Which Came First?

He was always unstable. Always. From the start. Since the accident. Since the disaster. Since the experiments. Since the beginning of his existence. Since… before that.

His mind, his personality, his genetic makeup, even his body and the very molecules that made him a being were flawed and unstable. What was done to him was like adding fuel to the fire. His imprisonment. The splitting him apart from the other half of him. Mistaking him for Shadow…

Shadow…

Shadow the Hedgehog!

He was one of the reasons he was so insane, so unstable!

It was jumbled mess to him… all of it.

He existed because of Shadow. Because Shadow attacked him in the past. Because Shadow attacked him in the past because he attacked Shadow in the present. Because he attacked Shadow in the present because Shadow attacked him in the past.

He couldn’t figure out which came first.

It was like the paradox of the chicken and the egg. Which one came first? One does not happen without the other… and the same if you reverse the statement. Neither can exist without the other, so it is impossible to determine where it all began.

Like him and his hatred of Shadow for what Shadow did to him. Like what Shadow did to him for him to hate Shadow. Like what he did to Shadow that caused for him to be hated and feared.

For a decade, he spent his life in oblivion. He couldn’t tell which way was up or down or left or right. He just existed, with nothing more than his own mind to keep him company. His own unstable mind…

Ten years of isolation took its toll long before it was over.

He had long stopped screaming and now he began devising plans for if he ever broke free, and what he would do if he ever saw Shadow again.

He chuckled and giggled disturbingly at his own plots and ideas, amusing himself with his broken mind.

What was it Shadow had said to him? The last words?

“I’m Shadow… Shadow the Hedgehog…”

He snickered at his newest idea. He was going to make sure it was ironic when they met again.

What was it that he was called when he tried to escape from the cold and dark laboratory? The name he was called when he first sprung to live and tried to escape? The name that had echoed down the hallways as much as it did in his mind?

He paused in thought… and would have grinned wickedly if he could.

Mephiles.

He liked the sound of that.

Now… he needed a title… a last name really… he needed to be something.

Mephiles…

Mephiles… the…

The…

The…

He paused again, taking a moment to think in the darkness.

…

…

…

…

Wait. That was it! Perfect!

Mephiles the Dark! It had a wonderful ring to it, and it sounded as dark and menacing as he felt.

It was perfect! He squealed in excitement, knowing no one would hear the disturbing sounds of amusement he was making at his own brilliance…

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…

…

Years passed. He could not keep track, but it seemed like forever. It was forever to him. An eternity.

He grew bored. He began devising more ideas on how to get back at the hedgehog he hated. The one the imprisoned and trapped him. Castled him into oblivion.

How he would stand. How he would laugh to mock him. The stare he would give him. Make sure that Shadow would remember this shadow from his past.

A shadow…

That’s all he was right now. He needed to gain a form. He needed to make himself a tangible being in order to get his effects right. Then it happened.

The environment gave off a vibe that indicated that the Scepter was hurtled through the air. He could feel it spinning, the sensation making his misty form weave up and down and tumble a bit in the air as he felt a free fall drop happen.

He heard the shattering of glass and a saw a bright light.

This was it! The chance he was waiting for!

He broke free, his power causing a surge to the robots around him. He could hear an unfamiliar voice shouting at someone or something to retreat.

It didn’t matter to him. He needed a form to take. He needed to find a shadow so he could track down the Shadow he wanted to hurt.

He found what he was looking for, not once taking a good long look at it. One could imagine his delight when he realized that he taken the shadow of Shadow the Hedgehog himself. He could tell when he saw the hedgehog’s shadow was missing from sight.

It was just too much for him. He shivered in excitement and threw his head back to laugh at the irony. It was unbearably hilarious to him. The very one who ruined his life, for lack of a better term, resurrected him!

However, in a few minutes, he was growing increasingly angry with Shadow.
Shadow seemed to not remember him at all. How dare he!?

He sealed him away into darkness for a decade, ten years! And he couldn’t have the decency to even remember their encounter!?

Mephiles could feel that last remaining shred of sanity shatter like the Scepter had and he grew more and more unstable in thought. Fine. If that was how Shadow wanted to play… he’d play his little game too, but twist the rules to his liking.
A flick of the wrist, a glint of madness in the eye and he sent Shadow and his friend, that bat, into whatever timeline his powers could reach.

He hadn’t calculated this, but he ended up in the same timeline as well. Shadow was nowhere in sight… but he knew he was there somewhere. He could feel it almost like the opposite ends of the magnet. Something was drawing him to the right location. He decided to start putting to good use the plans he had devised. He wanted to appear menacing. Insane. Imposing. A nightmare.

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…

A nightmare. A disaster. That’s what he was…

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…

He frowned and shoved that thought to the farthest and darkest corner of his mind. He snarled to himself softly, telling his mind to keep it’s thoughts to itself. He’d ask it when he needed input.

He found Shadow. He was with several other people. But Mephiles could wait…

He counted until the bat left through the portal, leaving only Shadow behind. Before the hedgehog could leave to return home as well, Mephiles made his move, and distracted Shadow long enough to make the portal start to close.

He laughed when he heard the hedgehog curse. After all, it was just a little game to him…

Throwing him a “Come and get me!” look, he spun around and hurried off, drawing the hedgehog away from the portal, laughing all the way. This was all a mind game to him. And he was sure he was winning, because he was making the rules.

Shadow caught up eventually, and he continued to play tricks on the poor hedgehog.

But to his rage he found that Shadow was not falling for it.

He refused to play along with his little game.

Rage.

That emotion spread through him like wildfire. He felt his body change form and before he knew it, he was a beastly form of a hedgehog and he twisted his game again.

He demanded that Shadow entertain him as he unleashed a barrage of shadows on his command.

The game went on for a while. He had taken the place of Shadow’s shadow and followed his every move. Mocked his every move. Teased him. Goaded him. Heckled him.

Then backup came for Shadow, and Mephiles found himself losing to his own
game very quickly. He found that Chaos Spears and Omega Blasts could actually hurt him. Chaos Spears could paralyze him!

He didn’t like how he was losing to his own game, and felt the urge to scream out: “No fair! No fair!” like a stubborn , spoiled child, but fought against it with a snarl and leaped at Shadow at his own attempt at a physical attack… only to receive a swift punch in the face the sent him bouncing on the ground.

Standing up and trying to regain his bearings, he found to his displeasure that that little tumble had left him almost too woozy to stand properly, and he stumbled. His eyes narrowed when he could see that Shadow was smirking at him, amused at this sign of weakness.

With a hiss, he opened another portal and jumped through without another word, altering the destination after he went through, knowing Shadow and that robot would follow.

Mephiles was away from Shadow for now and he powered down just a bot so that
he’d look like a normal hedgehog, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention just yet.

His mind sorted through the recent fight and tried to find out why he was losing suddenly. Had he let his guard down? Was he keeping his expectations of that hedgehog too low? Was it simply because he was overwhelmed?

As he roamed the streets of Soleanna, lost in his thoughts, he was jarred savagely from them suddenly when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

The sun was beginning to set and his shadow was castled on the building next
to him. He shuddered when he had finally taken the chance to analyze his appearance.

He was a hedgehog. Quills upturned at a jagged angle. Short and thin.

Had it not been for his slouched posture, he would have mistaken it for Shadow’s shadow…

Shaking slightly, he panted softly and stood up a bit straighter and clenched his hands, only to find to his horror that the resemblance to Shadow was now uncanny.

What ever shred of sanity he had been using to collect his thoughts suddenly snapped again. He slammed his back against the wall to avoid seeing his shadow, chortling to himself as he pulled at the fur on his face with a gray gloved hand, his legs threatening to give out and make him collapse to the sidewalk. But the image of his resemblance to his hated enemy did not leave his mind nor his vision, for now he could see it more clearly in his reflection in the window across the street from him.

He had become his enemy. He had become Shadow’s shadow. A shadow of the past that became the shadow of the hedgehog named for such a concept. He was what he hated most…

His mind was always unstable…

Always. From the start. Since the accident. Since the disaster. Since the experiments. Since the beginning of his existence. Since… before that.

His mind, his personality, his genetic makeup, even his body and the very molecules that made him a being were flawed and unstable. What was done to him was like adding fuel to the fire. His imprisonment. The splitting him apart from the other half of him. Mistaking him for Shadow…

He couldn’t contain himself any longer and let loose the loudest laugh he had ever done.

He may be insane… but he understands this a lot better than anyone else.

He was the one that came last. Shadow came first. He exists because of Shadow in more ways than one.

To him… the chicken, or in this case, the hedgehog, came first… and he, the shadow, was always the egg. Or rather… nothing at all, because he shouldn’t exist at all…

And no matter how he changed the rules… he’d always lose at the game…