Somewhere In Chaos:

Author's Note I: So begins Knuckles's first day with the Knothole Freedom Fighters. What new experiences face him today? With Amy as his guide, anything is possible.

Chapter 2:

A soft knock interrupted Knuckles's well-deserved sleep, causing the echidna's eyes to snap open and for him to shoot upright. For a brief moment, Knuckles forgot where he was and his basic instincts kicked in. Only two moments later, he realized that he was still at the underground base that Sally and her rebels resided in. Relaxing, the echidna climbed out of the cot he had spent the night in and answered the door. On the other side he recognized the hedgehog from last night waiting for him.

'I didn't ask for a wake-up call,' he thought quietly.

"Mornin', sleepyhead! Sally wants you to join her for breakfast. C'mon, I'll show you the way to the mess hall," she chirped happily before turning on her heel and cheerily doing a half-skip down the hall.

Knuckles blinked blankly and then followed the pink mobian, closing the door behind him.

Thankfully, the female hedgehog didn't stop for idle chatter with him. A few turns and a couple dozen feet brought them to the main hall that he had reunited with Sally the prior night. Amy didn't slow her pace in the slightest, although her bouncy walk gradually weakened into a brisk walk. Leading him wordlessly across the large room, Amy guided the way to another archway that opened up into a large dining room. Knuckles glanced quickly around the chamber, noting the large, rectangular table in the center and the benches fixated around it. He also casually noted that a few of the individuals he had met earlier were already up and seated along certain places at the table. He didn't know most of their names by memory yet, but there was the fox and coyote placed on opposite sides of the table, with the coyote being the one nearest to Knuckles. His eyes settled upon Sally at the head of the table who gave him a friendly grin when he walked in.

Amy turned and nodded slightly towards Knuckles. "Alright, this is where I leave you, Knuckles, sir. I'll just be in the kitchen helping Vanilla and Cream with the cooking and serving. In the meantime, why don't you go say 'hi' to Princess Sally?" The hedgehog finished her sentence with a conspiratory wink and flounced off before Knuckles could respond.

Heading for the only familiar face in the area, Knuckles approached the mobian princess, who spoke cheerfully as he drew near. "Good morning, Knux. Did you sleep well?"

Knuckles settled into a seat on Sally's right side. "Well enough, I suppose."

Sally placed her hand on top of his. "Let me just say how glad I am that you decided to come back with Sonic and Tails yesterday. We could really use your help, if you're willing."

Knuckles grunted. "It's not like I really had a choice."

Sally's face clouded up with concern. "What do you mean?"

Knuckles looked at her blue eyes with his intense violet ones. "The Master Emerald is in pieces and my island is probably resting somewhere at the bottom of the Mobian Ocean."

Sally leaned forward. "Hm, well, Sonic wasn't very thorough on his report. Although, that has never been his strong suit, so why don't you fill me in on the details?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Alright. So, I wake up about three days ago to find a giant hunk of metal crashing down on my home. I went to investigate, discovered the one you call Eggman, and he convinced me that he was a scientist and that he had arrived to figure out what the object on my island was. I didn't have a reason not to believe him and then he told me about a certain blue hedgehog and his orange friend would be on their way too, intent on stealing the emerald in order to power the device that they had created. And long story short, I confronted Sonic and him," he said, pointing towards Tails, "they found their way past my traps and ended up at the shrine despite my best efforts. Then Eggman proved himself a traitor and deceiver by stealing my emerald for himself. Sonic and I chased him down, boarded the ship and completely wrecked it. However, in the battle, Eggman tried to flee with the Master Emerald again, so... I shattered it. The good news is, it's out of his hands, but the problem is, it's out of mine too. At least," he added, narrowing his eyes slowly, "for the time being."

Sally nodded quietly, digesting his side of the story. "So, just to make sure I heard everything correctly... you broke the Master Emerald? With your bare hands?"

Knuckles nodded. "As a last resort, but... yes."

Sally appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I guess that means you're going to go hunting for the shards then."

Knuckles looked slightly hesitant, before bowing his head regrettably. "It's my duty, Princess."

The two remained silent for a few moments before Sally spoke up again. "When do you plan to leave?"

"Probably within the next couple of days."

Sally looked up at him and gave him another friendly smile. "Well, until then, we'll be glad for any help we can get from you."

Knuckles let a small, uncertain smile cross his face. "I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll do what I can, Princess."

"First rule, Knuckles, don't call me 'Princess', call me Sally or 'Sal'. Second, always follow rule number one."

Knuckles chuckled. "Fair enough... Sally."

At about that moment, a few more Freedom Fighters trickled in, such as the strange rabbit he had noticed yesterday and a large purple walrus. Knuckles only spared the two of them a moment's glance before turning back to his conversation with Sally. "Now, you told me you would explain what's been going on since our last meeting?"

Sally didn't look thrilled to talk about it, more resigned, in fact. "It's a long story, but I guess I can give you the abbreviated version."

Knuckles sat forward and waited for Sally to begin.

"Alright, you remember the Great War our parents were talking about during their last couple of visits?"

Knuckles nodded. "Sure. The kingdoms of Acorn, Mercia, and the Southern Baronies were declaring war on the Overlanders over some stupid territory dispute."

"It's quite a bit more complicated than that, but the important thing about it is that it was during this war that our kingdom met Eggman for the first time. He was a great scientist from the United Federation who 'disagreed' with his home country's political and military stances, so he defected from them to aid us during the war. As it turns out, the Overlanders actually exiled him and his nephew for their war crimes. His most terrible invention was the Roboticizer. It was constructed to transform flesh into plastic and metal to create robotic replicas of the ones placed in the chamber. The androids are completely under his control and very dangerous. He was building an army under his government's nose and did the same to ours.

"Initially, after the war was finished and the Acorn Concordant signed, Eggman appeared to be a mobian hero. That is until he turned the machines he had built and designed for us against our very kingdom. In less than a day, he captured our capital and forced my family into hiding. Well..." here, Sally appeared rather depressed and Knuckles felt a pang of sympathy for his former childhood friend, "those of us who escaped." She looked up. "If it hadn't of been for Sonic and Rosie, I probably wouldn't of survived the coup."

"Where's your father?"

"I wish I knew. I believe Eggman's keeping him alive for some reason, but we haven't found anything to prove that my father's still alive."

"And your mother?"

Sally shrugged. "Supposedly, she and my brother died in a plane crash caused by Overlander mortars." She looked up. "A few unidentified echidnas found the wreckage and proclaimed no survivors. You wouldn't know anything about that... would you?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No. Why?"

"I thought a few of them might be connected to you and Locke in some way."

Both mobains fell silent, reflecting sadly about each other's misfortunes. 'How did so much happen without me knowing anything about it?' Knuckles asked himself silently. At last, he now had an answer for Sally didn't return to his island, but now he wasn't sure if he had wanted an answer in the first place. At length, a thought occurred to him. He glanced at the rabbit sitting between Tails and Antoine. He once again found his attention drawn to her arm and legs. Something about them unsettled him and he decided to ask about them.

"Hey, so... what's up with the rabbit over there? She looks as if one of those robots had sex with a mobian and she was the child."

Sally's face flickered briefly in barely controlled anger. "Shush! Not so loud, I don't want you to let her hear you talking like that."

Knuckles looked in surprise at Sally. "Sorry. Did I cross some sort of line?"

Sally's took a calming breath and sighed. "No.. well, yes. But I can understand why you'd be curious." She paused. "Bunnie is... a special case. You see, Robotnik had her selected for Roboticization and Sonic barely managed to save her from that awful fate. Rosie wasn't sure she'd make it, but Bunnie's a fighter. She pulled through and slowly adjusted to her new look. Still... she's sensitive about it, even if she doesn't let it show. So try to not be an ass and don't bring it up to her."

Knuckles nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again."

A few moments later, Sonic appeared around the corner with a broad grin plastered on his face. "Mornin', everybody!" he chirped happily, and then his gaze fell on Sally and Knuckles sitting beside each other and his smile faltered slightly. Zipping over to Sally's left side, the hedgehog settled into the bench on the opposite side of Knuckles. "Wassup?" he asked in a casual tone.

Neither Sally nor Knuckles answered and Sonic quickly grew bored. He turned his vision over to the fox beside him. "What about you, Tails?"

"I'm doing fine," the fox replied, shifting closer to the hedgehog.

Another moment later, a trio of mobian females emerged from the kitchen carrying several dishes. "Ah, here comes the grub," commented Sonic. The trays were set down and the mobian females took their own places, along Knuckles's side of the table. To his moderate dismay, Amy decided to take the seat closest to him.

Once everyone was settled properly, all of the assembled rebels dug in.

* Later *

After the talking and eating died down to an acceptable point, Sally rose and gently clinked the edge of her fork against her glass until all eyes present were turned on her. "Alright, men. We have a very narrow window of time before Eggman recovers from his latest loss. If we're going to strike when he's weakest, the time is now. Rotor, Tails, I want the two of you to make sure the Tornado is in peak condition for the upcoming raid." The walrus and fox nodded. "Antoine, Bunnie, the two of you are tasked with making sure that you are ready for combat, if need be. I expect both of you to practice your skills and repair your equipment."

"Aye, ma'am," replied Antoine the coyote.

"Lastly, Sonic, you and I are going to do some scouting and figure out where this strike is going to take place."

"Fine," mumbled Sonic, not looking all that happy about being deployed again so swiftly.

"Erm, Sally, what am I going to do?" asked Knuckles.

The chipmunk turned to him. "Don't worry, Knux, I'll have something for you to do when we actually launch our attack. In the meantime, Amy can give you a tour of the HQ and introduce you properly to our crew."

"Yay! I'll do my best, Sally!" piped up Amy happily.

'Grreaattt,' thought Knuckles sarcastically.

"As for Vanilla and Cream..." continued Sally, "You two just keep doing what you're doing."

Vanilla nodded graciously. "Come, Creamie, let's clean up," she said quietly to her daughter who jumped up and began aiding her mother in gathering the dirty plates off the table.

"If there are no questions then let's get started," finished Sally.

Wordlessly, the group of mobians excused themselves and moved off to complete their assignements for the day. Sally and Sonic departed quickly and soon, Knuckles and Amy were left alone with Vanilla and Cream heading off to the kitchen once more.

"Wow, a whole day for me to show you around, isn't that great?!" exclaimed Amy excitedly. Knuckles didn't respond. He didn't trust himself to do so. "Well, let's not just sit around here, I've got a lot to show you. Oh! And you're just going to love our friends!" Without waiting for a reply, Amy grabbed Knuckles by the arm and immediately lead him to the kitchen.

Knuckles plodded along somewhat reluctantly and wondered why Sally couldn't of sent someone else to show him around. Maybe that other rabbit girl. Bunnie, was her name? He blushed lightly when he realized he was already memorizing her name before even meeting her properly. Before he had time to rationalize it, Amy had him in the kitchen room. A quick glance about told him that the kitchen was one of the nicer places in the building. Bright, white tile walls lined the entire interior and two counters lined the area. One was in the center and was shorter than the one pressed up against the wall. A large stove sat evenly in the center of the structure and had a cutting surface for one side and a sink on the other.

Along the wall with the counter, a larger, dishwashing sink was set into the countertop, sparkling clean and made from chrome. A refrigerator and freezer, one full-size version of each, were tucked into a corner nearest to him and Amy near the entrance. And all the way on the other side of the long room was a simple oak door that must have lead to a pantry. The two rabbits, Vanilla and Cream, were already busy at work in front of the sink. The elder rabbit scrubbed the dishes and the younger one, standing up on a stool, rinsed them off before stacking them in a rack to dry.

"So, this is the ki-"

"I know what it is," interrupted Knuckles.

Amy's eyes widened for an instant as her feelings were hurt. "Well, fine then, Mr. Grouchy. Maybe I won't show you around, if you're going to be like that!" she huffed, crossing her arms and turning her head away in a pout.

Knuckles sighed. "Look, I didn't mean it like that. But I'm not an idiot."

Amy held her expression for another moment longer before making a show of forgiving him. "Apology accepted. Now this is Vanilla," she said, pointing towards the older rabbit. "Mrs. Rabbit! Say 'hi' to Knuckles," she called out to her.

The rabbit looked over her shoulder and ceased her chore long enough to turn around and approach the echidna, wiping her hands dry with a clean, white hand-towel. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Knuckles," she said politely, offering him a friendly handshake.

"Mrs. Rabbit, is it?" he asked, taking her hand into his own and shaking it gently. "I take it you're married then?"

Vanilla winced slightly. "No, actually. Not for quite some time now."

"Oh." Knuckles released her hand and looked moderately ashamed of his social blunder. "My apologies."

"It's quite alright. I've had some time to adjust to it. Plus, I still have my daughter to look after. That, and the Freedom Fighters keep me quite busy. I thank them for giving me and Creamie here a place to stay during the war. Seeing how our cottage was burned down and all that."

"You lost your home?"

Vanilla nodded. "About a year ago. But we still have our lives, so I'm thankful for that." The mature rabbit turned her gaze temporarily to her daughter. "Come over here and say hello to the newest member, darling."

"Okay, Mommy!" replied Cream, hopping off the stool and scurrying up to Knuckles. "Hi there! Are you some kind of hedgehog, Mister?"

Knuckles smiled and let out a small laugh. "No, I'm afraid not. I'm an echidna. Completely different. What's your name?"

"Cream the Rabbit, sir!"

"Well, then. I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Cream." He reached out with his hand and playfully ruffled the small rabbit's headfur.

"Are you going to be staying with us?"

Knuckles's smile faded, but only by a few noticeable degrees. "Maybe. We'll see, won't we?"

Vanilla spoke up again. "Well, Cream and I still have a considerable amount of chores to still do, so we should get back to them. Until next time, Mr. Knuckles," she bidded the echidna.

"Er, wait. Do you two need any help with the chores?"

"No, I believe we've got it, but thank you regardless. Perhaps you should go meet my niece, Bunnie. She won't admit it, but she's been dying to meet you. Oops. I've said too much."

"Huh?" asked Knuckles, but he was unable to inquire further before Amy lead him off again.

"I think she's just curious about you. I know I am," chirped Amy, guiding him back to the mess hall and towards the back area of the building. Knuckles shook his head to dismiss the thoughts and once again allowed himself to be dragged off.

Author's Note II: Alright, we'll leave off here, but I'll be back soon with more. Stay tuned.

~TheEpicTales