1A Terrible Mistake
Goldensunsheba
The dark cave was illuminated by the glow of a torch. The light shined up to the ceiling where large sharp rocks hung down. A scattering sound could be heard echoing through the caves. A young woman stood staring upwards her green eyes scanning the area.
"I've got a bad feeling about this Sheaira," A voice came behind the young woman in a hush. The Spider cave was a dangerous place and Sheaira new that. She pointed the torch towards the voice revealing a tall red haired boy, his blue eyes darted nervously from side to side.
"John, you really are the biggest wimp; now keep quiet," Sheaira hushed her brother. To her, her brother has the IQ of a rat; she knew he'd cause her issues. But she couldn't say no to him, especially since their father the Red Sage has gone missing. She pointed the torch forward again gazing around, "I doubt dad would be playing a prank on us… it's not like him to go this far."
"The spider cave freaks me out Sheaira; can't we just go back already?" John pleaded still in a hushed voice, but it still echoed in the darkness. Sheaira rolled her eyes at the fear of her brother.
"Look, no one is stopping you from going back, but I'm not losing another parent to this stupid caves," Sheaira growled her voice slightly louder. There was another loud scattering sound nearby and John covered his mouth for a moment and Sheaira turned to him with her finger on her mouth. Once the sounds finally quieted down she let out a sigh.
"Look…" John pointed ahead and Sheaira turned back to see what he was pointing at. A deep cavern was filled with Dark Eco flowing through. Sheaira's heart raced, if her father had gone this far was he lost in the Dark Eco? She shook her head trying to get the thought out of her head. He'd been researching Dark Eco once before.
"That's Dark Eco," John whispered he gaze across the Dark Eco and noticed something sitting on a plateau. His eyes widened as a medium sized egg glowed in the darkness, he nudged his sister, "Look a Precursor Orb!" his voice raised slightly and then Sheaira covered his mouth.
"Shush, we aren't here for those…." Her voice trailed off as she stared at it. She had been chasing Precursor artifacts since her mother disappeared when she was a child, "Fine…I'll get it you stay here."
"Wait, I thought we were looking for Dad," John let out a groan and was passed the torch.
"Just point this at the Orb, I'll grab it and will go back," Sheaira's eyes glittered with determination and John knew he couldn't stop her now.
"Wait Sheaira…" John sighed she was already on her way. There was a small narrow pathway between the Dark Eco. She followed it carefully while John pointed the torch towards her. She grumble nearly stumbling but making her way across safely. She turned back to John and stuck her tongue out playfully. He sighed and looked around hearing some heavy footsteps nearby, his eyes widened and he began to be nervous and mouthed Sheaira to 'Hurry up', however, she had her back turned already and eyes on the Precursor orb before her.
Just as Sheaira was about to grab the orb the torch light went out. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust but she didn't hesitate to grab the orb. "Got it….John turn it back o-", Sheaira was cut off and let out an audible gasp as a Lurker began to approach her.
"We'll be taking that," a smooth cold voice came from behind the Lurker as a woman approached passing the Lurker who stepped aside.
"Who…are you?"Sheaira took a step back away from the pair. Her eyes darted towards her older brother who was backing into a corner as the other Lurkers began to approach him. Then she looked back at the woman who smirked.
"I don't need to announce myself to you," she snarled. Sheaira clenched the Orb in her arms and grinded her teeth.
"You want it, go get it!" Sheaira abruptly tossed the Orb across the Dark Eco distracting the Lurkers from John, "Run John!" she shouted to her brother who nodded nervously and the Lurkers pounced on the orb.
"Idiots!" hissed the woman as she rushed at Sheaira who dodged quickly hurrying toward the narrow path way. Her eye finally began to adjust but she lost her footing when the other Lurker tried to grab her ankle.
"Eck, get off!" She kicked it away and it stumbled losing its balance and falling into the Dark Eco with a scream. Sheaira sighed somewhat relieved thinking she could make her get away; however, a burst of energy hit the ground near her knocking her off the cliff side. She let out a yelp as she grabbed a hold of a few rocks preventing her from falling into the Dark Eco. She looked up to see the young woman's hands glow a dark purple color.
"Just like her father," a sneer ran across her face, "No fun at all."
"What do you know about my father…?" Sheaira growled as she struggled to keep hold of her position on the cliff side. A shiver ran down her spine as she glanced down to the Dark Eco below her.
"Shame that your father will never see you again, I'll let him know that you are just as useless as he is," laughed the woman who threw the energy blast but before they had a chance to hit Sheaira she let herself go off the cliff.
Time seems to have slowed down for her, she held her breathe and closed her eyes. It felt like her life was flashing before her eyes. She thought about her father, mother and brother the words of this woman echoed in her head, she obviously had something to do with his disappearance… but what would that matter to her now. She was going to die.
The next thing she knew she was shrouded in cold darkness. 'What is this…am I dead…' she thought to herself. No matter how much she tried her eyes would not open. She felt weak and the darkness felt like it was crushing her.
"Sheaira…" a voice called out in her mind, a voice that was soothing and reminded her of something. She clutched her fist tightly shivering in the dark.
"You need to wake up darling…."
The next thing she knew she was hitting the stone cold ground as if she had fallen from the ceiling. She coughed and gasped breathing in the cold cave air. She quivered and gazed around the caverns, however she was alone. She pushed herself up off her stomach and hesitated looking around for anything that was different. Nothing seems out of place.
"Okay…so they're gone…what happened…" she lifted her hands up to her face and yelped. Her hands were now furry covered in thick red fuzz. "What in the world?"
"Sheaira?" a light came from near the entrance of the cave, the call was from her brother. She quickly got up and realized she was no longer as tall as she once was; she stumbled clumsily over her large paw feet. Her eyes wide with shock she could seem to find her voice to call out to her brother.
"Sheaira?" the voice called. The light landed on the furry creature in front of John, "Oh….that's cute, hey little one…." He kneeled down and Sheaira looked over at him.
"John…?" Sheaira's voice came from the creature and John's eyes widened and he screamed, "SHUSH!" Sheaira dashed towards him and covered his mouth with her paw as he stumbled and fell on his butt.
"Look, I fell into the Dark Eco and came out like this…" Sheaira quickly explained, "Let's get back to the hut and try and figure this out."
John nodded nervously and as he stood up Sheaira climbed up and held onto his shoulder as he headed to the exit. Scurrying spider curiously followed behind until the exited Spider cave. The two siblings stayed silent as Sheaira thought to herself. She never heard of anyone living being fully submerged in Dark Eco.
"I don't understand I left you for an hour…" John finally broke the silence as he walked into the hut.
"Huh?" Sheaira shook her head in confusion, "That woman was long gone when I got up."
"Let's take a look at Dad's research, maybe there's something here that can tell us what happened to you," John approached the desk were papers were scattered. Sheaira hopped of his shoulder and moved towards a full sized Mirror on the other side of the room. She examined herself thoroughly reaching to feel her furry ears and running her hands through her pink hair. She felt like she was herself but everything was different now.
"Here, this looks just like you!" John held up an old sketch of an animal, it was called an Ottsel.
"Ottsel…?"
There was a loud sound approaching the hut and John immediately put the picture down looking towards the door. It sounded like a motor running; Sheaira got nervous and ran behind the mirror hiding. She peeked out and watched John walk out to find out what the racket was.
"Keira!?" John's voice sounded pleasant. Sheaira swallowed and shut her eyes, how was she going to explain what happened to her. Why was Keira even here? Was she alone? Did something happen to the green sage as well?
There were other voices that Sheaira couldn't quite make out but she chose to stay in her hiding spot.
"So the Red Sage has gone missing as well?" Samos, the Green Sage asked John as he followed him into the hut.
"That's right, we've been searching everywhere for him but haven't heard from him," John sighed deeply. Sheaira poked her head out slightly watching her brother Keira and the Green Sage walk in first, "It's not like him to disappear like this."
Sheaira's eyes darted back to the door to see a young man looking around the hut with another orange creature on his shoulder. It looked a lot like her, or at least the form she has taken now.
"Where is your sister anyways?" Samos looked up at John curiously rubbing his beard as he gazed around the room.
"Uh about that…" John frowns and turned to the mirror where Sheaira was hiding.
"What's this?" asked the orange creature jumping on the desk holding up a picture of the Ottsel. Sheaira gasped and quickly dashed out climbing up the desk and swiping the work from the other Ottsel.
"Don't touch that, it's my father's research!" she growled holding it tightly to her. The room fell silent and the other Ottsel seem entranced by her. She turned her head to the other four humans standing in the room staring at her. She felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment.
"Yeah…" John spoke softly.
"Sheaira you're an Ottsel too?" Keira approached her and looked her over. The other Ottsel folder his arms and his eyes gazed her over.
"Nice to know I'm not the only one, I'm Daxter, this is my partner Jak," He pointed over to Jak who waved confused.
"Never mind that," Samos said pushing Daxter assigned and almost off the table, "How on earth did this happen!?"
"Uh, it's a bit of a long story…" Sheaira scratched the back of her head.
"Someone attacked us in the Spider caves," John began, "She seemed to be able to control those…dark Lurker things."
"So they reach over here as well," Samos pondered and rubbed his chin.
"She seemed to be able to throw energy blasts at me, she knocked me into the Dark Eco," Sheaira said and Daxter perked up.
"That exactly what happened to me, maybe its destiny baby," the orange Ottsel tried to smoothly put his arm around Sheaira only to get pushed away again by Keira this time.
"Cool it Daxter," She growled and then looked over at Sheaira. Sheaira was a bit taken by this and then turned back to them.
"Did you happen to know who she was?" Samos asked.
"No she refused to give her name, it was too dark to see her face clearly," Sheaira frowned, "She wanted the Precursor Orb I had."
"Someone else is collecting them too?" Daxter frowned looking back at Jak who was listening intently.
"Well, we may know someone to help turn you back," Samos said looking back at Sheaira.
"That's right, Gol Acheron has been working with Eco, we are heading to their Citadel," Keira added smiling reassuring Sheaira.
"We can turn back?" Sheaira seemed a bit excited, this thought help a lot. But still something bothered her as she gazed back down at her hands.
"Possibly, but first the need to make it there, we're looking for Precursor Power Cells," Keira turned to Jak who nodded.
"Hey maybe we can help, Dad's got a Power Cell Storage up on Snowy Mountain!" Sheaira said, "John you still know the way right?"
"Yeah of course," John smiled and looked over at Jak who nodded his head.
"That's perfect, we'll go together," Daxter smirked at Sheaira, "I can't wait to get to know you better." Sheaira raised an eyebrow at the orange Ottsel; she still wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Keira shook her head in annoyance.
"Alright, we'll stay here and work on the upgrades for the zoomer," Samos said glaring at Daxter, "You'd better get a move on."
"Right, lead the way baby," Daxter said smoothly.
Sheaira watched him and he turned back to Jak and climbed up onto his shoulder. Sheaira looked at John and grinned at him and her and rolled his eyes.
"Fine you can ride on my shoulder."
"Let's not waste too much time then," Sheaira jumped on his back and climbed up to his shoulder, "Giddy up."
John sighed as Daxter let out a laugh as the group headed out. Sheaira gazed back one more at the hut and thought she saw something glowing a dark purple color behind the top of her home. She looked back at Jak, he gazed in the direction but it had already gone. Sheaira shrugged and looked at the warp pad.
"Guess there's no going back…" Sheaira muttered to herself.
Disclaimer: This is a reboot of the original Terrible Mistake created back in 2003. The story will not be the exact same so if you go back and read the original which is pretty bad since I wrote it when I was 14. If you are interested in the original story you can check it out at under GoldensunSheba. Give me your honest opinion, this is technically an AU story.
