· · ─────── Outside POV ─────── · ·

"Mephiles!" The three hedgehogs say in unison...

Tails' eyebrows furrow as he watched the three look around the large empty room frantically. "...M-mephiles?" He asks, confused more than concerned. "There's nobody else here, guys." He reassures them gently, his blue eyes scanning their serious expressions.

Sonic inhales slowly through his nose, frowning. "...He ran off?"

"...What a coward." Shadow hisses, deeply annoyed as he crosses his arms, tapping his right arm with his left index finger, obviously frustrated.

"...W-what do we do now?" Silver asks gently, looking away from the blue hedgehog up to the yellow fox above. Tails shakes his head gently, frowning as he eyes the three of them.

"Well, you obviously have to tell me everything... but first let's get you guys patched up and out of here..." Tails says firmly, quickly getting to work. "Hold on tight!" Tails says quickly, watching Sonic quickly jump up to grab his hands... Eventually, Tails manages to carry Sonic up to the top, to the hole he flew down through in the first place... He repeats the process two more times to fetch Silver and Shadow...

"Dang it Sonic!" An aggravating voice snaps at the blue hedgehog. "How many times do I have to tell you, to be careful out there?!"

Sonic winces in pain, the cold cloth that she was using, pressing into the gnarly scratch he got from the battle earlier. "Amy... Relax, I'm fine." Sonic says with a light chuckle, glancing over at Silver who was being patched up by Tails nearby. They had made it back home to Central City and Tails' workshop... The flight was just as long as before, and the three hedgehogs were all injured due to the explosion... Since they made it home, Amy had been contacted to help with the injuries and help bandage people up... By the time they arrived, it was already the next day...

Amy just rolls her eyes, annoyed with her "boyfriend" for being so careless with himself. Amy Rose was a pink furred hedgehog with emerald green eyes, similar to Sonic's. Her skin on her muzzle, ears, and her arms were a lighter peachy color. She had a little black nose, and her eyelashes were medium length. She allowed her quills to grow out and get to a healthy length to the center of her back. Her bangs on her head coiled at the ends due to her constantly teasing them with a hair wand. She also had a small and short pink tail that jutted out of her dress.

Her attire had changed over the years as well instead of the backless short dress she used to wear, she replaced it with something that allowed her to move around a lot more, a longer dress that came down to just above her knees. The dress was mostly red apart from the white belt that was wrapped around her waist and the two white lines that came down the length of her dress on the front and back. Her sleeves were puffy due to the style of the dress. For her hands, she wore white gloves with two golden bracelets on both wrists. On her feet, she wore a pair of red boots with white buckles and golden pins to match her idol, Sonic of course. On her head, she wore a shiny red headband, with a sparkly red bow that was usually hidden behind one of her ears. Around her neck, she wore a red choker to match the dress.

"I don't care." Amy bluntly states, eyeing Sonic hard. "What if you got hurt or worse, killed?!"

"...Ugh." Sonic deadpans, giving up with arguing with her before he glances over at Tails. "Any new information about Mephiles?" He asks gently.

"...No..." Tails says with a frown, pulling away from Silver who gives a grateful smile, having been patched up from all the bumps and bruises he got from their battle earlier. "I tried to look up as much as I could about him... And I came up with nothing."

"What the heck...?" Sonic says with a frown, glancing over at Silver who sighs gently in defeat.

"G.U.N has also come up with nothing about him," Shadow says suddenly, having been one of the first ones to be cleaned up from the battle. He was leaning on a nearby wall as he watched the others across the room. He wore an annoyed expression as he pushed himself off the wall. "Looks like we'll just have to keep researching..." He mutters quietly to himself, looking down at the floorboards, in thought.

"Maybe the Hero Agency might have something!" Sonic says quickly, pulling away from Amy after she had finished wrapping up one of his arms. "I remember that the fourth floor made files for every villain we encounter... Maybe he was one of the lesser-known villains that the newbies have been dealing with and now it's suddenly come to light that he's a lot more dangerous than originally thought..."

Silver frowns a little, thinking of how serious the situation suddenly had gotten. "...How fast can you get that information, Sonic?" He avoids eye contact with Tails and Amy. "Remember that stuff I told you and Shadow about...? I don't know how much time we have..."

Sonic nods gently, remembering the fact that Silver was from the future, and told them that the fate of this world was in total ruins. Shadow exchanges a look with him and then Sonic sighs. "I mean I could go now... But I'm like really worn out..."

"And I'm not letting you go anywhere, mister!" Amy says bluntly, glaring up at Sonic from her seat.

Shadow rolls his eyes a little. "Very well then." He then turns towards the front door. "I'll keep having G.U.N look into this guy and we'll try to figure out his origin." He then strolls past the others. "I'll see you all later."

"Bye Shadow!" Tails says gently, standing up quickly. "Please keep us updated and I'll keep you informed if I find anything!"

"Thank you, Miles." Shadow says plainly, turning his head as he opens the front door, stepping outside into the dewy morning air. The sound of his motorcycle starting up and driving off was the last sign of the Ultimate Lifeform in the area...

Silver remained seated in his chair as he glances over at Sonic, who was forced back down to adjust his bandages on his arms by the pink hedgehog nearby. "...What do we do in the meantime?" He asks worriedly, feeling dread wash over him. Tails dismisses himself from the room to go back to his workshop in the back, wanting to investigate this new baddie and see if he could dig up anything he possibly could.

"...I guess rest up," Sonic says with a shrug, flashing the gray hedgehog a playful smile. "Since Shadow and Tails are both going to look into this Mephiles guy... it'd give us both enough time to relax and gain energy before our next big battle with this guy."

Silver frowns at the thought of just sitting around. "...I mean I guess..." He sighs, sitting back in his chair a little as he glances over at the pink hedgehog who was gathering up all the bandages and other various medical items scattered about on the coffee table, tucking them neatly away into the little med-kit she had on her lap. "I just... don't like the idea of wasting time."

"It's not wasting time, Silver... Trust me bud," Sonic says with a wink. "If we do not get our proper rest, we can seriously end up hurt the next time we engage the baddies... So, think of it as a good thing..." Sonic then thinks for a few moments before he sits up, flashing a smile. "Why not go explore the city?" He asks gently. "If you're not feeling up to the idea of taking a nap, you can always go explore." Sonic then chuckles. "I'm not gonna tell Shadow that I let you out of my sight for a couple of hours~"

Amy glances curiously over at Silver before she parts her lips. "You're not from around here?" She asks gently. "Where are you from?"

Silver blushes faintly before he averts his gaze. "Oh uh..."

"The neighboring city..." Sonic lies on Silver's behalf. "He's visiting from there and he is going to be staying with me for a while until we solve his issue..."

"Oh," Amy replies gently, taking the bait easily. "Well, I sure hope that whatever you got going on gets fixed up soon, Silver."

"Thank you... I do too." Silver sighs gently, his amber eyes on the coffee table before he glances up at Sonic. "...I can try to get some rest... but if not then I guess I'll take your suggestion and go out and look around the city a bit... I'm sure there's a lot here that I haven't seen before."

"I'm sure of it," Sonic says with a thumbs up, standing up as he stretches, his arms above his head before he yawns. "Welp I'm going to go ahead and take a nap for an hour or so..." He then turns to look back over at Silver. "Think you can handle yourself?" He asks playfully.

"Yeah, I'm not that helpless..." Silver says, rolling his eyes lightly as he glances up at Amy, who stands up to follow Sonic upstairs. "See you later, Sonic."

"Totally~," Sonic says with a grin, he heads towards the stairs, which was to the right of the building... however halfway up the stairs he cannot help but frown in annoyance. "Amy you're not coming into my room, you can go... Thank you though for helping." He says gently, turning to face the pink hedgehog who looks mildly annoyed with him.

"What do you mean?!" She snaps, offended that she was not allowed access to his bedroom or to help get him comfortable for his nap...

As the bickering went on, Silver took it upon himself to switch his spot... Taking a seat on the couch before he leans over a little, using one of the throw pillows to rest his head upon and he tried his best to take a nap... However, his mind was racing with millions of questions and concerns. Who was this Mephiles guy? How did he know that Silver was from the future? How was he able to show him those horrific images of his friends and family? Was he even the right one to have been sent back to the past to save the future?

About thirty minutes pass and Amy had left a while ago, having been told off my Sonic about how weird it was for her to want to come into his room, so she left in an angry fit because of it. Silver had tried his best to fall asleep but could barely shut his eyes because he had too much on his mind... So, he sat up in annoyance and put his feet on the ground, sitting up on the couch as he sighs in defeat, assuming he wasn't going to get any shut-eye anyways... He barely slept in the first place, so why start now? He slowly stood up and eventually decided to go out and visit the city as Sonic had recommended. He took the train that connected Mystic Ruins to Central City and eventually made it to the main train station within the city...

Within a crowd of mobians he eventually made it to the street and figured he would just go sightseeing since he barely had any rings to go spend at the amusement park nearby or go into any of the fancy buildings. So, without thinking too much about it, he eventually allows his legs to move on their own, taking him on an unknown path until he reaches a beautiful sight. The boardwalks of the city, taking a moment for himself before he decided to take a seat down on the wooden steps that lead off to the boat dock. He neatly folded his hands on his lap as he stared ahead, watching the sailboats in the distance travel to and fro from the docks... He felt the gentle sea breeze and a sudden calmness filled in his heart. He did not have anything on his mind at the current moment.

"Hey you...~"

Silver jumps upon hearing the voice and quickly turns his head towards the direction it came from... Standing there was Stephanie Smith...

To Be Continued...