The Emerald Protector (Knuckles x Gender Neutral reader)

(NOT MY COVER ART BTW!! CREDITS TO THE ARTIST!!) Saw the Sonic 2 movie recently and Knuckles has been the only thing on my mind so......this is something I thought of. I'm lazy so I don't know how far this will get. This story will eventually follow the movies plot line so ⚠️SPOILERS⚠️ But the first half of the story...