"All aboard" had turned out to be over-optimistic and Tails had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to rearrange and reroute the wiring of the equipment to back room for a rear-seat passenger.

By the time he'd achieved it, dusk had fallen with the equatorial suddenness of the Island's current position and Knuckles led them to shelter for another night. Sonic had half expected him to have changed his mind about coming by morning, but instead he was the first of them up, almost before the sun had risen and seemed eager to be off. Or maybe just to have the whole endeavour over and done with.

In spite of Tails' efforts, he had been right about the cramped quarters and Knuckles looked distinctly uncomfortable squashed into the rear seat, although he'd folded himself in amid the equipment with no verbal complaint.

"Won't be long," Sonic grinned at him in cheerful apology from his perch on the wing as they climbed away. This reassurance went ignored as Knuckles watched over his shoulder until clouds obscured the Floating Island from their view then turned his attention to the equipment instead of responding.

"You found the Island with this?" he asked, and Sonic realised the echidna's frown was driven by more than the cramped seating.

"Not exactly," Tails answered before Sonic could. "I think it was responding to the ruby. But the fact it was up in mid-air in the middle of nowhere kinda gave away that it was either your Island or Eggman."

Knuckles made a non-committal sound, that seemed only marginally reassured.

Sonic considered pointing out that strictly speaking it had turned out to be both, but thought better of it. Instead he had another go at reassurance.

"No one who didn't already know would have guessed," he said. "I mean, a flying island? Bit of a leap, right?"

Knuckles nodded slowly but looked no less unhappy about the situation. He stared silently at the canyon-riven desert being revealed below them in the dawn light. Sonic wondered if he was already regretting coming with them.

"And it's going to help us find him now." Sonic kept trying.

"Him or those robots," Tails pointed out. "I'm not entirely sure there's not something weird going on there. Don't they seem a bit too independent to you?"

"Eggman's own robot uprising?" Sonic grinned. "I could actually get behind that."

Tails nodded enthusiastically, laughing.

"A taste of his own-"

He stopped abruptly.

"Tails?" Sonic prompted when he didn't either continue or launch into an explanation of what had caught his attention.

Tails glanced up. "There's a reading."

Sonic blinked. "Good? That's what we're after yeah?"

"Yes, but… It's right here."

Everyone looked round but it was obvious that the steadily warming sky was still and silent, the ground below unmarked by any movement, or any sign of life apart from a glimmer of sunlight on an empty railway track.

"It's gone." Tails stared at the screen again and Sonic shrugged and looked back to see Knuckles' reaction. The echidna was poised half out of his seat – the mere mention of a possible fight, apparently having snapped him out of whatever doubts he might have had about coming.

"It's back!" Tails shouted. "It's-" His yell was drowned out by the ringing din of the ruby's effect and for a moment Sonic thought they were teleporting again. He dropped into a crouch, hung onto the wing and closed his eyes to ward off the dizziness of the spinning world, but hastily opened them again as the aircraft rolled violently left with a shuddering bang.

Tails shrieked and Sonic flattened himself against the wing in near instant reflex as something hurtled by on a second pass, close enough to rattle his quills. Sonic sprang back to a crouch, scanning the sky for their attacker as Tails shakily brought the aircraft back to level.

"Tails! Are you okay?" Tails had sounded totally panicked but he was still in control of the aircraft so not badly hurt.

"It hit Knuckles!"

Sonic snapped round to look.

"It hit him! He fell!"

Tails' voice hitched. "It came out of nowhere, right into us. I couldn't-"

"You couldn't have dodged it, buddy. It's not your fault."

Sonic watched the robot weave above them. Almost in invitation it looked like. No sign of Eggman – was Tails right about them challenging Eggman for the ruby? There were more important things to work out right now.

"Knuckles will be okay. He can glide, remember? Once we deal with this guy we'll land and we'll find him. Okay?"

Tails started to protest but another pass from the robot saved Sonic from having to agree that yes there was a chance Knuckles might have been knocked out or injured badly enough that he was unable to reach the ground safely.

Instead of dwelling on that, he leaped at the robot – which blurred in the air, surrounded for a moment by the same sickly swirl of colours that preceded the teleport. Tails tracked underneath him with the aircraft in a practised move, his own worries also buried for the moment by the need to fight here and now.

The robot flickered out of reach, taunting and bobbing in the air. It swept them a mocking bow and with a conjurer's gesture and the same bubble of lights, disappeared entirely, leaving in its place a giant metallic worm which dived towards them. Tails snap-rolled the aircraft out of the way, trusting to Sonic to hang on, and the worm missed, plunging past them to the desert floor.

Tails banked and descended, though Sonic wasn't sure if he intended pursuit or landing. Whatever his intention had been it was over-ridden, as with a plume of sand trailing behind, the worm leaped for them again. The long, looping arc gave Sonic more than enough time to assess where the most effective blow would land and where on the spiky metal carapace had to be avoided.

He was on target, smashing into one of the connecting links between the huge segments and sending the robotic creature tumbling in two halves towards the desert floor.

He landed neatly back atop the wing, grateful as ever for Tails' accurate piloting.

"Hope it's not like a real worm and we end up with two pieces both coming at us," He smirked.

Tails shook his head. "I don't think that's really a thing, Sonic."

Sonic smiled, watching the sand carefully for any indication of further attack. So carefully he almost missed Tails' abrupt change of direction and was thrown to one knee, hand whipping out to grab the wing's leading edge before he slid right off.

With as little warning as the robot had given them, they were surrounded by airborne robots and the air was thick with bullets.

Tails dived hard, there was no point even trying to dodge that lot if it could be avoided. The robots followed, rocket-propelled and armoured. Tails ran a gauntlet of rocky outcrops and towering cacti, the wild manoeuvres keeping the aircraft bullet-free but hindering any plan to strike back. Sonic settled for hanging on as Tails' aerial contortions sent their pursuers spinning out of control or smashing into one another in their attempt to follow.

He pulled up as hard as he'd dived, flattening Sonic to the wing once again and rolling level off the top of half a loop. The sky was clear of pursuit.

Giddy with adrenalin and actual dizziness in equal measure, Sonic laughed.

"That was some flying!"

"Not enough," Tails said. "The tracker just lit up again there's-"

"-More." Sonic said a split second too late, as from nowhere one of the rocket-propelled robots hurtled towards them. Sonic had a distant impression of its rider – a bird of some sort, and the weapon in its hand, before an almighty bang sent them diving once again.

Tails yelled once and then fell silent as the aircraft laboured under the sound of mechanical protest. Sonic kept quiet to let Tails focus on his attempts to keep them in air, or failing that, a survivable landing.

A further crack from somewhere behind Sonic sent the aircraft pitching wildly and Tails yelled again.

"That's it, Sonic. We need to jump!"

Sonic waited. They'd planned this. Practised on the ground even but the reality was a lot windier and more difficult. Tails undid and shrugged off his harness, then fighting the wind resistance, and with a quick glance at Sonic, kicked up and away from the porpoising aircraft. Sonic gave it a second and then leapt in the same general direction, throwing up his arms as he'd done before in any number of circumstances, with just as lethal potential outcomes if Tails missed.

He didn't miss. Two sets of hands met as practised as acrobats and they were flying under Tails' power instead of the aircraft's.

Tails descended rapidly. They had no idea what other attackers were near and this was not the easiest of positions to fight from.

Sonic looked around. This was not hospitable terrain to make a forced landing and they had no supplies, no knowledge of the area. He scanned out further – he needed at least a direction to run in, some sign of a town or camp or habitation of any kind.

His eyes lit on movement and he pointed with a waved foot.

"There's a train."

"Uh huh," Tails didn't waste breath answering but changed direction to intercept it.

Sonic grinned. If this worked it'd be like something out of every wild west flick ever. Leaping onto a moving train to escape a gunfight in the desert plains…

As they closed on the approaching train however a problem became apparent.

"That's..."

Sonic filled in Tails' trailed off sentence. "Eggman. And here I was hoping for a nice cool soda in first class. Oh well!"

There was no question of changing the plan. Tails continued his approach and as the train whipped by below them he let go. Sonic landed in a crouch and caught hold of Tails as he dropped out of flight beside him.

They both found handholds and took stock. The train was heavily loaded, barrels and crates and some low-loader cars carrying nothing but enormous tankers.

"Whatever all this is for it can't be good," Sonic said. "Fancy turning bandit for a while and hijacking a train?"

Tails looked at the horizon behind them for a moment. Sonic could guess his thoughts. Somewhere out there the Tornado had ploughed into the ground. Somewhere out there Knuckles might be badly hurt. Somewhere out there the robot that had attacked them was maybe not destroyed and still had the ruby.

But the train was where they were and Eggman was driving it.

After a moment Tails mustered a smile.

"Let's do it."


Knuckles came to, falling, this time with no references, no orientation, his view filled with nothing but sky. The wind blew his quills up around his face and with no idea how close to the ground he was, he stiffened and flared them, instinct acting before thought and snapping him round in the air with a wrench that felt like it had come close to snapping his head from his neck.

He flinched, unable to prevent it and tumbled, off balance and out of control before he managed to slow himself once again. He could see the ground now and it was moving too fast. A faint dust devil tracked across the landscape, warning of the start of the first thermals of the day and he tried to steer away from it. The effort sent the pain in his neck arcing and branching through his back and shoulders and didn't come close to achieving the desired effect. He ploughed into the twirl of sand and grit, afraid to close his eyes against it for fear of losing even more control.

The updraft tugged briefly at him but he was out the other side and into the sink before he could react. There'd be no landing off this, this would be a full blown crash and all he could do was reach for the Emerald he'd left behind, pull together what he could from that contact and hope to survive the impact.


Sonic and Tails ran along the top of the swaying train, leaping from carriage to carriage, giving half their attention to the shifting footing and the constant slipstream and half to the contents of the train.

They'd stopped once, at Tails' insistence, to examine them, although the very fact the chemical vats were emblazoned with Eggman's logo was enough to let them know some of what they needed.

"What's he making?" Tails wondered aloud as they ran for the front of the train.

Sonic shrugged. "Not any more of it, whatever it is."

They came to a stop perched on the rim of a heavily loaded freight car behind the tender. The freight was loaded precariously high and consisted mainly of lethal looking traps, laser weapons, and deactivated robots.

"Where is this train going?" Sonic stared around. "These are invasion supplies. We need to stop this train."

Tails examined the robots. "I've got an idea, but it's going to make rather a mess..."

Sonic grinned. "I've got an idea what your idea is. Gonna make this lot go boom?"

Tails nodded.

"How long d'you need?" Sonic glanced ahead.

"Long enough to make sure the stuff in here 'goes boom' without setting off a chain reaction that's going to blow those chemical containers and cause a massive spill."

"Which is how long?" Sonic tapped a toe. "If Eggman knows we're on board, we've got a weird lack of opposition here."

"Maybe he doesn't," Tails suggested. "Maybe he saw the Tornado go down and thought it was his lucky day."

Sonic frowned. It was possible but somehow it seemed too easy.

"I should go look..."

"And then he'll definitely know," Tails pointed out, already working on disassembling the nearest battery pack.

Sonic scowled. Eggman was in the next train carriage. They could grab him right now. Maybe. Or Tails could be right and there could be any number of reasons Eggman was so confident in the defence of this train. If they tried and failed then he might get away with a trainload of dangerous supplies to unleash on some as-yet unsuspecting zone.

He couldn't risk it.

He settled down to wait, glaring at the inactive robots and daring them to so much as twitch.


Knuckles opened his eyes but stayed stayed flat on his back, fighting to catch his breath. His eyes were watering from dust and he blinked ineffectively, the discomfort the least of his worries.

He took a mental tally of his situation. He was alive, which in itself was a minor miracle which he had the Master Emerald to thank for. His neck and back ached fiercely and when he put a hand to the floor to push himself upright his shoulder responded with a blinding shock of pain which nearly put him back out.

He hung onto both the fading aftermath of the chaos energy and consciousness but the energy was finite and needed to get back on his feet before it was exhausted.

He rolled onto his side and used the uninjured arm to push himself upright. He must have landed on the other shoulder. The last thing he remembered amid the leaping crashing surge of chaos was rolling himself into a ball to protect as much of himself as he could from the unforgiving rocks.

Swaying, he stood and surveyed the surroundings. Surviving the fall was only half the battle. Even from the air this place had seemed almost lifeless.

Knuckles was familiar with desert survival, but he realised as he looked around at this arid place how much of his knowledge depended on an unshakeable sense of direction, of knowing which way was out, where the safe routes were, where the rare water could be found, which of the plants were edible.

This place was utterly unfamiliar.

The rising sun had been behind them when they were flying in. If Tails had been taking a straight-line course to their destination then he had that as a minimum to go on. He had no idea of distance. Sonic had said "not long" but there was little enough to be assumed from that. Was he certain enough of how long he'd been unconscious to take the sun for a direction or did he need to wait and build a sun compass?

He paused to consider the chaos energy still dispersing slowly around him. There was nothing there to suggest more than a few minutes had passed since he crashed. Nothing to suggest he'd been unconscious in the sun for long enough for morning to have passed into evening.

There were plants around him. Tall, spiky succulents, but nothing that offered any shade. If it was still early morning then the best thing he could do was seek shelter before the worst heat of the day. He had no idea where Tails' tracker had been leading them, if it was straight to an Eggman base then arriving at it having newly slogged across a desert was perhaps not the best option. There'd been a railway track in sight as well though. Away to their right, a glimmer of metal in the low sun. Railways had to lead somewhere. They needed fuel, repairs, passengers, and their passengers and operators needed food and water.

He chose his direction and took up a sustainable pace.


Sonic was back on his feet and had all but worn a groove in the floor of the freight car by the time Tails looked up.

"Ready for a bang?" he asked before Tails had opened his mouth.

Tails nodded. "Think we should give fair warning?" He nodded in the direction of the tender and engine ahead.

Sonic smirked. "We should wave goodbye at least."

He hauled open the carriage door, and stuck his head out into the wind.

"How long between 'go' and 'bang'?" he asked, looking back at Tails.

Tails shrugged. "How long do you want?"

Sonic grinned. "You tell me, buddy, you're the air evac here!"

Tails smiled. "I'll give us a minute or so."

"Then let's go!" Sonic held out both hands. Tails made a minor adjustment to his set up then launched himself across the carriage, snatching up Sonic and carrying them both back into the air.

Contrary to Sonic's suggestion they did not return to wave at Eggman, instead climbing hard to clear the blast area. The train leapt, jackknifing into the air like an eel. The engine crashed down askew and sprawled across the tracks.

Before it did so however, a section of it detached, explosively and rocketed away into the air.

"Huh," Sonic said, dangling below Tails. "Shoulda guessed he'd have an out."

"So where now?" Tails asked. "All the tracking gear was in the Tornado."

"Follow the rails and hope someone down there's seen or heard something," Sonic said. "It's not like Eggman and crew are usually inconspicuous."

Tails climbed further, seeking a view over the horizon for signs of civilisation.

"There's a town."

"Course there is. Railways all lead somewhere! Betcha that'll be where Knuckles heads too. Go ahead and land us buddy, and I'll have us there in a Sonic second."

Tails descended and in moments they were off and running, a rooster-tail of dust rising behind them to join the dustdevils.


Knuckles was starting to doubt his assumption that 'railways had to lead somewhere' or at least concede that, while it was true, it didn't mean that such places were walking distance apart.

The sun had passed the overhead and although the terrain was changing steadily around him, the buttes and mesas he passed offered no shade at this time of day. He had slowed down considerably and his head was starting to ache along with his other injuries. He was thirsty as much for the fading trickle of chaos energy that was keeping him moving as he was for the water which he'd found no trace of here.

The dusty sand covered granite bedrock only a handspan down, as he'd discovered when he'd given on on seeking shelter and decided to try and dig his own. Given time and energy and he could smash through stone, but he didn't have anything like the energy reserves needed here and now.

So he walked on, eyes fixed on the dazzling thread of the railway line like a magpie entranced by the glitter. It had become a mental lifeline. He was following the tracks. It was dangerous to walk in the desert without a reference. You could trail in circles all the while believing yourself to be moving forward. At least that wasn't a risk. He was following the tracks. The sun moved slowly across the sky and he tried to tally up how long he'd been walking. Had he walked further than they'd been able to see from the air yet? Surely there had to be something to see soon. He couldn't be lost, the track was right there at his left hand.

You could go round in circles in the desert. You could get confused. Had he been walking this side of the track all along? He'd stopped to rest. Was there a risk he'd lost track of the time and the sun and the direction. Was he following it in the right direction still?

He stopped, hesitating but his breath didn't slow as it should at the rest. He looked up and down the track. Even if he had to double back it would be worth it if there was any shade at all.

Walking like this, well past the time he'd intended to stop was dangerous. Through the confusion and the heat, some self preservation instinct reminded him of the fact. He stopped and fought to clear his thoughts. Somewhere up ahead a faint pall of smoke rose into the air from an indistinct shape at ground level. It was the closest thing there'd been to signs of life since he started moving and perhaps it had caught his attention through the haze of heat and thirst. Summoning his remaining strength he walked toward it. A derailed train. Empty of any sign of life and surrounded by unidentifiable pieces of its cargo scattered on the scorching ground. Too exhausted to speculate on the cause, Knuckles crawled in among the remains of one of the smashed and upended carriages, sheltered from the heat of the ground below and the sun above, and closed his eyes.


Sonic slowed outside the town to let the dust of their passage settle. No point in ticking people off before they'd even said hi. Tails brushed dust from his fur and together they strolled into the town which was quiet in the heat although heads turned at their arrival among those few people who were about on the dusty streets.

Sonic looked around. At least his own face didn't seem to appear on any Wanted posters here – although the place was positively plastered with those of a trio identified as variously, bandits, bounty hunters or the comparatively understated 'notorious hooligans'.

Sonic gave them a glance and thought, but couldn't be certain, that one of them might have been the bird that had fired at the Tornado - there was always the chance Eggman would resort to local lackeys if the help was offered.

Their choices for seeking information seemed to be the handful of people chatting lazily on the shaded verandas adjoining the street, an empty-looking post-office and general store, or a slightly livelier looking saloon.

Sonic went for the nearest option, heading over to the closest porch.

"Hi! We're looking for some people."

A bison nearly twice Sonic's height stood up slowly.

"Some folk round here don't wanna be looked for."

Sonic shrugged but grinned, "Yeah that's probably true for one of them. But you won't have missed him. Human with a mob of robots? Kinda noticeable? No?"

The bison grunted at him, but shook his head.

Sonic smiled. "Oh well. And the other one's a buddy. Kinda hoping he does want to be found, or find me. Red echidna?"

The bison raised a heavy eyebrow. "You been drinking?" He stomped back to his seat. "No machine-men. No extinctees. Go spin your story someplace else. Try the horse camp outside town, they like a storyteller."

Sonic blinked at him then looked at Tails. Among the friendly or hostile reactions he might have expected, disbelief wasn't among them.

"There's other places we can ask," Tails said. "Shall we try the shop, or the railway station, or somewhere? People must be coming and going who might have seen something."

That made sense and Sonic followed Tails to the shop. It was impossible to tell what it sold since the windows were plastered with the wanted posters, almost entirely obscuring whatever was for sale within. Still only the face of the bird, bear and weasel they'd seen already but the shopkeeper recognised Sonic even so, although he hadn't seen Knuckles. He did however pass on the most recent news at the railway halt was that the train had not arrived. Sonic decided not to volunteer the reason for that but did ask around. The only thing out of the ordinary which anyone could recall was an unclaimed shipment of stores on the previous train.

"Stores of what?" Sonic asked the coyote in the shipping office.

He shrugged. "I don't have a habit of opening other folks' goods. Everything gets shipped in here. Do we look like a town with a huge manufacturing industry? Could be anything."

Tails frowned. "But stuff doesn't normally get abandoned, right?"

"No, but travel takes time and stuff gets mixed up. Someone'll turn up for it."

"And where is it in the meantime?"

The coyote narrowed his eyes. "What's it to you?"

Sonic touched Tails' shoulder in warning.

"Nothing. Just curious. Maybe our friend ended up on the wrong train too."

The coyote shrugged. "Could be. Try the Mirage."

"The mirage?"

The coyote rolled his eyes. "The saloon? I see all the train passengers, but they see everyone."

Sonic nodded. "Okay. Good idea. Thanks."

They headed away.

"I don't like the sound of it," Tails said. "What if that shipment's Eggman's too? It could be dangerous."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, we should check it out."

"And we've got to find Eggman! And Knuckles!" Tails' ears lay flat on his head in distress.

Sonic also frowned – what to tackle first? He hated the idea of maybe leaving Knuckles stranded somewhere out there in the desert, but all the same reasons for tackling the Eggman risk first still held, as they had at the train. Knuckles was a survivor, and this town had no idea what might be about to hit it.

"Knuckles is tough as old boots, Tails," he encouraged. "If he hasn't found his way here by the time we've figured out what's going on, I'll go find him. Okay?"

Tails nodded slightly doubtfully but prepared to take Sonic's word.

Sonic picked up the pace. The town wasn't large. Finding a stash of Eggman tech should be easy.


"Hey!"

Knuckles flinched, the shout drilling into his aching head.

"Hey, pard, you okay there? You don't look okay there."

Belatedly Knuckles processed the noise and tried to get up, succeeding only in giving his thumping head another knock against the collapsed side of the carriage above him.

"Take it slow," an unfamiliar voice advised. "Here."

And then there were hands on his shoulders and ankles which he was too disoriented to do anything about and he was pulled out of his rough shelter back into the sun. He groaned at the pressure on his injured shoulder and closed his eyes against his will at the sudden light. He swung blindly at whoever had dragged him out into it.

"Watch it!" a different voice said and then, in a different tone added, "Take it slow. Take it easy. You're safe."

The hands let go and Knuckles staggered two steps away before tripping over one of the many lumps of debris and landing heavily on his tail. He shaded his eyes and looked up at the two figures who he hadn't quite identified as either assailants or rescuers. Both wore guns strapped to their side but neither had drawn them and a vulture's long beak curved in a smile as its owner pulled a broad brimmed hat off his head and dropped it onto Knuckles' own.

"Better?" he asked.

Knuckles blinked at him from the blessed shade of the hat's brim.

"Looks kinda sunstruck to me." The other figure, a dusty coloured hare with long tattered ears, put her head on one side consideringly and pulled a water bottle from a pack over her shoulder. She held it out.

"Slowly," she warned.

Knuckles nodded. He knew that.

The water was tepid, and stale tasting but welcome and wet his mouth enough that he was able to unstick the words from his throat.

"Who-"

That was the wrong question. 'Where' was the better one. But before he could try again they'd already answered.

"Jackie Blacktail," the hare tipped her hat. "That's Len Penvelyn. We came to have a looksee what'd happened to the train when it didn't show. Were you on board?"

Knuckles shook his head and immediately wondered if that would have been a better explanation than the real one. A better way of avoiding questions. He knew nothing about these people after all. Nothing except that they hadn't attacked him or ignored him, when either would have been easy to do.

"I don't know what happened," he said instead of volunteering an alternative. "I was following the tracks when I found it."

Blacktail frowned. "Following them from where? You're a fair old way out and this ain't good country for a stroll."

"I was in an aircraft. It-" Knuckles hesitated unsure how much to tell. More than one place they'd traversed had been under Eggman's sway. Announcing himself as an enemy of the man might not be wise. "There was an accident. I got stranded out here."

"Bad break," said Penvelyn. "Well if ya ain't got a problem waiting while we recce, you can ride back to town with us. We got a handcar. Get this down you, meantimes."

He rummaged in his own pack and handed Knuckles a slightly charred slice of what looked like part of one of the cacti he'd wondered about, the prickly parts burned away. Edible after all then. Knuckles accepted it and nodded.

He had no better ideas and the town, presumably, was where he'd been heading. Sonic would have the sense to assume he'd head there wouldn't he? The thought occurred that he didn't really know for certain that Sonic and Tails had survived whatever had sent him plummeting to the ground. He dismissed the thought. There was nothing he could do about it if they hadn't survived and nothing he could do to help if they were also stranded. Not until he was fed and watered and rested. In any case, if they were on the ground Sonic had a better chance than any of them of getting clear of the desert quickly enough to be safe.

He didn't think they'd go on without him. So the town was the only logical next destination.

He alternated slowly drinking and chewing down the food and watched the examination of the derailed train. Had Eggman been involved? There was smoke and soot damage but he didn't have enough expertise to tell an accidental boiler explosion from sabotage or hijacking.

Whatever it had been carrying was littered across the ground and the hare and vulture poked at it with their boots and talked it over. As best Knuckles could make out, it wasn't what they'd expected to find on board.

He forced himself to his feet, taking another swing from the water bottle as he staggered slightly and almost ended up on his knees. He wove his way towards the nearest piece of debris and stared at it. Mechanical parts, twisted beyond recognition. Could have been a robot, could have been a legitimate vehicle engine. Further down the track, huge barrels had rolled away from the overturned train. And these Knuckles stopped and stared at.

"I know who loaded this train." It came out as a croaking whisper and he gulped from the bottle again. "And I know who attacked it."

He looked up the track in the direction the train had been travelling.

"He'll try again. You need to warn your town. I need to find them. They'll have gone that way. I need-"

"Y'need to sit down." The hare's hand landed on his shoulder. It seemed unreasonably heavy and Knuckles felt himself sag under it.

"Y'need to finish drinking that." Her other hand came up under the bottle pushing his own hand back up towards his mouth.

"And y'need to get outta the sun." The vulture extended a wing obligingly over Knuckles' head and extended his long neck to look around and under it.

"You're babbling there, pard. Try again. Way too many 'he's and 'they's in that last go."

Knuckles struggled to order his thoughts, sipping at the water bottle when Blacktail prompted him a second time.

"Eggman's mark is on those barrels. I think Sonic and Tails attacked it." Knuckles realised abruptly that names might not add any clarity at all, remembered once again that he had no idea how widespread Eggman's reach or Sonic's notoriety was. "Do you know who..."

Blacktail nodded. "By hearsay, sure. Ain't sure where a red..." he paused, shrugged, but didn't ask, "where you come into the story? On the right side I hope?"

Knuckles hesitated, too startled to be anything but honest. "I… try to be."

Penvelyn sniffed. "That'll do. Trouble in the road if that ruckus comes to town though. What's your name, pard?"

"Knuckles."

"Well howdy, Knuckles," said Blacktail. "But ain't nothing we can do here. Need heavy kit to shift that lot. Might as as well get back to town and see if that hedgehog's pitched up." She reached down a hand to Knuckles. "Up you get."

Knuckles let himself be pulled back to his feet once again and followed Blacktail to a metal contraption on the rails.

"Sit there." She pointed. "Keep that hat on. Keep drinking. Me an' Len'll pump."

Knuckles wasn't entirely sure what she meant until she gave Penvelyn a nod and he heaved hugely on a see-sawing lever. Blacktail, still not aboard the contraption, gave it a shove, and ran alongside for a few paces before swinging herself aboard and seizing the other end of the lever.

Knuckles found his hands straying for something to hold onto as they picked up speed but there was nothing. He tried to assess the speed but the viewpoint from sitting so low down and the rattling and clanking of the device made it hard to compare with walking or running. In any case it was easier even if it was uncomfortable.

With nothing to do but not fall off or get smacked in the head by the swinging lever, Knuckles' mnd wandered habitually to the Island and the Master Emerald. A concious touch of it to check on it's security brought an abrupt onrush of energy and he frowned. He felt better for it but why had it taken that deliberate contact? How much did he rely on the constant background touch of its presence on the Island? He'd never been away so the Island so frequently or for as long. Had he never noticed because the contact was so automatic there?

Like the ride there was nothing he could do but accept it for now and be grateful for the belated relief.

The town couldn't have been far after all and was soon in sight. Blacktail and Penvelyn let the handcar coast to a stop and jumped down. Knuckles climbed off and to his feet after them.

"Best bet for finding your pards will be the saloon," Blacktail said. "And anyhow, we need to get something more substantial than a slice of prickly and one bottle of water in you."

Knuckles felt considerably better but Master Emerald assistance or no, he did need actual food and drink as well and he had nothing to trade but what he stood up in. He was unhappy being in debt to these strangers, even as lightly as they seemed to take it but he didn't really have any choice.

"Thank you," he said in lieu of anything else to offer. "You didn't have to."

"Sure did," Penvelyn smiled. "If folk don't look after each other way out here, ain't no hope for any of us."

"Come on, I need a drink that don't taste of desert dirt too." Blacktail stepped ahead of them and Knuckles and Penvelyn followed.

The saloon was populated but not busy and the bartender, another vulture, looked up as they entered.

"Jackie Blacktail." He cast a glance at Knuckles and drawled, "Still picking up strays?"

"Howdy, Mel," said Blacktail evenly. "Biggest juice pitcher you've got, and it'll be dinner as well."

The bartender turned to the shelves without further comment and Blacktail turned to Knuckles as he subsided at a table.

"Anything you don't eat?"

"Chilli," Knuckles answered firmly at once.

Blacktailed smiled. "It'll be bean stew then."

Knuckles nodded. "That sounds fine."

Blacktail went to the bar to order and Knuckles lifted Penvelyn's hat from his head to hand back. The vulture waved him off.

"Keep it. Suits you. And you look like you need it more than me."

Knuckles lowered the hat back onto his own head, unsure if to do otherwise would be rude. He was aware that Sonic would have been busy chatting by now, finding out more about the people he'd ended up with.

He was saved from having to make conversation by Blacktail's return.

"Guess who was just in here?" He went on without waiting for an answer, dropping into an imitation of the bartender's drawl. "That hedgehog from outta tha papers..." She resumed a normal tone. "Guess who he was looking for?"

"Eggman," Knuckles said.

Blacktail's ears flicked back in surprise.

"You!"

"Oh." Knuckles started up from his seat, inexplicably embarrassed at having missed his guess, but sat back down before he'd even fully risen. If Sonic was ahead of him already, he'd never catch up.

"Did he say where he was going next?"

"Na," Blacktail shrugged. "But him and the fox kid took a room so they'll be back. You can eat up and get rested and your pards'll be right along."


At the opposite edge of town, where the houses and small shops gave out to desert and a dusty railway siding, Sonic eyeballed a large warehouse. It was same dust-dry wood construction as the rest of the buildings and there was nothing in particular to identify it as a potential Eggman stash except for the fact there were no other obvious candidates.

Tails looked mournful. "If I had any of the gear from the Tonado I might be able to rig something to tell if there were robots in there."

Sonic shrugged and grinned back. "I know a faster way to find out!"

Tails giggled. "Of course you do!"

Sonic held out a hand and Tails didn't hesitate.

Somewhat to Sonic's suprise there was no increased sign of hiden technology springing to life as they got closer. The wooden doors gave giveout even a spin dash - Sonic simply shoulder barging through them.

They skidded to a stop inside. Dust settled around them.

"It's empty..." Tails started to say but in the next instant it was clear he was wrong.

A blinding flash made them both squeeze their eyes shut, and when the oepned them the place was transformed. Hung about with purple and green, stars and glitter. Had they moved again? Or had the whole abandoned warehouse effect been faked somehow?

There wasn't time to worry about it because they were already under attack and they'd been wrong on that count too because it was one of the robots and not Eggman at all, that swooped down on them.

It was same conjurer-styled machine that had attacked them back on board the Tornado and it was with the same gesture that they were suddenly surrounded by the trio from the wanted posters.

Sonic spent a split second wondering if they'd been hidden, or teleported there or if they were even real and not robot replicas but he was already diving clear of the bullets of one and the bombs of the other. From the corner of his eye he saw Tails duck a swing from the huge bear and bound back up straight into a spinning attack of his own.

Sonic tore into a racing start from his crouch on the ground which took out both of his assailants at the ankles. The fall didn't stop either of them firing and Tails dropped from the air. Sonic knew a moment's panic but the fox had only thrown himself flat to the floor to be clear of hail of bullets.

Sonic leapt clear of an un-aimed bomb and leapt instead for the robot conjurer which was laughing mechanically up above their heads. He was sure he was on target but the air shimmered and somehow he was out past the thing with no blow landed.

Tails was scuffling in mid air with the bright green bird, twisting and turning as he tried to part him from the bandolier of explosives draped about him. The bear was still picking himself up and looking for targets in all the wrong directions, so Sonic redirected his attack to the dangerously erratic shooter, a skinny purple weasel who seemed almost entirely indifferent to which of his presumed allies were in the line of fire.

Sonic made a last minute attempt to moderate the force of the blow but still closed his eye as his spin dash made contact – smashing robots was different to the damage he could do to a real person but someone was going to get killed if those bullets kept flying and he couldn't afford to wait and think of a better solution.

The impact though did not feel like flesh and blood. He struck with a dull thump equally unlike both flesh and metal and, with a flicker, the weasel disappeared. Sonic frowned even as a certain amount of relief washed over him.

Tails had shaken off the bird, who'd spun off into a wall and disappeared with the same dull thump of impact. Tails was left holding half the string of bombs while the other half went scattering to the ground.

Sonic dodged and dived and evaded them all, but the bear – or bear-a-like-thing was not so lucky.

That only left the robot, and as it swept its conjurer's top hat off its head with a bow, Sonic had a nasty feeling they were in for an encore.

"Tails!" he shouted. "One for me!"

Tails caught his intention instantly and tossed one of the little round bombs in the air – not directly to Sonic, but towards the robot. Sonic dived for it, catching it in mid air and slamming it the rest of the way – straight into the robo'ts top hat in the half a second before it slapped it back on its head.

The was a bang and another sickening twirl of light which left them both unclear whether or it had been destroyed or teleported once again away.

Tails landed as Sonic picked himself up from where he'd dived for cover.

The warehouse was empty once more and Sonic made a face, coming to the conclusion that it had been for some time.

"Trap?" Tails asked.

"Trap." Sonic shrugged. "Let's get back to town. Maybe Knuckles has turned up."


Knuckles was well fed and no longer thirsty and the only thing keeping him from nodding off over the table was the unshakeable, ever-present unfamiliarity of this place.

There was no threat, everyone he'd met here had been either actively welcoming or mildly curious. There was no obvious way to find Sonic and no obvious way to head for home if he couldn't so there was nothing to do but wait.

It shouldn't be as hard as it was.

It was though, and he must have made some sound of discontent because Penvelyn smiled at him.

"I'm sure your buddies'll be back soon. Way they tell it, nothing much slows up that hedgehog."

Knuckles sought for some appropriate answer but found himself caught up on 'buddy'. He hardly knew Sonic yet he was certain the hedgehog would use the same term, putting him, however casually in the same category as Tails who the hedgehog seemed to consider practically family.

Penvelyn didn't press for an answer, instead returning his attention to the game of cards he was playing with Blacktail. Knuckles couldn't tell who was winning and wondered if he should have accepted instead of declined their offer to teach it to him. At least it would have passed the time.

A flurry of dust and noise outside snapped his attention away from his half-hearted attempts to figure it out by watching, and then Sonic and Tails were bursting through the swinging door into the saloon.

They both scanned the room in a way Knuckles recognised as once as practised and alert and then Tails launched himself into the air, over the tables and towards Knuckles who jumped to his feet to intercept another of the ballistic hugs he'd received in Hydropolis.

Tails stopped himself short though, grasping both of Knuckles' upraised hands instead and letting himself be drawn back down to a landing.

"You're okay!"

"Told you!" Sonic grinned, although Knuckles didn't miss the quick up and down glance the hedgehog gave him – making sure.

"Cool hat," Sonic said instead of commenting on the results of his assessment. Knuckles couldn't tell whether the hedgehog was taunting him or not, so let it pass.

"Gonna introduce us to your famous hero buddies?" Penvelyn asked, rising lazily from his seat beside Knuckles as Blacktail lifted her hat from the table purely to put it back on her head long enough to raise it in greeting.

Knuckles nodded. "Sonic, Tails, this is Len Penvelyn and Jackie Blacktail. They helped me after the crash."

Sonic cheerfully stuck out his hand to each in turn, and Tails followed suit with enthusiasm.

"We owe you one then," Sonic smiled at the two of them while giving Knuckles a clap on the back.

Knuckles glanced at him, surprised at the remark - half at the idea that Sonic would consider Knuckles' safety something he himself would bear any responsibility for and partly at how lightly he seemed to accept such a debt.

Blacktail wrinkled her nose. "Seems like if you keep Eggman clear of this township, that's one done and settled."

Sonic smiled readily. "Well, that's the plan! Looks like he's cleared out for now though."

There was a crash from outside and all heads turned.

"Or not," Sonic said, without a flicker of concern.

The swing doors crashed open once again and tumbling through came an enormous machine. Knuckles had seem similar caterpillar-styled bots before but never at this scale and he leapt back from it to avoid being crushed as much to avoid an attack.

A bison, head lowered, tumbled in after it and sprawled straight onto the floor.

Sonic was already in mid leap.

"Tell me again, Tails, how smashing it in half wouldn't end up with the bits coming back at us?"

Tails looked dismayed but Sonic was already laughing again. "Oh well if a whole one couldn't do the trick, half a one sure won't!"

Blacktail and Penvelyn had dived to haul the bison who'd first attacked the thing clear, but now stood with weapons upraised but unfiring. Doubtful of the effectiveness or worried about the risk of ricochets from the metal, Knuckles guessed.

Fists did not present similar problems and Knuckles ducked both teeth and spikes and leapt for the bot's head. It reared upwards as he did so and he twisted violently in a gliding swerve to avoid a facefull of metal. Sonic surged up past him in another enormous bound which reached just high enough to clip the thing's head, sending it thrashing wildly.

Then Tails was at his shoulder. "Need to get higher?"

Knuckles nodded and reached for Tails's offered grasp. They whisked up into the air and Tails gave him a little extra swing towards the lashing head where Knuckles planted both fists and hung on.

"I think those antennae are actually antennae!" Tails shouted over the din of crashing metal, Sonic's shouts of provocation and the panicky emptying of the saloon under the bellowed orders of Blacktail. "It's remote controlled. Take them out and I think we're good!"

Knuckles did wonder a moment whether lack of control was actually a good thing but without solid reason to refuse, he went along with Tail's suggestion and released his grip on the armoured head to swing instead for the stalky metal antennae. The blow was on target but off balance and he pitched forward and off as the robot dropped away beneath him.

This time it was Sonic who was instantly there, catching his arm and pulling him clear and back onto his feet almost in the same motion.

The segments of the robot rolled lifeless across the floor and everyone drew breath again.

The saloon had emptied but many people appeared to have only gone as far as the street and now peeked back in.

The bison, Blacktail, and Penvelyn were still standing at the door watchfully where they'd guarded the retreat, but not followed, and Sonic gave them an acknowledging nod.

Blacktail retrieved her hat and fanned her face with it before picking up the one Knuckles had been wearing and handing it back to him with a wink at Penvelyn.

"It's a bit more intense than the newspaper pics make it look when it lands in your front room," she said.

"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "Thanks for having our back."

Blacktail glanced now at her re-holstered weapon. "Aint sure it'd have helped much if it came to it. What're we supposed to do if he comes back?"

Tails and Sonic glanced at each other and Sonic nodded.

"The train that didn't turn up was full of Eggman tech," Tails said. "I bet we can salvage enough to get you set up with enough to defend yourselves."

"You've got people willing to stand up, that's half the battle," Sonic agreed. "Too many zones haven't been as lucky."

"This is a railway town," Blacktail said. "We got mechanics, people who can run salvage ops. We'll stand, you don't have to worry about that."

Sonic grinned. "Good to hear!"

Tails smiled. "Speaking of salvage I wouldn't mind seeing what state the Tornado ended up in. There's kit on there that it's going to be real hard to find this ruby without."

Sonic nodded. "We can do that. But those trains were going on to Oil Ocean right? Safe bet that needs to be our next stop."

They travelled together as far as the train, the next morning – Sonic and Tails laughing and riding the handcar as though it made specifically for their amusement. Back at the train, Tails walked some of the railwaymen through the tech on board – the bits of it which had survived his and Sonic's attack and would be useable with repair.

Penvelyn and Knuckles meanwhile, took to the air to scout for the Tornado. The thermals were as intense as the previous day but, rested and uninjured this time Knuckles rode them with enthusiasm for the easy height they gave him.

It didn't prove difficult to locate the aircraft. The bright colours stood out clearly in the drab desert.

Neither of them felt able to make a realistic assessment of the damage so they returned to the others where Knuckles, Sonic and Tails made their farewells.

Sonic declared his intention to come back to visit and Tails nodded enthusiastically.

Knuckles was unsure if he was expected to make a similar promise but managed to avoid being asked. He settled for farewells and thanks.

"Look after yourself," Blacktail said.

"I do," Knuckles answered.

"And my hat," Penvelyn added.

"Yes," Knuckles touched the brim. "I will."

"Ready?" Sonic said, holding out his hands for the others to take and glancing at their audience. "You might want to clear the area, folks. Gonna be a bit of dust kick-up here."

Most took him at his word but Blacktail and Penvelyn only tucked their cotton scarves up around nose and beak.

"Go for it," Blacktail said.

Sonic shrugged.

"Here we go!"

And they were off and outrunning the dust left in their wake although it seemed like mere seconds before the Tornado came into view.

Knuckles holding his hat on with one hand and Sonic smiled as they came to a stop and he looked round, but didn't comment.

"They were nice," Tails said.

Sonic nodded, with another sideways look at Knuckles.

"Most people are."

Tails was already up to his shoulder into the Tornado which was clearly unflyable although not in as many pieces as Knuckles would have expected.

"Think they'll help us again if I come back here to rebuild once we're all done?" Tails said over his shoulder.

"I'm sure of it," Sonic smiled.

Knuckles was turning his hat over in his hand.

"I almost lost this running here. It's not going to be safe while there's more fighting to do."

Sonic looked suspiciously as though he was fighting laughter again but Tails nodded.

"You can stash that here too," he said. "I mean we're going to need some way to get you back up on the Island. Or we can bring it up to you."

Knuckles ignored Sonic and nodded at Tails. "Yes. Okay"

Sonic tapped his foot. "Okay okay, plane safe, hat safe, can we get on now? Do we have a clue for direction or not?"

"Not," Tails said sadly. "The tracker didn't make it."

"Oil Ocean then?"

Tails pulled a face. "I hate that place."

"Yeah, not my favourite either, buddy," Sonic agreed. "We'll just have to blast on through there in double-quick time right?"

Tails looked up at Sonic and his expression turned fierce. "Right!"

He put out his hand, Knuckles did the same and once again they were running, eating up the desert heading for the distant, smoky horizon.