Knuckles the Echidna

**Knuckles the Echidna** is one of the main characters in *Sonic Boom Retold*. He is an anthropomorphic echidna from Angel Island and the last of his kind. He is also the keeper of the Fregosi Sapphire. Knuckles serves as the muscle of Team Sonic, a group of heroes who defends the peace of Bygone Island and the world at large. Unlike his friends, Knuckles is a nomad without a permanent home and lives in nature.

## Appearance

Knuckles is much larger than all of his team-mates, standing over a head taller than Sonic, and is considerably more muscular. He has a rather large torso, broad shoulders and thick muscular arms, making him very top-heavy, and possesses longer legs and quills.

In addition to his usual clothes, Knuckles has a number of additional attires:

* For high-altitude trips, Knuckles has an advanced white spacesuit with red boots, belt, and arms (the last having spikes to accommodate his knuckle spikes), and a white helmet with an antenna and transparent visor.
* For underwater missions, Knuckles has his own high-tech attire which includes a red wetsuit with a white stripe on each side and his face icon on the chest, red flippers resembling his shoes, and a transparent red face mask attached to an oxygen tank on his back.
* When he worked at Meh Burger, Knuckles wore the standard Meh uniform, which is a lavender shirt with yellow leaf-markings and a name tag on it.
* For cold weathers, Knuckles wears a thick grey and dark grey down jacket with a hoodie, red mittens with white spikes to accommodate his knuckle-spikes, and grey, white and red winter boots.
* When playing for the Pin Dashers, Knuckles wears a dark blue and white-striped bowling shirt with matching bowling shoes. His shirt is likewise emblazoned with the team's logo.
* When performing with Dude-itude, Knuckles wears a glittery jacket and microphone headset.
* For soccer matches, Knuckles has a soccer uniform that includes a white and blue t-shirt with a blue chest logo shaped like Sonic's head, long white socks, and white shoes with blue laces and red soles.
* On holidays, Knuckles has been known to wear a green and white Santa Hat, white and green-striped socks, and a green shirt with golden buttons, white fur cuffs and rib, and a white crescent mark on the chest.

## Personality

Knuckles is described as a "punch-first-and-keep-punching-until-you-need-a-punch-break" kind of echidna, and the best solution to a problem for him is to smash it to pieces. He is determined and strong of character, but tends to be rather cocky and get into trouble.

Knuckles has shown on several occasions to have a huge ego: he clearly thinks of himself as his team's leader and most capable member, and fancies himself very heroic. Also, as a result of his self-pride, Knuckles feels great about himself all the time. However, his self-admiration makes him exaggerate his own recollection of his accomplishments and endeavors to the point of absurdity, leaving him convinced in his mind that he, for example, has various ridiculous superpowers, such as flying. Proud of his manliness, Knuckles has a very macho-orientated attitude which at times makes him sound somewhat archaic. He is also very blunt when expressing his opinions, which makes him come off as insensitive.

Despite his tough-guy personality, Knuckles is a softy on the inside with some noticeable preferences in particular: he loves nature and is very loyal to his friends. He can also be protective and even gentle as displayed by his dedication to the Fregosi Sapphire and Ms. Tomatopotamus. He comes also off as being somewhat sociable and out-going. Also, after reevaluating his status as the last of his kind, Knuckles began feeling the kind of loneliness that comes from knowing that you have no relatives, making him both vulnerable and long for the love only a family can provide. However, he has since come to realize that his friends are his family and that their love is just as good.

Knuckles is the opposite of Sonic: he is stubborn, likes to take his time and is very naive. He is likewise far from intelligent, having admitted himself that he is "as dumb as a rock." Having trouble keeping even the simplest facts on his friends straight or anything else for that matter, he is a little slow on the uptake, particularly when it comes to elaborate plans and math problems, as even simplified explanations takes him a long time to process. He is also a bit goofy at times and easily distracted to the point where he is drawn to things as simple as shiny objects. Knuckles is not entirely dim-witted, however, having on a few occasions shown some surprising insight, cunning, witticism, sarcasm, and even resourcefulness in different situations. Sometimes he can even tell when he is in over his head. His simple-minded view on things likewise lets him find answers to questions that would otherwise confuse more intellectual individuals. Knuckles can also be quite the charismatic rallier, as he has the grounded and simple (if not selfish) ideals that the common man find very relatable; most noticeably, he was able to convince the villagers of Hedgehog Village to help Team Sonic fight an army of robots by inspiring them to protect their possessions.

Knuckles is a little sensitive when it comes to his intelligence. While he accepts he is not the smartest, he takes great offense when being called stupid and will go to extreme lengths to prove otherwise. Also, when Knuckles got his team into trouble with a half-baked plan, he sunk into a depression over his imposed stupidity until his friends restored his confidence.

Noticeably, Knuckles also has a habit of saying "*not cool*" to others when they do something he disagrees with.

## Powers and abilities

Described as the "muscle of the team," Knuckles possesses incredible superhuman strength acquired through sheer upper body workouts which lets him destroy virtually anything; according to Sticks the Badger, his strength exceeds that of his Prime Zone counterpart. With his strength, Knuckles can create destructive shockwaves that can send enemies flying without damaging the environment, punch through rock and metal alloys, fold sheets of metal like paper, and even swing the colossal arm of the Big Boy mech around without effort. His arguably greatest feat of strength though, was when he smashed a gigantic asteroid in space to pieces with a single punch. While Knuckles' strength mainly lies in his arms, however, his legs are powerful as well, having enough strength to easily overpower the Mega's caterpillar tracks by running on them. To maintain his strength, he regularly goes through intense weight training exercises.

Using the spikes on his hands, Knuckles can climb along walls, across ceilings and scale slippery surfaces. He is as well quite efficient at burrowing, capable of digging through rock and dirt and construct earth barriers at an exceptionally fast rate.

Knuckles has immense durability, even by normal standards, allowing him to withstand extreme and painful physical punishment. He only got a bump from hitting a falling boulder with his head, got right back up after jumping into a deep rock ravine and survived getting hit by a falling meteor, all while enduring strenuous injuries. He also has some skills as a tracker, having successfully located Sonic once using only smell and taste.

After eating an Evil Cookie infused with Eggman's DNA, Knuckles gained average-level intelligence. However, it dropped back to normal after he got cured.

### Equipment

Knuckles wields a Communicator, a multifunctional and waterproof smartwatch-like device created by Tails. This device allows Knuckles wide-ranged radio communication between similar devices. It can as well generate its own Enerbeam (an energy tether that can latch onto objects or form a makeshift whip/rope), tell the time, interface with Knuckles' tech-based equipment for remote operation, and assume other powers. It also comes with its own tracking device.

Knuckles also has a unique set of clothes referred to as a Luminous Suit which can provide him with light in otherwise light-deprived environments.

## Relationships

### Team Sonic

#### Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of Knuckles' teammates and his closest companion. Despite them being complete opposites, Knuckles considers Sonic his friend and is very loyal towards him. He notably fancies himself to be Sonic's best friend (not understanding that this honor has been reserved for Tails), even though the two of them are always disagreeing. Knuckles in particular thinks of Sonic as scrawny, weak, clumsy and pathetic, and is downright sickened by looking at him. He firmly thinks that he is better than Sonic, often viewing him as his sidekick, and believes that he is always bailing Sonic out of jams. Nonetheless, Knuckles sees him as a valuable member of their team. He has trouble discerning him from Tails at times however.

Deep down, Knuckles and Sonic share a mutual bond of respect, though it was not always like this: during their mission to stop Lyric, Knuckles was quick to blame Sonic for the misfortunes he caused, but was proud of his growth during the venture and eventually made up with him. In fact, Knuckles chose Sonic over the world during this endeavor to protect him. While Knuckles still does not take kindly to Sonic's snarky attitude, they are overall the truest of friends, referring to each others as "bros." In time, Knuckles has come to realize that Sonic is not just his friend, but also the family he had been missing for much of his life.

Sonic is one of the few people Knuckles can really be himself around, as they spent most of their time together roughhousing and goofing off with various extreme and often foolish activities. Their friendship is especially important to Knuckles, as he did not want to lose Sonic when he was about to go to jail and felt both betrayed and hurt when Sonic chose Eggman over him for *Bro-Down Showdown*. Also, despite having been forced to attack Sonic more than once, Knuckles is honestly reluctant to fight him in such cases due to their friendship.

Knuckles has a friendly rivalry going on with Sonic and he cannot help competing with him in all sorts of activities. Whereas Knuckles always takes their competitions seriously and asserts his confidence by trash-talking, Sonic usually retains a cool-headed attitude. Knuckles utterly resents losing to Sonic (which he often does) and will rather blame it on luck than admitting that Sonic is more skilled than him. In case he does get a victory over Sonic though, Knuckles will eagerly rub his victory in Sonic's face as much as he can.

#### Miles "Tails" Prower

Another one of Knuckles' teammates and friends is Miles "Tails" Prower. While Knuckles does not have any real issues about Tails, their relationship is at times difficult due to their contrasting qualities, with Tails being a genius while Knuckles is "as dumb as a rock." This often frustrates Tails, which Knuckles hardly notices. Peculiarly, even though he admits that he not very smart, Knuckles still thinks himself more capable than Tails; even as a novice inventor (and a bad one at that), Knuckles considered himself a better one than Tails.

Compared to his other friends, Knuckles is more easily impressed by Tails' more questionable inventions (though not always for the desired reasons). However, he never understands Tails' complex explanations, which makes him wonder if Tails talks like that just to make him feel stupid. He is also very much against having Tails lead him and has trouble discerning him from Sonic at times. While not mean-spirited, Knuckles also likes to tease Tails with his quirks.

In spite of their differences, Knuckles values Tails as a precious friend whom he enjoys hanging out with, and they are both loyal and good-spirited teammates. In fact, Knuckles has realized over time that Tails is not just his friend, but also the family he had been missing for much of his life. Similarly, Knuckles has often Tails with him and Sonic on their numerous escapades.

#### Amy Rose

Amy Rose is one of Knuckles' teammates. While the two of them are friends, their relationship is at times strenuous, and they often bicker due to their opposing viewpoints. While Amy is elegant, intelligent and thinks strategically ahead, Knuckles is macho-minded, dimwitted and tackles trouble head-on without thinking. Also, when Sonic is out of the picture they usually argue over who should be in charge.

Like his other friends, Knuckles clearly thinks he is more capable than Amy and perceives her as helpless without his guidance. Even more so, he is under the impression that Amy looks up to him and is enamored by his manliness. Not happy to be bossed around by Amy, Knuckles will obstinately refuse to take orders from her, even at inconvenient times, nor is he very keen on her ideas for group activities. At the same time, Knuckles tends to test Amy's patience with his dimwittedness. While Knuckles often fails to notice Amy's criticism of him, he does not take kindly to it when he does.

Despite their disputes, Knuckles remains loyal to Amy and always has her back. In fact, Knuckles has come to realize that Amy is not just his friend, but also the family he had been missing for much of his life. No matter how much they argue, Knuckles always makes peace with Amy at the end of the day as they realize their misguided behavior (although Knuckles tends to put more of the blame on Amy). They also work well together in combat, even having their own maneuvers. Also, while Knuckles may act inconsiderate towards Amy, he still appreciates her as both a teammate and a friend, and will try making up with her whenever he has upset her. In fact, Knuckles cannot stand watching Amy cry.

#### Sticks the Badger

Sticks the Badger is another of Knuckles' friends and teammates. While Knuckles treats Sticks with support and admits she is really nice deep down, he also honestly thinks she is a whack-job. Clearly believing himself to be better than Sticks, Knuckles holds the impression that Sticks looks up to him and is enamored by him.

Unlike his other friends, Knuckles has, on several occasions, expressed genuine belief in Sticks' theories. At the same time, he will also show some skepticism about her more outrageous claims, though he will be remorseful when she proves him wrong. Regardless, Knuckles is very loyal to Sticks, and has realized over time that she is not just his friend, but also the family he had been missing for much of his life. In battle, the two of them have also shown good collaboration, even having their own throwing maneuver.

### Dr. Eggman

Like the rest of Team Sonic, Knuckles' sworn enemy is Dr. Eggman, whom he generally dislikes. However, their relationship is rather complex. In battle, Knuckles fights Eggman determinately to stop his plans and has no qualms about bashing his face in. Outside of that, they keep a passive relationship where they let each other be nearby without starting to fight.

Like most of his friends, Knuckles finds Eggman to be a total joke. In spite of their mutual hatred though, Knuckles is known to have tried defecting to Eggman, once because he thought the doctor would appreciate him, until he realized the error of his ways. Because of his constant victories over him, Knuckles has a tendency to underestimate Eggman and forget how dangerous he can be.

Being as gullible as he is, Knuckles is easily deceived by Eggman's tricks (more so than his other friends); once, the doctor tricked Knuckles into trapping himself in a hole without noticing it. Also, while Eggman does not think much of Knuckles, the echidna believes on the contrary that Eggman fears him. It is also his opinion that Eggman looks ridiculous with his mustache.

### Mike the Ox

Knuckles is good friends with Mike the Ox. The two seem to get along rather well, and have met up to hang out or compete together on a few occasions. Knuckles appears to value Mike a lot, as he opted to see a movie with him instead of fighting Eggman. He also got very upset when Sonic insulted Mike.

### Charlie

Charlie, the former archeologist-turned-supervillain, is Knuckles' personal foe, who views the echidna as his arch-nemesis. The two of them go back to when Knuckles' foolery cost Charlie his first job. Years later, Knuckles tried making up for his past mistakes to Charlie, only to ruin Charlie's otherwise great life. This pushed Charlie to become a supervillain so he could get revenge on Knuckles. At first, Knuckles remained non-confrontational and attempted to fix things between him and Charlie, but eventually realized he had to stand up to Charlie and what he had become, establishing them as enemies.

Unlike Charlie, who hates Knuckles with a passion, Knuckles holds hardly any grudge at Charlie. In fact, Knuckles has been known to barely remember Charlie, and when he does, he talks to him in a friendly and casual manner. While a part of Charlie's family, Knuckles would look up to Charlie as a father-figure, but he would regain his old opinion about him when he realized he was only using him.

### Friends/allies

* Team Sonic
	+ Sonic the Hedgehog
	+ Miles "Tails" Prower
	+ Amy Rose
	+ Sticks the Badger
	+ FriendBot
* Vector the Crocodile
* Cliff
* Q-N-C
* Perci
* Staci
* Team Shadow
	+ Shadow the Hedgehog
	+ Silver the Hedgehog
	+ MAIA
* Admiral Beaverton
* Professor Cluckins
* Mike the Ox
* Fastidious Beaver
* Foreman Fred
* Og
* Mighton
* Bolts
* Team Cybonic
	+ Cyborg Amy
	+ Cyborg Knuckles
	+ Cyborg Sonic
	+ Cyborg Sticks
	+ Cyborg Tails
* Chumley
* Beth the Shrew
* Salty
* Trooper
* Ms. Tomatopotamus

### Enemies

* Dr. Eggman
* Orbot
* Cubot
* Metal Sonic
* Lyric the Last Ancient
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* T.W. Barker
* Lightning Bolt Society
	+ Dave the Intern
	+ Willy Walrus
	+ Weasel Bandit
	+ Chameleon
* Nominatus
* Froglodytes
* Dixon
* Charlie
* Mark the Tapir
* Dreamcaster
* Belinda
* Morpho
* Hypnobot
* Bike Chain Bandit

## Trivia

* While Knuckles is a nomad and loves nature, he does not know how to survive in it.
* Knuckles may have a learning disorder. This is evident as he had many teachers, but could not retain their lessons.
	+ Knuckles may have dyslexia, as in addition to his illiteracy, he exhibits many traits that are common among dyslexics. A few examples are his inability to tell left from right, his gift for music, and his inability to understand verbal explanations.

* Knuckles is illiterate, even though he owns reading glasses.
* Knuckles cannot count past three.
* Knuckles claims he cannot brush his teeth or tie his shoes without aid.
* Knuckles learned how to ride a bike, wrap his sports tape and count from Tails.
* Knuckles can skillfully play the piano and on drums.
* It is implied that Knuckles is allergic to fish saliva.
* Knuckles claims to have studied air conditioning and refrigerator repair, specifically from "Sonic School of Impressing the Ladies."
* It has been revealed that Knuckles cannot cook.
* Knuckles was voted "sensitive soul of the month" by *Hulking Brutes* magazine.
* Knuckles is not permitted inside the library due to his signature move, the ground pound.
* Knuckles has always wondered how he would look like with a bolo tie.
* Knuckles has a habit of digging tunnels everywhere.
* Knuckles is a feminist, claiming that, despite being a meathead, he still respects women at the utmost degree.