The darkest evils live in the most unexpected places…

"And that," Shadow said, "is why no one goes to Kingdom Valley at night anymore."

"Th-that was pretty scary…" said Silver.

"Wimp," muttered Knuckles.

"I heard that!"

"Guys," said Sonic, "we're almost out of popcorn."

"Man, that's just un-cool, bro," said Manic.

"Who's gonna get more?" asked Tails.

"More importantly," said Shadow, "who's going to try to top my 'Ghost of Mephiles' story?"

The boys thought for a minute. They were sitting on the floor of Silver's living room, enjoying the ghost story part of their sleepover. Blaze had given him the idea, and, although he'd thought it was too girly at first, he decided to go with it. After all, he wanted to see if anyone was good enough to beat his top video game scores.

Manic nudged his brother. "Hey, bro, what about that one you told me one time? You know, about the Tails thing-a-ma-jig?"

"There's an idea," said Sonic. "Have any of you—other than you, Manic—heard about the Tails Doll?"

The boys shook their heads.

"Oh, this'll be good," Knuckles whispered to Tails. "Some fangirl made a doll of you. Eggman, nearsighted, thought it was you and tore it apart. The end."

"Not quite," said Sonic. "If Eggman hadn't made the thing and been its master, HE would have been torn apart by the doll."

Now he had their full attention.

"Years ago, Eggman wanted to give Metal Sonic a buddy, just like mine. However, he was out of orange metal."

"Why didn't he go to the hardware store?" Shadow interrupted. "Seems pretty logical."

"Dude, really? You WORKED for Egghead," Knuckles pointed out. "The guy wouldn't know 'logical' if it tore off his moustache."

"And you," Shadow muttered, "wouldn't know 'intelligence' if it smashed your precious rock."

"What was that?"

"You heard me."

"You little—"

"Girls!" Sonic exclaimed. "Could you have your catfight later? I'm trying to tell a story!"

"Go on, bro," Manic encouraged.

"Thank you. Anyway, since ol' Egghead didn't have any orange metal, he used fabric. Soon, he had a doll that looked just like Tails. He didn't stop there, though. Wanting to give it life, he took a shard from the red Chaos Emerald. He added some mechanisms and black magic to the gem fragment. Eggman hung it from a wire, which he attached to the doll's head. And the Tails Doll was born."

"Ooh, scary," Silver said, rolling his eyes. "We wanted scary stories, not bedtime stories."

"This ain't some fairy tale, Silver. Some say that Eggman found the doll weak. According to those stories, he managed to shut down the doll, and then threw it in the garbage. Others say that Metal Sonic, insulted by having a plushie for a partner, abandoned the Tails Doll. Still others say he ran away. It doesn't matter, because everyone agrees on what happened next."

"What happened, Sonic?" Tails asked.

"It developed a strong desire to kill," Sonic said. "Apparently, solitude had a negative effect on it. A child once found the doll and brought it to bed one night. He was gone in the morning. There was no body at all. All that was left was the Tails Doll. The boy was never found. Numerous incidents like that happened. All of them point to the Tails Doll being the prime suspect. They say it just sucked up people's souls. And do you know what?"

"What?" all the boys except Manic asked.

"The doll—"

"It's still around," Manic cut in. "Still searching Mobius for victims. Still killing. It only takes one person a night, so pray it doesn't pick you…because it's right there!"

All of them whirled around. Of course, there was nothing there. Sonic and Manic burst out laughing.

"You guys should have seen your faces," Manic said.

"Nice one, bro," said Sonic. "But I wanted to end it!"

"Heh, you're pretty good at making up stories, Sonic," Tails said. "That one almost sounded real!"

"It IS real, Tails," Sonic said, darkening his tone. "Didn't you hear any of those missing person reports on the news? There's a new person missing every night. No one is ever found."

"Yeah, real funny, Sonic," Knuckles said. "That's probably just some freak kidnapper. Or people are running away. Either way, there's no way a little toy could kill people."

"Prove it," said Silver.

"I will," said Knuckles. "Where do you find it?"

"Some say the doll still returns to Robuttnik's base on some nights," Manic said. "I guess it's just old habits, or it needs someplace to stay. Either way, the base is your best bet."

"Fine. I'll check there. When I'm watching the Master Emerald tomorrow night, I'll finish that thing. Nothing gets through me."

"Hey, Knuckles," Shadow said, "speaking of the M.E., who's watching it right now?"

"Don't worry," said Knuckles. "Eggman offered to do it. I was suspicious at first, of course, but he said he wanted to be buddies. So, naturally, I agreed."

"Oh, GOD," said Sonic, slapping his forehead.

"What?"

"Um, I'm tired," Silver said, changing the subject. "How about we go to sleep now?"

Soon all the guys were snug in their sleeping bags. All were asleep, except for one.

"I'll show them I'm not afraid of some made-up doll," Knuckles muttered. "I'll show them."