Good-bye Knuckles, Bye Bye Bunny: Pt 1
Knuckles. The name echoed in his mind, disturbing his peaceful dreams and ideal slumber. He was surprised at first, thinking that somebody was calling him in the waking world. But he soon realized the call came from the other world separated from both dream and awake. It came from the afterlife.
"Knuckles, hear me. The time has come for you to take on the responsibilities of your ancestors."
Knuckles found himself standing on Shrine Island, the small outcropping from Angel Island connected by a rope bridge. Before him at the ever spinning Master Emerald and hovering above it was a red echidna wearing shaman's clothing and sitting in the lotus position.
"Knuckles, it is so good to see you again, my boy." The echidna greeted him.
"Athair?" Knuckles asked in surprised, kneeling before the emerald alter. "What are you doing here? Why have you appeared to me?"
"Knuckles, it's time for you to take your place in the long, proud tradition of the guardians." The elder pointed down at the Master Emerald. "Since the days of the world's renewal, each first born male of our line has watched over the master emerald, joined by a companion chosen by fate. Your training has been completed and it will soon be time for you to return to Angel Island."
"Grandfather? You mean I'm finally ready to become a guardian?" Knuckles asked, his eyes going wide in awe. "I have been waiting for this day since I was a little echidna. I can't believe I'm finally worthy to take on this great responsibility."
"Ah, but Knuckles. There is one final test you must take part in before you can assume the rank of guardian." The elder told him. "There is a final adversary that awaits you and your companion before you may fulfill your destiny."
"What must I do?" The younger echidna asked, leaping to his feet, excitedly.
"Listen well, young warrior. The tale of our beginnings." The elder monolgued. "In the days before Amunrapi united the Mobian tribes, there was nothing but chaos and war between all of the animals. Each tribe sought to dominate the others and each cared not what befell the other. Out of this chaos emerged two brothers. It is believed they were the first pair of echidnas born to that generation who had started life as humans before being mutated."
"Mutated? What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked.
"Did you not know my child?" Athair shook his head. "Our ancestors first branched off of the humans in the time before time. We came from them."
"Oh, so that's why we walk upright, wear clothes, and have five fingers." Knuckles shook his head. "And here I thought it was something stupid like evolution."
"As I was saying," Athair interrupted him. "There were two echidna brothers who survived the destruction of their village by another tribe. These twin brothers were called Castor and Pollux; wandering out across the wasteland left by these terrible wars, the brothers were searching for food when one of them noticed something shiny in a stream."
"Look, my brother." Pollux exclaimed. "It appears to be a gemstone of some sort. Let us dig it free so that we may trade it for some food."
"I don't think we should sell it dear brother." Castor replied, gazing at the shiny rock beneath the water. "Let us unearth our treasure before we decide what to do with it." The two jumped into the stream and began to dig their way towards the gem. Upon pulling it from the ground, they found an emerald that glowed a bright green in their palms.
"I sense a power coming from this gemstone." Castor said in awe. "Let us keep it for ourselves that we may become powerful."
"Brother, I sense other gemstones beneath our feet. Let us claim them as well." The two brothers continued to dig going deep into the soil and making their knuckles bleed from all their labor. As if in response, the gem in their possession glowed and a pair of scythes grew out of each of their fists. Suddenly finding their task much easier, the brothers dug up six more of the powerful stones.
"Brother, can you not see that fate has given us a tool to avenge out village?" Pollux declared. "Let us take these powerful gems and destroy the tribe which killed our families."
"Brother, you must not do this thing." Castor pleaded. "To seek revenge only brings more revenge. The cycle of vengeance will consume everything." But his brother did not listen, he took the seven stones and murdered the tribe who had destroyed his village. His anger not satisfied, Pollux then used his power to enslave many of the other tribes declaring himself king and intending to conquer the entire world.
"Whatever powers are out there, I beg you to stop my brother." Castor pleaded. "Even if I must sacrifice my own life, I beg of you to end Pollux's reign of terror." Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and Castor found himself before three giant floating masks who seemed to radiate a holy purity that Castor had never before.
"Who are you?" The echidna asked in awe.
"We are the parent. We are the child. We are the phantom guardian." The three masks replied in a single voice but separate that thundered. "We walked this Earth in the days before man and we shall walk it again in the days long after man is gone. We are more ancient than the universe itself. We are without beginning and without end."
"Then, I plead for your help, ancient walkers." Castor kneeled. "Provide me with a way to stop my brother before he destroys the entire world in his anger."
"Very well, child." The walkers replied, all at the same time. "But you shall bear the responsibility of the great power we give to you. You shall guard it for all of your days and it shall fall to your bloodline to protect this power. The first born male shall be bound to it like a master to a slave."
"I accept your offer." Castor replied, immediately. "Let this burden fall upon me and my heirs forever."
"So be it." The walkers' voice boomed. "Behold, the master emerald." Light shone out of the three masks' eyes before they vanished in a powerful explosion. When Castor opened his eyes, a great green gem bigger than the other seven floated before him. When he reached out to grab it, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A white band of fur burn itself across his chest, throbbing with the power of the gemstone before him. As Castor and the emerald floated to the ground, he heard the ancient walkers speak one last time.
"Farewell, Castor the Echidna. We, now, depart to watch over this world. Your kind will see us again when the blue spiny one needs our next gift."
Armed with the power of the Master Emerald, Castor fought his brother in a terrible battle that shook Mobius itself. Many died as the two brothers fought. But in the end, Castor triumphed over Pollux; striking his brother with a powerful blast of energy from the Master Emerald, he scattered the seven gemstones across the face of the world and scorched his brother with a white hot light that burned a crater into the ground beneath him.
"Pollux, are you alright?" The guardian asked his sibling, staring down into the smoke filled hole. "That energy was a purifying force, did it drive the anger from your heart?"
But when the smoke cleared, Castor found to his horror that the purifying energy had driven everything from Pollux's heart. In the center of the crater lay an albino white echidna with a black streak across his chest. As soon as Pollux's eyes opened, his brother saw only emptiness and a soul devoid of both compassion and cruelty.
"A curse upon you, my brother." Pollux spat. "And all whom you sire. You have robbed me of the joy of existence and left only the memory of what happiness feels like." Tears streamed down the white echidna's face. "And since I can no longer feel the joy of living, then no other living being shall feel it. Upon this day, Pollux has died and in his place, Finevitus now walks the Earth."
And with that the white echidna was gone. Saddened by the loss of his brother, Castor made peace among the tribes before heading to the Southern Continent. Finding a peaceful place to build a home, Castor took a wife and founded a village where he could protect the Master Emerald and pass on his duties.
In time, his children intermarried with the other Mobians in the village, but mysteriously only echidnas were born from their unions. As the ages passed, these villagers became the echidna race breaking off into the twenty-one Echidna clans spread over the planet. But the Knuckles clan stayed behind to guard the Emerald until the day Chaos butchered us all; that is except for the last guardian.
"But what about Finevitus?" Knuckles asked. "What became of him?"
"Free of both the joy and pain of living," Athair continued. "The albino echidna ceased to age as the centuries passed. Like that unholy mammoth, he has been a scourge to all Mobians. But unlike Mogul, he lives and breathes. Seeking to use the power of his original emeralds called the Chaos Emeralds because of the chaos they created to destroy the world and remake it in his own image."
"But what threat is a crusty old echidna now?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, the Chaos Emeralds scattered across the Special Zone now. He could never collect them all again."
"You misunderstand, my child." Athair shook his head. "He doesn't need the emeralds any longer. Being devoid of the emotional and spiritual energies all living beings have, his exposure to the emeralds has given him the ability to leech all emotion and feeling from other Mobians draining their fur and feather colors to black and white, sucking them dry. He leaves his victims empty husks totally uncaring about the world and people around them."
"He's an emotion vampire?" Knuckles shivered. "Eww, that's creepy."
"What's worse is that he can channel that stolen energy in the way you, the three hedgehogs, and the fox can." The elder explained. "When he has drained enough innocence, the white echidna is as powerful as Super Sonic but without the compassion and wisdom to guide that power."
"So, what must I do?" Knuckles asked.
"You must seek out the aid of your chosen companion and defeat our fallen brother before he can destroy this world."
"But grandfather, who is my chosen companion?"
"My boy, your companion is one you already know." The elder smiled. "I'm sure she'll come hopping along as soon as you return to the waking world." Just then, the island and all of their groundings began to fade away. Knuckles turned and bowed to his ancestor knowing it was time to go.
"Farewell, grandfather." The younger echidna saluted him. "I will see you again on the golden fields of the Ancient Walkers."
"Good-bye, my grandson." Athair replied. "It has been a blessing to train and teach you throughout your life, even if it was only as a spirit." Then, a white light engulfed everything and Knuckles awoke and sat up in his own bed.
"Knuckles-sugar, y'all right?" Bunny came running down the hall, wearing an ankle length pink night gown with 'girl power' written on the front. "What in the world happened in here? Y'all were screamin' and yellin' in your sleep and I came to see what all the ruckus was." Knuckles stared at her for a moment before smiling warmly.
"Bunny, do I have a story to tell you…"
