Away From the Sun

Chapter 3: Mephiles' Hunt


Mephiles was not happy.

Shadow should never have escaped. But he had and had promptly vanished.

Just where had he gone?

For a moment, the happy thought occurred to him that maybe Shadow had fallen into some lava, but then he dismissed it. If that had happened, Iblis would know. Besides, Shadow would have used Chaos Control to prevent that from happening.

But maybe he had hated the he woke up into, so he decided to throw himself into the lava, and never mind Chaos Control.

No, Mephiles decided. Iblis would still know.

Mephiles himself had wondered if maybe the remaining Mobians and humans knew where Shadow had gone. To this day, tales were passed down among the refugees of Sonic his friend's heroic exploits. There would no doubt be rejoicing if one them was to miraculously reappear.

He had been disguising himself as an ordinary Mobian (if a Mobian without a mouth could be considered ordinary) and visiting the hovels the survivors called home. Iblis had long encouraged him to tell where exactly these settlements were located, but he had so far refused to tell.

Life would be boring if it was just the two of them.

He entered the next broken down building the survivors called home. It was time to resume his search.


"Blaze, where's Tatiana?"

Blaze looked up as Shadow entered the room. "Watch your feet. I think we had some olive oil spilled there, or something. You'll trip."

"Well?" Shadow asked.

"She went back home. She doesn't live here all the time. Other times she's at the metro station in what's left of Central City." Blaze replied as she put a book back on the shelf.

"Hey Blaze!"

The purple cat watched as Silver came darting in. Before she could warn him, he went slipping on the floor, and was on his back a moment later.

Shadow watched as the albino hedgehog got back up. "I found a spring! And there's drinkable water in it, too!"

"Good." Blaze said. "I'll stay here and straighten up. You take all the empty bottles and fill them. Take Shadow, too. I'm tired of him moping around here."

Shadow glared at her.

A few minutes later, though, found both himself and Silver out of the building and headed up the hill, Silver using his telekinesis to hold about twenty-three empty bottles.

"Don't you think twenty-three is a bit much?" Shadow asked.

"Nope." Silver replied. "We have to take as much water as we can get whenever we can get it. So I got all the empty bottles I could find, just like Blaze said. I shoulda brought our big pot, too. Oh well. To late to do anything about it now. Come on. We'd better hurry or the might be dry by the time we get there!"

He raced on ahead, pulling the bottles with him. Shadow walked after him, taking his time.

He caught up to Silver a few minutes later. The white hedgehog was at the spring, though it was the sickliest spring Shadow had ever seen. A trickle of water, draining out of a crack between two rocks.

Silver was already hard at work, Shadow dryly observed. He had almost four whole tablespoons of water in the bottle.

"This is going to take forever." Shadow muttered. He raised a hand toward the rocks, and used a bit of Chaos energy to widen the crack, increasing the flow of water.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" Silver asked as he watched the bottle fill up rapidly. "I've never been able to do anything like that!"

"I used Chaos Control." Shadow replied.

"What's Chaos Controlled?"

"Chaos Control." Shadow corrected. "I used Chaos Control to widen that crack and let water flow better."

"Cool! Now this'll only take half as long."

Shadow exhaled noisily and went over to stand by a charred tree.


"Halt! Who goes there!?"

"A poor Mobian traveler seeking shelter." Mephiles lied. The humans were very persnickety about letting outsiders in, for fear Iblis or one of the Ifrits would find their hideout.

"Were you followed?"

"No."

The door of the ruined building open, and a human gestured him in. "Then welcome."

He entered the large room, which was dimly lit partly from glowing lanterns and part through a bit of lit that filtered in through some of the windows. Both people and Mobians milled around, some talking quietly, other sitting chairs or on blankets.

"Has anyone else come in before me?" Mephiles asked. "I'm looking … for a friend."

"Just Tatiana, back from her usual trip out."

"What kind is she?" Mephiles asked.

The man scratched his head. "She's like a human-fairy crossbreed or something. I dunno. She comes from one the minor foreign races that used to be on Earth before Iblis."

"No Mobians recently?" Mephiles asked.

"Silver was here two weeks ago, and Apple and Cheese left about six days ago to scout for food, but Silver went back to his home and Apple and Cheese aren't back yet."

Mephiles nodded his thanks and walked away. He'd seen Silver fight Iblis before, and if Shadow was going by a different name, it would not be something as stupid as "Apple" or "Cheese."

A moment later he knocked into someone, causing the cup the girl was holding to fall from her hands.

"Hey, why don't you watch where you're going?" She demanded. "Now look. You spilled my tea all over the floor." With a wave of her fingers, she picked the liquid back up and put it back in the cup. "You're just lucky I can manipulate water." She said as she walked away, sipping her tea.

Impertinent little… Mephiles growled. He could get Iblis here in five minutes, if he had too. But that would blow his disguise. Maybe someone had heard a rumor about an ancient hero miraculously coming back from the dead.

He followed the girl he'd bumped into earlier. It wasn't that hard to keep track of her, being as she was the only one in the building with dark blue hair.

Sitting against one of the walls was an old man. He was wearing somewhat ragged gray clothes, with dark glasses over his eyes. He kept one hand on a wooden cane.

People and Mobians old and young were beginning to gather around him, including the blue haired girl.

"Grandfather Elias, will you tell us a story?" A brown Mobian rabbit asked.

"A story!" Grandfather Elias, as everyone called him, tapped his cane on the ground. Though he was a nearly one hundred years old, and beginning to go blind, he was spry for his age. "Just the thing to hearten us up during these days of battle."

"What battle?" A human woman wanted to know.

"Against Iblis, to survive, take your pick." A Mobian answered.

"Tell us about the legendary hero Sonic." Another person said. "Tell us about how he stopped that Dr. Eggman guy from using the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Earth."

"We've heard that one a thousand times." Yet another person spoke up. "How about something new?"

"How about something about Shadow the Hedgehog?" The blue-haired girl asked. "Did he ever have some great heroic adventure?"

Elias squinted at her. "Tatiana! I didn't realize you were back." He stroked his white beard, then nodded. "That's an excellent idea. I don't know why I haven't told you about Shadow the Hedgehog yet. Why, he once almost single-handed drove away an entire race of aliens that wanted to take over the earth."

"See, that's something new." The same person from before spoke again. "Tell us about that!"

"Calm yourself, James." Grandfather said as he stroked his beard again. "I'm trying to remember the story."

Mephiles watched, mildly amused, and wondered what embellishments had been made to this story.

"Alright, I remember now. You all remember that Shadow helped Sonic defeat the Final Lizard, right?"

The group nodded.

"Well, this is set after the Final Lizard was defeated, and after Shadow the Hedgehog helped Sonic defeat the Metal Sonic Overload. Once, a comet known as the Black Comet used to circle the earth ever fifty years. It used to be a time for celebration that the comet had reappeared. But this time, there was no celebration. The comet was home to a race of aliens known as the Black Arms." Grandfather Elias began.

"They dropped out of swirling red clouds and began to attack Westopolis. There was only one way they could be defeated. Do you know what that was?" Elias paused to ask.

"The Chaos Emeralds!" A few people replied.

Elias nodded. "That's right. The Chaos Emeralds. But Sonic was helping the military, so they asked Shadow to find the Emeralds instead."

Mephiles felt like laughing. They, being the military, hadn't asked Shadow for anything. But such were legends, which slowly warped over time.

"But the evil alien leader, Black Doom, promised to use his power to resurrect Shadow's beloved friend, Marie, if Shadow would give him the Chaos Emeralds instead.

"Shadow was torn. The humans had fatally wounded his friend Marie, but he also had friends on earth. But if he gave the Emeralds to Black Doom, he could have his friend Marie back.

"The Black Arms and the Military fought against him. Indeed, they both fought against him. The only ones who actually helped him were Sonic and the rest of Sonic's crew. But through their help, he managed to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds.

"The final Emerald was located on the Black Comet itself, and Shadow travelled there to retrieve it. Then, Black Doom appeared, and demanded that Shadow give him the Chaos Emeralds. But Sonic and the others were there, too, and they tried to convince Shadow not to hand over the Chaos Emeralds. Why, even Dr. Eggman joined with Sonic to drive off the invaders, and he was there that day, too."

Grandfather Elias paused for a moment, and the Mobian rabbit begged. "Oh hurry, do tell what happened after that!"

"Hold your horses, Ella. I'm coming to it." Grandfather said, then he continued.

"Shadow wouldn't hand over the Emeralds, but Black Doom took them by force, and sent a paralyzing gas into the chamber they were in to stop the others from coming after him, for he was going to use the Emeralds to destroy the Earth.

"Sonic, Eggman and the others were paralyzed. On top of that, Black Doom sent Death Leeches in to eat our heroes alive!"

A few people gasped.

"But then, Shadow stood back up! For you see, the gas affected all those who were not Black Arms. But he was half Black Arms! The gas didn't affect him."

"I thought he was a complete Mobian." Ella said.

"Oh no, he was a half breed. The only one of kind, if the legends are true. And you've seen the statue of Sonic and his friends in the ruins of Central City, so we all know the legends are true." Elias paused reflectively. "Some day I'll have to tell you the story of how that statue was put there.

"Anyway, Shadow chased after Black Doom, who had already Chaos Controlled the Black Comet down to earth, as part of his wicked plan. Shadow used the Chaos Emeralds the turn super, while Black Doom achieved his own ultimate form, Devil Doom. The two battled each other, despite Black Doom's attempts to control Shadow's mind.

"It was a hard battle, but in the end Shadow was victorious, and defeated Devil Doom. Then he teleported down to Earth and brought the comet back up to space. He left it in front of Space Colony Ark, and used the Eclipse Cannon to blow it to pieces! And that was the end of the Black Arms."

A few people in the crowd clapped. Mephiles turned and walked away. He'd have to remember this place for future reference.

"Did you find your friend?" The doorkeeper asked as Mephiles headed back for the door.

"No. I'll keep looking, though." Mephiles said, then walked out the door.

Tatiana finished her tea, mulling over the story. At least she had something she could tell Silver and Blaze now.

Then a thought occurred to her. That Black hedgehog she'd bumped into earlier looked just like Shadow, except the stripes were a different color. And the bluish-gray one didn't have a mouth.

She paused. Did he have a mouth, or didn't he? She couldn't remember, but it seemed like he hadn't had a mouth.

Nah. She shrugged it off as she went to return her mug to the kitchen. A Mobian not having a mouth. That was impossible.

Wasn't it?


Despite all that work, they'd only been able to fill fifteen bottles before the spring ran dry.

Shadow watched without making observation as Silver stuck a cork in the last bottle and added it to the ones telekinetically floating to his left. The ones on the right were empty.

"That should last us for awhile." Silver said as he stood back up. "Let's go back home."

As the two walked, Silver continued. "It's sure been quiet lately. Iblis hasn't attacked in awhile. It's not that I want him to attack, but it's gonna happen. He's due for one anytime now."

Shadow didn't reply. Silver didn't notice.

"I wonder what's for lunch today. I'm starving!"

"Yes, indeed. I wonder." Shadow said as he rolled his eyes.

There was a rumble of thunder off in the distance. It had been doing that all day.

"Well, I'm tired of walking." Silver picked up and flew away. Shadow turned on his hover skates and skated after him.

As Shadow had expected, it was the same black slop from yesterday. He only ate three bites before he decided to quit.

"Are you gonna finish that?" Silver asked.

"No. Feel free."

"Thanks. Hey Blaze, you want some?" Silver asked.

"I'm good." Blaze replied.

And with that, Silver commenced with finishing both his plate, and Shadow's.

"You don't seem to like this food very well, Shadow." Blaze observed.

"We should take him to visit Techno." Silver said, his mouth full of food. "Techno always has good food."

"And who is 'Techno'?" Shadow asked.

"Techno?" Blaze repeated. "He's a good friend of ours, helps us out on certain occasions."

"Though he doesn't do much against Iblis." Silver pointed out. "But he's got this big underground greenhouse that's always brightly lit, and he grows food like you wouldn't believe! It's all fresh and tasty…"

That, Shadow deduced, probably meant it was like food prior to Iblis.

"Oh, and Techno's not his real name." Silver added. "That's just what we call him, 'cause he's good with gadgets. His real name's Miles Prower III."


T.A.R.N.S.: Oh, PLOT TWIST! And it's Tails' grandson. Ah yes. More about that later.

Also, in the story that Grandfather Elias was telling, you may have noticed things were messed up, for example: Final Lizard instead of Finalhazard, Marie instead of Maria, Metal Sonic Overload itstead of Metal Overlord. Like I had pointed out with Mephiles, legends warp. It'd be really fun to go seventy-five more years into the future and see what legends are being told about Sonic and the gang out there. But I'm not going that far in the future.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. We should be getting the plot a bit farther in the next chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought.