In celebration of my first comment of my first fanfic (thank you!), here is the next chapter, which begins with one of my favorite scenes, a conversation in the normal life of Knuckles and the Master Emerald. Those of you who are wondering how a person can have a conversation with a glowing rock… well, will just have to read on to see what I mean. :)

And because I forgot to say in the first two chapters, I do not own any of the characters in this work. SEGA does, which is now called SEGA Games I believe. And this is true for the first two chapters and any following chapters even if I forget to put in the disclaimer.

…

Knuckles woke up knowing he was going to have a crappy day. There's just no other way of putting it. He awoke to the Master Emerald's cranky scolding in his ear.

I want to be cleaned.

Knuckles groaned. They have had this conversation like a billion times.

Now.

Nobody, of course, believed that the Master Emerald talked to Knuckles. They would all think he's insane. But its gotta be true! Really, Knuckles wasn't that lonely that he made up conversations in his mind. Especially not conversations about cranky Master Emeralds. Uh uh. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo way.

My patience is wearing thin. Move it, you stupid guardian. Or I will personally throw you off Angel Island and laugh as you become an angel.

Knuckles sat up groggily. "You can't throw me off Angel Island. You're a rock."

A glowing, omnipotent, Master Emerald, underling. And I can do whatever I want.

"I can't polish you. I don't have any clean rags."

Then clean them. Angel Island has rivers.

"I told you a thousand times, I use those rags to clean the ruins around here. The rags are dirty, filthy, and negatively disgusting. That's why I use them on the ruins in the first place. And no, I can't clean them off because they're too dirty in the first place!"

Then why didn't you spare one to clean me with in the first place?

"Because you're a jerk!"

The Master Emerald seethed. I WILL throw you off this island. Just watch me.

"That's what I do every day. Watch you. You haven't thrown me off yet." Silence. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Knuckles went back to sleep wondering if the Master Emerald was going to bother him again. Fifteen minutes later, just when Knuckles had fallen asleep, the Master Emerald interrupted him. With glee, it said:

Knuckles... I have a solution to our dilemma. You will clean me with your tongue.

Knuckles, now awake, muttered, "For the love of… Geez, would you just quit it? I mean seriously? I am not cleaning you with my tongue! That's just plain nasty!"

Nasty for you. Not for me. Now let's get a move on or you'll get a move off.

Knuckles pounded his fist down on the ground. " #$%^ *** No! I've had enough! I'm going to Sonic and that's that!"

Thanksgiving is tomorrow you retar-

Knuckles ran down the altar's steps and flew off of Angel Island heading towards Sonic's house before the Master Emerald could finish its sentence. It was definitely turning out to be a CRAPPY day.

At Sonic's house, Knuckles broke down his door feeling quite accomplished. He was delighted upon the discovery that Sonic was watching football with a large amount of food. It was almost as though Sonic was expecting him. So it didn't make any sense when Sonic objected to the Chaotix marching in. If he was expecting him then what was the prob? It didn't make Knuckles sense. Knuckles was sitting on the couch sipping some soda when someone knocked on the door again. Because of Sonic's earlier reaction to Vector, Espio, and Charmy, Knuckles was hesitant to open the door. He entered the kitchen to seek for Sonic's permission. "Yo, Sonic. Someone's at the door."

Knuckles was just in time to see Charmy dig for something in a drawer. His curiosity was only slightly aroused until Charmy pulled out a large, sharp knife. Then Knuckles was a little worried.

Charmy eyed the knife and muttered something to himself. He grinned and raised the knife high over his head. "Hey, Sonic! Look what I found!" Sonic too was busy scolding Vector and was completely unaware of the danger.

Knuckles was rooted to the spot as time slowed down and Charmy plunged the knife deep into Sonic's upper thigh inch by excruciating inch. Sonic screamed in pain. Blood gushed down his leg like a Niagara Falls or something. At the first sign of blood Vector's jaw went slack and his eyes bugged out. One eye twitched. He stuttered, "B-b-b-b-blood?!" Then he retched and fainted dead away. Sonic yanked out the knife in his leg with a gasp of pain. Charmy died from laughing. In turn, Sonic glared at him with venom. Needless to say, Charmy's laughter died in his throat. After a long silence, the room broke out in complete pandemonium. Sonic shouted at Charmy as Charmy tried to apologize.

"I can't believe you!" Sonic shouted at the top of his lungs. "What the heck were you thinking? Are you trying to kill me or something? Huh? Answer me you little jerk!"

"I-I-I-I'm sorry…"

"Sorry doesn't stinkin' cut it! This ****** hurts! And I'm bleeding! And you are so dead, so dead. You don't even know how dead." Sonic began to limp towards Charmy. "Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Let me reiterate… Dead."

Charmy gulped.

Espio searched frantically for a bucket to revive Vector in the pantries, the cupboards, the sink, under the sink, spied a bucket, grabbed it, filled it with freezing subzero water from the sink, and while turning around, caught his foot on Sonic's weak leg, and accidently dumped the almost frozen-that's-how-cold-it-was-water on Sonic.

Silence.

Fear.

Expectation.

Sonic was so furious Knuckles swore he saw smoke come out his nostrils. Sonic yanked the bucket from Espio and shoved him aside. Turning on the faucet, Sonic filled the bucket with new water. When he dumped the water on Vector, Vector's eyes rolled around in their sockets. Sonic, Charmy, and Espio watched as Vector slowly opened his mouth. His tongue hung out of the side of his mouth and touched the floor. Then he twitched. After another long pause, Sonic threw the bucket down on the floor with a cry and began screaming again. Knuckles got outta there. He had seen enough to be afraid for his own life.

Knuckles ran down the hallway and heard pounding on the door. He groaned. Now who was going to bother him? Knuckles approached the door saying, "I'm coming. I'm coming." He stopped in his tracks and stared at the door. "What… kind of fool… would try to fix the door with duck tape?!" Knuckles shook his head. Obviously it was Sonic. With a sigh, Knuckles opened the door and it came off in his hands. Beautiful.

Once Amy and Cream were "settling in" with Sonic, Knuckles finally relaxed. Now he can go back to watching football with Espio and… a passed out Vector. Whatev. Knuckles was always the one to go with the flow. Just as Knuckles was grabbing some of the popcorn off the floor, a candle came flying into the room and smashed into the TV screen completely obliterating it. Really. There was smoke and everything. Sparks, too.

"WWWHHHHYYYYY!" Knuckles cried. Then he heard Sonic yelling more. And shut up.

Crappy day.

Yup.

Very crappy.

Sigh…

Just Another Day For Knuckles…

Crappy.

Very Crappy indeed.

…

Tails woke that morning feeling particularly mischievous. Is it odd to wake up feeling this way? Perhaps. But that's how Tails felt. So when he realized that it was his turn to make breakfast, Tails only made his own and left a note for Sonic in the cabinet. Then he headed out into his lab, shutting himself from the outside world for the next two hours. Just another typical day for Tails.

Or… was it? All of a sudden Tails repeatedly heard screams from in the house. Normally when in the lab, Tails couldn't hear anything except his own thoughts. But… Tails did his best to ignore the shouts. If there was any real trouble, Sonic would come after him… right?

Turns out it wasn't Sonic who came for him but Amy. She was a complete mess and on the verge of tears, muttering something about people being stabbed. Tails blinked. Clearly, either he had been working too hard or had too little sleep lately. That or Amy wasn't quite right in the head. Logical outcome. Her burning desire for affection from her knight in shining armor combined with his flat refusals and rejections from the ever so endearing prince charming had obviously driven her insane. And we all know what insane people do. Eat people. Amy came over here wanting Sonic to notice her and when he didn't, she became a zombie, stabbed him, and ate his brains. Not full from her meal and crying because Sonic's brains weren't salty enough, Amy had entered Tails' lab hoping that Tails' brains would be a satisfying meal. …*Gulp* L-l-l-log-ical outcome?

Amy sniffed. "Tails come quick. Sonic needs you."

Tails didn't lift his head to see if she was a zombie or not. He began shaking from fear. "Y-yeah I-I-I'm sure he d-does," Tails stuttered.

Amy took a step towards Tails, urgency rising in her voice. "Come on, Tails. There isn't time to waste!" Tails grabbed a wrench off the table and brandished it in front of him. Amy gave it a quizzical look. "What are you doing?" She asked in a flat voice.

Tails frowned at the wrench in his hand. "You're right." Tails shrugged indifferently and threw the wrench behind him. It landed with a loud crash, probably utterly destroying something worked over 200 hours on. "A wrench is no weapon against a zombie."

"What?!"

"And if I have no weapons…" Tails grinned evilly and entered a fighting stance. Tails charged at Amy with his fists raised. "Aarrrghhhhhhhhh!"

"What the…?" Completely baffled, Amy took a step backwards.

"AarrggghhhhhhhhaaaahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHH! ZOMBIES!" Tails' battle cry turned into an ear splitting scream as he ran past Amy and down the hall screaming about zombie apocalypses. "ZOMBIES! HELP! WE'RE ALL GONNA DDIIIEEEE!"

Tails turned a corner and almost tripped in his haste. He could hear Amy screaming somewhere behind him. If only Tails could reach the kitchen's back door and get outside, then he could reach the Tornado and escape in Africa to live a safe life in the shade of giant elephant poo. When Tails entered the kitchen, the sight made him stop cold. Behind him, Amy slammed into Tails with an "Ooff."

"W-what happened to you Sonic…?" Tails whispered almost shocked beyond words.

Amy picked herself up, shoved Tails aside, and answered for Sonic. "Charmy stabbed him. Sonic wants you to fix him."

"Who? Charmy or Sonic?"

Sonic actually laughed. "I doubt anyone could fix Charmy at this point, but that would be nice dream. I just want you to see if this serious or not."

Tails walked over to Sonic and grabbed his leg. Dissatisfied, Tails yanked on Sonic's leg and began poking at the wound, suddenly completely mesmerized.

Sonic would have fallen out of his chair if he didn't grab the table. "Whoa! Tails! Watch it!"

Tails continued poking the Sonic's knife wound. "Hmm… *poke**poke*…*poke* *poke* bleeds when I poke it… *poke**poke*…interesting response…*poke**poke* … … ӆ." Cream, who had been waiting for Amy and Tails' arrival in the kitchen, took the knife Charmy had used to stab Sonic and began to examine it in her hands. Tails grabbed the knife from her violently. "Give me that!" Cream jumped, then slinked away. Tails dropped Sonic's leg and began to examine the knife. "Hmm… shiny… How deep would you say, Sonic, that Charmy shoved this knife?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know…" Sonic whispered, his face pale from pain and blood loss. "He shoved it in with all of his might."

Tails gave the knife one last look. Then he shrugged. "How long have you been bleeding?"

"Oh… ten minutes now. Steady flow."

Tails began to pace and mutter, "If this continues at this pace in a half hour he could lose a significant amount of blood…he could pass out at any time, and after that…" Tails picked up Sonic's leg and resumed poking it with a small smile on his face. "… it can cause serious, serious damage…"

Sonic turned a pale shadier. "Stop… Tails…" But Tails was lost in his world.

Amy gasped. "What should we do?" Tails ignored her completely. "Tails? Tails!"

"What?"

Amy grabbed the other side of Sonic's leg and stared directly into Tails' eyes. "Stop. You're hurting him."

Tails smirked. "Yeah, right. Now leave me alone."

Furious, Amy pulled Sonic's leg closer to her despite Sonic's cries. "I. Said. Stop."

Equally as mad as Amy, Tails pulled Sonic's leg back to him. "And. I. Said. Leave. Me. Alone."

The two stared at each other silently for a moment. Cream, who knew what was going to happen next, yawned. Sonic cried out desperately, "No, guys please. D-don't even think about it. I'm still a living hedgehog here and I don't wanna d-"

At the same time Amy and Tails began tugging on Sonic's leg screaming at each other.

"Leggo!"

"No you zombie freak! Nrgh! He's mine!"

"I outta kill you just for that! Grr…!"

"Would you two STOP!"

Sonic gritted his teeth from pain. "You two are acting like babies!" Just then Amy gave a particularly hard tug and Sonic fell out of his seat and onto the floor with a jarring jolt.

"Oooowwwwwwwwwww! What the heck?! I can't believe… Augh! Oh my sweet Genesis… help me through this…" Sonic rubbed his thigh and fought against tears. Amy and Tails stood over him, their hands covered by their mouths and their eyes huge from shock.

Amy stuttered, "Gee… I-I'm sorry Sonic…"

Tails said, "I didn't mean for this to happen…"

"Yeah, well it did. You two better find a way to make up for all of this and stat!" Sonic proclaimed hotly. He continued to rub his thigh that bled and his thoughts drifted to this morning. He whispered, "All I wanted was just to watch some TV…" He continued to stare at his thigh in silence.

Cream stood by the doorway to the family room and had been watching Knuckles and the others during the fight between Amy and Tails. She remarked, "Knuckles shoved Espio."

Cream's comment broke Amy and Tails' silence. Amy asked Tails, "What should we do? What's wrong with Sonic?"

Tails frowned, thinking. "I…he… could actually be in shock. I, uh, hmm…" Tails drew in a deep breath collecting his thoughts. "I think we should take him to the hospital. They won't keep him long, and they'll probably ask how Sonic got a stab wound, but they'll certainty be able to help him."

Amy nodded her assent. She turned to Cream and said, "Now while we're gone I need you to watch over the rest of the guys and make sure they don't burn down the house or something."

Cream must not have heard Amy. "Knuckles threw Espio at the wall."

"Cream? …Cream? Oh never mind. Tails, let's go." Tails gently picked up Sonic's legs and Amy held Sonic under his armpits. Together they began heading down towards Tails' lab.

Cream turned around, confused. Then her eyes widened from shock. "You're… you're heading toward the lab. You're… leaving me here." Cream's mouth dropped. "No… no…No! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!"

Amy and Tails were already by the stairs with Sonic by the time Cream began screaming. Tails glanced behind him to look at Cream and instantly regretted it. Cream had a wild, panicked look to her eyes and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was truly afraid of being left behind. Tails bit his lip. Without looking up Amy said, "Cream, we'll be back. We just need someone sane to watch over the others." Cream continued to sob. With her eyes shut, Amy asked, "Cheese… please watch over Cream."

Cream took this to mean that Amy and Tails were abandoning her to pack of wolves. It would be only a matter of time before she would be torn to pieces bit by bit. First the claws tear her up… then the arms being ripped off… the legs… the organs… Cream threw herself on the ground and began crying hysterically. "Noooo! Noooo! Please, noooo! Not last year! Not last year!" Tails shuddered. His morning was significantly different than what he planned for himself and he didn't even want to imagine how it could get worse.

…

Tails, Amy, and Sonic entered the garage. The Tornado lay there waiting for them. Before Tails and Amy could let Sonic go, Sonic broke out of his shock and began screaming.

"Let me go right now! Who do you think you are? A rock? I said LET GO!"

Tails and Amy let go of Sonic and Sonic quietly cursed to himself. Tails headed over to the Tornado and prepared it for takeoff. Meanwhile Amy began to patronize Sonic. She squatted beside Sonic as he rubbed his thigh. "It's okay, Sonic. You don't have to worry about a single thing. I'll protect you."

Sonic gave Amy a weird look, wondering if she was sincere. She was. …Creepy. "Uh… thanks, Amy."

Amy offered her hand. "Want up?"

Sonic took her hand and stood up. When Amy didn't let go of Sonic's hand, inwardly Sonic began to panic. Oh. My. Genesis. What if she never let go? "Amy… let go. Now."

Amy held Sonic's hand with both of hers. She stared down at it with a faint smile on her lips lost in thought. Sonic knew that look. With all of his might Sonic tried pulling his hand free, but Amy seemed to exert an unbelievable amount of strength without even trying, or for that matter, without even being aware she was doing so. It was like trying to arm wrestle a statue. "Tails!" Sonic cried. He didn't answer. Figures. He was stuck in a garage with a psychotic woman holding his hand with a grip of steel and a freak of a science geek that was too busy to care.

"Amy," Sonic said trying to keep panic out of his voice, "…let go. I didn't do anything to you."

Amy did the thing Sonic least expected. She looked up with him with tears in her eyes. When you made a woman cry and you didn't know why, you knew you were in trouble. When caught in a situation like this, you better start apologizing like crazy or you were doomed. Doomed to… who knows? You just know you didn't want to be the one to find out.

"I, uh, am totally sorry... and stuff. I, um, let go."

Amy sniffed. "I can hear the fear in your voice."

Sonic glanced around the room looking for a way out. "Who me? I, uh… no. No, no, no. Not me! I am totally not scared of you or anything."

Amy shook her head. "Don't deny it. It'll only make it worse."

That was it. Sonic was doomed. And when a defenseless animal was cornered, it ran. Sonic tried running, but Amy, and his hand, remained rooted to the spot. Amy continued to cry softly as Sonic continued to try to run for his life. It was so creepy and Sonic was so doomed. There was nothing more creepy or scary then when you're at the gates of hell and a woman is there crying over your soul. You try to run, but the woman holds your hand and you know you can't go anywhere. So you just scream. And scream. Then Amy began to gently pet his hand.

"Tails!" Sonic screamed.

Amy let out a sob. She pressed Sonic's hand to her tear stained cheek and sobbed. "I… I know it's hard, Sonic. I know you're in pain. But, trust me. Just breathe and you'll be OK! I promise…"

"Tails!" Sonic screamed again. Tails didn't answer. He could see the top of Tails' head right behind the Tornado. So close, yet so, so far. Sonic was dead. Dead. Desperately, trying to come up with a solution, Sonic shut his eyes. He could feel his inner gears in his mind working over time. That's it!

"Tails! Amy's acting like I'm in labor!"

Instantly, Tails' head popped up alert and disturbed. Spotting Sonic and Amy, Tails ran over with his wrench in hand in what appeared to be slow motion. He raised his hand over his head… pulled it back… brung it forward… and let it go.

The wrench squarely hit Amy's temple. Then it clattered noisily to the floor. Slowly, as though waking up from a trance, Amy rubbed her temple. "Ow." Then she realized that she was holding Sonic's hand. She gasped and blush crept up coloring her cheeks.

Sonic yanked his hand away with a stern glare. He shuffled over to behind Tails, keeping his glare steady at Amy. When no one said anything or moved, Sonic humphed, "Hmph."

Tails turned around to face Sonic. "Are… you okay, Sonic?"

Sonic continued to glare at Amy. "Hmph." He glanced at Tails, then resumed staring at Amy. "You asking me?"

"Uh … yeah."

"Hmph. Do we have to take her along?"

"Uh… yeah." Silence. Tails sighed. He walked over to the Tornado waving at Amy for her to follow. "Come on, Amy. Everything's ready."

"'Kay." Amy followed after.

Sonic turned to watch them, shocked. "But, but… why?" Sonic sank to his knees. Today was just beyond comprehending. Tears began to fall. "Why… why… why?"

Tails and Amy wordlessly dragged Sonic to the Tornado and plopped him on board. Tails started up the engine. Sonic cried softly the entire way.

…

I think we need some more characters, don't you? And with Sonic out of the way, things are about to get even more crazy. As another disclaimer, I don't have any idea about the medical stuff behind being stabbed, so… if it doesn't make logical sense, I must have relied on Knuckles sense or Tails' logical outcomes. Yup. :) See you next chapter!