Scouting locations is the first task assigned to young jackals of the pack. While these young pups are too small for combat in raids, their small forms make it easy for them to slip past unsuspecting targets, and scout the treasures throughout Mobius, ripe for the taking.
"Go to the Oasis son, we'll be back in a few days. I want you to memorize every nook and cranny." "Why?" "You'll know, when the time comes."
═━┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━/ Ǒ̶̢̨̞̻̀̆̆̂ṉ̵̙̻͝l̵̛̲̳͂̇y̵̨̹̏ ̶̧̯̭͎͎̇̐̾S̴͈͉̀c̴̢̩̯̹̩̈́̄̑a̵͚̓͐̿̀̒r̴̡̖̜̺͋̇̕s̷̡͕̟̎ ̶̳̠̓̓̚R̵̫͒͗́ȩ̵̞̮͕̼̔m̴̫̤̓̐͐͛̓å̵̢̼̭̹͠i̴͚̐̈́̆n̶̳̫̏̄ /┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━═
It was a beautiful summer morning, the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon. The inhabitants of a small hamlet nestled in an oasis, which was just on the corner of the desert near wild canyon were beginning their morning rituals. The villagers bustled in the streets of the marketplace, buying and selling goods, the kids freshly starting summer break played freely among the older mobians going about their daily lives. Plenty of greenery flourished here, palm trees and flowers sprouted wherever they could, and the grass grew tall in thick patches all around the homes and businesses scattered about. They even had their own beach alongside a lake that separated most of the town's border from the desert. A small outcropping of cliffs and rocks stood near the back of the town, a favorite location for children to play on the sandy beaches below and swim freely in the crystal-clear water.
It was not far from here that a small group of three decided to perch for the day and skip stones into the lake, enjoying their summer and being carefree with no homework or school to worry about for the next few months. Elsewhere, a wolf pup trotted alongside the path winding around the lake, he had a red-orange pelt, and was wearing thickly framed glasses, green boots with light green and black accents, and gloves to match. This path always had a lovely view of the sparkling waters and vast desert beyond as the sun rose, and he liked to sit in a nice little patch of grass close to the border of the desert and work on his laptop, which he clutched tightly to his chest. He saw a group of kids hanging out in his usual spot, strange since nobody really liked coming this close to the desert border.
He walked up to the group, and waved to them nonetheless. They weren't friends, but he'd seen them around school a few times before and he had always been too shy to talk to them. Perhaps circumstance brought them here for a reason! The largest of the group, a bear named Kodiak looked up, seeing the small wolf attempting to join the trio. With a frown and a grunt, the bear made a shooing motion with his paw "Scram kid, we're busy!" he growled. The wolf simply tilted his head in confusion, and flattened his ears at the blatant rejection of his company. Guess they didn't want to be friends. He never was the best in social situations, always being a bit too nerdy for anyone's liking. He had really wanted to enjoy his favorite spot today but he didn't want to make the others angry.
═━┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━/ Ǒ̶̢̨̞̻̀̆̆̂ṉ̵̙̻͝l̵̛̲̳͂̇y̵̨̹̏ ̶̧̯̭͎͎̇̐̾S̴͈͉̀c̴̢̩̯̹̩̈́̄̑a̵͚̓͐̿̀̒r̴̡̖̜̺͋̇̕s̷̡͕̟̎ ̶̳̠̓̓̚R̵̫͒͗́ȩ̵̞̮͕̼̔m̴̫̤̓̐͐͛̓å̵̢̼̭̹͠i̴͚̐̈́̆n̶̳̫̏̄ /┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━═
As he turned to walk away he noticed the other two, a tiger, and a hawk, had stopped skipping stones. The wolf followed their eyes down to the bank of the lake, where another figure approached. The bear turned towards him as well, and the group eyed him suspiciously, like they didn't know what to do about his presence. He was a jackal by the looks of it, he had a dark pelt with striped markings that were white as snow. He was about their age as well, sporting a long ivory mane, a tattered white scarf wrapped around his neck, and dark boots and gloves accented in red. His golden eye was cast downwards at his feet, his arms folded across his chest, and his long black and white tipped tail dragging behind him in the sand. His lips were turned downwards into a frown, and his expression was downcast as he walked, hunched over into an over exaggerated slouch. He looked so...lonely.
The wolf walked a bit closer to the trio to get a better look and ask the group why they'd been staring at the stranger so intently. A shout startled the wolf, he hadn't realized he'd been staring at the newcomer too until the bear spoke. "Hey you!" he yelled at the stranger. The jackal turned around, and what the wolf saw surprised him enough to let out a small gasp. On the right side of his face the jackal had a brilliant gold eye, but on the left his eye was bright blue, it vaguely reminded the wolf of the sky. The stranger didn't speak, just looked at the group with a confused expression, he thought he'd been doing a good job of minding his own business.
"What's wrong with yer' eyes," the bear spoke again "you some kind of freak?" The jackal's expression changed to that of indignation. "Freak? I-I'm not..." he stuttered out, completely thrown off guard by the statement. "My eyes ain't different colors," the bear started before turned to the wolf, putting him on the spot "are yer' eyes different colors kid?" The wolf was surprised that he was being addressed, but had a sinking suspicion that this wasn't going to turn out good. "N-No...I guess not." he muttered quietly. "See, nobody's got different colored eyes but you, FREAK! We don't want weird people around here, go back to the desert!" The bears tone continued to get louder. The other two in the group played along too and began shouting insults at the jackal. "You sure look like a freak to me!" "Put a patch on that freaky eye, weirdo!" they teased.
═━┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━/ Ǒ̶̢̨̞̻̀̆̆̂ṉ̵̙̻͝l̵̛̲̳͂̇y̵̨̹̏ ̶̧̯̭͎͎̇̐̾S̴͈͉̀c̴̢̩̯̹̩̈́̄̑a̵͚̓͐̿̀̒r̴̡̖̜̺͋̇̕s̷̡͕̟̎ ̶̳̠̓̓̚R̵̫͒͗́ȩ̵̞̮͕̼̔m̴̫̤̓̐͐͛̓å̵̢̼̭̹͠i̴͚̐̈́̆n̶̳̫̏̄ /┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━═
The wolf backed away slowly, this situation was getting out of hand fast. Disregarding his aggressors, the jackal held his ground, and so the bear reached down and picked up a large, sharp stone from near his feet. Without any hesitation he reeled back and threw it at the stranger, who barely had time to process the bear's action. The little wolf shouted in surprise as the rock sailed towards its target. It happened so fast he didn't have time to react, and so the rock hit the stranger right on the eye, knocking him over and into the water.
"Stop it!" the wolf pup screamed, as the bear began picking up another rock to aim at the poor jackal. He was now on his knees in the water, soaking wet and holding his injured eye groaning in pain. The ginger leapt as high as he could, grabbing and hanging off the arm of the much larger bear, yelling and grabbing at the rock clutched tightly in his paws. "Quit yer' meddlin' ya' little brat!" the bear yelled, swinging wildly. The other two kids didn't take notice to the bear's struggle, and had continued to throw smaller pebbles at the jackal, who held up his arm in an attempt to soften the blows of the projectiles. His sopping wet mane hung in front of his face as he clutched his injured eye desperately and tears welled up the other.
The little wolf yelped as Kodiak swung his paw around and smacked him right on the snout, he fell with a loud 'thud' and curled up into a ball clutching his face in pain. The other two heard the noise, and turned around to see why their friend had stopped throwing stones. The wolf mustered the strength to slowly release the pressure he'd been applying to his injury and get back up on shaky knees, and the other two kids gasped. Blood trickled down the wolf's face from a freshly broken nose. "Kodiak! We're gonna get in so much trouble if he snitches!" The hawk yelled, the tiger nodded and grabbed the wolf by the arm and brought their faces uncomfortably close. "You better not snitch on us! You fell and hurt yourself, you hear me!" he yelled before letting go of the wolf, grabbing both his friends, and running away from the scene as fast as they could. The bear protested for a moment before conceding to his friend, and the trio disappeared on the path leading back to the village.
═━┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━/ Ǒ̶̢̨̞̻̀̆̆̂ṉ̵̙̻͝l̵̛̲̳͂̇y̵̨̹̏ ̶̧̯̭͎͎̇̐̾S̴͈͉̀c̴̢̩̯̹̩̈́̄̑a̵͚̓͐̿̀̒r̴̡̖̜̺͋̇̕s̷̡͕̟̎ ̶̳̠̓̓̚R̵̫͒͗́ȩ̵̞̮͕̼̔m̴̫̤̓̐͐͛̓å̵̢̼̭̹͠i̴͚̐̈́̆n̶̳̫̏̄ /┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━═
The ginger swiped furiously at his nose in an attempt to make the blood stop flowing, it throbbed in pain every time he touched it. Once the flow of blood had slowed he picked up his laptop, which was dropped amidst the fight. It had been crushed when the bear dropped him right on top of it, his ears folded for a few seconds in sadness for the loss of his trinket before he clutched his paw in determination. Oh well he can always ask his dad to help him fix it, right now the stranger was more important, he could be seriously hurt! The wolf quickly leapt into action, abandoning his crushed laptop on the hill and sliding down to the bank to survey the damage done to the stranger's eye. Luckily his mom taught him a few lessons on first aid, so hopefully he could help.
The stranger still knelt in the shallow water, clutching his eye and muttering to himself. His ears perked up when he heard footsteps coming his way, and he looked up to see the wolf from the group coming closer. The closer he got, the more agitated the jackal seemed to get, his tail slowly puffed, ears folded flat against his head, and lips curled into a slight snarl. Still the wolf persisted, "Are you ok?" he asked in a worried tone "I'm sorry, I should've stopped him sooner. I didn't realize those guys were so mean..." The injured pup remained still and silent, a suspicious glare coming from his good eye, the other still clutched in his hand. Blood was dripping down his muzzle now, and the wolf reached out to help. The stranger flinched, causing the ginger to halt his actions for a brief moment before continuing forward. When he finally made contact with the jackal he jumped, and immediately smacked the other's hand away. As fast as he could the stranger rose up out of the water, covered both his eyes with the back of his arm yelling "DON'T TOUCH ME!". Quicker than the wolf could process, the jackal rose up out of the water and took off over the cliff side back towards the desert's border.
The small wolf sat in the water, shocked that anyone could move that fast, and at this whole bizarre situation. In the heat of the moment, the jackal hadn't realized that his tumble into the water had knocked his scarf off, and it floated harmlessly in front of the confused pup. He picked it up carefully, and wrung it out a bit before heading back up the bank. Grabbing the rest of his things the dazed wolf started down the path back to his home, hoping that one day he'd be able to return the scarf to this strange new person...and maybe make a new friend.
═━┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━/ Ǒ̶̢̨̞̻̀̆̆̂ṉ̵̙̻͝l̵̛̲̳͂̇y̵̨̹̏ ̶̧̯̭͎͎̇̐̾S̴͈͉̀c̴̢̩̯̹̩̈́̄̑a̵͚̓͐̿̀̒r̴̡̖̜̺͋̇̕s̷̡͕̟̎ ̶̳̠̓̓̚R̵̫͒͗́ȩ̵̞̮͕̼̔m̴̫̤̓̐͐͛̓å̵̢̼̭̹͠i̴͚̐̈́̆n̶̳̫̏̄ /┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈━═
/ AN: I've updated the format of the story due to a few requests letting me know it was a bit difficult to see in big blocks, hopefully this makes it a bit easier to read for you all! The paragraphs will now be separated by a line, and individual blocks of action will be spaced out inside each paragraph. I've also decided to add a bit of foreshadowing in quotes and little tidbits of lore at the beginning of each chapter for some world-building. Lastly, I am having a good friend of mine re-read the story for any errors, repetitive and run-on sentences, and continuity mistakes so I can fix them. Please enjoy and thank you all for the reviews so far, I'm so glad I can make people in the fandom happy with my writing! ( U v U ) /
/ AN: I really don't like 'OC x Cannon' pairings usually, but the theories back before Sonic Forces actually came out about the avatar knowing Infinite, giving him a fist bump, etc were very interesting. I don't claim Gadget as my own of course since the fandom collectively adopted him as the 'official avatar', but he's probably the most cannon the avatar will ever get. Plus him and infinite are super cute together so here we are! Infinite didn't get nearly enough love (story-wise) during the game, so I felt it was necessary to give him a better backstory, one that justifies him freaking out when Shadow beats the snot out of him. This is my first time publishing here, so I would appreciate some constructive criticism! Thanks for reading. (u v u) /