Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic
Knuckles
He'd always been alone.
His sole purpose in life was to observe and protect. He wasn't taught, but rather, to his best remembrance, only recalled some sort of basic need to protect the 'heart.'
He wasn't sure why he was guarding it, or what he was waiting for. He tried not to think too much about it. For a time he believed that the world was small, that all there was an endless sky, and his land sailing through it.
But then from the sky came another "island" this one teeming with metal. And from it came a man.
He didn't know what to think at first. Maybe, in hindsight, he needed to be more suspicious. But he'd been alone for so long without even realizing it, so he believed what the man said because it was so fascinating to him.
There was another world out there, one with things that he'd never seen or known, outside of records that the heart had told him in its cryptic way. Other people actually lived there out there.
Then the two others arrived. A blue one that was as fast as he was strong. A younger orange one that always followed him and aided him, trusting him completely. He followed them on their travels through his land. The man told him that they were enemies, so he placed traps, he confronted them with tricks. But his traps were never designed to kill. They were only meant to deter, to scare, to protect that which was the heart of his land.
Other times, without them noticing, he would watch out of a sheer sense of curiosity. It wasn't difficult for him, for one having grown up in nature, he knew how to practically disappear, and the objects of his interests never noticed him.
He saw how the two would interact as they ran or flew through his land. He saw how the two talked and joked and laughed. He began to wonder what it was like, to have somebody to talk to they way they did to each other. He often spoke with the heart in his solitude, but it often spoke in riddles, and not in conventional ways. He tried to speak with the man, but he was so aloof, and often spoke in terms he could not comprehend.
Should he had taken the first step? Should he had attempted to speak with them and find out more? In hindsight again, yes. But then there was something else on his mind. A prophecy, deep within his land. That the man would be an ally, protecting the heart from the blue one. So he' decided to erre on the side of caution.
But as the two ventured closer and closer to the heart of his land, he then came to know another emotion; fear. Fear that his world would be destroyed, fear that he would lose all that he had known for his entire life. His attacks grew more vicious, culminating in one massive brawl within the home of his land's heart.
And then, tragically his worst fear was realized.
The man turned out to be an enemy, while the other two were allies. The man stole the heart of his land. the prophecy that he believed was mistaken, HE was mistaken. The man was the enemy and the blue and orange ones were his allies.
And yet despite all he'd done to the two intruders, they helped him. When he found himself outmatched and beaten down, and his island was to be destroyed by the man, they were the ones who saved his land and returned its heart, enabling it to rise up to its rightful place within the skies once again.
He'd watch them depart, and once again felt new emotions. Guilt? Thankfulness? Respect? Envy? They were leaving back for their world; that which he believed he would never see. If he could do it again, he would want to speak to them, to know what it was like to be free, to not know what it was like to be tied down.
And now was his chance. His chance to see what was out there. Maybe this is what he was waiting for. He still had his duty, that he would never forsake. And yet, lately he found himself straying more and more. He was thinking outside his usual confines. It used to be just him and his land... But now it was more...
He held out his large hands, as he stood infront of his land's heart, and recited a chant passed down by his ancestors.
"The servers are the seven chaos…"Seven emeralds surrounded him.
"Chaos is power, harnessed by my strength…" He felt his strength increase exponentially, and his muscles buldged accordingly.
"…The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." His fur glowed a brilliant pink color, and a bright aura surrounded him. Lastly, his trademark fist spurs sharpened and shone like steel.
He stood transformed atop the altar. Whatever headed his way, he would face it. And then once he was certain his land was completely safe, then he would see what was beyond his world.
Author's Note
Knuckles has come a long way since Sonic 3. He's started off as a smug S.O.B., but that could be explained by his years of isolation. This shows what he thought of meeting Sonic, Tails, and Eggman for the first time. I also wanted to have Knuckles use Tikal's original mantra, since the echidnas seem to have originated it, but I decided not to.
BTW, that prophecy Knuckles mentions? Play Sonic 3 and Knuckles again and take a good look at the tapestry hanging in the Hidden Palace Zone.