Silver could sense that there had been a change in the atmosphere at the Resistance meetings. It really wasn't that long ago that each one felt like a funeral: nothing but reports of battles lost, lives lost, territories lost, and opportunities lost. Even the one after they had saved Sonic had an air of uncertainty; as Knuckles said, they hadn't expected to get that far, and they didn't know whether their next moves would be the right ones.

But now, there was something to look forward to. A light of hope shined for them, in an increasing amount of colors. Their dreams of an absolution actually had a chance of coming true. He could see it in every one of their faces: Amy next to him, the Chaotix across, Team Sonic up at the big screen, and the three Wispon holders at the other end of the table.

"Oh good, it looks like no one overslept! That means we can begin." Knuckles joked, bringing Silver out of his poetic musings. The echidna was definitely in high spirits.

"To start off with, I want to give gold star honors to Boar the Grizzly and the rest of the 8th unit of the Resistance, for their instrumental efforts in defending our City today."

There was a round of applause that Boar took with pride.

"Really, great job!" Sonic added. "I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself! I wish we had more people like you with us."

Hmm, that's an unusual statement coming from Sonic… and yet…

"We don't have any, uh, actual gold medals to give you, but it really can't be understated how impressive it is that you knocked out a Death Egg Robot for good," Knuckles continued.

"Hold up, a Death Egg Robot?" Vector remarked in disbelief. "Come on, how am I supposed to top that? We're missing out on all the fun!"

"I'd say the performance of that soldier at the Sea Gate was fairly admirable," Espio commented.

"Oh?" Tails asked. "We haven't looked over your report from that yet."

"Oh, my, gosh, you should've been there!" Charmy exclaimed. He began buzzing eagerly around the room to talk to everyone. "This badger, he's usually our watchman, the kind of guy that doesn't like to do the fighting, y'know? You know what he does? Takes this biiiig bomb, and almost blows Eggman's battleship out of the sky!" The bee flung his limbs out to emphasize his point.

"For real?" Arc asked.

"A direct hit to the launch bay, shutting down all reinforcements." Espio confirmed. "It was a real moment of truth."

"It's good to see so much enthusiasm among our people. It's not something we… have had, up until now," Silver remarked. He shot a glance at Knuckles. "Wouldn't you agree, Commander?"

"This is about the decision I made on the Death Egg, isn't it? I… guess I should apologize for that. I lost faith in our troops, despite everything they've sacrificed to help save our world. That's not something a good Commander should ever do."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it," Amy said. "None of us could have predicted what was going to happen when that mission went down. We should just be grateful that everything turned out well in the end, and that we have so many brave people willing to join our ranks now. I can hardly imagine what life would be like if Ledge was the only one."

"… yeah," the cardinal absently agreed. All three of the rookies looked especially downtrodden, and it occurred to Silver that they were among the troops, people, and prisoners not long ago, too.

"The White Wispons were a success, in case anyone wasn't aware," Ledge continued, breaking the silence, although his face still didn't reflect the good news he was sharing. "I estimate a relatively short turnaround before I can supply them in large quantities, which means we need to train an army to use them. Boar, as useful as my Cube Wispon would be with you on missions, that seems like a task best suited for your expertise."

"I agree," Boar stated. "If there's anything to be learned from out most recent battle, it's that we will need to have a sizeable standing force ready to defend the City at all times. I had already intended to remain here instead of joining you in the field."

"Good to know," Knuckles said. "The more progress we make, the more motivated Eggman will be to take us out. Which brings us to the elephant in the room."

Everyone turned to Amy, who nodded and took out a shining blue gem from her pocket. Deep like the ocean, it shimmered even under the plain lighting of the ceiling lamp, so lustrous it was practically audible.

"So that's what a Chaos Emerald looks like…" Ledge mused.

"It's so shiny…" Arc added.

"Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do with only the one Emerald," Amy stated. "I mean, Tails often uses one just to power his plane."

"Hey, don't underestimate the capabilities of the Tornado. Not that it matters now…" Tails became downcast, his namesakes drooping to the floor. He shook himself out of it quickly, though, which Silver found noteworthy for the timid fox. "I should be able to set up a Chaos Emerald tracker to find the others, though. It'll take some time to have any appreciable amount of range, especially without Rouge here to help, but it's better than nothing."

"I figured you'd say something like that," Amy said with a smile. "I'm more perplexed by Gemerl, to be honest. I trust Cream, and the only conclusion I can draw from that angle is that Eggman built a second Gemerl to serve as his general."

"It's certainly possible… and consistent with the mechanical focus of Infinite's power," Espio pondered.

"But what does that mean about Shadow and that red guy Sonic fought on the Death Egg?" Silver asked. "They don't look mechanical."

"Shadow is technically an artificial being, so I could see it being some kind of mind control." Sonic suggested. "Zavok, I have no idea, though. Eggman had a conch thing to control him and his groupies, but we don't know if he invented that or not. He didn't have any backups, at the very least. Thoughts, Tails?"

"Beats me. Their planet's called the Lost Hex for a reason. Not much research to be found on it. But Eggman had to get his Wisps from somewhere, it's possible he found a way to mimic the Conch's capabilities and forced Zavok back under his control if he went there to collect them."

Silver picked up a whisper from the red being next to him; Ledge seemed to be contemplating something. "A connection to the Wisps, huh?"

"Hey, wait, aren't there artificial versions of Chaos, too?" Vector asked. "I remember those weird creatures from when we were digging up info on the ARK."

Silver's body tensed. "No… you don't mean…"

"So it was Eggman who attacked Angel Island!" Knuckles realized. He began pacing around. "I should've known! That sneaky little… I'll CRUSH him!"

"It's important that we keep a level head at times like this," Espio advised.

"A level head?!" Knuckles argued back at him. "The Red M–Infinite can already take on all of us on his own, and now we're supposed to fight against the power of the Master Emerald?! Just what level of head are we capable of reaching here?"

"Hey, Knucklehead," Sonic interjected. "You're acting like he just took that favorite rock of yours. If Eggman stole it when all of this started, then the power he has now includes the Master Emerald. Of all the obvious things he can forget sometimes, I highly doubt using something that powerful when he already owns it would be one of them."

The echidna exhaled sharply. "Sure, but… that doesn't change the fact that we now need the Chaos Emeralds to stand a chance. It's like we've gone back to square one like before we had the Wispons! I don't like it one bit."

Silver shook his head. "That's not entirely true. At least this time, we know what we need and how to find it. And look at the bright side: if the Emeralds cancel each other out, and the Wispons cancel out Infinite, then doesn't it boil down to us against Eggman, no gimmicks? That's a fight we win, hands down!"

"Only if you exclude Eggman's generals," Tails noted. "Shadow is a big threat, and the other two are no slouches either."

"Eggman might also have another ace or two hiding up his sleeve," Vector added. He then turned towards Amy. "Speaking of which, since Tails mentioned her – what's the 411 with Rouge?"

She shrugged. "Radio silence, no different than before. At this point, all we can do is pray and hope. Knuckles is right, we have to focus our efforts on the Chaos Emeralds. All three of Eggman's remaining generals are capable of using them."

"I suspect that the Wispons will also be effective against them, if Infinite can be proven to be related to their involvement." Ledge said. "On that note, if we have exhausted our conversation points, I would like to be dismissed to continue my endeavors. I am running on a tight schedule."

"Yeah, sure, do your thing," Knuckles replied, waving him off. "There's not much we can do until Tails has his radar up and running, so meeting adjourned."

As everyone dispersed, Silver flagged down the pink member of their group.

"Amy!" he called.

"Huh? Oh, Silver! You're here… about the letter, right?"

"Of course. It's gotta be important, especially if it's urgent enough that she couldn't find the time to tell us in person."

She pulled an envelope out of seemingly nowhere and handed it to him. "As I said before, I haven't read it, so we'll just have to find out."

"Right," he concluded, breaking the seal on the envelope. The presence of something so ordinary, and in good condition, suggested that the letter was old, because nothing like that could be found anymore. He took out and unfolded the letter, written in an elegant handwriting that he would expect no less from a princess.

"If you don't mind… I'd like to read it myself first, just in case there's something personal."

"I totally understand."

Dear Silver,

I hope this letter finds you in good health in the crisis that is unfolding. I wish I could stay to help fight, especially after what happened to Sonic… I almost cannot believe it to be true. Unfortunately, while I can confirm that Chaos will not be a threat (barring another revival event), doing so has caused the Sol Emeralds to disperse across this dimension. I might have told you this before, but if the Emeralds stay for too long, my dimension will begin to merge with it, with disastrous consequences. It is of utmost priority that I gather every single one and return them safely, for that is my duty as their guardian.

Additionally, since my dimension has become entwined so early into the conflict, it is possible that Eggman Nega is involved. I will need to focus my efforts upon my return to ensuring that he is being kept in check. I know you will be concerned about my safety, but I assure you that I can handle this. Marine has become quite a capable sidekick.

Please contact me once this is all over. Good luck, Silver!

-Blaze

Silver sighed, giving the letter back to Amy for her to read.

"It's just an update on what happened after Knuckles and I escaped Angel Island, and why she won't be able to help us."

"I see…" she eventually responded when she had finished reading. "To be honest, that's kind of a bummer. She certainly has a worthwhile reason to have her hands full, but it still would have been nice to have her aid."

"We'll just have to work extra hard to make up for it, then! I won't let her down!"

Amy shook her head in amusement. "You're a strange one sometimes, you know that?"

"No? What do you mean by that? Wait, Amy, come back! Was it something I said?"

Seeing the sky brighten and burn red as the sun rose over the pale ocean never got old for the hedgehog from the future. That future had been inverted, with the ground blistering with lava and fire and the sky eternally muted in color: a future completely without joy. It was actually a huge reason why he kept finding excuses to delay going back.

Even putting aside the endless stream of world-ending conflicts that jeopardized it, seeing the future changed from how he knew it scared him, even though that was exactly his purpose for leaving. It wouldn't feel like the future he belonged to, when he would know nobody and none of them would understand the struggles he went through to ensure their world wouldn't be in ruin. Ultimately, it would be just as alien to him as the past he had travelled to; by that logic, he might as well stay, since he'd already become accustomed to this time period and made many good friends here. Blaze was the only one that he felt understood that.

Silver turned away from the sun and dropped down towards the entrance to the Resistance HQ. Right now, there was a job to do; he could look at all the sunrises he wanted when it was complete.

Only Tails and Knuckles were inside, working on a device that had been attached rather crudely to the main computer. They must have been there all night long because they looked very tired.

"Making good progress?"

"We're just about finished," the former responded. "Having a previous model helped."

"You're sure up early," Knuckles commented, letting out a large yawn.

"Seems more like you're up late, if you ask me. I wanted to get a head start on whatever we find. The sooner the better!"

"If it means I get to go to bed sooner, I won't argue."

Tails gave his red partner a look, then typed in a few console commands, ending with a triumphant-looking key tap. "Annnnd… it should be online! Let's see what happens."

The screen began mapping out their immediate surroundings and continued to expand its horizons. Several minutes passed, the program reaching to the far side of the continent and beyond without results.

"Hm… that's unusual… I knew it wouldn't be able to scan the whole globe, but I figured at least one of them would appear nearby. They tend to do that a lot."

Just when they were about to turn away and give up, two dots appeared in close proximity to each other near the edge of the radar's range.

"Well look at that! Two for one isn't a bad consolation," Silver said.

"Yeah–wait…" Tails rubbed his eyes and looked at the stream of data being fed into the computer. "These are two different readings. Now, normally you couldn't be able–wouldn't be able to tell because Chaos Emeralds, as their name implies, provide very sporadic energy levels, but I've studied them enough to figure out the methods to the madness. Whatever this second entity is, it's not following the expected patterns."

Something about that phrase worried Silver, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

"And you're sure it's not the sleep deprivation talking there?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes! Probably."

Silver focused intently on the radar's image. The data itself was all gibberish to him; it was the location that bothered him. Oh, that must be it!

"Hey, hold on a second! These readings are coming from those old ruins where Sonic and I fought Infinite! …what if that is Infinite?"

"With Infinite's strength… I wouldn't doubt it," Tails agreed.

As he continued to observe it, he noticed that the dot was indeed moving. It was moving towards the other reading, setting off alarm bells in Silver's brain. He pointed rather dramatically at its direction of motion.

"It looks like he's after the Chaos Emerald! We need to move now if we want a chance to beat him to it!"

"What?!" Knuckles exclaimed, his fatigue vanishing as he rose from his position on the floor – but then he paused for a moment. "Wait, this is all just a hunch. We shouldn't get too hasty."

"I trust this hunch. Call it a psychic's intuition. Besides, can we allow even the possibility that I'm right? It's game over if I am."

The echidna huffed. "I suppose not…"

"I guess we don't have a choice, then." Tails agreed. "I'll prepare a shuttle for launch. Knuckles, go get Arc. If it really is Infinite, we'll need a Wispon user to stand a chance."

Their shuttle outran the sun in reaching the Mystic Jungle. It almost outran their communications, too, as they were nearing the point where they'd have to descend before they heard back from HQ.

Tails: "According to the radar, the Chaos Emerald should be near you. There has been surprisingly little movement from the other signal, so I think you two should split up. Silver can secure the Emerald, while Arc will intercept the unidentified entity. We've located a potential shortcut that will allow you to get there swiftly."

Arc: "You want me to solo Infinite?"

Knuckles: "It's not quite that. Running interference only means that you have to get his attention and stall him out, so we can get to the Chaos Emerald first."

Tails: "And we don't know that it's Infinite. This is just a surety in case it's anything that could be racing us for the Emerald. Also, I'm sorta curious what it is regardless of the mission."

Knuckles: "Don't worry, we'll be guiding you the whole time."

Arc: "Alright. You can count on me."

They disembarked soon after. With a nod, Arc leapt off into the jungle, and Silver activated his psychokinesis to lift himself and fly on his own path much faster than he could walk it. He had to be careful to avoid branches and hanging creepers in the darkness, but neither of those elements lasted long when he came across a set of illuminated ruins.

They glowed mostly in yellows and greens, giving them a natural feel despite how out-of-place neon lights were in something so ancient. Unfortunately, the ruins lied on the other side of a canyon cut out by a river, one old and wide enough to be too far for his levitation to forge. The only sign of this being an intended route was a pillar with a glowing head like that of a screw, which had toppled at an angle into a mud pit that had formed around it. Silver had no clue what was causing it to glow if it wasn't even standing to be connected to anything.

Still, the attention it called to its flat top gave him an idea. He jumped over the surrounding mud onto the pillar and pressed his hand into its face, adding his own cyan light as he psychically willed it to push into the resisting earth. When he let go, the pillar shot back, launching him straight across the canyon onto the stone structure.

The inside of the ruined building was quite quizzical. It was built into the face of the mountain, with the far side being a sheer wall of natural stone. Well, natural except for the three identical white curves that had been fit into the mountain side-by-side. He could tell it wasn't carved due to the small gaps on all sides, and altogether it looked like a giant slot machine.

Tails: "Silver, are you there? Sorry for the silence. I opened up a separate communications line for you and me while Amy and Knuckles help out on Arc's end."

Silver: "You woke Amy up for this? She's not going to be happy about that."

Tails: "She'd be even less happy if we ran the whole mission without her knowing. I guess you're welcome for shielding you from her wrath."

The fox let out a large yawn over the comms, and in the gap of conversation something started nagging at Silver's brain. Amy being upset, confusing round gambling devices, searching for something in the ruins… or someone? Why does this feel familiar?

Silver: "All is quiet on my end for now. I'll keep you updated if anything comes up."

The only ways out of the room were a hole in the floor and a hole in the ceiling. Since Ledge had the apparently wise insight to try the top first back on the Death Egg, Silver decided that he would go up. Two long green-glowing slabs protruded from the walls, forming what he guessed to be handles for the slot machine. They were large enough that he could stand on them, which gave him an idea where he did just that. With his psychokinesis, he forced the lever down (though with much less resistance than he expected), then released his hold. Like with the pillar before, it sprung back into its previous position rapidly, flicking the hedgehog up and out through the hole onto the roof.

From his new vantage point, he could see several other buildings in different states of decay, all of which were adorned with the same glowing trims as the pillar. Their edges and spires were clearly defined in neon colors spanning the whole spectrum of colors. Silver found the display awe-inspiring; this world never ceased to amaze him. It was no wonder why it would be a popular tourist destination.

As far as his mission was concerned, however, none of those were accessible to him. It took him some time to avert his eyes and identify a place he could hover to, though, in part because the only such place was a comparatively poorly lit corridor hewn into the side of another hill nearby. The only light source (other than some ambient light filtering in through barred windows) was a few stacks of large stone blocks, engraved with the same glowing light.

Silver's curiosity got the better of him, and he made a close inspection of the engravings. Nothing about them looked super special to be producing that light. As he circled around to examine another side, he had to jump back as a large spiked ball nearly bowled him over. It seemed to peer out from the stack before reversing itself and moving back down the length of the hallway. Frowning, the psychic gave up his investigation and continued moving forward.

Now on edge, he was prepared when the second surprise fell from above. An enormous spider sprang down from the ceiling attached to a web. Silver pulled the glowing stone blocks to him with his power, but before he pummeled the arachnid with them, he noticed something off about the creature. Actually, he noticed a lot of things off: It had glowing purples eyes, a glowing string, and a faint glow over its entire body that reflected the yellow and cyan lights being produced around it.

To confirm his theory, he brought his hands together, bunching up his debris, then shot them as a single cluster at the enemy. If it were a normal spider, it should have been pulverized, but as he expected, a metallic crash was heard, and the robot was sent flying back off of its tether beam.

Silver: "Eggman's robots are here!"

Tails: "Arc found that out already. Eggman's apparently also using this area as a junkyard, so we don't know what they're here for. Let us know if you see anything suspicious."

Another Tarantula attempted to impede his way farther down the hallway. Unfettered, Silver grabbed the returning spike ball and smacked the arachnoid down like a piñata before continuing on his way. He was too busy trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle. The obvious answer would be that Infinite has returned here and these Badniks are under his ownership, just as they were the first time. However, they weren't continuing whatever scorched earth plan they had before, the purpose of which the Resistance still hadn't figured out. That was what was making Silver have second thoughts. And for some reason, he couldn't shake that feeling of familiarity. The thoughts felt like they were creating themselves in his head. Killing Sonic… the end of the world… a being of unlimited power…

Well. Those were all consistent with Infinite's reputation. Maybe he was just being paranoid about that monster's possible presence and overthinking things. It was best for him to keep his eye on the prize, so to speak.

The room ahead of him was dark, which he found odd to think of as unusual for old ruins. It had another assortment of stone blocks lying around, but that was all he could really see. Fortunately, he had a trick for moments like this, so he didn't need more than that. He prepped himself into position, his hands now shining brightly in his psychic cyan, and then firmly thrust his right palm into the ground beneath him. A circular sigil shape took form around the contact point, and then the blocks all began to glow and were lifted up into the air.

When he looked back up, he was surprised to see that they were a darker teal rather than matching his power, and the blocks seemed to have organized themselves into lines that were shifting around their centers as if rotating, though without changing their orientations. This place just keeps getting weirder.

Silver jumped and hovered his way across the blocks to reach another hole in the wall higher up on the far side. It opened up to slanted roof overlooking a larger structure that looked to be in better shape than what he had seen before.

Tails: "Hmm, no sign of the Chaos Emerald around here. It might be closer to the center."

Silver: "Okay."

He climbed down the roof onto a bridge crossing over a river and under the branches of a very large tree. It had strange red zig-zag guard rails but seemed clear of any real hazards. But no later than he had taken a few steps across did yet another spider robot drop down on its line. The hedgehog's first instinct was his Psycho Smash, quickly gathering some energy and knocking it away in a slapping motion. The spider made a ding and was swung up out of sight. Silver wasn't able to see where it went, and he was quite startled when it quickly came back down, in one piece, and swinging right towards him. He fell backwards onto his butt to avoid it as it narrowly missed his head on the ground. For some reason, the Tarantula wasn't reacting in turn, and it just continuing swinging like a pendulum with its legs flailing about.

That was quickly finished as Silver forced it to stop with his psychokinesis. He could see now that the spider's abdomen was a perfect sphere, painted with a white star in the middle on a large blue circle, leaving only a band of red on the outside. Silver motioned to crush it by clenching his hand, but it was somehow sturdy enough to resist the force. Frowning, he let it go and kept moving past it. It wasn't a real threat.

And, as he thought might happen, several more came down on the bridge to get in his way. He simply teleported through the range of each one and continued on his way. The walkway continued past the bridge to a small tower attached to a wall that, surprisingly, was completely unlit. The staircase had crumbled, but it was fairly simple for Silver to hop on a piece of rubble and lift it up high enough for him to reach the top. From up there, he had a rather stunning view of the jungle, illuminated by the full moon and a few smaller neon buildings. In the distance, he could faintly hear some tropical birds cawing. Perhaps this combination of awe and serenity, but also mystery, was why they called it the Mystic Jungle.

Tails: "Something up? It's not like you to sit still for long."

Silver: "Sorry. Got distracted by the scenery. What's the status on our mystery signal?"

Tails: "Nowhere near your area, thankfully. That's about all we know, though."

Silver: "That's all I need to know, for now."

Not far down the road, the wall connected to and passed through a larger building that, once again, was surprisingly unlit. As he entered the archway over the opening to the dark interior, he could see that the same sorts of intricate carvings were present, suggesting that there were originally lights that had since malfunctioned. That was a pretty reasonable thing to happen.

He had second thoughts about that when several dots of red energy were suddenly shot at him from within the darkness. He couldn't pick up lasers with his psychokinesis, so he reactively teleported backwards to the outside. While the culprits inside didn't reveal themselves, three distortions of light appeared around the aperture that soon took the form of blue chameleon-looking robots. All three of them jumped off of the wall, stopping themselves from falling using small rocket engines as they retracted their limbs and transformed into missiles.

Clearly, the Newtrons weren't very smart, because they just provided the stone for him to kill two birds with. Well, missiles, to kill robots… it's an analogy, okay? He could easily take hold of the rocket robots, and he brought them back inside and aimed them at the other chameleons that were now visible through their reflection of his cyan abilities.

And then he was falling. That was the first thing he registered, even before the sound of breaking stone as the floor and walls crumbled around him. It caught him so off-guard that he didn't even think about levitating himself out until he had become entangled in the weight of the falling bricks. The floor was only about a story below, but it also slanted at a sharp angle, and Silver found himself sliding towards a mass of glowing lights. Using his power, he cleared the bricks from his view, just in time to see that he was on another green-glowing bumper and about to fall into an even deeper hole.

Acting on instinct, he forced the bumper to shoot him up… directly into a floating piece of rock that matched the bumper. It didn't hurt, but instead reflected him at a high speed straight down into the pit he had tried to avoid. After getting over his initial shock, Silver caught himself in mid-air so he could situate himself with his surroundings.

He could tell that he was underground, but it took him a moment to figure out why. The chute-like tunnel he was in was well-lit by glowing yellow, green, and now violet tiles all over, but the difference now was a lack of ambient moonlight filtering in through gaps in the stonework.

Slowly, he inched down the incline, keeping his power active on himself to prevent stumbling. It wasn't very taxing if he wasn't actually flying with it. The chute opened up to a larger, more dimly room with a couple of flippers, a hole going still farther down, and several short violet knobs protruding from the walls higher up. Much of the room looked like it was a dark purple, and he guessed that some of it was light reflecting off of the bundles of spiked creepers that snaked up any vertical surfaces they could find.

Silver wasn't sure if what smacked him down here was also a purple thing, but he didn't want to risk it. He let himself slide, redirecting his power to make the bumper sling him into the air. To his relief, he didn't have to stop himself from hitting the knobs, and even better, there was a neon-marked passageway out of the room near the ceiling. He sailed past the hole to the far side of the room, and already he had figured out his path to the exit. Although the ground was more stable, he let himself slide onto a matching flipper to the one he used before. Again he launched himself upwards, and his target was a third flipper located above the first one attached to the wall halfway to the top of the room. Another motion sent him over the knobs and within range to levitate to the tunnel.

Once inside, the lighting blended the purple with blues and a dash of yellow. Several dark orbs were creeping around, visible ironically because of their lack of light compared to their dazzling surroundings. Each one was orbited by smaller orbs that were spiked, like the trap the hedgehog had encountered earlier. He didn't have to go far for the nearest one to notice him and turn his way, revealing two red eyes and an inset part on its bottom that made it appear as if it was permanently scowling angrily. Without any apparent movement on its part, the orbiting spike balls greatly increased in speed, and they began launching one by one at Silver.

The Unidus probably wasn't happy to see its projectiles be effortlessly caught by the psychic's power, and evidently it couldn't stop its attack because soon he had all of them, leaving the main body defenseless. Silver returned the volley with equal ferocity, each hit bashing a crater into it that left it a crumpled scrap heap by the time he was done.

Such open, loud destruction called the attention of the other enemies. The next one in line looked identical to the first, with the exception of its green eyes rather than red. Silver waited for it to throw its spike balls over, but it never did, opting to charge the hedgehog, if it could be called a charge with the middling speed that it could float. Once it got close, he was able to employ his tactic once again, taking control of the spikes even as they orbited the robot's head and using them to implode it.

Number three looked to be a manufacturing error, as it didn't have any satellites. This was quickly remedied as several fireballs sparked to life around it, revealing a crimson body that completed a devilish look to it with its red eyes. Its strategy was a third one yet, as the flaming orbs leveled out to orbit it parallel to the ground and began to expand their pattern into a long oval while spinning quickly. Due to the confines of the corridor, the fireballs couldn't be avoided or jumped over, and since like the lasers, they weren't attached to a physical base, he couldn't steal them with his psychokinesis. Impressive, for a Badnik, he admitted in his head.

The Gohla pressed forward, and Silver had no choice but to retreat. He wasn't bothered, though. Behind him were the corpses of the two other robots, and he lifted the nearest one up and used that as a shield against the fire as he pushed back. The fires dissipated upon touching the wielded chassis; the psychic supposed it made sense that lacking a solid fuel would also make the flames unstable. In any case, he shot the body at the angry-faced robot and knocked them both out of the tunnel before anything else could happen.

When Silver didn't hear a thud from their impact on the floor of the room beyond, he started to become concerned. He jaunted to the end of the tunnel and immediately wished that he had found another escape route. At some point, Sonic had introduced his gray friend to the hobby of pinball (though Silver really wasn't sure why the speedster would enjoy a game that involved standing in one place for a long period of time) and a pinball table was the only way to describe the massive angled wall outfitted with every contraption he had seen thus far in the ruins. It contained several layers of green bumpers, lines of matching small blocks, the round purple blockers, and to top it off – literally, he might add – even the slot machine, with a glowing orange slot above the middle reel that he knew from experience was a place to insert a ball-curled Mobian.

Neon Palace had been far from a highlight (pardon the pun) in Silver's adventures, and he would've been quite happy never to go back to somewhere like that. Despite being a hedgehog, his build was not well-suited for the Spin Dash antics it had involved. However, from the tales of some of the other adventures his friends had been on, encountering another such place was practically inevitable, so there was no point in complaining; he would simply have to take it head on.

He jumped down from the recess onto a plain stone platform that appeared to serve as the base for the megalithic arcade machine. A tunnel lead from there to the launching pad located slightly under the structure in the middle, consisting only of a vertically-aligned purple flipper parallel to a ramp that curved and rose up onto the table. This was going to suck.

Taking a deep breath, Silver cautiously approached the thin device, turning his back to it so he could see where he would be going. Idly, he noted that the ground was somewhat slick; either a highly endurant coating for facilitating launches, or a gross yet fortunate layer of moss. From the very moment the hedgehog's hand made solid contact behind him, he didn't even have time to apply his powers before it swung at a high speed in his direction. Whatever control he planned on having had been lost, so he instinctively curled up into a ball and just had to hope.

Thankfully, the lubricant was still passably functional, and despite the clumsiness of the gray hedgehog's curl, he safely launched up the ramp to the main edifice. With psychokinetic force, he straightened himself out and hovered to the nearest glowing square. Just because he was on the board didn't mean he had to play by the rules, right?

As it turns out, the better answer was yes. Silver's attempted landing on the stone feature was denied when it rebound him like a trampoline, its green glow turning to yellow during the instant of contact. Yellow, as in caution, like a traffic light. Let's not find out what happens when it hits red, he thought. While it may have been intended as an obstacle for a spinning Mobian, it was only a boon to someone like him who could fly.

In this way, he was able to reach a higher-up green flipper than he had anticipated. The upper part of the table was structured around the slots in the center, and above them, the gray hedgehog spotted another opening that traveled back. Unfortunately, the way was impeded by the purple bumpers placed in erratic places, as if the designer didn't want anyone escaping or using the slots. That's predatory.

Some moments passed, and Silver found himself at a loss for a good solution. He didn't really have time to brute force his way out, but there wasn't much of a choice. Maybe getting smacked around by bumpers would knock some ideas into his head, or something. Taking a deep breath, he centered himself on the flipper and crouched, like a swimmer preparing to dive at a meet. Silver directed his thoughts to press down and felt the change of tilt beneath him. Then, he released.

Try number 1: He apexed right above a bumper, but using it to push him farther up resulted in him soaring to the other side, clearing between the two holes and falling back down to the paired flipper.

Try number 2: Lifting off from higher on the flipper sends him straight into another bumper, reflecting him straight back down. He had to engage his psychokinesis to prevent becoming a hedgehog patty on the flipper.

Try number 3: Going slightly beneath the midpoint gave him some horizontal push (though perhaps it was a mistake on his part?), and he was caught in a volley between the two colinear bumpers above the slots, which he then fell into.

Inside was cramped and dark, and he could feel the ancient machinery spinning out his results. After only a couple of seconds, the bottom opened up and he fell out, quickly putting himself into a hover to travel back to one of the flippers he had used. He allowed himself a glance at the slots, and it was a complete miss. Darn.

Try number 4: Scooching to the very bottom of the flipper maximized his force. He reached the exit with ease, then continued past it before he can react and stop himself. He skimmed on the upper perimeter, which is also coated in the slick substance, and slid down to the first flipper.

With a groan, he repeats his position for try number 5, successfully pulling himself into the exit chamber now that he knew what to expect. The corridor was short, leading into a larger, slanted floor that Silver quickly realized was ruins on the side of a hill. He stepped out into the remains of a room that remained darkly shaded by foliage alongside the partially-intact roof, and he decided he would take a little break after that harrowing room. He had a more immediate priority to fulfill anyway.

Silver: "Come in, Tails?"

Tails: "Silver! Can you read me? Your signal disappeared for a while there."

Silver: "Loud and clear. Some of the ruins collapsed under me, so I accidentally took a detour underground, but I'm okay."

Tails: "Well, thank goodness for that. You had me worried for a moment there. Fortunately, you've moved a lot closer to the Emerald... I think. The signal is unusually diluted, for lack of a better term, like there's some kind of interference preventing it from getting too strong anywhere."

Silver: "Do you think it's the robots' doing?"

Tails: "Not likely… I'd sooner pin it on being in some other building."

Silver: "Alright, I'll see what I can find."

It didn't take long for him to discover a suitable candidate. It looked like a palace, sitting on top of a nearby mountain and surrounded by large ravines separating it from the land around it. There was neon trim on basically every edge, making it simultaneously easy and hard to make out the layout of the structure. It was so conspicuous it might as well have been a giant arrow with writing on it saying, "THERE'S A CHAOS EMERALD HERE!"

The exclusivity of the place was helped by a lack of a discernable bridge, at least in this area. Silver began scanning the area for a potential way to get over. Soon, he found a spherical engraved rock lying in a crater, covered in dirt and… was that ash? It looked familiar. He concentrated his mind and lifted the ball out of the ground. Briefly, he considered riding the stone itself over the gap, but he quickly decided that such a thing would be foolish to try. There was no way he was willing to risk falling off of that, and he doubted he even had enough energy to make it all the way across while schlepping such a massive object. The psychic was through with gambling games for the day, and that's saying something when the sun technically hadn't risen yet here.

After some more searching, he found another pillar with a glowing top. A faded dirt path and rotted wood post made it seem that, once upon a time, it was a guidepost for those travelling to the temple. With his hand, he remotely directed his stone sphere to run over the pillar, knocking it down like a bowling pin into the mud, facing the mountain. As before, he pushed the pillar back and allowed it to sling him high and far enough that he could levitate himself to the structure.

Once inside, the hedgehog was able to take in the design of the place. It wasn't as grand as he had imagined, consisting of a straight hallway attached to some side rooms, most of which had caved in at least partially. At the end of the hallway was a small arched doorway leading into a room that produced enough yellow light that it was as indiscernible as if it were dark.

Shielding his eyes, Silver entered the room and let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. The room was circular, with small, wide steps circling around a central dais on either side. Neon yellow trim bordered the floor and each layer of wall, all centered around the dais. They all drew attention to the shining yellow gem floating in place as the centerpiece of the temple, its light resonating with that of the walls to create the feeling of an eternal twilight.

Silver: "Chaos Emerald, confirmed. This place looks like it was built to hold one."

Tails: "Maybe it was. It reminds me of how Sonic described the Temples of Gaia, which were absolutely built for that purpose. There's one not too far from here, relatively speaking. Could be the same people."

Silver pocketed the gem in his quills, dimming the room into a faint yellow glow, as if its star had been plucked from the sky.

Silver: "How's Arc doing? Is it safe to rendezvous with her?"

Tails: "She's almost at her target. I'll route the shuttle to pick you up now and then stand by near her location, just in case she needs backup or a quick getaway."

Silver: "Good idea! I'll be waiting."