Penny stood in a line next to Sonic, Knuckles, Sticks, Amy, and Tails as they waited for Barker to open his haunted house theme park. Barker finally popped out, smirking at the crowd. "Patience folks. I assure you, everyone will get the opportunity to see the amazing haunted forest, and pay me 27.50."

Penny moaned. This was totally a waste of her allowance. She was lucky that Sonic was the one who was treating them to a haunted house adventure.

Grunts were heard from the back, and she turned around to see Eggman pushing his way through the crowd. " Out of my way, bozzo. Move it or lose it, tuts. Big egg on campus coming through." He pushed his way through the front and knocked Penny aside, but luckily Sonic caught her before she fell.

Barker took the bar off the hook and allowed Eggman and Team Sonic to walk in. Even though Penny knew everything was fake, she still couldn't help but feel uneasy as she walked through the eerie place, clinging to Sonic's arm. He smiled at her. " Calm down, Penny. This place isn't so scary."

"That's what you think..." Penny whimpered. "Maybe I should've stayed home today..."

A slip of paper landed at her feet, and she picked it up, her eyes widening. Knuckles glanced at her in fear. "Wh-what is it?"

"I-I-I-can't!" Penny shuddered, shakily handing it to Tails. "Tails, you read it!"

Tails, who was braver than her, nodded and took the slip, reading aloud. " A proposal for government-mandated healthcare."

That triggered Sticks, and the female badger gasped in fear. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" She screamed as she ran off.

Eggman shook his head. " What a fraidy cat, whatever it is she's suppose to be. Who'd be scared of this junk? Rubber bats. Glowing eyes. Cardboard moon."

On cue, sheets hung by ropes acting as ghosts popped around him, and the doctor shrieked, cowering in terror and clinging his head. "And a real ghost!" He screamed. He screamed even more as ghostly moans echoed, and he ran out.

Penny forgot her fright that moment, and she and the gang shared bursts of laughter.

The next day, Penny saw Eggman reading books in the public library. The poor guy was so frightened by last night's "ghost encounter" that he was doing researching about getting rid of ghosts.

She felt someone grab her shoulder and pull her behind a bench, and she turned to see Sonic and Tails. "Wh-"

Sonic quickly grabbed her mouth and shushed her. Curious, Penny glanced at Sonic with a questioning look.

"Check it out Eggman is still freaked out from last night. What do you say we mess with him?"

"Mess with him?" She asked, turning to Tails. "What do you think?"

Tails frowned. "It seems wrong to play on Eggman's emotions when he's in such a fragile state. Did I say wrong I meant hilarious." He smirked and began making ghostly noises, and Eggman jumped. "Ah. Wh-what's that."

Sonic, Tails, and Penny chuckled, and Sonic zoomed over to the book shelf and began knocking books off, scaring poor Eggman even more. The doctor screamed and hid underneath the table, jumping as more books fell around him. He cringed when Fastidious shushed him.

Tails sighed. "This is just sad..."

"I agree." Penny muttered. "I can't stand seeing Eggman in a fragil state like that."

Sonic glared at the two with a sigh. "Great now you've gone and made me feel guilty." He left the two and walked up to Eggman. " Stop your blubbering Eggman. It was just me. Ghosts aren't real."

Eggman glared at him. "Yes they are!" He yelped as he bumped his head underneath the table, but he managed to climb out and show the hedgehog a photo in a book. "How else do you explain this blurry photograph?"

Sonic glanced at the book and hummed, crossing his arms. "Bad photography? Come with me, I'll prove to you there's no such thing as ghosts."

Pretty soon, they walked through the haunted forest with Barker, who had surprisingly agreed to give them a day tour. " I usually preserve the daytime walkthrough for preschoolers, but since you insisted... As you can see it's all just cheap special effects and atmosphere music."

Barker turned on a recorder, and ghostly sounds came over the speakers. "Turn tape over for more fun filled sounds of "horror"."

"Cool!" Penny grinned. "What else?"

Barker grinned at her and walked up to a grave yard, his foot above a button. " When you step here, it triggers the ghost drop." He pushed the button with his foot and sheets marked as ghosts hanging on ropes fell towards them, scaring Eggman. To prove they weren't real, Barker took a pair of scissors and snipped them off.

Sonic smirked at Eggman. "What did I tell ya? No such thing as ghosts."

Eggman nodded. " Now I've got nothing to fear, except maybe that numbness in my left arm. I'm sure it's nothing."

That afternoon, Eggman woke from his slumber to a ghostly sound. He sat up, shuddering. "Wh-who's there."

A ghost fell in front of him, and Eggman shrieked. But he calmed himself pretty quickly. "No. Ghosts aren't real. This is all a trick, just like Barker showed me." He grabbed a pair of scissors and tried cutting the top where the rope was supposed to be, but nothing.

"Oh, that's no good." Eggman gulped.

The ghost moved up to Eggman, and he shrieked. "GHOSTS ARE REAL!" He screamed, running away. He ran up to Barker, still in his nightly onesies. He told Barker the story and Barker nodded. ": I've heard of this before. Some good-looking entrepreneur type opens a humble haunted attraction on the smallest of Gogoba burial grounds only to anger the spirit world and send a cavalcade of ghouls."

Eggman glared at him. "Straight into my lair! So this is all your fault!"

"Now, let's not point numb fingers. I'm sure everything's going to be just fine."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to live in a haunted lair."

"I'm a reasonable fellow. I'm not gonna just leave you in your time of need. How about I take that lair of your hands? Free you of the burden of ghost ownership?"

" And what guarantee do I get that the ghosts won't follow me?"

"Oh, you're a shrewd businessman. I'll just have to stipulate that the sale includes any and all items inside the lair. After all, ghosts are powerless against red tape." He held out a contract, and Eggman signed it, also giving Barker his keys. "The old Eggman negotiating skills. Still got it."

Penny hummed as she snuggled with Sonic, the two resting in his hammock. Their rest was interrupted when the sound of a hammer soon filled the air, and Penny and Sonic both shrieked, falling off the hammock. Penny groaned.

Sonic shared the same look of annoyance as well. " It's 2:30 in the afternoon. People are trying to sleep!" He turned to Penny and asked, "are you okay?"

Penny nodded, groaning as she sat up, blinking the sleepies from her eyes. She watched as Sonic walked to the door, and he paused. Quite curious, the girl picked herself up and walked up to him, and much to her surprise she saw Eggman building a bad looking house next to them.

"Hey, Eggman, what's up?" Penny called.

Eggman turned from his work and grinned. " Since my lair is full of one hundred percent certified evil spirits, I had to sell the place to Barker. Looks like we're gonna be beach buddies!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sonic screamed.

Penny, Sonic, and Eggman walked up to his lair. "Okay, we're going to get to the bottom of..." Sonic stopped and raised his eyes. "What's going on here?"

"What is Barker doing at your lair?" Penny asked, quite surprised to see Barker standing in front of Eggman's lair with a line of people behind him.

"Welcome thrilled seekers to the most fear-incusing attraction yet: The Deadly Lair." Barker announced.

Quite annoyed, Eggman stomped over to Barker. " Have you gone mad? You'll anger the spirit world again!"

"Don't be drafted, Egghead. Barker conned you. He was just looking for a bigger, better venue for his attraction. I'll show you." Sonic said.

Barker held out his hand. "That'll be fifty bucks. Each."

Sonic and Penny groaned, handing Barker a 50 dollar bill. Eggman whistled, but Penny slapped him. If he wanted his lair back, then he was going to have to sacrifice 50 dollars. Eggman sighed, getting the point, and handed Barker 50 dollars. Barker hummed in satisfaction and let the trio walk in.

Inside, Eggman hid behind Penny, whimpering. A ghostly moan was heard, and Eggman shrieked. "No! Take Sonic and Penny, not me!"

Penny and Sonic both groaned. Sonic took the liberty of tuning on the lights, and Eggman glanced around in confusion. "Huh?"

"It's no ghosts." Penny told him with a sigh. "Just smoke and mirrors."

Eggman glared at her. "What makes you so sure?"

Sonic hummed. "Well, for starters, the smoke and the mirrors." He said, motioning his hand towards the mirrors.

"And then there's the digital projection of the ghosts." Penny added, pointing to Sonic who was giggling and making hand shadows.

Eggman stomped out and walked right up to Barker with a scowl. "You conned me. Give me back my lair!"

"Sorry Eggman, a deal's a deal."

"Oh yeah? Well, let's see what my robots have to say about that."

"Don't you mean my robots? The sale included any and all items inside the lair. Remember?" Barker smirked, pressing a button on a remote. Decimator Bot and Brunbot entered and dragged Eggman out. Eggman glared at Barker. "No, you can't do this to me! I created you! These are crooks. There aren't any real ghosts in there! It's a sham!"

Eggman let out a scream as Burnbot tossed him in the air. The people turned to Barker with a frown, suddenly suspicious. " Mr. Barker, is that lunatic ranting the truth?" Beaverton asked in suspicion.

Barker shook his head. "No, this lair really is haunted. What would I have to gain from lying to you good people?" He took his hat off and a bunch of coins tumbled to the ground. Barker's ears drooped as the people gasped and walked away.

"Come back!" Barker protested. "There are more reprehensible attractions out there. At least I'm not hurting any whales!"

Back on the beach, Eggman sighed as he drew on the ground with a stick. "Great, after everyone saw me getting tossed out of my own lair, they don't respect or fear me anymore!" He snapped his stick and narrowed his eyes. "Time to call in the big guns!"

Orbot, who wore a crudely drawn Eggman mask, hit Cubot with a rolled up magazine. "Okay, my turn!" Orbot said, handing Cubot the mask.

" Orbot. Cubot. You there?" Eggman's voice rang out.

Orbot glanced at Cubot in surprise. "Oh, your impression has gotten so much better."

Cubot's eyes widened. " Hey Doc. You're in my head!"

"Yeah, and I've got plenty of room in here too." Eggman said sarcastically. "Listen, I need you two dimwits to help me retake the lair."

Screams were heard from the villagers as Penny and the gang ran up, their weapons at ready. Sonic glared at Barker. "Not so fast, Barker!"

Barker, who was riding in Eggman's mobile, glared at them. "It's over Sonic. The denouement! The final crescendo! Your meddling cost me my business! Now, prepare to make acquaintance with your demise, for it is imminent!"

" For all Eggman's faults, at least I understood what he was saying." Knuckles hummed, and Penny slapped her head with a groan.

"Automatons: action!"

The fight began. Motobugs zoomed up, and Knuckles tried to punch them from the air, but missed. The Motobugs the circle around Sonic, Penny, Tails, and Sticks while firing lasers at them. Sonic quickly pushed Penny away as a Beetle Bot blasts another laser at them. The human girl gasped and covered her head as she and Sonic collided to the ground. Sonic tried to attack it, but the bee used some type of force-field to block his attacks. Penny let out a moan, completely dizzy as she watched the swarms of bots surround them, more dangerous than ever before. The gang ducked ot the ground, and Sonic laid on top of Penny, protecting her from the lasers. The human girl whimpered, curling up and covering herself and her ears.

Sticks's eyes widened. "Why are we having so much trouble here? We fight these jobber bots all the time."

"Sticks is right!" Penny gasped from underneath Sonic. "We've never seen anything like this!"

"Barker's running plays we've never seen before. This guy has got a real strategy!" Tails said, eyes wide.

Sonic narrowed his eyes, grabbing Penny in his arms. "Well, strategy or not, I am gonna get to smashing. Sorry Pen, but this seems to be one of those fights you'll have to stay out of."

Penny nodded, gripping to him. Sonic quickly zoomed her to a safer spot and dodged back to the battle.

Back in Headquarters, Orbot and Cubot stealthily made their way to the control room. "We're in the HQ room, boss." Cubot announced.

"Perfect! Now head to the console."

Orbot and Cubot were about to move forward but winced as Stunt Bear 1 moved. After a moment, they sighed and pressed on.

"Sir, we need to keep our volume at a sensible level." Orbot whispered.

" What?! I can't hear you! You'll have to be louder!" Eggman yelled. Both robots winced, and one of the bots grabbed Orbot in his arms, cuddling him like a teddy bear. Well, it seemed that it was up to Cubot to stop Barker. The square shaped robot rolled up to the console and listened to Eggman's instructions. "First thing's first. I need you to delete my internet searches, but don't look at it. Now, install the virus."

Penny clung to the tree Sonic placed her in, watching the fight below with wide eyes. Things weren't looking so good...robots had the gang surrounded. As much as she wanted to help, she didn't want to face Sonic's lectures, so she stayed put.

Barker smirked as he glanced at his trapped enemies. " Looks like all these old robots needed was a new business plan, and as CEO of Eggman Industries..." He sighed, mumbling. "Really ought to change that name... I assure you. You'll all be torn to shreds with the utmost efficiency."

Knuckles nodded. "That's a relief."

As fast as it happened, the robot's yellow eyes turned white. They quickly turned to Barker and started firing at him. Barker screamed. "Argh! This is mutiny!"

Penny grinned and climbed down the tree up to Sonic's side, giving him a huge hug, which he returned.

Barker fell out of the mobile and turned to Eggman. Eggman glared at him. "Yup, heard of this before. Looks like your robots have contracted the Anti-allegiance Virus. They're not gonna stop until they've destroyed their master. Hey, that's you, isn't it?"

"You gotta do something!" Barker gasped.

"Tell you what. Since I'm a reasonable fellow, I'm not gonna leave you in your time of need. How about I take that lair of your hands? Once I'm their master, you'll be off the hook." Eggman suggested.

Barker growled and quickly changed his mind as a Motobug fired at him. Barker quickly jumped back and tore the paper away and also tossed Eggman's keys back. "Take it it's yours!"

Barker ran off.

Eggman turned his robots back to the state they were in when Barker held control of them and turned to Sonic. "Eggman's back in business. baby! You ready for a battle, hedgehog?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Aren't I always?!"

He, Penny, and the gang let out a yell as they returned to the battle again.

NEXT CHAPTER: VECTOR DETECTOR