Flames of Fate and Destined Dark/Shadow: Stage 3 - A World in Ruin

==Shadow: Stage 3 - A World in Ruin==
Ancient Castle, Kingdom Valley, Soleanna - September 19, X014, 7:38 AM UTC
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The courtyard of the ancient castle was deathly silent as Shadow and Rouge continued to lay eyes upon this strange new entity that had just materialized itself before them, and in the ebony hedgehog's physical form no less. “W-what just happened, Shadow?” the ivory bat questioned her hedgehog comrade, panic evident in her voice. “Why does this guy look just like you?”
“As far as I can tell, it probably had something to do with that black liquid latching onto me earlier,” Shadow replied as he attempted desperately to keep his cool, as simply looking at the creature that had evoked his image was quickly unnerving him. 
{♫} A few more moments of silence passed before a low, shadowy voice let out a soft but chilling laugh and spoke, “Such an ironic thing, fate... I meet my seemingly eternal end sealed away by the likes of you and yet, here you stand, giving me form once more after ten years of being imprisoned in that damnable tome. Though you forever have my enmity, I must show my gratitude for my timely resurrection, Shadow the Hedgehog.”
At the unexpected mention of his name, both Shadow and Rouge could only widen their eyes in shock and stiffen their bodies, with the unknown figure simply bowing before them, still maintaining his deathly blank stare as he did so. “You speak as if we have met before, to the point you even know my name,” the ebony hedgehog grimly began, tightly clenching his fist. “...and yet, I haven't the slightest clue about you.”
If it were possible for the shadowy entity's expression to become colder, it likely would have at that very moment as his dark gaze then locked sharply into the hedgehog. “...Likely an effect of the laws of time, whatever few there are,” he replied as he slowly stepped forward, still keeping his head low and his near-murderous gaze locked on Shadow. “I am a being with the power of time, you see, and so I am able to exist in several different timelines as I deem fit... the most likely explanation is that I encountered an alternate version of you that day... maybe one that might not have suffered the tragedies you seem to have been through.”
Eyes further widening with rage at the implicit mention of his dark past, Shadow immediately clenched his fist as tightly as he could before swinging it towards his mirror image as he bellowed, “Answer my goddamn question!”
As his fist flew towards the shadowy figure, the ebony hedgehog then found that it had been caught in his grasp at almost the exact moment it would have landed square on his temple. The dark entity then slowly turned his heads towards Shadow and glared daggers through him with his sickly green, serpentine eyes as he continued, “You may call me Mephiles... Mephiles of Darkness. And now, seeing as I am in your debt, I shall return to you that which you once delivered to me...”
As his words left his non-existent mouth, he then tossed the ebony hedgehog away without so much as even breaking a sweat, prompting Rouge to rush to his side and help him up. A flow of dark purple energy then began to channel towards Mephiles' hand. Soon, the energy formed itself into a swirling sphere of darkness. ”...a one-way ticket to oblivion!” the dark entity spoke as he then unleashed the sphere around them, leaving all three of them enraptured within a deluge of shadows!
Inside, as he braced himself against the storm, Shadow attempted to tap into his powers, hoping to warp himself to Rouge and grab hold of her before warping themselves out. However, it was of no avail, as the Chaos Energy that crackled through his body immediately sputtered out the instant he called upon it. “Damn it, not again! I can't channel enough power to use Chaos Control!” the ebony hedgehog cursed as he repeatedly attempted to warp, ending in failure each time.
“What?! But how can that b-” Rouge replied before cutting herself off, having noticed that her body seemed to be disintegrating, starting with her legs and slowly progressing to her upper body. She desperately tried to move but found herself unable to move her body by even an inch! “O-oh no...! Shadow, help!”
“Rouge! Hang on, I-” Shadow yelled with desperation in his voice as he tried to reach her, only to find himself unable to move either. Furthermore, he also was slowly beginning to disintegrate within the storm! “Damn it! I can't... I can't move...!”
“Enjoy your sealed fates in a world where all has ended in a sea of flames,” Mephiles spoke once more as their disintegration progressed through what remained of their bodies faster by the second, as he seemingly began to vanish into nothing himself but with virtually no resistance on his part. “A world in ruin!”
With that, as the shadows that had enveloped them had nearly rendered their forms into complete nothingness, Shadow and Rouge could do naught but scream in terror at the terrifying power that had just been unleashed upon them. And then, silence; the ebony hedgehog, the ivory bat, and not even the dark entity that had subjected them to such terror were nowhere to be seen in the torrent of darkness, which then began to dissipate after all was said and done.
All that remained in the now silent courtyard of the ancient castle were the remains of all of the mad doctor's Badniks that Team Dark had taken down, and the currently-offline chassis of the walking arsenal both Shadow and Rouge had called their ally and friend for some months now laying down as still as a statue, unable to move any of his robotic limbs under his own power in any capacity.
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??? - ???
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Inside one of the several ruined skyscrapers of what appeared to be a ravaged cityscape sitting in the middle of a blazing sea, Shadow could be seen laying down on his back, visibly unconscious and defenseless. Thankfully, it had only been a brief moment until the ebony hedgehog slowly stirred himself awake and lifted his upper body off of the concrete. “Ugh, what the hell just...?” Shadow groaned to himself as he rubbed his temples, likely dazed from the whatever he had just experienced. “...that's right, that Mephiles character had us swallowed by some strange energy. We- ...wait a second... Rouge!”
With a panicked and worried expression, Shadow quickly scanned his environment and saw that Rouge - also lying unconscious on the ground - was fortunately not too far from him. “Oh, thank god,” the ebony hedgehog sighed to himself as he let out a deep breath before making his way over to the ivory bat's unconscious form and, after sitting her up and briefly examining her for any serious injuries on her - of which there were thankfully none, attempted to shake her awake. “Hey, wake up! ...Rouge!”
It only took a few moments until Shadow noticed that the ivory bat appeared to be coming to, his shaking having stirred her back to consciousness. “Ugh... why do I feel like I've just dragged myself to hell after having a night of hard drinking,” Rouge groggily asked herself as she attempted to stand on her own two feet, assisted by the ebony hedgehog.
“I'm not entirely sure about those drinks, but I fear we actually may be in hell,” Shadow replied with small hints of humor and far more hints of grimness in his voice as he looked out onto the horizon, prompting the bat to look at where he was facing and finally notice the hellscape they seemed to be trapped in.
“Holy shit,” Rouge quietly gasped to herself, a look of fear and shock evident in her widened eyes. “...what happened here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, most likely,” the ebony hedgehog replied in his usual stoic tone, even as he could feel himself clench his own fist subconsciously on instinct. His thoughts then turned to the last words he remembered the shadowy entity speaking before they seemingly disappeared. He then began to ponder to himself, “...a world that's ended in a sea of flames... a world in ruin...”
“Something on your mind, Shadow? You got an idea where we are?” the ivory bat inquired her ebony-furred teammate.
“I might, but with nothing else to go on, I can't be certain,” Shadow answered. “In any event, we should start by gathering whatever information we can - hopefully we'll be able to find a way back along the way.”
“Considering we're basically stuck in the middle of nowhere, there's no telling how long it'll be before we even find something,” Rouge commented, visibly displeased with the current predicament they were in. “All the more reason to get a head start, I guess. C'mon, let's get moving.”
“Right,” the ebony hedgehog nodded in agreement as he and Rouge then started to explore the building they ended up in.
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??? - ???
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{♫} It had been truly fortunate for Shadow and Rouge to have found an abandoned but otherwise well-functioning computer room only after a few hours of exploring the ruined city. Considering the kind of damage their surroundings had taken, such a development might as well have been a miracle.
The ebony hedgehog remained seated on a vacant chair, clasping his hands together in still thought as he continued to struggle with ignoring the words the shadowy entity had spoken during their encounter. Mephiles... how exactly do you know my name? Shadow silently asked himself with a grim expression as he glanced down at nothing in particular. Ten years, he says... but I had still been sealed in Prison Island at that time. How could...?
Likely an effect of the laws of time, whatever few there are, he immediately recalled Mephiles answering the first time he had asked that.
Whole different timelines...? One where I hadn't... Shadow asked himself once more, his face softening to one of uncertainty and doubt. If that were true... could Maria-
“-dow! Hey, earth to Shadow!” Rouge's voice suddenly registered in his head, causing him to promptly turn towards her. “In case you didn't hear me the first five times, I've managed to pinpoint our location... somehow.”
“Oh, that so? ...what've you found?” the ebony hedgehog asked in reply as he stood up on his feet with a deep breath.
“That's... what I'm having trouble trying to understand,” Rouge replied with evident hesitation in her voice. “You'll get it once you see for yourself.”
Following her suggestion, Shadow then began examining the files that were opened up on the large computer screen in front of them. As he scanned them, he immediately recognized the insignia found on most of these files before speaking, “Wait, that's the Doctor's... hold up, you don't mean we're-” 
“That's right... as impossible as it sounds, we're back in Eggman's base at White Acropolis...” the ivory bat replied, unsure of whether she can believe what they both had just learned or not. “...or rather, what's left of it.”
“That makes me more sure of my idea on where we are... or rather, when,” Shadow continued. “That Mephiles guy wasn't lying when he said he could bend time to his will, and he just used it to fling us several years into the future - likely a century or two.”
“Might be even more depending on when this database here was updated last,” Rouge continued once more with an audible sigh. “In any case, we've found ourselves in the future - a shitty one at that. Also, I'm not the only one who thought that whole thing felt a lot like your Chaos Control, right?”
“Chaos Control does manipulate space-time, but-” Shadow replied with a face of grimace before being cut off by what sounded like a sudden thud sound off somewhere outside the room they were in. Quickly turning his attention to the direction of the noise, he continued, “Rouge, I'm not hearing things now, am I?”
“Nope... we should definitely check it out,” the ivory bat responded. Without another word, the two briskly walked their way out of the computer room to investigate the sudden noise.
As they made their way through, Shadow's thoughts once again turned to Mephiles' words and how none of the files Rouge had managed to find were able to make anything about the shadowy entity just the slightest bit clearer. Mephiles of Darkness... the ebony hedgehog thought to himself. ...I've got some questions to ask you the next time we meet.
----
A minute of walking along the steel hallway outside the computer room later, Shadow and Rouge soon found themselves at the entrance of what seemed to be some sort of test chamber. As they approached closer, they could hear a distinctly-boyish voice chime in, “Oh boy, I think that fall got me real dizzy... where are we?”
“Wait, that voice... is that Tails?” the ebony hedgehog commented just as he and the ivory bat then quickly ran towards the chamber. Sure enough, Miles “Tails” Prower was standing there at the lower level of the chamber. The twin-tailed fox cub evidently wasn't alone, however, as standing alongside him were none other than Knuckles the Echidna and Sonic the Hedgehog.
He'd never admit it out loud - he'd rather die than swallow his pride long enough to do so, but he found a small comfort in the blue hedgehog's unexpected presence. He’d never admit it out loud - he’d rather die than do that, but Shadow found a small comfort in the blue hedgehog’s unexpected presence. He was about to greet the three himself when Rouge, for once, beat him to the punch as she said with a wave, “Long time no see, boys! Certainly didn’t expect to find you here in this hellhole.”
“Rouge, Shadow! Boy, am I glad to see you two!” Tails cried with a wide smile, visibly relieved at their presence. Shadow could only return his arms to their trademark crossed position as he gave a slight smirk.
“We heard you make your unceremonious entrances not too far from here,” the ebony hedgehog began. “Anyway, you’re probably wanting to know just exactly what this place is.”
“Cuttin’ right to the chase, eh? Right up my alley!” Sonic replied with a familiar grin that thinly-veiled what sounded like an immense feeling of frustration. The hedgehog then leapt up to where Shadow and Rouge were, with Tails and Knuckles following close behind.
“Alright, then. Follow us,” the ebony hedgehog continued as he began to lead them outside. “I should warn you - you won’t like what you’re about to hear...”
The cold, deafening silence of the abandoned hallways continued as Shadow began to think to himself, Should they know of how Rouge and I ended up here? ...no, knowing Sonic and judging by that frustrated tone, it’s likely that he’s got his own crisis to deal with; doubtless the doctor is involved.
The ebony hedgehog then silently resolved to only tell the three only what they needed to know this very moment. As far as he was concerned, Mephiles was his and Rouge’s problem to deal with.
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-Shadow: Stage 3 - End-
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