Chapter 58: A Blast from the Past - Part 4:
I'm Silver the Hedgehog! The hero of the future, today!
Sometimes, I wish that my ability to expect the unexpected
wasn't limited by whether or not my attention is undivided,
or how close I am to the source of trouble! 'Cause almost every
time something like this happens, I'm unprepared! Anyways, I'm
extremely curious right now! After that light died down, Sonic and
Shadow were nowhere to be found, and I was standing in the middle
of Forest Falls Zone, before I was forced to race against a hologram
of Sonic, and won! Then I heard some agonized screams and some
tumbling rocks way out in the distance! My only hope NOW is to use
my psychic powers to try and locate the others! Hmmm...
Meanwhile, in another part of the virtual world, Silver the Hedgehog was busy walking through a grassy plain with many trees and waterfalls. Though the dirt was checkered, this was not Green Hill Zone.
"Ugh! Seriously, where could they be?!" Silver groaned, holding his index and middle fingers up to his forehead and shutting his eyes, "Fuck! I'm not getting a signal!"
Back in the fortress, Blaze was lying on the bed with a traumatized look on her face, as Dr. Eggman climbed from the bed she was trapped on, while Amy and Rouge sat on their armchairs with fists clenched and eyes shut tightly as if praying for their men.
"Alright, bud! Your turn!" He said.
"Wait! Not yet! This is a good part! Silver's learning the hard way that our Retro Simulator has no psychic-service! Hahahaha!" Eggman Nega replied, standing anxiously at the control panel.
"You mean, mine?" Eggman replied, "Don't make me come over there and burst that bulbous pink nose of yours!"
"Uh, I don't think you should be talking!" Nega replied.
Back in the plains, Silver overheard the entire conversation despite his mind-reading abilities being disabled.
"So you like to play dirty, huh Eggheads?!" He called out.
"GAH!" Both doctors screamed in a feminine manner, causing the girls to start chuckling in the background.
"How did he hear that?!" Eggman asked, "I could've sworn I specifically programmed the machine to inhibit that type of powers so that they wouldn't immediately find their way out!"
"I don't know!" Nega replied.
"Uh, boss? I think you left the microphone on." Hexbot said from the corner.
Both Eggmen blushed, before hurriedly switching it off.
"Hah! Classic Eggheads! IQ of 300, my ass." Silver chuckled as he proceeded to walk into the nearby woods, passing a sign that read 'Leaving Forest Falls Zone'.
Pretty soon, Silver had left Forest Falls and was deep within the misty foliage of Green Forest, though he took little notice of his new surroundings. It wasn't until he entered a half-burnt grassy clearing with a metallic base right next to it that he looked up and realized what was going on.
"What the hell happened here?" He pondered, "Could it have something to do with that tremor I heard earlier? If so, what could be causing all of this carnage?"
He then looked to his right and noticed the odd passageway that was just inside the door to the prison.
"Weird." He noted, before suddenly receiving a strong and slightly painful sensation in his mind.
He clasped his middle and index fingers to his forehead again, and saw a vision of Sonic and Shadow fighting with Shadow clearly possessing the upper hand and almost killing Sonic.
"Shit! I've gotta find out what's going on!" Silver exclaimed, immediately levitating himself off the ground via his telekinesis and speeding in midair into the prison at a speed very close to Sonic's.
"What?!" Both Eggmen shouted.
"B-But we...we specifically programmed...!" Eggman said.
"Wait! What do you mean 'we specifically programmed'? It was all your doing! I had absolutely no input!" Eggman Nega replied, arms folded.
"What are you babbling about, you imbecile?! It was a collaboration project!" Eggman countered.
"Oh! So now you decide to share the credit?!" Nega replied.
"Hah! I totally called that!" Blaze said triumphantly.
"Face it, docs! Your inventions always fail! You might as well just let them go, pay their medical bills, get us out of these bust-binding clothes and constricting collars, drop us back off on the planet, and fuck off, before you two drink and drug yourselves to death." Rouge said.
Back inside the prison, Shadow was in the middle of his ultimate attack and getting ready to deal the final blow to the completely defenseless Sonic. Sonic shut his eyes and hung his head, as Shadow was headed for him at high speed and about to take his life. Meanwhile, further down the bridge, Silver was flying towards the scene as fast as he could. He noticed the gap in the bridge, and figured he was getting close. He picked up even more speed, and soon was within several yards of the fight.
"Guys! Cut this out! What the fuck's going on?!" He shouted towards them, with the only response he received being Sonic, who looked up to find the source of the screams.
Shadow was getting even closer.
"Shadow! Stop it! What's gotten into you?!" Silver continued to yell, "Gah! It's no use! Nothing's working!"
He picked up even more speed. Now flying as fast as he could possibly go, he extended his right arm, the blue markings on his right glove and gauntlet glowing.
"NOOOOO!" He screamed, diving into the fray and using his telekinesis at the last second.
With all of his psychic powers being concentrated into his hand and not through his entire body, he landed on his stomach on the ground and slid forwards briefly. Due to his head being down, Silver could not see what had happened, though upon looking up, he saw that he had managed to stall Shadow's attack with his psychic powers. However, Shadow's full powers were extremely strong and the two attacks had difficulty trying to overcome the other. Overtime, Silver's concentration started to weaken, and Shadow took the opportunity to break free of his telekinetic hold by releasing a burst of golden aura, which forced his two opponents to shield their eyes.
When the light died down, it turned out that this last-minute burst of power was not an attack, but rather a desperate attempt to overcome Silver's attack. Likewise, this had not killed nor damaged Sonic and Silver, but merely exhausted Shadow's chaos powers; for after completing the maneuver, he only remained in midair for a second more before falling limply to the ground unconscious. Silver weakly got up panting, as his powers had been exhausted as well.
"Well, I did it." He said, "Though I'm pretty curious as to why all this strange stuff keeps happening. First I hear a blood-curdling scream and a bunch of trees falling over, followed by a rockslide and a big tremor, and then I see a bunch of carnage not a long way from here, and see you two almost killing each other."
Sonic got up, resting his hands on his thighs and panting.
"Well...I can definitely explain some of that." He said weakly, only to collapse to his knees again with a groan in pain.
"Here! Lemme fix that!" Silver replied, placing his palms onto the back of Sonic's shoulders and closing his eyes, generating blue aura through his body and into Sonic's.
Almost instantly, Sonic felt rejuvenated. He could feel himself healing and regaining his strength in the process. Once the healing was complete, Sonic stood up and admired himself. Though his body still retained visual evidence of the damage he had taken, all of his physical damage had been completely undone, and now he felt as if he were in perfect health and shape.
"What was that?!" Sonic asked. "I haven't named this move yet, but apparently I can use my psychic powers to heal myself or others." Silver replied.
"Neat. What else can you do with them? Can you send a storm of meteors flying onto your opponents? Shoot out tiny fireballs that explode in pillars of flame? Guide a ball of electricity into yourself and turn into a deadly projectile?" Sonic asked.
"No, no, and no. And you'd best shut up now, before you start committing treason." Silver replied, before noticing Shadow twitching and slowly getting up.
He and Sonic entered a fighting stance. Within seconds, Shadow got up onto his knee and looked up at the two of them, his exhaustion gone, but his powers still needing to recharge. He then noticed Sonic, and started to glare at him, his irises glowing red once more. He then launched a homing attack directly at him, though before Sonic could even react, he was stopped in midair via Silver's telekinesis. He was then thrown into one of the walls on the bridge, the force of the impact finally knocking the pink energy out of him, stripping him of his mind-control. The small pink ball of energy then proceeded to bounce aimlessly along the ground.
Back in the lair, Eggman Nega was continuing to watch the screen as Eggman was lounging on the unoccupied bed.
"C'mon, Nega! Hurry up and swipe your V-card on this bitch before the bourbon wears off!" Eggman whined.
"Hold on a sec!" Eggman Nega replied, "Yes, that's it! Go to him! Go!"
"Really? That's your excuse?! It doesn't need motivation! My special 'Possessing Molecular Substance' has been infused with a special kind of LDF that I made myself. It automatically targets the nearest living being in order to find itself a host." Eggman replied, "And it seems that it's picked Silver to do the job! I guess that means that the boys will be re-living yet another fight! And this time there'll be no psychic party-pooper to heal their wounds!"
Silver however, was quick to realize what was happening, and grabbed the energy with his psychokinesis before it could jump onto him, launching it off the bridge, where it fell through space and combusted on the way down.
"GODDAMN IT!" Both Eggmen shouted, pounding their fists in rage.
"Heh! I'm surprised that they're getting all anal about that, instead of the fact that the acronym for their hypnotizing energy is 'PMS'!" Amy said, followed by she and the other girls laughing heartily.
"Yeah?! And we're going to go anal on you if you don't be quiet!" Eggman Nega warned.
"Alright, I think we've seen enough of this." Eggman groaned, standing up and heading back over to the control panel, before pressing a button and activating the screen and microphone.
During the few seconds of the screen booting up, the two doctors opened their message with some evil laughter like last time.
"What was that all about?" Silver asked.
"Well, earlier on, I was talking to Shadow and asked him if he'd seen you, but before he could answer, that pink energy shot into him and then he went apeshit." Sonic replied, before hearing the laughter.
Suddenly, projections of the two doctors appeared once again, prompting Sonic and Silver into a fighting stance once again, while Shadow continued to sit unconscious against the wall.
"My my my, you're quite the persistent bunch, aren't you?" Eggman taunted, "You all almost killed yourselves just to save each other during the fight I set up between you."
"Wait! You were behind this?!" Sonic replied.
"Oh, right, we forgot to tell you! Sonic, remember how you and I teamed up to defeat the Time Eater a few years back?" Eggman asked. Sonic nodded.
"Well, there was a reason for that! For during the epic showdown, I managed to steal a fraction of its soul, and I spent the time after that saving it until the perfect idea came up." Eggman continued.
"And that idea was the 'Retro...Simulator'?" Eggman Nega briefly looked at a sheet of paper, "Yeah, that's right! Anyway, it's an alternate reality powered by the Time Eater's soul, where we've been showering you all with enemies from your past in an attempt to kill you. But little did we know that you'd triumph over them all, especially given the deep emotional state we left you in, which should've weakened you, preventing you from persevering and leaving you all to die while drowning in negative emotion."
Amidst the conversation, Shadow slowly regained consciousness and started to look around, before finally standing up and putting his inhibitor rings back on as he did this.
"Well, tough luck!" He said, having apparently heard the discussion, "Because we've always known better than to take a bastard like you seriously. We will find a way out of here, and we will lay waste to whatever 'ultimate weapon' you have in store for us afterwards!"
This prompted Sonic and Silver to step closer to him.
"Hmph. I see how it is." Eggman replied, "Well then! We've still got a few more rounds for you! As we watch you guys try to take them on, and hopefully lose, we'll simultaneously be busying ourselves with some...other type of fun."
The doctor then pulled Amy into the camera's line of sight by her arm and held her close. Sonic realized that he had a hand on her buttocks.
"Wait! You mean, you didn't...?!" He asked.
"Oh no! That was only a means of faking you out and threatening the girls into compliance. However, the clock is ticking! Take too long with the rest of the enemies we've prepared for you, and it'll be way more than a threat!" Eggman replied with an evil chuckle.
After a few seconds more of cackling, both Eggmen turned off the camera, but left the microphone on for a bit afterward, so the hedgehogs could hear their laughter for a few extra seconds, before it finally died down.
"Alright, guys! Let's hurry up and kick some ass, so we can get out of here!" Sonic finally said.
"Yeah!" Silver replied.
"Alright!" Shadow replied.
Reunited once more, the trio then started to run across the bridge in an attempt to find their next destination.
However, back in the lair, Eggman was still standing in front of the control panel, the screen still focusing on the three hedgehogs despite them no longer being able to see the doctors.
"We'll soon see about that!" He chuckled, pressing yet another button on the panel.
In a brief flash of light, a line of dash-panels suddenly appeared on the very bridge that Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were on.
"Wait! What the hell?!" Sonic asked, noticing the odd spectacle ahead.
The trio attempted to slow down, but could not do so fast enough, and hit the dash-panels, immediately speeding off uncontrollably in the opposite direction.
"Gah! I can't stop myself!" Silver said.
"Just don't crash!" Shadow replied.
"Somehow I'm not surprised!" Sonic said, "If they were going through all the trouble of bringing back old events from our past, then it could only be a matter of time until they brought back auto-pilot running!"
"Yeah! Auto-pilot running into that bottomless pit!" Shadow replied.
Running uncontrollably at blinding speeds, all three hedgehogs careened off of the edge and into the gap that they had created in the bridge, falling quickly through the darkness of Final Rush, and into the unknown.