Chapter two: "History Lesson"
Looking at the beautiful green crystal, glittering and glowing there
on it's pedestal like a star fallen from heaven, you would never guess that
it had been the cause of all the chaos. Could such a beautiful thing be so
deadly? It had a whole island to control, to float easily along the wind, or to
destroy, letting it crash into the darkness. For a thousand years it had been
hidden deep within the caverns of Mount Fate, awaiting for it to be found.
For destiny to lead Dimitri and Edmund, descendants of the First
Guardian, Aurora-Sa, into it's evil trap.
They thought they could use the emerald's power for good, and when
they accomplished saving the small part of Downunda, now known as the
Floating Island, from the destruction of the deadly comet, they thought it
was so. The emerald could be used for good. Or could it...?
Unbeknownst to his brother Edmund, Dimitri had built a device known as
the Chaos Syphon, which could transfer the power of the Chaos Emerald into
the body of a living being. Dimitri, drawn in with lust for power and the
true evil force of the emerald, used the Chaos Syphon on himself. His mind
became diluted with the essence of chaos, his body gaining the energy. He
became the evil maniac known as Enerjak, whose cause was only for destruction
and domination of the entire planet of Mobius.
But, with the help of an unseen force, Edmund was able to trap his
brother, for centuries, in the catacombs deep beneath the sinister Mount
Fate, where the emerald itself had once rested.
Taking upon the full responsibility of Guardian, Edmund built and
developed the Chaos Chamber, and the energy crystals, tiny pink and blue
chains of stones that grew throughout the island like roots from the chamber
itself, giving power to the entire island.
For a while, the echidnas lived in peace. But alas, the peace was once
again shattered. This time, by a group of humans, whom called themselves the
Overlanders. They aimed to destroy the very existence of the island itself,
and the thousands of lives of the animals living upon it. The purpose of
this remained unknown to the echidnas, but they found that irrelevant. What
was important is that they keep the city and those within it safe. But how
could they oppose such a strong army of technically advanced beings?
Years, or even decades had passed since the guardianship of Edmund. His
ancestor, Hawking, now guardian of both the Floating Island and the slowly
growing city known as Echidnaopolis, created a incredible new invention.
By using the now forbidden technology as did Dimitri, he created a protection
device he called the Hyper Zone Protector. It could envelope the entire
city of Echidnaopolis and transport it to a different time-space plane. Technology
in all forms had been forbidden by penalty of law after Dimitri had used it to make
the infamous Chaos Syphon, and the people of Echidnaopolis were terrified at the
idea of using it once again. But unable to save their people in any other way, the
council of echidnas decided to let Hawking put this plan into action, but
only temporarily. When the Overlanders disappeared, they would reappear.
So the small city of Echinaopolis was transported into the safe dimension,
which later became known as "Haven", leaving the rest of the Floating Island above
the planet Mobius.
The Floating Island remained peaceful, that is, until about twenty years
ago. Two new guardians were in training, brothers, just like the now legendary
Edmund and Dimitri. There names were Locke and Kragok. Their father, Sabre,
intended to bring the city of Echidnaopolis back to reality on it's rightful
home on the Floating Island. Now Echidnaopolis had become a massive city,
using the once thought of evil technology along with nature in some degree
of a mutualistic environment. In an experiment trying to reverse the
process of the Hyper Zone Protector, there was a fault, and a mechanical
explosion, killing Sabre.
The now orphaned brothers now inherited the responsibility as guardians.
Solely bittered by the death of his father, Locke pushed aside all remnants
of technology. On the other hand, his brother, more than fully accepted it,
continuing his father's research. He soon discovered a way to send living
organisms, small groups at a time, back to the original Floating Island.
Just as Dimitri was lead astray by the evil forces of Chaos, so was
Kragok. He began enforcing mass technology. He had been increasingly
distrusted by his older brother after the death of their father. Because of
his technological madness, Kragok was stripped of his title, and turned
against from his family. Abandoned, Kragok secretly joined, and became
leader of a team against his brother, and the guardians after him. They
called themselves the Dark Legion, using forbidden technology to grow stronger,
they promised that one day they would awaken their almighty hero, Enerjak.
Locke, now a father, had decided he wanted a life away from technology
for his son. He used his brother's transporter machine to bring them back to
the Floating Island, then swore never again to use the evil machine. He
destroyed what he could on their exit, so no one could use it again.
Kragok however over the long years between, rebuilt it with the help
of the Dark Legion, and soon broke though. Reclaiming Mount Fate, they broke
the evil Enerjak free once again to wreak havoc on the Floating Island.
But thanks to the valiant efforts of Locke's son, Knuckles, now a young
guardian himself, and his friends the Chaotix team, they were able to defeat
the evil forces of the Dark Legion, and banish Enerjak into the Void, with the
help of the still unseen force. Defeated, the Dark Legion fled, to remain in
secrecy until the newest guardian showed a weakness...
* * * * *