Nearly at the end of the exams and indeed this story. I've got a few days off until Tuesday, but who knows? We will see...

This was turning into a nightmare, I thought. This could well be the last thing I would ever do. I dismissed the thought, but it came back, stronger than ever. I could die here and my family would never know, my friends would never know...

"Hey, Malcolm, are you doing this or what?"

Reality flooded back with Daniel's voice. I nodded. The three of us approached the northern side of the square gingerly. The robots were stood there, row on row, as if they were waiting for us. Breaking through their lines seemed impossible, but if I had learned anything, it was anything was possible. I drew my sword, checked it briefly along with the shield and waited. Any minute now...

Soon there was uproar from the other side of the square. The robots stood for a moment, then spilt up into different groups, trying to find a way round us to get to the other side and find out what was going on. In the confusion, they became disorganised, individual. Just as we had thought. The diversion was in place...

I nodded. "Let's go".

The three of us rushed out into the street and straight for the robots. Because they weren't in ranks, it made it easy for us to pick them for one by one. The robots couldn't mount a counter-attack against us until it was too late...I hoped.
Karen had been rather vague on the location, but she was certain it was near the former barricade (which was gone by now). She wanted to come with us, but her loyalties were torn between her 'superiors' and her people. The diversion couldn't last long, she said, so we had to be fairly quick. I had to stop myself sighing. This was our last chance to stop Eggman now and save our future. If we failed...

There was no time for that now.

As we came to the robots, something made me feel detached from everything, like I wasn't myself any more. At I could feel was the sword punching through metal, my own breathing, the street rushing past me as we ran. It was like a dream. But we kept on. Then lasers started piercing the air, but none came close to us.
Then we were there. The remains of the barricade were scattered round as if a bomb had hit the area. Behind us, the robots had descended into chaos, fighting among themselves without realising. We looked at each other, then we dropped our weapons and began to search. We had to be quick here...for our friends' sake.
After a minute, it seemed hopeless. We have searched the whole area around the barricade and there was no sign of any emeralds. We were fast running out of time.
Then...

"Hey guys, there's something under this table. Looks like a gem".

We rushed to Davink and lifted the table up. There, in a small, scattered pile were six of the Chaos Emeralds. It was only then that we noticed the silence behind us...

There was no finesse to our return journey. There's no way to describe it, even now, but we still made it back with the jewels in our pockets. As we ran towards the centre of the square, Sonic and Karen came towards us. We stopped short of each other and we hurriedly produced the emeralds. As we did, they glowed and then floated in the air into a circle surrounding us. They began to spin round the five of us like a wheel.

"How do I..." I began, but Karen cut me off.

"Just accept the power. Just close your eyes and let it flow through your body, round your system".

I closed my eyes and as I did, I felt something. I felt something engulf me like a million pins and needles. The power began to fill me slowly until my whole body was tingling and bristling with power. Something seemed to merge into me, like a third arm.
When I opened my eyes, I knew I felt different. Sonic was bathed a fine gold, as was Karen. Davink and Daniel were gone. I looked at my hands and saw pure white. One hand held a shining sword and the other, a shield. I felt something inside. It felt like...a very deep, very powerful feeling of anger, hatred. I looked round to see the robots coming towards us...

All I can remember to this day is sweeping my sword down at the robots. They seemed to fall apart at the faintest touch. As I did this, I pictured places in my mind...and then I was on Earth, sweeping away the robots here and there, always moving forward, always going on.
And all the time, I felt that deep anger burning inside. Each place I went, I glimpsed New York, Madrid, Eastern Russia and Southern England, glancing at unknown faces.

It wasn't long before I was back on Sonic's world to find no one at the square. I put my feet on the ground and I could feel the power drain away. I looked round and at once saw the wounded. I looked at my hand again...

As the power left, so did the anger. It was like waves from the sea washing over my body as I closed my eyes, opening them to see Daniel and Davink standing before me. We decided that the robots had retreated and hurried to Eggman's base. We passed through the familiar landmarks, the valley for our last line of defence before the city, the bridges we had blown up to buy time, and the forest where the fighting had started.

Then there was Eggman's base. We hadn't seen it ourselves. It consisted of several large buildings, surrounded by trees, which were now being smashed and tore apart. The end of a madman's dream, I thought. The robots were virtually non-existent as the base was torn away, bit by bit. A soldier came towards us as we approached and saluted,

"Sir, as you can see, we've taken care of business here. We haven't found Eggman yet, but we think he's close. Sonic and Karen took care of the defences..." His voice trailed off as he looked at me. "Sir, are you alright?".

I focused my attention to him. "Yes, very good. Well done. Carry on".

The soldier saluted and went back to the buildings. I turned to Daniel and Davink.

"I think I'll take a walk. Care to join me?"

"Later, Malcolm". Davink said. "I'll look after the men for you until you're back".

"Me too". Daniel agreed as he followed Davink.

I watched them for a while, then made my way to one side, towards the forest. I had seen something as the soldier had been talking to me and I could guess what it was.
The trees almost closed me in, separating me from the activity not far away. As I walked, I saw a figure. A tall, round figure that looked like he was fumbling with something. Beside him was a sort of metal cup. As I came nearer, he stopped, turned apart and looked at me. The eyes that saw me had once shone with glory, but now they were downcast and frightened.

We stood, facing each other for a long moment. Finally Eggman stood up and spoke,

"Well, Mr Malcolm, have you come to kill me at last?"

I looked at him and fell silent.