Sonic clenched his eyes shut, his feet automatically carrying him across the forest. What do I do? he demanded of himself, feeling completely torn. Two voices answered him, both battling for his attention.

The first voice, one that he rarely listened to because it was so often giving him advice about Amy, shouted, How can you even be considering attacking her? She's obviously not dead, Illumina's probably just possessing her, and she knows that if you want to kill her, you'll be killing Amy, too!

She's dead! roared another voice in his head, the one that he almost always listened to. She's dead, and she's not coming back! What does she need her body for in the afterlife? Attack her!

Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, his heart pounding indecision through his veins. Cradling his head in his hands, he tried to clear his head, all but the two voices, which he had named 'Doubt' and 'Instinct'. But as he realized that the struggle between the two was closer than it had ever been before, he knew he was going to have to make the decision by himself.

"Help me!" he growled, straining to hear sounds of Amy's approach. But to his surprise, the words of the very girl he was hiding from echoed throughout his mind, ringing with certainty. Sometimes you've gotta do what you'd normally never do, to help save Mobius.

"Right," Sonic muttered, his eyes snapping open, head clearing. He turned and sprinted back towards the clearing, and the sounds of Amy's approach, the smashing of trees, the crashing noises of crushing bushes, began to grow louder with every passing second-

But then, the forest had gone in a flash of white light, all the trees vanishing, replaced by tall, thin yellow grass. Sonic immediately flung himself onto the ground, thanking whatever gods there were that his quills did not surpass the top of the grass. He lay perfectly still, breathing as quietly as he could while his heart thundered in his ears, straining to catch the sounds of Amy's approach. She was soaring overhead like an oversized bird, her limbs snapping about, head lolling back, and as she swooped in the opposite direction, Sonic's breath caught in his throat, and he inched forwards, more quiet than a snake in the grass.

With an inhumane screech, Amy whipped around, her arms flying about her torso, poisoned yellow eyes glowing like lighthouse spotlights that were trained upon Sonic's form. Cursing his misfortune, Sonic's muscles tensed like a spring, his eyes fixed upon Amy's swooping form, and he leapt high into the air, curled into a streaking blue ball of utmost concentration, and then he plummeted downwards like a skydiver, just as Amy streaked underneath him. He slammed into her back with devastating force, repressing the shame that welled up inside him as his possessed friend shrieked with pain and rage. Pulling out of his ball, he turned and flung himself at Amy, who had just managed to stagger upright, the force of his blow knocking her backwards. She writhed and screamed beneath him, trying to push him off, but to no avail.

"Shut up!" Sonic hissed, and he punched her as hard as he could in the stomach, causing Amy's breath to rush out of her lungs. She buckled, clutching her stomach, and with an angry hiss she kicked Sonic off of her. Not expecting this, Sonic managed to recover in time to land heavily upright, and immediately launched himself forwards, landing a powerful punch in the center of Amy's face, causing her to stagger backwards, gasping in pain.

"Sonic!" she whispered, her voice returned to its normal light, bubbly original one, her eyes darkening to jade. "How could you?"

Sonic felt as though he had been doused in cold water, and he reared back stunned, his eyebrows raised in confusion. But with a demonic outburst of laughter, Amy's fingers curled into fists, her eyes transforming into burning yellow once more, and with an inhumane screech she flung herself forwards, tackling Sonic, and before he could even blink, her hands were around his throat, crushing the air from his throat, her teeth bared in a malicious snarl.

Spluttering indignantly, Sonic raised his hands and pried Amy's stranglehold of a grip off of his throat, kicking her off as hard as she could. Screeching angrily, Amy flew through the air, but somehow, incredibly, she managed to halt her progress, and with an ear-splitting scream that caused her hair to fly back, Amy blasted Sonic off of his feet with an invisible explosion of energy. His arms stretching to breaking point, Sonic bit back a roar of pain as he collided hard with the ground, skidding across it and coming to a halt with a deep skid mark to mark his path, half-buried in dirt. Breathing deeply, Sonic leapt to his feet, knowing that Amy would not spare him a moment to catch his breath. Brushing dirt from his eyes, he scanned the thick yellow grass for a sign of his attacker, who, though he could not see her, screamed in utmost terror, a piercing shriek of agony that cut off with unnatural abruptness.

"Amy?" Sonic called out tentatively, forcing his way forwards, his wariness combating with his fear for her, and he spotted her lying sprawled amongst a mass of flattened grass, an electric blue current running along her trembling form.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted, throwing himself onto his knees beside her, rolling her onto her side so that he could see her face. At her name, Amy's eyes slid open, and they were once more a dark, pained jade that watered with agonized tears.

"Sonic?" she whispered, sounding bemused. "Wh-what -?"

"It's okay," Sonic breathed, slightly overwhelmed at her abrupt change in personalities. "You're okay, Illumina's gone for now."

"Illumina?" Amy whispered in confusion, her dark eyes sparkling dazedly.

"Yeah, Illumina," Sonic muttered gently, helping her to her feet. But the moment he did so, Amy's eyes became poisonous yellow, and with a triumphant shriek, she seized him by the wrists, her fingers wrapping around like iron bands, and her mouth opened unnaturally wide, allowing a thick black tentacle to swarm out of it. Sonic swore as viciously as he could, incredulous that he had been duped twice, and though he struggled more violently than he had in living memory, he could not break the slimy extension's grip. In less than five seconds, it had bound him from his neck down, and Amy, cackling excitedly, reached into her mouth and pulled the tentacle out, waving it tauntingly before Sonic, who choked out, "Think about what you're doing!"

"Oh, I am," hissed Amy, smiling hugely, and then, with a crackling burst of electricity, pain ripped Sonic apart, pulling his arms out of his sockets, replacing his blood with molten lava, sending his very nerves on fire, like being electrocuted, immersed in acid and plunged into the sun all at once. He shouted and twisted, jerking uncontrollably, and pain-induced tears streamed down his face, blinded by agony, deafened by his own roars and Amy's laughter-

And then it ended, the tentacle vanishing from around him, allowing Sonic to collapse limply onto the ground, shivering violently, coughing and gasping for breath. Amy was standing over him, crying as well, but these were tears of mirth, so jubilant was she at Sonic's helplessness that she did not suspect a trap...

Shaking violently, Sonic wormed a hand underneath his shuddering torso, reaching for his comlink, disguising his movements as a side-effect from the pain. "Pathetic!" screeched Amy in her demented voice. "I hardly know why I'm bothering to kill you! Get up, Sonic! Fight me! Avenge your friends!"

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Sonic roared, leaping to his feet and pointing his comlink directly at Amy's surprised face. "Super Heal!"

Immediately, Amy vanished behind a cocoon of violently purple light, reduced to little more than the faintest shadow. Gasping for breath, Sonic stared intently into the light's depths, wondering if the comlink had enough energy left to separate Illumina's consciousness from Amy's, hoping against hope that the next time she emerged, his friend would be completely herself-

The light dispersed, and with a scream of "ARGH!" Amy flung herself at Sonic, tackling him, another tentacle already spewing out of her mouth, wrapping around him with suffocating firmness. Already incredibly weakened by her previous assault upon him, was powerless to fight her off.

"At last!" crowed Amy, panting excitedly as she yanked him harshly upright, gripping her end of the tentacle so tightly it squeaked. "I will have my revenge! And so you meet your end, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"NO!" came a scream from behind them, one of utmost rage. "I won't let you kill him!" And with that, a concentrated jet of plasmatic blue energy sprinted over Sonic head and slammed into Amy with such force that she was blasted back to the edge of the clearing, her tentacle trailing behind her, slamming with wince-worthy force into an unfortunate tree.

Gasping for breath, Sonic turned to look at his saviour, and was shocked to see Lumina Flowlight hovering before him, an outraged snarl upon her face as she glared at Amy, one hand still outstretched, glowing with energy. Panting slightly, she shifted her gaze to stare at Sonic, her eyes instantly softening, her mouth curving into an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her melodious voice sorrowful. "I meant to get here sooner but – NO!"

She cut herself off with a horrified scream, and with a graceful twirl she was gone, reappearing instantly beside Amy, who had gotten to her feet and was in the act of hurling her blackened hammer at Sonic, glowing with onyx flames. Lumina appeared in between the weapon and hedgehog, and with surprisingly good reflexes she caught the hammer's head with both hands and flung it back at Amy while conjuring a sword constructed solely of golden light out of thin air. Shrieking in denial, Amy jumped into the air, catching her hammer as she went, and slammed it down upon Lumina's head, a blow that should have flattened her like a pop can, but the Maginaire forced it above her head, blocking it vertically, her face contorted with concentration. For a minute, the two girls stood there, locked together, neither showing any signs of yielding, snarling like wolves, and then Amy kicked Lumina hard in the stomach, sending her spiralling backwards through the air, gasping in pain. The possessed Mobian wasted no time in hurling a massive ball of onyx fire at Sonic, who had regained his energy and threw himself sideways to dodge it, an act that was in vain; Lumina had teleported in front of him, her arms spread wide, and a half-sphere of translucent white energy appeared between them, blasting Amy's attack into non-existence.

"I told you, no!" Lumina shouted, and she waved her hands above her head, before bringing them down in a vicious slash, causing an arc of crimson energy blasting towards Amy, who cackled malevolently and raised both hands in front of her face as if to catch an invisible ball, effectively halting Lumina's counterattack several feet in front of her, the arc of light writhing and twisting like crimson flames.

"Foolish of you to join forces with this Mobian, Lumina!" Amy screeched, her yellow eyes flashing ominously. "Only death lies in his future, and it does in yours as well! You cannot hope to beat me, not without supernatural help!"

And with a screech of concentration, Amy turned Lumina's attack back upon her, and despite her translucent shield, it blasted straight through it, flinging the fairy backwards, soaring as limp as a ragdoll fifty feet through the air, crashing through the trees as her unconscious form tumbled to the ground.

Breathing deeply, Amy turned to leer at Sonic, her poisonous eyes growing ever-brighter, flashing with hatred. "No more stalling, hedgehog! Accept your fate! You are truly alone now!"

"He is not alone!" came seven united shouts of defiance, and both Sonic and Amy gasped with surprise as they turned to look for the voices owners, and what Sonic saw made his heart soar.

They were lined up like a battalion of soldiers, the friends who had died fighting Illumina's minions back on the barren plateau outside. Flickering, insubstantial and glowing ghostly green, Cosmo, Tails, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Rouge and the real Amy were assembled before him, all glaring at the imposter with absolute hatred upon their faces.

"What the -?" Amy gasped, thrown by the appearance of the ones she thought were gone forever. Then her eyes narrowed with comprehension, and she hissed, "Of course! Lumina!"

"That's right, ugly," Rouge snarled, her fangs bared. "No offence, Amy."

The real Amy was spared having to answer by the appearance of Lumina, who looked battle worn and drained, but defiance still blazed upon her face. Her hands were raised and hovering at waist-level, and, in a voice ringing with force that was most unlike her usual one, she shouted, "Spirits of the light, I ask for a weapon that will banish the hated darkness once and for all!"

Immediately, a mass of sparkling cyan light appeared above her hands, twisting and shrinking before solidifying into a lethal-looking silver laser gun. Lumina's eyes hardened as she tossed it to Sonic, and then, with a wink, she murmured, "I've done all I can. It's in your hands now."

With that, the Maginaire vanished in a flash of white light, but not before she sent a positive tidal wave of black light rocketing towards Amy, which enveloped her shrieking form in its depths, effectively blinding her.

Sonic turned the gun in his hands, marvelling at how something so thin could be so heavy, at how they had never thought to use technology to defeat the goddess before, but he was torn away from his thoughts by Cosmo, who placed a ghostly hand on his shoulder as she murmured, "You've got to load it first, Sonic."

The place where her hand touched him felt like it had been submerged in icy water, and, shivering slightly, Sonic opened his mouth to tell Cosmo that didn't have any ammunition, when six orbs of different coloured light appeared before him, pulsating like hearts, red, black, yellow, blue, creamy white and pink, and, one by one, they surged into the gun's barrel, causing the machine to glow temporarily with the colour corresponding with the orb that had just entered it before the next one came. As the pink orb vanished from sight, Cosmo transformed into a sphere of jade light, gracefully melting into the silver weapon's side. As she vanished inside it, the gun began to vibrate violently in his hands, its barrel glowing with white light. Sonic clutched the grip as tight as he could, grinding his teeth together as the weapon charged at a painstakingly slow pace.

In front of him, Amy had banished Lumina's mass of black light, her face contorted with fury, poisoned eyes glowing like miniature suns, and her white teeth were bared in utmost rage as she glared at Sonic, murder on her face.

"You – infuriating – animal!" she screamed, throwing her head back as she shook with anger. As she lowered her head once more, she pointed a shaking finger at Sonic, features sharp with malediction, and screeched, "I've had enough of this! It's time to die!"

Sonic did not respond at first, for his gun had clicked disproportionately loud to signify that it was loaded, entirely obscuring both itself and his hands in its white glow. Sonic raised his head up to glare disdainfully at Amy, and he snorted, "Time to die? You must be really losing your touch."

Amy screamed, a piercing sound that shook Sonic to the very core, and she slashed her hand through the air, and a dragon constructed purely of onyx light ripped its way into existence, edges curling and foiling like smoke, massive jaw opened wide, unleashing a mass of flame upon him, while Sonic took aim upon Amy's form briefly, closing one eye for accuracy, and squeezed the trigger as hard as he could, throwing his hopes up to the heavens. An explosion of supernova-class proportions sounded from the gun's nozzle, and a gargantuan bird erupted out of the weapon, constructed of rainbow light, and it plunged straight through Amy's dragon as though it was not even there, easily graceful, contrasting sharply with the barrelling mythical beast that it blasted apart in a burst of white light. Amy screamed in terror and jumped out of harm's way, but the bird arced upwards and plunged through her like a devastating bullet.

All the sound seemed to have been sucked out of the room as the light tore through Amy, whose eyes were huge with horror, arms flung backwards, and Sonic could have sworn that the ghostly image of Illumina was flung out of her back-

But then, a deafening explosion roared into existence, bursting out of the place where the ghost of Illumina may or may not have been, and white light consumed their artificial surroundings in less than a second, leaving only Sonic and Amy's no longer blackened corpse behind. Without warning, there was a burst of supersonic sound, and shards of black flames punctured the solid whiteness, while Illumina's disembodied voice screeched, "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!"

Sonic's muscles tightened, and he fought viciously against his overpowering instinct to run, his heart combating his brain as it sensed that the flames would be harmless. Once again, he proved himself right, for they passed harmlessly through him, no more substantial than air passing by him. Shielding his face in the crook of his arm, he felt Lumina's gun dissolve into nothingness, and at the same time, the forest reformed around him, plunging him into almost-blackness once more. Blinking in the sudden darkness, Sonic lowered his harm, and his eyes instantly focused upon Amy, who was spread eagled upon the ground before him, as unmoving as the dead.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted, dashing to his friend's side, knowing that this time, there was no danger of her attacking him. And though he had been expecting it, she did not respond. Heart hammering painfully in his chest, Sonic ripped his comlink off his wrist with shaking hands, typing in 'Super Heal'. But to his horror, the comlink gave an odd spluttering hiss, acrid smoke issuing out of it, before sending a blast of dark purple light rocketing towards Amy. It enveloped her form like a blanket, and Sonic waited, his hands curled into shaking fists, hoping against hope that he was about to hear Amy's real voice-

The light cleared, revealing Amy once more. "No," Sonic gasped, his eyes widening in horror as he took in his friend's unbreathing form. "No, Amy, no, no!"

He took her limp head in his hands, unsure what he was about to do, but at his touch, Amy's form deflated and separated into a thousand little pink rectangles that hovered in a cluster shaped just like the hedgehog, before rocketing upwards like a fleet of daggers, melting through the artificial sky and out of sight. Sonic's hands remained frozen where they were, though his eyes filled with tears, a dull ringing in his ears. Breathing deeply through his nose, Sonic's fingers curled into his palms, and he raised his head up to the sky, shouting, "DAMMIT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS GOD – DAMN – MAGIC!"

"It's alright," murmured a voice from behind him. "You'll be able to rescue her."

Sonic leapt upright and whirled around so fast that the air hissed. His ragged breathing slowed, however, when he laid eyes upon the speaker. Though the ghostly images of Tails, Cream, Cheese, Rouge, Knuckles and Amy had vanished, Cosmo remained, assuming the form she had before shattering the Precious Stone, her bright blue eyes wide with remorse, thin lips trembling slightly as she smiled empathetically at him.

"C-Cosmo?" Sonic stammered, taking a startled step backwards. "But I...you...?"

The Seedrian did not answer his half-formed question. Clasping her hands over her glowing red amulet, she closed her eyes, and a current of jade light passed over her flickering form, causing the flowers that had bloomed atop her head to close and shrink, her hair to shoot back into her skull and darken until it formed an emerald curtain that hung to her shoulders. The Seedrian's form seemed to ripple, and suddenly, she was solid, floating slowly down to the ground, her dress inflating around her like a parachute, eyes still closed. Sonic was transfixed as he watched his dead friend alight upon the grass before him, and her bright blue eyes opened slowly to stare at him with bright interest.

"Hello, Sonic," she said in her soft voice, smiling at the sight of him. "That was a bit too close for anyone's comfort, don't you think?"

Sonic swallowed hard, shaking his head as if to rid himself from a dream, unable to tear his gaze away from Cosmo. After several seconds, he found his voice, which was weak and cracked, and he muttered pathetically, "Yeah."

Cosmo blinked at him, and then her smile stretched wider across her face, happy tears sliding down her pale cheeks. "Oh, Sonic, I'm just so glad you're okay!" she gushed, in a rare display of emotion, and she darted forwards, hugging him tightly. Still feeling slightly shell-shocked at his abrupt transition from mortal peril to this unexpected reunion, Sonic patted the Seedrian on the shoulder, trying to gather his thoughts.

Illumina's gone, was all he was able to grasp at first, and he knew that, under different circumstances, the realization would have been a cause for jubilation. Gone, not dead. That means we'll be seeing each other again very soon...what a cheery reunion that'll be...Why'd Lumina help me, though? Last time I checked, she was on that maniac's side. For a moment, the incentive evaded his grasp in the bowels of his mind, but he managed to drag it forwards, eyes narrowing slightly. I guess she's pretty pissed off at being sacrificed, even if it was by her boss. I'd be, anyway...

But whether he would forgive Lumina for her betrayal, the mysterious reappearance of Cosmo and the complex that was Amy's vanishing were all mysteries that he could not even begin to comprehend, and, still weak from Illumina's torturing, he knew that it would be a long time before he was ready to search for the answers. He probably would have stood there for hours, wrestling with the unknown, but Cosmo yanked him back to reality by her hand clenching upon his wrist, while she pointed frantically at something over his shoulder. Sonic released the Seedrian and spun around, expecting the rebirth of Illumina, the reappearance of Doom and his siblings, but all he saw was Amy's comlink, lying in a mangled heap of blackened, smoking metal. Clearly, after fighting off Maginaires, conjuring up invisibility fields, extensive healings and not to mention everything it had been through back in Maginaryworld had been too much for it to handle, attempting to heal Amy having been its final act.

"Oh," Sonic said, his face splitting into a relieved smile as he turned back to Cosmo. "Nah, that was bound to happen anyways, I didn't really get the hang of –"

"Not that," Cosmo squeaked, sounding terrified as she spun him around, pointing at the thing of which she was so horrified. "That."

Sonic spun around, and his heart flew into his throat, causing him to choke in surprise. A silver machine two meters long and half as wide stood before them, dedicated mostly to a black electronic screen with neon green pixelated numbers bearing the time '1:30'. Strapped to either side were thick bunches of red dynamite, and even as he watched, the numbers had begun to tick down...

"Shit," he hissed, taking an automatic step back. "How'd that get there?"

"It's a bomb!" cried Cosmo, panic clawing at her voice as she turned to stare at him with huge eyes. "What do we do?"

Sonic mentally listed his options; they could stay here and try to diffuse the bomb, in which case their chances of survival were less than zero, for he had no idea how to diffuse it and, even if he had, Illumina would have made sure it was incredibly complex and impossible to dismantle in just over two minutes. Or they could try to run away as fast as they could, which gave them slightly better chances of living to see the next dawn than the latter option. But only slightly.

Bitter bitch! Sonic cursed, but out loud, he hissed, "Get on!" He turned and bent over, and Cosmo leapt nimbly onto his back, surprisingly light, her hands clutching his shoulders like a drowning person does a life raft, and in a sense, he was. All this took place in less than three seconds, but seconds seemed a hell of a lot more precious when a bomb was counting them down.

With a supersonic boom, Sonic launched himself forwards, shooting like a bullet from a gun through the trees, weaving in and out of the path of stubbornly immobile plants so fast that his vision blurred around the edges, while his brain rocked back and forth in his skull. Eyes narrowed against the thrashing limbs of the trees, Sonic forced his legs to move faster, hoping against hope that Illumina had not thought to seal their only chance of survival, that he would be able to carry them to the place he knew Eggman's garage to be, while ticking down the number of seconds they had left to get out.

Ninety-nine, ninety-eight...

But his worries were pointless; in less than five seconds Sonic had made it through the gap in the cold silver walls, mercifully-mist free, and unceremoniously barrelled through the armada of vehicles in his haste to reach the motorcycles. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered, but he knew he would not be able to keep up his current pace long enough for them to reach the exit, weakened as he was by Illumina's brutal assault upon him, and so he may have smashed the wings off of several planes and dented more than one car in his haste to reach the motorcycles. He flung himself onto a jet black bike, pulling the helmet that hung on one of its handle bars over his head while tossing one from an adjacent motorcycle to Cosmo.

"Hold on tight!" he warned her, slamming his foot against the kickstand, fingers wrapping around the handlebars. Cosmo slid off of his back and onto the soft gel seat beneath them, pausing for only an infinitesimal amount of a second before wrapping her slim arms around his waist.

Whether it was from stress or madness Sonic did not know, but a grudging smile speared on his lips as he imagined Amy's expression if she could have seen the position Cosmo was in right now. But that image was blasted out of his head as his helmet beeped to life, and he shouted, "MAX SPEED!" as loudly as he could, lifting his feet off the ground, and not a moment too soon; roaring like a jungle cat, the machine reared back on its hind wheel before blasting forwards, faster than sound could catch it, an onyx streak against the futuristic walls. Cosmo was shaking violently, whimpering in terror as her arms tightened around his waist, desperately clutching onto the one thing that separated her from life and death. Sonic bent low over the dashboard, his eyes narrowing to slits, teeth bared in a furious snarl as he muttered, "C'mon, c'mon, you hunka junk! We've got a clock to beat!"

Forty...thirty-nine...

"Maximum speed reached," retorted a cool female voice, a tad indignantly, and Sonic swore violently, already regretting deciding against making a run for it. He took his frustration out on the handlebars, strangling them, imagining that they were the neck of the woman he hated so much, the goddess who would succeed in bringing about their deaths even when she had been defeated. He had not come this far, not witnessed the death of each of his friends or attacked the body of the girl who loved him to suffer defeat borne out of a malicious woman's refusal to admit defeat-

They reached the bottom of the ramp that lead to the exit of the garage with twenty seconds to go, and Sonic thought back to the time it had taken to clear the incline on the previous journey, his stomach sinking as he realized that it had taken at least twice the amount of time they had left.

Six...

All this because I had to accidentally trigger that alarm, Sonic thought violently, anger clawing its way up his throat.

Five...

I'm sorry you guys had to die the way he did, he thought, remorse sweeping through him as he pictured Tails, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles and Rouge's faces, the expressions they had been wearing before the white light had seized his consciousness.

Four...

If it's worth anything, Lumina, I'm glad you came over to the right side. At least I got to see Cosmo before...

Three...

You really are a bitch, Illumina.

Two...

Amy saved me. She saved me from Eggman's stupid little cell. How come I couldn't save her?

One...

I can't believe it. I'm about to die.

Zero.

An ear-splitting explosion sounded from what seemed to be light years away, roaring into existence with impossible force. Sonic felt airbags inflating in his helmet, protecting his ears from the wave of sound that was rocketing towards them, though he knew there were much worse things coming. A blast of heat hit him squarely in the back, clawing at his quills like a sentient beast. He heard Cosmo screaming, smelt burning fur and singed material, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mass of coiling flames sprinting towards them, reflected by his rear-view mirror. Jagged plumes of amber death lashed out like eagle talons, desperate to claim the lives of the two desperately speeding away from them, but the heat, which was almost unbearable, was acting against it, so powerful was it that it actually lifted the motorcycle up off the ground, ferrying it forwards on a solid cushion of air, while an invisible hand of raw force pushed them forwards-

And then they were clear, soaring through the afternoon sky as if on a winged horse, and for a moment, time stretched to breaking point, Sonic felt G-force lifting him up out of his seat while simultaneously trying to force him back down to earth, Cosmo was sobbing uncontrollably, the motorcycle's wheels were turning uselessly, while the outraged roar of the explosion continued to drown every other noise out-

But as time snapped back to normal like an elastic band, Sonic knew they were clear; the explosion seemed to have been contained inside Eggman's base, for the plumes of flame that were clawing after them were growing smaller and smaller as they rocketed through the air. They landed on the ground with bone-crushing force; Sonic's mouth was slammed shut, his bones rattled violently in their sockets, and the vehicle bounced a full three feet in the air before continuing to sprint forwards. Sonic ground his teeth together as they tore across the bumpy forest floor, steering around trees and occasionally tearing straight through bushes, sometimes becoming airborne once more as they tore over well-concealed lumps in the ground, and every time they did so, he thought that they would be thrown over the handlebars like a cowpokes off their mount-

"Oh no, oh no, don't crash!" Cosmo was whispering over and over in mortification, clearly having no trust in his driving ability.

Sonic rolled his eyes, swerving to avoid impalement by a tree. Are all girls like this? he wondered idly, and at that moment, the overwhelming enormity of what had just happened struck him like a punch to the face.

They were alive.

Illumina drummed her fingers upon the golden armrest of her throne, her gaze upon it so intense that she might have been hoping to burn a hole in it. She would have been pacing, but she couldn't summon the strength to do so; had her plan worked? Had Sonic the Hedgehog met his downfall in modern technology?

There is nothing to do but wait, she told herself, a thought that made her stomach squirm in anticipation. Epona will return soon enough.

She thought this to combat the waves of outrage that were pummelling her mind like a tsunami-ravaged country; she had been defeated, again, a triumph born out of pure luck and mistakes on her part, coupled with – she could hardly bare to admit it – the unexpected appearance of ones she thought she had killed.

I should have foreseen this, Illumina thought, her nails digging into the wrought armrest of her throne. I was foolish not to expect Lumina to attempt to get revenge upon me. After all, she is a creature of Light Maginaryworld, I should have known better than to use her in my plan...No matter. Once Epona returns I can deal with that meddlesome fool, as I did with her brother.

"My lady?"

Illumina looked up sharply, smothering her excitement beneath a mask of cold indifference. Before her hovered a thin Maginaire that came up only to her waist, a strangely cat-like quality about her, clothed in a flowing silver dress, grey-skinned, with a mane of tangled, seaweed green hair that fell elegantly into her face, concealing eyes that she had never looked into. It was, of course, Epona, her scout and messenger and, as much as she hated to admit it, an infallible asset to her ranks.

"Ah, Epona," Illumina murmured, her voice like shards of ice as she stood up in with graceful swiftness. "You're late; I hope you're here with good news?"

Epona's thin lips twisted into a smile, something that the goddess found infuriating. "I apologize, my lady," the Maginaire murmured in her low purr of a voice, though it was plain that she did not wish Illumina any such thing. "But I had to be sure of what I had seen before reporting back to you. I know that my lady expects nothing but utmost accuracy from my reports."

"Yes, that's all very fine," Illumina snapped, and Epona's smirk broadened. "But I don't have time to listen to how well you've memorized my expectations of you; what did you find?"

Excitement began to buzz through her veins like a fast acting poison, and Illumina was unable to keep the eagerness from her face as she stared at Epona, dark eyes boring into the place the Maginaire's should have been. Epona inclined her head in a slight bow, and she murmured, "Of course, my lady, the reports. I travelled to that base of the human Robotnik's, as you requested; it was in total ruins, I'll have you know. Fire everywhere, not so much as a sign of a body."

She paused, her smile deepening as she took in Illumina's expression, which had gone from transported with glee to as stony as the walls around them. Her heart, so recently pounding with excitement, stopped dead at her messenger's words, then burst into a terrified sprint, a cold sweat seeping down her face.

How could he still be alive? she demanded of herself, barely managing to keep the panic from her face. No one, not even him, could have escaped the mortal's base in two minutes, I calculated it...

As if she were in tune with her mistress' thoughts, Epona continued, her sleek voice mocking remorse. "I scoured every inch of that room, my lady, not to mention the vehicle hangar; no bodies, no ashes, not a trace of life in sight. The hedgehog must have had external help, for I scoured the forest too, and there was not a trace of him in sight."

"Impossible," Illumina muttered, rage filling her up like a hot water bottle, then draining out of her, only to be replaced by utmost terror. "His friends are dead, Epona, I saw them go down with my own eyes...very well," she began to pace back and forth, circling her ornate golden throne, glaring at the stone altar on which she stood. "I knew that, no matter how slim, there was a chance that the hedgehog would escape...and if Lumina has indeed joined forces with him, there's a possibility that she has found a way to bring his friends back to life as well..."

As a plan began to formulate itself in her mind, Epona raised her thin, slanting eyebrows, not that Illumina could see them.

"My lady," questioned the Maginaire, her tone mocking inquirement. "What are your orders?"