StH: Flames of Equestria 01

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Author's Notes:

StH: Flames of Equestria is a crossover between Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
_{WAIT!! Don't run away yet! Give it a shot! XD}

Sonic and all related IP belongs to SEGA/ Sonic Team
MLP: FiM and all related IP belongs to Hasbro/ DHX Media

No copyright or trademark infringement intended.
Series rated "Web-14" for violence/ war themes, and mild language.

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StH: Flames of Equestria
Chapter 01:
Hard Landing

"--CONTROL!!" cried a male voice.

After a brilliant flash of blueish light, seventeen bodies and nearly a ton of twisted, burning metal crashed into a densely wooded forest. Whole trees broke in half. Birds and other animals scattered in all directions, each shrieking madly in total panic. For more than an hour, absolutely nothing moved. Grass, shattered tree limbs and other vegetation smoldered underneath chunks of hot metal, but fortunately, the morning dew was dense enough to keep anything from actually igniting.

Finally, signs of life stirred amidst the wreckage.

"Unnngh... holy crudmuffins, my head hurts," groaned Sonic. The blue-quilled, blue-and-tan-furred hedgehog, now in his early twenties, struggled to get up. His ears rang, his skull pounded, and every bone and muscle in the runner's body ached horribly. Half his face felt numb, and the male Mobian didn't even know if that half was still there. Sonic managed to sit up, but had to hold his head and fight off a dizzy spell. Absentmindedly, he noted his headset was missing.

A cream-and-orange adolescent fox stirred and grunted, and dug his face out of the trench his snout had shoveled upon landing. "Owww... where -- where am I? What happened?" the boy groaned. Like Sonic, Tails' body hurt everywhere, and it resisted his efforts to get up. The fox's twin tails -- each one longer than the boy was tall -- had to assist, but he finally managed to stand on both legs. Tails wobbled unsteadily, but his namesakes held him up. Tails' headset was barely hanging onto his face, but he secured it back on his head. The device resembled a thin black wire with gold trim, consisting of an earpiece, mouthpiece, holographic eyepiece, a two-way transmitter, and a multi-spectral camera. It was all very compact, and the whole headset weighed only two pounds.

"Tails? You all right?" Sonic called. They were only a few yards apart, and Tails limped over to the hedgehog, who was now on one knee.

"Ugh, I guess being alive and walking counts as 'all right'," Tails answered. "Sonic, you're hurt badly!" he said with alarm as he got closer and his eyes focused.

"Meh... it's just surface damage," Sonic countered, and flashed one of his trademark grins as best he could. Still, nearly a third of Sonic's body was caked in his own dried blood, mixed with some mud, splinters, and traces of plasma scoring. "You've got some cuts and scrapes of your own, bud."

Tails looked down at himself and saw the various abrasions and lacerations on his own body, though there was much less blood on him than on the hedgehog. Tails helped him up, noting every squeak and pop that resonated from Sonic's joints. Even with Tails' help, standing up exhausted the hedgehog, and Sonic slumped over the younger fox, panting heavily. Even though Tails was now equal height with Sonic, Tails still hugged him as a baby boy would hug his father. Some things never changed.

"Sonic, you have metal flak in your face!"

"Ah. That's why I can't feel that side."

"We need to get it out!"

"Later. We need to check on the others.

Sonic and Tails parted and tried to navigate the maze of trees, shrubbery, and broken machinery that somehow got pulled with them to... wherever they were. It was all spread over an area the size of a football field, and the morning sunlight didn't filter through the forest canopy very well. Soldiers of the Acorn Army, who had accompanied Sonic's team on this mission, were also beginning to stir. Sonic didn't understand why Tails had insisted they come -- B team or not, Sonic was amazed any of them had lived at all. The new armor and weapon systems Tails had been designing must have paid off for them. He helped a few of them up, though most seemed to be doing fine on their own.

"Yo, Knux! Shads!" Sonic called out, the effort nearly leaving him breathless. "Where the heck are you?"

"I found Silver!" Tails shouted from about sixty feet away. "He's OK!"

Sonic grunted, then yelped as he tripped over someone's foot. The hedgehog grasped fruitlessly at some branches around him and face-planted into the moist soil. In additional insult, a pine cone dropped onto the back of his head. Sonic growled as fresh pain shot through his body, but resigned himself to crawl around and see who he tripped over. The red fur and white crescent stripe indicated it was Knuckles the echidna. He was lying flat on his back, his limbs stretched out in spread-eagle fashion. Comically, his tongue draped out the left side of his mouth. Not so comically, he appeared as battered as everyone else.

"Hey, Knuckles! You're... not dead, are you?"

Sonic gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

"YEOW!" bellowed the spiny anteater.

"You're fine," Sonic commented, and struggled to get back up again. He was assisted by a white female mouse with an athletic build wearing full body tactical armor.

"Thanks, Miss... uhh..."

"Lieutenant Freya, Master Sonic. I'm afraid I'm the ranking officer of Tango company, now."

"What happened to Captain What's-his-face?" Sonic asked, though he could guess the answer.

The mouse soldier shook her head and replied, "I'm sorry, but Captain McKenzie didn't make it. Two others are also dead, and three more unaccounted for. We're still searching for Master Shadow, but we're having trouble locating him."

Sonic tried to sympathize with the Acorn soldier, but had a hard time hiding his disgust at the situation. He felt there was no reason anybody had to die on this mission, and he felt nobody would have, if Tails hadn't insisted on a backup team, or whatever they were for. Sonic tugged his fingers down the good side of his face, and made sure not to take out his frustration on Freya.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sonic said. "Don't worry, we'll find Shadow -- he's the one who warped us all here. Go give your report to Tails, or something. And please, drop the 'Master' stuff. I don't need any fancy honorifics."

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Freya replied, and snapped a sharp salute despite Sonic's non-military status. He snorted as she trotted off.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Hero of Mobius (and Earth, and a few more planets), sighed and stared up into the sky with his hands on his hips. Judging from the position of the sun, he guessed it was around eight or nine o'clock in the morning, but really had nothing to go by. He had no idea where he was. Nobody was expecting Eggman's fortress to blow up so soon, and if Shadow hadn't initiated Chaos Control when he did, they'd all be dead. Sonic kicked a dirt clod, and noted how shredded his shoes and gloves were. Nobody was expecting eight different Boss Machines and the latest incarnation of Sonic's metallic doppleganger to be waiting for them in Eggman's fortress, either.

The blue hedgehog rested his back against a tree and quietly observed the activities around him. Tails had flown up above the forest canopy to try to determine their location, while Silver the hedgehog was busy lifting, sorting, and stacking all the broken machinery with his telekinetic powers so all that junk wasn't such a hazard. That left the nine living Acorn soldiers, split between securing this position, scouting the area, and searching for Shadow's location. Sonic was really the only Mobian not doing anything to help, not that he didn't have a decent excuse. Forget all those other Boss Machines, Doctor Robotnik's newest Eggsuit had really clobbered him, and Sonic's injuries were written all over his body. Still, he felt a bit guilty doing nothing, and he groaned as he pried himself from his tree.

He didn't get far.

KLONK!

"OW!" yelled Sonic.

"Serves you right," grumbled Knuckles, who had just backhanded the backside of Sonic's skull.

"That hurt!" Sonic complained, tenderly nursing his cranium.

"So does my shoulder!"

"I didn't hit you that hard!"

"Maybe you shouldn't go around hitting people!"

"Speak for yourself, knucklehead!"

Sonic and Knuckles were on the brink of a slugging match, when Tails dropped out of the sky.

"Wow, I have no idea where we are; the surrounding geography is completely alien to me. We -- what the? -- are you two fighting already?!"

Sonic and Knuckles both huffed and turned away from each other. Tails facepalmed.

"Good grief," muttered the fox. He glared at both of them, and said, "Look, we're all wounded and tired and frustrated right now. Could we not make this any worse?"

There was an uncomfortable minute of silence, broken only by the sounds of nature. Tails turned as he heard footsteps running up.

Lieutenant Freya saluted, again mostly out of habit, and stated, "Master Prower, we've found something!"

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Tails answered.

"That river you spotted -- we found a crater along the edge, as if someone had literally fallen out of the sky. In it was this."

The female mouse handed Tails a thin black quill. It resembled a boomerang, and had a red stripe and a serrated tip.

"It's definitely Shadow's," Tails confirmed. "This is bad. If he was knocked unconscious upon landing just as we were, and got swept downstream..."

The urgency of the situation registered on everyone.

"Lieutenant, is Tango company all squared away?" Tails asked.

"Yes, sir. All known weapons and equipment are accounted for and ready for transport."

"What's your ammo status?"

"We have thirty-six HESPR magazines remaining, another sixteen mags of standard AP rounds, eleven ion grenades, and fifteen frags. Everything else was depleted in Eggman's fortress."

"Conserve your HESPR rounds for now," Tails said after a moment's thought. "Wherever we are, I don't think robots are an immediate threat. Have everyone but yourself and one other switch back to standard AP. There may be less of it, but HESPR is too precious to waste."

"Yes, sir," Freya replied.

Tails mind shifted to another gruesome reality, and the boy visibly winced. "And... have Silver conceal your... casualties... under some of the wreckage he's stacked up. We'll come back for them soon."

"Understood, Master Prower," answered the lieutenant. She refrained from saluting this time, and marched off to make the last-minute preparations.

"You'd make a fine General if you weren't a Freedom Fighter," Sonic idly commented.

"I'm not... I'm not prepared for all this..."

"You dragged them with us," Sonic remarked.

Tails shook for a moment before he calmed down.

"Sonic, Tango company managed to take down three of those Boss Machines by themselves. By themselves. I had a blasted good reason to bring them along. They kept our backs clear, while you were busy getting smacked around by Ivo's new toy. They did their job, so we could do ours. Stop treating them like they're useless, Sonic. That's all I ask."

"And now, six of them are dead, three of which went up with Eggman's base."

Tails emitted a low growl. "Sonic, do you have rocks between your ears today? We'd be the ones dead if they didn't help!"

Sonic sighed. "Tails, I get it. They did good. I just need you to come to terms with what will happen when we bring regular soldiers with us on our missions. That's all I ask."

The teenage fox whimpered. Sonic had a point, but he was wrong. Tails knew that he screwed up inside Eggman's base, and the boy believed that all of them could have made it out alive if he hadn't made those critical errors. Those soldiers died for his mistakes. It was too much for Miles to take.

Tails suddenly found himself in Sonic's soft embrace. The blue hedgehog wrapped his arms around the orange fox, and simply held him. It was a soothing feeling that had calmed Tails' nerves many times in the past. Knuckles wrinkled his nose, but neither of them noticed. Here, now, in Sonic's embrace, Tails could feel no pain, physical or otherwise. It was home.

"I didn't mean to be hard on you, Tails," Sonic whispered. "Don't beat yourself up for what happened in there."

"It's still my fault."

"Tails..."

"I didn't mean to detonate the explosives prematurely."

"Miles..."

"I didn't anticipate --"

"Son!" huffed Sonic. Tails looked him in the eye and smiled at the title. It had been a while since Sonic called him that. "I don't blame you for anything that happened back there," Sonic continued, "and neither do they."

Silver, the thin gray-white hedgehog only slightly older than Tails, floated by and set down near the other three. Awkwardly, his boot snapped a twig as he landed.

"Um... am I interrupting... something?"

Tails' eyes bulged a bit, and although he was loathe to part contact with Sonic, the embarrassment he felt made him jump back and whirl around to face the intruder. Sonic briefly glared.

"Everyone is ready to depart," reported the telekinetic hedgehog. He dug his hand into his quills and pulled out two additional headsets, one with blue trim and one with purple trim. "I found these as I was cleaning up all the debris," Silver said. "Shadow's headset is still missing."

"I see," Tails said quickly, already having regained his composure. He turned around and asked, "Sonic, can you run?"

The blue speedster just finished latching his headset on, and tried stretching his limbs. Everyone heard the cracks and pops.

"I think so, but I doubt I'll top even eighty MPH in my current condition, and that's maximum. I doubt I'll be able to sustain more than forty for more than ten minutes."

Tails grimaced, then turned to the red echidna. "What about you, Knux?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Twenty, tops."

"So I'm fastest right now," Tails muttered. Then, in a louder voice, he said, "Alright! Knuckles, I'd like you to keep pace with Tango company and help fight off any giant robots, scary monsters, or hostile space aliens you may encounter -- just make sure everyone understands to ID their targets and confirm an actual threat before engaging anything. Sonic and Silver -- I'd like you two to take opposite riverbanks and look for any place Shadow may have washed up; and Silver, please fish out Sonic if he falls in. I'll zoom down the center of the river and scan for Shadow's energy signature. If he's alive, his passive Chaos field should be enough for my sensors to pick up. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Sounds good to me," Sonic answered.

"I agree," said Silver.

Knuckles raised a white spiked mitt. "Why am I stuck with Tango?"

Tails sighed. "Because, right now, you're slowest. They can handle themselves, but I'd like you with them for extra security. Is it a problem?"

The spiny anteater huffed and crossed his arms. "No, it's fine."

Tails jumped into the air, and as he did so, his namesakes flattened into ribbons, then morphed into helicopter blades. They spun counter-clockwise at high RPM, holding Tails aloft.

"Alright, let's move out!"

Tails accelerated toward the river at high speed with Sonic and Silver in pursuit, and Knuckles marched off to join Lieutenant Freya and the other eight Acorn soldiers. At the river, Tails blasted off downstream at ninety MPH, scanning the area with both his eyes and his electronics as he flew. Behind him, Silver floated across to the opposite riverbank, while Sonic ran along the adjacent bank.

For Sonic, fifteen miles per hour was unbearably slow, but that was the fastest his body could handle if he wanted to keep it up for an extended period of time. Every bone, ligament, muscle, and tendon in his body was screaming at him, and his joints hurt especially. It made him feel ill. He needed a Power Ring, but he'd just have to tough it out for now. This was hardly the worst condition he'd been in. Sonic kept one eye on where he was going, the other eye on the river's edge for any sign of Shadow. A particularly hideous realization struck him: the only reason he or Silver would find Shadow first, instead of Tails, would be because the grumpy obsidian hedgehog had drowned. It was an ugly thought, but Sonic hoped Shad's implacable stubbornness would keep him alive yet again. Still, Sonic worried. Both he and Shadow had survived crashing into Earth all the way from outer space, but drowning was still a Mobian's greatest weakness. OK, Shadow wasn't technically Mobian, but he was near enough to cause concern.

Now far ahead of Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, and Tango company, the flying fox sped along only as fast as he trusted his gear and his eyes to catch what he was looking for. Frustratingly, Tails' instruments were picking up hundreds of unique Chaos waveforms in the vicinity, although none of them matched Shadow's signature. Tails' heart skipped a beat as a big reading passed directly beneath him, and as he looked down, he could swear he saw the outline of a gigantic water serpent beneath the waves. The boy just hoped nothing would try to snack on him, or any of his friends.

Directly ahead, something else caused Tails alarm.

"Oh, cruft."

It was a fork in the river. A smaller, slower moving branch broke off to the left, while the main current continued on the right. Tails hovered in place over the fork, and tapped his headset.

"Tails to Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, and Freya."

There was a split-second pause as his headset processed the command, and Tails was greeted by four different voices.

"The river splits off in two directions up ahead. Knuckles and Tango company, I want you to follow the smaller branch on the left. It's on your side, so there's no need to cross. Sonic and Silver, the three of us should follow the larger branch on the right -- it's most likely Shadow went down that way. Sonic, you can probably jump across the smaller branch of the river; if not, don't be afraid to let Silver pull you across the water.

"Yeah, Yeah."

"Understood."

Oh, great. Complications."

"Copy that, Master Prower."

Tails continued to hover in place even after the com-links ended. The situation was growing increasingly desperate. Tails had tried reaching Shadow before, but with no success. For the tenth time in the last hour, Tails tried raising Shadow.

"Tails to Shadow, please come in."

A minute went by, and still no response. Tails' eyepiece clearly showed that Shadow's headset was online and active, but if it had fallen off the hedgehog's skull, then the transmitter's signal locator was useless. After another moment of indecision, Tails decided to hack into Shadow's headset. He designed the things, and had built in a little backdoor for precisely this purpose. Knowing all the encryption keys made Tails' job a snap.

To save CPU power and battery life, the headset's OS was purely text-based, but that hardly mattered to Tails. The tech geek activated the video camera on Shad's headset and streamed the signal to his eyepiece. There was a lot of interference, but Tails managed to get a low-resolution picture at about ten frames per second. The picture was incredibly blurry, and there was a lot of mud and water and... and...

Shadow's headset was at the bottom of the river.

Two fish swam by and, in the distance, wedged between two rocks, Tails could see the unmistakable shape of one of Shadow's inhibitor rings.

"Oh, no..."

With a new sense of urgency, Tails sped down the wide branch of the river, accelerating to almost two hundred MPH.

"Don't be dead, Shadow!"

---

It was a bright and sunny morning, and along a narrow beaten path surrounded by verdant green grass, a pastel-yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane and tail trotted happily. She measured about three feet tall to her shoulders, and about four and a half feet to the top of her head. Singing softly to herself, Fluttershy pulled a small wooden cart laden with fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains from her new garden. It was quite a bit of work, but if she could maintain it, it would add up to a lot of savings compared to purchasing food from the market every week. Her veterinary career was profitable, but just barely.

Just a few miles from her cottage, the winding path brought her up to the edge of a small creek. Fluttershy had passed by here plenty of times before on her way home, but this time, a black shape caught her eye.

"EEP!"

Fluttershy tried to duck and hide, but still attached to her little cart, she nearly upended it. Gathering her wits, she unbuckled herself from the cart and cautiously crawled around it until she could see the creek again. On the edge of the creek rested a black-furred creature with red accents; on its back were some wicked-looking spines, and the creature had some tattered, blood-stained shoes and gloves on its feet and five-fingered hands. A pair of pants used to cover its legs, but they were so shredded, there was hardly anything left.

The yellow pegasus gasped as she saw the extent of the spiny creature's injuries. It had innumerable deep cuts and scrapes all over its body, and what had to be first- and second-degree burns. Blood oozed everywhere! And worst of all...

It wasn't breathing.

"Ohmygoodness! Ohmygoodness! Mister! Can you hear me?!" Fluttershy cried as she bolted over to the water's edge. No response.

The timid pegasus went into full-bore panic mode and did her best to pull the spiny creature out of the water. Now ponies, lacking fingers, were not the most dextrous creatures in the world, but Fluttershy locked both forelegs around his shoulders and pulled with all her might. Her wings flapped for assistance, but this creature was surprisingly heavy, and she was soon gasping for breath. After two minutes of struggling, Fluttershy managed to get the creature onto dry grass.

"Oh, my goodness! What do I do? I've never seen anyone like you before!"

Ever-so-gently, Fluttershy grasped the creature's wrist in her jaws and flipped him over onto his back, winced at the taste of blood in her mouth, and silently prayed to the goddesses of the Sun and Moon that she wasn't injuring him further. She then tilted his head to the side and pumped her two front hooves directly into his stomach. Red-tinted water gushed out of the creature's mouth, but he gave no signs of life. Fluttershy tilted his head up and blew air inside of him, then continued her frantic pumping. More crimson water spilled out. Not knowing if she was making any difference at all, the pegasus pony kept forcing air into his lungs and pumping out whatever may still be trapped inside him.

Finally, after four agonizing minutes of this, Fluttershy was rewarded by a pair of weak, ragged coughs. She squeaked with joy, but reminded herself that this wasn't over. The spiny creature was still unconscious, and its breaths were extremely labored and shallow. Coupled with severe dehydration, blood loss, and likely internal damage, Fluttershy feared he could still expire at any moment. She had to get him to a place she could properly treat him, but even then, she wondered if she had the skill and expertise to treat injuries so extensive. Her cottage was closer than Ponyville, and she made up her mind to carry him there as fast as possible.

"Oooh! Please hang on, whoever you are!"

Wishing she had a unicorn's telekinesis, the yellow pegasus knelt down beside the spiny creature and tried to work him onto her back as gently as possible. She got poked and scraped by some of his quills, but with the help of her wings, her tail, and a lot of wiggling, Fluttershy succeeded in getting the spiny creature to lay face-down on her back. His arms draped over her shoulders, and his legs draped over her flanks, but he was as secure on her back as Fluttershy could possibly get him. Her wounded passenger made her far to heavy to fly, but with him propped up by her wings and tail, Fluttershy galloped toward her cottage as quickly as she could safely carry him.

"Oh, please, ohplease ohplease don't die on me!"

---

Tails was now about eight hundred miles ahead of Sonic and Silver, and had absolutely no sign of Shadow. Oh, he had plunged into the river and retrieved Shadow's headset and inhibitor ring, but Shadow, the hedgehog, was still missing without a trace. Not a single blip on Tails' instruments registered his Chaos signature. It was now afternoon; the flying orange fox was getting overcome by guilt, and tears were trickling down his face. Part of Tails didn't like Shads. Part of the boy was afraid of him. Tails had fought Shadow twice, and had gotten his fuzzy butt kicked twice. But if Shadow was dead now, Tails knew it was his fault, just like with the other Acorn soldiers. If Tails had to have killed him in mortal combat, it wouldn't hurt so much as it did right now. If Shadow was no longer alive, it was because Tails had accidentally killed him, indirectly, without cause. Because of stupid, idiotic mistakes he made back in Eggman's fortress. Sonic would tell him it wasn't his fault, that it was all an accident beyond Tails' control. But the fox knew that wasn't true. The entire chain of events could be traced back to Tails' blunder. Six Mobian soldiers were gone, and Tails wasn't optimistic anymore about Shadow's fate.

Tails' headset chimed, and Sonic's voice came through.

"Tails -- wait up -- getting -- of range -- can't -- follow --"

The orange fox halted his forward movement and hovered in place.

"Any -- sign -- Shads?"

The teenager didn't want to answer. He didn't want to tell the others what he had found... and hadn't found.

"Hey -- you there?"

Tails tapped his headset. "Sonic, come in. I read you. No sign of Shadow."

There was a long pause.

"We shoul- -urn back," said Sonic. "Find Knux an- -ango... search -- other river."

Tails didn't answer. He took a long hard look down the river in front of him, still thinking Shadow could have floated farther downstream.

"Tails to Knuckles and Freya."

No signal. Out of range.

Without him knowing it, Tails took over Sonic's headset and used it as a signal booster.

"Tails to Knuckles."

---

Knuckles the echidna was bored out of his mind. It wasn't that he had lost focus, or had forgotten the urgency of the situation. Mostly, Knux was annoyed he was stuck babysitting a bunch of muggles. The nine surviving soldiers of Tango company jogged along at only eight or nine MPH depending on the terrain. Oh, they could run a lot faster if they had to; but, A) they were trying to conserve their strength for the long journey ahead of them; and, B) they had to keep their eyes peeled on both riverbanks for any sign of "master" Shadow. That black hedgehog and the red echidna didn't get along, but Knuckles would hate to lose a powerful ally like Shadow to something so undignified as drowning. They'd been jogging for hours now, and Knuckles was beginning to think their efforts were hopeless. He and Tango company had long since passed the fork in the river, now following the slower current. It was taking them almost directly east, and Knux could swear the forest was actually beginning to thin.

Lieutenant Freya motioned for all of them to halt. At first Knuckles thought something was wrong, but then he saw the shape they were all in. Sweat dripped off of them in buckets like heavy rain, and they were all panting for breath. They were fine soldiers, but they weren't Chaos adepts. Lugging around all that heavy armor, weapons, and ammo would test the endurance of any normal Mobian.

"Break... five minutes... water... then continue..."

Knuckles wondered if the river water was safe to drink, but for the soldiers, it wasn't an issue. After draining all their water packs, Tango company refilled them with water from the stream. Fortunately for them, they had purification tablets which sterilized their water packs. It made the water bitter, but it was better than dying of some parasite. Feeling thirsty himself, Knuckles decided to take the risk and just dunked his head in. It was nice, if not perfectly clean.

"Miss... Lieutenant," said Knuckles after pulling his head out of the river.

Lieutenant Freya snapped to attention. "Yes, Master Knuckles?"

"Um... you guys wait here and rest a bit longer. I'll check out what's ahead, then come back. That all right?"

She paused a second, then answered, "Yes, Master Knuckles, that'll be fine. We... We appreciate the breather. But, we really must get under way again soon. Please do not take too long."

Knux waved one mitt dismissively. "Ten minutes, tops; if not, just follow."

The red echidna took off along the edge of the river, not really knowing what he was doing or looking for. He told himself he was giving Tango company an extra break, but he felt like he just needed to get away from them, as foolish as that seemed. Tails would probably chew him out for leaving the army guys unattended, but the fox didn't need to micromanage everything now, did he? Besides, he was well out of range by now, and what Tails didn't know wouldn't hurt him--

"Tail- -o Knuck--s," his headset crackled.

'O Karma, how thou art laser-guided,' Knuckles thought sarcastically. He tapped his headset.

"Yo, what's up?"

"We're -urning around. No s- - of Shadow. What-- ur status?"

"No luck here either... but we're going a lot slower than you guys are. How far out did you go?"

"... thou- -and miles."

Knuckles sputtered, then said, "I'm getting a bad feeling about all this. But, this creepy forest is starting to thin over here. Hopefully, Shadow bobbed down this direction."

"... Copy that. What- -s Tango's con- -tion?"

"Uh, they're fine... I guess. A little tired... I gave them a break."

There was a suspicious pause. "Wh- -re are you?"

Crud.

"I'm, um... scouting the area. Making sure it's safe," Knuckles said quickly.

Another pause. "Don't l- -ve them alone, Knux. I don't --t anyone else to die today. We'll c- -tch up to you -- few hours. --ails out."

Knuckles sighed. He really should get back to Tango company. Treat them as if they were the Master Emerald to him. He hurried back, found them all safe, and relayed Tails' message.

They continued their trek for well over another hour, when the forest floor abruptly gave way to a short cliff -- only about twenty feet or so -- where the river dropped down. Beyond the cliff, there was no more forest, just and expansive green grassland. Knuckles gave a low whistle.

In the far distance, he and Tango company could make out some buildings where the river passed by. A town.

"Well, what do you know? Civilization!" Knuckles chimed. "Let's hope the locals are friendly."

All of Tango company grunted in agreement.