Knuckles looked up from his spot up against the Master Emerald and saw an old woman he didn't recognize, walking up the steps to the shrine. Knuckles raised a brow and stood up, as she made her way up the steps. The woman was an elderly wolf woman, with snowy white fur, one icy blue-grey eye, and a shaggy, dark grey muzzle and ears. Knuckles noticed that one of her eyes were missing, and was just a dark void, which slightly disturbed him. She had very withered arms and legs, her face was pale and wrinkly, and carried a small, whicker basket with her. She looked quite homely, and Knuckles was repulsed by her appearance.
She stopped and just looked at him from the top of the steps, making Knuckles' skin crawl as she stared at him with that missing eye.
"Who're you, and what're you doing on my island?" he demanded to her.
"Your island?" she asked him, with an old, shaky voice. "Doesn't this land belong to nature? You did not claim it when it was first created, what makes you think it's yours?"
"This island belonged to my people, and I was told to guard it and keep it safe! Ergo, this is my island!" Knuckles smartly replied. The woman did not seem amused, and sat down at the edge of the steps, to Knuckles' dismay. "Are you just going to sit there?" he asked her.
"I am weary from walking up these steps. I will not be here but awhile," she replied. Knuckles growled in his throat and turned his back on her, looking at the Master Emerald. It was quiet for a few moments, before the woman spoke again.
"I must say, that's a very lovely gem you have there," she said kindly.
"Are you here for a reason?" Knuckles asked bitterly, still not looking at her, "Or did you just come here to annoy me and freak me out with that face of yours?" The woman seemed slightly hurt by his harsh words, and placed a withered hand to her chest.
"Well, I may not be beautiful, but at least I don't defile myself with cruel words," she replied. Knuckles huffed.
"At least I don't make whoever sees me want to run for shelter," he muttered in response.
"My my, you have an awful attitude young man! It's no wonder you're all alone up here!" the wolf girl replied, appalled.
"I'm alone up here because I have to be! It's my duty to guard," Knuckles replied, not in the mood.
"And why do you think that'd be? Why do your friends never come and visit, huh?" she asked him. Knuckles' stomach twisted slightly; how did she know he even had friends, he'd never told her.
"…Your attitude drove them off, perhaps? Maybe they've grown tired of your constant criticism, as if you're the greatest and no one can measure up to you?" the woman continued. Knuckles was creeped out and pissed off, and he didn't want to deal with this woman anymore. He turned to face the woman again, his brow furrowed in anger.
"You know, you've got a lot of nerve, coming up here and criticizing me like that! For your information, I am greater; I sit up here all day, guarding this thing all day and all night without breaks, while the others just laze along with their normal lives! Sonic and the others just can't accept that I have so much more responsibility than them! Now get your ugly ass off my island before I kick you off myself, I don't care why you're here, but I'm not in the mood for it!" Knuckles threatened.
"You should really watch what you say, someday that cocky mouth of yours is really going to get you in a lot of trouble," the wolf warned him.
"Please, I can say whatever I want!" Knuckles replied. "…And you shouldn't be talking to me about cockiness! Have you even met Sonic the hedgehog?" he asked her. The wolf frowned at the echidna, and she silently reached into her basket.
"I'll warn you one last time; watch that mouth of yours or you'll have to face the consequences," she said, pulling something wrapped in a cloth from her bag. Knuckles huffed in reply, not exactly feeling terrified of her words of warning.
"You don't scare me; why don't you go crawl back into the grave you came from and leave me alone?" he said, and he turned from her again. But to his dismay, she did not drop it or leave.
"Young echidna, I am ashamed by your behavior," the wolf woman said, "…The echidnas used to be a gentle, peace-loving people. But I can see that you have been corrupted," she spoke. Knuckles huffed again.
"I'm corrupted?" he exclaimed, "I guess you haven't looked in a mirror lately."
"You have made a bad first impression, young echidna! You act as if beauty is the only thing in this world," she said to him, walking up to him.
"Well…" Knuckles cockily remarked, "It's one of the few things…"
"You have a year to find someone to love you…" the wolf started, and she grabbed him by the wrist. The moment her skin came in contact with his, a huge, black marking grew up the inside of his arm. This black, tattoo-like marking reached up to the bend of his elbow, and was shaped like a tree, with 12 white flowers growing on it. Knuckles gasped in fear, exclaimed "whoa," and pulled his hand away fast, looking at it.
"…Before the tree blooms again," she continued, as the 12 white flowers on the tree closed back up. "Find someone who can love you for who you really are, before the flowers bloom in exactly one year."
"What the hell?" Knuckles muttered under his breath, as he looked at the marking, breathing heavily in fear.
"The words 'I love you' will break you from the spell… or stay like this forever," she said in a whisper.
"What?" Knuckles cried, before froze where he stood, as her whisper echoed in his ears and he felt a chill run down his spine.
Then, the woman backed away from him, and in the reflection of the Master Emerald, he saw something truly horrifying. He walked up closer to the emerald, as he muttered, "no… no no," in fear. His entire face had changed… somehow. He had scars and stitch marks running all over, up and down his face, and his skin was two different colors, one pale tan and one dark tan, as if someone had just stitched two completely different colored skin patches onto his face. His fur was a dark, blood red instead of the vibrant red it used to be, and his dreadlocks were gone, replaced by uneven strands of short hair that stopped at his cheekbones. He had unbelievably long bangs that hung over one side of his face, and a small set of black horns that protruded from the top of his head, right before a pair of long ears, which resembled donkey ears, on his head. Knuckles slowly touched his face in horror, and realized that his hand had been replaced by four large talon-like, black claws. He looked down at the rest of him, to find scars and black tattoo-like markings along the rest of him as well. His arms had stripes of black and white across them, and he had a longer, thicker, almost dragon-like tail with black spines that ran down it and got longer on the end. His mouth was agape, and he stared at his reflection.
"Oh my god… no, please no," he muttered.
"As aggressively unattractive outside as you are inside," the woman said from behind him. Knuckles whirled around to face her, to find that she had vanished into thin air. Knuckles looked back at his reflection, panting heavily.
"You have a year to find someone who'll love you… or stay like this forever," the woman's voice echoed in his mind, as he stared at his reflection, appalled, and fell to his knees. "…Or stay like this forever… stay like this forever… stay like this forever… forever… forever…" her voice kept echoing that whisper in his head, as he looked down at himself, breathing heavily, scared out of his mind. That's when he realized how dizzy he felt. The world around him spun, and he saw the old woman's face appear in front of his eyes, then flash away. He closed his eyes and shook his head, but the echoing words and her appearing and disappearing face wouldn't go away… until he blacked out.