After attacking a bunch of weird fire creatures, while I waited on the sidelines behind some rocks or whatever I could find, the Mobians and I finally reached a clearing.

A Chaos emerald hovered over a lava pit. Rouge jumped into the air and flew up to it.

"I found a Chaos emerald." she announced.

Oh no, I forgot about this.

"Wait Rouge!" I yelled.

"Don't touch it!" Shadow shouted.

There was a roar, and a giant worm looking thing burst from the lava. Rouge landed and Shadow got in front of her. The others got ready to fight, while I hid behind Tails.

The worm, a form of Iblis, shot lava balls at us. Everyone dove out of the way, including me. I ducked behind some rocks.

"Go for it, you guys." I cheered, peeking over the rocks.

Shadow flung Chaos spears at it, while Sonic Spin dashed it on another side.

Iblis roared angrily, and a large ring of fire burst out from its body, throwing everybody back. It shot another lava ball...directly at me.

I was frozen in place as it came closer. I could feel the heat radiating from it.

I faintly heard Rouge yell my name, and as the fireball came closer I screamed. There was a split second where arms picked me up, then I was out of the way, and the rocks were blown to bits.

"That was close." Sonic said with a laugh. He set me on the ground, where I sat shivering slightly, despite the intense heat.

"You ok?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Just stay here, and we'll handle this firebug."

I nodded, and Sonic ran back at the worm.

After about 30 minutes, Iblis was finally defeated, and he was reduced to a small flame.

"Whew..." Rouge sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"About time that thing went down." Knuckles panted.

"Alright let's get this Chaos Control on the road."

"Wait, we haven't found Milo yet!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I gotta get back to our time so we can save Elise." Sonic said, regret showing on his face.

Elise, I'd totally forgotten about her.

By now, Eggman must've kidnapped her again, and Sonic would be going back to rescue her.

"Right, Elise. Then you guys go, but I'm not leaving without my Milo." I retorted.

"Kassie, we'll come back and find him. I promise, but right now we have to get back so we can do some research." Rouge said tentatively.

"No. I'm staying until I find him; I'm not about ta..." I trailed off when a strange sensation overtook me.

It felt weird, like I was being drawn toward something.

Someone...

My eyes widened, and I looked out into the distance.

"Hey, you ok?" Sonic asked.

I didn't answer, and then started running.

Where, I don't know, but somehow my feet knew where to go.

"Kassie get back here!" Shadow yelled.

He looked at Sonic.

"We'll do Chaos Control, and you guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just go."

Shadow and Sonic each held up a Chaos emerald, and shouted, "Chaos Control!"

A portal opened up, and Sonic's gang immediately jumped into it.

"You go to Rouge." Shadow ordered.

"Shadow, there's no way I'm-"

"Rouge."

Shadow's tone told her she should probably do what he said.

She jumped through the portal, and Shadow tossed the Chaos emerald in after her.

Shadow looked back in the direction Iblis had been, and saw Mephiles rise from the ground.

Their eyes locked for a minute, before Mephiles flew off. Shadow raced after him.

Xoxoxo

I was panting badly, but I didn't stop. He was near, very near...

I reached a large clearing that looked familiar, but I couldn't recall it at the moment.

I looked around, but I couldn't see Milo anywhere.

"Where are you?" I murmured.

"Depends on who you're looking for." a deep voice that sent chills up my spine replied.

I slowly turned to face the speaker. There was no mistaking it.

My eyes locked with a pair of bright green ones that were slitted like a cat's.

"Who might you be?" Mephiles inquired, slowly walking towards me.

I suddenly realized why this place was familiar. This was where he and Shadow had fought the first time.

"Uh...I'm...uh..." I stammered, backing up a little.

"Shy are we?" he chuckled.

I blushed slightly.

"I'm...I'm just looking for someone..."

"Who?"

I gulped. "Uhh...no one you know..."

"Try me."

I gulped again. This had to be the worst idea I've ever had, and believe me, there've been a lot of those...

Xoxoxo

Milo's POV...

I heard a voice, and my ears perked up.

I lifted my head, and swiveled my ears in the direction it came from.

"I'm looking for someone..."

It was a girl's voice.

Her voice!

I jumped to my feet and ran to the edge of the rock.

I saw a strange looking girl facing a strange looking hedgehog thing.

The girl spoke again, and I recognized her voice.

I jumped down the way I came, and ran toward her with a joyful yowl.

Xoxoxo

My POV

I heard a yowl, and broke my gaze from Mephiles to see an orange cat running towards me.

To say I was overjoyed, despite the danger close by, was an understatement.

I ran toward Milo and met him halfway, and he leapt into my arms.

Normally, he'd scratch my arms up if I hugged him as tightly as I was, but he didn't. He just purred like an engine.

"I missed you, kitty." I said with a smile.

Mephiles clearing his throat brought my attention back to the danger at hand.

"Uh, like I was saying, I was looking for my cat." I stammered standing and backing away.

"I believe that. I just wanted to see if you happened to know a Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Um, nope. Never heard of him. Now, we'll be on our way-"

I was cut off when my phone rang. I hit answer, and too late realized I had it on speaker, and Shadow started shouting as soon as I answered.

"Kassie! Where the hell are you? I have been looking all over for you! Rouge and the others already went back to the present! You better tell me where you are right now, or I'll-"

I hung up, and smiled nervously at Mephiles.

"Uh, heh heh...don't you just hate wrong numbers?" I asked; sweat beading up on my skin.

Mephiles chuckled, and before I had a chance to run he threw a glowing purple orb at me.

A yellow energy bolt hit it, and a small explosion threw smoke into the air. When it cleared, Shadow stood in front of me, glaring at Mephiles.

"Sh-Shadow?" I stammered.

"So, decided to void your return ticket, now did you?" Mephiles asked mockingly.

I remembered this scene; it was one of my favorites.

"Why are you here? Did you ruin this world?" Shadow asked, ignoring Mephiles question.

"The answer's yes and no." Mephiles replied.

His answer had always kinda confused me.

Wait a second, this scene...it was called Mephiles' Whisper for a reason.

'This is the scene where-' I let out a quiet gasp.

"Perhaps it's better to show you." Mephiles raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

An apparition appeared, and as Shadow looked at it closely, he let out a soft gasp that I could barely hear, and he took a small step back. Before us was an image of a strange capsule like device, and inside it was Shadow…though he didn't look too lively.

"Yes, that's you," Mephiles assured him, "After the world was devastated by Iblis' flames, what do you think happened?"

Shadow looked back at him.

"A search for the guilty." Mephiles finished, waving his hands kinda like a magician as he spoke. "Who did this you may ask?"

"Humanity wasn't just jealous of your power, they feared it."

Shadow slowly looked down, and I could tell he was very upset despite his impressive cover up.

"They used this incident as an excuse to hunt you down." Mephiles continued.

I gave Shadow and sympathetic look.

"Come with me, Shadow." Mephiles offered, holding his hand out to him.

I felt my heart jump up to my throat.

"Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It's only fair to give back what was intended for you. You have every right to want justice."

I looked up at Mephiles, then back at Shadow, who had been silent all this time.

"That's absurd." he finally spoke. He glared up at Mephiles.

"Whatever it is you wanna do, you can do it alone."

"HA!" I shouted in triumph, smirking up at Mephiles. The twosome gave me an annoyed glare, and I glanced at the ground. "Sorry…"

"You forgive humanity this folly then?" he asked, indicating the apparition.

Shadow looked at his hand and closed it into a fist.

"I determine my own destiny." he said, nodding in acceptance.

Mephiles glared down at us, and then threw his arms out. A blinding light flashed, then dimmed, and Mephiles had an entirely new look. Most called it his crystalline form.

Personally, it was my favorite form of his. At the moment however, I realized this wasn't a game, I could really get hurt or worse.

"Get back, Kassie." Shadow ordered, getting into a fighting stance.

"Can do." I replied. I ran behind a large pillar of rock, and Milo and I watched the twosome, feeling the tension and loathing in the air.

This was the best fight of the game, next to the last fight between these two of course.

Xoxoxo

And now, the fight between Mephiles and Shadow begins! R&R!