Episode 29: The Many Facts of the Truth

One afternoon, in Echidnaopolis on Angel Island, Sonic, Tails, Eve, and Jazz are visiting the island to see Knuckles and the Chaotix. However, she, Knuckles, and Julie-Su find themselves in Lara-Le's home with the Constable.

"Strange readings. What kind of strange readings," Sonic asks.

"I'm not sure. We discovered these strange readings a few days ago. For some reason, a strange pulse or something surrounds the island. Whatever it is caused the sudden winter we have and caused the Island to shake," Remington says.

"That sounds serious," Tails says.

"It does sound serious. Especially since Mighty and Ray told us that Dr. Eggman just happened to be in the same area a few days ago, around the same time when the strange waves come to the island," Knuckles says.

"Something tells me Dr. Eggman has something to do with the strange energy appearing on the island," Eve says.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Sonic says.

"This is just the kind of thing he does," Tails adds.

Eve turns to Remington and asks, "Do you know where the strange energy is coming from?"

"It's hard to tell because it appears to show up at different locations. The first time the machines detected it was in the Forbidden Zone," Remington says.

"The Forbidden Zone? Why would he be there of all places? The place is covered in snow and there's a big snow storm right now," Knuckles asks.

"Well, the only way for us to find out, is to head over there," Sonic says.

Lara-Le says, "Sounds like another one of your adventures, huh?"

"Yeah. But I'll be back as soon as I can. The Chaotix are keeping an eye on the Master Emerald while we'll deal with this," Knuckles says.

"Actually Knuckles, I'm going with you," Lara-Le says.

"What?! Mom, you can't be serious?!" Knuckles exclaims.

"I am. I think it will be best for me to accompany you on this adventure," Lara-Le says.

"What about little Kneecaps?" Julie-Su asks.

Wynmacher says, "I have the day off so I can look after him."

"Fine. you can come, but be careful. With Eggman, it can always be troublesome," Knuckles says, annoyed.

Meanwhile, in the Echidna Guardian's secret headquarters. Sabre and 'Tobor' see a ship that has crashed in the snow, much to their concern.

"Looks like the airship is an EST ship, but what's it doing here?" Sabre asks.

"I don't know, but it must be here for a reason. I suspect it has something to do with the strange energy wave," 'Tobor' says.

"I have to agree. Even we haven't been able to figure out the cause of it," Sabre says.

"What should we do?" 'Tobor' asks.

"Locke is making his way back. I'll see if he can check out the ship when he arrives," Sabre says.

"That will be wise. However, I have to wonder who will be endurance enough to try to arrive here in the middle of the blizzard," 'Tobor' says.

Sometime later, the airship flies over the snowy area of the Forbidden Zone. The snow is pouring hard that it's almost hard for Remington to drive.

Eve looks at the window and asks, "Why would Eggman want to come here of all places?"

"Yeah. This place is covered by a blizzard," Sonic agrees.

"We're not sure ourselves. However, after the last few times Eggman came to the island, we don't want to take chances if he cause any trouble," Remington says.

"I'm surprised he hasn't attacked the city yet, but it's a good thing he didn't," Eve says.

"That's a relief. We already had too many problems coming to the island and that's before Dr. Eggman came along," Lara-Le says.

"Yeah. If Eggman starts causing trouble in Echidnaopolis, this could be a problem," Julie-Su says.

"That's the reason why we're going to find him and figure out what he's up to. I just hope we're not too late to find out what he's doing," Tails says.

"Relax. We'll get there before he and his annoying robots can cause any trouble. Everything will be A O.K," Sonic says.

Suddenly, they hear a loud bang and the airship begins to shake.

"What in the?!" Tails exclaims.

Suddenly the ship begins to move around and tosses everyone back and forth.

"What's happening?!" Sonic shouts.

Remington tries to turn the control, "We've been struck by lightning and it damaged the controls. I can't control it."

The plane continues to fly down and is heading straight to the ground.

Knuckles shouts, "Hold on, we're gonna crash!"

"Chao Chao," Jazz panics and hugs Eve.

Everyone holds on whatever they can find and see that they're going to crash to the ground. The next moment, the snow hits the ground and slides on the snow. Soon, everyone is hit by an object one way or another and is knocked out. Soon, the airship comes to a stop and the plane has crashed to the ground.

Meanwhile in the crashed ship, Knuckles soon wakes up from his unconsciousness.

He lifts his head up as he uses his hand for support, "... Ooh… my head…"

Knuckles looks around as he asks, "Julie-Su? Eve?"

He then sees the girls who have fallen to the ground. Soon, he hears groaning and looks to see Eve waking up.

"Ow… my head hurts," Eve says, rubbing her head.

"Eve, are you okay?" Knuckles asks.

"I think so…" Eve answers.

Knuckles turns to Julie-Su who isn't waking up. He notices that everyone has been knocked out after the crash. Eve notices that Sonic, Tails, Remington and Lara-Le are also knocked out.

"Julie-Su is out cold. Same with everyone else," Knuckles says.

"What do we do now?" Eve asks.

"We need to go outside to check how bad the damage is," Knuckles says.

Eve stands up, but her legs feel wobbly.

"Alright," Eve softly answers.

Knuckles, Eve, and Jazz step outside to see about the damages to the ship. Knuckles turns his head to see Eve holding her head and jazz showing concern.

"Are you okay?" Knuckles asks.

"I don't know… I feel a bit dizzy," Eve says.

Knuckles holds Eve's hand, "It's probably from the crash. You must have hit your head pretty hard."

"I feel like I was hit with Amy's hammer or something," Eve says.

"I think it will be best for you to go back to the ship and lay…" But before Knuckles can fishes. He and Eve hit some strange wall and scream in fright.

The next moment, Knuckles, Eve, and Jazz have disappeared.

The next moment, Knuckles, Eve, and Jazz groan as they try to think about what happened.

Knuckles softly asks, "Where… where are we?"

Unknown to Knuckles and Eve, the previous Guardians before Knuckles are standing behind the three, even the echidna pretending to be Tobor.

Not long ago, Knuckles, Eve, and Jazz entered a secret area after the ship they were in crashed into the snow after a lightning bolt hit it. Soon, the Guardians of the Island see the three young teenagers in the room.

"This isn't good. Knuckles isn't ready for Haven. And now someone else is with him," Thunderhawk says.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who's to say our way has been the right way all along?" Sabre says.

"You would question our customs and traditions, Sabre? Our system has worked for over four centuries. We should send them back before they come to their senses," Sojourner says.

However, Spectre says, "Sabre is correct. Fate has taken a hand in the matter, signaling the time has come for us to reevaluate our priorities. I am concerned about the girl, though. Even though it is proven she is part of the different branch of our family history, she shouldn't be here."

"But Eve has been here before when she and Sonic saved Queen Alicia," Sabre says.

'Tobor' thinks to himself, "This is worse than a disaster. All the decades of planning and preparations wiped out in an instant once one of them opened their mouths. I've got to do something… but What?!"

Knuckles turns to Eve, "Are you okay?"

"I think so. I still feel dizzy," Eve says, holding her head.

Knuckles stands up and holds on to Eve.

Eve then turns around, "I don't think we're the only ones."

"Seems that your suspicions are right," Sabre says, walking up to the two.

Eve and Knuckles turn their heads to see the Echidna to walk up to them.

"Have we met? You seem vaguely familiar," Knuckles replies confused.

"I should hope so, son! I'm your grandfather, Sabre," Sabre introduces.

Then introduces the others, "And these gentlemen are also your grandfather. Although many generations removed…."

Thee turns to the purple Echidna, This is Thunderhawk…"

Then to the red echidna with the green vest, "next to him is Sojourner…"

Next is the black cloaked echidna, "Follow by Spectre…"

"And last but not least, Tobor," Sabre concludes, seeing the dark red echidna.

Knuckles and Eve turn their heads to see the guy he's calling 'Tobor.'

'Tobor' walks over and says, "Please to meet you, grandson."

"I'm sure. And this is Eve and her Chao friend, Jazz" Knuckles says.

"It's nice to meet you," Eve says.

"Chao," Jazz replies.

'Tobor' notices something off, "Are you okay? You look a bit dazed."

"Yeah. Eve and I were with Julie-Su and Remington in an airship and got hit by a lighting bolt that caused the ship to crash. I think Eve took a hard blow to the head," Knuckles says.

Eve smiles, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I see," 'Tobor says.

Then turns to Knuckles, "You still look a bit woozy, son. Why don't I take you down to Sick Bay and have you checked out?"

"But I…" Knuckles says.

But Sabre says, "Go with Tobor, Knuckles. There's plenty of time to talk later."

"This way, please," 'Tobor' says, escorting Eve and Knuckles to the Sick Bay.

Knuckles and Eve follow Tobor with Jazz flying beside them.

Knuckles thinks, "This is unreal. I'm walking lockstep with a Dark Legionnaire who is also Eve's grandfather. Does anyone else even have a clue?"

"It's surprising. I can't believe I'm walking with my grandfather. Still, how could Locke and the others aren't aware of who he is. Then again, from what my father and Knuckles' mother explained, he managed to hide his identity for decades and had everyone fooled," Eve thinks.

'Tobor' says, "Down this corridor."

Knuckles thinks, "And if they do… where does that leave me?"

"Thank you," Eve says.

'Tobor' walks into a room and says, "In here. We'll take good care of you."

"I'll bet," Knuckles thinks.

Knuckles and Eve walk into the room to see two medical beds. There are furniture that are possibly full of medical equipment. There's a small desk between the beds with sheets and a pillow on each one. 'Tobor' takes Eve's hand and escorts her to the bed and has her sit down.

"There. I'll fix the injury you have on your head," 'Tobor' says.

"Um, thank you," Eve says.

'Tobor' then leaves the room to get a few things.

Knuckles and Eve turn to each other with confused expressions.

"Knuckles, what do you think about this 'Tobor'? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Eve questions.

"It is him. I think this guy is Moritori Rex," Knuckles says.

Eve sighs, "My grandfather."

Then Eve asks, "Knuckles, do you think your um… do you think they're…"

"Not aware of who he truly is. I've been asking myself that since I got here," Knuckles says.

"I'm having trouble telling if they know that he isn't Tobor. We ran into the real Tobor back in Echidnaopolis. If he is Moritori Rex, how are we going to prove it?" Eve replies.

"Chao?" Jazz replies.

"Unless he tries something that will think otherwise, there's no way for us to confront him, especially with the other Guardians," Knuckles says.

"I'm surprised you don't know about this," Eve says.

Knuckles sighs, "This is one of the information that dad had to keep when I get older."

Just then, 'Tobor' walks into the room holding a tray that has two glasses of water and some berries in a bowl. There are also some bandage wraps and other medical gear for her head. He walks to the desk and places the tray down.

"Here you go. I brought you some snacks and drinks," 'Tobor' says.

Then turns to Eve, "I'll fix that head of yours."

"Thank you," Eve says.

Tobor then begins to check on the damages Eve has on her head.

"Why is Tobor being extra nice to Eve? And why did he bring us food and drinks? He must have put something in them to let our guard down," Knuckles thinks.

Knuckles then takes his cup and pretends to drink the water. While 'Tobor' is tending to Eve. Knuckles pour the water in a flowerpot. Knuckles turns to see 'Tobor' has finished mending Eve's head.

"There. Luckily you didn't suffer any harmful damage, but you did receive a slight concussion" 'Tobor' says.

"Thanks," Eve says.

Jazz happily smiles, "Chao Chao."

"We're glad that you're okay," Knuckles says.

"Chao Chao," Jazz happily says.

"Yeah. Still. We need to get the others. They're still inside the ship," Eve says.

"You're right. You stay and rest, I'll go see if I can see the damages of the ship," Knuckles says, leaving the room.

'Tobor' follows, "I'll go with you."

Knuckles and 'Tobor' leave the room to walk down the hall. Unknown to Knuckles, 'Tobor' brings out an injection that is full of some strange yellow liquid. He plans to use it on Knuckles to silence him.

Meanwhile, Locke is flying on his airship to find Knuckles and the others. After receiving the message from Sabre and 'Tobor' Locke decides to check out the ship for himself. When he arrives in the area, Locke looks down to see the airship and lands it on the ground. He walks inside to see Julie-Su, Sonic, and Tails unconscious on the ground. He is shocked to see Lara-Le is in the ship all over and Remington is unconscious on the driver seat.

Locke kneels down to Lara and softly shakes her, "Lara… Lara can you?"

Soon Lara begins to wake up, "Who… what?"

Lara wakes up and becomes surprised, "Locke?! What… what happened?"

"You tell me," Locke says.

Soon, Julie-Su, Remington, Sonic, and Tails begin to wake up as well.

"My head," Tails says, rubbing her head.

"This really hurts," Julie-Su replies.

Then asks, "Knuckles? Eve? Where are they?"

Remington gains his focus to notice Locke in the room, "Locke?! What are you doing here?!"

"That is something I should ask," Locke says.

"We received some strange signal coming from where, so we came here when it first appeared. I asked Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, Eve, and Julie-Su to come with also got word from the Chaotix that Dr. Eggman is on the island. Remington says.

Lara-Le notices, "Knuckles? Where is he?"

"Eve's gone too," Sonic adds.

"So is Jazz," Tails adds.

"Hmm, I didn't see them when I got here, but I think I know where they went if they wondered out in the snow," Locke says.

"Where?" Julie-Su asks.

"Follow me," Locke says.

Julie-Su and the others leave the ship and begin to walk through the snow. Just then, Locke walks through something and disappears. Julie-Su bravely walks next along with Remington. Lara-Le, Sonic, and Tails, follow after them. Soon, everyone disappears to who knows where.

In the Sick Bay, Eve still can't stop thinking about 'Tobor' and his identity. Jazz sits next to Eve holding a sad look on her face.

"What are we gonna do? I feel that we need to do something, but what," Eve says.

"Chao Chao. Chao Chao Chao," Jazz replies.

"Thank you Jazz. I think it will be a good idea to talk to Knuckles and see if…" Suddenly, Eve is cut off by a strange bang.

Eve and Jazz look outside of the room and become shocked to see what is going on. She sees 'Tobor' grabs Knuckles and is holding an injection on the other.

'Tober' says, "Now don't you worry one bit, you dear boy. The doctor will take good care of you."

Knuckles grabs the wrist where the injection is, "Ugh! I think… I'll…"

Then kicks him on the head, "Take a pass."

'Tobor' lands on the ground and begins to sit on the ground to feel the pain.

"That's quite some bedside manner you got there, Moritori," Knuckles says.

The echidna lunges at Knuckles in rage, "Argh! You'll go to your grave first, you self centered brat!"

Knuckles then punches him in the face and has him thrown into the medical. Moritori gets up and angrily glares at Knuckles.

"Get up!" Knuckles demands.

"How pathetic! All your power and all you can do is resort to your fist!" Moritori angrily says.

"So be it! I on the other hand… have no qualms, whatsoever, using everything at my disposal…" He adds, touching his special optic.

He presses the button as he says, "Including my multi-functional optic system!"

He then fires it up the ceiling and the debris begins to fall. Before one can hit Knuckles, Eve speeds out of the room, grabs Knuckles, and zips away. Moritori looks around so see Knuckles is gone.

Then hears him say, "You were saying?"

Meanwhile, Locke leads the other to a large area of Haven.

Locke says, "Welcome to Haven everyone."

"Wow! This place is impressive," Julie-Su says.

"I wonder if Knuckles and Eve are around here," Remington says.

"They have to be here, why else will they disappear," Sonic says.

Suddenly a large beacon begins beeping.

Locke quickly says, "The emergency beacon."

"Now that sounds like trouble," Remington says.

Lara-Le says, "We better go find out what's going on. Knuckles could be in trouble."

"I'm sure Knuckles and Eve can handle themselves," Julie-Su says.

Back in the hall, Moritori is searching for Knuckles.

He then hears Knuckles's voice, "It's useless to hide, Moritori! Your game is over!"

"We'll see about that!" Moritori says.

Then fires his multi function optic all over the place, "I'll take this whole place down before I surrender to the likes of you!"

Moritori continues to fire. At the same time, Locke, Lara-Le, Julie-Su, and Remington hurry inside.

Locke shouts, "Look out!"

Everyone moves out of the way as the blast hits the ceiling.

"What was that?!" Remington exclaims.

"It came from down the hall," Tails says.

"Let's go," Sonic says, getting up and speeds off.

The next moment, Knuckles appears with Archimedes on his shoulder.

Then smacks Moritori, "Who said I was giving you a choice?"

Then the echidna falls to the ground.

Suddenly, they hear the alarm going off.

Knuckles turns, "Hey!"

"Don't even think, just," Archimedes says.

Knuckles hurries out of the room and meets up with Eve and Jazz.

"Wait a minute! Why couldn't you have teleported us to safety, instead?" Knuckles asks.

"I wanted to see if you still had some team spirit," Archimedes says.

"But where did that alarm come from?" Eve asks.

"Chao," Jazz replies.

"I don't know, but thanks for the save there," Knuckles says.

"You're welcome, but you should also thank Archimedes for finding us. But are you alright?" Eve says.

"I'm fine. Moritori attacked me. Seems that he knows that we know his little secret," Knuckles says.

In the monitor room, Sabre and the other guardian see everything, including Moritori's attack on Knuckles.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day when one of our own turned against us," Sabre says, shocked.

Spectre says, "I suspect there's more to this than meets the eye, Sabre. Now that Tobor is isolated, let's check to make certain no further harm was done."

Knuckles and Eve turn down the hall to see Locke and the others.

"Mom," Knuckles says, surprised.

"Sonic. Tails. You're okay," Eve says.

"Yeah. Locke found us and we found out you two disappeared so he brought us here," Sonic says.

"What happened?" Tails asks.

"A bit of a long story. We kind of got ourselves into some odd mess," Eve says.

"You can say that again. The Dark Legion makes me grind my teeth every time," Knuckles says.

"The Dark Legion?" Locke asks, shocked.

Then someone says, "Do you mean to say Tobor has turned traitor?"

Everyone turns to see Sabre and the other guardians heading towards them.

Knuckles then asks, "how do we know you guys aren't pals with this phony?"

"Phony?" Sabre says.

Eve quickly says, "Knuckles, I don't think they're aware of this."

"Aware of what?" Sojourner asks.

"Well, um you see. It's kind of hard to explain…" Eve says concern.

"We found Moritori Rex, Su," Knuckles says.

Hearing the name Julie-Su asks, surprised, "Wait, you found him?!"

"More like he found us along with the rest of Knuckles' grandfathers," Eve says.

Sabre turns to Spectre, "Open the barrier, Spectre! We need to get to the bottom of this!"

Spectre walks to the control and presses the button to allow the barrier to be open. However, no one is there. Nothing except some strange writing on the wall.

"He's gone!" Spectre says.

"What's that on the wall?" Knuckle asks.

Eve reads the word, "Shinginta?"

"What does that mean?" Tails asks.

"It's an expression from one of the early Echidna dialects. He promises we will all make friends with death," Spectre says.

"That sounds harsh," Julie-Su says.

"Very harsh," Sonic comments.

Thunderhawk walks over to Knuckles and Eve, "You kids have a lot of explaining to do."

Jazz then flies over to notice something on the ground. She sees a small black box with a note on it. Then flies to towards Eve.

"Hey Jazz, what's that?" Eve asks.

Jazz passes the small box to Eve.

Knuckles looks at it, "What's that?"

"I don't know. Jazz just found it," Eve says.

"There's a note along with it," Julie-Su says.

Eve takes the paper and reads it, "It says to Eve from your grandfather. I hope to see you again soon."

Eve then opens the box and is interested to see what's inside. She sees red ribbons inside.

"Hmm, what are these?" Eve asks.

"Hmm, they look like those ribbons my mother wears. They're used for dreadlocks," Knuckles says.

"Look at the bright side, at least Eve has two dreadlocks on," Julie-Su says.

"Yes," Eve says, sounding sad.

"That's interesting in all, but we kind of like an explanation as to why Tobor attacked you like that and what the Dark Legion has anything to do with it," Sabre asks.

Eve sadly sighs and answers, "Because… His real name is Moritori Rex who was a Dark Legionnaire Grandmaster and my grandfather."

"What?" Sabre asks confused.

Then Knuckles says, "It's true. We met the real Tobor and he told us everything about his father mistaken Moritori for him. And we also got confidential info from Kragok that Moritori's plan was to infiltrate the Guardians from within disguised as Tobor. And from what Kragok told us, he was looking for Eve's father who is really his son."

Locke and the other guardians are shocked to hear this.

Lara-Le walks over and says, "I'm afraid it's true Locke. We didn't say much because we have no clue where Moritori Rex is at the time and with the real Tobor not around, so there's no way to prove it."

"The way he attacked Knuckles seems to be proof enough," Sojourner says.

Locke sighs and says, "I think you all better tell us the whole story."

"Right," Knuckles says.

Knuckles, Locke and the other guardians walk down the hall with Sonic and the others. Lara-Le notices Eve is still looking at the present and feeling sad.

Lara-Le asks, "Are you okay?"

"Not really. I… I really hope I can get to know him better, and about my dad," Eve sadly says.

Lara-Le softly smiles, "I'm sure you'll see him again. Come on, let's join with the others."

"Okay," Eve says.

Jazz lands on Eve's head, "Chao.

She Lara-Le walks down the hall to join Knuckles and the others so they can testify. One thing for sure, things are getting tense for the Guardians, and might be for Echidnaopolis.