𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐢 - 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝
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𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗼𝗹

YOUR FEET TOUCHED THE GROUND, tails' hands let go of your arms before he landed at your side.

a gust of wind and a moment later the hedgehog stopped in front of you, his palms on his hips as he looked around.

you three awed together when your eyes landed on the enormous entrance which was shaped like a owl warrior.

"okay, we got a giant owl door." commented sonic as he started to step forward "seems encouraging."

everything was frozen around you, from the ground you were walking on to the stalactites above you.

when you pushed the door open you were surprised to find out that it could still move, ice covering every spot.

you stopped only when the blue hedgehog did, in front of a wall with carvings on it — beautiful carvings — that made your eyes slightly widen.

"can you translate that?" he had asked to the little fox who simply nodded back in response, as he scanned the wall you gently let your fingers caress the stone, tracing the patterns.

tails started to explain the carvings "ages ago, a fearsome group of warriors, known as the echidnas, forged the seven chaos emeralds into the most unstoppable weapon ever created."

sonic gasped in understanding "the master emerald."

you kept following the wall, your hand feeling the rough texture under your palm, their voices right behind you.

"with it, a single warrior could defeat entire armies." kept going the fox "believing no one should have such power, an order of heroes recovered the emerald and swore to protect it from evil."

you turned around, and you noticed the other door, your legs moved before your mind could think about it.

"sounds like the owls and the echidnas have been fighting each other for centuries." commented tails as he started to follow you, leaving the hedgehog behind.

"like vin diesel and the rock." he whispered "whoa, wait for me!" he called, rising his voice.

just like at the entrance a big sculpture of an owl was waiting for you inside the next room.

sonic voiced your thoughts, like he was always able to do "okay, giant owl door, giant owl. makes sense." he watched as you stepped over the stairs.

he followed you.

"do they seem familiar to you?" you questioned, tilting your head and holding your chin as you tried to remember where you had already seen them.

he noticed the four slots, and the symbols on it, a light bulb turning on as he quickly took out the map "wait a second. i've seen these symbols before."

he looked at the map and he noticed other strange symbols covering the emerald drawing, as he tried to figure it out you turned around to make sure the little mobian was still there.

the fox smiled when he noticed you looking out for him and he gave you a thumb up to reassure you that he was alright.

the statue started to shake and you grabbed the hedgehog's arm as you moved back down the stairs to be at tails' side.

"well, that did something." commented sonic as the statue spread its wing, the eyes glowing a bright green.

its heart glowed too, it scanned the room until it landed over you three, then the slot opened up and a strange orb flew trough the air.

it landed in front of your nose, your hand moved forward to grab it before you stopped yourself.

sonic took it in his hands instead and it opened up, revealing what it really was "the compass!" gasped the blue hedgehog.

"this will lead us to the emerald!" added the fox with a big smile, you moved your hand in front of him and he gave you an high five as the other mobian pushed the compass in his bag.

"hey, you got a little something on your..." sonic didn't have the time to finish his phrase, but you turned around to see what he was pointing at.

when you noticed the red dots spreading over the yellow fur your glare hardened, you stepped in front of the little alien to cover him with your body.

sonic pushed himself around too, trying to cover both you and tails from a group of robotnik's robots, "run!" shouted sonic before you three tried to reach the entrance.

an explosion, and one of the walls fell down, covering your way out and trapping you inside the room.

from the ceiling a round ship entered the cave, the doctor and his red companion hovered above you as his annoying robots flew around, circling you.

he yodeled, and you knew that his brain was fried with all the mushroom he must have took during his exile.

"oh, that guy again?" asked the fox, annoyed with the mustache-man just as much as you.

"you'll get used to it" you replied, your arms crossed over your chest as you glared at his red suit.

"heads up, my little stalagmites. someone call an uber?" you rolled your eyes at his words and he leaned over to look right at you as he kept speaking "hey, thanks for doing all the hard stuff."

you growled, and the echidna leaped off the egg-like ship, landing right in front of you.

his weight made the place shook, he ignored the dust falling from the ceiling as he spoke "but we'll take it from here."

you stepped forward, protecting the other two and making sure that the red alien stayed put.

"okay, we really gotta talk about your new look." the hedgehog tried to buy some time "it's like professor x meets the monopoly man. and what kind of genius shows up to siberia in a convertible?"

you ignored what he was saying, instead glaring right into the purple orbs of your other enemy, his head tilting to the side as he reciprocated the look.

"the kind of genius that can turn up the heat..." the man dragged his googles over his eyes "with a flick of a switch."

he pressed some buttons and a rocket was launched right at you, you leaned to the left and it missed you.

the hedgehog leaped up, grabbing and throwing it at the echidna who dodge it with the same ease as you — similiar training i guess.

it hit the statue and stones started to fall as the whole cave shook, knuckles saved himself from being crushed under some rocks while you protected the fox from the same fate.

"good one!" taunted egg man from his spot in the air "i'm sure that wasn't important."

the giant owl started to fall to the side, it shattered the wall and it opened a new way out.

"that's our exit." pointed sonic "come on."

he ran while tails grabbed your hand and flew away, the robots tried to stop your escape but you made the fox let go of you and you fell right on top of one of them, making it explode.

you and the hedgehog destroyed them until your feet reached the edge, you both leaned over to see how high the jump actually was.

he gulped, but he immediately stopped his nerves from getting the best of him "let's split up." he suggested "you go high, i go right, you go left"

the fox nodded before it flew away, sonic started to move around "quick little stretch" he explained before he turned around to wink at you "and here we go." he jumped down and it left you standing there with a smirk.

other robots came out from the cave and they started to chase after the two mobians while you stayed put.

you watched the flying machines follow the two different directions, purposely ignoring you.

you rolled your shoulder, turning around with a scowl and making the echidna grunt at your expression.

"knuckles" you spit out, watching his glare harden at your tone.

he stepped forward, you didn't budge.

"you still haven't answered my question" he spoke, he circled you and you followed him with your eyes.

you rose your eyebrow, trying to remember what he had said to you on your last encounter.

his fist missed your face by mere centimeters as you jumped to the side "you work for the hedgehog?" he questioned again.

"fuck you" you tried to attack him too but it wasn't easy to push him into defense, and neither were you.

he was all fist and rage and you were all guns and blood, similar but not so much.

he punched you and it threw you against the wall of the mountain, snow falling over your head.

you jumped back on your feet as his knuckles landed against the rock, two holes forming in the spot where your head would have been.

your fight was mostly silent, except for the grunts and the hits, you missed hearing the blue alien crack jokes as you dirtied your hands with more sins. 

knuckles was an echidna warrior, and if there was one thing sure about them it was their anger.

he wasn't actually thinking about a strategy as he punched the air, trying to make his gloved hand come in contact with your body.

he wasn't used to someone being as good as him, he wasn't used to fighting someone that actually tought about what they were doing.

he was raised with fight or die, hit or be hit, punch first and think later ( or never ).

you, on the other hand, where a deadly machine built to go against him and all the others with his uncontrollable rage.

you were made to be unstoppable, and yet you where there, unknowingly holding yourself back and letting him keep his body in one piece.

in his head, you were amazing.

he had always tought that, from when you had first trained together to when you had landed your last hit against his nose, right before saying your goodbye.

you didn't remember all that.

but now he could see that you were just as powerful as before, maybe even more, and he couldn't understand how you were so blind that you couldn't even see your actual strength.

your knuckles landed against his left cheek, his head tilted to the side as a bruise formed under his eye, a pained noise leaving his mouth.

you spitted out blood, staining the white ground under your feet with the crimson droplets falling from your lips.

"you still punch like a little girl" he commented, his eyes hiding something a little too similar to admiration for your liking.

"and you still block with your face" you pointed with your chin to his cheek, a smug look on your face.

while he tried to hide the shiver that ran up his back the red liquid fell from his nose down to his chin, making him growl.

he got ready to start the fight again but an high pitched scream coming from a familiar yellow fox made the both of you stop from pushing forward.

you glared at him and he tilted his head confused, you stepped back over the edge and you let yourself fall behind, he tried to follow you before he realized you had vanished in the snow.

he punched a robot and he grabbed the broken parts "this isn't over" he promised before he jumped down the other side of the edge.

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a/n:
BAM BAM BAAAAMMMM
so, knuckles has an idol!!
while she is a badass and we love her for it, we'll see more of her fighting and we'll learn more of her and knuckles' past soon.
let's seeeee what happens
mwuuuuah xoxoxox