Chapter Seven: Mystic Mansion
It was now a foggy Fall evening in mid-October. Tails had invited Cosmo to stay for a while, since it rained for three consecutive days prior. On this particular evening, Tails decided to start making some modifications to the X-Tornado, since it didn't look like it was going to rain at all. There was some fog here and there, but nothing too eerie…yet.
Tails grabbed the Chaos Emerald that Cosmo had given him the past Christmas, and opened the compartment that had the perfectly shaped emerald-sized slot lurking beneath it. As he placed the emerald inside, it glowed. "Hurrah!" The little fox exclaimed happily as Cosmo was watching him from behind the sliding screen door, giggling a little bit. "Now we can take this baby for a test flight!" Tails grabbed his goggles and jumped inside the cockpit to start the plane. Cosmo unlocked the screen door, and peered her head around it as she opened it.
"Um…maybe you should come inside and wait until tomorrow, Tails. It looks pretty creepy out there." She warned him. "Oh, hi Cosmo!" Tails turned his head around to face her. "Don't worry, I'll be fine! Besides, there's not even a drop out here!" He stuck his hand out to see if he could get the sensation of a water droplet falling into his palm. "Hey, I have an extra pair of goggles sitting in the back. You wanna fly with me?" He then asked her kindly. Cosmo looked into his eyes. To her, he always had this look that she couldn't possibly resist; a look that made his entire face glow from pure joy, and looked so optimistic, inviting, and trustworthy. "Um, well…I suppose if you feel safe about it, then…sure!" She smiled happily as she accepted the nice gesture.
Cosmo hopped inside the back seat of the plane, and put on the goggles that sat next to her. "Wow…I've never been inside your plane before! This will be so much fun!" She said excitedly. "Be sure to buckle up tight, Cosmo, 'cause we're going sky high! Alright, let's fly away!" Tails started the X-Tornado's engine, and flew off. Much to Tails' surprise, the plane ran really smoothly. It wasn't jittering or hesitating like it usually does when it needs to be patched more. In fact, the two flew in the sky for a pretty long time, feeling as if nothing could go wrong. "How's the view, Cosmo?" Tails turned around and asked her. "Oh, it's so beautiful! I'm having the time of my life!" She replied happily. "Ha ha!" Tails giggled joyfully. Then suddenly, the sound of thunder roared. "…Huh?" He then looked up at the sky timidly.
"Huh? Uh oh…" Cosmo said in a worried manner. Tails felt more worried, however, since he has a big fear of thunder and lightning. "U-Uh, d-don't panic!" Tails exclaimed nervously with droplets of sweat forming. "Um, y-you're the only one panicking, Tails." Cosmo replied. "Don't worry, don't worry! Uh…I-I'll just…turn the plane around…and-" As Tails was about to turn back home, a bolt of lightning struck the plane, sending the two in a downward spiral. "AAAAAH!" Tails and Cosmo screamed as they were falling. "Come on! Come on!" Tails tried to move the plane back in an upward motion, but it didn't budge. It was still going straight down. Cosmo hugged herself around Tails for protection. "Oh…hold on tight, Cosmo! Mayday! We're going down!" Tails screamed out as the plane finally came in contact with the ground, fire and black smoke expanding upward in the sky. Everything was black, until…
"Hey, buddy! Buddy, are you okay?" …A familiar voice echoed. "Come on, Tails! Wake up!" Tails opened his eyes to find Sonic trying to wake him back into reality. "Uh…wh-what happened?" Tails coughed as he woke up, then turned around and gasped to find his plane completely devastated. It had crashed near a mysterious house that the gang had never seen before. "Tails…? Oh no…" Cosmo woke up, and noticed the plane as well. "Amy and I decided to stop and look at the flowers, when all of a sudden, we saw a big black cloud of smoke from far away, and well…that's probably what caused it." Sonic replied. Tails almost started to cry at the mere sight of what he was seeing. Years and years of hard work that went into the plane were gone; all that was left was a big pile of ashes with very few remaining pieces sticking out. "Oh, I'm so sorry about your plane, Tails!" Amy felt so bad for the poor guy. "…My best friend…my life-long companion…MY PLANE!" He started sobbing loudly.
"What is all of the commotion out here?" A mysterious man opened the front door of the unknown house. He was very tall with a big black mustache, and wore a black suit. "Eh…it seems that we have guests, sir." A much smaller, more deformed man with a weird voice stood next to him, and replied. "Uh, sorry to disturb you guys, but uh…my little buddy here got into a bit of plane trouble, and uh, well…" Sonic gestured his thumb near the pile of ashes that was once a plane. "Oh, I see. Well, you don't have to worry about that, because my…uh, buddy Iggy here can have this…'plane' of yours up and running in no time. Isn't that right…Iggy?" The tall man smiled eerily and looked over to his right where Iggy stood. "Eh…sir, I do not know how to fix a plane-" The tall man then looked at Iggy with his eyebrows squinted, as if he was telling him to go along with something. "Oh…! Oh, yes. Surely, I can fix a plane. Sure thing, sir." Iggy replied. Sonic raised an eyebrow in a questioned manner.
"Oh, well that's great!" Amy said optimistically, not sensing anything odd. "See, Tails? These guys can fix your plane in no time!" She gave him a pat on the back, trying to calm him down. "Well…I hope these guys know where to start, 'cause I sure as heck don't! It's completely ruined!" Tails went down on his knees, and lifted his arms in the air depressingly. "No worries, little boy. You can stay here at the Mystic Mansion until it's all fixed…" The tall man spoke. "…Matter of fact, all of you can!" He added while smiling another odd and eerie smile. "Wait…'Mystic Mansion'? You guys must be near the Mystic Cave area! Heh, I didn't even notice." Sonic chuckled. "We sure are! Hardly anyone comes to visit here anymore, though." The tall man replied disappointedly. "Eh, sir, that's because none of them made it out ali- Oof!" Iggy got his sentence cut off yet again. "Uh, Iggy. I think it's about time you shut your yap, and work on this…'plane', hmm?" The tall man ordered. "Eh…right away, sir!" Iggy winked. "Eh, your 'plane' looks washed out…you'll have to spend the night." He looked at Tails and started snickering to himself. "Uh, okay…?" Tails replied in a questioned manner.
"How wonderful!" The tall man felt ecstatic. "Oh, how I could be so rude? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vincent Maurice Pyre, but you can just call me Vinny. Please come in, and do make yourselves comfortable." He welcomed the gang into his humble abode. "Oh, and be sure to wipe your feet, too." He added. The gang went inside, and were greeted by a dark, but fancy ballroom with three glass chandeliers that hung above. To the left was a black spiral staircase that went up to where the bedrooms were, and to the right was a doorway to the dinner room, which had a black table with a glass top, covered with a blood red tablecloth.
"Wow…" Amy and Cosmo exclaimed in awe. "Sure is lovely, isn't it?" Vinny asked. "Hey, this place ain't too shabby! It kinda reminds me of Chris' old place! He was a friend of ours." Sonic said. "Yeah, it kinda does! Only it…looks darker." Tails replied. "Yes, we do enjoy spending time in the dark here. Is dinner almost done, Horace?" Vinny called out. "It's nearly there, sir." The mysterious Horace replied from the kitchen. "Good! Be sure to make four more, because we have company tonight." Vinny ordered. "Oh, goody! Sure thing, sir!" Horace replied cheerfully.
"Horace sure likes to cook for others. It's been years since we've had visitors." Vinny said. "You guys really don't get to see a lot of people, do you? Well…when was the last time you had a visitor?" Cosmo asked. "Well, let's see. If I do the math correctly, I'd say…about three years. It was on an evening, quite like this one. A man had his car break down near here, and we offered for him to stay for the night while we fixed it. Not long after, the man…hung himself off a tree." Vinny replied nonchalantly while everyone else was at least intimidated by it. "Oh my…that's horrible!" Cosmo spoke, shivering in terror. "Yes, it…truly was." Vinny smiled, yet again. "If I recall correctly, his wife said something about him having issues with his mental health, and was quite hard on himself a lot. So bad, that he needed medication for it." He added. "Yeesh…that's awful." Sonic said.
"So, after all these years, you've never had anyone? No family members? Not even a wife?" Amy asked. "Oh yes, I had a wife. Her name was Lenny. Ah, all the fun times I had with her. Laughing, smiling, kissing. I really did love her…" Vinny sighed. "Aww…" Amy exclaimed. "…I guess you could even say I loved her to death!" Vinny added, chuckling. "Huh?" Sonic questioned. Tails' entire body was shaking from head-to-toe. His yellow fur almost blended in with the rest of him, he was so frightened. "H-Hey! You know, i-it's been fun and all, but uh…I-I'm gonna go see if Iggy needs any help with that plane-" Tails was nervously laughing as he was about to go back out the front door, until he was interrupted by Horace.
"Dinner is served, sir." He said to Vinny as he was placing the food on the table. Horace was a big, bluish-green, Frankenstein-looking man with arms the were the size of the grandfather clocks that stood on each side of the table where dinner had been placed for thousands of years. "Thank you, my good man." He thanked Horace for his services. After getting a glimpse of Horace, Tails ran up and hid behind Sonic. "S-S-Sonic…I-I don't really like this place." He gripped onto his shoulders with his knees shaking. "To be honest, bro, I'm kinda getting the heebie-jeebies myself. Well, we're only gonna be here for tonight until the plane gets fixed, so just relax, buddy. Everything'll be fine." Sonic replied, trying to calm him down. "Mm…o-okay." Tails said, letting Sonic go.
There were sets of two chairs on two different sides of the dinner table, while on the two other sides, there was only one chair each, one of which was Vinny's. Amy sat next to Sonic of course, while Cosmo sat with Tails. "Ah, how wonderful to see all these empty seats filled!" Vinny said with glee. "Y-Yeah, heh, heh…" Tails chuckled nervously. "Um…excuse me, Mr. Pyre, but who is that?" Cosmo pointed to the other chair that stood on the opposite side of Vinny, which was mysteriously covered with a white sheet. "Oh don't worry, little girl. That's just my wife. She's uh…very shy around people she's never seen before." Vinny leaned over and whispered to her. "Um, it's okay, dear! We're just having visitors for tonight, and then they'll be on their merry little way again! They don't bite!" He yelled to the covered up chair that still didn't budge. Everyone was silent for about five seconds.
"…Wh-Why isn't she moving?" Cosmo started getting nervous. "Hmm, she must have fallen asleep. Uh, what's on the menu tonight, Horace?" Vinny asked, nonchalantly changing the subject. "Alphabet tomato soup and toasted bread, sir." Horace replied. "Alphabet soup? Heh, this is kids' stuff!" Sonic said. Vinny and Horace looked at Sonic, almost menacingly. "U-Uh, n-not that I don't mind eating kids' stuff! Heh…" Sonic then added nervously. "Hmm. Well, go ahead. Twirl your spoons." Vinny ordered. "Twirl my spoon…?" Sonic asked. "Yeah, Sonic! You stir your spoon around in the bowl, and you'll get a word!" Amy replied. "Your girlfriend is right, blue hedgehog." Vinny added. "Wh-What!? She's not my girlfriend!" Sonic said nervously. "Hmm." Vinny and Amy smiled. Then, everyone stirred their bowls of soup, starting with Vinny.
"Hmm…I got 'you'. An odd choice for a word, if I do say so myself." Vinny said. Sonic then stirred his soup. "Hmm…I got 'will'.". Then, Amy stirred hers. "…'never'? Hmph, well I don't know what that's supposed to mean!" She said while crossing her arms. "U-Uh…wh-what word did you get, Cosmo?" Tails asked her with sweat starting to form on his forehead. "Hmm, it seems that I got the word 'get'." She replied. Tails started to cringe as he stirred his bowl, hoping that he doesn't get the word that he thinks he's going to get. He stopped stirring, then opened his eyes and gasped. "Well, what is it, little boy?" Vinny asked him nicely. "Y-Y-You know, heh, I just remembered! I just ate not that long ago, so uh…I'm not really that hungry! So uh…I-I'll just…go to bed or something!" Tails got out of his chair and started to run to the spiral staircase. "You know, I think I'll join you, buddy! Heh heh!" Sonic started running as well.
"Wait, children, wait! What do the ladies have to say?" Vinny halted. "Well, I'll go wherever Tails wants to go." Cosmo said. "What is going on with you, guys? All this nice man is trying to do is make sure we stay safe while Tails' plane gets fixed, but all you guys have been doing is-!" Amy paused as she noticed the lights above her flicker. She looked up to see the tail-ends of the chandelier change into bats. As the bats shrieked and flew out a window that headed towards the pumpkin-colored moon, Amy looked down at the bowls of soup to see the letters contained in each flip around to her point-of view. Then, when a clap of thunder strikes near a blackened tree with a small shred of rope neatly knotted on a branch, she realizes that each word put together makes an eerie message. That message being…'You will never get out".
Amy looked at Vinny to see that the chair he was sitting in had 'Property of V. M. Pyre' carved below the right armrest. "Well…what will it be, young lady?" Vinny smiled, showing off a bit of his teeth. His teeth looked suspiciously sharper compared to the rest of the gang's. "Um…heh-heh-heh. On second thought, I…do feel a bit tired." Amy giggled nervously, drops of sweat showing on each side of her face. "Very well, then. I will show you the bedrooms upstairs. Come, children." Vinny lead the gang towards the black, spiraled staircase that went up to a long hall of mysterious doors. "Took you long enough." Sonic whispered to Amy. "Hmph." Amy raised her head in exasperation.
Eventually, the gang reached the top and walked through the long hall that had doors on each side of the stretched-out, blood-red wallpapered walls with pieces that were torn off due to age. They stopped at the very end where they met with two doors that stood next to each other. "Here are our guest bedrooms. You two will stay in this room, and you two will stay in that room. Do make yourselves comfortable, please." Vinny pointed at the left door, which is where Sonic and Tails would be sleeping in, then pointed at the right door, which is where Amy and Cosmo would be sleeping in. "Huh?" Sonic was confused. "Boys and girls can't sleep in the same room unless they're married, silly!" Amy giggled. "Heh, oh, right…" Sonic chuckled with a drop of sweat showing. "Um, where is your bedroom, Mr. Pyre?" Cosmo asked. "Oh, I don't sleep up here. My bed is downstairs. Good night, children." Vinny smiled, and walked downstairs. "Good night, Mr. Pyre!" Everyone replied.
"Well, uh…good night." Tails said awkwardly to the girls. "Good night, Tails." Cosmo was about to enter her bedroom, when Tails suddenly grabbed her and hugged her. He didn't want her to know he was scared, but at this point, I think everyone knew how he felt. "Oh!" Cosmo exclaimed in surprise. "Heh…just wanted to give a hug for good measure!" Tails chuckled. "I was about to say! Heh, I didn't want to think that you were scared or somethin', right, Ames?" Sonic said, faking his brave tone.
"O-Oh, yeah! Th-There's nothing to even be afraid of, heh...'cause I'm definitely not-!" Amy gets her sentence cut off by the sound of two creaky doors opening by themselves. Everyone slowly turned around to find their bedroom doors wide open, then turned back to face each other. "Good night!" Everyone exclaimed nervously in unison, and quickly ran inside to each of their accorded bedrooms, and locked the doors behind them. All that was left outside was a long hallway that sat empty with the sounds of thunder, mysterious creaks, and creepy laughter echoing through.
Downstairs, there were two people talking to each other in front of a fireplace. It was hard to distinguish their faces, due to all of the light that was coming from the fire.
"Where are the guests?" One voice asked.
"They just went upstairs." The other voice replied.
"They didn't eat dinner?"
"Let's say they must not have liked the…fortunes they were given."
"Say, this fire is more…uproarious than usual. Where did you get all of this firewood?"
"Well, that's easy. I got it from that 'plane' outside."
"Ah…goody."
"The guests were pretty scared of us, weren't they…sir?"
"Indubitably…but not as much as they're going to be after tonight…"
"Ooh, you're such a nasty one, sir!"
"I know…"
The two voices cackled, and with one swift flap of his cape, the taller figure cleared out the fire, making the room around it turn completely dark and smoky.
Sonic and Tails slept in a king-sized bed that had royal-blue blankets and sky-blue pillows to match. Sonic was sound asleep, while Tails kept tossing and turning around, struggling to fall asleep due to how scared he was. "Tails…" Cosmo's voiced echoed outside the door. Strangely enough, only Tails could hear it. "…Huh? Cosmo?" Tails whispered as he got out of bed to open the door. "What's wrong, Cos-?" He opens it to find no one there. He then rubs his eyes to make sure he's seeing correctly, and looks in both directions.
"Tails…I'm in here…" Cosmo's voice whispered again. "Hold on, Cosmo! I'm coming!" Tails ran through the hall to follow the voice. He realized that it was coming from the second-to-last door on the right, and went inside. It was a library that had shelves that were as high as Mount Everest. "Gosh, how big is this place?" Tails questioned to himself. He then saw Cosmo, who was on the polar opposite side of where he was.
"Cosmo! There you are! What are you doing in here? It's freezing…" Tails shivered. "Oh, I'm sorry, Tails. I-I just wanted to take a look around, but…it seems that I got lost. Will you take my back to my room?" Cosmo asked kindly. Tails knew that something about her seemed…off, but he didn't really think much of it. "Um…okay, sure." Tails replied. "Oh, thank you, Tails! You're my hero!" Cosmo started hugging him really tightly. "Ugh-! Cosmo-! You're-…acting like-…Amy! What-…are you-…doing-?" Tails strained. Then, Cosmo looked at him evilly, and threw him against a shelf of books. Then, as the shelf toppled around, a couple of books labelled 'Spooky Tales To Read In Pitch Black', 'Heebie-Jeebies Presents: Playing Piano Can Really Kill You Sometimes', and 'Fiendish Love' fell on his head.
"Ah! Uh…" Tails groaned in pain. Then, Cosmo stood in front of him. This, however, wasn't the Cosmo that Tails held dearly to his heart at all. Her voice sounded more distorted, and she had white eyes, razor-sharp teeth, and darkened, decaying angel wings that stuck out of her back. "YOU'RE MY HERO, TAILS! YOU'RE ALWAYS MY HERO…EVEN WHEN YOU KILLED ME! YOU DID THIS TO ME, TAILS…YOU KILLED ME!" Cosmo laughed maniacally at him. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Tails quickly recovered and ran out of the room, crying his heart out.
It was when Sonic finally woke up, and noticed that Tails was gone. "…Tails? Buddy!?" Sonic looked all around the bed, until his heart skipped a beat when he heard rapid knocking coming from the bedroom door. "Whoa!" He shrieked. "Sonic! Sonic! Oh please, Sonic! Let me in!" Tails cried out from the other side. Sonic got out of bed, and ran to open the door. As soon as he did that, Tails clutched onto him for dear life, crying out what felt like a river.
"Hey, buddy. What's wrong?" Sonic hugged him back. "It's my fault, Sonic…it's all my fault." Tails kept crying and hyperventilating. "Hey…what's your fault, buddy? What are you talking about?" Sonic kept trying to comfort him. Then, Amy and Cosmo came out of their bedroom to find out what on Earth was happening. "What's going on?" Amy asked. "I don't know. I think Tails might've had a nightmare or something." Sonic replied. "NO! This…wasn't a nightmare!" Tails yelled. "Tails…a-are you okay?" Cosmo went to comfort him. "Stay back! Just…st-stay back, okay!? I know it was my fault, I'm sorry! Please…d-don't hurt me anymore…" Tails started shaking, inching himself back towards the wall. "What is going on, buddy!? Snap out of it! It's just Cosmo, see?" Sonic picked up his head for him to get a good look at Cosmo. No dying wings, no whitened eyes, no sharp teeth drooling with blood. Just her innocent self, wondering what happened to Tails.
"O-Oh…" Tails spoke out, realizing that this was the real Cosmo that was with them now. "Now…can you please calmly tell us what happened, buddy?" Sonic asked him. "Mm-hmm…" Tails nodded. "I…h-heard Cosmo calling my name from outside the door. So, I figured that…she was scared or something. I open the door to find nobody there. Then, I hear her from one of the doors out in the hall, and I went to bring her back to bed when…she started hurting me. She started squeezing me real tight, kind of like what Amy does to you…-".
"Hey!" Amy interrupted. "Heh…sorry." Tails replied. "…then she threw me against a bookshelf. And then, I looked and saw Cosmo all weird and creepy-looking, telling me that…it was my fault that I killed her." His voice started breaking as he whispered the last bit timidly to Sonic. Then, Sonic stood up with an angered look on his face. "Alright, that does it! We're getting out of here right now! Let's go!" He grabbed ahold of Tails' arm and started walking through the hall, when the floor beneath them started collapsing. The gang broke through the floor, and started falling. "Aah…!" They screamed out as they fell.
Eventually, the gang met with the ground, causing four big thuds as they landed. "...Aah! Uh…" They all groaned in pain. "…Where are we now?" Sonic questioned. It was then that he heard Tails gasp in horror to what he was seeing. "Sonic, they used my plane as firewood!" He pointed outside the window to see what little remains of his plane cut up into log-sized pieces.
"Come on, let's go!" Sonic said as the gang followed behind him, walking towards the front door. He went to twist open the knob, when all of a sudden, he started levitating. "Whoa, whoa!" He exclaimed frightfully. "Sonic! Whoa…!" Amy started levitating as well. It was then that everyone started levitating off the ground and were up in the air somehow.
"Oh…leaving so soon, are we?" A mysterious voice in the shadows spoke. The figure started walking closer to them to reveal that it was Vinny, controlling them with his hands. "But the party has only just begun, my children…" Vinny hissed as he threw the gang against a wall. "Aah! Ugh!" They exclaimed. "Or shall I call you by your real names? Sonic, Rosy, Miles, and Cosmo?" Vinny added.
"Ugh…how do you know our names, you fang-y freak?" Sonic groaned. "I think what you mean is how do I not know your names. I see the news about you practically all the time. Always saving the world, destroying our kind, and being proud of it!?" Vinny clenched his fists, causing the whole gang to be choked around the neck by an unseen force.
"You see, children. I am not at all like that fat man you always defeat, and triumph about. It is I, however, that all of you Mobians should be scared of. I have been watching you all since the very beginning. Whether it was a child at the elementary school or somebody at the Sunset Hill beach, I was there, and none of you even knew. I know you, alright. And I know your weaknesses, and I know your fears, and tonight…I'm going to bring the Mystic Mansion back to life by taking, your very, souls." Vinny's sinister voice echoed as he let the gang go by unclenching his fists.
They fell down on the ground, and started coughing and gasping for air, due to how long they were being choked for. Vinny's body started cracking and transforming into a giant, blood-red monster that had horns on top of its head with six rows of teeth that were the size of butcher knives. He then roared menacingly. "AAAAAH!" Everyone screamed frightfully at the sight. "Guys, come on! This way!" Sonic started panting as he started running towards the kitchen. He waited for everybody to get inside, then he closed the door behind him and locked it.
"What is that thing!?" Tails yelled. "I don't know!" Sonic yelled back at him. "Oh…I'm scared, Tails!" Cosmo clutched onto him, shaking. "Wait, guys! Calm down! …I don't hear anything anymore." Amy said as she put her hand next to her ear. And she was right. The entire room had gone completely silent. Sonic walked closer to the door, and put his right ear next to it. "Hey, you're right, Ames! Heh, I don't hear any-!" He got cut off by the force of Vinny's gigantic fist punching the door out of its slot, sandwiching Sonic with the wall. The door fell down, and Sonic started spinning. "Whoa…whoa…uh…" He then fell down. "Sonic! Sonic, no!" Amy ran over to him, and got on her knees. She started to cry, but then slowly got back up, and pulled out her Piko Piko hammer. She keep breathing heavily until the hammer started catching on fire. "Uh, A-Amy…?" Cosmo spoke out nervously. "Hi…YAH!" Amy threw the hammer so hard that it went through Vinny's stomach. "OW!" The hideous monster roared in pain.
"AAH...!" Amy then jumped up to grab the top of the doorway, and kicked Vinny to make him fall on the ground. "…Amy, are you-?" Tails was going to ask Amy if she was okay, but got cut off. "Go! NOW!" Amy yelled, warning them to go out the door while they still had an opportunity. "Come on, Cosmo!" Tails picked her up and started running, when they stopped to see two people blocking the door. "You killed our master." Horace said menacingly. "Eh…and now, you shall all pay a price." Iggy added with his voice distorting. Tails quickly turned back around, and started running to the stairs. "Amy! Upstairs, come on!" Tails yelled to her as he went up the spiral staircase. "Sonic, come on!" Amy picked him up, and started running to catch up with Tails. "Heh…what a turn of events this is, Amy. You carrying me." Sonic chuckled, barely awake. "Well…-" Amy giggled. "Really is not a good time to be flirting, guys!" Tails yelled. "Sorry…" Amy replied.
"Quick! In here!" Tails pointed to the first door he saw and ran towards it. He ripped it open to see a large, but familiar ghost on the other side of it. "I've missed you, Amy." The large ghost spoke in a dummy voice, and laughed evilly. "AAH!" Amy screamed as Tails slammed the door. "Uh…let's try this one!" He opened the door that was next to it. Inside, there was a man dressed in green that was carrying a vacuum cleaner running around in a circle with a tiny, round, fanged ghost chasing him. "Hm." Tails shrugged, and closed the door. He then went to the door that was next to the prior one. He opens it to reveal an orange cat standing behind it who was in a mansion that looked kind of similar to the one that they were in. "Huh?" Sonic questioned. "What? It's not like this is the first time we've crossed over." The fat, orange cat spoke. What was odd about it was that the cat's mouth didn't move, yet the gang could hear him talk. Horace and Iggy reached the top step, and roared menacingly. "I think this is the part where you guys start running again." The orange cat spoke one last time before closing the door on his own.
"AAAAAH!" The gang, once again, screamed in unison, and headed for the door that stood across from the previous. They opened it, and started running. It seemed to be the doorway out of the Mystic Mansion, but there was a giant rubber band tied on the outside of the door, causing the gang to bounce back into Sonic and Tails' bedroom somehow. "…Okay, how does that even work!?" Tails yelled in a frustrated manner. Iggy and Horace were banging on the outside of the door, roaring and growling until finally, it broke open. "AAH!" The gang shrieked as they backed themselves into a corner. It seemed to look like the end, when all of a sudden, Iggy and Horace stop moving.
"Huh?" Tails questioned, and then looked down below him to find two pieces of broken wood crossed together. Iggy and Horace started hissing and backing away from them. "Hmm…" It was then that Tails had an idea. "Ha ha!" He grabbed the two pieces of wood, and held them up like a shield. "Eh…get that away from us, you filthy swine!" Iggy yelled, reviling in horror. "No, you get away from me and my friends!" Tails yelled back at him, not scared at all. "Get 'em, Tails!" Cosmo cheered him on. "Look at the both of you, scared by pieces of wood. Well, guess what!? I'm not afraid of you anymore!" Tails yelled victoriously. All of a sudden, Iggy and Horace stopped groaning and then exploded into weird, green gook.
"Yuck! Ugh, gross!" Sonic exclaimed in disgust. "Oh, my dress!" Amy screamed. "Blech!" Tails groaned as he wiped some of the gook off his face. Then, the gang started levitating again. "Huh? Aah!" Tails peeped. "Oh, no. Not again!" Sonic shouted. They seemed to be floating downstairs towards the front door. "Hey! It's the way out!" Cosmo said. Eventually, the gang was placed gently feet down on the ground just outside the Mystic Mansion. "Whoa…what just happened there?" Sonic questioned, then saw a bluish transparent man and woman standing on top of the tree branch that had the small rope knot tied onto it. The tree was conveniently placed next to two tombstones. The tombstone on the left read 'R.I.P. Jim Stu Pyre 1954-2004', and the tombstone to the right of it read 'R.I.P. Rose Mary Clove-Pyre 1956-2004'.
"Thank you for saving our mansion." The man said kindly. "Huh? Who are you guys?" Amy asked. "We are the old caretakers of…what you know as the Mystic Mansion." The woman replied, feeling a bit miffed. "You see, Vinny was never the caretaker here, and it was never called the 'Mystic Mansion'. That's just what he wanted you to believe. Let's simply put that he was a bad, bad man." The blue-colored man added. "Yeah, we could take a hint!" Sonic chuckled.
"Still can't believe that he happens to be my brother. You see, that story he told you about a man killing himself here was no mere suicide. That man he was referring to happened to be yours truly, and what he did was feed both me and my wife here poison, and then proceeded to hang me off this here tree, cut the rope, and put both of us in the crematorium located in the basement." The man concluded his story.
"Wait a second…you're telling me that guy was your brother!?" Tails asked. "Unfortunately, yes. You'd never believe it, would you? Him, big and red. Me, blue and light as a feather. Heh. According to my father, we were both born to fight each other, but he never told me anything about death." The man chuckled. "Okay…on that weird note, I think it's about time we head home now." Amy started walking away. "Agreed." Sonic replied, following suit. Tails and Cosmo started walking behind them.
"Take it easy, children." The man waved goodbye. "Goodbye, darlings." His wife waved as well. "Goodbye!" Cosmo replied. "Bye, sir!" Tails added. "Aw, don't they look lovely together, dear?" The wife asked the man. "He kind of reminds me of me at that age." He chuckled lightheartedly. "You know, that's not the weirdest thing I've heard tonight, but it's certainly not the most common." Tails said sarcastically, blushing a bit.
"Well, no matter the case…I-I still think we make a great team, especially with what you did tonight, Tails." Cosmo gave him an affectionate hug. "Y-Yeah, heh…I-I suppose that's what a great relationship is all about. Friendship! I-I mean…'friendship'. Heh." Tails exclaimed suddenly, realizing what he had said after the fact. The man and woman were giggling quietly to each other, but Tails could hear it.
"Uh…Sonic! Wait up!" He grabbed ahold of Cosmo's arm, and started running to catch up with Sonic and Amy. As they ran off, the man and the woman that were standing on the tree slowly started to vanish into the distant, cold, Autumn wind.
The front door to the Mystic Mansion slowly started to open by itself. Inside, Vinny's dead body still had been lying down where he was killed by the fury of Amy's vengeance with parts of him slowly decaying to ash. As for the upstairs, the eruption of slimy, ghoulish green matter that exploded from the bodies of Horace and Iggy located just outside of Sonic and Tails' bedroom was spread on all of the walls around it. The doors that lurked throughout the hall remained shut…all except for one door that had the number '2021' carved on the outside of it.
The door had been unlatched with a small crack of it opened, when suddenly, it slowly started opening all of the way. The inside was pitch black with nothing in sight, then a mysterious red light flickered in mid-air, revealing a doll that suspiciously looked exactly like Cosmo that had a sign around its neck that read the word 'PROTOTYPE'. Suddenly, its eyes opened and glowed bright red, and grew a big smile with its razor-sharp teeth.
Vinny's sinister laugh could be heard as the door slowly closed back up, and latched itself shut.