"Whoa!" The speeding hedgehog skidded to a stop as he arrived on the (supposedly barren) street. "How the heck did I get here?" He tried to remember what the last thing he was doing, but all he could think of was his last battle with Eggman. "Ah, whatever! Running's gotten me into things, and it's the only thing that's gonna get me out!"
"Ashley? Are you okay?" Red asked as she appeared to be in a trance as she walked up the street, tapping her cheek. "Yeah..." she muttered as they started to come up to a sharp, brick corner. "...I'm just thinking." "About what?" She rolled her eyes, and looked at him while continuing walking. "About the missing secret ingredi-" The breath was knocked out of her as something slammed headfirst into her stomach. She flew to the ground, half conscious. "Hey! Watch it! What are you... oh..." The speedy blue hedgehog glanced down at the delusional fifteen-year old. "Sorry. I didn't mean to knock you down..." He started to reach for her hand when Red pushed him out of the way and quickly pulled her up. "Ashley! Are you okay?! How many fingers am I holding up?!" "I... don't... know," she answered, a bit slurred but angrily. "I can't see." "Oh No! She's blind!" "Red, I'm not blind," Ashley groaned while opening her eyes. "Oh... okay!" The first thing she saw while opening her eyes was a spiky, blue hedgehog staring down at her with Red at his side. "You!" She stood up quickly, and would have fallen back down with an upcoming headache if the hedgehog hadn't grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "You're the one who knocked me down!" Her eyes seemed to be glowing red as her hair began to change to white fast. "Whoa, Ashley!" Red yelled as he tried to restrain her from strangling the hedgehog. "Calm down! It was an accident!" She glared at Red, but affixed her gazed onto the retreating blue hedgehog. "Listen, I would love to stay for this touching moment, but I've gotta run. See ya!" She released her tension as she saw him racing up the street, backed up from Red, and smoothed out her (now) black hair. "I think we've found it," she whispered slyly to Red. "Found what?" He looked down the street and then back at her. "You don't mean..." "Oh, I 'mean', Red..." She smiled in anticipation, tapping her fingers together deviously. He sighed and started to head back to the mansion. "I'll get the rope..." Red told her. "And the net!" she called out with her hands cupped to her mouth.
"I can't believe I have to do this..." Red whispered to himself while tying the rope to the fencepost across the street. "...But if I didn't, Ashley would..." He cut off his thoughts and shivered at the possibilities while he continued to lay down the rope. "...I really don't get paid enough to do this. Uh-oh..." Red leaped into the bushes as he spotted the blur whizzing up the empty streets. "3... 2... 1..." The hedgehog continued running, unaware of the red devil plotting against him in the nearby shrubs. "This is my escape! I'm runnin' through this world, and I'm not looki-" The blue fellow's song ended as his foot got tangled and caught in the nearly invisible rope. He tripped over and skidded a few yards, face-first, down the street. "Got 'im!" Red leaped out of the bush and walked to the hedgehog that was just barely clinging onto consciousness. "Helloooo..." Red slowly dragged out as he gathered the rope while staring down at the semi-conscious Mobian. "Sorry to end your song abruptly, but I'm just followin' orders, 'kay?" The confused blue hedgehog tried to understand what he meant by "following orders", but lapsed into unconsciousness.
"Mmmmmnnnngggggghhhhhhhh," he mumbled as he was waking up. He opened his eyes slowly to look around the large living room strewn with various books, some opened, some closed, and many torn. He continued to look around the room once more only to find Ashley looking at a large book on a stand where she wasn't standing before. "How'd you..." "Oh, good! Sleeping Beauty's finally awake!" she said with a little laugh in her voice. "Where am I?" he demanded while glaring at her. "Temper, temper. I really wouldn't yell at me in the situation you're in..." "What are you..." He looked around to find himself dangling from the ceiling, tied with rope that restrained his arms, above an incredibly large cauldron bubbling with unknown swirling green and purple goo with a plank over it. "What kind of sick, twisted person are you?!" "One that gets everything she wants," she replied calmly while smiling. "Who are you anyways?!" he asked with hope of distracting her. She frowned a little and a puzzled look swept across her face. "Shouldn't you know me already?" "Shouldn't you know me already?" he retorted back. "Well, I'm Ashley. Have you never heard my theme song?" "Well, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! Have you never heard my theme songs? Or seen my fanbase? They would be pretty mad if I was... what exactly are you doing with me?" "What I do with every ingredient. Use you in my potion and see if you work. If you don't, then that's just one less ingredient on the suspicion list. M'kay? Red?" A sharp trident flew over her head and slice through the rope suspending Sonic in the air. "Whoa!" He landed with a thud on the wobbly plank, and his hands being tied down didn't help his balance. He managed to stay on the board, but he heard a sawing sound from behind him and turned around to see Ashley sawing the back of the board. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?!" "What is look like she's doin'?" Red answered for her. "She's finishing her potion! Duh!" She continued to saw, as Sonic looked around for a plan. "D-don't I get a last wish then?" She stopped sawing and turned to Red who would be more skilled in judgmental business than her. Red shrugged his shoulders and she turned back to Sonic. "You get water," she told him firmly. "Red, get the ingredient water." "My name's Sonic," he corrected her as Red scurried into the kitchen. "I don't address my ingredients by their name..." He rolled his eyes and looked around once more.
"You're lucky the doors are closed, or I would be so outta here! Hey, by the way, how'd you score a place like this?" "What do you mean?" she asked, a little offended. "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just you seem a little young to be running a place this big by yourself, right? I mean you look twelve..." That really set her off her rocker. "I'll have you know I'm fifteen going on sixteen next February!" she yelled at him, but calmed down before her hair changed colors. "Tsk, Tsk. 'Temper, temper'," Sonic mocked her earlier statement while smirking. She turned around back to her spell book, and began to furiously read it. "What're you looking for, Ashley?" "A loophole so I can get rid of you!" "How about I save us both the trouble and you just let me go. How's that for a plan?" "No," she answered dryly as she continued to sift through the yellowed, tattered pages of the spell book. "Hmph. I thought so... you remind me of another girl that I know who's name starts with an 'A'," Sonic stated while laughing to himself. "What do you mean?" Ashley asked without turning around. "She's hard headed, when she wants something, she's going to get it at any costs, and she's only focused on one thing and that one thing, she chases after all the time." He started to laugh hysterically and almost couldn't stop until he realized the board was still shaking. "Well that doesn't really matter now because..." The phone started to ring followed by its familiar demented laughter. "Ugh, who's calling at this time of night..." Night? Sonic thought to himself and looked out the window. The drapes covered the window, but he could tell the oranges and yellows gleaming through them could only be caused by a setting sun. "A-Ashley?" Sonic asked, but Ashley turned around and shushed him. "I'm on the phone!" she loudly whispered while covering the receiver with her hand. "Shut up, hostage!" "But I... hostage?" he asked with a hint of anger. Fine. She wants a hostage? I'll give her a hostage she won't forget... Sonic thought to himself with a smile on his face.
"Welcome to Mona's Pizza! How may I help you?" "What do you mean?! You called me!" Ashley questioned. "I believe you called us, ma'am." "No I didn't!" "So you would like a medium cheese pizza, right?" Ashley heard a snapping noise behind her, but disregarded it. "Wh- sure. Yeah. Medium cheese pizza," Ashley agreed as she rubbed her forehead with frustration. "Make it pepperoni," a gruff voice called from behind. "Pepperoni! Got it!" "But I..." The phone died with a click. "Ugh, the nerve. Giving me pepperoni when I..." Ashley stopped as she realized that she didn't change the order; she blinked in confusion and turned around to be shadowed over by WereSonic. She looked behind him to see the ropes that had restrained him snapped and scattered. "So that's what that snapping noise was..." Ashley's further speech was drowned out by the thunderous roar he directed towards her. As he continue roaring at her, Ashley's hair flew behind her, similar to sails of a ship and she squinted her eyes shut. As soon as he was finished, Ashley slowly opened her eyes, wiped the dribbles of spit from her face, and began to smile. His angry look went away and was replaced with a confused expression. "Wait, aren't you sc-" "Hey, Red!" Ashley called to the kitchen. "Huh?" Red's voice muffled through the wall. "Seems like we caught a werewolf!" "What did you say?" he asked as he came through the door in an apron and carrying a tray with water. "I didn't hear... you..." He stood in the doorway, eyeing WereSonic, then Ashley, then back again. "I sai-" "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" A girl scream slipped from Red's mouth and the water flew into the air, only for one of the glasses to land on top of WereSonic's head.
Red froze in his place in the middle of the doorway. "Now, I'm going to go. And I don't want anyone to stop me!" WereSonic shouted at Ashley as he started to back towards the door. "Who's stopping you?" she asked with a smirk. She then made a waving motion with her hand to tell him to leave. What is she up to? he thought as he stepped over the apparently frozen devil. He went to open the door and in the other room, Ashley seemed to be counting down. He opened the door and began to walk out, but just as he was about to exit, he slammed into a wall of some sort. What the heck? He pushed his hands out in front of him only to find that they, too, were stopped by and invisible force. He growled with anger and punched through the doorway, but a colorful wave of light surrounded his hand, formfitting it, and pushed it back inside the house. He growled once again as he returned to the room where Ashley has finished her countdown. "I thought you were going to leave?" she asked while smiling a little wider. "Why can't I go?!" he demanded angrily while pointing back to the front door. "Oh, what's that? You can't leave? What are you gonna do? Blow my house down?" She turned back to her book and closed it carefully, making sure not to rip the pages. "In case you haven't noticed, ingredient, this is my house. No one leaves until I need them to, got it?" "You'd better let me go, or I'll..." he threatened while looking around, and his eyes met Red. "...I'll eat him," he concluded as he picked up Red by his head. She just glared at him and crossed her arms while narrowing her eyes. "Go ahead," she challenged. WereSonic looked at her, then Red, back to her, and back again; he then opened his mouth and placed Red inside and shut it closed. Muffled screams and whimpers could be heard from inside his bulging cheeks and struggling could be seen. "Now swallow," Ashley taunted while gesturing her hands. He got a surprised look and looked at her with confusion; he then rolled his eyes, and spit out the saliva-soaked Red onto the ground.
Apparently Red had snapped out of his trance because he groaned with disgust as he looked for a towel. Ashley started to laugh as she walked over to WereSonic while clapping her hands. "Wow! What a convincing bluff," she said with much sarcasm. "You had me fooled! Completely!" she continued as she walked past him. "Red! Get your damp butt over here! We need to get more ingredients for that potion you ruined!" Red slowly inched past WereSonic and caught up to Ashley. "How'd I ruin it?!" "Well, I wasn't the one who threw the water up in the air and made one of the glasses fly into the cauldron, did I?" she asked without looking down at Red while she grabbed her handbag. "But I..." He was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell chiming its ominous tune. "Red, you know the drill," she said as she slung her bag back down. Red nodded as WereSonic glanced into the room. Maybe if she opens the door, I can leave! he thought to himself. Ashley opened the door to find Mona holding their pizza in one hand while fixing her hat with the other. "That'll be $10, Ashley," Mona said cheerfully. "Well you see..." Ashley started, but was interrupted with yelling when Red jumped out from behind her, swinging his trident violently at Mona. "Psh, Ashley? You pull this all the time. You're not getting anymore free pizzas by scaring them out of me," Mona said as she held out her hand for her money. As if on cue, WereSonic ran through the door at full speed, his teeth and claws inches from Mona's face, but was retrained and pulled back by the hex put on the house. Ashley looked back as he smacked forcefully (and painfully) against the wall; she then turned back around to find the pizza at the doorstep and Mona racing her motor scooter back to the pizzeria. Ashley smiled a little, retrieved the pizza, and closed the door. "Wow, great job, captive! You got our pizza for us," Ashley complimented as she walked past him to the kitchen. WereSonic peeled himself off the wall, and rubbed his aching head as he walked into the kitchen behind Ashley until Red pushed and scurried his way past him. "Red, you can have the pizza..." "Sweet!" "...But you have to stay here while I get more ingredients." Red's smile faded as he glanced back at the bigger, stronger, and faster werehog standing right behind him, smiling. "Do I have to?" he whined, but Ashley had already grabbed her handbag, broom, and left. He gulped a breath of air and sighed; he then quickly snatched up his trident and pointed it toward WereSonic. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Red 'threatened'. He then grabbed Red's trident and promptly threw it behind himself. "I prefer the hard way," he responded while cracking his knuckles. Red then looked back and grabbed a slice of pizza. "Pizza?"
"Ashley, dear," the elderly lady at the checkout started. "You've run out of ingredients for those potions of yours again?" Ashley looked back at her cart overflowing with random items. "...Maybe..." she said while looking for her wallet. "Here you go, Mrs. B," she said as she flicked her credit card towards the old woman. "Do I need to get an employee to help you take it to your mansion?" Mrs. B asked, but gasps of shock were heard from the office, and Ashley shook her head 'no'. "Those wimps couldn't walk all the way to my house. It's a little too far." Breaths of relief were heard from the same office as Ashley pushed her cart towards her parked broom. She then muttered a few words and the bags' outline began to glow purple and started to float out of the basket. Ashley then hopped on her broom with her bags following closely behind.
"Red? I'm back! Red?" Ashley unlocked the door and opened up to find papers torn and thrown everywhere with furniture stuffing sticking to everything. She looked around once more to see pizza stuck on the ceiling and books strewn everywhere. She entered into the room (groceries following behind) with the cauldron overturned and her bookcase a pile of wood, splinters, and pages. She panicked and looked towards the book on the stand she had been reading before, and was relieved when it was untouched. Ashley turned around quickly when she heard screams coming from the basement. She rushed to the door, whipped it open, dashed down, and flicked on another light to find Red hanging upside-down tied up with duct tape on his mouth, yelling. She grabbed the tape's edge and ripped it of to find his mouth stuffed with pizza; he spit it out and started gagging for air. "Hey Ashley..." She turned around to find WereSonic leaning on the antique table while examining his claws. "...How do you like the makeover? By the way..." He walked over to her and leaned in really close to her face. "...It's free. Unless you want to pay me." She gritted her teeth as she started to untie Red, while cursing under her breath. "And what exactly did you accomplish with this... stunt of yours?" she asked angrily as she headed back up the stairs while clenching her fists and resisting her hair to go white. "I thought it might encourage you to let me go a little faster," he responded while he followed behind her.
She grabbed the ingredients out of the bag angrily and placed them near the cauldron. "Wow, you must really want that potion if you haven't kicked me out yet..." She tried to lift up the heavy cauldron, but it didn't even budge; after the third attempt, it started to lift up easily. She looked around to find WereSonic helping her lift and he smiled back at her. "I see you need some help." She growled at him and sneered while saying, "I don't need your help." "Okay, fine." He let go of the wrought-iron cauldron and it fell with a loud thud that echoed through the house. She gasped with exasperation as she was dragged down with it. "Okay, you can help!" She grumbled as he grabbed the cauldron and began to lift again. "So you need my help? The ingredient's help?" "I don't need your help!" she barked as the cauldron was set upright. "You offered and I accepted! That's all!" She grabbed her floating bags' contents and began violently throwing them in the pot. "And all those books you tore?" she asked without turning around. "Yeah, those were library books which you're going to have to replace!" He rolled his eyes and looked at the torn books on the ground again. "Couldn't you, y'know, do some 'Hocus Pocus' voodoo to remake these books or something?" Voodoo? She gasped while dropping the groceries and started to frantically search for something. "Where is he?! Where is he?!" She turned to WereSonic angrily while pointing a finger at him. "Did you touch him?!" "Touch who? Red?" "No! My... Ah-Hah!" She pulled out a stuffed bunny with a sewn-shut mouth and stuffing coming out of its neck from under the bookcase rubble. "There you are..." she muttered while flicking pieces of paper and splinters off of it. "And who is this?" WereSonic said as he started to reach for it, but she pulled back in a defensive position and hissed at him. "Don't touch him!" She looked back at her bunny and stroked its fur. "He's fragile." "And I thought you were 'Little Miss Tough Witch' but looks like I'm dealing with a softy!" He began to laugh hysterically, but stopped when a hair was pricked from his arm. "Ow! What was that for?" She didn't answer, but instead stuck the hair onto the head of the bunny; she glared directly and angrily at WereSonic and gripped the bunny tighter as it began to glow blue. She then whipped out a safety pin and lightly stuck it into the side of it. "Yowch!" He looked to his stabbed side and rubbed it. "What the heck?!" She stuck the side again and he flinched once more. "Quit it!" Ashley put the pin away, but flicked the bunny in the head before taking out the hair and flicking it away. "Softy, huh?" she asked as he rubbed his head. "Okay, you're not that soft," he told her as she went up the stairs to put her bunny in her room. WereSonic followed closely behind, but she paused him at the door. "Don't ever come in my room, okay? Now back up, captive!" He held up his hands and backed down the hall. "Thank you," she said ask she unlocked the door and quickly threw her bunny on her bed before he could sneak a peek.
She started to grab more ingredients, but a yawn slipped out that she had been holding, making sure not to yawn in front of WereSonic, but unfortunately, she ended up doing so. "Getting' sleepy, witchling?" he asked as she rubbed her eyes while dropping eyes of newt into the cauldron. "No, wolf-man," she retorted back. "Hmm..." he wondered aloud. "What?" she asked as she poured a bottle of 'Extract of Bat' into the pot. "You didn't call me your 'ingredient' or 'hostage' or whatever else you called me other than Sonic..." She stared at him with confusion then gasped and growled. "I'm tired. I don't know what I'm saying," she mumbled. He rolled his eyes, and looked at Ashley to find her and Red spread out on the floor suddenly asleep. He groaned and went over to her and tapped her with his cleats. "Ashley? Red? Hellooooo?!" Her answer was a louder snore, then softer breathing while Red's response was grumbling in his sleep. He sighed and scooped up the sleeping teen and the impish devil and ascended up the stairs. WereSonic looked from side-to-side until he found the room with 'ASHLEY' painted on the door in red. He grabbed the doorknob, but remembered something from earlier... Don't ever come in my room, okay? Ashley's voice echoed. "I'm sure it's not that bad..." he muttered as he grabbed the doorknob, but the door didn't budge. "Hmm... I guess there's only one way of getting into her room..." As soon as the dust cleared from where he bust down the door and he checked Ashley and Red who were, amazingly, still asleep, he picked them back up from the hallway floor he placed them down on and stepped into the room. He flicked on the light and cringed at the sight of her 'oh-so-secretive' room. Pink frills lining the walls and a white veil carefully draped over the fluffy bed; it still had the little witch's touch to it with its red and black paint splattered on the pink walls and it had black bats dangling from the ceiling. But the pink was way too much for his taste, but he endured it and held back the urge to puke. WereSonic carefully placed her on her bed, covered her with sheets, nudged Red beside her, and watched as a glow surrounded her and her red dress changed into her white nightgown. As soon as he was about to leave, he noticed the voodoo bunny on the floor. He picked it up and turned around to put it in the bed with Ashley but unfortunately, she was gone. He looked around to see her on the edge of her window, about to fall out. He leaped over the bed and grabbed her in the air by the neck of her gown and yanked her back through the window. They both fell backwards and slammed into the wall because of the force he pulled her in with. He exhaled sharply and picked her up again. "What's wrong with... you?" He stopped talking as she went limp in his arms and snored lightly. "Of course. 'Extreme Sleepwalking'. I'll put that on my 'Interesting things about Ashley' list I'm making. How does she get through nights without dying? Jeez..." He looked at the open window, and went over to quickly shut it. "I guess I can't leave her in her bed alone with her 'super protector' Red..."
Ashley rubbed her face into her hard pillow and wiped the drool off her face. "Mmmmnnnnn..." she groaned and flipped around only to find she was retrained by a bar around her waist. She slowly opened her eyes, but everything was blurry and she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to see she was looking at her own bed. But if I'm looking at my bed, then that means... She looked down to see thin blue arms wrapped around her waist, meeting in the middle with gloved, intertwined fingers holding her bunny. "Ew, ew, eeew!" She flailed around, waking the sleeping hedgehog whose lap she was sitting on, and unhooked the fingers around her. A chill slithered up her spine at the thought of her sitting on the hostage's lap. "Sonic?! What the heck are you doing?" she yelled as he stretched his arms and yawned. "That's a fine 'how-do-ya-do'. Here I am trying to save you from a concussion and... did you just call me by my name?" Her face drained of color when she realized she, in fact, had called him by his name. "Th-the bigger questions are what are you doing with him?!" she asked as she snatched the voodoo bunny from his hand and backed up. "And why was I in your lap?!" He stretched a little more and stood up to pass her and walk over to her bed. "Apparently you've got a sleepwalking problem, and I was just trying to make sure you didn't jump out the window again. And he..." Sonic said as he poked Red in the head, causing him to wake up. "...Didn't help that much when you almost did. I didn't really trust you to be asleep by yourself again, so I sat you on my lap. Happy?" "No! That's disgusting! I've got to shower NOW!"
She came out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, brushing her hair and heading for her room, but gasped as she smelled breakfast drifting from downstairs. Wait... whose cooking? We don't have any food to cook... She pulled on her red dress and rushed downstairs to find Red in an apron and chef's hat with Sonic alongside him. "How the heck..." Red turned around and jumped down from the stool he was standing on and grabbed Ashley's hand. "I've got the culinary skill and Sonic's got the speed. So together, we're actually a pretty good breakfast makin' team!" "How'd you get all the food?" she asked as Sonic flipped a pancake onto a plate, filled up a glass with orange juice, retrieved syrup from the cabinet, and placed them all on the table as fast as she had asked. "Well, apparently, I'm a natural at this 'Abracadabra Hocus-Pocus' stuff you think is so hard," he said with a smirk as he headed back to the stove. "I just looked at the... unshredded book on the stand, said a few words and poof, the food was there!" "Don't worry, we paid for it..." Red explained. (Somewhere, Mrs. B opens the store and goes to open the cash register and it explodes in her face with money. Papercuts everywhere!) "Red! You're not supposed to be getting along with the enemy!" "Yeah, I know, Ashley, but can we be enemies after we're done?" Sonic flipped yet another pancake onto the plate all the way across the room, caught the French toast as soon as it popped into the air, filled up another glass with orange juice, placed them on the table, and turned to Ashley and shrugged as soon as Red's sentence was over. "I thought this would make up for the books..." "I'll be the judge of that. It depends on how good the food is..." Ashley told him as she headed for the table. Sonic grabbed two of all the kitchen utensils and put them all on the table before Ashley and Red realized he had moved. "You guys can eat. I've got other plans," he said as he walked out the room. "What plans? You can't go anywhere unless I let you," she yelled over Red's noisy eating. "I know. I just need to find something in that spell book of yours." He raced out of the room, leaving Ashley and Red puzzled.
As soon as they had finished as much as they could, Ashley laid back with a satisfied look on her face. "That was the best f-" "So how'd you like it?" Sonic asked from the doorway. "It was, uh..." "That was awesome, Sonic!" Red exclaimed as he stood up, a little off balance with his bloated stomach. "Ashley," Sonic asked with a smirk on his face. "How was the hostage's food?" She looked back-and-forth at the expectant Red and Sonic. "It was adequate... I ate it out of pity. For all I know, you could have poisoned it while Red wasn't looking or cast a spell on it or something." He rolled his eyes and grabbed the plates on the table with Red attempting to help gather the plates too. She looked down to see a stain on Sonic's gloves. "Is that... chili on your glove?" He looked down and quickly pulled them back with the plates. "No..." "What exactly have you been doing with my magic that you now have chili on your hands?" A loud gong was heard from the top of the house. "Wow, look at the time. You should go and get more ingredients," he said while pushing her out the door. "You're gonna need a lot to fix all those books, right?"
"Seriously, how do you keep running out, Ashley?" Mrs. B asked, slightly muffled with all the bandages on her face. "We have a guest today, Mrs. B," Ashley replied as she put the last of the bags into the cart. "Oh, you have a boyfriend now, do you?" "Ew! No! Gross!" "Old people can sense these things, Ashley." Apparently you radar's off... "I remember when I was your age, I used to think boys were, how do you kids put it nowadays? 'Unhip'? 'Uncool'?" "Mrs. B, I would love to reminisce on 70's lingo, but I've got to go..." "I'm sorry I'm babbling. I don't want to keep your 'man' waiting..." Ashley, once again, enchanted the groceries, camouflaged herself in the sky, and shivered at the gross things Mrs. B had said.
Ashley had her hand on the doorknob, about to turn it when she heard sound effects and background music inside the house. She rolled her eyes and opened the door to find Sonic and Red on the floor rapidly pressing buttons on two black controllers. "Ugh, leave boys alone and they'll conjure up a..." "Sega... Genesis..." Red replied in a trance-like state, keeping his eyes glue to the screen. "Or Sega Mega Drive if you prefer," Sonic finished, also not turning away from the screen. She rolled her eyes and went to put away her broom, but when she got back, it seemed as if they hadn't moved. "Aren't you guys supposed to be enemies now?" "In a little bit, Ashley. We just got to Mystic Cave." "What are you guys playing anyways?" They both replied at the same time, "Sonic Adventure 2." "Oh..." Ashley looked back at her ingredients sitting on the table, waiting to be used. "...Ah. It can wait." She sat between Sonic and Red to see what was going on, because she wasn't really the video game type of person (ironically) and she wanted to know what was going on. "Let me guess who you are, captive..." She pointed to the 16-bit Sonic on the screen. "The handsome one. Also, I thought you were going to call me by my name now," he replied without taking his eyes off the screen. "I was tired and in shock. It was a fluke. I'll make sure it won't happen again..."
Somewhere deep in a metallic laboratory, the hefty scientist/doctor/genius paced back and forth in front of his ray gun. "The transportation gun worked, but unfortunately sent him to..." He stopped pacing to type coordinates onto his super computer. "Hmm... Diamond City? Never heard of it." The screen began to flash red and the mustached villain typed another code and the computer displayed a message: Target Acquired. Status- Alive and Functioning. "What?! He's still alive?! That stubborn pest!" He then walked over and pressed a button, causing a horde of robots to emerge from a doorway; he pointed to the center of the room and they all walked over to the circle and saluted. He nodded, typed in a code, flipped a switch, and a flash of light caused them to disappear.
Ashley continued to stir her green and purple substance in the large cauldron, until she became distracted by the constant beeping and background music. She whipped the spoon out of the solution, stuck her head into the doorway leading to the living room, and yelled, "Hey! Keep it down! I'm working!" Red and WereSonic disregarded her and stared at the screen while rapidly mashing buttons. "Ugh..." She slipped back into the room and started to chant, causing the books to fix themselves and the cabinets to revert back to normal. "Now to work on the potion..." She picked up her large spoon and started to stir again. Red stood up, repeatedly pressing the buttons intensely, and WereSonic looked at him and started to press faster than before. A beeping on the screen occurred, indicating someone had won. "Woohoo! I won! I'm the Street Fighter champ!" WereSonic growled and threw his controller down, but it smashed into plastic pieces. "Oops... I guess we're going to have to conjure up another one." He stood up and walked to the spell room with Red following closely behind. "Hey Ashley? Can we borrow that book of yours?" She poured an unknown substance into the pot and shook her head. "Not right now. I-" A loud crash from outside cut her off mid-sentence and the house began to rumble. "Oh great." She put down her spell book and vial and headed outside. WereSonic tried to follow her, but was stopped by the invisible wall again. She backed away from the house and exhaled sharply. "Are you serious? Robots? Really?!" Robots? WereSonic thought to himself. "Ashley, what do they look like?" "Uh... I don't know... fat?" Eggman! "Listen, you've got to let me out!" "Why should I? I can handle these guys..." "Ashley, I doubt magic will work on these tin heads. I know how to beat them." "How do I know you'll come back in the mansion after I lift the spell?" "There won't be a mansion if you don't let me out! Listen! I promise I'll come back if you let me out?" She rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. "There. It's gone. Now get these robots off my house!" He nodded quickly and stretched one of his arms to get on the roof of the porch. "He's a werewolf and he has stretchy ar-" Something cold and metallic clamped over her mouth and dragged her back.
As soon as the last of the robots were dealt with, WereSonic heard clanking on the roof of the mansion and Ashley yelling, "Let me go!" He growled with anticipation of what exactly was on the roof. As he propelled his arm up and lifted himself onto the roof, he noticed the robot on the edge, holding a flailing Ashley over the edge. "What the..." Static emitted from the robot, followed by a tapping intercom noise. "Hello, Sonic," a familiar voice greeted. "Eggman!" "Hmm... seems as if you're in a sticky situation, huh? And what have we here? Ooh... Amy's going to be so disappointed that you dumped her for a witch-in-training." A thunderous laugh erupted from the robot, but stopped after a hacking cough took over. "Eggman, what do I have to do to get you to let her go?" "Oh, nothing. I was going to drop her anyways." The robot released Ashley and she fell over the edge of the roof. WereSonic rushed over to grab her, but his claws just barely missed her dress. He gasped and looked to the retreating robot in the sky. "Oh no you don't!" He stretched his arms up and slammed the robot down behind the mansion. Meanwhile inside, Red pulled Ashley through the window he caught her through with his trident and unhooked it from her dress. "Ashley, are you okay? It's a good thing I caught you before you fell. Ashley? Hey... where's Sonic?" "Gone," she responded dryly as she headed for the kitchen. "What do you mean 'gone'? He was just outside with you and..." "Red, if you were kept against your will inside a haunted house, would you come back?" He thought for a second as the water ran into her cup. "Well... he could be different..." "That's what I would have thought to, until he..." "You didn't think I was going back on my promise, did you?" a gruff voice said from behind. She gasped with surprise and turned to see WereSonic leaning in the doorway, he fur singed in places while others were covered in robot oil. "You came back!" Red exclaimed as he grabbed WereSonic's leg and hugged it. "We can finish our Street Fighter game now!" "Why'd you come back?" she asked, puzzled that he chose to return. "Hey, what can I say? I'm the sort of guy who doesn't break his promises," he responded with a smirk. "You came back even though I'm on the verge of making you into potion?" "Sure. If something makes my life more exciting, I'll do it." She stared at him puzzled, and walked into the main room with the front door. She opened it, stepped back, and snapped her fingers. "There..." WereSonic walked into the room with Red attached to his leg. "What?" "You can... go," she sputtered out through gritted teeth. "As in I can leave?" "Go before I change my mind." "Look, I don't have to go if you don't want me to." She looked at him with annoyed eyes, and muttered, "But I... want you to... go." A chill shivered up her back. "But..." he started with objection, but she went behind him and started to push him forward. "Go already." He stepped outside and turned back around. "Before I leave..." He held up his leg, showing her that Red was still hanging on. "...Do you mind?" She plucked him off and placed him down on the ground beside her. "Don't make me get the voodoo doll on you, again, Sonic..." She gasped and looked around embarrassed that she had used his name again. "...I mean..." "I think I'm starting to get to you, Ashley," WereSonic said with a smirk and he ran down the pathway leading to her house. "Don't worry. I'll come back and visit!"
Ashley went back to the cauldron and began to stir when something on the ground caught her eye. Next to the dust bunny collecting beside the recently fixed bookcase, the blue hair she had tossed aside laid intact. She looked at it and thought long and hard if it was worth ruining her potion again. "I've got nothing to lose..." She grabbed the hair off the ground, blew off the dust, and dropped it into the vast cauldron. It began to gurgle, bubble, and it spewed off steam, but settled into what seemed like a glowing rainbow. "I've done it..." she whispered quietly. "That's it! That's what I've been missing!" She ran over to open the window, and, not caring who she woke at three o' clock in the morning, yelled as loud as she could, "THANK YOU, SONIC!!!" She listened hard and her response was a howl off in the distance...