Author's Note:
Wow! I had no idea so many people would like this story so far!
Your reviews were awesome, and I was surprised to see so many people follow and fav this story already.
You guys are seriously awesome.
Anyway, here's the second chapter, and if you thought things were interesting last chapter, you're going to be in for a surprise this one.
Enjoy~
Chapter One - Let's Play
The group sat around the table, eyes wide and dull. The board sat in the middle of them, seeming to taunt them.
The doors to the office opened, bringing their eyes to the group of three walking in. Sonic was in the middle, looking ruffled and shaken, his eyes slightly red. He wore a thick, soft blanket over his shoulders, and his feet skidded over to his chair for him to plop down with a huff. Knuckles and Sonia had been with him, and they gave him nervous looks as they took their seats at the table as well.
They were all quiet, none of them saying a word. There was an ominous coat of air weighing down on them, and they all looked back to the board, a few of them glaring at it.
"We have to play," Manic said grudgingly.
A few curses and groans echoed his comment, and Sonic's head fell forward to rest on the table.
Tails gives his friend a concerned look. "You feeling any better?"
Sonic nods, but doesn't move or say another word.
"Sonic's player piece is still on Dare…" Mighty comments, causing a blue head to shoot up immediately. Sonia sits up and reaches over, grabbing the game piece, or at least trying to. "It…it still won't move…"
Sonic paled, and Tails jumped up. "He still has to do his Dare?"
"What does the book say?" Rouge asks, her eyes widening in worry. Sonia looks down, before frowning and reaching to where she had dropped the book in panic earlier. She holds up it, her blue eyes quickly scanning the pages in fear.
"It…it says: 'A player will be cursed with their dare until they accept and complete it. The longer they wait to complete the dare, the worse the curse will get…'" She looks up at Sonic, who seemed mortified by this. "The…the game will be 'frozen' until we do the dares…"
"So we can't just stop playing or pass on our Dares?" Manic asks. "What's the point in passing then?"
"There is none," Sally speaks up. "We're stuck with it until we finish the game."
Tails shakes his head. "No! There has to be a way to get rid of the board…"
"You can try looking it up," Sonia says, her eyes skimming the book's pages, "but it doesn't say how else to break the curse…"
"Of course it wouldn't," Shadow mutters, "because it wants us to play."
Tails jumps out of his chair and runs out of the office, making them all perk up. Knuckles looked over to Sonic, giving his friend a worried look. "What if there is no way?"
The blue hero didn't answer, just watched the door for Tails to come back in. His silence made them nervous, but it was understandable.
Amy looked at Sonia with flatten ears. "How long does it take for another curse to happen? Like if he doesn't do his dare in so long?"
Sonia looks back at the book. "It doesn't say. I suggest we all stick together, though, just in…" she freezes, looking up at Sonic, who's eyes were still glued to the door. "Knuckles go make sure Tails is okay," she says, watching her brother tense up, his quills raising. The echidna bolted out of his chair, running out of the room.
One of Sonic's fears was something happening to Tails. If it wasn't his worst fear, it definitely was up there.
Emerald eyes and blue ears remained alert, waiting for Tails and Knuckles to come back. He was stiff and still like a statue, and they all sat there, holding their breaths.
When the two came back in, Tails's eyes widened. The fox held a laptop in his arms, and both he and Knuckles were panting slightly from running.
Sonic let out a breath of air and closed his eyes, relief flooding his senses. Losing Tails was not something he could do right now…
The entire group seemed to relax, as the little fox apologized. "S-Sorry. I wasn't really thinking, I just wanted to see if there was anything we could do to stop this." He puts his computer on the table, his sky blue eyes meeting Sonic's. "Sorry, Sonic."
The hedgehog just waves him away. "It…It's fine. Just try and see if there's anything you can do…"
The golden kit nodded and got to work right away, his fingers flying over the keyboard in concentration. Sonia lets out a somewhat dry laugh. "I just remembered…I passed on my Truth Card…"
"So did I," Mighty says weakly. He looks over at a certain black and red hedgehog. "You did too."
Shadow scowled.
Manic leans back in his seat, putting a hand on his chest. "Oh thank Chaos I didn't… I don't even wanna know what my Dare would have been…"
"What about mine?" Sonia asks nervously. Sonic and Manic both share the same worried expression.
Rouge nudges Shadow lightly, making him rub his forehead. He didn't even want to know what his Dare would be.
A few more minutes of silence passed, the only sounds being of Tails typing, and Knuckles playing with the die of doom.
Only a few minutes more and Sonic starting coughing.
All heads flew up, as the blue hedgehog turned his head and coughed into his hand, seemingly without pause. The coughing continued, even as he pushed his chair away from the table, turning to stand up and practically double over in his coughing fit. Sonia and Manic both flew to their feet, running over to their brother in fear. Tails swallowed and turned back to his computer, anxiety flooding him as he tried to search for answers.
"Get some water!" Sonia calls to anyone, and Rouge was the first to respond, jumping up and running over to the small fridge in the back of the room. Sonic would not stop coughing, and he had a good feeling why.
After all, coughing until you couldn't breathe was just about as bad as drowning…
His head felt all the pressure, his throat burned, his lungs ached for air, and he couldn't stop himself from falling to his knees and nearly curling up, as he tried to inhale and gasp for air, only to break out into more coughs.
His heart was pounding viscously in his chest, fear of not being able to breathe making him feel even worse. The whole group was up now, besides Tails, who was still at his computer, and Sonia took the glass of water from Rouge and tried to get Sonic to sit up a bit.
"Easy, brother. Try to drink this…"
He shakes his head, burying his face in his elbow, tears stinging his eyes from the pain in his chest. His vision was dancing on the edge of darkness, and his ears were ringing too loudly to properly hear anything right.
While the small group tried to get Sonic to drink the water, Sally leaned over Tails's shoulder. "Are you finding anything?"
Tails shakes his head. "E-Everything I'm finding isn't good. It looks like you can't fight the Majics at all. Those who do suffer major consequences…"
"So, we have to play, no matter what?" the girl asks. "There's nothing we can do?"
Tails swallows.
"N-No…"
Sonic wasn't getting any better. He had a feeling this wasn't going to stop unless he played the damn game. With a growl in between coughs, he shakes his head.
Fine, I'll play your stupid game!
He stopped coughing.
He inhaled sharply, his throat burning. He gasps for air, reeling over, panting heavily.
"Sonic?" Sonia questions, confused and worried.
They all watched him, Tails and Sally turning around as well, as he took his time to recover.
After a moment of no sound but his harsh breathing, Sonic groaned and sat up, wiping his eyes. He ignores everyone around him, glaring at the board on the wooden table. It wanted to play? Fine. He'll play. Then when this was over, he was blowing it up. Maybe nuke it in Eggman's own base…
Pushing himself to his feet, then pushing everyone out of his way, he stomps over to the table and snatches one of the DARE cards he left behind. He didn't need to read it to know what it was, he just turned and stomped out of the office, leaving everyone in shock. Only two seconds later everyone was chasing him down the hallway.
The pool room.
Sonic was actually going to challenge his Dare Card.
The group stood worriedly as he handed the card to Tails. "Start counting," he grumbled.
They watch with wide eyes as he steps over to the edge of the pool. Was he really going to…?
His heart was pounding, but he was too angry to care. No board game was going to challenge him. He absolutely refused to back down from a challenge, even if it meant facing one of his worst fears.
He takes in a deep breath, pinches his nose, and stepped right off the edge and straight into the water.
"Oh my gosh!" Sonia cried out.
Tails had quickly started counting, fearing that if he messed up Sonic would have to do this again.
"He just…" Knuckles forces out.
They were all shocked.
Rouge crosses her arms. "If there's one thing I've always admired about blue, is that he may have his fears, he may not want to admit to them, but he's sure damn good at facing them."
"I didn't think he would do it," Mighty says, looing over at Tails, who was mouthing the numbers as he counted them off.
Sonic in the meantime was losing his mind.
Why did he think this was a good idea?
Then again, he had been more than pissed, and as he sat at the bottom of the pool with his arms crossed over his chest, his legs folded like a pretzel, he started to feel the fear break through his anger and the realization of the situation suddenly hit him.
How would they know to get him out?
His heart jumped, and he put a hand over his mouth. He could not lose this dare, because if he did, he would have to do another one, and he absolutely refused to…
…but what if he lost his breath before his friends came down for him? He didn't have his communicator on, and he had no way to get up to the surface on his own. He was at least five feet under, and the more he thought about it, the more terrified he became.
As he was thinking this, Sally looked over at Sonia with suddenly wide eyes. "How will we know when he needs to come for air?"
Knuckles holds up a hand. "I've seen Sonic hold his breath for at least four minutes at a time. I'll dive down in a little bit and see how he's doing."
Tails nods in agreement, but continues to focus on his counting.
Sonic knew if he got anxious it would only shorten how long he could hold his breath. How long has it been? At least two minutes now, right? His chest was already hurting, although that could be from his coughing fit still. He tried to ignore the fact that he was freezing, or that it was dark down here, or that there was five feet of water all around and above him, or his friends may not get to him in time…
Another minute passed, and the group was starting to get jittery. Shadow actually was the first to speak up. "Don't you think you should go down there now?" Even he sounded concerned.
Knuckles had been thinking the same thing. "I will now. Keep counting until I bring him up, Tails."
The fox nods as the echidna walks over and dives in.
Sonic didn't even notice that Knuckles had dived in until he landed in front of him. He couldn't help the relief that flooded him as he saw his red friend, but instead of showing it, he raised an eyebrow at him. Knuckles returned the look and sat himself down next to the hedgehog, their backs against the edge of the pool wall.
At least two more minutes had to have passed before Sonic reached over and tugged on the echidna's arm, looking as if he were on the verge of having a panic attack. Knuckles nods and floats up a bit, reaching down to grab his friend under his arms and swim them up.
Sonic couldn't hold it before they broke the surface, and as their heads shot out of the water, he coughed up and choked on quite a bit of water.
Knuckles gives his friend a worried look. "You okay?"
A shaky nod was his only answer, and the ruby guardian had a feeling Sonic just wanted out of the water already.
Tails and Manic run over, grabbing Sonic's hands and pulling him out of the water. "Bro, that was insane!" Manic exclaims, as Tails turns to Knuckles who climbed out of the water.
"He held his breath for six minutes and thirty-two seconds!"
Knuckles wrings some of the water out of his dreadlocks, his eyes widening in surprise. "Really?"
Sonic was visibly shaking where he stood, as Sonia handed him a towel from one of the nearby shelves. "You alright?" she asks in a soft, soothing voice. He just nods as he did with Knuckles, and wipes his face off.
Espio walks over to Tails and motions towards the card. "Is the card blank now?"
The golden fox looks down at the card, his ears flying forward. "Y-Yeah! It's blank now!"
"Good…" Sonic grumbles hoarsely, and they watch him slump out of the giant pool room, not saying another word.
"At…least that's over with," Sonia says quietly, worried for her brother. The others in the group nod, but they all had the ominous feeling it was only going to get worse.
After everyone returned to their seats, they all gave Sonic concerned looks. He was quiet and looked grouchy, but he had a liable reason to be.
Tails was next, but since he answered his Truth the first round, he, like Knuckles, landed on a free space.
Manic gave a roll and landed on a free space as well, before passing the die to Rouge. They were all quiet, the only sound being that of the die rolling across the table. The bat sighs and moves her player piece, before freezing.
"Why…why am I landing on a Dare?"
Shadow sits up. "Did you count it right?"
Everyone looked at the die, then the board. "I…yes I did…" Rouge answers, sitting back in slight shock. "I don't understand. I answered my question…"
"Did…" Sonia starts worriedly, "did you answer it truthfully?"
"I…" Rouge stops. "I said it would really depend on what we were fighting over. Did that not count as an answer?"
"It doesn't seem like it," Mighty answered, sitting up in his seat.
"You had between two choices, and you didn't pick either," Tails says slowly. "That isn't fair…especially if you were honest."
Rouge shakes her head. "Is there any rule that says I can't re-roll the die?"
Sonia nods sadly. "Unfortunately, you can't even pick up the die…"
The bat blinks, before reaching over and grabbing the die. Well, she tried to grab the die, but like Sonic's player piece had been, it was glued to the table like it was a part of it.
"This is ridiculous," she huffs irritably. Realizing that nothing she did was going to work, she reaches over and snatches a Dare Card with a scowl. Her eyes skim over it quickly, and she raises a brow. "Give up my most prized possession?"
"What would that be?" Manic asks, and she frowns.
"The only thing I really have on me of any importance to me is…" she trails off, her eyes narrowing.
"What?" Knuckles asks, and Rouge looks suddenly worried. She holds up her left arm and pushes her white glove up some. A silver bracelet hung from her wrist.
"My mother's bracelet. It's the only thing I have left of her."
Everyone went quiet. They couldn't imagine that kind of pressure of having to give up something that didn't just mean something to them, but belonged to a person that meant even more.
"Here," Sonic spoke up, startling them all. They were surprised to hear him talk, especially after what he just had to go through. "Let me see it. The card says you have to get rid of it, it doesn't say how you have to do it."
Rouge looks at him in surprise. He was right. It didn't say how she had to get rid of it, as long as she 'got rid of it.'
"That's a good idea," Tails says. "Usually when you give someone something, you're technically 'getting rid of it.'"
Rouge let out a relieved sigh, before unclipping the delicate bracelet. She hands it over to Sonic, knowing that if she could trust anybody with it, it was him.
"Don't lose it now," she teases, knowing he wouldn't.
He gives her a small smile. "It's fine."
"The card is blank," Manic mentions, "so I guess it counts."
Thank the gods…
The die was able to be picked up, and just as Rouge realized who was next, her heart suddenly jumped.
Shadow scowled as he took the die.
No one wanted to know what his dare was going to be.
Sure enough, he landed on the orange spot, and thinking back to his Truth Card he had passed on, he was honestly a bit worried about what his Dare Card would be. He didn't let his worry show, however, as he reached and grabbed for the orange stack of cards, grabbing the one on top. Everyone watched him with curious, alert eyes, waiting for his reaction.
He read it, once, twice, before he handed it over to Rouge, who was trying to peer over his shoulder. She takes it, reading it quickly, her brows furrowing. "'The person you hold most dear here right now, is going to go missing sometime throughout the game.'" Eyes widen all around as she continues. "'You have only an hour to find them.'"
"Or what?" Knuckles questions, glancing over to Shadow, who seemed pissed beyond belief. Rouge takes a deep breath, finishing the card.
"'Or something bad will happen to them.'"
Shadow would have passed if he could. This wasn't a game they were playing. They weren't even the ones playing it. The game was playing them, forcing them to do whatever it wished.
"Fine then," he growls. "We'll just have to see what happens."
His response was somewhat unexpected. Then again, he wouldn't let his ego be crushed by a little orange card, and for a moment he sounded just like Sonic had with his own Dare.
"I'm guessing it's gonna happen whenever the game feels like dropping it," Sonia says. "So that gives us another reason to stick together as much as possible."
Nods followed all around, before Espio rolled the die. A free space later, and Mighty swallowed.
He, like Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge, had passed on his Truth. He knew he was going to land on an orange spot, but he was still nervous. He moves his piece, grabs the card, and reads it to himself.
After a moment of rereading it over and over, he frowns. "It says, 'During this game you and one of your friends are going to get into a fight. You have to win.'"
"It's almost like Shadow's Dare," Manic says with a frown. "We don't know when it's gonna happen…"
"It doesn't say what will happen if I lose," Mighty frowns, putting the card down. "For some reason, I don't wanna know."
He hands the die to Sonia, who freezes up inside. Considering her friends' dares, and the fact that this was an evil board game, she was more than nervous to pull her Dare Card. She rolls the die (who would have guessed), and lands on the sixth spot up, which, much to no one's surprise, was orange.
She takes in a shaky breath, then picks up her card delicately. She holds it up, reading it over, her eyes widening slightly.
"What's up, sis?" Manic asks, both he and his brother tense. With what her Truth Card had been, they were both ready for anything.
She shakes her head. "It…it says, 'Of the two most precious people to you, you have to find each of their most precious belongings. You have to destroy one of them.'"
Sonic and Manic both look at each other a bit frantically. Sonia looks up at both of her brothers, wondering how she was supposed to be able to do such a thing.
"What…" Sally asks quietly, "are your guys' most precious possessions?"
Instinctively, both hedgehogs reached up to grab the silver medallions hanging around their neck. They both look at their sister with wide eyes. There was no way, whatsoever, that they could give up their medallions. Those were far too precious, given to them by their mother at birth, and used to help them grow up together as siblings, and as a team. There were too many memories and songs in those silver pendants, and giving those up would be like giving up a part of their life.
Sonia shakes her head. "I couldn't…that isn't right…"
…but if she didn't finish her dare, the game would freeze, and they would all be cursed.
Silence blanketed the group heavily, settling down with an eeriness that made them all tense.
"Is there anything else…?" Tails asks hesitantly. "Does it have to be those?"
"The game said their most precious possessions," Knuckles stated. "What else would be more important than those?"
"Unfortunately," Sonic muttered, "he's right. I can't lie and say this isn't the most meaningful thing I own. Plus, I don't think we could lie to the board."
"Especially since it seems to know us better than we know ourselves," Mighty muttered.
More silence. Sonia leans back in her chair. "I can't do it, though. These medallions are a part of us. I could never even dream of giving my own up, let alone one of yours."
"I can't either," Manic says, his green ears flattening at their sides slightly. "But I don't think it's right for one of us to give them up…"
Everyone was at a loss. Sonic curses under his breath, standing up. They all look at him with wide eyes…and was that Chaos Energy swirling around him? He lets the energy swirl down to his hand, before his eyes narrow.
"Everyone move."
The entire group bolted up to their feet, jumping back, just as he lets out a large Chaos Spear that strikes the board and bursts.
Once the smoke cloud cleared, they all gaped in shock.
The table had scorch marks spread out all over it, but the board…
"…how the actual fuck…?" Knuckles breathes.
The board was still as good as new.
Sonic let out a string of curses in a language not even Shadow understood, turning around and grabbing his head in obvious frustration. The group was at a loss of what to do, and everyone seemed a bit frantic at this. As Sonic continued his multilingual banter, Sonia shook her head. "So it really can't be destroyed…"
If Sonic's Chaos Spear, which was argued to be far stronger than Shadow's (which is why he never used it), couldn't even scratch the board, then…
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Knuckles questions, his eyes narrowing. "We really have no choice but to play?"
...and then the lights went out.
The group froze, everyone going silent. Thunder and lightning cracked and boomed loudly outside, and immediately Sonic and Shadow lit up their hands with Chaos Energy. Tails turned on his communicator, as did everyone else.
In the dim light, they all took a look at the board.
Their breath caught in their throats.
Every. Single. Card had was spread out over the table, from corner to corner, and written on every single one of those cards…
Sonia could feel herself whimper.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Author's Note:
Okay, yeah I'm a little late with the update. I've actually been working on multiple stories at once, just because I'm excited for each of them. I don't know if 'Demons' or 'The Sadist and the Masochist' will be updated next, but after both or maybe one of those, I will update 'Welcome Home,' which I know you guys have been waiting for (sorry!).
…but anyway, DUN DUN DUNNNNN!
I do have a little bonus extra at the end of each chapter now, for each of the characters. I will put little bits of information about some of them at a time, just for fun.
For example:
Sonic and Shadow – are both multilingual, however, due to Shadow being 'asleep' for fifty years, he's missed out on a lot of different languages. Sonic, on the other hand, could read you a dictionary in every language known to Mobius. When he gets angry, he's known to swear in different languages, just to spare his little brother's ears…
Sonic – refuses to take his fallen mother's place as King of Mobius. It could be considered one of his fears, but he feels he isn't suited for the job, or that it's right to take the throne so soon. Another side affect of grieving for his mother's death.
Sonia and Manic – are actually three years younger than Sonic in this story. They are twins, and he's the eldest. Manic is considered to be the baby of the three.
Knuckles and Sonic – are very close friends, rumored to be closer than Sonic is with Tails. How close, is a mystery, but there are speculations that they may have been more than friends at some point…
Manic – has a crush on someone at their table. Female, just to let'chya know.
Blaze – is still sleeping somewhere in the castle. Is she still a part of the board game?
Sally – feels heavy, almost traumatizing guilt for cheating on and hurting Sonic. The two get along quite well now as allies, but she still longs to make things right with him.
Mighty – knows about Sonic and Knuckles's little secret. It may or may not come up later…
Sonia – feels some form of guilt for bringing the board game out in the first place.
Amy – still has her crush on Sonic, however, she feels that as long as he's happy, she is. She matured very much.
Let me know if there are any weird sentences missing or mashed together. For some reason Fanfiction likes to take parts of my sentences and throw them all over the place. I don't know why it's doing it, but I'm going to have to report it soon, because it's so annoying...
