A Guardian's Duty:
Prologue:
Something wasn't right. Blaze sat up in her bed and listened in her dark room for the slightest out-of-place sound. It seemed a ridiculous notion to suspect something was amiss in the castle considering the sheer number of guards patrolling the halls and grounds while the Royal Family slumbered. Still… The princess felt an unfamiliar presence within the labyrinthine palace.
She decided to reach out and try to check on her charges, the Sol Emeralds. Concentrating her subconscious on the powerful artifacts, she pushed her senses to probe at the vault in which she kept the Emeralds. She struggled but couldn't detect their presence. The Emeralds!
She cast aside her sheets and leapt to her feet. She didn't bother to cover her body with anything more than her gossamer nightgown. The Emeralds were more important than her decency. She opened her door and tore down the hall, much to the surprise of the pair of guards posted on either side of her doors. They exchanged a look, peeped inside looking for danger, then seeing none, jogged after their princess.
Blaze didn't bother explaining her behavior to them, time was of the essence. She navigated the many corridors at breakneck speed, since she knew the entire palace like the back of her hand.
At length, they came to the throne room, and behind the tapestries camouflaging it, the vault doors. She slowed and looked around, but didn't see anyone except the two guards that had followed her. "Ma'am?" one, a heavyset panda, asked. "Is everything alright?"
"No. Something's wrong."
The guards searched the room from their vantage point, but couldn't see anything amiss. "Er, your highness? There doesn't seem to be any danger," the panda guard observed.
Blaze didn't answer and jogged up to the vault. The door was sealed, but… She input the combination as the guards came up beside her. The lock slammed and the thick iron door slowly swung open. Blaze stepped inside. The Emeralds glowed in their cases and appeared untouched.
Blaze went to one and touched the glass. Maybe she was overreacting and maybe she was getting all worked up about nothing. "See, milady? The Emeralds are safe; perhaps you should return to your chambers and finish your beauty sleep?" the panda suggested.
Blaze nodded and prepared to leave. As she turned though, she saw a third figure standing behind the unaware guards. Noticing her startled expression, the guards whipped around and drew their blades. "Identify yourself, stranger!" the panda challenged.
The newcomer ignored the guard's words and took a threatening step forward. The second guard, a hulking gorilla charged the figure but got smacked away with apparently no effort. The gorilla fell back, knocked over a few cases, and didn't get back up.
"Ricardo!" the panda cried, but maintained a defensive stance in front of his princess even though his sword arm trembled. "I warn you! Stand down!" His voice shook.
The figure rushed forward and caught the panda by the throat as it smacked the sword out his victim's hand. The guard struggled in the vice like grip, but couldn't break it. The lack of air forced him to pass out. The intruder let the panda's limp form sink to the floor. He looked at the princess, seemed to smile, but turned away towards the gems.
Blaze came to her senses and summoned up a ball of fire and launched it at the thief. The thief felt it approaching and dodged the attack. It rushed forward and grabbed Blaze in a similar fashion to the panda guard, but bashed her against the stone wall as well. Dazed, Blaze could do little but struggle to stay conscious. Her attacker held her up against the wall for a while longer then released her. She fell to the floor but couldn't bring herself to her feet. She could only watch helplessly as the thief collected her Emeralds from their cases.
She tried to call for help, but all that came out was a croaking whisper. The thief now had all seven Emeralds and exited the chamber. She knew what he was going to do, but was powerless to stop him. The figure looked in once more and then shut the door. The heavy metal bolts slid into place, effectively trapping her in here along with both her guards. Unable to stay awake any longer, she faded into blackness. The last thought that crossed her mind was, 'That thief looks familiar… Where have I seen him before?'
Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins:
Knuckles lay peacefully on the altar in front of the Master Emerald watching clouds pass overhead as he did most days. It was times like these when he actually wished for trouble if only for a little excitement. With any luck, that batgirl would come and try to take the Emerald again today. He chuckled a little to himself at the irony that thought made. He would guard the Master Emerald with his life, yet he would welcome the repetitive thief's attempt just for fun.
Knuckles continued his musing. Rouge wasn't too bad. She could be downright unhelpful and aggravating when she wanted, but there were rare times when he didn't mind her companionship. If only once in a while, she came just to see him and not to… He blushed as he broke that train of thought. Should he really be having thoughts of her like that? It created feelings inside him he didn't want to acknowledge.
His job was a lonely one. One he held in high regard and very well knew his importance to the world, even if others couldn't see it, but he hated it. It tied him down. If he ever left it for even a short visit to friends, by the time he got back, it could be gone. He could sense it from wherever he happened to be of course, but if an emergency were to arise, he'd be too far away to do anything about it. So on the island he stayed.
A crackle alerted him. Normally, a fairly typical sound like snapping wood wouldn't mean much to him, but since he was itching for action anyways, he decided he should check it out on the off chance an intruder was on the island. He stood up, preparing to go down into the jungle for a look when something engulfed in flames launched itself out of the dense woods directly at the echidna, leaving a trail of scorched vegetation behind it.
"What the?!" he shouted as he instinctively held his hands up and steadied his stance. The figure collided into him and the heat burned his hands. With a sharp cry of pain, he pushed the thing away and started to shake his hands vigorously. The flaming aura around the intruder diminished revealing a lavender colored female cat. Knuckles was shocked to say the least.
"I know you! You're that catwoman!" he recalled. "What are you doing here? And why did you attack me?"
"For your information my name is Blaze, and I came here to get the Sol Emeralds back from the one who stole them!" Without further words being said, Blaze quickly dashed forward sending a kick flying straight for Knuckles.
Knuckles reflexively shielded his face with his arms, blocking the kick, as Blaze quickly jumped back. This was quite ironic to him, he was usually the one that blamed others of stealing the Master Emerald from him; He had never been accused of stealing something. Nevertheless, he knew that he didn't steal the "Sol Emeralds" that she spoke of. Blaze up dashed up the altar again towards him, instead of blocking this time, he sidestepped. It was too late to correct his mistake, what he had dreaded happened.
Blaze slammed straight into the emerald, shattering it into hundreds of pieces that went flying everywhere. "No!" But it was too late.
Knuckles knew what would happen next and it was imminent. Right on cue the island started shaking violently as it plummeted straight towards the sea. Knuckles grabbed Blaze's hand and glided over to a nearby pillar which he dug his fist into. He quickly wrapped the arm he had grabbed Blaze around her and held her close while struggled and hissed. There was a sickening pause just before the island hit the water, sending out enormous tidal waves.
While the residual chaos energy from the shattered Master Emerald kept the island from sinking entirely, Knuckles let go of the pillar and dropped the ground. He sat Blaze down gently; he noted that she must have fainted when they fell.
He looked at his shattered emerald. Fortunately with all the pieces still being here, he could reform it with time. He looked back to the unconscious cat and sighed. It looked like Knuckles had another adventure ahead of him.
Author's Note: I renamed this chapter.