Thanks a lot to all reviewers! That's right, I want our ideas, too! I've got a couple things up my sleeve, but it's nice to have fan-additions as well.

3. Sonic's Squishy

Having bored a larger tunnel through the thick rock, Knuckles collapsed in a mud puddle on reaching the end. Sonic and Tails stepped on him to set foot in the strange new place.

"Hey, thanks again, buddy," Sonic said, hearing Knuckles grumble but still not lifting his head.

"Where are we?" asked Tails, looking around the small grassy area. It was surrounded by rocky walls and had a waterfall with another cave behind it. There were a couple of trees and a small pool, which the waterfall fed.

"More importantly, where'd Cheese get to?" Sonic added, placing his hands on his hips. "We'd better find her before we find out if she really is a girl."

"Hey! What's that?" Tails cried, seeing something poke its head out from one of the trees. He ran over to the tree and knelt down. "Everything will be okay. I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"Oh sure, that's what he SAYS," Knuckles muttered, getting up and moving to stand beside Sonic.

Sonic looked at him to see the mud splayed all down Knuckles' front. He covered his nose. "P.U. You smell, Knuckles. What was that?"

Knuckles gave him a sideways glance, spitting out some of the substance that had got into his mouth. "Maybe it's better if I didn't know."

Tails reached out his hand, and to his surprise, a chao emerged from behind the tree.

"Hey! It's Cheese!" Sonic exclaimed. "Grab her, Tails, so we can get back home!"

"Cheese is blue, stupidhead! That chao's red!" Knuckles yelled.

Sonic looked at Knuckles oddly. "Stupidhead? You've gotta admit, even for you, that's lame."

Knuckles motioned to the mud smeared down his front. "You want me to hug you?"

Tails stood up and watched the chao as it moved closer to him and examined him by sniffing. "Do I smell nice?" he asked.

The chao stopped after a while and looked up at Tails. The look on its face captured Tails. It was so cute and innocent...

Tails turned back to Knuckles and Sonic. "Hey guys, I think he likes me!"

Tails turned back as he heard a growl. The chao snapped at him, and he leapt away. "Fine! Be that way!"

Knuckles walked over and picked up the chao, rocking it back and forth as he spoke. "I don't care whether this chao likes you or not, Tails. We've gotta find Cheese, and fast."

Tails and Sonic noticed the chao bouncing around happily in Knuckles' arms.

"He may not like me, but her likes you, Knuckles!" Tails said happily, pointing to the chao.

Knuckles stopped and looked at the chao himself, not having noticed its expressions. "What do ya know? He does! Well, we can't just leave him here. I shall keep him and call him Knuckles Junior!"

At that moment, Sonic turned around. "Oh! Two more chao!"

One was blue, and the other yellow. Tails ran over and picked up the yellow one. "Oooh! This one's so cute! I shall keep him and he shall be called Tails Junior! Or TJ, for short!"

Sonic claimed the blue one for himself and squished it against his body. "Oh! You're so cute and squishy! I shall keep you and call you Squishy and you shall be my squishy little chao!"

"Squishy?" Knuckles and Tails both asked in unison, but a death glare form Sonic silenced them.

"Yeah," Tails said warily, changing the subject to avoid Sonic's angered stare. "Um, let's take KJ, TJ, and Squishy with us to find Cheese. She's got to be somewhere in this garden." He held TJ at arm's length and admired him. "Have you seen our friend, Cheese, TJ?"

TJ continued to stare back with an overjoyed look. His eyes were closed and he had a huge smile on his face. Tails shook him a little. "Hello? TJ?" When there was still no reply, Tails shook the chao faster and harder with no change in result. "I think my chao's broken!"