Chapter 9: Silver's Warning

(At the burger restaurant in Station Square)

Mario, Tails, and Knuckles were each enjoying a burger. At the same time, Tails and Knuckles told Mario about some of the adventures they had with Sonic. They told him about Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic and Knuckles 3, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Lost World. Then Mario told them about Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Brothers 2, Super Mario Brothers 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Tails- Impressive. You have had almost as many adventures as Sonic.

Mario- Thanks. Your adventures with Sonic sound great too. I can see why you want him and these Chaos Emeralds back. He's a good hero and a great friend. He definitely sounds like a master of speed.

Knuckles- Yeah, Sonic does have his moments, but you should really see these guns in action…

Knuckles accidently punched the window while striking a pose and shattered it.

Burger restaurant employee- Hey!

Tails- Knuckles, you're paying for that window.

Mario laughed a bit after that. As Mario took a bite of his burger, he looked out the window, and he thought he saw two characters pass by outside. One looked like a purple cat. The other looked like a white hedgehog. Mario went pack to eating his burger when those two entered the restaurant and approached their table.

Blaze- There you are. Tails, Knuckles. Been a while, hasn't it.

Tails- Blaze, Silver, what brings you here. Oh yeah, Mario, this is Blaze the Cat and this is Silver the Hedgehog. They're old friends of ours.

Silver- Mario? I take it you're the one who took Sonic's place after Sonic was sucked up by that rift that opened up in the sky this morning?

Mario- I am, but I don't intend on staying too long. We are hard at work trying to find a way to reverse what happened.

Silver- Well, I think I might know of a way back.

Mario stood up from his seat.

Mario- What?! You know how I can get back home?

Silver- Sort of. I felt something with my psychic abilities. It felt like a rift opening somewhere. It was similar to the feeling I had when the two of you were pulled out of your worlds and forced you to switch.

Mario- Where?

Silver- I don't know where. I just felt a portal open through my psychic ability. But Blaze and I actually came to give you a warning. It might be the best lead you have to returning home and finding Sonic, but there is something else behind that rift to another dimension. Something really bad.

Tails- Silver, what do you mean by that?

Silver- I already said I don't know. All I know is there is a dark entity on the other side of that portal. Worse than Perfect Chaos, worse than Black Doom, worse than Iblis, Mephiless, or Solaris.

Blaze- There is another reason we went looking for you.

Blaze pulls out a red capsule with a picture of a ring and with the number 200 on it.

Blaze- That capsule contains 200 rings. Without a doubt, Sonic is using the Chaos Emeralds and using up his ring supply. There is probably no way for Sonic to get more rings in your world, so give this to Sonic if you see him.

After Blaze and Silver left, Tails began to think for a moment.

Tails- Mario, you said that you and Sonic crossed through some kind of other dimension before the two of you were placed in each other's world.

Mario- Yes.

Tails- Well, I'm starting to think that someone or something is behind this whole mess. And this portal Silver told us about, might not lead to the Mushroom Kingdom, but to where this new danger lives.

Mario- Not like we got any other leads.

Knuckles- I'm with Mario on this one. I say we take this guy head on!

Tails- It could be a trap to lure you to this monster.

Mario- True, but if it is, then there will also be an opening to this place in the Mushroom Kingdom to lure Sonic in. I think it's obvious, whoever this guy is, he wants both of us.

Tails- Alright, I'll get to work on finding this dimensional rift, but Knuckles and I will come along too. It sounds too dangerous to let you go alone.