Chapter 56; the tragedy of the echidnas
This is what it feels like to be detective Looker right now
It was too much.
Too much to handle anymore.
"We had him" detective Looker muttered on the verge of a breakdown.
"We had him, and those legendary pokemon helped him and his allies escape" he said as he recalled the events of that night.
"And not just helped him. They killed 2 officers. Suicune's flooding of the trench knocked them unconscious, leaving them to drown" he whispered as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation.
Now the hedgehog and his two friends were too far away to arrest without turning the people of Johto against them.
"Why? Why did they help him escape?And most importantly why did my men have to die?"
After the events of that night Morrison took a temporary leave from the case, needing to clear his mind. Now Looker was all alone trying to hold together a crumbling case.
They had no leads anymore. All they could do was wait for team rocket to make a move.
And if they did, he was sure the hedgehog would get to them before Looker.
"The entire police force of Johto pursuing team rocket. And they're losing to a trio of vigilantes. And as if that wasn't enough, they are now assisted by three legendary pokemon".
The same thing he had thought a minute ago only this time from the start.
All the while being drowned like his men by a horrible feeling.
Feeling powerless to do your job.
Feeling powerless to do anything when your men could get hurt or worse.
Feeling powerless.
This is what it feels to be detective Looker right now.
While the detective was experiencing all those dark emotions, team Sonic was a day closer to reaching Olivine city and preparing for a confrontation with team rocket.
Their members were all making sure they were in tip top shape both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Sonic and his party were eager to get their hands on some rockets. Raichu wanted to zap one of them very badly.
Tails was also in the mood to teach them a good lesson without hurting then if they could avoid it of course. The only one he was willing to make an exception for was the iron masked marauder. A small part of him wished they would run into him.
Lastly, Knuckles was ready in all but one sectors. He was going through emotions about his parents again. Going through the dark cycle of the tragedy of his family all over again.
At the end of the day, after team Sonic set camp and trained, while roasting some marshmallows, Knuckles remembered his promise to his friends after Greenfield.
He took a deep breath. He didn't feel perfectly ready yet, but their time was running short. They had to be perfectly ready. Things wouldn't be like the slowpoke well.
It was time.
"What do you think that device the farm lady said she saw in that truck?" Sonic asked Tails.
"Could be anything honestly. A mix between a lightning rod and a generator? Or at least look like one? Whatever it is we're going to shut it down. Though if I could get my hands on the schematics we could figure out something about their future plans. Whatever they're intending to do with that thing must be for their long term plan" Tails said in deep thought.
Sonic nodded.
"All the more reason to be perfectly prepared. None of them are going to get away with it".
"About that" Knuckles interrupted.
Sonic and Tails looked at their friend.
"We have to be perfectly ready. But I am… well… going through with emotions".
Sonic and Tails looked at each other.
"Normally I would push them down or go somewhere to be alone until I feel better but we haven't time for neither."
Sonic remained expressionless.
"Knucks talk to us if you need. What is it about?"
"… my family".
Both Tails and Sonic knew immediately what was going on.
"Do you need some time Knuckles?" Tails asked him "we could spare a day so you can feel better".
Knuckles was tempted to accept but that was enough running already.
"No Tails. If I simply let them slide and don't confront them they will simply come back later to bite us. I can't risk that happening when we confront the rockets. I won't risk it".
Sonic realized Knuckles was serious. As painful as that was for him, it was time to face it.
"Then speak to us buddy. We'll face it with you".
Tails also nodded encouraging Knuckles.
The red echidna felt blessed to have friends – no. Brothers like them.
Taking a deep breath he began.
"It all started with my maternal grandfather. He was never an easy person, both before and after meeting my grandmother. She was a saint, almost in the literal sense. I never understood how she came to love my grandfather".
"Many couples' dynamics seem weird to others" Tails spoke his mind.
"Speaking of couples have you made it into Cosmo's heart yet?" Sonic teased him.
Tails blushed "this… ain't about me… "
Knuckles laughed. His friends were just pure gold.
"They met here in Johto" Knuckles continued his narration "when they were both very young. 20 years olds. My grandmother lived in Azalea. She met my grandfather at Ilex forest".
"Lol similar to me and Cosmo" Tails realised.
Knuckles nodded.
"What was your grandfather doing here?" Sonic expressed his question.
"Looking for the mythical Celebi".
"Celebi?!" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes. Celebi the mythical time travel pokemon".
"Wait" Tails stopped him, feeling his mind would blow "it's real?! Like really real?! Despite literally breaking the laws of physics?!"
Knuckles shrugged.
"I don't know. But he believed it's real. He always claimed it appeared to him when he was a boy. He had sworn that day he would meet it again".
"What are the odds he was telling the truth?" Sonic wondered.
"Don't know don't care" Knuckles shut down the question "that's not important. The important part is that him wanting to find Celebi wasn't just a desire. It was an obsession".
Tails gasped.
"Yes you heard right. An obsession. Not even meeting my grandmother, the love of his life helped him to conquer it".
"Knuckles let me stop you for a moment" Sonic gently stopped his friend "I get it. He was obsessed with finding Celebi. But why?"
"He would never answer that question. All I know is that every chance he got he wandered around Johto looking for Celebi. And that didn't change after him and my grandmother got together and moved to Green hills. Or even after they had their daughter, my mother Lara-le".
"Wait your grandparents live in Green hills?" Sonic asked him surprised.
"Not in the city. In the general area".
"He left your mother behind and went off to look for Celebi?" Tails asked disgusted.
"Worse. He took my mother along. He always said that maybe Celebi only appeared to pure souls so he essentially had my mother along as bait".
Sonic and Tails were both at their limit. Did Knuckles' grandfather not care about even his own daughter?
Knuckles guessed their thoughts.
"Don't get me wrong. My grandfather loved his family. But his obsession corrupted that love. And it only got worse when my mother met my father".
"Let me guess. Classic case of father-in-law not liking his son-in-law?" Sonic assumed.
"An accurate guess but it goes deeper than that" Knuckles said before pausing.
"You ok? Do you need a moment?" Tails asked him.
"No. It's just… my grandfather's obsession… started affecting his judgement at one point. Maybe even his grip on reality".
"You mean he went insane?"
"Not exactly. You'll understand as we go on. You see the first hint of this loss of his grip on reality came when him and mother were in Johto for another trip to find Celebi. She was 5 years old".
Sonic and Tails didn't say anything waiting to see where this was going.
"During that trip, a lot of bizzare things occurred. My grandfather claimed a rival hunter got in their way. That he was also looking for Celebi. And that it was because of him he lost the chance to meet it again".
"Woah" Tails gasped as that possibly meant that Celebi had indeed appeared that day.
"It goes further than that. You see… my grandfather claims that he pursued that hunter across Johto, stringing my mother along the way. But the reason he never caught him was that, according to my grandfather at least… Entei, Raikou and Suicune helped the hunter escape".
"The beasts?!" Tails exclaimed in shock.
"I never believed that statement" Knuckles shrugged "after seeing his obsession with Celebi I assumed he just made it up. To not lose his sanity over losing Celebi".
Sonic and Tails were at a loss for words.
"Eventually my grandfather called it a day and returned home. He of course went on many more excursions to find Celebi, sometimes taking my mother along even when she became a teenager and was no longer a pure child and therefore not a perfect bait for Celebi. But that all changed when my mother was 25 on an excursion with my grandfather as usual. They met my father".
Silence. Again Tails and Sonic were hanging on Knuckles' every word.
"All hell broke loose, metaphorically of course. My grandfather claimed my father was the hunter that had cost him meeting Celebi back then. That of course was impossible, my father would have been 8 at that time".
"Wait so he claimed that your father was the one who helped Celebi escape him? On what grounds?" Tails asked confused.
"None really. They probably just looked alike. But my grandfather was convinced they were the same person. Never even believed my father on his age. He just assumed he was lying. And that all got worse when he realized my father and my mother had perfect chemistry from the first moment".
Sonic nodded. A man believing his daughter liking someone who was so much older was indeed a maddening thought.
"My grandfather did everything in his power to keep my mother and father separated but nothing beats love so got together. Eventually she moved out. That caused my grandfather to become even more bitter. Even to my grandmother".
His two friends were no longer sure they wanted to hear the rest of the story.
"Of course after around 5 years of relationship the two got married and had me. My grandmother couldn't have been happier that her daughter had walked down the aisle and had become a mommy as well. But my grandfather… he refused to give them his blessing. He even refused to walk my mother down the aisle".
"What?!" both of his friends gasped.
"Not just that. He refused to even attend. My mom tried many times to reconnect with him before and after the wedding but he always refused completely shutting her out of his life. My grandmother had to be the one visiting us all the time because my grandfather wouldn't come along or allow my father or me in his house".
Sonic didn't feel like going anymore. Tails and he exchanged a glance and could tell they were both feeling the same thing. But they both nodded at each other, agreeing to endure it. Their friend needed them at this moment. They would go it all the way.
"Eventually of course disaster struck. You see my mother, spending so much time in Johto was enamored with its legends, learning them by heart. My father was an archeologist and explorer so they fit like two puzzle pieces. Guess that's also where I get my adventurous nature from" Knuckles smiled with a tear dropping at the memory of his parents.
"Knuckles if you need a break" Sonic tried to say.
"No. I can't, I won't stop now. My mother and father took me along even as a baby on their exploration or archaeological trips. Sometimes my grandmother would agree to babysit me but that was only because my grandfather was too preoccupied being stuck in the emotions of the past to say no. When I was 5 was one of those times. And also the last time I ever saw my parents. They died during one of Professor Hale's excavations while he was researching the unown".
Sonic then remembered Knuckles talking to Professor Hale before they left Greenfield.
"Is that what you wanted to talk to him about? How they died?"
"Yes" Knuckles admitted "I had to know".
"Knuckles… I don't know what to say… we are… " Tails tried to comfort his friend.
"Don't say you're sorry Tails" Knuckles stopped him "I know you are. I just don't want to hear it. I'm going through this to finally, hopefully at least, get over it enough so I won't be a drawback against team rocket the following days".
"You could never be a drawback Knuckles" Sonic told him sympathetically.
"Thanks Sonic. Now are you ready to continue? We still have a long way to the end. Or rather to the present".
Sonic and Tails both nodded. Truthfully they were not sure how much more they could take. But there was no stopping now.
"My grandmother was the first to be informed. She was babysitting me and child services came to take me as my father's parents were unfit to be parents".
"How so?" Tails inquired.
"Gambling addicts. My father had to survive on his own. Which is why he became an archeologist. He traversed ruins on his own, discovering ancient secrets at the risk of his own life. He was researching Celebi as he was studying its shrine as well as an ancient ruin site known as the sinjoh ruins which is said to have some connection to time travel like Celebi. Which was how he met my mother".
Sonic and Tails were on the verge of tears. And Sonic thought he was the one to have gone through hell when Jolty died.
"Going back on track, child services would have taken me had my mother's parents not been qualified to raise me. At least in society's eyes. You know how it goes. They could live comfortably and were happily married for a long time so there you go, a proper household to raise a 5 year old. Oh how wrong they were".
Sonic didn't like where this was going.
"My grandfather was against raising me from the get go. He threatened to leave my grandmother until she reminded him of my mother. I was the last part of their mother that remained and she would raise me like my mother would have wanted with or without him. He begrudgingly agreed but I'm sure deep down he wished I never existed".
"Surely that was just what it felt like. There's no way it was really the case right?" Tails asked trying to sound optimistic.
"My grandfather was constantly out of the house, spending as little time as possible around me. And when he was around he constantly offended my father calling him a sick perverted child predator. It drove me mad but my grandmother was the one source of peace in that house of negativity" Knuckles again smiled and teared up as he remembered her.
"She was essentially my second mother after my birth mother died. She taught me everything I know. I mean everything. How to read, how to write, how to cook, how to organize for exploring everything. She knew my parents' blood run through my veins. So she had to teach me how to survive out in the world" Knuckles explained before pausing and smiling softly "she always said I had to learn those things as they wouldn't be around forever".
"Oh man. Buddy I…"
Knuckles raised his hand to stop him. He had to finish the story.
"The more she prepared me however and the more I grew up the more my grandfather changed. His distaste for me transformed. It turned into hatred".
"Hatred?!" both of his friends exclaimed at once.
"Yes. For you see" he said taking out a picture from his backpack "I'm the spitting image of my father".
"Dude" Sonic said in shock "you're identical".
"Indeed. And the older I grew, the more my grandfather lost his grip on reality. He started referring to me by my father's name, Locke. Or to be more accurate he would treat me as if I was him, he never used the name".
Silence spread throughout the camp. Sonic and Tails were just completely speechless.
"And as you can imagine that caused great friction in his already strained relationship with my grandmother. And it all changed 2 years before I met you guys. The day I lost that home forever".
"Why? Did you run away?" Sonic asked but knew he would regret it immediately.
"It was the anniversary of my parents' deaths again. My grandfather had gone out to drink. Before I go on, I need to mention that the more time went by and I grew up, the more he became obsessed with Celebi but his body was no longer as able to get him to travel. So he started drinking to escape the reality of never meeting Celebi and the loss of my mother. On the fateful day he was so drunk that he got into the loudest fight he had ever gotten into with my grandmother, getting into a frenzy and breaking everything on sight. He went on and on about how it was all my fault for taking his little girl away from him and if I hadn't shown up back then everything would have been perfect. He would have met Celebi again and his life would have been perfect with my grandmother and my mother".
Sonic and Tails were leaning forward in anxiety. This was it.
"And during the argument, he grabbed a pot and threw it against a drawer right next to my grandmother. I don't know if he was just blinded by rage or he was aiming at her but it matters not. For the pot shook a jar on too of the drawer. And that pot fell… on my grandmother's head" Knuckles said as he finally reached his limit. He lowered his head and started slightly shaking as tears were visible dropping on the ground.
Sonic and Tails also couldn't hold their tears any longer. Jolty's death and the subsequent darkness Sonic experienced were nothing compared to the trauma Knuckles had experienced and was still experiencing.
They moved to his sides and hugged him. A lot would say that a mere patting on the back would suffice. But it wouldn't.
This was their friend. Their brother. And he wasn't made of stone.
And it was perfectly ok.
The three friends remained there silent, letting Knuckles let it all out.
Eventually after drinking some water, he was ready to finish the story.
"My grandfather couldn't believe what he had done. And I found him over the body after coming back from a walk".
Sonic and Tails both gasped.
"I don't remember a lot. One thing I remember clearly was breaking his nose as he was laying on the floor at my mercy. The only thing that spared him was the arrival of the cops. They kept us separated and had me spend a night on lock-up for assault until they figured out what happened".
"They locked you up?! How did you get out?!" Sonic asked him in total shock.
"My grandfather inadvertently released me. He kept going on and on that he killed her but didn't want to. A full on mental breakdown" Knuckles said "the autopsy came back and backed his claim up, releasing me".
"Dude" Tails muttered.
"It was ruled as an accident so they let it go. But my whole world had been shattered. All the love I had left up to that point in my life was gone. To escape insanity I dove deep into the legends of Johto. I desperately needed to feel my mother close to me. I learned the legends of not only Johto but also Kanto by heart. Learned to draw my mother's symbol as well, hence why I was able to identify it at burned tower".
Sonic nodded. He remembered clearly.
"All the while my grandfather who now had legally full custody of me couldn't care less. He threw himself in depression and preparing my grandmother's funeral. All the while drinking. One night I heard him screaming out drunk".
"What was he screaming?" Tails asked his friend.
"He was calling out to Celebi. Begging it to appear to him like it did in the past. Give him a chance to fix things. To save his daughter and wife from the destiny my good for nothing pervert father would bring down upon them. Even at that moment he would only blame my father".
His two friends were disgusted beyond belief now. That old fool had allowed his obsession to destroy his life and family and would still only blame others?
"The final straw came during my grandmother's funeral. I had found my first treasure in a ruin close to our city so I had begun making a living on my own. I spent the money I got for finding that treasure – sold it to a museum so you know, I ain't a smuggler – to buy a nice suit to wear. To say goodbye to my second mother properly. And my grandfather ruined that day for me as well. He started screaming –and might I add in front of everyone - that it was all my fault, that I seduced his daughter and led her to her death and now took his wife away. That was the final straw. I called him a delusional obsessed sad excuse of an echidna and that my grandmother and mother were better off dead than with a husband and father like him and left. That was the last time I saw him. I got to work and managed to get a place to live in our neighborhood. And that was when I met you guys".
Sonic slumped back on the ground trying to process all he had heard.
No wonder Knuckles was so inconsistent during their Johto trip. He was carrying an excruciating burden.
"And on a final note" Knuckles felt a need to thank his friends "those last two years have been the best of my entire life. You guys started as my neighbors and became my family. My brothers. I want you to know that I will be eternally grateful to you for that. Always".
"You just had to go and get all emotional in the end didn't you, you knucklehead?" Sonic smiled a bitter smile.
"Knuckles you didn't have to tell us that" Tails said feeling guilty about Knuckles forcing himself to go down memory lane for them to know.
"It's ok Tails" Knuckles managed to smile despite all the bitterness in the air "I promised you'd know. Now you do".
They all remained there, raichu sleeping peacefully on the side of the campfire Sonic was sitting at earlier. The only sound was the burning wood from the campfire.
"And now that you told us?" Sonic asked Knuckles "do you feel better?"
Knuckles waved negatively.
"No. Not better. Just lighter".
"That's ok too" Tails said with his voice a bit distorted from all the emotion.
Knuckles closed his eyes as another smile was etched upon his face.
"Yes. I feel some weightlessness. I may not be emotionally balanced and may never be. But I am stable now. Stable enough to make the rockets pay when we meet them head on".
Sonic patted him on the shoulder.
"You said it Knucks. We're bringing them down".
"For good" Tails said placing his hand on Knuckles' other shoulder.
Knuckles first looked at Sonic and then at Tails smiling. He then placed his hand in the middle.
"Team Sonic all the way" he said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Tails mimicked him.
"Team Sonic all the way".
It was now Sonic's turn.
"Team Sonic all the way".
Yes. All the way. All the way to the eventual transformation of team Sonic into the Sonic heroes.