In an unknown city, sometime in the far off future. There are ruins of buildings everywhere. A white hedgehog with ashen hue flies around the city slowly, looking for any flames. The ground below has become nothing but a sea of lava, with the occasional rumble of thunder and flashes of lightning from the storm clouds covering the sky
The ashen hedgehog thinks to himself as hope and despair war within. Grasping on to anything that could help boost his mood. 'This world was devastated before I was born. A harsh, bleak place, where we live in eternal darkness. Life is a struggle, and people live without hope. How did this happen? No one will answer me directly. But they always point... to the flames.'
A tornado of flames swirl up before he can finish his own thoughts. . He uses a psychokinetic blast to clear the flames in front of him and they die away.
He continues. 'These flames. They burn away at my world destroying everything in their path. They come from an eternal life form we cannot truly defeat. The Flames of Disaster known as Iblis'
A lilac colored cat with a scarlet red cloth in a ponytail runs to Silver with determined purpose. "Silver!"
Silver's golden eyes look at the cat in worry, hoping she isn't hurt. "Blaze, what's wrong?"
Blaze responds, "He's appeared again!" Looking in the direction Blaze pointed in with an angry scowl, Silver flies away as Blaze jumps quickly from roof to roof to follow him.
Silver and Blaze have gone through Crisis City many times. It's almost second nature at this point. They help each other when the paths become harder to get through, but eventually they make it.
They run up as quickly as they can to confront Iblis, who emerges as a fiery golem monster ready to attack with a roar. They are stunned but look up at the flaming spirit.
Silver, wary from his own worries, defiantly yells at the beast, "Come on, you monster!"
Iblis moves on and roars in the flames. Silver and Blaze pursue.
A pit of molten lava is shown where Iblis once stood following his defeat by Silver and Blaze. Blaze looks at the magma from where Iblis appeared, examining any hints of it coming back. The magma flows calmly. "Looks like we stopped it for now." She says, stepping back from the magma and looking at Silver with a tired expression. Ash from the flames and soot stains her purple coat.
Silver can't bear to look at his childhood friend. The constant fighting with the seemingly immortal flame spirit is enough to wear him down. "But, it'll just rise up from its ashes again." Losing his cool, Silver hits a nearby brick wall with his fist in frustration. "What's the point of all this? It'll never end."
Blaze eyes slightly widen in surprise. She knew that the constant fights with Iblis was taking its toll on both of them, but didn't realize that it may have been affecting Silver more than she realized. She tries to comfort her friend. "Calm down, Silver." She says in a calm tone, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Silver however, gently swats it away. Disappointed, he frustratedly asks Blaze loudly, "Then tell me what we should do. How can we completely destroy Iblis?"
Blaze is unsure what to do and closes her eyes to think. Suddenly a dark and deep voice interrupts their argument.
"...By knowing the truth, of course."
Silver looks around to see who was talking. He and Blaze look up.
On top of a ruined building a hedgehog with tar black fur and ashen grey stripes stands, looking down at them. His green, snake-like eyes stand out to them. The most unsettling part of it all however is the hedgehog not having a mouth.
When Silver and Blaze get a good look at the being from afar, their expression changes. Blaze with quiet skepticism as she crosses her arms, while Silver's expression is in surprise.
'He's not from our village, and no one is able to survive the harsh flames in this city for long. We need to watch our backs. I should tell Silver once we are away from this dark figure...' Blaze thinks.
Seeing as how he has gained both of their attention, the dark figure continues. "Just as a flower comes from a seed, or a chicken comes from an egg, everything has an origin. You need to find the being originally responsible for this catastrophe." He raises his fist up to the ashen sky. The sound of thunder is heard in the distance.
Silver, starting to become skeptical himself, begins to ask, "Is that really the answer to our problem?" Silver points at him. "Tell me, do you know who it is?"
The strange hedgehog glares at Silver with a sinister look in his eyes. "Follow me if you wish to find these answers." The dark figure turns his back against them. "If not, then the world you see now before you will forever remain the same."
Silver looking towards the flames. He can feel his exhaustion become heavier at the dark figures' words. Blaze steps in front of Silver raising her voice, calm and maturely, looking directly at the strange being. "Who are you to say what will remain of our world? How may we even trust you if you haven't even begun to introduce yourself?"
The figure stops. The air becomes silent, as if the figure is contemplating on whether or not to give them his name. After a moment of silence as the lilac colored cat glares at him, the figure gives a name.
"In this timeline, I am known by many names... However, you may call me Mephiles. That was my former name before the flames engulfed the world." The figure leaves. Blaze and Silver, seeing no choice now, begin to follow Mephiles.
---
Mephiles leads Blaze and Silver into an old broken building. Glass shards, ash, and dust cover the hallways they walk through. Blaze notices slight traces of what looks like a dull glowing amber in certain spots, making notes to herself if she and Silver need to run at any given moment.
Mephiles turns towards a room and walks in. Silver and Blaze follow.
"To fix this present timeline, you need to change the past." Mephiles says.
The group looks around the data room. The first thing Silver notices is a big computer monitor that takes up the entire wall in front of them. Buttons glow alive connecting to it, as the screens wallpaper shows a black and white picture of a boat with fireworks in the background. Blaze notices old newspapers in piles and picks one up.
Looking at the date, her eyes widen, she however stays silent. 'These newspapers are from over 200 years ago. Let me see... Princess Elise dies in an air crash within the aircraft belonging to the Eggman Empire. Witnesses report Elise was last seen with Sonic The Hedgehog. Could the fight between the empire and the well known heroic freedom fighter have caused the ship to crash? That fact was proven to be false later as the G.U.N police force noticed damages matching what could be none other than the Guardians of the United Nations team darks agent, Shadow The Hedgehog, the once renowned Ultimate Lifeform. Trial has sentenced him to Cryostatic imprisonment. As the flames of disaster engulf the world, so do our hopes. Who can save us now?
Blaze closes her eyes in thought. Not wanting to read anymore of the old news from long ago, she places the newspaper back.
Silver, naive of what Mephiles has said, retorts. "But, that's impossible!"
Mephiles, amused by the grey hedgehog's gullibility, answers, "With my help, you can, because I have the power to travel through time!"
Silver says, surprised by the dark figures claim, "No way!"
"In order to change the past, you must eliminate the individual who has awakened Iblis. The Iblis Trigger." Mephiles continues.
Silver and Blaze silently talk amongst themselves, hoping Mephiles won't hear.
"Silver, I don't trust him." Blaze immediately says.
Silver frowns. "I don't think we have a choice anymore. Aren't you tired of fighting all the time, with only vague to no answers? Now finally we get those answers. We can finally do what we promised." Silver says this in deep desperation.
Blaze looks down. "We promised to save this world... no matter the cost. However, I do wish you thought about this more, we've never even seen this hedgehog around. What if it's a trap?"
Silver sinks his head low. "At this point Blaze... That's a risk I'm willing to take. Now I'm going, like it or not. If you don't like it... well, take care of the village while I'm gone."
Blaze looks down in defiance, then sighs. "Fine. You can go, however I am not leaving you behind. I will stay by your side until we see this through, if you're right, then... I'm counting on you Silver to make the right decision."
They both nod to each other in solid agreement.
Silver looks towards Mephiles. "If I eliminate that guy, will our world be saved?"
Mephiles nods. "The Day of Disaster... Here are my records of this event. This was when Iblis was freed and his flames were released into the world."
Mephiles turns on the computer, and Silver and Blaze see images of Soleanna and other things. A picture of a brown hedgehog wearing a grey hoodie smiles at them for a moment sadly, but before they can get a better look, Mephiles shuts off the monitor.
Detached, Mephiles continues, "And you have this person to blame."
Mephiles takes out the purple Chaos Emerald and shows it to Silver, who takes it and gazes upon it. A vision of a blue hedgehog appears, then flames appear, and then the vision makes a close-up of Sonic staring blankly in the distance as he watches the fire spread, frozen in terror.
Silver, not noticing how scared the blue hedgehog looks in the vision, shouts "I see it! So, that blue hedgehog's the Iblis Trigger?"
Blaze gets closer to Silver and stares at him and the emerald. She can't see the vision. "Blue hedgehog..." Silver hands the emerald back to Mephiles.
Mephiles, amused by their agreement, says lastly, "I'll send us back in time to the point when the Iblis Trigger was alive."
Mephiles generates a sphere with his hands, places it around himself and the two friends, and then the three of them vanish.
-- -
It is a bright, sunny day in present-day Soleanna in the forest outside the city. A portal has opened up, and Silver jumps out of it alone as it closes. He looks around.
Silver looks towards Mephiles and says, "Where am I?"
He looks around, realizing that both Mephiles and Blaze are gone.
"Blaze?" He looks around again in slight panic, hoping she will jump out from behind a tree. "Blaze!" Now understanding the situation, he talks to himself, slowly calming down. "I guess we all got separated."
He takes a better look at the environment. Flowers bloom from vines, afternoon dew drips from the leaves of the trees, while a light smell of moss fills the air. The sky is so clear that Silver almost didn't recognize what it was.
"This is so unbelievable." He notices a path ahead near a tree and looks up at it.
"Now I must fight for the future!" Silver throws his fist up in optimism and runs off through the forest.
Author's Note: Canon bosses will not be written but will be a small youtube link. Sorry to disappoint but writing a whole boss fight that you can watch on youtube is much easier, plus it takes up less writing and editing, making chapters posted in less time. If you, the reader, have any complaints about anything, or just want to add your own thoughts, put it down in the comments, I will always respond. Thanks for reading and supporting this story!^-^
