Chapter 21: Saving Pia

If one wasn't aware of all the questions and pangs of self-doubt Silver experienced throughout it all, one might watch his heroic endevour to save Pia and consider Silver a true paragon of bravery and confidence. All it would take was to not know what he was thinking every step of the way...

-

A group of Gizoids were on standby in the vast plain where Glyphic Canyon would someday be. Silver materialised right in the middle of the robots. It was unknown whether the Gizoids had been deliberately placed there by Pretorious, or were simply on standard guard duty for their Gi masters. Either way, all of them immediatelly revealed hidden firearms and took aim.

Silver caught the projectiles with his psycho-kinesis, and quickly stamped them all with the label "Return to Sender". His major advantage here was that these Gizoids were too far away from the energy field of the Chaos Emeralds that powered the Gi city. These inferior self-powered models had been built only for hunting animals and keeping any unwanted primitives away. Silver found he could just as easily pick up the remaining Gizoids and pull them apart at the joints. Once the last of them was taken care of, he was left with the task of finding the entrance to the underground city.

As it would soon turn out, the golden passageway leading underground was kept hidden by a cloaking device similar to what the Gizoids had been using during that initial ambush that lead to Silver and Pia being captured. By testing the area with his power, Silver was able to locate the entrance due to the visual effects of his psycho-kinetic energy interfering with the cloaking field. An extra blast of energy, and the field was disrupted completely.

Now it was Silver's turn to play hide-and-seek. He found the cloaking function of Pia's Jumpsuit and turned it on. The little warning label that appeared for a brief moment on his heads-up display said that movement damaged the illusion of invisibility. Silver seemed to take it into consideration, but still ran as fast as he could down the fancy tunnel leading from the surface to the city of Giozaz. The chameleon effect of the Jumpsuit attempting to recolour its texture into a perfect likeness of the surrounding scenery at least should help if the people watching through those peculiar camera-like devices in the ceiling weren't paying too close attention.

-

"Overseer Vanaz, Overseer Vanaz!" shouted the turtle guard watching the surveilance feed in the Tower of Chains, near the edge of the city.

The raccoon Ul Vanaz, Chief Overseer of the perimeter watch, approached with an air of annoyance. "This best be of importance," he said.

"I believe so, Overseer. The 21st guard has been destroyed! Before the perimeter watcher was sent offline, it recorded this!"

Vanaz watched poker-faced as the white hedgehog on-screen decimated the Gizoids with powers that he recognised the instant he saw them. Although his expression didn't change, Vanaz's psycho-kinetic aura grew visible, as it often did when he was agitated.

"The Zera Gi's pet interloper. He's let his prisoners loose, hasn't he?" Vanaz demanded to know.

"Uh, no Overseer. They're in the holding cells, still. Look."

The monitor that the turtle pointed to clearly showed the white hedgehog and the orange cat sitting peacefully in their cells.

"Hrm...a twin? How long until the interloper Pretorious comes to fetch his friends?"

"About ten and five half-measures, Overseer."

"Not enough time. Very well. Send the number of guards that the Zera Gi requested along with the prisoners for Pretorious's pointless tour. I will deal with the twin myself. Contact the 17th guard, and tell them to barricade the passages into the common areas. Let this intruder find me."

-

Through the windows of this empty corridor, Silver could see the tube he and Pia had walked through when Pretorious lead them out of the prison complex. From this distance, he couldn't possibly make out if the figures seen moving through the passage were the tour group or someone else. Unless he could find some transportation, it would be a lengthy trek through this maze of corridors built a mile above the ground-level streets of Giozaz.

Silver ran past a crowd of civilians, and turned right at the first major junction. He almost ran into a wall of Gizoids standing on alert. Cloaked or not, the robots saw him and opened fire. As before, Silver caught the bullets and threw them back at the Gizoids. However, this time the golden robots erected energy shields that deflected the bullets harmlessly. Keeping his own shield of psycho-kinetic reach up, Silver turned and fled down the opposite passage.

Before he could react, Silver's own body was grabbed by a wave of psycho-kinetic energy and thrown across the hall hard enough to cause a web of cracks in the window he hit. Gritting his teeth, Silver looked up to see a raccoon Gi officer crack his knuckles while grinning menacingly.

"You!" said Silver aloud.

Overseer Vanaz unleashed his powers again, but this time Silver responded in kind. The opposing forces caused violent displays of energy, generating cracks in the walls and ceiling as random bursts of extreme gravity deflect off their target and touched the surrounding area. Before the two animaloids could come to their senses, the floor beneath them split open, revealing a deadly drop and a fantastic view of the city below. Silver would levitate to safe ground, but Vanaz used his own telekenisis to dash at the hedgehog and grab him out of the air.

"Your powers are impressive, but do you have the courage to taunt the abyss, hedgehog?" said Vanaz with a mad look in his eyes.

They both used their powers, but for opposite purposes. Silver tried to gain air, while Vanaz tried to drag them both downward as fast and hard as possible. With gravity on his side, the raccoon was the likely winner. Not a moment too soon, Silver realised the futility of using his powers here, and diverted his energy towards plain old mucle strength, delivering a kick to the raccon's face with enough force to make him let go.

Silver levitated up past the hole he'd fallen through, and up to the top of the corridor tube he'd been walking through. He was better off running along the top of these pipes to get where he wanted to go. Silver started running again. Not far behind, Vanaz got a grip and pulled himself up, keeping his gaze locked on his target.

The hedgehog would've grown exhausted far sooner under normal circumstances. The fact that he was still keeping great speed after half an hour of non-stop running suggested quite clearly that the Gizoids weren't the only ones who benefitted from an environment constantly bathed in the glow of the eight Chaos Emeralds.

The terminal station where the Pretorious's tour group had first entered a Gi hovercraft was directly below. Silver bent to jump, right when something heavy swished past his head. He turned to see the raccoon wielding a small solar system of heavy rock fragments pulled out of the cavern's ceiling itself. Silver did a desperate dance to avoid getting hit by the rocks, managing to concentrate his power right at the last second before getting impaled by a nasty stalactite fragment.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" said Silver angrily, rushing at the Overseer.

The hedgehog and raccoon collided with a flash of psycho-kinetic energy likely visible as a green flare to the citizens below. Punching and kicking with every bit of ferocity he had in him, Silver fought like he was possessed. The raccoon was far stronger, though, and would likely have beaten Silver to death if not for the protection offered by the Jumpsuit. The struggling pair rolled close to a humming power line running along the edge of the outer tube. Laughing under his heavy breath, Vanaz grabbed Silver by the neck and pushed his head towards the line...

There was a massive burst of blue light as the shock travelled along the Jumpsuit and earthed itself in the blue crystalline buttons on the Overseer's uniform. Vanaz flew back and lay still on his back, twitching slightly.

As soon as he got his breath back, Silver resumed the chase. He ran to the edge and dived off, flying straight down towards the terminal station building. As he got closer, he diverted his descent with his levitation power, steering towards the nearest golden tram leaving in the right direction. Landing as lightly as possible, Silver found his footing on the roof of the hovercraft. He quickly knelt over the side of the vehicle to look through the windows. The passengers were all generic Gi citizens. No sign of Pia, Pretorious or his past self. It seemed likely that the tour group had already gone ahead. If not for that psycho guard, Silver would probably have caught up with them now.

The psycho-kinetic hedgehog leapt off the tram and levitated towards the closest vehicle, landed for a second, then flew towards the next. By that method, he made his way across the airborne traffic of Gizoaz.

As he was scanning for his next destination while standing atop a hovercraft shaped like a train wagon, Silver recieved a brutal sucker punch that would've surely snapped his spine if not for the padding effect of his back spikes. It sufficed to send him rolling across the roof of the vehicle. Breathing like a madman, the Overseer went in for the kill. His fur was frazzled and burnt in places now, but it was the beady bloodshot eyes that really delivered the impression of an animaloid pushed far enough to come back a raging beast.

"YOU...DIE...NOW!!!" Vanaz roared.

Silver jumped out of the way at the last second, and caught his footing on a small vehicle zooming past in the opposite direction. Silver looked back to see Vanaz following with greater speed than he'd ever been able to manage through levitation in a terrestrial environment. He looked ahead, looked back again, and put on a confident expression.

Vanaz'z fist passed through empty air. The hedgehog was far below, flying towards the Research & Development complex. The raccoon followed.

Silver deliberately steered away from the roof, and aimed towards a terrace area. After checking to make sure the psycho was still following him, Silver went inside. He was in luck. The corridor he was looking for was right ahead. After listening for tell-tale footsteps, Silver threw himself into a doorway and waited until the other him ran past. He heard the raccoon shout, and run after his past self.

Overseer Vanaz never considered that the hedgehog he was chasing had suddenly sprouted spikes that stuck straight out instead of being stuck down to its fur. In a few minutes, he would be shot dead by his own Gizoid allies as Silver A escaped across time and space.

Silver B couldn't rest yet, though. The tram carrying Pretorious and Pia was now directly above this building. Silver ran into the empty classroom with the gaping hole in the floor, and drew out every last ounce of psycho-kinetic power he had left, before launching himself straight up into the air like a rocket.

-

"Well," said Dr. Pretorious. "This is certainly embarrasing. I suppose there comes a time when a man must admit he's lost. I'd been looking so forward to watching you fade from existence as the chain of events concerning the death of your father finally caught up with you, but that doesn't seem too likely now, does it?"

Pia looked away from the broken window to see Pretorious pointing his pulse pistol at her. He didn't look too happy about it.

Dr. Pretorious shot at his nemesis, twice. Neither one of the void pellets connected, as they bounced harmlessly off the Jumpsuit worn by Silver the Hedgehog. Silver next wielded exceptional displays of psycho-kinetic skill as he disarmed and knocked out the wolf and warthog guards, then threw the Gizoids out of the hovercraft in spite of their fighting prowess.

"Tsk, tsk," went Pretorious. "No one manages to die properly around here."

Without a moment's hesitation, the villain, defeated for now, tapped the button on his wrist watch, and disappeared from that point in time.

Silver, drenched in sweat, exhausted beyond anything he'd ever thought possible, finally collapsed on the floor. Pia's mouth had been hanging open. She closed it, and knelt down beside her young father.

"Thank you," she said, and hugged him for the first time in almost ten years.

-

In the next chapter:
- The final episode.
- All the answers revealed.
- You totally can't wait.