Chapter Nine: Unity or Death/Return of Mephiles
*Black Arms Fortress-Flagship: Command Bridge. Eight hours after Aero Fortress's destruction: Above G.U.N. Headquarters.*
Black Fist, ten Black Arms elite bodyguards, the G.U.N. Commander (with his Beetle-mech guards), five agents, Admiral Atmos, Vice-Admiral Zackary, General Audi, Colonel Jackson, and Team Dark now stood around a glowing table that Black Fist constructed to assist in his war plans. The commander and Black Fist had been speaking in private almost an hour before the others joined for the meeting, and there was a tense feeling in the air as the commander, Atmos, Jackson, and Team Dark glared at the Black Arms, who seemed oblivious, even when Shadow stroked his dagger's handle for emphasis.
"Well, commander of the humans, I can't say you'd be happy to see us... despite the help we've lent recently" Black Fist began formally, standing up straight with his hands clasped behind his back. The commander's eyes shimmered coldly, and Jackson gritted his teeth, knowing full well that 'help' had killed over 120 of their soldiers and mechs.
"But, we must put the past behind us; let's not forget it was you and the Mobians who won the war, after all" Black Fist continued. "And while we cost you casualties, you killed our leader, and disbanded us, and it was only he who had wicked intentions against you; the rest just followed his orders."
"Just get on with what you wanted us here for" the commander said coolly, his eyes never leaving Black Fist's, who nodded.
"Very well... as you may have suspected, my people and I have encountered these monsters before" Black Fist began, "And as you may also suspect, these beasts are the spawn of Mephiles."
"No shit" Shadow scoffed, but was silenced by a glance from the commander. The hedgehog looked at Rouge, who smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Then Black Fist continued.
"Well, as Black Doom made clear in his campaign on your world, we were in need of an energy source... and a planet" Black Fist said, making Shadow, Rouge, and the G.U.N. officers exchange quick glances. "For the Black Arms original home-world, you see, was consumed by these same monsters... the evidence is now too strong to ignore now that we know what Mephiles is, and what he can do..."
"So where is Mephiles now?" Colonel Jackson asked, beating Shadow to the question. The young officer's eyes narrowed in maliciousness. "You're not hiding him, are you?"
"Colonel! Please, let their leader finished" the commander said (not too sharply).
"So, when we learnt that Black Doom had misled us, desiring only an empire and power to himself, and to consume the universe to feed his lust, and that Mephiles had more or less done the same, we made the connections. Humans, Mobians... Mephiles plans to consume your planet, now."
Black Fist sighed, and leaned on the table a bit. "The force he infested the Fallen Aircraft with is only a tiny fraction of what he's about to unleash, and even that was difficult for you to deal with..."
"You know what's really difficult to deal with?!" the Commander said softly, harshly. "Knowing I'm listening to you for advice after you just killed over a hundred of my soldiers whilst they couldn't so much as lift a finger to save themselves! Don't tell me what's difficult for me, alien!"
"You are not listening, you fool!" Black Fist, and his voice went even graver and colder than the commander's. "A single, solo one of these monsters can annihilate all life in our universe! I could've burnt your entire world in my hunt to destroy Mephiles, but I have not for several reasons; I respect you and your defiance against the fiend. Two; Mephiles cannot be killed by any means we have. Three; we shall need every last ally we can get for the coming storm."
The commander sighed, and nodded. "So why choose us for your allies, then?" he asked. "Why not just let Mephiles consume us while you build up your forces and gain other allies?"
Black Fist shook his head. "Did you not hear? Our own world was consumed by this monster; we would not wish that fate upon anybody except Mephiles himself."
Shadow folded his arms in skepticism. "So why do you think Mephiles is marshalling an army as we speak, then? What makes you so sure?" he asked.
"Because, if he has not appeared in so long as your commander told us..." Black Fist said darkly, "He is planning something, marshalling a force of some kind... and we will need to marshal ours. The doctor you have been battling? He would be an invaluable ally..."
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!" Rouge interrupted, holding up her hands. "I wanna be ready for a monster attack just as much as anybody, but working with Eggman?! Shit, that's a lot to ask, considering he's wiped out cities and countless people!"
"I agree" General Audi added. "General Catherine and I have lost hundreds of young people in that war; I'll not be seen groveling for help from that bastard."
"Yes, I know" Black Fist said impatiently. "But he worked alongside you towards the end of our campaign; I'm sure he'll want to assist you in preserving your world... if only for the sake to establish his empire."
"True..." Shadow said thoughtfully, but Zackary shook his head.
"Eggman will not be easy to find..." he said thoughtfully. "He's likely on the fringes of space after his escape..."
"Admiral, Black Fist..." the Commander spoke up, "Listen; Atmos, take your flagship and its guard along with the Black Arms' fleet. You should be able to reach Eggman as long as he hasn't left the solar system. Black Fist? Once you return, Colonel Jackson, General Audi, and the rest of my command staff and I can help you prepare for a massive attack; we have a fortress within G.U.N. territory that can be of great help to us."
"Very good..." Black Fist said slowly, "But there's something else I must notify you of; the monsters that Mephiles spawns? There are several among them, much more like Mephiles than the rest, that are very dangerous..."
The Black Alien looked up to face the G.U.N. Commander. "According to the data you've allowed me to see on that one G.U.N. facility's destruction... as you concluded, yes, Mephiles' monsters had a hand in it... but one of these monsters, and one alone was responsible..."
"What? What do you mean?" Shadow asked suddenly. "Who are they?"
Black Fist sighed, and exchanged some somber looks with his guards before answering.
"They call themselves the Lost Ones... chiefly because they, like Mephiles, are pieces of Satan lost during his decent into hell" Black Fist said. "But they, unlike Mephiles, are not as self-sustaining; only by being at least as close to Mephiles as being on the same planet, being in the presence of a large monster infestation, by killing off things/causing destruction, or by being with one another can they take their full form, power, and thrive. Also they, unlike Mephiles, can be killed... but only by either destroying a great deal of their body-mass, or striking them with high-levels of Chaos Energy."
Shadow nodded, subconsciously stroking his dagger's hilt. "So... where are they now, do you suppose?" he asked, and folded his arms again.
"Searching for Mephiles, most likely... if he's sound their call to gather and fight, something terrible is inevitable" Black Fist said, and sighed heavily. "They have deadly, powers, Shadow, and Chaos Spears won't do much more than hurt them a bit or drive them back; we're talking about a Chaos-Blast-crammed-into-a-Chaos-Spear strong."
"What about a Chaos Lance?" Shadow pursued.
"Perhaps, but only through the head; anything short of that they could probably survive" Black Fist replied.
There was silence awhile as the humans, Shadow, and Rouge let this sink in. Finally, the Commander broke the silence.
"Shadow, Rouge; go and gather Sonic and the other Mobians we work with and take them to Angel Island; ask Knuckles if you can use the Master Emerald to go back to Mobius; see if there's an army you can assemble there. I'll send Omega to Central City, link up with our forces there, and get a sit-rep." the Commander said.
Shadow and Rouge saluted, and left the room.
"Vice-Admiral?" the Commander said, facing Zackary. "Take your own flagship, gather a fleet of our own ships, and as many dropships as each ship can hold; we're beginning a mass evacuation. I want every civilian area cleared and transported to the fortress I spoke of; I'll have Audi send you the coordinates once you've picked them up. I'll have General Catherine announce this world-wide, so they'll have time to gather their belongings. Admiral Atmos? Take your ships here and join the Black Arms fleet; as soon as you receive the order, we're leaving. Colonel? Return to the Headquarters; I'm having you and Sub-Commander Elaine marshalling all G.U.N. ground forces. Empty the Headquarters, and draw another 50,000 soldiers, and another 70,000 mechs into Central City to guard the President. Atmos? As soon as you return, send another 100 capital ships there as well; I'll go and speak to the President of these matters. As soon as I can get his approval, Zackary, begin the evacuation."
The command staff saluted, and went about their duties. Then, only the Commander, his Beetle mechs, two agents assigned to guard him, and the Black Arms remained in the room. The human Commander faced Black Fist, gazing intently at his new ally.
"We're allying with old enemies against a greater enemy..." the Commander stated casually. "So... it's unity or death for us then, is it?"
The Black Arms leader nodded somberly. "It would appear so, good sir" he said lowly.
"Very well... Atmos should be ready soon; feel free to leave whenever you like" the Commander said, and finally left the room.
*G.U.N. Flagship, Justice of Retribution's bridge: Fifteen minutes later*
Admiral Atmos returned the salutes of the ship's command crew as he stood upon the ship's captain podium, which overlooked the entire bridge. He sighed, and looked upon a nearby view-screen; he saw about fourteen G.U.N. capital ships moving in formation near him, and the Black Arms fortress-fleet surrounded them, and they began to fly upwards.
"Excellent news, Admiral" Black Fist said into Atmos's comm. "We've got a fix on the scientist's fleet; it holds position on the far side of the moon. Our Comet fleet is certain of this."
"Very well; I'll hail him, and tell him we mean no harm" Atmos replied, and accessed a different channel.
"Dr. Eggman Ivo Robotnik, this is Fleet-Master Admiral Adam Atmos of the G.U.N. military" Atmos spoke. "We mean you no harm; we have come to speak to you of certain matters. But do not try to escape; the Black Arms have surrounded you, and are now our allies. We wish to forge an alliance with you, as well; Mephiles is planning to kill us all. We shall spare your life if you wish to speak, over?"
*Emerald Town: Ten minutes ago*
While Atmos was hailing Eggman, and while Jackson and Elaine were managing the gathering of G.U.N.'s forces, and while the Commander was on his way to Central City to reason with the President on what they should do, Shadow and Rouge appeared in a flash of red light in Emerald Town.
"Always an exciting trip" Rouge commented, casually brushing her ivory hair back. Shadow nodded, and they walked on.
"Well, we may as well notify Sonic and Amy first; they just got back from their honeymoon, and I'll think they'll want to see their original home again" Shadow said dully.
"Yep" Rouge said with a nod. "We can ask Tails, Silver and Blaze while we're here, too."
So, they finally found Sonic's house (just across the road from Tails's house), and Shadow knocked on the front door. They waited awhile, Rouge tapping her feet while Shadow folded his arms. Finally, the door flew open, and Sonic stood there, grinning.
"Hey, Shad, what's up dude?" Sonic greeted joyfully. "Amy's taking a shower right now, you wanna watch NASCAR with me or something?"
"Fuck NASCAR" Shadow growled. "Sonic, I've just battled through a horde of monsters, watched hundreds of G.U.N. troops burn, formed an alliance with a bastard organization, and have been notified that the forces of hell are gathering en masse to wipe out all life in existence. So I really, really, don't feel like spending time with some idiot like you! Capiche`?"
Sonic stared awhile, and sighed. "You never did know how to lighten up much..." he said. "But seriously man, come in; sounds like you got a story to tell."
So they did; Shadow grabbed a cola from the fridge, they sat down in the living room, and Rouge filled Sonic in on what had happened after G.U.N took him, Tails, Knuckles, Tikal, and Amy home (Shadow only put in details when he felt it appropriate).
"...So the Commander has assigned us to get you and us other Mobians to go to Mobius, and see if we can get an army from there as well" Rouge finished.
Sonic and Amy (for Amy had arrived soon after they'd all been seated) shared a glance. Sonic leaned back on the sofa he and Amy shared, thinking deeply, while Amy sighed and broke the silence.
"Well, Sonic and I have been talking about going back to Mobius awhile now, if only to check up on stuff" Amy said. "So... you've really signed on with the Black Aliens now? And Eggman's going to be joining us?"
"Don't remind me" Shadow said darkly, crumpled up his soda can to relieve his frustration, and tossed it into the nearby recycle can. Rouge shrugged, and faced Sonic and Amy again.
"Yes; Black Fist (the leader of the Black Arms) says he has no desire to harm us, and doesn't wish to see another planet suffer the same fate theirs' did" Rouge explained.
"Tell me..." Sonic said, "So we got the aliens on our side; what if Eggman joins Mephiles again? And what if Mobius doesn't have an army to lend to us? They're usually peaceful, and it's been years since Eggman's had a presence there."
"To answer your first question; Eggman betrayed Mephiles, remember? They want each other dead" Shadow said, folding his arms again. "As for Mobius... I don't know; if they don't, we'll just have to head to the fortress G.U.N. is preparing. If they do... we'll have a ton of people with strength and speed found only is us; the less-than-a-dozen Mobians here."
Amy nodded. "Sounds great, but how do we know Knuckles will even let us near the Master Emerald?" she asked.
"Yeah; he's pretty touchy about that shiny thing" Sonic agreed with a nod.
"He won't have a choice" Shadow said pointedly. "I don't care how stubborn that damn idiot's going to be, but we shall not let some stupid echidna be part of the reason the universe was extinguished and engulfed in eternal havoc."
Sonic nodded. "Well, I'll go and get Tails if you guys don't mind getting Silver and Blaze" he said. Shadow and Rouge nodded together.
"Meet us at the beach when you get him" Shadow said, and he and Rouge left Sonic and Amy's house.
The blue hedgehog watched his dark somewhat-counterpart walk away, and sighed.
"I still say he needs to take a chill-pill..." Sonic muttered.
"Yes, but you have to admit; Shadow's been less angsty since he's married Rouge" Amy said, and Sonic nodded in agreement.
*Emerald Beach: Twenty minutes later*
By now, Shadow, Rouge, Sonic, Amy, Silver, and Blaze were all gathered upon Emerald Beach. Silver and Blaze had been in the middle of returning from a date, and it had taken a bit of a hustle to get them on the beach in time, but Shadow and Rouge had been quite insistent, even going as far as Shadow taking Silver's favorite kitchen appliance (an instant java-maker) and waving it about.
Silver now casually floated about a foot off the ground, his arms folded grumpily as he continued to throw angry looks at Shadow (who noticed, but didn't care). Blaze stroked the psychic hedgehog on the back, and smiled assuringly. Silver sighed, his features calmed down a bit, and he returned Blaze's smile.
"Okay... so now we're headed to Angel Island, alright?" Shadow said. "And the person who persuades Knuckles to let us use it gets a reward..."
Sonic laughed unnecessarily hard at that, Amy nodded while sighing, and Silver thought what Shadow might mean by "reward."
So then, Shadow held up his Chaos Emerald, and they all vanished.
*Eggman's Flagship: Five minutes ago*
The fiendish doctor was at his control panel, listening to Admiral Atmos's proposal.
"We wish to forge an alliance with you as well" Atmos was saying. "Mephiles plans to kill us all. We shall spare your life if you wish to speak, over?"
"Preposterous!" Eggman sneered. "Why should I even consider this? I could blow his flagship to slag right now if I wanted..."
But then, as if to prove Dr. Eggman was truly cursed, a hologram of Metal Sonic appeared, and the mech said; "My lord? The Admiral's message is true; we're completely surrounded by Black Arms fortresses, sir... and he's flanked by at least a dozen more of his own capital ships."
"BLAST!!" Eggman shouted, and slammed his fist onto the panels before him. "Why must us geniuses always be the ones who get picked on?! Why can't those inferior-minded nitwits leave me be?!"
"Sir?" Metal Sonic persisted. "Perhaps you should consider negotiating; they're in position to decimate us, sir; there's a 3-1 chance of the Black Arms' weapons breaching our shields before we can reactivate the Chaos Propulsion engines..."
"Very well" Eggman grumbled, and began to open up a communications channel. "But I'm going to detest it. This is Dr. Eggman Ivo Robotnik, Emperor of the Eggman Empire; what is your proposal, Admiral?"
"Quite simple, doctor" Atmos replied. "You lay down your weapons, and allow us to escort you to G.U.N. controlled territory. There, we shall have our commander to speak with you further. But, as I said, we wish to join you; Mephiles is out there, planning to-"
Suddenly, Eggman burst out laughing. "Mephiles?! Come now, Admiral, I know for a fact that Mephiles isn't a threat to us right now. Now, why did you really come here? To surrender to-"
"Doctor?" Metal Sonic said, his hologram popping back up again. "The Chaos-Propulsion engines... they've been critically damaged, sir..."
*Engine Sector BETA: Room of Chaos-Propulsion engines*
A huge turbine bigger than Mauve's favorite nightclub stood in the center of the room, and mechs had been hard at work trying to cool it off more quickly so Eggman's fleet could make the escape to Mobius; the jump that had taken them and about eighty more capital ships off of the planet had worked quite well; they were now on the edges of Earth's gravitational pull, resisted by Eggman's brilliant counter-pull technology that allowed his ships to resist being pulled an further into the planet's atmosphere. The turbine, basically the core of Eggman's Chaos-Propulsion engines, had the yellow Chaos Emerald and four artificial ones in it and, using his energy-replication technology, required no more. The Emeralds activated a Chaos Control portal around Eggman's chosen vectors, but probably couldn't handle any more than ninety ships, so he'd come fairly close in his last jump.
But now, the yellow Chaos Emerald was being tossed up and down in Mauve the Bat's hand, the other emeralds lay on their smoldering holders, which Mauve had overloaded one by one, and thereby frying the Chaos-Propulsion engine... and giving Eggman no hope of immediate escape.
"So, with Shade's purple Emerald... this makes two" Mauve said, eyeing the yellow jewel greedily. "G.U.N. holds three others... and Shadow always carries his red Emerald... only the green Emerald is missing."
Suddenly, an alarm went off, and red sirens and lights began to blare and flash about. But Mauve just grinned to himself.
"Looks like my ride's here" he snickered, and ran back towards the secondary-power room. "Just one task left..." And Mauve went to a console near the disabled turbine, accessed it, downloaded Eggman's plans and schematics for the Chaos-Propulsion engine onto a chip Ovator had designed, and left.
*Outside Eggman's flagship: Sub-zero space environment*
Even in the infinite, black vacuum of space, the nine black streaks of dark energy, flying faster than jets, were easily seeable...
And it was easy to see that it wasn't a good sign... the Black Arms in the nearby ships could sense their presence; it had been bred into their ancestors, who had lived countless nights in fear of them, but had turned that fear into a weapon; a weapon that lay in each and every Black Aliens' heart.
Suddenly, the head of these black missiles broke off, zooming towards Eggman's flagship faster than the others. Hades gained more speed, flying straight towards the top, eyeing the auto turrets that swiveled around to aim at him. But then, Hades' black mass split in two, one going over the ship, and the other going under, and they rejoined on the other side, and latched onto the ship. Hades chuckled to himself, and fired flaming blades at the turrets, which exploded as the missile-like blades impacted. Then, Hades found his most important target: the cryo-generators. He fired several blades at them, and they exploded as well; only Eggman's hull and heavy-guns were shielded.
Suddenly, Xar flew in and landed next to Hades, who regarded his brethren with a sneer.
"I could've done just as well..." he muttered, but Hades marched over to him, and their wicked, never-blinking green eyes met, reflecting the hate within each other.
"You'd do well to show respect to me, you fool" Hades hissed, the end of his sentence ending with a growl that sounded like a flame crackling. "I am second only to the great lord Mephiles himself!"
Xar scoffed. "For now, my brother" he said with an emphasis that said he couldn't possibly hate a brother more... unless they opposed Mephiles.
"Izar!" Hades shouted. "You and Nadrina melt a hole through the shields in Mephiles' area. Xar? Transform into a jet or something; give our 'assistant' in there a hand as soon as Mephiles has broken free."
So, the Lost Ones set to work, while Mauve worked below...
*Eggman's control room: One minute later*
"Metal Sonic?!" the doctor sneered, going over the reports going through his ship. "What's going on?! What's happening to our cryo systems?! Activate our backup power source; it should buy us enough time for us to repair the main generators..."
"Doctor; we have a shield breach above Sector Gamma" Metal Sonic said hurriedly. "Those... whatever they are, don't seem to be doing much more damage to the ship... they've neutralized several turrets, and the cryo-generators, but everything else is untouched..."
"Well, that's great!!" Eggman shouted, throwing his arms up. "Admiral Atmos? If you'll excuse me for asking; could you get a visual of what's attacking my ship and send it to me?"
"Certainly, doctor" Atmos said with grudging politeness. A moment later, Eggman's camera-files showed an entry, and he opened it...
And he saw about four Mephiles-copies (with alterations; the shapes of the heads were somewhat less spikey, some were taller than others, and some had twisting horns growing out of their heads) milling about the surface of his ship... and saw the destroyed cryo generators nearby them.
"Metal Sonic... put all mech combatants on alert, get the Babylon Rogues and yourself here on the bridge, and activate our Shadow Androids!" Eggman said, trying to stay calm.
*Eggman's flagship: Secondary Power Room*
Mauve the Bat was now deactivating the final cryo power-source and restraints on Mephiles now, and already the ice on the fiend was dripping and falling off. Mauve couldn't tell Mephiles was in stasis other than the fact the demon's green eyes weren't glowing menacingly.
Another alarm began to sound, but only in the room Mauve was currently in. The ice was now rapidly falling off of Mephiles, and some mechs rushed over, ignoring Mauve, spraying Mephiles with liquid nitrogen. The bat killed one mech, and walked back, preparing for Mephiles' awakening.
But then, a hole was blown through the sealing, and a brief vacuum tried to suck Mauve away, but Eggman's ship activated a pressure system of air around it, stopping most of the vacuum. Then, a large, dark, mini-jet looking thing flew in, and opened its cockpit. Following his instincts, Mauve hopped in and strapped himself in.
"Handy!" he said with a chuckle.
"Be silent!" the jet rumbled at him, making Mauve freeze. "It is only the master's will that I do not kill you now! We must leave, so that we do not get in the way of Mephiles' fury! Can you breathe in space?"
"Yes; all Mobians can" Mauve explained, but Xar was already flying outside... which turned out to be an excellent idea.
The mechs below, trying to re-freeze Mephiles, were only slowing down the melting process a bit; the demon had allowed Eggman to capture him, to make the doctor fall into a false sense of security, but when Mauve had hit the black Chaos Gem on his communicator, Mephiles' aura had sent it out for the Lost Ones to hear. And while Mauve had been there, he had stolen schematics vital to Mephiles' plan to reunite with Iblis. Mephiles could've escaped anytime he wanted, but still needed the help to disable what barely-adequate measures Eggman had taken to contain the demon. And now, Eggman was paying the price...
Finally, Mephiles was mostly uncovered, his own powers slowly destroying the ice. Then, his horrible, green eyes flared open, and he tore violently away at the ice, leapt down, and smashed all the mechs together, gathered his power, and unleashed it to literally blow up their remains in pillars of black fire. Then, the demon stood there among the destruction.
"IT... IS... TIME!!" he shouted. "Mephiles... has awakened!" Then he began to unleash surges of violent energy, blowing apart everything in the room. A group of Shadow Android Mark IIs appeared and fired on Mephiles, but the dark being melted, re-formed into a black missile-like form, and blasted through the mechs at the speed of sound, and flew out of the ship. Hades looked up, and flew over to meet his master, who quickly re-formed himself back to normal and stood upon the ship. Hades landed in front of his master, and bowed.
"I exist solely to serve you, Lord Mephiles" he said graciously. Soon after, all the other Lost Ones gathered around (Mauve reluctantly stood away from them, a little creeped out by this).
"My brethren..." Mephiles spoke to them all, softly. "I welcome you... Hades, Nadrina, Devabrawn, Consumar, Bane, Xar, Sparxan, Izar, Hurratore... I welcome you all back to join the final crusade to the ultimate cause: HAVOC!!"
The Lost Ones raised a cheer that sounded like a thundering wildfire, forcing Mauve to cover his ears.
"Now... there are people on the world below loyal to me" Mephiles stated. "I shall head there, and gather another servant. Mauve; you're coming with me. The rest of you; head to the Temple of Chaos, but do not attack... not yet. Wait for me there. Once I join you, we shall enter, and claim the final requirement for my certain victory!"
"All hail Lord Mephiles!" Hurratore cried, and they all took up the chant. "All hail Lord Mephiles! ALL HAIL MEPHILES THE DARK!!"
*Eggman's Flagship: Bridge*
The disheartened doctor looked upon the group of demons (via camera) as they finished chanting, and then they all took off and flew back to Earth. The doctor reluctantly faced Metal Sonic, who had arrived there.
"Metal Sonic... commence damage repairs and get as many things as you can working; use our artificial Chaos Emeralds to power our turrets" he said quietly. The mech bowed, and left as Eggman contacted Admiral Atmos again.
"Admiral... my fleet will follow you; we have much to discuss" the doctor said grudgingly, still shaken by what he'd seen a moment ago. "It appears its unity... or death."
"I'm afraid so, doctor" Atmos replied, and the radio was cut off.
The doctor sat back in his seat, and rubbed his temples; now, at least, everything was under control.
"All I ever wanted was my own empire" Eggman muttered to himself. "Is that so much to ask?"
*Angel Island: One minute before Mephiles' release*
"For the last time..." Knuckles said through gritted teeth, his purple eyes sharply meeting Shadow's crimson eyes, "NONODY, especially you people, are allowed near the Master Emerald!! Only Tikal and I can touch it!!"
"And I'll tell you for the last time..." Shadow hissed, jabbing Knuckles in the chest with his finger for emphasis. "We do not have time for this! Even as we speak, Mephiles' plans to wipe out all of life and time are commencing! We need Mobius' help, and since G.U.N. still hasn't located all seven Chaos Emeralds, the only way we can Chaos Control ourselves to Mobius is using the Master Emerald! Now stand aside, damn you!!"
"As soon as I turn my back, it could be the last time I see it!" Knuckles growled, his hands balling into fists. "I was born to protect the Master Emerald, and I-"
"KNUCKLES! SHADOW!" Tikal shouted, suddenly coming inbetween the two angry Mobians and pushing them away from each other. "Honestly, you men are hypocrites; you're both so stubborn you don't realize the others' better intentions; you just think you're both out to get each other!"
Shadow looked at Tikal, then at Knuckles, then at Rouge (who stood behind them with Sonic and the others, who chatted softly). Finally, Shadow sighed, took a deep breath and faced Knuckles, his face now (almost) completely deprived of anger.
Tikal nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now, Knuckles?" she said. "They need the Master Emerald, and so do we; you're the only one who can tap into its power anyway. This is for the greater good; now, let's let them use it; let's go back to Mobius!"
Knuckles forced himself to look at Tikal, and something within her shining, green eyes calmed him down a bit. Then, the crimson echidna faced Shadow, and he nodded.
"Very well; c'mon everyone! I'll use the Master Emerald!" Knuckles said so everyone can hear, and he and Tikal led the others towards the Master Emerald's altar.
"About time" Silver muttered under his breath, but Tails shot him a somewhat-pleading look.
"Silver, it's not like we didn't expect this!" the young fox said. "Nobody's seen Knuckles cooperate with hardly anyone easily before."
"Everyone, gather around" Knuckles said, motioning for everyone to form a circle around the Master Emerald's altar, the giant, glowing green gem before them. Rouge's eyes gleamed greedily, but only Shadow noticed. Tikal stood right behind Knuckles as the crimson echidna gazed intently at the Master Emerald. Shadow heard him mutter some words, but only caught; "Chaos Emeralds... servers... hearts intensify..."
Then, Knuckles raised his arms into the air dramatically as the Emerald shined a little brighter.
"O Master Emerald, I call upon your aid once more!" Knuckles commanded loudly. "Please, send us to Mobius! We require aid there! And take yourself as well, Master Emerald, so we may have a way back here!"
The Master Emerald began to shine brightly, and everyone shut their eyes against it. Then, they all felt a tugging sensation they were all familiar with (Shadow more so than the rest), and they vanished.
*Mobius: Three hours ago*
The planet Mobius earned its dimension's name; the only other native sentient people within this universe are the Metarex, Blaze's people (very close cousins of Mobians and also close allies) and an odd dozen or so other known species. But Mobius is the cornerstone of the dimension's knowledge, intelligence, and understanding of all things.
But Eggman, the only threat to Mobius since the defeat of the Metarex, had left almost two years ago and had not been seen since; it was about the same time the renowned hero Sonic and a group of Mobians left with him. But, Mobius knew better than to let their guard down; a warrior who had fought back groups of Eggman's mechs all on his own, and had rallied a small rebellion against an Eggman-controlled city, was now commander of the entire militia organization on Mobius; his name was Kael the Hedgehog. His fur had a gray tint to it, but he was only 37 years old. He had seen every battle Sonic the Hedgehog had waged against Eggman Robotnik, and had come to respect the younger hedgehog. Kael was no general, but he had a mind for strategies, patience to develop them, and steeled determination and loyalty to defend his people. The militia (consisting mostly of echidnas, hedgehogs, foxes wolves and hawks of both genders) were given target practice with their long-range weapons (which were like harpoon guns, but shot out spears of lasers instead, and could carry twenty shots per gun), had to pass three levels of difficulty fighting with their melee weapons (which were basically long, metal poles that could fold away to become swords, spears, or could activate a small energy shield and double as protection), and were sent on survival missions through the woods, and had to make it out to the other side (which usually took at least a week) and were given only a knife, two days worth of food, some tent poles and a large cloth. If they passed all of this, they made it into the militia, but Kael knew that real, hard-core soldiers were trained much more tougher than this. But, it was good enough for a defensive battle, and Eggman still hadn't been seen for a long time...
But now, Mobius was about to be, once again, found by the dogs of war.
*Mobius: Commander Kael's office, located in Sonic's hometown*
Kael was going over the same boring reports he was always forced to read; pointless scout sightings, the breaking up of a fight between some Mobian school kids, and other trivial stuff the militia was forced to handle.
"We're a defensive force, damn it..." Kael muttered to himself. "We're not meant to be the town's little behavior-police! I swear by our planet, I'd almost rather have something shooting at me; it'd be a nice break from this-" But Kael's thoughts were interrupted by a Mobian sergeant coming in, and quickly saluting.
"Sir! We've sighted something at the borders of town!" the light-blue echidna said.
Kael sighed. "At ease, sergeant" he said dully. "Let me guess; a lost bunny looking for her mother? A wolf taking a fox's lunch money? Or, something intense like, a spit-ball fight?" Kael said with mock excitement, then leaned back in his black form-fitting cloth chair, made by technology salvaged from Eggman, looking melancholy.
The echidna cleared his throat, and said; "No, sir... it's Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Miles Prower (you know, the fox known as 'Tails'), Rouge the Bat, and even though we've never seen him, I'm certain Shadow the Hedgehog is among them as well, as well as another echidna; a female we cannot identify."
Kael's eyes widened and he sat up in his seat, quickly adjusting his tail for comfort. "Sonic, you say?" he said seriously, gazing at the sergeant intently. "As in, the blue hedgehog who protected us from Eggman all those years?"
"Yes, sir" the echidna said with a nod. "And Knuckles seems to have brought the Master Emerald with him; we're guessing that's how they got here. And, sir?"
"Yes sergeant?"
"They request to speak to you; the ebony hedgehog does, anyway."
Kael's eyes narrowed and an eyebrow quirked up. "How would he know me, anyway?"
"Well, er, sir, he asked who our military leader was. You were the first thing that came to mind to our scout captain, apparently" the echidna said somewhat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry if you don't want to be bothered..."
"No; tell them I want them escorted here, but with courtesy. Then I'll speak to whoever's leading them."
The echidna saluted again. "Yes, Commander Kael" he said, turned on his heel, and left.
*Commander Kael's Militia headquarters: Waiting room*
Shadow now sat upon one of the Mobian form-fitting, cushioned chairs in the waiting room, Rouge sitting next to him while Silver just hovered a few feet off the ground, reclining his head into his arms, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails all chatted across the room, and Blaze, with her arms folded casually, spoke to her floating boyfriend.
"You think he'll let us talk to him?" Rouge asked, crossing one leg over the other.
"He better" Shadow said with a sigh, and folded his arms broodingly. "It was a major pain in the ass to get Knuckles to get us here; I expect to get what I came here for."
"You mean, what the commander sent us here for" Rouge said with a smirk.
"Whatever."
Silver, meanwhile, was speaking to Blaze about how the Mobians were going to get back to Earth with their reinforcements
"Well, I suppose they may be close to developing something here" Silver said. "I mean, they may need Sonic while he's at Earth, and will need to get word to him; surely they've considered that."
"True... and I spoke to a rabbit on our way here, and she said they were working on a teleportation device to Earth, but needed a source of energy that would allow them to bend the fabric of time and dimensions" Blaze replied thoughtfully.
Silver suddenly pulled out the green Chaos Emerald he had with him. "Well... I suppose we could let them have this, at least to get their army to us" he said, and nodded. "Yes, I will."
"Hey, Silver!" Sonic said, having overheard their conversation. "Me and Amy will stay here and give it to them; we've been wanting to spend a bit of time back here at home anyway."
Knuckles nodded. "Just so long as the Master Emerald and I don't have to be a dimension apart" he said, but then his expression softened, and he stood up and patted his blue friend on the shoulder. "Hurry back though, okay man? I don't want to have the burden of saving you some monsters for when you get back."
Sonic chuckled. "I've never been one to go somewhere slowly" he said with a thumbs-up, and gave Knuckles a fist-pound (careful to avoid the echidna's spikes).
"Yeah Sonic; hurry back, we'll need you both!" Tails added.
"Ah, don't get mushy!" Amy said, ruffling Tails' hair.
Suddenly, a tall, lithe, dark-red wolf came into the room, and everyone faced him as he said; "Commander Kael will speak with whoever needs to, now."
Shadow glanced at Rouge, who nodded, and they went up to the wolf together, who acknowledged them with a courteous bow.
"Follow me, please" the wolf said, and led Shadow and Rouge down a long hallway, where several Mobians saluted to the wolf as he passed by, who returned them. Finally, the wolf went into a room at the end of the room, went into the center of the office, stood rigidly at attention, and saluted.
"Commander Kael, sir; I've brought the Mobians who wish to speak to you" the wolf said. Shadow and Rouge noticed a gray hedgehog sitting at the desk before them, who was wearing a tan, leather overcoat over a red, golden-trimmed vest (that secretly hid a shield-projector that protected him from most attacks). The gray hedgehog looked up, and returned the salute.
"Thank you captain, you may go now" Kael said, and the wolf left the room. Then Kael's expression softened, he smiled at Shadow and Rouge, and waved at a couple of seats in front of his desk.
"Please, have a seat" Kael said politely, and Shadow and Rouge sat down in them. "Now; what is it you wish to speak to me about?"
"Introductions first, my man" Rouge said casually, leaning back into her seat. "You've heard of us, but still; I'm Rouge the Bat. Part-time spy and agent for Guardian Units of Nations. And..." Rouge motioned to Shadow, who took his cue.
"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog; the artificial Mobian, as you may know me" he replied, gazing intently at the gray hedgehog before him, who met his penetrating gaze. "I'm Rouge's agent-partner for G.U.N. as well, and we've come here on an order of our commander."
Kael nodded. "Yes... what brings you to Mobius, Shadow and Rouge?" he said clasping his hands upon his desk.
"Well... that's kinda a long story, bud..." Rouge said hesitantly. "You got time?"
"Honestly? I doubt anything's going to happen here that will require my full attention within the next ten years" Kael muttered. "Take your time; I'll have refreshments brought if need be."
So, Rouge launched into the tale of what had been happening on Earth; G.U.N.'s struggle with Eggman, Mephiles and his background, the Mecha War, the Black Arms invasion several years ago, what Black Fist had told them, their alliance with the Black Arms, the return of Mephiles' monsters, and finally (after Shadow inputted some details), Rouge explained why they came to Mobius.
"So, you see Kael, the Commander figured that, since all Mobians are incredibly strong (at least compared to humans), whatever force you could lend us would be... well, helpful" Rouge finished with a shrug.
Kael was silent a long time, staring intently at his empty wine cup (Shadow and Rouge's empty cups stood near his; the story had taken a few hours), taking in everything he'd just learned. Finally, he sighed, and looked up at Rouge.
"Well, of course I'd be glad to lend you aid" the gray hedgehog said. "But, there are a few problems; first off, our militias altogether would only total to a force of roughly 11,000 troops. Secondly, they're not trained for full-scale war; only light defense, ambush, and strict guard battles. Thirdly, it'll be at least a week before we can have the means to send you reinforcements, even with a Chaos Emerald."
"Silver said he'd lend you one" Rouge said, trying to stay calm. "And, you can train them a bit better in a week, maybe?"
Kael chuckled. "Perhaps, but only if I had every commanding officer enlisted get to work immediately" he admitted. "But, even if I succeed, and I do get them there, how much difference will it make? Honestly; 10,000 soldiers against an armada capable of wiping out all life and time?"
"First off; only Mephiles and his 'Lost One' cronies have that power; their armies are just the muscle they need to flatten the larger waves of resistance" Shadow said. "And your army can make a huge difference; amateur Mobian-fighters can take down several enemies. If your entire force struck them from the side, or flanked them, their casualties would be enormous."
Kael nodded. "Very well... I'll have our forces rallied and prepared for departure" he said. "However; if what you say is true, and this 'Mephiles the Dark' conquers our forces, Mobius will need a means of defense; I'm leaving 1,500 soldiers here under command of one of my best captains, if only to buy our people more time for peace."
Shadow was about to object, to say it wouldn't matter in the end and those troops were needed in the fight that could make a difference, but knew Kael had a duty to protect Mobius, not a far-off planet; sending any help was a huge favor on the commanding hedgehog's part. So the ebony hedgehog nodded, and he, Rouge, and Kael stood up in unison.
"I'll send them there as soon as I can; I think I can toughen up most of them in maybe five days or more" Kael said.
"That'll be at least two weeks for us" Rouge said hesitantly. "Sure you can't do it any quicker?"
"I'm certain" Kael replied. "We've wasted enough time; go on. We'll be there soon."
"I'll transmit the coordinates you should teleport to on our way out" Rouge said, and she and Shadow left the room.
As they walked down the hallway, Rouge patted Shadow on the back.
"Well, that went better than expected" she said with a big smile. Shadow tried to return it, but only sighed.
"Still... we're recruiting an amateur mini-army to assist us" he said moodily. "Mobian or not, it may not be enough to stop Mephiles."
"That's where we come in, Shadow" Rouge told her husband sincerely, gripping his hand and meeting his eyes sternly. "I told you; I'll always fight by your side, and as long as we do, nothing can defeat us. I love you too much to let anything happen to you."
Shadow gazed into his wife's eyes awhile, seeing how sincere she was being... how she always was when she spoke about how she felt for him.
"I love you too, Rouge..." Shadow whispered, and making sure nobody was in the hallway, the hedgehog's lips met Rouge's, and they shared a loving, passionate kiss that they pulled each other into.