Hey, everyone. I'm sorry if this chapter took a little while longer than expected to be uploaded. I've been feeling really stressed over the current situation going on and it's been draining me of motivation.

That being said, my heart goes out to all of the black people who have been and continue to be oppressed. I hate how, to this day, racism still exists. It needs to end. No matter what color our skin is, we're all human. To my readers, especially in the States, if you're going to join the protests, please be careful. Stay safe.

NOTE: I OWN NOTHING! ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO SEGA!

Chapter 15

"I count 20 bots in the village. And ten surrounding the Century Tree," Rouge reported as she landed in front of the crew. The team plus Dr. Eggman were laying low, hiding from the Ghost Badniks as they made their way into the village.

Uncle Chuck frowned. "Taking down those Badniks will be easy if we were to charge through and take them by surprise. The main problem is getting rid of the spirits controlling them," he told Sonic who nodded.

"As long as you all wear your spell tags, you'll be safe." Sonic turned to Eggman, the only one – besides himself – who didn't have a tag. "Alright, Egghead. You stick close to me. Shadow, Silver, you're with us. While the others clear a path, we gotta lure Fatima out of the main sentinel so the Doc can get in to shut down the rest," he instructed.

A nearby explosion rocked the ground, the team struggling to keep their balance. "Hiding out here's not going to do us any favors! We gotta move!" Tails exclaimed, twisting his twin tails and lifting off the ground.

The team rushed out of their hiding place and were immediately greeted by Multo's army. "Here they come!" Amy yelled, readying her hammer as three Ghost Badniks rocketed towards them.

The three ghosts piloting the Badniks cackled as they warmed up their laser cannons.

Blaze's sharp eyes then saw something odd flying behind the Badniks. Three white orbs suddenly shot into the Badniks' chests and the robots started malfunctioning, their limbs twitching and jerking.

"BADNIKS MALFUNCTIONING. PERMISSION TO OPEN FIRE?" Omega readied his blaster only for Blaze to stop him.

"Wait, look! The orbs holding the spirits! Something's fighting them from within!" The Princess of the Sol Dimension was right. Thanks to the clear material, the gang could see that the insidious black orbs were tussling with glowing white ones.

"Shoot… We've got company!" Uncle Chuck noticed that more Badniks were coming in.

That's when the three white orbs managed to kick the three black orbs out of their Badniks' casings. Then, to the team's shock, the three Ghost Badniks stood beside them and started firing at the incoming horde.

"What… in the name of Mobius?" Sonic muttered before one of the Ghost Badniks turned to him.

"Come on, soldiers! The battle's not won yet!"

Sonic's eyes widened. "…Sergeant Juni?!" he gasped.

At the same time, Knuckles blinked. "That voice… I've heard that voice before…" he mumbled.

The white spirit orb glowed brighter and floated out of the Ghost Badnik. Its form flickered, changing for a brief second. A buff bulldog with black gear and clothed in army camouflage grinned at them before heading back into the Ghost Badnik.

"Look alive, troops! The enemy is upon us!" Sergeant Juni bellowed as he went back to firing, snapping everyone to attention.

Sonic laughed. "You're really here! Then that means…" he looked at the other two Badniks flanking the Sergeant. He felt their presence and grinned. "Hey, Emily! Hola, Doña Celia!"

"Hiya, Sonic!" A child's high-pitched voice issued from the second Badnik which waved one arm at him. "Don't worry! The three of us have got your backs!" Emily assured them, taking down two more Badniks heading for the group.

"Go, hijo! We'll handle this!" Doña Celia's true form showed itself to the team. The hedgehog lady looked equal parts determined and worried as she gazed at Sonic and his friends. "Save Fatima!" she pleaded.

Nodding, Sonic led his friends into battle, "Let's do it to it, gang!" he shouted. He led the charge, spin dashing into as many Ghost Badniks as he could. He could hear the spirits whispering in his ears but he ignored them. He pulled Dr. Eggman along with him, the man screaming as he sped up and headed straight for the Century Tree.

Knuckles and Rouge broke off from the group to take down the first wave of Badniks. Sergeant Juni accompanied them in his Badnik. As Knuckles battered one Badnik Rouge sent his way with her Screw Kick, Sergeant Juni tussled with more dark spirits.

"Back! Back off!" Sergeant Juni growled, sending another ghost that tried to assert control over his Badnik out of his space. Knuckles climbed on top of one Badnik, using it to launch himself into the air. Now gliding, he focused on keeping the several ghosts at bay.

The dark spirits hissed at the sight of Knuckles' spell tag and fled. Rouge joined Knuckles in the air, holding the arm her spell tag was wrapped around to her chest. "These ghosts are relentless," she said, seeing Amy, Tails, and Omega on the ground taking down Ghost Badniks left and right. One of the Ghost Badniks being manned by one of Sonic's ghost friends had taken heavy damage and was barely standing on one leg.

Knuckles grunted, swinging his fist at the ghost of a Mobian skunk. He shivered as his punch went through the spirit, who shrieked and vanished as his spell tag made contact with its flame-cloaked form. "There's so much negative energy on this island. It's making them stronger," he muttered.

The ghost of Sergeant Juni joined them in the air, his Ghost Badnik having been damaged in the fight. "Well, my bot's kaput. At least we managed to take down a quarter of the ones here." He sighed, looking at the Century Tree; specifically, at the one Ghost Badnik flying dangerously close to the fire. "Fatima… The little soldier's in a whole lotta pain and she's letting these no-good spirits feed off of it," he muttered, clenching his fists.

"Come on, you two! Let's give these devils real hell!" Sergeant Juni pulled out an M-16 assault rifle and began firing phantom bullets at the dark spirits swooping towards them.

Knuckles grinned. Now he remembered where he had heard the Sergeant. 'He was the one calling me 'Soldier' last night,' he thought then looked at Rouge.

"I'll bet you a Chaos Emerald I can take down more ghosts than you," he challenged her.

Rouge's eyes sparkled. "That Emerald is as good as mine," she said and flew towards three ghosts, scaring them off.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Doña Celia let out a string of curses in Spanish as she disconnected from her destroyed Badnik. "God Almighty, I'm getting tired of these brutes," she hissed, whirling around Amy, Omega, and Tails as they fought. Her transparent form glowed a bright blue as she tackled one dark spirit after another.

Amy swung her hammer at one more Badnik, leaning against Omega. "The faster we take down these robots, the faster we can get to Sonic and help him," she panted.

"Yeah, but those ghosts aren't going to make it easy," Tails muttered, noticing how more black fireballs kept appearing. "Multo just keeps summoning more of them."

"MUST ANNIHILATE ALL DARK SPIRITS," Omega brought out his machine gun and pointed it at the spirit orbs.

"Hold your fire, robot!" Doña Celia flew over to him and held up her hands. "You can't kill someone who's already dead. And those bullets will just end up injuring the ones alive here. Leave this to me," she told him and faced the dark spirits surrounding the team.

Clearing her throat, Doña Celia took a deep breath and sang out a High C note that made all the ghosts cover their ears and vanish.

Tails mumbled, "Were you an opera singer when you were alive, Doña Celia?" massaging his ears.

"I took lessons, hijo," Doña Celia laughed airily. She smiled at Amy and Tails. "Now, come! We must forge on!" she encouraged them, leading the small group.

The roaring and crackling of flames grew louder as the Century Tree's topmost branches caught fire. Uncle Chuck and Blaze led the villagers who managed to collect buckets of water to try and put out the fires raging in the village.

Blaze grit her teeth as her pyrokinesis went into overdrive. The dark flames swirled into her hands as she collected them into one giant fireball. 'I can't let the spirits' evil influence corrupt me. Not when there's still so much that needs to be done!' she thought as she hurled the fireball at five Ghost Badniks about to fire at Ashley and Karla.

"Careful, miss. Their flames aren't natural."

Blaze gasped as a little squirrel ghost appeared beside her. The ghost held a large rainbow lollipop in her hands and had a determined look on her face. Wielding her lollipop like a quarterstaff, she bashed any dark spirit orbs that came too close.

"I hope Sonic's okay. Me and Doña Celia and Sergeant Juni tried to reach out to Fatima… but she didn't want to listen to us." Emily sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes. "What she's doing is wrong but… I know that, deep down, Fatima's hurting and she needs somebody to help her," she said sadly.

'Not even her fellow ghosts were able to calm the flames of her wrath. Sonic… for all our sakes… I hope you can reach Fatima and bring her out of the darkness…' Blaze prayed as she went back to putting out fires.

As the team slowly gained more ground, the flames around the Century Tree continued to burn. Multo watched from inside her Badnik, grinning as black flames spread across the pine tree's branches. "They will all burn in hell like the monsters they are…" she murmured to herself.

'But what about Sonic? And his friends?' A soft voice asked her, making Multo's eyes widen in shock.

Shaking her head, Multo raised her Badnik's arms and whirled them about. The swirl of fire surrounding the Century Tree closed in until it was nearly invisible in the tornado of flames. If Sonic and his friends wanted to burn with the villagers of Christmas Island, it no longer mattered to her…

'This is wrong,' Another voice whispered to her. 'You know it is…'

"Shut up!" Multo hissed before hearing a familiar voice.

"FATIMA!" Sonic took down one more Ghost Badnik and sprinted towards the base of the Century Tree. His cobalt quills were streaked with ash and small burns from running into Multo's henchmen marred his arms but he forged on, determined to reach the Ghost Badnik housing his best friend.

Eggman gulped and followed his nemesis into mayhem. Silver and Shadow flanked him, the two hedgehogs flinging Chaos Spears and blasts of psychic energy at the dark spirits attempting to ambush them.

"Oh, you're still here?" Multo turned her Badnik around, looking at Sonic with contempt. "So you have sided with them," she said coldly.

"I'm only doing this to protect the kids you've hurt. That doesn't mean I've forgiven them!" Sonic looked up at Fatima, green eyes pleading. "I know how much they've hurt you. I've seen it and I've experienced it. You know that. But just because they bullied me, it doesn't mean I bully them back. This is wrong, Fatima," he told her.

"That's not my name anymore!" Multo screamed, so enraged that she left her Ghost Badnik to get at Sonic. The blue hedgehog gasped as Multo's flame-covered hands grabbed his left arm, burning him.

"SONIC!" Shadow yelled, seeing Fatima fling the Blue Blur into the air, just as Silver managed to float Eggman into the main Badnik sentinel. The dark spirits swirled around them, driving Shadow back towards Multo's abandoned Badnik.

Landing hard on his side, Sonic groaned. 'That's going to hurt in the morning…' he thought, wincing, as he got up. He saw Multo disappear into the fire swirl and clenched his fists.

She was so close. He couldn't give up on her now.

Sonic's legs were a blur as he ran straight towards the fire swirl, ignoring Shadow, Silver, and Eggman's frantic shouts to stop. With a burst of speed, he jumped through the flames, just barely singeing the tips of his quills.

While Eggman frantically disabled the hive mind protocol of all the remaining Badniks, Shadow and Silver had their hands full keeping the dark spirits away from the Century Tree.

'You better come back alive and in one piece, Faker…' Shadow thought with a grim look on his face, seeing a black fireball floating up the Century Tree followed by a blue speck.

He'd always dreamt of running to the very top of the Century Tree when he was a kid.

If the Century Tree hadn't been on fire, Sonic would have felt thrilled as he sped up the tree's massive trunk. "F-Fatima, wait…!" he wheezed, smoke filling his lungs.

"My. Name. Is. MULTO!" The ghost hedgehog growled, thrusting an arm out and sending Sonic crashing down onto one of the few sturdy branches the Century Tree had left.

"Your name… is Fatima…" Sonic winced, clutching his burnt arm. "You love talking to ghosts, hearing their stories… Finding ways to help them rest in peace," he panted.

"No…" Multo glared at him, baring her teeth. "Shut up!" she shrieked, lobbing a fireball at Sonic.

Jumping out of the fireball's path and onto another branch, Sonic continued. "Your favorite flowers are jasmines! You prefer to have iced gems with red and purple icing because they're your favorite colors! And you love to make up games and even change the rules while we're playing! I used to think that it was kind of unfair but it never stopped you from making up new rules as we went along!" he shouted up at her.

"I'm not listening! Lalalalalala, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Multo covered her ears, shaking her head.

Sonic gulped, seeing how high up the two of them were now. He leaped up and grabbed hold of another branch, yelping as it snapped in half. He wrapped his arms and legs around the branch he'd been standing on as he landed, praying to Chaos that it wouldn't break.

Looking up, he could see Multo's dark form writhing and twisting in the air as she battled with her emotions. His heart cracked, seeing his best friend suffering from so much torment. But he noticed that the flames were dying down, slowly but surely.

"Despite everything they did to you, revenge against the other villagers wasn't something you sought. You forgave Arthur, Ashley, Elsie, Hughie, Jayden, Karla, and Lloyd every time they made fun of you or hurt you. You always tried to lend a hand to somebody in need…" said Sonic as he began to climb. With every careful step, he kept talking.

"We both promised to have each other's backs. And we planned on traveling the world together when we grew up, heading out to seek adventures in the great unknown. You wanted to become a paranormal investigator and we made sure to include haunted houses in our travel itinerary."

"Stop it… Stop talking!" Multo groaned, clutching her head and shutting her eyes. But Sonic grit his teeth, scaling the last few feet until he caught up with her at the very top. The tornado of fire was beginning to die down, and he could see the entire island every which way he looked.

Sonic smiled faintly, reaching out to Multo. "You and your family gave me a wonderful gift. I was so happy when I finally got to see Lolo Enrique, Doña Celia, Sergeant Juni, Emily, and all the good spirits you befriended. I was so happy, Fatima. You made me so happy…" he whispered as his fingers brushed against Multo's shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH! STOP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUUUUT UUUUPPPP!"

To Sonic's sadness and confusion, Multo started throwing fireballs in all directions as she wailed. "STAY AWAY FROM ME! BE AFRAID OF ME! HATE ME! I'M A MONSTER! WHY DON'T YOU HATE ME?! WHY AREN'T YOU AFRAID OF ME?!" she screamed, tears dripping down her face, and sent out a large plume of black flame that headed straight for Sonic.

"Because you're my best friend, Fatima… You'll always be an angel to me…" Sonic whispered, smiling sadly, and resigned himself to his fate.

Multo's empty white eyes widened and she frantically drew her arms back in a vain attempt to stop her flames. But there was no stopping the plume of black fire. "BLUE STREAK!" she cried out just as three glowing white orbs appeared in front of Sonic.

There was a flash of white light at the top of the Century Tree. Sonic and Multo covered their eyes as a shield materialized in front of Sonic, protecting him from the fire blast. When the light faded, Sonic opened his eyes and gasped.

Multo opened her eyes and whimpered as three ghosts floated towards her. Sonic relaxed as one of the ghosts, a female hedgehog with long dark hair, approached Multo with a sad smile. "Anak, please… This has to stop now," she said softly.

"M-Ma…" The flames around Multo shrunk until they were mere wisps of smoke around her body. "Mama…" she choked out, tears slipping down her face.

"Mama Rosario… Lola Elena… Lolo Enrique…" Sonic whispered to himself, relieved beyond belief to see the three ghosts.

"Anak." Rosario smiled, cupping her daughter's face in her hands. Lola Elena and Lolo Enrique floated on either side of Multo, their arms wrapping around her.

"There, there, hija… It's all right. We're here now…" Lolo Enrique murmured, gently carding his hand through Multo's quills.

Multo cried and sobbed, the flames cloaking her body finally disappearing. Sonic felt tears fill his eyes as the terrifying entity that was Multo vanished. In her place was a crying hedgehog girl with shoulder-length black quills dressed in a burnt white blouse and a tattered brown skirt with a small garland of withered jasmines around her neck.

"I-I…" Fatima looked at her mother and grandparents, trembling. "I was bad! I was so bad! I-I hurt so many people! Mama! Lola! Lolo! I'm so sorry!" she cried, hiding her face in her hands.

"Hush now, anak… We know you are." Lola Elena gently kissed Fatima's tearstained cheek. "We're here to help make things right," she reassured her.

"But first… I think someone wants to see you," Rosario embraced her daughter then brought her to Sonic.

Fatima hiccupped on her tears, looking at Sonic. Seeing the burns and wounds scattered across the blue speedster's body, she whimpered and hid her face in her mother's side in shame.

"Hey there, Fatima…" Sonic called out, reaching out to the ghost of his best friend.

Encouraged by her mother, Fatima drifted closer to Sonic then slowly extended her hand. Sonic grinned, tears spilling down his cheeks, as Fatima's eyes met his. With a sob, Fatima let herself fall into Sonic's arms, cries of "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" muffled into the hedgehog's peach chest.

Sonic let out a shuddering breath, tears continuing to fall from his eyes, hugging Fatima. Her body felt cool and soothed the burns on his body. Her ghost form wasn't completely solid, almost feeling like a vapor, but he could hold on to her.

Sonic gave Fatima a gentle smile, letting her hide her face in his chest. "What do you say we go somewhere quiet to talk?" he asked her. Fatima whimpered but nodded, clinging onto Sonic as a child would to its mother.

Looking at Lola Elena, Mama Rosario, and Lolo Enrique, Sonic said, "Please," as he held Fatima close to him.

Understanding what Sonic wanted, the three ghosts gently placed their hands on Sonic's head and chanted, "Free the soul and let it travel. To the realm between life mortal and eternal."

A soft blue glow surrounded Sonic and he took a deep breath. He looked down to see Fatima peering up at him. "We can talk for as long as you want, angel. I'm not leaving you," Sonic reassured her, smiling as his vision went white.

In case you're all wondering… I pulled a Temporary Main Character Death Card at the end of this chapter. Sorry.

Don't worry. It's only temporary.

-GuardianDragon98