Chapter Six – Siren

When Knuckles found out that G.U.N.'s experiment had tried to violate Rouge, he hit the roof, his temper absolutely exploded. That copycat had always been into his wife, rather toxically so. He growled.

"I swear I'll kill that clone." He blasted. But Rouge just heaved.

"Knucky, calm down. Shadow's already beat you to it. He'd dead." She hissed. The Echidna blinked.

What?

They were all in Tails's new Workshop. A large, vast, converted red barn, in the countryside, just outside of Empire City. It had brilliant white walls, painted roof rafters, and long dangling light. Rows of parallel tables, all lined with various experiments, inventions and works on progress, covered most of the central space, with the living quarters towards the edges. A kitchenette, and small diner, were along one wall, and a long thin lounge, lined another. There was only one staircase, which lead to a small bedroom on the second fall. Very unkempt, and literally only used for sleeping.

Tails was rubbing his face, desperately trying to make sense of the readings he'd got off Sonic, while Knuckles, who'd just arrived, was coming up to speed. The Echidna was huge, now well into his early thirties. The biggest person there, by far, Knuckles was taller in height but had bulked out sideways, significantly, and extremely heavy. His shoulders were extremely broad, with his arms, and torso were heavily ribbed with solid muscle. He still wore the white mittens with the knuckles, and the red, green and grey clasp shoes, but he now ware several quill bands on his bright red dreadlocks, signifying his clan origins. His deep purple eyes glared, and his long crooked tail twitched, as both Rouge, his wife, and Amy, who was also there, proceeded to tell what they had both seen at the conventions the previous day.

He blinked in utter disbelieve. He gulped and hard.

"The Blue Blur is alive?" He stammered. Again, like everyone else, wasn't surprised that Shadow had survived that bomb exploding, but Sonic? The imposter who'd been tending to the children, in the lounge area, just huffed.

"So everyone claims." He spat, unimpressed. He was there with his children, a boy, Zack, and a girl, Lily, purely as a parent, and not for Amy. It was a playdate with Knuckle's and Rouge's own children, Scarlet and Pearl, and all the kids loved Tails's workshop so much, that the imposter couldn't really say no, despite his breaking relationship with Amy. His now, ex-wife, whirled around at him, brandishing her Piko Piko Hammer in his direction. The ball gown was gone, replaces with a simple, but practical red dress, with white trim, white gloves and big red boots. She growled, hard.

"Shut it, Zephyr. This has nothing, whatsoever, to do with you. Just see to the kids, will you, please." She hissed, calling the imposter by his real name. Upon seeing the hammer, he nodded, and fell silent. He been on the receiving end of that hammer, more then he cared to admit, and right now, they had a point. It was non of his business.

But Tails growled in pure frustrated, as he poured over his handheld.

"I just don't get it." He spat. Rouge frowning, wondered over, and stood next to him.

"What is it, Sweety?" She asked. Tails leant back in his chair, heaving and hard.

"Those readings I took yesterday. It is Sonic, the chaos signature is identical, I've checked, and rechecked it, but literally nothing else is. His superpower calculations are off the charts." He stammered, but then he smiled, as everyone just looked at him. "Ok, Sonic's superpowers have always been off the charts, that was what made him the Blue Blur, and so damn good against Eggman. No, what I meant was, that his abilities are off the charts but in a completely different direction." He stammered. Amy gasped.

"What?" She asked, as she too joined him at the desk. But Tails nodded.

"Something's happened to him, that's a definite, possibly the reason why he survived that explosion, but I have no idea what." He admitted. But Rouge suddenly blinked, as she deeply thought, as she realised something.

"When you saw him yesterday, did he look frightened?" She wondered. Immediately, both Tails and Amy nodded, looking worried. Truthfully, they had never seen the Blue Blur panic like that before. But Rouge continued. "I think what's happened to Sonic, has also happened to Shadow. After killing that clone, he too, looked scared, wary, like he was desperately uncertain of himself. It was very subtle but I've never that before on him. Then he vanished, in a ball of flames. If they are dealing with entirely brand new skills and abilities, then that would make them both very nervous indeed." She shrugged. But Tails suddenly frowned.

"Yeah, that would make sense." He nodded, but then he stared at the Bat. "Wait, fire?" He asked. Rouge nodded. His frown deepened. "We got huge quantities of electricity from Sonic, when he bolted. Maybe there's something in that, I'll have to run some simulations of the computer to found out. I might have a hunch as to what." He bounced.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance. At the far end of the barn, Tails had set up a huge computer console. An intricate and the most advanced computer console setup, anyone had ever seen. It was huge desk, curved in a semi-circle, with multiple keyboards and mice, looking up to more then a dozen monitors. Mounted to the desk were two stools on slides, so they could easily glide from one end of the setup to the other. It was designed for two people to use, but Tails often ran around it, entirely on his own. The monitors were showing everything, including hijacking the G.U.N. Headquarters, and the Mobian Authorities and watching their cameras, to monitoring the very cosmos, around the planet, for any potential threats.

An alarm was sounding which immediately caused Tails to dived for the console and typed vigorously on it. Suddenly, he downright gasped, as he saw a very familiar object on the monitor, slowly heading their way, from outside space, back for revenge. Tails swore.

The Black Arms were back.

Their giant Black Comet, with it's three enormous tentacles hanging out the back, were definitely heading across space, in their direction. As soon as Rouge saw this, she squealed.

"We need Shadow. He's the only one among us who can fight them." She stammered. But Knuckles frowned.

"Agreed." He gulped, remembering the previous fight with the aliens. "But you said that both he and Sonic only showed at the Westopolis conventions but have never been seen at any of the others. The city must be where they're hiding out." He growled. But Rouge growled, rounding on her husband.

"Yes, but Westopolis is huge, and we're looking for two Hedgehogs who can vanish in the blink of an eye." She heaved. They all looked at each other. That was true. The speeds Sonic and Shadow could now pull, were just mind-blowing. But Rouge signed. "It's impossible. We stand no chance of finding them." She admitted. Suddenly, Tails beamed.

"No, we don't, so let's have them come to us." He grinned, pointing to the very old alarm, that carried the old signature of the Resistance. He grinned. "Remember me setting this up, just before the war ended, just incase evil returned after Eggman, when absolutely everyone got given a communicator?" He asked. They all nodded. But Amy grabbed her hammer, ready for action. She growled.

"Push it." She demanded. Tails suddenly slammed his hand on the console, pressing the button.

The call-to-arms went live.

The power signal rapidly spread to all four corners of the globe, and even through dimensions and time.

Silver The Hedgehog wasn't happy. Apparently, he never was. It didn't matter what he did. Fight to save the future, help defeat Eggman, he was just not satisfied and now he'd just had enough. He was back in the future, two hundred years ahead, and life had not really been kind to him. Yes, he'd saved his world. No more Iblis, Eggman Nega, or Ifrit, but now just the day-to-day life was getting him down. Badly. He lived in Onyx City, It is a dystopian metropolis ruled over by the Onyx City Council and their Civil Protection Robots. The people of the city were apparently split into different work groups with various assigned colours and shifts. The people clearly disliked the order of their society but seemed unable or unwilling to oppose it, due the intense fear of the council.

Silver was one of those who did. Or, at least, tried. But after ten years of fighting for freedom against the Onyx City Council, all it had successfully gotten him, was him blacklisted from everywhere, his Garden of Hope, his secret hideout in the city, completely destroyed, and no friends, as he'd been completely abandoned. People frightened of the consequences of being associated with him. Now homeless on the streets, cold and isolated, Silver longed for the fight against Eggman.

The Psychic heaved. How desperate was he, to be wanting to got back to a war? But it wasn't about fighting the Human, but whom he had by his side. His missed his old friends from the past, but as he returned to the future, just after the war ended, and Sonic's funeral, Silver hoped for better things.

But he didn't get them.

Ten years on, Silver had grown, but had kept the attire large the same, it growing along with him. Now in his mid-twenties, he was now quite muscular, through still rather slim. An extremely powerful, very light grey (almost white) Hedgehog with white fur on his chest surrounding his neck with gold eyes and tanned skin. He has two large spines at the back of his head, while at the front of his forehead there are five distinct spines flared up and back, the two final ones covering up most of his ears. He was wearing white gloves with cyan circles with lines sticking out of the bottom leading to his golden bracelets, also accented in cyan. The tops of his boots are of a similar fashion with a red gem set in gold. The rest of his boots are navy blue, white and cyan.

All of the gold he used to wear, was now crimson ruby red, signifying the jail time he'd done, as he'd been marked as a trouble maker by the Onyx City Council. Now alone, other then with his own Psychokinesis, he only had two objects left on his person, other then his clothes on his back. The communicator that Tails gave him, and the Time Stone. Silver heaved, why did he still carry that thing? Desperation, he guessed. But it was dying. Not permanently, it would need to naturally recharge, but before that happened, Silver maybe had one single use left in it. A one way ticket. It was still set to two hundreds years in the past, but ten years of time passing for him, was also mean a decade, in the past. But Silver knew that just landing in his old friends, out of nowhere, with no way to return home, without an excuse, wouldn't be good.

That's why he had the communicator. He constantly watched it, desperately praying, for a summoning, to get himself out of this hellhole, he'd dug himself into. As for never coming home, he just didn't want to. He was done with Onyx City and this future. He didn't care about the consequences of him permanently staying the past, could possibly cause. Finally, after years of waiting, it happened.

The communicator went off, signally a location just outside of Empire City. Silver frowned. Ok? He didn't know it, but regardless, he didn't care, as he immediately activated the Time Stone, and for the very last time, he disappeared into the past. Successful, the powerful gemstone fell to the floor dead, as it slowly recharged, over a century, left behind in the future.

Blaze the Cat was bored. Ten years on and her kingdom of the Sol Empire was now so peaceful, that there was literally nothing happening. Yes, she was now Queen, having married a very nice male feline, whom would do, as her Prince Consort, and father to her child. She'd had a son and heir to her kingdom, and but her husband was lame, to be honest. Regardless, he was a very good person, that was why she'd chosen him, but in regards to running a kingdom, useless, though he was an exceptional good father. So much so, that he did nearly all of the childcare, leaving her to play 'ruler'.

But being Queen was so incredibly mundane. Blaze growled in utter frustration. Yes, there was the usual politics, but her palace guards, her lovely Koalas, were so efficient at running her kingdom for her, there was literally nothing for her to do. The Guardians. Captain Whiskers and his robotic pirates whom had been constantly been trying to steal precious relics all across the Sol Empire, had finally surrendered. Having been tried, sentenced, and now permanently behind bars, peace now finally reigned across the kingdom.

But Blaze heaved. Now what? Although she loved being a mother, and wife to her husband and son, she was desperate to have more to her life then this. She'd grown having finally developed a chest, and small bump on her belly, left over from the pregnancy. She still wore her everyday attire, which had just been made bigger as she grew. She was beautiful, lavender and violet-furred Cat with stunning golden eyes, a small black nose and a white-furred muzzle. She had triangular ears with peach coloured canals and a long tail with the end frayed and violet. Her fur is longer on each side of her head and sweeps slightly upwards. She had four plumes of hair with violet tips done up in a high ponytail with a red hair tie. She also had a red oval gem on her forehead, resembling a bindi. She wore a purple tailcoat with rose trim at the bottom, a gold collar, and white leggings, and wore white gloves with fluffy cuffs and rose, high- heeled shoes with grey soles, white stripes and fluffy cuffs, like her gloves.

She heaved, as she thought back to her previous life. A life on Mobius, and a certain Blue Blur, who's constantly hyperactive never let life get this uneventful. Something always happened when Sonic The Hedgehog was around, and wow, did she cry at his funeral. He missed him terribly, and now wondered how her old friends were doing on Mobius. But she couldn't just up and leave. Not without a reason, and taking her son and husband with her was too risky. It would mean leaving the Sol Empire without a royal family, and the people of her kingdom had been so good to her, that she just couldn't do that to them.

Then suddenly, one ordinary day, the old communicator she brought back with her, all those years ago, suddenly went off. Beeping hard, it was finally dug out, and when Blaze saw it, she frowned.

"Tails?" She gulped, but her husband just smiled, holding her young son.

"Answer the call." He nodded, knowing exactly what it was. "We'll be fine." He added. Blaze looked up at him, and just cried, hugging them both hard. She sniffed.

"Are you sure?" She gulped, but the husband nodded.

"Yes, you need this." He beamed, knowing how frustrated his wife had been with life recently. "The Koalas will look after us and the Sol Empire." He grinned. Then he heaved, seeing seven mighty rectangular gemstones on a nearby table. "Now take the Sol Emeralds and go, before I tell you off." He giggled. But Blaze grabbing the stones, just rounded on him, kissing him hard.

"Hey, I'm in charge here." She grinned, but the husband nodded, as he back off, as Blaze activated the Fire Tornado of inter-dimensional travel.

"I know." He smiled, and with that Blaze vanished.

The Restoration had a huge about of work on it's hands, dealing with the aftermath of the war. Cleaning up after Eggman took years. Jewel, Tangle, Whisper, and Lanolin, were the main players but surprisingly, Surge and Kit also stayed and helped out. Seeing Sonic, Shadow and Eggman get blown up so hard, by that bomb, had mentally taken it's toll on everyone, but none more so then Surge. The green Tenrec had always thought herself as the best, of the best, that she deserved to be up there with the super speedster Hedgehogs, but seeing them get massacred to badly, and knowing that, that could have been her, just downright broke the wannabe hero.

If Sonic and Shadow didn't make it against that bomb, what chance did she have. Finally, it grounded her huge ego, as eventually she agreed, to put it aside and actually help. Kit stayed with her. Heck, he'd follow her anywhere, and as the years wore on, Surge found a new meaning in life, especially when both her and Kit were forced to have all their implants removed.

Truthfully, they were both incredibly lucky to survive the surgery. When Dr. Starline, their captor, had build the implants, and had forcibly put them, inside of them. Unfortunately, they weren't designed for longevity, and after a decade, the implants had begun to degrade. Now Surge and Kit were dying, and surgery was also extremely risky, but their only chance. They made it, but now powerless, back to their old normal selves, Surge missed her old hero ways, but forced to choose between superpowers or her life, and the fact she now had a boyfriend, much to Kit's annoyance, she choose life. She was done with the whole super hero gig.

With the cleanup finally complete, the Restoration was finished, but Jewel didn't permanently lock it down, and abandon it. She just had a hunch, it might be needed. The others weren't convinced, as everyone went their separate ways, but Jewel stood her ground. She closed down the Restoration, but left on the power, it gentle ticking over, mothballing the place, ready to be reignited when needed.

A few years later, she hunch proved to be right.

Across the entire Restoration and the Resistance, Tails's communicators exploded everywhere, loudly beeping it's signal to it's source of origin. His new Workshop, near Empire City. But no matter where they were, or who they were with, everyone answered the call.

Tails knew he wouldn't get results from the call-to-arms instantly. It was going to take several days before people started arriving. It was enough time for him to pack up his entire workshop, into storage, in a nearby outhouse, and make space for everyone. Zephyr was sent to a safehouse with all the children, and became the main babysitter, if even more kids showed up, with the call. He heaved. Fine. That was a job he could actually do, and well.

But Tails, Knuckles, Rouge and Amy stayed and prepared the workshop, but everyone knew they all in for an emotional rollercoaster. They had seen many of their old friends in ten long years, since the Blue Blur's funeral, and not only were they bringing everyone together to fight a new threat, but they were going to landing the almighty bombshell that Sonic The Hedgehog was actually alive. Shadow, people partially expected, but the Blue Blur? This was going to be incredibly difficult.

As the days went by, Tails monitored the new Black Arms Comet. It was still heading in their direction, and as the Fox mapped it's trajectory, he realised it was heading their way, straight towards them.

Empire City.

Last time, the Black Arms took out Westopolis, almost destroying the entire city, and now they were coming for Empire. The government and financial hub of the whole of Mobius. He gulped. This was something the planet seriously couldn't afford, but there was literally nothing he could do, until it arrived. G.U.N. did have the means to potentially fighting that thing out in space, but ever since they took control of the Ark, and then promptly destroyed the place, they now had no means of defending themselves. Tails growled, not trusting that organisation, at all. They were very openly corrupt, and just didn't care, but Shadow murdering their precious clone of him. He smirked. That would have hit them and hard. They had tried to force him on board with the project, but he refused, knowing it would end in disaster. It did, but not way he expected.

Finally, people started arriving.

Blaze was one of the first to land. Her Fire Tornado perfectly hitting it's target, in the centre of Tails's new workshop, and when she walked out from it, she was greeted with hugs all around. Suddenly, the Rabbits arrived. Vanilla, and an eighteen year old Cream, whom made Tails blush extremely hard. Behind them, came a very bouncy trio, in the Chaotix, with Vector, Espio and now, an all grown up Charmy, though he was still idiotic.

As the days wore on, more guests arrived, and soon Tails Workshop became rather full. On the second day, the Restoration turned up, on mass. Jewel, Tangle, Whisper, Lanolin, Surge, Kit, and pretty much anyone else who wanted to help. By day three, Omega arrived, with Nite the Owl and his best friend, Don the Rooster, whom had taken in the massive robot in and had been tinkering with it. But by day four, all hell broke loose, as Silver rush into the workshop, having been chased there, by the Babylon Rogues, on their highly advanced, hover boards. Jet, Wave and Storm, still had a massive bone to pick with the Psychic. Silver had gotten one up over them, during the war, all those years ago, and now they wanted payback.

In travelling back in time, Silver's location hadn't changed, and he landed in the middle of nowhere. Not knowing Mobius that well, he'd gotten lost in looking for Tails's new Workshop, and had accidentally ran into the trio of troublemakers. But the Birds roaring into the Fox's barn was a bad idea, as it was now full of incredibly well seasons fighters, left over from the war against Eggman and the Rogues were immediately set upon, grounded, and promptly thrown out. They left with their tails between their legs, and didn't come back. Silver panted, looking at everyone.

"Thank you." He nodded, but Tails gasped.

"Whoa, you heard me, even in the future?" He stammered, but the Psychic Hedgehog nodded.

"Yeah, and I came straight here. But I'm not going back. I can't. The Time Stone is dead. There is nothing I can do. I'm stuck here, but truthfully, I don't want to go back. The future is fine, it's just life isn't, and I've had enough. I want to take my chances here and I don't really care about the consequences." He gasped. It was a complete turnaround of Silver's attitude previously. Everyone looked at each other, as Blaze just hugged her old friend. What had happened to him, but regardless, they couldn't deal with that now, as Amy looked at the roster. She growled.

"Right, everyone's finally here. Just two people missing." She summated, and then she rounded on the Fox. "Come on, Tails. Where are they?" She hissed. But the Fox outright panicked.

"I don't know. They should have been here by now." But Silver blinked.

"Who?" He wondered. But Tails heaved, as he looked at everyone.

"Shadow and Sonic. The Hedgehogs are alive."