Creature In a Mask Part 1

After Tails and Sonic's disappearance, things had been pretty hectic. Amy and Knuckles knew from rumors that Tails was out there somewhere, likely unharmed by Eggman but left no trail or clues as to where he'd gone.

Usually, they'd figure out Tails would come back to them ready to fight. However, it wasn't like any other of those previous times. Sonic was gone. And Tails was nowhere to be found. They've been putting his rescue mission on the backlog for so many months that they wondered if they'd ever advance further in the fight.

However, one day, Amy woke up determined to piece the resistance back together. And that involved getting back their best mechanic..!

Shadow and Rouge volunteered to go on the mission, as they always seemed to nowadays. With Omega gone, they both felt the need to constantly be involved and do something, as if to compensate for their inability to help their friend.

"Amy is a fighter, huh?" Rouge elbowed her partner, who was brooding a lot more than usual.

"She really is," he muttered, "but she shouldn't have to take on this burden."

"Well, yeah but seeing how the state of the world is right now…. With a lot of world leaders captured…" Rouge sighed. "Someone has to."

Shadow was sent to the Ghost Town section, only to find it as deserted as it had been for months. Meanwhile, Rouge patrolled through its downtown section, City Heights. She handed her partner a tiny ear communicator and instructed him to call her in case he finds anything interesting or needs help.

Shadow walked through the city for what seemed like the hundredth time. And each and every one of those times, it seemed things got worse. It didn't help that they were really lacking in personnel. With Tails missing since Sonic's capture, Amy busy recruiting, Knuckles coordinating assault plans, Team Chaotix at the front lines of the city protection and aiding the rookies, and Silver is um… here… for some reason.

Shadow was still a bit confused about Silver's paradoxical existence. He had no idea how the future he came from must have looked like, but he would sincerely rather not find out at all given Silver's last future was… something else. So, he assumed the stakes were similar.

As he patrolled the city, he started feeling a strange presence. It felt cold and... chaotic? Like a powerful energy was emitting nearby, but it felt so distant he could only barely feel its essence. It wasn't Chaos energy… and he'd been close enough to Eggman's new monster to recognize his energy signature. Still, he would turn back occasionally, just in case it turned out to be Eggman's pet.

Suddenly, a dark portal opened up closely above him and the hedgehog practically leaped to get out of the way. Fearing the worst, Shadow stood in a fighting position, ready to battle whatever illusion or robot that decided to threaten him.

Instead, however, a single, gloved hand appeared from the portal, as if reaching out for something to hold onto. Naturally, as a being fundamentally created to help others, Shadow's first impulse was to reach out and pull the hand in, but he stopped himself just as he touched fingers with it.

What the heck. He thought, scolding at himself. This could be very well another illusion or a trap, and your first thought is to reach out? Seriously?

Too late.

Sensing his touch, in a swift motion, the being on the other side grabbed tightly onto Shadow's own gloved hand and pulled itself in his direction. The dark hedgehog's eyes widened in surprise at the harsh grip and he actually fell backwards, positively landing the stranger atop him.

Shadow had faced off against many things in the past six months, all the challenges, illusions and obstacles, had made him pretty immune to surprises. But nothing had prepared the Ultimate Lifeform for seeing him again...

Crimson eyes locked with dangerous lime green ones. It took mere seconds for Shadow to recognize his own familiar features staring down at him.

"YOU." He snarled, visibly baring his fangs.

Mephiles looked at him, and surprisingly, Shadow noticed no visible animosity and resentment in his eyes. If anything, his voice seemed to carry more urgency than anything when he asked:

"Where's Silver?"

"Like I'd tell you!" The dark hedgehog spat, trying to throw the demigod off him.

"Where's Silver?" He repeated, this time in a more familiar antagonistic tone.

Shadow used a free hand to summon a Chaos Spear to throw at his enemy, but Mephiles immediately disappeared into the ground using his mist form to dodge the attack. Shadow quickly used this moment to regain balance on his feet.

"You don't understand, do you? Your pathetic little resistance is destined to fail at the hands of a human and his demonic pet!"
"Since when do you care what happens to this world?!" Shadow demanded. Although, he was sincerely curious.

"I don't. "The demigod replied harshly. "I could leave, but I have to take 'Mr. Optimism' back to his timeline. Evidently, his presence here hasn't changed a thing."

That answer just confused Shadow even more. Mephiles willingly sent Silver back to this time to change the outcome?

'Damn, things must be really bad in the future to get him to care enough to be involved…' Shadow thought bitterly.

The dark hedgehog shook his head. But it didn't matter, whatever beef Mephiles had with Silver couldn't possibly be good. Maybe he'd trick him into ruining the timeline again. That seemed more believable than Mephiles trying to play hero.

"If you want Silver, you're going to have to go through me." He said, a hand threateningly atop one of his inhibitor rings.

"You don't listen," Mephiles sighed disappointedly "Pity. You really don't change."

Shadow charged at him full speed with a homing attack, but the demon made another graceful dodge and landed carefully atop one of the smaller, ruined buildings. Shadow didn't check his surroundings, so when his enemy was out of the way he accidently slammed into an already heavily damaged wall.

"Are you still protecting humans as a hobby?" Mephiles hummed curiously from atop the building.

"It's a full-time job, but thanks for asking," The dark hedgehog hissed, "are you still terrorizing them for something they didn't do?"
"Not entirely, but I appreciate your curiosity," He laughed.

With that, he clasped his hands together and in a flash of light, his once hedgehog features were nearly unrecognizable, and instead his entire body was covered in blueish crystals. Shadow groaned as he got up and dusted some debris off his quills.

"This should be fun," Mephiles said with amusement in his voice.

Not so far from them, another dark figure flew ominously atop the silent city. Eggman's mysterious enforcer wandered the city in search of something living to destroy, but so far, was unsuccessful. He threw a dark energy beam towards a building, destroying some already heavily damaged parts of the city out of boredom.

Sigh.

This was supposed to make him happy or something, but now he itched for a challenge…

As if on cue, his large ears began to twitch, picking up an absolute ruckus, but it was very distant. He turned around and used the power of the gem infused into his chest. The ruby glowed, emitting a crimson aura that surrounds the creature's body, he used this to dash in the air following the noise.

After weeks of quietness from the resistance, he was hoping for a coordinated army coming his way, or at least a small battalion of rookies fumbling around and dropping their wispons as soon as they would see him. Either way was more entertaining than waiting for Eggman to tell him what to do.

SLAM!

Shadow's back hit a hard, concrete wall. The blast had caught him completely off guard… he'd forgotten about Mephiles' abilities, but he didn't forget that he's a threat.

"You're not..! Getting… away with this…!" Shadow got up after barely dodging another dark lance. "I'll stop you, and you know I can. I'd start explaining myself if I were you..!"

"Please." The dark being approached him, in rather slow, janky movements due to damage he'd sustained, "I didn't come here to make this about you."

"Sure, you're just here to make everything worse then, I assume." Shadow hissed, "If I had to guess… you're either an illusion… or you're straight up working for Infinite and the doctor somehow…"

"You're assuming a lot right now," Mephiles said irritably, "some of your assumptions are dangerous. Maybe shut up and listen for once?"

Shadow looked at him quietly.

"... I sent Silver here," he said bluntly, after returning to his Shadow-like form. "Is he okay?"

Shadow blinked. He wasn't sure if he should answer and give him any relief.

"... He's fine…"Shadow muttered, unsurely, "I'm not sure why that matters…?"

Mephiles didn't answer. Shadow looked at him but the demigod was looking at something behind him.

"...So, that's him," he said flatly. Shadow twirled around to see Eggman's new monster pet floating above them, his yellow eye looking from Mephiles with somewhat curiosity to Shadow with restrained anger.

Instinctively, the agent immediately hurled a Chaos Spear at Infinite then ran full speed and jumped to the next rooftop of the building. Infinite easily sidestepped in midair out of the way and bolted after the hedgehog, while also not letting his new interesting playmate/target out of sight.

Shadow spin dashed to squeeze into a small opening into a mostly fallen building. There was no electricity or light from the inside, but from what he could tell in his surroundings it must have been a hotel of sorts. The small natural light coming from cracks in the broken ceiling revealed a reception, several broken pots on the floor with dead plants and a broken chandelier in the middle of the room. He dashed to the reception desk and crouched. Everything was still and quiet, but he knew that wouldn't last long.

He couldn't outrun Infinite. Sonic couldn't do it. And even if he could, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of letting both Infinite and Mephiles run around freely.

This was just a mission to find that fox boy, how did it all go so wrong? He thought miserably.

"Hey, Shadow?" His communicator went off.

"Rouge!" Shadow answered into the small communicator in his ear.

"Hey, are you okay? Just checking in, you know, in case an Eggman robot surprises you again and you faint or something." He heard her chuckle but her tone sounded genuinely concerned.

"That… was so long ago, Rouge..." It was. He was surprised she was still concerned for his well-being, even though he'd had that sudden pass out over two years ago.

"Haha yeah… sorry, after Infinite sent Omega out of commission I'm just… I don't know, lately I'm just scared it's going to be you next."

"Uhhh…. Nope, everything's fine." He hoped, trying to assure her.

In that moment, his quills bristled slightly as he felt a strange presence. Not exactly like Chaos energy but just as unstable. A malicious, artificial laugh suddenly boomed through the building.

"Oh, Shadow… why do you hide from me..?"

"Shadow, is something wrong?" Rouge called from the communicator.

"I'll talk to you later," he said. "I don't think I'm going to find the fox boy, though."

"Oh, well, then, sorry to bother you." Rouge said. " I'll keep looking."

"Yeah… you do that."

The communicator beeped and the call ended. Shadow gritted his teeth as he looked around wildly. He could feel his presence. It felt omniscient. He was there but untouchable. A ghost haunting him. He looked up and finally saw a horde of tiny red cubes charging towards him.

He threw a Chaos Spear at them but more just appeared from their remains. He tried to run, but it was too late.

One caught him from behind and he felt a familiar dreadful sensation of dizziness and confusion. Everything in the room turned a menacing crimson hue. He could hear voices that weren't there.

"No!"

He crouched and put his hands tightly over his ears. He closed his eyes. He knew this wouldn't last long, but it sure felt like it did. Last time he got touched by these things, he was attacked left and right by robots that weren't there. He was in a location that he hadn't been in, and he could hear his teammate's voice as if they were still a team on a mission. This time, it was way worse.

"Shadow?" A sweet voice called to him.

He looked up, shaking slightly at the sight. A young human girl stood in front of him. She seemed worried.

"You're not real." He tried to seem firm, but he was close to tears. She looked taken aback.

"Are you okay?" She reached out to him. Her touch was warm and gentle. It felt human. But it wasn't. It wasn't hers.

"Stop that." He snapped, pulling her hand away.

"Why?" She pouted.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HER?!" He screeched. The human girl bit her lip, holding back a laugh. Her left eye flickered from sea blue to a golden yellow hue.

"I know a lot more about you than you think! It's quite disappointing you don't pay that same respect," she said smugly.

"Infinite…" he hissed.

"Don't worry, I was just leaving," she kneeled down to his level and softly caressed his cheek. The softness of her fingertips felt real. But he knew it couldn't be.

Slowly, the room flickered red and slowly transitioned back into its quiet, still barren look it had been when he arrived. Shadow looked up at the small opening in the ceiling where light shone through. Everything was quiet.

He should be planning what to do next. To run or fight. Instead his mind drifted off thinking about the illusion. The idea of Infinite knowing something so personal and using it against him made him feel terribly vulnerable. What else did Infinite know about him?

He tried to focus on something else. He had to get up and fight. He touched his ear communicator and thought about Rouge and the resistance . It was so unfair how sad his friend sounded. She didn't deserve to feel so powerless. Amy didn't deserve to be hopeless. Tails didn't deserve to lose his brother.

With an exhausted sigh, he pulled out a red Chaos Emerald. The emeralds weren't very helpful against the illusions, but he still had to get back to the fight before those two psychopaths did any more damage.

Started this story almost 3 years ago when Forces was still the newest mainline game. Time flies.