(I seriously have nothing to do.

Last time on In the Dark, after the strange events at Tails's funeral and a new enemy forming in his mind, Sonic's questions have yet to be answered. When some concerned friends find the hedgehog fighting for control in his basement, the three of them, Sonic, Sally, and Amy, decide they need a plan to get rid of whatever is tormenting Sonic. However, first they need answers. Can Sonic pull himself together long enough to find out the secret behind his Dark form going awry? Or will the truth put him over the edge? Read on for answers, or go back to Chapter 5 – A New Battle for details!)

I need to find out what's going on.

Sally, Amy and I walked down the street, much to my displeasure. Not only would I have preferred to have run to the prison, but people were staring. Even though not many know about my Dark form, they weren't as blind as Amy could be. They saw it was me, and this form scared them. I wanted to tell them they didn't have to be afraid, that I was the same hero they all looked up to, but they all either turned away and pretended not to notice or ran inside, locking the doors. I'd just about had it when a group of little kids ran into an alley. I growled to myself and took off ahead.

"Sonic, wait!" Sally called, and she and Amy had to sprint to keep me from going too far ahead.

Naturally, I reached Freedom Fighter Headquarters in no time, and waited impatiently for the girls to catch up, my foot tapping rapidly on the front steps.

"Don't…run off like that…" Sally panted with her hands on her knees.

"Sorry," I said coldly. "Let me know how you feel when people run from you just because you look different."

Sally frowned and straightened up. "Fine, but wait for us at the prison entrance."

Without hesitating, I raced inside.

I was just as my nickname implied; a blue blur. Well, at least to the people in the headquarters. I raced down hallways until I got out the back of the building. In the backyard was a large and beautiful courtyard, with a metal statue of the most important Freedom Fighters, including myself, in the center, which gleamed in the sunlight. Behind the statue was a chain link fence, with curls of barbed wire at the top and base of it. Behind the circle of fencing sat a tiny concrete shack with just a door and a small window that was bolted shut. Armed guards stood the gate of the fence and the door of the shack. The prison's security had doubled since I'd last been here several months ago. Back then, I had been the one being imprisoned, framed for a crime I didn't do. (Read my first story, Framed, for the full scoop on that. :3)

I stopped by the first set of guards and waited for Sally and Amy once again. When they caught up, one of the guards at the gate, an anthro dog, spoke.

"State your business," he said in a gruff voice with a Downunda accent. Reading his name tag, I saw that his name was Redbone.

"We're here to see Doctor Eggman," I told him. "It's important."

"What for?" Redbone asked. "I have orders not to let anyone see him, mate. Especially a bloke like you."

I frowned. "I have a few questions for him regarding my Dark form. I think he did something to me that won't let me change back."

"Hmph, coulda fooled me," he said with a grunt.

I growled, my eyes turning completely white and I clenched my fists, which were shaking.

"Easy, Sonic," Sally said. "Let me do the talking." She stepped up to the guard. "You wouldn't refuse a direct order from the leader of the Freedom Fighters, would you?"

"N-No, ma'am," he stammered. He glanced at me, looking confused.

"Then I suggest you let us see Dr. Eggman," she said. "It is important."

"Yes, ma'am." Redbone then typed in the code to the gates and they parted, sliding open, and the three of us walked past, the dog guard saluting as we passed.

We walked across the couple yards of grass between the fence and the shack and one of the guards, having overheard the conversation with the other guard, slid a key attached to a chain on his belt into a slot and the door slid open, revealing a steal elevator with yet another guard inside. Sally, Amy and I stepped in and pressed one of the few buttons in the inside wall. The door closed and we shot downwards into the underground prison.

Once the elevator stopped and the door slid open a minute later, Sally asked the guard that was with us which cell Eggman was in.

"Cell 102B," the guard said. "Our most secure prison cell."

"Thank you," Sally said, and led us down the long hall lined with cells; just a bunch of doors with numbers on them and a little gray security box above each door. There was also a small, high window on the door. Eventually, after several minutes of walking, we reached a door at the very end of the hall marked Cellblock 102B. A guard who stood by the door unlocked it for us and led us in. Inside was another concrete room, with two barred windows and a barred door. Inside that, sitting on a cement bench with his wrists and ankles shackled both together and to the wall behind him, was my nemesis, Dr. Eggman, clad in the bright orange prison clothes all inmates wore.

He looked up, and a sly grin spread across his face. "Well," he said, "What a pleasant surprise. I've been expecting you, hedgehog. A little worked up, I see?"

Once again my aura flared, as did my anger. I started toward the cell, but immediately Amy and Sally each grabbed one of my arms and struggled to hold me back.

"What did you do to me?!" I shouted. "You did this to me, you sick-minded—"

"Ah, ah, ah," the doctor said, smirking. "Mind your language, rodent."

"Sonic, you said you'd control yourself," Amy reminded me gently.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "Yeah, you're right," I said after a minute. "Sorry." The girls released me. "Now," I continued, "I want answers, and I want them now."

Eggman smirked. "Give me one good reason why I should."

"Oh, let's see, you're in a cage, I'm not. You have no power, I do. I have the power to kill you, the last time you came close was…when? Oh yeah. Pretty much never. That's three reasons. "

Eggman frowned. "Touché." But he didn't continue.

I frowned as well. "Tell me now, or I'll decide to overpower these two, break through those bars, and kill you here and now. Or maybe I'll just make it more painful and slow. You'll tell me then."

He heaved a big sigh. "Fine, I'll tell you, but only so you know how hopeless it is to resist. That ray I blasted you with was a sort of mind control, but it malfunctioned and somehow took control of just your Dark form and gave him a mind of his own. He has been input with my goals, but he may have twisted them a bit. My goal with the ray was to brainwash you to work in my Eggman Empire and fight against your friends, but I suppose this is better, in a way. I get to watch you struggle with controlling yourself."

I cringed, but not because of what Eggman had said. "So I was right, then," I said. "You do have something to do with everything wrong with my life."

"Yes, pretty much."

"I suppose you're not going to tell me how to get rid of him, are you?"

"Nope," the doctor said. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."

"So you planned all this without a way to cure it?" I struggled to keep myself from shouting.

"Remember, this was completely accidental," he said. "It was a complication with my original plan, but otherwise, yes. Why would I create something and make a cure that the Freedom Fighters could use?"

I hated to admit it, but he had a point.

"So…what? I'm just going to be stuck like this forever?" I asked.

"I'm sure there are some possibilities that could change you back, but you can't rid yourself of your Dark form," he replied. "He is a part of you, and getting rid of him would pretty much be getting rid of a part of your soul, which could ultimately destroy you, one way or another."

I crossed my arms. It was hard to believe something so evil could be a part of me.

"You could use the Emeralds," Eggman said with a smirk. "Either it'll help you regain the control you lost, or it'll turn the Emeralds' energy into negative energy and…backfire."

"Shut up, I'm not listening to you," I snapped. Before he could say anything else, I sent a small blast of dark energy at him, and it skimmed his arm. Eggman caught his breath, trying to keep from crying out. I turned on my heel and sped out the door before Sally or Amy could yell at me for the attack. No, I have much bigger issues to deal with, like keeping Dark from taking control…and to find a way to change back.

Several hours later, I sat in a local library – a place I rarely went to – and flipped through books about objects of power with good energy. Mostly the books talked about the Chaos Emeralds, but they were too risky. I could end up transforming into Super Sonic or end up completely losing it and giving in to Dark's control. There had to be some other way, but any possibilities I came across were either lost to the ages or could be used for good or evil, depending on who was using it. After several hours, I sighed, put my head in my hand and closed the book, exhausted and frustrated. I closed my eyes and talked to Dark in my mind.

"Why do you want to rule Mobius?" I thought.

Dark didn't answer at first, considering his response. "The world you live in now is sickening, all the happiness and light and…bleh. People fight a lot over nothing. In my world, there would be no fighting. Anyone who disobeys my laws or defies me shall die."

"Yeah, and the only reason they wouldn't fight in your world is because they're afraid of you," I replied. "People shouldn't live in a world where there's only fear and darkness and strict laws. They need freedom and—"

"Blah, blah, blah, on and on," Dark said. "I don't want to hear any of that lovey-dovey crap. It's worthless to me, and I don't believe in it. If you let me take control, you and I will be a god in this new world. You could be a demigod."

"Tempting," I thought sarcastically. "But no. I'd rather die than… hold that thought."

My comlink ringing interrupted our conversation. I answered it, seeing Sally on the tiny screen.

"Hey," I said.

"Sonic, could you come to my house?" she asked. "I think I found something that might help."

Hardly a minute later, I reached Sally's house, out in the suburbs of Mobotropolis. Sally let me in and led me to her study.

"I found this out in a book entitled Power Stones Archive," she said. "Apparently there's a set of stones that is meant to separate the good from the bad. I doubt it'll completely destroy your Dark side, but it should at least get rid of the Dark entity that's trying to take control. Make sense?"

"I guess," I said.

"They're called the Light Stones. There were originally seven, but four of them were destroyed by an evil sorceress." She pointed to a picture of the three remaining Light Stones, each a bright orange gem that seemed to glow. "I think it's worth a shot."

"Does it say where they are?" I asked.

"There is only one known location," she said. "People claim to have seen a faint glow much like the glow from these stones in one of the caves on the Green-Capped Bluffs. That's not too far from here."

My eyes widened a little. "That's great." I smiled. "Because I know exactly where that is."

(I actually finished this in the same day as the other one…*le gasp* I'm still gonna post this tomorrow…(which, by the time you read this, would be today, or yesterday, or a week ago, or a year ago…) But I'm so tempted…NU! STAWPIT. OK, I'm done. Next chapter coming soon! Stay tuned and review what you think of the plot so far!

Keep on reading, readers!)

~SonicTheHedgehog-Nerd