Distant Horizons
This story takes place long after Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, and Robotnik. It is based off of the Cartoons universe. And now, I present Chapter 1 of Distant Horizons
If you haven't done so already, please read the Prologue.
Chapter 1 – A Vixen in distress
Morning came and Jon woke up. He felt great after a nice refreshing sleep. He stretched his arms, before getting out of bed, and then he got dressed and headed off to the great ceremonial house for breakfast. He headed down the path leading from his hut to the great ceremonial house and Jon's keen sense of smell picked up what was for breakfast; the sweet smell of apples and berries which was Jon's favorite. As Jon got closer to the large longhouse in the center of the coven village where he lived he grew hungrier.
He was quite excited about his new journey and nervous at the same time. It is a chance to see Mobius, on the other hand he would have to leave the coven, the place where he lived for most of his life, (his parents sent him to the coven when he was young to fulfill a prophecy, that Jon was the one to save mobius from the ultimate evil) and was he ready to face such an evil power.
'I have to trust The Elder One,' Jon thought to himself. 'He would not send me on such an important mission unless he knew I was ready for it, but still…' Jon took a deep breath as he entered the grand ceremonial house. He didn't want to look nervous or afraid in front of the coven.
"Welcome, young Jon," the elder fox said as Jon approached the breakfast table, "I take it you've had a good rest."
"Yes, my elder," Jon replied.
"I've prepared for you all the tools you will need for you're trip: Ancient Fox Magic which is one of my favorite books. It is a very handy resource if you are looking to practice your powers while on the move. A protective crystal, for keeping away dark energies, a Swiss-army knife I received from a human friend of mine, some rope, and a jug good for holding water. We also have a gift for you." The elder fox gave Jon Lupus a box with a Japanese symbol on the lid. Jon opened the lid to the box to reveal a set of shurikens, or throwing stars. Shurikens were always Jon's favorite weapon. He remembered watching the other members use the shurikens to catch food, when he'd go with them on hunting excursions. They were so fast and so discreet; they looked like the perfect weapon and he had always wanted a set of them himself.
The elder fox said, "These Shurikens will come in handy, and you can use them in conjunction with your energy blasts to create a extremely powerful attack. Now let's feast! This is young Jon's last meal with us so we've made his favorite, apples and assorted berries. Enjoy!"
Everyone began to feast. Jon noticed that the fruits and berries were a lot better than before. The berries were juicy and sweet like nectar and the apples were delicious too.
When everyone was finished, the elder made one last announcement, "Jon, I hope you enjoyed your stay with us. You will always be a member of this coven and we all look forward to your safe and triumphant return."
"Thank you, Elder, for everything. I must be off now," Jon answered. "But how will I know where to go?"
"Oh, I almost forgot," The elder fox exclaimed. "I have one last gift for you. LeSabre, get me the jewel of four moons."
"Yes, my elder!" a middle aged, red fox replied. He then went over to a chest in the back of the great ceremonial house, opened it up and took out a purple velvet bag. He then presented the bag to Jon Lupus.
"Thanks, LeSabre," Jon answered. Jon reached into the bag and pulled out a palm-sized emerald.
"It looks like a chaos emerald," Jon said.
"It looks like it, doesn't it," the elder fox replied, "But it is not. The chaos emeralds are hidden on the Great Floating Island and well guarded by the echidnas. This gem is the Jewel of four Moons. Its energies are similar to that of the shards of the Stone of Alopex, as the emerald will give off a glow when you are close to a shard. You need to find all thirteen shards, because the energies hidden in the stone will awaken your hidden latent energy, which you will need if you want to have any chance of defeating this new evil. And if Robotnik gets a hold of them, he will be unstoppable. Now go!"
"Thank you, Elder, for everything," Jon replied. With that said Jon left the grand ceremonial house and headed off on the trail out of the coven. Jon held the jewel in his hand and looked into it; he noticed a faint glowing arrow inside of the emerald pointing forward.
'This thing looks like some sort of magical compass,' Jon thought to himself as he proceeded in the direction the arrow is pointing.
"I sure hope I trained him enough," the elder fox said, as he watched Jon Lupus slowly disappear into the distant horizon.
Jon walked at a steady pace up the hill just outside of the coven. As he walked away he remembered his home there. He remembered that on top of that hill at night you can see so many stars at night, and he recalled his strength training of running up and down the hill. His favorite memory was sledding down the hill in winter when the snow has fallen.
'I'm sure gunna miss this place,' Jon thought to himself as he reached the top of the hill and looked back down on all the little huts and the great ceremonial longhouse. As Jon headed down the opposite side of the hill he could sense a sadness coming from the distance.
Curious to know what happened, Jon ran forward through the dense forest, dodging the trees and bushes as he went. Suddenly he stopped. It felt like he had walked into some strange shield. Jon then hid behind a tree to see what was going on.
Sitting in a grassy knoll in the distance, there was a young vixen who was crying. She had soft yellow fur and long red hair. She was a fennec fox and she had big ears and a slender body, which was characteristic of her species. She was wearing a black skirt and a black tank top, and she was wearing high black boots with red straps.
'It's a Vixen in distress,' Jon thought to himself. A closer look would reveal that there were rocks and particles floating around her. This was no ordinary vixen, for she had the power of telekinesis, (A/N: for those who don't know, telekinesis is the power to move things by means of only mental will power.)
As Jon was moving slowly to go see what's wrong, he brushed up against a bush near the tree. Suddenly the vixen turned around and looked to see who was there.
"Who goes there?" the vixen yelled. She was sniffing, panting and crying and she had a look of fear on her face. "Stay back! Please! Stay Back!" she cried.
"Don't worry; I'm not here to hurt you, maybe I can help if you tell me what's wrong?" Jon replied as he approached her slowly.
"How do I know you're not one of the rest!" the vixen yelled. Suddenly the earth began to shake and two trees next to the vixen began to uproot and rise off the ground. Then the two trees launched forward towards Jon Lupus. Jon jumped up, just barely dodging the two trees she launched at him.
"Please, I don't want to hurt you! I'm only here to help," Jon exclaimed softly. He landed on his feet gracefully before another set of trees were suddenly flung at Jon. He managed to dodge the first one, but he was struck by the second. Jon hit the ground hard. The vixen took out an arrow out of her quiver before notching it, and drawing back the bowstring, she took aim at Jon
'I'm not here to hurt you,' Jon telepathically communicated to the vixen, 'I want to help. You have to trust me.'
All of a sudden the vixen, as if she realized that Jon was speaking the truth, lowered her bow and went down on her knees, crying even more. She then cried, "Help me, I can't control my powers. I just don't know what gets over me. It feels like there's somebody else inside of me."
"What is your name?" Jon asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the vixen replied, "My name is Talia, Talia Ahlzar. I was from the village of Tahnerais."
"My name is Jon Lupus," Jon replied, "I thought that place burned down. That was some accident; over half of the population perished."
"Yes, all of my family, and all of my friends are gone," Talia said. "It was a year ago, when my powers developed. At first it was fun, and I impressed people by moving small objects across a table. Soon I could move larger objects and I could even fly a small distance. But eventually my powers grew more powerful than I could control. It's like there's a separate entity inside of me, which feeds off my anger and sorrow. And it's growing. I'm afraid that one day it may take me over."
"I think I can help," Jon replied. "Let me have that necklace for a moment. I think I can charge it with a certain energy that will suppress your dark side"
"Ummm… sure," Talia replied uncertainly. She had stopped crying and looked long and hard at Jon before complying. She handed over her necklace, which was a long red crystal tied to a thick string. Jon took the crystal in his hand and closed his eyes as he began to concentrate. Suddenly, a glowing red aura appeared in his hand and around the crystal necklace. Then the glowing aura went into the crystal until only the crystal remained glowing.
"As long as you wear this necklace, you're powers will be in your control and your dark side will never surface when you get angry or upset," Jon said as he handed the necklace back to Talia.
"Thank you!" Talia said excitedly. "So tell me more about you, Jon."
Jon sat down on the soft grass in the knoll "I am part of a coven of thirteen fox magicians. Our goal is to maintain the peace in the forest as well as the balance of power throughout Mobius. You remember Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Robotnik, right?"
"Yes, Robotnik was the one who robotocized my great grandfather," Talia exclaimed, "And Sonic was the great hero who defeated him."
"Well, Robotnik has returned and his spirit has merged with the essence of evil and has grown extremely powerful. I'm on a quest to locate the pieces of the Stone of Alopex in order to gain the power to defeat him and fulfil a prophecy made by Sonic's sidekick, Tails. I have the jewel of four moons to help me find the stone shards and in my quest, when I found you crying," Jon replied as he took out his pentagram necklace from under his jacket and studied it.
"Can I join your quest?" Talia asked. "As you can tell, I'm all alone." Talia's ears lowered.
"Sure you can," Jon replied. Talia's ears rose and Jon saw she had a look of excitement on her face. "I could use a friend as it gets lonely travelling alone."
"I know the feeling… Thank you!" Talia cried. She was excited about her new journey and her new friend. She had been alone and had been persecuted for so long that now that she finally found somebody who wasn't chasing after her, she was happy to have finally made a friend.
Back to Prologue
Continue to Chapter 2