The strange girl offered Belle a warm smile, as she waited patiently for her to come out. In truth what shew as about to do could have dire consequences but, desperate times. The tenrec mostly was an unknown in Restoration being that she worked the Archives and didn't get much sunlight most days. But her robust knowledge has been a boon to her duties.
But this was more personal so she didn't even known if the strange bot would help her. But at least she seemed open to help her, and it was better then risking talking to Tails.
" Ah just a moment... "
She fished inside of her leather shoulder bag and produced the 3 small orbs. She placed the smooth metal into Belle's hands and looked off to one side nervously.
" I had a good friend, he was a bit of an inventor... he made these and left them in my care, and i haven't seen him in some time. So i thought i'd try to get them working again... they are sort of made as his assistants... i heard you were quite talented and i thought... maybe you could succeed where i failed "
Of course they were from 300 years in the future--- but she was fearful of revealing that information to anyone just yet. Still maybe this risk was worth it, with the bits help maybe she could find a way to find her silver... or if nothing else keep her company.
Just as the professor promised, the next few weeks Silver and Gold's training went underway. Despite both of them sharing a type of psychokinesis, they couldn't be more different in strength, power and disposition.
According to his research, Silver's powers have been steadily growing as he gets older. At this time he's only seven, but he's already able to lift slight heavy objects with ease. By the time he turns fourteen, he could be able to lift things as heavy as buildings. Given his comfort training with Von Schlemmer, the tests of strength were little to problem. Silver needed a bigger challenge in order for his powers to be strong enough for battle. Perhaps he could permanently close the Genesis Portals as well.
Gold however, was a different story. While she did receive training for her own psychokinesis, her environment was hostile, and its effected her growth in powers. She wasn't very trusting or as relaxed as Silver was and was always getting nervous when it came time to use her powers.
Professor Von Schlemmer decided to have the kids train together to see how their powers work at the same time. With both of them being complete opposites in nearly every way, he needed more data on how their powers could possibly work in unison.
After he took them into the training room, he had Silver display his powers first. "All right, Silver. Let's see how much you can lift today." he said as he pulled up a screen and took a look at his past entries. "Your last record vas fife boxes, let's see you beat zat, score!"
Silver nodded and went over to the large stack of boxes. With enough concentration, he lifted seven boxes over their heads, floating as light as feathers. "How's this, professor?" He asked.
"Excellent! You've already improved since last month!" He then turned to the tenrec, who was near the corner with the bits checking her vitals to make sure she was healthy. "Gold, now its your turn. Try using your telepathy on both of us. Tell us anything you vant before you make a command."
Gold nodded and slowly walked to the center of the room. She put her hands on either side of her head. "DOES IT WORK?" she said quietly in her head, but to the others, it sounded like someone was yelling through a megaphone as the waves of noise washed over them. Both Von Schlemmer and Silver covered their ears in reaction, and the latter's psychokinesis ceased, causing the creates to fall down. The bits, Gold and Schlemmer moved out of the way in time, but Silver unfortunately was not as lucky. He dodged a few of the boxes, but one of the small ones landed on his head, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Hey! Watch it, Gold. You almost killed us!" Silver snapped as he rubbed the new sore spot on his head.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Gold panicked and shut off her powers. The symbol on her head stop glowing and she shrank back.
Uh oh. It was time to step in before it escalated. They couldn't afford to have a psychokinetic fight here when they were hiding themselves from the Council. "Okay, okay. Zat's enough, nein need to fight each ozzer, it vas a simple accident, ja?" Schlemmer calmly said he put some distance between the two.
"Yes, I-I-I'm sorry, Silver. This is all I was ever really taught to do. They never showed me how to control it." Gold nervously stated. She kept her distance as if she was expecting a more severe reaction.
Silver looked like he wanted to say more, but a quick look from the professor told him not too. The boy didn't hate Gold, but he wished that she wouldn't keep messing him up when she used her own powers. It almost felt like she was doing it purpose to get Schlemmer's attention, which was happening a lot these past few weeks.
"Bits, continue Silver's tests vhile I'm gone. I zink Gold undt I need some solo training right now." He carefully took the girl by the hand and left the training room. The bits took leadership immediately and prepared the next test for him, though they seemed a bit miffed to be left with so much work to give.
Silver shook his head and frowned. Why did the professor start paying so much attention to Gold recently? Sure, she more difficulty with her powers, but did she need so much one on one time with him? He couldn't help but be jealous, even though he was told it wasn't nice.
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Inside, Gold felt a bit nervous. Usually when a test didn't go well, she was either sent back to her room without a meal, or given something to make her work harder on getting her powers right, and it wasn't something easy as a pill or serum.
"I'm sorry, I messed up. I-I promise I'll do better next time. I-I just n-need to-" she stammered and looked around the lab frantically, perhaps for an easy way out.
The professor didn't seem to notice Gold's nervous state as he placed her in a solid blue chair. "No need to vorry, I have another vay to help get your powers working. It'll just rquire a more....unusual method for you." He pointed out as he dug through his tool bag for an item. His voice sounded exasperated.
As the light above her was flickering, Gold was getting flashbacks to her training. Hours of intense concentration, almost unleashing monsters and other horrors from alternate worlds, punishment if near impossible demands weren't met.
A hundred thoughts racer through her head as her small hands shook. Had she trusted the professor too soon because he had Silver with him? Were they both lying to let her guard down? Where they planning to turn her over after all? Was it all an act?
The man pulled out a small device with two pointed ends, a small electric wave emitting from it. Her heart started to best rapidly at the sight of it. "Now please hold still for juuuuust a moment." Schlemmmer told her. As he walked towards her.
The tenrec flinched, shielding her head, waiting for something to make contact. She heard a small zap, moments passed, but she didn't feel anything.
"Vat is wrong?" Professor asked, confused.
Gold opened her eyes and realized where she was. The light above her stopped flickering, thanks to the zapper in the man's hand. He must've used it to quickly stabilize the lights. Once she saw the professor's face, she lowered her hands. "I'm sorry, professor. I thought you were going to punish me with that."
Von Schlemmer looked at the zapper in his hand then tossed it over his shoulder. There was a small explosion, but the bits barged in and went straight to work putting out the fire, then left again to return to Silver's training. He then placed a hand on Gold's shoulder.
"Nien. I promised I vouldn't hurt you, and I meant it. I'm not ze Council and you're not a test subject. You're....mein friend." He told her sincerely.
The tenrec could feel herself ease up upon hearing this. The professor could feel that she wasn't shaking anymore either.
"I may not understand your powers fully, but I vant to help you. Just like Silver, you have so much potential vizzin you. Vhen we stop the Council, zey're going to be in for a surprise when you show your full strength. Zey'll be nein match for you!"
Gold wiped the small tears from her eyes and nodded. "Okay, professor. I'll try my best." She whispered.
Von Schelmmer chuckled and patted the young one on the head. "Zat's my girl." He placed her back in the chair and sat across from her. "All right, let's try again."
Gold nodded and raised her hand towards Von Schelmmer and concentrated. A "dinggg" sound echoed through the lab, and her eyes glowed yellow when she opened them. Suddenly it was like the professor was in a trance as images were whizzing by.
"Fascinating! You have ze power to go through a person's memories! Mien life is flashing before mein eyes!" The professor pointed out mentally communicating with Gold.
"Is that a good thing?" Gold asked as she looked at most of the images that involved Von Schelmmer blowing up.
"Normally, nien. It usually means someone is about to die."
"DIE?! I'M SO SORRY!!" She exclaimed with worry.
"Nien! I'm perfectly fine! In zis instance it feels like a movie is being played in mien head. And given mein part mechanical brain, I can be fully aware of it. However, someone not as lucky as me would probably loose zeir noodle if zey're not careful." Von Schlemmer acted like someone replaying memories in his own head was perfectly normal.
Gold would forever question if Professor Von Schelmmer would ever be considered normal, but perhaps it was that quirkiness of his that made him more trustworthy than the Council ever was.
Soon the memories showed when the professor found Silver and showed him to the Council. Gold saw for herself that even the professor was treated terribly and wanted him to get rid of Silver. Then came a point when the formally little hedgehog was hearing a noise from one of the rooms. The two tried to investigate but were immediately caught.
"You did hear me! I couldn't control my powers that well when I was found. I just was so scared..." Gold muttered as her voice cracked. The memories being displayed were beginning to fade in and out.
Schlemmer tried to warn her, "Gold, wait-" but soon the memory lane show ended and the tenrec relinquished control. Her eyes returned to normal and the professor was no longer in his trance like state. He shook his head to clear the rest of his mind, then laughed.
"Oh boy! Zat vas better zan I could've anticipated! Now I see how zis power vorks." Schlemmer shot up, ran towards his tablet and started writing down notes as quickly as possible.
Gold looked at the man, confused. He was the only person to actually be excited with her results. She usually was told to repeat the same actions until she had no energy left. While she normally didn't care about results, she was curious enough to find out what he discovered. "So...did I do good, profressor?"
The professor laughed once again. "You did vonderfully! Undt now I've compiled enough data to know how zis particular power of yours works!" He kneeled down, picked up the young tenrec and placed her on the table as he showed her his discovery.
"See, vile your psychokinesis is similar to Silver's, your greatest strength resides in your mind. You may not be able to lift heavy objects undt use zem for combat, but your telepathy seems to be multifaceted." He explained as she showed her the various data files he created for her it tracked all her progress from each test and she's improved and where she was weakened in.
"You have telepathy, which means you can read a person's mind undt communicate with zem entirely by thought. Zat little symbol on your head seems to be ze source of it. If you can do that, just zink of all ze possibilities you can unlock vizzin yourself!" Von Schlemmer could barely contain his excitement. He already had fun watching and testing Silver's powers, he was over the moon to discover what Gold could do with her own set of powers!
His enthusiasm was a bit comforting for Gold to see. No one had taken a good interest in her powers to help her. Now that someone was helping her not to be afraid of her own abilities, she looked forward to the tests. "Maybe I can free my people someday." She whispered as she looked at her own hands. "Maybe I can go home..."
Schlemmer didn't hear her over his own excitement, but he stopped once a thought came into his head. "Oh ja, I forgot! I do have one more surprise for you." He said as he went over to a stack of open boxes he had laying around the lab. He went through several of them before exclaiming "Ah-ha! Here it is!!"
He pulled out a small brown sari with light blue and golden trims, along with white gloves and brown open-toed sandals
Gold's eyes widened as she looked at the outfit. "Is that...for me?" She asked.
Von Schlemmer nodded. "I am a scientist, not a fashion designer, but I knew you'd vant to be out of zat old lab gown undt ze memories it holds. So I found zese clothes so you could haf a real new start."
After a few minutes, Gold had hurriedly put on the outfit. When she looked in the mirror, she didn't see a test subject anymore. She saw a normal tenrec girl. For the first time, she felt so much joy bubbling up inside her.
Schelmmer couldn't tell how she felt based on how long she was staring at the outfit. "If you don't like it, I can-"
He was interrupted by Gold jumping up and wrapping her arms around the professor's neck. "I love it! I really love it! I've never had my own clothes before! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed as she tried not to let her joyful tears fall.
Schelmmer slowly got used to the embrace and returned the hug. It took a long time for Gold to warm up to him and Silver, always keeping to herself when they weren't training. It warmed his half mechanical heart to see her open up. "Ah, you're just as affectionate as young Silver. Perhaps you two have even more in common zan I zought. Speaking of Silver, let's show him your progress too. I'm sure he'd be just as zrilled."
"And my new outfit!"
The two heard a loud crash in the next room, followed by the bits freaking out in their binary code. "Sorry, guys! I guess that machine was too heavy after all." Silver exclaimed.
Von Schelmmer and Gold looked at each other and sprinted out of the lab to make sure Silver didn't destroy anything in the home.
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Six months had passed and the two young mobians were making great progress. Genesis Portals had slowed down significantly, with Silver only having to close one a week. They had mostly been aerial portals in more secluded locations away from the busier parts of the cities. While it seemed random, Schlemmer deduced that the Council wanted them far from their base in case something went wrong.
The professor also continued to notice the peculiar parallels Silver and Gold had in their abilities. The two seemed similar, but each of their psychokinesis worked in opposite ways. Silver was able to close portals while Gold could open them. His powers could involve lifting physical objects while hers were more mental focused than physical. If he could have them use their powers together, they could be a powerful force against the Council.
That is, if they could get along enough. 😅
The two kids were good with separate tests, but when they had to train together, it was harder for them to get along and they would end up fighting. Nothing extreme, but they would bicker.
One had always thought Von Schlemmer showed more affection to one more than the other and it caused both of them to compete for his affection during their display of powers. Silver kept trying to lift much more than he could handle, Gold would spend way longer during her telepathic sessions with Schlemmer, making the hedgehog jealous. It was difficult for the man to love he didn't show favoritism without upsetting the other.
Not even the bits were sure about this, how could Silver save the world when he couldn't even handle a new sibling?
One morning an unusually small portal had opened up on the side of an abandoned bakery. It was quite early in the morning, so Von Schlemmer wouldn't have to leave for work for a while, so he grabbed the two kids (plus the bits!) And the little team headed out to close the portal.
"All right, Silver. Remember your training. Zis one is quite small, so it should be easy to close." The professor assured him he adjusted his energy scanner to gather data on the portal. Gold was nodding off a bit as the bits tried to keep her from falling over in her sleep. It was too risky to leave Gold alone for a long time, so the professor had her tag along, but out of sight from the robots.
Silver approached the wall and lifted his hands as his whole body began to have a cyan hue around it. The young hedgehog concentrated and soon the small portal began to shrink down until it was the size of a button.
"Ohohoho! Good job, Silver! Zis will be our easiest task yet!" Schlemmer exclaimed. But his excitement was cut off when he noticed the readings on his scanner were going nuts, the numbers were raising rather than lowering.
The tiny portal itself suddenly stopped shrinking. Instead, a loud rumbling and groaning came from it. The portal began to grow larger and larger, covering more of the wall. Von Schlemmer, Silver and Gold (who was now wide awake) began to take steps back as lightning cracked from inside it, followed by howlings that echoed across the place.
"Professor, what's happening? I thought we fixed this thing!" Silver yelled over the noises. He looked up at the sky, the once partially cloudy sky began to turn gray with rumbling thunder suggesting a storm was coming. The hedgehog was beginning to panic as he tried to close the portal again.
"Somezzing is wrong!" The professor exclaimed as he felt the strong wind was picking up. "Zis has never happened before, ze Genesis portal always closes once it comes in contact vith enough of your energy!"
The young tenrec was quiet as she looked into the eye of the portal herself. She could feel that familiar dark presence returning, the very same one she was fleeing for her life from. Soon the growling turned into roaring that echoed throughout the city.
"Its the monster! Its coming to eat us all!" Gold shouted and ran to the professor. At least, she tried to run to the professor, but instead she was floating off the ground. So were the professor and the bits. Silver was the only was already floating with his own powers, but he couldn't fathom what was happening.
Soon, the group was being sucked into the Genesis Portal itself, unable to grab onto anything that could anchor them. The bits each held onto one of Silver's growing quills to avoid getting pulled further. Von Schlemmer clumsily floated over to Gold grabbed her in his arms he grabbed onto the edge of the portal as best he could, but even he knew his strength couldn't last. "Silver! Try to close ze portal again! If its no use, run far away from here!"
The hedgehog was stunned. "I'm not leaving either of you behind, professor!" He grabbed the man's hand and with the tiny help from the bits, the three of them tried to pull Schlemmer and Gold out of the portal with all their might.
"THREAT ALERT! THREAT ALERT! ENEMIES OF THE COUNCIL DETECTED!" A loud robotic voice announced. Silver looked to his right and to his horror saw a civil protection robot flashing its red lights and coming their way. It had activated its weapon to handcuff them and prepared to capture the hedgehog.
"No! Stay back!" Silver tried to warn it, but it was too late. The robot attempted to grab Silver, only to start floating once it reached the wall. It too was sucked into the portal, slamming into the professor and Gold and sending them completely into the unknown realm.
Silver and the bits freaked out with the latter beeping and panicking at the hedgehog. "No! Its not too late!" Silver shouted. Without hesitation Silver flew into the portal and he felt a great wind try to push him back. The inside of the portal was a swirling purple vortex with lightning was flashing from every direction.
The hedgehog could see the professor, Gold and the robot being carried by the current, swirling around endlessly. The bits gripped Silver's quills tightly as he shouted "Hang on!" He flew towards the duo as quickly as possible. White lightning was cracking in nearly all directions, making it difficult for Silver dodge them.
As he was near the edge, he could see small portals opening and closing with each strike of lightning. Glimpses of other times and worlds filled the vortex. One contained an apocalyptic future with a destroyed city with fire, another showed dinosaurs roaming the Earth, one showed a castle in an unfamiliar dimension, and yet another showed a blue hedgehog fighting robots with super speed.
Silver was mesmerized at seeing all the different times and worlds, curious about the other people within them, until B.L.U, Y.E.L.L.O.W and R.E.D started hitting Silver on the head and telling him to focus. "Right, sorry!" He zoomed past the portals and found Von Schlemmer holding Gold close to his chest, shielding her from the lighting. He looked and saw the hedgehog. "Silver! Over here!"
Before he could reach them, the civil protection robot was beginning to fly closer to Silver. "THREAT ALERT! UNKNOWN ADVERSARY DETECTED! UNKNOWN ENERGY DETECTED! MUST ELIMINATE IMMEDIATELY!"
Silver wasted no more time as he used his psychokinesis to stop the robot from attacking him and threw him to the side. "Out of my way, you tin can!" He gruffed, attempting to sound a little tough.
The robot got shoved towards the open portal that contained several green hills and said portal closed up before it could fight back. Silver then went back to saving his friends, avoiding the other portals. Von Schlemmer saw him coming and lifted Gold up. "Quickly, grab Silver's hand!"
Gold nervously did as instructed and reached out to Silver, once he grabbed her, the cyan glow crept to her body, making her weightless. "Now you grab on, professor!" They both shouted, reaching their hands out.
Von Schlemmer attempted to swim to them as if he was in a body of water. "Zis is not as easy it looks!"
A loud roar emerged from the bottom of the vortex, along with several small black arms reaching out from every direction. "Oh no...he's coming!" Gold whispered as her body began to shake. "The monster is coming! Hurry, professor!" She exclaimed, reaching out further to the man.
Silver looked down and saw face slowly emerging from the darkness below. It roared once again as it met Silver's eyes. The bits were freaking out, telling Silver they all needed to leave as quickly as possible.
One of the black hands grabbed Von Schlemmer's ankle and began to pull him down. "Ack! Go back up undt take Gold undt the bits! Zey'll help you finish your mission!" He never thought that this would be his end. Schlemmer imagined he'd probably fall by his own hands with an experiment gone wrong. He wouldn't see the kids grow up, but he knew the world would be saved by them.
Suddenly, the black arms were shot back by a blast of blue energy. They shrieked and evaporated as the man's body was covered in the same energy. He slowly floated over to the kids.
"I'm not leaving you, Dad! I still need you!" Silver smiled as he drew the man closer.
Gold was caught by surprise. "Dad?" She only heard him ever call Von Schlemmer "professor". Did he not know?
The massive roaring continued as the monster was growing closer, reaching out its large hand upwards. Silver shot upwards like a bullet and took his family with him. The other black arms tried to grab them, but disintegrated on contact. Gold could feel the monster's presence drawing near and squeezed Silver's hand.
Silver flew faster and faster, seeing the opening back to Onyx City, the monster trudging ever closer. Soon the hedgehog finally reached the top and escaped the vortex.
The trio fell out of the portal and slammed into the ground. It wasn't the softest landing, but they were alive. Silver wasted no time as he flew in front of the portal. He saw a pair of black hands creeping out if the portal, trying to reach their world. The hedgehog wasn't going to let that happen.
He concentrated with all his might, his entire body being encased in a cyan glow. He scrunched up his face and used his power to encase the portal. "GO AWAY!" Silver shouted as he forcibly slammed his hands together. At the same time, whatever creature was in the portal howled and the black arms retreated back into the void. It soon slammed shut with a thunderous clap. The skies immediately started to lighten up. Still mostly cloudy, but much better than the thunderstorm earlier. The people in the city were confused at the sudden weather change and began to question the anomaly.
Gold was the first to get up, coughing from the remaining dust. Silver looked back and saw his family was okay. He flew down and hugged Gold. "I'm sorry! I should've been faster! I didn't mean to scare you!" he whimpered, just happy to see she was still alive.
The trenrec was surprised by his sudden affection, considering they haven't been on the best terms recently. But it was nice to feel like she had a friend her own age. "Its okay. I-I wasn't scared at all! I knew you'd save us from that monster. Now you see why I never wanted to open that gate."
Their small reunion was interrupted by the bits beeping as they attempted to shake the professor awake. The kids ran over to him, but he wasn't moving. "Profressor? Are you all right? Please, wake up!"
Nothing. He was breathing, but still unconscious.
"Come on, Wake up, Dad!" Silver tried, his voice cracking with worry. The bits were getting worried too.
Gold then looked at her own hand and reluctantly remembered one of her past tests with the Council. "Let me try...." She gently pressed her finger on the professor's head. A familiar "dinggg" sound emitted and a moment later, the professor shot up, wide awake.
"Va- vere am I?" He questioned as he rubbed his head. "Who am I?"
"You're...Professor Von Schlemmer." Gold hesitated. Did she accidentally wipe his memory?
Schlemmer grinned. "Oh ja, I forgot!" He laughed.
"DAD! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Silver exclaimed as he hugged the professor tightly. The bits and Gold joined in, all of them happy to be safe again.
Professor Von Schlemmer looked at the small group, then at the now empty wall were the portal once was. As much as he wanted to save the world and stop these portals permanently, saving his children was more important right now.
"I zink ve should go back home. Ve'fe... done more zan enough." Schlemmer sighed.
Training was cancelled for the rest of the day. The kids were allowed to play, talk and do whatever they wanted until tomorrow. They weren't just tired from their experience, this morning's events showed just how serious things were getting as time passed. Silver and Gold promised to take their training more seriously as neither of them wanted to leave the professor's side. After a simple dinner of a fruit salad, (Though the two of them ate only the apples or oranges until Schlemmer scolded them.) he sent the two of them to bed.
Another storm had begun late in the evening. The rain was pouring hard as anyone could hear the rain hitting their homes as they slept. Von Schlemmer was used to this weather, but hoped that since Silver and Gold shared a room now, neither would be alone. He often had dreams of new ideas that inspired him to work when he was awake and was excited to see what his subconscious would show him.
Deep into his sleep, Schlemmer heard footsteps approaching combined with the rumbling thunder outside. The man didn't want to wake up. He had nearly died and just wanted to rest. That would've been one thing he wanted to forget. He kept his eyes closed and continued sleeping.
He felt something tapping his nose, not once, but twice.
Von Schlemmer opened his eyes and saw the little tenrec staring back at him in the bed. He jumped up in surprise. "Gold? What is wrong?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Can I sleep with you? The lightning scared me. It made me think of that monster." She whispered as she clutched the blankets.
The tired professor was going to tell her she needed to return to her shared room with Silver, but he didn't have the heart to tell Gold that. "Very vell." He said with a yawn. "You can stay for tonight only."
As soon as his head returned to the pillow, he nearly fell back asleep. Gold smiled, quickly got under the covers and joined Schlemmer as she laid down next to him. As the thunder rolled outside, the two of them soon were asleep.
Ten minutes later a strange sound emitted in the room, along with a cyan glow. Soon the professor felt something heavy settle on his chest. At first he thought the mechanical parts of his body had locked up again, until he opened one eye.
He saw Silver had curled up on Schlemmer's chest and was snoring softly as his long quills twitched.
The man smiled and looked at both kids before quietly going back to sleep. "Good night, little schazts."
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Little did they know as one threat was subsiding, a new one was slowly rising from the shadows. The reason the Genesis Portals had all but stopped because the Council no longer had an energy source to activate the gate. Gold was still missing after nearly a year, and certain members of the Council's were beginning to lose their patience.
"How much longer must we continue this? The robots still haven't found Gold, and there's only so many areas we can look over." Two barked with impatience. They had been looking for her for six months and still yielded no results.
"In time, council member, in time." One didn't sound concerned in the slightest, as if this was a minor inconvenience. He was still looking over the footage of the robots camera footage. There were a few troublemakers, but nothing serious as they handled them with ease.
Three was helping him, but was growing tired as well. Then something strange caught her eye. "One of the robots is malfunctioning. I will attempt to reconfigure its servers." The static screen soon became clear, showing a blue sky, green hills and flowers. It looked nothing like Onyx City.
"Where did it go? How did it get so far from the city?" One questioned as he stood from his chair. He typed in a command to find the robot's location. When it responded the words "Green Hills" flashed on screen.
"Green Hills? That place hasn't existed in nearly 200 years. Its nothing but dusty hills now." Three pondered as she looked in the database for any possible restoration of Green Hills, but there were none. "Its like it..."
"Traveled back in time." Four finished for her. "Rewind the footage, all the way back after its alarm went off."
One nodded and pressed a few keys The footage rewound quickly, going past the images of the peaceful land and instead into the vortex where the robot helplessly flew in. Once it reached where it turned a corner and saw Silver, it rushed towards him, only to slam into Professor Von Schlemmer.....and Gold.
The rest of the council was more than furious. All these months of searching and she'd been with one of their own scientists this whole time.
"That whackjob of a scientist kept that white rat for years? And he took Gold? He will pay for his crimes against us!" Two snapped.
"Actually, this works in our favor." One answered, his tone unchanged.
Four stomped over to the council member, grabbing his shoulder. "Have you gone mad? This is our chance to take the girl back and you're willingly giving her away?!"
One seemingly glared at her removed Four's hand from his shoulder. "I am saying that if we take her now, not only would she never cooperate, but these two will stop at nothing to bring her back. Additionally, look here."
He raised a hand towards the screen and zoomed in on both Gold and Silver. One noticed that Silver's powers were similar to Gold's. The tenrec was no longer the scared creature she was when they found her. If she was able to open a portal that large, she could get strong enough to open the gate.
"Her powers have seem to grown stronger and produced faster results than when she was with us. If we let them continue to train her for us, she will already be strong enough to open the gates without our interference. For now, we will let them think they have the upper hand."
Three pulled up a picture of the psych family before they were sucked into the Genesis Portal. Clearly the group survived since Schlemmer showed up to work today. He didn't know where he hid the kids, but he would find out at all costs. Somehow that food managed to keep them hidden all this time.
"Once their training is complete, we can capture them. They'll be able to open and close the gate whenever we desire, having control over time and space. We just need to make our unexpected guest cooperates instead of trying to escape." One walked over to the time gate and checked on their new source of power.
Locked into a chair was the lost wooly mammoth that had crashed into this world by accident. Though he was quite large in stature, the magnetic locks kept the mobian in place. He wore a round golden mask atop his head, clearly too small for his skull, he grabbed the mask with his trunk and threw it at one if the council members who ducked in time. Once the gate closed back, the mammoth was out of breath, as if he had just lifted a weight greater than his own.
"Your powers are working better than we could imagine." One said he ordered a protection robot to remove the mask. "Even though Gold is the only one capable of opening this gate to other dimensions, fate has given us another chance with you. Your powers are clearly stronger than both of them combined. Help us, and once we have the children, we will send you back home."
"I will never help you. I'm not the monster I once was. Something evil is beyond that gate. You will doom us all if you continue to pry it open it." Mogul mumbled.
One stepped in front of Mogul as he looked up at the beast eyeing him back. Despite his claims he was harmless, he looked like he was ready to cause all of the council massive damage when he had the chance. "You do not have a choice in this, nor will you stand in the way of science. You're going to come quite valuable to us. If you cooperate without anymore outbursts. Don't forget who's in charge here, Mogul." He pressed a button that put the mammoth back in his cell and released the cuffs on him.
Two didn't understand. Why go through the trouble of getting two young psychics when they had a master of the power? "Isn't this enough, council member? We don't need Gold anymore if we have the mammoth."
One pulled up pictures of Gold, Silver and Mogul. "Indeed. But why have one psychic being, when we can have three at our command? We could be unstoppable."
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Author's Notes:
One of my favorite things to write whether in fan fiction or original work is families. Most stories in media nowadays don't really have them, and usually have parentless kids or kidless parents due to tragedy. Its so rare to see a fully happy family, and seeing the Sonic Movies actually creating that again was such a breath of fresh air. So much that they directly inspire this story. Silver's past and family remain a mystery, and it felt like the "Silver Age" story was about to give him his own team/family until it got cancelled abruptly.
The idea here is not only to give Silver a proper family, but also an idea of what his species of hedgehog is like. The next chapter will actually finally dive into that! It'll combine a small part of some fan speculation while I create my own take on Silver's background. It may not be as good as Evan Stanley's, but I at least want to try to create something as fun as that.
Gold I'm basically starting from scratch since there's not that much canon info for her, outside of the wiki and Stanley's own lore drops. She had a lot of potential and I've been planning out how her canon interests and lore will come into play. The only difference is that I want to give her a more calm/introverted type personality. That way she contrasts with Silver's upbeat and optimistic outlook.
Von Schlemmer is basically the Professor Utonium of the group training them, so I really want to show he's adapting and learning more about the kids powers and personalities as they grow. He already loves Silver and grows to love Gold too, its just harder for him to understand how the powers feel to them. And with the fate of the future resting with all of them, its a lot on his shoulders.
Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter! Its when the biggest changes are coming and Silver's true purpose is finally showing. But it will be a while before its out.
As a time traveler, Silver has had many adventures in the countless timelines of his world, all to make a better future. But can he even remember them all anymore, or if he was even the version of “him” that had them?
I got the amazing opportunity to work on the silverfanzine in collaboration with ultimate-shiruba for her short story called The Midnight District. In this final scene, Silver discovers Team Psych has a newfound ally in the world's only ultimate life form...! The Bits seem quite fascinated by his rather ancient, yet still well maintained air shoes.
It was an honor to be able to illustrate so many of my favorite characters all in one scene!
