Werewolf99: Just to clear something up: I do not, under any circumstances, include characters made by my reviewers in my fanfics. Heck, I don't even like including characters I made up. Though Wario is still working behind the scenes with his own plan, which also involves Donkey Kong.

So, I decided to start work on this one quickly. Because I want to. I like doing the fight scenes! And the ones where the characters become friends, of course!

… And, a note, Iblis is a LOT stronger here, mostly because we've got SEVEN heroes fighting it, and… Well, it's supposed to be the strength component of a god. That just screams power.

Chapter 12 (VS Iblis)

Iblis was truly an ugly creature. It was a sort of lava snake, with sharp horns surrounding its head. It had turned the entire landscape around to lava – Apart from a few platforms that the seven heroes were now standing on.

Mario was the first one to make a move – Dashing at the edge of a platform, he did a Long Jump to reach another, and quickly one more long jump to kick Iblis straight in the eye.

Iblis didn't like that at all, and tried to fry Mario with some flames. Mario deflected the flames with his firebrand, before grabbing onto one of the horns and using it to swing himself back to safety.

By this time, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles were on the move. Knuckles was gliding Shadow in close while the latter shot Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear at the flaming creature. Tails was flying Sonic above the creature, and kicked him at it once he was close enough. Sonic was surrounded by an aura of electricity, homing in on the creature. As Sonic bounced off and back to the platform, Tails was already curled into a ball to fall directly on the creature's eye.

Rouge swooped past Tails as he flew back, throwing her special bombs at Iblis. They stuck to it, exploding once Rouge was far enough away.

Luigi hadn't moved – He was too terrified, and he wasn't even sure what he could do to help. There was no way he was surefooted enough to directly hit the creature like Mario had, and his only other option was summoning lightning. And, frankly, Luigi really enjoyed Tails' company. He didn't want to scare the little fox.

As everyone returned from their first wave of attacks, Iblis roared and shot fire at them. Mario was able to get rid of it by returning his own fire, but there was still a problem.

"We appear to be doing very little damage," Shadow said. "If we don't have some sort of edge, it's quite possible Iblis will outlast and overwhelm us. Any ideas?"

… Hang on… There was something he could do! Luigi took out a Super Leaf, using it to gain a fox tail and ears.

"What the heck?" Shadow asked. "How did-"

"Power-ups!" Mario exclaimed. "That's it!" He took out an Ice Flower, tossing it to Sonic; and a Cape Feather, which he handed to Shadow.

Luigi gave Tails a Fire Flower and Rouge a Metal Mushroom.

Mario grinned before tossing a Rock Mushroom to Knuckles.

"Um, what?" Shadow asked, as the group avoided another barrage of fire.

"Power-ups," Mario explained. "You use it, you transform! Plain and simple."

"And how do you use these things, hm?" Rouge asked, turning over her Metal Mushroom in her hands.

"Just… Erm, imagine using its power?" Mario suggested. "Luigi and I… Um… Well, it just comes naturally to us."

Shadow rolled his eyes, but tried nonetheless. To his surprise, the feather disappeared in a puff of smoke that enveloped him, and when he came out of it he was wearing a yellow cape.

Encouraged by Shadow's success, Sonic tried his next. He gained a furry scarf around his neck, and he changed from a royal blue to a lighter, icy blue. Tails' fur changed from yellow to reddish-orange, with his gloves and the white parts of his shoes turning a yellow-orange color.

Rouge's body became encased in metal, though she found she could still move and breathe just as easily. Knuckles used his, and his shoes became stone while a stone outfit appeared on his body. Like Rouge, he had no trouble moving anyway.

"Alright! Quick explanation," Mario said, as the group dodged more fire. "Shadow, you can fly, and don't be afraid to use your cape as a weapon or shield! It's excellent at both. Sonic, Tails, you've got Ice and Fire, respectively. You can control these elements, use their attacks, as long as you've still got the power. Sonic, you can run on the lava if you want. Knuckles – Rock and Roll! Literally, curl into a ball, and you'll become a practically invincible boulder. And Rouge… You're metal. Do whatever you want, because nothing will hurt you before it wears off. Everyone got it? Good. Let's-a-go!"

With that, the battle resumed with renewed fierceness. Sonic was the first one to attack, dashing forward over the lava, ice appearing under his feet as he moved forward. He did a spin dash straight into the monster's stomach, encased in ice as he shot forward. The cold proved to be extremely effective, as Iblis screamed in anger. It shot fireballs out again, only for them to be intercepted by Shadow's new cape as the black hedgehog swooped down to attack it with his own spin attack, made far deadlier by the cape he wore.

Rouge waded through the lava, and started whaling away on Iblis with kicks, and the powerful being couldn't even do anything to stop her. Whenever he tried, he was interrupted by another blast of ice from Sonic or a whack with a cape from Shadow.

In his fox form, Luigi flew in, stomping on Iblis's grotesque green eye a few times before he was thrown back to the platform.

"This is freaking awesome!" Sonic yelled, as he chucked another ball of ice in Iblis's face. "Man, I should've tried this before!"

"I admit, flying under my own power is quite enjoyable," Shadow said, as he ripped the cape off to deflect a fireball, putting it back on before he'd even fallen a foot. "And the means is functional in other ways, too."

Iblis roared again, but was met with something unpleasantly hot entering its mouth. Tails had flown Mario over to the fight, and now both were flinging fireballs at Iblis relentlessly – Mario with impeccable aim due to his Firebrand, Tails with great power do to his Fire Flower.

In this fast-paced blitz of attack, Iblis didn't see Knuckles gliding above it and curling into a ball until a two-ton echidna-boulder dropped on its head and rolled down its body. As he crashed into a platform, Knuckles was able to latch onto the wall and bring himself up.

Iblis roared again, and began thrashing about. Sonic was forced to retreat, and Rouge's relentless ongoing attack was cut short as its tail hit her back to the platforms they'd started on.

"Heh, this guy really knows how to throw a party!" Sonic exclaimed, before curling into another icy spindash just as a joint attack by Shadow and Luigi sent Iblis closer to the platform. Tails brought Mario down just as Sonic landed, and the hedgehog and the fox shared a silent conversation. Both Sonic and Tails curled up into spindashes, Tails surrounded by fire and Sonic by ice. They released at the same time, plowing Iblis straight into another rocky welcome courtesy of Knuckles.

"We're still not getting very far," Shadow yelled from far above. "We're doing better, but this thing is just too powerful! We're probably going to have to use some more draining moves to take it out!"

"Right!" Tails yelled back. "Sonic? Rolling Combo?"

"Read my mind, bro!" Sonic said, grabbing onto Tails' hand. They curled into a joint spindash, both fire and ice surrounding them. They shot forward together with even greater speed than the two speedsters could achieve on their own, plowing straight into Iblis's eye. As soon as they were out of range, Shadow swooped down to use his own attack, glowing red as he prepared to unleash it.

"CHAOS… BLAST!" Shadow yelled, causing a massive explosion to emit from his body and damage Iblis. The force of the blast caused him to use his cape, but he expertly landed next to Sonic and Tails regardless.

Knuckles chose that moment to show up, looking like nothing less than a flaming drill with his Maximum Heat Knuckles attack. He dashed through the fiery being, damaging it everywhere, and landed next to Sonic and Tails.

Rouge's Metal form having worn off by now, she started spinning on the spot, her left hand in the air. "Black Wave!" she exclaimed, a ripple of dark energy emerging from her and striking Iblis straight in the eye.

Despite all this abuse, Iblis stubbornly clung on. It roared again, though it sounded weaker than before. Mario remained next to the five who had just attacked, ready to defend them at a moment's notice, while Luigi remained flying above the battle, unsure of what to do.

Do I use it? What if Tails doesn't like me?

Iblis roared again, sounding stronger than the last time.

Then again, he did that thunder thing of his own, so maybe…

Iblis roared yet again, clearly recovering from the damage.

Gah! I guess I've got no choice. Luigi opened his palm, carefully aiming it towards Iblis, and raised his other hand to point at the dark clouds above.

"THUNDER!" A bolt of blue-white lightning shot from Luigi's hand, striking Iblis dead-on in the head, electrocuting the powerful demon. For several seconds, Luigi maintained the bolt, and electricity coursed around Iblis's body. Once he'd exhausted his electricity, Luigi stopped, and watched as Iblis fell into the lava, defeated.

Luigi fluttered down to his friends, and Mario gave him a high five. "Way to go, bro! Knew you could do it!"

"Wow, that was pretty sweet," Sonic said, sharing a high five with Luigi as well. "Like… ZAP! POW! Just, wow!"

"Impressive, I'll admit," Shadow said.

"… That was kind of terrifying," Tails said. Luigi's spirits fell, his fox ears drooping. "But… Also really, really cool!" Luigi perked up, and shared another high-five with his (currently) fellow fox.

"My. And here I had you pegged as a bit of a coward," Rouge said. "Just goes to show, you can't-"

A roar shook the ground, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles wasted no time jumping to defend Shadow, Rouge, and Mario from the onslaught of flame the not-so-defeated Iblis had just released. Everyone had been taken by surprise, unable to counterattack.

The wall of flame knocked Luigi backwards into Sonic and Tails and both of them onto Shadow and Rouge, causing the black hedgehog to accidentally release the Chaos Emerald, which skittered to a halt by Mario's foot. Mario himself had managed to narrowly avoid being smacked into by ninety pounds of echidna.

In two seconds, the fight had gone from "We won!" to "There's only one of us fit to fight left." Mario reacted fast, grabbing the green Chaos Emerald Shadow had dropped. The sheer power he felt from the Emerald nearly overwhelmed him, but he was able to keep it under control. Focusing on the Emerald, he drew on its power the best way he knew how – By absorbing it all into himself. The emerald became dull and lifeless, while Mario's body began to shimmer with a green glow. The rush of power was amazing – In that moment, Mario felt like he could do anything, no matter what.

He stowed the Emerald away, and used his power to draw on the fire around him – Twisting it, contorting it to his own will, making it his own. Mario's eyes glowed as his hands ignited. He continued to build up power, even using Iblis's flames to fuel his own.

"You know, I expected it would come to this!" Mario yelled at the mindless beast before him. "Me against you! Fire versus fire! But, here's the thing! There's only room for one master of fire here! One of us has to go!" Mario smirked. "And, let me tell you! It's not going to be the savior of the Star Rod, the destroyer of the Shadow Queen, the conqueror of the Shroobs! I've destroyed foes like you before! And in the end…"

Mario released the flames he'd gathered, watching as they burned through Iblis as massive twin dragons of fire, tearing Iblis's own flames from him, destroying the body and power of the great being.

"You're no different." As the flames, both Mario's and Iblis's, dissipated, Mario felt the Emerald's power leaving him and returning to its rightful place. The cyan emerald Iblis had swallowed dropped to the rapidly-cooling lava, and the dark clouds in the sky began to disperse.

Mario's friends were beginning to get up to stare at the spectacle that had just occurred. Shadow turned to stare at Mario, in awe of what he had done.

"You used the Chaos Emerald as though it was one of your power-ups," Shadow said. "Know this, Mario. Today, you impressed me. That's not an easy thing to do."

Tails had already flown down and brought the Cyan Emerald back up, to hand it to Shadow.

"Ah, good," Shadow said. "Now, who wants to pull it off? I believe Mario has proven he has… sufficient compatibility with Chaos Energy, but if anyone else would like to try… The more people who can use it, the better for the world."

"Eh, why not," Rouge said, reaching out for Shadow's Emerald.

"… I'd like to try," Tails said, reaching to Mario. "I don't really use the emeralds much… But, I guess if I don't try, I'll never get better, right?"

Mario nodded, handing Tails the green emerald.

"Alright. Just use it at the same time, and it should work, if you have the ability."

Rouge and Tails held up their emeralds, both shouting "CHAOS CONTROL!" Absolutely nothing happened with Rouge, though Tails did manage to move about three feet.

"Hmm… Rouge has no ability for it at all, I'm sorry to say," Shadow said. "And Tails, you do have the ability, however you aren't powerful or experienced enough to use it very well." He took the emeralds from Tails and Rouge, handing one to Luigi.

"Why me?" Luigi asked.

"You're the only one I don't know the potential of," Shadow said. "It's a bit of an… Experiment, as you will. We've got time, as we aren't in our own. And Wario made me curious – I would not have guessed humans would be able to use it. And yet, Wario and Mario both show a natural affinity for the energy."

"Um… Okay," Luigi said, holding the Emerald up. "On three, then?"

"Yes. One,"

"T-two…"

"Three. CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow yelled.

"C-chaos control!" Luigi echoed nervously. To his surprise, a swirling vortex immediately opened up near where he and Shadow had used the Emeralds.

Shadow nodded. "Good. You've got every bit the ability I expected of you. Now, everyone in!"

Tails and Sonic were the first to enter, eager to leave this place behind. Mario quickly jumped in after them, Knuckles and Rouge close behind him, leaving just Luigi and Shadow there.

Luigi looked at Shadow for a moment, before jumping in.

Shadow was about to follow, when he noticed something near him – A flame, a dark cloud of smoke, and a somewhat familiar figure emerging from it.

"YOU!" Mephiles screamed, a huge departure from his earlier behavior. "YOU – RUINED – EVERYTHING!"

Shadow dashed towards Mephiles as the portal behind him closed, trapping him in the future for the time being.

"YOUR LITTLE RED FRIEND, TOO!" Mephiles yelled, as he skated away from Shadow. "I honestly didn't think he'd be a problem, but look at this! HE'S DESTROYED MY OTHER HALF!"

Shadow let that sink in, and glared at Mephiles. Some things Wario had said back in Kingdom Valley were beginning to make more sense now.

"And you... YOU'RE THE START OF THE ENTIRE PROBLEM!" Mephiles yelled, suddenly pulling to a stop in front of Shadow. "I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, INSTEAD OF SENDING YOU HERE! A MISTAKE I PLAN TO RECTIFY RIGHT NOW!"

Hey, this is the longest chapter so far! And it's all one huge, climactic fight scene with seven heroes versus a being of near ultimate power.

Originally, Mario was just going to transform into Fire Mario, and use the Mario Finale that way. But I decided he needed to use the Chaos Emerald sometime, so he used its power the only way he knew how.

Now, things have really changed! Mephiles has gone off the deep end, due to the unforeseen factor in a pudgy plumber.

And, in case it was unclear (but I think it was pretty clear): Iblis is dead. After the beating it took from Silver before the story started, then the seven heroes here, it had no chance of standing up to a Chaos-powered Mario Finale.

And one thing that might be less clear: Daisy did, in fact, learn how to Petal Dash faster than the speed of sound in the previous chapter.