Within an instant he found himself in a dark room. As Knuckles eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he remembered his father speaking of an extremely secretive place in the heart of Angel Island. Surely this had to be it. To his left was a hallway. From what he could tell this was the only path forward. Someone needed to know what he recently discovered.
Down the poorly lit hall someone stood stoically. Knuckles took a long pause. A pair of beady red eyes continued to stare unblinkingly at him; quite unapologetically at that. The other finally took a step into the light. He casually swirled a piping hot beverage as if this were a normal Tuesday for him. Knuckles wanted to shout, to assert some form of dominance, but the air had quickly been sucked from his lungs. This terrifying blend of a humble elder and a formidable foe made him hesitate to even speak. The man finally sighed,"I am sorry the circumstances of our first meeting is so... grim. I had planned for something with more grandeur, but fate has a way of doing its thing."
  He stuffed his left hand into a pocket on his sweater,"since you unfortunately know the truth, I will give you two options for moving forward."
   "What makes you think I would ever agree to something on your terms?" Knuckles crossed his arms.
   "Oh, dear child," he sardonically laughed,"because you have no choice. See," he glanced down at his drink in a contemplative manner,"I orchestrated your arrival. I made sure you would be here at this time while no one would be available to save you."
  Knuckles' chest tightened. His instincts were sounding off every alarm in his mind. He kept his arms crossed in a vain hope that he appeared confident in his skills.
   "Your first, and most preferable option, is that we take this somewhere else and converse as not adversaries, but two men of equal footing. Your second option," he paused, deliberately eyeing Knuckles fists,"which would occur if you start throwing punches, is that your father's life would be at quite the risk."
  Knuckles cocked his head, releasing his arms from their original position,"He... he's alive?!"
   "Well, that is up to you," a wry grin grew across his face.
  Knuckles stared at him. Why trust this impostor? This sociopath? But then again, why would he use an empty threat?
   "Fine," Knuckles shook his head slightly, disappointed that he would even entertain this monster. Â
   "Good," Mortori warmly smiled,"follow me. We have so much to discuss."
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Knuckles is 14, about to be 15 in this timeline.
This is a overhaul of KTE #20.
Mortori's Tobor disguise is my own redesign from years ago with some minor updates -
Knuckles has discovered Tobor and took him to E.S.T. for safekeeping since he cannot find where his mother lives. He traveled through the snowstorm to the edge of the island in hopes of finding help.
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I've had this idea bounding around in my head of how things could(should) have gone down for quite some time. The impostor sub-plot is such a great idea, especially with Mortori Rex being an absolute gaslighting menace.
Mock covers are a fun exercise. 10/10; will do again!
