They hung their heads in silence. It was now greatly possible that Sonic was gone. With the robotic dragon circling the lake, the storm, and no sign of the glider they could do nothing but fear for the worse.

Sally started to shake a bit. She felt like a giant cement block had fallen onto her, crushing her spirit. It was ironic in a way. Even though Selim had changed things, he had failed in what he wanted to change. The princess could only imagine the older fox's disappointment if he was back in his time, knowing that his efforts didn't save his friend. Actually, now that she thought about it, there could have been another reason for Selim's disappearance. What if the older fox changed things so that he didn't exist? A chill ran through Sally as she thought of that possibility.

Bunnie was on the edge of tears. The rabbot really felt for her friend. She knew that Sally was close to Sonic. It must be hitting the ground squirrel really hard. If it was anything like the pain she felt, it must have been unbearable. "My stars…" her voice cracked. It was the only thing she could say.

Jerome shook his head. He never thought he'd bare witness to this. "I can't believe it…"

The deathly silence was cut short as the engine roared to life, and the vehicle started to move once again. Both the mouse and rabbit looked to the princess, who was driving at the time, wondering what she was doing.

"Sally, y'all right?" Bunnie asked with concern.

Her friend replied with a nod, the ground squirrel's voice shaky. "Things… didn't go as planned… but Snively thinks he has won. I won't let him! Sonic… would want us to push on."

Jerome frowned, finding thid new found strength from their leader welcoming. "Right! Let's get that jerk… for Sonic, Selim, Dr. Quack, Dulcy, and Sir Charles!"

Bunnie gave a nod in agreement. "Let's give it all we got, sugar!"

The cloaked vessel continued on its way to Mount Gimmick, every passenger with vengeance on their mind.

Sonic felt himself start to black out. Everything was becoming fuzzy. He was alone; this was how he feared it would end. There wasn't a worse way to die in the hedgehog's mind. It was deathly quiet and cold. The only light was the flashing from the storm above. The hedgehog closed his eyes, letting darkness overtake him…

A voice cut through the darkness.

It sounded like Sally!

Sonic opened his eyes back up, and was blinded by a bright light.

When the light faded, the hedgehog saw Sally, but she was not alone. With her were Jerome and Bunnie. He tried to call out to them, but words didn't come out of his mouth. This must have been some kind of vision… it was the only explanation.

The three seemed to be in a metallic base of some sort, moving about stealthily.

However it appeared they were already being followed. Two deep red eyes were stalking the Freedom Fighters from behind.

Sonic tried to yell to them, warning them of the approaching threat. Again, he couldn't make a sound. It was if he wasn't even there.

Sally continued onward, the others following, not realizing the threat that was creeping up behind. The form stepped out into the light, revealing a robot that was rustic in color, had two tails, and an evil grin across its face. The sight sent a chill down the hedgehog's spine. He looked to his changed friend and called out his name, but there was, once again, no sound.

He cried out louder.

"Tails!" The hedgehog gagged as the visions faded, and his own eyes opened. He was lying on the ground, the smell of dampness in the air and the feeling of wetness in his quills indicated that he was alive.

He pushed himself up, his arms buckling a bit. It had been a long few days. Being unconscious just then was probably the only sleep he's had since being in the ruins with Tails back on Flicky Island.

As Sonic stood up and looked around, he wondered how long he had been out for. Was he too late to save Sally and the others? Were his visions of things that already happened, or things that were yet to happen? For a moment he wished that the tank didn't have a cloaking devise so he could tell if they were still out here or on Mount Gimmick.

Brushing himself off, the hero sighed and looked up to the mountain. There was only one way to tell if those images were a foreshadowing or a look at events past, and that was to climb up the mountain. As he raced toward the peak of Gimmick, Sonic hoped he wasn't too late. So caught up in getting to the mountain, he was unaware that there was a spybot that had him in its sights.

"He's still alive?" Snively snarled as the video screen came alive, a blue streak making its way across the Green Hills, toward the mountain.

Metal Sonic crossed his arms over his chest. "I calculated the dragon couldn't dispose of him correctly."

"Well she got him on the ground again… lets send her in to finish the job." The human sneered.

"Why? She will fail again… I will take care of the hedgehog!"

Snively looked to the machine with impatience. "Are you questioning my orders Metal? You seem to forget who is in charge here…my main reason for sending the dragon is because of the moral factor involved. If I sent you in there, Sonic would fight to his best ability. Since I'm putting him against an old friend, he'll be victim to his emotions, and probably wouldn't be able to fight at his best."

The metal hedgehog bows lightly. "I'm sorry master, it won't happen again. You know far more about weak organic emotions then I ever could."

The tyrant nods, "Just don't let it happen again." He warns as he contacted Dulcy, giving her the coordinates of her prey.

Despite being sore all over, Sonic pushed himself forward. The quicker he made it to the mountain, the sooner he would know if Sally and Tails were ok.

A harsh wind started to blow once again, reminding him that there was a threat in the skies, one he seriously hoped that he wouldn't have to fight. As Sonic thought of looking up to see where Dulcy was he noticed a red glow gathering on the ground beneath him and a heat started to engulf his quills. Without having to look back, he knew that he was under attack by the dragon's fiery breath.

Quickly turning to the right, the flames smashed into the ground behind the hedgehog. He looked to the skies to see the jade robot flying in pursuit. Sonic sighed, he really didn't want to fight with the dragon, but he was running out of options. It was too late to help Dulcy, but he could still have time to save Tails, and he wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that... even old friends.

The dragon was still in pursuit; keeping up with the hedgehog surprisingly well… he knew she could fly fast, but not that fast. Did Snively enhance her speed when she was robotosized? Or has the strain on him over these last few days slowed him down?

It didn't matter either way, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to simply run away from this problem.

Suddenly a blast of icy cold came down from the dragon's direction, bearing down on the fleeing hedgehog. Sonic remembered Dulcy using these talents against hordes of Swatbots, and even Robotnik himself at one point, having these powers used against him was a very unfortunate turn of events. Keeping in mind that he had to get to Mount Gimmick, he turns to the left; however the dragon was one step ahead of him and curved the ice blast to intercept the hedgehog's movement.

Sonic gasped as an embankment of ice formed ahead of him. His face turned serious as he charged forward, he wouldn't be able to avoid the slicked ground. The hedgehog's feet slipped a bit as he skid across the bank that was made by the sweeping breath.

The icy blast came to a halt as the dragon saw an opportunity to strike. As Sonic continued to slide the dragon shot forward, preparing to slice with its robotic claws. Seeing that he's in trouble, the hero tried to stop, but his sudden attempt to change momentum on the embankment causes him to lose his balance and fall backward. As the dragon swiped, the hedgehog slid right underneath her swiping claws, landing on his quills. He continued to slide until he reached the end on the ice patch. The sudden return of friction made him start to roll forward, to which the hedgehog followed through, rolling a few times before getting back on his feet. As the dragon looked over her shoulder, she noticed that her target had evaded the blow. With a barrel roll she did an about face, this time she wouldn't miss.

Noticing that Dulcy was back in pursuit, the hedgehog began to run again. He felt a warmth run down his cheek as his began to pick up speed. As he reached a hand up to touch it, he felt the area sting a bit. It seemed that she managed to nick his face with one of those claws... that was too close.

Maybe he was underestimating her. Probably because the Dulcy he knew was a carefree… well to put it bluntly, flake. She was very benevolent in nature, devious at times, but would never be the type to act with such violence toward a fellow Mobian. He couldn't stand viewing his friends as enemies, and if fighting Dulcy was such a difficulty, then going against Tails would break him.

Sonic felt his head hurt, he had to come up with a way to disable the robot without destroying it. They had lost too many over the past few weeks, and anymore lives taken would severely crush the small amount of morale the Freedom Fighters had left.

Maybe if every power of Dulcy's was amplified, maybe her weaknesses were too. Luckily the hedgehog knew of two: she was afraid of tight places, and her landings were under par. If he could find a cavern to duck into, she would either have to fly in a tight space, or land. Either way she'd be out of her element and he could use the opportunity to strike back and hopefully disable her.

A static scent filled the air causing the hedgehog to swerve. He had recognized that scent, it was an electric charge forming up to strike. When Robotnik had used the Power Ring against him with that machine, it was a smell he had become familiar with. Bolts of lightning came crashing down in the hero's path, making him swerve around it. Sonic had to concentrate in order to find a cavern to carry out his plan.

Bingo!

In one of the rolling hills there was a burrow of some sort. It was small, but large enough for the hedgehog to fit. Sonic dashed for the small hole as he continued to dodge volleys of lightning bolt shooting out at him from Dulcy's storm clouds.

The darkness of the cavern surrounded the hedgehog as he entered. He looked back to see if his plan was working, and felt his morale sink as he saw his plan backfired. Dulcy was still in the air of the cavern, pursuing him. Apparently, the cavern wasn't small enough for his plan to work. Also being a machine now, she probably couldn't experience fear. A bright flame shot forth from the dragon's mouth, taking up most of the cave behind the hedgehog and covering the ground making evasion impossible. The redness of the fiery breath gave the dark cave an eerie red light.

Sonic looked ahead and ran faster, trying to outrun the closing fire. As they continued forward, the hedgehog noticed something. They were heading straight for a dead end! With the flames behind him, and the ending cavern ahead, it looked as if there was no way to escape from being singed.

Since the hero's actions were limited, he realized that Dulcy's course of action was also constrained. This gave him an idea. Continuing to run at full speed, the hedgehog quickly made his way toward the end of the cavern, the heat from the approaching inferno tickling his quills.

Just as the flames were about to consume him, he had made it to the dead end in the cave. Using his forward momentum he ran up the wall and lept at the dragon, just over the destructive blaze of her breath. The hedgehog rolled into a spin attack and hit with the metal bulk, causing her to fly back out of the cave.

Both the organic hero and the metallic dragon hit the ground just outside the small cavern, bouncing off the grassy ground once before sliding and coming to rest a few yards from the hole.

There was a moment of silence, both Sonic and the robot Dulcy rest on the ground, neither stirring. After a bit of time, Sonic lifted his head up off the ground, he couldn't believe that attack worked. He got up slowly and moved to the downed robot. He had to find a way to disable the machine before it got up and caused him more grief.

Sonic looked over the metal dragon for a compartment or something that would contain wires, switches, things of that nature. His eyes fell upon an important looking hatch. Popping it open he hoped that he'd find something to shut the dragon off before she woke up. When he broke open the cover, wires of many thicknesses and colors filled his eyes. The hero sighed. Gadgets were not his forte.

His mind then wandered back a bit, to something Tails would say. 'It was the red one, just like Sally said.' Not having many other option, Sonic pulled at the red colored wire until it snapped. There was another pause, as the hedgehog waited to see if it worked. After a moment passed, Sonic guessed that it worked, and he stood up.

"Sorry Dulc… but my bud's in trouble, we'll be back for you when we're finished here." He said before turning his back on the dragon, ready to make his way back to the mountain.

He didn't see the robotic eyes shoot open, or the metallic tail swing at him. Sonic only realized that Dulcy was still active when the strong appendage wrapped around him. The cold metal sent a chill through him.

With a snarl, the dragon's red eyes glared at its prey before it lifted its tail, with the hedgehog in tow. Sonic felt himself leave the ground, and realized he was in trouble as the robot slammed its tail to the ground, bringing the hedgehog with it. He was whipped into the ground again and again, until he began to become disoriented.

The dragon let go of Sonic, and towered before the hero's battered body. As the hedgehog looked up shakily, his irises reflected a redish glow as a flame gathered at the robot's muzzle. He closed his eyes, as he waited to be consumed by the fire he wouldn't be able to dodge.

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Another one down 5 more to go. I'm in a bad case of writers block. Even so two weeks 03/24/05 will mark the next chapter, see you then.