Z is one of our favourites to play with, he's the mischievous kid that gets everyone to go along with his shenanigans haha. He loves playing pranks and getting on people's nerves, but no one can ever truly get upset because he's equally sweet as well. He also has plant powers (that we forgot about for while 😅)
Here's a messy little doodle of him!! - aaphant
The backstory of a lot of these Knuckleses tends to fluctuate a little, but we've consistently agreed that Z was born thousands of years ago while the Knuckles clan were still around and thriving. He was chosen at a young age to be infused with great amounts of the Master Emerald's energy, and was taken from his parents and raised just to take part in the power transferring ceremony.
It went wrong. Disastrously wrong. His body could not contain the power that the Echidna Priests tried to infuse him with, leading to his death. His body was buried and forgotten about as thousands of years went by and the echidnas eventually faced extinction. But no one knew that under the earth, Z's body was kept intact by the power that still saturated his bones. The Master Emerald protected him for all those years.
One day, he woke up. Alone.
There's a lot more to this of course, but we can't reveal everything all at once ahah!
The initial idea for Z in the Echidna's Parade Discord came from an au idea ramble from aphantimes. Just the vague idea of a Knuckles that was killed centuries ago and kept intact and eventually revived by the Master Emerald. At first he was characterised as being around the same age as Game Knuckles, and had a strangely detached personality, barely reacting to finding out he's a walking corpse. A very far cry from our current mischievous little kid!! The story evolved a LOT with many different contributors from the server and we eventually got the Z we have now!
Are any of the Knuckles a pure bean? If so, can we get a story featuring him?
We do indeed have some pure bean Knuckles.
The adorable and endearing, (yet often mischievous) Little Z.
The cheerful and engaging, Lavender!
The supportive and caring big bro, Boom!
The dragon with the spirit of a golden retriever, Quetzal!
These four are almost never seen angry and never hide that soft heart that almost all Knuckles' share. If someone's having a day or feeling bit down, one of these four will be more than willing to assist with kiddy shenanigans, a cheerful attitude, the big bro vibes or some dragon mandated rest.
And then we have some honorary pure beans in our quieter and more timid, Jax, Gnarly and Yunuen who aren't quite the same as the four above, but these three are unlikely to start a fight or behave aggressively. (These three have been through a lot and must be handled with care)
Now, please enjoy a little wholesome story featuring Z and Lavender, under the cut. ~~ Night
The idea struck Lavender out of nowhere, and whatever was previously on the table was shoved aside in favour of a collection of art and craft supplies. She laid out the pens, pencils and thread in a manner that was messy, but organised to her. She then got to work, smiling all the while.
Her task was simple, but it was going to be a long one. Create a handmade, custom accessory for every Knuckles here. They may all be versions of the same person, but each of them were unique and would need careful thought put into what she made, and while she didn't know now what she was going to make everyone she hoped she'd work it out along the way.
Her first idea was for her sister, she liked things to be practical and serve a purpose, so a band to tie back her spines would do just fine. And while her sister would be fine with just a plain band, Lavender absolutely had to add some flare. Some nice traditional echidna designs would make a wonderful addition.
After about an hour it started to dawn on her that she may have bitten off more than she could chew. With only one gift completed and no solid plans for anyone else, she was stumped and the last fifteen minutes had been spent twirling a pencil around in her ungloved claws. She likely would have spent fifteen more minutes doing nothing but twirling the pencil around if she had not gotten distracted by the sound of little feet moving in an uneven gait in her direction. The closer the footsteps came the more she was able to make out the sound of laughter as well as annoyed, piratey yells that could only come from one echidna.
Little Z came round the corner moments later with the same mischievous grin and giggle he always wore after a prank went off successfully. She had to commend his skill in pranking, and if one of the prank wars between her and her sister ever made it's way here she would certainly be recruiting the little zombie onto her team before her sister got the chance to.
Lavender peered around the corner expecting to see Dread run in grumbling about whatever mischief Z got up to but her action only made Z giggle even harder.
"If you're looking for Dread, he won't be following."
"He won't be?"
"Uh-uh. I got him with a bucket of soapy water. He's gotta go rinse himself now."
Lavender grew a smile to match Little Z's. Dread did smell awful rather often, it was like he took pride in poor hygiene sometimes. "Well you've saved our noses for a while. Well done, Z." She stood up and gave a little silly bow to Z, which he promptly returned in just as silly of a way
"So that's what I've been up to," He swung his arms back and forth as he spoke. "What are you doing?"
Lavender returned her gaze to her craft and huffed. She wanted it to be a surprise to all, but there was no point in hiding it now that Z was here.
"I wanted to make nice accessories for you all. But now I'm completely stumped. I haven't been here long enough to make anything as special and personalized as i made for my sister."
The little zombie somehow became even more excited and began to bounce on his heels "Oh! Oh! I can help! I know lots of little things the other Knuckles like!"
Lavender perked up and hope that she would actually accomplish this project filled her with energy. "Oh please tell me, i've been stuck for so long on this!"
"Don't worry, I got this!" Z shuffled over, grabbing some paper and pencil on the way and stood next to her. "Nile likes to be all fancy and formal. We gotta make him something that uses lots of traditional markings."
"Ooh and Ren likes to hang round the garden doesn't he? Lets make him something flowery he can put on his hat or something!"
"Good idea! For Cyber we'll have to make it a decoration since he wont be able to wear it, OH! and also I got a great Idea for Wachowski!" The two's voices became almost unintelligible to all but each other from the pure excitement coursing through them and many ideas quickly began to get scribbled down and the project was reignited.
Many hours, an one unfortunate incident with glitter later, and all the gifts were completed.
