CHAPTER 9

All right, I'm back. Sorry for the short delay...It gave me time to get over my guinea pig's death and plan out the rest of this. I'm good now...I still have Ginny. :)

Ginny yawned again. She was actually getting as close to fear as she allowed herself to, but she managed to keep up the act of boredom. Bandit had taken a switchblade from her suit and was flicking it open and closed a million times a second. Ginny couldn't tell if she was indeed worried about her own capture or just annoyed.

"Last chance." Bandit warned. "Where's Shadow?"

"Do you really think I'd sell out my friends?" Ginny asked. "May I be damned before that happens!"

She struck out with her leg, catching Bandit in the knee and sending her falling forward. The switchblade flew through the air, blade opened, directly at the prisoner.

Ginny managed to move to the side as the blade stuck in one of the ropes around her arm, gritting her teeth together as the blade pierced the bond along with part of her arm. She wrenched her arm to the side, cutting the rope completely off but causing the blade to twist further into her arm. Her other hand was free and she used it to rip the bonds away from her and remove the knife.

"What are you waiting for? SHOOT HER!" Bandit shouted, struggling back to her feet.

Ginny jumped into the air as the bullets started landing near her feet, flipping once before landing again and knocking a gun out of one of the guard's hands. She ducked behind him as a hail of bullets nearly hit her, watching his body spasm as they imbedded themselves in him instead. She lunged at the other guard, downing him easily.

"Why did you frame him?" Ginny demanded from the one last GUN guard. "And who did your dirty work?"

"You're about to find out." Bandit sneered.

Ginny didn't have a chance to react as a hand clamped over her mouth, pulling her head backwards slightly. A voice sounded close to her ear; a cold, smooth voice she would never forget.

"Hello, rodent,"

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"We need to rescue Ginny!" Tails protested. "We can send one group to look for a boat and another to find her!"

"I don't think it's safe to split up." Blaze said. "You saw how silently that guy came upon that soldier. That could happen to any of us."

Tails fell silent, the image still fresh in his mind.

"Tails is right." Shadow said. "We need to find Ginny. I'll lead the group to find her. Even if you don't want to follow me, I'm still going."

Rouge and Silver stepped forward in the dim light. "I'll go." Silver said softly.

"We'll find the pier and bring a boat back up around here. You had better be waiting when we come back," Knuckles threatened. "Don't expect us to wait around."

Shadow nodded, motioning to Silver and Rouge. "Let's go."

With that; Tails, Knuckles, Blaze and Sonic began making their way further into the woods. The walk was endless, but they made it to the other end of the island in considerable time. As soon as the water was visible from the woods, Sonic slumped to the ground, unable to go any further.

"Come on, nearly there!" Knuckles hissed.

"I'll stay here with him! You guys get a boat!" Tails said, dragging Sonic as carefully as he could into some nearby bushes.

Blaze and Knuckles got as close as they dared to the ending of the tree line, taking in the scene in front of them and deciding what to do. Searchlights skimmed over the water a little ways out over the shore. There were two guard towers, each one holding at least three guards. And at the end of the pier were five guards pacing back and fourth, guns leaning against their shoulders.

And they were guarding the ideal escape vehicle.

"What do we do with all this?" Knuckles asked out loud.

"I don't know." Blaze hissed back, judging the distance between them and the boat. "But I think I have an idea."

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Shadow, Silver and Rouge cut through the darkest part of the forest to finally stumble on a small building nearby the main prison walls.

"We can go through there and try to pick up clues on Ginny." Silver suggested.

"I don't think that's necessary." Rouge said.

"Why not?"

"Look in the window." Shadow began making his way closer to the building, ducking behind a tree and watching the scene unfold inside the building.

Ginny had escaped from her bonds, injured. Although that didn't stop her from successfully downing both guards at the door and turning to the last one. But before she could do anything, a cloud of darkness behind her materialized into the double of Shadow.

The group could see him clearly at last. He was perfect in detail to pass off as Shadow except for three major flaws. Where Shadow had red streaks his were a dull blue-gray. His eyes were dark green crisscrossed with different shades of the colour, the pupils slit like a reptile's. And the most shocking of the three differences was he didn't seem to have a mouth.

"That's the guy behind this, all right." Silver whispered, mostly to himself.

They watched as the double wrapped a hand around Ginny's mouth, pulling her backwards. A knife conjured out of darkness appeared at his side and he drew it up to her neck.

"Come on!" Shadow jumped out of hiding and threw himself through the window in an explosion of glass. The Mobian guinea pig dressed in gray screamed and managed to dodge the raining shards, staring with a mixture of shock and villainy at the hedgehog in front of her. Rouge and Silver quickly followed, ready to fight the double.

"Well, well, well." The mouthless demon said calmly, smoothly. "I should have known you'd show up eventually. The doctors are waiting for you, Shadow. You've missed your treatment." Even though he didn't have lips, his eyes seemed to reflect the cruel smile he would have been giving.

Shadow narrowed his eyes and glared back into those devilish eyes. "I'd sooner die than go back." He spat. "Who are you? And why are you doing this?"

The demon laughed; the cold, cruel sound chilling them all to the bone. "I'm doing this because I must. GUN's weak…I proposed to make it stronger. I'm bringing you down for what you've done." He pressed the knife harder to Ginny's throat, drawing a thin line of blood.

"As for the name…" He continued. "I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark."

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Hence the title Don't be Afraid of the Dark. The climax is here! Next chapter to be action packed and awesome!

Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28

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