Chapter Fourteen: Shadow of a Doubt

        Mephiles’ ship was lifting off now, with the said dark being on the inside, and everyone who wanted him dead on the outside.
        “Let’s go!” Amy yelled, and leapt right after Tails as the ship slowly started to move upwards. She grabbed onto his feet, and Sonic leapt after her, grabbing onto her feet. Then Rouge, then Shadow, then Knuckles, creating a ladder of Mobians. The sight would have actually been comical, had the situation not been so drastically dangerous.
        “Tell the Commander that Mephiles has launched, but Shadow and the Mobians are hot in pursuit!” the G.U.N. officer who had helped lead the attack told a nearby corporal. “Also tell him we’re almost done securing Mephiles’ base. Soon, every last guard shall be rounded up. Oh, one more thing; see if he can coordinate any assistance for Shadow’s group; they’ll likely need it.” With that, the officer turned to glare at Dr. Eggman.
        “And doctor, please, no more fireworks tonight; we cannot afford to lose Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, or any Mobian for that matter” he told the infamous scientist. “Do not target the starship! See if you can have your mechs track down and capture/destroy any guards remaining here”. Eggman sighed, and nodded. But as soon as the G.U.N. officer and his men left, the doctor reactivated his link.
        “Robots, target that ship, and begin tracking it!” Eggman ordered. “Regroup with Mauve in my destroyer that I have waiting outside. We’ll continue our attack from there.” Eggman looked up the chute, seeing the enormous plumes of smoke that Mephiles’ ship had left behind upon launching. Then, he added; “If I cannot have that ship, neither can Mephiles!”

*With Shadow, Sonic, and other Mobians: Exterior of Mephiles ship*

        Before anybody could lose their grip, Knuckles had jumped off and now clung to the ship, climbing expertly up to the open door. From there, the echidna helped lift Tails and everyone else on board. It was still incredibly unstable, as the ship was rumbling as it broke the planet’s gravity, so Tails quickly shut the door once they were all on board. However, once they went higher into the atmosphere, the pressure rocked the starship and knocked them all on their backsides. Finally, the pull of gravity lessened, and they sat up.
        “That’s better” Sonic piped in, breathing a sigh of relief. Tails quickly opened the next door, and led them deeper into the starship. Looking around, even Shadow had to admit he was impressed with what he saw: the interior was something that would make Eggman have an aneurysm with jealousy.
All of the metal was jet-black like the exterior, and everything was coated in power cells that actually fed on being in the metal, drawing upon its components and recycling them so that the walls remained sturdy, but the cells (which were glowing bright green) got the components they needed to power the minor systems of the ship. The metal was also extremely durable; even all the attacks Eggman had hit the ship with had only left a few dents and blackened marks on the outside. But the metal seemed... organic, somehow, as Knuckles observed on running his hand over it, and almost jumping out of his skin when it moved.
        “The wall’s alive!” Knuckles cried out, and punched it with all his strength. “Take that, you freaking creep!” Shadow just rolled his eyes and continued walking, but Tails stopped to explain it.
        “Knuckles, it’s not alive; it’s just organic material” Tails said. “Kinda like skin; it reacts to touch, but isn’t alive itself. My guess is that Mephiles used his ooze-like substance and combined it with titanium, or some other metal that Mephiles’ scientists discovered. So don’t worry, it-” But Rouge interrupted the fox.
        “You guys coming along or what?!” the bat yelled back at them. “We’re not gonna save any fighting for you guys just because you’re touring the cruise!”
        “No; fighting Mephiles isn’t the main problem; not right now, anyway” Shadow replied. “The starship is the real problem; without it, Mephiles cannot unite with Iblis. If we take control of it or destroy it, then problem solved. All we have to do after that-” Shadow drew Dark Burner, tossed it in the air, caught it, twirled it around in his hand, and stabbed the wall with it to emphasize his point, “Is beat Mephiles once and for all.”
        “Hell yeah!” Sonic chimed in, and slammed his fist into his open palm. “Ass kick-o’-clock!” Shadow ignored him, and faced Tails. “If we get to the core, can you take control of it from there?” he asked.
        “So long as there’s a computer terminal” Tails replied. “But, why the core? The bridge would offer more direct control.”
        “One; the bridge will be more heavily guarded” Shadow replied cynically, as if it were stupidly obvious. “And secondly... if we can’t take control of it, we’ll have to overload the core and destroy the ship.” Everyone was quiet as they let this sink in...
Could they be on a suicide mission right now?
        “The sooner we move, the sooner we beat Mephiles, and can get control of his ship” Rouge said, breaking the silence. “Now, let’s move!”
Sonic and the others nodded enthusiastically. Then, they jogged onwards. Knuckles glanced nervously at the part of the wall that was still jiggling from where Shadow had stabbed it, and followed them.

*Mephiles’ Starship: Bridge*

        At this moment, Ovator single-handedly controlled the starship, which was barely three miles out of gravitational-pull range. Two Black Arms Elites and a Black Arms Giant guarded the door on the inside, and six standard Black Arms soldiers and four Metarex guarded the outside. Shade was bringing Mephiles over to a machine that Ovator had prepared in order to give Mephiles a deadly, physical form once again (similar to the one Shade used at the beginning of Return of Mephiles). All other guards were in the core room, making sure the Sword of Chaos continued to cooperate with the ship. Suddenly, Ovator gasped, and nervously looked over at Shade and Mephiles.
        “M-Masters?” Ovator said, trying to stay calm. “First off, you’ll be happy to hear the launch was a total success; all systems are 110 percent, and we’re on course. Secondly...” Ovator swallowed a lump in his throat. “Well... according to my readings, the security cameras I put on the ship have... er, well, detected that... Shadow and the other Mobians... boarded our ship.”
        “WHAT?!” Mephiles snarled, almost making Shade drop him in surprise. “Those meddling vermin are dragging their filthy feet across my ship?!” Mephiles slithered to the ground and towards the shadow of the image he was going to take the shape of. “Shade, once I take my new form, we shall intercept and destroy them! I will not allow them to stop me when I am so close!”
        “Are you certain that is wise, master?” Shade asked calmly. “Shadow has discovered the true power of the dagger he wields; he is much stronger now. Also, our guards are few in number and will not be able to help us much.”
        “Not to mention that it would appear Mauve didn’t make it to the ship when all personnel were summoned” Ovator added.
        Mephiles didn’t reply at first, and instead looked at the form he was going to take; it was twice as tall as his original form, and had long horns twisting from the head, much like his form when he wielded the Havoc Blade, only these horns were longer. This image also had a long, spiked tail with a spiked mace at the tip of it. Mephiles slithered into the image’s shadow, and slowly took its form.
        “To answer your question, Shade...” Mephiles finally replied, “It matters not; you, me, and the personnel on this ship are the only things to stop Shadow and his wretched allies. This new form will give me an advantage, and with you at my side, with none of their human or other Mobian allies to interfere, we can crush them!” With that, Mephiles finally grew to his full height, and his green eyes blazed with power on his new body. “At last, vengeance shall be mine!”
        Smiling evilly, Shade bowed in reverence to his master, and faced Ovator. “Where is Shadow and the Mobians located, Doctor?” he asked.
        “Dead for the power core” Ovator replied. “If you hurry, you can catch them. I’ll keep the ship steady from here.”
        “Very well” Mephiles said, and stepped towards the door. “I leave the bridge guards here, Ovator, in case some of Shadow’s allies slip through. I shall contact you when Shadow’s broken body is smeared across the deck!” And with that, they exited the bridge.

*Border of Earth’s atmosphere: Eggman’s destroyer*

        Although this wasn’t as strong, durable, dangerous, or large as his flagship, Eggman still felt comfortably safe in his destroyer. He felt so knowing G.U.N. and he had a mutual agreement, and that Mephiles was running with his tail tucked between his legs, so to speak. Knowing that the flagship was only fifteen minutes away, and having well over eight hundred mechs guarding his ship helped Dr. Eggman feel a little safer as well.
        “How far away is it?” Eggman asked the computer system that independently ran the ship on its own. “Can our terrestrial-missile sites still hit it, and not be noticed by G.U.N.?”
        “Yes, exalted doctor” the computer replied in a monotone voice. “It is moving at a slow but steady pace; it shall be within range for the next fifteen minutes at this rate.”
        Eggman snickered evilly. “Excellent!” he exclaimed. “Fire the first batch of missiles, and see what that ship’s defenses are capable of!”
        “As you order, Emperor Eggman Robotnik” the computer replied.

*Mephiles starship: Bridge, with Dr. Ovator: One Minute after Mephiles’ and Shade’s departure*

        Everything was running smoothly on the bridge; the core was siphoning more power to the engines, and they were picking up speed. In less than two hours, the Chaos-Propulsion Generators would be powered enough by the Sword of Chaos to launch, and Mephiles’ mission would finally be complete. But then, the radar suddenly went off, and a siren sounded through the ship. Ovator glanced at it, and saw that eight bogies were inbound. Zooming in on them using camera he had on the outside of the ship, he saw they were M-7 B-00-M missiles. Ovator grew a bit nervous again; two of those missiles was equivalent to the power of half a nuke.
        “Master Mephiles, hostile attacks inbound!” Ovator said to Mephiles over the comm.. “Eight missiles have targeted our ship! Our armor will likely hold, but shall I target them with our other defenses?”
        “Yes Ovator, just do not let my ship become harmed under any circumstances!” Mephiles snarled as his reply. Without hesitating, Ovator targeted the missiles with the ship’s lock-on laser beams. They fired individually, and Ovator had the satisfaction of watching the missiles explode one by one. But then, the last missile continued on... and the laser wasn’t firing at it. When Ovator glanced at the weapon-control panel, Ovator saw something infuriating:
It was a bleeping error sign, and it had a silhouette of a bat giving him the finger: a typical, yet unique, hacker signature.
        “Master Mephiles!” Ovator cried through the comm.. “I think Rouge the Bat has hacked in! A hacker virus has disabled our weapon systems, and I cannot-” But he was cut off as the missile struck the ship... and the entire vessel rattled violently, more so than it should have. Mephiles and Shade fell over as they tried to chase Shadow and the others, who also fell down on the impact.
Ovator came to only one conclusion on why the impact was especially violent:
The hacker had somehow disabled the ship’s organic armor on the outside of the ship as well, which was extremely difficult unless they had inside information. And the only way to do that would be to somehow tap into the ship’s security and terminate the organic armor from the inside. Either Rouge had managed to snatch some data during the attack on the base, or it was somebody else. Ovator dismissed this, however, and decided to try and delete the virus, and get them through this in one piece.

*Earth’s surface: Dr. Eggman’s destroyer*

        “Enemy ship’s offensive and defensive obstacles are offline, exalted doctor” the computer replied to Eggman. The doctor cackled joyfully; now, Mephiles’ ship was a sitting duck. It had virtually no chance of surviving the arsenal Eggman had targeted at it. And G.U.N. couldn’t blame him for the Mobians’ deaths, either; the devious doctor had triple-checked that factor.
        “Thank you so much, Mauve, my friend, for giving me the codes to disable those defenses” Eggman said, and turned to face the said bat. Mauve was leaning back in a chair, his feet propped up on the computer panel, smoking another cigar, and smiled crookedly at Eggman.
        “Oh, believe me, Robotnik...” Mauve said, chuckling as he looked at the damage Mephiles’ ship had suffered on the computer, “It was my pleasure.”
        Eggman turned back to the computer. “Launch all remaining missiles!” he commanded, and held up his hand, clenched to a fist. “Blow that ship to oblivion!”

*Mephiles’ Starship: Power-core chamber*

        In the core room of Mephiles’ starship, six Metarex, seven Black Arms Elites armed with rifles, three Elites armed with swords, one Black Giant, fifteen standard Black Arms equipped with swords and shields, and five more standard troops armed with pistols guarded the area. Every one of them was alerted by now that Shadow and the other Mobians had infiltrated the ship, and they stood alert and ready. What concerned them most, however, was the constant thudding of the missiles hitting the ship; they weren’t sure how much more it could take. But then, the door to the left shuddered with a blow. They all faced it, and aimed their rifles at it.
They were still caught completely by surprise.
        The door went flying, and smashed into two of the guards, causing a deal of confusion. Then, Sonic rushed in, smashing into the Black Aliens and Metarex with impossible speed and strength. The world’s fastest hedgehog zipped around them, delivering lightning-quick punches and throwing them all in a daze. Knuckles arrived next, and flew right into the group, shattering the shields of the Black Aliens who attacked him, and bashing their skulls in. The Black Arms Giant made a move to smash Knuckles with its hammer, but a Chaos Spear hit the beast dead-center on the chest, blowing it open and killing the best as it gave an agonizing howl and died. Rouge, Shadow, Amy, and Tails entered next, and pooled their efforts into the fight. Soon, in less than two minutes, all the guards were either unconscious or dead.
        “How pathetic” Rouge said with a scoff, and gave a Black Arms Elite one more kick to keep it down.
        “How amazing...” Tails said breathlessly, gazing at the main core of power on the starship. Everyone turned to look, and had to agree; it was amazing: the Sword of Chaos was suspended by a powerful magnetic force and could be seen through a thick wall of semi-transparent Chaos Energy that the Sword emanated to power the starship. The energy seemed crystalline, and slowly moved like a thick, lazy river. It gave off a soft glow, and actually seemed warm. A few normal, white lights shined from the ceiling (probably courtesy of Ovator’s tastes), but other than that and the smaller green, energy cubes that drew energy from the walls and their organic structure, the light mostly came from the core’s glow.
        “Tails? Do you see a computer terminal you can use?” Shadow asked the young fox, who nodded.
        “Right over there!” he said cheerily, and walked over to it. It was a normal sized computer, but Tails could use it to directly control the ship’s power. He plugged in a program he made that dismantled thousands of complex firewalls per second, and set to work. Everyone waited eagerly for Tails to gain access to the mainframe; Shadow and Rouge constantly exchanged glances, wondering if one of them should try hacking it. Sonic and Amy casually chatted while leaning against the rails that separated the floor from the vast, empty space below that would eventually funnel anybody foolish enough to fall in it into the core. Knuckles simply paced around the core, watching for anybody who might try to ambush them. Finally, Tails wiped sweat off of his brow, and faced the others with a big smile.
        “I got access guys!” the fox exclaimed. “Now, I just need get past this last code, and it’ll take about six minutes to load the files I need that will give me full access to control the ship from here!”
But at that moment, things grew dramatically bleary; a door opened, and Mephiles the Dark walked into the room, flanked by Shade the Echidna. Everyone was shocked by Mephiles’ new appearance, and readied into a stance. Sonic quickly sized Mephiles’ form up, and quickly regained his confidence, but knew it wouldn’t be too easy, either.
        “Tails, I don’t think we have six minutes!” Amy exclaimed.
Mephiles calmly strode to the center of the room, casually stepping on the corpses of his guards as if they weren’t there. The dark being’s eyes were trained on Shadow, who still hadn’t faced Mephiles. Tails was typing furiously, trying to accelerate the process however possible.
        “Mephiles...” Shadow said quietly, and quickly drew his dagger. “Let Maria’s soul take revenge this day!” And with that, Dark Burner blazed to life, and Shadow leapt at Mephiles with a roar. Thinking quickly, Mephiles summoned black flames to his stone-blades, which was enough to keep Dark Burner from slicing through once Shadow landed his first blow (but the demonic being still had to mend them). Mephiles and Shadow exchanged a few, rapid blows while the others closed in. The dark being’s bright, green eyes blazed with pure hatred at the ebony hedgehog.
        “You made a terribly grave mistake following me here, all of you!” Mephiles snarled as Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Amy, and Sonic surrounded him. With a roar, Mephiles struck out at all of them with all his pent-up rage and fury, wanting nothing more than to kill them all. Amy blocked a blow of Mephiles’ tail by smashing it back with her hammer while Sonic landed a Homing Attack to Mephiles’ back, but the dark being grabbed Sonic’s arm and slammed him onto the floor. Knuckles sweep-kicked Mephiles, and delivered an uppercut that nearly made Mephiles fall off of the railing. Shadow and Rouge moved in to finish him together, but Shade appeared before them, blocked Shadow’s attack, and jump-kicked Rouge away. While Shade battled Shadow, Sonic rushed forward with Amy and Knuckles to keep Mephiles busy. Tails occasionally fired a pot-shot at Mephiles with his electronic-pulse gun, which distracted the dark being, but did little more than that. Although she dearly wanted to help her husband, Rouge knew Mephiles was the bigger problem, and helped Sonic and the others fight him.
        Shade knew his steel claws didn’t stand a chance against Dark Burner’s true power, so he simply dodged Shadow’s slashes, only blocking Shadow’s hands when he could. The two exchanged blows for some time; Shadow often tried Homing Attacks and Chaos Spears, which Shade returned with Dive-Bomb attacks and his own Chaos Spears. Finally, deciding he should save Dark Burner’s true power for when he really needed it, Shadow extinguished the fiery blade, and locked Dark Burner with Shade’s claws, pinning his echidna rival against the rail. Their strength was practically even, and they gritted their teeth as they tried to overwhelm one another.
        “Mephiles was leaving, Shadow!” Shade growled. “You did not have to come here to your doom!” This comment surprised Shadow, though not as much as it normally would have; the hedgehog was beginning to notice a shift of balance between Shade’s loyalty to Mephiles and his own personal honor.
        “This is the way it must be, Shade” Shadow said lowly and seriously. “And if you’re protecting Mephiles, then you are in my way, and I shall destroy you as well!” With that, Shadow sweep-kicked Shade, and pressed his foot down on the echidna’s chest. But before Shadow could finish his rival off, another few missiles hit the ship, and the violent shockwaves tumbled the ship and the force knocked Shadow over onto his backside. Mephiles and Amy, who had locked weapons, got tangled and fell over as well. Shade leapt at Shadow, ready to skewer the hedgehog on his blades, but Shadow kicked Shade in the chest, and they resumed their sword/blade play.
        The others, meanwhile, had their hands more than full with Mephiles at the moment; the dark being’s new body gave him increased strength, and somehow more agility, not to mention the deadly tail covered in spikes. Sonic and Amy often fought Mephiles on one front while Knuckles and Rouge attacked Mephiles’ other side, but the dark being always seemed ready to counter anything they threw at him. Finally, however, Mephiles took the bait Rouge set by faking a move to attack Mephiles’ left, and Sonic and Amy sprung the trap. First, Amy smashed her hammer onto Mephiles’ tail and pinned the dark being to the ground. Before Mephiles could register what had happened, Sonic rolled into a ball and bounced onto Mephiles’ body with the force of a meteor, making the dark being cry in anger and pain. Then, Knuckles kicked Mephiles in the head while Rouge simultaneously kicked him in the torso, sending Mephiles sprawling to the ground. But the dark being sprang back to his feet, seized Amy by her arm, and threw her right at Sonic, sending them both flying. Luckily, Sonic grabbed onto the railing before they plummeted down off of the platform, and grabbed onto Amy as well. Rouge and Knuckles resumed the fight with Mephiles while Shadow dueled Shade.

*Mephiles’ starship: Bridge: Two minutes later*

        Ovator was frantic to the point where he was almost in tears. He had managed to get weapons online for a few, brief moments at a time and had destroyed about six missiles, but over nine others had hit the starship. Only one outcome was certain now:
The starship was going to be destroyed.
Another miracle struck, both long enough to destroy one of the now ten inbound missiles, and reactivating the organic armor to cushion the blow of two more. But these miracles only delayed the inevitable; whoever was firing these missiles knew that very few structures could survive this kind of bombardment. Ovator calculated that they could survive maybe nine more hits before the ship was history, and seven more were still soaring towards them.
And the weapons’ control monitor still showed the silhouette of the bat giving him the finger.
        “Oh, fuck you too, you blasted hacker!” Ovator snarled and smacked the computer on its side. But then, to Ovator’s great surprise, the jolt he gave it actually gave him brief control over the weapons system, and the ship’s defenses fired and destroyed two more missiles.
Maybe they would make it after all, so long as they moved fast enough to get out of range.

*Mephiles’ starship: Core room: One minute ago*

        Sonic and Amy had been knocked pretty low down, and were slowly and delicately climbing up the side of the core room to get back onto the top of the rail. Tails now helped Rouge and Knuckles a bit more in holding back Mephiles, but the fox still concentrated mostly on getting access to the core. Shade and Shadow continued their epic duel, although Chaos-related attacks were kept to a minimum so that they wouldn’t hit the core and get them all killed.
        Suddenly, two missiles hit the ship at the same time, and the ship almost twisted upside-down, knocking everyone down and tumbling over one another while the ship regained its gravitational balance. But while Shadow stumbled, Mephiles took advantage of this, and blasted the hedgehog with a surge of energy...
Sending him flying right towards Shade.
At first, Shade didn’t know what was going on, still trying to reorient himself from the impact. But just as he stood up and reached forward to balance himself, he saw Shadow flying right towards him...
And the hedgehog’s stomach was impaled on Shade’s outstretched claw.
        Shadow gritted his teeth against the pain, and glared up at Shade. The echidna’s face was a mix of surprise, horror, and perplex. Shadow groaned, and lowered himself off of the blade, his legs a little weak. Then, another missile hit, and Shadow tumbled to the ground in a heap, groaning softly. Shade just stood there in shock, not sure what he should be feeling, which surprised him even more. So the echidna just stared at his fallen rival, feeling so different from the time he defeated Shadow in Central City, more than two years ago.
        Then, Rouge turned her attention over to her husband, and her eyes widened when she saw Shadow’s limp form, Shade’s standing form, and blood on Shade’s claw. Her eye twitched, and she screamed; “SHADOW!! NO! NOO!!” Then, her aqua eyes turned upwards to face Shade, and she snarled with hate.
        “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!” Rouge screamed, and leapt right at the echidna, who was still in a daze. Shade looked up in time just to see Rouge’s boot kick him right in the face, sending him flying and rolling across the floor. Shade groaned, and looked up to see Rouge leap at him again, and jump-kick him, slamming Shade into the wall, and slumping onto the ground. The vengeful bat was about to rush forward to finish him, when Mephiles suddenly got in front of her. Rouge’s anger dismissed her initial surprise, and she tried to jump-kick the dark being as well. But Mephiles swiftly caught Rouge’s leg, and then grabbed her arm, and brought her stomach down on his knee so hard that every one of Rouge’s ribs were either cracked or broken. Screaming in pain, Rouge was hurled over to lie in a defeated heap next to Shadow. Mephiles chuckled in satisfaction, and turned to face Knuckles, who had been trying to help Sonic and Amy up. Mephiles charged right at the unsuspecting echidna, and smashed his tail into him. Knuckles grunted as the air was knocked out of him, and was then kicked upside the head.  Mephiles summoned his long, barbed whip, wrapped it around Knuckles’ leg, and slammed the echidna around like a rag doll, and finally tossed him to smash into a wall near Shade.
        Sonic and Amy, meanwhile, finally got back up onto the railing, and quickly looked around. Suddenly, Sonic’s eyes widened, and he pointed at Mephiles, who was now facing them.
        “Oh, shit...” Sonic mumbled as Mephiles angled his blades for attack.
Sonic and Amy rushed him together, but Mephiles just knocked Amy aside, dodged Sonic’s attack, and kicked Sonic’s leg so hard, it twisted over and became dislocated.
The blue hedgehog screamed in pain, but Mephiles just stepped on Sonic’s back and crushed him flat onto the floor. Amy quickly rushed back and swung her hammer at Mephiles, but the dark being blasted her aside with a burst of black flames. Amy looked up to see Mephiles right in front of her, and in a ditch effort, threw a punch at him. The demon laughed mockingly, and caught Amy’s hand. They locked eyes for a moment, and in a swift motion, Mephiles brought his other hand down on Amy’s arm, and literally shattered her shoulder-bone. Amy almost puked from the severe pain, but Mephiles still launched her across the room with a blast of energy and knocked her against the wall.
Now, Mephiles was completely unopposed, and he laughed to himself, savoring his victory.

*Mephiles’ starship: Bridge, with Dr. Ovator*

        The ship was now a flaming wreck; Ovator had diverted full available power to the engines, trying not to take so much as to deprive the Chaos-Propulsion generators of the enormous amount of energy they needed. But the scientist knew that the ship would only be able to take another two missile-hits before they were dead, three if they were lucky.
But, as of right now, ninety missiles streaked towards the ship.
        “Oh, why didn’t I just move to Soleanna and become a professor when I had the chance?!” Ovator exclaimed. “Now I’m going to die in space for a cause I despise, and nobody will ever know! Damn this all!”
        Suddenly, however, the missiles that marked the ship’s destruction suddenly just... stopped, and drifted away, dead in space. For a moment, Ovator didn’t dare believe it, but he broke into a huge grin, stood up on his chair, and whooped with joy.
        “YES!! WE’RE OUT OF RANGE!! HAH! THEY CAN’T GET US!! SUCK ON THAT, YOU BLASTED HACKER!!! HAH, HAH!!” he exclaimed, wishing he had somebody to kiss. He sat back down, and contacted Mephiles. “My lord! The missiles cannot hit us! Our mission is going to succeed!”

*Mephiles’ starship: Core room*

        “Guys! I just got one more code, and the system is under my control!” Tails exclaimed, presently oblivious to the battle’s current state. “Almost there! Uh... guys?” the young fox inquired, frantically looking around. Turning to his left, his ears drooped as he looked up right into Mephiles eyes.
        “Meddlesome little computer worm!” Mephiles hissed with hate, and lashed out with his blade, cutting Tails across the torso and hurling him to the ground with a scream. Mephiles breathed in deeply, savoring his victory, and walked over to Shadow’s limp form, which only groaned and clutched at the stab wound. Shade hadn’t harmed him mortally; only enough so to cause major bleeding and extreme pain.
Looking upon his fallen foe, Mephiles took a moment to remember all the battles he had fought against Shadow. First, in Soleanna, when they had first met, and when Mephiles had tried to convince Shadow of humanity’s flaws and the justice in their destruction. Then again in Central City, when he had united Shade, Eggman, the Metarex, and thousands of Black Aliens under his cause. Then on the Aero Fortress, when Shadow had fought him with Dark Burner for the first time, and when Kaynyx gave his life so that Mephiles’ victory would be postponed even further. After that, the Temple of the Fourth Great Civilization, when he and the Lost Ones had brushed Shadow and his team aside like leaves. And finally, when Shadow assaulted Mephiles’ base, leading to the starship. Gathering this all to memory, Mephiles also gathered all of his hatred as he hefted Shadow off the ground by the hedgehog’s neck.
        “It is time I finally ended this!” Mephiles growled, and brought his blade down...
With a solid *clang!* against metal.
Looking at the source, Mephiles saw that Shade the Echidna’s claws had blocked the killing blow to Mephiles’ greatest enemy.

*Earth’s surface: Dr. Eggman’s destroyer*

        Eggman was glaring at the screen that showed Mephiles’ starship... as well as his missiles that had died before striking their target. Well over fifty of some of his best missiles were now floating, useless and dead, in space.
        “WHAT HAPPENED?!” Eggman bellowed, slamming his fist down on the computer panel. Mauve glanced over at his employer, and shrugged. “I’d guess their ship’s out of range, doc” he replied, gave one final puff on his cigar, and extinguished it in his portable ash tray. “You have any other weapons, ones that can fire further?”
        Eggman suddenly grinned wickedly, and chuckled. “Why yes, I do, actually...” he said, and faced the computer. “Contact Metal Sonic, and have him fire our Chaos Missiles from my flagship!”
        “Yes master” the computer replied. “Sending message... One moment... message received. Chaos Missile-launcher is online and primed.”
        “Fire at will!” Eggman commanded, and from his nearby flagship, one large, bright-blue missile filled with artificial Chaos Energy flew with incredible speed up at Mephiles’ ship.

*Mephiles’ starship: Core room, one minute ago*

        Mephiles and Shade stood in tension, their eyes locked. Shade’s claw still held back Mephiles’ blade from killing Shadow, and Mephiles still held the hedgehog by the throat. There was a long, tense silence, and when Mephiles finally spoke, it was with pure, venomous anger.
        “HOW... DARE YOU...” he whispered with shaking wrath. Shade’s face expressed sadness, and a little of the fear he now felt.
        “Shadow is defeated, master” Shade said softly. “Please, master, do not dishonor him; he does not deserve it. He is down, and we need no longer worry. We’ve won. We should not-” But Mephiles suddenly dropped Shadow, and seized Shade by the throat.
        “YOU GO TOO FAR, YOU IMBECILE!” Mephiles shouted, and hurled Shade across the room to smash into the wall. The dark being stalked towards him, raising his blade. “MUTINY! HOW DARE YOU GO AGAINST MY WISHES, YOU INSOLENT IDIOT?!” Mephiles screamed. “I AM MEPHILES THE DARK!! MY WISHES RISE ABOVE ANYBODY’S PETTY AMBITIONS!! NOW, SHADE THE ECHIDNA, YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR COMING BETWEEN MYSELF AND MY CAUSE!!”

*Mephiles’ starship: Bridge*

        At the moment that Mephiles dropped Shadow’s body, Ovator was running the ship smoothly, still happy about the miracles that had been strung together to save them. But then, the scanner went off, and so did the alarm. Ovator checked it...
And saw a missile twice as powerful as the others streaking right towards them at twice the speed.
        “NO!” Ovator cried, and repeatedly beat his fist upon the panel. “NO! NO, NO!” Moving quickly, Ovator tried to get weapons control back up and running, but the hacker’s virus upload still blocked his access.
        “Master Mephiles!!” Ovator cried into the comm., “We’re about to be blasted, hard this time! Brace for impact!!”
And the missile struck.

*Mephiles’ starship: Core room*

        The latest explosion had caused so much severe damage, all of the emergency protocols were activated; all doors were sealed tight so that the vacuum of space wouldn’t suck anybody out of the ship if there was a breach. There were, in fact, eight breaches caused by this last missile, and a reserve of power had been lost. But in this case, the explosion hurled Mephiles and Shade through the door they’d entered through, and it shut just then. Mephiles quickly stood up and hurled himself at the door, which would take hours to breach, even with his strength.
His greatest enemies were now beyond that door, and he wouldn’t let them live; not this time.
        “Ovator...” Mephiles hissed on his comm., “Open this door immediately!”
        “Yes master; just give me a minute or so to override the emergency protocols in that section” Ovator replied, and actually sounded relieved. “Do not worry, master; we are now totally out of range of attack, we still have enough power to complete our mission, and we’re on course! And now, I can safely say that we’re in the clear!”
        Meanwhile, inside the actual core, the Mobians were all struggling to stand up. Rouge was down on all fours, not daring to stand up with her broken ribs. Sonic managed to limp over to the rail and hold himself up, and helped Amy up as well. The pink hedgehog just let her arm dangle loosely, for it pained her to so much as wiggle it. Knuckles had just barely recovered from a minor concussion, and his leg was badly cut from where Mephiles’ barbed whip had wrapped around him. The crimson echidna limped over to Tails, and tore off a long strap of cloth from his glove to wrap around Tails’ wound. Shadow had taken a shred of cloth from his own glove – and some anesthetic from the pack Rouge always carried on a mission – and sealed the wound, clotting the blood awhile.
        “My head hurts...” Knuckles groaned, and puked while leaning over the rail. Shadow gritted his teeth and glanced at the door that Mephiles was still slamming into, trying to get back in.
        “We’re screwed if Mephiles gets back in” Shadow said with a grimace. “Mm... we need to find a way stop him before he does! Tails... did you get access yet?”
        The young fox grimaced in pain, but nodded. “If I hit the correct password, then yes” he replied. “But... I doubt I’ll be able to do anything before Mephiles gets back in” he added sadly, his ears drooping.
        Rouge, who was nearby, growled in frustration. “So, Mephiles wins this one? We lose, just because *Ow* we weren’t quick enough?!” she said angrily. “That’s the stupidest reason to lose for us! We’re Mobians!”
        “It’s not like we’re in a shape to fight right now... well, at least, not very well” Sonic put in. He glared over at the door that was all that stood between them and a demonic murderer. “Stupid bitch is gonna stain my record with this defeat!” he growled.
        “Tails... you know what we have to do” Shadow said darkly, glancing over at the young fox. “We have to do it; there’s no other option.”
        Tails’ eyes widened. “You mean... overload the core?!” Tails asked. “We’re all going to die!”
        “We’re going to die anyway when Mephiles breaks in!” Rouge snapped. “C’mon fox boy, get some perspective!” But Tails still looked incredibly nervous, wringing his hands and constantly glancing at the thudding door.
        “Guys... I-I don’t wanna die!” Tails said, his voice shaking. “I... I wanted to show Cream this one invention I made to help soothe her to sleep and make waking up to a-an alarm clock more easily when we got back! I... Sonic, I’m scared!” he said, and tears began to run down his face. Sonic managed to limp over to his friend and put a comforting hand on Tails’ shoulder. Shadow sighed, and looked up at Tails.
        “Tails, wait... set it on a timed overload, and I’ll try and Chaos Control us out of here” Shadow told the young fox. “There’s a marginal chance that the Chaos Energy in here will meddle with it, distort us, and... well, your guys’ guesses are as good as mine. But there’s a stronger chance of us making it out of here alive.”
        Tails seemed to calm down a bit after hearing this, and nodded. “Okay... I’ll do it if it’ll stop Mephiles” he said firmly. Sonic smiled and gave his friend a thumb up. “That’s the spirit, buddy!”
So Tails approached the console, and rapidly typed in a command. Then, he quickly stepped back. He faced Shadow and said; “I set it for eight seconds. Let’s go!”
Shadow nodded, and held up his red Chaos Emerald...
Just as the door opened, and Mephiles saw what was happening. But before he could make a move, Shade rushed in just as Shadow said the magic words: “Chaos... CONTROL!”
As the light appeared, Shade ran towards it shouting; “No Shadow, wait! Please, I’m sorry! I-” But the echidna was caught up in the flash of light, and vanished along with them.
        “NO!!” Mephiles cried, running forward. He could feel the tremors, and knew the core was overloading. Thinking quickly, he snatched the Sword of Chaos out of the core, and held it above his head, shouting; “Ovator! We are leaving!” Then, the Havoc Blade glowed brightly, and shouted; “Chaos... CONTROL!!”
And Mephiles vanished, followed by Dr. Ovator on the bridge.

*Dr. Eggman’s destroyer: Ten seconds later*

        “Target eliminated” the computer reported to Eggman. “Scanning... no survivors found.”
Mauve, who clearly heard this, stood up and whooped loudly. “Ha!! Mephiles is gone!” he exclaimed. “Holy shit, this is amazing! Almost too good to be true! Drinks all around!”
        Dr. Eggman chuckled and couldn’t help but keep grinning at this news; he had eliminated both Mephiles, and Sonic, who Eggman hated with extreme prejudice. Now that they were out of the way, they could contend to dealing the crushing blow to Mephiles’ forces now that they were leaderless, and do so without severely heavy casualties. Then, Eggman would crush G.U.N. without Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Amy Rose, Rouge, or Knuckles to help them. And Eggman now had a new ally: Mauve the Bat.
        “Mauve, I must once again thank you for your assistance” Eggman said. “Without you, this day might never have come. I’ll transfer the promised $1 million to your account right away. Oh, and Mauve? Would you be interested in being my own personal mercenary until I crush G.U.N.? I’ll even give you your own country to rule once I establish my empire!”
        “Sounds good” Mauve agreed. “Only a few more things; give me my own personal starship with a hot tub and a dozen coolers filled with one of every kind of expensive vodka, wine, champagne, and scotch that there is, along with 500 packs of Mauren’s World-Class Cigars, and fifteen Shadow Androids to act as my bodyguards on the ship. Done?”
        “Done” Eggman replied, and shook Mauve’s hand. “I’ll even let you keep it after the world is mine; just don’t appear in front of G.U.N., or they’ll turn their guns on me while they’re still strong.”
        “No problem doc” Mauve replied, lighting another cigar. Then, puffing on it, he smirked wickedly at Eggman. “I think I’m going to enjoy working with you, Robotnik.”
        “As am I, Mauve, my friend” Eggman chuckled, looking at a map of the world, imagining it as his. “As am I...”