Chapter Thirteen: Mephilles the Dark

"Okay that's enough!"

"What!?" Sonic glared at Silver, who had just found him leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.

"You've been sulking for three days! Have you forgotten about Cloak Man?"

"Screw him." Sonic folded his arms, kicking the tree with the back of his foot as he said this.

"But the whole wor-"

"Tell you what psychic-boy," Sonic prodded Silver's chest harshly, "why don't you be the hero for once?"

"You are pathetic." Silver gave him a rough prod back, making Sonic grit his teeth.

"How d'ya figure that?" Sonic was slightly taller than Silver, and took advantage of this, standing up straight so he could look down on him.

"One, you seem to have given up just because of Blaze. Two, you are doing nothing about it!"

"What the hell could I do! There's nothing that will help."

"Whine some more, Sonic. I'm sure she'll find that really attractive in a guy." Sonic opened his mouth to retort, but closed hit, his expression softening slightly. They stared at each other for a few seconds, until Sonic said simply:

"Fine. We'll do it. Now."

Silver, not entirely sure of what he meant, had no time to ask before Sonic had sped off in the direction of the workshop.

"No! for God's sake-!" Silver had gotten back quickly, but not quickly enough. It was too late to stop Sonic from running outside with Tails' yellow fake Chaos Emerald, and out of the range of his cloaking device.

"What? I'm gonna get Cloak Man." The hedgehog shrugged.

"And I'm supposed to be naive!" he snatched the fake emerald from Sonic, but heard a cold voice from behind him.

"I thought I told you to cease your search for the emeralds."

Silver yelped and lashed around. There was no one behind him, he sighed, perhaps it was the wind...

"Well?"

"Yaargh!" As the Silver hedgehog turned back he saw Cloak Man, his face no more than five inches from his own.

"I will take this." He kicked Silver backwards and jumped a few feet away, he took a second look at the emerald, and his eyes went wide, "Wait..."

Sonic saw this opportunity, and struck Cloak Man in the back with a spin dash. He fell backwards and seemed to make a growling noise, before diving at Sonic at an incredible speed. Sonic was ready to punch, he swung, but his fist felt no impact. "What!?" Sonic stopped, looking around frantically, there was no sign of Cloak Man, until he felt a terrible pain which he recognised as a kick to his back. As the hedgehog's face ploughed into the ground, he managed to flip and land on his feet, if not a little unsteadily. Silver was unconscious, but he wasn't sure whether to be glad or infuriated as he saw Shadow and Blaze emerge from the nearby forest. Tails came out of the his house, closely followed by Marine. However, Cloak Man's attention was on Sonic, and Sonic alone. He seemed unaware of Shadow skating up behind him.

"You're not getting out of this, Cloak Man, I'm the fastest thing alive!" Cloak Man looked behind him, and figured that by Cloak Man, this blue hedgehog was referring to him. He would do what he must.

"It would seem then, that you are between me and my way out." He put his palm to face Sonic, a white aura of energy surrounding it. "Please move." Sonic stood his ground like the ever stubborn hedgehog that he was. "You leave me no-" Cloak Man was cut off, Sonic watched his eyes go wide, and he fell to the ground, six Chaos Emeralds falling around him. Shadow stood in his place, rubbing his fist.

Sonic stared at Shadow's scarlet eyes, thinking of whether or not he should punch him. He decided not to, and picked up a Chaos Emerald, the sky blue one.

"Ready?" He looked to Marine, trying to avoid Blaze's gaze, she nodded. He gripped the emerald tightly, "Chaos Control!"

Nothing happened, apart from a spark coming from the emerald. Everyone waited for a few seconds expectantly.

Sonic opened his mouth to speak again when he was engulfed in a bright, white light. He could see nothing, hear nothing.

The few seconds of him being stripped of his senses were torturous, and not soon enough, vision came back to his eyes, and sound come to his ears. He looked around to see everyone, Silver had managed to pull himself up, and Cloak Man seemed to be still unconscious. Sonic recognised where they all were immediately, and by the looks on the others' faces, they knew as well. They were in subspace.

"No!" A yell made the team shriek as Cloak Man seemed to jump up, grabbing Sonic by his non existant collar, "Do you have any idea what you have done!?" Sonic slowly shook his head, too shocked to retaliate properly.

"You have torn the universe apart! It was weakened after your whole assault with the Jewelled Scepter!"

"Well," Sonic slowly pried Cloak Man's suprisingly strong fingers from him, "Is there anything you can do?"

"Me!? You, need to destroy the thing that is keeping the universes apart!"

"And that would be?" Sonic felt cold breath on his shoulder, he looked to Cloak Man, who merely nodded. Turning around slowly, he rested his eyes on the single darkest being he had ever known. "M-Mephilles?"

"Mephilles the Dark." Mephilles floated backwards, he then swiped his hand and a wave of dark energy swept from it. Cloak Man stood in front of Sonic, blocking it, the others weren't so lucky, as Sonic saw when he opened his eyes. They were all sprawled out, some on top of each other, unconscious and looking badly injured.

"Guys!" Sonic felt a hand on his shoulder, Cloak Man's.

"There are bigger things at hand, Sonic."

The two turned to look at Mephilles, who Sonic was sure, would be grinning if he had a mouth. "I see you have met my brother already."

Cloak Man nodded as Sonic gave him a questioning look, "Who are you?"

I think this chapter may have been a little rushed, I'm still pleased with it though, I'm sure the next chapter will be better. Not really any romance development in this chapter, which may disappoint some, so sorry for that, but there will be a little more next chapter and if not, a lot more in chapter fifteen... I think.

Also, this is now my longest story yet! Thanks for reading.