Chapter contains violence and blood. Story has now been deleted from Wattpad. Please enjoy this chapter and happy July! ^_^
3 - An Unexpected Solider and Pachacamac's Order
"What the-what is this place?", he said. "It looks like I'm still at Angel Island, but…", he continued. He paused when he bent over and slid his finger across one of the pillars that held the roof of the shrine in place. He rubbed his 2 fingers together to check for dust, and…
"Not a speck!", he said.
He turned a few times to see that this shrine looked pretty new and free of mold, compared to the older and moldier one that he laid foot on for so many years, although he still wasn't too sure where exactly he was.
"Maybe I went back in time…?", he wondered, then chuckled after realizing how ignorant he sounded. "Naw, that's ludicrous!", he chuckled.
He turned back to see the Master Emerald, which, ironically, was fully intact. He encircled it just to make sure every piece was where it was.
"No scratches, no cracks…", he mumbled to himself.
He looked all around the Master Emerald to check for that same light he saw earlier, but to no avail.
He placed his fists on his hips. "Well, I do know for sure that I can't go back the way I came…", he huffed in aggravation. He looked ahead to see something else that rather surprised him.
"What the-!", he jumped in surprised. He didn't realize that there were exactly 39 echidnas staring in his general direction the entire time. He slowly walked down from the shrine and through the gap of the 2 groups of echidnas, each containing 8 lines of 5, minus 1 line in the very back, which contained 4.
Knuckles began to feel uneasy as he noticed that each of their heads and eyes seemed to follow him wherever he went. "Why are they all staring at me? This is getting real awkward.", he said as a very light blush began to take over his face.
He observed the echidnas. All of them, minus himself, had pink fur with white markings. Some were tall and lanky, others were short and bulky, some wore a golden ancient necklace with a glistening sapphire gem embedded in the center, while others didn't, and all of them wore the same pink, gold, and blue shoes. They all had violet eyes and pointed knuckles, just like himself. All stood still and erect, with heads following Knuckles wherever he went.
The Knuckles Clan?, he thought to himself. But why is there so little of it?
His thoughts trailed off when he unintentionally bumped into someone. He was another echidna, however he looked strikingly different than the others. He looked slightly older than the army itself. He stood the tallest out of all the echidnas, including himself. He sported brownish-red fur with peach markings on his head. He wore a feathered sky blue necklace and a light brown and sky blue sort of cloth. He had the same pink, blue, and gold shoes, violet eyes, and pointed knuckles, like himself, and he held a staff with sapphire feathers on the top.
The older one stared down at the younger and shorter Knuckles with a blank facial expression, while he shook his fist in the air and furrowed his eyes. "Hey, what's the big idea!?", he growled.
He didn't answer. He continued to give him that same blank stare, making him feel rather nervous. Why is he staring at me like that?, he thought to himself.
His nervousness quickly turned into rage when he pushed him further back until they were about 2 feet away from the rest of the echidnas. He never heard an answer from him. He was getting ready to strike a blow right into his face.
"Answer my question!", he quickly punched, only for the older one to quickly block with his own hand. Before the younger one could think or say anything else, the older one punched him in his mouth, causing it to bleed out just a little bit. He quickly spat it out to the ground, although the rest of the blood coming out of his nose lingered back into his mouth, so he wiped it off from his nose.
Before he could counter-attack, the older one tripped him, causing him to fall face-first into the concrete ground. "Hey!" was the only word Knuckles could choke out before the older one pinned him down with his own leg and used the arm that he used to block his punch to pull his arm upward and twist it, causing Knuckles to scream in pain as he thought it would dislocate any minute if he never let go.
Some of the soldiers that stood next to them cringed slightly at what they were seeing, with one simply whispering a sympathetic "Ouch!" and another saying "I hope he's okay…", while others tried their hardest not to change their facial expression, albeit they felt uneasy from the sight of the quite painful hold.
"In the name of I, the leader of the Knuckles Clan, I hereby consider you a trespasser of our property. Either surrender quietly or die a painful death, do you understand me!?", the older one grunted with effort while slightly strengthening his hold.
Knuckles's pain quickly turned to rage as he grabbed his arm and shifted toward him so that his face was closer to his arm and, with great force, he bit his arm, enough that his fangs sunk into his arm, causing it to bleed slightly. The coppery taste of not his own, but the older one's blood lingered in his mouth after he released his bite, and man, did it taste nasty.
He hissed in pain. His arm was weak enough from the bite that Knuckles was able to throw him on his back, with himself on top of him. With both hands, he placed them on his neck, squeezing his larynx with his thumbs so that he couldn't breathe.
"Nobody touches me like that!", he grunted with effort. The older one was now wheezing and gasping for air, which caused Knuckles to strengthen his grip, in which he hacked violently due to sudden force of air being expelled from his mouth.
Then, with one leg, he violently pushed him to his back and quickly got on top of him. With that, he pinned his arms to the ground hard enough so that he couldn't escape, albeit this didn't stop him from vigorously trying.
"You shall not attack your leader! Do you hear me!?", he growled. This caused Knuckles's facial expression of effort to turn into confusion as he suddenly stopped moving. MY leader?, he thought to himself.
The older one saw Knuckles's confused facial expression. He got off of him and stood up. When he saw that Knuckles never got from the ground, he violently gripped Knuckles's long dreadlocks and pulled him to his feet. "Get up.", he ordered as he did so. He, with great force, released his grip from his dreadlocks.
He placed his hand on his shoulder, which caused him to shiver slightly. "Son, you have skills.", he simply said. Knuckles wasn't getting it. Why, all of a sudden, does he go from trying to kill me to trying to congratulate me?, he thought to himself.
"Now that you've used your brawn against me, you must also use it against the Nocturnus Clan.", he said. "To do that, you must be a soldier in our army.", he said as he lead Knuckles to that one spot in the very back that only had 4 echidnas. Now there were 40 echidnas in the army. "You are now considered part of the fight.", he said while tapping his shoulder. Knuckles was so confused that he just couldn't get rid of the feeling; it lingered with him wherever he went.
He walked back in front of the army. "I, Pachacamac, the leader of this army, order you to continue the search for Imperior Ix and challenge his clan to a battle. Is that understood?", he commanded.
"Yes, sir!", all but Knuckles said.
"Y-yes...sir…?", he shrugged as he continued to wondered how he got himself into this mess.
"Angel Island is in danger and we've already lost too many battles and men! We need this win in order to save Angel Island and be the more superior clan!", he said.
Ohh, so that's where they all went…, he thought to himself.
"Can we do it!?", he shouted.
"Yes, we can!", everyone, including Knuckled, replied.
He nodded. "Good. Now, move out!", he commanded.
And with that, they all went their separate ways. Knuckles headed to a forest-like part of Angel Island. Knuckles wanted to help his clan destroy their enemies, but he was also concerned about how he was going to get back to his homeworld.
"Gosh, I hope I can find some way to get back home. I'm starting to miss it already.", he mumbled to himself as he started thinking about the now shattered Master Emerald, his friends, who were probably wondering where he was at this very moment, and the now fallen Angel Island.
Let me know what you think or continue reading to your will. :)
