Tikal

Tikal is an ancient echidna and daughter of Chief Pachacamac. She was a member of the Knuckles Clan who colonized an area of the Mysterious Cat Country. Tikal was responsible for imprisoning Chaos within the Black Emerald, at the cost of having to imprison herself as well. She later assisted Knuckles the Echidna and others in defeated Chaos when he was liberated by Dr. Eggman. Following this, she along with Chaos and the Seven Server Chao returned to their own zone within the Black Emerald.

Discovering the Chao
While exploring a mysterious alter in the Mystic Ruins, Tikal discovered seven Chao along with Chaos, the Black Emerald and a group of Chaos Emeralds. When her clan's war with the Cat people went badly, her father desired to use the Chaos Emeralds' power to turn the tides and win the war. Tikal got in the way, saying "Greed is our enemy. Once it starts, you will always want more! Please, don't do this! I beg of you!" However, Pachacamac ignored his daughter's please and ordered his men to charge in. Enraged by this, Chaos used his powers to wipe out the entire Knuckles Clan. Because Chaos had become corrupted himself, Tikal and the Seven Server Chao realized Chaos needed to be stopped. Learning of his weakness, Tikal imprisoned herself and Chaos within the Black Emerald, while the Seven Servers transformed into the Super Emeralds. (StH: #82, SSS: #13)

Released and Aiding the Heroes
Hundreds of years later, Chaos was released by the mad dictator Dr. Eggman, who sought to use Chaos' powers to destroy Station Square and take over the planet. After cracking open the Black Emerald, Chaos escaped, but so did Tikal. Realizing the threat Chaos posed to the world if he again became corrupt, Tikal, now in the form of a small, floating orb, sought out the help of Knuckles the Echidna. After finding him, Tikal explained the history of Chaos and herself, and worked with him to prevent the Chaos Emeralds from falling into the hands of Dr. Eggman. However, although Chaos was temporarily defeated, he managed to located and absorb the seven Super Emeralds, transforming into Perfect Chaos and flooding all of Station Square. It was then that Tikal showed her history to Sonic the Hedgehog before appearing to him, Knuckles and the Knothole Freedom Fighters in her echidna form. Using an ancient ritual, Tikal managed to weaken Perfect Chaos enough to pull out the seven Super Emeralds. She then used its positive energies to transform Sonic into Super Sonic. (StH: #79, #82, #83)

After Super Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos with Knuckles' help, the water monster returned to its "Zero" form, and the Seven Servers emerged from Chaos, Tikal then used her powers to transport herself, Chaos and the Seven Server Chao into their own zone within the Black Emerald once again. (StH: #84)

Background information

 * In the games and every other media Tikal appeared in, her fur was orange while in the comics it was red in the first issue, and tan-ish pink everywhere else. Additionally, there are multiple instances of her name being misspelled as Tical, including StH: #83, #84, SSS: #13, and even the letter pages for SSS: #15. On her first appearance she had a full head of hair and bangs on her forehead, but this was only in one issue. To make matters worse, her design in the flashback changes from a design similar to her game counterpart, to a version with a different hairstyle, a made up wardrobe, and no forehead jewelery, the change taking place during a very short battle. In her more recent appearances, she looked more like her game counterpart, but with the wrong footwear. Given the rush job of that story arc, these inconsistencies can be somewhat forgiven. Her appearances and name in the Sonic X comic remained consistent with her game counterpart.


 * Tikal is also unusual because she is the only known female echidna without a hyphenated name, which is an otherwise customary trait in echidna society.