Alright, here we are. Silver's finale: Kingdom Valley with Sonic. Next is Shadow's final showdown, then the heroes, and, finally, the true finale that wraps up the adventure.

Chapter 21 (Silver FINALE)

"Mario!" Daisy yelled, dropping out of her boosted state and coming to a stop near where Mario, Sonic, and Yoshi were walking.

"Princess? SILVER?" Mario asked. "How'd you do that? Why are you with him?"

"No time!" Daisy yelled. "Eggman's got Elise! We've gotta save her."

"Wait, you're a princess? Never mind! I was wrong about you, Sonic," Silver said. "Come on, we've got to get to Kingdom Valley!"

Sonic laughed. "Glad to have you on board! Well, let's go!"

"… You're not mad I tried to kill you?"

"Heck no. If I got mad at everyone who tried to hurt me, Tails would be my only friend. Well, maybe Mario and Luigi, too…" Sonic said.

"… What kind of life do you HAVE?"

"A cool one!" Sonic said, taking off. Mario and Daisy were close behind him, while Yoshi snagged Silver with his tongue and pulled him onto his back.

"No hard feeling," Yoshi said, as he ran off too. "Save world now!"

Moving at the speed they were, it only took a few minutes to reach Kingdom Valley, where the Egg Carrier could be seen far above. They dashed and jumped through the waterlogged valley, trying to catch up to the mechanical monstrosity in the grey, cloudy sky.

"Seems the perfect weather for a final battle," Sonic said, as he went into a sliding kick through some robots.

"You can say that again," Daisy said. Sonic did so.

Soon, they came to a ledge that had a huge gap over it. Daisy didn't seem bothered, and just jumped off at full speed, somehow producing a trampoline made of flowers halfway over to get her to the other side. Sonic had a rather… Different approach, and literally ran onto a wind current and rode it to the other side. Mario and Yoshi basically copied Sonic's idea, spreading their arms to catch the wind and glide across.

"Is that even possible?" Silver asked Yoshi as Mario and Yoshi landed, and the group took off again.

Yoshi shrugged. "Never really tell. Mario does impossible lots."

The five continued on like that for a few more minutes, keeping the Egg Carrier in sight, but unable to catch up. Soon, though, they reached a barred doorway, with no way around. Silver came up with the solution – He just bent it out of the way with his psychokinesis.

Unfortunately, just beyond it was a dead end, right into the water. As Mario was the only decent swimmer there, this posed a problem.

"… I think I can knock that structure down," Silver said, pointing to a sort of tower sticking out of the water. He grabbed a conveniently placed crate and threw it at it, collapsing it into the water and making an easily jumpable gap.

"Thanks, Silver," Sonic said, grinning. "Now it's just a little obstacle course over water!"

"… And you can't swim," Mario pointed out.

"Hey, what's the fun if there's no danger? Besides, I got, like, five lives! I'll be fine," Sonic said, as he ran along the obstacles, hopping from one to the next. Mario and Daisy followed enthusiastically, Silver and Yoshi a bit more carefully.

Soon, they were to the other side of the little lake, but the problems certainly weren't over. The Egg Carrier suddenly produced a huge crashing sound, and started shaking.

"Uh-oh," Sonic said. "Gotta speed up, here."

"Take this, then," Silver said, giving Sonic the Blue Chaos Emerald. "Just in case."

"Thanks," Sonic said, grabbing Mario's arm. "Ready for some sonic speed?"

Mario nodded, and Sonic took off at full speed to try and catch the Egg Carrier. They blasted onto and across the water, moving at super speeds to catch up to the Egg Carrier. Soon, they were dashing between two waterfalls, Sonic hopping on platforms on each side as they moved ever upwards.

Mario was studying the Egg Carrier carefully. "I don't think we're gonna make it, Sonic!"

"Come on, we've got to, otherwise-"

The Egg Carrier exploded in a huge fireball, covering the sky. Sonic skidded to a stop, looking on in horror. Only a few shapes could be seen emerging from the wreckage – A few large, spherical objects which meant Eggman had probably escaped (of course), and some turtles (which Mario would have recognized as Koopas) falling somewhat safely into the water.

"No…" Sonic said. "… We're… too late." He collapsed to the ground, holding his head in his hands. "… I… I didn't save the world… and I didn't save my friends."

"Hey!" Mario said, "Look, that's not how it's going to end, okay? We've still got the Chaos Emeralds, right? We could go back in time and save her!"

Sonic wasn't really listening to Mario. He was however, listening to an odd sound… Sort of a high-pitched warbling sound crossed with helicopter rotors? And it was coming towards them from above… Wait.

Sonic and Mario looked up, to see a little yellow fox using his tails to lower Princess Elise safely to the ground, while a green-clad plumber fell next to him, kicking his legs to glide down slowly.

"Tails?" Sonic asked. "You guys… I should've known!"

"Heh, it was nothing!" Tails said, as he lowered Elise to the ground. "I… Might have… Kinda accidentally spindashed through one of the coolant pipes… Sorry about that…"

"Destroyed the Egg Carrier and saved the day?" Sonic asked, laughing in relief. "That's about as good as you can do!"

"You go, bro!" Mario said to Luigi. "How'd you even get up there?"

"... We kind of found the Sky Pop… And, bro, I'm so sorry! It got blown up!" Luigi said, tearing up.

"Hey, hey, bro, it's okay," Mario said. "We hardly ever used it anyway… I'll miss it, for sure, but at least everyone's all right. That's what matters. You and Tails saved the day!"

Luigi wiped his eyes. "… Thanks, bro."

"All of you deserve credit," Elise said, "Thank you, so much. This has been quite an adventure! I'm glad for it."

"So, is this it?" Sonic asked. "… We won, right?"

"No!" Silver yelled as he saw it explode. "The princess!"

Daisy was watching through binoculars, "Wait, Silver! I think I see something. Is that… Silver, the princess! I see her! She's okay!"

Silver sighed in relief. "Oh, good… So… I guess it's time for me to head back, then. I'm done in this time." He set off in the direction Mario and Sonic had gone, but Daisy stopped him. "What is it, Daisy?"

"… Well… Why?" she asked. "Didn't you come here to fix the future?"

"Yeah. And now I've got to go back, to…" Silver stopped. What WAS he going to do? He wouldn't even know anybody in the future!

"To what? From what you've told me… You don't have anyone in the future. Even if it's changed, you won't know the people there," Daisy said. "But… You've got friends now, Silver."

"… You're right," Silver agreed. "… Yeah. I think… I'll stay here…"

"Besides," Daisy smiled. "The future might not hold adventures. Here and now? Oh, yeah. You can bet there'll be more adventures."

"Then it's decided," Silver said, beginning to walk back to castle town. "I think… It's time to have some fun. I haven't even gotten a chance to since I got here."

"Great! Let's go," Daisy said, grabbing Silver's arm.

"Wait, no, not that-"

"AND WE'RE GONE!" Daisy yelled, dashing off.

"NOT SO FAST!" Yelled a familiar, growly voice as Bowser flew down in his Koopa Clown Car.

"Don't go celebrating your victory just yet, boys," Dr. Eggman said, as he piloted his Egg-O-Matic to them. "I've still got one last robot to try out!"

"Get safe, Elise," Sonic said, stretching his legs. "We'll handle this." Elise nodded, running over to a rock to watch from behind safely.

Mario stretched. "Just like old times, eh, bro?"

"Times two!" Sonic said before Luigi could answer. "Everyone ready?"

"Let's-a-go!" Mario said.

"Okey-dokey," Luigi said confidently.

"I'll do my best!"

"Alright, bring it on!" Sonic finished, as the four stared down Eggman and Bowser. Eggman grinned, pressing a button to summon his newest robot, for the final battle to really begin.