Chapter 9:

The Big Regretting and Plan

The Nightstar flew off, with everyone except Tails, who still needed to heal, and was left in Marie's watching until healed fully. The others however all glanced over at Aaron and Conore, wondering why in shock.

"Though we have the ability to shift whenever we want," Aaron explained, "It doesn't mean that there aren't times that we can skip the full moon without paying a price, we skipped a full moon last month, so we have to by force, and without being able to control ourselves."

"Couldn't you tell us a little bit more earlier?" Rouge glared at them.

"People forget Rouge." Amy argued, "Especially in this kind of situation when you've been fooled by another person that isn't the one you're looking for."

"Who is this Damion anyways?" Sonic asked.

"Damion's my ex." Misty said letting her head hang down, "And he joined with Eggman because he was lied to."

"Just so then Eggman can slow us down to, that bastard." Knuckles criticized.

"In that case, do you even care for him?" Shadow asked her.

Misty didn't speak nor she lifted up her head to look, she just kept her head low and silent. Shadow started to become irritated, and stepped in front of her with a loud stomp, and asked her again.

"Well? Do you still care for him after what he'd done to us?" Shadow yelled, "We have a crisis to deal with, and if you still care for him, why don't you just join him and Eggman!"

"Because it's none of your business to know about us." Misty growled, "I actually now really don't care for anyone at all, cause I've been disown, lied to, and been criticized by my own friends, and if people start telling me…"

"Guys, we've got a problem." Yorker cried out.

Misty and Shadow stopped speaking and turned towards Yorker. Conore walked over to take a look on the data radar; it revealed a report about Damion and Espio being near, but not in flight. Conore looked back towards Misty and Shadow, with a glare.

"Alright bicker heads," Conore snarled, "If you guys want to beat up one another, do it with Espio and Damion around, you two are going down into the forest below us."

"What?" The two shouted.

"That's right, and I know both of you are strong, so get going."

"Wait now, hold on." Sonic slowed him down, "Can't we even just help them out a little?"

"They're on their own." Conore said.

"Conore! What in hell are you thinking?" Aaron cried out, "Do you even realize what those two are?"

"I do and I don't care," Conore stated, "All I care is if we get our heads back together, and we start to get even with these guys, and by that I mean…"

He then paused and seen Shadow and Misty both gone, his scowled face then went curious, wondering why they took off so early, though everyone was shocked, they then decided to give Conore the old cold shoulder.

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Shadow rode on Misty's back, holding her think white fur tightly and cautiously. Misty glided through the air slowly, taking time to feel the breeze on her face before a rush hour occurred unexpectedly, for yet this maybe her last stand, after what Conore said, telling her to risk her life after a mistake that her and Shadow didn't mean to cause. To her, what Conore said was nearly like a death penalty to her, even though she loved her cousin so much, sometimes there were times she couldn't bare him. Her thoughts stopped churning in her mind, hearing the sounds of more wings flapping and the breath of death sitting on her occupied shoulders, shaking her to come to the chance to die without being cared for as much ad before. Her body shook in anticipation and expectancy, and so did Shadow, only a little less than her. The flapping of wings got closer, and closer, her heart stopped, then her head went black, and she plummeted to the sea of trees below her, with Shadow gripping her tight. He tried to get his Chaos Emerald, but realized that he left it with Mellony for protection, and only held on eyes closed. They both dove into the forest like a hawk after a swallow, they then soon disappeared into the branches, and the sight of them was gone.

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"Shadow! Misty!" Rouge cried, "They just fell into the forest!"

"Now look what you've done you idiot!" Aaron cried, "You made Misty faint while with Shadow on her back, Espio could wind up with those two right…"

"I know that was a freaking mistake!" Conore snarled, "And I'll go after them even if it…"

The ship then shook vigorously for a moment. Everyone ended up on the floor and bruised, either with a headache, or a bruise spot anywhere on them. Sonic got up quickly and glared over at Conore, then turned over to Yorker.

"What was that?" Sonic asked him.

"That was Espio alright." Yorker panted as he tried to get up on to his seat again, "And I know for a fact Damion's around too. The boosters are now down, and some of our power decreased."

"Okay, we're sorta now in a situation that could ruin us." Knuckles commented as he rubbed his head, "And why is it always my head?"

"We may end up getting captured if anything." Rouge sated while holding her arm in pain, "And to answer your question, because you need to calm down more instead of being a hot head all the time."

"Oh shut up Rouge." Knuckles told her.

The ship trembled again, and then the sound of an engine went dead, that then turned into a worse situation.

"Now engine three's down!" Yorker complained, "What should we do?"

"Aaron and I'll take care of this." Conore said while opening the bottom doorway. Aaron then pushed Conore aside, on top of Knuckles, and closed the doorway, then glared over at Conore.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Aaron yelled, "There's your one way ticket to the plummeting bottom and misery if that's where you want to head?"

"Now we're in bigger trouble, look." Amy pointed out towards Yorker's direction. She was right, Eggman's ship was ahead of them just moving out of the clouds, a screen then popped up with message on it. Yorker typed a password in, Eggman's face was then revealed to all of Sonic and his friend's faces, and Sonic's face went from the darkest of blue, to nearly a light blue in shock.

"So you think you guys have a chance with me, huh?" Eggman laughed, "Not this time, cause now I've got the ultimate weapon of destruction, more powerful than anything that you Sonic can imagine, in which I presume you've seen already?"

"How did you even survive that explosion? That's admirably impossible to escape!" Sonic cried out.

"I had a little assistant, take a look." Eggman then directed the camera towards the black creature they all seen before, Quazaireon. He laughed at them with a laugh similar to Sonic's though a little bit more of an evil touch to the voice.

"You guys better be prepared," He warned them, glancing at them with large black eyes, "Especially you Sonic, you'll never be able to face these things without becoming one of them."

"Bring it on! We can take them." Knuckles challenged.

"Oh really? How about we make a little bet?" Quazaireon demanded, "See these four here?"

The camera then pointed to Misty, Shadow, Charmy, and Vector gripped in ties that wrapped around their ankles, mouths and wrist, Misty however was tied on the muzzle, her feet in pairs and connected, and her tail in between her legs on purpose. Charmy tried to fly, but his wings were tied also together. Sonic and his friend all stared at the sight of the four, willing to make a bet to save them, the camera then turned, showing Eggman, Quazaireon, Espio, and the black hedgehog, Damion.

"If anyone can defeat Quazaireon, Damion, or Espio in a time limit, you'll receive your friends, but also with a special price of two Chaos Emeralds in trade." Eggman stated, "You guys and us will have no such power or upgrades of any sort, except what you come in with naturally. And I hope you know what that means, plus, no one can help you with this fight, it must be done single handed."

"And so what if we lose?" Rouge asked.

"All four of your friends will be what Espio has become, and I'm sure you all know what that means, especially Knux there. Plus, all of your Chaos Emeralds must be turned into our hands the minute you lose." Eggman explained, with the other three either grinning or snickering in the background, "Remember, you must come in with only what you're born with." The screen then went blank, and Eggman's ship was closer.

"So," Yorker turned, "Who wants to fight and take a chance of winning?"

"Well, I would," stated Rouge, but I really don't want to face with that dark hedgehog or that dark creature called Quazaireon. So I'll stay out of it."

"Conore, Aaron?" Yorker asked the two.

"I can't," said Conore, "Full Moon, I'd kill anyone in sight. Even if we did win."

"Same here." Aaron answered.

"Anyone else? Knux, Sonic?"

"I'll do it." Sonic said nodding in agreement, "I can take on a challenge."

"You do realize you have to pick one of the three Eggman stated right?" Conore told him raising an eyebrow at him.

"Who's better to defeat then?" Sonic questioned the group.

"Espio for one." Amy said, "We need him back, so why not?"

"Second Quazaireon," suggested Rouge, "he's helping Eggman with all of this, so he'd be next."

"But what about the Damion guy?" Cream asked, while being so silent.

"If we can ever get Misty, she'll deal with him." Conore said, "He's her ex, so it's their business."

"So Sonic, what'll be?" Yorker asked again.

Sonic stood and thought, and asked himself many questions and answered with some very few reasoning's, but many guesses. If I challenge Espio, I may end up like him instantly, and plus, he seems a little faster than usual, but I think I can handle that. Quazaireon on the other hand can curse people, and if I ever do attack, he could place a curse on me without leaving a trace of feeling on my body. But maybe…

"Conore, that computer right there." Sonic highlighted, "Doesn't that show some statistics?"

"Ah! There's a way to win." Conore said in happiness, "Misty like mentioned to me before we met you, said mutants have a special venom, but yet vital to the mind."

"So what about Espio would be good advice?" Amy questioned.

"Espio's weakness," Conore started, "Aaron actually made him transform him to normal by striking the backbone hard, between the two pairs of wings, but that's only if you can risk a chance to get his back a good kick or nail. Otherwise, Espio's not a custom mutant at all. In fact, his species is something very rare, but yet strong at heart. His serpent stretchers are only limited about twenty to fifty feet, even though he has six of them, three for each side, but they're very easy to dodge when you know your footing and positioning. They hate hedgehogs and echidnas, so Sonic, you're gonna have a hell of a time getting near him, so, here's something I'd think about. At the beginning of the challenge, play dead, and lie there for thirty seconds, unless you can hold your breath no longer than that or shorter, anyhow. I'd bet Espio would walk to you in curiosity, since you're playing dead, you quickly grab his feet, and pull him down onto his stomach, and hold him with your knees, then give out a good punch in the head. If though no affect, try to get up quickly and nail him in the back with your feet.

"If though this fails and he suspects you faking, roll quickly out of the way and spin dash into him if possible, the good time to use a lot of your energy is when he's normal.

"I'd also like to state that Espio's venom, which I never got to yet, is not effective until midnight tonight, his venom usually sometimes kill, but mostly, forces his enemy to shape-shift into a mutant like he is. So basically, you're safe unless severely injured by the cuts, bites, and stabs he gives you.

"The Chaos Emeralds, Aaron is getting copies of them from Mellony, who's good at copying Emeralds, so we'll actually give him fake one's instead of real one's. So, win, and we'll be fine for a while, lose, and the plan may backfire for them, and some for us."

"So just stay on my toes and…wait now, what about his camouflage?" Sonic remembered.

"I doubt he'll set you in a scenery, but if he does, look for either pressed ground, moving tree branches, and the sound of the footsteps around you, or wing flapping. On a solid ground arena, just listen and be aware." Conore warned.

Sonic nodded, and already an opening was formed on Eggman's ship, Yorker didn't take a chance, and landed on the landing strip that was still there. They all except Conore, Aaron, and Yorker went to Eggman's arena, which was hidden inside.

God, damn it, I still don't remember how I fainted during flight, and at least I knew Shadow was okay, for the time being. After all, Charmy and Vector are also here, so we're not the only one's that were also hostages.

I know one thing, Espio has an up coming surprise tonight, and it's no ordinary surprise, and besides, Marie mistaken the date, of the moon rising full. Mistake one that's bad. I haven't even got the chance to tell them that the reason I was starting to get a little offensive was because I was worried about that night, the night of near death is what I called it.

Sonic doesn't know this either, mistake two, bad enough, and mistake three, not knowing that the boys and Espio are about to turn…