It was a relatively uneventful day in Echidnopolis, the people walked by the many stands selling goods. The News Stand man was playing a Sitar, the Baker was outside yelling "FRESH BAKED ROLLS!" and the fruit Vendor was shaking his fist in the air at some kid who had almost destroyed his cart shouting, "AYYYYYYYY!". Of course this was only the street level. Where we want to be is the Sub-Level, where the Black Market is. It is here we find a mysterious figure in a brown cloak inspecting the wares. "Ahhh, fine sir!" The owner of the stand called to him, "How may I help you? The stranger spoke with a rough voice, gravely and imposing, "I'm looking for something that might help me to, trim the tree." He said slipping some rings into the vendors' hand. The Vendor smiled and whispered, "Come with me into my tent, I have just what you're looking for, Guardian." The Vendor slipped into his tent with, "the Guardian" following. "In here" the Vendor said holding a box, "is the answer to your problem. This little baby will make your "Tree" problem go away for good." "The Guardian" paid the man and took the case saying, "When the time comes, your people will be liberated from the slums of this city." The Vendor bowed to him and said, "Thank you guardian. My people owe you many thanks." As "the Guardian" left the Market he said to himself, "I can't believe these fools think I'm the guardian. It's really pathetic." And with that he slipped away into the night.
We now go from the lowest point in the city to the highest, where we find the true Guardian meditating. Knuckles sat on top of a spire meditating over recent events and the upcoming Festival, complete with a big parade. "This is all too much for me, first my mom says she is going to marry Wymancher, then I go to a dock to think it all over and Julie gives me a kiss out of the blue! What is the world coming to?" He stands up and decides that he should probably go out and find his friends before doing anything else. With that he jumps off the building and begins to fly down dodging a variety of Streaking Pasha models and some of the Jumbo Video Screens before landing on a gargoyle of the Aurorium. Walking in between the wings of the Gargoyle he came to a spot that only a select few could reach. "Espio, how's it going?" Came the Voice of Mighty the Armadillo from around the corner. A reply came from the Chameleon, "Not good. I haven't heard from Knuckles in a few days, Julie has been getting antsy and she seems to think I can bring him back." Another voice popped up from a certain Croc, "Ahhh let the witch worry, I'm sure that Knuckles will return soon. Unless that last time they saw each other she took care of him and is worried that someone's gonna find out." Knuckles saw this as the perfect opportunity to appear, "You all know I wouldn't go down that easy." "KNUCKLES!" Was the resounding voice of Vector in reply, "Man we thought you were dead!" Knuckles simply pushed him down on the couch he and Espio had snuck up there last week, "If I was dead could I do that?" Mighty just grabbed his hand in a vice grip handshake, "Man are we glad to see you! So much has been going on since you went with your Grandfather to wherever you went! We went to a carnival, Charmy went home to become a prince, I got food Poisoning and started to chase birds that weren't there, Espio threw up, Charmy started singing a song, and Vector sat on his lazy ass-!" He stopped as Vector covered his mouth. "Some things are best left unsaid apparently." Knuckles said with a laugh. He began to walk back to the gargoyle to look out over the city when all of a sudden an alarm sounded somewhere nearby. "Strange, that's an alarm for a jewelry store, not a target the Dark Legion would hit." Knuckles thought to himself. Even with this fact he jumped down to investigate the alarm. As he got closer he saw that this wasn't a robbery, no vehicles were around the building, and there was no sign of forced entry. Walking inside the first thing he noticed was the hole in the ceiling, the second thing the motionless body in the middle of a display case.