Chapter 21- We Gotta Move Out NOW
"KNUCKLES, GET IN HERE!"
He runs in, looking quite surprised. "What, what's going o- You're awake already?"
"No time for that. Silver, tell him what you just told me."
He gave a long sigh and spoke up.
"Alright, Knuckles. This is going to be hard to hear, but, we may lose Sonic in this whole thing."
"You mean that stuff is going to kill him?!"
"No, no, that's not what I meant, listen." Taking out an old dusty book, he sets it on the table, filling the room with dust. It causes Knuckles to sneeze all over me. Simply disgusting…
"If you ever sneeze on me like that again, Knuckles…"
"Jeez, sorry."
"As I was about to read. Ahem… 'Mephiles the Dark. The closest thing we have here to the Devil himself in our quaint little reality.'"
"What's the Devil?"
"Basically, on Earth, some humans have a religion in which the Devil is one of the most despised and evil things imaginable. But back to the actual important matter at hand." I point out. I hope Knuckles can keep quiet so Silver can finish.
"Mephiles the Dark's pure form, a form made from the shadows themselves, may be inserted inside of a person to control their mind, body, and/or spirit. He may make the person say, think, or do terrible things. May the heavens above help them if the victim is strong-willed. Their battles are always the hardest, as more work and psychological torture is required. If possessed for a prolonged period of time, Mephiles is granted the ability to alter the physical body at will, and then change the person back. Over time, the transformations will become more vile, feral, and grotesque, until the entire person is so corrupted that they convert into a super-dimensional being and are able to combine with Mephiles to form Solaris with aid from the seven Chaos Emeralds, should Iblis ever be vanquished. There is no known cure for this extent of possession, but no cure has been needed as it has never happened before. We will continue our research into the matter for future reference."
-Duke of Soleanna-
"So that's that thing's game, huh? Make Sonic into a monster. But what's this Solaris thing?"
"Soleanna's Sun God. They worship and fear for its powers of eternal light and destruction. Too bad it's made partly of that... thing… Mephiles is his name, right?"
"That's right. Now listen, guys. We don't have much time to deal with this before the transition is complete. I say we go and find the others quickly. Shadow, here." Silver takes out a glowing object and hands it to me. No mistaking it's a Chaos Emerald.
"Where'd you find that?!" Knuckles asks.
"Well, aren't you an echidna of twenty questions, today?" I say under my breath, bluntly and annoyed.
"If you must know, I was on Angel Island looking for you and I found it by the Master Emerald."
"Alright, then. As long as you didn't touch the Master Emerald, we're all good."
"Knuckles, forget the stupid Emerald, already. This is a serious problem, for crying outloud."
"Okay, okay. Now where do you think the others could…"
Just then we get a static call from one of our communicators. I here Tails on the other end and jump into the couch the old thing is on.
"T….. ….. ls! Come i…. se…."
"Tails, come in. It's Shadow, Tails, come in." What kind of trouble could he be in that would have left him with an uncalibrated communicator? He must be very far away. That more than likely complicates things, doesn't it. I hear him much better as he calibrates it correctly for range.
"Shadow, it's Tails, you and the others need to come immediately! Bring Silver, Blaze, the Chaotix, the Rogues, Rouge, Cream, ANYBODY!"
"Tails, slow down, you sound like a sugar high squirrel. Say that again?" The only response is a blood curdling scream, most likely from Amy by the pitch.
"AMY! I have to go, Shadow, and please hurry or Sonic's gonna-" He gets cut off and that's the end of that."
"What the holy hell was going on, Shadow?" Knuckles asks.
"That's what I'd like to find out too… I'm calling Rouge. Silver, get Blaze, and Knuckles, get the Chaotix and meet me by the docks."
"All of them for this one fight?"
"Did you not hear all that panicking and screaming, you moron?!"
"I ...got nothing on that. I'll go make the calls, but can we leave Charmy out of this? He seems… too young."
"I second that."
"Do what you need to do. And I want no more media coverage getting out of this so tell everyone to keep their mouths shut. We have enough paparazzi trouble as is." I make clear. "Oh, and one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Anyone knows where Sonic keeps his security teddy? We'll need it."