Location - Lilensia State Prison, Loren's world.

The Lilensia state prison was a weird place. For one thing, it was too clean. Every single thing - the walls, the floor, the objects - were pure white. It was freaky. Especially for Sonic, who was used to prisons back home being dark, dank and smelly. But - white? There was something irksome about that.

It was crucial that Sonic found Mara. He had to hear what she had been about to say before the guards interrupted.

Eventually he found her, in a small, isolated cell on the top floor. The prison was hardly full at all, in fact, Mara seemed to be about ninety per cent of the prison's criminal population.

"Mara, it's me, Sonic," he whispered, peering through the bars. She looked up.

"Sonic!" she whispered excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm here to save you," he boasted, the usual superhero regime. "I need your help. I do trust you, Mara, and this is urgent. We only have sixteen and a half hours left."

"Okay. My idea is that we do what Loren did - we transform all the fairies into humans, using the last of our magic. And we navigate a path through the Void, to get to the Hiatus Orb."

"Hey, whoah there, slow down! Are you sure this'll work?"

"I am sure. I can sense that Loren has made it. My magic tells me she is with Tails now."

"Okay, okay, so we change all the fairies into humans, and then...."

"We create a path through the Void. But we have to hurry; time does not exist in the Void, it could take forever and we would not know. Then again, it could take a matter of seconds."

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

"Then I shall show you how it's done. But you've got to get me out of here!" Mara hissed, keeping her voice down low. A Regiment Guard prison keeper walked round the corner towards them just then. Sonic stood up straight, ready to face the guard. He was getting Mara out of there - if not by polite, civilised negotiation then by force.

* * * * *

Location - Forest, Trinity Islands.

Underneath a great, large-leafed tree the four friends lay, completely exhausted. The forest they had landed in was the third of the Trinity Islands. It was dense and humid, with sub-tropical vegetation growing here and there in thick tangles. A true jungle.

The plane was totally wrecked. Both wings had been torn off brutally and so had the tail. The cockpit door was hanging limp by one hinge and the body of the plane was battered, bruised and scratched all over with deep slashes. Vines and branches covered the plane like party streamers. What had once been white-painted metal was now an ugly mess. It was no wonder that the plane was in such a state; looking back down the way they had come, you could see a wide, clean-cut tunnel. That was the gash that the plane had made as it had punched through the ancient forest.

"I don't think I'm ever going to stop hallucinating spider-robots," Amy complained, brushing imaginary spiders off her dress and hair.

"That was....some ride," Sandi panted, leaning back against the grand, aged tree trunk. Midges buzzed around the shafts of sunlight that sliced through the gaps in the canopy overhead.

"I'd say! It was almost as bad as letting Knuckles drive," Amy joked. Both she and Tails remembered that. Last year, when they had gone up to the space colony to stop Eggman from using the Eclipse Cannon, Knuckles had piloted the rocket - and crashed it too!

"I dunno. On the whole, I think I'd prefer Knuckles," Tails commented. Loren smiled.

"I've never flown a...flying-thing before," she confessed.

"That's okay. You saved our lives. For a first attempt, that's pretty good," said Tails.

"So, what exactly happened back there in the plane?" Sandi asked Loren. "I mean, when you just materialised in front of us. I don't understand it."

"I had some help from a friend, to make me human and transport me into the Black Region - that's the barrier between the worlds - so I could reach you. I had to get to you - it's very important. We have to stop the Void, now. The fairies won't listen to me. They won't do anything. I couldn't just sit there doing nothing like the rest of them."

"You go girl," Amy said with respect.

"The Chancellor and his posse really bug me. They're meant to be in charge of the system, they're meant to take action against the Void, and they do nothing. They took away my magic when I spoke up against them. But I had to get to you. My thoughts guided me to you." Then, whispering, she added, "That's a little secret of Black Region navigation."

"Well you certainly came at the right time," said Tails.

"Yeah. Now you tell me - what's been going on here since I last talked to you? What have I missed out on?" Loren asked.

"Okay........." Amy and Sandi exchanged smiles as Tails prepared to launch into speech-mode. "It was like this....."

End of Part Four

* * * * *