Frostbitten

Chapter 14 - Goodbye

Mephiles pulled himself up from the cracked stone, darkness swirling violently around him. "You fools may have escaped my hold, but I will still crush you like insects!" he thundered.

From within the Shilvonic vessel, Shadow, Sonic and Silver steeled themselves. "Get ready team, this is it!" Shilvonic yelled.

Mephiles launched a barrage of jagged crystalline spikes, each packed with enough power to shred steel. Shilvonic focused and summoned a shimmering barrier of Chaos energy to protect them. The spikes shattered against it in a blinding flash.

Shilvonic took the opening to go on the attack, unleashing a hundred Chaos Spears in quick succession. They bombarded Mephiles relentlessly, explosions blossoming across the inky creature's bulk.

Enraged, Mephiles extended both arms and unleashed decimating waves of energy. Shilvonic concentrated and added his psychic might, managing to redirect the worst of the assault away from them.

"Is that all you've got?" Shilvonic taunted as the dust settled. Working in unison, the heroes piloted the hulking form straight at Mephiles.

The beast collided with the smaller creature with earth-shaking force, bearing him back into a crumbling wall. Debris rained down as Mephiles desperately tried to escape their grip.

"No! I cannot be defeated!" he shrieked, writhing furiously. But the combined strength of the heroes' vessel overwhelmed him. They pinned Mephiles down, focusing every erg of shared power into one final, epic blow.

The impact shook the foundations of the dying dimensional portal itself. A supernova of energy lit the dark sky. With an unearthly death wail, Mephiles finally dissolved into nothingness, his evil banished for good.

"Hurry! We need to leave before the portal closes!" Tails yelled at the others as the rift between their worlds was evaporating.

Without a second thought, Shadow grabbed Blaze's injured form and ran after the team towards the portal.

&&&&&&

Day after agonizing day crawled by as Blaze lay deathly still in the intensive care unit of Tails' workshop. The young fox worked tirelessly to stabilize the pyrokinetic cat, but her vitals continued to seesaw wildly.

"Her body runs hotter than most Mobians and she generates her own flame energy," Tails explained wearily to Sonic and Shadow. "It's wreaking havoc on her system trying to heal from such traumatic injuries."

Shadow stood vigil outside the ICU room, staring for hours through the observation window as machines pumped fluids and medications into Blaze's unmoving body. Bandages swathed her torso where broken ribs had pierced her lungs. Oxygen hissed faintly from the mask over her face.

Silver came by often to check on his friend's progress, or lack thereof. Shadow occasionally caught the glint of tears in the young hedgehog's eyes as he sat beside Blaze holding her limp hand.

At some point, the team realized that the portal, or ability to even make a portal to their dimension anymore, was gone. They had already lost the ability to return to their world - Silver couldn't bear to lose Blaze too.

Each night Shadow returned to his cramped quarters, but found sleep impossible. He kept reliving those moments of Blaze being tortured to the brink of death by Shilvonic. If only he had been stronger...

Nearly two weeks after the fateful battle, Tails' voice crackled urgently over the intercom. "Shadow, get down here quick! I think she's coming around!"

He was at Blaze's side in an instant, gripping her hand tightly as her eyelids sluggishly fluttered open. Relief surged through him at the sight of her beautiful golden eyes again. With hoarse whispers, Blaze confirmed she would be alright. The long vigil had ended.