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Knuckles opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by flames. He looked around, desperate to find something beyond them. Flinching as the heat creeped up to him, Knuckles began to run; he saw a shape in the fire. Trees and bushes burned around him, but he didn’t care. He kept running after the shape. Just as he was near it, Knuckles suddenly tripped over a tree root and tumbled to the ground.
The heat from the fire had spread to the grass. The fire’s heat didn’t phase the echidna like it did before. It was almost comforting, like a mother’s love. I can’t stay here; I must find her. Knuckles thought, quickly getting back up. He took a moment to catch his breath, then looked up to find what he was chasing after. A crimson-colored echidna stood in front of him, staring at him with eyes filled with pain and love.
“Mother,” Knuckles breathed. He couldn’t see her features; the light from the fire overwhelmed them. His heart ached as he reached for her, but she backed away and continued to stare. She then turned away and walked into the fire. “Wait! I need you!” Knuckles screamed, his voice cracking. “Stay with me... I don’t want you to go.” He was too emotional to chase after her, so he stood there as a tear fell from his eye. “Mom!” He cried out as the fire enveloped him.
Knuckles woke up with a jolt. He was having nightmares again. He wiped away some tears as he sat up and rested his head on the Master Emerald. As a child, he had been surrounded by other echidnas. His father had taught him how to watch the Master Emerald and defend it as well as himself, though he grew distant as his son grew up. And his mother raised him, as well as teaching him to be compassionate to animals and Mobians.
The Echidna population had been dwindling but was just starting to be restored. But something violent had happened, causing nearly every echidna to die. Except for Knuckles. He was the last one. This was his burden to deal with. Even if he had a child, they would only have half the DNA a full echidna normally had. However, Knuckles was too young to worry about the next generation. He had to focus on the now.
He sighed, staring up at the sky. The sky was almost completely clear, save for a few clouds in the distance. It’s probably going to rain later. He thought. He loved the rain though; it was calming and soothing to him. He wasn’t going to mind.
Knuckles then turned to his right, looking at a reddish rock with googly eyes. A while back, he was exploring the forest near the Emerald Shrine and found a rock laying next to a tree. Something about it stuck out to him, so instead of leaving it there, he simply took it back to the shrine with him.
Eventually, with Sonic’s help, he glued googly eyes on it to give it character. Knuckles knew he couldn’t keep it without a name, so he named his rock Timmy. Timmy was his Guardian buddy; he was always by his side no matter what happened. And when Knuckles was sad or having any sort of meltdown, he would find comfort in Timmy.
He knew it was ridiculous to care about a rock this much, but he didn’t care. It was more like a son to him than anything. He smiled as he patted Timmy and noticed the drawing of him underneath. It was a simple crayon drawing that was given to him last time Sonic came to visit. With him, he had Rouge and Shadow and a new friend, Ginger the Cat. She was a simple soul, but she was friendly. They had bonded with their shared struggles and interests, and Ginger quickly took a liking to Timmy. So as a gift, she drew a picture of the little rock, only to forget all her art supplies with Knuckles.
He took a day or two to figure out what to do with them before bringing them back to Shadow’s house. Knuckles remembered Shadow telling him that Ginger was having a hard time without the art supplies, which confused him a little. But he didn’t question it, as he quickly handed them to Shadow before heading back to Angel Island.
Knuckles would protect this newfound picture of his by covering it with old robot scraps before any type of storm, which he needed to do now. He quickly got the scraps together and placed them above Timmy and the picture. Sonic said that the glue they used for his eyes was strong, but Knuckles didn’t want to risk leaving him out.
“Maybe I should go for a walk,” he said, sighing. Knuckles knew Timmy would be ok, so he made his decision and left the Emerald Shrine. While he was walking he thought of his dream again. He didn’t understand why he was spared from whatever killed the echidnas. Out of everything that happened, why couldn’t he remember it? He shook his head, trying to push the thought away. It would’ve given him more grief if his mind lingered on it.
Soon enough, Knuckles found himself in the forest, the area looking similar to his dream. Damn it, Knuckles, why is everything reminding you of your dream? He thought. It’s not right. You need to focus on now. He stood there for a moment, soaking himself in the sunlight. The sun’s rays were shining through the leaves, lighting up what would otherwise be a dark place.
Eventually, Knuckles continued his walk. He followed a little stream, watching as the fish swam alongside him. After a while, he deviated from the stream and went in a different direction. As he walked, he noticed mushrooms began to decorate the forest floor, appearing in larger numbers until the echidna found himself in Mushroom Hill.
Usually he would chill out in Mushroom Hill when he was there, but not this time. Knuckles climbed up on a large mushroom and looked at the sky. The clouds were approaching, and fast! He wouldn’t mind a little drizzle, but if it was raining hard, he would need to find shelter. Knuckles wasn’t sure if he would get back to the Emerald in time and also knew there was a cave nearby. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hang out in a cave,” he whispered to himself.
He then began to glide toward the cliffs, where he knew a good cave that would shelter him. As he climbed around, something moved in the corner of his eye. It was a lightish purple blur. Blaze? No, it couldn’t be. Why would she be on Angel Island? Even if it wasn’t Blaze, he had to check to make sure. He climbed all the way down, then ran in the same direction as the purple blur.
Knuckles hid behind bushes and trees so that he wouldn’t be caught. He had a feeling that he knew where this Mobian was going, but continued to chase them regardless. Every time the echidna attempted to get a good look at them, the mysterious Mobian would dart off somewhere. What’s the deal with them? Do they know I’m here? Knuckles thought to himself.
After many minutes of tracking them down, Knuckles found himself at the mouth of a cave. One that he had never seen before. This wasn’t a new occurrence; Knuckles was always discovering different places on the island. He’s found multiple ruins on the island, as well as a Chao Garden in Sky Sanctuary. And he still finds traces of what was left behind by Eggman and the Death Egg from years ago! But caves were uncommon for him to explore, as the dark usually made him uncomfortable. Now he had to go in one. This time Knuckles didn’t mind, though, since he had been searching for shelter anyway, and entered the cave as the first few raindrops from the storm began to fall.
He went through the cave, unsure of where the Mobian went. Was there a secret path he was unaware of? How would they know about it and not him? Knuckles growled in annoyance. He clenched his fist, restraining himself from punching the nearest rock. He didn’t want to give himself any attention to the Mobian he was looking for. The echidna took a deep breath and went deeper.
As soon as he found a fork in the path, he stopped. He didn’t want to risk getting lost underground. Knuckles turned back, looking through the darkness toward the entrance. It was raining hard; not even Knuckles would be willing to stay out there. His best option was to stay here until the storm died down.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching from behind. The Mobian! Knuckles remembered; he completely forgot that he was following someone. He clenched his fist, waiting for a fight. No one was going to harm his island. Just as the footsteps were right next to him, he screamed and turned, holding out his fist for a punch. Then he stopped. Standing in front of him was a female echidna the color of lavender, with a robot arm and dreadlock. The tips of her bangs were seemingly dyed a darker purple, and she was holding a gun in her other hand, which was still organic.
He didn’t know if it was the purple eyes or the dyed bangs, but something about this echidna made Knuckles feel strange. Like he was lighter than air. He felt that way when he met Ginger, but this was different. Knuckles didn’t understand why he had that weird feeling. He wasn’t willing to think about it in the heat of the moment, so he put on a serious face and acted defensive.
“Who are you, and what are you doing on my island?” he asked, crossing his arms. The female echidna raised an eyebrow. “What am I doing? What about you?” She rested her robot arm on her hip as she continued. “I’ve been alone here for years! As far as I know, YOU’RE the intruder.”
Knuckles gasped. He wasn’t alone on this island. He was relieved, yet couldn’t help but feel melancholic about it. After almost a decade of living on his own, he just now discovers this? It seemed like he knew less about Angel Island than he thought.
“I thought… I was alone.” A lump began to form in his throat. “I was told to protect this place from intruders. I never believed that anyone else survived the—” He stopped himself, realizing that tears were starting to form in his eyes. Taking a moment to calm down, Knuckles continued. “Never mind. What is your name? I’m Knuckles.”
The other echidna was quick to answer. “Julie-Su. And what was that about protecting the island?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Knuckles backed away from her. Did I say too much? I don’t think it matters. He tried to push the thought away. “I’m the Guardian. I watch over the Master Emerald, which keeps the island from going into chaos. Also, it prevents us from falling,” he replied, trying to keep his explanation vague.
Julie-Su gave him a smile. “I guess that explains why we landed in the ocean a couple of years back. I don’t have to watch over anything. I’ve just been looking out for myself, just trying to survive.” She shrugged. “Is it selfish? Maybe, but you have to live one way or another.”
Knuckles couldn’t help but agree to an extent. Yes, you did need to survive, but he believed in putting others' needs before his own. Unfortunately, that did put him in harm’s way multiple times in the past. Before he would say this out loud, he began to stare at Julie-Su’s robotic arm.
She seemed to know what he was looking at, since she immediately stuck out her arm. “You’re wondering why I have this, aren’t you? Not going to go into details, but I lost it years ago. Had to build a new one with whatever scraps I could find. Same goes for this dreadlock.” She pointed to her head. “I built that later, though! I wasn’t sure how to make these at first, but I taught myself over time and got better at maintaining them.”
As she talked, Knuckles looked out at the cave entrance. Still raining. He sighed, lost in thought. “Hey, are you alright? You’re shaking a little.” Julie-Su asked softly. Knuckles finally found the courage to properly look her in the eyes and suddenly felt that everything would be alright. But he still felt down, and he knew he had to open up about it.
“I thought I knew nearly everything on this island; on my home. But now that I’ve met you, I realize that I know even less than I thought.” He forced himself to smile. “But hey, at least I’m not alone anymore.”
“Right,” Julie-Su sighed, “Not alone.” She looked out at the storm. “It doesn’t seem like the rain will die down anytime soon. You can stay here for the night, or at least until it does die down.”
Knuckles smiled. “Really?” He sat down on a nearby rock. “I might as well. I don’t really do well when it comes to storms.” Julie-Su smiled back, then grabbed his hand in happiness, and Knuckles noticed a light in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. “You’ll be alright here, trust me. And on top of that, I won’t be alone anymore!” Julie-Su chuckled, moving a few quills out of her face.
Not alone. Knuckles closed his eyes. Not anymore. He wasn’t sure what this relationship had in store, but he could tell that Julie-Su was friendly. She was seemingly more closed off than Ginger, but he didn’t really mind. He finally knew that he wasn’t the last echidna.