"Answer my question, Sonic," Jet demands.

"Yeah, we're busy with other things," Wave agrees, and Storm nods.

"Eggman upgraded his minions to be stronger than any of us that have fought him before," Sonic explains.

"On top of that, he brought back an old enemy of Astral and mine," Black Mist adds.

"The Barians," I say. "Much stronger than any of us."

"We need to see what these new robots are made of," Tails concludes. "If we work together, we might be able to beat him."

"How much are ya gonna pay us?" Wave asks, examining her nails.

"E-excuse you?" Black Mist demands, his hands twitching and tentacles seeping out. He looks about ready to kill.

"How much are you gonna pay us?" Jet repeats. "How many rings?"

Black Mist tackles Jet and pins him to the ground. He sits on Jet's chest, his hands pinning the hawk's arms down and his legs pinning his down. The black tendrils all point to Jet, ready to strike at any sudden movement.

"The one thing I hate is people asking for something from me!" he hisses. "I ain't got rings, buddy. If you don't want me to kill you, I suggest you help us without the rings! I want these Barians gone for good, got it!"

We all stare at Black Mist. Scary. Even Shadow seems frightened.

"A-alright, alright!" Jets gives in. "Geez! Get off me!"

Black Mist complies, glaring at Jet as the hawk sits up.

"So, will you help?" Silver asks.

With a nervous glance to Black Mist, Jet nods. "It's not like that guy will let us say no."

Wave also casts a jittery look to Black Mist. "Is that guy in charge here?"

"Oh, no, no, no. I don't run things around here. Don't know much about this place to know." Black Mist shoots them an innocent smile. "I'm just another one from the past."

"So, what do we do?" Wave asks.

"Follow me," Tails says, and Wave reluctantly follows.

Amy turns to Black Mist, glaring daggers at him. "Now, back to what we were doing."

Black Mist goes ridged, then he summons his beast. "Can't get past this!" The beast roars in response.

Amy swings her hammer, but the beast summons his overlay units and uses one, taking half of the pink hedgehog's strength. Amy seems confused when her hammer doesn't hit as strong as she expected.

"See, this is where the overlay units come in," Black Mist laughs. "Had he not used them, he would have been destroyed."

Jet looks over to the beast. "What the heck is that?"

"This is my loyal monster," Black Mist says with an exaggerated gesture. "You mess with me, you mess with him, got it?"

Silver and I sigh and go to where Tails and Wave went.