Chapter 20
The darkness was all around me... I felt it crawling on my feet, on my back, and even on my face... you know that feeling that you get when you see a bug you hate and you lose sight of it, but then you feel itchy all over because of the creepy crawly sensation? It was like that, but with dread and darkness. I kept my optimism as I fought against the darkness, feeling Mephiles all around me.
"Just give in to the darkness. It will be so much easier," Mephiles said to me, which I simply growled at him.
"Get thee behind me, Satan," I said, me continuing to move through the darkness, knowing that I could fight it for long enough for my allies to get me into the sunlight.
"You will not succeed. Every hour in here is a minute in the real world. You have at least half an hour to fight... so just give it up," Mephiles said as I then simply smiled and started to sing as I felt the music come to me... I wanted to prove that this was MY fucking mind and it was MY time to show him that I was in control. I proceeded to play the song from Sonic Heroes' final boss. The music kicked in and I saw that the darkness started to be beaten back from my brainwaves working overtime agains them.
"~I don't care what you're thinkin', as ya turn to me!
Cause what I have in my two hands is enough to set me free! (Set me free)
I can fight the feelin' to resist it over time!
But when it's just too much to take you sneak up from behind!" I sung out loud, me feeling the darkness coming back, but I was also sensing that Mephiles was getting weakened.
"Is it me? You say, you're lookin' for?
Let me show you who I am and what I'm here for!
Here fooor... YEEEEEAAAAHHHHHH!
Try to reach inside of me! Try to drain my energy!
Let me show you just WHAT! I'M! MADE! OF!
Simple curiosity! Try to take a bite of me!
Let me show you just WHAT! I'M MADE! OF! NOOOOWWWW!~" I sung loudly. And shortly after, I felt the sunlight emerge into the place, causing the dark prophet himself to be coated in the sunlight as I finally felt myself back in control! It was time to wake up...
"Cheryl! Please be okay! Cheryl!" Elise said with concern, me warily opening my eyes and seeing that Elise looked very concerned and worried.
"Oogh... my aching head..." I groaned as I held onto my head. I felt like I had a massive migraine... and the reason? I felt Mephiles still in my body... but with all the darkness purged from him.
"Is it you, Cheryl? Are you okay?" Blaze asked, me smirking and nodding at her.
"Yeah... it's me... my head hurts a lot... Mephiles is good now, thanks to you guys," I said as I then felt his emotions... shyness. Shyness and guilt. But he didn't want to talk.
"I'm so relieved... I didn't expect you'd manage to do that so effortlessly!" Blaze said with a smile.
"I told you that I had willpower," I said with a small chuckle... and then, shortly after, I felt the presence of another Super Emerald nearby... it being the purple one. And I saw that it was... next to my head? I then grabbed it and felt the power of... nighttime specifically going into my brain and into my body. "Ooh... I feel like I could use the power of the night itself..." I smiled... and then I heard a voice in my head.
"i... i'm sorry..." the voice said, me recognizing it as Mephiles's voice... only it was MUCH different. Very quiet, very shy, and sounding like a squeaky-voiced female. You know the chippettes from the live action chipmunks movies? Imagine that voice. I simply smiled at her and thought something specific.
(You're forgiven)," I thought, feeling even more shyness from her afterwards. I then looked at Elise and saw she looked like she was very concerned and that she looked to be sniffling.
"It's okay, Elise... remember, don't cry," I said, her smirking at me.
"It's not sadness... I thought you'd die... I'm just so happy..." she said as she finally had tears fall down her face. And shortly after, instead of a huge pillar of evil flame emerging from her... all that came out was a small, flickering flame. And shortly afterwards, I heard a voice from it.
"I thank thee, my friends... may I please have Aris from your head, miss crossbreed?" the flame asked. I then smiled at her and simply touched the flame with one hand and holding my head with the other... and shortly after, we all watched in majesty as the two finally merged back into one... and they then formed to look a woman completely made out of fire... with an appearance that looked a lot like a mix of a cat and a human, like Blaze.
"Solaris... it's really you, isn't it?" Blaze asked as she looked like she were about ready to cry as well.
"Yes, my guardian princess... I wanted to tell you a message from your parents..." she said, that making Blaze gasp. "Your parents want me to tell you this. You are free to be whatever you want to be... you don't need to feel forced to guard the Sol Emeralds and the royal family scepter. And above all else, always know that we are still with you always," Solaris said, me feeling very soothed by her voice... almost as if it were extremely peaceful to just hear her talk.
"If you can... tell my parents... I still love them," Blaze smiled with tears of fire emerging from her eyes.
"Once we return to your world, I can do just that," Solaris smiled as she then reverted into the flickering white flame on the candle holder, where Elise smiled at her with happiness.
"Solaris... I'm so happy you could come back... I apologize greatly for my father's selfishness... we should have known it to be impossible to bring her back to life... and I wish you the best of luck in the future," Elise smiled at Solaris.
"So you know, princess... I could very easily have resurrected your mother, but your father never asked nicely. He immediately resorted to torturing me... but that's all in the past... do you still want her back?" Solaris asked, that making Elise gasp as she then looked at me and then back at the flame.
"I... I... uh... I don't know... I lost her only a month before my father died... and it's been 10 years since then... what would she think?" Elise asked.
"She would be proud of her daughter," said a voice that WASN'T Solaris! Instead, it was the voice of Silver... and I saw that he was currently joined by Amy, Sticks, and... another character. One that made me question WHY. It was SHAHRA! From Secret Rings! And as for her ring she had? It was on Silver's left pointer finger.
"Whoa... Genie girl..." I gawked at seeing her.
"That's all you have to say? Not going to demand an apology?" Shahra asked in confusion, me then looking at Silver and seeing that he looked a bit hesitant.
"Sorry... still kinda feeling the aftereffects of having the dark version of Solaris in my head... it was kinda surreal," I admitted.
"I can understand... now, Mister Silver, do you have anything you wish to say to her?" Shahra asked the psychic hedgehog, him then stepping forward and sighing.
"S-Sorry... for uh, what I did to you... I was going to attack you, but then I saw Mephiles go into your head and your friends looking scared for you... it made me feel... bad," Silver sighed.
"I understand... so... what do you plan to do now?" I asked, him looking around us and then sighing.
"It wouldn't matter if I went back to my world. Even if I were to go back, it'd be the same as it was before with it being filled with fire and lava, where everyone fears Iblis," Silver said, me raising my eyebrow at that. Was he even more like Future Trunks than I had thought? "I'd rather keep living here, in the past, where everyone's happy... besides, without Mephiles being around in my timeline, I'd be fine here," Silver said as I then looked at him with seriousness.
"Would you like to test that theory out? I could use Chaos Control to take both of us to your timeline to see if anything's changed or not. If it hasn't, we can have you live in our timeline. If it has... it's up to you on what to choose," I suggested. Silver then thought for a bit and Shahra smiled and started to pet Silver's pot leaf head.
"I'd like that... and maybe I can have Shahra be freed from her ring," Silver said, that making the genie girl gasp.
"M-Ma... Mister Silver, are you sure?" Shahra asked in surprise, me smirking at that.
"Let's see what happens, then we'll talk," I smiled as I then focused and touched his body... and Shahra's... and she looked shocked at how I managed to hold onto her hand. "What's wrong? Nervous?" I asked.
"No... it's just... usually only my master is able to touch me. Whoever is the one wearing my ring is the one that can be called my master," she said, me looking at her with a smile.
"Well, I'm not an everday person, so maybe that'd be why... regardless, I'll focus on going to the future now," I said as I then touched the white and green emeralds together for a change and then, shortly after, I focused on the time that Silver left his future world... and going forward by two minutes. And then, immediately after, our scenery changed to be the area in question... and we saw that something shocking had happened.
"W-Whoa... what?" Silver gawked when we looked around in the area. It was unlike what Silver had seen previously. The entire city was more scientific and was bustling, full of happy people of both Mobian and human races. And there were even more Seedrians (Cosmo's race) that were walking around, too! And Silver looked at the sight with surprise.
"There's... there's so much beauty here... but... is this really happening?" Silver asked as I smiled and placed my hand on his shoulder.
"The choice is still yours, Silver. Stay here in this utopia, or come back in the past?" I asked, him then sighing and then looking at me and Shahra.
"I think I'd rather stick in the past... mainly because I don't recognize a thing in this new future... and I'd like a small hint of danger in the past than a utopic future," Silver smiled. I then simply took us back to the past to roughly a minute after we had left and saw that everyone was still waiting for me... and that the Chaotix were also there.
"So what'd you see?" Blaze asked with a smile.
"We saw that the future was brighter than ever... but Silver would rather live in the past than in the bright future... and to be honest, so do I," Shahra smiled.
"Shahra... I have a wish to ask of you," Silver said, that making Shahra smile and bow.
"What is your wish, mas... mister Silver?" she asked, me smirking at how she had to fight her urge to call him master. Just as in the game she came from.
"I wish for you to be freed from your duties as a genie of the ring," he said, that making Charmy gawk widely with eyes of wonder.
"Whoa, wait! A genie? Like from the old stories? Aw, but I wanted a wish!" Charmy said in annoyance... but regardless, the scene of Shahra getting freed from the ring was awesome. The ring turned into tons of light particles before then setting itself directly onto her finger. And she then sighed happily.
"Well, I may now be freed from the confines of the ring... but I can still grant wishes, so long as they are within my power," Shahra said, me smirking at how Charmy lit up.
"Oh my gosh! Can I get a wish, please?" Charmy asked with excitableness. And the rest of his team simply looked at him with small smiles.
"What do you wish for?" Shahra asked Charmy.
"I wish that I could have a mountain of ice cream!" Charmy smirked. Shahra simply flicked her fingers and, instantly, right in front of us, a giant pile of ice cream appeared of multiple different flavors. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint, cherry, even marshmallow and caramel! And Charmy then rushed to the ice cream and proceeded to start eating as much as he could, that making all of us have a good laugh. How funny he looked having the time of his life eating the sweet sugary treat. And he proceeded to eat until he finally fell to the ground with a full belly. At which point, Shahra packaged all the ice cream into to-go containers similar to tupperware and handed them to the Chaotix members... there were roughly 20 different to-go containers, all worth at least a single gallon tub of ice cream.
"Thanks for that, miss Shahra. You've made Charmy very happy," Mighty smiled as Vector carried the bee in one hand as well as roughly 10 of the gallons in his other hand. They then walked off and I looked at Shahra with a smile.
"So... where do you think you'd want to live, Shahra?" I asked, her smiling at me.
"I don't know... where do you think I should?" she asked.
"Maybe with me and my friends?" I asked... but shortly after I asked that, I only then noticed that Elise was joined by a woman that looked a lot like she did, but with longer hair and a kinder face. "Oh my... are you Elise's mother?" I asked, her nodding at me.
"Yes, I am... but I can only be here for roughly five minutes with Solaris's powers... Elise just wished to talk to me for advice and to see me one more time," she said, me smirking at that. Elise simply blew me a kiss and I smirked at that and caught it.
"Heh, looks like you've got two princess girlfriends now, huh?" Blaze asked, me doing a double-take to her.
"Huh? Y-You mean-" I was about to say before she shushed me with a single finger to my mouth.
"Yes, I do. We decided on it during your talk with Silver and his genie friend," Blaze smirked... and it honestly made me blush all over at how I had managed to get a good number of girlfriends all at once... and one of them was just like me, in terms of being halfbreed and all.
"I feel... flattered," I smirked. "But I do have to ask... are you going to be okay going back to your world on your own?" I asked, Blaze smiling and nodding.
"I'll come back periodically, don't worry. Besides, I owe it all to you for everything you've done for me," Blaze smiled at me as she then came over to me and gave me a kiss on the lips, which felt... amazing... like a fiery passion enveloping my entire body! And when I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see that not only was Blaze about to disappear to her own dimension, but so was Solaris... and that meant it was time for Elise to say goodbye to her mom.
"I'll always be watching over you, my sweet Elise," her mother smiled as Elise then nodded and smiled with tears in her eyes.
"I'd normally make a sarcastic quip right now... but I'd feel it'd just ruin the happy moment," I smiled.
"You're smart," Shahra smiled.
"Speaking of, Shahra, can I have a wish?" I asked, her smirking at me.
"Depends on what it is," she giggled.
"Can you be one of my girlfriends, too?" I asked, her then being surprised, but then smirking at me.
"Well, I've never really had any relations with a female before, never mind one as exotic as you... but I'm willing to experiment, since you can touch me," she giggled. I still felt like I was in the craziest wet dream ever... please don't wake me up?