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“K-Kuh… Chaos!?”
Knuckles the Echidna, Guardian of Angel Island and all of its treasures, had never been one to stammer through his words. If he had an opinion, he said it outright, and if words failed to articulate how he felt, he let his fists do the talking.
The problem now, he realized as he held his satchel close to his chest which within held perhaps the most precious treasure to ever be found on this island, was that he didn’t know how he felt.
All of his life, he’d been known as Knuckles the Echidna. Not just because that was his kind’s name, but also because he was literally the only one. There were no others— not on this island, not on the surface below, not anywhere. He was The Echidna. The Last.
Over time, he’d met Tikal, a ghost of an echidna princess from ages past who had bound her soul to the Master Emerald to help protect it from danger long ago.
He’d also met Sir Gawain a short time ago, an echidna knight from another region who had been brought here from the past briefly by one of Doctor Eggman’s plots and looked scarily like Knuckles himself, but ultimately he’d been returned to his own time period, and now here in the present was long gone as dust and bones in a tomb somewhere, most likely.
So much of his identity had been tied to this fact. He was the last, and when he died, that was it. His kind, his tribe, which had been devastated by the effects of their own hubris to the point of being unable to restore or even keep their numbers steady. Tails had called it being “Below the Minimum Viable Population.” It meant that the echidnas’ line and culture would die with him…
…until this morning, when Knuckles had found a tunnel covered in runes, leading to a cavern covered in runes, and filled with echidna eggs— living echidna eggs, held in some sort of stasis far below the island’s surface. One of them had squeaked, called out for someone to hear them, and that meant that it would be hatching soon.
That was what he now carried in his satchel, moving quickly but ever so carefully so as not to jostle them too much. He was feeling so many emotions he couldn’t pick one to choose.
Confusion about how this had happened.
Joy that perhaps he would have someone to share their history with.
Fear of how in the world he was going to raise a child all by himself on this island— much less the seventy other eggs still sitting awaiting their turn back in the cavern. What was he going to do if they all hatched over the next few days!?
That was why he was going to the oldest soul on the island. Chaos, the Guardian of the Chao that resided here, the Master Emerald, the God of Destruction according to Echidna Myth. He had to know something, he had to!
“Chaos!” He called out as he clambered up the steps to the top of the Master Emerald Shrine, “Chaos, I have questions!... So… So many questions!”
The green glow of the Master Emerald was radiant across the stone surface of the Shrine’s summit, and slowly, the reflections of light passing through rippling water joined it as Chaos’ fluid, amorphous body emerged from it. Bright green eyes that stared unblinking as the fluid formed a two-armed, two-legged body and a long tail behind him that swished back and forth.
Something troubles you, Guardian… Their voice echoed in Knuckles’ mind, their head tilting slightly. A peach-colored orb of light appeared behind them, forming into the ghostly shape of Tikal, hovering behind their shoulder and looking in concern at the living member of her kind.
“U-Uh, yeah!” Knuckles opened the flap of the satchel, looking at the egg and then carefully lifting it out and holding it up into the sunlight. “You uh.. Wanna explain why this and seventy others are just sitting in a cave underground!? Huh!?”
Tikal’s eyes lit up, flying over and her non-corporeal hand gently passed over the top of the egg. Oh…! It’s trying to hatch….!
“Yeah! Help please…!? I can’t raise seventy-one kids all by myself!”
Tikal giggled, Oh silly, they’re not all going to hatch at once.
“You’re sure?”
Chaos folded their hands together, Where do you think YOU came from, Guardian Knuckles…? They have been resting in slumber for ages, they’re not going anywhere. The Master Emerald holds them in slumber until they are needed to awaken and hatch… though curious. This is the first to awaken in some time prior to the death of their predecessor…
“Okay. Start from the beginning.”
Tikal settled atop the Master Emerald, her ankles crossed and hands in her lap. Long ago, the echidna clans sought a designated guardian of the Master Emerald, but they argued over and over about which clan was best to do so. The strongest, the smartest, the fastest, the biggest… So, they arranged marriages between the clans and then those eggs were placed together in the Guardian’s Rookery. No mother or father to their names, no clan to their name… And when the first hatched, the priests of the Shrine took it upon themselves to raise that child themselves. They became the first guardian, but it was stated that no guardian was to pass the title on to their offspring, so that they too could not boast in their lineage. The next guardian hatched from another of the collected eggs many years later, and so on, and so forth.
“But this one is trying to hatch before I’m gone, so…” The echidna frowned, “Don’t tell me that’s a premonition.”
Correct. For a time, each new guardian was born and raised by its previous, but shortly after my father’s attack on the Shrine and the Master Emerald… the guardian of the time was lost in the battle. The next was born without an existing guardian. As the number of echidnas dwindled, mothers took some of their eggs and placed them in the Guardian’s Rookery in an effort to preserve their kind, and slowly, the gap between the deaths and the next guardian grew wider and wider… until when you hatched, there had been no living guardian or other echidnas in quite some time. Thus, the chao took it upon themselves to raise you.
Chaos tilted their head, But it seems that the pattern may have finally reset… This egg will soon hatch, and your task of preparing a new successor for when the time comes…
Knuckles looked down to the egg, feeling the ever slight movement within. “...Just one at a time.” He remarked.
Unless someone were to bring all remaining eggs out of the Rookery and into the sunlight once more… yes. One at a time. As instructed.
Knuckles pulled the egg closer to his chest, “...I can’t do this by myself, and Eggman… Eggman will be back to threaten this place again one of these days.”
Ah yes… but remember, Knuckles…
Chaos bent down slowly, …No longer are you the only one capable of looking after this island… I have returned to my own station. You will not be by yourself.
The echidna sat down on the steps, placing the egg back into the satchel. The thought was still daunting. His whole life he’d been alone, with hardly a soul other than the Master Emerald to report to. If someone needed him, it was brief and temporary. Pulling a fruit loose for a chao, leaving his post for a few days at most to help Sonic with a situation or to secure the Master Emerald if it was somehow stolen under his nose. He’d never even considered dating someone, much less being a father! But… This tiny life didn’t know any better. It was going to hatch into a world that hadn’t seen two echidnas at the same time— time-traveling knights and ghosts aside.
This little soul would need him every second, every moment of his time would now be filled with feeding schedules, naptimes, and possible infant meltdowns.
A life of isolation replaced with one of… life and renewed purpose.
“...I’m gonna need to figure out how to change a diaper.”
Or, you know… Tikal tilted her head, …you can always hold them out over the grass. That’s what my father did for me.
Knuckles rolled his eyes, and then looked at the egg again. “...I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we, little guy…? Or gal.”