Now, it was getting late in the evening. Shadow had gathered Sonic, Manic, Silver, and Scourge at his house. He discussed his plan for Mephiles (making sure to leave out the part about Mephiles being in love with him.)

"Where is this guy?" Scourge asked.

Suddenly, Mephiles appeared, standing near the sofa where Shadow was sitting.

"Well that was fast." Scourge said.

"Everything has been replaced and paid for. Any other requests?"

Shadow shook his head no. He patted the seat beside him. "But you have some questions to answer."

Mephiles nodded and sat down, sighing.

Sonic immediately blurted "Why'd you do it?! Where did you hide everything?! Are you working with someone on all this?!"

"Excuse me, I've barely sat down. Unless you want to calm down and talk with some sense, I will not answer you."

Everyone was a bit surprised at Mephiles's sudden change of tone.

"Excuse me?"

Mephiles turned to Manic, who'd finally spoken. "Yes?"

"Okay, you're name is Mephiles, right?"

"That's right." Mephiles tone had gone back down.

"I have a few questions. How were you able to rob people so effectively? I was raised by thieves, but none of them were that good."

Mephiles was a bit confused. "You...sound like you admire me for this."

"I do."

"Manic, don't encourage this!" Sonic said.

"I'm not saying he should rob people. I'm just saying that I think the way it was done was kinda cool."

Mephiles spoke up. "Well, to answer your question, it was simple. I find something that interests me enough, grab it, and teleport away. Of course, finding what I wanted and exactly how I'd go about taking it took a good deal of time, but simple besides that."

Manic pouted. He didn't have any superpowers, so he knew he wasn't ever getting close to Mephiles's abilities.

"By the way, you have the same aura as the house I was in, earlier. Are you Tuck's- *ahem*. Tux's owner?"

Manic nodded.

Mephiles thought. "Interesting. Any other questions?"

"Yeah. Why did you steal all those things? I understand one or two things that look cool, but why go as far as breaking into people's houses?"

Mephiles blushed. "Well..."

"I had a question, too." Silver spoke. "What made you agree to become Shadow's butler?"

Mephiles's blushing got much worse.

"It's personal."

Mephiles was surprised at hearing Shadow speak up.

"Mephiles and I discussed things, and he had really personal reasons for what happened."

"So we're supposed to just leave it at that?" Sonic asked, shocked at Shadow. "Have you forgotten why this guy is our enemy?"

"Didn't he say that he returned and paid everything?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Didn't I say that he and I discussed it, already?"

"Yes-"

"Then drop it."

Sonic was still suspicious of Mephiles, but didn't say anything else about it. "*sigh* Alright. Where's the bathroom?"

"First door on the right."

Sonic got up and walked to the bathroom. This gave Mephiles a chance to give Manic a thank-you present.

He teleported next to Manic.

"Oh!" Manic said in surprise. "Uh... Hi?"

"Hold still." Mephiles responded. He poked Manic in the center of his forehead.

Confusing everyone looking (besides Mephiles, of course), Manic fell asleep right there.

Scourge was the most confused, and was pretty worried. He turned to Mephiles, "What...did you do...?"

"He's not hurt, if that's why you're concerned. He'll wake up soon." Mephiles said, going back beside Shadow.

Sonic walked in. "Shadow, you're now out of toilet pa-"

That's when he saw Manic. "What happened to my brother?"

"The new guy just touched his forehead, and Manic passed out..." Scourge said, still confused.

Sonic went straight to panic mode. He ran over and shook Manic. "Manic?" He shook harder. "Manic, c'mon. Wake up. Wake up!"

Manic didn't twitch.

Sonic turned to Mephiles. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?!"

"Sonic, I didn't kill him. He'll wake up in a moment."

"It really doesn't look like you did anything good to him." Shadow said in Sonic's defense.

"Oh, wait. His ear's twitching." Silver pointed out.

Sonic was confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, I forgot." Scourge said, relieved. "Manic's ears always twitch before he-"

"*Yawn*"

Everyone (especially Sonic) was happy to see Manic yawning and waking up.

"I swear, that was the best couch nap I've ever taken." Manic said, stretching.

Scourge blushed dark red at Manic's 'sleepy voice.' "How do you feel?"

"I feel great. I'm hungry, though. Shadow, alright if I raid the fridge?"

Shadow nodded as Mephiles began grinning wide in excitement.

"Cool. Be right back."

There was a 'pop!' noise, and Manic disappeared.

"...wha?" Sonic said, extremely confused.

Another 'pop!', and Manic was back, holding a bag of chips. "Shadow, you are the weirdest person ever. Who puts unopened chips in a refrigerator?"

After a moment of shock, Shadow turned to Mephiles. "You gave him some of your power, didn't you?"

Mephiles nodded excitedly. "I could sense that he didn't have any superpowers. I also could sense that he had no evil in him. So, as thanks for taking care of Tuck and being polite to me, I gave him a VERY small portion of my power."

"So he can teleport now?" Scourge asked, getting a nod in reply.

"Ya know, I was wondering why that walk seemed so quick. Thanks!"

"Along with that, your senses have been heightened, you're physically stronger, and,"

Mephiles flung a unopened (meaning full) water bottle at almost Sonic's speed, which Manic caught without blinking.

"you have faster reflexes. You fell asleep because your body was adjusting."

Manic said, eating his chips, "Cool. So are you gonna teach me how to control the teleporting, or is this something I should learn by myself?"

"Well, I could teach you a few tricks, but it's fairly simple to learn on your own."

Manic saw his brother staring at him. "Something wrong, bro?"

"You...feel fine?" Sonic asked, still uncertain.

Manic nodded. "My leg is really itchy, but besides that, I'm good."

"That might be because of the spider." Scourge said.

"Spider? What spi- OH SH*T!"