EOC means end of chapter.
Also, I changed the fic title from 'Dark Light' to 'Black Light'. After looking it over, the title 'Dark Light' doesn't make much sense when the typical person just reads it and dark and light are exact opposites so...yeah. Here's Chapter 2.
"Welcome everyone. This is the table reading room." Aoi greeted.
Everyone's nerves were immediately pumped up.
"Wow! It's so spacious in here! I feel like zooming around the room!" Charmy playfully said.
"But you won't." Espio said, grabbing ahold of Charmy in case he does something stupid.
"So this is where our scripts are at, correct? We read these for the movie?" Bean asked.
"No Bean, we read them for American Idol." Sally joked. A few others laughed while Bean rolled his eyes.
"Yes, you would be correct in saying that." Aoi said. His face looked kind of awkward and...plain.
"So, where's the rest of the crew at? You know, the camera people, producers, executive producers, actors, ect." Rouge said.
"They'll be here tomorrow. The other people working on this movie are currently in Emerald City, shooting a short film. The reason why I got you guys here without anyone else around, is so I can talk to you guys what the movie is about, get you situated in your roles and all that sweet stuff. Now, before we go to the scripts, I want to explain what this movie is about. The genre of this movie is Thriller with a hint of Horror and Mystery. The story goes that, a group of people wake up one day, finding that the city of Grand Metropolis deserted. Trash is scattered all over the streets. Electricity doesn't work. No sign of life whatsoever. The remaining people left have absolutely no clue what happened to everyone else. They try to search for some answers, but more and more questions keep coming up. As the days go by, they start to notice something that's stalking them. It feels like this 'thing' is watching their every move. But the thing is, they can never directly see it. They only see it out of the corner of their eyes, and they only see it's shadow and hear its noises. Still no answers on why everyone has vanished, the survivors notice that a person a day, from their group, goes missing. They assume it's the thing that's following them doing it, but they can never find the remains of the missing survivors. More time goes by, and the survivors start to turn on each other and go completely insane. And that...is the plot of the movie, "Devil City"." Aoi explained.
Everybody was in complete awe and excitement. All of them, even Shadow and Espio, immediately fell in love with it.
"Dude...THAT. IS. AWESOME! Oh my god, this movie sounds like a hit in the making!" Fang cheered.
"Ooh I love these kinds of movies! This is SO my forte!" Blaze happily said.
"Erghh...let's just see how the script is, then I'll make my final judgement." Shadow scoffed. He tried to hide the fact that he thought the plot was spectacular.
"Cooooooooooooool! I hope I last until the end!" Charmy said.
"I hope you don't." Knuckles whispered, then laughed.
"I really like this, Aoi. This sounds very promising. We're so lucky to have gotten a chance to be in a movie like this!" Sonic said with a bright smile.
Aoi looked at him and tried to smile back, but it looked like he just couldn't. Sonic was the only one who noticed this and made him raise his eyebrow.
"So what are we waiting for then? Let's get to the scripts, blue boy!" Vector said.
"Ah yes! But first, I have to assign you all to your roles, so you know which lines to read and say. Since this is going to be a professional movie, you will not be using your own names in this." Aoi said.
"Awww man! But Amy is such a cutesy name though!" Amy complained.
"Sigh...idiot." Sonia insulted quietly.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it. Now, here are your guys' names for the movie...Cream the Rabbit!" Aoi exclaimed, which made Cream jump.
"WOAH! YES! WHAT IS IT?" She quickly said in super excitement.
"Your character's name is Yukie Nanami. Got it?" Aoi said.
"Oh! Um...yeah. Sure!" Cream hesitantly said and nodded awkwardly.
"Now Vanilla, you will be playing Yukie's mom, so the motherly role should be no challenge for you. Your name is Kayoko Nanami." Aoi said.
"Oh, lovely!" Vanilla happily exclaimed.
"Now Tails...your name is Daisuke Ijima." Aoi said. Tails had a weirded out look on his face.
"Dai...Daisuke? O-okay...I guess..." He awkwardly stated.
"Knuckles, you are Mamoru Seto."
"Mamoru? ...Whatever, I was gonna say something insulting about that name but I'll get over it." Knuckles said.
"Espio, you are Hisoka Kato."
"Hisoka? That sounds like a girl's name. What kind of person do you take me for?" Espio frustratingly said.
"Woah, calm dude man! It's just a name. Sorry about that, he's a perfectionist." Vector said.
"No worries. Next is Amy. You are Natsumi Mado."
"Natsumi? Oh my gosh, that sounds sooooooo cute! That's almost as good as my name! When I have a baby, I'm gonna name it Natsumi now!" Amy cheered.
"Ugh, THIS bitch." Sonia said, getting irritated at the pink hedgehog.
"Vector, you are Kenta Masuda."
"Kenta? Hmm...I...I think I like it!" Vector said.
"Tikal, you are Izumi Kanai."
"Huh. Um, may I ask a question? Not to sound rude, but what's with these names? They sound so...err...foreign..." Tikal said.
"I thought I could be a bit original with names like this, that's why I did that. Hmm hmm. Next is Rouge. You are Akira Ikeda."
"Akira, huh? I like it. I think the name fits me well." Rouge said.
"Sonia, you are Satomi Noda."
"Uh huh..." Sonia said oddly.
"Shadow, you are Minoru Hirokawa."
"...Hmph." Was all Shadow said. But inside, he liked his name. Shadow just didn't like expressing outwardly joy in public because he wanted to keep his 'bad boy' image.
"Charmy, you are Hikaru Sasagawa."
"That...is...so...AWESOME!" Charmy annoyingly cheered.
"Blaze, you are Junko Shimaki."
"Junko? Not sure if I like that, considering it has the word 'junk' in it." Blaze unsatisfyingly said.
"HA HA HA!" Charmy laughed and pointed at her.
"Bean, you are Nori Kusaka."
"Kay-O." Was all Bean said in reply.
"Fang, you are Ryo Komori."
"Ha! I got the best name in the house! In your faces!" Fang egotistically said.
"Get over yourself." Blaze whispered.
"Sally, you are Ami Kamiya."
"Ami? HEY! Why does she get a name that's similar to mine?" Amy complained.
"Quit complaining pink fairy! Stop acting like these are permanent names!" Sally lashed.
"And last but not least...Sonic. You are..."
Aoi paused.
"...Hayato Kotani."
Sonic gave a confused look.
"Ha...Hayato?" Sonic asked. The name automatically intrigued his interest, but at the same time, it felt really weird for him to be given a name like that. He couldn't explain the feeling, but he tried to ignore it.
"So now that everyone has gotten their names, let's begin reading the script, shall we? The scripts are laid out for you on the long table here, so you can sit wherever you like." Aoi gestured.
"Sweet sweet sweet!" Charmy said in glee and ran to the table. Everyone else followed suit and sat down.
Sonic was hesitating to ask Aoi his question about why he didn't receive a letter to come here, but he decided later would be a better time.
"Holy crap this script is big! How many pages are in this thing?" Vector said.
"About 112, if I remember correctly." Aoi answered.
A few of their jaws dropped.
"Jeeze, this is gonna be a bit harder than I thought..." Bean said.
"Don't worry, it's not as difficult as it looks. The key is to take it one step at a time. Now let's start shall we?" Aoi said, looking at the front page of the script.
The movie title, "DEVIL CITY" was written at the the top of the front page in big, bold letters. Under it was, "Directed by Aoi Murasaki" in plain letters.
Everyone turned the page and began reading the introduction.
Fade in.
The camera flys over the city of Grand Metropolis, showing various shots of empty streets, stores and homes. Intro credits appear as the viewers are treated to seeing deserted parts of Grand Metropolis.
Camera pans over to Satomi, lying in her bed at her house.
"Wait a second!" Knuckles suddenly called out.
"Yes...?" Aoi replied.
"Are we suppose to be reading our lines out loud in the same way we do as if we were filming the movie right now?" Knuckles asked.
"Well duh, that's what table reads are for." Sally insulted.
"Well excuuuuuse me princess, I just wanted to freaking know." Knuckles snapped.
"Yes, Sally is correct. Say your lines out loud as you read over them. I will comment on whether you need to say it a certain way or more with feeling." Aoi clarified. Knuckles nodded understandingly.
They continue reading the script.
Satomi is awaken by her alarm clock. The camera cuts to the clock, which reads 10 AM. Satomi reaches over to the clock and stops the alarm.
Satomi lazily yawns, raises her upper body up and rubs her eyes. She slowly gets out of bed and walks out of her room and goes down the stairs.
Satomi (With Sonia reading over): Mom? You up yet? Don't you forget to make the pancakes because you promised!
She turned her computer on and quickly went in the kitchen. She gets out a carton of chocolate milk and pours herself a glass then goes to her computer and sits down at the chair.
Satomi: Huh. Those annoying kids aren't outside today. That's a first...
"When is my part coming up?" Charmy eagerly asked.
"SHUSH!" Vector said, smacking Charmy's head.
"Uhh...am I doing good so far?" Sonia asked.
"Yes, you are. Continue please." Aoi said.
Satomi clicks on the Firefox symbol and the internet opens up on the facebook homepage. She logs in.
Satomi: Haven't checked facebook for a whole day. Let's see what everyone is up to.
She sees the 'recent stories' wall and skims through most of the posts. She then stops at Hayato's post. It reads:
Something weird is going you guys...I went for my morning jog and it the streets were TOTALLY empty. I mean, I know tons of people aren't active in the early morning but...it seems different this time. I went to the donut and coffee shop, no one was there. I went to the gas station, no one was there. Nobody was even driving out on the streets! Did something bad happen while I was asleep? Someone, please let me know!
Satomi: Huh. That's kind of weird. I'm a comment on this.
She then starts typing on her keyboard.
"There's probably some big city event going on that only the adults care about. Wouldn't worry too much about it."
She presses enter then takes a gulp of her chocolate milk.
Satomi: Why the heck isn't mom up yet? She always wakes up at like, 8 AM. She probably drank too much last night...again. (Satomi then makes a frustrated sigh and starts heading to her mom's room with the camera following behind her)
"Wait a second, what?" Tails spoke.
"What?" Rouge spoke as well.
"That's not the line, Sonia!" Tails corrected.
"...What do you mean? That line is in my script!" Sonia said.
Tails looked confusedly at her and at everyone else too.
"Well what the heck kind of script am I reading then?" Tails asked.
"Let me see." Knuckles said, swiping Tails' script. He ran down to where Sonia spoke her recent line.
His eyes widened.
"What? What is it?" Sonia asked.
"Um...Aoi? Why is this...line in this script?" Knuckles said with a creeped-out look.
"Let me see that." Aoi said and snatched the script. He read the line where it was supposedly different in Tails' script.
Satomi: Why the heck isn't my mom up yet? Oh...that's right, I killed her by cutting her long ears off and shoving it down her throat. I wonder how that tasted...
Aoi almost gagged at reading that line.
"What? What does it say?" Cream asked.
"Oh! Um, nothing. Satomi's line just had some misplaced words in it...erm, here Tails, take this script instead. I'll throw this one away." Aoi said, throwing the other script in the nearby garbage bin.
"The hell was that all about?" Rouge asked to Shadow. Shadow just shrugged.
An hour went by, and Aoi decided to call it a day. Everyone thanked him for invting them over and left...except for Sonic, who decided to stay behind and talk to him privately.
"So Sonic, you wanted to ask me something?" Aoi said, closing the room door.
"Yes. I just wanna know why I didn't get a letter to come see you, when everyone else did?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, you didn't get the letter? I could've sworn I sent it to you. Huh...well, please do know that I truly meant to invite you and I hope you won't see me as some idiot or something..." Aoi weirdly said.
"Oh no no no! I don't think that! I just thought it was kind of odd. Well, thank you for answering that...oh! I have one more thing...is there something wrong? Cause the whole time we've been here, you've been kinda...um...what's the right word...emotionless? I don't know, sorry, I'm bad with coming up with certain words for these types of situations." Sonic said, trying not to sound awkward.
"Hmm...I see. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. It's just...I'm a perfectionist, you know? Sometimes I can't be happy until I do something that I think is right. Other times I'll get depressed for being second best. It's kind of affecting my social and business life right now, but I'm trying to tone it down." Aoi explained.
"I know where you're coming from. I used to be like that as well. But, what is it that's bothering you? Is it the movie? This place? What?" Sonic asked in total curiousity.
"It's not the movie, trust me. But...I kind of do think it's this place. I mean, it's not the wall colors, or texture, or the professional and very-serious setting it's just...I can't quite explain. Sometimes this place gives me an eerie feeling. It's like this place has a mind of it's own. I know that sounds crazy but...well actually, it's possible that I am crazy. But why would I be crazy for experiencing this? Or am I not crazy, but I'm trying to convice myself I am crazy? Or is it the other way around? So many questions and no answers at all." Aoi said.
Sonic was really confused and kind of creeped out by Aoi at this point. He started to think Aoi was crazy or had a mental problem.
"Wow...that sure is a lot to take in! So do you think this place might be haunted then? Do you think that's why this place gives you an eerie feeling?" Sonic asked.
"I'm really not sure. I'm not sure if it's extreme paranoia or just pure insanity...or if it's for real. But if it's for real, then is the insanity real too? What can be considered as insanity anyways?" Aoi kept asking.
Sonic was starting to get a headache from how weird and confusing Aoi was being.
"Well um...I should get going now. I need to...um...make myself dinner and...uh...yeah. So I'll...um...see you tomorrow, yeah?" Sonic awkwardly said.
"Of course you will. 4 PM sharp." Aoi confirmed.
"Good. Bye Aoi." Sonic waved and started walking down the hallway.
"Bye Hayato!" Aoi said then went back in the room.
Sonic stopped in his tracks.
"...What did you just say?" Sonic asked, turning around. But Aoi already left the hallway.
"Did he just call me...Hayato?" Sonic asked to himself. Things were getting weirder and weirder.
EOC.
I'm REALLY sorry for the late update. School has just been stressing me out with all this homework BS. I'll try harder to upload the next one sooner so for now...read and review please!