(Edit July 12th, 2007): I rewrote the battle with Geddon to make more awesome.

Chapter 60

Me: The final conflict is at hand! Amy vs. Eclipse, and then the four heroes against Nazo and Geddon! It's finally about to end in this epic and quite long chapter.

Shadow: Yahoo! Let's rock!

Sonic: Let's show him the real super power of…

Amy: (smashes Sonic) Oh no, you don't!

-- -- -- -- --

Amy poked her head into the fourth key chamber, and looked around. She saw two pairs of yellow eyes peering out of the darkness. She drew Mjolnir and waited. The first one to come out of the darkness was Eclipse, with Murasame in hand, but lacking his distinctive evil grin.

"Well, well, if it isn't my good self's little girlfriend. Don't worry, I'm done with you. Besides, your dark side is far better in bed." The characteristic evil grin returned when the owner of the other set of eyes came out…it was Dark Amy, all clad in black leather, and sporting a huge, spiky black hammer.

"Can we end this quick so we can get back to having fun?" the evil Amy asked the evil Shadow.

"Whatever. No more talking…it's time to kick your pink ass, little girl!" The two sinister hedgehogs bounded forward and attacked Amy with near perfect synchronization. She had to leap onto the wall to avoid this deadly duo. She ran up the wall a foot or two before pushing off and landing behind them. Like the others, she had no way of powering up, and had to make do with the hammer she was given.

But the pink hedgehog wasn't caught totally unprepared. As her two opponents rushed at her again, Amy summoned up all her strength and smashed the sacred hammer into the ground, shaking up the entire castle, and knocking Eclipse and Dark Amy off balance. This gave the good Amy enough time to rush in and snatch Dark Amy's hammer right out of her hands. Unlike Murasame, this hammer was just a big magic hammer without any evil energy, and not Mjolnir's opposite.

Now with two hammers in hand, Amy felt unstoppable while her evil self recoiled in fear. Without that hammer, she was nothing. With a scowl, she retreated into the darkness, leaving Eclipse to fight on his own.

"Some girlfriend you have there, buddy," Amy taunted. "As soon as she loses her weapon, she runs away with her tail between her legs. At least I don't need weapons to beat you, but with them, I think you're dead meat."

Eclipse tried to think of something, and managed to come up with an idea. "Y-you think you can beat me? You do realize that if you kill me, Shadow will die." Amy saw through his lie easily.

"I don't have time for your lies…" Amy replied. She immediately went on the attack, and stuck Eclipse in the belly with Mjolnir, knocking him upward. He righted himself in mid-air and landed on his feet. He immediately jumped back in the air and launched a few Chaos Spears, but Amy quickly blocked them. She dashed right up to him, and with no disguise of satisfaction, smashed the two hammers into Eclipse's head, finishing him off in a single blow, so great was the force of the attack. But the second hammer shattered from the attack…it just couldn't handle Amy's increased strength.

That was way too easy…she thought as she took the key and made her way back to the main chamber.

-- -- -- -- --

The four hedgehogs reconvened at the quadruple-locked door, and greeted each other. Shadow immediately noticed Amy's new hammer and was puzzled.

Amy seemed pleased with herself when she told Shadow about it "The two guards were Eclipse and some pathetic version of my dark side. I killed Eclipse in one hit! Sweet deal, huh?" Shadow nodded and then turned to his companions.

"It seems we got through the so-called gatekeepers with no trouble," the black hedgehog said. "It's hard to believe that the final battle is at hand. Nazo is just a stone's throw away! All we need to do is go through that door and get to the top floor."

Sonic nodded, and did a fist pump. "Yeah…then we'll teach those two monsters that no one gets to destroy our planet without a fight!"

"And a fight we'll give them," Amy agreed. "Everyone out there is counting on us…Knuckles, Tails, Cream, and the others…all of our friends, as well as the entire world…they're all praying for our success. We can't lose to these two fiends now."

Tahra put a hand on Amy's shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "We won't lose, Amy. I promise you that. Now, let's go get those two!" The whole group cheered, and then placed each of their keys into the door. With a loud clang the locks fell off the door, and it slowly and loudly creaked open. Standing in a row, the four hedgehogs, their weapons on the ready, began the final ascent up to the lair of Nazo, and to the final battle. The power that had been denied to them in their hunt for the keys returned, and they never felt more ready…

-- -- -- -- -- --

Nazo stood with his back to the door, waiting for the heroes to come into his lair. He listened to their footstep, his excitement growing with each one. He had waited so long to take on these four. He did not care that they had crushed his strongest servants, and defeated the key guardians with little effort. He wanted to fight them at their best, so that his victory would be all the sweeter.

The door to his lair flew open, and the sound of steel scraping on stone rang through the huge empty chamber. There was silence for a moment, and Nazo decided to address them. He dramatically turned to face them, and they readied themselves in a defensive stance.

"Welcome, Chosens, to my palace," the demonic hedgehog boomed dramatically, trying to ham it up as much as possible. "I trust you have enjoyed your little adventure. I'm glad to see you're at near full strength."

"You're going to regret thinking that, Nazo," Sonic called back. "We're going to put an end to your twisted reign today! You and your so-called brothers have been messing with us, as well as the world, for way too long."

"You and the Meteor Parasite are the source of all that is evil in this world, I'm sure of it!" Amy added. Nazo laughed at this comment, which made the four wonder what was so funny.

"I'm the source of all evil? Hah!" he spat. "Evil is a part of life just as much as good is…one cannot exist without the other. Didn't that old fool Master Khang teach you that, Amy Rose? Yes, I will not deny that my master and I are the greatest evils to ever exist on this world in your point of view…but there is no source. It is within all of us, just as you have your good and evil sides."

"You're still ultimate evil…" Shadow retorted.

"Good and evil are entirely subjective. In your view, Doctor Eggman was a crazed scientist bent on ruling the world with an iron fist. But would you believe that he had good intentions?"

"Shut up with your lies!" Sonic replied.

"He helped you quite a few times, dear Sonic…he wanted the same thing as you…a world that lived in peace and harmony."

"That doesn't sound like Eggman at all," Tahra added.

"He knew that the world could not live in harmony without the destruction of personal freedoms. Only when he was absolute ruler, and his word was law could war, strife and inequality end. The Judgment wanted the exact same thing…this goal is my goal as well…absolute equality, and an end to war and to strife. It seems like you favor inequality, war and strife, since you oppose me."

"No…" Sonic answered. "We want those things…we just want everyone alive to experience it. You wish for an end to all life. That is why we will defeat you."

Nazo grinned evilly, and then extended the two red energy sabers from his hands. "Oh, then bring it on, kids! I'm right here!" The four heroes, after readying themselves, transformed into their more powerful forms. Tahra and Shadow transformed into their Hyper forms while Sonic and Amy chose the second level of their Heroic forms.

All at once they charged with flying dashes, and Nazo dashed at them as well. The first one to attack was Sonic, who delivered a fast swing that the demon parried. He also blocked Masamune, and did a powerful kick to knock Amy backwards. Only Tahra managed to sneak by, and delivered a powerful slash to Nazo's arm. The attack struck home, but it could not sever his arm. This allowed the others to get in, and deliver powerful blows. But for all their might, Nazo still had a lot of fight left in him.

The demon hedgehog quickly used Chaos Blast to push them away, and then targeted Sonic. The angel hedgehog had just gotten rebalanced when Nazo was upon him. Nazo and Sonic were living blurs as their weapons clashed at supersonic speeds. But Sonic managed to get a hit to his enemy's flank when Nazo raised his arm a little too high for another attack. This sent Nazo reeling, and then Shadow struck him in midair. Nazo quickly righted himself and started to defend himself from the flashing hedgehog's assault.

As the two girls watched this, an idea came to them. It wasn't going to be fusion, but it would work just about as well. When they saw an opportunity, Amy charged up the light beam attack she had used on Ragozine, while Tahra readied a Chaos Flare, the same technique Black Doom met his end to. They fired the blasts in such a way that their power combined into a single blast which nailed Nazo dead on. After the flash of light that accompanied these attacks was over, it seemed that their enemy was severely damaged…and extremely mad. He was growling and cursing between his teeth, while he was curled up with arms crossed.

Even Nazo's evil heart was being consumed, but directly by the Meteor Parasite. And these attacks were hastening the process, until finally the demon snapped. He turned dark blue, and his form became more shadowy…like so many others…he had become a Heartless. This sudden change gave him an immense boost of strength and speed, which he immediately took advantage of. He rushed at each of the heroes and began delivering a blizzard of blows at such speed that seemed like he was using Chaos Control…but he wasn't.

It wasn't enough. Even as a Heartless he was ultimately doomed to lose, because one of them reacted to this. Sonic, whom he had targeted last, dodged Nazo's starting swing, and countered with a powerful downward kick. Shadow managed to get up quickly enough to deliver his own round of attacks. Then Amy got up and delivered her own flurry of blows, as did Tahra. To Nazo's displeasure and rage, they turned into a sort of passable punching bag, tossing him when they didn't want to smack him around.

After a few minutes of this, the four hedgehogs finally decided to finish the job. They surrounded the stunned demon lord, and with a simultaneous attack, sent him crashing to the floor. For good measure, each used a powerful beam attack that blasted out the entire floor of the room (as well as every other floor) and quite literally drove Nazo into the ground.

But their enemy was still not dead. Four wide beams of darkness struck each one of them, sending them spinning upward. Even though he was not dead, the four could sense that their enemy was close to defeat. They just needed one more attack. Simultaneously the four used Chaos Control, and began their final assault…one of every attack in their arsenal, ranging from unarmed attacks and weapons strikes to energy blasts. They concluded with another heavy blow from their weapons, this time to Nazo's head.

He shrieked in pain as the four Sacred Arms dug deep into his brain and shattered his skull. He managed to force out four words before he died.

"You're…still…too…late…"

When Nazo finally died, the entire city began to shake, and the tower was crumbling. Even the dimensional fabric seemed to be coming apart. The four could feel a terrible power emanating from everywhere…it was exponentially greater than Nazo…Geddon was waking up.

"Crap…we're too late!" Tahra managed to say before the entire dimension was ripped apart in a dark purple and heatless blaze that began to cover the sky…

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Oh crap…this is not good at all," Raiden said when he saw the results of the blast. The rest of the group looked on in horror at what stood before them…it was the Meteor Parasite, and he was awake. The beast rested on a massive platform of uncut rock that was floating in the crater formed by the blast.

"So that's the Meteor Parasite," Sven gasped. "He's as loathsome as they say. I kin feel 'is terrible power…it's givin' me a headache."

"So this is how it all ends," Armeil sighed. "His power is far beyond that of Sonic and the others. There's no way they'll win." Naylet, however, was in disagreement.

"No, there has to be something we can do!" she protested. "I'm going to do what I can to help them." She extended her angel wings and flew toward the Meteor Parasite. Armeil, concerned for his beloved's safety, followed her.

"If the kitsune goes, I'm going too!" Nack said. He pulled out the biggest gun he had, a large laser cannon, and followed them.

"Damn…I wish I could use my Super form," Knuckles growled. "If Sonic hadn't gone berserk when he killed Eggman, I probably could have used that machine he mentioned to allow that." Tails grinned, and pulled a large box out of his fur. He opened the box, and inside were the seven Chaos Emeralds. He had been keeping them safe and out of the wrong hands.

"How about you use the Emeralds themselves, Knux?"

The echidna grinned, and as he did in the past, called upon their power and began flashing red and pink, power rushing through his veins, and became Super Knuckles once more. With Vahtri tagging along, the two followed.

"Looks like we're sitting this one out, everyone," Eberon sighed. "We can only cheer them on. Let us hope that the world is praying for the best…"

"I'm sure they are!" Mikael chimed in.

"…Yeah! They'll pulverize him!" Charmy agreed, doing a backflip as he did.

"You're always so optimistic," Espio said to his bee friend.

-- -- -- -- --

"At last we meet!" the creature said in a jocular manner to the four hedgehogs. "I have watched your battles from here, and they were all simply wonderful to watch! But alas, I'm afraid…"

"…our journey ends here," Tahra interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, we've heard it before. If I had a ring for every time someone has said that…"

"Ooooo, someone's cheeky!" the creature cackled in his clown voice, causing Tahra to close her ears for a second. This wince made the freak smile inside. "But I'm afraid you don't know who I am."

"We know all too well who you are!" Shadow roared. "You're the monster who's responsible for all the war, strife and corruption of the last six thousand years! You've turned brother against brother, father against son, and brought ruin to entire civilizations! We won't stand for it any longer!"

"Ah, moral indignation…I find it to be droll…diluted. I thought you four were better than that. Anger, rage, hatred…those are true feelings that I thought you had in your hearts. But now all there is…moral indignation. I thought there was darkness in your hearts!"

"Of course there is…" Amy answered. "We just don't let it consume us, like it does to your minions. That's what made them weak…"

"And that's why we're going to take you down!" Sonic finally said. "This ends now!"

All four dashed forward, and swung the Sacred Arms at the Meteor Parasite. But to their horror, the ancient weapons, which had been sharp throughout their battles, shattered like glass, while the monster remained unharmed. The creature cackled again.

"You STUPID mortals…those weapons were made to defeat Nazo, not me!"

The four hedgehogs were dismayed at their loss. The weapons that Akuma had said could never break had crumbled in their hands. It seemed that nothing could save them now…but that was before a huge laser blast struck Geddon in one of his eyes. The four turned to see the friends who were able to help hovering nearby.

"Did you really think we'd let you four have all the fun?" Knuckles cheered.

"We won't let this monster destroy this world," Armeil added. "We'll lend you support."

"Oh, so you think the so-called 'power of friendship' is going to save this puny world?" Geddon cackled with the clown voice. "That's a laugh."

"The concept's clichéd, I know…but it's a cliché that I can live with!" Nack replied as he fired another blast into one of Geddon's eyes. This time the beast avoided it and bit at the group with that head but they avoided the attack easily.

"So, going to be dodgy, eh?" the Meteor Parasite said with the young man voice. "Well, let's see you fools dodge THIS!" Geddon unleashed the largest Chaos Blast imaginable, smashing into every member of the group, and knocking the farthest group off their feet…the end seemed near, but the forces of good were about to make one last stand…

-- -- -- -- --

"Mom," Kiran cried out suddenly as he gazed out from the cave mouth. "I can feel it…Amy's terribly hurt! She's in a big battle." Amy's mother came out, and picked Kiran up.

"I can feel it to, honey…I think it's the end, though…"

"No!" Kiran whined. "There has to be something we can do!" He quickly went up near the edge of the cliff he was on, got down on his knees and began to fervently pray.

Please, Amy... you have to get through this…I wanna see you again…Mommy wants to see you again…

-- -- -- -- --

"The battle for the sake of all things is turning against Shadow and his friends," the Great Alpha called to his fellow wolves. We must do everything we can to lend Shadow our power. The welfare of not only us wolves, but all living things, is under dire threat!"

"But how can we?" one wolf asked.

"We must pray as we do. Howl, my kin…howl as though your lives depend on it, for life does depend on our efforts! Howl to the sky, let our cries give Shadow and their friends strength to fight on!"

The entire tribe began howling, praying to the heavens to give the heroes a fighting chance…

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Hey, look at the sky!" a young hedgefox said in awe, pointing to the black and purple swirls that was now the sky.

"I wonder if Miss Naylet's gonna be okay?" a half-kitsune said. "I heard she was with that blue guy Sonic. They said they were gonna beat some guy named Geddon or something."

"The Meteor Parasite…so he's finally arrived," an older half-kitsune sighed. She wondered what to do. But the children seemed to instinctively know what course of action to take. The half-kitsune nearest her closed her eyes, bowed her head, and began to pray. The chain reaction spread across the colony, and soon, every single half-breed was sending their prayers, hoping that Sonic could come through for them.

-- -- -- -- -- --

All around the world this was happening…people who had learned of the journey of the four hedgehogs and their friends, or met them in person, they knew that the world would be doomed if they did not win…and they began to pray. Though each person contributed a small amount, their words not only carried by the winds, but each individual also contributed a small amount of their personal energy. When you have millions of beings doing all of this, it began to add up. But their prayers also awoke another entity…an entity that would not allow things to go this way.

Warriors of the Sacred Arms! Awaken!

The minds of the four hedgehogs were in a state that was a mixture of sleep, waking and death. In this state, each one could hear the myriad prayers of those around the world.

"They're cheering for us…" Tahra said to herself.

"They're lending us their power…" Amy thought.

"We can't let them down..." Shadow said to himself.

"This…this new power I feel…is this…from the earth itself AND the Chaos Emeralds?"

Warriors! The planet is giving what power it can spare. Use it to stop the Meteor Parasite..."

The four hedgehogs slowly rose to their feet, and Geddon was mildly surprised by this. What was more, their energy was increasing vastly. The wasteland, once barren, suddenly began to become replanted with grass, with a few flowers here and there, so great was the energy being exuded by the four heroes. Their final level of transformation was at hand, and it was just what they needed to defeat this monster.

The change was actually minor…a combining of their Heroic and Hyper forms (Amy and Sonic retained the traits of the second level), but the energy of their transformation had turned the wasteland into a great grassy plain. Their power had now increased a hundredfold, and their minds were deadest on a single mission…taking Geddon down once and for all.

In perfect unison, the four hedgehogs raised their right hands straight up, and each summoned a Chaos Edge to that hand, then with their left hand. The monster chuckled.

"Got your second wind, have you?" the beast chuckled in all seven voices at once. "It won't do you a bit of good. For all your power, I still have over a million worlds worth of power at my disposal!"

With a cross between a shriek and a roar, the seven-headed fiend began to glow with black energy…and from this energy came pitch-black copies of Nazo. About thirty such copies were produced before falling into formation in front of him.

"Hmph…you're still afraid to fight your own battles, eh, big guy?" Sonic mocked. "Hey guys…let's send him off, hedgehog-style!" His companions gave him a look of disgust.

"Sonic…that was really corny," Shadow replied before he flew forward, his twin blades whirling, slashing one Nazo copy as he passed it. The two girls giggled a little before going forward as well.

"Hey! Wait up! I want some fun too!" Sonic cried as he raced to catch up. But the others were already in the thick of melee, their Chaos Edges whipping about, cutting through the shadow Nazos like they were nothing. As this was happening, Geddon was fuming. He was hoping his distraction would give him long enough to fully charge up his final attack, but there wasn't enough time. He had to take them out now.

He floated forward into the melee, and struck at Tahra without regard to his Nazo copies, and tried to grab her in the jaws of one of his heads. But he was too slow, as she was able to lop off that head, and it disintegrated as it fell away from the neck. The neck reared back, but to her horror, another head grew in its place in a matter of moments. This made her drop her guard, allowing several Nazo copies to pile on top of her and starting beating her up.

Sonic noticed this, and rushed to help her, slashing his way through the copies in an effort to save her, but not before he was attacked by another of Geddon's heads. This time he was caught between its pincer-jaws, but managed to catch them. Still, it was a tremendous effort to resist their force.

Amy and Shadow had cleared off a group of Nazo copies just as two more of the monster's heads lashed out at them. Amy was caught in the jaws of one, but Shadow was able to dodge the one aiming at him, and sever that head while doing a forward flip. He watched as the neck reared back, and grew another head.

But as he watched, he noticed one of the heads had a thicker neck that the other ones; and it seemed to have been concentrating as it regenerated the lost head. His attention soon turned to Amy, who was losing the fight against the pincers. Shadow quickly sliced off the head trying to devour Amy.

"Amy…I think I figured out his weak point!" Shadow told her, pointing to the central head." It's that head in the middle! Unless we kill THAT head, he's going to keep regenerating!"

"But how are we gonna get to it?" Amy asked as she disposed of another Nazo clone with a quick underarm stab without even looking behind her. "He's faster than us. Shadow simply raised one hand and formed a yellow ball of energy…the Chaos Spear.

"Amy, help Sonic and Tahra…I'll get the big guy's attention." Amy nodded and sped off to help her two other friends. Shadow took careful aim as he moved forward.

"Chaos…Spear!" he cried as he vaulted over a head sent after him. Sure enough, the Chaos Spear scored a direct hit in the eye of central head. All seven heads roared at once, and the Nazo copies disappeared. Shadow quickly used Chaos Control to return to the side of his friends

"His concentration is broken, guys!" Shadow said to the others. "Let's take him down now!" All four nodded together, and charged forward at the central head. They slipped between the necks of the secondary heads and all delivered a slash, dealing massive damage to the central head. It was now completely stunned, unable to defend itself.

"Now, let's get rid of this guy!" Sonic cheered. All four hedgehogs held up their hands, and their entire bodies pulsated as they summoned the last of their energy for one final attack.

"Chaos…CONTROL!"

A light as bright as a hundred suns flashed across the sky, dispersing the purple clouds, and turning night into day. The Meteor Parasite writhed as his body was flung far away from the planet…and right into the sun. It screamed as its body was seared by the star's flames and radiation…no being, not even the destroyer of a million worlds, could survive the heat of a living star.

All across the world, the people cheered, for their prayers had been answered. But the four heroes, drained of virtually all of their energy, plummeted down to earth…and it seemed that their victory would cost them their lives…

-- -- -- -- -- --

Sonic awoke and sat up in a bed, and was met with cheers from Tahra (who was bandaged in several places, but obviously alive), Tails and Knuckles. He wondered if he was alive or dead and feebly asked that very question.

Tails simply smiled. "Don't worry, Sonic; you're alive. Armeil and the others woke up in time to catch you and the others as you fell. You still got pretty badly hurt. You were out for days!"

"Is he gone? Is the Meteor Parasite...?"

Knuckles seemed surprised. "You don't remember any of that? You four atomized him! He couldn't possibly be deader!"

Sonic lay back in his bed and smiled. "So then the nightmare is over at long last." He turned to Tahra, who smiled, sat down next to him and lovingly kissed him on the forehead. Knuckles and Tails took this as a signal that the couple wanted to be in private, and they left the room.

"How are Shadow and Amy?" Sonic asked as he sat up again and turned sideways to make room for his girlfriend.

"They're doing okay…they're being all cuddly and stuff," Tahra replied. "Shadow's almost completely recovered, but Amy needs another day. I'm sure one of Vahtri's yummy cookies will heal our wounds. It's getting the energy back that will take time. Armeil said that our final attack against Geddon expended so much energy that we lost the ability to use our Heroic forms and those of higher levels…not that we'll need to anymore."

"What about Rouge?" Sonic then asked. Tahra reported that the bat was doing just fine. The eggs had died, and disintegrated, and she was as good as new. Now that all the problems had been settled, Sonic decided to take a nap. He moved over a little to make room for his love, and they slept side by side.

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Huh? Are we in each other's dreams again?" Amy asked Sonic, Shadow and Tahra when they showed up in her dreams. Before anyone could answer, a great green orb of bright light appeared above them, and it spoke to them.

"Warriors of the Sacred Arms…the threat of the Meteor Parasite has passed at long last, after eons of his terrible reign. Your journey has come to an end, and it deserves a reward of some kind. I can grant you four a wish that is within my power. But it must be one that you can all agree on."

Sonic immediately came up with one that he was sure everyone wanted. "Can you make it so everyone just gets along? That way, everyone will be happy."

"I am afraid I cannot stifle the wills of people," the glowing light replied with a disappointed tone, "for that seems to be the only way for that to occur. Perhaps you could think of something else."

"Then how about bringing all of the humans who died at the hands of Geddon's minions in the past year or so back?"

"The veil between life and death has come dangerously close to breaking. That wish would only bring catastrophe upon the living world. Please think of another."

Shadow did have a wish in mind, but he wasn't sure if his friends would agree on it.

"Uh…this might seem a little selfish…" he said to his friends, "But do you think it would be okay if I brought Maria back?"

To his surprise, Amy was quick to agree. "I'd love to meet Maria! I'm sure she'd make a great friend to us all. You agree…right, Sonic?" The blue hedgehog shrugged, and then nodded. Tahra did the same thing.

"Thanks a lot, everyone," Shadow said. "You don't know how happy you've made me!" He turned back to the light. "Alright…we want you to bring the one named Maria Robotnik back to life!"

"…That is a wish I can grant. I'm sure the veil I mentioned can handle a single individual. But she cannot return in her human form…I shall make her into a hedgehog, and she will think that you are her younger brother, Shadow. Treat her as a sister."

"I will do that. Thank you…"

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Mom…" Amy said when she found the cave where her mother and Kiran were staying. The little boy came rushing out of the cave and hopped into his half-sister's arms. Amy's mother stood a distance from her children and watched the reunion.

"Big sis…you came back to see us!" Kiran squealed with joy. "You actually did it!"

"I'm glad you're happy to see me, Kiran…" Amy replied lovingly. Her mother finally found the will to approach the daughter she once thought monstrous, and stood there, unsure of what to say.

"Amy…I-I suppose I should apologize for all those terrible things I said of you," she said hesitantly. "A mother shouldn't reject her daughter…"

The pink hedgehog shook her head and smiled. "No…I understand what you felt. But the creature that used me is gone for good. I think the world is headed in the right direction at last…in the direction of a better world. And I'm glad to have you be a part of it, Mom."

The mother hedgehog began to well up with tears, and she embraced her daughter. Amy glanced up on the rocks to see Shadow watching. He smiled, and she smiled back. The couple had their own plans for a family as well. And with the world at peace, it was now a real possibility…

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Hey, Sonic!"Mikael asked Sonic one day as the latterwas helping to rebuild the ruined Westopolis. "I wanna ask you something."

"Go ahead, little guy," Sonic replied. "Ask away."

"Now that the humans are gone and all, the big leaders of each race are holding this meeting with my big sis. They're actually trying to rename the planet. Earth was the human name, and now they want a new one. They can't think of any, so she wanted me to ask you."

Sonic was astounded. Mikael had no idea what kind of responsibility that was suddenly thrust upon him with that question. Sonic thought hard about this, and eventually came up with one.

"I read in an old book that before the humans took over, this world was called Mobius. Why don't we just call it Mobius again?" Mikael grinned with agreement.

"...Mobius it is, then! Thanks, Sonic!" the little hedgehog said before running back to his sister. Sonic smiled as he watched him leave.

"So that's gonnabe my brother-in-law someday..."

-- -- -- -- -- --

Me: And so ends our tale…all that remains is the epilogue. I think the battle against Geddon is supposed to be a lot more spectacular in images than the writing (it was in my head), and the fight against Eclipse was pretty short (but then again, Amy was way more powerful than he was) but I think this chapter went well! It's the longest of them all, at almost 5,000 words.

Tahra: I may be a badass punk, but I love a peaceful and loving ending.

Sonic: It's too bad we only get to use those final forms once. But it was quite a ride while it lasted.

Amy: Yeah! But I wonder what Janus will depict in our futures…

Shadow: I'm sure they'll be involving the sequel…

Me: Yep. Stay tuned for the epilogue, and let those comments roll in