Riven: Of course not ;) (sighs) Though I really wish now that I hadn't changed the events leading up to that…there might've been a lot more doubt if I had ;)
Matri90: Glad to hear it ;)
Private somebody: (blushes) Thanks :D (innocent look) Me? ME? Surely not! ;) (Okay, maybe a little, but it wasn't MY idea to give Sonic a little kid sidekick to take into battle with him :P) As for Knuckles rescuing his sister…well, at the moment I think he's a little more concerned with his home falling thousands of feet through the air…there's no guarantee he's going to land in water ;)
Asher Tye: (laughs hysterically) Oh man, I LOVE that idea:D A Master Emerald with the hump…the possibilities are endless! (Tails: What possibilities? It just makes the island go SPLAT!) Yeah, I think Knuckles does have a sensitive side to him, he's just never worked out how to show it :P Saving Sonic and Bait…read on (weg)
TC Chan: I think I'd walk out on the story if Tails started going through the whole Sonic-is-dead routine again, never mind Knuckles! And I'm glad I managed to surprise at least one person with the last chapter :P As to the Void…read on ;)
Hawk's Soul: (blushes again) Wow, thanks :D And yes, this is the final chapter BUT the story continues in the sequel, so the saga isn't over yet ;) (far from it :P)
BlueCheetah: (laughs) Well, I would, but I think you only really love me for my stories (joke back atcha!) And you'll find out about the Egg Carrier very soon ;) As to the rest of it…look, if crippling Sonic, enslaving Tails and breathing life into the character that is Raker means I have a sadistic mind…hmm, I see your point. Okay. I have a sadistic mind :P
Maverick87: (goes bright red) Aw…thanks :)
Kj: Thanks :) And...okay, is this fast enough for you? ;) As for the rest of it, yes, I probably did say two stories :P I have no idea how many stories are going to be in this series...as long as I can keep thinking of ideas, I'll keep writing them :) I know what the sequel to Sins is going to be about and I know what the sequel to the sequel to Sins is going to be about, so...yeah, I guess I musta said two stories ;)
Matt Lans: (grins) That sounds like something Sonic would say ;) (Sonic: Who? Me?)
PyroHedgehog4Ever: (raises eyebrows) Maybe, maybe not ;) You'll find out in time :P
Shadow-spawn180:P Well, I thought it was about time I cleared up the issue of Sonic's finances ;) As to the rest, you'll find out soon ;)
D.C. 111: Thanks :) And yes, there will be a sequel (posted at the same time as this final chapter :P)
My Memoirs by MeI found Bait! Thank the Emeralds, although the kid looks like he's been put through a steam mangle. He's emaciated – granted he's always been a little on the scrawny side, but nothing as bad as this! – and scalded in places, and he looks like Raker's used him for a football. Given the shape of the cage he was in, I wouldn't put it past him.
Worst of all is the kid's left hand. The fingers on it are not only broken, they're somehow...twisted, as though Raker snapped them and then decided to play with them some more for good measure.
--Sonic the Hedgehog
There was no sound, no obvious change except for the fact that the room took on an almost rainbow hue, different colours reflecting off the metal surfaces.
"What...?" Sonic's voice sounded tinny and oddly distorted, as though he was talking underwater.
"You fool!" Robotnik slammed a hand into the table, flipping it up and over. "You reckless fool, Sonic! You've damned us all!"
"Look, doc, I don't have time for all this melodrama," Sonic said sharply. "What'd you do?"
Seeing that they appeared safe from the Void for some reason, Robotnik rapidly regained his composure. "To be honest, Sonic, I think it's more a case of what didn't I do."
Sonic shifted his weight – Bait had fallen asleep in his arms and seemed to be growing heavier by the second – and raised an eye ridge. "Oh yeah? And what might that be?"
"I was going to try and steer us out of trouble, for your information." Now Robotnik looked distinctly injured, the look of a liar who – for once – is telling the truth.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Yes!"
"Tough." Sonic fixed the doctor with an icy look. "I'm taking Bait, and I'm walking out that door with him, Robotnik. Try and stop me and I'll slice you and your precious fortress to pieces."
"Ah." Robotnik stretched up complacently. "Well, that could present a problem."
"The hell you say." Sonic adjusted his hold on Bait. "Get out the way, doc."
"My dear Sonic, I have no intention of stopping you if you really want to leave. But you'd do well to take a look outside first."
"Outside?" Wary and suspecting a trap at any minute, Sonic edged over to the window and peered out.
A myriad of colours assailed his vision, shifting and dancing in more hues than the hedgehog had ever known existed, too fast to really focus on them. It was startlingly beautiful, but Sonic barely even noticed.
"What did you do?" he demanded of Robotnik, who sighed.
"As I said, it's not what I did so much as what I didn't. I was trying to steer us away from this thing when you distracted me." The doctor smirked. "Of course, Sonic, if you still wish to step outside the Egg Carrier, please be my guest."
Sonic glanced at him, then back at the window. "What is that out there?"
"Well, I'm dashed if I know, Sonic, to tell you the truth," Robotnik admitted candidly. "But whatever it is, if my instruments are accurate – and they are – it's taking us a very, very long way from home."
Okay, very short I know, but I couldn't really put much more in this chapter without ruining the beginning of the sequel Into the Void :) which was posted very shortly after this part :)