A/N: Well, I'm back, with the promised sequel.;) (It's predecessor is 'The Darkness Returns'!)

Anyway, you guys know the drill by now... i.e, I own nothing, and there's gonna be lots of swearing and gore, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Like TD Returns, I dedicate this fic my sister, because without her reintroducing me to the Sonic franchise, I wouldn't have had the dream that started the idea for both TD's. And without her faithful proof-reading of each finished chapter, there would be a LOT of incredibly face-palm worthy mistakes.^^;

I also, by extension, dedicate this to my dog (Yeah. My dog.). Why? Well, besides the fact that I JUST CAN!, he got really sick about three months back, and the family thought he was well... gonna croak it. Thankfully, what he had wasn't life-threatening, and he returned safe and sound with only some faint grogginess and some bald patches from the IV drips, and now he's a lot happier and healthier, so that makes me happy.:)

Anyway, read on, my ever faithful readers.

Edit- 18th January: More content, amonst some other minor tweaking. With any luck this should 'feel more welcoming to a newer audience'.^^

The Darkness Pursues

Prologue: Jailbreak

The world around him was a featureless glaring white. The ground, sky, even the far off horizon; all brought about an almost maddening snow glare effect. Yet he did not mind.

Mephiles the Dark scratched absently at the blankness beneath him with pointed fingers of crystal, acidic green eyes watching on with boredom. 'For me to have accomplished so much, only to be locked away in this featureless dimension, is extremely irritating.'

The hedgehog shaped creature's mouth turned down ever so slightly and his lids dropped halfway; yet this did not conceal the wine red sclera that back-dropped his reptilian eyes, nor the deep green irises themselves.

He hated failure; it tasted bitter and left him burning with a near unquenchable rage that would not die until he had his vengeful retaliation. Only once had he tasted such disgusting defeat, and as such was the reason for the retaliation that eventually led to his imprisonment in this dreary place of blankness.

'At least one of the three hedgehogs has been extinguished by my hand…' thought the creature, smirking smugly at the memory of the demise of the speedy blue imbecile, Sonic. It was not the first time he had killed the rodent. There was but one instance before this, which tied in with the major failure previously mentioned, but this, he was certain, would be the last of the hedgehog. Particularly since there were neither Chaos Emeralds, nor a princess to bring him back from the dead with a kiss, as Elise too was slain by his hand.

'This one is also not far from the gates of the Afterlife.' he mused, reaching up to finger the jagged crystalline end of one of his puppet's five long head quills. A weary sigh escaped him. 'A shame that he must continue to live until he serves his purpose… I would much rather slaughter the naïve fool now.'

Mephiles' reptilian eyes flicked down to look at a chest that was far too fluffy for his liking.

'Perhaps I should just tear it off,' he thought, grinning sadistically, 'It would be an entertaining, albeit painful, way to pass the time.'

After a short mental debate as to whether or not he should follow through with causing his vassal some extra agony, he dismissed the notion, due to the injuries he had sustained throbbing unhappily. This may not have been his body, but the pain it received was another matter…

'Speaking of him… Perhaps I should pay the runt a visit.'

A leering Mephiles closed his eyes…

- and reopened them; finding that the glaring white of his prison was replaced with the deep shadowy blackness of the inside of Silver's mind.

A satisfied smirk creased his now mouthless muzzle and he strode forward, eyes locked on a specific patch of liquid 'ground'. Once his destination was reached, Mephiles' eyes flicked downwards, glinting with the kind of amusement seen in the eyes of children as they teased zoo animals cringing behind bars. He then sunk through the threshold separating him from his object of interest, encountering a slight drop before his feet tapped against a firmer, but still somewhat liquid, 'ground'.

Dusting imaginary dust from his dark pelt, Mephiles strolled towards a pair of pillars with chains closed over the wrists of the pathetically beaten white figure slumped between them.

"Hello again, Silver. Did you miss me?"

At the sound of his silky, mocking voice, the albino sluggishly lifted his bruised and bloodied face. His pain-fogged gold eyes immediately widened with terror and he let lose a choked whimper at the sight of his tormentor, straining at the heavy cuffs around his wrists in a vain attempt at escape.

Mephiles laughed at his efforts; the cruelty within the sound stabbing at the pair's surroundings with a thousand rusty daggers and making the pitch of Silver's whimpering increase. After another few seconds of laughter he stopped, as the shackled albino's whining had become irritating to his ears.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the hedgehog-shaped creature paced slowly in front of the psychokinetic's line of vision, quickly becoming delighted by watching his fear-brightened gold eyes follow his movements. His silence made the time-traveller uncomfortable, if his anxious shifting about was of any indication, and as much as he enjoyed this small form of mental torture, he preferred poking and prodding his victims with words that brought about violent shifts in emotion with their faintly venomous sting.

Ceasing his pacing so that he stood directly in front of the hapless Silver, Mephiles cocked his head ever so slightly and said, "It must be ever so lonely for you inside here..."

The hedgehog eyed him cautiously, trying to predict the horrible, gut twisting things he was sure to start spouting. He was not disappointed.

Mephiles' muzzle bunched upwards in his version of a smirk. "Which makes it my pleasure to announce that you will soon be meeting with your precious cat girl."

The effect of this sentence was instantaneous.

"NO!" Silver screamed, yanking and straining at his chains with all the might his scrawny little body could muster. "I won't let you do that to her! I won't let you touch Blaze!"

"Fool. How can you hope to stop me?" the demigod jeered, eyes glowing like twin blobs of nuclear waste in the darkness, "Especially when you are helpless within your own mind while I control your body! You are my puppet; mine to toy with as I please!"

Tears of mingled fear, frustration and agony slid down the albino's battered face as he continued to strain against his shackles and repeatedly scream one word. "No! No, no, no, no, NO!"

One clawed crystal hand shot forward, clamping Silver's cheeks painfully and making him yip in surprise. "I think you will find, dear Silver," Mephiles whispered theatrically, features shifting until he resembled a crystalline version of Blaze the cat, "That you do not have a choice in the matter."

More tears streamed from the albino's eyes and his 'no's' became replaced with sobs. The loathsome creature donning Blaze's features leaned it's face closer to his, eyes shining as it traced a pointed finger down his cheek, whispering in a more excited tone, "Now then… It is ever so boring in that blank dimension, so I hope that you can entertain me for a little while."

As his claws slashed mercilessly at the screaming hedgehog, the crystalline demigod laughed maniacally, imagining that it was Shadow being torn open like a present on Christmas instead of the albino.

'Soon Shadow,' he promised, 'I will torture and rip you to shreds like this before I crush you like a bug!'

The now familiar hum of a Chaos Control brought Mephiles' head up.

"Oh. Just you again, eh Shadow? I suppose my 'threatening' image still needs some improvement."

The ebony and crimson streaked hedgehog ignored the smartass comment as he strolled over; a plastic Tupperware container with a bottle of water on top balanced in one hand, the purple Chaos Emerald clenched in the other.

He crouched in front of the crystalline body of Mephiles' host, and slid the food and water to him across the featureless white ground.

"Eat." the hedgehog grunted, rocking back onto his hunches slightly.

To anybody else, he might have seemed relaxed, but Mephiles could see the tension in his body, clear as the sun on a cloudless day.

The loathsome creature smirked, "But I feel no hunger."

"Cut the bull crap." the Ultimate Lifeform said flatly, "We both know that Silver's body needs to be sustained or else it will start to fail."

Mephiles' smirk broadened and his reptilian eyes glittered. "So you've finally given up on the runt, eh?"

The hedgehog shook his head, "Of course not. But I have to face the facts here. Silver's no longer in control of himself… you are; so I have to see his body as little more than a shell."

The intelligent half of Solaris grinned, flashing sharp teeth, "How very cold of you, Shadow."

"Just shut up and eat the damn food."

"But my movements are restricted." said the conniving shadow manipulator innocently, wiggling crystal pointed fingers and tugging lightly at the unearthly handcuffs restraining his wrists.

Shadow snorted and shook his head. "Nice try, Mephiles."

Exasperation crossed the crystalline one's features and he threw his shackled wrists up, "I am completely serious here!"

"So am I!" Shadow snapped back, lips peeling back slightly to expose his teeth.

The abomination growled back, clenching his fists. "Bah! Well, can you at least help me shovel whatever that thing is into Silver's mouth? I still do not know how to use it properly."

Despite himself, Shadow laughed, throwing his head back and filling the blank world about them with the sound. Wiping a tear from his eye, the ebony and crimson hedgehog flashed the crystal coated and shackled grey hedgehog before him a nasty grin. "I can't believe this… The 'great' Mephiles the Dark can't eat a freaking hamburger!" he quickly dissolved into lighter snorts, which he unsuccessfully tried to cover with his hand around his mouth.

The abomination simply glared daggers at him until he composed himself.

Shaking his head, Shadow opened the Tupperware container and pulled out the burger, holding it within biting distance of the shadow manipulator's face. His ruby eyes shone with an out of place impish humour and his mouth kept twitching upwards. "Say ah~!"

The possessed hedgehog's face split into a massive, pointy toothed grin, "No. How about I take that Emerald, instead?"

Before Shadow realized what was happening, Mephiles launched himself forward, shouldering the crimson streaked hedgehog in the chest and swiping the purple gem from his hand as he tumbled backwards and onto his behind. While he was down, the abomination couldn't resist delivering a powerful kick to the hedgehog's face. It snapped backwards, body following, and a cursing Shadow immediately attempted to staunch his now bleeding nose, his body curling up slightly from the pain.

A triumphant Mephiles tossed the downed hedgehog a final mocking sneer and a few choice words before Chaos Controlling away. "Farewell, Shadow… I hope you enjoy this blank dimension as little as I did. And the next time we meet…" his reptilian eyes blazed, "it will be the end of you and all you hold dear."

As the last of the bright blue light fizzled away, Shadow sat up, slamming a fist against the featureless ground. "You conniving little shit…" he hissed, body glowing with angry red Chaos energy, "You're going to pay for making me look like such a damned IDIOT!"

With a furious scream, he unleashed a Chaos Blast, ravaging the blank dimension with a collection of crevices similar to cracks on the surface of a broken mirror.

A/N: Another familiar drill for you guys... give me your thoughts via a review... or a PM if you're shy.

Thanks,

Bite.