A/N AAAANNNNDDD here's chapter 2!
Ain't no way I already got 4 spam commentors pretending to be comic artists or whatever in my comments lmao. ISTG why do Sonic fanfics on this website always have so many bots in the reviews *crying emoji*?
AAAnyway, here's the 2nd chapter, where we get a glimpse into our fav Knucklehead's... um... head.
Knuckles was confused.
He sprinted at full speed on the side of the road he was running along, taking great care not to drop the large green gem he had his hands tightly clamped around. The echidna warrior was exhausted, his body ached, and his head was pounding, but he did not slow his speed. He was close enough to the road to not get lost in the field, but close enough to the field to duck for shelter if anybody came along the road, especially the hedgehog and fox. Not that he actually thought they would be following him anytime soon. Eventually, yes, but he had left them too injured to immediately come after him.
The echidna warrior was confused because he had hesitated in eliminating the hedgehog and fox. It would have been so easy, to deliver the final blow, or to simply keep his hand encased around the hedgehog's throat a few seconds longer. But something in the hedgehog's eyes ... and his voice... he couldn't do it. And he didn't understand why.
It's not that he hadn't killed before. He by no means enjoyed it, like he enjoyed a good battle with a worthy opponent, but being the last of the echidna race, which was an extremely hated species (mostly by the superstitious, which was most in the galaxy) and the fact that echidnas had always been considered very ... valuable (especially by bounty hunters, slave traders, and collectors) due to their unique strength and rare connection to chaos energy, he had made quite a lot of enemies in his lifetime simply for existing as an echidna. And that was without all the troublesome adventures he had been on in his journey to find the Master Emerald. He tried not to kill when he could avoid it, but over the years, there had been some particularly dangerous and persistent bounty hunters, echidna-haters, and deadly enemies in general.
And the hedgehog and the fox definitely fell under the "Dangerous and Persistent Deadly Enemies" category. They had been dangerous enough when he had fought them in their home, and in the owl temple, and especially when he'd fought them in the underwater temple. He and his ally, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, had been searching for the Master Emerald in the temple, and just when he'd been feet away from fullfilling his destiny and finally bringing closure to his ancestors, the hedgehog and fox had jumped them.
It was a fierce battle, that was a blur of sorts in his memory (as was everything that had happened after that battle. Unless he focused very hard; then blurry memories came to mind. Perhaps he was suffering from a head trauma), but in the end, he'd managed to grab the Master Emerald, and his friend Robotnik had used his machines to destroy the temple with only the hedgehog and fox still in it, effectively killing them.
Or so he'd thought. Because, although he was still a little fuzzy about exactly how he'd ended up in a corn field with those two (he could vaguely remember them jumping him when he'd been searching for more rings so he could travel to a safer place to protect the emerald, the fox throwing a ring, and the hedgehog tackling them through it) it was obvious they were alive and well and still wanted the Master Emerald. But despite their advantages, he'd managed to get the upper hand. The fox alone was no match for him, and he'd had the hedgehog's throat in his fist, with the blue mobian in no condition to fight back properly. It would have been easy to finish the hedgehog. To choke the life out of him, and then neutralize the fox. But he didn't.
And that confused him.
Why had he been unable to finish them? After all, it certainly fell under his duties of protecting the sacred gem, since they both clearly wanted to steal the Emerald and use it for dishonorable purposes. But something in the hedgehog's eyes and voice... the fear... the desperation... it had activated something in Knuckles that wouldn't let him kill Sonic, even for the protection of the Master Emerald. And he didn't know why.
And that scared him.
Knuckles was a very battle hardened warrior, and he'd been training most of his life to find the Master Emerald and complete his destiny. And now that he had, he was unable to protect it, as echidnas were meant to.
The echidna finally stopped his sprint and came to a halt, gasping for breath. He had traveled at least 5 miles since the corn field had disappeared a little while back. Now grass plains stretched out in front on him, parallel to the road, as far as the eye could see.
He needed to get off this planet. But how? He had no rings, and he and Robotnik had split up after the events in the water temple. And where would he go that was safe enough to guard the Master Emerald?
Looking down, the mobian stared at the large, shiny gem in his hands. Then he sighed and looked up, preparing to request advice from his ancestors, even though, like usual, he new none would come.
He was startled when he noticed the huge explosion that was in the sky. In the chaos of the last hour, he had not been aware of it. A huge... was it a space-vehicle? It reminded him of one of Robotnik's machines, though none of the doctor's machines that he had seen had been anywhere near that large. It had blown up, but none of the debris seemed in danger of falling toward Earth, so he put that out of his mind and focused on his prayer.
"Oh, great ancestors," Knucklees sighed. "I have completed my destiny in finding the Master Emerald and restoring honor to our tribe, but I have had some... complications in protecting it. That hedgehog and fox have proven themselves to be very dangerous enemies hunting for the Master Emerald, and earlier, I had an opportunity to end them. For good. But... I couldn't. I had my hand tightly encased around the hedgehog's throat, but I couldn't finish it. My heart ... or was it my mind? It wouldn't let me. It was as if they had done something to me to make me incapable of irreversibly harming..." he trailed off as he came to a realization. "They did something to me to make me incapable of irreversibly harming them in that moment! The fox had pointed a firearm at me, and it had shot weird energy waves of sorts after me. What if that was... a sort of... mind-controlling weapon! Obviously, I had dodged all the waves the fox had fired at me, but if I had been in that close of proximity to those waves... perhaps it still effected me and rendered my ability to fight!"
The warrior paused and looked down to stare at the Master Emerald. Was his theory to far-fetched? Perhaps he was simply trying to find excuses for his failure. After all, in all his years in the galaxy, he'd only heard of witches, sorcerers, and other mystical beings being able to take control over ones mind. However, the two-tailed fox was clearly very clever, and he was a fox, after all. Foxes were sly tricksters. Perhaps the yellow mobian had found a way two influence one's emotions and thoughts through a weapon of technology! Knuckles didn't know a lot about technology, but it couldn't be impossible, could it?
"I apologize for failing to neutralize those two threats against you yet again, Emerald," he said to the gem, bowing his head slightly. "I assure you that next time I come across those two mobians, I will end them before they have a chance to affect my mind and heart!" he looked up to his ancestors and pressed his right fist, which was not holding the Master Emerald, over his heart to further cement his vow to the all-powerful object and his fallen tribe. "I promise."
A/N Well! Knuckles is certainly going through it, huh?
Now, I had these first two chapters pretty much planned out in my head, and I have an idea of where I want to take Chapter 3 (which will be Sonic's and Tails' POV) but I haven't started writing it yet. So, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, feel free to comment them! I'll try to post Chapter 3 on Wednesday, so see you then!
