A word of warning! This fanfic of mine is very emotional and it pays a lot of tribute to folks who gave me super neat ideas. I'd like to thank BigUnnervedTrialTaker, PrussianOpalOfferingPear, FrankAndRanchToucan, for inspiring me. Also special thanks to my best bros Wah and Eggy!

Unwanted Destiny

Chapter 1

He gripped the chain link fence and lifted himself up off the ground. He coughed and held his side where he was definitely punched the most. He slowly reached for his book bag and started on his way home. His name was Wraith the Hedgehog and he just had the roughest day of his life.

First of all, he woke up to find that his alarm clock was unplugged and that meant it stopped working. He was so late for school and it just so happened to be on the day of the chemistry midterm. He hurried to get to school and had to skip breakfast (the most important meal of the day, you get me?) He tore his favorite jacket on the way out the door. It got caught on the railing on his front porch. As he ran to school as fast as he could, he tripped accidentally and spilt his backpack's contents into a mud puddle and some jerk ran over it on his skateboard with the wheel part. Wraith was angry and stormed into class. He felt he did horribly on his chemistry exam and at lunch he totally forgot to get food so he went hungry the whole day, especially without his breakfast.

Then the fateful bad events happened when he was walking home from school. He was jumped by three thugs. These were the Rough Blood Gang and they beat up Wraith and took his wallet. And that's about everything that led up to this point for Wraith. Wraith trudged home and flicked on the lights. He opened up his cell phone and called his best bro Nails the Hawk. Nails said that he got a new video game and couldn't talk because he was too excited. Wraith roared at him and threw his phone at the wall and it shattered to bits.

"Maybe my life would be better if I was gone forever. The world is horrible!" he screamed.

He decided to go outside for a walk. He wanted to go windowshopping because his wallet was stolen by thugs. He saw a neat jacket that looked even cooler than his, since his was ripped badly that morning. The jacket was black with red flames and the tips were colored bluish. "Hot," he punned as he walked into the store. "I need to layaway this badboy!"

"Watap, moron!" said a familiar and oh-so unpleasant voice from behind him. It was Murray the Armadillo. He was the jerk of Starlight High where Wraith went to. He was like a bully to Wraith and he was always acting high and mighty at the wrong times. Murray shoved the "moron" out of the way and talked to the cashier. "Gimme the sweet jacket in the window. It's hot!"

"Hey! That's my line!" cried Wraith. "I had come to this store in order to put it on the layaway. That's because my wallet got stolen and all of my credit cards."

"Well, you snooze, you lose, moron!" laughed Murray. He paid for the whole jacket and slipped it on. "This is a really good looking jacket on me, but it would look better with no sleeves that expose my solid 'ceps!" He quickly tore off the new jacket sleeves and Wraith could not believe his eyes. Murray laughed and flexed in the mirror with a devilish grin. "This is the life! I will pick up more chicks than ever in these sick threads."

"I want that jacket, moron!" yelled Wraith at Murray.

Murray was very mad to hear Wraith use his catchphrase. He turned around and roundhouse kicked Wraith in the face. Wraith crashed into the wall containing the purses and makeup and this made the girl customers run away because the fight was really scary and Murray was a very formidable foe who Wraith would not be able to beat because Wraith was puny in comparison to someone of that mass and figure. But Wraith got up anyway and clenched his fists tight and angrily because he was mad at the bully Murray for hitting him. He was also embarrassed and fed up with his extremely bad day. Murray grunted and started to leave, but Wraith ran in and tackled him to the ground and beat up his face. Murray was really mad now and punched Wraith in the gut. Wraith spat out a lot of blood and fell to the ground and was defeated. Murray snorted and wiped the blood off his own face and left. Wraith was doing horrible.

Wraith decided to go home. He was thoroughly disappointed in himself for losing two battles in one day. He did not know why he was so bad and having bad days. He did Karate and learned ninjitsu from the legendary Espio the Chameleon. He should be better in this but today just wasn't being his to claim for his own.

Right before he entered his house, he heard a strange noise outside of his house. He saw the bushes in the front shake like they made the noise that he heard outside of his house in the dark. He cautiously and carefully approached the bushes and punched them with his weaker arm (because he was afraid if it was a kid and he might actually seriously injure the poor sap that was obviously playing hide-and-seek innocently). He heard the bush say "ow!" That was a sign of nothing ordinary.

"Get out of that bush or I'll punch you again," Wraith commanded professionally.

"You punched me square in the noggin and that is really uncool, man!" said a reptilian-like character.

"Who are you?"

"That's classified info, man. But I'll tell you anyway because I was sent to find and talk to you."

"You were sent by whom?"

"My name is Kit the Tortoise. I'm from an organization called the Empire and we're looking for very tough guys to put it bluntly."
"Well, you've come searching for a very bad option to add to your Empire because I am incredibly weak. I thought I was strong but today I lost twice in practically a span of only four hours. I'm a loser and have no use outside of dwelling on my own misery."

"That's where you're wrong, man. Us folks down at the Empire have been endowed with a great power to boost our strength. Let me know if you change your mind and give me a call."

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. Here's my number." Kit wrote his number on a notebook sheet and handed it to Wraith. He then said his goodbyes and left down the road. Wraith was really puzzled at this point. Then he heard a loud noise and saw that his house was on fire.

"Oh no," he cried. "My sister and mom are in there too!" He tried to go inside, but the door was flaming and prevented him from entering. Wraith heard his mom and sister screaming inside and he was sure that they were dying of third-degree burns and this meant he had to save them before they did die in that horrible way that he could only imagine. He summoned up all of the strength he could muster and rammed into the house and broke through the wall. He saw his mom and sister in the corner and they were trapped between walls of flame. Wraith called out to them, but it was no use. The world faded before him and he passed out for good.

When he woke up he was in a large white room and his arms and legs really felt bad. He wondered where his mom and sister were and if they were all right. But then two freaky guys decked in doctor gear walked up to him with a syringe. They stuck the syringe in his arm and told him that everything was going to be fine and his mom and sister were okay too. Wraith breathed a sigh of relief and the doctors left for more medical equipment. Suddenly Kit appeared out of nowhere behind Wraith and he was wearing a doctor's outfit too.

"Kit, where am I?" said Wraith.

"We brought you to the Empire when we saw the explosion. This is the work of the evil ones we have been trying to stop. They saw that you had really powerful lineage and were trained under wise masters in the martial arts. Now they want to kill you and save themselves from quite the predicament," said Kit.

"Who are they?"

"They're called the Treasure Hunters and they want to take over the world with their vicious hidden powers."

"What can they do?"

"Most of them are excellent shapeshifters and get stronger powers from transforming so. The one who got your house on fire was none other than that slippery slimeball Alex the Marmoset. I can't believe he slipped past my radar!"

"Me too! Now my house is totally gone for good."

"You can stay here at Empire, but only on one condition. You have to fight alongside us."

"I will totally do it since my home was destroyed and that was the last thing I loved that was not taken from me but was that day."

"Good. Because if you didn't agree we would have had to exterminate you. We gave you something that belongs strictly to us and we do not want it to ever get into the wrong hands."

"What?"

"The syringe contained fluids that were injected into your bloodstream. These will make you able to transform like all of the soldiers here in Empire."

"Empire inhabitants can transform too?"

"Yes, because they are all rebels who revolted against the Treasure Hunters because they saw the evil of the organization and wished not to be a part of something so criminal and unjust because they thought that justice was better and it was not good to do things that they did not believe in in the first place."

"That is a very good explanation. I will totally make sure I help these guys win and kill all of the bad forces in Treasure Hunters."

"Good. But we must first train your powers so you can transform and fight properly. Our training starts tomorrow, so hurry and rest up or else you won't be ready because I plan on making your first course awfully daunting and difficult, man."

Wraith took off to sleep very quickly and slept the whole night very well. He woke up and noticed he was free from the bed he was confined to earlier. Wraith knew he had heard from Kit to begin his training as a new member of the Treasure Hunters. He did not want to not do this offer because of him and his family's sake. He saw a guy off in the distance and he wore a really sleek jacket. Wraith was a funny guy who was a bit too obsessed with nice-looking jackets and he just had to get a closer look. He approached the jacket-wearer and introduced himself.

"So you are Wraith the Hedgehog? Kit told me about you a lot and sees potential," said the new guy. He flicked the toothpick out of his mouth and took off his sunglasses. "My name is Knuckles the Echidna and I've been training homeboys here at this society for years on end now."

"I'm interested in you," said Wraith interested.

"I have news and more. First of all, you seem like an okay kid. I'm glad about that, but not about other things. Kit said you were beat badly by bullies twice in one day and I think that's pretty 'meh' of you. The data provided by the info labs said you were trained by the wise Espio the Chameleon. Now Espio is a good friend of mine from way, way back. I know all about him and he's the only guy I've ever known that I could never beat in a true fistfight. To hear you failed so badly despite his education given to you, I am disappointed. Also I don't see it in you. Are you really worth my time?"

"I'll do anything to prove my worth. My family depends on it."

"Okay…" Knuckles crossed his arms and grunted. "I'd like to see some trueness to what you say. Come with me to the combat room and I will see for myself." Knuckles walked Wraith to the combat room and they worked out stuff for a bit. Knuckles sat down like a big shot on one of the gym benches and pointed to a large machine. "If you punch that thing with all your might, I can see just how strong you really are for a fella of your regard."

Wraith punched the machine as hard as he could and was feeling sweaty after the punch because he screamed loud while doing it. "How was that?"

"That was no good, son," said Knuckles as he himself approached the machine. Knuckles punched it and it shattered in several places. "See? And I was holding back a ton of power. You need to try harder if you think I would like it."

Wraith was shocked. "But I put everything I had into that one punch."

"You didn't do well. I thought you were trained by Espio. Give it one more shot."

Wraith punched the machine again.

"Holy poop!" shouted Knuckles. He saw that Wraith's second punch did nothing, but he noticed something going on that he kept to himself.

"What is it, sir?"

Knuckles sat back and put in another toothpick to his mouth. "Nothing, kid," he lied. Although the punch was not too great, I can definitely tell Espio trained you. His mark is imprinted in your signature style of rearing back before delivering the blow."

"But the punch was wimpy compared to yours."

"That does not matter, son. You will get better and better, but only with my help." He guided Wraith to the dojo on the west side and the two sparred for the rest of the day. Knuckles tried to use as less attack power as possible. He didn't want to accidentally shatter any of Wraiths bones due to his monumental strength. By the end of the day, though, Wraith was badly-beaten and bruised like a banana. He went to bed to prepare for the next day's grueling training tasks. When Wraith woke up, he was still very tired. However he was awoken by Kit. Kit told him the next training session with Knuckles was now at 4:00 AM. Wraith didn't like these schedules, but he realized it was really important.

Today Knuckles gave Wraith some weighted clothes and had him practice simply dodging his punches. Wraith was pretty bad at all this and was failing horribly because he was never good at dodging to begin with.

The next day Knuckles made Wraith lift weights. He had to start with 30 pounds which wasn't at all hard for Wraith. But then Knuckles immediately switched to 1 ton! Wraith was really bad at this and Knuckles made him practice just this regimen all day for the whole rest of their time together.

The next day, Wraith had to go through a tough obstacle course that shocked him with lasers multiple times. He also good kicked in the rear by the two guards at the end. These guards were under Knuckles's command and they fought just like him, but were really much tougher than Knuckles when he held back. The guards fought with all their might and this really hurt bad.

"I can't do this, Knuckles," Wraith confessed on the fifth day of training. "The training is too hard for someone like me."

"Quitting is for losers, kid. We need to be tough or else we die. Got it?" said Knuckles who was mad.

"You keep pushing me too far and I can't do things. Give me something easier to start out with."

"I need to push you like this. It's the only way to do it correctly."

"Why?"

Knuckles walked to the other side of the room and grunted. "We have to be right in doing this. You might not understand now, but you will later. If I just let you go through a simpler training thing you would be too weak in the future. I need to teach you this way in order for you to unlock your own true potential. Trust in my words."

"Okay, but I need you to talk to me."

And so for the next few training sessions, Wraith was utterly annihilated by the trials, but he kept to continuing his passion for getting better at fighting and dominating the unfair games Knuckles set up for him. Knuckles was starting to see progress as he was making a man out of Wraith that was better at being a warrior of the Empire.

By the twenty-first day of training, Wraith was shaping up to be very good at fighting like Knuckles and Knuckles gave him a jacket. "This is so cool!" said Wraith. "I love jackets." The jacket was made of leather and it was a deep black and shining hue. It had the design of the emblem for the Treasure Hunters on the back but crossed out to show rebellion and heart and there were a lot of pockets. The collar was nice too and suited to look very well.

"You deserve it because I think you passed all the basics of being a great one at this fighting game. Now comes the real challenging part, homie. Can you think of handling it fully?"

"Sure boss!"

"Nice. But you need to be very careful and heed my words. This will be our last challenge that I will do to you, got it? Meet me tomorrow night at midnight. Be on time and don't be late."

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. Just do what your boss says to you to do."

It was very hard for Wraith to sleep especially that night due to his excitement and his awareness of the unknown occurrences of the future. He knew all too well that he should not be sleep deprived or else he could face problems with being good at paying attention; especially what Knuckles will say. Knuckles could say the most important keys to his training and this was especially deserving of great adherence. Wraith knew he should get well enough of rest in order to achieve whatever Knuckles told him to do on the next midnight. He quickly went to bed and made sure his socks were off. His socks itched him and he wore them when he wanted to stay up late for the late-night animes that he enjoyed that his mom did not like because there was too much blood and the people did no things except for loud yelling. This type of TV program was where Wraith learned much about true potential and heroic friendship. He also learned how to fight from these shows because the fighters in the animes were highly trained with their punching and kicking unlike Murray the Armadillo. Wraith took the socks off because he would have itched at them all night as his past failsafe. By keeping his socks off, he would not itch and would therefore have more time to sleep instead of trying to not be annoyed by the particular fabric.

Wraith also slept on his right side because he liked to sleep on this side when he didn't want to think. He saw less of the room this way and this was good. This is because if he saw more of the room, he may be tempted to think about the items in the room like the lamp. If he thought too much, then he would most definitely keep himself up all night and this would be so irritating. Knuckles would probably kill him if he didn't show up in an attentive mood during the next midnight. If he didn't, then Knuckles would certainly fire him and that meant death too.

He woke up the next morning and trained his guts out once again at the dojo. He got dressed in his new awesome coat that Knuckles got for him and tried out the walking to the place where he was supposed to meet Knuckles. Knuckles had left him a note earlier for help and Wraith was good at reading so he followed it and the instructions that had been written by Knuckles in the paper. Knuckles was very bad at handwriting though, so Wraith struggled to interpret the bulky echidna's catscratch.

He met Knuckles on the dome-like roof of the Empire's HQ. He approach Knuckles and saluted to affirm his presence. Knuckles flicked away his toothpick and tossed back his hot dreadlocks. He walked toward Wraith and saluted to him. "It is good you came and did not wimp out like your dad," said Knuckles with an awkward gaze.

"You knew my dad?" shouted Wraith quietly in severe shock of surprise.

"Well, it is a deathly long story, son. Let's not focus on that now. We need to put you through the final test."

"What do I have to do, sir?"

"You're here. Look up at the sky." Knuckles pointed to the moon. Wraith looked up at the glowing white galactic orb himself. This continued for a few seconds until Knuckles let out a large and long audible sigh of discontent. "Well, that solves that…"

"What?"

"It's nothing. You passed the final test… But it wasn't what I was hoping for. Turns out I really can't help you out anymore."

"I can train with you, right? I want to learn more strong ways to get better at fighting bad forces."

"It isn't a thing to do, my dude." Knuckles shuffled back inside the HQ and left Wraith in the dark and moonlight.

Wraith was very confused and looked up at the moon. "What is wrong with me?" he thought aloud to himself quietly. "Did I do something wrong? If so, why did Knuckles say I passed the test? Where do I go from here if he will refuse to mentor me further? I must be quick to answer these now sooner than later." Wraith then heard a big scream come from inside the HQ and it sounded like a person inside the HQ in deep trouble of unnatural sorts. Wraith quickly ran into the HQ and tried his best to find out what was happening and what he could do to save the fear from people haunted by it.

Wraith kicked down the door with his strong kick and ran hurriedly into the fray that was going on inside. Wraith freaked out when he saw the big mess that was about to become his greatest nightmare. What stood before Wraith and was cornering two of the workers of the Empire's was a beast.

Wraith focused on the beast and what it looked like. It was a dark blue coloration and it had sharp shoe bottoms like the ones you would see on soccer cleats. The beast had sharp fangs on the mouth and the tongue was dripping drool that appeared quite volatile as well. The beast had evil-looking eyes and an invisible unrelenting spirit for tenacity. Wraith could tell this newcomer meant business and not the good kind. The beast had really big arms and the fists were even more vicious as the claws each contained glistened in the lights that had yet to be broken by its rampage. Wraith was pretty freaked out by how this intimidating creature looked and he had never seen anything quite so divinely terrifying. It was very scary in the sense that it had the features, but it also acted out on each of the features in such a way that could only be described as "monstrous". The beast turned to Wraith and Wraith gulped. The two workers who were huddled in the corner were much too scared to run away and could only watch as the great being slowly plodded toward Wraith. Wraith was truly shaken up and too scared to think of a good strategy to save both himself and the workers. Wraith saw that the beast had its claws ready to attack at any moment. Wraith knew he had to act fast or else everyone was doomed. Knuckles might have not seen any potential in him for some reason, but Wraith new he had true potential and now was as good a time as any to unleash just what powers he had hidden reserves of.

Wraith was a Hedgehog, so he was naturally fleet-footed. He waited until the last second for the beast to rear up and strike and quickly dodged the swipe from the right-handed claws. He dodged and ran across to the other side of the room and beckoned to the two workers to leave as fast as they could. The two workers agreed and ran. Once they made it out of the door, Wraith turned to face the beast one-on-one. Wraith picked up a loose dowel from one of the broken chairs the beast had wasted. He spun it around like a hotshot to try to lure the beast to take him on. Wraith didn't like where this was going, but taunting the guy was better than just standing there and waiting for the inevitable. The beast lunged at Wraith and the Hedgehog lad swiftly dodged again and managed to stab the beast in the back with the pointy part of the chair dowel. The creature roared in pain for a moment before it snatched the dowel out of its back and tossed it away. There was a lot of blood coming out of the place it got hit and this was bad for him, but maybe a good thing for Wraith. Wraith picked up the pace and grabbed two more dowels. He knew how to attack with two hands better than just one, so he would do a good job better since he did so much damage with the last strike. If his calculations were correct, this next attack would cause double the damage, and Wraith could just keep trying this same tactic over and over again to win eventually. He was willing to make the sacrifice as tedious as it was to repeatedly use the same attack. Not his style, but doable.

But there was one small aspect that Wraith had yet to count on. He needed the beast to be stupid enough to fall for the trick that many times. Much to Wraith's disdainful surprise, the beast did not strike a second time, but instead stood up straight and crossed its arms. Wraith backed up a little bit to prevent an impending attack.

"You fight like Knuckles. He must've trained you," said the beast.

"Omigosh! You can talk!" screamed Wraith.

"Of course I can. I'm not a mindless lycanthrope. I'm actually a hedgehog just like you. You see?"

"I had no idea! Who are you and why are you here?" Then Wraith put it all together. "Your fur color and the way you stand all haughty like that. You can only be one person. Someone who is a very terrible individual who I don't want anything to do with." Wraith started fuming as he stared down at the beast. His hair was started to blow a round mysteriously due to the lack of wind in the house. The last time Wraith felt this way was ten years ago when his father left his family and never returned. Except this time Wraith could feel his blood inside moving weird and it was affecting everything about him. Wraith was literally angry on all levels of his very being and was angry inside and outside. He felt like he had just lost all of his control and the next thing to happen would be exactly the most violent outburst that could come out of him. Wraith roared and gripped the sides of his jacket. He bent down onto the ground and felt his insides go crazy. He felt like someone had just shoved a leaf rake down his throat and he had just begun digesting the wooden part. He felt like a hard-boiled egg that just came out of its shell and wanted to murder the chicken that was its own. Wraith felt like a person who had just seen a firefighter forget to do his job and now every person inside a building got hot. Wraith stared down at his hands and saw that he was mad. He could feel how inside himself he was beginning to change into something demanding.

The beast from across the room grinned in excitement of how bad Wraith was doing and lunged over to attack. But Wraith looked up just in time and jabbed the beast with tremendous force. The beast spiraled into the wall and was hurt very badly.

"You must be Sonic the Hedgehog…" said Wraith icily. "My name is Wraith the Hedgehog." He slowly raised his arms and felt his body shooting power. He felt too strong and too dangerous to let anything live now. "I'm your son."

To be continued…

WOW! So this is only the first chapter and I am super excited to bring ya'll more! Look forward to the next chapter because I have lots of cool plans for Wraith, Sonic, and Knuckles! But just what is going on with Wraith now? Hope he's still on our side!