"You wanted to see me, General?" Silver asked as he poked his head through the door.
The large lion-dog sat at his desk, his hands folded in front of his mouth in a contemplating manner as he stared coldly back at the hedgehog. "Sit down, soldier," he nodded to an empty seat in front of his desk, to which Silver quickly approached and sat down.
Argyle rose from his desk and began to pace around the soldier. "You aren't keeping up to par, Silver," he scolded, "Lately you've been slacking off, zoning out, and not even listening to orders! You're lucky that Princess Blaze didn't find out about the intruder incident. Whatever hell she would have given me, I would've given you ten times worse!"
Silver lowered his head as he listened to the general's lecture while pacing up and down. "I know you're an old friend of hers, but that doesn't mean you receive special treatment! It's bad enough you were let into training at the tender age of twelve. Even now I don't believe you're mature enough..."
Offended, Silver couldn't help snapping his head up at Argyle. The general had his back turned, not even facing him as he lectured. Silver rolled his eyes... and upon doing so, noticing something on Argyle's belt. A small, rectangular-shaped yellow card... The Access Key! General Argyle had the key to get into any part of Sol Castle... including the safe hold, where all of Sol's Sacred Treasures were held for safe keeping. If he could grab that card, he could sneak down to where the Jeweled Scepter was and...
No, wait! What was he thinking?? He wasn't going to go that far! Blaze would only get upset if he stole something of hers...
"...and frankly, you're only here because Blaze allowed it. I don't know what she sees in you, but I see someone who needs to get their act together! She was forced to mature up. You could learn from her..."
Blaze never took him seriously anyway... He would have to prove himself. The card was in arm's length! All he had to do was reach over, snag it, and pocket it before the general could look.
Slowly, Silver leaned forward and raised his hand up, just inches away from detaching the card from Argyle's belt...
And Argyle turned around. Silver quickly snapped back into place, hoping that he didn't notice. Argyle stopped talking and stared down at Silver suspiciously before leaning down and getting into his face. "Soldier..." he grunted, "Were you just mocking me?"
"Mocking??" coughed Silver, "Uh, no sir! Not at all!"
Argyle stood straight and turned away again, this time pacing to the other side of the room. "I should hope not. You should learn how to respect your superiors. I would never dream in a hundred years of displaying any insult to my higher ranks. In fact, when I was your age, I could only dream about joining the royal guards. You should consider yourself lucky getting this privilege..."
Argyle went on and on, his back turned against Silver once more, but only this time he was on the other side of the room. Silver could never reach the card now...
... Wait, yes he could!
He slowly raised his arm up again, and his palm emitted a soft, greenish-blue glow as he telekinetically began to detach the card from Argyle's belt. Once it was free, the hedgehog quickly brought it over to him, snatched it in mid-air, and stuffed it in the cuff of his boot before Argyle could finish his speech and turn around. He looked down at Silver, who innocently stared back. Argyle frowned. "Are we clear, soldier?"
Silver bowed his head. "Clear, sir..."
The general pointed harshly at the door. "Dismissed!"
Silver got up and exited the room. He made sure the door was shut tight after he left before growing a disgusted face. Man did he hate that guy! He looked down to his right boot, where the card was hidden. He actually had the Access Key... he was actually going through with this...
Juilana was right about one thing. Being a soldier allowed him access at any wing, no matter how well guarded. Two buddies simply allowed him through deep down towards the safe hold, where the Sacred Treasures were kept, including the Jeweled Scepter and at one time the Sol Emeralds. Now it was only one Chaos Sol, as the other six were not yet found.
In front of the steel-bound door stood Gardon, a musket in one arm, staring straight ahead with a serious face. Nothing was getting past him...
He jumped at the sound of footsteps approaching. "Who's there??" he cried, raising his musket.
"Relax, it's me," spoke Silver as he approached the startled koala bear.
Gardon lowered the musket. "Oh... Mister Silver," he breathed a sigh of relief, "You frightened me. What brings you down here?"
"I... I came to tell you..." Silver responded rather hesitantly, still unsure if he wanted to go through with all this, "The general... He wants to speak with you."
"General Argyle??" cried Gardon, his serious look replaced with pure worry, "Oh dear! What could he possibly want with me??"
"I don't know," said Silver, "I was only sent to inform you and take over watching the safehold."
"Th... thank you, Mister Silver..." Gardon began twitching as he walked off, twiddling his fingers, mumbling to himself, "Oh dear... oh my... this is bad..."
Silver waited until Gardon left around the corner and all the way up the steps to the upper level before double-checking if the cost was clear. He then turned around, pulled the card out of his boot, and slid it through the card reader. The reader beeped, accepting the card, and the steel doors opened.
This was too easy...
"Come in," General Argyle called towards the knocking door. It creeked open and a nervous koala bear's head peeked in.
"Y... yes, sir?" spoke Gardon softly.
Argyle glanced up. "Yes what?"
Gardon let himself in and walked towards the desk, playing with his fingers nervously. "To... to what do I owe this meeting, sir?"
Argyle raised an eyebrow. "You tell me, soldier. Why aren't you guarding the safe hold like I ordered?"
Gardon removed his hat and wiped away some sweat. "Sir, I came as soon as I was told that you wanted to see me!"
"I didn't ask to see you," Argyle responded, eyeing Gardon suspiciously, "What's this all about?"
"You didn't?? But Silver told me that you wanted to see me in your office!"
Argyle's eyes widened. "Silver?! Now why would he tell you that?? Unless..."
There it was... up the steps on a high pedestal was the sacred Jeweled Scepter. Silver approached it. All he had to do was take it and use the Chaos Sol to Chaos Control outside the kingdom. No one would ever know he had stolen it.
Wait... did he just think that? Was he really going to turn his back on Sol Kingdom and steal one of its sacred treasures? He came this far, he may as well finish...
No! He couldn't betray Blaze...
... not that she cared about him anyway.
No one else knows of the plan. He could still back out. Juilana wasn't stupid enough to try and break through the castle perimeters just to hunt him down. There had to be another way...
"Silver!! Come in this instant, soldier!!"
Silver jumped at the sudden shrill voice coming from his communicator. "What's this all about, soldier??" Argyle screamed at him, "Where do you get off giving false orders from me?! Where are you?! Answer me this instant! If you don't respond within 10 seconds, I'm gonna boot you back to Boot Camp! Come in!! If anything happens to any of the sacred treasures--"
"SHUT UP!" Silver snatched his communicator and threw it to the ground, smashing it into several broken pieces. That did it. He wasn't going to answer to that asshole anymore. He marched up to the scepter and snagged it right off its stand.
He was suddenly lost in his thoughts, in the power that radiated from the scepter. What power... it was more than just a magic staff. It really felt like the key to potential. With this, he could definitely fix things and make Blaze his once and for all...
He was so wrapped into the power of the scepter that he was oblivious to the blaring alarms.
"Attention soldiers! All hands on deck!" Argyle shouted into his communicator, as the alarms rang throughout the entire castle, "We have a code 50! Get to the underground safe hold stat! I repeat, code 50!"
He and Gardon raced down towards the safe hold, many soldiers and guards meeting up with them. Once they were down at the vault, Argyle was surprised to see Blaze and Sonic approaching the safe hold themselves. "Princess! What're you doing here?"
"You think I wouldn't investigate a code 50 at the safe hold??" the cat responded.
"What's a code 50?" asked Sonic.
Argyle looked slightly panicked, always unnerved around Blaze in emergencies. "It means... there's a traitor among us."
"Open the safe!" Blaze ordered. Argyle fished at his belt for the Access Key... only to find nothing.
"It... it's not here! But how...?" Realization struck Argyle, "He nicked it from me!! That little rat!"
"Does anybody have an Access Card??" Gardon called among the guards, who searched desperately.
"Never mind!" shouted Blaze, "Stand aside!" She approached the door and give it a strong, firey kick, knocking the steel doors straight off its hinges. She raced inside, followed by Sonic, Argyle, Gardon, and several other soldiers. "Hold it!!" she shouted to the figure up on the pedestal, holding the Jeweled Scepter in its hands, "Stop where you are! Show yourself, traitor!!"
The figure looked up, having heard the voice, and slowly turned around to face the princess. Blaze's face switched from fury to horror upon seeing the face of the traitor. "Silver...?!"