Location - The other end of Rayna Forest.

The forest was big, the forest was dark and the forest was dense. More dense than a bottle of curded milk. No space to stop and rest for the night. Tails was tired. He had been leading the party for an hour without stopping, which was not the best of ideas, with them being in their current condition.

Tails went on a bit further - through a thicket and under an upturned tree trunk - and his heart leapt for joy. They had come to a clearing in the forest. Tails surveyed the area. It was fairly big, and a freshwater stream ran along the edge of it.

"This looks like the perfect place to stop for the night," he said. Amy whooped in joy.

"Oh, Tails! Yippee! At last, somewhere that isn't muddy!" Amy promptly plonked down on the grass.

"I think you're right, Tails," said Loren. "We can camp out here until dawn. Then we can put our plan into action at daybreak." Loren swished her long, slick hair and sat down beside Amy. Sandi fished out some food from the depths of her pocket and everyone crowded round her to take a bit. They did not mind sleeping out in the open. It was better than sleeping in the plane wreckage. Loren and Tails had also had a scary premonition that someone would come looking for them there.

As they all settled down to sleep, Tails pondered on this. Since meeting Loren for the first time, he had been continually having these weird feelings about things. Like the time when he fell into a trance in the Thunderstorm, on the way to Karmen Island. He suspected it was something to do with fairy magic. It could not be just him.

Or was it?

The thing was, since Loren had appeared in his world, the feelings had become even stronger, and much more frequent. Tails could tell she was hiding something, something about the darkness. He was even suspicious that he might be hiding something from himself, but he just was not sure what it was.

Something deep was happening. Tails wanted to know exactly what it was. He was annoyed, not knowing. But he had the feeling he would know what to do when it happened.

He soon realised that he was the only one left awake. If he did not sleep soon, he would have no energy left for tomorrow. And he would need the energy. Who knows what could happen.........

* * * * *

Location - The Temple of Light, Loren's World.

Sonic supervised the transportation of the Regiment Guard into the Black Region. He stood in the great chamber of the Temple of Light, making sure everything worked fine. After what he had done to the second Militon Roamer, the fairies had accepted Sonic=s radical plans and agreed to release Mara of her charges.

Now Mara was in control of the power regulator team, a team of roughly two dozen fairy magicians, that took care of the energy flow via the power regulator. It was basically what Mara had done before for Loren, but this time with a lot more fairies on her side to help her.

Fairy soldiers marched one by one onto the same platform that Loren had once stood upon. And, one by one, they vanished into the shimmering golden light. That light reminded Sonic of the light that his amulet had given off when he was fighting the crab. Sonic reached for the amulet round his neck and toyed with it absently.

Mara came over to talk to him.

"Hi." She looked at the amulet that Sonic was turning over in his hands. "That amulet's very special to you, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I suppose I'll have to give it back to you after this is all over," Sonic murmured.

"Maybe. But I hope not."

"This amulet.....did you see...earlier today when I was fighting the monster....did you see what it did to it?" Sonic looked pensive.

"The amulet scared it away, didn't it?"

"I don't understand why."

"Did it happen the first time you fought a Militon Roamer?"

"No....... Wait! I didn't have the amulet on me then! I dropped it - right before I fought. So that's why the monster didn't run away from me then."

"Yes. I think the amulets terrify the monsters. The monsters were released when the Orb was stolen. Once, the monsters must have been contained as raw evil inside the Orb. And...."

".....the Amulets sealed up the Void, so that makes the monsters scared of the Amulets!" Sonic finished. The two were getting very excited. Like children that have just discovered some amazing new secret.

"And that's why the monsters destroy all our holy places! They hate it! They hate the thing that imprisoned them for so long."

"It's all a bit clearer now," said Sonic. He looked up at the platform. The last of the fairy soldiers had gone. "Look, I've got to go now." Mara looked at the empty platform. Sonic went over to the platform and slowly stepped on to it, ready to journey into the Black Region.

"You've got us this far, Mara. Now it's my turn."

* * * * *

Location - Rayna Forest, Trinity Islands.

Light rain drizzled down from the nebulous grey clouds above. It woke Tails, gently pattering over his face. He jolted awake, sitting up abruptly. His eyes took in the fresh, calm surroundings and he breathed in deeply.

"It was only a dream, only a dream," he half-whispered aloud, shaking off the unpleasant visions that had come to visit him in the night. This dream had been about planes, and horrible things happening, things that he shivered even to think about. He hated nightmares. It was odd though, he had never before had such a bad dream involving aeroplanes - his favourite things!

Tails then remembered what had happened the previous day. From meeting Knuckles in the Mystic Ruins through to crashing the plane in Rayna Forest, he recounted exactly what had happened. Still shivering from the dream, he got up and went to the stream to wash his face.

Presently, Loren woke and knelt down next to him by the stream.

"Bad dream, eh Tails?" she asked.

"Huh? How did you know?"

"I could sense it."

"Oh.....well anyway, we'd better get this plan of ours going," said Tails. Behind them, Amy and Sandi had just woken up. They could tell because all of a sudden they heard two squabbling voices, arguing over the condition of their clothes and other like matters.

"I'll need to find out where the Orb is, first," said Loren. She went to ask Sandi if she could borrow the Amulet. Sandi consented, then moved closer so she could see what was going on. Amy moved next to her, argument immediately forgotten.

Loren sat cross-legged on the bare ground with the amulet held out in front of her. She muttered incantations almost inaudibly, eyes shut tight. After a while, golden light surrounded her and her voice dropped even lower. Suddenly there was a great burst of light, and Loren relaxed her muscles and opened her eyes.

"The Hiatus Orb is on this island." That was all she said.

"It's here? Are you sure?" Amy asked.

"I am sure. It is definitely here." Loren looked at Tails. "Now, are you ready for the journey?" Tails confirmed that he was.

He was about to journey into the Black Region to find Sonic.

Loren held the amulet up and said another eerie incantation. A black mist appeared and slowly spread it's sinuous tentacles around the amulet. The mist grew, the air around them chilled. Tails stepped forward.

"Now remember, direct your thoughts to where you want to be," Loren instructed him. "Don't let the Black Region numb your senses." Tails nodded.

"I'll be back soon." With those parting words, he stepped into the black mist and disappeared. Then the black mist evaporated.

The first thing that Tails felt was the cold. Just like in his earlier vision; numbing his senses and cocooning him in it's tentacles of icy obscurity. He opened his eyes, and when he looked around him, it was a totally different sensation from the usual. It was seeing, but somehow it was not proper seeing, it was seeing as it would be in a dream. But this was reality.

He saw darkness. He saw loneliness. He saw fear. All was woven into this never-ending mist, which was beginning to wind through him, too. Tails focused on Sonic. He had to find Sonic and bring him back to fight Eggman. Loren had agreed that Eggman would not expect to see Sonic, and if Tails went through the Black Region alone then it would be easier to find Sonic.

So - first he would find Sonic, then he would find Eggman.

Tails felt a subtle change in the flow of the mist. It felt almost warm to him. Before he could detect what it was, it shifted again and he was drawn somewhere else.

Tails! The darkness.....is......

What was the big deal with the darkness? What was it that he had to know?

The Black Region seemed a bit like the Void to Tails. What if they were the same thing? And another thing - this Void seemed to Tails to be a bit like Chaos. Chaos had the same negative energy charge, and the Chaos Emeralds have the ability to warp. The Black Region has the ability to warp.

Sonic!

This time he sensed a faint reply. Could Sonic be here in the Black Region?

He reached out with his mind once more. He was getting closer. Tails walked straight ahead, right through the mist. He did not know what was in front of him, but he carried on walking. Small bushes and shrubs began to appear either side of him. The mist was disappearing and things were getting clearer. Ahead of him he saw shapes.

Sonic! The shapes were moving, getting closer. Tails began running. His eyes were seeing more clearly now, not in that horrible dreamlike fashion. There was a line of figures, marching steadily. It looked like an army. And a single figure at the front, leading them on. Tails knew who that was. Spiky, spiny, punk hairdo, a flash of blue, the familiar way he walked......... Tails would know that figure anywhere.

"Sonic!" he yelled, running forwards through the mist. Sonic saw him and yelled back to him.

"Tails! It's you! But - what're you doing in this place?" Sonic ran forwards too. Tails threw his arms round his best friend in greeting. The soldiers behind them simply stared.

"I'm rescuing you," Tails said with an air of leadership. "C'mon, we have to hurry. Eggman's gonna unleash the Void soon and we need to stop him! Amy and Sandi and Loren are on the other side waiting for us to come back." He pulled Sonic along by the hand.

"Amy and who and who.....er," Sonic spluttered.

"Oh, you won't know them. Sandi's my sister and Loren is a fairy."

"Sister?!? Boy, do you have some explaining to do," said Sonic. Tails laughed.

"You know what? Amy said exactly the same thing." Sonic scowled when Tails said this, but brightened up immediately. It was good to hear about old friends.

"Good old Amy.... Well, I'm kinda on the same mission you are - namely ruining Eggman's plot again - but if this means I get to make a fool out of Eggman quicker, I'm coming! Troops, follow me!" Sonic said happily, and the soldiers marched after them.

Tails reached his thoughts out towards Loren. The journey back was quicker than the journey there. The onrush of coldness lasted for only a couple of seconds this time, and the dreadful feeling of tumbling down into the abyss was over as soon as it had started.

Then everything slowed down. The mist parted to reveal a gap, and Tails walked through it. Sonic and the army followed. They passed through a screen of golden light and came out into the little clearing in the forest again.

Tails rubbed his eyes as the light from the sun glared in his face. It was like emerging from a swimming pool, with chlorine water stinging the eyes. He saw Loren, Amy and Sandi all seated on the floor. Loren was just breaking out of her trance and Amy and Sandi looked as though they had just woken up from a deeply boring sleep.

The last of the soldiers filed out from the golden portal and Loren snapped awake. She muttered one last incantation, then the portal faded and the amulet dropped in her hands. Loren turned to look at Tails. Her mouth was agape.

"Tails, you took ages!" Amy said. Then she looked behind him at the army of soldiers and she could not quite believe what she was seeing. Tails realised what a weird spectacle it really was. He had just marched out of a golden door in the air with Sonic and about a thousand soldiers, and they were now standing in regimental fashion in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

"I found Sonic," Tails said brightly.

"Yeah, well done, but who're these guys?" said Amy, pointing at the soldiers. Sonic stepped forwards.

"This is the Regiment Guard, the finest fairy army in the world. Or worlds," he proclaimed proudly.

"They're going to help us beat Eggman," Tails added. Amy and Sandi were speechless.

"And I guess I'll navigate using the Amulet again," said Loren. Sonic looked at her quizzically. Tails explained.

"Loren can find out where Eggman is using the Amulet. We know he's somewhere on this island."

"Well let's go, then," Sonic said, without waiting for a response. Tails groaned. It was so like Sonic to do everything at once, without stopping for a rest. He waited until Loren was ready to show them the way, then he followed her through the forest.

* * * * *