Monday, November 13; 11:45 a.m.

Back in Soleanna, the time-space rift appears, letting Rouge exit from it. Shadow is stuck in the future because he saw Mephiles, so who knows when Shadow will come back?

The white bat looks down at herself, seeing that her black leather jumpsuit is a mess! Small tears in arms, smells like dirt... This might be a good time for shopping! Shadow's in the future, the GUN members aren't bothering her at the moment, so this is perfect! And in the nick of time, Rouge enters a retail store right near her.


15 minutes later...

Rouge is in the dressing room, taking pictures of her new look. She is wearing a black sleeveless crop top to show off her well-toned abs and diamond-encrusted navel ring. She also has on some black track shorts, black combat boots, and some black leather fingerless gloves.

After Rouge takes her last selfie, she says to herself, "Damn, I look good!"

She walks out of the store (she already paid for the outfit) and enters another store, this time Starbucks. Can't help but grab a frappuccino and maybe a small cake. She waits in a very long line and checks her phone to pass the time. Her watch beeps, meaning there's a call from GUN headquarters.

She clicks on her watch and gets a call from the other end. "Agent Rouge?" Commander Tower says from the other end. "Report your status immediately. Have you retrieved the Scepter of Darkness?"

Shoot! Rouge forgot! The scepter broke back in Kingdom Valley! The only thing she can do now is be honest. She sighs, "I did, but then Eggman came by and I accidentally broke the scepter."

"YOU BROKE THE SCEPTER?!" the commander cries out.

"I fell!" Rouge cries back.

"I trusted you with this mission!" says Commander Tower. "Where's Shadow? I've been trying to contact him all day!"

"Shadow's missing," the albino bat answers with sorrow.

"What?!" Tower screams.

Rouge sighs. "It's a long story," she says, facepalming herself. "Is it okay if E-123 Omega helps out? I could really use it."

Commander Tower sighs. "Fine," he says. "But if you two mess up, I will suspend you from GUN Juniors for a month!"

"I understand," says Rouge.

"Good. We'll drop Omega off in Tropical Jungle."

"Ew!" the bat starts complaining. "The jungle?! What if I catch a disease?"

Commander Tower hangs up, as there is no way he's listening to Rouge whine about catching a disease. As Rouge is now at the front of the line, she takes her order.


12:45 p.m.

After Rouge finished her frappuccino back in Soleanna, she arrives in Tropical Jungle, where she sees Omega walking around through the ruins. Rouge checks herself to see if she has any ticks or parasites. Man, she really shouldn't have worn this outfit in a jungle of all places.

"No ticks," Rouge mutters to herself. "Good."

She flies over to Omega and waves to him. "Hello Omega," she greets him. "Long time no see."

"Hello...Rouge," Omega greets the bat with a slow voice.

Rouge is startled by his voice. "Oh...my goodness!" she stumbles back. "What happened to your voice? You sound like a nerd!"

"I have been...upgraded," answers Omega. "I have been given a different...voice and the gift to...time...travel."

"How convenient," comments Rouge. "Anyways, I need your help with something."

"What...is it?" asks the black and red robot.

"Shadow's in the future," she begins to explain. "About 200 years beyond our time. He can't go home without a Chaos Emerald."

Omega nods. "Situation...understood," he says. "What...would you like me to...do?"

Rouge takes the green Chaos Emerald from her pocket. "When you see Shadow, give this to him."

Omega slowly takes the emerald from Rouge and puts it in torso compartment. "Okay..." he begins. "I will find...Shadow...now."

He walks the opposite direction from Rouge very slowly with her saying, "Good luck!"


(200 years in the future)

Tuesday, November 11; 5:00 p.m.

Shadow is still in Flame Core, away from the volcano. He had been chasing after Mephiles for over an hour now. He finally catches up with the no-mouthed hedgehog, who is standing on a tall pole.

"So," Mephiles begins to ask. "decided to leave your friends for this beautiful future forever?"

Beautiful? Yeah right! This future looks more like a dump! "Actually, I came by to see you," answers Shadow. "Why are you here? Did you ruin this world?"

Mephiles chuckles. "The answer is yes...and no."

"What do you mean?" asks Shadow.

"You sure ask a lot of questions," responds the dark hedgehog. "I mean, future me destroyed this world, but the work was mostly done by Iblis. Perhaps it's better to show you."

Mephiles snaps his fingers, making some kind of purple-ish cage appear. In the cage, is a future version of Shadow being imprisoned in it.

Shadow looks at the cage, specially his future self. Although he did age quite well, he wonders why and how he's in a prison cell. "Is that-"

"You?" Mephiles interrupts. "Yes. After the world was devastated by Iblis' flames, what do you think happened?"

What does Shadow think happened? His guess is that people blamed him for creating the apocalypse. "Why am I locked up in that cell?" the hedgehog asks the no-mouthed devil.

"Humanity wasn't just jealous of your power," Mephiles continues. "They feared it. They used this incident as an excuse to hunt you down."

Thought so, Shadow says in his head.

"Come with me Shadow," Mephiles says. "Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It's only fair to give back what was intended for you."

He wants Shadow to team up with him to rule the world?! Yeah right! Like that'll happen in a million years. Shadow looks up at his look-alike and says, "That's absurd. Whatever it is you want to do, you can do it alone."

Mephiles takes a deep breath and says, "Okay... If that's what you want. Just to let you know, your fate won't be any better."

Shadow clutches his fist and responds, "I determine my own destiny."

"Oh well," says Mephiles, then screams out, "Let me introduce you to my true form!"

Mephiles then transforms into his crystalline form: his fur is now a purplish-black color, and his highlights are now white. His muzzle is also white, eyes are red, although his irises are a bright green. His mouth is still missing, and now he's missing his nose! His feet are also gone, now replaced with some purple fog/ash.

Shadow's eyes go wide. "I didn't see that coming," he comments as he stares at Mephiles' new form.

Mephiles snaps his fingers, signaling hundreds of purple minions to come behind him.

"I didn't see that coming either," says Shadow.

"Of course you didn't!" screams Mephiles. "This is only the beginning!"

He then disappears, and Shadow is looking around, finding his enemy. "Where are you?!" he shrieks.

"Look down," says Mephiles.

Shadow looks down and sees that Mephiles is connected to Shadow's shadow. Mephiles' minions hover up to the high-schooler and laugh in a creepy way. How is Shadow going to attack them? He can't use any of his chaos powers since he doesn't have a Chaos Emerald with him, so this is going to be one tough fight!

The black hedgehog takes a deep breath and begins punching some minions. The minions blow up as he attacks them, and Mephiles appears out of Shadow's shadow. There we go! Now Shadow can attack this demon!

"Done attacking yet, Shadow?" Mephiles taunts the hedgehog.

And just like that, Shadow runs up to Mephiles and punches him in the...uh...let's say privates. Mephiles grabs onto his front parts and groans in pain. Wow... This was pretty easy. All Shadow had to do was nutshot Mephiles and BOOM! He goes down.

Mephiles gets up as Shadow walks up to him saying, "Well... I guess I won the-"

However, Shadow is interrupted as Mephiles throws a purple energy ball at him, knocking the teenager into a nearby tree. Shadow falls down and catches his breath. The crystalline hedgehog approaches him and comments to him, "Please Shadow; this isn't a bar fight. Have some class."

Mephiles attempts to attack Shadow as some gun shots appear between the two hedgehogs. They both turn around, and see Omega, who had just stopped the two from fighting.

Shadow is surprised to see his friend. "Omega!" he cries (sort of).

As Omega retracts his arm cannon, he says to Shadow, "Let me...insist. You...need to...rest."

"No!" screams Mephiles. "I need to beat Shadow! Not this bulky robot!"

"Thanks Omega," Shadow says, giving the robot a thumbs up.

Omega's arm cannon returns as he shoots Mephiles, causing the ladder to fall down. Mephiles groans, and then stands up screaming, "THIS ISN'T OVER!"

He forms a purple orb and escapes into it. Shadow and Omega follow him, hoping they'll return to their own time.


(About 200 years ago, present time)

Monday, November 13; 1:50 p.m.

Shadow and Omega (coincidentally) return to Soleanna in one piece. Shadow looks around, finding Mephiles.

"Where's Mephiles?" the black hedgehog wonders.

"It seems...Mephiles...has gone somewhere...else," answers Omega.

Shadow gets his phone out and says, "I should call Rouge and tell here we're back." He calls Rouge and waits for her to answer.

"Shadow?" Rouge questions on the other end of the call.

Shadow smiles. "Yes, it's me," he says.

"Oh my gosh, I was so worried about you!" Rouge cries. "I thought you would be stuck in that future forever!"

"And I thought Mephiles was going to kill me," the hedgehog replies.

"Mephiles tried to kill you?!" the bat shrieks.

"Of course!" Shadow answers. "What did you expect from a freak without a mouth?"

"Shadow," Omega begins to say. "Ask...where Rouge is."

Shadow nods to the robot and asks Rouge, "Where are you, anyways?"

"The Soleanna Beauty Salon," Rouge answers with glee. "Mani-pedis are half off!"

She's blowing her money instead of working on the mission?! Getting that thought out of his head, Shadow responds, "We'll meet you there." He hangs up and says to Omega, "Looks like we're going to a beauty salon."

"Okay," says Omega as the take off.


And that was Chapter 12! We met Omega, and Shadow's back in present time. Next chapter, Shadow and Omega will meet up with Rouge, while Mephiles gets a surprise visit from someone! There's also going to be a bunch of Sonic and Silver stuff (separately). So basically next chapter, everyone prepares for Radical Train.

I went on with that one too long... Anyways, make sure to review and I'll see you in Chapter 13!