The clouds of dust settled, Cream opens her eyes-astonished that she hadn't taken any damage from that attack. When she looks around from a slightly heightened angle, she realizes that someone is holding her; she feels heat brushing against her fur, yet somehow, the heat wasn't necessarily normal heat-but one with a heavy pressure. She saw a black aura surrounding the person who was holding her, and upon looking up she saw she was in Sonic's arms, seeing he was in his dark form staring her down; his green eyes were so sharp and shiny that they could've pierced her body if they were enemy weapons.

"Sonic…? How did you…?" she whispered; Sonic loosened his grip and slowly put cream down.

Sonic kept his stare, "I couldn't reach you in time unless I went past my personal limit, but I didn't mean to go into this form…"

Cream observed Sonic's body after he set her down; his black fur danced as the aura intensified, swirling around him in a black spiral. For some reason, Sonic looked as though he had better control of this power, differing from before when he fought against GE7. Sonic looked at his hand, observing the black spheres of energy that began to form. Lily awed in amazement, having never seen such a sight like that before; Amy's eyes were locked on Sonic, having seen him transform back into that powerful form. Redd growled in frustration, seeing his attack was a failure; Sonic grinned in response.

"Hey Suhn…I got a plan!" Sonic said boastfully.

"What's on the agenda?"

"I think I know how we'll take down Redd Mamba. Though, I don't think you'll like my idea…"-Sonic dashed over in the blink of an eye and whispered-"Now he can't hear us…look, Redd is a snake, right?"

"Right."

"So, what we're seeing right now isn't his true form, right? It's his form as a snake?"

"Right."

"Then let's force it out of him!"

"Right…"

"Here's the plan: I'm going to annoy and irritate him to the point of him forcing into his final form; the way to do so is to bombard him with attacks that'll keep pressuring him to go to his last resort. I noticed how agitated he got whenever things don't go his way, so I figured the best chance we'll have to beat him is to force him into using his true ability sooner than what he may have expected."

"How…did you think all of that up? Surely you couldn't have thought of all of that just now…?" Suhn said with surprise at Sonic's quick wits.

"I'm a battle genius. Anyhow, Brief Cream on what her assignment is; the way the setup will work is related to our previous attack: I'll engage in close combat and deal with that weapon of his, Cream will support in pressuring him, and for you…I want you to focus on how he fights against me. I figure that when he goes into his snake form, he'll probably retain the same type of fighting style, only slower or faster-potentially. This way, you'll have even more data to work with in how you'll defeat him-of course I'll back you up once we get to that point, but for now the focus is to force him into the snake form."

Sonic dashes away to reclaim Redd's attention; Sonic glanced at Amy, "Hey Ames, stop focusing on me! Remember you have someone to be taking care of right now!"

Amy stopped her gaze on Sonic and returned to Lily; Lily peered at Amy, shaking her head with disapproval. Lily crossed her arms, as though to look down on her elder sister.

"When you left those many years ago for Little Planet…I found it so strange that you'd hurriedly leave in the condition that mom was in…So he's the hedgehog you've been chasing? He's the reason why you left?" she said in an aggravated tone, gripping her sword tighter and unsheathing her second blade.

"Don't bring up our mother!" Amy responded in a stern tone. "You've said quite enough already, I don't want you bringing her up!"

Lily realized she struck a nerve, and grew a smug look- "What's wrong? Guilt got you? If I remember correctly, mom died around the time you were out chasing after Sonic."-Amy couldn't respond; the shame consumed her- "We tried to contact you, but we never got a response."-she clenched her hands-"How dare you…the eldest daughter, not even attend your own mother's funeral!"

Lily throws her main sword at Amy; Amy rolls out the way of the piercing attack, taking a huge leap backward to create some space right after. Lily rushes in the direction she threw her sword, grabbing it, and then making a very sharp turn with both her swords in possession, ready to dish out another attack. Amy could feel the difference in her sister's skills than from before, knowing this girl before had all intentions of killing her. Amy runs, snapping her fingers to summon some arrows to help keep a distance while she comes up with a plan.

If I don't do something soon, I'll be screwed! Amy thought as she fired a trio of arrows to slow down her sister; Lily deflected them all and increased her speed.

Amy could only run, but the problem was that she was trapped in a room; though the conference room was surprisingly large, it wasn't large enough to contain two battles like this. Amy continued to flee from her sister until she could come up with a plan, looking at the floor and beginning to wonder. But, she'd have to do something quick, because Lily was getting closer! Amy stops in her tracks and looks at the floor with concentration; Lily spotted her moment, jumping in the air with both swords ready to strike, diving into Amy's direction.

"Damn it!" Amy screamed in frustration, taking out a bomb arrow and firing it at the floor before her; the surrounding area is destroyed instantly, and both sisters fall through the giant hole created by Amy.

Rumbling echoed through the room as Sonic and the others had to hold onto something to prevent themselves from falling; Amy's arrow destroyed most of the floor, limiting space for Sonic and company to move around. Amy sits up, coughing while swatting away the dust and debris in the air; she took some heavy damage from that fall, her shirt was slightly burned and torn, and her pants were singed at the calves. Far across from her sat Lily on a pile of debris, her clothes were ripped apart because of the explosion. Amy stared at the ceiling, thinking about all the horrible things she heard her sister say, then thinking about her deceased mother, and the final words that she had with her before her departure. Her mind went blank, vision became fuzzy, and she felt dizzy; slowly, it felt as though she was losing consciousness…