A/N: One more chapter for you all. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
August 6th 2010 (Mobius date unknown) – Somewhere on Angel Island – 8:37 AM
I suddenly came to my senses, and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell that it was early morning, and that I was in a bed of some kind.
Was… was it just a dream? I asked myself. And if it was, how much of it was a dream? Certainly not the entire past year, and it would be unlikely to even be more than a couple of days, but if so, then how did I get back in bed if I hadn't returned home yet? Wait… maybe I did, and I completely forgot it as part of my dream. It's unlikely, but possible… more possible than it not being a dream, anyways.
I continued to lie there with my eyes closed for several seconds. I think I'm just going to sleep in some more. After all, it's summer. With my eyes still closed, I turned over on to my side, when I felt something odd… like my butt being larger than normal and brushing against the blankets.
No, I told myself. It couldn't be. I twitched a couple of muscles in my behind, and sure enough, I felt an extension of my rear lightly swish underneath the sheets. Finally, I opened my eyes.
I didn't recognize the room I was in: it had a sort of rustic look to it, like that of a log cabin. The sheets of the bed I was in were pulled almost to my head and the smell of pine needles eradiated from them. I reluctantly threw the sheets back, and looked down at my body. The sight of the furry tail between my legs confirmed it; I was still a fox! It hadn't been a dream! And I was still wearing the clothes from yesterday for some reason.
I curled over into a prone position and thought deeply. I've done this before, but I still need to get all of the facts straight, I told myself. The wormhole dropped me off in the middle of a desert, I turned into a fox, walked for several miles, found out I was on some kind of floating island, accidentally fall off of it, and just as I thought I was going to die, Knuckles the Echidna saves me. Am… am I on Mobius? My body tensed up and I started to scream internally. How? I asked myself. How is that even possible?
I slowly shook my head. Alright Chris, I thought, just keep it together, man. Gotta keep it together. Yes, the entire thing is insane, but you've got to just fly with it for now. I slowly came to my senses again, or as close as I could, considering that I WAS A FREAKING FOX!
I quickly calmed myself down again and looked around the room I was in more carefully. I saw that my backpack and rifle case were tucked neatly away in a corner; a nice enough gesture. Next to the bed was a shelf. Most of its contents weren't particularly noteworthy, but one item caught my eye; a small picture frame. Finally gathering the courage to get out of bed, I walked over to the shelf and examined the picture more closely. The photo was of two echidnas: one looked to be very young, no older than ten; the other was much older than the other and had a greyish goatee. I figured that this picture must be of Knuckles and his father when he was much younger. What was his father's name again?
"You alright, kid?" a voice suddenly spoke.
"Ah!" I yelled as I jumped in shock. I quickly turned around and saw Knuckles standing at the door. Looks like he'd been waiting for me to wake up.
"Oh! Sorry," Knuckles apologized to me. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. Man, I really need to stop that."
I sighed with relief. "Nah, it's… it's okay," I stammered out. I guess part of me still couldn't believe all this was really happening.
"Uh, here, take this," said Knuckles, handing me a glass of water. "You should be parched after yesterday."
"Um… thank you," I responded, taking the glass from him. Knuckles was right; I was dying for a drink, and I downed almost the entire thing at once.
Knuckles chuckled. "You really were thirsting to death, weren't you?" he joked. "Anyways, I'm Knuckles. I'm the guardian of Angel Island. What's your name?" He offered his hand to me as he said this.
I squashed my instinctual answer of "I know that" and instead said, "My name's Chris," while shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"Same here," Knux responded, smiling. "Are you from around here, Chris?"
"No," I admitted while putting down the water glass. "In fact, I was actually kind of lost until you found me."
Knuckles raised an eyebrow at me. "Then how did you get on the island in the first place?" he inquired.
"Uh… it's a really long story," I told him as I looked down. "I'm not entirely sure myself, actually."
My answer didn't really seem to satisfy Knuckles, but he dropped the subject anyways. "Well, Chris, if you're lost and don't know where to go, you could always stay here until you've got something down.'
"Really?" I asked. "'Thanks! I mean, I was kind of in the middle of something, but there's no point doing that if I'm lost or dead."
Knuckles grinned. "Hey, no problem!" he confided. "Oh, and feel free to take a bath if you want to. The bathroom is just outside the room." With that, he walked out the door.
I paused for a second before taking a sniff of my arm. Yech, the stench was awful, and this is coming from a guy who can't tell if his own breath smells bad. I decided to take Knuckles' second offer as well. I quickly searched through my backpack for the bar of soap I brought, as well as a change of clothing, and I walked out of the room.
.***.
Knuckles was right; the bathroom was right across from the bedroom I was in. It was a neat little bathroom, with the same log-cabin décor the other room had, and the same outdoorsy-pine needle scent filled the room. I started to fill the bathtub and began to strip when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had only taken a quick glance yesterday before going into a panic attack, but now that I was much more calm, I could study how I looked more efficiently.
My body was indeed covered with fur from head to toe. The majority of it was a rusty orange colour, but sections of it, such as on my chest, my muzzle, the insides of my ears, and the tip of my tail, were a light grey. They had a kind of dull-silver look to them. I swished my tail a couple of times and shuddered; it still felt really weird having an extension of my spine like that.
I saw my new, vulpine ears on the top of my head, parting my hair. That was the strangest thing in my opinion; I still had my messy, chestnut hair, reaching the back of my neck. I wasn't really sure if it fit my look. My eyes, even though they were larger now, still had the same hazel-green colour to them, and I still looked as if I never got a lot of sleep. At least something hadn't changed.
I shook my head as I finished stripping and turned off the tap. I tested the bathwater; nice and warm, just how I like it. I jumped into it and began to relax. As I washed myself, I thought, Well Chris, even if you're in an odd universe where everything breaks the laws of reality, there's still always warm baths to make you feel better. Still, I can't help but feel disappointed. I mean, this was the perfect chance for me to be genre savvy, and instead of becoming a Sonic nerd like Erin did, I instead wasted all of my time playing rhythm games, and here I am, knowing almost nothing about the Sonic universe.
When I finished my bath, I got out of the tub and started to dry myself, which took quite a while for obvious reasons. I changed into the spare clothes I had brought along: another white t-shirt (I really like those things) and a pair of tan cargo pants. I had a little difficulty getting my tail through the hole in the pants (I still found that weird), but overall, I was ready within five minutes.
I picked up the pile of dirty clothing lying on the floor and stepped out of the bathroom. As I walked into the hallway, I almost crashed into Knuckles.
"Whoa! Easy there, pal," Knuckles chuckled as we both stepped back. "Don't flatten me."
"Oh, sorry, Knuckles," I quickly apologized. "Maybe I should look where I'm going more often. And once again, thank you so much for everything you've done."
"Hey, the golden rule, right?" responded Knuckles. "Don't worry about it!"
"Um… you wouldn't happen to know where I'd be able to get these clothes washed, would you?" I asked, referring to the pile of dirty clothes in my arms.
"Oh," Knuckles said while staring at the pile. "Yeah, I guess I know somewhere you could put them. Follow me." He started to walk down the hall, and I followed close behind. "By the way, Chris, I never asked," Knux suddenly chimed up. "Where were you heading, anyways?"
"Uh, really nowhere in particular," I admitted as I walked along behind him. "I was just searching for a friend when I got lost."
"A friend?" Knuckles asked me, intrigued.
"Yeah," I admitted, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "She went missing a while ago and… crap." Something fell out of the jeans' pocket; it was the photo of Erin and I, and it landed face down on the floor. At least it hadn't gone through the wash.
"Eh?" Knuckles asked, turning around, and he saw the photo on the ground. "What's this?" He picked it up and looked at it.
"Oh, that's just a picture of myself and that friend I was talking about," I explained. "It's a few years old but I like keeping it around." Knuckles didn't answer; he just continued to stare at it. "What's wrong?" I asked.
Knuckles blinked and plainly stated, "I know her."
"What?" I asked.
"I said I know her," Knuckles responded without looking up. "I know your friend."
I dropped the clothes I was carrying. "Are… are you serious?" I asked in an almost demanding voice.
"Yes," he answered, finally looking up. "I met her years ago, when I was a kid. She's a very nice girl. Actually, I saw her again just a couple of weeks ago."
I stared blankly at Knuckles for several seconds, my mind completely blank. I'm not even sure how long I stood there. All I know is that I snapped out of it when Knuckles said, "Chris? Are you alright?"
I shook my head slowly. "I… I'll be fine," I said. "W…where is she now?"
"She told me she was going to be staying with Sonic," Knuckles replied.
"Woah, woah, woah, hold on a minute," I interrupted. "She's staying with Sonic? You mean the Sonic? The hedgehog?"
"Uh, yeah, why?" Knuckles answered.
I shook my head again. "This whole day has just been completely mind-blowing," I muttered.
"Not really," Knuckles replied, overhearing me.
"Alright," I said, finally pulling myself together. "Knux, could you listen for a second? I have to say right now that I know virtually nothing about the geography of this world. You told me Erin's with Sonic right? The problem is, I have no idea where they are. I need to find Erin. That's the entire reason I'm here in the first place, and I need your help. I need to find her now!"
"Whoa, Chris, calm down!" Knuckles told me, gently grabbing me by the shoulders. "I understand what you're getting at, but do you really think you're going to find her just by rushing off again?"
It was just then that I noticed I was hyperventilating. I calmly got my breath under control. "I'm sorry, Knuckles," I responded once I was calm again. "It's just… I'm just really concerned about her, that's all."
"Hey, don't fret about it!" Knux assured me, and he gave me a warming smile. "I understand completely. It's just that you looked like you were on the verge of collapsing out in Sandopolis, and I don't want that happening to you again. I'm just suggesting that you stay here for a while, rest up and get nourished. After that, I'll help you find Erin in any way that I can."
I smiled. "Alright, thanks Knux," I responded. It was then that I noticed I had dropped my dirty clothes. "Oh, whoops. I guess we forgot about getting all of this stuff clean."
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that.," Knuckles admitted when he saw the clothes. "Just follow me, and I'll take care of them."
"Once again, thanks, Knuckles," I said, and with that, I picked up the pile of clothing and followed him down the hall.
Closing Notes: Now shit is REALLY getting serious. Knux knows who Erin is? What the hell is going on? Stay tuned to find out... and please critique.
