A/N

The full story behind this...story is on my homepage, but basically this was how The Last Guardian (or Mystic Isle as it was known originally) was originally concieved. I re-did the idea, thinking I'd lost the original outline, but found the outline after completing the outline of the Knuckles-centric version. After seeing its...quality (or lack of it), I didn't consider my temporary loss of the original outline a loss at all. Still, considering the different storylines, and that I'd written it out anyway bar transferring it to electronic format, I figured I might as well post it in some form for a few laughs. To show the world how bad some story ideas can be, and that I've been responsible for some of them.

Note that this is more or less an exact transcript copy, though asterisks linking to notes at the bottom have been inserted for context.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Last Guardian

Bonus Chapter

After the attack on the Wing Fortress,* Sonic and Tails start flying their own way, eager to find another adventure. Soon after, they find themselves flying over the sea, and sight Angel Island...again. It must be their fate to piss Knuckles off. Sonic tells Tails to land. They land on the island. Sonic decides to check out Azure Lake. They zoom off. Knuckles is meanwhile at the lake, fighting badniks. They're made up of eggshoes (type 1 and 2-1 being bulky grey and slow, 2 being fast, red and lithe), bananabots and destructodiscks (basically badniks shaped as power rings).

Knuckles finishes them off just as Sonic and Tails arrive. Knuckles is angry that they just have the nerve to show up without going through the proper channels. Sonic ignores him and asks about the badniks.

Knuckles tells them that these badniks have surfaced recently in five locations, including this one. The other four are at Balloon Park (outside Carnival Night City), Desert Palace (located near Sandopolis), Chrome Gadget (a base near here) and Endless Mine (located near the Marble Gardens).

Sonic tells him not to worry and that he and Tails will split up and deal with it. He zooms off in one direction, Tails shrugs and flies off in another direction. Knuckles angrily yells at both of them. This is his island, so he'll deal with it!

Sonic soon arrives at Desert Palace. No nasty water here. He runs along an arc, jumps over quicksand and runs up a hill and sees eggshoes and destructodiscs. He quickly destroys them. He wonders how Tails is doing.

Tails has meanwhile entered Endless Mine. He's almost immediately attacked by eggshoes, destructodiscs, bannabots and bom-boms.*** It's a tough fight, but he manages to win.

Awhile later, as night as fallen, Knuckles enters Balloon Park. If Sonic and Tails think they can do his job for him, they're very, very wrong! Knuckles is soon attacked by eggshoes, bannabots and bom-boms. He makes short work of them. "Clearly better than Sonic could do."

Knuckles arrives outside Chrome Gadget, along with Tails. Sonic's there waiting for them. He was wondering when they were going to show up. The trio enter.

The place is only defended by eggshoes. Sonic and Tails are disappointed by the lack of challenge. Knuckles just tells them to get the hell off his island!

*Events from a previous story

**These items all correspond to power ups in the multiplayer levels. I planned on incorporating them into Endless Mine originally in some form, badnik or otherwise, but scrapped it. Probably for the best. And yes, destructodiscs come from Dragonball Z-clearly I had no shame back then. ^_^

***Yes, as in the Super Mario series-my old multiverse approach included many things, such as Super Mario. Go figure. 0_0