He woke up to see his vision once again obscured. He felt the mask around his face. The material was quite soft to the touch, and he felt a camera in his forehead. He tried to get a glance of his new surroundings. He expected to be back at that godforsaken table, but instead, he found himself in a glass, boxlike container. It wasn't big enough to stand in, but sitting in it, the top was a few inches above the mask. He felt something cold around his toes and knees. He saw a thin layer of water. He saw the box was a bit above the floor. Safe enough to fall from. He saw everyone were in similar boxes in a ring above another barren prison cell of a room. One box was empty. There was another door with the time 01:00:00 below them. He looked around for Sonic. He was opposite him, cemented between Pyra and Banjo. Just like before, he was the last to come around. The second he saw the water around him, he freaked. Being aquaphobic, this was his worst nightmare. They saw instructions. The water was to gradually rise as the timer counted down. At the end, the person with the most votes and/or this who failed to vote would have their boxes completely filled, leaving them to drown. The buzzer sounded and the timer started counting down. A valve opened in each box, letting more water into the box. Pyra noticed a small slot in her box, big enough to fit her hand in. She managed to take his shaking hand.

"Try and breathe." She smiled. "We can get through this if we stay calm." Sonic stared at her and shakily sighed.

"Okay..." He managed to get a grip on his shot nerves. He saw Lucario looking at him, his paw on the glass. He began banging on it, thinking he could break the glass, but it barely made a dent. The glass was extremely thick. There were waterproof microphones and speakers in the boxes so they could hear each other.

"Okay everyone!! Nobody panic!!" Simon panicked. "We all know who to vote for." He looked at Fox, who hadn't said a single word in his defence. Falco then punched the glass in anger

"Now just hold up!! Don't you dare!! I know Fox better than any of you! I know full well he has never hurt Krystal in his life!"

"Do you wanna die too? We can easily make this a tie." Ganon threatened. "Though I know at least two people hear are just gonna vote for themselves like wusses."

"Just like I said in the last round, you guys are my friends! No way I'm voting for you guys." Sonic reminded, his voice slightly breaking.

"Oh right, you're still a kid who hasn't experienced the cruelties of real life." The Gerudo chuckled darkly. Sonic's fists clenched.

"You two stop bickering!" Mythra cut in. "Or I swear to the Architect I'll use Sacred Arrow on both of your asses." Sonic did as told. Angering the Aegis was a death sentence. Pyra was okay but Mythra? Her temper was shorter than anybody else's. Pyra gave her sister a cautionary glance.

"You know what? Screw this." Ganon clicked three pictures on the monitor: Mythra's, Pyra's and Sonic's.

"Hey!!" Mythra exclaimed. "Excuse me!?"

Mythra: The destruction of three Titans.

"I should have expected that..." She sighed. "In my defence, I was fighting Malos in the Artifices and there was a lot of collateral damage. I had to protect myself and Alrest." Sonic saw her mask representing pride, like this. No wonder she said herself first.

"I knew you were powerful Mythra but gee whiz, that's overkill!! What about all the people living on those Titans??" Ness exclaimed. The blonde Blade sighed, twisted a strand of her hair around her finger and sighed again.

"A few managed to migrate and evolved to live in the country of Tantal. But many died. A good 250,000, maybe more, but that was not my fault! If Malos had just shown more restraint, those Titans would still be living." Lucario could only sigh to himself. She was digging herself a massive hole. The screen cleared.

Pyra: Leading her friends on a dangerous mission just to destroy herself, endangering their lives.

Pyra had a dog mask, envy. She looked down. "She envied the humans for having a choice in their destiny. They grew up and charted their own course while we were made as Blades, whose only purpose are to serve our Drivers." Mythra explained for her. The girl placed both of her hands on her Core Crystal. Finally, Sonic's flashed onto everybody's screens.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Drove his friend to suicide after rejecting her love confession.

The room was deadly silent. For a good 20 seconds, the silence stayed unbroken. That was, until a bitter laugh came from Fox.

"And you thought I was a monster." He chuckled.

"Fox, that comment was most unnecessary." Daisy scorned.

"Yeah, but if we could get Sonic's response to that?" Yoshi looked over at the hedgehog. He hadn't said a word. Lucario could see his body was shaking.

"Come on hedgehog, staying silent isn't going to help you." Ridley growled. "Start talking." He didn't. Lucario knew if he didn't say something soon, the majority of votes would go to him, and then...

"Whatever happened, it could have been accidental." He suggested. "It's easy to not be interested in someone, how was he to know that would happen?"

"What are you, a simp?" Ganon teased. "Besides, this is clearly that pink batshit fangirl we're referring to."

"Amy was NOT crazy."

Everyone looked at Sonic. Thanks to the mask, they couldn't read his facial expression, but if they could, they would his heartbroken and rage fuelled tears.

"Seems to me the hedgehog doth protest too much." Dark Pit snickered.

"She was my friend!!"

"Clearly not, as you killed her." Ganon's words rang in his head. He killed her. Was this why his friends had been radio silent for weeks? Did they blame him? Had he really hurt Amy so bad that he...he had driven her to end her life?

"N-no...I...I..." He stared at the rising water around him, which was approaching his shoulders. There were 10 minutes on the clock. "I didn't...kill her...I didn't even know she had...had..." He couldn't stop the emotions. He let out a feeble and genuine whine. Lucario felt his heart break in half hearing it. He looked at his screen, seeing that the others were doing the same. A tick appeared under his picture once he had voted. He saw the timer hadn't stopped.

"Who hasn't voted!?" Wario roared. He looked at the screen to check. "Ai!! You need to vote!!"

"I don't know who to vote for!!! " She cried, her head nearly submerged.

"Anyone!! If you don't vote, you'll drown!!!" Zelda exclaimed in alarm. With 5 seconds left, she cast her vote, stopping the clock. Everyone heard their masks unlock and they took them off. The water valves also closed and the water were drained from the tanks. The results came in. Everyone with no votes had the bottoms of their tanks slide open, dropping them onto the floor before. That left Lucario, Sonic, Fox, Ganondorf, Ridley, Mythra and Pyra in the air.

"Ai, who did you vote for in the end?" Zelda asked as she comforted the young child.

"Ganon..."

"Just wait until I get down there, you little punk. Same goes for you, hedgehog." The Gerudo glared at both of them. The rest of the results came in, lowest to highest.

Lucario: 1 vote.

Lucario got dropped onto the floor. "Ow..." He got helped up by Greninja. He didn't calm down yet. Sonic was still up there.

Ridley: 2 votes.

Mythra: 3 votes.

Pyra: 4 votes.

Fox: 8 votes.

All four got dropped. Ganon began sweating. "Shit..." Sonic was equally scared. Lucario began doing the math. 18 votes so far had been accounted for. There were still 62 that hadn't been. The final totals came in.

Sonic: 25 votes.

Ganondorf: 37 votes.

Sonic's box began opening but it stopped. It had barely opened a crack. He tried prying it open with his fingers but he wasn't strong enough. He heard a buzzer. All of the other boxes were closed and once again began filling. Lucario freaked and tried reaching the box to get it open, but he wasn't tall enough to reach. This water was icy cold compared to the water used before, which was room temperature. The tiny crack did barely anything to slow the box filling up. Lucario got shoved aside as Bowser tried opening the box. Sonic tried to help by pulling in his direction. He had to hold his breath to attempt aiding his friends but stretching his neck to get air from the top of the box. As he went up, he realized the box was completely full. He began to panic as he pounded the box desperately. He couldn't hold his breath anymore. His lungs began to burn. He could faintly see Lucario helplessly watching, unable to do anything. Just as he lost consciousness, Bowser let out a roar as he managed to shift the bottom a bit more, emptying the box. He grabbed Sonic and managed to pull him out. Lucario instantly ran to his side as Bowser gently handed him over. He checked for breathing. He sighed in relief when he felt his pulse. He fluffed out his fur to keep him warm.

"It's okay Sonic, you're safe now." He assured him. He heard a cry. It was from Ai. Ganon wasn't so lucky. His drowned body floated lifelessly in his box, his face blue-grey and contorted. His box was suddenly dropped, sending water, glass shards and blood everywhere. There were screams of terror as it happened. Roy had been too close and his cheek got cut by a flying shard. Nobody knew what the Gerudo was even guilty of. His wolf mask bounced and rolled into the wall. Isabelle hugged the girl close to shield her from the sight. They saw the door open, leading to a corridor. As they followed it, they found themselves emerging from a bookcase in the lounge area.

"Holy hidden door..." Pit mumbled. He saw Lucario carrying Sonic to his room and wrapping his cold wet body in towels to dry him off. He tucked him into bed to keep him warm. He was just happy he was alive. He sensed somebody behind him.

"I owe you Bowser. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He dryly answered before leaving.

XO

Everything was really dark when he woke up. He was in some test tube of kinds. He saw an open door and decided to investigate. He saw someone hiding behind a pillar, someone very familiar. He got gestured over. Before he could say the figure's name, he was shushed.

"Quiet, you douche." They overlook a whole room full of eerie rectangle lights. He could only say one thing.

"Where the fuck are we...?"