((Let's leave it at I don't claim any characters that appear in the story. Got it? Good.))
God, what did I get myself into now, you moron! Jeez… to think that I got here by Chaos Control… A blue hedgehog muttered to himself in his mind. He was in the middle of some plains, and it was fairly warm, give or take a few degrees from the soft breeze shaking the green grass. Leafless black trees littered the land, making the land appear dead. It was daylight, of course, or otherwise there wouldn't have been much light to see this. Overlooking the figures that were coming towards him, he went forward a few steps, engrossed in his thoughts.
His train of thought was quickly cut off by being tackled one odd figure - an imp? - Well, either way, it was going out of its way to kill him. The imp was green and carrying a flute like instrument that shot out and pierced the blue hedgehog near the chest, which hit his shoulder. He yelped, and then when he was about to get back up and attack, it was then that he felt the imp get off of him. Surprised, he glanced around and scrambled to stand up. In front of him was a white wolf with red markings and a flaming mirror and a tiny green bug like person was on the wolf's head, apparently doing nothing but cowering in the wolf's fur. After a second or two of watching, Sonic noted that suddenly the imp that had attacked him was sliced in half. However, he had not seen any object that would do that much damage. When it landed, it exploded into a grave of flowers that soon dissipated.
The blue hedgehog smirked, remembering when Eggman's robots had done that when he destroyed them - except they were permanent, for the most part, until the Death Egg had blown up, along with the chain that had kept Little Planet connected to Mobius. Sonic barely snorted. He was extremely confused, and then he glanced over to the white wolf with red streaks and a green person bug. However much as Sonic would've preferred to laugh, he suppressed it long enough to catch that the bug was talking to him. Talk about delusions.
"What're you doing at a time like this and who are you?" The bug asked inquisitively.
Sonic's pupils narrowed as he looked at the bug with confused eyes. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.
"None of your business. Just who are you and what are you?" He shot back a bit more arrogantly than needed, and while it wasn't the best thing to say or do, it still worked out for him.
"Ah, finally, someone who hasn't called me a bug!" The small person exclaimed, chuckling a bit in the process, "I'm Issun the Wandering Artist, and for your information, I am a Poncle, thank you very much! And she's Amaterasu - well… I call her Ammy…"
Sonic merely nodded, and mumbled, "I see…"
"You still haven't answered my question yet. Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Issun shouted.
The hedgehog was a bit taken aback, but replied as smoothly as possible, "I'm Sonic. As for what the heck I'm doing here… eh, well… I kinda teleported here."
Emerald eyes carried definite bewilderment, and he looked at the wolf Amaterasu once again. Somehow, the name rang a bell from the random myths and stuff. He shrugged it off carefully, not sure about this.
Issun was a bit surprised, actually.
"You… teleported?" He asked, "…well… you obviously don't look like you're from here…"
Sonic rolled his vivid green eyes at the wandering artist's remark at that. Wasn't it obvious?
I mean… there aren't bipedal blue hedgehogs running about… or anything bipedal besides possibly humans here…
He nearly sighed, but looked disgusted.
"Obviously," Sonic spat dryly, "Thanks for stating that, Mr. States the Obvious…"
Issun appeared to not notice that he had said that.
"…you mind tagging along? It seems like you're defenseless against these guys…"
"Sure, whatever," The hedgehog replied sharply, not enjoying that fact, "One question first off. What's up with the flaming mirror?"
"Simple weapon… wait, what?! You can see Ammy's true form?!"
"I can, idiot."
Sonic gritted his fangs as his ears bent backwards in warning. This bug was getting on his nerves like hell. Amaterasu seemed nice enough, but Issun was a whole different person. He planted his gloved hands on his hips - or at least one - and tapped his foot.
Wonder if I can run as fast as I normally can?
"That can wait until later…" He mumbled, and then he asked, "So where is it that you guys are going?"
There was a long pause, and then a nervous laugh coming from Issun. Amaterasu's amber eyes gleamed in smugness - which gave Sonic the feeling that he had asked a stupid question. Typical. After Amaterasu gave a short bark or two, Issun began to speak.
"Well… there's this cave by this one river… it's called Hana Valley…" He thought for a second, "I don't know why, so don't ask and…"
Sonic tuned out the rest of the pointless rambling and dark fog caught his attention. It was defined by a black line. Being overly curious, he began to run towards it. However, he found that he wasn't as fast as he was back on Mobius, which made him disappointed. Oh well… things had to be accounted for, right? Once he got into the black zone, he doubled over coughing and gripped his neck.
Shoot, shoot, what in the world have I done?!
"Sonic! Get the heck out of the cursed zone!" Issun yelled, and Amaterasu dashed off towards the hacking blue hedgehog. After getting used to some difficulties, she grabbed Sonic by the shoulder which the imp had hit him and threw him out, causing him to land with a thud. Quickly, she jumped and dashed in mid-air out of the cursed zone.
"God, what was that?!" Sonic cursed as soon as he recovered, only to break down in another fit of coughing, "I mean… I felt… god, dead!"
"It was a cursed zone. Now why the hell did you just walk in there?"
"I was bored of your rambling!" The hedgehog shouted, his voice rising as he got upset, "If you had just-"
He was quickly cut off and noticed that Issun was now glowing red. Sonic merely snorted to himself and barely smirked.
Whoa, he's oh so dangerous! He mocked.
Looking up again, Sonic grinned, which enraged Issun more.
Pretending he hadn't noticed the venomous glare the Poncle had given him, he asked, "So? Onto Hana Valley, then?"