The Return of Mephiles: P2

Mephiles the Dark grinned wickedly then threw his head back and laughed. Shadow stepped back again in horror, now certain he was seeing a ghost. Mephiles just kept grinning and crossed his arms, mimicking Shadow’s pose. Shadow swallowed hard, it wasn’t possible!

“H-How?” he asked. “It… It can’t be you! Sonic and I… we destroyed you!”

“That’s right… you did.” Mephiles said grimly. “I was separated from Iblis the Flame like an atom from the nucleus, and thrown into oblivion… you have no idea how much hell I went through to stand here now.”

Mephiles was the same as before, but not quite the same. He was identical to Shadow again, silvery-black, with dull blue streaks on his spikes, arms and legs, just like Shadow’s red streaks. Mephiles even had the silver bands on his wrists and ankles, mirroring Shadow’s gold bands, and the eyes… green with black slits, just as always. Shadow swallowed again.

“I watched you scatter into a thousand pieces,” he muttered under his breath, the image of Mephiles and Iblis the fire monster evaporating into tiny particles flashing before his eyes. “How?”

“Simple… the answer lies in something that I was not aware of until a short time ago; our likeness.” Mephiles said, gesturing with one hand at himself, then Shadow. “The connection between you and I, that helped me survive through limbo, and allowed me to take on this form. But believe me, it wasn’t easy. I had to… sacrifice a few things… many things actually, like my Crystal form, time traveling powers, and worst of all… my immortality.”

“Immortality? You mean…”

“Yes, Shadow. I am no longer as you remember me, no longer powerful… I am mortal, like you. Very much like you…” Mephiles hissed, baring his teeth. Shadow blinked in confusion, his face muscles tensed, trying to hide how confused he really was.

“Aren’t you curious as to how it happened? How I was able to survive, how I was able to return, and in your form no less?” Mephiles slowly walked forward, his eyes locked onto Shadow, who was forced to nod his head. “Well then, the answer is simple…” Mephiles pointed down to the ground. Shadow followed the direction of Mephiles’ finger, and then the answer hit Shadow like a swift kick in the face. He clenched his fists and shut his eyes, then glared up at Mephiles, who was still grinning. Shadow scoffed and grinned back.

“Of course… my shadow. You stole my shadow the day you were released from the Scepter of Darkness, hence how you took on my form in the first place. But when you united with Iblis, and when you were destroyed…”

“Exactly,” Mephiles finished. “It was more than your form I stole from your shadow that day… I stole your very essence. And as you lived on after my body was destroyed, my spirit, being near identical to yours… endured. So you see Shadow… I am your shadow. Your living dark side, your nightmare that has always been there in the dark of the night to haunt you, and here I am! Standing before you.”

Shadow’s face hardened, he showed no emotion as he spoke. “I’ll admit I’m not surprised, Mephiles.”

“… Then you are aware!” Mephiles exclaimed, spreading his arms out. “Of course this would be a time for me to point out our differences.”

“Please, allow me.” Shadow raised a hand as he spoke, to stop Mephiles’ words. “You lack a vital organ in the upper left chest that gives all life and feeling, I’ve learned that. I’ve also learned that we share nothing in common. We may share the same form, but I will never fall into darkness like you have!”

Mephiles narrowed his eyes and he leaned his face up close to Shadow’s, glaring into his ruby eyes, threatening with a dark malevolence. But Shadow remained firm where he stood, showing no fear, although it was tickling the back of his mind. Mephiles smirked and leaned away, hanging his head with an evil chuckle. He looked at Shadow.

“You are wise, Shadow the Hedgehog, to know that I desire power. Especially the power that you deprived me of that final battle! Do you know what it’s like to be trapped in limbo? It’s absolute hell! I had to give up practically everything… but I suppose it was all worth it to seek my revenge. I have just enough power left to cause you pain, to take from you… what you took from me!” Mephiles suddenly reached out and grabbed Shadow by the throat. Shadow was so shocked he had no time to react except for grabbing Mephiles’ wrist.

“You have no idea, do you?” Mephiles hissed. “What it’s like to lose everything you ever possessed, everything you had?” Mephiles paused as he stared at Shadow, who stared back, dumfounded. Mephiles scoffed. “But of course you wouldn’t… you’ve never had anything to lose, have you?”

Shadow closed his eyes… and watched the image of young Maria falling to the ground, blood seeping from the wound in her stomach, the look in her blue eyes… Maria’s image suddenly smiled at him, and the image of Emra replaced it, followed by Sonic, Tails, Rouge, Omega, Amy, and his other friends, and then Emra again. And Shadow knew that Mephiles was wrong. He once had nothing yes, but now he had so much… whereas his foe did have nothing. Shadow grinned and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re so wrong Mephiles.” Shadow whispered, then twisted the arm of his opponent. Mephiles grunted and loosened his grip on Shadow’s throat, and then Shadow threw his other fist into Mephiles’ face. Mephiles stumbled back, but then quickly caught Shadow’s leg as he kicked at him. He threw Shadow past him and into a set of garbage cans behind him. Shadow hit the cans with a hard crash, and he lay there on his back, temporarily stunned.

Shadow blinked through the confusion and pain in his back as he rolled over. He was still partially stunned, but he hoisted himself off of his belly and up onto his arms. Suddenly, Shadow felt another hit of pain in his back and fell smack on his face again. Mephiles pressed his foot hard against Shadow’s spine, and snickered as he heard Shadow groan in pain. Shadow bared his teeth and glared at Mephiles over his shoulder.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow shouted, and with a flash of bright light, Shadow teleported to the top of a small building nearby. Mephiles looked around for Shadow, and spotted him high up on the building roof. Mephiles snarled, and instantly teleported up on the building with Shadow, who readied himself by stiffening his arms in a defending position. Mephiles attacked instantly, leaping into the air and kicking at Shadow, but Shadow blocked both kicks, his gold bands striking the silver bands on Mephiles’ ankles and causing sparks to fly. Mephiles finally landed on the ground and struck at Shadow with his fists. Shadow blocked two of the blows, but the third landed him in the stomach… and hard.

Shadow wheezed and grasped at his stomach, watching the world spin for a moment, and then he watched the sky appear before his eyes, and realized Mephiles had hit him under the chin and he was now flying through the air. Shadow pulled his legs up, and managed to flip up and land feet first on the ground. Shadow grunted and held his stomach to soothe the pain he felt as he stood back up straight. Mephiles simply chuckled wickedly and lunged at Shadow again, but Shadow leaned back and let Mephiles fly over him. Shadow pulled his arms behind his back quickly, braced them against the ground, lifted his feet under Mephiles, kicked him square in the gut, and then threw him over the side of the building. Shadow rolled over as he heard Mephiles hit the pavement below, and he leaned over the edge to look.

Mephiles lay in a small crater down below, motionless. Shadow jumped down and landed near his fallen foe, but he approached with caution. Shadow leaned over Mephiles carefully and waved a hand over his face, but Shadow received no response. Shadow sighed and stood back to full height.

Mephiles’ eyes shot open and he grabbed Shadow’s ankle with his hand. Shadow let out a yelp of shock, and then Mephiles threw him across the street and into a wall. Shadow fell out of the dent he made in the wall and landed on his knees on the pavement. Through the corner of his eye he saw Mephiles stand and slowly approach. Shadow muttered a curse under his breath and hauled himself to his feet, but stumbled back as Mephiles socked him in the jaw and he landed against the wall. Mephiles grabbed Shadow by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Shadow let out a choke and kicked Mephiles in the chest, but Mephiles’ grip remained firm.

“Resistance is futile Shadow.” Mephiles said darkly. “You knew that I would be back, and so you should also know that I can kill you!”

Mephiles tightened his grip on Shadow’s throat.
                                                                                <^>
“Hey, watch it! I’m climbing as fast as I can!”

“Just get that hatch off and get us out of here, it reeks!”

“Fine!” Rouge the Bat shoved up on the sewer hatch and then climbed out of the hole. She brushed powdered rust from her black clothes as Knuckles the Echidna threw the brown backpack he had up and then climbed out himself. He glared at Rouge and grumbled to himself. They were both Treasure Hunters, and shared common tactics, but they never got along.

“You must be the most impossible guy I know!” Rouge snapped at Knuckles.

“And you’re the most impossible girl I know!” Knuckles snapped back. “I’m sick and tired of you always insisting we go one direction, and then when we do, what happens? We wind up getting in trouble!!”

“Hey, is it my fault that you can never make up your mind?” Rouge asked, crossing her arms and turning her back to Knuckles, who began to look very mad.

“Why you ignorant little…”

CRAAAUNCH!!! The ground shook slightly with a loud noise down the street, and both Rouge and Knuckles froze, eyes wide from being startled. Rouge blinked and looked at Knuckles.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I have no idea…” Knuckles replied, walking past Rouge and looking up the street. It was hard to see through the dark… but Knuckles could barely make out what looked like…

WHOOSH! THUUNK! A black figure was suddenly hurtled across the street and into the wall. Knuckles jumped and Rouge lifted into the air, her wings flapping silently in the night. She squinted her green eyes at the two figures at the wall, and recognized one of them as their friend Shadow… but the other… Rouge gasped and covered her mouth.

“Knuckles… are you seeing what I’m seeing?!” she asked. Knuckles nodded slowly in horror, almost to shocked to speak.

“That’s…” Knuckles’ instincts didn’t wait for him to finish. He ran forward with one fist ready, and struck Mephiles hard in the lower right jaw.

“Oomph!” Mephiles let go of Shadow’s throat and was thrown aside. Shadow slumped over and massaged his throat, sputtering desperately to regain lost air as Knuckles again attacked Mephiles with his fists. Rouge landed next to Shadow and helped him to his feet, and Shadow nodded in thanks to her, and then he took a deep breath and ran forward at Mephiles, tackling him full in the chest and knocking him back against the pavement. Shadow flipped backwards and stood between Knuckles and Rouge, fists ready as Mephiles started to stand.

Mephiles swaggered and clutched his shoulder, which was apparently now injured. Mephiles glared at Knuckles and Rouge, and then Shadow, spitting out a mouthful of blood, which was shocking, because this was the first Mephiles had ever bled. Mephiles chuckled weakly.

“It seems you’ve beaten me Shadow… for now.” Mephiles hissed. A dark cloud suddenly surrounded him, and there was a flash of light, and he vanished.

Shadow snarled, but felt a stinging pain in his side, and he buckled over, falling to the ground. Knuckles caught him before his face hit the ground and hoisted him back up, draping Shadow’s arm over his shoulders. Rouge glanced at Shadow side, and saw a large bruise, probably caused by Mephiles’ fist. She winced and looked at it closer, running her fingers lightly over the wound. Shadow flinched.

“Ow…” he muttered.

“We better get you outta here pal, c’mon.” Knuckles and Rouge helped Shadow to limp along the road towards a place where they could tend to his wounds… unable to imagine how they were going to tell their friends… Mephiles had returned.