To Destroy, to Annihilate

by Klonoa443/Sonic Star H.

--

All characters © their respective companies

© Mistwalker/Artoon/Bird Studio/Akira Toriyama

--

"Emergence..."

--

The island of Primitivus... A remote island located in the Traverse Ocean on Earth...

This island has been most commonly called the "greatest paradise on Earth" by humans and furries alike. With the cool tropical winds and breezes flowing all over, the grandeur of its forest with its beautiful scenery, and with the most entertaining city on the planet to boot, it is no wonder that the island is the world's most popular vacation site.

But...despite all of that, no one knows of the terrible secret that is hidden on the island. A secret that dates as far back as the ancient times... A secret beneath the rural and mechanical ruins laying inside the forest that, so far, no scientist has ever been able to figure out...

And after one thousand years...it is about to emerge...

--

11:00 a.m. Primitivus Island, Coolshore Beach. Ten weeks after the Emerald City invasion...

"So, what are you planning to do today, Amy?"

"Well, you know the usual routine, Tails. Rest here out in the sun for a while, ride along in the city, visiting my friends...though, I might go shopping today for some new clothes. I'm getting bored of this dress after wearing it for so many years now, you know."

It was here that Tails and Amy had made their temporary home location for a year. It had been nine weeks since their departure from Emerald City, and by their second day here alone, Amy was already loving this island.

The two-tailed fox was his usual unclothed, orange-and-white furred self. The pink hedgehog had her trademark red dress and hairband on. Since they were on this sandy, tropical beach, neither of them had their gloves and shoes on. They were walking towards a line of beach chairs placed ahead.

"Getting bored of it?" asked Tails.

"Well, not really... It's still my favorite dress. I guess I should've said that I should try out sonething new for once instead."

"Oh... Hmm... Well, how about going on without any clothes on for once? And not just out here on the beach, too? Like me? I never wear anything but gloves and shoes on all the time. And plus, you know what happened to Sonic and Klonoa..."

"Yeah, I know, Tails. I could just go on like that, but I prefer not to. I mean, I know that furries don't have to wear clothes and all, but even then, there ARE some of them who actually like and prefer wearing them, like me."

Approaching the chairs, they stopped at the right end of the line.

"But even so..." she said, looking at Tails and smiling. "...there's no reason for them to not take their clothes off and enjoy the cool breezes around them at times, right?"

"I guess... But it's better to not wear clothes at all and feel those breezes at all times, instead."

"...hm, whatever you say, Tails."

Looking forward, Amy put her hands to the back of her dress, at the middle next to the "backless" section above. With both hands, she pulled the zipper downwards until it separated, revealing her entire back. Putting her hands out front, she pulled the dress off, dropping it to the sand by her feet.

Then, Amy reached for her hairband and took it off, letting her quills flow out. She dropped the band to the sand.

Amy's body was all pink, save for the peach on her arms, ears, and mouth. Her quills were just as long as Sonic's. Though, unlike Sonic, she lacked quills on her back.

(A/N: As it was established in "What I've Done," all female furries, my term for anthropomorphic talking animals, in my universe are the exact same as males. That means no breasts and no wide hips. The only way to tell them apart is by their voices and their eyelashes. This may be weird to some, but...then again, what about Minnie Mouse?

Amy looked flat-chested in Sonic X anyway, so...yeah.)

The fox looked at her and wondered about something.

"Hmm, has Sonic ever seen you like this before?"

She looked at him.

"No... Don't think he has, come to think of it. I'm always wearing my dress whenever I'm around him."

Looking ahead, she pondered.

"Hmm, maybe I'll show him one day. And when I do, maybe I'll go on that day wearing just like him, with only my gloves and shoes on. I wonder what his reaction would be when he sees me like this? Hm..."

Looking at the chair to her immediate left, she walked to the front and sat on it, leaning back and sighing happily.

"I swear, this beach is the best of all beaches that I've been to. It's the calmest as well..."

After a few seconds, she looked at the fox.

"You gonna sit down with me, Tails?"

"Mm, nah. I think I'll go hang out at the beach bar this time. Drink some fruit punch and watch TV..."

"Oh, okay then. See you there when I'm done here."

"Right."

Turning around, Tails walked off as the pink hedgehog rested, closing her eyes.

--

Coolshore Bar

The two-tailed fox entered through the double doorway of this place.

Here, many furries and humans were sitting around the various white round tables that adorned the bar...though, there were more furries than humans. The sun shone through the glass windows that took up the majority of the building's walls. Up ahead was the service counter, with a TV attached to the wall past the counter.

Tails walked up to the counter and stopped, looking at the bartender: a bluish-gray wolf, who was serving up a drink. Like all the other furries in here, he wore nothing, only a red bowtie on his neck.

The bartender finished serving. He placed the glass on the counter.

"Number 52, here's your drink!"

He then walked to where the fox was.

"Ah, Tails. Here for an occasional drink, huh?"

"Yep." nodded Tails.

"Hm. What do you want this time?"

"Just a glass of fruit punch."

"Alrighty. One glass coming up!"

The wolf proceeded, turning around.

As he waited, the fox sat down on one of the chairs to his left, putting his hands on the counter. He looked at the TV ahead of him as the local news was on.

After a few moments, the wolf brought the drink to the counter and slid it across to Tails. The fox grabbed it.

"Thanks."

Grabbing the straw with his other hand, he put it to his mouth and sipped.

"So, uh, how's Amy?" asked the wolf.

"Doing good as always."

"Cool."

The wolf looked back at the TV and watched. A human news anchorman was on.

"Our top story today. In the suburbs of Primitivus City, five kids living in each of their homes were found dead earlier today. Reports indicate that there were no signs of illness before their deaths, making this a complete mystery..."

As the anchorman went on, it showed photos of each of the human kids, smiling.

"...though, one witness, a family member of the 12-year-old child, has said that he saw him choking to death, then as he fell to the ground, dead, the witness saw a small blue sphere coming out of the child's mouth. This sphere then quickly went out of the house through a window..."

"...wow, weird." said the wolf.

"A blue sphere coming out of his mouth...? Hmm, weird is right..." said Tails.

"Meh, as if this world wasn't crazy enough... Now we got blue spheres coming out of dead kids."

"Yeah..."

Then, suddenly, to everyone's surprise, the ground started to shake, at a violent pace.

The wolf stumbled, and the glass quickly went out of the fox's hands, dropping on the counter and spilling.

"Whooaaaa!! What's happening?!" yelled Tails, holding on.

Soon, debris started to fall from the ceiling as the lights flickered off and on, with everyone screaming in fright.

--

Coolshore Beach

"Waaaaaaa!!"

Amy fell off of her beach chair, landing on the sand face-flat to her right, near her dress.

After a second, she pushed herself up with her hands, shaking her head. She looked around as the place trembled violently.

"An earthquake?!"

All around her, humans and furries were panicking in their places. Some had run away out of sight.

The earthquake continued to shake the entire island for a while. Some buildings were crumbling down, fires were started, and the ground was constantly forming cracks... Soon, everyone on it suddenly felt as if the island was elevating itself out of the ocean...

"What...?"

Looking to her left, Amy saw that the ocean was seemingly being drained of its waters, leaving behind sand...and a giant cliff.

The island was, indeed, elevating itself out of the ocean.

"What's going on here?!" shouted Amy, with a terrified look on her face.

After a while, the earthquake suddenly stopped... Puzzled, the pink hedgehog stood up and looked around.

"It stopped... Wha...?"

Looking up, she saw that the sky was now being filled with violet, swirling clouds... The clouds slowly blocked out the rays of the sun, now completely covering the sky.

Taking a step back, Amy cowered in fear as she looked at the clouds, with the winds growing harsher by the second.

"No more...beautiful sun...and cool air..."

As the scenery was growing more dark and gloomy...suddenly, a loud string of evil, echoing laughter was heard.

"Haa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!!"

--

"Nene's Paradise"

--

What was once a mere island in the ocean was now part of something much bigger...

Above the ocean, a gigantic cube-shaped monstrosity now floated in the air, with the top side of the cube being the island. The other sides of it were covered in some type of green moss. Underneath the mosses, metallic surfaces were seen.

Soon, above the island, underneath the violet clouds, a gigantic image of a person was flickering into view, making the island's inhabitants notice it in the sky. The image soon became solid, and there stood a violet-skinned man dressed in a black, skin-tight, long sleeved shirt, a piece of metallic breastplate armor with some kind of red, white, and black circular pointy symbol on it, and a long, red cloak which hid his legs from view. He had red eyes, large pointy ears, and a large, round head. Attached to his left shoulder was a piece of wing-like bronze armor, and attached to the armor was a long string that led up to a pod floating next to his head that carried a pale yellow frog-like creature with small antennae on its head. The creature's arms were out of the pod, letting it move them freely.

The man and his pet creature looked down at the island. The man grinned evilly at the people below.

"Greetings, Primitivus Island!" he said, his voice having a very rough, semi-deep sound to it. "Or should I say...Primitive Cube? Heh, heh, heh... I...am the almighty Nene, the future ruler of this planet! I have been biding my time for one thousand years after my banishment from this world. But now I have emerged once more to rightfully claim what's mine! Ha ha haaa... As you can see, you are already defenseless thanks to me restoring this island back to its original form. You are hopelessly without help now, and soon, the rest of this world will suffer the same fate... Hm hm hm hmm... Well, then, its time for you rats to learn the true meaning of fear..."

Soon, on the island, to the inhabitants' surprise, some parts of it began to quake again, but not as strong as before... Suddenly, in the middle of the city, something bursted wildly out of the ground, flinging rocks everywere. Above its entryway, there now floated a giant mechanical and robotic contraption that resembled a shark. It had the same symbol that was on Nene's breastplate.

After a few seconds, the Land Shark, as it was called, dove back into the ground. Then, it plowed through in the direction it was going, leaving its "fin" above the surface. The plows cracked the ground open, leaving innocents to fall into the rifts. The speed at which it was going catapulted away those who were in its way.

In the other parts of the island, more Land Sharks emerged out of their places, terrorizing, injuring, and killing people wherever they went. As if that wasn't enough, suddenly, some of the trees started coming alive, forming hideous, crazed faces on them and taking their roots out of the groind to chase people.

Finally, to add to the terror, several differently colored robots of various types and sizes started teleporting in, unleashing their own wrath on the island with weapons and firepower.

The terror continued as the violet man watched on, smiling evilly.

"Heh heh. This is more like it. Chaos wrenching upon them... It's quite enjoyable to watch, eh, Deathroy?"

"Yeah! Enjoyable!!" exclaimed the pet creature, its voice having a squeaky, yet crazed tone to it.

"Ha ha... Just you wait, my pet. Soon, the rest of the world will be the same..."

With that, the image of Nene slowly flickered off, fading away.

--

"Aaaaagh!! What's happening?!"

Amy screamed in fear as chaos ensued all around her, holding her dress and hairband over her front side and shaking in fear. Fires were everywhere, and people were being chased by trees and non-armed robots.

She frantically looked around, searching for a way to escape.

"I gotta get out of here!! ...huh?!"

Suddenly, she quickly noticed that a group of green, round, non-armed robots behind her were running towards her. They were quickly closing in on her.

"Waaaah!!"

As she quickly shielded herself in the imminent attack...

"Haa!!"

...suddenly, they were knocked away by a two-tailed fox that landed and swiped them away with his two tails, just in time.

"Huh?"

The hedgehog opened her eyes and unshielded herself, seeing him.

"Oh, Tails! Thank goodness!"

The fox went out of his stance and stood up, with a determined look on his face. He turned to Amy.

"Are you okay, Amy?"

"Yeah. Just in time, Tails! ...though, I really don't know what's going on, or who this Nene guy is..."

"Me neither. The whole island's being attacked, not to mention we're somehow floating up in the air above the ocean..."

"Above the ocean?! That explains why the water's gone!"

The pink hedgehog quickly walked up to the fox.

"Ohh, take us out of here, Tails! I don't want to end up being tree food!"

"Of course!"

Tails grabbed one of the hedgehog's hands as he twisted his two tails around. He then jumped, untwisting his tails around to start their rotor. He now floated in the air.

"We're going back to our apartment so I can put a Chaos Shield there to protect us! Hang on, Amy!"

The fox went off, flying upwards and carrying the hedgehog with him.

As Amy looked down at the terror, she prayed in her head...

'Sonic...wherever you are... Help us. Please!'

The two faded away, into the distance...

--

"Hope Left In A Star"

--

12:00p.m. The Kingdom of Caring, in a house in Care-a-Lot

"Meh...is there anything on?"

The long-eared cat, Klonoa, was lying down on a bed and on his front, watching the TV on a desk ahead of him. His hat, gloves, and shoes were all on the ground next to the bed.

(A/N: Remember, after "His World," Klonoa is clothes-less in my universe from that point on.. If I don't ever mention about his blue clothes in the future, well, bam, he's just that: clothes-less and black-furred... Sonic style FTW.)

It was here that both Sonic Star Hedgehog and Klonoa made the Kingdom of Caring their year-long home, until Tails and Amy return from their vacation. The Care Bear Family had let them occupy this particular house as their place, since it was usually empty and sometimes used for human guests that they bring up here on occasion.

The house was a typical one-story traditional house, and thus was a bit smaller than Sonic's real home in Emerald City. It was decorated all over with the usual designs and work of the Family. The furniture were neatly placed in their rooms.

Klonoa was in the first bedroom of two in the house, with the light red door to his right being closed in.

What he was watching on the TV was a archaeologic documentary on the ancient ruins on Earth.

"Interestingly enough, deep inside some of the ruins, murals could be found on their walls." said the narrator. "Murals depicting of ancient times...of war...and chaos... One mural shared by and found in other ruins of the same nature...is this."

It switched to a mural that depicted some humans throwing their spears at something above them. The camera moved upwards, showing their target. A gigantic, humanoid, pale yellow monster stood, towering over the humans, raining down fire towards them, with its hands out in front. Its face looked like a combination of an ant and a frog together, with two antennae on top of its head, pointing upwards.

"A gigantic creature stands tall, raining fire over its spear-throwing attackers... Translating this and the other murals, it is said that these ancient people were locked in a war. A war with another people...they who came with otherworldly weapons: machines... They warred with each other for almost a decade. Both peoples had the ability to use magic, it seems... The people with the machines had the edge for a while, but the sword and spear-wielding people pushed them back with their superior magic, driving them back to a single corner. With no other options, the machine people unleashed this creature on their opponents... The one made of both flesh and machine, a biomechanical warrior... The one they called...'Destroy.'"

"Huh? Destroy?" said Klonoa. "Weird name..."

"Thus...in the moments afterwards, Destroy wiped out the opposing people as it went through their forces. And soon, it annihilated their entire civilization... The machine people were victorious...but not for long, as their own creation soon turned against them... They, too, had been destroyed...nearly. In the last few moments of their existence, they managed to banish the creature, reducing its powers to nothing... And that is where these murals end. There are no records of what happened afterwards, what happened to the creature...though, the people had, indeed, been wiped off from the face of this world, most likely starving to death after banishing their own creation, as there were very few of them left in the end..."

"...hmm... Huh?"

Just then, the room door to his right had opened. He looked.

"Oh. Hey, Sonic."

The famed blue hedgehog himself was standing in the doorway, with his now-trademark yellow star symbol on his peach center. His gloves and shoes were on, and he was holding something in his right hand.

"Hey, Klonoa."

Sonic walked in. He stopped near the bed.

"Ate the breakfast meal that Grams Bear made for us?"

"Yeah... It was delicious!"

"Heh heh. Delicious alright. I didn't think she could cook that good."

"Me neither, Sonic."

Sonic chuckled. Then...

"Hey, I brought you something. Here..."

He put his right hand forward and opened it, showing what he was holding.

"Huh...?"

Noticing it, Klonoa pushed himself up, sitting up on the bed and moving his legs off of it, facing the hedgehog. He looked at what Sonic was holding: a long, red piece of cloth with a single yellow stripe in the middle of it. On both ends of the cloth were zipper parts.

"I found this collar at a store in a city below." said Sonic. "They were giving away everything they had for free 'cause they were closing. When I saw this, I quickly recalled you saying that you once wore a collar back when you were little and had no clothes on like you are now. Well...this is the last piece of the puzzle for you, isn't it?"

"...this thing is supposed to be a collar? Where's the buckles on it?"

"Uh... Well, hey, this may not be exactly like the one you wore, but its close, right? There's the zippers on it..."

The cat grabbed it and looked at it closely for a bit. Then, he went on to put it on his neck and zipped it up on the back. Feeling it for a few seconds, since it was a piece of cloth...

"Hmm, soft... I like!"

He smiled, moving his head around to feel it.

"Well...its definitely not like the old one I had...but this'll definitely do!"

He looked at him.

"Thanks, Sonic!"

"No problem, man." said Sonic, grinning and chuckling.

After a second, Klonoa looked at his accessories on the floor to the left of him, next to the bed. He stood up, walked over to them, and put them on one by one. His shoes came on first, then the gloves, and then his blue Pac-Man hat.

He turned to face Sonic.

"I guess that now you're finally back to your old self, huh? With the collar on and all." said Sonic.

"Yep. Exactly the way I was when I was little..."

The cat then sighed.

"If it weren't for those kids, I would have never worn those shorts and the blue clothes in the first place. They've really blinded me of the fact that I'm supposed to be a furry, not a human..."

"...hm, I know."

"Yeah... Thanks for making me realize that back then, Sonic."

The hedgehog nodded... He then looked at the TV.

"What are you watching, by the way?"

"Oh, uh..."

Klonoa looked back.

"...meh, just some archaeologic documentary. There's nothing on, really."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Just some murals unearthed from some ruins. Nothing exciting, really."

Just then, as he said that...the documentary was abruptly interrupted...

"Broadcasting from Central City, this is KBBT News with live, breaking news."

"Huh?" Both of them noticed.

It cut to a human news anchorwoman on the screen.

"Urgent breaking news here. The world's most popular vacation site, Primitivus Island, has seemingly been uplifted from the ocean and is now somehow floating in the air above it as part of an odd cube-shaped object. Its inhabitants, as we currently speak, are under attack."

It then switched to a live camera view of the island's city, with its citizens being terrorized by Land Sharks, tree creatures, and various kinds of robots.

The anchorwoman proceeded to state the details of what was happening, and tben switched to the voice of the reporter that was in the helicopter with the live camera.

"Wow... Who could be doing all of that? ...hey, wait a minute. Primitivus Island... Isn't that where Tails and Amy are now?" asked Klonoa.

"...oh, yeah, that's right. That's their year-long vacation spot..."

"Yeah. I hope they're alright, though..."

Sonic looked at the ongoing chaos for a bit...then smiled.

"Hm, looks like its time for this hedgehog to set things right for the world once again...to put his star of light on the darkness."

Klonoa looked at Sonic.

"You're going over there to save them?"

"Yeah...and find out who's behind the attack. Plus, we can't just leave Tails and Amy defending for themselves against them."

The blue hedgehog turned towards the open doorway, with his smile fading.

"...oh, and if that creep Shadow Klonoa is behind this again, it's definitely proof that he hasn't given up yet...and will always try to follow his own goals, just like Eggman."

He looked back at Klonoa.

"Grab your ring and let's go."

"It's already inside of me, Sonic."

"Oh. Come on, then."

Sonic went out of the room, with Klonoa following him.

Whenever not actively using it, Klonoa either puts his Wind Ring on top of something like a desk, or inside his body due to the wind energy that he has. He had this energy for a very long time now, ever since he became the Dream Traveller and acquired the ring in the first place. However, he can't summon the ring to him if its too far away from him, like forgetfully leaving it at home or when it gets knocked away from him.

--

12:45 p.m. Near Primitive Cube

Descending from the sky, a cloud car was approaching the floating cube, heading straight for the island on top of it, with violet clouds hanging above it.

"Wow, you weren't kidding, Sonic Star. That place is huge!" exclaimed Tenderheart Bear, the driver.

"Yep. Just like when it was shown on the news." said Sonic, sitting in the back seat with Klonoa to his right.

Soon, the cloud car was approaching the violet clouds, and they entered right through them. After several seconds, they came out of them, and now the island was in full view.

"Alright, here's the plan." said Sonic. "Since the entire island is under attack, we're gonna have to split up, Klonoa. I'll take to the city and deal with those robotic creeps and shark things down there, while you land on the beach and fight off the 'bots and tree creatures there. Don't let them harm any innocents. Got that?"

"Yeah. I'll try my best to destroy them." Klonoa said.

"Alright. And Tenderheart?"

"Yes?" the brown bear looked back.

"If anything goes horribly wrong, like this cube thing is going to explode or something, I want you and the others to get here and evacuate everyone off of here as soon as possible. Just keep watch over us, okay?"

"We will. Don't worry."

"Cool. Okay then, take us over to the city."

"Roger that, Sonic Star!"

--

Primitivus City

The cloud car was now flying directly above the city, near the skyscrapers and tall buildings.

Sonic stood up, turned to his left, and put his right foot on the edge of the car, getting ready to jump off.

"Good luck, Sonic!" exclaimed Klonoa.

The blue hedgehog looked back at him and gave a thumbs-up, grinning. He then jumped off.

Falling to and landing on a fire-filled street below, Sonic turned backwards. Ahead of him was nothing but a horde of various round-shaped colored robots causing destruction in their paths, with one Land Shark jumping in and out of the ground.

Sonic grinned.

"Alright, let's see how tough you guys are against this speedy hedgehog! Ha!!"

Sonic blasted off towards them, running at the usual speed of sound.

--

Coolshore Beach

"Good luck down there, Klonoa!"

The long-eared cat jumped off the cloud car, landing down on the sandy beach. The car then went off towards the sky, back to the Kingdom.

Standing up, Klonoa looked around the place, facing southward with the empty cliffs to his far right.

"Wow, this place is a mess..."

Indeed, it was. The beach chairs were scattered around, torn into parts that lay on the sand. The buildings to his left were filled with flames, with debris of them nearby. The various palm trees were cracked into two, with the upper parts of them either on the sand or crashed into buildings nearby. Accompanying all of this were heavy, cold winds around, carrying sand with them into the air.

The long-eared cat continued to look around, until...

"Waaah!! Somebody help me!!"

"Huh?"

He looked back, hearing a sudden scream from behind.

"What?!"

In the distance, there was a large group of green, round-shaped robots that were closing in on a woman in a beach suit who was sitting against a group of ruined beach chairs, frightened of the robots. She slowly pushed herself backwards in fright as they paced closer to her.

Once he saw them, Klonoa faced that direction, getting into a stance, with a determined expression on his face.

"Hold on! I'm coming!!"

The cat ran off to them. As he ran, his right hand glowed bright yellow, and his trusty Wind Ring appeared. Approaching the robots, he jumped way high into the air. His Wind Ring then transformed into its sword-hilted form, and soon, a burst of green flaming energy appeared out of it.

Descending right into the space between the woman and the robots, he prepared his Wind Saber. Once he was in range, Klonoa slashed the nearest robot away, flying to its left and exploding in fire. The cat landed and stood up, facing the robots in a stance.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking back at the woman.

"Yes! Thank goodness you made it. Just in time! I was hanging on the edge of my life here... Thank you!"

"No problem. Now run away and hide! I got this!"

"Right!"

The woman quickly stood up and ran away to her left.

Klonoa looked at the robots, determined.

"Alright. Whoever made you guys or wherever you came from, you're not gonna get away with thiiis!!"

With that yell, he ran right into them and started attacking. One by one, they were inflicted by sideway and diagonal slashes, knocking them away a bit and exploding. By the time he slashed away the fifth robot, one of them suddenly floated over with its foot jets to behind him and swung its arms at him, knocking him away a bit. He landed, his shoes sliding on the ground as he stopped in motion.

Standing up, he quickly faced them, gritting his teeth.

"Nice one! Yaaah!!"

Klonoa ran off to them and slashed away the robot that hit him, flying away and exploding.

As another one was about to hit him again, he quickly noticed to his left and blocked the swing with the Saber. He countered by slashing the robot away. The cat then went off to finish the rest, dodging and blocking the attacks, and then countering...

The last one went flying towards the cliffs, falling off and exploding.

Klonoa stood straight, out of his stance.

"That takes care of them...huh?"

Suddenly, all around him, several square-shaped lights of various colors appeared from the ground, with technologic noises coming from them. The lights soon dimmed...and Klonoa was now completely surrounded by more robots of various kinds. Some of them had shield-like contraptions and some had artillery-based weaponry with them.

He looked around at all of them.

"What the...? Oh, great... Guess that wasn't the last of them..."

Determined, Klonoa went into a ready stance with his Saber, looking to his left and right.

'Robots...' he thought. 'Is Dr. Eggman behind all of this or what? Sonic's definitely not gonna like it if it is him. ...then again, they don't look like his creations... Hmm...'

--

Primitivus City, in a 16-storied apartment building on the 10th floor, in apartment #117...

"So, we're stuck in here while they mess up everything outside..."

"Yep. No choice but to remain here until help arrives... And with the Tornado 2 docked at an airport outside of the city..."

"...ugh... Great."

Tails and Amy were inside their apartment. Their gloves and shoes were back on, and the pink hedgehog's dress was back on her. She didn't bother to put her hairband back on, leaving her quills out.

The hedgehog was sitting on a chair next to the window while Tails stood next to and looked at a machine that was emitting lines of green energy across the walls next to it. The lines led to every possible entryway of the apartment, including the window and the door. These lines at their ends formed a shield that effectively blocked that entryway, preventing anyone from getting in. This was the Chaos Shield, made from portions of energy from the Chaos Emeralds themselves.

After a while, Amy sat up from her seat and walked to the window, looking outwards at the beach ahead.

"How long is this thing going to last anyway?" she asked.

"About four hours. If we had a Chaos Emerald here, then we could run it for as long as we need." said Tails. "Man, I wish that the energy we have is rechargeable, like the energy in Sonic. Whenever he's low on Chaos energy, he goes out of his Super form and waits for it to recharge... But, meh, it doesn't apply to machines for some reason... Guess the Emeralds favor living beings more, once you've used all of them a lot of times, that is. Either that..."

The fox looked at Amy.

"...or Sonic's just a special case."

"...special, huh? Heh. He's always been special, Tails." said Amy, smiling. "Being the world's fastest, playful at times, very heroic... It's the number one reason why he's so famous around the world."

"...hm. I guess you're right, Amy."

The pink one's smile faded as she looked down a bit in worry.

"Now I only wonder whether he'll get here to save this island... From that...Nene guy."

"We can only hope that he will, Amy."

Amy sighed.

Just then...something suddenly shook the entire building at once, making it seem like a short earthquake.

"Wh-whoaaa!!" shouted Tails as he and Amy stumbled a bit.

The sudden quake made the machine emitting the Chaos Shield fall over to the ground, stopping the lines and shields altogether.

As the pink hedgehog stumbled forward, she suddenly fell out of the window.

"Whaaaaa!!"

The fox saw her fall out.

"Amy!!"

--

On the street below, a giant tree monster was on the frontal wall of the apartment building, its back against the building with its face seemingly pain-filled.

It had been just knocked away by the blue hedgehog in front of it on the street. Its impact on the building caused a shockwave to it.

Sonic grinned at the tree.

"How'd you like that, huh?! Never mess with me, you tree freak!" he yelled, waving his finger at it.

The tree monster groaned as it fell down towards the ground. Hitting it, the tree then disintegrated into pieces, fading away.

"That takes care of that... Hmm, I wonder how Klonoa is doing at the beach?"

"Aaaahhh!! Somebody help me!!"

"Huh? ...I recognize that voice."

He looked upwards at where it was coming...and saw her.

"Uh! Amy!!"

Having just fell out of the window, the pink hedgehog was now stuck in the air, with the back of her dress, the zipper part of it, being caught by a pole on the building. She heard his voice and looked down.

"Sonic!! Oh, thank goodness you're here! Now this island can be-- Huh?!"

Looking back, she noticed her dress zipper was slowly unfastening.

"Uh...oh..."

As the last zip part came off, she fell. As she fell, her dress completely came off, leaving it in the air behind her.

"Whaaaaaa!!"

"Whoa! I'm coming, Amy!!"

Sonic quickly ran off. As he got into position, the blue one jumped way high into the air. Reaching her, he caught her in his arms, now carrying her as he descended.

Sonic soon landed in the ground and stood straight.

"There, I got you. ...wha...?"

As he held her, Sonic noticed her fully pink body, and all that was left on her was her white, yellow-braced gloves and shoes.

"Huh? What's wrong, Sonic? ...oh!"

She noticed as well, suddenly blushing.

After a second, Sonic let her stand on the ground and stepped back a bit. Soon, the dress came down towards him. He grabbed it, looked at it, and then looked at her.

"Amy..."

As Sonic looked at her, the pink hedgehog put her hands together at her back, blushing and standing with an innocent look to her.

"Uh...um... Surprised to see me without my dress on, Sonic?"

"Certainly... I've never seen you without it on, Amy...not to mention seeing you without your hairband on as well..."

"Hm, well...here I am, in the flesh...right in front of you." she said, looking down.

Blinking for a bit, Sonic then smiled.

"Well, you know...there's really no reason to be embarrassed about being like that. You're perfectly safe like that, Amy."

"Yeah...I know, Sonic. I just...never expected to show you what I look like underneath at this moment. That's why I'm embarrassed..."

As she said that, her expression and blushing faded away, now smiling as she stood up straight.

"But now you know, Sonic. I've been going on without that dress whenever I'm at the beach, anyway. And besides, I've thought to myself that I should be exactly like you for one full day when you're around: just wearing my gloves and shoes..."

Sonic chuckled. "I see... I guess this day is that day, then, huh?"

Amy nodded.

"Heh heh. Cool."

Just then, Sonic noticed something flying above them.

"Ah, Tails!"

The fox was descending towards them, his two tails in their rotor form.

"Glad to see you here, Sonic!"

He landed on Sonic's right, with his tails stopping their spinning.

"Glad to see you, too, Tails. I guess you two were in that building. Guess that monster I knocked at it surprised ya. My bad. Heh heh..."

"It was you who made that shockwave?" asked Tails.

"Yep."

"No wonder... It was about time you showed up anyway. How did you know that this island was under attack, though?"

"Simple: the news. My number one program that's up to date with what's happening."

"Oh... Duh. I should've known."

Amy looked around at the streets.

"Did you already clear this city of those things, Sonic?" she asked.

"Yeah. Should be completely cleared by now, with the people safe... By the way, who IS behind all of this, anyway? The robots I've faced remind me of Eggman's...and I haven't seen him for a long time now." said Sonic.

"It's not Eggman, Sonic." said Tails.

"Yeah. It's some weird guy who calls himself Nene. He's the one who lifted this island up to the sky and summoned those purple clouds and those things." said Amy. "Creepy guy he is..."

The blue one looked down in determination.

"Hm, Nene, huh? Another brand new bad guy to face..."

"Um, by the way, Sonic...where is Klonoa? Isn't he usually with you now?"

--

Coolshore Beach

"Haaaa...yaaaaah!!"

The last of the robots was just slashed away by the long-eared cat's Saber, exploding afterwards.

Klonoa breathed heavily as he stood up straight on the sand.

"...man...these guys just keep on coming... Huh?"

Just then, a brightly-glowing, violet-colored, sphere-shaped portal appeared to his right in the air, southward. He immediately noticed and faced it, looking at it.

"Now what?"

After a few seconds, something was now coming out of the portal, and soon, it appeared to be another robot, though it was larger than any of the ones that Klonoa destroyed and had a more unique look to it. Its body was more rounder than the previous ones, had a mixture of purple, green, orange, and yellow colors to it, and its face looked a bit humanoid with actual eyeballs on it. It had no visible legs, and wore a gun belt on its waist. The symbol of Nene was on its green, armored chest.

The portal closed behind it as it descended and floated above the sand, fixing its gaze upon the long-eared cat.

"Another robot... Just what I needed..."

Klonoa went into a stance with his Saber.

"So...you are the creature that I have been ordered to take out." said the robot, speaking in the normal manner with a male voice. "This will be fun..."

"Huh... You can talk. Well, then, answer this. Who are you? Are you the guy behind all of this?"

"No. His Excellency, the glorious Nene, is... I am Szabo, his personal and loyal assistant, and commander of his forces here. His Excellency only wishes to gain control of this world... However, he did not foresee the interruption that you and the blue one are making here..."

Szabo pulled out a gun from his belt and aimed it towards the cat. The gun had a huge barrel.

"...and thus, he ordered me to terminate you and the blue one, starting with you first."

As soon as he finished speaking, without warning, Szabo fired a shot at the cat; a round, purple energy ball.

Seeing the energy ball, as it came to him, Klonoa deflected it away with his Saber. It exploded in the distance.

"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to do better than that!" exclaimed Klonoa.

Szabo stared at the cat, still aiming at him.

"...hm."

After a second, the robot tightened his grip on the gun, focusing on his target. Then, he fired several shots at the cat rapidly.

Seeing them, Klonoa deflected them away one by one, creating explosions wherever they went. He then deflected the last one right back at Szabo, and to the robot's surprise, it exploded on him, knocking him back and smoking.

Stopping, Szabo shook his head and looked at Klonoa.

"Hmm, you are tougher than you look... But no matter."

The robot put away his gun, then positioned his right hand forward and swiftly clenched his fist.

With that clench, his right hand began to suddenly shapeshift out of its normal form and into something. His waist, where the belt was, also began to change, removing his belt.

"Huh...?"

Klonoa noticed him, standing up straight out of his stance.

Szabo's hand and the upper part of his robotic arm was now forming something. It soon finished, and the robot's hand was now a giant machine gun full of barrels that was the size of Klonoa himself. Szabo's waist was also now a grey-colored contraption filled with weapons of various sizes all around him.

"...whoa. That gun is huge..." said Klonoa, surprised. "Not to mention he's full of them now."

Szabo looked at Klonoa and aimed his big gun at him, making an arming sound. As soon as he noticed, Klonoa quickly went back into his stance, determined.

"It is the wish of His Excellency to be rid of his opposition. And so I must terminate you with full force." said Szabo.

"...man, evil guys just want it their way so bad. But good guys will never let them!!"

With that shout, Klonoa ran towards Szabo with his Saber in hand.

Seeing him coming, the robot fired away; a multitude of small energy balls going at rapid-fire speed. The long-eared cat dodged them by jumping to the right side as he ran. Running and dodging, nearing the robot, Klonoa jumped at him and gave him a few slashes, with the last one knocking him away.

The cat landed and went for the robot again. As soon as he regained and noticed, Szabo immediately fired a missile from his gun contraption at Klonoa. It landed right in front of him, exploding and knocking him away.

"Waaaagh!!"

The cat landed back on the sand, his hat falling off of him. His body was smoking due to the explosion.

"Ugh... Huh?!"

Opening his eyes, he quickly noticed that Szabo was floating in the air fifteen feet high, aiming his machine gun at him.

The robot fired, and as soon as he did, Klonoa quickly rolled out of the way to his right, with the Saber in hand. As he rolled, he quickly stood up, sliding back on the sand while looking at the robot above. Within a second, he quickly ran off, dodging the robot's fire, until he jumped way up high towards the robot. Approaching him, Klonoa gave him another slash combo, longer this time, which damaged and knocked him away.

The cat landed back on the sand.

"That should fry some of your circuits!" exclaimed Klonoa.

Regaining, shaking his head, and growling, Szabo looked down at him in anger.

In retaliation, the robot crossed his arms in an "X" position. Shaking with power, he then moved them away swiftly. The weaponry contraption surrounding him suddenly fired off several missiles at once that were homing in on Klonoa.

"Whoa!"

Seeing them, Klonoa quickly ran off, trying to avoid them. Each of the missiles failed to hit him and exploded on the sand, but the last one directly hit right near him, exploding and knocking him forwards and upwards.

"Aaahhh!!"

Klonoa was sent flying towards Szabo. As he came near him, Szabo grabbed him with his other hand, now holding the cat's long left ear.

"Ugh...!"

"I have you now, long-eared one." said Szabo. "Now I can terminate you with ease..."

With his body in great pain, Klonoa moaned. Then, as he opened his eyes...

"Urgh... Don't think this is easy!"

Summoning his strength up, to Szabo's surprise, Klonoa's left ear suddenly went downwards in force, swinging the robot down to the sand below. The robot crashed down, shaking the ground a bit.

Preparing his Saber, Klonoa descended. As he got near the robot, Szabo quickly turned around, aimed his machine gun at him, and fired.

"What--Aaaaghhh!!"

In the air, to his surprise, the cat was hit by the robot's fire, dealing great damage to him as the various energy balls inflicted his body.

The gunfire continued, until it stopped. Klonoa fell down to the sand and crashed face-flat, with his body smoking.

After a second, Szabo floated upright from where he was, and looked at the downed cat. He then floated over to him, and aimed his gun.

"Puny being... Honestly, what did you expect from someone who is always by the side of His Excellency?" asked Szabo.

With his hands, Klonoa pushed himself up, struggling and grunting constantly, still holding his Saber. Once he did, he breathed heavily.

"Time to be terminated, creature..." said the robot.

Klonoa slowly looked up at him angrily, gritting his teeth.

After a second, the barrels on the robot's machine gun started rolling. As soon as it did, the cat lowered his head. He feared it was his end, but then, he knew he couldn't give up and let it end like this...

"Now...begon--"

"Oh no, you don't!"

"What--Ooaargh!!"

As he was about to fire, Szabo was suddenly knocked away by a kick from his right. Flying, he quickly regained and looked at who just kicked him.

"The blue creature...!"

Having just kicked him away, Sonic stood up from his landing and looked at the robot, standing to the cat's left a few feet.

"You won't get rid of my best friend, you robotic creep!"

He then looked down at Klonoa.

"Are you okay, Klonoa?"

The cat continued to breathe heavily.

"Well, if it is not the blue one... Seems I won't have to find you after all when I'm done with the black one..." said Szabo.

Sonic looked at the robot. "I assume you're another one of Nene's lackeys, huh?"

"Yes... His personal assistant, in fact. And commander of his forces here."

"So you're the leader of the robots here, huh? Well, guess what? I've just wiped them out outta the city along with the rest of Nene's lackeys!"

"So His Excellency saw... That is why he sent me here to terminate you two."

"...'His Excellency,' huh? What, is he some kind of king or something? Because he's sure one evil king, terrorizing this island like that. More like, gee, a tyrant if you ask me."

The hedgehog then looked at Klonoa. The cat was still breathing heavily.

"Well, whatever you did to my friend here, it certainly won't work on me."

The hedgehog then fixed his gaze on Szabo, going into a stance.

"So bring it on, will ya?!"

The robot stared at Sonic.

"...you think, huh? Try this, then!"

With that, Szabo floated up high, stopped, aimed, and fired away. As soon as he fired, Sonic quickly jumped to his left.

"Try and catch me with your gun, big boy!"

Sonic quickly ran off.

"Hmph."

The robot quickly aimed for the running hedgehog and fired... But the gunfire kept on missing him as he ran all over the beach in circles and zigzags.

Szabo continued to fire...until he was getting frustrated.

"...pesky little creature...!"

Sonic heard him.

"What's wrong? Can't catch me? Maybe you should speed up like me!" taunted Sonic.

The gunfire continued. No matter how much energy he used, Szabo still can't seem to hit Sonic.

"You're still not hitting me..." taunted Sonic again, in a singsong way.

"...grrr... You think you are fast, huh? Suffer this, then!" shouted Szabo.

The robot stopped his gunfire. He crossed his arms in the "X" position again, then swiftly moved them away. His weaponry contraption fired off several missiles at once, all aiming towards the hedgehog.

"This was how I damaged the black one! Now its your turn!"

Sonic stopped running and faced the incoming missiles... He grinned.

"My turn, huh? All you're doing is making a bridge for me!!"

As he yelled, Sonic suddenly jumped at the missiles. Descending, he swifly landed on top of the closest one and then immediately jumped onto the next one.

To Szabo's surprise, Sonic was using the missiles to get to the robot himself.

"What?! How is this possible?!"

The hedgehog jumped off the last one, now going towards Szabo.

"Now its my turn! Take this!"

Halfway through, Sonic went into a blue spinning ball. The ball then hit and knocked Szabo away and out of the air with great force. With both of them falling, Sonic went out of his ball form and aimed himself downwards, falling faster. Nearing Szabo, the hedgehog grabbed him and spun a bit so that the hedgehog's feet were above the robot's body. Sonic then unleashed a flurry of rapid downward kicks to the robot, damaging him. Sonic then kicked him downwards.

The robot crashed down to the sand below, hard, facing the direction of the city. Sonic landed in front of him.

"How'd you like that, huh?"

Szabo groaned in pain.

"Ugh...why you...little... Grrr..."

After a second, the robot quickly floated upright and aimed his gun.

"Begone!! ...huh?"

The hedgehog...had suddenly disappeared.

"Where did he go?!"

Szabo looked around for him, but was nowhere in sight.

As he looked around...meanwhile, Klonoa was still holding himself up. His breathing, however, had gotten faster and was now constantly growling.

The robot kept on looking around.

"Grrr... Where did that pesky creature go to?!"

"You're too slow!"

"Huh?"

Hearing him from behind, Szabo turned around...and found him winding up his right fist.

"Ha!"

Sonic punched the robot away, flying backwards directly to Klonoa and falling to and sliding on the sand.

Stopping directly in front of Klonoa, Szabo quickly floated upright, facing Sonic.

"Grr, you have certainly made me really angry, blue one! Now I WILL kill you with all my--"

"...grrrrr!!"

"...what?"

Hearing the growls from behind, Szabo turned around and looked at the long-eared cat on the sand. Klonoa was seemingly shaking wildly and growling a lot...

Then...the cat suddenly lifted his head upwards, looking ahead, with his eyes glowing bright blue and having that extremely angry look on him.

After a second, he swiftly fixed his gaze on Szabo, lowering his eyes and giving that slanted-eye look. His two bangs suddenly spiked up as he did.

Sonic noticed him from afar, seeing his eyes and bangs.

"Huh? Klonoa...?"

Seeing him, Szabo floated back a bit, having a shocked look as his internal sensors were picking up something...

"What is...this? Why are my sensors picking up some strange, intense energy from him?"

"What? Energy...?" said Sonic.

Klonoa slowly stood up, holding his Saber.

"...grrrr..."

Then...

"...unh!"

...Sonic suddenly began to sense energy from him as well, having a shocked look, eyes wide open. He instantly recognized the energy as it hit the hedgehog's mind like a rock.

'What?! Chaos energy?!' he thought.

"...aaaaahhhhh!!"

With that yell, Klonoa swiftly jumped at the robot and unloaded a long, fast combo of slashes on him, each one greatly damaging him and blowing some of his mechanical parts off. Szabo grunted each time he suffered.

Sonic witnessed this, still shocked, with his mouth a bit open.

'Whoa, he's completely obliterating him! But...Chaos energy? How...? How the heck did it get inside him? He never used the Emeralds himself before...hey, wait a minute...'

Seeing Klonoa's face reminded him of something that happened back when he was battling No Heart's dragon form...

'That blue-eyed, spiky look... He had that same look when he caught No Heart by surprise! So that was how he got him... Wow... But...why didn't I sense it before?"

The cat continued slashing at the same pace, never giving Szabo a chance to escape.

'It's weird how I didn't sense it before... Huh...glowing eyes, spiked bangs...and with a lot of energy in him that I can sense...almost half to that of my normal Super form! Does it mean he's Super now?! ...doesn't look like it as his body's the same color and there's no energy aura around him...but if he is...'

Sonic grinned.

'...then, that's great! I won't be the only one with a Super form these days anymore!'

Klonoa continued further, then he finally stopped, preparing one last attack by lifting his weapon above his head, growling loudly.

Szabo floated there drooping downwards, with electricity crackling all over him. Half of his body and his face had been blown off, revealing his mechanical innards within.

"...bzzt...ohhh..."

The cat was ready to destroy him. In his still pose, as Sonic saw, his black-furred body quickly flashed yellow a few times.

'Whoa, his body...! So he's not exactly Super yet...but in an in-between state, instead... That explains why his power is nearly half to mine, because he's not fully transformed yet...'

"Eeeeee...yaaaah!!"

With that yell, Klonoa launched the heavy downward slash, knocking Szabo far away. Flying backwards wildly, the robot crashed down on the sand, sliding on it.

Stopping and shaking violently, light soon shone brightly from his innards wherever they could be seen. Then, he exploded, completely engulfing him and a portion of the area of the beach.

Sonic looked at it as it faded away, leaving behind smoke.

"There goes that guy..."

The hedgehog then looked at Klonoa, who was still flashing yellow. He was breathing heavily, looking at the smoke ahead. After a few seconds...

"...ohhh..."

...he started to fall backwards. He stopped flashing yellow, and his eyes and bangs went back to normal.

"Whoa, Klonoa!"

Sonic ran to him, kneeled, and quickly caught him with his arms, holding him.

In Sonic's arms, the cat was still breathing, though it was less heavier than before...

"Klonoa..."

After a few seconds, the cat opened his eyes and looked at the hedgehog.

"You...saved me at the last minute from him. Whew... Thanks, Sonic."

Sonic smiled. "No problem. Though, it was you who sent him to the junkyard in the end..."

"Yeah...I know."

"Hm... Here, stand up."

The hedgehog helped him stand up. Afterwards, he stepped back a bit from the cat.

A second passed. Still holding his Saber, Klonoa looked at his empty hand.

"I know I destroyed him, but...it was very weird on how I did it... I...don't know what came over me. This strange feeling just...suddenly swelled up in me when I feared it was my end...when I was badly hurt from his attacks. Then the next thing you know, I was growling like mad, as it swelled up. I was really angry... I felt this urge to destroy him...and I did..."

After thinking a bit, he looked at Sonic.

"...hey, didn't he say his sensors were picking up energy from me?"

Hearing that, the hedgehog hesitated to ask, looking away.

"...erm..."

"What, Sonic?"

'...should I tell him that he has Chaos energy and an untapped Super form within him? Or not?' Sonic thought. 'Hmm... Well...I AM happy that he has one, even though it isn't full yet...and it would be much better if my sidekick can go Super like me... Maybe I should tell him after all...but not here, though.'

"Sonic, you look like you know something about this..." said Klonoa, staring at him.

Sonic looked at him.

"Well...yeah... I do know something about it...on why he said that...on that feeling that swelled up within you." said Sonic, calmly. "For I sensed it, too."

"You did...? So I do have some strange energy inside that helped me destroy him?"

"Yep... And since you admire me so much, you'll be very surprised if I told you what type of energy it is. But I won't tell you right now. We still have to fix this mess that Nene's made here..."

"Oh. Alright. Tell me later, then."

Sonic nodded. "You alright, though?"

"Yeah...but I'm sorta still hurt. But I should be okay from now on."

"Alright."

Looking around, Klonoa searched for his hat. He found it, walking to it and deactivating his Saber.

As Sonic watched him, up ahead in the city's direction, he noticed something flying in the air and smiled.

"Hey, you've missed out on all the fun here, you two!"

Tails was flying towards Sonic using his tail helicopter ability, carrying Amy with him. Her dress and hairband were still off, though.

"It's slow flying around when I'm carrying somebody here!" shouted Tails.

The fox descended towards Sonic and the two landed next to him.

"Is Klonoa alright?" the fox asked.

"Yeah, he is." replied the hedgehog, looking at Klonoa.

The cat put on his hat and looked back at them.

"Oh, Tails and Amy..."

He turned and walked towards them, stopping next to Sonic's left side.

"So you've found them, huh?"

"Yeah. They were hiding in a building from all of this. I cleared the city of those things, by the way." said Sonic.

"And boy, were we glad to see him." said Amy.

Sonic chuckled.

Tails looked around, all over the place.

"So now that both places have been cleared, what now, Sonic?"

"It's time to deal with Nene himself, that's what. And to bring this island back to its ocean. We just need to find him now." said Sonic.

Just then, Klonoa noticed something to his left.

"Huh?"

Where Szabo's explosion occurred, something floated above the sand. What was once an armed robot was now nothing but a mechanical shell. Szabo was still functioning, but heavily damaged, with electricity crackling all over his body. One half of his face was missing, with nothing but wiring there.

The robot seemed to be floating away.

"Hey, he's still alive and escaping!" exclaimed the cat.

"Huh?" everyone looked.

As the robot lifted his only arm outwards...

"Hold it right there!" shouted Sonic.

The hedgehog turned and ran to him. He jumped over and landed in front, facing him.

"Where do you think you're going, huh? Back to your master, 'His Excellency?'"

Staring at him for a bit, the robot nodded. His voice box was gone.

"Well, guess what, scrap metal? You WILL take us to him. Or else, we'll destroy you for good!"

Hearing that, the robot nodded again. He then turned to his left and sretched his arm outwards. His hand glowed purple, and soon, a large, swirling portal opened up in front of him.

Szabo looked at Sonic and motioned him to enter it.

"Hm, guess you really don't want to be completely scrapped, huh? Good for you." Sonic said, smiling.

He looked at his friends.

"Coming, guys?"

Hearing him, they all ran to him and stopped.

"Alright. Let's go confront this guy, then!"

With that, Sonic ran and jumped into it. The others followed suit.

Szabo entered the portal himself, and it closed afterwards.

--

"The Thousand-Year-Old Ancient"

--

Unknown location, inside the depths of the Primitive Cube...

Somewhere inside this huge cube lay a dark place...a large floating platform, with black-colored clouds looming above it, giving it a nighttime feel. The platform was overall black itself. On the surface of it were three yellow circles that were next to each other, and above them, surface-wise, lay a large circle that made up the central area of the platform.

The middle circle of the three began to glow brightly, emitting sparkles upwards. Sonic, his friends, and Szabo soon appeared on it, with the robot out in front. The circle stopped glowing.

Sonic and friends looked around.

"Where are we?" asked Tails.

"This place sure seems dark..." said Amy.

"Hmm, it feels like we're still outside...what with those clouds above us." said Sonic. "But we're most likely somewhere inside this cube thing..."

Soon, the robot moved out of the way and stopped to Sonic's left, letting them see what's ahead in the central area. As soon as Sonic saw something, he quickly formed a determined look on his face.

"That must be him..."

In the dead center of the area, the violet-skinned man himself stood with his floating pet creature, observing the large, blue-lined holographic screens in front of and above him. All the screens were showing the many areas of the island...and all of them had been cleared of his minions.

The holographic screens faded away, and he turned around to face them.

"So you're Nene, huh? Pretty small for someone like you..." said Sonic as he saw his face.

Without saying a word, Nene quickly fixed his gaze on Szabo. His red eyes glowed brightly, and to everyone's surprise, Szabo was suddenly knocked away backwards by an invisible force. The robot crashed down to the floor.

They all let out surprised grunts and gasps seeing him on the floor.

"Hey...wasn't he your assistant or something?" asked Klonoa, looking at the man.

"He was... Now he isn't." replied Nene. "Useless being."

"Oh, wow. You literally threw him away just because he brought us to you. How charming is that?" said Sonic, sarcastically, looking at the man.

"Hmph... So...you've all come. The meddlers who interfered with my plans..."

"Yeah, we're here. Should've expected that, you know."

"Indeed, I did not foresee it... But I had a minor feeling that someone would come and try to stop me...especially when I kept on hearing about you...Sonic."

Hearing that, Sonic smiled. "So you DO know of me. Huh... I thought you'd see me as a complete stranger, because I never even heard of you before until now..."

"Hm. I have been hiding in this cube for a long while now. That is why. For you see, I am an ancient creature, who has lived for one thousand years..."

"Wow, that long..." said Klonoa.

"Yes! That long!" exclaimed the pet creature, Deathroy.

"Back then, in my...true...prime... I belonged to a great and glorious people." said Nene. "They were far superior than the world today. Magic...real magic...and technology empowered us... For quite some time, we were on a quest to quench our thirst for power, for total domination over the other inferior nations of the time. We...were ruthless in taking over them, killing those who stood in our way, and enslaving those we conquered. We had thought that the entire world would be ours...until we encountered an obstacle in our path. A primitive civilization that used nothing but swords and spears... We thought this would be a pathetically easy takeover, but we were soon proven wrong after a while with them... They, too, had the power of magic, and theirs was far superior than ours..."

Hearing all that, Klonoa thought of something.

'This is sounding exactly like the documentary I saw on TV...'

"Because of that, we found ourselves in an absolute war with them that lasted for a decade." resumed the man. "We threw everything we had in our arsenal to try and achieve victory. But they repelled each and every time... And then, they finally decided to end it by attempting to wipe us all out... Unfortunately, I do not know what happened afterwards..."

"Huh... Interesting. You don't actually know." said Sonic.

"Yes... You see, our entire nation was comprised of floating cubes like this one, with their sides resembling the lands of this world. We merely based these cubes off of them... When those primitive warriors came, they attacked this one first. I myself was the leader of this place. Thus, I never stood a chance against them, and before long, I was completely banished to the depths of this cube, putting me in a deep sleep for a long two hundred years..."

"So that's what you meant by that..." said Tails.

"Indeed... I never knew what happened to my people. But considering the magical strength of the primitives, I assumed they were utterly destroyed by them...and they were. But when I woke up from my slumber, I found that not only they were vanquished, the primitives had faded from existance as well. Not a single trace of them was found...only their ruins. Though, I quickly knew that they had somehow 'implanted' the cubes into the earth itself, as soon as I was out of this one. .. As I traveled to the other cubes, I was deeply saddened by my people's non-existence...and that I was the last one of them. Only idle remnants of their civilization could be found where they had been left behind... That is, until I found this strange little one here."

Nene nodded over to Deathroy. The creature smiled in response.

"He calls himself Deathroy as he said to me. It was certainly a surprise, as I assumed that he was someone else's pet... Soon, as I took it with me, I began to cherish it as the last true remnant of what my people had been before their doom. Thus, I was not the last living survivor of them after all..."

Klonoa looked at the creature, seeing something about him.

'That thing looks familiar somehow...'

"Then, one day, as I wandered from cube to cube searching for more living remnants, Deathroy looked at me and suggested that I should stop searching and begin rebuilding. I was puzzled at first, but then I soon knew what he meant... With all of this grand knowledge of magic and technology...I thought it was a genius idea. Since my fellow comrades were gone forever, I should, indeed, continue their ruthless but great legacy. As I began to rebuild it all, I later realized that I have the potential to become the sole ruler of this world, in the name of the ancients as I now call them! The evolving life on this planet would potentially stand no chance against the might of my army and magic! Thus, as I was rebuilding over the long centuries, I closely observed, and kept my eye on, some parts of this world, watching the civilizations grow and prosper. Being sure that they were still inferior to me, I emerged from this cube and began my conquest! ...and thus, that is my story behind all of this, behind all that you've encountered, Sonic!"

"I see..." said Sonic. "Hmph. That's why your little robot here kept on calling you 'Your Excellency.' Well, you may be king of your creations here, but to me..."

The hedgehog swiftly raised his left fist at him.

"...you're just another power-hungry guy, Nene!"

The man chuckled.

"Hm hm hmmm... Rebellious, are we?"

"Hey, I got one question for you." said Tails, determined. "Were you the one behind the deaths of those kids? The blue sphere they mentioned about?"

"My my, word spreads around, indeed... Yes...I was the one responsible... What foolish children they were, swallowing a part of my soul, thinking that they could use magic like I falsely promised them..."

"What? That blue sphere was a part of you?"

"Yes... However, I did not mean to just kill them. I meant to use them...as vessels to nourish my soul. For you see, even I am not invincible to the plague that is aging. I have lived for a thousand years, yes...but nearing the timeline of this century, my body was becoming frail and weak... I feared that all of my grand work could go to waste if I could not continue on... Then, by experimenting with my own magic, I discovered a way that could restore my body back to its youth again. And thus, it was a success. By utilizing parts of my soul and biding my time, I was able to duplicate the children's youthful life energy and bring forth that energy to me... So now, you are seeing me exactly the way I was over a thousand years ago."

"Hm... Sounds like you want to live forever. Well, not on my watch!" exclaimed Sonic.

"Exactly. If a king were to rule an entire world, the king must be immortal so that he may rule for all time. And that is my only wish. However...if such a king were to rule, it merely means that he must get rid of all that oppose him...and that includes you meddlers! It pains me to do this, but I must end this...animal rebellion..."

"Huh... Very well! I can guarantee that you WILL lose against us, though! Klonoa?"

Hearing him, the long-eared cat jumped to the hedgehog's right, activating his Wind Saber.

Nene looked at them and chuckled.

"Hm hm hm... I'd rather prefer if I fought one of you at a time...starting with the blue hedgehog..."

"Oh... So you want to do this one-on-one, huh? Fine by me."

The hedgehog walked forward and stopped. Staring at him with a puzzled look, Klonoa deactivated his Saber and backed up a bit.

"So...the heroic hedgehog I kept on hearing of. Sonic." said Nene. "Or, as you now call yourself, Sonic Star... And I now see why you've changed it..."

"Yep! This new star symbol on me that you see. Man, its only been nearly two months since I got it, too."

"Hmm... Well then, Sonic Star..."

The violet man started to glow bright purple around him.

"...are you ready to experience magic? True magic? The magic that had empowered the ancients in their prime? Heh heh heh heh..."

"Hmph. Magic's just another fancy name for power. I've beaten plenty of powerful enemies in the past, and this will be no different."

"Ha! So you say. We will see about that!"

Still glowing, Nene crossed his arms in an "X" position. Soon, the ground began to shake wildly, surprising everyone but Sonic.

"Wh-whoa!!" shouted Tails.

Trying to get a hold of herself, Amy saw something.

"Hey, look at his shadow!" she pointed.

They all looked. Nene's own shadow was seemingly growing larger, stretching a few feet behind him. Then, as it stated to form something with a reddish-purple color to it...

"...aaah!!"

...Nene swiftly moved his arms away, releasing great energy winds from him. As he did, his own still-forming shadow swiftly rose up from the ground...and roared loudly.

"Raaaaarrrrgh!!"

Having been just knocked away slightly by the energy winds and the roar, Sonic and his friends regained their footing. The ground had stopped shaking, and they all saw what was now above Nene.

A giant, reddish-purple, angelic-winged, big-nosed dragon now floated above the man, being a part of his shadow. The dragon was breathing heavily, moving its wings back and forth.

The violet man chuckled. Sonic looked at it.

"Whoa, a dragon... A shadow dragon, actually..."

"Indeed." said Nene. "Shadow magic. This was the type of magic that only belonged to those who were leaders of their cubes, and I was the leader of this one, as said. Here..."

He raised his left hand up, closing it. As it did, the dragon raised its fist up as well at the same time.

"...let me give you a sample of how it works!"

He swiftly moved his fist downwards. The dragon followed his movements, aiming its fist right at Sonic.

"Whoa!"

The hedgehog jumped out of the way, letting it crush the ground and making a slight tremble.

The man then made a swift sideway motion with his left hand. The dragon sweeped the area with its left, trying to hit the hedgehog again. He jumped over its hand and landed.

"So...it follows your movements, huh? Clever."

Sonic stood up straight.

"Well, how about if I directly attack you?!"

As he shouted, he ran off straight towards Nene. He jumped a bit, and tried to kick him, but...

"...wh-whoooaaa!!"

...he was suddenly caught in a tornado of wind, carrying him in mid-air. Nene jumped back a bit and made a punching movement. The dragon punched Sonic away as mimicked.

"Aaagh!!"

Flying backwards, he regained and landed, sliding back a bit and stopping near his friends.

"Wow, what was that? Pulled a trick on me there..."

"Heh heh... Shadow magic is not the only thing I can wield. I wield the magic of the four natural elements as well... I wonder how a hedgehog tastes like when cooked well?"

With both of his hands, Nene made some slow movements and then swiftly pointed at Sonic. His dragon breathed in a lot of air, and then breathed out a long, swift stream of fire at Sonic and his friends.

"Whoa! Everyone move!!"

As the fire was about to engulf Sonic, they all dodged out of the way. But soon enough, as he dodged, Nene's dragon immediately knocked him away.

"Waaaahh!!"

"Sonic!!" yelled Klonoa.

The hedgehog crashed to the ground on the far left of Nene. The violet man faced him.

"They say you are the fastest hedgehog in the world. But..."

As Sonic slowly got up, Nene made some hand movements again.

"...they also say you dislike water. Is that true? Let's see!"

He swiftly thrusted his hands toward him. The dragon copied him.

As Sonic stood straight and shook his head, he suddenly heard water rushing in from both sides of him. As he looked, his eyes were wide open.

"Yikes!"

As soon as he saw, Sonic quickly jumped up high into the air. Two large waves of water suddenly came out of nowhere and rushed into each other.

Sonic landed in a different spot of the central area, behind Nene. He looked at him with a determined expression.

"Well, you heard right. I am the world's fastest hedgehog! So why don't you try and catch me with your attacks?! Hm!"

The blue hedgehog ran off, now circling the man at the speed of sound.

The violet man chuckled.

"Gladly..."

Nene made some hand movements once more. This time, however, at the end of his movements, he lowered his closed left fist. Then, as Sonic taunted him...

"What are ya waiting for?! Come on! Unless you're too slow to--"

...he swiftly raised it. Where Sonic was circling around, parts of the ground suddenly raised themselves up high quickly, looking like tall pillars, hurting and knocking Sonic up into the sky.

"Waaaahhhh!!"

"Unh! Sonic!!" yelled Klonoa.

"Wow, that was sudden!" exclaimed Tails.

Soon, the pillars went back down to the ground. After a second, the hedgehog was falling back down to the area. As soon as he was in range...

"Ugh!!"

...Nene grabbed him with his dragon. The winged one was now squeezing him tight. Sonic struggled to get out of it.

"Hey, let me out!!"

"Hm hm hm hmmm... So much for the world's fastest." said Nene. "I expected a better challenge from you. But in the end, it just proves that no one is truly able to stop me, not even you."

Hearing that, Sonic stopped struggling and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth.

"Pathetic... You said you overcame enemies that were powerful... Ha. Their power must've been weaker than mine, then."

After a few seconds, the hedgehog growled. Just then, the violet man sensed something, with his smile disappearing.

"Hm...?"

"Grrr... No...you are wrong, Nene... Grrrr...I'll show you just how powerful they were... I'll show you how I defeated them... I'll show you that there is more to me...that meets the eye! ...grrrrrrr!!"

Sonic's star symbol suddenly glowed brightly. He swifty opened his eyes...and they were red, angrily looking at Nene below...

"Now I'll show you!! Grrrrrrraaaahhhhh!!"

With that scream, Sonic exploded with great energy, letting himself loose of the dragon's grip on him. The explosion had knocked Nene away backwards. He regained, landed, and looked at the hedgehog above.

"...well...this is certainly a surprise..."

What used to be a blue hedgehog above was now an angry yellow spiky hedgehog, with his star symbol glowing brightly and a blazing aura surrounding him...

Super Sonic looked at the man below, gritting his teeth at him.

"No more playing around for me! Time for me to get serious..." he said, his voice calmer and deeper. "Now I WILL stop you at all costs, Nene!!"

The man chuckled in response.

"...ha ha ha... Well, well... You have, indeed, great power within you. I can sense it... It is clever that you have kept it hidden until the last desperate moment... Indeed, there is no doubt that you can defeat me at this rate in your transformed state here...but..."

"What, Nene?"

"...you really have not seen how magic can truly be used yet, hedgehog..."

The violet man snapped his fingers. His shadow dragon disappeared back into his normal shadow, and soon, something was slowly coming...

Behind Nene, near the platform itself, a gigantic, gray mechanical square-ish monstronsity was rising up from the darkness below. It appeared to have many red mechanical contraptions on the front of it, with red lines all over on its other sides. In the very center of it, behind Nene, were four light blue pods, arranged to resemble the four corners of a square.

The monstrosity floated over to where Nene was, above him. They all looked at it.

"Whoa, what is that thing?" asked Amy.

"I don't know, Amy. But from its designs, it looks like a mechanical engine of some sort." said Tails.

"An engine?" asked Klonoa.

Nene evilly laughed.

"Ha ha ha haaa... Yes, it is an engine. An engine of magic energy. We ancients called it an 'Eternal Engine.' We used such things as fuel for our magic, and as fuel for our glorious mechanical army! Now then..."

The man suddenly floated upwards and stopped at where the pods were. He clenched his fists.

"Let me show you how magic...is really used!!"

With that yell, Nene swiftly crossed his arms and moved them away, letting out energy from him and several rays of bright white light.

Everyone shielded themselves from the light.

'Ugh... Well, this is different... As soon as I transform, the bad guy transforms as well. Wow.' Sonic thought.

After a few seconds, the light faded away...and they all saw him.

Nene had suddenly grown larger than before. His overall body now looked stronger as well, with the arm sleeves of his outfit having been torn off to show his large muscles. There were now some sort of wires that were attached to his back that came from the pods, connecting him to the engine itself.

The yellow hedgehog observed him, floating in front of him.

'Man, talk about being buff and becoming one with machines... Hm, his power has increased, that's for sure...but its definitely nothing I can't handle.'

The violet man growled a bit, then chuckled.

"Heh, heh, heh... Infinite energy! The thoughts of the ancients... I now control it all..." he said, his voice having a growling tone to it.

With his hands glowing bright purple, Nene fixed his gaze on Sonic.

"Now I shall squash you like an insect, hedgehog!!"

As soon as he yelled that, Sonic quickly went into a stance, preparing for his attacks.

The violet man swiftly raised his arms up and then downwards. Suddenly, from the sky above, large flaming green meteors came plowing through the dark clouds, all of them heading straight for Sonic.

"Whoa! You guys, move!!"

When they came, Sonic dodged them one by one by quickly flying away. The meteors were then heading for his friends, but they quickly got out of the way, letting the rocks crash down on the three circles but not damaging them. The rocks simply broke apart.

"Wow, this place sure has some toughness to it..." said Tails, observing.

"Aagh!"

"Huh? Sonic!"

Above them, the yellow hedgehog was just knocked away by a small purple energy explosion. The man had just thrown an energy ball at him.

Sonic stopped and shook his head.

"Ugh... Nice one. I can do that, too! Eat this!!"

He quickly formed his own yellow energy ball and swiftly threw it at Nene. It reached and exploded on him, knocking him back slightly.

"Urgh... So you can... Well, try this one for size!"

Nene's hands glowed brightly again. Summoning up his energy, growling, he then fired several energy balls rapidly at the hedgehog, grunting each time he fired. Seeing them, Sonic dodged them one by one. The firing continued, until the violet man stopped. Using his magic energy, Nene inhaled some air up via his mouth, then suddenly breathed out a large stream of fire at the hedgehog.

After dodging the last ball...

"...huh?"

...Sonic saw the flames coming right towards him.

"Hmph."

As they were approaching, Sonic shielded himself with his arms, letting them completely engulf him. They stopped in the air, trapping him within with no way out.

Feeling confident, Nene chuckled.

"Hmhmhmm... Huh?"

A spark of light suddenly flickered for a bit... Then, to the man's surprise, the yellow hedgehog bursted wildly out of the flames, extinguishing them, and was now swiftly coming for the man.

"Ngh...!!"

Getting in range of him, Sonic let loose a flurry of strong punches and kicks on Nene, hurting him. Then, Sonic launched a huge punch on him that knocked him and his engine away.

Stopping in the air, Nene's body drooped downwards, having been suffered by Sonic's attacks. The man was breathing heavily.

"There! How'd you like that, huh?" asked Sonic.

After a few seconds...suddenly, the man chuckled, and the four light blue pods glowed brightly.

"Hm hm hmmm..."

As they glowed, the wires connected between them and Nene seemed to be transferring energy from the pods to the man. Soon, the pain he suffered faded away, and he looked at Sonic with a satisfied look.

"Ahhh... Ha ha ha haaa..."

Down below, Tails just realized something.

"Huh? Did he just heal himself with the engine?!"

Sonic heard him. "...huh?!"

"Correct..." said Nene, smiling evilly. "Now you know what I meant by infinite energy. Realize it! You cannot defeat me! I am invincible!!"

After a second, the hedgehog went out of his surprised look and into a determined one, getting into his stance.

"Hmph. Nothing is invincible. I'll find a way to defeat you no matter what!"

Sonic blasted off towards him. As he tried to attack, Nene swiftly put his right arm forward and formed a green, electrical sphere that knocked away the hedgehog. He regained and looked.

"Grrr... Now what?"

"Hmm...the energy empowering you, whatever it is, seems to be quite interesting to me..." said Nene. "Perhaps I shall drain it out of you and utilize it for my own..."

'...what? Drain it?' Sonic thought.

With the sphere still in his hand, the man brought it to himself and, with his other hand, duplicated it. Letting them go, the two electrical spheres floated over to his sides, one on each.

"Now...time to lose your precious power, Sonic Star!"

With that, he swiftly pointed at the hedgehog, "activating" the spheres. As soon as they did...

"...ngh!"

...Sonic suddenly felt twitching pain all over his body, feeling as if something was electrocuting him, shaking him as it continued. Watching this, Nene chuckled, feeling confident.

"Cannot bear it, hedgehog? Heh, heh, heh... Now be deprived of it!"

As he said that, the electrocuting became stronger, shocking the hedgehog more and now feeling as if something was trying to get inside of him. But as it continued...he smiled at the man.

"...hm?"

Nene noticed his smile. Then, he suddenly sensed something from his spheres.

"What?!"

To his surprise, the spheres lost their electrical "currents" and color, graying out and fading away. Sonic stopped shaking and floated upright in the air.

"Nice try, Nene."

Nene angrily looked at him, growling. "How did you...?!"

Sonic pointed to his already-glowing star symbol. "This little thing right here, that's how. It protects my energy from any outside creeps who try to drain it out of me... I lost my energy once to a long-time enemy of mine, but with the help of some new friends, I regained it all back, placing this star symbol on me to prevent anything like that from happening again. So tough luck, man!"

The man calmed himself. "...hm, so it happened before...'

"Yeah. You were just too late to be the first, that's what!"

"...hmph... Very well... I will have to do this the normal way...by killing you!!"

Nene swiftly moved his arms up and, after a second and a loud grunt, down. Sonic sensed something from above.

"Oh, great. Not again!"

From the dark clouds, instead of large raining meteors, came down large raining iceballs. As they came, Sonic dodged them one by one.

"What? Now ice this time? ...hmph."

After dodging another, Sonic flew upwards and abruptly stopped one of the balls with his hands. With his strength, he lifted it upwards with ease, over and above his head. He looked down at the man.

"What?!" shouted Nene as he saw him carrying the iceball.

"Surprised? I may not look like one of them buff guys out there like you, but unlike them, I can lift up way more heavier things than they ever could! So chew on this, you creep!!"

Sonic swiftly threw the ball at him. Seeing it, Nene tried to shield himself. It crashed directly on him, dealing major damage to him and knocking him and his engine back a bit... The man's body drooped down.

Seeing him, the hedgehog floated downwards to him until he was straight ahead of him. Powering up and yelling, Sonic then rapidly fired out several energy balls at him for a while, damaging the man... He threw the last one and stopped.

After the minor smoke faded, Nene was still in the same drooped position. Then, after a second...

"U-ugh... No matter how...hard you try...you cannot...stop me!!"

...the four pods behind him started to glow again...

"Unh! Sonic!" shouted Tails, seeing them from the ground. "Destroy those things before they heal him back!"

Sonic noticed the pods.

"Of course...! Hmph, time to prove that you're not invincible as you think, Nene!!"

The yellow hedgehog summoned up more of his energy. Forming four energy balls in his hands, two in each, with a grunt, he threw them at the pods. As they exploded on them, Nene suddenly made a wild twitch, with his eyes wide open, feeling intense pain all over him.

"Ugh!! ...no...! What. Have. You. Done?!"

As he said that, his body suddenly trembled...

"Feeling cut off from your power, eh? Your magic energy? Well, too bad for you, Nene!" exclaimed Sonic. "In fact, I should blow up your little engine here!"

With a loud growl, the hedgehog powered up even more, with his aura becoming larger. Then, he went into a stance...

"Now its over!! Say your prayers, Nene!!"

Sonic blasted off towards the engine, with his aura trailing behind him. Like an energy beam piercing through an object, Sonic crashed into and out of the Eternal Engine in a mere second, coming out of the other side and leaving mechanical parts out of it in his wake.

The engine was now emitting a lot of electricity...and Nene was now trembling wildly, with his eyes way wide open. His eye pupils shrunk.

"...aah...aah...!!"

Soon...the engine began its destruction. Several explosions flared up one at a time, blowing off pieces of itself... Nene was moving around wildly and frantically, screaming a lot as if he was being tortured, with a lot of steam coming out of his back where the wires were.

"Aaaagh!! Uaarrrgh!! Uaaaaagh!!"

After screaming a lot, the man drooped down completely, extending his wires and falling. The wires soon snapped, and he and the engine plunged down to the ground. As the smoke fog went off, blocking the view, the pod holding Deathroy to his shoulder cracked into pieces, revealing his small frog-like body and letting him fall to the ground. Quickly standing up on his legs, the creature smiled to itself as he was now free from the pod. Looking up at the unconscious Nene and then at the fog, he realized something that made him happy...and then, he sneaked off, fading away in the smoke.

Tails, Klonoa, and Amy all shielded themselves against the wild smoke, coughing a bit.

"...ugh... Man, talk about being so close to the crash!" exclaimed the long-eared cat.

"Yeah! I can't breathe here!" exclaimed Amy.

After several seconds, the smoke slowly calmed and faded away. They all looked. Ahead of them on the outer edge of the large circle stood the smoking ruins of the engine, and sitting in front of it was the unconscious violet man.

"Sonic finally got him..." Klonoa said.

Tails smiled and chuckled at this. "Yeah... Heh. Gotta love Super Sonic for always saving the day at the last minute."

"Hm." The cat smiled.

Floating down from above, Sonic landed in front of them, powering down but staying in Super form, with his aura and star symbol glow disappearing. He faced and looked at the man.

"Another day, another bad guy defeated."

"Yeah. Another one down the drain." said Tails.

"Heh... Gotta love being a hero... Huh?"

Just then, a small cough was heard from the man.

"What? He's still alive?" asked Amy.

The violet man let out a few more coughs... Then, he slowly opened his eyes, looking at them while not moving a single inch.

"Ugh... I...underestimated you..."

"Hm, of course you did. What, you think I'd just let you squeeze me to death back then?" asked Sonic. "I knew I couldn't go down like that, so I had no choice but to go all out on you. To show you how I faced against the past enemies of mine... Well, now you know."

"...urragggh... How come I did not hear anything like that before? How...?"

"Well, maybe you didn't keep a close enough attention on life and its evolution... Maybe that's why."

The man stared at him...then looked down in sadness.

"...perhaps...trying to carry on...my people's legacy...was...a waste of time... Useless, even..."

"Yeah...a huge waste of time, actually." said Sonic. "Planning and plotting for centuries...only to end up defeated by someone like me. It's a shame, really."

"...uggh... So I realize... It's...indeed...a crying shame..."

Nene coughed up some more...then suddenly started to choke, gasping for air for a few seconds. Afterwards, he made a loud, vomiting cough, and, as they all saw, spit out a small blue sphere from his mouth.

As it came for his face, Sonic quickly grabbed it and looked at it.

After some breathing, Nene calmed down. His body and appearance started to slowly change...

"...and thus...I follow the same fate of my people...finally pulling us...into...extin...ction..."

With that, the man drooped, now with the look of an aged person, with his body having nothing but bony, sagged skin all over.

They all looked at him. Amy gasped at the sight of his aged body.

"...hm, its a fate you deserved right from the start..." said Sonic.

The yellow hedgehog turned around to his friends, looking at the sphere.

"Hmm... So this thing was what killed those kids, Tails?"

"Definitely must be... Now without it, Nene went back to his real age." said the fox.

"Serves him right... But...its kinda surprising that a small thing like this can hold someone's soul in it, not to mention carrying great power within as I can sense."

"Yeah. This world is full of mysteries, eh?"

"Mm-hmm. No doubt."

"What are we gonna do with it, though?" asked Klonoa.

"Hmm... Well, I have no real use for it, so..."

Sonic tossed it away backwards, flying over the ruined engine and fading out of sight.

"Hmm, yeah, it's better to throw it away and leave it here. I think it'll die out anyway." said Tails as he looked.

"Hm."

"So...this entire island. You think it can be restored back to the ocean?" asked Amy. "After all, it isn't a vacation site anymore if its a floating box in the air..."

"Right. It's gotta be back to where it belongs, even if it was originally like this a millenia ago." said Sonic. "If there's a switch somewhere, we'll try and find it. But if Nene used his magic instead, I'll restore it myself using my Chaos energy."

"Right!" nodded Klonoa.

But, before they could go...suddenly, they heard a loud, swallowing gulp coming from somewhere. They all looked around.

"Huh? What was that?" asked Amy.

"Dunno. Sounded like a huge gulp, as if someone ate something." said Tails.

Then, they all heard a string of crazed, maniacal laughter.

"Hehehehahahahahahahaaa!!"

Klonoa saw something behind Sonic.

"Um, Sonic, behind you..."

Sonic swiftly turned around and looked.

"...what? It's you."

Floating in front of the engine and the dead Nene was Szabo, facing Sonic and friends.

"If you don't need this sphere, then I will take it!" he said, with a crazed tone to its voice.

"Say what?! You swallowed that thing?!"

"Yeeeeessss..."

The hedgehog growled. "Why you... Cough it back up, scrap metal!"

"Ha ha ha... I don't think so!"

Sonic growled again.

Hearing him, Tails realized something.

"Wait a minute... I recognize that voice!"

"Yeah, I recognize it, too." said Klonoa. "Szabo spoke in a different voice than that..."

"Huh? So its not actually the bot itself?" asked Sonic, looking back.

"No..."

The hedgehog looked at the robot again.

"Then...who is controlling it?"

After a second...

"Grrrrr...aah!"

...suddenly, something popped up out of the robot's head, destroying it and revealing the answer to Sonic.

"What?! Deathroy?!"

--

"The Seal is Broken"

--

As the pale yellow frog creature stood inside Szabo's head, smiling evilly, a sudden dark feeling slowly came over everyone... The clouds above began to move at a faster pace, and the winds were becoming harsher by the second.

Amy looked around, frowning with a worried look.

"...ohh...why does it feel like something horrible is about to happen?"

"I feel it, too, Amy." said Tails. "Something's definitely not right here..."

"Yeah... Something tells me that this guy is more than just a pet of someone... Much more..." said Sonic. "Tell me... Who the heck are you, really?"

"Heheheheheeee... You'll find out... Soon enough!" exclaimed Deathroy.

With Nene's soul and power within him, the frog creature concentrated, shaking a bit, with his eyes glowing bright green. From where he was, several pale-yellow vines suddenly sprouted out, spreading all over Szabo's robotic body and stopping.

"I thank you for throwing away that sphere." the creature said, in a slightly distorted voice. "I thank you for cutting the chains that bound me..."

"What...? You mean...?" Sonic asked.

"Yes... And at long last, I am finally free!!" the creature exclaimed, now in a fully-distorted voice.

To everyone's surprise, suddenly, the vines literally exploded into complete, mushy goo... In an instant, the goo became whole, completely absorbing the robot's body. Deathroy's head was seen on top of it.

And it didn't stop there, for the goo was growing larger at every second...

"Ewww!!" exclaimed Amy, disgusted at it.

"Ha ha ha... Oooah ha ha ha haaa!"

"Ughh... Everyone, move back!!" shouted Sonic.

They all quickly stepped back a few feet and stopped. As the goo was growing larger, it lashed several vines out of it. They went for the parts of the ruined engine scattered about, grabbing them and bringing them back to the goo, letting it absorb them.

"Ooooh... Incredible!" the creature yelled, his voice now monstrous. "I can feel my power returning!!"

Deathroy's head now went inside the goo as it absorbed the engine itself, taking Nene along.

The goo soon stopped growing altogether but still moving wildly, now completely towering over Sonic and his friends. Because of the weight of it, everyone suddenly felt that the platform was slowly descending itself.

After a few seconds, something slowly appeared from the top of the goo as it slowly dissipated. As the black clouds slowly turned red, the head of the creature slowly appeared, now increased in size and looking more like an ant than a frog with longer antennae on the top of his head.

"I will devour you all!" yelled the creature-turned-monster, getting himself out of the good to reveal the rest of his true form. "For so long, I've been sentenced to endure that wretched, miserable form!"

As the goo dissipated off the bottom half of his body, the platform suddenly shook itself. Between the group and the newly-formed monster, it split and cracked into two. As everyone held on, the other half of the platform, where the monster was, completely came off. But the monster still stood, with only half of his body visible to the group.

"But now... Now revenge shall be mine!!"

To their surprise as they looked with thunder and lightning coming from the red skies above, long sprouts of burning lava came shooting up from where the monster was as well as around them. The entire remnant of the platform was now completely surrounded by pools of lava everywhere, with jagged rocks coming out of them...

After they shielded themselves from the fires, Sonic and friends all looked at the monster. Despite seeing only half of his humanoid, muscular-abbed body, he still towered over them.

The monster slowly fixed his scary gaze on them, positioning his arms slightly over them, as if he was trying to scare them.

"I. Am. Destroy!! The most powerful biomechanical warrior!!"

Soon, the lava sprouts stopped, but the thunder and lightning continued.

Amy cowered behind Tails, being frightened of Destroy.

"Waaaah!! Big, scary monster!! And with lava around us, too!!" yelled Amy.

Sonic, Klonoa, and Tails were gritting their teeth at him angrily, sweating a bit since this was a sudden surprise to them. The yellow hedgehog, however, was grunting constantly...

"Man, who would've thought that a thing that small would become something this huge?" said the fox. "This monster is just as big as Perfect Chaos!"

"Ngh... So this is your true form, huh?" said Sonic. "Great... Just great. Grrr..."

As Klonoa looked at him...

"Destroy... Where have I heard-- Hey, wait a minute!!"

"Huh?" Everyone looked at him.

"That mural I saw on the documentary that was on TV this morning... So it was you who wiped out both civilizations!!"

"Wh-what? You mean HE destroyed both Nene's people and their enemies?!" asked Sonic.

"No doubt! The mural showed him exactly like this, too!"

"What?! ...grrr!!" Sonic looked at the monster angrily.

Destroy lowered his hands down, smiling at them.

"Hm hm hm hm hm... Nene was a fool to think that I was a mere companion to someone else. He did not figure out who I really was after such a millenia..."

"Hmm, from what I can recall from the documentary, you didn't really wipe them all out. The last few survivors of Nene's people managed to stop you, did they? Right before they starved to death?" asked Klonoa.

"They did stop me. Though, with their weak magic, they had only taken away my powers, which reduced me to that wretched form... But now, thanks to you, I have returned to my true form...which I was predicting for all along!"

"Really... Grrr... Now I know what's going on!" exclaimed Sonic. "Nene said that you were the one that motivated him to try and take over the world... But in reality, you were actually leading him to his demise! You somehow knew that someone would try and stop him so that you could take over yourself! Am I right, Destroy?"

"Correct... Unlike him, I could sense energies from far away. Before he initiated his plans, I sensed only one potential person that could abrupt him: you... Thus, when he began his takeover of this island, I sensed your coming presence. And here we are... How careless of you to discard his soul to me... I thank you for that!"

"Hmph! Guess I shouldn't have thrown it away, then!"

"Huah ha ha haaa... Now that I am finally free, I shall carry out what I was created to do... To destroy everything in my path. To reduce all of the world to nothing! To annihilate every single lifeform from the face of this pitiful planeeeet!!"

As the monster yelled that to the sky, Sonic went into a stance.

"Grrr... Not while I'm here!!"

The hedgehog suddenly powered up, with his star symbol glowing brightly and an aura surrounding him.

Destroy noticed him and chuckled.

"Hm hm hm... Ha, do you really think you can defeat me here? I doubt it... Even you fully know well that my power is beyond yours. Admit it!"

The monster was right. Sonic could sense his tremendous energy...which was almost equal to that of his old archrival's dark form back then.

Sonic stood there for a few seconds, then something reminded him, making him look at Klonoa for a bit. Then, he looked at the monster, smiling.

"Alright. I admit that. Your power is far stronger than mine... But even then, in the past, when I encountered an enemy of mine that was far stronger than me, I simply enlisted the help of a few friends of mine. By working together, we were able to take him down... Now I'll do the same here to take YOU down."

He looked at the long-eared cat.

"How about it, Klonoa?"

Klonoa looked at him, with a surprised look. He hesitated, since they were facing a big monster that was more powerful than Sonic himself...but then, he knew that it would not be like him to turn down help like that.

The cat formed a determined expression and nodded, running to the hedgehog's left side and facing the monster, activating his Wind Saber and getting into a stance.

"Let's do this together, eh? If this doesn't work, though..." said Sonic.

"Right! We can't let this guy go and ruin it all like he did to the ancient civilizations!"

"Hmph! We definitely won't!!"

Destroy looked at them both, still smiling.

"Hm hm hmm... Overconfidence. So be it. I'm gonna enjoy devouring the hedgehog's energies when I'm done annihilating the two of you!"

The monster folded his arms.

"Come! Try and stop me if you can!!"

Sonic and Klonoa looked at each other and nodded. Then, the hedgehog blasted off to the sky while the cat ran off to the monster's body.

Swiftly descending, nearing Destroy's ant-like frog face, Sonic prepared his right fist, and once in range, he tried to land a huge punch on the monster's face on the side. To his surprise, the hedgehog's fist stopped hard on him like a rock!

"Huh?!"

At the same time, Klonoa tried to land a big slash on the monster's body, but it, too, had no effect. He bounced off and landed.

"Wow, it's rock solid!"

Sonic noticed and heard him.

"Yeah, he didn't flinch from my attack either! He's just as hard as metal... But even metal can be broken just by wearing it down. Klonoa, just wail on him until he flinches!"

As he yelled that, Sonic started punching the monster swiftly. Seeing him, Klonoa tried to do the same by slashing the body... But after a while, neither of them were doing any damage to him.

Destroy chuckled, looking ahead instead of them.

"Hm hm hmm... Try as you might, but I'll never feel such pain from the likes of you!"

As Sonic continued, suddenly, the two antennae on top of Destroy's head started twitching and bristling with electricity. As he made a loud grunt, large amounts of electric energy exploded out of him, which knocked away both Sonic and Klonoa.

The hedgehog quickly regained in the air while the cat fell back on the platform, quickly standing up.

"Hmmm! Now it's my turn!"

Unfolding his arms, Destroy quickly breathed in some air into his mouth, leaning back a bit. Then, he breathed out towards Sonic, letting out a really large and long stream of not only fire, but huge brown rocks made of brimstone.

"...whoa!"

Sonic tried to dodge the stream, but it caught him, now suffering burns and the barrage of the rocks.

"Ngggh!! Aaagh!!"

A large rock the size of him knocked the hedgehog out of the stream, now falling downwards back to the platform. Just as he was about to hit it, he quickly regained and landed next to Klonoa instead. He growled at Destroy.

"Nice one, you big creep!"

"Heh heh heeeh..." chuckled the monster.

Sonic looked at the cat. "You alright?"

"Yeah... That shocked me, though."

"Shocked me as well. But its not gonna stop us!!"

The hedgehog blasted off to the monster. Klonoa quickly followed on foot.

"...hm."

Smirking, Destroy lifted his head upwards...then quickly back down towards Sonic, releasing a huge, sudden wave of energy from his brightly-glowing eyes, which hit the hedgehog...

"Aaaaagh!!"

...and catapulted him back, towards the platform. He crash-landed on his back, sliding backwards to Tails and Amy, with his body emitting smoke.

Seeing him, Klonoa stopped and looked back.

"Sonic!!"

As he looked back, the monster noticed him and took advantage of this. Moving his head all the way to his right and then swiftly to the left, Destroy lashed out his long but deadly tongue at the cat, hurting and knocking him away.

"Waaaaah!!"

Klonoa crash-landed to where Sonic was, next to him, face-flat.

"Oh, man, this isn't good!" exclaimed Tails, looking at them.

Amy was frowning with a worried look, groaning in fear.

"Ohhh... Get back up, you two!"

After a second, Sonic slowly pushed himself up, shaking his head and growling. He stood back up, angrily looking back at Destroy. Klonoa stood back up as well.

The two faced the monster as he folded his arms and laughed.

"Huah ha haaa!! Have you realized yet? That you can't beat me?!"

"Ugh... Don't jump to conclusions, Destroy!!" yelled Sonic. "We will find a way to defeat you!!"

"...hm. Pathetic. You're merely junping to your deaths here!"

"Grrr... So you say! Haaa!!"

Sonic blasted off once again, this time in a greater speed. Klonoa followed him.

But even with great speed, the monster still managed to set his focus on him. When Sonic approached him, Destroy moved his head left and right, attacking with the tongue again and knocking the hedgehog away... Sonic quickly regained and went for him again. But this time...

"...ngh!!"

...the monster caught him in the air using his tongue, wrapping and squeezing the hedgehog with it.

"Let...go of me!!"

Stopping near the monster's body, Klonoa looked at him above.

"Sonic!! Grr, let him go!!"

With the Saber in hand, he faced the body and tried slashing. But again, it kept stopping on it like solid metal.

Still holding Sonic with his tongue, Destroy looked at the cat trying to slash his body. He formed a sly, smiling expression on his face as he looked. With his right hand, he grabbed Klonoa and brought him up, with the cat struggling to get out. The monster chuckled... Looking at Sonic, he moved his tongue upwards, carrying the hedgehog along...then suddenly flung him downwards, smashing him towards the platform and hurting him.

Sonic screamed in pain... The monster wasn't done yet, though. He brought him upwards, and again he flung him downwards, smashing him more. It didn't stop there, as the monster smashed him one more time.

The tongue remained there, with Sonic heavily hurt.

"Oh my gosh, Sonic!!" yelled Amy, with a really worried look.

"Man, I don't know how much more he can take if Destroy keeps on smashing him like this!" exclaimed Tails, shocked at this.

After a second, the monster looked up at the red cloudy sky. As he looked, with both Sonic and Klonoa in his grasp, he threw them way high into the air. Putting his tongue back into his mouth, he clenched both of his hands and concentrated, shaking and summoning up his power.

After two seconds, Destroy swiftly lifted his hands upwards to the sky, looking at it and releasing his energy.

"Final Judgmeeeeent!!"

Up in the air, where Sonic and Klonoa were, a portion of the red sky above them suddenly turned gray. Then after a second, it shot down several huge bolts of yellow lightning towards the two, shocking and severely hurting them. They both screamed in pain as they were inflicted by the lightning, with accompanying thunder booms from the sky.

Soon, the electrocuting stopped, and they both fell down towards the platform, crashing on it hard. Klonoa's hat fell off of him, and he dropped his Saber. Sonic's aura and symbol glow disappeared. Both of their bodies were heavily smoking.

"Unh!! Sonic! Klonoa!" shouted Tails, looking at them worriedly.

"Get back up, you two!" shouted Amy.

But after a few seconds, they made no movement, only twitched at every second.

Destroy looked at them. Being satisfied, he grinned evilly.

"So much for trying to defeat me. Ha! What did you expect from a warrior who annihilated the ancients' civilizations? It was pathetic enough for you two to attempt it! Hm hm hmm... Ah..."

With his left hand, he grabbed Sonic and brought him to his face. The hedgehog's eyes were closed and his head was drooping down, with shock marks all over him.

"Looks like your plan of teamwork had failed in the end. Hm hm..."

Sonic slowly opened his eyes halfway, gritting his teeth at him.

"This...isn't...over!"

"Oh, but it is. You lost to me. Accept it!"

"...uh...ugggh...!!"

"And as a result, I now have the opportunity to devour your delicious, appetizing energy. Oh, I know well that your little star mark on your belly protects it, but that doesn't stop me from devouring it. I'll just have to absorb you and your whole body into my form, instead!"

"...what?! No!" exclaimed Tails. "You can't do that! ...huh?"

Just then, the fox noticed Klonoa ahead of him, slowly standing up. He stumbled a bit, with his head and arms drooping downwards, breathing heavily.

"Klonoa! Get Sonic out of there before Destroy absorbs him!" yelled the fox.

...there was no response from him, but after a second...

"...grrr...grrrrr...!!"

"...huh? Klonoa?"

With his focus and sights on Sonic, Destroy chuckled.

"Hm hm hmm... Time to say your farewells to this world, Sonic! Ahh..."

With that sigh, the vines that let him absorb the mechanical parts into him came out from the sides of his left hand. They were slowly creeping up to Sonic.

'Ugh... No! I can't let this guy get away with this!' Sonic thought.

On the platform, Klonoa continued to growl like mad for a few seconds. Tails and Amy stared at him, puzzled...

"Why is Klonoa growling like that? It's not like him to ever growl..." said Amy.

"I don't know, Amy. But if he doesn't do something quickly, Sonic's gonna be absorbed soon!" exclaimed Tails.

The vines were now nearing Sonic as he looked at them.

"Ha ha haaa...hmm?!"

The monster suddenly sensed something. He looked at where it was coming from: the platform. Sonic sensed it, too, fully opening his eyes.

After some more loud growling, Klonoa swiftly looked up at Destroy, angrily, gritting his teeth and with his eyes wide open. As he clenched his fists and stood up straight, his eyes suddenly glowed bright blue and his bangs spiked up themselves.

"...what the...?! You have the same kind of energy as Sonic, too?!" asked Destroy, surprised.

"What? Same kind of energy?" said Tails. "...huh?!"

As the fox said that, he quickly noticed that Klonoa's fur was now suddenly flashing yellow...

"What...the...heck?!"

Amy noticed him, too, saying nothing in response, but still surprised.

"Grrr!! Let. Sonic. Gooooo!!"

Klonoa suddenly ran off towards Destroy, running in a faster-than-normal speed. Nearing the monster, he jumped way high into the air. Descending to the monster's face, he landed a huge punch on him, knocking his face to the left and slightly moving his body, and loosening his grip on Sonic, letting him go.

The cat bounced off of the monster's body and landed back on the platform where Tails and Amy were. He looked ahead, breathing heavily, with Sonic floating in the air ahead of him.

"Sonic...! Use your...true power...now...! ...ohhh..."

Klonoa fell forward to the ground, face-flat and blacking out, with his eyes, fur, and bangs going back to normal.

Sonic just witnessed him, looking back.

'...hm. Thanks for getting me out of there...' he thought. 'Don't worry. I will...'

He then looked up at the monster, clenching his fists with a determined look.

Destroy regained himself, shaking his head.

"Ugh... That certainly caught me off guard...huh?"

He noticed Sonic in front of him, gritting his teeth, with his star symbol glowing brightly.

"No more games for you, Destroy!! You're not gonna absorb me, you big creep!! Now I'll prove to you that you're not invincible as you think!! Grrrrrr...aaaaahhhhhh!!"

The yellow Super hedgehog exploded in great energy, slightly knocking the monster back. After a second, a bright yellow sphere appeared where Sonic was, emitting great energy winds from it.

The monster glanced at it with shock and awe.

"What?! What is this?! Why do I sense great power from him?!"

The sphere continued for a few seconds, until it faded away. Sonic now floated there, eyes closed...with his yellow fur glowing brightly and having that melting effect to it. Accompanying the glows, several white shining sparkles now emitted from him, going upwards all around him.

He opened his eyes and looked at the monster, determined.

"I...don't believe it!" exclaimed Destroy, still shocked. "Your...power...is incredible!!"

"Hmph. You thought you were the strongest being here? Think again." said Sonic, with his voice more calmer than before.

After a few grunts of shock, the monster changed his expression to an angry one.

"Ugh! How dare you kept this power hidden away from me??"

As he yelled that, he tried to swat Sonic away with his left hand. But the hedgehog abruptly stopped it to his right with his arm stretched out, not flinching a bit.

"...nggh!!" blurted the monster, shocked but still angry.

With his left hand still there, he then tried to crush Sonic with his right. But the hedgehog stopped it as well... Furious, Destroy tried to put as much pressure as he could, but Sonic persisted.

"Im... Impossible!! How are you doing this?!"

"Scared, huh? That's how it should be, really. Hm!!"

From his hands holding the monster's, Sonic let out bursts of energy out of them. The huge hands were knocked away, flinching the monster a bit.

"Ngh...!"

Regaining, the monster looked at him, nervously...

"I am not letting you get out of this place!" exclaimed Sonic. "I am not letting you loose on this world, my home...like you were on both ancient civilizations! No! Instead, I am taking you down right now, Destroy!!"

The hedgehog looked at the monster's body, sensing something inside. He now knew what to do.

"Hmph, and quickly will you go down! Say your prayers, you creep!!"

With that, Sonic blasted off to the monster's body, leaving behind sparkles as he flew. Once he got to his target, he quickly unleashed a long, fast string of strong punches and kicks to the body, now actually hurting Destroy... The monster grunted in great pain as the hedgehog hit him each time.

From the platform, Amy watched and cheered on.

"Whoo! Go, Sonic! Beat that ugly monster down!"

While she cheered on, Tails stared at the downed Klonoa, not watching Sonic...

'Chaos energy within him? And a Super form? But how...?'

Sonic continued attacking the body. Soon, the monster started feeling really nauseous, and that his own power was slowly diminishing.

After a while of attacking, Sonic prepared one last huge punch with his right fist, glowing brightly as he prepared.

"This is it!! You. Are. Finiiiiished!!"

Sonic unleashed the big punch, really digging into the monster's body. Destroy felt excruciating pain at where he was being punched at. His eyes and mouth were wide open, trembling a bit.

The hedgehog flew back and stopped, watching. As the monster trembled, his head was lifted upwards, and soon, the very sphere he swallowed earlier came out of his open mouth... It went towards the platform, towards Tails. The fox noticed it and grabbed it as it came to him.

After a second, Destroy looked at what he just spat out. His own power was now completely gone.

"Ungh...! No...! You've pulled it... You've pulled it out of meeee!!"

Sonic said nothing in response, giving him that determined look.

The monster tried to reach out for the sphere, grunting and groaning desperately. But as soon as he did...

"Unh?!"

...he noticed that there were now several small explosions flaring all over his left arm and hand. He also saw them on his right... The monster knew what was happening, making him extremely fearful. And with him standing in the lava in the first place...

"No...! This can't be! I am not going back to that form... I am dying, instead! Noooooo!! I am the Beast to End All Wars!! I cannot be killed off like this!!"

Sonic shook his head at him. "Meh, when will bad guys and monsters like you ever learn...?"

As the small explosions continued, Destroy suddenly felt like a bomb was about to explode inside of him...

"Aagh...aagh...!! ...uuuuuaaaaaaaagggggghhhhh!!"

As he let out that deathly scream to the sky, the Eternal Engine inside of him set off a chain of massive explosions, rupturing his entire body apart and enveloping it in massive fire and smoke. The two on the platform shielded themselves, but Sonic just floated there, unaffected.

The explosions continued for a long while...and now the monster was slowly falling backwards, towards the lava, letting it melt him as he fell. Soon, his face and head went in, and then his only arm and hand, pointing upwards as it melted...

Destroy was now no more. The posing threat to the world had been averted, and the island was now safe again.

Now, nothing but the sounds of bubbling lava were heard. The sky was still red, though.

Sonic looked at where the monster used to be, then he powered down, back to his regular Super form. He descended and landed on the platform. He turned to Tails and Amy and walked to them. They unshielded themselves and looked.

"Big monster's finally gone?" asked Amy.

Sonic nodded, smiling. "Thanks to a quick use of my true Super form. He proved no match for me."

"Well, that's good." said Tails.

The fox looked at the sphere in his hand. Before he could say anything, the sphere suddenly lost its glow and then shattered itself into pieces. The pieces slowly faded away.

"...it's gone..."

"Hmm, guess it went through too much use." said Sonic. "It's not safe to keep it around anyway."

"Yeah, you're right... We don't want another huge monster event like that again."

The fox dusted his hands off.

"So...the island's safe now, right? I want its paradise sett