Chapter Text
Away from Seaside Hill’s stone roads and ancient temples lay an island. The island’s shoreside overlooked the sea, filled with scattered structures from a time long ago. A village overlooked that sea as well, large and sprawling; species of all kinds in relative harmony with one another. This civilization, named Seaside Drift, was home to many, including a particularly quick-footed hedgehog and his closest friends.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow!”
“Etsumi, honey, stop flinching, otherwise I won’t be able to get this… dang… button on…!”
Ten-year-old Etsumi Cynhard, also known as Skid the Hedgehog, squirmed as his mom, Sara, nearly choked him out.
“Come on, Etsumi! If I miss out on pictures because you can’t get dressed, I’m never letting it go,” scolded his older sister, Natalie, leaning against a nearby wall.
Skid was still fumbling with the collar of his tuxedo, completely ignoring her. “This never gets any easier,” he mumbled to himself as his mom finished adjusting his black bow tie.
After grueling preparations, the Cynhard family walked a fair distance to get to the center of the village, ready for a ceremony. The moment he entered the primary gathering area, Skid’s senses were blessed and blasted from every direction. The crackle of flames from nearby torches added to the brilliance of the orange dusk sky, and the unbelievably sweet smell of baked goods made him want to start floating into the air. Following his nose, Skid spun around—tables struggled under the volume of pies, grilled meats, and other delicacies, and he couldn’t help but dream of what they’d taste like. There were separate stands for every activity one would want; face-painting, outside food vendors using the celebration as a venue, apple-bobbing… it really looked magical, and the people who’d already arrived were all wearing cheesy smiles.
And speaking of people, there were tons! Skid’s mouth was agape as he stared at the massive amount of villagers who’d all come, but his trance was broken as his sister and grabbed his arm.
“Snap out of it, Etsumi! I’d like to find my friends before the party’s over.”
Natalie and Skid maneuvered their way through the crowd, and Skid eventually found three of his friends; Neo the Tenrec, the gorgeous, jaw-dropping, mind-numbingly beautiful Melody the Cat who Skid was particularly happy to see for some reason, and Ashina the Dolphin, all dressed for the occasion. Neo was a boy just about a year younger than Skid, Ashina had a year over him, and Melody was about two years older. They caught Natalie’s eye and quickly approached the siblings with wide grins.
“Nat! That dress is gorgeous. I’m so glad that you all could make it,” Melody greeted, pulling the hedgehog into a hug. She waved towards Skid as well, and Skid reciprocated with a cheeky smile and slightly flushed cheeks.
“Thanks, Mel, you too! Thanks to this slowpoke, we almost didn’t,” Natalie snarked, poking Skid in the arm.
“Funny how a kid can be such a fast runner yet such a slow dresser,” Ashina teased, shaking her head. “I’m gonna have to start keeping track of every time you show up late, Skid.”
A deep grumble left Skid’s mouth as he yanked his tie aggressively. “Try havin’ a tiny rope squeezin’ your neck and see how fast you get ready! It ain’t easy!”
Neo nodded quickly in affirmation. “Oh, don’t get me started on what a pain getting ready is! Girls have no idea what we have to go through.”
Melody, Ashina and Natalie looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
For the next hour, while Natalie broke off from the quartet to find her other older friends, Skid and his friends moved around the venue, participating in every activity they could. Ashina broke off from the group for a while to man the face-painting, Neo collected numerous rounds of applause at toy archery, Melody definitely showed off at karaoke, and Skid enjoyed himself plenty at his personal favorite, a foot race for the kids and teenagers.
As the torches were relit and the sky darkened in color, all of the festivities were paused when suddenly, a giant gong was hit in the center of the ceremony. The entire party quieted down, and all heads turned towards the source. The person who’d hit the gong was an elderly, short, light grey shark in color and donned tens of wrinkles around his body. He wore a monocle, and was dressed fairly casually for the occasion.
“Looks like someone didn’t get the memo,” Skid whispered to Neo, barely containing his laughter.
“Eh, Geyser’s an old man, he could probably get away with it,” Neo responded, and they both chuckled before Melody knocked them both upside in the head and effectively shut them up, causing Ashina to giggle at them.
“Old Man” Geyser dropped the gong hammer and walked to a fountain nearby. “Alright, alright, I hope you lot have had fun with your little party, but I think it’s time I said a few words.” A giddy smile stretched across his face. “While the face painting and racing is loads of fun, we are here today to celebrate Seaside Drift’s 300th anniversary!”
The crowd simultaneously let out a giant roar of cheers, and Geyser allowed it for about eleven seconds before raising his hand weakly—instantly, everyone was silent yet again.
“As you may know, my people, the Currents, were the ones who founded this land after a giant storm left my ancestors washed up on this coast centuries ago,” he explained. “Though it was against their Mobian nature to see this vast piece of land and make a community out of it-” Geyser gripped his fist tightly- “-they were unwilling to just lie down and die, and look at what they’ve created today!”
A young male shark similar in appearance to Geyser, toddler-like, waddled to Geyser and hugged his ankles, and the crowd all released an “Awwww!” at the same time. Geyser chuckled. “Because of their determination so long ago, I’ve been able to make a family of my own, something I couldn’t be more proud of! Together, this community has worked hard to sustain this great land, and for that, I think we all deserve a round of applause!”
The village exploded in cheers, high-pitched whistles and even more outrageous applause, and Geyser lifted his grandson in his arms as they, too, joined the cheers and overall togetherness of the village.
“How petty,” a judgemental voice stated, cutting through the crowd. “How typical of your kind, to put so much effort into something so trivial!”
The crowd’s applause and positivity died down quickly, and the crowd parted to reveal this newcomer. He was a wolf with rugged, grey fur, and he wore a thick, black outfit that looked almost... armor-like.
Geyser put down his grandson and stared at the wolf, confused. “Why the attitude, stranger? I personally apologize if we’ve made your experience less than welcoming, but I’m not sure I understand why I-”
“Of course you don’t, how could you?” the wolf interrupted, raising his hands and shaking his head. “Nobody at this measly little party could hope to understand our struggle.”
Skid’s eye twitched. A snarl grew in his throat.
“...‘our?’” Ashina repeated, whispering to her friends. “What does this freak want with us?”
“...perhaps you’ve done too much partying,” Geyser theorized, approaching the wolf hesitantly. “I told my wife we were offering too many drinks, it’s really my fault. Let’s just get you to a-”
Geyser reached for the wolf’s shoulder, but the wolf scoffed and backhanded Geyser, knocking the shark onto his side and sending his monocle rolling off. “How arrogant. You haven’t even earned the privilege necessary to touch me!”
Villagers hurried to Geyser’s side, and a goat came out of the crowd and walked towards the wolf. “Hey! What the hell is your problem? If you really hate this village so much, we were doing fine without you!”
The wolf shook his head with closed eyes and chuckled. “Alas… it appears that my attempt to educate you Mobians was futile. You don’t deserve the Cursed Zone’s presence in the first place, I suppose.”
Next, Ashina broke away from the trio and stepped out despite Melody’s efforts to grab her, pointing aggressively at the newcomer. “Will you quit it with the god speech and talk like a normal person?! You aren’t wanted here!”
“God speech?!” the wolf repeated, laughing even harder. “Compared to you insects, I AM a god! You are nothing more than a disgustingly spoiled subspecies!” The wolf raised his hand into the air. “Now, I’m done putting any effort into preaching to you lesser beings! I will do your world a favor… and you all will receive my enlightenment!”
The goat who had first broken off from the crowd pushed closer to the wolf, but his approach was stopped when a murky black aura enveloped the wolf, earning gasps from the villagers. The wolf looked at the crowd, and his eyes shone a bloody red.
“I, Xent of the Cursed Zone, shall revolt!”
From his raised arm, black arrows of shadows were shot into the air, and when they reached their maximum height they turned into purple clouds that blotted out the sky. From these clouds, black drops of liquid rained down, spreading through the village. As these drops hit the ground, Mobians of all species made entirely of murky shadows rose up from the ground, and they trudged around like zombies.
“Search this pesky village and find me what I need,” the wolf said to his monsters.
“What did you do, you son of a-?!”
The goat was now running at the wolf and attempted tackling him, but the wolf’s entire body turned into shadows the second the goat made impact, resulting in the goat falling onto his stomach, having grabbed nothing but air.
One of the creatures looked into the sky and hissed into the air, gooey shadows replacing what would be gums in its toothless mouth, and the others around it did the same, resulting in a horrific screech that filled the vicinity. The dark Mobians scattered across the village, swiping at the crowd (which dispersed as soon as the creatures materialized).
“Everyone! Evacuate immediately!” Geyser desperately yelled before breaking into a coughing fit, still lying on the ground. Seconds later, the monsters all turned their heads to him, and several of them moved in on him, with so many piling on top of the old man that Geyser was completely concealed from the panicked crowd’s view.
“Wh-What just happened?!” asked Neo, his head rapidly turning in multiple directions as the shadowy creatures ran around, chasing down civilians and causing havoc. “After she stepped away from us, I lost track of Ashina!”
“We need to get out of here!” advised Melody. She didn’t give them a chance to argue about it; within moments, her hands wrapped around both of her friends by their wrists and they ran through the scattered crowd, which was becoming increasingly hard to navigate through.
“Whatever that freak’s deal is, this is an ambush for sure!” Skid rationalized, kicking a monster in their path onto the ground, which made it quickly disintegrate into shadows. “I need to go—my mom and sister are out there!”
Skid threw his arm out of Melody’s grip, and he ran with extreme speed through the crowd, shoving shadowy Mobians out of his way as he frantically searched for his family, though as the mysterious rain continued, more monsters formed. Where were his mom and sister?! Hadn’t he seen Natalie by the apple-bobbing? No, that was before the ceremony even started!
His breathing spun out of control, so fast he almost started to slow down. The hedgehog ran all over the place, ripping off his bow tie and popping his collar before jumping over a fountain. Around the outskirts of Seaside Square, Seaside Drift’s militia had entered the scene, wielding metallic spears pointed straight towards the village’s attackers.
Up front, a gruff, bearded, dark-green tenrec—Neo’s father—yelled “ADVANCE!”
A line of about thirteen soldiers organized in their usual firm formation before they approached a large number of dark Mobians, stabbing straight through their “chests” with their spears and making them disintegrate. Relief loosened Skid’s chest—perhaps the militia would end this nightmare quickly—but it vanished as numerous waves of the strange monsters continued to attack the formations from all sides. One of these monsters had jumped with its top onto the face of one of the soldiers, biting at him and grappling his neck.
Without a second thought, he cut towards the soldier. He wasn't able to get very far, though—after only a few steps, he was punched in the mouth by one of the monsters, sending him rolling on his side.
Skid pushed himself up and rubbed his cheek, tasting blood. The dark Mobian stood up straight and hissed at Skid, giving the hedgehog little time to panic before running towards him and jumping on top of him. It furiously clawed at him, and Skid could do little more than move his head from side to side in order to dodge, but he was still brutally scratched a few times as yells left his mouth.
After taking the punishment, Skid bobbed his head up, hitting the monster with a fierce headbutt and throwing it off of him. He’d managed to stand, but he was then tackled from behind by another dark Mobian, pinning him onto the ground with a hard thud. Fists slugged his back repeatedly.
Skid gritted his teeth. The creature he’d headbutted earlier was already back up and rushing towards him. “Nonononono—”
The reappearing dark Mobian kicked him in the side of the head, and Skid tasted more blood in his mouth. Then, he felt himself being stomped on while the other one viciously punched his back, and Skid’s head slammed onto the cold ground repeatedly, making his vision blurry.
Skid was about ready to go unconscious - he could barely see, and these monsters were overwhelming him - but then, his blood ran cold.
A badger boy, even smaller than him, was pathetically crawling into a corner while a monster bore down on him.
A growl slipped out of Skid’s mouth.
Even if he couldn’t save himself… if he could save just one person…!
“Get off of him!” he yelled, the surge of adrenaline allowing him to throw the dark Mobian that was on his back off of him as he grabbed the leg of the one stomping on him and threw him to the side. Pain shrinking by the moment, he began running towards the monster harassing the badger and his fist shot out towards his head without thought. The creature didn’t even manage to turn its head before Skid’s punch slammed into it, making it disintegrate upon impact.
Aching shot throughout the hedgehog’s body, but his mind continued running on a single track. As the creature turned into nothing but a dark mist, Skid reached out to the boy, who ran away screaming without even offering any gratitude. Skid turned to run off again when—
“ETSUMI!”
He anxiously turned his head, and there were his mom and sister, hiding underneath a food stand and letting their heads pop out just enough for him to see. Instinctively, Skid ran over to them, ducking under the monsters’ attacks and jumping over the counter to join them underneath.
As soon as they were isolated, his mom gave him a tight hug. Both her and Natalie were covered in cuts, and their dresses were torn. “Oh, God, thank the stars you’re alright! It’s my fault, it’s my fault, I-I should’ve kept us together the whole time, and especially during the ceremony, wh-what was I thinking?!”
Skid flinched at the last word, and he put his hands on his mom’s shoulders. “Hey, Mom, we’re all alright, you don’t gotta beat yourself up! I’m the one who ran off, I-” He gulped; anxiety was making even breathing a struggle. “I was scared you all got lost in the crowd, and—my head just went to the worst.”
“Good thing you screamed when you saved that kid, or else we wouldn’t have even known you were close,” Natalie told him, also giving him a hug. “But now that we’re all together, we have got to get out of here. Those things are vicious!”
Skid’s mom nodded. “Yes, absolutely. I saw several villagers heading towards a safety hut. We’ll wait until the path is clear, and then we’ll try to find it and regroup with the others. Hopefully, those monsters can’t follow us too far. Natalie, you keep your eyes out on them and tell us when the coast is clear.”
“R-Right now?!” asked Skid, shaking his head quickly.
Natalie rolled her eyes. “No, Etsumi, we’re going to wait until the monsters find us and then leave. Of course we’re going to leave as soon as we can, are you stupid or something?!”
“Etsumi, honey,” began his mom, confused. “Why would you want to stay?”
Skid peeked out of their hiding spot. Chaos was roaring through the square. Families that had managed to stay together this long were being ripped apart by the dark Mobians, and children and adults alike were running for their lives as the monsters chased them all over. The dark Mobians weren’t just attacking the villagers as well; in their path of destruction, they raided all of the stands that’d been used for the ceremony, and several of the huts were being destroyed from both the inside and outside as the monsters thoughtlessly attacked them. Cries of terror polluted the air; words drowned in the wall of horrified noise.
A little lime-colored shark girl stood lost in the chaos. A woman who was running away unknowingly ran in front of the shark and shoved her by accident, knocking her flat onto her back as the dark Mobians started circling her.
Skid winced, clenching his fist. “Mom, there are people out there. I had to fight a few of those freaks, all they try to do is kill people!”
“Yes, Etsumi, that’s why we’re trying to get away!” she explained.
“But… no! We can’t just ditch everyone! Those things won’t stop beating on people until they’re dead! Mom, I can’t wake up tomorrow knowing that I could’ve helped, but all I did was run away-”
“This is not up for discussion, Etsumi!” his mom shrieked, her volume instantly shutting Skid up and making Natalie cringe.
His mother slammed her fist on the ground as she spoke, and her voice was cracking.
“Nobody wanted this! I don’t want people out there dying either! But there is zero—do you hear me, zero—chance that I’m going to let my children go and play hero with those monsters!”
Skid gulped, taken aback by this ray of emotion, and Natalie shivered where she sat. “M-Mom, maybe we could try to gather a few people? I m-mean, if we can try to protect someone, then-”
“Protect?!” his mom yelled with a hint of incredulous laughter, making Natalie pipe down as well. “That’s the exact same word your father used!”
As tears streamed down his mom’s face, breathing had gone from a difficult task to impossible. His dad?
“I am not losing my children the same way I lost my husband, god damn it!”
…
. . .
. . .
Instantly, tears welled up in both Skid and Natalie’s eyes.
For five seconds,the only noise was the screaming outside.
His mom sniffled. “This is not a debate. We’re leaving.”
“But Mom—”
“We’re LEAVING!”
She stood up, peeking over the counter. A large number of villagers were grouped up far away from Skid’s family, distracting the dark Mobians. She glared at her children and stalked the other villagers going to the safety hut—Natalie reluctantly followed.
Skid stepped out of the hut, fists clenched so hard they hurt. The little shark girl lay among the creatures, crying as they kicked and beat her.. Her shrieks sliced through the sky; it was as if she was trying to beg, but the assault she was enduring made forming words impossible.
“...I’m so sorry…”
The words left Skid’s mouth quietly, heard by no one, as tears rapidly fell from his face as he turned and followed his family.
Even as he escaped, there was only one image in his head. The girl’s face.
...the face of someone abandoned.