"This is a bad idea and you know it."

Jet was quietly enjoying his bowl of cereal beside Tails in the corner of the engine room. Both of them were watching the discussion that unfolded between the two hedgehogs when Shadow got a hold of their schedule (which Jet had only thought of getting a copy for himself this morning). According to it, their next destination would be the mysterious Angel Island, home of the long gone echidna tribe and their tales of war and redemption.

Well, it was only mysterious for Jet. Everyone else in the ship seemed to know where it was and what was in there. The echidnas were also technically not long gone. There was still one, and Shadow argued that he wouldn't be very happy to see them arrive so suddenly like that.

From what he remembered, Knuckles was short-tempered and hot-headed. If he was the one guarding the Babylonian treasure then they'd probably have some issues, to say the least. Sonic was not convinced, though.

When asked if he thought the mission was a lost cause, Jet simply replied "I dunno". That registered as a "it's not, let's keep going dude!" in Sonic's brain, and of course he wanted to avoid disappointing the hawk at all costs. Not after that sick heart-to-heart they shared in the night prior.

"You're underestimating mine and Knuckles' friendship, grouch. He knows I'm 100% trustworthy and wouldn't be letting Jet roam around his island without a good reason."

Jet was a little offended by the implications that wording had, but it's not like he was wrong. Knuckles didn't know he was (trying to be) a nice person now, and knocking that into his head was probably going to take some time. Time that they didn't have, thanks to Sonic's… less than ideal planning.

"You have a reason, but is it a good enough one?" Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah it is! I mean, the world's not in danger or anything like that, but…"

Sonic trailed off, probably realizing the other hedgehog had a point. Shadow raised an eyebrow at him as if daring him to resume the thought.

"It's going to be fine!" Sonic waved it off. "Besides, it's not like we're there for the master emerald anyways. The Babylonians would have probably taken it millennia ago if it was of any use for them. Not that I'm undermining the echidna, but c'mon. Those guys had hoverboards before non-hover boards were even invented!"

"I guess I can give you that." Shadow huffed, crossing his arms and turning to walk away into the hallway. That was enough of a win for Sonic! He quietly pumped his fist in the air and continued to gaze through one of the ship's windows.

Jet decided to walk away from the control room. Tails told him they were almost there as he got up to leave, and he simply nodded in response. He made his way back to the kitchen to clean his dishes… and ended up having to clean everyone else's as well. It's not like anyone was forcing him to, but that's what a nice person would do. A fair amount of time passed before he was done with it, and he could already see land when he looked through one of the hallway windows.

Being on a flying piece of land after so many years was… nostalgic, to say the least. Although this one was much different than Babylon Garden. Despite how relatively small the island was, Jet could see pretty much all types of biomes and climates in the distance. Forests, snowy mountains, volcano… even a desert? This place was a mystery on itself, and Jet wouldn't even be mad if he came back empty handed. Getting to spend time on such a fascinating environment was a treasure of its own.

…That's what the thought process of someone who wasn't Jet would be. Jet really didn't care for any of whatever was going on down there – he really just wanted to take whatever artifact that echidna was hiding from him and get out of there. Maybe someday he'd learn to appreciate the beautiful landscapes he always found himself on, but that was not the day.

They were quick to land and the ramp was lowered as soon as Jet took a step outside the kitchen. He was going to be the first to come out of the ship, but Sonic dashed past him because why wouldn't he. It looked like they landed right by the edge of the island – a little too close for Jet's liking in fact. Short grass surrounded them in every direction and paved the way into the wooded area ahead, which led to some sort of tall ancient structure. Everywhere else led to a fall into the sea of clouds below.

"Hey, fancy seeing you here! It's been ages since we've last seen each other!"

Sonic had stopped in front of the entrance to the woods to greet someone Jet didn't recognize. They wore a pair of brown and gray steel-toed boots as well as similarly colored fingerless gloves. Their skin was a light peach color just like Sonic's, and their fur was black. They had what appeared to be a crimson shell going from their head down to their lower back right above their tail. They had dropped their heavy looking bag and expensive camera on the ground so the hedgehog would have an easier time lifting them up in a hug.

"It's been a while, huh? I'm surprised I haven't run into you on here sooner, actually. Knuckles says you come to visit some once in a while." They had a big smile and a small blush on their face, wrapping his arms around Sonic briefly.

"I guess we've just had some pretty bad timing. Hey, let me introduce you to everyone!" Sonic finally released the poor mobian, turning him over to show him to the rest of the crew – which Jet didn't notice were now standing right beside him.

Okay, now that was envy if Jet ever felt it before. It wasn't as overwhelming as the feeling he thought was envy was, but it was still buzzing in the back of his mind. Who was that? How many years had they known each other? Would he and Sonic ever get this close? Did Sonic have a thing for people that had red in their color scheme? He did have a couple of feathers of that color near the corner of his eyes, so that last question was irrelevant for now. But still! He wanted answers!

…Answers that would come regardless of whether he threw a mental tantrum or not. Chaos, have some patience Jet, he thought to himself for maybe the first time ever.

"Guys, this is Mighty. We've known each other for like… almost as long as I've known Tails! Eggman shenanigans and all that." Sonic had his hand on the armadillo's shoulder for a moment before removing it to give him a pat on the back.

"Oh, hey Mighty!" Charmy and Tails were just now leaving the airship. The bee briefly flew towards him and gave him a fist bump. "You're looking cool!"

"Charmy? It's been forever, look at how much you've grown!" Mighty gently grabbed Charmy by the waist and then proceeded to launch him a couple dozen feet into the air. Jet audibly gasped, then sighed in relief once Charmy fluttered back onto the ground harmlessly. The bee stepped back into the group and Mighty turned to face everyone else.

"Pleasure to meet all of you!" His grin persisted as he greeted them. He received a wave of greetings from the others in return – including Jet, who was initially not going to greet him back but was convinced to by a small nudge coming from Shadow beside him. "I'm assuming you're all friends of Knuckles as well, huh?"

"Yeah, of course!" Sonic replied, even though Jet barely knew the echidna. "Are you here to visit him or something? I know you two also got caught up in Eggman shenanigans together a long time ago."

"Yep, I was hanging out with him just now! I was making my way back when I bumped into you guys." The blush on Mighty's face seemed to deepen at the mention of Knuckles, which made Jet's envy dissipate almost instantly. He knew a lovesick fool when he saw one, the airship had a mirror.

"How did you get up here?" Everyone turned to look at Shadow, who had his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I arrived by boat. Knuckles just lowers the island so I can get on it." That reply got an incredulous stare from the ultimate lifeform, but it didn't look like he had anything to refute that. Looking around, Jet didn't see any other planes or anything like that, but he did see a small rowboat down at the ocean through a clearing in the clouds.

"Now I'm waiting for Ray to come pick me up. I used to just cannonball back down, but that was before I started bringing my camera." Mighty picked up his belongings from the ground, strapping the camera around his neck.

"I saw it, you're looking pretty fancy dude! Are you a photographer now or something?" Sonic asked.

"For a nature magazine yeah! There's some plants here on Angel Island that are really rare or outright impossible to find anywhere else. Knuckles is fine with it as long as I don't take pictures of him or the master emerald or anything else that might make people… well, want to come here."

Sonic looked surprised, but positively so. "For real? That's pretty cool, I'm glad you found something that makes you happy! If you asked me ten years ago what I thought you'd be doing now, I'd say you'd be living in the woods."

"Not since they kicked me out of the national park!" Both mobians laughed for a little bit, with smiles and discrete chuckles coming from Tails and Amy. Jet and Shadow were left out of the loop, since they didn't really know the guy.

"Well, thanks for softening up Knuckles for us, we need to ask him a favor and it's a tough one."

"I wouldn't say I softened him, he's still the same guy as always. Muscles first and all that."

"As long as you didn't make him more irritable, everything should go fine and dandy!"

"I'm sure everything is going to be alright, you have a way with words. Sometimes." Might have Sonic a pat on the back that almost knocked him out of his feet. The hedgehog only laughed about it and they shared one last handshake before the group started heading out towards the forest.

The envy was gone as soon as it came and the encounter didn't stick in his mind as something important, so Jet was able to pay a little more attention to his surroundings – even if he didn't fully appreciate them.

"Forest" wasn't really the correct way to describe it, it was more like a small-scale jungle. The trees were as tall as they got and some even got the width to match. They roots were thick and often stuck out of the ground, making traversing the place quite difficult. That is, it would have been difficult if Mighty hadn't been there before them. No harm was done to the plants, but a few places where one assumed there would be rocks were now full of dust and shards. Some of the more resistant boulders got pushed aside instead, no matter how big or heavy-looking.

Because everyone had powers that matched their names, except Jet. Or Shadow, but Jet didn't know that and was too scared of him to ask him about it.

The woods eventually gave way to a large field area with the master emerald altar in the middle. Though that wasn't what surprised Jet the most, it was the flowers. Hundreds – no, thousands of them! They were scattered around the ancient's structure in a series of circular layers divided by stone. Each of them contained various different species of flowers all with the same color, making the whole plantation look almost like a rainbow. What's more, the outermost layer had been excavated and a nearby river rerouted into it. Stone pillars had been cut in half and placed over the water like makeshift bridges.

Sonic had his jaw on the floor. "Looks like Mighty has been helping Knuckles out as well, this place is so different from when I visited last Christmas. Oh hey, over there!"

Blending in with the red flowers, the aforementioned echidna could be found with a watering can in his hands and a hat on his head. His cheeks had a blush that matched the nearby roses in color, right up until he noticed the group arriving and focused on recomposing himself from whatever he had been daydreaming about.

"Wasn't expecting any more visitors today! Wait for me to get there, don't you dare step on my flowers." The echidna waved with his free hand. He finished watering that particular patch of flowers and carefully made his way to the grassy field were the other mobians were.

Knuckles' eyes were quick to set on Jet, squinting as if trying to read his thoughts to figure out just what the hawk was doing on his island. His focus quickly shifted to Shadow, and then finally ended up on Charmy. The bee gave him an excited grin and tackle-hugged him to the ground.

"Look at you now, got a farmer hat on and everything! About time you retired that cowboy hat of yours." Charmy teased, nudging his hat before getting off him.

"For your information, my cowboy hat is still in perfect conditions and I'd be wearing it right now if I knew you were coming." Knuckles got up soon after. His joyful smile faltered when he turned to speak to Sonic.

"So! Why are you guys here today? Shadow on my island usually means Eggman is up to no good."

Sonic was quick to gesture his hands in dismissal. "Oh no, it's nothing like that! You see, we're ju—"

"Okay, then why is he here?" Knuckles pointed towards Jet with a closed first. The hawk just stood there and awkwardly waved back in return. "Are the Babylon Rogues up to no good again? Do you need me to watch over him and teach him a lesson? About time I got to punch someone's teeth off."

"Wait, does Jet have teeth inside his beak? That's pretty weird!" Sonic ignored Charmy's comment and quickly put himself in front of Knuckles, who was already making his way towards Jet with raised fists.

"Easy there, Chaos! The Rogues disbanded ages ago! Jet is a cool guy now."

Knuckles looked a tad bit disappointed he wasn't getting to punch someone anymore. He lowered his fists, but Jet could still see distrust in his eyes. "Oh. Why is he here then? No, actually, why are any of you here?"

"We're here on vacation, duh!" Amy snickered. Knuckles didn't look so thrilled with the joke.

"Well, sorta but not really. It's a long story, but basically Jet found something in the Rogues airship that says there's a Babylonian treasure in this island." Sonic explained.

"And you're with him because…?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"I said it's a long story! Look, I'll explain everything to you before we go in and—"

"Before you go in where? Do you think you can just come into my island and walk wherever you want just because this thief somehow convinced you guys to take him here? So he could steal whatever he's looking for? Not on my watch."

"I mean, the list was right about there being a Babylonian artifact in Marble Zone, so it's not a longshot to assume there's gotta be at least something here, right?" Tails spoke up, but didn't manage to change Knuckles' stance.

"This list of his was right once, so what? You don't even know what you're supposed to be looking for in here!" He raised his hands up in the air dramatically.

"I think it's probably another gourd, or maybe the sw—" Jet was interrupted by the echidna rudely pointing his spiky knuckles at his neck.

"You shut up, I'm talking to my friends." He retreated his arms and crossed them over his chest, turning to face Sonic once again. "Look, him being here is pretty much the only reason I don't help you guys find whatever you're looking for. I'd like for this alien bullshit to be off my island as soon as possible as well. No offense to you, Shadow."

"None taken." Shadow had the faintest hint of a smirk on his face.

"I can just stay in the ship if you'd pr—"

"I told you to shut up!" Knuckles growled, not even turning his head this time.

"Geez Knux, we get it. I guess we'll be making our way out then, I wonder if Mighty and Ray need a ride…"

Sonic shrugged and turned to walk away. He only managed to take a few steps before Knuckles grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Hey! I said you can't go tomb raiding in my island, not that you can't stay here." Jet couldn't believe Sonic was taking advantage of Knuckles' loneliness like that! That was the coolest thing he's ever seen him do!

"Oh yeah?" Sonic rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Fine, I guess we can camp here and then resume the trip tomorrow. Everyone's pretty worn out from the long flight, so a relaxing stay in nature sounds really good right now. What do you think, guys?"

Everyone agreed, except Jet. He didn't want to risk being yelled at again.

"I'm letting you guys stay, but there's some rules." Knuckles quickly abandoned his needy expression and went back to his tough guy stance.

"One, no one leaves this field without my permission. Two, no one leaves the plains and forest area at all. Three, Jet needs to be with someone at all times."

"Ha, that's easy! I'll just show him around the place and—"

"Four. Or… three point five. The person accompanying him can't be Sonic. I know you'll enable him and you two are gonna cause big trouble for me. Besides, you're going to help me water some flowers while you explain to me exactly what's going on."

"Only if you let me use your cowboy hat."

"Deal."

Jet had tuned out of the conversation after that. He thought he was done being treated like a kid, but nope! Always something to ruin his fun time. If only he could convince someone to let him back into the ship, he could get his extreme gear and do some laps around the grassy field. As far away from the flowers as possible, of course. There wouldn't be any obstacles or anything to make it interesting, but…

Jet was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed he was now in movement. Being dragged, to be precise, by a very strong gloved hand attached to a pink arm. He looked around and saw Amy pulling both him and Shadow farther from the main group. Tails and Charmy were swimming by the makeshift river around the altar, while Knuckles and Sonic were far away discussing something in the middle of the dandelions.

"What's going on?" Jet didn't even try to pull himself out of Amy's grasp.

Shadow seemed indifferent to the whole situation, if not a tad bit annoyed. "I'd like to know as well. I was preparing myself to swim."

"Later, later! You two really need to talk. We have some important business to discuss ASAP. This is the second to last stop Shadow is going to be here for, so it's best to sort things out now and focus on adventuring or whatever on the next one."

Oh, so that's what this was about, huh. Jet immediately tried fleeing. He tried holding onto the bark of a nearby tree. He even tried biting Amy's arm (and then his own), but to no avail. It took Shadow teleporting away from her and making them tumble before she was willing to listen to any of the two.

"I would like an explanation. Like you said, I'll only be here for two stops. My time is precious." Shadow helped get Amy and Jet back on their feet. "Make it quick."

"Jet is like, totally in love with Sonic and you need to help him." Jet was mortified at just how blunt she was being! Shadow didn't seem like the kind of guy that would reveal his little secret to Sonic, but it's not like they knew each other for very long. Nothing was off the table for now, unfortunately.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it back up. Hm. Whatever the hedgehog was expecting the whole ordeal to be about, it clearly wasn't this. It took him a few more seconds to finally come up with a verbal response.

"Why is that your business?"

To Jet, Amy's expression looked like a spoiled child whose parents had just told her no for the first time. "Huh?"

"If this conversation really needed to happen, Jet would have come to me on his own terms." Shadow crossed his arms over his chest. "Amy, don't get me wrong. I—"

"No he wouldn't, you guys just met yesterday! He's not comfortable with you just yet, that's why I'm here."

"He doesn't look too comfortable with you either, you're possibly just making things worse. Please knock it off."

"Shadow, you're being really difficult right now." Amy had a scowl on her reddening face. Shadow remained stoic.

"Amy. This isn't about you."

"What, I can't do nice things for my friends now?"

"Jet is barely an acquittance for you."

"I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about Sonic! And I'm doing both of them a favor by doing this, and you're ruining the moment."

"Did they ask you to help them."

"They don't need to ask if they're clearly in need of help!"

"You're not doing this for them."

For a moment, everything went quiet. Then Amy blew up.

"You want me to say it so bad, Shadow? Then I'll say it. I'm only doing this because I want to see Sonic with someone who he actually likes and isn't a creepy weirdo with no life! I want someone to have what I can't so I'll feel better about myself! I'm doing this because I threw all the progress I've made with my mental health in the garbage! Are you happy now, Shadow? Do you feel more ultimate than before? This is why NO ONE invites you to anything fun and this is why you only have two friends! Because NO ONE ELSE is willing to put up with the most insufferable lifeform!"

Amy ran away while covering her face. She looked like she was trying to hold her sobs, and somewhat failing at it. Shadow just stood there facing her general direction with his mouth agape before he mouthed a "I'll deal with this, stay here" to Jet – who was completely stunned – and ran away after her. And stay he did, standing with his back against a tree and holding his hands together in front of his abdomen.

Was that his fault? Surely it wasn't, he didn't get a say in it whatsoever. But it happened while he was there and he did nothing to stop it, so he technically had some fault in it… right? In Jet's mind, he had already pictured a big fight that would absolutely ruin the trip for everyone and maybe even make Sonic cancel it. But he always imagined he'd be one of the participants. The fact that he wasn't didn't make him feel better at all.

Could this get any wors—

"What the FUCK did you do?"