Okay... left it at a big cliffie so I'm continuing.
Today is a big day! November 14th 2008! Exactly one year ago, I started the "Teaching Darkness" series... and exactly two years ago today... Sonic Next Gen was launched in North America... and since it was released here first... that makes November 14th Mephiles' "Birthday"!
HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MEPHILES!
That also makes it Elise's, The Duke of Soleanna's, Iblis' and Silver's as well if you follow the pattern. Happy second to them as well :D
I'm making sure to submit this chapter at midnight... or as close as possible.
3... 2... 1...
Have fun :D
"MEPHILES!" Shadow barked the moment the crystal hedgehog hit the floor.
It was no use. Mephiles was out like a light.
Shadow cursed and brought his eyes up to glare at Iblis.
"If you hurt him at all, I will kill you…"
Iblis simply laughed, earning another glare from Shadow, which deepened.
"… It's no concern of mine if you want to save this pathetic little thing…" He snickered. "… But my goal is to rid the world of this nuisance…"
"Whoa! Hold up! What do you have against him?"
"… You have no idea… there's more to him than you can see… Dark the Demon failed time again in realizing that…"
"Dark, huh? So you think you're worse than him? Just because you took over his body?"
"… The matters are more complicated than that…" Iblis tilted his head. "… Myself, Dark the Demon and Mephiles the Hedgehog are all of the same connection... Because that little hedgehog was in the lab just as our time of creation happened… Dark was split from me, and became a parasite to Mephiles… Dark may be able to control Mephiles… and I can control Dark… but… there's still a matter of what Mephiles himself can do…"
"And that is..?"
"… Given the odds… he's likely to have more power dormant than Dark and myself combined due to his exposure to the radiation from the Solaris Project… now step aside…" He held up a hand with flames. "… And let me finish what I should have done eleven years ago…"
Shadow folded his ears back and bared his teeth before flinging another Chaos Spear at him. Iblis didn't dodge it, obviously unaware of what it does. When he was hit, he seized up and was paralyzed for at least half a minute, long enough for Shadow to grab Mephiles by the hand and pull him onto his back again, then dart to the door.
I hope he wakes up soon! It's going to be hard to keep escaping if I have to carry him! Iblis won't be frozen like that for long!
"Rouge!" Shadow yelled when he saw her just outside the doors, her wings flapping to keep her in the air, the yellow Emerald under her arm.
Shadow reached a hand up just as he got out the doors, keeping his other hand focused on not dropping Mephiles, who was still unconscious. Rouge grabbed his hand and pulled the two up in the air a bit.
"The both of you are too hard to carry if I can only use one hand!" She said.
"I have an idea!" Shadow said, just as a flame blast shot the door off. "Just brace yourself!"
"What-?"
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
The trio fell and landed on the floor of their hotel room in a heap, Shadow on the bottom, trying to pull his way out and Rouge on top, realizing that Mephiles was still unconscious.
"What happened to him?"
"He told me that he thought a pressure point was hit before he passed out not long after you left…" Shadow got to his feet and ran over to the door to lock the deadbolt, then prop a chair against the doorknob.
"What are you doing?" Rouge said as Shadow started to throw his weight into pushing one of the beds against it.
"Just a temporary precaution…" Shadow grunted. "Not like it might not make much of a difference… but Iblis wants Mephiles dead…"
"Why? Isn't that what Dark wants?"
"Apparently Mephiles holds some key power into stopping him or something and doesn't know how to use it… I don't know… I was busy trying to get him out of there…"
Rouge held up the Emerald as Shadow picked up Mephiles and put him on the other bed.
"Well… at least we got to it before he did…" She said.
"Yes… but that's just one compared to six others that could be anywhere in the world right now! With Mephiles hurt… that's really gong to slow us down… though I'm sure he'll be fine in a couple of days…"
"Do we even have that long?"
"Who knows?"
Mephiles shivered and curled up, groaning softly under his breath, though he didn't wake up just yet…
Darkness all around him, it didn't take long for Mephiles to figure out where he was.
"How the heck did I get back in my mind again!? I was hoping to find Dark!"
"And indeed you will…" Mephiles heard the quite calm voice.
Mephiles wasn't sure whether to be happy or not. He simply nodded.
"Dark… Well… For once I'm glad to see you… and… What are you wearing?"
Mephiles had looked up from the ground to find Dark clutching his notebook in his hands tightly, and to Mephiles' great surprise… he was wearing what looked like a light blue terrycloth bathrobe.
"Well… it's cold in here…" Dark muttered, sniffling as if he himself had a cold. "I had to retreat here when I found out that Iblis was the one messing with the thermostat…"
He sneezed, his face a bit red around the cheeks.
"Well… if you're here, and we've got an Emerald… we can bring you out to our plane right now, can't we?"
"No… The part of me that you're talking to right now is not whole with the one that is trying to kill you…" Dark shook his head, sitting down as he sniffled again, frowning. "To bring me out separately… we would require more Emeralds… one measly one isn't going to cut it this time…"
"How many?"
"I don't know…" Dark sniffled yet again, narrowing his eyes at having to be plagued by such a nuisance that was called a "cold".
"I'd get you some tissues… but being as my mind is an empty black abyss…" Mephiles raised an eyebrow.
"Ever really wonder why it's an abyss?" Dark twitched his torn ear. "It's because I never gave you a chance to shape it to your pleasing… I had feared that it would be your escape from me…"
"Wait… I can fix this?"
"In a manner of speaking… yes…"
"And I can make anything I want happen in here?"
"It's the world of your imagination and fantasies… the only limit is what you cannot think of…"
"Okay… let's see…" Mephiles thought about it, and smirked, before a couch appeared before his eyes. "Just like the one at home…"
"Fond of couches, are you?"
"Only because I sleep on one…" Mephiles grinned. "Go ahead… sit down on it…" He gestured.
Dark raised an eyebrow then made it to his feet before taking a few steps forward and sitting down.
"It's… okay…" He shrugged, looking up to see Mephiles hand him a box of tissues. "Why are you being so nice to me? I try to kill you on regular basis…"
"But right now… you're not my enemy…"
"But, I want to be…"
"Tell you what… you can be once this is all over…"
"But who knows who long that'll take?!"
"You just don't like waiting, do you?"
"No!" Dark barked, then quickly clapped a hand to his head. "I am really not enjoying all of this right now… so anyway… what brings you here?"
"Iblis just tried to suffocate me…"
Dark jumped up from the couch.
"WHAT!? HE'S FOUND YOU?!"
"Y-yeah… but as far as I know… we got the Emerald before he did…"
"That doesn't matter! Now that he's found you, you won't lose him for long! What did you do today!?"
"Just help Shadow and Rouge look for the Emeralds…"
"You should have stayed at the hotel room!"
"You didn't say I had to go into hiding…"
"Idiot! I thought that was clear!"
"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"
"You're a-"
Dark stopped suddenly, his muzzle turning a pale shade, his eyes getting wide as he clapped his hands over his mouth and sweat began beading up on his face. Mephiles knew what this meant.
"Oh, snap! You're going to barf!" Mephiles half cried, looking around frantically for a bucket or something. "Quick! Something for you to puke in! Something for you to puke in!"
Suddenly remembering that he was in control, he imagined something for that… only to find a stack of airsickness bags.
"I was hoping for a bucket… but okay…" He snatched one up and handed it to Dark, who turned away… let's not get into details. "… So you weren't kidding about getting as sick as I can… huh?"
"... Shut up…" Dark frowned and set the bag down. "… That was because I got mad again…."
"So how will I know if I'm going to be attacked again?"
Dark twitched his torn ear and began flipping through his notes before stopping on a page.
"If he's anything like me… he'd wait until you are most vulnerable and attack you when you've let your guard down, or when you least expect him…"
"Well, now that I know he's after me… I pretty much expect him…"
"Then you must not let your guard down…"
"But I'm already under a lot of stress…" Mephiles protested. "If I start flinching at every little thing… I might have a heart attack or something and we'll both be in trouble…"
"Then keep on your toes… but also try to relax…"
"How do I do that?"
"Expect anything… but just calm down…" Dark offered, shaking his head. "You don't have to be tense all the time to be ready… Take me for example. I can anticipate your every move… but I hardly get worked up over it…"
"That's because you're you…"
"Or rather… an extension of you…" Dark raised an eyebrow. "Whatever I'm able to do… you should be able to too with the right motivation…"
"You're driven by pure, undiluted evil… I'm not…" Mephiles muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Then let that be your drive!"
Mephiles frowned and looked around for a moment before changing the subject.
"So… aside from hanging out in here… have you been doing anything at all?"
"… Just sitting and reading my notes…"
"Because I had some chest pain earlier… you wouldn't know anything about that would you?"
"… I told you… It would do me much harm right now to hurt you…" Dark flopped onto the couch again. "… I have no answer to that…"
"I see…" Mephiles said slowly.
He was about to further ask questions, but then he realized that Dark was asleep, cured up on the couch, clutching his notebook tightly as if afraid that it was going to walk away while he was asleep.
"Strange…" He muttered. "How do I get out then? I was going to ask him to hit me again like last time… oh well… guess I have to… But first…"
He imagine up a folded up blanket next to the couch if it got too cold for Dark, then brought his hand up and closed his eyes as he hit himself opposite of the bruise.
Then it went black as he hit the ground…
Mephiles squeezed his eyelids for a moment, and then opened his eyes slowly, finding himself to have been curled up on one of the beds in the hotel room.
Getting up slowly, propping himself up with an arm, he coughed to let Shadow and Rouge know that he was awake, regretting that when the bruise on his neck flared up in pain.
"Mephiles!" Rouge exclaimed. "Oh good! You're up! How's your neck?"
"… Still hurts a little… but I think it's getting better…" The crystal hedgehog muttered, shaking his head slowly. "… So… what happened after I fainted?"
"He's still after you…" Shadow said, keeping his eyes on the barricaded door. "Do you have any idea about any… 'dormant powers' you may have?"
"… No… why..?"
"Because Iblis said something about you having that or something, and that's why he wants you dead…"
Mephiles stared blankly for a moment before breaking out into laughter, having to stop because his bruise was hurting again.
"… Ow… No… C'mon… Me?" He snickered. "From what I can tell, my powers hardly work the way I want them to, and Iblis is more powerful. How could I be a problem? I'm just a hedgehog…"
"Really..? Because hours ago, you was going on about how you were able to stop Dark… Surely you mustn't think you're useless?"
"… No… but really… what can I possibly do that's really a threat?"
"I dunno… your feral state of mind is pretty dangerous…" Shadow brought up, rubbing a hand against his arm. "And if you get really ticked… Well, I mean you do have that entire shadow powers thing at your command…"
"… The funny thing is… I don't know how it's controlled…" Mephiles said nervously, directing his attention to the floor. "… It seems to show up when I'm either really scared or really mad… But it hardly showed up when I was fighting Dark…"
"Maybe its all emotion based…" Rouge noted.
"… I do know that the 'Dark Spike' is controlled by anger… Dark's personality is mostly that, so it's natural… but for me… it only worked well when I'm really consumed by it…" Mephiles explained to the best of his knowledge. "… I came up with its concept, and Dark used it against me... He was able to perfect it before I could… and that's why he could use it better than I could… I should have never thought of that thing to begin with…"
"When did you come up with it?"
"… I honestly can't remember…" Mephiles said with a trailing tone, tilting his head slowly to the side. "Anyway… I think I should tell you that Dark has retreated to my mind…"
"Wait… He's back in your head? What's he doing there?" Shadow looked away from the door for the first time. "Has he been hurting you again? Was he the reason you had that near heart attack?"
"No… Dark wants to help me right now… not kill me…" Mephiles raised an eyebrow slowly. "I thought we've been through this already. Secondly… he's there because Iblis had been messing with the thermostat. He's asleep on the couch I imagined in there, and he's got a cold or something… He's even got a bathrobe… which is strange… because I didn't think we had one. It's about the same color as our crystals and its terrycloth…"
"Mephiles… focus…"
"Sorry… but anyway… He's there right now… but we can't set him free with one Emerald, because his body is already on our plane. The remaining part of him is his rational and more levelheaded side… so it's like the 'me-version' of him there…"
"This is just about the craziest adventure I've ever been on!" Shadow said loudly. "And believe me! I've been on some pretty crazy ones before! Outer space! Memory loss! Thinking I was an Android…"
"You never told me about that one!" Mephiles looked up. "When did this happen?"
"I'll tell you later when we're not fearing for our lives…"
"Fair enough…"
"So if Dark is in your mind, and we've got an Emerald… then-"
"It won't work…" Mephiles answered before Shadow could finish asking. "Dark says that since Iblis has control of his body while the rest of him is elsewhere… it would require more Emeralds…"
"How many?"
"He didn't say… But I know we're far from over on this…"
"Well… we hardly unpacked, so we should just clean up and get out of here before he attacks you again…"
To their surprise… Mephiles shook his head almost stubbornly.
"Why not?" Shadow asked in confusion.
"You said we would take them with us…" Mephiles folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not leaving them behind again with that monster loose again…"
"But-"
"But what, Shadow?" Mephiles bared his teeth. "If you make a comment about them already being dead… I will bite you hard enough to hurt you…"
"You're just being stubborn now…" Shadow rolled his eyes. "We need to get out of here before Iblis tries to kill you again…"
"And we will… right after we go get them…"
"SERIOUSLY?!"
"YES!"
During this, Rouge rolled her eyes and pulled a box out of her suitcase, and dumped everything out of it then handed it to Shadow.
"Here… Chaos Control there… put them in this and Chaos Control back." She said. "You have an Emerald… you can do it…"
"And be careful with them!" Mephiles said almost shrilly. "I don't want them looking like a puzzle or something! I want them all in one piece!"
Shadow was tempted to roll his eyes, but thought better of it. With a quick chant of the words needed… he disappeared.
"So… Dark's back in your head?" Rouge said to try to strike up a conversation.
"Oh, yes…"
"I see… And… we need more Emeralds?"
"Yep…"
"Hmm…"
After about a couple of minutes, Shadow reappeared, panting a bit for breath.
"Here…" He handed the box to Mephiles, who snatched it away almost immediately. "I'm going to need to wait to do another Chaos Control… doing two one after another with only one Emerald is just too tough…"
"Thank you, Shadow…" Mephiles murmured, holding the box carefully, setting it down on his lap. "I wouldn't have been able to go back there anyway… given that there is just too much there for me…"
"Yeah… but now we have to wait before it's safe to leave…"
"Dark said that if Iblis is anything like him, he would wait until I least expect it before attacking me again…" Mephiles said, looking up. "He would attack me when I'm vulnerable. As long as I keep on my toes for a while, we can leave whenever it's convenient…"
"But we don't know if Iblis is anything like Dark." Shadow brought up as a good point. "For all we know, Iblis might not have any strategies at all."
"True… but since Dark is Iblis' other half… we should trust his judgment as well…"
"Be easier to do if Dark hadn't tried to kill you before…" The hybrid hedgehog growled. "How can we be sure that Dark isn't on his side and isn't just playing like he's in trouble?"
"He just barfed! You can't fake that if you're staring right at a person! And in all my time of knowing about Dark… I have never seen him do that. I have never seen him giggle, lose his train of thought, fall asleep, sniffle or wear a bathrobe because of a cold before now. It's just not his style…"
"Still, it doesn't hurt to still be suspicious of him…"
"And indeed I have been. I keep testing him before I trust everything he says. If there is something that contradicts it… then I know he's lying. But so far… nothing…"
"Still… be careful around him…"
"I know… I know…" Mephiles rolled his eyes before taking a looks at the barricaded door. "So… uh… are we… uh… going to stay in here… or are we going to risk it and go somewhere? Because I hate being trapped…"
So... yeah... looks like Mephiles got out with a bruise... but at least he's got both his families now...
See ya soon...