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Description
Previous parts in the story:
Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5: Part 6:

___
The train trip from Sapphire City to New Mobitropolis was six hours long. Silver spent the first half wishing something entertaining would happen, and the second half wishing he hadn't wished it.

Blaze rode in silence in the seat across from him. The compartment was full at first, but emptied at every stop until Silver and Blaze were alone.

Blaze shot Silver an odd look. "Want to be friends?"

Silver studied her. "I suppose...but why? You're just a street performer and I'm..." What was he? A hedgehog with no memory? A drifter across the face of Mobius?

Suddenly he missed the Floating Island and everyone on it. At least he felt at home there.

Blaze looked out the window. "I think we could be good friends, if you wanted." Then her eyes focused and she stiffened. "What's he doing?"

Silver looked and his stomach shriveled. They were climbing the steep mountain grade north of Sapphire City, and the train had slowed to a crawl. A stone wall rose on one side and a cliff fell away on the other.

And a black and red hedgehog ran alongside, peering in the windows.

Running? No--skating on air, with light burning from the bottoms of his weird shoes.

An orange chaos emerald flashed in Shadow's fist.

Dread plunged through Silver's middle, although he didn't know why. He and Shadow made eye contact.

Shadow flung an arm toward Silver and his lips moved.

The window shattered. A wall of force struck Silver and knocked him against the back of the compartment. Blaze screamed.

Silver struggled to his feet, stunned. Glass sparkled on the seats and floor, and chaos energy crackled in his fur like static. The smell of ozone permeated the air.

Two hands gripped the windowsill and Shadow's head came into view. His half-robot face made no sense to Silver, like looking at someone who had been mutilated in an accident. Perhaps Shadow had been.

His monster-face turned toward Silver and grinned like a predator.

Silver threw a blast of telekinesis that bent the train's wall outward.

Shadow held on, unaffected. "Forgetting something, Silver? Wait. Yes."

"He's chaos-shielded!" Blaze exclaimed.

Silver's power couldn't touch Shadow. The memory swam out of the emptiness like a fish rising from the black depths of a well.

Then the train's wheels screeched beneath them, and the whole train sagged toward the edge of the cliff. Silver's telekinesis had warped the car and torn its wheels from the track.

Which would derail the entire train.

Description
Previous parts in the story:
Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5: Part 6:

___
The train trip from Sapphire City to New Mobitropolis was six hours long. Silver spent the first half wishing something entertaining would happen, and the second half wishing he hadn't wished it.

Blaze rode in silence in the seat across from him. The compartment was full at first, but emptied at every stop until Silver and Blaze were alone.

Blaze shot Silver an odd look. "Want to be friends?"

Silver studied her. "I suppose...but why? You're just a street performer and I'm..." What was he? A hedgehog with no memory? A drifter across the face of Mobius?

Suddenly he missed the Floating Island and everyone on it. At least he felt at home there.

Blaze looked out the window. "I think we could be good friends, if you wanted." Then her eyes focused and she stiffened. "What's he doing?"

Silver looked and his stomach shriveled. They were climbing the steep mountain grade north of Sapphire City, and the train had slowed to a crawl. A stone wall rose on one side and a cliff fell away on the other.

And a black and red hedgehog ran alongside, peering in the windows.

Running? No--skating on air, with light burning from the bottoms of his weird shoes.

An orange chaos emerald flashed in Shadow's fist.

Dread plunged through Silver's middle, although he didn't know why. He and Shadow made eye contact.

Shadow flung an arm toward Silver and his lips moved.

The window shattered. A wall of force struck Silver and knocked him against the back of the compartment. Blaze screamed.

Silver struggled to his feet, stunned. Glass sparkled on the seats and floor, and chaos energy crackled in his fur like static. The smell of ozone permeated the air.

Two hands gripped the windowsill and Shadow's head came into view. His half-robot face made no sense to Silver, like looking at someone who had been mutilated in an accident. Perhaps Shadow had been.

His monster-face turned toward Silver and grinned like a predator.

Silver threw a blast of telekinesis that bent the train's wall outward.

Shadow held on, unaffected. "Forgetting something, Silver? Wait. Yes."

"He's chaos-shielded!" Blaze exclaimed.

Silver's power couldn't touch Shadow. The memory swam out of the emptiness like a fish rising from the black depths of a well.

Then the train's wheels screeched beneath them, and the whole train sagged toward the edge of the cliff. Silver's telekinesis had warped the car and torn its wheels from the track.

Which would derail the entire train.