4:30 p.m.
"You've wasted so much of my time," Eggman scolds Elise, who is sitting in a chair.
Right now, the two humans are in the Egg Carrier, going back to White Acropolis. The ship needs more fuel to get away from Sonic, and Robot is adding more machines just in case the hedgehog shows up.
"I was only gone for an hour," Elise responds to the scientist.
"Don't talk back to me, young lady!" he screams to her. "If you had cooperated with me earlier, I wouldn't have to do this."
"Just what exactly are you trying to do, you sick man?" Elise wants to know. "Why do you wish to revive the Flames of Disaster?"
"Because Solaris's secrets are its eternal flames," answers Eggman. "His power can change and possibly manipulate time itself!"
Elise is confused. "You wish...to rule over...time?"
"Yes," Eggman nods. "From the past all the way to the future! The secret remains in you, princess. Once I have all the Chaos Emeralds, the fate of the world will change."
"I just have one question," the princess begins. "What do you plan to do to me once you take over the world?"
Eggman stops and thinks. He never actually thought of that. The Flames of Disaster will be released, and everyone will die anyways; so it's pointless to do any further damage to Elise.
"Uh... I didn't think that one through actually," Eggman says, looking down to the floor. "How about this: once I take over the world, I'll take you to dinner to any restaurant of your choice."
"That sounds promising," Elise comments, smiling. "I've been wanting to eat at a real restaurant since I was little!"
Meanwhile...
On his afternoon 'jog', Sonic is running through the plains as suddenly, a dozen Egg Gunners block his path. Sonic halts to a stop and is ready to attack, but then Silver appears.
Oh great! First he finds out that Elise voluntarily goes to Eggman and now this?! What's this kid's deal?!
Actually, Silver pushes the robots away with his telekinetic powers. That's completely different for Sonic.
"Dude... Did you just save me?" Sonic questions.
"Yep!" Silver proudly answers. "I'm sorry I accused you for being the Iblis Trigger."
"You better be!" Sonic says, ready to beat up the hedgehog. "Let's make this fight quick, because I'm on my way to rescue the princess, and you better not ruin this for me!"
"Silver's not here to fight you," a voice is heard from behind.
Sonic turns around and sees Blaze walking up to him. "Blaze?! What are you doing here?"
"We're here to help you," Blaze answers.
"You guys want to help?" Sonic wonders. But why? Silver tried to kill him twice! And now he wants to help? And Blaze is with him? What's going on here?
"Of course!" Silver answers. "Circumstances have changed."
"Before you react, we need to tell you something," Blaze begins.
"Really?" Sonic wonders. "I hope it's not offensive."
"It turns out Elise is the real Iblis Trigger," the feline says.
"Yeah...I kinda figured that out myself," Sonic replies, scratching the back of his head. "You're not gonna kill her, are you?"
"No!" Silver assures him. "We really want to help you!"
"And like Silver said," Blaze speaks. "he's really sorry for trying to kill you. We just didn't listen to the right person."
No duh! Sonic says in his head. Should he really let Blaze and the idiot boy (who tried to kill him) help him? Sonic guesses he could use some help. "Alright," Sonic finally says. "You two can help."
He turns to Silver and says, "But no funny business!"
"Don't worry," says Silver. "I won't do anything funny."
That's not what I meant by funny business, but okay. Sonic says in his head as he, Silver, and Blaze enter the plains of Kingdom Valley.
5:30 p.m.
Back in the Soleanna Memorial Hospital, Amy, Steve, and Tails are visiting Knuckles for the last time before he checks out tomorrow.
"It's too bad Sonic couldn't come," Amy says with sorrow.
Sonic was only able to visit Knuckles once, and that was when he returned Elise back to her castle. His other friends, however, got to visit the echidna numerous times. Yes, the Soleanna doctors and nurses were that nice to let them see how their friend was doing.
"I know," says Knuckles, laying on a bed with a cast on his left hand. "It's like he doesn't care how I'm doing. All he thinks about is the princess."
"Knuckles, don't assume that," says Steve. "Just remember that Sonic is doing a good deed for this city."
"Yeah," Knuckles replies with sarcasm. "I'll make sure to remember that my best friend is rescuing the city's princess for the fifth time in a spam of three days!"
Tails pitches in and says to the echidna, "Technically, it's been two and a half days..."
"Shut up, nerd!" Knuckles' voice grows louder. "I'm in a lot of pain right now, and I'm not in the mood to raise my voice!"
Tails' eyes shrink after Knuckles' outburst. The young fox then says, "Okay...sheesh. Just calm down."
Just then, a human doctor comes in and says, "Mr. Prower's and Miss Rose, you three are welcome to leave the room. The patient needs to rest."
Steve, Tails, and Amy leave the room. Hopefully tomorrow goes well. After all, Knuckles should be released from the hospital, and Sonic should come back with Elise. But right now, the three can only hope and pray that everyone will be okay.
And that was Chapter 18! Sorry this was so short. These next few chapters will be short as well. For the next one, the Egg Carrier malfunctions, and Team Dark continue their quest on finding Mephiles.
Remember to review, and I'll see you in Chapter 19.
