Full Summary:
Cascade was once an amazing place, but after the Meterex destroyed it, it became barren with few survivors. Even with the Meterex gone, the inhabitants struggled to survive. A family one day stumbles upon someone interesting, and he'll change their lives forever. Will the family's youngest daughter be able to find the cure for her dying father, and if she does, will she make it back alive with it? Will her older sister stop her before she can even leave? Read to find out!
The Planet Cascade. passerby's would never guess that it was once a successful empire, a futuristic land with modern cities and amazing technology, because the place now seemed deserted. All though the Meterex had now been defeated, Cascade's troubles weren't over. The few survivors still had to find food, clean water, and shelter until the cities could be rebuilt, if they ever got rebuilt, which was doubtful. The few who still had standing houses were lucky. A group of those lucky few consisted of Tiana, a fox, her father, and her little sister, Calypso.
Calypso was a dark orange fox with neat, light-pink hair, dark blue eyes, a short cyan shirt with sleeves that came to her elbows and a purple flower, purple skirt, white belt, light-pink flip-flops, a lavender headband and a necklace with a yellow heart charm. She rolled two dice onto a game board, and proceeded to move her game piece that number of spaces.
"How long do you think it will be until he wakes up?" She asked, pointing to their 'guest' passed out on one of the three beds in the house. Her voice was quiet and sweet, and her words carefully picked. She was very polite, the opposite of her older sister, Tiana. Tiana was also a dark orange fox, but her hair was black and messy. Her eyes were two different colors, one amber, the other ice blue. She wore a lavender shirt, with a dark purple jacket over it, that stopped just after her elbows. She had black shorts, and a black belt, with little plastic silver gems every inch. Her gloves were black and had no fingertips. She had black flip-flops, a headband identical to her sister's, fake gold hoop earrings, on one arm she had a black, spiked bracelet, and on the other, fake gold ones.
"I don't know, and by the way, you're on my property. Gimmie fifteen bucks," Tiana replied. Her little sister was seated on the floor, while she was seated on the couch, her feet lazily resting on the arm. Calypso sighed and handed the multi-colored fake money to her. Tiana smiled triumphantly.
"You could be nicer, y'know. You're already winning." The two foxes turned their attention to their father, who they didn't even know was watching them. Calypso stood up and rushed over to him.
"You are supposed to be resting! You will never get better if you do not!" She exclaimed, trying to lead him back to his bed. Her father chuckled.
"We all know I'm dying. Why not let me live out my last days happy?" He said. Clearly Calypso wasn't meant to answer the question, so she just frowned. "I see he hasn't woken up yet?" their father said, glancing at the 'guest'. Calypso shook her head, while Tiana added a reply with her head-shake.
"No, he hasn't. I bet he's mean, too, and won't even thank us."
"It is not like you ever thank anyone," Calypso commented. Tiana shrugged as she rolled the dice.
"Guess you're right," she said. She whooped after she got double sixes, and moved her piece. Calypso returned to her spot on the floor, and their father pulled up a chair from their table and began watching his daughters play.
They all turned their gazes to the corner where they had layed the stranger as they heard a low moan. But only Calypso stood up and walked over as he opened his eyes. His blood-red eyes.
He was an obsidian-colored hedgehog with red stripes, the same color as his eyes. He glanced around, taking in his location, then glanced at his wrists, realizing something was missing. He sat up and glanced at the fox in front of him.
"Who are you? Where am I?" He asked. His voice matched how he looked.
"I-I am Calypso, and you are in me and my family's home," Calypso said. "T! Father! Come over here, please!" She called. 'T' was Tiana's nickname.
"Comin' Callie!" Tiana yelled. 'Callie' was Calypso's nickname. Tiana rushed over, not paying any attention to her father, who was struggling to walk over, but still coming, slowly.
"W'sup," Tiana said, bringing her hand up, then down as a way of waving hello. "I'm Tiana. Call me T."
"I am Eclipse," their father spoke. "Welcome to our home."
"Am I on Cascade?" The hedgehog asked, his eyes darting around still. Calypso nodded. "What happened? How did I get here?"
"I am not sure what happened," Calypso began. "Me and T were going to fetch supplies, and we found you passed out beside a piece of metal stuck in the ground near what used to be the Resistance's base."
"Then we brought'ya here. That's about it," Tiana finished. The hedgehog lightly nodded. "What's your name?"
"My name is Shadow," he said slowly, as if still not fully trusting his rescuers.
"Wow, ya even have a gothic name!" Calypso punched Tiana's arm. "Oh, sorry." Shadow didn't reply.
"I should really be leaving now . . . " Shadow began to stand up, but Calypso pushed him back to sitting.
"Do you have a place to stay?" She asked. Shadow looked down and shook his head after a moment or two. "Then you have no choice but to stay here." He sighed.
"I suppose so . . . " he gave in. Calypso smiled, and Tiana rolled her eyes.
"Well, I believe it's about time to make dinner," Eclipse began, "Tiana, help me please?" Tiana sighed, but followed her father to the kitchen area in the one-room house.
"Would you like to come help me fetch supplies?" She began. "I cannot go by myself, and we never got any after finding you."
Shadow recculently agreed, and they began the long walk to what used to be the Resistance's base. They began chatting, and at some point, Eclipse got brought up.
"He's not quite . . . well, is he?" Shadow asked. Calypso suddenly stopped, and looked down. Shadow stopped as well. Silence lasted on for a few moments as Calypso gathered herself.
"I am very worried," she began quietly. "He is getting worse every day. His time is limited. Every morning I fear that when I wake up, he will be gone. I do not know what me and T will do without him. He was our guide through the Meterex attacks, telling us where to hide and when, and if we should run. I worry that we will not be able to live after he is gone." She was still looking down, as she tried to hide her silent tears. Shadow then realized who she was . . . just a little girl trying to be strong as her father died before her eyes, and a world decayed around her, in a family struggling to survive. He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him with her tear-stained face and big eyes. It made her look even younger than she was.
"Come on, let's go get that supplies," Shadow said. He didn't have any comforting words to share, as he'd lost someone before and knew exactly how it felt. Well, more specifically, three someones. Maria, Gerald, and then Molly . . . who's grave they would most likely pass. "Why did you tell me all this?"
"I do not know, I guess I feel like I can trust you," Calypso answered. Shadow replied without hesitation.
"Well, you shouldn't," he said.
"Why not?" Calypso asked. She didn't get an answer.
They reached the base. It was filled with boxes, and the homeless. Outside was a ship, which brought in the supplies from other planets.
"One box for each person," Calypso began. "How many can you carry? T normally carries two and I carry one, but T is not here, and we need four boxes."
"It's okay, you don't need to get me a box . . . "
"No, I insist. It is no problem," Calypso begged. Shadow had no choice but to agree and make the little fox happy. Shadow picked up two boxes. They were fairly small, but Calypso struggled to pick up the same amount, so when the top box fell off of her pile, Shadow caught it with one hand and added it to his.
"Are you sure you'd like me to stay with you?" Shadow asked. "I don't normally stay in a house anyway."
"Like I said," Calypso began, "it is no problem. Nothing is a problem unless it needs to be fixed." Shadow simply nodded and they walked back quietly.