Another dog day afternoon in Tails' workshop. Sonic and Knuckles were lounging on a couch, watching TV, flicking through channels in a desperate attempt to find a worthwhile show. Tails was working on the Tornado, the squeaking of turning screws cut through the TV chatter. None of this affected Amy, who was absorbed in a book.

Sonic tried to alleviate his boredom by striking up a conversation with the others, "Guys, doesn't it seem like Eggman hasn't tried to destroy us in a long time? Knuckles, when was the last time you even saw Eggman?"

Knuckles answered passingly, "About 3 days ago"

"Huh, that's not that long . Why didn't I hear anything about it?"

"Well, I had just gone to bed. But the next thing I knew, Eggman had me trapped in a cage!"
Amy looked up from her book, "Knuckles, what are you talking about? I'm sure we would have seen Eggman take you from bed. And how would you even wake up when you're in the cage if you didn't get woken up by being taken there? Come to think of it, do you even own a bed?"
"Oh, believe me, I was kidnapped! It was just me and Eggman, he was messing with some control board thingy."

Knuckles thought back to what happened then….

Knuckles was in a cage, Eggman was standing over him from outside. "Well well well, if it isn't Knuckles the Echidna. It seems you've fallen right into my trap! I knew you would get tired eventually, so I sent my robots to rig your bed to fly to me when you fell asleep! A genius plan only I could have thought of."

Knuckles spat at Eggman and responded "You'll never get away with this Eggman! Once my friends find out what you've done, they'll come get me and they'll put a stop to your evil plans!"

"Evil plans? Why, I haven't even said what I was going to do yet!"
"Oh yeah….so what are you going to do?"

"Finally, now I can monologue and explain my entire evil plot to one of the few people who has a chance at stopping me. Where to begin? Hmm. I know! Well, you see, my first step was to capture a member of team Sonic. That's where you come in."

Knuckles pressed his face through the bars and derided Eggman, "I'll never help you with your evil plan Eggman!"
Eggman was unphased, explaining to Knuckles that "You don't really have a choice in the matter. By getting caught, you've already put my plan into motion!"

"Oh yeah? Well, let's see if your cage is stronger than my fists!"
Knuckles repeatedly pounded the cage until the bars bent away, leaving an opening big enough for him to escape.

Tails interrupted Knuckles, stopping his flashback.
"Knuckles, even you can't punch through a cage Eggman would make for you."
Knuckles glared at Tails, " I'm sorry, are you the one telling the story, or am I? Now where was I…..oh yeah, I was showing off my super strength!"
Knuckles continued on with the story.

Having easily broken out of Eggman's trap, Knuckles boasted "hahaha, no mere cage can contain me, for I am Knuckles!"

"No, that's impossible! That cage was made to contain even the strongest of Echidnas!"

Amy then interrupted Knuckles.
"Knuckles, are you going to tell us what really happened or not?"
Knuckles doubled down on his story, "That is what really happened, I swear!"
Sonic added "well, at least Knuckles' story is better than doing nothing all day. So what happened next, oh mighty Knuckles"

Knuckles grinned at Sonic's compliment, "Finally someone appreciates me. You two could really learn something from Sonic, you know that?"
Amy and Tails both groaned.

"Anyway, back to my epic tale! What was happening again? Ah, I remember. I had just broken out of my cage and proven that I am the strongest echidna of all time!"

Knuckles went back to going back to the flashback.

"So Eggman, any last words?"

Eggman, sobbing, said "How could this happen? I'm the evil genius here, not you!"

Shadow appeared from the darkness, "Look who we have here. That red echidna again, of all places! And Dr. Robotnik, failing to beat said red echidna."

"Hahaha, try as you might Shadow, you won't win. For you see, I am Knuckles, and I am the strongest echidna of all time!"

"Is that so? Well, let's see how you fare against the ultimate lifeform."

Knuckles told the group "and then, Shadow spin dashed at me!"
Amy threw her hands up in exasperation, "Now I know you're lying. Why would Shadow even be with you and Eggman? And why would he be surprised to see Eggman in his own lair, it makes no sense!"
Tails seconded Amy's comment, "Amy has a point Knuckles, why would Shadow be there in the first place and then suddenly try to attack you?"

Sonic came to Knuckles' defense again, "Come on guys, just let him finish his story. Maybe his story will make sense if he explains it more."
Knuckles scooted closer to Sonic after realizing he'd been sticking up for him. He explained "I see someone knows the truth when they hear it. You know, you two could really…"
Together, Amy and Tails yelled "Finish the story!"

"Alright, jeez. So anyway, then I woke up."
Tails' eyes widened in disbelief, "THAT'S YOUR STORY?!"

"Pfff, well, yeah. What'd you expect?"
Amy shouted back "I expected a REAL story at least! Not some red mammal's fantasy!"
Knuckles whimpered "I have feelings you know…"
Sonic went over and comforted knuckles, "Guys, now look what you did. You made Knuckles all upset again, and on his birthday too!"
"It's my birthday?"

"just go along with it" whispered Sonic

Addressing the group, Sonic said "Now don't you guys feel awful? You made this kind, sensitive soul sad."

Amy and Tails looked down in shame

"all I… all I wanted was to… to tell a story. And you guys...you .. you had to make fun of me!" spoke Knuckles through his tears.

Knuckles buried his face into his hands.

"There there. It'll be okay. I know Amy and Tails didn't try to be mean to you."

Amy apologized to Knuckles.

"I'm sorry Knuckles, I wasn't trying to make fun of you"

Tails offered his apology too, "Yeah, I'm sorry too. I just got a bit upset when you told us that whole story, only for it to be a dream."
Is there something we can do to make it up to you?"
Sonic decided to speak for knuckles, "I think I remember Knuckles saying he really wanted some chili dogs.."
Amy and Tails shouted "SONIC!"

Knuckles sat back normally and acted as if nothing happened.
"Well, now that you mention it, I do remember seeing a great looking hat the other day."

Sonic expressed his confusion to Knuckles, "You want a…..hat?"

Tails considered the proposal, "Well, it is Knuckles birthday apparently, and clothing is a good gift. So what and where is this hat?"

"I saw it in Eggman's lair"

Amy clarified "You mean you saw it in your dream..."

"Yes. It was white and red, and it looked great! You'll know it when you see it."

Sonic questioned Knuckles, "So let me get this straight, you want us to go to Eggman's lair and get you a hat that probably doesn't even exist"
"Oh Sonic, when will you learn. How could it not exist if I already saw it?"

Tails commented "You only dreamt you saw it Knuckles, that doesn't mean it exists at all"

"I see how it is. You guys care so little about me that you won't even get me a hat. Is that how much I'm worth to you? You won't even get me a hat?"

Amy sighed, "That's not it at all. We just don't think that the hat exists. Even if it does exist, its in one of the most dangerous places it could possibly be"

"You don't even care enough about me to come up with good excuses :( "

Tails asked "Knuckles, did you just make a frowny face?"
"Woah, how could you tell?"
"Call it creative liberties"

"I don't know what creative liberties are, but I do want to know if you're going to prove you care about me. Or are you going to prove that you don't care about me?"

Sonic gave in, "Fine. I'll get your stupid dream hat if it means you'll stop guilt tripping us"

Knuckles reaffirmed his trust in Sonic, "I hope you two realize why we're Team Sonic now"

Amy facepalmed while Tails throws up his arms in exasperation. At the same time Colton the Fox entered through the workshop door.

"Hey gang, I heard you guys were making plans. I'm sure I could help out, so what d'ya guys need?

Sonic, enlivened by Colton's arrival, exclaimed "Awesome, Colton's here! Well, It's a long story but.."
"Do you want me to tell the story again? Okay, well it all started when I was about to go to bed and.."
"I think we're good Knuckles. So, as I was saying, It's a long story. Basically, we just told Knuckles here that we would get him this special hat he "saw" a few days ago."

Colton assured everyone that he was more than capable of grabbing a hat and asked "So what'd you guys need to draft plans for if you're just getting a hat?"
Tails described the situation, "Well my handsome friend, Knuckles thinks the hat is located in Eggman's lair. Aaaaaand he saw it in a dream."

"Knuckles, I'm all for helping you, whatever it takes, but how do we know if it's even there? After all, you only dreamt it was there."
Amy sprung to life at the notion of someone agreeing with her, "That's what I've been saying! I don't want to waste our time looking for a dream hat. What if Eggman sends his robots to attack while someone's off searching for the hat?"

Knuckles went on the defensive once again.

"Well Colton, I take it you don't care about my feelings then. Some leader you are…"
"I'll make you eat those words!"

Sonic sprinted between the two and kept them from coming to blows

"Cool it Colton. Why don't you just come with me? I was headed to Eggman's lair to look, it'd be nice to have a partner."

Amy protested "Oh no, he's not your partner! You're not even.."

"I meant someone to help fight, Amy."

"oh..hehe….nevermind.."

Colton continued his prior conversation with Sonic, "right…..well Sonic, looks like you've got a teammate to come with you. So what are the plans so far? Are we waiting for Eggman to attack us and then we sneak in while he's not there? Or maybe we could build a robot to hide in and he'll think it's one of his! Hah, it'll be just like that Trojan horse! What was that called again?"
Tails answered "I'm pretty sure it's a Trojan horse, Colton"

"No, that's what I'm asking about. What's that Trojan horse called?"
"Are we really doing this?"
"Whatever, I see you didn't like that idea. Ooh, what if we lure Eggman to come after us and then make him give us the hat then!"
Sonic said "uh, actually, I was just planning to sneak in now. Why wait? I mean, I'm the main character!"

"Ooh, a plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies! I'm up for it if you are Sonic"

"all right! Let's get going. Colton, you take point, you get to absorb all the bullets and shrapnel this time. "

"Alright, just follow my lead...wait, did you just say bullets and shrapnel?"