Chapter 36:

Gemini, Lunar, and Vibra stood in the center of the green circle as the other heroes watched on, knowing this was it. They would either save Crescent or destroy themselves.

"Good luck guys," Tails noted.

"Tell Crescent he's an idiot for getting captured, alright?" Sonic smirked.

"I was going to do that anyway!" Gemini exclaimed.

Amy hugged Gemini as hard as she could, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Don't you dare let me lose you!" Amy demanded.

"Don't worry, you won't lose me," the brown hedgehog promised, "Not ever."

With that, Tails activated the teleporter, causing a bright light to erupt throughout that section of the RMF base. When it cleared, Teams Sonic, Rose, Dark, Chaotix, and Time were there.

Team Hyron wasn't.

A green light faded, leaving Team Hyron in a small town, where villagers were bustling by. The town was mostly agricultural, with most of the people busy caring for their food. One almost bumped into Gemini, but phased right through him, obviously the animaloid's ability in use.

"We have to rendezvous on the other end of town, right?" Vibra asked.

"Precisely," Gemini confirmed.

As they were about to set off, the building in front of them exploded in rolling bursts of flames and smoke. Out of it stepped another dark creature. It was a demonic tiger with numerous tentacles ripping out of its back. The tentacles had dark flames on their tips, which burned whatever it touched. It's tail had a end that resembled a wrecking ball.

"I am Tigron, on of the most powerful monsters in the DARKNESS army, and I shall serve my master by eliminating you heroes!"

The monster threw its head back, and thrust out a thin but high powered beam that carved into the ground. As it moved towards the heroes, they all jumped into the air. That was their first mistake.

Lunar cut an oncoming tentacle away, but another one swatted his Chaos Moon Blade away. Then another one wrapped him up, and slammed him into the ground.

Vibra rushed at the tiger, but as she avoided a tentacle, she slammed into Gemini's Dark Fang, enveloping both of them in a huge explosion.

"I need to reach my sword!" Lunar yelled to Gemini, who nodded. The hedgehog rolled to the side, and knocked away a tentacle as he rolled once more to avoid a few others hitting him. He then launched off in a Dark Fang towards the sword, and as he picked it up, he launched off again in another direction, knocking away a mass of tentacles to stun the beast.

He then tossed the sword high into the air, where Lunar grabbed it. The wolf concentrated energy to his blade, where he dived below, and slammed his sword into the ground, where a wave of silver energy ripped out. It carried the monster through a small market, and into a small building. Numerous tentacles littered the street, writhing furiously.

"My Lunar Quake Wave is a hit!" Lunar stated.

But unfortunately Tigron roared out of the debris, the tentacles levitating in the air as they began to form back again.

"Damn, what else do we have to do?" Vibra yelled, "It won't stay down!"

Just as they prepared for another round of fighting, a small circle beeped on the side of the dark creature, and it exploded in a blast of flames. When they were about to question how that happened, the Babylon Rogues landed in front of them. They held their extreme gear while Wave put away her detonator.

"You guys couldn't even get to us without a few scratches?" Wave questioned.

"Well if you were dealing with monsters like that all the time you would see what we mean!" Vibra responded.

"Never mind that," Gemini noted, "So can you tell us about what we're going to be doing?"

"Squadrons of winged pawns left this town the other day to go into the Twilight Desert. We also found a robe, and a small beacon of flames lit up in the desert. These clues lead to where Crescent could be, without a doubt," Jet relayed confidently.

"So we're going to head out there?" Lunar assumed.

"Yep!" Storm confirmed.

The flames died down as Crescent panted heavily, upchucking blood as sweat dripped down his face. His robe was torn apart, the rags being held to him by the belt buckle of his robe, which was heat resistant. He would never admit it, but they were getting to him. Any more of this and he would break under the heat.

"Will you give your much needed services to our King Corrupt Darkness?" the royal pawn asked again.

Crescent was about to mouth his answer when a tinge of a familiar feeling rushed through him. Courage, a strong heart, power, determination. It was Gemini, and he was coming to get him. He breathed a sigh of relief that the pawns saw.

"I guess he's about to lose it," one elite pawn who was holding one of the Dark Ones down shrugged.

"I will ask again, will you-"

"-Shut the hell up! I told ya once, I'll tell ya again, I'm never giving in to anyone, not even the piece of trash that is your King!"

The other Dark Ones cheered at the unmovable will that was their leader. The elite pawns tried to calm them down, but their joy at the fact they weren't out yet was unbreakable.

The royal pawn snapped his fingers, and Kuroiragon breathed another blast of fire. But Crescent spun around, snapping the chains and kicking the royal pawn in its neck, killing it. More roars of approval came as the hedgehog rushed at the elite pawns, only to run out of energy and be dragged back and put in even tougher chains.

"Will you-"

"-No!"

And the flames, screams, roars, and yells continued.

Within a few hours they stacked up on food and supplies, knowing this trip could take a while with the Twilight Desert being the size of a small continent.

Each hero wore a small sack on their back with their share of supplies. Jet, Wave, and Storm rode on their gear while Gemini, Lunar, and Vibra rode on some spares.

"You're going to have to learn these fast," Wave sneered, "So try to keep up!"

Each hero crouched, then launched off, startling the three heroes as they had never rode Extreme Gear before.

Though they were off balance at first, they easily got the hang of it when they exited the small town, going out into the desert.

Gemini yelled as he curved and launched off a sand dune, spraying dust all over the place.

Lunar and Vibra pulled off technical spins as they caught up with their guides.

"Got the hang of it now?" Storm asked. The three nodded.

"Don't worry Crescent," Gemini vowed as the six sped up, "I'll rescue you!"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Next chapter will start the three part finale of the mission for Crescent. All I need is two reviews, and we can get this started!