Shadow and Rouge paused to catch their breath.
"Ok, what's the plan?" Rouge asked.
"Get to the bridge, we have a wider area to fight then." Shadow replied.
"How do we do that and avoid Mephiles?"
Mephiles appeared out of thin air behind them.
"For starters, run!" Shadow grabbed her arm and ran, pulling her along behind him.
"Shadow!" Mephiles yelled angrily.
As they ran, Shadow glanced behind them and saw 5 shadows flying after them.
He couldn't help but think of the ARK incident 50 years ago. His closest friend panting behind him as she ran, enemies coming after them, and no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't escape...
Shadow shook his head to clear his mind, and focused on keeping Rouge and him ahead of the shadows.
He looked ahead, and 5 more shadows and Mephiles appeared in front of them. He skidded to a stop, and looked back as the other shadows caught up with them. The shadows closed in, and Shadow pushed Rouge behind him against the wall.
"You're making this much more difficult than it has to be." Mephiles stated.
"If life was easy, we wouldn't have to deal with freaks like you." Rouge retorted.
"Of course, there's still time for you two to change your minds. If you join me, you won't have to face the consequences of fighting Iblis."
Rouge and Shadow stared at him sceptically.
"Working for me isn't as bad as you think." Mephiles insisted.
"Will we be getting business cards?" Shadow asked dryly.
Mephiles glared at them. "Attack!" he ordered.
The shadows lunged at them. Shadow and Rouge ducked under them, and took off down the hall.
"Any ideas?" Shadow asked.
"One." Rouge replied.
"Ok, what is it?"
"This way."
Rouge pulled Shadow towards an opening in the wall and handed him the emerald.
"Alright, go." she said, pushing him through.
"What're you-" he was cut off when he fell down a shaft. "AAAAAAaaaa..." his scream faded as he disappeared. Mephiles appeared next to Rouge and both of them looked toward the bottem. There was a thud, and then, "Owww..."
"Shadow?" Rouge called down.
"WHAT was THAT?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing.
"Well, you weren't supposed to fall!"
"Well, you know, gravity. It's a funny thing."
"Well pardon me," Rouge retorted, spreading her wings and taking to the air, and flying downward, "I don't hear you coming up with ideas, and I don't think you're being very fair blaming me for your slow reflexes..."
Her voice faded as she disappeared from sight. Mephiles stared after for a second, then shook his head and melted into purple mist, and followed her.
Rouge reached the bottem, and found Shadow lying face down on the floor.
"You ok?" she asked, kneeling down next to him.
"Fine..." he muttered into the floor.
A screeching roar reached their ears, and they looked up to see purple mist coming down on them.
Rouge helped Shadow to his feet and they ran, barely moving in time before Mephiles hit the spot he'd been.
Mephiles raced after them, and cut Shadow off.
"Rouge!" he called, tossing her the emerald. She caught it, and the mist wrapped around Shadow.
"Shadow, hang on!" she called.
Shadow writhed in Mephiles grasp, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Insolent hedgehog." Mephiles' voice hissed.
"Chaos..." Shadow growled, "Blast!"
A red aura surrounded him, then exploded outward. He dropped to the floor, landing on his feet, while the mist screeched angrily.
Shadow took off, grabbing Rouge's arm, and pulling her along.
They raced toward another doorway, and Shadow pushed Rouge through it, then sent a Chaos Spear at the mist, hitting it head on, then followed her.
Mephiles reformed from the mist, growling as he followed them. The door led to another shaft, and Shadow and Rouge were already halfway up, Rouge flying and Shadow jumping from wall to the other.
"See, this was my original idea." Rouge said with an annoyed expression.
"Just focus on getting to the top." Shadow grumbled.
Mephiles flew after them, and launched an orb at Shadow. He jumped out of the way in time, but lost his foot, and started falling back down. Rouge turned back around and flew at him. She grabbed his arm, and pulled him with her.
"Geez you're heavy!" she panted.
"Just get me on the floor, or the wall, or whatever!"
Mephiles threw another orb at them, and Rouge swerved to avoid it.
"Nevermind, keep going!"
"Don't rush me, pal!"
They finally reached the top, and Rouge let Shadow go, and he landed on his feet, and hit a red button. The hole they'd come through started closing, and before Mephiles could fly through it, it closed. He glared up at the door.
"Good going Shad, now hurry, that's not gonna hold him!" Rouge said, pulling his arm and pulling him to his feet.
"I know. Let's go!" Shadow ran ahead of her, pulling her along.
There was a loud explosion, and the doors over the hole were blown off, and mist shot out of the tunnel and flew at them.
Shadow pushed Rouge behind him protectively.
Suddenly a blast of fire hit the mist head on, keeping Mephiles at bay.
"Need a hand?" a voice asked. Blaze landed in front of Shadow and Rouge, and continued shooting fire at Mephiles.
"Get outta here you two, I'll hold mist boy off." she ordered.
"Alright, be careful girl." Rouge warned.
"Got it, get going."
Shadow and Rouge continued down the hall towards the door.
Blaze threw fireballs continuously at Mephiles.
"You're not getting past me, Mephiles!" she growled.
Mephiles zipped out of the way of the fireballs, and flew at Blaze at blinding speed. Blaze's eyes widened, but she had no time to get out of the way, and she braced herself. The mist rammed into her, and slammed her into the wall.
Mephiles reformed from the mist, and sneered down at her, then headed after Shadow and Rouge.
xoxoxo
Said animals were running down another hallway. Shadow was wearing down though, the Chaos Blast had taken most of the energy he'd regained.
"Just a little longer Shadow, hang on." Rouge urged.
There was an explosion, and smoke came from the hallway they'd just left.
"Mephiles is catching up..." Shadow muttered.
"I noticed, come on." Rouge pulled Shadow down yet another hallway (really that ship has too many hallways!), but they came to a stop.
"Great it's a dead end."
"Nice choice of direction." Shadow grumbled.
"Let's turn around and find another way before Mephiles catches up."
"Too late for that, bat." Mephiles growled. They whipped around, and Mephiles was standing at the end of the hall, arms crossed and an impatient expression on his face.
"Get behind me, Rouge." Shadow ordered, pushing the ivory bat behind him.
"My patience is wearing thin, give me the Chaos emerald." Mephiles ordered calmly, yet anger was laced within it.
"Over my dead body." Shadow retorted.
"That can be easily arranged."
Shadow and Rouge backed into the wall, while Mephiles made his way toward them.
"Any ideas?" Rouge asked.
Shadow looked at her, then looked at something behind her, then back at Mephiles.
Rouge followed his gaze, and saw a lever.
'The Sonic Power Cannon? What's that gonna...Oh!' Rouge realized Shadow's plan.
She slowly put her hand on the lever, and waited for the signal.
'Wait, what's the signal?' she wondered. 'Guess I'll know it when I see it.'
"I'll give you three seconds to back off, demon." Shadow growled.
"I'll give you three seconds to hand over that emerald, hedgehog." Mephiles growled back in a mocking tone.
Shadow growled lowly, and Mephiles took one more step toward them.
"Now." Shadow murmered.
Rouge nodded, and pulled the lever down.
Two walls slid down from the ceiling, cutting Mephiles off in front and back.
"Do you seriously beleive a door can stop me?" he asked as it slid down.
"Prove me wrong then." Shadow replied, smirking.
The walls locked into place.
"This is too easy." Mephiles sighed, and sent a blast of Chaos energy at the wall. It bounced back however, and hit him, and he was frozen in place.
"For the brains of Solaris, he's not very bright." Rouge smirked.
"Shall we fire him into space?" Shadow asked.
"Can he even do a Spindash?"
"Guess we'll find out."
Shadow pushed a few buttons on the keypad, then hit the go button.
A platform lifted Mephiles into the cannon.
"What the-" he started, but was cut off when he was forced into a Spindash.
How Sonic and Shadow could stand this was beyond him. It made him dizzy seeing everything going by in a blur.
"Firing now." Rouge announced.
The cannon shot Mephiles into space, and he vanished, a star twinkling where he'd disappeared.
"I guess he can spin lke you and Sonic, huh?" Rouge asked with a chuckle.
"Let's get to the bridge, and then head for the medic bay to make sure everyone's ok." Shadow said, taking the emerald from Rouge.
"Chaos control!"
They vanished in a flash of light.
xoxoxo
They reappeared in the bridge, and looked out the window.
"Guess we're safe for now. Sorry for all of this..." Shadow murmered.
"Hey, don't sweat it. All I care about is helping you out and making sure you're safe." Rouge said with a smile, and held her hand out to him, "Now, let's get to the medic bay and check on everyone, kay?"
Shadow stared at her hand, then at her and smiled, and reached to take it. Suddenly, Mephiles appeared between them.
"I'm through playing games." he growled, and threw a kick at Rouge. The bat yelped as she flew back and hit the wall.
Shadow let out a furious growl and threw a punch at Mephiles. Mephiles turned around and caught his wrist.
A powerful electric current ran through Shadow, continously.
Shadow tried to swallow his scream, but it came anyway.
"Shadow!" Rouge yelled.
She stood to help, but shadows surrounded her and prevented her from assisting him.
Shadow tried to pull free, but Mephiles grabbed his other wrist and held him still while the electricity continued to course through him. A few seconds later, he felt white hot pain in his head and heart, and Mephiles let go. Shadow fell to the floor on his side, clutching his chest in pain.
Mephiles held a hand over him, a purple glow coming from it, and a golden aura appeared around Shadow. It faded away into a red aura, which sank into Shadow's skin. He twitched slightly, then fell unconcious.
Mephiles chuckled, and his eyes slid to the emerald, which had fallen to the floor. He picked it up.
"I'll hold onto this for you." he said with a laugh.
"Shadow! Rouge!" Silver and Tails ran into the room.
Mephiles vanished, his shadows soon after. Rouge, Silver, and Tails ran over to Shadow.
"Shadow?" Rouge called worriedly, shaking his shoulder gently.
Shadow didn't wake up, but gave a soft moan.
"What happened?" Tails asked.
"I don't know. Mephiles electrocuted him, then some aura thing appeared around him, then it vanished. I don't know what he did." Rouge replied.
"Let's get him to the medic bay, Cosmo already took care of Knuckles, Tikal, Shade, Sonic, and Blaze."
"What happened to Blaze?" Silver asked in surprise.
"She fought Mephiles."
"Is she alright?"
"Ask her when you get there, she's awake, let's get Shadow there right now."
Silver and Rouge picked Shadow up and put his arms over there shoulders, and headed for the medic bay as fast as they could.
xoxoxo
Mephiles has the Chaos emeralds! OMG We're doomed! Heh heh, not yet.
What did Mephiles do to Shadow? Will Iblis be released? Can Sonic and co. stop him? All will be answered in the final chapters of the Iblis Saga!
R&R!