"Sticks, do it!" the echidna shouted to the Badger.
"Damn it, I hate everything!" exclaimed Sticks in exasperation as she let go of Anne and placed her hands forming a frame with her fingers inside which from her point of view she fitted the big bomb. "Say Cheese!".
At the Badger's command, an ace of light emanated from her bracelet, concentrating the energy within the frame of her fingers and expanding to encompass the entire bomb, which froze just moments before exploding.
"Now!" shouted Sticks toward Knuckles.
With all his strength, Knuckles hit the bomb, causing it to go completely through the wall facing the outside and fall into the void. As the bomb left Sticks' field of vision, the energy connecting them shattered like glass and fell apart in midair, causing the badger to collapse next to Anne. A few moments later the bomb exploded, shattering much of the building and its foundations. The floor began to collapse, huge chunks of concrete fell from it leaving large holes capable of swallowing anyone. Bean was unconscious, perhaps exhausted from the effort it took to create such a bomb; he was picked up by a still terrified Bark, who also carried a trembling Fang in his arms. The big white bear jumped outside before the roof fell on him.
"M-Miss Sticks...?", Anne tried to get her to react, to no avail. "Miss!".
"It's no use, she won't wake up until she gets her strength back," said Knuckles quickly approaching the girls.
"The building is falling apart! We're going to end up crushed!" cried Anne, in despair.
"Not on my Guard*.* I have an idea, Do you think you can carry her?".
"I could try..."
The Hare lifted Sticks as best she could, carrying her on her back. Knuckles bent down in front of her, telling her to get on his back as well. As Anne took position, she noticed something... She no longer felt fear, at least not that overwhelming irrational fear that paralyzed her, just the usual fear of being crushed by debris. The ground was crumbling under her feet, there was not enough space to make a run for it and jump away from the collapse. Anne didn't understand how they would be able to get out, but then she looked down and saw Knuckles' fists glowing with a kind of reddish flame that somehow, despite its size, didn't seem to emit heat.
"Ready?" asked Knuckles to the Hare.
"Y-yes!".
The echidna raised his two fists in the air and made a movement as if attacking with two whips, the balls of red fire that had formed in his fists flew out and stuck in the walls in both sides of the room, these were connected to Knuckles' hands by reddish and translucent chains from which also emanated that strange red fire. Knuckles took space by taking a couple of steps backwards and, aided by the chains, propelled himself forcefully forward, shooting off like a bullet before the office collapsed completely.
Anne had closed her eyes before the jump and when she opened them she found herself with a clear view of the sky and the wind whistling in her ears. She was flying, to her amazement she was definitely flying, the echidna below her simply stood with his hands, again wreathed in red flames, stretched forward as if he were a superhero, impassive, as if this miracle was natural to him.
"Can you fly!" the hare asked incredulously.
"Glide," corrected the echidna.
"Can echidnas fly?".
"Glide. I'm the only echidna I know, so I assume so."
"How cool!".
"Don't get used to it, I'm losing altitude. We need to find a safe place to land and tend to Sticks, she needs to recover nutrients."
"Maybe... The dining room! Is that way!".
"Well, here we-"
A loud boom interrupted them and then a cannonball flew by just inches away. They realized that the settlement had activated its security system and huge cannons appeared on the watchtowers along the great wall, ready to fire at them.
"If one of those things hits us, we'll be history!".
"I know how to buy time. Hold on tight, I'm going to release the aura from earlier."
"What?! No, please!" pleaded the hare.
"There is no other choice..."
Anne resigned herself and pressed herself and Sticks tighter against the Echidna's back. Within a few seconds she could feel it, that abhorrent, deep terror. Suddenly she was no longer fascinated by being so far from the ground, from her head she couldn't get the image of her crashing down or being hit by one of the cannonballs, the end was something that hovered like a mist over her. She closed her eyes again and waited for everything to end once and for all.
The trio was able to crash land near the barracks. As Knuckles slid to the ground, Anne and Sticks flew off and landed a few meters ahead. Both were terrified, even unconscious, as the influence of Knuckles' aura permeated Sticks, shaking uncontrollably. While Anne tried to fight futilely against her fear, she opened her eyes and realized the magnitude of the situation. The aura emanating from the Echidna seamlessly encompassed the entire settlement and beyond, several hundred cubic meters, a perfect one-kilometer sphere made of absolute terror. The cannons of the towers were paralyzed, and the workers in the surrounding area were petrified, gripped by fear.
From the nearby dining room someone came out with a bang.
"What's going on?!" the buffalo exclaimed as she ran in terror. "Are the FF back?".
When the Buffalo saw Anne shivering in a corner, she immediately went to her aid.
"My child! Are you all right? They told me you were with Master Fang and when the explosions happened I was worried sick. How did you get here? What's going on?".
Anne tried to point her trembling hand in the direction of the echidna. When the buffalo noticed him she immediately went on guard, trying to protect Anne.
"Are you one of the Freedom Fighters? What else do you plan to take from us now that we don't even have freedom?" She chided him.
"You're not afraid...," Knuckles observed.
"Afraid of what? Of you? Why should I be? I've seen death up close before and you, red dwarf, don't even compare.
"Interesting... Hey, no need to hurt my feelings, I'm not an FF... let alone a dwarf. We're here to help," Knuckles gave a small glance at his surroundings. "This seems to be a safe place to do Guard duty."
Gradually the aura receded until it concentrated on the red flames on the echidna's fists.
"«We»? Are there more?" questioned the Buffalo.
"Mrs. Genara!" exclaimed Anne trying to get the Buffalo's attention. "He's telling the truth! They're coming to save us! Him and her!" said the hare pointing to the unconscious Badger.
"She needs to eat something. Can you help her while I take care of whats coming?" asked Knuckles.
The buffalo Genara stared distrustfully at the echidna, then turned her gaze to the helpless Badger and the pleading hare, then her hard expression and heart softened a little.
"Fine, I'll help the girl just because that's the duty to be. But unless you're a one-man army, I doubt you can handle Master Fang's forces on your own, dwarf."
"I'm not a Dwarf, I'm a Guardian,"* the flames on his fists glowed brighter. "Finishing off anyone who dares to challenge me on my own is what I do," Knuckles released his fists of fire, which landed on the ground giving a great clatter along with the clinking chains.
In the distance the sound of hundreds of organized footsteps could be heard, the defense forces were approaching. Knuckles made his way to meet them, dragging his fists of fire. He could see how the watchtowers were reactivated again to restart the fire. The first platoon of soldiers appeared, a dozen well-uniformed men armed with Wispon, commanding two dozen fearful captives carrying only work tools, sticks and rakes.
"Don't hurt the workers!" shouted Anne behind Knuckles. "They're victims too."
"You can do whatever you want to the soldiers though," the buffalo added. "They sold all of us out in exchange for a marginally better deal."
"Good to know...," the echidna replied.
One of the tower cannons opened fire, the cannonball streaking through the skies in Knuckles' direction. Knuckles swung his fists of fire like whips and hurled them at the cannonball, catching it in mid-air and, in a spinning motion, redirecting it back to where it had been fired, completely shattering the tower. When the workers saw such a show of force they were petrified. They all turned to look at the echidna as if it were a monster.
"Boo," Knux exclaimed nonchalantly, to which the workers fled in terror.
"Where do you think you're going?!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Come back at once or...!".
The soldier was unable to finish his sentence before he was grabbed by the heel, thrown through the air and slammed to the ground. Another soldier was caught by the chains and, with a twisting motion like a tornado, was thrown against one of the watchtowers. Another soldier was lifted into the air and fell prey to a series of air strikes that sent him hurtling like a bullet all the way to the other end of the settlement. Two other soldiers were each grabbed by one of the fists, shaken like sacks of potatoes and ejected in opposite directions by the centrifugal force of the echidna's spin. The remaining soldiers began to tremble and look at each other, not knowing what to do. Knuckles merely retracted the chains from his fists of fire and glared defiantly at them.
"Who's next?".
A loud rumble echoed in the distance, a peculiar alarm began to sound and the soldiers exchanged complicit glances before grinning mischievously towards Knuckles.
[Game over, Knucklehead!], Fang's voice could be heard through the loudspeakers surrounding the settlement.
The earth began to shake with periodic thumps that seemed to be the footsteps of a giant beast. Emerging in the distance, visible above the barracks, a huge mecha with the appearance of Fang but with parts of its body replaced by scrap metal and improvised weapons, approached slowly but menacingly to where Knuckles was standing.
[I'm going to make you the rug I'm going to put on the floor of my next new office and wipe my feet on you every goddamn day until you fall apart and I throw you in the trash! You hear me, imbecile?! This is the end of you!]
"Nah," the echidna cracked his neck and knuckles. "Today isn't the end of me, nor tomorrow, nor the day after that... Not while I still have an oath to keep."
Then... two years after The Union.
The echidna's gaze was lost in the infinite horizon of the desert, his large, trusty treasure hunting hat shielding him from the embracing sun and a tunic of coarse cloth from the sand that traveled with the wind. He was meditative, as if undecided, lost in thought. That feeling did not leave his body, and every day it seemed to grow more and more.
Over the horizon he saw a silhouette emerge, approaching him at an astonishing speed. When it was close enough he could identify Amy traveling in her X-Gear. The girls quills where already touching her shoulders, she had given up cutting it for fear of making it worse, being unable to cut it satisfactorily herself. She had also started wearing a homemade hooded tracksuit along with a long skirt to combat the inclement sun and arid desert wind. It was very dramatic for her to have to sacrifice one of her favorite party dresses to suit her new needs, but these were not the times for parties, and perhaps there never would be.
Amy slowed down as she approached Knuckles and then jumped off the X-Gear and transformed into its briefcase mode. On her back she carried a large bag full of miscellaneous items.
"Guess what I found" challenged the hedgehog.
"Drinking water?"
"Yes, but that's not what I mean," Amy started rummaging through the things in the bag.
"Show me later, if we keep going out here, the sun's going to..."
The echidna stood silent as the hedgehog handed him a bunch of fresh grapes.
"Where did you...?"
"I got them near where I found the water. I wanted to bring the whole vine, but I remembered it's not like we're swimming in resources to maintain it either, so I settled for bringing you this."
"I... Thank you," said the echidna with a wistful air in his voice.
"Hey, why the long face? We're not so bad!. I got a hell of a lot more besides the Grapes! Let's feast for dinner, shall we?".
"Sure...".
They both deployed their X-Gears and ploughed through the desert on their way home. They went down what was the western coast of the island they were on and reached the bottom of what was the seabed before The Union. The oceans had dried up almost completely, making it possible to travel from island to island almost on foot across the desert they had become. Large mounds of land stood out like monuments to a world that no longer existed, populated only by dry vegetation and the occasional trace of a forest fire. The sun shone inclement in the pale firmament, not a single cloud could be seen for miles around. Behind the travelers there was a great cloud of sand, which was diluted in the wind.
"I told you my intuition wasn't lying," Amy said, "And you stubbornly wouldn't listen to me."
"You shut my mouth, or rather filled," Knuckles replied as he ate a couple of grapes. "You learned well, the crawl didn't take that long."
"I'm a good student!".
"A very good student, yes. Take your golden stars," Knuckles threw some grapes in Amy's direction, who caught them in mid-air.
"Hey, don't go choking on the grapes, I plan on cooking something brutal when we get home."
"Ok..."
The house had gone through several changes in the intervening time. The paint began to fade, the wood to crack, the sand brought by the wind was perennial and threatened to slowly bury the structure. The backyard was devoid of any living vegetation, all had either been uprooted or dried by the sun, only training devices and the large structure that the two companions had built to collect more water in the increasingly scarce moments of rain and night dew.
Amy was the first on the scene. She jumped out of her X-Gear and immediately ran towards the house.
"What's the hurry?" asked Knuckles as he slowed down his X-Gear.
"I want the food to be a surprise! Wait out here for a moment."
"But Amy..."
The hedgehog had already disappeared into the house. Knuckles stood on the porch, restless and nervous, looking anxiously toward the door. He was waiting for something, a shout, a call, a scolding perhaps, a verbal fight. Instead, what he got was the hedgehog returning with a look of confusion and concern on her face.
"Knux... W-why do you have your things in a bag outside your room?".
"I..."
"You don't like it anymore? We can change it! You can move into mine and I can move into yours. We just need to move Sonic carefully and-".
"It's not that, I-"
"Is it the food? I-i mean yeah, I haven't been able to make anything decent in months, b-but I swear today's dinner is going to be-"
"Amy, it's not the food, it's nothing like that. I...," the echidna was having trouble getting the right words out of his system. "I have to go..."
"You «have»? But..." Amy's voice began to crack. "Why?"
It was the worst possible scenario. Knuckles was fully prepared to argue, to shout, he was prepared to face the worst of Amy, it was easier to deal with her anger, it was just like his, it would be a piece of cake. He knew that no matter what they said to each other, they would never stop being friends. But this was different. The last thing the echidna wanted was to break her best friend's heart. "You failed as a guardian, now you fail as a friend and mentor," the thought expanded inside his head like a miasma. He shook his head for clarity and grabbed Amy by the shoulders.
"You saved my life, Amy," the echidna sentenced, looking the hedgehog straight in the eyes. "I was totally willing to die after I lost my home, my legacy, everything I knew... You gave me a new reason to go on, and now... I'm full of hope," Knuckles turned his gaze to the East. "I sense the energy of the Master Emerald."
"But... Hadn't it been destroyed?"
"Yes, torn to pieces completely and its power stolen. But this that I feel... at any other time I would say that these are hallucination. But I have Hope that it is the Emerald, its fragments, calling me. I must heed the call, I must do it as soon as I can or else I will regret it for the rest of my life".
"So...," Amy cleared her throat to give her voice firmness and clarity. "I'm coming with you. If we both go it'll be a lot easier to get the shards and-".
"No"
"Why?!"
"Amy, you know damn well why!", Knuckles gave a glance towards the house and Amy mimicked him. "What do you plan to do if you follow me? drag Sonic along? It's hard enough to take care of him with all the resources and the house, traveling with him in its current state would be much worse."
Amy tried to protest, but the words came tumbling out of her mouth. Frustrated, she pushed away from Knuckles with a shove and turned her back on him. She was visually uneasy, biting the tip of her right thumb and grabing her Meta-Quartz necklace. A heavy feeling began to squeeze Knuckle's heart. He really would be more than happy to travel with her, he had grown accustomed to the company and dreaded the thought of returning to the solitary way of life he had on Angel Island, only now far from home. The world was much vaster than his island, much more challenging. He knew he was capable of dealing with any danger, but life is not all about fighting. He found comfort in traveling with Sonic, Tails and Amy and learning new things, meeting new friends. He couldn't say he fully trusted everyone, but he appreciated them all the same. On his own he was strong, but naive. It was precisely those qualities that caused him to make the first big mistake of his life by trusting Eggman. What if it happened again? What if someone took advantage of his naivety to hurt him or others? Should he treat everyone as hostile? What if he hurt an innocent person by mistake? Amy was much better at judging people than he was, damn it, anyone was! And in that new desert world, with scarce resources, it would be crucial to discern who were your allies and who were your enemies. But it was no use, he couldn't afford to depend on someone else, Knuckles knew he would have to learn to live on his own away from Angel Island and his friends, even if it was hard, even if it was painful.
Knuckles approached Amy, gently placed his hand on her shoulder. At first she rejected him, but at the next attempt she gave in. She was trembling, breathing heavily. Knuckles swallowed saliva and proceeded to hug her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, lovingly. He could feel the hedgehog fighting the urge to burst into tears.
"I swear...," Knuckles noticed that his voice threatened to break. He took a deep breath and concentrated all the strength he had to speak firmly. "I swear on my honor as an Echidna warrior, as the last descendant of my tribe, as the sole guardian of the Master Emerald and... as your friend, that this is not goodbye, we will meet again. I refuse to die before I see you, Sonic, Tails and the others again and go on adventures, like in the old days. So... please, I'm asking you... Swear to me that you too will go on and that you won't lose hope... please...".
The desert wind began to blow solemnly. The sun was lowering on the western horizon. The branches of the parched old orange tree rustled. Amy's breathing had already calmed, she was now inhaling and exhaling slowly, shivering slightly. Knuckles could feel her resting her hand on his arms.
"I swear...," the hedgehog said at last.
Knuckles closed his eyes and pursed his lips, held Amy even tighter and she reciprocated.
"Thank you," Knuckles replied before breaking the hug and walking in the direction of the house to gather his things. But Amy stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"C-could you..." the pink hedgehog looked like a little girl, pouting, wiping tears from her eyes, avoiding making eye contact and holding her skirt in her hand. "Could you at least stay for dinner? please...?",
"... Of course," Knuckles conceded, and the two entered the house together.
The rest of the afternoon passed relatively normally. Although the shadow of melancholy was hanging over them, both did their best to maintain a good mood. They chatted about things, banal things, things that only mattered to them. They laughed at jokes that only they understood. Amy finished to cook the dinner, a pasta dish similar to the one that gave Knuckles back the will to live, but this time steaming hot. Knuckles devoured it with delight, three plates in a row he ate. Amy invited him to watch movies, the solar rechargeable power plant was full and they could afford it; he accepted. A comedy and action movie they had both seen before but were happy to watch again. They both laughed, they both got excited, they both booed the villain when he came on screen, they both fell asleep on the couch when the end credits started to roll.
The next morning, Knuckles had already left.
Maverick Lore: Types of Meta-Quartz Abilities.
(excerpt from Cream's The Academy notebook)
Each Meta-Quartz user (or Meta-User) can develop a unique ability based on the 4 main types (that are known so far):
Generators: Create things. The most basic. Weapons are created in this type. By royal decree, recruits and lower ranks are limited to adopt this type and only generate those boring police batons.
Triggers: Shoot things. Sounds fun, if a little scary. The instructor says that if you don't master it, you can end up shooting all your life energy and kick the bucket.
Enhancers: Enhance things (duh!). Miss Bunnie is an expert at this one, it's what allows her to fly and power her mechanical implants beyond their capabilities. it's so cool!
Manipulators: Control things. I heard from the instructors that there is a hedgehog who is a very powerful manipulator and can wipe out entire armies without even touching them... Could it be Mr. Shadow? Sounds very scary, so maybe yes...
Those who dominate a type have more affinity to dominate the closest types, and less affinity to master the farthest. That is, if I am, for example, a Trigger, I can also be a Generator or Enhancers, but I could hardly be a Manipulator. The true potential of a graduate is not known until he or she rises in rank and is allowed to adopt a type more in line with his or her capabilities. Vector says that if it weren't for the limitations imposed by the crown, I could be a very capable Enhancers or Manipulator. I don't know... Enhancers maybe, but being a Manipulator sounds scary. The truth is I'm fine being a Generator, the only thing that bothers me is not being able to do anything other than that boring police batons!
After Thoughts:
God, it took me TEARS AND BLOOD to get this chapter out! Despite that half of it was already written. A lot of things happened, I guess you can never be too confident.
Anyway, moving on... Yep, Knuckles' Meta-Quartz ability (let's call them Meta-ability, shall we?) are literally the Blades of Chaos from the original God of War. And yep, Knuckles made an aerial combo to some poor guy. You can imagine what's coming (I neither confirm nor deny that "that" minigame will appear lol, okno).
On the other hand, I love the Meta-ability I gave to Sticks, I came up with it out of nowhere, I think took all the creativity I needed for the rest of the chapter lol. It's very Jojos: overpowered at first glance, but full of interesting limitations that we'll see as the plot progresses. What's the limit? Will Sticks always faint every time she uses it or is there a specific criteria for that to happen? We'll see...