Chapter 117: Scattered

"Silva?" Sonny said recognizing the white-haired teen who stood in the middle of the burning highway. "How did you get here?"

When Silva didn't answer, Sonny walked towards him and was surprised to see that Silva's eyes were grey like Shawn's back in Central City.

"Oh, so you're brainwashed too?" Sonny said folding his arms. "Well, that's just great!"

Then just as Sonny jumped into the air to get onto the floating rails above the highway, Silva's hands glowed bright blue and Sonny was frozen stiff in place.

"Stay here," Silva said in a drugged tone.

Over Silva's head, Sonny could see Sonic dodging flying cars and debris that were being hurled by a white hedgehog that glowed the same color as Silva's hands.

"So that must be Silver," Sonny said to himself.

"Sonny!" Blake said as she leaped down from a nearby skyscraper. Then she turned to Silva and said, "Let him go."

"Can't…do that," Silva said and used his other hand to lift a car from the highway which he hurled at Blake.

Fortunately, Blake dodged the car in time and looked perplexed. "What's gotten into you?"

"He's not himself!" Sonny cried. "Something's controlling his mind. You got to snap him out of it before he kills us."

"I don't want to hurt my brother, but I guess I have no choice," Blake said and rushed at Silva before kicking him in the chest.

This caused Silva to lose his concentration and let go of Sonny as he fell several feet in front of Blake. While a blue and white blur flew past them, Sonny and Blake ran toward Silva and pinned him to the ground. As his body started to glow again, Blake put her hand over his eyes causing the aura to subside.

"What're you doing?" Sonny asked as he struggled against Silva's wiggling arms and legs.

"Blinding him," Blake answered. "He can't use his psychokinesis when he isn't able to see the object of his focus."

"I see."

"Calm down, Silva," Blake said softly into Silva's ear. "I'm right here. Just focus on my voice and come back to us."

Silva struggled, but Blake and Sonny held onto him tightly until he stopped moving and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing back here, slow-poke?" Sonic asked when he reappeared in front of Sonny and Blake. "We got to keep moving!"

As Sonic sped away, Sonny did his best to catch up while Blake stood watch over Silva who was softly moaning on the pavement as he clutched his chest.

###

Eventually, Sonny and Sonic found a frozen statue of Victor in an area that looked like Spagonia during the daytime. Once color was restored to him, he rubbed his eyes briefly and stared at Sonic with perplexed eyes.

"This is getting awkward," Sonic said after a pause.

In response, Victor yelled in surprise and fell backward. "D-D-Did that hedgehog j-just—

"Talk? Yeah, it's the norm on this version of Mobius," Sonny said nonchalantly as Sonic got bored and ran off.

"This version?" Victor said rubbing the sides of his head. "I'm so confused right now."

"According to Miles, there were two versions of our planet," Sonny responded. "The first was the one Sonic occupied, which was destroyed several thousand years ago, then a second one was formed from the remains of the first and that's the Mobius we live on."

"Okay, but what does that got to do with where we are?" Victor said and looked around. "Isn't this Spagonia? I've always wanted to go here, but couldn't get enough money to afford one trip."

"Yes, but it's the one from Sonic's Mobius, and Sonic was that blue hedgehog you just saw."

"Wait a minute. I thought Sonic looked like you but with hedgehog ears and a tail."

"So did I, but apparently while he was alive Sonic was a talking blue hedgehog."

"Weird. Then if Sonic and his friends are alive in this world, that means Vector's alive too."

"He is," Espen said, suddenly appearing out of thin air between Sonny and Victor. "But I don't think you'll be pleased to know what he looks like."

"Espen!" Victor exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

"I've been standing here the whole time, but just invisible," Espen answered. "It seems that while we longer have the spirits of Sonic and his friends inside us since they're alive in this world, we still retain certain abilities they had. But I'm not sure whether these powers are temporary or not."

"Yeah, yeah, but now I want to know what Vector looks like," Victor insisted. "Is he human?"

"No, a talking crocodile who wears headphones and is just as greedy as you are," Espen replied. "And it turns out Sonic was right about Espio. He was a purple chameleon, after all."

"Are talking animals the dominant species of this planet or something?" Victor asked.

"No, but the humans of this world don't find them as strange as we do. The anthropomorphized animals mostly live on small tropical islands or in some of the major cities across the globe."

"Anthro-what?"

"Anthropomorphic: animals with human-like qualities."

"Oh, right," Victor said scratching the back of his close-shaven head. "So where did everyone else go after that giant shadow monster sucked us in?"

"They all turned to frozen statues like you but were scattered in different locations," Sonny said. "We've found most of them but some are still missing."

"Like Charles?" Victor wondered.

Sonny nodded and turned to Espen. "Any luck finding him?"

"No, which leads me to believe that he is somewhere further away."

"Then let's start looking for him," Victor said and put his arm around Espen's shoulder. "I'd hate to think of him being all alone and wondering where we are."

"Fine," Espen said brushing Victor's arm aside. "Follow me."

As Espen started to leave, Victor looked back at Sonny and said, "You know something? I bet the shadow monster that kidnapped us and our friends was being controlled by someone who really wanted to see us suffer and so he brought us here thinking that we'd be powerless without our spirit friends to help us."

"I'll keep that in mind, Victor," Sonny said waving as the two vanished down the cobblestone streets. "Hope your search of Charles goes well!"

To be continued…