Red Guardians

by MetalJrock

Stranger

Author's Note:

Time skip incoming. There will be one more smaller one before the Sonic 3 arc can truly begin.

One Year Later...

"Alright, bring it on!" Knuckles ordered. Once again, Knuckles had taken Big Mac out to the Hidden Palace to train. So far, he had managed to get quite a routine in with the young pony. They stayed near the shrine for a few hours, then went to eat, the echidna eating his grapes and occassional protein, while Big Mac stayed with his apples. The guardian thought to ask about the obsession at some point, but he shrugged it off for the moment.

And at sunset, the two would train in the Hidden Palace, where Knuckles continued to teach Big Mac how to defend himself should a situation ever present itself on the island. The colt was enjoying his time with his echidna guardian, learning how to master his abilities, his bucking as he called it. The word just came to him naturally, so it stuck as his main method of fighting.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac shouted. He ran toward Knuckles, the echidna was ready to turn, but the colt managed to land a hit on his mentor's chest, stunning him briefly. The echidna responded by striking down on Big Mac as gently as he could. It took a while for a set routine to arrive in fighting, but Knuckles believed they found a middle ground where they won't be able to hurt each other too badly, but could use the positive energy of Master Emerald to attend to any wounds that need attention. So far, that hasn't happened, and Knuckles hoped that he would never need to do that as he's holding back.

Big Mac grunted, feeling Knuckles's fist collide with his barrel. The colt moved his left forehoof upward, planting his right hoof on the ground, bouncing himself slightly as he landed. Knuckles spun his feet around, deciding to repeat the pony's actions. "You're not the only one who can kick!" shouted the echidna, seeing Big Mac duck underneath the attack in time.

"You're getting faster! Good!" he complimented.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac yelled, jumping away before Knuckles's right fist collided with the ground.

'I gotta remember to teach you some more proper vocabulary at some point. Maybe next week.' thought Knuckles. He raised his fist, seeing Big Mac charging after him. The guardian smirked, leaning his body to the left, moving his fist so that he could catch Big Mac, but he moved his hand wrongly, accidentally curling it, punching the colt harder than he anticipated. His eyes widened when he noticed this, seeing the colt wince harder than usual and gasp.

Big Mac placed a hoof on his stomach, a tear falling down his face. "Ow..." he whined.

"Oh crap!" Knuckles shouted, kneeling down to comfort the colt. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard! Honest." he comforted, placing a hand on the red pony's shoulder.

Big Mac sniffed, "I-I know, Knuckles."

Frowning, the echidna patted the colt's shoulders, seeing him still hold his sore spot. "We should stop for today... You did good. Your speed is improving greatly, and even able to catch up to me!" he complimented. "Let's head back to the shrine, alright?" he saw Big Mac silently nod, agreeing to his idea.

Then, rumbling was heard, alerting the two. Knuckles held down and stood over Big Mac to ensure he was safe from any debris that could fall. "Was that an earthquake?" the echidna asked.

"Um... Knuckles. We're flying."

The echidna chuckled at his mistake, "Right. My bad." he rubbed his head, "We should see what it was. If it made the island shake, then it's big." he looked at the small bruise he accidentally made. "You wanna come or do you wanna stay back at the shrine?"

"I wanna come!" Big Mac bounced, seemingly ignoring his small injury. "Can I?"

"Uh, sure. Just be extra careful." Knuckles warned.

---

Coughing was heard underneath a pile of metal debris. A hand revealed itself, and someone climbed out. It appeared to be a round man, wearing a red suit, black pants, a small yellow cape on the back, and a large bushy mustache. He rubbed his bald head, picking himself up from the mess. "Stupid rodent..." he grumbled, seeing his creation fallen down like that.

"I guess it's back to Square one..." the man said. He began to look for his tools, but a voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

"Halt."

The man turned around, seeing Knuckles and Big Mac glaring at him. "State your business on Angel Island, stranger." the echidna commanded, raising his fist in a threatening manner.

"Excuse me... But did you say Angel Island?" the man wondered.

Knuckles crossed his arms, "Yes. What about it?" he asked sternly.

"Ah, sorry about my rude manners. My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik." he introduced himself, "You must be the guardian of this island." he looked down at the pony, "Um... Who is this? I thought there was only one on this island?"

Knuckles looked down, "This is... A new addition. This is Big Mac, the guardian in training."

"Eeyup!" Big Mac said.

"Now how do you know about me? And why is this... contraption here? In fact, what is it? I swear I've seen it before..." Knuckles continued.

Robotnik smirked, 'These two have been alone on this island. He doesn't know of my true motivations... There's no harm in fooling him to further my goals, I suppose.' he thought. But he cleared his throat. "Your island is known, but we choose to ignore it, but I've read the legends of the echidnas. And how you're the last. Now tell me, is the Master Emerald here?"

The echidna nodded, "That's right. Why do you want to know?"

The scientist clenched his fists, "Down below, I am a scientist, the very one that built the space station you see before you. I, er, wanted to use the energy of the Chaos Emeralds to create a way for interdimensional travel with the station for evolution of science, but then he and his annoying friend got in my way..." he grumbled.

"Who?" Big Mac wondered.

"Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails the Fox. Those two are the ones who brought down my space station, the Death Egg. It was a peaceful, totally not dangerous station." Robotnik assured.

Knuckles raisied an eye ridge, "If it was safe, then why is it called the Death Egg?"

"As a warning to ensure no one would use it for any real nefarious purpose. The name is throw others off," lied the scientist. "I wanted to use the Chaos Emeralds' energy to safely explore the vast universe, but Sonic got in my way again of course."

"Who is Sonic? Is he mean?" the colt questioned Robotnik.

Robotnik glared at the ground, "He's the meanest person alive. He and that fox think that just because they can run fast and fly, they can ruin my really nice and good intentions that do not threaten any living soul." he explained.

"So, that's why you're here." Knuckles realized. "Sonic and Tails ruined you... If I ever get my hands on them..." he grumbled.

"I wanna stop those meanies too!" Big Mac agreed.

Robotnik grinned, "That time may be soon. Sonic and Tails will no doubt figure out I have crashed here. I have a few repair robots on standby. I'll use them to repair the station, but I must warn you. When Sonic arrives here, he may come for the Master Emerald."

"He'll have to get through us." Knuckles boasted.

"Eeyup!"

"You do not understand. This hedgehog is able to use the Chaos Emeralds' full power. He has reached a powerful form he childishly called Super Sonic! With the Master Emerald, he'll become an unstoppable menace!"

Big Mac looked at his guardian worriedly, "W-What are we going to do, Knuckles?"

Knuckles said, "Don't worry, Big Mac. This Sonic won't do anything to hurt you as long as I'm here. I'll punch the emeralds outta him if I have to. And Mister Robotnik will be sure to help us, right?"

Robotnik nodded, "Indeed. I can assist you in setting traps necessary to stop the rodent and his companion!" he shouted.

"Yay!" cheered the colt, "We can stop a bad guy!"

"You seem jolly. First, I must bring the necessary forces to help stop Sonic. Then, I will need help finding a spot to launch the Death Egg once it's repaired." Robotnik revealed.

Knuckles raised a hand, "I have a large empty spot on the island. You can use that as your launch base." he said. "In the meantime, Big Mac and I will move the Master Emerald to a safer spot."

Robotnik cleared his throat. "Can you show me as well? So that way I can place the proper traps to stop Sonic?"

The guardian rubbed his head, "I dunno. You think it's alright, little guy?"

"Eeyup."

"I like how this kid thinks." Robotnik laughed, 'You fools. You're leading me right to ultimate power. With Sonic and Tails out of the way, Mobius will finally become my robotic empire!'

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

Robotnik is really gonna hurt when they find out the truth. I'll bring the popcorn!

[Tatsurou]

Good lord...poor Big Mac. Bamboozled so easily...

[MrAquino]

Hopefully, when this segment is over, Big Mac bucks Robotnick with all of his strength in his weak point: The PINGAS

[KaijinZero]

7628302 to be fair, he's spent a large amount of time with Knuckles, and we all know how gullible he is...

[MetalJrock]

7628287 I already have some!

7628302 To be fair, he's young, and like Knuckles, this is the first time he's ever interacted with anyone outside of the island. They don't know any better, but they will. It's a learning process for the two.

7629363 Sonic already made a note of it.

7633574 It's amazing how gullible that echidna can get.

[Nova Blaze]

7650037 There is no such thing as too much popcorn!

[Wrangle Wolfe]

7633574 I find that the lack of social skills is what really messes him up. Perhaps he's just a slow learner. Even with Sonic and friends, he spent more of his life alone than with them. It's probably set in stone that he's a social clutz, and he finds it hard to know when someone's lying or not.

[Texus]

7662252 your right.