Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Robotnik and all the rest. No, not even Knothole…

The 'Sonic the Hedgehog: In Castle Robotnik' book is a Sega owned copyright, published by Virgin Books and written by Martin Adams.

---Cue Special Sonic Unlimited Opening Theme: Sonic CD – Sonic BOOM---


CHAPTER 9: Nightmare On Robotnik St.

Underground Depths / Castle Robotnik / South Island / 05: 28 AM

Sonic plummeted downwards for what seemed forever, but in fact lasted just under a second. The drop would have left most animals in a very sad – not to mention very flat – state on the stone floor he landed on, but Sonic knew how to fall and roll, and he was pretty much unfazed when he picked himself up and took a look around him. As he did so, the pantry-elevator he'd been thrown out of ascended behind him. Wherever he was, he was trapped.

For a moment, he thought he must be in the Chemical Plant Zone. He appeared to be in an endless, not to mention huge, subterranean chamber full of machinery. Boilers, engines and pumps hissed out cough-inducing steam and battered out a rhythm of noise everywhere. The poor hedgehog could hardly hear himself think, and thinking was hard enough to do at the best of times. Sonic wandered about in the smog, trying his hardest not to inhale a fatal dosage of the foul smelling gas, which was like a mixture between petrol and eggs [in other words, eww!]

Sonic nevertheless, continued to wander about, looking for a way out. He didn't find one, but at least he'd managed to get away from the nosiest and foulest smelling machines, and get a little peace. He was getting angry now at all of this, and had just decided to do some stomping and ruin Robotnik's machines for him when he saw a tall, dark figure in the mist ahead.

Oh no, don't say this is gonna be a case of 'Ferdy Returns' or some cliché like that, Sonic thought to himself, figuring that the garbage disposal unit may been somewhere near.

Luckily [and unluckily] for the blue superhero, it wasn't Ferdy, but something far worse.


The mist dispersed dramatically ahead, as if on cue, revealing a figure that Sonic unfortunately recognised all too well.

The creamy [yet dirty] light-brown skin, the purple leotard, the white fluffed curls on either side of the face, the bright green eyes [that were somewhat enclosed], and the shimmering metallic limbs could only mean one thing, Bunnie Rabbot.

And that wasn't the only thing this lady was packing either, no soirée!

Attached to her robotic arm were a set of five very long, curved blades, and her face was covered by a pale, white mask, alike that of a hockey player or… a psychotic murderer.

The mad grin on her grungy face wasn't helping matters either. And those long, curved blades looked more than capable of shredding a hedgehog, even super-heroic mega-dude hedgehog, into hedgehog pâté.

Why do I get the feeling that she isn't gonna be one for happy families and Robuttnik-kicking right about now? Sonic thought to himself nervously, edging backwards slightly, his nerves now on full alert.

Sonic had seen equally nasty things on Robotnik's nasty little robots before, but the way 'Bunnie' hopped about suggested that he wasn't gonna be able to deal with her in quite so easy a fashion.

"Heh heh! Here comes Ferdy! I'm back from the grave! Heh heh!" the weird Bunnie look-alike crooned as it raced toward him, its blades spinning and slicing through the air. Sonic ducked its first lunge, kicked its legs from underneath it, and scampered off amongst the array of boilers and machines.


Geez-Louise… So there's two 'Ferdy's' now is there, and one of them is a Bunnie rip-off?

Do I smell… sibling monsters?

No, wait up mega-cool central… That'd be a Walrus + Rabbit…

Eww…

Sonic's random thoughts raced around his head like this as he spied on his prey in question, waiting for just the right moment to…

BONK!

He'd caught 'Ferdy-Bunnie' a second time with a really neat head stomp, leaping down from atop a boiler and driving down real hard with his power sneakers. 'Bunnie' fell over, but she got up almost immediately, her grin wider and more horrible than before.

Oh bummer, Sonic thought grimly; this is going to be much tougher than I originally imagined it to be! Just how do you stop a Bunnie Rabbot wannabe? And what has Robotnik been doing with them all? I'm going to have to work doublely hard this time to stop him.

Sonic ducked and raced and weaved through the machinery, with the psycho in hot pursuit.

"Come to Ferdy! Ferdy's gonna get you good! Slice you into hedgehog ribbons, oh yes!" the ghastly thing snarled as its blades snicker-snacked ahead of it.

The hedgehog was getting angrier and angrier, not only at this abomination nut-job version of one of his friends, but because he really didn't know what to do. His Bunnie was pretty much unstoppable when she got going–

SWIPE!

"Yikes!" the hedgehog exclaimed, having just reacted in time to avoid a beheading, but at the loss of one or two [formally], pampered and pried spines. Now they were just strands in the wind…

No good hedgehog, no good. That was too close! He thought, increasingly the distance between 'Bunnie' and himself once again.


Sonic then caught sight of a generator across the open space, with a large sign painted on it in big red letters: 'DANGER, EXTREMELY HIGH VOLTAGE!'

He was about to race to it but the psychotic-rabbit had cottoned onto his plan all too quickly and using its extendable metallic limbs, stood in one spot and extended her legs upward and over, arms stretched outwards, as she pursued intended victim via the air.

Oh man, I forgot about her ease of mobility!

And just what monster-cliché did that make Ferdy then, I wonder… A slimy Uncle Lurch?

'Bunnie' had almost caught up to him now and was swiping desperately with her fatally blade-covered arm and her iron fist of the other arm, in a deranged and frantic attempt to ensure its survival, coughing violently now all the way.

Luckily for our super-cool blue hedgehog, his aerobatic skills were very much unmatched, even by the real southern belle herself, and grabbing a handful of rings that'd been suspended in midair, only served to heighten his energy levels to evade.

He'd reached the generator now, and with that the 'Ferdy-Bunnie' made one last ditch effort, by jumping real high [narrowly missing the ceiling], and bomb-diving down him, eyes blood red and maniacal-induced drool seeping down and off the corners of its mouth.

Immediately, Sonic took hold of a power lead as thick as one of his arms and pulled really hard.

'Bunnie' had almost caught up with now, and for a second Sonic thought he might actually meet his maker, as he turned increasingly red from the sheer pulling effort. Sonic huffed and puffed and he strained and groaned. He pulled and wrenched with pure desperation, small beads of sweat trickling down his back, and then the lead came jerking out of the generator. The recoil was so great that Sonic lost his grip on the lead and went spinning off into the distance, just stopping short of the boiler door. The lead danced crazily, like a snake which had just eaten a raw chilli, and whipped around in the air. It struck 'Ferdy-Bunnie' on its murderous-equipped blade arm, sparking off all the surrounding metal.


It was a terrific firework display, the sort that really deserved a huge chorus of 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' from an appreciative crowd. A humungous number of volts generated brilliant blue sparks everywhere and 'Ferdy-Bunnie' lit up a delightful blue colour, and then a rather nastier purple colour. And the extremely violent coughing and shrieks made it all the more horrible for Sonic to look at, as it like partially blowing up a friend, kinda, sorta, so he covered his eyes. It was the kind of thing, which to kids is so wonderful that adults on TV always say to never do it at home.

And when Sonic finally took his paws off of his eyes, there wasn't much left of it apart from two sets of metal lying on the floor glowing cherry-red and one smoking leotard.

Unfortunately, the other machines in the boiler room didn't seem to be anything like as pleased with Sonic. Steam was beginning to pour out of some them and Sonic could see some pipes beginning to bulge and smoke as the lead continued to thrash around, generating great sprays of blue sparks. An alarming number of dials had needles on them hovering around the top of the red zone. That could only mean one thing: DANGER! [High voltage…]

Sonic knew that he had to get out of there fast. He raced around desperately looking for any sign of an escape route. Another few seconds could blow him into hedgehog slivers, and he knew it.

"You are doomed! Doomed! Ha, ha, ha!" the mocking laughter echoed around the boiler room and the frantic hedgehog's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

No, it can't end… not like this! He was thinking. It's too pathetic to be a hero's death!

"Close-up on the villain!" a smooth robotic voice came, with a hint of familiar slime. Sonic couldn't see where it was coming from and he had no time to look for hidden cameras. He dived underneath one boiler just as another one, far across the room, exploded in a huge spray of superheated steam and water.

He lay, rolled up in a ball; just hoping the water wouldn't flood this far across the room and boil him alive. As he did, evil pink claws grabbed at him. Before he could react, he was completely bound in lengths of rope which were whipped around his spines faster than he could say 'Gimme a deep pan hot and spicy with extra cheese, hold the olives'. The claw scrabbled around his throat and he was dragged down in darkness. Blimey!


Spielbot was jabbering away to Robotnik. "Wonderful master! Only such an awesomely wise producer could manage such resources from an abandoned film to create scenes for another one. We got wonderful angles on the animals as they ran away! The fear on the hedgehog's face in the boiler room was perfect! I am proud to be associated with this movie," it concluded pompously.

Eggor thought that he'd better check the specifications on Spielbot's Grovelling Circuits, for they seemed to be dangerously overactive.

"Indeed, indeed," Robotnik gloated as he rubbed his hands together. Unfortunately, he was so pleased that he'd entirely forgot that he'd been holding onto his lunch at the same time. Egg yolk, a disgusting smelling topping sauce and slimy trails of egg white dripped from his fingers on to the green tiled [with grey outlines] laboratory floor. "I selected the chicken as the zombie template because it needed so little change. The zombies are only slightly less intelligent that that 'Chirps' thing, after all. It is very important the template eggsperiment is as successful as my wonderful movie," he said to 'Eggor'.

"Indeed, master," Eggor said quietly. He was still programming the film crew, and thinking devious thoughts in his inner sanctum of flesh.

"How are the preparations of the Black Tower coming along?" the madman asked Eggor, rubbing his eggy and smelly hands against his lips, and slobbering a lot. That made it difficult for Eggor to hear exactly what he was saying.

"Extremely well," Eggor answered flatly. "The last sarcophagus has just been installed."

"Excellent! Make sure everything is eggpedited there."

"We must have the right atmospherics, master," Spielbot interjected. "the lighting crew has been fitting everything to your specifications, sir."

A special-effects robot clanked into the dreary room. You could tell that it was a special-effects robot, not least because on its back the words 'SPECIAL EFFECTS ROBOT' were etched into the metal in green gleaming, futuristic letters.

"Excuse me, Assistant Director," it said to Spielbot, "we have a slight problem with the Phantasm Luminosity Regulator on the Grey Tower set."

"Problem? Problem?!" Robotnik roared. "There are no problems! There are only solutions! I will have you melted down for scrap!" The robot scuttled away as fast as it's caterpillar treads could take it.

"I shall go and deal with this problem," Spielbot intoned smoothly. "I will have my report within the hour, master."

"Good robot!" Robotnik said, regaining some self-control. He smiled benignly as Spielbot headed off to the laboratory doors, which slid smoothly open before it.

"Umm, master, shouldn't I be checking the Grey Tower if I'm the Director?" Eggor enquired, keeping his rage on a level base as he spoke out.

"No, no, Eggor," Robotnik said in a slightly eggsasperated tone, "leave that to the assistant director. You should be dealing only with the really important things, like SCUM."

"Ah, yes, the Synchronized Camera Utility Movement program," Snively-Eggor said, slightly reassured. He'd mastered that fully.

"Spielbot is not programmed to do such important tasks. He has been fitted with Creativity Circuits and, as we all know, creative types are utterly useless at anything practical. Apart from myself, of course. That is where you eggscel, my little henchman, Eggor. At such things as making sure that SCUM works efficiently and well. Now, is that accursed hedgehog ready for his next scene?"

Eggor almost panicked. His sensors were revealing nothing, so he stalled for time. "I have a fix on the fox, master."

"Pah! I'm not worried about him. We can – ha, ha! – eggspunge him now, for all I care. Where's Sonic?" Robotnik was quivering with pent-up rate. Speaking the hated name always made him feel like that, even more that Sally, the Acorn Princess bitch did. Little beads of sweat stood out on his pallid forehead. He looked disgusting, well, moreso than usual.

"I'm afraid that Spielbot's film crew have lost track of him," Eggor said evenly. He always knew how to switch the blame when he needed to; it was something that Snively had learnt growing up, especially regarding his father.

"What? What??" Robotnik wobbled with fury. It was hard to tell whether he was foaming at the mouth a little, or whether the icky stuff was just egg white dripping from his voluminous moustache. "Quick, Eggor, we must act now! We must take the elevator to the Great Tower! If that wretched hedgehog is loose in my castle, the great eggsperiment will need completion sooner than I thought! Besides we need to check our special guests…"

Eggor felt an oily thrill run through all of his circuits as he headed with his master toward the triple-locked elevator. At last, he was going to see the great eggsperiment revealed to him!


END CHAPTER


A/N: Yes I know having two 'Ferdy' characters is abit weird, and that I should've just changed the former's name to something else, but the butler will be back later on, and he won't be a murderer rip-off. Promise! XD

I hope you like this little adaptation [with a few twists and stuff of my own thrown in] so far [especially those who had read the original book!].

I'll see ya sometime, somewhere next time folks. *smiley face*