Hello, all! This is RigelGlyth, now officially back in the writing business. I hit a roadblock on Cursed, so I decided to let that one sit a while. I've been inspired by Sonic Heroes lately, and thought I'd write something about it.

The SEQUEL! (well, my version, anyway)

I hope all who read like it. I'm going to put much effort into this thing. :) This first chapter is from Sonic's perspective, so don't get confused! (please pardon my errors, thank you!)

Anyway, read on! Chapter one.

"C'mon, Knuckles!" I teased, the breeze in my quills. Smirking, I eyed the red echidna as he puffed down the track sluggishly.

"Gaah, can we stop? I'm dyin' here!" He wheezed, sweat pouring down his head in the sweltering summer heat. I snickered at the way his dreadlocks bounced. For some reason, it was funny.

"No way! I'm just getting warmed up!" I smiled and looked over my shoulder as I slow-jogged backwards, spotting Tails on the bottom row of a set of bleachers. Beside him was an old stereo that he mysteriously acquired, which was humming a recent Crush 40 track. He was sitting beneath the shade of an umbrella, immersed in the study of a large blueprint that was draped on the stacked benches. He'd been awfully engrossed in that thing for the past few days.

Knuckles groaned, recapturing my attention. "Yeah, you're warmed up. I'm all burned out! Can I at least sit down? We've been circling this stupid track for an hour!" His feet pounded audibly, whereas mine were silent.

I gave him a quizzical look. "And?"

A vein pulsed in his forehead. "And I'm getting sick of running!"

The two of us swerved around the curved turn, I still jogging backwards. "Aw, is Knux outta shape?" I pouted my lip while his lip curled.

"I am not!"

"Oh, really?"

"Darn right!"

"You weren't this exhausted when we sprinted through Grand Metropolis." I accused.

He frowned. "Hey, there were moving floors there, of course I wasn't tired, Sonic!"

"Were you tired when we broke through Casino Park? How about in Frog Forest? Mystic Mansion?"

"No, no, and no! I wasn't tired then because-"

"Because what?"

Knuckles' face flushed. "Er..."

I sniggered. "Because you were in shape!" Suddenly I had an idea to get under the echidna's skin. "You're just jealous of this flawlessly sculpted body." I struck a pose and flashed a smile, my actions landing directly on that bulging nerve in the guy's head.

"Ya strutting, egotistical little-!" Even though I knew it was coming, Knuckles tackled me. We were sent rolling across the baking rubber of the track, his spiked fists swinging for my head. I dodged with a big grin, laughing even when he punched me in the gut and tossed me onto the abandoned high school's overgrown lawn. He jumped high and blocked the sun with his silhouette. Spitting dandelions out of my mouth, I rolled out of his way when he landed in a mushroom cloud of weeds.

"C'mere, you rat! I'll get you for your taunts!" Knuckles roared through the blizzard of crabgrass and morning glory. "That was the last time you make fun of me!" He breathed in heavily through his nostrils with his teeth bared.

I whimsically strolled around in a leisurely manner, chuckling at how angry he was. It doesn't take much to get Knuckles in a frenzy. In fact, it was fun to bug him sometimes. "I've known you for how long, and yet I still make fun of you. Trust me, Knux, it ain't the last time." I prepared myself for the spontaneous combustion.

Instead, his eyelid began twitching, and then tears glistened in his eyes. I watched in wonder as the echidna's upper lip wiggled back and forth frantically. "Are you okay, dude?" I asked, a little freaked out.

And then he sneezed.

The sheer power of his snort caused another cloud of weeds to flutter around him as if they were dancing something tribal. He blew himself back onto his butt, a mad torrent of the dandelion's fluffs whizzing about him like a horde of crazed insects. I collapsed and began to giggle uncontrollably once the chaos cleared, and Knuckles sat in the center of a small ring of sneeze-blown weeds.

"Hey Knux," I stammered around guffaws. "Bless you- pffph- ha ha ha ha!" I rolled onto my back and tried to catch my breath. I hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

Knuckles wiped his nose and blinked several times. "Stupid dandelions..." He grumbled, smashing a cluster of the things flat.

I stood, held my aching stomach and walked to Knuckles, who was violently pummeling the innocent plants beneath his fist to mush. "Need a hand, buddy?"

He stopped and gave me a resentful glance, but swallowed his fury and took my palm. He heaved himself to his feet, and, for a moment, studied me intently. Knuckles pointed at me with four fingers, taking in a short breath. "One day, Sonic. One day I'll get you back for all that humiliation." Then he turned away in a swirl of dreadlocks, and began striding towards Tails.

I shrugged and followed. "Whatever you say."

Knuckles and I hadn't had a decent (yet friendly, mind you) fight for quite a while. Ever since we stopped Metal Sonic and Eggman's plot to take over the world, our fighting relationship had simmered. To admit, I kinda missed Knuckles exploiting his outrage on me. Made me feel like a kid again.

Anyway, we both approached the little blond fox, whose gaze was glued to that blueprint I mentioned earlier. He sat in deep pondering, with his feet propped on the portable cooler we had stashed all our food in.

See, for the past month, Team Sonic had wandered the continent apathetically. Knuckles spent most of his time musing over his past. Tails, as I said, was addicted to that blue piece of paper that I couldn't for the life of me understand, and I had tagged along as we drifted around, going on joy runs every so often and raiding grocery stores for our favorite snacks. We mostly slept underneath the stars every night, and rarely stayed in one place for more than a few days. After dealing with Dr. Egghead and his idiotic plots, this seemed to be the envy of my days. But I still felt something was missing...

Little did I know that my life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Tails briefly looked up from his paper at Knuckles and I. "Hey guys. What's up?"

I knelt and gently brushed his feet off the cooler lid, popping it open and scanning the interior. "Not much. Knuckles sneezed." I felt his glower burn on me. I smiled. "Anything with that blueprint?"

Tails brightened considerably. "Finally, someone is curious enough to ask!" I was startled. He was waiting for me to ask about it?

"Uh... yeah?"

His brightness faded slightly as he pursed his lips. "This blueprint is throwing me for a loop."

I seized the last soda from the cooler and stood, peering at the displayed print. "How so?" Knuckles reached into the cooler after me and grabbed a saran-wrapped roast beef sandwich, tearing the wrap off and plopping himself against the umbrella's pole. The shade swayed as he took a huge bite.

Tails scratched his head. "This model seems highly impossible to build, let alone operate." I took a seat by the twin-tailed fox and followed the faint silver lines of the blueprint with my eyes. The drawing on the print was extremely complex, along with the margins outside the sketch riddled with migraine-inducing equations and symbols. Stuff like 'p-58329z~Q' that made no sense. There was no title to the piece. As I stared at it, I realized that it was depicting what looked to be a complicated flying helmet, equipped with dozens of wires on top. "None of this computes!"

"Impossible? It's just a helmet, Tails," I commented bluntly. "Nothing too special."

Tails' expression gave the impression that I had slapped him. "'Nothing too special'? Sonic! This has got to be the latest, most intricate technology on Mobius! How could you say that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno."

"Because he's an idiot." Knuckles snickered. I shot him a glare, kicking the stereo off the bench and sending it shooting into his shoulder. "Ouch! Take it easy, speedy." He rubbed his arm and picked up the device, shifting between stations with the dial.

I continued, ignoring him. "Where'd you get this thing anyhow?"

Tails reached behind him and brought up his trusty backpack. "I'm not exactly sure. One morning, I woke up to find it sticking out of my pack." He unzipped it and showed me the empty bag, save for his tool box. "The blueprint was there and so was the stereo."

Knuckles held it up. "I don't see why you keep this hunk of trash. It has terrible quality." He examined the stereo in distaste on all sides, chomping his nearly finished sandwich with his other hand. "Someone was just trying to get rid of their crap and stuck it into your pack, Tails."

"That's not true! This blueprint is not crap, Knuckles. This is an advanced work of art that requires my intelligent understanding to decipher." Tails defended his blueprint, lightly poking it during his sentence triumphantly.

Knuckles' eyes bugged. "Mind dumbing that down?" He twisted his head back to look at us.

I bit my tongue from saying anything further. I could have butted heads with Knuckles again, but I restrained myself from it. Oh, the fireworks that would've blown if I'd blurted what I was thinking...

Tails exhaled dramatically. "Fine, then. The blueprint is valuable and needs to be figured out by me. Because I can do it." He re-explained slowly in monotone.

"Thank you. That was much better," Knuckles replied, wadding the saran-wrap into a ball and tossing it into a trash bucket that overflowed with garbage. He crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, leaning against the umbrella and tapping his toe to the beat of 'Won't Stop, Just Go!' which had just bleated out of the buffed speaker of the stereo.

I rolled my eyes at his attitude and focused on the blueprint. "What do you think it is, Tails?"

His cerulean eyes glittered. "I've been making some estimates, Sonic, but I haven't imagined anything probable yet." He picked up a hand-held spiral notepad from his lap and a stubby pencil. I noticed the small list he had made on the lined page- Fight simulation helmet, Dream amplifier, Nightmare eradicator, Thought processor, Telekinetic enhancer. My eyes wandered and Tails chuckled halfheartedly. "None of these are practical, I know."

But I wasn't listening. I had spotted something that stuck out to me at that very moment. "Tails..." I murmured, my gaze fixed on the bottom right hand corner of the blueprint.

"What is it, Sonic?"

"Have you noticed those initials?" I caught his interest, and showed him the small, elegantly written letters: MM.

He leaned closer to the page, nose almost touching it. "Huh! No! I thought those were part of this really long quadratic equation!" Tails marveled at the penmanship and chewed his lip. I could tell his mind was racing as fast as I could run. While he was distracted, I popped open my soda and took a few swigs of the fizzy drink.

"Who is MM?" the fox mumbled in fascination.

"Beats me," I said stupidly after swallowing. "Probably the inventor or something."

"Yeah. But why would they abandon something as brilliant as this, though?" Tails tilted his head, puzzled. "I mean, this is positively genius! I have no idea what it means, yet it's brilliant!"

I shrugged. "Maybe they were done with it. Maybe they didn't need the blueprints anymore."

Tails sat back and sighed again, his ears drooping. "Agh, I just don't know. It's all so unclear." He rolled up the blueprint gingerly. "Why drop this on me?"

I set down the soda bottle. "Because you're smart, Tails. You can figure out anything you set your mind to."

He gave me a grateful smile. "Thanks, Sonic."

"Don't mention it."

He sniffed and gave up on trying to understand the sketch, softly setting it back inside his backpack. Then he removed and tore open a pouch of barbecue flavored chips from the cooler. He crunched on a few of them with his brows knitted together in disgruntled thought. His pair of tails squirmed behind him.

After a screech from the radio, Knuckles' eyes suddenly flipped open. "What the...?" He grasped the thing tightly and raised it up to his head.

Tails and I looked over. "What is it, Knuckles?" he wondered aloud.

"The radio... just called my name..."

Tails and I exchanged bewildered glances. "Huh?"

"Listen!" The echidna sprung to his feet and ran over to us, spinning the volume dial to maximum. Heavy static emanated from the grungy speaker, filling our ears. We each pressed closer. For a moment, I couldn't hear anything but the static popping.

Then the choked, female voice shouted hysterically: "Tails! Sonic! Knuckles! Any hero that can receive this transmission! I don't have much time, so please heed my plea! We are in perilous danger, and need immediate assistance. I don't know how long we can-" An immense explosion blasted over her for a few seconds. The three of us cringed. The sound dimmed. "-heinous, sickening deeds. This is unlike anything I've ever seen." People howled behind her as she faded away momentarily, going silent. "Help us! We are in Manika City, on the cape of Windchine Island in the Emerald Sea! You mustn't delay, anyone! He's taken over Manika. The Monarch-"

Another voice overpowered her. "What do you think you're doing?" The man hissed, and I could feel the evil that oozed from his words. I shivered, as did Knuckles and Tails. Scratching and struggling sounded afterward, as if he were dragging her across the ground.

"No, no! You won't take me- Auggghhh-!" Her scream cut off unexpectedly, and then the radio signal died.

The three of us were frozen in our spots, looking up from the stereo and at each other in petrified awe. "Whoa." I muttered.

Tails gulped. "What are we going to do, Sonic?"

"Did you not hear her?" Knuckles spat. "That was an urgent distress call. We have to answer it!" He shook a fist and made a determined face. "If we can take down Metal Sonic, we can definitely take down this Monarch guy! Let's go!"

I remained seated and placed a hand on my chin. "Manika City... I've never been there, but I've heard about it." I reviewed my mental maps of Mobius. "Windchine Island shouldn't be too hard to get to."

"Should we take a boat?" Tails asked, shaking off his fear.

"Yeah. That's about the only way we can get there," I looked at Knuckles, who was waiting for me to approve our journey to Manika. "We better get going if we wanna stop this Monarch in time." He grinned, rubbing his hands together.

"This should be interesting! Ha ha! Let's do this!"

Tails rose and glanced about our makeshift camp. "I'll start packing. You two figure out a route to the nearest bay and a boat we can ride to get to the island." With that said, he bent down and yanked the umbrella from the ground and collapsed it, stuffing it into the cooler. Then he fished around his backpack's extra pockets and slipped me a roadmap.

Knuckles and I knelt around it after spreading it out. "Let's see..." My eyes zipped around the page.

"We want to get to Manika A.S.A.P.," He said, pointing to the black dot printed on the tip of the Windchine illustration. "The best place to hitch a ride would be..."

"Emerald Bay." The port's name was pretty much self explanatory, seeing as it bordered the Emerald Sea. "It's about 50 miles from this place. Think you two can handle it?"

Knuckles gave me a nod, and Tails agreed with, "Right!"

I crunched the road map and held it tight, Tails strolling up with his backpack over his shoulder and the cooler in his grip. The bag of chips he had been snacking on crinkled in his backpack. "That's it, then," I smiled confidently at my teammates. "Team Sonic, let's move out!"

"Gotcha!" Knuckles hollered.

"Okay!" Tails cheered.

I faced forward, holding my comrades by their arms. Without hesitation I shot forward with them dangling behind me like flags. I whooped and soared down the countryside.

"SONIC SPEEEEEEED!"

After shooting 50 miles, three of us skidded to a hasty stop with the briny sea breeze churning from every direction. Knuckles' and Tails' hair was windblown, but they were excited to witness the sight of the Emerald Sea just as I was. My quills whipped around my head playfully in the gales as I jovially took in my surroundings.

The bay was rapidly blooming, and inhabited by posh, expensive hotels that towered high overhead. These skyscraping buildings were surrounded by the stout motels and markets that dotted the place. Dozens of Mobians paced about happily trading and chatting. Hordes of parasols bounced throughout the crowds, carried by ladies, who were protecting their complexions. Docks crowded with ships cluttered the seaside as the tides pushed in. Temperature of eighty degrees was comfortable and the humidity was pleasant, the sunshine warm. The babble of a hundred conversations mixed with the nostalgic sound of waves colliding with sand. It was nearly cloudless, the mid-afternoon sun high overhead and casting glamorous golden rays onto the white dunes and the green waters.

That's right, I said green.

The Emerald Sea was the color of emeralds! Ironic name, I know. It was the most popular sea on Mobius, along with the most colorful. No one really knew the reason why it was green, however, which was why it attracted so many people. The tourist business boomed on cruise liners, coral reef tours, hotels, and snorkeling and scuba diving. The people who ran their companies made a killing on this bay. It was packed pretty much all year long.

"Wow. I didn't think the sea would literally be green." Knuckles gaped, squinting over the heads of people and into the shimmering ocean. He began to pat his dreads back into place, grinning. "This is cool!"

Tails breathed in the heavenly salty air. "Aah, this reminds me of Seaside Hill!" Memories flashed in his eyes. "I loved that place! Could we go swimming, Sonic?"

I smiled. "Now remember guys, we're not here to relax. We need to find a ride to get to Manika." I scouted the horizon of plentiful boats, looking for something fast. "See anything yet?"

"Let's get closer to the docks," Knuckles suggested, plodding down the grassy hill we stood upon. "We won't find anything good from a distance."

"Sounds like a plan." Tails and I went after him, descending the hill and stepping onto the cobbled stones of Emerald Bay's streets. We squeezed through the populated walkways, Knuckles shoving our path clear while I held Tails by the wrist and took him in tow behind me. Eventually we forced our way past the bunches of people and onto the more vacant docks.

Walking alongside the beach, we each inspected the moored boats. There were tall boats for sailing, stocky pontoons, sleek yachts, and a few enormous, exotic canoes. Every vessel bobbed in the tumble of the tides, which was calming. Out of the variety of water crafts, I vaguely wondered what kind of boat we would take. I gravitated towards the streamlined speed boats. If I was fast on land, I could be fast on water too, couldn't I?

As we admired the vessels, a pair of cat girls passing by murmured amongst themselves, giving us affectionate stares. I gave them a nod, cracking a courteous grin. They giggled and blushed rosy red. Once they were behind us, I looked away and shuddered, thoughts of Amy inveigling me haunting my thoughts. I hadn't had contact with her for a month before the Metal Sonic incident, and it had been a month since I'd seen her last.

Was this a continuous cycle? I sure hoped not.

Tails noticed my unease. "You okay?"

I snickered. "Just perfect."

Knuckles stopped and gathered us under a seafood restaurant's awning. He folded his arms and looked out to the emerald water. "Well? What are we doing?"

"Maybe we should ask the marina managers. I'm sure they'd be happy to find us a good boat to take." Tails said.

I nodded. "Should we split up and look around?" Afterward I regretted my statement. I refused to be accidentally caught alone with those flirtatious girls that had waltzed by. Not to mention being mobbed by the fans I most likely had here. Before Knuckles could protest, I waved my hands in disagreement. "Forget it! Let's just say together, shall we?"

He made a face. "All right then...? Hm..." He whirled around and began searching again, this time pointing to a raccoon man that was standing on the edge of the dock, feuding with a husky man who was wildly flailing his arms in ire. "What's with those two?"

Tails tuned in with his large ears. "They're fighting..." he muttered. "Over a boat!" He smiled broadly.

"Ya mean it?" I said.

"Uh-huh. Let's go!" He grabbed me by the cuff of my glove and tugged me in his wake.

"Nyaagh!" I stumbled to regain my footing at his surprise jerk, bidding Knuckles to come along once I could walk regularly. He huffed in frustration, but followed as the distance between us and the disputing men closed. We could hear their loud conversation clearly.

"Are you kidding me? I am not paying that much for that wreck of metal you call a boat, Jones!" the copper husky grunted. "Those prices are ridiculous!" He stomped his foot powerfully, loosening one of the dock's white boards.

The grey raccoon tapped his foot and gestured behind him to the smoking speed boat that was sloshing with water. It reeked of propane. "You told me you could repair it, sir, and you could not. Our deal was that if you could fix it, you could have it. Now you must pay me for making my poor little boat worse." He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers impatiently. "I'm still waiting for my 600,000 rings."

"That junk heap ain't worth even a single ring, you greedy liar!"

The raccoon called Jones yawned, holding his demanding position for that 600,000 ring profit with his palm skyward. His eyelids were low. He said nothing, but watched his business partner with an expression like stone.

Then mister husky's temper exploded, and he threw his wallet to the floor, screaming. "AAAUUUGGGHHHHH!" The rings (miniature ones) spilled around Jones' feet in a chorus of tinkling. He looked at them, satisfaction forming on his face. "I CAN'T TAKE IT!" The husky stormed away, furious words spewing from his mouth in stark wrath. His ears were curled and his tail was writhing like a snake as he stomped his way around us and disappeared into the crowds.

I whistled. "Dang."

When I looked back to Jones, I found him knelt down, collecting his scattered payment whilst chuckling. He picked up the rings one by one, slipping them into his own wallet, each of them glinting. I noticed even from this far away that his wallet was brimming with rings, and seemed quite heavy in his hand. I frowned. How many people had he scammed to earn all of that cash?

Knuckles' jaw set, for he had seen the amount of money as well. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Whaddya say we rob that jerk? I've got a plan."

I grinned and nodded. He approached Jones with Tails and I at his heels. "Excuse me," Knuckles said kindly.

Taking the last ring into his fingers, Jones' head snapped upward. "Good day to you. May I be of assistance?" He straightened to our level.

Knux placed his hands on his hips, forcing his friendly tone with the tip of his jagged tail twitching. "Yeah. We'd like to have that speed boat of yours. We couldn't help but overhear your uh... debate, and we want it." In the instant he said that, a large cloud of smoke burst from the engine and swirled into the sky.

The raccoon peeked over his shoulder and flinched. "You want that old thing?"

"Yup."

He scratched his chin thoughtfully and winked one eye. "For what purpose, might I ask, echidna?"

Knuckles gritted his teeth almost unnoticeably. "The three of us need to get to Windchine Island, pronto. There's uh..." He cut off, unsure of an excuse to make.

Jones waited. "There's a what?"

I exclaimed the first thing that appeared in my head. "W-we've got some relatives over there that need our help!"

Tails joined in, and at the wrong time, with the wrong word. "Baking!"

A moment of awkward silence passed.

Jones' brows shot towards his ears. "You three- a hedgehog, echidna, and fox- have some relatives on Windchine Island that need your help baking?" he repeated. While he considered our poor lie, Knuckles slapped his palm into his forehead, grumbling how much of a failure Tails was at improvising. I laughed under my breath.

But surprisingly, the guy bought it. "All right, boys. Since you want it that badly, I'll make you a deal. If you can fix it, I'll give it to you, free of charge." Mischief glinted in his spreading smile. "If you can't fix it, you have to pay me 600,000 rings in return." He stared us each in the face sternly. "Do we have an accord?"

"Hold up a sec, dude," Knuckles interrupted, raising a boxing glove. "That simply won't do."

"How so? These terms seem find to-"

"Let's heighten the stakes," Knux quickly said.

He paused midbreath. "I'm listening."

Knuckles cocked his head intimidatingly. "If we can fix your boat, we take it and all the money you have in your wallet."

Jones weighed the wallet as it jingled. "Very well. Then... if you cannot fix the boat, I keep the boat, and I take all of your money. How does that sound?"

The red echidna's jagged teeth shone in the sunshine as he bared them confidently. "Sounds like you've got yourself a deal." The two shook hands, and Jones stepped aside, a convinced smirk prominent on his features. He didn't think a trio of teenagers would be able to repair that scrap metal.

But we could fix it all right, with Tails' brilliant tech work. Besides, we barely had any rings as it was. Even if we did fail, the money-hungry salesman would get only 200 rings from the three of us combined. Man, Knuckles knew how to bargain!

"You ready, buddy?" He leapt off onto the cruddy speed boat, issuing Tails to follow. The little fox unzipped his pack in a second flat, unsheathing his faithful wrench and screwdriver. He seemed hungry for action, with the tools winking. I went and sat on the edge of the docks, ready to watch as Tails worked his magic.

"You got this, Tails! Knock 'em dead!" I declared.

"Don't worry, Sonic! I'll have this boat fixed in no time!" Then he dove beneath the steering wheel and began to tend to the boat's mechanics at whirlwind pace.

I twisted around. Behind me, Jones had wandered over to the seafood restaurant's outdoor tables. He sat himself down comfortably and called a waitress over. He ordered something and nonchalantly kicked back in his chair, oblivious to how much money he was about to cough up. I read the words on his lips: "Stupid kids..."

I turned back towards the nuts and bolts that were sailing through the air, and Knuckles being splattered in the face with oil. "Heh heh. Don't count your Chao before they hatch, Jones."

"Sonic, ya gotta see this! Tails is amazing!" Knuckles hollered. He dodged a hunk of sizzling metal that whizzed past his head. "I mean, he just cranks stuff like-" he snapped his fingers. "-that!"

"Well duh!" I shouted back. "That kid's a prodigy!"

Tails laughed from somewhere within the bowels of the boat. His voice was muffled as he replied,"This repair job is so easy, I could do it in my sleep!" He then popped out of nowhere, his white and yellow fur coated black. "Whoever tried fixing this before me made it a whole lot smoother by demolishing the parts that weren't necessary!"

I snickered. "Maybe it ain't Eggman who's got the IQ of 300..." Tails beamed.

"Hey, how long do you reckon this'll take?" Knuckles said after a few minutes of clanking and tinkering. He handed Tails a hammer. "That distress call sounded serious."

"Eh, who knows? It shouldn't be that long a wait. After all, he's a whiz at this stuff." I waved my hand. "Just chill for a bit, Knux. The people in Manika will be fine as soon as we get there." Even though I reassured Knuckles, I still had a hollow feeling, like we shouldn't be getting involved with this random cry for help.

Or maybe I was just imagining things?

Nah.

Ten minutes passed as Tails furiously worked. Knuckles suddenly took his place as his assistant, giving him tools and having small conversations with him as he performed his maintenance. In the meantime, Jones came over to judge our progress not a single time. I caught him sipping a large piña colada like he owned the beach. Slacker.

Eventually, Tails reappeared, covered from head to toe in gunk from the speed boat's apparatus. He brushed his sweat dampened bangs out of his eyes. "Done!"

I did a double take, nearly falling into the water. "Whoa!" The boat was shining a pearly white, the stench of propane gone. It looked completely new. "Tails! That's awesome!"

He blushed and wiped his fingers on his filthy fur. "I did my very best!"

Knuckles high-fived him. "You, my friend, are truly phenomenal. I have never seen you work that fast!"

Tails smiled sheepishly. "You said we had to get to Manika pronto, so I hurried. At least we're riding in style."

Before any of us could say anything further, the thumping of shoes on wood met our ears. We each turned to find Jones stampeding towards us, his jaw quite virtually resting on his chest. In his right hand was his fat wallet, and in the other, the drained drink. His piña colada clattered to his feet.

"How- wha- this is impossible! Nobody has repared my boat! Nobody!" He stuttered, tongue tripping over his syllables. "You three cheated me!"

Knuckles landed at my side, sauntering over to Jones. "No, we just outsmarted you." He reached down and snatched his wallet. "I'll be taking that. Good day to you, sir."

I clapped the echidna on the shoulder and hopped onto our new boat. Crashing onto a polished bench, I held onto the shiny railing, satisfied with today's happenings. Tails picked up a wash rag and started to clean himself off, sitting next to me. Knuckles untied the rope that fastened the boat, took a seat behind the wheel, and turned the ignition key. The engine purring to life as he pushed us out of the moorings with ease.

With a powerful whirr of the speed boat's propellers, we all waved goodbye to Jones, standing stupefied on the dock. Knuckles stepped on the gas, sending buckets of emerald green seawater splashing onto the raccoon. As we skidded away, Jones' irked shouts slowly died with the gusts of wind and spray of waves.

"We really cleaned that chump's clock!" Knuckles cackled, his dreads billowing behind him. "Nice going, Tails!"

"Thanks, Knuckles! Say, how many rings did we get?" He held out his hands and Knuckles handed him the bulging wallet, one hand on the steering wheel effortlessly.

Tails dumped the money onto his lap and started counting. I leaned over and counted with him. "Hoo boy, I'd say about 800,500 rings right there!" I ecstatically cried. "That was some fine finagling, Team Sonic!"

Knuckles' eyes went wide. "800 thousand? Yes! We're rich again!"

"Wahoo!"

"All right!"

Overhead, the sky was bright, the sea was stunning, and the weather was beyond compare as we skipped across the waves. The three of us cheered the entire way to Windchine, our merry whoops echoing out for entire Mobius to hear.

Team Sonic was back.

Just to let you know, I purposefully made the character's words correspond with the sounds they make. All of those weirdly spelled expressions like: Nyaagh, were a sound made by Sonic. Kind of like the games, y'know?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for Team Dark in the next chapter!