April 30^th, 2019 | 11:07 PM

I was walking through Aethera, hoping to sleep after a long battle. Vincent was causing trouble with Garuda and Nid in Central Cross City, so me, Leon, and Seven went to investigate. We ended up taking them down, but they vanished before I could land the final hit. Leon and Seven decided to head back to the past, but I chose to stay behind, since I was pretty tired already.

On my way to Great Aethera Castle, though, I started hearing noises behind me. It sounded like whispering, almost, and I turned to see where they were coming from. Nobody was in sight. At first, I thought it was in my head, but I spotted someone in an alleyway trying to get my attention. I looked around, hoping nobody would follow me, and once the coast was clear I walked over to them.

They pulled me back suddenly, dragging me deeper into the alleyway and into the shadows. I was slightly nervous, but I kept my guard up.

"Tell me... have you ever heard of a land called Floze Xecrines?" they whispered to me.

I shook my head. The name didn't ring a bell, and it sounded stranger than anything I've ever heard.

"Either way, I need you to meet someone at Mt. Steamworx's interior caves. Find someone wearing a black and blue cape, and you should be good to go."

Before I could say another word, they threw down a flashbang and blinded me. Once my vision came back, they were gone.

I didn't know what else to expect, but I decided to head to sleep, even if I was in an alleyway. Resting my head on the dirt, I nodded off.

May 1^st, 2019 | 4:09 PM

I woke up with dirt on my face, hands, robe- it's like I was rolling around in my sleep like I had a bad dream. I didn't have a dream, even. I just woke up like nothing even happened, and after checking my phone to see what time it was, I couldn't believe I slept for so long, too. Nevertheless, I dusted myself off and headed off to Mt. Steamworx. I took a "shortcut" and used Chaos Control to warp myself to the mountain plateau's outer workshop. I still had the green Chaos Emerald with me from Mobius, thankfully, but I still wonder if Sonic will ever come back and ask me for it. He let me borrow it for however long I needed, but he never once asked to have it back.

Side-stories aside, I warped to the outer workshop of Mt. Steamworx, walking forward and into the cave system. A lot of the dwarves were, as you'd expect, working on gadgets of all kinds, but it makes me wonder how people like me are more technologically advanced than them. I built my own mech suit from scratch, and they only work with steampunk material.

I didn't see anyone suspicious or out of the blue at first, but then I saw someone sitting against the rock wall while he was distracted. He looked pretty similar to people like Vincent, but not enough to make him appear evil. His clothes had patterns rather than simple color and nothing more, and his hair had a gradient of black and blue from top to bottom.

"So... are you who I'm supposed to meet?" I asked them.

"Not sure. Are you Kade?" he said as he got up.

I hesitated. "...yes?"

"Perfect. My sister and I have been looking for you. Hold out your hand real quick."

I did what he said, and he quickly grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull away, but we vanished into a black void before I could break his grasp. We re-appeared at some kind of hidden base, and I was more baffled than ever.

"Welcome to the base of our group... Organization of the Blue Flame."

I'll admit, I've been to many strange and off-putting places in my life, but this "base", looking semi-normal, was actually well-crafted. A few pictures hung on nearby walls, there was a map on another wall with a "You Are Here" spot- this was amazing.

"I'll show you around later, but for now feel free to walk around however you please.

He vanished into thin air with black and blue, swirl-like flames. I gazed about a bit more, inspecting what I could.

Maybe this new adventure wouldn't be so bad.

After a while of looking around, some other crew members introduced themselves to me and showed me around the base. The two original ones I had met, who I found out were named Fyro and Illume, were the co-owners of the whole operation. Fyro offered me to join them on their mission to save Aethera- and many other worlds- from possible destruction.

I happily agreed. What else was I going to do with my time? I was quite positive that Leon and Seven were still busy in Past Aethera, and they even told me they could handle the situation themselves for the time being. I decided that this would be a good way to pass the time before my boredom could catch up.

* (The rest of the text is missing... maybe the story ends here, for now.)