Chapter 9

Blinking her eyes a few times, Rouge darted around to see where they had landed. A cold shiver rushed through her body as the wind urged her to move forwards. Looking up, the moon shone brightly in the cloudless night. Her eyes were still adjusting from the bright light side effect of the time stone, however the place around looked familiar.

"Are we at the Docks?" She asked, as she tried to listen to the nearby crashes of the waves against the countless amount of boats.

But her counterpart was pacing up and forth, looking onwards to the scenery. Standing next to him, the bat realised they had been placed on higher grounds as both looked down at the docks. Looking around, they must be on the roof of a nearby building, the docks office maybe? Suddenly reaching for her bag, she opened her laptop. There in large time dials, she was suddenly caught back confused.

"Says here, that it's forty-five minutes before the meet up; did it work? Did the stone bring us back in time?"

"It did, but annoying, not enough time for a proper plan." The hedgehog muttered to himself, clearly annoyed.

Then he pointed down to a location and nodded his head.

"You wouldn't have anything useful in that bag to see anything up closer?" Super asked.

"You doubt me hedgehog?" She mocked, as she pulled out the binoculars from her bag pack.

Super took them and looked down at the scenery. Rouge continued to look back as he scanned the parameter; but then again, how does the hedgehog even see with those spiral eyes? Rouge pondered.

"Right. That's where all of us waited till the coast were clear. Something's wrong" he said as he pointed to their recent location.

"What do you mean?" The bat asked curiously.

"Do you see anything odd about this picture?" He asked as he passed the binoculars back to her.

As she took a glance herself, it took her a moment to realise, as she darted around the view that the security cameras were still up. She could just see their bleeping red lights.

"But I thought you said, they were smashed in? If those cameras are still activated, we'll be out of the open." Rouge asked.

But as she looked towards the hedgehog, she was surprised to see he wasn't there. Baffled, she looked through the device, to see a yellow blur, pursuing each security camera. There she saw him throw rocks at them, or smashing them with his fists. Each one went down in an instant and as she removed the device from her eyes, Super Sonic had returned to their hiding spot, rubbing his hands together.

"Well guess now we know who smashed them in." Rouge said with a smirk.

But now as her mind finally came to blow that they were actually in the past, her mind went to the countless possibilities. But the annoying good self of hers, that was annoying increasing every time she was with this mad bunch, instinct told her to help them. Rouge watched as Super Sonic kept quiet, watching the brain cells kick-starting any plan he could think of. However she could see he was clearly agitated as he never let loose of his fists.

But then something clicked in he mind. Something from inside the warehouse that she almost forgotten. She went inside her bag quickly, hoping it was there and not too badly damaged.

"Say Super, looks like those Gorilla boys were giving you a tough time. Want to even the odds?" She asked him, as she pulled out the small device.

Confused, the hedgehog approached her to see it in the faint light.

"What is it?"

"Made it up a couple of days ago. The very thing that help my steal; I mean BORROW the stone. It's not as powerful as you truly, but can knock out electricity around a diameter for at least fifteen minutes."

"It will defiantly help against those two" Super smiled.

"Exactly, but there is one tiny, tiny problem" Rouge replied with a worried smirk.

"What is it?"

"Well, the device will have to be located straight in the centre of that warehouse, plus it could take a little while for it to get warmed up. Of course, it would be ten times easier, if you could do it yourself." The bat wondered to ask.

"I'll pass." He coldly stated back, suddenly making the bat reconsidered that suggestion.

But then something distracted him. Rouge watched him as he pulled a small device from the back of his quills. There he stopped and looked down at his mobile. Super Sonic looked down to see it was Johnny ringing up again; oh wait, this would be the first time he thought. But instead of ending the call, he received it as he pulled the mobile to his ears.

"Johnny?"

"Hey Super. Is Ebony all right? I saw her today at the gallery and she took off in a hurry. I tried ringing her, but she wasn't answering."

"Actually Johnny, things could be a lot better right now. But…seeing you're on the phone, do you think you can help a hedgehog out?" The hedgehog asked with a little spark in his eyes.

Rouge watched him with curiosity as the hedgehog paced up and down, talking away on the phone. Then her thoughts started to sprout on what Ebony said to her when they were alone. That power of his could indeed end the world and of course, she was intrigued to know how a hedgehog could cause an EMP that took the whole world into a moment of silence. And yet, she couldn't help but fear it. She wondered, how he felt about it…maybe for another time she thought, as she watched Super end the call.

"Any luck?"

"Well if this works out, we may have a chance of getting out of this in one piece or another."

The hedgehog stood there for a moment as he recalled back to the lookout. Suddenly he saw action, as he saw the small group of himself, Ebony and Rouge, quickly making their way to the warehouse entrance.

"We better make our move now; we're already on our way."


Rouge suggested taking the back entrance would be wise, seeing they previously took the front for the meet up. As the hedgehog and bat stealthy sneaked inside, they could hear the conversation between the groups.

But where was Pyjamas?

Suddenly, they both ducked into cover as someone shouted out. With the only source of moonlight crept in the warehouse from above, there was Pyjamas. She was still tied up with rope as she looked at the other direction. With the distraction, Super looked at Rouge and nodded.

Rouge did the same as she reached inside her bag. Pulling out the small device, she quickly ran off into the shadows. Super however took the opportunity to reach for Pyjamas. Quickly jumping from one hideout to another, he tried to keep the noise to a bare minimum. Any mistake could jeopardise everyone; even the timeline itself.

Then he reached out to her as she was almost caught by surprise of his arrival. To make sure she didn't cry out, the hedgehog gently placed his hand over her mouth. Confused, she turned her head to see him as he started to untie her.

"Super? But hang on, how did you even get over here?" Pyjamas whispered.

"Can't explain, but we don't have time." Super quickly answered back as he continued on with the ropes.

But annoying, the Gorillas had bounded her so much, it would take the strength of one of them, to realise her.

Meanwhile above it all, Rouge had managed to climb herself up, near to the metal beams, which held the roof up. It would have been much easier if it weren't for her bad wing. She felt the sharp pain as she reached up to the top. From this view, she was able to see all of them at the other side, watching the exchange of the stone. Part of her, if she could, wanted to fly right down there and snatch the stone for herself. Looking down below her, however she saw Super trying his best to help the dog.

Blast! Why do I get involved in silly things like this? She thought to herself as she steadied herself on a metal beam. Balancing herself with one hand, she gently walked across the beam. Carefully walking towards the centre, she found the perfect spot to stick it up. With the device set up, it would take a few seconds to input the time limit, but how long? Five? Ten minutes? This time-crossing thing was certainly not her forte. But something felt odd as she looked down. Her feet were starting to lose balance and in a split second, she looked around her.

The metal beam was also holding up large thinner pillars, across the building. But as she moved, she felt something unbalance as she saw in the blink of an eye, her movements were creating vibrations to the pillars; making it extremely unsteady. She had to hurry as she frantically pressed any buttons. But just as she pressed the final button for it to start, she felt the ground under her feet gave way.

Screaming out loud, the constant banging of clang and bangs erupted around her. In desperation, she jumped away and grabbed hold of another metal beam; much steadier then the last as the collection of small pillars fell upon them and turned over for gravity to take them to the ground. Cursing, Rouge shouted out down below…

"WATCH OUT!"

Super Sonic just looked up to hear the commotion from above and felt a sudden ping on what was going to happen in the next few seconds. Now having to throw health and safety into the wind, he asked Pyjamas to stand still as he tried a more dangerous but quicker tactic. As he heard the pillars shifting and falling down to potentially squish them both, the yellow hedgehog coiled into a ball and spin-dashed towards his friend. Closing her eyes, Pyjamas felt the sharp quills cutting the ropes in seconds. Super lifted Pyjamas up and dashed away, just in time before the pillars and debris erupted the building.

"I will never ask you to get a haircut, ever again." Pyjamas joked.

Super Sonic gave a sigh of relief; that was way too close. Looking up, it seemed that the bat was able to do the job. But now came the next problem. Super held Pyjamas tightly as he speeded through the wind, trying his best to avoid being basted by the Gorillas' weapons. As he met up with Rouge, she was ducking from the constant fire. Carefully lifting Pyjamas down, they both took cover.

"Get Pyjamas out of here! Take the roof entrance if you need to!"

"What about you?" Rouge asked as she carefully took the dog to her side.

"Got unfinished business. How long before that thing goes off?"

"About five minutes, you think that be enough time?"

"Plenty" Super replied as he came out of his cover and speeded away, retuning back into the chaos…


Cursing to himself, the debris and dust around him, made it harder to see where everyone was. He didn't have to remind himself where he was as the constant attack of the Gorillas erupted the whole building. Ducking down, he saw himself in the distance fighting them off. But he knew he wasn't doing well as he automatically clutched his chest. Seeing himself losing it, it felt uncomfortable, knowing all too well the pain.

Then he heard another sound from the distance, of zooms and zings. The hedgehog then felt a sudden panic; Ebony was all in this. Moving away from one fight, he frantically ran through the madness, calling her name. But did she manage to hear him? Then suddenly he heard her cry out.

"I'm here!"

Then in an instant, he thought about what his friend was carrying. Like a pin drop, the hedgehog then knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Throw the time stone to me!" He called out, as he dodged the bullets heading his way.

He ducked once more from the cross fire, looking around to see her. And then in the madness, he saw her. To her complete shock, she looked battered and exhausted. Looking next to her, he saw Omen was tied up by something; trees? He wanted to go over and give the rat a good whopping, but annoying he didn't have time as he felt his chest getting tighter. Looking back, he could feel the rage within himself getting worse.

When the coast was clear, he speeded down towards her, when he suddenly heard her shout, "CATCH!" as he saw the stone being flown into the air. Super Sonic turned and caught the stone in his hand. As he speeded back down into the chaos, there was another thing that switched on in his mind, he had to find Rouge. Clutching the stone in his hand, he darted pass the gun fire and headed towards the bat; but the one from the past…how was going to explain all this to her?


Rouge had managed to pull Pyjamas up as they were near to their location. The dog followed her and to her amazement, was a lot steadier then she took herself for. As they both finally reached the exit, Rouge looked down quickly to see the madness all in one view.

She could see the two Gorillas going all out, while seeing something else darting across in yellow blurs. Wait, did she see two? But as her eyes darted forwards, her eyes caught sight of Ebony and Omen. And looked worried. The feline was clearly outmatched and could see she was struggling. As the bat watched her form her magic on him, for a moment it looked like she had gained an advantage; but how long?

Annoyed, she looked back towards Pyjamas.

"You stay here!" She ordered the dog as she ran right back inside.

Moving carefully, she looked around for anything that could help the feline. Then suddenly, she couldn't help a smile creep on her as she looked forward through the stack of metal beams. There, she found her opportunity as she took hold of her knife; another tool she BORROWED from the Groovy train…


Ebony turned towards Omen, the moment she threw the stone towards Super Sonic. There was no time for a defence barrier or even to raise her hands. The rat shouted out, with a purple mist surrounding him in a fury.

But then something else distracted her as she suddenly looked up. Crying out loud, she managed to jump back in time as a collection of thick ropes, fell suddenly down. Ebony just managed to get away; Omen on the other hand, was right below as he cried out from the crash.

Quickly looking back up, she saw Rouge waving to her with a knife in her hand. But then she pointed somewhere else. The feline confused, looked at that direction and was delighted to see Pyjamas was there waving back as well.

Relief overcame her to see her friend safe and well. But then looked down as Omen gathered his thoughts as he pushed away the ropes from above him. He was dazed from the hit, as the purple mist had vanished. Not taking any changes, Ebony raised her hands and formed her own golden mist.

It was now or never!


Feeling the rush of adrenaline and panic, the yellow hedgehog had to move quickly as he felt the sharp pain rising. One raging demon was bad enough, but two? No, he couldn't think like that, he had to get to Rouge now!

But in all this, where was she? She couldn't have possibly gone far? But then something caught his eye as he looked up. Waving down, he could see the silhouette of Rouge, the one he travelled with, as she tried to gain his attention. There, he saw the bat pointing towards somewhere. Was she giving him directions? Waving that he got the message, he speeded down the warehouse and there; just from a glimpse, saw the bat taking shelter from a hiding space.

But then he looked up and saw the gunshots had hit more metal pillars from above. If he didn't move now, she would be squashed. Giving a mini Sonic boom, he grabbed her just in time before the whole ground shook of the crash. Rouge was perfectly fine, but as he looked down, he almost winced as he felt the stone glowing in his hand. Any faster, they would have gone back in time way too soon. It was clearly not safe in his hands.

"Super Sonic!?" Rouge cried out.

"I don't have time to explain, the bomb will go off any second!" he shouted to her, hoping he could hear him.

There, he gave the stone to the bat. It was a big risk for him to do, as she could simply run away with it and never return. But these was desperate times and even if he didn't one hundred percent trust her, he had little choice. And with that, he had to trust his other self that he will do the job.

"Take to this me; the other ME I mean! But he has to take you with him! You must make sure of that; you got it?!" he explained to her.

Looking up from their little shelter, he saw Rouge and Pyjamas waving down to them. The other Rouge looked up as well and suddenly looked down at the stone. Shaking her head, she smiled and nodded.

But then she suddenly looked worried as Super Sonic stepped back as he clutched his head.

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked.

But the bat stepped back as she felt something off with the hedgehog. Still clutching his head, he pepped one of his eyes to her. His red spirals were enlarged as his hissed through his teeth. Looking down his hands stretched out into claws. He snarled as he spoke.

"Get moving! We're running out of time!" He shouted and then suddenly, he darted away from their hiding spot.

Rouge was worried and slightly scared. What did she see just then? Looking back down at the stone, she gave a sigh, nodded and returned back to the middle of the brawl….


Feeling the rage filling him up, he had to get to his other self quickly. The two Gorillas certainly had an advantage over him as he heard the constant shootings and blasts from their weapons. Looking up, the device was started to get ready for the EMP, but how long did he have?

Suddenly he stopped as he looked around. Trying to concentrate over the malice, he looked for something. Trying to fit the pieces of past and future, he saw something huge, which was hidden away by debris and sheets. Using a spin dash, the rubbish came off in seconds to reveal a large bulldozer. Stepping inside the machine, he looked up and to his delight; someone had left the keys in. The only problem was…how did he drive this thing?

Minutes later, as he slammed the vehicle into the two Gorillas, both of them looked at him with anger and confusion as they struggled to get free. But then the Green Gorilla was the one who shouted it first, looking completely shocked.

"Wait, how the heck did you get here?"

"Bro; there's two of them!" his red armoured brother shouted as he looked to where they left the other hedgehog was.

"I'll deal with you two in a minute, but first things first." Super said as he left the engine running as he made himself out, to his other self.

He could feel the malice merging back within himself. Those moments, he could feel like he could breathe again. But a nasty headache was still present and didn't really change his mood as he stepped towards the other yellow hedgehog.

"That was a close call. Any later and things would have got a lot worse."

"You got to be kidding me." His past self spoke out as he steadied himself.

"I'm afraid so. I don't have time, but you do. Use it!" he shouted to him as he made his next move.

He wanted to explain more of the details, but from the madness inside the warehouse, he could hear a screeching sound getting higher. It had to be the device for sure. But with the Gorillas held up for only a little bit, it was Ebony he was getting worried about. He had to get her to safety, hoping he did everything right; for the past as well as the future.

As he dashed through, he saw the feline fighting away Omen. Not taking chances, he spin dashed the rat with a surprise attack. The rat had no idea as he flew away and smashed into a small crate. Ebony looked at her friend with worry, till he suddenly grabbed her hand and ducked over some mechanical parts. Without warning, Super Sonic grabbed hold of her.

"Get ready!"

"For what?" Ebony asked, until suddenly, she heard the sound as well as it reached its climax…

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER "Now or Never"