It was Sonic's turn this year to take the kids out for trick-or-treating.

He'd been able to avoid it for the longest time, coming up with mostly legitimate excuses such as, "But Egghead's making trouble again!" and "Sorry, Amy's got me into another one of her dates. Yes, on Halloween. Shut up," and, "I have hepatitis."

It was Espio that finally convinced him. With threats.

"I swear I will stick this in your face," he had said, showing up at Sonic's door in the dead of night, red-eyed, and waving a dull kunai around.

Considering he had never seen the chameleon out of his mind before, he decided to just do it. He already had to deal with one (or two, even three) psychopaths on a weekly basis. One more was just annoying.

It was only 5 o'clock when he showed up at the Chaotix Detective Agency. The squat building looked as ill-maintained as ever; cracks lining the surface, a broken window here or there, and the doorknob was loose. But apparently the agency was doing fairly well this year, more so than usual considering what Vector had told him last time. ("We got three whole cases this year. Three!")

And three kids to look after. Well, he'd had worse. How bad could this possibly be?

"I really think you should've gone as a werewolf," Tails complained. At least, Sonic thought that was the complaint. It was a little tough hearing him through the thick white sheet the fox kid was wearing around his entire body. There were two holes cut in the front for his eyes and… that was about it. Tails was only really creative when it came to mechanics, not costume design.

"Hey, I thought all the girls love vampires now." Sonic grinned, showing off fake vampire fangs that were oddly realistic. A black cape was around his shoulders, complete with a clasp in the shape of a red-eyed bat. Because if he was gonna do this Halloween thing, he might as well do it right.

"But it's so overdone!" Tails was adamant, actually acting his age for once. "A were-wolf would've been way more interesting."

"No, it wouldn't. Besides, how am I supposed to make that look good?"

"I think you look very handsome, Mr. Sonic." Cream's voice was much more clearer than Tails. She was in a white dress with gold-colored trimming around her sleeves, wearing a crown of feathers on her head, her Chao pet, Cheese, trailing behind her like always. He couldn't really figure out just who she was supposed to be really. Generic princess, he supposed. At least it was more imaginative than a bed sheet. Though he couldn't suppress the dread he felt whenever he stared at her for too long. Something way too familiar about that costume…

"See, Tails? All the girls love 'em."

He had just stopped a few inches from the door, raising his hand to knock when it blew open, showing him a heavy-lidded purple chameleon, holding a young bee in his hands.

"Just take him already," Espio muttered as he shoved Charmy, who was wearing a somewhat creepy hockey mask, out onto the sidewalk toward Sonic. "Be gone for five hours. And no less than five hours."

"It's nice to see you too, Espio."

Vector came up the door, a picture of perfect calm and good humor compared to the other. Espio looked like he hadn't slept in days. He was all jittery, and it even looked like his scales were a weird shade of sickly purple. So much for all that ninja calm. What happened to him? The last time he'd been like this, Charmy had annoyed the chameleon to near insanity with his practical jokes, something that had to do with tar and expired cheese. Then Sonic realized that he answered his own question.

"He just means that all you kids have fun!" Vector patted both Cream and Tails on the head, his smile wide and full of very sharp teeth. "Gonna egg some houses?"

"Oh no," Cream said, her tone indicating just how horrified she was. Cheese mimicked her expression with wide, dark eyes. "We would never do a thing like that."

The sheet covered thing that was Tails nodded his shapeless head. "Yeah, we're not teenagers yet."

Vector actually looked a bit disappointed. He turned his head to Charmy. "You'll show your friends the light, won't you?"

Charmy, flicking up his mask, plunged his hand in a plastic bag he was holding, taking out a full egg-carton. "I got two more just in case!"

"Good boy."

"Okay, kids. Let's get this over with." Sonic gestured for the young'uns to follow him. "Remember our deal, Tails."

The fox sighed. "I think giving you 40 percent of my candy is too much, Sonic."

Sonic shrugged. "Fine, then. You can hang out with Amy this year. I heard she got you some Chao costume that she wanted you to try."

"Please, no."

He heard some weird metal clattering behind him. He turned around, finding Espio staring him down, holding several of his ninja stars. Was that rust on them? Or…? "You get back here before 10 o'clock and I promise you won't be fast enough to dodge all of these."

Vector laughed with a strange high pitch. "Espio, pal, you should probably take that nap now." He turned to Sonic. "You know how he's always just kidding around."

Well, no. He couldn't remember the last time Espio told a joke. "Actually-"

"Okay, bye!" Then Vector slammed the door, leaving the hedgehog and his charges in the dusk.

"Nice friends you got there, Charmy," Sonic muttered.

Charmy nodded sagely. "Aren't they? Especially Espio. Yesterday he said he would finally give me what I deserve. I can't wait till Christmas to see what it is!"

Halloween in Station Square was a little difficult sometimes, considering the city mostly consisted of buildings and skyscrapers instead of actual houses unless one went out more. So no porch lights to let them know if anyone's home, and some buildings were difficult to get into when doormen were being jerks and 'doing their job.' Obviously, they didn't feel the All Hollow's Eve spirit.

Sonic knew his way around though, and with Tails' plane, they could always go out of the city for some extra candy resources. And Sonic knew just where to start.

Cream politely voiced her concerns. "I don't think we're old enough to be here, Mr. Sonic."

"Don't worry. We're just here to see Rouge." He led them up the nightclub where epileptic lights dazzled the inside and some weird bass kept shaking the ground.

"Does she even have any candy?" Tails asked. It was getting harder to hear him with the music, despite them being outside.

"Yeah, sure, probably."

They were immediately stopped at the entrance by, what Sonic secretly thought, was a red, clanking metal bucket.

UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL.

E-123 Omega shifted his optics to the four living organisms before him. His hands rotated a complete 360 at the wrists, making soft, whirring sounds. He appeared to wear no costume at first, unless you caught the bandages that wrapped around the middle of his arms in some vain attempt at being a mummy. DO NOT COME ANY FURTHER.

"Hey, it's me!" Sonic pointed a thumb back at his chest. "I'm a regular, remember?"

CORRECT. SONIC THE DEADBEAT HEDGEHOG IS NOT ALLOWED WITHIN CLUB ROUGE, AS PER THE ORDERS OF ROUGE THE BAT. Red lights brightened at the fox boy who was looking in the wrong direction of Omega's voice. CHILDREN ARE ALSO FORBIDDEN.

"Man, so many dumb rules. Look, just let this slide for now, alright? I thought you were cool!"

INCORRECT. I AM AT A SUITABLE TEMPERATURE FOR MY SPECIFICATIONS. Omega's right hand then shifted from claws into a gun-like contraption. ANY MORE TROUBLE, AND I WILL FORCED TO REMOVE YOU FROM THE PREMISES.

Well, it looked like he was going to have to resort to his usual cunning and skill. Sonic took one step forward, his sneakers sliding against the pavement just slightly. Green eyes hardened with determination.

He pointed to his right. "Hey, it's Eggman! What're you doing here, Egghead?"

Immediately, E-123 Omega turned to the side, marching in the direction of Sonic's finger. PRIMARY PROTOCOL INITIATED. DESTROY DR. ROBOTNIK. His optics shifted around the buildings, peering through hidden alleyways. SEARCHING… SEARCHING…

"There he is!" Sonic shouted. "He's hiding behind that mailbox!"

NEW INFORMATION PROCESSED. DESTROY DR. ROBOTNIK. He headed for said mailbox, proceeding to grasp it with his razor-sharp claws, and rip it from the ground. Letters flew into the breeze as metal was torn apart with a screech. DESTROY DR. ROBOTNIK. SEARCHING… SEARCHING….

"Hurry up, let's go," Sonic ordered the kids, pushing them through the entrance as the robot then started to shred the sidewalk, as if the overweight mad scientist was hiding just underneath the cement.

"It's not nice to lie, Mr. Sonic," Cream rebuked.

"It was just a little one. Here, I promise to never do it again. Cross my heart and hope to something something." He gave his usual grin.

Cream smiled back. "Okay. As long as you promise."

"Oh, come on." Tails just shook his head.

The club was, well, hopping. Deep bass beats rumbled the floor, making poor Cream grip her long ears against the painful sound, her Chao clinging to her head in fright. Dazzling lights from up high, crisscrossing into each other, each a different bright color, flashed around the area in an eclectic rhythm that matched the loud music. Charmy blinked rapidly, then slipped his goggles over his eyes to try and shield himself from the harsh blinking lights (already forgetting his mask). Tails, eyes and ears muffled by the white sheet he wore, was not as affected. Neither was Sonic, but that was because he was long used to it by now. He kinda missed the casino feel this place once had - it had a more classy vibe to it, in his honest opinion.

They went past the main floor and the dancing customers, clothed in Halloween garb that was mostly inappropriate for young eyes, to the bar that was the only well-enough lit area that simply needed one illuminated color.

"Hey, babe," Sonic called out to a familiar face behind the counter.

Amid fanciful rows of expensive bottles with brightly glossed labels, Rouge the Bat turned at his voice. She frowned.

"Here to finally pay your tab?"

"Nah." Sonic took a seat at a stool, facing the club owner with his flashing grin, complete with plastic fangs. "I need some candy."

Rouge crossed her arms. A witch's black hat was atop her head, angled slightly to the side. The rest of her ensemble matched with it; flowing black sleeves, a red-colored belt around her waist, and a tight-fitting dress that accentuated her figure. (Which Charmy unabashedly stared at). The broom part of her costume was leaning against the bar counter.

"We don't have candy." Her eyes flicked over to the children. "And we don't allow kids in here either."

"Come on, loosen up! It's the holidays. Don't be so uptight."

Rouge grabbed the handle of her broom, threatening to whack the end of it at Sonic's face, her wings unfurling. Though she waved it just an inch from his nose, the hedgehog never flinched.

"You owe me so much money, it's no longer cute. I'll have to call security if you don't scram."

"You mean the security that can't figure out the oldest trick in the book?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Why? What did you say to him? You know he takes everything seriously."

"Yeah! Great that you told me about it before, huh?"

Charmy was now buzzing over the bar counter, eyes still wide as he stared at Rouge. The goggles made them bigger than usual. "Whooaaa…"

Rouge had a pretty good idea what the kid was looking at. "Alright, creepy. Can't you all go?"

Sonic put his hand on his chin, sporting his fangs. He gently pushed away the broom handle from his face with his other hand. "Come onnnn.."

After a short moment, Rouge turned around, retrieving a large bowl of packets and what seemed to be small fun sized bottles of something. "I only have chocolate-covered peanuts."

"Good enough!"

Both Charmy and Cream cheered, reaching for the bowl to put in their treat bags. Tails, instead, tugged on Sonic's vampire cape. "But Sonic, you know I'm allergic to peanuts."

"Oh, really, buddy?" Sonic actually looked put out. He perused the offered bowl, then took the small bottles to dump into Tails bag. "Just take these instead."

"Sonic, that's vodka," Rouge said.

"Eh, he's old enough." Sonic waved away her warning. "Say, what about faker? Is he here?"

Rouge scoffed, flinging her broom across her shoulder casually. "Same place as always."

They found Shadow the Hedgehog laying on the ground by the club's dumpster.

"Uh, is this safe?" Tails asked as the back door of Club Rouge slammed shut behind them.

Sonic walked carelessly down the alleyway. "Yeah, of course it is. You got me with you!"

"And me, too!" Charmy piped in, flying over Tails' shoulder with a grin hidden by his mask.

The fox boy gave a nod. "I guess," he said with slight reassurance, not noticing the bee was subtly plucking away his tiny bottles of alcohol into his own bag.

"Hey, Shad," Sonic greeted.

Shadow was face-down into the cement, a beer bottle in his hand. "Mmph," he said back.

"Yeah, okay, come on." Sonic slightly nudged his side with his foot, shifting by barely an inch. "Come on." He tried again.

The black hedgehog finally made an effort to sit up. Turning to face the others, he sat back against the wall, blinking at them slowly. Seeing Sonic nearer to him, he pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Damn… you."

"Whoa, hey. Easy up on the language." Sonic smirked.

Shadow growled, but weakly. "Nnno." He then tried to aim a punch at him, but did it so slowly and so out of range that Sonic merely stepped aside, letting the Ultimate Lifeform fall flat on his face again.

"Ugghh…"

Sonic then continued to lightly kick him again.

"Is this what we came here to do?" Despite his face being hidden, Tails' tone was clearly annoyed. "This is so dumb."

"And I don't think you should be hurting him like that," Cream added with some concern. Cheese vocally agreed.

"He's a tough guy, he can handle it." Sonic rapped his knuckles against a comatose Shadow's head. "Beside, we're here to get you some candy."

"Why the heck would Shadow of all people have candy?" Tails demanded.

"Yo, faker. Wanna give me a little help here?"

After clearly getting tired of the small abuse, Shadow sat up again, brushing away the small kicks and punches he was receiving. "My life… issshh.. worthless."

"I could've told you that. But seriously, you should get the candy."

"Shhhut up, Ssssonic." Shadow waved his bottle-holding hand, looking at nothing in particular. "Ssssssonic." He hiccupped.

"I think Mr. Shadow is very…" Cream tapped a finger against her chin, mentally searching for the correct term. Then she blinked. "Oh! He's very inebriated."

Charmy finally placed his feet on the ground, his buzzing ceased. "I don't know. He seems totally hammered to me!"

"Hey, you're making me look bad, you know." Sonic decided to be generous and drag the black hedgehog to his feet with a pull on the arm. "Don't you remember? It's Halloween!"

For the first time, Shadow's eyes and ears perked up. The glaze of drunkenness seemed to finally recede from his face. "Halloween? Already?"

"Yeah. You don't own a calendar or what?"

Shadow focused a glare on Sonic. "What do you -hic- think?" He downed the last of his beer bottle, the label reading 'Pumpkin Spice Brew' (ew) before dropping it to the ground, now empty. "One sec then."

Then he climbed inside the dumpster, the lid slamming shut behind him.

The children stared. Cream shifted nervously with her Chao now retreating to her arms, Charmy scratched his head, and Tails looked around, mystified. "What just happened? What'd I miss?"

Not too long later, the dumpster lid opened again, with Shadow climbing out, a plastic container held in his arms, designed to look like a jack o'lantern. "Help yourself," he said, somehow instantly sober. Within the container were colorful assortments of chocolate and candy treats.

"Whoa, you even have jawbreakers!" Charmy shouted in glee, already grabbing a bunch. "Neat!"

"But… that was in the garbage." Cream kept still, though she looked at the treats with longing. "Mom says never to eat stuff from the trash."

Shadow gestured to the dumpster behind him. "This isn't a garbage bin. This is my house."

"What." Tails supplied the confusion for everyone with his one word.

Shadow shrugged. "This alleyway's cozy, and I'm free to brood here. The garbage trucks never come by anyway. So I just made a house shaped like a garbage bin so that people don't bother me."

Tails was shaking his head. "Okay, there are so many things wrong with that. I mean, where does Rouge put away her garbage then?! And what about-"

"Best not to think about it, buddy." Sonic patted the ghost-dressed boy on the head.

Shadow just looked bored. "I can show you the inside if you don't believe me."

"That's okay! Thank you!" Cream surrendered to the candy's temptation, taking them in fistfuls, even more than the bee. And Tails, after some muttering under his breath, did the same. "How come you have so much candy, Mr. Shadow?"

"I love the holidays," Shadow deadpanned.

"Oh.."

"Where's your costume then?" Sonic asked. "At least put on a mask or something."

"This is my costume," Shadow answered. "Despair incarnate."

"Man, whatever."

After determining that the candy wasn't dirty/drugged, Sonic decided to take the more normal route with the kids. It was just boring, not to mention annoying. They had to go down a ways to the more suburban part of town, where buildings thinned into houses. The kids had to hang onto Sonic who was rushing them through, until he finally slowed down.

Seeing a familiar pink dwelling, he sighed. "Guess we should just get this over with," he said as they made their way towards Amy's house.

Cream cheerfully rang the doorbell after having been here many times before. The door opened immediately.

"Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog, who hadn't been that thrilled to begin with, deeply frowned then. "Amy, what the hell are you wearing?"

Her getup was astounding. A hat, designed to look exactly like Sonic's style of blue quills, covered her head. Her dress was the same shade, with twin white pom pons dangling from neck of her hat on thin strings. She even wore his sneakers, albeit a smaller and daintier version.

She clasped her hands together happily, the bag of candy treats held in her grasp. "Oh, Sonic! Are you finally taking me out?"

"No," Sonic shook his head emphatically. "Never."

"You look really nice, Amy," Cream complimented. She reached out a hand to grasp one of the dangling pom pons. "It's so cute! Did you make it yourself?"

"Don't encourage her, Cream!"

Amy ignored the outburst. "Yep! I worked on it all year!"

"Yeah, it fits you well, Amy."

"Tails, come on!"

"Candy, candy!" Charmy buzzed around the group, holding out the bag. "Me want candy!"

"Okay, okay, here you go then. One for you, and one for you…" Amy deposited the treats to each kid's bags, making sure to give them a little extra. "When you guys are done, you should come by again later!" She winked at Sonic prettily, bouncing on her heels. "You look so dashing! Are you going to whisk me away into the night?"

Sonic regretted his own vampire costume instantly. Next time, he was doing the werewolf thing for sure. Even if she did get his quill style just right, with the right length, too. Not like he was impressed or anything.

"Aww, you both look so cute when you're standing together!" Cream was squealing, her dress waving in the night breeze. Cheese fluttered around the hedgehogs, the hovering ball over his head shaped to look like a heart.

That's it. "Alright, we're done here, kids. Let's go."

"But Sonic!" Amy pouted. "What about our date?"

Charmy was buzzing about Sonic's face. "Hey, why are you all red suddenly?"

"Wha – Shut up, kid! Let's go!" Then he grabbed all three and ran out of there. Stupid, so stupid!

He got his cool back when they resumed more trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, especially with treaters that didn't look like they wore his skin on top of his own. But with that came another problem. It was the usual routine of knocking on the door, getting the candy, checking for needles and the like. With that, Sonic was so bored out of his mind that he was practically falling asleep with his eyes still wide open. He took out the plastic fangs out of his mouth at one point, their feel against his real teeth starting to get uncomfortable.

At a charming little one-story home with a cobbled pathway, Cream rang the doorbell. Sonic stood behind the kids, tapping his foot impatiently.

After a long wait, the door opened. "Trick-or-treat!"

"I finally found you!"

Sonic flinched, turning to see a white-furred hedgehog standing in the doorway, clutching a glass bowl of candies, and pointing a finger straight at Sonic's face.

"Huh?"

The hedgehog grinned. "I finally found you! You're Sonic, right? The super-fast hero?"

"Oh. Yep, that's me." Sonic narrowed his eyes. The hedgehog was slightly younger, with his quills just going haywire, sticking out from his head like a fan. There was something… something about that stupid style that reminded him… "Do I know you?"

"Don't think so. By the way, my name's Silver. I've been a fan for the longest time." He blinked yellow eyes towards the children. "Are these your kids?"

"No. But seriously, we haven't met before?" The hedgehog was wearing some weird gloves and shoes, with thin blue lines cutting through their design. There was something futuristic about it almost.

Silver shook his head. "Nope! But I'm flattered that you think so." Shifting his attention to the children again, he spoke directly to them. "What do we have here? A ghost, a princess -oh! Of Soleanna, right? That's great!- and…" Silver trailed off, trying to determine Charmy's outfit.

The bee helped him out. "I'm a serial killer!"

"Oh." Silver paused before giving a wide smile. "That's nice!"

While Sonic wracked his brain on just where the heck he'd seen this guy before, someone else appeared in the doorway. "More trick-or-treaters at this hour?"

Sonic widened his eyes, then pointed. "Hey, I've definitely seen you before!"

The accused, a purple-furred cat, dressed in a similar shade with a red bindi jewel decorating her forehead, blinked curiously at him.

Sonic felt his confidence falter at her stare. "I… think."

"You've seen Blaze before?" Silver asked Sonic, then turned to the cat. "How come you didn't tell me you met Sonic, honey?"

Blaze frowned slightly. She put a hand on her hip. "I'm pretty sure we've never met."

Sonic felt a headache coming on. He had seen her! At least, he was pretty sure he had! But every time he tried to think back to the past, it was a confusing mess of colors, loud sounds, and what felt like a deep sense of shame and regret. Even the name Blaze sounded familiar! Something about other emeralds… and…alternate dimensions… And when he looked at Silver, it was with a lot of annoyance. Numerous chairs being thrown at him kept flashing in his memory.

Silver was currently preoccupied with handing out the candy. He did so by, well, not really doing anything but letting the candy float through the air to plop into the offered bags. A blue light surrounded his hand as he motioned for the candy to defy gravity. Which seemed kinda useless. Could he really not just use his actual hand?

Cream was alright with it, as was her Chao, both of them smiling. "That's a really nice trick, Mr. Silver!"

"Thank you! I've been practicing a bit."

Cream turned to Blaze, curiosity lighting her face. "I'm sorry, miss, but you seem very familiar to me, too!"

Blaze didn't outright refute the claim. She looked at the rabbit child with the same kind of gaze. "Aren't you…?"

Okay, whatever the heck was going on, Sonic didn't want to deal with it. It was like two different events crashing into his heads at once. "Alright, we're going now. Sorry to bother you and you're…"

"Wife," Silver answered.

Seriously? Sonic somehow felt more annoyed by this. "Wife. Right. See ya!" Quickly he steered the children and Chao off the front steps, hurrying them before the universe threatened to open up a hole in their plane of existence and swallow them into oblivion.

Silver waved to them farewell. His eyes were wide and bright with admiration. "Sonic was just as cool as I'd imagined him to be!"

Blaze didn't seem to be listening. She crossed her arms, her brow furrowed in thoughtful contemplation. "Blue… hedgehog… Could it be…?"

"We still have one more house on this block, Sonic!"

"Fine, fine." Sonic went with them past what looked like a half-eaten mailbox. "Let's just hurry up already."

He could barely pay attention to this last house, or the kids yammering to each other about trading in some Milky Ways for Snickers. The meeting from before had messed with his head. Whatever he had been feeling there, at least it was over. He couldn't imagine such a weird emotion taking him over again. Like he'd had anything to be ashamed of.

Before Charmy could even raise his hand to knock, the door opened, showing a badger that looked like she was dressed in tribal clothing. She was already in a defensive stance, a boomerang held in her right hand.

"Did the penguins send you?" she asked stupidly.

And suddenly - horrifyingly intense humiliation, remorse, and pure disgust took hold of Sonic's throat. Never had he wanted to throw up so bad. For one soul-chilling moment, he no longer felt so fast – only slow, so painfully, excruciatingly slow…

What was worse was that this thing seemed to recognize him.

"Sonic!" the creature blinked, twitching every moment or so, tugging at one of her tied-up fur tufts at the side of her head. "What're you doing here? Are you a double-agent? Are you working for the penguins?!"

Sonic knew then that God did not exist.

"Jeez, what the heck's that voice?" Tails was asking, looking around. "It's so… exaggerated."

"Mr. Sonic, you're very pale," Cream said with concern, but the hedgehog couldn't hear her. Only the knock-off in front of him.

"Hey, don't tell me you don't remember me!" She gestured at herself almost violently. "It's me! Sticks the Badger! The wacky and loveable-"

"Never heard of ya." Though he said the words, part of his brain argued. Oh crap, I know that name. Somehow, I know where she's from. Where I'm from? Images assaulted him mercilessly. Why am I wearing a scarf? Why is Amy different? And WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO KNUCKLES?

If he didn't leave, he would pass out.

Looking at her closely, he could tell she didn't have any dumb candy anyway.

"Where's your bandages?" she was screeching at him. "How can you run without your bandages!?"

Sonic reached for the handle, then shut the door for the badger-thing, who was still blathering away despite the barrier between them. He then guided the kids down the path.

"Hey, uh, do you know her, Sonic?" Tails asked curiously.

"No," he answered, gritting his teeth. "And I don't want to know."

There was only one thing that would make Sonic feel better. Only one thing to get rid of the horrible taste of near vomit in his mouth.

Eggman Land, usually so bright and dizzying, was closed for the holidays. (Despite no one knowing it existed anyways). Roller coasters halted, merry-go-rounds were stopped in mid-spin, and the electricity was completely shut off, leaving the place dark and barren. The only signs of movements were from the orange robots that swept up the grounds with large brooms, or would just walk into walls for no reason.

Sonic ignored all that and went up to the front door of one, terrifyingly large fortress. He rang the doorbell, which was a man's cackle, and quickly scampered away.

"Okay, get ready," he told the waiting children hiding behind some overturned metal debris. It wasn't a very clean amusement park.

"Is this okay to do?" Cream asked. "Mom always says these kinds of things weren't nice."

Sonic was all smiles, plastic fangs back in place. "Don't worry! This is payback for all the bad things he did!"

"Hmm, I guess you're right!"

Charmy was bouncing up and down his feet. "Shh! Quiet, he's coming!"

Just so, the door opened to show the mad doctor poking his head out, none too happy about being disturbed. He was wearing a dark blue night-cap, with matching pajamas, decorated with his grinning logo. With a growl, he stepped out into the front porch of his evil lair.

"Stupid kids! I had the lights off!" He looked both left and right, his feet placed in a wide stance.

Sonic stepped out of his hiding place with a flourish of his dark cape. "Hey, look! A talking egg!"

Dr. Robotnik turned to the voice, his face splotchy red with rage. "I should have known it was-!"

Splat! went the egg that landed right on his face.

Sonic casually tossed more of said eggs around in his hand, holding up a carton of them in the other. "What's with that look? All I did was bring you your friends!"

Dr. Robotnik wiped the yolk from his eyes. "That's it! Just wait here and I'll bring down my army of robots against-!"

Splat! More eggs assaulted him from all sides.

"I got him!" Charmy was yelling, throwing the eggs like a pro. Cream was following suit as Cheese handed her the eggs from the carton. Tails did as well, but kept missing his shots by a mile off, still refusing to take off his costume. Didn't matter though, because the doctor had already fallen on his back from the attack, choking on crushed eggshells.

"Keep going!" Sonic urged the kids, knowing no mercy. Eggs pelted the doctor whenever he tried to sit up, ruining his sleeping clothes.

"Gah! Cut - cut it out! Stop it!" He waved frantically, but like an overturned turtle, couldn't find a way to get back on his freakishly long legs to amble away.

Finally, the rain of eggs had ceased, leaving the shivering Dr. Robotnik to timidly open one eye (if you could tell by the dark glasses he always wore, even in sleep). Just when he dared to even lift his head, the bottom of a sneaker pushed him right back in his place.

Sonic propelled from Dr. Robotnik to dash inside his fortress, a streak of blue winding down metal hallways, heading for what seemed to be… the kitchen?

"No!" Dr. Robotnik yelled in horror, still unable to get up. "My snacks!"

Sonic was already out the door again, bags of fun-sized candies in his arms. Peanut butter cups, chocolate bars, licorice sticks, packets of pure, disease-inducing sugar… all taken.

"Thanks for the treats, Egghead!" With that, Sonic leapt over him, letting the kids grab onto him so that they could dash out of the closed amusement park. Their laughter faded into the distance.

With a scream of pure hatred, Dr. Robotnik railed at the night skies. Some of his cleaning robots turned to his voice, then calmly went back to their tasks of cleaning, tripping, or just being plain dead.

"We have so much candy, Mr. Sonic! Should we even get any more?"

"I think we should make one last pit stop before we call it a night…"

Knuckles didn't really know about Halloween. Well, when you were stuck on a floating isle that was miles away from civilization for most of your life, such holidays don't really have much effect on you. So instead of worrying about trick-or-treaters or getting his property vandalized, he just did what he always did. Just barely protecting the Master Emerald and sleeping half the time.

So he was pretty startled when a doorbell woke him up from his slumber. He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Wait… I don't have a door…?"

"Hey, Knuckles!"

The echidna jumped back, seeing fang-toothed Sonic just standing in the middle of the steps that led up the Master Emerald's shrine. Next to him were three small beings that he couldn't recognized, because their costumes were just too convincing for him.

"What are you doing here? And what monsters of hell did you bring with you?"

At that, Cream's eyes started to water. "Monster…?"

"Geez, good job on making a girl cry, Knucklehead." Sonic patted the bunny girl's ears in comfort.

Knuckles blinked. "Oh, sorry. Then what are those things?"

Charmy flicked up his scary mask, and Tails pointed to his two tails that poked out behind him.

"Oh." Knuckles blinked again. Awkward silence fell. "So…why are you here?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, we decided to take the Tornado and go for a little fly, ya know?"

"Well, that's-"

"Now give us some candy."

The echidna felt his head hurt. "Huh? Why?"

"It's Halloween, dumbbells! Don't tell me you don't have any. You're even more lame then I thought."

"I'm not lame!" And Knuckles was about to prove it. Clenching his fists, he straightened… then looked around the altar for a specific item.

Finding it, he went down the stairs to meet with the group, holding out a woven basket that was full of fruit.

Just fruit.

Sonic frowned. "That's not candy that I'm looking at."

Knuckles scoffed. "This is better! This is nature's candy!"

"You're kidding."

"No, see? There's apples, and pears, and grapes - those are my favorite by the way - and some more apples-"

Sonic threw an egg at him.

"Ow!"

"You're a disappointment to the last, as usual, Knuckles."

For the echidna's failure at being a functioning member of normal society, Sonic had banished the Guardian to the bottom of the stairs while he and the kids munched on their candy trove. The floor was littered with brightly wrapped goodies. Cream ate her's politely, giving the occasional chocolate-covered raisin to her adorable Chao, while Charmy just upended the bag over his open mouth, devouring his stash, with foil and all.

Tails had finally realized he couldn't actually eat his candy with his costume still on. So he put his bedsheet to the side, sharing his bag with Sonic's, as was the deal.

"Thanks for taking us out," he told his hero.

"Yeah, sure." Sonic shrugged, no longer in costume either. He had taken most of the fruit rollup treats for himself and currently munching away.

"I really mean it though!" Tails was grinning. "I honestly thought we were just going to get the same or less, like last year with Vector, or get stuck at home the whole night, like with Amy that one time…but you took us all over! And got us the best stuff!"

"What, you thought this night would be boring with me around?" Sonic grinned right back. "Thought you knew by now, buddy."

"Well…" Tails really thought about his next words. "I guess you always surprise me. Or usually. You know?"

Sonic patted his friend's head, ruffling the pointed ears. "Don't totally get it, but if you're happy, I'm happy."

And despite that the hour was pretty late, around midnight, where a worried Vanilla had called the cops to find out where her only precious daughter was - it turned out to be fine in the end. Sonic would later have to agree with Tails, on things not being too bad. He supposed that he could take the kids out for treats next year, too. But only if no one else wanted to, of course…