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"For the Love of Eternity"
By: Jade Lightning, a.k.a. Inuyashas-hanyougirl
Chapter 1: A New Generation

   **They stood up, looking to the stars, and Knuckles whispered, “I think we might make history in another way Hidama.  When you and Delilah have a child I could be proven wrong…but…do you think perhaps with us the line of Guardians is over?  I mean, the blood of the Guardian will slowly fade away as the echidna blood is spent.  You told me once that Elianaron and Aranelion could never be guardians even if their dad was the guardian…because the guardian blood mixed with the blood of a hedgehog.  You told me that it could only survive in the bloodline of the echidnas…that’s the way it was when the Master Emerald was created…because the creator could only trust the noble echidnas with the task…and thus any mixed blood wouldn’t control it, in order to protect it from those with evil intentions.”

   Hidama smiled, remembering Mikomi mentioning him and Delilah having a baby, but frowned, distraught with what Knuckles said.  He looked to him and said, “That’s right…I believe the creator was named Kashoku…he also created the chaos emeralds, but lost a large part of his power to the Master Emerald’s creation, and thus the seven chaos emeralds could be controlled by anyone…heh, explaining why people hunt them down so much.  With a blockade of echidnas to protect the Master Emerald people ignored it…but now, with just you and me…we may indeed be the final Guardians of the Master Emerald…and knowing this people may hunt it down once more should this knowledge get out.  Indeed…that Master Emerald might have to die with us…abusing its power could destroy the world without a Guardian to protect and control it.”

   The brothers fell silent, glancing at the Master Emerald and then each other, before looking back to the stars.  Hidama continued, “I don’t know…destroying it may bring a prolonged peace to the world…without its massive power to fight over and potentially wreak havoc, the world might be a better place for it…and our children wouldn’t have to suffer this burden either.”**

   On the night that Hidama and Knuckles had this conversation, the fate of the Master Emerald weighed heavily on their thoughts, perhaps as much as it would for the next decade or so, for with the brothers reunited, Hidama’s heart at peace, and everything back to the way it should be, they settled into the comfortable lives they were denied in the past.   And well over a decade passed, and while much occurred over this sixeen year span, the words of this night would be quick to haunt them again, as well as a new generation, led by their children.

   Yes, as the years passed, the sweet little Mikomi grew up; as he aged, he began to look a bit like the Brokenstar Twins, of course, that’s in appearance alone.  In every instance just about, he was purely echidna, except for the fact that he had hedgehog ears, and was a bit different in stature as compared to his father and uncle.  He would always be a tiny bit shorter, his body build would be a bit weaker, if that much, and of course, he would always have dual eye colors.  As he got older, his eye colors remained the same, his right eye a rich sapphire blue, and his left a deep amethyst purple, the eye colors of Hidama and Knuckles.

   He was spared the knuckle-claws of his father and uncle, but looked a lot like them in many respects.  His fur and hair were colored crimson red, and his hair was styled into dreadlocks; his ears, dreads and tail were all tipped in white, his tail, though just like his father’s, was a tad smaller due to his hedgehog blood.  Even though the hedgehog blood in him altered his echidna appearance, he looked enough like his father for his Aunt Delilah to call him an echidna with hedgehog ears.

   Of course, as Mikomi grew up, this began to matter more and more to him; from time to time his hybrid appearance annoyed him, for he knew it made him different, and for everybody that saw it positively, there would always be people who saw it negatively, as the Brokenstar Twins could tell him all too easily when he would ask him about it on occasion.

   Nevertheless, Mikomi grew up a happy child, living the life that was denied to his father and uncle, with love all around him, and every reason in the world to exuberant, as he was truly blessed in ways not even his mother and aunt were.  While his life remained confined to Angel Island, it wasn’t the isolation lived out by his father; no, he wasn’t alone.  He would always have either Knuckles or Hidama to play with as they took turns guarding the Master Emerald, the guardianship now shared between them, and then he had his mother, Amy, and his Aunt Delilah as well.

   He’d pick flowers for his mother, bake cookies and color pictures with his aunt, and just about anything his little heart desired.  His joy brought life, warmth and happiness to Angel Island, as it floated just out of reach of Station Square, a silent beauty floating along the horizon.  Of course, his joy wasn’t the only happiness to come to Angel Island, for in the months after Hidama and Delilah were wed, they conceived a child of their own.

   Hidama, who was aided by Knuckles, and eventually the Brokenstar Twins, holding true to their promise, built his own cottage style home right near his brother’s, while Amy and an expecting Delilah went shopping in Station Square for furnishings, not only for their home, but for the new baby as well.  It was in the later months of Delilah’s pregnancy that Camillia, pregnant with her own baby, Aranelion’s child, came to spend time with her friend.

   The girls were tickled to be pregnant together; Camillia’s baby would come about a month after Delilah’s, and they enjoyed this time they could share.  They teased Hidama and Aranelion, saying one of them should have a daughter, the other a son, so the children could eventually marry and bring the two best friends as close as they could ever be, making them in-laws.  Though it was mentioned in jest, all four of them had no problem with the idea, so much they began to look forward to it.

   It was during Camillia’s stay that Delilah gave birth to her child; Hidama and Delilah were blessed with a happy and healthy baby girl.  Delilah named her Kelsey, and rest assured; you would never have seen Hidama more proud of anything or anyone, than he was of his wife and daughter.  While he would always love Mikomi, Kelsey held a special place in Hidama’s heart.

   Kelsey, infact, in just about every aspect, looked just like Mikomi.  The differences included her hedgehog-like tail, as opposed to his echidna one, and fur color.  While Mikomi’s fur and hair were crimson red, his dreads, ears, and tail tipped in white, Kelsey’s fur was a bright, light blue like her mothers, but with flecks of crimson red among the light blue.  Her dreadlocks weren’t tipped in white, but instead had the white bands that Hidama sported in his own.  Aside from these differences, Mikomi and Kelsey both shared this same, hybrid appearance, and filled their parents’ lives with a flood of happiness.

   Shortly after Camillia and Aranelion returned home, they welcomed their son Zachary into the world.  His birth brought the dreams of his parents to life, although whether or not Kelsey would form a relationship remained to be seen.  Their parents were determined to let them find their own way.

   After Kelsey was born and grew up a little, Mikomi had another playmate.  He was nearly two years older than her, but nonetheless the two children grew very close very quickly, and with good reason.  While Amy and Delilah would go shopping in Station Square from time to time, and visitors including Sonic, the Brokenstar Twins and their wives would come to the island, Hidama and Knuckles firmly resolved to keep the world outside of Angel Island out of sight and out of mind for Mikomi and Kelsey…not to hinder then, but to keep them safe, fearing the negative treatment that Aranelion and Elianaron were greeted with on occasional encounters with humans.

   Of course, as children this didn’t matter much to Mikomi and Kelsey, for there were a seemingly unending amount of things for them to do on Angel Island.  Amy and Delilah schooled them, teaching them everything from Math and English, to art and music, but as they grew, the children developed an intense fondness for history, especially their echidna heritage, which, of course, they depending entirely on their fathers for this knowledge.  Thankfully, Knuckles had saved pages of the echidna script, among other echidna artifacts, after the massacre, and Hidama not only knew the echidna language, being able to speak it and teach it to them, but also knew a great deal of the echidna history that Knuckles was not old enough to remember.

   So the children, after schooling, would play everywhere on Angel Island.  Steered clear of the borders that held Station Square in its horizon, they explored the entire lay of the island, accompanied by either Knuckles or Hidama at all times as children, and as they got older, in the more dangerous parts.  Their all time favorite place on the island, and where they had their clubhouse, was Emerald Lake, right near where Hidama and Knuckles had their treasure hole, having frequented the same place when they were children.

   However, Mikomi and Kelsey weren’t alone for long, for shortly before Mikomi turned five and Kelsey, almost two and a half, Amy became pregnant once more, and so Knuckles and Amy were soon blessed with a daughter of their own, whom they named Amarie. Though she too was a hybrid, Amarie was different from her older brother and cousin, for she didn’t take on the same appearance as they, demonstrating the unpredictability of crossbreeding.

   Amarie, a healthy little girl, was full of energy and life, yet while she was a hybrid, she looked like a full-blooded hedgehog.  She had bright pink fur and hair, and it was her hair about her that was quite special.  She had short locks of hair like Amy did in her youth, as well as bangs, style much like Delilah’s were, but her bangs were also a bit curly and frizzy, instead of smooth, and her locks of hair too were slightly frizzed.  As she grew up, Amy let the back of Amarie’s hair grow longer than the front locks, until it grew long enough to pull into a long pony tail, falling just below her shoulders, ending in frizzy tips.  Despite her full-blooded hedgehog appearance, she still had some of her father in her; like Kelsey had flecks of crimson red fur amongst her light blue fur, Amarie had streaks of red in her hair, bangs, locks, and ponytail, as well as on the edges of her ears.  She had her mother’s green eyes, except they were a few shades lighter.

   Mikomi was immediately smitten with his little sister, and for the rest of their lives he would always remain very protective of her.  The minute he sensed she was hurt or in trouble, Mikomi would thunder into anger until all was right again, and as he got older, it became more and more obvious that that rage was only getting more intense and frightful.  Thankfully, there was very little to invoke this rage, as the three of them lived happy, comfortable lives on Angel Island, not giving much care or notice to Station Square in the distance.

   And so it seemed that Angel Island was pretty much cut off from the worries of the rest of the world, enveloped in a secure layer of happiness and peace.  The only time things had to deviate from normal was when Amy and Delilah would have to go to Station Square twice a month for groceries and other supplies.  This was a chore they took upon themselves, not only so Hidama and Knuckles could protect the Master Emerald around the clock, but so they could have quality time with Mikomi, Amarie, and Kelsey.  As the children grew older, Knuckles and Hidama grew that much more determined to keep the outside world out of their children’s curiosity.  Because of this, the inhabitants of Angel Island were slowly cut off from their friends, all of them, and thus had no idea what became of them all after seven or eight years had passed.

   As the years passed, Hidama and Knuckles had an increasing awareness that something had to be done about the Master Emerald.  Part of why they retreated from the outside, as well as restraining their children from traveling to the mainland, was to keep the existence of the Master Emerald secret, blind from the eyes of everyone.  They already saw what its limitless power could do to even the most noble of their own kindred, King Olermere’s lust for the gem and its power driving him to attempt to murder his once best friend, the Guardian.  If this kind of power could corrupt one of the most noble echidnas of the tribe, to imagine what it could do to the human race was enough to frighten both Hidama and Knuckles to an extreme degree.

   At the same time, they didn’t want their own children to suffer the same burden they did as children, their lives torn apart by the mutants out of their lust for the gem and revenge on their own brethren for hatred…truly it was the Master Emerald that was at the root of all the trouble, even though the echidnas did little to ease up on the hatred before the tipping point was breached, and the very existence of the echidna race pushed to the brink of extinction, with only Hidama and Knuckles to live on as the unwitting survivors, fated to be the ones to decide what would become of the Master Emerald…the last Guardians ever to walk the earth.

   It was true; Hidama knew that Mikomi would most likely never become a guardian.  He wouldn’t speak of his fears to his brother, but…some things just didn’t add up.  What fueled his fears the most was Mikomi’s mixed blood; while the echidnas still lived, the blood of the Guardian, the same blood that triggered the control both he and Knuckles had over the Master Emerald, and even the chaos emeralds, was preserved.  Unfortunately when both Hidama and Knuckles had a child with someone outside of their own race, the blood of the Guardian within them was cut in half, as both Mikomi and Kelsey were half echidna and half hedgehog, half of the power their fathers possessed was all they had to their disposal, which in this case, just wasn’t going to be enough.

   Like Sonic and Shadow could control the chaos emeralds, Mikomi and Kelsey, even Amarie perhaps had enough echidna blood in them to control the chaos emeralds, but by Mikomi’s sixteenth birthday, a year when in the echidna race he was close to manhood, the age when he would fully master the powers of the Guardian, he still had absolutely no control over the Master Emerald. Unlike Knuckles, whose touch sent waves of power through the gem when he touched it, or Hidama who could control the Master Emerald simply by using the powers of his mind, Mikomi could barely get a flicker from the Master Emerald from his touch, and little else in the direction of control.

   Even so, this seemed to only worry Hidama, and he wasn’t about to bother Knuckles with this fear.  Both families were blessed with many years of joy and carefree bliss, hearing from their friends very often at first, and very little at all as the children grew into teenagers.    The last time they had all gotten together was nearly a decade before, and while this was a sad thing, it meant that Angel Island would remain covered by that blanket of secrecy.  Hidama was able to put his concerns in the back of his mind, taking control of not only the Guardianship, but looking after his family, and taking care of Angel Island, the home of his ancestors.  Yet while his worries may not have weighed verily heavily on his mind in the face of such happiness, after sixteen years had passed, the time had come when he would not only have to reconsider his worries, but also begin to take immediate actions towards finding a solution.

   After so many years, the once broken guardian had eased into a wonderful, happy life on Angel Island, taking up the life he would have lived had the echidnas survived, learning new forms of combat, including brushing up on his archery, which he started when he was a child, teaching it to Delilah, and later Kelsey.  This day, when the tale gets its start, a warm afternoon in early August, standing atop the Master Emerald's altar, Hidama glanced to the ground below, where his fifteen-year-old daughter Kelsey, stood practicing her archery, firing arrows at targets on the trees.

   He shook his head, laughing softly, admiring her determination and persistence.  He slowly walked down the stairs of the altar to the ground below, but his beloved wife Delilah made it to their daughter first.  Kelsey was already an archer with considerable skills, especially for her age, but was upset at missing so many targets, hitting the outer edges instead of the centers a large percent of the time.

   “It's not fair mom…I don't think I'll ever get the hang of this.  What kind of an archer can't hit their targets dead on more than half of the time?” Kelsey asked.  Stringing her bow with another arrow and aiming for a target, she closed one eye and continued, “Right now, I only hit the bullseye if I’m lucky!”  She fired the arrow, and it pierced the target right near the upper edge.  Kelsey stomped her foot on the ground, muttering, “No good, no good, no good!”

   Delilah hugged her daughter, kissing her on her cheek and saying, “You'll keep getting better Kelsey…you've just got to keep practicing.  It certainly took practice to get as good as you are now.”

   Hidama smiled, and sighed warmly as he watched them, loving them both with untold amounts of tenderness and care.  His daughter had grown so much over the years, and he relished every moment of her life; she had her mother's brown eyes, and was the perfect mix of her parents, both in appearance and personality.

   She was a great leader, had a fiery personality, and loved to fight, except with her family of course; she also loved the beautiful things in the world, liked to draw and take pictures, and also loved to sing, having a rich, moving voice just like her father’s.  Her favorite colors were purple and black, and her favorite outfit was a purple, turtleneck, hooded sweatshirt, light black slacks, and red shoes, along with her white gloves.  She wore her quiver full of arrows almost everywhere she went, and carried her bow with her as well.

   The echidna walked over to his wife and daughter, placing a hand on Kelsey's shoulder, smiling at her as she looked at him.  He asked, “May I give it a shot?”

   Kelsey smiled, but shrugged, handing her bow and an arrow to her father, but Hidama instead asked for a second arrow, stringing them to the bow string and taking aim at two targets, a good distance apart from each other, both in how close together they hung, and how far away they were from Hidama.  He took aim, concentrating on only the targets, the arrows, and his breathing, and fired the arrows, both piercing their targets on the dead center.  It was obvious several years of practice and experience did the trick for Hidama, but Kelsey wasn’t exactly encouraged.

   Delilah smiled and clapped her hands a few times, saying, “My, my Hidama; you certainly haven’t lost any skills since you taught me archery.”

   Hidama turned and smiled at her, remembering how fun it was teaching Delilah archery in those wonderful months, during which they knew they had a baby coming.  This was another warm memory for both of them, but Hidama, seeing Kelsey stare almost enviously at her father’s skills, shook his head and walked back over to her, kneeling down beside her and hugging her tightly.  He whispered, “Come on sweetie…don’t give up so soon.  You'll get better and better…why don't you fire another shot.  I want to watch you,” before standing back up.

   Kelsey was ready to cry out of frustration, but her father’s hug and encouraging words gave her her courage back.  She pulled back from their hug, sniffing twice and holding back her tears.  She nodded, smiling as strongly as possible, and fired another arrow at a target, coming short of the bullseye once more.  Hidama looked at her as she stared at the target in disbelief.  He shook his head and laughed saying, “Kelsey…try keeping both of your eyes open when you shoot.  You’ll see twice as well, and you won't misjudge the exact location of your target.  Try hitting that same target but now with both eyes open.  When you close one, you only see the target from one angle, and you throw off your aim.”

   Ready to keep trying, spurred on by her father’s encouragement, Kelsey aimed for the same target, only this time, keeping both eyes open, and hitting the center dead-on, just as Hidama had before.  Excited, she jumped in the air triumphantly and said, “Wow!  That was too awesome!  Thanks dad!  Now I’m gonna get much better!”

   Kelsey ran back into the woods to collect her arrows, while Delilah embraced Hidama, kissing him and saying, “Another thing you haven’t lost…is you always know how to make Kelsey and me happy, you sweetheart.”

   Hidama grinned returning her kiss and saying, “Nah, that’s nothing.  I’m just looking out for my family is all.”  He paused, looking to the altar where Mikomi had climbed to the top, staring at the Master Emerald with frustration.  He sighed and said, “I can help Kelsey with archery…but poor Mikomi…it seems he has little to no control over the Master Emerald.  He’s seventeen…the age of manhood in the echidna culture, and the Master Emerald won’t even respond to him.  It seems even now the blood of the Guardian is wearing thin.  This can only mean dark times in the years to come.”

   Delilah let out a sigh, as both of them watched Knuckles follow Mikomi’s steps, and get to the top of the altar.  Mikomi was wearing his usual favorite outfit, a long-sleeved grey shirt, long, midnight-black slacks with a matching jacket, red boots with a yellow stripe down the centers, and a grey headband Hidama gave him when he turned sixteen.  Mikomi gave no notice to his father’s approach, staring angrily at the Master Emerald, it having been the center of his thoughts the past few months, continually frustrated that he couldn’t control it.

   Standing beside his son, Knuckles placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Come now Mikomi…there's no need to be angry.  I’m sure the only reason the Master Emerald won’t respond to you is because Hidama and I are both here and have more control over it.  As you get stronger you’ll get more control…but right now Hidama and I are all the power it needs.”

   Mikomi shook his head, frustrated and said, “Dad…what if it never recognizes me as a Guardian?  Once you and Uncle Hidama both die, what then?  If no one can control its power, what’ll become of it?  People will fight over it, misuse it, and cause so much destruction.  It seems even if the line of Guardians die away, if the Master Emerald lives on forever, it’ll cause not only its own destruction, but the world’s destruction as well…if I can't control it, what then?”

   Knuckles looked at his son with empathetic eyes, hugging him and saying, “Mikomi…I don’t want you to live a life that is bound to the fate of the Master Emerald.  Hidama and I walked that road before, and the last thing either of us would wish is for you to be bound to it in the same way, suffering as we did.  You let us worry for its fate, and you live your life free and happy, you understand?  You enjoy yourself with your sister and cousin.”

   Mikomi returned his father’s hug, smiling; they pulled out of this embrace when they heard a voice from the bottom of the altar.  It was Mikomi’s little sister, Amarie, wearing her favorite light blue dress with matching sheer sash, grey slacks, and purple shoes, her hair pulled back with a lime green pony-tail holder.  “Hey Mikomi!  Wanna go for a walk with me and Kelsey?  Please?  Let’s go to Emerald Lake together!” she cried.

   Knuckles smiled, nodding as Mikomi looked to him and said, “Go on; like I said, don’t let your happiness be impaired or your life be crushed by the Master Emerald.  Your uncle and I have it under control.”  Mikomi smiled, nodding and running down the altar to meet Kelsey and Amarie before they ran towards the north part of the island, laughing and shouting on the way.

   Hidama made his way to the altar; when he reached the top, Knuckles sighed and said, “I’m just so relieved that Mikomi won’t be held back by this wretched burden.  Even now he's worrying more for its fate than his own.  I don’t want that for him, because I know how it felt.  I want him to live his life independent from the Master Emerald…I don’t know though Hidama…after we die, what then?”

   “Well Knuckles…I don’t know,” Hidama said after much hesitation.  “Mikomi will never have full control of its power, even after we pass away; the blood of the Guardian will slowly disappear from generation to generation…and even speaking this I feel an ominous future for the world in the wake of our deaths, the last true guardians lost forever.  Perhaps maybe, the time will come for the Master Emerald to pass away as well, for seeing as Sonic and Shadow can control the chaos emeralds, even that Dr. Eggman, I’m sure they’ll be alright for millennia to come.  But the Master Emerald…someday I fear it must be destroyed forever, perhaps in our deaths alone, so not only our children, and their descendents, but the rest of the world shall be free from this chaos forever,” he continued.

   The brothers looked to each other, and then to the Master Emerald, which now more than ever was a problem for them.  Not wanting their children, especially Mikomi, to feel bound to its fate, as well as realizing it could spell the end of the peaceful world once the blood of the guardian was lost, they now knew measures would have to be taken, and inevitably, with the death of the last echidnas, the Master Emerald would have to be done away with forever.  It was the only way peace could be ensured, and as the final guardians of it, Hidama and Knuckles knew it was up to them to protect it from misuse, and in turn, secure the fate of the free world in the years to follow their deaths, even if it meant destroying the Master Emerald would be what brought on their deaths in the end.

   Of course, now such troubles didn’t bother them as much as they should have; sure, they’d have to destroy the Master Emerald eventually, but even they were still young, still in their prime years of life and Guardianship…and their children still had long, wonderful lives to live.  Little did they know, however, that these measures would have to be taken quicker than they supposed, as trouble was stirring beyond Angel Island, and Mikomi, Kelsey, and Amarie, would be thrust into their own adventure; a race to save their families, and the entire world, from the evil hands the Master Emerald would inevitably fall into.

Description
"For the Love of Eternity"
By: Jade Lightning, a.k.a. Inuyashas-hanyougirl
Chapter 1: A New Generation

   **They stood up, looking to the stars, and Knuckles whispered, “I think we might make history in another way Hidama.  When you and Delilah have a child I could be proven wrong…but…do you think perhaps with us the line of Guardians is over?  I mean, the blood of the Guardian will slowly fade away as the echidna blood is spent.  You told me once that Elianaron and Aranelion could never be guardians even if their dad was the guardian…because the guardian blood mixed with the blood of a hedgehog.  You told me that it could only survive in the bloodline of the echidnas…that’s the way it was when the Master Emerald was created…because the creator could only trust the noble echidnas with the task…and thus any mixed blood wouldn’t control it, in order to protect it from those with evil intentions.”

   Hidama smiled, remembering Mikomi mentioning him and Delilah having a baby, but frowned, distraught with what Knuckles said.  He looked to him and said, “That’s right…I believe the creator was named Kashoku…he also created the chaos emeralds, but lost a large part of his power to the Master Emerald’s creation, and thus the seven chaos emeralds could be controlled by anyone…heh, explaining why people hunt them down so much.  With a blockade of echidnas to protect the Master Emerald people ignored it…but now, with just you and me…we may indeed be the final Guardians of the Master Emerald…and knowing this people may hunt it down once more should this knowledge get out.  Indeed…that Master Emerald might have to die with us…abusing its power could destroy the world without a Guardian to protect and control it.”

   The brothers fell silent, glancing at the Master Emerald and then each other, before looking back to the stars.  Hidama continued, “I don’t know…destroying it may bring a prolonged peace to the world…without its massive power to fight over and potentially wreak havoc, the world might be a better place for it…and our children wouldn’t have to suffer this burden either.”**

   On the night that Hidama and Knuckles had this conversation, the fate of the Master Emerald weighed heavily on their thoughts, perhaps as much as it would for the next decade or so, for with the brothers reunited, Hidama’s heart at peace, and everything back to the way it should be, they settled into the comfortable lives they were denied in the past.   And well over a decade passed, and while much occurred over this sixeen year span, the words of this night would be quick to haunt them again, as well as a new generation, led by their children.

   Yes, as the years passed, the sweet little Mikomi grew up; as he aged, he began to look a bit like the Brokenstar Twins, of course, that’s in appearance alone.  In every instance just about, he was purely echidna, except for the fact that he had hedgehog ears, and was a bit different in stature as compared to his father and uncle.  He would always be a tiny bit shorter, his body build would be a bit weaker, if that much, and of course, he would always have dual eye colors.  As he got older, his eye colors remained the same, his right eye a rich sapphire blue, and his left a deep amethyst purple, the eye colors of Hidama and Knuckles.

   He was spared the knuckle-claws of his father and uncle, but looked a lot like them in many respects.  His fur and hair were colored crimson red, and his hair was styled into dreadlocks; his ears, dreads and tail were all tipped in white, his tail, though just like his father’s, was a tad smaller due to his hedgehog blood.  Even though the hedgehog blood in him altered his echidna appearance, he looked enough like his father for his Aunt Delilah to call him an echidna with hedgehog ears.

   Of course, as Mikomi grew up, this began to matter more and more to him; from time to time his hybrid appearance annoyed him, for he knew it made him different, and for everybody that saw it positively, there would always be people who saw it negatively, as the Brokenstar Twins could tell him all too easily when he would ask him about it on occasion.

   Nevertheless, Mikomi grew up a happy child, living the life that was denied to his father and uncle, with love all around him, and every reason in the world to exuberant, as he was truly blessed in ways not even his mother and aunt were.  While his life remained confined to Angel Island, it wasn’t the isolation lived out by his father; no, he wasn’t alone.  He would always have either Knuckles or Hidama to play with as they took turns guarding the Master Emerald, the guardianship now shared between them, and then he had his mother, Amy, and his Aunt Delilah as well.

   He’d pick flowers for his mother, bake cookies and color pictures with his aunt, and just about anything his little heart desired.  His joy brought life, warmth and happiness to Angel Island, as it floated just out of reach of Station Square, a silent beauty floating along the horizon.  Of course, his joy wasn’t the only happiness to come to Angel Island, for in the months after Hidama and Delilah were wed, they conceived a child of their own.

   Hidama, who was aided by Knuckles, and eventually the Brokenstar Twins, holding true to their promise, built his own cottage style home right near his brother’s, while Amy and an expecting Delilah went shopping in Station Square for furnishings, not only for their home, but for the new baby as well.  It was in the later months of Delilah’s pregnancy that Camillia, pregnant with her own baby, Aranelion’s child, came to spend time with her friend.

   The girls were tickled to be pregnant together; Camillia’s baby would come about a month after Delilah’s, and they enjoyed this time they could share.  They teased Hidama and Aranelion, saying one of them should have a daughter, the other a son, so the children could eventually marry and bring the two best friends as close as they could ever be, making them in-laws.  Though it was mentioned in jest, all four of them had no problem with the idea, so much they began to look forward to it.

   It was during Camillia’s stay that Delilah gave birth to her child; Hidama and Delilah were blessed with a happy and healthy baby girl.  Delilah named her Kelsey, and rest assured; you would never have seen Hidama more proud of anything or anyone, than he was of his wife and daughter.  While he would always love Mikomi, Kelsey held a special place in Hidama’s heart.

   Kelsey, infact, in just about every aspect, looked just like Mikomi.  The differences included her hedgehog-like tail, as opposed to his echidna one, and fur color.  While Mikomi’s fur and hair were crimson red, his dreads, ears, and tail tipped in white, Kelsey’s fur was a bright, light blue like her mothers, but with flecks of crimson red among the light blue.  Her dreadlocks weren’t tipped in white, but instead had the white bands that Hidama sported in his own.  Aside from these differences, Mikomi and Kelsey both shared this same, hybrid appearance, and filled their parents’ lives with a flood of happiness.

   Shortly after Camillia and Aranelion returned home, they welcomed their son Zachary into the world.  His birth brought the dreams of his parents to life, although whether or not Kelsey would form a relationship remained to be seen.  Their parents were determined to let them find their own way.

   After Kelsey was born and grew up a little, Mikomi had another playmate.  He was nearly two years older than her, but nonetheless the two children grew very close very quickly, and with good reason.  While Amy and Delilah would go shopping in Station Square from time to time, and visitors including Sonic, the Brokenstar Twins and their wives would come to the island, Hidama and Knuckles firmly resolved to keep the world outside of Angel Island out of sight and out of mind for Mikomi and Kelsey…not to hinder then, but to keep them safe, fearing the negative treatment that Aranelion and Elianaron were greeted with on occasional encounters with humans.

   Of course, as children this didn’t matter much to Mikomi and Kelsey, for there were a seemingly unending amount of things for them to do on Angel Island.  Amy and Delilah schooled them, teaching them everything from Math and English, to art and music, but as they grew, the children developed an intense fondness for history, especially their echidna heritage, which, of course, they depending entirely on their fathers for this knowledge.  Thankfully, Knuckles had saved pages of the echidna script, among other echidna artifacts, after the massacre, and Hidama not only knew the echidna language, being able to speak it and teach it to them, but also knew a great deal of the echidna history that Knuckles was not old enough to remember.

   So the children, after schooling, would play everywhere on Angel Island.  Steered clear of the borders that held Station Square in its horizon, they explored the entire lay of the island, accompanied by either Knuckles or Hidama at all times as children, and as they got older, in the more dangerous parts.  Their all time favorite place on the island, and where they had their clubhouse, was Emerald Lake, right near where Hidama and Knuckles had their treasure hole, having frequented the same place when they were children.

   However, Mikomi and Kelsey weren’t alone for long, for shortly before Mikomi turned five and Kelsey, almost two and a half, Amy became pregnant once more, and so Knuckles and Amy were soon blessed with a daughter of their own, whom they named Amarie. Though she too was a hybrid, Amarie was different from her older brother and cousin, for she didn’t take on the same appearance as they, demonstrating the unpredictability of crossbreeding.

   Amarie, a healthy little girl, was full of energy and life, yet while she was a hybrid, she looked like a full-blooded hedgehog.  She had bright pink fur and hair, and it was her hair about her that was quite special.  She had short locks of hair like Amy did in her youth, as well as bangs, style much like Delilah’s were, but her bangs were also a bit curly and frizzy, instead of smooth, and her locks of hair too were slightly frizzed.  As she grew up, Amy let the back of Amarie’s hair grow longer than the front locks, until it grew long enough to pull into a long pony tail, falling just below her shoulders, ending in frizzy tips.  Despite her full-blooded hedgehog appearance, she still had some of her father in her; like Kelsey had flecks of crimson red fur amongst her light blue fur, Amarie had streaks of red in her hair, bangs, locks, and ponytail, as well as on the edges of her ears.  She had her mother’s green eyes, except they were a few shades lighter.

   Mikomi was immediately smitten with his little sister, and for the rest of their lives he would always remain very protective of her.  The minute he sensed she was hurt or in trouble, Mikomi would thunder into anger until all was right again, and as he got older, it became more and more obvious that that rage was only getting more intense and frightful.  Thankfully, there was very little to invoke this rage, as the three of them lived happy, comfortable lives on Angel Island, not giving much care or notice to Station Square in the distance.

   And so it seemed that Angel Island was pretty much cut off from the worries of the rest of the world, enveloped in a secure layer of happiness and peace.  The only time things had to deviate from normal was when Amy and Delilah would have to go to Station Square twice a month for groceries and other supplies.  This was a chore they took upon themselves, not only so Hidama and Knuckles could protect the Master Emerald around the clock, but so they could have quality time with Mikomi, Amarie, and Kelsey.  As the children grew older, Knuckles and Hidama grew that much more determined to keep the outside world out of their children’s curiosity.  Because of this, the inhabitants of Angel Island were slowly cut off from their friends, all of them, and thus had no idea what became of them all after seven or eight years had passed.

   As the years passed, Hidama and Knuckles had an increasing awareness that something had to be done about the Master Emerald.  Part of why they retreated from the outside, as well as restraining their children from traveling to the mainland, was to keep the existence of the Master Emerald secret, blind from the eyes of everyone.  They already saw what its limitless power could do to even the most noble of their own kindred, King Olermere’s lust for the gem and its power driving him to attempt to murder his once best friend, the Guardian.  If this kind of power could corrupt one of the most noble echidnas of the tribe, to imagine what it could do to the human race was enough to frighten both Hidama and Knuckles to an extreme degree.

   At the same time, they didn’t want their own children to suffer the same burden they did as children, their lives torn apart by the mutants out of their lust for the gem and revenge on their own brethren for hatred…truly it was the Master Emerald that was at the root of all the trouble, even though the echidnas did little to ease up on the hatred before the tipping point was breached, and the very existence of the echidna race pushed to the brink of extinction, with only Hidama and Knuckles to live on as the unwitting survivors, fated to be the ones to decide what would become of the Master Emerald…the last Guardians ever to walk the earth.

   It was true; Hidama knew that Mikomi would most likely never become a guardian.  He wouldn’t speak of his fears to his brother, but…some things just didn’t add up.  What fueled his fears the most was Mikomi’s mixed blood; while the echidnas still lived, the blood of the Guardian, the same blood that triggered the control both he and Knuckles had over the Master Emerald, and even the chaos emeralds, was preserved.  Unfortunately when both Hidama and Knuckles had a child with someone outside of their own race, the blood of the Guardian within them was cut in half, as both Mikomi and Kelsey were half echidna and half hedgehog, half of the power their fathers possessed was all they had to their disposal, which in this case, just wasn’t going to be enough.

   Like Sonic and Shadow could control the chaos emeralds, Mikomi and Kelsey, even Amarie perhaps had enough echidna blood in them to control the chaos emeralds, but by Mikomi’s sixteenth birthday, a year when in the echidna race he was close to manhood, the age when he would fully master the powers of the Guardian, he still had absolutely no control over the Master Emerald. Unlike Knuckles, whose touch sent waves of power through the gem when he touched it, or Hidama who could control the Master Emerald simply by using the powers of his mind, Mikomi could barely get a flicker from the Master Emerald from his touch, and little else in the direction of control.

   Even so, this seemed to only worry Hidama, and he wasn’t about to bother Knuckles with this fear.  Both families were blessed with many years of joy and carefree bliss, hearing from their friends very often at first, and very little at all as the children grew into teenagers.    The last time they had all gotten together was nearly a decade before, and while this was a sad thing, it meant that Angel Island would remain covered by that blanket of secrecy.  Hidama was able to put his concerns in the back of his mind, taking control of not only the Guardianship, but looking after his family, and taking care of Angel Island, the home of his ancestors.  Yet while his worries may not have weighed verily heavily on his mind in the face of such happiness, after sixteen years had passed, the time had come when he would not only have to reconsider his worries, but also begin to take immediate actions towards finding a solution.

   After so many years, the once broken guardian had eased into a wonderful, happy life on Angel Island, taking up the life he would have lived had the echidnas survived, learning new forms of combat, including brushing up on his archery, which he started when he was a child, teaching it to Delilah, and later Kelsey.  This day, when the tale gets its start, a warm afternoon in early August, standing atop the Master Emerald's altar, Hidama glanced to the ground below, where his fifteen-year-old daughter Kelsey, stood practicing her archery, firing arrows at targets on the trees.

   He shook his head, laughing softly, admiring her determination and persistence.  He slowly walked down the stairs of the altar to the ground below, but his beloved wife Delilah made it to their daughter first.  Kelsey was already an archer with considerable skills, especially for her age, but was upset at missing so many targets, hitting the outer edges instead of the centers a large percent of the time.

   “It's not fair mom…I don't think I'll ever get the hang of this.  What kind of an archer can't hit their targets dead on more than half of the time?” Kelsey asked.  Stringing her bow with another arrow and aiming for a target, she closed one eye and continued, “Right now, I only hit the bullseye if I’m lucky!”  She fired the arrow, and it pierced the target right near the upper edge.  Kelsey stomped her foot on the ground, muttering, “No good, no good, no good!”

   Delilah hugged her daughter, kissing her on her cheek and saying, “You'll keep getting better Kelsey…you've just got to keep practicing.  It certainly took practice to get as good as you are now.”

   Hidama smiled, and sighed warmly as he watched them, loving them both with untold amounts of tenderness and care.  His daughter had grown so much over the years, and he relished every moment of her life; she had her mother's brown eyes, and was the perfect mix of her parents, both in appearance and personality.

   She was a great leader, had a fiery personality, and loved to fight, except with her family of course; she also loved the beautiful things in the world, liked to draw and take pictures, and also loved to sing, having a rich, moving voice just like her father’s.  Her favorite colors were purple and black, and her favorite outfit was a purple, turtleneck, hooded sweatshirt, light black slacks, and red shoes, along with her white gloves.  She wore her quiver full of arrows almost everywhere she went, and carried her bow with her as well.

   The echidna walked over to his wife and daughter, placing a hand on Kelsey's shoulder, smiling at her as she looked at him.  He asked, “May I give it a shot?”

   Kelsey smiled, but shrugged, handing her bow and an arrow to her father, but Hidama instead asked for a second arrow, stringing them to the bow string and taking aim at two targets, a good distance apart from each other, both in how close together they hung, and how far away they were from Hidama.  He took aim, concentrating on only the targets, the arrows, and his breathing, and fired the arrows, both piercing their targets on the dead center.  It was obvious several years of practice and experience did the trick for Hidama, but Kelsey wasn’t exactly encouraged.

   Delilah smiled and clapped her hands a few times, saying, “My, my Hidama; you certainly haven’t lost any skills since you taught me archery.”

   Hidama turned and smiled at her, remembering how fun it was teaching Delilah archery in those wonderful months, during which they knew they had a baby coming.  This was another warm memory for both of them, but Hidama, seeing Kelsey stare almost enviously at her father’s skills, shook his head and walked back over to her, kneeling down beside her and hugging her tightly.  He whispered, “Come on sweetie…don’t give up so soon.  You'll get better and better…why don't you fire another shot.  I want to watch you,” before standing back up.

   Kelsey was ready to cry out of frustration, but her father’s hug and encouraging words gave her her courage back.  She pulled back from their hug, sniffing twice and holding back her tears.  She nodded, smiling as strongly as possible, and fired another arrow at a target, coming short of the bullseye once more.  Hidama looked at her as she stared at the target in disbelief.  He shook his head and laughed saying, “Kelsey…try keeping both of your eyes open when you shoot.  You’ll see twice as well, and you won't misjudge the exact location of your target.  Try hitting that same target but now with both eyes open.  When you close one, you only see the target from one angle, and you throw off your aim.”

   Ready to keep trying, spurred on by her father’s encouragement, Kelsey aimed for the same target, only this time, keeping both eyes open, and hitting the center dead-on, just as Hidama had before.  Excited, she jumped in the air triumphantly and said, “Wow!  That was too awesome!  Thanks dad!  Now I’m gonna get much better!”

   Kelsey ran back into the woods to collect her arrows, while Delilah embraced Hidama, kissing him and saying, “Another thing you haven’t lost…is you always know how to make Kelsey and me happy, you sweetheart.”

   Hidama grinned returning her kiss and saying, “Nah, that’s nothing.  I’m just looking out for my family is all.”  He paused, looking to the altar where Mikomi had climbed to the top, staring at the Master Emerald with frustration.  He sighed and said, “I can help Kelsey with archery…but poor Mikomi…it seems he has little to no control over the Master Emerald.  He’s seventeen…the age of manhood in the echidna culture, and the Master Emerald won’t even respond to him.  It seems even now the blood of the Guardian is wearing thin.  This can only mean dark times in the years to come.”

   Delilah let out a sigh, as both of them watched Knuckles follow Mikomi’s steps, and get to the top of the altar.  Mikomi was wearing his usual favorite outfit, a long-sleeved grey shirt, long, midnight-black slacks with a matching jacket, red boots with a yellow stripe down the centers, and a grey headband Hidama gave him when he turned sixteen.  Mikomi gave no notice to his father’s approach, staring angrily at the Master Emerald, it having been the center of his thoughts the past few months, continually frustrated that he couldn’t control it.

   Standing beside his son, Knuckles placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Come now Mikomi…there's no need to be angry.  I’m sure the only reason the Master Emerald won’t respond to you is because Hidama and I are both here and have more control over it.  As you get stronger you’ll get more control…but right now Hidama and I are all the power it needs.”

   Mikomi shook his head, frustrated and said, “Dad…what if it never recognizes me as a Guardian?  Once you and Uncle Hidama both die, what then?  If no one can control its power, what’ll become of it?  People will fight over it, misuse it, and cause so much destruction.  It seems even if the line of Guardians die away, if the Master Emerald lives on forever, it’ll cause not only its own destruction, but the world’s destruction as well…if I can't control it, what then?”

   Knuckles looked at his son with empathetic eyes, hugging him and saying, “Mikomi…I don’t want you to live a life that is bound to the fate of the Master Emerald.  Hidama and I walked that road before, and the last thing either of us would wish is for you to be bound to it in the same way, suffering as we did.  You let us worry for its fate, and you live your life free and happy, you understand?  You enjoy yourself with your sister and cousin.”

   Mikomi returned his father’s hug, smiling; they pulled out of this embrace when they heard a voice from the bottom of the altar.  It was Mikomi’s little sister, Amarie, wearing her favorite light blue dress with matching sheer sash, grey slacks, and purple shoes, her hair pulled back with a lime green pony-tail holder.  “Hey Mikomi!  Wanna go for a walk with me and Kelsey?  Please?  Let’s go to Emerald Lake together!” she cried.

   Knuckles smiled, nodding as Mikomi looked to him and said, “Go on; like I said, don’t let your happiness be impaired or your life be crushed by the Master Emerald.  Your uncle and I have it under control.”  Mikomi smiled, nodding and running down the altar to meet Kelsey and Amarie before they ran towards the north part of the island, laughing and shouting on the way.

   Hidama made his way to the altar; when he reached the top, Knuckles sighed and said, “I’m just so relieved that Mikomi won’t be held back by this wretched burden.  Even now he's worrying more for its fate than his own.  I don’t want that for him, because I know how it felt.  I want him to live his life independent from the Master Emerald…I don’t know though Hidama…after we die, what then?”

   “Well Knuckles…I don’t know,” Hidama said after much hesitation.  “Mikomi will never have full control of its power, even after we pass away; the blood of the Guardian will slowly disappear from generation to generation…and even speaking this I feel an ominous future for the world in the wake of our deaths, the last true guardians lost forever.  Perhaps maybe, the time will come for the Master Emerald to pass away as well, for seeing as Sonic and Shadow can control the chaos emeralds, even that Dr. Eggman, I’m sure they’ll be alright for millennia to come.  But the Master Emerald…someday I fear it must be destroyed forever, perhaps in our deaths alone, so not only our children, and their descendents, but the rest of the world shall be free from this chaos forever,” he continued.

   The brothers looked to each other, and then to the Master Emerald, which now more than ever was a problem for them.  Not wanting their children, especially Mikomi, to feel bound to its fate, as well as realizing it could spell the end of the peaceful world once the blood of the guardian was lost, they now knew measures would have to be taken, and inevitably, with the death of the last echidnas, the Master Emerald would have to be done away with forever.  It was the only way peace could be ensured, and as the final guardians of it, Hidama and Knuckles knew it was up to them to protect it from misuse, and in turn, secure the fate of the free world in the years to follow their deaths, even if it meant destroying the Master Emerald would be what brought on their deaths in the end.

   Of course, now such troubles didn’t bother them as much as they should have; sure, they’d have to destroy the Master Emerald eventually, but even they were still young, still in their prime years of life and Guardianship…and their children still had long, wonderful lives to live.  Little did they know, however, that these measures would have to be taken quicker than they supposed, as trouble was stirring beyond Angel Island, and Mikomi, Kelsey, and Amarie, would be thrust into their own adventure; a race to save their families, and the entire world, from the evil hands the Master Emerald would inevitably fall into.