Story has been renamed and the majority of chapter 1 has been remastered. Enjoy! ^_^
10 - Pachacamac's Punishment and Knuckles's New Design
Knuckles followed the other 2 echidnas in what looked like another forest, different from the one he went to previously. This forest was denser and blocked out more sun than the other one, almost making it look like dusk. Despite the heavy amount of vegetation blocking his path, Knuckles tried to navigate through the forest as quietly as possible so as to not be noticed. But what he didn't know is that the other echidnas he was following were farther ahead of him, so they probably wouldn't notice someone following them, anyway.
Knuckles grumbled in annoyance as he swatted away the rather tall plants that persistently blocked his path. "With all of these plants in my way, I'll never catch up to them…", he muttered, stepping over a few shrubs.
He didn't notice a dark being holding a string of firecrackers. He swiped its fuse against his thigh, lighting it, and threw it towards Knuckles. Knuckles stopped abruptly after hearing a few very loud bangs before his vision was blocked by a big cloud of smoke. The fumes from the firecrackers began to enter his airways, causing him to cough violently while wafting away the thin smog.
When the smoke cleared, he looked up and saw none other than Firecracker, the same man who talked with him back at the Altar.
He furrowed his brows and growled. "What was that for!? Why are you getting in my way!?", he yelled.
"I can't let you follow those 2.", he said, with that same deep, yet womanly, voice.
"But I need to know what Pachacamac is trying to do to Tikal! His voice sounded really shady and Tikal looked scared. I'm gonna check just in case!", he responded.
"Yes, but if you access that shrine alongside them, there's a chance of you getting all of your energy stolen!"
Knuckles glared at him. "How do you know that? What do you mean by that?", he asked.
"That doesn't matter! Let me handle him!", he responded.
Knuckles glared and assumed a fighting stance. "Not a chance…", he says before stepping back, a fist balled up and raised, and getting a running start. He ran towards the dark being with great speed, but before he could land a single blow onto him, he took out what looked to be another firecracker. He quickly lit the fuse and tossed the firecracker towards Knuckles, who kicked it back towards Firecracker. He caught it and waited for it to explode. He continued to hold onto it as it exploded in his hand, not even flinching a single muscle. He dropped it on the grass after it finished and took out another one, repeating the same thing as before and throwing it towards Knuckles. He repeated these actions several times, in which Knuckles would kick them away each time until he grew exhausted.
Knuckles bent over slightly with hands on his knees, taking labored breaths. "Now I see why... your name's...Firecracker...!", he panted.
The darker being put his hands Towards Knuckles in protest when he tried to stumble towards him. "Please just let me handle this. Only members of the Nocturnus Clan are immune to the Chant of the Energy Snatcher!", he says before running away, supposedly towards Pachacamac and Tikal.
"The...Chant of the Energy Snatcher!?", Knuckles gasped. He stumbled a few times before running faster than he probably thought he could towards the fleeing Firecracker and, with a perfectly timed jump, he pounced on him, tackling him and pinning him down. Knuckles scooted himself upward so that he sat on Firecracker's back while pinning his arms down on the rather moist sod beneath them.
"You mentioned the Chant of the Energy Snatcher! Tell me more about it!", he demanded, grunting with effort as he tried to pin down the Firecracker. When he didn't respond, Knuckles strengthened his grip on Firecracker's arms.
"Well!? You got anything to say?!", he growled.
Firecracker simply chuckled. With swift reflexes, he brought his legs under his body and stood up, holding Knuckles up by his legs, and leaning back, throwing Knuckles on his back. He grunted from the force of his landing. He groaned as he became dizzy from the impact.
Firecracker performed a kick over over Knuckles, using his legs for support, and removed his grip from Knuckles's legs. They flopped back into their correct position and onto the grass.
Firecracker smugly placed his hands on his hips. "Here's something you should know: don't mess with the Firecracker!", he said.
Knuckles continued to lie on the grass, his groaning becoming silent as his vertigo faded. He "Oh, so it's fight you want, huh…?", he asked, completely ignoring Firecracker's warning. He slowly got up, stumbling a bit, and faced Firecracker. He stood erect and completely still. Knuckles's dizziness returned as a sudden change of blood pressure began to take place. He slowly assumed a fighting stance, panting heavily and wobbling around slightly. Although it felt like he was about to pass out, he immediately dismissed the feeling and charged towards the dark being.
"Well, it's a fight you'll get…!", he growled before raising his fist. He was about to punch Firecracker square in the face, only for him to quickly block his punch with a swift kick. Both attacks produced the same amount of force, resulting in both Knuckles's arm and Firecracker's leg remaining suspended in the air, both not moving much. This pattern persisted for several seconds until Knuckles felt a rather familiar source of energy from afar. He paused for a moment to process what he just felt.
"I sense Chaos energy from over there. Lots of it…", he mumbled.
He then spotted something rather familiar on the grass. It was a red string of small cylinders with a green fuse sticking out of its side. He smirked as an idea developed in his mind.
Knuckles pushed Firecracker out of the way and retrieved the object, lighting the fuse the same way Firecracker did so. Right before it could pop in his hand, he threw it towards the dark being. Lucky for him, the firecrackers popped from right in front of him, leaving behind a big cloud of smoke. He used this spare time to run back towards his original destination. Luckily for him, the Firecracker was no longer following him...at the moment...
Pachacamac and Tikal finally stopped at what looked to be a shrine. Holding hands, they stopped by another shrine. This one was much smaller than the Altar, about the size of a small well, and it was decorated with any colorful flowers and vines, with the shrine itself surrounded by verdant grass that was just the slightest bit damp. Tikal seemed to remember it quite well, as a sense of nostalgia began to take over her mind.
"This is the shrine where grandma and I would go whenever one of us personally needed a prayer!", she gasped. "But why are we here, now?"
"You'll find out very soon…", he says. Still holding her hand, he walked over to the other side of the shrine, sitting on his knees. She didn't notice him place a Chaos Emerald in the center of the shrine. He pulls her down very slightly with a tug of the wrist, in which Tikal responds to by nervously repeating Pachacamac's actions. They both sat on their knees whilst facing each other. Tikal nervously placed her hands over her knees, turning her head to the side while biting her lip.
"So...what business do we need to take care of?", she asks.
Pachacamac responds to Tikal's question by grabbing her right hand, bringing her arm to his chest whilst gripping the rest of her hand with the other. Tikal looked back at her father with a somewhat shocked facial expression. She was secretly very scared right now because she knew exactly what Pachacamac was about to do to her.
Her facial expression of fear quickly turned to suspicion. "Why are you holding my hand, father?", she asks warily.
Pachacamac develops an apologetic facial expression. Tikal is not affected by this, however. "Tikal, my dear child. You know I love you, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made...", he asks with a soft voice. Tikal didn't respond nor did she change her facial expression. After some time, however, she responded with a faint nod, still not changing her facial expression.
He reached over and grabbed her other arm, holding it as well. He brought them close to each other and kept a firm grip on her hands. There was something about the tone in Pachacamac's voice that somehow made Tikal less wary of his actions. Recalling the many times in the past where he would use a spell against her to steal her powers, she tried to not be tempted by his attitude, as he tried to use the same type of attitude in the past that would eventually lead her to trickery, but this time his voice was sounding more sympathetic than ever, and Tikal just couldn't help herself.
He saw him close his eyes and weigh his head down. He began to spoke. "I ask with all desire to receive the powers of the stronger ones and to become as powerful as Chaos, to help me overpower my enemies using their Cosmic powers. Allow me to sacrifice the stronger one and become stronger than them!", he chanted.
Tikal gasped when she heard the rather familiar chant. The Chant of the Energy Snatcher!, she practically screamed in her head.
A single tear developed from her eye and beaded down onto her muzzle as she began to have a flashback of a previous time that this chant was used. The previous war...the same day her grandmother died, she recalled when Imperator IX used the spell against the majority of the Knuckles Clan. Although she was too naive to wonder why back then, she, at this moment, was now wondering why she, her father, or her grandmother weren't affected by the effects of the spell. Maybe they have some sort of special power where they become immune to powerful spells.
"I recognize that chant all too well…", she whispered before, without warning, shooting a glare at Pachacamac. "You were planning to take away my powers!", she snapped.
She tried to loosen her father's rather strong grip on her hands; she pulled away from him as hard as she could, grunting with effort, but to no avail.
"Unhand me immediately!", she yelled before using a foot to kick Pachacamac square in his face. Completely forgetting about Tikal, he releases her and stands up, covering the spot in which she kicked him. The youngest of the 2 stood up as fast as she could, but before she could flee, the eldest of the 2 furiously charged at her and tackled her. She grunted from the impact of landing hard on her back on the rather soft grass beneath them. Pachacamac got up slightly and sat himself on Tikal's abdomen, pinning her arms over her head with one hand clasped over hr wrists. He took out a sort of blade from a back pocket located on his clothing and brought it close to the side of her clothed torso. She whimpered as the elder one approached her shoulder, his lips uncomfortably close to it.
"You shall not attack your leader, is that understood?", he growled lowly, strengthening his grip on her wrists after saying the last 3 words of his command. He slid that blade over her torso, ripping the clothing and breaking her skin, completely bypassing her short fur. A line of warm blood seeped out of the cut and onto her back due to the position they were in. She didn't react to it, however.
Tikal shivered as her father's hot breath touched her shoulder like a brick. After he put away the blade, not bothering to clean it off, She gulped as rage began to boil in her entire body. She struggled to choke out a response of acknowledgement and instead, she snapped at him once more with a tone of rage. She squirmed as she tried to free herself from his grasp.
"Unhand me! NOW!", she yelled, completely ignoring her rather big cut.
Right after this, Knuckles exposes himself from the distant forest and charges at Pachacamac, performing a powerful punch against him. He collapsed on the opposite side of Tikal and landed on his stomach. Tikal scrambled away from him and hid behind a nearby bush, with only her head peeking out of it.
"What were you about to do to Tikal, Pachacamac?", he asked, rage starting to take over him.
The elder one simply chuckled as he got from his laying position and now got into a crouched position. "That's none of your concern, boy…", he replied.
Knuckles shot a glare at him. "Stop calling me boy! My name's Knuckles!", he snapped.
Pachacamac finally stood up, placing his arms behind his back. "You do realize that you just attacked you leader, hmm?", he asked, slowly approaching the younger echidna.
"I'm just doing what I'm good at, sir, but I'll tell you one thing: I won't let you lay another finger on Tikal…", Knuckles responds somewhat calmly.
Pachacamac chuckled as he walked circles around Knuckles. "You're missing my point, boy. I'm telling you that you just attacked your leader. Remember what I said about that the last time that happened?", he asked.
Knuckles groaned impatiently. "What are you trying to imply?", he asked.
"Oh, I guess I didn't tell you…", he says, taking out the same blade out from his back pocket. There was dry blood still on it. Knuckles gasped. Is he about to use that nasty thing on ME?, he thought to himself.
He growled. "Is that supposed to be some type of punishment or something?", he asked, assuming a fighting stance, not giving a single care in Angel Island about that "don't attack your leader" rule.
"Now you know the consequences of attacking your leader, and don't try running away. I do this to all of my clan members if they misbehave.", he explains.
But before he could even lay the tip of the blade anywhere into Knuckles, he was suddenly hit my multiple explosions He coughed as he tried to waft away the expanding smoke. When the smoke cleared, he was met by nothing but grass and vines, and that's when he knew that they were gone…
"Damn it…", he muttered. "I will become powerful. One day…"
Knuckles and Tikal opened their eyes to see none other than Firecracker taking them away from the forest and back to the Altar. Knuckles looked around him to see nothing but sky and feel nothing but the strong wind whipping through his thick locs. Much of the same was said for Tikal, as well.
"What the-Firecracker!?", Knuckles gasped.
"You're welcome…", he says blandly.
Tikal whimpered as she held tightly onto Knuckles, wrapping her arms around his waist as she tried to not look down.
"Ohh...I've never been this high off of the ground before…", she whimpered.
After a few more moments, all 3 landed back near the Altar. Knuckles and Tikal climbed off of the darker being and stood next to each other, leaning against the large monument of bricks.
Tikal took Firecracker's hand into her own and bent over until she was on her knees. "Thank you...Shade…", she says.
Shade?, Knuckles thought to himself, confused. You mean the GIRL that Imperator IX mentioned?
She remained in that same position for a few more seconds before getting up once again.
Shade nodded once before turning her side to them, walking the opposite direction.
"I see Knuckles didn't heed my warning...", she muttered to herself. "Well, at least he managed to abort the Chant of the Energy Snatcher without getting himself hurt..."
Meanwhile, Tikal faced Knuckles and took his hand, bringing it near her lips. Knuckles blushed from the sudden actions.
"Um, what are you doing…?", he asked.
"Thank you, Knuckles, for saving me. I should stop falling for such tricks…", she says, somewhat embarrassed from what happened just moments ago. Her warm breath hit Knuckles's hand and he shivered. He gave her a weak smile.
"Uh, sure. No biggie…", he says nervously.
Tikal removed his hand from close to her lips and smiled big, completely ignoring the events that happened moments ago. "Come with me. I want to show you something…", she says, pulling Knuckles excitedly to another direction while still holding his hand. Knuckles chuckles from Tikal's sudden change of attitude.
"Hey, slow down…", he said with a calm chuckle.
They stopped near a small pond. While there, they say another echidna, presumably from Pachacamac's army. He was one of the shorter and bulkier members of the clan, and he looked to be mixing something.
Knuckles took a glimpse at his face; there were white stripes on his cheeks, his locs, over his eyes, even near his abdomen. Whatever was in that small clay bowl must've been the same substance, hence its color. The echidna looked up to see Knuckles staring at him. He smiled.
"Good afternoon.", he greeted with a deep and gruff voice, stopping to shake his hand. Knuckles couldn't believe how short this echidna was; he must've been about several inches shorter than even Tikal was, who herself was a few inches shorter than Knuckles."You must be Knuckles, the new member of the Knuckles Clan. My name is Coba. I am Angel Island's most famous body painter."
"Hey, Coba.", he said, holding back a chuckle. "I saw that paint you have on your face. I figured that's what everyone else in the Knuckles Clan is wearing?", he asked.
"Why, yes. You see, this body paint is a part of our culture, as a way of saying that you're strong, brave...one of us…", he explained. "It's been a symbol of our clan for many centuries."
"Yes, it's true. Many of us then pass it on to our offspring so that the trend can last a very long time.", Tikal adds.
"I see…", Knuckles says with admiration.
"So, what kind of designs would you like?", Tikal asked. Knuckles froze when she asked this.
"What kind of designs do I want? You mean, I'm the one getting the body paint?", he asked.
Tikal giggled. "Why, of course. Would you like stripes or circles?", she asked.
Knuckles crossed his arms and placed his fist on his chin. He thought for a moment before giving her his final answer. "Can I have both?", he asked.
The dwarf echidna smiled. "Why, of course. The more, the merrier! Come sit on this here rock so that I can hook you up!"
While Knuckles sat in front of Coba, Tikal faced her back towards them. "I won't peak until you've finished.", she giggled.
Coba placed the mixer aside and dipped his index and middle fingers into the white body paint, letting the excess drip back into the clay bowl. "Close your eyes, please.", he says. Knuckles does so and with a smooth stroke, Coba drew a line over Knuckles's eyebrows, eyelids, and all the way down to the bottom of his face.
"You can open them, now. Don't worry about smudging or anything; the paint dries really fast.", he said.
Knuckles slowly opened his eyes. Coba smiled and applied the rest of the paint onto Knuckles. He applied a semi-circle on his forehead, 2 stripes on each cheek, arm, and leg, and 3 big semicircles on each side of his torso and just over the white crescent on his chest. He finished by adding 2 stripes on each of his 2 most frontal locs, while adding a full circle right under them. Overall, this entire process took about 8 to 10 minutes.
Coba pointed towards the pond. "Why don't you go take a look?", he suggested.
Knuckles stood up and headed towards the rather clear pond, looking at his reflection through it. He admired it for several moments, idly tracing his fingers over the body art.
"Well, I...uh…wow...", he was lost for words as he stared at his new design absentmindedly.
"Let me see, Knuckles!", Tikal says excitedly, turning back to them and heading for the pond. She turned Knuckles's body so that he was facing her. She, too, was lost for words as she slowly ghosted her fingers over the many stripes and circles painted over his fur. He blushed a light pink as he barely felt her gloved fingers brushing over his fur.
"I...love it, Knuckles. You look like...a true Knuckles Clan member.", she said whilst giving his a warm smile.
"Yeah, I guess…", Knuckles replies.
"I see both of you are enjoying it. You 2 can move along, now. Body art is free of cost.", the dwarf says.
"Thank you kindly, Coba.", Tikal says, politely bobbing a curtsy at him before leaving Knuckles behind. Knuckles stumbled a bit before giving Coba a rushed bow. He quickly turned the opposite direction and followed Tikal. Now, Knuckles was a true member of the Knuckles Clan.
But before the 2 could immediately leave, Coba raised a hand towards them and began to speak once again.
"By the way, I'd watch out for Imperator IX and his clan.", he says as the other 2 echidnas stopped to face him. "He says that his return would be unpredictable..."
Knuckles nods. "Trust me, we already know...", he says.
"We'll be ready when he shows up, even if it does happen at random.", Tikal reassured the dwarf echidna. "You must be careful, as well."
Coba nods and gives the 2 a warm smile as they finally leave.
"Please let us not lose this war...", he mumbled to himself.
Coba is my first ever OC in a fanfic; he is named after the archaeological site of the same name in Mexico. I will post artwork of him and Knuckles with his body paint design on DeviantArt in the future. Leave a review or keep reading as you please.