Part 1

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The heat around Silver caused the rocks to bubble, releasing what little water they'd previously contained. The blinding light forced Silver's eyes closed. If he hadn't put up a shield in time, he'd have roasted alive.

The shield was holding well, but he'd been forced to make a bubble to keep the heat out. Sooner or later he'd run out of air. He could put a bubble around Blaze, but the smoke could kill her.

There had to be a solution. There had to be a way, but what? Silver kept thinking. He could try a psychic wall, but Blaze could probably go around or over that. He could cut off her air, but that could do permanent damage. He could shift the ground, but that could also kill her.

He could run. That might be his best chance. Push Blaze away and get out of there. Silver shot off, the bubble still surrounding him. He bounced into a few objects from lack of sight. But at least the fire seemed less intense.

Silver was even able to open his eyes to see the flames stop completely. He breathed a sigh of relief until he saw Blaze shooting up at him like a rocket. Flames sent her right at him and she sent another blast.

Silver closed his eyes again, flying higher and higher. The flames went away and the wind picked up, knocking his bubble around. He opened his eyes again, with nothing but white around him.

Silver sighed. He headed north, hoping Tikal might have some answers. He'd managed to keep both Blaze and himself alive. Now he had to figure out what was going on.

He dropped his shield, struggling to breath at such a high altitude. The first few minutes weren't great, but eventually his body adjusted. Then he called Tikal. "Tikal. We have a problem."

"Yeah. I noticed. I think maybe the time stream might be affecting our memories. Either yours or Blaze's and mine. Blaze called me in a panic but I was able to calm her down. Just get back here and I'll see if we can figure something out."

"Right. Thanks."

"Oh, what's your name and what powers do you have?"

"Silver and psychic."

"Adding that to the journal now. Also what's your species?"

"Hedgehog?"

"Huh, didn't expect that. Anyway, I'll call Shadow to make sure he doesn't attack you."

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Part 2

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Shadow ran along the coast line paying close attention to the radar. So far all he found was sand, bird poop, a pod of orcas, and a bearded clown with a straw hat and ripped open shoes who was playing a ukulele attached to a flamethrower. He might have to look into the clown later, but the chaos emerald was more important.

Shadow had gone across the beach several times hoping to find the chaos emerald there. All that was left now was the water. He picked up his speed enough to keep above the water. It wasn't that he couldn't swim, he was a great swimmer, but his fur was annoyingly difficult to dry out.

He'd have to go in eventually, but he wanted to see if it was in the shallows first. Assuming it was at the bottom of the ocean somewhere, there was no telling how deep he'd have to go for the radar to pick it up. The water in the area was also cold. He'd have to be careful it didn't send him into shock.

He headed back to the shore, slowing down to let his body sink a little. Even at waist height the water was freezing. He'd noticed a few icebergs before, but he hadn't expected his legs to freeze up as much as they did. He could get out, but he couldn't afford to go swimming in this water. Not at this time of year.

He'd have tried a wetsuit, but at any worthwhile speed he'd just tear up the material. Shadow went back to the shore, drying off as much as possible before he ran out across the water. He'd been running around in loops to make sure he didn't outpace the radar.

It wasn't that hard to keep above the water, but Shadow had been running for a while. With the water as cold as it was, he couldn't afford to get tired. So far no loss of breath, but nothing from the radar either.

There were also issues of waves created by his footsteps, but he was far enough out that it shouldn't matter too much. Animals in deeper water would be able to handle larger waves than what he could produce anyway. The bigger concern was erosion or tipping someone's ship over.

Granted he wasn't likely to knock over many boats at his speed. But when accidentally getting an innocent person drowned, unlikely wasn't good enough.

He looked at a nearby fishing boat. Several people were reeling in what looked like cod. The waves weren't affecting the boat, but one of the workers was really close to the edge.

The boat had guardrails, but no walls on its edges. It was easy to see a layer of water on the ship deck, and while the boat's rocking wasn't enough to tip it over, it was enough to knock someone over.

There weren't any harnesses on any of the fishermen. They were wearing non-slip shoes, but Shadow knew from experience no shoes would do much on a ship deck's level of wetness.

Sure enough, someone fell off. Shadow ran over, caught them, and jumped onto the ship. Then he ran off. It wasn't an issue if someone saw him, but his celebrity status always made things more complicated. He was also starting to feel some fatigue. It wasn't much, but he couldn't afford a slip up out on the water.

He ran around for a little bit longer checking a few areas he hadn't been to, but didn't hear anything from Tikal's device. He got back to shore, and remembered that weird clown with the flamethrower. "Yeah I need to look into that." He started running when his watch buzzed. "Hello?"

"Hey, if a green anthropomorphic bird with wind powers shows up. His name is Green. Also don't attack him like Blaze did."

"Uh…"

"Just get here when you're finished. I'll explain then." Tikal hung up.

Shadow blinked a few times. He did need to investigate the flamethrower clown. But… "No, Tikal seemed to think it could wait. I'll check on the clown."

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Part 3

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The lab at Chaos Containment didn't seem any louder or quieter than normal. Dr. Robotnick stepped through a set of sliding blast proof doors. Still, even with the noise all around him, he could still hear his own heart pounding.

The previous night he'd gotten a call about Sonic's capture. But he had to see it for himself to know for certain.

Ivo Robotnick looked at the unconscious blue hedgehog sitting on a table. A set of anesthetic filled tubes were attached to one of his veins. He'd heard the news, but he didn't want to believe it. Some small part of him was oddly relieved. Was he glad Sonic hadn't been killed, did he want a chance to talk to him, did he think Sonic was wrong, or was part of him just selfish.

He couldn't really tell, and that scared him. He looked at the flash drive he'd placed Sonic's rewrite code on. After he'd loaded the program onto the main computer he figured the department wouldn't bother with the drive. But Chief Oran had insisted it be kept on a backup drive.

Government agencies were always paranoid about losing data, but Chaos Control had at least 5 back ups. At this point the security concern of a lost drive should've been greater than the risk of losing the code. Still…the drives had specialized plugs that only fit in the agency's computers and vice versa. And there had been that incident of someone accidentally deleting half the data on the mainframe 15 years ago, with no way of recovering said data.

The head of materials production would've been fired had he not also invented a self healing polymer stronger than carbon fiber an hour later. Instead he was given a warning and heard jokes about it until his retirement. Dr. Gregory Krakus might be a genius, but even he had his slip ups.

It could've been worse. If any of Sonic's biological data had been lost, Sonic would've died. He almost had, even with the data available, inorganic components had led to serious complications. Now it felt like the same thing was happening again.

Robotnick looked at Sonic, then back at the flash drive. He was surprised Sonic's rewrite program hadn't been activated yet. James had stopped the process until Robotnick had a chance to speak with him, something about a chance to say goodbye.

James had given him the option to call in the morning, or come in before dawn with a final decision. Oddly, James wasn't around at the moment. Robotnick had expected to see him here after everything they'd talked about.

Sonic began to stir, opening his eyes. His body wouldn't move below the neck. "Where…am I?" He looked around, with what little movement he had and saw Ivo.

His face was grim, but it looked like he was hiding something behind his eyes. "You're in the lab."

"Did I take a bad hit or something?" Sonic failed to move any body parts.

Robotnick raised an eyebrow, before regaining some of his composure. "It doesn't matter." He sighed, then noticed James walking in.

James' eyes went wide. "Doc! I-I thought you weren't coming in." A guilty look crossed his face. "I'm…sorry. After your message…I did the procedure."

Robotnick's face went from shock, to anger, then to confusion. "Message?...I didn't send anything." He thought about all the possibilities. Someone else must've sent James a message. It was possible James was lying, but that seemed unlikely. The only person who would ever pull a stunt like that…was Chief Oran.

This was low, even for him. Rage coursed through Robotnick. Maybe it was time Oran got a taste of his own medicine. Shadow had wanted to uncover Oran's secrets, and Dr. Ivo Robotnick was just the hacker for the job.

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A/N:

Comment responses

@momojifan: You could say Silver traveled, but I wouldn't call it time travel.