Somewhere In Chaos

by AnotherUnusualParadox

There was something about her that he couldn't quite grasp, but desperately wanted to. Her innocence after such a traumatic experience, her laugh in even the direst of situations, and her ears that were the most expressive part of her body. All of this stirred things in him he didn't want to acknowledge. (Knux x Bunnie shipfic for pennythelynx).

4. Chapter 3

Somewhere In Chaos:

Author's Note I: Knuckles's first day continues as he meets each rebel face-to-face. How will the other Freedom Fighters react to the stranger in their midst? Will Knuckles's reconsider his stance on duty and honor? Or will Amy annoy the hell out of our hero before his journey to self-discovery has truly began? And finally, will I stop asking questions I know the answers to and actually begin writing? All of those questions and more will be answered within! Enjoy.

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Chapter 3:

"Alright, Mr. Echidna! This here is our tech lab!"

Amy had Knuckles standing in the entrance of another large-ish, white tiled room, but this one had several small tables with a handful of cogs and wheels sitting atop them in organized heaps. The other wall on the north side, a large, flat-screen computer monitor dominated a large portion of the otherwise barren surface. Below it was a simple keyboard and flash drive inserted into a USB plug-in beside what appeared to be a mouse.

Besides himself and Amy, the tech lab seemed empty.

"Rotor and Tails tend to work a lot in here, inventing new gadgets and whatnot. It's also used by Sally as a battle plan station. And here we have NICOLE," she added, pointing towards the computer screen.

Knuckles's expression looked a little confused. "Amy... there's nobody there."

Amy gave him a mischievous grin. "Oh, isn't there?" With a simple flick of her wrist, Amy flipped the switch on the desk and brought the machine to life. After much humming and whirring, the screen quickly flickered on and revealed a fairly typical home screen. Knuckles raised a questioning eyebrow, wondering what exactly the female hedgehog was trying to prove. "NICOLE," stated Amy coolly, "please welcome our newest guest."

Knuckles was caught a little off-guard when the shape of a digital mobian blinked onto the screen.

"Greetings," the AI spoke softly, in a heavily electronic, yet feminine voice.

Knuckles could do little more than gap and stare in utter surprise. From what he could gather, the girl on the screen appeared to be a female lynx covered in brown and black fur and wearing a violet colored toga. Small black marking dotted her face and ears. And finally, her hair was short and braided with beads of colors alternating between blue and orange. Her eyes were a bright, vivid green that invoked feelings of energy and vast knowledge in the echidna. In other words, she was gorgeous, perhaps the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. It was so intricately detailed that Knuckles immediately thought that she was another person, like... a recording or live transmission. He stepped up beside Amy without even realizing it. Once he could manage to master speech again, he quietly spoke to Amy without tearing his eyes from the screen. "Who is that?"

Amy giggled. "That's NICOLE, silly; I just told you that."

"But you said she was some kind of computer. That's a real person... Isn't it?"

Amy decided to let the AI explain it to him.

"I am an advanced Artificial Intelligence system, or 'AI' for short, created by the esteemed Dr. Ellidy, friend of the Royal Family and handed down to my current owner, Princess Sally Acorn of -"

Knuckles cut her off. "So, you're really just a computer then?"

The virtual lynx nodded. "Essentially, yes. However, I am far more advanced than a mere calculator." The AI paused and gave him a sheepish smile. "Even though that is one of my primary functions."

"So you're not real?" he asked again, not quite able to wrap his mind around the concept.

NICOLE hesitated. "That would depend on your definition of 'real'. Do I exist? In a sense, that would be yes. But am I flesh and bone? No."

Knuckles shook his head. All of this was just confusing him. "Can't you just give me a straight answer?"

NICOLE thought for a moment. "Let me put it this way," she began slowly, "I think, therefor I am."

"What in the name of Chaos does that mean?"

"It means if I believe that I exist, than I do."

Knuckles gave up. He turned to Amy. "What kind of trick are you pulling on me?"

Amy struggled to keep her sides from shaking as she answered. "It's no trick, Mr. Knuckles. She really is a computer and she's really smart."

"What exactly does 'she' do?"

"Well, she's tied into the entire main frame for the entire building, so she acts as a security monitor, communication base, data analyst, and primary hacking system. She's also tied into, and based out of a small handheld computer that Sally carries with her. As long as there's a signal, she can hack her way into anything. Including Eggman's memory banks across his empire."

Knuckles didn't understand a single word she was saying, so decided to simply abandon the entire conversation. However, NICOLE piped up. "From what I gathered the previous night, you and Sally have some kind of relationship, yes?"

Knuckles reluctantly nodded. "Yeah. And?"

"I was curious as to whether you and the princess were or are in a committed relationship."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Are you the princess's... boyfriend, I believe is the term."

Knuckles flushed rather quickly and a sudden anger boiled up from the AI's touching of his nerve. "N-no!"

NICOLE appeared mildly disappointed. "Oh. I must have been mistaken."

"Very mistaken!" he affirmed, loudly.

"I hope you will forgive my transgression. After that I hug, I assumed -"

Knuckles looked rather agitated, so Amy tactfully changed the subject. "Anyways, this is Knuckles. He'll be helping us out from now on; right, Mr. Knuckles?"

Knuckles backed away a step or two. "Maybe. We'll see. Right now, I just want my emerald back."

The AI was unable to process the right kind of response, so she simply bowed slightly. "Well, if you do help Sally and her friends, I'm sure you will prove to be a valuable asset."

"Ok, then, that's enough of this for now," said Amy, flicking the switch back off and shutting down the computer. The hedgehog took Knuckles's hand again. "How about we go meet some actual mobians now?"

Knuckles had to admit, that sounded much more suitable to him, even though he noted with disdain that his escort didn't have a sense of personal space at this point. "Fine. Let's just get this over with.

* * * Tails's Workshop * * *

The next location that Amy dragged her grudging companion to was the workshop, an offshoot of the hangar in which Tails and Rotor held the Tornado while not in use. Both the fox and walrus were hard at work, apparently taking apart the engine on a sturdy metal cart. Amy called out to them, but only Tails looked up from his work.

"Oh, hey, Amy. Knuckles," he added, nodding warily in the echidna's direction. Knuckles didn't really blame the fox for his mistrust, after all, he did viciously attack both him and Sonic on a number of occasions. "Still showing him around then?" asked the pint-sized mobian, looking back to Amy.

"Yep! We just finished introducing him to NICOLE," she explained.

Tails cracked a small grin. "So how did that go?"

"Uh, well, not very well, I think," admitted Amy. She sidled over to the younger mobian and whispered quietly in his large ear. "Knuckles didn't seem to understand the whole computer thing."

Tails didn't look surprised. "Yeah, I kinda figured that. He isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed."

"You talking about me?" growled Knuckles, overhearing the fox's last comment.

"Uh, no, of course not!" the mobian quickly answered. He reached out a hand. "I'm Tails, by the way. But you should already know that."

Knuckles suspiciously took the younger one's hand. He didn't really trust anyone smarter than him, especially when they acted like it.

"And this is Rotor," continued Tails, freeing his hand to clap the walrus on the shoulder. The purple one gave a simple wave towards the echidna before resuming his work.

"Not much one for words I see," remarked Knuckles, "I like him already."

"So, Tails and Rotor are, like, geniuses. They can build just about anything from just anything, with the proper tools, of course," explained Amy. "In fact, Tails himself built and designed most of the plane over there. You should have seen it when we first discovered it here. Tails spent almost a week getting it back into operating condition and continued to add new modifications to it, such as the Chaos Reader installed into the dash which allowed us to track down your island in the first place. Neat, isn't it?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Impressive, I suppose." He glanced at the fox. "Exactly how old are you?"

"Eleven, sir."

Knuckles internally frowned, although he kept his outward appearance indifferent. The fox was five years his junior and yet apparently knew more about machines and computers than he did.

"I think Sally calls him a... 'prodigy', I believe," added Amy. "But we just call him a 'wizkid'."

"So why do they call you 'Tails'?" asked Knuckles.

Tails flicked his twin tails. "I'll let you have two guesses."

Knuckles moved on. "Is that your real name?"

Tails shook his head. "That would be 'no', Mr. Echidna. My actual name is Miles Prower, but I prefer Tails."

"So, uh, what else do the two of you do besides tinker?" asked Knuckles.

Tails looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I usually accompany Sonic in whatever task Sally has arranged for him and Rotor acts as our muscle from time to time. But," the fox added, looking up at the echidna, "I estimate that you're at least twice as strong as he is. In fact, I'm not sure how you managed to knock the Chaos Emeralds out of Super Sonic in the first place. Even missile impacts aren't strong enough to do that."

A slow smirk crossed the red one's face. "Shall I tell you?"

Tails nodded. "That would be interesting to know."

"Well, you clearly don't know anything about the Brotherhood or my tribe's history, do you?"

Tails shook his head.

"My people have been the sworn protectors of the Emerald for countless generations. Sixteen or so, in fact."

Tails considered pointing out that 'sixteen generations' isn't countless, but wisely decided to let the echidna proceed without interruption.

"The chosen ones to be charged with such a task were my ancestors, starting with Edmund, the first Guardian. And thus the Brotherhood was created. Since then, each guardian has passed down the title and responsibility to each of his descendants, and our connection to the Emerald grew over time. Each Guardian has the ability to tap into the Emerald and add its power to his own. We also have the ability to negate Chaos Energy using the Master Emerald as a focus point, of sorts. This is also why we can sense when Chaos Emeralds are nearby or when the Master Emerald itself is in danger. There are also some other benefits, but I'm not going to share all of them with you any time soon."

Tails mulled over the information that Knuckles had just given him. "So... what you're saying is that you 'negated' Sonic's Super form by using the Master Emerald?"

"In a nutshell."

"So why did you punch him? Does the negation require physical contact?"

"Well, yes. But a simple tap would have sufficed. I just like hitting things."

Amy, who had been oddly quiet up until this point suddenly got rather bored and decided to finish her task. Grabbing his arm, the hedgehog lead Knuckles forcefully away from Tails. "Oh, well. We've got more people to meet. You and Tails can talk more later, but now, I want to introduce you to Antoine."

"But I-" protested Knuckles briefly.

"Later," repeated Amy firmly.

Tails gave a short, awkward wave as the echidna and hedgehog pair departed his workshop, before turning back to Rotor. "Ok, then, Rotor. Now... let's take a look at the motor. I believe one of Eggman's bullets might have grazed the side of it yesterday."

* * * Outside of the Great Forest * * *

A pair of light brown hands gripped a pair of binoculars as a set of aquamarine eyes peered through them. From her vantage point, Sally could discern several automatons of Eggman's creations moving about in a stiff, robot-like fashion as they patrolled the fatory where more machines were being built.

"So, how many do I have to deal with?" asked Sonic, crouched down beside her.

The chipmunk was silent for a moment before she slowly answered. "At least twenty or so, from what I can make out. There's probably more inside."

Sonic smirked. "Ya know, one would think ol' Egghead would guard his precious factories more carefully. I could easily take out at least thirty SWATbots before breaking a sweat."

Sally lowered the spying device as she turned her gaze to the hedgehog. "Especially since he just received a crippling defeat recently." She pursed her lips. "I don't like it. A factory like this should be crawling with 'bots right now."

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe he's withdrawing. Who knows? The war might be over soon."

Sally shook her head. "No, Robotnik isn't the type to give up so meekly. We should take a look at some more bases deeper in. I've got a bad feeling about all of this."

* * * Freedom HQ * * *

Sometime after leaving Tails' workshop, Amy and her reluctant companion found Antoine sitting on the stump of what used to be an old tree. The coyote was busy tending to his sword, sliding a whetstone down the length of the blade, honing its edge with precision. "Hey, Ant!" called Amy.

The coyote looked up and watched as Amy and Knuckles marched over towards him. Lowering his eyes again, the mobian resumed his task as he waited for them to get closer.

At length, Amy and Knuckles stopped a few feet shy of the brown one's position.

"Salut, mademoiselle Amy," greeted the coyote in his strange language.

"To you as well, Mister D'Coolette," replied Amy, "As you probably already know, I'm showing Knuckles around and introducing him to our members."

Antoine nodded. The coyote glanced at Knuckles for a moment, and then, realizing how big and intimidating the echidna looked compared to himself, quickly looked back down. "Comment allez-vous, Monsieur Ca-nuckles?"

Knuckles blinked for a moment and glanced at Amy, who did little more than smile at him. "Come again?" he asked.

"I said, 'how do you do?'," the coyote repeated.

"Oh. Fine, I suppose. And what did you call me?"

"Ca-nuckles. That is your name, is it not?"

"No. It's Knuckles."

"That's what I said, Ca-nuckles."

"Knuckles."

"Ca-nuckles."

"Repeat after me, Knuckles."

"Ca-nuckles," repeated Antoine, somewhat slower.

Knuckles was about to rip his dreadlocks out in frustration. "What is so difficult to understand?! It's KNNN-Uhhh-Kkkk-lllss."

"Ca-nuckles?"

'That's it!' thought Knuckles, rearing back his fist

"Wait!" cried out Amy as she grabbed his arm and held it back. Antoine, on the other hand, glimpsed the motion and had yelped as he jumped up to hide behind the stump.

Knuckles paused and lowered his fist of his own accord when he saw Antoine's instinctive, and rather cowardly behavior. "What are you doing behind there?"

Antoine hesitated. "Er, hiding?" he asked uncertainly.

Knuckles grimaced. "Hm, I wasn't aware Sally let chickens in her ranks."

Antoine's temporary fear was immediately replaced with indignation. "I, sir, am no chicken."

Knuckles made a smug smile as he tucked his arms beside him and flapped them as he began making clucking noises. "Bawk, b-bawk, bawk!"

Amy watched uncomfortably. Surely the display was offensive to certain feathered mobians.

"S-stop it! There's no shame in hiding against a more powerful foe!" stated Antoine firmly.

Knuckles ignored him and continued making the obscene noises.

"I am a member of the Royal Guard and will not be mocked in such a manner!" shouted Antoine, now thoroughly roused. Brandishing his blade, Antoine stepped closer towards Knuckles with the point aimed straight towards the echidna.

Knuckles in response, abandoned his taunting and let his smirk grow. "Oh, so not only does Sally let yellow-bellies in with the rebels, but so does the Royal Guard?"

Antoine's swordtip faltered and shortly thereafter, Antoine let it fall. "It... pains me to admit it... but I was never the fearless warrior my father wanted, so he... sent me to the Guard in hopes that they would toughen me up." The coyote mobian sat back down on his stump. "Even now, I am as a... how do you say? A 'scaredy-cat'." He looked up at Knuckles. "It may be hard to believe, but I was once even more spineless before this whole civil war business began. I escaped with Sally when ze Eggman seized control of the city, and not by my own efforts, I shamefully add." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But since that day, I have sworn I will stand by her no matter what. Even if that means putting myself in danger... I would do it gladly."

"And has any situation forced you to make good on that promise?"

Antoine made a unstable smile. "Thankfully, not yet. Monsieur Sonic is decent ally. Perhaps a bit arrogant, but whatever it takes, eh?"

Knuckles shrugged. "If you say so. Personally, I think he's an idiot, but -"

Knuckles didn't get to finish his sentence before something large, heavy, and painful slammed down on his head. Pain shot through his body as he instinctively grabbed his head and let out an angry and startled shout. Whipping around, he saw Amy standing grimly with a large hammer in her hands. "What was that for?!"

"Sonic is not an idiot!" she stated firmly, and then turned her baleful gaze to Antoine who, in turn, flinched and held up his hands pleadingly. "And he's not arrogant. He's wonderful! That's what he is!"

"Where did you even get that?" asked Knuckles. At the moment, that seemed somewhat more important than why she hit him, not that he had time to think about it. She certainly didn't have it on her before they left the mess hall, nor after they left Tails's workshop.

Amy didn't answer him and stared a few moments longer at the terrorized coyote and confused echidna before she smiled once more and let the hammer dissipate into smoke. "Okay then. C'mon, Knuckles, there's one last person you should meet."

"Wa-" Knuckles began, as Amy grabbed his arm once more and dragged him off.

Antoine watched the pair depart and let out a soft sigh of relief. He should be more careful in choosing his words about Sonic while Amy is anywhere within a five-mile radius, he reasoned.

* * * Elsewhere * * *

"This is the sixth base we've located and still nothing!" exclaimed Sally, looking through her binoculars once more.

"That's not true," chimed in Sonic. "They're all guarded."

"But not as heavily as they should be. This even less than there usually is."

"So?"

Sally lowered her long-range field gear and rolled over onto her back before sitting up. "I don't like it. Not one bit. I'm beginning to think he might be planning an ambush for us."

"Why's that?"

"Because it just makes more sense than Eggman leaving his bases loosely guarded. He knows we'll be confident after our win, so he might be betting on that confidence making us blind to possible dangers. It's perfect."

Sonic shrugged. "I think you're just being paranoid. We've already beat him once, and we can do it again. Here, why don't I take a closer look and I'll let you know if Robuttnik has any other robots he's not telling us about?"

"No! Sonic, stand down! That's an order!" demanded Sally as Sonic leapt to his feet to and sped down the hill. "Dammit, Sonic, be careful," she hissed as she hastily brought the vision aids back to her eyes. The chipmunk trailed his pathway and observed the badniks taking notice of the hedgehog's advancement. "Sonic, pull back," she breathed, hoping that somehow he would heed her advice and leave the grounds.

Even from her distance, Sally could hear as the base's alarms whined into life. That by itself was bad, but it got worse when she watched a panel of the building slide back to reveal a large, lethal-looking robot behind it. It wasn't a SWATbot, nor an Egg Pawn... it looked bigger, more heavily armored, and more deadly. 'What is that?' she wondered.

She watched as Sonic himself saw the robot and shrugged. The hedgehog grounded his feet and leapt up into a homing attack. 'Sonic, don't!'

Too late. The droid reacted with surprising swiftness and shot a small projectile at the hedgehog's curled up form. As soon as it made contact, a surge of electricity exploded around him and Sonic fell out of his jump, landing harmlessly a few inches away from the droid's feet in an unconscious heap. Sally dropped the binoculars in horror and disbelief. In the distance, blurry, indistinct forms of badniks gathered around Sonic and carried his body inside the base.

With no other option coming to mind, Sally backed away and turned into a full sprint back towards Knothole and the HQ beyond.

* * * Freedom HQ * * *

Meanwhile, near the Freedom Fighters' home base, Knuckles and Amy sought out the last remaining Freedom Fighter for Knuckles's introduction. They found her a fair distance away from the base, beside a gently flowing creek, evidently practicing some form of martial art. Knuckles grabbed Amy's shoulder and stopped her while he watched the robo-bunny fluidly transition from one posture to the next.

"What's the-" began Amy, before Knuckles muffled her words by placing a gloved hand over her mouth to silence her.

Completely unaware of her audience, the mechanical rabbit made smooth, deliberate gestures with her arms and taking carefully placed steps in a casual display of Knuckles could only describe as physical perfection. Muscles and machine bits worked together to make every movement appear as natural and purposeful as any other mobians. Without even realizing it, the echidna's breath caught in his throat and he was staring with such intensity that he was scarcely even aware of his surroundings or the hedgehog beside him.

However, his reverie was broken by the irrepressible female in his grasp. She squirmed her way free and turned on the echidna. "Hey! What was that all about!" she shouted, balling an angry fist at him. But when the echidna didn't respond or even grace her with a glance, Amy's annoyance factor doubled. "Hey! Are you even listening to me?!" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

And like that, Knuckles was shocked back to the present and reality. "Huh?" he exclaimed mildly, as if being drawn out of a hypnosis.

"I said, 'why did you gag me like that?!'" Amy reiterated for him.

Knuckles shook his head. "Oh, uh, sorry about that..."

Amy let out a calming breath. "Okay. But what was..." she drifted off when she looked at what Knuckles had been staring at. If such a thing were realistic and not some low-budget cartoon, a light bulb would've flickered to life above her head. "Ohh! I see," she giggled. She nudged her companion in the ribs teasingly. "You've already been smitten by our demolition gal, eh?"

Knuckles turned crimson faced and balled his own fists dangerously. "I- I... No!"

Amy shrugged with a smug demeanor. "Whatever ya say, but your secret is safe with me."

"What secret?"

Knuckles nearly jumped out of his fur when he discovered that while his attention was focused on Amy, the rabbit they had been sp-, observing, on had taken notice of them on the hilltop and strutted up to meet them. "S-Secret? Oh, uh, nothing! Nothing at all!" he managed to stammer out.

Amy motioned as if to pipe up, but Knuckles clamped his hand back over the hedgehog's mouth before she could do any more damage. Bunnie gave the two a strange look, but shrugged and held a hand out for Knuckles. "Alright, then. Ah'm Bunnie Rabbot, pleased ta make yer acquaintance, Mistah Knuckles, sir."

Knuckles shakily took her hand, the metallic one since it was the one offered, and gave it a nervous shake. "And you as well, Ms. ... I'm sorry. Did you say 'Rab-bot'?" he asked, placing emphasis on the "bot" portion.

Bunnie pulled her appendage away politely and gave a demure laugh. "Yep. Used ta be pronounced 'bow' but Ah changed it after getting these things," she explained, gesturing towards her robotic legs and arm. "But, please, call me 'Bunnie'."

"And you can call me yours..." mumbled Knuckles before fully realizing what he had just uttered. "I-I mean, call me 'Knuckles', madam."

Fortunately, while the rabbit clearly picked up on his first attempt, she didn't seem to take it too seriously and giggled again as she replied. 'Sweet Chaos,' thought Knuckles, 'her laugh is amazing...'

"So, exactly how long were the two of ya watching me over there?" she asked.

Knuckles blinked and tried to look nonchalant. "Er, not that long. Like, uh, two minutes I'd say."

Amy managed to free herself again. "Yeah, right. It was more like five."

Knuckles shot her the dirtiest look he could muster without letting Bunnie see.

"Ah, well, that's, uh, disconcerting," commented Bunnie.

Knuckles turned his attention back to the rabbit. "Oh, no. It wasn't, like, weirdly or anything. Um, what kind of style was that?"

"Tai-chi," the cyborg bunny replied, "It helps with mah balance and coordination skills."

Knuckles scratched his chin. "I thought it looked familiar. Where did you learn it?"

"I had a sensei back in the Baronies, before the war. Musta been, gosh, six, seven years ago. Ya see, when I was younger, I had a problem with my balance and mah doctor suggested that mah parents enroll me in one of them classes. It really helped, so Ah've kept it up. Especially since the... incident with ol' Robotnik's Roboticizer."

Knuckles nodded, showing interest without having to fake it. Refreshing really. "And what do you do for the 'team', I guess you'd call it?"

Bunnie grinned. "Heavy weapons expert. Ya see, since Eggman's Roboticizer turns normal mobians into shock troops, each arm is configured ta transform into a gun or cannon at will. Mine turned out ta be a laser cannon. It's pretty useful actually."

"I'll bet it is," commented Knuckles. He honestly didn't know what exactly the cyborg-rabbit was talking about, but he didn't mind that at all. Just listening to her melodic voice and cute Southern Belle accent was enchanting enough for the red echidna. After all, all he had ever known of the outside world aside from his father's many academic teachings was from Sally over ten years ago. Even so, he had to keep himself from staring too intently and at least try to understand portions of their conversation. NICOLE had confused him, Sonic annoyed him, that coyote fellow with the other accent was little more than disappointing, and he already knew Sally, so Bunnie was thus far the only mobian that truly fascinated him.

After a few moments, Bunnie stopped talking and Knuckles snapped to attention. "Hm? What's up?"

Amy nudged him. "It's lunchtime, bub. C'mon, let's head back to base and Sally and Sonic should join us shortly."

"Oh," murmured Knuckles, "O.K. then."

The echidna followed slowly behind Amy while Bunnie brought up the rear. This gave the echidna a moment to reflect on the last six minutes or so. Jeez, he must have came off like a complete idiot, nodding and staring with a blank look on his face the entire time he and the rabbit had been talking. Honestly, he didn't quite know why it mattered to him. Usually he didn't give a single thought to how others perceived him, and yet... he suddenly felt like a fool. Completely out of his environment. Yes, that must be it. Reverse altitude sickness. Spending so much time with his head in the clouds must have made him intolerant towards being down-to-earth. That made sense... right?

* * * A little bit later * * *

Knuckles, Amy, and Bunnie arrived in the Mess Hall and found Antoine, Tails, and Rotor already seated. The coyote made the slightest of shivers as Knuckles entered, which the echidna noticed out of the corner of his amethyst-colored eyes. On the other, far-side of the table, Tails and Rotor were hunched together discussing some technical mumbo-jumbo that Knuckles couldn't overhear, not that he would've understood a shred of it anyways. Amy unexpectedly took his hand and lead him over to seat across from Tails and Rotor. Bunnie, on the other hand, departed to partner up with Antoine. Tearing his gaze away from her, Knuckles turned his attention to Amy for a change.

"Vanilla and Cream will be bringing the food here soon. Sonic and Sally should be back sometime after that. In fact," she added, giggling, "knowing Sonic's appetite and sense of smell, it shouldn't be more than a minute or two after the platters are laid out."

Knuckles nodded curtly and tried to focus on the tablecloth in front of him. It was mildly stained with what looked like it might have been sweet-and-sour sauce or maybe barbecue sauce.

Amy, however, wouldn't leave well-enough alone. She nudged him, an annoying habit she was going to pick up it seemed. "So that's pretty much everybody. Of course, I haven't gotten a chance to talk about myself yet. So, uh, where should I begin? Ohh, I don't know... Hm, how about the time Sonic saved me from one of Eggman's traps? It was the first time we met, ya know? And I just knew from the moment we gazed into each other's eyes that we were destined to be together forever, ya know?!" The hedgehog clasped her hands together as she tilted her head and let a dreamy look cross her face. "He was just so brave and daring! Oh, he just picked me up in his big strong arms and..."

'Dear Chaos, just kill me now,' thought Knuckles. Somehow, hearing about this girl talk about her crush just wasn't high on his list of enjoyable conversation topics. What he didn't expect, however, was for Amy to suddenly latch onto his arm.

"But now that I mention it, you've got some pretty nice muscles too, Mr. Knuckles," stated the pink hedgehog, gently squeezing his right bicep.

"Um..." drawled the echidna, not quite able to decide how to handle this turn of events.

"Ya know, I'm available tonight... Maybe later we could..." began the pink one coyly.

Fortunately for the echidna, Vanilla and her daughter appeared in the doorway to the kitchen with a few platters of sandwichs and what appeared to be chicken noodle soup. Without much words, the mobians settled in and started their meal. "Oh, darn," said Knuckles in a fakely disappointed tone, as he reached for one such half-sandwich. "Guess it'll have to wait."

Amy noted the echidna's poorly disguised phrase, but didn't say anything. She wasn't really interested in dating him anyways, she just wanted to try and get Sonic jealous. And, she had plenty of time to work it anyways.

Taking a bite, Knuckles noticed the sandwich was ham on whole-wheat with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and mustard. He shrugged, he didn't mind ham. But... a thought occured to him. Where exactly did the meat come from? After all, Sonic and Tails rescued several dozen pigs and chickens trapped in Robotnik's machines...

His train of thought was interrupted by Sally bursting into the Mess Hall. The mobians all glanced at her in unison and made various inquisitive looks when they noticed Sonic wasn't with her. Tails spoke up. "Hey, Aunt Sally, where's Sonic?"

The chipmunk dry heaved for a few moments, clearly out of breath. Knuckles cautiously stood up and his face betrayed hints of concern. After a few moments, Sally managed to gasp out, "Sonic's been captured! He's...*huff*... at the Emerald Hill Egg Base."

Tails and Antoine jolted upright while Bunnie and the other two rabbits exchanged worried looks.

"What?!" exclaimed Tails. "We have to rescue him!"

Sally shook her head. "It's too dangerous to rush in without a plan; that's what got him captured in the first place. Antoine, Bunnie, and Tails, meet me in the War Room." Sally turned to Knuckles and mt his gaze. "Knux, I know you just got here, but we need your help. I... need your help."

The echidna nodded solemnly. "And you'll have it."

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Author's Note II: Okay, so yeah, it's been a while since I last updated. And apologies for that. I actually started this chapter right after publishing the last one, but I didn't get around to finishing it right up until now. Excuses are pretty lame, I know, but writer's block really stinks. I guess it could be summed up as me starting a chapter while I had a great idea on how to write, then falling asleep halfway through, and when I came back, I had no idea where I was going with this particular chapter. So, again, apologies if it's all over the place. Hm, I don't really know what else to say. I might make some minor edits to this later, but for now this is Chapter 3. And Chapter 4 is obviously going to be a rescue mission of some sort. But, for now, this is TheEpicTales, signing out.