Mephiles floated back into Shadow's head. Shadow was still frozen in place.
"Right where I left you." He said teasingly. Shadow growled in annoyance. He absolutely hated being like this around Mephiles of all people.
"Well, is it done?" He asked.
"Well, I delayed you." Mephiles looked back down at his aching hand. "You have a hard face you know that?"
Shadow looked at him confusingly.
"You were able to hit me?"
"Well duh. Why wouldn't I be able to?"
Shadow paused.
"Just… what are you?"
"Hm?"
"One minute only I can see you, the next you're passing through walls… then you were actually able to HIT me."
Mephiles chuckled.
"I am neither real nor un real. The only reason you are able to see, hear, and feel me is from being caged so close to me." He said in a forced sophisticated tone.
Shadow remained silent. Mephiles could tell he was curious, so he continued.
"Your cell was directly across from where a very powerful scepter was being held. The scepter of Darkness. My full form is still currently trapped in there, what you see now it only a part of me, broken free from leeching off of your energy."
"Only part?"
"Indeed. Which explains how I can control whether of not I am to be solid or not. Though being solid takes more energy out of me."
Shadow folded his arms.
"You're real confusing you know that?" he said. Mephiles smiled.
"Look who's talking. You just moved dummy."
Shadow was surprised. He HAD moved. He attempted to move again, but with no avail.
"Ugh, great…" he muttered. He looked to his shoes and sighed.
"I hope you were able to delay me long enough for them to come up with a plan…" he said, worried for his friends safety.
-Meanwhile-
Sonic and Tails were staring at Knuckles, who had no clue what was going on.
"Dude, you just told us what was wrong with Shadow." Sonic said. Knuckles glanced around confused.
"I did?"
Sonic went to respond, but was cut off as Shadow got to his feet again.
"Guys, here he comes!" Tails said, taking a fighting stance. Sonic spun around and did the same.
"Huh?" Knuckles muttered, turning around. Just as he did, Shadow jumped into the air, kicked him, and sent him flying back past Sonic and Tails. Sonic watched as Knuckles flew by. He landed with a crash at the end of the hallway. Sonic gulped.
"Uh, Tails buddy. You gotta plan?" He asked. Tails had his thinking face on.
"Gimme a sec…" he said, rubbing his chin. Shadow launched at Tails, prepared to attack. Tails simply stepped aside, evading Shadow while still thinking. Shadow turned and went to attack again. Tails spun his tails and flew above him to dodge.
"That's interesting. He seems to just be pulling attacks now. Why isn't he using his psychokinesis? He almost seems desperate…" he thought. Then, he got it.
"Sonic! Distract him for a minute! I got an idea!" He yelled. Before Sonic could react, Tails ran down the hallway leaving him behind.
"Hey, Wait a sec!" Sonic called after him. But it was no use, he was long gone. He looked to Shadow.
"Uh, heh, hey… bud…" he muttered. Shadow glared at him and went to attack. Sonic brought his hands up to his face with no time to dodge. Shadow struck him and sent him flying back towards where Knuckles had landed. He landed with a thud right next to the echidna, who was still down.
"Ngh… whaddup Knux?" He said weakly as he got to his feet. Knuckles simply gave a thumbs up, remaining on the ground. Once Sonic was up, he could see Tails attempting to unlock the cell he was once in.
"Dude, what are you up to?"
"This cell could hold Shadow before. If you could lure him in here, we could calm him down a bit and try to-" Tails began, but was cut off as the building rumbled again. He quickly abandoned explaining the rest of the plan and pulled the cell door open.
"Sonic, get him over here! This is our one chance! If we don't do this now, the buildings gonna fall and kill us all!"
Sonic rolled his eyes and spun to face Shadow.
"Why do I always get stuck doing the dangerous stuff… HEY, SHADZ!" he yelled. Shadow looked up and growled.
"Um, Over here!" Sonic yelled, waving his arms. Shadow ran towards him with a murderous glare in his eyes. As he got closer and closer, Sonic began to regret his action.
"Tails, you're ready, right?" he called back. Tails let out a nervous laugh.
"Um, kinda."
"KINDA?!"
Shadow was way too close to turn back now. Tails had only one move now. He hit a button on the side wall. All around, reinforced steel walls fell, entrapping the four of them. Shadow came to a screeching halt just a few feet away from Sonic. He looked around, confused as to what was happening. Sonic took his chance and hit Shadow square in the jaw, knocking him off his feet. He landed on his back and stayed there.
"What happened?" Sonic questioned. But he received no answer as the building shook yet again.
"Crap, why did Knux have to damage this place so much. Tails, get us out of here!" He called.
"I can't…" Tails said, looking to the ground.
"Why not?!"
Tails angrily gestured around him.
"Do you see a damn exit sign anywhere?!" He yelled. Sonic rubbed his temple.
"Great… just great… now were ALL gonna die." He said with an annoyed tone.
"Well, not me." Shadow spoke. Sonic quickly turned to face him. He had gotten to his feet and did not look happy.
"Shadow! Are you… yourself again?"
"What do you fucking think?"
Sonic let out a breath of relief.
"Thank solaris. Now you can warp us out and we can all-"
"No."
Sonic gave him a confused look.
"What?"
"What makes you think I'd help you? What makes any of you think I'd help you?!" He yelled.
"'Cuz were friends, right?"
Shadow grit his teeth angrily.
"Do friends hit each other in the back of the head with metal pipes?" He said as calmly as possible. Sonic froze.
"Y-You… remember that?"
"Yes. I remember ALL of it! You people only needed me to get to the Death Egg!"
Sonic started to approach him.
"No, we care about you too!"
"Yeah, right."
Shadow pointed to Tails.
"He sure cared enough to keep me strapped to that damn machine nearly 24/7!"
Sonic froze and turned to face Tails.
"Tails, what's he talking about?"
Tails looked up so his eyes met Sonic's.
"Sonic, please, I can-" he began, but was cut off as the building shook once again. Bits of debris rained down from the ceiling.
"Whatever. I don't care anymore. Shadow, we really need your help. Please!" Sonic yelled. Shadow folded his arms.
"No. None of you were worthy of my help in the first place. I let you pathetic beings use me once, never again will I make that mistake."
He raised his hands over his head.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
In a flash of light, he was gone.
"NO!" Sonic held his hand out to where Shadow once was. He fell to his knees. Tails backed to the wall.
"Were never gonna get out of here. Were trapped. We may as well be dead already." He said.
Sonic shook his head.
"No, there has to be another way out. I'm not gonna go out like this!" He said. Without another word, he curled into a spin dash and hit against the wall as hard as he could. He didn't even make a dent. Sonic ran back towards it and full force, drove his fist into the wall. Tails heard a sickening crack as Sonic pulled his hand back. Sonic held his hand and tried his best to keep back his screams of pain.
"Augh… there… has… to be… another way out…" he growled. He looked to Knuckles, who was still lying on the floor. Sonic ran to him and slid on his knees to his side.
"Knux! You can break that door. Come on bud!" he yelled, shaking Knuckles in an attempt to wake him. He didn't move. Sonic got back to his feet.
"COME ON! YOU GUYS HAVE GOTTA HELP ME OUT! I CAN'T DO THIS ALONE!" he yelled. Tails and Knuckles remained still. Sonic held his head in his uninjured hand.
"No… it can't end like this…" he said, holding back tears. They had come so far, was their adventure really going to end like this?
Just as he thought all hope was lost, a blue light appeared at the far end of the room. Sonic took a few steps back from it, not knowing what would happen as it began to grow brighter. Tails quickly got to his feet and did the same.
"What the hell is that?" he said nervously. Knuckles managed to pick his head up and see the light himself. It became brighter and brighter until it vanished suddenly. In its place stood a hedgehog with white fur and a determined look in his golden eyes.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, I cannot let you die here. The future needs you." He spoke.
"S-Silver?" Sonic asked. As he finished speaking, the walls began to crumble all around them. Without another word, Silver lifted his hands above his head. The rubble falling around them froze with a blue aura around it. He lowered one hand, and with it, started to move Sonic and his friends to safety. The walls around then began to curl in on themselves as they moved to the exit. Silver followed, keeping them safe. Once they were out, Silver let the building collapse. A giant cloud of smoke and dust rose into the air where a building once was. Gently, Silver set Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles down. Sonic looked back to him with a confused look. Why was he back? What did he want?
"Silver? What are you doing here?" He finally asked aloud.
Silver turned and spoke again.
"The future needs you, Sonic the Hedgehog."
Author's note:
Wow, this was a LONG ass chapter. And with it, I hope you can tell that Sonic Fated is far from over. Hopefully with this, any questions that you had were answered. And if they weren't, just ask in the review section. Hope you enjoyed. And this will more than likely be my ONLY author's note I will have to do (Hopefully). So, hope you enjoyed this and just a tip, go back and check the other chapters. I have been updating them and reading through them for typos. Alright, that's 'bout it.
Bye.