Later that day, you're called into the Meeting Room. You really didn't want to leave Tails' side, but you figure Silver may have another mission in mind, so you decide to go over and at least hear what he has to say.

You're a little surprised to see the room not very filled. It's only Silver, Tech, and Oydax, along with all your friends.

"How's Tails doing?" Silver asks first and foremost.

You shake your head. "No improvement."

"Sorry to take you away from him," he continues, "I know how worried you are. But Knuckles told me some rather interesting information."

"Yeah," Amy grunts as she gives you a cold look, "Something you couldn't bother to discuss with the rest of your group!"

"I'm not complaining," Shadow breaks in, "I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Sonic. We should stay here and kick Eggman Nega into the next dimension."

Shade crosses her arms and glares at Shadow. "Because it's the right thing to do, and not because you just want a good fight, right?" she asks with a smirk. The hedgehog twitches his nose and huffs in response.

"Well, since you're all staying," says Silver, "Maybe we can think of some new recon missions, or investigate what Nega could be up to next…"

You're not having any of it. You simply jump over and slam your hands onto the table top. "We're taking him out!" you shout.

Silver freezes at your action and stares at you bewildered for a moment, before shaking his head clear. "Yeah, we will… But if only it were that easy. We've got to be more tactical about this-"

"Screw tactics!" you scream, "What good have they done? You've been in this damn war for over 200 years now! You want to take down Eggman Nega?! Then do what I used to do and confront him head on! Get rid of the source of the problem!"

"Sonic, things have changed!" Silver shouts back, "Eggman's Empire grew over the centuries. He's gotten stronger! You can't just rush in there, smack into him a few times, and save the day like you used to in the past! You couldn't even take out a handful of Nega's Badniks!"

You feel your anger rising. Your teeth are clenched and your fists shake. "If we hadn't left this world, things wouldn't be the way they are. I'm going to fix things before they get worse. You can either help me, or sit here and fiddle with useless little B-plans. 'Till then, I'm out of here!"

"Sonic-!"

You hear the others call out to you, but you're already out the door and ready to rush off…

… Until you get your arm snagged.

"Get back here!" Knuckles growls as he drags you back into the meeting room. You struggle to free yourself, but the echidna suddenly hurls you into the nearest chair. "Stop acting like an idiot!" he shouts at you.

You narrow your eyes at him, but your mind is so clouded with fury, you can't think of any words to argue with…

"Listen, Sonic," Silver says, eyeing you harshly, "I get it. You're angry. You want revenge. Well, welcome to the Resistance, because we've ALL been there!"

Hearing that sort of calms you down a bit, and you look on with interest.

"My father was a part of the Resistance," Silver continues, "He fought in this big battle when I was just a baby. I never met him… and at this point, I probably never will. My mother and I lived for years in hiding from Eggman Nega and his forces. When we got caught, I was lucky enough to have been rescued, but my mom wasn't." He turns his head away, lowering it, "I haven't seen her since…"

"My family was killed before my own eyes," Tech says sadly.

"And I witnessed the brutal abuse of my fellow Wisps," Oydax adds, "Not to mention the horrors I went through myself…"

"Do I really need to remind you of my own tragic past?" Shadow says snarkily, "And you don't see me flying off the handle."

"I seem to recall you wanting to destroy mankind," Knuckles mutters.

"Okay, I get it!" you shout, jumping up to your feet, "You've all had tragedies in your lives. Yet you all seem cool-headed and together, perfectly content with taking one step at a time, while the Eggman Empire happily leaps ahead of you a hundred spaces. If you all really want to take control of this war and fight for your loved ones, step your game up already! I think two-hundred years is long enough to let these jerks keep control!"

A light blue aura surrounds your shoulders, and Silver forces you back down in your seat. Okay, seriously, you're getting sick of this… You growl as you struggle to free yourself of the psychokinetic hold, but the silver-furred hedgehog doesn't let up.

"Okay, Sonic," he starts, stepping towards you, "You need to hear me out, but first, you need to calm down!"

You really don't feel like calming down, but you hate how he's got a good hold on you, so you stop struggling and simply glare at him.

Silver glares back at you. "You're right."

Okay, this definitely calms you down, as well as confuses you. "Huh..?"

"You're right," Silver repeats, "We take things too cautiously here. Maybe it's because Nega is a real force to deal with, and we've lost valuable members of the Resistance in the past… We want to make sure we have a clear shot at disabling him and doing only so much. But then Nega has bigger resources and finds a way to get around it and stop us. We usually stand only a fifty-fifty shot of success IF we're lucky… So you're absolutely right, Sonic. We aren't putting enough effort to really take Nega down."

You smirk in satisfaction. You knew he'd see things your way…

"BUT..!" he pushes his psychokinetic hold on you tighter, "We're NOT going to just rush in willy-nilly and hope for the best. That may have worked for you in your time, but things have changed since Dr. Eggman got a hold of that Nocturne technology and created a stronger empire. We need to know WHAT we're up against, WHAT will work, and WHAT'S THE BEST way to go through this."

He finally releases you. "And that's where we need you the most, Sonic. You give us the best strategy, we'll give you all the resources we have." He holds out his hand. "Deal?"

You hate to admit it, but Silver makes a lot of sense. Things HAVE changed, and you've already figured out spin-dashing into Badniks isn't as effective as it used to be… You wouldn't stand a chance if you charged in without a plan in hopes to take down an entire empire that took two-hundred years to create…

But right now, you have exactly what you need to once again defeat Eggman…

… or SOME other version of Eggman, at least…

"Deal!"

For the next hour or so, you all remain in the Meeting Room, hashing over ideas and strategies. Mostly, it's just you and Silver talking, though the others throw in a suggestion now and then.

Tech has his tablet laid in the center of the table, which projects a hologram of the entire city. "According to the latest reports," he says, "The most activity, albeit slightly, comes from his main headquarters, which is where his last known whereabouts was reported. Nega hasn't been spotted lately, but there have been confirmed sightings of robots coming and going from that building."

He taps the image of the headquarters, and it expands into the entire building's inner schematics. "Security is clearly the heaviest at the base, on the ground floor here," you point at the bottom floor, "So we need our best heavy hitters on hand to take them out, quickly as possible."

Silver nods. "That shouldn't be too hard," he says, "But it wouldn't be long before Nega catches wind of what's happening below him. He'll probably try to escape or send out a counterattack."

"That's where we come in," you smirk, "Once we get a clear path, the speedsters will grab a muscle or two and force our way to the top, where Nega's squatting. We'll hit him before he has a chance to react!"

"Do you have a back-up plan, just in case your cowboy rush-in technique doesn't work as well as you hope?" asks Shadow.

You hold up the burlap sack that contains the Chaos Emeralds. "Our go-to trump card, as usual," you reply.

"AND the Master Emerald."

You and everyone look over to Knuckles in shock. "Did I just hear that right...?" Rouge speaks, "YOU'RE volunteering your precious gem?"

The echidna narrows his eyes. "I'm well aware of the reason behind this final attack," he murmurs, "Tails wouldn't be in the condition he's in if I hadn't frozen and stayed with the emerald instead of protecting him. The least I could do is offer its power."

"With that amount, it should be more than plenty," Shadow smirks in response.

"And let's not leave out our own personal weaponry," Shade adds in, activating her Leech Blades as a visual.

"That's right!" Amy replies enthusiastically. Omega and Oydax join in by presenting their own built-in guns.

"This could really work then!" Silver chimes, optimism filling his face, "Okay Tech, call another meeting for an hour from now. We'll get as much of the Resistance we can to join in and fill everybody on the plan."

Roughly an hour later, word gets around of another Team Meeting. The group piles in the room around the table and fills in as much space as possible.

"A lot of you have already heard what happened to Tails," Silver starts, "And that is exactly why we need total cooperation and teamwork. To go off on your own will only cause catastrophe, and since we've only got about one percent left of the world, there's no way we can afford that. That's why you don't see Janae with us… She was put into solitary confinement because of her reckless endangerment. She thought she could go out on her own and take the title of bringing down Eggman Nega all by herself… only to make things worse.

"This isn't a one-man mission, everybody. We ALL need to work together as ONE… ESPECIALLY when it comes to our newest mission!"

The Resistance members look on in curiosity.

"Sonic nearly lost someone dear to him, which is why he's now determined to take out Nega with the rest of us. However, it wouldn't be good for him to do what Janae did… but he DID bring up very good points. We're not as forceful and determined as the Resistance was two-hundred years ago. I understand things change over time, as do Nega's resources… But if we're truly going to try and defeat the Eggman Empire once and for all, we've got to be willing to step our game up! THAT'S why we're entering an all-out battle to take down Eggman Nega once and for all!"

There are slight gasps from the crowd and looks of worry and confusion.

"Look guys," you cut in, "I know it sounds scary and different, but let's face facts: you're not getting any results, not the ones you want anyway."

Silver nods. "It takes a guy from the past who really knows how to take an Eggman down to know what to do," he says, "We devised a way to really weaken his forces, perhaps even more."

"No," you reply, "DEFINITELY even more."

The looks of the Resistance members change from worry to confidence.

"Are you all sick of an Eggman-infested world?"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's really fight and get that guy hard once and for all!"

"YEAH!" The room erupts in cheer and applause. Silver waits a moment for everyone to calm down, before he motions Tech to reactivate the hologram on his tablet.

"Okay, listen carefully," he announces, "Eggman Nega is most likely in his main headquarters in the north end of Metropolis. But we need to take down all four major sections of the city first. Before we start anything, we need to make and set up explosives that we can sneak into those sections. We'll need our stealthiest members to take care of that, plus a few fighters to cover them. This will delay and cripple any backup forces that could come after us when we rush Nega.

"Meanwhile, we'll need our best heavy hitters at the main HQ to take out security on the bottom level. You'll have to work quickly, though. The second Nega realizes what's going on, he'll make an escape."

"Chaos Control should come in handy, then," Shadow adds.

Silver smirks brightly at that. "Good thinking, Shadow," he replies, "Once things are clear enough, get us to Nega ASAP." He then turns to the rest of the room. "Okay, everybody, who's on board for this?"

Practically the entire room bursts out in cheers and hands volunteering to join.

"Great!" Silver turns to his wolf friend, "Tech, start assigning teams."

Tech immediately goes around assigning members of the Resistance to different teams; four for each quadrant of the city, and one team to barge into Nega's headquarters. Others are sent to the weapons room to start constructing bombs.

Tech assigns himself, Shade and Rouge to be part of the teams that will sneak into one of the quadrants, given their high rates of stealth, and himself for his weaponry knowledge. The rest of your group will be joining you on bombarding Eggman Nega.

After what seems like an eternity, the entire Resistance is ready to move out. You all march down the corridors that snake under Metropolis. Each team breaks off to their designated destination, and it's down to just you and your team as you finally approach the area in which Eggman Nega's main headquarters sits above.

Since you don't want to give any robots the chance to start their counterattacks, as per the plan, Omega is the first to go in. You nod to the massive robot. "Do your thing."

Omega uses his jets to shoot straight up, crashing through the ceiling and outside the front entrance. He immediately shoots off his guns, riddling the entrance guards with bullets and firepower. Oydax follows up, firing off his own built-in guns, until the front entrance is clear.

Shadow is next. He races up the hole and blows an opening into the entrance with a Chaos Blast.

"GO! GO! GO!" Silver shouts, as the rest of you charge up and into the entrance. As predicted, more robots and Badniks were charging in. You hold back, allowing the Muscles to go ahead and take out the biggest and the strongest, while most of you are able to take out others.

"Bottom-Level-Cleared!" Omega announced.

"Now, Shadow!" Silver commands.

Shadow closes his eyes and clenches his fist. You believe this is his way of channeling the chaos energy around him. You have all seven emeralds on you, so you figure teleporting you all from the ground floor to the top should be no problem.

"Chaos Control!"

Within a flash, you are all transported from below to a new room. Robots stand guard everywhere. In the center of the room stands a tall, strange looking machine.

And at the controls, Dr. Eggman Nega. Just the mere sight of him makes your blood start to boil, and your fists clench in anger. "Nega!" you screech.

He whips his head in shock at the sudden group of intruders. "What?!" he cries, "How is this possible?! I have guards everywhere! There's no way you could've broken in THIS easily!"

"You're dealing with the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog!" you shout in response, "I have my ways."

Shadow glares over at you. "Yes, because WE had nothing to do with it at all…" he snarks.

"It's no matter," Nega growls sinisterly, "You came just in time to witness my greatest feat yet! I would've rather you pests stayed out of my way, but you're beyond too late to stop me now!"

"Shove it, Nega!" you shout, taking a step forward, "You're gonna pay dearly for what you did to Tails!"

Nega eyes you and sneers. "You're mistaking me for my pathetic excuse for an ancestor, the original Dr. Eggman," he says, "Perhaps HE would've been intimidated by your attitude, but as for me…"

He slams a button on the console. The double doors behind you slide open and in marches an army of Heavy Hammers.

"I'm far too busy to even continue acknowledging your existence. Badniks, ATTACK!"

The Heavy Hammers, plus the robots already stationed in the room, charge at you and your group. They're ready to put up a fight…

But you are in no mood for any of this. You're putting an end to Eggman Nega right now.

You clench your fists and concentrate hard as you absorb the powers of the Chaos Emeralds that you had brought along hidden on you. You can already feel the immense power flowing through your body… but something seems different. This doesn't feel like the usual, righteous power that you use to take down the evil baddy of the week…

It feels like a whole different flow…

Something darker…

But you really don't mind it. Whatever destroys this hideous looking tub of lard that calls himself "Nega."

"Sonic! Hold off on the emeralds!" you hear Silver cry out behind you. But you choose to ignore him. You've played by his rules long enough. If he had even an OUNCE of an idea what he was doing, this war would've been done a long time ago.

You're finishing things up tonight.

You race around the room in a flash, bursting into every Badnik you see, regardless of who the opponent was. More try to race in, but you simply hold out your hand and let loose a massive blast of chaos power, incinerating any robot that would try to have entered…

You didn't realize your Super form could do this…. But you like it.

"Sonic, take it easy, will ya?!" Knuckles shouts.

"Shut up!" you scream, "I'm tired of all of you trying to hold me back. I don't know why you think taking it slow and safe is the way to go. I TOLD you! Going in and kicking ass is the way to get things done. But you all refused to listen!"

"Sonic-!" Amy cries out.

"I don't want to hear anything from YOU!" you hiss at the frightened pink hedgehog.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you realize you're being extremely harsh… But the forefront is telling you to finally let it all out… Your anger, your frustration…

Your lust for vengeance.

You turn back to Eggman Nega, who is nervously pounding on the keys on his control panel to the machine. You don't give him an instance to finish… You tear right into that machine and take it down to bits.

"Nooo!" Nega cries, "My emeralds!"

His emeralds…?

You don't worry about what he meant, and grab the collar of his shirt, staring him violently in the eyes. "You bastard…" you seethe.

"P... Please…" Nega wimpers, "Don't hurt me…!"

"COWARD!" you scream, throwing him hard into the wall. He slumps down, dazed and injured, but you snatch his collar right back up, "You hurt my friend… badly! You killed innocent people! You enslaved the entire world! You and your ANCESTORS! Specifically that rat-bastard, Eggman!" You tighten your fist, and a dark ball of energy forms. "Since he's not here to answer for his actions, I guess YOU'LL have to take his punishment…"

Before you can do anything, you find yourself frozen. Another source of power has locked you in place. Though you can't move, you manage to glance behind yourself to see Knuckles having the Master Emerald out. His arms are up, as if he is summoning its power…

"I've got him...!" he grunts.

"Drain that power out of him," Shadow orders, "This much darkness… Even I can't handle this..."

Drain you...?

Your own friends are actually trying to STOP you?! Oh no, we are NOT having that!

You feel the power of the Master Emerald trying to strip you of your power. You hang on as much as you can. Even though the powers of the M.E. are supposed to surpass those of the Chaos Emeralds, this newfound source is more intense… You struggle and concentrate to hang on as much as possible.

"Let it go, Sonic!" you hear Knuckles shout, "It's not worth it!"

The hell it wasn't… You concentrate harder, giving it all you have to keep what you've got, and push back the Master Emerald's energy.

"Don't… you dare… get… in… my WAY!" you scream as you unleash everything you have to throw off the Master Emerald. In response, you also let loose a powerful wave of energy, knocking everyone over to the ground, and Nega back into the wall. You stomp over and grab him once more. He is barely conscious and badly injured. He's far too easy to take out now…

This will be all too fun.

As you ball your fist to make another energy attack…

"Sonic!"

You're suddenly grabbed from behind in an all too familiar hold. You glare back angrily. "Amy," you seethe, "You really think NOW'S the time for another silly glomp?!"

"I'm not glomping you, Sonic!" Amy cries, looking up into your eyes, her own streaming tears. "I'm trying to talk sense into you! Please, get a hold of yourself! This isn't you! This isn't the Sonic we all know and love!"

"I don't care," you growl, "I'm sick of being the nice guy. I'm doing what it takes to kill this monster once and for all!"

"But don't do it by being a monster yourself!" Amy cries out once more. Her grip gets tighter. "You would never hurt someone while they're down, no matter how much they deserve it! Nega's down, Sonic! We got him! YOU got him! You can stop now..!"

You whip around angrily and snag Amy by the shoulders. "I'm not stopping when I'm this close!" you shout in her face, "Eggman's Empire tortured and ruined this world for two hundred years! Everyone lost family members and friends! I NEARLY LOST TAILS!"

"But he's not dead!" Amy screams, "He can still recover! And when he does, how is he going to feel about you killing Nega mercilessly like the same kinda monster HE was?!"

For a moment, you freeze. Your mind seems clear. You stare down at Amy who, although frightened, doesn't let up. She looks pleadingly at you in return. You think about her words…

Tails… Would he really approve of you behaving like this..?

You wouldn't know because Nega injured him… That's the whole reason behind this entire damn mission to begin with!

But is Amy right? Are you really going too far?

You continue to look down at Amy as she stares back at you in a hopeful manner. Those innocent eyes… the same ones that love you no matter what the condition was…

Despite all your anger and recent actions, she still loves you…

And you just screamed at her in her face…

… and tried to kill Eggman Nega while he was most vulnerable…

… What the hell is wrong with you? This isn't you at all! Yes, Nega badly wounded Tails, but you would never in your wildest dreams go this deep off the edge… Nor would you see your own friends as obstacles to overcome…

You don't know what has come over you, but you don't like it. At all. This needs to stop…

You suddenly don't feel so angry anymore. As a sense of calm pours into you, the power drains down, and you don't feel as energized as you were…

Amy smiles at you. "Sonic..!"

You look down at the younger hedgehog. "Amy… I…"

She quickly wraps her arms around your neck and holds you tightly. You hold her back in comfort. You were scared. Legit scared! You never let yourself go like that before, and you don't know how it happened. And frankly, it frightened you! You even felt tears streaming down your cheeks. That's how bad it was… You never like crying! Especially in front of a crowd… "Amy… I'm sorry… I don't know what happened to me…"

"It's okay, Sonic..."

BREEP BREEP BREEP

"SELF-DESTRUCT-MODE-ACTIVATED," a computerized voice rings throughout the room, "MAIN-LAB-ONE-TO-EXPLODE-IN-TEN-SECONDS."

You whip your head to see that Nega had pulled himself along the wall and at a control panel on a sectional that was hidden away initially. His palm rests on a red button, and the wall section, along with Nega and the control panel, starts turning away. He was making an escape!

"NO!" you scream as the chaos power suddenly surges back into your body. You thrust out your hand and freeze the wall section, and Nega, in place. "You're not going anywhere!" you seethe. All the while, the countdown gets lower…

"Sonic, stop!" Shadow shouts at you, but you ignore him.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" you scream, summoning all the chaos power around you to teleport.

But something is wry… There's more than just the usual seven Chaos Emeralds… And not just the Master Emerald…

From the busted machine, you notice seven more emeralds glowing and rising up…

"They're finished… THEY'RE ACTUALLY FINISHED!" Nega screams.

You have no idea what he's talking about or what's even going on. You just happened to hear the number "ONE" being announced, indicating the inevitable self-destruction of the entire building.

So you release one last Chaos Control in an attempt to save everybody…

Everyone and everything is frozen around you, and a strange, black hole rips open above. You feel yourself being pulled into the unknown, along with everyone around you…

Until another bright white light flashes around you…

And you find yourself and all the others right outside Nega's main headquarters. Right after that, the ground quakes violently as a loud explosion rings out. The building above you bursts into flames, and you suddenly feel yourself being pulled away as quickly as possible.

You literally have no idea what's going on around you after that, as everything gets dark and you fall out of consciousness…

"Sonic…?"

It's still dark. You have no idea where you are, or if you had just even heard someone calling your name. "Eyugh…?" is all you can muster as a response…

"Are you okay, Sonic?"

That voice… "Tails..?"

"Yeah, it's me…"

You still have no comprehension of what's happening. "Are… we dead…?"

"Nope. We're alive."

You feel a hand slip into yours. You still have no idea where you are, but your senses start to come back. You're lying down, perhaps on a bed. And there is definitely a hand holding your own.

"We're both okay, Sonic… just open your eyes and see."

You do as you're told and slowly manage to open your eyes. You're in what looks like a hospital room… a familiar hospital room…

Tails' room!

You move your head to the left, and sure enough, there's Tails, laying in his bed, with yours propped up right next to his. His face is turned towards yours, eyes tired but awake, smiling warmly at you. You think this is a dream… but you definitely feel his hand squeezing yours.

"Good to see you're all right, Sonic…" he murmurs quietly.

You smile, as your eyelids get heavier, and sleep is about to take over once more. "You too, buddy…"

HEAD OVER TO PART 4A - CHAPTER 33