A/N: This is a story I'm writing at the behest of my good pal Eway4, a fellow writer on here! It's as much their story as it is mine with them giving the ideas and me interpreting and fleshing them out. It's also part theirs 'cuz they hired me to write it BUT it'd still be part theirs even if they didn't decide to commission me.
When Arle Nadja of the World of Sorcery felt powdery sand beneath her fingers while waking from a nap, she was sure to rise to bright smiles, beaming rays of light, the crisp smell of an unpolluted ocean, and her best friend Carbuncle—a small, yellow rabbit-like creature with stubby limbs and a red gem on its forehead. It wasn't rare for a sense of pride and relief to go alongside them; pride in stopping another scheme fueled by the Dark Prince's overambitious ego, and relief that she doesn't have to see him for another week. She sometimes wished he was sane enough to hang out with, but since she had a host of good friends to hang out with, Arle could live without that bothersome prince.
This time, however, was different, at least outside of Arle's brown head of hair.
Ooo… now THAT was a good dream and really long rest…
The 16-year-old girl thought as she weakly started pushing herself up from the sand. She couldn't tell whether there was sand in her eyes or a massive buildup of eye crust.
After she sat up, shook her hands free of grime and wiped her eyes, she still couldn't tell her surroundings, but sensed a lack of happy laughter and pleasant splashing in the shoreline.
Maybe I slept too long and most people left… After a long sweep of the bright shore as her vision cleared up, she realized nobody was around her. More shockingly, she didn't even recognize the leafy jungle trees she was around, nor remembered there being an island visible from the shoreline.
"W-wait, did I- H-ack!" Arle roughly shot billows of sand from her mouth; with it formerly under her tongue, between her teeth, and almost down her throat, it felt better ejecting the coarse particles than it did with them resting inside her mouth, despite the burning pains.
She wished she could go back to not feeling anything; now was not the time to be distracted. With her eyes now watering—partially from the force of her coughs—Arle whipped her head in all directions.
"CARBY?! CARBY! CARBY? ACK-" Some of the sand she thought was by her shoe's soles found their way from her cheeks into her eyes. She instinctively reached for her eyes, only to get more beach dust into her tired face.
"I… I need to- AHH!" Her head hit the ground, a sudden spike in pain throwing her head back. Though, what troubled her more was not knowing if Carbuncle was safe or not.
Despite her bodily protests, Arle slowly got on her hands, then her knees, then on her partially toasted right leg, and finally, she pushed herself fully upwards with a heavy sigh.
I need to find Carbuncle! He hopefully didn't wander off too far…
As she shook her head and rapidly blinked to get as much sand out of her eyes as possible, she was forced to acknowledge the first step in her ultimate goal.
"M-mayb- Wheeze Maybe he followed th- Khoff this path here…"
I'm… finding water before I speak again.
Arle was not forced to accept this first step, however.
A talented mage in a dark blue cloak, gray adventurer's boots, and cyan hair let out another irate sigh as he plunged the Dark Sword, which symbolized his legion to dark magic, into another small animal creature. This one was a miniature, silver rabbit with white-blue fur on its body, patches of white fur on its stomach and hands, and a very bushy tail. It gave off its last shriek of agony before passing away in the mage's arms.
"I cannot seem to last any significant amount of time under these blankets of chaos." He eyes the fur and crimson stains of blood on his blade as blue wispy energy leaves the rabbit and travels up his sword, then into his right hand.
"Anytime I have a plan to make that girl mine… POW!" He timed his words with a blast of dark energy from his right palm, which knocked a sickly, blue chick with an oversized head off from the third branch to his right. "Another world seems to beg for me to come within its strangle-hold. I doubt this is luck anymore."
The Dark Wizard lept from the overgrown cobblestone path he had been trailing on over to the fallen bird who hit their head on its effective tombstone on the way down.
"And now, instead of fulfilling my sworn duty to myself, I must go around acting as the Grim Reaper to these poor creatures…" The Dark Sword met the ground beneath the center of the bird's chest in less time than it took him to exhale. "...and am left hoping my reprieve arrives later rather than sooner so that I do not need to sit through more… Eugh…"
Inside the mage's mind, "wow, you speak to your teachers like that?~" came from a small girl in typical witch attire. She left just as fast as she appeared.
"Uhm… No?" said a taller but still young girl with a white shirt, blue skirt, orange hair, typically peppy eyes, and a blue chest plate while looking everywhere but at the Dark Wizard. She, too, was a fleeting apparition.
"As if I'd ever go out with YOU! Smack!" spat from a dragon girl with green hair, wings, and a green tail in a red and gold Chinese dress as she wielded her hand of steel. Although she had no real form, her attack on the mage's cheek caused him to flinch where he stood.
"The gods are not prone to folly like this… usually, but if there was a deity toying with me due to my dreams of power…" He looked through the thick overcoat of jungle leaves and oddly thick, striped vines above him. "I would not be surprised."
After this animal's energy was drained into the loathed mage's body, he took another look at the leaves above him and started plotting.
"I should have enough power to get to a better vantage point by now. From there, I should be able to think without worrying if someone will overhear me before I can discipline my tongue."
Scouting the trees—them looking unnatural but not unbelievable—he noted three sturdy branches and prepared himself for four quick leaps.
"One to the lowest branch, one to the next one, once more to the third, and then one giant leap towards the sky!"
With a Whoosh, the mage leapt 20 feet into the air, outperforming every adult who went for a degree and career stability. Once he landed on the first branch, he wasted no time flying through the stark scent of wild berries and clean air mixed with the constant clatter of forest birds and insects. Without much reason to worry after landing on the second branch, the Dark Wizard hastily adjusted his footing…
To then slip on the morning dew that coated the thinner side of the branch.
"Wh-whaaa!" The mage knew it was best to make himself upright when falling and did so; he realized could scout the area for anything to slow himself. As he passed by—and sometimes through—the layers of leaves and branches below him feet-first, he expected to find some freakishly large branch to hang onto and pull himself up, or a long, sturdy vine to burn his hands on in trade for stopping. Landing foot-first on a thick, striped green and dark green vine that curved downwards at a seemingly man-made angle did not meet his expectations, but was welcome nonetheless. It reminded him of the railing on large, andesite staircases leading up to the place he saw the Fighting Queen visit before going on a shopping spree.
"...O-okay-" His breath hitched. He was still moving, sliding towards a large downturn.
"H-how is this possible?! This is a vine, unless it's a magic bean staaaaaaallllk!" Down he went, the wind blowing canyons into his short hair as the rail started searing its likeness into the memory of the Dark Mage's feet.
"Who could've made thi-" The vine coming up made a sharp upturn and kept going up, all the way above the leaves and beyond.
Is there even enough room for my body to fit there?
Despite his doubts, the Dark Mage's feet wouldn't respond to his commands to jump to the side, even if there was nothing to catch him. Potentially needing an hour of healing magic fared better in his mind than the medical attention a crushed skeleton would require. He felt his stomach drop as soon as he felt himself being turned upwards, but even as he felt his body still in-tact, the feeling remained.
He was losing momentum fast. Without much thought, given the situation, he summoned a blast of dark magic behind him to keep himself going up. The mage thought the vine would collapse—from his weight or the force of the blast—but was left shocked as he continued up the vine, no structural failings in sight.
I cannot be on the same continent anymore! I've been around countless jungles looking for the perfect cave for my training, and none had any of this tomfoolery!
By this point, the fire beneath his feet meant nothing to him. All he could focus on was how close the blinding sunlight was getting mixed with how ludicrous he thought the current situation was. But at last, his anxieties were put to rest as he broke through the leafy overcoat and the vine ended, launching the Dark Mage into the air.
Now, his usual training took over; he quickly found a sizable treetop to rest on and shot another burst of dark energy in the opposite direction from the treetop, propelling him to his destination. He only tumbled twice as he hit the leaves before righting himself and popping up. His face perfectly reflected the absolute shock ringing in his brain.
"W-w-what was all that?!"
It's not unusual for a prince to be surrounded once he wakes up every so often. With their nigh unquestionable authority, they could order anyone not in direct service of the king to do anything, even serve as a living night doll, squeezable pillow, or to be a warm body during the winter. The Dark Prince of the Puyo Underworld, though, didn't quite like using his power like that, content without worrying about loud snores at 3am, accidental smacks against his face, and blanket-hoggers. His old pet Carbuncle, however, used to be the perfect sleepy buddy; not too small, his snores were always light and peaceful, and he was fun to snuggle up to.
Carbuncle might've squeezed the Dark Prince for extra warmth, but never as tight as who dared to invade his sleep space this time. And he didn't need to open his eyes to know the culprit. To his dismay, he spent enough time in her arms to learn her body type, where she typically wore her jewels, and how her breath hitched whenever she was close to him, even while asleep.
Oh, I told her to stop doing that. That's only for my special fiancé and precious Carbuncle!
Like always, he tried pushing her away, only to discover three things: one, they were standing, two, something physically walled them into being so close, and three, the Fighting Queen was awake enough to reflexively tighten her grip on him. Her embrace reminded him more of one of the binding spells the current owner of Carbuncle used on him more than once; wholly different than what the Dark Prince knew the Fighting Queen envisioned her hug to be.
"Nngm… Rulue… Wake up… You're… too tight," the Dark Prince grumbled as he forced his eyes open. "I told you already… My heart's not in that…" His eyes met a plethora of crazy gadgets, blinking lights, unrecognizable materials, and bright screens displaying info he couldn't even begin to understand. "...direction."
W-where are we?
"Rulue." He was jostling her now, careful not to bang her head against the cylindrical glass around them. "Rulue, get up."
"Nmm… I was hoping you'd stay asleep for longer~" the woman in a sleeveless blue vest over a white mini dress said as she looked up into the Dark Prince's crimson eyes. "Oh? Don't tell me you're so surprised at seeing your future wife in your arms, Ohoho~"
"No, we seem to have been taken somewhere while we… While we… What were we doing together anyways? I'd usually only spend time alone with my Carby and Arley."
"Oh, you must've been so lovestruck you completely forgot, my dear! We… Umm…" She was so sure of what led to their shared moment just a second earlier. "It… might've involved me beating down your castle's defenses to celebrate our anniversary of your first time courting me~"
"That wasn't 'courting.' I protected you and that's it," he corrected with nervous haste. Rulue's memory lapse had his senses on red alert; she always had a well thought out plan if she wanted to meet him.
Who could be strong enough to secretly move the both of us and-
A piercing Hiss slammed through his speculations and the Fighting Queen's fawning. They both locked their eyes to their right and saw what they thought was a wall creeping to the left and inside the surrounding gadgets. A tall, roundish silhouette on legs made itself visible after a few seconds, and every step it took towards the duo resounded through their ears. Their natural instincts went into overdrive; wisps of Rulue's latent power started collecting in her left hand as she hugged the Dark Prince harder with her right, and said Prince removed every distraction from his mind to better react if the figure pulled a trick from the darkness.
The figure stepping into the artificial light around the duo relaxed some of their tension, until they realized the person in Black pants, a red jacket, blue-tinted goggles stuck to his forehead, and an unsettlingly perfect mustache concealed his hands behind his back.
"My, you two seem like you woke with quite a fright there…" The person said, smiling ear to ear. It took the duo a moment for one of them to form a response.
"...You could say that," came from the Dark Prince. "Who are you, and how did we get here?" Now, what the Dark Prince had surmised clicked inside Rulue's head.
"You better not be the one I owe a fierce greeting to for bringing me here!" she shouted, her voice somewhat muffled through the glass.
"Whoa, calm down, one question at a time," the figure said with his hands up at his sides. "I'll start in order and explain from there. I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, leader of the Eggman Nation. You two fell like shooting stars over this land and crashed somewhere where my robots were thankfully stationed. They were able to recover you two and bring you to the nearest healing station, which is where you two are now."
Once Dr. Robotnik finished, another hiss was heard, and the glass separating the Dark Prince and Rulue from their surroundings slid up and away.
"You two sure look like the machine worked perfectly. How do you feel?"