The Convention of Echidnas

Knuckles was walking down the street of the Station Square, he was talking on his communicator with Sonic.

"Oh thank goodness that you found Amy again." Knuckles answered. "But I'm sorry to hear that chaos has gotten stronger."

"I know, knucklehead." Sonic answered. "We'll have to work twice as hard." Then knuckles noticed a sign on the wall.

"Ugh."

"What is it?"

"It's another echidna-con poster. It's been advertised a lot recently." Knuckles replied. "I heard this time it's going to be in Station Square. I don't go to cons like… What the…?"

"What is it?"

"It says it's hosting a talent show and the winner gets shards of the master emerald." The echidna stated. "Change of plans, I'm going to echidna-con to win that talent show. But I'm going to need someone to go with and a few people to make sure that Shade doesn't get her hands on it."

As Knuckles and Tikal entered the convention, they saw many mobians dressed up like echidnas. Tikal was looking around the place seeing so many people.

"Wow, this is really impressive." Tikal stated. "Look at all the people who worked hard at this echidna culture festival."

"Don't be fooled by what you see." Knuckles answered her. Then, a shrew dressed up came to the two of them.

"Man, talk about your outfit." She stated referring to Tikal. "I mean, it's like so cheesy and tacky. No echidna would wear that." Tikal was surprised.

"But this is my favorite outfit." She replied.

"Obviously, you don't have a very good fashion sense." She stated as she handed her a business card. "This will help you with better clothing. Just call the number." Then, she left. When the shrew wasn't looking, Tikal threw the card away.

"There is the sign-up booth." Knuckles said. "I'll be right back." He headed up to the booth and someone stepped in front of him.

"Well, if it isn't that handsome echidna boy." The echidna stated. Knuckles turned and he saw Shade looking back at him.

"Well, if it isn't Shade." He stated. "I bet you are going to steal the shards of the master emerald again."

"Not this time," She stated. "This time I'm going to try things fair and square by beating the talent show."

"Well, you're going to have to beat me." Knuckles answered.

"I will accept your challenge." She said. "You will have to find something that can beat my combat routine I have planned." She looked up and noticed somebody cut in line. "Hey, don't cut in line."

"Sorry," the pink echidna stated. "But if you don't sign up, you don't compete."

"Who do you think you are?" Knuckles asked.

"My name is Julie-su." The pink echidna stated. "If you want any chance to win, you have to beat my hilarious comedy." She walked off after signing. "Well, good luck. You're going to need it."

"Such an arrogant… ugh." Shade stated.

"For once, I agree with you." Knuckles answered. He watched as the girl signed up. "So, your name is Percy."

"Let's see who will are going to win." She said. "We are lucky that we actually got in as the last two participants."

"May the best echidna win." Knuckles answered. Then, she walked off as Knuckles signed up. "There now I have to do is prepare." Then, he saw Sonic and Amy come up to him.

"So, knucklehead, what are you planning to do for the talent show?" Sonic asked. "Are you going to show off those combat skills of yours?"

"Actually, I had something else planned." Knuckles stated. "I'm going to sing."

"If I understand correctly, your clan was known for its warriors and not singers." Sonic stated smugly.

"Says the person who is vocally tone-deaf." Amy snapped back at him. Sonic was shocked at Amy's sassy comment.

"Well, I'll see you at the talent show." He stated, smiling and walking off.

"Am I really that bad at singing?" Sonic thought.

Meanwhile, Bunny was walking around the convention with Tikal. They sat down at the table to have a bite to eat. Bunny pulled out a sandwich to eat, but noticed Tikal doesn't have anything.

"Uh, Tikal?" She asked. "Don't you want anything to eat?"

"No, thank you." Tikal replied.

"I haven't seen you eat the mornin', so I thought I would ask." Bunny answered. "Are you sure you don't want nothin'?"

"I'm sure." Tikal said.

"Okay, if you say so." Bunny stated; she took a bite out of her turkey sandwich but was concerned about Tikal's health. "So, do you know anythin' about Knuckles? I'm wonderin' why you seem to know him."

"Well, I remember that I babysat him when he was younger." Tikal answered. Bunny perked up and looked at her.

"Really?" She asked. "I had no idea by the way you looked. How are you able to look so young?" She leaned and whispered in her ear. "Can you let me in on those anti-aging secrets?"

"Huh…" Tikal replied.

"I'm sorry." Bunny stated. "I didn't mean to rush in like that. We don't have to talk about that." Tikal looked around and looked at the echidnas.

"Wait, is it just me or does everyone look like Knuckles except with a different color palette." She asked. There were a few within ear shot of her.

"Excuse me, we are original characters!" One of the guys shouted at her.

"Although, to be fair you could be a little more original." Bunny stated.

"We are the most original out of the original!" He continued to whine at her.

"As I think about it, there is little skill in your performance." Tikal mentioned. The crowd continued to get angry at Tikal.

"That does it! After her!" The boy shouted. Tikal ran away with the boys chasing her. Bunny was able to stop one of the guys and knocked him to the floor. The group of rowdies pursued her and she disappeared into the crowd. They entered the crowd as well but lost track of her.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" one of them asked.

"We'll split up and find her." Another said. Then, the group did that. The leader went down a path and found an orange echidna. He grabbed her shoulder.

"Finally, I got you, you little…" He stated turning her around. It was Cosmo wearing an outfit that Tikal made for her. She was a little scared. "Uh?" He got a tap on his shoulder; the guy looked around and found a pissed off Tails. Then, the fox knocked him out with a punch to the face.

"That's no way to treat a girl." Tails said to him. Then, he turned to Cosmo. "Are you okay?"

"I was scared for a minute." She replied. "Thanks for helping me out."

"No problem." He looked at his watch. "Well, the talent show is about to start. So, we should get to the performance hall.

The party was in the performance hall. Bunny, was seated next to Tails, seated next to Cosm, seated next to Sonic, seated next to Amy.

"When is Knuckles coming on?" Tails asked Bunny.

"I heard he's the last one to be on stage." She answered. "But we have to watch the whole thing to watch for any trouble."

"But who's on now?"

"I heard this is Julie-Su is on." Bunny replied.

"But what's so funny about her jokes?" Cosmo asked. "They're immature."

"Not to mention lowest common denominator." Bunny continued. She paused. "Thank goodness, she's done. I'm about ready to scream if I had to hear another one of those dirty jokes."

"Now ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said. "Next up, we have Percy Shade the echidna doing a combat performance for us. She and her team are going to replicate the fighting style of the forgotten Nocturnus clan." The audience clapped their hands.

"Well of course, she'll do that. She's a member of the Nocturnus clan." Sonic said. "This will give us a chance to see how they fight, in case we need to face them."

"Have you ever tried to slow down on the action?" Amy asked.

"I haven't really thought about it." Sonic replied.

"Because if you always go fast, you are going to miss out on what's going on around you." Amy pointed out.

"Well… I guess you do have a point." Sonic replied admitting that detail.

"Wow, Shade is really good with her combat skills." Tails stated. "Knuckles is going to have a tough time beating her with his skills."

"He's not going to do combat." Sonic stated to Tails.

"What!?" Bunny asked.

"He said he was going to sing." He continued. "I've never heard him sing."

"He has a good voice." She stated. "But I didn't think he would actually try it for a talent show." Then, they saw Percy finish up her routine. There was a great applause from the audience.

"Well, let's see Knuckles beat that." Percy thought.

"Shade, we done it." One of the nocturnus boys said.

"Now, let's head to our seats and watch what our adversary has to show off." Shade said to them as they joined the audience.

"It is now time for the final event." The announcer said. "We show off the guardian of the master emerald, Knuckles the Echidna of Team Sonic. He will be… uh… singing? What? This is our seventh singer today. What do people think this is West Side Idol?" The folks were now talking amongst themselves.

"Well, here it is." Sonic stated. "Knux is coming on the stage."

The red echidna came onto the stage as the final one to participate. Most of the audience was trying to hide a snicker from what the echidna was trying to do. He had a glass of water on stage before he went to perform.

"Well Knuckles," Bunny said, calmly to herself. "I hope you know what you are doing." Then, the sound of an orchestra started to play as the lights faded with a single spotlight on him.

In his best tenor voice, the red echidna sang 'Ave Maria'. His voice echoed across the performance hall, stunning the audience. Sonic was amazed by how much emotion was in his song, to the point where he didn't even recognize him.

"This… this is beautiful." Bunny thought as she heard the song, imaging Knuckles in a suit on the opera stage. Some of the audience members including Shade were brought to tears in the second verse.

"Are you crying, Percy?" The nocutrnus member asked her.

"No, I just had something in my eye." She replied.

When the song came to a close, she was the first to applaud, followed by the rest of Team Sonic, followed by the rest of the audience. Knuckles had heard cheers from many and a tear came down from his eye because of the recognition. He picked up some of the roses that were coming towards him.

"Well, it seems we have a winner." Shade stated. Then, she turned to her Nocturnus clan members. "Let's go, boys."

"But what about the shards?" One of them asked.

"Leave them." Percy stated. "He's earned them. We'll beat him next time." At that moment, she and the Nocturnus members left the con.

The group gathered after the talent show with Knuckles, congratulating him on his victory at the talent show. He was holding some roses that were tossed to him.

"I got to say, knucklehead." Sonic said. "I'm quite impressed."

"At least, there is more shards recovered." Knuckles answered. "It's time to leave Echidna-con." Then, he passed by Bunny Rabbot. "And to someone I know dearly." He handed her one of the roses. Bunny started to cry.

"Knuckles, I don't know what to say." She replied.

"Isn't that sweet?" Sonic said aloud, making a kissy face towards them. Bunny grabbed him by the collar with her metal arm. She throw him over her shoulder onto a building top. "Ow…"

"That's what you get for ruining a tender moment." Amy stated to him. Then, she saw Tikal and went over to her.

"There you are." Amy said. "I was wondering where you have run off to."

"I wasn't far." Tikal answered. "I saw Knuckles' performance."

"It was amazing."

"I saw that. He has grown up and matured." Tikal stated.

"Are you going to stick around?"

"No, I have to get back to the headquarters."

"Can you tell Princess Sally about our success?"

"I can't; it's like she ignores me." Tikal stated.

"I'm sure, she hasn't gotten to know you yet." Amy replied.

"Thank you, Amy." Tikal said. "See you later."

"Bye." The pink hedgehog waved as she saw Tikal leave. She looked down. "What in the…?"