Sitting on Blur's bed and scribbling wildly on a whiteboard Holly had nabbed from the kitchen, Silver outlined his plan.

Through a sticky mouthful of caramel, he explained, "I've got a few notes about chaos control already, but if this is going to work, I need to be good at it. We'll stop by Angel Island for a crash course on chaos energy. Then we'll ask around about the Chaos Contingency. Working off of that, we'll organize a rescue mission. And absolutely no talking about this. Got it?"

Blur was enthusiastically onboard with it, "Yeah! Secret mission!"

Holly stopped him. Reserved, she pointed out, "If something goes wrong, who's going to back us up?"

"We'll figure it out as we go. The emeralds are pretty powerful. That should be enough to bail us out."

"I hope you're right."

"It won't be easy, but a true hero is brave in the face of danger. We can make it if we try. We'll do whatever it takes for the greater good. It's in our blood."

She smiled nervously, "Love the positivity. But just cause my dad's done it doesn't mean I can."

"Maybe not alone, but we're in this together. Right?"

"…Well…" She thought for a moment. What would she do if her dad went missing? Just the idea of it made her tense. Silver had a point. She looked up at him, "Right."

They shared a confident smile. Any notion of failure turned to only a slight anxious thrill. They were invincible. Too young to understand their inexperience.

Silver turned the emerald in his hand with a hubristic smirk. "We've got this!"

He stood and tossed the emerald up and down. "Watch this!" He caught the green gem with a flourish. "Chaos Control!" It glowed green in his hand, spreading energy up his arm and throughout his body. His full focus went into his idea. A trick he had seen his dad do a few times but only tried himself once. Hopefully it wouldn't make him nauseated this time. He let the energy lift him off the ground.

It only took a second for his excitement to ruin his concentration. He almost instantly veered forward, arms flailing out in a useless attempt to catch his balance. It only threw him even more off kilter. The feeling of weightlessness disappeared. His stomach dropped. And then he dropped. He hit the ground hard and loud.

The following silence was deafening.

Then Amy called out, "Is everything alright?"

Blur shouted back, "Silver just wiped out and ate floor!"

"Is he okay?"

"He's dead inside but I think he's fine."

Breath finally returning, Silver wheezed, "I-ugh-I'm okay. Just a bruised ego. And knees. So far." He picked himself up and collapsed onto the bed, noticeably winded, "W-we've got this! Team handshake?"

Silver held his hand out. Holly put her hand over his. Blur slapped his hand down on hers. "Let's go!"

"We'll head out early tomorrow morning." Silver grinned confidently. His smiled became increasingly awkward when nothing else happened. "Holly, you can let go of my hand now."

"O-oh. Sorry." She twisted her quills. Eager to change the subject, she said, "I guess we should get some rest. You've had a long day and we've got an adventure ahead of us."

"Good idea." Silver stood to face his team, "Operation Covert Chaos is a go. We ride at dawn!"

Just before sunrise, right on cue, a young blue hedgehog exploded into his sister's room. Snapping the lights on, jumping onto the bed, and smacking her with a pillow, Blur yelled, "Lights. Camera. Action!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Holly muttered, ineffectually trying to stop him from dragging her to her feet.

"Me? Slow down? Seriously?" As if to prove his point, he ran off and within seconds returned with a backpack crammed full to bursting. "Got your bags packed? Time's a wasting! Let's go!"

"Shh! You're gonna wake everyone up!"

"I gotta make sure you're awake!"

"I am awake! Now settle down and be patient."

"Ahll-rightttt…"

"Thank you!"

She came downstairs to a quiet house. Other than Blur excitedly bouncing circles around Silver.

Silver nodded toward the door. "Adventure awaits. Ready to go?"

Holly shouldered her bag. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Blur pumped his fist. "Let's do it to it!"

They had made it out the door and halfway down the street when Blur asked, "So how do we get to Angel Island?"

Silver held up the emerald. "The limitless power of chaos control."

"Even after that fall yesterday?"

"I got this. You'll see."

"'Kay then."

Finding a quiet spot where Silver could focus, the siblings watched him expectantly. Emerald in one hand and the other held out to Holly and Blur, Silver began to concentrate on his goal. The fact that he couldn't quite visualize a particular place on Angel Island, or even focus on what he wanted to do, didn't bode well for his first attempt at teleporting. Nevertheless, he called out, "Chaos Control!"

To his delight, their surroundings changed in a flash. To his horror, they were not anywhere he recognized.

Holly looked around. "Was that it? Did we do it?"

"I'm not sure." Silver slowly responded.

"Hey!" Blur shouted, "That looks like our house!"

Silver looked toward the blue hedgehog. He frowned. If he had to guess, they had made it a decent 100 meters into the woods. Not Angel Island by a long shot. Not even out of the neighborhood.

Not one to give up that easily, Silver announced, "On to Plan B!" and the trio headed for the closest bus station.

The ride to Station Square was almost boringly uneventful. Mostly spent passing the emerald between themselves and discussing their plan in hushed tones. From there, all they had to do was find a way onto Angel Island. Which, as they now began to realize, was easier said than done.

Blur sat on a bench, kicking his legs and staring at the city around him, while Holly and Silver pored over a display of pamphlets. They had snagged a map of the surrounding area and another of Angel Island, but it wouldn't be much help if there was no way to travel.

"Sis?"

"Just a minute Blur. I'm trying to think."

"Sis!"

"I said hold on!"

"Sis! Look!"

Holly finally turned her head, just to appease the insistent hoglet. She followed his gesture toward an ad posted on a wall. Only a few things were legible from a distance. Her eyes widened with recognition.

It was just five words: "Visit the Floating Island Today." And sure enough, there was a picture of Angel Island front and center.

She ran up to the poster, dragging Silver along. The hedgehogs gasped at their victory. Taking the notebook from his backpack, Silver wrote down the company name and address. "Looks like we've found our jackpot."

Taking the pencil from Silver, Holly found the location on the map and marked it. "It's in Mystic Ruins. Near the cliff where Angel Island used to be before it started floating. We'll take the train and follow the map from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Silver noticed the curious hoglet peeking at the map from behind his sister. "And good work, Blur."

The kid beamed at the praise. "Thank you! Race you to the station!" And he vanished around the corner before Holly could even look back at him.

She ran after him. "Get back here! You know you're not supposed to leave my sight when I'm babysitting you!"

Silver shook his head as he followed, but he couldn't help but crack a smile when Blur yelled back, "I'm not a baby!"

Notes: And with the exposition finally done, the plot is now in motion. Our baby heroes are on the move. Will they succeed? Will they learn a hard lesson? Are they the rescue squad they think they are? We can only hope for the best.