Sonic the Hedgehog

Forced AU

Rating: R

Pairing: Undecided

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They had successfully escaped with the powers of Silver the Hedgehog, and they were brought into a location that somehow, they never knew of before. It was a simple-looking, moderately large concrete building that served as a bunker.

When exactly did this place appear?

"This is my secret lair." stated Silver, as they were set down onto the ground after minutes of flight. "You can all stay here. I'll go back to City to rescue survivors."

"No, Silver." Espio stopped him before the hedgehog could leave. "You need to rest."

"You do seem too tired." added Knuckles.

Silver looked at the purple chameleon while he seemed to be in deep thought.

"Fine." Silver decided after some time. "But you need to remember this place. Remember how it looks like - be very, very aware of its existence."

"Why?" Knuckles chimed in to the conversation with a query before Espio could reply. "And, where are we, anyway?"

"We're in the midsts of the dividing line between Green Hill and Sand Hill. This place is difficult to find, because it's right between two different climates." the white hedgehog explained, as he breathed deeply; trying to keep himself alert. "And it's even more harder to find because I've used a perception filtering device to keep this place safe."

"Perception filtering device?" Tails breathed. "Such a device exists?"

"What does that mean?" Charmy asked as he flew around in the air.

"In other words; you can't see this place unless you are very aware of it." Silver elaborated. "It's the reason why nobody knows this place exist."

"Perfect place for a hideout, then." Vector deduced.

Espio, meanwhile, stared once more at the hedgehog trying his best to stay awake - If Silver didn't go to bed soon, he would knock him out himself; for if any unexpected situation arises, the hedgehog needed the energy and focus to react to danger.

"Silver, I insist you rest." the purple chameleon spoke sternly. "We will take care of rescuing the survivors."

"... Tails will stay here with you." Knuckles added, looking at the depressed young fox, who did not argue against the idea.

Sighing, Silver had no other choice but to comply - he was extremely sleep deprived, and he cannot really function properly anymore. To make things worse: the large usage of his psychokinesis several minutes earlier didn't help his case, either.

"Fine, I'll go to bed." he announced as he walked through the entrance of his secret base with the yellow fox, revealing a staircase leading into a basement underground while the others stared at his tired, retreating form.

Silver gave one last look to the others leaving the base before he went through the door.

With Espio in the lead, Knuckles and the Chaotix had begun to make their way towards City once more - which wasn't far away - with a entirely different goal in mind: to rescue as many survivors as they possibly can.

But they had so many questions to ask, such as:

Who was that mobian?

What was that power?

When did Eggman manufacture so many robots?

How did Sonic lose?

… What was Shadow doing, fighting for the other side?

"You guys don't think that was really Shadow, do you?" Knuckles asked after they had walked some distances away from the base.

"We all saw him - it definitely was the guy." Vector replied with a sigh. "Can't believe that he went off with Eggman again."

Espio stayed silent.

"I don't think it was him!" Charmy commented with some indignity. The bee believed firmly that Shadow the Hedgehog wouldn't do such a thing, as he had admired the black hedgehog as a heroic figure.

"But you saw it with your own eyes, Charmy!" argued the crocodile. "If you don't think it was him, you have to proof it! Show your evidence!"

"Well, if you think it was him, you have to show your evidence too!"

"Enough." Espio chided, loud enough for both parties arguing to hear; effectively breaking apart the verbal fight. "This is not the time to argue; we must hurry to rescue the survivors in City."

"Well, you heard him." Knuckles walked ahead with the chameleon by his side.

The two behind gave each other a disappointed sigh while shaking their heads before following the two leaders.

The ninja was very used to the two's bickering; the Chaotix had their own internal fights very frequently - especially between Charmy and Vector; those two just found topics to have verbal conflicts on practically all the time.

And a few minutes later - with no further arguments breaking out - the four mobians had approached City for the second time that day. It was already evening; and the sun had begun to set. They had to hurry with their rescue before robots could take mobians hostage.

The thing was: Eggman had preferred for his robots to not kill civilians; with the excuse being that he needed people to rule over. However, this preference of his was not always completely understood amongst his creations; caused by several negligence in their artificial intelligence coding.

Which was what they were worried about.

To make things more uncertain; they had no idea how that new henchman of Eggman's operated: Does he spare lives, or is he ruthless?

The uncertainty is the main worry. They had literally no information regarding this new, powerful foe that somehow; had the abilities to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog - the Hero of Mobius, one of the strongest living being.

Espio made a mental note to talk to Silver about his duel against the masked mobian after they return to the hedgehog's base.

And speaking of the time-traveller…

Silver the Hedgehog was currently laid in his bed, as he stared at the small device held in his hand.

Why did the device malfunction?

It made absolutely no sense; it had never did that before ever since he first used it. The time machine should have been calibrated to the timelines of the physical universe a long time ago.

Although; he did not know exactly how the thing worked, because he had acquired it by accident one day - but the thing was: He did not remember when, and where he had first gotten this gadget.

He sighed.

"... Tails." he softly called out, and the fox had responded by slightly turning his head in his general direction. "I need your help with something."

"... with what?" the young fox had stood up slowly and walked to Silver, and the white hedgehog had handed him the device that was in his hand.

The device was a strangely lightweight object, that seemed to be designed to be able to be worn around the wrist. It had a numerical keypad on the main panel, and it had small, metallic spikes - receivers? - poking out of the edges of the panel.

"What is this?" Tails asked, curious of this new gadget of which he had never seen before.

"It's a time machine." Silver replied, causing the fox's eyes to widen, and his jaws to gape slightly. "... I know what you're thinking, but you can't go back and save him."

Tails's shoulders visibly sagged, as his two tails lost their energy once more and touched the ground.

"I'm sorry." apologised the white hedgehog. "I did try to reach before the invasion happened; but the time machine had somehow miscalibrated, and sent me to the wrong time - I think using it might be dangerous."

"... it's not your fault, Silver…" Tails replied, as he stared down at the gadget in his hands. "I'll try to take a look at it, and figure out what's wrong."

"I guess I'll tell you what I know about it first..."

Meanwhile, the four mobians had reached, and stared at the area of civilisation.

City was in a really, really bad shape: Buildings that burnt previously had already turned into ashes - even with the firefighters working overtime while having to deal with robots - and there were more instances of rubble from damaged structures that they could count.

"Let's split up." Espio suggested, which earned nodding heads from the others.

"Follow me, Charmy." Vector ordered, causing the bee to fly in his direction.

They had dispersed in an instant; with the purple chameleon deciding to make his way down to Park Avenue to start off his search.

Focusing his senses; the ninja chameleon kept his hearing peeled as he walked down the street for any sounds that could help him locate any survivors that still remains in the concrete jungle.

Right now, City was a hostile, dangerous place that no one should be in.

Gadget was heading out from his apartment after he had collected the items most precious to him: A photograph of him with his mother, and the clear lens black spectacle that he wore constantly; but had forgotten earlier this morning.

Yes; the red wolf didn't actually need glasses. It was an item he received after he had complained to his mother about how plain his face looked; and he treasured it since.

Especially after that incident; after he never saw her again.

Gadget took out his mobile phone, and took a picture of the treasured photograph.

"Hello, pathetic beings."

Those were the exact words he had heard, before a red light seemingly shot out of nowhere and exploded the ground that he was on; and people around the wolf screamed in terror.

And Gadget saw a masked, floating mobian with black fur, and white, long locks of hair. There was also an evil-looking ruby that glowed threateningly on his chest.

"I have unraveled out an even greater usage of my powers: and guess; who shall be the new test subjects?" the ominous voice nearly purred - with vicious intent.

Another burst of bright red laser shot out from his index finger, and had completely decimated several mobians around him.

How was he doing that?!

Gadget had immediately ran, trying to find cover while terror built up through his entire being - he just clearly witnessed the death of several civilians.

He didn't want to be the next target.

Another explosion was heard, and he found himself losing his balance and falling down on the floor from the resulting shockwave.

The black-furred mobian chuckled darkly as he shot out lasers to the mobians surrounding him.

He was the only one left alive.

Gadget had never felt so afraid, had never felt his blood freeze up; like ice in his veins.

His breathing quickened, and he began to hyperventilate in the hopeless situation.

"I can sense your terror, wolf - you're making such a delightful performance..." the masked mobian seemed to enjoy the devastation he had caused. "If you entertain me further; I might actually consider letting you live…"

The red wolf stared with wide open eyes as he continued to breath nervously.

"Did I mention; that I absolutely despise wolves…?" the black-furred mobian growled out. "Perhaps you should run, like the pathetic wolf that you-"

A loud, abrupt cry was heard from the ominous voice.

A flying white hedgehog, surrounded by a bright cyan glow, had appeared out of nowhere and knocked the black-furred mobian out of balance in the air. Then, the hedgehog slowly flew down in front of the masked being; seemingly subtly taunting the enemy.

"You!" the masked mobian angrily accused.

"I'm not done with you yet." he heard the white-furred mobian declare. His eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be breathing quite deeply.

Gadget felt relief from the tension of the peril as his saviour engaged with the enemy.

"Neither am I, hedgehog." replied the enemy smoothly, as he was once again hovering in the air without disturbance. "How glad am I, to see you once more; so I can wipe you out myself."

"I'd like to see you try!"

And both fighters charged at each other at the same time, reenacting to Gadget: something similar to what he had seen in movies, when two fighter jets go up against each other - no holds barred, guns ablaze.

However; this time, the jets in his memories were now replaced with real, actual mobians who had the power and ability of flight, as they constantly threw punches, and made bursts of sudden bright light appear and fade away in an instant as their means of attacking.

It was as if he walked into a magic show; and the performers could slaughter him in an instant. He realised that he was distracted; staring at the dogfight instead of looking for cover.

Suddenly, he jumped in shock as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned his around in fear, but he was revealed: a purple chameleon which seemed to be dressed up with gloves and shoes with thick, black cuffs, and designs suiting his skin colour.

"Get into cover." the unfamiliar chameleon pointed to a direction behind him; revealing a stack of wooden crate boxes in an alleyway.

The red wolf immediately scurried over and hid.

Meanwhile, Espio had stared hard at the white hedgehog currently engaged in yet another fight with the masked enemy. He felt fury build inside him as he realised that Silver had not gone to sleep; and had instead sneaked out to help.

He sighed through his nostrils in an effort to calm himself down. Silver had meant well.

"Take this, hedgehog!" the masked mobian exclaimed all of a sudden, as a bright flash of red light exploded out from the glowing jewel attached to his chest.

Silver's eyes widened as his brain registered a giant missile launcher suddenly appearing right in front of him out of nowhere, as Espio watched in horror from the ground.

Where did that come from?

BAM!

A missile shot out, and Infinite watched as the projectile approach the white hedgehog. The masked being had already began to celebrate his victory in his own head, while he watched the missile pass right through the hedgehog's body; leaving Silver unscathed.

The missile exploded on impact with the ground.

"What…?" Infinite gasped with his eyes wide behind his mask, unsure of what had happened. "... how did you...!?"

Silver breathed heavily, as he tried to recover from the exertion of his mind while fighting off his extreme fatigue.

"Mind games don't work against me…" huffed the exhausted hedgehog time-traveller. "If you're going to fight me, you're gonna have to do it the right way!"

Espio the Chameleon had watched the scene unfold with extreme confusion: He had just seen the missile go through Silver, and blow up the ground of Park Avenue!

What was happening?

The ninja chameleon suddenly felt his feet leave the ground, and he gasped in surprise at the unexpected turn of events.

"Well, if I can't harm you; I'll just pick on your friend over here!" declared the enemy; as Espio felt his world turn upside down.

"Don't you dare!" Silver shouted, grabbing debris of the city's destruction from the ground with his powers. "Take this!"

The debris was launched out of his holds; flying at straight at the enemy at an insane speed. And they had went right through the other's body.

Silver gaped with his eyes wide, while the masked mobian had began to chuckle.

"Didn't you say that mind games didn't work against you?" he recalled, as he suddenly charged forward to strike. "Pathetic hedgehog!"

Silver had managed to dodge the attack immediately and had picked up Espio in his physical hold.

"Close your eyes, Espio!" he ordered, and the chameleon immediately obeyed, and shut his eyelids. "We're getting out of here."

"Why didn't you stay in the base, Silver?" angrily questioned the purple chameleon as he felt himself being carried through the air at a fast speed. "You need to rest!"

"Stop talking, and try to focus on finding your bearings."

Suddenly, Espio felt a violent force surrounding them before being burst away and released. Then, a loud cry from an ominous voice was heard before it faded away to silence.

"... Silver..."

"What did I just say?"

"... There's someone I found earlier, back there in the alleyway."

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