“Do you realize that we haven’t had any sign of Iblis since Dark was attacked?” He said as they exited for what they hoped would be the last time through those doors. “Should that be a cause for alarm? That can’t be good if he’s staying out of sight… he might be planning something really bad…”

“Just be glad that he hasn’t attacked you every day…” Shadow waved his hand halfheartedly as he glanced into his pack. Then he remembered: “Meph? The yellow one is in your pack, right?”

“Of course. You didn’t want me carrying any of the other two.” Mephiles blinked. “Why?”

“It seems like the only way we can do this is let you try to find the next ones by using it.” The hybrid hedgehog looked up. “I’m not too keen on that idea much, considering all the possible draw backs. But if Rouge and I watch you closely, I’m sure we won’t have a problem.”

“Oh, so now you want me to use it?” Mephiles couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I thought you thought it was too dangerous…”

“If you say so, then maybe-”

“What are ya, nuts? If it’s the only way we know right now, I’m willing to.” Mephiles dug the Emerald out of his backpack, watching its sheer brilliance shine in the light of the sun. This was by far his most favorite as far as color went. He had heard before that gems of this color were called “Citrine”, which he liked the name of that. It made him think of fruits like oranges and lemons, and the color was comparable to a golden shade. All the same, the color fascinated him more than what it could do.

Taking a breath, he closed his eyes and tried to use it, but this time, it was fainter of an effect than the last time. His brain was receiving information about it, but hardly any images to be able to make it easier.

“… Something… about a yellow creature…” He was able to voice this time, so he wasn’t in a trance so much as the last time. “It’s… Uh, it’s small… Teeth… Buck teeth… Long ears… Kind of a sleepy look to the eyes… and something about… Mips. That’s the name, I think…”

“So much for finding a place… you found a person.” Shadow shook his head. “More specifically, a rabbit or something of the sort...”

“Maybe that thing has the Emerald?”

“We can’t do much if we don’t know where to find them.” Rouge said. “Anything about a place of any kind?”

“None that come to mind at the moment…” Mephiles shifted the now shimmering Emerald in his hands before putting it back in the pack. “There has to be hundreds of rabbits around here… and I’m not even sure if we can find it around here.”

“Let’s just get out of here…” Shadow said. “I’m getting tired of seeing Station Square. We’ve been here for way too long.”

“Ditto!” Mephiles agreed, nodding his head fast enough to make the crystal ends of his quills clatter against each other. “Where do we go now?”

“Not a clue…” Shadow shrugged, having looked at the Emerald Radar after remembering that they still had an active one (The other one had suffered a bit of damage back at Ice Cap, having been more exposed to the cold temperatures than the other, and therefore the inner workings had froze over and shattered once it had been dropped in their haste to find Mephiles after the avalanche.). “The fourth Emerald is out of range, and all I see is the three we already have…”

“Where do you normally find the Emeralds? Is there usually a pattern?” Mephiles said hopefully.

“Not a clear one… but I’ve seen them at beaches, snow areas like where we found one, ancient places… even in some crazy parallel zones…” Shadow thought for a moment.

“Oh, I remember that!” Rouge laughed. “We had to collect power spheres and dodge landmines being thrown by some Chaos in a balloon! You ran right into one of those…”

“It looked just like that red power sphere…” Shadow folded his arms as he tried to defend his little blunder there as Mephiles snickered a bit. “Do you honestly think that while I’m running at hundreds of miles per hour that I have enough time to tell them apart?”

“And then you fell forward, and skidded down the tunnel on your face for a bit.” Rouge continued what she had been saying, as if Shadow hadn’t spoken at all.

The mental image Mephiles got from such a situation made him laugh, easily pushing that dread he been feeling earlier to the back of his mind, locking it away from thoughts.

“Anyway…” Shadow said. “Let’s get out of here…”

“We’re not taking the train, are we?” Mephiles let his laughter die when he remembered about how sick he might get if they did.

“It’s the fastest way out of here,” Shadow knew the reason for Mephiles’ question. “Otherwise, we’d have to walk, but Station Square is one of the bigger cities around. And we’d probably get lost.”

“We don’t even have any idea where to go next…”

“No… but I was thinking we’d just go to the next city or something to try to shake off Iblis for a while.”

“What I really want to know is…” Mephiles said slowly, taking some time to think about what he wanted to say. “How is Iblis staying so close, but we don’t see him until he shows himself? Another me doppelganger wouldn’t be too easy to miss, considering that I myself look very unusual for even a Hedgehog…” Mephiles idly reached a hand up to a crystal tipped quill clump and flicked it with his crystal claws, earning a CHINK sound as audio and visual reference. “I mean, at least fourteen percent of me is covered with shiny blue rock that seems to have nerve endings to it on what isn’t quill. Unless, of course, he’s either taking another form, or is hiding as his base form… but that would be easier to find than Dark’s and mine, since fire can’t hide as well as shade…”

It was hours before they arrived in another city, which was Central City.

“Creative with the names, are we?” Mephiles muttered after nearly tripping off the train, trying to regain his equilibrium, which had been thrown out of whack on the train ride.

“I don’t see what you mean…” Shadow shook his head, oblivious to the lack of creativity that went into major city naming around here. “Well… no sign of any Emeralds here that I can see… not that I can see it, really…”

“Can we really be sure it’s here?” Rogue said. “Should we check the radar?”

Shadow dug it out of the backpack and flipped the switch on. A faint beep was heard.

“I think that’s just the ones we have, but… wait… aw no!” Shadow shook it a few times while smacking it. “I don’t believe it! The battery just died!”

“Well, that’s a bit of a bad thing…” Mephiles said. “What kind does it take?”

“Y’know those hearing aid kind?”

“The expensive ones?”

“Yeah…”

“Oooh… We don’t have any of those…” Mephiles shook his head as he dug through his backpack. “We got double ‘Ehs’ for the flashlight, triples for your music player and it’s speakers and a nine volt for that alarm clock… but none of those hearing aid kinds…”

“Of course, we have everything else BUT it…”

“Not really… we don’t have a car battery in there… or lithium, or those tiny camera ones…”

Not seeing that Shadow was a little peeved, Mephiles had his attention directed to another thing.

“Can we get something to eat? It’s been hours…”

This turned out to be a pretty well and unbeknownst tactic, since Shadow had time to cool down, and a conflict was avoided. After all, how can you be mad at some kid who was looking forward into biting into his oatmeal cookie after his sandwich was done?

“So, how are we going to find the Emeralds if the radar’s busted?”

“We might be able to use the Emeralds we have to find them…” Rouge said.

“How?” Mephiles pulled a piece of cheese out of the sandwich and set it aside.

“Something about a type of signature of Chaos Energy they give off when in close proximity or something like that…”

“Odd…”

Nearly half an hour later, the trio returned to the search, having nothing more to rely on other than a hint, a dead radar, and Mephiles’ vague vision after touching the yellow Emerald.

“If it’s a rabbit we’re looking for…” Mephiles said slowly, pausing a moment to think under a tree in the city’s park. “Then we oughtta be thinking of where we can find a rabbit…”

“And you’re sure it’s not Mobian?” Shadow said while trying to more or less jerryrig the radar with the batteries they brought, a few pieces of wire and a couple rubber bands for insulation so he didn’t get shocked.

“Positive. The shape of it didn’t seem very Mobian like…” Mephiles nodded before glancing at Shadow’s project. “Uh… are you sure you should be doing that? We could find a store that sells the right batteries…”

“All I need to really do is create the right voltage for the direct current with these batteries and theses bits of wire to channel it.” Shadow explained, even though Mephiles and Rouge both knew that this wasn’t going to end well by the looks of it. “If I complete the current, then there should be a constant flow of power from the batteries to power the radar long enough…” He touched the last wire to the minus end of a nine volt and the next thing anyone knew… there was a POW sound, a spark of light, a curse or two and Shadow was holding the smoking radar. The glass screen had cracked from too much power being put into it.

“I told you so…” Mephiles said before having to dodge a smack that was aimed at the back of his head when Shadow growled. “Hey! It’s not my fault!”

“Shadow… we were borrowing that from GUN…” Rouge shook her head. “That’s going to be a good chunk out of our paychecks…”

“Maybe if the thing was rechargeable, we wouldn’t have had that problem to begin with…”

“Don’t forget the other one that was broken during that avalanche…”

“Aw, crud…”

Mephiles sighed, knowing that the only thing that could find the Emeralds fast enough for them was now gone. He couldn’t help but notice all his bad luck.

Then he froze. He had felt an odd pulse of energy somewhere.

“Hey, guys… did anyone else feel that?”

“What?”

“Some kind of energy field just got stronger…”

“How can you tell?”

“Because I just felt it, of course. Think it might be the Emerald?”

“Do you see it anywhere?”

“Not really, but that’s not to say it’s not here, right?”

“True…” Shadow nodded. “But all the same… perhaps we should wait to see if anything seems odd… it might be Iblis after all… he’s got as bad as a Chaos Signature as Dark…”

“Or yours…”

“Mine’s not bad! It’s just… big…” Shadow directed his attention to the top of the tree. A kite was stuck there, so that meant that somewhere, a kid wasn’t too happy.

“It’s still a strong one…” Mephiles said while watching a critter not too far away emerge from the safety of a bush, sniffing at the air before scratching the ground. “Heh… there’s a bunny over there.”

“Like the one were looking for?”

“I’m not too sure… but he’s kinda small to be having an Emerald, don’t you think?”

“Looks like he’s looking for something…” Rouge said, also watching him.

As it turned out, there was a burrow there, so the rabbit went right in. A few seconds later, he crawled out backwards, holding a purple gem in his paws.

“Do you see what I see?” Shadow said slowly. “Does he have what we’re looking for?”

“I think so…” Rouge said.

“Sh-should… should we catch him?” Mephiles said, not sure of what to do.

“We need to be careful to not scare him away…” Rouge said, looking at him. “Rabbits are high strung, and even a sudden move could send him sprinting.”

“But he’s not going to get far if he’s holding an Emerald in his paws…”

The rabbit looked up at him and stood his ears straight up, swiveling them as if he wanted to hear what was being said. Almost as if he knew that he was being talked about, he held the Emerald tighter and hopped off on his back legs. Surprisingly… the little bugger was fast!

“Hey! Catch him!” Shadow shouted.

Mephiles wasn’t really the fastest between the three of them, so it wasn’t a surprise that trying to keep up left him gasping for air, watching Shadow do a Spin Dash, and Rouge take off in the air with her wings to glide while he was stuck running on foot. Seeing that the rabbit was making a circular path in the area as a pattern, he predicted that the rabbit was unlikely to run away from here, but as the area was quite big, the chase was almost equivalent to an Olympic competition, and that was something that Mephiles was unable to do.

He wasn’t really out of shape, he just never really exercised because he never had any extra weight to burn off because of his metabolism, which neutralized any fat source at all before any could store. Because of the lack of working on any muscles, his body strength was weak as far as endurance for something like running, which would leave him winded in a matter of seconds, and would leave him on the ground, trying to catch his breath and waiting for his body to cool down.

Which was exactly what happened this time as well.

Mephiles flopped down under the shade of the tree on his stomach after a few minutes, panting like mad as he watched Shadow and Rouge chase the rabbit, hoping that they could catch him.

‘Are you serious?’ He heard Dark say in disbelief. ‘You can survive a beatdown by me, life through cardiac arrest, drowning, an avalanche and electrocution… but running is what makes you flop down in defeat?’

Have you tried this? I didn’t think so… Mephiles growled at him, his mind speech unobscured by his panting, which now to the added effect… his pink tongue was out getting dried by the air, which was something he really didn’t want, but the air helped cool him off anyway, so he could deal with a dry tongue for now. You’ve never had to run with your feet before…

‘Maybe not… but I know I’d be so much better than you if I did…’

Mephiles rolled his eyes. It was nice to see that Dark was acting normal… and by that, it meant that he was claiming his superiority of Mephiles in even the simple act of using his legs. In fact… nearly everything, Dark claimed he could do better.

We’ll see about that. The moment we get you out of my head, and we’re not fighting for our lives… let’s have a race…

‘You know I can do a Spin Dash… right?’

Yeah… so?

‘And you can’t. I’m so much faster than you… I’d wipe the floor with you…’

Instead of telling me what you think you can do… give me a suggestion on how to get that darn fourth Chaos Emerald…

‘You’re too slow… pathetic for a hedgehog, really… you weigh less than most even, so nothing is dragging you down.’ Dark seemed to be enjoying that he was poking fun at Mephiles’ inability to run as fast as the other Mobian Hedgehogs, and with extremes like Sonic and Shadow to throw off the average, Mephiles was just that lonely dot on the left of the scatter plot graph.

Some help you are… Mephiles said, letting Dark just enjoy his moment, knowing that Dark had been a little off beat recently, so a bit of what he was used to would establish some sense of familiarity with him.

Mephiles pushed himself off the ground and looked up, seeing the rabbit switch directions and pull a one-eighty, Shadow missing him completely and once he realized what had happened, he dug his heels into the dirt, making a skidmark style crater when he had hit the brakes, dirt and dust kicking up as he did.

As for Rouge, turning in the air needed a lot of room if it was going to be a U-turn, and since she was gliding, that meant she had to touch down on the ground to a moment and jump into the air again if she wanted to do it quickly.

Meanwhile, the rabbit, well out of their way, was taunting them by hopping back and forth on either foot, waving the Emerald in the air with both paws. The last straw for Shadow was the rabbit pulling down an eyelid with one paw and sticking his tongue out at him.

The rabbit didn’t have time to react. Shadow Chaos Snapped where he was and the next thing the rabbit knew, he was lifted off the ground by his ears.

“Hey! No fair! That’s cheating!”

“You talk?” Shadow was surprised.

“Of course I talk! Let me go!” The rabbit kicked his feet around in the air.

“No. You have something that we want.”

“What? This shiny pretty thing? No way! It’s mine! I found it!” The rabbit brought his feet up to wrap around the Emerald as if he thought that he could hide it. “Finder keepers! Get your own!”

“You don’t understand. Keeping that right now is dangerous for you… there is someone who wants to use them to gain power, and if he gets it… that’s it for all of us.”

“I’m fast! Nobody can catch me!”

“I believe I just did…”

“You cheated!”

“Please can we have it?” Mephiles tried. “It’s kinda important that we do. That guy he just told you about wants to kill me, and if we don’t get this before he does… I’m going to die.”

“Shouldn’t have made whoever it is mad then!” The rabbit stuck his tongue out, causing Mephiles make an expression similar to Dark’s offended one with a hint of dread over that this might be the hardest Emerald to get. “He wants the shiny, he can get his own!”

“It’s not a ‘Shiny’! It’s a Chaos Emerald!” Mephiles said loudly, sounding a little panicked. “There’s seven of them, and one alone is really powerful! This guy just needs one for a power boost, and he’s not just wanting to kill just me right now!”

“If there’s seven of them, go get another one. I got dibs on this one!”

“If you don’t hand this over, I’m going to have to take it myself…” Shadow said quite calmly, though the undertone to his voice told anyone else that he’s not going to be negotiable with his request. Shadow made a grab for it and the rabbit latched onto it tighter, kicking his feet at Shadow’s hands.

“Thief! Thief! It’s mine! It’s mine!”

Being that the rabbit was about as heavy as the Emerald (or as light as, whichever way you wanted to go at it.), Shadow could only let go of the ears and shake the Emerald with both hands to try to knock him loose.

“I am not going to be bested by a rabbit!” Shadow yelled, shaking the Emerald harder when the rabbit blew a raspberry at him. “I am the Ultimate Lifeform and you are going to let go right now!”

“Make me!”

Meanwhile, Mephiles was fretting to himself about the likeliness that Shadow might lose his grip on the Emerald and the rabbit would be free to run off, perhaps being long gone with the Emerald before they had a chance to catch him. The chance of reasoning with him didn’t work, obviously, because he was more captivated by the shininess of the Emerald than he was with what it was capable of.

Mephiles was pulling his ears down in worry as he trailed his eyes along the path of the Emerald while Shadow swung it and the rabbit.

Rouge on the other hand had an idea. The rabbit liked the Emerald because it was shiny? Why not offer something seemingly better as a trade?

What could seem to be better than a shiny purple gem? Why not a couple of large, solid gold, sparkling Rings that chime when they hit something?

At the sound of a short whistle, Shadow stopped shaking the Emerald and Mephiles, the rabbit and Shadow all looked in the bat’s direction, who was spinning two Rings on her fingers.

The rabbit looked up at the Rings, watching them catch the sun’s light at almost the perfect moment. The Rings hit at the right moment, making the cheery and nearly well known chime, which seemed to catch the rabbit’s attention enough.

“Y’know…” Rouge said slowly, as if she was just considering the idea. “These Rings are much prettier, and they’re made of solid gold. And they never lose they’re shine…”

That’s all that was needed to be said.

The rabbit jumped off the Emerald and snatched the Rings out of the bat’s hands to look at them closer. They definitely seemed much better…

“Trade?” Rouge suggested.

In a couple of minutes, the Emerald was theirs, and the rabbit was long gone.

“I wonder if he knows he could find those just lying around the streets.” Shadow said, turning the Emerald over in his hands.

“By the time he does, we’ll be nowhere near him…” Mephiles breathed a sigh of relief. “Y’know… this might have been the most difficult Emerald for us to get…”

“Maybe… At least we got it now…”

“Can I see what this one does?” Mephiles added with curiosity. “It’s the same color as my Aura, and if the red one works well with Dark, maybe this one it the one that works well with me…”

“That’s not really a good logic…”

“Not all of the Emeralds could be bad for me… that’s just not fair if they were…”

“One nearly drove you mad, one hurts you if you touch it…”

“One lets me do some kind of Vision Enhancement, and it helped us find two of them now…” Mephiles countered. “I promise to give it back right away if something goes wrong…”

“That still isn’t going to be reassuring if you can’t give it back before you’re aware…”

“Then with that reasoning, you’d take it from me the moment something is amiss…” Mephiles said. “Either way, if something is wrong, it won’t be for long because you’ll be sure to take it out of my hands…”

“I don’t want to risk it…”

“What if it ends up helping with one of my powers like the yellow one did? That seems like it’s worth trying, right?”

“And how do you know if you’re not going to get hurt or not?”

“I don’t. I never do, and I’ll never know until I can see if it will or not…”

Shadow raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’ve been watching too much Disney movies…” He shook his head. “That logic was out of ‘Finding Nemo’.”

“Oh, just give me the dang Emerald…” Mephiles snatched it out of his hands anyway.

As a wonderful sign, nothing bad seemed to happen. Mephiles took a deep breath and seemed more at ease.

“Well?” Shadow and Rouge waited for a response.

“Y’know that little shadow of dread I have in the back of my mind a lot of the time?”

“Yeah…”

“I don’t know how to explain it clearly… but it just… my brain feels so clear right now…” Mephiles closed his eyes and smiled contentedly. “I really like this Emerald… have I told you guys how much I like you too? This one just makes me feel so happy right now… Dark said it’s not a bad one… do I have to give it back now? Because I don’t want to…” Mephiles giggled softly and hugged the Emerald with a grin, perhaps looking his best in days. “I love you guys so much right now!”

Shadow looked at Rouge.

“Should we?” He asked.

“Maybe not right now… he hasn’t been that happy in days. He’s hardly smiled much since Twinkle Park, so it’ll probably do him some good…”

“Maybe…” Shadow realized that it had been almost a week since said incident. And with all the stress, anxiety, fear, strain and a slowly worsening case of insomnia Mephiles was feeling from this whole ordeal, a few minutes of induced euphoria was probably what he needed right now.