Author's note: It's finally Saturday. I had four tests in the last two days. Don't think Strafer feels sorry for me, though. Ha. Well, take a look at this.
Quick clarification: This is a rewrite of my original fic, A Boundary Crossed. After I reviewed the numerous issues that came up regarding it, I decided to do it again, and do it better this time around.
Segment 1: For The Birds
Chapter 1: Wake-Up Call
I still don't know exactly how it happened, but one thing's for sure: it was one thing I would never forget.
Someone dumped cold water on my head, and I woke with a start. Where was I? I took a moment to look around. I was on a large beach. The ocean waves lapped up peacefully on the shore; the smell of it was very calming.
The last thing I remembered was the paved streets of the suburbs. It was the middle of autumn, and I was taking a ride on my bicycle. When I'd paused, a tree branch had struck my head, and I had been knocked out by it. And now I was here.
It looked like the middle of summer. This was even stranger. Had the blow to my head knocked me through a time warp, like in that Mark Twain book? No, that's just plain ridiculous.
Eventually, I glanced toward the land. A nice suburban town was built on the shoreline, with an even mix of buildings and greenery. To the right, I could see a small building that looked very high-tech. It was probably some kind of laboratory.
"Hello," a voice said. That got my attention. I whirled around, but didn't see anyone other than a humanoid fox with white gloves, red-and-white laceless sneakers, and strangest of all, TWO tails. I knew it was impolite, but I couldn't keep myself from staring.
As if he knew exactly what I was thinking, the fox spoke up. "I know I look a little strange, but trust me, you get used to it. Welcome to Emerald Town. Allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Tails. It's pretty obvious why."
I smiled. "Pleased to meet you. My name's Leo." I extended my hand for a handshake, but Tails backed off.
"I'd better not," Tails explained. "Let me- Let me explain. Since you just arrived here, your bodily structure is a bit unstable, so you should be careful who or what you come in contact with."
Hearing this, I took a moment to examine myself. I was still wearing my biking gear, and I didn't see any signs of instability. "I don't believe you," I announced. "There's nothing for me to be worried about."
At that moment, a small robin flew in from the nearby trees. I extended my hand and let it perch on my finger. Tails seemed to get a little edgy when he noticed, but I ignored him.
Maybe I shouldn't have been so confident. The instant the robin landed on my hand, there was a bright flash of light that knocked me to the ground and caused Tails to flinch.
When the light cleared, I felt okay, but all the same, I didn't quite feel like myself. Tails rushed to my side. "Leo! Are you all right?"
"I think so," I responded, "but I feel a little strange."
It was at that moment that another humanoid animal character arrived, a blue hedgehog. That's not something you'd see on a normal day, but then again, this hadn't been a normal day since I'd woken up on the beach.
"Hey, Tails," the hedgehog said. "I thought I'd find you here. Who's the robin?"
The robin?
Tails laughed a little. "Sonic, come see me a bit later. I'm a little busy."
As the hedgehog dashed off- at a mind-bendingly high speed, I must add- Tails helped to my feet. "That's Sonic the Hedgehog," he explained. "He's my best friend. He's like an older brother to me. Come with me; I need to show you something."
Tails led me through the streets into the laboratory I'd seen in town. Once inside, he opened a closet and searched through until he pulled out a (rather dusty) full-length mirror. "I haven't used this thing since the laser experiment five years ago," I heard him mutter to himself.
Propping up the mirror against the wall, Tails wiped off the mirror's surface by using one of his tails as a cleaning rag. Ha. "Take a look at yourself, Leo," he instructed me.
I saw no reason not to, so I approached the mirror. As soon as I saw myself, I nearly hit the floor. I wiped my eyes and looked again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. I wasn't.
Staring back at me in the mirror was a ruby-red anthropomorphic robin figure, complete with a pair of large wings on his back, a beak, and a body covered in no clothing other than a layer of red feathers. I didn't mind the no clothing part for some reason.
"Tails," I said, turning to face him, "is that…"
"Yes, it is," Tails said, cutting me off. "That's you. I warned you about touching the wrong thing. When you contacted that robin, the instability in your body structure caused … that."
As much as I wanted to disagree with Tails, I couldn't. It made perfect sense, and there were no arguments I could make. When Sonic had mentioned "the robin," he was referring to me.
Speak of the devil. At that moment, Sonic showed up. "Hi again, Tails," he greeted us. "Is this a bad time?"
"No, it isn't," Tails replied. "Sonic, I'd like you to meet Leo. He just arrived here."
"Pleased to meet you," Sonic said, raising his hand for a handshake.
"Likewise," I replied. I was about to return the shake, but hesitated. It suddenly occurred to me that Sonic was wearing gloves and sneakers not unlike Tails'. I felt very awkward.
I glanced at Tails for help, and he quickly searched through the same closet again and pulled out a small box. Opening it, he revealed a pair of gloves and a pair of sneakers not unlike his own. I put them on quickly; they fit as if they were made for me.
"Where we left off," I told Sonic half-jokingly, shaking his hand with no further hesitation. Tails chuckled a little.
"Are you going to show Leo around the town?" Sonic asked his two-tailed friend.
"I will a little later," Tails replied. "I've got a little more business to take care of."
Sonic sighed audibly. "Business, business, business. Tails, you really should take a break once in a while. Why, I remember way back when you used to go on adventures with me all the time."
Even so, he dashed off, leaving Tails and myself to glance at each other without speaking.
The first chapter of the original story went a little further plot-wise than this chapter did, but text-wise, the original first chapter was more compact. Does that make this chapter shorter or longer?
Side note to Deltoran Merchant: No, I am not doing segment summaries for this story.