One bright sunny day, all seems quiet in the Green Hills Forest, but it's revealed that someone is running through the forest. That someone is Knuckles the Echidna, running through the forest.

Soon, leap jump on logs, and begin athletically running through a kind of obstacle course.

Song:

Oh...

Who's the hunter?

Who's the game?

I feel the beat call your name

I'll hold you close

In victory

Knuckles dodges the swinging boulders, spiked logs, and other kinds of traps. When the long swings at him, Knuckles grabs it, and uses it as the shield to protect himself from the arrows.

Song:

I don't wanna tame your animal style

You won't be caged from the call of the wild

Knuckles then runs across with the log over his head on a rope between two mountain tops. Once across, he tosses the log away, and picks up the boulder that is on the other side.

Song:

Shooting at the walls of heartache

Bang bang

I am the warrior

Yes, I am the warrior

Victory is mine...

Soon, Knuckles runs across the wooden goal stand. It spins and it has his picture on it. Once he reaches the goal, Knuckles punches the boulder into pieces.

Narration scene...

And suddenly, Sonic narrates, "I know what you're thinking. What type of maniac wakes up at dawn to punch boulders? I'll tell you who. My good pal, Knuckles the echidna."

And soon, Sonic narrates Knuckles story, "It all began on the Mushroom Planet, where old Knucks got tricked into helping the very evil and very filthy Doctor Mustache escape. He came to Earth in search of a magic emerald and picked a fight with moi, which went very badly for him, by the way.

Then Eve's voice comes along, "Sonic there is more to the story than just that."

"Well, it's true," Sonic says.

"Maybe, but there's more to the story," Eve says.

She then explains, "As we know, Knuckles did team up with Dr. Robotnik to find the Master Emerald and the Master Emerald Sword. However, Knuckles is the last of his Echidna kind. Years ago, Knuckles' tribe found where Long Claw was and tried to capture her. He traveled to find Sonic to know if he knew the secret of where the emerald is."

"We managed to find the sword in one of the coldest places on Earth, and the compass to help us find it. Of course, Egghead and Knucklehead stole it," Sonic says.

"And they were chasing us," Eve adds.

"True, and you remember the look on Knuckles' face to learn that you actually managed to find and use the sword, which only his Echidna kind with powerful energy can use. And let's say that you've made quite the impression on him through that adventure," Sonic says.

"Shut up," Eve responds, clearly embarrassed by the tone of her voice.

Then Sonic continues, "Eventually, we punched out our differences and teamed up to defeat Robotnik's giant robot and recovered the Master Emerald, hence saving the universe. Hooray! And you're welcome. And then, Knuckles, Tails, Jazz, Eve, and I became friends and roommates! Now, with all the hero stuff out of the way, Knuckles' only mission is to relax and enjoy Earth, which might be harder than it sounds.

"Considering that he managed to scare three construction teams off, it's proven harder," Eevee adds.

Back to the adventure...

Knuckles punches the rock and shouts, "Ha! A new record!"

However, Knuckles looks down to notice something up at the Wachowski household. There, he sees a group of people approaching the house.

"House Wachowski is under attack," Knuckles shouts and zooms right over.

Upon arriving, Knuckles burrows into the ground and peeks out to see the intruders. Knuckles grabs one of the intruders, holding a jackhammer by the legs and pulls him away as he screams.

The other introducer turns around, "Huh?" but finds no one there.

The intruder turns around to see Knuckles and accidentally fires his drill

Knuckles catches it and says, "Pitiful," and attacks.

Someone is also busy using a torch on some of the metal. Until one of the men is hanging upside down, gagged, and tied up.

The worker looks up, "Huh?" and tries to run away.

Then knock breaks the shovel in half and throws it at the other guy, causing him to be pinned to the wall. That makes him scream .

Moments later, Maddie walks out to see the unexpected events.

Which shocked her, "Whoa! What's going on?" and rushes to get the shovels off the wall.

"What kinda job is this, Mrs. Wachowski?" The worker asks, shocked. "Get it off me!"

Maddie mananges to get the shovels off the wall and free the guy, while the rest of the 'intruders', which turn out to be construction workers, try to free the rest of the group after getting ambushed.

The worker is not pleased by it, "Did you call us up to fix your house so you could hunt us for sport?"

"No, no, no, no, no! I could see why it might look like that, but one of our kids gets a little..." Maddie says.

And the worker questions, "Your kid did this?"

"He's a... really big kid," Maddie says, "With a huge imagination! Thinks he's a warrior. Always training, questing. As well as stalking, hunting, and occasionally terrorizing. You know how kids are at that age."

"You'll be hearing from our lawyers," The worker says, still not happy about it.

"I am so sorry," Maddie apologies.

Then the worker says to the rest of the group, "Let's pack up."

Maddie lets out a sigh.

She then notices something on the ground. She walks over, and picks it up, "What?"

Maddie soon notices the trail, as well as the sound of munching sounds. The trail soon ends at Knuckles lying against a tree eating cool ranch doritos.

Knuckles munches and laughs, "Victory is mine! And never has it tasted so sweet. Mm! One day, I hope to visit this Cool Ranch of Doritos and bask in all of its splendor!" and presents the bag to Maddie, "Chip?"

"I'm good,"Maddie says, still crossed.

And Knuckles keeps eating the chips.

"Hmm, Maddie says.

She soon hears noises and turns to see the construction workers getting into the car and it drives away, to get away from Knuckles and his warrior antics.

Soon, Sonic, Eve, Tails, and Jazz walk outside to see the construction crew are driving away.

Oh, boy. Poor guys. That's the fourth crew this month," Sonic says, "But, I have to say, Knuckles is in incredible shape. Do you think he's more cardio or weight focused? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He looks fantastic."

"Sonic, that's not the real issue here," Eve says with her arms crossed.

"Chao Chao," Jazz agrees with a nod.

Then Tails asks, "Do you think the house is ever gonna get fixed? The living room is getting pretty cold at night with that giant hole in the wall."

With that, Maddie walks to Eve and the guys, "Guys. We need to talk about our little red barbarian friend. I could use some backup."

"Sorry about that Maddie, but he's having trouble adjusting to his new home," Eve apologizes.

"Eve is right. It wasn't easy for us to understand this planet at first, either," Sonic adds.

"When did you start getting so wise?" Maddie questions.

"I read a lot of cereal boxes," Sonic answers, "Also, we had a family that was patient enough to let me figure things out, so we have to do the same with Knuckles."

"I'm sure once Sonic and I talk to him, he can understand it better," Eve says.

"Yeah. Let us talk to him when the time is right," Sonic adds.

"Alright, guys," Maddie says.

But then looks up towards the house, "But, in the meantime, do you mind asking him to get our dog off the roof?"

Sonic, Eve, and Tails turn to see Knuckles is on the roof with Ozzy, and he is holding a hockey stick.

"Oh no," Eve says, facepalming her forehead.

On the roof, Knuckles says to Ozzy, "Concentrate, Wolf. An attack can come from anywhere at any time. You must have steely focus..."

Ozzy however, is staring at Knuckles and panting.

Knuckles continues, "Steelier."

Ozzy stops panting.

Knuckles continues, "Steelier... Steelier... Steelier!"

However, all Ozzy ends up doing is smacking his lips before closing it.

Sonic and Eve turn to each other.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking," Eve says.

"That now is a good time for that talk," Sonic says.

"Yep," Eve says.

"Yeah, I think so, too," Maddie agrees.

Moments later, the two hedgehogs, fox, and chao walk up on the roof.

Tails calls out, "Come on, Ozzy!" and makes kissing sounds.

Ozzy soon walks to Tails as he lets out panting sounds.

Tails calls out, "Yeah. Good boy!"

Soon, Tails and Jazz leave with Ozzy as Sonic and Eve stay behind to talk to Knuckles.

Eve turns to Knuckles, "Hey Knuckles, how are things going? You don't mind if we join you?"

Knuckles shakes his head in response.

Then Sonic says, "Man, this place is beautiful, huh?"

"No," Knuckles questions.

This shocked Sonic and Eve

"What? Really? You don't think Green Hills is a beautiful place to live?" Sonic asks.

"No," Knuckles answers.

Not even a little?" Eve asks.

"No," Knuckles answers, turning away.

Then Sonic walks up to Knuckles, "Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Really look around and tell me you don't think this is-"and presents Green Hill to him.

But Knuckles says, "No."

"Okay, fine! We'll circle back to this later. It's time we had a talk. You know, hedgehog to echidna," Sonic says.

Soon, Sonic, Eve, and Knuckles sit together.

"Listen, moving to a new world was tough for me and Eve at first, too. But trust me. This planet is special. It's your home now." Sonic says.

But then Knuckles says, "An Echidna warrior has no home. I only remain on Earth because I made a vow to you two, and the fox. One I intend to keep.

"I understand, but you have to remember that Robotnik is gone now," Eve says.

"Yeah. We won, and he's gone, and there's no new battle to fight. No new quests to embark on. Which means, for the first time, you can take a break from being a warrior. And Earth is the perfect place to do that," Sonic says, "So, relax. Get comfortable. Make yourself at home here."

"Hm..." Knuckles thinks and says, "Perhaps you are right, hedgehog. Allow me to meditate on your words of wisdom."

"Perfect" Sonic says, and gets up, "My work here is done. I'm gonna do... fun things."

Soon Sonic takes his leave and heads inside.

Eve smiles and says, "Try not to think too hard, I'm sure you'll figure something eventually. It's just going to take some time for you to get used to it. It took me and Sonic a long time to get used to it," She then stands up, "Anyway, I'm going to head inside, call out if you need anything," and Eve heads inside.

And Knuckles begins meditating, " Hm..." and he stays out late into the night.

He soon opens his eyes and says, " Yes. I shall make myself at home."

The next day...

Maddie is in the kitchen making breakfast for herself, Eve and the guys.

Maddie finishes placing the breakfast on the plates, "Right."

She picks up the plates and calls out, "Guys! Breakfast is ready!"

However, once she enters the dining room, Maddie is shocked to find Knuckles is already at the table. But what really catches her attention is a throne that is made of supplies like wood, metal, and iron materias.

Seeing Maddie, Knuckles says, "Good morning, Pretzel Woman."

"Morning, Knuckles," Maddie says, getting over the shocking display.

She clears her throat and asks, "Is that an Iron Throne at our breakfast table?"

Soon enough, Eve, Sonic and Tails.

"Good morning!" Sonic says and about to grab breakfast.

However, Sonic, Eve, Tails, and Jazz are shocked to see the display.

"Knuckles?! What in the world is that thing?!" Eve asks, shocked.

"It is merely the seat that designates my role as family champion. If you wish to claim it, you must simply defeat me in a ritual battle of trial by combat," Knuckles says.

Tails nervously laughs and asks, "What do you mean, 'trial by combat'?"

"Chao chao?" Jazz questions.

"Come, fox," Knuckles says, getting off his throne, "I will show you."

"And with that, everyone follows Knuckles into the living room.

Knuckles soon walks towards what appears to be a gong.

"I heeded the hedgehog's advice and made myself at home!" Knuckles says.

And it reveals that Knuckles has different tools and weapons standing in the houser, and he's standing a boulder that is made to look like a skull. There are banners. To everyone's shock, the place looks like an arena or something. And Ozzy is there as well.

"Wow! Love what you've done with the place, Knucks," Sonic replies, "It's very, um, Conan chic."

Eve groans and places her hand on her face, "I don't believe this."

And Maddie is not having it, "Nope! This is not happening. We are not turning our living room into some kind of gladiator fighting pit."

"Warrior fighting pit," Knuckles says.

"Whatever, Knuckles! This isn't what Sonic means by making this place your home," Eve says, annoyed.

Then Maddie asks, "And wh-what is Ozzy doing here?"

She then kneels to Ozzy as the god whines. Ozzy appears to be wearing a viking hat.

"Ozzy has bravely volunteered for the first match by challenging his greatest enemy," Knuckles says.

"Enemy? What enemy?" Maddie questions.

Knuckles slams his fist at the gong, and everyone turns to the hatch. To the group's shock, Ozzy's opponent is the local mailman.

"IS THAT OUR MAILMAN?!" Maddie asks, shocked.

The mailman shakes and gasps in fear, "Please! I just wanna go home," and has a weapon in his hand.

"I am so sorry," Maddie apologizes.

And soon, Maddie reaches her limit, "That's it!" And sternly says to Knuckles, "Get down right now. You are grounded!"

Moments later, Knuckles has gotten down and is now sitting on the chair in the dining room with Maddie and Eve having disapproving faces.

Confused, Knuckles asks, "I have no idea what that means."

"Well, I definitely do," Knuckles says.

"It means no battling enemies. No leaving your room on quests. And most of all, no warrior-ing," Sonic clarifies.

Then Eve says, "In other words, you're in deep trouble, Knuckles," and crosses her arms.

Knuckles is not too pleased about it, " How dare you. In the name of Great Chief Pachacamac, I swear you will regret the day you-"

"Excuse me?!" Maddie and Eve question and don't look pleased.

This actually makes Knuckles feel uneasy, "You will regret..."

Maddie says, "Uh!"

"... the day you..." Knuckles continue.

But Eve sternly says, "Knuckles..."

Then Sonic whispers to Knuckles, "Knuckles, word of advice. Do not mess with Maddie or Eve when they're this mad."

Knuckles sees what he means to see both women having mad expressions and their arms crossed.

"Very well, Pretzel Woman. I will accept my grounding... with honor," Knuckles says and walks away to his room.

Eve then grabs Knuckles by his dreadlock and pulls him to her, "Yes, but first you serve your grounding, you're going to the living room to help clean up the mess you made."

"Uh... yes... of course..." Knuckles responds, actually looking a bit nervous.

Eve lets go of Knuckles' dreadlock and points to the living room, "MARCH, mister!"

And Knuckles does just that.

Maddie lets out a sigh and says, "Great. I'm gonna be late for work."

But then Tails says, "Uh, Maddie? We may have another issue," Maddie turns to see Tails bringing out one of the parts from Knuckles' throne, "It looks like Knuckles built part of his throne out of... our car."

"Our car..." Maddie says, shocked, "Oh, gosh," and tries to think on what to do, "Okay, um, Tom is out of town... " then snaps his fingers to an idea, "Maybe Wade will pick me up. Okay." Maddie picks up her phone and dials Wade to see if he can pick her up.

Soon, Maddie receives Wade's voice mail, "Hey, this is Wade! I can't answer the phone right now. I'm training for the biggest tournament of my adult life. Wish me luck! After the beep. Beep!"

Sonic sighs and says, "If you want, I can take you to work since Eve is occupied."

"That might be the best option," Maddie replies.

Sometime later...

Knuckles is lying on the floor serving his grounding after having to help Eve clean up the Warrior decor and other mess he has made. He's bored and sighs in disappointment. Soon, Sonic swings over Knuckles on the tire swing.

Sonic calls out, "Hey, buddy. How's it going?"

"Leave me be, hedgehog," Knuckles says, "I took your advice and now I lay banished on the floor of shame, with nothing to do but plot my revenge... against you."

Sonic then jumps off the tire swing, "Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" and collapses on his beanbag.

Lounging, Sonic says, "Lighten up, big guy. Being grounded isn't that bad. I lived in a cave for seven years. You can survive a few days in an attic. Look at all these great options you have, like..." He then grabs his stack of comics and starts reading one upside-down, "Comic books!" and gets out a turntable, "Music!" and starts playing 'Belly Dancer' by Imanbek and BYOR while shining rave lights all over the attic, leaving Knuckles covering his eyes, then comes back with a Meta Quest 3 set, "Video games!" and puts the headset on Knuckles, "They have come a long way since the '90s."

Knuckles panics, "Ah! Where have you sent me?!"

"And viral dance videos!" Sonic adds, and takes out his phone and a light ring before filming himself dancing to 'Keep Movin' On' by MYLK.

"See what I mean? Use this time to relax. You'll be out there warrior-ing before you know it. OK, good talk," Sonic says and takes his leave to have more fun.

Knuckles takes off the headset and lets out a sigh, "The hedgehog could not possibly understand."

He looks up at the sky light and starts praying, "Oh, wise Echidna Elders, I seek your guidance in my hour of need. Please, send me a sign."

Nothing happens. Giving a disappointed sigh, Knuckles turns away, not noticing the ghost of an Echidna manifesting himself on the beanbag reading a newspaper.

The Echidna says, "Are you kidding me? The Mets lost again?"

Knuckles quickly turns to see the intruder, "AH! ASSASSIN!" and brandishes a rubber chicken, which deflates

"Relax, Knuckles," The echidna says, and lowers the newspaper, "It's me."

It's revealed to be an elderly Echidna. He wears a gold necklace adorned with teal feathers. He wears a waist cloth embroidered with orange stripes forming various shapes. His left arm has a cloth bandage wrapped around near his elbow. Both hands also have a cloth bandage wrapped around them as well. Both his wrists and ankles are adorned with a gold and green bracelet. For footwear, he wears socks and leather sandals.

Knuckles gasps in surprise, "Chief Pachacamac?"

"It's good to see you, my boy. Now, put down the rubber chicken and give your old chief a-" Pachacamac says.

He goes in for a hug, but since he's a ghost, he phases through Knuckles and falls through the attic screaming, crashing into several objects off-screen and disturbing Ozzy in the process.

Suddenly, he hears Eve's voice, "What was that noise?!"

Pachacamac phases back into the attic, and says, "Oh, right," and says in a spookily tone, "I'm a ghost..."

"Thank goodness you're here," Knuckles says, "I have completed my quest and found the Master Emerald and the sword, but with my work complete, what becomes of me?"

But Pachacamac says, "Knuckles, your quest is not complete. It's only begun! You are one of the last of the Echidnas, and so the legacy of our people is in your hands."

"Guide me, o great chief," Knuckles says.

"I want you to train an apprentice in the ways of the Echidna. Teach them our customs, show them our traditions, and soon our tribe will grow once again," Pachacamac says.

"But where will I found such a student?" Knuckles asks.

Pachacamac then presents the paper, "Well one of them is right here.

He shows a newspaper article of Wade. The headline reads, 'LOCAL MAN WINS HOT POCKET EATING CONTEST.'

"Wade Whipple? I know this man. He's no great warrior," Knuckles says, unsure.

"Neither were you when we first met," Pachacamac says, "He may not look like much, but he's special... in here," and touches his chest, "He seeks to compete in a Tournament of Champions, in a mystical place called... Reno, Nevada."

"A Tournament of Champions? There is much glory to be found in such a contest!" Knuckles says.

He then asks, "And you've mentioned one of them... does that mean you want me to train another?"

"That's right. And your second apprentice is a certain someone who has obtained the Master Emerald Sword and is downstairs," Pachacamac answers.

"You mean Eve?" Knuckles questions.

"That's her. Even though she's a hedgehog, she's able to obtain and control the sword, meaning that she has echidna blood in her veins," Pachacamac says.

"Yes. It shocked me as well. When we met, she definitely showed that she has the heart of a warrior, and showed it again when we were against each other. She even saved me after what I've done," Knuckles says.

"I can tell, which is why I think she will be a good apprentice. To train her more about the Echidna ways she never knew," Pachacamac says. He then starts rising, "Train him as a warrior! The fate of the Echidna is in your-" But accidentally hits the window; Knuckles winces, "Stupid window," and keeps hitting the window, "How does this ghost stuff even work?" and the window slides open, "Oh, there we go," and soon leaves, "Our fate is in your hands!"

"I won't let you down," Knuckles says, determined to train new students.

He then runs down stairs and soon reaches Eve who is walking up stairs.

"Woah! Knuckles, what's the rush?!" Eve asks, surprised.

"I apologize, Eve, but you and I must be off to train," Knuckles says.

"Train? You're still grounded," Eve questions.

"But my quest as an Echidna Warrior has just started," Knuckles says.

"Who told you that?" Eve asks.

"The ghost of Chief Pachacamac," Knuckles answers.

"Chief Pachacamac?" Eve questions, confused

"Yes. And my next mission is to train you and Wade to become warriors," Knuckles says.

He takes Eve's hand and hurries to the door, "Come, our quest awaits."

Seeing there are no talking knuckles out of it, Eve sighs, "Alright, you seem really serious about it, so I guess I can come. However, I'm mainly coming to supervise you. And remember, try not to get into trouble with the training."

Knuckles nod.

Moments later, Eve has her backpack with some essentials and is making sure to bring the sword with her. Mainly because Knuckles wants her to.

"Ready?" Knuckles asks.

"Ready," Eve answers.

"Now, let's go," Knuckles says.

And with that, Knuckles and Eve head off to begin training.