The Life of Knuckles the Echidna

[Mobius_Historian]

That Day Will Come

He was always bored on days such as this.

It was a warm crisp day, and the sun shone down brightly on Angel Island. Flickies flew in the sky overhead, while the wind gently rustled through the leaves in the nearby trees. As he sat in the shadow of the Master Emerald resting peacefully on its pedestal within the stone altar shrine, he contemplated the serenity of nature all around him. The red echidna lay resting his head against the stone altar, as the giant green glowing gem rotated silently in it's niche behind him. As he lay there, eyes closed, a butterfly landed on the end of his nose stirring him from his contemplation. The red echidna lazily opened his eyes, shooing the tiny insect away, before trying to return to his contemplative slumber.

Sadly, it was not to be.

"Pakal!" A voice called out to him from the nearby forest, waking the Guardian of the Master Emerald from his Slumber once more. "Pakal, you won't believe it! Chief Palanque has called all the tribes warriors to a council in the hidden palace right away!"

"Bah, Calakmul! This is why you have waken me from my slumber?" Pakal groaned, stretching his arms and legs before standing up. "Probably calling for another great hunt over in the mushroom Hill Zone, I have heard our flicky, picky, and rocky meat stores are getting low again."
The proud echidna warrior was all decked out in a green tunic, feather headdress, and Bone mask made from the skull of a large predatory bird - A variation on the typical garb of the Angel Island echidna clan. Calamakul, his best friend and tribal brother in arms, wore a similar blue outfit. They we're both proud Warriors of the tribe, each having a role in their society in which they were born and raised into. For Calamakul, it was the job I'll being a craftsman at The potter's wheel, producing the fine jugs, vases, and bowls but the tribe both used, and traded to the other islander nations who valued them as art.

Pakal, on the other hand, he held the esteemed position of being guardian of the Master Emerald, a job handed down through his bloodline since the time of the  Chaos's Rampage for Millennia ago. Like his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, going back into the mists of echidna history, it was Pakal's duty to guard their tribe's most sacred treasure.

"Still, we had best head back to the village, to see what our exalted leader wants." His friend noted, as they both made a run through the jungle towards where the tribe's huts were clustered together. Their Village was built in the shadow of the great structure that was the Hidden Palace, a magnificent Royal dwelling for the Chiefs of generations gone by. Most of the great cities of the Angel Island echidna clan that were scattered across the island; Hydro City, Marble Garden, and Sky Sanctuary- were all in Ruins now and the clan's population which numbered in the thousands only a century ago, and now dwindled to 200 Warriors and their families. Their numbers had diminished in the constant wars the tribe had fought in the past few decades. Their tiny village they inhabited now was all that remained.

As the two Echidna Warriors approached those huts, two small red echidna children ran up to greet them. The slightly taller one making his way towards Pakal, and the shorter one running up towards Camakul.

"Father!" The taller one rushed up to Pakal, giving him a hug. "Father, did you hear? A war council has been called!"

"Knuckles, my boy! So, is that what they're saying, hm?" Pakal lovingly hugged his son back. "If that is the case, then you best go keep an eye on the emerald for me , while I am at the council of warriors meeting."

"Father, may I go help him guard the emerald, as well?" The smaller, more sickly echidna boy asked Camakul, his father. "I'll help and mop mess up. I promise."

"All right, Wechnia, you may go with Knuckles. The other man laughed. "But try not to get yourself hurt this time!"

The two best friends ran off into the jungle, leaving their father standing there laughing. At that moment, an elderly echidna with red fur, a pair of small spectacles on his face, a long blue robe and carrying a trident shaped staff stepped forward from the hut the boys had come out of. both echidna warriors bowed their heads in respect.

"Athair, I am pleased to see you, my honorable father-in-law." Pakal smiled at the old man. "Thank you for watching over the boys while we were busy."

"Indeed, honorable shaman. You have been a great help to Pakal since the passing of his wife and Knuckle's mother, the lady Yola." Camakul agreed. "And thank you for watching my son as well, I know you are greatly busy in your Alchemy work, as well as communing with the spirits of the ancestors for the wisdom you use help guide our chief in ruling the tribe."

"Of course I would help out with taking care of young Knuckles, he is my grandson, after all." The old Shaman replied, adjusting his spectacles. "But the sudden move by Palanque, our tribes beloved ajaw (chief) is most disturbing. It is rumored among the tribal warriors that he has found the hiding place of Longclaw, the last of the owl Warriors who are our tribe's mortal enemies. He is rounding up all of the tribe's fighters, to go and bring the last owl Warrior down."

"Longclaw has been found?!" Camakul exclaimed, beaming. "At last, we can bring an end to this conflict that is gone on for thousands of years between our two tribes. The very war that made Pachamamac so desperate to seize the chaos emeralds from the shrine. We shall capture that treacherous bird, and her emerald secrets shall be ours!"

Camakul ran off towards the Hidden Palace excitedly, eager to attend the warriors council. But Pakal stayed behind, sensing something troubled his shaman father-in-law .

"You are not happy about the finding of Longclaw." Knuckle's father said simply. "You still believe our war with the owls is an act of senseless violence and bloodshed."

"This war has gone on for far too long, nearly wiping out the owl warriors, and pushing our clan to near extinction." Athair sighed, leaning on his staff wearily. "Even our chief knows this, why else has he sent all the women and children of our tribe, except for Knuckles and Wechnia, to be fostered with the forbidden zone clan for safekeeping? The chief has even sent his own his own daughter, the princess Alucion, there to remain, until this war is over."

"Honorable Athair, you are the father of my late wife, and so I show you the respect are the tradition of our people demands." Pakal grumbled. "But you are calling the courage and bravery of our tribes Warriors into question."

"Heed my warning, son-in-law. As a shaman of the echidnas, I can feel the chaos energy swirling all around us,. I can read how it shapes the world, including the future that is shaped by our choices." Athair raised to staff in the air, shaking it. "If these events are allowed to transpire, I forsee the destruction of both our warriors, and the Angel Island echidna clan. Your son will be among the pitiful few who remain." Pakal looked away, his voice becoming low as he spoke his next words.

"You are a shaman of our people, and it is not my place to question your visions or your wisdom." The echidna warrior sighed. "If what you say is true, then it's a good thing I named my son Knuckles, the ancient name of our clan from the time before chaos is Rampage." He turned back to face his father-in-law. "If I fall in this battle, I entrust my boy to you, his grandfather, to raise."

"I thank you for your trust, son-in-law." Athair replied putting his hand on Pakal's shoulder. "I promise you I shall not betray it."

.................................

It was several hours later, and Knuckles and his friend had been keeping an eye on the Master Emerald for longer than they could count. The sun had moved halfway across the sky since they had first arrived at the altar, and they had spent the time since sitting and talking, pacing around the shrine area and even playing a round of pok-a-tok, tribe sacred ball game. In the intervening hours, Knuckles had fallen asleep in front of the altar, leaving Wenchnia awake to contemplate everything that was happening.

Look at Knuckles there, he thought to himself, his lazy friend with no sense of responsibility. The future guardian of the Master Emerald, who had no problem falling asleep on the job, leaving their tribe sacred stone to be taken by any thief who might pass by. It had been such a lazy guardian, who had allowed the owls to sneak up and steal the seven chaos emeralds from the altar, and scatter them to the four winds. Now, the tribe only still possessed the Master Emerald, and it was Knuckles his sacred duty to one day protect the gemstone... a duty he did not earn the responsibility, but rather through being the son of the previous guardian.

The Master Emerald... Wenchnia approach the giant gemstone in reverence, fully aware of its history. Long ago, in the time after the last great Gaia awakening and the birth of the Echidna species, one of their people had found the Master Emerald deep in a cave while exploring Angel Island. Using the great gemstone's power, That echidna now became a leader of his people, founding the Knuckles Clan in order to protect the gemstone from evil. Sometime after the arrival of the ancients, the tribe also become Guardians of the Chaos Emeralds, which were brought to the shrine centuries before the time of Pachachamac. There was a colony of the ancients, who had shriveled into the cute little creatures called chao, that lived at the base of the emerald shrine . One of them had mutated into the powerful being known as chaos, who became the Guardians of the emeralds the shrine and the chao who lived there.

Then came the time that Pachachamac became the leader of the Angel Island echidna tribe. He started the war with the owls, against the protests of his daughter Tikal, and launched an attack on the shrine to get control of the emeralds. This caused chaos to lash out in retaliation, killing the chief and his inner circle of warriors, before going on a rampage and killing every echidna in the cities of Angel Island. Desperate to call upon the power of the Master Emerald, and because of her prayers she and Chaos were sealed inside the large gemstone. The surviving echidnas rebuilt the tribe, and due Tikal's prayer, the Master Emerald itself took the island high into the sky, where no evil force could reach it or the surviving echidnas. Their tribe had survived in these skies for four millennia, but now it finally appeared their luck was running out.

Wechnia slowly approached the Master Emerald, awed by its incredible power. Surely no harm could come from simply reaching out to touch it, from simply basking in that awesome chaos energy that the emerald drew from the very air around it. The 10-year-old red echidna now reached out, his fingers touching the smooth green surface. Knuckles's best friend smiled, amazed at what should have been a cold shiny surface, was actually as warm as flesh to the touch. Almost as if the emerald itself were a living breathing thing. The positive energies of chaos within the stone filled him, making the younger echidna feel truly alive.

In his arrogance, what young Wenchnia had failed to notice, was the Gathering storm that formed overhead. Dark clouds and a Sinister wind formed all around them. And as the younger child was lost, staring into the smooth green surface of the Master Emerald , a lightning bolt lashed out hitting the gem and sending a shock of mixed electricity and Chaos energy into the boy's body. He screamed in agony as the lightning tore through his flesh, causing the boy to stumble backward, and collapse to the ground. His howl of agony woke the sleeping Knuckles, who ran over to his friend in pain.

"Wenchnia!" He called out, picking up and cradling his little friend in his arms. In a terrified panic, he ran back towards the village, carrying the young echidna who's red fur had now been scorched entirely white. Knuckles got him to the house of healing, where he slept for many days even after the warriors had left. It was then the now pale White-furred echidna awoke with obsidian colored pupil-less eyes. New thoughts build his brain like how foolish he'd been to want to be a guardian himself, and how those who guarded the Master Emerald merely held back progress. They were mired in their foolish traditions, including his best friend Knuckles, and the pathetic fool who called himself his father.

With no one else around in the house of healing at that moment, Knuckles's one time friend slipped away, and made his way to one of the ancient magic powered teleporters that the ancestors of the Echidna created on the island, and no one had used for thousands of years. Getting away from Angel Island unnoticed, this corrupted Echidna child would one day grow up to become Knuckle's most hated and vile enemy... changing his name to Dr Zachary Finitevus.

..............................................................

It was a bright sunny day, not too long after, that all of the Warriors readied themselves to leave the island. Young Knuckles had also readied himself, spear in hand as he drew near the other warriors. Seeing the boy approach, Pakal walked over and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Knuckles, the day will come when you will honor our tribe, and make me proud as the guardian and Warrior I know you can be." He looked into his son's eyes, silently saying a final farewell. "But today is not that day. Be a brave Young Warrior, and stay here with your grandfather."

Walking over to stand by the old Echidna shaman, Knuckles and Athair watch the brave echidna warriors go. Climbing into the harnesses of their hang gliders, and silently gliding down towards the surface below. While the last two living echidnas on the island wished their warriors success, both knew and their heart of hearts that they would never see any of those brave souls again.

Edited March 18 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Six years passed after the Angel Island echidna clan were wiped out.

In the intervening years, Knuckles the echidna grew up on Angel Island. Bereft of his family and friends, the small animals were his most constant companions during these six long years, as he explored the length and breath of the island from one point to the other. From swimming through the waters of the azure lake, to scaling the slippery peaks of the icecap zone, the young echidna tried to make the most out of his time alone, going on countless adventures on the massive natural paradise of which he was almost the sole heir. During these years, the the last echidna of the Angel Island bloodline came to appreciate the serene solitude of his island home, while missing the friendship and comradery of those his own age.

During this time, Athair spent his free hours with his grandson,sowing him through the ancient ruins of the ancient echidna cities, like Sandopolis and Marble Garden, showing him where the ancient teleporters, and the stone guardians who help protect the island. Robed, wearing spectacles and carrying a trident-like staff, the old echidna would often lecture Knuckles about his duty, or share his wisdom and advice on echidna lore. He even taught Knuckles how to read the ancient texts of the Echidna Clan, and how to be a guardian. He even taught Knuckles how to tap the somewhat tap the power of the Master emerald, to neutralize the seven chaos emeralds, as well as other small tricks and effects.

"Remember, Lad...when I am gone, it will be up to you to guard the legacy of our people." Athair warned him. "You alone will be here to protect the master emerald, and you must be careful about whom you trust."

And the old Shaman's words were prophetic, as old Athiar passed away shortly after Knuckle's fifteenth birthday. The last angel Island echidna found the old man, peacefully sitting in his chair, laying with his head down on his open books in his alchemy lab in the hidden palace zone. Knuckles teafully laid him to rest in the burial grounds of his ancestors, and sang and ancient echidna tribal hymn over his grave.

"Goodbye, grandfather." He said solemnly, at a ceremony attended by only one mourner. "Now, I am truly alone."

In later years, many would see Athair's revenant form studying away in his alchemy lab, visiting old friends on the surface, or giving Knuckles or others advice. He was even seen still eating and drinking at these times! But with his grandfather having transcended the mortal form, the last echidna guardian was truly alone.

It was only mere months later, when a large, moon-like object came crashing out of the sky, and landed on angel Island.

"By the ancestors, what is that thing?!" The echidna guardian asked himself in shock, spotting the gargantuan moon shaped object from his hut. "Have Kukulkan and the other sky lords returned from the stars?!"

Not knowing what this was, Knuckles approached the fallen satellite, and found several machine men- he would later learn they were called Egg Robos- were digging around on his island. he attacked several of the machines at first, smashing a few of them, until a portly bald man with a big mustache approached Knuckles.

"Hello, my dear echidna." The fat man greeted him, reaching out a hand to shake. "My name is DR. Ivo Robotnik, and I could use your assistance."

The human was the first person Knuckles had talked to in a long time, and the guardian's loneliness foolishly made him give the stranger the time of day. He bought the deceiver's story about being a benevolent scientist, bullied and harassed by a foul little blue hedgehog, who wanted nothing more than world domination.

"Sonic stole the chaos emeralds from me, so that he can take over the world!" Robotnik pleaded with him. "You have to help me stop him Knuckles, please!"

"Sonic the hedgehog? The apprentice of Longclaw?" He remembered Athair mentioning the hedgehog as the apprentice of the deceased owl who had wiped out his clan. "I shall help you protect the world, Robotnik, and get vengeance for my people, at the same time!"

Blinded by his rage, the guardian allowed him to build the Launch base zone, as well as several other small bases and robots all over the islands, When the hedgehog arrived on the island in super form, Knuckles used the energies of the master emerald to neturailze the chaos power inside the hero. He punched Sonic, sending the emeralds flying, and returned him to normal. Before the blue blur can even ask who the echidna is, Knuckles activated one of the traps that Athair had showed him how to build, sending the hedgehog tumbling into the abyss.

What followed was the Hedgehog and his fox friend racing all over the island, re-collecting the Chaos emeralds, while Knuckles activated trap after trap to stop them. But the two heroes fought on, battling all the way to the hidden the shadow of the master emerald, Sonic and Knuckles fought, punching, kicking, and spin dashing each other. Knuckles, using the training of his father and grandfather, while sonic used Longclaw's training to fight back. Finally, Sonic managed to land a blow that sent the guardian flying. Knuckles barely had the time to register the shock of his loss, before Robotnik moved to take the Master Emerald.

"Robotnik, you told me you were trying to protect the world!" Knuckles cursed him, leaping to save the great gemstone, even as his island crashed into the ocean.. "You have betrayed me!"

With a laugh, Robotnik brushed him aside. Then, with no choice, Knuckles reluctantly team up with the hedgehog he hated to get his emerald back. The trio worked together- Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles- took on Robotnik. And together, they got the master emerald back, destroyed the downed death egg, and restored the master emerald to it's rightful place. Sonic and tails then flew away from the island, believing they had made a new friend. But Knuckles still mistrusted the blue hedgehog, still blinded by the hatred of Longclaw's apprentice, did not forgive as easily.

"Robotnik... whom Sonic calls Eggman, betrayed me. So I cannot trust him." Knuckles reflected bitterly, putting his hand on the master emerald. "But I still will not trust that accursed hedgehog, I will not forgive him for what his mother figure did to my father... and my people."

Knuckles's stubborn pride, would not let him recognize one who was trying to extend a hand of friendship. A few months later, when Eggman approached the guardian with another story of Sonic's evil attempt to collect the emeralds. Blinded by his hate of the hedgehog, Knuckles and jerboa bounty hunter, Fang the Sniper (using the alias of Nack the Weasel) tried to stop Sonic on his quest. They, along with Eggman, formed a 'triple trouble' to stop Sonic. Knuckles thought he was making a difference, while in reality they were a distraction for Eggman to recover the chaos emeralds. Knuckles was too blind to realize that his hatred of the hedgehog was doing more harm than good.

"If you know Robotnik was evil," He asked Nack the weasel, when he and Knux were working together during the 'triple trouble' fiasco. "Then why do you serve him?"

"Because he paid me a fortune in rings!" The jerboa replied. "Money makes all of the moral worries disappear, mate!"

The event that would change Knuckle's opinion finally came, when something new would enter his life. Sleet and Dingo, two bounty hunters hired by Eggman, came to try and steal the master emerald. Knuckles easily caught the two hired thugs, and was going to feed them to one of the creatures that lived on the island, when the pair busted out the old falsehood about Sonic coming to steal the master emerald. Still blinded by his hatred of Longclaw, Knuckles released the pair, and readied himself to face the hedgehog once more.

But this time, he did not come with his fox friend.

Sonic's two siblings, whom he had only recently reunited with, begged to go along on a mission with him. The Hedgehog reluctantly brought them along, as Tails was away on his own adventure at the time, and they were ambushed by the guardian as soon as they had touched down. Knux immediately engaged Sonic in a fight, while the green hedgehog sibling slipped away to try and stop Sleet and Dingo. The battle between Sonic and the echidna kicked up, until a sucker punch almost as strong as his own blows sent the guardian reeling.

"STOP IT!" The voice of the one who threw the punch demanded. "WHY IN THE NAME OF GAIA ARE YOU ATTACKING MY BROTHER!?"

Knuckles had not seen a female Islander since before his adolescence, so the sight of this hedgehog beauty was a heavenly vision to the teenage echidna. Soft fuchsia fur, pink hair, beautiful black eyes... Knuckles could only stare at the girl who would be his first crush in awe, trying to keep his jaw from hitting the ground.

"Who... who are you...?" He asked, staring in disbelief. "Such a vision of beauty..."

"The name's Sonia, Sonic's little sister." She smirked, motioning for her blue brother to stand down. "And you must be Knuckles the echidna, it's a pleasure..."

Suddenly, Knuckles the echidna was FINALLY willing to listen to the hedgehog, and came to realize he had been tricked again. While Sonic's brother Manic had managed to stop the wolf Sleet, Dingo had managed to make it to the Master Emerald, and absorb a great deal of it's power. It turned the bounty hunter into a giant chaos monster, and he began to rampage across the island. Together, the three siblings and Knuckles were able to team up, and defeat the mutated mutt, before Athiar's revenant appeared, and siphoned off all of the excess chaos energy from Dingo, reverting him to normal. Knuckles then tied up the two bounty hunters, and Manic flew them back down to the surface to be taken by the authorities for their various other crimes. The green Sibling quickly returned, and the trio stayed on the island for a few days as the smitten Knuckle's guests.

"This island of yours is so lovely." Sonia told him, as they walked along the beach together. "I wish we had places this lovely on the surface."

"It is not as lovely as you are, Miss Sonia." Knuckles replied, trying to keep his composure. "You are always welcome on my island."

That night, Knuckles prepared Kripnik, and echidna delicacy, for them. It was at the campfire that night, that Manic asked;

"Hey dude, why do you, like, hate our big bro so much?" The mellow green hedgehog asked. "What did he ever do to you?"

"Your brother did nothing, I was blinded by a hatred for one whom he cared for, and transferred that to him." The guardian finally admitted, turning to face the blue blur. "I would desire to end our rivalry, hedgehog. And bury the hatchet for your sister's sake."

"As long as you're not burying it in my spiky head, sounds good to me."Sonic agreed, extending a hand jokingly. "Glad to be pals, Knucklehead."

The two shook hands, and Knuckles was able to enjoy the company of the three siblings- especially Sonia- for a few more days. Sadly, they day came when the trio had to return to the surface, but Sonic and he were able to part as friends. Sonia, whom he had managed to win the favor of during her stay, even holding hands with him as they walked along the beach their final night here, gave the echidna a parting gift; a brown stetson hat, with three star symbols on the brim. Knuckles would treasure this gift dearly, and would sometimes wear it on adventures in the future. He would rarely see her again in the future, but the young echidna would never forget the beauty and kindness of Sonia the Hedgehog, his first real crush.

It was at this point, that Knuckles discovered the ancient Star posts, a long forgotten way his people used to travel, and used them to warp down to the surface. Having finally gotten bored of being on the island all of the time, the echidna began warping down to the surface for brief adventures to try out his new hobby; treasure had learned the ancient echidna skill of detecting treasures, and used it to try and track down lost echidna artifacts on the surface. It was during one of these treasure hunts in a series of ancient ruins, that he stumbled across Sonic and Tails battling the mysterious metal Robotnik, while trying to save the president of South Island's kidnapped islander-human hybrid daughter, Sara. Much to his sorrow, the hat that had been a gift was burned up during this adventure. But at least the echidna was able to nobly defend Sara's honor for a moment.

"Tails, get off!" Knuckles yelled at the fox, who had accidentally groped Sara's bosom.

"I'm so sorry!" The apologetic Miles Prower exclaimed, blushing.

"I never thought you'd stoop that low!" Knuckles shook his head, ashamed of the little fox.

Fortunately, after battles with both metal Robotnik and the hyper metal Sonic variant, the trio were able to rescue Sara, and prevent Eggman from melting the glaciers to flood the earth.

Knuckles was happy to be going on adventures, though it bothered him to leave the Master Emerald unattended for too long. We wished there was someone who could stay and guard the gemstone, as well as friends who actually around more than the busy Sonic and Tails, that he could go on more frequent adventures with. Both wishes were about to be granted, as the young echidna's life, was about to get far more...

...chaotix.

Chapter 3: The Chaotix Crew

Chapter Text

It had been a very rough time for the echidna named Knuckles, his first year after Eggman's death egg crashed onto Angel Island, changing his life forever. But even with his encounters with the heroic hedgehog and his companions, things were about to get even more eventful for the last echidna of Angel Island.

After his adventures off of the island, Knuckles was ready for ready for anything. But when Clutch the Opossum, a 'legitimate businessman' from Westside Island, flew a plane up to Knuckle's home, and brought a business proposition to the last echidna. The criminal /entrepreneur invited the now-famous echidna to come visit his new island amusement park, the Neutronic High zone, as a publicity stunt. Feeling he needed a break from his guardian duties and adventuring, took the shifty rodent up on his offer. The guardian found several islanders had already taken up Clutch on his offer, and a mix of animal folk from all over the world were there, enjoying the park. Despite his instincts screaming at him something wasn't right, Knuckles ignored his instincts, and try to enjoy the park.

What Knuckles found out, almost too late, was the park was a trap to lure unsuspecting islanders in to a trap. Clutch was working with Dr. Eggman, and the park was a cover to catch islanders for the doctor to experiment on, as well as dig up some mysterious ancient artifacts on the islands, called the Chaos rings. Escaping from a trap called a combi-catcher, The last echidna of Angel Island managed to free several other islanders who had come to the park;the music and money-loving Vector the crocodile, serious and stealthy ninja Espio the chameleon, childish high-flyer Charmy Bee, and the strong and angry Mighty the Armadillo. After liberating these others, Knuckles spoke to the entire group saying;

"My fellow prisoners, we have escaped from the traps Dr. Eggman has put us in. We are free to again do as we wish. But perhaps, together, we can take on the well organized plans of this madman, and make things a littler chaotic for him!"

The others agreed, and they all fought together to free all of the other animal folk on the island, and recovered the seven chaos rings. Along the way, two truncoat badniks tried to help the heroes, but only managed to slow them down. Using the sling rings- an ancient echidna set of energy tethers connected to two hanheld rings- the group except Knuckles split into teams of two, slinging their way through the evil carnival at the echidnas directions. As they worked together, the five of them found that they could accomplish far more together, than they could separately. And it was together they managed to fight their way through Eggman's badnik army across the island's many zones. In the end, they were confronted by metal sonic, who quickly absorbed all of the energy of the chaos rings. He transformed into a giant red form, later called Metal Sonic Kai, with a terrifying fanged together and under Knuckles's leadership, the team managed to bring the great giant down, destroying Kai's large body, dissipating the chaos ring energy, and reducing Metal Sonic back to his shriveled form.

"Hey man, we did it! we beat that big metal jerk!" Vector chortled. "That'll show Eggman who's boss!"

"Indeed, we have saved all of the islanders the doctor held prisoner here." Espio agreed. "We did a lot of good here today."

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Charmy agreed, bouncing around excitedly in the air. "We did it, we're heroes!"

"We were able to save my little buddy Ray from the combi-catcher, and that's good enough for me." Mighty pointed out. "Perhaps we could do more good as a team, than we could separately."

And so, taking their name from Knuckles's earthlier speech, the team became the Chaotix. After delivering Clutch to the authorities and dumping metal Sonic's carcass into the ocean (where Eggman would later recover him from), Knuckles took the group back to Angel Island, where they would operate for the next year as a team under the last echidna's leadership. Besides protecting the Master Emerald and Angel Island, the group would often act as detectives and mercenaries on the surface, defeating bad guys and helping those in were masny such cases they solved, and many such battles they fought.

One particular adventure was when Breezie the Hedgehog, a business woman who controlled several casino's and media outlets, acquired a chaos emerald. Deciding to try and make a profit off of the gem, Breezie announced the World Fighters tournament, a series of arena battles, with the emerald as the prize. Knuckles had himself and Espio enter the tournament, where they fought against the likes of Team Hooligan (a little gang of thugs put together by the jerk of a jerboa, Fang), and Metal Sonic. While all of the fighters were duking in out in the tournament, Charmy, Mighty, and Vector went after the emerald by fighting their way past Breezie's security systems. In the end, it was Metal Sonic that flew off with the Emerald, and Sonic who went up to fight Eggman on the death egg mark 2 and defeated his e-mech in battle. But the chaotix played their part in that battle, helping to secure another defeat for the mad doctor.

Another great adventure, was the Chaotix fighting an army of evil metal duplicates of sonic and his friends from the future. Called the brotherhood of Metallix, this force was metal sonic, metal tails, metal knuckles, Metal Amy, and an army of Mecha Sonics- all led by a large new version of Metal Kai- invaded the past to ensure their a long and complicated series of events, Knuckles and his Chaotix smashed the brotherhood of Metallix in a string of battles, erasing them from future existence entirely by changing the present.

"Man, it seems we're always helpin' everybody out, even if we don't get paid." Vector grumbled once. "Just once, when somebody offers reward money, I wish our fearless leader Knux would just take it!"

"What would we do with money up here on Angel Island?" Mighty asked his crocodile friend. "We have all the food and resources we need up here, and we're in this to help others, not just score a ring payday!"

His team Members were the oddest of friends anyone could have asked for; Mighty was a traveling adventurer, who had been along on what had possibly Sonic's second battle with Doctor Robotnik, where the mad doctor captured and tried to experiment on them. He was a peaceful, scholarly guy, who loved reading and training. But get him riled up, and his super strength could punch a hole through a mountain. Espio was a ninja and spy from the Sunrise islands to the far east; his ability to go indivisible to spy and stealth were a valuable asset to the team, as well as his cool and collected nature. Charmy, the lone survivor of a hive colony that Dr. Eggman had destroyed, the poor little guy was just a hyper and excitable kid. Vector was swift and strong, but made good leadership decisions on the fly, that made him the perfect second in command for Knux.

Even though the battles and adventures, a few new members managed to swell the ranks of the Chaotix crew.

First, there was Ray the flying Squirrel. He was basically a sidekick to Mighty the Armadillo, that they rescued during their first caper at the Newtronic High zone. The shy little fellow worked as a messenger and courier for the team, as the overprotective Mighty would rarely let him enter a fight.

Then, there was Honey the Cat, a fashion designer whom the group had met at the fighters tournament. She had entered the tournament to promote her clothing line. She took a shine to Mighty, and decided to stick around with the team for awhile.

Also, there was the bandicoot girl, Tiara Bobowski. The daughter of one of the world's greatest doctors, Professor Gazebo Bobowski, she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps as a healer. The Chaotix ran across her, when they were hired to find a cure for the deadly Doom Virus. After helping Knuckles and his crew with their mission, she decided to stay with the crew as their doctor. She enjoyed caring for her teammates... especially Espio. Eventually, Knuckles found an old magical echidna scepter from Athair's apothecary for her to wield; one that a skilled physician like herself could use to heal wounds.

Life had changed so much for Knuckles; going from the sole inhabitant on his home, to sharing Angel island with seven other friends. It was hard for the guardian, at first; trying to remain stoic and stay off by himself at the emerald shrine, while his 'friends' were busy having a cookout nearby, laughing and joking among themselves. Where once he had an excuse not to venture away from the island for too long due to the master emerald's safety, he could now look towards one of his friends holding down the fort, while he was free to go down to the surface with the others. All this time spent with others; Sparring with Mighty, Sitting around and listening to tunes with Vector, gliding around through the trees on the island with Ray and Charmy when they explored; it was a very different existence than the one he had envisioned himself trapped in due to his guardian duties.

But it was not an existence without unhappiness and sorrows.

There were many villains that Knuckles and his Chaotix fought; the slithering crime boss Lord Sidewinder and his super powered criminal gang, the disease creating supervillain Doctor Plague (the one whose virus-causing schemes brought Tiara onto the team), and even Team Hooligan, the Chaotix's rivals on the dark side. But an old specter from Knuckles's past arose, as his childhood friend, Wechina, came roaring back into his life with an attack on Angel island, and an attempt to steal the Master Emerald. Dr. Zachery Finiteivus- a name and a person the last guardian did not recognize, began launching attacks on Angel Island. At first, it started with waves of guardian robots, gizord-like contraptions that the Chaotix could easily dispatch when they all worked together.

It was after two or three of these attacks, that Knux began to ask questions;

"These robots... I thought Eggman sent them, but the designs look almost... echidna-like." The guardian thought aloud.

"Awww, don't worry about it too much, Knux!" Vector reassured his friend, slapping him on the back. "The ol' doc just probably studied some more of your people's old tech!"

Knuckles tried to believe his scaly friends words were the truth. But on the fourth attack on the robots, a figure appeared leading the robots that shocked all of the Chaotix. A figure... that shook the guardian to his very core.

"No, no... this can't be..." the guardian muttered, too stunned to join his fellow Chaotix in attacking the robots. "I-I'm the last... I know I'm the last..."

"Hello, Knuckles." The albino echidna who stood before the guardian smiled, reveling sharp, pointed teeth. "It is so good to see you again, my dear old friend."

Knuckles only stared at him in disbelief. It was another echidna... even thought it was a very odd looking one. This meant... he really wasn't the last of his kind? The ramifications of this swirled around and around in his head, until Mighty yelling for his aid snapped the guardian back to reality. They managed to yet again drive off the robotic invaders from the island... but the knowledge of who was launching these attacks shook Knuckles to his very core.

Even as these attacks were ramped up by the pale echidna, things were worsening on the surface below. There were some cases the Chaotix were able to bust wide open; they teamed up with Echo the Dolphin, royal guard of the underwater city of Meropis, to save princess Undina from the pirates of the golden dawn. The Chaotix got a bit of a personal blow, when little Charmy's last friend from the hive, Bart the Bumblebee (Charmy nicknamed him 'Barfy') suffered from an overdose of an toxic flower nectar, sold to him by a dealer working for Clutch the Opossum. While clutch was able to bribe his way out of imprisonment, the actual dealer whop sold the poison to Bart did face justice, and get put away.

Knuckles would never forget the sight; of Tiara working frantically to save the little bee's life in her little makeshift clinic on Angel Island,while Charmy tried to talk to his dear friend.

"Bart? You ok, Bart?" The toddler bee asked, tears welling up in his eyes. "P-please get up..."

"I-I'm sorry, Charmy." Tiara told him, her eyes watering as well. "H-he's gone."

As Tiara covered the little bee's body up with a sheet, Knuckles couldn't figure out wither the other bee child or the bandicoot who had failed to save the little one's life was crying harder.

But as bad as things were for Knuckles and his little surrogate family, Dr. Finitevus was already out there, scheming and plotting to make sure that things were only going to get worse for Knuckles and his Chaotix crew.

"Bah! Those robots are useless in dealing with the guardian and his friends." The pale echidna muttered, scratching his chin. "If I want to take down the guardian and his friends, I'm going to need a fighting force of powerful deal with the challenge. It is time for Knuckles's Chaotix, to meet the power of Dr. Finitevus's Destructix!"

[Mobius_Historian]

The Chaotix Crew

It had been a very rough time for the echidna named Knuckles, his first year after Eggman's death egg crashed onto Angel Island, changing his life forever. But even with his encounters with the heroic hedgehog and his companions, things were about to get even more eventful for the last echidna of Angel Island.

After his adventures off of the island, Knuckles was ready for ready for anything. But when Clutch the Opossum, a 'legitimate businessman' from Westside Island, flew a plane up to Knuckle's home, and brought a business proposition to the last echidna. The criminal /entrepreneur invited the now-famous echidna to come visit his new island amusement park, the Neutronic High zone, as a publicity stunt. Feeling he needed a break from his guardian duties and adventuring, took the shifty rodent up on his offer. The guardian found several islanders had already taken up Clutch on his offer, and a mix of animal folk from all over the world were there, enjoying the park. Despite his instincts screaming at him something wasn't right, Knuckles ignored his instincts, and try to enjoy the park.

What Knuckles found out, almost too late, was the park was a trap to lure unsuspecting islanders in to a trap. Clutch was working with Dr. Eggman, and the park was a cover to catch islanders for the doctor to experiment on, as well as dig up some mysterious ancient artifacts on the islands, called the Chaos rings. Escaping from a trap called a combi-catcher, The last echidna of Angel Island managed to free several other islanders who had come to the park;the music and money-loving Vector the crocodile, serious and stealthy ninja Espio the chameleon, childish high-flyer Charmy Bee, and the strong and angry Mighty the Armadillo. After liberating these others, Knuckles spoke to the entire group saying;

"My fellow prisoners, we have escaped from the traps Dr. Eggman has put us in. We are free to again do as we wish. But perhaps, together, we can take on the well organized plans of this madman, and make things a littler chaotic for him!"

The others agreed, and they all fought together to free all of the other animal folk on the island, and recovered the seven chaos rings. Along the way, two truncoat badniks tried to help the heroes, but only managed to slow them down. Using the sling rings- an ancient echidna set of energy tethers connected to two handheld rings- the group except Knuckles split into teams of two, slinging their way through the evil carnival at the echidnas directions. As they worked together, the five of them found that they could accomplish far more together, than they could separately. And it was together they managed to fight their way through Eggman's badnik army across the island's many zones. In the end, they were confronted by metal sonic, who quickly absorbed all of the energy of the chaos rings. He transformed into a giant red form, later called Metal Sonic Kai, with a terrifying fanged together and under Knuckles's leadership, the team managed to bring the great giant down, destroying Kai's large body, dissipating the chaos ring energy, and reducing Metal Sonic back to his shriveled form.

"Hey man, we did it! we beat that big metal jerk!" Vector chortled. "That'll show Eggman who's boss!"

"Indeed, we have saved all of the islanders the doctor held prisoner here." Espio agreed. "We did a lot of good here today."

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Charmy agreed, bouncing around excitedly in the air. "We did it, we're heroes!"

"We were able to save my little buddy Ray from the combi-catcher, and that's good enough for me." Mighty pointed out. "Perhaps we could do more good as a team, than we could separately."

And so, taking their name from Knuckles's earthlier speech, the team became the Chaotix. After delivering Clutch to the authorities and dumping metal Sonic's carcass into the ocean (where Eggman would later recover him from), Knuckles took the group back to Angel Island, where they would operate for the next year as a team under the last echidna's leadership. Besides protecting the Master Emerald and Angel Island, the group would often act as detectives and mercenaries on the surface, defeating bad guys and helping those in were masny such cases they solved, and many such battles they fought.

One particular adventure was when Breezie the Hedgehog, a business woman who controlled several casino's and media outlets, acquired a chaos emerald. Deciding to try and make a profit off of the gem, Breezie announced the World Fighters tournament, a series of arena battles, with the emerald as the prize. Knuckles had himself and Espio enter the tournament, where they fought against the likes of Team Hooligan (a little gang of thugs put together by the jerk of a jerboa, Fang), and Metal Sonic. While all of the fighters were duking in out in the tournament, Charmy, Mighty, and Vector went after the emerald by fighting their way past Breezie's security systems. In the end, it was Metal Sonic that flew off with the Emerald, and Sonic who went up to fight Eggman on the death egg mark 2 and defeated his e-mech in battle. But the chaotix played their part in that battle, helping to secure another defeat for the mad doctor.

Another great adventure, was the Chaotix fighting an army of evil metal duplicates of sonic and his friends from the future. Called the brotherhood of Metallix, this force was metal sonic, metal tails, metal knuckles, Metal Amy, and an army of Mecha Sonics- all led by a large new version of Metal Kai- invaded the past to ensure their a long and complicated series of events, Knuckles and his Chaotix smashed the brotherhood of Metallix in a string of battles, erasing them from future existence entirely by changing the present.

"Man, it seems we're always helpin' everybody out, even if we don't get paid." Vector grumbled once. "Just once, when somebody offers reward money, I wish our fearless leader Knux would just take it!"

"What would we do with money up here on Angel Island?" Mighty asked his crocodile friend. "We have all the food and resources we need up here, and we're in this to help others, not just score a ring payday!"

His team Members were the oddest of friends anyone could have asked for; Mighty was a traveling adventurer, who had been along on what had possibly Sonic's second battle with Doctor Robotnik, where the mad doctor captured and tried to experiment on them. He was a peaceful, scholarly guy, who loved reading and training. But get him riled up, and his super strength could punch a hole through a mountain. Espio was a ninja and spy from the Sunrise islands to the far east; his ability to go indivisible to spy and stealth were a valuable asset to the team, as well as his cool and collected nature. Charmy, the lone survivor of a hive colony that Dr. Eggman had destroyed, the poor little guy was just a hyper and excitable kid. Vector was swift and strong, but made good leadership decisions on the fly, that made him the perfect second in command for Knux.

Even though the battles and adventures, a few new members managed to swell the ranks of the Chaotix crew.

First, there was Ray the flying Squirrel. He was basically a sidekick to Mighty the Armadillo, that they rescued during their first caper at the Newtronic High zone. The shy little fellow worked as a messenger and courier for the team, as the overprotective Mighty would rarely let him enter a fight.

Then, there was Honey the Cat, a fashion designer whom the group had met at the fighters tournament. She had entered the tournament to promote her clothing line. She took a shine to Mighty, and decided to stick around with the team for awhile.

Also, there was the bandicoot girl, Tiara Bobowski. The daughter of one of the world's greatest doctors, Professor Gazebo Bobowski, she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps as a healer. The Chaotix ran across her, when they were hired to find a cure for the deadly Doom Virus. After helping Knuckles and his crew with their mission, she decided to stay with the crew as their doctor. She enjoyed caring for her teammates... especially Espio. Eventually, Knuckles found an old magical echidna scepter from Athair's apothecary for her to wield; one that a skilled physician like herself could use to heal wounds.

Life had changed so much for Knuckles; going from the sole inhabitant on his home, to sharing Angel island with seven other friends. It was hard for the guardian, at first; trying to remain stoic and stay off by himself at the emerald shrine, while his 'friends' were busy having a cookout nearby, laughing and joking among themselves. Where once he had an excuse not to venture away from the island for too long due to the master emerald's safety, he could now look towards one of his friends holding down the fort, while he was free to go down to the surface with the others. All this time spent with others; Sparring with Mighty, Sitting around and listening to tunes with Vector, gliding around through the trees on the island with Ray and Charmy when they explored; it was a very different existence than the one he had envisioned himself trapped in due to his guardian duties.

But it was not an existence without unhappiness and sorrows.

There were many villains that Knuckles and his Chaotix fought; the slithering crime boss Lord Sidewinder and his super powered criminal gang, the disease creating supervillain Doctor Plague (the one whose virus-causing schemes brought Tiara onto the team), and even Team Hooligan, the Chaotix's rivals on the dark side. But an old specter from Knuckles's past arose, as his childhood friend, Wechina, came roaring back into his life with an attack on Angel island, and an attempt to steal the Master Emerald. Dr. Zachery Finiteivus- a name and a person the last guardian did not recognize, began launching attacks on Angel Island. At first, it started with waves of guardian robots, gizord-like contraptions that the Chaotix could easily dispatch when they all worked together.

It was after two or three of these attacks, that Knux began to ask questions;

"These robots... I thought Eggman sent them, but the designs look almost... echidna-like." The guardian thought aloud.

"Awww, don't worry about it too much, Knux!" Vector reassured his friend, slapping him on the back. "The ol' doc just probably studied some more of your people's old tech!"

Knuckles tried to believe his scaly friends words were the truth. But on the fourth attack on the robots, a figure appeared leading the robots that shocked all of the Chaotix. A figure... that shook the guardian to his very core.

"No, no... this can't be..." the guardian muttered, too stunned to join his fellow Chaotix in attacking the robots. "I-I'm the last... I know I'm the last..."

"Hello, Knuckles." The albino echidna who stood before the guardian smiled, reveling sharp, pointed teeth. "It is so good to see you again, my dear old friend."

Knuckles only stared at him in disbelief. It was another echidna... even thought it was a very odd looking one. This meant... he really wasn't the last of his kind? The ramifications of this swirled around and around in his head, until Mighty yelling for his aid snapped the guardian back to reality. They managed to yet again drive off the robotic invaders from the island... but the knowledge of who was launching these attacks shook Knuckles to his very core.

Even as these attacks were ramped up by the pale echidna, things were worsening on the surface below. There were some cases the Chaotix were able to bust wide open; they teamed up with Echo the Dolphin, royal guard of the underwater city of Meropis, to save princess Undina from the pirates of the golden dawn. The Chaotix got a bit of a personal blow, when little Charmy's last friend from the hive, Bart the Bumblebee (Charmy nicknamed him 'Barfy') suffered from an overdose of an toxic flower nectar, sold to him by a dealer working for Clutch the Opossum. While clutch was able to bribe his way out of imprisonment, the actual dealer whop sold the poison to Bart did face justice, and get put away.

Knuckles would never forget the sight; of Tiara working frantically to save the little bee's life in her little makeshift clinic on Angel Island,while Charmy tried to talk to his dear friend.

"Bart? You ok, Bart?" The toddler bee asked, tears welling up in his eyes. "P-please get up..."

"I-I'm sorry, Charmy." Tiara told him, her eyes watering as well. "H-he's gone."

As Tiara covered the little bee's body up with a sheet, Knuckles couldn't figure out wither the other bee child or the bandicoot who had failed to save the little one's life was crying harder.

But as bad as things were for Knuckles and his little surrogate family, Dr. Finitevus was already out there, scheming and plotting to make sure that things were only going to get worse for Knuckles and his Chaotix crew.

"Bah! Those robots are useless in dealing with the guardian and his friends." The pale echidna muttered, scratching his chin. "If I want to take down the guardian and his friends, I'm going to need a fighting force of powerful deal with the challenge. It is time for Knuckles's Chaotix, to meet the power of Dr. Finitevus's Destructix!"