Chapter one: School

"Wake up my little light bug; you're going to be late for school."

Knuckles opened his eyes and saw his mother, Miaya, looking affectionately down at him.

"Evelo ay, mi'e," Knuckles greeted his mother in the tongue of the angels.

Miaya picked the young echidna off of his bed.

"Can I where the crystal flower mi'e?" Knuckles tangled the chain, which held the golden four pointed flower, around his fingers.

"You will when you're sixteen, light bug," Miaya said.

"But that's so far away," Knuckles pouted, "I'm only six."

"Which means its your first day of school," Miaya put her young son on the ground, "Now go get ready."

Knuckles walked swiftly out of his room, when he crossed the threshold of his door everything went dark.

"Hello light bug," Knuckles heard cruel laughter around him; that was definitely not his mother.

"Show yourself," the young echidna held up his fists that were covered by his great grandfathers spiked gloves (his great grandfather was also known as Knuckles.)

"Do you really think you can stop me?"

Knuckles shivered at the cold voice, then felt freezing claws encase his head.

"Your just a mortal," The claws lodged themselves in Knuckles' head and he screamed.

Knuckles woke with a start, and just managed to stop himself from falling of the Master emerald's shrine.

"What a crazy dream," Knuckles shook his head trying to remember how it went, but failed, "Oh, well."

"Hey, Hey," A small, red, bird flew right into Knuckles' chest and made a show of hugging him, because he wasn't big enough to give Knuckles a real hug.

"Robin," Knuckles brushed the bird of angrily, "Get off of me!"

"O.K. daddy," Robin said happily, perching on Knuckles' head.

"And quit calling me that," Knuckles shook his head violently, but robin managed to hang on, "Sometimes I wish I would have just left you in that storm!"

"No you don't," Robin said cheerfully, "You know you can't live without me."

"I'd love to try," Knuckles pried the little bird off his head and threw it, but it came right back to him like a boomerang, "I hate you."

"I love you too daddy," Robin said.

Knuckles growled at the little bird, but nothing fazed the scatterbrained thing.

"Hey Knuckles," Sonic called from the bottom of the shrine, "I have something I need to tell you!"

"You don't have to yell," Knuckles said back.

"What?!"

Knuckles groaned, and jumped down from the tall shrine in two bounds.

"You have to stop doing that," Sonic said, suddenly a Knuckles' side, "I freaks me out."

"Maybe you should stop running so fast," Knuckles said irritably.

"Wake up on the wrong side of the shrine, did we?" Sonic laughed at his own joke.

"What do you want," Knuckles asked.

"What," Sonic said, "do you have something important to do?"

Knuckles clenched his fists angrily, "you said you had something to tell me, so tell me!"

"You could say pleas," sonic said, "here."

Sonic handed Knuckles an envelope.

"What is this," Knuckles asked.

"Read it," Sonic said.

Knuckles read the envelope, "It has your address on it," he said.

"No read the letter inside it," Sonic said exasperatedly.

Knuckles took the letter out of the envelope and read it, "The president wants everyone to go to school."

"Humans and animals alike," Sonic said angrily, "I can't spend all my time locked up in a classroom; I'm a free sprit, and you, you have-"

"I think it's not a bad idea," Knuckles said reading the letter over again.

"Wha…" Sonic looked at Knuckles, nonplussed, "but what about the master emerald?"

"I've been all around this world with you and the master emerald wasn't hurt," Knuckles said coolly, "the only thing I'm worried about is it getting lonely when I'm gone," Knuckles gave the letter back to sonic, "so I don't mind in the lest."

Sonic looked at Knuckles in astonishment.

"Did you come to tell me this just so I could agree that learning is a stupid idea?"

"No," Sonic said quickly, "let's go."

"See sonic, this place isn't that bad."

Sonic and Knuckles walked around the campus of tree hill high school with the rest of the new arrivals taking the tour of the school.

"There are big places to hang out here," Knuckles was saying, "and they even have a track team."

"All I want to know is what their mascot is," Sonic said.

"Maybe a pine tree," Knuckles observed.

"Or a sycamore," Sonic said seeing where this conversation was going.

"I don't know," Knuckles scratched his chin, "Maybe it's the Tree Hill-"

"Toads!" Sonic said bursting into laughter.

Knuckles tapped Sonic on the shoulder.

"What," Sonic asked wiping a tear off his face.

Knuckles pointed to a toad kid looking at him heatedly.

"Oh," Sonic cleared his throat sheepishly, "sorry."

The kid turned and walked away, muttering angrily.

"Let's keep going," Knuckles started walking again.

"Hey, stop it, Help!"

Knuckles looked for the source of the plea, and saw three human thugs shoving something into a locker.

"Poor little puppy," one of the thugs said.

"We need to put it into its kennel," said another.

"Stop it," the victim cried.

"Hey!" Knuckles ran to the victim's aid, "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"

One of the thugs turned around, "Oh look," he said, "Another beast."

"Dose he need to go in a cage too," Another thug said.

The victim, that Knuckles saw was a female dog, looked at him pleadingly.

"Let her go," Knuckles put up his fists,

"Oh you wana fight," The head thug asked.

"You're asking for it," Knuckles said maliciously.

"O.k. then," the head thug came towards Knuckles.

Knuckles punched the thug in the stomach when the thug doubled over Knuckles pulled his head down onto the hard concrete, "whose next?"

The two remaining thugs looked at each other, and ran for their lives.

"Are you O.K?" Knuckles asked the girl, helping her out of the locker.

"Yes thank you," the girl said, she looked down at the motionless thug, "Is he?"

"Oh no, I just made him lose his balance," Knuckles explained, "the worst thing that would happen would be slight brain damage, but I don't think he'll have to worry about that, I'm Knuckles by the way," Knuckles held out his hand.

"I'm Spencer," the girl took his hand and shook it, "it's such a pleasure to meet the muscle of the sonic team."

"You know who I am?" Knuckles said in astonishment.
"Who doesn't," the girl said, "You're Sonic's right hand, the muscle of Sonic team, it wouldn't be the same without you."

"Nice save Knuckles," Sonic was suddenly at Knuckles' side.

"And why weren't you here," Knuckles asked.

"I thought you could take care of those thugs, takes one to know one right?"

Knuckles growled at Sonic, but Sonic just smiled.

"Oh, my, gosh," the Spencer said, "You're Sonic the hedgehog!"

"The one and only," Sonic said proudly.

"Can I take a picture with you," Spencer took a camera from her backpack.

"Why not?" sonic said happily.

"Could you take the picture," Spencer held the camera out to Knuckles.

"Sure," Knuckles said.

"Get doubles," Sonic said to her, "I don't get many pix of my fans."