Tails flew to the eastern part of the woods, and landed, looking around. Suddenly somebody pulled him into a bush, covered his mouth, and pulled him somewhere. He started panicking and struggling when suddenly the person let go and stepped into his view.
"Hi, Huck."
"Tails, that was AWESOME! I think we actually scared him!"
"I don't."
"Why?"
"Knuckles doesn't get scared."
"Everybody–"
"He once beat me up for saying it, okay?! He- he doesn't get scared!"
Huck went to Tails and looked him in the eye, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"Tails... are you scared of Knuckles?"
"Uh..."
"It's okay if you are."
Tails looked down and nodded.
"Why?"
Tails shrugged.
"Well, remember the look on his face? You scared him." Tails sniffled.
"No, I didn't."
"Yes you did. Especially when you got on the floor pretending to be dying... and that trick with the mirror to make him see another face was PRICELESS!" Tails blushed.
"Ye-yeah..."
"So basically, you just turned the tables." Tails stood up and said,
"You're right! He had it coming! I scared him, I scared the life outta him! And he doesn't have a clue that none of it was real! "
"There you go, Tails!"
"In fact, I betcha it'll take him forever to realize that this whole thing was a trick, and he bought into it like it was on clearance!"
"Umm, Tails?"
"Which part do you think got him the most? When Tom grabbed his ankle or the "Face" in the trees?" Huck cleared his throat.
"Ask him."
"Huh?"
Tails turned and saw Knuckles redder and madder than Tails had ever seen him, glowering down at the kit viciously.
"H-hi, Knuckles."
"Miles Prower, YOU did that stunt?" Tails swallowed, nervously.
"Yes." Knuckles laughed and lunged at Tails saying,
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"
Tails screamed and Huck said,
"You don't need to be such a bad sport! You did the same to him!"
Knuckles pinned Tails' shoulders to the ground, and looked at Huck.
"Shut-up, or you're next." He snapped.
Tails squirmed, kicked Knuckles in the stomach, pushed himself out of Knuckles' grasp, and ran from the infuriated echidna.
"Hey get back here! Or are you gonna run to Sonic?"
"I'm not running from you, Knuckles."
"Then let's fight." Tails got nervous.
"F- fight?"
"Yup."
Knuckles ran to Tails, and Tails flew into a tree. Knuckles punched it down, and caught Tails before he hit the floor. He aggressively threw Tails to the floor, and grabbed his Tails, dragging the barely conscious kit down a rocky road out of the forest, walking fast enough to where he couldn't get up or away. (A/N I do not hate Tails. I actually adore him, but I was in a bad mood when I wrote this so poor Tails suffers a lot.)
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
As Knuckles dragged Tails he began to think. 'Great. He's gonna squeal, I know it...'
He looked at Tails and saw how hard he was trying not to cry and stay conscious. Knuckles felt a rush of guilt as he looked down at the fox, and sighed. He stopped walking, picked up Tails and Tails weakly looked up at him.
"I- I- I'm sorry, Knuckles." Tails choked out weakly, then he passed out.
Now Knuckles felt really guilty. 'Maybe I was too hard on him... he didn't mean anything. After all, he is just a kid..." He left the forest cradling Tails, and went to the master emerald seeing Sonic was gone. Knuckles gasped, dropped Tails, and yelled,
"SONIC!!!!!"
He felt a gust of wind and saw Sonic ahead of him saying,
"Yes?"
"You ditched the emerald!"
"No I didn't."
"You weren't here, were you?"
"Sure I was. I just got bored and started running laps. You seem normal again."
"The whole thing was a prank."
"From who?"
Knuckles opened his mouth to say, "Tails" but realized how pathetic that'd sound and said,
"Uh... A group of crazy echidnas."
"Is that Tails?" Sonic asked pointing to the fallen shadow.
"Yup." Sonic picked Tails up and said,
"I'm gonna tuck him in. Bye, Knux."
"Bye."