"This shade of lying doesn't suit you Mephiles. You had her tucked away the whole time!" Shadow yelled as he shot chaos spears at the demon.

"My bittersweet Shadow, I did not lie to you. I had no idea she had crept inside and nestled herself here. I should be mad about this myself... but that will have to wait." Mephiles said as he bent Shadow's arm backwards.

Shadow pushed Mephiles away from himself and pinned him against a wall. Mephiles sunk his claws into Shadows quills, earning a yelp from the black hedgehog.

"Hold still will ya?!" Shadow said as Mephiles melted through his fingers and wrapped himself around his back.

"Hey I'm a slippery guy." Mephiles replied as him and Shadow had a wrestling match.

Knuckles tapped the armour with the sharp points on his hands, causing the beastie on top to fly around him.

"Get away from me!" Knuckles yelled at it as he glided around the cave, knocking into the walls.

Shadow and Mephiles took a hard tumble towards Iris and knocked her over on her side. The harmonic chink of her fall echoed through the cave and caught Knuckles attention. He had crippled the creature by clipping it's wings and it curled up in a ball, watching him. Knuckles picked her back up, but was shocked by the negative energy that rushed at him. He dropped her back to the floor and rubbed his hands together.

The two irises that were entwined around her broke off their stems and she sensed it while sitting in her tower.

"What is happening?" She asked herself as she saw Shadow and Mephiles fighting through her mind's eye. "What are they doing?! Nights! Hold the tower down, continue with the conquest. I'll be but a minute."

Nights snapped to attention and carried out the operation as she wished. Iris slowly started to wake up and found herself laying on the floor. The armour disintegrated as she pushed herself up from the floor and put her hands on her hips.

"Can someone tell me why I was on the floor?" She asked as Mephiles tossed Shadow over her head. "HEY!"

Mephiles and Shadow were scratched up from their tussle and Knuckles looked at the creature that retreated back to Iris.

"Trinity? What happened to your wings?!" Iris asked as the thing whimpered to her. Iris was infuriated. "You took her ability to fly... she was getting old anyways."

Knuckles was going to apologize, but Iris turned the thing to ash. Knuckles jumped backwards as the ash flew towards him and circled back around. A new beastie came from the remains of the old one, unfolding it's wings.

"Come Trinity." Iris sad as she waved to it. Trinity sat itself atop her shoulder, wrapping its tail around Iris' arm.

"I don't know what you have been doing behind my back, but I am not in favor of it! Not even asking my permission to stay-?" Mephiles started as he came closer to Iris.

"Take a breather there, honey. If it makes you feel better, I had to leave at a most inconvenient time."

Mephiles stopped and stared at her three inches before her face. He gently pushed her chest. Smiling, she put her hand on his muzzle. He nuzzled it before nipping her fingers.

"I would have you destroyed by now if I didn't care for you like I do." Mephiles said as Iris tugged on his nose.

"I know, I know. Aren't I the lucky one? But let's focus our attention to elsewhere."

Shadow and Knuckles retreated slowly backwards as the demons advanced on them together. Mephiles spooked Knuckles and sent him running, holding onto Shadow's arm. Shadow was dragged behind Knuckles as he escaped the cave. The blue crystals were now plugging up the crack they had used to enter.

Lumina had made a quick trip back to her home dimension and recruited any of the civilians left to help her with the take back. With Iris out temporarily, Lumina left her dreams to cleanse as she took on the tower. Nights, still less powerful than Lumina, put up as best of a fight as he could. Her powers were starting to weaken, but Nights was not yet complete. The last colors he had to absorb were Wiseman's, and his master said he wasn't ready for that yet. But... he compelled to go against those orders. A small part of him wanted to listen to his own ideas.

Lumina, seeing Nights was trying to fight back, encouraged him to help her. Plus she didn't need to push her energy any farther. She knew what she used now she couldn't have back until she was whole again.

"Nights you are good. You were never meant to go down an evil path. Wiseman never saw you the way you were supposed to be, and neither does she. Let me comfort you. Heal you of your plight. Help me save the others!"

Nights was thinking about what he himself stood for, and what exactly his friends stood for as well. What if he did help the land back to normal? Wiseman would just do worse things to it... and him. She at least gave him a lifelong mission. He was her right hand, he had gained power from his greatest foes. Was she really so bad after all?

Nights, still in a darker state of mind, grabbed onto Lumina's wrist and accidentally got caught on one of her transport strings. Lumina and Nights soon found themselves floating in static space right outside the Nexus gates. The conical guardians raised up their defenses.