The shift
Zeal had taken his dustboard and left to his job at Carbon, carbon was a place where all dustboard races took place but not only that, Zeal took part in raids on Neyatene transports for tech that he would study so he could gain an edge over the neyatene but so far their raids with his group only turned up with small parts that wouldn't help him in his research much, he was walking through the Carbon looking for his crew mates Ember Key a racer and the group leader Rhaena. Ember ran up to him "hey were you been Zeal?" "been looking for you guys" he replied "oh sorry about that, today we're taking it easy and just practicing for the day so we really don't need you today" she smiled nervously. Rhaena had walked up to him "you have the day off big guy, enjoy it" she gave him a reassuring pat on the back and went back to her practice "i will, hey ember?" the jerboa turned around and acknowledged him "yeah zeal?""you know any groups here that like going on expeditions? im kinda bored and need a break from this place for around a week or so" "better ask Rhaena permission before you go then, and about the groups that go on expeditions" she pointed to a crew nearby "those guys were about to go to Crescent island in the Briarsain region" Rhaena walked over and looked at him "so you wanna get a break for a bit?" "yes please" she smiled "you deserve it after all you work hard" he shifted a bit "heh thanks" she nodded and walked off again, Zeal walked over to the group and pulled out a small radio and turned it on "hello?" he spoke into it "Oh hi sweetie" candys voice came out of the speaker "howre you?" "im good hows ace?" "oh hes okay just sleeping for now, why do you ask?" "well i wanted to take a little vacation from my job and go on an expedition with this crew here in carbon to crescent island" "that place in the Briarsain region?" "yeah, is it okay if i can go?" the radio was a bit quiet for a minute then she spoke "okay sweetie just be careful up there alright" "i will honey" "kisses" he blushed and made a kissy noise on his end as she did the same on hers "ill see you in a week" "alright dont worry ill watch over ace" she turned off her radio as Zeal put his in his pack. He slowly approached the crew their leader looked at him "and what do you want' 'well i heard you were heading to crescent island and i wanna tag along" "if you tag along itll cost you" "im an engineer im pretty sure the cost is my services to you"
the leader looked at him and then had a brief discussion with his crew that had taken several minutes "alright you can come with us free of charge so long as you can keep up and service our equipment when necessary" "alright then its settled, so when do we leave?" the leader looked at him "tomorrow, is there a place we can pick you up from?" Zeal took a moment to think "Cottontail brothel" "hey i know that place, its owned by that rabbit Candy isnt it?" Zeal grinned "yup, were getting united soon" the leader stared at him "you? with cottontail herself?" Zeal pulled out a photo of him and Candy hugging each other "I stand corrected...." "shes a sweet gal even though shes several years older than me i truly love her and she feels the same way about me" Zeal put the photo away and looked back at the leader "well go home and rest up, we'll supply heavy winter clothing for this expedition since crescent island is a very cold place, we'll be hiking up the mountain" "sounds good to me" Zeal turned around and hopped back on his dustboard and sped off back to go pack his things for the journey ahead of him "wonder how this is all gonna turn out" he thought to himself and sped up along the path back to his home, he felt uneasy for a moment sensing something off about the energies around him and crashed "ACK"
He rolled and bounced across the ground for a few seconds before stopping "ow..... something doesnt feel right...." he stood and concentrated for a moment letting his body get a sense of the chokio spirits underground "theres fewer of them.... wonder whats going on" he hopped back onto his board and continued on his path
after a while he walked into the front door "hey im home candy" he smiled and picked her up "lovely" she kissed his nose "ill be leaving for a few days tomorrow as i explained on the radio" she nodded as he went to their room and started to pack a bag with all the things he would need for the journey, ace was already fast asleep in his room as candy sat on their bed "be safe please...." she grabbed him and gave him a long kiss "i-i will be, i could never imagine leaving you behind" he finished packing his bag and laid down holding her close to him, she nuzzled into his chest fur and fell asleep with him
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The next morning Zeal had waken up early, he looked at Candy and gave her a small nuzzle as she purred "hey candy, wakey wakey" she slowly opened her eyes "what is it cuddle wolf....." she spoke in a groggy voice and rose looking just as tired "I gotta go now, i told the guys to meet me at the brothel and from there we would leave alright" she sobered up "ill miss you sweetie..." "ill miss you too, ill try to be back as soon as i can" "promise?" "i promise" Zeal stood up and dressed himself making himself a brief snack before leaving "wait" candy hopped over and gave him a good luck kiss "thanks sweetie" he smiled and walked outside heading down the route to the brothel "time to start this small journey" he took his dustboard with him as a means of getting around faster, he hopped on and sped down the path enjoying the scenery and the cool air against his face, the brothel came into view as he stepped off his board and held it in one arm as he walked inside. He looked around for the leader and saw them sitting at a table "the boy made it, excellent. now lets begin our travel" Zeal followed the leader and his group outside as they all walked down a path that the leader told them to follow.
it was a long while of walking and talking but they finally ventured into the Briarsain region "finally.... so from here we have to find an ancient bridge that connects the island and the mainland" Zeal spoke "how long will that take" "from here if we travel fast a few hours, if we get lost then a day at most" Zeal didnt argue but continued following the leaders lead. Eventually they found the bridge "alright men here we rest for the day" Zeal rolled out a small nap sack and curled up inside and fell asleep, as he slept he felt a presence. It was far away and faint but he could sense it as he slept through the night "what is that...." he though to himself as he drifted off into deep sleep.
he had become lost in thought on the trek up and split off a bit from them realizing he was walking mindlessly, he stopped "ah..... how far up am i..." he turned around and saw the land curve out in the distance "woah cool" he grinned and pulled out an old camera taking a few photos for candy and ace "their gonna love these!" he heard a scream in the distance and put the camera away hearing the words avalanche , his eyes widened and he ran across the snow covered terrain looking for a spot to hide away but tripped and fell down a small drop off "OH NOOOO!" he screamed as he hit the ground with a crack, he screamed soon realizing his left leg had broken upon impact "o-oh man oh man oh man....." he quickly tried to stand only to fail "gah come on...." he heard the rumbling of the avalanche from above and quickly crawled over to a small cave entry way passing out shortly after from the pain of his leg
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Zeal woke up a while after he had passed out, "s-so c-cold..." he crawled further into the cave finding that it was growing warmer and warmer on as he went "w-what.... how is this possible...." he continued his slow painful crawl eventually seeing crystals lining the walls along with the sound of running water further along the cave "t-those are chokio c-crystals...." he continued his slow crawl along the cave floor closer to the sound of running water, he noticed the crystals and gems lining the walls begin to glow as he crawled along "y-you little guys must sense my energy... o-ow...." he continued to drag himself along until he was out of energy to continue walking along "n-now what am i supposed to do.... im stuck all a-alone in this cave with a broken leg...." tears welled in his eyes "i-im gonna die here....." his tears continued to stream out of his eyes and down his face as the thoughts of never seeing candy and ace again filled him with agony "p-please! d-dont let me d-die down here!!" he cried out into the depths of the cave hoping that somebody or something would come to him.
He waited for what seemed like hours, but nobody came
Zeal used what little strength he had left to pull of the thickest layers of his clothes to look at his left leg, "o-ow!" he pulled the sleeve on his leg up and saw how swollen it had become "o-ooh.... im so screwed down here..." he looked around the cavern he had entered one last time and had heard the faint sound of footsteps, his eyes widened as he called out, his voice was nothing but a light whimper now "help me.... please...." he waited and finally saw the figure come into view, a female sykion that emitted a light blue glow from her hair arms and legs. She had seen him and rushed over "oh my goodness!" she exclaimed "what in the world happened to you...." she put her arms around him and lifted him up carrying a bit deeper into the caver were she lived "let me heal you child" she put her hands gently on his leg and he felt the pain melt away "t-thank you..."
she looked at him and saw how fearful he was "do not be afraid child... i am here to help" she hugged him to reassure him "I-i thought i had died..." he was crying a bit "so much for enjoying this vacation...." she gave him time to recover and calm down before asking questions "why are you here?" she asked the wolf "i-i was on an expedition to climb this mountain.... a-and there was an avalanche... i f-fell and broke my leg before the avalanche had gotten to me and i fell near the entrance to this place" she sensed the truth in his explanation "i am sorry you had to suffer child...." she looked away from him a bit feeling sorry about what he had just gone through "w-who are you?" she turned around and acknowledged him with a smile "I am Salana mother of all sykions on this world, I am one with sykia and know a lot about my world and those who inhabit it" Zeal was taken aback from this and gasped "y-your like the goddess of creation" she nodded and sat beside him "th-then you know about the neyatene" "yes..... they are harming my world by taking chokio... but i am limited to my realm and can only hope that one day they will be defeated and leave my world" Zeal looked down and frowned
he sighed "more and more problems everyday always hoping for them all to be resolved" she nodded in agreement "did the others from the crew i was with survive?" she closed her eyes "sadly... i do not sense there presence on this world anymore....." he frowned "oh....." she pat him on the back but it was like wind petting him instead of a hand "I need to get back home soon...." "are you ready to go home?" she asked, he nodded "yes" she put her hands on his temples the feeling of wind lightly blowing in his face was felt "close your eyes child" he did as she said "i can send you to the bottom of the mountain near the bridge connecting to the mainland. Picture yourself there the cool air around you, the smell of salt from the ocean, can you feel it?" he spoke picturing himself there "yes" "now open your eyes child" he opened them and he was standing at the bottom of the mountain near the bridge "woah...." he looked around "thank you... if you ever need me you have my consent of summoning me..." he sat down on the ground needing a moment to gather his thoughts, he assumed it would be best if no one knew about what had just happened to him and what he had seen
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