Shadow lunged at Mephiles, but the demon flew out of the way.
"Drown in darkness!" Mephiles yelled, flinging an orb at him.
Shadow jumped out of the way, and threw a Chaos Spear at him. Mephiles vanished, and the team started looking around for him.
"Where'd he go?" Vector asked.
Charmy and I were near a couple of pillars, out of harm's way.
"So, are we just supposed to stand here and let them have all the fun?" Charmy asked.
"Exactly what can we do against a demon?" I asked.
"I dunno, but it'd beat twiddling our thumbs."
I was about to point out we didn't really have any special powers like Chaos energy or ninja skills, when suddenly something emerged from the ground behind us.
We turned to see a giant purple monster, its large jaws open and displaying its razor sharp teeth. We gazed up at it, mouths hanging open.
"Big monster…" Charmy mumbled.
"Yep…" I added.
At the same moment, we both shouted, "SHADOW!"
The monster let out a roar, before Shadow rammed into it, followed by Rouge and a couple missiles from Omega. We were moved out of the way by Espio, and set us down a few feet away.
"Stay here, you'll be safe." He said.
"That's what you said about our last hiding place." Charmy muttered.
"Hey Espio, Vector, you stay with them, make sure nothin' happens to 'em." Rouge ordered
"Alright."
With our new body guards, we felt much safer.
"Go get him Shadow! Knock his block off!" Charmy cheered.
Mephiles had created three more of the giant monster things, but each were defeated by team Dark. Mephiles was steadily losing his patience, this I could tell. His eyes were glowing brighter, and his attacks much more violent.
Omega was the first to get sent flying, and he slammed into one of the pillars on the other side of the room. Rouge was hit by an orb and flew into one of the pillars next to us.
"I don't think things are going well…" Vector remarked.
"We're doomed…" Charmy moaned.
"Wait, there's still Shadow. If he goes down, then we're doomed." I stated, trying to calm them. I was just as nervous though. Team Dark wasn't supposed to lose, they were supposed to beat Mephiles the first time.
Shadow growled as he lunged at Mephiles, throwing punches and kicks, while Mephiles just as quickly blocked them.
"Come on Shadow get him! Go for the jugular! Right punch! Go!" Charmy and Vector were shouting.
Espio and I were watching silently.
"Do you think he'll win?" I asked.
"Just keep believing." Espio replied quietly.
For some reason, that didn't comfort me.
"We gotta do something." I remarked.
"Like what?" Charmy asked.
"I don't know, just-"
Suddenly there was a small explosion, and a small cloud of smoke was in the center of the room. Shadow flew from it, and hit the ground with a grunt. As he was standing, a black of tendril of smoke wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides, and Mephiles emerged from the smoke. I could picture the smirk on his face as he approached Shadow.
"Okay, now are we doomed?" Charmy asked.
"Umm…give me a sec, I'm thinkin…" I replied.
Mephiles snickered as he circled the trapped Shadow.
"My, my, my most hated enemy now at my mercy, what to do, what to do?" he mused, tilting Shadow's head up. Said hedgehog let out a growl, glaring daggers at Mephiles.
Mephiles snickered, raising his other hand, his claws glinting dangerously.
"HEY!"
A small rock struck the side of Mephiles' head, and he rolled his eyes as he turned to face me and the Chaotix.
"Nice throw!" Vector remarked.
"Now what?" Espio asked.
"Ummm…."
"You don't have a plan?" The Chaotix exclaimed.
"Well, no…honestly I didn't think I'd make it this far…" I mumbled. Milo flicked his tail in annoyance.
An orb hit the ground a few feet away from us.
"Okay new plan. RUN!" I shouted.
We yelped and ran out of the way of another orb.
"We need another plan!" Charmy yelled.
"You think?" I shouted.
As I was running, I tripped over my own foot. Sad, I know. I hit the ground, and glanced behind me to see Mephiles. His hands were raised, an orb forming. I yelped, trying to scramble backwards. As I glanced up at him in fear, he seemed thrown off for a moment, the orb fizzling out, and he was looking at me with a mixture of confusion and deep thought.
Suddenly Espio rammed into him, and Shadow broke free of the mist and jumped in front of me, and he and Espio were standing between me and Mephiles. Vector and Charmy helped me up, and Rouge and Omega rejoined the fight.
Shadow and Omega struck Mephiles with a Chaos Spear and Omega Blast, and he was thrown back. Those last blows must've drained him, as he started melting into a puddle of black goo.
"Eww…" Charmy muttered in disgust.
"Alright, let's get to sealing him." Vector announced.
Shadow stepped forward, the Scepter of Darkness in his hands. It glowed and floated into the air, and Mephiles was sucked into it.
"Well, guess that's that-" Vector started.
Suddenly the scepter glowed brighter, and Shadow took a step back. It shattered, and a bright light filled the area, forcing us to cover our eyes, and the temple shuddered. Milo yowled and jumped into my arms.
"What's goin' on?" Charmy shouted.
After a minute it died down, and we were able to look up.
"It's destroyed!" Rouge yelled.
The scepter was shattered, and the dark mist was swirling around in the air.
"Er, did I forget to mention that the scepter, um, wouldn't work?" I asked, wanting to kick myself for forgetting.
"Yeah, you might've neglected to share that info." Rouge grumbled.
The mist swirled as Mephiles started to reform from it.
"The I of now absorbed your power from your shadow in the past," he stated as his head and arms appeared first, "What may have worked 10 years ago no longer does!"
He sent a blast of energy at us.
"Uh oh." I muttered. Shadow moved in front of me just before it hit. The first wasn't so bad, but the second sent everyone flying. I ended up landing on top of Vector, and he was gasping for air.
"Er, thanks for breaking my fall, Vector." I said with a nervous laugh.
The green and yellow emeralds appeared above Mephiles, moving in an eternity symbol, and he spread his arms. As he did, multiple perfect clones of him appeared, surrounding us.
"Um, guys?" I asked.
Shadow was the first to move, and as he glared up at Mephiles, Rouge and Omega started moving. Espio and Charmy got up, and we helped Vector, who was still trying to catch his breath, to his feet.
"You must realize now you cannot hope to stop me with your 'limited' power." Mephiles stated.
"So you say." Shadow retorted, getting to his feet.
"It's futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"
'Here we go!' I thought with a smirk.
Shadow smirked.
"If the world chooses to become my enemy," he said, removing one of his rings, "Then I will fight like I always have."
He removed the other one, and it fell to the ground with a clang.
"Stay close everybody." Rouge stated with a smirk.
There was an explosion of golden light, and I quickly hopped onto Omega's shoulder, along with Charmy and Milo, and we followed Shadow as he plowed through the mass of clones.
"THIS. IS. AWESOME!" I shouted.
"WOO-HOO! GO SHADOW!" Charmy cheered.
The clones didn't stand a chance against Shadow at full power.
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So, we finally beat Mephiles! Or did we? Stay tuned! R&R!