Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Red Star in the Darkness ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13

At that moment, all I saw was pitch black darkness without a single spark of light in sight. I couldn't even see any parts of my body as I looked around to see where I was. I couldn't even feel the ground touching my feet when I tried walking around to see if I could spot something I recognized. But up to now, all I saw was pitch blackness everywhere.

`Where…am I?' I thought to myself while barely being able to think to myself, `All I remember is…Ixis holding me in some…force field that caused me to have great pain all over my body and I was screaming at the top of my lungs, crying for it to stop. I then remember hearing Sonic and the others screaming for me not to give in to the pain, and I heard their screams of pain followed by…that horn-headed freak's laugh. The last thing that I remember was hearing a familiar voice shouting out some sort of attack. I then remember falling to the ground and being held in the hands of a beautiful angel and…'

My thoughts were soon interrupted by the voices of familiar people echoing throughout the darkness. I started to look around to see where the voices were coming from and who was making them, but I couldn't see a single soul anywhere within the shroud of darkness. I tried to shout at the people trying to get a response from them, but it was no use. Not a single sound or word even came out of my mouth when I tried to speak.

Then suddenly, the voices that were echoing throughout the darkness started to become clearer and clearer as huge sparks of white light began to burst through the shades of black. The voices seemed to be talking amongst each other as the I continued to watch the light sparks erupt.

"Why did that horn-headed sorcerer want with these Chaos Emeralds and Miguel's sword that he had mentioned before?" I heard the voice of a familiar teenage girl say, "What was he planning to do with them?"

"Well, you see," I heard the voice of Sonic starting to say, "Ixis said that he believes that the Star Sword that Miguel has and the seven Chaos Emeralds are the keys to what could be the ultimate power that this world will have ever seen."

"Well, that sure explains a lot." I heard the voice of another familiar girl say, "But, why did that horned freak tried to kill Miguel while he was in that force field that he was in before?"

"Ixis told us that in order to gain the weapon in Miguel's possession," said the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog, "he would have to kill him in order to get his hands on it. If it hadn't been for Sailor Neptune's full-powered attack, Miguel would've been dead by now."

`Sailor Neptune?' I started to think to myself with surprised tone in my mind's voice, `She was the person that I heard who kept Ixis from trying to kill me before? Then how did she manage to find the five of us in this old warehouse? As a matter of fact, how did she manage to track me down to that very spot to begin with? I left no Chaos Energy trail for the Sailor Scouts to follow while using the Chaos Control. So how did they-?'

My thoughts were then interrupted by the voice of Tails when he said, "By the way, how did you Sailor Scouts manage to find the five of us here to begin with?"

That was when I started to hear the voice of Sailor Mercury saying to the young fox, "Well, while the rest of us tried to tend to the injuries of Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, I began to scan the entire area with my computer. That's when we suddenly heard an explosion that came from just the outside of the city, near a abandoned factory that wasn't too far from where we were. When I tried to pin point its exact location, the energy that my scanner had picked up was so incredible, that it caused my computer to overload. As the others tried to ask me about what had happened, we suddenly saw a dark cloud hovering above the city and gathering around the area where my computer picked it up. As all us tried to understand what was going on, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto…"

That was when the voice of the Sailor Scout suddenly became faint, when the sparks of white light started to grow bigger and brighter in the darkness. When the heavenly light started to cover the black void with its brilliance, both of my eyes went blind. As I tried to close both of them continuously in order to get them focused, I saw the face of the same beautiful angel that had held me in her arms before. As the light grew fainter and the darkness disappearing from my sight, the face of the beautiful girl that I was looking at was beginning to become more clear than it had before.

When my eyes were finally able to focus properly, I saw that I was looking at the beautiful face of the Sailor Scout of the Sea: Sailor Neptune. As I tried to get up from where I was laying, I felt as though my body weighed like a ton of bricks and I was pretty low on energy, when I tried to get up on my feet. When I started to collapse, my body never got the chance to hit the ground because I felt it being caught by the arms of Sailor Neptune once again.

"Miguel, you shouldn't try to stand up," she began to say to me as she tried to keep me on my feet as best as she could. "The attack that Ixis had inflicted on you has really drained your energy. If I hadn't jumped in and attacked Ixis like I did before, then you would've been-"

That was when I started to remember what I heard back when I was surrounded by the realm of darkness. "Whoa! What do you mean by that, Neptune?" I began to say while relinquishing Michelle's grasp from my body while trying to stand up on my own. "What in the world happened while I was knocked out?" My eyesight was still a little blurry from trying to look around the area to see who else was with Sailor Neptune.

Then I suddenly heard the voice of the two-tailed fox Tails saying to me, "Miguel, the reason why you're feeling so drained is because your own Chaos Energy was being drained to protect you from Ixis's torture along with your physical energy. The two energies in your body are now connected and if something happens to either one, then the other will be drained along with it."

"But it's rather strange," I heard the voice of Sailor Mars responding to the theory. "The energy that I've sensed emitting from Miguel's body seems to be getting stronger every time he uses his powers. Both his physical and mental energies seemed to be getting stronger too."

That was when I heard the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog replied, "It could be that he has more exposure to the energies of the Chaos Emeralds than either Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, or myself have ever had. I think that is what Ixis meant when he had said that Miguel was more powerful than either of us had known, and tried to force him into becoming his General for his new so-called World Order."

As I continued to try to stand on my feet, I heard the voice of Sailor Venus saying to the black hedgehog, "Well, whatever that horn-headed freak said, he's now a big pile of dust thanks to Michelle's attack."

"Don't be so sure about that, Venus," Knuckles began to say to the Sailor Scout. "Ixis has been thought to have been dead before and, from the way that things look around here, I'd say that they're about to get even worse than what we've experienced before."

"Oh, I almost forgot," I heard the voice of Sonic saying as I felt and saw what appeared to have been a smooth and golden object going into my hand. "Here, Miguel, this should be able to help you get back on your feet."

After the blue hedgehog had finished talking, I suddenly saw the blurry sight of the object become clearer and become brighter than it was before. `A Power Ring!' I thought to myself as I recognized the same sensation that I had felt a while back. `Sonic gave me a Power Ring to increase my Chaos Energy level! But why…?' My thoughts were then cut short by the sudden burst of energy that I felt coming into my body and giving me the strength to stand on my own properly.

When the golden light had faded out of sight and I felt the ring no longer in my hand, I soon found my eyesight back to normal along with my body's strength. When I looked around to see who was in the area, I saw Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails with a group of nine Sailor Scouts, along with a guy in a black tuxedo with a top hat to top it off. In case you're wondering whom I'm talking about, the guy in black tux was Serena's boyfriend Darien, who was now the protector of Sailor Moon called Tuxedo Mask.

Well, anyway, as I started to feel my body back to its full strength, I started to hear the voice of Sailor Jupiter say with an amazed tone, "That's incredible! Miguel's back on feet using the golden ring that was in his hand before! But what exactly happened to the ring itself?"

That was when Tails started to respond to the Sailor Scout's question by saying, "You see, the Power Ring was actually created from the power of Chaos Emeralds, so both the rings and emeralds have similar energy patterns. However, the energy it contains is limited and without it, the ring itself will disappear without a single trace. That was why the ring Miguel had used faded out of sight, because all of its energy was all used up in order to restore Miguel's physical energy back to normal.

"You see, if the ring just happened to be used by either me, Sonic, Knuckles, or Shadow, then all of our natural abilities would be increased for a short amount of time, as well as increase in all of our Chaos Energies inside of our bodies. When Miguel uses it, however, the energies of the emerald sort of have a different effect on him. But that's sort of a mystery for me to figure out right now."

"Gee, you're certainly bright, for a young kid fox, Tails," Sailor Moon started to say with a dumbfounded and yet amazed tone in her voice.

"Well, for once, I happen to agree, Serena," said Sailor Mercury as she began to walk towards Tails and took what appears to be her own computer from the young fox's hands. "For one thing, this little fellow fixed my busted computer when it overloaded and blew up when it had tried to pick up the source of the large amounts of energy. He also happened to give it a little upgrade so that it wouldn't overload the next time I tried to use it to detect the energies of Chaos Emeralds."

As the rest of the Sailor Scout group gave Amy a look of confusion and surprise on their faces, Tails started to reply looking pleased and embarrassed as he said, "Well gee, it was nothing. I've been dealing with the energies of Chaos Emeralds for a long time, so it hasn't been too difficult for me to create equipment and software to withstand its incredible energies."

"Hey, guys," I started to say for the first time ever since I had restored all of my strength. "I'm sorry to be rude, but would somebody please tell me what happened while I was knocked out cold?"

That was when Shadow the Hedgehog started to answer, "Allow me to explain that to you, Miguel. When Ixis had trapped you in that force field torture chamber of his, the four of us tried to attack him at once, but we ended being trapped by one of his paralyzing spells instead. Just when the horn-headed freak was about to kill you, Sailor Neptune suddenly appeared and attacked him with a very powerful energy sphere attack."

I started to look towards Sailor Neptune and saw her blushing red when I had looked at her face. I then replied back to the black hedgehog, "But that still doesn't explain how the Sailor Scouts managed to find us all the way out here in the first place."

"Well, Miguel," I heard the voice of Sailor Mars saying to me as I turned to face her direction. "After Ixis teleported out of the area where he was fighting Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto while he was still in control of Shadow's body, Amy tried to scan the area where he was with her computer. Then that was when we started to see an emerald-green light coming from outside an alley close to where we were that emitted a great amount of cosmic energy."

That was when I started to cut in on the psychic's words by saying with a nervous chuckle, "I'm guessing that's what caused Amy's computer to overload and blow up, am I right?"

A nod came from Raye's head and she said to me, "Don't worry about what just happened a while ago, Miguel. Sonic and the rest of your friends told us about how you were able to warp from the area using a technique called the Chaos Control."

Then that was when I heard the voice of Tuxedo Mask starting to say to me, "Which explains why neither of us were able to detect a speck of your Chaos Energy anywhere in the area and why we couldn't track it down. Well anyway, after all of us had followed the source of the dark energies that Mars, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto had picked up and saw you and your friends with that evil sorcerer, we just stood there hiding, watching and listened to the whole thing."

"You can probably guess the rest of the story," Pluto began to say to me. "While you were knocked unconscious, all of us took our time to get to know your four friends and they told us how you were able to know each of our names and what we were like."

That was when Sailor Moon started to come up towards me and asked me with a sad puppy dog look on her face that sort of gave me nervous shivers on my spine, "By any chance, you didn't happen to see me go in a feeding frenzy and-"

Serena's words were suddenly cut short by the collision of Sailor Mars's fist to the top of her blonde head as she said to her companion, "Now is not the time to worry about things like that, Meatball Brains! We have other things to worry about!"

"That's enough from the two of you," Sailor Jupiter said as she tried to separate Mars from Sailor Scout leader. "Like Raye said, we have other things to worry about than watch the two of you fighting! We have to save the world from that wacko sorcerer before he gets his hands on the rest of those Chaos Emeralds that Tails has been talking about!"

As I saw Jupiter push Mars away from Sailor Moon, a thought suddenly struck my head that had never occurred to me before. "Uh, excuse me, ladies," I began to say to the Sailor Scouts. "I was just wondering, why did Rini say that I was found in front of the house when Sonic and the others said that I was saved by Michelle in the ocean while I was unconscious? As a matter of fact, how did my backpack end up with you to begin with?"

A moment later, I received the answer to my question when Sailor Uranus said to me, "None of us knew if you were just a kid who was drowning at sea or a foe to this world, so we had to see if your intentions were good or not. As for how we found your backpack, when Mars and Pluto sensed your friends' great powers at the beach, they only found your backpack, when they arrived at the place where your friends were. But that wasn't the only thing that spooked us out."

"I'll say, Amara," Mars began to say with a sort of frighten tone of voice. "When I tried to sense whether or not you had either a great light or dark energy level at the beach a while back, I couldn't even pick up a small portion of it. How could it be possible that you were able to suppress your great power while you were unconscious?"

"That's a good point made, Raye," Pluto said with a serious tone. "I mean, a boy such as he shouldn't have been able to suppress that much power while he was in that coma. I just don't get it."

That was when Sonic started to answer to the two Sailor Scouts, "Maybe it has something to do with the Star Sword that Miguel had on his back at the time? Ixis did say that it had stronger powers beyond the Chaos Emeralds."

"Speaking of which," I began to say as another thought went into my head again, "What happened to the four Chaos Emeralds and the Star Sword that I had? Ixis didn't take them, did he?"

"No," responded Knuckles while holding up to what appeared to be my backpack in his huge gloved hand. "While you were unconscious, all of us managed to get the emeralds that he missed and put them inside your back pack for safe keeping. As for your Star Sword, however..."

"What is it, Knux?" I asked with a bit of confused tone in my voice. "Please don't tell me that Ixis got away with the sword!"

"No, he didn't take the sword," Neptune began to say to me with a smooth calm voice. "It's just that...it won't allow any of us to hold it or to even touch its' surface."

"Just ask Ms. Meatballs-for-Brains over here," Sailor Mars said with a accusing voice while pointing to Sailor Moon.

"Hey, don't go whaling it all on me for what happened!" Serena shouted to Mars as she tried to hold herself to Tuxedo Mask's arm. "How was I suppose to know that the Star Sword would try to fry me like an overcooked potato?!"

"Oh, would the two of you just shut up!" Knuckles began to shout to the two Sailor Scouts with an angry voice as he held up a gloved fist towards the two girls.

"Ahhhh! Yes sir!" shouted the two Sailor Scouts as they both began to shake in fear for their own safety.

"Well, that ought to hold them for a while," Sailor Venus responded as she chuckled at what just happened.

That was when I saw Sonic holding the red echidna as he tried to calm him down by saying, "Whoa! Take it easy, Red! They're only fighting because it's a natural way for those two! Just calm down and try to remember why we're here, okay!"

Knuckles started to calm down a bit and then he said, "Sorry, Sonic, it's just that the fighting between those two was starting to get to me."

"Believe us, we know exactly how you feel, Knuckles!" Sailors Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus replied as they both sighed with disgust.

"Now that all of that has been taken care of," Shadow the Hedgehog began to say with a sigh of annoyance, "let's get back to business and continue our discussion concerning Miguel's Star Sword."

The thought of the powerful weapon suddenly came into my mind and that's when I started to ask the blue hedgehog, "That's right! Sonic, where is the Star Sword right now?"

Sonic then started to reply while pointing his right hand towards a somewhat burned spot on the floor. "It's right over there," he said, "It's been lying there since Sailor Moon failed to lift the sword off the ground. Ever since then, whenever one of us tried to even touch the sword's surface, it always glows with a golden light and throw off warning sparks to ward off whoever tries to touch it."

"Is that so, Sonic?" I responded to the blue hedgehog as I walked over to where the mystic weapon lay and picked it up with no effort or strain.

As I held up the sword with ease, I heard the entire group of heroes give out a gasp of unexpected surprise and wonder. "That's amazing!" I heard Pluto saying with astonishment in her voice. "All of us weren't able to get near the sword or even touch its' handle, but Miguel seems to be the only one that the weapon recognizes as its master."

"What do you mean by that, Trista?" said Sailor Uranus said as she tried to understand what her companion was trying to say. "Are you trying to tell all of us that the Star Sword seems to be alive? Now that's just something that I can't believe."

"I agree with Amora," responded Sailor Neptune, "There's no way that an inanimate object like that sword can have thoughts, emotions, and feelings like the rest of us. It's just not possible."

"Well, whether that sword's alive or not," Sonic started to say as he tried to get everyone's attention, "its got a lot of power that Ixis is after and he would do anything to make that weapon his own as well as the remaining Chaos Emeralds. So all of us have to make sure that he doesn't get his hands on the four emeralds or on Miguel's sword, 'cause if he ever does get them, then this whole entire planet is doomed."

"But it's rather strange really," Sailor Mercury started to say, " because the sorcerer didn't seem to attempt launching a counter attack or try taking us by surprise ever since Michelle attacked him with her full power and saved Miguel."

"Well, if all of you want my opinion," Shadow began to say as with a serious tone, "I'd say that the coward is trying to see if he can try to find any one of us with a weakness that he can use to his advantage. That way he would use that person to separate us so that he could gain all the items that he needs to gain the "infinite power" that he speaks of. He almost succeeded by gaining control of me before, but with all of us together he won't be able to try something like that ever again."

"Speaking of which," I began to say, "what are we all going to do about Ixis? It seems that the wizard doesn't want to give up trying to get the remaining emeralds and the sword without a fight and it's pretty clear that he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He could be watching all of us right now, even as I speak, hiding in a place where we least expect it."

"Well, Miguel's right about that," Neptune responded, "Ixis seems pretty determined in order to gain the "infinite power" that he spoke of. So if he has three of those Chaos Emeralds while the rest of us have the remaining four and the Star Sword, that means that sooner or later he'll try to use everything that he can think of to get what he needs."

"That's pretty much what we've been talking about, Neptune," Tuxedo Mask replied, "What worries me even more is how we are going to defeat a being with that much power, let alone try to fight him with the power of three Chaos Emeralds."

For the moment, the entire room seemed to be quiet while no one said a single word to cut the silence. I didn't even have one single thought to speak about to penetrate the thick silence that was in the room. That was when Tails started to break off the dead silence by telling all of us with a confident look on his face, "Well, there is a way that we could stop Ixis and that's with the help of Miguel's sword."

"How do you suppose we use it, Tails?" Mercury said with a curious tone in her voice. "I mean, none of us even know where the Star Sword originally came from, what elements it is made out of, how it got to Miguel, or who gave him the weapon to begin with. What are you planning to do?"

"Well, I thought of using the powers of the sword in order to neutralize Ixis's magic, as well as neutralize the power of the three Chaos Emeralds that he already has," the two-tailed fox replied to the blue-haired Scout's question. "You see, while the five of us were up against Ixis the first time when he was inside of Shadow's body, we saw Miguel using the energy of the Star Sword to neutralize the power of all of Ixis's magic spells while they were in effect. That is why of you Sailor Scouts weren't able to detect any Chaos Energy coming from Miguel's body because the weapon was suppressing all of the energy that he was emitting."

"It's a bit risky, if all of you want my opinion," Mars replied with a serious tone in her voice. "How are we suppose to know if this plan work? For all we know, the energy from that sword could be released and destroy this entire city with one blow."

"Oh you're such a downer, Raye," said Sailor Moon with her usual cheery voice. "If that were all true, then all of us wouldn't be standing here talking to each other." "Well, I guess the blonde here does have a good point there, you guys," Sonic said with a smart-aleck tone. That was when I saw him stand in a proud pose and started to say, "Like she said, there's no point in looking at things in a bad way when we're up against the most powerful wizard in the universe. I mean, there are a lot of us and only one of him. Which means that even with the power of the three Chaos Emeralds that he has now, all of us still have the upper hand against him. That horn-headed freak will be sorry he ever decided to conquer this world and mess with all us."

That was when Shadow started to say to the blue hedgehog with a serious tone of voice, "Sonic, I think that you're forgetting one thing. Did you forget about Ixis's little habit about taking hostages? How are we suppose to fight him when he's thinking about making one of us as his shield? Like Raye said, it's too risky." Before an argument between the two twin hedgehogs could ensue, Sailor Jupiter started to interrupt the two by saying, "Hey, you two, there's no need to be fighting right now. However, Shadow does make a good point about Ixis trying to take a hostage to use as a shield. But there's one important thing that he forgot: Tails' theory about Miguel's sword."

The whole room fell silent as all of us went in awe about what Sailor Jupiter said that moment. "Lita's right, everyone," Mercury said, breaking the silence once more. "Remember what Tails said about how Miguel used the sword to neutralize Ixis's spells? If he were to use the Star Sword against the spells that the sorcerer tries use, then Ixis wouldn't be able to take any hostages while we're all fighting him."

That was when I started to say to the blue-haired girl, while letting the Star Sword drop out of my hand and fall to the ground, "But Mercury," I began with a fearful tone in my voice, "how do we even know that it would work? I mean, for all we know, me using the Star Sword on Ixis while he was in Shadow's body was just a fluke. What if I won't be able to use the sword's power correctly and accidently hurt one of you instead? That's just something that I can't live with if..."

Suddenly, before I could finish my sentence, Michelle/Sailor Neptune turned my entire body and face towards her and smacked me hard right in the face. While I rubbed on my right cheek to calm the pain, trying to understand what had just happened, Sailor Neptune started to say to me in a rough but mild voice, "Just pull yourself together and think about what we'd just talked about, Miguel! I know that all of us together can Ixis if we work as a team, but not without your help!

"Why are you worried about this attack on Ixis all of a sudden? Is it because you're afraid of what might happen if you were to somehow tap into the Star Sword's full power and suddenly lose control of it? Is that it, Miguel?"

At that moment, I didn't know what to say to Michelle or the others as they muttered worried and surprised words to each other. I just stood there and thought about what Sailor Scout had said to me.

`I should just confess,' I thought to myself with a bit of cold fear inside of me, `for every word that Michelle hassaid to me is true. I'm so afraid of what might happen if I were to harness the Star Sword's real power.

`If I were to summon that much power to help fight Ixis and then go in over my head about it, I might put not only me and my friends, but the entire world as well. I mean, who chose me to have the Star Sword in the first place? I'm not meant to harness such incredible power and responsibility. I might as well...'

Just before I could finish my thought, I suddenly felt the slender arms of Sailor Neptune wrapping themselves around me as if to protect me. "Neptune, what in the world are you...?" I had said before I was interrupted by her voice, speaking to me.

"Miguel, don't even think about losing hope," She said with a sad and breaking tone as she held onto me with an even tighter grip than she did before. "If you did, then Ixis would've already won this battle. The only reason that you made it this far is that your heart is so full of hope and compassion. If you think that the rest of us are just going to stand there and let you drown in your own despair, then you'd better think again. All of us are your friends and we're always here to support each other whenever we need it most."

As I was shocked by the Sailor Scout's words, I heard the voice of Sonic saying to me, "She's right, Miguel! There's no need for you to worry about your power getting out of control. All of us are here to support you whenever you have a problem or whenever you're feeling down in the dumps. The people in this room have faith that you will be able to stop Ixis from casting any of his spells and that you can put a stop to his plans. Right, guys?"

As I was being released by Michelle's strong hold, I heard the voice of Shadow saying, "I can't believe that I find myself saying this, but Sonic's right. Miguel, do you know the reason why you were able to break through that mind control spell of Ixis a while ago? It's because of the strength inside of your heart. You just don't lie around and let some overbearing sorcerer take complete control over your life. That's the real reason why Ixis wasn't able to control your mind like he had done with me and possibly why the coward refuses to show up."

"The black hedgehog has got a point there, Miguel," I heard the voice of Sailor Moon/Serena saying to me. "The only reason Ixis is so afraid of showing his ugly face around here is because of you. I mean, you were the sole reason why you were able to break through that freak's spells, not the Star Sword or all of that Chaos Energy that you have. Those things are only ordinary firecrackers compared to what you can do, am I right, Scouts?"

I then heard all of the Sailor Scouts saying to me words of agreement and confidence as I started to look at them one by one. Even Tuxedo Mask said to me, "Serena's exactly right, Miguel. Neither the Star Sword nor your Chaos Energy are what give you the great power that you already have. The only reason why that sorcerer lost to you while he inhabited Shadow's body a while back is that because he lost to you, not the Star Sword nor your Chaos power."

After he finished talking, I heard the voices of the Sailor Scouts rising to a cheering roar of confidence, I soon heard the voices of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and even Shadow joining them giving me the same faith, hope, and confidence. As I continued to hear all of their voices reaching me, I suddenly felt my heart start to fill up with the friendship, compassion, and love they each had shown me. I suddenly started to feel an incredible and powerful spark of energy grow inside of me.

`It's the same feeling that I had when I felt the power of the Star Sword for the first time,' I thought to myself letting the feeling inside of me grow stronger.

As I closed my eyes and allowed the incredible surge of energy flowing in my body to comfort me, I soon heard all of the others start gasping in both surprise and fear. When I started to open my eyes, I suddenly found myself inside a pillar of gold and silver light which had an intense power and magnitude. My entire body was soon enveloped by both colors as I was surrounded by the light. As I turned to look at both the Sailor Scouts and SEGA heroes', they were each wearing a combination of both amazement and surprise on their faces.

When the incredible energy finally stopped flowing, the light that once surrounded my being soon started to fade from sight and I returned to my normal state. `Whoa! What a rush!' I thought to myself as I tried to understand what was happening. `What in the world was that?! I've never felt that much power for as long as I've used the power of the Chaos Emerald! Could it be the great power that Ixis wants so much?'

When I finished my thought, I heard the voice of Sailor Pluto saying in a shocked tone, "Such power! I've never felt such incredible strength! Never!"

"You said it, Pluto!" Mars responded with the same tone as the Guardian of Time. "Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal power doesn't even come close! How is that possible?"

As both sides of each group started to respond to the situation, I heard Knuckles start to say to them with astonishment in his voice, "Not even the power of the Master Emerald could reach the level of power that Miguel just reached!"

"I wonder," I heard the voice of Tails say with a curious tone, "Did the power that he just displayed to us the "great power" that Ixis has been after all of this time?"

While I wondered about what the two SEGA heroes had said, I soon saw the beautiful Sailor Neptune starting to walk towards me with a lovely sparkling look on her face. "Wow, Miguel," she began to say to me with a astonished tone, "I...I'm speechless. When I saw you being covered by that gold and silver light, you almost looked like a heavenly angel."

"An..an angel?" I stuttered in response to the Sailor Scout's words as she once again wrapped her arms around me and snuggled herself against my body.

"Well, it looks like that Miguel has finally won the heart of his new girlfriend!" I heard Sonic humorously say.

I soon started to hear the laughs of both the Sailor Scouts and the SEGA heroes start to chuckle happily about what they saw, including Shadow the Hedgehog, who had always been the serious type. But before I had the chance to respond to the blue hedgehog's comment with a smart aleck comment of my own, I heard the digital siren of Tails machine start to go off and that was when the happy laughter ceased. Suddenly, I heard surprised and fearful gasps coming from Knuckles, Shadow, as well as Sailors Mars, Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune.

"What is it, guys?" I started to calmly say as I looked at the heroes around the room.

From the way that Tails and Mercury were looking at the young fox's device, I knew that something bad was about to happen. That, and the fact that Michelle was starting to hold onto me very tightly, but still left enough room for me to breathe. As I looked at both Knuckles and Shadow, I saw fearful and terrified looks on their faces without a single flinch. I looked at Mars, Uranus, and Pluto, who I soon saw had the same look as the red echidna and black hedgehog. There was nothing but silence for that moment, when I finally decided to try to ask the about the situation again.

"Guys, what's wrong?" I began to say again, "What's with all this silent treatment and sudden gasps for air?"

That was when I heard both Tails and Sailor Mercury say to me, "It's Ixis! He's back!"

"And this time," I heard the voice of Sailor Uranus respond with fear in her voice, "he's emitting an energy that's far stronger than what he gave off a while ago!"

"I guess the coward decided to show his face after all!" Shadow the Hedgehog said as he tried to hide his fear with "bravo" in his voice.

"Looks like this time he's serious!" said Knuckles as he tried to do the same thing as the black hedgehog. "He must've absorbed the power of the three Chaos Emeralds that he had and now he's going to attack!"

"Whaaaaa!" I heard the cry of the Sailor Scout leader shouting as she ran and went behind her boyfriend's black cape. "Are you two saying that he's going to attack us right now?! I haven't even prepared for my math test let alone the feat of facing a dark wizard!"

"Well, some leader you are, Girlie!" Sonic replied with a sarcastic, yet serious, tone of voice. "For all we know, Ixis could be trying to scare us with this new energy level he's gained! I guess that he must've sensed Miguel's power reaching its maximum level!"

"Well, whatever this may be," I heard the voice of Venus saying, "we know that this is going to be a battle that could decide the fate of the entire world!"

"And not just this world," Tails said while putting the machine down and getting ready to fight, "because if we allow Ixis to get away with this, then our own world could be in danger as well!"

As I saw both teams start to get ready for the battle, I loosened the grip of Sailor Neptune's embrace and said, "Not if I have anything to say about it, guys! For as far as I'm concerned, this battle has only just begun!" I then started to pick up the Star Sword from the ground and readied it for the battle that was about to begin, the battle for the world.