Sonic, Shadow, Silver and the dragons reached the Belt of Fire. On the other side were the Forbidden Lands that would lead them to Malefor's lair. "I should be able to offer some protection from the heat." Said Ignitus, "All of you, stay close to me." Ignitus released a powerful shield to protect them and to boost up its power; Shadow used one of the Chaos Emeralds. They treaded carefully through the flames. Then, Ignitus' shield started to fade. "The Belt is starting to get stronger." Silver replied. Spyro saw that Ignitus couldn't hold on any longer. "Ignitus, let's turn back. There's got to be another way." Said Spyro. "Spyro. Cynder. I have never done right by either of you. Allow me to do this." The others were shocked. "What are you saying?" said Spyro. "My path ends here. But yours lies beyond this. Draw strength from each other and follow your heart. It will never fail you." Replied Ignitus. "Now, go...go...GO!" Then a flash of light shone everywhere. When Sonic, Shadow, Silver got up; they saw that Ignitus was gone and that they were separated from Spyro and Cynder. But when they were about to begin to search for Spyro and Cynder, a giant grublin troll came out of the ground. And to make things worse, a group of archer grublins appeared and began their attack. "Malefor must've known we're here." Silver suggested. "Less talking. More killing." Shadow replied. Then the grublin troll smashed its club on the ground, narrowly missing the three hedgehogs. Shadow jumped on top of an archer grublin and shot it at the head multiple times. The archer grublins fired their dark energy blasts at Shadow. But the black hedgehog grabbed one of the archer grublins and used it as a shield. When the grublins were recharging their energy blasts, Shadow shoved a grenade into the abdomen of the grublin he was holding and threw it at the other archer grublins, killing them when the grenade exploded. Silver and Sonic attacked the rampaging golem troll. Silver used psychic waves to make the creature collapse. Sonic spin dashed through the creature's left arm, causing it to be decapitated. Shadow shot the troll's eyes, so that the troll wouldn't see where the hedgehogs were attacking. Then Sonic used the poison power from the sword to decompose what was left of the troll's left arm. The pain was excruciating. Shadow then used his Chaos Spear, which went right through the creature's waist. The troll stepped back and fell into a pool of lava where it slowly melted and disintegrated into an ashy liquid. "Let's keep moving and find Spyro and Cynder." Said Sonic. The hedgehogs walked through the Forbidden Lands searching everywhere for the two dragons, when they reached a path that ended at a lake of lava. Even though there were a couple of platforms, they were far away to het to. "Great, how are we supposed to get to the other side?" Silver asked. Sonic looked ar ound and saw some large thin rocks nearby. "Those rocks should get us across if we use them as surfboards." Sonic replied, as he used his sword to cut the rocks from the cliff they were fused to. Sonic gave two of the surfboard-like rocks to Shadow and Silver. Sonic, Shadow, Silver went to the edge of the cliff. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Silver, curious. "If there is a way to get to the other side, we might as well take the risk." Shadow answered. Taking a deep breath, the three hedgehogs jumped. As soon as they nearly got close to the lava, they stood on the surfboards. They landed on the lava without being sacthed by the drops and surfed without any trouble. The adrenaline flowed through their bodies. Sonic enjoyed this the most. They surfed past any rock that was in the way. Shadow surfed up a rock formation that looked like a ramp. Silver saw a lava fall up ahead and alerted Sonic. "Let's wipeout!" shouted Sonic. The three hedgehogs jumped off their boards and landed on a platform on the left side of the lava fall. "That was kinda fun." Commented Silver. They saw that Spyro and Cynder were waiting for them. They caught up to them and continued their journey to Malefor's lair.
Sonic and the group reached the end of the Forbidden Lands. Before them, was a narrow path that nearly reached the sky. "Is that where Malefor is?" Sonic asked. Cynder nodded. Then the two dragons ran to the narrow path and flew to the skies. "We'll wait for you at the Floating Islands!" shouted Spyro to Sonic. As the hedgehogs saw Spyro fly away, Sonic wondered what to do. "Silver, can you get us up there?" asked Sonic. "My psychic powers aren't strong enough to lift the three of us." Silver explained, "But I can lift you." Sonic turned to Shadow. "I'll take the Chaos Emeralds. You and Silver used Tails' portable teleporter to get back to Earth." Said Sonic. "What about you?" asked Silver. "I'm gonna teach Malefor a valuable lesson." Sonic answered. "OK, Silver. Take me up." Shadow gave Sonic the Chaos Emeralds when Silver used his psychic power to lift Sonic into the sky until he was gone from Silver's sight.
Sonic reached the Floating Islands and gently landed on a grassy platform. He looked at the ancient ruins on some of the platforms. "This place makes me feel like I'm on Angel Island." Sonic commented. Sonic got rid of the thought and concentrated on getting to the gates that we're a few platforms away from him. He ran and jumped toward the gates and tried to open them. Realizing they were closed, Sonic tried to see if there was anything to open them. Spyro and Cynder rejoined Sonic. "OK! So how are we supposed to open these gates?" Sonic asked. Spyro had a look around. The purple dragon saw eight candles above the gate and turned round to see eight more candles positioned on each different platforms. "Those candles have to be our only way through these gates." Spyro suggested. Spyro and Cynder flew to four of the candles tolight them while Sonic lit up the other four. When Sonic lit up one of the candles, he saw one of the other candles above the gave lit up automatically. Soon, the gates opened and Sonic, Spyro and Cynder went through. They saw that Malefor's lair was still above, but it wasn't far. The thought got Sonic's attention. How could he get up there without Silver's help? "Sonic, are you alright? You sure look worried." Asked Cynder. "I'm just wondering how I can get up there." Sonic answered. Then Sonic thought about the Chaos Emeralds. I f he turned into his Super form, he would be able to get to Malefor's lair. "Stand back, you two." Said Sonic to the two dragons. The blue hedgehog got out the Chaos Emeralds and activated them, triggering his transformation into Super Sonic. The dragons were amazed. Then Super Sonic and the two dragons took to the skies to begin their final confrontation against Malefor.
