Part Five: Location - Lilensia State Prison.

Sonic strode over defiantly to the Regiment Guard. The guard looked surprised to see him.

"Sir," began Sonic, addressing the fairy formally. He would try the polite approach first. "You see this prison cell here?" He indicated Mara's cell. "In here is a fairy who can help us get through to the Other Side. Open the door and let her go free. We need her help." The prison keeper wrinkled his brow.

"This fairy is under strict supervision of the Lilensia State prison keepers. I cannot allow this," he replied bluntly.

"Sir, I demand that you let this fairy go free," Sonic repeated testily.

"I am extremely sorry, Mr. Sonic, but I have direct orders from the Chancellor to keep her in custody. She has violated the fairy rules. It is strictly forbidden." The prison keeper spoke without emotion, waving his Regiment Guard badge in front of Sonic's face. "Mr. Sonic, I will have to escort you away from the area."

"Listen to me, you dumb whimpering excuse for a soldier; I won't take no for an answer. If you want me to save this world, to save your precious 'fairy rules', then you're gonna march her right out of here now, and you're gonna tell the Chancellor to forget his stupid rules for ONE day, and you're gonna call me Sonic, not Mister Sonic, not Mister anything. Just Sonic." The prison guard was speechless for a moment. It looked like he was about to retort, when a shriek came from outside the prison. Sonic and the guard simultaneously ran to the window. Outside, opposite the prison was a Light Shrine, and a sacred fountain beside it. It was usually a quiet, respected area. But today there were fairies running about everywhere, screaming and shouting. Sonic strained his eyes to see what was causing the commotion.

Sonic heard a buzzing noise and turned round. The prison keeper was picking up a small grey device, the source of the buzzing sound. He clicked it, and a voice came out of it. Just like a walkie-talkie, thought Sonic. He concentrated on what the voice was saying. Even Mara came up to the bars of her cell to listen.

"Immediate assistance required. Report to nearest official immediately. Unidentified creature attacking Lilensia Court, located near the Light Shrine. This is an emergency, I repeat, this is an emergency." The voice cut off, then a few seconds later screaming was heard from the other end of the line. Sonic heard something that sounded faintly like 'Militon Roamer!' before the contact cut completely.

"We don't have time for any more arguments," Sonic told the guard. He took the bunch of keys from round the guard's belt and fumbled with the lock. Mara pointed out a thin golden key. Sonic quickly released her. He looked again out of the window, the befuddled guard still wondering what was going on. Now the great ugly crab was in sight, tearing up everything in it's way, heading straight for the Light Shrine. It knocked over a street lamp, and magic fire spilled all over the place. Sonic began to run for the stairs.

"No, Sonic, it'll take too long," Mara called. She grabbed hold of him. "Follow me."

Sonic had no time to protest - Mara jumped right through the window, still holding onto Sonic. The glass smattered, and they began to fall. Mara stretched out her wings and carried him safely to the ground.

"Thanks, Mara. I'll take it from here," Sonic said, and ran through the flames to where the Militon Roamer was. Mara watched him go.

Sonic caught the monster's attention by chucking a flame-covered log at it. The monster shrieked, one shrill shriek, and clumped around to face Sonic. The fairies on the street, the onlookers, gathered in a semicircle on the other side of the flames, curious to see just how this newcomer would fight the monster.

Picking up another burning log, Sonic stared defiantly at the monster. This should be easy, he thought.

"Hey, ya big fat marshmallow! I'm over here! Yoohooo? Anybody home in that pea-sized brain of yours?" Sonic yelled. The monster bellowed, rearing up and displaying tons of fat, creamy white podgy belly. It's numerous legs snaked about, making it look like an upturned woodlouse.

The Militon Roamer let out another blood-curdling roar. Sonic brandished the flaming stick, swishing it in front of him, showing that he was not afraid.

"You know, I always say that marshmallows are better when cooked. Flame-grilled, to be precise," Sonic remarked. Then he leapt forwards, the fiery stick held high above his head. He aimed the stick, now engulfed with flame, directly at the crab's eyes, remembering his last fight with one of these creatures.

But suddenly Sonic was not moving any more. He had stopped in mid- air. Then he felt a constriction around his belly. He was caught in one of the crab's pincers! The crowd gasped in shock. Sonic groaned, wiping a bead of sweat from his cheek. Maybe this was going to be harder than last time. Or maybe last time he had just picked on an extremely stupid crab.

The crab shook Sonic, causing him to drop the stick. Sonic groaned again. Great. His last form of defence was gone.

Sonic felt a warm sensation about his neck. Looking down, he saw the amulet burning bright gold. He touched the amulet, and felt a tingle in his hand. The Militon Roamer saw the amulet and it's eyes rocked with fear. The amulet was burning brighter, drowning everything around it in a fierce golden light. As the light touched the Militon Roamer, the creature let out a harsh cry of alarm, and dropped Sonic there and then. In a flurry of frenzied lumbering, it ran off, crashing directly into the wall of fire behind it. The monster burst into flames. One last squeal and it was gone.

Sonic shook himself and closed his hand over the amulet, letting it cool down. He was glad that was not as messy as the last encounter he had had with one of those things.

The Regiment Guard had arrived now and were dousing the flames with water from the fountain, via huge magical pipes. Sonic came forward as the crowds cheered.

Mara ran up to him.

"That was excellent!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. Sonic smiled.

"Now they can't not let you free." He grinned. "C'mon, we've got a world or two to save." They went off towards the Fairy Temple of Light, on the outskirts of the city of Lilensia. And none of the guards tried to stop them.

* * * * *

Location - Rayna Forest, Trinity Islands.

The 'Eggcopter' touched down on a grassy plain by the shores of the third Trinity Island, and Eggman proudly stepped out. He looked at the microchip in his hand for a second, smiled wickedly to himself and picked up his walkie-talkie. What fools those little pests were for even trying to reckon with his forces! This time it was inevitable that he was going to win. Tails would no doubt follow Eggman's flight route and meet him at the final location for the big showdown - there Eggman would be waiting, waiting to take the amulets from him. Two amulets were enough for the ceremony. And Tails was going to give them to him.

Eggman snapped out of his own little world of thoughts and switched on his walkie-talkie. Stella had to know what he was up to.

"Stella, are you there?"

"Yeah, doctor, I'm here." For some reason she sounded ecstatically happy.

"I've just reached Rayna Forest. Are you at the base?"

"Aha. I've been here for over an hour," she replied.

"Right. We have a slight change of plan." Eggman was about to launch into the details of what he considered to be his expertly cunning plan when Stella interrupted;

"I've heard those pesky brats trashed your control room. You escaped with the Orb and the microchip. But they ruined your base. So I sorted them out."

"Really?"

"The fox boy and his two girlfriends are taking a little 'trip' in one of your aeroplanes. They're due for a friendly meeting with a cliff face right about now." Stella was very pleased with herself. No wonder she had sounded so happy. Now Eggman was happy too.

"Excellent! That's what I like to hear! Now this makes it a lot easier for me." Eggman decided to forget his old plan. "Can you make it to the wreckage and pick up the two amulets lately in their possession?"

"And I suppose I'll need to bring the Plasmic Generator over to Rayna as well? Maybe even a computer for the microchip? Sure, I can do that. Expect me to be there tomorrow. You know where we're meeting." Stella clicked off her walkie-talkie. Eggman groaned. It was so easy to get her annoyed.

He was still uncertain about whether Stella had actually destroyed Tails or not. You never knew with that bunch. Too many times they had survived the impossible. He found it quite hard to believe that Stella had just wiped them out like that. And there was still the problem of Rouge. She had been in the base when Tails and Knuckles had vandalized it, she had helped them. But where was she now?

* * * * *