yoooo here's the next chapter! Sorry the last few chapters have taken awhile to put up. I haven't had much motivation lately. Hopefully that'll change. anywayyyy enjoyyyyyy!

Chapter 8: A Wild Night

After they had cleared the old kingdom of Soleanna, the trio resumed traveling on foot due to Silver feeling a bit sick. Chip, who was growing more and more concerned, continuously kept checking on Silver to see if he was fine, and he would reply every time with, "I'm ok, will you stop worrying?" But it was blatantly obvious that Silver was lying. The way he was walking and reacting to even moving at all made it obvious that something was wrong. His steps were sluggish, a hand was clutching his chest, and a pained expression was on his face. He looked and felt awful and he just kept getting worse.

It was close to sundown when the city of Soleanna was in eyesight. It had been a grueling few hours for Silver and to be able to see Soleanna as close as it was made him feel a bit better. With the promise of a place to rest, they quickened their pace.

"Come on Silver, kick it into high gear." Keela complained. "I know you're feeling sick, but the sooner we get there, the sooner you can rest."

Silver lowered his brows slightly.

"I'm fine. How many times do I have to repeat myself?" Silver grumbled as he attempted speeding up. Unfortunately due to his condition, he slowed down seconds after quickening his pace.

"I…I can't walk any faster." Silver gasped lightly. "Can we just…sit for one moment…?"

Silver practically collapsed into a sitting position as the others stopped and turned to him.

"I knew it. You're just being too stubborn to admit you're sick." Keela grumbled as she walked over to him. She knelt down and put her hand to his forehead.

"Not to mention you're burning up like crazy. Did you even bother to drink or eat anything while we walked?" Keela asked as she took her hand off his head and grabbed his pack.

"Yeah, I took a few sips of water." Silver replied, his voice down to a pained whisper. Keela opened Silver's pack and pulled out two water bottles; one was barley drunken out of and the other wasn't even open.

"You are such a stubborn liar!" Keela exclaimed, putting the unopened water back in Silver's pack. She opened the other bottle and handed it to Silver.

"Come on, idiot, drink something." She ordered before standing up. Chip flew over and pulled Keela off to the side to talk in private while Silver took miniscule sips out of his water.

"I knew this would happen!" Chip exclaimed once they were far enough away. "The negative energy from the tainted emerald is making him sick!"

"Well you're Light Gaia, can't you do something?" Keela questioned.

"Yes, Light Gaia not Positive Gaia." Chip replied, lowering his brows in annoyance. "We would need someone else who can use Chaos energy to remove the excess Negative energy in Silver's system."

"That's a problem…" Keela muttered trying to ignore Chip's snide comment. "Not very many people can use chaos energy since we've been without the chaos emeralds for centuries. But I still don't see how you can't remove the negative energy yourself. Isn't Gaian energy similar to Chaos energy?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't want to cause any more imbalance. Silver already has a steady balance of Dark and Light Gaian energy due to my bracelet; it's just in surplus amounts. If I were to add any more Light Gaian energy to his body, it could cause something much worse to happen." Chip explained.

"Like what…?" Keela asked curiously.

"Like severe mutation. Something he wouldn't be able to recover from." Chip answered. "His werehog form is already an effect of having a surplus amount of Dark Gaian energy, and the Light Gaian energy allows him to revert back to normal. If more Light Gaian energy was added it could cause a dangerous transformation…"

Chip shuddered at the thought.

"That's why I can't do anything." Chip finished.

"Ok, I get it." Keela replied with a wave of her hand. "So we'll have to look around in Soleanna and see if anyone can help him."

Chip nodded and turned to the city, seeing the sun inch behind the horizon.

"We should hurry." Chip suggested. "We'll want to get there as soon as possible."

"Then let's help Silver. He won't be able to move at this point without-"

"AAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!"

Chip and Keela whipped around to see that Silver was clutching his chest with both hands, and looked as if he was struggling to breathe.

"Silver!" Chip exclaimed and bolted over with Keela sprinting behind him. Chip halted next to Silver to see that the bracelet around Silver's wrist was turning deep purple, but something else was very wrong. Chip could feel an enormous dark pulse of energy emitting from Silver himself, and not from the bracelet.

Keela stopped next to Chip, kneeling down next to Silver as he closed his eyes and clenched his slowly sharpening teeth. She cautiously placed a hand on his forehead once more and gasped lightly. She pulled her hand away, shaking the heat from it.

"He should be dead with how hot his forehead is!" Keela exclaimed.

"Keela, we need to get him into Soleanna." Chip ordered in an urgent tone.

"Oh yes, great idea. Let's take him right now while he's transforming," Keela replied sarcastically, standing up and taking a couple steps back.

"Keela this is serious!" Chip shouted angrily.

"You think I don't know that!?" She shot back, sounding offended.

"You sure act like you don't!" Chip yelled. He huffed angrily and flew closer to Silver, to see if there was anything that he could do to help, but as he got close he began to hear something strange. I was a very silent and raspy voice, that was coming from Silver but didn't sound like his voice.

"Free…free…free…" Silver hissed. Suddenly Silver's eyes flew open as a burst of dark energy exploded from his body, pushing Chip away. Silver cried in pain as the Negative energy from the tainted emerald spread throughout his body, taking over Silver's transformation.

Dark crystals burst out from under Silver's hands and spread across his whole chest. The crystals created a ripple effect, causing his whole body to fall victim to the negative energy. His fur crystalized and darkened into different shimmering shades of deep blue. Larger crystals grew and covered his hands, ears, and spikes. Lastly the darkness flooded into his eyes, turning the whites of his eyes red, and clouding his pupils in a deep purple. With the transformation winding down to a close, Silver stumbled upward and raised his head to the night sky letting out a deafening howl.

Both Keela and Chip were speechless. Chip could feel, even see, the dark and negative energy pulsating from Silver. He flinched when Silver lowered his head and turned it toward him and Keela.

"Silver…?" Keela stammered, taking a step of two closer to him. "Are you-"

Silver roared, causing Keela to yelp and jump back in fear. He then brought up one of his hands, picking the two of them up in a dark purple aura, and launching them as far away from him as possible. A deep snarl resonated from his throat as he turned the opposite direction and sprinted toward Soleanna on all fours.

Once Silver was far enough away the aura holding Chip and Keela vanished, letting them drop and skid to a stop on the ground. Keela hissed in pain as she shakily got up, holding her head with one hand and brushing off the dirt from her clothes with the other.

"What was that!?" Keela shouted in shock, turning to Chip who was pushing himself off the ground.

"The negative energy, obviously." Chip answered. "But…there was something strange…"

"Oh the whole crystallization wasn't strange enough?" Keela asked sarcastically.

"Will you cut it out with the sarcasm for one second!?" Chip hissed, lowering his brows angrily. Keela huffed slightly and looked at Chip, expectant that he would finish his thoughts.

"Thank you. What I meant by strange is what Silver said. But I don't think it was Silver speaking…more like something else was," Chip muttered, bringing a hand to his chin in thought.

"Well, what did he say?"

"He just kept repeating the word 'free'." Chip answered. He looked up to Keela who only shrugged.

"I think we can worry about that later. If we don't get into Soleanna and find Silver, he might actually cause some damage, not to mention scare the locals." Keela stated with urgency.

"You're right." Chip agreed, lifting himself into the air. "I think it'd be best if we split up. We could find Silver easier that way."

"Splitting up is logical, but it's not smart." Keela advised as she started jogging toward Silver's pack. "Neither of us are strong enough to take Silver on alone."

"That's true but-"

"But nothing," Keela interrupted as she picked up the pack and Silver's water. "We're sticking together. Besides, if Silver causes enough of a panic, it should be easy to track him down."

"Fine," Chip agreed bluntly.

"Then let's move." Keela broke into a run towards Soleanna. Chip grumbled inaudibly as he moved to follow behind her.

Silver could feel that he was floating in a vast empty space. His mind felt slow, his eyes clouded and his body motionless. The space around him was growing darker, enveloping the area slowly. Silver kept still as the shadows crept closer and closer to him. His glassy eyes watched the darkness with thoughtlessness.

A figure began to form in the depths of the darkness, along with the very faint sound of laughter. As the figure began to clear, so did the sound, hoarse and full of contempt.

"Soon." The figure spoke, his voice hoarse as well. It was as if the voice hadn't spoken in centuries.

"Soon," it repeated. "I will take your body as my own…and I will revive my sibling in chaos…"

The shadowy figure grinned as dark crystals began to spread slowly across the darkness.

"Once you're mine…" The figure hissed. "I will finally be free."

It began laughing again, as the darkness slowly moved beyond Silver's body. Silver remained in his comatose state, unaware of the peril creeping upon him.

Screams and shouts of panic echoed throughout Soleanna. The Solarians crowded the streets in a dangerous mob, trying to escape the vicious creature that had entered their city. They cried out for Solaris to protect them from the hideous creature, but their cries only added to the panic.

To make matters worse, Nightmares began forming within the city, feeding on the terror and negative energy from the Solarian people. This threw the city into mass hysteria and chaos, allowing the situation to become a complete crisis.

Keela and Chip had entered the area to find it calm, and the Solarian people going about their nightly business. It was fairly easy to walk through the streets until the first few screams could be heard. The screams immediately sent the Solarians into a panic, which led to the mass hysteria as the people began shouting about a demon invading their home. Now Keela and Chip were caught in the heart of the crisis, unable to push through the chaotic flow of the citizens. The two were getting shoved and pushed about violently until they were thrown out of the massive river of people into a small-secluded alley, and they backed up against the walls of the surrounding buildings, watching the chaos with wide eyes.

"On Angel Island there wasn't nearly as much hysteria as this!" Chip exclaimed, looking to Keela.

"The Solarians are an immensely religious group of people! If one person starts screaming about demons and monsters, panic can spread like wildfire! As it did just now!" Keela shouted, trying to make herself heard over the noise.

"Well, now it's impossible to travel through the streets! There's absolutely no way we'll be able to find Silver in this mess!" Chip stated. "It would be a lot easier if you could fly. Then we'd both be able to search above the city!"
"We still can!" Keela exclaimed. "We can travel on the rooftops!"

"Good idea!" Chip agreed before flying up to the tops of the tall old buildings. The first thing he noticed was how much quieter it was compared to when he was at ground level.

"Wow, this is much better," he muttered, turning and scanning the rooftops to see if he could spot Silver. Unfortunately, his friend was nowhere in sight.

Chip sighed and turned back and looked down the alleyway to see Keela struggling to climb up the walls of the building.

"You gonna make it?" Chip called down to Keela. "Do you need a hand?"

"I'll be fine!" Keela snapped, shakily clinging to the wall. Chip lowered his brows and grumbled in annoyance.

"Are you sure? You'll get up here much faster with my help," he offered sarcastically.

"I can get up on my own!" Keela shouted, looking up to Chip. "Just- CHIP, LOOK OUT!"

"Wh-" Chip didn't even have a chance to react as a nightmare tackled him, taking the two of them down into the alleyway.

"Chip!" Keela exclaimed, turning her head slightly to the ground.

The nightmare was thrashing about, trying its hardest to keep Chip trapped. Its body melted into the familiar dark sludge and enveloped itself around his small form. Keela's eyes widened at the sight, getting quick flashes of her friends being dragged into the abyss. She gasped and pushed her body up against the wall, staring at the nightmare, paralyzed with fear. It continued to thrash around the alleyway until a flash of green light shot outwards from inside the sludge. Chip shot out from the opening he created and gasped sharply after emerging. He then flew up behind Keela and grabbed the collar of her jacket before pulling her up onto the roof. Keela took a shaky few steps before collapsing onto her knees.

"GEEZ." Chip gasped loudly. "Thanks for helping!"

Keela shook her head and turned to Chip.

"Sorry." She answered simply. Chip looked to Keela and frowned.

"Look, if you can't get a grip it'd be best if you head back to Angel Island," Chip stated, his breathing beginning to slow.

"What!?" Keela exclaimed. "I have a grip!"

"No you don't! So far each time we've come in contact with a nightmare you've frozen up! I can barely handle protecting myself at this point, and there's so much dark energy that I need help, and Silver can't always protect us either. If you don't get your head in the game, you're better off heading home!" Chip shouted.

Keela stared at Chip for a moment in shock before lowering her brows and gritting her teeth. She stood up, clenching her fists tightly and glaring at Chip.

"My head is clear," she hissed.

"Good. Let's go, we've got a job to do." Chip ordered, before flying off across the rooftops. Keela took no time in racing after Chip.

"So what's your plan once we find Silver?" Keela questioned, her tone heavy with resentment.

"Containment until we find a way to remove the negative chaos energy." Chip answered simply.

"That's not a very good plan."

"I'm aware!" Chip snapped. "It's all I've got."

Keela glanced towards him. "We'll think of something," she muttered, uncertainty in her tone.

"Maybe- hey look!" Chip exclaimed pointing to a horde of nightmares on a far-off roof. Large puffs of dark purple and red smoke were exploding from the shrinking horde.

"That's got to be Silver!" Keela shouted. The two immediately started heading towards the nightmare horde.

"I'll head in first and get Silver contained." Chip stated before shooting ahead at top speed, and diving head first into the horde. Keela watched as a flash of light shot out from the mess, launching the nightmares off the roof and down into the streets, revealing Chip locked in combat with Silver. Keela trained her eyes on Silver and she continued to leap across the rooftops.

'This can't be the effect of just negative chaos energy.' Keela thought. 'One emerald, even though it has immense power, shouldn't cause this much physical and mental damage to a wielder of chaos energy. Besides, the emerald would be weakened if it only had a negative charge left…this doesn't make sense.'

She leapt across to the roof next to the one Silver and Chip were on and quickly slowed to a stop, watching the fight and trying to catch her breath. Being able to see Silver more clearly, Keela noticed that the crystals coming out of his body were growing darker and jagged.

"Something else is at work here," Keela whispered, voice shaking. "But what?"

Her mind began to whir trying to solve the question, and unfortunately causing her to lose her concentration on the fight.

"Silver! Come on, snap out of it! It's me, Chip!" Chip shouted, weaving in and out of the constant barrage of attacks from Silver. "Silver, please!"

His friend only responded with a hoarse snarl. His dark purple eyes were glued to Chip as he continued to try and land a hit on the small creature. But Chip was far too small and fast for Silver to even come close to hitting. Silver's already intense rage increased, causing his body to shake. He roared and held up one hand, catching Chip within a dark purple aura.

"No! Silver, don't! I'm your friend, Chip!" Chip pleaded, watching Silver bring up his other hand. "SILVER, STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!"

Silver paused for a moment before a fanged smirk graced his muzzle. He brought down his claws on Chip, creating long gashes in the side of Chip's face. The force of the attack launched Chip out of Silver's psychokinesis right into the concrete roof. The hit rendered Chip immediately unconscious, causing the smirk on Silver's face to widen immensely. Satisfied, Silver turned to leave, but his eyes caught on Keela who was still lingering on the roof over. He backed up, lowering himself onto all fours, before charging and leaping off the roof. He shot out and tackled the unsuspecting Keela, and they both landed hard on the concrete roof, but from the force of the tackle they were launched off the side and into to the streets below.

"AAAAAAAUUGHH!" Keela screamed as her body came down hard onto the cobblestone street. Luckily her fall was somewhat broken when she landed on Silver before the momentum forced her onto the ground. Some of the city folk still left in the streets quickly moved to the walls of the surrounding buildings.

Keela coughed and rolled onto her back, groaning as pain gripped her body.

'Silver…' Keela thought as she slowly turned her head over to him. Her eyes widened as he staggered upwards into a standing position.

"Oh god," Keela hissed as Silver turned toward a small group of city folk. He began to slowly walk towards them, raising his hands that were now dripping with blood. The people started screaming, pleading desperately to Solaris, too riddled with fear to move.

"Silver…!" Keela coughed, reaching her hand out to the terrified people. "Silver, don't!"

"You…can't stop…me." A horse voice hissed as Silver raised his claws in the air, now close enough to the people so they couldn't escape.

"SILVER STOP!" Keela screamed looking at their horrified faces. "RUN! PLEASE, RUN!"

"Kill…kill now…" The hoarse voice laughed as Silver brought down his claws. Keela's jaw dropped as she watched them close in, when suddenly they stopped right before coming in contact with the people. Keela glanced between Silver and the people for a moment, seeing if he was going to move. He remained frozen as if time had stopped for him and him only.

"RUN!" Keela screeched, feeling sure that Silver wasn't going to pick up the attack. The people shrieked and scattered, hysterically sprinting away from Silver.

Keela turned back to him and watched carefully.

"Silver…Silver, are you there? Come on, snap out of it…"

The dark figure stared at the gloved hand in disgust that was gripping his crystalline arm.

"How…?" The dark figure asked, turning to Silver. "You're mine! Let go of me! You're body is mine now!"

"Get. Out." Silver hissed, his grip tightening on the dark figures arm. Cracks began forming in the crystals enveloping Silver's body.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! YOU'RE BODY, YOU'RE ESSENCE, IT'S MINE!" the dark figured screeched, struggling to get his arm out of Silver's grip.

"I will not kill for you!" Silver shouted, raising his head. "NOW GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

A blast of white light shot out from the depths of the darkness, pushing all of it back. The dark figure hissed as the light shot across his body, causing it to immediately disintegrate and follow the rest of the darkness into oblivion.

Keela watched as Silver collapsed onto the cobblestone ground, growling and snarling viciously. The dark crystals covering his body shattered, the shards turning into a thick goo that trickled into the cracks of the cobblestone. Silver gasped as the last of the crystals shattered, revealing his normal werehog form. He coughed and breathed heavily, looking around in shock. He stopped when his eyes caught on Keela.

"K-Keela!" He exclaimed, shakily getting up and moving toward her. "Oh my god, what happened? You're hurt!"

"Oh thank god…" Keela breathed in relief. "You're back…"

"I'm back?" Silver asked, looking confused.

"Help me up. We need to get Chip and head out before we run into anymore Solarians." Keela ordered. Silver didn't move for a moment before sliding his hands under Keela's back and gently lifting her up. She hissed and tensed as the sharp pain returned full force.

"Careful you idiot!" Keela shouted. You're going to have to be even gentler! Chip is hurt pretty bad as well."

"What the hell happened!?" he asked again.

"Not right now. We need to get to the east end of the city…and possibly find somewhere we can rest without causing any more hysteria," Keela explained.

"Hysteria-"

"Silver, move it! Chip is up on that rooftop." Keela pointed to the building to the right. Silver growled slightly before standing up and moving up to the building.

"I wonder if I can use my telekinesis yet…" Silver muttered as a soft green aura surrounded him and Keela. He was able to lift himself for a few seconds before the aura fizzled and dropped Silver to the ground.

"Use your stretchy arms dumbass…" Keela hissed, gripping her side.

"Right…" Silver remembered. He looked up at the edge of the roof and launched his arm up, digging his claws into the concrete before slowly lifting himself up.

'Eugh, I still don't like the feel of having stretchy limbs…' thought Silver as he pulled himself up onto the roof. He shook his arm, trying to get the rubbery feeling to go away.

"So weird-" Silver stopped when he saw Chip lying unconscious and bleeding heavily in a small crater towards the other side of the roof. "Oh my god, CHIP!"

Silver lumbered over to Chip and knelt down next to his small body. He saw that the blood was steadily flowing from the left side of Chip's face. Silver's eyes widened when he saw the shape of the wound.

"Claw marks…" Silver muttered in horror. "I…I did this."

"Silver, don't play the blame game now. Chip needs medical attention. The only way we can get that is if we head to the most eastern part of the city," Keela said, voice level, trying to keep Silver focused.

"R-right…" Silver acknowledged, his tone distant. He slowly and gently picked Chip up, making sure not to touch the gash. He then handed him to Keela before staring the trek eastward.

As Silver ran across the rooftops in silence, the population began to gradually clam down. With the people relaxing, there was no longer the negative energy of hysteria for the nightmares to feed off of, causing them to slowly disappear and exit the city. The buzz of normal nightly business began to return, and with the sounds of normalcy, Keela began to feel more at ease. However, the feelings of dread and worry remained.

She looked down at Chip, who she was holding gently against her stomach. She had placed the left side of his head against her jacket to act as a band-aid of sorts while Silver transported them to, hopefully, some sort of medical facility. She closed her eyes and attempted to relax, trying not to think about the worst-case scenario.

After a while Silver slowed his pace, seeing the edge of the city limits. With the change in pace, Keela opened her eyes to a completely calm atmosphere in the streets below. She looked up at Silver who still had the look of horror on his face and felt a slight pang of pity, so she moved her attention away from Silver and focused on Chip.

Silver walked to the edge of the roof and used his only free hand to grab the edge. Gently he lowered himself to the cobblestone ground. As his feet touched down to the street, he retracted his arm and began walking along the side. At this point, it was fairly late in the evening. The street was dark save for one dimly lit building at the far end of the street. Silver could see that there was a figure outside the building sweeping around a few tables and chairs.

'Thank god.' Silver thought as he began running over to the sweeper. His loud steps caused the man to look up from the ground. He immediately began to back up towards the entrance of the building, most likely out of fear.

"Wait, please!" Silver called out, his voice cracking slightly. The sweeper stopped at the steps to the door.

"My friends are badly injured." Silver explained as he loafed into the light coming from the building. He lifted up Keela and Chip to show that he was telling the truth.

"They need help…" Silver trailed off, his voice beginning to shake.

"What happened?" The sweeper asked apprehensively. Silver's eyes moved down to the cobblestone street.

"Dark creatures attacked them," he lied.

"You mean those demons that keep spawning outside the city every night?" The sweeper questioned, beginning to sound a bit worried.

"Yes."

"Then please, come inside," the sweeper said with a nod, opening the door. "My father should have some medical supplies upstairs."

"Thank you," Silver responded with relief before walking up to the sweeper. He headed up the steps and went inside the building, the man following and closing the door behind him.

Silver gave the place a good look around, seeing tables and chairs scattered around the large space as well as a counter at the other end of the room.

'A café.' Silver thought.

"Sir, could you follow me?" The sweeper asked as he stepped past Silver. Silver nodded and followed the sweeper to the back of the café. He led him up a flight of stairs upward to where the house portion of the building was located. Here the sweeper instructed Silver to place his friends in the living room while he went to find the medical supplies.

"Silver." Keela said after the sweeper left the living room.

"Hm?" Silver acknowledged quietly.

"What happened…wasn't your fault." Keela muttered, sounding unsure.

"You're wrong. Whatever happened was a result of me using the tainted emerald," Silver stated.

"No, there was something else at work." Keela tried to explain. Silver sighed and turned his body away from Keela. She lowered her brows and grumbled quietly.

'Fine…if that's how you want it to be.' Keela thought, turning her head away from Silver.

Just as their short conversation ended, the sweeper reentered the living room with an older man, presumably the father he had mentioned earlier. The two got straight to work fixing Chip up to the best of their ability. But even with this care, they were uncertain Chip would pull through based on how much blood he had already lost. This put down Silver even further, causing him to drift out of the room while the sweeper and his father worked. The rest of the evening was spent in a dreadful and unbearable suspense.

there was chapter 8. I honestly can't say when chapter 9 will be up so just hold tight friends. Until next time!