AFTERLIFE, Part 2
Writer: Ken Penders
Penciler: Art Mawhinney
Inker: Ken Penders
Colorist: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie

Knuckles is being guided through the light by the heralds, who are no longer talking or answering anything he asks. However, suddenly they disappear and a blinding light appears, which causes Knuckles to close his eyes. Eventually the light dims so that Knuckles can see and he sees an echidna female who he assumes is another relative. She basically says sort of and introduces herself as Aurora. That surprises Knuckles since Aurora is the goddess and he didn't expect an echidna. Aurora says that he sees her as an echidna because that is what he understands. She claims to be the force and the force is all. All species, chameleon, fox, overlander, etc. see her as they imagine her to look like--which would be after their own species.

She then goes on to begin explaining how she knows of Knuckles (the rest of this story is mostly a re-cap of the history revealed Knuckles #16-25 and the SA adaptation). She says that she is responsible for the dream Locke had in which the future was doomed and Knuckles was seemingly alone in preserving it. She shows how Locke and Lara-Le were in love as Locke cared for Lara-Le while she was pregnant. Aurora also reveals that Locke had experimented on himself so that maybe he would be able to save the future, but when those experiments failed, he turned to using it on the egg that Knuckles would be hatched from. Lara-Le was totally unaware of the experiment and Knuckles was hatched a day later (2 days earlier than normal) and named after the Knuckles Warrior Clan. Knuckles developed faster than the normal echidna, which surprised Lara-Le and when Knuckles was turning 3, Locke decided to start training Knuckles. Lara-Le felt that Knuckles should have at least another year to be a kid, which started the fighting between Locke and Lara-Le over how Knuckles should be raised. Lara-Le divorced Locke and Locke took Knuckles to the Floating Island for his training.

To Be Continued in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #123


WHEN THERE WAS ONLY ONE GUARDIAN
Writer: Ken Penders
Penciler: Dawn Best
Inker: Ken Penders
Colorist: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie

Julie-Su is in Knuckles' home flippling through one of many books she's found. She's surprised that he seemingly liked to read, and commenting to herself about how there's a lot she never did get to know about him. However, she's mostly bothered by seeing how much he liked her as she holds up a picture of herself that Knuckles had framed, but not realizing how much he liked her until now. That's when Vector arrives wanting to know why she feels she has the right to be in Knuckles' place. Julie-Su gets ticked off at that and goes into attack mode. Vector is ready this time though and blasts her away with his headphones. After seeing Julie-Su hit the ground, Vector asks her if she's okay while reaching out a hand. But, Julie gives Vector a kick to his head that knocks Vector to the ground. Now she feels better as she fixes her hair, while Vector says he'll let her have that one because Knuckles was a friend. As Vec gets up, he mentions that he doesn't know what Knux saw in her and Julie replies that she could say the same about him. This causes Vector to begin to relay how he and Knuckles first met.

Vector was laying on the grass, when Knuckles tripped over him. Vector got upset at having his music listening interrupted and became so hostile that he punched Knuckles. Vector then began taunting Knuckles, who just calmly returned the punch, much to Vector's dismay who complained about his hurting snout. Knuckles let bygones be bygones, especially since Vector was the first person he'd met on the Floating Island. Vector then tells Knux how there are a lot of them as they were air-lifted from the Mobian mainland, including a bird who happens to be flying nearby. The bird says his name is "Mr. Catweazle" to Vector and to make sure Vec remembers, he poops on Vec's head. Catweazle then says hi to Knuckles while the two of them laugh at Vector's expense.

As Vector finishes his story, Julie-Su basically tells him that he's mostly all talk. Vector actually agrees, but it would hurt his reputation if that got out so Julie says it'll be their secret, especially since Knuckles would prefer it that way. Vector admits that he's still upset over Knuckles' death, which Julie-Su understands since she still is too and figures that is the only thing the two have in common--their love of Knuckles as they both struggle to keep their composure.