AN: Oh happy day, viewers! You get a especially long chapter today. Why's that, you ask? Today is the day of my friendship-anniversary, marking the day I met my greatest friend. She and I have pulled through so much, and this day is very special to us, so I thought I'd spread the happiness! This special friend of mine goes by the pen name: dark-phoenix-loves-kai. She's also my beta-reader for Fragmented Chaos. Give her stories a read if you feel!

Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Sonic '06, or any other affiliated corps. The original characters Imperious, Ghost, Chameleon, Sam, and Cynthia are property of Nobel 6. Thunder is the property of Gnat1. Music is copyright of the respective author. Please support all official releases.

Claimer: I claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.

[Now Playing: "Into the Ocean" by: Blue October]

Dreams are an interesting thing, especially for the young Silver. Dreams grant an escape from the pressures of reality, an alternate method of happiness. They could be anything from a simple sense of relaxation to something elaborate, like an adventure or story.

Dreams also take the form of their alternative meaning: a goal or vision one reaches for or strives to achieve.

It was much to the latter definition that the young telekinetic experienced his dream. He sat at a beach, the very same one where Blaze had discovered him when they had gone back in time to kill the Iblis Trigger. He remembered how utterly lost he was in that brand new world without his lifelong companion. He simply sat there, gazing over the ocean, as if hoping it would give him some kind of reprieve.

Blaze had called him naïve again when she found him. She always called him that. She seemed to like it; as though it denoted some aspect of cuteness to the white hedgehog. Silver always found it embarrassing.

Within his mindscape, Silver gazed out at the sea. It was sunset in Soleanna, with the sun setting just over the horizon. The great light cast shades of orange and purple over the sea and clouds, creating a relaxing and awe inspiring scene. His hand gripped the wood of the dock he was sitting at the edge of, wondering what he could have done to prevent Blaze from disappearing.

Silver felt another hand overlap his and he glanced to his right, noticing his catty companion beside him. "You know, doing all this thinking isn't going to get you anywhere," Blaze spoke in a voice that made his cheeks flush. "There's nothing you could've done. Don't get so angry over things you can't control."

The white hedgehog gave a sigh and scuffed his feet across the water's surface. Was there anything he could've done? Now that he really thought about it, there wasn't. "I'm gonna get you out of that dimension, Blaze. I promise," he said to her.

Blaze shook her head and leaned onto his shoulder. "Silver, it's dangerous," she protested, casting a soft glance to him to show that she cared and was worried. "Even if you do manage to bring me back, I still have Iblis trapped with me."

"That's impossible," Silver noted, blinking. "Iblis was destroyed along with Mephiles when they became Solaris."

Blaze only shook her head, trying to find the words to show what she meant. "Even if it affected the future, I'm in an alternate dimension," she muttered softly. "The time flow doesn't connect here. The Iblis in me isn't affected by Solaris' death."

Silver sighed and looked at her closely. "Then it's a risk I'll have to take," he said to her, holding her hand with both of his and gazing into her golden eyes. "I need you here… I miss you too much."

Blaze looked at him, almost confused. She didn't know he actually missed her this much; to be so needy and clingy. She could only shake her head and fish through his quills, pulling out the white Chaos Emerald he always kept with him. "You'll never truly be alone," she whispered to him, putting the emerald in his hands. "Until you come and get me, we can communicate in your dreams with this emerald."

Silver blushed at how close they were, but did nothing to prevent it. He felt his vision suddenly whiten at the edges and he gave a soft smile. "It's time for me to wake up, Blaze," he whispered to her, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I promise, I'll find these Sol Emeralds and I'll set you free."

Blaze giggled, smiling brightly at him and pecking his cheek. "You're still so naïve… I'll be waiting for you," she said, framing his face with her hands. "Bye."

"Bye Blaze."

And then everything whited out.

[Stop Music]

^/\^|v\/v

~ ("Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."—David Ogden Stiers) ~

Syaoron the Fox presents

Following the Events of Sonic '06

Accompanied by Various Music and Themes

Remnants of the Past

Chapter 10

Reboot

^/\^|v\/v

Soleanna Defense Mainframe

September-26-2506

-:-

Silver awoke more abruptly than he expected to. Sirens and alarms blared, red lights flashing overhead. Alarms like this in free storage? What the heck is going on? These were the thoughts that ran through the hedgehog's head as Tails pulled him out of bed. "C'mon, Silver! We gotta get going!" the young kit shouted to him, tugging him by the arm.

Silver couldn't help but yawn, having just been aroused from sleep. He blinked at the kit, groaning. "Why? What's going on? Is there a virus or something?" Silver asked. In their current location, which appeared to be the digital world of a computer mainframe, a virus would be nothing short of disastrous. Was that the reason Tails had aroused him in such a panic?

Tails shook his head. "No, it's not a virus," he replied, grouping up with the others.

A white ball of light fizzed into the form of a shining owl, the AI they had come to know as Alpha. "We have detected the anomaly in the system that you appear to be searching for," he said with a squeaky, high-pitched voice. "It appears to be making a course for the power core, and it is swiftly breaking through our levels of security."

"C'mon guys, we need to go catch them," Ghost said to them, nodding off to the red, coded beacon in the distance that tagged their enemy. "We have to get them before they take the Sol Emerald!"

That was, of course, enough to spur the band of anachronisms into gear. They felt imbued with energy as they rushed through the sectors. Alpha tried to explain the grid system once again, with sectors and subsectors, though only Tails cared enough to pay any attention. They were all focused on finding the intruder, so much so that the complicated grid system seemed unimportant to them. As they traveled though, the constant they all saw was the darkening atmosphere.

"Hey Alpha, what's with the darker… everything?" Thunder asked, denoting even that the bridges of light they walked upon were a darker shade of blue than the others. Everything grew thick as they waded through the ever murkier darkness. "Is it a malfunction of some kind?"

Alpha, the ever bright light, shook his head to the question. "No. Everything is darker near the power source," he explained. "It takes in power closest to it and cycles it, amplifying it. It recycles energy and magnifies its power."

"Then we're almost there," Knuckles confirmed as he pointed to the darkened silhouette of what appeared to be a human female. "Is that our anomaly then?"

With the approving nod of Alpha, Ghost nodded to the others and patted Silver on the shoulder. "You and the others should sneak around. I'll take care of her," he said to the hedgehog. Though Silver trusted him and he moved the others along on the opposite side of the room, he created a ward to prevent anything from hitting them in case things went south.

The woman took a glance over at Ghost, then to the group he was obviously protecting. "A valiant effort, but overall futile," she simply said, her black hood preventing Ghost from seeing any of her identifiable facial features. He could almost feel the piercing glare from the woman despite that hood. The woman then drew a few small needles, throwing them in the direction of the covert group, in the direction of one of the openings.

Ghost would have none of it. With surprising speed and reaction timing, he pulled out his combat knife and blocked the path of the needles. He picked one up and looked it over, his lips pulling into a smile. "Senbon needles…" he mused, looking at the double-pointed needle. "You aren't fooling around."

"I have no intention to," the woman spoke in a dignified tone. She soon came to realize that if she was to take the Sol Emerald from the Mobians, she would have to first go through this brute of a man. With a glare that seemed to cast death, she flipped backward to gain some distance. "Come then."

[Now Playing: "See Who I Am" by: Within Temptation]

Without warning, the woman whipped a storm of senbon at Ghost. The needles cut through the air without making a sound, only blurs of grey in the air that the man was barely able to block or dodge. He winced as a sudden misstep allowed a needle through his guard, slicing across his cheek and causing blood to seep from the wound. "You're good, I'll give you that," Ghost mused, deciding it was time for him to take this seriously.

The next wave of needles came, with more force than the last. Ghost only gave a smirk, sheathing his knife and raising his hands. The needles stopped in their path, causing the woman to gasp a bit and stumble back a bit in her surprise. "I thought only the white rodent could do that," she said, trying to conceal her shock.

The needles held a soft, green sheen as Ghost redirected them back at the woman. "You've been misinformed," he replied firing the needles off back at her. Having her own experience with the weapons, dodging the senbon was a simple task for her and hardly fazed her at all. It was the attack that immediately followed that she knew she would have to look out for.

True to her prediction, Ghost started rushing at her in the wake of the attack, tearing through the air with his combat knife in an attempt to strike her. The woman only drew one of her long needles and redirected his thrusts and lunges. They clashed steel countless times before the woman's needle became locked with the toothed saw-blade portion of the combat knife. "Your movements all seem very familiar to me," Ghost mused, his hand trembling as he resisted her force.

"Really? Nothing about you is familiar to me," the woman mused dryly. She twisted around and planted a fierce kick at Ghost's side, causing him to stumble back. As the man staggered, the woman lunged forward for a punch, only for the fist to be caught and twisted around, throwing her with her momentum. She was able to easily gain her balance by flipping onto her feet. "You're persistent though."

They held a stare off for a few moments before clashing again.

^/\^|v\/v

The clash of steel on steel echoed through the corridor, easily reaching Silver's ears. Concern began to bubble and he sighed shakily. "You think he's holding his own alright back there?"

Thunder blinked, glancing back at Silver. The lion chuckled and gave a proud nod. "Of course he is," he said confidently. "Combat is his life. It's what he grew up in. In a battle of physical combat, he is most likely the victor."

"Suppose the enemy has more than just physical combat," Tails proposed, musing over outcomes. "What if she can use magic or other powers?"

"Then it's an entirely different story," Thunder answered honestly. "We can't think that way though. We still have to get that Sol Emerald."

"Speaking of it, it's up ahead," Knuckles said to them, pointing at the power source of the mainframe. The chamber seemed to have an endless bottom and an endless ceiling, with weak power in the circuit funneling upward from the bottom and funneling outward at the top, with much more powerful, brighter energy.

Alpha gave a smile as he observed the beautiful scene. "Isn't it magnificent? The power circuit runs all the way around the mainframe, amplifying power at this point to keep a constant flow going," he explained. It seemed as though the AI felt truly at peace around the energy spirals. "Such a magnificence of technology…"

"Thanks for leading us to it, Alpha," Silver said thankfully. "Let's go get it."

Alpha blinked in genuine surprise, glancing at the white hedgehog who had spoken those words. Silver appeared determined, almost excited as they approached the emerald. Had he been fooled somehow? "What is this ludicrous nonsense? W-we thought you were here to protect the power source, not steal it!"

Silver shook his head and smiled confidently. The same confidence he felt in his dream was beginning to show through. "We are in a desperate need for that Sol Emerald," he tried to explain, though it seemed to have little effect on the AI owl.

Tails gave Silver a look of pure disbelief to the hedgehog. It would be the absentminded naïve one who would nonchalantly announce their true intentions to the very person who is guarding the item they seek, or so the kit thought. He quickly gave motions for Silver to apologize and correct himself, but the damage had already been done.

Alpha appeared enraged at having been fooled by them. Either due to his programming or perhaps free will from his artificial intellect, the owl's eyes began to glow with a piercing red, his feather color scheme darkening to blacks and greys. He began to crackle with energy; giving a glower to the people he had once helped. "If that is the case, then it is our duty to stop you!"

"Nice job, Silver."

The hedgehog sighed when he heard the echidna's words, feeling the disappointment and scolding tone in his eardrum. Now focused on their new enemy, he tried his best to shut out what he felt, though he still felt a little disappointed in himself. Nonetheless, he sighed and focused on their foe.

"Shut up, Knuckles."

^/\^|v\/v

The clatter of steel against steel came to a sudden halt as the man and woman jumped back, away from each other. Ghost groaned a bit, feeling somewhat weary. This woman had pushed him far, closing in on his limit. No one had ever been able to match him in combat; none but one person. He was starting to heave his breaths, and from the rise and fall of his opponent's chest, he figured she was breathing heavily as well.

"What are you staring at?"

Ghost blinked in surprise, suddenly realizing that the words had come from his self-conscious opponent. A blush rose in his cheeks and he sighed. "Shut up," he growled in response, preparing to lunge at her. "You're just as tired as I am."

The woman shook her head as she finally pulled back her hood to let the wind hit her face. "I suppose you're right about that," she mused, sighing.

Ghost blinked, almost instantly recognizing the face. The soft, defined features; the almond-brown eyes that matched perfectly with her auburn hair; it all seemed so familiar to him. It was in that shock that she took action, lunging at him and jabbing her elbow into his stomach. Ghost reeled in pain, unable to block the second elbow strike to his cheek. He stumbled back, a little dazed, but he still managed to analyze the combat style. "Muay-Thai… That's an interesting style," he muttered, blood flowing from his split lip.

"I learned it on my own," the woman said.

Ghost rolled away from her, back onto his feet. He stood, trying to steady himself. He waited to see if she would attack and, upon noticing she was stepping back, he decided it would be a good time to go on the offensive. He lunged with a powerful kick and made his second mistake.

The cross-block is a difficult but effective technique. The elbow and knee trap in the attacking limb and pinch the muscle, causing intense pain and muscle damage. As soon as her elbow and knee crashed onto his leg, he felt a sharp, hot pain penetrate him, resulting in a cry of pain. Try as he might, he couldn't even stand on that leg, and the moment he put weight on it, he crumbled to the ground.

"Not so tough as you say you are, huh?" the woman mused as she squatted beside him, smirking as he rolled and tried to regain his sense of awareness. "How does it feel to be beaten by a woman?"

"Shut the hell up," he groaned through pained breaths, reaching up as if in an attempt to grip her throat and strangle her.

The woman put a stop to it instantly, pulling out her pistol and firing a shot just next his head. The loud noise rang in his ear for a moment, and when he regained his awareness, the pistol that the woman had shot was pointed directly at his face. "That was a warning shot. The next one will turn your brain into a cannoli."

Ghost was beat, and he gave a sigh before finally admitting that to himself. He still couldn't believe it and gave groaned as he looked up at her. The only one person that was ever able to beat him was…

He suddenly cursed himself for not recognizing it earlier. The woman practiced in Muay-Thai; he felt as though her features were so familiar; she had beaten him for that matter. It can't be her… he denied, even though all the facts were set before him.

And so, to prove it to himself, he tested her. "Jericho 941…"

[Stop Music]

The woman blinked, a bit surprised by his suddenly spoken words. "What did you say?" she asked him, a look of disbelief crossing her surprised expression.

"Your pistol… Jericho 941," Ghost repeated. "With 9-by-19 Parabellum rounds, 15 rounds per mag, short recoil action, semi-auto, 112 millimeter barrel, 150 millimeter sight-line radius…"

"How do you know all that?" the woman questioned him, pressing the barrel of the pistol into his temple. "What are you getting at? Who are you?"

Ghost gave a sigh and tried at that time to make a daring move. He reached for the pistol in his hip holster. She watched his hand as he took the pistol—the very same pistol she had—and unloaded the magazine. He handed to her the unloaded gun as well as the ammunition. He gave a half-hearted chuckle. What a fool he must have looked, giving his enemy his gun with ammunition. "My name is…"

"John Murray," she cut him off. The woman dropped both of the pistols and hugged him tightly, forgetting all about the fight—including the injuries she had inflicted on her brother, made clear when he winced in pain. "John, you're alive! Oh my God, I thought you died!"

John gasped for breath and groaned, hugging her back despite the pain. "I never thought I'd see you again… Cynthia," he muttered. The siblings held their embrace for a while before John groaned. "Cynthia… you're on my bad leg… My bad leg, Cynthia! You're on my bad leg!"

Cynthia gasped a bit and stepped back from him as if he had the plague. "O-oh, I'm so sorry John!" she immediately apologized, flustered beyond belief. "You look pretty banged up. Let me help you," she insisted as she helped him up, putting his arm over her shoulder to help him walk.

"We are going to have a talk about this when this all blows over," Ghost reprimanded her.

Cynthia only gave a light giggle. "Oh, don't worry. I'm looking forward to it."

[Now Playing: "Conductor" by: We Were Promised Jetpacks]

As they hobbled on, deeper into the energy chamber, they noticed that the rest of their group was being held up by the now frighteningly large form of Alpha. "Wasn't that AI your friend?" Cynthia asked.

"That's what I was just thinking," Ghost muttered.

The fact that Cynthia was now with them mattered less than the imposing owl ahead, and none of them questioned why they had suddenly become fast friends. "Silver told Alpha what we were going to do with the Sol Emerald," Thunder said, though Silver tried to protest. "Now Alpha won't let us through."

"Have you told him why we need the emerald?" Ghost asked, trying to figure out the situation.

"Tried that already," Knuckles replied, groaning. "He just won't give in. He's not gonna let us through."

Silver sighed, knowing that this was his entire fault. They had the Sol Emerald in the palm of their hand practically, and his slip up of words pulled it away from them. "C'mon Alpha, let us through!" he shouted up at the foreboding AI.

"Never!" Alpha shouted back, showing emotion almost—anger. "You lied to us; deceived us! You've come here to destroy us. It is our duties as overseers of the power source to protect it at all costs, and we will not let the likes of you through."

Tails suddenly grimaced, trying to think about what the AI was trying to process. "I don't get it," he muttered. "Why hasn't he attacked us yet?"

"You're questioning that now?" Knuckles groaned. "What does it matter?"

"No, I completely mean it," Tails responded seriously. "He overpowers us by twentyfold at least. He could so easily obliterate us; squash us like flies. We'd no longer be a threat. But he's just… sitting there, not attacking us. Maybe he really doesn't want to?"

They all pondered these words. Whether it was just a phony cover-up or the AI truly did despise them, they couldn't tell. But he was granting them mercy, something they had not expected. And so, despite the hateful threats, the young kit took it upon himself to try arguing their point with the AI one last time.

"Tails, what are you doing? Are you crazy?" Knuckles shouted up at him, showing concern. "Get down here!"

The echidna was ignored however as the kit spun his tails and flew up to meet the owl face to face. "Alpha, give me a chance to explain things," Tails pleaded to him.

Now, Tails had a hard time understanding people sometimes. He sometimes was confused as to why the displayed certain emotions and he had difficulty reading emotions. When Alpha gave him a confirming nod, the kit looked into the AI's eyes and, despite his difficulty, still saw a gleam; a gleam that told the kit to convince Alpha why they should go through.

"Your main job is to protect the power source, correct?" Tails questioned Alpha.

The giant owl nodded. "That is correct. While we are charged with overseeing other things, our focus is to protect the power source which you are so keen on calling a Sol Emerald."

"And the computer that this power source provides energy for is Soleanna's defense mainframe?"

"That is also correct. You learn fast, kit."

"So your overall purpose is to provide for the protection of Soleanna by keeping the defense mainframe online."

Alpha took a few seconds to answer, even contorting his expression in thought. Once he was sure of these things, he nodded. "That would seem to be the reason for our existence, yes." The owl then narrowed his gaze. "What are you getting at?"

Tails blinked, starting to sweat. He raised a finger to the owl. "Uh… give me a second." Even the owl blinked, a little surprised as the kit dropped back down, panting and sweating. Tails ignored the stares he got as he let his namesake relax.

"Uh… do you need any help, Tails?" Silver asked, reaching a hand out to assist the kit.

Tails only shook his head. "No… I just wish I could fly longer," he grumbled. After having adequate rest, he flew back up to meet Alpha. "Where were we?"

"You were talking about how my overall purpose is to protect Soleanna."

"Ah, that's correct!" Tails exclaimed before continuing. "We are facing powerful enemies who are hunting Sol Emeralds such as your power source. They will stop at nothing to acquire it. They're ultimate goal, we believe, is to cause Soleanna's downfall. This will ultimately result in the failure of your purpose."

Alpha looked shocked to say the least as he took this all in. "You are saying that it would be for the greater good that we give you the power source because the alternative is that this enemy will take it instead?" the owl questioned. When Tails gave a nod, Alpha turned his angered expression into a one of content and acceptance. "It makes enough sense to us."

At that moment, the owl's for dissipated. Dark light scattered from the form and then turned to white. All that was left of the AI was a ball of surging white light. "Retrieve the Sol Emerald, travelers. You have proven your purpose admirably," Alpha's voice spoke from it. "I will alert the rest of the system that you have been given full authorization for this. Go quickly."

And then the light was gone, just as quickly as it appeared. All of them remained silent, thankful for the AI's forgiveness. "Why did he do it though?" Knuckles asked, confused. "Wasn't his job to protect to the emerald? And even after we had lied to him…"

Ghost sighed, still being held up by Cynthia. "There are things that happen sometimes… and the person will have a change of heart," he said, nodding over to Cynthia for the double meaning. "Tails convinced him that we were worth trusting; that whatever we were going to do with this emerald, it would make the emerald a better place."

Tails sighed again, looking around. "Still… Even I'm surprised," he said. "If we take out the emerald, everything will shut down. He'll be lost along with the rest of the system… He trusts us so much that he'd give his life?"

"I… guess so," Silver muttered. He had never thought of it that way; that by taking the emerald they were killing Alpha.

Thunder nodded, sighing softly. "Let's not take this easy win for granted," Thunder spoke to them. "We should get the emerald and be out of here as soon as possible."

Though Alpha's death would be upon them, Silver felt ecstatic after the whole situation. Even if it was just one more emerald to add to their one, it felt like a great victory and he felt that much closer to finally seeing Blaze again. As they walked up to the energy funnel to retrieve the yellow Sol Emerald, Silver couldn't shake away the tingle in his spine. Whether it was the excitement or the nagging sensation like he was being watched, the shiver continued as they took the emerald.

There was an immediate effect on the environment. Everything seemed darker, heavier. "The system won't survive much longer without the power amplifier," Tails said. "We should probably get out of here."

From the moment they snagged the emerald to the time when they entered the portal, Silver could never shake the sensation of being watched. From a distance, a lone owl bade goodbye to the travelers, though they could not hear him. "It was for the best," he muttered before everything faded away and he was lost to darkness.

"So… this is what the end feels like."

[Stop Music]

^/\^|v\/v

Soleanna

September-26-2506

15:48 Mobius Time

"What the hell are you trying to tell me?!" River Carton, Director of the Soleanna Defense System, shouted at his subordinate.

"I'm only telling you exactly what we know." The man who was River's subordinate was clearly afraid. He couldn't even keep still, and sweat was gathering on him to form a shiny layer over his skin. He was in deep today.

River massaged his temple, groaning. "Somebody stole away into our system, stole a key piece to our complex machine, and shut down the entire defense mainframe?!" he interrogated the man in anger. "Do you know how much trouble we will be in—how much trouble all of god blessed Soleanna could be in, all because you and your cohorts messed this up?!"

The man remained silent, for there was nothing else to be said. They couldn't ask the AIs because the entire machine shut down, taking all their artificial intelligences with it. The anomaly remained even more mysterious.

With a moan of frustration, River picked up a nearby phone and began dialing numbers. Out of sheer curiosity, the subordinate asked, "Who are you calling, sir?"

"The important people who need to know about this. That's who I'm calling," River replied, feeling a bit tired. However, when someone answered, he immediately perked up. "Hello, Ms. Elise?"