Have you been wondering about what's really going on in this story? Well, you're about to find out.

Chapter 7: Forward Motion

The Magnet Train was moving at a steady 300 mph from Saffron City to Goldenrod City. The passengers were taking in the sights and thoroughly enjoying the ride.

"Fennekin, look!" one of the passengers, a blue-eyed blonde, exclaimed eagerly. "It's Indigo Plateau!"

"Fenne? Fennekin!" the Kalos-native Pokemon smiled.

"Just think: in a few minutes, we'll be passing Mt. Silver, and not long after that, we'll be in Goldenrod! I can't wait to get back in action!"

"Fennekin!" Fennekin squealed in delight.

The train suddenly lurched, picking up 10 mph of speed. The blonde started. "What was that?"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE DISREGARD THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN SPEED THIS TRAIN IS UNDERGOING. THIS IS SIMPLY A HIJACKING. WELL, AT LEAST I'D CALL IT THAT IF THIS WAS A PLANE, BUT IT'S NOT, SO...UH, THIS IS AWKWARD…"

The blonde's eyes widened. "Wait...was that –?!"

"Fenne?"

Now she was scared. "It is! It's Eggman!"

"Where would Eggman be hiding in Johto?" May wondered as she and Ash strolled through town.

"I thought he was hiding somewhere in Sinnoh," Ash mused, equally puzzled. "Charizard's flown around there every so often and told me he saw Eggman's logo on a couple of hillsides on Mt. Coronet. So why would he stop in Johto?"

May shivered. "There must be something that he wants."

"We have to find him," Ash agreed.

"Tails?" Sonic pulled out his link. "Got anything?"

"Well I haven't found Eggman, but word on the street is that he's hijacked the Magnet Train!"

"Hijacked?" Sonic repeated, puzzled. "I thought that only happened on planes."

"Sonic!" Tails shouted, "He's taken over the Magnet Train!"

"On my way!" Sonic assured him, closing down the link and rushing to the rescue.

"YOU NEED NOT WORRY," came the voice of Eggman once again. "I'M ONLY USING THIS TRAIN AS A MEANS OF RAPID TRANSPORTATION TO GET TO JOHTO AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. SO JUST SIT DOWN LIKE OBEDIENT CITIZENS AND I'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE."

Everyone complied, including the blonde girl, for fear of what Eggman would do if they rose up. But her Pokemon, Fennekin, was restless, and jumped out of her lap, much to her dismay.

"Fennekin!" she exclaimed in fright. "No! Come back!" She leapt up in pursuit. Fennekin began yelling out the window, as though calling for help. The blonde girl pulled at her Pokemon, desperately trying to get it to stop.

"I WARNED YOU TO STAY DOWN!" the voice of Eggman came. "NOW YOU'LL PAY." The train started speeding up again, this time uncontrollably. The windows flew open because of this, and Fennekin flew out.

"NO!" the blonde cried in horror. "Fennekin!" She sunk to the ground in devastation, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Hey! Whose fox is this?!"

She perked and looked out the window, stunned by what she saw: a blue hedgehog, running as fast as the train, carrying her Pokemon!

"Sonic!" she exclaimed. "Fennekin! Thank goodness!"

Sonic brought Fennekin back to her trainer. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"No problem," he gave her a thumbs-up. "Now, leave the rest to me. I'm gonna stop this train!" With that, he dashed away, heading straight for the front of the train while she went back to her seat, Fennekin in her arms.

"Tails! How much longer do we have before this train loses its bonkers?"

"Well assuming it hasn't already, five minutes," came the reply from the X-Tornado.

"Got it!" Sonic replied, getting a large amount of distance between him and the front of the train. Then, he dashed forward, palms outstretched, and started pushing against the train, straining himself to the breaking point. "URRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" he grunted as he pushed in desperation. "GOTTA...STOP THIS...TRAIN!"

The train screamed in anger and stubbornly fought back against the blue blur, but in the end the fastest thing alive won out, slowing the train to a stop. The passengers all breathed in relief.

"You insolent hedgehog!"

Sonic looked up and saw Eggman hovering over him in his ship, Misty in tow. "You're going to pay for that!"

Misty, taking advantage of Eggman's distraction, jumped out of the ship, much to his dismay. "What – MISTY!?"

"Hang in there, Mist!" Sonic called out, rushing to save her. He caught her and set her down, safe and sound.

"Thank you, Sonic," she replied, smiling warmly at him. "I can always count on you." With that, she hugged him a moment.

"Whoa! Hey!" he shouted, caught off-guard. "Bestiality, much?! What is this, Sonic Next-Gen?!"

"Oh, don't be so immature," she teased him as she let him go. "What hair-brained idiot human would fall in love with a hedgehog?"

"Or a Pokemon," Sonic shrugged.

"You little pest!"

They looked up and saw Eggman leering down at them, mechanical arms reaching for Misty. "I'll take her back, thank you very much, then I'll rip you to –"

He never finished, as Sonic jumped into a ball and knocked the mechanical arms out of commission. Eggman was livid. "CURSE YOU, SONIC! I'm not through with you yet!" With that, he flew away, cursing to himself.

"We should get away from here," Sonic suggested. Misty nodded, and they ran off, the eyes of the blonde girl from the train following them.

"You think we lost him?" Misty asked after a while. They settled down and rested a moment to catch their breath.

"For now," Sonic shrugged. "What exactly does he want with you, anyway?"

"It's not me that he wants," she replied. "It's the Silver Wing."

"The what?"

"The Silver Wing," she repeated. "He didn't say much, but I can only assume that he wants to use it to control Lugia."

"Who's Lugia?"

"It's known as the beast of the sea," Misty explained. "When a greedy collector tried to capture it along with Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, he upset the balance of power and jeopardized the whole world. Lugia rose to quell the three birds' fighting, but alone it could do nothing."

"Wow," Sonic mused. "What happened next?"

"Uh, well," Misty scratched her head, trying to remember something.

"What?"

"Hm," she hummed. "There was a prophecy. I can't remember how it went...ugh – oh that's right! It went something like this:

Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning,

Lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash.

Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting,

Alone its song will fail, and thus the earth shall turn to ash.

O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three.

Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea.

Sonic raised an eyebrow (or whatever he had) in intrigue. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the three legendary birds, when the balance of their power was upset, would endanger the world as we know it. Lugia would try to stop them, but on its own it could not succeed."

"'And thus the earth shall turn to ash?'" Sonic repeated, pondering. "And then there's this chosen dude who's supposed to tame the beast of the sea...Lugia...or the world will end?"

"No, Sonic," she smiled knowingly. "The world won't end...it will just turn to ash."

"What's the difference?!" he looked at her incredulously. She just smiled at him while he furiously pondered what she meant. "The earth shall turn to ash? That sounds pretty apocalyptic to me!" He tapped his foot. "Could it have something to do with one of those birds, maybe? I don't know. Articuno? Hm. Zapdos? That's an odd name. What about Moltres? I suppose that could be it. After all, fire turns stuff to dust, right? Yeah, that –"

Suddenly it hit him. "Wait...Moltres was one of those birds?!"

Misty started at his sudden alarm. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

Sonic began running the prophecy through his head again. "'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash.' Fire, ice, lightning...and Moltres was so fiery…"

He looked up at her in alarm. "Where's the Silver Wing now?!"

"Unless something happened, Brock still has it," she replied. "Why?"

"We have to keep it away from Eggman!" he exclaimed. "If he gets a hold of it, then everything we've been fighting to prevent will blow up!"

"What?" she looked puzzled. "Sonic, what are you talking about?!"

"No time to explain!" he replied, picking her up. "We've got to get to Brock as soon as possible!" With that, he took off.

"I don't understand what's going on!" she called over the rush of the wind.

"It's okay!" he replied. "The writers don't get it either!"

As his feet pounded the ground beneath him, his mind started racing faster than his feet. That Moltres we fought in the future must be the Moltres of the prophecy! But how did it get ticked off? Well if that's the case, then Articuno and Zapdos must be out there, too. Lugia's our only chance to prevent something awful from happening: Lugia and this mysterious Chosen One. I wonder who it could be. Or maybe Misty's teasing me was just her making fun of how I'm always saving the world. That being said, maybe the Chosen One won't come until after destruction is wrought. His mind paused a moment as he ran this through, then he sweatdropped. Either that or I'm just missing something so blatantly obvious that when I figure out what it means I'm gonna do a massive facepalm later.

His ramblings were interrupted by a sudden lurch that knocked the two of them to the ground. He tripped and fell onto his face while Misty flew forward a few feet, skidding across the ground. "Ouch!" he exclaimed. "What –"

"This time, there will be no interruptions!"

His eyes widened when he saw the white hedgehog from earlier standing before him once again. "Oh no...not you again! Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I don't have time. The world's in jeopardy, and I'm trying to –"

"Silence!" Silver shouted. "I don't have the patience to deal with your jokes right now. The Disturbance must die!" With that, he used his telekinetic powers to throw Sonic to the ground, incapacitating him.

"Ungh!" Sonic grunted. Misty looked on in fright as her friend got pummelled, unaware of two mechanical arms reaching for her.

"Did you enjoy your little walk, Misty?"

She screamed. "No! Not again!"

Sonic looked up on hearing this just in time to see Eggman lift off with his prey. "Misty! No, stop!"

"Sonic, it's okay!" she called as she was carried away. "Find Brock and get the Silver Wing!"

Sonic clenched his fists in determination, eyes glimmering. "I will." With that, he tried to take off, but the telekinesis knocked him into a wall once again.

"It's no use!" Silver shouted. "You're mine!" With that, he began charging an ultimate psychic blast. Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, prepared for the worst.

"THUNDERBOLT, NOW!"

The next thing Silver knew, a powerful electric current coursed through his body, releasing his grip on Sonic. Sonic got up, as did Silver. Standing in between them was a figure whose facial features were largely hidden by a dark cloak.

"What the –?!" Silver exclaimed, seemingly shocked. "Mephiles!? Why are you getting in my way?! I thought that you –"

"Who are you calling Mephiles, you creep?!" the figure stood up, facing Silver. Sonic's eyes widened in recognition.

"Baseball Head?!"

The figure turned around, grinning at Sonic and winking. "You do what you have to do, Sonic," Ash assured him. "I'll take care of this." Sonic gave him a thumbs-up and took off, much to Silver's dismay as he braced himself to face his new foe.

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