Silver flew through the night sky of a nearby city a little bit far from the capital, admiring the view from below and beyond, it was nice seeing a place that wasn't destroyed or charcoaled to the ground, and although there was not that much activity on the streets at this time, the light shining through the windows of the buildings served as proof that there was live here, there were people spending their time relaxing instead of fearing for death at any corner

"And this peace is being threatened by those waves... Could they be just as devastating as the flames of disaster? As Eggman?" Silver mummers to himself as he thinks about the threat he and the other heroes would face, fearing for how dangerous it could be, what if it was a treat like Ibilis? Did this place even have Chaos emeralds to help combat such a threat? Or could there be some as despicable as Eggman Nega around here?

"Huh?" He was taken out of his thoughts when he saw a strange figure, he was dressed in rags but that wasn't what caught Silver's attention, it was the fact the man was a brown humanoid lizard person, probably the only thing close to a mobian he saw around this parts, it was a bit of a relief to know that there wasn't just humans in this world but people like himself and his friends, because he was starting to worry he might be excluded from society because of his looks, considering how everyone was treating him earlier

The brown lizard was going through someone's thrash, which together with his dirty clothes, indicated that he was probably poor, Silver was a bit saddened he couldn't pay the man a proper meal considering he didn't have any money on him. It was then that another man came out of the house and screamed as he ran after the lizard man and began to beat him up senseless, at that point Silver decided to intervene

"Filthy Demi, I knew something was going through my thrash" the man said as he stood among the brown lizard with a fist up, ready to punch the reptilian again as he saw the blood coming out of his mouth as an invitation to keep hitting him

"Please! I just - I was simply-"

"Another man's trash is another man's treasure, you can't be mad he took something you threw away!" Silver shouted from above as he slightly descended from the sky, both the man and the lizard looked at him surprised and confused. Silver lifted a finger, and the man was lifted in the air as a cyan blue aura appeared around him

"What the hell?!" The man and the brown lizard both said in shock as Silver then began to spin his finger around, causing the man to also start spinning but in a much more rapid pace, after a few seconds, Silver dropped the man as he fell to the floor, lifting his head to puke out before falling unconscious on his own vomit

"Some people just look for excuses to hurt someone" Silver said as he looked at the unconscious man as he landed on the ground and helped the brown lizard up, this time with his hands instead of his powers

"You're alright?" Silver asked in slight concern, the brown lizard was bleeding a bit from the mouth and nose but otherwise was fine, the telepathic hedgehog wished he had some type of psychic healing for situations like this

"Y-yes... What are you?" The demi-human asked as he looked at Silver curious and scared after seeing his powers, though he noticed his silver shield shine thanks to the moon light and a shocked expression surged on his face, wondering if this young man he spoke to was who he thought he was

"Just someone who wants to make things right" Silver said as he waved the man goodbye before flying away with his telekinesis, the demi-human stared at him confusedly, not knowing if he had hallucinated a savior or if he somehow was rescued by a angel

Afterwards the psychic hedgehog went back towards the capital since he couldn't know when the sun would go back up, he took some detours when his eye caught something of interest like a specific monster or an interesting landmark. But as he began to approach the capital when he began to really feel sleepy, the sun was just beginning to come out so he increased the speed of his flight to make it on time, as soon as he floated back into his room is when Silver falls head first into the bed, asleep.

"Sir hero, it's time to wake up." A muffled voice reached out to Silver as one of the castle's maid tried to get him to wake up for his meeting with the king

"Uh? What is it?" Silver asked still tired and a bit a float, in fact he didn't even lift his head when he talked to her as his whole body got levitated and moved so he could make eye contact with her, the maid was a bit scared and confused but she keeps the posture she was taught to have in front of a important guest like the shield hero.

"Oh!... right yawn I'll be right to it" Silver gave her a thumbs up and a smile despite his tired face, she replied with an awkward thumbs up of her own as the maid went out to call the other heroes. As they walked none of the other heroes saw or took notice of the fact Silver's feet weren't even walking, he was dragging himself slightly above the floor with telekinesis as his body still felt tired from the night

They were led to the banquet hall from last night as it now had a breakfast prepared for them as it included things like scrambled eggs, bacon, buttered toast and the oh so needed coffee. The heroes began to eat, Silver was glad to enjoy a breakfast that didn't consist of a snack he found in a crate, most of his breakfast in the futures were him eating something like a protein bar when he was lucky enough, everything was an uncertainty in the ever changing future which included his meals.

He took a big sip of the coffee they provided and although bitter it was enough to give him that extra kick of caffeine to get him fully woken up, considering it could come in handy he drops some of it's content within the shield's gem to see if it could actually absorb anything and to his surprise it transformed into a large coffee mug as he obtained his first shield, it was amazing to see the legendary weapon change form right in front of his eyes and even if a coffee mug wasn't that interesting, the fact the legendary shield actually changed appearance is what was captivating as it really made Silver wonder what else would it turn into if he absorbed other objects significant or not.

Afterwards the heroes had been instructed to go back into the courtroom like in their day of arrival. As the large doors caved to their presence, the light of the formidable room invaded them in turn. The room seemed vastly different. There were only a few nobles in attendance now, making the already large room feel even larger. The four heroes came to rest in the same places they stood, but a day ago. The king seemed in better spirits today than the day prior, at least Silver thought so. The king spoke with a voice that would have been well enough without the now mostly empty room to echo to further enhance it.

"Thank you for answering my summons brave heroes! Yesterday I promised that I'd provide you with talented and experienced adventures, allies willing to face the waves beside you and help answer any questions you will no doubt have in this world you now find yourselves in. I would now like to show you that as king I stand by my promises. Enter!" As the doors behind the kind on both sides opened and several people filed into the room, forming a line in front of the king. the four looked at them for a moment, eyeing anyone they found interesting.

"Are we going to choose them or will they choose us?" Silver asked as depending on which answer, they could have very different team builds that could change how they would have to fight or how their personalities played off each other, team work was essential if they were to save the world.

"The latter, Shield hero" the king said and suddenly, a invisible tension formed across the heroes if the king's expression was anything to go by

"Now! Our future champions! It is time to start your journey!" The king exclaimed and the adventurers made their way to the heroes of their choice, Silver closed his eyes and took a deep breath as it all happened in hopes of having great allies by his side

He realized in a moment after that no one stood with him, Motoyasu had four girls alongside him with Ren having five companions and finally Itsuki with three, all had more than zero. This was incredibly odd for sure as he didn't make a bad impression yesterday, as far as he knew anyway

"Uh... Is there a reason for this to happen?" The hedgehog asked as he had a sneaking suspicion that his appearance was the reason behind it, considering he was the only inhuman hero amongst them

"Curious I wonder what-" the king stops as his advisor comes closer to begin whispering something to his ear

"I see, so there are rumors" he said seemly content with this confirmation, not that any of the heroes noticed. Silver was confused, how did rumors of him already begin spreading and how could they lead to this outcome of none of the gathered adventurers joining him, he briefly thought if someone somehow saw him fly away at night with his telekinesis, but that would only make him the most popular choice, right?

"There seems to be rumors of the shield hero possessing a lack of knowledge of our world, it is said that heroes come equipped with this knowledge but the shield hasn't displayed any" the king spoke and the heroes looked at each other briefly, Ren whispered to Itsuki how someone was spying on them last night, there was no other way such a rumor could have spread otherwise.

"But is that really enough to cause this? I have other abilities like my telek-"

"If it will help, I can join the shield hero's party" a voice spoke, it was one of the members from Motoyasu party, a beautiful red-hair with lush green eyes, wearing what seemed like Leather armor atop a white and purple dress. She turned to Motoyasu while giving him a soft smile "If that's okay with you, spear hero?"

"Of course" Motoyasu responded, he was sad to lose the prettiest girl at his party, much more to a weirdo. But a true gentleman wouldn't deprive a woman of doing what she thinks is right 'her kind heart must have had pity for him'

"Pleasure to meet you Shield hero, my name is Myne Sophia" she said as she put a hand out to greet him, with a smile Silver shook her hand back as to him this seemed like the start of a good partnership

"Well then shield hero, you will have to form a party for yourselves, to help with this you will receive a little more money for your journey right now" the king said as the maids came in to deliver bags of silver coins to the heroes with Silver having 800 while the others got 600, the king gave them his farewells as they each went their separate ways after leaving the castle

"Is there something in my face" the hedgehog asked as everyone was looking at Silver in confusion from his appearance, but also the fact he was floating in the air which felt terrifying to them but his looks made it weirder than scarier. He was oblivious to this fact and Myne was trying her best to not let her own panic surface

"They are probably just surprised by you... Floating" Myne spoke as she too found this bizarre but couldn't really show in front of the hero, she wondered if this was normal for the heroes to do or if the shield was more of a freak than she originally thought

"Ah! Sorry, it's just that I'm usually more accustomed to traveling that way, back home the ground wasn't always stable enough to walk. It's like second nature" in fact sometimes there was no ground to even stand, some futures had been consumed by fire and magma, others had been overrun by water, there was even a future where the very grass was completely metallic and deployed of life. Silver was just accustomed to always being above the ground by this point, sometimes he would walk for sure but floating came more easily after using it for so long.

"We should probably go to the fields to fight some monsters for you to increase your level, but let's get you some armor, to put your defense up with a chest plate. Good thing I know the best one around" Myne suggested as they walked the streets, looking cheerful and trusting as she guides the hedgehog towards a store that had a wooden anvil as a sign outside. Entering the shop Silver could see a ton of weapons and armor that were unknown to him, this type of craftsmanship was spectacular to look at, from his trips between future and past he could say these weapons were as developed as the ones in the past but had much more effort and expertise than the few he saw in a couple of futures.

"Welcome to my shop, how can I..." The owner stopped his introduction for a second as he looked at the new customer, the man hadn't seen anything like it in all his life, almost seemed like a kids drawing by how he was proportions but very much life like

"Aren't you the odd fellow, what are you supposed to be?" To The blacksmith it was unclear what the creature was, some type of mammal for sure but the rest was a bit of a guess more than anything concrete

"A hedgehog, isn't it obvious?" Silver was starting to think this would be a regular occurrence, after all he was from another world so the difference between him and this world's hedgehogs must be gigantic to cause this confusion

"We came to get Silver sama some armor, do you have any we can buy?" Myne said, although she didn't really expect anything to fit him as the shield hero wasn't really that tall, only around 3'3" feet

"For his size? Not really, maybe some cloves and shoes but otherwise that's going to be a custom order" due to his size it would make most things in the shop too big for him to wear, maybe gloves and boots could still fit but everything else would have to be adjusted.

"Really? Am I really that small?" Silver was a bit bummed out by this, certainly there were things for people like him, it wasn't like everyone around here was the same size so maybe there was a smaller armor set for him to try out

"Your proportions are what I think are the biggest problem, like where your neck starts and where your joints are. Not to mention the back spikes" the blacksmith points to him that his anatomy was unlike anything they had made armor for, maybe a kid's training armor would fit but it still wouldn't really be optimal.

"Oh... Can I see some other options then? Gauntlets and the like" Silver asked, if he couldn't get armor right now then maybe he could test out just some pieces of clothing, if he found a cool gauntlet or boots then maybe he could start looking more like this legendary hero that he is supposed to be

"Seems fair, I think I have something in the back you can use" the owner said, going into the back of the shop to retrieve a box of used or spare parts, most didn't fit but a pair of metal gloves did seem to be the right size, however Myne advised that it would be a bit redundant for the moment as it wouldn't really protect him from most attacks, the owner agreed with her to a extent but decided to throw the shield hero a bone. Charging less for what a custom order usually was so it would fit in his budget, the catch was that Silver would need to get the material himself for the armor, which the hedgehog agreed

Afterwards the two went to the fields in order to fight the monsters of this world for the first time

"Alright those balls by the tall grass are the weakest monsters in the whole world, you should be able to kill them with no problem" Malty instructed him as the red head pointed at the said monsters, who seemed to be minding their own business and headbutting each other

"Isn't that a bit extreme? Do we have to kill them? Aren't they also sentient, shouldn't they have the right to live?" Silver questions if the little orange monsters should be spared, they didn't seem to be doing anything harmful and killing felt extreme for such a small creature, wasn't there another way to get the EXP?

"If you want to be strong enough to fight the Wave, you will need the experience they give and the only way to obtain that is by killing them. Besides those are mindless balls, they attack anything they see like children, they also reproduce like crazy so you aren't going to make them extinct" She was a bit tired of his innocent attitude so the red head gave him a blunt answer while still trying to keep a friendly facade, she just wanted him to get over it already as normally a legendary hero would be thrilled to kill such a thing

"Sorry little guy, no hard feelings" Silver said before lifting one of the orange balls with his telekinesis, making a crushing motion as the balloon popped almost instantaneously, Myne was surprised by this... And a bit scared once again by the hedgehog's powers.

"I should absorb his... Remains, the king made that very clear" picking up the scrap he puts inside the shield's gem, as it shines and transforms into orange rubber

[Orange Balloon Shield LV 1]

[Equip Bonus 1 defense]

'I guess that's supposed to be expected' weakest monster in the world would also give the weakest shield, still the fact it was a crude replica of his normal shield but made of orange balloons was amusing to a degree. He keeps popping them somewhat effortlessly as his telekinesis far overpowered the monsters, but he couldn't quite commit to do the same to the Usapil Rabbits and the Mushrooms were a bit of a grey area. By the end of the day he had gotten to level 3 and would be able to reach level 4 by the morning

Now they were in a rundown inn, they had enough money to rent a room for the night and to order a very cheap meal. It wasn't anything remarkable, but it was better than roasting a packaged food over a campfire like he had to do sometimes in the future

"Would you like a drink shield hero?" Myne asked as she came to their table with two large cups and handed one to the hedgehog.

"I could certainly go for... Uh what is this?" Silver asked as the smell and look wasn't really what he thought it would be, he didn't know what it was but smelled familiar to something he accidentally drank before

"Beer, why? If you don't like it, I can order some wine." She offered him a replacement, the objective was just for him to drink the sleep potion inside the beverage and alcoholic drinks had a taste that overwrote the potion's own flavor

"No, I just don't drink alcohol at all. I'm not of age" Silver comments as he pushed the cup towards Myne, he knew that it was wrong for someone his age to be consuming this type of thing, but his companion seemed focused on another detail

"Really? How old are you?" Myne was curious, he hadn't really commented about his age or anything really from his home world, not that she cares but it would be interesting trivia to use later

"Fourteen, although I might be a year or two older, it gets hard to track your birthday when you're constantly traveling across time" he responds and myne's look of confusion in trying to understand what he meant was enough for Silver to finish off the night before any more awkwardness could accidentally happen, as the shield hero made a mental note to not mention how he can time travel under the right conditions

"Well I better go to bed, get a full night of sleep and what not." Silver leaves the table and begins making his way to their assigned rooms, Myne sits there pondering if he was fucking with her, because if he could time travel than her plan just went to shit if that was the case, after all how do you beat a time traveler? She just assumes he was talking out of his ass

In his room, Silver ponders what would be awaiting him tomorrow and when would he be ready to fight those waves, opening the window with his telekinesis, the hedgehog hovers in the air looking at the stars once more

"Last time I helped someone in the south, maybe the north also has someone needing my help. It doesn't hurt to travel and see" proclaimed Silver as he once again leaves in the night to explore the world, but this time, it would have a larger ramification on his future than what the hedgehog could expect

[Author's notes]

Leaving a review as knowing your thoughts on the chapter really helps the creative process, follow and favorite to support the fanfic

Next chapter is the trial, but would Malty still go with her rape plan or would it be something else? The rape one is easier but I don't know how believable it would be, considering Silver doesn't even wear pants