Authors Note: Hello everyone, HistoricasLP here. For awhile now I've been working on this story with a friend of mine by the name of KyandisCreations, so go check out her channel to read some of her awesome stories! I also have a few stories of my own in the works, including a Girls Und Panzer story that should be coming out soon. That being said, enjoy the story! Disclaimer, neither me nor Kyandi own Dr. Stone.
Chapter 1 Seeing Green
Exotic trips to foreign lands. Every eleven-year-old dreamed of their parents taking them on trips to countries far away, to see sights they had never seen before. Keladry Archer was no different. A rambunctious youth, Keladry, or Kel as she preferred to be called, had grown up with full access to an animal reservation in the countryside of Texas. A friend to all animals, big and small, Kel now found herself in the bustling city of Tokyo, holding tightly to her father's hand as she stared at anything and everything with wide, dark aquamarine blue eyes.
"Oh! Daddy, look!" Yanking on the roughened hand she held on to, the small, thin child dragged the large man towards a store with an array of shiny toys in the windows. Small dolls, fluffy stuffed animals, building blocks and more were laid on full display for all those passing to see. But it was none of the above that drew Kel's gaze. "Lookie at the skateboard, Daddy!"
Kel, her small face pressed into the glass, stared inside at the small, simple skateboard sitting among the other toys. Her father chuckled as he watched his daughter make fish-faces in the glass. "You really like skateboards, don'tcha?"
"Uh-huh." The feel of the wind in her short, red hair, the thrill that raced throughout her body whenever she landed a trick…Kel loved everything about skateboarding. Even when she ended up with two skinned knees and a beat-up face. "Can I get it?"
Another chuckle sounded over her head. "Maybe. If you're good. For now, Daddy has business to see to at the zoo."
While Kel wanted to pout, her father would just see that as her throwing a fit, which would mean no skateboard for her. Kel fixed a big grin on her face and looked up at her father, her nose red from being pressed into the glass. "Okay, Daddy!"
One large hand softly patted her head, making Kel's grin widen even more at the silent praise. Kel threw one longing look back over her shoulder at the skateboard, eyeing its orange-painted surface as her father lead her away from the store front. All she had to do was mind her manners, be a good girl for her father while he went about his business, and she would have herself a brand-new skateboard to show off to the animals back home. Just the thought put an extra spring in her step as she skipped along at her father's side, humming Texas Lullaby softly to herself.
Kel found her eyes wandering all around them, taking in the faces of the many people passing her by. So many people, some looking completely different from the people back home. Everywhere she looked, she saw more and more people. Kel couldn't imagine being able to go anywhere in Japan without tons of people nearby.
She followed her father through the streets, oh-ing and aw-ing at the many different sights she passed. Their first stop of the day was the nearby zoo. As the owner and manager of an animal reservation, her father made it his daily job and passion to scour the world in search of animals in need of a new home, a safer home. Today's soon-to-be new inhabitant of Angel Archer Acres was an old mountain lion from the zoo they were visiting. With the lion getting on in his years, the zoo was looking to relocate the lion in favor of replacing him with a younger one.
Kel felt bad for the big kitty cat, sad that he was being forced to leave his home, but she was more than happy to greet him as a new member of her constantly growing horde of a family. Kel loved animals, her father, a single parent after the untimely death of her mother, raising her along-side animals of all kinds. Walking into the zoo, to the myriad calls of different animals, was like walking out of her front door back home. Various animals greeted her with their unique calls, Kel beaming back at them brightly.
Her father led her down the paths, heading from the front gate towards a building in the back where the security guards and staff took their breaks. There, they met with a man who had her father sign tons of paperwork. Kel wasn't interested in that, her eyes glued to the security screens and the many animals the cameras were focused on. She could see monkeys, polar bears, birds of many kinds, and there, in the lower left-hand corner, she found the footage of an old, aging lion. Kel leaned over the tabletop, straining to get closer to the screen.
"Excuse me, are you looking at the lion?"
Slightly confused because her Japanese was still sketchy at best, Kel blinked up at the Japanese man now standing behind her. Her eyes turned to her father, who chuckled, translating for her. "He's asking if you're looking at the lion."
"Oh!" Kel's face lit up in a smile and she nodded vigorously. "Yes!"
The man gave a hearty laugh at her eagerness and offered to show them to the lion's habitat. Kel happily followed the man, her father trailing close behind, excited to meet her new friend. Reaching the lion's habitat, Kel quickly approached the bars around the habitat, peering in at the lion beyond.
"Be careful, he's dangerous."
The only word of the warning Kel understood clearly, was "dangerous", but she couldn't possibly see this lion as being dangerous. The poor creature was old, his thinning pelt threaded through with grey hairs. He was almost skin and bones, looking like could barely stand, let alone maul a person to death. Even when the lion opened his green-yellow eyes, looking right at her, he didn't even bother with trying to raise his head up off of his paws. To Kel, he looked sad, sick even.
"Daddy, is he okay? He doesn't look very good."
Kel's father crouched down next to her, laying a big hand on her head as he joined her in staring at the lion with eyes the same blue as hers. "He's old, jellybean. Probably only has a few years left in him at best." The thought made her sad, thinking of losing her new friend before she had even made one. "Don't worry, though. We'll take him home, get him all nice and cozy, and fatten him up real good. You'll help me with that, right, jellybean?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. Then say goodbye to your new friend for now. They'll get him all ready to go and send him back home for us. You can see him again there."
Kel nodded, turning back to the bars. "Bye, bye, Mr. Lion. I'll make sure you have a really nice home with us." Kel waved to the lion before her father led her away. They spent a little time letting the man show them around the zoo, Kel marveling at all the animals, some of which she had never seen in person before. After seeing all of the animals they could reasonably fit in before her father had to return to the hotel for a conference call, Kel followed her father away from the zoo. It was a nice, warm afternoon and judging from all the kids in school uniforms she now saw on the street, Kel made the guess that school was out.
She stared at all the different uniforms as some kids headed home or out with friends after school. Kel remembered her father telling her that all Japanese school kids wore uniforms after entering middle school. When she had thought about uniforms, she had thought about the khakis and polo shirts that some schools in Texas made their students wear. Seeing the different colored and patterned skirts, bright bows, and stockings, Kel found herself wishing Texas uniforms were the same way. Kel even came to a stop, staring as one teenager approached a vending machine in a long line of them, each one selling something different. Back home, she had seen vending machines that sold drinks, snacks, and ready go food like sandwiches, but she had never seen a vending machine that sold hot foot, cigarettes, and various other things that Kel had only seen in stores. Only her father pulling lightly on her hand got her moving once more, still staring over her shoulder at the intriguing machines that were every day appliances among the Tokyo streets.
Suddenly, Kel collided with the back of her father's legs when he came to a quick stop. "Daddy? What's wron-" Kel trailed off, her eyes widening as she looked up at her father and caught sight of the very thing that had frozen him in his tracks. There, lighting up the afternoon sky, was a light so bright, Kel could only compare it with the sun. She squinted her eyes, trying not to blind herself with he light and went to shade her eyes, only realizing then that her limbs were stiffening, unable to move. It felt like she had something holding her firmly in place.
And then the darkness stole the light from her eyes.
Kel wasn't sure how long she stood there like that, her eyes blackened and unable to move. To pass the time, she started with naming off each and every animal her father had let her give names to. With the sheer size of Angel Archer Acres, that was a long list of animals. When she finished that list, she started singing every song she knew the lyrics to, easily making her way through the hundreds of country CDs her father had collected over the years. When she ran out of songs to sing in her head, Kel began to worry. Was she going to be stuck like that forever? Not actually living, but not dying either? Would she ever see her beloved animals again? Would she ever get that skateboard that her father had promised her? Would she ever get to speak to her father again? So many questions flew through her head. In the end, all she could think of to do was start her list all over again, going through all the animals she knew about and everything her father had ever told her about.
From the time she could walk, her father had taught her how to make friends of all of God's furry creatures. He taught her how to tame them, to get them to befriend her. Kel made her way through all the different animals and everything she knew about them, right down to the new lion who would soon be a part of their large, furry family. The thought of the old lion made her giddy and happy once more and made her even more determined to find a way to break free of whatever held her captive to that spot.
How long had passed became more and more questionable to Kel, the young girl wondering just how many years or decades had past when suddenly, a crack appeared. That first hint of light in God only knew how long grew, more and more cracks appearing until Kel felt the tight grip around her body release. Taking in a deep breath, Kel sat up, sunlight assaulting her eyes. Raising a hand to shield her eyes, Kel blinked away the white spots across her vision. It was only once they were gone that she was able to see around her.
Everything had changed.
No longer was she in the middle of a bustling city, her father right beside her. Now she sat in a cave covered in moss, the steady dripping of something from the craggy ceiling above echoing throughout the cave. Looking up, Kel could only make out the little bodies of a dozen or so bats. Stumbling to her feet in order to get a closer look, Kel became distracted, instead, by the world beyond the cave entrance. Hurrying towards the cave opening, Kel froze in awe, staring in wonder at the world before her.
Tall trees reaching up to the clear sky above, stone statues peeking up from mounds of moss and grass. She could see tall stone towers poking up here and there that she was sure had not been there when her sight had gone black. All around her she could hear the chirped song of birds or the constant buzzing of bugs going about their daily lives. It was pretty, but, at the same time, Kel couldn't help but wonder where she was and what had happened to her father. Too curious to contain herself, Kel started wandering through the trees, wide eyes darting back and forth in their task of looking at everything. Carefully picking her way over roots and through bushes, Kel tried to figure out where she was and where she should go from there.
She had no idea where she was going and ended up just wandering from one spot to the other. Kel stuck her head in tree hallows, peeling back moss to peer underneath at the stone statues. A few times she was startled by a bug suddenly jumping in her face or a small animal darting past her. She even came to a stop in awe when she looked up to find monkeys eyeing her from the tree limbs above her head. Kel waved happily at the monkeys, who took off, casting looks back at her like they were disturbed by her. Kel couldn't figure out what she could have done to deserve that, but she shrugged her shoulders and continued on, wandering idly without an idea of where she was going.
Then she heard it.
Over the noise of the forest around her came the sound of a tree falling, crashing to the ground with a loud thud. Kel even felt the ground under her feet shudder. Curious as to what had caused one of the mighty trees around her to fall, Kel headed in the direction she thought it came from. She scrambled over tall tree roots, ignoring the scrape of bark against her bare skin. She hoped that, upon finding where the noise had come from, she would find someone, anyone, who could tell her what had happened. Seeing a clearing up ahead of her, Kel hurried forward. She tripped a few times, feeling tree limbs catch in her hair, but she made it to the clearing, and immediately yanked back, falling back on her butt when a large tree trunk came swinging through the air.
Falling, her bottom colliding painfully with the dirt, Kel squeaked, "Killer tree!" Wide, blue eyes stared as the tree swung around to reveal the person currently carrying it. Kel's eyes traveled up over the thin woman with bronze skin, her form clothed in an outfit made up of poorly stitched rawhide. Dark brown hair was tied back with a strip of hide, dark eyes looking down at Kel in an incredulous gaze, one eyebrow even raising in questioning. Crack-like marks formed an "x" over one of those dark eyes. As far as Kel could tell, the woman couldn't be any taller than five feet, four. She was tiny in height, thin, not at all muscular, but there, held effortlessly on her shoulder with one arm…was a huge tree trunk about three feet in diameter and twenty feet in length.
What kind of She-Hulk had Kel ran into?
END
Kyandi: Just to let you guys know, Kel is the character I made.
Kel: The She-Hulk she ran into is the first of HistoricasLP's characters.
Kyandi: You heard right…we have multiple semi-main characters we'll be bringing to life.
Kel: And we're all nutjobs!
Kyandi: I think a few of them will beg to differ, Kel. You're the nutjob.
Kel: Well…can you blame me?
Kyandi: Not in the least. With that, everyone please enjoy and review.
Kel: We'll return as soon as we can.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!
