They had been walking for a good while, mostly led on by Knuckles and his irritation, refusing to stop even though he was evidently in discomfort from the crackling energy around his body. The only reason they were currently settled down around a campfire while night fell was because of the fact Knuckles snapped at Sonic, causing a small shockwave to hit the group from Knuckles, which ultimately startled everyone. This led to them being able to convince him he needed to rest to cool his jets a bit, since he had inadvertently ended up hurting them from his outburst. All of them currently sat around the campfire, generally trying to distance from Knuckles so they didn't get shocked, mostly because they were unsure if the energy would even shock them upon contact.
"So that's when I had to ask Eggman, 'what are taxes?' and he gave me the most confused look ever, before proceeding to explain humans have to pay a large amount of money in order to live in a house with food, water and electricity. How awful is that? Sure there are some humans who are completely selfless and nice, but all of them, greedy or not, have to PAY to LIVE? That feels like the living definition of hell if you ask me," Sonic had been on about a story of one of his fights before he'd met the three around him, all of them... well, most of them generally quite into the story.
"They don't just build their houses for themselves? I mean I understand every time we go over into the middle land that they pay for shopping and stuff, that's generally what we do here, but if they don't pay they can't even live? That sounds awful!" Amy looked a mixture of horrified and intrigued, while Tails flicked his ear.
"I mean, it makes sense, but the sense it like, horribly flawed. So really... it doesn't make sense," he stated, originally planning to explain how it made sense before backtracking.
"Live in the wilderness like me and you don't need electricity, just enjoy nature to it's fullest, problem solved," Knuckles shrugged from where he was sitting, his arms crossed with his hands gripping his upper arms gently as he gazed lazily at the sun, leaning against a rock not too far from the fire as he looked up at the darkening sky.
"Humans don't really have that capability I don't think, they are much softer with their living conditions than us, especially with us being naturally more in touch with nature than them," Amy giggled before she flopped down, resting her head on the base of her hammer as she gazed upwards as well.
"I have a funny tale about Eggman, one Sonic doesn't even know if you guys wanna hear it," Tails smirked, getting curious looks from everyone.
"Oh? Here I thought I knew them all," he chuckled, raising a brow at Tails.
"Well, hit us with it lil' bro,"
"Okokok, so, one time, during those few instances he captures me to try and use my intelligence, he threatened me with this weird tale. He kind of said it like 'You better do as I say otherwise I'll send you to the uncharted Terro-Zone with all the evil ancient skeleton deer-wolves that'll eat your tiny fox brains out for a breakfast barbeque'," he mocked, trying to make a bad Eggman impression whilst he spoke, before laughing.
"I've never heard something so ridiculous before! That's saying something too, since I've heard a LOT of ridiculous things before,"
"A ter-zone with skeleton deer-wolves..?" Amy seemed extremely confused by this.
"What does that even mean? I've never heard of any of that in my entire life," Sonic commented.
"Probably just Eggman gibberish meant to try and scare the 8 year old into obeying orders, he's tried that with me before too, but I don't believe scary made up stories," Knuckles grumbled, rolling his eyes a bit before letting out a snort.
"Speaking of, he said this weird thing once about something-something 'healing fangs' something-something, and I think it had something to do with... uhhh... some ancient civilization that was around at the time of my people... I'll be honest it was so long ago I don't remember all the details of that conversation,"
"God, putting these together really makes Eggman seem like a crazy old bald man," Amy stated, getting a choked snort from Sonic, before full on laughter.
"He's always been a crazy old bald man!" He laughed, causing Tails to start giggling as well.
"Nah, better way to put that is 'Delusional old guy with a wig under his nose," Tails remarked while laughing, getting Amy to start giggling as well. This is when Knuckles smirked, although kept his lidded look of relaxation as he joined in on the Eggman slander.
"Now now, he isn't any of those. He's the egotistical eggshell-smooth headed fat guy with a nose hair conundrum," Knuckles retorted, now having Sonic almost hollering as he laughed, clenching his stomach as tears formed in his eyes. Tails and Amy were having a similar problem, Amy needing to sit up so she could breathe better as she laughed. When they all finally calmed down Tails gave Knuckles an odd look.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, Knuckles giving him a bit of a confused look before a bit of energy crackled around him, raising his fur a bit as he stifled a shudder.
"Eh... uncomfortable, as the most. A bit tingly but otherwise just the same as before," He grumbled, putting his hands behind his head as he spoke. He closed his eyes while sighing whilst speaking, relishing in the slight breeze passing through the forest, however dull it may have been. Through the stress his body seemed to be accumulating, the breeze helped to ever so slightly ease his muscles to help him relax, which he appreciated.
"If it gets any worse you need to promise us you'll tell us immediately though, alright?" Amy murmured, shifting closer to Knuckles as she gave him a pleading look, which he didn't notice due to his eyes being closed. He didn't respond for a few, before grumbling to himself a bit.
"Yeah, whatever..." none of them seemed convinced by that. Knuckles had a known tendency of hiding his pain much like Sonic and Shadow often did, so that he didn't appear weak or slow everyone down. He also hated the undivided attention that suddenly would be thrown onto him if they DID find out he was injured. Hence why he was underexaggerating his state right now. He felt sick, yeah, but his body as tingling like mad, and he was starting to gain a headache as well. His body was aching slightly from fatigue, and each time the energy crackled around him it sent a mini shock through his body that only made the tingling worse. The others seemed to accept his answer for now, however, since it was pretty late by now and they didn't want to keep pressing. Instead, they wanted to be rested up for the long trek tomorrow. They all just exchanged looks before they set themselves up around the fire, Tails making sure to feed it quite a bit of wood before curling up, using his Tails to cushion himself for a better sleep. Amy just used her hammer for a pillow, while Sonic flopped himself back onto what he considered a comfy path of grass as he shifted into a relaxed position. Before they all nodded off, though, they exchanged their 'goodnights', which Knuckles muttered before shifting on the rock a bit. He didn't bother trying to sleep until he knew everyone else was asleep, more so to make sure nothing were to come out of nowhere whilst everyone was vulnerable, before he left himself nod off, hoping he could get a good sleep with the current issues he was facing.
By the time Sonic had first awoken, the first thing he noticed was a certain red echidna nowhere to be seen. At first he completely panicked, looking around frantically before noticing the echidna slowly sauntering out of the forest with a pile of berries in his hands, looking unaware of the fact Sonic was awake. Sonic let out an internal sigh of relief as he saw the echidna, standing up as he sat down to make the other aware of his consciousness.
"Mornin!" Sonic stated in his normal cheery mood, making Knuckles look up as he set the berries down.
"I see you got a good sleep," he chuckled at this.
"It coulda been better, but hey I can't complain. How about you? I don't think you're usually up this early, since you like to guard the emerald late into the night," he replied, sitting down next to Knuckles as he spoke.
"I'm used to bad nights of sleep, so either way it doesn't affect me," this got a frown out of Sonic.
"That's not a reassuring way of saying 'I got a great sleep! The energy in my body didn't bother me at all last night!' don't 'cha think?"
"Hah hah, morning humor, we all love it," Knuckles sounded a bit agitated, which caught Sonic off guard.
"Gee, that bad of a sleep?"
"Do you want to eat before Tails takes it all or no?" avoiding the question, no less with a bit of a snap... It wasn't really Knuckles fault, the energy seemed to agitate him enough as it was, it just seemed certain remarks set it off a lot easier than normal thanks to. Sonic sighed before he looked at the berries.
"Assuming they aren't poisonous if you brought this large of a stack," he grabbed a few and popped them in his mouth afterwards, noting how leathery the skin was, but also the burst of flavor assaulting his mouth.
"Huh, not bad!" Knuckles rolled his eyes before taking a hefty handful of his own, shoveling it into his own mouth.
"It's a certain species of grapes that seem to grow around here, it's not dangerous to us, but it IS poisonous to rabbits and wolves... don't ask me why. They grow in a small spot on Angel Island, hence why I know that they aren't poisonous. The Squirrels and birds often tends to steal most of it before I can knab myself some though," Sonic chuckled at this.
"Grapes, why am I not surprised? I can see why you have an appeal to these ones though, they taste a lot better than the ones at the supermarkets, unless sold directly from the farmers themselves," he commented, getting a look from Knuckles, one of slight amusement.
"Exactly, although these aren't directly grapes, just related to them, hence why they've been classified as a grape species. Doesn't bother me though, they taste good either way and aren't harmful to any of us here, so it's an optimal food source from how many bushes I found so easily," Tails and Amy stirred during this conversation, Amy raising herself off her hammer with a yawn as she stretched while Tails uncurled himself from his twin tails, stretching out on the grass before pushing himself up, rubbing his eyes. Both of them watched the two converse about the berries with a smile, before joining them around the little flame remaining in the campfire.
"Good morning boys!" Amy stated. putting a hand on her hip as she smiled at all three of them, giving Tails a gentle shoulder pat as he walked up next to her to sit down.
"Morning Ames!" Sonic replied with a smirk while Tails gave her a smile in return. Knuckles grunted in acknowledgement as he took another handful into his mouth, opting not to speak. They soon settled to devour the pile of berries within minutes, Knuckles staying silent during the light conversation over the meal, until Tails did another check on his condition.
"Status?" It had taken Knuckles a good second to register what Tails meant, before grumbling.
"The same, it just seems I've been getting agitated a lot easier, especially with Sonic and his bantering," he grumbled, getting a look.
"Don't you leave out the part you most likely got little to no sleep over there mopey," Sonic scoffed, getting a glare out of Knuckles. Amy looked at Knuckles in sympathy, before standing up and grabbing her hammer.
"Alrighty then, if it's gonna be like that then we best be on our way, the sooner we start moving the more ground we can cover to hopefully get home quicker to fix the problem," she stated, getting an immediate grunt from Knuckles as he boosted himself upwards.
"Finally something besides staying in the same spot," he grumbled, before punching his fists together a bit with a determined look.
"I'd love to have my chaos energy not going wonky due to having unstable chaos emeralds stuck in my body, it makes me feel weird and probably isn't helping with my condition at all," Tails giggled half-heartedly at this.
"They may not, but could be as well, since that energy was building up horribly fast versus now with it all in your body it isn't doing so as fast, your chaos energy might be synergizing with the emeralds to stabilize the energy a bit to slow down it's build up," Knuckles looked a bit confused at this, but Amy's expression brightened a bit.
"Well then, let's go by that theorization, but let's not take our time regardless of what's true or not so that Knuckles doesn't have to deal with the consequences any longer than he has to," Sonic stood up and stretched his arms across his chest to wake up his muscles a bit, before doing a stretch for his legs. He then put his hands on his hips with a wide grin.
"Well then Mr. Genius, which way?" Tails looked at Sonic before turning his attention to his tablet, pressing a few buttons on the screen before he turned to face the denser part of the forest around them.
"We need to go East, since we appear to be West from Central City... although we appear to be located in the water past the small mountain range lining the land on the edge? That clearly isn't the case though...' Tails muttered, Knuckles just grumbling as he set his pace in the direction Tails was looking.
"Don't care, so long as we can get the hell home," this prompted the other 3 to quickly take pace after him, as eager as he was to get moving. The forest was brimming full of wildlife, for every step having a swarm of wildlife come into view from the canopy or the foliage around them. Knuckles had to admit, even with his desire to get back to normal he couldn't help but inwardly appreciate and admire the forest around them, loving how close it felt to the atmosphere on Angel Island. The others seemed to be enjoying their surrounding as well, Amy often lagging behind due to her curiosity with the wildlife and admiring the overall scenery. This didn't last forever, though, as when they finally took a small break, Tails was angling his ears all over the place before looking around in unease.
"Uhhh guys? Is it just me or has it gotten a lot quieter within the past little bit?" This caused the other three to exchange glances, the comment snapping Knuckles out of his impatient foot tapping.
"Now that you mention it I'm noticing the heavy lack of singing from the birds.." Amy replied, looking around as well.
"The greenery also looks a lot more... I guess dark? I don't know how to put it, dead isn't a good way to put that at all.."
"I'd say it's probably just late in the day, but with how thick the canopy is I can't tell if it even is day right now.." Sonic stated, pointing to the thick blanket of leaves above them. Knuckles looked around slightly as he grumbled.
"Well, Tails should be able to tell us if it's day with his device, so we shouldn't need to worry about that, and maybe the birds are just letting their voices take a break, I'm sure it's fine," he was getting even more impatient, currently not caring if a few birds seemed to shut their beaks. Honestly his headache wasn't as bad now with the lack of high pitched tweeting everywhere, so he was actually thanking the sudden silence instead of being worried about it. The others looked unsure, before Sonic just shrugged.
"Eh, he could be right, so we shouldn't dwell on it unless something disturbing starts popping up," he suggested, getting a curt nod out of the other two, who still looked rather uneasy. Knuckles then turned around to continue moving, not even bothering asking if anyone else was willing, causing them all to groan as they rushed after him. As they continued, the silence still engulfed the forest. Not even a breeze ruffled the leaves, making it completely silent other than their footsteps on the ground and the occasional crackle of energy lashing off of Knuckles. The longer they went, the more everyone, Sonic included, seemed to be uneased and weary... except for Knuckles, who was too focused on the path ahead of him to worry about anything else. Even with the growing tension he sensed with the others, Knuckles refused to slow down, instead subconsciously speeding up his pace, actively power-walking fast enough Tails kept needing to jog a bit to make sure he kept up with the group. Amy was also struggling slightly, and although Sonic was able to match the pace with ease, he kept slowing down to check up on the other two, often adjusting Tails in front of him to help the fox keep in the middle instead of behind the group. Eventually Tails' tablet beeped a warning it was nightfall, so the group was forced to settle again for the night, much to Knuckles' exasperation and annoyance.
"Hey, we want to get there fast too, especially me since I'm not used to just walking all day instead of running, but we do need sleep and food y'know," Sonic growled mid starting the fire up.
"Well sorry I'm the one at potential risk of exploding from pent up energy, I don't know about you but I don't exactly want to suddenly die from this," Knuckles snapped back, seeming to have the current patience of a rock right now.
"Oh gosh golly really? I wouldn't have been able to tell from how much you're starting to push Tails and Amy's physical limits with how little stops we've been taking!"
"They practically live with you, I'm well aware of how much they can handle, especially around you,"
"Was that meant to be an insult? Because for how agitated you've been getting your insults have been severely lacking,"
"I can stop with the words and start with the punching if it means you stop pestering me about everything,"
"With your condition? Please, I saw how many times you were tripping, you don't have the energy right now,"
"Guys, can we just-"
"Oh really? I don't have the energy? Say that to my fist this time why don't you?"
"Guys-"
"Again, you don't have the energy grumpy McGee, so let me freaking get the fire started in peace before we freeze out here!"
"Guys-"
"Not my fault you're putting so much effort into arguing with me you can't even multitask to create a spark!"
"I can create a spark and shove it down your throat,"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Prove it then hedgehog!"
"GUYS! Will you two clam down for FIVE SECONDS?" Tails cried, Amy slamming her hammer down on the ground beforehand so they would shut up, causing them to both snap their heads over. Both were bristling, Sonic in annoyance with a pair of rocks in his hands directed at the pile of sticks in front of him, while Knuckles had both fists clenched as he leaned over a bit. Amy then gestured to Knuckles with her own frustrated look, for Sonic to turn around with an annoyed expression, falling into one of worried realization. Knuckles brought a fist into his view to see the entirety of his fur was raised and brimming with angry, red and unstable energy, only now clocking how much his body was aching from the energy as it violently brimmed around him with intensity from his anger. His expression softened a bit as he unclenched his fists and stood up properly a bit more, his skin paling at bit while he shook his arm out.
"Ok, yeah, fine, get the point, cool the jets before another shockwave occurs," he mumbled, plopping himself onto the ground against a tree while crossing his arms, letting out an irritated sigh as he did so. The others exchanged a look of worry before Tails went out to find some food as Sonic went back to rubbing the two rocks together for a spark. When he finally got the fire lit, he made sure the circle ring around the pile of wood was sturdy before he adjusted his sitting position, turning sideways from the fire to lean back and prop his arms under his head as he gaze up at the canopy with a frown.
"I'd be more enthusiastic about this if I could at least see the stars..." he complained, eyes half closed in disappointment before he rolled onto his stomach, propping his chin up as he watched the flames dance and fade into the night. Knuckles made no comment while Amy sat down next to Sonic.
"I mean, it isn't ALL bad. The nature around us, despite how unnervingly quiet it is, is actually very nice. Not as nice as Angel Island but still very pretty,"
"True... there isn't anything interesting though. There's also the fact that I feel like I have too much energy stored up from the lack of running... that doesn't mean I'm not tired though, I'm just very antsy about how slow we're moving," he sighed as he spoke, giving Amy a bit of a defeated look at this.
"Oh trust me Sonic, if we weren't relying solely on Tails' GPS I think all of us would be sprinting into the forest all willy nilly in desperation to get home ASAP.." she gave a look especially to Knuckles, who once again had his eyes closed as he moped, still looking very irritated. Eventually Tails came back with about the same amount of berries Knuckles had, only was cradling them in his twin tails so he could carry them easier when he returned. Sonic and Amy helped Tails get the food down before they settled to eat. Tails was quick to notice Knuckles wasn't getting up to eat, frowning as he grabbed a handful and went to sit next to Knuckles, offering the small pile.
"You can't run on no sleep AND an empty stomach," he commented, getting Sonic and Amy's attention while Knuckles opened an eye slowly. He glared at Tails for a minute before taking the offered handful, shoveling it into his mouth before he heard someone make another dumb remark. They once again fell into chatter, this time just trying to fill the void of silence, before they group fell asleep once more. Knuckles, however, was wide awake, despite how exhausted his body was. Despite putting on the act he wasn't tired at all, the energy along with the little breaks were taking it's toll, even through his pushing. He, to everyone's correct estimate, hadn't slept at all the night before, the tingling in his body making it impossible to close his eyes and drift off. Now it was even worse, meaning he wasn't expecting any shuteye at all. He would honestly prefer it that way though, since his senses had been screaming in alarm for the past few hours due to the silence, telling him there was something very wrong with where they were. No shuteye meant he could easily stay awake on a guard duty to make sure nothing tried to assault his friends while they were sleeping. He waiting quite awhile before he stood up, walking around the small area a bit before picking a spot near Tails to look off into the dense forest, noting how dark it was with how little lighting that could get in now being absent. It made the forest look like it was swamped in darkness, no more than a good 7 feet in front of him was visible before it was engulfed in darkness. The silence was even more apparent now that everyone was asleep, and it was dreadfully easy to hear the slow breathing of everyone in their unconscious states.
It was the only noise within the entirety of the forest surrounding them, not even the leaves rustled. Each passing moment was more and more eerie, and unsettled Knuckles more and more as the time moved on. It unnerved him so much so he almost didn't hear the slight rustling of a nearby bush, where it took him a solid second to register the noise. A second was all it took, however, as something suddenly lunged at him from the underbrush, the only thing he could see was what looked like pearly white razor sharp teeth aimed at his throat as he got knocked over and pinned down onto the grass, him letting out an audibly yell of surprise to hopefully alert the sleeping trio of the danger. He couldn't wait for them to wake up though, with the teeth rapidly diving to his neck upon contact, so he raised a fist and hit the attacker straight in the side, hearing a high pitched yelp of shock and pain come from the thing as he then pushed himself up with so much speed the creature fell right off of him. He used this to place both hands on what he presumed was it's shoulders to shove it back further, right into a tree by the sounds of it, the impact causing it to shake a little. By now the other three were scrambling up in dreary shock, Amy scrambling for her hammer while Tails leapt up and started spinning his tails to hover. By the time they all situated, however, the thing was running off into the forest, Knuckles taking after it with an angry growl.
"Knuckles wait! You don't know what that thing is!" Amy cried out, falling on deaf ears as Knuckles pursued the thing that attacked him, running mostly on anger and adrenaline. If he had been thinking coherently he may have realized this could be a trap, but such did not occur only until he heard the sounds of mass-snapping and cracking, his friend that had taken pursuit behind him screaming his name in unison, and the creature starting up a maniacal cackle as the floor underneath him gave away to a pitch black and seemingly bottom hole.
