Okay, so I finally finished Sonic Heroes PC with all four teams, all seven Chaos Emeralds and Metal Overlord :D and that's put me in a Sonic mood :P So's playing Sonic Adventure DX...I think I almost prefer that to Sonic Heroes :S Witness the reason for this late update; I've been playing in the Chao Gardens :P Still can't get 'em to breed though.

SaffraEchidna: I'm sure you're right :P Would it help if I said the Tails-torturing is very nearly over? ;)

PyroHedgehog4Ever: Thanks...I'm glad someone's mentioned the language; working out that journal entry took two full days :P And...well, you want an update, so here ;)

Kj: Okay, it's updated :P

Toboe16: (sniffles) I agree (Tails: I gotta admit, the roles I play in your stuff do tend to get me a lot of sympathy)

Treasurehunter: (glomps back) Hee hee, thanks :P (Tails: "Glomps cast"? Does that include the ones who were beating the crap outta me!) No, Tails, I'm sure it doesn't :P

XTailsX: Heh, no worries; I love all reviews no matter when they arrive ;) The language...it was inspired partly by Tok Pisin and partly by Wagiman (which involved a lot of looking things up in both online dictionaries most of the time) but a lot of the words were changed and altered (and eighty percent of the time just plain invented :P) by yours truly. A Sagayan dictionary...ooh, now that is a tempting thought :P I'm thinking of setting up a Sonic site for mine and others' fics and artwork, maybe I can include it there ;)

Matri90: Thanks; glad you're enjoying it :)

Ness: (smiles) Thanks :)

Ri2: Heh...yep, course I explained the water thing :P It was a fair question after all ;)

FriedBrickWall: 100th reviewer WOOT! And yeah, you're absolutely right...Sonic and Knuckles are probably not gonna be too happy when they find Tails again ;) (Knuckles: That is, if we ever get out of this place)

Asher Tye: Intellect dwarfed by ego...oh man, I love that:D Pretty accurate as well :P And...well, is this update soon enough? ;)

Rivic: (blushes) Thanks. You wanna see Shadow? (shrugs) Okay. I can't make any promises but I'll do what I can ;)

Silentsniper: Well, maybe you're right and maybe you're wrong; you'll just have to wait and find out ;)

Guardian's Log no. 11478

In the words of the legendary echidna philosopher Olkaman, OUCH.

I don't know where we are or how we got here and I'm in too much pain to care.

Oh alright, for the sake of the record, I'll update! Sonic, Bait and I were crossing Oil Ocean and Raker dropped a match onto the oil. Bait was right; Raker really is insane.

--Knuckles the Echidna

My Memoirs by Me

Oh man. I should've listened to Bait. He tried to warn me about Raker and I thought he was exaggerating.

I was wrong. Very wrong.

Bottom line, Raker tried to burn us all alive. He didn't succeed (obviously, else how would I be writing this?) but I don't know how we survived. I don't even know if Raker did.

--Sonic the Hedgehog

Bait's Jurnal

Ake all over. Why arent I ded?

--Bait the Jakkel

Sonic looked around the room. It was spacious, clean and airy, with the scent of freshly picked flowers wafting through the air from where they'd been placed on just about every available surface.

Am I in hospital? He supposed that would account for the flowers, but this place didn't have the clinical feel Sonic associated with such places.

Reaching up, he felt a gauze pad taped to his face and winced, remembering. Oil Ocean Zone...the fire...Raker...

Abruptly he sat up, then winced and half fell back as dizziness whirled through his head. Closing his eyes against the pain, he dimly heard the door open and close.

"Knux?" Sonic turned his head carefully in the direction of the sound but didn't dare risk opening his eyes again yet. "Knux, that you?"

"No." An arm slid around his shoulders, supporting him and helping him sit up, and a cup filled with some strong smelling liquid was placed to his mouth. "Drink."

Too dazed to disobey, Sonic gulped down the mixture and his face contorted.

"Oh man, that's foul!" he said, or tried to before his body was racked by a spasm of violent choking. Something vile blew into his mouth from his lungs and he half turned to vomit up a surprisingly large amount of blackened phlegm.

"I know, but you inhaled a hell of a lot of smoke. This'll help clear it." There was the sound of liquid being poured and the cup was returned to Sonic's lips. "Here."

Sonic frowned slightly. He knew that voice, had heard it before somewhere...

"Do I have to?"

"Yeah." The cup was pushed between the hedgehog's lips and its contents practically tipped down his throat. Sonic swallowed – it was that or choke – and coughed up another thick wad of phlegm. Breathing did seem a little easier now.

"How bad is it?" he said weakly.

His carer hesitated, then heaved a long sigh. "Well...you got a hard choice ahead of you, Sonic; we can either save you or the baby."

Sonic's eyes snapped open. He'd placed that voice now, would have placed it earlier if he hadn't been so dazed—

"Mighty?" Sonic stared at the grinning armadillo. "Oh man, am I ever glad to see you! What the hell happened back there? Where—" he swallowed. "The others, are they..."

"Fine," Mighty cut across. "They're both fine. At least, Knux is and your little bodyguard will be as soon as I get some of this down him." He poured more of the liquid into the cup and held it out to Sonic, who grimaced, swallowed it and proceeded to throw up less phlegm than before.

"Damn, Might, just how much more of this stuff I gotta drink?" he managed weakly.

"As much as it takes for me to hear clear lungs in you. Knuckles has already had his. The jackal won't take anything I give him unless you tell him it's not gonna poison him, so finish this stuff and let me go take care of him."

It took another three cupfuls before Sonic's lungs were finally clear, and by then he was too exhausted to do anything other than collapse back onto the bed.

"What happened?" he said again.

"The Chaotix were in Oil Ocean Zone doing some spy work for an insurance company when the flames went up. We started to investigate and almost got flattened by a jackal."

"Raker," Sonic muttered.

"He wouldn't tell us his name," Mighty said with a shrug. "All we could get out of him was that you were burning to death and we had to help you. Charmy managed to fly us clear before—" He broke off.

"Before what?" Sonic said. "Did you see another jackal leaving in a hurry?"

Mighty shook his head. "No. We did see a hovercar screaming away though, but we had other things to do besides chase it, namely get you and your two friends out. Knuckles and your new friend weren't too badly off; they managed to get clear before inhaling too much of the smoke. You were the one we were worried about."

"Yeah?" Sonic looked edgy. "Why? What's wrong with me?"

"A few light burns. You managed to run clear before it did too much damage, but the three of you got lungfuls of smoke and fumes. Like I said, you were the worst. Me and the guys brought you here."

"Yeah? Where's here?" Sonic pulled himself upright to open the curtains, looked out and froze as he caught sight of the city beyond. Pristine white buildings lined ice blue conveyor roads on three levels, roads that were flanked and bordered by deep green grass and flowers all the way along on the bottommost of these levels. The windows – at least, all the ones that Sonic could see – were oval and had frames in pale pastel colours. Soft music was playing from somewhere, a tune that Sonic vaguely recognised but couldn't put a name to.

"What is this place?" he said, half awed. He thought he'd been all over Mobius, but he'd never seen a Zone like this one before.

"Scrap Brain."

Sonic choked violently.

"What?"

"Scrap Brain," Mighty repeated.

"Scrap Brain?" Sonic echoed.

"Yeah."

"Scrap Brain...as in the ceiling mounted flamethrowers, smog so thick you had to wear a gas mask if you were going outside for more than five seconds and the balistic lightning posts?"

"Yeah, well, they did a little remodelling after you kicked Robotnik out and cleaned up the pollution. A lick of paint, a few plants and new roads and..." Mighty shrugged expressively. "Brand new outlook. This is turning into a pretty upmarket Zone."

"No kidding." City life had never held any attraction for Sonic, but he couldn't help feeling that if he wanted it, this would be the best place to come. "So how'd you get here?"

The armadillo grinned. "The payment Knux gave us for helping him destroy Robotnik's fortress bought a penthouse apartment in the best area of this Zone. Part of it's been converted into official HQ for the CDA, but there's more than enough room left over for you guys, and me. I dropped in for a visit last week."

Sonic stared. "And you're still here? Wow. This place must have something special; usually you gotta move every day, even if it's just two feet." He glanced around as the door slid open again.

"You're awake!" Bait stood there, staring at him. "I thought you was gonna sleep forever!"

"You're not the only one," Mighty murmured very softly. Sonic threw a pillow at the armadillo, then returned his attention to Bait.

"You okay?"

Bait nodded once. "Yeah. Me an' that other guy was dragged to safety by a giant robot, mister. I'm real sorry 'bout...'bout what happened back there."

Sonic shook his head. "No, kid, I'm sorry. I should've listened to you."

The jackal shivered slightly. "He dunt leave nothin' to chance, mister, Raker dunt. When he finds out we ain't dead, he'll on'y wanna finish what he started."

"We'll deal with that when it happens, Bait," Sonic said calmly, although he was secretly very worried. Raker's insane ruthlessness was...well, even Robotnik wasn't as dangerous as the jackal; the doc wanted to conquer the world, not obliterate it. On the other hand, there was nothing to prove that Raker himself had survived the explosion...although Sonic doubted that even Raker would have done something like that without at least planning for his own escape.

"It almost has," Knuckles said from behind Bait. "Sonic, we need to talk. Take a hike, kid."

Bait looked a little hurt, but slunk out obligingly. Sonic shook his head.

"What's he done to upset you now?"

Knuckles glanced outside to make sure Bait wasn't eavesdropping, then closed the door and lowered his voice anyway.

"Raker's alive. Alive and in the city."

"What!" Sonic sat bolt upright. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Sonic, I don't forget a face. Particularly not that face. He's almost alone though; half his pack died in Oil Ocean and most of the ones left alive abandoned him. He's got two with him. I only know because they've been asking the CDA about us, holding you up as a kidnapper."

"They what?"

"You heard. Raker's saying you kidnapped Bait and are holding him to ransom. He's also saying you caused the fire at Oil Ocean, and that charge isn't gonna be so easy to dodge."

"I never!"

"They found the matches in your bag, Sonic. The ones you hid and kept telling everyone in a very loud voice didn't exist?" Knuckles shook his head. "You know, sometimes there is such a thing as being too straightforward for your own good. The CDA are working on getting them to drop the charges, but Raker's been using it to stir up public feeling against you. He's also trying to hire them to track you down; according to Espio they're meeting with him here this afternoon."

Sonic stared at him.

"Does Bait know?"

Knuckles snorted. "Hardly. He hasn't said a word beyond refusing everything the Chaotix offer him on the basis that if you haven't okayed it, it's gotta be poisonous. Instead of working on his honesty, Sonic, why don't you try hammering some of those people skills you keep yammering on about into his head?"

The hedgehog glared at him. "Listen to me, you...you gutcheck; if you think you can do a better job with Bait, you're welcome to try!"

Knuckles folded his arms. "Alright, first of all it's gujek; if you're going to insult me in my own language, at least get it right. Secondly, you have to do something about the kid. There's something on his mind, something big, and chances are you're the only one he's gonna talk to."

"You could have tried to get close to him while I was away, Knuckles."

"How many times must we go through this, Sonic? I don't want to get close to him. I want to stay as far away from him as I can after what happened to Tails."

Sonic folded his arms and stared hard at Knuckles. "I could say the same thing about you, Knucklehead. I could say that after you tried to kill me and Tails that time, I don't want you coming along because who's to say you won't kill Tails once you get him alone?"

He barely had enough time to duck before a fist crashed into the wall scant inches above his head. Seizing hold of Knuckles' arm, he glowered at the echidna.

"It's a fair point!"

"It's an entirely different situation and you know it! I was tricked. Have I tried to kill you honestly since then?"

"Well, if you count all the times you've tried to cover your glove in my brains—!"

"Don't be stupid; I've only ever tried to punch you in the head."

"Exactly! Where else do you think I keep my—" Sonic broke off abruptly and scowled. "Oh, very funny!"

"I thought so. Besides, even if I wanted to get close to Bait, I don't think he's too keen on getting close to me. That kid has some serious trust issues."

Sonic sat up warily, ready to duck another fist.

"I don't blame him, Knux, after all that's happened." He shook his head. "Okay, fine. I'll talk to him. I want to find out exactly what happened after we were dragged to safety by—" Sonic froze, then abruptly leapt to his feet and bolted out the door.

Lying on his bed – or at least, the bed that he'd claimed – Bait propped himself up on his elbows and looked out at the city. It was pretty, he supposed, but he was a little nervous being so high up and so – as he perceived – open to attack.

There was the sound of running footsteps followed by the squeal of brakes that went on for a good few seconds before the door crashed open to to admit Sonic, a smoking trail behind him.

"You were dragged to safety by a what?"

Aware that he'd screwed up somehow, Bait glanced over at Sonic and scrambled off the bed.

"A robot, mister, honest! A big giant robot. It left soon's we arrived."

The hedgehog stared at him, mouth ajar. "You just...let it take you?"

Bait looked nervous. "Uh, yeah mister. Why shouldn't I?"

"Does the name Dr Robotnik mean anything to you? That thing could have killed you!"

The jackal hesitated before saying, "Well...stayin' where we was would prob'ly've killed me too. Least this way there was still hope. Mister?"

"Yeah?" Sonic said, somewhat resignedly.

"I dunt care how many of your brothers we gotta rescue. I ain't never goin' near Oil Ocean Zone again, and that's a promise."

"I hear you, kiddo."

"You couldn't if you wanted to," Knuckles said curtly from behind Sonic. "Oil Ocean's gone."

Sonic swivelled around slowly to stare at him. "Gone?"

"Went up in flames, the whole Zone. The CDA told me about it, and I went back to see it for myself while you were asleep. There's nothing but a crater where the ocean was, some charred bits of metal and ashes up to your knees, and several smoking ruins. They're saying that it was so hot at the end even the glass windows melted."

Unnoticed by either of them, Bait cringed.

"Go see for yourself if you don't believe me," Knuckles added. "Hell, it's on all the news channels."

Sonic continued staring, his mind reeling. Gone? An entire Zone, gone? That...surely that wasn't possible? It must be some kind of hideous mistake.

"Maybe I'll check it out," he said abruptly. Bait started to struggle upright.

"I'll come too."

Sonic glanced at him. "No, you stay here and rest." The look in his eyes sharpened as he added, "And if the Chaotix offer you something to eat or drink, take it! They're not trying to kill you and if they were, they wouldn't do it with food!" He turned and sped away, and Knuckles started to follow.

"Mister?"

The echidna closed his eyes and counted to ten, then without parting either his eyelids or his teeth said, "What?"

Bait picked at the tightly made bed. "All them others that was there in that Zone...the people...mister, they all made it out okay, right?"

Knuckles opened his eyes and turned to stare at the jackal. "Did you expect all the people to make it out okay?"

Bait's ears flattened against his skull. "Well...I..."

"One security guard, three perimeter guards and seventeen families made it out okay, if by okay you mean alive. There would have been more guards who survived, but most of them were too busy trying to save the people who lived in the centre of the Zone. Most of them were dead before they knew what had hit them. The survivors...well, they've had to spread out and search for new homes. Two of the families and all four guards managed to find lodgings here. The others..." He shrugged. "They'll have to wander, live off the land until they find a Zone where there's spare living quarters."

Bait cringed. "Mister, how many was there to start with? Includin' the ones who made it?"

Knuckles regarded him quietly before saying, "Five hundred security guards, seven hundred and fifty perimeter guards and families...to be honest, I don't know, but given the size of Oil Ocean Zone I'd estimate well over five thousand. That's just families, mind; family members...there must have been at least twelve or fifteen thousand individuals living and working in that Zone. About a hundred of those made it out."

Bait fixed huge eyes on Knuckles and the echidna was startled to see the pain in those orbs.

"Mister...why dint more fam'lies get out?"

"The ones that did were mostly the ones on the very edge of the Zone – although there were one or two from further in who made it – and the ones who had the sense to just run and not pause to grab any belongings. When the Oil Ocean went up, most people tried to put out the flames." Knuckles snorted. "Might as well try to skewer flying insects. The rest – the smart ones – ran for their lives, and some fought the fire and then ran. They might have made it if the wind hadn't picked up. It blew the flames over into one refinery and that went sky-high, igniting all the others. I'm told the blast could be seen from three Zones over...now what?" he added, seeing Bait had twisted away from him and dropped his face into his hands.

"Mister, c'n you ask Sonic to come in an' talk to me?"

"I'm no damn secretary, kid," Knuckles said curtly. "Ask him yourself. Besides, you've just spoken to him."

"Please. Jus' this las' time. Please, mister."

The echidna studied Bait's tortured demeanour, then nodded once. "Alright. But don't start making a habit of this!"

Without waiting for a reply, he spun on his heel and strode away to where Sonic was looking out the window.

"You know, I might wanna retire here," he said as the echidna drew level. Knuckles snorted.

"Way you're going, Sonic, you'll be lucky to hit twenty, never mind seventy. Bait's after another chat with you. Kid's got something on his mind that he didn't mention earlier, something unpleasant I'll bet."

"More anti-Bait feelings, Knux?"

"No, I just saw his expression," Knuckles answered simply. "As for anti-Bait..." He snorted, indicating such a ridiculous statement didn't deserve an answer.

"Starting to grow on you, huh?" Sonic said lightly, grinning. "Forgotten Tails, have you?"

"Forgotten?" Knuckles stared at him so coldly that the hedgehog squirmed. "Sonic, it's only because of Tails and the thought of finding him again that I put up with that little creep! So far he's promised to bring us to Tails and so far all he's done is almost get us killed!" He shook his head. "I'm warning you, hedgehog, one more fiasco like the last one and I walk. Personally, I'd say you're the one who's forgotten about him. Didn't take you long to find his replacement, did it?" The echidna looked away, staring out at the city. "Well, I'll look after the kid if you've gotten bored with him. But don't think you can palm Bait off on me as well, Sonic; I'm not running a damn hostel up on the Island!"

Sonic stared back at him, the grin effectively wiped off. "That's what you think? That I only took Bait with us as a replacement for Tails?"

"Didn't you?"

"No I damn well didn't, and I resent the implication! I took him because – as you pointed out – he can take us to Tails and we don't have a damn clue where to start looking! How else are we supposed to find the kid?"

"Yeah?" Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "Is it just me, Sonic, or is he taking us via the scenic route? Because so far we've been through three separate Zones and we're no nearer to finding Tails than we were back on Angel Island!"

"He knows what he's doing, Knucklehead."

"So do I. He's playing you like a cheap fiddle, Sonic, and you're too busy basking in his admiration of you to notice! He wanted to find a new home, didn't he ever tell you that? Did it ever occur to you that he's using us as an escort, that as soon as he finds a place he likes the look of, he'll clear out and leave us?"

"Well, that should make you happy, shouldn't it?" Sonic retorted. "Because you've had some kind of pointless grudge against him ever since we met him!" He was glaring back at Knuckles now, the two of them barely six inches away from each other, both oblivious to who might be listening. "Just what did that jackal ever do to you?"

"He sold my kid brother as a damn slave, Sonic, and if he didn't take the money himself he had a hand in it! And I don't call a grudge based on that pointless!"

There was a ringing silence as Knuckles realised what he'd said and shifted his weight awkwardly.

"He sold your what?" Sonic said quietly, the tones of one who's stunned rather than angry.

Knuckles looked away, but the words were out and even the Master Emerald couldn't take them back again.

"I meant Tails."

"Might have been what you meant, Knux, but that's not what you said." Sonic shook his head, smiling slightly. "Damn, you really do care about the kid, don't you? I thought it was just an act back in Robotnik's fortress, or at least half an act, but I was wrong. You really meant everything you said back there."

"If I didn't mean it, Sonic, why would I have said it? For that matter, if it was just an act, why would I have come with you now?" Knuckles shook his head. "You better get in to see Bait; the kid seemed pretty upset about something."

"He's not the only one." The voice came from a seemingly empty corridor and Sonic frowned slightly.

"What—"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Espio! Quit eavesdropping!"

The chameleon shaded into view, smirking. "As I was saying, your jackal friend isn't the only one who's pretty upset."

The humming of wings alerted the trio and they ducked as Charmy zipped over their heads.

"We got a client! We got a client!"

"Yeah? Who?" Knuckles asked.

"Dunno. She didn't give her name. Just told Vector she wanted him to find her Sonic."

Sonic froze. "Uh...did Vector happen to describe this girl at all?"

"Uh huh." Charmy buzzed over to the potted plant, sniffed one flower, kissed three others and watched happily as they unfolded into bloom, then zipped over to grab a chili dog and scarf it down.

"How'd he describe her?" Sonic said, already dreading the answer.

Charmy writhed in indecision.

"We-ell...I don't wanna be mean, so I'll jus' tell you it rhymed with clucking cat."

Knuckles snickered quietly. "Three guesses who it is. Forget what I said about Bait; you better go deal with your girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend!"

Espio took out a shuriken and started toying with it. "Well, you better go tell her that before she squeals the place down."

Sonic cringed. "Must I? Can't Knuckles tell her?"

"She won't listen to me, Sonic. C'mon, you've been fighting Robotnik and his machines for four years. How dangerous can one girl be?"

"Is that a trick question?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Espie, where is this person?"

"In reception."

"Ah." Sonic started to edge away. "Well...maybe I should...you know, I feel like a run; you guys can tell Amy I—hey, Knucklehead, let go!"

"Not yet." Knuckles strode through into the large room that had been converted into the CDA's main reception and dumped Sonic squarely on his behind in front of Amy, who blinked.

"Wow." She looked at Espio and Charmy, who had followed. "You guys really work fast."

"Amy..." Sonic clenched his teeth. "Amy, how much longer are you gonna keep stalking me?"

Amy gave him a brilliant smile. "Until you finally give in and agree to marry me!"

"That's not gonna happen."

"Of course it is, silly."

Knuckles stepped forward, flexing his fingers. "Kid, how much longer are you gonna keep living in this dream world?"

Amy eyed him with a mixed expression of contempt, loathing and wariness; last time they'd really met, Knuckles had literally thrown Amy out of the cave.

"Sonic knows me better than you do," she said haughtily. "We're gonna get married, and have lots and lots of kids, not to mention lots of practice in the things you have to do to get lots of kids. Know what I mean, Sonic?" She gazed up at her hero and batted her eyelashes.

"Too much information!" Knuckles protested. Next to him, Sonic had dropped his head into his hands with a groan.

"Amy, in the name of all the Emeralds, why me?"

"Why not? You're handsome, you're fast, you're brave, you've saved the world so many times..."

"With all that in mind, I guess I understand what she sees in him," Espio said smoothly.

"Thankyou!" Amy turned to Knuckles with an air of triumph. "See? Someone else believes it's fate, that Sonic and I are destined to be together forever and love and be with each other from now until the end of time!" She clasped her hands together, stars shining in her eyes.

"Although what you see in her, I'll never know," Espio added to Sonic, just loud enough for Amy to hear.

"We – are – NOT – an – item!" Sonic informed the room through clenched teeth.

"He's just being modest," Amy said happily.

"I...well, I...I never..." Sonic gave up and looked at Knuckles. "You make her understand!"

Knuckles snorted. "I'm an echidna and a Guardian, not a god."

"Knux..."

The echidna sighed. "Alright, fine." He looked at Amy. "You don't love Sonic. You just love his status. You only want to marry him and have his kids so you can say you're Sonic's partner."

"That's a lie!" Amy pulled out her hammer, swinging it menacingly. "I do love him! I've always loved him and one day we are going to be married!"

"Where were you when he was crippled?" Knuckles countered. "You offered to nurse him, Tails told you to stuff it and instead of arguing with him, you couldn't get out of there fast enough! And now he's fully healed and back to his old self, you're suddenly interested in him again? How shallow can you get?"

Amy's mouth opened and closed convulsively for a few seconds, but no sound emerged. Finally she burst out, "I hate you! Just because you're jealous of what we have—"

"What?" Knuckles overrode her. "Jealous of a hounded hero and a star-struck child? If that's your concept of love, I'll pass!"

"Yes, you will! You'll die all alone on that precious island of yours, nobody will be there with you and nobody'll even know you're dead until...until you're fossilised! You'll die sad and bitter and alone 'cause you've spent your whole life taking out your sexual frustration on everyone else!"

"Better that than force my attentions on someone who doesn't want them," Knuckles said, his voice now deadly quiet.

"Only you probably would do something like that since you're so alone up there. Or do you manage to sort yourself out?"

Knuckles started towards Amy with open murder in his eyes at that comment, but Sonic got there first. Right hand went to left shoulder and he delivered a backhanded slap that knocked Amy her off her feet.

There was a long, shocked silence. Even Knuckles was completely and utterly stunned; Sonic never, ever used or even threatened physical violence except against Robotnik's minions, and they couldn't feel pain anyway.

Amy got unsteadily to her feet, shaking all over, the clear shape of Sonic's handprint already visible on her face.

"You..." she began.

"I don't hold with hitting people," Sonic said flatly, "but in that case I'll make an exception. You keep saying we're an item, that I'm your boyfriend, well, fine. I'll play along with that; you're dumped."

The look on Amy's face was so stricken that Knuckles could almost have found it in himself to feel sorry for her, if she hadn't made those comments about him.

"But...but why?"

"Because you insulted my friend," Sonic said coldly, and then couldn't resist adding, "and Knuckles as well."

"You're a riot, hedgehog."

"Insult or not," Espio cut in, "you owe us two hundred and fifty Mobiums."

Amy glared at the chameleon. "I don't owe you anything!"

"Really." Espio pulled out a throwing knife and started tossing it casually in one hand. "And why is that? You hired us to reunite you with Sonic. The Chaotix take no responsibility for any humiliation, insults or loss of limb which may result from such a reunion."

"I'd pay 'em, kid," Knuckles said coldly. "These guys don't fool around, especially when it comes to collecting payment."

"Ha!" Amy planted both hands on her hips and glared at Espio. "Well, the joke's on you 'cause I don't have any money! I was gonna ask Sonic to pay you."

"You what! Two hundred and fifty Mobiums..." Sonic shook his head. "I don't carry that kinda money around with me!"

"Well, someone better pay," Espio said. His tone was dangerous now, and Sonic couldn't help noticing that a shuriken had joined the throwing knife.

"Don't complicate things," Sonic muttered to him.

"Complicate? The girl hires us to reunite the two of you, we reunite the two of you, she pays us. Where's the complication?"

"Just..." Sonic floundered. For all Amy's faults (and she really had overstepped the line this time) he didn't want her to get hurt. A crazy idea occurred to him and he looked at Espio. "Can we come to some kinda arrangement?"

Both shuriken and knife paused in Espio's hands and the chameleon turned cool eyes on him.

"I'm listening."

"What about a down payment?" Sonic did a rapid calculation of his finances and how much he could afford. "Twenty five Mobiums now, the rest later."

"Ten percent?" Espio shook his head. "Hardly. Fifty percent or nothing."

"Fifteen."

"Forty."

"Twenty."

"Twenty five."

Sonic hesitated, then sighed. "Okay. Twenty five percent."

Espio slotted both weapons away neatly. "You got twenty four hours to get us the rest of it, and I'll take that down payment right now before you or anyone else leaves this room. Sixty two and a half Mobiums. Call it sixty two; I'll knock off that half a Mobium for the entertainment value."

"I don't have it with me. It's in my bag, in my room. You can go get it."

Espio glanced at Charmy and jerked his head; the bee zoomed off, returning a minute later with Sonic's bag, which he dropped into Espio's waiting hands. The chameleon tossed it to Sonic, who almost fumbled it in his surprise.

"Count it out."

Sonic opened his bag, counted out six ten-Mobium bills and two Mobium coins (noticing with an inward wince that he now only had four and a half left out of the hundred he'd started with) and pushed them over to Espio, who checked them before nodding curtly.

"Alright. We're still owed a chunk of money, but like I said, you got twenty four hours for that. That should give you of all people enough time to get to the bank."

"Will you take payment in rings?" Sonic asked, not very hopefully.

"No. Exchanging one ring for one Mobium needs a two-page form, at least it does if you try to do it as a business dealing. Can you imagine filling out the same form one hundred and eighty seven times? Three hundred and seventy four pages?" Espio shook his head. "Forget it. And we don't take cheques either."

Knuckles glanced at Amy. "Kid, do you have any money at all?"

Amy glowered at him. There was no love lost between either of them.

"Well, okay, so I have twelve Mobiums, but I am not handing them over to these guys!"

"Sure you're not," the echidna said flatly, then reached out and seized the hedgehog's wrist in one hand, yanking her money belt off with the other and releasing Amy to unzip it. "I count fifteen and a half Mobiums here. You're richer than you thought."

"You can't—" Amy began.

"I just did," Knuckles cut across, tossing the money to Espio. "That's a hundred and seventy two you're owed now."

"I need that money! I gotta pay the monorail fare home! I can't let you—"

Knuckles, acting on an unspoken request from Espio, seized Amy by the neck and carried her bodily out of the room, ignoring with unusual stoicism the insults hurled at him, Sonic, Knuckles' mother, his father, Sonic, the CDA, the combined ancestry of everyone present and Sonic.

There was a shriek of pain and outrage followed by a clattering sound and Knuckles came back in, dusting off his hands as though he'd been handling something particularly filthy.

"What'd you do?" Sonic said edgily.

"She didn't want to leave on her own, so I gave her a little push," Knuckles said calmly. "Nothing to be concerned about."

"Did you hurt her?"

"Does it matter?" Knuckles countered. "Since you ask, the answer's no. At least, not as much as you did. She might be back though; I wouldn't put it past her."

Sonic shot a wary glance towards the door. "Yeah...well...maybe I'll go see what Bait wants. You guys can tell Amy I've moved onto Mystic Cave Zone if she comes looking for me."

He turned and sped away to Bait's room, where the jackal was lying on his bed, chin pillowed on his arms.

"Hey Bait." Sonic flopped down on the armchair. "Man, what did I ever do to deserve Amy Rose?" he muttered, too low for Bait to hear, then glanced up at the jackal. "Knux said you had something you wanted to talk to me about, so shoot."

Bait took a long, deep breath.

"Mister, I'm leavin'."

The shock of this was like a glass of ice water in the face, and for a long moment, Sonic could only stare at him, stunned.

"You're what?" he managed at last.

"I gotta. I shouldn'ta come in the first place, mister. All I'm gonna do is bring trouble. Raker dunt like his guys leavin'. I shoulda thoughta that before goin'."

"Why did you leave, anyway?" Sonic asked curiously. Bait studied his toes for a few minutes.

"I...uh...well, somethin' 'bout you an' what you said to Raker. See, you come along an' said how you was lookin' for your brother an' he wasn't even the same race as you but you still wanted to look for him." Bait shrugged slightly, still not looking up. "I guess I was kinda curious. Raker wouldn'ta done that for me, not never. He on'y put up with me 'cause I'm so good at bein' bait. I shouldn'ta come an' then he wouldn'ta burnt everythin'."

"He...oh. Oh, that's what this is all about, huh? Bait." Sonic moved over to sit down next to the jackal and put an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the resultant stiffness. "Bait, you can't start thinking like that. When..." He stopped, cleared his throat and started again. "Look, sometimes things happen that we can't control. Last time I was in Oil Ocean, even the people who lived there were saying how it was an accident waiting to happen. You just gotta...just try and put it behind you."

"How?" Bait said stridently. "How? All them people dead, dead jus' 'cause Raker wanted to get me. He wouldn'ta bothered if it'd jus' been you two, mister, he dunt care what happens to people long's it don't interfere with his stuff. If I leave he'll come after me an' leave you two alone to find your buddy."

Sonic shook his head. "Bait, listen. What happened back there was not your fault."

"I dunt believe you. You'd say that anyway, jus' to shut me up."

"No, I wouldn't, and if you can't believe me, at least believe Knuckles. When's he ever spared your feelings before?"

Knuckles cleared his throat. "Sonic's right, kid. What happened wasn't your fault."

"Then whose fault was it?" Bait demanded.

"Who was it threw the match?" Sonic countered.

"Why'd he throw it, mister?"

Sonic hugged the jackal tightly to him. Bait didn't relax, but he didn't pull away either.

"He threw it because he's...well, he's..."

"A psychotic bastard," Knuckles filled in succinctly.

"He ain't, mister," Bait said, his voice somewhat muffled against Sonic's chest. "He ain't as bad as all that, honest. He's not a bad guy."

Sonic took a long, deep breath, then expelled it abruptly and looked at Knuckles for help.

"Not a bad guy?" the echidna echoed. "Kid, he beats you, burns you, plays cruel mind games with you for his own amusement and to cap it all off he's just wiped out an entire Zone, killing thousands of people and making over a hundred more completely homeless! When are you gonna start thinking he's a bad guy?"

"He dint mean to, mister. Prob'ly not. Least, I dunt think so."

"You don't think so," Sonic echoed quietly, "or you don't want to think so?" When Bait was obstinately silent, he went on. "Knuckles is right, Bait. What happened wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what he was planning. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine; you tried to warn me and I didn't listen."

Bait still didn't answer.

"We're not keeping you prisoner," Sonic added. "If you really want to go, we won't stop you. But go for the right reasons, Bait, not just because you're too scared to stick with us."

"Mister, I don't wanna go. But if he finds you with me...Sonic, I dint know he was gonna blow up an entire Zone, honest!"

It was the first time Bait had voluntarily called Sonic by name, and that in itself was enough to decide the hedgehog.

"Bait, look at me. Look at me and tell me honestly that you got some other reason for going back to Raker besides your own damn fear, and I'll help you pack myself. But if you don't..." Sonic shook his head. "I know he's your brother, but one day he is going to go too far and you are going to wind up permanently crippled, or worse, dead. And you know it, don't you?"

Bait gulped and nodded once, shakily.

"Then why go back to him?"

A small shrug. "'Sall to do with loyalty, innit mister? You gotta have a sense of loyalty t'wards fam'ly an' friends, else what else is there?"

"Raker has no loyalty towards you, Bait." Sonic spoke the words softly, intensely. He didn't fully know what the upshot of this conversation was going to be, but he knew one thing; he did not want to stand back and watch the jackal crawl meekly back to serve as the outlet for Raker's insane aggression. He saw the jackal's hand inching towards his own, knew what Bait desperately wanted – no, needed – but was still too apprehensive to take.

"It's okay," Sonic told him softly. "Go ahead."

The jackal snatched his hand away as if it had been burnt. "Nuh uh, it's okay mister, honest. I heard what your buddy said 'bout Raker. He's alive, he's here an' he's lookin' for me." He paused. "I c'n tell you how to find your buddy from here," he added. "Or at least tell you who can tell you. There's an office buildin' somewhere in this Zone called Sekko's Salves. S'posedly it makes ointments an' junk, but it's jus' a...a fake. Kinda. They threw your buddy into the back of a truck in Em'rald Hill Zone an' the name an' Zone was written on the side. Summun there'll be able to help you."

"You said the Mystic Cave Zone before," Knuckles reminded him.

"Yeah, an' I still think he's down there, but I dunno for sure. I jus' knew we had to get here an' now we're here an' I hafta go now before I..."

"Lose your nerve?" Sonic suggested quietly. "It's not going to make any difference, Bait. You saw Raker back there; he didn't care if you lived or died so long as Knuckles and me were dead too."

"Yeah...well...that's jus' his way, innit?"

"That's a lie and you know it," Knuckles said sharply.

"Yeah, well, you'd say that anyway jus' to get me to stick with you, mister. 'Cause you don't care what Raker does to me long's you find your buddy. You'll on'y protect me while I'm useful to you."

"It's still protection then, and even after we find Tails, I doubt Sonic will abandon you even if I do."

"Damn right I won't." Sonic shook his head. "What did you say this place was called?"

"Sekko's Salves, mister. Dunno whereabouts it is, but it's somewhere in this Zone."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged grim looks.

"Get off that bed, kid," Knuckles said curtly. "We're going for a walk."

Okay, that's it for this chapter and I'm off to play with the Chao some more :P Hope you enjoyed it and if you read, please review :D