"Well?" Silver demanded, taking a step closer to the edge of the boat, in turn hanging Captain Plunder further over the sea. "Where is she?"

"I don't even know who yer talking about!" Captain Plunder blustered, eyeing the drop below nervously.

"An orange wolf with diamond markings, shorter than me, missing a leg," Silver snapped, fast losing patience. "Have you seen her or not?"

"Aye, captain, remember that lass who hired us not two months ago?" The lizard, Filch, piped up from where White still had him pinned on the crow's nest.

"She hired you?" Silver echoed, caught off guard. He quickly shook off his surprise and scowled at Plunder. "Where did you take her?"

"That scurvy dog?" Plunder scoffed. "She paid us to take her to Twilight. 'Course we told her we'd do no such thing, but she was insistent, and had good money, so we agreed to take her as close as the Dark."

Silver glared at him a moment longer, but he could see no reason why Plunder would lie. With a huff he set Plunder back on the deck. "Why would she want to go to the Twilight Piece?" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"A death wish?" Plunder suggested, picking at his teeth with an air of nonchalance. "If she didn't get her—" he cast a nervous glance to the sea below and made a gesture over his forehead "—the Nocturnus did. Fool wolf's sleeping in Argus's chamber by now." He eyed Silver. "Now is there something else ye be wanting, or can we get back to our business and act like this never happened?"

"I need transport to the Twilight Piece," Silver said.

Plunder's eyes went wide. "Are ye deaf? Going to the Twilight Piece is as sure a death as dancing with Jack Ketch! We drew enough attention gettin' as close as we did last time; if we go near that place again, we might as well walk the plank now!"

"You misunderstand me, captain," Silver said, extending his hand. Plunder was again surrounded in a cyan glow, along with several of the pirates surrounding them. It was a strain on Silver's mind to grasp so many large objects at once, but they didn't need to know that. "I need transport. I do not need a crew." With that he tossed them over the edge of the ship.

"That was awesome!" White yelled, jumping down from the crow's nest, still holding a screeching Filch by the neck. "Should I toss this guy over, too?"

"Sure. He can fly, anyway." Silver said, more focused on his pounding headache.

White happily tossed Filch over the side, waving cheerfully as the lizard's screeches faded. "Oh, they all landed in your boat. I was hoping they'd have to swim. How are we going to get to Argus now? Do you know how to fly this?"

"We'll figure it out," Silver said, heading towards where he was reasonably sure the pilot room should be. "I picked up some of the basics from Tooth, we should be fine." He pointed to the front of the ship. "You stand there and shout directions at me."

"Great!" White zipped off, then just as quickly returned. "How do I know which way to go?"

"Here," Silver said, fishing something out of his pocketspace. White leaned over to look at it curiously. "This is a compass. The needle always points north. We need to go…" he thought for a moment, trying to think of where they were relative to Argus. "West, I think." That way they wouldn't fly over Iblis, which would be for the best. "Just make sure the compass is pointing like this—" he demonstrated, making sure White was actually watching. "—and yell if you see anything we might run into."

"Aye aye, captain!" White said, flashing him a quick salute before racing off to his post. Silver waited, and he soon zipped back and sheepishly took the compass before running off again. Silver just hoped he didn't trip and fall off the ship, or worse, lose the compass.

Silver found the pilot room and was immediately faced with a very intimidating console of levers, buttons, and screens. He tried a few, and finally the engine burst to life. Another lever caused the ship to lurch.

"We're moving!" White yelled. "Really slowly! But we're moving!"

"Are we going the right way?" Silver shouted back.

"I think so!" White said cheerfully.

That was promising. Silver stepped out of the cabin and went to lean over the side of the ship. Below him, the Between Piece drew farther and farther away. Silver's boat sat at the edge, nearly sinking from the pirates now filling it far beyond capacity. That didn't stop Captain Plunder from stepping on his crewmates to get higher, shaking a threatening fist after his departing ship. Silver could barely make out the insults he was shouting after them.

"He seems mad," White observed.

Silver glanced back at the pirates. "He'll get over it."

Silver gradually got a hang of piloting the ship. It was slow, clunky, and probably outdated, but at least he could set it flying in the right direction and not have to worry about careening into a mountain. The relative dark and quiet of the pilot cabin had also helped his headache. After a little while, once he was sure they were going the right way, Silver went out to join White at the bow. Above them the sky had shifted to night, the stars shining brightly on a pure black background. White was perched on the railing, his legs folded as he balanced precariously, his back to Silver. Evidently his fear of the sea didn't extend to when it was miles below him. He was looking up at the stars with round, wondering eyes. As Silver drew closer, he heard White singing something to himself in Mandarin.

"{I didn't know you knew this language,}" Silver commented in Mandarin, coming up beside him. "Or English, for that matter.".

White jumped, then grinned at him. "I didn't know I spoke English either until I heard you and those pirates talking in it." He shrugged. "It feels right, though."

Silver looked at him curiously. "Which are you most comfortable with? Mandarin, English, or Spanish?"

White considered for a minute, tapping his chin thoughtfully. It was a strange expression on him. "I dunno. Mandarin, maybe? It seems most natural, but English also feels really… right. Spanish is familiar, too." He smiled at Silver sheepishly. "I guess that doesn't tell us much, huh?"

Silver sat beside him on the rail, his legs swinging over the distant, dark ocean. "Mandarin is a common trade language, so it makes sense you might have grown up speaking it. English and Spanish aren't as widely spoken, especially Spanish, so that might tell us something. Maybe you're from the Burning Piece, like me." Or somewhere that will become the Burning Piece.

"That makes sense," White agreed. He looked at Silver curiously. "How many languages do you speak?"

Silver counted off on his fingers. "Spanish is my first language, but I also know Mandarin, Tibetan, English, Classic Maya, Yucatec Maya, and ancient and modern Echidnan. So… eight, I think."

White whistled, impressed. "You'll have to teach me some of those."

Silver frowned. "I don't know if we'll have time," he admitted. "After we meet with Argus, you'll hopefully be going back to where you belong."

White furrowed his brow. "Where I belong? You just said I'm probably from the Burning Piece. That's where you live, right? So we'll still be able to visit each other, and you can teach me those other languages!" Seeing Silver's expression, the brightness of his grin faded. "Where else could I be from?"

Silver hesitated, looking off to the side. He was becoming increasingly certain White was genuine; if he was a minion of Iblis, it was without being aware of it. But Mephiles had warned him not to tell anyone in this time of his trips to the past. Silver had told Gold and Tooth, sure, but he knew them. White, he didn't know nearly as well. But… he clearly wasn't Temporan. He was too tall, too slender, too bright. He wasn't from this world, that much was clear. Unless he was created by Iblis, in which case… in which case it probably wouldn't make a difference if Silver told him, anyway.

"You could be from the past," Silver said at last. "You don't look like a Temporan—my species in this time," he explained quickly at White's questioning look. "You're too tall and slender. And bright. But you could be from hundreds of years ago, before Argus took over the planet."

To his surprise, White laughed. "So what, I'm three hundred years old? Wouldn't I—" he stopped, seeing the expression on Silver's face. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Time travel," Silver sighed, rubbing his forehead. He could feel that headache coming back on. "I'm talking about time travel."

White's eyes widened, and he made an "o" expression.

"I've been to the past," Silver explained, looking up at the stars above. "You wouldn't stand out that much there."

"You've been to the past?" White demanded, jumping up to stand on the railing. Silver blinked at him, and he dropped down into a crouch not unlike a feral cat. His eyes were rounded with excitement as he stared at Silver. "That's so cool! What was it like there? How did you do it? What did the sky look like? Was it blue? Did you see the sun? Who did you meet? Do you really think I could be from there? Where—"

"Slow down," Silver interrupted.

White went quiet, though he was still quivering with barely suppressed excitement. The only sound was the hum of the engine. Even the usual lapping of the waves was gone as they floated through the sky.

"The sky is blue," Silver said after a moment, closing his eyes. He could see the memory in his mind, clear as the stars above. "Bright blue. And it's warm. And beautiful."

"It sounds really nice," White observed, flopping down to sit beside him. "It's so cold here. And wet." He looked at Silver. "So why did you go back? How?"

"I went back to change things," Silver said. "The Time Stones showed me how."

"What did you change?" White asked curiously.

Silver sighed. "That's the problem. I've been back twice now; once a year ago, to find the Time Eater—it's a long story we don't have time for now," he said quickly as White started to interrupt. "And then three months ago I went back to…" he frowned, remembering his last visit to the past. "I'm not really sure why I was sent back that time. The Time Stones were certain it was important, but I don't think I really did that much. Both times I came back to find the future unchanged."

"I'm sure you changed something," White assured him with a tone of complete confidence. "You're not really a time wasting kind of guy."

"Thanks," Silver said, and was surprised by how much he meant it. Even if White had no idea what he was talking about, it was nice to hear someone have confidence in him.

"You're welcome!" White responded cheerfully. "So do you really think I might be from the past?"

"Maybe. Do you remember anything? Anything at all? You knew that song."

White's brow wrinkled with concentration. "I remember someone singing it… She was important, I think." Then he huffed. "But I don't remember who she was, or even what she looked like. I just remembered the song when I was looking at the sky."

"Anything else? You mentioned the sun before, do you remember seeing that? Or a blue sky?"

"Maybe a bit?" White said, fidgeting with his gloves. "I remember something warm, and blue, but I don't know if that was the sky or not."

Silver sighed. "Hopefully Argus will be able to tell us, one way or another."

White perked up at that. "We'll be there soon, right?"

"If by soon you mean three hours, yes."

White groaned and flopped dramatically onto the deck of the ship. "Ugggh, that's forever! This sucks!"

Silver rolled his eyes. "Maybe if you sleep it will go faster."

"But I'm not tired," White whined.

"Then run laps around the ship. I, for one, am going to get what sleep I can." With that Silver walked off, letting White's complaints fade behind him.

Fortunately, there was a cot in the pilot cabin that was about as comfortable as his bed back home. Which is to say, not very, but better than the ground. Silver knew he would need what rest he could get before facing Argus, but he found it hard to fall asleep. His conversation with White kept repeating in his mind.

White was annoying and reckless, but he was also friendly and kind, at least to Silver. He seemed so… genuine. Silver hoped White really was from the past. He'd be happy there, and he'd fit in. Much less in danger than he was here. And the other option… The only other possibility, at least to Silver's mind, was that White was one of Iblis's minions, whether that be a former Temporan who had been twisted beyond mere sunsickness, or something Iblis had created entirely from scratch. He didn't think White was aware of it, unless he was a far better actor than Silver realized. But it was possible for a pawn to be unaware of what they were. It was possible Iblis had created White as some kind of unaware sleeper agent, perhaps planning for his new minion to earn Silver's trust (like he has, a traitorous voice whispered) and then attack him while his guard was down. It was possible, but Silver hoped it wasn't true.

Silver must have fallen asleep eventually, because he woke up to White shaking him vigorously.

"Wake up, wake up!" White chanted, voice much too loud in the small space of the cabin. "We're almost there! Or I think we are. It looks like the right place, there's all these spooky clouds and shadows and you should really come look, Silver!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Silver grumbled, stumbling to his feet. He followed White to the bow, and his irritation at being woken quickly faded as he saw what lay ahead of them.

The ship was slowly approaching a dense layer of dark storm clouds. Below and ahead of them, at the center of the storm, Silver could see an island, cloaked by the shadows of the clouds so it almost disappeared into the dark ocean around it. Purple energy glowed deep in the water, a beacon and a warning alike. Silver felt something cold brush against his mind, accompanied by a low, rumbling voice.

Land and come see me.

"Silver?" White asked.

Silver inhaled shakily. He always felt rattled after she brushed his mind like that. He clenched his fists and looked down at the crescent-shaped island below. Now he knew she was there he could make out a vast, dark figure looming over the island. A green eye looked up at him, cold and knowing.

"It's Argus. She's expecting us."

Back at it again after a busy weekend. I've adjusted my upload schedule, I'm going to just post three times a week + Saturday instead of every day. Not much of a change, really, but we're moving in June and I know uploads are going to slow down considerably then, hence why I'm posting so much now. The plan is to have both Black & White and To The Core completely uploaded by June 23, Sonic's birthday, though of course that could always change.