Surprisingly, it was Antoine who broke the silence. "You are not telling truth, are you?"
"I wish I wasn't," Silver sighed. "The future is a mess. I was sure I had the time correct."
"Can't you just go back and try again?" Rock asked.
"Time travel isn't that precise," I chuckled. "And Silver's a pro."
"Well..." Silver said, rubbing his head. "It's not that easy to explain. It's like there's something physically stopping me from going beyond this point. I've heard rumors that things like that can happen to stop certain times from changing, but I've never personally experienced it. Of course, I wouldn't rule out that Eggman managed to do something to stop me, either."
"So you've come to warn us that the future is set in stone?" Sally asked.
"The future is fickle," Silver said. "It's always hard to know what's permanent and what can change."
"Do you know what we can do to fix things?" Tails asked, glancing at me.
Silver took a seat and sighed. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and stared at a spot on the table. "I was going to stop Mega Man from coming here," Silver explained. "But I couldn't even manage that."
"Wait," Rock said. "What do I have to do with this?"
"It's possible that you traveling to this world was just the biggest coincidence in history. But from what I've seen, coincidences are rare. It would have been worth a shot, considering the future."
Rock looked devastated. "This whole thing could be... my fault?"
Silver looked at us for help. "No, t-that's not what I meant. I just-"
"It doesn't really matter whose fault it is," Bunnie interrupted. "Besides, I find it hard to believe this little kid could set all these things in motion."
"Yeah," Silver said quickly. "Either way, though, I wouldn't consider all of this to be your fault. If there's anyone to blame, it's Eggman."
"Yes," Antoine added, "the man who single-handedly took down Super Sonic."
I felt my ears flatten against my head, feeling guilty. Antoine was right about that.
"Well," Silver said, looking at me. "What happened up there in the Death Egg? We can start with that."
I glanced at my arm. "I... have no idea. It's like it's covered by some fog."
"He had a bad concussion," Sally explained. "It's likely we'll never know what exactly happened."
Silver froze. "You're joking."
I shook my head. "Nope! Too bad you can't go into the past and find out what happened for me, huh?"
"So we don't even know what we're dealing with?" Silver asked. "We know nothing?"
"Oh, we do," I chuckled darkly. "There's a fat guy named Eggman who wants to take over the world."
"Sonic..." Silver looked defeated, looking back down at the table.
"Just trying to keep things light," I shrugged. "So where are we going first?"
"I only know a few things that happen between your loss and the complete destruction of the world," Silver admitted. "The two tundras have been taken over by Eggman for sure. I'm pretty sure Spagonia and Empire City are under Eggman's command. I think the next major city to fall is Westopolis, but... I can't be completely sure. It might already be captured."
I paused, not knowing what to say. Those were some big cities, and Eggman would continue to take advantage of the situation until every city was under his control. And Shadow would only be able to protect New Mobotropolis and Station Square for so long.
Tails nodded. "It's a good place to start since G.U.N. wouldn't be able to get their troops there in time. And it's a large enough city that we could build up some resistance there."
"They probably wouldn't even know something was happening before it was way too late," Rotor added. "We still can't get in touch with anyone. We'll fly over the city tonight and wait and see if anything happens."
"I'll make ya'll some food while we make our way there," Bunnie suggested.
"Thanks, Bunnie," I said.
"And there's no way to check and see if it's already fallen?" Silver asked skeptically. "I know Eggman supposedly hacked communications all over the world, but... I find that hard to believe, even for Eggman. That's big."
I shrugged. "I'd find it hard to believe too if my arm wasn't in a cast."
"It won't take long to get to Westopolis," Sally said. "An hour, max."
I stood and stretched my arms. "Then I guess I'll go check this place out."
"I-I'll go with you," Silver said. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him.
"There's not a ton to look at," Tails admitted.
I shrugged again, heading for the big window I had spied earlier. With Silver trailing behind me, I sat in front of it, staring up at the sky. I wondered if this was something Tails had put in especially for me. He knew how much I liked to look at the scenery.
Silver sat beside me, putting his hands on the ground behind him. "Looking at this, it's hard to believe that it all gets violently destroyed."
"Violently, huh?" I muttered, looking at the stars that were starting to appear now that the sun was almost gone.
Silver looked around and behind him, then leaned towards me. "You really remember nothing?" he whispered.
I sighed. "No, Silver, for the tenth time, I don't. Every time I try to think about it, I just get a headache."
For a while, he was silent. I wondered what was brewing in his mind. I looked over to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep, and he looked at me somberly. "What?" I asked.
He looked at the ground, and didn't speak again. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, noticing that there was definitely something he wanted to say. Finally, he sighed. "I just don't know what to do. The only chance I really had of saving the future was warning you of your failure."
I shrugged. "We don't even know if it would change anything."
Silver looked dismayed. "I promised myself that I would never let another future fall into ruin. But there's just nothing I can do to help. It will just be another disaster where the people that are left just suffer until they die."
I sat and looked out the window, trying to figure out what to say. Eventually, I smiled. "You know I won't let that happen."
Silver looked at me and frowned. "I'm glad you're still so confident after what happened, though I'm not sure why."
"Nothing's ever gonna stop me from running, Silver," I said with pride. "It doesn't really matter what you say to me. Sure, losing hurts, but for all we know he just got lucky."
"Some luck to destroy the whole world," Silver said grimly. He looked at me and forced a smile. "I-I'm sorry. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone. A really, really long time. So much work and misery and I still managed to fail miserably."
"No, I get it," I agreed quietly. "I don't know what happened, but... I do know I let everyone down. They won't admit it, but... I really messed up. I know what it's like."
"If our only issue was that you made a mistake, we could just collect the Chaos Emeralds again and everything would be fine. Unfortunately, Eggman has something we don't know about."
I looked at the ground. "Too bad we don't have much of a plan besides that."
"I've been thinking..." Silver wondered. "After repelling Eggman from the city, we should look for at least one Chaos Emerald. They might restore your memory of what happened."
"It was a concussion," I said. "I'm not sure they could help with that."
"Sonic, when you use all seven, you literally catch on fire, can fly, and move even faster than you normally can. I'm pretty sure they could do something like help you remember something."
I chuckled. "I guess you're right."
It wasn't long before the land beneath turned to the water of the ocean. I left Silver there and went back to the table with my friends.
"I wonder what this new place is like," Rock said, his eyes lighting up.
"It's actually a lot like your home," I said. "Compared to anything else here, at least. Pretty technologically advanced. Tails could tell you more about it than I could."
Rock tilted his head. "Maybe Tempo went there, then."
I shrugged. "She could be anywhere, but we won't stop looking until we find her."
Rush barked in agreement.
"Yeah," Rock smiled. "But saving the world comes first."
"I'm sure we'll find her before that."
It wasn't long before Bunnie brought out a rich, creamy soup she had made. She was an excellent cook. I wondered if there was anything she wasn't good at.
Silver ate voraciously, like he hadn't eaten anything in days. But none of us stopped him after everything he had been through. He was obviously pretty shaken. I, on the other hand, didn't have much of an appetite. I had put on a brave face in front of Silver, but... it could be an ugly future. I wasn't looking forward to the fight ahead of us. Still, I forced it down. I didn't want to disappoint Bunnie or worry the others.
"The city is unharmed," Nicole suddenly told us. "Though I cannot say for how long."
"That's a relief," Sally sighed.
"You should go into the city early in the morning," Nicole suggested. "Talk with the people there, make sure they're ready for an attack."
"She's right," Sally said.
After I ate, I searched for the room with my name on it. It was in the exact middle, surrounded by Tails and Sally. I walked in, noticing that it was just the right size. In the middle of the room was a large bed with tables and lamps on each side. Everything was bolted down. The wall was painted a navy blue that matched the bedspread. The other walls were white. It wasn't bright inside of the room, but it was comfortable.
I ripped the sling off of my head, rubbing my shoulder. I put it on the table next to the bed, then wrapped myself in the covers. As I got comfortable, I looked across the room, where the light switch was sitting next to the door, mocking me. I stared at it, wondering if it would get intimidated and turn off. It didn't.
I heard a giggle emanate around the room. "I'll get it for you, Sonic," Nicole said.
"Thanks," I said. The room slowly turned pitch black. I thought I would be haunted by thoughts and unable to sleep for hours, but I closed my eyes and instantly fell asleep.
My eyes shot open as alarms blared through the night. I jumped out of bed, rushing outside of the room. The others came out of theirs as well, looking just as confused as I felt. From the window and dim lighting, I could tell it was the dead of night.
"Nicole, what's going on?" I yelled.
"Silver was right," Nicole said. "The city is under attack."
"What's the status?" Sally asked.
"There are multiple robots in the city demanding surrender," Nicole answered. "I don't think Eggman or reinforcements are nearby, so it shouldn't be difficult to defeat the robots there."
"You've probably just jinxed it horribly," I chuckled. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go show Eggman we'll always win!"
"Are we sure this isn't a trap?" Bunnie asked.
"It doesn't matter," Tails said. "People are in danger. It's our job to save them."
"Tails has the right idea," I said. "Let's get out there."
The door opened, stairs leading down to the grass below. I ran to them, then hesitated. I wasn't excited to show my friends how weak I was. It wouldn't really help the confidence of the team or myself. I shook my head and jumped down the stairs, trying not to worry about that. There was a city that needed help.
I ran forward and into the city, streetlights illuminating the ground. I barely saw anybody out, but there was a kid watching the robots with curiosity. I slowed to catch my breath, but didn't get much time to do that; the kid picked up a rock and threw it at the robots. His parents didn't seem to be around, but the robot didn't really appreciate it. It turned and stared at the kid, raising its gun.
I rushed into action, grabbing the kid and running out of the way. "Let's not get these guys angry, okay?" I said to the kid as I set him down. He stared at me in wonder. "Get out of here. It's not safe."
After a few seconds of gawking at me, he turned on his heel and ran down the sidewalk. I watched him for just a second to make sure he ran away, almost forgetting about the group of robots. I dashed out of the way as their shots whizzed by me, turning and spindashing into them before they could shoot me again. They broke into a bunch of pieces, but it wouldn't be long until reinforcements came to see what was up.
I turned to run back and wait until the rest of my friends got there, but something on the sidewalk caught my eye. It was just a newspaper, but the closer I got, the clearer the image became under the bright street light.
I picked it up and stared at it in horror.
I opened it up, feeling my eyes grow wider and wider. My heart started to pound as it felt like it dropped into my chest. On it was a massive picture of me in a hospital bed, looking like I was fighting for my life. There was a giant bruise on the side of my head, and my eye was swollen. I looked far worse than when I had woken up. My body had healed a lot in eight days, even if there was a long way to go.
Above that, the headline read 'THERE IS NO HOPE.' It was exactly the situation Sally said she had tried to avoid. Apparently, it hadn't worked. To make it even better, under the pictures of me was written 'Sonic the Hedgehog, not expected to survive.' Skimming through the article, my eyes scanned words like 'failure' and 'disappointing' and 'despair.' It was probably written by one of Eggman's spies to discourage any resistance, but... it hurt. I couldn't help but wonder how many people had read it and believed its words. Not that many of them were wrong.
"Look out!" I heard Mega Man scream, but my feet were glued to the ground and my eyes wouldn't look away from the paper. I was stuck, my mind trying to process what my eyes were seeing.
Mega Man pushed me away and took a step back, probably saving my life. The paper was thrown out of my hands, but I didn't want to look at it any longer. With another shot, Mega Man took the robot out.
"What the heck?" Mega Man asked as I got up. He looked concerned. "You okay? It's not like you to get so distracted."
"I-I'm fine," I lied. Mega Man was on his way to pick up the paper, but I was way ahead of him. I ran past him, crumpling up the paper and throwing it into a nearby trash can. That wouldn't burn the image out of my mind, but I didn't want anyone else to see it.
"It doesn't matter," I said, motioning toward the rest of the city with a smile. "There are bound to be more where that came from."
Rush barked in agreement. Or maybe it's just because he's a dog and he barks sometimes.
Mega Man jumped on top of Rush and flew alongside me, but I still couldn't run quickly for very long. Five minutes after I started, I slowed to a stop and panted with my hands on my knees, sweat dripping from my face. My heart still raced, making me feel jittery and uncomfortable. I pushed down the frustration that boiled inside of me.
"Are you okay?" Mega Man asked as he jumped off of Rush.
"I'm... fine..." I managed. "I'll catch up."
Mega Man looked ahead of him, then looked back at me and frowned. "No."
I looked up at him. "What?"
"I mean..." Mega Man said. "Why don't you ride along on Rush? That way you can use your energy for the fight."
I looked down at Rush, who was looking at me with his head tilted. I almost let myself say no. My mind was still reeling from what I saw, clouding my already hazy mind. "Yeah, you're right. Much as I hate to say it, though."
Mega Man smiled, stepping back onto Rush. I stepped on behind him, holding his shoulder as we flew over the city, surveying it. The darkness didn't make it hard to see with all the bright lights that covered the city streets. There were Egg Carriers in the sky, but not more than ten. It didn't seem like Eggman was all that serious about taking the city. But it wasn't like Eggman to just scare a city. I just hoped that the low amount of robots attacking didn't mean that it was just a distraction or something.
"There's gotta be some place they're rallying," I muttered.
"Bunnie's getting the stragglers around the city," Mega Man said. "This place is huge, though."
We spent another ten minutes going over the town, looking for some sort of gathering of robots, but we didn't find anything like that. We saw a few robots here and there, but not more than three at a time.
"There's something wrong," I finally said. "Let's go back and meet with Sally."
I half expected that to summon something to come and attack us, but we found Sally fighting off a few robots with Amy. They were getting ready to move on when we finally reached the ground.
"What did you find out?" Sally asked.
I shook my head. "Nothing. Silver must have been wrong. There's nothing here but a few robots. Once we take out the Egg Carriers, we can get moving. Maybe Shadow can come check up on it or something later."
"That doesn't sound right," Sally replied.
"Eggman usually attacks all or nothing," Amy added. "Let's go further in and make sure there isn't something we're missing."
I shrugged. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially with a city this size. If the city was destroyed, it would be a lot of people that didn't have any place to go.
As we started off together to follow a map on Nicole that had various places of robots on it, Bunnie took out the Egg Carriers roaming the sky. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to finish them off so that they didn't fall too close to the city.
There were only a few Egg Carriers left in the sky when Metal Sonic showed up.
I had thought I heard something, so I looked up at the stars to see Metal Sonic curving around to meet us. "Well, well," I smirked. "Look who decided to show up."
If there was something of Eggman's that I was itching to fight, it was Metal Sonic. After what had happened, he needed to be reminded who was the fastest and strongest.
"That's still not a lot of firepower," Sally said. "Not enough to take down an entire city, and I doubt Eggman thought we wouldn't show up."
"I can take him," I said confidently. "Doesn't really matter that I have one hand behind my back."
I braced myself as Metal Sonic rushed toward me, his robotic eyes filled with a fire that shouldn't exist. Amy tried to smack him with her hammer, but he swerved around her, nearly taking me by surprise. But I dodged to the side, spindashing into him. We bounced off of each other, and Sally slashed into his chest with her laser blades.
"You can't go down that easily!" I laughed as I walked to Metal Sonic. He knelt on the ground with one hand over his chest, looking up at me and managing to look even more menacing than usual.
I turned as I heard Nicole speak, which I should have known better than to do. But there was real alarm in her voice. "There are several incoming robots with the same technological signature as Metal Sonic."
"What?" I asked, Metal Sonic taking my legs out from under me in my confusion. He wrapped his claws around my chest and rammed me into a building.
"You will lose," Metal Sonic's voice hummed. "Your days of victory are over."
It took me by surprise to hear him speak. I blinked, then kicked him away. "How many are we talking?" I yelled to Nicole, stepping to the side as Metal tried to crash into me with his chest. "One? Three?"
"Try a dozen," Nicole said gravely.
"A dozen Metal Sonics?" I frowned. My stomach did a few cartwheels.
"That's..." Sally said, looking to me with her eyes full of fear. "We can't fight that many."
"How close are they?" I asked after spindashing into Metal again.
"At their speed, we would be lucky to get to the ship in time," Nicole answered.
"Go," I said, watching the sky and the Metal I was fighting at the same time. "Give me Nicole's handheld and get to the ship. I can distract them and give you guys a chance to make it."
"We can't just leave the city, can we?" Mega Man asked.
"You will be lucky to get out with your lives," Nicole answered quickly. "Sonic's right. I can tell him when you guys have made it back to the ship."
"You two, get on Rush," Mega Man told Amy and Sally. "We won't all fit."
"We can help!" Amy protested.
"We'll be slowing him down," Sally said, ushering her onto Rush. I looked at Sally, her eyes uncertain. I nodded to her and smiled.
Mega Man ordered Rush away, shooting Metal square in the chest. "There must be something I can do to help," Mega Man asked.
"If Nicole's right, then the best thing you can do is get to the ship and make sure they're safe," I told him. "They're probably not as strong as this guy, but they won't be slouches. Either way, Silver's first prediction came true."
"There's nothing we can do to save the city?" Mega Man asked. "Won't people die?"
I sighed. "If he killed off the city, there wouldn't be a lot to rule when he wiped out the Freedom Fighters," I laughed, trying to make the mood lighter. "Seriously, though. Get a move on. I'll be fine."
Metal Sonic smashed his fist into my face as I watched Mega Man run past a corner. I managed to get to my feet as he crashed his foot into the street with a ton of force.
"That wasn't very nice," I frowned. Metal Sonic didn't care how I felt, though. After I finished speaking, he dashed toward me again, and it was a bunch of jumping around doing my best not to get hurt. I held onto Nicole with a tight grip, not wanting to accidentally lose her.
"Are you sure you'll be able to make it back?" Nicole asked me. "I know you aren't as fast as usual."
"It'll be fine," I promised, though she was right. Suddenly, I wondered what I had been thinking. Not about me, obviously. "Just tell me as soon as Mega Man is close to the ship. You're good at calculations and stuff. How close are the other Metal Sonics?"
"They're closing in incredibly fast," Nicole replied. "I'd give them five minutes to get here, and that's stretching it."
"Then let's hope that Mega Man finds a sudden burst of speed," I muttered, spinning into Metal Sonic and bouncing off again. I did that several times, trying to keep him from doing anything reckless. I twisted to the side as he zipped past me, barely missing. I wasn't able to get my footing back as he came back around, knocking me onto the ground. I dropped Nicole and caught one of his wrists as he flew toward me, raising my feet to his chest to keep his other hand away.
"You need to get moving, Sonic," Nicole said in my ear.
"I'm a little busy!" I yelled, rolling to the side as I lost my grip with my bad arm. I hopped to the side as he slashed at me with his hands, losing ground each time. I bumped into the wall of a building, sliding to the ground as Metal Sonic punched his fist into it. I leapt off of the wall and basically flew forward, but my stomach dropped as I felt something grab my foot. I was slammed into the ground, dazed.
"Sonic..." Nicole said. Her voice was thick with concern. Her computer was right in front of me. Without looking behind to see where Metal Sonic was, I sprang forward, retrieving Nicole and dashing toward the ship.
"If you can handle going a little faster, you might make it in time," Nicole informed me.
I didn't answer, saving my breath. I slid around a street, skipping to the side as Metal Sonic came up behind me. I sighed with exasperation, wishing he would just give up. I put on the speed, taking a few more turns than I wanted to in order to keep Metal on his toes. Nicole stayed silent, and I just hoped that I hadn't taken one too many detours.
I sped even faster when I saw the ship, stealing a glance behind me to see that Nicole was right - there were at least ten more Metal Sonics racing toward me not far above the city. I spun away from Metal as he clawed at me again, almost tripping over the sidewalk. When I was at the ship, I turned and spindashed into Metal, taking him off guard. I jumped onto the stairs of the ship, leaping into it and falling on my face. The door slammed shut behind me. For a few minutes I was only able to stay on my hands and knees and catch my breath.
"The shields should keep them from doing too much damage to the ship," Nicole explained. "They'll give up eventually."
"And go back to the city," I managed in between breaths. "It's just one loss after another."
Nobody said anything as I got up and sat in a chair, the racing feeling in my chest starting to slow. I put my chin on the table, looking at Silver and waiting for him to say something. "I'm sorry," Silver eventually said. "It seems nothing I suggest ever works."
Sally picked Nicole off the ground, setting her on the table. "I think the only thing we can do now is find the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman can."
"You wouldn't happen to know where they are?" I asked Silver sarcastically.
"I... don't," Silver said, obviously hurt. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention for this to happen."
"You're just trying to help," Mega Man assured him. "It's not your fault things went south."
Mega Man was right, but Silver had a bad reputation for making things worse, even if he didn't mean to. It still made me feel bad that we had let the entire city down. I didn't feel as defeated as I had when Sally told me I had lost against Eggman, but... the city would be under Eggman's control. And my stomach dropped as the realization that Eggman had a total of twelve Metal Sonics hit. I could barely defend myself against one, let alone help the city purge them.
Finally, I sighed. "It's nobody's fault."
"I'll make it up to you," Silver smiled. "I promise."
I closed my eyes, exhaustion from the fight catching up to me. It wasn't long before the voices of the others around me started to shuffle together, eventually dissolving altogether.