The black hedgehog watched as Sonic and Knuckles fought over the metal playing pieces, intrigued he decided to join them, "Well I suppose I could do with drying myself out."
Tails fell backwards as Shadow helped himself to the warmth of his home, sitting across from the squabbling duo who were still arguing over the dog piece. Closing the door solemnly, Tails took his place next to Shadow and snatched the dog playing piece from his friends.
"Mine."
He wasn't going to argue with Shadow, especially considering he was wet and miserable from working all day in the rain.
After finally deciding on their counters, the game began. Everyone had their own way of playing. Tails kept his money in a pouch around his waist, Sonic had his in a separate yet neat pile on the floor, Knuckles' was a jumbled mess scattered here and there in an untidy mound and Shadow was taking the whole game a little too seriously, refusing to let anybody see his stack or get near it, keeping it as far away from the others as he could and getting moody when anybody tried to peek.
"So, erm, what does this mean?" Knuckles asked, holding up a community chest card.
Sonic leaned over to check. "You don't have any houses or hotels yet so that card doesn't matter."
"No," Tails said, noticing Knuckles place the card on the top of the pile. "You have to put used cards on the bottom of the pile."
"Who stole my twenty dollar bill!" Shadow suddenly fumed, scouring the room for his missing note.
"Nobody has been near your money Shadow, geez." Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Then why can't I find it!"
"Um, Shadow." Tails said, tapping the hedgehog's shoulder. "It's sticking out of your shoe."
Shadow pulled the piece of paper from his shoe and turned a little red. "Oh, well I erm...Let's get on with it."
The game continued through the day until the sun began to set. Knuckles had numerous outbursts of rage due to being put in jail three times and Sonic's inability to sit still was getting on every body's nerves. Things were made worse when Shadow had to pay for repairs on his five hotels and ultimately ended up broke.
"What am I supposed to do now foxboy, I have no money left?" Shadow asked, banging the table with his fist.
"You can sell back some of your property." Tails insisted, trying to keep the hedgehog calm.
"But it's mine you can't have it back." Shadow said shielding his cards.
Tails sighed and decided it was time to end the game before it was smashed into a billion pieces. Gathering every body's score Tails was sure he was going to win, being somewhat of a master at the game but was shocked to discover the actual winner.
"So who won?" Sonic asked.
"Kn..Knuckles!"
"What?" Sonic lunged forward to check the scores and finding no mistake with Tails' calculations, turned to stare at the echidna in disbelief.
Knuckles' expression changed from a smirk to irritation at seeing his friends reactions, "Why do you all look so surprised, I'm not an idiot you know."
"So what do you guys want to do now?" Tails asked in a gleeful manner, trying to keep the peace before argument broke out.
"Well seeing as it's getting dark how about we tell each other a good old ghost story?" Sonic said, leaning back against the couch.
Though Knuckles made it clear ghost stories were for kids and Shadow's brow furrowed, the four of them eventually gave in and agreed that doing something was better than doing nothing. Sonic willingly agreed to be the first storyteller.
"Okay, so there's this brave hero right? He lives in a little house by a lake with his super genius little brother. One night his little bro wanders into the surrounding forest during a severe storm to collect fire wood and when he doesn't come back the brave hero, shall we say Speed? Speed goes out to rescue his brother Niles only to be attacked by a giant shadow."
"Wait a minute," Shadow said. "Why am I in this story and why am I giant?"
"Yeah and why am I in it?" Tails asked.
"Why am I not in it?" Knuckles demanded.
Sonic looked back and forth between his friends trying to decide who to answer first. "Shadow, I didn't mean you I meant an actual shadow. Tails you're not in this, Niles is just a representation of your characteristics and Knuckles I've only just started the story, gimme a chance to finish will ya?"
"Okay," Shadow folded his arms and closed his eyes. "It's obvious that this Speed character is just another incarnation of you Sonic. So typical of you to make yourself the hero of your stupid story."
"Hey, I'm not finished." Sonic moaned.
"You are now." Shadow replied. "I'll tell you a decent story so sit back and listen up. My story begins on a dark and stormy night. A group of close acquaintances were visiting one another at a remote house. It was late and the rain was heavy, the thunder was loud and lightning crackled in the distance. After much deliberation the group had decided to sleep at the house and leave the next day when the sky was clearer. However, that night as they were sleeping peacefully a slow paced banging woke everyone in the house. The youngest of the bunch agreed to answer the door, as it was his home they were staying at. As the front door creaked open a large and round silhouette towered above them. A crack of lightning lit up the figures grin and he forced his way into the house, knocking the little runt to the floor."
Sonic, Knuckles and Tails were now on edge, eager to hear the ending of the story.
"Anyway he massacred them all." Shadow concluded.
His friends faces fell as they were disappointed by his tale's sudden end. This went seemingly unnoticed by Shadow who preoccupied himself by itching his nose. Knuckles sat forward and declared himself the next storyteller but just as he was about to begin there was a heavy banging on the door. All four of them peered in the direction of the pounding only to be startled by a bright flash of lightning outside the window.
"Go ahead Tails, answer it." Sonic's voice quivered as he pulled an uneasy glare at his friend.
"Why me?" The fox shuddered, remembering Shadow's story.
"Because it's your house."
Unable to argue with a vote of three to one, Tails stood and headed for the door with a sense of panic running through him. The banging was getting louder as he eased closer and closer to the door and the deafening thunder made his legs feel jellied. Taking the handle in his fingers, the little fox breathed steadily so he wouldn't hyperventilate and turned the handle until it clicked. The door flew open with the unbearable wind and the four of them let out synchronized screams, for before them in the dark doorway, stood a large and round silhouette, grinning menacingly.