Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 0, Episode 3

Speed of Time, Part 3: Silver Lining

Written by ChaosProject

Concept by ChaosProject

CHRONOS PHASE 2

Silver slowly comes to consciousness with an earsplitting headache. The first thing that comes to his attention is an odd, faint blue glow against the blackness of his vision. As he sluggishly opens his eyes it becomes clear that the source of the glow is a long, sparkling blue gem lying on the floor just in front of him. The woman's voice, almost as if from his head, calls out, "Yes, grab the Sapphire. Take hold of it. You need it."

Silver reaches out for the Sapphire. But he can't quite reach it, despite stretching his arm as far as he can. It comes close to collapsing as darkness edges his vision once more. But then the aqua pattern on his glove begins to glow brighter and the gem lifts into the air, as Silver psychically draws it into his hand. Immediately, his vision becomes sharp and clear. Gaining energy with each passing moment, Silver stands up in the metallic room.

On the opposite side, Chronos also staggers to its feet. Its clock now reads approximately 5:00. It roars and once more releases the massive beam of blue energy. Silver tries to get out of the way, but he stumbles and falls, still somewhat weak. He raises the arm holding the Sapphire up to protect his face, and flinches in preparation to be hit. But nothing happens. He cautiously opens his eyes to see the beam passing all the way around him, as if he were protected by some invisible sphere. The Sapphire glows fiercely. Silver realizes what's happening.

With a flick of his hand, he uses his psychic powers to dissipate the beam. Chronos seems momentarily stunned. Silver slowly begins walking forward. Chronos tries again, but Silver effortlessly dispels the attack. His pace increases as his confidence grows. With a far more dramatic movement, he attacks with a massive wave of psychic energy. It strikes Chronos, and sends it flying backwards, crashing through the metallic wall.
Chronos struggles back up, and immediately attempts to pound Silver with one of its thick arms. Silver stops the arm, and entraps Chronos' entire body in psychic energy. It attempts to break free, but it's no use. Silver takes a moment to think. Then he says aloud, "Hmm…I wonder what happens if I do this!" With his free hand he directs his energy Chronos' clock. The minute hand ticks. Then, picking up speed, it begins to circle around the clock face. The patterns of light in Silver's gloves turn from aqua to an intensely bright blue color. All around them, people suddenly appear, move around, and disappear, all at hyper-speed. Outside, through a window that can now be seen, the Earth far below begins to rotate rapidly, as moments of intense brightness come and go as the sun passes in and out of view. The wall that was damaged by Chronos is almost instantaneously repaired. But then, the people stop coming. The metallic walls begin to crack and dent, turning rusty, as the windows grow grimy and difficult to see through.

A few last indiscernible figures zip through just before Silver collapses with exhaustion. Chronos seems heavily weakened as well, its clock now displaying close to 6:00. Upon close inspection, it seems as if its solid skin has grown aged and cracked. Still, it gets up, and lets out one last defiant roar, charging for another attack. Drawing from the power of the Sapphire once more, Silver again psychically grasps Chronos' massive body, and this time does not hesitate before hurling it over his head and out the window, sending it hurtling towards the Earth below. Immediately, the room begins rapid decompression, all of the air being blown out into space, and forcing Silver out along with it. But Silver uses his powers to hold himself in place just before he would have been thrown out along with Chronos. Within a few moments, an emergency shield closes over where the window used to be, resealing the room and stopping the escape of air.

Silver lets himself down and walks over to another still-intact window. Outside, the distant figure of Chronos can still be seen falling. Until perhaps the broadest rift yet opens beneath it, swallowing Chronos completely. "What!?"

"Calm down, Silver. You have won this fight." The woman steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder. But now, she appears considerably younger, with hair only just below her shoulders.

"But he got away!" He prepares to break open the window and pursue. "I should go after him!"

"No. He has returned to his own realm, a place where you could not possibly fight him. Yet."

Finally, Silver relaxes a bit. He starts to look around. "Why…why are we in space?"

"You are currently aboard ARK, your planet's very first space colony. When we arrived, we were just days after it had been put into commission. Now, we are just days from its destruction."

"The ARK…the ARK fell out of orbit centuries ago! Not only did we travel back in time to get here…but then we traveled forward in time when I attacked Chronos. That's impossible!"

"It is time that you redefine what is and isn't possible. You are a powerful being, Silver, and that is why I have chosen you to help me save the universe."

"You're a time-traveller…the entire universe is in danger…and you chose me to save it? Why me? You should know the answer. What makes me so important!?"

"I am so much more than a time-traveller. And you are the Controller of–"

"I know that already! Why can't anyone just tell me what I want to know!?"

She suddenly takes on a stern tone. "I may be able to help you save the universe, but I can't help you with your own insecurities! Do you want to save your world, or not!?"

For a moment, Silver doesn't answer. He walks back up to the window, and presses a hand against it, looking down at the Earth below. The rift is still visible, expanding at an almost unnoticeable rate. Finally, he speaks, without turning his eyes away from the planet. "I don't know…I mean…what's the point?"

"The point? The point is to save the world. I don't see how I could possibly put it in any more simple terms than that."

He suddenly turns to face her again. "Saving the world is what I have been doing over and over and over again for practically my entire life, but here I am, needing to save it again! It never changes, no matter what I do! What if the world is supposed to be destroyed…?"

She lets out a barely audible groan. "First a fool, then a pacifist, now this? Maybe I should have put more thought into this team beforehand…"

"What was that?"

She puts on a smile again. "Oh, nothing. Perhaps it will comfort you to know that you were not the only one chosen for this mission. There are two others like you. Would you like to meet them? Maybe they can help you make this very important decision."

"Others…like me?" He is silent for a long moment. "I've already made my decision. I will go. Tell me everything."

—–—

"Now, focus your psychic powers. Not on any particular object, but on the empty space in front of you," Janice explains.

Firmly holding the Temporal Sapphire in one hand, Silver reaches out with the other, and his aqua patterns begin to glow.

"Good. Now…tear it open. Let it part before your will."

He throws his arm to the side in a dramatic movement, as his patterns again change to a deep blue glow. And then the fabric of space-time tears in front of him, opening a rift. "I did it!"

"Very good. Now, follow me in." Janice softly steps into the rift, and disappears through it. Silver takes one last look around before lifting himself in as well.

He emerges in an area of blackness all around, save for a large number of rifts scattered around, and two other hedgehogs watching his entrance. Unsure that there is any solid ground beneath him, Silver very carefully lowers himself to the floor, paying no heed to the other hedgehogs, or the great orb of light that they stand in front of. As he does, he can hear one of them say, "No way…"

Finally on the ground, Silver rises and looks at the others. The one with green fur immediately catches his eye. He is pulled into a brief flashback. The very same green hedgehog rushes at Silver. No matter how hard Silver tries to move, it's as if he's caught in slow motion, forced to watch as the other hedgehog strikes him. Now, Silver looks upon the same person who attacked him all that time ago. Yet he doesn't appear to have aged a day. "You! What are you doing here!?" Without wasting any time, he launches a powerful wave of psychic energy. The green one barely manages to dive out of the way in time. The blue one stands off to the side, still completely bewildered.

"Where is the Gem, you thief!?"

"Please, calm down, you have this all wrong! Let's just talk about this for–" He dives out of the way of another of Silver's attacks.

The voice of Janice declares, "Silver, stop!"

Silver obeys and looks up to the orb of light, the source of the voice. "This guy attacked me and stole one of the Miracle Gems when I was just a kid! What is he doing here!?"

"He is participating in the mission just as you are! I have gathered each of you three Controllers here for your great strengths. The first…the last…and the greatest. But now I'm beginning to think it was a bad idea to bring these ones together…"

The blue one, Sonic, seems to take momentary pride at being called that greatest. But then he resumes his deep pondering. Silver, on the other hand, cries out in dismay, "The last!? What do you mean the last!? If I'm the last Controller…doesn't that mean the world is going to end? Why else would there not be another one after me!?"

"Calm down! That wasn't the point! I'm not here to teach you about any of your futures, so just stop asking!" She takes a moment to calm down. "The point is, you are all allies here. Silver, you are looking at The Controller, the one that you are supposed to revere."

The green one takes a cautious step towards Silver. "You see? I don't know what all of this Controller business is about, but I'm one of the good guys here." He extends his hand. "My name is Zero."

Silver doesn't move. "I don't trust you. There's no way you could be The Controller."

Zero regrettingly takes his hand back. "Look, I don't know why you think what you do about me…" He pulls out a Chaos Emerald in one hand and a Temporal Sapphire in the other. "…but I think I would remember taking one of these from you. I can only tell you that I've never met you before."

"So…you don't remember it at all?"

"I would be lying if I said that your face didn't look familiar. But again, I think I would remember getting in a fight with you. I'm not a fighter."

Janice interrupts, "Enough of this. We are wasting time. Zero, I have the time of your next Sapphire."

"Alright. How do I get there?"

"Time Control. As I told you, your connection to the natural energies of the universe is stronger than any of the others here. With your Temporal Sapphire, I believe that you can use that power to open a rift without adding any outside energy. It should be far more precise than the methods of the other two. Now, use the Sapphire to open the rift. I will guide its destination."

Zero nods. He puts the Chaos Emerald away, and holds the Sapphire straight out. "Time…Control!" The Sapphire pulses with light as it unleashes a visible shockwave of energy, tearing open another rift as it contacts a point just in front of him. He seems satisfied by his work. For a moment, he turns to the other two hedgehogs, as if contemplating saying goodbye. First he looks at Sonic, who doesn't seem to be paying attention. Then he looks at Silver, who still has his arms crossed as he glares distrustingly at Zero. Zero changes his mind, and leaps into the rift without another word or gesture.

"Silver, I have a Sapphire for you as well. Do just as you did before, and open the next rift."

"Right." Silver lifts his own Sapphire, and this time much more efficiently tears open his own rift. He lifts himself into the air in order to move himself through.

"Wait!" Sonic is suddenly perfectly aware, and reaches out as if to stop Silver. Silver lowers himself back down to face Sonic. "Silver…that's your name, right?"

"Yeah?" Sonic seems to want to say something next, but he doesn't seem to know quite what. So Silver continues, "That's my name…what's yours?"

"I'm…Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." Still, he struggles to find exactly what to say next.

Trying to help him along, Silver begins, "When I first got here…you seemed shocked, almost as if you recognized me. And you're acting so confused. But that isn't possible…right?"

Still, Sonic doesn't answer for a moment. Finally, he says, "Even if I knew how to explain it…I don't think that anyone could ever possibly understand it." Now Silver is the confused one. "Let's just say…we were supposed to– er…I have met you…but you haven't met me."

"Uhh…well, I suppose you were right. I don't understand what you're saying in the slightest." When Sonic doesn't elaborate, Silver again turns to leave.

One last time, Sonic stops him. "Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"…How is Blaze?"

Silver takes on a puzzled look. "Who's Blaze?" Not given an answer after waiting another moment, Silver finally hovers into the rift.

Sonic seems very deep in thought. But Janice snaps him out of it, "Enough fooling around. You have work to do. I already had a place for you to go before you got here, if you'll remember. Earlier than Zero's time."

"Sure thing. Let's roll!" Just as last time, Sonic tosses his Sapphire into the air and catches it with style, before taking off at top speed. Within moments, he has gathered enough speed to breach into a new rift.

—–—

Speed City Zone

Sonic runs out the other side of the newly-formed rift, and skids to a stop. He looks around and gives a low whistle. All around him are skyscrapers reaching higher than he can see, moving lit sidewalks, personal vehicles flying by at incredible speeds. The city is, perhaps, even more technologically advanced than Grand Metropolis. Sonic lifts up his Sapphire and speaks into it. "Forgive me if I ask the same question that I asked last time. What happened to taking me into the past?"

Janice mocks back, "Forgive me if I give the same answer that I gave last time. This is the past."

"Whatever." He resumes looking around and begins casually strolling forward.

"You should pick up the pace. You don't want your presence in such a heavily-populated area of your past interfere with the timeline."

At that moment, a harsh shriek can be heard. Sonic looks over to the side of the road to see a little girl pointing at him and screaming. Within moments, a dense crowd has gathered, most murmuring fearfully, a few with wonder. Trying to ease the situation, Sonic declares to all of them, "Everyone, please calm down! I'm just passing through, don't mind me!" The murmur grows much louder, with many discordant cries of "It talks!?"

Suddenly, Janice's voice declares, "Get out of there, now!" Sonic prepares to leap over the heads of the crowd, but is stopped when three human-sized, aerodynamic-looking robots crash down in formation on the ground in front of him. The crowd screams and mostly disperses.

The robots all at once declare, "UNIDENTIFIED CREATURE, SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY."

Sonic scoffs. "Or what?"

"OR BE DESTROYED." Each of the robots' arms transform into cannons, all pointed at Sonic.

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" He takes off at high speed in the opposite direction. Each of the robots lift into the air, then jet off after him just as fast.

Sonic looks back as he runs, to see that they are, in fact, gaining on him. "DO NOT RESIST. SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY."

"Hey, not bad. This might actually be fun!" He skids into a sharp right turn. The robots skillfully maneuver around the same turn a moment later.

Sonic, gaining confidence, barely has enough time to dodge the first laser blast. Several more quickly follow, and Sonic is forced to slow down in order to dodge all of them. The robots are almost upon him. At the very last second, he rounds another right turn, and this time the robots lose some ground in pursuing him. As Sonic runs down this street, he gets an idea. He does a swift sidestep onto the sidewalk to his right, which already moves at a high speed. He has to dodge around a few frightened pedestrians, but the added speed lets him leave the robots in the dust.

—–—

The buildings around Sonic are now much smaller, and the sidewalk has stopped moving. He seems to have made it to the outskirts of the city. He takes another look behind him. "Looks like I lost 'em. Too bad. It almost felt like a challenge for a minute there. Janice, am I close to the Sapphire?"

"It should be just ahead."

Sonic slows to a stop and looks more closely around. A soft glow catches his eye a short distance away. He begins to run for it, but is again stopped by the three military jet robots landing in formation in front of his path. "SURRENDER. FINAL WARNING."

"You don't scare me! I already outran you back there, and I can do it again."

Without another word, each of the robots link hands. Sonic takes on a confused look. Then the machinery of the robots begins to shift and transform, first linking the robots together, then merging them all together into one massive, deadly robot. Immediately, it aims a massive arm cannon at Sonic, and cannon shoots a wide, electrified net. Sonic leaps out of the way.

"They're not trying to kill me, they're trying to capture me!"

"Well, don't let them!"

"Easier said than done!" He dodges another laser blast.

"Look for a weak point!" Sonic does a quick run around the robot to search for one. In the back, he sees it. A point where three slightly different colors of metal, from the three different robots, meet at a weak-looking joint. He doesn't waste any time in going in for a spin attack. But the robot uses its jets to rapidly spin around 180 degrees, swatting Sonic out of the way before he can hit. He gets up quickly.

"This might take a while…"

—–—

Jungle Chase Zone

Zero emerges from his rift deep in the heart of a dense jungle. Janice speaks to him, "As I said, your Time Control should be very precise. You should already be within a few feet of the next Sapphire."

He seems quite distracted. All around him, wildlife, plant and animal alike, all seem almost as a part of the world itself, coexisting in such a vibrant, lifelike environment. Zero had never seen so much life at once in all of his life. Finally, he shakes himself out of his distraction, and responds, "Looking for it now." He looks around for a while, but sees nothing on the floor. But eventually, he has the thought to look up. Almost directly above him, a glittering blue gem rests several stories high in the canopy of the trees. "Found it!" He quickly begins making his way up the tree trunks, climbing vines and leaping from branches. It's a long way down below him.

He eventually reaches a point high enough that much sunlight still shines through, unblocked by lower leaves and branches. The Sapphire lies a few trees in front of him. "Almost got it." He leaps over to the next tree, but as his head just breaches over the very top of the canopy, something catches his eye. Something moving through the air. When he lands, he begins moving at a much more rapid pace, afraid for the worst. But by the time he makes it to the tree holding the Sapphire, there is already a small mechanical claw taking hold of it. He changes direction, and moves to the very top of tree in order to get a look at the thief.

A familiar voice calls out, "I'll be taking that!" Sitting in what is easily recognizable as his hovering Egg Mobile, Doctor Eggman lets out an evil laugh as he begins to float away with his prize. "Oh ho ho!" Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that his outfit is a bit different. His shirt, which is now tucked in to his usual black pants, is much more simplistic in design, being red all over except for two yellow suspenders reaching down over his shoulders and to the top of his pants. He wears a yellow cape which seems a if it might be connected to the suspenders on the front of the shirt.

"Get your claws off of that! You don't know what you're dealing with!" Eggman, or rather, Robotnik, simply continues to laugh, as Zero begins the chase.

—–—

Zero walks with a defeated gait. "I lost him. What now?"

"Find him again. You aren't leaving without that Sapphire."

"Easier said than done…" He stops as he reaches a brief clearing in the trees, revealing a sparkling, crystal blue lake. Once again, Zero is struck by the beauty of nature. Where he stands, he is mostly covered by the shadow of the canopy, except where he is covered by blue light, reflected from the lake. One might actually mistake him for having blue fur in such lighting.

"Sonic!" Zero barely has any time to react, before he is suddenly embraced by a pink hedgehog, none other than Amy Rose. "Oh Sonic, I'm so glad I finally found you! I've–" She stops as she opens her eyes and looks more clearly at Zero. Immediately, she lets go, and takes a step back. Just like Eggman, her appearance is different as well. The spikes on her head are combed back, appearing quite a bit more like Sonic's. She wears a somewhat formal-looking dress, green on the top with a frilly red-orange bottom. She wears bluish-purple sneakers. Zero blushes at the sight of her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! You see– I thought– with the light and– I mistook you for someone else!"

Zero is equally flustered. "No, that's fine– uh, I mean– I just wasn't expecting to be–… I'm sorry, I need to go." He turns to leave.

"Wait!" He stops and looks back. "Who are you? I've never seen you before."

"Umm…my name is Zero. And I really have to–"

"Nice to meet you, Zero! I'm Amy, Amy Rose." She eagerly extends a hand. Zero, after blushing again for a moment, shakes her hand. Then he turns to leave again. She casually follows him and matches his stride. "So, what is it that you're so busy with, out here in the heart of the jungle?"

He seems surprised at first at being followed, but answers, "I'm looking for…a very particular gemstone. A long blue one. Like this." He pulls out his Sapphire to show her.

"That isn't…a Chaos Emerald?"

"No, not exactly. I had already found it, but then it was stolen by a fat man in a hovercraft."

"Tiny glasses, big nose, bigger mustache?" He nods. "You're looking for Robotnik."

"No…it couldn't be…" Zero is pulled into yet another flashback. Zero's voice screams out in agony. He just keeps screaming for several long moments. Finally, he quiets down, panting. A gruff voice speaks, "That's very good. Don't worry, just a little more, and then we can be done for the day. I can move on to another Subject." Zero responds, "No…keep going. No others." "Hm. Talkative today, are we? Very good. The more you help me, the more I can help you. Resume the test!" Zero cries out in agony once more. Suddenly, the scream trails off to a dull moan, and then to nothing. The voice comments, "Oh dear, it seems that he has lost consciousness. Oh, well. Bring out Subject 009!" A pair of hands reaches out to unfasten the straps holding Zero to his chair. Struggling to keep his eyes open, Zero manages to whimper out, "No…I can keep going…don't…don't bring out Nine…please…" He slumps over once more.

"What was that?" Amy pulls him back to reality.

"Oh…it's nothing. You were talking about this Robotnik person?"

"That's right. Robotnik is a madman who builds robots to do his bidding."

"Well that sounds…fitting."

"That's right. And where Robotnik is up to no good, Sonic is sure to stop him."

"Sonic?" He thinks to himself, "So this must be Sonic's time…or close to it, anyways." "You said his name earlier, as well. Do you know him?"

"Well, sort of. He saved my life from one of Robotnik's robots a while ago, and…I never got a chance to properly thank him for it. He just moves on to the next place so fast…"

"Chasing evil scientists and crushing robots? I'm sure that's all a lot of fun for him."

"Fun? No, I wouldn't think so. There's nothing that Sonic does that isn't for the sake of others. When I was capture by Robotnik's robot…you should have seen the look on Sonic's face. I looked into his eyes, and I knew that he would stop at nothing to save me. Anyways, by the sounds of it, you know Sonic too."

"Sort of. We crossed paths pretty recently. He didn't much strike me as the heroic type. But then…you're haven't come all the way out here into the heart of the jungle, in a vain hope to find him, just so that you could thank him, have you?"

"Well, you got me. I was hoping that maybe…I might be able to impress him enough… to get him go out on a date with me."

Zero's face shows an odd mixture of understanding with disappointment. "I see."

"So…this all works out pretty well. We can both look for Robotnik together, and through him we can both find what we're looking for!"

Zero smiles. "I'd like that very much. So let's stop strolling around here, and start looking for Robotnik!"

To be Continued…