Sonic couldn't work out out what was the most unexpected part – the sudden reappearance of Mighty and Ray in the middle of all this, or the fact Knuckles already knew Mighty, or the fact that Knuckles was laughing about it.

Or at something Mighty had said at any rate. Sonic was sure his mouth was hanging open at the sight. Knuckles – standoffish, fierce, solitary get-off-my-island Knuckles – was laughing. Sonic wasn't sure he'd ever even seen him smile yet, outside of a smug chuckle at unleashing some trap or another which Sonic had been oblivious to until he stepped in it.

But he was laughing now, and more than laughing, weak with it, laughing in huge helpless gasps, almost hanging off Mighty for support, as though he'd double over without the armadillo's arm looped around his shoulder to hold him up.

Sonic's best guess had put Knuckles at around the same age as him, though his attitude of what Sonic was starting to think of as 'guardian-ness' made him seem older. But right now, laughing with complete abandon, he seemed younger. Way younger. He laughed like a child being tickled, like Tails when some particularly ridiculous joke caught his funnybone.

Sonic glanced over at Tails and Ray who looked a bit bemused by their older friends' reactions, then over the top of Knuckles' head at Mighty. He was laughing too, though it seemed to be at least as much at the state Knuckles was in, as whatever the joke had been.

"What's so funny?" Tails demanded, almost indignantly.

Knuckles gasped his way to some semblance of control and mopped his face with the flat of his hand.

"Mighty said..." But his muzzle twitched and he couldn't finish, shaking his head and spluttering in an attempt not to laugh again.

Mighty gave him a sideways glance, a broad grin all over his face. "I said..."

What he said was incomprehensible, at least to Sonic but it whatever it was set Knuckles off again and Sonic found himself tempted to laugh as well.

"This I have to hear," he said.

Mighty shrugged. "It didn't start out funny. Captured by robots, stranded, all that stuff. Literally stuck with each other, but you can't fight robots every minute of the day even if you could find them so what you gonna do?"

"Tell jokes," suggested Ray.

Mighty shook his head. "This guy says he doesn't know any."

"Tell stories," Tails said. Mighty pointed at him, turning the gesture into a thumbs up.

"You got it. Except that Knuckles told me all the stories he knew were in – again he flicked into a language Sonic didn't know.

Before he could question it, Mighty had switched back and carried on.

"So I said he could teach me. I learned some of it-"

"Badly!" Knuckles interjected, regaining some sort of grip on himself.

Mighty winked at him and went on as thought there'd been no interruption. "But it turns out it's kinda sensitive to pronunciation. Kinda easy to say something you didn't intend..."

Tails giggled now. "So what did you say?"

Sonic raised his hand. "Ooookkkaaay. Suddenly I don't want an answer to that."

Mighty laughed. "Nothing filthy I promise. It was just... one of those thing which cracks you up at the time y'know. Probably wouldn't even be funny if I did translate."

Sonic smiled. "Had to be there huh? Well it was worth it even second hand."

He smirked at Knuckles and glanced around at the other three smiling faces.

"So," he drawled. "Shall we go make sure the next joke's on Eggman?"