The Story Behind Soleanna

Chapter 7: Resurrecting Mephiles

12:50 p.m.

Shadow and Rouge arrive in Kingdom Valley, a deserted kingdom with zero scenery, broken buildings, and very cloudy weather. 

"The former king of Soleanna used to live in this castle," Rouge, holding the Scepter of Darkness, explains to her partner. "but a major accident occurred ten years ago, and no one's lived here since." 

"Accident?" Shadow follows. 

"I heard a prototype energy engine failed, which caused the accident," Rouge keeps talking. "I think the name of the plan was -" 

"The Solaris Project," a voice interrupts her. Turns out that voice belongs to none other than Dr. Eggman, arriving in his Egg Mobile. 

The agents could not believe their eyes: the evil doctor looks different than usual, and NOT in a good way! 

"Doctor!" Rouge cries. "You look hideous!" 

"Yikes!" Shadow comments. "Did your face get run over by a tractor or something?" 

"Why thank you, my dear Rouge," Eggman says with sarcasm. "and of course, Shadow." 

"Just what are you doing here, anyways?" Shadow wants to know. 

"I just got a call from Robot, telling me that the Scepter of Darkness went missing!" the human explains. "And we're assuming that you two took it! I want it back!" 

"Yeah right," Rouge snarks at him as she hovers in the air right in front of him. "You're not getting this back." 

Eggman smiles and presses a button in his Egg Mobile, signaling his robots. The Egg Gunners surround the agents start shooting them. Shadow and Rouge, of course, dodge the bullets with their quick reflexes. 

Eggman, watching the battle in boredom, screams out of nowhere, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" He hovers around in his mobile and intentionally bumps into Rouge. 

Rouge loses her flight, lets go of the scepter, and falls down. Shadow sees his partner falling from the sky. 

"Rouge!" he screams as he runs over to her catches her, almost falling down. 

Rouge looks up and is relieved to see the hedgehog. "Thanks," she says, then turns around and sees the scepter dropping to the ground, shattering, making the robots short-circuit. 

"The scepter!" she yells. They were too late. The scepter is now broken, and the two teenagers are worried about what's going to happen next. 

Shadow puts Rouge down and apologizes to her, "This is my fault. I should have grabbed the scepter first." 

"No Shadow," Rouge disagrees. "You did the right thing." 

Eggman then butts in and yells, "And now the scepter's broken! How am I supposed to complete my evil plan now?!" 

Shadow and Rouge exchange mad looks at each other. The doctor did that himself; he's the one who knocked into Rouge, after all. Shadow walks over to the scepter to check if it's okay, only to see some dark purple/black smoke leaking from it. 

"What the-?" Shadow reacts nervously. Rouge and Eggman turn around to see the smoke. 

"Eww..." Rouge wonders in disgust. "What is that stuff?" 

"I don't know," answers the black hedgehog. "We'll just have to wait and see." 

The smoke then rockets into the air and follows Eggman. The doctor sees the dark smoke and screams, "I'M OUTTA HERE!" and leaves the area with his Egg Mobile. 

After he leaves, the dark purple smoke knocks down the robots one by one and shoots into the ground in front of Shadow. Shadow's shade is drawn into it, and a black/dark gray hedgehog, who oddly looks like the former himself, emerges from the smoke. 

Rouge, with a horrified look on her face, screams to her male ally, "Shadow! Your shadow! It's scary!" 

Shadow looks down and sees that his shadow is missing. "I don't see it, dummy." he says to Rouge. 

"Look up," says the suspicious hedgehog. 

Shadow looks up and gasps at the hedgehog. The no-mouthed hedgehog laughs maniacally, then exclaims, "Oh how ironic fate can be! I would have never believed I would be resurrected through your shade! I thank you, Shadow Rodriguez!" 

The hedgehog bows, and Shadow asks him, "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" 

"And why don't you have a mouth?" Rouge asks in disgust. 

"I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark," says the hedgehog. "but my lack of mouth is a mystery." 

"But that still doesn't explain how you know my name," Shadow tries to confront him. 

"You forgot me, didn't you?" Mephiles asks as he walks towards Shadow like a creepy puppet. 

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asks. Now he's starting to get concerned. "I don't even know you!" 

"I owe so much to you, Shadow," Mephiles says as he forms a purple orb in his hand. "What you gave to me, I now return to you: a one-way ticket to oblivion!" 

All three animals are surrounded in the purple orb, and they all disappear. 

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And that was Chapter 7! Just a reminder for future chapters, there are two Mephiles' in this story: the one you just saw here, and the other one who wants Sonic dead. 

Remember to vote and comment, and I will see you in Chapter 8!