(A new Sonic chapter fic is on it's way. Chaotic Evil, I admit, was pretty dark… But this story right here may in fact be even darker. Warning! This fic contains reference to drugs and drug use...so this fic is NOT for the little kids. I don't own Sonic, or any of SEGA's charas. Plus, special credit goes to Gothicruby for helping out with the idea and plot. waves to Gothicruby)

CHAPTER 1

SHAKKA SHAKKA BOOM!

Thunder and lightning ripped through the dark cloud covered skies above Night Babylon, eerily lighting up the clouds with bright white light. Heavy rain was pouring down the asphalt streets as if the sky were weeping. Only an absolute fool would be out on this time of night…or perhaps not a fool…

Up the road leading to "Club Rouge," a young yellow furred squirrel came up the street running very erratically, stumbling as he went along. He seemed to be dressed in a pair of red and white sneakers, and seemed to have a blanket wrapped around himself, as if to keep him warm, despite the fact it was as soaked as he was. He was shaking incredibly from head to toe as he ran up the street. He stopped in mid run, trying to catch his breath as he felt as though he had been running forever. Suddenly, the squirrel's panting ceased, immediately replaced by horrible gurgling noises coming from his throat. He stood up straight, clutching his neck. His eyes were all bloodshot and glowing with an odd white light as a strange glowing substance seemed to ooze from his tear ducts. As he gurgled ominously, that same substance started to drip from his mouth, almost as though it had replaced his saliva. He started to stagger about, clutching his throat and gurgling louder, desperately trying to breathe… He staggered into the alley way right outside Club Rouge, where he leaned with his back against the wall, the glowing liquid oozing out of his mouth and eyes, choking him, as he continued to gurgle and gargle. He slumped down slowly as he started to die, the glowing liquid flowing through his blood stream, contaminating his blood and all of his bodily fluids, causing muscles to contract, and organs and bodily functions start to halt… With one last horrible choke, the squirrel fell to the ground on his side with his eyes blank and lifeless, his yellow fur soaked and dishevelled, and the strange glowing liquid oozing out of his tear ducts, nostrils and mouth, and the heavy rain pouring down on his corpse.

The next day…

Sonic the Hedgehog was just waking up, albeit having gotten very little sleep due to last night's storm. Rising slowly from his bed, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawning softly. "Ugh… What a night." He murmured. "I thought that storm would NEVER end." He groggily got out of bed, stretching as much as possible, before standing up and making his way to the wardrobe closet for some clean socks and sneakers, but not before picking up the remote control from his night table and switching on the news.

"IN RECENT NEWS TODAY…" The newscaster announced. "NIGHT BABYLON'S OWN CLUB ROUGE HAS RECENTLY BECOME THE SCENE OF A MOST DISTURBING AND BIZARRE DEATH OF ONE UNFORTUNATE YOUNG MAN."

Sonic, who had just slipped on his sneakers and socks, made his way to the front of the bed to watch the news, his curiosity and concern sparked by the current news story. He watched as the cameraman shot footage of the scene, panning across the crowd, but he couldn't get a good look at WHO exactly was the casualty. But then…

"AT 8 AM THIS MORNING, OUTSIDE OF CLUB ROUGE IN NIGHT BABYLON, THE BODY OF RAY THE FLYING SQUIRREL WAS FOUND DEAD IN THE ALLEYWAY OURSIDE OF CLUB ROUGE."

Sonic's blood suddenly ran cold and he stared at the TV in horror. Ray the Flying Squirrel… A name Sonic remembered fondly. Ray was one of Sonic's best friends long ago. The two of them had met, along with Mighty the Armadillo, when Eggman had captured all 3 and held them prisoner on his Eggman Island. Naturally, Sonic didn't plan on being captive for long and he, along with Ray and Mighty, staged a little prison break. The escapade was perilous, avoiding all sorts of traps and obstacles such as lava, quicksand, avalanche snow, giant boulders, tornadoes, landslides, and other perils. Sonic, Ray, and Mighty had to rush through 6 different zones, dodging every trap Eggman sent at them before they made it off the island and gave Eggman his comeuppance. After that adventure, the three parted ways. Sonic hadn't heard from either of them for years…until now… For now, he had just heard that Ray was dead. "No…that can't be… It can't be!" Sonic burst off at sonic speed right out his door and raced for north of Central City, right where Night Babylon was. All people could see was a speeding streak of blue racing across the city as Sonic ran to Night Babylon, praying to God that his fears were wrong. When Sonic reached Night Babylon he could see the crowd gathered around Club Rouge, including Rouge herself. But he ignored that for now, as he skidded to a halt. He started to push his way through the crowd, just so he could tell if it was true… When he finally got to the front of the crowd, he looked at the crime scene before him and at that moment his heart fell to his feet at what he saw.

Lying on the ground, slumped over on his side, was Sonic the Hedgehog's old buddy, Ray the Flying Squirrel…dead. His yellow fur was messed up, dirty and dishevelled. His frame looked weak, wiry, and underfed. But the most sickening sight of all was the strange, glowing white substance oozing out of his eyes, nose and mouth, oozing onto the pavement of the street until his head was lying in a small pool of it.

Sonic's face grimaced and he looked away at the disgusting sight. "Oh God… Ray…" A few stray tears trickle from Sonic's eyes, as he mourned the loss of his estranged friend. 'First he was gone for a few years…but now he's gone forever… But, what…what the HELL even happened to him?'

"Sonic?" A soft female voice spoke to him.

Sonic sniffled, and wiped the tears from his eyes to look at the person who spoke to him. "Rouge?"

Rouge the Bat was standing before Sonic, not with her usual superior "sexier than thou" look, but instead, a worried and concerned look. "Sonic…" Rouge began. "That flying squirrel, Ray… I just saw your reaction. He was a close friend wasn't he?"

Sonic nodded despondently. "Yeah, Ray and I were close. I haven't seen him for years though…until now." Sonic stomped the ground angrily. "ARGH! What the hell happened to him? That sure as hell doesn't look like any disease I've heard of or know of."

"That's because Ray didn't die of any disease. He was poisoned."

Sonic and Rouge turned around to the source of the voice and found a youthful female skunk police officer, dressed in a deep blue tight fitting woman's police officer uniform, with the golden badge pinned near her right breast that read "CENTRAL CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT."

"I'm Officer Natalie White." The skunk introduced herself. "I'm the head officer of the crime scene." She turned to Sonic. "I'm glad you came, Sonic. The police could use your help on this case. Your friend's been the 6th victim we've found this week."

Sonic looked aghast. "6th? You mean there's been a string of these deaths?"

Office White shook her head. "No this is the first actual death we've seen. 2 of the other 5 victims were in a coma, while the other 3 had gone completely insane. All 6 of these cases have one thing in common though."

"And that would be?" Rouge asked.

"That white substance smeared on their faces or oozing out of any facials cavities is the one common factor." Officer White explained. "If you two could meet me at the police station later today at 1 PM, I'll fill you in on the details." She turned around. "Right now I need to fill out a report on the situation, so if you'll excuse me…" Officer White started to walk back to her squad car.

As soon as Officer White had gotten into her car, Sonic began to speak with Rouge. "Poison, huh? What kind of poison do you think this is?"

"No idea… I never saw any chemical that had effects like that…" Rouge said quietly. "How horrible…having your vital fluids and organs being stopped up with that white sludge… If you don't die, it affects your brain and makes you go crazy? Who the hell would create something like that? Eggman?"

Sonic shook his head. "No way. I know Eggman too well. He'd never use poisons in his plan…these crimes aren't his style. It could be someone new… Someone we never met before…"

"Ugh… We aren't getting anywhere with this." Rouge griped. "It looks like we'll find out at 1 today." She turned to the direction of her club. "I'm gonna go open up shop now, so I'll see you later." She walked off.

Sonic sighed. "Waiting… This is the part I hate the most…" He said as he turned around and rushed off back home, his mind still on Ray's death. While Sonic ran, his mind seemed to take him on a journey back to the past…his last meeting with Ray…and it wasn't very pleasant.

FLASHBACK

It had been a few hours since Sonic, Ray, and Mighty had freed themselves from Eggman's prison and escaped from his Island. It all came to an end when Sonic's crew had reached the top of Eggman Tower and confronted Eggman directly, before he set the island to self destruct. The moustachioed scientist, due to the explosion caused by the self destruct, had been last seen thrown off into the ocean. But all was not well for the heroes… During the 20 seconds they had to escape the Island and get to safety, Mighty had seemingly disappeared. Now Sonic and Ray were forced to watch as Eggman Island exploded, with Mighty still possibly on it.

"MIGHTY!" Sonic and Ray yelled out in unison, as they watch the Island erupt.

Sonic dropped to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes and he punched the ground, hard. "DAMNIT! How could this have happened? Mighty… He was right there beside us one minute… How could he have just disappeared? Did… Did he trip? What if some debris fell on top of him and pinned him to the ground? We should've heard something!" He punched the ground again as he continued to cry.

Ray was shaking with sobs as he stared at the ground. "Mighty… Why…why did you just vanish? Why couldn't you call out to us? We would've helped you…" He looked up at the flaming island, then at Sonic. Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "Sonic! Why didn't you go back for him when you had the chance?" He stomped the ground. "You should've been looking out for us!"

Sonic suddenly froze. 'Should've been looking out for everyone? SHOULD HAVE? How dare he…?' Sonic suddenly stood up, his eyes flaring. "Should have? I WAS looking out for everyone!"

"Oh really?" Ray got right into Sonic's face. "Then why is Mighty dead, huh?"

Sonic growled. "Are you saying it's my fault Mighty's dead? ARE YOU?" Sonic snarled.

"YES, I AM! You promised we'd all get out alive! But now, Mighty's dead! You blew it! You're a fucking careless murderer!"

POW!

Ray was suddenly met with a hard fist in his face that sent him crashing into the ground. His left eye was black and his nose was bleeding profusely. Standing right above him with a blood stained glove was Sonic, who was shaking with rage, and crying tears of sorrow.

"How…could you…" Sonic said, his voice dripping with malice and choked with sobs. "Murder? MURDER? How could you accuse me of such a thing? I put my life on the line for you two! I did everything to make sure you guys survived! How…how was I to know that one of us would die unexpectedly? If I'd have known something like that would happen I could've prevented it! But I didn't… I didn't know! It just happened! It was a horrible accident that should never have happened! Don't you ever…ever say that I'm at fault for his death! You don't see me accusing you for the same thing!"

"Well I'm not the leader here, now am I?" Ray growled, his own tears starting to fall. "You know what? Forget this!" He stood up. "I'm out of here…permanently! SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! I HATE YOU!"

Sonic gasped loudly and looked aghast at Ray's words. He suddenly felt numb all over, and could only stand and watched as Ray leapt onto a tree branch, spreading his skin flaps on his arms and flew away into the sky, the wind carrying him away. When Ray was almost out of sight, Sonic found the strength to move again but it was too late. Ray was gone. "Ray… Not you too…" Sonic whispered hoarsely. "No… No… NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sonic collapsed to the ground, bawling his eyes out. First he had lost one friend, and now he had lost another… Now he was alone…

END FLASHBACK

Sonic sniffled at the bitter memory. That memory haunted him still. Ever since then…he had wished that someday, he could meet Ray or Mighty again, and apologise to them. Now, that was impossible. Ray was dead and all that was left were bitter feelings. And there seemed no chance of Mighty coming back either. Sonic wanted to find out who was responsible. WHO killed Ray and why? WHO killed an estranged friend and ruined his chance of mending a friendship? Sonic wanted to not only avenge Mighty, but to make sure a tragedy like this never happened again, and make sure no one went through the same pain that he did.

TO BE CONTINUED