Dark couldn't breathe from laughing so much. It was just so unbearably hilarious to him.

There was no Shu. Shu was never there. He had been deceived by Iblis.

Quite convincingly at that, as he never once suspected it to have been the horrible fire monster. He had suspected Shu to have been false, but to be his "dead" older brother?

"Bravo! Bra-vo, Brother!" Dark clapped his hand in lunacy, trying to contain his snorting and laughter enough to speak clearly. "You finally learned to act! You really got me this time!"

Orbot hopped around the containment cell anxiously. Dark had been quickly placed in there in hopes that he would calm down and not only need supervision, but at least be able to left alone. Even if he did trash Metal Sonic, Eggman had to bear in mind that Dark belonged to someone else, and allowing harm of any kind to befall him would easily ruin his current reputation. Frankly, Dark was in that containment cell, which was a large rounded tube with a good supply of oxygen pumped in it, intended to give full visibility, and keep the contained in sight of everyone for quick assistance. It was generally for recovering bots reacting badly to a hacked virus or a malfunction, but all the same, it should hold Dark.

Had Dark not been so loopy at the moment, he might have quickly started to panic, as the idea of a glass tube (with plenty of pacing distance) keeping him trapped would have easily made him remember the Scepter of Darkness, and Eggman would have had a much larger problem of a crazy, panicking creature that resembled a Mobian hedgehog on his hands.

Dark was speaking with nothing. Even Dark knew it, as Iblis only seemed to show up when he was alone, or when no one was paying attention. Dark was simply trying to get him to appear, though he knew it would only happen if he was left by himself. And he was enjoying that. He could freely heckle him without fear... And he knew Iblis could hear him, no matter where he was.

"Come on ooouuut! I know you're theeerrre!" Dark thrilled in a singsongish voice, grinning in a somewhat unsettling way. "Don't tell me you're scared of me!" Dark laughed maniacally again, the sound echoing inside the tube. "Why don't you ever show up when I have friends around! Don't you want to meet them! Don't you want to know about who your little brother is with when you're not here!"

Eggman paused on his soldering of Metal's arm, looking up through his goggles as Dark slid to the ground, throwing his head back and laughing as if everything was a joke to him.

"... Never again..." He said, picking up the next tool. "Never again am I going near anything that looks like him when this is over..."

He then started the painstaking task of reattaching and splicing every wire in Metal's arm to their respective ends, glad that he had the foresight to make every wire a different color when he first built him.

Metal's left fingers twitched involuntarily, likely due to having a quick surge of power jolt to them, as Metal was in a self preserving standby mode at the moment, which was the robotic equivalent of a coma.

He estimated the entire rebuilding procedure to take the rest of the night, perhaps longer if Dark continued to distract him.

As if having to deal with an unresponsive Sympathy and a distraught Logic wasn't bad enough, Dark's nervous break was causing Insanity (Zane for short) to be unusually active.

"Unusually", as he was often silent and withdrawn, and was well aware that any fluctuations in his activities was a clear sign that Dark was in delusion. It wasn't his fault... That was just his purpose. The more Dark was connected with him, the more Zane was active, and needed to be calmed down.

His raucous laughter rang in the abyss, some of the other Darks looking at him anxiously as he threw his head back and stumbled backwards, not able to keep himself upright vey well.

Knowing the procedure by now, one of the Darks moved forward, ready to grab and restrain him as the rest prepared to calm him down.

Zane jumped back out of the way, not really intending to, but he just hated the whole process and just wanted a few moments of freedom before he was back into his usual state.

"Zane! Hold still!" Rage snapped at him, not in the mood for this at all. "You are not going to be pulling this stunt right now while this is going on!"

"Rage, it's not his fault..." Reese tried to explain, but a growl from his more assertive counterpart make him quickly backpedal. "... N-Nevermind..." He held his hands up and backed away slowly.

Zane laughed like a hyena, sidestepping just as Rage tried to grab his wrist.

"C-can't you t-try harder?" Zane managed while stifling a giggle. "You know as well as-ah ha ha ha ha-as well as I th-that I don't like this!"

"You could help me, here!" Rage snapped, trying again, but his crazier counterpart simply hopped back, and was now jumping up and down excitedly.

"It's t-taking all my willpower to k-keep from running around!" Zane protested behind a grin before roaring with insane laughter again.

Reese was about to offer a suggestion before he realized something everyone overlooked.

"Has anybody seen Euphie..?"

Immediately, everything just stopped, even Zane, who was trying to muffle himself behind his hands, well aware of how serious this was.

Logic had retreated to a deeper part of Dark's mind... One that was hardly touched and therefore, no one would find him as easily.

What he didn't count on was Euphie following after him.

"Euphoria! What are- You shouldn't- Why aren't you back with the others!" Logic stammered, not only because he was surprised to see him (or as well as he could with his broken glasses), but was also shocked that the little Dark had easily left the watchful eyes of the other emotions.

Euphie held onto the paw of his rabbit toy with one hand and dragged it behind him as he moved closer, wishing he could explain everything as well as he thought, but was again frustrated by his limited vocabulary.

He wanted to tell him that Zane was active and that they needed him, not only because he was the best at calming him down, but also because this was such a troubling time, and everyone was lost without Logic's guidance. No one really cared if Logic was picked apart and demeaned in front of them... They all knew that Logic would always be able to bring order to the Chaos befalling them. Because he always had before.

"Back?"

"Euphie... I can't do anything..." Logic closed his eyes and shook his head. "My laptop is destroyed, I can hardly see, and one of us has already been disconnected because I couldn't think of a plan fast enough..." Sighing heavily, he added; "All my fault, really... I shouldn't have left my laptop alone..."

Euphie looked up at him, pulling his rabbit toy into his arms to hug it.

"Unless we can alert Dark, Sympathy is going to be stuck like that..." Logic added, grabbing his quills in frustration. "But it's near impossible without my laptop... And everyone thinks I can fix this... But... But I can't! I just can't!"

Euphie listened to him as he continued explaining, watching him closely as Logic dropped to the ground, curling inward into a defensive ball.

"... I failed everyone... Dark will relapse back into a heartless monster... And everything we've all worked for will be for nothing..."

Euphie perked his ears forward, watching Logic with quite possibly the most genuinely innocent look that was effortlessly possible with him.

Hesitating to think of how to word this, he finally managed: "... Dire bad... Not your fault Impy hurt... We need you..." which, despite the simplified and broken structure, translated to: "Dire's bad. It wasn't your fault Sympathy was disconnected. And, we all need you back there."

Euphie wondered if he would ever be developmentally capable of forming complex words with his tongue. In his near eleven year existence, he was still stuck at no older than a toddler, while the rest of the Darks were as articulate and vocally sophisticated as Dark himself.

Sure, being so young looking and seemingly infantile added to the charm of his assigned emotion to handle, and did make it easier... But sometimes it really sucked being unable to speak the way he thought.

When Logic looked up, Euphie held his hand up and twirled his index finger in the air in the motion of a spiraling tornado. A universal sign among the Darks that alerted the rest that Zane was active.

"... Now?" Logic added incredulously, wondering how else could everything go wrong.

Mephiles was not sure of what to think of Chun-Nan.

On one hand, it was quite beautiful, with a lovely backdrop of mountains, cliffs, bamboo forests and oriental dragons as decor as paper lanterns hung from above, with an interesting string and flute instrument as ambience.

On the other... There was a massive misty waterfall, with the main village being right smack dab next to it, with much of the water flowing between the streets paved with bricks and bridges... Much like Soleanna was designed, sans waterfall.

It took much coaxing and actual force to pry him from the safety of the Tornado. Sonic half wished for night to already come so it would be much easier, but it was still hardly afternoon.

"You're gonna tear the seats!" Tails squawked, as Mephiles had clamped his clawed hands tightly on the back of said seat, using every ounce of effort and fear fueled strength he had to not go anywhere near the water.

"No!" Mephiles shouted almost childishly, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. "No! No! No! I'm not going near anywhere I could drown!"

"The water's hardly chest deep!" Sonic tried to explain. "I can't swim either, but that's shallow enough to wade in!"

"No!"

"Geeze... Makes me wonder what must have happened to make him hate water this much..." Tails mused while trying to pry Mephiles off with the emergency crowbar he had stowed under the pilot seat. He had to admit... Mephiles' grip was astounding for someone who seemed to be lacking a bit on the physical muscular attributes. "Now really, this is getting ridiculous! We'll buy you a life jacket if it makes you feel any safer!"

"A what now?" Mephiles looked at him in confusion while still holding on.

"... Unbelievable." Tails rolled his eyes a fraction, but remained more or less polite on his expression. "Y'know... What people wear on boats?"

"I've never been on one..."

"... It keeps you from sinking." Sonic added, trying to help as Chip hovered in front of Mephiles, scratching his head in thought before shrugging.

"I got nothing..." Chip shook his head.

One more pull, and Mephiles was yanked free. Unfortunately, Sonic, who was the one who had the grip on him, stumbled back from the force, and both of them toppled backward over the edge and into the stream behind them.

Naturally, Mephiles shrieked as if someone was trying to kill him. Sonic, who was better in control of his own hydrophobia, quickly stood up and pulled Mephiles to his feet the moment they plunged under. Mephiles, who had been paralyzed with fear, hadn't even thought of standing, and was lucky to have had Sonic help him.

Soaked from head to toe, both blue, green eyed hedgehog boys shuddered for their own reasons. Sonic, because he was being chilled by the breeze rushing past. Mephiles, because all he could think of in rapid fire thought was: "Get out of the water oh my god this is terrible i could have drowned again i want shadow and rouge and dark and how did i get stuck in-" You get the gist of it.

Sonic had to drag him out, as the crystal hedgehog's brain seemed to not be functioning enough at the moment to do so himself.

Within minutes, he was now sitting on a bench, trembling and staring ahead with his eyes wide open and his teeth clenched. No matter how long ago it was, Mephiles would never get used to being over his head in water.

Feeling as if it was kind of his fault, Sonic stepped over to the nearby shop and purchased a few things with the Rings he had been picking up off the paths to the keys and temples. Among them was a basket of fresh hot meat buns, the peach variant and a fluffy green towel.

"Here..." He handed the towel to Mephiles, who quickly grabbed it and started drying his fur before hiding half his face behind it. Sonic set one of the baskets down on the bench and pulled open the lid. "Alright... Who's interested in a hot meat bun..?"

"Me! Me! Pick me!" Chip chirped happily, waving his hand in the air excitedly. "These look great!"

"Tails?"

"Sure. It's almost noon anyway..." Tails nodded and sat down on the ground next to the bench.

"... Kay... That's two out of three... Wanna hit it even..?" Sonic looked at Mephiles, who had been intrigued by the scent his superpowered nose had picked up as soon as the lid was lifted.

Mephiles nodded slowly before asking: "... Are they lactose free..?"

"Way ahead of ya..." Sonic tossed one to Chip and Tails each before sending one Mephiles' way, who almost fumbled it, but quickly saved it with a mental hold. "The shop owner assures that it's safe for everyone except those who don't like meat." Noticing Mephiles' mind catch, he added: "Are you psychic?"

"I guess. Not very good, though..." Mephiles shrugged nervously, holding the bun with both hands now, the towel around his shoulders. "I can move small things with my mind... But big things are too heavy. So, I can't, like, move a bridge or anything like that... It's nothing too special."

"Are you kidding? Do you know how many people can move anything with their minds?"

"... No."

"Let's put this into perspective... I've only really met one other person who could do that without Chaos Emeralds or magic doohickies." Sonic said through a mouthful of meat bun, still standing up. "I've been all over the place, past, present and future... Met a lot of people. This is a rare trait. It's more special than you think."

"It doesn't do much, though." Mephiles hung his head. "I can't move anything too heavy, and usually it has to be real close... The only thing it's good for is making sure I don't drop something..."

"Then it's good for something." Sonic said, rolling his eyes a little. "Maybe if you practice with it, you could do more. What else can you do?"

Mephiles listed each of his known abilities he could think of off the top of his head, as well as where the weak spots in them were and their limits.

"-But I can only do so much until I start to feel it, too. So, I can kinda cut down the recovery time, but it's not instant." He finished on his healing ability. "Oh... And for some reason, if you shave my quills off, it takes a week to grow back to normal, with the crystals. I don't know what good that does other than keep me from being bald for too long. Dark's quills took a month to start to look noticeable after they had thinned out from stress... So I'm guessing a week is pretty fast." Mephiles was now working on a peach bun. "I don't know if that counts... But it's odd."

Originally, Mephiles' babble thing after falling in the water was strung together, but it won't save like that here. You can view the original version on DeviantArt.