Quick Update #2: To all of my loyal readers: Chapter 4 is moving along very slowly, unfortunately. I've got a lot on my mind right now, and writing this next chapter has been very difficult. See you next time, whenever that is.

Quick Update: Sorry, everyone, but I have to break my schedule this week. I ended up having to scrap a huge portion of my first draft for chapter 4, which set me back quite a bit, and now I probably won't be able to finish it without rushing it and sacrificing quality. Unfortunately, all I can say for now is that the next chapter will get done when it gets done. I'm really sorry for this, but that's just how things turned out. See you next chapter.

Geez, six reviews already? Wasn't really expecting that so soon. Once again, thanks everyone who showed their support with a review, favorite or follow. As thanks for you guys supporting my story, this chapter is the longest one yet. Hope you all like it!

While Shadow was on the ground, skirting down the road on his motorcycle, Mephiles tore through the air overhead. Hence, he'd gotten the chance to ponder everything that went down in the last few minutes. He had a lot on his mind, a lot of questions that hadn't been answered. For example, he had no idea why Shadow was being so trusting. From his clashes with the black hedgehog before the timeline had gotten erased, Mephiles never thought him to be the kind of person who would trust just anyone.

"I suppose," the smog cloud decided, "it's best not to question it." Still, that wouldn't stop him from inquiring with the hedgehog about this when he got the chance. It couldn't hurt to ask.

Catching Mephiles off guard, Shadow suddenly jerked his bike on an old dirt road that led off of the main highway. In a matter of moments, all urban life disappeared and the two were on an abandoned path, surrounded by thick trees and what seemed like miles of darkness. Mephiles despised dark, claustrophobic places, so the middle of the forest would have driven him mad.

"Good thing I'm above the woods and not in the middle of them," he mumbled.

Minutes passed with nothing eventful happening. No cars or other vehicles drove on the road for the trip; Shadow was alone on the rough, bumpy path, the lights on his motorcycle being the lone flicker of light in the blackness. Mephiles was growing quite restless just whirling through the air. He'd not felt this bored in a very long time, not since the humans crammed him inside of the Scepter and thrown into that dark room.

Promptly, the cloud of dark gas was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a voice call out to him.

"You know I can tell you're there," Shadow exclaimed from the ground. "I noticed you as soon as we got to this road."

Mephiles was taken aback by this sudden reveal. "No wonder you haven't asked where I was this whole time," he called down to the black hedgehog.

"Well," Shadow shouted as he squeezed the brakes on his bike, "there's not much reason to stay up there anymore, because we're here now."

The motorcycle whined to a halt and Shadow put up the kickstand, removing the keys from the ignition. Mephiles descended until he was in front of the vehicle and solidified back into hedgehog form. Already, the dark was getting to him, worsened by Shadow's headlights shutting off. He sincerely hoped that wherever they went, it took them out of the darkness.

"Where are we headed?" the crystal demon inquired.

"Getting help from a, uh..." Shadow paused and cleared his throat. "Just going to get some help from someone I know. He lives out here, and he might be able to solve your problem; if not, at least give us some insight."

Mephiles scratched his head. Anyone who lived in such a rural area, he thought, probably wouldn't have very much knowledge on Chaos energy, or anything else for that matter.

"Well, let's not just stand here," he supposed. Shadow nodded and gestured for Mephiles to walk in front, still not wanting to risk leaving himself open to a surprise attack from this stranger.

'And this is the last place I'd want to be murdered in,' the striped hedgehog thought as he pointed forward into the darkness of the woods, and the two of them walked straight into the black.

'Always the careful one,' Mephiles thought, then looked back at the motorcycle, still parked just a few feet away from the dirt path. "You're just leaving the bike out here in the middle of nowhere?" he asked.

"It's government issued," Shadow said as he revealed a small tablet that showcased a map and a red blinking light that moved further away from the center of the screen as they walked. "I can track the thing's location at any time with this device."

Mephiles uttered a grunt, admittedly surprised at the humans' ability to create a device as useful and intricate as that. They kept moving in the same direction for a while. In only a few minutes, the crystal hedgehog's ankles were hurting a bit. Then, his calves had started burning, forcing Mephiles to take a knee on the ground.

"Everything alright?" Shadow asked, steadily approaching the kneeled down hedgehog.

"I am fine," Mephiles hissed in a stern tone, rising from his knees to his feet and then floating a few inches off of the ground, relieving the anguish in his legs while still limiting how much energy he was using.

-break-

Gradually, the darkness was making the deformed hedgehog more and more discomforted. He was hating every second of this trek with nothing but inky blackness for what looked like miles around. The trees weren't making things better either, making him feel surrounded, claustrophobic. Eventually, his whole face had started to twitch, and he was making low, animatistic growls every few seconds, fortunately quiet enough to evade Shadow's hearing. Finally, after what felt like hours in the darkness, Mephiles was ready to burn the forest to the ground, until Shadow piped up.

"We're here," Shadow exclaimed, and the two of them stopped where they stood. The deformed hedgehog sighed deeply in relief, but looked around the area skeptically, not finding any features that distinguished this place from everything else they'd seen.

"Are you sure?" Mephiles questioned. "This looks just like every other part of the woods we've gone past so far."

Shadow scanned around to make sure he was at the right spot. "Trust me," the hedgehog said reassuringly. "There," he muttered, locking his red orbs on a river that was dead ahead. "Follow that stream," the striped hedgehog commanded. Mephiles muttered something about hating being told what to do, which Shadow growled at as the two followed the stream. Momentarily, it led them to a large swamp that stretched out for a good distance. Although it was still very hard to see, the crystal hedgehog could make out crocodiles patrolling the area.

"Don't tell me," Mephiles groaned, "that your friend lives in here."

Shadow let out a "tsk". "Calm down, it's not that big of a deal, it's a swamp."

"And what, pray tell, will we do about the crocodiles?"

Shadow's hand sparked with energy in response. "Let me take care of them."

The deformed hedgehog scoffed. "Fine," he growled.

-break-

Every once in a while, a crocodile would draw near one of them and Shadow, who used his skates to float on the water, would obliterate it with a Chaos Spear. Thankfully, they weren't real animals, but were robotic. Mephiles, levitating almost half a foot over the filthy water for the romp through the muskeg, was confused about why there would be robots in a seemingly natural environment. Fortunately, there weren't nearly as many trees in this area, so the stars above provided him with some light to keep from losing his mind.

Surprisingly fast, the two of them had reached the destination they sought in only a few minutes. It was a large metal door that was over twice as tall as the two hedgehogs, the bottom of it submerged in the swamp's water. The entrance was installed into what appeared to be a large, natural wall of earth.

"Are we finally here?" the crystal hedgehog wondered.

"Yes," Shadow responded. Walking up to the large door, he pounded it with his fist a few times. "Doctor!" he called, tilting his head up. Suddenly, a camera-like device appeared out of the wall above the door and pointed down.

"Ah, Shadow," a deep voice said. "What business do you have here? Come to interrogate me? Arrest me? I'll have you know I'm not creating any plans at the moment, so leave me be."

Mephiles' eyes widened when he heard the voice. He knew that voice, and the person it belonged to was one of the last people he wanted help from.

"I've come," Shadow began, "to call in a favor."

"A favor, you say?" the voice bellowed. "What kind of favor are we talking about?"

"I'll explain if you let us in," the ebony hedgehog growled.

"Hmm..." There was a pause, followed by the giant door creaking open. "Okay, but you and your little demon friend here better not try anything, or else."

The crystal hedgehog, knowing the drill by this point, filed in first followed by Shadow.

-break-

A loud buzz was heard before a door slid open, revealing two hedgehogs and a tall, egg-shaped scientist standing in the doorway, who all walked forward into the corridor ahead, accompanied by the whirring of heavy machinery.

"So then, Shadow," the doctor began. "Who's your friend here?"

"Mephiles," the deformed creature answered bluntly. "And we aren't friends, per say."

"Oh?" Eggman inquired.

"He asked me for help with a problem relating to the Chaos Emeralds," Shadow elaborated. "And I brought him here to see if you can give further insight."

The doctor stroked his mustache briefly, then spoke up again. "Well, would you mind explaining your problem?"

The trio stopped and Mephiles told Dr. Eggman about the situation. When the deformed hedgehog finished his explanation, he rose a few inches off of the ground and floated.

"For instance," he said, "my ankles are already sore after walking for only a few minutes inside this base."

"I see," the doctor stated, trying to absorb all of this sudden information. "You've already been slightly deformed, it looks like. Before we do anything else, I'll need to run a few tests. Follow me." The egg-shaped scientist gestured for them to follow, and the three walked down the hall and turned right, leading into a large corridor with several doors on each wall. As they walked, Mephiles gestured for Shadow to distance himself from the doctor for a moment and walked next to him.

"Are you sure this doctor can be trusted?" the deformed hedgehog asked. "Shouldn't you arrest him if you work for the government? After all, he has plunged the world into chaos more times than anyone can ever count."

Shadow scratched the back of his head. "It's complicated," he whispered. "I don't consider him my friend, or my acquaintance either. We just have a sort of mutual respect for each other, I guess." Mephiles blinked twice, obviously puzzled. "Well, all you need to know is that he can be trusted, and he wouldn't try to pull a fast one on me."

That was all Mephiles needed to be sure of, so he caught back up with the scientist, and Shadow wasn't far behind. Shortly after, they came up to a door at the end of a corridor with a keypad lock. Eggman took the liberty of inputting the password, causing the door to slide open swiftly for the trio to walk in.

"Here it is," the doctor announced, raising his right hand out. Mephiles and Shadow took a look around; it was a small, grey room with a large computer on the right wall, with a rectangular blacked-out window at the front of the room and a small door next to it. Eggman gestured with his finger for Mephiles to follow him into the next room, and opened the door with the press of a switch.

Mephiles floated inside and saw that the room contained several cameras and lens-like machines that lay inactive on the walls and ceiling, with cables that ran from the machinery into the last room, presumably connected to the computer in that room. In the middle was a white platform that extended a foot or two off of the ground.

"These machines will scan your body," the fat scientist explained to him. "When it's done, we'll see how much Chaos energy is within you, and from there we can figure out how to stop it. Just go and stand on that platform in the middle, and I'll take care of the rest. It should only take a minute, maybe two." Mephiles complied and floated toward the platform and stood on it. The doctor stepped out of the room and went to run the tests. As he activated the computer and typed in a few commands, the cameras and other devices in the testing room hummed to life and started scanning Mephiles.

Quickly, the test was over, but the results were less than desirable. Once the machines had completed their scans, red lights lit up in both rooms and a few alarms went off.

"That does not sound good," Mephiles whispered to himself as he moved back into the room where Shadow and the doctor were, the latter hastily typing at the large computer.

"You're going to want to see this," Eggman shouted over his shoulder. Mephiles, along with the black and red hedgehog in the room, went to the computer and looked at the screen. There was text that read "!DANGER! !CRITICAL!" at the top, along with a wire frame model of Mephiles' body, all of which were colored in a blood-red that signified danger.

"Let's get a more detailed report," the doctor said, pressing a button on the computer that brought up a screen full of text and diagrams.

"WARNING!" the computer said in a synthesized voice. "HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF CHAOS ENERGY DETECTED IN SPECIMEN! PHYSICAL STATE COULD BE COMPROMISED; IMMEDIATE AID REQUIRED!"

Mephiles stared at the screen in shock. "So what?" he hissed in a raspy voice. "Am I dying?!"

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet," Eggman assured him. Meanwhile, Shadow stood in silence, staring at the computer monitor.

"Let's see," the scientist grumbled, scratching his head as he looked over the full-detail report. "You've been using the emeralds far too much. It says here that such excessive use of Chaos energy is sure to deteriorate and deform the user's body. In fact, looking at this scan, I'm frankly surprised you're still alive and in one piece." Eggman let that sink in for a moment, then continued. "At this point, any standard inhibitor wouldn't do anything to help you. If you keep using Chaos energy as much as you have been, you'll be dead in less than a month. Before that, you'll suffer from heavy joint and muscle pains, muscle deterioration, bone softening, even blindness or deafness. After a certain point, it could spread to the mind, as well."

The crystal hedgehog just stood there, eyes widened in disbelief. "Is there anything that can be done?"

The doctor typed in a command that brought up a new menu on the monitor that loaded for a brief instance, then read "NO AVAILABLE SOLUTIONS."

"It seems that there the answer is no," the fat scientist stated. "However... theoretically, if I could create a stronger inhibitor for you, we may be able to negate the effects. But that could take a long time; crafting standard inhibitors are already an undertaking by themselves, making stronger ones would be very difficult."

"Well then," Shadow chimed in, walking forward. "Perhaps you could get to work on that?"

Eggman growled. "Let's not get too hasty now. What's in it for me if I decide to help your friend?"

"If you do it," Mephiles answered, "I'll bring you a Chaos Emerald, perhaps two if you're fast enough."

The doctor turned around in his chair and stroked his mustache. "Well, my last plan did end in crushing failure, and I'm not working on anything now..." He paused, thinking over the deal. "Alright, fine. We can negotiate how many emeralds I'll charge you later, but expect to cough up at least three for how much work this is going to take to finish." He outstretched a hand to the crystal hedgehog, who reluctantly shook it. Shadow didn't like that they were essentially making a deal with the devil, but they could always steal back the emeralds later.

"Now," the scientist said, rising from his seat. "You two had best leave, because I've got work to do now. I'll tell Shadow if you need to come back here anytime soon. Until then, Mephiles, steer completely clear of using Chaos Emeralds or any other form of energy to hopefully keep your state from getting any worse." The two hedgehogs glanced at each other and exited the room. "And if you try snooping around," the doctor called to them as they walked down the corridor, "my robots will snap you in half."

-break-

Shadow and Mephiles left the laboratory in silence, once again standing in repulsive swamp water. The black hedgehog pulled out the tablet he'd used to track his motorcycle and reactivated it.

"Good thing I turned this off before we went in there," he muttered. "It would be best if GUN didn't know about this little visit."

Mephiles just looked out into space, still unable to absorb the copious amount of information that was handed to him at once.

"Suppose I should say thanks," he grumbled, getting ready to dissolve into gas.

"Hold on," Shadow told him as he pulled out a device and threw it to him. Mephiles caught it and looked at the machine. "It's a communicator," Shadow explained to him. "I'll use it to let you know when the doctor wants you to come down here." The crystal hedgehog grasped the device and nodded, evaporating into his smog form, the communicator evaporating along with him. Once he left, Shadow uttered a sigh. "He's an odd one," he murmured before igniting his skates and scurrying back toward his bike.

Mephiles dashed through the sky, above the clouds and finally free from the woods. He'd been a little surprised when he saw the purple and white Chaos Emeralds orbiting around his form, as he almost forgot he even had them. Working with Shadow and Dr. Eggman made him sick to his stomach. He hated help from anyone, let alone the person he hated the most in the world, Shadow. Yet, it would be deliciously ironic and satisfying when he would be the one to personally execute that black hedgehog he despised so much, after he'd gone to such great lengths to help him.

"His compassion and sympathy will mean his own slow, painful death," Mephiles laughed. Back in urban territory, the dark cloud whipped toward the bad side of Central City, back to the warehouse he'd turned into a temporary hideout. Sighing, he liquified and slithered underneath the door he always kept padlocked, and reformed as a hedgehog before walking to the old cot he used for sitting on and slumped down in it, Shadow's communicator in his left hand. The deformed hedgehog just sat there for a few minutes, before curling his blank muzzle into what resembled a devious smile.

"That foolish doctor will have the inhibitors ready in due time," he laughed evilly. "When that idiot gives me what I want in exchange for the emeralds, I'll steal the jewels right back, and use them to turn this whole planet to ash." He cackled in a raspy voice. "Humanity made a monster out of me... and now they'll face the consequences at last."

Author's Note: Don't worry, I'll have an explanation for why Eggman is willing to help out Shadow pretty soon. Hope you all liked this chapter, it took a lot out of me to write this thing and get it out on time.

Q: I like this story so far. Even tho Shadow might be acting a little OOC the plot is pretty good. I will be sure to read more of this story in the future.

A: Really? Huh. I tried my best to avoid that when writing these chapters. Guess I'll have to try a little harder keeping Shadow in line with his canon self.

As always, be sure to leave a review, and see you next chapter!