"Understood, I will see you soon." Shadow said from the other side of the line.

"Before you go, can you think of a reason why Silver wants to speak privately?" Sonic asked.

"Not really. Only that he knows more about this than any of us." Shadow replied.

"Got it." Sonic asked and hanged the phone.

At that moment, the blue blur carried a metal briefcase, surrounded by a large amount of people, all with their respective extreme gears.

The hedgehog duo were used to only feed themselves, so they needed a bit more money to get food for their guests. It wasn't really a bother, as this was always an option. Extreme gear racing. To be specific, illegal competitions. They were easy money and accesible.

Neither Sonic nor Amy were too fond of the idea, specially Amy, but this was an extraordinary time.

"Competidors! Take your places!" The voice announced and the green bar behind them lit up and started to move forward.

The blue blur remembered when he used to walk back a few steps and then ran at full speed. The races were predictable, as the bar always moved at the same speed, the starting area was always polished metal, no matter if the rest of the enviroment was a forest, water or anything else.

~Experimenting is better.~ He thought, smiling. Today, he chose to get much closer to the starting line, just a couple inches away from it. This way, he wouldn't earn too much initial speed, but that didn't matter much to him. Aside from that, he was also the one at the front. No other racer was in front of him.

The hedgehog then turned his head around, watching all the competition, all the eyes of the other 11 competidors locked on him. The blue anthro waved at them. None of them returned it.

Finally, the bar passed in front of him. At this easy conditions, he passed right through the start line, his rollerblades full of air energy, but not much speed. And, as he predicted, the rest of the competidors surrounded him.

A mouse on rollerblades pulled out an electric taser and shot its top to the hedgehog from behind. Just at the right timing, Sonic caught the wire with his hands, the dangerous tip hanging out of reach. "Close." He mocked, as he moved that same hand to another competidor, a lynx, this one holding a sword. The blue anthro dodged the blade and connected the tip to the iron tool and the electric charge hurt him.

Next, a bear pulled from his motorcycle a chain with a spike ball, launching the tool to his head. Sonic dodged that, but next came a porcopine, with a spear, trying to impale him.

He did his best to avoid the attacks from both sides, but what he didn't know, was that it was all a setup: in front of them, a scooter riding racoon turned around, still travelling forward and, from the front of the vehicle, a minigun revealed.

Without any consideration, the machine gun roared. Sonic barely had time to curl into a ball and do a spin dash. His partners weren't so lucky, as the bullets pierced through their gears, leaving them useless.

Had he used any other type of extreme gear, it was likely it would be unservable from such attack and, if it weren't for his strong quills and the spin dash, he would be heavily harmed and then, receive an even harder attack from the remaining competidors. But even against his hard quills, the shots still stung like paint ball shots.

His spin dash cut the distance between them and let him toss the raccoon from the scooter.

"Screw it." One final robot voice said, as the familiar sound of missiles closed on him. Sonic didn't have the time to land, but it wasn't necessary, as he, barely, managed to land with his hand, on one of the projectiles.

The missiles were a tiny bit bigger than his hand, and for the first few moments, he lurched to all directions, before getting his balance right. The missile gave him the opportunity to earn the speed he couldn't from the start of the race. "Thanks for the lift." Sonic said, making a V sign with two fingers.

The robot was not pleased from this. Now, the hedgehog gained a good advantage from every competidor, permitting Amy to release a sigh of relief. ~Idiot.~ She thought.

There was a time when she thought his exhibitionism was the coolest thing ever, but now? After thinking he was dead for so long, and after watching people die left and right at the hands of the jackal? Not so much anymore. It was an ironic thought: Amy would have liked if he toned down his risk taking nature, but would he still be Sonic if he did? She sighed, knowing that there was no win-win situation.

The reason why Sonic was attacked like that were varied: He was an skilled racer, a hero, the brother of the Tails the murderous fox, he had killed Eggman, etc. All of this stuff added to the bounty on his head. Amy had to enter much later than him, to minimize the danger of people using her to get to him. She even disguised herself to help this.

She wore sun glasses, khaki jeans and a black jacked with white shirt. She had also messes her quills a bit, thinking that it would give her a rougher look.

The race track was a giant, abandoned mining structure, a giant spiral crater with a shallow cave system, making it easy to get lost, but also to return to the correct path. The descend continued until, right at the center of the hole, stood a giant cannon. From this, the racers got shot back near the beginning of the race track. Unorthodox, but not uncommon on extreme gear racing. Amy, in particular, remembered the giant bajista from the first competition with anger.

Meanwhile, the makeshift, transportable stands were placed around the starting line, at the highest area of the cannon. Several robots came and left to place this and the cannon in place and, once the race was done, they would dismantle them and leave, as if nothing ever happened.

So far, the blue blur had outmaneuvered all the opposition, managing to retain the lead with relative ease. "Come on! Is that hedgehog really that unstopable?" One of the nearby watchers complained.

"He must be cheating. Someone should put him on his place." Another one commented.

~Really? You are complaining of him being a cheater? On illegal racing? How much of a sore loser can someone be?~ Amy thought.

The sooner he won the money, the sooner they went away back home and help their guests.

The two first laps went unremarkably, but it all changed for the third lap. Sonic came close to the cannon, about to enter the lower orifice. A good 4 seconds later, the next three competidors came in.

Sonic entered on the bullet system and waited for the moment the cannon was supposed to shoot him. Except, the moment never came.

"Hey, quit stalling." One of his opponents complained.

"Are you suddenly afraid?" Another said.

"Seriously. If I had something to do with this, why would I let you catch up to me?" Sonic said.

"... Because you are a cheater and a sore loser." One of them added, thought his tone was hollow and insecure.

Sonic just narrowed his eyes, looking tired. "There is probably just a malfunction or something." Sonic looked away, trying to find a solution.

He touched around the mechanism, trying to see a way out or maybe even activate it. He was no genius, but could give his airplane some minor repairs. This cannon looked old, so it couldn't be too complex.

Sonic pulled a metal tile... and his heart almost jumped out of his body: A Black Arms larvae was inside.

A second after that, the sound of blows against metal started. In an instant, several larvae jumped toward him and the players. Sonic couldn't understand how, but the aliens increased its numbers at ridiculous rates, filling all the free space and restringing everyone's movements.

And the effects from the worms poisoning didn't make themselves wait. Sonic already felt numb and weak.

"H-help." One of the competidors tried to yelp, but it came weak. The robot competidor flailed its arms wildly, in vain. Even if it was a machine, the strength and weight of the numerous aliens overwhelmed it.

There was only an option for that. Sonic curled into a ball and spread his spikes. This shook the aliens away, but more were replacing them fast. He had to act quick.

At the best of his capacity, the blue blur swam through the alien swarm. Almost out of strength, the hedgehog punched the robot, barely able to get past the steel exterior.

Meanwhile, the crowd grew restless, thinking that the time the competidors spent on the cannon was too long.

All that was put to the rest when a giant explosion engulfed the entire cannon, the energy wave shaking the entire stadium. Most of the watchers, including Amy, fell.

"Sonic!" She screamed when she jumped back up.

She was ready to jump from the stands, when the sound of a blaster came. One too familiar.

Before she knew it, a rain of purple pulse bullets came. There were several grunts of pain, accompanied by blood. Body after body fell, as the blood splashed the area.

The aliens walked around the bodies, shooting at the floored spectators. Some of them resisted and tried to fight back, taking down a few of the Black Arms, but eventually, the numbers overwhelmed them.

It was around this time that a wounded Sonic emerged from the fire. He went and tried to help the fallen competidors, but a small glance at them left it clear that they were gone.

And looking a little further only made things worse. "Dammit, this shit again." He thought, turning his rollerblades from race mode to freestyle.

The hedgehog priority was finding Amy. He had seen her on the stairs, so he ran a direct line, with enough speed that he got sent up into the sky. In mid-air, he used his homing attack and crashed against his opponents.

Several of the aliens fell under the strength of his blows. Sonic had just bounced from one last alien, when he crashed to the floor in the blink of an eye. The hedgehog didn't understand what happened: He was not pushed or received a blow. If he didn't know any better, he would swear that the earth was the one that got closer to him.

He pushed his body up with his arms, and watched his surroundings. Everything was grey and red blurs moving too fast for him to process. This time, he was sent flying, feeling pain on the right side of his face, but one that he couldn't see coming.

He tried to stand up, but this time, hundreds of kicks to his head crashed him, sinking him further into the grouns, again and again. He curled up into a ball, trying to resist, but a blade passed right through his stomach.

~Not possible~ Was all he could think before the bodies were sent flying. Popping into existance came Amy at his side. That sent alarms to his mind: Amy had used her invisibility powers from what he could tell, but she shouldn't become visible that quickly. It is supposed to be slow and progressive.

Amy then knelled to his partner. "Sonic, are you alright?!" She voiced her panic, her eyes darting between the blue anthro and the mutated green, grey and red bird.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa." Amy caught the weird mumbling coming from him. It sounded deep and slow. Like a recording played at a slower speed.

"Wonky and against my will." Those were the words that Silver used to describe the effect the birds had on him. Was this the same? Was Sonic acting so weird because of Jet?

She didn't have the time to ask, as three Black Bulls came from the sky and nose dived, trying to kill them. Amy grabbed Sonic and dragged him away, but the first bull crashed through the stands, sending the duo flying to the starting line.

On mid fall, Amy pulled out her extreme gear, a board type and carried Sonic on her arms. She looked around, trying to find a hole on their formation, but thousands of soldier surrounding her, and the space ships in the sky left no room to.

From what she could see, her only option was going deep into the mines. Amy gulped, but headed straight to the mines, followed by the aliens.

Elsewhere

Marine had her eyes closed, the ache ever present. She knew it would be easy for her to fall asleep. It should be easy. But there was a consistant rustling coming from nearby that interrupted her sleep.

"Blaze, for the love of Sol, stay still." The girl let go a sleepy groan.

"...Sorry Marine." The fire princess answered. She closed her eyes again and tried to keep her mind clear. Except, it wandered away yet again.

~There are still several kidnappers on the loose. Fancy still messing around. He is working with Captain Whiskers and Johnny. How did that monster extract a bit of my power? Aliens could attack home any time. Silver and Marine were heavily injured.~ Each thought made her shake on her bed, making it impossible to sleep. For herself or for her partner.

The raccoon stood up and went to the lower floor. ~Maybe some water can help me.~

She reached the lower floor and took some. But, she was startled when Silver let go a groan of pain. "Silver, could you not..."

"It is them again." The white anthro said.

Marine was not able to reply when the entire vehicle was pushed, the trio of anthros bouncing inside against the walls.

Outside, the Black Arms, accompanied by Storm the albatross, assaulted several vehicles. The hit, however, didn't come from the Albatross. One of the vehicles was slammed by the giant bird and had crashed against the hedgehogs' van.

Blaze sped off, reaching outside and watching the terrible sight. Both Marine and Silver came out later, awkwardly and gawked at the sight. "For Sol..." The raccoon sighed, watching the aliens just flail around wildly, just like back on the dark place. "Round two, monsters!" Marine said, trying to generate a water blade, but it never formed. "Oh, right."

"...What direction did Sonic and Amy go?" Blaze asked, knowing that they were running out of time.

Marine looked at Silver, then at the sky. "That place looks promising." She pointed at the flying rocks in the sky. Blaze just nodded. Then, she pulled out her rapier.

"Take it. Also carry Silver on your shoulders. Don't let them go, by any mean." Blaze ordered. Marine only complied and, took the rapier. Once Silver was on her back, Blaze did the same with Marine, carrying them. "Cover me."

"Do you think this is a good idea? Taking all of us into the mouth of the lion?" Marine asked.

"They are acting weird, just like in that place. It is dangerous, but if they actually fight in a coordinated effort, then we don't stand a chance." And with that said, Blaze sped off to the mine. For the most part, her journey was straight, with some minor attacks coming nearby them.

Back with the hedgehogs

Amy hear the movements of the aliens around the mines. She and Sonic hid behind some of the rocks formations. From time to time, she would peak, observing the numerous aliens keep walking deeper and deeper.

Then, she observed at her partner. Sonic had moaned a few sounds, which concerned the pink girl. She tried shaking him. Once she stopped, she noticed how Sonic's head moved back and forth by itself, but at extremely slow speeds.

-Ring- ~Fuck.~ Amy let go. Her phone started, which probably alerted some, if not all the aliens. She answered.

"Amy, where are you? Aliens are attacking on the park and we decided to head your way." Blaze asked.

"I am fine." The woman said, lowly. She glanced over the rocks and, as she expected, the enemies were going toward them. "I am inside a cave on the cannon. The aliens are surrounding me." -Phew- A random shot came, grazing her hair and hitting behind them, followed by many more, but all of them were erratic and aimless. "They suddenly went crazy!" The scream escaped her mouth, panic setting in.

"That is on us. Get out, we are going to escape all together." Blaze said.

"Are you sure?"

"Do it. But be careful with the aimless shots." Blaze said.

Amy rode her board again and took Sonic. Getting back to the main area was no problem and, as they had said, Blaze's group waited for her there, thought they kept moving to dodge any coming attacks.

"Perfect, now we..." The sentence was never finished, as a random bolt hit right on Amy's board, sending her flying. "Amy!" Blaze screamed, trying to reach her, but another shot came, not aimed at her, but at her companions.

Marine managed to block the shot with the rapier, but the strength pushed her to the floor, tossing Silver. Next, came an explosive landed right in between them.

Blaze managed to react in time, picking it and tossing it upwards. The light from the explosion blinded them for a second. But when it dissipated, they noticed how the aliens surrounded them, forming a large circle around them. The most alarming was the fact that the aliens were calm and coordinated. They were not the chaotic beast on the other dimension.

"What is going on?" Blaze barely whispered.

Elsewhere

"You were right." Black Death pointed out, surprised. Mephiles orderes him to send the aliens again after them. The first, naturally, said that it was a bad idea, as the grunts would lose control. But the hedgehog reassured that wouldn't happen and now, he still had full control over his soldiers. "How did you know that I wouldn't have any problem?" He asked, observing the yellow giant orb.

"I theorized that Silver's power only messed with yours if he was nearby, as we had no problems when we attacked on the Sol dimension. Then if Silver is not around the source of the physich power, then his powers are useless." Mephiles replied.

"Did you really rationalized that far ahead?" Black Death asked, unconvinced.

"Fuck no." Mephiles said. "I just thought 'even if one manages to shot one of our enemies, then it would have being a victory for us'. Even if the rest of you dies." He said smugly.

Black Death tensed, silent. He tried to not let Mephiles surprise or intimadate him, but it wasn't going well. His eyes then went to the other sentient alien. From a while ago, Eclipse remained silent, only glaring at both of them. The alien 'leader' knew that it was only a matter of time before things blew up.

"Still upset about the little failsafe?" Mephiles said. "In a matter of minutes, this society will have served its purpose and we all can forget about it."

He glanced again at the portal, observing how the group of anthros barely stood to the attacks from the army.

It was only a matter of time. The group was finally cornered, with nowhere to run. It was then that Blaze walked forward, closed her eyes and lifted both arms around the shoulder level.

A ray of light came from her, seven colorful prisms appearing on thin air, floating around the cat, something that every spectator recognized all too well. "Don't tell me..." Mephiles muttered.

"All fire power on the cat!" Black Death screeched but it was too late, as a fire engulfed Blaze and then expanded forward, a wall of fire blasted at least half of the alien opposition, from footsoldiers to the alien ships.

"Dammit." Mephiles cursed.

"Do not let her..." Black Death ordered, but, when the flames dissipated, none of the anthros were there anymore. "What the hell?!"

"Wow. We thought we had them until we didn't. How surprising." Eclipse complained.

"Nobody asked for your opinion." Mephiles said. "We must regroup. Bring them back here."

~Boom.~ Not a second had happened when an explosion came from their observation points. They lookes again and watched Blaze destroy three alien space ships in rapid succession.

Mephiles started to panic, but intensifies his concentration, all while he wondered what was that power surge.

Meanwhile

"Damn! Blaze is not playing around." Knuckles said.

"Do something about it!" Wave said.

"Are you kidding me?! She is wrecking them like they are meaningless. One less problem."

"While they kill my brothers." Wave snapped.

"Heh. We have lost better people." Knuckles shrugged.

Wave gawked at the answer. "Well, I am not going to just sit there and watch." She said, decisively. "Just let me out of this place and I will do my thing."

"Just to clarify, what can you do against that?" Knuckles asked again, as another alien rock crumbled into the ground.

Wave's confidence diminished, but her mind was made. "They are my brothers." Was all she said.

"...All right." Was all Shade said, before moving closer to her.

"Shade?" Knuckles let go.

"And now what?" Wave complained. Before she could react, Shade put a band on her waist. "What the?" She let go, when a blinding light confused her senses.

After a short while her sight returned, now inside a metal crammed space, with her body extended, belly down.

Her hands went to the belt and she struggled against it. Alas, it wouldn't come off. "I am getting sick of people putting shit on me."

At that instant, a holographic screen appeared, with the orange echidna on it. "You will like that one. It is a short range teleporter. Will get you out of a bind more times than you can count."

Wave heard her and started tinkering with the belt, trying to get it to work. "It will activate in a couple of minutes, when the extreme gear takes you there."

"Of course." Wave replied, rolling her eyes.

"The extreme gear is locked where the aliens are." Shade added, as two levers came from the metal below, in front of her. She grapsed them. "Flight type is of your preference, isn't it?"

"Why are you doing this?" Wave asked. "Why help me? And why should I believe or trust you?"

"...Those two, the ones possesed by the aliens, they are the last of your people, aren't they?" Shade said. Wave opened her eyes a lot, serving as an answer for the echidna leader. "I cannot give direct support, so hope this is enough."

"...Thank you."

"Thank me by surviving."

The swallow nodded in affirmation, before readying herself for take off. She started the engine, hearing it roar, a smile curling on her beak. Three seconds later and the extreme gear shot out at max speed, reaching mach 6 in a second.

To protect from that, the extreme gear had an special cover, looking like a giant size bullet. Soon enough, the extreme gear lost speed, and as it reached manageable speeds, it shed off the extra cover.

Soon enough, only the familiar arrow shape extreme gear remained. Not too far away, the spiral formation was visible.

~Hang on guys.~ Wave thought. A second later, a giant fire erupted from the canyon, as wide as its full diameter, and as high as skyscrapers.

Wave stopped, feeling the slap of the heat, despite the considerable distance. The fire died down, but the swallow confidence was close to the nothing. ~Shit just keep getting better and better!~

Last set up episode!

I hope.