Sonic thought that Alpha has really tricked him, deciding to have him for a meal and that he was inside his stomach. However, he could see an island and a clear yellow sky above the water. Alpha did indeed tell the truth: he was inside a different world. The problem was, unfortunately, Sonic still could not swim. He thrashed about; trying to reach the surface of the sea, but this was only making him sink even deeper. He thought that he already failed his quest and was ready to accept defeat until a hand reached out and pulled him from the waters.
He was thrown into what seemed to be a wooden floor, coughing and spitting out sea water from his mouth. He once again inhaled more air excessively as he heard a "Wow! A blue hedgehog! We don't get those very often, actually, never!"
He looked behind him. He saw that he was on the deck of a boat, with a woman who was wearing a red, ragged shirt and thick black pants. She had short, gleaming scarlet hair and light blue eyes that stared intensely at him. She was short, but still taller than him. She also wore a tear-shaped gem around her neck and had a sword beside her, but it was tucked away.
"Thank you...for...saving me," Sonic gasped between words, standing up to the woman. She was shocked and her eyes grew bigger. "Oh my, a talking blue hedgehog that can stand on his own two feet! This is definitely a one in a million..."
Sonic looked around, seeing that the boat looked like the pirate ships and galleons that he read about in stories that he would often tell to Tails. The one strange thing about it was that its sails seemed to be decorated with the night sky; a royal dark blue with many white incandescent stars glowing on it. He was fascinated by it, gazing at it for a while until the woman said, "Hey! Are you going to look at me at all and tell me why you were suddenly in the sea? It's not safe to be swimming here this far."
"Oh, I wasn't swimming. I actually can't swim."
"Then...how..." she whispered, confused. It was until she suddenly remembered something important. "Wait; are you...Sonic the hedgehog?"
"The one and only!" Sonic smiled, giving her a thumbs up.
"Oh boy..." she muttered under her breath."You're the creator of this world, am I right?"
"Yeah, I guess so, from what Alpha told me."
She couldn't believe that she was created from the mind of this blue hedgehog. She sighed again, and then said, "What happened to you that caused the Great Continental Shift?"
"What?"
"You don't know, do you? Should've known," she exasperated, putting her hands on her hips. "I forgot. Ever since the Great Continental Shift, we were told that once you come here, you wouldn't remember much. Figures."
"What's the Great Continental Shift?" Sonic asked.
"I'll tell you later. I'm not in the mood to tell a story right now." After she replied, the two of them were left with an abrupt silence as she steered the boat towards the island.
"What's your name, anyways? I know I should know since I might've created you and all..."
"Eve. I'm the captain, and well, only member of this ship. My other crew members were killed since the Shift. I'm responsible for bringing the night in this world."
Sonic looked again at the sails. So that was why they were that way.
"So I'm guessing it's around night?"
"Well, in the other side of this world it is. I'm trying to get there, but first, we need to get you to land. I'm sure you're supposed to be the chosen one brought here to bring the continents back together and such."
As she said this, she didn't seemed at all excited. As if she didn't believe in him. "Are you trying to say that I can't bring peace to this land at all?" Sonic was annoyed.
"Well, I don't know. Despite what you think, it will be no easy task." She did not face him; concerned only for arriving on the island.
"Well, I defeated Eggman many times and..."
"I know, Sonic. I live inside your head," she interrupted.
Sonic was fuming. She didn't even want to listen to him. "Why did I create a person that..."
"Well Sonic, it said that when a great being created humans, they were given free will. And it is my free will that I'm not really impressed with you."
Sonic turned around, back facing her as he looked out to the sea. "Whatever."
The rest of the trip on the boat was quiet as Eve took him out to the island.
"Alright Sonic, even though I said that I'm not really...you know, I still need to help you out a little bit, since you haven't lived here all your life and all." She handed him a scroll. "Here."
Sonic immediately unfurled it, revealing a blank page. "Why are you giving me a blank piece of paper?"
"You gotta wait a little bit, doofus." As soon as she finished speaking, Sonic saw the page suddenly come to life. Many words and drawings slowly appeared on the page, revealing that it was a map. It said "Sonic's World Map" in bold letters and he saw two strange fishes looking like they were French kissing each other, as their tongues were used as a bridge to the other world. Inside the fish called Alpha were several continents, called Joy, Love, and Ecstasy. He was right now on the continent of Joy, right at the edge of the sea called Daweven Ocean. He saw a glowing white light near the end of the land on the map.
"Hey, what does the white light mean?"
"It's supposed to be where you should go. Pretty convenient, huh? Anyways, I need to go. The night is already ten minutes late, and I need to hurry to the other side of Joy." She turned around, walking to the boat. As soon as she entered it and was on the balcony, she shouted, "Well, despite what I said, good luck to you, Sonic. I hope you survive your trip." She waved to him, then disappeared from his sight as she steered the boat away from the island. Sonic stood there, dumbfounded, until the boat was tiny enough for him to not see.
He was curious about Eve. He thought that a captain of a ship in his world would be a guy. Already, Alpha was proving him wrong.
The skies were a goldenrod color, with a tint of rosy pink at the bottom. The beach he was on had white sand as the sea's hands, turned black, tried to reach the island, but could only touch his feet. This place wasn't that different from most beaches he had been to. His head turned to the sun, which was red, much like the sun in the Outer Realms, as they call it. He knew he couldn't sit here and watch it, as he had a mission to do. To do what, he didn't know, but to follow the path to the white light.
Not too far away from the beach area was a village, which seemed quite simplistic. The villagers lived in straw and grass huts, except there was one brick building not too far away from them. He didn't understand it, but maybe not much would make sense here from now on. He saw one villager that was away from his hut, looking like he was going to fish for food. He took a good look at him. He was like...Tails. Except purple. Then he saw a child of the fisherman come out of the hut. Green. Then the mother coming out and ushering the child to come back in. She was blue. Different colors of Tails...they all seemed the same, except the females having breasts and the child being smaller. But other than their fur, they still had the same two tails and blue eyes.
Another thing that Sonic learned is that he was not creative.
He had to follow the fisherman, as he didn't felt like intruding on the others. Although he had a map, maybe the fisherman would know some kind of idea on what he was supposed to do next other than follow a white light. He walked slowly towards him as the fisherman got a worm, that was singing in a tiny voice, then ended with an agonizing "agh!" as he pierced him with the hook.
"Hey, I'm wondering...what am I..."
The fisherman immediately dropped his fishing rod and turned around to face him with horrified eyes. "Waugh! Who...who are you? Don't come any closer!"
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you pal, I just want..."
"My money? Here, take it!" He swiftly got out his wallet and gave him all the money he had: twelve gem shards. He then reached out for his tackle box and fishing rod and evaded, his twin tails spinning around.
Sonic looked back at the gem shards with a curious look. They were an assortment of colors, one green, six red, five blue, and one yellow. Sonic decided to not chase after him. Maybe all the villagers here are really high strung, he thought. Maybe they're just a peaceful bunch who are really paranoid.
He decided to go into the brick building. Maybe they could help me out better than these guys can.
"Don't come any closer! I'll shoot you!" he heard the shopkeeper shout. He was a regular human, with brown hair and brown eyes. He held a gun that reached to Sonic's chest. His fingers were on the trigger, looking like he was about to pull it.
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you! I just want to find out..."
"You want my money? Well, you're not getting it!"
"No! What is up with this place? I thought this was supposed to represent joy!"
The man's face softened, and he no longer faced the gun towards him. "Yeah...it's supposed to...but ever since the Continental Shift, things have, well, changed." He put the gun inside his counter.
"Eve mentioned it...what's the Continental Shift? I don't understand."
"Ah, Eve. She comes here for supplies. She's supposed to know a lot about this world of ours. I'll tell you from what I can understand from Eve, but first, I want to know your name."
"I'm Sonic. You know, the hedgehog who created this place."
"S-Sonic...?" He rushed to the floor and bowed his head, Sonic gazing at him with confusion.
"I'm so sorry, Master Sonic. I should've known you weren't a threat, since you're blue and all. Do you forgive me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I forgive you. Now can you tell me about this Shift?"
"Why yes. It's beneath the Caps Lock button."
"Huh? That doesn't really..."
"I'm just kidding.
The Continental Shift happened not too long ago. Things were all fine and dandy, we were connected to nearly all the lands and such when bam,a major earthquake happened. It was so serious that it killed many people and it separated the lands. There used to been a bridge that connected us to the Omega lands, but the tidal waves took it under the sea. Then suddenly, a torrential downpour suddenly came. It was going to drown us all, until a giant fish ate this land, protecting all he could eat. Same thing with the Omega lands. Since then they've been called the Alpha and Omega lands, named after the fish.
"For now, we're safe, I guess. But then, a dark ruler, who's just called No Name the God came over and exerted his power on the kingdom, creating a dark land. We're just so paranoid that his troops are going to come over and take over this village too, so that's why we're so high strung."
"No Name the God, eh? I bet I have to defeat him to..."
"With your power? Ha! I know you're fast Sonic, but your powers are wimpy compared to him. He's a god, after all."
"Wimpy?" he yelled throughout the store. "I'll tell you, I'm sure this No Name or whatever isn't as fast as me!"
"Speed doesn't always win your battles, Sonic. You need more than that to defeat him. If you want to fight him, good for you. We appreciate it. But don't come in with that attitude or you'll never make it."
Sonic said nothing. He asked the next question on his mind. "And do you know where this white light leads to?" He gave him his map.
"Ah geez, these maps always take a while..." As soon as he saw the white light on the map, he paused solemnly. "Well...Sonic, there's a...monster, there. Ever since No Name the God came over here, there's been more monster sightings. I don't know why it leads..."
"I need to defeat him!" He slammed his fist into his hand. "The first piece of my soul!"
"Yeah, I think that's it." He shrugged. "I guess if you collect all the fragments of your soul, you can bring back this place back to where it was."
"And that's what I'm aiming to do, just so I can go back to my life. I didn't really want to go on this journey, you know."
"Well, you have no choice but to help us. We are creations of your mind, after all. Maybe you can go to the king of the village and receive some help from him."
Sonic nodded, knowing now that this was where he should go to next. "Well, thanks for the help. I'll be leaving to see the king."
"Good luck, Sonic. May you restore your land back to where it was!"
"King Jovial, we have a visitor!"
This king was actually not happy to hear this. "Is it No Name's army? Tell me if it's a war he wants, then a war he gets!" He curled his hand in a fist, bringing it into the air.
"No, he's actually a blue hedgehog. Named Sonic."
"...Oh." He scratched his head. "Allow him inside, I guess. Knowing that this is the creator, this is important."
He sat back on his throne, made out of gold and rubies and shaped like a fox. He saw the blue hedgehog walk in, unafraid.
"Uh...your majesty, I'm supposed to bring the order back to this land. It's the only way that I can get back home."
"I...see. The fish Alpha sent you." He nodded. He took a look at the king. He looked like the other villagers, except he was normal colored. He was yellow. An actual Tails. "Up north, you'll see another village, and then the creature. I don't really know what it looks like or anything so you're going to have to use your brains to survive it."
"I thought you would maybe give me something that would help me out. Although I am perfectly able to..."
"I can't help you much," he disrupted him. "However, I can give you some advice. The village north of here is normal, unlike this village. But soon, you're going to see a LOT of weirdoes."
"That's...all the advice you're going to give me?"
"Hey, I never said I could, like, give you an instruction manual for this journey you're about to take. You're going to be on your own for now. Aren't you used to doing things yourself anyways?"
"Well, yeah, but sometimes I would..."
"Well, even if I look like your pal Tails, he's not here. Neither is Knuckles. This is a journey of self-discovery, one you have to take yourself."
"I already know myself! I still don't understand why I have to..."
"From what I can understand," he interrupted, "something in the Outer Realms did something to this land. Do you know what it is?"
"Not really. I remember going for a run one night and suddenly...nothing. It's weird."
"Well," he cleared his throat. "I'm keeping you here too long. You might as well go to the village. I have some important matters to attend to, anyways."
Sonic saw the king lift himself out of his chair, speaking to a servant. He then left Sonic alone, going to one of the corridors of the hut palace.
As soon as he left, the sky was green and pink. Off into the distance, he could see a small blue moon, becoming larger and larger by the minute. He also saw a fragment of the night sky, which appeared as if the green sky was broken in some places.
The sky was like a waterfall, slowly unveiling the night, draining out all the green.
He left, following a path that led to the next village.
