Chapter 10

"We're here before moon rise. What now?" said Sonic as he stood on the shore, hands on his knees and panting. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking again, as if replying to someone, "Fine I don't care. You won your stupid bet and you've officially ruined my life; I simply don't care." Miky looked at Knuckles with confusion, disbelief, and fear as he threw her an 'I told you so' glare. They both expressed shock as they saw Sonic walk over to Jumping Rock and, with great difficultly, hoist himself up and walk to the edge.

Miky swung down from the trees yelling, "Sonic, STOP! What the heck are you doing!?"

The blue hero whirled around, utterly surprised, "Miky!? What are you doing here?!"

"We came here to find answers." Answered Knuckles as he emerged from his hiding place, "Why are you here and why are you up on that rock?"

"Because, I made a bet with Beauty, a spirit that was in the lake. When I fell in that night she took over me and made me act like a total jackass to you guys. The deal was if I can get you guys to forgive me before the moon rises tonight, she leaves and never hurts anyone again but if I lose she gets my body and soul. And well…" Sonic looked down into the waters of Suicide Lake, "I lost…"

"No, you haven't Sonic! We know you weren't acting like yourself and we're here looking for a way to help you!" said Miky as she climbed up onto the rock next to him. She reached out her hand, "And if forgiveness is all you need, then I'll give you every ounce I have. I forgive you Sonic, just please come down off this rock."

Sonic stared at Miky's outstretched hand in disbelief, "You knew? You knew that I would never do something so awful to you?"

Knuckles now joined them on the rock with his own hand extended towards Sonic, "Well she had a little help from me. I knew from the moment you stepped onto Angel Island that something was wrong. I forgive you too Sonic; none of this is your fault."

"You guys…" tears began to well up in Sonic's eyes, "for a while it looked like you honestly thought I could ever hurt you like that and you have no idea how much that hurt but… it's so good to know otherwise. I shouldn't have doubted you for a second!" Sonic graciously took his friends' hands, squeezing them tightly and trying not to cry. Just as they were about to carefully descend from Jumping Rock, moonlight began to break through the thick layers of leaves and illuminate the lake. As it began to glow with the full moon's light, mist rolled in from out of nowhere and it began to feel even colder than before. Suddenly, Sonic began to shake uncontrollably and he grimaced in pain.

"Sonic are you alright?!" exclaimed Miky as the blue hedgehog's eyes suddenly went wide and a darkness flooded them.

"He's going to be anything BUT alright you ignorant SLUT!" spat Sonic angrily as he yanked his hands away. "You're too late to save him!" Once again, he shuddered and his eyes went wide before he shouted, "NO! They forgave me!"

Without warning, a huge geyser of cold, black water shot up from the lake and the image of Beatrice became visible in the upwards torrent as she grinned and declared, "While that may be true, your fox friend didn't! Even he showed up right now, it wouldn't matter; the moon is in the sky and I've won!"

Miky's mouth dropped open as she barely managed to whisper, "Oh my Chaos! That's the same woman from the article! Knuckles, you were right!"

"I told you my intuition was never wrong!" replied Knuckles, "Listen Beatrice, we know you were killed her and that made you angry but that doesn't give you the right to ruin the lives of others!"

"Beatrice? You told me your name was Beauty!" asked Sonic in confusion as he slowly began to back away from the edge of Jumping Rock.

"Beauty was always my nickname but none of that matters now! A pack of jealous whores like YOU," hissed Beatrice as she pointed at Miky, "Took away my beauty and now, with all the energy I'm going to get from this idiot's soul, I'll reclaim my beautiful face and it'll stay that way forever!"

Having recovered from her initial shock Miky shot back, "Well you deserved it! Do you know how many relationships you ruined? How many people drowned themselves in this lake because of you!? Sonic doesn't deserve to suffer! YOU DO!"

The surface of the lake began to bubble and the geyser strengthened as Beatrice shouted, "SHUT YOUR MOUTH! He made a bet with me and he lost! Now I get to claim my prize!" Before anyone could react, the female weasel's hand shot out from the geyser and dug into Sonic's chest. He cried out in pain as she pulled and a shimmering, see-through image of the blue hero began to separate from his body. Beatrice yanked and the image and Sonic's body began to fall forward into the geyser. Miky and Knuckles grabbed onto Sonic's shoulders and started to pull against her. Sonic was screaming at the top of his lungs as it felt like he literately being torn apart.

"Knuckles!" cried Miky in horror, "I'm losing my grip!"

"Don't let go!" he yelled back, "Hang in there Sonic!" The azure hedgehog was doing his best to pull against Beatrice as well but the pain was so intense from his soul being peeled from his body bit by bit, he was practically limp.

As he felt his shoes beginning to slide forward on the smooth surface of Jumping Rock sonic shouted to his friends, "It's no use, just let me go or you're going to get pulled in with me!"

"NEVER! We're not giving up!"

"Friends don't give up on each other!" chimed in Miky as she tried to get a better grip.

"Grrr… so you want to do things the hard way? FINE!" shouted Beatrice as several smaller geysers exploded from the lake and soaked the friends. As the water touched them, it burned their skin and while they cried out in pain, Miky and Knuckles held onto to Sonic. Growing ever frustrated, Beatrice summoned up a sizeable wave and slammed it into Jumping Rock. Unable to fight the current as it washed over the rock, Miky and Knuckles lost their grip on Sonic and he tumbled screaming into the geyser, disappearing completely. At once the lake ceased to move, becoming placid once more save for some slight bubbling here and there.

Miky and Knuckles were clinging to the side of Jumping Rock from the wave and as they hoisted themselves up, Miky began to panic, "We lost him! What do we do Knuckles!?"

"I-I don't know what to do Miky! I'm as lost as you are!" he replied as he stared out over the water, "Who knows how deep they are or where they are."

"Well we have to do something! We can't just stand up here and do nothing! We have to-"

"Panicking isn't going to get us anywhere Miky." Said a familiar voice. They whirled around to see Tails skidding to a stop on the shore. He had several loops of cable across his chest and a large bag on his shoulder, "I saw Sonic go in as I was running up the path. We have to follow."

"Tails, what are you doing here?! I thought-" began Knuckles before Tails cut him off.

"I'll explain everything later! Right now we need to focus on saving Sonic!" He removed the cables and tossed one to each of them, "Tie these around yourselves and make sure their good and tight. You're going to need these respirator masks too. They have radios so we can still communicate."

Miky knotted her cable tightly around her waist, "Tails, how did you know what was going on and that we would need all this?"

"What I lack in punctuality, I make up in preparedness. Again, I'll explain later." Tails tied his own cable and attached all of them to a stake which he drove into the ground, "There, that'll help us from ending up like every other body that's disappearing into this lake."

"This is fine and dandy but how are we going to find Sonic? We just barely managed to do it last time because it was so dark." Pointed out Knuckles as he tested the strength of his knot.

"With this." Tails pulled out the camera that Beatrice had destroyed. It was fixed up like new and in addition it had a large light mounted on the top. "Long story short, this will help us find them by tracking energy spikes and we'll be able to see where we're going with this mini-spotlight. Come on let's go!" The three put on their respirator masks and dove into Suicide Lake after their friend.

'NO, NOT THIS AGAIN!' thought Sonic in a panic as he fought against Beatrice's grip pulling him downward into the icy, dark water. His struggles were getting weaker and weaker as she pulled more and more of his soul from his body. He bit his tongue to prevent from screaming in pain and fear, knowing the lake would rush in to fill his lungs if he opened his mouth. With a powerful yank from the evil red-furred spirit, he felt himself ripped forward and it was impossible for him to hold back a scream. Sonic's hands flew to his mouth to keep the water out but he was shocked to find that nothing was coming in. He gasped again when he saw his hands were transparent and held a shimmering glow. He looked up to see Beatrice grinning evilly at him.

"Welcome to the other side." she cackled before lunging at him.

"It's so dark, I can't even see two inches in front of my face." Grumbled Knuckles as they swam though the blackness.

Tails panned his device back and forth, watching the screen until flashes of purple appeared off to the right, "I've got something! This way you guys!" The young fox lit the way with the spotlight as they swam as fast as they could in the direction of the spikes.

"What's the plan when we find them?" asked Miky "I don't about you two but I've never fought a ghost before. I'm still trying to get over the fact they exist!"

"She's going to basically consume Sonic's soul to make herself extremely powerful and take over his body. If that happens, there'll be no stopping her! We need to prevent that and destroy her spirit."

"That still doesn't answer my question. How are we going to destroy her spirit?"

Knuckles now spoke up, "The only way to destroy a spirit is to remove its tie to the world of the living and banish it completely so it can never come back. Her tie to this world is this lake so we need to destroy the lake to destroy her. But obviously we need to get Sonic out of here first."

"We're getting close, they're over this way!" shouted Tails as they adjusted their course.

"Get away from me!" cried Sonic as he shoved Beatrice away from him. Every time she touched him a horrible sensation shot through him and a piece of him faded. His left arm was almost completely gone and his body was covered in dim patches.

"Why do you always have to resist? Can't you accept the fact that you've lost? What kind of hero doesn't honor his word?" she taunted as she circled him. Beatrice lunged again but Sonic was able to narrowly avoid it. "It would hurt a lot less if you just stood still!"

The weakening hero dodged again as he retorted, "Normally I do honor my word but you were wrong Beatrice! My friends didn't give up on me and they knew that something wasn't right! They believed in me and I believe they'll rescue me! So I'm not giving up, I'll never give up ever again!"

"Sure the girl and the red one showed up but where's the fox? Where's the one who was your BEST friend? Where's your supposed BROTHER?" Sonic stopped dead in his tracks at the mention of Tails and Beatrice seized the opportunity to rush forward and grab him by the throat. As she squeezed, Sonic could feel his energy being drained away and his consciousness fading.

"Hurry, one of the energy signatures is fading fast!" urged Tails as they swam through the dark. Suddenly the device's spotlight illuminated Sonic's empty, lifeless body floating in front of them. "We found him! Quick, get him to the shore!"

Miky put an arm around Sonic, "Hold on you guys, I'll use my telekinesis to get us out of here lickety- AH!" the red-haired raccoon doubled over as if she had been punched in the gut and struggled to catch her breath.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Beatrice's voice in her head.

"Miky what the heck are you doing!?" exclaimed Knuckles as she slowly reached up towards her respirator mask.

"I-I-I can't stop myself! My hand is moving on its own!" Knuckles grabbed Miky's hand and tried to hold it down but even his strength was no match for Beatrice and all of the energy she had already gotten from Sonic.

Tails aimed his device at Miky and gasped, "Its Beatrice! She's trying to control you! Fight her Miky, fight her!"

"I'm trying!" Miky's finger tips touched the top of her mask as she tried to move it away. Knuckles pulled with all his might and even when Tails grabbed on to help, the two were only able to move her hand away a few inches.

Sonic shook his head to clear it and looked around confused. Beatrice was no longer sapping his strength but he was still dizzy and weak. A ways away he spotted his friends all struggling with Miky as she was trying to pull off her respirator. Instantly he knew this was Beatrice's doing and that's why she had released him. He rushed over and grabbed Miky's hand as well, pulling with what energy he had left, "Come on Miky, you have to resist! The second that mask comes off you'll drown! Resist!" shouted Sonic, not knowing if they could hear him or not.

Miky's fingers were clawing at the respirator despite the efforts of her and her friends but suddenly she felt an extra boost of strength and summoning up all her will, she removed her hand from her face. "Get out of me, you evil bitch!" Miky shrieked as she forced her hand to her side. Instantly, the breathless feeling left her and she was in control of her limbs again.

"What?! How is that possible?!" screamed Beatrice as she was kicked from Miky's body. She quickly spotted Sonic and lunged for him once more, "You! Why can't you just accept you're fate already!?" Sonic dodged the initial lunge and dart to and fro as fast as he could.

'If she gets her hands on me again, I'm done for!' he thought as he side-stepped a grab from Beatrice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friends take his body and make a beeline for the surface. After dodging another lunge, he followed as fast as he could, arm outstretched trying to grab ahold and somehow climb back into his body. Within seconds, Beatrice was on his heels.

As they ascended, Tails dropped a string of ring bombs behind them, the explosives sinking down into the depths of the lake. When they broke the surface, he dropped the last one, "Ok you guys, I just dumped a boat load of explosives in this lake. We have a minute till they go off so let's get the heck out of here!" The camera device began to beep rapidly and when Tails examined it he gasped and pointed to the shore, "She's following us! She's still after Sonic! Go, go go!"

"I'll take us to shore, just give me one moment…" Miky closed her eyes and focused. The yellow aura that signaled the use of her telekinesis surrounded her locket and slowly expanded to all of them.

"Hurry up Miky I don't want to get blown to bits or get caught by this homicidal spirit!" said Knuckles as he supported Sonic's body to keep it from sinking.

"Give me a second, you guys are heavy!" She concentrated harder and all four of them began to levitate out of the water.

Sonic grabbed ahold of his physical body's foot as Miky began to lift them all out of the water. He could see her frowning in concentration and struggling not to drop them. As his waist cleared the surface of Suicide Lake he began to breathe a sigh of relief but suddenly Beatrice shot up out of the water and latched on to him, "You keep forgetting that your soul and your body belong to ME!" She began siphoning his energy again and despite all his efforts to shake her off, she held on. His body lost its shimmer and began to fade even more. His feet were none existent and his torso was fading as if it was being washed away. Sonic tried to stay alert and hang on but both his awareness and his grip were quickly slipping as the waters of the lake began to bubble again.

"We should have about 30 seconds till the bombs detonate. If you could lift us a little higher Miky, we'll be safe from the blast." Said Tails as he looked at his watch.

Knuckles looked down at the water and noticed the churning and bubbling, "There's something going on down there!" All at once a torrent of water shot up from below them, completely breaking Miky's concentration and causing them to fall back into the water. "Miky get us out of here!"

"Easier said than done!" yelled Miky as she struggled to stay afloat in the turbulent waters, "I can barely tread water let alone concentrate enough to lift all of us!" As they floundered about trying to keep themselves and Sonic above the water, a small muffled boom sounded and water flew up in another part of the lake.

"The detonation sequence started! We have to get out of here! Use the cables to pull you to shore!" cried Tails as he tried to do so. The waves from both Beatrice's power and the explosion sequence traveling towards them were so high and strong that everyone crashed over their hands they had to let go of their cables to prevent being tangled up in them.

"You bastards! Stealing MY body and trying to blow up MY lake!? I'll teach you a lesson you won't soon forget!" snarled Beauty as she released her grip on Sonic and charged towards the surface.

Barely conscious Sonic watched as she was rapidly approaching his friends. He was in so much pain and all he wanted was to close his eyes and not feel it any more but he had to help his friends escape. Sonic shouted after her, "Miky was right; you deserved what happened to you! You may be beautiful on the outside but on the inside you're nothing but an ugly, disgusting, rotting old hag!"

Rage flared in Beatrice's eyes as she whirled around and tackled Sonic with so much force he slammed into the lake bed, "How dare you! Compared to me you're nothing but garbage! I'm going to make you suffer and then your friends are next!"

"Heh…heh…" chuckled Sonic weakly as he could feel the last of his strength leaving him, "I don't think so."

"Wha-?" Beatrice looked down at herself to see her dress molding and falling away from her body like wet tissue paper. Her cherry-red fur was losing its softness and shedding to reveal gray, water-logged, rotting skin. "No, no, no what's happening to me!?" The ring bomb explosions thundered around them, the heat evaporating the gallons of water instantly and throwing the rest into the air as steam. Huge craters were being punched into the lake bed, everything being pulverized by the concussive blasts.

Sonic grinned, "Your time is up Beatrice; you lose."

"NO! NO THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE! MY BODY, MY FACE!" she screeched as her hair fell out, exposing the hole left by the shotgun blast. An unidentifiable sludge oozed from the cavity as her skin peeled from her bones. "NO! NO! I WON'T BE UGLY AGAIN! I WON'T! GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" With one last banshee-like screech, Beatrice dissolved into a pile of bones and goo that liquefied into an ugly black dust.

'Well, she won't be hurting anyone else.' Thought Sonic as he looked up towards the surface, trying to spot his friends. 'I couldn't move if I tried but I hope the others got out ok.' The last ring explosion went off and everything went white.

"The water's too turbulent! We'll never make it!" yelled Tails as he tried to fly but was bogged by his soaking wet name-sakes.

"Everyone hang onto me!" shouted Miky as she tried to concentrate again, "I'll try and shield us!" Knuckles and Tails tried to grab onto Miky as the explosions got closer and closer, becoming more and more powerful. She tried to put up the shield but every time a wave shoved her down it broke her concentration. At last she grabbed Tails' and Knuckles' hands with Sonic still unconscious in the middle. Just as she got a field up, the last explosion detonated directly under them and sending them flying upward and roughly hitting the shore where they all laid unmoving.