Chapter 28-The End Is Fast Approaching

"Where is everybody…?"

"Chao…" Cheese squeaked. He's sad. I give him a hug to calm him, but I need to calm down too. Mr. Sonic and Mr. Mephiles made home scary and lonely. Everyone passed away… even my mommy and all of my friends. Little Cheese hurt Mr. Sonic to help him be free, so it was only us… I want to cry but I have to be strong for Cheese. It's Mephiles! I have to follow him and stop him!

"Come on, Cheese!"

"CHAAAAAOOOOO!"

"Shh…"

"Chao." He nods and we go follow Mephiles.

I used to be so lonely in this creepy place. All I had to talk to were a bunch of gross ghosts. But one by one, people started coming!

"Knuckles!"

"Amy! What are you doing here?! I thought you were dead!"

"... I am dead, Knuckles. Apparently, so are you…"

"What?!"

"Welcome to the Spirit World, I guess…"

Yeah, it IS very bittersweet to have company. It means Sonic must have gotten to them too. You see, we all ended up in the Spirit World because we didn't all die of natural causes. We were all sorta-kinda murdered.

We can see anything we want in the outside world. I saw how each of the deaths went on. Espio impaled with his own horn… Shadow getting torn in half… Blaze being forced into burning Silver to death before getting electrocuted… and eventually Charmy getting his stinger ripped off so that he'd die from losing it. I think I saw the Rogues getting plucked and roasted like turkeys at one point. Needless to say a lot of these got hard to watch. And then all those bystanders. Death by neck snap, just like Tails. Only much more bloody.

Right now, we're at a meeting to figure out what to do next while Vector watches over the viewer.

"The only way we're going to fix this giant mess is with the Chaos Emeralds." Shadow suggests.

"How the heck are we going to even get them, Shadow?! We're nearly disconnected from the mortal world and we can't get them from here." Silver shoots back.

"Do YOU have any bright ideas, Silver? You ARE the one who knows the most about Mephiles."

"The last time we beat him, we had the ability to get the Chaos Emeralds and we had Sonic with us. We'd need all three of our Super States and THEN some to beat Mephiles now with our weakened spirit forms."

"What about me and Tails?" Knuckles chimes in. "We have Super Forms too."

"The Chaos Emeralds would need to be enhanced by the Master Emerald and we don't have that beauty either." Rouge replies.

"Rouge is right. Besides we don't truly know the rest of what Mephiles is capable of. For all we know we might not be able to do a thing to him even with your forms." Eggman says.

"This might be a curbstomp battle, then." I say.

"Unfortunately Amy's right. We're beaten. We're all gonna cease to exist along with the rest of the Universe..." Tails sadly says. Poor guy's been depressed since he got here. He was so close to ending this for us all. He's given up. And the rest of us are on the verge of it too when Vector speaks up with an update.

"Guys! Sonic got offed by Cheese!"

"What?!" We all run over to the screen.

"He was about to take out Cream, but Cheese saved her and gave him a mercy kill! He's free!

We all get excited at this news. I might get to see my Blue Bear normal again! Murmurs of what to do next hide the voice that comes from behind us all.

"Aw now don't tell me you're starting this party without me!"

I turn and see Sonic before the others. "SWEETIE!" That voice! That lovely voice! The voice of my OLD Sonic, before this all started. I go running for it.

"Ames!" He comes for me too and we embrace each other. It's been so long since we've really seen each other, and I feel tears on my back. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. I give those tears back too.

"I-I thought I'd never see you again…" Okay, so maybe some of mine are from grief.

"Me too… I'm so sorry… for everything."

"It wasn't your fault. None of our deaths were your fault…" We all smile reassuringly at him and he nods.

"I'm glad you all forgive me. Now if you don't mind… I kinda wanna get up to speed on what that sick bastard's doing."

"Mephiles has five of them now." Knuckles states grimly.

"The other two aren't that far away either. We might just be screwed." Vector says.

"You can't leave Cream out of this. I believe in her."

"She's a little kid with a Chao, Sonic. Be serious."

"You think I'm kidding, Knuckles…?" He says seriously. He's been in full on leader mode since we started all monitoring again. His tone is authoritative and slightly threatening, yet calm.

"... I guess not." Knuckles nods to himself in confirmation and watches the screen with the rest of us.

"She's one of the most O.P. of us for a reason after all." Sonic says under his breath.

All eyes are on Cream now. Here's to hoping she can stall long enough so we can plan some more.

Mephiles sure can walk a long time. I'm getting really sleepy following him. It's near my nap time…

"Chao…"

"I know, Cheese…"

Something's glowing from far away… It's another Chaos Emerald! And Mephiles is getting it!

"We gotta stop him! GO CHEESE!" I throw Cheese at that meanie.

"What in the… GRAAAAAAAHHH!" Cheese hits Mephiles right in the eye. I grab the Chaos Emerald and run. "Get back here GIRL…"

I have to hide the Emerald… oh, but where…? THE RIVER! I make my way to the river and try to throw it in, but-

"OWIE!"

"I warned you…" A bright flash goes out through my chest and everything turns dark… I feel tears going down my face as I-

"Cream!" Sonic cries out.

"How could he do that to an innocent child?!" Vector rages.

"THAT MONSTER!" Knuckles yells.

Everyone is in a rage. Mephiles shot this… this beam at Cream. Right over her heart as she was about to toss the Emerald into the water… Then he grabbed it. Then, just our luck, he spots the other Emerald on the other side of the river. He's making his way back to Sonic's body! We don't have much time!

"We need a plan, NOW!" Tails says.

"It's no use coming up with anything, Tails…" Eggman responds, distraught.

"There's nothing we can do but watch the world burn…" Blaze states bluntly.

The initial rage has worn off. Everyone has lost hope.

Almost everyone.

"You're all wrong." Sonic says with his eyes practically flaming.

"We can't do anything. We're ghosts."

"Just because we're incapable physically doesn't mean we're incapable mentally. Silver, remember when you taught me self-hypnosis and meditation to try and get Mephiles to leave me alone?"

"Yeah…?"

"I need you guys to play the music for me…"

"You're gonna try and meditate yourself to Mephiles?! You're crazy." Charmy points out.

"It's a stretch… but it's our only shot. If you can concentrate and project yourself into Solaris' being when it forms, you can destroy it from the inside out!"

"Exactly my point, Tails!"

"So one sees the problem with this plan?! Sonic can't focus like that, he's a scatterbrain!" Eggman yells.

"Only when I don't have to think! Are you guys with me or not, because I'm doing this either way."

"Wait…" Shadow interrupts. "If you destroy Mephiles while not connected to your own spirit, it may become lost. You may be as good as brain dead when this is all over."

We all pause to think. Sonic may be sacrificing himself if he messes it up in the end… we might lose him permanently…

"If it means saving the Universe and making up for all the trouble Mephiles and I caused… then it's a chance I gotta take…"