Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story, one that's meant to wind down from the small action from the past chapters and seem more laid back. Hopefully, I managed to make it somewht funny and showcase how Knuckles and Sonic are friends despite the countless headaches they give each other.

And to the reviewer who posted concern about this story turning into a yaoi. I couldn't write a piece of yaoi even if my life depended on it. Its way to descriptive for me to write, and I prefer reading it rather than writing it out. However, it would most likely be a shonen-ai at this point. In case you don't know, shonen-ai is basically just showcasing two guys getting together and falling in love without all the crazy steamy descriptive stuff.

Anyway, with that out of the way now, I hope that you all end up liking this chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading. Until the next update everybody!

Chapter 10: The Next Morning

When the next morning finally came around, it was anything but the typical morning Sonic was used to waking up to. For a moment, he had forgotten that he was right now on board the Titanic and took a while to recognize his surroundings. As a result, he decided to sit up on his bed so he could get a better look at the room he was in. Unfortunately for him, he ended up roughly bonking his head against the ceiling with an audible sound, a welt surely starting to form almost immediately after the harsh contact.

"Aw, damn it!" he exclaimed painfully as he brought his hands up to his head in a reflexive action. He then released some pressure off of it and began to gingerly rub it so to help lower the swelling he felt building up. He then cursed again with a slight growl of pain in his voice, "Why the hell did they decide on making these top bunk beds so close to the damn ceiling? They're going to have a lawsuit on their hands the moment someone ends up getting a concussion because of this."

"It's nice to hear that you're awake now Sonic," the sound of Knuckles's voice was heard coming from the bathroom, although it was not in a tone you would expect from someone greeting you in the morning. It was then he noticed the tell-tale sound of running water, a clear indication that the echidna was right now taking a shower. "Hope you managed to sleep well last night, because I sure as hell didn't."

Instead of answering back, the hedgehog decided to lie back down on his bed and stare at the metal ceiling with a scowl on his face. The welt on his forehead was pounding away and making itself clearly known with its dull pain. He tried to ignore it by letting his mind wander around to various things; it soon rested on the shooting incident that had occurred last night. Before he could really mull over it in great detail though, he heard the shower stop running along with the sound of wet footsteps against the bathroom floor.

"Now that you're awake, do you think you could remind me again about what happened to you last night up on deck?" Knuckles asked as he exited the bathroom with a towel rubbing away at his red fur and quills. He did not have much of a chance to take one living on the streets of Robotropolis, so this was one luxury he was going to try and take advantage of as much as possible. That and he usually took morning showers if he had a hard time sleeping at night because of his thoughts keeping him awake. "It still hasn't quite really made its way into my mind in order for me to understand it."

"I thought I already explained everything about it to you last night," Sonic responded with an annoyed sigh as with questions about what was going on above decks. It was apparent that word had spread quickly throughout the ship about the shooting, and the red echidna was hoping the blue hedgehog would have some answers. Little did he know that he was actually at the center of said shooting, and he all but blew a gasket at the revelation and started going on a questionnaire rampage fueled by worry. "I really don't see much point in me repeating it and having you get all upset again."

Needless to say, it was a very long evening for both teens last night. It took the hedgehog a little more than four hours to get the poor echidna to finally calm down and try to get some sleep. And even with him in a somewhat calm state, he still kept tossing and turning, the worry apparently still fresh in his system. And one of the problems with the third class beds was that they were not only uncomfortable but also made noises through every small movement. That goes to say that poor Sonic barely got any sleep last night, and it was apparent that Knuckles did not either since he still held on to his grumpy demeanor seemingly multiplied by five from lack of adequate sleep. It was clear that this shower was an attempt to try and wash away both his weariness and the frustration that had built up because of it.

"Well, it's a pretty big point for me in you repeating it again, because I just can't make myself understand how it is that you managed to get yourself caught in such a big mess like that," Knuckles said with a slight growl to his words as he finished drying himself off before throwing the towel to the side in a haphazardly fashion. "It just doesn't make any sense to me how it could even be possible that you would get yourself caught up in a shooting under the thought of going out for a few minutes for a walk. If I'm ever going to figure this out, I need you to keep telling me everything you remember."

"Have you ever heard that anything can happen within a span of a couple of minutes no matter where you are?" Sonic simply answered with another question as he made his way to the bathroom still warm from the steam with the thought of taking a shower. If there was any kind of water that he was not anywhere remotely near being afraid of going near, it was regular old shower water. "That's pretty much what ended up happening to me this time around. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time talking with someone who happened to have same idea as me in terms of where to go to relax. It's nothing for you to keep on getting yourself so worked up over now that it's pasted with nothing really bad happening."

"And speaking of which, who was it that you said you ended up meeting on deck before all hell broke loose?" the echidna asked in a tone that showed he did not really believe what the other was saying. "You said that he was a first class passenger who really doesn't act so much like one, right?"

"I know that you don't believe me about that when I said it," the hedgehog replied as he turned on the water and tested it to make sure that there was still some hot water left from its previous run. Once he was satisfied with the temperature, he hopped in and allowed the water to soak through to his fur before taking the bar of soap and cleaning it out. "I didn't believe it either when he first told me. But I'm telling you the truth here; Shadow's not your typical first class teenager with a father who's a typical first class businessman who doesn't care about us third class people."

"If he's supposed to be a teenage in first class, then how come I've never heard of his name before? I'm sure that you remember that I was once a member of the first class before an onslaught of unfortunate events assaulted me and forced me to live like you. Don't get me wrong here; becoming a member of the third class was both a humbling and the best thing that's ever happened to me, especially since it I was going to be one with somebody who I already knew well through my father. As far as I knew during my first class life though, I was probably one of the few teenagers out of a million that you just described. To hear of another one like me but still in a first class position is rare if not impossible."

"And why does everything that you can't wrap your imagination around have to be considered impossible? You really have to learn how to be a bit more flexible on things like this. I've seen it first-hand for myself last night, so I know for a fact that it's more than possible to see a well-to-do first class teenager that kind of has the same attitude as you while still having a crap load of money on him."

"Well, it sounds even more unbelievable when you top it off by saying that he actually invited you to have dinner with him and his dad. How can you want me to be flexible after hearing something like that? First of all, how did he react when this Shadow said that; and secondly, just what is it that you're planning to wear to their dinner? You got to wear something formal if you're going to attend as a form of respect to them inviting you over. I doubt that a black bowtie would really work here because you have this natural aura that just screams third class to people."

"Jeez, thanks for telling me something that I already know Knux," Sonic answered sarcastically as he continued to wash out his fur of the grime and soap suds and began lathering some shampoo into the finer fur and quills on his head. Being that it was his own head he was working with, he knew how to maneuver around it without pricking his hands in the process and avoid inadvertently bleeding to death from repeated quill pokes. He also made sure to not handle the bump on his head he received from earlier roughly lest he wanted more pain. "I already kind of had it in mind to just wear my best and cleanest sweater that I have in my bag and hope that everything will go well. It's kind of the only thing that I can put on right now considering that I don't really have anything formal on me. Hell, I don't even remember ever owning something formal in my entire life."

"Oh, why couldn't they go and create a clothing store along with a souvenir shop on this ship for emergencies like this?" Knuckles was heard groaning as the cobalt hedgehog easily imagined him slapping his hand to his forehead in frustration. "If you're talking about that green sweater of yours with that ugly pattern on it that you've had with you for as long as I've known you, then go ahead and drown me to death in the bathroom shower. No offense to your uncle's sewing ability, but that thing is way too ugly to even be worn here inside the cabin away from the public view. And besides, you told me before that you hate wearing sweaters. You'd probably end up going crazy having to sit with it on for over an hour."

"I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it, although I'll admit that it'll be more than hard to do. And that's especially so since it's basically just as ugly as you described it. You know how much I hate having to wear any kind of clothing when I can be all nice and warm with just my fur and quills. It feels so unnaturally restrictive with the fur constantly being pushed uncomfortably against my skin, don't you think so? And for the record, I don't take offense at you bashing my Uncle Chuck's sewing abilities."

"Nice to know I'm able to get away with that. And don't forget that you're talking to an echidna who had to wear the said clothing I'm recommending at one time for a living because of his social status. I do have to admit, however, that some of the stuff I was to wear felt more than uncomfortable, especially the business suits. I still can't believe that I actually wanted to attend all of those stuffy events when I was little when I look back on it. Then again, just wearing a bowtie was more than enough to compensate for it; but as I said earlier, I don't think a bowtie would work for you. So it's either you change your attitude in the next two days so the bowtie will work, or we're stuck trying to figure out how to get a tux."

"Wow, it's nice to know that I'll be stuck with an imaginary tux that I don't even have with me," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a sigh before letting the water run through his quills and against his face, the shampoo bubbles running down his cheeks to his torso and legs before hitting the shower floor. "There has to be a way for us to get one around here without having to resort to stealing one. Do you think there's any chance that you might know somebody in first class on board this ship?"

"Oh sure, just wait here for a couple of minutes while I go out looking for some person that I know in first class and ask them to borrow one of their suits," the echidna replied with strong sarcasm in his voice that even a baby would have noticed it. "Do you honestly think that we'd be able to get out of this problem that easy Sonic? In case you don't remember me telling you so, I've been considered as dead in their world of money and status for a few years now. The only chance that one of them would even refer to me as the person I once was is if I meet one of my old friends, but what are the chances of me meeting one of them here? That's definitely a one in a million chance!"

"Hey, stranger things have happened before with other people in situations kind of like ours. I guess you could say this might end up being one of those crazy Twilight Zone moments. As long as the possibility's out there, there's a chance that you might end up finding a familiar face here on this ship."

"Yeah; and there's also a chance of this supposedly unsinkable floating piece of metal to go straight down to the bottom of the ocean sometime during this voyage," Knuckles countered with the same sharp tone of sarcasm that could easily cut right through someone if they were blades. "That would properly be something befitting one of those stupid science-fiction shows you like to watch every chance you get. If you think it's impossible for this ship to go sinking on us anytime soon, then it's definitely impossible for me to find someone I know on here and ask to borrow their suits."

"Alright, I got your message there Knuckles," Sonic said with a slight chuckle as he shut off the flow of water after making sure that all the soap suds had detached themselves from both his fur and quills. He then took the dry towel that was waiting for him to be used a safe distance away on a rack and began drying himself. He also heard the familiar sound of the television being turned on with the channel it was currently on giving off the annoying white noise when the station was out of service. "You don't need to start getting your quills all in a jumble explaining that to me. You don't want to go undoing what that nice warm shower you took earlier did for your attitude and temper, do you?"

While the blue hedgehog was busy drying off his fur and quills rather vigorously, he heard a knock coming from the door over the angry inaudible grumblings his buddy was currently spewing out. The volume on the television was heard being turned down, and the sound of footsteps walking across the room reached his ears. He had a feeling as to who it might have been at the door being that he and Knuckles only told one other person of where they were living, but he could not be sure until the other checked on who their visitor was. Thankfully, he did not have to wait too long for the answer.

"Hey Tails; it's good to see you again!" the echidna was heard saying happily after the sound of the door creaking open and closing soon after reached the hedgehog's ears and thus confirming his suspicions. "So what brings you over here to our part of the ship this morning? I was thinking that you'd probably want to go exploring the different floors and the deck a bit. You do kind of deserve some relaxing time to yourself after everything you've been through just to get on this ship."

"Yeah, that was kind of what I had planned for today," the voice of Tails responded, his voice reflecting the uncertainty and concern he was surely feeling right about now as the hedgehog imagined him with a half-smile on the young kit's face. "But I don't really think it's safe for me to go wandering about on this ship by myself. There might be a few people on board who still remember about my 'wanted' status back at Robotropolis and turn me in to one of the crew members for safekeeping."

"And why the heck would anybody want to do that to you on this ship?" Sonic asked as he exited the bathroom with the towel still rubbing away at his quills. The bump on his head had become slightly less painful after the shower, and he was able to touch it without too much pain shooting at him. He noticed in his peripheral vision that the television was showing off some commercial about a shampoo product, but he paid it little mind as he walked right passed it. "It doesn't really make much sense to be doing that, if you ask me. Who would actually go wasting their time on trying to catch a kid who's supposedly guilty of something when they can go looking for murderers and kidnappers?"

"Hey Sonic," the two tailed fox greeted the cobalt hedgehog with a wave of his hand from his spot seated on Knuckles's bed. He had probably deduced earlier that he was in the bathroom being that he was not in the same room and that it was the only other place he could have been in the small cabin. "Well, you know how some people like to act. They want to make sure that justice is taken care of and would do anything to keep a 'convicted criminal' off of the streets whether or not he's accused of a misdemeanor or murder. Call me being timid and kind of paranoid on this, but I don't want to be getting caught for something I didn't do and messing up after getting this far. And being that you two just happened to be here with me, I was wondering if you could go exploring with me."

"Well, with all the things that you said happened to you within the past couple of months, I can't really blame you for being a bit self-conscious about the people around you," Knuckles stated with a shrug of his shoulders before resting one of his hands in a comforting fashion on the young kitsune's. "Someone at your age shouldn't be subjected to all these adult problems and feel so vulnerable. And don't worry about asking us to join you; we'd be more than happy to. Isn't that right, Sonic?"

"Of course we'll go exploring the ship with you Tails!" the hedgehog teen exclaimed happily with a bright smile on his face as he walked over to the dresser and pulled out his white gloves resting on top of it. As he put them on with quick expertise, he added, "Knuckles and I didn't really have much of a chance to do it ourselves yesterday because we were too excited to be on board this ship."

"I think it was more like you were too excited to do anything then beyond just wanting to lounge away the whole afternoon on one of those folding chairs up on the deck," the red echidna clarified as he took his set of gloves that were lying on top of his bed next to his pillow. "And then you decided to do a bit of exploring on your own last night and nearly got yourself into deep trouble for that."

"I'm kind of afraid of what the answer might be, but just what exactly happened to you last night Sonic?" Tails inquired rather hesitantly with a raised eyebrow as he switched his gaze between the two teens.

"Oh, it wasn't really anything that you need to be too worried about," the blue hedgehog responded in a cool tone that was meant as an attempt to brush the subject aside. The last thing he wanted to do now was to discuss his near brush with death in incarceration to his best buddy who had a close encounter already with it himself. "It's something that happened to me and has already been resolved last night. Trust me; if it were something real serious, I don't think that I would be standing here talking with you right now."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. For a moment there, I thought you were talking about the shooting that happened last night up on deck that everybody was talking about and say that you were involved in that."

Instead of saying something to the young fox's statement, Knuckles simply let out a small chuckle that he did not bother trying to cover up. Sonic felt his cheeks heat up and felt a small blush starting to form from embarrassment at how the kid hit the bull's eye without knowing it. Tails simply looked at the two teens with a confused look on his face as he knew that he was clearly missing something here.

"Oh no," he soon murmured under his breath with an audible groan after he placed the pieces together in his head. He then said with one of his hands slapping his face, "Sonic, were you the one who was at the center of the whole shooting last night? Please tell me that for once my train of thought is completely off track."

"I thought I already told you that everything got resolved last night," Sonic responded with a slight nervousness in his tone without directly admitting that he was at the scene last night. "As I said earlier, would I really be here talking to you if I was shot? I'm sure that I'd be in the hospital room right about now."

"Then why are you sounding so nervous right now if that's all that really happened?" the fox asked as he easily picked up on the blue furred teen's tone. He may have been pretty young, but he was a pretty smart kid in that he was able to create so many new inventions and come up with the basis for them. Because of that, his mind is also sharper than others, and he was able to pick up on those subtle uncertainties, especially since they were coming from somebody who he considered to be one of his best friends. "You don't usually get nervous when you're caught trying to hide something. Did you do something to that first class guy people have been saying was with you at the time?"

"I hate to rain down on your friendly little chat, but could we talk about this some other time?" Knuckles asked as he made his way out of the room and away from the last conversation he wanted to hear right then. "I, for one, don't want to be hearing about this again. I've had my fill of aggravation and stress over this last night, and I don't want to ruin the rest of my day by reviving said aggression."

"For once, I fully agree with old Knucklehead here!" the cobalt hedgehog answered excitedly as he dashed out of the door that had just been opened by said echidna. This quick movement earned him a deep scowl from the short tempered teen as he fixed up his bangs that were sent askew by the slight breeze. "I might talk to you about it some other time; but for now, how about we go ahead and go on that tour of this ship that you said you wanted to take buddy? I'm sure that you just can't wait to see what the Titanic has in store for the next month that we'll be living here."

And before anybody could add anything to the conversation, the teen disappeared from the doorway and down the hallway. They could only presume that he was heading to the upper deck being that he had ran up the stairs, nearly forcing two third class couple coming down to trip up and fall down.

"It's nice to know that Sonic hasn't changed one bit since the last time I saw him," Tails simply said with a sigh escaping his mouth as he shook his head. "I would suppose that the both of you didn't really live too bad of a life if he's still able to be acting all perky."

"To be honest with you Tails, that blue hedgehog could probably be living the life of an on-and-off hooker and still not be phased by anything," Knuckles responded with a scowl, the fox giving off a scowl of his own at the echidna's poor choice of words. "And don't go giving me that look. You know exactly what I meant by that."

"But couldn't you have picked another example that sounded a lot more like something he'd be most likely to suffer through?" the young kitsune questioned with a strange look on his face as he walked past the red furred teen and out into the hallway. "You could've said that he'd still be all bright and happy even without having a single chili dog in his system for an entire month or something like that."

"Heh, it's funny that you should mention that," the teen said with a chuckle as he closed the door and made sure it was locked before stuffing the small key into his glove. "That actually happened to him six months ago. He was surviving well with all the other food we managed to find during our stay on the streets, but he always found some moment in time to go complaining about how chili dogs were a lot better than some disgusting tomato or a can of corn. God, you don't know how much I had to suffer through that."

"I'm sure I could only imagine. It's too bad that I couldn't be there to see it myself. I thought I was lucky enough to get a better life for the three of us with a new invention during that time. I never thought that I'd have to go into hiding for those six months and not be able to tell you two about what happened to me. If you want to talk about suffering, then go ahead and talk to me about it."

"Oh, I've had enough talk about suffering and all that crap on this ship to last me the entire damn trip. Now how about we go and catch up with Sonic before he ends up getting himself in more trouble? Knowing him, he always becomes a magnet for trouble after he's gotten his first taste of it."

"You've got that little faith in him wandering this ship alone, don't you?" the young fox asked with an amused giggle as he began to walk in the direction he last remembered the blue hedgehog to go. "Then again, he always was the one who would drag us into some kind of trouble back when we were in Robotropolis, so it can't be a stretch that he'd find more trouble for himself after last night."

"Well, then it's up to us to make sure he stays in line for the entirety of this trip," the red furred echidna responded as he followed his young friend towards the stairs and began to go up after him in search of the hedgehog that they both agreed to be troublesome.