AUTHOR'S FORWARD (skip this part if you already know about the Halloween episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the associated Ship of the Line Challenge). The Halloween episode of Buffy TVS involves a chaos mage named Ethan Rayne casting a spell on Halloween night that turns everyone into what they dressed up as. The spell is partly broken when the bust used to cast it shatters, however some of its effects remain permanently. Ship of the Line involves Xander [a character from Buffy TVS] dressing up as a character from a sci-fi fandom and getting a starship when the spell takes effect and at the same time another Sci-Fi universe already existing in that world.

The following fanfiction doesn't qualify as a ship of the line at the very least because it doesn't involve Xander (or any other Buffy TVS character besides Ethan). None the less, Ship of the Line was the inspiration for it.

STORY STARTS HERE

Sereopolis wasn't a well known city. It was about a 3 hour flight from Gotham but almost nothing like it. The crime rate was relatively low and anything that came up was quickly dealt with by the local police. Sereopolis had nothing of value to super villains, so most of its residents had only heard rumors of heroes such as Batman and The Flash. In one particular suburb of Sereopolis, a school bus departed with a group of students. Many of them were eager for a night of trick or treating and a weekend, since today was Friday and Halloween. The bus stopped to let 2 students off at a small house. One is in high school, his name is Kyle Lizuka, the other is in middle school, he is Kyle's younger brother Miles Lizuka.

"I can't wait to go treat or treating as Tails tonight" Miles said excitedly. "Yeah," Kyle replied with moderate enthusiasm, "This'll be fun. I'm glad I practiced my Shadow impressions." "Thanks again for taking me to buy a costume while we were in Sunnydale last week." Miles continued. Kyle reflected on the good fortune of how they got their costumes.

He and Miles were in Sunnydale visiting relatives and saw ads for a costume shop called "Ethan's". Kyle took Miles to buy a costume and once they were inside, Miles quickly found the costume he wanted. Kyle wanted to dress up as Shadow, but didn't think they'd have a Shadow costume his size and didn't want to look awkward by asking. However Miles kept pestering him, saying that it wouldn't hurt to ask, and sooner or later Kyle gave in. Kyle finally asked Ethan, the shop owner, about his desired costume. Ethan disappeared into the back room of the shop and came back with a Shadow costume in Kyle's size. Kyle got it for 25% off since it according to Ethan, it would be hard to sell it to anyone else.

Kyle walked into his house and saw a note on the Fridge: "Kyle, I got called in for business today. I'll be back late tonight. Look after Miles for me. Love, Dad." Kyle wasn't fazed since this was hardly unusual. His Dad was a prominent doctor who often was requested to work at hospitals in the area, and his Mom had died of a terminal Disease when Kyle was younger so Kyle often had to look after Miles. Kyle didn't mind. Miles was nice to him rather than irritating, so they developed a strong bond.

An hour or so later, Kyle and Miles were getting into their costumes. Kyle enjoyed the idea of trick or treating as Shadow more then he let on since he was a fan of Shadow. He hadn't played the game "Shadow the Hedgehog" but he'd seen all the cut scenes of Sonic Adventure 2 and watched the associated Sonic X story arc. Kyle felt that Sonic X handled the plotline better because in the Sonic Adventure 2 version of the events, Amy convincing Shadow that he was good came out of nowhere in his opinion. Because of his age, he didn't want to seem too excited on the outside by the idea of trick or treating, but if anyone questioned him tonight he'd say he was looking after his brother 'in style'.

The trick or treating went very well. Kyle and Miles had accumulated reasonable amounts of candy. They were walking down a street in between two houses when Miles said "I think I dropped some candy back there" and walked back to see if he was right. The streetlights right above them went out and Kyle lost sight of his brother. Then, Ethan's spell took effect.

"Where am I?" Shadow thought to himself, "The last thing I remember was falling to Earth after Sonic helped me keep the Arc from crashing. Did I land here and somehow survive? Or did I Chaos control here somehow?"

"What just happened?" Tails thought to himself, "I thought I was on a shuttle heading back to Earth with Sonic and Chris, so why am I here?"