"Can you carry on Uncle Rob's will, Amy?"

That question intrigued Amy as she buried herself in the seat as she-along with Sonic and the others-drive en-route to the Mamba estate, ready for the battle; it's a bumpy car ride for the five of them. Amy stares at her fingers as she rubs the leather-made quiver in her hands. Why did Uncle want me to have his legendary bows…? Aren't these extremely picky with their user?-She recalled the texture of the weapon when she had first received it from Lily-It's quite the magnificent piece of craftsmanship…ok! If I remember anything from Uncle Rob's constant practices, he used his ability of channeling fire to create his arrows…so maybe I need to find an alternative that can work to the same effect. Either way, I can use this as an opportunity to test my abilities of summoning other weapons other than my Hammer-she narrows her eyes, pinching the brown leather-creating efficient arrows won't be the issue, it'll be having to mass produce the arrows. but maybe if I can somehow transfer my thought of an element into my ability to channel weapons…then just maybe I'll have a weapon that is strong enough-she glances at Sonic, who was sleeping in his seat-Ever since you ditched us…no even before that. You never gave me a good chance to prove myself to you; to show you that I was a capable fighter worth having your back through tough times…-she clenches her fist with resolve and anger-I'll make you see we're equals! Keep your eyes open on the battlefield, because I'm going to steal the show!

Amy was always focused on becoming a reliable friend, furthering her skills through continuous training with Sonic back when they all were a team. But for Amy, it felt like although she was a proven fighter, Sonic wouldn't recognize her as an equal; this feeling only strengthened when Sonic decided to break the team apart and go separate ways. Amy used that frustration as fuel for her motivation to become even better than before, taking up the bow and arrow as her primary weapon and steering away from her Piko Piko Hammer. Amy remembered that question that Cream asked her back during one of their missions in South Maruca.

It's a damp and miserable day in the jungles of South Maruca; Cream and Amy were resting in the trees as they tailed a target for their mission. Throughout that day, the girls had experienced near death situations on multiple occasions while fighting off local bandits and syndicate members; Amy was wrapping up Cream's arm after she had gotten injured from a bullet grazing her left arm.

Cream winced in pain as Amy patched her up, "Amy…? Why do you do this?"

Amy halts her action, "Do what? Aid you with this injury? I have. If I let you expose your arm with that wound then you'll be at risk for an infection…"

Cream held up her free hand closed her eyes and she shook her head, "No, I don't mean that."

Amy's eyes turned dull, "Then what do you mean…?"

Cream knew she was about to regret what she said next-looking up at the patches of sunlight that beamed through the grey clouds and trees, "Why do you continue to work so hard for his sake? Why do you get into this amount of trouble to make yourself stronger for Sonic's sake…?"

Amy could only take a deep breath and then exhale, "I chose this path because I love him. I decided to take the journey to furthering my strength and trying something new for the sake of my improvement…not his."

"Why!? Why must you continue to do this…Look at how he's treated us, deserting us in order for him to chase after Dr. Eggman on his own; He's being selfish."

Amy calmly patted the frustrated Cream, "I know it must be painful for you the most…"-Cream's lips quiver as she sniffs, beginning to grind her teeth in an attempt to hold the tears back-"he's like a big brother to you."

In a muffled tone, "I know he didn't want us to get hurt…but we can fight too! We've been with him every step of the way!"

Amy smiled, "Don't worry, one day we'll reach a level of strength that even he can't ignore! We'll become so strong that even the strongest beings on the planet will have to answer to us!"

Cream laughed, cheering up after having the empty feeling of being useless and abandoned. Amy helped her up and the two got back to their mission, completing it swiftly. Amy returned from her momentary flashback, feeling calmer than before after remembering that she had another person to share the same frustration with-knowing that it made no sense in getting so worked up and clouding her mind with unnecessary thoughts.

Sonic was lost in his dream, floating through a black void with a large swirl of color encircling him, containing his vivid recollections from the previous experiences with Roque and GE7 accompanying him through the darkness; it was all too much for him to take in at once. Spade…the 12 Saints…GE7…Dark Sonic…first, for some reason this Spade wants to see me…but who is Spade? Is he an enemy…? Or is he a possible comrade…? And the 11th seat…-outside of his dream, his eyebrow twitches and he frowns-He's here. The 11th seat of the 12 Saints is right here…if I want more information on Spade, I'll need to find the 11th seat known as Lycoris! Though if I had such a struggle against Roque the first time around, could I even stand in a fight against Lycoris?

As his body continued floating through the space, he began feeling immense pressure as continued into the darkness, feeling his body begin to fall away from his control and into somebody else's; the colorful swirl of memories vaporized as he approached a sudden light. Soon Sonic finds himself at a huge bright and purely white throne with a huge black figure sitting before him on the throne in a lazy position with its hand resting on its face.

"Ah…so we finally meet; Sonic the Hedgehog." The faceless black figure said in deep tone, taking the shape of Sonic's body.

"Who are you?"

The faceless Black figure grinned, "I am you…well, your chaos energy at least."

Sonic folded his arms, "My chaos energy…?"

He adjusted his voice to mimic Sonic's voice-only deeper, "I'm all of the energy that you've accumulated from your exposure to the chaos emeralds; the physical manifestation of your chaos energy."

"What the heck? But, shouldn't you be Gold instead?"

"You're thinking of the Super Sonic; he's the super transformation of purity and completely flawless. I'm the Dark Sonic-everything corrupt and flawed about you."

Sonic marveled, "So you're everything that's wrong with me…"

"Smart one, huh? Yes, I represent everything impure and flawed about you."

"Well if you represent everything wrong with me, then exactly what makes you so special? You're just an imperfect version of Super Sonic."

Dark Sonic smirked at Sonic's bashful comment, "Hey, you're not wrong; In the Super Sonic's case, he is indeed perfection personified…but what if I told you that there are some qualities that I possess over him?"

Sonic tilted his head and pushed up his eyebrow-staring hard at the cynical dark figure, "You think so?" he said, looking around at the surrounding darkness-seeing the only piece of light being the bright white throne.

He leaned forward, "Do you want to know how?"

Sonic looked at his gloves with a sudden loss of interest, "Not really, you seem pretty dark to me."

The Dark Sonic broke into a tiny fit-rattling in his chair, "what are you some pun master? That was absolutely terrible!"

"Anyway, go on with what you were saying."

The Dark Sonic nodded, "Unlike the Super Sonic, I can access even further into your reserve abilities via through your rawest and deepest forms of emotion. Whatever extremely negative emotions you're feeling at the time-like rage, I'll be able to then access any hidden or reserves. In a way, I boost your physical abilities while leaving your emotional side completely open and free for attack."

"Pretty foolish for you to just tell me like this…aren't you worries I'll try my best to stay emotionally stable?"

The Dark Sonic laughed, "As if! You'll end up wanting my power even more once you experience the hell that awaits you in the near future with all your battles."

Sonic became hostile in the Dark Sonic's presence, "What good would you know? I'm strong willed enough."

"You consciously may reject me, but unconsciously-like now, you're body is yearning for a taste of my power. Face it-you can't defeat any of the big names unless you rely on some incredible power like mine or the Super Sonic's."

Sonic closed his eyes shut with both fists clenched, "S-shut up! Get out of my head!"

Sonic awakes to bullets of sweat falling down onto his muzzle, putting a hand to his chest to make sure his heart was beating irregularly. He felt that sinking feeling in his stomach, anxiousness churning and dancing in his body. He exhales deeply to calm himself, looking out the window-spacing out.

"We have twenty more minutes before we arrive at the estate gate…" Richard noted as Lily kept watch for a message from her other relatives that were on their way.

Lily's mind was busy on the thought of her deceased uncle Rob who had failed to rescue her father earlier from the Mamba's. Uncle Rob was an excellent archer and master of the arts. He somehow figured out a way to channel power through his bow and create his own type of arrows: the fire arrow.-she glanced back at Amy, seeing her older sister lost in thought-I still remember what he told me before he left.

A week before Robin Rose took his suicidal mission to rescue his brother; he stopped by the mansion to give Lily a message. Lily was sitting at the dining hall table having meal an exquisite meal that featured steak with black beans and white rice. The door slammed open as she saw her uncle barge through-limping; he came to the table and slammed his fist on the floor, breathing heavily.

Lily noticed he was covered in scratches and bruises, "Uncle, what happened?" she asked with concern in her tone as she rested her fork and knife; he limped over to her.

"I know where your father is…" he struggled; Lily got up and pressed her hands on the table, leaning forward.

"Where is he!? We can send the others to go and rescue him!"

Rob held his hand up and stopped her, "I'll bring him back…leave him to me."

Lily couldn't argue with him since he was by far the strongest in the family, but his condition didn't look promising enough to go in and face the entire mamba force on his own. Lily took a look at him, "Do you at least want some back up? I can't feel so confident in you just going there alone."

Rob guffawed, "If you can't trust me for something like this, then exactly why are you even here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Not meant to be an insult, but I'm a proven man. Trust me when I say I'll bring your father back."-He lowered his head and stared at the table-"But, I may not make it back in one piece…"

Lily's red flags went off as soon as she heard, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not getting any younger, and this might very well be my last big hurrah. In the case that anything should happen, I want you to recover my weapons and give them to your big sister Amy…"

Lily looked at him with confusion, "Why big sister Amy?"

"A couple months ago, I learned from a friend that she'd taken up archery…she's pretty good. There isn't another person in the family that can use the bow…so more than likely she can carry the torch."

Uncle Rob…I hope you're right. I'll do everything I can to finish the mission that you started…-her eyes sharpened with a glint cutting through her irises-I swear I'll make the Mamba's pay!