Chapter 8: The True Disturbance

It didn't take long for Sonic the reach Pewter City, where Brock currently was. When he arrived, he found the former gym leader at his home, taking care of his siblings. As soon as he heard what was happening, he quickly went with Sonic to a secret place.

"So Eggman wants to take control of Lugia, does he?" Brock shuddered. "That'll bring about a lot of destruction." He shuddered as he remembered the last time someone tried to take control of the legendary beast of the sea. "Our first priority should be to keep the Silver Wing out of his hands. We'll save Misty as soon as my Pokemon are ready to go."

"When will that be?" Sonic asked anxiously.

"Two days."

Sonic looked up to the darkening sky, fear gripping him as Tails' words about Misty and Eggman's deaths rang through his mind like a death knell: It's only a day or two after the point when we got caught in that trap of Eggman's.

"No," he insisted. "We have to save her before tomorrow ends."

"Without my Pokemon, there's no way I'll be able to help. They need more time."

"We don't have any more time, Brock!" Sonic shouted, taking the breeder aback.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, puzzled.

Sonic then proceeded to tell him about how Eggman had sent him to the future and how he discovered that, assuming the databases were correct, Misty and Eggman would die the next day.

"Then we don't have a choice but to act now," Brock nodded. "Stay in town: rest for the night. You're going to need all your strength." Sonic reluctantly agreed, as he had taken a hard beating from Silver. He resolved, however, to take off at the break of dawn to save Misty.

There wasn't a moment to waste.

"Since you won't comply with my demands and bring me the Silver Wing, you've left me no choice but to force my hand," Eggman growled as his battleship started to hum. Misty was tied to a chair at the back of the control room.

"You can't do this," she ground her teeth. "You'll only bring destruction. Nothing good can come out of this."

"Don't be ridiculous," he sneered. "Once Lugia is mine to command, nothing will be able to stop me. Or do you believe in that silly prophecy as old as the beast itself?!"

"The prophecy may be old, but it's true!" she snapped.

Eggman just chuckled. "Blind faith. It's the downfall of every hero."

"It's not blind faith!" she growled. "I saw the fulfillment of the prophecy with my own two eyes. I know it's true!"

"Oh, really?" Eggman sneered, suddenly intrigued. "Then you saw the end of the world, did you? Ha! Such idiocy! You know very what it says, or should I remind you? 'The earth shall turn to ash!' Tell me, how is it that the world still lives on if it turned to ash?"

Misty clenched her fists. "You've got it wrong, Eggman."

"Then enlighten me when I've tamed the beast of the sea!" he snarled, slapping her to shut her up. The battleship's humming grew louder as Misty felt themselves get lifted up higher. His wicked grin grew as they ascended, while he repeated the last lines of the prophecy to himself:

"'O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three; Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea.'"

Misty shivered at the thought of what he was planning. Lugia may rise to stop this madness she thought, but there's no way it will be able to stop him alone. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear. And then...the world will turn to ash…

Deep in the battleship, where the engine ran, security was maximized in order to prevent anyone from tampering with the ship's intricate details that, if meddled with, would cause the ship to plummet. Yet somehow, a sinister figure managed to make its way into this chamber unseen and undetected.

"Sorry, Eggman," it sneered, "but I'm afraid your flight is coming to an end...along with the rest of the world." With that, he laughed wickedly as he began to rewire some of the critical parts inside the ship in such a way that would prove fatal to anyone on board.

As Sonic ran through the untamed wilderness connecting Pewter City to Indigo Plateau, his heart thumped harder than ever before. I can't let Misty die. Not like this. Eggman won't get away with whatever it is he's planning. But why am I so worried? Have I ever been so worried about anyone before? Could this be…

His face suddenly sported a deadpan expression when he realized what he was thinking. I swear, whoever wrote this story is gonna get a serious visit when I contact my agent.

It was at this opportune moment that a horde of wild Raticate jumped out of nowhere and landed in front of him, angered that their territory had been breached. Sonic braced himself for a fight, as did they, when they suddenly glowed an eerie green and lost control of their movement. The next thing anyone knew, they were thrown out of the way.

"Huh?" Sonic wondered aloud. "What was –?"

"You look like you're in a hurry."

Sonic cringed on hearing the now familiar voice. "Silver," he muttered, turning to face the white hedgehog. Surprisingly, Silver didn't look like he wanted to fight. "Back for more, huh?"

"I guess that's one way of putting it," Silver sighed. "Actually, circumstances have changed. You're trying to save Misty, right?"

Sonic's eyes widened. "How – what, now you have mind-reading powers?!"

"No," Silver shook his head. "That's not the point. I'm trying to save her, too."

"Oh, yeah, very funny," Sonic rolled his eyes, not believing him for a minute. "What, are you my new sidekick, courtesy of SEGA? That's Tails' bid, so I suggest you bail out! Besides, nobody likes you, and your fur is making me hallucinate!"

"Hey!" Silver snapped back. "It's a rebel style! Anyways, I don't have time to bicker with you. I need to save Misty."

"Not a chance," Sonic growled. "She's in my boat, so I suggest you stay out of the way!"

"Sonic, I'm trying to help you. I know I tried to kill you before, but I was mistaken about who you were. Now I know who our real enemy is, and unless you help me, there's no way we can stop him!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow (or whatever he had) on hearing this. Does he know about the prophecy? Does he know how to stop Eggman? Maybe – NO. He tried to kill me, and now he's just manipulating me as a change of tactics.

"No big," he turned away. "I can stop Eggman all on my own." With that, he took off.

Five minutes later, however, he found himself caught under the grip of Silver's telekinesis once again. "Aw, come on!" he groaned. "Really?!"

"I told you, I need your help!" Silver insisted. "And the truth is, like it or not, you need mine, too!"

"I'll be just fine without you, two-face!" he snapped back. "I know you're manipulating me just so you can double-cross me!"

"You've got it wrong, just like I did!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I –"

"HEY!"

The two of them started on hearing this and turned towards the owner of the sudden voice, who turned out to be none other than…"

"Baseball Head?" Sonic exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness you're here! Would you please do me a favor and get rid of this –"

"Zip it, Sonic," Ash stopped him. "I've had enough of this pointless bickering. Believe me, it gets you nowhere fast." He turned to Silver. "I told you it was a long-shot, Silver. If Sonic won't help us, then we'll just have to go it on our own."

"Wait, what?!" Sonic exclaimed. "What's going on here?!"

"I'd tell you, but you don't seem to be willing to listen," Silver grumbled. "So I'll let Ash do the talking."

Ash nodded and stepped forward. "Silver thought you were going to cause the destruction of the world," he explained.

"Oh, THERE'S a big surprise!" Sonic retorted. "That's an incredi–I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and DIE from that surprise!"

"I said zip it!" Ash snapped. "Anyways, some creep by the name of Mephiles told him that the only way to save his world was to kill you. But Silver recently realized that Mephiles was only using him to stall you so that Eggman would disturb the balance of power between the three Legendary Birds, the true disturbance that would destroy the future. Now he knows he needs to save Misty if he wants to save his future." He looked Sonic square in the eye. "He was trying to do the right thing, but he was misguided. Please try to understand, Sonic."

Sonic soaked all of this in and finally nodded, prompting Silver to let him down.

"A disturbance, hm?" Sonic mused. Then his eyes widened as he remembered the prophecy. "'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, or lightning,'" he breathed, paling at the thought.

"What?" Silver looked puzzled. "Is something wrong?" He blinked. "Oh, come on! My fur should not have that effect on you!"

"HURRY!" Sonic suddenly shouted, running off, leaving Ash and Silver standing there, dumbfounded.

"I guess he still doesn't trust me," Silver shrugged. "Can't say that I blame him."

"No," Ash shook his head. "I know those words. Something's about to go terribly wrong." He looked Silver in the eye urgently. "Come on. We've got to catch up to him." With that, they took off, while Ash took care to hold onto a precious object inside his blue coat:

The Silver Wing.