahead of them was Oil Ocean itself, at least thirty miles of oil slick almost solid enough to walk on.

"That's the ocean?" Bait edged away. "I don't think I wanna swim in that."

"I don't blame you," Sonic said fervently. "And we don't have to swim; there's a transportation railing up there which means there'll be a platform along in a couple minutes."

"How long are your minutes, Sonic?" Knuckles demanded, after they'd been standing there for a quarter of an hour with no platform in sight. The hedgehog glowered at him.

"So sue me! These things have to get across an entire ocean, Knucklehead, and then they gotta come all the way back again!"

They waited another half an hour.

"Mebbe we could find a boat," Bait suggested, not very hopefully. Sonic stopped zooming back and forth to glare at him, arms folded.

"D'you see any life jackets, Bait?"

"Uh. No?"

"Correct. And no life jackets means there's no way in hell I'm getting on any boat even if we could find one!"

"I didn't know you had a phobia of oil as well as water, Sonic," Knuckles said coolly.

"If it's liquid and I can drown in it, I don't like it," Sonic retorted.

Another half an hour went by.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...O."

"Oil."

"Nope."

"Ocean."

"Yeah. Your go."

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...O."

"Ocean."

"Nope."

"Oil."

"Yeah. Your go."

Sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest, resting his arms on them and his chin on his arms in a position that was strangely Tailsesque, Knuckles scowled at the black liquid just below them. Sonic and Bait had been playing I-Spy for the past twenty minutes, ever since Knuckles had finally snapped and banned their joint rendition of Ten Million Green Bottles. So far the most original idea either of them had been able to come up with had been P for platform, which might have raised the echidna's spirits considerably had Bait not been referring to the platform they were currently sitting on.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...S."

"Sea."

"Nope."

"Sun."

"Nope."

"Sky."

"Nope."

"Sonic?" Knuckles interjected. Bait glanced at him.

"Yeah. Your go, mister."

"I wasn't joining in your little game, kid. I just wanted to tell Sonic that I can see something moving out there."

Sonic was at his side in an instant. "Yeah? What?"

"I think it's the platforms. There's a few of them, and they're all heading this way."

The hedgehog shook his head. "Someone really needs to get the Mobian transport system sorted. I mean, jeez, how often does this happen? You wait hours for a platform and nothing happens, then all of a sudden three of 'em come along at once!"

"I doubt they considered the possibility that anyone would be stupid or insane enough to actually choose to come through here."

"Yeah. Weird, when you think about it. I mean, appearances notwithstanding, this Zone's been voted one of the healthiest on the West Continent. Hardly any germs or bacteria around."

"Yeah. I guess even germs and bacteria have standards, huh Sonic? Must be why you've hardly ever been sick in your life."

"Get blunted, Knucklehead," Sonic said easily, leaping nimbly onto the first platform that reached them, Knuckles and Bait close behind. The platform barely even quivered as it continued its placid journey along its track, although Knuckles and Bait both noticed that Sonic was avoiding looking down at the thick oil beneath them.

"How long're we gonna be on this thing, mister?" Bait asked.

"At least a couple hours," Sonic said, from where he was now sitting with legs stretched out in front of him and back propped against the central strut, hands laced behind his head and eyes closed. "I advise you to get comfy. Catch some rays."

Bait glanced at Knuckles, who was staring moodily in the direction of travel and not speaking to anyone, then sat down next to Sonic, kicking his legs over the side of the platform.

Contrary to Sonic's prediction, a full three hours had passed in silence before Knuckles finally said, "I think I see it."

"Hmm...wha?" Sonic, who had been napping for at least two and a half of those three hours, opened one eye the barest crack, then yawned widely. "See wha', Knux?"

"The other side."

"Oh...righ'..." Sonic closed the eye again.

Knuckles started counting silently. He'd reached seven when Sonic snapped both eyes open again and leapt to his feet, no longer sleepy.

"Where?" he said eagerly.

"Over there." Knuckles pointed to where a stationary platform was just visible in the fading light. "Even if it's not what we want, I say we get off anyway. I don't like the idea of sleeping on this thing; we might well end up going round two or three times before we wake up again."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey Bait!"

Bait, who had also been dozing, jerked awake.

"I dint do it!" he said, before realising where he was. "Huh? Whassgoinon?"

"Time to get off," Sonic said cheerfully, reaching down to pull the jackal to his feet and watching their destination grow steadily closer.

They were about half a mile away from the other platform when it happened. There was a shudder, a screech of machinery grinding that set the trio's teeth on edge and the transportation platform jerked to an abrupt stop, swinging crazily.

"What was that?" Sonic demanded, grabbing the central strut for support.

"I don't know," Knuckles said edgily, "but I don't like it." He looked around. "We're almost at the other side though. We could probably run it from here."

"You think so?" Sonic said. "Great. After you."

"Mister?" Bait looked up at Sonic. "Mister, runnin's gotta be worth a try. I mean, what else can we do?"

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I agree with him," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, but why'd the platform stop?" Sonic demanded, of no one in particular.

"I don't know," Knuckles said, a little too patiently. "But I bet Raker could enlighten you."

Sonic snorted. "Yeah. Nice try, Knux. Raker ain't here; we left him back in Aquatic Ruin."

The echidna took hold of Sonic by the shoulders and physically turned him to face the platform they were trying to get to. "Well, Sonic, maybe you should tell him that."

Raker smiled pleasantly at them. "Good evening, Sonic. I thought I might find you here. Let's have a little talk, shall we?"

Sonic glanced at the other two. "What do you think?"

"I think we have no choice but to listen to him," Knuckles said bitingly. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"I survived eight Robotnik-caused cave ins in the Mystic Cave Zone, Knucklehead; don't talk to me about being between rocks and hard places!" Sonic retorted, although he could see what the echidna meant about their current situation. On one side, oil, and even Sonic would be hard pushed to run across an entire ocean of oil without eventually sinking. On the other, Raker, smirking as he stood on the only safe place.

"Looks like we're at something of an impasse, doesn't it?"

"You destroyed the machinery," Sonic said suddenly. Raker's smirk broadened.

"Of course I did. I had to find some way of getting you to listen to what I have to say. Otherwise how are you going to agree to my terms?"

"And exactly which terms would these be, Raker?" Sonic said, his voice deadly quiet. Next to him, Bait edged away from Raker, eyes huge.

"Simple. You want your little brother back and I want mine. In such a case, I think the easiest and best thing would be for us to cooperate."

"You have Tails?" Knuckles demanded.

"No, but I can tell you where to go."

"And I can tell you where to go as well," Sonic said, biting off each word at the end. "D'you wanna go first, or shall I?"

Raker spread his hands out to the side. "You don't have to take my word for it, Sonic. I'll lead you right to the place. You can chain me up and take me as your prisoner if it makes you feel more confident. When you have Tails back with you, then – and only then – I'll take Bait and leave you alone." He smiled. "After all, family is family."

Sonic hesitated. "Give us a minute to discuss it."

Raker nodded affably. "By all means. Just not too long a minute; I imagine people are coming to find out what caused the platforms to break down even as we speak."

"It'll take as long as it takes, Raker, and if they come along and arrest you we'll be no worse off than we were before," Sonic said frankly.

The three of them went into a huddle.

"Mister." Bait stared at Sonic apprehensively. "Mister...are you gonna agree?"

Sonic looked at the jackal and saw the naked fear in his eyes. He saw something else too; the belief Bait had in his own status as a permanent underdog, and one which would be tossed out as soon as he'd outlived his usefulness.

"We're not going to trade you in for Tails, Bait," Sonic stated.

"We're not?" Knuckles said. "Great. Some discussion this is, Sonic. Glad you're here to dictate things, else we'd never make any decisions."

"If I did this, and if Raker played straight with us – which I doubt in itself – every time I looked at Tails I'd see Bait looking back at me," Sonic said quietly. "Yeah, I'd lay odds that Tails might well be being tortured right now, and I'd like nothing more than to get him out tomorrow. But if the price for that is to hand over another kid to undergo the same treatment, literally trading one torture victim for another...then no." He shook his head. "If that's the price, then it's too high, and I think you know that as well as I do, Knuckles."

"Mister, if you don't agree he'll kill you an' take me anyway, if he dunt kill me too," Bait said. "How're you gonna save Tails when you're dead? You wanna get him out, right? This is prob'ly the easiest way." He glanced away. "Mebbe I c'n run away again," Sonic heard him mumble.

"I'm with Sonic," Knuckles said. "This is a fool's bargain he's offering us. Like as not he'll take the kid and run."

Bait looked up at Knuckles. "Mister, don't you wanna get your buddy out?"

Sonic held his breath. If Knuckles agreed, if he went along with Raker...well, then it was damn likely that only two of the three people standing on the platform would get off it.

"Yeah," Knuckles said very quietly. "Yeah, I want to get Tails out. And when he's out, and when he looks me in the eyes and asks me exactly how I did it, I want to be able to look back."

A slow grin spread across Sonic's face and he clapped Knuckles on the shoulder.

"Knew you wouldn't let us down, Knucklehead!"

Bait shook his head. "You're nuts, mister. You're both as nuts as each other."

"What, you've only just figured that out?" Sonic said lightly. "C'mon kid; least Raker hasn't got that hypothetical flamethrower."

"Yeah, and that unnerves me more than if he had," Knuckles cut in. "He wouldn't have stopped us if he didn't have some kind of plan. I say we go now. Bait, get off the platform and start running."

"That stuff—" Bait began.

"It'll hold you, as long as you keep moving. Get off, kid. Get off and run."

"You want me to run t'wards Raker? Uh uh, no way mister!" Bait backed off until he collided with Sonic. Jumping, he spun around, staring from one to the other wide-eyed. "He'll murder me!"

"He won't," Sonic said. Bait shook his head.

"I know you think he ain't that mad, mister, but he is. He don't care how many people he kills or hurts long's he gets what he wants at the end of it. Fam'ly dunt mean nothin' to him unless he's gonna profit by it somehow. He don't even care if he dies himself jus' so long's he gets revenge or whatever he wants."

"He won't murder you, Bait, because I'm not going to let that happen," Sonic said simply. "Me and Knux here ought to be more than a match for one crazy jackal, right Knux?"

"Yeah," Knuckles said, his manner a lot less gracious than Sonic. "Yeah, that's right."

Bait shook his head again, frantically this time.

"Mister, you ain't listenin' to me! Yeah, he's mad, but that dunt mean he's stupid. He's smart, mister, real smart."

"He'll have to be."

"Isn't anyone listening to me?" Knuckles demanded furiously. "We have to get off this platform now, while we still can!"

"Knuckles, what—" Sonic began, glancing at the echidna in irritation. Knuckles cut him off with a curt nod in Raker's direction.

Raker smiled pleasantly. "I told you, nobody makes a fool of me and gets away with it." Turning slightly sideways, he let Sonic see what Knuckles had already seen; the instruments of their deaths. Not a gun, not a hi-tech weapon or even a remote control for some kind of badnik.

Just a plain old everyday box of matches.

Until that moment, Sonic had never fully understood what Bait had been trying to tell him, had chalked the jackal's fear of Raker up to nothing more than bad memories. Now though...

"Are you crazy?" Sonic all but shrieked at the jackal. Behind him, Knuckles and Bait jumped and hit the oil slicks running. Raker's smile broadened as he struck a match, turning it this way and that as he regarded the dancing flame.

"Maybe." He shook his head. "You didn't really think I'd let you go, did you? Other people may be blinded by a few lucky breaks, Sonic, but not me. You stole my brother. You turned him into a traitor."

"You did that yourself!" Sonic shouted back. The longer he could keep Raker talking, the better chance Knuckles and Bait had of escaping the oil slick unscathed.

"Mister!" That was Bait himself. Sonic risked glancing at them to see that the jackal and Knuckles were about halfway and up to their ankles in oil. "Mister, c'mon!"

Sonic looked back at Raker and felt his face split in an insincere smile.

"Well, it's been great, but I gotta speed." Leaping off the platform, he landed on the surface of the oil and ran for his life. "See ya!"

At which point Raker dropped the match and the whole world turned to fire.

Okay, another (pretty long :P) chapter completed. If you read, please review:)