"Future site?" Marie flew up to his carrier, coming face to face with the evil genius "This is our home!"
"Not anymore it isn't!" he pointed out the house, missiles launching its way. Her eyes dilated in shock, but a blue blur zipped by, a hedgehog jumping on top of the missiles to alter their course.
"Whoa..." Marie landed toward the ground, staring in awe at this stranger hero, then ran over to Spirit, whispering "Do you recognize this guy?"
He shook his head "No, but I think he may be on our side..."

"No! It can't be!" the man yelled as the missiles flew back and decimated his machines.

"But it is!" the blue hedgehog said as he landed on the ground.

"Who is that?"

"Name's Sonic! This big blowhard over here's Eggman."

"That's Doctor Ivo Robotnic to the likes of you!" he said proudly. Eggman pressed a button in his vehicle, causing an enormous serpentine robot to come tunneling out of the ground. His vehicle then merged with the robot, giving him control over it.

"Let's see how you like dealing with Egg Viper Version two!"

"Whoa..." Marie backed down, turning to Spirit "Should I summon Mizuya?"
He shook his head "She could easily be confused for an enemy, besides, this is a machine, it can be broken..."
"Just follow my lead!" Sonic said, spinning his body into a sphere, barraging the machine. He cause a few dents, but a shield deflected it. Marie gazed up, a certain aura reflecting in her eyes as water materialized around at her will, creating a round mass of energy in her hands. She fired the mass at the machine, though small it made a gigantic explosion.
"Erm... you think that worked?" she turned to Spirit, forcing a grin, the last bit of smoke clearing away. Suddenly, a beam fired out from behind the last of the smoke. Marie tackled Spirit out of the way as the Egg Viper emerged, untouched.

"This latest model is indestructible! Its energy shield covers the entire front of its body!" Robotnic laughed. Two spiked wheels on the side of it then started to spin, finally shooting off in Sonic's direction. He jumped over them at the last second, chuckling a bit as he did.

"So, you say only the front is protected?"

Eggman suddenly went pale upon hearing this, sweat running down his face "Darn it... Why did I have to rush in development!"

Spirit took out his ultima, looking to Marie who nodded, as if thinking as one. She took his arm and took flight above the machine, avoiding lasers and missiles to distract Eggman. Spirit deflected a few with his Ultima as she made it towards the back of the ship. She focused upon the shield with glowing eyes, sensing out its hole and landing on the back. Spirit plunged his Ultima through the metal immediately after landing. He found it stuck, and Marie placed her hands upon the hilt as well, sending energy through the blade, surging into the massive robot. She then jerked on the blade, pulling it out and flying off with Spirit once again before Eggman could counter the attack. Now the ship had hole in its defenses, and Sonic could clearly make out the marker, jumping at the hole in his balled up form. In an instant he cut through all the metal using his spinning quills, damaging the robot's innards before coming out the other side, causing an explosion. As the wreckage fell to the ground, Eggman's vehicle rose out from it.

"This isn't the last you'll hear of me!" the mad doctor shouted, smoking from the near-fatal explosion. He then darted off with the remains of his robot army.

"He'll be back..." Sonic said.

"Thanks for the help back there." Spirit said in a friendly tone.

"It's nothing, I've fought him myself plenty of times. Anyway, you two weren't half bad either." "I'm Marie, and this is Spirit." the young goddess finally said. Everyone else introduced themselves as well.

"It's great meeting all of you, but I need to go and find out what Eggman is planning next."

She nodded "Just tell us if you see any dark creatures, okay? They're all over the universe lately and we've been fighting them-"
"I'm sure I can handle myself" he confidently said "But I'll keep it in mind, okay?"
She nodded gleefully and turned to Spirit "Now to clean the debris off our front lawn!"
"Eh?" he tilted his head towards her as she explained "We can't leave messes lying around, and this stuff is cluttering our lawn, and also ruining the natural view we get... besides, it's littering if we leave it!"
"Yeah..."
So they spent their afternoon toiling, cleaning up. Everyone worked hard to do their part, and actually found the labor rewarding. Spirit noticed as Marie cleaned she let a melody flow from her soul
"And then a hero comes along,
with the strength to carry on,

And you cast your fears aside,

and you know you can hold on"
She sang lightly, humming bits and pieces to herself, catching Spirit's attention.
"You sing?" Spirit asked, causing her to blush up.
"Not very well, but I find that music can keep me going... and this song inspires me to hold on..."

"Soon there will be nothing left to hold on to!" a hated voice echoed. Everyone stood at ready as Zeetan appeared, with Artross hovering by his side.

"He looks like Spirit!" Sora gasped.

"This poor fool tried to destroy me, but it was all in vain." Spirit looked at his father, shocked by the sight of him.

"Look upon him, boy... He couldn't stop me, and neither can you..."

Another figure appeared behind Zeetan, its reptilian form sending a cold chill down Samus's spine.

"Ridley! How can you still be alive!"

"You underestimate Space Pirate technologies..."

"Ridely, get the girl! Artross, my minion" he pointed to Spirit "kill that Gaian!"
Both nodded, ready to carry out their jobs; Ridely flew down swiftly, ready to attack Marie, but Samus charged up her plasma gun, firing a great beam of energy at him. The water goddess materialized her light sword, running up to Spirit.
"I got your back!" she said "There's no way I'm backing down from this battle!"
"Okay!" he nodded "Besides, nothing can defeat our team work!"
Artross descended in the air slightly, tilting his head towards Spirit before advancing quickly.
"Here it comes!" she said, suddenly materializing a bubble of energy around them both, dispersing it into a wave that deflected the blow of Spirit's Gaian father, giving the young Gaia time to counter the attack, bringing out his Ultima. Artross noticed this and flapped his wings, giving him a boost to evade the attack. Spirit's slash missed, and the older Gaia seized this moment to land a powerful blow to the side. He fell down in pain, and Marie came in the way, deflecting Artross' finishing blow as two swords scraped upon each other, the friction causing bright sparks.

"Spirit, you'll never hit him like that! Feel the fire in your heart and release that energy upon him!" Sephiroth instructed. Spirit heard this and began to focus his energy, causing a glowing symbol to appear in front of one of his hands. A series of blue fireballs then materialized around it, each burning with the intensity of his heart. Spirit raised his arm to Artross, causing the fireballs to shoot off at him like a machine gun. Each one hit its mark, causing some dark energy to surge out of Artross' body.

"Spi...rit..." he stammered.

"Pathetic fool! You belong to me!" Zeetan roared as he increased the power of his mind control. "Son... The darkness..."

"Stop!" Marie went at Zeetan with her sword, the blade sinking into his skin. Though it didn't hurt him, she distracted him slightly. He tilted his head towards her with an evil laugh, grabbing onto her throat, but since he diverted his attention towards her, Spirit was able to break Artross free. The last bit of his symbol faded away, and Zeetan held a hand upon Marie's chest, shrouded in darkness.
"It doesn't matter I lost control of the Gaia..." he said, as a pain filled her body, making it hard to breath "I have the materia, and that's all that matters..."
"No..." she said weakly, a sudden blinding light repelling his hand, coming from Spirit's Ultima.
The pain caused him to drop her, and she fell to the ground, being caught in Spirit's arms as she looked up with a smile. Zeetan phased away into the darkness, and Samus just wore down the last bit of Ridely's strength.
"Are you okay?" Spirit asked, receiving a soft smile.
"Of course..." she said standing up "I'm always okay with you around..."
She suddenly hunched over, grasping onto her chest, extremely sore from the darkness that flowed through her body.
"You have it, don't you?" Spirit said in a sorrowful tone.

"Huh!"

"The fourth Materia... It's inside you, isn't it?"

Marie nodded, tears streaming down her fur "How did you know?"

"I could sense another power within you... It didn't take long for me to find out what it was..." Spirit answered, holding Marie in his arms "There's a terrible power within it... It feels like a part of a gateway... A gateway to something of unimaginable evil..."

Spirit's ears perked at this "Maybe Zeetan isn't all we have to worry about."

"Or maybe he is..."