Tikal

## Bio

**Tikal** is a character that appears in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. She was an anthropomorphic echidna spirit and the only daughter of Pachacamac, a power-hungry patriarch who was the last chieftain of the Knuckles Clan, which resided in what is now the Mystic Ruins 3,000 years ago.

In her youth, Tikal lived in a period of war where she opposed her father's warmongering ways, though she was ignored by Pachacamac himself and his supporters. During this time, she befriended the local Chao and their guardian, Chaos. When Chaos went on a destructive rampage after her father attempted to steal the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, Tikal stopped Chaos by sealing him inside the Master Emerald with her own spirit. In the present era, Tikal was released when Dr. Eggman planned to use Chaos to take over the world, where she aided Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies. After Chaos was calmed, Tikal left with him to live in peace.

## Appearance

Tikal was once a peach-orange-furred anthropomorphic echidna girl with a peach muzzle, a small black nose, cobalt-blue eyes with two medium-length eyelashes on each one, dreadlock-like spines around the sides and back of her head and a medium-sized, tri-crooked tail. During those years, she wore a tank top-like garment which revealed her midriff and the traditional tribal skirt with beige, green, and red triangular patterns. As a sign of her lineage, she wore a golden armlet on her right arm, a golden necklace and a tiara-like band atop her forehead, both of which were decorated with triangles and a light blue jewel in the center. Her white gloves were adorned with thick, cobalt-blue bracelets around her wrists, and she wore white-strapped sandals. Her dreadlocks and left arm were also wrapped with similar white bandages.

In her spiritual form, she appeared either as a bright pink will-o-the-wisp-like orb of light which hovered in the air, or as a full-bodied apparition resembling her once-physical self.

## History

### Past

Tikal was born over 3,000 years before the Perfect Chaos incident as the only daughter to Pachacamac, a member of the family leading the Knuckles Clan. With her mother passing away after her birth, Tikal was raised by her peace-loving grandmother, then the chief of her clan, who was knowledgeable in their clan's legends surrounding the Chao, the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. Under her tutorage, Grandma passed all her teachings, including an old mantra, and pacifistic beliefs onto Tikal. In turn, Tikal loved her grandmother dearly and cherished everything she was taught, making her a peace-loving pacifist, and she would often contemplate her teachings. After Grandma passed away, Tikal's father took over and directed their clan into a series of violent conquests of the neighboring countries. Standing by her grandmother's ideology, Tikal opposed her father's ways. However, Tikal held onto the hope that they would one day understand each other.

One day during the period of war, Tikal was at the Altar of Emerald where she discovered the Chao. While her presence frightened the Chao at first, Tikal quickly gained their trust with her gentle nature. This garnered the attention of the Chao's guardian, Chaos, who revealed himself to Tikal. Chaos initially startled and frightened Tikal, but she soon realized his gentle nature and his duty to watch over the Emeralds and the Chao at the altar. Over time, Tikal befriended Chaos and the Chao, as she would spend most of her time near the altar. Eventually, Tikal was allowed entrance to the inner altar by Chaos, having earned the guardian's trust. There, she saw the Chaos Emeralds and discovered the Master Emerald, where she had the revelation about how the Master Emerald controlled the Chaos Emeralds after understanding her grandmother's mantra.

Tikal soon after learned that her father planned to raid the altar and steal its Emeralds to gain the power to destroy the enemies threatening their survival. Appalled by the idea and the death it would cause, Tikal begged her father not to do this, insisting that plundering and killing was the wrong way to peace, but to no avail. Tikal returned to the altar to warn Chaos and beseeched him to take the Chao to safety, but neither he nor the Chao could leave the altar. Tikal thus promised to talk to her father again and assured the Chao she would not fail them.

Despite Tikal's attempts, Pachacamac lead his warriors in a brutal attack on the altar. Amidst the attack, Tikal and the Chao blocked Pachacamac's path to the Emeralds, where Tikal refused to move and begged them to stop. Knowing her people would never get enough, she tried to reason to them that greed were the enemy. However, Tikal's words were ignored and she was knocked unconscious as Pachacamac and his men trampled over her to storm the altar.

When Tikal came to, she saw the horrible destruction that had befallen the area; when Pachacamac and his men attacked, they angered Chaos, who used the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds to become Perfect Chaos and start a rampage where he had killed Pachacamac, his men and nearly the entire Knuckles Clan. Realizing that Chaos was now blind with rage and would not stop his rampage until he had destroyed the world, Tikal turned to the Master Emerald's aid and recited her grandmother's mantra, pleading the gem to stop Chaos. Using her spirit as a catalyst, Tikal sacrificed her body to strip Chaos of his power and seal him away within Master Emerald with her own spirit.

### Season 7 *(Sonic Adventure)*

Over the millennia, Tikal's spirit coexisted inside the Master Emerald with Chaos, until it was shattered by Dr. Robotnik, who sought to use Chaos to conquer the world. Tikal assumed a spirit form upon her release. Realizing Chaos would resume destroying the world once he got all the Chaos Emeralds, Tikal sought out others who could stand up to the doctor and hear her warning and cry for help.

She eventually found six heroes: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big and Gamma; whom she appeared before in spirit form to assist them and bestow visions of the past to show the cataclysm threatening them. To Knuckles, she showed the result of her failures to persuade Pachacamac and Chaos; to Tails, she shared her ancient prayer; to Gamma, she confined her worries about the Chao; to Amy, she showed her meeting with the Chao and Chaos; to Big, she showed the importance of the Emeralds; and to Sonic, she showed the fall of her clan (this was shown to both Sonic & Knuckles in *Sonic X*'s adaptation of *Sonic Adventure*'s events). Throughout the game, she can also be consulted for advice on where to go and what to do next if any of the characters find her in her will-o-the-wisp-like orb of light form and make contact with her. Additionally, she will also explain how to use power-ups that each of them find.

Despite Tikal's best attempts, Chaos became Perfect Chaos again and began destroying Station Square. There, Tikal appeared before Sonic in physical form and told him about Chaos' sadness and anger. As Perfect Chaos then released the Chaos Emeralds, having drained them of their negative energy, Tikal pleaded Sonic to seal Chaos away in the Master Emerald again to prevent the destruction of the world, but Sonic refused since he knew if they did that, Chaos' anger would never vanish, and he would just be trapped forever with it. Sonic's friends then arrived with the rest of the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic used their positive energies to transform into Super Sonic and defeat Perfect Chaos, neutralizing his anger in the process. Tikal then showed Chaos that the Chao he had protected were still alive and were cared for. Thanking Sonic and his friends for their help, Tikal disappeared with Chaos to live their lives in peace. Though their whereabouts are unknown, it is presumed that Tikal and Chaos are still watching over the Chao.

## Personality

Being raised under her grandmother's teachings, and having inherited her mother's positive nature, Tikal is a gentle, fair-minded and kind-hearted pacifist with a peaceful temperament. She severely opposes greed, violence, brutality and fighting, and wishes for everything to be in peace, harmony and tranquility. She is very devout to her teaching, never once resorting to needless violence, and will try to resolve conflicts by trying to sway people away from their destructive paths peacefully. While she abhors fighting though, Tikal is also a strong defender of peace and is not above helping others fight to protect the world and its people. She is as well a proud warrior of her tribe, implying she will fight herself when necessary, but only for the right reasons.

Tikal is very caring, empathetic and compassionate about the people around her, being willing to put her own well-being on the line to keep needless harm from befalling the innocent, and is beloved by all. She is similarly very non-discriminatory, never treating anyone with prejudice, and is good at making friends with peaceful creatures; though she was frightened by Chaos at first, she found a way to befriend the foreign creature. Also, even when her entire warlike clan disapproved of her ideals, Tikal loved her people deeply and tried to talk them out of their violent ways and find a way for them to come to an agreement. When she failed to stop her clan's destruction, Tikal became determined to never let anyone relive such a tragedy. Also, despite Chaos' corruption and slaughtering of her clan, she still considered him her friend, showing a deep care and loyalty towards her friends.

While Tikal only wants everyone to live in peace, she tends to have moments of oversight while trying to achieve it. She often chooses the quickest path that will restore immediate peace, rather than what might restore harmony in the long run and be for the greater good of everyone involved. Still, Tikal is well-meaning in her intentions and she is quick to forgive and forget.

## Powers & Abilities

Despite her pacifism, Tikal is a trained warrior of the Knuckles Clan, meaning she possesses combat skills befitting her tribe. She is also noted to be very quick on her feet, surpassing the running speed of Knuckles and Rouge. In addition, she can climb, glide, and burrow.

Tikal is one of the few known people who is able to access and utilize the powers of the Master Emerald on her own by using the mantra of her grandmother, allowing her to harness its various abilities. She is also the only known person so far who is able to understand Chaos' language.

After she transcended into a spirit, Tikal gained a variety of mysterious spiritual powers. These powers include assuming the discorporate form of a floating and glowing will-o-the-wisp-like orb, which can move very fast, and even spiritually assume her physical form if need be. She can also levitate and teleport herself and others, and harness her spiritual power for special attacks, such as creating earthquakes, lightning bolts, and flashes of light to blind opponents.

A prominent spiritual power of Tikal's is the ability to temporarily transport people's minds back in time. During these "visions", people can physically interact with their surroundings in the past and even bring things from there back to the present, such as when Tails brought back the Rhythm Badge. While people's minds are visiting the past, their bodies enter a trance-like state and can even move on their own accord until their minds return.

## Weakness

Tikal's weakness is that she is not as physically strong as some of the characters, as shown in most media. she throws short punches and cannot sense Emerald Shards as well as the other treasure hunters.

Tikal's pacifism also makes her reluctant to use violence, even when she is threatened. She made no attempt to defend herself against Pachacamac's men.

## Relationships

### Chaos

Tikal first met Chaos when he appeared before her during her visit to the Altar of Emerald. She had managed to befriend the local Chao there with her kind-hearted nature, which attracted the attention of Chaos, the guardian of the Chao. Tikal was at first startled by Chaos but the pair managed to become friends over time. Tikal was thus one of the only people Chaos trusted enough to visit the Altar of Emerald any time she wanted and actually see the Master Emerald. The young echidna did have her doubts that Chaos actually trusted her, but he assured her that he did. Due to her care for Chaos, the Chao, and the preservation of the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds, Tikal warned Chaos about her father Pachacamac's upcoming raid of the altar. Chaos refused to leave as he still had to protect the Chao and the Emeralds. Later, when Chaos had used the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds to wipe out Pachacamac and his men as Perfect Chaos, Tikal sacrificed her body to seal her spirit and Chaos inside of the Master Emerald to quell his fit of rage. Thousands of years later, the Master Emerald was destroyed by Dr. Robotnik so that he could use Chaos in order to conquer the world. Tikal knew Chaos would continue his blind rage and attempt to destroy the world once more. Despite her best efforts to stop Chaos, the "spirit of water" became Perfect Chaos once more. She asked Sonic the Hedgehog to seal Chaos in the Master Emerald like she had done before, only for Sonic to refuse as his anger would never vanish and he would be trapped with it forever. Sonic instead used the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic to defeat and neutralize Chaos' anger. Tikal reunited with her friend, showing Chaos that the Chao he had cared for long ago were still alive and cared for. The pair then disappeared to parts unknown to live their lives in peace.

### Pachacamac

As one of her parental figures, Tikal had a general sense of respect for Pachacamac. However, due to their contrasting personalities and ideologies, Tikal had found it difficult to reason with her father in several aspects. She heavily disagreed with Pachacamac's thoughts that plundering and killing were the only option to peace, but due to her care for her father, she simply pleaded with him to stop his ways. Due to his stubbornness and strong belief in what he thought was best for his entire clan, and not just Tikal, he ignored his daughter's protests for peace, leaving their relationship strained. Ultimately, this resulted in Tikal and some Chao blocking the Knuckles Clan's path to the Altar of Emerald, telling them that greed was their enemy. Pachacamac still ignored Tikal, and with his group, still attempted to raid the altar. This angered Chaos, sending the "spirit of water" to wipe out most of the group. Tikal later saw that the ongoing disaster, realizing that her father was killed.

### Grandma

Tikal had a very good relationship with her Grandma, always accepting her more passive ways. Grandma passed all her teachings to Tikal, including an old mantra and the legends of Chao, the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. After her death, Tikal still stood with her grandmother's ideology, even though the clan changed due to her son, Pachacamac, leading them down a more violent path.

### friends/Allies

* Amy Rose
* Big the Cat
* Chaos
* E-102 Gamma
* Knuckles the Echidna
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Sonic the Hedgehog