Sleepy Peak Forest, 0.1km Southwest of Camp Campbell, 6:13am, the day after the Anomaly
Tangle groaned groggily as she woke, the sea of green leaves above her creating a kaleidoscope for her sleepy eyes. Blinking into focus, she noticed Belle standing over her with a concerned look on her face.
"Are you alright, Tangle?" Belle asked her.
"What time is it?" Tangle asked. "And where are we?"
"It's morning. You've been out for the past 17 hours."
"Sheesh. Must have been quite a hit we took, huh?" Tangle replied as she sat up.
"Actually, I think it's more than that." Belle replied. "Look where we are." Tangle looked down around her and looked at the trees and came to the same conclusion.
"You're right. These don't look like the trees we normally see. And the grass is different, too." Tangle observed.
"Up here." came a whisper from up in the trees.
"Whisper?" Tangle looked up and saw that indeed, it was the namesake wolf that had called for her. She and Belle followed Whisper to a secure spot in the tree which had a view of a clearing in the forest. Tangle peered at the clearing Whisper was staring at. Within the clearing was a circle of tents and a group of children queueing in front of the mess hall.
"Looks like a summer camp to me." Tangle confirmed. "Although none of the kids resemble anyone on our world."
"We must be in theirs, then." Belle deduced. "Something must have happened with the Chaos Emeralds."
"I'm pretty sure it was a chain reaction of some kind." Tangle agreed.
"Should we show ourselves?" Belle asked.
"No. we stay hidden." Whisper implored.
"Probably best not to surprise them." Tangle reasoned, turning back to face the others.
"We should find food, and shelter." Belle warned. "Last night we were okay, but I sense we may have some inclement weather soon."
"Alright. I'll handle the food. Belle, I trust you and Whisper can use your tools to build a treehouse for us to sleep in?" Tangle responded.
"I can do that. Does that sound like a good plan to you?" Belle looked up at whisper, who gave her a smile and an approving nod."
"See ya!" Tangle waved.
"Watch out for quadrupeds!" Belle warned her as she left.
"Quadrupeds?" Tangle thought to herself as she searched. "What does she mean by that?" No sooner had she thought that when she came across a platypus right in front of her, staring at her suspiciously.
"Muack." It uttered, stopping her in her tracks.
"Oh, I guess she meant you. Didn't see you there. Mind letting me through?" Tangle asked. It hissed at her and raised itself on its hind legs, ready to kick her.
"I guess not." Tangle smiled at it, coiling her tail onto the branch of one of the trees and swinging her way past the aggressive monotreme.
There were no shortage of trees or bushes to pick fruit from, but Tangle, unfamiliar with the botany of the world she found herself in, had to rely on her wits to seek out what fruit was safe to eat. She stopped to look at a shrub adorned all over with red berries, and whilst she was certainly tempted, she chose not to, deciding that a shrub being completely untouched at this time of year meant it was probably poisonous.
Fortunately, she didn't have to go very far to find fruit she recognised. A small group of apple trees stood amongst the other trees in the forest, ripe and ready to eat. Fashioning a basket out of leaves and some vines, she picked as many apples as she could carry from the trees and began to make her way back.
By the time Tangle made it back to her friends, Belle had built a frame for the logs, which Whisper had assembled up in her tree.
"Did you cut those down?" Tangle asked.
"Yes?" Belle replied in confusion, assuming that would have been obvious.
"No, I meant did you cut any trees down to make that?"
"Thankfully no. I only took a few branches from some of the larger trees. Whisper and I were planning to use the smaller branches, twigs and leaves for the roof." Belle explained.
"Have we been noticed?" Tangle asked, looking towards Whisper, who shook her head.
"The kids went inside to have breakfast, so I've been able to get away with sawing these logs down. We should be finished in a few hours." Belle explained.
"Need me to help with anything?" Tangle asked.
"I might need some help carrying these." Belle replied, motioning at her skinny wooden arms. With that, the three of them started building the treehouse as best they could. With all three of them working at once, it wasn't long before they had finished the floor. By now, however, the kids had finished their breakfast and were heading back outside.
"They're back. Down tools." Whisper commanded. Belle and Tangle stopped what they were doing and hopped up to the unfinished treehouse as Tangle picked out an apple each from the basket.
"Time for a break?" Tangle suggested, handing Whisper and Belle an apple, and taking a bite out of her own.
"I guess?" Belle replied, somewhat perplexed. While Whisper and Tangle were enjoying their food, Belle stared at her apple like she was analysing a specimen.
"Oh, is there something wrong?" Tangle asked her as the lemur finished her apple.
"Oh, nothing's wrong. It's just that I don't eat food. I'm a robot, remember?"
"Oh, sorry. I forgot." Tangle apologised while looking fairly embarrassed with herself, drawing a small chuckle from Whisper. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you eat, uh, energy wise?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself." Belle replied. "I have a feeling it might be related to the sunlight, but I wouldn't want to open myself up to find out. Starline already did that to me, and I really don't want to think about that ever again."
"Asking Eggman would also be out of the question." Tangle added.
"Precisely." Belle replied.
Having finished her apple, Whisper returned to looking out at the camp. The kids had headed off to the lake, presumably for a morning activity of some kind, she deduced.
"They're gone again." Whisper spoke.
"Good. We can get building again." Tangle replied. The trio continued to build the treehouse, assembling each of the four walls out of the wood they had already cut, and within a couple of hours, all that was needed was the roof. Belle had been busy weaving the vines and leaves together while Whisper and Tangle did the heavy lifting. The campers had still not returned by the time Belle had finished, and Tangle made a show of having all three of them drape the roof over a branch that hung above the treehouse.
"There, finished!" Tangle stared proudly at their handiwork.
"It's a nice place." Whisper managed to say.
"Oh it's perfect for you." Tangle replied, looking at her while the wolf wagged her tail. "It even overlooks the camp so you can watch over them."
"That was the idea, was it not?" Belle replied.
"I guess so. I guess I… overlooked that." Tangle joked.
"Overlook is a good name." Whisper suggested in a hushed tone.
"That's a good idea." Tangle replied. "You like the name, Belle?"
"It works." Belle replied, happy to go along with it.
"The Overlook it is!" Tangle announced to the other two. "Now what shall we do next?"
"Make some apple crumble?" Belle suggested.
"Sounds delicious." Tangle agreed, as they sat in the Overlook to think about how they would make it.