Chapter 6: Driven By Anger
In the Death Lab (Night/Day for Amy)...
Amy looked around at her living quarters which seemed to change a bit after she awoke from her nightmare. She wiped her eyes so she could see the world clearly.
"What is this? Did he move me or is this how this room works? I don't know but it is a gorgeous sight," the hedgie thought as she looked through the glass.
She started having fantasies about Sonic running through the fields with her in his heroic arms. The love-sick girl still believed her hero would come for her.
"Do you like the view outside? Does it remind you of freedom," Eggman said into the microphone, causing Amy to turn around with her brows furrowed.
"Eggman, why are you keeping me here," she asked with her anger slowly building up inside.
"I'm not going to tell you why you're here. What I can tell you is that while you are in this phase of the plan, you will be fighting for your food."
"You want me to fight for my life. That's not so bad. I do that all the time with my friends."
"Yes, but this time I will give you a real challenge worthy of a reward," he stated before pressing a button that raised up one of the walls as he did before.
Amy looked at the opening and bolted towards her way out.
"Finally, my ticket to freedom! I can get out of here! I can see Sonic again," she thought with a jovial tone.
In her effort to leave the room, she didn't hear something getting closer to the room's entrance. It stood there, waiting for its target to be within range.
Eggman laughed as he watched her running, hope filling her eyes as she tried to leave the lab. The pink hedgehog finally made it to her destination and was about to exit her prison when a figure from the darkness kicked her away with a mechanical foot. Her body flew into one of the glass walls, injuring her head and back.
She fell to the floor. Amy struggled to get on her hands and knees. A hammer appeared in her hand and she used it to lift herself up.
"Is that...a...gizoid? Why does he have that? How does he have that," she asked herself as she finally saw her attacker step out of the obscuring darkness.
I think you have to worry about that later. Right now, worry about how you're actually going to win this fight. If you don't, your precious hero won't be able to save you.
The hedgehog managed to get a better grip of her hammer, she stared into her enemy's artificial eyes. It reminded her of Emerl (ref. Sonic Battle).
"I don't care if you remind me of him, I will destroy you," she shouted, charging at it with her trusty hammer.
Eggman's Lab/ Surveillance Room...
The scientist was enjoying the show until he heard a noise behind his chair. He turned around to see one of his minions carrying a case that had green light coming from it.
"I see you have some of the Emerald shards. Why didn't you arrive with the case earlier," Eggman asked, waiting for the fox's answer.
They opened their mouth and their lips were moving but no sound came from them. This annoyed the evil scientist until he remembered something he was working on earlier. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black communicator.
"Try this on. I made it to solve your...problem," he said as he handed it over to them.
They put it on their wrist. Spikes appeared and dug into the fox's artificial arm. After the metal pierced their 'skin', they were alarmed and dropped the case they were holding. The fox expected to feel pain but only saw oil leaking out of their punctured appendage.
"Huh, what is this," the fox asked no one in particular since they didn't expect words to come out.
Suddenly, it dawned on them that their ability to speak has returned. While they were worried about the oil leaking out of their arm, the fact that they were able to speak again was more alarming to them.
"Judging by your reaction, it seems you haven't been able to talk for a long time. Allow me to inform you on how your new 'toy' works. The wristwatch is powered by an artificial Chaos Emerald which allows your thoughts to turn into words that are projected when you move your lips. The watch also decides how your voice will sound like; the decision is usually determined by a voice you have heard recently or one that your mind decides is the most appropriate," Eggman explained, feeling pleased with himself and his new invention.
His convoluted explanation went right over the fox's head but they were still happy to be able to communicate in a very efficient manner again.
"I can finally speak again after all these years. After what my fa- what that man did- I didn't think I would be able to. Now that I can speak, I want to ask the doctor about something peculiar that happened while I was in Emerald Town," they thought while looking at the watch displaying a visual representation of the sound waves from their voice on its screen.
Earlier in Emerald Town...
The 'rookie' was on their way to deliver the shards but started to get tired so they Chaos Controlled to an area nearby in the hopes that delicious food will give them energy. The small town looked pretty inviting with people laughing and children playing as the afternoon sun shined on their joy filled faces.
"Wow, this place hasn't changed a bit since I recently moved to Central City. Too bad I can't go sight seeing. I have to deliver these Emerald shards to Dr. Eggman so I unfortunately can't stay here," the fox thought, their ears drooping.
While they looked around to find their favorite restaurant, the 'rookie' started to gain some more of their memories they lost from when they 'died'.
They started to remember all of the terrible things that happened to them here and their anger slowly started to rise.
"Now, I remember why I left in the first place. It was because of them. They bullied me when I lost my home, calling me tail-less trash," the fox thought, growling as the anger threatened to burn their insides.
As if to break them out of their thoughts, many people started to run and scream.
"What the...What is going on," they thought as they looked around to find the cause of the chaos.
An army of Eggman's robots arrived, led by Infinite. He commanded them to capture people who were skilled fighters, chefs, and medical personnel. In order to find capable warriors, they scanned for anyone who owned a wispon or able to defeat one of Eggman's mechanical troops. Anyone who did not fill any of these descriptions were captured because they were close relatives of the people involved.
The fox watched as people were paralyzed by the stasis rifles built into a large number of the robots. Their immobilized bodies were loaded into large cages. Infinite feasted on the turmoil that was all around him. This is the happiest he's been in a while; he felt the screams were so pleasurable because it lets him know how much power he has over his prisoners.
"That's right. Keep screaming," he shouted before a twisted laugh came from behind his mask.
The 'rookie' wanted to leave but seeing the people who made their life difficult when they lived in this town get locked up in those cages made a part of them feel overjoyed.
"I should probably leave before I get caught up in the confusion," they thought before a beam of light was headed right for them.
Luckily, the 'rookie' managed to dodge it. They looked to see who aimed for them. One of the robots had electricity pulsing outside of their weapon.
"TARGET PREVIOUSLY OWNED A WISPON. MUST CAPTURE AT ALL COSTS," it said as it was ready to fire once again.
Its target was prepared to dodge another blast until the metal nuisance exploded. The fox stared at the scrap before their 'savior' appeared. Their 'hero' was also their worst nightmare.
"I see. It's you. I'm not surprised to see you cowering and pleading for life. I would kill you but the doctor says he has a use for you," Infinite said with a bitterness before he landed in front of his rival.
The fox didn't want to work with Infinite but they didn't want the jackal to kill them either. In the corner of his eye, Infinite noticed the robots aim at him.
"What is wrong with you useless pieces of scrap? Why are you trying to capture me," he asked with his usual calm demeanor.
"TARGET HAS FULFILLED ONE OF THE CAPTURE REQUIREMENTS. PREPARING TO PARALYZE TARGET," they recited as they aimed at the jackal.
Infinite activated the Phantom Ruby and stayed close to the 'rookie' to guard them from the incoming beams. Inside of the ruby red force field that the jewel produced, the mercenary was thinking of a plan to get them out of their current mess while the fox was a bit in the dark about what was happening.
"Did he just save me again? So as long as I am useful to Eggman, he has to keep me safe? This would be great if we weren't trapped here," the 'rookie' thought while looking at Infinite who had his back to them.
"Not only do I have to find a way out of this mess, I have to bring the prisoners to Eggman's base and make sure nothing happens to this coward," Infinite thought while glancing at the confused fox behind him.
"I wish I had my wispon right now. If I did, I might have been able to clear a path for us. Maybe I am just tail-less trash...Wait...I could just use Chaos Control to teleport away from all of this," they thought, feeling as if they struck genius.
The fox activated the fake Chaos Emerald in their helmet. The light coming out of the gem was so bright that Infinite couldn't resist looking back so he could see what was happening. Before the jackal could say anything, the fox disappeared.
"Did that weakling just leave me behind," Infinite asked himself while hiding his growing frustration.
The jackal wanted to destroy every single piece of his rival until a light appeared between the army of robots and his force field. When the light appeared, the robots stopped firing and started to scan this anomaly. The light disappeared and in its place was the 'rookie' with their eyes closed.
The red-eyed fox expected to be away from the chaos when they opened their eyes but what actually happened was a different story. Their eyes opened and revealed that they were warped directly into the danger. They still weren't very experienced with the Emerald's power which caused this mishap.
The fox started to panic and tried to use Chaos Control but the danger in front of them made concentrating difficult so their efforts were ineffective. When the robots stopped scanning for data, they prepared their weapons again. The 'rookie' came to the unfortunate realization that whatever they tried to do to escape would be pointless. They closed their eyes and accepted their fate.
All they saw was darkness. The fox waited for the beams to strike their, mostly metallic, body. While they only saw the endless darkness, the former Resistance operative heard a man's voice.
Don't worry. I will always be there for you. You and your mother. I won't let anything happen to us. I swore that I would keep all three of us safe...
"You...liar," the fox thought as they balled up their metallic fists and started to feel their anger return.
Strange energy began to move through their body. The energy's source was the fake Emerald in their helmet. The agitated fox opened their eyes, their irises shining brighter than usual. The beams that were fired at them seemed to move in slow motion. The fox dodged them with ease.
The 'rookie' regained the memory of Infinite commanding one of his sentries to shoot the lightning wispon which caused the electricity inside of it to electrocute the helpless fox.
The sensation going through their body felt like the electricity that surged through them during the incident. Their body was overflowing with it. The surplus of energy was making the fox feel as if they were going to burst into pieces if they didn't dispel it. As if it was by instinct, they held their hands out in front of them and released two very powerful bolts of lightning from their palms.
Infinite watched as the electric streams went from robot to robot, frying the circuits of every single one in their path until they reached the center. The two bolts connected and blew up every single one of them.
The fox dropped to their knees after it was over. They were left feeling tired once again and started to pant.
For once, Infinite was speechless. He deactivated his Phantom Ruby which allowed the force field to disappear. The curious jackel walked towards the exhausted fox.
"I...don't know what just happened but I do know that you saved me a whole lot of trouble of getting rid of them myself. Anyway, I should finish my mission," he said before walking past the fox that was still struggling to catch their breath.
At a hospital in Central City (Present Night)...
Blaze watched the moonlight shine on her unconscious, silver, friend.
"I know that the doctors said that they were not to sure on when you would wake up but I believe in you, Silver," the cat said to him, hoping that he would respond and say something that would put her mind at ease.
A lot of different things were racing through her mind.
"The Sol Emeralds have scattered in this world again. I was hoping that we didn't need them but they kinda activated themselves. I don't want one of the Eggmen to get their hands on any of them or for the two dimensions to come together. It is my job to keep the Emeralds out of the wrong hands but I want to be with Silver. I want him to be safe. Maybe I should think about this in the morning," Blaze thought before she nodded off.
(Location: Unknown/ Time: Nonexistent)...
Silver was somehow able to get familiar with the strange place he found himself in. When Tikal noticed him finally being more relaxed here, she grabbed Silver's hand and decided to take him somewhere else.
"Where are we going, Tikal," he asked before they stopped.
"We are going to a place that holds unbelievable amounts of information about literally everything from Chaos to pocket lint," she said before a building that appeared to be a gigantic library materialized into existence.
Silver stared at it in amazement. Tikal took his hand again and they stepped inside of it.
"Silver, welcome to the Archives," the echidna announced cheerfully, her voice echoing.
"Wow, it's hard to believe that a place like this exist."
"Yes, it truly is a wonder...So, the reason why you're here because a catastrophic event will happen in the near future. Silver, you have experienced many different timelines and somehow you remember the events of some of them. Your body is so accustomed to them that you have these special sensations, or 'distortions' as you call them, when an event threatens to make a new timeline. Even now, you are feeling the distortions of the Chaos Dimension's Past."
The hedgehog nodded.
"Can you tell me what is going to happen or how I can prevent it," he asked.
"I can't give you the details because I don't know myself. Chaos was very selective when he relayed the information to me. What he basically said was that there were too many timelines and we need to get rid of most of them. Keeping every single one around may put the very fabric of the universe in danger. The only thing I could say that might possibly prevent this from happening is to tell your friends not to go backwards or forward in time. You can also prevent that event I mentioned from happening. Unfortunately, that means you can't go home for a while until we sort this out."
"So I'm stuck in the past until we find out what triggers the catastrophe and Chaos deletes some of the alternate flows of time? Why didn't you guys already get rid of them?"
"We would have done it a lot earlier but certain restrictions prevented us from doing so...for...example..." Tikal said while looking for a certain book, "I'll be back."
While Tikal was searching for the book, the curious hedgehog was drawn to one of them. He picked it up and observed the picture on the cover. What he saw surprised him. It was him with green light coming from his hands. The title read, "The Life Story of Silver the Hedgehog." He opened the book and a bright light blinded him.
The echidna wasn't very successful in her search so she went back to where she left Silver. His biography was on the floor, closed.
"Oh no. Did Silver try to read one of these? I should have warned him first," she said with a sigh.
Tikal scrutinized the tome and guessed that Silver was definitely inside of it.
"I should send in help. The assistant I'm going to summon will be his closest friend," the echidna thought before Chaos possessed her body and started to recite an ancient chant.