THE RETURN OF MEPHILES

Prologue: Resurrection of Evil

Shade entered his throne room, and went over to the side of the room to his throne chair.
He had just been told by Dr. Ovator that three more of their new war-machines were ready, and the Black Arms had received 500 soldiers for reinforcements, and that the Metarex had built 1,000 more of their kind.
Shade had ordered them all to secure another fallback base, in case the air fortress (now know as Aero Citadel) fell.
Aero Citadel was also updated with a great deal of security courtesy of Dr. Ovator’s intellect. Only someone as skilled as him could get past even the basic codes.
Mauve was feeling well too (it was three weeks ago when he’d been brought on board), and the bat spent most of his time gambling (and usually winning) with some of the human personnel Dr. Ovator hired as lab assistants.
Shade hit the button on the chair’s arm rest to reveal the hidden door.
Mephiles had sent word that he was healed and ready to reshape himself into his former, more powerful self.
Shade smirked to himself, wondering what kind of havoc Mephiles planned for his vengeance.
He entered, and bowed slightly before the life-support tube Mephiles was in.
The ooze was thicker now, and more stable. The green eyes were shut, but could still be clearly seen.
“Master?” Shade asked.
Mephiles opened his eyes. “Ah, Shade...” he greeted. “Yes, I’ve finally healed completely. Now, the time has arrived for my resurrection!”
Shade bowed. “Very well then, master” he said. “I’ll transfer you to your new host.”
Shade hit a sequence of nearby buttons, opening a small duct in Mephiles’ life-support tube.
The Black Arms healing liquid drained out the bottom, and Mephiles oozed out the duct.
Shade used the purple Chaos Emerald to lift the ooze, and carry his master over to the 3-D image they’d prepared.
Mephiles approached it, and entered the shadow.
A flash of dark energy, and then a being slowly formed itself out of the shadow.
Mephiles’ green eyes reappeared on a deformed, mocking image of a hedgehog’s head, blazing with hate.
Mephiles’ body then took on its previous, hellish demon form, and he tightened his fists to feel his old strength.
Mephiles chuckled. “And so, I stand before the world, REBORN!!” he cried dramatically.
Shade smiled broadly, and bowed lowly.
Mephiles took in a deep breath, created some ooze on his right arm to form a dark blade, and then redrew it.
“Yes... I greatly appreciate this, Shade” Mephiles said quietly. “You continue to prove yourself to be quite an asset... and it redeems you for your failure to slay Shadow the Hedgehog.”
Shade trembled slightly, and bowed even lower. “Forgive me, master” he said. “I swear to you, I will not fail you again.”
Mephiles nodded. “You had better... next time, I will not be so generous” he hissed. “Regardless, you have more than made up for your failure, and you are a great asset, nonetheless... and Shadow is a mighty adversary. You are forgiven... but don’t push your luck.”
Shade rose back to his feet, but kept his head and waist bowed slightly. “Thank you, my lord” he said. “I am grateful.”
Mephiles nodded. “But, enough of this” he said, and they left and entered the throne room. “Tell me, Shade; what are the circumstances of this fortress we’re on.”
“A few thousand Metarex and a few thousand Black Arms guard it” Shade told him. “Two Metarex are of powerful status, and we have 60 Black Arms giants with us, and 130 Black Arm Elite soldiers. And I’ve hired a mercenary, a very capable one...”
“And here he is” a voice spoke. Mephiles and Shade turned to see a devious bat wearing a smirk enter the room.
Shade’s eye twitched in disgust, but he still tried to look respectful. “Master Mephiles;” he said, “Allow me to introduce our mercenary: Mauve the Bat.”
Mephiles raised his head slightly. “Greetings” he said simply.
Mauve nodded. “So... you’re Mephiles, huh?” he said. “Shorter than I expect-” Suddenly, Mauve found himself getting very cold and stiff, and found it difficult to breathe.
Mephiles had triggered a dark, swirling energy around Mauve that was slowly sucking the life energy out of him.
“You would be wise to show me respect, bat” Mephiles said calmly, and released the energy.
Mauve gasped and stood up straight as the circulation and warmth returned, and he breathed deeply.
“Yes... sir” he said reluctantly.
Mephiles narrowed his eyes. “Master...” he hissed.
“Er... master” Mauve corrected, and bowed his head slightly.
Mephiles nodded. “Good enough” he said. “Now, Shade, are we ready to strike back at those scum who dismantled my dynasty?”
Shade was silent. “Well, master, many of your old followers have been destroyed by G.U.N.” he said. “Aside from the 6,000 or so Metarex and Black Arms on the Aero Citadel, only 1,500 others reside, securing a hidden fall-back base.”
“What?!” Mephiles snarled. “That’s not nearly enough to fight our enemies!!”
Mauve sighed. “You know... eh, ‘master’... numbers don’t necessarily win battles; strength and skill in individuals is essential as well” he said.
“Perhaps...” Mephiles growled. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, or else you wouldn’t have let that bat friend of Shadow’s escape!”
Mauve frowned and growled lowly, but kept his mouth shut.
“Actually, master, a human recruit of ours named Dr. Ovator is constructing several very powerful, deadly weapons that will help greatly against our foes” Shade put in.
Mephiles faced him. “Let me see them” he ordered.
“Yes, my lord” Shade said with a bow. “Please, this way.”
Mephiles followed Shade out of the room with Mauve in tow. They passed Metarex and Black Alien guards on the way, all whom bowed lowly at the return of their glorious master.
Shade led Mephiles through many complicated hallways, and they finally entered a large laboratory adjoined to a manufacturing area.
Mephiles glanced around. Over three dozen human personnel worked hard at their stations, reviewing codes and data and schematics and what not.
Shade led Mephiles over to an assembly line, where two humans conversed.
“Dr. Ovator!” Shade said to the slightly chubbier one. The scientist faced them, and the other one left.
“Lord Mephiles the Dark wishes to see what we’ve been working on” Shade said.
“Ah yes, of course master” Ovator said, bowed, and polished his glasses. “Here...”
Several lights flashed on, and revealed ten identical robots lined up on the assembly line, four which weren’t complete yet.
Mephiles narrowed his eyes slightly. “They look familiar...” he said.
“They should” Ovator said. “These are replicas of the Ultimate Weapon, the Gizoid!”
Mephiles’ eyes widened. “How could you possibly replicate that?” he said. “Unimaginable power went into those...”
“I know, I know!” Ovator said. “But using the Metarex’s technology, and Dr. Eggman’s brilliant studies on the Gizoid, I was able to put the power of a copy Chaos Emerald into each of them! And using the shattered remains of the Gizoid my men were able to find, we were able to replicate the technology very well!”
“Why only ten?” Mephiles asked.
“Well, we weren’t able to recover more of the Gizoid to risk making one weaker than the others. Although, the one we’ve planted with a tiny fragment of the Gizoid’s core seems to be overall more skilled in most aspects. I’ve named him Zarox, which means ‘great destroyer’ in the language of the ancient civilization that built the Gizoid.”
Mephiles nodded. “How powerful are they?” he asked.
“Each is about as skilled as the original Gizoid when he holds four Chaos Emeralds, but their intelligence is controlled completely by us, at this command and control area-” Ovator motioned to a very large screen with two scientists working at it. “Thanks to the discovery Eggman made on how to self-replicate Chaos energy...”
“I don’t want to hear anymore of that old scum-kisser’s scientific finds!!” Mephiles snapped, and the room silenced in his wrath. “That over-inflated windbag betrayed me and it cost me my victory, and my reunion with Iblis!! I will hear NO MORE of him!!!”
“Y-Yes, my lord....” Ovator stuttered. “A-Anyway, these Gizoid replicas- we’ve named them Havocs- will be completely under our control to do your bidding, master. Oh, and we have something else we’d like to show you...”
One final light flashed on, and Mephiles gasped...
There, among the Havoc mechs, stood a motionless Shadow the Hedgehog.
“Don’t worry master” Ovator said, grinning that even Mephiles was fooled by the android’s realistic detail and texture. “This is a Shadow Android Mark III. We improved the original Shadow Androids for the Mark II with better weaponry and armor, but it couldn’t handle it very well without a proper energy source, which is where the Mark III came in. Again using Chaos Emerald replication technology from the Metarex, and self-replicating Chaos Energy technology, it has the power of five Chaos Emeralds, and can act exactly like Shadow. Watch:”
With a click of a button from the mech control area, the Shadow Android Mark III leapt down, and looked around.
“Proceeding with orders” it said in a voice exactly like Shadow’s.
Mephiles laughed. “Excellent!!” he chuckled. “Now, I have a mission for you... using this new, very realistic Shadow Android. We shall use it to kill all of Shadow’s allies, and when he stands alone, I shall crush him!!”
Mephiles cackled dramatically in his dark glory.