12:20 p.m.

As Sonic is still carrying Elise, they enter an open grassy field. As Sonic runs up a hill, he stops and puts Elise down.

"I have no words to express how grateful I am for your help," the princess thanks him. She then notices Sonic holding his arm in pain. "Are you okay?! You look hurt!"

"Don't worry about it," says Sonic, "It's probably just from holding you too long."

"Don't say that," says Elise as she massages the hedgehog's arm, "I'm sorry. This is all my fault..."

"I said don't worry about it," Sonic replies, "Just smile."

"Smile?" Elise wonders. No one has ever told her that before...

A butterfly then flies over and lands on Sonic's nose, making the princess smile.

"See?" says Sonic, "Your smile... That's all I need." The two stand up and start walking. "Eggman mentioned something about a Flames of Disaster," Sonic begins the conversation, "Is that why he's after you?"

"Yes; the name of the sun god our country honors is Solaris," Elise explains, "It is told that Solaris's rage would destroy the world."

"That's crazy!" Sonic interrupts, "I've run really fast, and I haven't even come close to breaking the sound barrier!"

Elise shakes her head saying, "Solaris is not like that... His wrath comes in the form of the Flames of Disaster. Ten years ago, we almost faced the full force of his fury. I was a child then, so I don't remember it very well. I also lost my father at the time... And now Dr. Eggman is trying to cause the same disaster again! What can I do?"

"I don't know what to say..." says Sonic, "What happened to your mom? Was she ever around?"

"No..." answers the upset princess, "She died when I was a baby. I barely knew her..."

Sonic stands there, thinking of a way to cheer her up. Finally having an idea in his head, he grabs Elise's hand and the two start running.

"Sonic?" Elise starts, "Sonic, wait! I can't run that fast!"

The hedgehog turns his head saying, "Don't worry; just raise your head and run!"

After a few minutes of running, Sonic and Elise are laying down in the grassy fields. Sonic turns to the princess asking, "Feels great, doesn't it?"

"Yes," Elise answers, catching her breath after running, "I-I've never run so fast before. Especially in heels."

"Nothing starts until you take action," says Sonic.

"Excuse me?" the princess questions, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is... If you have time to worry, then run!" the hedgehog answers.

Elise slightly chuckles and says, "Then I might have to get some running shoes."


Meanwhile, in Kingdom Valley...

Shadow and Rouge arrive in Kingdom Valley, a deserted kingdom with zero scenery, broken buildings, and very cloudy weather.

"The former king of Soleanna used to live in this castle," Rouge, holding the Scepter of Darkness, explains to her partner, "But a major accident occurred ten years ago, and no one's been here since."

"Accident?" Shadow follows.

"I heard a prototype energy engine failed, which caused the accident," Rouge keeps talking, "I think the name of the plan was -"

"The Solaris Project," a voice interrupts her. Turns out that voice belongs to none other than Dr. Eggman, arriving in his Egg Mobile.

The agents could not believe their eyes: the evil doctor looks different than usual. "Doctor!" Rouge cries, "You look hideous!"

"Yikes!" Shadow comments, "That's another bad case of plastic surgery gone wrong!"

"Why thank you, my dear Rouge, and of course, Shadow," Eggman says with sarcasm.

"Just what are you doing here, anyways?" Shadow wants to know.

"I just got a call from Robot, telling me that the Scepter of Darkness went missing!" the human explains, "And we're assuming that you two took it! I want it back!"

"Yeah right," Rouge snarks as she hovers in the air, "You're not getting this back."

Eggman smiles and presses a button in his Egg Mobile, signaling his robots. The Egg Gunners surround the agents, and start shooting them. Shadow and Rouge, of course, dodge the bullets.

Eggman, watching the battle in boredom, screams out of nowhere, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" He hovers around in his mobile and hits Rouge with it.

Rouge loses her flight, lets go of the scepter, and falls down.

Shadow sees his partner falling from the sky. "Rouge!" he screams as he runs over to her and catches her bridal style.

Rouge looks up and is relieved to see the hedgehog. "Thanks," she says, then turns around and sees the scepter dropping to the ground, shattering, making the robots short-circuit. "The scepter!" Rouge yells.

They were too late. The scepter is now broken, and the two teenagers are worried about what's going to happen next.

Shadow puts Rouge down and apologizes to her, "This is my fault. I should have grabbed the scepter first."

"No Shadow," Rouge disagrees while on the verge of tears, "You did the right thing. Besides, this is all Eggman's fault."

Eggman is flabbergasted at this. His fault?! "Excuse me?!"

She then turns to the human screaming, "If you didn't hit me with your stupid vehicle, I would have been fine, and the scepter wouldn't have broke!"

"You're confused!" Eggman screams back, "If you two didn't steal the scepter, it wouldn't have broke!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STOLE IT, YOU IDIOT!" Rouge yells back.

As Rouge and Eggman argue, Shadow walks over to the scepter, only for some dark smoke to leak from it.

"What the-?" Shadow reacts. Rouge and Eggman turn around to see the smoke.

"What is that goo coming out of the scepter?" Rouge questions in disgust.

"I don't know," answers Shadow, "We'll just have to wait and see."

The smoke/goo then rockets into the air and follows Eggman. The doctor sees the darkness and screams, "Nope!" and leaves the area with his Egg Mobile.

After Eggman leaves, the dark purple smoke knocks down the robots one by one and shoots into the ground in front of Shadow. Shadow's shade is drawn into it, and a black/dark gray hedgehog, who oddly looks like Shadow himself, emerges from the smoke.

Rouge, with a horrified look on her face, screams to her male ally, "Shadow! Your shadow! It's scary!"

Shadow looks down and sees that his shadow is missing. "I don't see it, dummy," he says to Rouge.

"Look up," says the suspicious hedgehog.

Shadow looks up and gasps at the hedgehog.

The no-mouthed hedgehog laughs maniacally, then says, "Oh how ironic fate can be! I would have never believed I would be resurrected through your shade! I thank you, Shadow Perez-Rodriguez!"

The hedgehog bows, and Shadow asks, "Who are you, and how do you know my name?"

"And why don't you have a mouth?" Rouge asks in disgust.

"I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark," says the hedgehog, "but my lack of mouth is a mystery."

"But that still doesn't explain how you know my name," says Shadow, "Why are strange creatures like that to me?"

"You forgot me, didn't you?" Mephiles asks as he walks towards Shadow like a creepy puppet.

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asks, "I don't even know you!"

"I owe so much to you Shadow," Mephiles says as he forms a purple orb in his hand, "What you gave to me, I now return to you: a one-way ticket to oblivion!"

All three animals are surrounded in the purple orb and they all disappear.


And that was Chapter 6! Yes, this chapter took forever to complete, but it's finally here! Just a reminder, there are two Mephiles' in this story: one you just saw in this story, and the other one who wants Sonic dead.

Next chapter, Silver and Amy encounter Sonic. Remember to leave a review and I'll see you next chapter!