It took a few moments for the absurdity of this claim to sink in "You two are mental!" "Ridiculous!" "Mordred's dead. YOU KILLED HIM!". Elias' face twitched "I meant to but that snake got the better of me. Not this time!". He made a move to Razor but Knuckles stopped him "No! Not yet. They have to understand! We have to explain!" "We'll explain afterwards! LET'S KILL HIM!" "Just wait!". Elias pushed him off "I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! ON PRISION ISLAND!". Knuckles stared at his friend considering "Okay… We'll kill him but just let me explain. You owe Silver the truth". Elias was breathing heavily "Fine" he growled before pointing at Razor "Don't you let him go" it sounded like a threat. Razor was for sure not going to let go of Wacky but to keep him away from Elias. He then looked to Knuckles "Make it quick". Silver watched them both "Witnesses saw him kill Mordred" "No, they thought they saw that. I believed it myself until tonight. Because that map doesn't lie. Mordred's alive and Razor is holding him". Silver looked to Razor, he could tell he was thinking the same thing, they were both nutters. Coral stepped forward and said with a trembling voice that attempted to be calm "Professor Knuckles, Mordred can't be a Shifter… He-He just can't" "Why's that?" Knuckles asked as if they were in class. Coral was somewhat comforted by his calm demeanour "Because... because people would know if Mordred had been a Shifter. We did Shifters in class with Professor Echo. And I looked them up when I did my homework. The Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can take other forms. There's a register showing what they become, and their markings and things... and I went and looked Professor Echo up on the register, and there have been only seven Shifter this century, and Mordred's name wasn't on the list".
Knuckles smiled "Right again. But the Ministry never knew that here used to be three unregistered Shifters running around Soleanna". There was suddenly a noise downstairs. Elias jumped as Knuckles looked down the stairs "No one there" "This place is haunted" "No, Razor, Terror Hall was never haunted. The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me". He gave a nostalgic smile "That's where all this starts. Me being a Zilla. I as a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Infinite has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, just before the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform... I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless creature, and wait for the moon to disappear. Before the Zilbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a full fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Soleanna. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Locke became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school...". Knuckles sighed, and looked directly at Silver "I told you, months ago, that the Granifer was planted the year I came to Soleanna. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Soleanna. This house…". He looked miserably around the room "The tunnel that leads to it were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The Granifer was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous".
Silver had no idea where this was going but Knuckles still had his full attention "My transformations in those days were-were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a Zilla. I was separated from people to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Locke encouraged the rumour... Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it. But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Elias Acorn... Mordred the Snake... and, of course, your father, Silver, Shadow the Hedgehog". These words seemed to trigger something in Elias because he looked angrier than ever. He didn't interrupt though "Now, my three friends started to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But eventually they, like you, Coral, worked out the truth...". Knuckles glanced back at Elias "But they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but some of the best times of my life. They became Shifters". Silver was astounded "My Dad too?" "Yes. It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Elias where were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Shifter transformation can go horribly wrong, one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Mordred needed all the help he could get from Shadow and Elias. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different creature at will". Coral was completely engrossed in the story "But how did that help you?" "Because they could keep me company in these forms. Zilla's are only a danger to people. They would sneak out with the Chaos Emerald and then transform. Mordred as a Chao could get near the Granifer without disturbing it and hit the nerve on the neck to freeze it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still animalistic, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them".
Elias was scratching the chair he was sitting on "Hurry up, Knuckles!" "I'm getting there. Exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Terror Hall and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Elias and Shadow transformed into such large creatures, they were able to keep a Zilla in check. I doubt whether any Soleanna students ever found out more about the Soleanna grounds and Spiral Hill than we did... And that's how we came to write the Chaotix Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Elias is King. Mordred is Hood. Shadow was Terios". Silver was about to ask what his father turned into but Coral interrupted him "That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a Zilla! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?" "The thought still haunts me. And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless. Got carried away with our own cleverness. I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Locke's trust, of course... He had admitted me to Soleanna when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Shifters illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed...". Knuckles' face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Locke that Elias was a Shifter. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Locke's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Soleanna as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Elias was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Finitevus, that being a Shifter had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Infinite's been right about me all along". Elias finally took his eyes of Wacky "Infinite? What does Infinite have to do with this?" "He's here, Elias. He's teaching at Soleanna".
Knuckles looked back to the trio "Professor Infinite was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defence Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Locke all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Elias here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me". Elias had a look of contempt "Served him right. Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to. Hoping he could get us expelled" "Infinite was very interested in where I went every month. We were in the same year, you know, and we, er, didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked Shadow. Jealous, I think, of Shadow's talent on the Sky Chase field... Anyway Infinite had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Vanilla one evening as she led me toward the Granifer to transform. Elias thought it would be, uh, amusing, to tell Infinite all he had to do was prod the neck of the rock that made the head with a stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Infinite tried it and if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown Zilla. But your father, who'd heard what Elias had done, went after Infinite and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Infinite glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Locke to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was". Silver was relived to hear this "That's why Infinite doesn't like you? Because he thought you were in on the joke" "That's right" sneered a cold voice at the door. The Chaos Emerald suddenly fell to the floor and Infinite slowly appeared, wearing his mask and his hand raised at Knuckles.