Eggman Nega arrived at Mystic Haunt just as a few Eggpawns were transporting Chao to a hidden room, he already had more than enough to bring the Ifrit to full power, as far as he was concerned it was too late for them to stop him now. He stepped out of his Egg Pod followed closely by Metal Sonic 3.0 and as he approached the entrance he was greeted by Mephiles.

"Hello Doctor, glad you made it here safely." Mephiles didn't really care but he thought it'd be best to sound Polite, the scientist didn't seem to buy it though.

"Mephiles, anything to report?." Eggman Nega wasn't really interested in conversation; he was all business at the moment.

"Three intruders in the Ifrits chamber, I made an attempt to dispose of them but taking all three by myself would be a tall order even for me, perhaps if I had the assistance of 3.0" Mephiles suggested but Eggman Nega was quick to shut that down.

"No, 3.0 stays with me, he's my personal protection from here on out, just take a few Egg Pawns with you. And you Egg Hammers move the Chao from the secret room to the Ifrits Chamber, we're so close" The crazed Doctor ordered, waving his hand dismissively.

"Sounds like a good plan Doctor, shame your associates won't live to carry it out." Shadow called out as the group arrived at Mystic Haunt.

"You five are still alive? Persistent little rabble aren't you? Mephiles, change of plans, handle this riff raff, Egg Pawns help him out." The Robots immediately rounded on the group and began firing on them causing them to scatter. "Metal and I will go handle those 3." With that Eggman Nega, 3.0 and the Egg Hammers turned and headed deeper into the mansion

"Fine. With me I've been longing for a chance to fight you again Shadow The Hedgehog." Mephiles glared daggers at Shadow. It was like the other four weren't even there for him.

"I don't know who you are and I don't really care if you're dumb enough to fight me then so be it." Shadow spat back at Mephiles.

As the pair charged each other, Rouge threw a bomb destroying a nearby group of Egg Pawns, "You three go after Eggman Nega. Me and Shadow will take care of everything out here."

"Right, good luck you two." Silver replied as he ran inside followed by Espio and Blaze.

Shadow threw a punch towards his doppelganger who caught it with relative ease, staring straight at him. "Such cool confident eyes, I can't wait to watch that face twist in agony." Mephiles kneed Shadow in the stomach before throwing him towards Rouge the pair landed in a rather awkward heap but they weren't seriously injured.

Mephiles threw forth a wave of dark energy but it would only strike air as Shadow dragged himself and Rouge out of the way.

Shadow threw a chaos spear towards Mephiles who dodged to the side only to be met by a kick to the head from Rouge. He stumbled back before grabbing her leg he wouldn't get to capitalise on the opening however; as he was struck in the side of the jaw by an elbow from Shadow.

The pair worked in perfect unison the two of them weren't giving Mephiles an inch every attack was met with a counter and every opening he found he couldn't take advantage of due to the other getting involved.

Shadow threw him upwards and before he landed he was kicked by Rouge, he slammed into the side of the building before falling to the ground. Even after all that he didn't seem all that injured. "You hit as hard as I remember, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, but I think you've had the numbers advantage long enough."

Mephiles's body disappeared into a pebble of black goo that encircled the pair, a small army of Mephiles rose from the good but unbeknownst to the pair one lone duplicate remained hidden. "Let's see how you do fighting at a disadvantage."

"If you wanted to put me at a disadvantage" Shadow stared the army down as he took off one of his rings. Rouge backed off without Shadow even needing to say anything. "You should've brought more than this." Both rings dropped to the ground as Shadow charged the horde.

--

"Do you really think those two will be alright by themselves?" Silver asked as the Trio arrived in what looked to be a large library, they'd lost track of Eggman Nega but given the lingering smell of engine oil they were sure he'd been through here.

"Shadow is a capable fighter and Rouge is no slouch herself. I'm sure the two of them will be fine." Blaze reassured Silver. She knew he was the type to worry, so she doubted it'd do much good.

"At any rate we must focus on the task at hand. Be on guard this is the perfect place for an ambush. So many places for our enemies to hide." Espio warned in a stern tone. Almost on cue he heard movement behind one of the book cases.

The Trio stood back to back watching all angles for any movement before as if on cue Metal Sonic 3.0 stepped into view, knowing he had lost the element of surprise he didn't see much point in hiding.

"Of course who else would Eggman Nega trust to handle this. Silver, Blaze go after the doctor, I'll handle him." Espio ordered in a cool collected tone, clearly not intimidated despite the apparent mismatch.

"Are you sure you can handle this Espio?" Silver didn't exactly sound confident which earned him an icy stare from the ninja.

"Neither of your powers work on him remember? Even if I'm outmatched by him I'm still our best chance, your time would be better spent fighting Eggman Nega." Espio argued momentarily, flashing a confident smirk. "Besides I'm not entirely convinced I can't win."

"If he says he's okay then we should trust him, come on Silver." Blaze took The hedgehog's hand and ran ahead to leave, Metal Sonic 3.0 rushed the pair but swerved to the side to avoid a shuriken from Espio.

"Your fight is with me" Espio glared at the Robot, now he had it's full attention.

"Be careful Espio" Silver called back to him as he and Blaze ran out of sight.

"Always am," Espio replied with a smirk.

NEW TARGET: ESPIO THE CHAMELEON.

THREAT LEVEL: NEGLIGIBLE

3.0 rushed forward aiming to strike Espio in the side of the head. But before he reached his opponent the Chameleon faded from view before avoiding the attack, completely blending into the surroundings.

Metal 3.0 looked around for Espio, his sensors working over time to try and pick up any trace of his opponent, but there was nothing; it wasnothing; it was as if the chameleon had completely disappeared.

Espio eyed the robot from behind one of the bookshelves, being sure to control his breathing in order to remain as quiet as possible, silently he drew one of his Kunai and approached 3.0 from behind. In one swift motion he thrust the kunai forward into the back of 3.0's propulsion system sparks flew everywhere as the robot stumbled forward. Damaged but still operational. 3.0 grabbed the chameleon's wrist, throwing him into a nearby bookshelf. The robot tried to dash forward to follow up on his attack but its engine simply sparked, too damaged to function.

"You might not realise it," Espio dragged himself back to his feet, getting into a fighting stance. "But you've just lost this fight"

--

Shadow dispatched the last of the Mephiles duplicates, before collapsing to his knees, gasping for breath. "I haven't seen you take off those rings in a while just who was that guy anywa-" Rouge went quiet as she was struck from behind by Mephiles.

"She isn't dead, not yet anyway." The entity let the spy fall to the ground before noticing Shadow reaching for his inhibitor rings. He stood on the hedgehog's hand before kicking the rings out of reach. Shadow looked up to his copy only to be met with a kick to the face knocking him to the ground.

"Look at you! You can barely stand!" Mephiles exclaimed, kicking Shadow repeatedly in the stomach, enough to make even him cry out in pain. "And you truly believed you could defeat me! The very idea is laughable." Mephiles stamped on the hedgehogs. Before finally rendering Shadow unconscious with another kick to the head.

"I'll let your friend live for now, long enough to be incinerated by the Ifrit anyway." Mephiles Gloated before dragging Shadow into Mystic haunt, Having a hostage could be useful and it wasn't like Shadow could fight back like this even if he woke up.

--

3.0 charged Espio on foot aiming a flurry of punches towards the Ninja who easily evaded all of them. Without his engine he wasn't fast enough to even touch Espio. Before he even had time to react Espio threw him over his shoulder.

RECALCULATING

THREAT LEVEL: SIGNIFICANT

CHANCES OF VICTORY: 12%

"It is as I said, you've lost this fight" The Machine barely had time to look up at the Ninja before a Kunai went through its head shutting it down, permanently.

Espio brushed himself off preparing to follow after Silver and Blaze but before he even had a moment to compose himself he was struck in the back of the head by Mephiles leaving the Ninja unconscious.

--

Mephiles is a Menace this Chapter and I wanted to give Espio something cool.

Also I feel like Mephiles baiting Shadow into taking off his rings makes sense right? That's how Shadow beat him in 06