Sonic The Hedgehog - Chaos on Mobius
4th Saga: The Solaris Merger

Episode 91

Previously on Sonic The Hedgehog - Chaos on Mobius...
In the future, two hedgehogs called Silver and Zappy fought the Flames of Disaster called Iblis within a ruined place called Crisis City. While they (or at least Silver) was struggling, a cat that resembled Blaze gave him a hint on how to defeat Iblis. After the cat disappeared, Iblis tried a sneak attack on Silver, but another cat called Kia intervened, along with her boyfriend Sky and friend Fountain.
When Silver & Zappy returned to their home on Onyx Island, what looked like an older-and-wiser Shadow found Silver flicking through books about Iblis. This was when Silver revealed that he has been unable to sleep, mainly because he was focused on defeating Iblis.
Can Silver defeat Iblis? Why has Iblis turned her back on Chaos? Who is that Blaze look-alike? How is Shadow still alive in this time? And can Silver ever get some shut-eye? Find out in the next chapter of The Solaris Merger!

Chapter Two: How to Douse the Flames of Disaster

After getting very little (if at all) sleep the night before, Silver and his friend Zappy returned to Crisis City.
"Are we going to the movies, Silver?" Zappy asked as he followed the silver hedgehog.
"No." Was all Silver said.
"Well, it certainly seems like it, since we're headed in that direction."
"You wanna see a show, huh? Well today, for one day only, you'll get to see me get rid of Iblis once and for all!" This intrigued Zappy.
"Will there be marshmallows?"
"Heh. I doubt it."
"Zappy no function marshmallows well without..." This made Silver sigh, before turning his attention to the center of the city, where he engaged Iblis the day before.
"All right, Iblis... show yourself!" As it supposedly obeyed Silver, Iblis rose from the lava from where it retreated to after their last battle. "I'm ready for you this time..."

In the same form it was in during their last encounter (including the rock armor), Iblis summoned firey rocks to throw at Silver. Thanks to his Psychokinesis, Silver managed to grab hold of all that were headed his way... before throwing them back at Iblis' head! Iblis then grabbed something from out of the lava... a skyscraper (or what was left of one)!
"Whoa! I don't know if I can stop that..." Silver thought out loud as Iblis had the building aimed at Zappy, who was standing over a fire, doing something Silver couldn't identify. "Zappy... what on Mobius are you doing?"
"Making hot chocolate." Zappy replied while pouring some of the liquid into a mug, completely unaware that Iblis planned to flatten him. "Want some?" Before Iblis could make its move, Silver used his Psychokinesis to hold the building in place.
"Zappy, get away from the shadow!" He warned, making Zappy look around.
"Where? I don't see your Master..." This made Silver groan while losing his grip on the building.
"Just... MOVE IT!" Shouted Silver as he quickly focused his Psychokinesis to shove Zappy out of the building's way. But there was something very dear to Zappy left behind...
"My marshmallows!" He screamed while Silver used the rubble from the building to attack Iblis. However this time, Iblis was wise to Silver's tricks, and managed to block the hedgehog's attacks with his hands. While all this was happening, Zappy was getting pretty angry... so angry that he slowly started flashing a red colour...

"Darn it! Iblis has learnt..." Silver complained. "NOW how am I supposed to fight him?" Before Silver could think of something, he heard screaming from behind him, as Zappy was now flashing yellow before his fur and wrists turned red. "...Zappy?"
"I'll take it from here." Zappy said with a grumbly voice, which startled Silver. But he was startled even more when Zappy attacked Iblis with lightning-based attacks that were MUCH stronger than normal! "Dude, I like to flatten my marshmallows as much as the next guy... BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GET THEM DIRTY, TOO!" When Zappy screamed in anger, red lightning shot down from the sky through his hands and struck the ground, allowing Silver to pick up whatever parts of the ground flew into the air. Zappy then blasted Iblis' head with a beam of electricity, astonishing Silver in the process. "Electic..."
"Rrrgh... Heeyah!" Silver shouted as he threw the debris at Iblis' head, distracting the monster while Zappy was building up energy... "I had no idea you had this kind of power, Zappy..."
"...WASTELAND!" Screamed Zappy as he exploded in an orb of electricity that was growing by the millisecond, that Silver barely escaped! Iblis was not so lucky, as the amount of electricity was too much for it to handle, making it fall back down into the lava it came from.

"Wow. Your friend is more powerful than I thought..." Said a voice Silver recognized. When the hedgehog turned around, he saw the same cat that helped him earlier.
"Yeah." Silver replied, before remembering something. "Wait a minute... where'd you run off to yesterday, and who iare/i you?"
"My name is Flare." Said the cat, finally introducing herself to Silver. "Like yourself, I hate everything Iblis has done to Mobius. Although it looks like you two have stopped it for now." While Flare was telling Silver this, Zappy had returned to his normal form, and he looked like he was about to cry...
"My marshmallows!" Zappy screamed as tears bursted out of his eyes like fountains.
"But it'll just rise up from its ashes again..." Said Silver, before smacking his fist into a nearby wall. "What's the point of all this? It'll never end!"
"Calm down, Silver." Flare told him.
"My marshmallows!" Zappy continued to cry until he suddenly stopped. "Oh, well. There's plenty more bags back home."
"*sigh* Then tell me what we should do." Silver replied. "How can we completely destroy Iblis?" Flare turned her back to Silver, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
"...by knowing the truth, of course." Said a voice unknown to Silver that made him and Flare look up. What they saw was a black hedgehog that resembled Shadow, but he didn't have a cape, his eyes were green and lizard-like, the streaks in his quills were blue instead of red, and he didn't appear to have a mouth.

"(...Master?)" Silver thought as Flare gasped at the sight of this new hedgehog.
"Just as a flower comes from a seed, or a chicken comes from an egg... everything has an origin." Said the black hedgehog.
"Mmm... anyone else suddenly in the mood for chicken?" Asked Zappy.
"You need to find the being originally responsible for this catastrophe." The black hedgehog pointed out, making Silver think.
"Silver, don't listen to him!" Said Flare, but she was ignored.
"Is that really the answer to our problem?" Silver asked the black hedgehog.
"Silver, please. I beg you..." Flare's pleas were ignored once again when Silver pointed to the black hedgehog.
"Tell me... do you know who it is?" This made the black hedgehog slowly turn his head to look at Silver.

A short time later, the black hedgehog led Silver, Zappy and Flare into a computer room of some sort.
"So... who are you, anyway?" Silver asked him.
"You may call me your savior, Mephiles." The black hedgehog replied. "Now then... to fix this present timeline, you need to change the past." This made Silver look at Mephiles with confusion.
"But... that's impossible." He said.
"With my help, you can..." Mephiles replied. "...because I have the power to travel through time."
"No way!" As Silver said this, Zappy was chowing down on a chocolate bar he had with him, ignoring everyone else.
"In order to change the past, you must eliminate the individual who awakened Iblis all those decades ago... the Iblis Trigger."
"Could it be true?" Silver thought out loud.
"No Silver, he's lying!" Said Flare. "I beg you, leave this madman now!"
"If I eliminate that guy, will Mobius be saved?" Asked Silver, which Mephiles nodded to.
"The Day of Disaster..." Said Mephiles before turning to the screen. "Here are my records of this event. This was when Iblis was freed, and his flames were released unto the world." Not long after Mephiles pressed a button, a number of pictures showing a flaming airship hurtling toward a mountainside appeared onscreen.
"No..." Said Flare, looking worried. "This is all wrong. This can't have happened... he'd never let it happen..."
"And you have this person to blame." After Mephiles said that, he allowed a small orb to appear above his hand, inviting Silver to look into it. What he saw was a certain blue hedgehog in a realm filled with nothing but flames.
"I see it!" Silver exclaimed, startling Zappy. "So that blue hedgehog's the Iblis Trigger?" This made Flare gasp in horror.
"Blue hedgehog?" She asked. "No... it can't be..."
"Hey, does that thing get Fox?" Asked Zappy before the orb vanished. "Aww..."
"I'll send us back in time to the point when the Iblis Trigger was alive." Mephiles told Silver as he created another orb of energy. This one enveloped all four Mobians in the area before disappearing.

Almost instantly, Silver appeared within a forest unfamiliar to him, making him want to look around.
"Wow..." He muttered as he walked. "This is so unbelievable. Although I wonder what happened to Zappy and Mephiles..."
"While I am concerned about Zappy..." Said Flare as she seemed to have arrived with Silver. "...you shouldn't be trusting Mephiles."
"What're you saying, Flare? That I should find another way to destroy Iblis? Mephiles is the ONLY lead I have!"
"Well, maybe there's a way to stop Iblis without destroying her..."
"'Her?'"
"I-I mean him."
"Well... maybe. But let's see if destroying the Iblis Trigger works, first." After those words, Silver ran further into the forest.
"Silver, wait!"

Meanwhile, Zappy had arrived at a beach that was filled with Mobian girls and Overlander women. Seeing this sight, Zappy couldn't believe his eyes!
"Hey, cutie... whaddya say we catch some rays... together?" He asked one girl, which resulted in him getting a slap in the face. He asked another passer-by the same question, but got slapped on the other cheek. This continued until Zappy was all alone on the beach late that afternoon, with bruises all over his body and two black eyes. "That... was... awesome."

That night was the night of the famous Star Festival, when small star-shaped pieces were falling down from the sky as what appeared to be a large ship had appeared above the Great Plains, where hundreds of Mobians and Overlanders had gathered for this momentous event.
"Wow! So this is the Star Festival you guys kept tellin' me about!" TodStar exclaimed as he was amazed at what he saw.
"Yep! Here, try a Star Bit!" Said Tails as he handed the green echidna a rainbow-coloured, star-shaped fruit. TodStar took a small bite, and then grabbed the whole thing!
"Mate, this tastes like honey!" He said while having his mouth full. "Good stuff!"
"It's one of my favourite foods." Said a voice both boys knew all too well. When they turned around, a certain pink hedgehog was standing before them. She was wearing a short, red sleeveless dress with white across the bottom, and she was also wearing red shoes that looked better suited for ballet dancing.
"AMY!" Both of them shouted as they ran towards her.
"*giggle* Hey, guys." She said back to them as the three of them hugged. "Where are Sonic and Sally? I kinda need to talk to them."

"Well, Sonic's back at Freedom HQ..." Said Tails, pointing backwards.
"While Sally's right behind you." TodStar added. When Amy turned around, Sally was staring her right in the face, startling the pink hedgehog. Along with her usual attire, Sally was also wearing a white tube-top, black finger-less gloves, blue short-shorts with a black belt. She was also wearing her blue Time Stone around her neck.
"H-hi, Sally." Amy nervously said. "Is that a Time Stone you're wearing?"
"What are you doing here, Amy?" Asked Sally, sternly.
"Uhh... I just wanted to talk to you and Sonic. No hammers."
"Well?" Before Amy could say anything, five missiles came crashing down onto the Great Plains!

Before any real damage was done to the large ship, it blasted back up into space and becoming a comet as Egg Fighters landed in the Great Plains, surrounding Sally and blocking the rest of the Freedom Fighters in the area. This was when Eggman appeared before Sally in his Egg Mobile that emerged from the Egg Carrier.
"Eggman!" She shouted in anger.
"It's been a while, hasn't it Princess?" Asked Eggman. "The reason I'm here tonight is to take you and your Time Stone back to my base." Hearing this, Sally held onto her Time Stone as tight as she could. "Now Princess, this way please."

Before Eggman could get any closer to the Mobian squirrel, a wind that looked blue started circling the Egg Fighters blocking Sally's escape. When everyone in the Great Plains looked up, they saw a certain blue hedgehog looking back at them.
"Hey, Doc..." He said to the Overlander. "Nobody puts Sally in the corner."
"Sonic!" The Freedom Fighters shouted in joy, before Sonic leapt into action and used his Homing Attack to smash all of the Egg Fighters that surrounded Sally. He even tapped his foot on one Egg Fighter that fell down easily!
"Hang on tight, OK Sal?" Sonic said as he picked up the Princess.
"Right!" Sally replied before Sonic ran off.
"Sonic! You won't escape me this time!" Eggman warned. "Attack!" After Eggman shouted that, red robots fired missiles Sonic's way, but he managed to avoid them all as he carried Sally out of the Great Plains at a high speed. Little did anyone know that a silver hedgehog was watching this all unfold from atop a tree...
"I've finally found him... the Iblis Trigger." He said as he clenched his right hand into a fist.

END OF CHAPTER