Meanwhile, Infinite was delivering a lecture to Honest, Blaze, and Rosy as the four walked through the lower hallway.

"So as you can see, there is absolutely no reason why you should be frightened. Ghosts are completely make-believe- a product of the imagination. Every little noise will frighten you against your better judgement. You'll be surprised by how many times you can be frightened by the slightest of noises."

"And you know because you've been scared before, right? You've learned from experience?" Honest asked.

Infinite jumped. "Huh? No, I don't have any reason to be scared." He then nodded his head slowly. "I didn't really hear anything anyway," he boasted.

Then, suddenly, Infinite spotted something.

Was that Shadow standing behind her? No, it couldn't have been. This figure was devoid of color and transparent. Infinite rubbed his eyes. And like that it was gone.

"What's wrong, Infy?" Honest asked, concerned. Blaze tilted her head at him.

"I-It's nothing?" he said. Well, it was more of a question. Honest turned around swiftly.

"Yes, you're right. It is nothing," she said cheerily. Honest then spun around again and gave the masked mongrel a thumbs up. "Great job!"

A vein protruded from his metal mask (because for some reason that makes sense).

"No, I saw something," he then told her. Honest jumped up and down.

"Oh! Oh! Was it a ghost?"

Infinite saw Blaze shaking and was reminded of something. He crossed his arms. "Nope. I saw evidence that it was Shadow who's pulling this prank."

Honest tilted her head. "Huh, what do you mean?"

Infinite turned away. "I saw Shadow walk by just a minute ago. He must be setting up the next trap."

Honest narrowed her eyes. Shadow wasn't one to play pranks on others. Infinite must've been just trying to pin all of this on him as part of some revenge scheme. She turned away as well, crossing her arms. "You're just blaming this on him because you don't like him. I bet you're the one behind this. Not Shadow." She glared over her shoulder at him with one eye.

Infinite made a complicated expression as he turned back to her. "You just don't want to admit that your best friend is a filthy prankster."

Honest tried to imagine "filthy prankster Shadow" in her head. It was impossible.

"Uh, I don't mean to burst your guys' bubbles, but what the heck is that?"

It was Blaze who stepped between them and pointed at something behind them. Both the jackal and the cat spun around slowly.

All they saw was some orange figure wearing a strange mask and shaking its fingers at them. Honest and Infinite both grasped each other dramatically while screaming in unison. "AAHH!"

Amy, Sonic, and Shadow were walking down the hallway still, Shadow leading them much like how Infinite had been leading the other group earlier. Of course though, these three had no idea that had ever occurred. They were split up and on a completely different floor.

Amy felt strangely awkward walking beside Sonic through an apparently haunted location. This was definitely unlike her. Shouldn't she be pulling some sort of "oh my gosh, Sonic hold me, I'm scared!" routine about now? Instead she was just copying Sonic. He was following Shadow diligently and appearing somewhat awed by... well... something. Amy was unsure what exactly had been making him hold his mouth agape this whole time, but she couldn't exactly bring herself to care at the moment.

And she didn't feel scared. At least not really. Watching how Shadow had handled things before had really assured her. It gave her assurance that whatever the ghost pulled on them, she could combat it with physical attacks. Like Shadow had done.

Amy had been watching Shadow this whole time like Sonic had been doing, but now she looked to Sonic, watching as his mouth stayed barely open and his spines bounced as he trudged onwards through the dilapidated hall. Could she rely on Sonic here? It seemed earlier that Sonic was relying on Shadow, or at least letting him do all the work. Amy wrinkled up her face and rested her hammer, which she had been keeping stored away, on her right shoulder. She would probably be needing it real soon.

Just then, a large dark shape burst out of the wall to their right, scraps of wood sent flying as it ripped Shadow away, and Sonic and Amy froze. They had both been so focussed on Shadow that, now that he had been moved, they were startled.

"What the-?" Amy heard Sonic say. The black block had completely swept Shadow off his feet and then dove through the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.

"AAHH!" A scream ripped through the ruined building.

"Did you hear that?!" Amy shouted, lifting her hammer and looking around.

"Yeah!" Sonic yelled, attempting to go after Shadow through the dark hole ripped in the wall.

"Is that really a good idea?" Amy asked, walking in his direction. Sonic stuck a leg through.

He turned around. "Do you have a better idea?" he asked, seeming upset but not necessarily panicked. He reached a hand out to Amy and she glanced nervously into the void behind him before taking it.

Giggling was heard and the figure removed its mask. It was Tikal.

"That was priceless. You moderners are so unbelievably easy to scare!"

Honest grasped at the air and attempted to regulate her breathing. "You're the ghost?!"

Tikal held the mask beneath her left arm and nodded. "Yup! I've been scaring people around here for a while now." The orange echidna tapped her chin in wonder. "In fact, just this morning the Babylon Rogues wandered in here, and-"

Steam was streaming out from beneath Infinite's mask. Honest noticed this and laughed. "She got you good there, didn't she?"

"Who are you?" Infinite asked angrily, stepping towards the girl. "You're not a ghost. What are you?"

"I'm not?" Tikal asked, fading in and out of her ghostly transparency a second later. Infinite huffed.

Honest was still laughing. "I guess someone hasn't played Sonic Adventure." Steam filled the corridor once more. "Don't worry, though. You can come over to my place and play it in HD on PS3. And if you play it on our CRT, there aren't any borders."

The steam stopped so Infinite could think. Maybe going to her house was a good idea. That way he could get close to Shadow and take him down once and for all.

Honest was surprised when Infinite suddenly offered her his hand. "Actually, I think I might take you up on your offer." Honest tilted her head. "I'll come over sometime during the summer and play Sonic Adventure with you." Honest's eyes lit up and she shook his hand.

"Alright, then! That sounds great! Bring CC with you," she told him, shaking faster and faster. Infinite wrenched his hand away after his eyes dilated in fear that his arm might be shaken off. He stared at his hand as it slowed to a stop.

"Okay, I will do that," he said. Suddenly everyone looked up as something burst through the floor beneath them. It was some sort of shadowy mass with something else shadowy in its grasp.

"What is that thing?" Blaze asked as she watched it continue to come out of the floor. Eventually it had filled up the entire corridor.

"Shadow?" Infinite looked to where Shadow was suspended in midair by this thing. "G-Great prank by the way," he complimented. Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Thanks. It was a pain setting up," Shadow told him, unamused.

Honest had recognized what this monstrous thing was almost instantly. The way its various blackened appendages swirled around the room, intertwined with each other, reminded her a great deal of Mephiles's office.

The fourth part of this story-within-a-story will be published shortly! I hope it's not moving too fast for you. :O If it is, let me know, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!