Chapter 25: A Silver Medal

The next morning, Ash, Sonic and co. arrived in Slateport City. After regrouping with the others, everyone boarded the Tornado NX and set their course for Mt. Pyre.

"Hey, where'd Cynthia go?" Ash asked as soon as they were in the air again.

"She had to leave to continue her research," Knuckles replied. "She said she was going to a region far away from here. I wonder where she's headed."

"Well, you know how champions are," Max said. "They're always attending to their own business, and they rarely have time to have fun."

Some of the people on the plane chuckled at that. Ash, however, looked out the window and frowned slightly. Is that what it's like being a Pokemon Master? he thought. When I reach my dream, will that happen to me, too? I hope not.

"You all right?"

His thoughts abruptly stopped when he heard the person next to him ask him a question. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Thanks for asking."

"What are friends for?" May winked at him. The two of them chuckled and pecked each other on the lips, unaware of a pair of blue eyes glaring at them with jealousy.

Why? Serena thought. Why did I have to lose him? Tears began to form in her eyes, but she fought to keep them from falling. Why didn't he choose me? What does he see in her that he doesn't see in me?! What's so special about her?! She squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear falling down her face. Why am I left behind while they go off living a fairy tale?! WHY?!

"Serena?"

"What?!" she shouted, startling everyone on the plane. Everything was deathly quiet for a moment before she realized what she'd done. She looked at the face of her friend and saw that her eyes were full of tears. "Bonnie?" she whispered. Bonnie sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Bonnie, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just…" she trailed off.

"What?" Bonnie asked, still slightly choked up.

Serena sighed. "I'm just having a hard time right now."

Bonnie finished wiping her eyes and put a smile on. "It's okay," she said. Then she walked up and hugged her tightly. For a moment, Serena was taken aback, but she quickly reciprocated the little girl's affection. And in that moment, for the first time in a long time, a genuine smile smile formed on Serena's face. And then that moment ended, and her expression quickly became sad.

Bonnie noticed this. "Don't be sad," she smiled. "Be happy! What's there to be sad about?"

Serena forced a smile on her face. Bonnie grinned, gave her a thumbs-up, and walked back to her seat. When she was gone, Serena stopped smiling and looked out the window in sadness. There are so many things to be sad about she thought. Bonnie has no idea.

"Looks like we're close to Mt. Pyre," Knuckles said as a mountain shrouded in clouds became visible.

"Right," Sonic nodded as he turned to the cockpit. "On your signal, Tails."

"We'll be in optimal position in five minutes," Tails replied.

Sonic nodded and stood by the door leading out. Ash got up too, but Sonic put his hand out. "I think you should sit this one out, Baseball Head."

"Huh?" Ash blinked in confusion.

"It seems every time you jump out of this plane, you got attacked by something," Sonic reminded him. "I don't know why that is, but I don't want you to get hurt."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Won't you be alone?"

"Of course he won't!" Hoopa shouted, leaping out of his shadow indignantly. "I'm sticking with Sonikan, for better or worse!"

"Oh, right," Ash chuckled in embarrassment. "Forgot about that."

"Say, what kind of Pokemon is that?" Iris asked.

"Looks like it eats donuts," Cilan said.

"You dorks!" Dawn laughed at them. "That's Hoopa! It's a mythical Pokemon, said to be from Kalos." She looked at the Pokemon in admiration. "Wow. You're a lot cuter than I thought you'd be!"

Hoopa blinked. "I don't know if that's supposed to be a compliment or not."

"I'd go with compliment," Sonic chuckled. Hoopa and Dawn giggled with him as Hoopa returned to his shadow.

"All right, Sonic!" Tails called after some time had passed. "We're nearing optimal position. Get ready to jump!"

"Right!" Sonic nodded. He stood at the doorway as it slowly opened, the wind blowing through his fur.

"Here we go," Tails called. "Jump in 3...2...1!"

Sonic leapt out of the plane and dove towards the mountain below, the wind hissing through his ears. He didn't mind, as he prepared to land and take off running.

There is nowhere for you to go.

His eyes widened. "Did I hear something?"

No father, no mother, no brother, no sister.

"Pft, whatever," Sonic shrugged as he landed on his feet. "Okay, now to get to the summit!"

In a dark void, a mysterious figure looked around impatiently. So he said to himself. They continue to gather the Chaos Emeralds, unhindered. The doctor's efforts are fruitless! He angrily slammed his glowing tail on the ground, causing a shockwave. I believed that by working with those three fools, he could accomplish my work for me effectively. But it appears I was wrong. It lowered its head and ground its teeth. I have no one to rely on now. No one...no...only one.

My Messenger...will not fail me.

After Sonic weaved through Mt. Pyre's gloomy interior, he quickly reached the summit. When he arrived there, he found an empty pedestal where it appeared a Chaos Emerald should be.

"Huh?" he said.

"What's this?" Hoopa wondered, popping out of his shadow.

"I get the feeling there should be a Chaos Emerald here," he explained. "But there's nothing here." He pulled out a radio. "I better call Tails."

TARGET ACQUIRED. FIRE AT WILL.

The two of them started on hearing the sudden robotic voice. Sonic whirled around and saw several Eggrobos standing in front of him, with firearms aimed right at him. No sooner had they fired than Sonic leapt into the air, began spinning, and then jumped onto one of their heads, knocking it out. Bouncing off that one, he repeated the process and effectively knocked out the entire squad of Eggrobos before skidding to a stop next to Hoopa.

"Piece of cake," he smirked. "No sweat!"

"What were Eggman's robots doing here?" Hoopa wondered.

At that, Sonic's smirk vanished. "Must've been a trap," he said.

TARGET ACQUIRED. FIRE AT WILL.

Sonic whirled around to see even more Eggrobos aiming at him. "Oh, great," he muttered. "Not more of them." He got into a fighting stance, only to watch the robos suddenly glow with a green aura and get thrown away, causing them to explode.

"Huh?" Hoopa exclaimed.

"That glow," Sonic mused.

"Looks like you got your hands full."

They turned around to see their new companion. "Silver?" Sonic said.

"That's right," Silver the Hedgehog nodded, brushing himself off.

"What brings you here?" Sonic asked.

"Me?" Silver replied. "I could be asking you that same question. You're looking for the Chaos Emeralds, aren't you?"

"What made that obvious?" Sonic joked.

"I was down in Slateport City searching for an emerald when I overheard some friends of yours talking about finding it at Mt. Pyre. I came here to find it, but as soon as I got here, Eggman and his cronies from Team Rocket snatched it and got away. I tried to stop them, but they were too fast."

"Eggman!" Sonic cursed to himself, clenching his fist. "I might've known."

"What do you need the emeralds for?" Silver asked, raising an eyebrow (or whatever he had).

"I had them with me when I fought Eggman in space. Then he took them from me and threw us all out of his ship. They scattered all over the world."

Silver's eyes widened. "Did Eggman destroy the planet?" he asked.

"Kind of. He fired some sort of death ray at the planet and split it into several parts. We're trying to recover the emeralds so we can use them to fix it."

"I might've known he was responsible," the white hedgehog growled to himself.

"Huh?" Sonic said. "What do you mean?"

"My future was destroyed again," Silver explained. "This time, the whole planet's falling to pieces. I'm trying to save it. Now that I know the cause, I can act accordingly."

"You're not planning to kill Eggman, are you?"

"No, of course not!" Silver shook his head. "I know better than to kill someone just to save the future. Ends don't justify means."

"Agreed," Sonic nodded. "So, you need the Chaos Emeralds, do you? Then I suppose you could join us if you wanted."

"No," Silver shook his head. "I've travelled around the world, looking for what caused my world to fall apart, and I think I've found it."

"Right," Sonic nodded. "Eggman."

"Not just Eggman," Silver said. "There's something else: a strange dark force. I don't know what it is, but I know where its influence begins."

Sonic's eyes widened. "Where?"

"Well, I don't know the name of the region," Silver admitted, "but it's not the regions you're well-acquainted with: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and the rest of them...it's separate from them all."

"I see," Sonic nodded. "Well then we'll probably end up over there, too. Something strange has been haunting us since we started this adventure. It may be related to this dark force you speak of."

Silver nodded. "Well, I guess you guys can continue on your way to collect the Chaos Emeralds, and then we can meet back up over there."

"I look forward to it," Sonic nodded. "Until then, farewell, Silver."

"Farewell, Sonic," Silver smiled, hovering in the air and then taking off like a bullet. Sonic and Hoopa watched him rocket away.

"Let's get back to the others," Hoopa said.

"Agreed," Sonic said. With that, they began their descent from Mt. Pyre.