Oh wow, guys, I am SO sorry this took so long. Thesis has been taking up the most of my time and, unfortunately, it continues to take up most of my time. I'm sorry to say this but updates are REALLY going to be few and far in between for the time being since I need to make a lot of revisions for my Creative Writing thesis.

In the meantime, I hope this new chapter will tide you guys over for the time being.

And in unrelated news, I have finally watched the Sonic movie! And, Holy Shields, it was AMAZING! I might watch it again just to see if I can spot any more Easter eggs from the games. If you guys haven't seen it yet, make like Sonic and go see it! It's such a fun movie… and stick around during the credits. Trust me, you'll thank me later! ;)

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS GO TO SEGA!


Chapter 8

Uncle Chuck huffed and puffed as he ran through the woods, swatting branches out of his path. The sun was already beginning to set. Shadows crept up over the grass as he ran. 'I shouldn't have let him come back here. I should have let Team Dark handle this mission like he wanted,' he thought, his hands going up to grip his quills as he ran.

Of all the days Eggman decided to let loose one of his schemes, he had to pick today. And of all the places he could launch said schemes, he had to choose Christmas Island.

Uncle Chuck slowed his pace as he came to a clearing. He looked all around him, hoping to see a speck of blue amongst all the green.

"Sonny boy, where are you?" he wondered out loud before hearing some rustling behind him.

"Hey, Unk…"

Sonic emerged from the vegetation, his normally perky blue ears drooping.

Sighing, Uncle Chuck went over to him. He wrapped his arms around his nephew, letting Sonic rest his head on his shoulder.

"You had me worried," he whispered, running his hands through Sonic's quills.

"I couldn't help it, Unk." Sonic hugged his uncle. "This place… I keep seeing her everywhere," he said, his throat tight with tears.

"I know…" Uncle Chuck murmured. His run through the island, while he searched for his nephew earlier, had sent memories flooding back into his mind, too.

Uncle Chuck patted Sonic's shoulders. "The sooner we stop Dr. Eggman, the sooner we can leave, Sonic," he reassured his nephew with a smile.

"Right," Sonic replied, perking up a little.

The two made their way out of the forest in silence. Upon arriving back at the village, they were greeted by a gaggle of children who immediately surrounded Sonic.

"It's really you! Sonic the Hedgehog!" a blond-furred puppy exclaimed, his tail wagging so fast that it was a blur.

"Y-you're really here! Ohmigosh, can I please, please, please get your autograph?!" A female panda cub asked the Blue Blur.

"Are you here to stop the monsters?" A female black-headed Caiques piped up. She was newly-fledged, judging by few wisps of fluffy green feathers still clinging to her neck.

More children gathered around the famous hero, peppering him with questions. Sonic smiled, his sour mood evaporating. He hadn't noticed the children running around the island earlier. The memories of all the bad times had clouded his thoughts. Seeing the kids approaching him with smiles on their faces instead of the scowls he'd been greeted with in the past was, honestly, a huge relief.

"Okay! First off, the one and only." He bowed grandly to the puppy who had approached him first. "Second, sure thing, kid!" he smiled at the panda cub.

The panda cub squealed and whipped out a blue notebook decorated with stickers of the hero and a pen.

Sonic grinned. "Can I get your name, mademoiselle?" he asked as he put the pen to a blank page.

"Sophie. Sophie Pandara," the panda cub replied, her cheeks flushed pink.

The pen scratched against the paper as Sonic slowly signed his name. He then looked at Sophie, his smile shrinking. "You're Elsie Pandara's kid?" he asked softly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uncle Chuck stiffen, the elder hedgehog watching the children closely.

"Uh-huh! Wait, you know my Mom?" Sophie gasped.

"We… go way back," Sonic replied as he finished his signature with a flourish. Handing the notebook back to Sophie, he marveled at how different the little girl was from her mother.

"That's what my dad said, too!" the blond puppy chimed in.

"Your Dad…?" Sonic looked at the pup, his head tilted to the side. Then he snapped his fingers. "Jayden Doggstar?" he inquired.

"Yup! And I'm Rody!" the pup answered, holding his right hand out.

'Again. Nothing like his parent…' Sonic thought as he shook hands with Rody.

"U-um, excuse me…" the young Caiques said softly, making Sonic and all the other kids look at her. "A-are you here to help us, Mr. Sonic?" she asked, wrapping her wings around herself.

Sophie, Rody, and all of the other kids nodded their heads.

"Yeah, the Eggman tricked us!"

"He said he was gonna help the town but he sent these big scary monsters!"

"Please help us, Mr. Sonic!"

Sonic glanced at his Uncle Chuck. The elder hedgehog merely gave him a smile and gestured to the group of children, who were all looking up at Sonic with hope in their eyes.

'I still don't like being here… but I'm not gonna let Eggman hurt these kids,' he said to himself before flashing a cocky grin at the children.

"Whatever plan Eggman's cooked up, I'll thwart it in no time! So no need to worry, kids! Sonic the Hedgehog is on the case!" he reassured them, pumping his fist in the air.

The children cheered and led Sonic and Uncle Chuck back to the village plaza, asking questions all the while. The young Caiques parrot tugged at Sonic's glove and chirped, "M-my name's Lucia, by the way. My mommy told me you used to live here…"

"Yup. I did," Sonic replied, smiling gently at her.

"Why did you leave?"

Sonic stumbled, nearly bumping into Rody while the pup continued chattering. Beside him, Uncle Chuck sucked in a breath.

"W-well, I…" Sonic paused and noticed that the kids had all stopped walking and were looking at him again. Shuffling closer to Uncle Chuck, Sonic wrung his hands.

"I… needed to leave. I mean, there's a whole world out there that's just waiting to be explored. A-and a lot of villains for me to stop, too! You know, before they decided to invade Christmas Island!" he rambled.

'But you said it yourself earlier, didn't you? The people here could benefit from getting their butts kicked by Eggman. Maybe, now, they'll see why they shouldn't have treated you and Fatima so horribly,' his inner voice told him.

'Shut up. I don't want to think about this now,' Sonic mentally scolded himself.

The kids nodded their heads in understanding, unaware of the inner war being waged inside of their hero's mind.

"That's true… Christmas Island's pretty small. Nothing really bad ever happens here," Rody said, shrugging.

Sonic and Uncle Chuck looked at each other, eyes wide.

The children didn't know.


Sonic remained silent as he and his Uncle were led to the village plaza, the latter now preoccupied with answering questions from the children about being the uncle of the world's fastest hero. But the children quickly dispersed when they heard their parents calling for them, leaving Sonic and Uncle Chuck alone.

"Sonic, there you are!" Tails waved as the two hedgehogs came into view. He and the rest of the team were hanging around the Century Tree, discussing plans with Ashley and Karla.

"Sorry for bailing earlier, bro," Sonic apologized, jogging over to the two-tailed fox. He noticed Amy and the others looking at him, worried. "So, what'd I miss?" he asked.

"Well, we know where Eggman's Badniks came from when they attacked the first time." Tails pulled up a hologram of Christmas Island's map on the Miles Electric and pointed at the blinking Eggman logo. "Eyewitness reports indicate that they came from the northwest portion of the island. According to Ashley, Eggman's built a generator over there," he informed Sonic and Uncle Chuck.

Sonic looked at Ashley and Karla. "Seriously?" he deadpanned.

"We thought he was one of those power plant executives from the mainland. He said he was going to help supply our town with more electricity," Ashley explained.

"Did he have, oh, I don't know… a whole army of robots with him when he came here?" Sonic asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"He said they were his construction crew," Karla replied, narrowing her golden eyes at the blue hedgehog.

Letting out a breath through his nose, Sonic turned to his friends. "Okay. We know where Eggman's forces are most likely coming from. They're coming from the power plant, which is obviously another one of his factories. What should our strategy be?" he asked.

"Shadow and I can scout the island's northwest area for the factory. If we infiltrate it, we can find a weak spot and relay the information back to you," Rouge suggested.

"In the meantime, the rest of us can keep an eye on the village perimeter and chase off any robots before they can attack civilians," Blaze added.

"Solid plans." Uncle Chuck folded his arms across his chest. "Did you guys find any leads as to where Eggman's factory is located?" he asked.

"Actually, we do, Uncle Chuck." Tails tapped on the Miles Electric's screen, making the Eggman logo blink and change location.

Sonic took one look at the alleged factory site and paled. "That's…" he managed to whisper before screams suddenly sounded from the distance.

"Over there!" Silver shouted, pointing at a plume of smoke rising from a quarter of a mile away from the village plaza.

Sonic gave Ashley and Karla a fierce glare before joining his friends in heading over to the distress area.


When they arrived, the team found themselves face-to-face with an army of Ghost Badniks.

"Divide and conquer, guys!" Knuckles pounded his fists together and prepared to run right into the fray.

"Hold up, Knuckles!" Sonic held his hotheaded friend back. His eyes darted from one Badnik to another, taking in the design and structure of the Doctor's machines. Blast cannons on both arms, glowing red eyes that could indicate lasers.

Sonic zeroed in on the torsos. His spines immediately stood on end and he nearly recoiled in horror upon seeing the black fireballs contained within each one. No wonder the island was infested with ghosts. Somehow, Eggman had found a way to use them as power sources.

"Target the heads and arms! Whatever you do, do not let the fireballs inside of those bots touch you!" he warned Knuckles and the rest of the team.

"I'll try to evacuate as many as I can, Sonny boy. Go get 'em!" Uncle Chuck hollered, already breaking off from the group.

"Let's get these Badniks out of here, guys!" Amy shouted, readying her piko piko hammer.

With Sonic leading the charge, the heroes sprung into action!


Silver zipped over to a house, using his telekinesis to lift one Ghost Badnik that was blasting holes through its roof. "Heads up, Blaze!" he yelled, flinging the Badnik into another Badnik his feline companion was torching with her flames. He then floated down into the house to rescue the family hiding in there and led them away from the area.

Blaze unleashed a fiery kick, the two Badniks crashing to the ground in a smelted heap. Then she saw more Badniks setting fire to some houses and her eyes widened. "Black flames… How is that even possible?" she murmured before hearing a Badnik coming at her from behind and nimbly leaped into the air to dodge.

Omega, his rocket thrusters lit, caught Blaze and let her sit on his shoulder. "LET US TORCH THESE EGGMAN MOSTROSITIES TOGETHER!" he droned, his guns spraying bullets. Blaze smiled at the robot's enthusiasm and was more than happy to hurl a couple of fireballs at Badniks alongside Omega.


Amy grunted as she knocked a Badnik's head off of its shoulders. She yelped as another one whizzed by her, spewing black flames from its hands. She would have been burned to a crisp of Tails hadn't swooped in and carried her out of the fire's path.

"Those black fireballs must be their power source! We have to snuff them out!" Tails said, his eyes trained on the orbs embedded within the Badniks' torsos.

"But Sonic warned us not to let those things touch us!" Amy reminded him as Tails set her back down on the ground near Knuckles.

The echidna was punching Badniks left and right, knocking the heads and arms clean off. He was just about to punch another Badnik right in the torso when Sonic's warning came back to him. His amethyst eyes narrowed at the black fireball contained within the Badnik's torso and a chill went up his spine.

'I don't know why Sonic warned us not to let those things touch us. But I'm definitely feeling a lot of negative energy coming from that thing,' Knuckles thought before leaping up and decapitating the Badnik.


Shadow and Rouge were on the ground with Uncle Chuck, providing cover fire for the elder hedgehog as he evacuated the villagers.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled, taking down five airborne Badniks in one strike.

But, to his horror, some of the Chaos Spears had shattered the orbs of each Badnik. And the black fireballs flew out!

"Duck!" Rouge pulled Shadow to the ground just as one fireball came dangerously close to the Ultimate Lifeform.


High up in the clouds, Multo watched the attack with Orbot and Cubot perched on both sides of her Ghost Badnik.

"Hmmm… these guys are tough. Just like him," she mused, the Doctor's glowing red eyes trained on the blue blur tearing through the battlefield.

A cornered lamb let out pitiful bleats as a Badnik cornered him. Tears welled up in his eyes as the robot's blast cannons started to glow with a sickly gray light.

Sonic had just taken down three Badniks with a Spin Dash when he spotted the cornered child. He dashed forward and leaped out in front of the frightened lamb. "Pick on someone your own size, you Terminator reject!" he yelled.

The Ghost Badnik's red eyes flashed as it gazed down at the pair. It raised its arm, preparing to fire a blast.

"Ah, ah, ah! What did I say earlier?" Multo growled, the dark aura around Eggman intensifying.

Meanwhile, Sonic watched as the Ghost Badnik suddenly lowered its firing arm. Then, to his bewilderment, the Badnik turned around and started walking away.

"All right, kid. Let's juice!" Sonic scooped up the child into his arms and ran.

"You must really want to finish off Sonic yourself, Ms. Multo," Orbot said, watching the battle from high above.

"I didn't say that," Mutlo shook the Doctor's head.

"So you're letting Sonic live?" Cubot tilted his head at her.

"Yes." Multo nodded and continued watching. She smiled, seeing some of the ghosts freed from their Badniks and causing a ruckus. A couple of smashed robots was a small price to pay for what else she had in store for Christmas Island and its residents.

"All right. I think we've seen enough."


An unholy screech suddenly ripped through the air, making everyone cover their ears. All surviving Badniks rose into the air and followed the sound until they disappeared into the darkening sky.

Sonic wiped the sweat off his brow and looked up at the retreating swarm of Badniks. There were significantly fewer of them now thanks to his friends, but the job wasn't done yet.

'Using dark spirits to power his robots... That doesn't sound like Eggman at all. But, then again, the guy's unleashed literal gods and demons onto the world. Still... what exactly are you planning to do here, Doctor?' Sonic thought, his eyes narrowed as he watched Eggman's forces retreat.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Taking it out of his quills, Sonic noticed Uncle Chuck's caller ID and immediately answered.

"Sonny boy, I'm over here at the hospital with the evacuees. I didn't see any of them… but I think some of the spirits might have possessed some of the kids," his uncle told him, his voice frantic.

Sonic rushed over to the hospital, his friends not far behind. Inside, he saw Jayden and another Mobian dog, his wife most likely, standing beside a bed where Rody was lying on. Not far from them was an adult Caiques parrot who was crying over Lucia.

"The staff here are getting pretty overwhelmed. They've tried the usual medication and procedures but nothing's working…" Uncle Chuck murmured as his nephew and the gang joined him in the emergency room.

Sonic's eyes narrowed as he inspected the two kids. Their eyes had rolled up into the backs of their heads, the whites visible. Rody's body was twitching as he babbled nonsense while Lucia kept tossing her head side to side.

"Do any of you have a medical history of seizures in your family? What exactly happened?" Sonic asked the parents.

"N-none. Rody's had a clean bill of health since his last asthma attack two years ago," Jayden stuttered.

"And my Lucia's never had a cold in her life!" the adult Caiques parrot added.

"It was those black fireballs," Jayden's wife whimpered. "Th-they went after the children and… and they shot right into their chests! Rody didn't get burnt but he suddenly collapsed and started acting like this!"

"I'll need candles, water, oil, and salt," Sonic instructed the nurses and doctors gathered inside the emergency room. When they stared at him and didn't move, he balled his hands at his sides. "No time for questions, people!" he snapped, startling the adults into moving.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Amy asked, gently placing a hand on the blue hedgehog's shoulder.

Looking over his shoulder, Sonic saw Amy, Blaze, Knuckles, Omega, Rouge, Shadow, Silver, and Tails all looking at him worriedly. Calming down a little, he faced his friends. He wanted to tell them so badly the reasons why.

Why he'd been acting all weird ever since they arrived here, why he and Uncle Chuck left Christmas Island in the first place…

But not now. Not when lives and souls were at stake.

The doctors and nurses came back with all of the materials Sonic had requested, and the Blue Blur got to work.

"Blue, what exactly are you up to?" Rouge asked, frowning.

Sonic didn't reply, focusing on lighting the candles and arranging them around Rody and Lucia's hospital beds. Once this was done, he sprinkled salt on the sheets, making sure not to get any on the children.

Lucia let out a shriek and her wings thrashed, sending grains of salt flying. Jayden's babbling worsened, the pup starting to foam at the mouth.

"I'm going to need you guys to hold them down," Sonic instructed the parents, pouring oil over his fingers. Standing in between the hospital beds, he anointed Rody and Lucia's foreheads with the oil before looking at his friends. "Everyone else, please leave," he ordered.

"B-but Sonic, what if you need help?" Tails took a step towards his brother and flinched when both Rody and Lucia's bodies started convulsing.

"I can handle this, Tails. The fewer people are inside, the harder it'll be for the spirits to find new hosts," Sonic said seriously.

"Spirits? Hosts?" Silver gaped at the blue hedgehog.

"Unless any of you want to know what it's like to have a ghost latch onto your soul, I highly recommend that you guys leave," Sonic said sternly, shocking the others.

"You really know how to perform an exorcism?" Knuckles asked his blue friend, eyes wide.

Sonic spared a second to look at Knuckles and nodded. "I got this, Knux," he reassured him.

Nodding, Knuckles motioned to the rest of the team to clear out.

"Sonic…" Uncle Chuck helped the mother parrot in holding down Lucia. "Please be careful," he murmured.

Sonic nodded, his face grim. Focusing on Rody and Lucia, the poor kids convulsing on the beds, he poured water over their heads and closed his eyes.

"This is not your place. It is time for you to move on…"


"I'm worried… What if these ghosts possess Sonic next?" Amy whispered, clasping her hands to her chest.

"I felt the dark energy swirling around those Badniks earlier. There is something supernatural at work here. I shudder to think of what evil forces Eggman must be working with this time around," Blaze agreed, her arms folded across her chest.

"We're just going to have to trust him, Amy." Knuckles patted the pink hedgehog's shoulder. He smirked. "But if Sonic does get possessed, I'm sure I can punch the ghosts right out of him," he remarked.

"That'll just make you their next target, Knuckles. Frankly, I don't want to know what a ghost with your brute strength is capable of," Silver pointed out, shuddering.

"CANNOT COMPUTE MEANING OF SONIC'S WORDS. ORGANIC LIFEFORMS' READINGS EARLIER WERE UNDECIPHERABLE," Omega intoned.

"Tails, hun, did you know anything about this?" Rouge asked the two-tailed fox who was pacing in front of the emergency room's double doors.

Tails' namesakes started twirling behind him as he thought hard. "Sonic… He told me not long after we first met that he could see ghosts and that he could talk to them. Some of them actually even like hanging around him. Whenever I get a little cold while I'm around Sonic, he would just talk to the air before the temperature around him would return to normal," he mumbled.

Shadow leaned against the wall, soaking in all of this information. 'The faker never ceases to amaze us all…' he thought, glancing at the emergency room's closed doors.

Shrieks and screams could be heard from inside. Shadow could only hope that it was the spirits who were in pain, and not the children Sonic was trying to help. And, secretly, Shadow hoped that Sonic wasn't going to get hurt. True, the blue hedgehog had assured them that he knew how to exorcise spirits out of people but…

Unable to restrain himself, Shadow snuck over to the emergency room's closed doors and opened one of them just a crack. Then Shadow peered inside and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Sonic was glaring at a dark cloud-like mass hovering over Rody and Lucia, his hands held out in front of him. The mass swirled and writhed in the air as the children screamed bloody murder, their parents and Uncle Chuck struggling to hold them down.

Sonic opened his mouth and spoke in a loud commanding voice, "You hold no power over the living. Your place is in the realm of the dead. In the name of Chaos, I command you to depart!"

The dark mass cowered before the blue hedgehog before splitting into two.

Shadow felt his blood turn to ice as the two masses morphed into the forms of a Mobian squirrel and a Mobian poodle, black flames cloaking their bodies. He watched Sonic face the ghosts, the blue hedgehog making the sign of the cross in front of the two.

"They are innocents. Leave them," said Sonic, glaring sternly at the two ghosts.

"We were just following orders. To cause chaos and misery for the people of this island, as Multo wants," the ghost squirrel said, raising its hands in surrender.

"Who is Multo?" Sonic asked, folding his arms over his chest.

The poodle answered him, smiling wickedly. "She leads us in the guise of the one you call Eggman. She will not stop until all of Christmas Island fears her," it replied.

Sonic frowned at the two ghosts, pressing the palms of his hands together as if in prayer. "Well, I will make sure that Multo is stopped. Away! It is time for you two to move on from the mortal realm!" he declared.

The two ghosts grinned. "Very well, Sonic Hedgehog. We shall depart. But Multo is coming. And the people shall pay for their sins," they said darkly before their forms turned into wisps of dark smoke.

Sonic shivered, holding onto the railing of Lucia's bed. Dimly, he was aware of the young parrot and Rody waking up. He heard Rody, his wife, and Lucia's mother shout with joy as they hugged and kissed their children but he couldn't focus. The ghosts' eerie warnings echoed in his head, sending chills up his spine.

'How do the dark spirits even know about what happened?' he wondered, his gaze drifting towards the doors. Tails and the others must be worried sick about him now…

"You did it, Sonny boy," Uncle Chuck said softly, snapping Sonic out of his troubled thoughts. The elder hedgehog leaned in and whispered, "She'd be so proud of you," making Sonic smile a little.

"Heh… Thanks, Unk…" Sonic whispered back, giving his uncle a thumbs up.


Unbeknownst to both Sonic and Uncle Chuck, Shadow had seen the whole thing. Leaning against the wall, the Ultimate Lifeform took a shaky breath.

What Sonic just did in there… he wasn't sure whether to be amazed or frightened of him now.

But one thing was for certain… and it was that Dr. Eggman was now the least of their problems.


I admit that I feel like this chapter isn't the best one I've written. I'll be going back to this one and revising it when I have the time.

In the meantime, read and review!

-GuardianDragon98