A/N: Hello and welcome to my little fic, I hope you enjoy it. Now for a little introduction; This is an AU (Alternate Universe) story that I've been working on for the past five odd years. It's a combination of story-lines, characters and other elements from the various Sonicverses, mixed together with a Sci-Fi setting and plot of my own.
Important note: I have changed the species of several characters have been changed for the purposes of this story, though I have tried to keep their personality intact. A quick word of warning, if you don't like character deaths you might want to skip this story.
In the Ashes of Mobius
Prologue
It all began so very long ago. A lifetime ago in fact. If only we'd seen the signs earlier, then maybe it would all have turned out differently.
But they had all been blinded by their pettiness, their own short sighted ambitions and grievances. If only they could have opened their eyes to the dangers that surrounded them.
If only I could have made them see.
If only...
- - - -
"Sonic, run." Knuckles shot a glance over his shoulder at the blue hedgehog.
"I'm not leaving you, Knuckles," he said defiantly.
"We can't both outrun them."
"B-but, Knuckles...," Sonic began to protest.
"There isn't any time."
The massive humanoid machines stomped closer, their blood red armour glinting evilly in the dim light of the corridor.
"Go now!" Knuckles shouted at him.
The machines were closer now and began to fire at the pair. The badly aimed bolts of energy melting great ragged holes into the smooth metal wall and floor.
The hedgehog hesitated for a moment before his gaze fell to the floor. "I'm sorry," he said sorrowfully, then he turned and ran. His rapid footfalls clanking hollowly on the metal grating of the floor as he fled.
The blood red echidna smiled as he heard his friend get away. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. It's my fault we're in this mess," Knuckles said to himself as he turned to face the oncoming machines.
The hulking robots loomed even closer now, and he loosed the remaining ammo of his rifle into two of them. He didn't need to aim, they were so close it would have been impossible for him to miss even if he tried. They sparked and jolted as they crumpled to the ground. Now empty, he threw his useless weapon aside, clenching his fists he charged at the remaining machines.
They raised their blasters, but Knuckles was too fast. His spiked fist impacted the chest armour of the closest machine, shattering it. It dropped to the floor with a resounding crash, amidst a shower of sparks and spray of oil.
The other two turned, bringing their rifles to bare on the lone echidna. One of them fired, but Knuckles ducked, and the bolt turned the last machine's leg to molten slag, throwing it off balance and sending it crashing to the floor.
Knuckles brought his fist up, smashing the machine's hand and sending it's blaster rifle tumbling through the air. But he could do nothing as the machine brought it's leg around with a speed that belied it's size, sending him flying to the wall and knocking the air from his lungs.
His heart thrummed in Knuckles' ears and his lungs burned as he gasped to regain his lost breath. He could hear the machine moving closer, readying to deliver the final blow. But he was unable to move. The muscles of his arms and legs ached, they screamed in protest and refused to listen to his commands. They just hung there limply, uselessly.
"Knuckles, don't ever give up!" He heard his old mentor's voice echo in his mind.
"G-Guardian?" he spoke in a daze, managing to prise open his heavy eyelids.
Instead of the Guardian's wrinkled old face looking down at him sternly, as he expected, he was greeted by the cold inhuman stare of the machine. Deep shadowy pits where eyes should have been, looked back at him blankly as its metal-toothed maw seemed to sneer at him.
The machine raised it's destroyed and sparking wrist above the wounded echidna and brought it crashing down with a tremendous force that shattered the metal panelled wall.
With his last ounce of energy Knuckles had rolled away from the blow and now struggled to his feet. He steadied himself against the wall as he stood, still feeling light headed.
He barely had time to react as the machine now thrust it's undamaged arm at Knuckles. The echidna leaped into the air and landed on the large limb gracefully. Now overbalanced, the machine plunged face first to the floor.
It's head made a satisfying crunching sound as Knuckles crushed it beneath his booted foot.
The hallway was suddenly steeped in a deathly silence broken only by the echidna's ragged breaths and thundering heartbeat.
"Maybe... I can make it after all." He turned to leave, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a noise. The screech of metal against metal.
Before he could turn, a loud cracking noise, like a twig being snapped, echoed through the hallway. A heartbeat later a searing pain exploded in his shoulder.
"Aaah," Knuckles cried as he dropped to the floor. He rolled onto his back in time to see that the machine whose leg had been blown off had managed to get back up, balanced rather precariously on it's remaining leg.
In what would have been really quite comical in any other situation, the bulky machine hopped slowly and rather clumsily towards the fallen echidna.
An intense burning pain radiated from his shoulder and he turned and saw a black and charred hole smouldering there, but it was not bleeding. The intense heat from the laser bolt had cauterised the wound. The sickly smell of his charred flesh clung to his nostrils, making him feel sick.
Crash!
The loud noise brought Knuckles' numbed mind back to the danger at hand. The machine got closer with every moment. He franticly looked around for anything he could use. The blaster!
Crash!
The large blaster rifle one of the machine had dropped lay just inches away from Knuckles. He reached over for it, his fingers brushing the smooth metal of the weapon, but it was just out of reach.
Crash!
Through gritted teeth, he dragged himself towards the weapon.
Crash!
He would never be able to lift the massive blaster, even if he wasn't injured. But he managed to balance it's barrel on his knee, and take a shaky aim at the lumbering mechanised soldier.
Crack, the rifle spat a glob of red light as the recoil slammed the weapon back into his chest, Knuckles heard the cracking of braking ribs and stars swam in his vision. But the final machine fell to the floor, a smouldering heap of charred and half melted metal.
He pushed the crushing weight of the weapon off his leg and tried to stand. But he was unable to and he staggered to the wall.
The battered and bloodied echidna slumped against the cold metal wall, the sound of the gun still ringing in his ears. Blood poured down his face, leaving a coppery taste in his mouth and his vision blurred. The numbness in his shoulder had begun to spread and his fractured thoughts were bleeding together, making it hard to think.
Several feet away lay the remains of the five machines. Their armour crushed and melted, exposing their sparking innards and allowing their vital fluids to flow freely across the floor.
Knuckles smiled at his achievement, his breathing becoming laboured.
He began to laugh, even though with every breath his body was wreathed with pain. "The old Guardian always said my temper would get me in trouble one of these day. Looks like he was right." His hollow laugh echoed throughout the dead hallway.
"I hope that Sonic managed to get away at least," he thought as he heard the explosions reverberating in the distance, growing closer with every second.
He felt the corridor lurch violently beneath him, and could feel the warmth of the flames wash over him as the hallway was engulfed by the purifying fire. Knuckles shut his eyes tight and prayed to the goddess that it would be quick.
"I'm so sorry, Tikal, Lara-Su. Please forgive me."
Two years earlier...
Knuckles found himself drowning amidst the noise and bustle of the train station.
"Whooo," the train he'd just moments ago stepped off of screamed as it struggled to pull itself and its fresh load of passengers from the station. The old steam train contrasted sharply with the sleek high-technology of the city that surrounded it.
Through the throng of impatient people Knuckles fought, he was pushed and shoved as they hurried to departing trains or to one of the taxis that lined the road outside. If only they knew who he was, he thought sourly, then they wouldn't be so rude.
"Guardian," he was greeted by an echidna in a simple white robe, an acolyte of the Order of the Emerald. One of those, like himself, who had dedicated their life to the defence of the Chaos emeralds and those which had been blessed with their guiding light and protection.
"The Guardian of the Grand-Metropolis shrine has sent me to escort you to him, Guardian." He bowed low before Knuckles. After years of training the young echidna was being apprenticed to a guardian, at last.
"Lead the way," Knuckles said as the acolyte took his bags. He was used to the crotchety old monks of Hidden Palace looking down at him and constantly scolding him for disobedience, being treated with such reverence was a little unnerving.
Through the crowds of the station they emerged into the bright and sunny street of the city. A cool spring breeze blew, dampening the effects of the glaring sun.
Knuckles stopped on the steps of the station and looked out onto the city, he was just glad to finally be home after so many years. After finishing nearly a decade of quiet training in the great dusty halls and the long silent corridors of that ancient temple, he was glad to be finally free.
"We'll be to the shrine in a few minutes, Guardian," the acolyte said as he approached a waiting car.
"No, I'd prefer to walk." Knuckles took a lungful of the cool air that was at once so familiar to him, yet at the same time alien. "It's been a long time and I'd like to look around a bit."
"Er, um," the acolyte hesitated, unsure at what to do. He looked up and down the crowded street. The young Guardian's safety was of paramount importance, but he couldn't disobey an order. He gave a sigh before continuing, "as you wish, Guardian." He loaded the bags into the car and told the driver to go on ahead.
"You don't have to follow me, y'know. I know the way to the shrine."
"It is my duty to make sure that you arrive safely, Guardian."
"Well, if you're sure..."
Knuckles walked through the memories of his lost youth. So much had changed, yet so much had remained the same. Buildings had sprung up where once there had been fields of green. Others had disappeared, leaving behind dusty and barren land in their passing.
The streets were so much more crowded than he remembered. The traffic was backed up and angry honking echoed the streets, and the pavement was packed with people, all in a hurry to get somewhere.
The strong smells of spices and cooking meats wafted from the many restaurants that lines the streets, creating a heady and chaotic mix of flavours that hung thick in the air. But not even that could hide the pungent stench of decay that rose up from the streets around. The city was like a corpse that had been left to rot under the sun. No one seemed to notice, or perhaps they simply didn't care.
The city and its people had changed a lot since the war, but a darkness still lingered. The wounds that it had been left with hadn't healed, they had festered into an infection that was spread unwittingly. Carried throughout the city and beyond, in the hearts and minds of its people.
But hatred is as insidious as it is infectious, always shifting, always changing, lurking in the darkest recesses of the soul. Blinding people to the real dangers of the world. By those practised in it, it could be used as a weapon. One more powerful and deadly than any that could be forged by the hands of mortals. With it, you could destroy the universe.
Knuckles eventually arrived at the emerald shrine, where the city's Chaos emerald was kept. The pearly white tower jutted awkwardly from the ground, like the tooth of some predatory beast that had broken off and become stuck in the flank of its prey.
"You're late," greeted the voice of the old Guardian as Knuckles entered the emerald chamber, deep within the great ivory tower.
"I'm terribly sorry, Guardian," the acolyte said as he bowed deeply. "I humbly beg for forgiveness."
The Guardian simply waved the acolyte away before turning his attention to Knuckles. "Hmm, so you're what they've saddled me with?" The aged Guardian cast an appraising look over the young, and more than a little nervous, echidna that stood before him.
"Lets see what you can do then," he said. "Start with running a diagnostic on the power relays. Something is blocking the power flow and the militia commander is breathing down my neck to get it fixed."
"Yes sir," Knuckles answered and he dove into the work, eager to prove his worth.
He traced the problem back to the primary power relay on the east side of the city. An overload had caused it to automatically shut down, but the records showed that there had been no overload. He activated the relay, only to have it shut down again ten seconds later.
hmm, he disconnected the east side from from the rest of the city and switched it to backup power. He spent the next few hours inspected every line and connection to and from that relay, but could find nothing wrong. It should all be working fine.
"I'm sorry, Guardian. I-I can't find the problem," Knuckles said with disappointed sigh. It was his first day and he'd already failed.
"Knuckles, don't ever give up!" the old echidna said with a frown. "Look again, the answerer is right in front of you."
Not really believing the old echidna, he had another look. Wait... the primary relay's regulating program had been locked into a loop, counting its power flow over and over until it read as an overload and the fail-safe kicked in. But that couldn't have been an accident, could it? It must have been done on purpose. He looked back at the Guardian, his stony face giving nothing away. Had this all been a test?
"Well done. Not every problem you will have will be so clear-cut as replacing a fuse. Don't be bound by your training, in the real world an infinite number of problems can occur, and if your mind is closed you may not see it.
"Remember, you not only have the emerald to safeguard, but the city as well," Guardian said as he dismissed him. knuckles wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the the faintest flicker of a smile on the Guardian's stony face as he left.
It had been a long day, and it was early the next morning before he had time to report to the city's militia commander and get assigned his lodgings.
Finally Knuckles arrived at his small room, an officers quarters at the main militia barracks. The small room was bare, filled only with a bed, a cupboard and a computer monitor that was set into the wall. He found his bags at the foot of his bed.
He collapsed on his hard bed, exhausted. But something nagged at the back of his mind, he sat up and stared at the computer monitor that was set into the wall. He sat there for a time, watching his reflection in its surface. He should call her, he knew, but he didn't dare. After so many years, he didn't know how she would react.
He sighed and from one of his bags he removed an old and faded photograph. From it stared back his smiling face along with his sister's – Tikal - locked forever in that moment. He remembered the day it had been taken, right before their lives had been shattered like some cheap pot.
He realised was scared, but of what? That his sister had changed from the smiling girl that he remembered, just like their father had? Or maybe it was that he himself had changed, without even realising?
He shook his head, he was just tired. He lay back on the hard bed, letting sleep finally claim him.
Maybe he would call her tomorrow...
Disclaimer:
Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are owned by Archie Comic, DiC, Egmont Fleetway and SEGA.
Scenario and original characters are owned by myself, Rau.