Chapter 5: Discovery

Back in Fiona's living room, Sonic was becoming more worried. He zipped over to the bathroom door, and knocked on it.

"Sal? Sal, are you okay? Sally?" He called, only to receive no response. "Sally!"
"Sonic? What are you doing?" Fiona asked, walking out into the corridor with him.
"Sal's not responding, I think she might be hurt, or out cold, or something!"
"Oh, right. Well, kick the door in!"
"Are you sure?"
"Making sure Sally's okay or preserving a door? Really?"
"Right, okay." Sonic nodded. "Sal, if you can hear me, get away from the door!"

Sonic slammed his foot into the door, then did it again, knocking it open. It swung open, revealing the room to be empty.

"Sally?"
"Where is she?" Fiona asked rhetorically. "Wait, the window's open... is she out on the ledge, or the roof, or something?"
"I'll go check. You stay here."

Sonic climbed onto the windowledge, and looked up, seeing Sally's legs dangling over the side. He jumped up, and landed next to her.

"Sal?"
"Yes Sonic?" She replied. The squirrel was seated, staring out over the city. She seemed to have an expression of mild disgust on her face, and her eyes had a slight greenish tinge.
"What are you doing up here?"
"I felt like getting some fresh air."
"Right. You gonna be okay?"
"I will." Sally smiled at him, before turning back to face the city again, standing up. "Look at it, Sonic."
"At what?"
"The city."
"What about it?"
"It's corrupt, Sonic."
"Corrupt?"
"Yes. It's being eaten alive from within, by idiots willing to do anything for a paycheck, and the people are slowly but surely submitting to decadence. It's vile, and it has to be stopped. It has to be purified."
"Sally... you're kinda scaring me." Sonic said, backing away from her slightly. She turned to face him, smiling like she always did when she was in a playful mood, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her head on his chest.

"I don't mean too, my love." She sighed, as Sonic returned the gesture. "Don't worry, though... everything will become clear in a moment."

Sonic gave Sally a look, but she ignored it, and kissed him. Moving one of her hands, she conjured a small flame, and pressed it against Sonic's heart. The hedgehog's eyes had been closed, enjoying his make-out with his girlfriend, but they opened, wide, when he felt the scorching in his chest.

"Sal, what are you-?" He gasped, only for Sally to hush him, pressing her finger against his lips. She opened her eyes, and the hedgehog recoiled, when he saw the green irises and black sclerae. Her fringe had parted, revealing the glowing, eyelike, jade stone embedded in her forehead.
"You will see the light, like I have."

Sonic twisted, pulling himself away from her grasp, and rubbed his mildly-burnt pectoral. He glared at her, as she walked towards him, smiling seductively.

"Who are you?!"
"Are you feeling alright, Sonic? It's me, Sally."
"No, Sal's eyes are blue, and... normal! She doesn't have a stone in the middle of her face, and she doesn't have powers! And she certainly wouldn't describe the city the way she did! What are you? An impostor? Or some sick freak taking Sal's body for a joyride?"

"Well, aren't you a curious one? You needn't worry about Sally, Sonic. She is perfectly fine. She offered me the use of her body, to complete my mission, like a good little vessel, and she will be returned to you when the two of us are done with our duty."
"What are you!?"
"I suppose deserve to know who it is that Sally is working with. My name is Iblis, and I am going to purge this world of all that is driving it into the pits. With Sally's assistance, it will be done all the easier. But I can see that you aren't as smart as her, so I'd better be on my way. You'll only hinder me, and I can't afford that."

Iblis' vile green eyes faded back to Sally's normal blue, and she grinned wildly.

"Sal, come on, you have to fight her off, before-"
"No, Sonic..." Sally replied, as a blazing aura surrounded her body. "I must do my duty for Almighty Iblis. Sit tight, my darling. My work will be done in time."
"Sal!"

Sonic ran towards her, but Sally floated up into the air, looking down at him.

"I hope you can understand my reasoning. I'm going to make Mobius a better place, in Her name. Then we will be together, forever."
"Sally, please-" Sonic called, only to be cut off once more, as the squirrel's body vanished in a tremendous burst of flames. "- don't..."

The hedgehog fell to his knees, and slammed his fist into the roof, ignoring the pain.

'Sal... I'm so sorry... I failed you again...'

Far away, Sally reappeared, hovering above the ocean. In front of her was the last bastion of the Eggman Empire, the Death Egg. As she hovered, the gem pulsed brightly. Sally began to feel Iblis' warm, thick tail coiling her once more, two hands on her shoulders, and another two cradling her head.

"Why did you want me to bring us here, Almighty Iblis?"
"Do you remember what the denizens of that satellite did to you, my dear?" The serpent replied, and, like with the tail and the hands, Sally felt her new ally's tongue tickling her ear.
"Yes."
"They turned you into a mindless drone, cut you open with a torch, and pulled you apart. They filled your cavities with weapons, and welded you shut, with new armour to hide the marks."
"I remember..."
"And what did you do to them in return?"
"I used the same weapons Eggman intended to use to further his empire to crush it."
"But what did you do to the man himself?"
"Nothing..."

"That is why we are here, Sally. We are here to rectify your mistake. You should have killed him."
"I should?"
" You should have made an example of him."
"I should..."
"You should have given him what he deserved."
"Yes, you are right, Almighty Iblis, as always." Sally nodded, green and black rings spiralling through her eyes.
"Why didn't you kill him?"
"Out of some warped sense of self-righteousness... Out of some effort to keep the moral high ground over him."
"And what do you think of that reason now?"
"It's foolish." She spat, clenching her fists, flames pouring around her fingers. "The only righteousness that I need now is yours, Almighty Iblis. I only need to carry out your plans. To eradicate the flaws. To cleanse Mobius."
"Good girl... yes, you are a good girl. A good girl who obeys her goddess."
"Thank you, Almighty Iblis."
"Now, you may start the cleansing, by removing Doctor Robotnik and his Dark Egg Legion."
"By your command, Almighty Iblis."

Sally vanished in another wave of heat and flame, reappearing in front the Death Egg's fuel tanks. She pressed her hands against one of them, and channelled her newfound fire powers into it. A few seconds later, the tank exploded, as did the fuel lines, and the other tanks, setting off a chain reaction of blasts, heading for the engines. The whole room was going up in flames. Sally warped herself away again, and materialized where she had floated before.

"Well done, my dear." Iblis hissed, as the feeling of her tail, hands, and tongue returned. "You have done well indeed."
"Thank you, Almighty Iblis." Sally swelled with pride, as she watched the battle station explode violently, taking everyone on board with it.
"And how does it feel to have powers now?"
"It feels amazing..."
"I knew you would like it. I gave them to you so that we can easily accomplish our mission."
"And what is our mission, if I may ask, Almighty Iblis?"
"We are going to recover my body, so that I can do my work. You will be kept safe and warm within my embrace, while I finish the purification of this world. Then, you will be released to enjoy your life, in a utopia under the eternal sun. Essentially, you are helping me to help you."
"It sounds wonderful, Almighty Iblis."
"Good to hear. Now, your friends will be trying to separate us. They don't understand the righteousness of our quest. We can't have that now, can we? We need a distraction. You mentioned Doctor Finitevus? He will be a major assistance to us."
"I thought you said that he thought too small..."
"Well, we'll just have to broaden his horizons, then, won't we?"

Meanwhile, in Mobotropolis, the other Freedom Fighters had arrived at Fiona's home, upon hearing the distressing news about Sally.

"It... it must've been that thing in her nightmare!" Sonic growled.
"What 'thang', Sugah-Hog?" Bunnie asked.
"She said that she had a nightmare, where she saw a figure with three green eyes. Well, that 'Iblis' thing had green eyes while it was controlling her, and she had a green gemstone that looked like an eye in her forehead. It must've been Iblis that she saw..."
"We can find her, right?" Rotor spoke up.
"I have her life-signal." Nicole replied. "But now that she can seemingly fly and teleport, tracking her will be hard."
"I can't believe that we lost her again, so soon after we turned her back into an organic..." Tails said sadly.

They continued to sit there, in relative silence, while each one tried to come up with a way to help their possessed leader.

"Wait a sec." Fiona said. "What did you guys do with the Goddess' Soul?"
"We put it straight into storage, mademoiselle." Antoine replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because Iblis is the name of the mythical Goddess of Fire, and that thing was warm to the touch, it had fire engraved on it, and the gems on it were green, and Sally only started having trouble after I delivered it to you."
"You think that whatever is controlling Sally is the real Iblis, and she came here in that jar?" Amy asked.
"Yeah."
"One moment please." Nicole spoke up, before fading out, reappearing in the vault. She surrounded the urn with a shield bubble, and carefully used her nanites to remove the lid, before looking inside. She paled when she saw that the urn was completely empty, and noticed the crack in its side.

She returned to Fiona's house in a flash of pixels.

"I think Fiona's right." She announced. "The urn is empty, and there's a crack in it."
"Iblis must've gotten out through there... But it couldn't have been there when we retrieved it from the temple, or, provided that Iblis requires a female host, it would be me, Nic, or Rouge flying, teleporting, and trying to set our loved ones on fire." Fiona said.
"I guess it was damaged after that point..." Amy said. "Oh gods, you dropped it when I tried to attack you! It must have been broken then! It's... it's my fault!"
"No, it isn't." Tails cut in. "None of us had any idea that Iblis was in that thing, nor did we know that Iblis could possess people's bodies, and even then, Sally managed to hide this for a week, and only remembered Iblis' appearance in her dream, just before she was taken over. It's not your fault."

"So... now what?" Sonic asked. "How do we free her from Iblis?"
"We'd have to, in Iblis' own terms, 'purify her', and force it from her body with something else. What it is, however, I don't know." Nicole replied.
"Well, for now, we need all the help we can get. Fi, I want you to call Nic and the others. Nicole, we need to turn on that robot."