//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Awakening // Story: The Five Heroes // by Phantom Shadow //------------------------------// His eyes slowly opened, as his mind began to slowly become aware. As his eyes began to open, he almost had to shut them closed again; the blinding light of the sun overhead beamed brightly down on him. As far as he was concerned, he was lying on the ground in a place that he did not know. As his eyes began adjusting to the light, he began to survey his surroundings. All that he could see, from his side-view perspective, was nothing but white sand. The sky was clear and a small breeze was present. Other than that, there was nothing; no mountains, no plant life, nothing but sand and sky. As he began to take it all in, he tried his best to sit up and look around this strange environment some more. However, as he tried to sit up, a sharp pain filled his left arm, causing him to fall flat on his back again. It felt as if there were several needles sticking in his arm, causing severe pain to course through it like nothing he had ever felt before in his entire life. After a few moments of catching his bearings and letting the pain die down, the anthropomorphic blue hedgehog decided to inspect what was hurting him. He lifted his arm and went wide-eyed at what he saw. All along his left arm were several long scrapes. He turned his arm around and saw that the scrapes were all around it. Furthermore, all the scrapes were red, almost as if they had been bleeding. With his other arm, he ran his fingers on the wounds and felt the sharp pain he had felt earlier. Then, he inspected his hand and saw traces of blood on them. “These wounds appear to be fresh,” he said aloud, “Where did they come from? Where am I? How did I get here? What is going on?” Like before, he tried to sit up again. This time, he didn’t lean on his left arm. Although it was a struggle, he was able to sit up. When he did, he panned his head back and forth to see nothing. A small breeze blew past, slightly causing his quills to sway to one side. Either than the small sound of the sand below him rustling with the breeze, there was no other sound, no other signs of life. “What is this place?” he asked, as he continued to survey his surroundings. He decided to try and think back to how he got here in the first place. However, no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to click on his mind. He had no memory of what had happened or how he got there in the first place. “Why can’t I remember how I got here?” he asked himself aloud, “What the heck is going on here?” After several moments of wondering, he brushed off the red and white sneakers he wore and tried to stand up. Although it was difficult to try and stand up with one hand, he eventually got up and continued to wonder where he was. He scratched the back of his head, trying to recollect the events that happened prior to his awakening. He tried to recall what he had been doing before he got here, before he was sent to this apparent endless desert he was in. He fished his mind, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing, anything that could help him recall what had happened. Try as he might, he just couldn’t find it in his memory bank. His memory, or at least certain parts of it, felt as if it had been erased, wiped from his mind so that he wouldn’t be able to know what happened. “I can remember my name and where I’m from,” he said aloud, “But it seems I can’t remember what had happened to me or why I’m here. There’s got to be a reason why I can remember everything else about myself, except that. I don’t know why, but I’ve got a feeling that someone or something doesn’t want me to remember, but the question is who and why.” He directed his attention back to the fresh wounds on his arm. Although no blood was streaming from the cuts and scrapes that infested his arm, it still stung like nothing he had ever felt before. He didn’t even have to touch it to feel the pain; the wind, as light and infrequent as they were, caused the pain to arouse. “Whatever happened to me, it can’t be a good thing,” he said, coddling his arm close to his chest, “These wounds are still somewhat fresh, meaning that whatever caused this is still at large. I need to find out who’s responsible and put an end to whatever scheme they’re hatching.” Before he could say or do anything else, he scoffed to himself as realization began to sink into his mind. “First things first,” he said with a small flicker of a smile, “I need to find out where I am. Then, I need to find out if there is a way I can get out of here.” Before he could go anywhere, his left ear twitched, which was an involuntary response that happened whenever he heard something or someone behind him. Before he could turn around, he heard a soft groan coming from behind him, making small movements, causing the sand beneath them to crinkle. His heart began to race as he turned around, his fist balled at his sides, ready to take down whoever was there. When he turned around, his fist loosened, his eyes grew wide and his mouth hung open at what he saw there. He took a few paces back and began breathing heavily, as his eyeballs panned back and forth at the sight before him. He was not alone. Lying before him were four others; although he recognized two of them as humans, the other two were like nothing he'd ever seen before in his entire life. One of them was a red-haired girl with a black shirt and brown cargo pants. Another was a blonde-haired girl with what appeared to be a Japanese school uniform, expect the skirt part of the outfit was much shorter than it was supposed to be. The third was a lavender-colored horse of some kind; a unicorn, judging from the small horn that was protruding from its forehead. The last being was a pink, bubbly-like creature with a long tail, short arms and rabbit-like feet. As he looked at each one, he noted the red-haired girl was slightly moving; she was awakening just like he had moments before. Immediately, he rushed over to her and knelt beside her. She was lying on her stomach with her head facing him, but her hair over her eyes. Knowing how the light would be bothersome to her like it was for him, he positioned himself so that his body would shade her eyes from the sun. With his good hand, he brushed the hair from her eyes and saw that they were beginning to open. Although he was blocking the sun from her eyes, she still had a hard time adjusting to the light. “Where...” she said in a low and quiet whisper, “Where am I?” “I...” he said softly, not sure of how to answer her, “I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t...not now, anyway.” No sooner did the words leave his mouth that the girls’ eyes shot wide open. Despite the fact that she hadn’t fully adjusted to the light of the sun, her wide eyes panned their way to the blue hedgehog that knelt before her. The moment their eyes connected, she sprang her body up and faced him. She appeared to be in both fear and shock, for she had never seen anything like him. “What...who...?” she managed to get out. No sooner did the words leave her mouth that she doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach like she had been punched in the chest. She fell to her knees, one hand held herself up while the other clutched her lower abdomen, just below her chest. “Are you alright?” he asked, as he approached her. The moment she saw the creature moving towards her, she gathered up all the strength that she had left and swung her free arm in an attempt to punch him. “You stay away from me, you...you...whatever you are!” she growled at him, an angered expression on her face. “I’m trying to help you,” he tried to reason with her. “You look like you’re injured.” “Where am I?” she asked, her voice still on the defensive, “Are you the one who brought me here, because if you are, I demand to know why!” “Of course not!” he answered, “We both seem to be in the same predicament. I woke up here, just like you did!” Before they could say anything else, the two of them heard a sound of rustling sand coming from beside them. They both turned their head in the same direction to see the small horse staring back at them. It was standing up on all four of its legs and it had a shocked look on its face. The hedgehog and the red-haired girl exchanged confused glances at one another; they didn’t know what they should do. After a few moments of nothing but staring, he decided to break the ice first. “Don’t worry,” he said, as he extended his hand to the small horse, “I’m not going to hurt you. You can trust me.” When his hand was only inches away from its face, it immediately backed away from him. As it did, the horn on its forehead began to glow a maroon-like color, as it pointed it at him. If he didn’t know any better, the horse was getting ready to strike at him. “No need to be afraid,” he cooed, as if it didn’t understand a word he was saying, “I’m not going to...” Before he could even finish his sentence, and to his and the red-haired girl’s surprise, the horse said, “You stay away from me, you...you...thing!” Immediately, he backed off, wide-eyed and practically scared out of his mind. He didn’t exactly expect it to say anything to him. From the sound of the voice, he knew that the horse was a female. Because she had been able to speak, and probably was able to understand what he was saying, he decided to stop treating her like an animal and more like a person. “Don’t be afraid,” he said in a much firmer voice, “We mean you no harm, miss. We are just trying to help you.” Although he could see in her eyes that she was just as shocked and scared as they were, the small horse stayed on the defensive; no doubt earning her trust wasn’t going to be that easy. One thing was for sure, neither of them had seen anything like each other before. Her heart pounding and her adrenaline through the roof, the small horse began backing away, limping as she did so. He noticed her limp and panned his eyes at her hind legs. He saw that there was long and deep cuts going down her left hind leg, as if some sort of claw or blade had been scraping at it. It was only then that he directed his attention to the girls’ stomach. He saw the injury there, despite her hand being in the way. She had scrape marks on it, much like the ones that were on his arm. Before any of them could say anything, a loud shriek filled the air, catching all of there attention. The three of them looked to see that the blonde-haired school girl had woken up. However, instead of being on the defensive side, like they all were, she was more terrified by all of them. She stared at the three of them, eyes wide and breathing heavily. All of a sudden, the pink, bubbly creature stood up and stared at her as well. The moment the pink creature saw her and the others, it slightly kicked off the ground and began hovering in the air. Because it awoke from the scream, the creature hovered in front of the blonde girl. The moment it was in front of her, she shrieked again and began kicking back, trying desperately to get away from them. After the fourth kick, she immediately grabbed her right leg, moaning in pain. Like before, he looked at her leg to see the same marks going up her leg. Because her legs were visible, it was clear to see that they were injuries much like his. Then, he directed his attention to the pink creature. It, too, had marks going along the length of its tail, except they looked like they were rope burns instead of deep cuts. The hedgehog eyed all of the people around him and began to think. All of them were injured, all of them didn’t know each other and, although it was only an inference, neither of them knew how they got there. Although they were all complete strangers, one thing was certain: standing around, ready to pounce on one another was getting them nowhere. “Alright,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender, “It appears we all got off on the wrong note here.” He began taking a few steps towards them. However, all of them began backing off. Some of them were in fear while others were on the defensive. The moment he saw this, the hedgehog stopped walking. “Alright let’s try this. How about we all introduce ourselves first? That way, we’d all be a bit more formal and we can address each other properly. How does that sound?” As if he said something they liked, the red-haired girl and the horse calmed their defensive stances, the blonde-haired girl worked her way up to standing and the bubbly creature hovered in a little closer. Well, at least its progress, he thought, as he took a step closer to them. All of their eyes were on him, as if they were waiting for him to say something. He took the hint and couldn’t help but smile at them. “I guess I’ll go first then,” he said with a shrug. He cleared his throat and said, “My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, but you can just call me Sonic.” Sonic turned his attention to the red-haired girl. She scratched the back of her head, as she hesitantly said, “I’m Kimberly Ann Possible, but you can call me Kim.” “Kim,” Sonic repeated, “That’s a nice name, if you don’t mind me saying so.” The compliment caused her to smile and blush a little bit. Then, Sonic directed his attention to the small horse. When he did, she sat on her haunches and cleared her throat. “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said in a calm and polite demeanor, “But Twilight is fine, too.” “Twilight Sparkle,” Sonic repeated again, “You know, for a horse, that’s actually a very pretty...” Twilight interrupted him. “Actually, I’m not a horse. I’m a pony, a unicorn to be more precise. There is a difference, after all.” Sonic scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say next. Seeing his loss of words, Kim replied, “Still, it’s a very nice name.” “Thank you,” Twilight said with a smile. Then, the three of them directed their attention to the blonde school girl. She was still scared out of her mind, but she tried her best to remain calm. After a while, they noticed that she kept looking at the ground, as if she was unsure if she should tell them her name. After a seemingly long moment, Sonic cleared his throat and asked, “Do you have a name, miss?” She nodded, scratching the back of her head, and said, “My name...is...is...Sailor Moon.” Surprised, Twilight asked, “Sailor Moon? Is that really your name?” Immediately, Sonic said, “”Not that it isn’t a nice name or anything, it’s just that...” Twilight cut him off, taking the hint of what he was saying. “It’s just that we’ve never heard a name like that before. I meant no offense, honest!” Sonic and Kim nodded their heads in agreement. They didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable around them. Furthermore, they didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t trust them. Shyly, she said, “It’s not my real name, but it’s the name I go by when I’m...like this...” She gestured to the outfit she wore. Sonic couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow while Kim scratched the back of his head. Twilight looked at the sand beneath her hooves, wrapping her mind around what she meant. A few moments later, it clicked in her head. “Oh, I get it,” the lavender mare said, “It’s like an alter ego; a hidden identity of sorts, right?” Sailor Moon nodded, her cheeks beginning to turn a light shade of red. “Well, Sailor Moon,” said Sonic with a smile on his face, “It’s really nice to meet you.” Then, out of nowhere, the bubbly pink creature flew in front of Sonic’s face. Its eyes were wide and its ears were focused on him, almost as if it was looking him over, checking if he was able to be trusted. “Well, you’re a lively one, aren’t you?” Kim said, giggling as she watched it hovering around the blue hedgehog. “Mew,” the creature purred, as it began hovering in front of Kim. “So, do you have a name, little guy?” asked Twilight, as she trotted over to it. “Mew,” it purred again. Then, it began hovering around Twilight, looking her over like it did with the others. Noticing the pattern, Twilight asked, “Is your name ‘Mew’?” “Mew, Mew,” it said in approval. Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Is your name the only thing you can say?” Mew nodded his head, smiling at him. Finally, it hovered in front of the still-frightened Sailor Moon. Although she was tempted to run away from it, she remained perfectly still, not moving a single muscle in her body. “So, are you a boy or a girl?” she asked, her breaths shallow and more than a little forced. Mew looked at her in the eyes, cocking its head in confusion. It wasn’t confused as to what to answer, but more along the lines of how to answer. Sailor Moon took the hint and began thinking of a way to help it. Then, she had an idea, even though she was skeptical about doing so. She raised her right hand out and asked, “Are you a boy...” Then, she raised her left hand out and continued, “...or a girl?” Mew looked at the two hands, blinking twice before hovering over to her right hand, rubbing his head on it like a kitten. As Sailor Moon tried her best not to scream, the others couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, then,” said Sonic, calming down his laughter, “Kim Possible, Twilight Sparkle, Sailor Moon, and Mew. Have I gotten them all right?” “You sure have, Sonic the Hedgehog,” said Twilight, smiling at him. “Great. Now that we’ve been formally introduced, we need to get back to the more important situation at hand,” said Sonic as he crossed his arms. “We need to find out where we are, how we got her and if there’s any possible way of getting out."