§ The Silver Submachine Series §

TF: Hey, guys! Been a while since I updated or posted anything, hasn't it? Well, I apologize for the REALLY long wait, just basically lack of ideas, motivation, and a lot of procrastinating, and my iTouch broke recently, so there went all the saved files I had for my updates. –_– I'll be working on updates as fast as possible, but for now, here's a new story I created, a birthday gift for Tails the Espeon on FanFiction! Her birthday was on March 4th. Might be a little late, but better late and the best it can be then rushed and on time! XD

Wilbur: *yawns* About time you woke this place up ... the Submachine series and all related characters and objects are owned by Pastel Studios and Mateusz Skutnik, who is mentioned in this chapter. Aurora and it's characters and locations are also owned by Mateusz Skutnik.

Skye: Sonic the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and all characters, places, organizations, and objects in the franchise are owned by SEGA. Parker the Collie is owned by TFTime.

TF: The cover for this story was put together by me, but consists of multiple images. The back-ground and jewel are both from "Submachine 1: The Basement" and are taken from the Submachine Wikia. The black cat was a picture found on Google Images clipart, and the drawing of Silver is credited to the talented DeviantArt artist eliacube, as their clipart "Combo Attack". The font used is Rough Draft, and the official Submachine font.

Felix: Disfrute! Enjoy! Read and please review – many people say it, but only when you become a writer do you realize how much reviews help the story! :D

Author's Note: The mentioned events of Red Hill concern an upcoming prequel to Silver Submachine. Please stand by. :)

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere." – Groucho Marx

§ The Silver Submachine Series §

Episode One: The Basement

Chapter One: The Black Cat

"So let me get this straight. You found some book that was thrown at your window, and since then, you've been randomly sent into the world of that book in a Western setting and have been tracking down a mysterious human named Aurora that's been messing with the time-stream?" a silver, golden-eyed Hedgehog asked, tying the dark aqua scarf around his neck to prevent the wind from blowing it off.

The Hedgehog walking besides him, cobalt-blue and emerald-eyed, nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell."

The silver one chuckled slightly, looking up at the bright blue, nearly cloudless sky overhead. "That's something else, Sonic ... I mean, we've been through a lot in our lives. Crystalized demons, flame creatures, transforming aliens, time-devoring monsters, robotic versions, Faun-like rainbow beings ... but that? It just sounds kinda ... unbelievable."

Sonic wrinkled his peach muzzle, using one white-gloved hand to lightly punch the Hedgehog's arm. "Aw, c'mon Silv, it can't be that unbelievable! I'm telling you, I keep getting teleported or something into that weird book, and it's real! I know, 'cause I found Charles' hat underneath my bed the last time I came back, and there was sand in my quills the first time!"

"Charles?" Silver echoed, looking at him in confusion.

The speed demon shrugged. "He's your Red Hill version ... nice kid, I got him out of jail and we've been friends ever since," he answered before frowning. "Well ... used to be friends ... last time I got sent into that book, Aurora came, and ... I think she killed him ... I don't know, I just found his hat ... all the more reason to find and defeat her, eh?"

The time-traveller blinked. "... Yeah, I guess ..."

He looked down at the holographic screen in one golden wrist-cuff. "... Almost 10:30 AM ... what did Shadow want again?"

Sonic shrugged, fiddling with his own neon-red and white scarf that matched his sneakers. "Meh, he said that Rouge found something strange in an alley downtown the Station, and the GUN dudes want us as Team SSS to figure out what it is. There's soldiers guarding the area, too."

"... What could possibly need soldiers? Is it a nuclear bomb or something?" Silver asked in confusion.

The seventeen-year-old smirked. "Beats me, I just know this'll be a bite of chili-dog!" he laughed.

The younger smiled faintly. "Like you defeating Aurora in the future?" he asked teasingly.

Sonic pointed a finger at him. "Hey, I'm serious! Besides, who knows? Maybe you'll find out I'm right about there being this secret Escape Universe!"

Silver blinked, golden yes staring at him blankly. "... Escape what?"

"Escape Universe!" Sonic repeated. "That's what I call it! 'Cause it isn't a Storybook, it's more like ... like one of those online escape games you can play for free on the Web!"

"... Seriously?"

He grinned, holding out his peach arms at either side. "Serious is as serious is blue."

The thirteen-year-old rolled his eyes, exhaling. "That doesn't make sense ..."

"Exactly!" Sonic snapped his fingers with a smirk, jabbing a thumb at the buildings ahead. "Now c'mon, Silv, we gotta get to Shads on time, else you'll be late!"

"I'll be late?" Silver asked, blinking once.

The blue Mobian snickered teasingly. "Sure! I'll just run ahead and leave you to get yelled at!"

Silver wrinkled his muzzle. "Funny, Sonic ... really funny ..."

"Finally. I almost thought you two were never coming," the black and red-striped Hedgehog stated coldly, crimson-red eyes narrowed.

Sonic smiled warmly, unaffected by the other's threatening posture. "Hiya Shads! Nah, we were coming, just talking and stuff along the way," he answered, undoing his scarf and tossing it to Silver, who was busy taking his own off as well and just managed to catch it in an aqua aura of psychic energy.

"Hmph," Shadow rolled his eyes, keeping his arms crossed.

"What's going on, Shadow?" Silver asked, stashing the scarves into his silver quills and looking around the street of dark, dingy apartment buildings and eyeing nervously the soldiers patrolling one particularly eerie-looking area – the alley, no doubt.

"Rouge was on a mission for GUN concerning strange happenings in the city over the past few months – the media isn't reporting on it, this thing is top-secret," the Ultimate Lifeform answered curtly. "The Mobian government recently discovered an unknown, diamond-like jewel radiating energy in a similar way to the Chaos Emeralds, but this one at a much higher level. It appeared to be artificially made as well, and it's carbon structure was so impossible that it was taken into the laboratories of GUN for testing. About over a dozen times. In none of those dozen did it ever make it to the labs."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" he asked. "Eggy get his dumb-bots to steal it?"

Shadow shook his head. "Eggman doesn't even know it exists. In every instance, there would be reports of a black cat – a normal one – being seen in the building, and shortly after, the jewel always vanished. Even when people went after the cat, it would turn a corner, then disappear into thin air. GUN's tried locking the jewel down, guarding it with soldiers, placing it in special containers, everything, and nothing has worked. This last time, somebody reported seeing a black cat enter the alley, followed by a bright flash of white light, and when they went there, they caught a glimpse of the jewel at the feet of that same damn cat before both just vanished into thin air. They called the police, and GUN took over just an hour afterward."

After a moment's dead silence, Sonic raised a hand, swirling it around the side of his head as he whistled. "One word – cuckoo."

"This isn't a joke, Faker," the black Hedgehog growled angrily.

He snorted. "Yeah, it is! Come on! Some weird jewel keeps vanishing 'cause a black cat steals it? Shows how good GUN's weaponry systems are," the blue Hedgehog snickered.

There was a click, and Shadow pressed a gun against Sonic's forehead. "Want me to demonstrate our weaponry systems ...?"

"Hey, guys, this really isn't the time!" Silver laughed nervously, waving his glowing hands. "I mean, GUN wants all of us checking the alley out ... not two of us and a body-bag ... and ... why do they want us to check it out? Why can't they do it themselves?"

Shadow looked at the teenager, reluctantly lowering the hand pistol. "Because we're much more experienced with these types of things then they are, as much as GUN hates to admit it. They'd rather swallow their pride and get the cursed rock then come back empty-handed yet again."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Sonic asked, grinning.

Shadow glared at him. "For you to shut the hell up before I blow your freaking head off," he answered coolly, walking past the two and towards the soldiers, stashing the gun into his quills.

Sonic shrugged, walking after him. "Sure, sure, Mr. Emo-Hog!"

"Sonic ... don't push it ..." Silver murmured, flying after the two older Hedgehogs nervously.

Upon reaching the soldiers, the Ultimate Lifeform reached back into his quills, pulling out a card and holding it up to one of the solders blocking the entrance to a dark alley. Reading it, he saluted, motioning for the others to step aside.

The GUN soldier read the card, then saluted, motioning to the other soldiers standing in front of the alley to step aside. "Shadow, Sonic, Silver, we have been expecting you," the human stated.

Shadow grunted, lowering the card and stashing it back in his black quills. "Whatever. Status report?"

"Quiet. Nothing coming in, nothing coming out."

"The damn cat?"

"No sign of it. We checked for any DNA traces but found the place clean."

"The jewel?"

"Energy signals present, the jewel isn't, though."

"You arrived at?"

"12:34 AM, sir."

"The call?"

"11:11 PM, sir."

"Caller?"

"Middle-aged man, Mateusz Skutnik, thirty-seven. A watercolor artist, writer, and video-game designer from Polish City, Kent."

"First arriving officer?"

"Officer Parker the Collie, from Green Hills Zone, second-officer for three years, honorable reputation."

"I see. Thank you."

Stalking past the uniformed soldier, Shadow headed into the dark alley, and Sonic flipped the man a thumbs-up before strolling after the darker Hedgehog. Silver dropped to the ground, waving at the human as he trudged after the two, his black and white boots thudding against the pavement of the trash-littered alleyway, and he kicked aside part of a broken beer bottle. "So, where did they last see the cat and the jewel?" he called ahead.

Shadow held out a hand to signal them to stop as he came to a halt, pointing at the circle of bare concrete in front of them. "Right there. Place was cleared when the police got here — like the cat did it, maybe. Who knows."

Sonic crouched down, running a finger over the ground and holding it up, rubbing his fingers together. "... Dirty, gotta say that. But they're right, there's definitely a strong presence of energy around here ... maybe the jewel got hidden nearby," he suggested. "I mean, a cat can't just carry it off ... I think."

"What did the jewel look like?" the psychic asked, crossing his silver arms.

Shadow shrugged. "Hand-sized. Diamond-shaped, but narrow. A silver-white color. Defiantly glowing. Hovers by itself, too."

Silver nodded, looking back and heading towards the end of the alley, and Sonic stood, dusting off his hands. "Well, if that doesn't sound an awful lot like a Chaos Emerald, then chili-dogs aren't my food sent from heaven," he mused, tapping his chin with one finger. "But the energy isn't the same, and it's narrow ... could some other villain be creating fake Emeralds? Eggman Nega, the Zeti ...?"

"Not a chance, Eggman Nega would copy the Sol Emeralds, not the Chaos Emeralds," Shadow snorted. "And the Zeti are more interested in electronic devices then jewel-copying."

"Well maybe it was ..."

Their voices faded away as Silver walked deeper into the darkened alleyway, deep in thought as he focused on the task at hand. Okay ... they just had to find and capture a mysterious jewel radiating energy and/or a cat that appeared and vanished at will while stealing this jewel ... but why did the cat keep stealing it? Maybe it liked shiny things? Maybe it was a robot controlled by some villain? Maybe it was a villain and wanted the jewel to take over the world? Maybe the jewel belonged to it? Gah, he didn't know ... maybe ... maybe the cat was from another dimension and it was the guardian of the jewel ... after all, Blaze was a Cat Mobian and she guarded the Sol Emeralds in her dimension ... that would make sense, right?

... Yeah, right.

Shadow was right ... something was definitely up about whatever the jewel was ... was it possibly more powerful then all seven of the Chaos Emeralds put together? But then why hadn't GUN found out about that power? Or had they already found out and didn't want the public knowing? Did the cat know? If it did, what was it using the jewel for? And if it didn't, why did it want it? Was the cat even the one wanting it? Or someone else ...?

Silver stopped, his ears perking up as he looked around.

... He could've sworn he heard footsteps ...

Patter patter patter ...

The Hedgehog quickly turned his head to the left, and his golden eyes widened as he froze, staring in shock. Standing right there, RIGHT there, not six feet away, was a jet-black, yellow-eyed cat. It was just ... standing there. Tail in air, head raised, staring ... staring right back at him. Not moving. Not as if it was startled like he was, as if it was ... watching him?

After a moment of the two, golden-eyed animals just keeping eye contact, one confused and shocked, the other eerily calm and knowing, the cat turned it's head to stare forward at the dead end of the alley, slowly walking forward. Silver blinked, then realized what he was here for partially. The cat! The cat was the one stealing the jewel, GUN needed it! And it could vanish ... he had to catch it fast, else it'd be gone and they might not find it again!

Slowly crouching down to the pavement, the silver teenager kept his eyes trained on the animal, not even blinking for fear it'd be gone when he opened his eyes again. The cat kept walking, ignoring the broken glass and trash scattered about it, just staring fixedly on that same wall. All the better ... carefully raising a gloved hand, the Hedgehog aimed, then quickly shot out an aura of aqua energy, which swarmed around the cat and froze it into place. He grinned. Perfect! "Sonic! Shadow! Come here, I caught the cat!" he yelled quickly, standing up and walking over to the frozen creature.

There was the sound of sneakers and metal hitting the ground, and Silver turned to see Sonic and Shadow run over for a moment.

A moment was all it took.

Instantly, the black cat raised one paw, a neon, cyan, circular light brighter and more vibrant then even Silver's own aqua aura forming under it's paw, spreading out and warping into revolving symbols in an unknown language, the symbols spinning on the ground in a speeding blur of light. The other two Hedgehog's screeched to a stop, and Sonic's emerald eyes widened. "Silv! The cat!" he exclaimed, and Silver whirled back around.

His golden eyes widened as well in shock, and he stepped back slightly. The aura should have frozen the cat! How was it moving?! What was it doing?! The symbols spun faster and faster, the cat almost seeming to smile creepily as it closed it's yellow eyes, and Silver dropped his eyes as he saw a glimmer of white between it's front paws.

A jewel. A diamond-shaped, narrow, silver-white jewel, radiating pure, untainted energy that was able to be felt by all three Mobians.

Shadow's red eyes narrowed as he gritted his canines, raising a gloved hand as a bolt of energy appeared in his palm. "Chaos SPEAR!" he yelled, flinging it at the cat to knock the animal away so Silver could grab the jewel.

The cat immediately slammed it's paw into the ground, and there was an explosion as cyan energy rocketed out of the ground as a shield, shattering Silver's psychic hold and deflecting the Chaos Spear. Silver stared in shock for a millisecond before Sonic's voice jolted him awake again.

"SILV, LOOK OUT!"

The thirteen-year-old jerked his head up at the exact moment both Shadow's Chaos Spear and the expanding shield of cyan light slammed into his chest, throwing Silver back with a cry of surprise as he crashed to the ground, slamming his head hard against the dead-end wall. A racking pain shooting through his head, the feeling of concrete against his fur as he dropped to the ground, an explosion of white light, then ...

Black.

Just black.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

Matthew 7:7, NKJ (New King James)

TF (TFTime)

Coming up next ... "Chapter Two: The Rooms"