New world…
Silver had to cover his mouth for a few moments to keep from vomiting as soon as he opened his eyes. Suppressing the urge he put his hand down for much needed support, "Ugg!" was the only sound that would come out of his mouth.
He felt like he had been run over by a truck.
Head hurting and ears ringing, he picked himself up with the help of the nearby wall and began to bush the dirt off his suit… "Wait… A SUIT?"
He didn't have this on before; bewildered he begins to run over to a nearby mirror only to fall face first into the hard pavement, his body not prepared for the sudden movement.
He picks himself up again, this time he picks up a piece of long pipe a uses it as a cane and steadily makes his way over to the mirror.
He stares into the mirror and observes the figure looking back at him.
His face looked the same, his boots had the same shape but the color was a jet black blending in with the suit so well he wouldn't have noticed them, the suit was in good condition, practically new. His gloves were the same but he couldn't recognize the rest of him.
Before he could check what else was different, a searing pain shot up and down his back, making everything hurt, even the headache and rigging in his ears got worse.
He fell down against the wall, sitting up against it for support, the pain was so intense that it was making it hard to breath, it felt like someone had his chest in a vice, forcing his breathing to be ragged, hard and uneven.
He couldn't even open his eyes without them hurting.
He tried to call for help but the ringing was so loud that he couldn't even hear what he was saying or if he was saying anything at all. After a few silent shouts he gave up.
So he did the only thing he could do…
He just sat there.
Five minutes, an hour or a day, he couldn't tell, all he knew was that he wasn't able to move until the pain settled down.
When the pain finally went away Silver took a few minutes to relax before he opened his eyes.
He looked around; he was in a city ally and the label on the side of the dumpster confirmed that he was in Metropolis.
He had been here before; when the new theme park opened a few years back he went there on a date with Blaze. He let out a sigh, relieved that he wasn't in some strange place.
But then he wondered why had no one come to help him when he called for it, he wasn't expecting the Calvary but someone, anyone, could have stopped and helped him. That's when he noticed that no one was on the sidewalk.
"That is odd," he thought, "But maybe there is a festival or event of some sort going on."
But when Silver picked himself up and walked onto the sidewalk he saw no one.
He was surprised by what he heard when his ears stopped ringing.
He didn't hear anything.
The sounds the city was known for was silent, no cars honking, no sound of people talking, not even the light wind blowing between the sky scrapers.
The usual busy mood the city gave out was gone and in its place was a tense and unfriendly air, like a situation that would explode into a fight with the right spark.
The whole city was covered in clouds, giving it a grey depressing look.
Silver picked up the pipe and began to walk in search for help of some kind.
After walking for what seemed like hours he saw a figure down the street, as he made his way over to it he was able to make out a person sitting in a chair, newspaper covering their face.
"Hello! Hey!" Silver shouted. He waved his arms and shouted again trying to get the person's attention but the figure didn't move.
Silver half-walked, half-limped over to the person and shouted again, "Hello! Hey you!" but the figure still didn't move. Silver walked right up to the person, "Hello? Sir? Are you asleep?" Silver shook the man's shoulder to wake him up.
Silver jumped back in horror when the newspaper slid of the body, the man had been horribly mutilated, his face was clawed up so bad that Silver could see the skull, and the rest of his body looked like it had been gutted and eaten.
Silver could see bone almost everywhere on this person. So much of the remaining fur and flesh had been picked away by the maggots that he couldn't even tell what species this poor soul was.
Silver felt so dizzy and nauseous that the effort not to puke failed him.
He managed to get his head into a trashcan at the last second.
He didn't give himself time to recover from the shock, he started to panic.
He turned and ran blindly, questions shooting through his mind that he couldn't answer.
Where is everybody?
Who or what did that?
What could happen to me?
Silver stopped running long enough to take a breath, his lungs felt like they were going to explode.
Silver leaned against an abandoned car to rest, and looked around.
He had run to a highway underpass that was falling apart, dim light shined through book-sized holes in the road.
Even when he tried to focus on anything else his mind found its way back to that mutilated body, and each time it did he was starting to panic again.
Click…
"What was that?" he heard a sound; he strained his ears trying to make out the sound, "Footsteps!"
He quickly forgot his fear and ducked behind a crumbling pillar that was supporting the ruined highway, concentrating on nothing but the footsteps.
Click…
Click…
Click…
Whoever it was would be in sight now.
Silver carefully leaned out to see who it was.
He couldn't believe it, he recognized that cat anywhere.
"Hey, Blaze!" Silver said, coming from his hiding spot.
The she-cat didn't respond.
"Am I glad to see you," Silver continued, "I thought I was all alon-"
Before he could even finish he was slammed against the very pillar he had been hiding behind… by Blaze, her arm at his throat. He remembered her being fast but not this fast.
"Blaze, what are you-"
"Silence!" She ordered, yellow eyes piercing into his. "State your name, clan, and unit number and if I don't like the answer…" She presses her arm into Silver's neck, "I will crush your windpipe before you finish your next breath."
"Blaze, what are you-" Silver was cut off as his neck was squeezed.
"My patience is short." Blaze said, "Answer me!"
Silver was confused beyond what he could have ever thought what confusion was.
Thinking fast he blurted, "It's me, Silver the hedgehog. We have been friends ever since childhood, we fought together during the war with Iblis."
"You must remember me." He looked straight into her cold yellow eyes, but her eyes held no sign of the Blaze he knew.
"Wrong answer," She replied.
Her fingers clutched Silver's neck harder and harder. He desperately clawed at her hands, trying to release her grip.
His lungs began screaming for air.
He looked into her eyes and saw no hint of mercy. She really was going to kill him!
He was beginning to black out when the grip on his neck released. He fell to his knees coughing and hacking, his lungs grateful for the air.
"You are normal." Blaze said, "You are neither my enemy…"
Silver still was painting, glad that she stopped but he was unable to find any words to say.
"…nor are you any friend of mine."
Silver felt his heart stop at those words.
"Still, since you are not on a side I will have to convert you before that were-scum does."
"What are you talking ab…" Silver was cut off to find himself up against the same column that he was just realized from.
Blaze's eyes turned from sun-yellow to blood-red and her teeth sharpened like daggers.
"Let's see how your blood tastes." She purrs, "Hopefully better than your lies."