"Sonic," Tails called to his brother who was still cooking more burgers. "Rudolph has been gone for three hours. I think something happened to him."

"I doubt it." Sonic said without even looking at Tails. "I bet he just left, that's all."

"More than likely." Knuckles said as he stared at the campfire, "He was really concerned about this Chaoskey. And being its guardian, it's his number one priority."

"Hey Knux," Sonic called, "What's the Chaoskey anyway? Is it like the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Too be honest, I don't even know." Knuckles sighed.

Then Blaze's ears began to twitch, "What's wrong Blaze?" Sonic asked.

"Someone's coming." She said getting into a battle stands.

Knuckles stood up with Blaze "Yeah, I sense them... wait a second." Then out of the bushes came Rudolph followed by Tikal. "T-Tikal!" Knuckles called out in disbelief.
Tikal smiled as she waved to the others, "Hello Knuckles! Sonic, Tails!" Then Tikal ran over to her friends.

"Wow! This is amazing! It's really Tikal!" Tails called.

"Yeah you're right bud." Sonic grinned.

As Tikal walked over to the group, she couldn't help but notice Blaze, "Oh hello there, my name is Tikal."

Blaze bowed her head, "Hello princess, my name is Blaze."

"Hey Blaze, chill out." Sonic said as he placed his arm around her, "She's like you, you can call her by her first name, she doesn't mind."
"Yes be that as it may, how is it that you were able to escape Robotnik?" Blaze asked as she turned to Tikal.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about him." Sonic said.

"What do you mean, you forgot?" Tails asked in awe. "That was the whole reason we came out here in the first place."

"Jezz, give me a break." Sonic sighed then he turned to Rudolph and noticed that as he was looking at Tikal, he was… smiling. Sonic soon after, zipped over to Rudolph, "So that's the reason you left in such a hurry." Sonic said with a smirk, "You went to find Tikal didn't you?" Rudolph's facial expression instantly changed as he glared at Sonic. "Ya like her don'cha? I knew there was something there." Sonic grinned as he began to lean on his shoulder. But then Rudolph pulled himself from under Sonic and walked back into the brush of the oasis.
Everyone saw Rudolph leave and Blaze quickly dared her eyes back at Sonic. "What… did you do?"

"What!?" Sonic yelped jumping back a little, "All I said is that he went to look for Tikal and found her, that's all! I swear!" Blaze kept her glare up and Sonic knew he had to break the tension somehow. "So Tikal! How did you get away from Egghead again?"

Tikal sat down and stared at the fire, "Well it all started when I was out planting flowers by the trees and then out of nowhere, he came and grabbed me with some type of bird-like machine and carried me off. But once I was too far to see my home, my dress began to rip where the machine had grabbed me and soon I fell. I blacked out before I hit the ground and when I awoke, I was in the middle of this oasis with my arm broken and I've been walking around and trying to find help ever since."

"Wait, you said that your arm was broken." Knuckles said as he looked at Tikal closely.
Tikal smiled, "Oh yes! When Rudolph found me, he offered to heal my body and then showed me the way back here."

"Really now?" Sonic asked with his smirk returning.

"Oh yes. He was so polite and gentleman-like, he even offered to carry me just to make sure I didn't over exert myself." Then Tikal turned to Knuckles. "Knuckles, if he was sent to find me, does that mean that our laws have finally changed?"

Knuckles smile quickly turned into a frown, "No Tikal… I'm sorry… but your father is… well… to change his mind is… impossible."

Tikal's mood died with Knuckles' "Oh I see…"

Sonic then stood up getting everyone's attention, "Ok, will someone please tell what the big deal is with-"

~BOOM!!!!~

"AHHH!!!!" everyone shouted after the explosion.

"What the hell was that!?" Sonic shouted then at that moment, several explosions began to erupt causing a panic.

"It's coming from that direction!" Blaze shouted as she pointed towards the source of the explosions.

"Isn't that where Rudolph went off to!?" Tails shouted. "Sonic! What did you do to get him so angry!?"

"Nothing!" Sonic shouted over the explosions. "Come on! Let's see what he's doing!"

Then Sonic ran off leaving everyone else to follow. The group ran through the bushes and after they reached another grassy plain, they all saw two figures off in the distant, with one holding the other by his throat. As they looked closer, the one who was being choked was Rudolph while the other was holding him up was a black hedgehog wearing pitched black pants and a black cloak. "Is that Shadow?" Sonic asked himself. Then Rudolph suddenly punched Shadow in his left temple causing him to tumble back as he let go of Rudolph allowing him to land on his feet. Shadow quickly stood up and glared at Rudolph but before either one could make a move, Shadow was put in a Full Nelson by Sonic as Rudolph likewise by Knuckles.

"Err!" Shadow sounded as he turned to see a grinning Sonic. "Sonic? What are you doing?"

"Just chill out buddy, and let me explain."

"What the hell!?" Rudolph shouted until he turned to see Knuckles. "Knuckles!? Let go of me!"

"Calm down Rudolph! You need to relax!" Then slowly both Sonic and Knuckles began to let go of the two and they instantly glared at each other.

"Ok." Sonic began as he folded his arms and began tapping his foot, "Either of you two mind tellin' us what's going on?"

Rudolph turned to Sonic, "While I was out here, I saw this guy standing out here and when I asked him to identify himself, he tried to walk off. So in order to keep him from escaping I jumped in front of him and then he threatened me so I tried to subdue him." Rudolph said as he pointed at Shadow.

"Yeah I can defiantly believe that one." Sonic said with a sigh.

"Rudolph," Tails began, "This is Shadow. He's another one of our friends."

"What?" Rudolph asked in disbelief.

"Yes he is, but what were you doing out here anyway, Shadow." Blaze asked as she walked up to the black hedgehog.

"GUN received a distress signal from Rouge and I'm out here to find her."

"Distress signal?" Tails questioned.

"Yes."

"What was she doing all the way out here?" Sonic asked.

"Probably trying to steal from someone." Knuckles said blankly.

"No, she was on a mission." Shadow answered.

"What kind of mission?" Tails asked.

"She was sent to find Robotnik and see what he is planning. I was on her trail until I ran into this idiot and he threw me off." Rudolph simply glared at Shadow and before he could make a move, he was again stopped by Knuckles grabbing his shoulder. "Anyway, what are you doing out here?" Shadow questioned.

Sonic grinned as he said, "We're here to find Egghead too. You wanna come wit?"

"Why? You would only slow me down." Shadow said as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Heh slow YOU down? Don't forget who the fastest guy on this planet."

"Guys," Tails interrupted. "It's getting dark, I think we should head back to the camp site."

"Yeah I guess your right bud." Sonic said as he turned to Tails. "So you coming or what Shadow?" Shadow didn't say a word.

"Shadow?" Blaze asked with a serious voice. Shadow then looked up and nodded.

"Good, let's head back. We need to ensure Tikal's safety." Blaze said as she began to turn away.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Sonic grinned as he looked over to Tikal. "Come on Tikal, let's get you something to eat."

Tikal couldn't help but smile, "Thank you Sonic."

Sonic gave a thumbs up and grinned then looked over to Rudolph, "Hey Rudy." Rudolph looked over to Sonic, "Yeah you. You comin' or do we have to drag you?" Rudolph simply just walked passed Sonic and followed Tikal back to the camp site.

After everyone finished eating, Sonic and Tails quickly pulled out sleeping bags for everyone while Blaze dimed the campfire. But as Sonic looked over to Rudolph, he saw that he was sitting Indian style and his arms folded a few feet away from the campsite.

"Hey Rudy!" Sonic called but he didn't flinch. "Rudy!" Nothing. 'Ok.' Sonic thought as he picked up a small pebble and tossed it over at Rudolph. But before the pebble touched Rudolph, it disintegrated in a green light. Sonic was in complete awe as he tossed another one only for the same effect to happen again. "Cool!"

"What are you doing?" Knuckles asked from behind Sonic.
Sonic turned around with a huge smirk. "Did you see that?" Sonic said as he picked up a pebble and repeated the same process. "Isn't that awesome!?"

"It's called a Chaos Reflect Barrier. It's what we guardians do when we sleep in an unsafe area. It's used to protect us from outside attackers."

"Well that's awesome." Sonic grinned as he went to pick up another pebble but was stopped by Knuckles standing in front of him with a serious face. "Hey get out of the way."

"Sonic stop bothering him. I'm pretty sure he's been through enough already so he doesn't need you making his life any worse."

"What do you mean worse?" Sonic asked as he put down the pebble.

"We're from different tribes. Because of that… some echidnas dislike others because of our different looks, ideas, and values."

"Wow… I didn't know. That explains the old man's attitude to him." Sonic said as he though back to the beginning of the day.

"Yeah, but you know you need to get some sleep. I've seen you sleep walk before… well sleep run anyway, and it's not pretty."

"Har-har." Sonic said sarcastically as Knuckles walked passed him and went to lie in his sleeping bag. Sonic turned to Rudolph and lied down and went to sleep.