Chapter One: Guardian
Thud!
Stephanie shot open her eyes and gazed at her white ceiling. A sharp pain ran up her spine and Stephanie winced. She looked to her left to see her thin bed beside her; she must have rolled off her bed once again.
"I have to stop doing that," Stephanie muttered to herself as she massaged the pain out of her muscles. The sun was streaming through her opened window and lighting up her cramped bedroom. A light, birch desk took up most of one wall and a vanity occupied the other. The space in between the two lied piles of books, most of which were classics such as Moby Dick by Herman Melville and Dracula by Bram Stoker. Stephanie was an extreme bookworm and she was extremely proud of it.
She slowly and painfully stood up and peered out the window. White, sparkling snow covered every inch of the ground and houses that she could see, making the Earth around her look like a blank canvas waiting to be smeared with vibrant paint. With one last look, she drew her lavender curtains to hide herself from any peeping eyes and turned to the mirror beside her.
Staring back at her was a sluggish and grumpy-looking sixteen-year-old girl. Her dirty-blonde hair was ruffled and disorderly, her grey eyes looked glazed over and her pale skin shined with natural oils. She never looked the best when she first woke up, and frankly, she didn't care. There was never anyone to be disgusted by her appearance anyway. Her family was always out or busy and none of her friends were close enough to her to hang out for a day, never mind a night. Thankfully, there was a cure to this morning madness: a brush and a wash cloth.
Slowly and carefully, Stephanie crept silently from her room in case her parents were still around. She wouldn't want to draw any attention to her unsightly self. The unhealthily clean bathroom was only two doors away from her room and she snuck inside and closed the door.
The bathroom was almost too white and it hurt her eyes to look at the walls for too long. Stephanie opened the wooden cabinet beneath the sink, took out her grooming tools and got to work. Within a matter of minutes, she changed her appearance from sleepy and grungy to wide awake and decent. Her hair now fell silkily to her shoulders, her eyes gleam with attentiveness, and her skin was soft, smooth and dirt-free. She now looked reasonable, but that didn't change how she felt.
"Mom? Dad?" Stephanie stuck her head out of the bathroom. No one replied and loneliness came over her in a violent wave. She tried to push her nagging emotions away, but they remained firm in her chest. Stephanie had gone through this often enough that she knew what the only solution was: to go for a walk.
"Well, I am kind of hungry..." Stephanie felt her stomach clench angrily at her words.
Stephanie stepped out of the small convenience store that was close to her house, chocolate donut in hand. She had exchanged her pyjamas for a casual black hoodie, a nice-fitting blue t-shirt, dark blue jeans and a pair of black running shoes before she had left. The air was chilly, but not cold enough for heavy clothing.
I wonder where Mom and Dad are... Stephanie thought to herself as she began her journey back home. She was quite used to being left alone (her parents started frequently taking off once she was old enough to look after herself), but it didn't make her feel any less empty. Because of only being in the company of herself for so long, Stephanie hadn't developed a need for human relationships, so her amount of friends were very few by choice.
Smack!
Stephanie fell over into a snow bank as something hit her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of her.
"Damn it," Stephanie growled. She rubbed the growing bruise on her torso and felt a wet spot on her shirt. "Was I hit with a snowball?" She quickly looked in all directions to identify the offender, but all she saw was an empty street and her poor donut lying dropped on the sidewalk. Stephanie sighed irritably and lay back in the snow but then immediately sprung back up in pain.
"Ow!" she cried, whipping around to look at where she had laid down. There, wedged in the lustrous snow, was something black, shimmering and pointy. She impatiently dug it out and roughly picked it up. She stared down at the beautiful, black crystal that she now held.
"It's gorgeous." Stephanie dreamily sighed at its hypnotic beauty. Looking around once again, she hastily hid it under her hoodie so no one would try to claim it, even though there was no one around.
Who could have dropped this? Stephanie continued to suspiciously eye her surroundings as she stood up. Oh well. Finder's keepers, loser's weepers. Trying to act as if she had not just found a very valuable crystal, Stephanie headed home with a slight spring in her step.
Stephanie opened the door to her small home.
"Hello?" she called out with little hope that her parents had returned. Silence followed her voice and the disappointed girl shut the door behind her. Warily, Stephanie ascended the curvy staircase to the next floor, still grasping the crystal. Stephanie walked into her bedroom, switched on her CD player and rock music filled the overbearing silence that Stephanie despised so very much. With a sigh, she plopped herself down on her slim bed and turned her attention to examining the stunning gem.
Who would even carry this around? Stephanie rolled the stone in her fingers. It glittered as if it had been recently polished, and if her eyes weren't deceiving her, it seemed to give off a faint and eerie glow. Strange.
She stared at the crystal's glow and she could feel herself being pulled into a trance-like state, which was both frightening and calming. All of a sudden every emotion, worry and fear she had been suppressing for all of her life came crashing onto her. Her chest felt heavy, almost breathless, and infuriating tears formed in her eyes. Pictures of her alone in the overwhelming darkness seeped into her mind, blinding her vision from reality. She tried to blink the mocking images away, but they did not leave. Panic and sadness surged through every part of her and she felt a scream build in her throat.
"I wish I was where I belong," Stephanie heard herself say in a strained voice. The mysterious jewel in her hands began to glow brighter. It shone out bright beams of warm light that made Stephanie want to sleep. Her eyelids grew heavy and she felt herself slowly drift off into a deep slumber. There was an abrupt flash of light and Stephanie disappeared into thin air.
Stephanie lazily stretched out her limbs as she gradually woke up. Underneath her she felt a smooth, hard surface, almost like glass, but she thought nothing of it as she was still half-asleep. However, when she heard a loud and furious voice, her eyes shot open.
"What do you think you're doing, touching my emerald?"
Stephanie jumped up, startled, and accidentally slid off of whatever she was on. She tried to peer at whoever was yelling at her, but her vision was blurry; her eyes were still not adjusted to the light. Beside her was a very large, green blob and a red figure stood before her.
What the hell? This isn't my bedroom! Stephanie's pulse quickened and a sickening feeling swam up in her gut. Her vision came into focus after a moment of rapid blinking and standing in front of her, staring angrily, was a red echidna with his arms crossed in impatience. Stephanie looked around in alarm. She was at what looked like an ancient alter, and the green object beside her was a huge emerald.
"Oh my goodness! Who are you?" Stephanie covered her mouth with her hand and looked back to the echidna.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that, pink hedgehog?" the echidna asked with a rising temper.
"Pink hedgehog?" Stephanie gazed up at him, confused beyond belief.
He arched a brow and stared at her like she was completely off her rocker. Stephanie turned her gaze from the echidna to her own hands. Her eyes widened. They were covered in pink fur! She looked at her arms; they were also covered with unnatural pink fur. She averted her eyes to her body. Stephanie was wearing this morning's clothes, but they were a bit baggier; her body must have grown smaller. Strangely though, her breasts remained the same size. She felt her face; her hand drifted over a small muzzle and a little, black nose. Her other hand ran through her hair – which was now pink quills.
Wait. If I'm a hedgehog, that means I have a... She gazed back up at the red echidna as she ran her hand cautiously down her back until she felt something sticking out of the back of her jeans – a tail. Stephanie's eyes grew wider and her pupils dilated. The echidna watched her curiously. Weakly, Stephanie somehow managed to stand with her legs shaking terribly.
"I must be dreaming," Stephanie whispered to herself. She measured herself to the echidna; she came just below his forehead.
"I'm still waiting for an answer." His expression was deadly serious.
"Oh, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to wake up on your – uh – emerald thing," Stephanie replied nervously. "I was just... there."
"How were you 'just there'?" he asked, not trying to keep the disbelief out of his tone. Stephanie paused, unable to answer his question.
"I'm not trouble or anything." Stephanie bowed her head shyly. He carefully eyed her, then walked to the stairs of the altar and sat down.
"You're right; what can a pink hedgehog do?" The red echidna grunted and rubbed his forehead warily. Stephanie took a moment to calm her nerves before sitting next to him.
Is this a dream? Stephanie thought as she peered up at the blue sky. Something sharp nudged at her hip from inside her pocket. Absent-mindedly, she took the object out and stared at it. It took a moment before she realized she was staring at the black crystal that she had found.
The echidna noticed what Stephanie held in front of her and after taking a closer look at it, he couldn't help but let his mouth drop open.
"Is that... a Chaos Emerald?"
"A what?" Stephanie asked, not taking her eyes of the beautiful, dark gem.
"May I see it?" The echidna held out his hand. Stephanie hesitated, but eventually nodded and dropped it into his large, gloved hand.
"Where did you get this?" he asked as he began to examine the crystal.
"I found it in some snow," Stephanie admitted quietly.
"How could you find it in snow? It's summer on Mobius." He narrowed his eyes apprehensively at her.
"Mobius?"
"Yeah, Mobius. You know, the planet you're on," the echidna scoffed.
"Oh, I'm not from here." Stephanie looked down the stone steps.
"Then where are you from?"
"Earth."
"Earth?" he repeated.
"Yeah, I'm – well, was – human. I don't really know how I got here or how I turned into a hedgehog." Stephanie racked her brain for some hint or clue as to how she ended up on such a strange planet. She severely doubted this was all a dream; it felt too real.
"What was the last thing you did?" The echidna rubbed the crystal thoughtfully.
Stephanie bit her lips as she tried to remember, but it did not take her long to recall what she had done.
"It's quite embarrassing." Stephanie blushed slightly.
"That's all right. I don't care," he replied while looking intensely at the stone.
"I... I wished I was where I belong," Stephanie spoke in a hushed voice. The red echidna raised his thick brow, but lowered it when he noticed Stephanie's cheerless expression. He did not say anything.
"I'm Stephanie, by the way." She turned to him and forced a friendly smile.
"I'm Knuckles." He faintly returned the smile.
"Knuckles?" This time it was Stephanie's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he asked, a little threat slipping into his tone.
"Not at all." Stephanie backed off. I guess he's more sensitive than he looks.
"Anyways," Knuckles swiftly stood up, "we'd better show this to Tails."
Stephanie was tempted to ask who "Tails" was, but she kept her mouth shut and nodded in agreement. Knuckles grew silent and marched down the stone steps, away from the huge emerald.
"Uh, Knuckles? What is that big emerald thing?" Stephanie asked curiously as she followed after him.
"It's called the Master Emerald and I am its guardian," Knuckles answered briefly. She sensed it was a topic he preferred not to talk about deeply, so she asked no more about the fascinating gem.
They were heading towards a dense jungle and Stephanie didn't know whether to feel frightened or excited.
"Stick close to me or you'll get lost," Knuckles spoke over his shoulder.
Now, Stephanie was definitely frightened.