The Flames of Hope/Episode Silver: If We Shall Last/Part II

==Chapter 12==
thumb|right|200 px|Death to the Iblis Trigger!
Silver and Sonic locked eyes as the Iblis Trigger stepped back, his eyes fixed on Silver as he descended.
“So, you want to kill me,” Sonic said “Is this the standard ‘you’re interfering with my plans kinda kill me or...?”
Silver smiled to himself ironically.
“You really don’t know, huh?” He said. “It’s a shame. You are a hero, I know you are. I’ve seen what you do. But even then, you have to die. I’m sorry.”
“Why do I have t-”
Silver raised his hand and grabbed Sonic with his psychokinesis and threw him into the air. He then flew up above Sonic and kicked him into the ground.
“I wanted to give you a quick death,” Silver said “But it looks like that’s no longer possible.”
Silver flew at Sonic, preparing to punch him, but Sonic rolled to the side at the last second. Silver gritted his teeth as the fist hit the stone, and before he could react Sonic had kicked him away. Silver spun in midair and flew at Sonic. The other hedgehog dashed towards him and they both went for a roundhouse kick, both of them blocking with the hand on the same side. Sonic unleashed a flurry of punches that Silver couldn’t hope to keep up with, and although he blocked a few he soon was overwhelmed by the attack. Sonic then dashed behind Silver and kicked him into a pillar.
“Why do you want to kill me?” Sonic asked “You don’t sound like a bad guy. We can talk this ou-”
Before he could finish Silver grabbed Sonic with his psychokinesis. Sonic struggled but was unable to escape.
“It’s no use,” Silver said “My psychokinesis is more than capable of holding you.”
Silver chucked Sonic towards the quicksand. Sonic curled up in a ball and flew towards Silver, reversing his momentum in a way Silver had never seen, but it didn’t matter: Silver just stopped the hedgehog in his tracks with his powers and threw him into the ground. He then flew towards Sonic again, doing the same punch attack as before. Sonic rolled, but this time he was ready: he used his new teleportation powers to appear behind Sonic, kicking him into the opposite pillar. Sonic tried to get up, but Silver picked up the pillar with his psychokinesis and slammed it on him like a hammer.
“Sonic!” The Princess shouted. Silver turned round and saw a man in a red coat flying towards her on some kind of air vehicle.
“Princess, look out!” He shouted.
“How the hell do you know I’m a-”
Before Elise could finish, a cable fired from the vehicle and latched onto her arm.
“Please,” Doctor Eggman said “I’ve seen Big the Cat pull off better rescue attempts.”
Elise was pulled from the platform, frozen in horror, as Eggman flew away. Silver heard a sound behind him and saw Sonic standing up from the rubble.
“Let me get her,” He said “Please. One more job and you ca-”
“SHUT UP!”
Silver held Sonic in mid air with his psychokinesis.
“I don’t care what you have to say! I have to do what I have to do! Anyone can save the princess, but only Sonic the Hedgehog can free Iblis and destroy the world!”
“Who the heck is Iblis?”
Silver didn’t bother to answer. He picked up the stone from the ruined pillar and hurled it at Sonic. Once he was done bombarding him Silver threw Sonic up into the air and teleported up to him, ready to attack. However, Sonic was ready and punched Silver, stunning him for enough time to kick him into the ground. Silver felt his satchel open as his Receiver, binoculars and the Chaos Emerald fell out.
Seeing the Chaos Emerald fall out, Sonic flew towards it, but Silver kicked him away before he could reach it. He then teleported behind Sonic and bombarded him with punches before grabbing his face, smashing him into the ground, and then throwing the hedgehog away with his psychokinesis, making him land near the Chaos Emerald. Sonic reached out for it, but he was too hurt, and Silver stepped on his wrist, charging a psychokinetic energy blast in his hand: the blast that will change everything.
“Goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog.” I’m sorry I had to do this.
Suddenly, Silver saw a pink blue cross his vision. He didn’t think much of it until said blur slammed into him, knocking him away from Sonic. Both the hedgehogs stood up to see the new arrival.
Blaze stood before him, fire coiling around her, as she looked into his eyes. Silver already knew what she was planning to say, even if she would never say it: I can’t let you do this.
“Blaze?” Sonic shouted “How are you here?”
“You’re a stranger to me, Sonic the Hedgehog,” She said “I’ve never seen you before.”
She glanced towards him. How did Sonic know her? And why was she saving the Iblis Trigger?
“Run, Iblis Trigger,” She said “I hear you’re good at it.”
“Blaze!” Silver shouted “Get out of my way!”
Blaze didn’t move an inch. Before Silver could act, Sonic grabbed the Chaos Emerald.
“CHAOS CONTROL!”
Sonic vanished in a flash of bright light. Silver looked at Blaze.
“What the hell, Blaze!” He shouted “I had him! I was about to kill him! Save my world!”
“I couldn’t let you do that,” She replies, half brave, half scared.
“Why?” Silver said, folding his arms “I thought you had amnesia. He clearly knew you.”
“And I know him. I can’t explain it, but every time I see him, I hear voices talking to me...it’s his voice. I’m...I’m hearing him now.”
“And what’s he saying?”
“I admire you fortitude, but... Carrying the entire world on your shoulders?”
“So…what’s the context? Did he say that to you? Was it on TV? Was it someone who sounded like him?”
“I...I don’t know.”
“Blaze, we cannot let the Iblis Trigger live on a hunch that he might be your friend. And even then, why does that matter? I saw it in his eyes, he has no idea what Iblis is. Even if he was your friend, he could still destroy the world.”
Blaze was starting to think Silver was right. What was she thinking, saving someone she barely knew? Yet somehow, she knew he wasn’t the Trigger, something from her former life told her it couldn’t be true.
“And there’s another thing,” She said “I...I remember Mephiles. I’ve met him before. I don’t remember what about, but I remember speaking to him...it’s like a mute video. I can see where I was, who was there...but I can’t hear what I said.”
“Where were you?”
“A...palace somewhere. I’m worried for some reason.”
Silver’s posture became a bit less hostile. He’d been the same way when Mephiles came to him. He seemed to have a lot of solutions for a lot of questions.
“For the record, I’m still going to hunt the Trigger,” He said “We don’t have a choice but to trust Mephiles. But if you’ve met him twice in similar scenarios...something’s up.”
Blaze nodded.
“I know where town is,” she said “I can guide you there.”
Silver nodded.
“And…” She said “Sorry I did that.”
“It’s fine,” Silver said “I understand. I would have done the same thing in your situation. Anyway, we still have 2 days left.”
Silver activated his psychokinesis, taking Blaze with him. Either she’d done him a favour, or she’d indirectly destroyed the world.
==Chapter 13==
thumb|left|200 px|Theme of Mephiles
Silver and Blaze floated down to an empty side street in Soleanna’s capital city. Blaze had told him she had appeared there when Mephiles warped them to the past, and she recognised it all too well. Silver could see it too: this was where he’d live most of his life in the future: the city of crisis.
Mephiles was waiting for them in the street. Silver had no idea how he knew they’d be there, but there was a lot he wanted to know about Mephiles that was more important.
“You recognise it, don’t you?” Mephiles said. Silver nodded.
“That’s not why I’m here, Mephiles,” Silver said “Sonic the Hedgehog. Who is he?”
“Sonic...is this world’s greatest hero. He’s saved the world too many times to count, but eventually...he will destroy it all.”
“Intentionally?”
“No. He will destroy the world in an act of mercy. It’s tragic that life’s reward for such a hero is destroying his work.”
Silver and Blaze looked at each other. This confirmed what they already knew: Mephiles wasn’t bluffing about Sonic. Suddenly Blaze started choking.
“Blaze!” Silver said, catching her before she hit the ground. For the first time, Mephiles seemed to show genuine emotion, looking saddened before Blaze slipped into unconsciousness.
“I...I’m sorry,” Mephiles said “My aura...I still can’t control it fully. It shouldn’t be able to harm her further.”
Silver stood up.
“Actually, my next question was about Blaze, funnily enough,” Silver said. “You’ve met her before, haven’t you?”
Mephiles shook his head.
“I am a time traveller,” He replied “It’s possible one of my future incarnations visited her in a time of need.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I know I would recognise her...such a gentle soul…”
“You seem to have a lot of solutions to a lot of questions, Mephiles.”
Mephiles head snapped upward to look Silver in the eyes.
“What did she tell you?” He almost growled.
“Only that you’ve met. She was worried and you were talking to her. Seems convenient you’d fix her problems twice.”
“I am a person who fixes problems, Silver. Whatever she told you, true or not, I do not even vaguely remember. And besides, would you rather be saving your world or be bickering over some lost memories? This is your last chance, Silver. I have seen the future beyond yours, and it only gets worse. If you fail, everything dies. Do you want to give up hope now?”
“I’m just...not sure if I trust you.”
“Who would you trust, Silver? A time traveller who has seen the past and the future at once? Or a girl with amnesia?”
Silver sighed. Mephiles was right. Even if he had a reason to not trust him, what choice did he have? He had nothing else to lose at this point.
“You’re right. I’m sorry for not trusting you.”
“It’s not a problem. Your position is daunting...but you will be rewarded for your efforts. Sonic is heading towards Eggman’s base in the mountains...you may wish to follow him while you have the chance.”
Silver nodded. “I will...but not without Blaze. I don’t want to leave her on her own. I’ll wait till she wakes up.”
“Silver, if you don’t follow him-”
“I am not leaving Blaze’s side.”
Mephiles was silent. Then he nodded slowly, trying to avoid his normal inhuman movements, and raised his hand to the sky.
“Very well, then. Remember, Silver: if you let your compassion for that girl take control of you, then you will never finish the Iblis Trigger. You have one shot at this. Good luck, heroes.” He said as he clicked his fingers and vanished. Silver picked up Blaze’s unconscious body and looked for a nice place to sit down.
==Chapter 14==
thumb|right|200 px|Memories Long Lost
Blaze jumped between the buildings as she started approaching where the smoke was. To think that she had let the Sol Emeralds fall into the hands of petty thieves...she was ashamed of herself more than the thieves. Still, she had a lock on them now, and was quickly closing in on their position.
She jumped down from the rooftop to find a mech terrorising the citizens of the city. She could clearly see the Sol Emeralds contained within, visible through transparent sections of the mostly black armour plating. Battling the machine was a green Mobian cat who was currently losing. The mech uppercutted her and knocked her into the sky. As she started to fall back towards the ground, Blaze jumped up and grabbed, quickly divekicking the machine before landing safely.
“Thanks for the save,” The cat said as she got out of Blaze’s arms “Been a long time since anyone saved me like that. I’m Elise, Princess of Soleanna, good at throwing fire.”
“Blaze, Princess of the Sol Dimension, probably better at throwing fire. That robot stole my Emeralds. They must be the power source. Remove them, this thing should go down easily.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Blaze. You ready to beat this thing?”
“Absolutely, Princess.”
Elise smiled as she casually caught a punch from the mech.
“Funny,” She said “Sonic used to call me that.”
“Wait, you’ve met Sonic?”
“How well do you know him?”
Blaze blocked another punch from the mech.
“I think we’d better prioritise,” She said as the battle continued. “We can reminisce later!”
Blaze jolted awake. She was laying on a bench in the city and it was almost night: she had clearly been out for a while. She looked around to see Silver sitting next to her.
“Silver?” She said in surprise “What happened?”
“Mephiles lost control of his aura. It choked you into unconsciousness.”
She sat there for a moment, thinking about her dream. It was a memory, she was certain of it, but how did it relate to anything she already knew? And how did she end up asking Mephiles for help? She was just confused. She looked at Silver.
“Was I…” She muttered slowly “Sleeping on your lap?”
“Yeah, your head kinda just rolled over,” Silver said, looking slightly flustered. “I really didn’t know what to do...you looked happy there.”
Blaze raised an eyebrow and Silver tensed up.
“H-hey, I’m sorry!” Silver quickly stuttered. “I-I’m really not used to this stuff, I haven’t seen a girl in forever before you!”
Blaze smiled and became a bit more casual.
“I can think of worse places to sleep,” She smirked.
Silver breathed a sigh of relief before standing up.
“We really should-” He coughed once, regaining his composure “Get on with the mission. Mephiles directed us to where Sonic is: he’s in the mountains. We need to move fast.”
“Why didn’t you go by yourself?”
“I just...didn’t like the idea of leaving you to sleep on your own. I know what it’s like having no one to look out for you.”
Even with hazy memories, Blaze remembered that feeling all too well. She stood up and nodded.
“Silver…” She muttered “How much do you trust Mephiles?”
“I believe him. His knowledge is far beyond ours. He’s seen the future of my world, and it’s worse than it already is. This is the one chance we have to win.”
“What if he’s wrong? What if he’s lying?”
“He’s not. I know he isn’t.”
Silver activated his psychokinesis and the two Mobians started to float into the air.
“Oh, and Silver…” Blaze continued “I had another vision...nothing about Mephiles, but-”
“It doesn’t matter, Blaze. We can talk about your past when we get this over with...besides, I like you as you are, past or not.”
The two smiled at each other as they flew towards the snowy peaks.
==Chapter 15==
thumb|left|200 px|Beautiful World
It was night by the time Silver and Blaze reached the mountains. He had known they existed, but Iblis was always in the city and he was never able to go check them out, and the snow had melted anyway. Even then, he knew they’d never be as beautiful as what he was looking at now: spotless white snow covered the peaks, shining in the moonlight. Blaze was also taken aback by its beauty.
“It’s incredible…” She muttered. Her voice only reminded Silver of what Mephiles had told him: if you let your compassion for that girl take control of you, then you will never finish the Iblis Trigger. She would try and stop him killing Sonic again, there was no doubt about that, but Silver couldn’t leave her alone. She had helped to give him hope just as much a Mephiles’ promises had: a girl who still believed the good guys always won who’s naivety had rubbed off on him slightly. There was something else about her, too, a feeling that Silver couldn’t put his finger on, but he strangely hoped Blaze was feeling the same way.
The two kept their eyes focused on the ground until Silver’s psychokinesis started to run out and they were forced to land. Silver started shivering intensely, having almost never experienced anything other than the boiling heat of the ravaged future, and Blaze created a flame to keep him warm, silhouetting his face. Looking at him now, Blaze realised how worried she was about him. Mephiles was hiding something, they both knew that, but Silver trusted him almost completely. All he wanted was hope, to have a glimmer of a chance against Iblis, but in such a desperate state how could she be sure Silver was thinking straight? Despite her fears, she stayed by his side: the answers to her past were with him, she was sure of it.
“Thanks for the flame,” Silver said to Blaze “I’ve never been so cold before. Anyway, let’s get moving”
thumb|right|200 px|Egg Genesis is Attacking
As he spoke, the two Mobians noticed the wind start to pick up unnaturally fast. A searchlight raked through the area and focused on them. Through the glare, Silver could see a strange robot, consisting of a thick flying disk in the centre and four metal arms in a cross shape. The arms moved down so they were now 90 degrees to where they were before.
“EGG GENESIS IS REQUESTING TREASPASSERS TO TURN THEMSELVES IN TO EGGMAN.” The machine shouted. Blaze and Silver responded by getting into fighting stances.
“Blaze, I don’t have enough psychokinetic energy to take this thing right now,” Silver said “Cover for me while I recharge.”
“Understood,” Blaze replied. She dashed forward, jumped upwards and ran up one of the machine’s arms.
“EGG GENESIS IS DISPLEASED BY YOUR CHOICE.” The machine responded. Silos opened on the arm Blaze was running across and several missiles shot out, targeting her. Blaze jumped up onto the machine’s central disk and a smaller disk rose out of the centre, having what looked like green eyes. Blaze kicked one of the eyes and backflipped off it, jumping between the missiles and making them explode one by one. As she started to fall away from the robot’s centre section, Silver caught her with his psychokinesis and threw her back up. She then created a fireball and threw it at the robot’s ‘head’, which it managed to duck.
“EGG GENESIS IS FINDING SITUATION QUITE ANNOYING,” The robot said “EGG GENESIS IS REQUESTING SUPPORT.”
Blaze was shot forward by a missile blast from behind. She rolled and stood up to see several red robots with rocket launchers aiming at her.
“EGG GENESIS IS PLEASED TO SEE SUPPORT HAS ARRIVED.” The robot said. It seemed to have a hint of joy in its voice.
Blaze dashed forward as the robots fired missiles at her. She jumped up on one to reach the first robot, which she kicked away, taking out another robot as she did so. Blaze created several small fireballs and threw them away in an arc, destroying all bar one of the robots easily. The last robot fired a missile at her, but she caught it, spun round, and threw the missile at one of Egg Genesis’ arms, blasting it clean off. In response, the robot’s arms rose back into a cross shape and fired missiles again, triple the amount it had fired before. She quickly backflipped off the machine, rolling as she landed on the snow and ran towards Silver, who was mostly done with charging his psychokinesis.
“Little help here!” She shouted. Silver nodded and caught most of the missiles before throwing them back at Egg Genesis. Blaze grabbed the last missile, spun it around and jumped on, riding back towards the floating armoury.
“Show off.” Silver said. Blaze smirked.
The missiles bombarded Egg Genesis’ remaining three arms, blasting them to shreds.
“EGG GENESIS IS NOT PLEASED BY CURRENT SITUATION.” The machine said as Blaze rode the missile into its head, severely denting it. The machine started to lose thrust as the jet propulsion systems in the arms and several regulatory systems in the head were lost, and soon Egg Genesis was plummeting to the ground, sending out a huge blast of snow as it hit the ground in front of Silver, who blocked the deluge with his psychokinesis. Blaze jumped down from the smoking machine as Silver threw the snow to the side.
“Nice work,” Silver said “I should be back to full power now. We need to keep moving if we want to find Sonic, but if there’s Eggman’s robots around, we should be getting close.”
As Silver finished talking, Blaze raised her hand, commanding him to be silent. She could hear something, a beeping noise. Silver was about to speak up, but he soon noticed it too. Both of them looked round at Egg Genesis, which was now looking at them with it’s one remaining eye.
“EGG GENESIS WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT!” It shouted as the beeping increased in speed. It didn’t take long to realise it was about to explode.
“SILVER, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Blaze shouted as she tried to push the hedgehog away, as Egg Genesis exploded. Silver was flung back, crashing through multiple trees and finally hitting the wall of a rocky ridge. He was easily knocked unconscious.
==Chapter 16==
thumb|left|200 px|A Fallen Hero
When Silver woke up, it was already day. The explosion had decimated most of the area, with a crater where Egg Genesis once was and fallen trees and rubble everywhere. He was mostly clear, having been blasted back by the explosion and Blaze saving him. He stood up, looking for Blaze, but instead all he could see was Mephiles.
“Silver!” Mephiles said “You’re alive! Thank goodness you survived.”
“Mephiles!” Silver said in surprise. He didn’t expect to see him here. “Where’s Blaze? What happened to her?”
Mephiles’ head bowed down, lacking the unusual jerky motion it usually had.
“I’m sorry, Silver,” Mephiles said “Blaze is gone. She...she died in the explosion. I can’t save her with my time travel...I tried.”
Silver took a step back from Mephiles as the words sunk in.
“No…” He muttered in horror “She...she can’t be. She...she saved me.”
He looked at the ground as a single tear fell from his eye. So many people had died to protect Silver that he thought he would have become accustomed to this. He was wrong: every death brought just as much pain, as much grief, as much rage. Blaze’s lose stung harder than most of them, even though he’d barely known her three days.
Silver’s clenched his fist. Too many people had died to stop Iblis: Blaze would be the last one. He would finish this now, for the sake of the world. He looked at Mephiles as his psychokinetic aura started to flare up without his control.
“Sonic,” Silver growled “Teleport me to him. Now.”
“Silver, you haven’t had time to process your grief ye-”
“SHUT UP, MEPHILES! JUST LET ME KILL HIM! Blaze will be Iblis’ last victim. I will kill the Iblis Trigger no matter what it takes.”
“Please, Sil-”
“I WILL NOT LET HER DEATH BE IN VAIN! THE IBLIS TRIGGER DIES NOW!”
Mephiles looked at the ground and nodded.
“Very well, then,” He muttered. “But you should have this. I found it in the machine.”
Mephiles handed Silver the Chaos Emerald: the very same one Sonic had taken from him. He didn’t care how it got here: he had a job to finish. Mephiles raised his hand to the sky.
“Good luck, hero.”
Mephiles clicked his fingers and Silver vanished. A few moments after Silver vanished, Mephiles’ body started to change. Crystals grew from his body and encased it in jagged armour. As he was changing, the shadows of one of the fallen trees began to move. Blaze’s unconscious body slowly appeared in the darkness. Mephiles floated over to the unconscious cat.
“Now, Blaze,” He said “Whatever are we going to do with you?”
==Chapter 17==
thumb|right|200 px|Approaching the Final Battle
Silver appeared on a bridge above a misty pit. The bridge had train tracks, and glancing behind him he could see the remains of a train behind him, although it was still barely moving. There were wooden walkways attached to the side of the mountains that surrounded the railroad, and a huge number of people were there, staring at him. He looked up to see water falling from the sky. He’d heard about this before...rain, he thought it was called. Iblis boiling the atmosphere meant that it never happened on his Earth. He watched curiously as the people on the bridge tried to shelter from it: why hide from such a wonderful act of nature? People don’t appreciate things until they’re gone.
Then he turned to look ahead of him. He saw Eggman’s robots converging on him. He remembered Blaze’s attempts to save him. He remembered Iblis. And he remembered he had a job to do.
Silver walked towards the robots. Without so much as him lifting a finger, the front carriage of the train behind him was ripped off by his psychokinesis and swung round like a baseball bat, smashing through the majority of robots in his way as he kept walking at the same pace. A bipedal robot stomped towards him, quickly rending the carriage in half with its lasers. Silver ripped it in half with his powers and walked right through it’s smoldering remains just before it tumbled off the bridge and into the abyss. Multiple bullets and missiles flew at him, but they were all caught in Silver’s psychokinetic aura and chucked back at the robots that fired them.
All Silver could think about was Sonic. He’d caused his world so much pain, and even when he was outside of Iblis’ grasp Silver had lost everyone he cared about. He had thought his life would be one of heroism: fighting against Iblis in a desperate struggle to save the world. He had believed in the stories he had been told as a child, that no matter the challenge, good would always prevail. He had fought against Iblis for all of his teenage life, and not once had he felt the taste of victory. Anyone or anything that gave him any hope or pleasure in life had been taken from him. Blaze’s death was merely the latest in a string of failures.
And now he was on the brink of winning. The good guys would win after all. Even then, he didn’t taste victory. He didn’t feel like he’d won anything.
It’s not about me, He reminded himself. It’s about everyone I will save. Nothing else matters...all that matters is killing him.
Silver activated his psychokinetic flight and blasted into the sky, determined to end Iblis’ reign of terror.
==Chapter 18==
thumb|left|200 px|Memories Long Lost
Elise and Blaze had known each other for a few months. Both of their individual roles were lonely, and their first battle together had allowed the Monarchy of Soleanna to gain a portal to the Sol Dimension which allowed Blaze to freely travel back and forth between worlds. Both of them sat on a sofa in one of the many living rooms in Soleanna’s Palace: Elise had put her feet up on one of the side tables, while Blaze sat upright. Blaze was flicking through a book Elise had given her while she was snacking on chocolate buttons.
“This is an interesting book,” Blaze commented. “The characters are so finely crafted I could swear they were real people…”
Elise tried to reply through a mouthful of chocolate but could only manage a grunt. Blaze continued.
“We have very little literature in our world, you know. We usually use more oral storytelling than the written word. Do you mind if I take this back with me? I would be more than willing to read it further.”
Elise swallowed what she was eating.
“Sure,” She replied “I have like three copies. I didn’t intend for it to be that way, I just somehow ended up with three.”
“All this literature, and you still say you’re bored in here.”
Elise stood up.
“I’m not a girl who likes staying inside. I’ve always wanted to get out there, mess around, fight bad guys. Unfortunately, as reigning monarch of Soleanna-”
“Yet you’re still a princess.”
“Hypocrite. Anyway, I still have duties to attend to, even if this is a constitutional monarchy. Managing to clear my schedule for you today was not easy, trust me, especially being Soleanna’s resident heroine. Even with my powers, I still feel...restrained.”
“I know what you mean,” Blaze said, lighting up a small flame in her hand. “Guarding the Sol Emeralds is needed to keep my world safe, and someone has to do it...yet often I wish it wasn’t me. Marine can take my place for a short time, but she’s still a child. She can’t be left alone for too long.”
“Let’s be honest, though,” Elise smiled “Neither of us can be left alone for too long.”
Blaze chuckled as she smothered the fire, flipped the book shut and stood up.
“You’re not wrong,” She replied, “Actually, you should visit our world some time. We do a lot of things differently there.”
“I’d like that. Maybe in a few months. It’s nice to have someone like me to talk too, especially now Sonic is...y’know...”
“He’s Sonic. We’ll see him again some day.”
Elise smiled.
“I know.”
In a second, Elise’s smile vanished. Blaze looked down as fire started to form beneath her feet.
“Run,” Elise said, terrified “Run now.”
Blaze got into a fighting stance.
“Elise, what’s happening?”
“It’s nothing, I-”
A blast of energy radiated out from Elise, throwing furniture into the walls. Blaze managed to stand her ground, although the book Elise had given her had gone flying out of her hand. Elise’s body was now smoldering, the floor around her charred and burnt. She looked up at Blaze with a smile: her eyes were bright orange.
“Well, well,” She smirked “You’re this Blaze she keeps going on about, huh? Elise thinks you’re quite special, but I’m not sure I agree.”
“What are you?” Blaze growled “What have you done to Elise?”
“I’m Iblis. I’m Elise without her inhibitions, brought on by her insecurity and lust for power. I’m not an alternate personality, no matter what she thinks. I can still hear the whole speech about responsibility in my head, but I don’t give a damn anymore. I’m free!”
“I don’t have time to listen to you babbling. I want my friend back!”
Iblis giggled. “But she’s right here!”
Blaze raised her hand and fired a fire bolt that Iblis casually blocked. Blaze used the smoke from the impact to cover her advance as she ran forward and tried to punch Iblis, but Iblis grabbed her by the throat and threw her into the ceiling before she could land a hit. She teleported up to Blaze and threw her into the ground. Instead of following up, she started giggling.
“Oh, I’ve missed this so much!” She giggled “Raw power, no responsibility, lashing out against the world...It’s just so much fun!”
Iblis pointed her finger at Blaze, clearly readying an attack of some kind, but she couldn’t do anything. She gave a deflated sigh.
“Oh come on!” She growled “Don’t let me grow a conscious now. I was…”
Iblis seemed to faint as she dropped down from the ceiling, landing on the floor. The flames died as Blaze ran over to Elise.
“Elise?” Blaze muttered “Are you ok?”
Elise opened her eyes, having returned to their normal colour.
“I’m sorry, Blaze…” She muttered “I’m so sorry…”
thumb|right|200 px|Mephiles' Treachery
“Did you have sweet dreams?” Mephiles said calmly as Blaze jolted awake. She was still in the snowy area where she fought Egg Genesis and Silver was nowhere to be seen. Mephiles had also changed his appearance: he was now covered from head to toe in purple crystals and his hand were now effectively claws. Blaze jumped to her feet.
“What happened?” She asked. “Where’s Silver?”
“He’s gone to fight the Sonic without you. He wanted to finish off the Iblis Trigger as soon as possible.”
That was when Blaze finally realized.
“Sonic isn’t the Iblis Trigger, Elise is. And I know he wouldn’t leave my side to kill the Iblis Trigger, he didn’t before. What did you tell him?”
“I convinced him you were killed by Eggman’s machine and he’s now going to kill Sonic in righteous anger. How does it feel to be a martyr, Blaze?”
Blaze knew what she was dealing with now. She lashed out with a tongue of flame that Mephiles dodged by teleporting away.
“I knew we couldn’t trust you,” She growled. She ran towards Mephiles and did a slide attack. He was knocked off his feet, but spun around in mid air and remained floating there. Blaze stood up and tried to spin kick him, but Mephiles grabbed her leg with the hand on the same side and threw her into a tree. Blaze spun in mid air and landed on the side of the tree, using it to propel herself towards him.
“I didn’t want to hurt you, Blaze,” Mephiles said as a wall of shadows formed between him and Blaze. Blaze hit the wall and was knocked back onto the floor. “I wanted you and Silver to stay fighting together till the end. It’s just those memories kept resurfacing. I had hoped the amnesia would be permanent, but that was not true. I had hoped you would only remember Sonic, but that wasn’t true either. It’s a shame I have to kill you myself.”
The wall turned into individual creatures that jumped towards Blaze, keeping her on the ground. She struggled against it, but she could feel her will weakening as Mephiles’ aura started to kick in. He floated over to her and looked her in the eyes.
“I won’t...give...in…” She muttered.
“Of course not,” Mephiles sneered. The enjoyment in his voice was the first genuine emotion Blaze had seen from him “You pathetic mortals never did understand when to quit. I have no trouble manipulating your kind to my wants now I understand that. All of them are actors in my great game, but you’ve strayed too far from the script. It’s a shame, too...I had so many good nightmares planned for you.”
Blaze felt herself slipping away as he talked. Her life would go unknown to her, and no one would be able to escape being a pawn in Mephiles’ games just like Silver was.
“Silver!” She gasped. He was still out there, about to kill Sonic in whatever great game Mephiles was playing...she wouldn’t let him fall victim to that. She held onto her memories of him, trying to push through Mephiles’ powers.
“You can’t save him, you stupid girl,” Mephiles replied with glee.
“Watch me.”
She started to fight back against Mephiles’ aura and she actually began to win out, her strength returning to her with every moment as she kept her goal in mind: save the world, stop Iblis...and save Silver. Mephiles staggered back.
“No…” He muttered in shock “Impossible...”
“You said it yourself, Mephiles,” She smiled “I just don’t know when to quit!”
Blaze poured all her energy into creating an explosion of fire, destroying the shadow creatures and the trees and turning the snow to steam. She stood up shakily to see Mephiles barely standing, his crystal armour seriously damaged.
“Run, you coward,” She muttered. Mephiles growled before regaining his composure.
“I’ll let you live for now...maybe you can keep things interesting for me.”
Mephiles vanished and Blaze fell to the ground again, exhausted from the sudden burst of power, and drifted back off to sleep.
==Chapter 19==
thumb|left|200 px|Rainstorm
It was hard to see through the driving rain. Silver had never had this problem fighting Iblis due to rain not having existed for decades, but now it was holding back his ability to locate Sonic massively. Despite this, his anger never subsided while he was out of combat, it just kept building as he searched for Sonic, his psychokinetic aura flaring up in ways he’d never seen before.
Eventually, he found Sonic and Elise. They were in a circular area with several pulleys and cranes. Two train tracks ran on both sides of the area, ending and starting in tunnels. The two of them were hidden under a metal platform, presumably to shelter them from the rain. Silver landed nearby behind Sonic, using the rain to cover his approach. If they were talking about anything, he couldn’t hear it. Soon he reached the point where they were fully visible again, and that was when Elise noticed him.
“Sonic!” She shouted. Sonic turned around but Silver had the drop on him, grabbing Sonic with his psychokinesis and throwing him through the metal platform above them. Elise created an orb of fire and chucked it forwards, which worried Silver before it fizzled out of existence in the rain.
“Don’t you dare stop me, Elise!” He growled “This is for the good of our planet!”
Silver didn’t know if Elise replied. He teleported above Sonic, grabbed his head, and smashed him into the ground away from the platform. Sonic staggered to his feet, covered some sort of sludge that Silver didn’t recognise, but he didn’t care. He teleported over to Sonic and threw a hook that knocked him back over. He put his foot on Sonic’s back to stop him from getting up, but was bowled over as Elise tackled him from behind. She let go and rolled away, giving Sonic a chance to grab Silver and smash him into the wall. Silver grunted, almost completely ignoring the jolting pain that ran through his body, and chucked Sonic away with his psychokinesis. He teleported up to the Iblis Trigger and lifted him into the air with his psychokinesis. Elise roared and ran at Silver, but he casually flicked his wrist and knocked her away. It was over. He’d won.
“Rest now, Iblis Trigger,” Silver muttered “Be free.”
Silver stuck his hand out to the side, ready to use his psychokinesis to break Sonic’s neck and end this once and for all. Then he heard an engine of some kind coming from the distance. His head spun round to see a motorbike fly from the side of the arena. It hit the ground with a squelch, spinning round to aim the two machine guns attached to it at Silver and Sonic even though it had a hard time getting traction now the ground was basically sludge. That’s not what made Silver stop, though: it was the person who was riding this vehicle.
“...Mephiles?” He muttered. He had red highlights instead of grey and had a mouth now, but it was so close to Mephiles it was impossible to think it was anyone else. Mephiles glared at Sonic and said one word.
“Run.”
The machine guns on the side of the bike roared to life and bombarded Silver with bullets. The white hedgehog easily blocked these with his psychokinesis, but he was forced to let go of the Iblis Trigger. Sonic dashed over to Elise and scooped her up.
“Don’t we want to help him?” Silver heard Elise ask over the roar of the machine guns.
“That there is the ultimate lifeform,” Sonic replied in a hopeful tone “I doubt there’s anyone better for the job.”
Silver caught all the bullets and let them drop to the floor to see Sonic and Elise dashing towards the tunnel.
“YOU WON’T ESCAPE AGAIN!” Silver yelled, flying towards Sonic. Before he could reach Sonic, he heard a strange sound and Mephiles appeared next to him as he suddenly felt like he’d been punched and kicked all over before he was thrown into the opposite wall. Mephiles followed up with a flurry of punches but chucked him away with his psychokinesis. He teleported away from the wall and regained his breath as his new enemy stood up. That’s when it hit Silver: he’d lost Sonic yet again. He’d failed his mission.
“Why, Mephiles?” He growled, “Why would you stop me? We had almost won!”
“My name…” The hedgehog replied “Is Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog.”
==Chapter 20==
thumb|right|200 px|Black and White
The two hedgehogs stood there as Silver regained his breath. He glared at this new Mephiles lookalike.
“Who are you?” Shadow asked “And why do you want to kill Sonic?”
“You don’t need to know,” Silver replied, “Just GET OUT OF MY WAY!”
Silver flew towards Shadow, but before he could reach him the black hedgehog held up a Chaos Emerald.
“Chaos Control,” He muttered. Silver heard the same strange sound before Shadow disappeared from view and he was knocked forward into the mud, feeling like he’d been struck in the head.
How does he do that? Silver thought. He flew up into the air, using his psychokinesis to chuck mud at Shadow. The black hedgehog dodged back, falling right into Silver’s trap as the white hedgehog flew over and grabbed him, threw him into the air and followed up by bombarding him with kicks and punches. While a few hits landed, Shadow soon started blocking. Jets of flame burst out of his shoes as he flew away from Silver, landing on one of the cranes nearby. Silver floated down to a crane on the other side of the area.
“Answer the question and we can solve this peacefully,” Shadow shouted. It was hard to hear him over the rain.
“My name is Silver,” He replied “And Sonic needs to die to save us all.”
Shadow started talking again, but Silver wasn’t listening. He teleported above Shadow and flew straight downwards, grabbing his face while his guard was down. Silver then proceeded to smash Shadow through the crane, eventually pushing him into the mud. Shadow wrapped his right leg around Silver’s head and pushed down with his left and began choking him. Silver gagged as he fought to keep the air in his lungs, struggling to activate his psychokinesis. He managed to pull through just before he went under, his hand bursting with so much energy it was almost blinding. He pushed it into Shadow’s chest and released a burst of energy, forcing him Shadow let go as both of them jumped to their feet as they regained their breath. Silver dashed at Shadow, but the black hedgehog kicked him away before he could land a hit.
“Chaos Control!” He shouted. Silver’s momentum suddenly changed and he was smashed into the ground. He tried to get up, but Shadow jumped back and fired some kind of energy bolt at him, paralyzing the white hedgehog. Shadow then followed up with a flying kick that knocked Silver into the other wall before teleporting up to him and bombarding Silver with kicks and punches, too fast for the white hedgehog to block. Shadow then grabbed him and threw him into the muddy ground in the middle of the arena.
“You ready to talk now?” Shadow asked. Silver lay on the ground, panting heavily. Shadow was far stronger than him, able to move faster than the eye could see.
This is it. Silver thought. I’ve lost. If I can’t defeat Shadow, I’ll never reach Sonic in time. I can’t stop Iblis. I’ve...failed…
Silver balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. He knew he couldn’t fail now, not before he put Blaze to rest. He stood up shakily and growled.
“No…” He muttered, “I won’t lose now. Not when I’m so close.”
Silver looked at his own Chaos Emerald. Then a thought struck him. He smiled.
“I’ll use your own technique!” He said.
“NO!” Shadow shouted as he dashed forward. Silver cleared his mind, feeling the Emerald’s energy course through him, before letting go.
“CHAOS CONTROL!”
Shadow froze in place. The rain stopped falling. Silver walked around, looking at the strangely beautiful frozen world. Then he remembered he had a job to do.
He grabbed Shadow with his psychokinesis and time resumed before throwing the black hedgehog into the wall behind him. Silver used his teleport dash to appear in front of Shadow and started pummeling him. Silver heard the sound of Shadow using Chaos Control before he was kicked away as the black hedgehog used the wall to propel himself towards Silver.
“CHAOS CONTROL!” Silver shouted. Time froze again and Silver skidded across the ground. He teleport dashed above Shadow before pummeling him into the ground as time restarted. However, Shadow struck Silver with his palm before firing a burst of energy that sent Silver flying into the air.
“Chaos Control!” Shadow shouted. Silver felt himself get kicked into the ground before being bombarded by invisible punches.
“You can do more than just one punch with this power, you know,” Shadow smirked as Silver jumped to his feet. Let’s see if you’re right. Silver thought as he used Chaos Control again. Everything seemed to be covered in white light now, the brightest lights being Silver and Shadow, but the white hedgehog assumed it was a side effect of his power. Silver used his psychokinesis to rip the crane out of the ground before kicking Shadow towards the crane and resuming time, letting the crane fall towards the black hedgehog. However, Shadow managed to use the jets in his shoes to fly back and land on the ground. A red light suddenly radiated out of Shadow’s body and he fired an energy blast that broke the crane in two. The light faded as he looked at Silver.
“You pick up on things quickly,” Shadow said “I dare say you’re pretty good.”
Silver was almost out of psychokinesis after ripping the crane’s foundations out, but he wasn’t going to let Shadow know that, and he certainly wasn’t planning on letting up.
“I don’t need your praise,” Silver growled “I need you to BURN!”
Shadow and Silver flew at each other. Both prepared their Chaos Emeralds, each with their own tactics. Their arms clashed as they shouted their command in unison.
“CHAOS CONTROL!”
At that point, the world started to alter around them. Silver looked around as they were surrounded by a bright light. The rain started to turn to steam and what was left of the fallen crane started to melt. Both the hedgehogs looked at each other confused as they vanished in a flash of light, leaving only the wreckage of their battle in their wake.
==Chapter 21==
thumb|left|200 px|The Solaris Project
(Author’s Note: This chapter is word for word the same as Shadow chapter 16. If you’ve read that already, feel free to skip this)
The glass cylinder in the centre of the room shone with a bright light and a haunting scream echoed around the circular room. The researchers looked at the light, terrified, except for one man. The Duke of Soleanna glared into the light, manipulating the control panel that surrounded the cylinder with ease.
“Sir!” One of the researchers shouted while looking at a readout “His energy levels are spiking! The probability of the containment tube staying stable is-“
“I don’t care about your figures!” The Duke growled in response “We’re almost there.”
The light subsided, forming into an orb of white flame. Through the flame, a clawed hand formed, slamming itself against its glass prison.
“Who...dares...control...me?” It growled.
“I do. I am the Duke of Soleanna, Solaris. As is the right of the royal family, you are meant to obey ME!”
“I’ve never heard of you, pathetic mortal. I’m above your whims. I am GOD!”
“I know. It doesn’t mean you can’t know pain.”
The Duke pushed a few buttons and Solaris screamed again.
“I’LL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!” Solaris screamed as lights continued to flash. The researchers looked at each other, horrified by what was happening. The Duke turned around.
“Bring in Elise and the Emeralds.” The Duke said to one of the researchers. “We’re ready to seal him.”
“Sir, there is absolutely no way she’d be able to contain Solaris in this state.”
“I don’t care. It’s now or never.”
The researcher nodded reluctantly and left the room. The Duke looked back at Solaris as the light subsided again.
“Let...me...go…” The godly being growled.
“No one says such an empty threat unless they expect to die soon. But you’re not going to die, Solaris. You’re going to create life. You’re going to bring my wife back and let my country prosper. You will be the lynchpin of a paradise of my creation.”
“You pathetic fool. If we could create paradise that easily we would have done it millennia ago.”
“I don’t care if you think you can’t. I will make you.”
The lights flashed again as the researcher wheeled a 6 year old and completely unconscious Elise in on a surgical trolley. He handed the Duke 2 Chaos Emeralds.
“Good luck, my Lord.” He said as he walked back. All of the scientists stood at the edge of the room. The Duke held up the Chaos Emeralds, standing between Solaris and Elise.
“Deactivate system 348,” He said “Code Epsilon. Engage.”
“Friend recognised,” Elise said robotically despite being completely unconscious. The Chaos Emeralds floated out of the Duke’s hands and moved over to Elise, a thin beam of white energy connecting her and the gems.
“What are you doing?” Solaris asked, finally starting to show real fear.
“This is your prison, Solaris. Elise is going to be this world’s saviour. She will use your power to bring back my wife and create the paradise you apparently cannot.”
“You think a child’s body can hold me?”
“No. Elise is no child. I created her as a vessel for you. She will have no problem bending you to her will.”
The Duke moved away and tapped a few buttons to open the cylinder. Solaris screamed as the glowing light that made up its body was pulled into the Emeralds.
“N-No…” Solaris muttered “How did you obtain such powerful artifacts…”
“We had a few lying around,” The Duke replied. “You’d be surprised how often they crop up.”
“Link stability at 70% and dropping,” One of the scientists said as he quickly checked one of the screens. “Complete extraction may not be possible at this point.”
The Duke had by now opted to completely ignore the cowards he was working with. He pressed a few buttons and Solaris’ Light started to flow through the Emeralds into Elise. The being of light continued to scream in agony.
“Stability at 54%,” The scientist said again “This readings are off...very off…”
“I’ll prepare the secondary container,” one of the female scientists said. She ran out of the room, and Solaris began to laugh.
“What’s so funny, Solaris?” The Duke smirked “I assure you, I’m finding this entertaining at least.”
“You know, I have never met such a callous human,” Solaris continued “Maybe the Endless Gods should’ve considered you for the God of Darkness...when they were still alive I mean.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I killed the gods. They have been dead for millennia and they have been dead for two seconds. I killed them all. They gave me another name, you know…’The Dark Deceiver’ in your tongue.”
“Stability at 10%!” The scientist screamed as everyone except the Duke started to file out of the room “Sir, we have to get out of here!”
“And what is your name in your tongue, pray tell?” The Duke continued. For the first time, a face appeared in the darkness: a scowling grin.
“They called me Mephiles.”
The light that wasn’t being absorbed by Elise or the Emeralds formed and ball and exploded outwards. The computers shattered and exploded, and the walls were blown outwards. The Duke and the scientists were thrown back, smashing into the equipment. Most of them were killed by the impact.
At that point, several corridors away, two hedgehogs appeared.
==Chapter 22==
thumb|right|200 px|10 Years Ago
Shadow and Silver looked around, confused by what happened. They were in a grey corridor next to a T-junction: wherever they were seemed to be pretty advanced. Silver recognised it: it was the place where he had found Blaze in the far future, although significantly less damaged than it was in his time.
“What did you do?” Silver growled. His hand glowed green with psychokinetic energy, but he knew he still didn’t have enough to fight Shadow again.
“Nothing,” Shadow replied calmly, looking at his Chaos Emerald. “I’ve never seen two people use Chaos Control’s time manipulation against each other…” He looked at Silver again “I can’t be sure of what happened.”
“Liar!” Silver shouted, throwing a punch at Shadow. As he did, the black hedgehog glanced over Silver’s shoulder, noticing something, before casually blocking the punch and walking past him. Silver turned around to see a woman in a lab coat carrying an ornate scepter which ended in a clear orb covered by stone wings. He wasn’t sure what Shadow was doing, but he figured he’d let it play out, if only to let his psychokinesis recharge.
“How the hell did you get inside?” She exclaimed “This base is more secure than G.U.N HQ!”
“We’re...interns,” Shadow said. He pointed at the scepter. “What’s that?”
“It’s the backup container for Solaris, but something’s gone wrong. There was an explosion! Get out of here!”
The scientist kept running down the hallway. Shadow stood for a moment in silence before looking at Silver.
“Something’s happened here,” The black hedgehog said “And it sounds like they need our help. We can beat each other up later...but I’m thinking that what’s here holds significance for both of us.”
Silver cocked his head and folded his arms, still not trusting anything Shadow said.
“This place is somehow connected to Mephiles. If you want to find out about him, follow me.”
Shadow skated down the hallway after the scientist, leaving Silver confused on what to do next. On the one hand, Shadow could well be lying, luring him into a trap of some kind. On the other hand, he seemed to genuinely not know what was going on. 
“Damn it,” Silver muttered “I guess I have nothing to lose.”
He ran after the black hedgehog, catching up with him and the scientist quickly. Shadow turned around to look at Silver, and the white hedgehog scowled in response. Shadow simply raised an eyebrow as they kept moving down the hallway.
The trio reached a circular room covered in red and purple crystals. Bodies of scientists littered the floor, some of them seemingly being pulled into the crystallised floor. A gold sphere floated in the middle of the room.
“No…” The scientist muttered, taking a step back from the shock of seeing her fellow researchers dead. Before she could go and help them, the gold sphere shot a burst of energy at her, but Silver batted it away with his recharged psychokinesis. Soon, the sphere broke apart and black liquid spilled out of it, forming a puddle on the floor. The remnants of the sphere were set alight and formed into a bright red flame: a flame Silver recognised.
“Wait,” He gasped, “Is that...Mephiles and Iblis?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Shadow replied “But I can’t help but think you’re right.”
Before Silver could process what Shadow had told him, the black liquid floated into the air and shot out into the corridor behind them. Shadow yanked the Scepter off the scientist and skated down the hallway in pursuit. 
“Hey!” The scientist exclaimed, pointing at the flame, “What about that thing?!”
“There’s another way to seal it,” Shadow replied as he vanished down the hallway, “Mephiles is mine!”
Iblis shot down the corridor after Shadow, turning a different corner. Red crystals grew on the ground it flew over. Silver looked at the scientist.
“Well?” He said “Is there another container?”
She looked around, glancing across the bodies in the crystal and trying not to focus on the fact that they were her friends. Then she saw someone on the floor who wasn’t encased in crystal.
“Elise!” She said, running over and scooping up the child.
“The Princess?” Silver said in shock. He was having trouble processing everything that was going on. If that was the same Princess Sonic had been saving then Shadow was right: they had gone back in time.
“She was designed to hold Solaris!” The scientist said. “She can probably hold this Ibilex or whatever it’s called.”
Silver nodded and ran after Iblis, following the crystals.
“Hey!” The scientist shouted “Don’t you need Elise?”
“I’ll catch him and teleport back here!” Silver shouted back before floating into the air and flying after Iblis, darting between the corridors as he looked for the creature that destroyed his future.
Continued in Part III
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