Honey's brown as glistened as she stared at the weak fire that was before her.
"You alright?" Her friend Ray asked.
"You don't seem like yourself," Mighty, another friend said.
They were on Team Relic, a treasure hunting organization that hunted all manner of artifacts, and sold them to the highest bidder in museums.
"I'm fine..." She said. Night had set in the Seaside Forest, as the group were on their way back to their base to return an artifact.
"Is it Agatha?" Ray asked again.
"No...I mean, she's a problem sometimes, but it's not her..."
"What is it?" Mighty asked.
"...something just feels wrong."
"Yeah. I'm surprised Trigger Happy the Weasel and Steroids the Polar Bear haven't shown up..."
"With our luck, they will. Just wait..." Ray replied.
"They aren't that bad..." Honey said.
"Yeah they are! They steal, they swindle...they make honest treasure hunters like us look criminal."
"Nack is okay..." Honey mumbled under her breath.
"Oh really? Do you like him?" Mighty asked him.
"N-no..."
"Don't pay attention to him, he's just angry because you're the only girl that hasn't gone for him," Ray said, a smirk coming across his face.
"Ray, just because we're best friends doesn't mean I won't lay you out right now..."
"Yeah. And you say you aren't egotistical."
"You guys, just knock it off," Honey said. "Maybe this is why I'm the leader."
"Oh really?" Mighty asked.
"Yeah!" Honey said.
Before she could say anything else, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it, and tossed the body that was connected to it. It fell the the floor, connected to a plant looking girl. She landed on the floor, back-first.
"Owww..." She groaned.
"Oh! Uhhh..." Honey realised maybe she was a bit too on guard while she was getting ready to fight Mighty. The two have had their fair share of impromptu fights every now and again. "Are you okay?"
She was breathing heavily. "I-I'm...f-fine...just let me rest here..." She said, her voice trailing off.
Ray walked out of the tent. "She'll be fine. She's been through a lot."
"How do you know that?" Mighty asked.
"Well, I've never seen Honey knock someone out that quick before. Plus the stress-induced fever and marks on her body were sort of indicators."
"Well, maybe if Mighty-"
"I don't care if you're a girl, or my friend. And I don't care if our guest is sleeping, I'll still fight you."
"Why do you care so much if you aren't leader anyways?" Honey asked.
"Cause then I feel weak."
Honey sighed. "Mighty..."
"Don't 'Mighty' me. You probably think I'm weak."
"I don't think you're weak. You've beaten me a couple of times."
"So then why are you leader then?"
"...I don't know..."
Mighty scoffed, and went back into his tent. Honey sighed once more.
"Don't worry about him, Honey. It's been hard for him since Matilda left."
"We said it was okay if he left with her," Honey said. "The only reason I fight him is so I can see what's wrong with him...you said our guest is in my tent, right?"
"Yeah. She's very hypervigilant, so she may wake up at any given time, and in a startling way."
"Oh. PTSD?"
"No. I doubt she would've stayed down. She would've tried to fight you."
"So then, what's wrong?"
"I dunno. You check on her and see. I'm going to bed."
Honey walked into her tent, and sat down on the floor. The girl whimpered in her sleep.
"Hmm..." Honey said. She took off her top, and placed it on the floor. Suddenly the girl shot up. Honey screamed, and the girl looked back and screamed at her. She hid under her covers.
"D-don't hurt me! Or I'll...I'll..."
"Easy, easy," Honey said, sitting next to the girl. "I'm not gonna hurt you."
"Um...um..." She winced, and laid down on her back. "Ouch..."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm...fine...I wish the sun was out though..."
"Oh. Uh, you're a Seedrian, right? I thought they went extinct."
"We...aren't extinct. But our world was destroyed..."
"How?" Honey asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Our leaders...they became blind with hatred. They turned into monsters...literally. They died along with the planet, and their selfish pride..."
"How did you get hurt?"
"I went to Mobius...or so I thought. I'll never understand entities and them having dimensional counterparts."
"You went to Moebius. It's pretty dangerous there."
"Yeah, I know. It looked like Moebius, but once I was there, I was...quickly corrected..."
Honey saw the light from the sun shine over their camp. She put her top back on, and grabbed the girl's hand. "Come on. You can tell me while you heal."
Cosmo sat down on a fallen log, and it seemingly sprouted to life, before soon turning brown and looking defeated. The sun was shining brightly on Cosmo and Honey now.
"I met these two Mobians...one was a green hedgehog, and the other was a crimson fox."
"Oh, yeah..."
"You know them?"
"'Know' is a strong word...I used to be friends with the crimson fox. Let's just say her preference for the bad boys turned her into kind of a bitch," Honey said.
"I'd be against your harsh words over her, but you'd be right."
"As for the green hedgehog, I don't know him. But I bet he's a real charmer."
The girl looked confused. "But he is not. I already alluded to what he did, correct?"
"Eh, never mind. Just a bit of sarcasm."
"Sar...casm?"
"It's when you say something, but in a joking kind of way, so you don't really mean it."
"Huh. It sounds very crude..."
"It can be a lot of the time." Honey watched as the girl's wounds slowly faded away as a result of the sunlight. "I never asked you. What's your name?"
"It's Cosmo," she replied. She seemed a little more relaxed now that her wounds were gone.
"Well, Cosmo, I'm glad you survived this ordeal. And sorry for flipping you. It was an accident."
"It's an improvement over the things that have happened to me lately," Cosmo replied.
"Heh, I'll bet."
"I must get going," Cosmo said.
"But why?"
"There are people I must talk to. They'll help me figure out what to do."
"Well, at least let us return to our base before we see you off."
"Base? Are you part of a military operation?"
"Uh...no...not really. But my cousin is. He's a lot more well known around these parts than I am. I could get you to him after we return."
"I appreciate the sentiment. I'll accompany you to this cousin of yours, if it's not too imposing..."
"Of course not. Um, let me see here," Honey said, her voice trailing off as she headed back into the tent. She made quite a racket before she came out with what looked like a fancy watch. She fitted it onto Cosmo's right arm, and noticed it had a screen.
"What is this?" Cosmo asked.
"A Wrist Communicator. It'll allow you to talk to me whenever. I have a feeling they'll want you to stay with them for a bit."
"They?"
"The Freedom Fighters. If there's anyone who could solve this problem of yours...whatever it is...it would be them."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Any problem I've seen them been faced with, they've solved it themselves. And pretty well, I might add."
"But...can they solve a galactic problem?"
"I'm sure they can. They've done it a few times before."
"A few times?"
"Well, you act like there's a major galactic problem that threatens the survival of everyone in existence every year or so," Honey chuckled.
"Oh, look. Our guest is up," Mighty said.
"Yeah. She's fine now," Honey said.
"That's good. Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Mighty asked.
"That depends. We aren't going to start talking and then halfway through start fighting each other?"
"No. Just come on," Mighty said.
Honey walked with Mighty into the forest.
"Um...I guess I should apologize to you for all those things I said."
"Mighty, I'd really wish you'd just talk about these things instead of just wanting to fight people..."
"It's all I know how to do."
"Why don't you fight Tiara then?"
"She's scary when she fights..."
"Yeah...I guess that question sounded better in my head."
"Look, I just...I want you to help me with something, when you can..."
"What?"
"I need you to help me find Matilda."
"She's fi—"
"She's not fine!" Mighty yelled. "Just...just look."
A video projected itself onto thin air, so that Honey could see it. "Brother...I need your help...they...did something to me. I can't feel my arms, and I'm in somewhere dark. Please, I-" Then the video cut out.
"It sounds like they roboticized her," Honey said.
"Yeah," Mighty nodded his head in agreement. "You could hear mechanical whirring."
Suddenly, there was a large racket coming from their camp. Honey's Wrist Communicator rang furiously. She tapped it, and Cosmo's face popped up.
"Finally. I would've preferred it if you had taught me how to use this first," Cosmo said.
"What's going on?" Honey said.
"Some people who do not look very respectable have shown up and let's just say...I take my statement of you flipping me on my back being an improvement."
"...we'll be right there..."
"Scythe?"
"Scythe..."