Central City — 38 B.E.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift into a city. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several old-fashioned cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He stares for a moment at the ten-foot-long segment of young tree in his hand before tossing it aside with frustration. The tree hits a nearby building, causing damage.

Zero is concerned for a moment, but doesn't have time to focus on it. He questions, "What just happened? Some sort of time turbulence? I've never experienced that before." Then he realizes something and scans the surrounding area. "Where's Silver? We left together. He should be here. Silver! Silver!"

There's no response, but more and more people are staring at him as if weirded out.

Zero shakes his head and runs off in search of Silver. After running a few blocks, he pauses. "Wait… If something caused Silver to separate from me, he could be anywhere. I have no reason to believe he ended up near me. What if—" He cuts himself off and leaps to the side just as a boy on a bicycle rides by uncontrollably fast down the steep hill.

The boy looks back and shouts, "Sorry, mister!"

Zero stares at the boy riding away. He has a flashback to the exact same boy crashing the bike into him. "Déjà vu… I could've sworn I remember that happening already…" He shrugs it off and returns to his search.

Another block down, a man wearing a business suit jumps out in front of Zero. He shouts with a boisterous voice, "Hey, buddy! Do I have a deal for you!"

Zero keeps on walking, ignoring him completely. "Sorry, I'm not interested in buying a used car."

The man deflates somewhat. "How'd you know that's what I'm selling…?"

Zero pauses for a moment. "How did I know that…?"

But before he can ponder this fact any further, Silver shouts, "Zero! Get down!" Zero is forced to the ground by Silver's psychokinesis. There's an echoing crack and something flies over Zero, only missing him thanks to Silver's help.

Someone shouts, "Gunfire!" Everyone scatters chaotically. The streets echo with screams.

Zero gets back up and looks to Silver levitating towards him. "What's going on!?"

Silver asserts, "No time to explain now! Just trust me and we will escape from the city! Keep your head low and run!" Zero doesn't need to be told twice.

As they start running, there's another shot, once again just barely missing its target, which is Silver this time. Zero looks up towards the source of the bullets as he runs. Atop a nearby building stands a shadowy figure peering through the scope of a sniper rifle.

Silver announces, "First, a distraction!" He lifts a car with his powers and tosses it at the sniper, forcing the figure to leap aside. Then Silver points ahead, "Let's try down there this time!" He lifts a manhole cover psychically and tosses is aside.

"This time?"

Silver doesn't answer. He leaps down the manhole. Zero follows.

Once in the sewer tunnel, Silver calms down somewhat. "Sorry about how abrupt I had to be. I think we're safe now. He shouldn't have seen us come down here." He takes a deep breath. "Sorry, but this is nothing but trial and error. I haven't tried down here yet. I don't know what comes next anymore."

Zero stares at Silver dumbfoundedly. "What in the name of the Lords is going on!?"

Silver sighs. "Sorry. You would think I would be used to explaining things by now, but that's beginning to seem impossible…" He shakes his head. "Look, the thing is, we're stuck in some sort of— Get down!" He leaps forwards and tackles Zero to the ground, just as the crack of a gunshot reverberates through the tunnels.

Zero asks with worry, "Silver…?"

Silver holds a hand to his chest and says, "Oops…" Before he collapses to the ground beside Zero.

"Silver!" Zero leaps up. He looks down the corridor to see the assassin marching towards them. It's clear it's an animoid in a military-style uniform, but his head is covered by a helmet with a high-tech visor over the face. He's carrying a submachine gun. Despite the automatic nature of the weapon, he pumps it to reload and takes aim at Zero. Zero tenses up in rage as he watches this. "You're not getting any closer to us!" He punches the wall next to him, his enormous strength causing the tunnel between him and the figure to rumble, then collapse, putting a wall of rubble between them.

Zero immediately turns back around and pulls Silver into his arms, cradling him. "Silver, are you okay?"

Silver looks up to Zero weakly. "I'm afraid not. I guess it's your turn now…" He coughs.

"My turn for what?"

"Right… I still haven't explained…" He coughs again. "Next time, you find me… I'll be on Mission Street… I won't remember… Find out who that guy is… Find out…how to…escape…the…loop…" Those are his last words as his body goes limp.

"Silver!" Zero's entire body shakes. He shouts a guttural scream. A blue glow suddenly surrounds him. His entire body glows.

The rubble wall behind him collapses. The gunman steps over a chunk of rubble and aims his gun at Zero.

Zero leaps and shouts, "You'll pay for that! He was my friend!" His eyes momentarily change to red, but he manages to maintain control. He leaps at the figure to attack just as the figure fires a bullet at him. The bullet is on course to hit him, but before it can, there's a flash of intense blue light as time itself seems to freeze. Then another flash.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He stares for a moment at the ten-foot-long segment of young tree in his hand before tossing it aside with frustration. The tree hits a nearby building, causing damage. As realization of his situation dawns on him, he asks himself, "What the…?"

Silver & Zero: Partners in Time

Part 6

Hedgehog Day

Written by Yuni Oha

Mission Street, Central City — 38 B.E.

Zero glances at a street sign, which reads, "Mission Street." He's standing at the side of a road in a shopping district. Nearby is the ocean bay and the start of a massive red bridge. He sighs. "I guess it's time to find out if I really was imagining that all or not."

He hears a shout, "Zero! Are you here!?"

Zero's eyes widen. "Silver!" He runs across the street, nearly getting run over in the process. "Silver, you're alive!"

Silver breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was worried when you didn't come out of the Time Control with me."

"How are you alive?"

Silver looks at Zero with confusion. "Huh?"

Zero takes a deep breath. "You said you wouldn't remember…"

"You're babbling nonsense, Zero."

Zero rubs his forehead. "This is going to sound confusing. I can't even begin to understand it myself…" He sighs. "This isn't the first time I appeared in this city like this. This isn't the first time I experienced this day."

This explanation only further confuses Silver. "What?"

"This is the second time I've experienced this all. But last time, you seemed to know a lot I didn't. You seemed to have been through these events before that. It's as if…time is looping…"

Silver thinks this over. "Hmm… It sounds like you're describing a recursive closed timelike curve."

Now it's Zero's turn to be confused. "Huh?"

"If what you're telling me is true, then time has closed in on itself. It means that under certain conditions, we'll restart the sequence of events. In theory, at least. And…by the sound of it…it's me dying that triggered the loop to reset…"

Zero slowly nods. "I'm sorry."

Silver shakes his head. "Don't apologize. This has already taught us one valuable fact. You remember things, I don't. The difference between us is that I died in the previous loop, and you didn't. That must mean that dying creates some sort of cognitive reset."

Zero realizes the implication. "So…in the loop before last…I must have died…" He shakes his head in disbelief.

Silver suggests, "Probably more than that. If that really is the case, and we're facing a deadly foe, then it would be logical for the one with less information to make the sacrifice and allow the one who knows more to carry on. We have no way of knowing how many loops we've been through at this point." His eyes widen. "For all we know, we've been trapped like this for a year. For ten years. For 100 hundred years…"

Zero realizes something. "Wait, what about if I use Time Control? We should be able to escape the loop by traveling outside of it."

Silver shrugs. "It's worth a try."

Zero pulls out the Temporal Sapphire. "Time Control!" Nothing happens.

Silver nods. "I figured as much. If it were that simple, we would have done it already."

"You're right…"

"Tell me anything else you can. How is it that I died in the last loop?"

Just thinking about it causes Zero to tense up. "There was a—"

Yet again, the earsplitting sound of a gunshot cracks. Silver collapses to the ground. Zero looks up and spots the gunman with his sniper on a roof above, readying for another shot. Zero steps back as he begins to panic. "Silver! Not again! No! This isn't where he was before! He shouldn't be here!" He realizes what's happening. "He's hunting us! He'll find us, wherever we are!" As he realizes this, time resets itself with a blue flash.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He chucks the trunk down at the ground, screaming in frustration as he does. "Aaaaaaah!"

—–—

Zero runs across the street to Silver, once again leading to a car honking at him as he gets in its way. He looks to the driver with annoyance.

Silver notices him. "Zero! Thank goodness. I was worried when you didn't come out of the—"

"No time. We're caught in a recursive timelike curve. There's an assassin after us. We have to get out of here before he makes it."

Silver stares dumbfoundedly at Zero. "That's…a lot to take in…"

Zero groans. "I know. Just come on, we have to run."

"Okay. Let's go." They take off. "Where is it safe?"

"I don't know yet. This is the furthest I've made it."

Silver flinches. "That doesn't sound promising…"

Zero thinks aloud, "He's a gunman who starts off by attacking from up high with a sniper rifle. We have to get somewhere that he can't snipe us."

Silver suggests, "What about the sewer?"

"No. We tried that already. He came down with a submachine gun and we had nowhere to run."

Silver points ahead. "There's a construction site over there. Maybe we could barricade ourselves in."

"I don't have any better ideas."

They quickly get to work. With Silver's psychokinesis and Zero's strength, they create a barricade around them using partially constructed walls and building materials.

Silver nods. He's satisfied with their work. "I doubt he'll be able to find us, but if he does, this should buy us enough time to fight back. His guns won't be breaking through three feet of concrete."

But the remark has tempted fate. There's a concussive bang. The wall behind them collapses from the explosion. Zero turns around to find the gunman across the street from them, wielding a long-barreled bazooka. "How does this guy have so many weapons!?" Zero starts to glow blue. "What? How?" He looks down to see that Silver has collapsed. The shrapnel from the blast has taken him down. "Oh no…"

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He snaps the trunk further, then crushes it into splinters in his hands.

—–—

When the car honks at Zero, he stops in his tracks and grabs the front of the car to force it to stop. He looks to the driver and asserts, "Get out." The driver doesn't need to be told twice. He flees from the car.

Silver notices Zero. "Zero! Thank goodness. I was—"

"Get in."

"Huh?"

Get in." Zero gets in the driver's seat, and Silver, not knowing what else to do, gets in the passenger's. Zero slams down on the pedal and takes off for the bridge.

A little later, as they're driving down the bridge, Silver asks, "Okay, so what's the plan this time then?"

"We get out of the city before he can catch up with us. We'll figure things out from there."

The drone of a motorcycle can be heard behind them. Silver comments, "Wow, someone's a speed demon if they're keeping up with us at this velocity."

Zero realizes something's not right. He looks into his rearview mirror and sees the motorcycle behind them. Riding it is the gunman. It's even more apparent when he pulls out a pistol and aims.

Zero swerves the car to the right just in time to avoid the shot. Zero slams a fist onto the dashboard, collapsing it. "How does he keep finding us!?"

Silver urges, "You'd better do something, we can't keep on avoiding fire."

Zero looks ahead and spots a fork in the bridge road. One of the routes is barricaded with a sign that says, "Road Closed for Construction." Zero veers the car and crashes through the barricade.

Silver's eyes widen as he sees what lies ahead. "Zero…"

"I see it."

"I don't think you do."

"I do." Zero drives the car straight at a makeshift ramp formed from a platform propped up over a cement mixer. On the opposite side of the ramp, the road ends for twenty feet. "Once I make the jump, take out the ramp. Got it?"

Silver gulps. "Got it…"

Zero floors the car and drives off the ramp. As the car soars through the air, Silver uses his powers to knock the platform away. After a tense moment of sailing through the air, the car lands on the other end with a thud, but drives away.

Silver cheers, "Yeah! Now he won't be able to chase us!" He looks back to see the gunman putting the brakes on his motorcycle before hitting the edge.

But instead of stopping fully, he turns to the side and uses a toppled barricade as a ramp to jump toward the side of the bridge. He lands the motorcycle atop the cable that runs along the side of the bridge and ups the speed of his bike to drive up, moving towards Silver and Zero.

Silver urges, "Drive! Drive!"

Zero shouts back, "I see it!"

Once the gunman uses the cable to get across the missing segment of bridge, he drives off the cable and lands again on the road, resuming his pursuit of Silver and Zero. He takes several more shots with his pistol, but Zero is able to avoid them by swerving the car again.

Apparently out of ammo, he tosses the pistol aside and pushes his motorcycle to move even faster.

Silver realizes, "Is he crazy!? He's going to ram us!" Zero attempts to pick up speed as much as he can, but the motorcycle is still faster.

Just before the bike crashes into the rear of the car, the gunman leaps off the bike and performs a backflip. As he does, a semi-automatic assault rifle appears in his hands. The bike crashes, exploding in the process, while the gunman rains bullets into the car from above.

Just before the explosion or bullets reach them, Silver shouts, "You've got to remember!" He ejects Zero from the car with his powers.

Instead of landing on the bridge, Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. "Gah!" He throws the tree into the sky with all his strength, sending it tumbling through the air, out of sight.

—–—

They keep on trying, never giving up. In one loop, Silver and Zero run from homing missiles fired from the gunman's RPG launcher. In another, they attempt to fight back in direct combat, only for Silver to be shot by an assault rifle. They try fleeing by foot in another, but Silver is shot by the long-range sniper rifle. They try a different tactic of waiting for the gunman in an open park where he can't take them by surprise, but the gunman brings a full-scale gatling gun which he uses to mow down Silver, who was only barely able to tackle Zero out of the way. When they try blending in with a crowd, the gunman does the same and fires a shot before they even notice he's near. When the gunman comes at them with a grenade launcher, Silver attempts to telekinetically throw the grenades back at the gunman, only to watch helplessly as the grenade launcher disappears from his hands and be replaced by a submachine gun, which he promptly fires at Silver.

Despite all that, Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift, over and over again. He keeps on tumbling. The cars keep on honking. He keeps on destroying the tree to stop himself. It never ends. On one reset, Zero doesn't even bother catching the tree. He just keeps on tumbling, making no attempt to stop himself.

When next Zero crosses the street to Silver, without looking to it, he smashes his fist into the incoming car before it can even stop and honk at him. The car is tossed aside, and driver gets out and flees.

"Zero! Thank goodness. I was worried when you…" He looks over Zero. "What's wrong?"

Zero walks the rest of the way to Silver, then collapses to his knees. "I'm tired. I'm so tired, Silver. I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. I can't repeat this loop again. I can't watch you die again." Tears fall from eyes.

Silver just stares at him, completely uncertain of what to make of this.

—–—

Silver and Zero stay on the move while Zero explains everything to Silver yet again. Zero says, "I don't know what I'm missing. It's been…20 loops? 30 loops? Probably more… I gave up on counting. We try a different way to get away from this guy every time, but every time he finds us."

Silver contemplates, "Perhaps we have been going about this the wrong way… I'm guessing I've said this before, but if the assassin really does keep finding us no matter what we do, he must be tracking us somehow…"

Zero shakes his head. "No, you haven't said that, but it's logical." They contemplate together.

At the same time, they both say, "The Temporal Sapphire!"

—–—

The gunman walks across a rooftop. From his perspective, a heads-up display in his helmet's visor indicates a direction of motion. He follows it. Effortlessly, he leaps from the roof of one building to the next. There he finds his target. The Temporal Sapphire sits out in the open.

He stops and stares for a moment at the gem. His body language betrays no emotion, but certainly he must be confused. He reaches forward to take the Sapphire.

Zero suddenly shouts, "Now!"

The gunman freezes up as he's ensnared by Silver's powers. He tries to move, but Silver's grip is tight.

Then Zero leaps in from the side and delivers an earth-shattering punch to the gunman's helmet, shattering it into hundreds of pieces as the gunman is tossed aside. "That's for everything you've put me through!" Zero prepares for another punch, but freezes up completely when he sees who it is lying on the ground in front of him. "Shadow…?"

Silver gasps too. "Shadow the Hedgehog!? But how? This is forty years before I met him in the other timeline!" He pauses. "Wait, how do you know Shadow?"

"Suffice it to say it's a long story that involves time travel. What matters is that Shadow was created fifty years before you and I met him, but he should be in stasis right now. I don't know how this possible."

Zero is so focused on Shadow's face, that he doesn't notice when a pistol appears in his hand. By the time he notices, it's too late, and the gun is already aimed and fired at him.

But Silver did notice. Silver leaps between Shadow and Zero, once again sacrificing himself to protect Zero.

Zero shouts in horror, "No! Not again!" As the blue light engulfs all, the last thing Zero notices is the emblem on the sleeve of Shadow's uniform. It's a white G encircled in blue, red, and white.

Then Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. This time he just drops the trunk. "Shadow…what happened to you…?"

—–—

Silver asks, "Was there anything else about Shadow that could give us any clues as to what's going on?"

Zero contemplates. "Actually, yes. I never got a good look at it before, but this time I saw that his uniform had an emblem on it. It was a G in a circle with red, white, and blue."

"I know that symbol. It's GUN."

"Gun?"

"It's an acronym. It stands for Guardian Units of Nations. They're the military peacekeeping force of the United Federation. But that can't be right. GUN isn't in the business of assassinating people. I'm pretty sure that Shadow worked for them, but not like this."

"Maybe they somehow see us as a threat."

Silver shakes his head. "Even if so, they would send soldiers to arrest us, not a lone gunman to take us out. Even ignoring the Shadow part, something's not adding up." He thinks for a moment. "I think we need to go to the source and find out what's going on. Not far from this city is one of GUN's primary bases. Prison Island. If we can get there, maybe we can find some clues and solve this mystery."

"How are we supposed to enter what I can only assume is a maximum-security military base?"

Silver grins. "It's called Prison Island for a reason. And what's the one surefire way to get into a prison? Get arrested."

Zero eyes Silver skeptically.

"And it gets better. To make sure we end up there, instead of a regular prison, we need to commit a major crime."

"What do you have in mind?"

Silver looks off in the distance, towards a large white house on a hill overlooking the city. "We're going to pay a visit to the president."

—–—

The moment Silver and Zero step foot on the lawn of a white house—the Executive Building—they're tackled to the ground by soldiers in GUN uniforms. Zero prepares to throw the soldier off of him in anger, but a look from Silver tells him not to. Instead, he begrudgingly stands by as he's handcuffed.

—–—

Prison Lane, Prison Island — 38 B.E.

Silver and Zero are carelessly tossed into a jail cell. The jailer who locks the cell taunts, "You two better be on your best behavior. You wouldn't want to upset the Warden." He points up to a window on the next floor up, which has a view of the entire cellblock. He walks away with another jailer. He asks his partner, "Hey, did you hear that our two newest recruits just arrived by helicopter?"

The other responds, "Yeah, I heard they were picked up from Route 101 and brought here just a little while ago. The craziest part is that they're both hedgehogs. We never get people like them in GUN." The conversation fades as they exit earshot.

Zero asks, "Okay. We're on Prison Island. What's the next step in your plan?"

Silver chuckles awkwardly. "I'm kind of playing this one by ear."

"Gah!" Angered by the comment, Zero punches the wall, creating a large dent.

"Zero, are you okay?"

He responds aggressively, "No. Not really." He takes a deep breath to try to regather himself. "Sorry. I feel like I've been on edge ever since this whole time loop thing began. I haven't even had a chance to meditate. The longer I go without it, the harder it is for me to keep Aleph under control."

Silver looks around. "Assuming they don't know who they just arrested, I imagine we're safe in here from Shadow, at least for now. How about you take the chance to meditate?"

Zero nods. "Thank you." He sits down on the cot and closes his eyes as he gathers his focus. He quickly calms himself. But only moments later, his eyes snap open. "The Sapphire! The one we came to this time for! It's here! On this island!"

"That might explain why GUN sent Shadow after us. They have one Sapphire, and they want the other."

"Which means we just brought what they want to their doorstep. We can't afford to wait. We have to figure out our next step."

Silver points to the window above them. "Something tells me this Warden might know a thing or two."

Zero nods in agreement. "Let's pay him a visit." He steps up to the bars of their cell and rips them apart. An alarm sounds immediately. He and Silver make a run for it.

A computer voice announces over the alarm, "Alert! Alert! We have an escape attempt in cellblock three! This is not a drill! Get them."

Several guards rush at them, but Silver uses his psychic abilities to knock them away and incapacitate them without extreme harm.

They climb a set of stairs, and Zero rips open the door into to the Warden's office. The moment they step inside, a security door slams shut, covering the entrance Zero made and trapping them in the office.

Across the room from them, a man stares out the window. He says, "This is the last place a prisoner would want to come when making an escape attempt. You've just made a fatal mistake." The sound of a gun cocking clicks. The man turns around and aims a pistol at them. He's a young man, but despite his youth, his hair is completely white. His eyes are each a different color. One is green, the other brown. He's dressed in a military uniform.

Zero announces, "No. We came here because we wanted to talk with you. What is GUN doing with Shadow the Hedgehog?"

The Warden freezes up. His pistol falls to the floor. "Shadow..." He clenches a fist, then demands, "How do you know that name!?"

Silver answers curtly, "Because GUN sent him to assassinate us!"

The Warden furrows his brow. "You're crazier than I thought. That monster was terminated four years ago. And if he were somehow alive, he would be locked up as a danger to humanity, not used as a weapon by GUN. I run this facility. If Shadow were anywhere in the city, I would know."

Silver whispers to Zero, "I think he's telling the truth."

"That's not possible. We know he's wrong."

"I mean telling the truth as he knows it. He honestly believes Shadow is dead. Something even stranger than we thought is going on here."

While they're discussing, the Warden has sat down at his desk. He looks overwhelmed. He asks himself, "Shadow...could you really be alive...? It's because of you that Maria is

dead... I thought you got what you deserved, but were you somehow saved...? Has GUN weaponized such a monster...? Could this be the work of the splinter group?"

Zero catches the last part. "Splinter group? What are you talking about?"

Before the Warden can even decide whether or not to answer, a blue light fills the room. It's followed by a flash.

Suddenly, Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He drops the trunk as he looks around in confusion.

—–—

Before Zero can make it to Silver's starting point, Silver shouts, "Zero! Over here!"

Zero swivels around in surprise. "Silver?" He pauses. "Do you…remember…?"

"I do."

Zero let's out a big sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the Lords. How is this possible? What happened?"

Silver suggests, "If I had to guess, the time loop has a maximum length before it resets without our input. I can't say for sure, but it felt about two hours between the start of the loop and the point where we reset."

Zero thinks this over. "Unfortunately, that means surviving long enough won't break this loop."

"I was thinking about that. With our one Sapphire, we can't use Time Control to exit the loop, but if we had two Sapphires, it's possible that the added energy might be enough to punch through whatever barrier is holding us."

"How?"

"Think about the time loop like a rubber band. As we move through time, we're stretching the band. Once we stretch it enough, it snaps back into place, pulling us with it. Now, if we could just push that band far enough, we could instead snap it. That would break the time loop and free us."

Zero nods. "I get it. So, we've got to find the second Sapphire on Prison Island. But how are we supposed to do that?"

"I was also thinking about that. Remember what those guards said? They had just brought in new GUN personnel to Prison Island, and it just so happens that they're hedgehogs."

Zero grins. "That sounds like an invitation to me."

—–—

Peeking around a corner, Silver and Zero see two hedgehogs in GUN uniforms standing next to a helicopter, chatting idly. Silver and Zero leap out, deliver blows to the back of their heads, and knock them out. They drag them out of sight.

A few minutes later, they reappear, dressed in uniforms taken from the hedgehogs. Silver looks behind him and whispers, "Sorry, guys. But we guarantee you'll be getting these uniforms back in two hours or less, or your money back." He grins.

Just in time, a helicopter descends onto the pad. Silver and Zero are ushered on.

Once seated, Zero breathes a sigh of relief.

Silver asks, "What is it?"

"I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get away before Shadow caught up with us. Judging from the last loop, once we're in GUN hands, we're safe."

Silver looks out the window. "Yeah, I guess we are." But what he sees says otherwise. On the helipad below, Shadow, outfitted once more in his combat helmet and visor, stands with an RPG launcher over his shoulder. "Take evasive action! Now!"

Shadow takes a moment to lock his target, then fires the rocket-propelled grenade.

The pilot announces, "Confirmed target lock from unidentified ground origin! Taking evasive action!" The helicopter banks to the side just as the RPG flies by.

The co-pilot says into his headset, "Control Tower, this is Sigma-Zeta 6, we're under fire!"

A voice responds, "Understood, Sigma-Zeta 6. Nearby units have been dispatched. Hold tight, help is on the way."

Shadow has reloaded and fired a second grenade. The pilot shouts, "It's no use! We can't avoid this one!"

With the pilots' attention on the projectile, Silver cloaks himself in psychic energy. He whips his hand across his front, and the RPG jerks off in the same direction.

The co-pilot says in disbelief, "It missed… Somehow it missed…"

A voice says over the radio, "Sigma-Zeta 6, this is Hornet Troop. We've got boots on the ground."

Looking down to Shadow, a group of GUN soldiers have him surrounded. There's no way out for him. At least until he disappears into thin air.

Zero says under his breath, "That was a Chaos Control. He has a Chaos Emerald."

"Hornet Troop to Sigma-Zeta 6, the target has disappeared. Return to base, we'll investigate here."

"Sigma-Zeta 6 copies. Returning to base."

—–—

Silver and Zero, still in uniform, are sat in the Warden's office, across his desk from him. The Warden states curtly, "Your first day on the job, and you've already survived a combat scenario. Whether that's a good sign or bad depends on what you make of it. I need you to tell me exactly what you saw."

Zero crosses his arms. "Are we being interrogated?"

"No. This is a debriefing. Standard operation, as you should know."

"Of course. Sorry." As an afterthought, he adds, "Sir."

Silver apologizes for him, "Sorry, but my friend is afraid you're not going to believe us when we tell you what we saw."

The Warden cracks a minor grin. "I've seen a lot, even in my relatively short career. Try me."

Silver shrugs. "Okay. The person who attacked us was Shadow the Hedgehog."

The Warden freezes up. "Shadow…" He pounds a fist down on his desk. "How do you know that name!?"

Zero fibs, "I had family aboard the ARK, sir."

"Then you should know that the official GUN statement is that Shadow the Hedgehog died when he was jettisoned from the space colony!"

Zero asserts, "Maybe that's the story, but it doesn't change what we saw."

The Warden turns away from them and remains silent.

Silver suggests, "That's not all, sir. Shadow was wearing a GUN uniform."

The Warden makes no response.

Silver continues. "Sir, is it possible he's a part of the splinter group?"

The Warden suddenly turns back around. "Who are you two!? First Shadow, now the Splinter group! You know things you shouldn't. You're no regular recruits."

Zero suggests, "Do us a favor. When we saw Shadow, he disappeared. He was using Chaos Control, which means he had a Chaos Emerald. Does GUN control any Chaos Emeralds?"

The Warden eyes Zero suspiciously. "That is classified intel."

"I'm betting GUN only has one, and it's stored on this island. Look into it. See if the Emerald is where it belongs. If it's missing, then you know we're telling the truth."

The Warden stares silently at them for several moments. After a tense moment, he lifts up a corded phone and speaks into it, "Check Security Hall for item 2-R. Security code Charlie-Epsilon-7." He pauses for a moment, then suddenly shouts, "What do you mean it's not there!? No one was to remove that item without my authorization!" He slams the phone down and looks back to Silver and Zero. "I'll ask one last time. Who are you?"

Zero stands up. "What the heck. We've only got a few minutes left. What's the worst that could happen? Silver and I are time travelers. We don't know why, but we are being targeted by Shadow the Hedgehog. We can only assume it's under orders of the so-called splinter group." He pulls out his Sapphire. "We need to find one of these, which we know is somewhere on Prison Island. You help us find it, and we're out of your hair."

The Warden stares critically at Zero as he attempts to decipher his meaning. Finally, he says, "Officially, the splinter group does not exist. Unofficially, it does not exist. No one in GUN knows anything of it. It is a rumor. A myth, even. The only hint of their existence we have is the sudden disappearance of talented and promising operatives. The splinter group takes our personnel and makes them disappear. It is as if they never existed. It is as if—"

There's gunshot. The Warden keels over. Silver leaps to him to support him. Zero looks through the window and sees Shadow standing on a gangway across the cellblock from them.

The Warden uses what strength he has to look behind him. "Shadow…somehow I always knew it would be you who got me in the end… Maria…I'm coming…" His body goes limp.

Silver asks, "What now?"

A blue glow begins, and Zero says, "I think we're out of time anyways!" The glow turns to a flash.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. He swings the trunk like a bat into the nearby building, destroying both as he screams in frustration, "I can't do this anymore!"

—–—

When next Silver and Zero meet, they launch straight into business. Silver says, "We have to try again. We have some information about the splinter group this time. That might get us somewhere."

Zero objects, "That would just put us right back in the Warden's office, wasting our time on a debriefing."

Silver nods. "That's why we need to do things differently this time. We need to skip the attack against the helicopter."

"How would we do that? Shadow will attack no matter what we do. I've been through enough loops to know that."

Silver shakes his head. "No. Shadow only goes where the Sapphire is. We have to leave it behind."

"What!? Leave the Sapphire behind!? How could you even suggest that!?"

"Zero, it's our only option. It will buy us enough time to try something else. If it's not enough, then everything will reset, and we'll have it back. If, by some miracle, this is the final loop, then we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there."

Zero pulls out the Sapphire and stares at it. "After everything we went through to get this… An entire year… This feels wrong…"

"It's our only choice."

Zero closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He throws the Sapphire, sending it sailing over rooftops.

—–—

Security Hall, Prison Island — 38 B.E.

Silver and Zero made it without issue to Prison Island. Dressed in their borrowed uniforms, they approach the entrance to a facility. They're stopped at the door by a guard. "What are you here for?"

Silver responds, "We're here to check on item 2-R. Authorization code Charlie-Epsilon 7."

The guard nods. "Of course. Just give me a minute to confirm the authorization." He enters the facility.

Zero says, "If this splinter group is real, we're probably setting off their alarms right now. Just like with the Warden."

Abruptly, someone has snuck up behind them and placed a sack over each of their heads. They're pulled away.

—–—

Iron Gate, Prison Island — 38 B.E.

When the sacks are ripped off of Silver and Zero's heads, they find themselves tied to chairs by energy bindings. A bright light shines in their faces, obscuring their vision. From behind the light, a voice says, "Welcome to Level 5. You should be proud. Most don't even know this place exists. It might as well not." The source of the voice steps in front of the light. It's a tall man with a tightly shaven head. Three parallel scars cover much of his face, the centermost one passing his murky gray eye. He wears a pure-gray uniform. "The same could be said about you two. It is clear your IDs are stolen. And there are no matches to you anywhere in the SCOPE database. That should be impossible. Who are you?"

Silver and Zero give no response.

"Where are my manners? I'll start. I am the Master Sergeant, and I command the Security Commission for Operations in Preventative Espionage. SCOPE, if you prefer. Not that I'm too fond of convoluted acronyms, myself. You might know us better as the so-called 'splinter group.' I've told you my secret. Now you tell me yours." With a gloved hand, he holds up a Temporal Sapphire.

Silver shouts with surprise, "Our Sapphire!"

The Sergeant grins with satisfaction as he steps back out of the way of the light, allowing it to once again blind Silver and Zero. "So, you admit to owning the source of temporal radiation my people detected this morning. You are the time travelers I've been hunting for. Why you would leave such a valuable power source as this gem out in the open is beyond me, but I appreciate your donation to SCOPE."

Zero realizes, "You're the one who sent Shadow after us! What did you do to him!?" Despite not knowing where the Sergeant stands, he glares forward angrily.

"Now this is a surprise. How could you possibly know that I sent Agent Black after you? This is precisely why I don't like time travelers. They have no respect for secrets."

Zero asks skeptically, "Agent Black?"

"As you will never leave this island, I suppose I can share one more secret. Shadow the Hedgehog was the most powerful weapon ever created. Those shortsighted fools in GUN may have feared that power, but I couldn't possibly allow such an asset to go to waste. Shadow was set to be terminated by GUN, but SCOPE stepped in, faked the execution, and took Shadow into our own control. With

Zero tries with all his might to break free from his bindings, but not even he is strong enough. "You brainwashed Shadow! I'll kill you!"

Silver looks to Zero with shock. "Zero! What's gotten into you!?"

Zero hangs his head in shame, realizing he let his emotions get the better of him.

The Sergeant chuckles. "It would seem I've struck a chord. As much as I would enjoy playing you like a violin, you now know too much to be allowed to live any longer. I now know you to be the time travelers, and with your gift of this marvelous gem to me, SCOPE will soon be able to police time itself. No longer will time travel present an uncontrollable threat to the security of this world." He chuckles further at his next thought. "You seem to care so much about Shadow. I find it poetic that it will be him who will bring your ultimate end. Agent Black, execute the targets."

Behind them they hear the sound of a gun cocking.

Zero asks with surprise, "Shadow?" There's no response. "Shadow, please. You don't have to do this. You were there the entire time. You heard what he said. They've brainwashed you!"

The Sergeant chuckles yet again. "Go ahead, Agent Black. Tell him."

In a monotone voice, devoid of any emotion, Shadow states, "I am Agent Black, special operative of SCOPE. Commission number 00031427. I am a weapon of SCOPE to be aimed at its enemies in the name of the protection of this world. My orders are to remove the threat imposed by the uncontrollable element of time travelers by any means necessary. I will follow any order to its completion. This is who I am."

Zero's head is pushed forward by the barrel of a pistol pointed to the back of his head. A tear falls to the ground from Zero's eyes. "Shadow…"

Shadow's finger begins to pull back on the trigger, but just in time, there's a flash of blue light and everything freezes.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. With the trunk held in both hands, Zero kicks his foot through, snapping it in two. He then drives both pieces into the ground as he shouts through tears, "Shadow!"

—–—

As Silver and Zero once again approach Security Hall, Silver asks, "Is the plan clear?"

Zero nods. "I think this will work. Hopefully, the Sergeant himself will tell us where the other Sapphire is. Assuming he has it in his possession."

"Why else would you have sensed it on this island? It has to be." Silver pauses momentarily. "And Zero…?"

"What?"

"About what happened before…"

Zero sighs. "You mean when I lost control to my rage. You don't need to worry. I have Aleph under control."

Silver shakes his head. "No, that's not it. Well, not the Aleph part at least. I'm worried about you. The Zero I know would never threaten to kill someone. You're a pacifist. What's going on?"

Zero shakes his head slowly. "I wish I knew. Even when I'm not under the influence of Aleph, I find myself more and more terrified of the person I'm becoming. I want to believe in nonviolence and peaceful solutions, but for the past year there's been no such thing. And now I've repeated this loop dozens of times. So many that I've completely lost count. And throughout all those loops, I can feel all my inner strength draining away. Every time I had to watch you die, I lost a part of myself. Learning that one of my only other friends was the one killing you made it worse. Learning that he was forced to do it against his will made it even more worse. Aleph is always there, always trying to get me to be the worst version of myself." He looks Silver in the eyes. "I'm terrified, Silver. Not that Aleph will take control of me again, but that I will naturally become some other version of him, regardless of his influence. I feel myself slipping down that slope, and it feels like there's nothing I can do about it."

Silver puts a hand on Zero's shoulder and stresses, "Zero, you have the strongest will of anyone I have ever met. Your philosophy of pacifism was born from your struggles. You made it past those struggles. Now you wrestle with new problems. But you are still just as strong. Just remember who you are, and you will never lose yourself. Just as you overcame everything life threw at you before, you can overcome this. Don't forget that."

Zero grins slightly. "I won't. Now let's get ready to end this loop."

—–—

Silver and Zero once more have sacks ripped off their faces, and they find themselves blinded again by the bright interrogation light.

"Welcome to—"

Silver interrupts the Sergeant, "Level 5. Yes. Most don't know it exists, but we do."

There's a long pause.

Zero chimes in, "And you must be the Master Sergeant that we've heard so much about. The leader of the Security Commission for Operations in Preventative Espionage."

There's another pause, then the harsh light clicks off, revealing the Sergeant standing before them, eying them critically. "Who are you?" He sneers at them with disgust.

Silver states, "Undoubtedly, by now you have already confirmed that our IDs were stolen, and that no one in your records matches our descriptions, which you would have thought was impossible."

"This is precisely why I don't like time travelers. They have no respect for secrets." He holds up the Sapphire for them to see.

But neither Silver nor Zero react to it. Their faces remain neutral.

This surprises the Sergeant. "You are not surprised to see this gem in my possession?"

Zero lies bluntly, "We have no idea what that crystal is."

The Sergeant demands, "Who are you?"

Silver announces, "I am Agent Silver, and this is Agent Zero. We were sent here by the Bureau of Undisclosed Legislation, Laws, Edicts, and Tenets. BULLET, if you prefer. But we know you're not fond of convoluted acronyms."

The Sergeant twitches slightly. "There's no such organization." It sounds as if he's having trouble constraining himself.

Zero points out, "The same could be said about SCOPE. We work for some very powerful people, and they've decided that you've operated without oversight for too long."

The Sergeant glances up over their heads, looking at something behind them.

Silver declares, "Your Agent Black won't be able to help you. If you eliminate us, more will be sent in our place."

"How could you know about Agent Black?" They seem to be getting under the Sergeant's skin.

Zero explains, "Agent Black, special operative of SCOPE. Commission number 00031427. We know everything about your organization, as well as you. Have we not made that clear?"

Silver adds, "We were the ones who ordered the shutdown of Project Shadow. However, when we learned of your plan to use Professor Gerald Robotnik to find the key to Shadow's mind, we were curious, so we let you continue unhindered."

The Sergeant stares intensely at the two as he attempts to determine his next move. Finally, he asks, "Why are you here?"

Zero reiterates, "We already told you. You are to submit to oversight, effective immediately."

The Sergeant begins to object but bites his tongue. Without another word, he pivots about, walks towards a blast door, holds his palm up to a scanner, and enters the door once it opens.

As he walks through the door, Silver is able to crane his neck just enough to see part of the room on the other side. It's an office, and in a containment pod on the far side of the room floats another Temporal Sapphire. He grins. "Bingo. We've got it."

Just in time, too, as the loop resets with a flash of blue.

—–—

Silver and Zero run past a sign that reads "Level 4." Silver says, "Level 5 may not exist on any schematics of this place, but there is most certainly an empty spot right below Level 4 which seems mighty suspicious. We'll be arriving soon."

Zero states, "If I never have to get forcefully ejected from a time-space rift and tumble down a steep road ever again, I think I could die happy."

Silver chuckles. "Ah yes, one of the simpler pleasures of life. Not tumbling down obscenely sloped streets. That's one we all take for granted."

They come to a stop at a blast door, which is labelled "Level 5."

Zero steps up to it and readies a fist. "I'll rip through this door like paper."

"Zero, stop!" Silver catches him psychokinetically. "Breaking in would set off alarms. Let me try getting past the security system."

"Can you do that?"

"I'm no tech expert, but what we had in my time was miles ahead of what they would have here. What little I know should be more than enough."

Zero nods. "Okay. Give it a go."

Silver floats up to a panel on the wall and removes it. He gets to work.

As Zero's watching, a voice announces, "You're not supposed to be here. State your name and commission number."

Zero swivels around to see Shadow approaching him. "Shadow! Oh…well… We come from the Bureau of Undisclosed Laws, Legislation— Wait…no, Legislation first, then Laws. What was E again…?"

Shadow holds up a hand and a pistol appears in it. "You are under arrest for espionage and treason." He fires the gun.

Zero thinks fast and rips a metal panel off the wall next to him, using it to deflect the bullet. Shadow fires several more shots, but all ricochet off the panel. Deciding his weapon is insufficient, he tosses it aside and a shotgun appears in his hands instead. He pumps it and fires.

Zero's eyes widen as he realizes what just happened. The force of the shot knocks the panel out from his hands. "Silver, you almost done!?"

"Not yet! Buy me time!"

Zero watches Shadow carefully as he pumps his gun again and prepares for another shot. "Guess I have no choice but to fight you. Sorry Shadow, but this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you!" He lunges forward and kicks the gun from Shadow's hands right before he manages to fire it.

But while he's in the air in front of Shadow, Shadow leaps up and performs a back flip to deliver a kick to Zero's face. Zero slams back against a wall.

Holding his hands out, another gun appears in Shadow's hands. This time a sub-machine gun. He holds the trigger down and lets loose a stream of bullets.

Zero leaps away and runs to keep out of Shadow's aim, just barely staying ahead. As he runs by his panel, he picks it up and chucks it at Shadow, destroying the gun in his hands.

Shadow looks down at the broken weapon before tossing it aside. He curtly states, "I liked that one," before tossing it aside and replacing it with an assault rifle. "It doesn't matter what you do. I have access to an unlimited arsenal. Give up."

"Never!" Zero leaps forward at Shadow's left. When Shadow opens fire in that direction, Zero veers to his right instead and delivers a punch that shatters away his helmet and mask, revealing his face again. "Shadow, you're my friend. We're the same. We were both created as experiments but grew to be so much more. Don't let them control you! Don't be that mindless experiment!"

Shadow gets back up and spits at Zero's feet. "I am Agent Black, special operative of SCOPE. Commission number 00031427. There is no Shadow here." Having dropped his gun, Shadow opens his hands for another.

Recognizing the action, Zero is quick to leap in to punch Shadow before he can summon another gun. Shadow catches Zero's fist in his hand. The force of their hands colliding is so powerful that it sends shockwaves out and causes the room to shake. Zero tries to attack with his other fist, but Shadow catches that as well, creating even more shockwaves. For several moments, the two immensely strong hedgehogs struggle to overcome the other. Perhaps Zero would ordinarily be able to overpower Shadow when it comes to pure strength, but Shadow has leverage over Zero, and he utilizes it to its fullest.

Zero attempts to break their stalemate by opening his hands and sliding them down Shadows wrists. He grabs them, then twists, pulling Shadow up into the air, then slamming him down towards the ground.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow teleports out of Zero's grip before hitting the ground. He promptly reappears behind Zero and kicks him from below, sending Zero flying upwards. He teleports again, this time reappearing above Zero and performing an axe kick to send him hurtling back into the ground. As Zero slams into the ground, Shadow teleports right next to him and delivers powerful punch which sends him hurtling across the room. Shadow once again appears at the endpoint of Zero's trajectory and punches him again, reversing his momentum. Shadow does this several times with increasing rapidity, sending Zero flying back and forth across the room in some perverse, single-player game of tennis. After one final punch, Shadow allows Zero to crash into the wall.

Zero is now bruised and battered. Injuries are apparent across his body. He looks with anger to Shadow who now walks towards him.

Shadow announces, "You can't win. Stop fighting the inevitable."

Zero shouts in rage, "I'll never stop fighting!" He leaps at Shadow for another attack, but realizes as he does that Shadow has already summoned a bazooka and fired it. He leaps to the side to avoid the missile.

But to his horror, the missile keeps on traveling, straight for Silver who is too busy in his work to notice. "Silver, look out!"

Silver looks just in time to see the missile before it explodes.

"No! No! Not again!" Zero drops to his knees as the blue light envelops him.

Zero is violently spat out from a time-space rift. He slams face-first into the road, then tumbles down the steep slope of the road, passing by a cable car as he rolls. Several cars honk at him. One swerves out of the way to avoid crashing into him. Zero manages to stop his motion by grabbing the trunk of a small tree he passes, snapping it in half with his brute strength in the process. Out of sheer frustration, annoyance, and anger, he swings the trunk back and forth, smashing it repeatedly into the ground as he screams at the top of his lungs.

But then he freezes. He notices something that he hasn't before, despite it happening nearly every time he restarts the loop. People are running away from him. Some even shouting in terror. This brings him back to the defining moment of his life. He is once again seeing Nina flee from him in horror after she witnessed him using Chaos Blast.

A realization dawns on him. Shadow's words play back in his head. "Stop fighting the inevitable."

Zero staggers back. "Stop fighting the inevitable… Stop fighting… Shadow, you're right…" He sets the trunk down. "I've been so stupid…" With a sudden renewal of determination, he clenches a fist. "Thank you, Shadow. You may not know it, but you've given me exactly the advice I needed. You too, Silver." He runs off to find his friend once more.

—–—

Zero has brought Silver back to the entrance to Level 5. Silver asks, "But what's different this time? I don't remember anything, so I won't be able to get past the door any faster."

Zero grins at Silver. It's an honest grin, as if all the hope he had lost over the course of the loops has returned to him. "You don't need to open the door this time. My plan will get us past Shadow and into Level 5."

Silver stares at Zero as he attempts to guess at his vague meaning. He gives up and just grins back. "Okay. I trust you."

"Shadow should be here any moment now."

"You're not supposed to be here. State your name and commission number."

Zero nods as he turns around. "Shadow, we've been waiting for you."

A pistol appears in Shadow's hand. "I won't ask again."

Zero slowly holds his hands up. "I'm not here to fight." Just as slowly, he takes a seat on the floor. "I'm here to break the cycle of violence."

Silver has no clue what Zero's doing, but he goes along with it and sits as well.

Shadow cocks the gun. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Zero explains, "No joke. Silver and I are the time travelers. We're the ones who left that Sapphire you found."

Upon hearing this, Shadow readies himself for a fight. "You are under arrest for espionage and treason."

Zero shakes his head. "Put the gun down, Shadow. You won't use it."

"And why not?"

"Because we're not fighting you. We're not a danger to you. We are not your enemies, and your sworn duty is only to stop enemies."

Shadow taps the side of his helmet, causing the mask to retract and reveal his face. "You are still trespassing in a heavily restricted zone."

"Shadow, let me explain something to you. The truth of our situation."

"Stop calling me that. I am Agent Black—"

Zero interrupts, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Special operative of SCOPE. Commission number 00031427."

Shadows eyes Zero critically but says nothing.

"Fine. Agent Black, listen to what I have to say. Not only are we time travelers, but we are time travelers in an involuntary time loop. That's how I knew what you were going to say. That's how I know your mission statement. We've been through this all before. There's something else I know. I know your current orders. Your orders are to remove the threat imposed by the uncontrollable element of time travelers by any means necessary."

Shadow continues to stare. His blank face betrays no reaction.

"Here's the thing. By the nature of the time loop we're in, it doesn't matter what you do. If you kill us, we'll just start the loop over. If you arrest us, we'll just start the loop over. There's only one thing you can do that will remove the 'uncontrollable element.' You're smart. You know exactly what that is."

Shadow takes a deep breath. "I need to help you escape the loop."

Zero stands back up. "Exactly. Now why don't you get rid of that thing," he beckons to the gun in Shadow's hand, "and follow your orders?"

Shadow stares silently at Zero for several moments. Then he drops the gun. "It would seem I have no choice. My orders are clear." He pulls out the Temporal Sapphire and holds it out.

Zero takes it. "Thank you, Shadow."

"What else do you need?"

"The Sapphire that the Sergeant is holding in his office."

Shadow nods. "So be it."

Silver stands back up as well. He grins profusely at Zero. Under his breath, he says, "Always the pacifist. Great job, Zero."

—–—

Agent Black bursts in through the door to the Sergeant's office with Zero and Silver right behind him. The Sergeant, who was sitting behind his desk, stands up and demands, "Agent, what is the meaning of this!?"

"I'm following my orders, sir."

Silver uses psychokinesis to pin the Sergeant down against his desk.

The Sergeant barks, "Who are you!?"

Zero leans down and whispers into his ears, "You don't know us, but we know you. You're the Master Sergeant of the Security Commission for Operations in Preventative Espionage. Also known as SCOPE. But I know you hate those forced acronyms." He seems to derive great pleasure from his taunting.

The Sergeant stares at Zero with ire in his eye. "You're the time travelers." He tries to look at Shadow but is unable to move his head. "Agent Black, arrest them at once!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but doing so would be in contradiction of my orders."

"Orders from whom!?"

"From you, sir."

"I order you to arrest them!"

"I cannot take new orders that would contradict my previous orders until they are completed." He points to the containment field behind the Sergeant's desk. "There's your Sapphire."

Silver approaches it. Upon closer look, the Sapphire seems to pulse in an irregular manner. "This explains everything."

Zero moves over. "What is it?"

"He's holding the Sapphire in a chrono-stasis field. That's what caused the closed timelike curve. He was trying to stop the Sapphire from leaving this time frame and messed up time in the process. Whenever the Sapphire would naturally try to leave, time just reset instead. Our Sapphire must be resonating with this one, causing us to get caught in it differently from everyone else."

Zero asks, "Will freeing the Sapphire break the loop?"

"Not on its own. But like I said before, using Time Control with two Sapphires should be enough to break us out, and if the Sapphire leaves this timeframe, then the loop should be broken."

Shadow crosses his arms. "Just get this over with."

Silver holds a hand forward and focuses his powers on the field. He pumps psychic energy into it until there's a loud pop. A blue light washes over all, similar to when the loop resets. Zero braces himself for another tumble. But it doesn't come. He breathes a sigh of relief.

Silver hands Zero the Sapphire. "Time to get us out of here."

Zero takes it and nods.

The Sergeant asserts, "You two know too much. And now I know your faces. If you appear anywhere within SCOPE jurisdiction, we will hunt you down. And you will find that our jurisdiction is very far reaching."

Zero laughs as he approaches the Sergeant. "Yeah, that won't be happening." He holds a hand to the Sergeant's head and announces, "Time Control!" The Sergeant's good eye glows blue for a moment, then he passes out. "There, I've erased his time-travel related memories, just like I did with Sonic."

Silver nods. "Good. What about him?" He points at Shadow.

Shadow states, "My movements are tracked. Whether he remembers it or not, the Sergeant will know that I broke in here. He will not know why. Revealing that information would give you reason to return here, jeopardizing the success of the mission. You don't need to worry about that happening."

Zero nods. "Oddly, I trust you. Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow turns his head. "Hmph."

Silver asks, "Ready to go?"

Zero nods. "Let's go." He holds a Sapphire in each hand. "Time Control!" Light flashes from the Sapphires several times. This isn't a usual Time Control. Zero clenches tighter on them and they begin to flash faster. It's as if he's fighting past some sort of invisible barrier. He shouts in exertion. Then there's one blinding flash of light, and Silver and Zero are gone.

—–—

? ? ?

When Silver and Zero reappear, they're momentarily dazed. When they come to their senses, Zero looks to Silver and asks, "Are you okay?"

Silver nods. "Yeah, that was rough, but I'm fine."

Zero chuckles. "I don't know if I'll ever call something rough ever again, after all the tumbling down hills I've done now." They both laugh together.

Then Zero realizes something is off. "Wait a second… Where are we…?"

Silver looks around too. They've found themselves in a completely empty void. Silver shakes his head in horror. "No, no, no, no, no. Not again… Not here…"

Silver and Zero have found themselves in White Space.

To Be Continued…