Kept you waiting, huh? Onward!

Chapter 9: To Change Fate

"What the –?!" Eggman said suddenly.

Misty looked up. "What is it?"

"The ship!" he exclaimed. "Something's gone wrong! What – no! That can't be!"

"What?"

"Someone tampered with the engine!" he was visibly frightened now. "How did they get past my security?!"

"What's happening?!" Misty screamed.

"The ship's going down!"

Misty looked out the window. Her eyes widened in terror at what she saw. "STEER THIS SHIP OVER THE OCEAN!" she screamed.

"What?! Why?!"

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH INTO FIRE ISLAND AND –"

She never finished, as an implosion from within the ship flooded the room, consuming them. As the fire swallowed them up, Misty looked up and saw a sinister figure standing over her.

"Hehahahahahaha!" it sneered. "Finally...revenge is mine!"

Sonic ran to the edge of the cliff just in time to see Eggman's ship explode in the sky. His eyes widened in horror.

"NO!" he screamed, watching helplessly as the ship fell from the sky and headed on a crash course towards a nearby island.

Silver and Ash ran up not far behind him. "Oh no!" Silver exclaimed. "We were too late!"

"No," Ash clenched his fists. "Not if I can help it!" With that, he ran forward towards the edge of the cliff.

"Ash, wait!"

The next thing Ash knew, the ground beneath him gave away, sending him falling down the cliff.

"NO!" Sonic screamed. "ASH!"

"SONIC!" he screamed as he fell. "Grab this!" He threw the Silver Wing up, hoping Sonic could reach it. Sonic reached...but his reach wasn't long enough. The Wing fell down, along with Ash, and they plummeted into the ocean, while a large rock, dislodged from Eggman's ship crashing into the island, fell after them.

"Hang on!" Silver cried, jumping down after them. Sonic stood by while Silver went to save them. After a moment, he came back up, a somber look on his face.

Sonic could hardly believe it. "No," he whispered in horror. "It can't be...not Ash."

"That rock fell on top of him and killed him instantly," Silver shook his head.

"What about the Silver Wing?"

Silver shook his head again. "It's gone. I couldn't find it."

Sonic looked up as an explosion from Eggman's ship shook the island it crashed into, a horrid shrieking sound piercing their ears.

"Moltres," Silver shuddered.

"No," Sonic clenched his fists, falling to his knees as tears brimmed in his eyes. "How could this happen? Ash...Misty...please, no!"

For a moment, the two of them did nothing. Silver just stood there in disbelief while Sonic stayed on the ground, pounding his fists in anger and sadness and doing everything he could to hold back his anguished sobs.

"I guess fate doesn't want to change," Silver sighed sadly. Sonic looked up, tears falling down his face. "The world's gonna turn to ash."

"We can't give up," he shook his head. "But what can we do?"

Silver looked at his empty hand, clenching it as though desperate for an answer to Sonic's question. Then he abruptly opened it again.

"Wait a minute," he muttered. "We can change this."

"Huh?"

Silver looked him in the eye. "We can change history!"

"Change history," Sonic blinked a moment as he processed this, then he wiped his tears away and stood up. "I get it," he nodded. "We go back in time to stop Eggman from sealing Misty's fate." He pulled out a Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

With that, a small glow appeared in between them, slowly growing more intense until a spinning wormhole appeared, humming a futuristic sound. Sonic looked back at Silver. "I'm going to change Misty's fate, and that in turn should change Ash's fate...and your future."

Silver nodded. "Good luck, Sonic."

"Thank you, Silver," the blue blur replied. With that, he jumped into the time-space rift.

When Sonic landed, he looked up to get his bearings. "Where am I now?" he wondered aloud.

"Sonic!"

He turned and saw Tails and Knuckles running towards him. "Hey guys! What's up?"

"We've located Eggman's launching site," Tails stated.

"He launches in three hours," Knuckles added.

Sonic pumped his fist. Perfect. "Awesome job, guys. Let's go change fate!"

"He's not exactly hidden," Sonic scratched his head.

"No," Tails agreed. "Then again, it's not easy hiding a large battleship like this one when its far away from its home base."

"Let's move," Knuckles said urgently. "Ash already snuck on board to stall the engine. That should give us another hour if everything goes as planned."

"I hope he'll be okay," Sonic shuddered, remembering Silver's words from before – er, after.

"Okay, May," Ash spoke into his link. "I'm on board, and the security systems are down."

"Roger," came May's reply. "Charizard should be here within the next hour. If anything goes wrong, holler and I'll send him in."

"Thanks, May," he replied, shutting it down. This shouldn't be too hard.

"You think you're awfully clever, don't you?"

Ash froze in livid shock. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No. I stopped being a joker years ago."

He clenched his fists and whirled around. "You know what, Eggman?! I've had enough of – Oh! Um...I, uh...don't think you're him...er...this is awkward."

Much to his surprise – and embarrassment – the figure presenting himself before him was not Eggman. Instead, it was a mostly obscured figure dressed in a dark cloak. Its eyes were hidden by said-cloak, only a snarl visible on its face.

"You have much to learn, boy," the figure smirked. "Just as I foresaw."

"Where did this guy come from?" Ash wondered aloud to himself, seemingly preoccupied. "I could have sworn it was Eggman's voice that I heard." A moment of silence as he pondered, then he came up with a theory: "Is this game really that glitchy?"

"Don't be the idiot many people think you are!" the mysterious figure suddenly shouted, shocking Ash out of his musings. "I know you're better than that...Ash."

Ash started at this. "What? Who are you?! And how do you know my name?!"

The figure merely chuckled. "You can call me Mephiles...for now. Ah, I should have known you would forget about me. It's been years, hasn't it?"
Mephiles! his eyes widened. The guy who tricked Silver! "What are you talking about?" he asked, growing increasingly uneasy. "I've never met you before in my life!"

"You know nothing," Mephiles grinned wickedly. "I suspected as much. It will take time...but soon you will understand." With that, he seized him by the throat and covered his mouth, silencing him as his grin grew. "And then you will thank me. Hehahahahahahahahaaaaa!"

"Since you won't comply with my demands and bring me the Silver Wing, I've decided to take matters into my own hands," 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 –"

"DOCTOR."

Eggman looked frustrated at being interrupted. "Now what?!"

His security came in, bringing a familiar face. "WE FOUND ONE OF YOUR ENEMIES IN THE ENGINE ROOM, TAMPERING WITH THE ENGINE TO MAKE THE SHIP EXPLODE. WE WILL SET OUT TO REMEDY HIS DOINGS."

Misty gulped. "Ash?!"

"Thank you, Nakabot," Eggman grinned wickedly. "You are dismissed." With that, "Nakabot" departed. "If I had him working on the whole of this operation, we'd be done by now," Eggman smirked to himself.

"Ash, what happened?" Misty asked in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me, Misty," Ash replied. "I'm completely unhurt, but I'm far from okay. This means trouble."

A robotic arm suddenly pinned him to a wall. "I agree," Eggman sneered maliciously. "I've waited a long time to make you pay for foiling my plans."

"NO!" Misty screamed, leaping up from her chair and tackling Eggman to the ground, knocking Ash over in the process. When they all looked up, a familiar glint caught all their eyes.

Ash gasped. "Oh no!"

Eggman stood up slowly and walked over to the source of the glint, his glasses gleaming wickedly as he picked it up and held it to the light.

"Finally," he sneered. "The Silver Wing is mine!"

Next: A sky-high finale!