Chapter Twenty: Betrayal

Eggman: "HO HO HO HO HO…At last I have a Chaos Emerald to add to my collection!" Eggman opened a high security vault and assed the Emerald to the two he already had stored away. "Four more, and I can use the Emeralds to create Eggman-land and rule the world!"

"You set high goals for yourself, Doctor." Nazo said as he approached Eggman.

"Of course. With you and me working together, I can realize my dream at long last, and put an end to Sonic and his friends!"

Nazo folded his arms as he followed Eggman back to the main part of his lab. "Silver must be somewhere still incapacitated." Nazo said. "I must've really ruffled him up in our last fight."

Eggman typed something on his computer, while listening to Nazo. "When the two of you fought, the power you unleashed caused my technology to go haywire beyond my understanding! I had to back-up most of my files. Still, I was impressed on the energy reading I picked up."

"Which is why you came to me and asked to partner up with me. Am I right?" Nazo smirked.

"I was intrigued by your power. Your otherworldly strength and abilities, combined with my genius and masterful inventions, we can be an unstoppable team!" Eggman laughed insanely again, while scanning the updates on some of his robots.

"So…Dr. Eggman…out of curiosity, how much do you know about that fire cracker they call Misuki?" Nazo asked while leaning on a control board. "I only ask because if we want to gather all of the Emeralds, we need to extract the one that's within her as well."

Eggman grunted when Nazo brought up the subject of Misuki. The very name brought his blood to a boil. "She's nothing but a pain. I honestly believe she's more of a nuisance than Sonic! She takes after her father; she's just as stubborn as he was. Especially when she's with that blasted Shadow!"

"Those two do feed from each other." Nazo said with an intrigued tone. "When I finished Misuki off the first time, Shadow was so engulfed with anger and rage that he nearly drained himself of energy trying to kill me." He laughed at the memory of Shadow's fury. "Of course that didn't end well for him, if you know what I mean."

"So you told me." Eggman turned towards Nazo. "So…you actually managed to steal Misuki's Emerald from her?" He had to ask that question, considering that's what he's been trying to do since he witnessed the Emerald being absorbed by her. Eggman flinched when Nazo glared at him from the side.

Nazo chuckled before he answered Eggman. "Pulled it straight from her chest with my bare hand." He reenacted the scene by reaching his hand out and then performing a sharp, pulling motion, clenching his fist tightly. "I'm connected to the Emeralds in a way you can't possibly imagine. It used my energy to grab hold of the Emerald's energy within Misuki, and then it reformed back to its original state before I extracted it from her. Once I did, she fell from weakness and died in mere minutes."

"With Misuki's Emerald, along with the rest her friends have, we can take over this world in a matter of time! HO HO HO HO HO!"

"Yes." There was doubt in Nazo's tone. "WE…will take over the world."

Silver: Silver…Silver.

Silver, still within the depths of his mind, looked above him to see five lights descending in front of him. Ah! Mystic Ones! Silver quickly bowed to them as they took the form of five elderly men. Their eyes were a fluorescent mint green color with no pupils.

Rise Silver. We have come to tell you that your recovery is complete, and you must return to your friends to help them stop Nazo.

Silver met The Mystic Ones in the eyes. He was shocked at what they told him. "But…my power isn't at its maximum. I won't be able to defeat Nazo at this rate. I need to get stronger!"

Silver, you have already exceeded your limits. If you continue to push yourself, your spirit will collapse and destroy itself. Your friends cannot fair against Nazo for long without you. They pulled up an image of Misuki in a mystic star ball. It won't be long before the one known as Misuki is struck down, and Nazo will destroy the world once again. You need to be there to protect her.

He stared at Misuki, re-imagining the moment when Nazo ripped the Chaos Emerald from Misuki's chest and laughed as she collapsed to the ground. After she died, her friends rushed towards Nazo and were nearly beaten to death; including Shadow. Silver looked down at his hands, still doubting his power. "How can I face Nazo in this state?" He asked. "I've passed my abilities twice, but I'm still not at his level."

The Mystic Ones all looked at one another and nodded. Silver looked at them questioningly. They soon turned back to him and said, Silver, the truth of the matter is you will not be able to reach Nazo's level. It would take you years to do so. However, you do have enough power and wisdom to wield a special power we have been saving for such an occasion. They all held their hands in the air while chanting an incantation that conjured a golden orb.

Silver was taken aback by the immense power that came from the orb. His eyed widened with interest. Before he knew it, The Mystic Ones used their power to push the orb towards Silver, causing him to hunch over for a short time and take in the power that was given to him. "What is…?"

This power is our secret weapon we've been developing for centuries. It is made from the energy of every kind-hearted spirit in the galaxy, on and off Earth. This, Silver, is the Power of the Universe.

"Power…of the Universe?"

Yes. You will be able to stop Nazo with this power, but you must wait for the right time to use it.

"Why's that?" he asked.

There is a key ingredient that the power is missing in order for it to be used. Finding it, requires a strong, honest and pure spirit. That is why we are bestowing this power onto you, Silver.

"I'm honored, Mystic Ones," Silver bowed to them again. "but how will I know what the last key is?"

We are confident you will know what it is once it appears. They answered. For now, it is time for you to return and help your friends. Change the past, Silver. So a better future, can be born.

Everything faded to white, blinding Silver as he fell back into nothing. He didn't scream, nor did he panic as his vision faded and The Mystic Ones vanish into the brightness.

He opened his eyes, hearing distant chatter that sounded muffled. "Where…am I?" Silver slowly rose and realized he was in a hospital-like room, with an I.V. hooked into his arm. As he looked at his arm, he tried to feel the Universe's power he was given, but he could only feel a mere fraction of its power. 'What they said is true. I can't call on this power just yet.' He looked up at a digital clock that had the date and time on it. "Looks like I've been out for a while. Wait a minute!" He examined the date closely. "April 5…11:36…Oh no! I remember this date!" Silver quickly jumped out of the bed and pulled the I.V. out of his arm. "I have to get in contact with the others!"

As he made his way to the door, a woman with short white hair and heavy eye shadow opened the door and nearly ran into him. "Hey, hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" she exclaimed. "You just woke up and you're going to try to run out of here?"

"I need to get out of here! I need to contact Misuki and the others quickly!"

"Silver, you've woken up." Shadow said with a surprised expression. "What's going on? Are you well enough to walk around?"

"Shadow, where's Misuki?"

"She's out cleaning the baseball stadium. Nazo teamed up…"

"…with Eggman. I know."

"How do you know?" Shadow asked.

"Because this is exactly what happened before! Nazo teams with Eggman and captures the Emerald at the stadium. But it's nothing but a trick! Eggman is in serious danger!"

"What do you mean danger?" Shadow asked.

"I know you and Misuki and the others don't like Eggman, but we need to get to him. If we don't Nazo will kill him and take the Emeralds."

"Kill Eggman!?"

"Even you have to admit Eggman doesn't deserve to be dealt a fate as cruel as that by the hand of Nazo. Shadow…we're running out of time!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. Rouge, get yourself ready. Call the others and tell them to meet us at Eggman's base."

"Hold on, do we even know where Eggman's base is?" she asked.

"He's held up far out, beneath a mountain out in the NorthEast." Silver said in a rushed tone. "I can give you coordinates Misuki and the others can follow."

Rouge and Shadow stared at Silver, not surprised that he had that information. "Fine. Let's get ready to leave."

Misuki: As Misuki and the others were helping cleaning up the debris from last night's battle, she got a call on her communicator. She put down the medium-sized rock she was transporting to a disposal bin, and then answered it. "Misuki speaking."

"Misuki, it's Shadow."

"Hey, how are things at G.U.N.?"

"Well, good news…Silver's finally awake."

Misuki gasped with excitement. "That great news!"

"Don't get excited just yet." He told her. "He says Nazo is about to attack Eggman."

"Did he say Eggman is going to be attacked?" Sonic asked in shock. He, Knuckles and Vector gathered around Misuki to listen to Shadow.

"Misuki listen to me. You and the others have to meet us at Eggman's lair. He's in some sort of fortress in the NothEast. I'll send you the coordinates."

"Alright Shadow. We'll get there as soon as we can." Misuki ended the call and then dialed Tails. "Tails, prepare the ship and pick us up at the stadium!"

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain everything when you get here. Just hurry up!"

"Alright! I'll be thee as soon as I can."

Misuki took off her cleaning gear, and then went to some volunteers and construction team that were assisting with the clean-up. "Hey guys, sorry about this, but we have to take care of a seriously important issue. Do you mind finishing up here?"

"We'll do what we can here. Thanks for all your help."

"No problem. Again, we're sorry the result came to so much damage." She said. "We gotta go! Bye!"

Tails got to them within twenty minutes. Just as they boarded the ship, Shadow had sent Misuki the coordinates to Eggman's base. She typed it in to the ship's guidance system and then let Tails do the rest.

"Can someone please explain why we're going out of our way to rush to Eggman?" Knuckles asked in annoyance. "What if this is some sort of trick Silver doesn't remember happening in the future?"

"He seems to have a good memory." Misuki said. "If Eggman was going to trick us with something like this, he would've contacted us himself. You know that as well as I do. Besides, Silver is a good person. We have to help him."

"I still don't like this." Knuckles was still skeptic. "This is Eggman. Are we sure we want to stop Nazo from taking him down? It would save us the trouble."

Misuki became frustrated by Knuckles' constant nagging.

"Knuckles, even if we just ignore it, there are still the Chaos Emeralds Eggman has in his base." Sonic said, taking over the conversation for Misuki. "Plus, as bad as Eggman is, I think we should do the right thing as see what's going on."

"Gah, whatever." Knuckles sat back and just waited until they got there.

Finally they arrived at the fortress. They landed the plane on a steady part of the mountain. Misuki followed the power she felt from the Emeralds. The entrance was already blown down; probably from Silver's power. When they made it to the main part of the base, which was a huge computer surveillance lab, Misuki gasped when she saw Eggman beaten half to death on the floor, grunting in pain. Her hands went over her mouth, and her eyes almost popped out of her head. "Oh my God! Eggman!" She ran straight to him to check on his state. "Can you hear me? Say something!"

"We're too late!" Silver exclaimed, punching the wall.

"Not so. The Emeralds are still here." Shadow said, looking straight ahead. "So is Nazo."

A set of automatic doors opened to reveal Nazo, using his psychic powers to levitate the Chaos Emeralds on either side of him. "Well, well, looks like the gang's all here!" he said with enthusiasm. "Like what I did to Eggman? I gotta tell ya, the look on his face, begging me to stop beating him….it was absolutely priceless!" He bent over laughing at the way Eggman was barely conscious.

Misuki's breathing became unnatural, as everything turned into pure, red rage to the point she screamed in anger and charged at Nazo. She was able to catch him off guard for a second, tackling him to the floor. She punched him repeatedly before Nazo used his powers to pick her up and throw her against the wall. It didn't stop Misuki from getting back up and still going towards him with everything she had. "You think you can just beat someone to a pulp and laugh about it like it's nothing!? You cold-hearted son of a bitch!"

She continued to fight Nazo, even though he was throwing her around at this point. She could tell he was combatting her, that Nazo was just toying with Misuki. "Wow, you're seriously miffed, sweetcakes. How can you be so angry that I beat him? If I recall, he's the one who ruined a portion of your life."

"Even so…he doesn't deserve to suffer this much! I'm going to finish you right here!" Misuki conjured her Chaos energy, in order to perform a Chaos Blast, targeted straight at Nazo.

"Misuki, you can't fire that in here! You'll kill us!" Shadow ran to Misuki and held her back, trying to make her break her focus on the energy that was already forming in her right hand.

She still resisted against Shadow, trying to keep her focus. But she was fighting against him so much that the ball deteriorated and the pent up energy within her was gone. "Let go of me, Shadow! Let me go! He needs to pay for what he did!"

"This isn't the way to do it!"

Nazo sighed, annoyed that his 'fun' was cut short. He brushed himself off. "Well if she doesn't get to play anymore, I'll take my leave."

"You're not going anywhere!" Silver charged at Nazo as he prepared to teleport. Silver rushed to grab him, but he was already gone. "Damn it! I let him get away again!"

"You're just going to run away, you coward!? This isn't over!" Misuki continued struggling in the most heated anger she had ever felt. Her eyes produced tears as she let out a frustrated scream. As she screamed, she began feeling a bit light-headed and soon enough blacked out in Shadow's arms.

Author's Note: Again, sorry these chapters are taking so long. I admit I got distraught about this story and almost pulled the plug on it. But then I realized that some of the ideas I had for this story, had to be scrapped so this wouldn't seem too repetitive.

Anyway, I have some cool twists coming up, so hope you will stick around to see what happens. Please R&R!