Again, Sin, Dante, Blaze, Slash, and Mitch belong to their respective owners (who probably don't go to Anything else Sonic related is owned by Sega and Sonic Team.

Count Sin's prison cell resembled that of an actual jail. Rusty bars, grimey walls, and occasional rats all gave the captive a feeling of depression and despair. This new Death Egg was vastly superior to it's previous three predecessors. This time alone, however, gave Sin some room for thought...

Sin was his new name, and would forever be. His father did not like this turn of events, as he intended the child's name to be Ted Jr., named after himself. He could not change this, as the name the psychic gives is that boy's name forever. He still wondered why she seemed frightened by his son.

One obvious trait was, of course, Sin's apparent antlers. They has started out as two small bumps, and their doctor and collegee, Dr. Monoxide, stated that it was a skin condition that would pass soon. It never did. Sin is always ridiculed for these otherworldly body extensions. Every planet they went, someone would always run away from him. That is, except one girl...

"Hi there! What's your name?" she asked him. Sin was taken by surprise by the girl's question. Was...was she blind, perhaps?

"...Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to see if we could be friends, of course."

"So...you aren't frightened?" He asked her. She scratched her head.

"Because of your antlers? Bah! I'm not about to abandon someone just because of they have stuff growing out of their heads," the girl said. She extended her hand. "My name's Lara. What's yours?" Sin knew this had to be too good to be true. He shook her hand.

"...My name is Sin," he responded. Lara frowned.

"Well, that's not a very pleasant name. Why'd your parents name you that?"

"They didn't..."

"Well, of course not! No parent would name their son that. Well, do you go by any other names?"

"...I was going to be named Ted Jr."

"Now THAT'S a cute name. Well Ted, you want to hang out?" All this was just too much for Sin at the moment. It's almost as if she was oblivious to the evil inside him...

Sin was thrown out of his thoughts by the sound of shooting and exploding metal. He watched as his cell door opened.

"What in the-"

"It's me, Dante. Get off your ass and come with me. Blaze should be nearby." The Tasmanian Devil grabbed Sin's arm and dragged him along.

---

"You want some of this!" Blaze yelled. He continued to destroy Badniks with swift slices of his twin swords. His quick manuevers proved too complex for the Eggpawns to retaliate to. In a matter of minutes, the red hedgehog had cleared the area of enemies...for now.

"Having fun?" came the voice of Lt. Slash. The beetle walked up, a gun in each of his four hands.

"Yes, but not as much fun as you're having. You must be going berserk with those. I wish I had four arms sometimes," Blaze admitted.

"Yeah, but we gotta preserve our ammo for Robotnik." Blaze and Slash looked at each other, then broke out laughing.

"Like we even need to DO anything to kill him! Good one, Slash. Anyway, have you found Dante and Sin yet?" The beetle shook his head. "Well, I'm sure they can handle things on their own..."

---

Mitch held an angry expression at the words of Eggman.

"This is NOT what we agreed, Eggman. Me and my forces were looking for freedom, not more imprisonment!"

"I'm terribly sorry Mitch, but you must understand; When you're on MY ship, you follow MY rules, got it?"

"No." The fox pulled out a magnum and aimed it at the Doctor, who simply chuckled.

"Remember what I said before?" Eggman, with unbelievable speed, impaled Mitch's gun arm with a blade and pulled it out. The fox fell to the floor in pain. The blade had poison on it. "Do not try anything funny. I will not hesitate to obliterate you the instant you fire." Mitch groaned and slowly started to crawl away. Eggman sighed and looked back at the monitor that showed Mobius. "It's almost time..."

---

The sheer size of the Death Egg IV confused those who tried to travel within it without so much as a map. Unfortunately, Sin and Dante didn't have a map, so they were forced to traverse the giant battle station on foot.

"None of this makes sense. He never told us about the Death Egg's relaunch, or anything. And why is he trying to get us killed?" Dante pondered.

"Maybe because we're too good? Nah, that's not it. He'd at least use us until he conquered everything..." Sin said.

"We're just as puzzled as you are, guys." Behind them they saw Blaze and Slash.

"...He got you guys too?"

"Of course. He's rounding up all the generals."

"Then we better hurry." The four reunited, they traveled on towards their destination: Eggman's control room.

---

Mitch, his arm now numb and purple due to the poison, gathered up the strength to contact his men via COM link.

"...Men, this is Mitch. Bring all of our forces here. Commence the attack on the Death Egg IV..."

"IWill do, sir/I"