AN: Thank you Amefloza13, Hazel the Rabbit, Lustlets, Lynn, and fusion721 for supporting this story. I didn't think this many people would like it four chapters in. Also, I'm grateful for the people who made over five-hundred views possible. A special thank you goes out to Sigmamaxis450 for their ideas and helping me through back and forth PMs. Anyway, enjoy! :D
Chapter 5: Preparations
At Eggman's base/Surveillance Room (Early Evening)...
The room was dimly lit. It had two rows of white computers with flat monitors, one row against the left wall and another on the right. Doctor Eggman was sitting in a revolving chair, watching the Death Lab through one of the monitors that was a part of a large collection in the center of the room. His hands rested against a terminal that was connected to the numerous amount of screens.
Eggman chuckled as he watched his captive fighting for her life. He checked a few digital charts on the right of his main surveillance screen. As the robots continued to battle Amy, the ones that weren't in the front lines scanned her move set, reaction time, resilience, strength, speed, and stamina. Near the entrance of the Death Lab, there was a bot holding a peculiar silver container filled with mysterious chemicals; it stood there, awaiting the doctor's orders.
"Thanks to Infinite's illusion, one minute in real time is an hour to Amy. There are one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes in a day so in the span of one day in reality, she would feel as if she spent sixty days in captivity. Hohohoho! This should be interesting," Eggman said before laughing hysterically.
Then he thought about the problem with his plan.
"Wait. How would she be able to tell when a day passes if she can't see the day and night cycles? Well, the solution should not be too difficult for me to come up with. I am the brilliant Doctor Ivo Robotnik and I have found out how to trick her mind even further. But I sent Infinite on a little errand. Hmm," he muttered before a smile from ear to ear was on his face.
"Good thing I didn't destroy all of the prototypes. Although, they are a bit unstable," he said as he jumped out of his revolving chair.
Eggman looked at his two hovering assistants, Orbot and Cubot, through one of the smaller monitors. They were carrying clipboards and doing a headcount to determine how many robots were made that day without defects in a spacious room. He turned on the intercom for the room they were in.
"Listen, you two," Eggman said, alerting them.
"What is it, boss," Orbot asked while watching Cubot sorting computer chips that were previously pulled out of a nearby metal crate.
"I want you to go into the room where I keep all of the incomplete rubies."
"But boss, you said they were not rea-"
"I know what I said. Don't worry, I will have that problem taken care of," Eggman said before sitting in front a computer.
He started to type in a series of codes that can only be understood by his robots' A.I.
"Boss," Orbot said when Eggman stopped speaking.
Cubot stuck his hand into the crate to pull out another chip but the remaining chips were piled up at the bottom. He reached in further and ended up falling into the box. Orbot facepalmed and sighed at his partner's usual shenanigans.
"Alright, I finished the list of commands," Eggman said, surprising his two mechanical helpers since they thought the comm was off, "Now all you need to do is go in and get the rubies and I will take care of the rest."
In the Death Lab...
As the pink hedgehog continued to fight the horde, she didn't notice some of the robots hammering Phantom Ruby prototypes into the walls. Once the rubies were successfully embedded into the room's walls, all of the bots stopped.
Amy was very perplexed by this sudden change. Her heartbeats started to return to normality along with her adrenaline levels. She fell on her hands and knees and started to pant. Beads of sweat and blood droplets started to drip from her pink fur from the scratches received from badniks with sharper weapons or appendages. Her stomach started to growl again. Amy was dehydrated, exhausted, bleeding, and hungry. She hasn't taken a bath or showered in days so her body started to have this lingering odor. Despite all of this, she still believed her blue hero would come to save her from this hell.
"I see you managed to survive and with all of your limbs intact as well. Maybe I should give you a better challenge. But before that, I think you deserve a reward," Eggman said as he pressed another button on the console.
Through her emerald green eyes, she saw a robot donning a chef hat arrive through the entrance Eggman's other mechanical minions came through.
"That's the exit. I need to get there but I could barely move. If I could just..."
Amy tried to get back on her feet but her body wouldn't move. One of the robots put a plate next to her with a glass of purified water. The 'waiter' removed the cloche to reveal freshly cooked meat. The starving girl was so excited to dig in. She didn't even give a second thought before devouring the dish.
While Amy was ripping the meat apart with her teeth, Eggman pressed the button that allowed the immobilized robots to move again so they could leave the room along with the 'waiter'. After confirming that the hedgehog was the only one in the room and too preoccupied with her food to notice anything around her, Eggman closed the entrance by dropping the wall by simply pressing a button after he commanded one of his robots to throw in a gas canister.
When Amy finished appeasing her appetite and drinking the water, she looked up to see if her ticket out of the Death Lab was still open but she was disheartened as she looked at the sealed off entrance.
What? Did you think it would be that easy? Even if you were able to go through that exit, did you think there would be no traps or guards waiting for you?
The voice of the figure she saw earlier started to annoy her but that was Amy's only company. At this point, the young hedgehog thought any type of social interaction was better than the silence. Suddenly, the hedgie's eyelids started to feel heavy.
"What is this? I felt wide awake a moment ago," she thought while looking around.
Her vision was obscured by a dense, white, fog. Amy tried to fight it but her body surrendered before her mind.
Location: Unknown/ Time: Nonexistent
Silver was coaxed into consciousness by an unfamiliar voice. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a blue-eyed echidna. He recognized her as the girl he saw in his visions. The confused hedgehog started to feel an odd, but familiar sensation. Thinking he fell into the ocean around Angel Island, he started to panic.
"Calm down. You can't drown here. This water is very special," she said with a smile.
He was able to relax after her statement and tried breathing normally.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't summon you to a place that would threaten your life. Maybe I should introduce myself first. I am Tikal, daughter of Chief Pachacamac, of the lost Knuckles Clan," the echidna said.
"The lost Knuckles Clan...So does that mean you're related to my friend, Knuckles," he asked, intrigued.
"Yes, I am one of his ancient ancestors."
"That's amazing...So, where am I and where is that giant beast from before?"
"Oh, you mean Chaos?"
"Chaos...Emeralds?"
"No, just Chaos. He is the god of destruction or was until Sonic and his friends saved him. Now, he is the god of creation again," Tikal said as she reminisced, "But I fear that my friend will become that destructive being once again."
She stared at Silver with a hopeful look in her blue eyes.
"We should get out of the water. I want you to be comfortable in this place before we discuss why you're here," Tikal grabbed Silver's hand and swam towards the surface of the water.
The pair made their way to dry land soon after.
The echidna let go of his hand and looked over to a few interesting characters playing chess. Silver didn't recognize either of them. One of them had an almost uncanny resemblance to Shadow. The other appeared to be a small, red, imp with little fairy-like wings flapping rapidly.
Tikal walked over to them while they were concentrating on their match.
"Silver, I would like you to meet Light Gaia and Mephiles," she said happily with a loud clap so they could stop focusing on the game.
They were upset about the interruption but Mephiles used this as an opportunity to switch the pieces around while his opponent wasn't looking at the board on the wooden table.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, Light Gaia," he said with a smile.
"You don't have to be so formal. Since I consider you my friend, just call me Chip."
"Okay...Chip."
Chip flew over to Silver and had his tiny hand up, waiting for a high-five from his new companion. The hedgehog politely responded to his gesture and their budding friendship was born.
"Want some chocolate," he asked while carrying a wrapped chocolate bar.
"Sure," Silver replied.
Chip handed it over to him with an innocent smile.
Mephiles growled so his old adversary could pay attention to him. Silver turned his head to face the source of the sound. The eerie presence locked eyes with him. If he had a mouth, a demonic smile would be on his face.
"Long time no see, my silver friend," he said while he continued to stare into Silver's eyes.
Silver started to feel threatened by this strange being so he kept his guard up.
"H-hello," he said, feeling anxious.
"Purple cat got your tongue," he said with a laugh to make him upset.
Tikal and Light Gaia noticed the toxic tension between the two. The peach echidna snapped her fingers so Silver could look towards her instead of Mephiles.
"That's enough, Mephiles. We have to treat our visitors with respect especially since we don't get a lot of them too often in this place," she said to defuse a potential fight.
Mephiles breathed out a sigh of dissatisfaction. Chip and him continued their chess match. Unsurprisingly, he was the victor. He won a series of matches before this one without cheating but thought it humorous to see the imp's face change when he realizes that he's been had.
Silver slowly inhaled and exhaled a few times to relax and looked around at the strange world. Its only signs of civilizations were standing on a small island with him. The sky above was a clear blue with a yellow sun shining on them. The place itself looked normal but the people were a bit...off.
"What about Chaos," he asked.
"I don't know what you mean. You already saw Chaos but I guess I didn't properly introduce him. Sorry," Tikal said before leading him to the water they just swam out of.
Tikal looked at her reflection and saw Silver's befuddled face.
"Silver, this is Chaos," she said, excitedly anticipating his reaction.
Suddenly, a loud and thunderous roar filled the air. Silver was startled by this and positioned himself into his battle stance. Tikal looked at the terrified hedgehog with a grin.
"He won't hurt you. Well, as long as he isn't provoked anyway."
"I was swimming inside of a god," he asked, nervously staring at the rippling water.
Silver saw the echidna's reflection nod.
"Amazing," was all the awestruck hedgehog could say, "So, he was once the god of destruction?"
"Yes, my father tried to steal the sacred Emeralds so my friend went into a fit of rage and...destroyed most of them. At that point, we were just like the Nocturnus Clan that mysteriously disappeared one day," Tikal said with a tear drop coming out of one of her eyes. (reference: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood)
The drop fell into the water in front of them.
"I didn't mean to upset you," Silver said as he wiped part of her face with his gloved hand, causing her to smile.
Another powerful roar shook the world.
"It's okay. I'm fine, Chaos," she said before smiling again to give him assurance.
A thought appeared in Silver's mind.
"Tikal, what happened to Blaze," he asked, concerned about the welfare of his closest friend.
Above the ocean around Angel Island (Earlier)...
Blaze and Silver were falling along with island. The cat was screaming as her worst fears were coming true.
"Is this how it ends," she asked herself.
Blaze closed her eyes and waited for her body to hit the water's unforgiving surface. Sensing their guardian in distress, the Sol Emeralds started to glow in her clothes. Energy surged through her body, activating her super form.
She opened her eyes and saw her unconscious friend still falling. Blaze also noticed that she was able to fly thanks to the Sol Emeralds' support. The purple cat caught him by his wrist.
"Now, I have to go help the others," she said to herself while carrying Silver.
Blaze traveled to where she saw her friends fall but noticed a bleeding fox carry an echidna to shore. She was about to swoop in until two figures appeared on the beach and started grabbing green, glowing, objects slightly buried in the sand. Then, the figures grabbed the pair that fell from above. The island finally landed in the water, unleashing a giant wave. The people holding the bodies started to flee, one choosing to run while the other flew.
"That looked like Shadow and Rouge; I guess those two are in G.U.N.'s care now," she thought before glancing at Silver, "I better take him somewhere safe."
Mystic Ruins...
Sonic raced through the rain forest, unable to use his top speed since he had to dodge a lot of trees on the way to the Angel Island crash site. He ran until he heard a very unpleasant sound under his shoes. The speedster came to halt, spraying a bit of mud in front of him.
While he was disappointed about his new shoes being dirty, he noticed flashing lights from cop cars and ambulance trucks. Shadow was helping the medical staff with a stretcher that had Tails strapped down on it.
"Tails," the cobalt blue hero exclaimed, alerting Shadow.
Sonic ran past the G.U.N. agent and was close enough to see his friend's bloody body being loaded into the back of the truck. He turned his attention to Shadow after the doors closed.
"Is he alive," Sonic asked, not even attempting to hide his pain with his usual cocky attitude.
Shadow never saw this side of his rival before. He saw the discomfort in Sonic's expression.
"Yes, Tails is badly hurt but alive," Shadow said truthfully, "He's doing a lot better than Knuckles."
Shadow pointed to Rouge who was dragging her gloved fingers through his red quills and whispering something to him even though he couldn't possibly hear her. The bat looked a bit glum but she masked it when Sonic came into view.
"Hey, Big Blue. I guess you're not here to see me," she said seductively.
Sonic wasn't in the mood for Rouge's 'games' and went straight to the point.
"Rouge, how is Knuckles?"
"They said he will be able to pull through but he might not be in the condition to fight for a while," Rouge said, continuing to hide her worry for the hot-headed echidna.
Sonic wanted to follow the ambulance trucks that were getting further and further away but he needed to ask Shadow something.
"Shadow, Amy's been kidnapped again," Sonic said with a sigh.
"You usually would have her saved by now."
"If I had Tails with me, she would have been out of Egghead's hands. He's the one that usually locates Amy. Do you know where Eggman is, Shadow?"
"Our intel suggested that Eggman was in Metropolis. Rouge and I tried to infiltrate his base yesterday but we had to retreat because of the amount of security Eggman had there."
Shadow thought of the illusion of Maria with a bit of regret.
"So, Eggman must be keeping her captive there. He likes to keep her close so he could lure me out. This time, it seems as if he doesn't want me to come right away," Sonic said, thinking of all the things Amy could be going through at this very moment.
Meanwhile...
Cream saw Tails' body on the stretcher.
"Whatever happened to Tails, it's really bad," the rabbit said, feeling dejected.
"Chao chao," Cheese said, appearing to be dispirited as well.
They looked in the direction of the sun to see the time of day. The sun was setting, changing the sky's colors to a palette of warmer colors.
"It's getting late, Cheese. Let's go home," she said, ready to fly to her mother's house on the peaceful hill side.
In the Death Lab (Present Night)...
Eggman's construction bots finally finished the wiring in the walls so their creator could control the rubies with the push of a button and a device that can project complex signals and commands from his brain hidden inside of his glove.
The pink hedgehog was still being affected by the potent chemicals. Her dream world was not a place where she wanted to find solace from the real world since Infinite's illusions made the occurrence of nightmares even more likely.
Amy was running as fast as she could from the frightening shadow she saw and talked to earlier in reality.
He hasn't saved you yet because he hates you.
"That's not true! Maybe there's a lot of crime lately and...and...he's really busy..."
Stop making excuses for him. And stop running away from me, Amy Rose.
As she feared, the being of darkness finally caught up to her when she tripped. Amy was only able to slowly back away from her pursuer before being pinned down. She tried to struggle out of the beast's grasp but each time she did, the opposing force appeared to be gaining more strength. The creature lifted up a hand with blood soaked claws. Its prey was weak from the struggling so it was ready to attack. Before the claws came in contact with her skin, Amy woke up in a cold sweat.
At Eggman's base/Surveillance Room...
Eggman smiled as he pressed a button on his console, causing the rubies to resonate and form an illusion that changed the layout of the room. The walls, allowing her to see the cycle of day and night, appeared as plexiglass while the floor seemed to be part of a verdant plain. Birds were chirping outside of her glass prison.