Done with this chapter and this installment. ^.^ Please Review. I do not own anything except the plot and OC characters.

Chapter 12: Game Change

The inhabitants laughed and danced with the Blue Typhoon's crew as bats hanged overhead. The creature made no attempt to harm them and in fact, they were quite friendly. Sonic noticed that Cosmo's daughter had sneaked away from the group, but said nothing. She hid in the shelter of the ship's shadow and activated her communication device.

"I was wondering when you'll contact me." said the Metarex.

"You." Her voice shook. "How dare you manipulate me. Not only that you've been lying to me."

"Oh?" The leader seemed amused by her words. "Are you sure about that? I have never made you do anything and I never lied to you."

"You got me to kill a fellow Guardian and lied to me about the mutation. There are others who can obtain the same exact mutation and now that I think about it my mom had the mutation too." spoke the plant girl.

"I never made you kill anyone. You promised me. You chose to willingly make a deal with me. As for the mutation, I said usually. In some rare cases, it can happen." Waving her off, it continued, "Now what is it you wanted to know."

"What?" Starlight couldn't believe her ears.

"I told you to betray your friends and you did. You killed a fellow Guardian who though you were on his side. Sonic found out you were dealing with me. You haven't told anyone what you've been doing. So what do you want in return?" questioned the Metarex leader.

She didn't know what to say to that. "I…I…"

"Stop it. I won't let you mess with her head anymore." Cosmo's daughter turned to see a hedgehog approaching.

"Sonic?" The plant girl wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

The Metarex didn't seem surprise by his arrival. "I wasn't talking to you."

"If you're talking to one of my friends, you need to talk to me." said Sonic as he took Starlight's arm which had the communicator on it.

"I don't see your logic. What she does is none of your business." spoke the leader.

"Her welfare is. I won't let you mess with Starlight's head anymore. Don't contact her ever again." said the hedgehog.

Sonic released Cosmo's daughter's arm as it said, "Hmph."

The connection was cut as the plant girl collapsed to the ground.

"How can you forgive me? I've been selling out to the Metarex." Bowing her head, she spoke, "It's all my fault."

"It's not your fault. You were doing it because of your mother." said the hedgehog.

Starlight looked to him. "How come you know so much?"

"My darker half has been telling me things…" He didn't continue.

"Dark Sonic! I have to…" Jumping to her feet, she prepared to grab her chain.

Sonic stared at her with such warm and yet cool eyes that it stopped her in her tracks.

"Let me help you." She took his hand and instantly all thoughts of having to kill him disappeared leaving her with a warm sensation.

"White Lily' mutation…its gone. Did he…did he dispel it with his own?" thought Cosmo's daughter.

"The others must be worried. We better head back." spoke the hedgehog.

They saw the girl hedgehog talking to the two-tailed fox heatedly before they noticed them and Amy waved towards them. The duo came up just as the girl hedgehog pushed Tails forward.

"Amy." The two-tailed fox looked panicked.

"Come on Tails. You better give it to her before she misunderstands the situation." said Amy.

"Misunderstand what?" The two of them were curious.

"Here Starlight." She accepted whatever he had in his hands and saw it was a flower pendant.

A smile bloomed on her face as she said, "It's beautiful."

"Happy Birthday!" The girl hedgehog shouted.

The plant girl blinked. "What?"

"You're turning four so I wanted to get something really special since you're always telling me to not get anything." Tails rubbed the back of his head. "Amy helped me out."

"She did?" Starlight couldn't help think, "She wasn't interested in Tails?"

"It's similar to the one Cosmo had so Amy said it would be a good present." spoke the two-tailed fox.

She beamed. "Thank you Tails."

"I think Cosmo would be happy to know you had a similar pendant." Tails gave a sad smile thinking about her.

"Thank you everyone." She looked to Sonic. "You too Sonic. For helping me deal with my problems."

"Sonic was only helping her? She wasn't interested in him?" thought Amy.

The hedgehog gave her a thumbs up. "No problem."

"It really is a nice pendant. I just want to snatch it up." They glanced in the direction of the voice and spotted the girl bat.

"Rogue." She made her way towards them.

"Don't you dare. It's Starlight's present." the echidna came running after her.

This was a surprise. "Knuckles."

"We should have a party." joined in the girl rabbit.

The chao agreed. "Choo!"

"Cream. Cheese." Cosmo's daughter looked to the gathered. "What are you all doing here?"

"We were wondering what was going on between you four so we came to see for ourselves." said Chris.

"Starlight!" A familiar inhabitant was making his way towards them.

The plant girl ran up to meet him halfway. "Talu."

"Happy Birthday." he spoke.

"Thank you, but what are you doing here?" inquired Starlight.

His reply: "I wanted to say good bye before I leave."

"Leave?" The group perked up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to help stop the Metarex and understand what is happening in this world." said Talu.

"But how are you going to do that?" asked Knuckles.

"I'm going to join a resistance group. They'll be coming to pick up." he answered.

"There's a resistance group?" This was the first time they heard of it. "Who are they?"

"They said I'm not allowed to discuss it yet." spoke the boy.

"But how do you know about it?" asked Amy.

He hesitated before responding, "The Metarex were talking about it."

"Good luck then. Maybe we'll see each other again." said Cosmo's daughter.

He took her outstretched hand and shook it."I hope so. This is good bye."

They watched him disappear into the woods as the villagers finally settled down and returned to their homes.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" wondered Chris.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders as he sneezed. "We'll see."

"We better head on our way too." said the plant girl.

The crew agreed."Right."

They returned back into the ship prepared to take off.

White Lily fiddled with her drink as a Guardian came into the room.

"White Lily…" He didn't get to finish his sentence.

"I know." She set her drink aside looking out into space. "The Metarex are toying with us. With the way things are going, they'll win. It seems we'll have to call those four girls in."

"Them?" The idea was preposterous. "What about their missions?"

"We have no choice. In order to counteract a user of the mutation, you need to have another used of mutations." Her decision was final.

He nodded. "Understood."

...To Be Continued

I hoped you like that. Now my next story is called Burning Memories.