Written by Daniel Harris

Last time...The Freedom Fighters had made a critical mistake and were forced to launch their final assault on Robotnik's forces. The Underground Coalition refused to help out at first, but soon joined in on the action, with their juggernaut Dimitri in the lead. Everything appeared to be going fine for the Freedom Fighters as they soon destroyed all the phantom ships impeding their progress. However, Sonic's ground attack force was rendered ineffectual by the powerful, shielded Reaperbots, and many of them were killed. Back at the fleet, Sally and Dimitri's forces were having their own problems. Snively had launched his own juggernaut, the robot dragon Messiah, which even Dimitri and Dulcy put together couldn't handle. It appeared bleak for their cause, until Dulcy saved her father from the mechanized monster, which impaled itself, rendering it inoperable. Dimitri then went to assist Sonic and the Wolf Pack ground attack force, leaving Dulcy with the fleet. Suddenly, the robot, which was only stunned, sprang to life and grabbed Dulcy. Bunnie's ship tried to stop the robot, only to have it slice her ship in half, which plummeted to earth in a tragic crash. Snively soon ran out of patience, and readied the robot to crush Dulcy's skull to powder. But Dulcy has an idea, and that robot may not be completely evil after all...

"Dulcy!!! Noooo!!!" Sally had thrown herself against the cockpit glass and was frantically banging her hands on it. Rotor grabbed her and pulled her back into her seat. "Easy, Sal. There's nothing we can do now."

Meanwhile, Dulcy was struggling to get free of the black monster's vise-tight grip, as it prepared to smash her head into jelly. "All right, Dulcy girl. Gotta think of something quick." she thought. "Wait a minute!" She suddenly remembered when the robot's voice changed for a minute, just as it was preparing to attack the fleet. It was strange. Too strange to be just a glitch. She only had a moment, so with all the strength she had left in her, she bellowed out. "MOTHER!!! I LOVE YOU!!!"

At that very moment, something snapped in the robot's synthetic brain. Some spark from an overloaded circuit, some wire short, some thing snapped and the robot froze to a dead stop, as did the entire world for a moment. Everyone held their breath as they watched the robot's raised fist slowly unclentch. The once piercing red eyes of Messiah also dimmed, and the robot gently placed Dulcy back on the ground where she had stood.

"What the hell!? You worthless garbage heap! What the hell is going on! Kill her! Kill her now! Do it!!!" Snively was furious, and began ramming his fists into the console. "Rotor, what the hell is it doing?" Sally asked. "I don't have a clue, Sal. But I think we're about to find out."

Dulcy looked up at the towering black figure above her, still attempting to get her breath back. The dragon stared back at her with eyes that no longer seemed threatening. In fact, they seemed almost friendly. She could only get out one word. "Mother?" Only feet above her, Snively was frantic, trying anything to get control. "Kill this little shit now, Messiah!!!" he screamed. Suddenly, to the shock of everyone, it spoke, but not in the harsh, mechanical voice it once had. No. This was a soft, kind voice, the kind one might expect from a mother. "I won't be doing that, Snively. You no longer have control over me. Or my daughter." Snively jumped out of his seat and yelled, "WHAT?" The same cry of "What?" was echoed by Sally and some of the Freedom Fighters. At that moment, Snively's video screen sprang on. "Snively! What IS the problem!? I can see from my screens that the dragon is STILL alive! Do tell me what is happening, Snively." "The dragon, Sir. Messiah. I, I'm afraid that the, the original personality has retaken the system. It's Sophia, Sir." Now it was Robotnik's turn to jump. "Sophia!? I thought you had eliminated that stupid dragon's mind!" "Apparently not, Sir. She has locked out all of my control functions. There's nothing I can do!" Robotnik clenched his steel hand tightly around the arm of his chair, crushing the metal. "Yes, Snively, there IS something you can do. Kill that fucking dragon, NOW!!!" With that he rammed his metal fist right through the video screen, blowing it out in a shower of sparks. The transmission ended abruptly on the other end of the line, and Snively flinched.

In the cockpit of Messiah, Snively reached down and found the manual override system. He flipped up the red plastic cover, and pulled out the two metal bars holding the switch down. He was just about to throw the switch when he heard, "I hope you are not trying to throw the manual override, Snively. You should know that it won't work now." Snively barked, "Yeah, well, we'll see about that, you fucking bitch!" He violently rammed the switch forward, then sat up confidently. "I'm still here, Snively. I hope you're not too disappointed, my dear." Snively's expression changed from confidence to rage as he reached up and began tearing out clumps of hair.

"Are you all right, Dulcy?" Dulcy stood up and brushed herself off. "Yes, I am, mother." "It's good to see you, Dulcy." "It's good to see you, mom. Are you sure you're okay now?" The black dragon bowed it's head down to Dulcy. "Yes, I am, now. See that little guy up there? He doesn't have control over me anymore." Dulcy leaned in and asked, "Can I see him?" "Sure." Sophia bent her metallic body down to allow Dulcy to peer inside. Dulcy pressed her snout against the glass and tapped on it lightly, scaring the hell out of Snively. "Hello in there, Snively! I see you! Can you see me? I hope you can, 'cause you're gonna want to be able to see my eyes when I kill you!" Dulcy said mockingly to the cowering little human inside. "No, Dulcy. No more killing. The worst punishment he can receive now is to survive long enough to see our victory. We'll keep him inside here until he can be brought to trial in Mobitropolis for his crimes." Dulcy looked at her, confused. "Mobitropolis? I hope you don't mean...old Mobitropolis. I'm sorry, mother, but...Mobitropolis was destroyed 11 years ago." If a robot could look shocked, Sophia would have. "Eleven years ago you say? I don't understand. Just what year is it, anyway?" Dulcy looked down. "It's 3235, mom. From what dad told me, you were killed moments before Robotnik dropped the nuclear device that flattened the city." It was quiet for a minute or two. "It all makes sense now. They must have picked me up and done this to me after they carved me up with their lasers. Ha! Look at me! I must have scared you half to death, Dulcy!" "Yeah, well, I kinda like your new look. It's pretty awesome looking from down here." Dulcy stretched out her arms to give her mother a hug. Sophia started towards her, then stopped and retreated.

"I'm sorry, Dulcy girl. I wish I could give you a hug, but..." she showed Dulcy her long claws and arm blades. "Not with what they've done to me." Dulcy dropped her arms, thought for a moment, raised her head, and gave her mother a thumbs up. It took a moment, but Sophia then repeated the gesture. "Thank you, mom. Good to have you back." "Same here, my girl."

"Hey there, are you two quite finished? We've still got to get to that fortress!" Sally squawked over the com. "Yeah, Sally! I think my mom here wants to help too!" Sally looked out her window and saluted to the dragons. "Miss Francis, any help you could provide us would be apprieciated. It's been a long time, Sophia." "I know. It's good to see that the Princess has done so much for herself lately. Your Majesty." Sophia bowed to the lead ship.

At that moment, Dimitri appeared over the horizon, carrying the precious cargo of 20 or so Freedom Fighters, most of them from the Wolf Pack. Shannon's ship was the first to notice his return. "Heads up, guys! Here comes Dimitri! And he's...carrying...some people." "What's that you say, Shannon? You hear that, mom? Daddy's coming back to see you!" Sophia looked towards the sky, seeing Dimitri as he skimmed the tree tops and turned back towards the fleet. Dulcy enthusiastically ran out from cover into a clearing to signal her father to land. Dimitri made a pass, and set down gently in some tall grass, to soften the impact. As he was letting the others off, he noticed Dulcy running frantically towards him.

"Daddy! Daddy! You know that robot that nearly killed you? Well it was actually not dead and it picked me up and tried to crush me but I realized that it was my mother and I..." Dimitri put out his hands to stop her. "Calm down, calm down, Dulcy. Now what is it you said? Something about your mother?" He looked intrigued. Dulcy took a breath, then slowly said, "The robot that tried to kill you is actually mom! She's right over there!" and pointed to the trees near them. "I can't believe it! But, well, I...I guess I should have known. That voice that I heard before coming from that thing sounded just like Sophia. She's right over there, you say?" "Umhum. You want to see her? I just talked to her!" But Dimitri had already started over to the trees.

Meanwhile, Sophia was having problems. As Dulcy and her father approached, they could see Sophia with her head buried in her powerful hands, seemingly in pain, and rushed over to help. As they got closer, they noticed Sophia's eyes flickering from a dim red to the bright, piercing red of before. "Mom? Oh, no! Mom, what's wrong?" The black robot looked up at both of their pleading faces. "Dimitri...is...is it...you?" "Yes, yes it is, Sophia. Dulcy here told me that you had changed back into yourself." In the cockpit, Snively noticed Dimitri's face as it came into full view only feet away. "Holy shit! It's that other one! C'mon, work you piece of shit! They're both right here for you! Kill them both now!" Sophia again plunged her head into her hands. "No! No! No, I won't, I won't do it!" "What's the matter, Sophia?" "He...he's trying to regain control of me, and I think it's working. Look, I may...not have much time left. So listen. Listen carefully...once I change back, I won't be able to control what I may do to you, so please...for all of our sakes, I want you to destroy me." It was quiet for a moment, until Dulcy blurted out, "No! No! I won't do it! I can't do it to you, mom! I barely got to know you again!" She began desperately pleading, "It'll be okay, mom! It'll be okay! You, you can fight it off! Stay here with us!" The robot silenced her with a look. "No. I can't fight him off anymore. Even if I could, I would...never be accepted again. I would be...an outcast." "No, no you wouldn't, mom! You can come and live with us! Live here with the Freedom Fighters!" "I couldn't, Dulcy. Because of the twisted shape they've given me, I can't touch anything without destroying it. I'm sorry, my girl."

Dimitri touched Dulcy's shoulder. "We have to go, Dulcy. If what she's saying is true, it's going to become dangerous to stay here. C'mon, let's go." Dulcy dropped her head in despair as she accepted the inevitable. "I love you, mom." The robot's eyes dimmed again for a last glance at her daughter. "I love you, too, Dulcy. Now...go...my girl. And remember, you must destroy...me...after I change...back...Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" Dimitri motioned swiftly for Dulcy to take off. "I'll handle this from here, Dulcy. Leave. Quickly now!" Dulcy obeyed, got a running start, and was soon airborne. She pulled back to a safe position and watched intently the scene going on below her.

Dimitri walked slowly towards his wife. "Sophia? Wife?" With much difficulty, the robot dragon stood up. "Yes...yes, I...am still here. Don't know...for how much...longer." "Do you think you might still have enough love in you to give your husband a last embrace?" "Of course, but...these claws..." "I don't care. I want to hold you one last time." With a slight hesitation, the black dragon opened its arms. Dimitri ran into her arms, and she closed them around her, as did he. Trickles of blood began to run down his back as the various blades and claws on Sophia pierced his tough skin. Dimitri, a large and ancient dragon, almost 40 feet long, in the robot's arms seemed almost a child.

They remained in that position for what seemed like hours. Dimitri could feel her grip getting tighter, so he had to end it. "Goodbye, wife." "Goodbye...Dimitri." Back in the cockpit, Snively almost had full control. "Yes, yes, that's it. We have the little worm right where we want him!" Sophia, what was left of her, realized this, and violently pushed Dimitri away, throwing him back some 60 feet. "Well, now. I see your little friend has gotten control again. We'll just see about how long he has it!" said Dimitri as he wiped blood from his mouth. Sixty feet away, Sophia seemed to finally give up the ghost. The robot emitted one last, long, thunderous, agonizing howl as the eyes again burned a bright, evil red, and the monster took up a fighting stance.

"Yes! Yes! I have control Sir!" Snively boasted over the com. "What's that? You have control of the robot?" said Robotnik as he finished ordering the fire control bots out of his command room. "Oh yes, yes Dr. Robotnik! Messiah is back on line!" "Then what are you waiting for, you little toad!? Go finish off those insects!!!" and the com blinked off again. As soon as Snively disappeared from his sight, Robotnik stood up and left the command post, seemingly with a heavy purpose in mind.

"Okay, you little twerp! I'm not screwing around anymore! If you think that just because that thing used to be my Sophia, I'm going to be easy on you, think again! So let's finish this thing, right now!!!" From the tower of black metal, Snively bellowed, "Excellent idea! Messiah, fire thrusters!" The robot launched itself into the air with a mighty roar. Dimitri unfolded his huge wings and threw himself into the air right behind Messiah, his intentions loud and clear this time. The robot continued climbing until it reached about 4,000 feet, well out of sight of the waiting ships below. It performed a half loop and began plummeting right at Dimitri, who was still rocketing skywards at near Mach speed, oblivious to the fact that the dragon had changed direction. Almost too late, Dimitri shifted his weight just enough so that the freight train coming down out of the clouds didn't tear him in two pieces. Messiah blasted right into Dimitri nonetheless, taking away about 1500 feet of his climb in a split second. Dimitri let out a terrible roar as all the wind was knocked out of him, and the concussive force threw him nearly a half mile away from his original position. Messiah flattened out its dive, and pulled up again, this time to a spot almost 6 miles above Dimitri. Dimitri, meanwhile, was barely conscious. The only thing keeping him up in the air was the size of his wings allowing him to glide down to the ground. Only seconds later, Dimitri hit the side of an ancient building and crashed to the ground in a heap, unconscious.

Snively immediately saw this opportunity. "Messiah! Arm ordnance packages! Fusion reactor to full power! We're going to blow this worm to the stars!" The black figure suddenly tensed as some of the heavy body armor was discarded, revealing a smoother, graceful, almost liquid metal body underneath. The eyes began to burn even brighter now, and the sound of electricity filled the air. With all the packages armed, Snively screamed, "Now dive!!! Dive, you metal shit!!!" The massive black wings folded in on themselves, and the dragon rocketed, straight as an arrow, right at the immobile Dimitri. It turned into a streak as it approached Mach 4. At about 10,000 feet, Snively ordered, "Messiah! Arm self-destruct system! Fusion reactor to overload!" As soon as he verified the commands were carried out, he yelled, "Activate ejection system!" A few moments passed, as did a few thousand feet. "Messiah! Eject! Eject!" A second later, Snively felt a jolt as the ship changed course. "What are you doing! Stay on course, stay on course!!!" The computer responded. "Safety protocol overridden. Procedure requires an all systems shutdown." "Bullshit! You get back on course, now!!!" but it was too late. All at once, the whole control panel went dead, as did the lights, and the engines. Messiah turned into a glider. The computer spoke again. "All systems shut down. My dear." Snively whipped his head around to face the video screen. On it was the face of Sophia Francis, in her dragon form, staring back at him. "Now, then. You didn't really think that I'd sit by and let you kill my husband, now did you, my dear? I may not be able to physically control your robot, but I can control your computer systems. Have a nice day, dear." From the ground, you could almost hear Snively's scream from the cockpit.

Complete blackness. Then, slowly, light re-entered Dimitri's world. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on top of some type of ancient machinery, surrounded by rubble and rusted girders. "Oh, man! Holy shit...that one hurt. Where the hell am I, anyway?" he said to himself. He looked up, directly above his head, where he crashed into. There was a large, blue sign, faded with age, that appeared to have read "Chevrolet Auto Industries". "Hm. Wonderful. I crash right into a factory. Huh. Nice way to break up a strike." He rubbed the back of his head as he looked to the sky. "Now where is he?" Just then, he saw Messiah, almost floating past him, about 1000 yards away. "Wow. Must be my lucky day." he smirked as he shook off the last of the rubble, unfolded his wings, and took off.

"Oh shit! Here he comes! Messiah! Messiah!!! I order you to do something!!! Do something!!" "Excellent idea, my dear." Suddenly, the entire cockpit flashed to life again, and the lights came on. "Full power restored. Up we go!" Before Snively could say anything, the robot shot up into the air, speeding away from the position of the ships. "Why is it running away from me?" thought Dimitri as he noticed he was struggling to keep up. Deep into the forest cover, the robot began to slow. Then, suddenly, Dulcy shot up from the trees below, screeching, and slammed right into the robot, knocking it backwards. Dimitri saw his chance.

Cracking his tail as he learned to do to generate speed, he broke the sound barrier with a massive sonic boom that echoed across the forest. At nearly Mach 2, he hit Messiah broadside, and, for the first time, caused visible damage, as Dimitri pulled away with it still in the air. Dulcy, meanwhile, had pulled up above and hovered, watching.

In the cockpit of the beast, Snively was just regaining his senses after being knocked stupid by the impact. "Messiah! Full thrusters! Retreat to the fortress! Immediately!" The damaged robot was slow to respond. "Damage...severe...right reactor core. Engine output reduced to 45%." "I don't give a shit! Get me out of here!" With much bucking and sputtering, the robot turned astern, fired up its rockets, and zoomed off in the general direction of the black fortress looming on the horizon.

"Dulcy? Are you okay?" said her father, as he noticed her bleeding from the arm. "Yeah, it's not bad...he just scraped me as I went by." She shut her eyes and concentrated for a moment. When she removed her hand, the wound had closed up. "What are you doing here, Dulcy?" "I followed you, under the tree cover. Didn't think I'd let you alone for one minute with that thing, now did you?" "Of course not, my girl. I think I damaged it, but I can't be sure...wait a minute...where is it?" Dulcy pointed to the receding black shadow. "There it goes!" She put out her arm to hold back her father for a minute. "Wait a minute. Listen, dad, if we're going to take this thing down, we need to do it together." "...Right! Let's go finish it off!" They joined hands, powered up, and flew off at high speed after it.

Snively, meanwhile, was almost to the fortress, again in sight of the Freedom Fighter ships. Sally spotted them with the monoculars. "There they go! Wait...no, it's not them! It's that robot! Damn! Where are they?" Rotor tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the trees. "There they are, Sal! Both of them! Looks like they mean business!"

"Dulcy, break up! Crossing patterns! Let's see if we can catch him in crossfire!" They parted hands, split up, and took positions high above the ship, on either side. Snively only noticed Dulcy. Dimitri had positioned himself in what he found was the robot's "blind spot". "Not today, you little worm! You can't catch me! Ha, ha!" Dulcy banked left and started diving at the ship. The metal dragon easily avoided her. "Ha, ha!! Can't catch me! Can't catch..." "Maybe she can't, but I can!!!" Too late, Snively looked to his left and saw as Dimitri nailed him dead center. There was a sound of snapping metal and stress, and an almost imperceptible explosion inside the 'bot as it was thrown to the ground.

Snively barely had time to wake up before he heard a loud 'whomp' from behind, followed by a crunch. He felt himself being lifted off the ground. Dimitri had landed and picked up the robot by the legs. He dug in his sharp claws and, slowly, began to swing the 25 ton beast around in a circle. "Dulcy! Here he comes!...Get ready! Goodbye!" and he released the dragon, throwing it high in the air. Dimitri pulled out of the ground and flew off right behind it. The black dragon, with it's powerful engines still on, was spinning out of control. Dulcy came out of nowhere and blasted right into the belly of the thing. Disoriented and out of control, both Snively and the computer couldn't keep up with the targets. As soon as it locked on to one of them, the other would smash into the ship, throwing it off target.

Both Dulcy and Dimitri saw that they had complete control now, and began taking turns ramming the robot. Dimitri, with his more powerful frame, was tearing apart the robot significantly more than Dulcy, but Dulcy was still doing her share of the damage. Dimitri soon had weakened the frame enough to the point where pieces began flying off with every hit. Explosions buffeted the ship as the two redoubled their feeding frenzy. From afar, it appeared as if two blurs were forming a figure eight as, in the middle, some unfortunate creature was being ripped apart. On one particularly vicious hit, Dimitri sliced off one of the dragon's mighty, metal wings. The ship was now in complete disorder. The computer was barely functional, and Snively was barely conscious. It struggled to regain altitude, only to have Dulcy fly in and blow off one of the powerful arms that tried earlier to crush her father's throat. This was followed by a massive explosion as one of the ordnance packages, which were still armed, fired. This blew an entire leg off, which came crashing down to earth, throwing up hundreds of pounds of dirt. Dimitri zoomed in, slowed, grabbed the thing by the neck, and delivered a titanic punch that blew off the entire lower jaw.

"Dulcy! Hold it! I'm going to take out the engines! Stay where you are!" He climbed over the neck onto the back, and found the engine compartment. As if the armor was made of tin foil, Dimitri dug his claws into the engine cover and ripped it off, crumpling it into so much unrecognizable 4 inch thick titanium. Underneath, the hoses and pipes were still pumping their fuel into the reactor core, making the insides look almost alive. Dimitri charged back his huge fist, and plunged it into the right engine, seizing it up almost immediately. Inside, the computer, what was left of it, warned, "Danger. Right engine destroyed. Losing altitude. Main reactor at critical. Danger." Snively was in no condition to move, the last blow having pinned him under the fire-breathing apparatus. His legs had been instantly crushed, and he could only say one last thing as the sparks and fires erupted around him. "Computer, activate self-destruct sequence." This time, at least, it listened to him.

Dimitri, having finished taking out the engines, moved up to the cockpit. With one swipe, he tore off the glass canopy. Seeing the little human inside, he pulled the equipment off of him with one hand, and picked him up by the arm with the other. "You're coming with me, human. You're going to stand trial for your crimes, like my wife said." Snively burst out laughing. "Ha, haa, haaa! No I'm not, you stupid worm! You're going to hell!" Dimitri then noticed below, that the computer was ticking off the 20 seconds before self-destruction. "You little shit!" "That's right! And when this thing blows, all your friends will with it! Ha, haaaa, haaaaa!" "Not today, human." said Dimitri as he squeezed his hand together and crushed Snively to death. He knew he only had a few seconds left. Throwing the limp body of the human back into his seat, he yelled up to Dulcy. "Dulcy! He's activated the self-destruct sequence! As soon as I jump off, finish him off!" "Roger!" Dimitri took one last look at one of the humans who had slaughtered so many of his friends, including his beloved Sophia, and jumped off of the back of the flaming wreck. He quickly flew over to protect the front ships in the fleet. "Rotor, what's going on?" "Looks like Dimitri's trying to shield us from something..." He was interrupted by Dimitri, screaming, "Stay down!" They instantly obeyed. "Dulcy!!! Finish it, now!!!!" Dulcy heard, and zoomed up to the apex of her dive. She paused a second, reared up, and cracked her tail, creating a tremendous boom that sent her rocketing down to the flaming wreck at unbelievable speeds. Her body turned to fire as the friction of a near Mach 8 dive is like to do. Faster, she thought. I'll never get through! Oh, well, here goes nothing! Then, just before she hit, she had a vision of the times she spent with her mother, both good and bad. She would give anything for those times. Her last thought was her mother, standing over her, saying, gently, "I love you, Dulcy." "I love you, too, mother." Just then she impacted with the dragon.

For a moment, there was utter silence, as if the world itself had gone deaf. Then, an intense flash of white light that seemed to fill the whole sky and one that threw everybody into their seats. It formed into a ball of pure light, with a brilliant beams shooting out from the center. Then the explosion hit. It seemed like the sun had blown up. The sound was all anyone could hear. It filled the sky as well, and one might have likened it to a nuclear explosion. The light died down, and the sky was on fire. Red, orange, and yellow fire, and shrapnel from the dragon hit the ships just before the shock wave hit. The titanic shock was almost too much for Dimitri, as he struggled and gritted his teeth to keep his wings extended around the ships in the firestorm. Just when he thought he couldn't handle any more, there was no more. Everything grew quiet again instantly. Except for a few echoes of the explosion, it was dead silent. Dimitri slowly unclenched his teeth and opened his eyes. In the ships, everyone checked to make sure they were all okay. In the lead ship, Rotor woke up to find he was lying right on top of Sally on the floor. He immediately sat up, blushing. "Ooops, sorry there, Sally." "That's okay, Rotor. I know you didn't enjoy it that much. Hee, hee." Dimitri called from outside. "Everybody all right?" "We are in here, Dimitri. Thank you for saving us." "I would have done it even if you weren't the Princess, Princess." "Hey, Sal. I hate to break up the formalities, but where's Dulcy?" "Oh my gosh! That's right! She was in the middle of that! Dulcy! Dulcy, come in!" She frantically called on the com, only to receive static in return. She tried again, but to no avail. She unconsciously let the receiver drop. "She's...she's gone..." Just then, they got a faint message over the static. "...(cough, cough) Dulcy, here! Over!" Sally looked out the window and saw her outlined in the smoke that remained from the explosion. It appeared as if she was carrying something. Or someone. "Dulcy, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" "No, no, I'm just a little scorched, that's all." "That's good. Glad to see you made it okay!" Rotor broke in. "Hey, Dulcy. What is that you're carrying?" "Oh, this little guy? What, you don't recognize Snively?" Sally took the com from Rotor. "You mean you got him right there, in your arms?" "Yep. He didn't make it, though. He appears to have been crushed to death. Hm, now I wonder what could have done that?" Outside the ships, Dimitri cracked an almost imperceptible smile, the first one he'd shown all day. "So, what do you want me to do with him?" "Well then," said Sally, "if he's dead, there's no reason to keep him around. Just dump the body somewhere." "Roger, Sally." Near the wreckage of the once proud Messiah robot, a dragon by the name of Dulcy dropped the body of the worst mass-murderer ever to live. The body flailed limply as it plummeted to earth. Below, with its eyes still aglow from internal energy, the head of Messiah waited to receive it. As if ironically planned by some higher power, the body fell right on the point of one of the razor-sharp head spikes and was instantly impaled. Not much blood spurted out, since most had been lost already. It slowly slid down the spire, coating it with blood, until it stopped at the bottom. At that moment, Messiah's eyes flickered once and were finally extinguished. Hence, one of the worst men ever to live, and the most powerful weapon of war ever to be built, died together only feet from their salvation.

STAY TUNED FOR THE FINAL CHAPTER, PART III. IT WILL BE THE FINAL, THE END, THE FINISH OF SO MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING FOR THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. WILL THEY SURVIVE AND DEFEAT ROBOTNIK, OR WILL THEY BE DESTROYED AND FIND A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PEACE? YOU WILL FIND OUT. THE SAGA CONCLUDES WITH PART III.