We're really coming up on the ending soon… Again, this has been a lot of fun!

Chapter 19

It wasn't long before returning Princess Elise to the castle that Dr. Eggman flew his airship over town. Mario, Sonic, and Yoshi had been taking a short walk through the forest as this happened, so they didn't know what was going on.

"Princess Elise!" Eggman's voice came over a huge speaker from his airship. "We have a deal for you."

"Meet us in the warehouse district immediately," Bowser's voice picked up. "And if you don't, we'll burn your city to the ground!"

"In so many words, yes, that is our plan. Choose carefully, princess. It's you or your people. What'll it be?"

Elise's servants looked at her, unsure of what she'd do.

"I don't think that's really a choice," Elise said, determination evident on her face. "I have to protect my people. I'm going. No one try to stop me – That's an order."

Peach, Amy, and the Toads were walking through the city, discussing plans on rescuing Elise when they heard this announcement.

"… She got out?" Amy asked. "… I guess… But, then, what happens now?"

"… She's going to go," Peach said. "Come on. We're going to follow her."

"Princess, what if they get you, too?" Yvan asked.

"Doesn't matter," Peach decided. "I've gotta help people. It's what Mario would do, isn't it?"

"Mario's awesome!" Wolley said randomly. "He beat the hands made of rock in a pyramid!"

"… Wolley, I'm not sure that happene," Yvan said. "… Okay, princess. But don't think you're leaving us behind!"

"Yeah!" Amy agreed. "Let's do this! For Sonic!"

Wario dropped to the cracked, charred ground in a flash of light, a thin, stick-like man in purple next to him.

"Waa, why are we even doing this, when I could be looking for Luigi to torment him?" Waluigi asked, taking in the landscape, the unusually charred islands, the volcanoes in the distance, and the huge pools of magma floating everywhere, and the giant castle in the distance. "And what's this place, anyway?"

"Waluigi, do you even know what's going on?"

"… No, so tell me!"

"You know Mario and Luigi went on vacation to Soleanna, right?"

"Duh. How do you think I spend my time? NOT spying on Luigi? NOT stealing their plane to make epicly random entrances?"

"… Nevermind that. There's a big, world-ending thing going on, Waluigi. I've been using this little beauty here to teleport around, getting all the information I can. Mostly by spying. We're going to stop it."

"Since when do you care about the world?" Waluigi asked. "If everyone's gone, you get to go in and get all the gold!"

"Okay, I admit, that part would be cool," Wario said. "… But part of the fun of getting money is looking for it. It's why I go treasure hunting even through I'm rich already. If the world ends, there'll be nowhere to go treasure hunting anymore. Nowhere to look for new riches. No rivals to get the better of."

"… No rivals to… That sounds terrible. HEY, WORLD!" Waluigi yelled out. "You want to end? TOO BAD! WALUIGI TIME!"

"Wa-ha-ha-ha!" Wario laughed. "That's what I wanted to hear! Now, come on. We're looking for some sort of magic seal. Bowser's bound to have a couple lying around somewhere."

"Huh? This is Bowser's place?" Waluigi asked, looking around. "… Shoulda guessed."

"Yes, you should have. Now, come on. Bowser's evil scavenging habits are going to help us save the world."

"And make it so we can continue to torment Luigi!"

"… Yeah, that's why…"

"And then you can let me use that, what was it, chaotic ruby thing?" Waluigi asked, pointing to the Chaos Emerald in Wario's hand.

"It's a Chaos Emerald. And you can't use it, Waluigi."

"Why won't you let me?"

"I mean you don't have the ability!" Wario shouted. "Come on, we've got to go now."

"Party pooper."

Silver jumped out of the portal, landing next to the last face he expected to see right then – Daisy was waiting for him in Soleanna Castle Town already.

"So… You found out what you needed to?" she asked.

"… Yeah," Silver said dejectedly. "… How did you know?"

"Like I said, a… Not quite a friend, but someone I know, tipped me off. I don't know how he knew, I think he just spied on people and pieced things together."

"… So he asked you to come to me?"

"… Yeah," Daisy said guiltily. "Sorry for not telling you earlier. But… Well, honestly, I wasn't sure if I could trust EITHER of you. He's not well known for being a compassionate person. I'm actually surprised he even cares what happens to the world."

"… Oh… Um… I'm really not sure what to think, right now," Silver said, sitting down. "… I messed up, big time. I almost killed their hero! And I couldn't save that guy… Iblis was imprisoned in his daughter… Elise, I think was her name?"

Daisy gasped. "Oh, no! That's why… Oh, crud, oh CRUD!" She began pacing back and forth frantically.

"What is it?" Silver asked. "What happened?"

"Bowser and Dr. Eggman asked the people's princess to come to them – They're already flying her over to Kingdom Valley, in fact. We need to – Elise is the princess, Silver! I think… Bowser and Eggman want to use the Flames of Disaster!"

"What?" Silver asked. "They don't know what they're doing!"

"I don't know Eggman, but, yeah, Bowser's pretty clueless! He causes destruction by being careless… I don't even know how often!"

"We've gotta do something," Silver said. Daisy grabbed his hand. "Huh?"

"Hang on tight, Silver," Daisy said. "We're going up, over, and… GONE!" Daisy activated her Flower Dash, or, rather, what she was coming to think of as 'Flower Boost', and zipped off towards the forested area near town, leaving a sonic boom in her wake.

Shortest chapter yet, but I needed some way to set up the next few chapters. Next time: Luigi and Tails return, after seven chapters where we haven't seen a hint of yellow fur or a green cap.

AoStH reference because I'm really excited for Sonic Boom. I hope they don't do too much of the having Tails rely on gadgets thing AGAIN… Though, since he can Homing Attack in the 3DS game, I do have my hopes up. I'm gonna watch either way, of course, but it's still something I'd like to see.