Toboe16: (smiles) Thanks. Yeah, I think you're right...Knux does kinda trust Bait now...a little ;)
Ri2: (Sonic: You're telling me!) As for the money...you'll have to wait and see ;)
XTailsX: Er...thanks, I think :P
Matri90: Thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed it :D
SaffraEchidna: Yep, another long one; once my writing gene gains momentum it's hard to shut down ;) I'm glad you liked the part about Amy; that's one of my faves too (weg) (Amy: Hmph!)
Kj: (grins) Thanks. I loved that line as well :P
Burn it: Thanks for the review; I'm pleased you like it :D
Parslie: Thanks :)
Rivic: Heh...that's a very good way of putting it :P
FriedBrickWall: Chao...cute and very annoying at times ;) As for Bait and Tails...you'll find out very soon ;)
Asher Tye: Heh, and you were right ;) As for the talk...read on ;)
Guardian's Log no. 11479
I wish Sonic would let me fight my own battles. Granted if I'd been the one to slap Amy I'd have probably broken her neck, but...oh hell, I don't know. Sonic's been moody ever since we left. I doubt he'll be happy until he's managed to track down Amy and apologise. It's weird; I've never seen him lose control like that. I guess he must be really worried about things, more so than I gave him credit for.
--Knuckles the Echidna
My Memoirs by Me
Oh hell. Jeez, what kind of guy am I? Maybe Tails was right back in Robotnik's fortress; I really am pathetic. How...damn. Damn, damn, damn.
I'm not a violent person by nature. I've never hit anyone in my life; at least, not anyone who wasn't made out of metal. Amy said that and I just...admittedly I was furious at her, but I was also scared. False modesty aside, if I could barely hold my own against Knuckles in a fight (and there is NO WAY that smarmy echidna must EVER know that!) what chance would she have? At the time all I could think of was getting between her and Knuckles. I didn't know I was actually going to hit her until after it had happened. I wish I could take it back but since I can't I'll have to do the next best thing; namely find Amy and apologise.
She really does bug the hell out of me though, and that's not some lame attempt at justification; that's the plain truth. I didn't dream about Tails last night, which frightened me; does that mean it's too late? I'm afraid for Tails, I have a jackal with serious trust issues to look after, I have to somehow stop Knuckles from killing everyone who insults him or Tails, or who gets in our way, and a psycho's out for my blood...and no, I'm not talking about Robotnik. I guess Amy's raving was the last straw; I wanted to make it clear once and for all that I'm not interested in a relationship.
Damn. Amy, where are you hiding?
--Sonic the Hedgehog
Bait's Jurnal
Wanted to leeve but couldnt; chikkened out at last minit. Sonic's in a lousy mood; better keep away for now.
--Bait the Jakkel
"Mister, is he okay?"
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine once the guilt trip wears off. He's not dumb enough to dwell on this forever."
"He's not deaf either," Sonic retorted, "so if you're gonna talk about me, at least do it out of earshot! Or why don't you ask me yourself?"
"'Cause whenever we try to talk to you, all you do is grunt at us," Bait answered simply.
Sonic sighed. How could he have done that? He was just...oh hell, it had all happened so fast.
"He's pissed off because he finally gave Amy Rose what she needed; ie, a slap upside the head."
"She didn't need it, Knuckles," Sonic said flatly. "She didn't do anything to deserve it."
The echidna stopped to stare at him. "Nice! So much for the whole 'I look out for my friends and Knuckles' deal."
"So much for never beatin' anyone either," Bait mumbled.
"I didn't beat her," Sonic informed him tersely. "One slap does not constitute a beating, and passing remarks about my friends is not something I take lightly. And I think it was better my doing it than Knuckles; he'd probably have shattered her skull. I'd have done the same thing if she'd insulted you or Tails, and if you'd been the one who said it, I'd have slapped you."
"No fear, mister!" Bait held up both hands. "I ain't dumb. 'Sides, she was out of order. I never insult nobody, 'cause I got enough trouble back home without lookin' for more. An' I think your buddy was right; friendship ain't a part-time deal."
Sonic glanced at him and his lips quirked. "Nicely put, Bait."
"Hey, lookit that," Bait said suddenly, pointing at a job agency. "Think they'd take a kid my age?"
"Bait, will you stop yammering on about that!" Sonic said testily. "You're not gonna have to leave us, okay? Nothing that Raker's done is your fault and you know it, don't you?"
"Yeah, mister," Bait said, in a voice which said he might know it, but he didn't believe a word of it. "But...jus' in case, c'n I go look?"
Sonic gave up. "Alright. Fine. Go and look if you want to, but it's not necessary."
"Thanks mister!" Bait spun and raced off to the window, reading the ads.
"Maybe he's right," Knuckles muttered. "It's not exactly been a smooth journey ever since Bait joined us, has it?"
"Did you see the way he looked back in the apartment?" Sonic said, more to himself than to Knuckles.
"What, like someone had just poured acid on his vitals? Yeah. So what?"
The hedgehog shot him a cold look. "You're not making any friends with that attitude. You know what."
Knuckles sighed. "Yeah, the kid's taking the responsibility of Oil Ocean Zone onto his own shoulders. I gotta wonder how many times he's done that before to protect Raker?" He shook his head. "I dunno what it is about Emerald Hill Zone, but people from there seem to be loyal to a fault."
"Yeah. But you know something else, Knux? I don't think anyone's ever touched that kid except violently." As far as Sonic was concerned there could be nothing worse; physical affection came easily to the hedgehog, who could hug a complete stranger and mean it.
"Sonic?"
Sonic froze midstep at the sound of Amy's voice, then turned around very slowly.
"Uh. Hi Amy. Look, about what happened—"
"It's not true. I know."
Sonic exchanged a startled look with Knuckles.
"Kid, you still got the bruise on your face," the echidna said succinctly. "What d'you mean, it's not true?"
"What are you talking about?" Amy said. Sonic and Knuckles both stared at her, but the girl's perplexed expression was too genuine to be faked.
"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked warily.
"Oil Ocean, of course. I know you wouldn't do anything like that, Sonic."
"That's...thanks, Amy, but I was talking about the whole, uh, I was talking about what happened at the CDA."
"You're mad because I asked them to keep an eye out for you, I know. Well, I'm sorry, but I wanted to know you hadn't gone up with Oil Ocean! Can you blame me?"
"Amy, I'm talking about when I slapped you. I'm sorry, I really am. I dunno what came over me."
Amy frowned. "Slapped me? What're you talking about?" Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a tube of lipstick and started applying it, squinting at her reflection in a shop window.
"Whass wrong with her, mister?" Bait whispered loudly to Knuckles.
"Either amnesia, insanity or extreme denial," Knuckles answered, not troubling to keep his voice down. "Given it's Amy Rose, we'll probably never know for sure."
"I heard that, Knuckles." Amy turned to stare hard at the echidna. "You wanna explain just what you meant by—Sonic!"
Sonic took a step away, looking nervous. "Uh...yeah?"
"Sonic, where have you been? Oh, I've missed you so much!" Amy flung herself on the hedgehog, wrapping both arms around his neck and squeezing. "Have you been saving the world again? You'll have plenty to talk about on our wedding day; you can give loads of speeches about it and—"
"Amy, please!" Determined not to slap her again, no matter how much she provoked him this time, Sonic tried and failed to unwind Amy's arms from around his neck. "I thought we'd settled all this."
"Well, we probably did, but I forget! When're we gonna get married?"
"You know those three reasons I listed for Amy's behaviour?" Knuckles murmured to Bait. "You might wanna add schizophrenia to that list. Kid, get off Sonic now. He can't marry you if you strangle him."
"Oops. Yep, you're right. Good thinking." Amy let go of Sonic and seized both his hands instead, despite his best efforts to slip away.
"Mister, I dunt get it," Bait said apprehensively. "She was fine right up until she put that lipstick on, wunt she? So why's she actin' all nuts again?"
"The lipstick?" Knuckles frowned, then reached out and snatched the lipstick in question from Amy, who glared at him.
"Hey! Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to snatch, Knucklehead?"
Knuckles didn't answer. Instead he sniffed the lipstick very cautiously, then held it out to Sonic.
"Does that smell like lipstick to you?"
Sonic stared at him. "D'you think you might possibly be asking the wrong person, Knux?"
"It wouldn't anyway," Amy said. "This stuff's fragrant. Now get away from my Sonic!"
"I can smell that," Knuckles told her curtly. "Amy, go wash your face."
"Nuh uh! My boss told me this is guaranteed to bring the guy of my dreams straight to me and I'm not leaving until I have him!"
"Amy, you—" Knuckles began, then thought of something cleverer. "Alright, kid. But...y'know, Sonic's told me a lot about you and about what he's looking for in his ideal girl—"
"Really? Tell me! Tell me!"
"Yeah, Knuckles," Sonic said dangerously from behind them. "I think we'd all like to hear this one."
"Sonic...he's a pretty natural guy, wouldn't you say?" Knuckles asked Amy.
"Totally!"
"Yeah, right, uh, totally. And...that being so, he likes natural girls."
"I am a natural girl!"
"What I mean is, he hates any form of...uh...artificial beauty. Like cosmetics." Knuckles paused to let this sink in, then added, "You really want a chance with Sonic, clean off the makeup first."
"Huh. Okay. I guess you oughta know."
"Trust me on this one, kid. Besides, if you and Sonic really do have this wonderful relationship, he won't care what you look like. I just happen to know he doesn't like makeup."
"Actually, I don't mind girls with—" Sonic began, but both Knuckles and Bait – who was slightly faster on the uptake – trod on his toes and he winced and shut up.
"Okay. Be back in a second." Amy turned and sped away, leaving Sonic glaring at Knuckles.
"Just what was that all about?"
Knuckles shook his head. "Haven't you figured it out yet? She was made up when she came to get the CDA to find you, and she was upset when she left. What's the first thing you do when you've been crying and wailing? You go wash your face. Didn't you notice she wasn't wearing makeup just now? When she took it off, she went back to normal. She didn't start acting crazy again until she'd put the lipstick back on." Knuckles considered. "Of course, if she comes back without makeup and starts proposing again, we'll know I was wrong."
"You're talking about...what? Mind-altering substances? In her lipstick?"
Knuckles shook his head. "No, I think it's in all the makeup. The lipstick just works the fastest because it's in the perfect place for someone to breathe it in."
"An' out, mister," Bait added.
"What?" Knuckles said tersely.
"Well...mister, wouldn't whatever's being breathed in get breathed out? Like if you blow smoke from a fire, it goes in the direction of your breath? An' s'pose she kissed Sonic? S'pose she kissed him an' he got that gunk on his lips? Wunt that make him all crazy an' junk?" He looked at Sonic and dared to add, "Well...crazier, anyway."
"Thanks a lot, Bait," Sonic said lightly. "Love you too."
There was the sound of running footsteps and Amy skidded to a stop, devoid of makeup and looking upset.
"What just happened? One moment I was...I was talking to you guys and Sonic said he'd slapped me and the next thing I know I'm in a public restroom." She shook her head. "I think I'm...Sonic, do you think I'm losing my mind?"
Temptation flickered across Sonic's face for a brief moment before he said, "No. Not at all. It's just...you're not crazy, Amy." He looked at Knuckles for help.
"This place you work for...does it make cosmetics by any weird chance?" the echidna asked Amy, who nodded.
"Yeah. I get a thirty percent staff discount."
Knuckles glanced at Sonic. "You wanna tell her or shall I?"
"Huh?" Amy looked from one to the other. "Tell me what?"
Sonic took a deep breath. "Amy...your makeup's controlling your mind."
"Nice one," Knuckles muttered, while Bait howled with laughter in the background. "Real smooth."
"Well, if you'd like to take over, feel free!" Sonic hissed at him, although a part of him was gratified at Bait's reaction; he'd never heard the kid laugh before.
"What?" Amy said.
"Here." Knuckles reached out and touched the bruise on Amy's face. She winced.
"Hey, that hurts!"
"You came to the CDA and promised them two hundred and fifty Mobiums if they'd find Sonic for you. When he showed up, you announced to the entire room that you were going to be married, and when I pointed out that you abandoned him when he was crippled—"
Amy winced. "Don't remind me of that, okay? I've been hoping to find Sonic again to apologise for that. And I did ask the CDA to keep an eye out for you, Sonic, but they agreed to do it without money."
Knuckles' jaw dropped. "They what? What'd you do in return?"
Amy shrugged. "Well, I told them I didn't have enough money to pay the normal fees, but I promised them I'd bee-sit whenever they wanted to go out and watch an adult movie and if they wanted a break from Charmy outside working hours, I'd pay for him to go into one of the Gardens around here."
Knuckles smirked. "Yeah, that'd work. So at which point did you up the ante and offer them a chunk of Mobiums? Because Espio's claiming you did – and not only that, you also refused point blank to cough up – and like I said, you shrieked about marriage and plans to Sonic and made some far less polite comments and innuendos about me—"
"I what?" Amy stared. "What'd I say?"
"Nothing I want to repeat in public," Knuckles said flatly. "Bottom line, you went back to normal when you washed the makeup off. Look kid, what do you actually remember about today?"
"Today?" Amy looked uncertain. "Well...I planned to get up early because I wanted to see if I could pull any extra hours at work. I got a family of five staying in my apartment; they were one of the ones who managed to get outta Oil Ocean Zone. The father's trying to find work but with four kids that's not easy and so far I'm working to pay for all of 'em and I need all the hours I can get."
"You weren't wearing your makeup when you left the apartment, were you?" Sonic said rhetorically.
"No. I was kinda rushed 'cause my alarm didn't go off. I made myself up on in a public restroom and then..."
"Then?" Sonic prompted.
"I don't remember. All I remember is coming to with a bruise on the side of my face, the basin in front of me filled with water and no money in my pouch. I thought I'd been mugged."
"...Yeah," Knuckles said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well...uh...I owe you fifteen and a half Mobiums." When Amy stared at him, he added, "I took 'em back in the CDA to shave off a little of your debt. Hang on...here." He rummaged around in his bag and pulled out sixteen rings. "You can change these without too much trouble, long's it's personal wages. Sonic'll change some rings and clear the rest of that debt. Espio doesn't care who pays them so long as someone does."
Amy stared. "I refused to pay Espio? But I...surely he understands..."
"Being brainwashed by lipstick is no excuse for failing to pay, at least not as far as the CDA are concerned," Knuckles said coolly. "We paid twenty five percent, which got you a respite until ten o'clock tomorrow morning. And they won't take payment in rings. Like I said, Sonic'll sort it."
"Oh, he will, will he?" Sonic muttered under his breath. Amy shook her head.
"No, I'll pay, but...until ten tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah," Sonic said. "Look, I was just kidding, if you want me to clear it, I will—"
"I pay my own debts, Sonic. I'll explain things to Espio and offer to bee-sit all next week if he'll extend that deadline a little."
"He'd do a lot to get Charmy off his hands," Knuckles said, "but you'll still need to throw in some money to convince him you're genuine."
Amy considered. "How much do I owe him?"
"One hundred and seventy two Mobiums."
The pink hedgehog winced as though each word had been a dart. "Okay. I'll give him a hundred up front and see if I can't work out some kinda arrangement for the rest of it. You think Espio'd take it on a monthly basis?"
"I think he might accept a weekly one," Knuckles said candidly, "and besides, it's Vector you got to reckon with. If he doesn't want part-payments it won't matter whether Espio does or not."
Amy winced again. "Alright. I better get going. Unless you wanna go for a coffee...?" She let the sentence trail off hopefully.
"Some other time, maybe," Sonic answered automatically. A crazy idea occurred to him. "Wait. D'you know a building called Sekko's Salves?"
"Sekko's? Well, sure I know it; it's where I got my job as a part-time receptionist." The pride in Amy's voice was unmistakable. "I know Sekko too; he tried to put the moves on me one time." Amy shivered. "Dirty one-eyed creep. I had to whack him with my hammer a couple times before he took the hint."
Sonic stared at her. "He what?"
Knuckles smacked him upside the head. "Quit that, Sonic. If you're not in a relationship, you're not allowed to feel jealous."
"It's not that, it's..." Sonic started to say that Amy was only twelve years old, then bit down on that hard. "He let you stay on?" he said instead.
"Yeah. Even gave me a bonus. Said it was his way of saying sorry. I almost told him to wham it right up his kazoo—" Amy swung her hammer through the air for greater emphasis— "but then I kinda remembered my houseguests and thought I could use the money. I did tell him if he tried it again I'd have him arrested though."
"And did he?" Sonic asked, already knowing the answer. Amy in a rage was a terrifying sight.
"Nope. Never. Look, if you really wanna find Sekko's, you go down this road and turn right, take the third left, the fourth right and keep going for a hundred yards, then it's the first turning on your left, the second on your right and Sekko's is straight ahead, you can't miss it. Hm." Amy considered. "Or is that the second turning on your left and the first on your right?" She shrugged. "Oh well, you'll find it. If you get lost, just ask somebody else."
"Thanks a lot, Amy," Sonic said sincerely. "And I really am sorry I hit you, even if you can't remember it."
"Oh, and kid?" Knuckles added. Amy turned.
"Yeah?"
"Get yourself another job. I don't think Sekko's going to be in business for very much longer." Knuckles turned and strode away, Sonic and Bait following.
"Why would anyone wanna control people's minds through makeup?" Bait wondered. "It ain't like you'd get any guys on your side, is it?" He thought about this. "Well...prob'ly not many."
"It didn't control her mind, Knuckles," Sonic said. "I think it just...removed her inhibitions. Turned her into pure emotion, made her almost...feral." He shuddered. "How'd you know about that place making makeup, anyway?"
"You need to learn to think about things, Sonic. That lipstick had cellophane wrapped around the bottom of it. That means it was brand new. Amy's a little immature at times – in fairness, what do you expect from a starstruck twelve year old – but she's not stupid. People who are playing host to one adult and four kids usually don't have the money for niceties like makeup, which means the only real way she could get any would be to get a staff discount." He considered. "Or a free sample. After all, that stuff's expensive; you're talking at least two or three Mobiums a tube. That's the same cost as a sandwich and a coffee."
Sonic tipped his head on one side and grinned. "Y'know, I always thought there were brains in there, Knucklehead. Though I'm kinda worried you know the price of lipstick, but still..." He dodged the elbow that came slamming his way and sped ahead, turning to face them and jogging on the spot. "C'mon, is that the best you can do?"
"I'm saving that for this Sekko guy," the echidna said darkly.
"Oh right. Well, while you're planning the tortures you no doubt want to inflict on him, I'm going to do something constructive."
"Like what? Race around and power up the wind turbines?"
"Sounds like fun, but no. I'm gonna go and see if I can't actually find this place. You slow-mos keep trudging; I'm gonna pick up the pace." He turned and sped off.
"Thank the Emeralds for that," Knuckles muttered, then glanced at Bait. "I need you to do something for me, kid. Get to the nearest store and grab me the biggest, strongest, most powerful cutting torch you can."
"Mister, you know I ain't got no money."
"Would you say that to Raker?"
Bait stared. "You...you want me to steal it, mister?"
"Yeah. And get a move on; I don't know how much time we have."
"Yeah, mister, but...but Sonic said—"
"I won't tell him if you don't. Now get moving."
Bait hesitated, then spun on his heel and raced towards a hardware store. Part of Knuckles wanted to watch – he couldn't help wondering how Bait was going to smuggle a cutting torch out – but he resisted temptation. He didn't want to tip anyone off and so he kept walking.
"Found it!" Sonic whizzed around him four times, skidded to a stop and grinned broadly at him. "Amy gives good directions; it was just where she said it'd be. C'mon!" He paused. "Where's Bait?" he added.
"I'm here, mister." Faster than Knuckles would have given him credit for, the jackal dashed up holding a box containing a small battery powered cutting torch and four packs of batteries. "I got it," he added to Knuckles, then caught sight of Sonic, paled and took a step back.
"What've you got there?" Sonic asked. Bait dropped his gaze.
"Cutting torch," he mumbled. Sonic blinked.
"Yeah? Where'd you find that?"
"In th' hardware store back there." Bait's voice was barely audible now; with ears flattened against his skull and his tail ducked firmly between his legs, he looked every inch the guilty party.
"The hardware store, huh?" Sonic said. "How'd you manage to buy that when neither you nor Knuckles have any money?"
Bait scuffed one sneaker against the road and mumbled something.
"What did you say?" Sonic didn't sound angry, but he wasn't smiling either.
"...dint buy't, mister..."
Now Sonic stared at him so coldly that the jackal shifted away, muscles completely rigid.
"Bait, I thought we'd gotten past all this."
Bait looked up. "It wunt my idea, mister, honest!"
"Somehow it never is, is it?" Sonic said flatly. "Whose idea was it, then, if not yours?"
"Mine." Knuckles took the cutting torch from Bait and looked it over. "Perfect. Good work, kid."
"Yours?" Sonic stared at the echidna, temporarily speechless. "Knux...how could you...what...how...what the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about Tails, oddly enough. I always see the chains on him and I'm not sure I can break them with my bare hands. I don't have any money, you don't have enough and I didn't want to wait until you did."
"You could have asked me first!"
"You forget yourself, Sonic; I don't need either your blessing or your condemnation to act. And besides, I plan on returning it when Tails is out or if I can't, then at least paying for it."
"Mister?" Bait looked up at Sonic warily. "Mister, you ain't gonna make me go back an' pay for it like you did with that food, are you?"
"Yes I damn well am!" Sonic erupted. "I don't care how important this is; you should never have agreed and you—" this was flung at Knuckles— "you should have known better than to encourage him!"
"I'll go back and pay, if there's any trouble," Knuckles said coldly. "Don't take it out on Bait, Sonic; he was just doing what I told him and if it makes you feel any better, he wasn't comfortable with it."
"You've lost your mind, Knucklehead! After all we've...after all I...after all Bait's done, you wanted him to—"
"Get a grip!" Knuckles shot back, his temper rising. "Yeah, I told him to steal this, because I don't want to get to Tails, let him think I'm gonna rescue him and then say, 'Oh sorry, kid, you'll have to wait another few days while I get something to cut through the chains'. I'll tell you something else, Sonic; we are only gonna get one chance at this, so let's get it right."
"Mister?" Bait fixed Sonic with a nervous look. "Mister, are you mad?"
"Am I...you bet your ass I'm mad!" Sonic said furiously, then saw the jackal's expression and relented enough to add, "but not with you. Though somebody's gonna have to pay for this stuff."
"I told you I'm going to take it back when I'm done," Knuckles said. "Get a grip, Sonic. I'll even apologise to the guy if that's what you want."
"Mister, I'm real sorry, honest I am. 'S jus'...I...Knuckles ast me an'...an'..."
"You couldn't say no," Sonic finished, then softened. "It's okay, kid. I can't deny it's going to be useful, but you should've come to me first and I'd at least have given you money and a note to leave behind."
"You wunt around."
"No." Sonic fixed Knuckles with an icy stare. "If I was, Knucklehead would never dare ask you to do anything as stupid as that."
"You wish, Sonic. Are we going to Sekko's or not?"
Sonic took hold of Knuckles' shoulders. "First I want you to promise me never to pull a stunt like that again! I thought you were supposed to be honest!"
Knuckles broke the hedgehog's grip with almost no effort and stared back arrogantly. "No chance. I told you I want to get Tails out of there, and I will do anything to accomplish that goal. You can either help me or back off, but do not attempt to stand in my way. Clear?"
"Crystal," Sonic said flatly, "and now I'm telling you; Tails or no Tails, you do anything like that again and I'll arrest you myself."
"I'd like to see you try," Knuckles drawled. "C'mon Sonic. This place is making me uneasy. The sooner we deal with this Sekko, the sooner I can go home again."
"What's wrong with him, mister?" Bait ventured to Sonic, who snorted.
"He's homesick."
"I am not."
"He is," Sonic insisted in a stage whisper to Bait, who looked relieved that the hedgehog seemed to be happy with him again. "He gets like this on every journey; half the time he's grouchy about leaving Angel Island in the first place, then he enjoys himself for a full two minutes and then he's grouchy about not knowing what's going on back home."
"If you're going to be like this, then I've nothing further to say to you, Sonic."
"OoooOOOOooh. That a promise, Knuckles-ol'-buddy-ol'-pal?"
The echidna whirled. "How you can joke at a time like this—!"
"If being on our way to talk to the person who can lead us right to Tails doesn't give me the right to be in a good mood, I dunno what does, Knux." Sonic seized Knuckles' wrist in one hand, Bait in another and broke into a run, towing the pair behind him. Knuckles, who had experienced the indignity of being trailed behind Sonic like an old tin can, closed his eyes in resignation. If it got them to Tails, he'd put up with it.
Bait, on the other hand, had both eyes tightly shut for a completely different reason; pure terror. When Sonic skidded to a stop (creating an interesting elastic effect as both Knuckles and Bait continued past him at a rate of knots before finally coming to a halt), the jackal staggered a few steps away, dropped to his hands and knees and vomited helplessly.
A hand dropped onto his shoulder and he cringed, more through shame than fear, then looked up into Sonic's concerned eyes. Face burning with humiliation, acutely aware of passers by staring, Bait ducked his head again.
"Sorry mister," he said hoarsely. "'S jus'...sorry."
"It's okay. I'm sorry too; I forgot you're not used to stuff like that. C'mon." Sonic caught hold of Bait's elbow and pulled him to his feet, supporting him on unsteady legs until the jackal was able to stand on his own. "You had your look yet?" he demanded, glaring at the people still watching. "Haven't you ever seen anyone throw up before. C'mon Bait; let's get inside. Maybe Sekko's people will be more polite," he added pointedly, noticing with great satisfaction how people were now avoiding his gaze and going about their business.
Together, the pair of them followed Knuckles – who was already several feet ahead and accelerating fast – into the building with Sekko's Salves written across the top in flashing neon red letters. A bored-looking puma on reception didn't even bother looking at them as she said, "D'you have an appointment?"
"We're here to see Sekko," Knuckles said. His voice was calm, that silky calm that only ever occurs when a person's temper is about ten seconds away from atomic explosion.
"Sekko's in a meeting, sugar, and can't be disturbed. You wanna see him, make an appointment."
"It's urgent," Sonic said, half of him striving to keep his voice polite (the other half was too busy laughing hysterically at Knuckles' expression at being called sugar).
"It's always urgent, babe. Like I said, Sekko's in a meeting."
Knuckles inserted a set of spikes into the desk and leaned in confidentially. "When's he due out?"
"Sometime in the next fifteen minutes."
"Fine." The spikes were withdrawn. "We'll wait here for him."
A shrug. "Suit yourself." The puma turned a page in her magazine, blowing a large pink bubble as she did so, and the three seated themselves on the plush chairs, reaching for their own magazines.
"Mister," Bait said after about an hour had passed, "what's so special 'bout an 'lasticated thong?" He turned his magazine around once or twice, squinting.
Sonic lifted his eyes from his holiday magazine to stare.
"What?"
"This boy's ravin' 'bout his girlfriend's 'lasticated thong, mister, an' I never seen none before. What's so special 'bout it?"
Sonic glanced at Knuckles, then rolled his eyes at the echidna's expression. "Don't look so shocked, Knux."
"I'm not shocked," Knuckles answered candidly. "I'm just wondering what the hell kind of magazines they put in this waiting room."
"Yeah...uh...speaking of waiting, how much longer do we have to wait?" Sonic demanded of the receptionist.
She barely looked up from her own magazine as she replied, "As long as it takes. Sekko is extremely busy. He can't just see anyone who wanders in off the street. You might be allowed in, but your companions...well, the echidna race is known for being surly, bad-mannered and unpredictable and your jackal friend seems to be somewhat less refined than the company we usually entertain here."
Knuckles smiled. "We understand your concerns perfectly, madam. You'll have to excuse Sonic; if something takes longer than ten nanoseconds, he gets impatient. Will you at least tell us which door to keep an eye on, so we can try and catch Sekko's eye when he comes out?"
Sonic and Bait exchanged stunned looks as the receptionist, somewhat mollified at being called 'madam', pointed to the door on the right. Knuckles' smile broadened.
"Thanks. You've been very helpful." Rising to his feet, he crossed over to the door and yanked it so hard it came off its hinges. Tossing it aside, he smirked at Sonic and Bait. "You know, I think there's been a mistake. There's no meeting going on in this room. Guess I'll have to rip off a few more doors."
"No!" For the first time since they'd arrived, the puma showed signs of agitation. "His private office is through there! You can wait inside for him!"
"I'm tired of waiting," Knuckles said flatly as he headed over to the door in question and punched it open. "You tell this Sekko that if he wants to have a private office left, he better get in to save it right away. C'mon, you two."
Sonic and Bait complied, hurrying after Knuckles into a vast, circular and luxuriously furnished room. Numerous oil paintings hung on the walls, which were lined with various cabinets, workstations and banks of video monitors, and a large desk carved to look like a coiled dragon was in the centre of the room.
Knuckles looked around steadily, almost calmly, then strode forward, lifted up a filing cabinet and hurled it through the wall. Reaching down, he picked up a slimmer cabinet and tipped it upside down, spilling drawers and papers all over the plush red carpet, then tilted the cabinet on its side and started to swing it in ever increasing circles around his head. Pivoting expertly on one foot, dipping the cabinet slightly at one part of the cycle and raising at the other, he judged his moment and let fly, sending the empty cabinet spinning through the air to crash into one of the workstations. There was a loud crack, and sparks and smoke poured out of the ruined terminal.
Sonic stood back and watched, half appreciative, half awed. He'd never seen Knuckles lose his temper before, certainly not to this extent.
"Not the window!" the hedgehog said sharply, seeing Knuckles pick up one of the heavy chairs and eye the full length glass plate speculatively. "There might be people walking underneath."
The echidna simply grunted in acknowledgement and changed target.
"And not the aquarium either!" Sonic added. "It's not fair to make the fish suffer."
Knuckles rolled his eyes and used the chair to smash one of the other chairs instead before destroying the desk ornaments with it and then breaking it to pieces before picking up the third, final chair and swinging it around in much the same manner as he had the filing cabinet.
"You let go of that chair right now!"
Startled, the echidna obliged before he could really think about it, and the chair flew gracefully through the air, out the ruined door and smashed into the door opposite, shattering the glass window.
"Thankyou," the lizard in the doorway said acidly from somewhere around floor level. "I suppose I should have been more specific; I meant, of course, for you to return the chair to the ground before taking your hands off it."
Knuckles shrugged slightly, breathing slightly faster than usual.
"So I did it the other way round. Is that a crime?"
"Well, that does rather depend on whose head you fling it at," the lizard said in desert tones. Straightening up, he fixed Knuckles with a cool stare out of one yellow eye; the other was missing, and instead of an eyepatch or fake eye, the lizard seemed to prefer the shock factor of an empty socket. "Now, might I inquire as to why you are smashing my office to pieces?"
"Your office," Knuckles echoed very softly. "You're Sekko?"
"Yes."
The echidna nodded. "Pleasure to meet you." He lunged, grasped the lizard by the throat and swung him around into the wall. "I'm Knuckles."
Something flickered in Sekko's single eye, a touch of...fear? The echidna tipped his head slightly on one side.
"You've heard of me?"
"A little." The words rasped out past Knuckles' hands, but he didn't loosen his grip; instead, he tipped his head on the other side.
"Interesting. Since I almost never travel, there are only three people who might talk about me, and two of them are in this room and have never met you before." Abruptly, Knuckles' demeanour changed; he tightened his hold and leaned in, eyes burning furiously. "Tell me where Tails is," he snarled. Anger garbled his words so much that he was obliged to repeat himself three times before Sekko understood and even then he apparently failed to comprehend.
"Tails? What do you mean, tails? What tails?"
Knuckles brought his head forward sharply in a move Mighty had taught him. Both reeling from the clash of skulls, Knuckles opened his hands and dropped Sekko on the floor.
The lizard stared up at the echidna, muscles tense. He was semi-prepared for something like this, had been ever since Tails had told him about the echidnas, but he hadn't been prepared for the viciousness of the attack.
Knuckles looked at Sonic. "Search this place. Quickly."
Sonic didn't waste time arguing, but sped towards the stairs. A few minutes later, he returned, shaking his head.
"Nothing."
Sekko straightened up, fixing Knuckles with a stern look. "Exactly. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Knuckles ignored him, focusing instead on Sonic. "Nothing?"
"Well, not Tails, at any rate. But I saw a laser guarded entry to a room which seemed to be some kinda basement. He could be in there somewhere."
"I told you," Sekko began, "I have never heard of your friend—"
Without looking, Knuckles reached out and pinned him against the wall again.
"Find a way down there. Search the whole of this place, Sonic. I don't care how long it takes. Unless—" He broke off suddenly, slamming a hand into his forehead. "Damn! How could I be so stupid?"
"I been wondering that for years, Knux."
Ignoring Sonic (although he made a mental note to get him for that comment at some point) Knuckles swivelled his head around to stare hard at Sekko.
"The slaves...if you had one that was particularly rebellious, what would you do with him? And don't you dare tell me that you don't know what I'm talking about," Knuckles added in dangerous tones. "This office building is all a front, isn't it? Salves, slaves; it's someone's idea of a joke, right? Well, guess what; I'm not laughing. If you had a rebellious slave, what would you do to him?"
"Depends on if we thought he could still be broken in or not." Sekko's voice was frighteningly calm, and Knuckles had to suppress a powerful urge to beat its owner to a bloody pulp at his feet, only managing this by reminding himself sternly and constantly that Sekko wouldn't be able to answer any questions when he was dead. At least he wasn't attempting to deny the charge; Knuckles honestly didn't know how he'd react to something like that.
"Say he couldn't."
"In that case...there are certain precautions. If we felt he was a threat to our employees, then we would take...steps. Otherwise, he would be put into the jail to await further training. Now, please leave. I assure you that your fox friend isn't anywhere here."
Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.
"Who said we were looking for a fox?" Sonic said, his voice deceptively casual.
Sekko hesitated. "Well...with a name like Tails..."
"Doesn't mean a thing," Sonic told him. "Everyone in this room has a tail." He shot forward to stand in the door as Sekko turned to leave. "Going somewhere?"
Sekko drew himself up to his full height. "I am leaving. You have no right to keep me prisoner."
"And you got no right to keep Tails prisoner," Knuckles said, closing the gap between them and lifting Sekko again until the lizard was balanced on the very tips of his toes. "Now, either you turn off that laser barrier Sonic was talking about or I'll throw you into it."
Sekko hesitated, then amazingly smiled. "Of course." He nodded to the puma, who was watching the proceedings with a disinterested air. "Shut down the security measures on the lower level."
Without taking her gaze off the tableau in front of her, the puma flicked a switch and Sekko turned the smile on Knuckles. "There, you see? It's done. You can go back down and retrieve your friend, if you can find him."
"Fine." Knuckles moved past him, not turning his back, and picked up the table which held the magazines. "And Sekko?"
The lizard, who had been following Knuckles' progress, blinked. "Yes?"
Knuckles hurled the table overarm, catching Sekko in the face and knocking out two of his teeth. Blood pouring down his jaw, the lizard sat up, dazed and uncomprehending. Knuckles continued to stare at him coldly.
"Don't smile at me. You enslaved one of my closest friends, ordered him chained up and whipped like some animal, so don't you dare smile at me, you sick bastard."
He spun on his heel and strode over to where Sonic and Bait were waiting, both eyeing him with a lot more respect than before.
"Wow." Sonic's voice sounded small in its owner's ears after Knuckles' ringing tones. "Remind me never to piss you off."
"That was cool," Bait breathed, staring at Knuckles with an awed expression.
"But not something he makes a regular habit of, right Knux?" Sonic said in tones of mock severity.
"Whatever," Knuckles answered curtly. "Which way from here?"
"Down the stairs. Then right." Sonic pushed past to lead the way, coming to a halt outside the archway, now devoid of lasers.
"What're we waiting for?" Knuckles lifted Sonic bodily and carried him in, Bait following.
Upstairs, Sekko spat blood onto the floor behind the counter and glanced at the puma, who tried not to look too disgusted at his bloody face.
"Shut and bar the door," Sekko ordered, somewhat indistinctly. "That'll stop them."
The receptionist stared at him. "The door? You're relying on the door to stop that echidna? Didn't you see what he did to the main office? The damn wall didn't stop him!"
"Do it!" Sekko shoved her out the way and hit the relevant switch himself. There was a soft whirring sound from down below as the doors slid shut, followed by the click as the locks slid across.
Satisfied, Sekko reached out and pressed a sequence of buttons.
"Evacuate the building," he ordered. "The blast should be contained, but there's no point taking unnecessary risks." He paused, then glanced at the puma. "And send someone down to kill that damn two-tailed fox freak. He's far outlived his usefulness and wasn't a particularly good worker anyway; besides, I don't want to take the risk of his being found."
"Sir, what about the manuscripts?"
"That's a good point, but not one I plan to worry myself over too much. The fox managed to translate them with no prior knowledge of the language, so we can do the same thing. It's for the best anyway; I didn't like the idea of his going and spreading malicious rumours about working conditions."
"Yes sir." It was common knowledge that Sekko, for all his slimy and unpleasant ways, never went back on an agreement; if the fox had agreed to translate the entries in question, he'd have walked out the tunnels that same day. The kid had never fully settled or accepted their way of working though; you did occasionally get one who couldn't be broken, although not usually so young. Still, it was better all round if he was dead; he'd not been happy with them, after all.
The receptionist reached out and pushed the alarm button, then headed towards the door. She wasn't unduly worried; they'd done this before and like Sekko said, the blast would be contained in that room, but better safe than sorry.
Downstairs, the three of them looked around the warehouse they'd entered. Packed to the ceiling with crates, barrels and boxes, the only thing of interest was a huge circular vault door on one wall.
"Way in?" Knuckles suggested to Sonic.
"Gotta be."
There was a soft whirr of hydraulics and the doors slid shut again, followed by a click as the locks slid across, and the three of them turned very slowly to stare.
"We're locked in," Bait said, as though he couldn't quite believe it.
"That reptile double-crossed us," Knuckles muttered, his tone hard. "Wait until I catch up with him."
"This is bad, mister. This is real bad."
"Will one of you please tell me something I don't know!" Sonic said stridently.
"How about, you really have been incredibly stupid?" Raker suggested, stepping out from behind a barrel.
"Nah, Knuckles tells me that at least twice a day." Sonic froze as the jackal's words sunk in, then turned to stare at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Raker laughed softly. "Oh, please. I knew you'd come here eventually. Instead of following you, I decided to just get here first and wait. I'm glad you showed up today; do you have any idea how dull it is on your own?"
Bait glanced from Raker to the door and back to Raker again, then raced over and tried the handle. There was a crack and he was blasted back by a surge of electricity, knocking into Knuckles and Raker hard enough to send them both flying.
"I hate to say it," Sonic said, now grinning, "but I'm gonna anyway; strike!"
"Get the hell off me, you piece of filth," Raker snarled, shoving Bait roughly away, then turned and came face to face with Knuckles, who offered a hand to help him up. The jackal took it, then pain ripped through his entire arm as his wrist was twisted around in a goose lock and then wrenched up behind his back.
"No wonder that kid walked out on you," Knuckles said very quietly in his ear. "I would too. He might be uneducated, but he's not stupid. One more stunt like that and I'll hold you against that electrical field until I get an apology."
In spite of the pain, Raker sneered at him. "You wouldn't dare. You'd suffer as much as I would if you did that; don't you know better than to touch someone who's being electrocuted?"
Knuckles snorted. "It'd hurt, sure. But I've been electrocuted before, and I'd lay odds that you haven't. So like I said; one more stunt like that and I'll twist this arm further and do what I promised. You getting the brunt of it with a near-broken arm, me standing as far away as I can. We'll see who cracks first, and I have a strong suspicion that it won't be me. Because you're like most bullies; a coward and terrified of any pain that you're not inflicting." Releasing the jackal, he shoved him hard enough to send him sprawling, then stared down at him. "Call this a friendly warning." The echidna turned to see Sonic and Bait both gawking at him, jaws hanging. "What's wrong with you two?"
Sonic shut his jaw with a snap, then reached over with one hand to close Bait's for him. "Nothing. I just...what was that all about?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeah you do, you actually defended—"
"I said I don't know what you're talking about," Knuckles interrupted in tones which categorically stated that Sonic had better not push this any further.
"You guys hear that?" Bait said suddenly.
Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.
"I don't hear anything," Knuckles said flatly.
"Me neither," Sonic said, although looking at the size of the jackal's ears, he supposed it was a fair assumption that Bait's sense of hearing was a hell of a lot better than his own. One look at Knuckles' expression told him that the echidna had reached the same conclusion.
Bait frowned slightly, one ear swivelling slowly around to point sideways.
"I dunno exactly what it is, mister, but it's kinda like a tickin' sound."
Raker clicked his tongue pityingly. "Proving what I've always said, Bait; you're a retard. How often have you worked on objects which tick? How often have you detonated those objects?" He laughed. "And people say I'm crazy. I never planted bombs in people's homes and laughed when they went off."
"I dint neither!" Bait said stridently. "Not never!"
"Oh, don't be so modest," Raker said, still chuckling. "Let's see...there was that house three years back, the office building next month and half a dozen public restrooms. And a lot more; it's so hard to keep track. I understand the bait did occasionally let people out first, but for the most part he just listened to them scream and laughed."
"I dint, mister," Bait said numbly to Sonic. "Raker made me do the bomb thing, sure, but I never laughed, never. That was him, honest."
"Liar," Raker drawled. "I remember looking at him and asking if he found it funny and he just laughed. Laughed while those people burned."
"I dint! An' even if I did, I on'y did it 'cause you wanted me to!" Bait said, with a little more emphasis than logic.
"Oh yes, of course; it's all my fault again, isn't it?" Raker shook his head, clicking his tongue pityingly. "Tell me something, Sonic, did he laugh when he destroyed Oil Ocean Zone?"
Bait winced and looked at Sonic. "Mister, you said that wunt my fault!"
"It wasn't," Sonic said in steel tones. "You threw that match, Raker, not Bait."
"Yes, I did, but I didn't know how fast it would spread. I truly never intended to harm anyone except for you." Raker shrugged. "I admit I didn't stop to think things through; if I had, I'd never have dropped that match. My bad."
"What?" Sonic lunged for him, in much the same way Knuckles had gone for Sekko, and ran him into the wall. His voice, when it came out, was little more than a growl. "You murdered thousands of people, took the homes of over a hundred more, damn near killed us and now you just sit there smirking and saying my bad? Those people are still dead, Raker; still burned to ash because of your bad!" He narrowed his eyes. "Well, I swear to you that when we get out of this, I'll see you pay the full price for your actions and if that means I have to pay a price for carrying matches into that Zone, it'll be well worth it!"
"Sonic?" Knuckles said edgily. "Sonic, much as I hate to break up the vengeance-fest, Bait's right about the ticking. I can hear it as well. Bait reckons it's coming from over there." He pointed at a large metal crate.
"Oh, very good," Raker said. "Did the bait also tell you what it was? Because he knows, echidna, just as I know." He winced as Sonic tightened the hold.
"Alright then," the hedgehog said in deadly tones, "what is it?"
"Don't you know?"
Sonic copied Knuckles' earlier move and headbutted Raker hard, then dropped to the ground as strobe lights went off in his skull.
"You're not supposed to knock yourself out with that move," Knuckles hissed.
"It bloody well hurts, Knux!" Sonic grated from the floor.
"I could've told you that. Sonic, you can brain Raker later; right now we need to find the—"
"—bomb?" Raker cut in smoothly. "Yes, I think that's probably the first good idea you've had since I met you."
Sonic froze. "You think it's a bomb?"
"I know damn well it is, hedgehog; I've been supplying him for years, explosives and workers. Well, myself and the bait, of course; I couldn't have caught your precious so-called brother without him."
Bait winced and snuck a quick look at Sonic, who was now examining the crate and trying to prise it open without jarring it too badly.
"I know," Sonic said calmly, not looking around. "I had my suspicions when Bait first told me what he did and why you call him what you do, and you told me this back in Aquatic Ruin Zone as well." He glanced back at the jackal. "If you're trying to convince me to throw him out or attack him in a fit of pique, you're wasting your time, Raker. I'm not like you. I said he could stay as long as he wanted and I'm keeping that...oh...my—KNUCKLES!"
The echidna was at his side in an instant. "What?"
Sonic nodded towards the crate, which he'd managed to open. Inside was a black sphere with numbers counting down in red. Too few numbers, in the hedgehog's opinion.
"I think it started at ten minutes," he said, his voice strangely tight. "At least, that's when Bait first heard the ticking. Knux...we might not have enough time left."
"Especially since you've wasted at least eight or nine of those minutes fighting with me," Raker said matter-of-factly. Knuckles glared him into silence, then looked at Sonic.
"I hate to admit it, but he does have a point. We can beat the crap out of him after we get out of here. Right now, let's just focus on either getting out or disarming this thing. How much time have we got left?"
"Thirty two seconds." Sonic stared at the timer as though he could stop it by sheer force of will. "Knux, can you punch a way out of here?"
00.31
The echidna shook his head. "The door's electrified and the wall's too strong even for me. If we don't disarm this thing we're dead."
00.30
Sonic examined the bomb minutely. "Give me that cutting torch, Knuckles."
00.29
The echidna hesitated. "You sure you know what you're doing, Sonic?"
00.28
"You wanna defuse a bomb, you gotta cut through some wires. Even I know that much. And to cut through the wires, you gotta be able to get to them."
00.27
"And you had the nerve to call me insane," Raker said sharply. "You cut the wrong one and we're dead half a minute early."
00.26
"You got any better ideas?" Sonic demanded. "Ones that won't end up in you destroying this Zone like you did Oil Ocean?"
00.25
"That was the bait's fault, not mine," Raker said, calm again. "If he hadn't deserted, I wouldn't have had to chase him and that Zone and all those people would still be alive."
00.24
"Deserted?" Knuckles echoed scathingly. "You're running a gang, not a platoon!"
00.23
"Family is family," Raker said coolly, then stared hard at Bait. "You always did have a little difficulty getting your head around the concept of loyalty, didn't you?"
00.22
"Knuckles, give me that torch! We don't have time to screw around!" Sonic snatched the tool and ignited it. "We'll just have to hope I pick the right one!" He sliced through the covering and stared at the three cables underneath. One red, one yellow, one blue, and no clue which one to disconnect.
00.21
"Mister, wait!" Bait pushed up next to Sonic, studied the wires for a split second, then grabbed the blue wire and yanked it out of its hole.
00.20
"What—" Sonic began.
"Kid knows about explosives," Knuckles said flatly, remembering their conversation in the Aquatic Ruin Zone. "Don't you, Bait?"
00.19
"Well, that's great," Sonic said sarcastically, "except we still have two wires left and less than twenty seconds to live. Which one do we have to pull to stop this thing?"
00.18
"I dunno but..." Bait hesitated. "I got a feeling, lookin' at it I got a feeling that the yellow cable's the trip. I know this kind, mister; you dunt pull all the cables, jus' the right ones an' if you pull the trip one th'whole thing goes up. An' I think the yellow's the trip."
00.17
"So...you pull the red one?"
00.16
"Uh huh. But...I ain't sure." As always when he was under stress, Bait's accent thickened noticeably. "I think it's the red one, but mebbe I'm wrong. Mebbe it's the yellow one. If I'm wrong, we blow up."
00.15
"If you do nothing, we blow up," Knuckles retorted. "Do it!"
00.14
Bait took a deep breath, then nodded once and reached out.
00.13
"This is all your fault, you little brat!" Raker lunged, seizing Bait by the back of the neck and slamming his head into the explosives case once, twice, three times.
00.12
"Leave him alone!" Sonic seized the jackal, anger lending him enough strength to hurl him bodily across the room into the opposite wall, then looked at the timer.
00.11
"Do it!" he shouted again at Bait, who looked dazed.
00.10
"I..."
00.09
"Pull the red cable!"
00.08
"I can't..." Bait looked around and Sonic saw that Raker's treatment had broken the young jackal's nose, from which the blood was now flowing copiously.
00.07
"Sure you can! Just grab the red cable and yank!" The hedgehog raced up to stand beside Bait, intending to do it himself, then stopped dead. Both cables were red. Bait's blood had gushed down over the mechanisms, staining everything the same colour.
00.06
"Where was it? On the left or on the right?" Sonic demanded. Bait shook his head again, fighting to think.
00.05
"I don't...I can't remember. Just...I dunno! Left I think."
00.04
"Yeah, left," Bait added, sounding a little more sure of himself. He reached out, groping blindly.
00.03
"I got it! I got it!"
00.02
"Pull it!" Sonic and Knuckles yelled at him simultaneously.
00.01
"Okay. Okay, yeah, got it." Bait yanked and the others braced for the explosion.
It didn't come. Sonic, who had squeezed both eyes shut, opened one to look at the timer.
00.01
"It worked," he said softly, then a huge grin spread across his face and he seized Bait, pulling him into a hug and ruffling the fur between those large ears in much the same way as he'd ruffle Tails' fur. Bait winced away at first, then returned the hug with a vehemence that surprised the hedgehog.
Knuckles touched Sonic on the shoulder, then, when the hedgehog glanced at him, nodded mutely towards the cable that had been pulled out. When the hedgehog had pulled the jackal away, Bait's hand had taken some of the blood with it. The cable beneath it was yellow.
Raker had unintentionally saved all their lives.
Okay, I know that strictly speaking this chapter's s'posed to be a Tails one, but he features in the next one, promise ;) If you read, please review!