IMPORTANT: All credits go to the Sonic Team who originally blessed us with a courageous, kind hearted, friendly, blue hedgehog. Only the main plot of the story is mine.

NOTE: No sexual scenes. Romantic relationship between Amy Rose and Sonic the Hedgehog. Rouge and Knuckles may never admit their true feelings for each other. No other relationships are mentioned in this story, but one of the main characters will have unrequited feelings for Amy...

SECOND NOTE: Any edits, comments email me or private message me (Email mentioned in profile).

Thanks for showing interest! Enjoy!

ATTENTION:

Chapter 11 is now up!

I apologize for my inactivity, these days have been very busy.

But here is Chapter 11, with Chapter 12 coming in soon.

Thanks for your patience and your readership.

Please comment and review

Have a good one!

ETA Chapter 16:

Late July 2019 - Early August 2019

- MC Productions 737

Rising Darkness

- Hidden Darkness -

Chapter 11: The Arms of Darkness

Sonic huffed in annoyance. "Tails wasn't even involved in this!" he rolled his eyes, tapping his foot impatiently, then crossed his arms. "None of you should have gotten involved in this." He clenched his fists and prepared to speed aimlessly away.

"Wait, Sonic!" Amy said grasping the azure hedgheog, by his wrist. "We have no idea where Tails is, or how to help revive the others."

"Exactly," laughed an annoying, arrogant, and throaty voice. Eggman appeared through the entryway, another book in his hands. "Which is where I come in." he gave a dramatic bow, followed by a histrionic wave.

"Great..." grumbled Sonic, trying to pull away from Amy.

"Woah, there, Hot Shot." Eggman chuckled, as he grasped Sonic's other wrist. "We cannot afford you speeding off, to who knows where." And together, Amy and Eggman hauled a squirming, protesting, and upset Sonic, into a chair.

"Wait!" Sonic protested, as he struggled to get out of the seat, but with a click, restraints appeared, holding him in place.

"Now, as I was saying," Eggman growled, looking at Sonic with great displeasure. "I think I might have found the solution to our problem." Eggman threw the book onto a table, with a loud thunk.

"What do you mean, Doctor?" Amy asked, politely.

"Yeah, what do you mean Eggy!" laughed Sonic, who had become very cross at being held against his will.

"What I mean," Eggman said, pointedly ignoring Sonic. "Is that we need a volunteer. A volunteer to go where our friends have already gone." Eggman glanced expectantly at the azure hedgehog.

"Oh, you mean me..." Sonic trailed. "As much as I would love to save my friends, I can't."

"Why not?!" the others shouted in unison.

"Because, the others can handle themselves," Sonic explained, avoiding the judging gazes of the other two. "But Tails, he needs me, and he is like a brother to me."

"Tails. Tails. Tails!"

Tails awoke with a start, willing his shakiness away. He blinked sleepiness away, opening his eyes, too soon. The light was glaring through the windows of his prison.

"Yes, Mephiles?" he responded groggily, trying to hide the tone of annoyance, from being woken up too suddenly.

"Breakfast." Mephiles whispered, as he handed him a platter of eggs and bacon.

"Uhhh...thanks." Tails said, staring at the raw slivers of pig meat and the shelled eggs.

"Something wrong?" the dark entity asked, eyeing Tails suspiciously.

"No, not really." Tails stammered. "It's just that, well, the food is a little...undercooked."

"Undercooked?" Mephiles said, apparently confused at the term.

"I don't think you need to eat," Tails started, being cautious of his words. "You being an immortal, intra dimensional, invincible entity and all that."

"True..." Mephiles mused, then he turned towards the plate of food. "I guess I can allow you to go home, to cook your own meals and all."

"Oh really?"

"Yes," the demonic entity replied, eyes glowing with an eerie light. "My feud is not with you, but your friends." Mephiles took a step towards Tails, causing him to shrink away. "You need not be afraid of me, Miles "Tails" Prower." he reached out a hand, extending it toward the shackled fox.

"After all, all I want is to be...friendsss." With a clink the shadowy chains slithered away from Tails, who, with wide eyes, began rubbing feeling back into his wrists.

"Ughhhh..." Eggman groaned, slapping his hand to his face, then rubbing his forehad with the tip of his fingers. "I am most ashamed of you, oh well...This is your fault, not mine." And the mad scientist took a few grand and solemn strides to a keypad, with a series of flickering buttons. "One...two...three..." he mumbled, counting off each button he pressed. He then turned a knob, flipped a switch, and pushed down a pedal, with his foot.

A loud whirring. Thump! Thump! Skreeeee! Shrrrrek! Fooooosh! And a trapdoor slid open, a platform rose up, Amy took a step back, looking frantically for a weapon.

"Sonic." Eggman said, a wicked grin appearing on his face. "Meet Metal Sonic 7.0!" Metal Sonic's eyes began to glow with a red light, his head turning slowly, robotically towards Amy and the chair strapped Sonic.

"You got be kidding me, Egghead!" laughed Sonic, struggling in vain against his bonds. "I trashed the other six Metal Brains, I can trash this one."

"Wooohooo!" guffawed the mad man, holding his large belly. "You talk a big game for a rodent that is finally in its cage!"

"But I am not in a c-"

"Now, you are!" and with a triumphant shout, Eggman slammed his hand on a giant azure blue button, causing bars to slide over the already imprisoned hedgehog.

"Let me out!" Sonic called out, fighting the chair, but then getting dumped to the floor. "You cannot do this! Tails needs me!"

"We all need you!" screamed the hero's nemesis, glasses gleaming in the light of the labratory. "I normally will not kick you well you are down, but desperate times call for desperate measures!"

"But you always kick us when we are down!" Amy shrieked, as she grasped a large orb from one of the long, cluttered, white tables.

"True, little hedgehog." Eggman said, as he turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Enough of this though, Metal Sonic!" The metal creature turned its head, eyes fixed on his creator, awaiting further instruction. "Grab that little pest!" bellowed the mad man, hopping up and down and pointing at a shell shocked Amy.

"No, don't!" Sonic screamed, lunging for the bars. "Stop this, Eggman!"

"No, Sonic." he grinned widely, an insane look of triumph on his face. Metal Sonic flew like a flash, grabbing Amy in his arms. "Only you can stop this now." And Metal Sonic zoomed away, Amy screaming, helplessly, in his grasp.

"Okay, Doctor Eggman," Sonic said, head hung in defeat. "I will do what you want, just do not hurt Amy!"

"I never thought I would hear you admit defeat." Eggman mused, head cocked to the side in confusion. "I will send my henchbots to retrieve Amy Rose, but you must do as I say!"

"Alright!" Sonic nodded, fervently. "Whatever you say!"

"Good," his nemesis smiled. "Forget about Tails for now, don't give me that look, you can save him later. But you need to go get your other friends."

"They are already here!" screamed Sonic, causing the mad genius to jump with a start.

"Never do that again!" Eggman said angrily. "And no, they are in the Lightless Place. At least their consciousness is."

"Okay, so what must I do to go get them, meditate?" Sonic asked, annoyed and confused with Eggman's phrasing.

"No! No! No!" his nemesis growled, stomping his foot impatiently. "You need to allow me to take you there."

Shadow rolled his eyes, making sure Mephiles could not see. This was going better than he thought, the fool was really going for it. He chuckled to himself.

"What is on your mind?" his demonic enemy asked, curiousity flickering in his cold, steely eyes.

"Nothing," the Ultimate Lifeform shrugged. "Well, actually. I was thinking how fun it will be to best Sonic, now that I am on your side."

"That does sound awfully fun!" Mephiles growled, the cold, iciness of a smile could be felt. "I cannot wait for the invincible, heroic hedgehog to meet his fate." Something in this entity's voice sounded almost bitter, kind of jealous.

"What is your problem with Sonic the Hedgehog?" Shadow winced when he saw Mephiles crystallize.

"What is my problem?" he snarled, seeming to rise higher and higher. "What is my problem with Sonic!" his snarl became a growl, setting the spines on Shadow's neck on end. "He is the cause for everything. For why I do not have my brother, Iblis. For why I do not have your home dimension on its knees. For why I do not have my own freedom to finally exact my revenge."

"I am s-"

"No, you asked me a question. I must answer it." Mephiles interrupted, eyes flaring with a foul, dark, smoldering light. "Sonic is the reason I failed in my conquest for power. Sonic is the reason why I have been undermined. If Sonic had just died, like the filthy sewer rat he is, then there would be no this!" Mephiles indicated the dark, vast, nothingness that moved around the place.

"Yes, I see what you mean." Shadow said, slightly annoyed by the sudden outburst of his fiendish nemesis. "I only meant that as far as I knew, Sonic never bested you. Now I stand corrected."

"I am glad to know you have learned." Mephiles hissed, returning to his Shadow-like form. "Now let us talk about what we can accomplish together."

"Let me goooo!" Amy shouted, as she tried to escape from Metal Sonic.

"I. Have. My. Orders. Amy. Rose." Metal Sonic responded, eyes glowing.

"Well you are relieved of duty." A calm, dark, deep voice whispered. Then with a flash of violet, Metal Sonic collapsed, Amy was sent flying, screaming into the air. Strong arms caught Amy, holding her tightly, but gently. Amy looked up at her hero, already figuring it could not be Sonic, she saw two glowing lime green eyes.

"It's you!" Amy said, voice choked with fear and a darkness that settled thickly around her.

"Do not be afraid, you have nothing to fear." the hedgehog said, looking straight into Amy's wide green eyes. "A friend of Tails, is a friend of mine."

"Tails?" Amy said, then it dawned on her. "Where is he? You nasty creature!"

Mephiles hissed, eyes burning scarlet. "Looksss like sssomeone needsss to learn sssome mannersss." Then the darkness of the shadows obscured Amy's view, so she could not see where the demonic entity was taking her.

Silver thrust out his palms, his telekinetic energy keeping him floating in the air, a few inches from being disintigrated by the blazing heat of the magma flow. Iblis raged, obviously upset that its foe did not fall into the bubbling, intensely heated, liquid. Silver grinned smugly at the fire demon.

"Nice try, Iblis, but I am going to defeat you, like before!" With a snarling, hissing, screeching cry, the entity submerged itself in the frothing lava, disappearing from view. "Okay then, let's first play some hide and seek." the psychokinetic empowered hedgehog mumbled to himself, as he darted from sheer platform to sheer platform.

A shaking and rumbling sound issues from below one of the platforms, and out struck Iblis. Its green eyes glittering hatefully at its opponent, its jaws opening up to reveal rows of jagged, sharp, pointed teeth. It threw back its head, letting out a roar of wrath and it flew straight for Silver.

But before it could get to the silver hedgehog, who had already powered up his hands with telekinetic energy, a cry came from above. Silver looked up, too late, and let out a startled shout.

"Oof!" he called out as someone landed on him, knocking him to his knees. He struggled to get up, but he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. With a groan, someone got off of him. As Silver recovered from the shock, he could make out red spines, styled down and long, a pair of spiked knuckles, and two burning violet eyes. It was Knuckles.

"What are you doing here?" Silver stammered as he managed to regain his balance, dusting off his bruised knees.

"Uhhh..." Knuckles paused, confused and befufddled. "That is a good question. One second I am battling my evil self..." - "Evil self?!" - "Yes, Silver, I will explain later. But as I was saying, one second I am battling my evil self, next thing I fall from above and l land on you."

"Evil self?" a familiar gruff voice quizzed. Silver and Knuckles both startled and turned to see,

"Knuckles?!" Silver shouted, bewildered. He quickly turned to the other Knuckles, backing away, charging his psychokinetic powers.

"Yes?" both Knuckles asked in unison. "Hey! Stop that, you are not Knuckles!" they both shouted, staring each other down.

"Oh my..." Silver said, then turned his attention to where Iblis awaited him, but the fiery demonic worm had left.

"Mephiles!" a voice exclaimed, as Amy returned to consciousness, the darkness had apparently overwhelmed her until she had passed out. "Wait, what is going on?" As Amy opened her eyes, she saw the stunned and concerned look on one of her friends.

"Tails?" Amy asked, dazed and confused.

"Quiet, she hedgehog." Mephiles snarled, obviously still angered by her last cutting remark.

"Mephiles, what is going on?" Tails asked, cautiously making his way towards the demonic entity, who held Amy in his arms. "How did you find Amy?"

"That is none of your concern, Miles "Tails" Prower." hissed Mephiles, his eyes glowing hauntingly. Tails stepped backwards, careful not to upset the intra dimensional creature any further than he apparently was.

"Let me go, you demon!"

"Amy!" Tails chastised, stunning his friend into silence. "Mephiles is not a demon! Anymore than any of our other friends are!"

"Other friends?" Amy and Mephiles asked in unison, both shaking their heads in confusion.

"Yes, Amy and Mephiles." Tails said, staring into the blazing eyes of the entity. "Other friends, you are our friend too, Mephiles."

"Oh, I see what is going on..." Mephiles mused, the feeling of a mirthless smile seeming to chase all the sound out of the room, plunging the place into total silence.

"You are humoring me..." the dark being began to crystallize, Amy squeaking as she was being suffocated in his icy dark grasp.