It took probably half an hour, it was kinda hard to keep track of time when there was none, but everyone finally returned with at least one emerald. Now, we were all gathered behind Elise, who was on her knees with her hands clasped in a prayer pose. The 7 emeralds surrounded Sonic's body, glowing faintly.

"Oh Chaos emeralds, gems of miracles, please heed my call…" she murmured.

The emeralds glowed brighter as she spoke.

"I wish to save this world, I wish to cleanse my father's sin, and I wish to talk to Sonic…once again!"

The emeralds and Sonic slowly rose from the ground, and Elise stood and approached him. I grimaced slightly; I really didn't like what was coming.

"You have given me so many things, not it's my time to return the favor. I care not what happens to me, but please heed my call. Sonic, come back to me…to us!"

"Here we go…" I murmured quietly enough where no one could hear me.

"What?" Rouge asked softly.

Oh yeah, super hearing. Darn it!

"Let's just say this is going to be a little weird…"

Rouge gave me a weird look, before looking back at Elise and Sonic. The princess slowly closed her eyes, and leaned toward Sonic…until their lips finally met…

No one said anything, but I could FEEL the awkward! Rouge looked back at me with a face that said, 'Really?', and I shrugged. To those who have played this game, I'll agree with them when they say that THIS was the most awkward scene of any Sonic game.

I mean, really Sega? You couldn't have made Elise a squirrel or a lynx or something so this scene would be less weird? Cuz this scene has led to some long and uncomfortable discussions and pictures respectively. I'm sorry but it just makes no sense! The emeralds and Elise's prayer alone would've been just fine, but no, they had to put in the kiss. Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

I glanced at Amy, and noticed that despite her seemingly calm demeanor, she twitched a little. Everyone else was looking away uncomfortably. Espio and Vector had covered Charmy's eyes, despite his protests of 'I wanna see!' A glow enveloped the area, and when it faded, Sonic was alive and well, and in super form, with one hand on his hip, and his usual smirk on his face.

Elise smiled, before falling to her knees in exhaustion. We moved forward slightly to catch her, but Sonic had it covered.

"Thanks Elise." Sonic said.

She nodded, and everyone cheered happily.

"Alright boys, you're up." I said, pushing Shadow and Silver toward Sonic.

"Wha?" Silver stammered.

"Just go with it."

I backed away, and Sonic held his hands up at the two hedgehogs. They too were encased in a golden light, and when it faded, both were in their super forms. Looking up towards Solaris, they flew off the ground and rocketed towards the glowing entity. Everyone cheered them on.

"Go guys, go kick Solaris butt!" I cheered.

"So, this is it, right? They just beat Solaris and everything's peachy again?" Rouge asked.

"Pretty much." I replied, sitting down beside Milo.

"Great, I could use a vacation after all this."

"By the way, Eggman, how's it feel to know that in 10 seconds Mephiles succeeded in doing the one thing you've failed at for 20 years?"

Eggman huffed, crossing his arms and looked away, muttering something that sounded like, 'Stupid brat…'

I laughed a little, before looking back up at the distant Solaris. 3 golden figures flew around it, and all of them were flinging attacks at one another. I sighed a little; the end of the game was coming close. I didn't particularly like it either. I mean, basically, the whole game gets erased and it never happened. What was up with that? All of the character development everyone had gone through, like Team Dark, was pretty much pointless. Then again though, it also meant Blaze would be revived, so it wasn't totally bad…

It also meant Solaris would be completely erased from existence, and that kinda made me feel bad for Mephiles. Sure he was a psychopath, bent on the destruction of time, but…that time when he saved me from falling, and that fight in the temple when he held back from attacking me, a psychopath wouldn't do that, right? Maybe there was a little good in him, not a lot, but some. Granted he'd turned on me just as quickly, and killed Sonic, but there was something about him…I could just sense that he wasn't all bad…

Uh oh, I had that feeling again. That feeling I got when things were about to go wrong. But how could things go wrong now? Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were in super form, nothing could stop them now, right? They were supposed to win, that was how the game went.

But then again, Shadow and Team Dark were supposed to beat Mephiles both times they fought him and almost didn't. Not to mention the Chaotix were not supposed to be a part of this game at all, yet here they were. So…maybe things weren't going to go as planned…

I suddenly stood, one hand going to the white amulet on my necklace, which was starting to glow faintly.

"Kassie, what's wrong?" Rouge asked.

"Something's…not right…" I murmured.

As I was staring up at where the battle was taking place, I was surrounded by a strange aura, and felt my feet leave the floor. Everyone gasped, and I heard Milo yowl, but my gaze was locked firmly on the growing form of Solaris.

"Kassie!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Where are you going?" Charmy yelled.

Honestly, I had no clue, I just felt like I was supposed to be near the fight. Everyone's shouts faded as I flew closer and closer to the battle. A couple of minutes later, I landed on a rocky outcropping that jutted out of the wall of this place.

Everything looked okay; Silver was catching whatever Solaris threw at them and throwing them back, and Sonic and Shadow were sending Chaos Spears at it. So far, things looked like they were fine. So what was the bad feeling I was having?

A minute later, I got my answer. Silver was struck by one of Solaris' wings, and smacked into the wall.

"Silver!" I yelled.

This caught the attention of the other two hedgehogs, who looked stunned to see me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Shadow shouted.

Before I could give a response, something slammed into him. Sonic was about to go after him to help, but Solaris smacked him with its wing and sent him flying in the opposite direction. Shadow slammed into the wall not too far me, and whatever was holding him started to fade into view. It was very familiar…as it became more visible, I was able to make out who it was.

"Mephiles…"

Mephiles, who had a flame like aura about him, was pinning Shadow to the wall, both hands locked around his throat, and I could almost see the smirk on his face. Shadow was trying to pry his hands off, but Mephiles seemed to have a pretty good grip on him.

I could tell Shadow was running out of air, and fast by the looks of his weak struggling, so I had to do something. But what? I couldn't fly, or throw energy bolts, and there weren't any rocks for me to use this time.

Finally, I did the only thing I could really think of in this situation: screamed.

"MEPHILES!"

Mephiles jumped slightly, and turned his head toward me. Our eyes met, and then everything went dark.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

All around me, there was blackness. I could see my hand in front of me, so I wasn't blind or anything. Where was I?

"Hello?" I called.

My voice echoed back, and I turned in a circle to try and find something, anything, that would indicate how to get out of here.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?"

"Seems we're both wondering the same thing."

I whipped around to see Mephiles, still surrounded by the fiery aura, studying me curiously.

"What are you doing here? Wherever here is …"

"The last thing I recall, you shouted, and then your amulet glowed. Next thing I know, I'm here."

I looked down at the white jewel, and noticed it was still glowing faintly.

"Huh, guess it's more than just an accessory after all. Anyway, there was something I wanted to ask you, what it was it…oh yeah. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Mephiles drew back for a second, then returned to glaring at me full force.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, why are you trying to destroy time and space?"

"Because…"

Mephiles paused for a moment, looking genuinely conflicted.

"I want to, that's why."

"And then what? Huh, what comes after that?"

Mephiles made to retort, but stopped.

"I don't think you're completely evil, Mephiles."

Mephiles suddenly moved toward me with a deep growl, and I started backing away, but I kept talking.

"I mean look at today. You saved me from cracking my head open, and you didn't attack me back in the temple."

"Oh, so that makes me a good guy? Well, in case you missed the rest, let's recap; I tricked the silver hedgehog and his girlfriend into trying to kill Sonic, nearly killed Shadow, twice, killed the blue hedgehog myself, and destroyed the world. Exactly how can you consider me a good guy?"

"I didn't say good, but I don't believe you're completely bad. As cheesy as it sounds, you seem more like you're…misunderstood."

At this, Mephiles just EXPLODED.

"Misunderstood? What's to misunderstand? I was created to destroy, I've done that! I fulfilled my purpose! And I don't care if people die along the way, this is what that idiot created me for! That's all you mortals ever expected of me-!"

"HEY!"

Mephiles stopped, panting slightly, but continued to glare at me.

"After today, I don't know what to expect! I've actually had a rather unexpected day; one minute, I'm at home watching stuff on my computer, and the next, I'm in the middle of saving the planet! Not to mention I go from being human to being a walking plant!"

"Human?"

"Yes, human! I don't know how it happened, but now I'm not," I paused for a moment, taking a breath after my tirade, before continuing.

"Anyway, you shouldn't just let people's expectations determine what you do in life. I mean yes, you were created in a lab with Iblis, modeled after some sun god or whatever, but that doesn't determine what your life's gonna be! Look at Shadow for crying out loud! He was supposed to help an alien race dominate the planet, but instead he obliterated them! People expected him to be good for nothing but destruction, but did he listen? No, and you're no exception!"

Mephiles continued to watch me silently, and I couldn't tell whether or not I was actually getting through to him. But I wasn't gonna stop yet!

"I know how you felt that day, when you got sealed in the scepter. I felt it; you were scared confused, and don't try to argue about it, I went back in time too! I found you before Shadow did…and maybe I should've stopped him from sealing you…maybe you would've turned out better…all you ever knew was darkness, so of course you were gonna be mad…"

We were both silent for a moment, and Mephiles seemed…best word that came to mind, depressed.

"Sometimes I think…maybe you were supposed to be separated from Iblis, maybe there was a reason, and not just to try to control you better. I also think it would've been better if the duke guy had sealed Iblis in him so Iblis would've died with him, which then would've prevented, well, all of this…but you can't change the past,"

Slowly, I held out my hand.

"You can only work towards a better future, and live up to your own expectations instead of others."

Mephiles studied me for a while, face blank of any emotion, making it very hard to tell if he was really thinking about this…or thinking of ways to reduce me to ash.

I was only slightly surprised though, when he hesitantly took my hand.

:::::::::::::::::;;;;;

I blinked, and found myself back in the battlefield. Apparently, while Mephiles and I had been in…wherever it was we'd been, the three hedgehogs had recovered, and were now fighting Solaris with renewed vigor.

"Okay, whatever it was that just happened, was really weird…" I muttered.

"That makes two of us."

I gasped, and spun to see Mephiles behind me. Although, he wasn't all there; I could see through him, and he still had that fiery aura, though it was fainter than before.

"What the, how can you be here, and Solaris over there?"

"I'm still part of Solaris, physically anyway. Mentally, though…he's probably wondering what just happened."

"Oh…so, when they hit Solaris, does it hurt you?"

Mephiles glanced at me skeptically.

"I got shot multiple times by a furious robot, took several punches from Shadow, and a combination of attacks from those two and the bat, all while laughing most likely like a mad man."

"Okay, I get it, you're immune to pain…wait, then how come it hurt when I threw that rock at you?"

"It doesn't hurt if I'm expecting it. I wasn't expecting a little girl to be crazy enough to attack me."

"Excuse me, I am not crazy, and I'm not little!"

"How old are you?"

"15!"

Mephiles raised an eye brow.

"Well you're only ten, so ha!"

"Ten?"

"Chronologically, yes, because you were created ten years ago. And you know, that technically makes Shadow fifty…wow he's old."

I swear I heard Mephiles snicker, and in a non-threatening way too!

Solaris suddenly screeched, and Mephiles grunted a little. I also noticed that he wasn't see through anymore.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, when one is getting bombarded by three super charged hedgehogs, it tends to hurt."

There was a burst of light, which nearly blinded me, and the whole place started to shake.

"I think we won." I stated as I tried to stay on my feet.

"It isn't safe for you here," Mephiles said, before snapping his fingers.

One of his portals burst into being beside me. I heard a cracking sound, and looked up to see several rocks falling towards us. With a yelp, I jumped into the portal, with Mephiles close behind.

:::::::::::::::::::::;

"Yeah, they did it!" Charmy cheered as Shadow, Silver, and Sonic returned to the group, and they watched the vanishing form of Iblis.

"I told ya they'd win!" Vector stated.

"But what about Kassie, where's she at?" Amy asked.

Everyone glanced at each other worriedly, before a portal formed in the center of the platform. A couple of seconds later, I stumbled out.

"WOO, that was awesome!" I laughed.

"Kassie, you're alive!" Charmy exclaimed, tackling me in a hug. Milo rubbed my legs while meowing, and everyone, minus Eggman, approached.

"How'd you get back here though?"

"I had a little help from a…friend."

"Who?"

I bit my lip. "Um…well, I uh…oh forget it, just get out here!"

Everyone gasped as Mephiles stepped out of the portal, which closed a second later.

"Agh, psycho demon!" Charmy yelped, ducking behind Vector.

I could see Shadow was about to jump at him, so I quickly moved in front of Mephiles.

"Now hold on! I can explain…"

A few minutes passed in silence.

"I'm not hearing an explanation…" Mephiles remarked as he examined his claws.

"Just give me a sec!" I hissed over my shoulder.

"What's he doing here?" Knuckles demanded.

"Look, he's not gonna hurt anyone, okay?"

The skeptic glares made me rephrase my sentence.

"He's not gonna hurt anyone any more, okay?"

"Yeah, move." Shadow growled, taking a step towards us.

I hastily picked up Milo.

"Stay, don't make me use this!"

Milo hissed at me.

"Oh don't give me that tone." I grumbled.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill him." Shadow growled.

"Because I said so!"

"I said give me a good reason!"

"Because he helped me okay! And you owe me for helping you too, I mean, do you really think when he was strangling you he just let go for the heck of it?"

Shadow moved to retort, but paused, thinking it over.

"Although it was nice to get a little payback…" Mephiles muttered.

I jabbed him in the gut with my elbow, making him grunt a little as he took a step back, and I heard a few curses in there somewhere.

Before anyone could respond, there was a loud roar. We all looked up at Solaris, and although it was smaller, it was still glowing brightly as ever.

"I thought you said we'd beat Solaris." Rouge remarked, looking at me.

"Well, technically you do, but…"

"You have to erase Solaris from existence."

We all turned to Mephiles in surprise.

"It's the only way he'll be stopped."

"How do we do that?" Tails asked.

A portal formed around Sonic and Elise, and in seconds they were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Charmy asked.

"13 years into the past, before the Solaris project, when Solaris was no more than a flame." Mephiles replied. I turned to Mephiles.

"But wait, if they erase Solaris from the timeline, then…what about yo-"

"KASS WATCH OUT!" Rouge yelled.

I looked up in time to see a large fire ball coming straight at me, and yelped while Milo jumped into my arms. A few seconds later though, we were out of the way, and Mephiles stood between us and the flame. A strange figure formed from the flame, and it looked kinda like Chaos, but made of fire instead of water, and it had bright green eyes, like Mephiles. It roared at us threateningly.

"Who or what is that?" I asked.

"A very angry Iblis, or what's left of him."

"Oh…who's he very angry at?"

"Us."

"Nice…"

Iblis hissed at us, though his gaze was locked firmly on Mephiles. The others were ready to jump at Iblis in case he attacked, but other than that, no one moved. After a few minutes, I finally broke the silence.

"Umm…is he gonna jump at us, or…what?"

"Right now we're just having a little telepathic discussion…involving words I actually didn't know existed…"

"Well, fun as this is, I'm done standing around,"

I stepped out from behind Mephiles.

"Yo, fire boy, you got somethin' to say to me?"

Iblis switched his glare from Mephiles to me, and his fury only seemed to grow. A second later, he lunged at me with a loud, furious roar, and I yelped- okay, screamed- as I threw my hands up in an attempt to ward him off.

I waited for a moment, before risking a glance. Mephiles was in front of me again, and Iblis was lying on the floor a few feet away.

"Yeah, in your face fire boy!" I exclaimed.

"You really are insane." Mephiles remarked, glancing at me.

I stuck my tongue out at him, before looking back at Iblis. He suddenly faded away, and everyone walked closer curiously.

"What happened?" I asked.

I heard a grunt, and looked back at Mephiles. He was clutching his chest, before falling to his knees.

"Mephiles, what's wrong?" I asked, kneeling down in front of him.

He was starting to go see through again, which worried me.

"What's going on?" Charmy asked.

"Sonic and Elise must've erased Solaris in the past; therefore, Solaris, and the two halves that make him up, don't exist in the present." Eggman replied.

"…Oh…but…" I murmured.

"You're the girl who 'knows all'…surely you saw this coming…" Mephiles panted.

"Well, sorta…but, things didn't go exactly as planned…so, I thought maybe things would end differently."

Mephiles snickered a little, but stopped when small orbs started coming from him.

"Tell anyone I said this, and I will haunt you for the rest of your life,"

"Whoa, I can hear you in my head!"

"It's called telepathy."

"Oh, cool! So, what was it I couldn't tell anyone unless I want paranormal problems?"

"Right…thank you for…I'm not sure what you'd call it."

"I dunno…giving you a chance to not be a psychopath?"

"I guess that's one way to put it."

"Mr. High and Mighty Mephiles the Dark is saying thank you? To me, a mere HUMAN girl?"

"Don't get too full of yourself…"

Mephiles was almost completely see through, and he was slowly fading from his feet up.

"I am curious though…you do realize that everything is going to be undone?" Mephiles asked

"Yeah, I know, why?"

"I mean everything…including you meeting everyone."

My eyes widened for a second. Everything would be undone…no one would remember anything, including me…I'd never thought about that.

"Oh…right, of course, makes sense…"

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I guess…I think I'd feel better if you were going to get to live too…"

"Well…villains don't get happy endings…"

"You're not a villain to me."

If he had a mouth, I swear Mephiles would've been smiling, a real smile, because his face had softened. He suddenly grunted though, and faded away.

"Mephiles…!"

"Goodbye…"

As the small orbs of light that had been coming from floated out of sight, I stood, watching sadly. Everyone stared up at them for a minute, before looking back at me.

"You okay kid?" Vector asked.

"Yeah…I will be…but, there's something I gotta tell you."

"What's that?"

"Well, ya see…everything's getting erased basically, so-"

I stopped when I noticed a strange glow had surrounded me and Milo, and everyone gasped.

"Hey, you're glowin' again." Charmy said.

"Yeah, I think…it's time for us to go."

"Go? Go where?"

"Home, back to my world."

"Huh? Why now? Can't you stick around longer to play?"

"Even if I could stay, you wouldn't remember me. Everything that happened is being undone so it never happened…including me getting to meet all of you."

"What? But…but that's not fair!"

"We're gonna forget ever meeting you?" Silver asked in shock.

"And everything else that's happened recently. But don't worry, everything's gonna be fine now, and your future's not gonna be in total chaos anymore. And she'll be fine, too."

Silver's eyes widened a little, before slowly nodding.

"But wait, can't you stay and get to meet us again? We could re-know each other!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Sorry, but I don't think getting to stay's really my choice right now."

I noticed Milo and I were fading away, kinda like Mephiles did.

"I won't forget you guys though…and I hope I get to see you again someday."

The whole area suddenly started shaking, and white light was coming down from above.

"Bye everybody, I'm glad I got to know you guys…see ya around…" I said, before finally fading away.

"Kassie wait!" Charmy yelled, before bursting into tears.

Espio gave his head a pat, before they were all encased by the white light.

::::::::::::::::::::

Oh great, I was in that dark place again. I thought I was going home though?

"Do you wish to for them to remember you?"

"Mephiles?"

I looked around to try and find him, but saw nothing.

"Do you wish for your friends to remember you?"

"Well…yeah, it would be really nice, why?"

"Very well, if that is what you wish."

"What do you mean?"

"One day you'll find out."

A glow suddenly enveloped the area, and before it became too bright for me to see, I swear I saw the form of Mephiles giving a bow.

:::::::::::::::::::::::;

It's been a few days since my adventure in Sonic 06. After the strange encounter with Mephiles just after I vanished, I found myself back where I'd been before I'd gotten sucked into the game. I was sitting on the couch, laptop on my lap, and Milo curled up beside me. I noticed the playlist of cut scenes had run through and were finished.

I had to laugh a little, because one week before, I'd really wanted the game. Now I was good, because I'd lived it, and frankly, it was way better the way I'd experienced it. I bet no one would've expected Mephiles to have a change of heart!

I missed everyone though, and wondered if they really did remember like Mephiles said they would. He said I'd find out one day, I wonder if that meant that I'd get sucked into another Sonic game. Well, if I do, I'll be looking forward to it, even more than the next Sonic game that was coming out: Sonic Generations. I don't know what it will really be about, all I knew was that there was gonna be two Sonics.

As Shadow would say, just what the world needed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

Finally, thought I was never gonna finish this! Well, I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review!

Also, gave a little hint at an upcoming story, did anyone catch it? It's gonna be fun! R&R!