One more tale for today, a Sonic the Hedgehog fan piece which continues the whole "My original characters lands in Mobius" vibe I had going with two of my previous ones, Nefer and Oggod. This time, it's Naylee who gets the honor, meeting a certain guardian...

The picture was drawn by my good pal HornedRam, a real good fellow that one.

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MIRACLE ON ANGEL ISLAND

It was supposedly near Christmas time down there.

Knuckles could tell not because of decorations or any snow upcoming on Angel Island...but mostly because the others would not quiet down about it. Amy hoping to spend time with her friends, Sonic gifting him an ugly sweater, the Chaotix inviting him for Christmas Eve...it was a barrage of well wishes and utter Holiday nonsense as the echidna never had heard of this tradition before meeting the blue blur and the others. Yet as much as this seemed jolly and peaceful, his duties laid elsewhere as they ever did.

The Master Emerald was his solemn task, his lifelong ordeal to protect it from any and all who'd either wish it harm or who'd steal it from its rightful pedestal. It being in place ensured that Angel Island would not crash down, destroying those below as this was the ancestral home of his people, the extinct echidna tribe who once inhabited all the ruins around. A dead culture, remnants of glory and tragedy, all there for him to safekeep alongside this massive gem. It could prove very lonesome at times, yet he was steadfast and disciplined, a true warrior. He would persevere as he went on patrol, checking if every possible traps were still potent and active whilst looking for intruders.

Yet as he went through his usual routes did he discover a small altar that he had never noticed before. Too polished, too recent for it to have been there all along, upon it rested an oil lamp, golden of color upon which an icon resembling a spiral could be found. It was partially dirty, an oddity considering how the rest seemed squeaky clean and new. Curiosity getting the better of him, he wiped it away as this resulted in smoke escaping from the tip of the spout, blue, white and fuchsia. 

“Dang it, must have been a trap from Eggman. When will I ever learn?” Knuckles said to himself, accustomed to speaking that way due to his solitude and isolation. Yet as the smoke only worsened in its thickness and overbearing presence, Knuckles took a few quick steps back in order to prepare for a fight. His guard up, ready to throw down, he wasn't expecting for what would emerge to be so...intriguingly comely. Another echidna woman, blue of fur with a torso and midriff tinted in soft brown, wearing lengthy pants with extender diameters near the end. High heels, gloves, a golden bustier and a small open vest completed the look as the rich-looking gold she wore tied it all together. Her dreads were of white and blue, her face that of mystery and appeal as she floated above the ground, cross-legged.

“Greetings, master. I am Naylee, the...I suppose echidna of the lamp? I wasn't quite expecting-” the woman began to say as if there was anything he had learned from Rouge and from Eggman was that sometimes his instincts were right. Knuckles rushed and threw a punch, not letting her finish her sentence as the moment when he expected for this strike to connect did she vanish into thin mist. Rematerialzing behind him, she seemed unamused, more disappointed than angry as she stood up, still floating above the ground. “Well that is not very nice. Let's make you calm down before we resume, yes?”

Expecting for retaliation, perhaps more of that smoke magic, the last thing he was prepared for was her clasping her palms together and then begin swaying her hips. The golden adornment in her exposed midriff, right in her navel, glimmered in a fashion that was certainly interesting. Her smooth flesh, her exquisite beauty began to captivate him as soon he was hyperfixating on her motions. It seemed like a dance, undulations placating his perceptions, making him waver as if he was but a puppet on strings controlled by her waist. His vision was tightly bound to her allure and before he knew it all was falling down through a swirl, a sentiment of blissful vertigo assailing him. The only thing anchoring him were her voice, though her words were faint, along with her performance. Time stood still, tranquility found until he did wake up...sitting down on a cushion, drinking tea on a low table as she was seated right in front of him.

“...and that is why this bat is troublesome...wait...what happened?” Knuckles said, regaining his grasp on reality and on the correct flow of time and events. Where did the tea, table and cushions come from? How come he had been talking about Rouge to her of all people? He felt like he had been tricked, that he ought to fight again...yet looking at this echidna anew prompted him to calm down. Brawling would solve nothing and an innate sense of trust was settling in, a result of something Knuckles could not quite comprehend and possibly never would. “How did we even get here?”

They were seated right in front of the Master Emerald, the large gemstone still intact and in its place as this echidna, this Naylee, poured herself some more tea. “This Rouge really sounds like she is a lot of trouble...yet you seem to have her on your mind a lot, yes?” she teased, winking as this made Knuckles blush embarrassedly. It was as if she could read into his mind somewhat, this djinn...wait, he knew she was not exactly an echidna? Something was up, but then again did she not steal the Master Emerald nor had he been taken out when whatever happened...happened. She was no enemy, that much was starting to get clearer. “Now, as you've surely come to understand, you have three wishes. And already I have suspicions about them, so do tell and I shall make them come true.”

His warrior training and senses told him of how this could be an incredible opportunity to empower the Master Emerald, to grow better defenses on Angel Island, all practical and wise things to ask for...and yet in the deepest recesses of his mind and heart did those ring untrue. An inner look at himself, a deep introspection made him dig up what he actually did want, as if personal subterfuge were unearthed and discarded. Looking at her made him feel that there would be no point in hiding truth behind practicality. “I...I wish I could celebrate this Christmas with the others,” he said, the occasion of cheers, cookies, meals with friends and so much more certainly enticing.

“Ah, it's that time of the year here on...Mobius, did you call it? A wonderful wish for a wonderful time,” Naylee said as magic coaxed her gloves, her eyes spiraled up and she began to float above her seat. Near-golden for the briefest of instant, this djinn-echidna conjured up power that went beyond the emeralds or anything Knuckles knew and then he felt it...a change. “There...you have the inspiration to do as you will. The only one that was holding you back was...well, you.”

A shift in perspective, a lessening of his more stubborn nature as a lesson was ingrained in him. Isolation needn't be his way as he began to feel that mayhaps going away from time to time, or maybe asking for someone to replace him ought not be out of the question. There were many capable warriors he counted as friends, a handful who'd be able to check in many times an hour and who'd be all too happy to help. An awakening of some sort as Knuckles drank some tea, a thin smile forming on his lips. “Ah, and here I was, too proud to just ask for a time-out and some assistance. I feel like a fool.”

“We all need help on occasion. Now, master, what are your other two wishes?” Naylee offered, floating back down to her seat as she conjured grapes, beginning to eat them as Knuckles did the same, her choice of snack certainly of high quality. As he pondered, his mind was still unlocked, further attuned to the deepest, most-hidden corners of his wants and desires. “Something about the bat, perhaps?”

“Ah yes...Rouge...” Knuckles said, the bat certainly gravitating around him all the more often. One moment she was flirting, teasing, the other she was trying to scuffle away with the Master Emerald. Yet she did help him out more than once and did seem to seek him out and he didn't...find distaste in her company. “I just wish we could understand one another better. Sometimes the girl is a mystery to me.”

Voiced aloud did the wish find the right person to receive it as Naylee activated her magic once again, yet it wasn't a show as much as the prior times, merely glowing fingers and a loud snapping sound accompanying the release of cosmic and mystical energies. Something in Knuckles' own mind stirred, new information, perceptions and a myriad of angles as to his meetings with Rouge was pumped within, absorbed in a quick yet not unpleasant fashion. She approved of his stern ways, yet enjoyed more his rather bashful reactions, as if he couldn't tell that he was attracted to her...all while he himself envied her freedom, her laisser-faire that made her feel whimsical. While she was indeed beautiful in all sorts of way, it was the way she did what she wanted and found joy in it that made her seem so attractive to him. An obvious kind of revelation, yet still one that eluded him.

“Forget not that you wished for this to go both ways...she knows now as well,” Naylee said, a little smirk on her face as she conjured her lamp upon the table, preparing herself as she stood up and stretched. While Knuckles found her to be lovely, the specter of her dance still haunting him, his heart still yearned for someone else as his comprehension of his feelings only made Rouge feel all the more suited to him. “Now, for the final wish...let's make it a good one, yes?”

“I wish...I wish that Angel Island could go on without me, safe for itself and others,” Knuckles said as all these realizations through wishes had taught him that perhaps he would be happier if he weren't just roaming around vestiges from the past all the time. Perhaps if he focused on the present and his future, then he'd find a sort of peace denied to him. Protecting Angel Island would be unending and he'd either die there or fail once and for all...unless things would change.

“Aaaah, the truest, deepest one. Granted,” Naylee said as she crossed her wrists above her head, then shimmied her hips as if to conjure an enormous amount of magic. The energy of the Master Emerald assisting, channeled in a plethora of manners contributed as the ghosts of dozens upon dozens of echidna warriors were summoned. Those denied peace and rest in the afterlife, caught in turmoil due to past mistakes, were given a chance to earn respite as they stood and then knelt before the emerald and the one who had guarded it for so long. In silence were they eloquent: they would keep things safe for him from now on. “Angel Island is no longer your burden alone. You may join your friends and seek out a different path, one of your choosing.”

Those wishes hadn't been traditional ones, for Knuckles had nothing to do with power and riches. A noble soul though misguided by pride and sternness, he had been rendered asleep, entranced, then awakened as he went to the precipice leading down to the rest of the world. Naylee waved at him, wishing him luck as the lamp greeted her back and as quickly as she got on Mobius did she leave this strange world behind. Knuckles had received a new lease on life thanks to her and as he glided downwards to join the others, he already made plans to eat, sing and be merry below...

And perhaps catch Rouge under the mistletoe eventually.