knuckles prime

the emerald prisoner

requested by Amazingmagicgames12

"no one is coming child, stop expecting someone to appear, you're alone"

These were the first words the calm but commanding voice ever said to the 4-year-old echidna

The very same day he discovered there was no one waiting for him for when he awoke from his nap

No one physical at least

This new voice was cruel in the little echidna's mind

That it was a mean liar and knuckles demanded that it show their face, shouting that they were a bully and coward

Sure he was young and his training had bearly begun, but he already knew the basics and put his mittens up to fight

no presence made themselves visible, but the voice refused to stop

this resulted in many fruitless arguments and tantrums, usually ending with the echidna crying or going over and over the island in the hopes that the voice wasn't telling the truth

only to return to a cruel voice over and over again

knuckles had grown a disdain to the voice over the years

it seemed to grow stronger when near the master emerald that he learned the voice must be coming from it

which meant unfortunately he could never get too far

after all, he had sworn an oath to protect it, to try and make his family proud, wherever they were

"you are alone, just give up" the voice rehearsed

"would you just shut up! I've told you I accepted your words, so how about you stop reminding me!" knuckles shouted once more

"because I can sense that you still don't believe" the voice stated

"its called having hope you insufferable demon!" knuckles reasoned tiredly

"hope is nothing but empty words" the voice uttered finally

But to both, the voices and knuckles surprise

it was wrong

This soon turned into the tale of how he was tricked by the villainous dr Robotnik, but in term friended sonic the hedgehog and the other blue blurs friends

He wouldn't admit it but Knuckles held these memories close to his heart, along with the new relationships

It had given him the satisfaction of keeping hope within oneself

But the voice was much less displeased

For as much as the voice loved to tell how isolated the echidna was

It just as much hated when the red mobian wandered too far from the M.E and the way the echidna's mind pondered the thought of leaving the island

A distinct memory the echidna had was when he was 8

He had grown tired of being isolated and believed that his clan was in danger, gathering his belongings in a satchel of the essentials and preparing himself to go and search

But of course, the voice intervened

"what are you doing child?" the voice asked as it watched from afar

"I'm going to search for my clan!" knuckles said as a matter of factly

"oh is that so? What would make this search different than the other failed ones ?" it said with a tone that knuckles knew was pedantic