Team Alteration: The Darker Side

03

After that flash of light, I remembered awaking in an unusual world. As if it was planned, I was laying beneath a tree of pure green leaves. A warm sun poked through the gaps in the leaves and branches, hitting my face. It was a welcome change, but I was beyond confused in the end. When I sat up, I was met with a truly lovely sight; well-cared for grass, an ocean blue sky, and clean air. The idea of it being Heaven is what came to mind, but I brushed that away quickly.

I would rise to my feet, setting a foot on something. When I lowered my gaze to see what it was, I realized that it was my blade. Scratches embedded themselves into the matte black material and parts of the sharper side had chipped away. Once it was tucked nicely into its sheath, I set out to explore this place.

The walk continued until a group of houses came into view. Each house was designed in a repetitive manner; grey walls with a blue roof and door. One thing tore my eyes from the ugly sight though; another hedgehog. I attempted to make my approach a little obnoxious as to grab his attention. When I did, I just said a simple; "Hey there."

A much kinder voice returned the greeting afterwards; "Hello."

The peace that this other person brought with him caught me off guard, but I managed to respond with a question; "Do you uh- do you know where we are?"

As if he were in thought, he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. Once he had a solid answer, blue eyes fell upon me; "I heard people calling this place Mobius Prime."

"Mobius?" I repeated. The name to this place sounded unusual, but I guess I couldn't really say anything. I never knew the name in the first place.

The other would nod his head slowly, like I hadn't processed the information given. Which made me feel a little sorry for myself.

To ease the awkward situation though, I put out my hand; "My name is Dark."

It was like he'd known I would introduce myself, just as his hand seemed to connect with mine. "Paradox. Pleasure to meet you."

The friendly energy was enough to make a smile pull at the corners of my mouth. "I realize we've only just met, but would you like to be friends?"

A smile seemed to form on Paradox's face as well, as he nodded his head some. "Sure, I would like that." And that would be his response.

Warmth faded from my palm when the two of us released the hand-shake. It was a strange feeling, but still a welcome one. We decided to have a chat with the other, Paradox catching me up on the problems this world suffers from. This world has a man who constantly terrorizes it in search of gems called the Chaos Emeralds. With his army of robots, he's infested many places in order to obtain what he wants.

To me, the talk about a mad scientist made me wonder if I was the crazy one. Yet, it all felt true since I have no prior knowledge to a world such as this. Something did catch my eye though; the look of determination on Paradox's face. With that look, a sense of protection fell around the surrounding area.

Yet, as the sun fell, we both decided that the chit chat was enough. It would now be time to figure out a place to stay, and there was one spot in mind. Across from the group of houses was this massive tree. Despite it having no floor, it was a choice that we both settled on. The branches were clearly big enough to hold our weight and then some.

As we climbed the branches, we gave each other parting words for the night; "I will head out to map out this island tomorrow, just to help us get an idea of where everything is." That would be my suggestion, in which the other looked happy about that.

"Alright, and then while you work on exploration, I will stick around for other people. I almost wonder if someone else was put in an odd situation like you or myself." Paradox said.

With that, I simply nodded in response to the other. It was okay to branch off the second day, we needed the help. After getting settled, we both decided to head to bed at about 8:43 PM. The early the better.