A young anthropomorphic hedgehog girl stood on a bank of a lake, looking over the murky waters before her. The sand beneath her feet was starting to get wet as the tide was rising back up again. The hedgehog girl didn't mind the coldness nor the wetness, she just welcomed it in: it was numbing her. Behind her, in the grass were a pair of hiking boots, with a pair of white socks sticking halfway out of them.

The hedgehog grabbed a rock from the ground, then threw it into the lake. The water clouded even more as the rock stirred up the lake bed, and the top of the water started wavering with the disturbance the rock made upon entry. The dirty water clouded up the reflection of the hedgehog, cause it to still be there, but the reflection was monochromatic browns instead of the full color range.

The blue eyes of the hedgehog girl looked older than they should've been: they should be bright, possibly wild like other teenagers. However, they looked like that of a stressed thirty-year-old mother. The hedgehog closed her eyes, letting the wind run through her brown fur and her teal colored hair. She was stressed, as so many things happened in the last month, making her give up the fundamentals that she was taught, for things that she never had before.

'You better not be crying!' A husky male voice echoed in her head. The girl's immediate reaction was to yell at the top of her lungs.

"I AM NOT CRYING!" The hedgehog panted, feeling almost satisfied that she had yelled. A crunch resounded from behind her, like a person stepping on a stick. The hedgehog girl turned around quickly, to find a red-furred fox behind her.

"What are you not crying about, Teeleah?" Teeleah, the hedgehog, growled at the fox.

"None of your business Marrik."

"It is if we're talking about my teammate here."

"You and Kolonel kicked me off my team." Teeleah had special emphasis on the fact it was her team. Marrik just snorted it off.

"Anyways, since you are still upset about that and nothing else, I don't think you'll need my get well gift." Marrik said in his usual taunting way, half-convincing Teeleah that she wanted it. After contemplating for a bit, curiosity grabbed a firm hold of her.

"What is it then?" Marrik grinned slyly at Teeleah's question.

"I'd tell you, but there's a price..." Marrik's grin didn't fade as he approached Teeleah. She took a step back, getting a feeling Marrik wanted something that was too close for her comfort.

The fox stepped forward again, making Teeleah the hedgehog step back, this step into the water. The cold water and her bare foot didn't mix very well, making her jump away from it, right to where Marrik wanted her. Marrik grabbed Teeleah's head, and pulled it up to his. Had Marrik not have been as strong as an anthropomorphic echinda, Teeleah would have tilted her head enough to head butt Marrik to get away from him. The fox had a firm hold, and to Teeleah, as roughly as he could, he pressed his lips onto hers. His hands fell from her face, to her waist. Teeleah was stunned as it felt good, but it felt wrong, completely wrong. Weakly, Teeleah raised her right arm, form a fist as she did so, tucking her thumb in, and swung a punch to Marrik's head. In the next half of a second, Marrik dropped his tight grip on Teeleah to catch his balance, and the scared and scarred hedgehog started to run off. When she felt safe, she turned around and once again, yelled.

"If that's the price, then you keep the stupid thing! It would go with you, jerk!" Teeleah felt red-hot rage building in her as she once again turned and ran.

Everything had been building ontop of her from the beginning of her life, and was bound to someday make her blow. From running away with her older brother, being lectured over and over about not to show any emotion if she wanted to live with their enemy on their tail, to being taken into a new world, where she was weak, where she could have the advantage taken over her. This world was where her closest friend died. She would not stay here any longer.

Teeleah tested her door. It was firmly locked, so neither Marrik nor Kolonel the bandicoot could come in. On Teeleah's twin bed were a bunch of bags: her hiking sack, and an arrangement of duffel bags. She used to be living just out of these things, and she will once again. She didn't care who would be missing her, it wasn't like they would notice that she's gone. Once the bags were filled with the necessities, Teeleah put her hiking sack onto her back, grabbing her duffel bags. The only thing between her and her home was dimensions. That was easy to pass, with the seven jewels that sat on her bed. Teeleah, still holding the duffel bags on her arms, picked up the seven jewels. She had heard so many rumors about them, that they can turn a single thought into power, that they can create peace and chaos, that they can bend dimensions and time at the will of a person, and that they could grant wishes. Teeleah hoped that at least one of the last two were true, as she quietly whispered the chant that would make them work.

"The seven Emeralds are the severs..."

There was a knock at the door, Teeleah ignored it and just continued.

"Chaos is power, enriched by the heart..."

The knock continued, only louder, a little more worried.

"Chaos can turn our thoughts into power..."

There was the knock again, more urgent. It didn't matter to Teeleah now, as she was almost done with the chant: the chant that would bring her to silence in this world and to speak in a new world, a world new to her form, but not to her mind and bruised heart.

"Chaos control!" The words were barely out of Teeleah's mouth when the power surrounded her, dragging her into a new dimension. Just as she was gone, the power flung the door open, the person waiting outside for Teeleah knew they heard her, but they didn't see her in the room. All they saw was the empty room, nothing left but the bed, the single shelf, and Teeleah's journal.

"She's gone..."

"Like someone struck by the water sword."