"I still need to practice a few things, but I think I'm doing well," Silver said while looking at the Chaos Emerald.

A few days passed since the naive hedgehog found the powerful gem. Silver quickly started a routine, once he finished wandering around Crisis City, he would go back to one of the usual buildings he resided to practice for a while. It was in his plans to at least control that ability, thinking about the possibility of traveling to the past and also helping the future to become the place he always dreamed about.

During his last visit, Shadow, a dark hedgehog who had more control over that technique taught him some fundamentals, mentioning how the power of the Chaos Emeralds were not like any others, and that it was far from an easy thing to master. Still, eager to do things right, the naive hedgehog continued practicing, and while most of his attempts didn't end well, he still had felt confident that he was making good progress.

"Is a thing of time, I know…Sonic and Shadow know how to do it, I wish I could do the same," Silver said while looking at the powerful gem. He was having another of his emotional moments, last time it was about loneliness, something that he always thought about, but looking at the cyan gem, and thinking about his friends in the past, the naive hedgehog had another thing on his mind. It was more related to how he compared himself with the others, his friends had all those abilities and had control over certain things. While he was aware about his own powers, something that some like Sonic and Amy called an outstanding ability, Silver hoped to do more.

Deciding to brush off those feelings, the psychic hedgehog put the Chaos Emerald in a survival belt he found during his last battle, where he defeated a small lava lizard inside of a destroyed mall. The gem wasn't the only thing he kept in the belt as the other possessions that he had were two photos in which they included his friends. As he spent most of his time in the future, he rarely saw them and used those things to go back to memory lane if it was necessary. As he started to remember his last trip, the naive hedgehog was distracted by the scream of a creature.

"I better check what is happening, I'll take care of my practice later," Silver said while putting the photos on the pocket of his belt. He wanted to continue with his practice, but it was more important to see what was causing that sound. It was easy to find where the sound came from as the naive hedgehog didn't have any issues flying towards that direction. The same couldn't be said by the landing as he was attacked mid-air by the lava lizard, who climbed to the top of a destroyed building that was close and jumped toward him.

The psychic hedgehog decided to use the attacks of the lizard in his favor, each time the lava creature would come closer to him, Silver would either use a piece of debris or a destroyed car to stop him or he would run out of the way to make the creature hit itself. His plan worked as it looked like the lizard was in such a wild state that it continued to run and attack, not thinking about what the naive hedgehog was doing. He killed the lava lizard the same way as the last one, waiting for it to hit a wall of a destroyed building and then using his powers to crush it with the wall of a destroyed building.

Even though it was normal for him to always encounter those kinds of creatures, Silver felt there was something strange as the lava lizard he fought against a few days ago was acting almost the same, with the sole difference being that it wasn't reacting that wildly. As he came closer to check the creature, wondering if he could find another Chaos Emerald, the naive hedgehog was distracted by an unexpected sound. It wasn't a lava creature or a building falling down, it was something stranger: the sound of someone clapping.

Taken by the sound, Silver jumped in surprise, confused yet interested to know who might be the one clapping. Still, wanting to be sure that this was real and not his mind playing tricks on him again, the naive hedgehog waited a bit, continuing to listen to the claps and waiting for something that would show him it wasn't a product of his mind. A few seconds later, he heard the evidence that would show him that it was real as he heard another sound.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! Another big and bad monster defeated by Silver, the hero of the future!"

Silver turned back, glad that it was a real thing and not his mind tricking him. There it was, the chance of seeing another survivor, one that might be helpful or one who might betray him. The risk continued to be there, and while it was a dangerous thing, the psychic hedgehog wanted to take it. He started looking for the one who was clapping, looking at every building to see if the other survivor might have been in one of those places.

"Show yourself!" Silver yelled while looking around. As there was no reason for him to keep himself in the shadows, the survivor stopped clapping and revealed himself: it was the same bandaged survivor that Silver saw a few days ago. His appearance was the same as the last time, he had a dark hood, his face, hands and legs were covered in bandages, he had a pair of black and gray boots and the most noticeable feature was his face, that while covered in bandages, it revealed a bright green eye on the left side of his face. The psychic hedgehog was speechless, glad that he finally saw someone yet a bit worried about what he might do. "You…I knew you were real. My mind might have tricked me a few times, but I knew you were not a product of my mind… Who are you?"

"You can call me…Set," the stranger said calmly, walking in the direction of Silver. At first, the naive hedgehog thought that the survivor with the bandages would stop in front of him, but after stopping to stare at him for a few seconds, the green-eyed wanderer walked towards the lava lizard. "Kinda depressing, these creatures are big and strong yet their mind is nothing in comparison. While bad, that is a good thing for me as I can easily manipulate them and command them to do things…like this one."

After the stranger finished talking, a bigger lava lizard came from behind, ignoring him and running towards Silver. The psychic hedgehog quickly avoided the lizard and used his powers to throw the deceased lava creature in its direction. As it was a bigger creature, it was faster and a bit more resistant than the last one. Silver knew he couldn't do the same thing as the last time as it wouldn't work. Trying to find a solution, he quickly flew to the top of the building that was close to them and just like he expected the lava lizard quickly followed him.

Silver wasn't trying to escape, it was actually part of his plan. The lava creatures were always strong and resistant, and while most of them were defeated the same way, being crushed by a big piece of debris or a wall of a building, Silver got a plan that was a bit risky. Even if the lava lizard was strong, it wouldn't survive a fall. As the creature got closer to him, the psychic hedgehog waited for the right time to get out of the way, but before he could do that, the lizard quickly jumped over him, making the two fall.

The naive hedgehog stopped mid fall thanks to his psychokinesis, but the lava lizard attacked him with his tail, making him hit the building that was behind him. Once again, Silver defeated a creature that was bigger than him, and while he was hurt in the process, he was glad that it wouldn't come back. Going down, Silver sat on the floor for a moment catching his breath while the bandaged survivor looking on the direction where the lizard fell down before walking towards Silver

"Like I said, it's depressing. At least you have enough knowledge to think by yourself and understand what's happening around this place, and well, smart enough to get out of the way when my mindless underlings do these kinds of things, " Set said in an arrogant tone. As he was getting up from the floor, Silver started to remember what he said, he didn't call the lava lizard creatures, he called them his underlings. The psychic hedgehog quickly deduced that whatever Set's powers were, he had the ability to control the lava creatures.

Thinking about his last few encounters, where all were acting wilder than usual, Silver wanted the bandaged survivor to pay for his actions as it did not affect him, but there was the possibility that other survivors were also targeted. Set quickly noticed it and once again taunted him, showing no fear as he looked at him, eager to see what the naive hedgehog would do to stop him. "I'll be nice and let you have the first attack, after that, we will see," he said calmly, showing no remorse about what he did nor thinking that Silver might be strong enough to defeat him.

The psychic hedgehog still didn't have enough energy, and was aware Set could have more tricks than just controlling the lava creatures. Taking one deep breath, Silver used his powers to throw part of the destroyed wall he used to crush Set. The green-eyed wanderer didn't move, letting himself be crushed by it. "I didn't expected that," Silver said, a bit confused to see that someone as menacing as Set didn't tried getting out of the way or counter attack, but just to be sure, the psychic hedgehog didn't let his guard down, thanks to past experience, he was aware that some creatures waited for the right time to counter attack.

Sadly, his suspicion was correct as the green-eyed wandered started to get out of the rubble pile, almost unscratched and putting the top of his hood again. "That was a nice presentation of your skills, now allow me to show you my own," Set said calmly before running toward Silver and punching him on his chest. The attack wasn't compared to anything that the lizard or golems, it was more painful and it looked like the bandaged survivor didn't have any issues landing a powerful blow like that.

As he tried to find a way to counter attack, Silver flew away before Set punched him again. The green-eyed wanderer did a light chuckle before jumping toward the psychic hedgehog. Again, the naive hedgehog was taken by surprise, seeing the abilities of Set, he was faster, stronger and it looked like nothing he could do would affect him. Even when it looked like Silver was close to hitting him, the green-eyed wandered either avoided the attack or held his fist before throwing him away. The naive hedgehog also tried to attack him with one or two pieces of debris, sometimes at the same time. Sadly, it was the same as before the bandaged survivor avoided them.

After being punched countless times, and thinking about what he could do to stop him, Silver came up with an idea. After letting him attack him again, he used his psychokinesis to bring part of the wall of a building that was close to them. Set did a light chuckle before turning around, seeing that the naive hedgehog was running out of ideas. As he was confident about the outcome of his attack,.

The bandaged survivor expected for the wall to hit him like the last time, but was perplexed when he noticed that it fell down meters before hitting him. As he was distracted, Silver sucker-punched him, landing two blows in his face and chest, and it would have been a third one if Set didn't stop his attack. While the psychic hedgehog tried moving his hand, hoping to either punch him or use his powers against him, the bandaged survivor used his other hand to hold him by the neck.

"Well, that was unexpected," Set said while hardening his grip. It looked like there was no way out from that situation, he was too tired to use his powers and the green-eyed wanderer didn't have any intentions of stopping. As he expected him to end his life on the spot, Set instead threw him away, making him land on the same spot where the first lizard was crushed. "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to put up that much of a fight. You haven't won this fight, but you surprised me. For that, I should give you a quick death. Is the least I could do after all."

Silver expected Set to attack him at that exact moment, but finding a way to prolong his agony, he decided to taunt him, walking a few steps back while not even looking at him. After an attempt to get up from the floor, the psychic hedgehog thought that all was lost, that this was the end of his life. As he tried to find a way out, something caught his attention as the Chaos Emerald fell out of his belt. Since Set wasn't looking at him, the naive hedgehog crawled where the gem was.

"You might be my only hope…"Silver thought, looking at the cyan gem and thinking about his next move. Using his powers wasn't an option as he was too tired, and trying to reason with Set was impossible as it looked like the green-eyed wanderer didn't have any intentions to talk with him. "I just need to end this, maybe try to find a way to stop time or…going back where everything started…"

Seeing that he was running out of options, the psychic hedgehog was left with doing another risky move: using Chaos Control. Silver still felt he wasn't ready and wasn't sure if he could do what he hoped thanks to his state and his experience with that technique. As Set stopped, the naive hedgehog knew that this was it, either he did that or he would perish by the hands of the stranger. Looking at the emerald one last time, the psychic hedgehog kept it out of Set's gaze as he waited for him to do his move.

"Normally, the one in my position would say that it's been a pleasure, but I would be lying if I'll be saying that," the bandaged survivor said while still looking away from Silver. He already felt victorious, thinking that the naive hedgehog wouldn't have the energy to avoid his attack or countertack. Looking at his hand, Set materialized a dark purple orb, revealing that he had a similar ability to Silver and deciding to not show it until it was his last attack. "Goodbye, Silver. Goodbye forever."

Once he finished with his phrase, the bandaged survivor took one deep breath before quickly turning around and running in the direction of the hedgehog. Even though it was barely a few seconds, it felt like hours to Silver. His heart was beating faster, his hands were trembling and his life was passing in front of his eyes. Anyone at that point would have given up, accepting their fate and coming to terms with the end of their life. That idea was still there, but thinking about the times he was there with his friends, the times they stopped an evil entity from achieving their plans, and thinking about his goal of protecting the future from any danger. Clenching his fist, the naive hedgehog looked at Set before raising his left hand, revealing that he had a Chaos Emerald in his power and saying a phrase the green-eyed wanderer didn't expect.

"Chaos Control!"

It was too late for Set to back out, the orb was already centimeters from touching the gem and the only thought in his mind was regret. He knew that there was a chance for Silver to have one of those powerful gems in his control yet he was confident that the naive hedgehog would be empty handed. The bandaged survivor regretted his overconfidence as the moment his orb touched the gem, a ray of light blinded both him and Silver.

"No! That wasn't supposed to happen!" The green-eyed wanderer said before screaming. On the other hand, Silver remained quiet, not being sure how to react. He was aware about the power of the Chaos Emeralds yet this came as a surprise. First Silver stopped hearing Set and then everything around him, the sounds of creatures screaming, of buildings falling down, all those things started to disappear as the naive hedgehog could only think of the worse.

Stopping anyone from destroying the future, that was his goal, and while Silver always found all kinds of dangers, none could be compared to Set. He was glad that the Chaos Emerald helped at first, but after his counter attack, he wasn't sure what happened. Although it looked like it was the end of the two, the powerful gem leaned towards stopping Set instead of destroying things. Of course, that was a side effect as neither of them knew what would happen to them or if they were going to be sent to another place. One thing was sure though.

Wherever Silver was going, it wasn't going to be his world.