I'm back now and boy, will this chapter be a treat for you. Before we start responding to reviews; I wanna point out that in DxD, its never specified or shown how a persons memory is wiped clean through a Devils or a Fallen Angels magic. We are only told it happens... Just remember that as you read this chapter...

From Captain Imaginat:

(AN: Essays', and 2 Xover requests)

Bakuganman: I have no idea what Aesthetica Of A Rogue Hero, Freezing or Black Clover is; though I have heard of The Testament Of Sister New Devil. Back to your reviews; your repeating the same questions, but different ways. You even posted the exact same review twice, so I removed one of them since there was no point in keeping both.

1) Devil overpopulation: Devils can't conceive, at least not easily. They can do the deed, but can't incubate the eggs 100% of the time, which is why they reincarnate others. They also use 'pieces' based on chess (15 each, the King piece is excluded), and only few select Devils can have them. And as said last time (if you paid attention), most of them have been killed off prior to the series beginning, so overpopulation isn't an issue. In a nutshell: they're TRYING to repopulate.

2) Devil territories in human world: Good question. This is never specified in the anime. It might be in the light novels, but I'm not sure.

3) Rias' judgement/treatment to Asia: I think this should be pretty obvious. She was a member of the church, and Rias is a Devil. Does that mean she should have left Asia behind? No. But in the same token according to herself, she couldn't due to the properties of her magic circles. Also, Holy stuff is a weakness for Devils, and Rias said Nuns help Exorcists. So how was Rias supposed to know Asia was a good person who's also willing to use her power to help not just humans; but Angels, Fallen and Devils? This also leads to:

4) ORC's treatment of Asia: They're Devils, not psychics. How could they know about Asia's backstory if she never brought it up? Even if they did think it was wrong, they still owed Rias a debt because she saved their lives in some way, when everyone else wanted them dead. Double-Standard? That's one way to describe it, but humans do it too.

5) Rias and Kiba: While she knew about his past, again; being a Devil does not equal being a psychic. The only reason she let Xenovia and Irina in was because during their debut, they wanted to speak in a peaceful manner. Rias even asked if something was wrong with Kiba, and he lied to her face, then she went to Sona for advice once Kiba didn't show up the next day. All of this was clearly shown.

6) Riser and Rias: Again, this is clearly shown. They made an agreement if she won the Rating Game, he'd leave Rias alone. Even though he's mistreating her, this goes back to the population thing, though it actually has some politics in it as well. According to my sources (legal Japanese friends); Japan still does arranged marriages, though it's rare nowadays. Bottom line; Rias technically lost (granted, she gave up for Issei's safety), and Devils take agreements VERY seriously, so there's not much that could be said anyway. Of course, Sirzechs gave Issei another chance, so that's one good apple in the Gremory family tree.

7) Akeno and her family: It was only Akeno's uncle I believe who was gonna kill her, not her entire family (if this is the case in the light novels, I don't know). They didn't know her mother had 'done the deed' with a Fallen Angel, which in this universe is frowned upon. She escaped thankfully, but witnessed her mom dying as a result. When uncle Himejima found her again, that's when Rias and a member of her family stepped in and made a deal to save her life.

8) Erazor Djinn: No need to answer this one. You'll see why in a minute.

9) Human/Devil relationship status: Despite what I just said above, I think in the novels, they are on good terms thanks to Issei's work. I could be wrong on the details, so don't quote me on it. As for the past wars you mentioned throughout human history... your WAY PAST overthinking it. Could they have done something? Who knows? I'm not the writer of the series, just making an unofficial Xover with Sonic the Hedgehog. Again like I've said before: DxD is not for everyone.

From Chronos0305:

Wait, so the Dxd world has its own version of Dark Gaia?

From Guest:

wait,there a alternate dark gaia in the dxd world!? did not see that coming. that would mean a alternate light gaia/chip is in the dxd world.

From Z-Frost:

I hope Sonic tells them about Dark Gaia

Bakuganman: Since you three had similar reviews, figured I'd answer them at once. Yes, their is an alternate Dark Gaia. As for an alternate Light Gaia... well, I can't spoil you guys ALL the time. ;)

From psytoro7:

Oh, yeah! That was alotta fun! Why'd that nice girl never call us back for a sequel?'

nice call back to the progressive ad,i really liked that. thought if am right,sonic must have been looking for auto insurance for the speedstar given SSASR, SSRT and STR. do you think so too?

Also like that you use the whole part of sonic going around the gym like in the movie in the hotel room. thought question,had you seen the movie? is it good? just tell if it's good but don't give any spoilers,i have not seen it yet.

Bakuganman: Heh, there's no coverage for HIS kind of speed. The second part of this review was answered in the PM I sent you, but for the rest of the readers: yes I have, and yes it is. It broke world records after all, so it did something right... side-rant, some things were kinda rushed; but it was faithful to the source material, so I forgive it, considering they also had to rework to script as well after the backlash.

From SuperSaiyanFever:

Sorry, Rias. Kiba may be fast, but that hedgehog is like the wind: unpredictable. You never had a chance at catching him. Since he got away, he gets to come and go at HIS leisure, right? You KNOW NOW that he's way too fast for even your Knight. By the way, dude, I think the Evil Pieces react to someone's initial potential when being used to reincarnate someone. Rias probably had to start with one Pawn Piece and, if it wasn't enough, work up the ladder to find what does. Knights and Bishops are both worth three Pawns, Rooks are worth five Pawns, and the Queen is worth nine Pawns. Even if the reincarnatee, for lack of better term, is allowed to make the choice to join, the Pieces themselves decide what benefits they receive in the long run. It's like Sora's Dive to the Heart in Kingdom Hearts I, II, and III. Power of the Warrior raises offensive abilities faster, Power of the Guardian raises defensive abilities faster, and Power of the Mystic raises magical abilities faster.

Bakuganman: Yes, that's how the Evil Pieces operate standardly. According to the maker of them, there's several more secrets they possess. Which when the Chaos Emeralds emerge, they'll *cough, cough* nevermind.

From Guest-Questioner:

Okay, so, virtually speaking, ALL the game's of the past Sonic's, are going to be mentioned.

Well, one game, had in-fact, involved all of space-time, time-space, whatever,

ALL of the Sonic The Hedgehog, life-time, from the, ORIGINAL, up the 20th year anniversary.

WAIT, 20th year, THE QUESTION!

IS sonic, in this story, considered about the same age,

as some of them, sixteen to eighteen, OR, is he at twenty-ish, considering all the history?

Next question,

Special-Zone's, are virtually sealed domain's much like those rating game arena's, so,

How exactly would that work here?

Third Question: Did one of sonic's own dialogue paragraph's, just use foul language?

I can understand the DxD side swearing up a storm, but SONIC even slipping in ONE or two word's,

thats freaky!

Bakuganman: I think I remember you now, your from my Ben10/Rosario series... unless you happened to just coincidentally name yourself the same thing. To answer your age question, think of this conversation from the comics:

Fiona Fox: So, Blue... how old are you now?

Rotor Walrus: Well, if we take his trip to space into account...

Sonic: Let's call me a teen from now til forever.

This will also be referenced later on. Like I said last chapter, Special Zones and etc. won't make appearances for now. Currently, it's all about world building and having Sonic adjust to being in this universe. And yes, Sonic swore. Can ya blame the guy, though? He was pretty justified though, considering the circumstances.

From Guest:

Nice chapter man, this story is really kicking ass so far but I've got one question.

With your version of Sonic, are you combining elements of both the games and the Archie Comics? Cause you've made some references to people like Mammoth Mogul, Enerjak, Scourge etc. Not that it's a bad thing anyway since I love the Archie Comics

Bakuganman: Yes, and then some.

From Guest:

LMFAO!
That Gym Scene was Golden!
I can't even... XD

Bakuganman: It was a scene I most certainly had fun with.

From Grimmjow Taichou:

(AN: Long review.)

Bakuganman: Hey, Shadow? Can I borrow some more bullets?... Yes, I know you need that 4th Chaos Emerald, but still...

1) Rias: Seems like your taking about canon Rias. I kinda see your point, but at the same time, Issei was standing on Death's doorstep with a gaping hole in his chest. I don't think he COULD have said yes or no, even if he wanted to. The only reason she showed up was cause Issei accidentally summoned her, and she assumed she wanted her to save his life. Does it say that in the scene? No. But its the context of the scene.

2) Asia and Shadow: Can't answer this for a multitude of reasons.

3) Ichiei Ishibumi buffing Devils: No idea. I'm not the guy, but his nickname is "The God of Breasts". (I "wonder" why?)

4) Xenovia and Rossweisse becoming Devils: For Xenovia, she learned some hard truth about the DxD-verse. For Rosseweisse, she was left behind and offered to be a member, which she accepted.

5) Sonic a peerage member?: Did you not pay attention to the intro chapter? He is NOT becoming a Devil, there's no need for him to be.

From GOdofParadox3s (left 2 reviews, and a third as SoulWorkLegacies):

Wonderful Chapter the story is really coming together and keeps getting interesting with the interactions of Sonic and the supernatural world of DxD. Mostly at the absurdity of Sonic's abilities easily overwhelming theirs with little resistance and the conclusion that he is much more powerful then he looks. Issei is subconsciously awakening the Boosted Gear early and as a Human no less is also a nice touch, just goes to show how much a affect Sonic has on him now. This story is gonna be a real treat once the Boosted Gear is fully awakened. Quick questions real quick: Will Sonic's Light Speed Abilities be able to harm Devils much like Light and Holy weapons, or is like purely just the speed and force that affects them? Do you by chance accept Fan Art for your story?

This is getting so good not only seeing ORC fail miserably trying to catch Sonic, but now starting to see the kind of power he really has and that he can devastate them easily. Issei being alive and Human then tapping into the Boosted Gear's power after his second encounter of Raynare is bloody brilliant and shows the changes that Sonic caused are having a affect on the world of DxD.

Bakuganman: SHADOW! MORE AMMO!

1) Sonic's Light Speed Abilities: ... I'ma be honest with ya'll, that's the only thing I didn't consider throughout my 3 years of planning this story. After reworking the script once you brought it up, its only gonna be distance and speed-based. By that, I mean its purely Sonic attacking at light speed, not necessarily light itself. It'll hurt, most definitely; and it'll weaken a Devil greatly, but it won't be entirely fatal either.

2) Fan Art: Wow. I'm honored. No one's ever offered me that before. If anyone else wants to do this, feel free; credit'll go to you! Doing some basic math; there's about 40 faving/following this, so lets assume half know what their doing. That's about 20 possible fan arts. Good thing I have a Discord... maybe I should start a Twitter soon...

From ptl (sneak peak chapter):

Okay, unless time travel, parallel universes and fusion universes aren't involved, THIS is very mindscrewy.

Bakuganman: That's kind of the point of the scene, even when you see the full context of it now.

From Guest:

Will Sonic ever join the Occult Research Club.

Bakuganman: Read this stories summary and intro chapter for the answer.

Chapter 7 - Boss Battle: Fallen Angel Raynare

POV - Raynare:

-EARLIER-

From a perch in a tree, Raynare was watching those silly Devils chase the Hedgehog around campus like a game of cat and mouse. Now THIS was entertainment, especially the part when he covered them all in dirt by spinning along the ground! That was hilarious!... But why'd he'd lead them into a gym for?

That's of course, when she had an idea. If Sonic was busy here, then that human kid would be easy pickings. Using her magic, she teleported away to track down her original purpose for coming to this town in the first place. She managed to see Rias opening one of her magic circles, and sensed the Power of Destruction energy from it... guess that rat ran his last marathon.

-PRESENT TIME-

With Issei alone with Raynare, he didn't stand a chance. He tried running, but that only got a spear logged in his back from a evilly-grinning Raynare. FUCK! That hurt! He fell down due to the pain, and the spear vanished the second he touched the floor. 'N-no... not this shit again...' Issei said to himself. He wanted to say that out loud, but his body didn't appear to have enough strength to carry it from his vocal cords to his mouth.

"Nothing personal, just business" said Raynare, raising another spear above her head. She could just wait for him to bleed out, but figured it'd be more effective this time to just resolve the issue now. Once she did, she heard a roaring sound head her way. Somehow, she knew who it was and while she was annoyed he wasn't killed by the Infamous Gremory, she smiled evilly again. Issei will bleed out eventually, and she DID have a score to settle with the rodent... might as well kill two Devils with one light spear.

POV - Sonic:

Sonic was still sonic booming through the streets, but decided he ran far enough and stopped... weird. He just so happened to stop at the very place this all began, the park fountain. Regardless, he stretched out his legs and arms after a good run. "And the crowd goes wild. Sonic wins again" he said.

He didn't expect hear clapping... slow, deliberate clapping.

Looking the sounds direction, he saw the same girl Issei was out on a 'date' with, slowly clapping her hands while sitting on the fountains edge. "Bravo. Bravo, little weasel" said Raynare, stopping her clapping after finishing her response. Ignoring her mis-naming his species, Sonic took a battle stance, in case she tried anything. "I must say, your speeds quite impressive. Not many Youkais' can do that, its almost... otherworldly" Raynare said, complimenting his powers. She also get up from her seat and took a few steps toward Sonic.

"What? You want me to join your peerage too?" Sonic snapped at her, which she laughed at.

"Please. I'm not as desperate as Devils are. But what you CAN do for me..." said Raynare, a magic circle opening in her hand. Sonic kept his guard up, those circles could do way past crazy shit, but he was prepared to dodge whatever energy blast she was gonna fire. "Is forget" she finished, outstretching the arm that held the magic circle.

Forget? Why would she ask...?

SHINE!

All of a sudden, that magic circle released a blinding light, so Sonic instinctively covered his eyes with his hands above his face, but still tried to see whatever she was doing. However, the light kept getting brighter and brighter, forcing him to look away and squint until...

FLASH!

After that flash of light, Sonic opens his eyes to find himself on a buildings roof. "What the? How did...?" Sonic asked himself. How'd he get here? He was in the park a second ago. Did that girl teleport him away? Whatever the case was, he had to get off this roof and back to Issei should she decide she wanted to go after him again. He dashed off the roof...

...

...

...

(AN: Optional music - Crisis City, either original or Generations remix of either Act. Original is recommended.)

Only for the city to be flooded! "WHOA!" Sonic shouted, not expecting the city to be half-underwater! Luckily for him, some road was still afloat and allowed him to gaze around. How did this happen?

When in doubt, start running. And that's exactly what he did after twisting his arms around his body in a wind-up fashion, going across the water. "What happened here? How did Kuoh spring a giant leak?" The Hedgehog asked himself again, though he could help but feel... he's been through this before. Running through a destroyed building...

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!

While still running, Sonic looked to his left... and the color drained from his face...

What he saw in the distance... was a golden Hedgehog flying around a giant serpent/dragon made of water, trying to zoom in on a glowing brain located on the serpents/dragons head. "No way... is that... me?" Sonic asked himself, now a little concerned. What was going on here? Why was he seeing himself fight Perfect Chaos? It was here he realized he wasn't Kuoh Town anymore... he was in Station Square! But how could Perfect Chaos and Super Sonic be battling? Sonic WAS Super Sonic!

Well... they were separate entities one time, but still...

Just then, Perfect Chaos' spikes glowed, and flung energy in all directions. The Super Sonic in the distance didn't appear too affected, only stunned him for a few moments if one hit him. Sonic on the other hand...

Sonic: GAAAAH!

BOOM!

One of the energy spikes flew his way, making a hole where Sonic just was. Sure he beat Perfect Chaos without a Super Form once before, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get seriously hurt by the God of Destruction's attacks. Heck! He blew up an Egg Carrier with just one shot! Running out of the building and across the water again, a reptilian claw arose out of the surface of the water, and tried swiping at Sonic. He just barely avoided that by going around it.

That was new to Sonic. Did Perfect Chaos always have that ability?

Sonic ran up a building that leaned sideways like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, on the leaning side mind you. Once he got up to the top, a tendril of water burst upwards and smashed clean through the center of the building, where Sonic was just in front of. This made the building start falling apart, forcing Sonic to jump from debris to debris. There was part of Speed Highway still intact, so Sonic aimed for that. Landing safely on what's left of the Highway, Sonic noticed something strange... "Feathers? From a bird maybe?" He asked.

Indeed, there were black feathers on the road. It was likely they were from a bird(s), a monster like Perfect Chaos could scare off a flock easily. Taking off running again, Sonic headed down the almost-destroyed Highway. Somehow, he sensed something behind him. Looking back, he then quick-stepped to avoid an glowing object that shot past him.

It was a purple spear of light.

Raynare was flying behind him, but then sped up to fly above and appear in front of him some distance away to throw 4 more spears. Sonic right quick-stepped away from the first one, jumped to the far left to avoid the 2nd, right quick-stepped again for the 3rd, and jumped over the 4th. She turned herself around to watch where she was going, and flew off. "Hey! Where ya going?" Sonic said, chasing after her. They got to the edge of the destroyed Highway, which was now a dead end thanks to the building in front of them. While Raynare was free to continue on and fly down to the left, Sonic was able to follow her by launching himself toward that same building and run along it.

Raynare threw more light spears, 6 this time, but they embedded themselves in the buildings side rather than blew up. Sonic's done this plenty of times when there were bombs in his path, so all he had to do was quickstep. Looking up (or to the side in this case since he was in the middle of parkour), Sonic saw another of Perfect Chaos' tendrils go for him. It missed thankfully, but plowed through the building at the same. Raynare dove downwards, Sonic followed by jumping off the building and Boosting across the water again.

And was it just Sonic, or was Raynare faster this time around than when they first met?

As Sonic chased her, she began tossing more light spears at him, but did so like when Silver and him had that duel in that burning city during the Time Eater fiasco, following the Hedgehogs movements and launching spears a varying speeds. Sometimes they were fast, or slowed down a bit to try and catch Sonic off guard, or even 2 in a rapid session (which admittedly almost got him the first time she tried it).

Raynare went to the right, either because she wanted to or due to a building ahead that collapsed because of one of Perfect Chaos' energy spikes going astray. It was a big building, so it caused quite a big wave that Sonic had to outrun while STILL dodging the Fallen Angels light spears as he chased her down. Even this was a little too much for Sonic. He could catch up to Raynare and give her a well-deserved Homing Attack, that he was sure of... but it was hard to focus on that while ALSO trying to avoid the environment as it was destroyed by an angry mutated Chao.

Again, WHY was Perfect Chaos even here? Teleporting to Station Square was one thing, but how could that also bring back an entity from Sonic's world that only appears in a time of crisis?

After outrunning the semi-tidal wave, Raynare and Sonic happened to run in-between the battle of Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos. Super Sonic was coming in hot, and that's when Perfect Chaos summoned tornadoes of water to defend itself. Sonic barely managed to avoid his Super Self as he blew by in a bolt of blue lighting. The blue Hedgehog was directly on the side of Super Sonic at that time. If Sonic was a second slower...

That's also when Sonic felt the aftershock of Super Sonic ramming into Perfect Chaos' brain, along with the ear-splitting roar of pain the monster released. Though now that Sonic had gotten close, "Are they even aware I'm here?" Asked Sonic. It appeared that both Perfect Chaos and Super Sonic were unaware that a second version of him was coming by chasing a Fallen Angel, considering the yellow Hedgehog almost ran into Sonic.

As Sonic continued to give chase, he saw Perfect Chaos reform in the distance. This was getting too weird. Why was this happening? Why was he chasing a new enemy, in the middle of one of his toughest battles? And how was he watching it up close and personal? Raynare began throwing light spears again, which Sonic evaded. She then made another left, then a right, heading straight for Perfect Chaos. Super Sonic was already bolting forward, and that's when Perfect Chaos opened his mouth...

Aw no. Please don't be the...

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAST!

Raynare was able to pull away since she was flying, but Sonic couldn't do that! He couldn't stop running either, otherwise he'd lose friction he had from running and sink into the water! Thinking fast, he went to the left and ran along a sideways road, the beam almost grazing his location. Perfect Chaos' energy beam was avoided, with Sonic and Raynare circling around him. The water God then blew up again due to Super Sonic circling up his body and damaging his brain a second time, releasing another pain-filled roar.

Sonic kept Boosting after Raynare, and they ended up on a straight road, now was Sonic's chance! Speeding up, he then jumped, and gave Raynare that well-deserved Homing Attack. Grunting in pain, she lost her balance and started skidding across the road (again, like Silver during the Time Eater incident).

FLASH!

Another flash of light occurred after Raynare skidded for 3 seconds, forcing Sonic to shield his eyes again. When it died down, Sonic felt wind rush in his face. Looking around, he was on a familiar strip of platforms, cannons aligned to fire at him if he gets too close. "Isn't this Eggman's battle ship fleet? I thought we destroyed it" Sonic said to himself, as he recognized this location. It was Final Fortress, the sight of the battle with the Egg Emperor and then later with Metal Madness/Overload.

Raynare flew above and beyond, tossing a light spear, but Sonic had already started running after her again. That spear however, exploded on contact with the platform, making a gaping hole. If he fell through, he was in for a LONG drop.

"Your not getting away this time!" He called after her. As he chased Raynare, he had to avoid her light spears, while simultaneously now dodging cannon fire from the turrets. She then flew up to a giant platform some distance away which Sonic couldn't follow... that is, if it wasn't for the convenient dash panels at the end of the path. After launching to the giant platform by using one of them, Raynare threw a hailstorm of light spears, which Sonic easily dodged.

She flew off to the next path and having seen Sonic use the dash panel, she threw one light spear from each hand onto those panels, shorting them out. What she didn't expect was Sonic thinking fast, and using the red pole, the Fallen One having assumed it was just a flagpole and therefore, useless to Sonic. Immediately Boosting towards it, Sonic spun up the pole and performed a Tornado Jump. Upon getting to the top of it, he launched himself at Raynare.

It was a direct hit! She grunted again and began falling from the sky, but recovered. As Raynare flew off again, Sonic noticed ahead was the Egg Emperor itself and...

"Tails?... Knuckles?... And me again? What the heck is going on?" Sonic asked, as the Egg Emperor began to raise its sword. Aw great...

"Take this!"

A vertical slash! Team Sonic went to the left, while Sonic quick-stepped to the right.

"Take this!"

A horizontal slash! Both Sonic and Team Sonic jumped.

"Take this!"

A second vertical slash! Team Sonic went to the right, with Sonic quick-stepping left.

"Take this!"

A second horizontal slash! Both Sonic and Team Sonic slid.

"HA! HA! HAAAA!"

The Egg Emperor then launched a barrage of homing missiles. They didn't lock onto Sonic, only Team Sonic, but our blue friend still had to avoid the explosions of missiles that missed their intended targets. Testing a theory (and to catch up to a certain Fallen Angel), Sonic shot ahead of Team Sonic and the Egg Emperor, and looked back... just like Perfect Chaos and Super Sonic from before, they didn't acknowledge his presence whatsoever. This was getting VERY strange, even for Sonic; considering all the crazy stuff that's happened to him since the 90's.

Raynare tossed 2 light spears into the dash panels again that lead to the next ship. She didn't do anything about it the Power Gong that was at the center, thinking it was just a decoration or something. All Sonic had to do was kick it, and he was sent soaring above Raynare; which he the took the opportunity to Home Attack her again, knocking her out of the sky a second time! Just before she could crash though...

FLASH!

Now after a third light flash, Sonic found himself in a city of some kind, with lights everywhere. "What the? Stardust Speedway? But it only appears one month every year" said Sonic, starting to run off again. How was this possible? Stardust Speedway was a location on Little/Miracle Planet, but it only appears to orbit Mobius for one mouth every year. If Sonic came to Issei's world with the power of overloaded Chaos Emeralds, how the heck did Raynare teleport them all the way here?!

"Go ahead... keep trying... you'll forget eventually..." Raynare's voice echoed, seemingly from everywhere. But why? Sonic then heard something behind him, it sounded like a jet engine. Looking to see what it was...

BUZZZZZZZZZT!

Sonic: Metal Sonic?!

ZAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Metal Sonic almost shocked Sonic with his Ring Spark Field, though Sonic dashed off, already anticipating that attack. Strange, isn't it?

"What's he doing here?" Sonic asked himself as he ran down the highway. As he ran, Metal Sonic caught up and flew alongside him, and started ramming into streetlamps, knocking them in Sonic's path. Thankfully, all Sonic had to do was Spin Dash through them. To think this trick worked on him when he was younger...

Flying ahead, Metal Sonic started spinning in a corkscrew-fashion, sparking up again. Sonic knew this attack well, his V. Maximum Overdrive Attack, which can even outpace Sonic for a few seconds. Metal Sonic flew at his organic counterpart, also destroying some of the road in the process. Sonic jumped, barely making it over the deadly attack. He expected Metal Sonic to not come back immediately, as a maneuver that powerful used allot of Metal Sonic's energy reserves; but color Sonic surprised when Metal Sonic DID in fact reappear behind him via flight. Sonic jumped up to higher roads, which there were 3 in total.

BWONG! BWONG!

Metal Sonic flew immediately to the top, but then gave confused beeping noises. He lost sight of Sonic, but where did he...?

BWONG! SLAM!

Sonic Home Attacked Metal Sonic, sending him rolling across the road. Sonic didn't jump up to the 3rd one right away, fooling Metal Sonic, who assumed the blue Hedgehog would get to the top. Metal Sonic wasn't done just yet though, so he followed the fleeing hedgehog after making some beeping noises that implied pain and 'Really? I fell for that?'

"You know everything I'm gonna do, but so do I... strange, isn't it?" Sonic joked, as he ran into a tunnel with Metal Sonic close behind. The robot fired his chest laser at the organic Hedgehog, which was a beam of energy. Sonic had to speed up again to evade, but he noticed the blast didn't exactly from the robots chest. Rather, it came from in front of the chest... from a purple glyph. "Wait a minute" said Sonic suspiciously, as Metal Sonic matched Sonic's speed to catch up.

Sonic ran along the tunnel wall, then on the ceiling, where he Spin Attacked Metal Sonic and knocked him down again. As the robotic doppelganger skidded ahead, he began to change and shift... and became a female with raven-black wings, who flew down and out of the tunnel. "Playing dress up, are we?" Sonic joked again, but his only response was a light spear thrown at him, which he avoided. "Perfect Chaos. Dark Gaia. A monster that tears through time on my birthday... you supernaturals don't talk much, do ya?" Sonic continued, going through a loop-dee-loop. Raynare of course, just flew past it.

After tossing 2 more easily avoidable light spears, Raynare dove downwards towards the city below. Sonic followed her by skydiving. She would throw light spears at him, but all he had to do was slow himself down and then speed up after her. Interestingly, they ended up in front of Wacky Workbench, but Raynare fled for the outskirts of town. Sonic ran after her, but then she did something he didn't expect... she tossed a light spear into a building, making it crumble down after the spear exploded... OVER 2 YOUNG FLICKIES!

Sonic had to ditch his attempt at chasing the Demonic Angel to save the small animals just before the building collapsed. Setting the two now-safe animals down, he frowned at the fleeing Raynare. She tried to slow him down by putting innocent lives in danger. That bitch! "Grrrr! Get back here!" Sonic yelled at her with a growl, and then took off running after her again. Sonic isn't easily bothered, but when somebody willingly tries to hurt somebody else...

More light spears, and even an energy blast from a glyph was fired at him this time. Two more times, Raynare would aim at some buildings and try to crush unsuspecting innocent animals to slow Sonic down. While it did somewhat, it didn't help that said "Youkai" she was trying to delay could break the sound barrier at his leisure. If anything, it just made Sonic madder. Raynare tried a different tactic and opened a portal, though Sonic managed to follow her by jumping through just before it closed.

They ended chasing each other out in Palmtree Panic, towards the chain Eggman used to hold Little/Miracle Planet in place. Raynare began flying down to Mobius with Sonic close behind. Hell no! She was NOT going to his world! He hopped from link to link, even skipping a few to get close enough to Raynare. She threw light spears again and honestly, they were a little tougher to avoid since Sonic was using the chains itself as a path, otherwise he'd be going for a swim in Never Lake.

After a few close calls, Sonic got in another Homing Attack, sending Raynare into the waters below. As she fell from the sky...

FLASH!

Sonic was riding on a magic carpet, towards a beautiful palace. "Ok... now Arabian Nights?... This is WAY past déjà vu" Sonic commented as he jumped off the carpet after getting close enough and landed in the palace, running down the long pathway. Actually, this was the exact spot where he fought...

POOF!

"Hummph!"

A large purple and buff male with a sword in his left hand appeared from a puff of purple smog, swinging the sword straight down at Sonic. Nothing he couldn't avoid. "Aw, not my good buddy Erazor. We had such good times together" Sonic said, keeping up with Erazor Djinn (who was most likely another illusion by Raynare).

Erazor Djinn went to the left, and slid his sword across the floor. All Sonic had to do was jump and hit Erazor a few times in the head with a Homing Attack. Sadly, Sonic only got one attack in due to Erazor blocking it with his sword. Sonic wasn't harmed by this, just thrown back. Erazor then tried a V-Slash and when that didn't work, he did a Z-Slash instead. It was a little harder, but Sonic avoided that too and hit the evil genie again. He tried Homing Attacking again, but it was blocked the same as before.

Raynare's illusion almost dropped with that one. Her real self, though enlarged, appeared for a brief second as she/he held her head, as if she was woozy. She recovered and snarled at Sonic, shaking her head back and forth once, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Erazor/Raynare then reappeared some distance away while staying out of Sonic's reach, looking like she would charge at him. The Blue Blur mentally groaned, even he had trouble with this attack. Time Break would be really useful right about now...

Erazor/Raynare charged forward. Sonic jumped and combined his momentum with a Homing Attack, knocking his enemy back. In doing so, Erazor/Raynare's body began giving off small explosions, the genie/Fallen loudly moaning in pain in the process. "Maybe you should try a genie in a bottle next time" Sonic quipped, mentioning another genie he'd fought before. This however caused yet another...

FLASH!

Sonic found himself standing on a twisting structure that was built to look like a long snake. This was a section in the ruins of Mystic Jungle. From a red portal that made a weird sound, appeared a Jackal wearing a mask and glowing in red aura. It was Infinite, an enemy that Sonic did have trouble with a while back, though that Ruby in his chest made things mondo unfair.

"Why won't you forget?!" Raynare's voice echoed again, sounding a tad bit annoyed. Infinite began floating backwards, baiting Sonic with a 'come at me' gesture with his fingers.

"More like: why'd you pick the Masked Crybaby?" Sonic asked back, starting to run after Infinite (Shadow mentioned the crybaby thing after telling his introduction with the Jackal after the Virtual War was over). He didn't get a response, not that he expected one.

This battle played out much like the original one did, with Sonic Boosting after Infinite/Raynare, while avoiding touching those freaky energy cubes. Infinite/Raynare did throw some red orbs at him, a disguise for her light spears probably, but they weren't too big of an issue. After landing 3 hits on the Jackal, he teleported away to the end of the stage. In the air, 7 Infinites' appeared in a formation like bowling pins in a bowling alley, with Infinite/Raynare in the back. Sonic decided to do something a little different this time, and stopped. All of them cocked an eyebrow at Sonic, who stopped just before using the large convenient springs. He began spinning in place... what were those particles of light? And why was he glowing like that after he stopped spinning?

"Ready!" Said Sonic, NOW taking the spring path. Infinite/Raynare and the clones got their guards up, what was he planning? After Sonic got in range...

Sonic: GO!

In the blink of an eye, the clones were wiped out, and Infinite/Raynare was struck before he/she could react. Sonic had performed his Light Speed Attack, something that no one had found a way to block. The Fallen Angels disguise was once again broken as she fell from the air.

FLASH!

Sonic was now falling from the sky, but landed in a fiery zone of some kind. There was an entire city on fire, and fire was in the sky itself. As he ran down the road, he recognized this place immediately...

ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAR!

FLOOOOOOOSH!

Though the roar of an unearthly creature and a stream of fire from above (which Sonic avoided) also helped. This creature was dragon-like in appearance, had horns on its head and had a rocky-looking body... though it's neck and limbs appeared to be made of magma. It also had 2 pairs of wings and a tail made of magma as well, but no feet. It was the Ifrit, and this was its home dimension, the Chaotic Inferno Zone.

Sonic hoped to God Raynare wouldn't tap into its mind control powers... that was one of Sonic's most embarrassing moments coupled with being roboticized by Eggman, considering he resisted mental manipulation from psychic goldfish on one occasion, and when the sun goes down on another.

The Ifrit/Raynare launched a few fireballs from behind Sonic, who sensed them and dodged accordingly. The Ifrit/Raynare then charged at Sonic after swooping down, attempting to bite/ram into him. Timing his jump just right, Sonic was over the Ifrit's head and... "TERIAAAAA!"

POW!

Sonic kicked the Ifrit's weak point with all the strength in his legs, causing the interdimensional monster to roar in pain, and slide across the road. It began to shake its head to shake off the daze, and then got up by using its wings as feet then leapped in the air with them. Before it took flight again, Sonic managed to hop on its rocky back and ride on it. "YEEEEEEEEE-HAW!" Sonic said as the dragon-like being then thrashed and spun around like an animatronic bull to try and throw Sonic off, only wilder.

After that failed, the Ifrit/Raynare just turned its neck around like an owl and blasted Sonic with fire. In doing so, its head was once again in Sonic's reach so after dashing away from the flames, Sonic Spin Attacked it. The force of having its weak point hit again made the interdimensional dragon dazed again, allowing Sonic to use his Bounce Attack/Bound Jump. This dealt even more damage to the already dazed dragon, and caused the illusion of it to fade and a falling Raynare take its place. Both the Fallen Angel and Hedgehog fell towards the ground below, but didn't even get that far down because...

FLASH!

Sonic found himself on top of another building of another burning city, though small bird-like creatures flying past him let him know where... or rather when... he was. Nevertheless, he took off running, using the dash panel to launch himself at a road across the lava-filled city that was made into a loop-dee-loop.

"GRRRRR! JUST FORGET ALREADY!" Roared Raynare's echoing voice, now sounding very angry.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you? A Hedgehog NEVER forgets!" Sonic shot back as he ran through the loop. He was aiming for the next building but after glass windows between 2 buildings suddenly shattered as soon as Sonic passed, a purple glyph popped out in front of him out of nowhere.

He suddenly found himself facing Raynare, who was floating in front of him. She eyed him with contempt, then a swirling blaze of fire suddenly enveloped her after a few seconds of them staring each other down. It also began to carry a few cars.

"Aw, not this crap again!" Sonic said, running off in the opposite direction, but the fire tornado followed him with equal speed. As Sonic ran; the tornado flung cars, rocks, pieces of road, signs, large crates... pretty much anything from Crisis City was thrown Sonic's way. He was too fast for the barrage of objects, but the tornado continued to follow.

Sonic remembered this road, it would eventually end and then... there'd be nowhere left to run! Raynare was obviously getting desperate using this against Sonic, but how was he supposed to counter?! It's not like he could eat a flower and turn into a fire-manipulating Hedgehog... like THAT'LL ever happen. All he had was his speed, but even he couldn't run through fire! If only there was a Fire Shield or Invincibility Power-Up in this city, or if he got some weird shoes with customized actions from a shoemaker.

Actually... did that really happen, or was that a dream?

CRASH! SMASH! BANG! CRACK!

More objects were thrown at Sonic, which he dodged, but this road would come to an end soon. He had to think of something quick, otherwise a pit of lava was waiting below, or he'd get sucked into the tornado... not like he hadn't gotten sucked into any before. The ones that came to mind were from a very breezy valley, and another on the open sea. Bottom line, they WEREN'T MADE OF FIRE!

Wait a second... a breeze... THAT'S IT! Running as fast as his feet could carry him, Sonic outran the fire tornado, but only by a small margin. He had less than a minute to carry out this plan, he just hoped it would work...

He began to run in circles. Faster. Faster. Faster! FASTER! FASTER! He ran so fast, he created a tornado of his own at the end of the street, but ran in the opposite direction of the fire tornado's rotation. His theory was if he did this, it would counter the fire tornado's circulating air current, and stop it altogether; which would leave a certain someone dazed and vulnerable to one last attack! The fire tornado came closer and closer...now was the moment of truth...

...

...

...

It worked! The fire slowly died away, and an unfortunate Raynare was going for a ride in Soinc's Whirlwind until she was flung away in the direction she came from, landing on the street with a few grunts as she skidded and bounced across. With that done, Sonic stopped running, Spin Charged, and Spin Dashed towards Raynare; intent on finishing her off... but she still had one final trick left up her sleeve! Growling, she held out her hand, which also had her magic glyph on it.

FLASH! (AN: End music.)

Sonic crashed into a wall that looked like it belonged in a laboratory, but bounced off of it quickly with his feet, sending nuts and bolts everywhere. He landed on the floor... were those... broken Swatbots? They were in pieces, and scattered all over the place. Hadn't seen those in awhile. Some also had quills stuck in them. But where...

"How I HATE, that Hedgehog..." said a familiar voice that Sonic knew all too well. Pointing at Sonic with from across the room was, "I've lived to see one dream come true... the destruction of Knothole Village and everyone within it! All that matters now, is the pleasure of eliminating YOU once and for all!" It was Eggman, when he partially roboticized himself, going by IVO Robotnik. He wore a sleeveless, red jumpsuit with yellow lines around it; wide shoulder pads and a yellow cape. The only parts of him not mechanical was his huge bald head (though his ears were robotic) and right arm.

Sonic was still haunted by this moment... even after all these years later, he STILL had nightmares about it. It was one of his most traumatic memories, and how far the evil doctor would go when he wanted something done.

Wait. Memories? Wanting him to forget?... These weren't just ionic locations or battles throughout Sonic's life created by hocus pocus! They were his MEMORIES! Raynare was attacking him by using anything from inside his head! THAT'S what that light was back in the park! Out of all the mental stuff Sonic had been though, no one had ever used his memories against him like this before... it was quite cunning, he had to admit. Credit where credit was due. So if he failed in his memories... what would happen then?

No. He wasn't gonna let that happen. He beat these memories once, so he'll do it again!

(AN: Now play E-100 Zero's Theme from Sonic Adventure. It's called Zero the Chase-Master, I think.)

Both combatants stared each other down. Robotnik's robotic glove glowed with green energy but before he could do anything with it, Sonic already Spin Dashed into Robotnik. Even after hitting a wall with that speed, Robotnik grabbed Sonic using his roboticized hand, and slammed the Hedgehog into the same wall. Robotnik held Sonic in place and was gonna punch him with his human hand; but Sonic kicked Robotnik in the chin, making the doctor recoil, then Sonic leapped off the wall and punched Robotnik in the face.

The bottoms of Robotnik's boots began to heat up, and he was then flying around the lab. As he did this, he fired lasers and small rockets from his robotic arm. Sonic evaded this by performing a Triangle Jump by bouncing off walls and ceilings. He managed to get in range of Robotnik for a Homing Attack, but the robotized doctor blocked Sonic with a green energy shield from his robot arm. Robotnik then tried punching Sonic with his human fist again, successfully this time, and sent to the poor Hedgehog to the floor with a crash.

A clocking sound come from above, Robotnik was preparing another rocket. Getting up immediately, Sonic rushed away just seconds before the rocket impacted where Sonic was moments ago with a boom. Sliding on his feet, Sonic ended up behind Robotnik, and jumped up and Spin Dashed past him, injuring the doctor in the process.

Hang on a second. Wasn't this around the time the Ultimate Annihilator backfired or something? Then Robotnik was erased from existence since his nephew reprogrammed it? Cause it wasn't happening now! Sonic hated to admit it, but this version of Eggman was his most dangerous enemy before he mellowed out a bit, and the ONLY reason he won was cause of the aforementioned backstabbing nephew of his. Raynare must be manipulating the memory somehow... or repressing certain events, he didn't know! He was a Hedgehog that could exceed Mach 5 speed, not a magic expert!

He'll have to find some other way to take down Robotnik then, but what?

Sonic bounced off another wall, going back at Robotnik to try his Homing Attack again, but Robotnik boosted away with his jet-boots before Sonic's signature attack could land. Robotnik fired more lasers, aiming right at Sonic, but the cyborg doctor's blasts ended up going through afterimages and vaporizing the very floor!

Sonic had to slow Robotnik down if he was gonna land a hit, or at the very least, a major one. The Hedgehog ended up next to a Swatbot head. Thinking quickly, he picked it up and threw it at the evil genius. "Getting desperate, are we?" Robotnik mocked him, preparing a rocket from his mechanical wrist and launching it. It hit the Swatbot head, exploding and sending shrapnel everywhere.

ZWHEEEEEEE!

The point of that act was to distract Robotnik long enough so Sonic could get underneath him, and Spin Dash on one of the thrusters of the cyborgs feet, shorting it out. Losing control, the mad scientist crashed in a pile of destroyed Swatbots. With an explosion of green energy, he broke out. He couldn't fly anymore, but he could still fight!

Stomping out, he then just barely blocked Sonic's kick in time with his energy shield. "Why keep fighting?" Robotnik taunted after knocking Sonic back. "Your precious village has been wiped clean off the face of Mobius! It's over, Hedgehog! YOU LOSE!" He gloated, firing lasers from his metal fingertips, walking and turning to follow Sonic's movements. The scientist was now burning holes in his walls doing this, but he seemed to be enjoying himself rather than be mad at it like usual.

Sonic tried attacking with more Spin Dashes, and even his Boost Dash, by each was blocked by Robotnik. Running around in circles, Sonic kept avoiding the laser fire, until one of them burned the console for the Ultimate Annihilator, making it spark. Sonic got an idea, since Eggman is part robot now...

Stopping his circle-running, Sonic Spin Dashed towards Robotnik once again using all the speed he had. He got blocked, but performed his Axe Kick on the shield, completely nullifying it, then delivered a second kick which had enough force to kick Robotnik back towards the console and...

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Robotnik began to light up like a Christmas tree, his entire body sparking up and conversing due to the electricity flowing throughout his body as he moaned in pain! As Sonic watched; Robotnik's voice would swap to a more feminine one, then back to his, then a vision of Raynare appeared, then she changed back to Robotnik. This rinse and repeated, but got slightly faster with each cycle. It got so fast, the screams and illusion faded in and out as quickly as one could blink, then got even faster as the scream got deeper, to the point of sounding full on demonic.

FLASH! (AN: End music.)

POV - Normal:

The scene changed back to the park, Raynare and Sonic in the same positions as they were before, like they never left.

SHATTER!

Speaking of Raynare, her magic glyph cracked, then broke into a million pieces, making her recoil and stagger back in the process. She stared at Sonic, in shock at what had just happened. "That's it? I was having so much fun down memory lane" Sonic quipped.

Raynare just continued staring, this made no sense! No one had resisted her memory wipe before... ok, that was a lie. People had resisted, but eventually fell after a minute or two. "How... how did you do that? That was my strongest memory altercation spell!" Raynare said, which was true. She had to pump in so much energy after the Metal Sonic memory, then even more after the dragon-looking one. She even went as far as it reach into Sonic's deepest memories, which was that evil cyborg that even scared Raynare, just to get him to forget her.

It seemed there was more to this 'Youkai' than meets the eye. He's clearly been through allot in his short life more then she did... and she was over thousands of years old despite her youthful appearance mind you! In fact, most of the creatures she had to dawn or had seen in his mind were nothing she had ever seen before. There were also others in Sonic's memories that were similar to him; walking and talking animals. But none of them were any Youkai she recognized. A two-tailed fox, a pink Hedgehog with a large hammer, and even a partially robotic bunny that kept calling Sonic "Sugah-Hog"... whatever the hell THAT meant.

Which raised the question... was he even a Youkai at all? If not, then what was he, and more importantly... where was he from?

"Stubborn. Thickheaded. Reckless... take your pick" Sonic said; counting on his thumb, index and middle fingers. Raynare recovered from her initial shock, and smiled evilly at Sonic.

"Well, as fast as you are... looks like you were too slow" she said.

"Heh, too slow? Who do you think your talking too?" Sonic scoffed. That's when Raynare took flight with a jump, and landed back at her sitting position on the fountain, allowing Sonic to see what she was talking about.

"The same person who was busy sharing his memories with me" taunted Raynare, for in front of her in a bloody mess was...

Sonic: ISSEI!

Be honest, wouldn't THAT make an excellent boss battle? This was the other reason why the preview was so vague, I didn't want to give too much of it away. There was also a part where Sonic chased down the Black Arms Black Tank from Shadow the Hedgehog's Lethal Highway, but decided to scrap it. Not much else to say here, other than looking forward to any reviews you leave, and I'll see ya in the next chapter!