Juilana's head lifted up as she felt a sort of chaotic energy nearby, just outside her study, where she was looking over her plans. Followed by a familiar presence. "Is that you, Silver?" she called out. She wasn't aware that he knew how to teleport, but it didn't matter. Soon she will be able to do what he does, and so much more.

"Yea, it's me..."

The sorceress grinned and put away her plans as she rose from her seat. "Ah, welcome to my lair," she announced, "I trust you're here in regards of our little deal?"

There was a short pause before he answered. "Yes... I have the Jeweled Scepter."

"Wonderful!" Juilana exclaimed as she left her study to meet Silver, "Now we can move onto phase two..."

She ended up getting the surprise of her life when she met the hedgehog in the center of her, lair holding a long stick in his hand and an out cold lavender cat in his arms. "Well hello there!!" she chimed as she came upon this sight, "You not only brought me the scepter, but you also brought me the princess!" She gave a menacing grin, "Forget step two!" she said as she came forward to take Blaze, "You just made my job a lot easier!"

Before she could take her, however, Silver immediately stepped away, shielding the cat from the woman. "Stay back!" he spat. He extended the hand that held the staff. "You can have the scepter, but keep your grimy hands off Blaze!"

Juilana gave a hard look at the hedgehog. "Very well," she huffed, "Have it your way. But you are going to hand her over sooner or later in order for me to hold up my end of the bargain." She reached over and took the scepter from Silver, taking a moment to breathe in its power. She could already feel the energy flow through her body. "Yes...!" she purred to herself, "I can feel it. So much strength, so much power... It's all mine to control!"

"What about Blaze?" Silver grabbed her attention, "I got you the stupid scepter. How exactly do you plan to keep your promise?"

Something was telling him that he should've asked this before he went along with this whole scheme.

"I wish I could simply just 'zap' her and poof, she likes you more than that blue speedster," Juilana replied, tapping the end of the scepter in her other hand, "But I'm afraid it isn't that easy. For her to fall in love with you, I will have to erase her memory..." She smirked devilishly, "All of it!"

Silver's eyed nearly bulged. "What?!"

"That way, she'll forget her current beau, AND all the other reasons why she decided not to give you a fair shot. Then all you have to do is build a new memory for her, 'remind' her of your 'longtime romance', and she's all yours!"

Silver looked to the ground. "But... she won't remember anything! Her friends, her family... not even being the princess!" He glared back up at the sorceress. "We can't do this!"

Juilana simply shrugged. "Well, if you change your mind, that's fine and dandy..." She turned away, "But I'm slightly curious at what will happen to you when she wakes up and remembers everything you just did?" She let loose a chuckle, "That's a lovely way to make her love you! HAH!"

Silver was quiet for a moment, torn, and finally looked back to the ground in defeat. "I guess you're right," he muttered, "But what about Sol?" He glared back up at the woman, "What'll happen to it if Blaze doesn't remember her heritage?"

"Don't you worry about Sol, dear," Juilana wickedly grinned, "I'll take good care of it."

"You?!" snarled Silver.

"Don't you see?" said the sorceress, "Without its rightful ruler, Sol is practically up for grabs! And what better queen is there than the now-most powerful sorceress on the planet?" She gripped the Jeweled Scepter in both hands, "Hell, now with my strength increased a thousand-fold, I may as well go for every other kingdom, city, and civilization on Mobius!"

Silver was finally beginning to get the plot, and he ferociously grimaced. "You...! You were just using me!!" he shouted, "I'm just some tool to help you steal the throne! I can't let you do this!!"

Juilana glared over at the hedgehog. "I don't see what you're so upset about," she hissed, "This benefits you too. Seeing as you're most likely banished from Sol now, all you have to do is keep Blaze away, and it's a happy ever after for you both."

"Yea..." Silver glanced away in shame, "But not like this...!"

"What other choice do you have?" Juilana boomed, "Other than have Blaze only not love you, but completely hate your guts for what you've done, hm?"

Silver squeezed his eyes shut. She was right... he was in too deep to escape now.

And he didn't want to lose Blaze...

...

...

"... okay, fine. Let's get this over with..."

"Atta' boy! That's the spirit!" Juilana raised the Jeweled Scepter into the air, summoning Blaze's body to lift from Silver's arms, and she guided it over to a high platform, where she laid the cat princess down on a stone bed. She then used the scepter to levitate herself up to the platform. "Just do me one last favor and keep watch," she ordered, "We wouldn't want anybody to stumble in and ruin our perfectly laid out plans, now do we?"

"Very well..." Silver answered, though his heart wasn't fully into it.

He was starting to have his doubts about all this.

Deep within the canyons, thousands of miles south of Sol stood an obsedian hedgehog with red markings on his body. He faced the dark canyons, arms akimbo, deep in his own thoughts of haunting memories and goals of ultimate power.

"Standing here in a dark place all by yourself, like the little emo you are!" called a familiar, snide voice, "I had a feeling I'd find you here!"

Shadow grunted, his position remained unchanged. "What do you want, faker?"

"What I want is my girlfriend back," Sonic replied as he made his way towards the black hedgehog, "But in order for that to happen..." He sighed. This was gonna be hard to admit, "...I need your help."

The side of Shadow's mouth twisted up slightly. "You're asking me to help you?" he chortled as he turned his face slightly to eye Sonic, "And why would I want to do that?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Look Shadow, this should be flattering enough for your ego," he murmured, "You're the only hope that I have to find Blaze... Silver went rogue and kidnapped her, along with the Jeweled Scepter and the Chaos Sol we own. I can't do a Chaos Control without an emerald, but you can. If you can find out where the Chaos Sol is, you can take us to where Silver is so we can stop him!"

Shadow grunted. "And what do I benefit if I decide to go along?"

Sonic twitched his nose. "How about the warm, fuzzy feeling, knowing that you helped someone today?"

"Hmph!" Shadow turned away, arms still crossed, "Not interested."

Sonic was at his wit's end. "Okay, fine! What do you want??"

A small chuckle emitted from Shadow as he slowly twisted back. "You know what I want..."

And Sonic knew it too. "No way!"

"Well then, I guess you'll have to kiss your girlfriend goodbye for good."

Sonic's fists shook, trying to think of another answer, but he saw no other way around it. "Fine!" he muttered, "You can have the Chaos Sol when we find it."

Shadow turned around fully and stepped towards Sonic. "Deal," he smirked, "You drive a hard bargain..."

Sonic snarled. "Just shut up and find the emerald."

Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated hard, trying to pick up on any trace of chaos energy. He turned slightly to the side, facing the direction of Sol Kingdom. "Straight ahead, in the mountains. They weren't too far from you, blue hedgehog."

"Wouldn't have known that without you," said Sonic as he took a hold of Shadow's arm. "Thanks..."

Shadow gave no reply, other than "Chaos Control!"

She may have gained more power, but erasing Blaze's memories was going to be longer and tedious than Juilana would have preferred. She was going to have to wipe clean her entire short-term memory before moving onto long-term, which in itself would take practically forever. Every day of her life took exactly one minute to wipe clean. At this rate, this whole job would take up to four days... Oh well, she'll have the rest of her long life to rule Sol, before eventually moving to on the entire world.

And with Silver at her side now, nothing was going to get in her way.

Speaking of which, Silver sat below the platform on the ground, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious... even though he wasn't fully paying attention. His mind was elsewhere.

The soldier deep inside him was yelling at him to get up and stop all this... but his head would remind him that if Blaze found out, she'd never forgive him. He could barely stand the fact that she was dating that obnoxious blue "hero of the world" and flaunted it all over the castle... he couldn't even begin to think about Blaze hating him forever.

... but he did deserve it.

Blaze was right. He was naive, and certainly stupid enough to be fooled by this corrupted sorceress.

But what's done was done... If he stopped now, Blaze would hate him.

... but if he went through with the whole thing, in a way, he was still losing her...

He shut out the voices in his head and continued to try and convince himself that this was the only way.

Even IF he continued to doubt himself.

A bright white light flashed in the entrance way, which was hidden securely from the outside world. As the light died down, two hedgehogs appeared in place. Sonic looked around, astonished. "Whoa..." he uttered, "I never knew this was here. Kinda scary when you think about what other evils were hiding just around the corner."

The prince of Mobodoon started ahead. "Come on, Shadow, this way!" he called, "We gotta find Silver and save Blaze!"

He only received a scoff in response. "The boy is your problem, not mine," he said, "I'm only interested in finding the Chaos Sol."

"What?? Wait!"

Before Sonic could stop him, Shadow was suddenly gone in a flash. The hedgehog groaned, then shook his head. He could do this alone anyway. All he really needed from him was just a ride here.

Right now, there were more important things at hand. He raced down the entrance tunnel in hopes of finding Silver and Blaze.

Juilana glanced up fiercely, after feeling the same chaotic energy nearby. Someone else had teleported here. She glared down at Silver, who had looked up himself, having felt the same energy.

"Silver, we have company!" she shouted down to him, "Take care of them while I work on Blaze!"

Silver tightened his fists. Even though he was wondering if this whole thing was right or not, he still didn't want anybody to come in and stopping this. But who else could get into Juilana's lair? Other than...

Sonic blasted in the room, screeching to a halt as he saw Juilana hover over Blaze, laying on a stone bed, as the woman waved the Jeweled Scepter over her body. He pointed harshly at her, "Hey! Knock it off! Leave her alone, lady!!" Clearly being ignored, Sonic revved his feet and made a mad dash towards her...

Only to be frozen in a telekinetic power and thrown backwards. He quickly rolled back onto his feet and stood up to face Silver, his palm extended, standing in the blue hedgehog's way.

"Sorry, Sonic," he growled, "But I can't let you through..."

A/N: Only one chapter left... two if I decide to split the epilogue by itself.

Regardless, it's almost finished. Will Blaze lose her entire memory?? Is Silver really going to go through with Juilana's plot, or will he come to his senses?? What purpose does Shadow REALLY serve in this story??

Drama...