"Well well….what's goin' on Shadow? You lookin' for a rematch?" Shadow leapt up and kicked Sonic down again as I prepared to fight, "Your not going to back off are you…" Shadow started walking towards me cracking his knuckles as I got a spell ready, I fired a wave of ice at him, freezing his feet in place as I ran out back after Dawn, "You have to hide…no matter what happens you stay hidden…I'll find you alright?" She looked hesitant to listen to me, but as Shadow smashed out through the back wall growling and clutching the emerald he had earlier, I remembered seeing him use it before, and Lorzen used one, I had to get rid of it, I fired more spells at him, he dodged and leapt away from them, as he landed I summoned vines to trap him, as they tightened around him he dropped his emerald, I ran over and grabbed it now clutching it in my hand, he eventually broke free of the vines and was growling at me,
"Impressive…you have a mastery over a great power, but I am the Ultimate Life Form! You can't beat me!" he began charging towards me, I thought back remembering both he and Lorzen shouting 'Chaos Control' while holding emeralds, I took a chance,
"Chaos Control!" I didn't quite realise what had happened until moments later, I was on the roof staring down at Shadow, who looked as though he was in disbelief, he charged another Chaos Spear in his hand while I readied a bolt of lightning, we fired at the same time, both projectiles impacted in mid air, I knew I had to get rid of this Shadow, I leapt from the roof, Shadow leapt at the same time, both of us collided in mid air, Shadow leapt backwards off me before spinning into a ball and slamming me down into the ground, my entire body surged with pain as he grabbed the Chaos Emerald from me, I ignored the pain and leapt up, kicking the emerald from Shadow's hand and blasting him with ice, he was completely frozen, I grabbed the Chaos Emerald as I saw Dawn running into the forest, I knew by the time I ran there she'd be hidden and Shadow would be hot on my tail, I looked at the emerald and thought for a moment,
"Chaos Control…" I was suddenly in a forest clearing, Dawn was walking through the forest and spotted me, immediately running over,"How did you…you were fighting with that black hedgehog and…" I heard rustling in a tree above and immediately signalled her to hide, I felt a sudden surge of pain in my head and was forced forward, I turned to find the white bat standing in front of me smiling.
Rouge the Bat
I had told the girl to meet me in the forest, I had seen this hedgehog Shadow wanted to catch so bad tell her to hide, so I knew if he beat Shadow he'd chase her, I hid in a tree above the clearing, waiting, I saw the other hedgehog appear holding Shadow's green Chaos Emerald, I then saw the girl run over, I tried to listen in too far and lost my grip quickly having to grab another branch, but I knew he'd heard me, he told her to hide so I jumped to another tree and glided down behind him, delivering one swift kick to the back of his head just to get his attention, I landed behind him and grinned, he spun around ready to attack, he seemed to hesitate when he saw me, I smiled at him,
"So…you beat Shadow, not often I get to see that….I'm Rouge…who are you?" I wasn't showing any hostility, I was still unsure whether we even had reason to bring him to GUN, I'd let him say his piece and judge for myself.
Nick:
"Who are you?" she had been the first person who had stopped to actually ask me who I was, I still had no intention of trusting her but having a potential ally wouldn't be a bad thing, "My name…is Nick, me and my sister were brought here from….well I think another world, to escape a creature that was devouring our world…for some reason trying to find my sister. Ever since I got here I've found out I've been completely changed into…whatever I am…some giant hedgehog called Shadow wants me captured or dead…and I cant find our teacher…" I stopped, I had started ranting, Rouge just laughed,
"Oh Shadow? He's following his orders…I'll talk to him. I don't think you're here to cause any trouble. But I think he'll want his emerald back…Anyway…this creature your running from." I could only sigh, I knew this would come up,
"Yes…a creature called Mephiles, Lorzen told us he devours entire worlds, after having been sealed years before I was born…I don't know why he's hunting down Dawn, but I'm not going to let him find her…if necessary I'll give my life to defend her." Rouge looked surprised, she didn't have a chance to reply before Shadow had leapt out of hiding towards me.
Rouge the Bat:
Shadow had appeared out of nowhere, he leapt and immediately started attacking Nick who had no choice but to fight back, Shadow jumped up and started a spindash, Nick was prepared however and fired lightning from his hands then leapt up and kicked him into the ground, then stood over him,
"Shadow…I don't want to fight you!" I watched as Shadow stood up again and swung a punch which was deflected, he then fired a Chaos Spear which stunned Nick, Shadow then delivered a hard kick knocking him backwards against a tree, seconds later Shadow spindashed towards him and hit him brutally 4 times before jumping back a Nick fell to his knees, wiping blood from his mouth he grinned and chuckled,
"Is that…all…you've got?" Shadow growled and charged, Nick vanished and appeared behind and laughed again,
"Ultimate Lifeform? I don't see it…" Shadow once again swung a punch now completely engulfed in his rage, Nick easily grabbed his arm and threw him against a tree then delivering several hard hits, before kicking him back down, and walking away. Shadow spit out blood and got to his feet again, Nick turned around again, Shadow lunged…
3 Hours Later
It had been 3 long hours since Shadow and Nick started fighting, Sonic had shown up seen the fight and gone back and collected a large group of his friends, I sat next to Dawn as we looked around the scene, the ground was scorched, trees were completely destroyed from the fight, the two jumped towards each other and swung punches, they impacted at the same time, they both flew in opposite directions, impacting hard against trees and landing hard against the ground, both stayed down, exhausted and unable to move. Sonic laughed,
"Wow…those two really ripped each other apart!" both of them started getting up again, not taking eyes off of each other, as they moved to continue their fight, Eggman's battleship flew overhead, I heard Eggman's voice,
"Surrender your Chaos Emeralds! I know you have them Sonic!" Shadow looked to Nick,
"We deal with Eggman first…" Nick nodded as Shadow ran off with Sonic and the others, I stayed and watched him as he caught his breath then walked over to me,
"I thought you'd be off helping them…" I winked at him and grinned,
"Not really my thing…Just thought I'd make sure you were going to stay conscious…" Nick blushed slightly and looked around then became panicked,
"Where's Dawn? …Oh no…" He immediately ran off towards where Sonic and the others had gone, I jumped up and flew after him.
He ran through the meadow, we eventually ended up in the middle of a battle between Sonic, Shadow and the others and a large group of Eggman's robots, Nick pulled me down out of the way of a missile, before I could so much as thank him, he had already smashed three robots to pieces on his way to find Dawn…
Nick:
I smashed robots as I met up with both Sonic and Shadow, all three of us fought off the waves of robots, I turned to Sonic,
"Where's Dawn?" Sonic pointed up to the battleship as he destroyed another robot,
"Eggman took Tails…Dawn tried to save him and got trapped…" I looked up to the battleship and saw another wave of robots on their way down, I leapt on top of another robot and jumped up, using the new wave of robots to smash through into the battleship, Sonic and Shadow followed behind, the three of us ripped the robots apart as we ran through the ship, we eventually got to the prison block, where a completely black hedgehog stood holding my sister, he wore a long black trench coat, I could feel nothing but evil from him, he immediately turned and stared at me, his eyes were completely black, I saw no emotion, Shadow and Sonic were thrown backwards, I heard a voice inside my head, immediately I recognised it…Mephiles had found us….
"You…you intend to try and stop me? You still fear me…you're mother did well to erase your memory of it…but your teacher is not here to save you this time!" Fear had gripped me, I froze in place as Mephiles shot a bolt of dark energy at me, I was pushed to the side, as I looked I saw the bolt hit Rouge, Shadow and Sonic both spun past me as I pushed my fear to the side and ran towards Mephiles, he dropped Dawn and hit both Sonic and Shadow to the ground as he walked towards me, I gripped the Chaos Emerald tight in my hand,
"I'm not afraid of you anymore Mephiles! Chaos…Control!" I appeared behind him and lunged firing every spell I could at his back before charging and getting as many hits into him as I could before being thrown off….I skidded across the floor before stopping next to Rouge, I heard her laugh weakly,
"He looks tough…You having fun?" She propped herself up against the wall, I could only run at Mephiles again, teleporting behind him again, he immediately had me by the throat above the ground,
"That may work once….but not again…." he threw me against a wall and flew towards me, he started punching, his fists slammed against me at super speed, my entire body surged with pain, every nerve screamed as he slammed one final punch, knocking me down, he turned his back on me and laughed, his almost demonic voice echoed through the corridor,
"This is truly all you have? You shame your family's memory…" That was all it took, anger built up when he dared mention my family, I grabbed the Chaos Emerald, and used every ounce of rage I had to drag myself up and latch onto him,
"Chaos…Control!" We appeared above Eggman's battleship, I grabbed my mothers amulet in my hand, I felt a surge of power as light surrounded me, Mephiles screamed in pain as he struggled to free himself,
"What is this? What power do you have!" he broke free only for the amulet to shoot a beam of light straight through him, as it did he fired a bolt of shadow, I didn't see it hit, I only felt another surge of pain, the light dissipated and Mephiles turned to a cloud of shadow and vanished through a portal, I started falling, the emerald fell from my hand I could taste blood and felt the warm feeling of blood on my body, as I fell I closed my eyes and slipped into the darkness…
I woke up on a cold stone floor light completely surrounded me, I looked down at myself, my injuries were gone, I was still a hedgehog however, I got to my feet and looked around, eventually I heard my mother's voice behind me, her voice was soft and comforting just like it had always been,
"Nick…..don't be afraid." I turned around but she was nowhere to be seen,
"You cant see me…because your not ready yet. You have to be more careful, Mephiles almost got Dawn." I dropped to my knees,
"Am…I dead? Did I die fighting Mephiles?"
"No…but your injuries are severe…you should be dead. The amulet is keeping you alive, as well as your determination to stay alive. The amulet itself contains my power, light magic, its what we sealed Mephiles with before…" I could feel pain returning to me, blood trickled from my mouth,
"Mom…what do you want me to do…I…I cant beat Mephiles again, it almost killed me…I…" My mother appeared in front of me, kneeling down and smiling warmly,
"Son…you're doing fine…but you don't have to do this alone…there are many people in this world to aid you. Lorzen…" I had to interrupt her,
"Lorzen? He's gone! I haven't seen him since we got here! I…I'm sorry I just, Mephiles has been hunting us for six years…Dawn wants a normal life and…I cant…I cant give her it, she calls me over protective, I feel as though I cant let her do anything for fear of him appearing, and I don't even know how to defend her, or what he wants!" my mother just smiled at me and sighed,
"Your old enough to know I suppose…Dawn is the one we had to seal Mephiles' heart in…not a literal physical heart, but essentially…well, his essence, soul whatever you want to call it…that's why he has to devour the souls of the dead and eventually worlds…to keep himself alive." I thought about it for several moments,
"So…we could destroy him if we kept him from 'eating' for long enough?" My mothers face changed, she became very serious, "Nick…that's dangerous and reckless. You'd have to hunt him down, probably in his own realm…and he's more powerful in the Shadow Realm…" I sighed, more pain shot through me, my mother smiled again,
"Do what you think is right Nick…but be careful, remember you don't have to fight him alone…" I felt blood on my body, my injuries started returning as the light around me diminished, everything once again was engulfed in darkness, for what felt like an eternity...
