Oh my Celestia, it's been forever since I last updated! I'll admit that I was beginning to give up on this, but I felt so bad that so many people were reviewing and asking for me to continue. So... this story, I suppose will live on. Now for the next chapter! (Although it might be a bit put-together, but a chapter's a chapter.)

Once again, a warning of slight Mephiblis, albeit toned-down. We need more canon couples out there.

There was a painful silence between the three of them as Sonic and Shadow attempted to digest what had just been revealed to them.

"But of course." Mephiles was not at all fazed, as if this information should have been quite obvious. "Did you not notice it from the moment he began to warm up to you?" He continued on his way, and the twins quickly gave each other a look and dashed up at either side of the demon.

"So what you are trying to say is..." Shadow pondered for a moment. "Silver is our counterpart from your dimension?"

"From Kronos, yes." Mephiles said. "But going back to my previous question... would you take him into your care?"

The twins were dumbfounded. They barely knew this creature, or Silver for that matter, and now a huge amount of responsibility was suddenly being thrown at them like a two ton weight.

"Can we at least have some time to think about it?" Sonic asked. "This is a pretty big decision, and I'm not really sure if-"

"I don't expect you to have an immediate answer." Mephiles cut him off. "Our primary goal for the time being is to retrieve Silver." Mephiles stopped in place and gestured towards a warm glow in the forest. "Then we'll figure out how to deal with my brother."

The two hedgehogs observed the soft orange hue that was barely visible within the darkness of the thicket. The surrounding temperature felt suddenly warmer, as if the breeze had collected excess heat. It was strange, but not uncomfortable, and Sonic almost felt drawn in by the strange presence.

"Are you both ready?" Mephiles's voice snapped the blue hedgehog out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

Mephiles took on a serious look. "This won't be easy."

"We never expected it to be." Shadow said. "So what's the plan? If you have one, that is."

Mephiles lashed his tail indignantly. "I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you." Regaining his composure, he continued, "I'll distract him long enough for him to drop his guard on Silver. That's when you both will come in."

"So we only serve the purpose of grabbing him?" Shadow was unimpressed. "I would think that your plan would be a bit more...elaborate."

"More is less," Mephiles said, "and like I said, Iblis isn't all that intelligent. Although his strength is a force to be reckoned with." Bounding off ahead, he turned to face the twins. "Are you coming?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." Sonic said grinning. "I've always wanted to kick some fire demon butt."

Shadow rolled his eyes at his younger brother, then followed him into the thicket.

"I hear noises..." Silver's soft voice awoke Iblis from his light doze. Curling his tail around the small hedgehog, he held him close. He knew exactly who it was. In fact, he had been expecting Mephiles.

"It's been a while since I've last seen my older brother." Iblis smirked. "How nice that he should pay me a visit."

Turquoise eyes appeared to glow from behind the vegetation as the moonlight reflected off of them.

"It'll save you the trouble if you'd release the child and leave now", Mephiles warned his brother telepathically.

"Now, why would I do that, dear brother?" Iblis replied in a sickeningly sweet way. "I'd love to chat with you for a while. Now, why don't you come out so I can see you better?"

"I'm not here to play games."

"Oh, but Mephistopheles, all we ever wanted to do was play. Don't you remember?"

"Those days are over, Iblis. And I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Mephiles revealed himself out in the open.

"Ah, but it's so pretty." Iblis said seductively. "As are you-"

"Cut that out!"

"But of course you like it, don't you?" Iblis rose from his place, allowing Silver to sit by his side. The child smiled playfully at the sight of the two brothers, as if he was completely oblivious of the tension between them.

Shadow and Sonic watched the scene quietly from afar, but not too far.

"Now?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"Not yet." Shadow replied. "Once Silver's a good distance away."

"But we're totally fast enough to-"

"Do you really want to get caught up in that?" Shadow gave him a stern look. Something wasn't quite right about this situation...

"I'll warn you one last time Iblis," Mephiles got into a fighting stance, "to leave him alone."

"Oh, but if I release him, you leave me alone again, won't you?" Iblis swiped his long, forked tongue over him jaws. "Don't you remember all the wonderful times we had together? We had such fun, when I made violent love to you-"

Mephiles pounced on the lizard, who was almost twice his size, causing the fire demon to hiss in pain as Mephiles's claws dug into his scales.

"Now!" A blur of black and blue swept past as Silver was snatched up by the two hedgehogs. Meanwhile, Iblis managed to shake Mephiles off and slammed into him with his long tail.

"Mum! Silver cried out, squirming in Shadow's arms.

Mephiles struggled to his paws. "Get him out of here!" he demanded.

"You heard him." Sonic said, grabbing his twin's arm. "Let's go!"

But Shadow snatched his arm away. "We're not leaving without Mephiles."

"Are you nuts?!" Sonic pointed towards the skirmish that the two demons were currently having. "Do you wanna be eaten alive?"

Iblis growled and unleashed a breath of fire that was aimed at the twins, and they dodged just in time to avoid the blaze.

"Stop!" Mephiles called out. "Leave them out of this!"

Iblis turned to face his brother. "Oh, so they're your friends, are they?" He narrowed his eyes. "So have you told them about us?"

"There's nothing to tell..."

"On the contrary, dear Mephistopheles, I think there's plenty for them to know about. Especially about Silver, isn't that right?"

Mephiles dashed at Iblis again, only to be stopped by a wave of flames. He stood unharmed, but weakened.

"You'd never have any chance of beating me. Both you and I know that much." Iblis advanced on the shadow demon. "So why not stay with me awhile? Just like old times...

Iblis was getting much too close for comfort, but Mephiles could do little but struggle to support himself.

"Just the two of us..." Iblis was looming over him now. "All by ourselves..."

"Chaos Spear!" A bolt of energy hit Iblis in the back, giving Sonic enough to grab Mephiles. The blue blur gave the fire demon a smirk.

"Maybe next time." he teased, before running off with his brother into the darkness.

The fiery lizard sighed as he felt his muscles relax.

"He'll come around." he assured himself. "It's not like he can resist me for long."

Yay! Another chapter done! No need to thank me. Now as to when I can do the next one...

I guess it all depends on how much inspiration comes to me. See you next time! :3