Brilliant Blaze (Sonic Chaos Season 3 & A Half)

by sleepfiction

As Blaze gears up to become the leader Soleanna needs, both her and her friends are thrown into a scuffle with a powerful ancient psionic who has targeted Silver when he looks for answers to his mysterious past. Facing their pasts, their emotions and uncomfortable truths, it's up to Team Blaze to save their world and their future. (SONIC CHAOS SPINOFF, SET BETWEEN S3&S4)

20 YEARS AGO…

Queen Elise Agni the Second could swear she heard crying.

While she had been sitting on her throne, waiting silently for her king to return, Queen Elise heard some kind of whining. It wasn't technology, and it wasn't some kind of creaking, but the way the whining and squealing was patterned similar to the crying she had been used to hearing from her own infant daughter.

She knew she couldn't have been hearing things. The room was too silent otherwise. Everyone who had come through the throne room had been very loud, so the silence after was extra palpable. That meant that this strange crying noise could be much better heard.

The queen's head was tilted slightly, as she stared at a nearby wall, only focusing on straining her hearing to determine that noise.

"Dia."

"Yes, my queen?"

"Do you hear that?" She asked her lady-in-waiting. "That… crying noise."

Diamond Boebowski paused in place, still holding the Jeweled Scepter in her hand. She eyed the ceiling, focusing on trying to hear any noise. Much like the queen, her hearing was extra sharp, so she was good to get a second opinion from.

Her eyes squinted, almost like she was trying to look at something far away.

"I think I do. I hear some kind of crying. Do you think it's the princess?"

"No, I know when my daughter is crying. Both her and your daughter…" The queen turned away from the wall, looking around the room as she continued to listen. "None of the guards brought in a child, did they?"

"They would inform me if they did, my queen."

"Fair point."

The queen's eyes flicked over to Diamond. Slowly, she gripped the arms of her chair and slowly started to pull herself up.

"King Cyrus has requested you wait until he returns with your aides before you begin moving around again, my queen. Just so you don't harm yourself if you experience vertigo again."

Queen Elise paused where she was when Diamond spoke to her. She narrowed her eyes at her assistant from where she sat.

"Are you telling me, the queen, what she can and cannot do, Diamond Boebowski?"

"...No, I am not. I'm merely suggesting you wait."

"And what if the queen wants to investigate this noise on her own?"

"Then I suppose, as a member of the court under your highness Queen Agni, I would have no choice than to let her do what she pleases."

The queen kept eyeing Diamond. After a moment, the manx side eyed Queen Elise and slowly began to smile, knowing the queen was just being teasingly serious.

Getting up to her feet, Queen Elise held her hand up when Diamond tried to walk up and assist her, denying it before it could even be offered. The queen straightened herself out when she got up to her feet, letting out a sigh.

Picking up her royal garb, the queen's legs were free for her to move quickly, followed along by her lady-in-waiting, using the Jeweled Scepter as a walking stick. The queen and her aide left the throne room behind, passing koala guards that didn't question where she was going- as to be expected, she was royalty.

The crying got louder as she reached the southwestern wing of the castle. The queen and aide had to go to lower floors to follow the crying, reaching the guards and soldier barracks.

As they passed through the barracks, the crying was interrupted by the sparring of multiple guards practicing with each other. It was clear why the crying wasn't heard there- the guards were busy, and they wouldn't expect a baby crying somewhere nearby.

When Queen Elise and Diamond walked in, all the guards stopped, standing straight. It was clear by the changing looks on their faces that they suddenly heard the loud crying nearby.

The queen didn't stop though. She went right to the source of the crying- it was right outside the backdoor of the barracks. When she opened the door, she saw something strange sitting before her.

It was an ellipsoid container. It had a red top, and a red bottom, with fogged glass in the middle of those two ends. It was like the glass wasn't even muffling the sound inside- the crying was heard from the inside of this strange item capsule.

Queen Elise couldn't stand the thought of a crying baby for another second. She slammed her fist on top of the capsule as her aide and the guards watched her. The red top opened, creating a widening and contracting ring that got rid of the fogged glass while it passed down to the red base at the bottom.

The baby was blocked by a wrapping of soft blue fabric. Beside the baby's bundle was an odd sight- black boots with a white stripe and deep cyan toes, and white gloves with a strange circle symbol in the center of the palm. Both the boots and the gloves had golden cuffs on the open ends.

The bits of clothing were strange, but the queen didn't care. She grabbed the obscured crying baby, cradling it in her arms. She pulled the fabric away from where the head was clearly at, revealing the baby's bright gray quills, and the five spikes starting to poke upwards from his forehead. The others gasped collectively at the sight of the baby.

"It's a hedgehog…"

"There hasn't been a hedgehog here in decades…"

"Is it from the Onyx Groupmind?"

The queen shushed the person who spoke the last sentence. While it seemed that she was trying to quiet the area so she could work with the baby, it was actually to keep that person from speaking the name of that group- words have power, more than they could know.

She turned her head to look back at the wailing baby. Queen Elise shushed him silently, still crouched down, reaching in and pressing her fingers to the baby hedgehog's chest and slowly rubbing it soothingly. She quietly murmured a song, one she sung to her own daughter,

Slowly, the song and rubbing quieted the baby down. He looked up at the queen with large, golden eyes. As he calmed down, the queen smiled warmly down at him. The smile brought a big smile to the baby's face as well.

As the baby hedgehog smiled, the five spikes on his head lifted upwards, glowing with a cyan energy. Down below, the golden cuffs on the gloves and the boots suddenly clicked open, revealing a glowing cyan inside from the split cuffs. The click got the queen's attention momentarily, but she returned to smiling at the baby.

When her fingers slipped under the fabric to feel his belly, the queen could see lettering on the edge of the fabric. She flipped it over to see it, reading it aloud.

"Silver T. Hedgehog." She said. "What a sophisticated name for such a little thing."

Cradling the baby in her arms, the queen stood. All eyes were on her.

"My queen?" Diamond asked.

"Take the gloves and boots and store them in my closet. He has a long way to grow into them if they're meant for him." Queen Elise replied. "I'll be fine, don't worry. Tell my husband I'll be in the living quarters."

Without another word, the queen turned around, still smiling down at the baby as she strode back into the castle. She walked past all the flabbergasted guards, with only Diamond left to watch her with a small smile on her face.

By the time King Cyrus found her, the queen was looking down in one of the cradles in the upstairs infirmary. Flustered from losing track of his wife, he started to quickly come up beside her, but was gestured to slow down when the queen noticed him.

"Elise…"

"Shhh."

Queen Elise pointed into the cradle. When Cyrus came up beside her, he looked down at what she was gesturing at inside it.

After bringing the baby back, the queen had dressed Silver in a onesie (he was only wearing a diaper, meaning someone definitely cared enough to put one on him) and placed him into the cradle right afterwards- but not just any cradle.

The infant princess, Elise Agni the Third, was asleep on her back right next to the also sleeping Silver. They were close to one another and, while they were sleeping, were holding each other's hand.

"A hedgehog…" Cyrus murmured. "You don't think…"

"Shush."

Queen Elise slipped under one of Cyrus' arms so he could put it around her shoulders. The queen leaned against her husband, smiling still as she watched the two babies sleep next to one another. Though the king looked at his wife, his gaze slowly returned to the sleeping infants. He heard her speak once more.

"It doesn't matter where he came from. He deserves rest. Let's just enjoy this moment."

---

PRESENT DAY…

"This dress is awful."

Princess Elise Agni the Third, or Blaze if you were so inclined, watched her personal guard fidget with the dress she had on. It was red, surplice, with a gown that went down to the floor. It was chosen for the guard specifically, even though she had her own dress lined up to wear- she begrudgingly wore this red one on request by the princess.

"Tiara, you're going to tear it."

"Oh good, so I'm wearing a dress made of cheap materials?"

"No, you keep swinging the Verdant Scepter around. It's going to tear the dress if one of the jagged crystal ends snags the fabric."

Tiara Boebowski huffed, putting the scepter she was assigned to carry at all times upright, the bottom of its metal pole dinging as she set it on the floor. All things considered, Blaze did think she looked nice in that dress. It was much better than the one the princess was wearing by request of her father.

It was long, pooling out onto the floor below. The dress was a deep purple (as expected) with golden trim, and short sleeves that were tight around her arms. Blaze's usually tied up "mane" was now down, something a lot of people in the kingdom hadn't seen before. This dress and the dazzling jewelry on her neck was passed down from her mother, though it felt like it was designed to keep her from moving too much.

Maybe that was the point… This little event was supposed to be all of five minutes, and Blaze had planned on booking it the second it was done. Her father had told her numerous times that events like these needed her around even after the main event was finished, but Blaze never thought he would resort to textile-based trapping to keep her around.

The king wasn't present at the small ceremony, as he was dealing with different plans to create a path to the Water Temple. It had been months since Blaze and her friends had discovered it, but it was still hard to break through the icy barrier without the princess' control of fire. They were trying to find a way not to rely on her for it.

But while they were there, Blaze was here. It was at the edge of Windmill Village, the northern edge, near where the mountains began. A dirt path that had been leading to nowhere now had something to lead to: a library.

The building had been made with sustainable materials, out of demolished buildings that had been abandoned in town. The walls and the roof of the building had seeds interwoven in the material, which made vines and flowers appear all over- the only place that didn't have these vines were the solar panels propped up to hover just above the roof.

Etched on a building, and a plaque positioned at the entrance foyer of the library, was the name of the building: The Elise Agni II Memorial Museum Library. It was Blaze's choice to have it honor her mother.

Alongside the vines growing on the outer walls, there were also plants woven throughout the walls and the bookshelves in the building. There was a big painting of a map of Soleanna on one of the center walls, and the mantle below the painting had two large words carved into it: "Vela Nova"

Somewhere else in the Zoniverse, these words were Latin- here, in the Sol Zone, the words were an ancient language that translated to the same thing they meant in Latin: "new sails," to represent the new horizons the library presented.

At this open house event, Blaze was positioned in front of the mantle and the painting, standing almost like a statue for people to interact with her, with Tiara standing right at her side. The library was full of people from all classes- the sophisticated nobles to the lower class. Blaze didn't discriminate, especially as the library was open for all with free admission.

From the corner of her eye, Blaze could see Tiara was still messing with her dress.

"Tia."

"I can't help it! It's so weird."

"You didn't have this problem a few hours ago."

"Because I had just put the dress on, I was blinded by how pretty it looked."

"I think this started because you're just annoyed that Ebony picked it out."

Tiara's ears perked up at that name. Right after, the fur on Tiara's body puffed up slightly from the feeling of aggravation visible on her face.

"No. I'm not."

"I think you're jealous…" Blaze sing-songed softly, knowing she was getting on her nerves.

"Ellie, I will frisbee this painting you made into the ocean."

"I'll catch it before it reaches it."

"Not if I slam dunk it into the water."

"You'll have to outrun me first."

"Or I can just trip you. Maybe break one of your heels to keep you down."

"Oh, I'll make you eat those words."

"You won't even get the chance."

"Princess Elise, I've returned!"

The voice of a third party interrupted the banter between the two felines. A third feline had joined their row, on the other side of Blaze- a black cat, one shorter than Tiara. She wore a purple and green dress, a wrap dress. As the color of her fur would suggest, this was the aptly named Ebony referenced before.

Years prior, Blaze had declined the idea of a personal assistant due to her only focus being to protect the Sol Emeralds. Now, embracing her role as the future of Soleanna, she realized she was very, very busy- and she needed someone to help her out.

Due to some prior, yet expunged, criminal activity involving attacking the princess and destroying part of the castle, Tiara was unable to return to her role as lady-in-waiting. Her current position as a personal guard was the only compromise the king would accept after the whole Iblis debacle.

Ebony now filled Tiara's old role, chosen once Blaze put word out she needed a new lady-in-waiting after the Water Temple was found. The black cat was the one and only candidate, strangely enough.

Tiara rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath as Ebony returned.

"I have retrieved your circlet, as promised." Ebony bowed slightly, holding the headpiece up to Blaze with both hands. It was made of silver, with red gems all around it.

"Thank you, Ebony."

"Shall I fetch anything else for you, my princess?"

Tiara started quietly mimicking what Ebony said in a high pitched voice. Though Blaze was placing the circlet on her own head, she was able to move her foot to the side and stomp down on Tiara's foot, the move obscured by Blaze's gown.

"No thank you, Ebony." Blaze said as Tiara let out a grunt and a discreet hiss at her hurt foot. "Though I think everyone who wants to be here is here- could you close the front doors for me?"

"Right away, my princess!"

Ebony scurried off. Blaze turned around to face the room again, her head turning slightly to give the still reeling Tiara a small scowl at her attitude.

"What?" The manx asked when she noticed the look. "You can't seriously expect me not to judge. I mean, she forgot your circlet! What kind of assistant forgets that? I never did!"

"She's just starting out, Tia."

"She's bad news. You know what they say about black cats and bad luck in Cream's zone…"

"This isn't her zone, this is ours. Now cut it out, I have to give my speech."

Ebony closed the front doors to the library. As Blaze cleared her throat, Tiara lifted the Verdant Scepter and slammed it against the floor, letting the loud clang of metal cause the crowd to quiet down and turn their attention to the princess.

Blaze stepped forwards, clearing her throat, hands clasped in front of her. After a moment to focus on what she was going to say, the princess raised her head.

"Esteemed guests," She said serenely. "I'm so happy to see you all here for the opening of our new museum library. I hope that, with this opening, we will also open a new chapter of Soleanna that not only recognizes our past but also strives to move forward and become greater. I designed this building and its exhibits, so feel free to look through the displays and read any books on the shelves. But please, if you can, put them back in the order you found them."

The room began to chatter. However, soon after, a voice spoke up.

"Princess Blaze?"

"Oh! Yes, may I help you?"

"Hi, I'm with the print." A canine said. "I just wanted to ask one or two things, if that's alright."

"That would be okay, just keep it short. I'd like to show you all some of my favorite displays."

"Right, right, it'll only take a sec." The canine flipped through her notebook. "The exhibits you have here, are these items you have collected from reliable sources, or have you taken them from communities that value them?"

"The items we have in our collection have been in my family's possession for centuries, simply gathering dust. Some come from communities and history that have been fairly forgotten. Take, for example," Blaze trailed over to a nearby exhibit, where a big black hat was inside the glass container. "This exhibit. This is the hat of legendary pirate, Captain Proteus Riptide. This captain was known for pillaging and destroying entire communities in an effort to appease some kind of sea spirit he believed to be real. He was later taken out by Soleanna's very own navy, though his hat was the only thing retrievable from the wreckage of his ship."

The hat was wide, a deep black with gold edges on the top and bottom. In the center was a skull and crossbones, but the skull appeared to belong to some kind of demon, as it was horned with very sharp teeth. The crowd murmured again.

"This hat, like the other exhibits were either retrieved with consent to the communities they belong to, or are memorabilia from significant events that have happened long ago. Our museum is meant to educate our people on our past, even our most unsavory actions. It does not want to repeat them."

Finishing writing up what Blaze said, the canine turned to another page.

"And what about the future of Soleanna?" She asked. "You've done quite a bit of work these past few months. You've even gone out of your way to give our people a title. What is your end goal for our kingdom?"

Blaze paused, thinking about the question.

"Well, I think by the fact I gave us a title, I think it should be obvious."

She started a bit amused. The title in question, Solarian, had been given to the people in Soleanna as an official term for the animal-esque people that weren't exactly human. Inspired by the term Mobian from their sister zone, Blaze used it as a stepping stone for her own term- though the people didn't need to know that.

"My end goal is to give the people of this kingdom a world they can look forward to. Something to wake up to and be excited to get out there." Blaze said to the journalist. "All of this- the library, the expeditions- it's all for them. I rule the land, but the people who live on this land are my top priority. I want Soleanna to be the best it can be. I hope the people can see this is my first step towards that goal."

The princess stood in satisfied silence after that. The canine wrote down what was said before flipping her notebook closed. Everyone in the crowd continued to chat amongst each other as the questioning was finished. Blaze took a deep breath.

She gave a glance to Tiara, leading the guard to clang the Verdant Scepter on the ground again. Everyone shut up and looked to the front.

"Thank you all, again, for coming." Blaze said. "Please, feel free to walk about and look at the exhibits. Maybe read a book or two. I will be here for a few hours, so you're always free to speak to me about—"

WHAM!

Everyone went silent. The closed wooden doors of the building were rammed against. After a few seconds, there was another WHAM as something hit the doors again. Blaze glanced at Tiara, who grabbed her scepter with both hands tightly. People started moving away from the door.

With a third and final slam, the doors gave way, flipping open and slamming into the newly made walls on either side. The large doorway gave way to a figure staggering in, revealing his shiny metal body and torpedo-like head in the shining light up above.

"Well, well, well." Johnny garbled. He must've gotten a paint job- he looked normal now. Wonder how he scrounged up the rings for it. "If it isn't a little shindig I wasn't invited to. Typical. Sorry to crash the party."

"You're not welcome here, Johnny!" Blaze yelled. "Get out of here!"

"Not without the hat."

"…the what?"

"The hat!" Johnny yelled back. "The pirate king's hat! Whisker was wondering where it went, and it turned out you stole it! Now Whisker's gone, and that hat is one of the last things I got that remains of the old pirate king and his crew that we lost over a decade ago! Give it back to me, or I'll break this little clubhouse of yours to nothing but rubble!"

"This hat was collected from the late pirate captain postmortem." Tiara replied to him. "You have as much right to this hat as his corpse does. Leave, Johnny. Now!"

Johnny didn't directly reply. His speakers let out a small chuckle, as he trailed to the side, head hanging down. He rolled his head back up to look at the princess and her guard, his head tilted back slightly.

"Now I did say one of the last remains of the pirates, didn't I?"

The robot swung his hand, hitting his fist against a pillar, making the entire building shake. The crowd all let out different sounds of shock and horror, a few afraid he was going to bring the entire building down.

"Stop!" Blaze yelled.

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of roaring fire and rushing water. From the outside, in from the door, the legless top halves of skeletons in pirate outfits swarmed inside, soliciting more screams from the crowd. There were three of them, with glowing bones that helped illuminate the room.

Johnny leaned a little to the side, one hand resting on his hip and the other pointing towards where the hat was.

"Kaizoku! Get me that hat, and kill whoever gets in your way!"

The Kaizoku Skeletons started descending on the crowd. Instinctively, Tiara rushed in, making a wide swing of her scepter to knock all of them away and protect the Solarians.

"Ebony, direct the crowd to the back exit." Blaze said.

"Yes, your brilliance!"

The black cat rushed behind Tiara, sticking her arms out and starting to herd the crowd towards the back of the room. Blaze spotted Johnny slowly walking towards the exhibits near the princess.

"Tiara, keep Johnny away from that hat!"

"Why can't you do it?"

"This is my mother's garb! I'm not going to burn it fighting against a nobody like Johnny!"

"Hey!" The robot pirate stopped in his tracks, clearly enraged by what she said.

Tiara pulled the scepter to get it back into a defensive position as the skeleton pirates started moving in again. However, to her annoyance, she found the jagged green crystal caught in the bottom part of her dress. She huffed, and yanked hard, a loud ripping noise heard to everyone nearby.

The dress ripped right at her knee, showing one leg while the other was still covered in red fabric. The exposed leg looked normal up to the knee, where it was clear that some kind of bag was poking out under the ripped textile.

"You had a leg bag this whole time?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot I had that. I was inspired by that bat from a while back!"

The manx reached into the bag, pulling out two disk shaped objects. She slid them out in front of her, one of them ending up right in front of one of those pirate skeletons. As the skeleton passed over the disk, it opened up, revealing white in its center. With a flash of white, the skeleton was snatched up from where it was.

The other disk opened up, teleporting that skeleton to that area and flinging it out, sending it crashing into the open door. It crumbled to a pile of bones on the floor, though it was clear that it was still alive and moving.

It looked like the field test for her Halo Traps yielded successful results. She pulled out a larger contraption, smacking it on the bottom part of the scepter for it to wrap around it completely. This device was the Sun-powered Self Propelling Overdrive Thruster- aka the Sun SPOT, something Tiara had been working on with Blaze for a while.

Currently powered by the energies in the scepter, the Sun SPOT lit up, propelling itself forwards. Tiara pulled herself onto the scepter, sitting on it sidesaddle as it flew through the room. She drifted around, slamming the broad pole of her scepter into the remaining two skeletons, destroying them bowling style.

However, it didn't last. Tiara landed, witnessing the pirate skeletons starting to reform themselves. She also sensed the one she had sent through the Halo Trap was getting up as well.

Her eyes trailed to the floor, discovering she was near the first trap that skeleton went into. She moved the Verdant Scepter to it, gently knocking it forwards to end up right in front of the duo that were reformed and starting to lurk towards the manx.

As expected, the skeleton by the door traveled back over the Halo Trap, and was flung out of the other one, sending it crashing into their two companions. They landed in a heap of bones on the floor, with Tiara barely having to move for this outcome.

Once more, it didn't last. Tiara watched in mild horror as the skeletons reformed together- literally. They connected and linked their bones together, creating a horrifying three-headed skeleton beast that towered over Tiara.

Using the Sun SPOT, Tiara pulled herself away from a slamming downward double fist from this massive beast. She brought the scepter back around, stopping it right in front of the beast to use the momentum for a powerful kick against the mega skeleton's chest. The three-headed monster stumbled backwards, chased by Tiara.

Blaze watched nearby, feeling stricken with worry for both her friend and the quantity of damage sustained to her newly opened building. She turned in time to duck a punch from Johnny, who was still walking slowly.

"C'mon, it's not fun when you don't fight back. Where's your spark, princess?"

In response, she lifted her dress and kicked directly into Johnny's stomach, knocking him back. She couldn't use her fire powers, but she would try her best to fight against this robot as best as she could. She had faith in Tiara though… if she'd stop fighting that giant skeleton.

Johnny charged back, gearing up to hit the princess with a punch, but it was blocked with another arm from somebody that slid in front of Blaze to protect her.

Not even fazed by blocking the metal arm, Ebony swung her arm around and hooked it around Johnny's forearm, yanking him in. Her other hand gripped the back of Johnny's head, swinging it down and slamming it into a short bookshelf, knocking it over and flipping the green robot.

After scurrying to his feet, Johnny rushed in to attack again. Punches and kicks were each blocked by the black cat, whose face didn't change from an emotionless expression. She sent a palmheel strike into Johnny's chest, sending him back again.

"Your luminance?" Ebony offered a hand back to the princess.

Blaze took her lady-in-waiting's hand. She grabbed onto Ebony's alternate shoulder, turning so the black cat could grab onto her dress' belt. Blaze was lifted upwards by the other feline, launched towards the green robot so her feet were on his shoulders.

Ebony swung Blaze's upper half down, the princess reaching out and touching the floor with her hands. As she was facing Johnny, she simply had to kick both of her legs backwards, pulling him clear off the ground and sending him flying through the library, making him crash into one of the displays.

The princess landed on her back. Once she was up on her feet, Blaze checked her mother's garb- no damage was done to it. That was a relief.

"Ebony, that was astounding!" She praised the black cat. "You never mentioned that in your interview! When did you learn that stuff?"

"…you know, I am not sure!" Ebony seemed like she was just getting out of a trance. She blinked a few times, her eyebrows furrowing. "I think I may have read it in a book once. Perhaps the picture novels they sell down in the market…"

Back across the room, Tiara paused noticing Blaze impressed with Ebony. The manx cat huffed, visibly aggravated. At least she could use that to her advantage during this fight.

Tiara swung the scepter around, leaving a trail of white energy behind it, using it to force the skeleton beast to move back. She used the momentum to spin the scepter around her neck, grabbing it with both hands with the jeweled end towards the skeleton, almost like you would a rocket launcher. A blast made up of the Power Of The Stars connected with one of the beast's massive shoulders, blowing half of its upper body clear off and making it stumble back.

Blaze and Ebony were there without the lady having to say anything. On either side of the skeleton, they both stuck out their feet, letting the massive legs of the beast hit them. The skeleton tripped backwards, slamming back onto the ground and turning into a massive clattering pile of bones.

"Excellently done, Lady Boebowski!" Ebony said brightly.

"Yeah, well, all in a day's work." Tiara replied. Maybe she was suspicious of Ebony, but she could certainly take a kind compliment.

"Ha! Gotcha!"

Johnny had gotten up while the ladies were distracted. He managed to take off the glass cover for the display holding the pirate's hat, and held it up above his head to show off his prize.

"Riptide's Hat!" Blaze turned to get to the robot, but tripped on her dress, landing on a short bookshelf and falling over with it.

"Your highness!"

"Ellie!"

"Ya snooze, ya lose, ya puffy purple pillock! C'mon skellies, let's get outta here!"

Tiara and Ebony helped the princess up in time to watch Johnny torpedo off with the hat. The skeletons all tumbled over one another, almost like a massive tumbleweed, leaving the building as well. Two of the hands reached back, grabbing the doorknobs and pulling them both close with a reverberating SLAM!

The purple cat was up on her feet. Tiara's hand went from her arm to her back.

"You okay, Ellie?" She asked.

"Yeah. Fine."

Blaze picked up her dress, crumpling up the bottom edge and taking two ends, tying it up in front of her to keep it up. She stepped out into the fairly wrecked library, letting out a long sigh and running her hands over her face.

"What an opening."

"Certainly the most exciting library opening on Sol."

"I can get a task force together to clean up and repair any damage to the library, my fervescence."

"You make it sound like they're out to kill somebody." Tiara mused, leaning with her arm outstretched, holding the scepter tilted away.

"It's a force meant to carry out a task! Is that not what a task force is?"

"…you know, I'm not entirely sure. I should find the dictionary in this library…"

"I'd appreciate the task force to clean the place up, Ebony, yes. Thank you."

Blaze pulled out the red metal hair ring she had tucked inside the top of her dress. She pulled her "mane" back up, slipping the fur through the band and returning her hair to how it usually looked on a day-to-day basis.

"I need to hire a guard to watch over the place tonight. Do we know anybody who's able and willing to stay up all night on short notice?"

"Well, I do know a certain gray hedgehog who has three years in customer service at a twenty-four hour convenience store."

"What's a convenience store?"

Tiara looked at Ebony with raised eyebrows. After a second, she walked away, using the scepter as a walking stick. "I'm gonna go start looking for that dictionary."

"Mmhm. Ebony, send a note out to Silver to meet me here when he and Marine are done at Seagull Beach."

The tie that the princess made was undone, making her mother's dress unravel again and spill around her feet, pooling on the ground. She sighed deeply.

"And tell someone to bring me my favorite tailcoat and leggings please."

---

The beauty of Seagull Beach could be seen from all the massive, open windows in the shack on the water. It also brought in a lot of light.

Off the western coast of Southern Island- the island the Agni Empire called their primary home, complete with Blaze's castle- there was a massive stretching floating dock with many residential homes on it. Seagull Beach was known for doing a lot of fishing, more than the transport docks that were on Windmill Village closer to the royal family.

It was also known for the Coconut Crew: a group of koalas that run the local youth association, created by a koala named Colonel, who funnily enough was the younger brother of Blaze's top koala guard and steward Gardon. There were many different youth centers across the island for any youngster who needed support, but the one on Seagull Beach was special; the center on the floating docks of Seagull Beach was the one where Marine was raised.

This was also important because the Coconut Crew members on Seagull Beach were friendly enough with Marine to let her poke around their personal files.

Sitting at a large table, with different books stacked across it, Silver psychokinetically flipped through the pages of the final records book in the pile.

It had been a while since he had a proper adventure. Actually getting good sleep nowadays, the circles under his eyes had all but disappeared- though there wasn't any cure for the mild RBF he'd gotten from his many days behind the register.

It didn't get cold on Southern Island, just hot or warm, but flying made him chilly; he had traded in his shorts and polo for a white jacket (with purple shoulders and zipper), and cyan joggers that tucked into his trademark boots. White fur poked out from the collar of the emerald green shirt he had under the aforesaid jacket.

He sailed across the shore with Marine to visit Seagull Island to look through the different records the Coconut Crew had on the different people across Southern Island for the last twenty years. It had been a steady few hours, but being used to staring blankly at a point-of-sale system for hours on end meant Silver could go for extended periods of time without being fatigued. At least not too fatigued.

Blaze had heard about the little spat that happened on Earth with the exiled faker named Shadow, including an alien invasion that Silver, Marine and Tiara missed out on. Not fair, considering the trio passed on crossing dimensions because they thought Blaze was just going to have a ten minute visit to make sure Cream was okay.

Instead, the princess came back after a day, regaling her squad with a tale involving aliens-who-aren't-really-aliens, the invasion of Station Square, Station Square fighting back, and Sonic saving the world (again) with Shadow. In the end, Sonic also discovered his siblings and uncle- who he previously thought were dead- are actually alive and somewhere on Earth!

If Cream invited Team Blaze over to the Chaos Zone for Yuletide, Silver would have to give Sonic his regards. Maybe they weren't besties, but the guy always treated Silver with kindness when he worked at FrogMart. Hedgehogs gotta stick together.

But something about hearing of Sonic's sudden discovery awoken something in Silver. Something that brought Silver all the way to the youth center to try and find a little bit more about himself: who his own family was.

It was no secret that Silver was raised alongside Blaze, nurtured by the guards of the castle to ironically become the princess' psychokinetic personal guard. But it always felt there were so many more mysteries to solve besides Silver's origin: what happened to Silver post Iblis' imprisonment, if Iblis would come back, what Iblis exactly was, where all the humans went, where the ancient water temple was, and so on.

But now those mysteries were solved. So all that was left was the elephant in the room. Or, maybe, just in Silver's room. He was grateful that his friends took it just as seriously as he did.

However, the mystery would have to live on for now. The records had nothing. Dozens and dozens of records, and nothing on who Silver was. Silver was listed in the records, as he lived on Southern Island as a youth, but there wasn't any real information on him except his biometrics like height, eye color and age.

They didn't even know what the "T" in his name stood for! For all he knew, his full name could just literally be Silver The Hedgehog! How embarrassing would that be?

With a flip of his hand, Silver closed the other end of the records book, done with his search. Nothing. Still, there was nothing about who Silver was, or where he really came from. The earliest reports were still that he was left on the steps of the castle barracks.

Apparently, according to the biometric reports, they even did a DNA test to try and find a match across anyone else they had biodata on across the entire planet- still nothing. Silver matched nobody. For all anyone knew, he was just dropped off onto the steps by someone who subsequently disappeared into thin air.

Part of Silver knew it would end up like this. He sighed, half with disappointment, half with relief that he didn't find anything unsavory about him in these records. Slowly, he turned and walked out of the room.

As he did, the record books stacked on the table glowed cyan. Without even looking, Silver psychokinetically reorganized the books back into the shelves and cabinets of the room, just where they belonged. The last book slid into place as Silver firmly closed the door behind him while leaving.

He walked down the hall and into the primary care wing of the youth center. The activity room was packed, with a bunch of Solarian children sitting cross-legged and looking up at their person of interest- a raccoon in a pirate's outfit sitting on a stool, holding a pencil and a piece of paper with a monster drawn on it.

"So then, I turn the old wheel of the ship and shift that puppy into overdrive. I sneak up behind that old fiery dropkick and WHAM!" Marine impaled the pencil through the paper, specifically through the chest of the monster she drew. "Turned it into a kebab!"

The kids started chattering with excitement.

"Did that really happen, Captain Marine?"

"Fair dinkum, mate!" Marine leaned forwards, lowering the paper and pencil to look at the girl who talked. "Without my help, ol' Blazey wouldn't have gotten her main squeeze back from him!"

"What's a main squeeze?"

"Did I say that? Er, I meant to say she got her buddy back. Don't tell Blaze I said anything. In fact, just forget I said that whole sentence." The raccoon waved her hand. She noticed Silver peeking in. "If you little biters don't believe me, just ask Silver over there! I impaled Iblis with my pirate ship a while back, didn't I mate?"

All the kids in the room turned to look back at the hedgehog. With all attention on him, Silver slowly strolled into the activity room, arms crossed.

"It's true. She handled that ship like a pro. Or at least as good as a fifteen year old could."

"Always remember, kiddos, you don't need a license to operate a rocket-powered pirate ship. So get one a'those in lieu of an auto-rickshaw."

Just in time to punctuate Marine's awful advice towards the children, the speakers in the room above them let out a ringing noise, indicating the bell for the kids to move to the dining hall for lunch. Silver walked in further, and Marine tossed the impaled paper onto a nearby table.

As the kids all rushed out, someone else walked in- a koala, who towered over the children. The most notable parts of his outfit was a green vest with a few patches sewn on and a large-brimmed straw hat. He smiled when he saw Marine.

"Marine! What's goin' on, mate?"

"Hey, Tabby! There's me ol' cobber." Marine hopped up, giving the koala a hug.

Silver remembered what Marine had told him about Tabby when they sailed over to Seagull Beach- he was the koala who ran this specific youth center, and was the one who pretty much raised Marine up until she left close to ten years old to work on the docks over in Windmill Village.

Purely from the accent they shared, Silver knew she was telling the truth.

Tabby had been out on the docks catching fish for the week when Silver and Marine came in, leading to Marine entertaining the kids so the Coconut Crew newbie, Setter, could aptly settle some financial nonsense.

"You smell like a school of tuna, mate!" The raccoon said as she stepped back from him.

"Just wanted t'give you a little perfume to match your getup." Tabby adjusted his vest. "'Sides, you probably get that smell out on the water anyway. I reckon from the big pirate ship on the docks that you're still out there sailing for adventures!"

"Yup! Flat out like a lizard drinking."

"Good on ya! I knew when I found ya washing up on the beach that you'd be working with water somehow. That or you'd be afraid of water or something." The koala looked at Silver. "What about you, mate? Find the info you were lookin' for?"

"All I found was stuff I already know." Silver shrugged. "Back to square one."

"Aw, man, I'm sorry t'hear that. Well, if you think there's anything else you need from us, you're all welcome back. Maybe Marine can help with the kiddos again."

"Only in short bursts, mate." Marine held her hands up, chuckling a bit. "Kids can really get on my nerves if I'm around 'em for too long."

"Marine, you're also a kid."

"Nah, I'm a teen, ya bludger. There's a difference." The captain walked over to Silver and nudged him, grinning.

"Is there though?" Silver replied in a higher pitched voice.

In the doorway to the hall, another koala with a red coat- Setter, who the duo had met before- leaned in to talk to Tabby.

"Tabby! Need you out for lunch, mate! The kids are gettin' rowdy!"

"Alright, I'll be right there." Tabby looked back at Marine. "It was really good to see ya, Marine. Nice to meet you too, Silver! Catch ya later!"

"Have a good one!"

Silver opted to simply wave his goodbye as Tabby left the room with Setter in tow. Left alone, and their objective failed, Silver and Marine knew it was time for them to go.

On the docks, as they passed by the many different boats tied to the docks, Silver stayed deep in thought. His hands were shoved deep in his jacket's pockets, eyebrows slightly furrowed and vision focused on the floating dock's surface.

As they walked, Marine looked at all the boats, waving at people who were standing on the dock or the decks of their boats.

"Something I don't get," She said. "If Tabby 'n all the Coconut Crew have these accents, how come the one in Blazey's castle doesn't have one? He's the brother of Colonel and Colonel has the heaviest accent like mine I've ever heard. You think maybe Colonel got all of his brother's accent?"

"Uh huh."

"And where did these accents come from anyway? I tried askin' Tabby once, but he just shooed me off. I was an ankle biter at the time, so maybe he thought I was just bein' a little hoon, but I genuinely wanna know! You think it's just for the koalas?"

"Could be."

"Alright mate, what's the matter with you?" Marine grabbed his arm to make Silver stop in his tracks. "You're acting like a real drongo right now. Spit it out, gray."

Silver sighed. "I just hate that there was nothing there. In the records. I thought there might be some kinda clue as to where I come from, but… nothing. Just like everything else around here."

"We can always look in other places, mate."

"We've been looking in other places for the last few months." He replied. "Nobody knows anything. The only thing everyone knows is that I was left on those barrack steps as a baby, with some weird looking shoes and gloves that are somehow receptive to my psychokinetic powers."

"Yeah, I know the story."

"But it feels like everywhere around here is out to get me. Like this world was made to confuse me. Why am I the only hedgehog I've ever seen around here? The only hedgehog in years shows up at the castle with weird powers and… that's it?"

The hedgehog gestured aimlessly, clearly still thinking to himself with a furrowed brow.

"Hey, c'mon, you don't have to look so sour, gray." Marine tried to be supportive, patting Silver's shoulder. Or, rather, the back of his shoulder since she was shorter than him. "I mean hey, I washed up on this very beach with no sign of my parents and I turned out ripper!"

"I know, and I'm happy for you, but…" Silver bit the inside of his cheek for a second. "I've been having these dreams. Infrequently, every now and then. These dreams that feel so… real. I see fire, and destruction. People made of metal. A monster of lava fighting a monster of water. It's the same thing over and over, and I wake up with so much nausea."

Marine's eyebrows knitted. "…have you told Blazey and red about this?"

"Yeah. But they only know as much as I do." Silver replied. "That's why I want to figure this out. Why would I have these dreams? Are these visions of the future from my ESP, or are these… memories?"

"Do ya really think finding your past will give you answers?"

"I think. There isn't a guarantee, but… I wanna try. If not to just make the dreams go away."

After a second of only the crashing waves below filling the air, Marine gently pat Silver's arm with the back of her hand.

"Don't worry about it, mate." She said. "You'll find something soon, I know it. But even if ya don't you always got me, and Blazey and red to keep you company. And we'll keep helping 'til you find something."

"…yeah, I know. Thanks, Marine."

"Hey, you knocked some sense into Blazey when she yelled at me about my ol' houseboat. Least I could do is try to keep you straight, too. Now c'mon mate, Norm and the crew are waitin'."

Parked at the end of the dock- the only place it could really fit- the SS HYPER-MARINE stood in all of its glory. There had been a few touch-ups to make it look a bit more professional, and it helped that Marine now had a crew of pirates to do all the dirty work for her.

As they reached the end, a mound of seawater raised up from the gaps in the dock, creating a platform for Silver and Marine to step up on. The solid bump of water rose up and let the duo step on the deck of the ship.

"G'day, mates!"

There was a chorus of voices as the polar bears on the deck all happily greeted their captain in response to her call out.

After being freed from the ice of the water temple, the polar bear vikings didn't really have anywhere else to go- they used to live on the island of Blizzard Peaks that the water temple resided on, but due to being unkempt their civilization was buried under miles of snow.

So, since they needed something to do after being frozen for some decades, Marine gave them a new job of being her crew. They reacted to orders well, especially from the loud raccoon, and being gruff vikings surprisingly had a lot of interchangeable skills with pirating.

They looked like proper pirates now, with new clothes that have become tattered from adventures Marine has led them on. Ones sanctioned by Blaze, that is.

Though most of the crew returned to what they were doing on deck, one approached Marine on his own- Norman, the designated first mate for the pirate crew. He was more of a quartermaster than anything, but it was clear he liked the job he got.

Instead of the standard horned helmet, Norman now had on a green bandana that matched the green on Marine's outfit. In fact, all the crew had on some piece of clothing that was that same screaming shade of green too.

"Heill, cap'n." Norman said.

"Norm! What's news, y'mug?"

"Well, we're gettin' low on fruits down below, we haven't eaten in hours and the crew is hankering for some fish after seeing the fishermen on the docks."

"Ha! Maybe I'll see if Blazey can give us some fish to feed the others. Can't risk getting banned from another tavern- think we've terrorized the locals on Soleanna enough. What else ya got, Norman?"

"I got the cabin boys to sweep off the deck, we scraped off some coral from below the surface, we repainted the boat name and refueled the thruster engines to maximum capacity. Boatswain said the thrusters are in tiptop shape, and I had her double check on it too. We're all set for sailing on your word, cap'n."

"Bloody oath! Norm, you're a deadset legend!" Marine gave a light punch to Norman's arm with a big grin. "That's the kinda stuff I like t'see!"

"Also, we got a message from Princess Blaze. She's requesting the return of Silver to help her with something involving the new library she opened up. Something about keeping watch overnight?"

"Well, I didn't want to sleep tonight anyways."

Marine gave Silver a glance, knowing the context behind the statement from what she was told just a few minutes before. She returned to Norman, however, not wanting to pry.

"Set up the sails to get back to Windmill. We'll save on gas this time around."

"Aye aye, cap'n!"

Norman pulled a whistle out from under his shirt and blew in it, piercing the air with the sharp noise. The polar bears on the deck all scattered, getting into position to unravel the newly installed sails up above so they could get to moving. Marine strolled off to get to the quarterdeck and steer the ship, with Norman following behind her.

Silver passed through the bustling bears and made it to the other end of the ship's deck. He leaned against the baluster, looking out at the water in front of Seagull Beach.

He had to find something to help him. It couldn't be that there was nothing about where he came from- there had to be something on Soleanna that could tell him a little bit more than he already knew. Maybe at the very least he could find out where the hedgehogs went to.

With a lurch, the pirate ship began moving. The pirates all shouted out to warn the others to keep on the deck so they wouldn't fall off while the sails helped the ship pick up speed.

The wind of the moving ship made Silver's spikes flutter. He continued to stare out into the beautifully shimmering sea.

At least he wouldn't have bad dreams that night.

---

Silver was surprised to see the new library in the state that it currently was in. He was one of the people who helped construct it, so seeing it in such a state really put him on edge.

He should've been there today. Silver could've helped with whatever happened instead of forcing Tiara to brave it alone. He knew Blaze couldn't help either, since she was wearing that dress her mother used to wear.

Thoughtlessly, he used his psychokinesis to pick up some scattered books and place them on the nearby shelves as he trailed through the ruined building.

"El?" He called out for Blaze as he stepped in further.

After a moment, footsteps could be heard down the corridor leading to the other wing of the building- the side with different exhibits about the history of Soleanna. Blaze walked into the main room of the library, back in her standard attire, holding a broom and dustpan.

"Silver, there you are." She said. "How was the trip to Seagull Beach?"

"Unresourceful. I didn't find anything new. What about you? What happened, is everyone alright? You, Tiara, Ebony?"

"We're fine." Blaze sounded more annoyed than anything. "The opening of the new library and exploratorium was ruined by Johnny interrupting us."

"Really? For what?"

"He wanted the hat of the old pirate king. He even sent in these ghostly skeletons to attack us so he could get it. I don't even know where he got those things…"

"Johnny probably had to improvise after we stranded Captain Whisker in the alternate zone's version of Soleanna." Silver used his powers again to push some dirt and dust across the floor into Blaze's dustpan. "Wonder what became of him…"

"Knowing Captain Whisker, he probably found a way to run the prison he was put in."

"You have a lot of faith in him."

"He did convince the guy that made him to hand over all his technology and robots to him. That's how he got Mini, Mum and Johnny in the first place. Remember?"

"Oh yeah… Man, catch up me, it's been a year since my mind meld." Silver gently slapped the side of his head. "Who created Whisker, anyway?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. Whisker said he killed him."

Blaze dumped the dustpan out in a nearby trash bin.

"How's Tiara and Ebony?"

"They're fine." She replied, walking to a nearby closet to put the broom and dustpan away. "Tiara's still iffy about Ebony, and Ebony's still as peppy as she was when I first hired her."

"You think Tiara's jealous?"

"Maybe. That would check out. I hoped she would understand that I needed a new lady-in-waiting, but I know it has to be hard for her to watch someone else take up the job she used to take so seriously, like her mother before her."

"Ebony's been doing pretty well so far, from what I've seen."

"She actually fought back against some of these skeletons today! I guess I underestimated her. That won't happen again."

Blaze walked from the closet, down the corridor to the exhibit side of the building. Silver followed suit, floating along quickly to catch up with her before returning to normal walking beside the princess.

The glass-wall corridor led into the exploratorium, a much more open room with a bunch of different pedestal display cases set up neatly in rows within the room.

"So you need me to watch over the library tonight?"

"Library, exploratorium, the courtyard. Everything. Is that alright?"

"I'm no stranger to staying up all night, you know that."

"Just checking." Blaze passed by a few pedestals, looking at the different things inside. One in particular attracted her gaze the longest: the remnants of the old Jeweled Scepter, retrieved from the Sky Babylon. She glanced back at Silver when she continued. "I don't think Johnny will attack again, but we can't be too sure."

"Right. It could easily be some other new bad guy that wants to take Quark's place on the totem pole."

Silver glanced at another item on a pedestal: a large purple ring inscribed with lines of metal to give it a star pattern across it. On the inner side, etched around the inside loop, was the text "Alf Layla wa-Layla" in gold. This was a strange artifact they just had laying around, found in the annexes of the old fire temple before it was destroyed. Not even Blaze's father knew what it was, but he knew it was ancient.

It certainly seemed important. Nothing would probably come from it, though.

While windows made up most of the walls, there were some paintings placed between each of the windows, and set on either side of the two exits to hallways. They were paintings of the old monarchs of Soleanna, with the painting of Blaze's mother (accompanied by King Cyrus) set between the windows that looked out into the exploratorium's courtyard.

This painting caught Silver's eye next. It was masterfully done, a painting that was actually made before Blaze was even born, when the queen and king wed. The queen naturally had a striking resemblance to Blaze, so it caught the hedgehog's eye as he thought he was looking at a portrait of the king and his daughter- the plaque said otherwise: King Cyrus and Queen Elise Agni II

"My mother was the one that wanted this library and museum in the first place. She was actually the first to call it an 'exploratorium', I credit that to her."

Silver looked solemnly, longingly, at the painting of the late queen and her king while Blaze spoke to him. After a moment, the hedgehog felt a hand on his arm. Blaze was now right next to him, a look of worry on her brow, seen when Silver turned his head to come face to face with her.

"Silver," She spoke softly. "Tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

"…I don't wanna spoil all the fun. This was… your mom's thing, her library. You should be celebrating her, not worrying."

"I've talked at length with you about my mother ever since she passed. There isn't anything I've felt today that hasn't been felt already- pride, happiness, content. Frustration because of Johnny, maybe. But my mother loved you too, like you were her own. She wouldn't be happy if you didn't honor her memory in this library dedicated to her by suppressing yourself."

"A hedgehog's pride, I guess."

"Speak your mind."

Silver looked at the painting of Queen Elise again.

"…I want a mom." He said. "I want to remember my mom. I don't know how old I was when I showed up on those barrack steps, but there has to be a moment… just one moment, in time, where my mother held me. Where I felt her. Where her heartbeat was the only thing in my world. I want to remember that. But every time I look back…"

A city on fire. Massive monsters fighting. People with metallic skin.

"The nightmare." Blaze finished for him.

"Why do I only recall that? What even is that? Was I put too close to a TV when I was a baby or something?"

He sighed deeply, his shoulders falling, the hedgehog defeated in his attempt to remember.

"There has to be something out there. There has to be an answer."

"I've looked everywhere this side of the dimensional barrier. I'm supposed to be from here, right?"

"The whole 'city on fire' thing could imply something to do with Solaris." Blaze said, trying to sound hopeful. "But the monsters… and the metal people… not so much."

"Ugh..."

"But I'm not going to give up, Silver. Neither should you. There's no such thing as unsolvable questions, there's always an answer to everything- even if it takes a while to find it."

"I want to try."

"And I want to help. Any way I can."

Silver patted Blaze's hand, which was still on his arm. He moved in and hugged the princess, and though she wasn't used to being hugged rather than giving hugs, after a moment she pat Silver's back.

"I'll still watch the exploratorium." He said when pulling away. "Might as well get some community service hours in. Goes well on a resume."

"Silver, you don't need to find a different job. You're a royal guardsman, not a clerk."

"Oh yeah… You know, no matter how far I go, my mind will always return to retail."

The hedgehog raised his shoulders and hands with a comical shrug. Blaze smiled a bit in amusement, but stepped away, her hand leaving Silver's arm.

"It's easier said than done, but… don't try to dwell too much on the past." She said. "If we keep wondering the different routes that could've been taken, we'll never get to experience the present. I need you here, now, to help me find out who you were before you showed up on those steps."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Yes. But also speaking as your friend."

Silver slowly nodded, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket after a second.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I will be."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to watch the exploratorium. It's a favor, not a royal decree."

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Really, El, I am."

Blaze's eyes were still worried. It was strange for Silver, seeing the princess' face furrowed in such a way. She typically kept herself composed- maybe having all these friends of hers really did soften her stone cold demeanor.

With a nod, she took her leave, though had one more glance back to Silver before leaving the hall proper.

Silver nearly got whiplash from how quickly it became dead silent in the building after that. He enjoyed it, no doubt, but there was still a part of him that got a shiver down his spine from the pure silence.

After a few minutes to gather his thoughts, Silver walked into the library area again, opening one of the windows facing the front. It mostly faced the ocean, allowing a breeze from the cool night to flutter in.

He heard some twinkling behind him. The wind he let him was pushing some otherwise unseen pieces of glass and dirt across the floor.

"Crap."

He could easily grab a broom and dustpan, but what kind of psychokinetic hedgehog would he be if he did it the hard way?

Holding his open hand down towards the ground, fingers down, he created a "wave" of energy that collected the dust, dirt and glass particles left over from that morning's little interruption. Silver did a lap around the front library before heading to the left hall.

The building had a square shape to it: the left hall had more bookshelves, leading over to a fairly large activity room. The right side of the building was dedicated to the "exploratorium" part of the building, with different paintings and exhibits exploring the past of Soleanna. In the center, there was an open space courtyard, and every hall had windows looking into it.

As he walked down the left hall, the wave of psychokinesis still following him, Silver glanced at the books he walked by on the shelves at either side of him. He seemed to hit the non-fiction section, as there was a lot of biographies around here.

It was important for the people of Soleanna to have this information- the true, real information. Ever since Blaze discovered the truth about Solaris at the Water Temple, she wanted to ensure the right of information to everyone in Windmill Village. She "wrote" a book, ghostwritten by a koala named Kylok, which was a proper retelling of the history of Soleanna, including the wrath of Solaris caused by the Solarians.

The truth was finally out, after being obscured for so long. Silver couldn't be more proud.

As he continued to "sweep," he thought back to his own past as well. Specifically on Earth. He thought about Big, and what that cat was up to nowadays. That guy saw a hedgehog, with amnesia and nowhere to go, and gave him a job just after a simple conversation with him. Silver owed Big a lot, but Big didn't want anything in return. Silver could swear that it was personal for the cat, somehow.

Although living in Station Square was kind of a mess, like it is for any almost-twenty-year-old trying to live independently, he did enjoy his stay in the Chaos Zone. He enjoyed it almost as much as he enjoyed living in Windmill Village.

It was one extreme to the next: in the Chaos Zone, he worked too hard to live; In the Sol Zone, he did nothing and got to live. He enjoyed the adventures because it felt like he was actually working for his living, and it was fun.

Maybe he should become a clerk here in the Windmill Village. It would give him more things to do. Part-time though. Nah, that would make Blaze look bad.

His precision and dedication to properly cleaning the floors of the building led him to taking a whole hour to clean one side. By the time he crossed over to the right side, it was pitch black outside, the only light coming from the buildings in the village a mile or two away.

At the end of the exploratorium was something that did genuinely make Silver smile: a painting of Blaze and her subordinates... Okay, okay, her friends.

It was the part of the walk, the end of it, which showed the future of Soleanna. Here there was a portrait painted of Blaze, Silver, Tiara and Marine together. The princess had shown her friends this painting first, a lovely surprise during the dinner they took when the building's construction was approved by the king.

He wondered if it had any purpose outside of presenting the people with the protectors of Soleanna. Was it simply to show off that the princess had a gaggle of friends now, perhaps? Maybe it was a reminder to anyone in a guided tour what they would be dealing with if they put the Sol Zone in danger.

Well, it made Silver smile looking at it. Maybe that was enough.

He walked down the hall, returning right where he started, seeing the shattered remains of the Jeweled Scepter in one of the nearby exhibits. It hadn't move in the near two hours he had been busy tidying up, so that was a relief.

As he used his powers around the exhibits, he ended up hearing something peculiar: he heard a shifting noise in one of the displays.

Silver paused. He looked around, before sending out the telekinetic wave again. After a few moments, he heard the shifting once more.

He passed this wave across each display, and each time he did, he heard the shifting again, and again, and again. Eventually, his psychokinetic wave reached the source of the shifting, circling the exhibit with bits of glass and dirt still pushed around.

The gray hedgehog looked in the glass box on the pedestal- there was something inside glowing cyan, just like his psychokinetic powers. The sight of it made Silver's eyes go very wide.

After quickly moving the swept up debris to the trash in the front room, he returned to the exhibit with the glowing parts. Silver practically pressed his face against the glass, looking over the strange object that was reacting to his powers.

He held his hand against the glass, making it glow with psychokinesis, and making this strange object react again.

It was a tablet, made of some kind of pitch black stone. When the hedgehog used psychokinesis, the markings on the front of this tablet glowed cyan like his powers, and part of the bottom of the tablet jutted out.

That part extending out from the tablet also glowed cyan, and had a symbol that looked familiar to Silver. It was the outline of a large circle, though one that was unfinished with a gap on the bottom curve, with a dot in the center of this circle. Silver knew where this symbol was from: he'd seen similar symbols when the books he studied talked about psionics. It was a "PK symbol".

This was weird. Surreal, even. Silver stared at the tablet in bewilderment and confusion. This thing was reacting to his powers, and even reacted to them when it was just a wave of psychokinetic energy on the floor. How, or why, was it doing this?

Silver stepped back, looking at the golden plaque with a description on it.

"Found in the ancient annexes, this tablet is an object of unknown origin, but carbon dating places the inception of this artifact to be as far back as the first queen Afroza's reign. The lettering on the tablet is unknown, but is believed to be an ancient Solarian language."

It was unknown, and old, yet it was reacting to Silver specifically? What was this thing?

There was this voice nagging at the hedgehog at the back of his head. He wanted answers, and this thing seemed to have answers. It was risky, and it could get him in trouble with Blaze, but he wanted to find out more.

He pressed his hand against the glass again. His telekinetic aura spread across the glass, making it glow turquoise. Slowly, Silver lifted his hands, which stuck to the glass box and pulled it off of the display.

Silver turned to the side, making the motion of putting the glass box on an invisible table, before returning to the display- the glass box continued to float in the air with the hedgehog's power.

The tablet was still glowing. Silver reached out and carefully grabbed the tablet.

What he didn't know was that the back side of the tablet was porous. As he let the tablet rest against his fingers, a needle suddenly jabbed out and pricked his index finger, even going through his glove.

Silver let out a noise and a hiss, dropping the tablet. The glass box nearby dropped, Silver's focus broken, making it rattle on the floor. Though tense from the noise, when Silver turned to look at the damage, the glass box was perfectly intact.

His gaze returned to the glowing tablet. He carefully grabbed it again, holding it for a second and finding it didn't hurt him anymore. Silver examined the finger that felt the prick- no visible damage and no blood.

The tablet's text continued to glow, the little compartment still extending out with the familiar symbol on it. The light shined onto Silver's face, and as it did, he felt a little part of him become hopeful he could find the answers he was looking for.

He closed the compartment at the bottom of the tablet.

---

It was the day after Johnny's attack on the new library. Though it remained uneventful, dusk started with Tiara bursting into the castle's front doors.

"Ah, Miss Boebowski," Gardon spoke as he saw Tiara enter. "Is there a problem?"

"Gardon, where's Blaze?" Tiara sounded worried.

"She's in her study with Master Silver. Shall I let her know you're here?"

"No, it's fine, I'll go see her. Thanks Gardon!"

The manx rushed through the halls, heading up the steps towards Blaze's personal study. She had spent most of the day helping Ebony, per the black cat's request, learn more about what being a lady-in-waiting entailed.

It was hard, teaching someone else something you were so familiar with. Tiara constantly found herself going "why am I not just doing this?" while showing Ebony basic procedures done by the royal princess' lady-in-waiting.

Tiara, with a key to the library, slipped in to look the place over while it was closed. She's glad that she did.

Sliding to a stop on the smooth floor's rug- which she quickly returned to its rightful spot- the cat burst into Blaze's study next.

"Ellie!" She shouted.

Blaze was standing, reading a book, clearly in the middle of pacing across the room. Tiara could also see that Silver was sitting at Blaze's desk, his back to Tiara. The Verdant Scepter was resting against one corner of the room.

"Thank Solaris you're here too, Sil." Tiara stepped in further. "Someone broke into the exploratorium! They took off one of the display covers and stole the artifact inside! I don't know if it has anything to do with Johnny, but we need to figure out what the artifact is and find out who took it!"

There was a pause. Blaze quietly took a step back, letting Tiara see Silver completely. The hedgehog turned, still holding the tablet he was studying the previous night, letting Tiara see it in his hand. The text was still glowing.

"It was this one." He said, voice slow. He was clearly tired.

The manx was bewildered for a moment, looking for Blaze for confirmation- the princess nodded, agreeing with Silver.

"…you didn't think to tell me that?"

"I only found out a few hours ago!" Blaze replied, defensively.

Tiara walked by Blaze, the princess closing her book- a history book from her library- and putting it aside so the two ladies could flank the sitting hedgehog.

"What is it?"

"We don't know." Silver replied to Tiara. "But it's something that reacts to my powers, and is ancient enough that it comes from old queen Afroza's time."

"Centuries old." Tiara commented. "Wait, does this have to do with those nightmares you've been having?"

Silver turned, letting Tiara see the front better. "This thing is the only object that has reacted like this to my powers. I haven't met another psychic Solarian or human on this planet. The closest we had was Amy, and she comes from the Chaos zone."

"Maybe you do too."

"I dunno, maybe. But why would there be an artifact here that reacts to my powers?" He sighed. "I just wish I knew what it said."

"I do."

Silver and Blaze looked at Tiara, surprised.

"You do?" The princess asked. "Since when?"

"Since my little excursion after I found myself no longer a lady-in-waiting. I did a lot of studying in that time before I came back to help with Iblis. Let me see."

Hesitantly, Silver handed Tiara the tablet. As the manx took it in her hands, the text stopped glowing, and the bottom compartment snapped closed.

"Hmmm. Well, it's definitely ancient Solarian. I dabble in that." Her finger glided across the text as she read it over and over. "Typical words like 'the' and 'is' are easy to make out. You can use those letters to make other words… That's a crazy word, but I think I got it…"

Blaze and Silver glanced at one another as Tiara audibly tried to translate.

"It says…" She continued. "For the psychic chosen, their salvation is all in their head. Or at least that's what I'm pretty sure it says. The exact words might be lost in translation."

Tiara handed the tablet back to Silver. When he grabbed it, a short static shock crossed the tablet and his finger, and suddenly the text started to glow again.

"Cryptic." Silver commented. "What could that mean?"

"Maybe it's one of those one-sentence poems? Like this is an art piece they would hang up for decoration?" Blaze suggested.

"Or maybe it's the ancient Solarian equivalent of live/laugh/love."

"Tia."

"Come on, look at me and tell me that wouldn't be a little funny to see above a doorway."

Blaze rolled her eyes, but the small smile on her face told Tiara she was amused.

"There has to be something in those books about this. Maybe it belonged to a culture of psychics. Or hedgehogs. Or psychic hedgehogs like me!"

"Hedgehogs are a dime a dozen nowadays. You're the only one we've seen in like… ever. My mother told me there used to be more hedgehogs, but something happened everyone is still unsure about." Tiara replied. "…not trying to burst your bubble. Maybe it could be from a culture of psychics, I dunno."

"You need to remember what I said. Don't let the possibilities of the past blind you from what's in front of you." Blaze put her hand on Silver's shoulder.

"I can't help but let it fill my vision when it's the first clue as who I could be I've had this entire investigation!" Silver turned to look up at Blaze. "I want to find out what this is. I want to find out who I was. Who my family is. Why I'm having these… nightmares."

"You haven't slept in 24 hours." Tiara interjected. "Is the fear of nightmares worth your sanity? You need to take a nap, Sil."

"I'll nap when I get another lead."

There was a beeping coming from Blaze. She pulled up her sleeve, revealing a watch.

"The dinner." She looked at Tiara.

"Oh yeah, tonight's Team Blaze dinner night!" Tiara perked up. "Sil, you should come."

"I can't. I have to find this lead."

Tiara opened her mouth to talk, but Blaze put her hand up and shook her head to advise against it. Blaze returned her hand to Silver's shoulder.

"At least get some rest when you can. We'll bring back dinner for you."

"Yeah."

"Don't let Ellie's sincerity fool you," Tiara added. "If I come back and you're still awake, I'm gonna knock you out myself, Silver."

"Alright, alright, I get it. You two have fun. Tell Marine I said hey… and nothing else."

"You already know if she heard about what you're doing she'd interrupt dinner to knock you out herself, too. Smart boy."

Tiara patted Silver's head before turning to leave. Blaze squeezed Silver's shoulder before following her lady bodyguard out of the room.

Eventually, stillness and silence came across the room again. It slowly got darker outside as dusk descent into night. Silver, resting his cheek on his hand. He looked at the tome, opening another history book to try and find anything else on the tablet. Anything, something, even small.

Man… reading was so boring. At least reading something like fiction was entertaining, especially if it was the indulgent reading of fanfiction Silver did sometimes (everyone does that though, right? Right? Silver was unsure.) but reading non-fiction? He couldn't believe there were some people that did this for fun.

The lack of sleep he's had for the last day got to him. He was no longer the hedgehog that could power through a double shift on his own volition. Finally having a proper sleep pattern meant he was able to sleep whenever now.

Soon enough, head still against hand, Silver fell sound asleep.

From the darkness outside, in the shadows, strange masses rolled and toppled away from the light and through the shade. They crawled their way up the side of the castle, heading up the brick to their person- or should I say hedgehog- of interest.

Shadows stretched across the desk, the window these creatures were outside of placed right in front of Silver's work area. The shadows bended, however, and managed to not only unlock the window but slowly move it open. The open window allowed the chilly night air to seep in like it did the previous night.

Silver felt the cold breeze on his face. He slowly opened his eyes, awoken from his short nap by the change of temperature. He looked through the open window, and found a group of eyes looking back.

They lunged at him, and it went dark once more.

---

The restaurant Blaze picked out made Marine feel she was dressed inappropriately.

It should've been obvious that someone of high regard like Blaze would pick a fancy restaurant, but Marine felt like there were eyes on her. She showed up and got to the reserved table in her standard captain's jacket and hat. It was fancy for a pirate, sure, but this was fancy for people in high society.

They were served waters for free to go with their drinks for goodness sake!

Marine closed up her jacket a bit more, self-consciously. Her eyes scanned the restaurant for her friends coming in. However, she stopped as she felt something in her jacket- her sheath. She carried her sword in! She knew she forgot something!

Now looking around to make sure people didn't see her sword poking out a bit from the inside of her jacket, Marine pulled her jacket closed with vigor this time.

As she did, her elbow swept across the table, knocking over the water that the waiter so graciously put in front of her. Marine tensed up at the accident, though luckily nobody noticed.

With one hand keeping the jacket closed, Marine dipped a finger in the pooling water on the wooden table. Like she was a sponge, the water reversed its direction, absorbed by the raccoon until there was no spilled water left.

Her hands buzzed with hydrokinetic energy. She put the glass upright again. Good as new.

"Marine!"

Just in time. Blaze and Tiara rounded the corner together, and the manx called out for the raccoon when they saw her. Marine kept her jacket closed to make sure her sword wasn't seen, but put on a happy face for the duo.

"Blazey and red!" She called out. "Happy to see ya. I told the crew here it was the four of us so they put out four of these waters for us."

"I see you drank yours up already." Tiara remarked, scooting into the booth table they had. She was seated between Blaze, sitting at the end, and Marine in the middle. "How are you so thirsty if you work on the water?"

"Drink a glass of seawater without gagging and get back to me, mate. Where's gray?"

"Silver's staying back to look over some leads about those nightmares he's been having." Blaze answered. "He's not going to make it tonight."

"Look over leads? Has he gotten a wink of sleep since yesterday?"

"He told me he'd get some rest by the time we got back."

"He better."

The waiter came up just as the conversation was dying down. He did a small bow towards Blaze before speaking.

"Your highness. Ladies," He addressed the table. "I was told four. Is the fourth still coming?"

"We're still expecting a fourth, yes." Blaze answered.

"What? Silver isn't—"

"Hello hello hello!"

Ebony made herself known by interrupting Tiara before sitting down, opposite Marine from the princess and her guard. Tiara's face fell, and her eyes looked over at Blaze in a side eye. She's seen enough of this woman for one day.

"Sorry I'm late. I forgot the word 'reservation' at the host!" Ebony mused.

"Excellent. Shall I start you ladies out with a drink?"

"Some chai for the table, please."

"Ripping hot mate," Marine specified for Blaze's order. "Mega hot. Want it melting the whole kettle!"

"I'll get that in for you four. It's a pleasure to serve you, princess."

The waiter left. After he did, Ebony looked through the bag she had and pulled out hand sanitizer, putting it on her hands and rubbing it in. When she tried to grab her glass, the condensation-covered drink slipped from her hand, nearly knocking it over and spilling her water.

Tiara's hand gripped Blaze's leg under the table. Blaze smacked Tiara's hand.

"So, this is the first official meeting for the two of us!" Marine said to Ebony. "Nice to meet ya, mate. I'm Marine."

"I'm Ebony!" The lady-in-waiting replied. "I don't know how you get 'mate' from a name like mine, but it's a very unique nickname! I like it!"

"You got a last name?"

"I don't think so!"

"Hey, more power to ya mate. Last names are overrated." Marine waved her hand.

"Thanks, I guess!" Ebony's attention turned to Blaze. "Thanks for inviting me out with you guys, princess!"

"We're glad to have you here. Sorry it was on such short notice."

"I wasn't doing anything anyways! I told Tiara today, the most I do at night is sit on my bed and stare out the window!"

"Funny, Tiara said you might be busy tonight when I suggested inviting you." Blaze eyed Tiara for a moment, the manx staring at her water.

"I'm never too busy to spend time with the princess of Soleanna!"

Ebony tried again, picking up the water successfully this time, holding it at the bottom to pick it up steady. She took a sip, making a face before putting the glass back down.

"Too cold." She murmured.

"Since the gals and I have been running around helping ol' gray find out his roots," Marine said to Ebony. "Why don't you tell us where you're from? I'm sure Blaze knows, but…"

"You know, I was actually thinking earlier, where I'm from." Ebony put her hands together, resting her fingers to her bottom lip. "I was wondering about it, too. Should I be from Windmill Village? Seagull Beach? Should I even be from Soleanna at all? I'm unsure of other countries out there but I'm sure they would be fantastical places to make your point of origin."

Marine's face turned from mild intrigue to confusion, to… befuddlement. She slowly turned, as Ebony was still in thought, to look at Blaze directly, silently asking her what was up with this cat. Blaze sipped her water calmly.

With no answer, Marine turned back to Ebony.

"If you don't know where you're from, mate, then how did Blazey find ya?"

"Oh! When she had open interviews for the new lady-in-waiting, I was the only one to show up! I was just qualified enough to get the job, but I'm happy I did!"

Marine did a more intense look of bewilderment towards Blaze at that. The princess kept sipping her water. Tiara gave Marine a glance that shared her feelings on the matter.

The conversation was closed as, during the silence, the waiter returned to the table with the tea. He set the kettle on a turning stand, so they could turn the handle towards the one that wanted more tea, with a bowl of sugar and pot of cream at the sides. He set teacups on plates in front of each woman at the table.

"I'll be mother." Blaze remarked, reaching the kettle to serve the tea.

"I thought the queen was deceased?"

The question from Ebony made Blaze interrupt her pouring after only getting a few drops of chai in her cup. Tiara gripped Blaze's leg again. The waiter quickly left the area with wide eyes.

Blaze took a deep breath, staying composed. "It's a turn of phrase. It simply means I'll be serving the tea, sugar and cream to you all."

"Oh! I don't know why someone wouldn't just say that outright. Though the mother thing is shorter to say, I must admit."

The princess wiggled her leg to get Tiara off of it. Embarrassed at what she's done, Tiara mumbled softly that she wanted a lot of cream and some sugar in her chai. Marine took it straight, and Ebony- having never tried chai- took it straight as well. Blaze added sugar and cream to her own.

Marine brought the steaming hot tea to her lips, taking a small sip and smiling.

"Mm! It's the best when it's boiling hot!"

"Speak for yourself." Tiara said to her. "The cream is practically curdling here. Can we just once have chai together without it being hot enough to scorch the table through the cups, stripes?"

"Sorry red, but when I drink chai, it's either boiling or it's too cold!"

There was a clink from the end that made Blaze, Tiara and Marine turn their heads. Ebony had drank her tea, still ripping hot, all in a few gulps. The tea cup was empty. The most peculiar thing, though, was that Ebony had no visual reaction to drinking the intensely hot tea.

"Wow! That's delicious!" She said. Ebony lifted her cup and looked at Blaze. "Do I have to be mother if I want some more?"

"You don't have to be mother, you can serve yourself." Tiara spoke for Blaze. Maybe she was amazed at Ebony drinking the hot tea whole, but she spoke calmly instead of with any vitriol this time.

"Thank you!"

Ebony served herself another cup of chai. Marine, clearly taking what the black cat did as a challenge, tried taking a bigger sip of tea but winced at the heat. Her own preference was coming back to bite her… a tale for the ages.

Blaze stirred her chai to mix in the sugar, before taking a sip. She grunted at the heat that still lingered, something out of character for her. Tiara immediately took notice.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah." Blaze replied. "Still thinking about Silver."

"You mentioned he was looking up stuff about his past! Did he find anything?" Ebony asked, interjecting.

"He found something he thinks is tied to where he comes from, but I'm not sure. I don't think he's sure, either." Blaze kept stirring her chai. "He seems desperate to find answers, but I think in his desperation, he's neglecting the possibility that he might not be able to find something right away."

"Some answers take time, right." Tiara nodded.

"Do you think you'll be able to find anything to help him out, princess?"

"I'm not sure, Ebony. I'm afraid what we'll find won't help him, but make him worse. Every time I peek through our psychic link, I find more helplessness within him. I just wish… I just wish I could help him find what he's looking for."

A hand rested on Blaze's arm- Tiara's. She gave the princess a reassuring smile, trying to comfort her sentiment. Blaze slowly smiled back, a small smile, still conflicted but appreciative of the action.

Suddenly, there was a crash and a few screams from somewhere in the front of the restaurant. The ladies all turned their attention to the direction of the noise, watching as a few customers ran by to escape from… something.

Walking in, heads low, arms dangling, were three… things. It was hard for Blaze and her friends to get a good idea what they were looking at. They were bipedal creatures, about as tall as Blaze, with heads that had three spikes coming from the back- almost like a hedgehog's. They had three-digit hands with fingers that glowed blue at the end; their legs spilled onto the floor, creating a pool of shadow, as if they were shadows come to life. Freakiest of all, they had a single purple eye in the front of their head, ones without pupils.

These creatures all stumbled over, eventually stopping at the girls' table. They rolled their heads up, slowly, looking up at the group with their single eyes. As soon as they did, three feelers made of cyan energy emerged from their heads, reminiscent of a gray hedgehog all four of them were familiar with.

"That looks like…"

"Silver?" Blaze finished Marine's statement in horror.

The shadow creatures shrieked all at once.

Tiara grabbed the back of the booth's seat and lifted herself up, putting her feet on the edge of the table. Ebony was able to grab the chai kettle in time before Tiara kicked out, sending the table flying into the three intruders and knocking them backwards.

When one of the creatures got up, Ebony was there, taking the top off the kettle.

"I'll be mother!" She yelled, splashing the rest of the scalding tea onto the creature. It screamed again, clearly in pain.

One of the creatures lifted up the table, using psychokinesis that was clearly replicated from Silver, and threw it at the group again. Reaching into her purse, Tiara threw two Halo Traps on the ground, one near the group and the other closer to the creature.

The table was pulled through the trap close to the group, carrying its momentum as it flew through the exit made by the second Halo Trap. The table was once again flung into the creatures.

"Good thing I brought this in after all!"

Marine unsheathed her cutlass and rushed forwards, slashing again and again to try and cut one of the creatures up. However, it was useless, as it was clearly hurt but able to reform itself instantaneously.

Blaze stood up from her booth, watching the others struggle with these newly psychokinetic creatures. She felt a wave of fire come over her- these creatures were strange, and they were related to Silver somehow. Did they hurt him? Why were they after the girls?

She pushed those thoughts away. She had to get rid of them.

They were made of shadows. Shadows are only destroyed with light.

Closing her eyes, Blaze was engulfed with flames. The fire swirled around her body, lifting up higher but keeping away from the floors and ceiling- she didn't want to damage this public property.

As she lifted high enough off the ground, Blaze tensed up, her head flying back and chest pushing out. From her chest, intense light caused from her flames emerged, enough to make it look like it was daytime outside.

The creatures shrieked in pain and vanished instantly. The other ladies covered their eyes in different ways, until Blaze's fire died down, and the princess returned to the floor. When she did, the other ladies came up to Blaze.

"What were those things?"

"I don't know."

"Why did they look like gray?"

"I don't know."

"Should we be concerned?"

"I think so!" Blaze shook her head. "We have to go see Silver!"

With the others close behind, Blaze rushed out- grabbing some money and giving it to the nearest manager before leaving to pay for the possible damages done.

A crowd had already gathered, making the princess and her entourage shove past them in order to rush through Windmill Village, only slowed down momentarily when they had to climb up the stairs to the castle's forecourt.

Everyone in the castle was unaware of what was happening. The ladies rushed upstairs to Blaze's study, with Tiara kicking the door open as soon as they got there.

More of those… creatures, were gathered around Silver. The gray hedgehog was floating off the ground, head, arms and legs hanging back like he was being lifted up by his torso. There were five of these creatures gathered around Silver, staring up at him and holding him, but they all snapped their head towards the ladies when they broke in.

Team Blaze rushed in, standing together. Blaze's hands flickered with fire.

"Get away from—!"

The princess was interrupted by the five creatures standing together. Cyan spikes, similar to the ones those shadows had in the restaurant, appeared above their heads as they each reached out towards the women. Team Blaze suddenly found themselves held in place by psychokinesis like Silver's.

They tried to move, but there wasn't a single use available.

The flames continued to flicker, but the psychic grasp was undeterred by the flames. Unable to move, Blaze couldn't use her powers to their fullest extent. Blaze, Tiara, neither Marine nor Ebony could move to try and help.

All at once, the creatures all closed their hands into fists. The grasp got tighter, constricting around the four and starting to squeeze the life from them.

As they struggled, Marine felt the tingle in her hands from hydrokinetic energy. That water she absorbed earlier- it was still fueling her!

Though unable to move, Marine was able to unleash the hydrokinetic energy from her body, bursting through the telekinetic grasp like it was a bubble, breaking the concentration and making the creatures stop constricting the others.

The Verdant Scepter was in the corner still- in their hunt for Silver, they didn't even care about the artifact. Marine dove forwards before the creatures could focus on her again, the raccoon grabbing the scepter and turning on one knee.

She held the scepter like she was going to jab a scepter, and thrust it forwards- she unleashed a blast of the Power of the Stars, a massive white burst that hit the creatures and vanquished them instantly.

With Marine's blast, the grasp was ended, and the others fell to the ground. They collected their breaths, with Tiara specifically coughing a bit as she was down on her hands and knees.

Blaze was on one knee, but looked up to see Marine's hand offered to her.

"You shielas alright?" The teenager asked as she helped Blaze up. The raccoon tossed the Verdant Scepter to Tiara, who caught it with one hand and used it to get to her feet.

"That was very unpleasant." Ebony commented as she got up.

"You can say that again."

"That was very unpleasant." Ebony repeated on request of Tiara. The manx sighed, mostly because she couldn't complain as she did request that.

All four of the women turned to look at Silver, who was still floating in the air. After a second, however, Silver dropped down, landing on his back on the desk in front of the window with a loud crash.

They rushed to his side. Blaze held a hand to his neck- he still had a heartbeat.

"Why were those things after Silver?"

"They were leeching his powers off. Maybe it was just that." Tiara answered Ebony. "But if that's the case, why were they after us?"

"The psychic link." Blaze said. "Silver's connected to me through the psychic link. That created a path for them right to me."

"If you got that link, can't you reach out to Silver and see if he's alright?" Marine asked.

Blaze closed her eyes. She focused on Silver, trying to reach back into his mind, trying to prod for anything. But… there was nothing.

Silver? Silver? SILVER!

Her thoughts went unanswered. Silver wasn't home.

"Nothing."

Under Silver's body, Blaze saw something familiar- the black stone tablet was under him. Blaze pulled it out from under the hedgehog's unconscious body, looking it over once again. The bottom was open again, but nothing was glowing.

"Ellie…" Tiara broke the silence. "What're we gonna do?"

Blaze looked over the tablet once, twice more. There were a lot of thoughts racing through the princess' mind, but none of them held an answer for that question.

She pushed the tablet's bottom closed. She answered.

"I don't know."

---

"Onyx City X-Mart, how can I help you?"

The cashier heard static on the other end of the line.

"Hello? …hello? …Anyone there?"

"Si… ilve…. VER!"

The line went dead after that. The clerk looked at the receiver before shrugging and hanging up again, returning to the counter. He picked up a magazine and began reading it, just in time to be interrupted by a customer coming up.

"I'm picking up a Megacart order?" They said.

"Order pickups are over there."

"Oh! Thanks, uh…" They read the nametag. "Silver."

"You're welcome."

Silver returned to his magazine, the cashier reading as the person in the store picked up the groceries ordered. The hedgehog had another long shift ahead of him… then again, he didn't really remember how his shift yesterday was. How strange. Must be the retail blending in together into one big blur.

Then again, he also felt like something was missing… Maybe the magazine had it.

As he read, wasting time during the long shift ahead, Onyx City continued to bustle outside. Unbeknownst to Silver, between the people that walked by the store, a Solarian with gold fur was standing directly at the window beside the hedgehog, looking in. At least that's what it looked like- she was wearing a mask with five dots on it, obscuring her face.

Feeling like he was being watched, Silver looked out the window, but found nobody out there- the Solarian was gone. After a second, and a brief headache that was there and gone in a few seconds, Silver shrugged.

He returned to his magazine, ready to get this shift over with.

UP NEXT: Into The Fire!