Chapter 50 - A History of the Future
Waves of cool air danced around ivory fur and quills. Lazy golden eyes glanced into the direction of the setting sun. The bright ball of fire in the sky glowed of a beautiful orange, drowning Angel Island within a sea of fuchsia. It gave the day a laid-back feeling, totally opposing the feelings churning within the chest of Silver the Hedgehog.
He was here once again, just as he was when Solaris was defeated at his hands along with Sonic and Shadow. He was away from the future, away from his home. The home that now did not stand in turmoil, but was peaceful and beautiful without seas of molten lava flowing through cracks of buildings and the giant beast Iblis roaming the Earth.
Even though the threat of the man-made monster was gone, his subconscious mind, Mephiles, still roamed the present. How this happened the psychokinetic hedgehog did not know, but what was for sure was that Mephiles had influenced Shadow in a great way and turned him against his friends.
And it was also recently revealed to him that he was one of the seven incarnations spoken of in ancient legends and tales. Now Silver was not very superstitious, but the fact that a strange ability other than his psychic ones had been beginning to churn within his being have been giving him hints.
Wind.
It was all around him, floating, and unseen by the naked eye. But, he knew it was there and he also knew that he had some influences over it.
Slowly, the white hedgehog raised his left hand and waved it gently, as if he was a conductor giving instructions to an orchestra. And just like an orchestra, the wind around him responded, not in the form of music, but in the form of life.
A gentle gust rustled his body, blowing from the area where he had waved his hand over. It wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact, he had been randomly manipulating the air for a while now. It had all been triggered by a dream.
A dream filled with memories of events erased from history itself.
Flashback
Silver bolted upright in his small wooden bed, making the frame of the frail sleeping platform creak and rock from the sudden movement. Sweat poured down his face, his brilliant yellow eyes wide with fear and shock.
After a few moments, the white hedgehog gulped and threw the thin sheets covering his body off him. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his exposed hand, the gold-eyed hero grabbed two white gloves off a small table next to his bed and pulled them on.
Silver examined his hand carefully, noticing his powers beginning to activate now that he was once again awake. Two bright green circles covered both of his hands evenly, tracing two lines down to his heavy cuffs that he had clamped onto his wrists.
Next, the time-traveling hero pulled the large green, black, and yellow boots that stood on the floor next to his bed close to his feet and slipped them on roughly. Standing to his full height, the ivory hedgehog glanced around his small, almost barren room once more before running to the door, tearing it open, and cutting into the hallway.
'I've gotta tell Blaze about this!'
Annoyed yellow eyes snapped open as she felt her entire bed shake. Blaze sighed heavily, letting sleep crumble before she sat up, her eyes landing on her life-long companion and friend, Silver the Hedgehog.
"What do you want?" the feline pushed out, more than irritated at being woken up by her naïve friend.
Silver's ear folded back, mimicking a small puppy that knew he had done something bad. It was always like that when the purple cat scolded him for doing something he shouldn't have. "I had a really weird dream."
The fire-cat rolled her eyes, slamming her head back down on her large pillow. "Go away. I don't have time to baby-sit you right now."
"But Blaze!" the sixteen year old hedgehog whined, tugging at her arm again, which she jerked away roughly. "It was really strange. Something about a demon named Mephiles and a place called Soleanna."
Blaze's eyes widened. The dream Silver had just briefly described. It was the same one she had prior to being woken up! Slowly sitting back up, her soft yellow eyes landed on the ivory-furred hero before she sighed again. "All right, let's hear it."
Silver smiled slightly. Usually Blaze wouldn't even hear him out but this time she seemed different, she seemed interested. Perhaps...
"Did you have that dream too?"
The violet cat paused, unsure whether or not to tell him. Mentally, she answered the question immediately. Yes, she had the exact same dream and she remembered every little detail of it as if it was an actual memory.
"...Yes, Silver, I did," she finally answered.
"Do you remember it all?"
Blaze bit her lip, averting her gaze for a moment. "As if it actually--"
"--Happened," Silver finished for her.
"I'm not too sure about this," Blaze bit out, her slitted yellow eyes scanning the room for any signs of danger. Not that there were any, as this was one of the many research facilities G.U.N. owned in the area. The worst case scenario was that they would be thrown out for illegal entry.
"Aw, come on Blaze," Silver cooed, nudging his closest friend a little. "According to that dream, you and I traveled back exactly two hundred years to help someone named Sonic and Shadow. We have to check out if it's true or not!"
"But..." the female trailed off, her eyes landing on the large cylinder-like machine in front of them with a large glass door. "We might not be able to come back."
"So what?" the albino hedgehog asked, his fingers gliding over the console in front of the machine. "What do we have here that's keeping us down? The citizens of Station Square that we constantly risk our necks to save yet still slam their doors shut and close their curtains when we walk down the street? If you ask me, this might be out best choice."
"What if all of it was really just a dream and we can't return to our time? Then what?" Blaze shot at him, her gold eyes slitted in anger.
The white hedgehog rolled his eyes, acting like the smarter of the two for once. "Do you really think I would just jump that blindly? I did some research and found out that there actually was once a famed hero named Sonic the Hedgehog that lived around two hundred years ago in this very city. I didn't find anything on Mephiles however."
Blaze sighed slightly. "I'm still not too sure. What about the Sol Emeralds? I'm their guardian, what if someone tries to steal them?"
Silver smiled, punching in a few more buttons before the glass door of the chamber hissed open with a loud hum, lifting up as if to invite them to step in. Smoke hissed from the sides of the capsule-like invention before bright white lights activated and illuminated the clear white chamber.
He turned to the purple cat standing behind him. "GUN took the emeralds into one of their bases a while ago, so I'm sure they're safe. Besides," he said, raising his eyes towards her, "No one lives forever, Blaze."
Then, without another word, he turned tail and walked straight towards the chamber, ducking slightly as he entered. There was a brief moment of silence before the time-traveling hero turned around, lifting his right hand up and sticking it out towards Blaze.
"As long as we're together, right Blaze?" Silver asked with a bright smile, the machine beginning to activate and hum loudly.
The feline paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. Shaking her head to clear away her doubts, she gave her friend a small smile before running up to him and grasping his hand. Courteously, the white hedgehog lifted her up into the chamber, pulling her close to his own body.
Blaze unwillingly blushed for a moment before her defenses kicked in. "Don't get any ideas."
Silver's smile widened as he released his female companion. "I wouldn't dream of it."
The glass door to the chamber suddenly rumbled before slowly lowering itself to close the capsule. With a hiss that also set their decision in stone, Silver and Blaze stared bravely at the wall of the capsule before a bright white light flashed all around them, warping them away from their home and towards their destiny.
Blades of grass stirred gently in face of a breeze, a mere whisper of Mother Nature to her children. On the long, grassy plain that seemed to stretch on endlessly towards the horizon, no living being stirred.
A shadow rolled over the grassy earth, one as massive as a small city. Slowly, almost lazily, the giant dark spot crossed the plain. For in the sky above, hovered Angel Island, home to the once proud race known as the echidnas, now home to the last survivor of that race and future battle ground for the catalyst of the Titan Beasts.
A bright yellow flash cut through the air, illuminating the space around it with a soft glow and highlighting the waving sea of grass below it. Two silhouettes appeared in the flash, one shaped like a hedgehog and the other shaped like a feline.
The flash of light faded and died away before two sets of feet landed on the ground with soft thuds, splitting and bending the grass below them under their weight. There was a slight chuckle that originated from the hedgehog as his eyes scanned the plain and the giant island floating above them.
"So, we really made it?" Silver asked, more to himself than his companion, Blaze.
The said purple feline with strange flame-wielding powers dusted off her violet coat before her eyes caught sight of Angel Island as well. Her mouth opened in mild shock, realizing that everything she had seen, everything she had dreamed of; it was all real.
"That's where that echidna lives, isn't it?" Blaze asked, her gold eyes never leaving the massive chunk of earth floating in the sky above them.
The ivory-furred hedgehog next to her nodded with a smile, unconsciously tightening his gloves around his hands by habit. "Knuckles. He must know where Sonic and Shadow are. I want to meet them again."
Blaze chuckled. "It's so strange. In reality, we've never met them, but in events that never happened, they were our friends."
"They are our friends," Silver corrected. "And I have a feeling that something really bad is happening to them right now."
The fire-user's ear twitched. "What makes you think that?"
The white hedgehog's gaze traveled to the side, golden eyes clouding over with doubt. "I'm not really sure, but it has something to do with Shadow. I can feel his energy pulse with the others at this very moment, but it seems different."
Blaze raised a brow. "How so?"
Silver's eyes narrowed. "Shadow seems...corrupted."
"Well then, what do you want to do?"
The psychokinetic user shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe we should just che--"
He cut himself off so suddenly that it alarmed Blaze. Silver's bright yellow eyes practically doubled in size, his mouth slowly gaping. A single line of sweat ran down the side of his face. He had practically frozen in place, as still as a statue.
"Silver?" Blaze asked, concern cracking through her voice, "What's wrong?"
"He's attacking them!"
The purple cat's eyes widened as well. "What? Who's attacking them?"
"...Shadow…" the white hedgehog responded, voice suddenly flat and dead.
There were no more exchange of words, no more conversations, and no more whispers. Faster than Blaze could blink, Silver had grabbed her roughly by the arm, pulled her close to him, and began summoning upon his powers.
The ivory-furred hedgehog's entire body began to glow an alien, neon green, his quills waving gently as if the energy around him was a soft breeze. Then his eyes flashed the same strange green color before he used his newly developed warping technique.
"Mind Ribbons!"
Locking his own mind onto Sonic's, swirling rays of neon green energy formed around him and Blaze like multiple ribbons before they ensnared them. Then, with the collapse of the web of energy ribbons around them, they disappeared from the spot.
The breath Blaze had trapped within her throat was released heavily when her feet once again came into contact with a solid base. Golden eyes scanned the immediate surroundings, a mere instinct from all the combat she had gone through.
Gasping, her eyes widened. Surely enough, there they were. A black and red hedgehog with crimson eyes clad in a long ivory coat and a sea-blue hedgehog with sparkling green eyes.
But what was most alarming was that the black and red hedgehog was pointing his palm straight into the chest of the cobalt one. Silver had been right after all. Shadow, the one they once knew as an ally, was now their enemy.
"I've explained this to you before," the ultimate life form deadpanned, dark purple crackles of energy dancing over his hand. "You cannot fathom the pain of being betrayed by someone you thought was your companion, your friend, your brother."
A dry, sad smile touched Sonic's lips at Shadow's ironic words. "You're wrong, Shadow. I know exactly what if feels like to be betrayed by someone like that. But vengeance isn't on my mind; it's the slight shimmer of hope to save you."
There was another slight pause and for the first time the speed demon thought he had finally caught the crimson-tainted hedgehog off-guard. But then, there came another reply, followed by a steadily growing light of violet.
"...Our circumstances are not the same, Sonic. We were merely allies, not bound together by the distant illusion of family and love. My path lies with my brother, with his death...with mine."
Sonic gasped, his cyan-green eyes suddenly widening at the midnight-colored hedgehog's talk about his own death. "What are you saying...that you're willing to die just to kill him?"
Shadow's cold nonchalance broke for an instant, letting a weak but dark smirk show through his stolid facade of indifference. "...I've told you before, Sonic. I'm willing to sell my soul and body to the devil himself as long as he dies."
The brief shimmer of the old Shadow was gone in the next instant, leaving Sonic with waves of nostalgia washing over him like a giant river. Then, the orb of energy within Shadow's palm completed. Before the hero so much as could blink, the ultimate life form released the ball of spiraling energy at point-blank range.
"Sonic!" Amy and Rouge cried out simultaneously, both making a mad dash for the sapphire-blue hedgehog.
"Damn it!" Silver cursed, hastily summoning upon his powers once again.
The blast of neon green that shot out of his hand trapped the shimmering violet orb Shadow had just fired at Sonic in the nick of time. Another second or so, and the blue hedgehog would have been hit full-force with the attack.
Rouge, Amy, and Knuckles all stopped dead in their tracks at the sudden event, rendered speechless. Even Sonic seemed to be in shock, completely oblivious to the fact that the ultimate life form had almost succeeded in killing him.
There was a burst of orange and red before a ball of flame roughly the size of a chair whizzed through the air, sending waves of heat dancing across the room. The ball flew past Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Sonic, heading directly for the red-streaked hedgehog in the room.
Before the ball of flames could consume him, the ultimate life form warped away in a photon of crimson light, a mere flash in the face of the all-consuming fire that hit nothing but the ground, scorching it black with a small blast.
Shadow reappeared back perched atop of the rubble on the outer rim of the room, his red eyes scanning for the source of the attack before they finally stopped at a single spot behind the rest of the heroes.
"I did not expect you two to show up."
End Flashback
A dry smile touched Silver's lips. "Things could have been so different. But I'm needed here now. It's my duty as one of the seven incarnations...and as Shadow's friend to bring him to his senses.
"Talking to yourself again, huh?"
The psychic hedgehog turned his head slightly to acknowledge the newcomer's presence. "I just thought you would like to know what I was thinking about, Sonic."
The sea-blue hedgehog crossed his arms and smiled, leaning back against the trunk of a large tree that cast shades onto his body and the grass below him. "I know things are bad, Silver and I appreciate you wanting to help out but getting Shadow back is my duty, no one else's."
Silver closed his bight yellow eyes and leaned back, using his palms to support his body weight. "Everyone needs a little help sometimes, Sonic. That's what Shadow failed to realize."
Even in the darkest of places, Sonic can always find a source of light. Check back next week for Chapter 51!
