You find your way to the mess hall, which basically serves as the cafeteria to the Resistance. It's a little quiet, save for a few members eating a small meal or chatting with one another. You get yourself what passes as a popular drink these days, then scan the hall to find Silver. He isn't far off, near the center of the hall at one of the tables. Sitting across from him is none other than Amy, and they seem very engrossed with a conversation together.
You can't explain why exactly, but you have the overwhelming urge to go over and interrupt them.
"So what's got you two such Chatty Cathys?" you call out loud and plop down next to Amy.
They don't look the least bit bothered, however. Amy is even excited to have you sitting next to her, and scooches closer. Looks like you may have jumped to the wrong conclusion…
"I'm just telling Amy how good it is to see you all again," says Silver, "Though sorry the situation isn't all that great…"
You shrug. "What else can we do?"
"Amy told me everything," Silver continues, "How you left this dimension to go after Ix… Congrats on defeating him."
You couldn't help but grin confidently, "No sweat, it was too easy."
Amy giggles. "Nothing can beat you, Sonic!"
Silver nods. "Maybe with you here, you can help us with our war." His eyes dip lower, staring at the table, but his mind looks elsewhere, "Or... maybe we can help you."
You blink. "Help us..?"
"Silver talked about Little Planet," Amy pipes in, "Remember that place? It still comes by now and then!"
"I remember," you reply, "It used to come into our world once a year. Ever since our last adventure, we messed with the time stream so badly, it comes at any unpredictable time now. We haven't seen it since."
"I saw it last year," said Silver, "That's how I was able to travel to your old timeline. I wasn't sure if the legend was true or not, but since learning about it, I kept an eye over Never Lake… And one year, it came back! I visited it and found the Time Stones, in an attempt to fix the past…"
He sighs and looks away, "Unfortunately, they're only good for one round-trip. When I came back from the past, they disappeared. And very little changed. Eggman-Nega was still in charge, and almost the entirety of the planet is still under rule of the Empire. But Little Planet disappeared when I came back to Never Lake… There's no way of knowing when it'll come back."
"Sure there is!" Amy winks, "I can always tell when Little Planet returns!"
"Really? How?"
Amy pulls out a stack of cards (Where from, you don't know. Wherever she also keeps her hammer, you guess). "I happen to be a master of Tarot," she exclaims, "I'll do a reading tonight and let you know when Little Planet comes back."
Silver smiles broadly at Amy. A little too broadly at Amy for your liking… "That would be great!" he says, "We can use the Time Stones to send you all back to your rightful timeline. Then you can stop Eggman from even starting the Empire!"
"Kinda sounds too easy," you smirk, "I hate to miss out on a good fight."
"Well, there's no telling when Little Planet will come back," says Amy, "You may have plenty of time to fight Eggman Nega AND use the Time Stones to return home."
"Talk about killing two birds with one stone," you laugh.
Silver looks over at Amy. "How are you able to predict Little Planet's presence with Tarot Cards anyway?"
Amy scratches her head. "Can't say for sure," she responds, "I've always had a connection to Little Planet, but since I'm kind of an orphan, I could never get the answers… But my interest in fortune telling and Tarot reading helped me understand my powers." She looks over at you and bats her eyelids, "It helped me with a lot of things, actually! My cards predicted true love would happen at Little Planet's next appearance. And wouldn't you know? There was Sonic, sightseeing!"
How does you respond?
(SNARKY) "Gee, lucky me..." (go to Chapter 9)
(FLIRTY) "I suppose it was fate, after all!" (go to Chapter 10)