Sonic and related characters are copyrighted by various companies. I ask that

you please contact me about using my characters beforehand and receive my

permission. Thank you for your cooperation.

Chapter 1: The Lonely Wanderer

Brass was an odd echidna by any standards. He was smarter than other echidnas, taller than most echidnas, and his fir was a lot darker than most. It was almost the color of blood.

His tribe shunned him, for they thought him to be evil. After many years of tension between him and his tribe, he was cast out for crimes he didn't commit. To add insult to injury, the forced him to wear gloves of a copper color to show that he was impure, unworthy of trust.

The color of my fir and my gloves may be different, Brass thought, but I still feel pain like any other living thing on this cruel Mobius. As he walked his lonely path of life, all he hoped for was one who understood him.

He traveled to a new place every day, never looking back, never returning to the same place twice. As he traveled, he wore a brown traveler's cloak, always wearing the hood, to hide his face. He recalled being chased out of many cities because of the 'evil spirits' living within him. He had learned to forage and hunt, to pitch and collapse his tent in minutes, and that people in crowds were not to be trusted.

One day in his travels, he went to the city known as Woods Edge. After wandering the streets for a short while, he had found enough money to buy a generous lunch, a rare thing for this echidna of the forest. After some browsing, and much haggling, he bought a roasted wood pigeon, three apples, a small salad, a small flask of cider, and a fresh, warm cherry pie for dessert.

He found himself a quiet hillside to eat his wonderful feast. He had just begun eating, when he sensed something behind him. He studied the foliage behind him, but nothing was there, so he turned back to his lunch, ignoring the feeling, and dismissing it as such.

He carved a slice of the breast of his wood pigeon, and was about to slip this delicious morsel past his starved lips, when he sensed it again. He turned to look, but saw nothing but the sun rising through the trees.

Wait, he said to himself, with the wood pigeon once again hovering near his lips, it's already past noon, and the sun is high in the sky. So he left his lunch for a moment to find this mysterious light source. It didn't take long for Brass to find the brilliantly shining chaos emerald, in the hollow of a tree. It was dark, yet it gave a bright, yet dark light from the perfect facets of its sides. As he dropped down to the ground, with emerald in his hands, he studied the emerald. Aside from the glow, a black mist swirled within its crystalline structure. While watching the hypnotic fog, the light intensified and a beautiful resonating woman's voice came from the emerald. The voice loud, yet it wasn't audible. It was as if Brass was speaking to himself, and this scared him.

I bid greeting to thee, wanderer of the woods. I am not one of the seven known chaos emeralds. However, I am an emerald of power. I am the only remaining of a set of three super emeralds, known as the anarchy emeralds, which contain the power of all seven emeralds within themselves. I have waited a long time for one worthy of my power to come along. I have chosen you to be my vessel.

Brass dropped the emerald and staggered back. The emerald, instead of falling to the ground, stayed where it was, slowly rotating in the air.

"What do you mean 'vessel'! Don't I get any say in this!"

By vessel, I mean my power will become you, and you become it. You will be the only one who can truly control the power of the last surviving of the anarchy emeralds. As for a choice, your heart already yearns for this power. Do not fear young one. You are not the first, and you will not be the last.

"Why do you need a new vessel, and a living one at that?"

For the powers of darkness are coming to overtake the world, and a hero is needed. This crystal cannot hold my power for much longer. My great power cannot be contained within this un-living object. It cannot adapt. Your heart is worthy and yearning for a chance to prove itself. Your heart is ready and willing, but, in order for you to have my power, your mind and body must prove themselves. Are you ready? Better yet, are you willing?

Brass stopped at that. I do want to prove my innocence, but is this right? Is this the only way? He didn't know.

You may have one day to think this over. Should you accept, you shall be whisked away to be tested of worthiness. Should you decline, you will forget all of this, and Mobius may cease to end. I advise you think it over carefully. I trust you'll make the right decision. Until then, warrior, I bid thee farewell. In twenty-four hours, then…

The emerald dimmed, and the voice quieted leaving Brass in the silence of the woods with the emerald, once again, in his hands. Brass sat there holding the emerald for a long while trying to decide his next path. He decided to finish his lunch and decide later. The only problem was that when he returned to his hillside, he found his lunch had been stolen.

If someone had come by and thrown it away thinking it was litter, Brass would have understood. However, this was no clean-up accident. Bones, lettuce, and pie crust lay everywhere, taunting him with their taste that he would never know. What was left had long been defiled by the insects. Brass wasn't angry at insects for following their instincts.

He went to find if anything was salvageable. All that was untouched were the apples. He woefully gathered them up and was putting them into his pack, when he noticed a footprint in the sparse grass. After some searching, he found more tracks, leading somewhere into forest.

He finished putting two of the apples in his sack with the emerald, and set off following the tracks. After only ten minutes, he had found the dwelling of the lunch thief. He approached the small house as the sun set to the west, over the highest mountains.

Before he decided on how to punish the thief, he wanted to see if punishment was needed. He walked up to the door and knocked three times. He heard some scuffling and low mumbling within the house, then silence. After a while, the door opened and Brass turned to find the barrel of a shotgun pointed at his throat

"Back off or I'll blow your head off! I mean it! I've got some pretty high-powered buckshot in here, and I'm not afraid to use it," said an old squirrel behind the gun.

"Easy, sir. Let's not do anything we'd regret. I'm going to take a step back. Here I -"

BLAM!

Brass felt the buckshot pierce his stomach. It felt like a thousand pieces of fire had bored themselves into his abdomen. He put his copper-colored glove to his burning stomach, and found it covered with blood. As he fell to the ground, Brass had but one thing to say as death slowly clouded his vision. He reached into his pack, pulled out the emerald, and said, "I'm sorry. Unngh. It looks like I can't accept your power. I'm sorry"

If you accept now, I can save you. Tell me, do you accept the power of the last surviving anarchy emerald until you until you separate it's power, once again, into three vessels?

"Yes, I accept. I accept your gift and thank you from the bottom of my failing heart."

Good luck to you. Mobius thanks you. Beat back the darkness, embrace the light. Goodbye my friend.

Brass went limp. He struggled to keep his sight as he heard the beautiful voice of the anarchy emerald for the last time. He felt his breath leaving his body, his heart slowing, and the icy fingers of death crushing his mind and body, when he felt a subtle warmth in his right hand. Slowly at first, he felt warmth emanating throughout him. Then suddenly, like fire in gunpowder, he felt the anarchy emerald's power surge into him. He regained his sight to see a blackness creeping up his arm, and out onto his body. While he watched the darkness creep up his arm, he looked to it's place of origin. The anarchy emerald in his right slowly lost it's swirling mist of power, forcing it into him, turning his fir black as night. The light dwindled, and finally went out.

Brass could feel the bullets being pulled out of him, could feel the flesh resealing itself as he healed. He sat up and rose to his feet, and kept going for a short while. As he levitated, he said in a resonating voice, much like a male version of the anarchy emerald, but it was very audible this time.

"That was the wrong thing to do." Brass said, his voice echoing back from the trees as the gun tore itself into thin metal strips, leaving the butt in the crook of the old squirrel's arm. "Very wrong, indeed."

The old squirrel tried to slam his door, but found that after he slammed the door, it continued the motion and flew off its hinges and into the woods. Brass still floated near the door, but now power could be seen like plumes of steam coming off him. The old squirrel ran to his cowering mate to protect her.

Brass flew into the room, grabbed the squirrel by his throat, and pinned him to the wall. "You seem to have a fair amount of wealth here, yet you steal food from those who have none. You don't deserve to live."

"Please, please," the squirrel pleaded, "I'll give you money, food, anything, just don't kill me!"

"I'll take the money, but not for me. Are you unaware of the children of this town? How they suffer daily because they have no food? Give this money to the children, let me stay here for the night, replace my meal, and you may have your pitiful life."

"Okay, okay, just let me down!"

Brass released the old squirrel, and left him massaging his neck. He walked through the house and found a couch, laid down, and went to sleep. He dreamed a very strange dream. In this dream, he was talking to the anarchy emerald.

That was wrong of you, to treat the old squirrel like that. Understandable, but wrong.

"I know, but he stole my lunch! Not to mention shooting me! What would you have done?"

I would have left it at the "That was the wrong thing to do. Very wrong indeed." part.

"So what has happened to you now? Have you ceased to exist or something?"

No. I have become one with you. I dwell in the back of your mind. You needn't do anything but think to yourself and I will speak.

"Does this mean you'll be telling my thoughts to everyone?"

Fear not, I speak to you only, for none others are worthy.

"Well, now that I have your power, what do I do? Where do I go now?"

I will tell you in time child. For now, you must sleep. Rest well, and beware what is offered to you by the darkness. Tomorrow, we must test your worthiness .

So, what do you think? Did you like it? Regardless, I'd like to know your opinion. Please review it and share your opinion. I'm still open for suggestions if you have any. If you want to email me my address is Feel free to contact me and send any random thing you want.

The one commanding your attention for the moment

-Swifftalon the Almighty