Val thought a bit, "Yeah, I think he was, the guys name was Knuckles I think." she said.

"That's probably why our proverbial bird won't sing. If that's the same echidna and something bad happened... Well, you can probably guess," Holter said.

Val nodded, "True, but if I asked what happened to him, I should be able to get a tidbit from Sonic." she said thoughtfully.

"I don't think you should. Like, if something happened to someone you cared about, you probably wouldn't wanna talk about it, either," Holter mused.

Val faltered reminded of her parents, "Either way, I want to find out and I'm gonna find out some way." she said stubbornly.

"I could tell you..." A deep voice offered. Holter whipped out his blade and spun on his heel, finding him face to face with none other then Shadow. "S-sorry!" Holt said quickly, putting his blade away.

Val turned around, "Spill the beans." she said simply with her arms crossed.

Shadow sighed. "Fine. But no more of this nonsense after I tell you."

"For lack of a better word, Knuckles knew where he belonged. He rarely left the island, except in emergancies and occasionally to get a break. But he upheld his title, no matter where he was. Anyway, long story short, He was severely injured in combat after taking a bullet for... I can't remember if it was Tails or Sonic. Reguardless, we took him to recover, but he disappered that night without a trace. We guess he must've escaped,"

Val frowned, "Why would he do that if he was injured?" she asked.

"He's always been the proud one, but he didn't like to incconvience people, either." Shadow explained. "Or perhaps it was instinct; He hid his pain if he could, simply to survive,"