The next morning, Sonic went along the beach alone. The storm had done a number on the poor shore side -not that Sonic had known that earlier- and it prevented Sonic's plan of practicing laps due to the mass amount of debris.

They could still have a bonfire later that day though, if he cleaned up a bit.

Although it hadn't been the workout Sonic had been expecting, it did prove to buy some time and waste the morning. Sonic was working hard enough to repair the beach that he didn't noticed the long pile of mass by the shore until after he tripped over it. Even then, he still wasn't convinced at what he saw. The mass groaned in pain, which alerted Sonic that maybe it was alive after all.

"What the...!" Sonic said in surprise when he uncovered the mass. It was a human female with cherry red hair and a very pixie-like face. As Sonic carefully turned her over so she was on her back so he could check for a pulse, she started to stir from her rather comatose state.

"Silver...?" the young woman asked in a dim voice as she struggled to open her eyes, "I... I can't..."

"My name isn't..." Sonic started to say, but the lost track of what he was saying when he realized she wasn't exactly in the right mind at the moment.

"I wonder if Tails would approve another roommate." Sonic said to himself as he tried to pick up the young woman. "Any human has got to be better than Eggman."

After struggling to get a good grasp on the decently weighed human, Sonic looked at her face as she started to open her eyes long enough for him to see them roll back into her skull.

"Emerald... destruction..." the young woman said as she winched in pain. One of her hands, that was resting in her lap, opened slowly to reveal that she had been holding onto a sky blue, diamond cut gem. Sonic was amazed to see it and looked at the young woman with almost the same amount of interest.

"Maybe I've bitten off more than I could chew..." Sonic decided. But then, the young woman smiled in her semi-comatose state that made Sonic receive an unconscious jolt of adrenaline.

Whether or not she'd make a good roommate right now wasn't the reason why Sonic was helping her- she was in pain and she needed care. By her having a pretty face though, admittedly helped his decision a bit more.

. . .

Silver would admit to having a lot of rather idiotic ideas. Thrusting both the Scepter of Darkness and the gem into Elise's care before tossing her off the boat was an idea that was going to haunt him for a long time. As much as he wanted Mephiles to lose, and have Iblis gone forever, he felt close enough to Elise that he didn't want to see that happen at her death. Silver had already lost a friend due to his poor ideas- now she was in another dimension with no memory of him.

The boat, as luck would have it, drifted toward the shore as the storm died down over night. Silver still lay on the deck, too sore and bruised from his fight from Mephiles to even attempt to sit up. It wasn't until morning as the cool sea breeze ran across the seashore when Silver thought he was able to stand. With some difficulty, Silver stood up and collected his barrings about the new surroundings. The unfamiliar landscape made Silver groan- it was going to take forever for him to get around. He knew had to teleport to get where he needed to go faster, but in an unfamiliar terrain (and therefore a different map) it would be useless if he didn't know where he was going.

Well, if you were going to start anywhere, might as well start by finding civilization.

. . .

"Elise..." a voice called from the flames. "Elise..."

The flames were taller than the highest building in Soleanna as they consumed everything and turned it into ash. Thousands of people were screaming- men, children, and woman alike were all in pain as the fire ate away at their skin like a hungry lion.

"Elise..."

She wanted to resist the temptation, but it would have been just so easy to release Iblis now- to set right what once went wrong. Then Solaris could reform into his true power and reset the world to the way it was intended. In being the Princess of Soleanna, she would naturally take over the throne as Solaris's physical shell to lead the new people into their renewed world. The new citizens of Soleanna would rise in the world and everyone would see this grand power and bow at its sight.

"Don't cry!" a new voice said in the destruction. She squinted through the destruction to see a familiar figure. A part of her growled with anger in seeing him, the other part felt relief- a liberation from destruction, almost.

"Elise..." the first, original voice moaned again- this time with some anger hinted at the intervention.

"Silver...?!" she called out in a small voice- it seemed to be useless though, it was if something was holding her back from speaking with free will. "I can't fight him!"

"You can, you need to push past him like you always have."

"No!" the original voice growled. "You can't have her!"

The flames reigning Soleanna became taller as the fire started to eat away at her own flesh. Trying to mentally push away the flames did not work in her favor as she helplessly watched as the fire stripped away her skin.

Catapulting from her sleep, Elise woke up with a start. Within the next second, she realized something; she had no memory of anything other than her own name. However, as she looked around, she realized that -although she had no memory at the moment- she was sure she had never been a place like this before.

"Y-you're awake." someone said from nearby in surprise. Elise slowly turned her head until her eyes trained on a small yellow fox with two tails.

"I scared you." Elise observed shamefully. "I'm sorry..."

"No, no, no- you didn't scare me!" the fox proclaimed as he walked over to her. But then he thought about it. "Okay, yeah, you kinda did. But you were saying some pretty weird things! Like, really weird!"

"I'm sorry..." Elise mumbled as she started to curl herself into a ball with embarrassment. The fox kid picked up on this quickly and waved his hands to show that it was all good.

"Don't be sorry!" he said. "Here, we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm Tails."

"I..." Elise started to say, but lost track. She didn't have much to say about herself other than her name, and it kind of annoyed her. Tails tilted his head at her curiously, unsure of what to do when it seemed like she had gotten stuck in her train of thought.

"Are you alright?" Tails asked with a genuinely concerned tone. Elise nodded.

"My name is Elise." she finally said. "I'm sorry if I..."

"Stop saying that!" Tails told her, "You don't need to be sorry for anything!"

"I..." Elise started to say but caught herself. Tails looked at her like he was going to get mad, but to her surprise he started to laugh. Slowly, the corner of Elise's mouth started to smile and she began to laugh as well.

"Wait there," Tails then told her, "I'll get Sonic and the others. Everyone's been waiting for you to wake up- I'll go get them, but I need you to stay here. Okay?"

Elise nodded at him to show that she understood. Tails smiled at her, then ran out the door to get his friends. Elise watched him with a little wonder, but she thought of something that was sure to be brought up later; she was without memory, except for her own name. How was she going to explain this when they started asking her questions about where she came from? She didn't even know where she came from! Well, from here she only had two options;

Lie, or hope they believed what little truth she had.