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Prologue
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There were explosions, gun fire and the sounds of death everywhere. The Space Colony Ark was under attack by the government military force known as GUN. The reason for the attack was unknown to Maria, though her grandfather knew precisely what was going on. Professor Gerald also knew the consequences that would come to Maria just for being on the Ark, whether she was a child or an adult. Time was running short and Gerald knew he had to save his beloved granddaughter in some way. So he chose the path he felt was the quickest and safest for her to get out of danger.
He ran down the halls with Maria close behind him. He didn’t give her much information except that she will be sent down to the Earth. He also warned her that she will be on her own in getting started with her new life on the planet the Ark orbited. But this scared Maria, knowing that she will be moving on with her grandfather left behind. She had never been on her own before.
The aging scientist reasoned that if his granddaughter was down on Earth, perhaps then GUN won’t hunt for her as the association between her and the Ark will not exist.
He had to be quick. The soldiers were closing in on the area he and Maria were. Gerald gave his granddaughter one last hug and then hurried her into the machine. The machine sent Maria down to the blue planet when the execution button was hit. Maria disappeared from the room with not a moment to spare. Within seconds of her disappearance, the door was busted down and the soldiers swarmed the room.
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Chapter 1
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Slowly, Maria opened her eyes. Her vision was a little blurry but each time she blinked, the vision would improve a little. A few extra seconds were spent blinking until her vision became normal.
There was gentle tickling on her face from the blades of grass she was laying down in. Both of her arms moved into position and she began to push herself up. Then she suddenly paused as she looked down at her arms. Something wasn’t right.
Her arms did not look like her normal arms. There was…fur? How did that get there? A hand lifted up and she turn it over as she examined it. The proportions were different, too, like her hands grew or her arms shrunk in length or something.
Bringing herself up to a sitting position, Maria could now see her legs. Like her arms, she had fur there, too. Golden yellow fur, in fact. Slowly she ran her hands over various parts of herself and moved them up to her head. Her hair was no longer there and instead has been replaced with…Wait, just what were those?
She needed a mirror…
Maria stood up on her feet and looked around at her surroundings.
This was definitely a field. It seemed like it went on forever in most of the directions. Behind where she stood did appear to have a forest. No signs of any towns or cities though.
The young girl drew a deep breath and prepared herself to head for the opposite direction fo the woods. Seemed safer. Movies taught her that forests often had scary animals that would like to attack you.
It wasn’t very long a all of walking before she heard a squawky, male voice call out, “Who are you?! What are you doing here?!”
Maria froze in her tracks and quickly looked around. Behind her was a small group of birds: a purple swallow, a grey albatross and a green hawk. The hawk was in the front with the swallow and albatross on either side of him. But they weren’t normal birds…They were all anthropomorphic and have donned themselves with tribal clothing.
Maria’s mouth dropped open a the sight. She has never seen animals bear such physical resemblances to humans and also…talk?
The hawk screamed again, “That’s it! You don’t want to answer my questions? Fine! Get rid of her!”
The three birds charged at Maria with their weapons. Three against one pacifist did not have odds in her favour. Maria turned and ran as fast as she could. However, the birds’ superior speed became evident as they quickly caught up to her.
The female swallow caught up to Maria first and pushed her down to the ground. Maria fell forwards into the grass. Right away, she tried to get back up up on her feet. The green hawk was the next one to reach Maria. He gripped his spear with both hands and smacked Maria with it. She fell back over on her side and cried out.
Why were they doing this??
Now the large, bulk albatross was on the scene. He may have been the slowest of the trio but his bulky size gave him a lot of strength. Quickly he got down on all four and then slapped Maria with the back of his right arm. The mass of strength the albatross possessed sent Maria flying about twenty feet. She landed in the grass with a “thump” sound and she cried out again.
All three birds started for Maria again. She tried once more to try and get up. Fighting back was possible but perhaps she could run and lose them in the woods? But there was a problem. She wasn’t getting up fast enough.
Coming to this planet may have caused her to change physically but it has done nothing about her health. She still has her NIDS disease which is holding her back from moving as quickly or having the strength she needs. She managed to get up on her hands and knees when the birds were on her again.
It was at this point that things shifted.
Out of nowhere, something hit the ground between Maria and the birds and caused a minor explosion. It sent the birds back and Maria shielded her face with her arm, crouching back down on the ground. She squeaked out of fear. Now what was going on?
There was a “thump” sound and something landed over top of Maria. She moved her hand from her face and looked up.
A male, black hedgehog with red streaks was on all fours over top of her. His red eyes were fixed on the attacking three birds, growling. All of his quills were stiffened and ready for battle.
The albatross turned to his hawk leader, “Jet, it’s Shadow!”
The hawk scrounged up his face and took a few steps back, “Shit, we’re not ready for this. Let’s go, guys!”
With that, the green hawk darted off with the swallow right behind him and the albatross doing his best to follow. The noise level in the area started to calm down as the wild animals were no longer being stirred up by the fight.
The black hedgehog quieted his growling and looked around the area. His ears twitched and turned around, listening out for any sounds of danger. Satisfied that the area was clear, he hopped off of Maria and settled on all fours beside her. His quills began to settle down.
Now Maria able to get herself back up. She sat on her legs and took a moment to try to get her heart rate to settle down. She sat her hand over her chest to help calm herself, taking a few slow breaths. Once she felt that she could breath normal again, Maria lifted her head up and looked to her rescuer.
He sat there, patiently, watching her with his red eyes. It was a little unsettling… Those red eyes, the eerie silence he was displaying. Why was he staring at her like that? And how did he know that she was here and in trouble?
She stammered a little as she tried to speak to him, “Um, t-thank you…for s-saving me.”
The black hedgehog closed his eyes, gave Maria a single nod with his head and then opened his eyes.
Maria cracked a small, crooked smile and reached her hand up to move her hair from her face. Once her hand touched her hair, it didn’t quite feel right. Instead of thin, soft and loose, her hair felt, well, stiff. She lowered her hand down and looked at it, pondering over the next texture of her hair. Just what kind of transformation did her grandfather make happen to her?
Then suddenly the black hedgehog whipped his head towards the woods and his ears twisted forward. Something was coming. But it must not have been anything dangerous. He turned to Maria and leaned in, giving her a quick nuzzle with the side of his face. Then he got up to his feet and ran off, amazingly fast, actually. Maria stared at him as he took off, eyes slightly widened and mouth slightly open over the idea that this stranger just nuzzled her.
From the woods emerged a group of more animals. A slightly bigger group than what the birds had for their group. There was a male, blue hedgehog, a female, pink hedgehog, a male, silver hedgehog and a female, purple cat. They all wore tribal clothing, similar to how the birds were dressed. There also carried various weapons with them. They looked around the area and then caught sight of Maria. All four of them began jogging up to her.
At first, Maria panicked. Were they going to attack her just like the birds did?
When they reached the poor girl, the blue hedgehog knelt down in front of her, holding onto his spear with both hands, “Hey, are you ok?”
She placed a hand on her head and looked down at the ground by her legs as she tried to remember everything that just happened, “I-I think so…”
The pink hedgehog girl spoke up next, “What happened? You look like you have been through some rough times.”
Maria lifted up her head and dropped her hand down to the ground, looking up at these new anthros, “I was attacked by these bunch of birds-”
This caused a visible reaction from all four of them. They looked among each other and then looked back at Maria. The blue hedgehog spoke to her again, “I know exactly who they were. Come on, we need to get out of this area before they come back with reinforcements. Where’s your tribe?”
“My-my tribe? I don’t have one…”
He made a disappointed expression on his face and exhaled softly. After a moment of silence, he stood up and held his hand out to Maria, “You better come with us, then.”
Maria took a hold of his hand and the blue hedgehog pulled her up to her feet. The pink hedgehog stashed her weapon in its holder, “And we’ll get you properly clothed, too.”
Maria’s eyes widened instantly and she looked down at herself. Discovering that she was naked, Maria instantly blushed with embarrassment and threw her arms over herself to try and cover up.
The purple cat pulled off the cloak she was wearing and threw it over Maria as a temporary cover up. Maria sheepishly thanked the cat and adjusted the cloak to get fully covered up.
The group of now five head into the woods together. The blue hedgehog was in the front, leading everyone, with the silver hedgehog in the back and the three girls are in the centre. They decide to exchange introductions and to get to know one another since the walk will be a lengthy one.
The blue hedgehog went first, “I’m Sonic.”
The pink hedgehog smiled to Maria, “And I’m Amy.”
The purple cat introduced herself next, “My name is Blaze.”
Lastly, the silver hedgehog introduced himself, “And I am Silver!”
Maria made a small smile, “I’m Maria.”
Amy put the tip of her index finger to her cheek thoughtfully, “So where are you from, Maria? We haven’t seen a hedgehog like you around here before.”
The smile slowly dropped from Maria’s face, “Hedgehog? Is that what I turned into?”
Amy quirked an eye, “Turned into? What do you mean?”
“Well, see…I was a human before my grandpa sent me here.”
Sonic looked over his shoulder back at Maria, “Huh?”
Maria rubbed her left arm slowly with her right hand, “I don’t really understand it myself but…Grandpa had to send me here for my saftey and when I got here, I was changed. I was a human.”
Amy skipped up next to Sonic and whispered to him, “(Sonic, I’m worried. If she was a human…)”
He whispered back to her, “(Let’s not panic yet. Just hang tight and let’s see how this plays out.)”
Blaze stepped up to Maria and decided to change the conversation subject, “So, Maria, how did you get away from the birds that attacked you?”
Maria turned to Blaze, “I didn’t actually get away…I was saved.”
“Saved? By who?”
“I don’t know who he was but he was a black hedgehog.”
Sonic and Amy looked each other as Maria continued, “And then they just ran away.”
Sonic looked at Maria and then back at Amy, “Shadow’s back.”
Maria smiled a little and pointed at Sonic, “Ah! That’s it! That’s what the birds called him. Do you know him?”
Sonic made an uneasy smile, “Ummm, sort of. We’ll talk about that later. Look, we’re almost at our campsite.”
In the distance, there was an area in a clearing of the trees which had signs of something like a caravan. There were several tents up with a large cart off to the side. A few other anthros were here, either roaming the campsite or working on some projects. It was pretty quiet here.
As Sonic and the rest of the group entered the caravan, everyone stopped what they were doing and rushed to greet the small group. One young, orange fox wih two tails bounced up and down at Sonic, “Did you get a big one today??”
Sonic chuckled and patted the kit on the head, “Sorry, bud, not this time. But we did find a new friend.”
Amy gestured to Maria with both of her hands, “Everyone, meet Maria. She’s new to the area so she’ll be joining our tribe for a while.”
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I was worried at first that I might regret the cut but almost right away, any potential doubt was gone. Soooooo many of the problems I had are now gone!
