"PLAAASMUUUSS!"

The creature roared like a cross between a lion and a thunderstorm, sending static and terror throughout the room and leaving most everyone quaking in their boots. For his part, Dragonbreath actually seemed to revel in having this new abomination around, but it was possible that he was merely not programmed with the notion of fear. Or common sense.

Sticks gasped as though her life had passed before her eyes. Though as far as she was concerned, it probably had at one point or another. Literally. "Quick, everyone do the hokeypokey! It's the sign of death! When Gaea sends down the thunderbeast of Chumulu, everyone's got to do the hokeypokey or else they're a goner! Follow my lead! Put your left foot in, your right foot out—"

Shortfuse whipped out his blaster and fired a warning shot straight under Stick's lifted foot. "NOT. THE. TIME."

"He's right," said Johnny. "All of us need to get focused ASAP or we ain't gettin' out of this one. And that's a fact."

Meanwhile, Lightmare was thinking the same thing. "Axel, send it back NOW! Ahem himself said the creature was nearly uncontrollable! The only reason it hasn't killed us all yet is that it is still getting its' bearings!"

Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. Despite his insistence that things would work out okay, it was clear that he was starting to wonder if the opposite were true. "Look, we just need to get these punks taken care of first. Once we do that—"

"Once we do that, we'll all promptly be massacred and sent either to Gaea's Sanctum or the Abyss, or Hell as some call it. And I am willing to bet the latter."

Before Axel and Lightmare could start a pissing match, the creature roared again, more ferocious than ever. It was only a matter of time before it would begin to tear apart everything in sight, and everyone just had a matter of seconds to try to figure out some desperate ploy to defeat a creature that, being made out of pure energy and electricity, would likely be VERY hard to hurt. If at all.

Luckily, someone had an answer.

Johnny's ears started to prick up. "Hey, do you hear that?" They all looked towards the torn apart doorway, not that there was anything there. For a moment, it seemed as though Johnny must have been hearing things, and that all he had done was distract them from warding off their seemingly inevitable deaths.

But then Stick's ears did the same. And Amy's. And Axel's. And all of a sudden, everyone could suddenly hear a sort of whooshing sound throughout the distant corridors, rapidly getting closer and closer by the nanosecond. Suddenly, a faint green light could be seen reflecting on the doorway, and it even gained the creature's attention.

"Is that who I think it is?" said Amy.

"It had better be," said Johnny.

"Oh, it is," said Tekno. "I know that light better than anyone. Save perhaps one. And I believe he is just about…"

Everyone quickly covered their eyes as a blinding green flash briefly covered the room. And when they opened them again, a certain green hedgehog was floating down the ground in its' wake. "Hey there, peeps! Missed me?"

"...here."

"Who's the Sonic reject?" said Axel.

Typically, a round of greeting and congratulations would be shared, but this wasn't exactly the time for that. "Manic!" said Johnny. "You evacuated the villagers!"

"Yup! Hey, what's that big blue thing over there?"

"Yeah, about that. KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!"

"Come again?" The beast then roared one final time and began the slaughter in earnest. And Manic was to be its' first victim. It began to ram towards him like an out of control train with wild abandon, eager to eviscerate anyone and anything in its' path.

"WHOA MAMA!" Manic flew back up into the air and held out his ring, covering Johnny and the others in its' green light and moving them all out of harms' way like telekineses. With everyone suddenly out of his line of sight, the only thing left was the doorway. But while the creature may have been near mindless, it wasn't without the instinct of self-preservation, and promptly skidded down a ways before leaping to the side and to safety. Though not without leaving some sizzling skidmarks in its' wake. And not without giving Amy an idea.

"Hey, Manic! You can carry people in that green light of yours, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with—"

"Do you think you can do that to that monster over there?"

"I think so, but—"

"And do you think you can keep it one spot?"

And suddenly, everything clicked. "Oh! Oh. I getcha. Say no more!" Just then, Plasma opened its' large gaping mouth and a huge, thick beam of blue, sizzling energy spewed forth towards Manic. Not that it mattered. He summoned up a green shield of energy just in time ("I'm really getting the hang of this!), and blocked the blast as he weathered a stream of molten ash.

Before the smoke even cleared a green aura formed around the creature in an instant, shrinking and tightening and molding it until the monster was nothing more than a small, concentrated sphere.

"Okay," said Shortfuse, "that was kickass."

"Hold on now," said Johnny. "Something about this doesn't seem right."

It wasn't. The sphere began to turn and buckle, the creature struggling and doing its' best to break free of its' makeshift prison. "Uh-oh!" The aura grew brighter and brighter and Manic tightened his grip, but the ball continued to turn and bend and shift, becoming more and more out of control with each passing second. This was a losing battle, and Manic knew it well. Though even so, there was still a light at the end of the tunnel.

"I guess there's nothing for it," said Amy.

"Right," said Johnny. "Manic, you keep that thing busy! The rest of us are going for the console! With any luck, we'll be able to send that thing back where it came from and stop the vibrations while we're at it."

"Sure. Thing. Boss! Kind of hard. To concentrate. Though. Little breathing room. PLEASE!"

"You heard the man. Everyone, take 'em!" And as Tekno soared into the air and Shortfuze blazed ahead, they aimed to do just that.

In the meantime, Axel was back with Lightmare and Dragonbreath the near the controls, and they could see Johnny and company headed straight their way. "So we're back to three versus five," said Lightmare. "It is fitting, I suppose. You tried to even the odds, but it didn't matter anyway, and now there is a monster headed this way in addition to our little interlopers. I'm almost tempted to use my particular talents on YOU and set this right."

"Less talking, more fighting! WHOO!" Dragonbreath lifted back his head and blew out a scorching blast of fire. It blasted across the room towards Johnny and the others with the heat of a blazing oven.

"TEKNO!" Johnny didn't need to say a word. Tekno sent forth another blast of wind, blowing away the flame to nothingness like blowing out a candle. And all the while, Shortfuse just kept on trucking.

"Hey, no worries! I'll get 'em this time!"

"No!" said Lightmare. "I would've preferred another way, but seeing as our fearless leader is busy sticking his own cranium up his posterior, it appears I have no choice!" The white coverings over her eyes glowed with a bright, radiant light. Small globules of the stuff began to pop up like a sea of bubbles, nearly filling the room with their brilliance.

Manic was able to keep himself together, his own light shielding him, but Shortfuse and Tekno stopped dead in their tracks. "What the hell's goin' on?!" said Shortfuse. "Can't see where the hell I'm goin'!"

"It is the same with me!" said Tekno. "Although, I believe they are beginning to dim."

"Hey, you're right!" said Amy, shielding her eyes with the others. "It is starting to get a bit clearer."

"Yeah, well," said Shortfuse, "let me tell ya, when this stuff clears up, first thing I'm doin' is—"

"SHORTFUSE!"

Before Shortfuse could so much as shout, he found himself being knocked clean into the nearest wall. He remained still in the rough imprint his body had forcibly pounded into it, only moving again after doing his best to process who the heck had just clobbered him. "Okay, whoever did that to me, I swear to God—" Only when he rubbed his eyes, there was nothing there. Nothing. No Johnny, no Sticks, no Tekno, nothing. Even the walls were somewhat featureless. The only other thing standing before him was… himself.

"No. Can't be."

But it was. Standing before Shortfuse was Shortfuse. In the flesh. (Or rather metal, but that was beside the point.) Only he seemed different somehow. Less firey. Less reckless. More in control. As if there wasn't a single trace of himself in there.

As it would turn out, that was the truth of it.

"SCANNING." The other Shortfuse stared at the original, who was still too bewildered to make a move. "ANALYSIS COMPLETE. INFERIOR VERSION. STILL POSSESSES ORIGINAL PERSONALITY. IS STILL SHORTY THE SQUIRREL. IS STILL WORTHLESS."

That finally did it. "Hey, who you calling worthless?! Whoever you are?!"

"SUBJECT TOO INCOMPETENT TO UNDERSTAND. OR IS SUBJECT REFUSING TO ADMIT THEY ALREADY UNDERSTAND?"

"I'm not refusing to understand nothin'! Because you aren't me! You can't possibly be!"

"SELF IS SUBJECT. WHAT SUBJECT IS DESTINED TO BECOME. SUBJECT ONLY DELAYS INEVITABLE."

"NO! I'm not you, you hear me?! And I'm never gonna be you! Do you understand me?!"


"You understand me, Amy? It just isn't gonna work out. You and me. Course, you already know that, don't you?"

Amy was standing nearly alone in the near featureless room. She wasn't sure she was or how she got there. All she knew was that somehow, someway, someone else was standing in there with her: Sonic. It was a dream come true. Just her and her beau together with nothing else to get in the way. And yet, when she had finally expected to hear a declaration of love, she got something completely unexpected instead. Something she really didn't want to hear. Like a slap in the face.

"What are you saying, Sonic? I thought things were finally working out between us! Aren't we wonderful together?!"

"Please, babe! I mean, we've only known each other for, what, a month maybe? If that? Besides, you're just not my thing."

"Not your thing?"

"I mean, no offense, but you're just so clingy and obsessive. Hell, one time you even tried to follow me in a cardboard box!"

'Sonic' had her there. "Uh, well, I was just trying to keep an eye on you! Make sure nothing bad was happening to you! Yeah, that's it!"

"You sure about that, Amy? Cause it didn't seem like it to me."

"Look, I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression, but I'm not like that, really!"

"Then prove it."

Amy was at a loss for words. She began to stammer, almost as if she had lost the script and was now struggling to perform some basic improv. "Look! I love you, okay?! I really do! You're the one! The one I saw in my tarot readings! We were meant to be together!"

"You actually believed those things? What are you, desperate?"

"No! It's just, I've never really been with anyone before. I'm sixteen years old. I knew girls who were already getting jiggy with it when they were thirteen!"

"So you're telling me you don't actually know what's it like to be in a real relationship?"

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"So can you really say you love me? Or do you just think you do?"

And as Amy stood there in the gloom, her head hanging low out of uncertainty and shock, all she could say was the honest truth. "I don't know."


"Don't know. Don't know. Don't know. Don't know. Don't know…"

Tekno, or rather a Tekno, was sitting with her legs sprawled out in the middle of the room. She was sitting in nothing but her underwear and was staring into space as though there was barely a coherent thought in there. All she could do was clap her hands and feathers together repeatedly, saying over and over again 'Don't know' with all the emotional delivery of a plank of wood. She was a three year old in a grown woman's body. And all Tekno could do, the 'real' Tekno, was kneel down on the ground as she watched her other self in sheer abject horror.

"No. Not me. Not me. Don't want to be her. Don't want to be me. Can't be me. Not me. Not me. NOT ME!"


"Not me! It wasn't me! Please." An old badger was sitting back on his rear end in the middle of the room, carrying nothing but a shotgun that was pointed at none other than Sticks. Who was absolutely livid.

"Course it was you! Why wouldn't it be you?!" Sticks ducked under the rifle just before it fired off a blast that would deafen a lesser badger's ears. She ripped it straight out of his trembling hands and hurled it as far away as she could before leaping over to the man and lifting him up by the collar of his dirty, worn undershirt.

"You went and left mom! You went and left me! Went and left the both of us to be nothin' but wolf chow! Only reason I survived was cause I got lucky! One of 'em had their motherly instincts kick in and took me in as their own! You know what it was like?! Loving the one who raised you but wantin' to strangle them to death?! And it's all cause of you, pa! So give me one good reason why I shouldn't do the same to you."

The old man struggled, trying his best to free himself from Stick's grip like prey struggling to free itself from the hunters' grasp, but to no avail. And so, with no other recourse left, he played his hand. "Because it was you."

"Come again?"

"It was you. Even before the forest, you were always a burden. Always eating, always whining and pouting and crying, always being more of a nuisance than a help. It was no different when those wolves attacked us. You were so plump, so tender, had stuffed your face so much that you were irresistible. And so big that you slowed your mother down. She couldn't keep up, trying to save you. And they only spared you because they wanted to save you for later. Until they took pity on you."

"No." Was all Sticks could whimper out. Her grip began to loosen as the old man was slowly lowered back to the floor, her eyes wide and in shock.

"And I knew it. Knew you were the reason why my wife was dead. Knew you deserved to die. So I left you to the fate you deserved." Sticks knelt down to the ground, the old man now standing triumphant. The tables had turned. "Course, doesn't seem like you got your comeuppance. Still, that's easily remedied." He walked over to his gun, picked it up, and aimed it right back at Sticks. Like aiming at a dog. "After all these years, you're finally gonna pay. One more bullet and we can all be together forever. Finally"


"We can all be together forever. Finally!"

Johnny was standing over a searing pit of molten lava, bubbling and boiling to the point where you wondered why your skin wasn't melting off yet. And yet, it didn't seem to phase him in the least. What did was the figure standing behind him. She was a little girl, dressed in a red and yellow dress and cute as a button. Or at least she would have been if she weren't in a perpetual state of burning. Part of her was a girl, the other part was a charred corpse, and whatever parts were and weren't were constantly switching.

"Didn't you hear me, Johnny?" she said, her voice husky and dry like charcoal. "We can all finally be together! All you have to do is jump into that pit, and we can all be together at last! And you will finally be able to atone. End your suffering. Isn't that you truly want?"

Johnny stared at the pit as though he were looking into his own reflection. Of course, that was impossible, but it was the thought that counted. And speaking of thoughts, he wasn't sure what to think. Not at first. What did he want? Did he want to atone? To let it all end? Was that what he had been seeking all that time? Did he even deserve it? Did he want it? Or perhaps, more importantly, was it what Lily would have wanted?

And that's when it hit him.

"I don't know what I want. Hell, I've never known what I wanted. Even before I lost Lily. I guess I've just been going through trying to figure that out. But I can tell you one thing." Johnny slowly turned around like a simmering pot just waiting to boil over. He glared right at the girl, his eyes almost digging into her soul. "You ain't Lily!"

The girl was silent as the grave. And if she were to be believed, she would have already stepped with both feet into it long ago. But Johnny wasn't having any of it. "I loved Lily. She was my sister. How could I not love her? But she was also a little pain in the hiney. Always going on about every little thing, how she wanted this and that, never once caring about what other people wanted. The point being, Lily would have NEVER asked me what I wanted because she couldn't give two figs about me or anyone else to care! I don't know what you are, but you ain't her. And you ain't real. None of this is."

The girl started to flicker like a mirage, and the room around them began to do the same. The walls were becoming more defined and it seemed easier to walk, not that Johny cared to just now. The girl spoke again, far more desperate than convincing. "Please. I love you, Johnny. The two of us can be together again! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

"It does. And maybe if you were her, you might've had somethin'. But here's another thing. Lily may have loved me more than anything else short of herself, but she never said it. Seems to me you don't know how seven-year-old girls really work. And you don't know Lily." The room continued to flicker until, eventually, the girl herself began to fade. And Johnny was finally starting to get a clue. "Well. This is new."


"Well, this is new!"

"What's wrong?" said Axel.

Lightmare was standing next to Axel, though she wasn't looking at him directly. She had far more important things to be concerned about. "What is wrong is you and this entire plan, but what is even more wrong is that one of the intruders is breaking through!"

Technically speaking, Johnny wasn't 'breaking through' anything. In fact, he was standing perfectly still. All of the Freedom Fighters were, Manic aside. As if they were trapped within themselves for one reason or another. Johnny was the only one who showed any sign of life, his hand and eyes starting to twitch. And that was what worried her.

"Seems to me you don't got what it takes," said Dragonbreath. "I thought your 'bio-luminescence' or whatever it was was supposed to keep people stuck in their own personal demons or nightmares or whatever, and that it was impossible for anyone to break free. And now you're sayin' they can?"

"Not impossible," said Lightmare, "just improbable. Though I would not have had to bother with this if someone had not seen fit to unleash that monstrosity! Speaking of which…"

Lightmare quickly glanced back over to Manic and the creature. Manic was still unaffected by Lightmare's bio-luminescence thanks to his ring, but the beast was completely unphased. It was still bending and shifting and turning within its' hard light prison, stretching and wearing out its' confines to the point where Manic was starting to sweat just out of keeping it in. Suffice to say, he wasn't going to be able to keep this up.

"...he… he… oh, Gaea."

"What's the holdup, Lightmare?"

Lightmare didn't say a word, but she didn't have to. She was too caught up in everything else to see it until now, but it was only now that she was getting a good look at Manic that she finally knew who he was. And she didn't like it one bit.

"Lightmare?"

"Nothing. In any case, Manic isn't going to keep that up much longer. And if I'm lucky, I may be able to contain our furry friend enough so that we can round up the resistance. So are you going to send it back or not?"

"Just one question. How did you know that little green punk's name?"

Lightmare didn't answer. It was the most awkward moment of silence she ever experienced, akin to giving the correct answer after an exam and the teacher figuring out that the only way you one have possibly known was to cheat. Not that she had in this case, but it didn't make her feel any better than she was. "I believe we have more pressing business to attend to, don't you? Now, call that thing off! Or do you want me to turn my particular talents on YOU?"


"Johnny, don't make me hurt you!" said the girl. "Just accept it! Let it all end! Let it—"

"Shut. Up." With one deft motion, Johnny swung his arm around and aimed his weapon straight at the girl. For whatever reason, this was so much harder than it looked. It was as though his arm had been laying right beside him and he was using every iota of his willpower to aim it not only at the girl but hopefully also at the person he prayed to Gaea was for responsible for this. Somehow he knew he had only one shot, and he was going to have to make it count. The strain grew ever greater within seconds, and it was now or ever. Sweat pouring down his forehead, he forced his thumb down on the correct button, closed his eyes, and let the blast fly.


"Oh dear—"

Lightmare had seen Johnny struggle against the odds. Seen him raise his arm despite every single factor working him. Seen him pull the trigger and unleash a force to be reckoned with. And yet, in spite of all this, not once did she move. Perhaps she was getting too complacent. Perhaps she felt that no matter what Johnny did, it would all turn out okay in the end. Or perhaps she was too busy arguing with an ignoramus to think it all through.

Regardless, she still wasn't going to just take it. She leaped out of the way of the blast, and just in time. One millisecond later and she would've been decked. Dragonbreath belched out another breath of fire to cancel it at the last minute, if only because the blast would've hit the cylinders right in the center.

In spite of that, that was no longer their biggest concern. Lightmare's concentration had been completely and utterly broken. The balls of bright, shining bio-luminescence quickly started to fade like an after image. And everyone affected by it was starting to move.

"May Gaea preserve us," she said.

"Hey," said Axel, "hurry up over there! They're starting to bust loose!"

"And just what do you wish me to do about it? It took nearly everything I had to create illusions for the five of them! I still have some power, but nothing on that scale!"

"Fine. Then we'll just slaughter them now!"

"Finally!" said Dragonbreath.

"Now hold on," said Lightmare, "let us— look out!"

Another blast had been fired. All three of them leaped out of the way this time, only this time, it was a tad less overpowering. It was more controlled, more precise, and was aimed just left of the cylinder so as not to damage it. And when the three of them opened their eyes, they could see why.

"Miss me?" At last, he was free. Johnny was standing tall and triumphant, his weapon raised at Axel and the others as though he were threatening them with a sawed-off shotgun single-handed, and he had every intention to use it. His eyes were cold and merciless, as though every iota of life had momentarily been drained out of him. And they knew it.

Lightmare was astonished. "He actually did it."

"Damn right I did," said Johnny. "Now, you are gonna do three things. You are gonna use that console over there to send that monster back where it came from. Then you're gonna use it to turn those vibrations off for good. And then you're gonna clear on out of here if you know what's good for you!"

"Oh really?" said Dragonbreath. "You and what army?"

"This one." Without them ever realizing it, Amy had finally managed to get herself back in order. She was standing right beside Johnny and was aiming her laser crossbow right alongside him, and she didn't mean to take a single prisoner.

"Nice to see you up and at 'em, Amy."

"Same here."

"Have any bad dreams?"

Silence.

"Amy?"

"Do you mind if I put a raincheck on that one? Please."

Johnny wasn't quite sure why she'd need one. All he could figure was that something terrible had happened in that dreamscape. Something she didn't particularly want to talk about. And he couldn't blame her. "Suits me fine."

"Good. Anyway, care for some payback?"

"Gladly," said Johnny. And as they were ready to unleash a can of whoop-ass, the other members of their team were starting to follow in Johnny and Amy's footsteps.

Tekno was nearly flapping her arms around as though she were hysteric, but as she started to regain her bearings, this quickly receeded. "Not me, not me, not, that's not, that's not me… it wasn't really. Of course it wasn't. Was not. Was not. Was it?"

Sticks followed soon after. "No, please, I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't do anything, I mean aglets are the source of all evil, I MEAN— huh?" She whirled her head in amazement, as though the very notion that it had all been just a dream was somehow foreign to her. "What was I doing again?"

And of the five them, Shortfuse was the last to start to regain himself. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S A DAMN PUPPET! COME OVER HERE! HAVE SOME OF THIS AND THAT AND THAT AND THIS! SERIOUSLY YOU THINK THAT HURT?! THAT DIDN'T HURT! IN FACT, PLEASE SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER— wha?" He looked around the room as he blinked in astonishment. He breathed long and deep, relieved that he was still him. And brimming with sheer ferocity at whoever had made him think otherwise.

Axel was near starting to stumble. All of his best-laid plans were falling apart, and he didn't have any real excuses as to why. All he knew was if he didn't do something NOW, they'd all be toast. And then, like turning on a lightbulb, inspiration struck.

"So, you want some payback? Fine. Let me just take care of this first."

He pressed the button on the control panel that released the creature. It flashed out of sight quickly as it appeared, leaving Manic's ring holding nothing but a whole lot of air. He dropped his shielding, seeing as there wasn't an immediate need for it. "Oh. Wasn't expecting that. Not that I'm complaining."

"Thank Gaea," said Lightmare. "Have you finally seen reason?"

"Sort of," said Axel. He then slammed down once more on the button, and the creature crackled back to life in an instant.

"OH HELL!" Manic tried to raise his shielding back up, but it wasn't enough. The creature knocked him to the ground with one deft sucker punch before setting his sights on everything else he could see. It roared like a mighty monster, intent on frying all it came across.

"MANIC!" said Johnny.

"Are you mad?!" said Lightmare to Axel.

"Honestly, she's got a point!" said Amy. "Just what are you trying to accomplish?!"

"Taking care of one less pest," said Axel. "And now that that's done…" He slammed down on the button one final time. The beast let out one last mighty roar and at last winked into oblivion. Like a bad dream.

"There we are. That's one of the big ones out of the picture. And as far as I can see, you're still the only two who've fully snapped out of it. Everyone else is still too dazed to do much of anything else but stand there and look pretty. Guess who's outnumbered now?"

Just then, a loud and angry voice like a raging inferno shouted out to prove them wrong. "COME HERE YA LILLY LIVERED ASSHOLES!" Dragonbreath turned in the voice's general direction just in time to be rushed down by an utterly livid Shortfuse, like being tackled like a train.

"Guess it's three on three," said Johnny. "Amy, you take Lightmare. I want her more than anything, but I'm the only one who can take Axel right now. So I guess he'll just have to do."

"Got it," she said. She then started to run like hell to gain some distance, and Lightmare followed suit.

Lightmare briefly turned to Axel and gave him the evil eye, or at least as much as she could with that mask on. "If we somehow survive this, I am completely and utterly blaming this on you!" She turned back to Amy and took after her like a light.

With Shortfuse taking care of Dragonbreath, Manic down for the count, and Tekno and Sticks still coming to their senses, that only left Johnny and Axel. And none of them seemed too pleased.

"You really want to do this?" said Axel.

"I ain't got a choice, do I?" said Johnny. "Sides, I just had a hell of a bad time. And you're as good an outlet as any."

"Fine by me," said Axel. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Let's."