Chapter 18: Absolution's End (Part Three)

"Giozaz, city of the Gi. Underground city comprised of over a million animaloids of various species. The Gi's arms have always been open to outsiders with sufficient potentia, demanding only one condition. No one over the age of three may join the Gi, and the child may never return to his or her former home. Don't misunderstand me. The Gi are not kidnappers. Generations of children have been willingly given away, in the certain knowledge that they would lead better lives here - safer lives. Perhaps you are wondering why there are no humans here?"

Dr. Pretorious spoke as he lead the group along the finely furnished corridors. Silver and Pia were fitted with strange handcuffs that somehow diminished their powers, and they were escorted by four guards, including the wolf and the warthog they'd seen before, plus a pair of Gizoids. Pretorious had made it clear when he arrived that morning that he would've preferred less excessive security, but that the Zera Gi had demanded that much as a minimum before he'd allow the two outsiders to take even one step into the heart of the golden metropolis.

"Alright, I'll bite," said Pia. "Why are there no humans?"

"The answer is simple. Humans lack the potential that the Gi hold so highly. Have you ever heard of a supersonic human? A psycho-kinetic human? A human able to achieve a Super form, maybe? Of course not. Maybe a human possessed by some divine or otherwise supernatural entity might be able to wield the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but an ordinary homo-sapiens? The very idea is ridiculous."

"So these people know a lot about the Chaos Emeralds, then?" Silver asked, interested despite his hatred for Pretorious.

It took a while for their guide's laughter to subside. By that time, they passed the first window they'd seen since they arrived in this place.

"Know about them? They CREATED the Chaos Emeralds!" Pretorious boasted, gesturing widely towards the view.

He hadn't been joking. An underground city of absolutely fantastic scale and wonder, lit from above by enough lights lining the cavernous ceiling to imitate the brightest day anywhere on Earth. The structure Pretorious was indicating was two twin towers, one stretching from the ground so far below they couldn't hope to make out the people walking the streets down there - the other extending from ceiling nearly a mile above. Where the two towers met, they converged at a single tiny point where a light as bright as the sun glowed green. Silver and Pia's eyes followed Pretorious's index finger to the second twin towers, wrapped in a blue glow. Then yellow, and red. Through the window at the other side of the corridor that was clearly little more than a tube extending between towering structures, they could see more twin towers; orange, purple and azure.

"The white tower is a little hard to see from here," said Pretorious helpfully. "Converting the natural energy radiated from the Chaos Emeralds into electrical power is the easiest use of the Emeralds there is, as I'm sure you know. More than enough power to support this city and its robotic legion - the Gizoids."

"Wait, that was eight. There are only seven Chaos Emeralds," said Silver, whose lips had clearly been moving while he watched the impressive view. "There's not supposed to be an orange one."

"In your ignorance, you've made a very profound statement, Silver," said Pretorious smiling like a school teacher faced with a dim-witted student who'd just defied all expectations and produced a passable assignment. "You're right. There's not supposed to be an eighth orange Chaos Emerald. The Gi will soon discover that fact with catastrophic results. Seven Emeralds creates a perfect balance of power, preventing any possibility of overflow. Eight Emeralds creates a terrible unbalance. The scientists of the Gi have been fighting a losing battle against that very unbalance for centuries, foolishly believing they succeeded in achieving a safe balance approximately twenty years before this date. Their error will result in the destruction of their civilisation, the permanent loss of the eighth Chaos Emerald, and the safe alignment of an unbalance that might over time come to threaten the very survival of life on this planet as we know it."

"Have you told them that?" Pia asked, nodding towards the native guards.

"No. It would cause unnecessary pandemonium if the impending catastrophe should be known. The Zera Gi and his nearest know the truth, because I told them myself. The only way to save my life was to tell him the complete and honest truth. After a few demonstrations of my time travel device, I gained his full confidence. Well, as much as he would ever be able to give, I suppose. The Zera Gi wouldn't trust his own mother if she told him the sky was blue."

"What about the Master Emerald? Did they create that, too?" said Silver, still not taking his eyes off the window.

"'Create' is the wrong word, though apt for dramatic effect. It would be more true to say that the Gi found the unique mineral substance and carved nine gems from it. Eight fashioned from the outer layer, and one from the heart of it."

"The heart of what?"

"I could tell you, since neither of you will live to witness my ultimate destination, but I won't. Sorry. Aheeheehee. Ahem, shall we continue the tour?"

The tube from the cell complex lead to a monolith-like building near the largest structure in the entire city. Pretorious declared it to be main transport terminal. Storage and delivery of all the goods and supplies necessary for the daily upkeep of Gizoaz.

"This is just the nearest place to access proper hovercraft transportation," said Pretorious dismissively. "It would take far too long to travel across the city on foot."

The view from the tube was nothing compared to the sight of Gizoaz seen from a hovertram in transit. Silver was glued to the window all the way, and even Pia had to admit that the place was awe-striking for its time. It was like looking down at Central City back in the present, her present, well either one, really. It had to be some kind of synthetic alloy. There couldn't be that much gold in the world, unless-

Pia thought about Glyphic Canyon. She was sure she'd gotten the coordinates right. There was no canyon now because it didn't exist yet. This underground city, the chasm it would leave behind after its destruction would be the canyon itself. Pretorious must've been after something left behind when he visited this same place in Ma'Ik's time, but what?

The thing Pretorious ultimately sought was connected to the Chaos Emeralds. He'd pretty much said it. Could he have discovered the true origin of the Emeralds? What was that he said before about something called the 'Chaos Core'? He wasn't going to prevent the Gi from being destroyed, because the destruction of the eighth Emerald was important in order to maintain the stability of the world, right, yet he sounded so sure with that thing, that Chaos Core, he'd be able to save this civilisation anway. Pretorious had planned this, all of it: The disaster on Angel Island, the infiltration of Eggman's base, navigating Glyphic Canyon under the Black Arms' noses, messing with the birth of Chaos, and all the way to whatever he'd already accomplished in this time. He'd been planning ahead every step of the way, mapping out the events of history and planning how to circumvent them and use them to his advantage. If it wasn't for us chasing after him, and that whole Black Doom conquest fiasco, his plans would've all succeeded perfectly. He's insane, sure, but he's an insane genius. He'll succeed if we don't stop him. This shaky history we've got has had WAY too many close calls to risk letting a complete rewrite get on the tracks. There might not be a Sonic the Hedgehog kind of character around to put things right the second time around.

"Blaze, look at this!" Silver exclaimed.

"What is i- Did you just call me Bla- Whoa!!" After two false starts, Pia settled for an expression of genuine astonishment.

There was a group of five cats doing acrobatics in the air, balanced on the very flames they generated as they moved. No wonder Silver had called her by the wrong name. Even she couldn't help but think of her mother as she watched the feline animaloids play around high above the rooftops of the communal buildings. This was just...impossible. She knew her mother had been a rarity. That was why she'd been picked on so much as a child. Pia would probably have experienced the same if she hadn't turned things around in the school yard and sent the bullies crying instead.

Pretorious didn't need to look. "If the Gi had survived," he said, "pyrokinetics would be far more common throughout the world. I'm sure the schools would be more adapted to suit them as well, wouldn't you, Pia? Less chance of...'accidents'."

The cat snapped. Before Silver knew what was happening, the Gizoid standing guard beside where the two sat was wrestling Pia to the floor. She was screaming obscenities at Pretorious. Silver understood right away that the villain had mentioned something that struck a painful nerve with Pia.

Although he didn't know what it was all about, Silver wanted just as much to teach Pretorious a serious lesson, but what could he do? He'd never been much good at plain old brawl-type fighting without his powers, and with these dang handcuffs on he could barely lift a pebble with his mind.

Pretorious said something in the Gi's language. It sounded like a calming command. The Gizoid dropped Pia back in her seat, and stood close, but didn't make any futher aggressive movements. The other Gizoid stepped closer, just in case.

-

While I was studying my Nemesis's profile some years ago, I was surprised to learn that she once made an attempt to alter history herself. Her father being the captain of the force was likely the only reason that she was not permanently expelled and imprisoned for the crime. It is an interesting oddity. She of all people should appreciate time is mutable for a reason. Terrible mistakes should be corrected. Disasters should be averted. Deaths should be prevented, if possible...and necessary.

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious (Discarded entry)

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In the next chapter:
- To the other end of the time loop.
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