(Ten years later, present time)

Monday, November 13; 3:40 p.m.

Back in the present, all the citizens of Soleanna seem to be happy. They had just learned that Princess Elise has returned home after being kidnapped several times. So yeah...things are starting to go back to normal.

"Alright kid," a Soleanna guard says to a boy, about eight years old. "Am I the captain?"

Well... Almost normal.

"Dude, no one cares!" a 12-year-old girl says to the guard.

Just then, a big shadow appears above the humans. The eight-year-old points to the shadow. "Woah, a spaceship!"

Robot comes by and says to the boy, "That's not a spaceship, you dense little kid! Dr. Eggman has an important announcement to make."

Turns out the "spaceship" is the Egg Carrier. In the ship, Eggman speaks into an intercom. "Princess Elise...ruler of Soleanna," he begins. "By refusing to negotiate with me, you have forced me to take drastic actions."

The citizens begin to freak out. What's this mad man going to do?

"Meet me at my Egg Carrier at the specified time, which is 4:00 today," Eggman commands. "Failure to do so on time, will result in leaving this city in nothing but ashes! Make sure you go alone and have a nice day."

After he finishes his announcement, Eggman leans back in his chair and says to himself, "I love this job."

Back outside, all the citizens react in many different ways. Some huddle and conversate, others run around and scream in horror. Amy sees this go on, and runs back to the Soleanna Memorial Hospital, where Knuckles is healing.

Elise stands outside in the balcony outside her castle, watching the city. Now that she's returned home, she managed to get herself all cleaned up. Her hair is shiny (from her shower) and neatly brushed, and she is wearing a completely different outfit: a pastel blue dress stopping at her knees, along with some matching short gloves and some strappy silver heels.

"Miss Elise!" a lady-in waiting says to her. "You're not actually going there, are you?"

"I cannot allow that man to destroy this city," the princess says.

She turns around to leave, only for another lady-in waiting to say, "Miss Elise!"

"It is my duty as Princess of Soleanna to go."

"But he's gonna hurt you!" cries the lady-in waiting.

"It doesn't matter," Elise says. "I don't have a choice."

She leaves the castle, and the two women huddle together, worried about their princess.


At the hospital...

Amy enters the lobby and see Tails and Blaze sitting down. She runs over to them screaming, "Guys, guys, guys!"

"What is it, Amy?" asks Tails.

"Eggman came by and is kidnapping Elise again!" Amy explains. "He says he'll put this whole city in danger if she doesn't go to him."

"That's terrible!" Tails cries.

"What's so special about the princess, anyways?" Blaze wants to know.

"Eggman needs her to revive the Flames of Disaster," Tails explains. "otherwise known as Iblis."

Iblis? He means Elise was the Iblis Trigger this whole time? Of course Sonic wasn't, but Blaze didn't know Elise was the real Iblis Trigger! She needs to tell Silver about this!

"I'll be right back!" Blaze cries as she runs out of the building.

Just as she steps foot out of the hospital, a portal opens up, dropping Silver.

"Blaze!" Silver says, happy to see his ally.

"Hey Silver," says Blaze. "Where were you?"

"Ten years in the past," answers Silver. "You were right. Sonic's not the Iblis Trigger."

Blaze pretends to act surprised. "WHAAAAT?! No way!" she shrieks. "I had no idea!"

"Will you stop?" Silver frowns at the cat. "I'm not in the mood for you to make fun of me."

"Okay," Blaze sighs. "Did you find out who the real Iblis Trigger is?"

"Yeah," says Silver. "Princess Elise."

Blaze nods. "I just learned that as well," she says.

The two preteens hear some citizens talking. Silver turns to Blaze asking, "What's everyone talking about?"

"Eggman threatened the princess to meet him on his ship," explains the feline. "or else he'll put all of Soleanna in danger."

No way! "What if his ultimate objective was to release Iblis?!" Silver worries. "Where's Sonic?"

"He went on his afternoon jog," says Blaze.

Afternoon jog? For a hedgehog who runs insanely fast? Whatever...


Meanwhile...

In another part of Soleanna, Shadow jumps out of the time portal. He sees Rouge flying over to him.

"Rouge!" he calls out to her.

"Hey Shadow," says Rouge. "I noticed you came out of a time portal. What did you find?"

"It's a long story," Shadow answers, unsure if he should mention Silver at all to her. "I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Can you access GUN's database?"

"What for?" Rouge wants to know.

"Find out what materials the Scepter of Darkness was made out of," Shadow orders her.

Rouge groans in complaint. "Can't you do it yourself?" she whines. "Why do I have to do all the work?"

Shadow responds by walking away from the albino bat. There's no way he's listening to her groan like that. Besides, he suffered enough from Silver's stupidity; does he really need to deal with Rouge's bratty-ness?!

As Shadow keeps walking, his watch beeps. He clicks on his watch and hears Commander Tower's voice. "Agent Shadow," the commander begins. "E-123 Omega has found Mephiles."

"Where was he?" Shadow asks, referring to Mephiles.

"He's at Wave Ocean," Tower answers.

Shadow nods in response and asks the commander, "I have something to ask: Do you still have information on the Scepter of Darkness?"

"We don't have much since Rouge broke it," answers the human. "but we have some info on what the scepter is made out of."

"That's perfect!" Shadow smiles. "Give that information to Rouge. I'm gonna go find Omega."

He hangs up and skates across the city.


4:00 p.m.

At Wave Ocean, Omega is shooting the crystalline Mephiles with limited success. The robot had been fighting Mephiles all afternoon, and he's almost out of bullets.

"Just give up, robot!" Mephiles says to Omega. "This only proves you were created to stop Shadow."

Omega stops shooting. "What?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know," Mephiles explains. "In the future, you lock up Shadow for being too powerful! You may have been created by humanity, but what you do to Shadow in the future -"

Having heard enough of the hedgehog's nonsense, Omega transforms his hands into gating guns and shoots Mephiles, disappearing in a puff of smoke and laughing maniacally.

Shadow skates over to the robot, wondering what happened. "Where's Mephiles?" he asks.

"He...disappeared," Omega slowly answers. He looks over to his black friend and says, "Shadow... Mephiles says...I...seal you...in the future."

"Don't listen to Mephiles," Shadow replies. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

Rouge, holding a couple of Starbucks lattes, flies over to her teammates. "Alright boys," she says. "I just found out what the scepter is made out of."

She gives Shadow a latte, the ladder asking, "Why do you have lattes? It's almost evening."

"Because we could be up all night looking for Mephiles!" Rouge answers with determination. "The sooner we find that creep, the faster we get our mission over-with!"

"That's smart thinking," Shadow comments, then looks down to the sand.

Rouge sees that Shadow is upset. To get an answer, she asks him, "What happened?"

Shadow looks up to the 14-year-old and responds, "Mephiles told Omega that he locks me up in prison."

"You mean...Omega locks you up...?" Rouge questions, confused.

"Yes..." Omega answers. "In the future...when something...or someone...is seen as too powerful...it is seen as...a threat. Then...the world...becomes its enemy."

"That's so unfair!" Rouge yells to the robot. "Shadow's always here to defend the world!"

"Yeah!" Shadow adds. "How do you know this information, anyways?"

"I am a robot," answers Omega. "I...just naturally...know things."

Shadow begins to walk away, but Rouge stops him. "Shadow," she begins to say. "Even if everyone might be against you, I'll always stand by your side no matter what."

"Thanks," says Shadow, then turns to Omega. "You're still on our team, buddy. Just don't turn against me."

"Don't...worry," Omega replies. "I'll stay by your side...too."


And that was Chapter 17! Next chapter, Eggman tells Elise more about his plan, while Silver and Blaze team up with Sonic.

Remember to review, and I'll see you in Chapter 18!