Cowpoke was walking around his house today…and according to his friends he didn't seem to be sulking as much; just thoughtful. He was still trying to process all that information that he received last night from Ivory… and he never imagined it could come to something like this.

He's just wondering…how exactly could he help? Sure, he knows Jill better than the others, but that didn't make him qualified to know what to do in this situation.

He was still trying to get over the fact that Jill had moved on too…and to Metal Sonic of all people. Guess a lot happened in a few years for her…

…served him right for just waiting on her than trying to call her back.

All these years, he was only worried that she might not have been ready for another relationship, and that's why he kept himself from trying to reach her. He was a strong guy, and he was able to wait for her…but it seemed like she had totally forgotten about him.

…that made him mad. Deep down, it hurt him, and angered him…it made him feel like he hadn't been that important to her.

Then he stopped by a door that was slightly ajar, hearing voices. He stopped, listening in.

"…I miss my Mama…and my Daddy…"

That was Joy's voice in the other room.

"…yeah…if I were far away from them, I'm sure I'd miss my parents too," and that was Mud-pie talking. "…Joy, why did you run away from them?"

"…I didn't want them to get hurt…" Joy mumbled, sounding nervous.

"…we know there's something inside of you…" Smokey's voice threw in. "…Ivory told us about it."

Cowpoke glanced through the crack in the door to see Joy's shocked face. Her, Mud-Pie, and his buddies were just sitting there in the living room. Cowpoke could only assume that Ivory, Trish and Berta were keeping an eye outside for…those forces that would follow her here.

"...look, we know that you're going through a lot because of what's inside you..." Rott began, as he rubbed his neck a tad awkwardly. "...but regardless, we'd like to help any way we can."

"...right." Merde shot in. "Wouldn't feel right, to let you be afraid all on your own."

Joy looked at the ground. "…but…it's just that…I don't know when she's gonna hurt someone…and I try to keep her from controlling me…but…"

Cowpoke looked away from the door in guilt. Here he was, fixated on how angry he was at her mother, and here was this girl that was experiencing the exact same thing as what she did.

"...have you... ever thought of fighting back?" Rott suggested.

"…yeah…" Joy muttered. "…but…I'm…kinda scared of her…" then she looked up at them. "…but she hasn't talked to me a lot…she hasn't tried to do anything yet…and that makes me more scared."

"...maybe... she's waiting for you to expect that she's not going to do anything?" Rott hummed.

"…I know what my Mama went through," Joy said. "…and nobody ever stopped doing anything bad…like Deity…so I know that Malice is still gonna do bad stuff no matter what…I won't ever think that she won't do anything if I know that…"

"…smart girl…" Smokey remarked.

Cowpoke looked back at Joy with a sad look. She was five years old now…and she could make that kind of logic. Now he really wished he knew what he could do for her.

"…so…you're just gonna keep running away until you can fight Malice all by yourself?" Mud-Pie asked.

Joy looked at him nervously, and then at the ground, nodding.

"But Joy…what if that takes you forever until you can fight Malice?" Mud-Pie asked, getting a shocked look from Joy.

And Cowpoke was shocked at that too. He suddenly had a haunting thought about that.

…what if…it took Joy as long as it took Jill?

"...he's got a point." Merde noted. "You can't just run forever..."

Joy looked down at the ground again, and to Cowpoke's heartache, she looked like she was ready to cry again. "…but I don't know what to do…" she uttered. "…it won't be like my Mama where Callous won't do bad things anymore…even if I fight Malice, she'll come back…she'll always be there…"

"...sheesh... I hate saying this, but..." Rott sighed. "...just from what I gather, the only one who can put a stop to Malice... would be you, Joy..."

Joy's lip trembled, and she covered her face to try not to cry.

"…aw…don't cry Joy…" Mud-Pie uttered, coming over and hugging her. Rott glanced aside awkwardly, whilst Merde simply sighed.

Just then, Cowpoke's head rose up with a sudden epiphany hitting him. "…Ray."

Her grandfather, Ray Condit. He's had even more experience than Cowpoke would, and probably would be a more likely person to know what to do in this situation. He remembered when he was at Safe Haven when he'd talk to the old man about Jill when he was over during Christmastime that one year…

…it would be a stretch…and Cowpoke knew that if Ray found out everything that happened to Joy, it would make a grandfather very upset…but he had to know something that could be done about all this.

Joy managed to stop crying at this time, wiping her eyes.

"...there, there... we'll think of something..." Rott uttered a bit awkwardly.

Cowpoke finally decided to walk in then. "I've got something…"

All of them looked up at him, and Joy gave him a pretty hopeful look. "Dad?" Mud-Pie muttered curiously.

Cowpoke knelt down to Joy. "…do you remember your grandpa, Joy?"

Joy blinked, and looked aside thoughtfully, trying to dig into her memories. She sort of remembered him…but she was really little when she saw him. "…sorta…" she answered, looking back at Cowpoke.

"…maybe…he might know what to do about this…" Cowpoke muttered. "…I…I really do care about you, and your Mama, Joy, and I really wanna help…but I also can't really do anything to help you…"

The others remained silent for the moment.

"…so…would you be okay…if you had gone to your grandpa for help?" Cowpoke asked her.

Joy looked back at Cowpoke on this. Everyone looked from Cowpoke to Joy.

Joy eventually nodded. "Yeah…"

"...alright." With a hum, Merde glanced at Cowpoke. "If she's leaving, someone should accompany her; someone who might know where the village is."

Cowpoke looked back at Merde on that, and then looked back at Joy. He wished he could be the one to lead her, but he had Mud-Pie to take care of… and he wasn't a very good father recently, so he couldn't abandon him.

…but he knew where the village was, thanks to Ray telling him years ago. "I can write down where your village is, and give it to Ivory," Cowpoke said. "…I'm sure Ivory can go with you to make sure you get there…"

Joy nodded again, in silence.

"...alright! Guess we've gotten that all sorted out!" Rott hummed with a smile. "So, is anyone here hungry?"

"I am!" Mud-Pie exclaimed out.

Cowpoke looked at Joy again. "…yeah, you should eat something before you leave…bet you're starving."

Joy felt her stomach growl, and she nodded with a bit of a smile.

"...right. Smokey, let's prepare some food." Merde hummed, as he began heading out.

Smokey nodded with a grunt, following him.

All of them were tired…but the kept on trudging forward. Charmy was just looking at everybody in the group to see how they were doing, since while he was tired, he could still go a bit farther. Rudy's energy seemed to last him, but he wasn't cheerful like he usually was, since the group's morale was pretty low. Boomer was just walking as she normally did, set on getting what needed to be done, which Charmy knew was pretty typical of her. Stella stayed close to Lock, and naturally, she made no eye contact whatsoever with Hex, while Violet actually walked next to Hex; not at all intimidated by her Corrupted appearance. Hex, herself, was simply glancing around her with a small, inaudible hum, as if scouting the area around them. Lock, naturally, kept quiet as he remained by Stella's side. Newt wandered closely by Boomer as he usually did, whilst Wiper, Proxy and Omega were spread around the group, almost as if they were guarding the rest of the group. Metal was all the way in the front as usual; a determined gaze on him as he knew that they wouldn't be too far away from Joy now.

Rudy looked at everyone, and then back at Charmy. "Captain…when do you think we'll get there?" he asked.

"We'll get there when we get there Rudy; stop asking," Boomer grumbled.

"Now, now, Boomer, no need for that," Charmy hummed. "He was just curious is all…"

"...right. We've been wandering for a while, now..." Wiper mused, as he folded his arms.

"It's gotta be natural to be curious, y'know." Newt hummed with a nod of his own.

Rudy sighed with a few more hops. "…Boomer…how come you always tell me to stop talking in all kinds of different ways?"

Boomer looked back at him. "Because, Rudy, you really do talk a lot. Sometimes it's best just to have some silence..."

Rudy glared at her. "…but I'm just as much an adult as any of you guys. I have a right to start a conversation if I feel like the silence is too awkward…and if you ask me, there's just been so much tension in the air these last few days!"

"I think it's reasonable though; we could be very close to finding Joy this time," Violet responded to him.

"Well…yeah…I know that, and I wanna really find Joy as much as everybody else…" Rudy murmured. "…but everybody in the group is always angry at somebody else, or upset, or anything! I'm talking about how everyone is always scattered and stays away from each other. Why can't we be together talking like Charon's group or King's group? They always get to be around this campfire chatting and relaxing…"

"…makes me kinda just wish I was traveling with them instead, because all our group ever does is just sit in silence…" Rudy grumbled.

Narrowing her eyes a touch, Hex glanced to the side with a small frown; figuring that she was probably the cause of some of the tension in the group.

"...well... I understand that you're frustrated about it, Rudy..." Proxy hummed, as he closed his eyes with a hum. "...but I think the reason no one else is relaxing or talking is... probably the same reason. Frustration."

"Frustration about what though?" Rudy asked. "Can't we all just talk about it?"

Then Violet halted. "Everyone get down. We're not alone."

"Whuh?" That startled Rudy.

With a hiss, Hex quickly glared ahead of her. "Someone using Corruption is right next to us."

"...just our luck." Metal grunted, as he clenched his hands together. "...we don't have time for this..."

"...even so, we're being targeted." Lock hummed, as he drew his rifle. "We'll have to prepare."

Just then, a shot was fired at the group, and they suddenly scattered.

With a grunt, Lock quickly took out a few empty cartridges, and tossed them towards Metal. "It's Mercy. Load them with Purity."

Grabbing them, Metal focused Purity energy into the cartridges; narrowing his eyes as he kept himself on the move.

Hex, however, stood her ground, as she scanned the area where she presumed the shot came from. ...the next shot should be coming right about...

From the brush all around them, though, dark figures popped out and rushed at them.

"Agh!" Boomer blasted one away with her gun, only to find it regenerate. "She got an army with her again!" Boomer screamed.

And just as Hex was watching, another shot came for her from another direction.

A dark tentacle suddenly shot out of the ground before Hex; snaring the shot before it could strike the octopus. "...tsch... coward." she hummed, as she glanced towards Metal.

He had just finished filling up one of Lock's cartridges, before he tossed it back towards the wolf. "Everyone who can't use Purity or Corruption, take cover!" he called out.

As he grabbed the cartridge, Lock quickly snapped it into his rifle, before he began firing blasts of Purity at the dark figures rushing at them.

In the meantime, Hex quickly turned her attention to where the bullet had been fired from. ...she's changing her positions... trying to catch us off-guard.

Rudy dove for cover with Charmy, making sure he was safe.

"…hrm…" Charmy rubbed his chin. "…they really could've attacked anytime, and yet they choose now to attack us."

"…so…are you saying they might be trying to keep us from something Captain?" Rudy asked.

Charmy smiled, rubbing his head. "You're certainly learning, aren't you Rudy?"

Rudy's eyes widened a bit. "Then we gotta slip by somehow! Maybe Joy's nearby!"

Skidding to a halt by the two, Wiper nodded. "...we need to keep them distracted, if we're to have any of us slip by them." he noted.

"Right…but how?" Rudy wondered.

Just then, another shot fired from nowhere at the group on the field. But again, a tentacle shot out from the ground to grab the shot. "You'll have to try harder than that!" Hex called out, as she folded her arms; glancing around her with a mild frown.

"Alright then."

Suddenly, a tall figure was right behind Hex, and tried to whack her with a large sniper rifle.

Except another tentacle lashed out to grip the rifle, and Hex glanced behind her with a smirk. "Gotcha." With that coy remark, another tentacle suddenly shot to slam directly into the figure's gut.

That figure let out a pained grunt, stepping back. Indeed, it was Mercy, glaring at Hex with flaring purple eyes. Hex simply smirked back at her. "How about you come back in two years, amateur? That's about how long you'll need to even hope to match me," she sneered.

Mercy growled at her, but ended up jumping into hiding again, sending more dark figures to attack the groups.

Noticing that, Hex quickly swiped her arm out, and a large tentacle shot out to swipe at the figures; knocking them far back into the woods. "They won't die from that. Lock, Metal! Either blast them or Purify them, while I keep them from getting to us!"

"...sounds like the best plan we got." Proxy hummed.

"Do we have alternatives?" Omega noted dryly.

Meanwhile, both Charon's group and King's group were flying through the air. To make sure that Charon wasn't carrying too many people, Sage had opted to carry a few others with her; glancing back at the dragon every so often to look at the ones actually riding on his back. All of the usual from Charon's group was on his back, along with Toki, Fargus and Nage, while Sage carried the rest and Hunter flew himself nearby Ani, and Cal was flying by jetpack.

"...it shouldn't be long, now..." Queen hummed, as she folded her arms.

"Yeah... if we can get to her, then..." Miser shot in with a light smile; remaining optimistic as they approached their goal.

"…then maybe we can finally figure out what to do…" Milo hummed, sitting at the front on Charon.

"...and hopefully, do something about the chaos caused during this period..." Charon mused.

Jack remained silent, as he simply gazed ahead of them; as if scouting to see if there was anything on the horizon. Arsenic was still sitting there in his arms, not doing very much, but wondering just what was going to happen if they got there, and if they were able to find the girl they were looking for. Whilst Fargus tinkered with some gadgetry, Nage was inspecting her chain to see if it were damaged at all. Kiri still huddled herself close to Diablo as she watched the horizon with a semi-neutral look.

Vanessa was keeping a close eye on their surroundings, keeping her ears and nose open and alert. As for the fliers, Demi also aided in scouting the area; using the fact that Blood could sense anomalies like Corrupted to his advantage.

Striker, Ani, Hunter and Cal were also keeping a close eye to make sure nothing could ambush them. Basically, everyone was keeping an eye out, or paying attention to where they were flying; all except Arsenic who just sat in Jack's arms silently.

Jack eventually glanced at Arsenic. "..what's wrong?" he inquired.

"…nothing's wrong…I'm just thinking…" Arsenic answered, still not looking at him.

Jack tilted his head. "...about what?"

"…things that have happened…and just what could be ahead…" Arsenic mumbled.

"...right..." Jack hummed with a nod.

Cal's head then perked up. "We've got company!"

Sage narrowed her eyes. "Lots of it!"

Growling, Charon glanced around. "From where?"

"Everywhere!" Hunter shouted.

"…SCATTER!" Vanessa screamed.

Just then, beams of Corruption shot out at them from all directions. Roaring, Charon began evading the beams, whilst Sage reinforced a psychic barrier around the group she carried.

"Blast!" Fargus grunted. "We can't evade them for long!"

"Then we gotta fight 'em off!" Roaring, King shot a couple lightning bolts to repel some of the Corruption beams.

"Man, they really decided to bring an army with them, didn't they?" Ani uttered, flying around the attacks.

"Something tells me we might be getting really close to where Joy is then!" Milo shouted over the chaos.

"In which case..." Demi uttered as he flew around the beams. "...this is just a distraction!"

"Do that so we can't get to Joy, right?" Kiri yelled.

"Right!" Diablo answered to her, "But how can any of us get past it?"

Arsenic glanced out, seeing the enemies. A lot of them were creatures that could fly through the air, some of them being aviary Mobians that had been corrupted…

…but she saw two particular Corrupted soldiers riding on the backs of two of the creatures. One of them, as she could quickly notice, was Husk; gazing lifelessly at the ones riding on Charon. The other one, of course, was Cyrene, with a confident, evil grin on her face.

Noticing them, Jack narrowed his eyes a bit. "...them...they're in charge…"

"...had to be them, huh?" Charon sighed.

"…let's split up and separate the army," Vanessa suggested. "Maybe we can find an opening for some of us to slip through and get ahead to where Joy could be."

"...might be tough." Fargus commented. "Most of us can't fly."

"Then the ones that can will have to be our best bet," Vanessa answered.

Ani soared nearby. "I can take some with me and Striker and Demi and we can sneak by when we get our opening."

"...okay; sounds like a plan," Nage nodded. "Who should you take with you?"

"…Milo and Jack," Ani muttered. "We always gotta stick together, right?"

"Yeah." Jack nodded, before he looked at Vanessa. "Mom, do you think you could keep an eye on Arsenic while I'm gone?"

"…no, I'm coming too," Arsenic said, naturally, getting some shocked looks.

"But you're hurt," Oblivion uttered.

Jack looked down at Arsenic for that. "...are you sure...?"

"…then in that case, I'm coming too," Vanessa hummed.

"...you need some protection, too." Miser shot in. "I'll come with you."

"...if you say so, Miser." Sage hummed. "Will that be everyone?"

"Yeah, it looks like it," Ani spoke. "I think that's all I'll be able to carry anyway; I can only hold up my own defenses so long!" And then more attacks came, forcing them to scatter again.

As they scattered, Sage managed to launch Miser onto Charon's back. "Whenever you're ready, Ani!" the rhinoceros called.

"Alright!" Ani hollered. She picked up Miser, Jack and Arsenic, Milo, and Vanessa with her telekinesis, and all the others set out to make a distraction for the forces, while the group she carried, along with Striker and Demi sank below the trees.

"…sending her to her granpa, huh…?" muttered Ivory. "…probably the best thing then…"

"…so you'll be taking her there, then…?" Cowpoke asked.

"…already this far into it; mind as well see the whole thing through," Ivory muttered.

"...we'll come along." Trish hummed. "No way are we gonna back out this far into the game."

"She's got that right." Berta nodded.

Cowpoke nodded. "…you should leave now…before any trouble starts…"

"Right, you all take care of yourself, okay?" Ivory said.

Cowpoke's friends nodded.

"...well, let's hurry. The day's still young, so if we get a move on, we might get ahead before it gets dark." Trish shot in.

"Right; I'll go get Joy then," Ivory said, walking off down the hall.

"We'll wait outside." Berta hummed, as she and Trish headed out.

Cowpoke watched them leave, and eventually, he sat down with a weary sigh.

"...don't look so down, Cowpoke," Rott noted with a light sigh, as he sat down as well; looking at his friend with a concerned look.

"…this is a lot to take in…" Cowpoke muttered.

"...well, we have to accept it," Merde noted with a shrug; "Sooner or later."

"…but I…I just don't know why…she never bothered to…" And Cowpoke sighed again. With a hum, Merde set a hand on his shoulder supportively.

"…she had a lot going on Dad," Mud-Pie said.

Rott and Merde glanced at Mud-Pie with curious looks when he said that.

"…maybe…she just sorta…you know…couldn't," Mud-Pie said with a shrug.

Cowpoke looked up at him with another sigh. He knew that Mud-Pie was only trying to encourage him and cheer him up, but he was still young yet, so he didn't know just how complicated all of this was. At any rate, he rubbed Mud-Pie's head. "Yeah, probably," he hummed.

"...hm..." Humming, Rott glanced out of a nearby window with a hum. "...in any case... they won't be bothered with harsh weather on the way..." he mused.

"Right…" Cowpoke said.

Then he got a harsh feeling of his hair standing on end; a sudden rush of anxiety hitting him.

"Boo."

Cowpoke actually jumped, standing in front of Mud-Pie while he looked at who was standing there. Quickly, both Rott and Merde shot startled looks at where that voice came from. Smokey stomped down in front of them, glaring.

Patricia was standing there, just looking back at them with a tilt of her head. "Didn't think boys like you could be jumped like that."

"...Patricia Novagod." Merde grunted.

"...shit... and at the worst moment, too..." Rott hissed.

Cowpoke growled, while Patricia approached them. Smokey was in front of the group, snarling at her.

"Sure, that's gonna make me back off," Patricia snorted in sarcasm. With a wave of her hand, a slash of Corruption knocked away Smokey against the wall of the house.

"Smokey!" Mud-Pie yelped, and he was going to run to him but Cowpoke grabbed him and kept him in place. With a slight gulp, Merde stepped in front of Cowpoke and Mud-Pie; as if to shield them against Patricia.

"...gnh..." With an intimidated gulp, Rott glanced from where Smokey had been launched, back to the Corrupted bat. "...strong..."

Cowpoke glared back at Patricia; he was scared too, but he didn't want to admit it. "What are you messing with us for then?"

"To have a little fun," Patricia said back in a snarky way.

Merde huffed at that. "...then go to a brothel." he uttered; his tone shaky, but his gaze unwavering.

"Tough words for a guy in your situation," Patricia chuckled, raising her hands to gather amounts of Corruption.

In that instant, however, something shot right in-between Patricia and the group; spreading tons of debris and a thick blanket of dust across the entire living room.

"THE HELL WAS THAT?" Rott sputtered; especially after the one who had been launched had just barely missed him.

There were groans of pain, and a body on the group weakly tried to push itself off of the ground. It turned out to be Ivory. "…God…damn it…"

Cowpoke started to grow more worried when he saw that. "…oh no…"

"...Ivory..." Rott sputtered.

Instantly, Merde shot a glare at Patricia. "...who else is with you?"

"Take a wild guess; I dare you," Patricia hummed.

Cowpoke immediately tried to run where the explosion came from, but Patricia was able to knock him backward with the force of Corruption.

"Dad!" Mud-Pie screamed, running to his father. This was the perfect moment for Patricia to grab him by the head and lift him up off of the ground, making him yelp again.

Cowpoke gasped, jumping back up to his feet.

"You're all gonna stay put, or he's gonna get what's coming," Patricia warned, gripping his head firmly while he squirmed helplessly.

Everyone remained frozen in place, but all eyes were glaring directly at Patricia.

"...coward..." Merde spat, as he clenched his hands.

"…now…we all can talk about this, I'm sure," Patricia chuckled.

"…there's nothing to talk about…" Smokey grumbled, getting up on his feet.

"…you're right…there really isn't," Patricia said. "But this is the consequence for deciding to help that little girl; who, might I remind you, is entirely defenseless right now."

"...kkh..." Rott grunted, as he shot a look back at Ivory.

"...you're not getting away with this." Merde growled. "Your kind never does."

"There's a first for everything then, isn't there?" Patricia chuckled. "You all stay here all nice and comfy, and I'll just take this little rascal with me to make sure you don't get out of line."

Cowpoke jumped forward at that. "YOU'RE NOT TAKING AWAY MY SON!" and he tried to lunge at Cowpoke.

But Patricia knocked him in the gut hard with a kick, knocking him against another wall and knocking the wind out of him.

"Dad!" Mud-Pie wailed, on the brink of tears.

"COWPOKE!" Quickly, both Rott and Merde rushed to Cowpoke's side; checking to see if he was still conscious.

"Now then; behave yourselves," Patricia chuckled, walking off into the hallway with Mud-Pie in her grip, still trying to struggle.

Outside, Joy was running through the crowds of panicked townsfolk that were trying to run away from the danger brewing behind her. Said danger was a massive crocodile who was charging after her with a sadistic laugh; knocking aside anyone who was in his way. Joy was massively frightened for her life, trying all she could to just get away from his sights.

"No escape!" With a cackle, Bulk actually slammed his hand directly against the road ahead of him; causing a tremendous fissure to rocket towards Joy.

It propelled Joy into the air in hopes to jump out of the way, screaming with fright. The instant she was airborne, however, Bulk shot towards her like a torpedo; extending his hand to grab her while she was still unable to evade him.

"Let me go!" Joy whined, trying to struggle and kick him away in his grip.

"Of course..." With a rotten chuckle, Bulk proceeded to slam Joy against the ground underneath them; pinning her down. "...after I kill ya, of course."

Joy winced, shivering in fear and pain at being pinned like that.

"Now hold still..." Chuckling, Bulk held his other hand directly above Joy; Corruption amassing within it. "It won't hurt... for long."

Joy shuddered at this.

…then…something built up inside of her. She couldn't describe it, but it was this determination to live…to keep herself alive. She knew she couldn't die…

She screamed out, and a massive force of Purity shot out of her body. With a hellish shriek, Bulk had to get away from Joy as the Purity nearly blinded him; causing him to fire the accumulated Corruption harmlessly into the air.

Thus, his fire was able to be seen flying up into the air and exploding.

"Look!" Ani gasped when she saw it.

"...a battle is brewing..." Miser uttered. "...we need to get there faster."

Meanwhile, on ground, the shot had also been seen by two figures that were rushing through the trees.

Rudy gawked at that, hopping as fast as he possibly could; which, for the kangaroo, was amazingly fast. "Metal! Look!" he uttered, pointing up at it.

Metal's eyes narrowed as he saw that blast. "...that's not good..." he uttered, as he looked straight ahead. "We can't dwindle!"

"Right!" Rudy exclaimed, hopping even faster. "In fact, we'll both be even faster if we race each other there! C'mon!"

"...we don't have time for races!" And the instant Metal said that, he actually shot forward in flight; easily overtaking Rudy in terms of speed.

"Whoa!" Rudy huffed in shock.

Back in town, Joy was slowly getting back up to catch her breath, looking back at Bulk. Burns were scattered across his body, but a fierce glare was still directed at Joy as he snarled. "...you little brat..." he grunted.

Joy gasped and turned to start running again. This time, though, Bulk didn't pursue her, as he instead began gathering dangerous amounts of Corruption within his mouth; his gaze directed right at the small ewe running ahead of him. Joy saw this, which made her run even faster. But it wasn't fast enough, as Bulk managed to fire off a tremendous beam of Corruption aimed right at Joy. Joy screamed out in pain as it struck her in the back. Figuring that she would be halted for the moment, Bulk began running towards her once more.

…you could let me fight him. I'm strong enough, since clearly you're not, spoke a voice in Joy's head.

…no…I'm not letting you out…you make bad things happen! And Joy quickly tried to get back up to run, but weakly.

At this point, however, Bulk had caught up to her, and quickly blocked her escape route with walls of Corruption. "End of the line."

Joy breathed hard and frantic, looking back at Bulk in fear. Cracking his knuckles, Bulk glared down at her. "...any last words?"

Joy was frozen on the spot there, staring at him.

Last chance… said the voice in her head.

As Corruption built up around the crocodile, he raised his fist whilst preparing to finish Joy off.

Joy clutched to her head and shut her eyes in desperation. …no…no, no, no, I don't want to let you take over me now!

With a manical grin, Bulk eventually threw his fist directly at Joy.

Joy looked right back up at Bulk with flashing icy blue eyes, and actually caught the fist.

Seeing that, Bulk grunted. "...figures... Malice," With a grunt, he threw his other fist down at her.

Malice caught it too, with a devious grin. "…oh…you have no idea how much power I've been building up to this moment…"

Bulk grunted, before actually smirking. "...I guess I'll just have to claim that power after I kill you, then."

Malice clamped her fingers down on Bulk's fist, laughing. "Fat chance!"

Slowly, the barriers of Corruption actually started to crack, and an aura that appeared around Malice started to get more demonic and more powerful. Grunting, Bulk focused his own Corruption into an aura in order to match the power that was building up so ferociously within Malice. Malice was just getting more and more powerful though. In fact, she was able to start pushing Bulk backward while the barriers got more and more cracks.

Bulk grit his teeth considerably. "...brat...!" With a snarl, he stomped his foot against the ground to root himself down; in a bid to try and keep Malice from pushing him away.

Malice just kept pushing, laughing even more. That was when the barriers of Corruption finally shattered. As Bulk grit his teeth, he began gathering Corruption within his mouth once more; this time deciding to build up a dangerous amount in order to at least intimidate the upstart child that was openly mocking him. That didn't intimidate Malice at all. Instead of just laughing, she was actually able to lift Bulk off of the ground, and slam him down onto the ground again, hard. Bulk felt the wind being knocked out of him, and as a result, the energy he had been accumulating instead was sent directly within himself; something that cancelled the attack.

Malice released him and collected black Corruption around her nails which she stabbed into Bulk's chest.

Bulk jolted as he was stabbed... however, he didn't cry out in pain; something which seemed to even surprise him. "...hn?"

Malice just looked down at him. "…you're not strong enough…not at all…" and she smirked. "…not even as strong as that vampire was, and he was still weak…"

Bulk's eyes widened considerably, and he found the strength to suddenly jab his own nails into Malice; Corruption surging through them. "...you shut your trap, brat... I won't be outdone by some ancient fossil!" he snarled.

"You'll be outdone by some kid then, I take it?" Malice mused, not at all fazed by what Bulk did to her.

"...shut up!" With a snarl, Bulk's grip tightened, as he focused on one thing; trying to absorb the Corruption lingering within Malice.

Malice's eyes glowed. "…no…you shut up."

Bulk wasn't able to absorb very much of Malice's Corruption. Actually, Bulk suddenly wasn't absorbing any anymore…and she was the one that started to absorb Bulk's Corruption. Bulk let out a brief yelp, as if the air itself was leaving his throat and lungs, before he desperately tried kicking the young ewe away from him.

He was able to kick her away, with black goo on her finger nails from where she had stabbed him. Chuckling, she licked the black goo on her fingertips. "You have no real emotional drive for this stuff…it's just too plain, too simple in the evil…there's your delight in the pain of others, but that's all there is. No delicious anguish, or need for revenge, other than the GUN Commander that is, and no anger or hate…none strong enough. You've got nothing."

"...the hell do you know about that...?" Bulk snarled, as he slowly got on his feet; glaring at Malice.

"I can taste it…" Malice answered, "And all I know is that I could just eat you up…right now." Her eyes glowed right then.

From behind her, giant, grotesque creatures of blackness crawled, slithered and stomped out and approached Bulk.

Perking at that, Bulk glared behind him, and snarled. "...oh, hell no... I'm not ending up as some fucking annoying brat's snack!"

As he growled this, his eyes glowed as well, a gaseous cloud of Corruption began swirling around Bulk; twisting around as some manner of barrier around the crocodile, and rapidly building up power.

Malice just laughed at this. "You're only just prolonging the inevitable! There's no way I could possibly let a weakling like you keep your powers at this point!" and she sent the monsters upon him.

Bulk's eyes narrowed considerably. "...I... am not... WEAK!"

In that instant, the gaseous Corruption suddenly solidified, as an impossible amount of black spikes suddenly erupted from that cloud of darkness; impaling just about every creature surrounding him in increasingly brutal ways.

Malice just kept grinning, not baffled by any of this, and then she simply looked up.

Heavy projectiles from the sky were suddenly raining down toward Bulk; projectiles that were coated with a pale blue aura, as well as a beam from a cannon. Quickly perking up, Bulk formed a barrier of Corruption that soaked up these attacks, as he glared at whoever sent those flying at him.

"I figured you guys were causing trouble in town!" Striker growled, as a flying group of figures headed toward them.

Seeing that, Bulk snarled. "...more annoyances..." he hissed, as he glanced towards Malice... but to his surprise, she was gone; "...damn!"

Arsenic just snapped her fingers then, and there was an explosion that blasted away Bulk quite a ways.

Grunting, Bulk glared up at the group again. "...I thought Cyrene and Husk were keeping you brats busy!"

"You thought wrong, you bully!" Jack called down to Bulk with a frown.

"...Ani, launch me." Miser quickly whispered to Ani; her gaze narrowed as she glared at the crocodile.

"Right…" Ani whispered back, and when the group landed on the ground, she shot Miser at Bulk with her telekinesis.

Roaring, Miser actually threw a clothesline strike against Bulk's neck; knocking him back considerably as she got on her feet. "...bastard." she spat. "That one's for what you did to Cal and Natal."

Spitting up black blood, Bulk glared at the immortal rhinoceros. "...cheeky bitch..." he hissed.

"Demi and Milo; you guys better go try and find Joy," Vanessa suggested to them quietly. "We'll keep Bulk at bay."

"Right…" Milo answered back, looking at Demi.

Demi gave Milo a silent nod.

"...do you fuckers think that you can take me on?" Bulk snarled, as Corruption was amassing around him. "You have no idea who you're messing with..."

Then Vanessa simply kicked Bulk in the face.

"...good one, mom!" Jack called.

Growling, Bulk shot a sharp glare at Vanessa. "DON'T YOU MOCK ME!" Instantly, he slammed his hands against the ground to cause a powerful quake that shook throughout the entire street.

Most of them managed to keep their ground through the quakes.

"Let's go, Demi," Milo whispered, hurrying off. Demi quickly flew after Milo.

As Bulk shot a glare at the group, they all remained calm; even Jack, as he glanced at Arsenic still in his grip. "You're gonna be okay, right?" he inquired.

"…yeah, I'll be alright," Arsenic answered.

"...okay." Jack nodded, as he looked back at Bulk. "Then let's show this guy what we can do!"

"...don't make me laugh!" Roaring, Bulk shot out a series of dark tentacles directly at the group; however, before they could reach the others, Miser grabbed hold of those tentacles and held them firmly.

"That wasn't our intention!" Miser spat in return, before she actually ripped the tentacles out of Bulk; tossing them to the ground before returning a glare at the crocodile, whilst the writhing tentacles dissolved into black goo.

"Yeah…we're not gonna be intimidated anytime soon by anybody like you," Striker growled, pulling out his aluminum baseball bat. "We're gonna do what it takes to help out our friend."

"Really, all you guys ever really succeed in doing is pissing us off," Ani also snarled, with energy building up around her.

"...then how about I up the ante, and kill you goddamn pests?" Bulk snarled, as gaseous Corruption surrounded him.

"...we're not gonna let you do that." Jack growled, as he held Arsenic a bit protectively. "Not in a million years!"

"We've handled everything you dished out so fair; I don't see how it could be any different," Vanessa added, standing readily and watching Bulk carefully.

Roaring, Bulk then amassed the gaseous Corruption around him; creating an area around him that seemed to consist only of Corruption, which was rapidly expanding.

Seeing this, Miser frowned. "...seems like it possesses acidic properties... don't touch that stuff." she warned.

"Right," Vanessa replied, while they all stepped back carefully.

In another part of town, Patricia still had Mud-Pie in her grip while she carried him away. "Wonder where that little brat could be…" she murmured.

As she wandered, though, she'd suddenly feel a powerful energy source... rocketing right towards her.

She stopped, and decided to turn to see just what the energy source could be. It all happened in practically a flash. A painful sensation suddenly drove directly into her, as a powerful grip suddenly lashed around the hand she held onto Mud-Pie with. "...let... him... go." a stern, almost vicious voice hissed, as Patricia gazed straight into the part Mobian, part cybernetic eyes that seemed to bore into her very soul.

Patricia gagged a little bit, with her only reflex to actually let Mud-Pie go onto the ground, and he scrambled to distance himself away from them to gawk.

Standing protectively in front of Mud-Pie, the light-blue, part cybernetic hedgehog glared daggers at the vampire bat, as a pale-green blade was emitting a powerful glow within his hand. "...at a loss for words... Novagod?" Metal Sonic uttered in a cold, murderous tone.

Patricia couldn't answer, and she looked to see that he had this blade impaled into her, thus making her choke a little. Mud-Pie stared up at Metal in awe.

"Mud-Pie!"

He spun around, to find that his father was running out to him and grabbed him in a hug, followed by his friends and Ivory.

"…well…" Ivory hummed, when she saw Metal and Patricia.

Trish and Berta were quick to follow, and they, too, were fairly awed at seeing Metal Sonic actually squaring off against Patricia like that.

"...you all should back away." Metal spoke, as he still glared at Patricia. "Staying this close to either of us is a danger..." As he said that, he drove the Purity blade a bit further into Patricia.

Patricia grunted in pain, and in a building fury, an aura grew around her. Like Metal warned, the others backed away quickly, and she knocked Metal away in a powerful blast of Corruption.

Metal, however, came to a skidding halt rather than flying aside, as he returned a simple glance back at Patricia. "...my turn." Without hesitation, he shot his hand forward to unleash an elongated spear formed of liquid metal and Purity at the vampire bat.

Patricia maneuvered her way around it, sealing back up the wound that the stab had left on her.

"…damn…" Cowpoke muttered, watching this.

In that instant, Metal's eyes narrowed, before the spear actually curved around to shoot at Patricia from behind; aiming to pierce the exact spot that she had just regenerated. Patricia growled when it stabbed her, and she shot out some slash waves of Corruption at Metal in response. Narrowing his eyes, Metal actually sent out slash waves of Unity that not only shattered Patricia's waves, but actually continued directly towards her, as if nothing had stood in their way to begin with. Patricia tried her best to jump away from them and to retaliate, but she could tell that Metal's attacks had some power.

In hopped Rudy next to the group, grabbing Berta's arm. "C'mon! You guys'll just get in the way! We need to go find Joy while she's distracted!"

Grunting, Berta yanked her arm away from the smaller kangaroo. "Don't grab me, ya little twerp!" she yelled.

"Berta, sssh!" Trish hissed; worried that Berta's outburst could potentially catch Patricia's attention.

Speaking of, Metal kept up a relentless assault against Patricia; sending wave after wave of Unity against the bat for every swing of his arm. Patricia tried to keep up with him, just growling more and more.

"Look, Metal's really the only one that can fight her and keep her busy right now; it's best for us if we go find Joy before Malice decides to take this time to come out," Rudy whispered.

Cowpoke turned his head at him. "…Malice?" he questioned.

"…that's the name of the entity that's inside of her," Rudy answered.

"…I see…" Cowpoke muttered.

"…then let's go," And Ivory headed off with her spear.

Grunting, Berta motioned for Trish to follow her, as they hurried after Ivory.

As they began hurrying off, Metal kept sending the Unity waves rapidly at Patricia. "...you seem agitated." he mused.

"…seems like you're very determined to find the little shit, aren't you?" Patricia growled, still retaliating as much as she could.

Metal narrowed his eyes. "...do not speak of my daughter that way." With that, he suddenly began slashing his arms in such a fashion that waves of Unity and Purity were launched at irregular, random patterns that Patricia would have a hard time even avoiding. Patricia slipped and she kept getting pummeled and pummeled by the oncoming waves of attacks Metal threw at her.

Cowpoke just watched this, understanding a bit more just what Metal had become…and even a little surprised to hear him refer to Joy as "his daughter."

"...all the things you have done for all this time..." Metal growled, as he kept sending these attacks at Patricia. "...the lives you've ruined... the homes you've destroyed... all spurred from selfish desires..." As he spoke, he closed his eyes. "...I will make you pay for your crimes in full, Patricia Novagod. It will not be swift... it will not be pleasant... for you, it will be hell on earth."

Meanwhile, Rudy, Ivory, Trish and Berta rushed through town.

"By the way, I'm Rudy from Team Chaotix!" Rudy uttered while he hopped with them. "Our group got ambushed by Mercy and a whole army of Corrupted and Metal and I just managed to slip by, figuring they were just holding us up away from Joy!"

"...wonderful!" Berta grunted; barely understanding most of that.

"Joy was chased off by this giant crocodile earlier!" Trish quickly said to Rudy. "Hopefully she managed to evade him!"

"So far she's managed to avoid all of us!" Rudy replied.

"…yeah, she's unrealistically slippery for a kid," Ivory murmured.

"Must've been really handy for her... but it's sad to think of how frightened she must've been..." Trish murmured.

"Hey, can we save the mushy crap until after we save Joy from these douchebags?" Berta grunted as she charged ahead of the group.

That's when the group nearly ran into another two figures that had been in a rush, but luckily, they all had stopped before running into each other.

Rudy recognized them. "Demi! Milo!"

"Oh, Rudy!" Milo sighed in relief to see him. He looked at Trish and Berta in confusion, not knowing who they were, but Ivory made him jump.

"…don't worry…I'm…not Corrupted anymore…" Ivory told him while looking aside, answering what his possible thoughts were.

"...I noticed." Demi noted; actually relieved to see Ivory in a form that wasn't Corrupted.

"...well, enough with the niceties." Trish murmured. "You two haven't seen Joy, have you?"

"Because…you know…Bulk is chasing her and all," Ivory added with a heavy grudging growl on the subject of Bulk.

"But our group just ran into Bulk!" Milo answered. "We didn't see Joy anywhere near him!"

"You guys showing up probably gave her the chance to run off then!" Rudy uttered. "We need to find her before she could get too far away from us!"

"...but then she could be anywhere!" Berta grunted. "Goddamn it, where the hell could she have gone!"

"...well..." Demi hummed... and his eyes widened. "...wait... Rudy, you're not here on your own, are you?"

"No; I came with Metal," Rudy answered.

"...with Metal..." Demi uttered, as he closed his eyes. "...then... if I'm not mistaken, there are two places that they would want to be... as far away from Metal as possible..."

And he looked at the others with a dawning expression on him. "...and... as close to Metal as possible..."

"...the hell are you talkin' about?" Berta uttered in confusion.

Milo and Rudy's eyes widened, looking at each other. "Malice…" they uttered simultaneously.

"…you don't think she's already taken over her, do you?" Ivory asked.

"...it's a possibility." Demi uttered. "A possibility that's all too real... if Malice finds out that Metal's here..."

"...some of us have to go back, then." Trish uttered. "Metal's busy with Patricia at the moment."

"…and at the rate he was fighting her, I don't think she has good chances," Rudy added.

"…our group is handling Bulk, but two of ours in our group had been crippled," Milo answered. "…I'm not sure if we should leave them hanging like that either."

"...great. Now what the hell do we do?" Berta grunted in frustration.

Milo looked at them. "Me and Demi so far have had a real chance against Malice and holding her back. Me and him will go find Metal and you guys go back up our group against Bulk."

Ivory looked back at him on that one. "…good. I could use a little opportunity for revenge."

"...just don't end up getting yourselves Corrupted." Demi noted, as he glanced at Milo. "Let's go."

With Bulk, they've managed to stay together for the most part, and keep out of harm's way of Bulk, but he was getting angrier and angrier at the second.

It didn't help that as his anger increased, so did the radius of that corrosive field of Corruption spreading out from him.

The one who remained the closest in order to chuck strewn-about objects at the crocodile was Miser; having to improvise in order to keep Bulk from just charging at the group. Ani was also helping her on that account with the thrown objects with her telekinesis. Striker aided in the air with Snap's cannon, shooting at where Bulk was to try and get him, and the others just stayed their distance and attacked when they could. Jack, as he still insisted on carrying Arsenic, had a bit of a hassle in both playing on his harmonica to damage the crocodile, and ensuring that he didn't drop Arsenic by accident. Vanessa, even still without her arms, was still able to move around and use her senses to keep farther ahead of Bulk's steps. Snarling, Bulk simply lashed wildly around him to knock aside the projectiles that the group launched at him repeatedly.

"…we have him surrounded, but not overwhelmed…" Arsenic mumbled.

"...yeah, he's really strong..." Jack uttered, as he tried keeping on his toes to try and find a weak spot he could exploit.

"…and he's getting stronger…" Arsenic muttered. "…if we can find a way to really beat these guys for good, we should do it here and now…"

"...but how...?" Jack uttered.

In that instant, Bulk suddenly lashed out towards the two of them; knocking Jack right off his feet, and sending him and Arsenic crashing into two separate walls. Arsenic was still wounded from the battle last night, and she groaned, trying to get back up off of the ground weakly.

However, Bulk got to her first; grabbing her by the head and holding her up with a snarl.

"Arsenic!" Seeing that, Jack sprung to his feet and charged for Bulk, only for the crocodile to brutally kick Jack away; causing him to crash into the same wall, only with a lot more force this time around. The others in the group stopped at that, except Vanessa who rushed to Jack to make sure he was okay, and Arsenic just glared at Bulk.

Bulk glared back at her, and slowly clenched his grip down on her. "...one fucking explosion or radioactive stunt outta you, and I'll snap your head clean off, bitch..."

"...don't you dare...!" Jack coughed, as he slowly got to his feet; clutching his chest where he had been kicked.

Miser shot Jack a brief look, before she glared back at Bulk.

Arsenic kept glaring back at Bulk. "And just what to you accomplish by this?" she uttered, feeling the pain from him clenching down on her head.

"...I'm gonna kill you upstart brats... and then I'll hunt down that little shit and kill her..." Bulk hissed. "...and then I'll kill every last person who's ever associated themselves with that bitch...!"

Miser's eyes narrowed. "...how about trying to kill an immortal?" And with that, she charged directly at Bulk, and skewered her horn directly into his chest; forcing him to let go of Arsenic. In that moment, Ani used her telekinesis to yank Arsenic back to a safer distance next to Jack.

With a snarl, Bulk proceeded to grab Miser. "Well, then I'll just Corrupt you!" he roared.

"...fat chance!" Before Bulk could even think to attack her, Miser began rapidly punching and kicking at the crocodile; yelling as he was actually forced backwards from her rapid blows. "I've evaded this stuff for seven years... do you honestly think that I would let it taint me now?"

The others in the group watched, and Ani and Striker kept close to wait and see if Miser needed any aid in beating up Bulk.

For the moment, she looked like she was handling herself quite well; mercilessly pummeling the crocodile away from her and the rest of the group.

"...kkh... cheeky bitch!" Roaring, Bulk suddenly formed a blade of Corruption which he swung directly at the rhino; however, with a swift motion of her hand, she caught the searing blade with only a slight wince. "...nh?"

Without hesitating, Miser actually yanked the blade out of Bulk's grip, before stabbing it straight through the crocodile; the Corrupted blade actually powerful enough to bypass his hardened scales.

"Yeah, go Miser!" Ani cheered when they saw that.

As the crocodile grunted in pain, he glared at Miser, who simply proceeded to kick him to the ground, where he glared at her. "...you've got moxie..."

"...comes with being immortal... and going up against slime like yourself." Miser retorted, as she stomped down on Bulk to keep him down.

"...man, Miser's really strong..." Jack couldn't help but utter in awe.

"Yeah, sometimes I forget how strong she is too," Striker admitted in agreement.

Eventually, Bulk managed to get back on his feet; glaring intensely at Miser with a hateful glare. "...kkh... someone like you on our side would..."

"Don't give me that." Miser scoffed. "There's nothing you can do to make me join you."

"We've all fought this stuff before, so any dirty tricks you try can't possibly be new to us," Ani growled.

There was a mild twitch in Bulk's eyelid upon hearing that. "...nothin' new... huh...?" he snarled viciously.

As he said that, the Corruption spreading out from him actually began to dissolve the earth beneath it; cracking open dark holes that sprouted out roots of pure Corruption; all of them surrounding Bulk ominously.

Seeing this, Jack blinked. "...what's he doing now?"

"Apparently something new," Arsenic hummed in disinterest.

"...don't you... MOCK ME!" Bulk suddenly roared, before the roots all shot into his body; seemingly impaling him... but the instant they did, however, his body darkened, and Corruption began practically pouring down his body; amassing rapidly around him in what initially seemed like a cocoon, but soon turned out to be a gooey shell, which rapidly grew into a body of Corruption for the crocodile, which loomed over the group.

Miser merely glared up at this figure without flinching. "...Arsenic... can you direct an explosion at it?"

"Sure thing," Arsenic answered, pointing her finger and releasing bolts of fire at it.

The bolts slammed onto the figure and caused powerful explosions... however, the figure didn't even flinch, as if nothing had struck it to begin with. Even the gaping holes left from the explosions was filling up rapidly with Corruption.

"...uh... that's not a good thing, is it?" Jack noted a touch worriedly.

"…everyone, back up a bit," Vanessa warned, and they did so.

"Now how do we fight this thing?" Striker muttered.

From the brush, Ivory was the first to come out, and see this. "…well shit," she muttered.

Trish and Berta came after her, and seeing this massive figure, the two of them could only gawk.

Slowly, the figure began lumbering towards them; extending its arm towards Miser as if to crush her beneath it. Narrowing her eyes, however, Miser quickly leapt away before the figure's arm could touch her; though the instant it came in contact with the ground, the earth hissed and sizzled as if pure, powerful acid was being poured onto that one spot; causing a darkened, crimson shade of Corruption to emit from the surrounding area.

"…I afraid to say it, but we could really use Jill here right now…" Snap muttered timidly beside Striker.

"We'll be fine; we've been able to handle this ourselves before!" Ani insisted. "I don't always wanna depend on Jill for this!" She picked up some trees with her telekinesis and tried to see if she could clog up the flow of Corruption.

As she did that, however, the figure only absorbed the trees into its mass; slowly approaching the group little by little.

"...that... didn't work." Jack gulped.

Ivory looked at all of this for a long time, trying to figure out how to destroy it.

"...maybe sound!" Quickly, Jack pulled out his harmonica and played on it, which sent soundwaves flowing against the creature...

...but yet again, it didn't flinch; the gooey Corruption only wavered ever so slightly from the force of the soundwave.

"...kkh..." Miser gulped at that.

…Bulk…I hate to admit it…but I need backup… spoke a voice in the creature's head.

The creature flinched; halting. ...can't this wait? I'm busy trying to kill these-

-I've been pinned by the brat's fucking father! Interrupted the other voice. You think you have it bad? This guy actually can kill us! And I'm facing him on my own you idiot while you let the brat run off!

...kkh... The creature reluctantly turned away from the group. ...you're gonna have to make up for this once we get back to base... With that, the massive beast merely leapt, and it soared far over the buildings.

"...where's it going?" Jack uttered.

"…yeah, that was really strange," Striker uttered.

"A better question would be; should we follow it?" Ani spoke out.

"...you saw the damage it could do." Miser uttered. "And none of us could even damage it... I'd say our best bet would be to start looking for Joy. Regretable as it is... it seems that only Metal could stand against that thing..."

"Wait a minute…Milo and Demi went looking for Joy, and they suspected that Malice would target Metal," Ivory threw in. "That creature's got nowhere else to go but after Metal; maybe even to back up Patricia because Metal was handing her ass to her. I think we need to follow him."

"...so we need to haul ass back again?" Berta groaned.

"Let's not waste any time!" Miser shot in, as she looked at the group. "Let's hurry!"

"Oh c'mon Berta; you can use the exercise," Ivory groaned, running off.

"Oh, sure, point out the obvious, why don'tcha?" And Berta stormed after her, same as the rest of the group.

In the meantime, Metal was silent, yet persisted in his utterly devastating attack against Patricia; swinging his arms rapidly to form so many waves of Unity and Purity that no matter what, Patricia would be virtually unable to dodge the majority of them. Patricia took the blows without any means of defending herself, getting hit with wave after wave after wave.

"Go get her!" Mud-Pie actually cheered Metal on at this point, while Cowpoke and his friends gawked.

Well, Cowpoke didn't so much gawk as he did watch, secretly blown away by the power he was witnessing but keeping a wary eye on Patricia to make sure she didn't pull any dirty tricks.

However, all of a sudden... Metal stopped. His gaze shifted over to Cowpoke and his gang... or rather, above them. "...MOVE!" Quickly, he lashed a tendril around all of the dogs to yank them towards him...

...and the second he did that, a massive slime creature formed out of Corruption that was taking a dark red shade to itself slammed down into the ground where they had once stood; towering over everyone present.

"AGH!" Mud-Pie yelped when he saw that gigantic creature.

"…this isn't good…" Smokey grunted.

"...no kidding..." Merde uttered.

Seeing this creature lumbering towards them, Metal narrowed his eyes, before glancing at Patricia. "...I can sense that it's Bulk. Did you have a hand in that?" he growled.

Patricia managed to stumble onto her feet, spitting out black blood from her mouth. "If you're good enough to beat the crap out of me, you can handle the two of us…or can you?"

Metal's eyes narrowed... and he suddenly fired a blast of Purity against the massive slime creature.

Surprisingly, however, even as Corruption sizzled from where the Purity blast struck the beast, it didn't seem to be hurting whatsoever, as it kept lumbering towards Metal.

Cowpoke grit his teeth at this. "…that thing's gonna destroy the whole city…and everyone with it…"

"and yet, it pales in comparison to my power."

Cowpoke gasped when he heard that voice and spun around.

The little girl he saw minutes ago was standing there with a wicked little smile on her face. That look on her face couldn't possibly belong to the sweet little girl he knew…could it?

Or…maybe…it was the other half of her…

Metal's eyes widened, and he looked back at the voice's owner. "...Malice...?"

All of a sudden, the creature lashed out at Metal; swinging its fist at him and knocking him a considerable distance away from the entire group.

Malice's grin grew, and she raised her hands cackling to through powerful shots of Corruption at Metal while he had been knocked away. Though weakened by the surprisingly powerful blow, Metal quickly raised a barrier of Purity to deflect the incoming blasts of Corruption.

With what almost sounded like a demonic growl, the creature began stomping towards Metal whilst he protected himself from Malice's onslaught.

Patricia saw what was going on, and decided on putting her input of attacks by launching balls of Corruption at Metal.

"…they're ganging up on him…" Cowpoke growled. "…and we can't help them…"

Shooting a desperate look back at those attacks, Metal reinforced a barrier from that angle as well; however, as he now needed to focus on two forces rather than just one, he was straining the durability of the shields.

It didn't exactly help that as the creature lumbered towards him, looming, it was gathering mass; growing as it raised its arm to prepare to crush Metal against the ground.

Malice cackled even more, stepping up her onslaught on Metal as we walked toward him, while Patricia actually kept her distance warily. The added pressure on Malice's side only made it tougher for Metal to keep the barriers up; even more so did it take away his focus on actual offense or evasion, rendering him stuck in a defensive position.

And that, the creature intended to take advantage of, as it stood directly over Metal with its arm raised; almost as if it glared down at the hedgehog.

…no…no! Don't do it! Screamed a voice in Malice's head.

They can't hear you, Malice chuckled in her thoughts. No one can hear your pleas…your Daddy can't hear you…and soon, he'll never be able to hear you…

Metal managed to look back up at the imposing beast towering over him; gritting his teeth...

...and then, the creature swung its massive arm down on Metal; shattering the earth it crushed beneath its mighty fist, and spreading a massive fallout zone of pure Corruption on quite a wide scale just from that one attack.

"No!" Cowpoke uttered out when he saw that, and Malice just laughed and laughed at that, ceasing her attacks. Patricia also stopped, but simply looked up at the massive creature with a glower, knowing she'd have to make up for this.

This was when Milo and Demi appeared to the scene, and when they saw the situation, they gawked. "Oh no!" Milo uttered.

Demi remained silent; just watching this with wide eyes. So did Rudy.

Eventually, the creature moved its hand away from the ground, revealing the utter wasteland it had created beneath its Corrupted hand... and in the center of it all lied Metal; barely conscious, thanks to the Purity barriers, but most definitely not in any shape to fight further.

That was when all the rest of them finally arrived to the scene, and they halted in horror.

"Metal!" Ani screamed, shooting through the air toward him.

Instantly, however, the creature swung back at Ani to knock her away from Metal.

"ANI!" Quickly, Demi shot towards Ani and caught her before she could crash into something; using his wings to brake before the velocity would have affected him as well.

Arsenic tried to shoot another barrage of explosions at the creature, and Striker fired Snap's cannon.

However, the blasts served only to lure the creature's attention to them, and it began stomping towards them.

With an enraged battle cry, Miser charged right for the beast, who swung its massive arm right at the rhino. Miser reacted quickly, and grabbed the arm tightly to halt the swing... but instantly, she had to let go as she let out a pained screech; the Corruption ooze actually burning her skin as she got in contact with it.

"Miser!" Jack called, as he saw that the beast raised its arm to crush Miser as well before she could retreat. Ani was quick enough to yank her away, thankfully, and pull her out of harm's way while Arsenic and Striker kept occupying the creature.

…no…this has to stop…please, no more!

Once again, they can't hear you, Malice replied to the small, helpless voice of her other. Your screams to stop aren't going to do anything.

As Miser was pulled away, however, the creature's attention fell back on Metal, who just barely managed to open his eyes at this point. As it still stood just by the hedgehog, it raised its foot up in the air; positioning it directly over Metal to crush him beneath its heel.

...then…maybe I'll make them stop…

Really now? Malice mused. I'd really like to see you try, you little snot…

A powerful atmosphere appeared around the child, swirling around her with a delicate but ominous air. It wasn't evil, like what Malice usually tended to be…

…it was more desperate…more unstable… and yes, the instability was hers, but the despair was that of another's…another that was stealing more and more control over the body as well as the power…Malice was not able to do anything all of a sudden.

This surprised her…but it wasn't like this was bad. In fact, she couldn't help but smirk when this happened. Her other side had gotten so desperate, she resorted to this… to something that she had been so right about all along.

As Metal's eyes opened, it was as if he could sense this atmosphere. "...Joy..."

Without seeming to notice this build-up, the creature sent its foot careening right down to strike Metal dead.

It was instantaneously. The child vanished, and a magnificent blade sliced its way through the Corrupted creature's leg, preventing it from smashing Metal once again. The leg split itself perfectly; crashing against the ground surrounding Metal rather than actually striking him. While the creature didn't react in pain from this, it stepped back as sizzling Corruption emitted from its damaged leg, which was rapidly trying to regenerate.

Seeing that, Metal couldn't help but blink a touch.

There stood a woman. Long chocolate brown waves cascaded out from a large black pirate captain's hat, with glistening white feathers decorating the side of it. She wore a glorious overcoat that looked to have been made with rich fabrics.

The blade she carried…Metal instantly recognized it.

It was Jill's Holy blade, back when he had been training her, back before she used the Unified blade she now wielded.

Metal's eyes slowly widened as he looked at this figure. "...J...Joy...?"

The woman slowly looked down at him. Green eyes stared at him with a hint of sadness behind them, and while she most certainly looked like the little ewe…

…she just…looked so much like her mother.

Were he not so weakened, Metal would have tried to reach out to her; breathing a touch heavily. "...J...Joy..."

With another demonic roar, the creature swung its arm directly at the ewe this time. Joy saw this coming, and with a fierce roar, she spun and slashed out a powerful blast of Purity so large and so powerful that it not only sliced off its arm; it blew the creature away a few feet. As Corruption practically boiled off its body, the creature regrew its arm, before it began firing globs of Corruption with the same force as a turret cannon, right for the ewe. Joy zipped away after the gargantuan creature with her blade in hand, spinning and flash-stepping around the globs of Corruption that were fired at her.

"…oh my god…" Ani uttered with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth.

"...I don't believe it..." Demi uttered with even wider eyes.

With surprising agility for a beast of its size, the creature suddenly broke into a run towards Joy; wildly swinging its powerful arms at her.

Joy grew transparent, white feathered wings of majesty, rolling through the air away from the swipes of his arms. Then she let out another fierce roar, throwing her blade forward to shoot a massive beam of Purity aimed for his chest. The creature temporarily ceased all movement as a massive hole was blown through its chest; a massive chunk of Corruption burning away into nothingness. As the sizzling wound attempted to regenerate, the beast attempted to slam both its hands directly at Joy; with intent of crushing her between them.

Rather than fly out, Joy actually threw out her arms with another cry, and released a powerful outburst of Purity from her body that knocked away the hands with a heavy impact; blowing the arms out of their sockets. As the arms sizzled away as well, the beast, actually growing impatient, used the regenerating hole in its chest to its advantage, and shot out a massive, mouth-like protrusion that intended to devour Joy right then and there.

At first, it looked like Joy had been consumed there indeed, but Milo could see the growing power in the titan, and he knew she hadn't been done for. "…I wonder…" he uttered with a weak voice. "…if…this is how she beat Deity…"

Patricia looked at Milo at that remark. Then she looked back at the battle with gritting teeth.

There was a scream, and the Corruption was blasted away from Joy with Purity. Joy had been unharmed, and instead of a blade, she now wielded a bow; once again, the same bow that Jill once possessed long ago before. She pulled back on the bow string with a glowing, bright arrow of light that she fired right at the creature, shooting through the air with powerful force.

The force behind the bow was incredible; not just stopping the beast, not just wounding it, but literally vaporizing all the Corruption surrounding Bulk in a magnificent explosion of Purity. The blast sent a severely injured Bulk crashing into the ground next to Patricia; groaning weakly. Patricia looked at that, and then she looked up to see Joy descending down to the ground at a distance away from everyone.

Utter silence filled the air.

…that is…until one lone voice broke it.

"…I'm just…weak…"

Everyone just looked at Joy for that comment... everyone aside from Metal, who had closed his eyes at this point.

Tears started to stream down Joy's face.

"…I don't have any power…I never did…I can only do the things I can because of Malice…she's the reason I have this power…because it all comes from her."

"...Joy..." Miser uttered.

"…this form is enough proof that I have to rely on her to fight…and even then…I can't turn it around on her…I may have strong will…but I don't have anything to back it up on…" Joy kept uttering. "…it probably really was only because of her that I was able to beat Deity Novagod…"

"...Joy, that's..." Jack uttered weakly, though he didn't know what else to say to that.

Joy was silent then, and she felt the urge to just run now, and leave them behind…but she waited… she waited to hear what anyone could say in reply to her.

For a while, though, everyone was silent, as if they had no idea what to say to this... when...

"...Joy... don't... say things... like that..." spoke a weakened Metal.

Joy opened her eyes at that with more sorrowful tears, but she didn't look back at him.

In spite of his severe injuries, Metal was forcing every muscle in his body to work in order for him to climb up into a standing position; wavering weakly as his gaze was directed at the ground. "...Joy... I know... how you must... nh..." He winced from the pain he felt. "...feel... right now... sad... left in despair... scared..."

Joy still didn't look back.

"...if I... were in your place... I would... feel the same..." As he said that, Metal began weakly stumbling towards Joy; clutching his ribs as his gaze was still directed at the ground. "...how long... have you been alone... with only Malice... as your companion...? How long... have you endured... such hardships... almost all on your own...?"

Joy shut her eyes again, not wanting to think about that.

"...we've... been searching for you... for months, Joy..." Metal continued. "For months... you've managed to... take care of yourself... all alone..."

At this point, Metal stopped right behind Joy; his gaze still directed down at the ground. "...Joy... you are strong... you may be... the strongest girl. I've ever known... to have to endure... more than even... your mother had to... at a far younger age..."

Joy clenched her fists in despair. She really wanted to just spin around and hug him…but she held back…

Everyone else just watched this in silence.

"...and... to have done it... all on your own..." Metal uttered, as he slowly looked up at Joy. "...but... you don't... have to be alone... anymore..."

At which point, whilst tears ran down his face, he gently wrapped his arms around Joy from behind; resting his head on her shoulder. "...so please... I beg you... as your father... let us help you, Joy..."

Joy tried to hold back even more sad tears with her head sinking. "…D-Daddy…"

"...Joy..." Metal whispered in return; gritting his teeth as more tears pushed their way out from his eyes.

Cowpoke swallowed hard when he watched this. He almost couldn't handle dealing with all of this…and truth be told, everyone else felt the same way; everyone except Patricia and Bulk. Speaking of, Bulk slowly managed to push himself to his knees, as he glared towards Metal and Joy in grudging silence.

Joy's head rose slowly with more tears rolling down. Maybe she was finally ready to stop running away and just let them help her… she had spent miserable months all alone, bouncing from place to place while being chased by so many, be it her friends and family or those that wanted her dead. Metal was strong, and so was everyone else. Maybe Malice wouldn't hurt them…maybe they could beat her, and they could all figure out how to make sure Malice couldn't hurt anyone again.

She just wanted things to go back to the way they used to…and she wanted to see her mother again.

She was going to open her mouth to admit defeat, but it got caught in her throat… and from there, it never left, while she choked on it.

Milo started to tremble in fear. He could see what was suddenly going to happen. "METAL!" he screamed. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

But it was too late. Many small, sharp blades suddenly stabbed Metal's abdomen and sent him backward away from Joy.

Metal's eyes shot wide open, and he let out a choked gasp, whilst weakly looking back at the ewe.

"Wah, boohoo…all this drama for one little girl…"

The woman slowly turned her feet to spin her body around to everyone, glaring at them with those icy blue eyes. "I can't believe how butt hurt everyone's all getting because some little girl realizes the cold truth. God forbid anything should destroy that innocence and prevent her from being that naïve, cute little bugger."

Metal had to breathe heavily as he looked down at the blades now protruding from his body, before his gaze fell on the woman.

"...n-no..." Miser uttered with actual fear in her tone, especially as she had so suddenly incapacitated, even mortally wounded Metal.

"She was right you know," Malice chuckled. "All she really has going for her is that will of hers…but I think even at this point, that's broken."

"…no Malice…Joy's will isn't broken…"

Malice turned to Milo, who was glaring at her.

"If she's anything like Jill, and we all know she's just like her mother, she's not giving up that easily," Milo growled.

"...Milo's right!" Jack shot in. "She's not going to give up just because you keep bullying her!"

"Oh yeah?" Malice growled. "Then why don't you see if you can pound those words into me?"

Malice suddenly rushed at them, and she was about to strike down Milo, but then there was an explosion that blew her backward. When Malice landed on her feet, she glared over at Jack…

…or really, Arsenic in his arms.

"I've wanted to make you shut up for a while now," Arsenic said. "And yet…I'm still not entirely satisfied…"

Jack held Arsenic tightly to support her, as he still glared at Arsenic.

"...we're not going to let you off easily, Malice." Miser uttered as she slowly regained her composure. "You've done some horrible things... and you have to answer for them."

Malice smirked this time. "You really think you can take me on? All of you? You realize that Patricia and Bulk have the powers they do because of me also, right?"

Arsenic glared at Malice for that. Hearing her say that, it made Arsenic realize just who was really at fault for her village being taken…

"...well, we're sure as hell going to try." At that point, Jack handed Arsenic to Miser while he charged quickly for Malice.

Malice just pulled out the bow and pulled back on the bowstring. Instead of Purity, it was an arrow of Corruption, and it shot at Jack.

At first glance, it seemed like it was going to strike him directly; however, at the very last moment, Jack suddenly dodged and rushed forward, before he swiftly aimed a kick directly at Malice. Malice spun around that kick and swung the sword at him with a glow of Corruption around it. Swiftly, however, Jack merely grabbed the blade as it approached him; halting its advance quickly. "...now that's no way to act, ya snot-nosed brat." With that, he swiftly threw his fist at Malice's gut.

Malice stumbled back at that punch, glaring at him. "I see…it's you…" she muttered.

Seeing that, Metal blinked. "...Johnny...?"

"I'm surprised that you remember me." Johnny scoffed, as he cracked his knuckles. "Then again, last time we met, you had the unfair advantage of being in absolute control over the surroundings... no such luck here, I'm afraid."

"Even then, you're not gonna beat me," Malice answered, conjuring up a ball of Corruption to fling at Johnny.

And Johnny merely stepped away from it; letting it soar right past him. "...so why'd you go through all this effort, again? To kill Metal and Jill, and make me and Callous "all evil again", or some crap like that?" He rolled his eyes as he approached Malice again. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that this whole thing just spanned from a whiny brat wanting some attention. Kinda pathetic, when you look at it like that."

"For all you know, maybe I might want to get rid of you and her too," Malice said, pulling out another Corrupted arrow to shoot at Johnny.

Again, Johnny just moved away from the arrow as he kept advancing towards her. "Oh, so now you wanna kill us too. Whoop-de-fucking-doo." he droned quite dryly. "So let's say that you do all those things. Tell me; what are you going to do after that? Take over the world? Yeah, because a 5-year old dictator would really strike fear in people's hearts. Oh, or maybe you're gonna copy Novagod and what he tried doing! Great, because his plans weren't droll and outplayed in the slightest!"

"Look, I'm playing this by ear okay?" Malice growled. "All I know is that I was abandoned and I want revenge!" She shot some more balls of Corruption. "And look who's talking. I doubt you knew what to do after you would've gotten rid of Metal and Jill and Deity!"

"Oh, here we go with the whining and the flimsy defenses!" Johnny groaned as he began dodging these blasts. "For your information, young lady, I knew perfectly well what I was going to do, but that doesn't matter now since that was, oh, seven years ago. As for being abandoned? You seriously think that either you, me or Callous had any control over how that all came about? Grow up and get over it! Revenge is a pointless thing to brood over, to begin with!"

"What about when Jill killed herself and took Callous away from you?" Malice sneered.

"One, still seven years ago; pointless to bring up," Johnny noted. "Two, I was a bit of a dumbass back then, which was why I was all into that revenge shtick. Three, if you think you can get under my skin like you did that one time, you need to learn some new tricks, kiddo."

Malice roared with anger, and threw her hands forward, shooting a large beam of Corruption at Johnny.

"…you know…this is starting to sound more like the dysfunctional family they are…" Arsenic murmured.

"...sad to say, but... you're kind of right about that..." Miser noted.

With a beam of that size, however, Johnny easily dodged to the side, before taking the gap in Malice's defense to throw a powerful kick directly at her face, before she could cancel out the beam to block him. Malice was knocked backward a little bit, and she clutched to her face in pain.

Cracking his neck a touch, Johnny looked down at her with a small frown. "...can't believe you even managed to piss me off... you're just pitiful, Malice."

"…then tell me…just what do you think of Joy, huh?" Malice growled. "Everyone makes such a big goddamn deal about her…"

"...you know, I think a better question would be this." Johnny hummed, as he folded his arms. "What do you think of Joy? As in, not in that "she-gets-more-attention-than-me" kinda crap, but how you actually feel about her."

Malice just glared at him for a long time in silence.

"...well?" Johnny scoffed. "I asked you a question, so answer m-!"

And in that very instant, something suddenly shot out of the ground directly beneath Malice. It was a massive, dark root that had jabbed itself into her back. Malice choked when it stabbed into her back, and this shocked all the others watching this; especially Metal and Johnny, the latter who looked directly towards the prime suspect.

"...heh... bet'cha didn't see that one coming, did'ya, you little bitch?" Bulk sneered with a vicious grin, as he had planted his hand onto the ground; leading a dark trail of Corruption all the way to Malice, where the root had ended up.

And if that weren't enough, as a reversal of what Bulk had done to himself earlier, the root began draining what seemed to be Corruption out of Malice at an incredibly rapid rate. Malice's eyes widened with a gasp, shuddering at the rapid loss of power. Bulk's smirk grew as the exact same power was being pumped directly into his body; while not causing any significant changes to his body, a dark aura swelled around him while he absorbed this energy for himself.

"…stop it!" Ivory yelled, running toward Bulk with her spear. However, Bulk simply fired a powerful blast of Corruption from his mouth directly at Ivory. Ivory jumped away from it. "Don't everybody stand there! He's sucking the power out of her!"

Ani picked up another tree and hurled it at Bulk, but Patricia was there to deflect the tree away from him. Quickly, Johnny and Demi shot towards Bulk with intent of attacking him; however, using his free arm, the crocodile unleashed a shockwave that blew them right back. "You think you can take on me? The only one who can actually damage us is incapacitated, for fuck's sake!" he laughed viciously.

Gritting, Metal clutched at his wound whilst trying to force himself into a standing position. Meanwhile, the woman had become a small ewe again, growing weaker and weaker the more Bulk sucked out of her.

"You're still a bad guy too, though!" Striker yelled back at Bulk, shooting Snap's cannon at him.

However, the blast, even as it struck him dead-on, did virtually no damage to the crocodile, who grinned at Striker. "...oh, you'll see just how bad I can get... as soon as I turn this ewe into a dried-up shell!"

Her eyes widening at that, Miser glared towards the ewe and the root stabbed into her back. Narrowing her eyes, she charged right for that. "Arsenic! Blow up the root!"

Arsenic, while being carried in her arms, shot a fire bolt for the root to blow it up and set the little ewe free. The explosion, however, hit against a Corrupted barrier around the girl.

"Not so fast!" Patricia growled, having been the one to put up the barrier.

Then someone grabbed her braid from behind her and hurled her up to slam her against the ground.

"That was for what you did to my son!" Cowpoke snarled at her, yanking on her braid.

"...Cowpoke!" Rott uttered in surprise.

As all that went on, Metal slowly looked towards Bulk, whose focus was now entirely on the ewe; everyone else around him seemed to be naught but a trifle. The hedgehog grit his teeth, as he clenched his hands together; the pain he felt starting to dull in comparison with the sheer hate he felt towards that one crocodile, for what he was doing...

"...you let my daughter GO!" In a powerful blast of Purity, Metal shot right towards Bulk and rammed into him; going at such a speed that Bulk could neither see it coming, nor hope to block against it as he was blown back a considerable distance; the root dissolving as nothing was supporting it anymore.

The little ewe fell to the ground weakly, collapsed on the ground. Metal, in turn, collapsed on the ground after that as well; his energy all but gone as he could hardly even breathe.

As he got on his feet, Bulk slowly glared down at Metal. "...you... fucking... BASTARD!" With a ferocious roar, Bulk grabbed Metal and prepared to just pulverize him with a single punch...

...but the instant his fist came down, Demi caught his arm and yanked on it with enough force to toss the crocodile away from the hedgehog. The bat even hissed as he glared from the crocodile to his aunt; clenching his fist as he spread his wings out.

Patricia kicked Cowpoke away when she saw her nephew glaring at her. "Bring it!" she yelled, opening her palm for Corruption to build up there.

Demi hissed once more. "...don't mind if we do!" With that, he shot right towards Patricia; his fangs protruding from his mouth as he got ready to grab his aunt when he'd get close enough. Patricia shot what she had in her palm, jumping away from him to keep her distance. With the span of his wings, however, Demi easily caught up to her after avoiding her attack; clamping his hands painfully down on her shoulders, as he hissed at Patricia in a positively feral manner.

Patricia tried to twist around and through him down to the ground. The instant he would have been slammed into the ground, however, he firmly planted his feet against the ground, before tightening his grip on Patricia and swinging her over him so he'd slam her against the ground; pinning her. This actually knocked the wind out of her when she hit the ground. Before she could recover, Demi swiftly sank his teeth into her neck; flooding her with not just pain, but virtually every negative emotion he could think of in order to incapacitate her. Patricia screamed out in agony at all of this.

While that was going on, the others started going after Bulk. Arsenic started firing more explosions in Bulk's direction. While they knocked him back, Bulk's anger kept him charging at the group; but the likes of Johnny and Miser repeatedly kept him from reaching Metal, who was still lying on the ground by the site of the battle. Patricia was finally able to kick off Demi after a while, but only to be bombarded by Ivory and Vanessa.

This all just became a violent mess, with everyone fighting the two weak Corrupted warriors. All the while, Metal tried to shift his gaze towards the ewe; too weakened to do anything but move his line of sight from where he lied. She only lay there weakly, and it was hard to tell if she was even conscious or not. Honestly, Metal couldn't even tell if he were conscious at the moment. All he could think about was her safety. Wincing, he weakly stretched his arm towards her, but found that he lacked even the strength to lift his arm.

Slowly, she started to move her arm a little, and she managed to push herself off of the ground. Seeing that, Metal's eyes widened a light touch, and he simply looked at her. It was slow, but she eventually got back to her feet, looking at the battling going on with sorrowful green eyes. Joy stared at the mess that was going on, and only felt even guiltier about it all. Gritting his teeth a touch, Metal desperately wanted to get closer to Joy; to look her in the eyes, to tell her that everything would be okay, that he'd help her no matter what she needed help in, to hug her, to comfort her... but his body simply wouldn't obey him; leaving him unable to do anything but watch.

A few tears came from Joy's eyes, and when they fell on Metal, she could only stare in even more horror and guilt at the state he was in. Tears began dripping from Metal's eyes as well, as he could only look back at her. Joy was too hurt to look at this. She shut her eyes and turned away. A few of her tears actually plucked off of her face, floating in the air, and with that, she turned and started running away. Everyone else was so busy fighting that they didn't notice this, so Metal was the only one that saw her run off. Metal wanted to cry out to her; to ask her not to flee... but even talking was too much for him at this point; making him only able to watch his daughter run off with a tear-filled gaze.

The fighting kept going on and on and on until Patricia heard a voice in her head.

We can't hold them up much longer Patricia, Mercy spoke. What's taking you so damn long? Just nab the girl and go!

If you had done your job correctly, you wouldn't have let all of them slip through your distraction to stop us! The same goes for you two, Cyrene and Husk! Patricia growled.

...well... did you... even try... to get... the girl...? Husk interjected.

Patricia pulled away from the crowd going after her to head for Joy…only to see her gone. "…aw shit!" Patricia shouted out loud. "The little brat bailed on us!"

This stopped all of the fighting immediately when they all heard Patricia say that.

"...you've gotta be fucking kiddin'..." Bulk snarled.

"…she's gone again…" Milo uttered.

…fine then. Retreat; she ran off again, Patricia commanded.

Way to go, Mercy responded sarcastically.

...and here I thought... you wouldn't screw up... Husk sighed.

With a snarl, Bulk formed a vortex of darkness he prepared to step into. "...Patricia. We're leaving." With that cold remark, he walked through it. Patricia ran and vanished into it too.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Cowpoke yelled, hurrying after Patricia. Though, she had already disappeared in the void, and the void itself vanished away by the time he got to it, so he hit the ground instead.

"…damn it…" he growled.

Rudy frowned. "…aw man…"

Miser narrowed her eyes. "...cowards..." she spat, before her gaze slowly fell on Metal.

Milo looked at Metal too, and could see his spirits were pretty crushed right now. His was too, but not nearly as much as Metal's was right now. He looked at him in sympathy… and then he noticed Cowpoke walk up to Metal to look down at him. Metal barely managed to gaze back up at Cowpoke.

Cowpoke just stared at him for a long time in the state that he was. He had some conflicting emotions of his own going on, and he too, had been pretty affected by what Joy was going through…but seeing Metal Sonic in the flesh, and everything he tried to do to help Joy also had a hand in his conflicting emotions.

He didn't say anything, but Cowpoke knelt down and one by one, started to pull out the swords in his abdomen. Each one that came out disintegrated into nothing. For each sword he pulled out, Metal winced, but otherwise made no real noise. Finally, Cowpoke was able to pull all of them out, and even then, he just looked down at Metal in silence.

Striker looked sadly at this, but then something flickering in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he looked over. "Hey guys, look," he pointed out. Everyone, who was capable, gazed in the direction Striker pointed out.

The tears that had floated in the air became small balls of sparkling light just floating there softly…and they started to float toward them. Miser couldn't help but blink. "...what are they...?" she uttered in confusion.

"…I don't know…" Ani answered, just staring at them.

They each split up, and chose to approach three separate individuals.

One of them was Vanessa, and when the balls of light touched her, there was a faint glow around her. She felt strange… and once the glow was gone, she looked at herself. She didn't feel any pain anymore coming from her arms. Her fingers twitched, moving, and even then, she didn't feel pain. "…my arms…I don't feel any pain from them…"

Another they approached was Arsenic, and the same happened to her. When the balls of light touched her, there was a faint glow around her, and when the glow was gone, Arsenic felt…well, very rejuvenated. She could move herself without feeling any pain at all, and she was able to stand on her own away from Miser's arms. "…whoa…"

And the last one they approached was Metal. He too glowed when the balls of light touched him. What happened to him was a lot more visible, as the grievous wounds and cuts he had suffered during the battle were slowly being sealed, and he was actually able to draw breath. When the glow vanished, his wounds had all but vanished, and he slowly, but steadily managed to get on his feet; looking down at himself with wide eyes.

Demi could only gawk at all of this. "...they're... healed..."

Mud-Pie stared wide eyed. "…do you think…those came from Joy?"

Metal slowly looked back at where Joy had run off to. "...they did..." he spoke softly.

"…well…now what?" Arsenic asked.

"...we'll... just have to regroup." Metal murmured.

"…you guys should rest too…" Cowpoke said. "…today was intense…"

"...right..." Miser sighed, as she looked at the rest of the group. "...where do we rest, though? I'm not sure if it'd be wiser for us to camp outside of town, or find some hotel to rest in..."

"…just come to our house and camp in our yard…" Cowpoke muttered, walking away.

Nodding, Miser looked at the rest of the group. "...alright... shall we?"

"…yeah…" Vanessa said, walking.

This was certainly a tough one to write...