Chapter 1

Stowaway

It was the dead of night. The moon was tossing crystalline beams through the gaps in the thick jungle leaves. The cold silence was occasionally broken by a stray bird or insect, but no creatures could be seen. Then the darkness of the jungle night was interrupted by a brilliant flash of light. The wind picked up an assortment of fallen leaves as electricity crackled around a steadily expanding orb of blue energy forming out of thin air. The sphere stretched out to a diameter of around two meters, the lower few centimeters digging into the ground. Inside, a silhouetted figure began to take shape. Two overgrown quills reached out from the back of its head with five slimmer ones over the front, climbing above its temple. The ball of lightning dispersed leaving Silver the Hedgehog on one knee in the divot it left behind. The only light left was the teal glow lining his cuffs and gloves. After a moment, he opened his eyes and stood up, attempting to orient himself.

"I made it." Silver could feel a small smile breach his muzzle as he thought aloud to himself. "So, this must be the Sol Dimension." He raised a hand in front of himself to make a fist. "Now all I need to do is find her." A blue aura came over his form and with a quiet whoosh, the hedgehog soared up above the trees to get a better idea of where he was.

At first his new vantage point wasn't helping much. All he could see was the jungle in every direction except for a shore to the east. As his eyes scanned over the beach, a few shimmering lights caught his attention further into the ocean. "A ship!" He blurted out to himself. "I guess I don't have much else to go on, it couldn't hurt to check out." Three blue rings rippled around Silver before he launched himself towards the ocean.

As Silver approached the vessel he began to notice how banged up she really was. The bizarre, whale shaped ship didn't even appear to have an engine, using sails to make her voyages instead. Most of her was made from wood with a few pieces of steel here and there holding together broken patches. Maybe it's a pirate ship. The hedgehog thought. If that's the case it'd probably be best if I try to go unseen until we reach a port. Silver set himself down in the shrouds, doing his best to stay out of sight.

His first obstacle was a kangaroo standing at the wheel. Silver wouldn't be able to get down the stairs and below deck if he wasn't distracted. While he was thinking of a strategy, he noticed another crewmate, an otter, was coming up the portside stairs. Thinking quickly, Silver levitated a pebble just above the one coming up the stairs and launched it straight to the kangaroo's forehead.

"Ow!" The kangaroo's head recoiled as he turned his attention to the otter. "What was that for?" The otter turned to look at his crewmate, confused.

"Huh?" He asked.

"Oh, you're going to act like you didn't do anything, Emmet?"

"Nate, I don't know what you're talking about." As the two continued to argue, Silver slipped down the starboard stairs, heading to the forecastle deck as quickly and quietly as he could manage. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched already. As soon as the coast was clear he opened a hatch and dropped below deck.

Now in the hold of the ship, Silver crept through the hallways, looking for a cubby or a closet to stow away in. Any doors he passed, he would check for holes he could peek into. The hedgehog didn't want to accidentally barge into someone's room. Finally he found a promising location in the form of a door that was left slightly ajar. It didn't look like it would lead to anyone's quarters, so Silver decided to let himself in.

The door groaned slightly as it opened, causing the hedgehog to look around to see if anyone heard before he slipped into the room. When it closed behind him, Silver let out the breath he felt like he had held for the past hour. However, his problems began again when he opened his eyes and his vision was filled with a huge array of treasure that littered half the room around him.

"Like whatcha see, mate?" Silver nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice next to him. He whirled around to see an orange and brown raccoon girl wearing a lime green outfit and an eyepatch folding her arms in the corner of the room.

"Oh!" Silver said. "Uh, I… listen, it's not what it looks like!"

"Really, now?" The raccoon raised an eyebrow and began to close the distance between the two. Despite being a full head shorter than him, she showed no signs of backing down. "'Cause in my experience, buggers who sneak 'round, tryin' not t' be seen, always be lookin' for trouble."

"Well, I…"

"Listen here, snow-spikes." The raccoon drove a finger into Silver's overgrown chest fur. "This be my ship, an' I don't take kindly to stowaways."

"Miss…"

"Especially when they be snoopin around in me treasure room!" Her hand curled into a fist, grabbing the hedgehog's outer coat with it as she raised her other fist. "Why I oughta…"

"CAPTAIN!" A new voice rang out, belonging to a monkey who slammed open the door.

"WHAT?!" She shouted back, clearly irked that her threats had been interrupted.

"We have a problem with the lower hull! We need you down there," He noticed the intruder before he added, at the tone of a mouse, "Please.".

The captain groaned as she rolled her eye letting go of Silver. She headed out the door and when he tried to follow, hoping to help, the raccoon whirled around and landed a punch square in his forehead, causing the hedgehog to fall to the floor.

"Stay where ya are, freeloader," The captain ordered. "I'm not done with you yet." She then closed and barricaded the door.

"Ouch." Silver covered his forehead with his hand, wincing at the strong hit he took as he tried to get back up. His other hand began to prop him up until the wood below it gave away and the back of his head met the ground with an audible thud. "Ouch!" This ship really was falling apart. Silver rolled over and pulled his arm out of the new hole in the floor. Through the hole he could see the deck below him and noticed a much more dangerous breach in the hull, letting torrents of water into the ship. Several crew members were scampering around, trying to find a way to seal the leak.

The raccoon then came bursting into the leaking room. "Where's the grow foam?" She asked.

"Maverick and Raechel are coming back with them, captain." A crew member reported.

Silver looked around through his peephole and spotted the lid of a wooden barrel that had broken off. That should do. He thought. As Silver began to concentrate, a blue aura surrounded both the hedgehog and the barrel lid as it began to levitate, then it slammed against the breach in the hull, blocking direct flow, but water was still pouring from the sides.

"Don't jus' stand there, scally-wags!" Silver heard the captain say. "Seal up me ship!" He watched the captain and a few crew members nail the lid to the hull while a few more were spreading some sort of expanding paste around the edges. Within seconds, the breach was sealed. Silver relaxed his psykenesis and rolled onto his back, releasing his baited breath, unaware that the captain had noticed the teal aura emanating from the room above her.

Silver was leaning against a wall when he heard someone remove the barricade from the door, which the captain slowly opened the door before approaching him. "So yer a psychic?" She asked.

"Technically I'm a psykinetic." Silver corrected, earning a stern look from her. "My name is Silver." He continued, holding out his hand.

"Silver…" She repeated. She didn't shake his hand but seemed to almost pose as she introduced herself "Well, not thatcha wouldn't know but me name's Captain Marine: The Fiercest Adventurer the Seas Have Ever Seen™!". The hedgehog was confused for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

"Wait, Marine?" He asked. "As in Blaze's friend, Marine?" She raised a brow.

"How do y'know Blaze?"

"I'm her friend, too! You know Sonic, right?"

"'Course I know 'im. Saved the world with him once."

"I'm from a future of his dimension."

"HA! As if! I don't believe in time travel!"

"But you believe in dimensional travel?" Silver's question brought on a moment of silence from Marine. She folded her arms and looked away, then back at him, then away again before speaking up.

"Alright, I'm not saying I believe you, but for now I'll cut you a deal."

"A deal?" Silver cocked his head.

"Right now this ship is on the way to the island of Nolar." Marine continued, ignoring his question. "Blaze will be there too. You can work as a shiphand for passage there."

"Wait, really?" He asked. A sea blue eye shot in his direction.

"I saw what you did down below and I reckon your powers'll be useful to me ship."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Silver nearly hugged Marine before she shouted for him to get to work.