Order Of Business

Julie-Su was drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair, staring out the view port, her eyes filled with venom.

“They wind’ll change, and you’ll stay like that.” Moni-Ca teased her. Julie-Su just shot her a look.

“C’mon…” she smiled. “The guy’s fine. He’s survived worse. Lighten up.”

“I thought he was dying. By all rights he should have been. Then he knocked me out and takes off.” Julie-Su grumbled. “How exactly am I supposed to be feeling?”

“Uh…well…” Moni-Ca stammered.

“Hmmm…” Ellie-Za suddenly murmured from the pilot’s seat as she glanced at the long-range scanners. “Looks like our forest dwelling friends are having a party without us.”

“What sort of party?” Julie-Su asked, leaning over to examine the screen.

“We got eight warm bodies dancing up a storm right here…” she pointed to some bright specks at the very edge of a great dark blob, which Julie-Su knew represented the Great Forest. “And three more coming to join the fun…” The burgundy echidna gestured towards a trio of similar bright specks deep within the dark mass of the Forest.

“Any ideas what’s going on?” Moni-Ca asked. As a med-tech see wasn’t too sure what they were even talking about.

“Mammoth Mogul and his Fearsome Foursome snatched the Blade…” Julie-Su reasoned. She pointed to the larger group of specks. “I’d guess these would be them, engaging the Freedom Fighters…”

“So these three would be our intrepid trio…” Moni-Ca pointed at the three specks in the forest.

“Knuckles, Sonic and Tails…” Julie-Su nodded in agreement.

“Wouldn’t that make us a speck short?” Ellie-Za pointed out.

Julie-Su frowned. “You’re right.” She glanced up at the other two. “Where’s Mogul?”

“You sure it’s him who’s missing?” Moni-Ca queried.

“These three are too chummy to be anybody but Knuckles, Sonic and Tails…” Julie-Su indicated the trio deep in the forest.

“And they’re moving pretty fast…” Ellie-Za added.

“And the big group seems to be broken up into pairs. Fighters…one on one.” Julie-Su concluded. She looked at her friends. “Let’s go crash the party.”

~~~~~~

Sally ducked as Predator Hawk dove at her, talons flashing. He laughed as he passed her, circling around for another pass.

‘Either we’re getting out of practice, or these guys have been putting in some serious training time.’ She thought as she moved to evade his next strike.

In the past, the Fearsome Foursome had not exactly been a group to, well, fear. They were four such diverse individuals, each with an ego that could put even Sonic’s to shame, but somehow, they’d put their differences aside, and they were now working much more as a unit. Though each had more or less targeted a specific Freedom Fighter, they were still closely watching each other’s backs.

But the Freedom Fighters were still a force to be reckoned with. True, things had been rather quiet of late. Robotnik had locked himself away in his metal-encased tower and hadn’t been heard from in months. Sally had feared he’d make some kind of attack during the fairly recent gathering to celebrate the Mobian Declaration of Brotherhood. She’d even expressed her fears about such an attack to her father, citing that the rulers of just about every kingdom on Mobius gathered at a single location at a single moment in time had to be a target too tempting to pass up.

But Robotnik hadn’t made a peep. In fact, they hadn’t encountered any sort of grief from the rotund Overlander since his little endeavour to capture them with his Metal Knuckles. Sally had expected swift retaliation for their revealing his latest metallic masterpiece to be a fraud, he’d even promised it, but then had done nothing.

“Caught ya napping!” Predator Hawk laughed as he grabbed a handful of her hair. She twisted from his grasp, but not without losing several strands. She hissed in pain and rubbed the sore spot on her scalp.

“First blood to us.” He crowed triumphantly, holding his prize aloft for all to see.

“Except I’m not bleeding.” Sally pointed out.

“It’s just a figure of speech.” The azure hawk rolled his eyes.

“Okay…” Rotor smiled as he crouched low. “How about this one.” He spun around quickly, sweeping Sergeant Simian’s legs out from under him. “Timber!”

The gorilla hit the ground with a growl, but was almost instantly on his feet again.

Lightning Lynx’ large ears swivelled. He leapt away from his battle with Bunnie and quickly scanned the sky.

“We got incoming.” He announced.

Flying Frog made a grand sweep with his scarf, deliberately hitting Antoine in the face with it. He frowned at the tiny approaching craft, squinting to make out the lettering on its side. “What does E…S…T…stand for?”

“Easily Slagged Targets?” Sergeant Simian suggested.

“Extra Specially Tasty?” Lightening Lynx added, running his tongue across his pointed teeth.

“Extremely Suspicious Timing.” Predator Hawk mumbled.

“It means Echidna Security Team.” Sally informed them with a smile.

“Which for you would mean Excruciating Severe Traction.” Rotor added.

“Echidnas.” Simian growled. “I HATE those guys.”

“Surely you’re not referring to your charming dance partner from our previous encounter.” Flying Frog grinned. “She was a babe.”

“You weren’t the one with her boots in yer chest.” The gorilla snarled at him.

The shuttlecraft landed almost delicately, its ramp unfolding with a slight hiss of hydraulics. Julie-Su leapt to the ground from the still lowering ramp. She had her gun in her hand as she eyed the scene suspiciously.

Moni-Ca had followed her, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the rifle she was carrying. Firearms went against everything she believed in. She was a healer for darn sakes.

After landing the shuttle, Ellie-Za joined her friends, twirling her Sa Tjat Koen in her fingers.

“I do not like these odds.” Lightening Lynx muttered.

“Relax.” Predator Hawk said in as soothing a voice as he could manage. “What’re they gonna do against the power of the boss’s Blade.”

“The boss ain’t here.” Flying Frog pointed out.

Sergeant Simian said nothing. He just glared at the burgundy echidna who had defeated him so easily at their last meeting. She was fairly big for a female, but not so powerful that she should have been able to best him. She just flashed him a challenging smirk.

“Awh.” A new voice came from the nearby tree line. “Did we miss all the fun?”

The entire group turned to see Sonic, Knuckles and Tails emerge from the trees. As soon as she saw Knuckles, Julie-Su’s eyes narrowed. If he noticed he gave no sign.

“I DEFINITELY do not look these odds.” Lightening Lynx repeated.

“Ten against four ain’t good in anybody’s book.” Flying Frog agreed.

“I told you to relax.” Predator Hawk hissed at them. “So long as the boss has got that sword.”

“Are you referring to this sword?” Knuckles asked calmly as he drew the Blade Of Order from his boot.

His companions all looked at the blue-feathered hawk. They were all surprised to see the echidna, apparently alive and very well, and even more so to see he had somehow managed to liberate the Blade from their master. They all knew what it meant. There was no way Mogul would have given the weapon up barring a battle to the death. And there was an uncharacteristic coldness to the echidna’s face that led them to believe that he just might be capable of actually doing such a thing.

“Ah, spit!” Was all he could think of to say.

“So…” Sonic smiled. “What should we do with these losers?”

“I say we let them go.” Knuckles said softly.

“Are you nuts?” Sonic protested. “What’s to stop them from wigging out and taking pot shots at us?”

“Were you hired by Mogul, or did you work under some kind of misguided loyalty?” Knuckles asked the Foursome.

“We didn’t owe the guy any favours if that’s what you mean.” Predator Hawk admitted.

“Had us all over a barrel if the truth be known…” Lightening Lynx added with a regretful sigh.

“Then it would seem, with Mogul’s threat removed, that you have acquired your freedom.” Knuckles said in the same calm voice.

‘Man…’ Sonic thought. ‘He gives me the creeps when he talks like that.’

“So you’re just gonna let us go?” Sergeant Simian asked in disbelief. He looked to the echidna, then to the Princess and back again. Knuckles too looked at Sally.

“We have no real charges to hold you on.” She sighed. “If beating up on the Freedom Fighters were a punishable offence, than the Chaotix would be serving several consecutive sentences.”

“And vice versa.” Knuckles added.

“You’re free to go.” Sally said, but her expression hardened. “But you had better darn well keep your noses clean.”

~~~~~~

The gathered group watched in silence as they boarded they ship and departed. No mess, no fuss.

“You really think that was a good idea?” Sonic asked.

“They were just following Mogul’s orders.” Sally sighed. “Without him, they have no real direction or purpose. And besides, we’ll be keeping an eye on them.”

“I guess.”

As soon as the ship had vanished from view, a fuming Julie-Su stormed across the clearing to where Knuckles was standing with Sonic, Sally and Tails.

“AND JUST WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU PLAYING AT?!” She demanded. “Do you have the slightest idea what it felt like for me to wake up…AFTER YOU KNOCKED ME OUT…to find you’d just taken off?! Did you even think about that? I was worried sick, you…”

Knuckles, smiling slightly, brushed her hair back, and gently kissed her on the forehead.

When he backed away he found she was still glaring at him. She folded her arms across her chest and regarded him with a raised eyebrow.

“And THAT’S supposed to make everything better?”

He shrugged. “I thought it was worth a try.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. Her shoulders sagged as the anger began to drain from her body. She blew her hair out of her eyes as she looked up at him. “Why can’t I stay angry at you?”

“Because I’m just so damn adorable.” Knuckles spread his arms and smiled broadly.

Julie-Su balled her fists on her hips and shot him an almost surly look. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

Tails had to cover his mouth to hide his smile. He so rarely saw this gentle, playful side to the echidna pair, he usually only saw their gruff, tough as nails exteriors. He found it both amusing and refreshing.

Sally glanced at Sonic and suppressed a sigh. Even when Julie-Su had been in full rage it was obvious just how much she cared for him. And he obviously had no problem with a public display of affection, brief as it had been. Unlike a certain hedgehog she could name.

“Ah,” Tails began. “Don’t we have plans to make?”

“For what?” Julie-Su eyed the young fox.

“The floating Tiki masks set us the task of getting rid of the sword.” Sonic explained, gesturing towards the Blade of Order, which Knuckles had returned to his boot.

“Floating Tiki masks?” Sally queried.

“Ancient Walkers.” Knuckles clarified.

“Yeah…” Sonic nodded. “They said it was too powerful a temptation to be allowed to remain intact. So we’ve…” He gestured to Knuckles, Tails and himself, “…got to get rid of it.”

“Only problem is,” Tails cut in. “It can only be destroyed where it was made…and we don’t know where that is.”

“And just how do you propose to find it?” Sally asked.

The trio turned to Julie-Su.

“You still have that computer I gave you?” Knuckles asked softly. “From before I…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish.

She reached into her belt, pulling out the small piece of technology he’d presented to her over a year ago. She looked at it for a moment, before handing it to him.

“It led us to the Blade in the first place.” Sonic pointed out. “We’re kinda hoping it’s got some info on where it was made…and how to get there.”

“Perhaps we should discuss this back in Knothole.” Sally suggested.

As the group headed for the nearby village, Sally grabbed Sonic’s arm. “So what happened to Mogul?” She asked with a frown.

Sonic glanced briefly at Knuckles, only to find him swatting Julie-Su’s hand as she tried to scratch the blood from his fur.

“You don’t want to know.”

~~~~~~

Knuckles sighed loudly. “We DO have things to do you know.” He said as Moni-Ca ran her medical scanner across his chest.

“And you just had a whopping big knife pulled out of your chest.” She countered. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“Hmmm.” The lilac echidna mused.

“What is it?” Julie-Su asked with concern.

“Well…this is the scar he had when he returned.” She indicated the jagged line on her scanner’s tiny screen. “And this…” She indicated a second, ‘…must have been made when the Blade was pulled out…but it’s looks like it’s years old…completely healed…when it can’t be more than a few hours.”

“It’s the Chaos power in my blood.” Knuckles shrugged. “It heals me at an alarming rate…it’s done it before.”

Moni-Ca frowned. “Yes…” She said softly. “I’ve seen it do it before. Maybe that’s how you managed your miraculous return…the Chaos power just needed longer to heal you…”

“Maybe…it’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought to.”

“I always thought it was something worth researching…” She continued. “If it could be harnessed…used on others…think of the lives that could be saved…”

“I’m not your guinea pig.” Knuckles frowned a warning.

“I know.” She sighed. She looked at Julie-Su. “I’ll leave it to you to clean him up.” She handed her friend a bottle of a strange, highly pungent liquid and a soft cloth. “It’ll lift those stubborn blood stains right out.” She said with a wink.

~~~~~~

Sally, Sonic and Rotor were wading through the information contained within the tiny Dark Legion computer.

“This thing is amazing.” Rotor said as he tapped the palm-sized device. “How’d they get so much storage in something so small? It puts Nichole to shame.”

“But it lacks her personality.” Sally said in defence of her own portable computer.

“It would help if we knew what we were looking for though.” He said.

“It’d help if a certain red echidna would get his butt over here and give us a hand.” Sonic said as he looked over to where Julie-Su was gently wiping the blood from Knuckles’ fur.

Sonic raised a brow. Knuckles had closed his eyes and had a slight, almost dreamy smile on his face, a smile mirrored on Julie-Su’s. Both were obliviously content in their closeness, and the touch that was somehow both innocent and intimate.

Sonic felt a sudden pang in his heart and glanced at Sally, who was intently focused on interpreting the data before her. He looked back to the echidnas. Knuckles had placed a hand over Julie-Su’s free one. Such a subtle gesture, but it spoke volumes.

Inside, Sonic sighed and glanced sadly at Sally.

‘We’ll never have that…’

~~~~~~

“So what have you found?” Knuckles asked as he and Julie-Su finally joined them around the conference table where they’d been studying Dimitri’s collected data on the Blade Of Order. Tails had joined them as well, and was fervently scratching on a piece of paper.

“Not a whole lot.” Sally admitted. “It’s mostly legends and poems and so forth…and we’ve no idea what they truly mean.”

“Many seek power…tower…cower…” Tails mumbled to himself.

“What are you doing?” Sonic asked him finally.

“I’m trying to remember what the Walkers said.” He looked up from his paper. “It might help give us a starting point or something.”

Knuckles raised a brow. “Kid’s got a point.”

“I can never remember what they say…” Sonic mumbled. “Just once I wished they give us a straight answer.”

“There were two stanzas.” Tails said. “The first one was about how the Blade was too much of a temptation, and it’s probably not that important…but the second one sorta mentioned our path…”

“Many will seek the Blade and its power,” Knuckles said suddenly.

“Yeah…” Tails said. “That was it.”

“To give them the strength to make others cower,” the echidna’s voice was flat and emotionless.

“Uh, Knux…?” Sonic queried. “You okay?”

“So we set you three the perilous task,” he continued giving no indication that he’d even heard Sonic.

Tails was writing furiously, trying to get all the words down as the echidna spoke.

Knuckles was staring straight ahead, looking at nothing. “Of removing the Blade from temptation’s grasp.”

“Well,” Sonic shrugged. “That’s stanza number one.”

“Through trials of fire, ice and air,” Knuckles continued.

“And here comes number two.” Sonic raised a brow. “Guy must have one of those photographic memories or something.”

“Deliver the Blade to its makers’ lair,”

“Will you knock it off?” Julie-Su hissed at him as she waved a hand in front of Knuckles’ face in an attempt to get some kind of reaction. “There’s something wrong with him.”

“For only in the forge where it was created,”

“Relax,” Sonic smiled. “He’ll be fine.”

“Can it be unmade and separated.”

“What are you basing that on?” Julie-Su demanded.

“Because the Walkers need the three of us to pull this off.” Sonic leaned back in his chair. “They’re probably just using him to give us the info again.”

“Got it!” Tails declared.

“See?” Sonic gestured towards the fox.

Knuckles blinked rapidly and shook his head. He looked around at his friends as his eyes refocused.

“Any mail for me while I was out?” He asked with a smirk.

Julie-Su sighed with relief. “Will you PLEASE stop doing things like that?”

“Doesn’t help a real lot.” Sonic said as he read the poem over Tails’ shoulder.

“I don’t know…” Tails frowned. “Where are we gonna find fire and ice right next to each other?”

“How close is Ice Cap to Lava Reef?” Sonic asked Knuckles.

“Not very…” Knuckle said. “And what about the air bit?”

“Knuckles, the entire Island is in the air.” Sonic pointed out.

“But the Blade’s ancient.” Julie-Su countered. “Almost pre-historic. The Floating Island wouldn’t have even existed when it was created, so its makers couldn’t have been Islanders.”

“You’ve got a point.” Sonic agreed with a reluctant sigh.

“Where was it found?” Knuckles asked. They looked at him in surprise. “I wasn’t with you at the time.” He reminded them.

“No, you were out letting the Walkers talk you into suicide.” Julie-Su whispered. He put a hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“But you were there.” Tails frowned. “It was where we had the final fight with Dimitri…” He stopped suddenly as he realised just what HAD happened there.

Rotor brought up a map of Mobius. A bright red spot indicated the Blade’s initial location, in the middle of a completely unexplored area of the Southern Continent.

“Know anything about the area?” Knuckles asked.

“Only that it’s where Mighty’s people originally came from.” Sally said. “Or at least that’s what he told us.

“Seems as good a place as any to start.” Knuckles said.

“Can’t you just open up one of those swirly tunnel things of yours to wherever it is we need to go?” Sonic asked.

“Not when we don’t know where we’re going.” Knuckles told him. “I can only open my…swirly tunnel things…to somewhere I’ve been before.”

“Well, at least we’ll have an express trip home.” Sonic sighed. “Well, the sooner we go…”

~~~~~~

While they had been discussing where to begin their quest, Antoine, Bunnie and Ellie-Za had been gathering supplies and equipment for their journey.

Antoine and Bunnie had sought out a variety of preserved meats and plenty of dried fruit, remembering that Knuckles was, by his own admission, more or less a vegetarian, to supplement anything that they found for themselves.

Ellie-Za had broken out the EST survival equipment on the shuttle. She had put together three identical backpacks, each containing hi-tech echidna versions of traditional camping equipment.

“Won’t Remington be ticked when he finds out you’ve been messing with his stuff?” Bunnie asked.

“Nah.” Ellie-Za smiled. “They’d pretty much jump off the Island for the Guardians.”

“Wow.” Sonic exclaimed as he studied the EST packs. “You echidnas believe in travelling light.”

“There’s everything you need in there.” Ellie-Za pointed out as Sonic picked up one of the lightweight metal backpacks and swung it onto his back. “It’s just all ultra modern, hi-tech echidna stuff.”

“Feels like I’m carrying nothing at all.” Sonic said as the straps automatically adjusted themselves to fit his particular body shape. He raised a brow. “I thought you echidnas had given up technology.”

“Hey, I was born and raised in the Dark Legion.” She said. “There’s no way I could ever give up technology entirely.”

A short distance away, in the shade of an oak tree, Julie-Su wasn’t at all happy about the current turn of events.

“This sucks.” She said with a slight snarl. “I just got you back, and now the Walkers are taking you away again.”

Knuckles smiled. “At least I won’t be gone so long this time.”

“How do you know that?” She asked. “You still have no idea where to go.”

“True.” He admitted. “But I’m betting they’ll set us on the right path.” Julie-Su didn’t seem to share his confidence. He decided to change the subject. “So…what is it that you’ve got there?”

She looked down to the small bag she held in her hand. With a sigh she held it out to him. He opened it to find a small pad of paper and several pencils. He raised a brow curiously.

“I figure, seeing as how I can’t go with you, you could draw me some of what you see.” He looked a little uncertain at her suggestion. His artistic ability was something he’d always kept pretty much to himself.

She took his hand. “You have a real talent there.” She told him. “You should develop it.” She looked into his eyes. “And that way, when you get back, you can share your adventure with me.”

~~~~~~

All the Freedom Fighters had gathered to see the trio off. Sally was discussing something with Elias. Sonic sighed deeply, he wanted to give her a proper goodbye, and he always felt a little weird doing things like that around her brother.

Amy Rose was chatting with Tails. “I wish I were going.” She pouted. “You get to have all the fun.”

“I guess we should get this show on the road.” Sonic said. He looked around at his friends. “Hey, where’s the chauffeur?”

He spun around, trying to locate Knuckles. He found the echidna locked in a gentle, but rather intense goodbye kiss with Julie-Su. Amy Rose sighed dreamily.

“Hey!” Sonic admonished. “We’ve got kids present!”

The pair broke apart, rather reluctantly. With a final smile, Knuckles turned towards Sonic. “Keep your sneakers on!” He said. “I’m coming.” Julie-Su whispered something to him that brought a flush to his cheeks. His reaction to her comment made her smile wickedly.

Knuckles walked up to stand between Sonic and Tails as Julie-Su joined Ellie-Za and Moni-Ca. He closed his eyes and held out his hands. Chaos energy began to slowly coalesce about his hands. He twisted it, forming it into a tunnel of light.

He opened his eyes and looked from Sonic to Tails. Both stared into the vortex, too stunned to speak.

“Ready?” He asked, pushing the pair forward and into the light. He locked eyes briefly with Julie-Su before following them. The halo of light began to collapse in on itself and then winked out.

They stood in silence for a moment.

“I am nevier going to get used to zeeing ‘im do zat.” Antoine said finally.