Chapter 2: Old Faces

"Now!" Blaze shouted.

On cue, Silver jumped out from behind the bullethole-ridden wall with a literal shower of projectiles floating in the air above him. The gigantic robot that'd been preparing to stomp down on the purple cat recieved the very same armour-piercing bullets it'd fired at Silver a minute earlier into its torso. Staggering back with its circuits exposed, the robot tried to activate its self-repair functions, but it was no use. Blaze seized the opportunity and shot straight through the machine, spinning like a drill wrapped in flames.

Watching the whole show unfold outside his desert base, Dr. Eggman Nega pulled on his massive mustache in frustration. How in the world did those two pests know about his hidden base inside this old pyramid? The Echidna Preservation Society and the Recent History Archeological Society were supposed to have this place barred from intruders on pain of very expensive legal ramifications! Couldn't you even count on bureaucrats to cover your trail these days?

Nega turned away from the depressing sight presented by his surveilance system. There was only one thing to do. "Metal Sonic!" the white-haired old villain yelled to the only other occupant of the base's command room.

"What is your wish, master?" the submissive robot asked.

"Keep the intruders busy while I use my Time Portal to escape. Whatever happens, don't let the cat and the hedgehog get near the prototype test laboratory."

"Yes, master."

Meanwhile, Silver and Blaze made short work of the N-series robots guarding the entrance hall to Eggman Nega's base. The mass-produced minions didn't stand a chance against the formidable pair.

"So much for making a silent entrance," said Silver.

"Don't worry, I just got a message from Shadow," said Blaze reassuringly. "He and Terkal have teleported down from the Ark. They'll make sure to intercept Nega before he can escape."

Silver chuckled. "Any glitches this time?" he asked, remembering what had happened when he and Blaze used the very same teleporter.

"He didn't say, but I think-"

Blaze stopped when she saw the sillouette in the doorway ahead.

"Hey, it's Nega Metal. I don't suppose you remember me? Silver? Well, I mean from last week, not from that whole mess on Onyx Island in the past, when-ugh!"

The robot didn't have patience for idle chit-chat. It attacked Silver right away, oblivious as to the fact that in another time it had been instrumental in saving the whole universe from the malevolent Metal Mastermind. For much the same reason, Silver was hesitatant to fight the robot with full intent. Odd as it was for a machine with a sub-standard AI that offered no sense of self-awareness, Silver felt he owed Nega Metal something.

Blaze, meanwhile, was less obligated to Nega's Metal Sonic, and quickly got fed up with Silver's evasion game, storming forward and kicking Nega Metal through the ancient wall. Silver grimaced as he watched his once-servant get buried under a pile of rubble.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"Frankly, yes. Now come on, Silver. If there's no great big hole in the floor of the command room, then we don't know which way leads from there to the lab with the Time Portal. We can't waste time and risk Eggman Nega eluding Shadow and Terkal."

"Fine..." said Silver grimly, picking up the pace again.

-

Conquest the Bat ignored the general's repeated insistance that it was foolish to base an operation of this scale on intelligence that couldn't be verified in any way. Conquest was well aware that the pudgy old idiot had been gunning for her position for years, and she was even starting to miss the brief period of time when the general had been dead, and her hands had been untied properly for once. She quickly set aside that longing, of course, remembering the pain and terror that whole adventure had carried her through.

Still...the now-classified Metal Sonic case had finally brought Shadow back into her life, and she couldn't be happier about that. Much harder than defeating a time-devouring robot was going to be the task of crackin Shadow's rough exterior and getting the guy to open up for once, but Conquest was up to the challenge. Eager, even.

Conquest sighed. Why was the general even bothering to undermine her on this one? Shadow, Terkal, Silver and Blaze should be able to handle Eggman Nega's arrest by themselves, without needing the GUE troops holding the perimeter around the pyramid base. Oh, right. The blowhard was annoyed that she was going to get the credit on this one. Well, tough cookies, you old bag of wind.

"Your concerns are valid, general," Conquest said aloud. "I will take them into consideration."

-

The lights were off in Silver's apartment, but the motion-sensitive switch lit up the lounge when the tall raccoon suddenly appeared in the middle of the floor.

To a stranger, Trevor Pretorious, couldn't possibly be recognised a maniacal villainous fiend. He looked simply charming. Whether it was the navy-blue Gentleman's suit with matching top hat and stylish cane, or that warm smile on his face - it was hard to tell what made him seem such an appealing person. He was unusually tall for a wiry, non-crodillian animaloid - nearly equal height to an average human.

Dr. Pretorious was in fact a textbook psychopath, with all the remarkable people skills and abysmal lack of empathy that the condition implied.

The intruder across time looked around the apartment with child-like interest.

"Fascinating!" he said to himself. "Silver the Hedgehog's old Central City apartment. Not home, I see. How inconvenient. No chance to have a pleasant chat while we wait for the fiery daughter to make a rude intrusion. Oh, dear. What if she arrives first? I brought a pulse pistol, because those void pellets can't be affected by psycho-kinesis, but dear Pia would be certainly recognise a weapon from her own time. What to do? What to do?"

Pretorious stopped his pacing around, and laughed. "Silly me! Why wait when one can simply step ahead in time and greet the hero's return? This was the day when Silver captured Eggman Nega properly for the first time. He'll escape from jail next week, but it's the gesture that counts. Our hero is no party lion, so he'll be home early from the celebration party at GUE HQ. Now...how did one set the hours on this little doohickey?"

Dr. Pretorious disappeared in a flash of green light, then reappeared on the same spot. Between his departure and return, the shadows raced across the floor and darkness set in as the sun completed its sprint to dusk.

The apartment was also no longer empty. Silver sprang out of his couch, and instinctively wrapped himself in the glow of psycho-kinetic activity.

"W-where'd you come from? Who are you?" Silver demanded to know.

The raccoon grinned. Silver, social refugee that he was, didn't focus on the clothes or the face right away but on those creepy glassy eyes behind thin glasses.

"I am Doctor Trevor Pretorious," said the raccoon, bowing politely. "You'll come to know me very well, captain. Or, maybe not. It really depends on the outcome of this meeting."

"What?"

Suddenly violent arcs of purple energy formed out of empty air and connected to the walls and nearby furniture. The electrical display became a humanoid shape, and disappeared as suddenly as it'd started, leaving an orange and red cat standing in its place.

"Isn't that an unnecessarily attention-seeking way to time travel, Silver?" Dr. Pretorious asked, suddenly holding a very strange looking tool in his hand and pointing it right at the white hedgehog. "At least Eggman Nega had the decency to go for function over fashion with his time machine design. Look, it's a wrist watch. His fifth generation version, which he sadly lacked the time to complete before his untimely death. Oh, I'm sorry. Am I spoiling too much, captain Silver? I do tend to go on. It's a silly habit of mine."

"SHUT! UP!" the cat commanded in a tone of voice that sounded eerily familiar to Silver.

Now Silver noticed that the cat's red outfit had tears in several places, as if she'd been juggling knives or something. Strange that there was barely a scratch on her fur, well, apart from those streaks of white fur on her arms, just like Blaz-

"Watch that tone, young lady," said Dr. Pretorious. "I might get startled and accidentally apply pressure to this little button under my index finger here. You wouldn't want something to happen to the captain of the Temporal Protectorate, would you? Oops, another spoiler. Where can I put my head? Aheeheehee! Well, since we're all getting acquainted, why don't you tell the captain- I mean Silver the Hedgehog, here, your name?"

Now she too was holding something. Her gadget looked more like a weapon. She certainly held it like one. Silver kept quiet, confused beyond measure.

"Pia," said the cat, moving only her yellow eyes towards Silver for a fraction of a second.

"Come now, I should think a meeting this special would call for a little formality. Her name is Pia the Hedgehog. Yes, I know what you're thinking, Silver. Hedgehog? Why, surely she's a cat! Let's review the family history. I'm not entirely certain if we're after of before the point in time when you learn this, Silver, but you are the direct descended of Sonic the Hedgehog. Isn't that remarkable? Your grandfather knew this, and therefore had his name legally changed to 'The Hedgehog', thus circumventing the long-lasting animaloid tradition of just abscent-mindely picking the name of the animal as a surname. And gosh, wouldn't you know it, when your daughter, Silver, is not a hedgehog at all, but a cat, there do actually arise some legal complications with the name. Ridiculous, I know, but it happened. This seventeen year-old cat won't have the legal power to properly disown her given family name for another year. Hence, Pia the Hedgehog. Amusing when you think about it, really."

"I told you to shut up, Pretorious!" Pia said through gritted teeth. Her cat canines were particularly intimidating.

"Sorry. No more dawdling," said Dr. Pretorious, then shot Silver at point blank range.

In the next chapter:
- You'd better hope there's not yet another unresolved cliffhanger.
- Dr Pretorious sets up the main plot.
- The second grand adventure beings in earnest.