Chapter 3: The Legend

Day one:

First things first; sleeping on a stone floor isn't good for your back. When Knuckles returned from his little walk, he swiftly choose one of the beds. Tails, after moving the bed to the other side of the room, went to sleep on that one. I was left one the cold, hard stone floor. It got pretty cold during the night in this place. It had to have dropped twenty degrees between nine o'clock and midnight.

That morning, Knuckles went for another walk. He was up before the sun. The reason I know when he got up was because he decide to make sure I knew he was leaving. I still have a bruise from that. He gave me a nice kick in the stomach and then one in the head.

"Hey!" I called. He didn't turn around. He just walked out of the house. I gripped my Chaos Emerald and followed him. We hadn't gotten ten feet before Knuckles bolted. I growled. That wasn't smart, Knux, I thought. I began chasing him.

He had more of an advantage to our fight because he could easily escape my homing attack by climbing out of my reach. When he did that, I used Chaos Spear, which made him fall off of whatever he had climbed and the chase would begin again. The speed battle lasted nearly two hours, neither of us willing to admit that this little thing would end up badly if a child got in either of our ways. In truth, I highly doubted we cared if a child, or anyone else for that matter, got in our way.

We destroyed two houses, about three or four square feet of the Temple and injured one pedestrian. It was a pretty good fight. We got in trouble, later on, but it was fun, somewhat. When we finally called the fight, I screamed a few words to Knuckles that I will never repeat in my life.

I trudged back to the house. Tails was waiting for me inside. He was staring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would have burst into flames right there and would have been reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds. "What?" I asked.

Tails narrowed his eyes. "WHAT?" He yelled. I had never seen that fox this angry. He was pushing his luck. "Shadow, you and Knuckle-Brain are going to get us kicked out of here! Why are you even fighting? This is MY fault, not Knuckles' or yours, MINE!"

For a brief second, I felt sorry for the kid. He had the best intentions for going up the Island. But some of the worse things happen because they had the "best intentions". "Tails. . ." I started.

"I don't want to hear it, Shadow!" Tails screamed.

I was taken aback. That was the last time I tried to help someone. "I'm trying to help!"

"HELP?" He screamed, laughing bitterly. "Well, that would be the understatement of the millennium, Shadow! I can't ditch you because you are my ticket home, but when this is over and I ever see your ugly face again, I will show you just how hard I can swing my tails!"

I glared at him. "Who said I'll take you home?" I yelled.

"You wouldn't leave me, and you know it!" He turned around, signaling that this conversation was over.

"Why you little. . ."

"Am I interrupting something?"

I spun around. "No, Ky, we were just finishing."

"Good. Shadow I need to speak with you. I heard about your little flight through our city, and we are appalled," He said calmly.

"I'm sorry," I growled.

"It's okay. The Chief wasn't too angry to hear about the damages." Ky smiled. He saw Tails, who was still standing with his back towards us. "Say, you guys want to hear a story?"

"Oh, story time!" I growled, but nodded anyway. "Why not, Ky? Tell us your story."

Ky nodded. "Good! Alright, this is one of our most famous legends. It all started about 300 years ago. .."

"KY! Thank goodness I found you!" We all turned around, except Tails.

"Yes, Knuckles," Ky said.

I growled and looked at him. "We were just about to hear a story, Knuckles. You can wait." Knuckles stuck his tongue out at me. "Do that again, and you won't have a tongue," I snapped. Knuckles threw one hand over his mouth in mock fear. With the other hand, he raked the side of his face with a mock "No, don't do that! Please," Kind of face. I growled, about the lunge for his throat.

"You wanted to see me Knuckles?" Ky interrupted, good thing too.

"Yes. I was walking and I heard someone say something about the Beast! I need to know everything you know about it!"

Ky smiled. "You are in luck, that is the story I was about to tell!" Knuckles brightened up and grabbed one of the stone chairs and sat. Tails turned around and leaned against the wall. He carefully slid until he was in a sitting position. I stayed standing. "Ok, as I said, it all started about 300 years ago. A large group of my Tribe decided they would be an independent Tribe. Years went by and these creatures came up with a new system of government. They began to eat meat and legend has it that they sometimes were cannibals, but not very often. The Chief of our Tribe got angry at this new species. They had become something other them Echidnas. He went a an Echidna in his Tribe who knew some ancient curses. The Beast was created. It was a monster so horrible, that even the bravest warriors ran in terror from it. It had the body of a wolf, the head of a lion, horns of a bull, hind legs of a cheetah, front legs of a tiger and the tails and brain of a Kitsune.

"The Beast was sent onto the Tribe, known as the Tribe of the Wind, for their ever changing ways. For years many went into the woods where the Beast lived to kill it. Few came back, until this one boy, Omtry, went into the woods, carrying his baby sister. He slowly approached the Beast's clearing. He placed the child in front of the monster. The Beast looked from Omtry to his sister. After a minute, the Beast devoured the baby." Knuckles grew pale at that. Tails didn't flinch. He still had that angry glare. I decided to sit. This might take a while and my feet were killing me.

"Omtry did this for 2 years, feeding the Beast young children from the Tribe and sometimes he even managed to lead elders into the clearing. He fed it twice a month. One day, during the second year, the boy's brother, Trinnit, followed his brother into the woods as Omtry carried their parent's newest child. He watched in horror as Omtry left the child near the Beast and went to stroke it's matted wolf fur and it's soft golden mane as the Beast ate the child. Trinnit quickly went to the Council with what he saw. They believed him instantly, for Trinnit never lied about something so serious. They waited until Omtry went for his second round of the month.

"When he placed the child down, one of the Council members screamed and fled. Omtry turned around, seeing the remaining Council member and his brother, Trinnit. Without hesitation, Omtry pointed to his brother. The Beast lunged at Trinnit and withing seconds, there was nothing left of the young man. The remaining Council member had Omtry arrested. His trial was only a week later. Like expected, Omtry was found guilty. His punishment was to continue to feed the Beast, but he had to tell the parents that he was taking their child and he had to kill the child before he fed it to the Beast and cut a piece from each child and eat it." I shot a glance at Knuckles, who looked ready to barf.

"Omtry figured he got off easy until he went for his first victim. He walked up the hut and knocked. The mother answered. Omtry explained what he there for, though he had no need for that. The mother begged and screamed for Omtry to change his mind, but he was firm. He picked up the child with the mother's sorrow filled screams echoing throughout the Tribal area. He walked into the clearing and pulled out his dagger. Without giving himself time to thing, he stabbed the child. Wincing, he took a bit off of the child and ate if without chewing. This went on for a long while. He often talked to the Beast, begging it to try a different meal. After nearly tem years, the Beast finally didn't eat the body of the child. Omtry looked at it. He asked it if it was sick. The Beast shook its massive head. Omtry walked up to it and stroked it's mane. It made somewhat of a purring noise. Suddenly, a glow came from the Beast and Omtry. When it faded, Omtry found he had a new ability. He could morph. Later he found the Beast gave him the power so Omtry could hunt within the Tribe as any animal, saving him from having to tell the parents that he was taking the child. Years later, Omtry met a nice girl. They had a child together, who had the morphing ability. This young man became what became known as the Keeper of the Beast. The Keepers usually were kind hearted. It was a family business, but the Tribe of the Wind still feared the monster. The Keepers did all they could to protect the Beast, but the Tribe never stopped trying to destroy it. To this day, the decedents of Omtry still protect the Beast and try everything within their power to keep it alive." Ky stood up. Knuckles nodded his thanks and walked out of the house.

I stared after him. That still didn't answer any of his questions. "Ky, what is the Tribe of the Wind?" I asked.

"I have no idea. They aren't Echidnas anymore, that's for sure. I need to get back," he said and walked out. I was stuck with Tails again. Neither of us tried to talk to the other one. I went for a walk later on. When I got back, well after dark, Tails and Knuckles were asleep in the beds. I hissed sadly and curled up on the floor where I stayed awake until well after midnight.