Sonic stepped back, dropping into a stance. "Get out of my way, Silver," he growled, "I'm not in the mood to deal with you!"

"Why not?" Silver responded, his own tone as dark and serious as Sonic's, "So you can step in and play the big-shot hero you always are? Save the day, rat me out, and completely ruin my life like you have for the past year?!"

"You brought this all on yourself, pal! When you turned your back on your kingdom by stealing the Jeweled Scepter, AND Blaze!"

"It's all your fault!!" Silver nearly screamed, "YOU stole Blaze from me!! You stole everything from me when you merged your stupid world into ours! Now I'm going to fix it all!" He lifted himself into the air, "Starting with YOU!!"

He threw his arm forward, blasting a psychic blast at the blue hedgehog, who managed to jump to the side in time. Sonic raced all around the room, missing a few blasts aimed at him by miles, while just narrowly avoiding many others. With Silver levitating in the air, he had a better aim and couldn't give Sonic any chance to even think of a counter attack.

"This has nothing to do with us, Silver!" Sonic shouted over as he ducked one blast after another, "This is about Blaze! Don't you realize what you're doing to her??"

Silver stopped his attacks for a moment to answer, "I'm making it so that she realizes I'm her true love!!"

That moment was all Sonic needed to blast into a spin, roll up the wall, and hop off, landing a homing attack into Silver's back. He crashed hard on his stomach on the cold ground as Sonic landed nearby flat on his feet. "Don't you think that sort of thing is up to her to decide?"

Silver slowly raised himself up to his arms as he glared up at the blue hedgehog. "If you had never entered the picture, she would've chosen me!"

Sonic crossed his arms and twitched his nose. "And you know this, how?" he asked, "No offense, but I don't think whiny little traitors are her type."

Silver grit his teeth, his psychokinesis flowing throughout his body, and WHAM! He suddenly lurched up and body slammed into Sonic, knocking him flat on his back. "I was her best friend," he snarled, "I've known her all her life! You?? You're just a piece of meat that strolled by one day and took her from me! How can you possibly have a greater connection with her than I do?!"

"If you're as great as you say you are..." Sonic grunted as he sat back up, "then stop all this before anymore damage is done!"

Silver shook his head hard. "I can't do that!"

"Why not?? Her life is at stake!!"

"No! Just her..." Silver trailed off slightly. Sonic almost had a point. "... Just her memories."

"What..?"

"Her memories are being erased, so that she never has to remember ever meeting you!"

"What about Sol??" Sonic exclaimed.

The soldier looked away, "She won't remember being princess either... She won't remember anything." He glared back up. "But this is for the best!"

"What?!" Sonic was losing his patience with the other hedgehog, "How can you possibly think that?? Without her, Sol will be wide-open for anyone to take!"

"Juilana will take over, and I'm taking Blaze somewhere far away from here!"

"Do you ever stop to think?!" Sonic shouted, "What could possibly possess you to think this is a good idea?! You've got some nerve calling yourself a soldier..."

Silver growled ferociously. "SHUT UP!!" he screamed, "What do you know??"

"I know Blaze wouldn't approve."

That did it. "BASTARD!!" He thrust his palms forwards, telekinetically sending Sonic crashing into the wall. He quickly managed to pull himself out before the silver hedgehog could throw another psychic attack at him. As he raced to the other side of the room, Silver mentally grabbed plaques, decors, and most other of Juilana's belongings and hurled them at the prince, who dashed and ducked each object.

Meanwhile, high above on the platform, Juilana was momentarily distracted, hearing her walls clatter and her items smash apart. She snarled and concentrated on her work on Blaze. 'Once this is over, I'm going to stuff that mental-powered hedgehog and make him my new decoration for all he's broken below!'

"I know her better than you ever could!" Silver shouted to Sonic as they continued to battle, "You've got yourself a nerve claiming you love her more than I do!!"

Sonic dove to the ground, just missing a large table that the telekinesis that thrown at him. "Ever hear the phrase 'If you love them, let them go'?"

Silver sneered, "That's just some polite way of saying 'They don't like you, get over it!!'"

At that, he froze, realizing what he'd just said. It was as if he struck himself in the heart with a knife.

Sonic noticed the look on Silver's face. It looked as if he was finally getting it through. "Silver, come on...!" he pleaded, "You know this is wrong, why are you doing this? Did you even see the look on her face when she saw you with the scepter?"

He did... and he saw the hurt in her eyes when she forced herself to attack him.

"Silver..." Sonic continued, "if you do love her, you won't let any of this happen to her."

Silver looked down to the ground, lowering his arms, but his fists remained clenched. "...I do love her..." he muttered, before suddenly glaring back up, "So how could she treat me like this??"

Sonic blinked. "Huh?"

"We were best friends as children. When she was shunned, I befriended her. I looked out for her! Then she was taken away, forced to abandon her childhood to be the next ruler of Sol. I sacrificed my OWN childhood so that I could serve by her side! I did everything I could to make her happy, I tried to get her to loosen up, and let her know she wasn't alone in all this. But what did she say? 'Silver, you're so naive!' or 'Silver, don't be so childish!'"

The hedgehog's fists tightened, "I did all I could, and she shunned me! And now, all the sudden she finds someone else out of nowhere, and I'm just some soldier to boss around??" He growled and shut his eyes tightly, "How could she do this to me?? Why won't she respect me?! Why doesn't she love me?!"

There was a tense silence, as Sonic stared at Silver, surprised at his outburst, as the other hedgehog shook with rage, before finally slumping forward, dropping his defense, hanging his head, and tears streamed from his eyes. "She doesn't even care if I'm alive anymore..."

He was wrong all along, he was defeated, and he knew it. He just stood there, waiting for Sonic to make a snarky remark or take him down for good, but was shocked when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up to see Sonic looking down at him, almost in a friendly-like matter. "Silver..." he spoke, "You know that's not true." He gave a small smile. "You'd be surprised at how highly she talks about you. She's always saying just how great you are, and even at times how I can never measure up to you."

"She... does?" Silver meekly asked.

Sonic nodded. "You've always been her go-to guy, her confederate... but more importantly, her best friend... and that's something in her heart that I can never take place of."

Silver looked away once again. "Not anymore..." he murmured, "Not after everything that's happened..." He buried his face into his palms, "Oh God, what've I done??"

Sonic placed both hands on his shoulders. "It's not too late, Silver," he said, "We can still save her!"

Silver snapped his head up. We?? He's still thinking of playing hero?? And what was he, sidekick for the day?? Most likely he already blames him for getting Blaze in this situation to begin with!

No...! He can't let his mind go this direction! Blaze was the top priority... and he was going to do his duty!

Sonic noticed the tense look growing on Silver, as well as the bluish-green energy growing in his hands. Was it something he said...?

With a flash, Silver threw his massive energy attack…..

…. striking Juilana dead on and knocking her over, ceasing the magic being done on Blaze. "What the--?!" the sorceress glared around, sprawled on the floor, trying to find an answer. She made her way over to the edge of the platform and saw exactly who hit her. "You..!"

"Get away from her," Silver growled.

"Silver! You traitor!!"

The hedgehog narrowed his eyes, "Not anymore..."

"I knew you'd be a nuisance! If you turned your back on your princess, I shouldn't be surprised you'd turn your back on me! I should've done this to begin with!!" Juilana lifted herself in the air, the Jeweled Scepter grasped tightly in her hand, and shot a blast at the hedgehogs, who dived in opposite directions. Silver levitated up, and shot himself at the sorceress, throwing a psychic wave in her direction. She defended herself by spiraling the scepter in a circle, disintegrating the wave, and went on to counter-attack.

Meanwhile, Sonic made his way up the platform and to the stone bed where Blaze laid, still unconscious. He took her shoulders and shook her lightly. "Blaze, wake up! Come on!" he called, "Don't let that witch take you down without a fight!"

It was no good. Blaze was still out of it. He was going to have to take drastic measures...

He unbuckled his shoe and ripped off his sock, rolled it into a ball, and held it under her nose. It wasn't long before Blaze's eyes snapped open and she smacked the hedgehog's hand away.

"Eyuch!!" she gagged, "Gross! I hate it when you do that! Why can't you just shake me awake next time??" She then blinked, realizing her surroundings. "Wha...? What's going? Where are we?"

"Long story," Sonic responded.

SMASH

Silver just narrowly avoided a massive earth attack into the ground, leaping in the air in time. Juilana looked up, watching as he soared over her, and looked back upon noticing the other hedgehog by Blaze, who was sitting upwards, wide awake. "No!" she screeched, pointing the scepter at the two and shot an explosive chaos attack at the two.

"Look out!" cried Blaze as she grabbed Sonic, who grabbed her in return, the two trying to shield one other from the oncoming blast. They sat in that position for awhile, until they noticed nothing was hitting them. They cautiously peered up, and saw the chaotic blast just inches away, caught in a wave of telekinesis. Blaze recognized this power. "Silver!!"

Juilana glared over at the hedgehog, who had caught the blast and was pulling it back, aiming it at the sorceress, who flew out of its way as it left its devastating mark on the ground. Once she was in the air, Silver shot over to her and grabbed the scepter, trying to pry it from her hands. They floated from one side to the other, struggling over control of the scepter, until they reached the ground, which Juilana had the advantage for her size.

"Are you sure you want to be doing this?" she hissed at the hedgehog as they continued to struggle, "You know what will happen to you if you stop me now."

"I know what'll happen..." Silver grunted, "And I accept it! I should've never listened to a rotten witch like you! I deserve everything I've got coming to me! But right now... all that matters is that I serve Sol and its princess. And that means putting an end to you and your plans!"

Juilana didn't like that answer, and powered an attack in her hands. "DIE!!" she shouted as she blasted into Silver, throwing him backwards onto the ground. She approached him, holding her hand up and retracting her fingernails into sharp claws, ready to slash the hedgehog into shish kabob.

"NO!"

Before she was given that chance, a fireball struck her in the side, knocking her over several feet. Silver glanced up, surprised to see that Blaze had just protected him, and even more so to see Sonic zip up suddenly in front of him, offering his hand. He slowly nodded his thanks, and accepted the help back to his feet.

Blaze leapt from the platform and landed by the boys. "Juilana!" she shouted, pointing a finger to the sorceress, "You were banished from Sol decades ago! I don't know what you were doing to me, but you will now pay severely for invading my kingdom and stealing the Jeweled Scepter!"

Silver glanced over at the cat. Didn't she know...?

Juilana snarled as she patted the last of her flames off her dress. "Pathetic little princess! You call that fire?? I'll show you real heat!!" she rose the scepter and blasted a blast of fire at the three animals. Blaze created a wall of fire to protect everyone from the attack, which poured harder. Sonic dashed to the side and began to race circles around Juilana, until the fire coming from the scepter was snuffed out. Juilana was slightly stunned at the rapid wind that blew out her own flames and couldn't react in time as Silver jetted in and delivered a massive punch in her face, knocking her down.

"That was for knocking me into the wall on our first battle," he sneered.

Juilana leapt back to her feet and before Sonic and Blaze could catch her, she was off in the air once again, going after Silver.

"Silver, you ok??" Sonic called up.

"Stay back!" the silver-furred hedgehog ordered, "She's mine!"

Blaze watched below as the battle unfolded. She didn't know what exactly Silver had against the sorceress, but she understood that this was clearly his battle.

Silver made a dash towards Juilana, only to be blown back as she used the scepter to send forth a blast of wind. He tried heading towards her again, this time, held up his hand to paralyze her. Juilana froze for a moment, but suddenly thrust free of his hold, which stunned Silver's body slightly. "Foolish boy!" she snided, "With the Jeweled Scepter, my power has increased a hundred-fold! You have no hope of defeating me!"

The scepter..! Silver looked over to where Juilana was grasping it tightly. He had to get the scepter away from her. It was the only way he could manage to beat her. He held out his palm again, only this time aimed his pyschokinesis on Juilana's hand and the scepter. The sorceress felt intense pressure in her hand, but before she could instinctually drop the scepter, she grabbed it with both hands and used it to throw a psycho-blast into Silver, sending him into the wall. His powers died out, and he did what he could to hold himself up in the imprint he had made. He had used too much of his telekinesis during the fight, and it was beginning to take its toll on his body.

"You don't listen very well, do you?" Juilana sneered as she floated closer to the hedgehog, ready to give the final hit.

"No! Silver!!" Blaze cried, feeling helpless down on the ground.

Sonic glanced around himself. There had to be something they could do, even if Silver wanted to go at it alone. He wasn't going to make it if they didn't intervene. He then noticed the tall platform that Juilana had Blaze on earlier. He grabbed the cat's wrist and raced his way up the platform. "Blaze, I'm gonna need a boost!"

Silver was in a pinch. He didn't have enough energy to catch himself if he dropped straight to the ground, but if he stayed put, Juilana would kill him. The sorceress was now only away, pointing the orb of the scepter at him. "Farewell, friend," she chuckled, "Thank you for all your help."

Sonic gave himself a running start and dashed towards Blaze, jumped into her outstretched hand, and she tossed him into the air towards Juilana. As she powered up a massive energy ball aimed at the silver-furred hedgehog, a blue ball shot in and suddenly struck her in the back, knocking her off balance, and causing the blast to instead strike the roof. Her guard was down, and she was momentarily distracted. Silver took advantage of this and used whatever power he had left to throw a telekinetic blast into Juilana's hand, knocking the scepter out of her hand and down below to where Sonic had landed.

That move caused Silver to slip from his imprint and he fell several hundred feet to the ground below. He only managed to slow down his fall with his psychokinesis before landing hard on his stomach. It nearly knocked the wind out of him, and he struggled to push himself up to his arms, gasping for breath.

"Idiot..!"

The hedgehog glared up to see Juilana float down to the ground where Silver laid, eyeing him coldly, and holding her palm up at him. "Scepter or not, I still have the power to destroy you!"

If only he had a minute to catch his breath and build up his energy...

"Hyahh!!"

Juilana turned to see that annoying blue hedgehog leap at her, the Jeweled Scepter high above his head, ready to club her with it.

CLAAAANG

The sorceress had effortlessly caught the end of the scepter, which stunned Sonic with a hard vibration. "Really boy," she mused, "You shouldn't use the scepter if you have no clue how." Before Sonic could get his bearings straight, Juilana shot her hand up and snagged him around the neck, squeezing tightly. She let loose a laugh. "Look, Silver! Looks like Blaze is going to available after all, after I strangle this rodent. How do you like that?"

"Kya!!"

Silver apparently didn't like it. He had just paralyzed Juilana, and made her drop Sonic to the ground. He fell to his knees and gasped for air. Silver then threw his palm forward, which knocked the sorceress and the scepter to the ground, skidding several feet on the ground.

Once she stopped, Juilana raised her head to see the Jeweled Scepter was just an arm's length away. Just as she reached over to grab it, it was suddenly surrounded by a bluish-green energy and pulled away from her grasp. She whipped around to see the scepter fly into Silver's hand.

"Lucky for me, I know how to use the scepter now."

Deranged, Juilana climbed back to her feet and made a mad dash towards Silver, who held the scepter forward and froze Juilana in her tracks. The sorceress was stunned; she was actually powerless against this childish hedgehog! Silver then swiped the scepter in the air, which sent a wind effect into the woman and slammed her into the wall.

Juilana lifted her head weakly to see Sonic join Silver's side and Blaze running over to rejoin the boys. "You...!" she growled, "I'll destroy you all!!" She raised her arms and emitted a dark energy blade, and hurled it at the three. This was nothing to Silver as he easily caught the blade telekinetically and threw it right back at the sorceress, striking her in the chest.

The woman gasped for air, clutching her chest as the energy blade faded and she fell to her knees. She looked up weakly at the silver-furred hedgehog, who glared daggers back at her. "You're... you're not going to kill me..." she breathed, "...are you?"

Silver shook his head. "No..." he looked back down at her, "But I am getting rid of you."

"What... what are you... going to do...?"

Silver reached into his glove and pulled out a gray emerald. "I'm sending you somewhere where you'll never be a threat to Sol again."

Juilana's eyes grew wide. "A... Chaos Sol?!"

In the sidelines, Shadow was hiding in his namesake. Having no luck finding the gem, he had ducked out of sight and watched the entire battled played out. "Hmph... So he had it on him the whole time..."

Silver gave Juilana a devilish smirk of his own. "How else did you think I got here?"

"Where are you sending me?!"

"I don't know. Let's find out, shall we?" Silver tossed the Chaos Sol into the air. "Chaos Control!!"

The emerald twirled in mid-air as the Chaos Control activated, and a dark vortex began to form. It created a black-hole effect and began to suck everything inside. Shadow clung to the wall, though his expression remained unchanged. Sonic and Blaze grabbed each other, trying to anchor themselves, but were suddenly covered with a telekinetic power. Silver was holding them all down. Juilana clawed at the floor, trying to keep from going in the vortex. She used her own power to pull herself away and tried to fly out of the room.

"Oh no you don't!" Silver pointed the Jeweled Scepter at Juilana and grabbed her telekinetically through it, and lifted her into the air.

"Please! STOP!!" Juilana screamed, "I'll do anything!! Anything you want!!"

"Sorry," Silver grunted, "Not going to work this time. HYA!!" He swished the scepter to the side, which sent Juilana soaring straight into the vortex.

"Nooooooo...!!"

Juilana was gone. The vortex died down. Silver finally released his telekinetic hold, and fell to his knees, exhausted after using so much power. Sonic and Blaze raced over to his side. "Silver, you did it!" Blaze exclaimed proudly.

Silver glanced up at Blaze as he breathed heavily, and gave her a weak smile and a thumbs-up.

Once the vortex was done, the emerald continued to spin, and finally dropped to the ground.

SHOOM!

The three snapped their heads up as a black streak soared over their heads and grabbed the emerald before it hit the ground. He landed on a knee just in front of the group. "Shadow?!"

The black hedgehog rose to his feet, glancing back and smirking. "Thanks for the Chaos Sol, Sonic," he grinned, tossing the emerald up and down in his hand, "I look forward to our next business deal. Farewell!"

"Shadow, get back here!!" Sonic shouted as he gave chase.

"Chaos Control!"

Just before Sonic could grab him, Shadow was gone in a flash, and the blue hedgehog nearly toppled over on his face. "Damn it..." he muttered, "I am not having any luck with Chaos Control today..."

Silver approached him with an irritated face. "Sonic..." he said almost threateningly, "What does he mean by 'business deal'??"

Sonic turned around casually. "Oh not much..." he said, placing his hands behind his head, "Just that I promised him our Chaos Sol if he helped me."

"WHAT??" Silver yelped, "You idiot!!"

Sonic chuckled slightly. "Hey, relax, we'll get it back."

Silver didn't relax. He was almost the exact opposite. "Don't you realize the predicament this puts us in??"

"Speaking of predicaments..."

The hedgehogs turned to face Blaze, who scratched her head and looked slightly lost. "Will one of you guys be so kind as to explain just what is going on here??"

Sonic grinned widely and in response, raced over to Blaze and grabbed her around the waist, swinging her around as he hugged her tight. Blaze was even more confused, but she returned the hug. "Now I'm really curious as to what happened..."

"It's a long story," Sonic responded as he pulled back and looked into her beautiful golden eyes, "Best told over a late night dinner, just you, and me..." He glanced over, and glowered at the sight of Silver, his head down, looking away, clearly crushed at the romantic scene. "... And Silver, of course!"

Silver raised his head, his crushed expression replaced with confusion. "Wha...?"

"I mean, we couldn't have saved you without him," Sonic grinned, "He's the real hero today."

Silver looked away again, this time, in shame.

Blaze nodded and smiled, "Well in that case," she turned to the telekinetic, "Silver, we would love for you to join us in a celebration dinner."

"…Okay…"