Sonic eXcluded

I, Airo Smicktor, being of partial sound mind, do declare that I have no ownership of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X or any other associated characters; only the ownership of Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke. Aye.


Episode Prelude:

A flash of light in the dark, cloudy night sky. Count the distance: One elephant, two elephant, three... A clear rumbling sound interrupts the count. The storm is not that far away, and already light rainfall is causing small puddles of water to form on the street pavements below. It's a clear sign to anyone who's a 'believer' or any believer in a God (or Gods if their religion has more than one) of something bad approaching, and it might not just be the weather...

A small parting in the clouds allows the light of the crescent moon to shine down into the darker alleyways and corners of Station Square where the streetlights could not light up. This included a small tenement area of the city, where most of the windows and doors were so blacked out or boarded up that it would make no difference if any lights were turned on or not. Gloomy didn't even come close, but it made the area quiet. The only sounds were the barking of dogs from another side of the city, a police car siren moving through the streets, and the harsh whistling of the wind as it caused a thrown away newspaper to rustle down the empty streets... Well, nearly empty... For the crescent moon of the sky was also shining down on the crescent moon of the Guardian.

Knuckles sat on an upside-down trashcan the he flipped over as a makeshift seat with his strong gloved left hand resting under his chin, and his left foot just on the edge of the can, so that the left knee came up to Knuckles' face, which he used to further rest his hand and chin on. He looked up at the moon, without really looking at it. His mind was on other things rather than this world's solar system. There was only really one place that Knuckles really wanted to return to...

Another rustling sound was heard, and Knuckles felt a strange rubbing on his right leg. He looked down. A newspaper had gotten caught on his leg as it dangled I his seated position. Sighing in only slight annoyance, Knuckles reached down and picked up the paper, looking at the front page. A photograph caught his eye. It was of Sonic, seeming leaping upwards to attack Dr. Eggman who was in his Egg-Pod. Knuckles did not care to read the article that accompanied the picture, suddenly losing interest upon seeing Sonic. Knuckles open up his hand, allowing the wind to carry the newspaper away into the distance.


Knuckles watched the paper fly upwards towards the sky, letting his mind drift elsewhere, far from the city. As he looked up, the flying paper slowly morphed into feathers and wings, transforming into a majestic eagle. In the Echidna's mind, the tall skyscrapers changed into tall mountains, the smaller buildings into trees and forests, and the night sky became a clear blue one.

Knuckles saw the eagle soar high over the treetops, swooping down slightly as if to catch a current only it could detect to help its flight. The eagle cleared the tree with ease, and proceeded to fly straight over a large clearing, which had a central feature of a large, ruined temple-like structure, with only the main steps leading up to the central podium still intact. At the top of the steps, a huge, green, glowing emerald shined, while a red Echidna stood alert and emotionless, guarding it with his life. Knuckles saw himself back at the Master Emerald shrine, carrying out his duty as Guardian and protector of the Floating Island and the Master Emerald.


The image in his mind faded, and Knuckles was left still surrounded by the unfamiliar surroundings of the city, of the dark alleyways, of the heavy footsteps behind him... Knuckles' ears pricked up, although hidden by his dread locked quills, as he turned his head towards the direction of the sound. A dark street, unlit by both streetlight and moonshine, was the source; a figure in the shadows was barely recognisable. Knuckles stood up on the trashcan, as the figure continued to approach, slowly becoming recognisable as it stepped into the light. Knuckles saw the black boots and pants, the bright red coat with yellow buckles, and the unmistakeable long moustache...

"Eggman!" Knuckles said, raising up his fists, surprised that the Doctor had arrived on foot rather than in one of his machines, probably why his senses hadn't picked up on him before. A tense silence followed, as both Eggman and Knuckles looked at each other. Eggman broke the silence, unsurprisingly, but the way in which he broke it certainly was.

Without warning Eggman suddenly dropped to his knees falling to the pavement and bowing his head low, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Please help me!" Eggman spluttered out between sobs, causing Knuckles to look at Eggman in surprise. Knuckles as shocked even more when Eggman rose up quickly and grabbed a hold of Knuckles' hands with his own. Knuckles became a little annoyed with this, gritting his teeth. "The Chaos Emeralds are here Knuckles! They're in this world!" Eggman continued.
"Huh?" Knuckles replied, hearing the Doctor's words.
"You know as well as I do..." Eggman continued, "...That if we can get the seven Chaos Emeralds together, we can create another Chaos Control that would send us all safely back to our world again!"
"Wha... We?"
"Yes Knuckles, I need your help again!"
"My help? Why?"
"Because if we don't do something, Sonic could make us prisoners in this world forever!" Eggman replied, causing Knuckles' eyes to narrow. "He's the reason why we're here in the first place! Don't you remember?"

"Remember? Of course... Of course I..."


Knuckles stood on a tall rock, arms crossed, waiting. He looked out at the great clearing in front of him, and at Eggman's latest base. An impressive sight, with high-reinforced walls, and a large tower in the centre. A loud air raid like siren called out, as large searchlights suddenly came on in the base, lighting it up against the darkness of the night. Hatches in the walls of the base opened up, as domed sliver gun turrets rolled out on tracks from the base to the outside, taking up position. It was a sign that Sonic was on his way.

"Sonic knew he could use the Chaos Emeralds' powers to warp time and space, that's the reason why he attacked my base, he just tricked Tails and Amy into thinking I was going to use the emeralds to cause harm and that I'd kidnapped Cream! I was only protecting her so that Sonic wouldn't be a bad example to her!"

Suddenly, the guns starting blazing as a blue streak raced across the grass, firing streams of bullets across the clearing, attempting to take down the speedy hedgehog, but Sonic was easily outrunning them, with a look of mischief on his face, as Knuckles recalled. Missiles began being launched from within Eggman's compound, surging forward before taking off into the sky and looming downwards, aiming to smash into the hedgehog.

"Sonic somehow found out that I had collected all the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of his grasp! You know just how reckless Sonic can be..."

Missiles left trails of exhaust gases behind them as they smashed into the ground; coming down on the position Sonic had been seconds after Sonic had moved away. Sonic headed directly towards the gun turrets, and used his jumping ability to bounce off the domed turrets and use them as stepping stones to enter Eggman's base. Sonic disappeared over the large wall, leaving Knuckles shaking his head, as he heard loud crashes off metal come from inside the base.

"...So naturally I built defences to protect myself and my research..."

Knuckles heard a loud spring like sound, accompanied by a hard thud-like noise, and Sonic was seemingly sent flying out of Eggman's base into the sky. The roaring engine of the Tornado sounded through the sky, as it cut through the air, flying over the base to reach Sonic. This was a stupid move, and the Tornado, carrying Tails and Amy, was left wide open to attack, and was hit with a barrage of machine-gun fire, which ripped holes in the 'plane and caused flames to pour out. That Sonic was a bad example all right, Tails should never be that reckless, especially with someone as delicate as Amy on board... Huh, when did Knuckles start caring about Amy?

"...But Sonic had made that poor child Tails almost as crazy as himself! My defences accidentally shot down the Tornado when they tried to stop Sonic..."

A small hatch opened up in the underbelly of the Tornado, and a long rocket was fired out of it. The rocket seemed to be heading straight towards Sonic, who was free falling towards the thick woods of the Great Forest. Suddenly, the rocket split itself open, revealing a gold Power Ring that radiated in light and raced towards Sonic, using the momentum the rocket had supplied. Sonic disappeared out of sight, followed a second later by the Ring.

"I was so afraid of what Sonic might do with the emeralds, that my fear clouded over my judgement, and I had to watch in horror as Sonic not only burst through my defences, but left Tails behind, not caring that his 'plane was going to crash into the ground!"

Sonic burst out of the trees, in a rapidly spinning ball shape, his Spin-Dash Attack. Knuckles watched as Sonic ripped through the gun turrets as if they were pinball bumpers. But Knuckles' attention was brought to something else. The damage suffered by the Tornado had rendered the engine useless, and in attempt to bring the 'plane to an emergency stop on the ground, Tails and Amy were now skidding towards the rock that Knuckles was standing on. Knuckles sighed and shook his head at the two, before back flipping off the top of the rock, positioning himself behind it. Knuckles readied himself, mentally focusing, as he kneeled down on one knee and brought his clenched fist backwards, his infamous spiked knuckles pointing directly at the rock. In one swift motion, Knuckles aggressively smashed his fist forward, smashing the rock into tiny fragments, just in time as the Tornado skidded past him in the cloud of dust that was caused by the breakage, a wing sailing over Knuckles' head. Sensing the 'plane's safety, Knuckles leapt back up to the top of what was left of the rock, looking over his shoulder at Tails and Amy, who looked up at him as a saviour. He seemed to be saving Amy a lot nowadays, isn't that Sonic's job?

"But there was no stopping Sonic this time, he was willing to push his selfish search for thrills all the way this time, no matter who got hurt! He broke into my base..."

Knuckles turned away from the two furries below, turning his attention back to the base. There were many explosions bursting up inside the compound, and Knuckles noticed that one of the large searchlights on the main tower had been smashed right through. Sonic must have gotten in that way. Overkill, just like always.

"...And reached where I had the Chaos Emeralds. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen! Finally, he just smashed right into the machine I was using to contain the Chaos Energy, and to my horror, his heartless plan succeeded..."

An uneasy silence filled the air, as fires burned around the bottom of the tower, as Knuckles watched to see what happened next. Amy and Tails had both climbed up to where Knuckles was, but no one had any idea what was going on. This was taking too long for a simple rescue mission, something was wrong. What was Sonic doing now? Suddenly, a bright beam of light appeared out of the top of the Eggman tower, followed by similar beams from all over the top of the tower, before the whole tower itself turned into a bright pillar of white, transforming into an expanding white dome of energy.

"...Sonic caused my machine to malfunction, and Chaos Control was triggered! Sonic sent us all here, just for the fun of it!"

Knuckles looked at the rapidly approaching light, knowing full well what it was. The legendary Chaos Control. Knuckles stood up straight, his arms folded over his chest, as he let the light engulf him...


"...Yes... I remember... I remember it all now... That was what Sonic did? So it really was Sonic's fault that I'm stuck here!" Knuckles said, hints of anger appearing in his face, as he came out from the flashback he had of the time before he had been sent to this world.

"I only tried to, as Sonic put it, 'take over the world', to make it a better place..." Eggman started, now holding a large handkerchief up to his glasses. "...But every time I tried, Sonic just ruined everything!" Eggman finished, before loudly blowing his nose. Knuckles seemed to feel a little sorry for Eggman, he had never seen him in such a state before, so he stepped off the trashcan and put a comforting hand on Eggman's shoulder. Knuckle saw Eggman smile at this, but not in the way Knuckles was thinking. Knuckles could not see the glint appearing in Eggman's eye from knowing that the Echidna was trusting him.
"Oh Knuckles, I can't thank you enough for listening to me..." Eggman began again, crying even more into his handkerchief. "...You're not like that awful Sonic, he wouldn't even let me explain myself! I don't even know why he thinks that I'll just profit from the Chaos Emeralds..."

Knuckles listened again to Eggman, as he carried on telling his sad story. Knuckles didn't even recognise that Eggman had been crying a lot, without actually shedding any tears.

"Sonic says that he was so tired of our world, he wanted something new, so he sent us all here, and now he's going to keep us all stuck here for as long as he wants! All he's doing right now is running around, playing tricks on people, setting a bad example for Tails and Cream..." Eggman looked up at Knuckles, this didn't seem to be getting the reaction he wanted. "...Breaking Amy's heart..." Knuckles eye twitched, and he clenched his fists.

'Oh! It seems I've hit a nerve on that one! Very interesting..." Eggman thought to himself.

"That... That selfish son of a hedgehog!" Knuckles spat out through gritted teeth.
"That's not the worst of it! I managed to find a Chaos Emerald, hoping to find them all to reverse the Chaos Control, and do you know what happened?" The Doctor said, looking at Knuckles. The Guardian shook his dread locked head. "He stole the emerald from me for himself!"
Knuckles' fist began visibly shaking, now this was getting personal. But it wasn't enough for Eggman; he needed to get the Echidna loathing Sonic...
"...I would have thought you'd known all this Knuckles, seeing as how you're such good friends with Sonic and everything..." Eggman seemed to turn his head and say to thin air, as if expecting a look at a television camera to speak to a viewer of a cartoon show, or a reader of an extremely well-written and review deserving piece of fan-fiction.

"THAT HEDGEHOG IS NO FRIEND OF MINE!" Knuckles roared, spinning around and punching a hole deep into the trashcan he had sat on before, sending the can flying down the street, with a force strong enough that caused the can to smash through a boarded up doorway, creating a new entrance for the building.
'Jackpot!' Eggman thought, a little surprised at how angry Knuckles was, but knowing he could use that to his advantage.
"Our alliance had a purpose!" Knuckles said loudly with frustration and vengeance boiling in his voice. "That partnership was only temporary! If I get you back the Chaos Emerald, will you send me back to my Floating Island?"
"Of course I will Knuckles! I want to get out of this place just as much as you do, but what about Sonic? He said that he would crush anyone who dared to get in his way of having fun!"
"Then I'll grind his ignorant skull six feet into the ground!" Knuckles said, raising a fist up to the sky, as if asking for a blessing from the Gods. "I'll battle him to the bitter end! It's time to settle this once and for all!" Knuckles proclaimed up to the night sky.

Behind him, Knuckles did not notice Eggman smile at Knuckles' words, but not because Knuckles was going to help him, but because Knuckles was going to do all the dirty work for him.
'Ah Knuckles, you're still as gullible as ever I see... Thanks to you, my chronic Sonic problems are over!' Eggman smirked; phase two of his plan could now be put into place...


Episode 5Unknown from E.G.G.


Part 1:

"I SEE THE LINE IN THE SAND!" Douglas shouted out as he pushed the door into Chuck's garage open, heading towards the stairs up into the lab attic, banging his head along to the music blasting out of his earpieces. Douglas liked listening to his CD player very loudly. "TIME TO FIND OUT WHO I AM!" Douglas called out again, walking up the stairs and into the lab area. He saw Tails and Chuck, standing by a very big and new machine in the corner of the room, which was built into the walls of the room, looking at Douglas as if he'd just came in on fire. "LOOKING BACK TO SEE WHERE I STAND!"

"Douglas turn that thing off!" Chuck said, becoming slightly annoyed.
"EVO- WHAT?" Douglas said, not hearing his step-grandfather's words through the sound of his music.
"I SAID TURN IT OFF!"
"Hang on a minute..." Douglas said, turning his music off so he could hear what was being said. "Okay, what were you saying?"
"I SAID! Ahem, I said, turn the music off!"
"I already have! You should've asked me that when I had the music on!"
"I DID!"
"Okay, I'll turn the music back on, then you can ask me again to..."
"Ah, guys..." Tails said, intervening. "I think we better show Douglas what we've finished..."

"Oh right! This is the gismo that stops the emerald messing up the electronics right?" Douglas said, looking at a big, shiny tank-like machine, which held the green Chaos Emerald inside it. The machine was adorned with many lights, switches and displays, and the emerald could be clearly seen through the glass-like see-through panel on the front of the device. Douglas looked through the glass at the emerald, as did Tails.
"Nice... Have you given this thing a name yet?"
"The emerald?" Tails asked, puzzled by the question.
"No not the emerald, I mean the machine!"
"Oh, well I guess you could call it a 'Chaos Retainer and Analysis Programme'." Tails said, shrugging his shoulders. Douglas sniggered. "What's wrong with the name?" Tails asked, not understanding the joke, if there was one.
"Oh nothing dude, it's just that you've got a big CRAP in the corner!" Douglas said, still sniggering to himself, now joined by Chuck.
"WHAT? AH! Shoot! This always happens..." Tails said in frustration.
"Don't worry, we'll just have to deal with the fact that the Chaos Emerald is in CRAP!" Chuck said, which caused Douglas to laugh out loud.
"Oh god... This is too good! We'll be pulling... emeralds out of CRAP, and sticking them... into CRAP!" Douglas managed to say, between laughs. "Oh yes... That's the one; I won't be needing sugar now after laughing like that... Oh yes... Ah... Okay I'm good." Douglas finished regaining his composer. He looked at Tails, who had a real pissed-off look on his face.
"Okay, I'm sorry man, let's take a gander at this emerald..."

"I mean, it really does just look like an ordinary gem doesn't it?" Douglas said, looking at the Chaos Emerald as it glowed in the machine.
"Yes, but it holds amazing powers deep inside it!" Tails added.
"I'm running a few tests on it just now, them I'll be able to figure out all that this emerald can do..."

Suddenly, a thumping sound on the hatch into the attic caught the attention of the Thorndykes and Prower, as all three looked at the source of the sound.
"Mr. Thorndyke?" A female voice called up through the closed wooden hatch. Upon hearing the voice, Chuck and Douglas looked quickly at each other. "It's about time that I cleaned up there! You haven't let me clean up in there for weeks, I'm having to issue a dirt alert!"

"Ahhhh! Shitshitshit!" Douglas said under his breath quickly, looking very worried. "It's Ella! Hide Tails, before she sees you!"
"Wha-what? Where?" Tails said, now looking equally worried.
"I dunno! I rarely play the coward."

'Come on Miles, think fast!' Tails thought to him self, but quickly scanning the room for possible hiding places. Chuck's lab wasn't the greatest of places to play a game of hide and seek, since the few cupboards and storage boxes were full to the brim of old notes, newspaper articles and spare machine parts. Tails' sensitive ears picked up the low creaking noise of the hatch being opened, and since he was running low on options, he decided to try one of the oldest tricks in the book: Playing Dead. Tails threw himself in a quick motion onto one of the beanbags that had been left near the wall, and put on a big cheesy smile and a vacant look in his eyes. At that moment, Ella, the maid/cleaner/housekeeper, popped her head up into the attic. All she saw was Chuck Thorndyke pulling down a shutter on a big new machine in the corner of the room, and Douglas Thorndyke looking out the window. She didn't notice Tails, as he had positioned himself so that the bag obscured most of himself to anyone entering the room.

"Look at the mess this place is in!" Ella said, stepping up into the room with her vacuum cleaner under her arm.
"Oh hi Ella!" Douglas said, pretending to have not heard her calling through the floor. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"
"Hmm..." Was her only reply, as she eyed Douglas and Chuck suspiciously, before unwrapping the power cable from around the back of the vacuum.

Chuck looked down at Tails, who in his motionless state resembled a cuddly soft toy. 'Smart kit...' Chuck thought, turning his attention back to the threat of the cleaner.

"Maybe you two should go and enjoy the nice weather then..." Ella said, putting the plug at the end of the cable into a little wall socket and switching it on. "...It'll probably take me HOURS to tidy all this mess up, knowing what happened the last..."

Ella's voice trailed off as she noticed a golden looking stuffed animal that resembled a fox, which was slumped against a red bean-bag not too far from where she had came into the attic. She hadn't noticed it before; the bag must have hidden it from view when she came in. Ella's eyes lit up at the sight of the adorable looking fox with bright blue eyes and a warm smile, and a large smile appeared on her face. Which was a contrast to the now extremely worried looks on the faces of the Throndykes.

'Oh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...' Douglas thought.
"Awww! Isn't this just the sweetest thing that I've ever seen?" Ella said, moving over and kneeling down to the 'toy'. "And for how long have you been keeping this a secret from me, hmm?" Ella said in an ironically mocking tone.
"I... Um... I got it as a gift!" Douglas said, trying not to show the beads of sweat that were appearing on his head. "Mom sent it from her new movie... Something to do with marketing I think..."
"Ah ha! She's been trying to spoil you again eh?" Ella said, her smile seemingly getting wider with this news, before looking back at the doll. The toy was just blankly staring ahead, into the far wall in front of it. Wait, was it? Ella could have sworn that the toy was just a second ago, but now it seemed to be looking straight back at her...

"AH!" Douglas said, quickly moving in and snatching up the fox toy from the floor up over his left shoulder, the action sudden enough to shock both the adults in the room. "Well, actually, I think it is best that we left you to tidy up Ella, I don't want to get IN THE WAY, right Chuck?" Douglas said, putting extra emphasis into 'IN THE WAY'.
"Huh? Oh, yes! Besides, I feeling a little hungry now..." Chuck said, before following Douglas as he quickly darted down the stairs out of the garage, leaving behind a confused maid.
'Did that toy... Have two tails?' Ella thought to herself as she heard the side door of the garage downstairs open and close, leaving her alone to her battle against dust.


"Marketing?" Chuck said questioningly, as both he, Douglas and Tails, who was being given a piggy-back ride by Douglas, moved quickly away from Chuck's garage, and around the main house.
"You try making up rubbish like that on your feet! Most of my lines are written anyway!" Douglas replied, looking over his shoulder at his step-grandfather.
"We were lucky she didn't suspect anything, huh?" Tails said, quite happy that he was now able to blink freely.
"Yeah, but you better watch yourself Tails, Ella's taken quite a liking to you!" Chuck replied.
"Huh? What?" Tails was puzzled.
"Oh Tails, I can see you turning into a real heart-breaker when you're older..." Douglas said half-seriously, but not loud enough to break the slumber of a certain blue hedgehog on the roof of the house.
"Don't worry yourself, that kind of thing doesn't happen for years!" Chuck reassured Tails, who was still clueless to what his two human friends were talking about.
"Come on Chuck!" Douglas said, still looking back over his shoulder "I'm sure that he'll be able to..."

Douglas didn't finish his sentence, as he suddenly found his path blocked by something as he ran into it. Douglas stumbled back a couple of steps, but was sent back forward a step when Chuck ran into his back. Steadying himself, he quickly looking at what had caused his movement to falter. He looked at the sight of a tall man with short black hair and spectacles, who was wearing a common butler's suit with a light lilac bow tie.

"Master Douglas..." The man began in a very formal tone. "...What, may I ask, seems to be the cause of all this hurry?"
"Oh, hi Mr. Tanaka!" Douglas said, smiling at the butler with a glint in his eyes. "There's actually a very good explanation to why I'm running."
Mr. Tanaka arched an eyebrow at the young man, and also to the elderly man behind him, who seemed to be chuckling slightly, although no 'joke' had yet been told. "...And what would that be Sir?"
"THE BRITISH ARE COMING! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!" Douglas suddenly shouted, standing to attention and doing a mock salute to the butler. "You barricade the windows, while myself and Private Fox here ready the battlements! TEN FOUR OVER AND OUT SIR!" Douglas finished before finishing his salute and quickly marching around Tanaka.

Tanaka watched Douglas move around him, until he had moved around his shoulder, so as not to turn his head fully to watch his young 'master' leaving. Tanaka had no intention of letting Douglas see the look of absolute disgust that he currently had. His attention quickly turned to the form of Chuck Thorndyke, who was cupping his hands over his mouth to try and subdue the giggles that were escaping from him. Tanaka regained his composure as the old man attempted to move forward.

"Master Chuck..." The butler began again, moving forward slightly to further draw the man's attention. "...As much as I would like to encourage your attempts at trying to stay youthful and participate in Master Douglas'... 'Training methods'... I would suggest that you might be better a playing more adult sports, more suitable for your age group, such as bowls."
"Ha!" Chuck brushed aside the discouraging remarks. "I'll play British Bulldogs if I see fit to..."
"With all due respect Sir..." Tanaka's voice became much more serious, as he leaned down to look directly at the former scientist, which caused Chuck to jump back slightly in surprise.
"...I think it would be far more appropriate for people of your age to practise much more relaxing pastimes..." The face of the butler was adorned with a very disapproving look.
"...Rest is very important for people like you, since you spend most of your time up in your laboratory. It's just as well that I came looking for you Master Chuck; it is time for your weekly swimming session." Tanaka raised his body back up to its vertical position.
"I, Tanaka, will gladly drive you there, so come along..."

Douglas stepped off the gravel path, allowing Mr. Tanaka to forcefully push Chuck along in, towards the vehicle garage at the side of the house.

"I don't need anyone telling me what to do!" Chuck argued.
"It is good to mix with people of your own age like this."
"They're way too boring! I have an experiment running that I need to work on!"
"I'm sure it will be there when you return Sir."
"I'll have you know that I'm only holding back since you do all those karate lesions!"
"Of course you are Sir, come along..."

Douglas shook his head as the arguing sounds faded behind the side of the house.
'Poor Chuck...' He thought, not noticing that Tails was no longer pretending to be a toy and had also watched Chuck and Tanaka leave, or noticing what was about to run into him.
"OWW!" Douglas heard as he felt something run into his legs from behind, but the effect wasn't very strong, or effective, to even move Douglas an inch. He turned around, and looked around for what had caused the female sounding noise, but could not see anything around him.

"Amy!" Tails said, quickly jumping down off Douglas' shoulders. Douglas watched the fox as he moved over to the pink hedgehog that was rubbing her arm, which was presumably caused when she'd fell onto the ground. Douglas hadn't noticed her before since he hadn't looked down at the ground.
"Uh... Thanks Tails." Amy said as the kitsune gentlemanly helped the pink hedgehog up off the ground to a standing position.
"No problem Amy!" Tails happily replied.
"Yo Amy!" Douglas butted in, ending the pleasantries, as both the furries looked up to him. "What are doing runnin' around out here for? I told you stay inside in case anyone saw you..."
"But this is important!" Amy said, with a worried expression taking place over the slightly pain-filled one she had on before. "They found another Chaos Emerald!"
"Huh?" Tails and Douglas replied at the same time, and at once.
"There's a news report on right now!"


"...It seems that the whole Silver Valley region is being effected by what police have described as 'energy spikes'..." a male reporter's voice spoke over a scrolling image of mountain scenery, "...which has played havoc with machinery, electronics and communications in the area. This incidents are eerily similar to those of the Station Square 'power crystal' incident of just a few days ago, and has fuelled worry and fear among the residents nearby, due to reported sightings of what has been described as a 'large machine'..."

"Is it really a Chaos Emerald then?" Douglas questioned, as he, Amy and Tails sat on the living room sofa, watching the report.
"I guess so, but is it really that far away?" Tails replied.
"Well, not really, Silver Valley's actually quite close by. It's a small-ish town where raw materials for computers and electronics were mined years ago, that's how it got its name. But nowadays it's a holiday spot, with a large reserve in the middle. I've heard it's a great picnic spot, but I've never been there yet..."
"...With rumours of a strange fishing cat sighted near rivers..." the reporter continued
"It won't take us that long to get there at all! You up for it guys?"
"Yeah, no problem!" Tails replied. Amy, however, had only registered the word picnic in her mind, and was out the door.

"Sonic! Sonikku?" Amy called up from outside the house to the slumbering blue hedgehog resting on a white railing of the balcony of Douglas' room.
"...Huh?" Sonic said, opening one eye half-open, slightly annoyed by the Pink One's interruption of his rest.
"Did you hear the news?"
"...What news?"
"Douglas has found just the perfect spot in Silver Valley for us all to have a picnic together!"
"...Picnic?" Tails questioned, poking his head out the doorway to listen to the conversation. Douglas was already upstairs in his room, looking out some stuff that he thought would be useful to take with him.

"Oh really?" Sonic replied, sarcastically. "I think I've already been there before..."
"What?" Amy said, not noticing the sarcasm. "Already? Oh, so you saw it on one of your runs, did you? I hope you're not going to make me have fun on my own again, are you?"
"...You said it Amy, not me!" Sonic said, smirking, refusing to use the other come-back he had thought off in reply to Amy's last statement.
"Sonic you idiot! Fine! We'll just go and have more fun without you anyway! Come on Tails!" Amy said, storming off inside where Tails was standing, trying to make it look like he hadn't just been listening in.
"Um... Amy, are you sure it's wise to go without Sonic..." Tails began, but was rudely cut off.
"We don't need that lazy bum anyway! Douglas could handle himself fine without Sonic when he grabbed the emerald from RoBUTTnik, this should be a walk in the park for him! Come on!" Amy grabbed Tails' wrist with her own hand, practically dragging the poor kitsune up the stairs.

"You Sonic, you comin' with us?" Douglas said, stepping out onto the balcony, not having heard what Amy said during the conversation.
"Naw, doesn't sound like my scene..." Sonic shrugged any regret off.
"Well, your loss bud. We'll be in the Silver Valley anyway, I'm sure you'll find it, since it ain't that far away..."
"Whatever man..."
Douglas turned back to step back into the house, but stopped just as he was about to leave the balcony. "Piece of advice Sonic: Don't go breakin' people's hearts, 'else you'll find yours broken worse..."

Sonic blinked confused as Douglas closed the glass doors behind him, leaving the Hedgehog to his own thoughts, which Sonic instantly tried to ignore, like many bad memories he had.

"There you are Douglas!" Amy said, still angry at Sonic. "When are we getting out of here?"
"But how are going to get there Douglas?" Tails asked, finally freeing his wrist from Amy's painful grip.
"Now that's a question... Tanaka took the car out to deliver Chuck to his weekly snooze-fest, and there's no way you could fly the Tornado there without being spotted..."
"That man did seem a little strict..." Tails said, his ears dropping a little.
"Can't you drive Douglas?" Amy butted in.
"Yeah, I can drive, but you need a car to drive. I don't have one."
"Why not?"
"Never needed one, always caught 'planes and trains to get to places where I wres..."
"Trains?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, there's a rail network all over the country, as well as a local tram system..."
"Trams?"
"Yeah... Hey... I think there's a tramline that goes right to Silver Valley!"
"Really? Could we use that?"
"I guess so, but how will you two be able to...?"
"Don't worry about that Doug! I've got a plan that might just work...


'Oh yes, this is an awesome plan of yours Tails...' Douglas thought, as he shifted his gaze to avoid the stares of parents, children, and everyone else in the tram carriage. It had been like this ever since he'd gotten on with his two 'stuffed animal' toys, which were both sat on either side of him, as he had a large picnic basket resting on his lap. 'This is gonna do hell to my reputation...'

"Wow mom! Look at those! Aren't they cute?" He heard a little girl call out.
"Isn't he a bit old for those kind of toys?" A parent asked.
"Aww... Those toys would make a cute couple!" A different little girl said.
"That guy looks familiar..." Another voice said, at which point a sweat drop formed on Douglas' head. It was one thing to spend almost fifteen minutes on a wooden bench in a bright red tram moving through the countryside, wearing a black leather jeans and jacket and a KoRn T-shirt, with a straw picnic hamper on his lap, but to have an oversized orangey-yellow two-tailed fox on his left and a similarly sized pink hedgehog in a red dress was ever worse.

"This is extremely uncool..." Douglas whispered under his breath.
"Relax Douglas, we're doing the hard work..." Tails said similarly, but trying not make his mouth move.
"Shut up, you'll break our cover!" Douglas replied, looking around the carriage again, hoping the ride would be over soon.
"Um... What do I do if I have to blink?" Amy asked in a similarly quiet voice, but suddenly her thoughts were taken up by a sudden pulling on her ear. A small toddler had grabbed a hold of her ear, and was pulling it roughly.
"Mom! Mom, can I get one of these? Can I? Can I Mom? This one's really cute, and we could have tea parties together, and all my friends can come' round and see it, and they'd be sooooo jealous! Please? Can, can I get one Mom? Can I? Can I?"
'Stupid brat!' Amy thought, reaching boiling point from the little girls' annoying voice and pulling. 'It's not enough to touch my and probably mess up my hair, but only MY SONIC can call me cute!' The look in her eyes darkens through the pain, anger seeping through.
"And then there can be a hold wedding with flowers and cake and dresses and dancing and..."

Before the girl could finish, Amy brought her boot back, and in a powerful kick, pushed the girl off her ear and the seat next to her, sending her smashing into the door of the driver's compartment. The girl's mother stood up in alarm, having ignored her before, upon hearing the little girl cry her eyes out from the shock and pain of what had just happened. Amy smiled, as everyone in the cab's attention was drawn away from Douglas and his 'toys', which allowed both herself and Tails the chance to blink.

'How could anyone be so annoying?' Amy thought to herself.

Douglas was less than pleased, slapping his head into his face, and dragging the hand down over his facial features. 'Why is it always my life that's the most messed up?' He thought, shaking his head, as the tram continued onto its destination.


Sonic blinked. He blinked again. He'd just stepped through the doorway into what he thought would be a regular room. Instead, it was like the room he thought he entered, but it was instead coloured black and white. Like an old movie picture, or a forgotten memory.

"Nice of you to turn up, Sonic!" Sonic was greeted by a pissed-off sounding female voice that came from an hedgehog standing in the middle of the room, who, unlike the surroundings, was in full colour, standing out.
"...What do you mean?" Sonic replied in his usual cocky style.
"You know exactly what I mean Sonic!" The female snapped back, her foot tapping off the floor in annoyance.
"I have nooooo idea what you're talkin' about..."
"Don't play around with me mister! I know you well enough to know when you're running around just to annoy people!"
"Is it that obvious?"
"...Yes, it is..."

"Chill people!" A third hedgehog's voice intervened, this time male, as he stepped between the argument. "Sonic's here isn't he?"
"...That doesn't change the fact that..." the female began again.
"Relax! What is it that you're getting so worked up about anyway?" Sonic said, carefree as usual
"I think you know what it is man..." the male said, a little sadder than the cool tone he had used before.

"...Oh no..." The carefree tone had vanished from Sonic's vocal speech.
"I'm sorry Sonic, but you know there's no real way out of it..." the male said, moving forward to place a hand on the blue hedgehog's shoulder. "...I guess it's just part of what we are now. You're the hero, and that makes you perfect material for..."
"I am not an it!" Sonic said, shoving the hand off his shoulder. "And further more, I am not going through with this!"
"WHAT?" The other two said together, or in unison.
"You heard! I ain't doing it!"
"Sonic, ain't ain't a word..." the female told Sonic off, but he was too angry to let it register.
"But man, you've got to be responsible now we've got all this family honour to uphold! We all do! We're in this together..."
"You aren't the one getting married here..."
Thegreen male was silenced. There was no reply to that one.
"...But that doesn't mean you won't get along..."

Sonic shot the female a death glare. "How can YOU say that? I always thought you, out of the three of us, was the smartest of the family! You've changed since Mom came back; you've changed a lot! You used to make fun of your title, but now you hold onto it like it's the only thing you have!" Sonic then turned to the male. "Even you, you've changed as well..."
"You think it's been easy? The way I was brought up, the stuff I've been through, to suddenly live a life like this? I don't like this anymore than you do man, but it's not like before... I mean... We haven't even jammed together for ages..."

A sickly silence filled the room, as the three let the truth sink in.

"...You're right." The female broke the silence. "We forgotten who were are, by being what we're supposed to be."
"But is it too late?" Sonic said, his usual cool exterior braking. "I mean, it's scheduled to happen in..."
"Don't think like that Bro!" The other male interrupted. "It's never too late, especially for someone with you're speed..."

Sonic smiled a little at this, but his mind was drowning in worry
"Sonic... I'm afraid the only real option here is..." The female's voice trailed off
"What do you mean?"
"...I hate to say this Sonic, but... You're going to have to..."
"What?" "


Sonic's eyes fluttered open, readjusting to the daylight.

'Urgh... Another bad dream... Bad memories... I need another run...' Sonic said, trying to get the images from his dream out of his mind. He had been resting on the railing, with his hands behind his head and resting against the wall, while his legs were stretched out on the rail, one foot pointing up at the sky above. Sonic yawned, before his attention was taken by a strange sound from above him. It sounded like a strange jet engine. Sonic looked up, and saw a very weird sight. What appeared to be a small, black creature with red boots, white gloves, and yellow eyes was dropping out of the sky with a green bag over its shoulder. The bag had the word 'EGG' printed on it.

'What the Mobius...' Sonic thought, as the creature landed on the railing Sonic was on. The blue hedgehog watched curiously as the creature opened up the bag, and pulled out a yellow television from inside it. 'How the... that TV looks bigger than the bag...'

The creature laughed as it took the monitor and placed it on Sonic's foot, so it rested perfectly. "I'll just put this here..." The creature said in a high-pitched, child-like voice as it adjusted the position of it. "...There you go! There's a message for you! Look!" It said, pressing the on button of the TV.

Instantly, a very close up picture of the very angry looking eyes of Knuckles the Echidna appeared.

"Sonic!" Knuckles started saying, in a voice plainly full of emotion from the TV. "I know what you're up to hedgehog, and this time you've gone too far! I'm sick and tired of all this, so we'll settle this today! I'm calling you out, one-on-one! You know what I think of you, so if you have any guts or honour at all, you'll show up. Meet me at 12 O'clock, exactly, in Silver Valley. I'd suggest you show up, if you dare..."
'What's Knucklehead's problem now?' Sonic thought, not noticing that the creature that had delivered the message had backed off.
"This message was brought to you by the Eggman Empire..." Knuckles continued, which snapped Sonic's attention right back to the screen. "...Which is not responsible for its content... Expect for this..."

Before Sonic could react, the television started short-circuiting from within, and exploded right in the face of the Blue Blur. Sonic was left coughing in the smoke from the explosion as he heard the high-pitched laughing from the creature fly up into the sky. When the smoke cleared, Sonic was left covered in a brown dust from head to toe, looking more like a common hedgehog than his normal blue self.
"...I hope he realises... This means war..." Sonic said, his eyes narrowing.


"You know, this picnic wasn't a bad idea after all! Tails said, smiling at the contents of the picnic hamper were spread all over the blue white material of the picnic blanket.
"Yeah, no one puts up a spread quite like Ella, just as well I said I was going here to meet a girlfriend..." Douglas added, looking out at the beautiful shimmering lake of the Silver Valley Reserve Park. Around them, there were high cliff-faces, tall trees and forests, and the backdrop of a huge snow-capped mountain.
"Sigh... It's so romantic..." Amy said, gazing at the view. "I do wish Sonic was here to see it... It would be just perfect..."
"Naw, he wouldn't have stayed still during the tram ride. Besides! It's a nice change to being cooped up in the house all day, even if we don't find that emerald..." Douglas added, taking a bite out of a ham and cheese sandwich.
"Shouldn't there be a lot of people if a Chaos Emerald was found?" Tails said, finishing off a tomato salad sandwich.
"Dunno... Maybe it's not around here, or something else caught their attention..."
"Like what?" Amy asked, still thinking about Sonic, looking up at the mountain, and therefore not noticing the bubbles rising to the surface of the water of the lake.
"Well, maybe the army showed up, or Sonic, or one of Eggman's robots..."

Suddenly, a great rush of water burst out of the lake, causing the two furries and human to look up in shock and horror. Amy and Tails screamed out, clinging onto Douglas.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF JEBUS?" Douglas shouted, staring at the sight before him. A towering purple robot, with two huge metallic arms with scoops on the end, a clear belly with showed the inside chamber of the machine, and what looked to be several small turrets just underneath the belly. This had to be an Eggman robot. The robot then raised up one of its huge arms, the scoop at the end aimed right at the group below

"LEG IT!" Douglas shouted, scooping up the picnic in this blanket and trying to run away from the machine, but found himself slowed down by the two furries clinging to his legs. Before any of them knew what was going on, the scoop came down inches in front of them, scooping them, along with a sizeable amount of earth, upwards. The whole world seemed to tumble around for a moment, and before Douglas could regain his sense of direction, he found himself falling downwards. He hit a cold, metal floor hard, knocking the wind out of him, which was not helped by a combination of picnic, soil, fox and hedgehog also falling on him.

Douglas groaned, feeling his back and stomach, as he shook the dirt out of his hair. Looking around him, Tails and Amy were in a similarly disorientated state, but it didn't take them long to figure out where they were. They were inside the machine. Douglas hammered a closed fist against the clear glass. It was no use, it was tougher than bulletproof, not that Douglas cared at that moment.

"That won't do you any good lad!" A sinister sounding voice came from above. Looking up, Douglas saw the lowering craft that was the typical mode of transport for one Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
"EGGMAN!" Amy and Tails said collectively, and together.
"Well, look what I've caught today!" Eggman replied, mockingly.
"You're after the Chaos Emerald as well!" Douglas called out through the glass.
"Aha! My plan tricked you all just as I suspected!"
"...Plan?"
"You see my boy, those 'disruptions' you heard about in the news story were created by me! I sent out some simple electronic destabilizers to interfere with the frequencies of the equipment in this area, and people, being the fickle things they are, assumed it was connected with the Chaos Emerald! I just manipulated mass media like it's supposed to, it's not my fault they barked up the wrong tree!" Eggman concluded, smugly.

"...Are humans always this gullible?" Tails said, looking up at Douglas.
"...I DON'T SEE YOU NOT BEING TRAPPED PROWER!" Douglas shouted back, sending Tails tumbling backwards in fright.
"Don't worry boys, allow women's intuition to get us out of here!" Amy said, holding her Piko-Piko hammer in her hand. Amy then began violently hammering into the glass with it, in a vain attempt to break out. After about twenty seconds furious hammering, Amy, let the hammer drop out of her hands, as she fell back tired.
"What the hell kind of women are you to have intuition like that?" Douglas said, raising his arms up in disgust.
"Save it!" Eggman called down. "Just sit tight, you'll be able to watch the show fine from down there..."
"What show?" Douglas called back
"Why, the main event of course!" Eggman said, before looking over his shoulder. Douglas looked to where Eggman was looking, and saw what looked to be a red hedgehog-like figure sitting, arms crossed, on a rock on a high up cliff.

"Huh? Knuckles?" Tails said, taking a good look at what Douglas was looking at. "What's he doing here?"
'Never mind that fox-boy!' Eggman thought. 'You three just keep to yourselves... I'll need a plan B in case Knuckles fails me again...'


Flip Card 1 – Mr. Tanaka

Full Real Name: Undisclosed
Nickname(s): Tanaka, Mr. Robot-o
Gender: Male
Likes: Karate lesions, serving Master Thorndyke, doing his job well
Dislikes: Insolence, silliness, harm coming to the Thorndyke family
Identifying features: Tall, wears complete butler's suit with tie, wears glasses, does not seem to have a sense of humour


Flip Card 2 – Ella

Full Real Name: To quote: "Is unnecessary for people to call me other than Ella, since it is much more friendlier!"
Nickname(s): Ella
Gender: Female
Likes: Cooking, cleaning, helping
Dislikes: Untidiness, an unbalanced diet, people keeping to themselves
Identifying features: Wears bright blue maids outfit with white apron, often seen either cleaning or cooking for the Thorndyke family


Part 2

'Where is he...?' Knuckles thought, his eyes closed as he meditated, preparing for the upcoming battle. '...That hedgehog... Always taking liberties... Of my trust... Of Tails' friendship... That warrior human he's staying with... Amy's heart...' Knuckles cringed slightly at that thought.
'No Knuckles, focus... Such emotions do not sidetrack the guardian... You have already been through this... She has a childish desire for the hedgehog, one that has lasted for years... Why am I even thinking about her? My purpose is the Master Emerald! The Floating Island!'
'...Yet... Why does my heart... Tell me otherwise? What is this feeling? Do I... Feel sorry for Amy? Or is it... Perhaps her desire for Sonic is on a level similar as my desire to protect the Master?'
'...Such strange feelings... No, it does not matter. You only had to protect her until she reunited with Sonic. Why should she care about...? NO! Focus Knuckles, this is not the time! You have been away from the Master for too long! These emotions are not common on the Island...
'...I must return there... Before I forget my purpose... My destiny...'
'...My isolation...'

Knuckles eyes snapped open. He sensed him. The hedgehog was near. And late again. Sure enough, not more than ten seconds had passed since Knuckles brought himself out of meditation when a blue hedgehog suddenly slid in front of him, taking up an infuriatingly arrogant side-on pose, with his eyes closed.

"Hey Knuckle-Head! It's been a while since you dropped out, what's been eating you?"
Knuckles stood up, ignoring the pleasantries. "For such a 'fast' hedgehog, you always seem to show up late. I said be here at twelve!"
"Tsk tsk Knuckles..." Sonic ignored the comment. In fact, Sonic hadn't even opened his eyes yet, or turned his head towards the echidna. "We are touchy today... Besides..." Sonic continued, raising his left arm up, so that the flower held in his left hand was lifted up to his nose.
"This place is kinda nice, you shouldtry having a picnic here... Mmm... Smells devine... Makes life worth living, don't you think?"
"Not living in this world..." Knuckles sneered
"Lighten up Knuckz, you need some lessons in cooling off partner..."
"I've never been your partner hedgehog!" Knuckles spat out, clenching his fists. "Enough of this talk! I challenged you, and I expect an answer!"
"Oh, so you were serious?" Sonic said, almost uncaring. "Well, before I answer you, perhaps you could enlighten me as to why you're being oh so hostile?"
"WHY?" Knuckles roared, now becoming aggravated with the pointless chitchat. "It's because you that we're stuck here, and that I'm away from the Master Emerald!"
"Oh, it's about your emerald again, is it?"

"You wouldn't know anything about honour and duty hedgehog! You always run away from your problems!"
"Oh Knuckles, you can be so harsh..."
"You run from your friends..."
"...So short-tempered..."
"...You run from those who love you..."
"...So impatient..."
"...You even ran away from your own family!"
"...So... What did you say?"

"Yes, I know about you hedgehog, what you did..."
"This has nothing to do with my family, and you know it!"
Knuckles smirked. He'd managed to hit a nerve in Sonic, and didn't care that it was rather a cheap shot. "That's on no consequence, you run around acting like a hero, when you can't even defeat your own demons."
This time's Sonic's fist were being clenched. "Take that back Knuckles!"
"Why should I? It's the truth! You ran from your family 'cause there was a problem you couldn't handle!"
"How could I have dealt with that at the age I was?"
"A real man would have stuck it out, unlike you!"

Sonic let the flower drop from his hand, floating slowly to the ground. Sonic's foot then sharply came down upon it, before he twisted the tip of his foot, grinding the flower into the ground. The silence that followed couldn't have been cut with a chainsaw. Both furries, eyes narrowed, fists clenched, feet ready, their whole bodies posed for action. They stared deep into each other's eyes, waiting for the other to blink, to make a move.

"...If I win, you hand over the Chaos Emerald you've got..." Knuckles broke the silence.
"...And if I win, you take back what you've said, and have to stay with the rest of us..."
"...Maybe I'll admit that you're the better man..."
"...Perhaps..."

Another deafening silence followed, as their eyes locked again. For both, this was a chance to silence the other, to lay to rest the problems that the other had for their opponent, to settle scores made many moons ago. This was go time; this was the time for blood, sweat, tears, and pain.

They both lunged towards each other with lightning reflexes, drawing a fist back in preparation. Approaching one another, they launched an attack. Sonic swiped, but the blow was blocked by Knuckles' hand. They landed, swivelled on the spot, and faced each other again. Knuckles had no intention of hitting Sonic at this point; he was feeling his opponent out, testing his moves.

They both launched at each other again, but Knuckles stopped a few feet before Sonic. The blue hedgehog launched his fist again, which the Guardian caught. Grasping Sonic's arm, Knuckles twisted his body around, so that Sonic saw the red back of the echidna, before being pulled arm first over his shoulder to the ground, in a judo-like move. Sonic sprang up again, but Knuckles had already leaped back, anticipating the recovery, but with the intent of following up the attack. Knuckles leapt, allowing his natural gliding ability to home in towards Sonic. Sonic managed to jump over the echidna, and land a safe distance away. Knuckles planted his feet on the ground, and turned around, this time running towards Sonic.

Knuckles unleashed a fury of rapid right and left hands, aiming to knock his blue opponent senseless. Sonic dodged backwards with every blow thrown, leaving the spiked fists only hitting thin air.

Knuckles brought his right fist back, allowing the left to continue throwing punches, but wit such speed and movement that it was hard to tell if there were two fists or not.

The split second Sonic realised this was just in time to perform a back flip to avoid the right hand smashing downwards into the ground, and to land safely onto a higher up cliff. Looking down, Sonic still saw the burning hatred in the purple eyes of the red echidna. Looking up, Knuckles saw the confident cockiness of the blue hedgehog.

Wasting no time, Knuckles used the dusty ground of the cliff he was on as a run-up, as he picked up speed, before taking off upwards towards his opponent. Knuckles again pulled back his right fist, aiming for the hedgehog. Sonic easily saw the move coming, and took of high into the air, leaving Knuckles gliding underneath him. Sonic spun around in a ball mid-air, homing in on Knuckles. The crimson echidna brought himself out of his glide just in time to see the hedgehog aim a Flying Kick towards his body. Knuckles twisted his body, performing a cartwheel that had no problem in avoiding the attack.

Sonic landed on the ground, but had to lower his head to avoid a spinning roundhouse kick targeted for his skull. From his crouched position, Sonic stuck his own leg out and spun himself around, with the intent of taking his opponent with a leg-sweep, but Knuckles jumped over it. The two regained their vertical bases. Knuckles threw another punch, which Sonic dodged. Sonic threw a punch of his own, which Knuckles sidestepped.

Then at the same time, both of the battling furries jumped up from the ground, and attempted a dropkick on the other, but only resulted in them hitting each other's boots, before hitting the ground safely, leaving only a distance of 6 feet between them. Neither moved, silently impressed, and concerned, with how well the other fought, but also how well the opponent knew what the attacker's next move would be.

Knuckles launched himself again, unleashing another flurry of rights and lefts, leaving Sonic left to play defensive mode to avoid taking punishment.

This time Knuckles was not so willing to let up, so Sonic found himself relying on instincts to tell him what was behind him. Sonic had to avoid trees, rocks, stumps, and... Sonic felt something else, something worrying.

He heard water. A quick dive to the side, leaving Knuckles still moving forward, allowed Sonic to fully take in the sight. A large pool, with a cascading waterfall supplying the, to Sonic, deadly water. Knuckles must have checked the area out before hand to force Sonic over here, knowing Sonic's weakness of water, and Knuckles' skill in it. There was little time to mentally commend Knuckles' preparation for this fight, as Knuckles was back again on the aggressive side, lunging in with an uppercut towards Sonic.

The blue hedgehog took a risk, jumping onto a rock poking out of the water, before moving over to another as Knuckles charged towards him, using the stones as a makeshift path across the liquid of Sonic's nightmares. Knuckles had no problems exposing such weaknesses, as he changed path, hitting the rock Sonic was standing on instead of the hedgehog himself. Caught slightly off guard, Sonic made a dive towards dry land, barely making it onto the opposite bank. Getting up quickly, Sonic shot a death glare towards Knuckles, who had no problem returning the look with equal feeling.

Sonic took off, now on his element, running into a forest of trees, leaving Knuckles trailing behind him. The sounds of branches snapping, leaves being crumpled, and the intakes of breath were the audio signs of the chase as they battled unseen in the wood.

On the other side, a blue blur suddenly took off up the tall cliff behind the wood, followed by a red blur. Sonic had built up plenty of speed through the wood to tear up the rock with his natural abilities, while Knuckles used his natural gifts to easily climb up the cliff. Sonic allowed his often over confident side to take over for a second, as he smugly looked over his shoulder at the chasing echidna, a look which only infuriated him further.

Turning around, Sonic continued upwards onto the bark of a tree placed perfectly on the edge of the cliff-face, allowing the hedgehog to climb up it as well, before Sonic eventually came to a stop on the very top of it.

"OH! What a great view!" Sonic called out, putting on a ballerina like pose on one foot, extend his leg back a raising a hand to above his eyes, taking in the sight around him.
"Doug was right! It was nearly my loss not coming here..."

Sonic's enjoyment was shattered by the sudden violent shaking of the tree he was on, followed by it tilting forward, over the side of the cliff with no safe ground to land on. Below, Knuckles used his guardian strength to completely uproot the tree, lifting it over his own head.

"VIEW THIS!" Knuckles roared, before pulling his arms forward, tilting the whole tree forward, and whipping the hedgehog off the perch on top into the forest.

Knuckles watched as the blue form of his nemesis flew over the treetops and into the wood. Knuckles knew that would not be enough, Sonic would be able to land safely.

Charging forward, the native of the Floating Island began hammering his fists into the trees before him, sending them crashing down into the wood before him. Tree after tree, trunk after trunk, branch after branch fell into the wood itself, as Knuckles cleared a path of destruction into the forest, intent on harming the fleeing opponent.

At the uncleared end of the path, Sonic was having no problem outrunning the crashing trees, which allowed him to plot out his next move. He saw an already chopped down tree, which had fallen into a medium-sized drop in the ground. Sonic smirked, as he grinded down the bark of the fallen lumber. Behind him, one of the falling timbers fell onto the other end of the tree Sonic had grinded, which had a see-saw effect of tossing Sonic back into the air. Sonic's smirk turned into a look of determination, as he pulled himself in tightly to his own body, forming the familiar ball shape that was prelude to his infamous attacks.

Spinning in the air, Sonic saw the chance he was looking for, and ripped down a tree, which Knuckles had just newly punched down. Knuckles looked up, and was able just in time to bring his powerful hands and arms up as Sonic drove into him with a Sonic Spin Attack, a less powerful version of the Spin Dash Attack, but one which did not require a Power Ring to use, and was powerful enough in a fight like this.

Despite Knuckles' superior strength, the momentum built up by Sonic was enough to counteract the attempts of the red echidna to force him backwards so far that both of the duelling furries were sent through a the original tree trunk that Knuckles had pulled up, and tumbling down the rocky side below. The two became locked in a grappling tussle, with each one trying to get an advantage over the other, while gradually rumbling back towards the water pool...

SPLASH!

Sonic's fear over came him as both he and Knuckles fell into the water. Sonic broke free from Knuckles' grip and began flailing his arms around madly.

"ARGH! WATER! GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT!" Sonic screamed out, the desperation in his voice clear for anyone around to here. "HELP ME, PLEASE! HELP ME!"
"Get up you pathetic hedgehog! The water's only three inches deep!"

Sonic stopped, as a sweat-drop formed out of embarrassment on his head. Indeed, Sonic was sitting in a three-inches of water. Apparently, Sonic's fear had over estimated the depth of the pool and the size of the waterfall.
"...Ah... Just as well I fell in the kiddie-pool then!" Sonic said, laughing uneasily, stepping out of the water and back onto dry land, before taking up a battle pose.
"All right Knuckles, I've had enough of going easy on you! Now it's time to take you down."

Knuckles stood, his arms crossed over his chest, unaffected by Sonic's threat after his show of his fear of shallow depths of water. "...Let me know when you get your water-wings, so I can buy you a spine next time I go shopping." Knuckles said, entering into his own battle pose


.

Meanwhile, while the battle had been raging on, Eggman was idly watching Knuckles do his dirty work for him. "That's it Knuckles... Show Sonic just who's boss... Then Chaos Emerald will be all mine!" Eggman smiled, watching Knuckles avoid a flying kick.

While inside the machine, Douglas was tucking into one of the sandwiches not covered in dirt, while Amy watched the battle, and Tails seemed to be interested in the workings of the machine they were trapped in.
"Those guys sure know how to fight, huh?" Douglas said, after finishing another mouthful.
"It's been like this for years, Knuckles has been jealous of Sonic ever since they first met..." Tails replied, still looking at the machine. "...I'm not sure if it's Sonic's freedom he dislikes, or if it's his attitude, but there's always been conflict between them, although Sonic would really like the two of them to be friends."
"Really?" Douglas sounded surprised. "From what I see, they don't seem that friendly towards each other..."

"It's only because that Knuckles is always so gullible to believe what Eggman tells him!" Amy added, as she watched the battle continue.
'Oh Knuckles... Why are you always like this?" Amy thought to herself. 'Why can't you and Sonic just get along with each other? You could be such good friends...'
'That's not the real reason you don't want them to fight, is it Amy?' Another voice in Amy's head butted in.
'Huh? What do you mean?'
'You know what I mean Amy Rose, you don't want either Sonic OR Knuckles to get hurt, do you?'
'Well, of course I do! I don't want my friends to get hurt at all!'
'Since when was Sonic just a friend?'
'HUH? NO! I mean... I...'
'You've been thinking about Knuckles a lot recently, ever since you two spent those days stuck underground together...'
'It didn't mean anything! Knuckles was to focused about getting back to his...'
'Not even when Knuckles saved you?'
'He was just being polite!'
'When he told you he was wrong?'
'Just being a gentleman!'
'When you blushed when you looked into his eyes?'
'... I... I was...'
'You're confused, aren't you Amy? This guy you know nothing about, but has so much desire for what he believes in, he mystifies you, just like Sonic used to do...'
'I only love Sonic, he's my hero!'
'He doesn't love you though, you know that!'
'That's lies, he... He... Someday he'll...'
'Don't deny it Amy, you're getting torn between the two of them, because they seem to bet the opposite of the other... You'd better watch yourself Amy, you might have to choose between them if you get too attached to Knuckles...'
'Wha... What? Too attached? Why would, why would I get attached to Knuckles? Why, I mean... I...'
'...Why not?'
'...Because... Um...'

"There, got it!" Tails said, triumphant.
"Huh? What ya got Tails?" Douglas said, getting up.
"I just managed to find this panel which lets you into the wiring of this robot, I just unscrewed it open with my screwdriver here..." Tails said, holding up the tool in question.
"Damn kid, you're just full of smarts, huh?"
"Aw, it was nothing really." Tails said, rubbing his nose while smiling. "Now..." Tails turned his attention back to the working he had just uncovered. "If I can just find the right wire to..."
"I've had enough of this!" Amy said, raising her hammer up above her head out of frustration from the conflicting thoughts in her head. "I'll get us out of here!"
"AMY NO!" Tails said, holding up a hand towards the angry hedgehog, but it was too late, as Amy brought the hammer crashing down into the 'pillar' like centre of the machine, causing sparks of electricity to fly out of it as it began short-circuiting.

KA-BLAM!

A thunderous explosion ripped through the belly of the machine, smashing the tough glass, leaving only a thick cloud of smoke pouring out from it. Eggman looked around in horror at his robot.
"NO! What are you doing to my wonderful creation you psychotic kids?"


Back on the shore, the explosion had caught the attention of both Sonic and Knuckles.
"What was that?" Sonic said, looking towards the smoke coming up from near the edge of the lake.
Knuckles stood silent, looking out at it. 'I told Eggman I would need no back-up, so what is he up to?' He thought.

Squinting carefully, he made out a large purple round-shaped thing, and a something small and egg-shaped floating around it... Egg-shaped?
'Eggman!' Sonic reasoned. 'I should've guessed why Knuckles said his message was from Eggman, he's been tricked into fighting me!'
"We'll settle this another time buddy!" Sonic said, before racing around the shore towards the robot.
"Huh? GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" Knuckles roared, before chasing after Sonic again.
"I'll rain check you on that one..." Sonic said over his shoulder, now heading towards the source of the smoke.


Tails, Amy and Douglas spluttered as the smoke began to settle around them. The smoke had been so bad; Eggman had ordered his machine back onto land for safety. He needed his hostages alive.
"ANY MORE BRIGHT IDEAS MISS SHERLOCK?" Douglas shouted at Amy. "We're still trapped because this bloody hole isn't big enough, and now I'm gonna have one hell of a laundry bill!"
"I thought Ella did all the..." Tails began.
"THAT'S NOT THE FRIGGIN' POINT YA BUNCH OF PYROMANIACS!"
"What have you done to my beautiful machine you insolent fools?" Eggman said, lowering his Egg-Pod.
"Stick a pipe in it Egg-Face! I'm not in the mood!" Douglas snapped back.
"WHAT? You dare disrespect the great Doctor...

Suddenly, a great blue blur raced in front of Eggman's robot, before doubling back and racing past the legs of the machine. A second past, before the black, rubbery looking support that connected the lower part of the robot's right leg to the top part exploded in a burst of flames, followed by the other leg's support, which cause the robot to fall over backwards accompanied by the cries of the people trapped in side.

'Oh oh...' Eggman thought.

Douglas pulled himself up, and peered out the hole again. He smiled at seeing the blue hedgehog known as Sonic looking back.
"Hey Doug! You sure know how to throw a picnic!" Sonic called up.
"Well, you know, things happen nowadays." Douglas replied, shrugging his shoulders in a sarcastic way.
"Don't be too sure of your victory yet Sonic!" Eggman called down. "E-47! Commence Operation B!"

At its master's command, the purple machine retracted in its metal arms, turning the scoops into feet, as it hydraulically pulled itself up from the ground, once again causing the prisoners in its belly to call out in alarm as it flipped its whole central 'stomach' area upside down, even turning the antenna-like rods over into itself. Sonic looked up at the sight of the towering robot, as suddenly shutters closed over the yellow lights that were now on its lower part, and a large green sensor eye in a black casing appeared out of new top of the robot.

"Destroy that pesky rodent!" Eggman called out, which made E-47 turn its turrets down towards the hedgehog. They fired without warning, leaving Sonic to jump back out of the way from the laser bullet fire. Sonic dived for cover behind a large rock, hearing a barrage of bullets pepper into the other side of the stone. The fire stopped, and Sonic looked behind him. The rock had been destroyed. Sonic then barely managed to escape another onslaught of bullets as the turrets started again.

"ENOUGH!" The voice of Knuckles roared, as he suddenly came over the heads of the people below, knocking out one of the turrets with a hard kick.
"WHAT?" Eggman called, seeing Knuckles land on his feet after the attack, which had caused the robot to stop its attack.
"Eggman! This battle is between Sonic and me alone! I will win by myself, with no interference!" Knuckles said, pointing directly at the Doctor in question. Sonic was simply glad to get a little rest from the bullets, so just shrugged his shoulders at the whole thing.
"You promised me you would defeat Sonic, but here he is still standing, and you still want to play fair? You have let me down again Knuckles! Thankfully for you, I have a Plan C to use! E-47, initiate Operation C!"

With that, the new legs of the purple machine flamed up, as booster rocket carried it high and across the lake, to the other side, drowning out the sounds of distress from within. Knuckles and Sonic looked on in amazement at the speed of the manoeuvre, as it landed on the other side.

"Do you see that Sonic? I have your friends captured and held hostage, and I demand a ransom of your Chaos Emerald in exchange for their safe return!" Eggman threatened, pointing over to E-47.
"But... Eggman..." Knuckles began, "You said... You changed your ways..."
"I guess he lied then!" Sonic said, smirking as Knuckles was figuring out what was going on.
"... So... This means that..." Knuckles' expression hardened, as he clenched his fists again. "...That... I was..."
"You got it buddy!" Sonic answered, smiling.
"Ahem, hello? Genius scientist holding for friends hostage here!" Eggman said, drawing attention back to himself. "Can't you see that the situation is hopeless? I have your friends all the way over there..." He pointed over to his creation again. "... Across all that water, your greatest fear and weakness! Just hand over the emerald now Sonic, before it's too late!"

"Wow Eggman, it sure looks like that you've got me this time..." Sonic smirked. In a flash Sonic was away, and moving around the lake to where E-47 was standing. Eggman looked in horror as Sonic reached his machine, before spinning into the legs of it again, sending it tumbling to the ground again.
"...Damn it!" Was all Eggman could finds to sum up the situation.

"Oh yeah, now the bloody holes isbig enough!" Douglas said, scraping the dirt of his shoulders with his hand, as Sonic helped both Tails and Amy out.
"SONIKKU!" Amy said, leaping onto Sonic and wrapping both her arms around Sonic's neck, gripping him in a hug.
"Ach! Amy! Get..." Sonic was about to finish telling Amy to let go of the hold of him, when Sonic noticed this hug wasn't a tight as the usual ones she gave him.
'Maybe she's really shook-up?' Sonic reasoned.
"Hey Amy, you alright?" Sonic inquired.
"Why, of course Sonic, why wouldn't I...?"

Amy was interrupted by a rumbling sound. The four turned around, to see the Eggman robot shaking, and the sounds of motor engines re-starting coming from deep within.

"That thing never bleedin' dies!" Douglas called out, before turning around and turning tail.
"Huh? Where are you going?" Tails called out, seeing Douglas running for cover.
"It's called running for your damn life, THAT'S WHAT!"

The machine starting rising up again, at which point the furries decided to follow Douglas' example. The machine regained its balance, standing up, as Eggman moved his Egg-Pod closer to the action.
"I guess I'll just finish the job myself! E-47! ACTIVATE ANSLAUGHT MODE!" The Doctor roared.

With that command, the yellow plated panels above the glass belly opened up, revealing rows of missiles, and within a flash, missiles and laser bullets bombarded the surrounding area in a frenzied all-out final attack. Eggman's atrocious laughter could not be heard from the thunderous explosions that were hitting the trees and stones around the park, causing mass destruction to the woodland area.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GONNA DO?" Douglas called out over the noise.
"I DON'T KNOW, LET ME THINK OF SOMETHING!" Sonic shouted back.
"IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING, THIS WHOLE PARK WILL GET DESTROYED!" Tails added in, peering slightly over the top of the huge rocks they were taking safety behind.

A white fist suddenly broke through the ground next to them, and the red form of Knuckles climbed out from the hole. He had just tunnelled underground, and moved beside the others.

"KNUCKLES!" Amy said, grabbing onto the echidna in a deadly hug.
"GAH! GET OFF ME!"
"OH, SORRY KNUCKLES!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON NOW?"
"EGGMAN'S LOST IT! CAN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?"

Knuckles looked into Amy's green eyes, which seemed to shine from the sunlight even though there was a look of desperation in them. In that moment to Knuckles, they looked strangely... Strangely like... The Master Emerald...
'My purpose...' Knuckles thought, 'My purpose... To protect...'

Without another word, Knuckles was over the top of the rock and charging towards the raging robot. With senses heightened, blood pumping, and adrenaline flowing, Knuckles was ready to take on anything. Missile crashed down into the ground beside him and behind him, he didn't flitch. The bullets peppered directly at him, in a blink of an eye Knuckles was out of the way. The frenzied attack could not hit the controlled and perfected technique of the Guardian. Before the machine could react in time, Knuckles was already at its base, hammering his fists into it's iron and steel body as he climbed up it, smashing the legs, the glass, the turrets, before leaping off its head up into the air, and coming face to face with Eggman.

"...Oh, hello Knuckles!" Eggman put on a fake grin, trying to butter Knuckles up.
"No one, lies, TO ME!" Knuckles shouted out, before slamming his fist into the Egg-Pod, sending it hurtling far into the sky, and out of sight, where it seemed to turn into a strange star.

Knuckles was now suspended in mid air, partially due to his natural dreadlocks catching the air, which allowed him to look downward at the robot below.
'It is time... To end this madness...' Knuckles concluded in his mind, drawing a fist up the sky, before pulling it harshly downwards along with his body, smashing deep into the E-47 robot.

"Oh man, he didn't just do... What I think he... Did he?" Douglas said, peering over the top of the rock
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out in alarm, as a large crack formed in the robot, splitting it into two parts, but only for a short moment, as bright sparks of electricity coming out of the crack signified doom for the robot, as it suddenly exploded in a huge shower of nuts, bolts, wires and smoke.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Douglas called out again, ducking under.
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out again, as the force of the explosion created a gust effect powerful enough to keep the furries and Throndyke trapped down.

Sensing the danger, Sonic leapt out from the cover and put pedal to the metal, racing forward in an attempt to locate the echidna. The echidna in question was knocked silly from being in the heart of the explosion, and was being hurtled through the air in a shower of metallic parts. He had no idea what was happening, or what was going on, but he did feel the tight grip of someone's hand on his wrist. That someone was Sonic, who was holding onto a tree-branch with all his might, not wanting to let go of the echidna that had just saved himself and his friends. Knuckles opened his eyes, and saw the look of determination on the blue hedgehog. Still unsure of what was happening, Knuckles knew out of instinct what to do - he pulled his other arm up and grabbed Sonic's wrist with his other hand.


Sonic and Knuckles dropped down to the ground, Sonic a little more solidly than Knuckles, after the wind had died down. Looking around, they saw the still smoking wreckage of the Eggman robot. The battle had been won. Not the original battle, but a battle all the same.

"...I believe..." Knuckles began, feeling very weak since his attack on E-47 had taken a lot out of him "...I owe you... An apology Sonic..." Knuckles then extended his hand to the Hedgehog, who shook it without hesitation.
"Don't sweat it! Just as long as we're friends now, right?"
"...Yeah... Friends..."
"Sonic! Are you alright?" Tails ran up, with Douglas and Amy close behind.
"Heh! No problem for me and Knuckz here, right?"

THUMP!

"...Knuckz?"
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out in alarm again; Knuckles had just collapsed to the ground. Amy quickly ran over, and held Knuckles' head in her arms, supporting it.
"We need to get you home man!" Sonic said, kneeling down beside Knuckles.
"I... Feel fine... Just a slight... Miscalculation..."
"Hang on guys..." Douglas said, dialling a number on his mobile 'phone. "...Hello? Mr. Tanaka? Is Chuck back? Oh he is! Great, can you put him on? Okay... Hello? Yeah Chuck, it's me, Douglas. Listen, I need some help here..." Douglas carried on talking, with Tails and Sonic following him, leaving Amy holding Knuckles.
"Hey Knuckles..." Amy said, softly. "...Thanks."

Knuckles smiled weakly back. "No... Problem Amy. Anytime..."

Amy smiled back. Looking into each other's eyes, there was something strangely unexplainable... Something entrancing, which meant neither, could look away. Before Amy knew what she was really doing, she lifted up Knuckles' head bit more, and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Knuckles sighed, before drifting off into a deep, and peaceful sleep, with a smile on his face. Amy smiled again, gently stroking the dreadlocks on the echidna's head. From afar, Sonic looked back at the scene, confused.

'Since when were those two that close?' He thought to himself.

The young fox next to him though, had a look of what could easily be described as envy, as he watched Amyhold the Echidna.
'From Sonic to HIM?' He thought. 'What about me?'



Next Episode Preview – Voiceover by Douglas

"It's finally time for my debut on SSC's prime-time show, Square Off! But Eggman decides he wants to use our show to build himself up, so he sends a robot wrestler in! To make things worse, my stepparents are in town, so what if they see Sonic? And who's that women dressed up ready for war?"

"Next time on Sonic eXcluded: 'Grappling with Iron'! Don't miss it!"


Author notes: Oh yeah! Hurry through the unwritten chapters, I don't mind late updates or any typos! Ahem, sorry, got carried away with this one, since it took my so damn long to write it all. Seriosly, I spent about over ten hours in one sitting while working on this episode, nearly killed me. But I did it all for you people. I rule. Onward now to repond to reviewers.

Fuwa2 Kyara - I do have Mighty tied in to appear in Sonic eXcluded, but not directly with the Chaotix in Ep 39... Wait and see... As for Ray, I'm not aware of him enough to put him in.
Shady Fetish - The bit with Chris was sad but nessicary in describing why Douglas is like that.
DragonessFei - For the first saga (Whole New World or what ever they called it) will follow the storyline, but apart from the SA, SA2 and Chaotix episodes, it all goes mad as I adapt everything!

What do you think huh? What's going on with Amy and Knuckles huh? What was that dream of Sonic's about, huh? Why can't I find good information about the characters to put in the Flip Cards, huh? What was Tails thinking about at the end, huh? HUH? DO YOU KNOW? OF COURSE YOU DON'T, ONLY I DO! Ahem... Please stay tuned for the next episode...

N.B. Edited on 20-11-04 for paragraphing and editing.
Edited 01/05/05 for removal of lyrics