Chapter 8: The Iblis Trigger
--
Knuckles sat on an awning in New Town, the half of Soleanna on the main-land, watching the sun rise over the ocean, starting a new day, the second day he was stuck here. Ever since he left Shadow, Rouge and Tails on the rooftop where he had woken up after the giant Chaos Control, he was hunting for the Chaos Emeralds. He had spent the entire day before looking for them, but didn't find even one. He had the ability to sense power gems that radiated Chaos energy if he was close enough, but there must not have been one around for miles upon miles.
He had ventured outside of the city and explored the jungle area and found the ancient ruins of a castle. Looking it over, it must've been extravagant during its prime before it fell into decay. He wondered if the people of Soleanna lived there before. He never had seen ruins of human civilization and he found it as interesting as finding ruins of his own race. As interesting as that exploration was, it didn't shake off the brooding Knuckles was going through right now. He never had been stranded before, and the feeling was gnawing at him like a worm inside an apple. Being yanked off the Island that he called home for as long as he lived was probably the most terrible feeling he ever experienced, except when Dr. Robotnik had stolen the Master Emerald while Knuckles was fighting Sonic and Tails in the halls of Hidden Palace.
He idly watched the shore and watched the breaking waves smoothly run against the shoreline then recede, only to come back again. He continued for some time, trying to hold at bay the feeling of desolation from his Island, and thought of the people still there. They had no idea what happened to him and where he was. For all they know, he's dead. He quickly pushed that thought down where ever it came from, but found that it still lingered there, only to be forgotten when preoccupied with other things. He hated it when that happened; it usually brewed into nightmares later.
Something caught his eye and he glanced in its direction. It was far off, but was in his general direction on the shoreline. He only noticed it by a purplish gleam from the sunlight. Leaping from his perch on the awning down to the shoreline, he waited to see what it was. It was quite a distance away, so he had to wait until his sharp eyes (enhanced by his power of being a Guardian) were able to make out a shape. Once it was close enough to tell what it was, he instantly stopped staring at it. He saw that it was a person walking the beach, then he double-taked. That wasn't a human! On closer inspection, it was a slender lavender-furred she-cat, wearing a gleaming purple robe-like garb and white pants like tights. The hair on top of her head was tied back with a thick scarlet band and styled like feathers. On her forehead was a single small stone, worn like jewelry. Knuckles couldn't see anything holding it in place. The cuffs of her shoes and gloves were made of fine fur. The high-heeled shoes were of a dark cherry color, with a white strap, and to Knuckles' astonishment a lot like Sonic's running shoes. The whole look made her look foreign, but regal, like a princess of a foreign land.
At once, Knuckles wondered who she was and what she was doing here. She looked like a Möbian, but no one he had ever met. Was she warped here by the Chaos Emeralds, but how? The seven were all accounted for before they had fluxed and seemingly vanished. Was the Chaos Control more expansive than they first realized? The cat was soon close enough to Knuckles for her to study him. Knuckles' looked away, but looked at her through the corner of her eye. She looked as if he was studying him, about to ask a question.
"Excuse me, sir," she first asked.
She's polite, Knuckles thought, then said aloud. "Yes?"
"Have you seen anybody like a blue hedgehog. It's important that I find him."
A muscle flexed in Knuckle's jaw. She was asking for Sonic! What could this stranger want with Sonic? "No, I haven't. Sorry..."
The cat looked as if she wasn't surprised. "Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you." The cat started to walk by. A strange idea came to Knuckles, and he didn't see anything wrong with it.
"Excuse me..." he started to ask.
The cat turned. Her eyes were yellow, the Echidna noticed. "Yes?" she replied.
"Have you seen any..." Knuckles was about to say "Chaos Emeralds," but what if she hasn't heard of those. "...glowing gems about this big?" Knuckles cupped his hand to make a space the size of a softball.
The cat immediately shook her head. "No, I'm sorry..."
"It's okay; it was a long shot anyway."
The cat nodded, then without a goodbye, she turned and walked away, heading towards the town.
Knuckles looked on after her, a dozen questions now buzzing through his head. Who was she? Where did she come from? What does she want with Sonic? His thoughts were interrupted when, to his relief, familiar voices called his name. Looking, he saw a bee, a chameleon, a crocodile and an armadillo coming towards him.
"Knuckles!" cried out the crocodile. "You're stuck here too?
"Vector! Good to see some familiar faces again." Knuckles smiled, and then it faded just as quickly as it appeared. "A lot of us are stuck here, at least Shadow, Tails and Rouge are here as well."
"Sonic too!" the bee cried. "He rescued a princess two nights ago."
Knuckles looked at the bee, who was Charmy. "I should've guessed. Doesn't look like the trip effected him much."
"What happened anyway?" Charmy asked. "We had just arrived on the Island to ask you about the Chaos Emerald acting weird, but then it sort of...blew up!"
"It went through an un-commanded Chaos Control. It warped us to another world."
"That last part we guessed," Mighty the Armadillo said.
"How long were you in this city?" Espio asked, his hot-pink color shading into deeper shades.
"I woke up on someone's rooftop in this city, but I spent yesterday trying to find the Chaos Emeralds, but couldn't find even one," Knuckles replied.
"Bummer," Charmy replied.
"We've been researching this place ever since we've got here, or most of us anyway," Espio case a glance at Charmy, who pretended he didn't notice.
"What did you learn?"
All looked at Espio, who had the best memorization skills of the four, and he began to recite what they've found, almost as if he was practicing it. "Soleanna is the capital city of this land of the world of Lou Brenna, run by a constitutional monarchy, where the current monarch is Princes Elise at sixteen years of age. Their trades are tourism and machine industry, more so to New Town."
"Like that is going to help us any," Vector mumbled.
Espio merely grunted, but continued his recitation with a slight change of subject. "We looked into Princess Elise, soon to be Queen Elise III. We found that her father, the King, was killed in a tragic lab accident when she was only six. The King doubled as the head scientist for the Royal Science Guild, a group of the best scientists of the kingdom. Dr. Kintobor was a member of the guild before he decided to start crashing festivals."
"It seems that you boys have done your homework. Well done."
All five jumped at this new voice. After a few panicked seconds, Charmy said, "Up there!" All looked up to see a large hovercraft descending on them like a fog bank. It was large, chrome-colored and sport two very large limbs (currently folded back towards the back) with three-fingered hands on them. It looked like it could be decent in a skirmish. Flanked on both sides, two white and black robots hovered, gun-arm crossed in front of its torso in a saluting stance. In the cockpit was a human, tall and overweight. Knuckles and the Chaotix held their breath, seeing that this human bore an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The only thing wrong was his portrayal. Robotnik was rotten to the core, a face almost in a constant sneer. This man's face was cordial, almost friendly. If this Kintobor was a bad guy, he was a cordial one. Perhaps stemmed from being in the presence of the King in the guild?
"It is apparent that I do not need to introduce myself, as you gents have seemed to learn much about me. That makes things easier."
"Dr. Kintobor," Knuckles said coolly. He looked over the hovercraft and the robots. They could take them out no problem if a skirmish erupted.
"I only wish I had the pleasure to know you, but it is not needed. I am assuming you gents know a Sonic the Hedgehog."
None of the five replied.
"I have a message to give to him." Kintobor held up an object that looked like a red playing-card, but it was too thick. He flicked it towards the group. Charmy caught it and handed it to Knuckles. "Don't try seeing it yourself. It can only be activated once the computer identifies Sonic as the one holding it." Kintobor made a polite bow, showing he had a sense of culture about him. "Please pass on my salutations to him. Good day, gents." The hovercraft lifted off and the robots followed.
"Wow, he was nice..." Charmy said. "...too nice to look like Eggman."
"Eggman looked just like that when he tricked me on Angel Island so long ago. I don't trust him." Knuckles looked at the object in his hand, looking as if considering pitching it into the nearby ocean for spite.
"I still can't bend my mind around the fact that little thing is a computerized message." Charmy scratched his head as he looked at it. "It reminds me of those half-a-million and million-dollar chips in casinos."
"Kintobor probably built it himself," Vector replied. "He's supposed to be the greatest scientist in the kingdom."
"What do we do?" Mighty asked.
Knuckles looked at the rest of the Chaotix. "What choice do we really have? We'll have to either find Sonic or wait for him to find us. I vote the latter."
The Chaotix didn't respond for a few seconds, but silently agreed. They couldn't split up because they wouldn't have a way to communicate with each other. They'd all have to stay together. Plus, they really didn't know their way around Soleanna and they really didn't want to get lost.
So, Knuckles and the Chaotix sat down and waited, hoping Sonic by chance would run into them.
- - - - -
Tails, Cream, Cheese, Amy and Silver had returned to Soleanna overnight, and found an empty shed to pass the night. Now the morning, the five were wandering through Castle Town, the island portion of Soleanna, after having a decent breakfast of fresh fruit. They had reached a plaza that faced towards the Torch of Solaris near the heart of Castle Town, and all were admiring its beauty. Silver kept glancing away once and a while, hoping to see a certain blue hedgehog, but would fail to see one.
"Well, now that we're back," Tails started. "I'm going to go find Sonic. I have to get this back to him." He held up the talisman in his hand. "Will you guys be okay on your own?"
"Sure we will, Tails!" Amy said. "We can find Sonic on our own!"
"Ok!" Tails spun his two tails and hovered away.
Silver watched Tails fly away. Flight wasn't unusual to him, he himself able to fly with his psychokinesis. It was just unusual but neat to see a fox fly with just the aid of his tails.
Amy let out a sigh. "I wonder why we haven't seen Sonic yet. Sometimes I wish he's just hold still for two seconds."
"Don't worry, Amy, we'll find him!" Cream said.
"I know we will. He's just so frustrating sometimes. I just wanted to ask what happened to us anyway! How we got here?"
"I know you like him a lot, Amy," Cream said, smiling. "You have a crush on him."
Amy flushed. That carried just the same amount of truth of the statement "the sky is blue." She also remembered that she had promised long time ago not to chase after Sonic like she had done for years. Because of that, Sonic could now stand Amy's presence, and Amy felt better about herself around Sonic.
"Yeah, I do, but I don't want to like go ask him on a date..." Amy said, but then confessed, "...well, I do, but not now!"
Cream smiled, as did Cheese. Amy never had a good poker face.
Amy turned the tables. "Now don't blame me about having a crush on Sonic! You have one on Tails!"
Cream stopped smiling. "Amy!"
"You do! I saw you watching him; you think he's cute."
"Amy! Please don't tell him! I don't want him to not like me! Please, Amy! Don't tell him!"
Amy smiled. "Crosshairs on my heart. C'mon, let's go find Sonic!"
Amy, Cream and Cheese went on ahead, and Silver lagged behind. He somewhat disliked this talk of romance and it made him queasy, but he liked seeing Amy, Cream and Cheese so happy. Back home, he never saw anyone happy...because they were all trying to survive to live another day. He took a few steps after the two girls and the chao, but then something caught his eye to the right. Stopping, he glanced that direction. He saw a human girl with auburn hair wearing a dress of white and silver, looking a lot like a princess. She was escorted by a blue hedgehog with red sneakers.
Silver froze, his breath stuck in his lungs. He found him! The Iblis Trigger! Now he could finally fix his time!
- - - - -
The previous night, Sonic and Elise had traversed the meadows and entered a wooded area. They had holed up for the night in the ruins of a castle, standing boldly and proudly over the lake and rivers it stood over, despite being blanketed with moss and disfigured with decay. Elise informed Sonic that this was the ruins of the old castle in Kingdom Valley, before her people moved to the coast. That was a long time ago.
Once the night had passed, Sonic and Elise had reached Soleanna. Here, they kept a low profile, for Sonic felt that Dr. Kintobor would guess that Sonic would try to return Elise to the castle, for there really wasn't anywhere else to take her without being charged with kidnapping. To avoid detection Sonic and Elise kept to the shadows and back alleys. This took longer then walking through, but the cost was worth the delay in travel, for they had crossed New Town without interference.
The bridge was a problem at first, even though there was a canopy over the entire length, but the sides were very much open on either side. This was remedied by hiring a cab to take them across. The driver was nothing less then thrilled to cart his Princess son to be Queen and her rescuer.
They could see the castle on a hill on the island, sitting like a silver crown, gleaming in the sun. Soon enough, they'd be there. Sonic mildly wondered what the inside looked like. They had reached a plaza lined with many tables and chairs, out for the citizens to enjoy the ocean breezes. Many boxes were scattered throughout the area. Both guessed they contained more tables and chairs for the plaza, or they were just empty.
"It must be really cool to live inside a castle like that, Elise..." Sonic said, motioning towards the castle in the distance.
"I suppose so. I was raised there so I don't really know what normal life is outside of it."
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd want to live there. I wouldn't know what to do with all the room."
"Sonic, would you just like to take a look around inside of it? I'm sure the Prime Minister won't mind."
"Prime Minister? But aren't you the Princess, ergo the ruler?"
"In a limited sense yes. Our government is a constitutional monarchy. I have some political power, but my position is mostly ceremonial. The people represented in the Parliament have the power. I have the executive powers."
"I never really paid attention in government class, so I wouldn't know," Sonic said glibly. More accurate would be to say that Sonic never had a government class period, or any advanced education as he was usually smashing robots then learning algebra or whatever.
"Just the same, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. After all, you are my rescuer on two occasions."
Sonic shrugged. "Well, in that case, sure I'll take a look arou--" Sonic stopped in his tracks. "WATCH OUT!!"
Before Elise had a chance to react, Sonic scooper her up and left quickly to the side and behind, and just in time as a blue-green wave of energy blasted the space they were just standing on scare seconds before. Sonic put Elise back down and both spun to face the space they had just stood on and was more recently blasted. It was smoking and dust was still settling, but otherwise was still solid.
"I've been looking for you, blue hedgehog."
Both looked to the source of the voice, and saw a blue-green glowing hedgehog floating towards them. An exploding forelock fanned out above the hedgehog's eyes and over his head. He only had two spines and they were nearly as long as he was tall, dropping from the weight. His hands bore strange glowing markings that lined the palms, backs and cuffs of his gloves. His yellow eyes were locked onto Sonic with a determination that the latter hadn't seen since he was fighting Metal-Sonic or Shadow. His feet touched the earth, and at once his glow subsided, revealing that his fur was silvery-white, as white as Elise's dress.
"Hedgehog! Your actions will damn us all and the entire world!" the hedgehog continued, almost preaching at Sonic.
"Who the heck are you!?" Sonic asked, shocked. He planted himself between Elise and this fanatic hedgehog, arms outstretched.
Elise stared at this newcomer. She had seen him before a long time ago, but where?
"My name is Silver!" the hedgehog automatically responded, and then his expression darkened. "For the sake of the world and its future, I will destroy you, Iblis Trigger!"
Silver flung his arms forward, and several boxes around him lit up and flew at Sonic. Sonic dashed away, summoning his lightning-flash reflexes into action.
Great, Sonic thought. I ticked off a telekinetic fanatic somehow. Just great... Aloud, he said, "Elise! Get out of here! I'll handle this!"
"Sonic! Be careful!" Elise cried out, retreating to the perimeter.
Sonic raced around the perimeter, reading Silver's defenses. Silver was throwing anything he could immediately grab with his power and hurling them after him. Just then, Sonic noticed that Silver had to pause after throwing his munitions, possibly to store up the energy needed. It was only a few seconds long, however. Long enough for Sonic, however. After another throw of boxes, Sonic dashed in at a slide, feet forward. He crashed right into Silver, knocking him off of his feet. Sonic climbed to his feet in a hurry. "Is that all you got?"
Silver was nowhere near beaten. Throwing a hand forward, he grabbed Sonic himself within his power. "How about this!?"
Sonic was frozen. He couldn't move he was still bound by Silver's power.
"Take THIS!!" Silver threw his hand forward, sending Sonic crashing through a bunch of broken boxes and tables.
Sonic kicked away the debris, smarting at his failure to fly through solid objects. He leaped to his feet and prepared for round two, which isn't long incoming.
Silver was smarting from a speedy sliding kick into his side, but he had gotten back for that by throwing Sonic through a bunch of junk. He had to kill this blue hedgehog, for the sake of his future, for Blaze's future!
"Silver! Stop it! He rescued me from a kidnapper! He's not evil!"
That was Elise's voice. Sure enough, Elise was venturing forward, trying to convince Silver to stop fighting Sonic.
"Stay out of this!" Silver shouted back. "I have to kill him!"
"No! That's murder! You don't even know if he did anything!"
"I do too! He destroyed the world by releasing Iblis!"
"That's a lie!" Elise shouted back.
Silver used his power to shove Elise back. Elise tripped backwards and landed on her back. To Sonic, that shove might as well have been over a cliff. Charging a spindash, he charged shouting a battle-cry. "TERRIIIAAAA!!" Curling into a ball, he smashed into Silver going sixty, sending Silver in a crumpled heap to the other side of the plaza and into the far wall. He collapses to the ground and lay still. He hoped that he didn't kill him, but he attacked Elise, and she was doing nothing! Running to Elise, she helped her get back up. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, he just gave me a bit of a push." Elise was up on her feet again. "Sonic, why is he out to get you?"
"I haven't got a clue, Elise," Sonic said, once more eyeing Silver, who had not moved. Sonic's heart froze; did he kill him on accident? To Sonic, he must've been just a kid, maybe just a year older then Tails.
Elise followed his gaze, and gasped. "Sonic! Did you--?"
"I didn't think I hit him that hard! It couldn't have killed him! Knux got hit with worse!" Sonic felt panicky and felt that he'd better check on him, but he remembered the last time he was too close to Silver.
His conscience got the better of him and he slowly ventured towards the still white figure. He was within five feet of him now, and he felt it was way too close. He called out, "Hey! Are you okay?"
Silver suddenly jumped up and threw his arm forward with a "Ha!" Sonic flew back and smacked a marble pillar. Winded, Sonic flopped back down to the ground, coughing. Elise gasped in shock. Now the tables were almost turned. Now it was Silver walking up to a hurt Sonic.
"What is this, a joke?" Silver began. "You are the one who is going to destroy the future? What kind of person are you!?"
Sonic gasped, every breath was an effort. "What...do you...mean?"
Silver hardened up. "Forget it; it doesn't matter." Silver straightened his gloves, flexing his fingers. "I have a job to do, and you don't need to know the details. All you need to know is that you, the Iblis Trigger, must be destroyed for your crimes on my future!"
Sonic tried to get up, but his lungs were still winded, and found it too difficult. Silver was slowing moving his hand back, and Sonic felt a big wave of telekinetic energy was coming and braced for it.
Suddenly, Elise cried out in fright, distracting both hedgehogs to look. During the conversation they had, two tri-fingered hands were reaching down behind Elise stealthily, then snatched her up, causing her to cry. The hands came from Dr. Kintobor's hovercraft. The doctor himself was sneering at them. "My, my, as much as I would like to know what you boys are fighting about, I cannot. I got what I wanted and must leave. Good day, Sonic!" The hovercraft lifted away.
Sonic rounded on Silver, jumping to his feet. "You idiot! You let Eggman kidnap Elise again!" Sonic ran two steps away, but was suddenly blown forward and onto his hands and knees by more telekinetic energy.
"How dare you turn your back on me!?" Silver marched forward again. "You have no right to insult me after what you are about to do!"
Sonic cursed under his breath, both at Silver and at himself for letting Kintobor take off with Elise right as his back was turned for a few seconds. He pounded his fist into the ground in frustration, unaware of Silver preparing a killing stroke.
"This has gone long enough; it's time I finally end this once and for all!" Silver drew back a fist, charging for a killing amount of energy to snuff out Sonic.
"No!" cried out a shrill voice.
Silver looked to see where the voice came from, when all the sudden, his face was attacked by a flying blue thing.
"You will not hurt Sonic!" the creature cried out, pounding its fists into Silver's face. It was Cheese, Cream's chao.
Silver was able to shove Cheese away from his face physically, and rubbed his face. Cheese flew a safe distance while Silver recovered. Once he could open his eyes a few seconds later, he saw a picture that no male would want to face: two females, bristling with rage and staring straight at him. Amy and Cream positioned themselves between Silver and Sonic, backs towards the latter. They had apparently double-back either from Silver not being with them or they probably heard the commotion of the skirmish.
"I heard everything, Silver! You're not going to hurt Sonic when I'm around!" Amy said, brandishing her trademark hammer.
"He has done nothing wrong!" Cream said.
Silver was getting frustrated at all these interruptions of his mission, and didn't feel the need to be polite. "Get out of my way, girls! This is my mission and I have to do it!"
"Absolutely NOT!!" Amy defied.
Silver growled. Unwittingly, these girls had exploited his biggest weakness with this power. He could not use his psychokinesis if something stood between him and his target. He would have to get Amy out of the way to get a fix on Sonic! Unless she moved by will or by force, all Silver could do is stare and sputter.
"Cream! Get Sonic out of here! I'll take care of Silver!" Amy commanded.
Cream obeyed without reply. "C'mon, Sonic! Let's get out of here!" She and her chao, Cheese, helped Sonic get to his feet. His eyes had a glazed look, but he would be okay.
"Thanks, Amy, Cream and Cheese. I owe you one."
"You're welcome. Let's go!" Cream said.
"Leave this to me!" Amy said. "Just go!" The pink hedgehog had her arms outstretched to protect Sonic. One hand bore her hammer.
Sonic took Cream by the hand and took off. Cream flapped her ears to fly so Sonic wouldn't have to drag her. Cheese followed closely, casting dark glares at Silver as he left. All who remained was Amy and Silver, having an intense standoff. Neither would attack, and neither would back down. The battle would continue in the realm of words.
"Why were you attacking Sonic, Silver!?" Amy demanded, her voice trembling showing she was on the edge of uncontrollable rage.
"He was the one I was looking for since the night before! I have to take him down!"
Amy had a slight shudder from shock. "The person you were looking for was...Sonic!?" Her face soon settled into complete revulsion of the truth. "Were you trying to kill him!?"
"Yes!" Silver blurted out. "He's the one that destroyed my future! I'm from the future and there's nothing but death and despair because of him! It's HIS fault!!" Silver shouted, escalating to screaming.
"That's crazy! YOU'RE crazy!" Amy screamed back. "Sonic is a hero! He would never do anything that would destroy a world or a time! He always fights for good! You hear me!?"
"It's the truth!" Silver retorted loudly. "In the very near future, what he's going to do will completely destroy the world, and all that will be left are smoking ruins! Because of that, I must...!"
"Shut up! SHUT...UP!!" Amy was really screaming this time, and was so mad she pounded her hammer into the ground hard, making a bang that caused Silver to flinch. "I don't believe a word what you say! If I had to make a choice to believe you or Sonic, I would choose SONIC!! I hate you, Silver! I don't want to see you ever again!" With that, Amy turned and stomped off the fury radiating off her like a furnace about to blow.
"Hey! Wait!" Silver called out, but Amy ignored him. He took one step to go after her, but something held him back. He looked on after the pink hedgehog a little bit longer, but then looking down to the pavement. Her words cut through Silver like a rusty knife. No one had ever told him in his face that they hated him ever. The only thing that ever hated him was Iblis, but that was understandable, but a young girl he used to be friends with for just a short time to say she hated him...it hurt, terribly. He swallowed several times, trying to prevent tears. He just lost his only friends except Blaze in this time, and Blaze was missing for two days. He felt abandoned.
His brain, almost tormenting him, was replaying various parts of the conversations he had during and after the fight. He could once again here Elise crying out to him to stop, for he was committing murder. Amy was saying the same time in different words. A wave of cold swept over him, almost as if his blood froze. If he did kill Sonic, no matter what the motive, would that make him a murderer? His soul squirmed at the thought. He had killed before, but only those demonic beings that Iblis would send out and those didn't count in his book; they had no souls. Sonic however had a soul, so killing him would be little different then killing say Blaze, foregoing the relationship as friends.
Silver had to kneel down to keep from falling over from the sick wave of dizziness that was washing over him. Was he becoming a murderer? His thoughts were muddled and broken apart from the turmoil his soul was experiencing. He needed to get to a quiet place and think about this further. He didn't think about the morality behind this assignment. He needed to get away and think. Maybe he'll hit the beach. It should be quiet there. Yeah, that's what he'd do.
Silver got up ever so slowly and made his way back the way he had come when he was with Amy, Cream, Cheese and Tails. At the thought of Amy, his heart wrenched. He didn't want to make her upset, and hoped he never again would upset a girl to the point where Amy was just moments earlier.
