Mind Gaming the System

Sonic and Knuckles stared down Lucian as a great cold began freezing the sea floor around them as frost began to hang off him. Sonic raised his hand towards the Tenrec. "Lucian, I don't know what's going on with you but if you could just chill for…"

"Frost lance!"

Sonic quickly ducked as an icicle like spear passed where his head was a split second ago.

"Ok bad choice of words, guess I better knock some sense into you!"

He ran toward the Wizard only to leap back as after brushing the arctic barrier. His hand was covered in frost.

"AH! Man, that's cold! How can he stay in there?!"

Lucian chuckled as the pincered shadow loomed over him. "To get Amy to move on, to free her from the shackles you placed on her heart, I made mine as cold as ice. No mercy, no pity, all I have for you is a frozen tomb."

Knuckles clenched his fist as it started to spark. "Let's see you freeze this! Thunder…!"

Sonic grabbed the fist and pushed it down. "We might be able to breathe down here but we're still underwater! Zap him and you might fry us as too!"

"We can't get near him, I can't blast him, I don't suppose you have an idea on how we CAN beat him?"

"Just one," a disc like vortex formed in Sonic's hand. "SONIC WIND!"

Lucian formed an icicle like sword in his hand before cutting the disc in half. "Your cheap tricks won't work on me."

"Cheap?! I worked hard to do that as easily as Knuckles and Shadow!"

Lucian's eyes had an aqua glow to them. "You forget, I can see the near future so whatever plan you come up with I'll know and can counter."

"Sonic we need to fall back for now!" said Knuckles. "Think up a plan to get through that blizzard!"

The two ran but got only so far when the water seemed as solid as a wall. "So, any ideas?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles closed his eyes. "Just the beginnings of one, you noticed that weird shadow over Lucian?"

"Now that you mention it yeah."

"I sensed some strange vibes from it, like it was a whole other presence."

"That necklace he was wearing, Fiona had one like it and Chip said she was acting strange since around the time Silver said she got it."

"Then getting it away from him is the start, question is how can we do that if he can see the future?"

"Well, using that power blinds him to his immediate surroundings, but if he knows we're coming anyway…" Sonic then snapped his fingers. "I have a plan and it involves you and a move I used on Robuttnick's toys back in the day."

Before Sally and Julie-su could even begin fighting with Geoffrey they all stared at the flat-topped Skunk who appeared out of nowhere.

"Disappointment?" Geoffrey asked. "Father, if you mean the pact that I made with Naugus I…"

"Weren't you listening!?" the older Skunk said harshly. "It has nothing to do with your loyalty to one side or another, good guys or bad you would still be a pathetic loser."

"Mind filling me in on who this heckler is?" Julie asked Sally. "I get he's Geoff's dad, but the put downs are getting on my nerves."

Sally approached the skunk cautiously. "You can't be Ian St. John, he died in the Great War when I was just a baby while he was getting my mother and brother to Angel Island safely."

"Yes, I am a dead man," said Ian. "But me dying was more of an accomplishment than my worthless son could ever hope for."

"I'll prove my worth!" shouted Geoffrey. "If the Princess stands in the way of Ixis, I will hold her off until his will is done, even if I have to take her life!"

"You first!" Julie shouted before firing a stun blast.

"Shadow mist!"

Geoffrey's body became a black mist-like and the shot passed harmlessly through him before he reformed.

Ian chuckled. "You can try but it will go the same way as everything else in your life has when it really mattered. A woman married you out of pity and you knocked her up like any man with a pulse can do, everything else ended the same way."

"Wind cutter!"

The blade of wind shot forward only Sally to block it with her ring blade.

"…You tried to be a suitable apprentice to Naugus, you failed…"

"Lightning flash!"

The lightning bolt shot from Geoffrey's hand and was cancelled out by another of Julie's blasts."

"…You hid in the shadows looking for a way to stop Robotnick, you failed…"

Geoffrey threw a punch when Sally came close, only for her to counter with a kick to the ribs that sent him near the edge of the tower and the seemingly endless sky below.

"…You tried to keep a team together, you failed…"

Sally tried to grab Geoffrey, but he fell past the edge but the landed on one of several platforms like the tower that moved along with the winds. Ian leapt after him as Sally and Julie saw a pair of shadowy wings attached to his arms.

"…you keep trying to be worth something to anyone and you just keep failing!"

Geoffrey was now crying. "I only wanted to be a man you'd be proud of, a man my wife and daughter can count on."

Ian stretched out his hand. "You did your best, but you always lacked the ability to back up your effort. Why don't you let go? Your father will take things from here and you'll never have to worry about disappointing anyone ever again."

Geoffrey reached up to take his father's hand, one of Julie's blasts came between them.

"Your son's not getting off the hook that easy! We need him to lose so we can get back to our friends!"

Gritting his teeth Geoffrey created a gust of wind that began to propel him back to the tower.

Ian snarled under his breath. "Annoying pests, looks like I'll have to get rid of them first."

Geoffrey landed on the other side of the tower from the girls, wind howling around him.

"We have to change up our tactics," said Sally. "I don't know who that guy is, but I'd bet Mobiums to Macaroni that isn't Geoffrey's father. Something changed the moment we got here, maybe we can get him to listen once he's subdued enough."

"You still think there's something worth saving in him?" said Julie-su.

"After what I've been through over a last year or so, if they can open their hearts to forgive and be forgiven, there's something worth saving in everyone."

Julie gave a thumbs up. "If that's what you think, then that's all I that I need."

Tails and Mighty continued to follow the sounds of sobbing through the abandoned base. "The way the sound echoes through here I can't tell if we're getting closer or not," said the Fox. "Not only that something about this architecture feels off."

"I think I get what you mean," said Mighty. "Everything in here is bigger, the proportions are like everything would be the same relative size to me to back when I was a prisoner."

"Back when Fiona was prisoner, I don't think we're in that base, this has all been recreated from her mind. Let's hope she doesn't feel nostalgic for Scourge or we'll have a real fight on our hands."

Mighty pounded his fist into his palm. "Let him come, if he's standing between me and rescuing Fiona all the…"

Suddenly the floor beneath them jostled. Tails grabbed Mighty by the wrist and flew off only for the floor to quickly rise to the ceiling managing to fly off before they were flattened.

"I don't remember the place being able to do that!"

The walls began move together and Tails flew off with Mighty, every few feet the walls ceiling and floor moved to crush them like grapes.

"Either Fiona's really doesn't want visitors or something else is trying stop us!"

"I have a feeling that something starts with an S and ends with a pecter!"

The duo continued to avoid the crushing pillars. At one point Mighty let go of Tails to push a falling roof back up before they flew off again.

"Make a left!" said Mighty. "The crying's louder, we're almost there!"

Tails found an open door and flew in just before the floor and ceiling crushed themselves together sealing both heroes inside. The sudden turn knocked them both to the floor, they looked up to see Fiona sitting against a wall her knees up to her chest, tail curled around her ankles and her eyes red with tears.

"Fiona it's ok!" said Tails. "Whatever happened to you we're willing to help with it if you'd listen to what we have to say about Specter."

"It was mistake," said the red vixen. "This is where I belong."

"No, it isn't!" said Mighty. "Yes, you made some bad choices, but you did a lot of good too!"

Tails lifted his cousin's chin. "That time you slapped me, joining Scourge, that's all in the past! Sonic, Aunt Sally, your parents, me, we've all forgiven you! You don't need to…"

Suddenly the dirt floor pushed the boys into the opposite wall as Fiona threw her arm forward.

"Those weren't my mistake!" said Fiona. "At least not the big one, the one mistake that led to all the rest."

Mighty struggled against the dirt that just kept piling on. "Fiona what are you talking about?"

"I wanted to leave here so badly, I hated you and Sonic for leaving me behind. But once I was out the cruelty didn't stop, but instead of just Robotnick it was everyone. Most just hid it behind smiles and honeyed words or never realized how cruel they were, how cruel Mobius itself is. What I escaped to was worse than what I spent two long years escaping from, so it wasn't an escape at all."

Fiona looked up; despite her tears her expression was joyful. Tails and Mighty saw a horned shadow looming over her.

"Now I understand, these walls protected me, kept as much of the cruelty of the world outside as they could. I never would have become the horrible person I am if I saw that. I never should have left, the one mistake that lead to everything else was trying to escape in the first place, I don't want to leave, I never deserved to leave."

"You can't avoid me forever!" Lucian shouted. "Come out and meet your fate!"

Sonic ran had suddenly run in behind him and shot forward. Lucian's eyes glowed aqua for a second before turning and swinging his ice sword at the frost covered Freedom Fighter. Sonic leapt out of the cold area and began quickly rubbing himself to warm up.

"You really think a head on attack would work?"

Sonic smiled back. "Just checking that you're paying attention. Now let's see you handle this!"

Sonic began running in a circle outside the blizzard. Lucian's eyes glowed and he had a vision of the ground beneath him breaking.

"One your oldest moves, wear down the ground around me till I'm left with just a weak pillar that will cave in and bury me. Sorry but following your adventures gave me the best counter move!"

Lucian jumped in the air and in response Sonic smirked. "Gotcha."

The tenrec suddenly found himself being lifted higher by a tornado that was squeezing the blizzard into a tight area. Suddenly the ground burst beneath him as Knuckles burst from the ground and was using the earth he was displacing as a shield from the cold.

"You used my vision and expectations to throw me off while the Echidna attacked from below?!"

"You were so busy trying to get me you forgot all about Knuckles!" said Sonic. "That's a mistake nobody ever gets a second chance to make!"

Knuckles roared as he punched through the frozen rock knocking Lucian to the ground, breaking his ice sword and sending his pendant skidding a few feet away from him. The Tenrec tried to get up.

"No, I can't fail. I made my heart frozen for her, to do what I have to free her from the past."

"It's not about the past, it's about the future," said Knuckles. "If you go through with this, you'll destroy two people Amy cares about, her hero and the kindhearted man she loves. Would becoming a cold-blooded killer really make her happy? Or would she just become afraid of you, of what you might do to her?"

Lucian suddenly began trembling. "Amy, the twins, I would never…"

"Then prove it," asked Sonic. "Let us see them, then we can all go home. I want Amy to be happy too and the way you've always been there for her proves to me that you can do that."

"Even if you refused to listen to Lord Specter?"

"Specter didn't even try to convince us. Instead he opted to sic the elementals on both us and your recruits then drop Angel Island on Freedom City."

Lucian got up. "It's a trick, you're just trying to…"

"Beat you so we could move on?" said Knuckles. "We had the perfect opportunity just now but instead we're having a chat and giving you a chance to recover. We're putting ourselves at a disadvantage because we know you aren't really the villain here. Specter is just using you as a pawn, is that the kind of life you want for kids?!"

"But Ixis showed us…" The tenrec looked confused. "…showed us…what did he show us? I…I can't remember."

"Hold onto that," said Sonic. "Whatever you were told, true or not, that was how Specter controlled you. Elise told us that if you listen to that again you'll just end up right back here."

"But if it is true…"

"If Ixis is going to this length to make it work maybe it's something we're safer not knowing."

Lucian then extended a hand to Sonic. "Ok I'll let you through, even if the reasons I had made sense to me if Ixis and Specter are hiding something else then I wasn't given the whole story."

"And what if your bosses say no to that?" asked Knuckles.

"The magic was bound to me as soon as I entered, the door should appear…" nothing happened. "Why isn't it working?"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…" The trio turned to the laughter and found bubbles swirling around the fallen pendant. "Fool, I was the one in control when we entered this room! I am the one who says who gets to leave!"

The bubbles then lifted the pendant up and formed together to become a mobian lobster.

"Alright crab cake!" yelled Knuckles. "Who are you?!"

"I am Ixis Suguna, the master of water and one of the Ixis triumvirate, or I was until I inadvertently merged with my compatriots to form Ixis Naugus."

Lucian began shaking. "Your voice, why does it feel familiar?"

"Because I was in control of since you put on that pendant, just as the others two members of the triumvirate possessed your other friends. My plan was to have your wife hate you after murdering the hedgehog so ruthlessly breaking your mind to the point I controlled you completely, but since I can manifest myself in this space and that plan failed I'll just have to destroy you all then your body serve me and me alone!"

"Wrong!" said Sonic. "The only thing being served here is us serving you an extra-large butt kicking with melted butter! Now it's three on one!"

"Oh, but I have something much more effective that a little snowstorm. Especially since we're completely underwater! Crimson Flood!"

The water around Saguna began turning red, rocks and coral it was touching began to melt away.

"Not good! I saw this acid move during Naugus and Charlemange's duel, only we don't have nearly enough of the stuff he used to beat it!"

Lucian formed a dome like bubble around them. "Ice Coffin!" The bubble froze over, but the ice began to slowly hiss. "Acid is harder to freeze than water, I won't be able to hold it back forever!"

Knuckles growled. "Then we better think of a plan before they'll need to carry out what's left of us in buckets!"

Back at the tower Geoffrey formed a tornado around himself. "Why didn't I see it before? Father, the kingdom, Naugus, none of you trusted me; the only person's trust I ever really had was Hershey's. Why should I have given anyone my loyalty when all they ever did was doubt it? I'll win this battle just to prove my father wrong and then nothing will stop the children of Ixis from basking in the Great Illumination."

"Except that Specter betrayed you all," said Sally. "The moment you left to help Hershey give birth he turned the elementals against the people you brought to Angel Island to help you."

"You're just trying to confuse me!" Geoffrey charged bringing his tornado with him. "Why should I trust you when you've always doubted me?!"

After nodding to each other Sally charged while Julie fired a blast above Geoffrey by the time Sally reached her the tornado had dissipated.

"HOW?!"

Sally knocked Geoffrey to the floor holding her ring blade to his throat after cutting the pendant off his neck. "Julie heated the air above you enough that there wasn't enough cold air to lift the humid air you were circulating. I knew she was smart enough to know how to stop your cyclone, so I didn't even need to utter a word to her."

Geoffrey laughed. "You really trust her, a trust I never had a shot at earning. So, what are you waiting for?! Finish me off, the only way you'll go forward is take me away from my daughter the same way my father was taken away from me making her bitter and beginning this whole song and dance all over again!"

"Don't flatter yourself," said Julie-su. "Sally refused to kill some of the worst monsters this planet has ever seen. You think she would lower herself over a smug, arrogant, coward like you?"

"She's right, you're egotistical, deceitful and often overconfident," Sally sighed. "But I have my own share of faults, I can be bossy, self-righteous and on occasion even a little neurotic. You did lose my trust, but that couldn't have happened if I never trusted you at all. You know my family, our trust isn't won it's given, probably more easily than it should be, but we want to believe in the best in people. I can't remember if it was only because at the time I didn't want to risk the friendship I had with Sonic or not, but I trusted you with my first truly romantic kiss, so please trust me. I know you regret what you did, so Specter is the only traitor I'm concerned with."

"But he is Ixis' chosen messenger, why would he do that when…I can't remember what Ixis had shown me."

"That's probably a good thing," said Julie. "Now open the way out of here and Sally can put the sharp object away from your neck."

"I always knew you were worthless," Ian St. John suddenly landed on the platform. He levitated the pendant around his neck mending it back together before becoming a mobian bat with wings on his arms. "But failing to lose your sense of self-worth because you were too busy having your tail handed back to you by an ex-girlfriend and a half machine amazon is a whole new level of pathetic! What Naugus ever saw in you I'll never know!"

Sally moved off Geoffrey as she and Julie pointed their weapons at the bat, the Skunk got back on his feet. "Be careful! This is Nusgau, one of the splinter personalities Naugus had me help him control!"

"And outside this mental space I control your body. Which means when it comes to allowing you to leave, he's just as useless to you as everyone else!"

"Really?" asked Julie-su. "All I've seen you do is berate the guy, it's hard for me to think he's the useless one when you haven't actually done anything!"

"You made a mockery of my father's memory!" shouted Geoffrey. "You wore his face and spewed lies from his mouth to have me abandon being part of my family's life?! He was a brave, loving and noble man, even being sprayed by him is an honor you could never deserve!"

"Don't lose your cool!" said Sally. "Who knows what tricks he has up his wing?!"

"Unlike Naugus I'm not messing around!" shouted Nusgau. "I'll just finish you all off from the start with my strongest spell! Final Tempest!"

The sky changed into a massive lightning storm that began tearing apart the tower and the surrounding platforms sending some debris tumbling into the abyss below while the rest began to be hurled around the howling winds.

"Last time I saw this it was going to tear a whole stadium apart!" said Sally. "We need to take this guy down and fast!"

As Mighty struggled against the dirt that held him and Tails against the cell wall the latter spoke to his cousin.

"Fiona this is crazy! If you stayed you would have eventually died and Nic might have been killed by this base's defenses!"

"That would have been a kindness, then she wouldn't have felt the need to betray me when I began to abandon her. I wouldn't have led her into whatever lie Ixis told me and nearly gotten her killed again!"

"Wait you knew about that?" asked Mighty. "You knew what Specter did on Angel Island?"

"It just came to me shortly after the others had their children. I still can't figure out why I joined the Order. Tails, Mighty, you should just forget about me, I don't deserve family or love."

"But you already expressed remorse for your crimes, you repented by helping people and earned the forgiveness of those you hurt, why do this to yourself?"

"Because instead of going to Sally and the others for help after nearly causing so much death I came back here, where I belong. I'm a selfish coward unable to look those I care about in the eye unless they come for me."

"But that doesn't make sense," said Tails. "You confronted us at the Temple of Ixis, then we were sent here. Something else is going on, we have to get out of here and back to the others." Tails turned to the Vixen. "Fiona, I think I get what's wrong, even though everybody else came to forgive you and were willing to move on you never forgave yourself. Yeah you were pretty rotten, but you shouldn't let what you did with Scourge define the rest of your life. It's time to stop punishing yourself."

Suddenly the dirt began covering his and Mighty's mouths.

"Ignore them, little shale," rumbled a voice that seemed to come off the walls. "You know deep down no one ever truly forgives, after all you can't count on anyone, especially yourself. Your attempts to 'go straight' were to either avoid the consequences of your criminal acts or to ease your own guilt."

Fiona broke down in tears. "It's true! I'm a monster!"

"A monster? That's giving yourself too much credit. You were never a Freedom Fighter or a criminal, those were simply masks to hide from the world you that are as you always were, a frightened little girl too weak and too useless to amount to anything."

"Everything was hopeless, why did I even bother trying!?"

Mighty managed to claw the dirt from his mouth. "Don't listen to this creep, this has to be another way Specter is keeping you under his thumb!"

A rhinoceros mobian seemed to emerge from the wall until everything above his stomach was hanging out of it. He wore the pendant that they only noticed now wasn't on Fiona when they found her. "I am not Specter's pawn you little cretins, Agunus of the Ixis Triumverate is his own master."

Tails spun his namesakes breaking him and Mighty out of the dirt trap. "Why are you trashing my cousin?! Fiona get away from him!"

Agunus laughed. "Don't bother trying to reach the little shale. I've spent days tearing down her psyche making my control over her body absolute, she will only listen to me now."

"I'll make sure she doesn't listen to you," Mighty growled while clenching a fist. "Once I shut that fat mouth of yours!"

"You think it will be that easy?" Agunus sunk back into the wall. "This place was built from the shale's mind; I can control it as easily as I can her body outside of here!"

The wall then formed a hand that quickly pulled Fiona into it. Mighty punched the wall breaking it halfway it only for more bricks to come in and cover the hole.

"I practically AM her mind now! I am everywhere! I am everything!"

The room began shifting and shrinking, Tails grabbed the Armadillo and flew out the one window when its bars broke under the strain. Instead of the forest Mighty remembered the prison seemed to be in the middle of a cavern, the base they fled from crumbled but reformed itself into a giant golem with a rhino's head.

"You want to save your friend? Then come, break yourselves upon my stone!"

"Wrong gravel face!" shouted Mighty. "The only one who's breaking is you!"

"Yeah!" said Tails. "The bigger they are the harder they…"

Agunus tried to punch the two who just barely avoided being crushed and the ensuing fissures that spread from the point of impact.

"…can flatten us like pancakes!"

"Ugh, my head," Rotor began to sit up, vision blurred and ears ringing. "Where am I?"

He felt a hand on his chest as the ringing began to diminish. "Take it easy baby, that stone monster hit you pretty hard."

Rotor's vision began to clear, he was in an indoor ice rink with the walls made of ice as well. He saw two walruses, an older woman with a old fashioned bonnet and a boy who looked like he just hit his teen years that had a pair of snow goggles on his forehead instead of the propeller beanie he used to wear. Soon he noticed several other walruses and the Artic Freedom Fighters were turning to his direction.

"Mom, Skeeter?"

"Yeah, you made it bro," said Skeeter. "How do you feel?"

As Rotor rubbed his head he sighed. "Crummy, that knock to the head made me realize I was under a magic spell and that was why I decided to leave my friends behind."

"Well we got good news to cheer you up," said Augustus. "But we got bad news too. Good news is those elemental freaks wrecked the bots occupying Icebrough, bad news they took over and captured us and practically the entire Walrus Herd."

Guntiver helped Rotor to his feet. "But we're watching and the moment they give us an opportunity we're busting out of here!"

"Good cause I have feeling that my team is going to need me," Rotor turned to his fiancée teary eyed. "I'm sorry Sealia, I know I said I was going to stay with up here you, but I've been through too much with my friends to leave them hanging."

Sealia cupped Rotor's check. "It ez ok my cheri, I will go with you."

"I could never make you leave your team in a lurch."

"Non, before you came Flip and I 'ad an idea. One ze rest had already thought about since after the Phantom Ruby War. A way for me to go with you and still keep the team strong."

"What do you mean?"

Flip crossed his arms. "Well after we were brainboxed Skeeter here really pulled his weight evacuating as many of the herd as he could. After the war he's helped us on and off and he really came along, we were all impressed." The Penguin then turned to the younger walrus. "What do you say kid, ready to become an official Artic Freedom Fighter?"

Skeeter jumped. "A chance to be a hero like Dad and Rotor!? Heck yeah!" He then looked embarrassed and turned to Georgette. "Uh, that is if it's ok with you Mom."

The matronly walrus pulled Rotor and Skeeter into a hug. "You two are definitely your father's sons, if he could see you now, he'd just as proud as I am. Skeeter, you have my blessing."

Rotor looked at Skeeter proudly. "I can't thank you enough Skeet, now we can get married without worrying about either team being worse off for it. I promise, we'll be by so often you'll think we live here."

"Well you have to get out of here in the first place," said Guntiver. "Sadly, getting away from these magical mooks is easier said than done."

"If those goons weren't keeping a constant watch, I'd try using my invisibility power to get help," said Erma. "But other than keeping us here they aren't doing anything. Once they captured everyone most just stopped and the few that didn't seem to be sweeping the area for stragglers."

"Zhen it looks like all we can do is wait," said Sealia. "I hope someone can be able to stop all these things."

Rotor took Sealia's hands. "Don't worry, Sonic and I have been friends since we were kids and if I know one thing about him is that when there's big trouble, he'll be right where he can do the most damage."

In the acidic ocean Suguna laughed. "It won't be long now. But do me a favor, once that acid eats through the ice try not to have a 'meltdown'! Hahaha!"

Sonic looked around for a way out and noticed the shape of the dome. "Hey Lucian, how long can you hold this up?!"

The tenrec grunted. "The acid is eating the dome faster than I can freeze what water's left so maybe a minute."

"More than enough, once I make my move exhale! You'll know where to run!"

Sonic boosted up the wall and began running around the icy surface of the dome.

"What is he…"

"Just do as he says," said Knuckles. "I don't know either, but his crazy ideas usually work!"

Sonic continued to run around the dome until it began turning red and hissing, then he made a sharp turn back to the ground and past his friends straight to the wall.

Outside Suguna grinned wickedly. "Now serving tonight's special, hero soup."

Suddenly the melting dome shattered on one side as Sonic burst out his speed pushing the water around him out of the way creating a vacuum that Knuckles and Lucian were running though while exhaling.

"WHAT?!"

The next thing Suguna knew Sonic had slammed right into the wizard causing the pendant to crack.

As the storm raged the lightning was breaking more of the tower apart. Geoffrey stepped near the edge and produced his own gusts to keep the Nusgau's winds from blowing them away. "Just wait until I can go on offense! You'll pay for using my father's memory to…"

A bolt of lightning caused the edge Geoffrey was standing on to collapse. Suddenly he felt someone grab his wrist and looked up to find Sally had jumped off, grabbed him and was now digging the ring blade of her free hand into the remaining wall of the tower.

"Why would you do this?!" yelled Geoffrey. "You could get yourself killed, what about your mission?!"

"Getting my friends home safely is always part of that mission! Freedom Fighters don't leave their own behind, you might not have done things our way, but you shared our cause, so we're all getting out of this together!"

"A nice sentiment," Nusgau said as he began to swoop down bringing wind and lightning with him. "But all you did was make it easier for me to take you both out at once!"

Nusgau flew in bring the full force of the tempest with him. Suddenly Julie-su dropped between him and his targets aiming her blaster at him.

"Remember me?"

As she fell Julie pulled the trigger and scored a direct hit on Nusgau's pendant.

Tails and Mighty felt like insects as they flew and climbed around Agunus' body trying to hit any kind of weak point. "You may as well be crushed already! Like the little shale your fate's carved in stone!"

"Fiona, I know you're in there!" Yelled Mighty. "You have to let go of the guilt, I know how comforting it can seem, it's there to us push back on the right path! But you're on it already, the job's done and taking it that far will hurt you and those you care about! Now I see you never needed me to save you only can do that, not from this brute but from the darkness you trapped yourself in because you feel you deserve it when you don't anymore!"

Agunus chuckled. "You think that weak little girl will make any difference!? She might as well not even exist for the…" Suddenly the golem's face was grabbed by giant hand made of lava. "ARGH!" Agunus pulled the hand off but it left a clear mark on his stone face. "Who did that?!"

The three looked to a rock ledge where they saw Fiona standing there wearing the same clothes and hairstyle she did when she ran with Scourge, her hand was glowing red.

"This could be bad," said Tails.

"Bad for the shale!" said Agunus. "I don't know how you got out, but I'll crush you like…!"

Suddenly a large wind filled with sand hit Agunus from the other side. On an opposite ledge was another Fiona, this one looked as she did when she was with the Freedom Fighters sand blowing round her.

"How is she doing that?" asked Mighty. "I thought she couldn't use that Split Image spell."

"First you can suddenly use fire, now wind?! I don't care how many of you there I'll make mincemeat out of you!"

The giant tripped and fell as his feet began to sink into a muddy swamp that formed under him. Nearby his nose was a small girl who looked familiar to the other two. For Tails she resembled Auto Fiona when they first meet to Mighty the girl he knew from the prison a trail of mud coming from her feet.

"Water too?! Just how many of you are there?!"

"Just one," Fiona said as she broke out of the Golem's horn. "But they're all me! This place is formed from my mind so I'm stronger here than anywhere else!"

"But you're attuned to earth, how can you command all the elements?!"

"You're right I am attuned to earth, but lava, sand and mud are earth too; it isn't just cold, unyielding stone! Just like Tails and Mighty have now made realize I am not just one thing!"

The other Fionas came close and merged with the one who came from the horn. "I am a traitor and a Freedom Fighter and a scared little girl, but most of all I am done rejecting parts of my past just because I don't happen to like it at the time! Everything I did, good or bad, is part of who I am!"

"Yeah you tell him cous!" shouted Tails.

"Let's finish this horny blowhard!" cheered Mighty.

"Be as many of you as you want!" Agunus roared as he got back up on his feet. "I'll break you all the same little shale!"

"I know how you see me but I now I know what I am and it's not shale! I'm hard but I'm not cold granite, I'm beautifully cut but I'm not delicate marble!"

With a gesture Fiona conjured a giant gemstone above Agunus' head.

"What I am is a diamond!"

The diamond began to fall on the golem, but he reached above his head and grabbed the gemstone as he struggled to keep it off him. "No! I am one of the Ixis triumvirate! It'll take more a shiny rock to beat me!"

"Too bad for you then you're dealing with more than that!" said Tails.

The fox threw Mighty to a stalactite on the ceiling before grabbing the diamond and using his flying speed to quickly turn the gem which began to slowly grind the golem's hands.

Mighty then leapt to the top of the diamond curling up into a ball as he fell.

"HAMMER DROP!"

The armadillo slammed into the gem at full force turning the spinning gem into a giant drill that bore into the stone rhino until it hit the pendant buried in its heart.

"Geeeaaah!"

"Reeeeekk!"

"Rrrrraggh!"

As the pendants broke apart three white tattered wispy forms shot out of them and flew through the temple until they came into the idol chamber where they slammed into Naugus' head.

"ARRRGGGGH!"

The mutant collapsed into a heap just as Mammoth Mogul and Snively entered the room.

"What the heck was that?!" asked the lackey.

Witchcart looked over Naugus. "Well since their phylacteries were destroyed the parts of Naugus' psyche that used them were damaged to the point where they were forced to fully reintegrate with Naugus so they could survive, albeit only as parts of his personality. Naugus should wake up in fifteen minutes to a half hour."

"By then our plan to take over will fail because the do-gooders will be hauling all of us to prison!" said Regina. "One we don't control!"

"They still need to break the fire seal," said Mammoth. "And the battle there hasn't even started yet."

"If Specter can just hold them there why risk his Elite at all?" asked Snively.

"I don't know, but whatever it is he is hiding it for a reason."

It wasn't easy for Lupe to be the high chief of the Wolf Pack nation, particularly today as she now felt pulled in two different directions as chief and mother. But now she looked upon her children in the hidden "Den" under the village and gave them an order as mother and chief.

"No buts! As soon as your father says it is clear I want you four to head out the secret exit and hide in the jungle until help arrives!"

"We already did that!" said Ariel. "We took the Ancient Onyx and not only kept it safe we helped save you and Dad from the brainboxes! Athena, Maria, Marcos and I proved we can be Freedom Fighters too and we want to fight with you!"

"Mother please," said Maria. "We were separated from each other so many times, we just don't want it to happen again."

Lupe sighed. "How everything you say be right but still feel wrong? That's something I always hated about all this war, my generation had to grow up too fast and now yours is too."

Lobo was peering through a parascope when he turned to his wife. "Lupe, Kids I don't want to interrupt but Reynard and Diablo are coming in through the jungle entrance and they have company!"

The chief turned to children again. "Help Reynard, you might just get your wish after all."

The kids escorted a brown wolf wearing a green vest who gave Lupe a quick salute. "Chief Lupe we managed to recover a Freedom Fighter team doing recon work on Robotnick Ascendency forces moving on Station Square when these elementals attacked everyone, they brought two of own with them."

"Thank you, Reynard," said Lupe. "Bring the rest in."

Next came a brown wolf in a blue vest followed by Elias, Larry, Lyco, Leeta and finally Shard who was helping Nicole as she hopped on one foot as she leaned on him.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" asked Shard. "Nicole twisted her ankle while we were running from those things."

Lobo turned to Marcos. "Son get the bandages and wrap up her ankle, the kit is next to the rations. Athena see if have any ice left in the kitchen to keep down the swelling."

"Yes Dad," said Marcos as Athena nodded.

Nicole groaned as the kids treated her. "I turned against Sally because of a magic spell, again. I have to go back, she'll need…Argh!"

"Easy," said Shard. "That was a nasty tumble you took back there; you're going to have to stay off that foot for a couple of weeks for it to heal properly. Not like it used to be and you'd just need to replace code, or I'd have some repair work done."

"If only the Order of Ixis had systems I could hack into, then I wouldn't feel so useless right now."

"Well you're not alone, since these things just reform we're all useless until someone can take out the Order itself."

Lupe gave a short bow to Elias. "Thank you looking after Lyco and Leeta these past few months, they are dearly missed here."

"No need to thank me," said Elias. "They saved my tail so much that it's practically their property."

"Still I hope once this is over, they can stay with us for a while."

Elias noticed Lyco was smiling more than usual while Reynard returned the favor. He also saw Leeta and Diablo were exchanging similar smiles. "Something tells me they'd like that."

"All the more reason to find a way to force the elementals from our homes. I don't suppose your intelligence network found some sort of weakness they have."

"It was hard enough just getting away from them after our plane crashed, but before that happened, we heard from Freedom City that Sonic and Sally were leading an attack on the Order's base. We just have to hold out until they can complete their mission."

"Slight problem with that boss," Larry said as the ground near the rear exit started to shake. "Call it my bad luck but I think we've been found!"

An Iblis Worm burst out of the ground cutting off their escape.

"Since we can't run, we fight!" said Elias as he drew out a pair of knuckle like daggers.

"Everyone, make your way to the village and try to get as many civilians away as you can!"

At that moment, the door leading up to the chief's hut was blown open. Then a creature that looked like a wizard made of stone floated down hold staff that was charged with dark energy.

"Looks like this is where we're making our final stand," said Lupe as she brandished a spear. "But with my family, good friends and honored allies by my side even if we can't win, I can't think of anyone I'd rather be with."

Nicole looked down at her hand as Shard stood between her and the elementals coming into the room. "All we can really do is put our faith in Sally and the others. Sally wherever you are we know we can count you."

Sally turned the corner of the hallway as Geoffrey and Julie-su followed her. The moment the pendant broke they all found themselves back in the arena with the door already open and despite Geoffrey trying to guide them it seemed like the temple kept changing the hallways to keep them lost.

"But how did you know destroying the pendant would keep you from falling forever or whatever would happen down there?" Geoffrey asked Julie-su.

"That was a guess on my part but since the alternative was having you two take the fall and then face the wingnut alone, I figured I didn't really have anything to lose."

"Hey Sal!" Sonic, Knuckles and Lucian came around a corner. "Glad to see you're ok, I take it that Stinky here was possessed too and you had to fight the one doing it in a weird mindscape?"

"Yes," said Sally. "Specter is not messing around if he's willing to go this far."

"No kidding," said Tails as his group came from another hallway. "I think I got dirt in places I didn't even know I had."

Sonic smiled. "Alright, looks like we're three for five when it comes breaking Masquerade's brainwashing! What do you want to bet the rest of the team will be coming by with Amy and Hershey in a few seconds?"

Geoffrey sighed. "They wouldn't be part of the defenses now. The Superior Council designed the elemental trials around four of us under Specter's orders, but Hershey gave birth less than a day ago, she's in no condition to be part of the fire trial."

"So what?" asked Knuckles. "Silver, Blaze, Gold, Marine, and the Princess are just stuck there?"

Lucian looked like he just had a headache. "Silver? Gold?"

"Blaze?" Geoffrey asked as he and Fiona did the same.

"Something wrong?" asked Sally.

Fiona gasped as it seemed like the headache passed. "We have to get to fire chamber, now!"

"Follow us!" said Geoffrey as they moved on. "The fire trial has to cleared before the central chamber can be reached again anyway, as long as we keep going we're bound to get there sometime!"

"What's going on?!" asked Mighty as they tried to keep pace.

"No time to explain!" said Lucian. "I just hope Specter hasn't found a substitute already!"

Sonic began to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Marine growled as she switched her gaze between the stone door and the upward pointing triangle. "Ugh, we've been waiting forever! When will they open up or send someone to fight or something?!"

"Try to control yourself Marine," said Blaze. "I know you're not as mature as your body would tell but you have to be patient. If we are facing someone using fire your water powers are our best bet."

"Actually, I'm with Marine," Silver grumbled. "The longer we're in here the longer we're not protecting Sonic. If we lose the chance to save the future because we got stuck in a room, I'm going to lose it! Gold can you sense if anyone is close enough to read outside here?"

Gold closed her eyes. "I sense someone getting close…wait, it's Sonic and the others, they got Geoffrey, Fiona and Lucian back!"

Elise breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, maybe if they get here first then they might just let us through."

"No," said Blaze. "Something's not right about this." Blaze turned her thoughts inward. "I hope mother is ok right now."

Hershey had cradled her baby in her arms as she continued to speak softly to her. "And the glass slipper fit Cinderella's foot perfectly. Prince Charming took Cinderella away from her wicked stepmother and to his castle where they were married then they both lived happily ever after, the end."

Baby Blaze cooed as she wiggled around in her tiny pink footie.

"If you thought that was fun now wait until you can understand the story my little princess. It won't just be the sound of my voice making you smile."

Hershey found Amy had laid Baby Gold on her back in the crib, complete with a yellow footie, while she held a light blue footie clad Baby Silver over her shoulder that had a rag draped over it. "Alright little boy, time for a burping." She patted the newborn on his back gently until he gave a blech that while small was still impressive for a newborn. "I'm going to have to make gentleman out of you later."

The baby just giggled back.

Both mothers laid their children down. "Geoffrey and Lucian have been gone for a while," said Hershey. "I'm starting to get a little worried."

"Me too," said Amy. "I'd go looking if the babies didn't need so much attention."

"Then it is a good thing that the Grand Design had me come to for that reason," Specter said as he came into the room. "I'm afraid you must leave your children for a short while to fulfill your duties as Ixis' heralds."

"It's the Elemental War isn't it?" said Amy. "We have everything we needed to start it but since we're still recovering, we were kept out while the others are fighting."

"I am doing my best to make sure the elementals only capture and disarm living opponents. Unfortunately, our location has been discovered and we are under attack even now the remaining heralds are defending this place as Robotnick's airship continues its assault."

"Robotnick we have no problem fighting," said Hershey. "We might be sore in some places and can't do somethings, but we can help Fiona and our husbands a little."

Specter conjured a ball of light. "This will guide you through the labyrinth to the fire trial, meet up with them there. You need not worry about the children; Uncle Specter will take good care of them until you return."

"Thank you, my lord," Hershey leaned over the crib. "Mommy has to go help Daddy for a bit so be a good girl for our master my little princess." The black cat then gently kissed the lilac kitten's forehead.

Amy did a similar kiss on her babies' foreheads. "I need you to be a big boy and girl while I'm gone but I'll be back before you know it my little ones."

After Amy and Hershey followed the ball of light out the door Specter turned to the babies. "Finally, I thought they'd never leave." He waved a hand over them exposing a soft yellow glow; Baby Silver, Baby Gold and Baby Blaze all began crying. "Mogul thinks he can use you to thwart the Grand Design in two hundred years, but once again the Supreme Council's treachery plays right into my plans."

He created a soft blue light at the end of his fingertip. "Perfect Recall."

He then touched each of the babies on the forehead, and they stopped and looked on wide eyed.

"This spell will store a memory until a chosen time, in this case when you are in the Fire Chamber this moment but only when fifteen years have passed for you. You will remember two things, first when Sonic and his band enter the chamber you must not let them pass. For the second I'll tell you the truth of Ixis, your kind, and this world. But since you are still so young, I will do so the way the Herald of Fire would to you little Blaze."

Specter's grinned maliciously as the glow on the children began to pulse, it would soon be too late for anyone to reverse the spell.

"Once upon a time…"

Back in the fire chamber the sound of grinding stone was heard coming through a wall. "They're coming!" said Gold. "Blaze, Silver if they have Geoffrey and Lucian back to normal well… you know what we have to do."

The wall opened and Sonic stepped through followed by Sally and the rest. "Hey guys, look who we found! Had to return some of Naugus' pieces to sender but they're back to normal! What's been keeping you?"

Marine huffed drawing everyone's attention as the wall closed. "Nothing, Specter decided to just keep us waiting in here!"

No one noticed as Silver, Blaze and Gold felt a sudden realization then lowered their heads shadowing their eyes.

"Well Naugus only had three wizards in him," said Knuckles. "Still there has to be some way to get through here."

"Actually, we know what to do now," said Silver. "The answer was here the whole time."

Lucian pushed his way through. "I-it really is you, the hospital and the meetings with the Freedom Fighters, the two of you were right in front of me! How could I have not seen it when you were both born yesterday!? Silver, Gold, y-you're m-my children…"

"Children?!" everyone who came into the room with the elites shouted.

"It's true," said Fiona. "Silver, Gold, Blaze, I helped bring the three of you into world, I held you all in my arms just hours ago, but you're all here grown up…"

"It really is you my little princess," said Geoffrey. "Your mother and I only saw you once before on that tower but it's undeniable, we met you before you were born."

"Hold on!" shouted Sonic. "You're telling me the babies Amy and Hershey had were Silver, Gold and Blaze?!"

"But it doesn't make sense!" said Tails. "They were all born two hundred years in the future!"

"No," said Marine. "They told me everything, they were born in this time before…"

"It doesn't matter anymore," said Gold. "Only what has to be done here."

"She's right," said Knuckles. "We're running out of time; we have to get to the Master Emerald and the other relics Specter had stolen before these elementals overrun the planet!"

"You said something about an answer," said Elise. "But I've been with you the whole time but never saw anything."

"You did," said Blaze. "But only now do I realize, the fire guardian…" Suddenly the room changed into a ruined cityscape with lava flows and plumes of fire everywhere. "Has always been me." Gold and Silver stood to either side of her. "And the only true way to save the future from this or any other ruinous fate is to replace it with one where the Grand Design of Ixis has come to pass."

"Are you nuts?!" yelled Julie-su. "I thought you were trying to save Sonic!"

"He has made himself an enemy of Ixis," said Silver. "You turned our fathers from the path, but the Great Illumination is almost upon us, soon all will follow."

"Silver don't!" Lucian said. "I learned Specter…"

"We know what he did on Angel Island Daddy," said Gold. "But what you think is a betrayal is simply the Grand Design in motion."

Marine teared up. "Blaze please, this isn't you! I don't want to fight…"

"Then protect Elise!" shouted Sonic. "She's not a fighter, Blaze would tell you to make sure she's safe!"

Marine wiped the tears away and nodded. "Right, it's what she's always done for the people of the Sol Kingdom, so I'll follow her example!"

"That's a mistake," said Blaze. "Her power over water was the best chance you had against my flames, not that it'd be enough. Especially when you are facing the power of the mind as well thanks to my friends."

"In case you haven't noticed even without Marine and Elise we outnumber you three to one!" said Sally. "So, stop this and we can stop Specter."

"Lord Specter will not be denied, but you're right about the numbers. What say I even the odds a little?"

Blaze took out seven square cut gems that began to float around the three.

Specter allowed a small smile underneath his mask as he noticed that out of the corner of his eye a sudden burst of light came from the nursery he just left and the wailing of three infants gave way to silence.

"And with that no one can interfere with the trial. It won't be much longer; this is your final test my perfect vessel. Pass this and you will at last be strong enough to be able to host my spirit indefinitely, once Mobius kneels before Ixis we will lead them out into the cosmos to carry out the Grand Design. It will take decades, centuries, perhaps even millennia but you will carry me through it all. Until almighty Ixis is free and can claim creation while making those meddlesome titans regret ever locking him away from what is rightfully his, just like you are rightfully mine!"

Sally felt weak in the knees. "The Sol Emeralds?!"

"Don't worry, I got them!" Sonic grabbed one of the Sol Emeralds but let go as he waved his hand while the gem glowed red at his touch. "YEOUCH! That's hot!"

Blaze chuckled. "I am the protector of the Sol Emeralds; did you really think that taking them from me when I call upon their power is even possible?"

"No!" shouted Marine. "You told me we need our kingdom's treasure to seal Iblis away again!"

"Iblis won't be sealed within me or released; he and the other elementals are staying right where they are. I see the true reason the Grand Design had let me bring them, so we can use their power to defeat you!"

The gems spun around quickly and in a flash of light the Sol Emeralds disappeared and before them Blaze, Silver and Gold were glowing pink, yellow and white, respectively.

"So, what are the odds of all of us beating three super forms?" asked Mighty.

"They may be powerful, but they aren't invincible!" said Knuckles. "Just get me close to Blaze and I can knock the Sol Emeralds away from her!"

{This won't even be a fight,} Super Gold said to everyone telepathically. {With this new power I can enter all your minds at once. This contest will be over once I plant the truth of Ixis within your minds. Then we will all serve the Grand Design together.}

Sonic gritted his teeth. "As if facing three super forms wasn't bad enough! This isn't like any fight I had before. My speed, Knuckles' strength, it's going to be useless if Gold can just get into our heads and brainwash us! There's got to be a way out of this, but we better find it fast or we'll be Masquerade's toy soldiers!"