I Am...All of Me

Shadow's Story: Part 3

When Eggman had attacked at the rendezvous point with his small army of robots, Shadow and Rouge immediately separated. The dark hedgehog had begun fighting with the nearest droid, while she took to the skies with scepter in hand. However, the mad scientist noticed her escape and swung his eggmobile's metal claw directly at her. It hit her with a punch strong enough to send her falling downward, and she accidently dropped the item she was sent to retrieve.

Shadow quickly noticed his partner's situation and abandoned his fight. Building enough speed, he slid and caught her before she hit the ground. She was all right, but she had blacked out from the claw's impact.

"No!" Eggman exclaimed, as the Scepter of Darkness shattered on the ground. A dark purple energy wave erupted from it, and all of the doctor's robots malfunctioned and collapsed. Shadow released Rouge carefully and stood. The white bat regained consciousness only a few seconds later and hazily tried to regain focus, while he walked closer to the broken wand. He reached out to grab it but stopped suddenly when a dark presence filled his being, and he let out a shock gasp.

"Shadow!" Rouge called out. A blackish purple cloud poured out of the scepter and flew above them before curling around the stationary droids. Eggman called a hasty retreat as it destroyed his minions. It ascended once more before diving down directly at Shadow. Realizing this, he stepped out of the way just in time, as it poured into his shadow instead.

The two mobians watched in muted horror as the energy literally stole the obsidian male's shadow and soaked it into the ominous black cloud with sound of ink swirling around it. How is that even possible? Shadow thought, and looked at the empty space where his reflection should have been.

"What? His shadow?" Rouge wondered aloud, but her partner said nothing. The black cloud materialized into an almost perfect copy of Shadow, but where his red stripes should be, they were an empty, dull gray. His eyes were also a sickly green rather than crimson, and they were slitted like a snake's. The strange creature looked at them and laughed darkly.

"Oh how ironic fate can be!" he declared. Shadow felt an unnatural shiver race down his spine as the being continued, "I would never had believed I would be resurrected through your shade!"

The being added extra emphasis in his direction and pointed directly at him. Did this mean that he knew him? Shadow's memory could be accused of being sketchy, but he was certain he could remember someone that looked and felt so dark.

"I thank you, Shadow the Hedgehog," he concluded with a mock bow. The ebony agent resisted a growl with great difficulty.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" he demanded threateningly. Anyone else would have been sincerely terrified by the change in his tone, but the creature only advanced closer with his head still bowed and his arms swinging at his sides.

"I am Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark. What, did you forget me?" he asked in a sinister tone, as if he wasn't fond of the idea of someone forgetting him. Shadow thought, It would be hard to forget a presence like that. But if he knows my name, then I must have met him somewhere...

The two twin hedgehogs were only inches apart now, and Mephiles still had his head bowed, something that unnerved Shadow. But the true Ultimate Lifeform stood his ground and glared harshly at his copy.

Mephiles continued, "I owe much to you, Shadow." He finally looked up, and his eery, reptilian eyes met Shadow's fiery orbs, "Oh, yes," he declared loudly with his hands lifted, and the red-striped hedgehog backed away quickly to defend Rouge. Mephiles held up one of his hands as a dark purple sphere crackles in his palm.

"What you gave to me, I now return to you!" he declared as the orb grew in intensity with its owner's building anger, "A one-way ticket to oblivion!"

He threw the orb into the air, and it surrounded to the two mobians. Rouge let out a surprised gasp, as she disappeared. Shadow took one last look at his new enemy before he felt the dark energy sieze him, and he vanished as well.