"He's such a sweetie sometimes, isn't he?" Sonic smiled.
"Hey, not my fault I was given a big heart to go with my brain," Tails retorted.
"Speaking as someone with a heart condition, you might want to see a doctor about that," Amy chuckled.
"You know, I think we should talk about my handsome stud of a husband next," Shade smiled.
"Aw... I'd rather not..." Knuckles said.
"What, too many bad days back at the academy?" Rouge asked.
"On the contrary," said Knuckles. "I had too few."
"Oh, come on," Sonic said. "I shared a dorm with you back then. I know you've got some stories."
Knuckles sighed and nodded. "Well... I did used to be more quick to anger. I remember this one ass-hole back then. Really set me off in the wrong way."
"Oh... I know where this is going," Shadow said uneasily.
"Yeah... this one's pretty personal," Knuckles said. "Buckle up for this one.
Two years ago...
Knuckles was in the academy's gym, working up a good sweat as he lifted a barbell up and down. Shadow was spotting him, counting him up to thirty before he helped to set the bar back on the handles. He handed Knuckles a towel before opening his mouth to speak.
"Why do you do so few pumps?" Shadow asked. "Don't you build muscle quicker by doing more?"
"First off, thirty isn't bad for anyone," Knuckles said. "Secondly, real muscle like that is built up in the resting periods between. If I did those thirty any faster, I'd be passed the fuck out right now." He wiped himself with the towel and took a drink of his water bottle, gulping it down. "I'm not the smartest guy around, but I didn't get to this level just by working out. I had to be smart about it, so there you go."
"Huh... I might pen some of that down," Shadow said.
Knuckles nodded. "Tails been teaching you to write again?"
"I'm getting better at it," Shadow replied with a nod. "Learning more about prose, symbols, stuff like that."
The red echidna smiled. "That's our nerd."
Present...
"Awwww," Sonic said to Knuckles.
"Yeah, yeah, can it, blue boy," Knuckles replied. "Anyway..."
Back at the academy...
"What's next?" Shadow asked. "Treadmill?"
"When Sonic is done with it, maybe," Knuckles said. "Dude moves fast."
"Yo," said a voice behind them. "When you're done with the barbell, give is a shot."
"Well, I'm not done just yet," Knuckles said. "Just taking a break for now." He saw the person speaking. It was another Mobian, a tall and scrawny looking cheetah. "Sorry for the holdup."
"Yeah, you know, it's not like anyone else here wants to work out," the cheetah said.
Shadow shook his head. "You know, there's another bench at the other end of the gym. Maybe go over there?"
"But this one's closer," the cheetah said.
"Look, man-" Knuckles began.
"My name is Greene," the cheetah insisted.
"Fair. All right," Knuckles continued, "sorry about this, but I am planning on getting back to using it soon. If you took your workouts seriously, you'd know something about that."
"At least I take my home seriously," Greene said. "I was born and raised right here in Green Hill. I don't want someone like you in my way."
Shadow looked up at Greene. "What the hell did you just say to him?"
"You know what I mean," Greene said. "This echidna. I don't want him near this gym."
"You don't own this place," Shadow said. "You don't run anything. I sure as shit don't see your name on this bench."
"And where are you from, emo kid?" Greene said.
"Green Hill, same as you," Shadow said. "And as far as I'm concerned, Knuckles is from here too."
"No, he's not," Greene said. "You're not from here. You don't deserve to be in this academy. Get the hell out of here."
"Whoa, what the fuck have you got against me?" Knuckles asked. "I ain't done anything to you. Unless you have a sister I slept with while I was drunk, in which case, I'm sorry that she wasn't better in bed. Being drunk did not help either of us."
"Another nice try," said the cheetah. "But I saw you with that girlfriend of yours. An echidna like you. I truly do hope that you two are the last of your kind, because the thought of you bringing more into this world... no thank you."
"I'm sorry, but I didn't ask you to think about me having sex with my girlfriend?" Knuckles said.
"I'd rather not," said Greene. "Honestly... you should have all fucking died during that culling. Your kind are the reason my brother's dead."
"Well, I'm very sorry to hear your racist opinion on that," Knuckles said. "But I didn't kill your brother. If he got into trouble, that wasn't on me. And besides, he shouldn't have been, you know, trying to murder an entire race of people?"
"Do you know why it happened to you in the first place?" Greene asked.
"It sure wasn't because we deserved it like you probably think we did," Knuckles said. "It was a witch hunt in a pointless war that didn't last long. People from outside of Angel Wing wanted to clear us off the map. I know it was because we wanted to move to a bigger island when our own got too big. Some people moved earlier than they wanted to, some got into trouble... dude, I know that it happened just a couple of years ago. To be honest, I don't remember a lot of it, and I don't want to remember."
"That's all well and good. You're still in my way. You're still not wanted here. And if I see your girlfriend around here again, I'll make sure there's one less of your lot around here."
"First of all, it's one fewer," Knuckles corrected Greene. "And secondly... boy, being a racist towards me is one thing. Saying that my island deserved what happened when it did nothing wrong is a much bigger step into something stupid. Going after the love of my life? The girl I might marry one day?"
Without even thinking, Knuckles' right hand moved on its own and he clocked Greene right across the jaw, knocking him to the floor and catching him off guard. The cheetah attempted to get back up, but the red echidna pounced on him and held his shoulders to the floor with his knees, lifting his hands up and curling them into fists to land some blows.
"You don't fucking talk about my kind like that!" Knuckles yelled. "You don't know what the hell we suffered! I lost family in that culling!" He landed another huge blow. "I lost my parents!" Another hard blow. "And the only reason I'm not splatting your face into the mat right now is because you're so fucking ignorant."
"KNUCKLES!" yelled a voice from the door. The red echidna turned to see Mr. Bridger stood there, his arms crossed. "My office. Now."
Knuckles grunted, looking down at Greene and dropping him to the floor. Others there hurried to clean up the blood before carrying Greene out, having to call in a hospital for the injuries while Knuckles was busy being scolded in Mr. Bridger's office.
Present day...
"Whoa, yeah... I remember," said Sonic. "That ass-hole."
"He survived, by the way," Knuckles said. "Not that it helps at all. I just... I couldn't control him talking about something he pretended to know about."
"What happened after that?" Amy asked.
"Well..."
Two years ago...
"You're lucky he doesn't want to press charges," Shade said on the other end of the phone. "I will admit... I am a bit scared of you now."
"I'm not a violent person by nature," Knuckles said. "You know this."
"You've knocked out everyone you've fought for those fighting classes," Shade giggled.
"I'm more powerful than I remember sometimes," Knuckles smiled. "Speaking of, how's the kickboxing stuff going?"
"Well on my way to the purple belt," Shade said. "I might be able to get into a proper class in Green Hill. The south end has some good options, from what I hear."
"Glad you've been killing it, so to speak," Knuckles sighed. "Christ, I'm bored, though. Suspended from classes for a month just for kicking a racist's ass..."
"You could always come and visit me," Shade said.
"I actually can't, as much as I want to," Knuckles said. "It's a mandate thing. Even if you're suspended, you still have to stay in your dorm and your roommate has to bring you the tests and other stuff."
"What about the martial arts classes?" Shade asked.
"They got enough guys to go to those," Knuckles shrugged. "Besides, I've got an unbeaten record. Nobody better dare fuck with me again."
"Oh, don't bring up the unbeaten record," Shade said. "I'm super nervous as it is."
Knuckles rose an eyebrow. "Why's that, babe?"
"I... have my first kickboxing fight soon. It's an amateur bout, so it won't mean much. It's next weekend, but you'll still be suspended by then."
Knuckles nodded. "Shit, you're right. I will be." He looked to the window behind him. "Although... I could try and slip out of this place. Come visit you and see you fight."
"It'll be at the gym, so you won't have to rush around the city looking for it," Shade said.
"You say that, but there's the matter of me getting to see you at all," Knuckles said. "Dammit... if I leave to come see you, I'll probably get expelled." He heard a knock on his door. "That's Sonic. I've got to go. Got some papers to go over."
"Sounds boring. Good luck," Shade said. "Oh, uh... Catbite. Nice One. Good album. Listen to it as you get to work. Love you, bye!"
"Love you too," Knuckles said as Sonic walked in, giving him a confused look. "I was just telling your sister how much I love her."
"Ah," Sonic nodded, setting the papers down on the table. "Interesting lesson today. They taught us about riot gear. In case that ever becomes a thing that we'll have to deal with."
"Riot stuff? Sounds sick," Knuckles said, using his phone to bring up the album that Shade mentioned.
"You'd think so, but there's a lot of procedure. We would go over it, but Mr. Bridger wants to see you back in his office."
Knuckles looked up at Sonic. "Wait, really? Why?"
"He didn't tell me," the blue hedgehog said. "You'd best get going. The day's almost over and he gets off soon. I'll save some notes from this for you, just the important stuff."
"I appreciate it," Knuckles nodded at that. He sent the album he was listening to to Sonic via text message, smiling. "Have fun with that. See you in a bit."
Knuckles remembered the way to Bridger's office, eventually finding his way to it. He knocked carefully on the door, and the commanding officer told him to come in. As the red echidna entered, he noticed Greene sat in one of the chairs, some bandages on his face from the injuries that Knuckles inflicted on him those weeks ago.
"Please, be seated," Mr. Bridger instructed.
Knuckles sat opposite Greene, looking over at Mr. Bridger. "What's all this about?"
"Greene has something that he wants to say to you." Bridger looked at the cheetah. "Greene."
Greene gulped and sighed. "It was wrong of me... to say what I said. About you and other echidnas. You're right, I wasn't there, and I got angry because... well, it's true. Echidnas did kill my brother. But I found out it was a gang that did it. Some small-time thing... my brother got involved with them. I only found out a couple of days ago, and I know it's not an excuse for what I said..."
"You're right, it's not," Knuckles said. "But... well, I can't use your ignorance as the reason why I beat you up. I haven't even been falling behind in classes recently. I just... something you said about it... just snapped something in me."
"I don't expect you two to be friends," Mr. Bridger started, "but if you two can at least apologise to each other, then we can put this all behind us. You'll both be back to classes by next week. I can't let you off that easy."
Knuckles nodded, turning to Green. "I'm sorry. And I hope it wasn't too bad..."
"I can still eat without the aid of a straw, so that's a plus," Green said. "I'm sorry too." He offered his hand, and Knuckles shook it.
"There you go," said Mr. Bridger. "Now get back to your rooms."
Knuckles nodded, leaving with Greene and turning to speak to him. "You know, my girlfriend has her first kickboxing match next weekend. Want to come with me and check it out?"
"Considering how horrible I was to you, that's big of you to ask," said Greene. "I got no plans for then, so... sure. Could be fun."
A week and a half later, Knuckles was indeed watching his girlfriend in her first competitive kickboxing match. It was against a female green hedgehog who was shorter than Shade, but she made up for it with surprising accuracy. Knuckles even offered to corner for Shade on the night, and there was three rounds in the match. Greene was sat in the crowd, surrounded by Sonic, Shadow, and Tails, and Shade was just ending round one with a solid kick to her opponent's body before the bell sounded.
Knuckles gave his girlfriend some water as another corner-man wiped her down with a towel. "You looked a bit stiff. You okay?"
Shade nodded. "Yeah. Trying to get a read on her. I think I'm telegraphing my right too much."
"All right, try feinting and land the left. She's a southpaw. She won't expect it." Knuckles smiled. "I speak from experience there."
Shade took another sip of the water and nodded. "Fake with the right, go for the left..."
The bell rung again, and Knuckles went back to the corner, which was close to where the others were sat. "She's looking good up there, huh?"
"She's got a solid base," Sonic nodded. "I just hope she can get out of her own head and win it."
Green nodded, looking closer at the fight. He saw Shade go for the suggested technique of feinting with her right, and it worked, turning the fake-out into a left hook to the body. She mixed it up again with a kick then a right hook to the head, backing up her opponent and causing her to lean over the rope. Shade stood back in wait for her opponent to return, and she barely made out some advice from the green hedgehog's corner before the fight resumed.
When it did, Shade tried the same strategy, mixing it with her strikes, but every time that she went for something from her left to counter, her opponent stuffed it with a jab. She then followed that up with some combos of her own, her speed outplaying Shade's reach and causing her to get frustrated. Shade overextended a shot in anger, and she paid for it by eating a hard shot to the stomach before the bell rang, her limps apparent as she went back to her corner.
Knuckles was about to go help when Greene touched his shoulder. "It's the girl's left leg."
Knuckles rose an eyebrow. "What?"
"She's got a slightly limp to it. It's what's making her go to the body more. She can't put all the power to hitting your girlfriend up top. It's not a reach thing."
The red echidna gave a nod at that, quickly hopping to relay the advice to Shade. His girlfriend gave him a nod, and she even kissed his cheek for some of her own good luck before the referee called for the last round, raising his hand and instructing the two combatants to fight as the bell rang one more time.
Shade did most of what she was doing in the previous round, faking a bit more and following up with a hard strike, but she didn't get as greedy. When she landed a hard left, she faked following with another right, anticipating that her opponent would go to the body. Shade blocked it, turning her body away and landing some body blows of her own, causing her opponent to shake before she stumbled back. Shade saw the opportunity to capitalise, pulling the opponent in a clinch and landing several knees to the body before the opponent collapsed and the referee stepped in, waving the fight off.
"YES!" Knuckles smiled with pride at his girlfriend, stepping through the ropes to join her in celebration. "You did it, babe!"
"What, you doubted me?" Shade said, exhausted but still smiling.
"Not in the least," Knuckles smiled. He kissed his girlfriend before the referee stood the two competitors in the ring, raising Shade's hand in victory. Shade reached for her opponent to shake her hand, thanking her for the fight before leaving the arena, the others all following tow.
Present day...
"It's weird how much he helped with that," said Tails. "Like, I was watching as closely as I could and I didn't even make that call."
"Good thing I didn't get disqualified," said Shade. "I'm pretty sure that kind of outside help would be banned if it were professional."
"But it wasn't and you kicked ass," Knuckles smiled. "Not like you needed help anyway."
"More to the point," Shadow said, "Knuckles, of all people, had the strength of self to forgive someone like that."
"I felt like if I didn't, I'd be going against what I remember my parents raising me on," Knuckles said. "I may be big, strong, and bad-ass, but kindness always comes first. I think part of me forgot that back then."
"Don't forget again any time soon, yeah?" Shade asked, rubbing Knuckles' arm.
"I'll try not to."
And the third one is done! One last one, focused on Shadow, and that'll be an interesting one to write. It's been nice doing these, and I can't wait to get started on Zero Hour later in the year. I hope you've been liking them, and yeah, next time, last chapter of these as we cover Shadow. Possibly back to one-shot requests after that. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.
