Shadow returned to his own timeline, expecting everything to be okay. The hedgehog returned to the same street as before, feeling as though the scenery around him had become dull after arriving there yet another time. He hoped for the time travelling nonsense to end there. He brushed his hands together and turned around to head back to Rouge's apartment to check that everything was back to normal. The hedgehog felt his heart skip a beat and shock fill his body. When he turned 180 degrees, Mephiles was stood right in front of him, so closely that their faces almost touched each other. Shadow could see in Mephiles' eyes that the demon was furious. The crystalline hedgehog reached out to grab Shadow by the scruff of his chest. Shadow was in shock, so his reaction was too slow to dodge. Mephiles held Shadow by his white fully chest fur and pulled the hedgehog right up to himself. Their faces were touching as of then. The glare in Mephiles' glowing red and green eyes made Shadow feel ever increasingly uncomfortable.
"H-how did you even escape?" Shadow trembled, while trying to break free of Mephiles' grip. He felt the sharp pain on the skin of his chest as each little strand of fur was tugged at. Mephiles let go of the ultimate life form, throwing him a small distance and causing him to land on his back. Shadow rubbed the back of his head while he hissed in pain after hitting it on the concrete ground.
"Time is infinite, Shadow. You may have left me to suffer in the freezing cold for billions of years… but I'm still as strong as I was when you left me. Did you forget that I can time travel? You must have thought that the world wouldn't see anything of me until the year you left me in. But look, here I am. It's like I never left," Mephiles said angrily. "The materials used to make the sceptre of darkness eventually eroded away, but I am unscathed by the insane lengths of time that I was left to sit alone in my thoughts."
Shadow cursed himself mentally. Of course the plan wouldn't work, and this is what happened when he did things in the spur of the moment. Shadow should have given himself more time to plan instead of doing what he thought was right the moment the idea came to his mind. He had to get rid of Mephiles permanently… not for a few seconds. Shadow looked up at Mephiles with hatred as his eye lids narrowed and his teeth clenched in anger.
"You'll be troubled to learn that sealing me away for all of that time didn't weaken or defeat me; it only means that we are once again uneven and that the revenge I made against you is no longer sufficient," Mephiles said, darkly. "Perhaps I would have been content to let you go with merely the death of your precious little 'friend.' But not now. Now, you have just made me angry. And now, Shadow the Hedgehog, you will pay the price for insulting a god!"
"Hah! What else could you possibly do to me that I can't solve? We both have the same time travelling powers, Mephiles. This could go on forever," Shadow scoffed. "You're wasting your own time."
Mephiles walked over to Shadow when he saw that hedgehog got ready to stand to his feet. The crystallised deity pushed Shadow's body down again by putting a foot on his chest. Shadow was pinned down with Mephiles' weight.
"Time isn't wasted when you're me. Time is infinite, remember?" Mephiles reminded Shadow condescendingly. The hedgehog choked out in pain and let out a few tears of agony as Mephiles's pointed the tip of his foot towards Shadow's abdomen. The spike of his crystalline form slowly broke through Shadow's fur and skin, then through his internal organs. The hedgehog helplessly clawed at the floor below him and squirmed about as though that would help him. Shadow may have been able to take a quick stabbing, but not a slow and painful journey through his gut. Mephiles twisted his foot slightly, making Shadow jolt and jerk about.
"S-s-s-s-stop."
"Are you begging, hedgehog?" Mephiles gloated. "Sadly, we've gone past the point in which begging can save you. If only you'd begged when I'd asked you, right?"
Shadow screamed out in agony and frustration. No one came to help him this time. It seemed all humans had cleared from the area at the site of a demon impaling a hedgehog through the stomach. He struggled until the tip of Mephiles' foot touched Shadow's spine. This made Shadow tremble and jerk even more, unable to control his actions. Shadow felt his chaos energy depleting just like before. It was going to happen all over again. His life had become an endless loop of fights with Mephiles and changing the timelines.
"Mephiles… we're going around in circles! I'll only absorb you again and we'll go through the same scenarios over and over!" Shadow warned, almost begging for him not to do it.
"Whatever makes you suffer, hedgehog," Mephiles taunted.
"But you'll get trapped inside of me again!"
"Exactly."
Feeling like he'd been condemned, Shadow struggled to fight his inevitable fate. The last of his Chaos Energy was slipping, even with the Chaos Emeralds in his possession. Mephiles must have been absorbing Shadow's Chaos Energy in order to deplete it quicker. Shadow could feel it leave through his abdomen, so it must have been true. The hedgehog attempted to reach for his inhibitor rings to give himself a boost of energy, but Mephiles made sure that the hedgehog's hands could not reach each other. With right foot, he stood on Shadow's left hand. The ultimate life form fought for as long as he could, but the inevitable happened. Mephiles was absorbed into Shadow's body again, but this time the demon didn't fight it.
With the absorption of a demi-god, came the instant healing of Shadow's body. The hedgehog stood up and immediately tried to solve the problem before it even began. The ultimate life form reached for his inhibitor rings, but was beaten to it when a terrible pain swept over his brain and caused him to put his hands on the sides of his head. It was happening already, Mephiles was assuming control over the hedgehog's body before he could get the chance to prevent it. Shadow attempted to walk forward, but stumbled to the floor as control over his legs became impossible. Mephiles was taking over already.
On his knees, Shadow fought as hard and as gallantly as he could. It felt as though his head was about to split open, so he had to keep it together; he cried out in pain, pushing the palms of his hands in into the temples in his head. With final scream of agony was the last scream Shadow made of his own will. Everything his body did after that… was the command of Mephiles.
Shadow's body, under the control of Mephiles, stood up and gave a soft chuckle.
"I wasn't entirely honest earlier. By imprisoning an immortal time traveller, not only do you incur their unending hatred, but you also give them plenty of time... to plan."
To be continued…
I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter. I've been busy so I kept forgetting to upload it. If there's no activity from this story for a few days and you'd like to read the next chapter, then remind me over PM.
Also, a huge thanks knockabiller. The story would have ended horribly if it weren't for their help. This chapter and the next few are the result of their ideas. So, credit goes to knockabiller for the continuation of this story.
Lucy Labrador