Helping Knuckles Adjust
Note: This episode is based off Episode 1 of the Knuckles series. I'm only doing this Episode because it's the only episode Sonic appears in. Plus, the series is about Knuckles finding his place on Earth. Something I think he needs to find out without her help.
(Ayla's POV)
*It's been 4 months since we saved the Master Emerald from Dr. Robotnik. Today, I was my new bedroom (look up "Teddy's Room" on "Good Luck Charlie Wiki") in the basement, reading a Sherlock Holmes book on my bed. Since the attic was getting overcrowded with guys, Tom & Maddie decided to move me there, so I could have some privacy. Not that I minded. I enjoyed the peace & quiet. Suddenly, just I was about to find out who done it, I heard a loud crash, that made me jump, followed by screams, coming from the backyard*
Ayla:*groan* Not again.
*I put a bookmark in my book & went to the basement window. I cringed when I saw the backyard. Maddie has been trying to get the houy renovated since Robotnik's attack, but Knuckles keeps attacking the construction crew, thinking they're trying to destroy the house. And right now, one worker was stuck to the wall, the second was tied up, & the third was coming out of the bushes. That's when Maddie came out*
Maddie: Whoa! What's going on?
Worker #1: What kind work is this, Ms. Wachowski!?
*Maddie got him down while the third worker untied the second one*
Worker #2: Get it off me!
*The first worker went up to Maddie's face*
Worker #1: Did you call us up to fix your house so you could . . . Hunt us for sport!?
Maddie: No, no, no, no, no. I could see why it might look like that. But one of our kids is a little -
Worker #1: Your kid did this?
Maddie: He's a . . . Really big kid, with a huge imagination. Thinks he's a warrior. Always training, questing, as well as stalking, and occasionally terrorizing. You know how kids are at that age.
Worker #1: You'll be hearing from our lawyers.
Maddie: I am sorry sorry.
*The workers packed up their truck*
Worker #1: Let's pack up.
*They drove off. As soon as they were gone, I came out to the basement & went up to Maddie. That's when we both saw a trail of Dorito chips*
Ayla: Do I even have to guess?
Maddie: Nope.
*We followed the trail until we found Knuckles sitting under a tree & eating a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. We came up to him with our arms crossed*
Knuckles: Victory is mine, and never has it tasted so sweet. One day, I hope to visit this cool ranch of Doritos and bask in all it's splendor. *he noticed us* Chip?
Ayla: No thanks.
Maddie: I'm good.
*That's when Sonic & Tails came out of the house*
Sonic: Oh, boy. Poor guys. That's the fourth crew this month, but I have to say, Knuckles is in incredible shape. Do you think he's more cardio or weight focused? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. He look fantastic.
Tails: Do you think the house is gonna get fixed? Living room is getting pretty cold at night with that that giant hole in the wall.
*Maddie & I came up to them*
Maddie: Boys, we need to talk about our little red barbarian friend. I could use some backup.
Sonic: Knuckles is just having a little trouble adjusting to his new home. It wasn't easy for me and Ayla to understand this planet at first either.
*I smirked at my brother*
Ayla: Did you get that from a cereal box?
Sonic: You know it. Also, we had a family that was patient enough to let me and Ayla figure things out, so we have to the same thing with Knuckles. Let me talk to him when the time is right.
Maddie: Alright, Sonic. But in the meantime, do you mind asking him to get our dog off the roof.
Ayla: Wait, what!?
*We all loved up & saw Knuckles on the roof with Ozzie, & holding a hockey stick*
Knuckles: Concentrate, Wolf. An attack can come from anywhere at anytime. You must have steely focus. *Ozzie just panted* Steelier. *he stopped* Steelier . . . Steelier . . . Steelier!
Sonic: You know what? I think now is a good time for that talk.
Ayla: Good idea.
*Me, Sonic, & Tails climbed to the roof with a ladder*
Tails: C'mon, Ozzy!
*He made kissing noises & Ozzy came over to him*
Ayla: Good boy, Ozzy.
*And we left Sonic alone with Knuckles to have that talk*
*The next day, I was helping Maddie make breakfast*
Maddie: Right. Boys, breakfast is ready!
*We entered the dining room to find Knuckles sitting in a throne made entirely of metal from sports equipment & bicycles*
Knuckles: Good morning, Pretzel Woman. Ayla.
Ayla: Mornin'. Uh, why is there an iron throne at the breakfast table?
*That's when Sonic & Tails entered the room. Sonic started to reached for his breakfast*
Sonic: Good morning - *he stopped when he saw the throne* What is that?
Knuckles: It is merely the seat that designates my role as family champion. If you wish to claim it, you must simply defeat me in a ritual battle of trial by combat.
*Tails nervously chuckled & Sonic & I frowned*
Tails: What do you mean by, "trial by combat"?
Knuckles: Come, Fox. I will show you. *he got off his throne & we, including Maddie, followed him to the living* I heeded the hedgehog's advice and made myself at home!
*My eyes went wide when I saw that the living room now had a gladiator pit in the middle of the floor, standing on top of a makeshift skull with several makeshift spears & assorted weapons on the walls. Ozzy was also there, wearing a Viking helmet*
Ayla:*in her mind* Okay, if I wasn't so freaked out right now, I'd find that totally adorable.
Sonic: Wow. Love what you've done with the place, Knucks. It's very, um, Conan-chic.
*He touched one of the spears*
Ayla: More like Game of Thrones meets Roman Coliseum.
Maddie: Nope! This is not happening. We are not turning our living room into some kind of gladiator fighting pit!
Knuckles: Warrior fighting pit.
Maddie: Whatever! And wh - what is Ozzy doing here?
*Ozzy looked freaked out as he whined. I went over to comfort him*
Knuckles: Ozzy has bravely volunteered for the first match by challenging his greatest enemy.
Ayla: I'm afraid to ask.
*He banged on a gong & a gate opened, revealing the mailman, armed with a baseball bat covered in spikes & looking just as freaked out as Ozzy*
Maddie: IS THAR OUR MAILMAN!
Ayla: KNUCKLES!
Mailman:*scared* Please! I just wanna go home.
Maddie: I am so sorry. *she turned to Knuckles* That's it. Get down right now. You are grounded!
*We all went back into the dining room to have breakfast. Knuckles sat in his throne, confused*
Knuckles: I have no idea what that means.
Sonic: Well, I definitely do. It means no battling enemies.
Tails: No leaving your room in quests.
Maddie: And most of all, no warrior-ing.
Ayla: To put it simply. It means you can't do anything until Maddie says you're ungrounded.
*Then Knuckles got mad*
Knuckles: How dare you. In the name of Great Chief Pachacamac, I swear you will regret day you -
Maddie: Excuse me!?
Ayla: Knuckles, stop!
*I had to stop him before he said something he would regret later*
Knuckles: You will regret -
Maddie: Uh!
Ayla: I mean it!
Knuckles: The day you -
Maddie: Uh!
*Sonic zoomed over to him & leaned in towards his ear*
(Third-Person POV)
Sonic:*whispering* Knuckles, word of advice: Do not mess with Maddie and Ayla when they're this mad.
(Ayla's POV)
*Both me & Maddie stared at Knuckles with arms crossed & glares. He stated at us for moment & then calmed down*
Knuckles: Very well, Pretzel Woman. I will accept my grounding . . . With honor.
*He placed his fist on his chest & left for the attic as Maddie checked her watch*
Maddie: Great. I'm gonna be late for work.
Tails:*off-screen* Uh, Maddie? We may have another issue. *we turned to see him holding a piece of engine**on-screen* It looks like Knuckles built part of his throne out of . . . Our car.
Maddie: Our car . . . Oh, gosh. Oh, um, Tom is out of town . . . *she snapped her fingers* Maybe Wade will pick me up. Ok.
*She called him, but . . .*
Wade:*off-screen* Hey, this is Wade! I can't answer the phone right now. I'm training for the biggest tournament of my adult life. Wish me luck! After the beep! Beep!
*I sighed*
Ayla: Okay. Maybe I can call Tyler, Izzy, or Jake to have their parents come pick you up.
Maddie: That would be a huge help. Thanks, Ayla.
Ayla: You can thank me once you get to work.
*I took out my phone & dialed a number*
*After Izzy's Dad showed up to take Maddie to work, Sonic & I went to the attic to check on Knuckles. We found him laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling window. Sonic got on his tire swing & swung back-and-forth over him*
Sonic: Hey buddy. How's it goin'?
Knuckles: Leave me be, hedgehog. I took your advice. And now, I lay banished on the floor of shame, with nothing to do but plot my revenge. Against you.
*Sonic flipped over & landed on his red bean-bag chair*
Sonic: Whoa-ho-ho-ho! Lighten up, big guy. Being grounded isn't that bad. Me and Ayla lived in a cave for seven years.
Ayla: It's true.
Sonic: You can survive a few days in an attic. Look at all these great opinions you have. Like . . . *he zoomed all over the room, showing what that was to do* Comic books! *he played Music by Imanbek & BYOR* Music! *he brought out the VR headset Tom has given him. he took it off his face & put it on Knuckles* Video games! They have come a long way since the '90s.'
Knuckles: Ah! Where have you sent me!?
*He brought up his fists, ready to fight, making me giggle*
Sonic: And viral dance videos! *he brought out a stand with a phone on it & danced with the song "Sweet Little Bumblebee" before he stopped* See what I mean? Use this time to relax. You'll be our there warrior-ing before you know it. Okay, good talk.
*He left the attic. Knuckles took off the headset*
Knuckles: The hedgehog will never understand.
*I went over to him & placed my hand on his shoulder*
Ayla: What my silly brother is trying to say is that you should take this time to think about how you can think about how you can find your place here. And how you're going to make it up to Maddie. So just . . . Think about it.
*I left the attic to give him alone time to think. Little did I know that he was about to have a very ghostly visitor*
*After that, Knuckles disappeared & we didn't see him again for a few weeks. Maddie was both worried & mad. Mad because Knuckles was skipping out on his grounding & worried because none of us had any idea where he was. On the plus side, she convinced the construction crew to back to fix the house, which we finally got fixed. Eventually, he came back with Wade, who was holding huge bowling trophy. Explained that he found his place, which was as Wade's trainer & friend. We were all proud of him, but now he was double grounded for skipping out on his grounding. So he wouldn't be coming out of the attic for a couple of weeks*