Kj: Heh, maybe it is and maybe it isn't ;) You'll have to keep reading to find out :P

Matri90: Yep, it sure looks that way :P And thanks; glad you're enjoying it :D

Awdures: (weg) Thanks; glad I managed to surprise you. And you'll find out about Lara-Le in good time ;)

Moonpaw7: You could well be right :D (Knuckles: ...) (Tails: Ooh boy...he's gone. That's the first time he's not reacted in some way to huggles)

SaffraEchidna: Thanks ;) And I'm glad you liked Tails' little snide comment as well :D

FriedBrickWall: Heh, I consider everyone's request (particularly constant reviewers :D) it kinda helps me write and see things better :P As for why Tails went out the window instead of the door...I don't know, to be honest. Maybe we'll find out later ;) (Tails: Yeah, I do kinda miss travelling, but you're forgetting one little thing; I happen to have a broken wrist and a broken tail and probably a few cracked ribs! Not a good time to go exploring...especially after what happened last time) Don't mind him; I think he's in shock :P There actually was a slightly alternate ending to Caves, along with a paragraph where Knuckles pointed out to Sonic that Tails would need rest to heal. Maybe I shouldn't have cut it ;) As for the rest of it, read on ;)

Toboe16: Yep. Mother :P

Matt Lans: Someone's been indulging in the comics, huh? (And no, I'm not talking about me :P) You'll find out about Knux's father later in this fic ;)

PyroHedgehog4Ever: (laughs) Oh boy, you know me too well :D

Asher Tye: Thanks :) As for the rest…you'll find out about Lara-Le and probably Tails, if he ever manages to bring himself to talk about it. (Knuckles: I am NOT sweet!) Don't mind him; he's upset because of having to perch on the back shelf on the car journey home (Knuckles: Seatbelts, human. I cannot stress it enough. Seat. Belts.)

My Memoirs by Me

Well, so now I've been lumbered with Bait. Heh. Actually, that's not true and not at all fair (and given how the kid reacted last time he thought he was just 'some booby prize' as he put it, it's not all that smart either). Bait, if you're reading this, first of all you shouldn't be and secondly, I was only kidding.

We're still with the CDA, but hopefully not for much longer. I want to move on soon. I don't know where, but I'm getting itchy feet. The trouble is that Bait's more than happy to stay here in Scrap Brain Zone. If the kid feels safe and secure here, I don't wanna take that away from him – poor guy's had little enough security in his life, all ten years of it – but I can't stay in one place indefinitely.

Maybe once he's convinced I'm not gonna abandon him...oh boy, please don't let this be another Tails. When I first met him that little fox was so determined that I wouldn't walk out on him that he tied himself to my plane.

--Sonic the Hedgehog

Bait's Jurnal

Sonics getting impayshunt. Ill agree to go with him today. Yeah. Today.

But wat if he leeves? Maybe Raker was rite. Tails helped Sonic, fixed his playne and built all that stuff for him. How am I suposed to compeet with that? Id rather he leeve me here in a city where I can get wurk than in the middel of a forest or jungel.

--Bait the Jakkel

Several Zones away, the sun's rays sliced over the horizon, through a window and straight into the eyes of a young jackal, who mumbled something under his breath and turned to stuff his head into the crook of his arm.

"You awake?" Sonic said cheerfully.

"Nuh uh," Bait mumbled. "Turn th' light out."

"It's the sun, Bait, and it's not due to go out until the next eclipse in about sixty years," Sonic informed him. "C'mon, or I'll eat all the food myself."

Bait's ears pricked forward at the mention of food and he stuck his head up cautiously, wincing as the light pierced his eyes.

"Yeah? What we got for breakfast?"

"Pancakes and pella juice."

Bait emerged further. "Pella juice?"

"Yeah, I went out for an early morning run and spun through a grove." Sonic reached behind to rub his quills tenderly; ripe pella fruits were rock hard. "Not intentionally, but hey, at least we got something to drink out of it. Here." He handed half a pella to Bait, who drank greedily. Pella juice wasn't exactly uncommon on Mobius, being only slightly rarer than water, but it was one of the jackal's favourite beverages.

"Dint you mention food?" Bait said hopefully. Sonic grinned.

"Yeah, I did, but I'm not gonna bring it in to you. You want it, you come through for it."

Bait winced. "I gotta move?"

"Well, unless you want me to eat all the pancakes myself, yeah."

"Nuh uh!" Scrambling to his feet, Bait followed Sonic into the kitchen. He'd spent a chunk of the previous night swimming in the river that flowed through Scrap Brain, riding the currents and seeing where they would take him, and it was unfortunate that one particular current had taken him down a side stream and straight into a swampy area...at least, unfortunate for anyone who was downwind of the jackal.

Sitting down, Bait piled four pancakes onto his plate. It had taken a good week or so, but the jackal no longer wolfed everything down in as few bites as possible as though he believed someone was going to take the food away from him. Slicing one pancake in half, he doubled it over, stuffed it into his mouth and said indistinctly, "Sonic, c'n you pass me the cratt syrup?"

"What's the magic word, Bait?"

"Now," Espio interjected, coming in and throwing a glare at Sonic. The chameleon had been in a foul mood ever since his brother had visited and he'd had a young iguana dumped on his hands, not necessarily in that order. Both of these incidents could be traced back to Knuckles, but since the echidna wasn't there, Espio settled for making Sonic's life difficult instead.

"Jeez, Espie, would you let it go already?" Sonic said. "You know you don't mind having that...what's his name again?"

Espio shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't asked."

Sonic stared at him. "The kid's been squatting with you for almost a fortnight and you haven't even bothered to ask him his name yet?"

The chameleon whirled and Sonic tensed automatically, ready to duck away from flying shuriken. Espio's temper was on a hair trigger these days.

"Yes, he's been squatting with me! And whose fault's that?" He shook his head. "I'll give him food and shelter, yeah, but if he wants someone to play big brother to him he's in for one hell of a disappointment. Mighty's the one for that, not me."

"So what you're sayin', mister," Bait put in (much to Sonic's surprise; the jackal hardly ever spoke to the Chaotix) "is that you're jus' gonna let him live like a slave on'y with no whips an' no work, right? Guess that fits, but it ain't the lizard's fault you're who you are."

There was a long, deadly pause, during which Sonic leapt down from the table and moved to stand between Bait and Espio, who was staring hard at the jackal.

"You have three seconds to explain that, little cub."

"Espio, leave him!" Sonic said sharply. "He didn't mean to piss you off."

Espio opened his mouth.

"Uh...is now a good time?" someone said from the doorway.

"No!" Espio all but snarled.

"Right. Right." The speaker backed away. "It's just that...I have some more of that money I owe you."

It was almost comical how fast Espio's demeanour changed at the mention of money, Sonic thought with a grin; the chameleon's scowling glare smoothed itself out to an expression of polite attention and he swivelled around in one liquid move.

"Of course. Come on in and let's talk."

"Right. Hi Sonic."

The grin dropped off Sonic's face. "A-Amy?"

"Yeah. How's it going?"

Sonic swallowed; last time he and Amy had met in the CDA office, the pink hedgehog had been under the influence of a mind-altering substance in her makeup and the experience had been very embarrassing for all concerned.

"Great, I guess. Uh. You still got that family staying with you?"

"Yeah." When Raker had obliterated the Oil Ocean Zone, a few of the families lucky enough to escape the inferno had made it to Scrap Brain Zone, and one of those families – a father and four kids – had wound up staying in Amy's apartment.

"You mentioned money," Espio cut in. "You still owe us fifty Mobiums."

"Huh? Oh yeah. Here ya go." Amy held out a five Mobium note. The chameleon glanced at it.

"Alright. Where's the rest?"

"I need more time, Espio. This is all I can spare for now. I got five people to feed on a cashier's salary, and that's not easy!"

"It's also not the CDA's problem." Espio swung away abruptly and lifted a sheet of paper from a stack. "To recap: you promised us two hundred and fifty Mobiums if we found Sonic. You then tried to welsh on that deal, well, alright, you'd been driven insane at the time and so we decided not to pursue that...in fact, we even knocked half a Mobium off. Seventy seven and a half Mobiums were paid that day and you paid a lump sum of a hundred Mobiums the next morning." Espio tossed the paper down in a casual manner, as if the money was of no real interest to him. "But you still owe us seventy two Mobiums, and frankly, we're running out of patience. We've agreed to extend the deadline twice already and we are not going to extend it a third time."

Amy folded her arms. "You also agreed to waive some of that money in exchange for me bee-sitting Charmy when you and the others went out to the movies that time!"

A slight smile quirked Espio's mouth. "True. Let's see...you bee-sat Friday for four hours, and you did take him for three days when we had that case to work on. I seem to remember your bee-sitting rate is two and a half Mobiums per hour and ten Mobiums for the day, is that right?"

Amy nodded.

"So...four hours at two and a half gets ten Mobiums knocked off...three days gets another thirty..." Espio shook his head. "You still owe us thirty two Mobiums, and since we're not planning on going out again anytime soon, there's no way you can work out an alternative payment either."

"Twenty seven Mobiums now," Amy retorted, pushing the five Mobium note into the chameleon's hands. Espio remained unmoved.

"Fine. Twenty seven then. You got until the end of the week, and if you screw us over once more we're going to start charging you interest. I intended to do that right from the word go, but I was overruled."

Amy shot him a look. "And just where am I supposed to get twenty seven Mobiums from when I barely have enough to put food on the table for everyone?"

"I'll pay it," Sonic interrupted.

Amy looked taken aback. "Sonic...I couldn't let you...you'd do that? For me?"

"Yeah," Sonic said, a little shortly. The last thing he wanted was for Amy to start hearing wedding bells again.

"I'll pay you back, honest—"

"Don't worry about it, Amy."

Amy set her jaw obstinately. "I'm not a charity case, Sonic!"

Sonic and Bait exchanged an amused look – the jackal had said almost those exact same words a week or so ago – and then Sonic shrugged and said, "Fine. You can pay me back if you want, when you can afford it. Here, Espio." He handed three ten Mobium notes to the chameleon, who shrugged.

"Fine. I'll mark it off as paid." He glanced at Amy. "You want some breakfast?"

Amy shook her head. "No thanks. I gotta get to work else my boss'll kill me." Hesitating in the doorway, she added, "Hey Sonic, maybe we could go see a movie sometime...?" Amy let the sentence trail off hopefully and Sonic hesitated.

"Yeah...maybe...if I'm still around." Next to him, Bait snickered quietly and Sonic kicked him lightly on the ankle.

"Great! It's a date! You can pick me up at seven."

"I don't know where you live."

"Oops. I forgot that." Amy considered for all of half a second before saying, "Okay, I'll pick you up."

Sonic sighed inwardly. It had been worth a try. Aloud he said, "Okay. But not too late; I can't leave Bait here on his own."

"I won't be alone, Sonic; I got the Chaotix."

There were times, Sonic thought grimly, when Bait was more trouble than he was worth!

"Alright. But I still don't wanna be too late."

Amy pulled out her hammer and swung it idly, in much the same manner as someone might drum their fingers against their lips thoughtfully.

"Ten o'clock?"

Three hours. Sonic supposed he could survive three hours with her, although if the press got hold of this, they'd have a field day with it.

"Alright. Fine."

"Great! I'll see you then." Amy turned and sauntered out, still swinging the hammer to and fro.

"Sonic?" Bait said in a low voice.

"Yeah?"

"That giant mallet she carries...where's she keep it when she ain't usin' it?"

"Haven't figured that out yet. I've never dared ask either; Amy's deadly with that hammer."

Bait snorted. "Yeah, an' you're the fastest thing on two legs. Like you're scareda her!"

"I'm not scared of Knuckles either, but I still have a healthy respect for him and his strength."

Bait frowned; he'd never heard that expression before. "A healthy respect?"

Sonic quirked an eye ridge at him. "Yeah. I provide the respect and in return I get to stay healthy."

The jackal hesitated – he wasn't sure whether or not Sonic was joking – then blurted out, "Does that mean we're gonna stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, we're staying here for tonight." Sonic wrinkled his nose slightly. "And while we're here we can see if the CDA have a spare tub that we can dunk you in while I'm out."

Bait looked edgy. "You want me to have a...a you-know-what?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "A bath, Bait, yes, I do. Because in case it escaped your notice, there is a distinct odour of pond scum emanating from your direction. In fact, that's being too kind; you reek of it and there's a bit of dried algae behind your left ear. If you want to splash around in bogs and swamps, fine, but you'll need a bath to get rid of the smell. I know you didn't get one yesterday because you got back so late, but you're having one today!"

The jackal squirmed. "I ain't good with baths, mister."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Sonic said very dryly. "But you're having one and if you call me mister again, it'll be two!"

Bait winced as though Sonic had threatened him with a branding iron.

"How 'bout a shower?" he asked, in the manner of one offering an arm for amputation instead of a leg.

The hedgehog pretended to consider, then nodded. "Okay. If they don't mind you using it, then fine. If they do, you're in the tub." He shook his head. "I don't know what your problem is; if there's a lake or a pond within five hundred yards I can't get you out of it, so how is that any different to a bath?"

"It jus' is! It's a jackal thing."

"Seems like more of a canine one to me," Sonic said flatly, "since I had exactly the same problems with Tails."

Bait froze. "Tails dunt like baths?"

"No more than you do." Now there was a distinctly cheerful note in the hedgehog's voice. "I could never get him into one unless I bribed him or carried him kicking and yelping into it." Sonic considered. "Of course, then I had just as much trouble getting him out again, once he started to enjoy it."

Bait folded his arms. "Mebbe a bath's not a bad idea after all. Long's I don't have to get it in my ears."

"That's up to you, kiddo," Sonic informed him. "If you still smell of pond scum when I get back though, I'll scrub you myself." He'd thought the remark about Tails would convince Bait; the jackal was almost pathologically frightened that Sonic was going to leave him, and went out of his way to avoid any of Tails' misdemeanours.

The jackal hesitated. "You said a shower'd be okay too, right?"

"If the Chaotix don't mind, then yes," Sonic said wearily. He was almost wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

But then, he couldn't leave Bait smelling like he did, at least, not for very long. It wasn't fair on the jackal...or on the people who had to stand next to him, for that matter.

Thinking about baths brought a smile to Sonic's face as he remembered a certain incident in the Casino Zone. He, Knuckles and Tails had gone to a hotel to rest up before going grinding. Tails had still been in a foul mood over the journal incident and determined to win some compensation in the form of a bath-free night. The argument had gone on for a full half hour before Knuckles had stalked out of his room and into Sonic and Tails', grabbed the fox, strode into the bathroom with him and plunked him squarely in the full tub. The astonished look on Tails' face had caused Sonic to race out again rather hurriedly in an effort to control his laughter, and by the time he got back Knuckles had dumped a basin of water over the fox's head, scrubbed him hard – although not necessarily roughly – hoisted him out, let the water out and thrown a towel at Tails, telling him to 'get on with it and quit whining', resulting in Tails being very subdued for the rest of the evening. Like most (or all) of the echidna's methods, it was simple and almost crude, yet even Sonic couldn't deny that it was undeniably effective; Knuckles had accomplished in a couple of minutes a task which usually took the hedgehog at least fifteen, and that was on a good night.

A mischievous gleam crept into Sonic's eyes. Hm. Maybe he should try Knuckles' tactics at some point, or at least bribe the echidna to come down for a visit.

In the meantime, he had an evening with Amy Rose to survive...

Okay, another chapter finished! (Looks around at Lara-Le fans waving signs and placards) What? You all said you wanted more of Sonic and Bait; I just answered that request (weg) Anyway, if you read, please review!