Chapter 2: Dream Works Cave Drawings

"Well, duh, Shadow!" Knuckles yelled at me. "Of course it didn't work!"

"Would you stop yelling," I snapped back.

Knuckles snarled. "Well, Shadow, none of this would have happened if you had stayed off my Island!"

"I wouldn't have been on your Island if you would have gotten off of it!" I retorted.

"Don't talk to me!"

I sighed and bowed my head. This was all Tails' fault anyway. That stupid fox had to visit Knuckles. He had to drag me into this. HOW did this happen? Chaos Control isn't used to warp through time, just space. I gripped my ears in frustration. Why wasn't Knuckles happy? He hated his life anyway, this should be a relief to him!

"Guys?" Tails asked quietly

"Shut up!" Knuckles and I yelled simultaneously. I covered my head with my hands.

"Seriously!" Tails snapped. I looked up.

"Shoot!" I muttered. There, surrounding us was about ten ancient Echidnas. They weren't blood red like Knuckles, they were a much lighter color red. Two were white, and one was hot pink. The pink one looked to be the youngest.

The bigger of the white ones stepped forward. "Wray mentarie?" He asked.

"What?" I asked. He repeated the question.

Knuckles stepped forward. The white echidna who spoke cocked his head, obviously very confused at Knuckles' color. "Do you speak English?" Knuckles asked.

"Englise?"

Knuckles nodded. "Englise." The white Echidna turned around to one of the red ones. They spoke quickly in what ever language they were speaking in. The red Echidna nodded and pushed the pink one before Knuckles.

The kid stood up very tall. "He says," the child began, with a slight accent, "who are you?"

Knuckles growled. "Does he speak English?" He demanded again. The Echidna nodded. "Then why can't I speak to him?"

"Because, you aren't from our Tribe," He answered.

"I don't care what Tribe I'm from, I want to talk to who ever is in charge here!"

"Knux, calm down!" I growled. Tails was silent through this. I figured he was trying as hard as he could to understand what was going on. Everything he's been through could have been explained by science, other that his trip to visit Tikal, but that didn't last nearly as long. This situation, though, has no scientific reasoning.

The pink Echidna sighed. "The Chief wouldn't want to be bothered by a group of travelers," he said, "But if you wish, I will ask if you may see him."

Knuckles nodded. "Thanks."

After a brief conversation between the white and pick echidnas went on. The white one started walking. Some of the red one pushed us forward. "I guess we should follow them," Tails said, speaking for the first time since the Echidna's showed up.

"No dip, fox-boy," Knuckles hissed. Tails looked like he was fighting the urge to smack that guy silly. I didn't pay attention after that. Knuckles and Tails kept at it, though. Those two were going to get us killed if they didn't shut up! I looked at the Temple. Construction on it was about seventy percent finished. We had to be pretty far back in time. Many Echidnas were looking at us. A few children were even running round. I couldn't help but wonder what Knuckles was thinking about this. This was his race; his dead race. These weren't some creatures who looked like Echidnas, they were Echidnas, real Echidnas. This is what Knuckles wanted. This is where he belonged, not on some Island, guarding a huge, green rock with no one to understand him. I shook my head. Why should I care?

We were lead to a stone house. It was a bit bigger than the ones we saw on our way to it. The white Echidna led us into the home. Only our wonderful pink guy followed. The rest stood outside. I rolled my eyes.

Their Chief was a greyish color. Must be really old, I thought. The white Echidna began speaking very quickly to the Chief. Once again, we couldn't understand a word they said. After a few minutes, the Chief addressed us. "My brother tells me you are trespassing in our Tribe's land," He said.

I nodded "Yes, that wou. . ."

The Chief threw his hand up. "Silence! Allow the Echidna to speak!"

"Excuse me?" I growled. "I am the oldest of this group, I will address you, not Knuckles!"

The Chief looked taken aback by this. "We do not judge by age. Allow the Echidna to speak!"

"NO!" I yelled. Knuckles was staring at me, wide-eyed.

"Fine. Allow the twin-tailed beast to address me," the Chief said quietly. I growled, but Knuckles slapped me one good in the back of my head. I nodded to Tails, who then stepped forward.

"Sir?" Tails said, voice quivering a bit. I had to remember that he was only twelve years old.

"Is it true that you are trespassing in my Tribe's land?" The Chief asked. Tails nodded. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," Tails answered. I slapped my head. Please don't tell him we are from the future! I begged silently. "We didn't mean to trespass. I guess we just crossed into your territory without knowing we were doing anything wrong." I released a sigh. That was a good story.

"My brother states he found your group arguing. Why is that?"

Tails smiled sheepishly. "You see, we've been traveling for years together and sometimes we can't seem to get along." I stared, shocked, at the kid. I had no idea he could lie like that! Sonic had little to no lying ability, but Tails, he could lie through his teeth! It was amazing.

"I see. Why are you traveling? Do you have a Tribe?"

"No, sir," Tails said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "All three of our families were loners and they were killed. We met up after a few years of living alone."

The Chief bowed his head. "I'm terribly sorry." Then he pointed to me. "What is that?"

"That, sir, would be a hedgehog. I am a fox!" Tails said. I was still dumbfounded that this kid could lie on the spot like that!

"What are your names, kind fox?"

"My name is Miles Prower, but mostly I'm called Tails. This is Shadow. He's nicer than he looks and that is Knuckles. We call him Knux sometimes, or M.E."

"I see. Kytara! Come here!"

The pink Echidna ran over to the Chief. Once again, they spoke rapidly in their language. After about ten minutes, the Chief turned to us. "This is Kytara, he will bring you to your quarters." We all nodded and Kytara walked out. We followed silently.

Kytara led us through the streets. Once again, we were stared at by the inhabitants of this world. "Hey, Kytara," Knuckles said, running to match his stride with the pink echidna. "Do you know someone named Tikal?"

Kytara shook his head. "Sorry, there is no one in the Tribe by that name."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

I sighed. "Are we prisoners?" Tails asked. I shot him a glance. Knuckles could have killed him with the look that fox got.

"Of course not! You did nothing wrong. We don't take prisoners unless we are in war."

That was the end of the conversation. Kytara led us into a much smaller stone building. It had two rooms. One looked like it would be used for just a sitting room and kitchen, maybe. The other was a bed room with two beds.

"Well, I know it's not much, but considering your story, it is most likely better than what you are used to. As my Chief told you, me name is Kytara, but most just call me Ky."

"Nice to meet you," Knuckles said, shaking Ky's hand.

"You are a strange color, Knuckles," Ky commented.

Knuckles shrugged. "I know. It's just, where I come from, red isn't that strange of a color for Echidnas."

"Because there's only one left," I muttered under my breath. Knuckles elbowed me. I cursed at him and went into the bed room. Tails followed.

"Shadow? I'm really sorry about this. If I hadn't of wanted to get up on Angel Island so bad, then none of this would have happened."

"Tails, I promise, I will get us home, even if it kills me!"

Tails smiled briefly before collapsing his head in his hand and cried. I rubbed the bridge of my nose. After a few more minutes of listening to Tails' sobs, Knuckles came into the room alone. He ignored Tails completely. I had the burning desire to punch Knux for that.

"Ky says we should talk about this. The Chief wants us to stay a week," Knuckles said.

"Well, I can't get us out of here until I figure out how I got us here," I answered.

"Then we'll have to entertain ourselves until you can get us home."

"Entertain ourselves? Knux, what is there to do around here? It's not like we can just watch movies all day, unless there's a company called Dream-Works Cave Paintings, I doubt there's too much to do here."

Knuckles sighed. "Cut the smart talking, Shadow! You nearly got us killed in there! Why didn't you just let him talk to me?"

"Because, you can't handle yourself, Knuckle-head!" I yelled. "I'm trying to work with what I've been given!"

Knuckles punched me in the jaw. I growled and lunged at him. Tails was screaming at us, begging us to stop. Neither of us really cared what Miles thought about our way of solving our problems. The fight lasted nearly half an hour. Both of us fell over from exhaustion. It was a good thing. We might have killed each other.

Tails growled at us, said a few choice words to us about be immature and walked into the other.

"One week?" I asked Knuckles.

"Yes," He snapped. He glared at me and walked out of our temporary home. Our first day in the past and all three of us hated each other. Not the best way to start the worst week of my life.