Yellow!
Greetings from the other side of the world!... unless you live nearby lol. Man already this far into the story and still no end in sight pretty much. Hopefully the fighting kept it entertaining and now we dive into something more chill... that pun was terrible relating to the chapter lol. Welp aside from that won't keep you distracted so hope you enjoy! ^u^
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or locations. They belong to Sega.
Chapter 25: Past Bonds
"Bah! So what if you won this time, you have yet to see the true powers of Chaos!"
"Yeah yeah, that still doesn't faze me you hear?"
"I know something that might. It's about Sonic."
…
"What? What about Sonic?"
"He's after the pieces of the Master Emerald too!"
"What do you mean?"
The owner of the first voice starts walking off but turns back around. "You're not the only one on a wild goose chase, idiot! Why should I ruin your surprise? Ha ha ha ha!" the person leaves afterwards.
The owner of the second voice walks away as well. "I wonder what he means by that? I'd better find Sonic."
…
…
…
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Black shoes walked down a snowy hill with the owner of said shoes heading to a small village. Snow igloos mainly dominated the architecture with several people out in thick light brown coats with white fluff and a few designs at the hems, brown mittens and brown boots wandering outside. The freezing wind that blew through the area and constant snow made their wares a necessity lest they develop frostbite and by its location, it is assumed that it snows all year round.
The owner of the boots was a hooded figure who walked into the village with their face hidden from sight. The people didn't mind much about them as they did their daily tasks quietly and by how calm the scenery was, they were accustomed to foreign travelers coming in and now.
Strange in which their location was near the top of the world away from most of civilization.
Nonetheless the figure continued to trek in a straight line with their black colored clothing standing out among them. Almost all the residents still didn't pay mind to them.
"Excuse me?"
Hence almost.
The figure stopped in their tracks and turned around.
A small girl with black braided side pigtails, dark gray eyes and a brown parka greeted them with a smiling face. "You must be new here! My name's Marketa and what would bring you here stranger?"
Some silence lingered in the air as the hooded individual did not speak. Huffs of air came out of the figure due to the cold as they let out a small sigh.
"I'm looking for a very large man with a very large mustache. Do you know if he's here?" they said in a low voice.
Marketa's eyes widened in surprise. "Woah how'd you know he was here?! Are you one of his friends?!"
…
Once again more silence reigned in for a few seconds.
…
"Yes… I am one of his friends…"
Marketa's smile got bigger. "Wow can't believe there's someone else outside of Holoska that knows of him! Heck the only other person that knows him is this hedgehog named Sonic. He's so cool I swear!"
A very low and inaudible growl came out of the hooded figure, but luckily the girl didn't take notice. "Can you take me to the man?" he asked.
"Sure! Follow me!" Marketa then led the hooded figure through the village. Hidden eyes looked at the denizens in which they noticed that all of them looked alike in some way. Were they all related to each other? Were they the only ones here out in this frozen land? Several questions ran through their head yet the only focus was getting to their destination.
After passing through several more igloos and a couple of fire pits did the two reach a large ice hut that was different compared to the other structures around them.
The main and obvious difference was the face logo on it with a very large mustache and certain goggles.
"Here we are! I bet he's gonna be very excited to see you!" Marketa said with delight. "Let me know if you need anything else! I'll be at the center of town just in case and if I'm not there you can ask my parents, though don't mind if my mom's being very demanding of my dad hehe. If not them then you can ask my grandma and she'll be at the trading post nearby. If not her then you can ask my grandpa since he's the head of the Holoska clan, but he's very forgetful."
The hooded figure nodded. "Sure thing and thank you."
"Don't mention it. See ya around!" Marketa waved to them and headed back after. The hooded figure gave another sigh and turned around to the igloo.
Raising a twin-spiked glove to the door and knocking on the metal door.
A bit of silence followed after until eventually a hiss of air was heard and the door opened up.
A very large man was revealed with a very large mustache, bald head with goggles on top of it and wearing the same parka as the rest of the townsfolk. Black shades hid his eyes yet his gaze fell upon the newcomer, the man's expression one of calm and tiredness.
"Looks like you came after all." the man said in a gruff low voice, shifting his attention behind the newcomer. "What happened to Metal Sonic?"
The hooded figure stayed silent.
The man acknowledged with a nod. "I see, looks like they came after you then. Not surprised if you are now aware at what you and the others are dealing with."
"Enough Eggman." the figure placed their hands on their hooded and took it off, violet eyes glaring at the man named Eggman. "I came here by myself and I want to know everything that you know."
The middle-aged human stared at him a bit more and agreed. "Very well Knuckles. Come on in." Walking inside Eggman's place did Knuckles look around and notice how off it was.
"I never saw you as one for simple things Egghead." Knuckles stated. Indeed was the evil genius's hideout different compared to what was normally expected: high-tech and loaded with tons of computers and robotic creations.
Now it was basically simple furniture with a small fire pit in the center, a wooden table nearby with two chairs, a bed at the corner, a work desk with at least some mechanical parts and schematics of some sort, and the deactivated bodies of two certain robots sitting in the corner.
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "What happened to your lackeys?" he asked. Eggman gave a sigh. "They ran out of power some time ago and the lady here didn't have any batteries or a power generator. I also don't have efficient parts to craft a self-sustaining mini reactor like the one on Metal Sonic so they can go on without replacement."
Eggman then pulled out one of the chairs and sat on it, an apparent frown on his face. "The natives hear are very primitive and only have the bare minimum. I can use the wood and coal they get from the trade post to create a temporary battery but the emissions will ruin their circuitry." The mustached man watched them with no expression. "It's better for them to stay deactivated so they don't experience the terror."
"That's ironic given that you want to cause terror Eggman. Even then you're willing to help when things aren't going your way." Knuckles made his way over to the table, pulled the chair and also sat down.
"Yeah yeah but don't assume it'll always be like that. I still want to establish the Eggman Empire but I can't do it under circumstances that are beyond my control, and I also don't plan on sharing that power with others." Eggman explained.
Knuckles' expression then got more serious. "So jokes aside… what else do you know?"
Eggman nodded and intertwined his hands.
"I have sought for great power beyond that of the Chaos Emeralds in case I couldn't get my hands on them, greater than the Master Emerald at times. Dark rings, Chaos, Iblis, Solaris and Dark Gaia were all examples on attaining their energies to create my dream of world domination." Eggman grunted angrily afterward. "Yet that pesky blue hedgehog ruins my plans every time and no matter what I try, even a godly deity stands no chance against a rodent."
Knuckles frowned. "What does this have to do with what's going on right now?"
"I'm getting to that. Once I discovered the Phantom Ruby a while back and realized how much stronger it was compared to the Master Emerald… I also found something else." Eggman said.
The red echidna raised an eyebrow. "So what's this other thing then?"
Eggman looked around to ensure they were the only ones and then leaned in. "This something else has something to do with you." he whispered. Knuckles eyes widened. "So what Metal Sonic showed me…"
"That was just a fragment I sent in case something were to happen to him. My guess was right and now it looks like they got to him."
"You mean those robots we beat up a while back and are now back again?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes and the Phantom Ruby has control over them. If anything the Heavy King is behind all this since he was the one leading the others." the large man leaned back a bit. "Not only that but they have gotten much stronger."
Knuckles looked around the area they were in again. "Reason why you're all the way over here with no Badniks." the former emerald guardian then narrowed his eyes. "There are no Badniks right? Am I gonna fall into a trap like way back then or you gonna trick me again because that won't-."
The evil genius raised a hand. "I'm not going to double-cross you Knuckles. I have no means of defending myself against you and almost all my robots were destroyed during their siege against the world. I fled here with Orbot and Cubot and my Egg Mobile crash landed when I ran out of power for it. I have no hidden weapons or security measures so don't worry."
Sensing that Eggman is telling the truth through his chi did Knuckles lower his guard a bit. "Alright Egghead I believe you but trust me if you do anything-."
"It's alright Knuckles. At this point the Phantom Ruby may have conquered ninety percent of the world by now and rural civilizations like this one remain untouched. It's only a matter of time though." Eggman explained. Knuckles grunted. "Well alright Eggman. Just remember…"
"I know I know. Not only that but the last of my spy drones saw your recent battle and I must say that you grew incredibly powerful. More than enough to best both Sonic and Shadow fighting together." the doctor complimented.
"I don't want to hear their names anymore Eggman, now explain more about how this has to do with me." Knuckles stated.
"Alright then. So during my discovery of the Phantom Ruby I fell upon a set of inscriptions that came along with it." Eggman then got up and walked towards his work desk and crouched down. The clicks of a safe being opened were heard and moments later he got up again and walked back to Knuckles, setting down a disc similar to the one Knuckles seen in Eggman's hologram. The evil genius pressed the button on the disc and immediately did a hologram appear, showing a large array of epigraphs on walls.
Eggman moved his finger on one set and zoomed in on them. "This seem familiar to you?"
Knuckles eyes widened upon seeing the same egg with the crescent symbol. "Yeah it's just like the one I saw in some ruins while the Shinjin Warriors and I were traveling. The engravings showed an echidna being surrounded by diamond shaped objects and then visited by an elderly echidna. I'm not too sure who that was but they appeared on those ruins."
"I see, well this one shows the same thing and more to that after." Eggman then swiped the inscriptions away and pulled out a second set. "This one tells further of it."
The red echidna watched in awe at the second set of drawings: the same echidna was now holding an unevenly shaped object in their hands which had an etching to reflect a glow around it. It was followed by a portal opening next to them in which the center of the portal showed a hexagonal shape that was colored yellow. Following that did the inscription show six more portals with the same object in the center, except they were of different colors.
"They don't look like the Chaos Emeralds… what are they?" Knuckles questioned.
Eggman leaned back and gave a sigh. "They were something I've been seeking a long time ago before I met you. Heck it was during my early days with Sonic that I've been trying to conquer the world with other means before discovering the Chaos Emeralds. They were also the only way to ensure my victory guaranteed, but that blasted hedgehog had to get to them first before I did."
Knuckles raised an eyebrow in confusion. "So what are they exactly?"
…
"They are called the Time Stones." Eggman answered. Knuckles became surprised. "Time Stones?"
"Yes and with how they're named that's their purpose. They can control time and perform miracles." Eggman then switched the inscriptions to another which revealed the gems being used in several ways. "They can grant incredible power to the one wielding them and can change reality at whim, such as converting a desert into a beautiful forest or turn a large city into a desolate wasteland just by thinking it. When all seven are together it is said that the user then becomes the master of time, which in this case Sonic was able to use all seven prior but due to his inexperience he was only able to use a fraction of its power to defeat me. After that did the Time Stones separate and were never seen again."
"So I'm guessing these Time Stones can be used to defeat the Phantom Ruby correct?" Knuckles asked.
"I'm not too sure. Their power is similar to the Phantom Ruby but unlike the latter which merely warps reality into an illusion, the Time Stones can make illusion into reality." Eggman answered. "They may be able to bypass the effects of the Phantom Ruby due to that, but because the Ruby's more powerful than the Master Emerald I doubt that it'll succeed."
Knuckles scratched his head in thought. "Well if we're able to find them then we can give it a shot."
"Funny how you say 'we' Knuckles when you assumed that I'd double-cross you again hehe." Eggman chuckled before swiping his finger to another set of inscriptions. "In this one it shows the echidna surrounded by these seven portals and each of them have a Time Stone. My guess is that this echidna must travel through these portals, find them and bring them back."
The red echidna was quickly following. "So any guess where these portals lead to?"
The mustached man shook his head. "I'm afraid not but at least we know what may be able to open these portals." Eggman pointed directly at the echidna drawing. "They are shown holding the same object in their hands in which the energy is stretching to the portals, causing them to open."
"Alright so do you have any idea where this object may be?" Knuckles questioned once again. Eggman opened his mouth but didn't say anything for a few seconds.
…
"I did find several other things besides the inscriptions." Eggman then got up and walked back to the side, scrummaging through its contents. A hard thud was heard and the middle-aged man stood up again walking back to Knuckles. One hand was behind his back while the other held a strange looking sphere made of stone.
Eggman handed the sphere to the former guardian. "This was found near the area where the Phantom Ruby was located."
Knuckles watched in curiosity as he picked up the stony object. It was smooth to the touch yet hard and heavy enough to know it was made of rock. His hands glided over the surface in which two stubs jutted out from below like a set of legs and a curved ridge sat on top of it with two arrow heads pointing downward; a dead leaf was attacked to the side of the arrow heads with the stem still hanging on. What surprised Knuckles more however was the glaring feature on it.
Two black hollow eyes looking at him with a blank expression.
"…what is this?" Knuckles said to himself.
"It appears to be a regular statue but my bio-reader was able to detect faint energy readings emitted from it, meaning that it used to be alive. If anything I basically ended up calling it a Koko."
"Koko?" Knuckles said in slight bewilderment. Eggman shrugged. "Hey they kind of look like coconuts so might as well."
"Okay?... so is there any info related to this thing?" the red echidna said. Eggman nodded and swiped once again at the inscriptions. The next set revealed several different lifeforms that looked like a certain water monster, causing Knuckles' eyes to widen. "H-Hey that's-!"
"Yeah, they're creatures that look like Chaos. If you look closer at the engraving." Eggman zoomed into one of them and pointed at their chest. "These Koko were inside these beings so I assume these were their original forms."
Knuckles was in awe at this looking back at the Koko in his hands. "So does that mean that these creatures were ancestors to the Chao?"
Eggman shrugged. "Not entirely sure but by the way their features resemble Chaos, most likely they are but there's no further information on that unfortunately. What did intrigue me however was this." The mustached man then moved the inscriptions further to the right and revealed another set.
Showing seven familiar emeralds.
"Hey those are the Chaos Emeralds!" Knuckles said loudly.
"Correct and while analyzing the exact date of these inscriptions, I found out that these are far older than the ones back on Angel Island."
Knuckles gasped in surprise. "So you mean to tell me… these writings go further back than the echidna tribe?"
"Yup and by tens of thousands if not a million years older. What I also found out was that these Koko also possessed the emeralds but instead of worshipping them, they were used as a power source for something." Eggman moved to another set which revealed strange looking towers which held an emerald in each. "If my guess is correct these Koko, or then again I would call them Ancients due to how different they looked back then, used the emeralds to harness their power to create wonderous inventions. As you can see here." The evil genius moved to another set of inscriptions showing several giant mechanical marvels of different shapes and sizes. "They were able to make technology far superior than anything else during their time."
Knuckles was at a loss for words. There were other beings that possessed these emeralds before the echidnas. Does that mean that the ruins back on Angel Island were not actually made by the tribe? Were the echidnas not the original inhabitants of the island? Does that mean that the Chaos Emeralds…
The former guardian shook his head to clear his mind and looked back at Eggman. "This is a lot of information to take in Eggman, but from all this what does it have to do with the Time Stones?"
Eggman nodded and went back to the previous inscription with the seven Chaos Emeralds. Lifting a long finger Eggman pointed at another tower away from the emeralds.
Holding a hexagonal gem.
"What the… they had a Time Stone?" Knuckles said.
"Yes and from what I was able to deduce from this information… they didn't had a Time Stone, they currently have a Time Stone." Eggman explained. The red echidna raised an eyebrow once again. "How is that possible if they only existed millions of years ago? Does that mean they're still alive?"
Eggman shook his head. "No, from what I can tell none of the Ancients or Koko are alive at this point. However because we're talking about the Time Stones here it is very, VERY likely that when they dispersed some of them went back in time. Previous engravings of these did not show an eighth tower and this was the only one to have it, meaning that one of the Time Stones appeared very recently during the later time of the Ancients."
Knuckles nodded at his explanation. "Alright but that makes everything more complicated now."
"Yes, yes it does but time is a very complicated phenomenon that even science has a hard time understanding. What we do know is that one of these Time Stones are currently possessed by the Ancients back in their time and we must retrieve it back. For the remaining six they could be anywhere in different points of time, heck if anything they may be in different dimensions by the way they work." Eggman stated.
"Well that makes finding them a lot harder then. What does all of this still have to do with me?" Knuckles asked. Eggman let out a big sigh. "I see you still don't get it. The inscriptions of the echidna refer to YOU Knuckles. You're the only one that can save the world and all of reality because if not then all of existence will be threatened. Sonic and his friends weren't able to defeat the Phantom Ruby compared to last time and now that it has the power of the Master Emerald, there's no telling how much time is left until it conquers the whole universe or so."
The red echidna also released a sigh. "I just wanted peace and quiet for the past several years and I had that for some time, but I guess I am somewhat unlucky."
"Don't see it as that Knuckles. You were stuck on an island guarding a large piece of rock with seven smaller ones for your entire life and I'm sure it made you feel unimportant. Now that fate has chosen you to be the savior you can become something bigger than what you ever dreamed of." Eggman said with a smile.
Knuckles thought about it. It is true that he spent the majority of his life guarding the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. Each day that passed was like a loop whenever he lingered around the altar and thought that he would waste away with no one to take notice. Once he passes he assumed that no one would know about it because he's floating thousands of feet in the air on an island that used to be attached to the earth. Away from civilization. Away from everyone. And what made it far worse for him was that he was the last of his kind.
Well not anymore now that that other echidna girl was revived but still.
He always dreamed of being a hero and this was his chance. He can prove himself that he isn't a pushover and that his strength was nothing to laugh about… well most laughed at how gullible he was and how naïve he can be. Heck they didn't hold back on it even though he grew up alone on an island with no one to teach him the ways of being more aware of things.
It hurt, yet over those years did he keep it hidden in order to show that he was tough… but even the powerful mountain can crumble eventually.
This was his chance however to show that he can be just a big a hero as Sonic, if not even bigger. While the blue hedgehog saved countless lives in the world and such, Knuckles will be saving more than just the world.
He will be saving time itself and the whole universe.
"So Knuckles, what's your answer?" Eggman said to him. Knuckles looked back at him and giving it more thought, the echidna gave his answer.
…
"So if those inscriptions are true about me, how will I be able to retrieve the Time Stones then?"
Eggman nodded and moved his other hand upfront to reveal the other thing hidden behind him. A multi-colored crystal was shown which glowed with wonderful brilliance in his palm. The light reflected off the shades of Eggman's glasses with the evil genius giving a grin.
"I call it… the Paradox Prism."
…
…
…
"You have failed me. Now you will perish."
The remains of the Phantom Rider and Phantom Shinobi levitated in the air before disintegrating into ash. Mechanical footsteps were heard afterward.
"The worthless consumer model belonging to Dr. Eggman has been eliminated. Further orders?" an unknown robotic voice said.
"Find that worthless blue rat and kill him… he will not interfere any further with the plan. After that… find the echidna."
A set of rocket boosters were heard afterward.
End of Chapter 25
And there we go!
Now most likely I assume the introduction to the Ancients, Koko and Paradox Prism threw you off but if anything they'll be an inspiration in the story, especially with the new Sonic Prime series establishing the existence of such an object which makes this more straightfoward lol. If you're wondering how the Paradox Prism will fit in all of this besides space dimensional travel, you will see soon enough. With the debate of whether or not the series is canon to the games since the director said this, I'll go with the good ole way of saying that it's its own canon lol. I have watched all the first couple of episodes and the way it goes... there's no way it can be canon to the games lol there's a ton of inconsistencies. But then again when has the main Sonic timeline been consistent?
So now that Knuckles has met Eggman with the latter showing the red echidna a bit of his destiny to be a hero, where will Knuckles go next? Will the other Phantom Heavies find his whereabouts? Are the others okay?
Stay tuned to find out! ouo/