Chapter 24: Chaos Controlled (Last Part)

Present day. Ruins of Neo Giozaz.

What was left of the once-great city was already being swept away by the tides of lava. With the never-breaking layers of dark clouds enshrouding everything, and the glow of fire and lava lighting up all there was to see, it was like a scene from Hell.

"Quite. One of the middle-eastern religions, most likely. They always had such creative imagination for hells of suffering and destruction." Pretorious flew over the ruins, looking around. "So this is how it ends. The Gi set loose some destructive power beyond their means to control. History is a stubborn thing - always repeating, never learning. I shall have to make some serious changes after I destroy my relentless pursuers. Hmmm... Not a bad setting for a final battle, if I do say so myself."

The movements of something too large to be living caught Pretorious's eye. It was a beast, composed of hardened lava rock and pouring fire. It toppled a sky scraper in one movement, for seemingly no other reason that that it was in its way.

"Big boy, aren't you? I wonder if I can get inside YOUR head..."

-

Super Silver and Pia touched down on what had once been the terrace of a fancy resturant, but was now the last surviving scrap of metallic outcrop overlooking the destroyed metropolis.

"What a horrible place," said Silver, looking around. "How far ahead did we go?"

"If I had my Jumpsuit, I'd tell you," Pia answered. "It looks like our fears were justified. Earth suffered one close call too many, and the Gi failed to save themselves."

"We'll fix it, and then-"

Silver was interrupted by volcanic explosion as a mountainous shape erupted from the lava flow and smashed through the very platform they were standing on. Gradually the bulge of lava took shape and grew visible limbs and a demonic face, wrapped in armour of frozen lava. Before they could react, the thing grabbed both Silver and Blaze in its tentacles.

There was a loud crunching of rock as the monster's face assumed a different expression than it was designed for. The grinding motion settled into an evil grin, and the heroes both heard the voice clearly from the maw of the monstrosity:

"How do you like me now, boys and girls?"

"P-Pretorious?" Pia shouted in shock, staring at the head the size of a house.

"I failed to destroy either of you from within, but this beast was an easy challenge to overcome. It is a mindless brute, stripped of all intelligence and will. Easy to inhabit, easy to control."

Pia twisted in the monster's grip. "Silver," she shouted. "Keep him busy!"

"What? How can I-"

Silver didn't get time to say anything else, as Pia rulled into a tight ball and shot herself down through the lava tentacle, flying through the molten rock towards its heart. The Super hedgehog understood that this was no time for hesitation. Channeling his power, he released a psycho-kinetic shockwave that caused the tentacle holding him to burst into fragments. He could tell right away that the Pretorious-Thing was faster on the uptake when it came to Pia's plan than he was, so he settled for ripping what was left of the concrete terrace out of its foundation and throwing the chunks at the monster's head with meteoric force. It worked, apparently. Large bits of armour broke off the lava monster, and its composition clearly weakened under the onslaught.

"It won't be that easy, Silver! You haven't given me a chance to take this new ride for a spin yet! Aheeheeheehee!"

With that taunt, a cataclysmic whirlwind of flames erupted from the lava at the base of the beast and grew to surrounding the monster, cutting off any chance for Silver to attack. He soon found it hard enough just to keep himself from getting sucked into the vortext.

Inside the belly of the beast, Pia found her target. Two silluettes against a backdrop of glowing lava met and engaged in fierce combat. The raccoon Pretorious couldn't match Pia's army training - even though the playing field was raised to superpowered brawling - he instead found his advantage in the fact that Pia wasn't as willing and happy to fight to kill as he was.

Super Silver struggled to fly higher, trying to cross the upper threshold of the whirlwind. He nearly didn't make it, but even as the protective layer of his Super form threatened to be stripped away from him, he managed to cross into the eye of the burning storm, facing down the lava monster from above. He spun around once, then threw himself downwards at extreme speed, pouring all his strength into a Superpowered Psycho Smash attack.

"You truly are my nemesis, in every way, shape and form, Pia. Everything I hate, everything I loathe with all my being incarnated in YOU. And like any good nemesis, you JUST! WON'T!! DIE!!!"

Pia looked Pretorious right in the eye. "Shut up," she said, and struck.

The vortex of flame failed as the creature once called Iblis dissolved in the wake of Super Silver's charge, while at the same time Pia tore through the monster from within, forcibly ejecting the defeated Pretorious. The shockwave of Chaos Emerald energy and following explosion could be seen from far away, if only there was anything left alive in the destroyed world to see...

-

The task of reassembling the shattered meteorite took a long time. Silver, Super no more, accepted the job himself, while Pia guarded the de-powered Pretorious. Keeping their long-time enemy sitting peacefully was easier than expected. His spirit seemed lost. He hadn't said a word since his defeat in the distant post-apocalpytic future.

"What, you're not gonna say anything?" Pia asked when the tense silence became too annoying to stand.

"What is there left to say?" Pretorious asked, not raising his head. "I lost. All my research for nothing. My quest for understanding destroyed by ignorant children. At least..." Now he looked right at Pia, and grinned horribly. "I had more fun than you two ever will."

"Yeah, whoop-tee-doo for you, Trevor," said Pia.

"Trevor? Yes...that is my name. It's been a long time since I've heard anyone else call me that. Aheeheehe. Who knows, with all the changes you two caused in history while pursuing me, I may yet find a future I can appreciate."

Pia frowned at him, but didn't say anything. That was a point she hadn't considered much. They interfered on Angel Island during the catastrophe. They changed the events of Sonic's adventure in Soleanna. They fought off a Black Arms invasion that was never supposed to happen and revealed the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to the native tribe earlier than they were supposed to know it. They didn't cause any changes at the pre-Chaos Master Emerald shrine or affect the fate of the Gi civilisation, though, did they?

There was only one way to find out...

"Come to think of it, how exactly are you supposed to return to your own time?" Pretorious asked. "Your Super form is depleted, and I clearly heard you state before that your Jumpsuit is ruined."

"We wait for backup."

"Backup?"

"Of course. Just because your time portal couldn't be traced by the Protectorate's chronolog scanners doesn't mean that my Jumpsuit can't be. I'm surprised none of my colleagues caught up with me before now. Although..." Pia looked towards Silver. "I suspect my father had a hand in that. Of course, until the Chaos Core is restored as it was so the Gi can discover it and create the Emeralds, I won't have a future to return to."

-

Finally, Silver moved the last fragment into place. Gradually the blackened crystaline interior turned dark green as before. Finally, Silver lowered the huge meteorite back into the hole from whence it came, and filled in the pit with dirt and rocks.

Not long after, Shadow the Hedgehog arrived, wearing his own hedgehog-fitted Jumpsuit.

They all went home...

-

EPILOGUE:

Pia stormed into the captain's office, slamming the door behind her. Captain Silver leaned over his desk, and smiled knowingly to his daughter.

"I want to know right now exactly how much you remember, Dad," Pia demanded.

The aging hedgehog brushed his mustache, and chuckled. "I remember everything, Pia," he answered. "I even remember stories of events that never happened."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember Pretorious's tour of Giozaz?" Silver asked , folding his arms over his chest while leaning back in his leather armchair.

"Of course."

"Do you remember what Pretorious said on the first tram ride that made you so angry? Something about 'accidents'?"

"How dare you? Of course I remember! I'll never forget that, and you shouldn't either since you paid for all that therapy you sent me to after-"

"What was your therapist's name?" Silver cut.

"It was- Er... I don't remember, okay? Where the hell are you going with this damn-"

"Don't swear."

She shut her mouth. Since when was her father ever able to manage that tone?

"Relax, Pia," said Silver standing up and walking over to the girl. "This is a new timeline. The past wasn't the only thing we changed when we went after Pretorious. Meeting you, then, helped change me as well. You only just got back from Dr. Pretorious's arrest hearing. You haven't slept since you came back to this time. Most importantly, you haven't let the temporal distortion waves overake you yet, but they will."

"What...what are you saying?" Pia asked, giving Silver an odd look.

"I'm saying that right now you should think back to your life as it has been so far. Very soon, you won't remember any of it at all. There was a fire during your second year of high school. You got a little plastic medal from the fire chief for acting fast and helping to put it out. Blaze insisted that we got a frame and everything for that little thing. She doesn't know what might've been, and it's better that she never does. We're having dinner tonight, by the way. A little celebration of tying up loose ends. We both hope you'll come. You know your mother cooks way too much food as it is..."

"Whoa! Slow down! Are you saying you're not divorced anymore?"

Silver laughed. "You know, I can remember the things you told me when we were held in that cell by the Gi, but I still have a hard time believing anything like that ever happened. You know Blaze would burn my tail off if I ever did anything to upset her. Still got my tail intact, haven't I?"

Realisation dawned on Pia. She saw what was different about her father - what'd weighed on her mind but not reached through until just now. "You! Y-your spikes!" she stuttered. "You've got all of them back!"

"Back?" now it was Silver's turn to look confused.

"And you're not wearing your GUE uniform! You NEVER walk around bare-bodied. You said that only unappealing attention-seekers ever-"

Pia stopped when she saw the look on her father's face. Not just the look, but the face itself said enough. Less wrinkles, laughter lines that'd never been there before. If only he lost that silly mustache as well- What was she thinking? This was...all wrong. This wasn't her world; it was all changed. Trying to remember the right past kept getting harder by the second as unfamiliar memories flooded into her mind, displacing familiar events, even painful ones.

Pia blinked.

"What were we talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing important," Silver answered. "Are you coming over for dinner tonight?"

"Sure. Mom has to teach me how to roast a bird like she does someday. Every time I try it always leaves soot all over the kitchen."

"I'll try asking her, but you know how she is about giving away secrets," Silver laughed. "Oh, exceptional job capturing Dr. Pretorious, Agent Pia," he added in an authorative voice that was obviously just for show.

"Thank you, captain!" Pia answered, ripping off a salute. "You know, Pretorious sure talked a lot of nonsense during that whole adventure. I'm surprised you didn't lose your head from confusion back then, Dad."

"It all depends on who you really listen to," said Silver, putting his arm around his daughter.

-

Pretorious looked up at the cold stone walls of his cell. He...didn't feel too well.

"Ah...ha...a...aha...ahee...hee!"

"Aheeheehee...hee..."

"Aheeheeeheeheeheeheehee!!"

Cold stone walls.

"I'm bored."

-

THE END