Author's note: I think I'm doing this correctly? Otherwise I'll change it :D - Anyway, this is my second story I'm uploading after 'True Telling' as I'm feeling - yeah, call it rebelious if you want I'm not entirely sure. This time it features a certain echidna as Team Sonic gets into a rather peculair situation.

Please review when you've enjoyed it (hopefully) and tell me what you think. English isn't my first language so grammar errors are to be expected, though if something big leads to many misunderstandings I'll edit it of course :) - but enough babbling, please enjoy!

Communication in the jungle

"Stop making it my fault!" –

"But it is your fault hedgehog! You're recklessness has turned this mission into a disaster!"

The yells could be heard throughout the entire jungle, probably miles away as frustrations and anger was released into the previously tranquil wildlife. The zone Team Sonic was currently traversing was cleverly named Jungle Zone, a place the blue blur had visited a long time ago and therefore all knowledge about their whereabouts were lost in time. With huge trees, longs vines and thick vegetation have almost reminded him of the Mystic Ruins, though that place was more frequently visited by them and archaeologists and tourists, meaning that pathways had been made in and out of the jungle.

Though if you ventured deeper into it the two best friends would get a call from the government saying that a group of tourists had gotten lost and they are to pick them up. That happened approximately three times a month, depending on the time of the year.

"I didn't screw up anything! If somebody messed up it was you, knucklehead!" –

"How could I mess up when you were the one running straight into the assault!" Normally Sonic the hedgehog was calm in his mind, always having a one-liner ready and a grin on his face in situations like these.

But he didn't like getting accused of anything he didn't do, thinking back to the Shadow mix-up that ended with him going into a water jail. That, and the fact that Knuckles had an attribute that made his words get under your skin, wanting to pull the fur out of your head from the sheer absurdity of it, was enough to make that calm exterior completely disintegrate from existence.

As of right now the trio was walking, the youngest of them in front with his tablet in hands, frantically tapping and trying to get signals, while the hedgehog was walking in the middle, a constant glare over his shoulder at the third team member. Sometimes he wondered why the fluff he was here anyway.

Every time they pulled him off of his island he always seemed to be grumbling, negative and generally a pain because he was away from the Master Emerald and his precious island. He had no idea how persuading worked on him as he was always this irritated whenever they went on a mission. But this time they had needed his strength and his temple knowledge, when picking up a signal from a Chaos Emerald deep within this jungle.

When reaching it they had discovered that their overweight foe had reached it first and had unleashed an army of robots on them. Sonic had immediately run into the badniks, spin dashing, homing attacking and boosting to get the robots out of their way. The echidna had in Sonic's opinion stupidly left the battle and going after the doctor directly, reaching for his eggmobile and trying to prod the emerald out of his hands, leaving the two others to the robots. Not that it was a problem in itself, but because the temple had started to crumble together and the robots had been Slicers, meaning that blades had been thrown every which way, damaging the walls and the heroes doing more dodging than attacking.

Eggman had escaped with the emerald, as Sonic had taken his two friends and rushed them out of the temple, making it crumble to the ground. After a scolding from the echidna saying that it was a fine piece of architecture that didn't need destroying, the bickering had continued with the red and blue rivals – as usual.

"That's what I do! What would you have done, stared at them and asked them to move aside?" –

"Of course, that's what I would have done, are you nuts hedgehog! I would have come up with a plan! Something that wouldn't have made Eggman escape!" –

"Well you certainly did your part keeping him there so we could get the emerald back," Sonic cut across, was getting fed up with the echidna's scolding at this point

No matter which kind of explanation he had, it seemed to completely roll off of him – he didn't listen to him, nor did he even think about what he was saying back to him. It was like talking to a wall, which everybody knew couldn't talk back to anyone. Being in a fight with the stubborn echidna he was used to, but it got worst, when being lost in the jungle.

Usually the Tornado's signal was hooked up to the Miles Electric, but due to the thick vegetation the signal couldn't reach this far and therefore they were just walking. The fox in front was fiddling and tinkering with said tablet, his ears shot forward to block out the bickering behind him, a fierce expression completely stuck on his face. The two others looked practically the same, though Knuckles' face might have been looking redder if his fur color wasn't red as well, all anger completely radiating and rolling off of the guardian.

"You take that back hedgehog, or I will personally make you regret it," –

"So what are you gonna do? Punch me in the face and let your aggression out on me, wasting more time in this chaos confusing jungle?!" Sonic threw his arms out, letting a giant annoyed sigh escape his system, looking into the clear blue sky where the sun was shining down on them.

It was around noon, meaning that they still had a bunch of time before the sun set, but that didn't mean that it was any comfort.

They had no idea where they were going, had no guidelines like a river or a pathway to help them. They were walking over trees, vines, jumping over bushes and walking past rocks, trying to find their way through the wilderness. Multiple birds and other animal life had a long time ago been disturbed by their hiking, if the infuriated yells didn't do the job. This then led to more frustration.

Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest, for a moment stopped to think before he continued: "The only thing you're wasting is your breath. You're the one keeping this argument going!" –

"I'm the one?! I'm the one who keeps reminding you that you screwed up are constantly mad about it, holding grudges against me?" –

"Yes, you are! You're the one to blame for all of this hedgehog!" –

"Stop with the blame would' ya? There's no reason for it, you don't resolve anything by being angry with me!" –

"It surely feels a lot better, though kicking you in the shin would be much better," Sonic let out a groan before turning around, walking backwards and pointed a stiff finger towards him.

"Alright knucklehead you want a fight? Then I'm gonna give you a-," –

"Stop, stop! Both of you, just stop!"

All comeback comments and the current sentence sitting at Sonic's tongue completely blacked out, by the sheer scream that came from his best friend.

The two of them stopped dead in their track, the hedgehog turning around towards a pair of completely whipping tails, the person they belonged to turning on his heel, with one hand grasping the fur on his scalp.

"Stop arguing! None of you will resolve anything! So just shut up and let me think!" Throwing his arms out for emphasis, he almost threw the Miles Electric into the jungle, his body almost shaking from pure anger as much as the echidna himself.

"Alright I will Tails. Once you make Sonic realize that what he did was stupid," –

"Don't pull me into it! While you two have been arguing I've tried desperately to get a signal, but this dang forest is too thick!" He had to throw something now, and that became the tablet into the hedgehog's chest, who barely caught it before it crumbled onto the jungle ground.

"Hey, calm down Tails, there's no reason to-," –

"You're telling me to be calm?! I'm sorry that I was the one screaming my lungs out and disturbing every single living thing in this jungle! I'm pretty sure that even the trees are tired of you two!" He threw his hands towards the two of them, Sonic looking somewhat bewildered, but the echidna's anger wasn't calming down just yet.

"I'm only yelling because this dumb hedgehog won't realize that this his fault!" –

"How is that gonna help us figuring that out?! The only thing that's gonna help is you getting-," –

"Shh!"

The hedgehog almost took a step back, at the anger that clearly sprang out of the fox's eyes when the echidna had shushed him, though he was looking around.

"Do not shush me! I-!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Knuckles moved almost as quickly as the hedgehog himself, zipping by the fox's side and clasping a hand over his mouth, his head whirling around and looking at the bushes

Sonic was gonna ask what was going on, when he noticed how much the echidna's behavior had changed within seconds. He was still angry, that much could be read off of him easily, but his stance was stiff, eyes darting around cautiously as if he were looking for something.

Tails voice continued muffled behind Knuckles mitten but the determined glare from his older brother made him quiet. His tails whipped down and relaxed once he had read Knuckles stand as well, his eyes beginning to look around as well. Sonic wasn't going to ask what was going on, as he could see the concentration on the echidna's body, how much he listened and just looked.

The hedgehog by instinct placed himself in a battle-ready position, hiding the Miles Electric in his quills as his own eyes darted over the thick vegetation.

A sudden high-pitched yell sounded throughout the forest right next to them, making him jump as mobians suddenly scattered around them. Instinct kicked in as the three mobians clumped together, backs against each other, the two spiky individuals being wary of the one without head protection.

It was anteaters, very tall and fur filled mobians, with long snouts and a giant tail, bigger than the two of the fox's combined. They ran towards them, spears, bow and arrow in hand, about twenty of them and circled the three in a hunter's tactic. They were either shouting the same high-pitched yell, or chanting or talking or something, he didn't understand a word they said.

He hadn't seen many anteaters before, and a part of him had actually thought that they were extinct, the last time he had met one was a long time ago. Their bodies were long and slim, muscles resting underneath their chest and arms, very small eyes, and ears but a long snout that hid a tongue just as long. They're fur was thick, in different shades of brown, the lighter shades around their chest and abdomen, while black or brown stripes went over their sides, their back either a dark brown or black color. Their tail was massive, the fur handing down and hitting the jungle floor though many of them were whipping them agitated.

Some animalistic side in Tails apparently sparked, as his own tails began whipping as well, in an invisible challenge of strength, brushing against the other two. Some of them were dressed in pieces of cloth going over their chest, pouches hanging around their chest and waists while they held either weapon around their claws. They didn't have fingers, the only thing was their claws, long and curled inwards, while their feet hat small claws as well, holding on to the jungle ground.

Once everyone settled around them, they suddenly became quiet, spears pointed towards them and some arrows pointed as well. None of them moved. An uncomfortable long amount of time happened, where the two different groups just stared at each other. Sonic had been straining his entire body, subconsciously straining a hand in front of his sidekick, as his eyes darted around the inhabitants of the forest. If they had been trespassing, he had no idea, but their eyes showed little anger, only hunter's instinct and some of them even looked confused.

Complete deadly silence was around them, the anticipation beginning to feel the atmosphere. The impatience getting the better of the hedgehog more than anything, leaned his head backwards closer towards the echidna.

"Uh, Knux?" He's low voice sparked some mumbling, words he couldn't even begin to understand or describe. "What do they want?" –

"Why are you asking me?!" His voice was low as well, but clearly the anger from before was still radiating through his words.

The anteaters seemed to feel this, as some of them looked surprised at him while others pointed their spears towards him. Sonic felt himself being tiny, even though he wasn't the shortest mobian of his friends – the tallest of them was Knuckles, but they were towering over him, being a good eight inches at least taller than him.

"Because you're the only one who are descendants of a tribe Knux! I don't know anything about anything!" Sonic remarked, though he had calmed down a bit since them talking didn't seem to spark any hostile activity.

Some mumbling had started between them, some of them relaxing their arms and making their spear points towards the ground, but a good deal of them was still pointing weapons towards them.

"I don't know! Echidnas are different of anteaters! It's like I'm asking you whether or not porcupines eat chili dogs or not!" –

"Well they would because it's the most delicious food in the world Knux," The troubled guardian couldn't do anything than just sigh, the sound of a completely haunted soul.

"They – don't seem hostile," Tails quipped usefully, his eyes analyzing their body language more than anything, starting to relax his namesakes as well. The mumbling had spread around to the other tribe members, words, and sentences completely overgoing the hedgehog's head.

"Alright then let's – try to relax," He then suggested.

He calmly put his palms in front of himself, making a lot of them stiffen and point their weapons towards him. He lowered his head, not looking them in the eyes as he relaxed his body, putting his legs together and lowered his hands. Tails had been glancing at him, and by seeing the confusion in the anteaters' eyes, he did the same, forced his appendages to completely be still. This seemed to create a reaction, as spears and bows were lowered and more talking than mumbling occurred between them.

When Knuckles was the last to cooperate, some message apparently went through them as spears were retracted and the ends of them put in the ground, while arrows were put away. Feeling that the anticipation had disappeared, the hedgehog cleared his throat, completely stopping any form of language that had been converted throughout the tribe.

"Hello," He tried, waving a hand towards them, saw the facepalm that Knuckles did beside him. "We don't wanna harm any of you, just to be on the safe side. Uhm, who are you?" –

"You don't ask that!" The echidna said beside him, sending him an annoyed glare that he only received back from the hedgehog.

"Then what do you say?" He asked, though his earlier question had not made any communication contact whatsoever as they looked just as bewildered as before. Knuckles firstly looked at him, before looking around at the anteaters, his eyes gazing over their tribe.

"We give them our respect, tell them that we mean no harm," –

"And how do we do that foreigner?" Sonic mocked, crossing his arms over his chest. Knuckles sent him another glare, before he looked back at the tribe and did something that the hedgehog would never think he would do.

He put out his palms towards them, and then crouched down, head lowered and became even shorter than them, closing his eyes. What sounded like gasps when through them, but no hostile reaction came from them. Sonic watched for a second as his best friend did the same, bowering his head and closing his eyes, saw that he somewhat struggled with keeping his tails still. Soon, he did the same, was down to the ground and showed them that they meant no harm.

Loud mumbling went through them, while others took some steps closer to them and the taller of them spoke louder maybe in some sort of argument. Sonic quirked and eye open, before turning his head towards the echidna.

"What now?" He asked, both of his friends now opening their eyes and looking around. Knuckles took a moment to think but apparently came out fruitless as he said nothing.

"Maybe if we give them something? Don't we have any mangos left from-,"

Sonic felt Tails' body completely stiffen, and his fur rise in an almost 90-degree ankle, turning his head towards him to see what was going on.

A shorter anteater had taken a brave step towards him, and a claw was now going over the fox's left palm, apparently tickling his hand. He didn't dare move, in what Sonic thought was an attempt at either not scaring the tribe member or not wanting to anger him or her.

The claw then went around his hand, apparently noticed the yellow fur on his wrist but that his hand was white. Two claws, what would have counted as an index finger and a middle finger, then picked around one of his fingers, its eyes widening when it could apparently lift in his glove.

"Oh that? It's just clothing, like yours," Tails explained calmly, then took his hand away from the curious tribe member and took off his glove.

Loud gasps startled all three of them, from his movement, making some of them stumble backwards while others hid their claws in their faces, some spears pointing back towards them. Knuckle's hand latched around the fox's arm, an almost death glare sent towards him.

"Don't do that, you practically just took off your hand!" The echidna yelled, rattling some of the anteaters, as Sonic could feel the anticipation pick back up.

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" Tails bit back, but a lot calmer, to not make the situation any worse. Knuckles was about to say something back to him, when his eyes darted back to the inhabitant that had been tugging at the fox's hand.

It took a cautious step towards him again, its eyes looking at the glove he had in his hand. Tails swallowed something before he calmly reached out his hand, the yellow fur completely visible on his hand.

"See? It's still there," He said calmly, stretching out his fingers, making his palm completely visible. The anteater took another step closer, before shaking claws went back to the furry hand, its gentle movement visible tickling the fox.

It then turned its head around, said something they didn't understand, but relieved breaths were released from the group, and the spears made their way back to the ground.

"Way to go bro," Sonic said, while the fox smiled taking back his hand and putting his glove back when the anteater stepped away. "And I think you're right. Let's give them some food. Right Knux?" He suggested, the echidna looking at him before his eyes darted back towards the taller tribe members whose spears were still pointed towards them.

He nodded slowly before slowly taking his hand into his quills and pulled out four mangos. It was sparse food to the twenty of them, Sonic thought, but the echidna confidently put the fruits on the ground, pushing it towards them.

"That isn't enough is it?" –

"That doesn't matter. As long as they recognize that we're giving them a gift," He explained, as loud mumbling began to erupt in the tribe.

A taller anteater then took a brave step forward, bended down and let his snout go over the mango.

Sonic bit back his tongue, as he was about to ask why he didn't just pick it up. These mobians were a little bit behind when it came to evolution, meaning that they still had a pretty big animalistic part of them, and this was apparently still a trait that they had.

A long black tongue then went over the mango, thin and silky looking before it rose up and then turned around, its bushy tail almost smacking Knuckles in the face.

He raised his spear, and then let out a howl, something that sounded like cheering as the others howled alongside it, raising their weapons and arms into the air, while the hedgehog looked confused around.

The anticipation and anger then completely vanished as the anteaters turned to their neighbors started talking wildly, while others turned around to seemingly get something, one taking the mangos away and three others, taking hold of Team Sonic's shoulders and pushing them to sit on the ground instead. Sonic succumbed to the motion, looking around with bewildered eyes before looking at Knuckles.

"Guess it worked," He said, while the two others observed the sudden happy tribe members of the anteaters.

They had been sitting for a couple of minutes, none of them really wanting to move out of place, since they were still partially surrounded. Sonic wasn't sure if they were even allowed to get up and walk away, as some of the tallest anteaters had eyes glued to him and the echidna, especially the latter since Knuckles had put on an angry frown. The hedgehog really didn't blame the tribe, since the echidna did look like someone who was ready to charge whoever came near him.

It came with his natural protective instincts of himself, living on the island alone, any foreign happenings were something to be wary about rather than curious. Something Sonic had experienced firsthand.

Tails was somewhat calm, tried to use his brain to analyze the situation, like he usually did. When something abnormal happened, which in reality wasn't that uncommon, he retorted to use IQ points, experience, and general common sense to get an understanding of the situation himself. That left a curious expression on him more than anything, curious eyes darting around the varying heights of the anteaters, which most likely had told the protective older members of the tribe that he wasn't a threat.

Which meant that Sonic apparently had either and angry or battle-ready frown on his own forehead, though he felt more confused than anything.

Nothing made sense to him, since the tribe members had either sat down around them, talking, and chattering to their members, like they weren't even there, while others stood and talked, some standing and looking at them while some of them had disappeared. Wherever they had gone he had no idea, though he felt like the others were waiting for them, meaning that they were going to do something with him.

A part of him wanted to make communication, explain, and talk to them about what was going on, could feel his legs tingling to continue their trek, though the curiosity of this new culture kept him in place.

Sonic came around a lot, and he liked to explore new zones, meet new people learn and experience other cultures. He enjoyed learning, seeing the way that people formed their own way of living, if it was through tradition, evolution, or technology it didn't matter to him. Though, he had never adapted to any of them himself, had met people who praised Chaos, people who chose to live like the old times and people who lived isolated because they wanted to.

This was interesting, something new, something intriguing, figuring out how other people lived, because that was how they wanted to live. He himself lived free-spirited, freedom being his main word in his dictionary and lived off of adrenaline. This adventure had just been one of those things that made him enjoy living, though the outcome of it seemed to be rather foggy.

The anteaters then quieted down, when they turned their heads towards someone who came running to them. It had been three anteaters who were coming back, two holding a bowl with some red liquid inside and one with some blue, and a different item in each hand.

"It's a ritual," He turned his head towards the echidna who had looked at the ones who came towards them, had blurted out the sentence seemingly without thinking.

"A ritual? For what?" Tails had asked faster than Sonic could, as the three returning members had stopped at some of the taller anteaters, speaking their language.

"I don't know, I'm not in their tribe!" He exclaimed, his eyes looking back at the bowls in their hands.

"Though I've read something like this before. I think they're going to bless us, thanking us for giving them food," He explained, the fox nodding in understanding though Sonic only became more bewildered, didn't get to ask another question when the anteaters moved, giving the bowls to some of the others.

"Whatever they're going to do, let them do it. They're not hostile so they're not going to hurt us," Knuckles continued, the seemingly angry frown disappearing from knowing what was going to happened.

The hedgehog was more confused than anything but didn't have time to ask again as some taller or rather older anteaters walked towards them, all earlier chatter completely disintegrated from their movement.

The anteaters stood up again, the ones who had been sitting down, looking expectantly at the three of them, while each three anteaters stopped in front of each member of Team Sonic.

The anteater the stood in front of the hedgehog was tall, his fur dark on the back but light on his chest and down his body. He had been looking up, but turned his head downwards as the tribe member sat cross legged in front of Sonic, perfectly simultaneous with the other two. He noticed Knuckles sitting crossed legged as well, Sonic following his guide and the fox by his side continuing afterwards, pure domino effect.

The anteater wasn't smiling at him, but his face was relaxed, his eyes holding a concentration so thick that Sonic wondered whether or not he could see him. Sitting down he was still rather taller than him, his head towering over the blue one.

Some command from another anteater in the outer circle made the hedgehog jump, apparently some kind of signal or message or something when the anteater in front of him dipped its claw into the red liquid in the bowl he had placed in the hole he had made with his legs and began mumbling some kind of chant or something, completely incohesive. He took in an invisible breath but couldn't catch any specific odor.

Sonic was milliseconds from thrashing his hand away from him when the crimson claw came towards his face, but clenched his hands into his knees, thinking about what Knuckles had told him. He trusted him – if he said that they wouldn't do them any harm, then they wouldn't.

Instead he couldn't' stop himself from blinking in confusion when they merely left a dot of seemingly paint on his forehead. Two more dots on either side of his chin and the claw left to get refilled with paint. He didn't want to move his head too much and therefore only glanced sideways to see both of his friends getting dots of paints as well, though he thought he saw them being in different places than on his face. Four more dots appeared on his chest, two going down each forearm, and lastly two more on either side of his hip.

He was apparently done, as the song or whatever it was stopped as well, while he glanced at his other two members, though they were still painting on both Knuckles and Tails. The echidna was completely still, they're knees almost touching each other from sitting cross legged, as Sonic wondered whether or not he was actually breathing. He hadn't experienced him sitting this still before. His charge on the other hand, left either a very faint or practically invisible vibration when a dot was left behind, but otherwise sat still.

The one in front of the fox stopped after the last dot, looking back at the echidna, Sonic now noticed that he had blue paint rather than red, as the anteater finished. In the back of his mind he was pretty sure that their chanting had been different from each other, had absolutely no idea what they had said but the tunes and the notes had been dissimilar. Tails then turned his head towards him, the hedgehog looking back at a pair of eyes that was calm but practically begged for an explanation. Sonic didn't get to even do or say anything, other than pay attention to a red dot on each cheek and dead center on the chin, before all three anteaters stood up, the fox's head turning back to where it had been centered.

They walked away from them, completely disappearing from sight from other anteaters that made up the circle. Then they saw the tallest anteater, practically a good inch taller than the others, give their spear to presumably one of his friends, taking something in his hand and then walked into the circle.

He was most likely some kind of leader, or top hunter or something since he was tall, and even though he hadn't said anything that they even could understand he wore an authority thicker than the others, held a presence in the area just by standing alone. He had visibly more muscles adoring his chest and stomach, thick arms as well and his fur seemed to be kept tight, glistening in the sun which only made him stand taller. Sonic felt himself being incredibly small under his height but wasn't intimidated in the least. He had met a lot of enemies taller than him, not being the tallest hedgehog around himself.

He then noticed the rock he held in his hand, or rather crystal as it was orange, completely round, and smooth, almost see through with marbled colors of red and brown, seemingly sporadic, and wild, though it also held a pattern. It didn't look like something they happened to stumble across in the middle of the forest, but rather something that was found deep within a cave system or emptied lava pit. It was beautiful and shone in the sun light's rays, as he turned his body towards the echidna.

Standing in front of him, both Sonic and Tails turned to look what happened, as the anteater bended down and reached out the stone to the echidna. He said some words none of them understood, but apparently, he either didn't care or his talking didn't require an answer as he practically let the crystal fall into Knuckle's hands, keeping silent afterwards. Surprisingly, the echidna did nothing but nod, all thought to charging at them seemingly gone from his somewhat relaxed façade, as his eyes was wary but not battle-ready.

The anteater then turned around, as someone behind him held another item in their claws, giving it to them. When he turned back around, Sonic saw what seemed to be a wooden flute, and was as short as one of those push and pull fipple flutes. Though it had the holes he recognized on a normal flute and the wood was dark and was actually shining in the sun as well, like it had been polished. The design was beautiful, small, and fine lighter lines crossing across the instrument, as the anteater stepped towards him.

He was ready to turn his palms towards him in a decline, as the instrument looked neatly made and he didn't even know how to play the flute, though he thought better of it as him refusing in what Knuckles had called a ritual didn't seem like a good omen. The anteater began mumbling some more words, words he didn't understand yet again until the flute was left in his hands, the hedgehog looking over it. Up close it didn't even have a scratch, the wood shining and smooth in his hand, the tip of it sharp, ready to be played. He looked back at the anteater and nodded in a thanks, felt rather timid from given such a neat instrument from some plain mangoes. He didn't do anything else other than turn back around seemingly to get the last gift.

When the authoritative mobian looked towards the fox he held a feather in his hands. It was a large father, almost as large as his own tail, fine fibers grown from the stem, dark green and spread out evenly, swaying slowly in the low breeze. The tip of it had longer stems, though in the end of it, it was almost cluttered together, creating a completely round pattern that almost looked like the inside of an avocado. The outer edge was green, then a thicker layer of brown before a light blue hue surrounded the edge of it, similar to the fox's own eye color before the middle held a dark blue color. It was beautiful as well, the fibers not tangled in each other or broken or anything, like it had been directly plucked from whatever animal it came from. He had no idea, though it must have been big, to have a feather like that.

The tribe member took a step towards Tails, his eyes big in curiosity while the anteater yet again let his language create sentences that none of them understood. This time he gentler reached the feather down to the two-tailed, seemingly not to break it, while Tails reached for it, taking it in his own hands, eyes analyzing the fine fibers. He looked back at him, even smiled faintly as he nodded like the other two.

The anteater then took a couple of steps back, apparently looking at the three of them, then turned back around, gave some sort of command to the comrade in the circle that had held his spear. Sonic felt his quills unwillingly rise in anticipation, as the large anteater took his spear, but didn't point it towards them. Instead he lifted his other hand, apparently yelled into the air rather than looking at them, again words that none of them understood. The hedgehog jumped again, when the circle howled in unison, a tone that held a chipper tone, more than anything. The leader then let his head fall back to Sonic, his eyes relaxed as he kept quiet

He realized that he was waiting for him to do something, either speak or move or anything, and the only creative thing he could think about what nod at him.

The anteater took a second to process it, before he nodded back at Sonic, thinking he saw the faintest of smiles before he raised his spear said one word and then they moved. As quickly as they had surrounded them, the anteaters disappeared away from them, clothes, pouches, and weapons in tow, running into the bushes, making a lot of noise but not commotion, moved in a weird unison matter. When they disappeared through the vegetation, all was silent, completely, like they had just been sitting there because they could. Sonic blinked, replaying they're departure one more time, to register where they had gone, looking back at the flute in his hands.

"What – what just happened?" Tails was the first to muster, looking and observing the feather in his hands, not wanting to run a finger through it in case he broke the seemingly fragile stems.

"We got blessed," Knuckles easily said, like it was an everyday occurrence, getting up from the ground, looking at the crystal he had gotten in one hand. "They had been watching us for a long time."

Sonic looked up at him from the last statement, blinked, and then got up from the ground, noticing the blue dots that was on his body. He didn't like the fact that they had been watched maybe since they had left the temple. He was being stalked by Amy enough as it was.

"What do you mean?" –

"What they gave us, they're symbols. Echidnas use the same system," He explained, the hedgehog somewhat intrigued by this. Not because he was all in full interested in Knuckle's old ancestors, but because he was sharing some of it.

He kept tight whenever he talked about his own tribe, leaving out details and only given them sparse information about what they used to do back in the day.

Sonic opened his mouth to ask further questions, which Knuckles apparently anticipated, as he quickly pointed at the flute in the hedgehog's hands.

"The flute is a symbol of wind. You blow in it to make music; it flows through the air without anything stopping it. Like you when you run," He said, then gestured at the big green feather the fox was holding, still sitting cross legged on the ground.

"The feather is a symbol of flight. They must have seen you use your tails at some point," The reasoning behind the gift intrigued the youngest, as his head turned back to Knuckles, though he was looking at the rock in his hands.

"This is a gem, Agate, a symbol of strength and courage," He then explained lastly, gestured towards the both of them.

"The paint's placements means something as well, but I'm not sure. Something with the dots on your chest Sonic about breath and protection. The ones on your arms and face either being strength or curiosity," He had motioned towards Tails in his last explanation, looking himself down.

"And I think this is endurance and – kindness," the last words were said in a lower tone like he didn't believe it. Sonic snorted as well, slapping the echidna playfully on his back.

"Then they surely got something wrong," He smirked, making the echidna scuff beside him, arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't know Sonic," Said hedgehog looked down at his charge who had been watching him, had been silently observing and taking in the practically giant feather.

"He explained what they were doing, told us to be calm and even told us what these symbols means. Don't you think that's kind?" He quirked and eyebrow at him, telling him that it didn't matter what he said afterwards as Tails was right. As always. He shook his head, looking back at the echidna whose expression hadn't changed.

"You know I'm kidding," He winked, placing his own arms over his chest. It was the best apology he might as well give him from their fight earlier. Though, whenever the two of them fought, both of them knew that the other didn't mean what they said. They could yell at each other, threaten one another with a fight and so – which did happen – but they were still friends afterwards.

"Can I have my tablet back?" Sonic blinked for a second, had completely forgotten that he had held it for the fox, picking it out of his quills and reaching down to give it to Tails. He tapped something on the screen, pushed a button on the side, when his face lit up.

"It found the Tornado's signal!" He jumped up from the ground, the feather still in his right hand, while holding on to the Miles Electric.

"It's not that far. We can make it before nightfall," He explained, looking at he both of them with a relaxed smile.

"Lead the way navigator!" Sonic said playfully, the fox spending no time turning around, happy tails whipping behind him. He turned around to look at the echidna and was surprised to see a relaxed facade adore the echidna's face.

If it was because thir bickering was over or because they had met a tribe that in some way might have resembled he didn't know, but a part of him didn't care. They were on their way back home - blessed and gifted and everything, though he had no idea why they derseved. If they knew who Team Sonic was and what they did, he couldn't understand.

Though, a part of him was just happy that they hadn't been hungry for meat - if anteaters ate meat?

Anoter author's note: Well, this was Team Sonic meeting a peculiar tribe in the middle of the forest. I'm not quiet sure whether or not I got the characterization right since this story feels alright to me. I have others I'm more content with and will most likely upload when I take look at them and reread them. Like I've written in my bio I've got a few backed up, though I would like to get used to this site and all before I do anything. Anyway, please leave a review and thanks for reading - it means a lot :)