The Geokinetic Guardian

Hey friends!

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been absent for a week or two. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine! Well, besides a dumb head cold that won’t go away.

Was his new friend okay? He seemed happy a couple of seconds ago. 

  But still, people had attacked her.

 Her subjects were supposed to be scared of her. Not being courage's idiots and attacking her with bows an arrows! Now that the feline thought about it, there was a hundred things she did wrong in that situation. With a flick of her wrist she could of just burned the whole area, killing the rather adorable Knuckles in her arms and the attackers. Another thing she did wrong was saving the echidna... Moments ago she was planning on attacking him, and now she was running at top speed, cradling him in her arms and not letting her flames touch him? All wrong. Her thoughts were jumbled and blurry like the new scenery she ran past.

  Her heels dug into the ground as they passed the gate. Ignoring Knuckles' question (he didn't speak that great of English...) and his large fearful black eyes, she set him down, turning to the gate and raising her hand. In an explosion of smoke, a bloody red ring of fire now surrounded her home. The flames licked at the night sky and resembled vibrant fire works. Those rebel subjects wouldn't be getting close to her... For now.

  "It wasn't your fault," Blaze quipped while moving back to him, her darkened yellow eyes and steely expression looking so different from the once smile she held. "Are you okay?"

He gave her a wide, albeit wavy smile as she turned to him. What possible reason would he have for being scared now?

When asked about his condition the echidna nodded eagerly, trying his best to assure the Queen that he was alright. Not a burn or scratch on him, fortunately. He himself almost wanted to give the other a hug, but he resisted. How rude it would be to hug royalty! Or to even think of himself first. That thought in mind, he soon stepped a little closer, snout ducked down. "...You okay?" Again he had to bite back the question about why they had been attacked in the first place. Maybe later, when things were calmer. He hadn't ever heard of people turning on their Queen in any of his stories.. or maybe they weren't her people? There were sure a lot of explanations, but they made Knuckles' head hurt a little to try and solve.

After a moment, Knuckles' gaze wandered a little, looking around at the rather ruined castle. It made the echidna frown a little, brows furrowing. This place must have been very pretty once, but now, it didn't look fit for the Queen at all, let alone anybody. Not only that, but.. Knuckles noticed just how empty it looked around here. Were palaces not suppose to have people working around? He knew the kingdom around was destroyed, but the palace, too? Why did Blaze even still live here? There was so much to question. He slowly began to walk closer to the castle, dark eyes wide as he scanned the building, checking every remaining window for movement, or any signs that people were in there at all. Not a thing.

"....You live.. alone?" He looked back over his shoulder at Blaze, clearly puzzled, brows pinched as he tried to sort this in his mind. He had to figure this out, he was determined to. Things were making less and less sense, and it was rather irritating, really. It was hard to keep his mouth shut, and it was only a matter of time before another question slipped off his tongue.

You hide?"

Rock? That was interesting. He hadn’t heard of rock before. There was electricity, fire, and water. Now rock…how many other elements could be bended by Chaos? Or really, what couldn’t be bended by Chaos? His Knuckles used it to improve his strength. Sonic would use it to speed himself up with a boost if he needed to. Chaos energy could be channeled to help others do all kinds of extraordinary things. When Knuckles demonstrated his ability Feather got closer and watched with up most interest. Someday could he try something like that, or was it just not his element? Hard to tell…it was still very, very cool. *

Wow that…that is truly amazing Knuckles. I have never seen something like it before. Are you the only one who can do that? The Knuckles I knew was never able to do that.

*Though Feather did follow Knuckles, he was still nervous. The young one seemed very relaxed, but Feather was far out of his element. Being underground was….alright. In a place he didn’t know? Nope. Instinct told him to run for the nearest exit, but he swallowed it and pressed on. He had to get home….*

Ah….i-if you’re sure, I shall trust you…

*It made sense, but the noise still managed to freak him out a bit when they got closer and closer. His ears pinned back when they actually got to the real thing, the hedgehawk halting for Knuckles to deal with it first. ….nothing happened. slowly Feather approached it, circling around the golem curiously.*

I’m….sorry you’re so lonely around here, Knuckles. Do you have any friends? Blue hedgehog? You mean Sonic?

*Feather tilted his head to the side. Rather rude of Sonic, but if he remembered correctly the meeting between his own didn’t go very well….*

"Ah.. No be sorry. I have friends. Friends, in other worlds." He could name three, at least. And he had met many more nice people than that. Still, he didn't see any of them very often, which was too bad, but he knew that they all had their own problems to deal with. After a pause, Knuckles continued, "I, ah, have friends from my world. But, have not seen for long time. Live off island. Busy.. I guess." Too busy to come up and see him for.. well, the days tended to get jumbled up. It had to have been over a year now though. Maybe even two, or more. Knuckles' chest ached. He missed playing dress up with the girls, or listening to Tails chatter on about his inventions, or even being teased by Sonic..

Ah, speak of the devil. Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck, lips parted in a small, nervous smile. "Ah, yes, but, not, not Sonic from.. here. Was accident. Got lost, made golems angry. Fought in, um.. defense." That didn't make him feel any less bitter about his poor stone Guardian, though. But, oh well. He just needed to be extra careful with the others.

The suggestion made the echidna perk up a little, and he smiled, hands behind his back. "Oh! Thank you! But, energy not seem to be problem! I power working golem with no problem. I do not know why they not work. Think there is something I missing. But I learn soon." Another pat to the stone statue. Indeed, he had yet to figure out why he couldn't get his own creations to move. Without whatever it was he lacked, all he was doing was trying to zap boulders and hoping they would react. One could guess how effective that was.

   "We are being watc-..." Blaze was cut off as the eerie silence broke. A shuffle was heard from behind them, along with hissing whispers. Her ears pulled back as she detected another odd noise... String... Vibration... A harp?

  No. Not a harp. The Queen's eyes widened with realization before it was too late. Pulling Knuckles back, both feline and echidna almost fell to the ground as an arrow soared by, piercing through the darkness. Regaining her balance, she sent a wave of flames around them.

  And that's when she saw their attackers.

  Blaze could barely make out the people. There was maybe a dozen, all shadowed by the darkness and debris of the village. She caught a few carrying bows, already notching wooden arrows. They were sharp. Her mind and posture froze for only a second. These had to be people from a nearby rebel manor... But never had her people gotten enough courage to attack her... A sinking feeling formed in her stomach as new found flames danced to life across her hands. She could easily beat these people, show them she was Queen and what happens to those who resist her power.

  But they still had the bow an arrows.

  The weapon would easily be able to take out Blaze and Knuckles from afar. Oh, she had almost forgotten about the little red guy. Her mind debated quickly. Run and leave Knuckles, fight, or run and take Knuckles...

And the two hadn't stepped on a plate or passed through a wire this time. These arrows had been shot by people, a small swarm hidden up ahead that he could just barely see. Knuckles' gut churned with confusion; why were they attacking? He hadn't done anything to harm them or upset them, unless he wasn't suppose to be here. He really didn't want to hurt them, either, not without good reason! He reached out to cling to the cat's sleeve, though retracted his hands quickly as those flames of hers sprung back to life, dark eyes flicking from the Queen to the group of strangers with uneasiness.

What was going on here?

Knuckles didn't have time to ask. Before he knew it he was being picked up and carried off, only a short gasping noise escaping his throat. The cat was fast! He was grateful that she had carried him- he wasn't very speedy himself- and as they got closer and closer to the palace Knuckles tried to speak up, face buried against the girl's shirt to avoid getting a faceful of ash wind. The poor echidna didn't understand what had happened. He was only able to assume that those bad people had attacked him and the nice Queen for no reason!

She nodded, then smiled and took a quick look around. She raised an arm and waved it back in a wide gesture towards the whole park.

"Another world? How on Mobius did you manage to get here?"

Most people didn't usually ask that, but it was okay. He remembered how confused he was at first with all these worlds and alternates. He still didn't entirely understand!

"Emerald," he replied, pulling the yellow chaos emerald from his spines before tucking it away again. It wasn't the fault of the small gem, actually; it was the Master Emerald that tended to warp him into other worlds at random. But the smaller jewel was how he usually got home. He'd had to start carrying it around at all times, just in case he were to be teleported.

The pink hedgette had decided to take a walk in the park. It was starting to get dark and Amy had stopped to sit on the swings for a few minutes before heading home. She was thinking about Sonic at the moment, just wondering where he could possibly be right now.

It took her a few minutes, but she soon caught a glimpse of a familiar red figure. She hopped off the swing, smoothed her skirt off, and rushed over to the echidna.

Knuckles remembered being brought to a park once. It had been fun, full of happy children and small dog pets. Being here brought nice memories, and it was nice weather to take a walk, to sit under the trees for a few minutes before he decided to head toward the playground nearby. It was late and few people were out, so he was pretty surprised to see a pink figure sitting on the swings.

A figure who he recognized right away, and one that brought a smile to his face. He stopped walking when the girl ran over to him and Amy was greeted with a raised hand, tail wagging slightly behind him.

   Blaze didn't exactly listen to Knuckles describe his zone. She made out a few things, the words 'green' and 'last', but that was about it. Her thoughts had again danced off...

  Violet ears were twitching, flicking to all directions as she pulled to a sudden halt. The smile faded away, replaced by a nonchalant expression, lips pursing into a thin line. The Queen heard something... She could feel the air around them shift, and the dead village they were almost out of had gotten too quiet. The start of red flames curled around her hands. If you looked closely enough, sparks of black swirled around them.

And even he had to admit that the silence was eerie; he didn't like it. He picked up the same sense Blaze did, the same feeling that something was amiss, something a little out of place. This was similar to the kind of moment that Knuckles was too familiar with on his isle, where a vicious snake might suddenly strike, or some kind of wild cat make its pounce.

His eyes flicked back down when he felt heat close by. So the other's hands really had been on fire before. What an interesting gift, he thought with awe. He had seen a Shadow alternate use chaos flames before, but that had been much different. It was a neat trick and Knuckles found himself staring for a moment but he soon looked back up towards Blaze's face before trying to stare in the same direction she was, his own fists slowly clenching at his sides.