Theme Song: "Breath Of Life" by Florence + The Machine
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By the time G.U.N. and the Eggman Empire arrived, both sides shared a staredown. At the front of each side, leading their respective alliances was Sonic and Mephiles. Silver and Shadow stood close behind Sonic.

"Well, alright then!" Mephiles snickered.

He duplicated himself into three and the each ordered commanded to the army of ten-thousand Heartless: "Rip out their hearts!"

The three Mephiles levitated higher and split up in different directions, as the Heartless started moving forward. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver split as well, chasing down the Mephiles. Dr. Eggman's large mech fired up its engines and rose up from the ground. He clamored as well: "ATTACK!" as he flew off towards the creatures proportionate to his size, the Darksides.

Everyone else down below moved forward as well to clash against evil.

On The East Side Of Town...

Shadow skated through the streets with a vengeance, chasing down Mephiles, who flew faster every time Shadow drew in. Shadow sensed what felt like a small wind of energy. It was the Chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds Mephiles had. Shadow concentrated on the energy. He tried not to lose sense of it...it only took so much as a small, hasty, thought. Shadow grinned, then disappeared in a bright blue flash.

Mephiles felt his presence disappear and stopped mid-flight to check his surroundings. Shadow reappeared in the air behind Mephiles and before Mephiles could react, Shadow side-kicked Mephiles into the nearby clothing store, grounding him. Shadow teleported to meet Mephiles, who just crashed through the windows, causing the alarms to go off. Shadow gripped Mephiles to a stand, but Mephiles escaped in his black haze and reformed behind Shadow, with an energy sphere ready. Shadow rotated quickly, but Mephiles let the sphere combust, blasting Shadow across the store and into a steel beam, cranium-first.

"Even when split, I'm still more powerful than you!" Mephiles mocked, hovering closer to Shadow.

Shadow's head was spinning while he tried to refocus on Mephiles' Chaos energy. He felt himself lifted off the ground to come face-to-face with his doppelganger of darkness. Shadow quickly regained his concentration and gripped Mephiles by his shoulders too.

Shadow's entire body then starting glowing red. With gritted teeth, he snarled, "I will show you what power truly is!"

Mephiles knew exactly what was about to happen. Being under Shadow's form, he also has Shadow's abilities. Mephiles' body started glowing indigo and growing brighter with Shadow.

"Hahahaha! Don't let go!" challenged Mephiles.

Gripping him tighter, Shadow grinned, "Not planning on it."

At the same time, the light engulfed their appearances, and they yelled:

"CHAOS BLAST!"

Like a bomb, their glows flashed out and they each sent out a shockwave of impactful force waves, which ignited and expanded throughout the store. The roof fell inwards, which followed with the whole building to collapse on the two. A pile of burning, shapeless rubbish was left.

A few seconds later, Shadow crawled out through the debris, shoving rocks and cement blocks out of his way. Freeing himself, he also was dragging Mephiles' limp body. With one more tug, Mephiles slid out and Shadow released him to sprawl out on the ground next to him. When Shadow went to stand, Mephiles had vanished. Shadow felt the energy from far however.

"Shoot. This was the false body. Either Silver or Sonic have the next one...or both." Shadow dusted himself off and skated away.

On The West Side Of Town...

"Take this!"

A car flew through the air towards Mephiles. Mephiles turned around to get smacked out of the air. Silver flew to where he landed and right before he could recover, Silver glided over and gripped him from above with his powers. Silver flew at top speed, dragging Mephiles with him on the gravel for two blocks straight without any regards to what obstacles were in the way. He then swung him to the left, right onto another car. Mephiles remained there, but weaker. Mephiles shot a quick blast at Silver, but Silver redirected it back to Mephiles, detonating the vehicle. Silver descended closer to the flames to see a struggling Mephiles crawling out of the inferno.

"Give up!" Silver snapped.

He faced his hands out to the right and the hunk of a tour bus floated off the ground. Silver floated backwards to give space, and rammed the bus onto Mephiles. Silver then released the vehicle away from him, to find Mephiles' energy was no longer there and remnants of smoke just fading away.

"Well...It was a fake. Guess that means we're not even then!" he remarked. Silver turned and soared away to help the others.

In The Middle Of The City...

Sonic dipped left to dodge the blast. Then right, another miss. Mephiles blasted two waves this time, and Sonic leapt to a ball and spun through the air towards Mephiles. Mephiles staggered slightly, but continued his flight. He descended and shot a Chaos Lance in Sonic's direction. Sonic boosted towards the buildings and ran on the walls, shattering the last of the windows with the power of his speed. He curved back to ground-level and boosted faster again passed Mephiles. Sonic caught Mephiles in his turbulence, making Mephiles lose his balance. As he fell, Sonic stopped in front of him and slugged him in the gut. Mephiles dissipated and remorphed to Sonic's left side. Sonic went to throw another fist, but missed. Mephiles didn't reappear close by, but a large shade was cast over him.

On reflex, Sonic turned to a van hurdling in his direction, and dove forward into the vehicle. He effortlessly slid through the shattered windows and out the other side, landed on his hands, propelled himself up high enough to meet Mephiles, and front-flip-kicked him right down into the concrete. All in three seconds flat, in mid-air.

"You're a lot more agile than I recall." Mephiles grunted.

"From what I recall, you cheap-shotted me!" Sonic retorted.

"Yes, but I killed you."

"Yes, but I'm still here."

"Yes, but I DON'T CARE!"

Mephiles blasted Sonic again, but Sonic zipped a several inches to the right, avoiding the attack. Sonic balled down and Spin Dashed forward, knocking Mephiles into a streetlight pole. He heard a grunt when he landed and the pole Mephiles was resting on was taken away from his back. Mephiles started to stand, but from behind, was Shadow who swung the metal pole, cracking Mephiles in the face, sending him across the street. Mephiles quickened his recovery by clouding up and reforming again, but he suddenly grew dizzy. Silver had arrived and psychically induced vertigo in Mephiles. Silver pulled back his arms and with a furious shout, he thrusted forward, telekinetically blowing Mephiles away, causing him to whiplash before soaring down the road.

"Sup guys?" Sonic greeted.

"Nothin' much, trying to save the world here." Silver responded.

"Don't think we're done yet." Shadow added, gesturing back to Mephiles, who was standing up again and laughing.

"My turn." he called.

Suddenly, odd creatures that resembled Mephiles spawned, but their hands were larger and they had one eye.

"I forgot he has those minions!" Shadow noted.

"Now, face my Shadows!"

"Why does everything have to be called a 'Shadow?' Can't you bad guys think of different names?" Sonic mocked.

"Hell, it's my name and I'm getting sick of hearing it." Shadow agreed.

"Hmm...Well, the Heartless are not my creations, they're not even from this dimension. But they cannot provide me the same advantages as my own..."

After dozens and dozens of Mephiles' Shadows were created, they all started flying into Mephiles, like he was absorbing them all. His body then turned into a vapor-like, black form, and as each Shadow was absorbed, his body grew and reshaped.

"Not this again..." Shadow commented, well-experienced of what this was.

Mephiles now looked much larger and different.

He was in his monstrous form. He was purple and indigo, with a gelatinous-stony appearance. He now had no legs, just a torso that extended into the ground, giant arms, two devilish horns, and a single eye.

"Come, let us continue!" Mephiles challenged.

"I fought him like this before, just go for the eye!" Shadow advised.

The three rushed at the same time for a Homing Attack. Instead, they all bounced off his face and landed side-by-side. Mephiles was unphased.

"Shadow, really?" Silver derided.

"Well, he has the seven Chaos Emeralds now...he was near-invulnerable before and that eye was the weak spot....But now-"

"Now I am invincible! Ah-hahahaha!" Mephiles cut off Shadow.

Mephiles swung an arm at the three, batting them far away. All three skidded on the gravel, coughing and grunting to a rolling stop.

"That actually...hurt." Shadow dumbfounded.

"You ain't kidding..." Sonic rolled to his side.

"Look out!"

A blast was shot at them from Mephiles' eye. Silver created a wall of energy to shield them, but the blast was so powerful, it easily shattered it and struck the trio in a burst of energy. They lied on the ground, bodies charred and immobile.

"S-S...Such...power..." Silver coughed, with bloodshot eyes.

"I...I can't move!...Sonic?....Sonic?" Shadow called.

Sonic was mute. His body was still breathing, slowly and weakly; you could see the shaky rise and fall of his quilled back. But he wasn't conscious to answer.

"Well, this was too easy! Ha! Now if you'll excuse me, the world must end now!" Mephiles cackled.

"Hey, Mephiles!"

Mephiles' wide figure rotated around again at the new voice:

"Knuckles, you fool, what is this? Some kind of joke?"

Knuckles stood above his friends, staring down the large being. Tails had also just descended from his plane, but did not land. He only came to deliver the package behind his plane: The Master Emerald.

Tails had taken Knuckles back to his floating island, Angel Island, to retrieve the Master Emerald. This meant the island had to sink back to ground-level for the time being, as the Master Emerald was the one that kept it afloat.

The plane's robotic arm released its claws on the massive stone and Knuckles easily lifted it up over his head.

"Another Emerald?! How is this possible?! Be wise, echidna and tread carefully! Give me that Emerald!"

"Oh no you don't, this one is mine! And as for the ones you have, they aren't yours either! But don't worry, you won't even need to hand them to me..."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Knuckles shut his eyelids in concentration. The Master Emerald above him started to flicker softly.

"Knuckles...T-Tails...get...get outta here!" Sonic choked out, regaining his consciousness. In fact, him, Shadow, and Silver started feeling better from the Master Emerald's presence.

"The servers are the seven Chaos," Knuckles began to recite. The seven Chaos Emeralds then spread into orbit around Mephiles- without his doing.

"What is this?" Mephiles muttered.

"Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart...The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos!"

Then, the Master Emerald started flickering more, and the Chaos Emeralds mimicked it. After a moment of Knuckles meditating, the Chaos Emeralds suddenly lost their fluorescence and they dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"What?! What did you do?!" Mephiles roared.

"I cancelled the Chaos Emeralds. You are no longer allowed to use them." Knuckles declared.

Sonic had a surge of energy again, so he sped over to Mephiles and did another Homing Attack to Mephiles' eye. Unexpectedly, he was deflected again with no effect.

"The Chaos Emeralds weren't the only things powering him!" Sonic confirmed.

"That is correct, Sonic. The Chaos Emeralds may have made the fight easier for you, but not easy enough! I still have the power of the Heartless fueling me! Your actions are futile." said Mephiles.

"Oh really? Knuckles, Tails. Leave the Master Emerald here and go." Sonic advised.

The two nodded, and after Knuckles boarded the plane, Tails took off. They were all too familiar on what was going to happen next.

"I think you three may have needed the other two, not that you were going to win anyway." Mephiles teased.

"Nah, we're just fine." Sonic said, Silver and Shadow recovering behind him.

"You just don't learn, do you?" Mephiles pondered.

"Nope, because now's the time to end this. It's time to go all-out!" Sonic exclaimed.

He closed his eyes to focus on the Master Emerald behind him. The ancient artifact levitated and grew brighter.

Sonic's quills started flowing upwards, then a flash of light irradiated the dark road and once gone, it revealed a form of Sonic more powerful than Dark Sonic. A form more powerful than Excalibur Sonic.

This was the Super State.

This was Super Sonic.

Sonic was now golden-yellow, his quills spiked upwards, and his eyes were scarlet red.

Sonic put out his hands to Shadow and Silver. The two followed by raising their own hands in front of his. They too closed their eyes and their hair shifted upwards. The Chaos energy was transferring into Shadow and Silver, and in a blink of the luster, they were lemon yellow and golden-white respectively.

"Sad. You wasted all that time looking for seven Emeralds when you could've found just one- that was just as strong as the other seven, combined! What a shame!" Sonic jeered.

"Oh, you three are going to pay for opposing me! I WILL MURDER YOU ALL AND SEND YOU TO OBLIVION! Any last words?"

The three levitated in the air with the Master Emerald.

Sonic flew closer, fists clenched, "Yeah: Let's end this, once and for all!"

*OHHHHHHHH, SNAP!
Stay tuned for more! I'm not sure, but either the next part, or the part after, will be the finale!

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*CHARACTERS INTRODUCED:

Shadow (Mephiles')

Mephiles (Monstrous Form)

Super Silver

Super Shadow

Super Sonic

*Fun Fact: I've had the Super versions of these characters prior to even writing this chapter! You have no idea how long I've been waiting to post these! 😂