Chapter 21: The Brightest Light

Dark Sonic sped toward Infinite Saturn with supersonic speed. Dark Sonic right-handedly punched his godlike adversary, but Infinite Saturn blocked with his left arm. Infinite Saturn disappeared and reappeared behind Dark Sonic and tried to punch him, but Dark Sonic ducked to dodge. Dark Sonic tried to uppercut Infinite Saturn, but the red hedgehog dodged. Infinite Saturn proceeded to punch Dark Sonic in the face. Dark Sonic slid back across the ground a couple of yards, and Infinite Saturn appeared in front of him to dish out a barrage of other punches, but Dark Sonic was able to dodge these by rapidly moving his head from side to side.

Shadow was amazed. "Dark Sonic is actually fighting on par with him." Infinite Saturn finally hit Dark Sonic with a right uppercut. The attack obviously damaged Dark Sonic, but the dark blue hedgehog was not bothered by the pain, and he counterattacked by kicking Infinite Saturn in the chest. However, Infinite Saturn was completely unfazed by the blow. Infinite Saturn grabbed Dark Sonic's leg and threw him a few hundred feet into the air. Dark Sonic looked down and fell toward Infinite Saturn. The red monster flew up toward Dark Sonic. Dark Sonic's black aura condensed onto the dark hedgehog's right fist. Infinite Saturn's right fist began to glow with dark chaos energy. The two's fists connected, and a shockwave of dark chaos energy was released.

Vector said, "I don't feel like I'm watching Sonic fight anymore. This is like watching a battle between monsters." The shockwave of dark energy connected with the top of a nearby skyscraper, and the upper half of the building collapsed toward Sonic's friends. Shadow, Vector, Amy, Rouge, Tails, Cream, and Cheese all tried to run away from the falling building's path, but Cream tripped. Vector looked back and yelled, "Cream!" The crocodile ran back to the peach-colored rabbit. He grabbed her and threw her to safety, and then he ran to safety himself. He managed to narrowly avoid being crushed by the building, but he was too close to the impact, and bits of shattered glass from the windows stuck into his right leg. Vector fell in pain. He had a few cuts on other parts of his body from the glass, but his right leg was the only part in which the glass stuck, so it received the most damage. He couldn't walk.

Cream, Rouge, and Cheese ran to Vector's side. Cream and Rouge tried to help him to his feet. Cream worried, "Oh my goodness! Vector, your leg, are you alright?"

Vector could not stand. He fell back to the ground regardless of Rouge and Cream's attempts to assist him in regaining his footing. Vector yelled at Cream in painful frustration, "Does it look like I'm alright? I've got glass in my stupid leg!"

Rouge kneeled down and began to tend to Vector's wound. She pulled the shards of glass out one by one. Vector cringed in pain each time. Rouge said, "That was very noble of you, Vector."

Vector smarted back, "Remind me next time not to save the kid."

Cream told Vector shyly, "Um, Vector…"

Vector looked. "Yeah? What is it?"

Cream said, "Uh, thank you, you saved my life just now. I'll be sure to tell my mom about it."

Vector sighed, "Don't worry about it, Kid. I'm not just saving you 'cause I told your mom I would. I'm your friend, after all. I'll save your life whenever I can."

Cream smiled. She looked over to check on Shadow and Amy. Shadow was standing calmly watching the battle between Dark Sonic and Infinite Saturn. Amy was also watching the battle, but she was not calm. In fact, she seemed utterly horrified. Dark Sonic was getting beat to a pulp. He lost the clash of dark chaos energy with Infinite Saturn, and now he was flying through the air. Infinite Saturn appeared behind him and sent him flying in a different direction. Dark Sonic was now flying toward a building, but before he hit it, Infinite Saturn appeared behind him and bashed him in yet another direction. Infinite Saturn continued to appear behind Dark Sonic midair and send him flying in different directions. At one point, Dark Sonic tried to turn around and hit Infinite Saturn midair before the red hedgehog could hit him, but Infinite Saturn just vanished again, reappeared behind Dark Sonic, and bashed him through the air. Infinite Saturn was laughing maniacally as if he was a child who had just found a new toy. Basically, he was just playing with Dark Sonic.

Finally, Infinite Saturn had his fun, and he bashed Dark Sonic to the ground. Dark Sonic caught himself on his feet. Infinite Saturn charged negative chaos energy into his right fist again. Amy started crying again. She yelled, "I just can't watch this anymore! I just can't!" She ran toward Dark Sonic.

Vector reached out his arm and shouted, "Amy! Don't do it!" He tried to go after her, but his injured leg still prevented him from standing. "Darn my leg!" Vector yelled.

Amy ran to Dark Sonic with tears dripping from her face. She reached the dark blue hedgehog before Infinite Saturn because of her closer distance. She placed herself between the red and blue monsters, and she grabbed Dark Sonic's waist. She hugged her Sonic and held him closely. Dark Sonic was shocked. His pupils returned to his eyes, and he looked down at Amy. A barrier of light appeared in front of Infinite Saturn and blocked his attack. Infinite Saturn ricocheted off the barrier, and the wall faded away.

Infinite Saturn looked, "What was that?" The red hedgehog's chest began to glow with light. He screamed in agony, "What's—happening to me?"

Tails asked, "Now what's happening?"

Shadow answered, "It's the positive energy from the Chaos Emeralds inside of Saturn. Somehow it's reacting to Amy's actions." The light energy began to flow out of Infinite Saturn's chest, and it broke off into three streams. One stream surrounded Dark Sonic. Another surrounded Shadow. The third stream surrounded the dead Knuckles.

The stream of energy soaked into Dark Sonic and transformed him. His dark blue fur faded to a bright golden color, and a golden aura sparked around the purified Sonic and caused his quills to stand straight up. Sonic's irises changed from green to red, and the seven fake Chaos Emeralds reverted back to gray rocks.

The second stream of energy transformed Shadow. The black of his fur changed to a bright golden color. His left hand completely healed, and Shadow discarded his cast. A golden aura sparked around this hero as well.

The third stream of energy soaked into Knuckles. His bones were put back into place, and his organs began to function anew. He had been resurrected. His fur changed from deep red to bright pink.

Amy took a step back. "Sonic? Is that you? Are you really back?"

Sonic looked at Amy intently. "Yes, Amy, I'm back, thank you."

Infinite Saturn looked at the golden Sonic. "You! What have you done? You've stolen my positive chaos energy, and you used it to heal your friends and activate your Super forms! How?"

Super Sonic looked at Infinite Saturn. "I didn't steal your energy. It rejected you because of your black heart. You may think you're a god, but you focus too much on the evil side of chaos energy. You can't control everything unless you can control the good side of chaos energy as well. Your plan to reach infinity was doomed from the start."

Infinite Saturn clenched his right fist and negative chaos energy surrounded it again. "Silence! You stole my chaos energy! I'll kill you and take it back!" The evil hedgehog flew toward Super Sonic with his dark fist at the ready.

Super Sonic grabbed Infinite Saturn's punch with his left hand, and Infinite Saturn was completely stopped. Super Sonic said, "I'm sorry, Saturn, but I can't afford to lose and let you walk away. There's too much at stake." Super Sonic punched Infinite Saturn in the face with his right hand. The red monster flew backward. He rose to his feet, but he felt something strange. There was something wet and warm trickling down the left corner of his mouth. He wiped the substance away and looked at it on his black glove. It was blood.