Disclaimer: I own none of the licensed characters except the OC's. Author's notes and inspiration are at the end. Be warned, this is in the form of a script. Sort of.
The camera opens on a red door with a skinny, sideways oval shaped peephole in the top center. A cyan eye symbol is in the middle of it.
The door opens with a slow creak as we see the shadows of five figures walk in. The five figures are revealed to be Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose, Knuckles, and Shadow. They tread lightly into the room, looking around cautiously at the interior. It is dark, but a staircase can be made out on the right, a living room area with a coffee table and fireplace on the left, and an old grandfather clock against the wall facing the door.
As soon as they all enter the hallway, the door slams shut. The characters whip around and gasp, looking both spooked and alarmed. The screen cuts from their expressions to a speaker in the corner of the wall in the living room. A female voice plays over.
"Welcome… To the House of Anubis!"
They all look up curiously in the direction of the speaker. Sonic is the first to speak.
Sonic: …You mean that boarding school show about the girl going missing and the cults and the ancient magic stuff?
Screen changes from Sonic's curious expression to the five standing in front of a regal black cat with tall ears and a skinny tail. She is wearing a broad gold and blue collar around her neck, and golden bracelets and bangles around her arms and wrists. On her left arm is a golden snake bracelet with a dark green gem in the middle. She is wearing a simple white tunic with gold trimming that is longer on the right side than the left, being able to only cover the left thigh. She wears bronze sandals that have lacing extending over her ankles. She has a black nose and golden eyes.
Pandora: My name is Pandora.
She bows before the group. A slideshow of their curious faces plays as she talks.
Pandora: You five have been selected by yours truly to participate in this… escape room, if you will… Consider it a call of faith. All you have to do is solve the puzzles of this house, find the treasure by 7:00 am, and you can go home.
Sonic smirks, smacking his left fist into his right palm.
Sonic: That's it? Piece o' cake!
Pandora turns to Sonic with an amused yet dark expression.
Pandora: It won't be that easy…
The scene fades to black, showing the group standing around Tails, looking inquisitively at the object in his hands: a circular spyglass artifact the length of the fox's ear.
Pandora: These puzzles were crafted by the smartest of the royal families…
The artifact is put into focus, showing it has six parts covered in Egyptian symbols that can be turned around. It is made of wood and plated with gold. The head looks like a dog, with red jewels for the eyes, and a big red jewel can partially be seen in the mouth area.
Pandora: …One clue will lead you to another…
We see Amy take a golden pyramid off of a pedestal in the middle of a chamber. The pedestal moves down as she, Tails, and Knuckles watch in surprise.
Pandora: …Each one is guarded by a number of deadly obstacles…
Sonic almost runs straight off a steep cliff. He looks down as bits of rock fall into the dark abyss. The second scene shows Sonic and Knuckles looking on in alarm as a sea of rocks comes towards them. Next all five are seen standing in front of a statue of Pharaoh King Tut. Its eyes begin to glow as it slowly moves its stiff limbs.
Pandora: …And your enemies lie in wait…
Sonic and Amy arrive in a burial chamber with a golden sarcophagus in the middle. Against the walls are statues of black cats with jewelry made out of various precious gems: gold, platinum, emeralds, and rubies. Their eyes glow green as they come to life, hissing at the two hedgehogs.
Amy: Ah!
Sonic: Whoa!
Pandora: …coated by a veil of darkness…
As this is said, an army of moaning mummies shuffle out of the shadows, heading straight towards Knuckles and Amy, the latter of which looks surprised while the former is prepared to fight, holding up his fists.
Pandora: …and they will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe… even if they have to kill you.
We see Amy jump behind Shadow's back, smacking her hammer against a creature with the body of a hawk and the head of a human. Shadow launches a chaos spear at one that was about to attack from above. We then see that the two are surrounded by a swarm of these creatures, flying about and trying to claw at their fur. Knuckles pulls a ruffled looking Tails behind his back, glaring at three statues of black jackals adorned in golden patterns and jewelry. They step closer, cornering the two against a wall as they growl and bare their silver teeth. Sonic and Shadow are in a chamber full of treasures, weapons, and gems, facing off against a statue of Horus as it slowly comes to life. Its eyes glow bright green as it lets out an ear screeching roar. Tails is seen running away from a hoard of angry scarabs, going down a narrow hallway before sliding under a door just as it shuts with a thud.
The scene then cuts back to Shadow crossing his arms and not looking the least bit worried.
Shadow: Hmph. Is that it?
From the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog…
Tails' eyes widen as the last dial on the artifact clicks.
Tails: Guys! Look at this!
Comes an all new adventure!
Sonic: Now THIS is more like it!
Sonic smirks as he speeds through a hallway full of swinging axes, falling boulders, and spikes.
A house full of mystery…
Amy: This house must be hundreds of years old.
We pan out and around to get a better look at the house. It's old English style, standing at four stories tall, with two pointed towers in the front, and many windows. The brick is red while the roofs are brown.
Knuckles nearly jumps when a wooden board falls from the ceiling in front of him.
Knuckles: Yeah. No kidding…
…Filled to the brim with mind boggling puzzles…
Sonic studies a wall full of Egyptian hieroglyphics and pictures. He hums while stroking his chin, tilting his head to the left.
Sonic: …Welp. I got nothing. You?
He looks directly at Knuckles, who is standing just a few inches behind him.
Knuckles: Don't look at me.
In another scene, Shadow places a blue and golden striped flail into the left hand of a statue of Queen Nefertiti. A second later the statue lights up and moves to the side, revealing to Shadow and Amy a narrow tunnel.
Amy: Whoa…
…And a treasure to be found…
Pandora: Somewhere in this house is the Treasure of the Seven Pharaohs: seven priceless artifacts that belonged to seven great Pharaohs…
A scene shows the treasure in a small chamber: a golden scarab, an ankh, a necklace, an eagle crown, a pharaoh's head statue, a sphynx, and a black statue of a jackal. A stone wall slowly closes on the sparkling treasure as Pandora continues to speak.
Pandora: They were hidden away during the Crusades, their whereabouts lost to the sands of time… until now. Do you five think you're worthy of their treasure?
We cut back to Knuckles in the living room, smirking and punching his fists together excitedly.
Knuckles: Now we're talking! I've been itching to go on a treasure hunt again!
Sonic turns to him with an amused expression, placing a hand on his hip.
Sonic: I guess that's your way of saying you call dibs.
However…
A mural of a black jackal with ruby red eyes and a pharaoh's headpiece is seen standing above two dogs praising him. Tails' voice plays over this scene.
Tails: Anubis was the God of Death in ancient Egypt…
…A sinister plot is unfolding…
Pandora walks into a large ritual room full of ancient scrolls, lit candles, jewels, and books. The screen fades to her bowing before a statue of a black jackal holding a scale with a golden feather in one plate and a ruby carved into the shape of a heart in the other.
Pandora: Master… the time draws near for your return… we just need one more… and I know where to find him…
We see Pandora walk into a ruined ritual chamber in the next scene. Pedestals are torn and cracked in half, if not completely destroyed, and debris from the ceiling continues to trickle down around her. She stands over the limp, unmoving, bruised body of Shadow. Purple veins surround his eyes, shooting out and around his face like the roots of a plant. Pandora's golden eyes glow sinisterly in the dark as a wicked grin creeps up her face.
Tails' voice plays over a papyrus showcasing Anubis surrounded by one hundred individuals.
Tails: In order for Anubis to cross into the world of the living, he needs one hundred sacrificed souls, and the ritual must be done under a lunar eclipse…
Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails sit in the living room studying a wrinkled parchment. Amy then gets up and looks out the window worriedly.
Amy: …Isn't that tonight…?
It's a race against the clock…
Knuckles: We've only got until morning to stop Pandora and her crazy ritual!
The grandfather clock strikes twelve, letting out a long, eerie gong sound. Then we see the face of Pandora, smiling cruelly as her eyes glow. We hear her let out a low chuckle.
…To save the world…
Sonic's voice plays over a scene of the moon being covered, and a swirling storm cloud forming over the house. Gold and white lighting course through it as the winds begin to pick up.
Sonic: Tell the old dog that he's just gonna have to settle for ninety nine! 'Cause you're not getting him!
The blue hedgehog stands defensively in front of a red hued Ghost Shadow, who is holding a white crystal in his hands protectively while giving a defiant glare at their foe: a hawk girl with a bronze and ebony mask. She sneers at the two, readying her staff.
Hawk girl: You fool… you cannot change what is already written!
…And their friend.
Shadow: Why are you doing all of this…?
Shadow's line plays as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy react to a swirling portal opening up before them in the living room. Sonic is holding a white crystal in his left palm. He takes a step forward, looking hesitant only for a second.
Sonic: Do I really need to reason to help a friend?
Knuckles is seen hanging onto a column trying to pull Sonic out of a rock slide, grabbing his hand just in time before the hedgehog gets swept down and off a cliff. Sonic yanks a cat statue off of Amy's face, tossing it away before grabbing her hand and dashing down a narrow, torch lit hallway. Tails spin-dashes into a Serpopard before it can bite a dazed Knuckles.
Sonic: I'm not giving up on you Shads…
Tails digs his face into Sonic's chest as he, Knuckles, and Amy look on at a blocked off room in shock and horror. Collapsed wooden beams, dirt, and boulders loom over them.
Sonic: None of us are. You should know this by now.
Knuckles and Sonic fist bump as they stand in a watery shrine, the former holding a white crystal. Both are dripping wet and the hedgehog's quills are slightly disheveled.
Amy and the black cat statue look down at a rolled up parchment. When Amy reads it, her eyes widen a she lets out a small gasp. She then lets out a hopeful smile as she read over its contents.
Amy: This is it...!
Tails: Take this!
Tails holds out from his outstretched palm the same white crystal. It glows briefly before Ghost Shadow emerges from it, charging full speed at a foe offscreen. Sparks flare from his whole body. The two are located in a dark ritual chamber, only lit by purple wax candles with red light. A white circle drawn with chalk lays out at the young fox's feet.
Sonic: We'll get through this… together.
Sonic is kneeling down, holding out his right gloved hand with a soft expression.
Ghost Shadow sits on his knees in a dark purple misty cage. He looks up at Sonic, completely stunned.
Get ready for an all new high stakes adventure!
Sonic: Here we go!
The blue hedgehog smirks as he pushes himself off a wall and into the crocodile faced creature Ammit, knocking them both offscreen.
With some of your favorite characters!
Tails: You know it!
Tails gives a thumbs up, wagging his namesakes while holding a brown book with golden embroidery and Egyptian figures on the cover and spine.
Sonic sidesteps from a charging Horus before spin-dashing into its back.
Roger Craig Smith as Sonic…
Sonic: Whaddya guys say we go for a little spin?
He grins mischievously as he grabs a loose hanging bandage from three mummies and speeds around them in a circle, unraveling them until they turn to piles of dust.
Tails uses his namesakes to whip the head of a Serpopard. It hisses in pain as the little fox looks on in determination.
…Colleen O'Shaughnessy as Tails…
Tails: Just how many secret passageways does one house need?
He and Ghost Shadow stare curiously at the entrance of a passageway hidden behind a bookshelf.
Amy holds her hammer over a hissing black cobra, ready to smack its head. Behind her are Shadow and Knuckles. The latter looks to be in a trance while the other shakes his head and looks on in surprise as the pink hedgehog lets out a battle cry.
…Lisa Ortiz as Amy Rose…
Amy: Y'know, for a few thousand years old cat statue that tried to kill us earlier, you're not so bad.
The pink hedgehog is sitting in a hallway beside Sonic, looking down at a black cat statue; around its neck is a black and gold collar with a green eye in the middle. She pets its head and smiles as it purrs affectionately.
Knuckles runs his hand over a wall of hieroglyphics, studying each symbol carefully with a thoughtful expression.
…Dan Green as Knuckles…
Knuckles: Step aside Sonic. Let the expert handle this.
The two are shown in a cavern. The echidna revs up a fist and punches it into the stone wall in front of him. It collapses immediately, revealing a hole large enough for them to crawl through. Sonic hums in approval, nodding at their work.
Shadow jumps above the Horus statue and stabs a chaos spear into the back of its head.
…Jason Griffith as Shadow…
Shadow: Everytime I'm around you something ALWAYS seems to explode!
As he speaks, Ghost Shadow floats a few inches above cavern ground, crossing his arms and looking annoyed. We then see him fly around a hawk girl, creating a transparent red tornado before grabbing their chest and electrocuting them.
Pandora stands before the statue of Anubis, chanting a few words while pressing her hands together.
…and Marta Svetek as Pandora.
Pandora: You won't stop what needs to be done!
Pandora launches a streak of green lightning at Sonic, who just barely manages to roll out of the way, watching as it scorches the wall behind him. She is then seen grasping Shadow's neck when he tries to charge at her. The cat grins cruelly as she then electrocutes the spectral hedgehog, reveling in his screams. She stands in the middle of a complexly drawn ritual circle, moving her hands in a quick set of motions. Her eyes glow gold as a ring of energy disperses from her body. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles are thrown back, crashing into a wall.
The screen changes to Sonic standing in a cavern with no apparent exits, shrugging casually at the person in front of him.
Sonic: Never a dull moment with any of us.
Ghost Shadow groans and smacks his forehead.
A sequence shows each of the characters standing outside the house. Sonic is in the lead, looking on at the path ahead. Tails is to his right, holding a brown book tightly in his hands. He looks ahead determinedly but with some hesitation and uncertainty. Amy is beside him, holding a flashlight while looking on worriedly. Knuckles is on Sonic's left, clenching one of his fists and holding it up. His amethyst eyes glow fiercely with anticipation. Shadow is behind him, body tense and crimson eyes full of vigor, but he keeps changing from his living form to his ghost form. Behind them is the house, covered in a veil of shadows. The translucent figure of Pandora is behind it, looming over our heroes with an evil smirk on her face and a wicked gleam in her eyes. Behind her is the full moon, shining brightly over them all in the dark purple night sky.
An echo of Pandora's laugh can be heard as the title is revealed.
Sonic the Hedgehog: Escape from Pandora's Box.
Knuckles: We've only been in this house for less than ten hours, and already we've had to deal with mummies, booby-traps, forgotten history, cults, magic, and a plot to screw up the world…
We then see Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles standing in a wide open cavern. The red echidna gets close to Sonic's face, gesturing wildly to him with an incredulous and angry expression. The young fox stands back and watches while sweating and looking sheepish. Sonic looks surprised, but mostly unbothered.
Knuckles: HOW COULD THIS NIGHT GET ANY BETTER!?
All of a sudden the ground beneath them starts to shake. A low rumbling causes the trio to turn their heads, coming face to a face with a gargantuan statue of the Sphinx. Slowly, it rises up, red eyes shining brightly in the dark. When it fully stands up, it roars at the three, causing the cavern to shake even more. The three look on in surprise before Knuckles' arms slump. He groans and facepalms himself dismally.
Knuckles: …Of course…
Coming soon…
Welp. That happened. This was just a really weird and potentially really stupid idea that came to my mind one day. See, I was watching videos about the Nickelodeon show House of Anubis, and, well... cue overactive imagination.
In case anyone got confused, the premise of this hypothetical story was that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow get invited to this really old historical house that looks like the one from HoA. Pandora explains that it's an escape room, and if they can solve the riddles and find the treasure, they can go home filthy stink' rich. However, as the night goes on, the gang get suspicious of her true motives, and before you know it, they find an evil plot to bring Anubis into the World of the Living to do... something ancient and Armageddon-ish that I never figured out. Like I said, it was just a fun dumb idea I spent a few days typing up.
I spent a little bit of time looking up a tiny bit of Egyptian history and info, knowing full well that I would NEVER be able to write this into a full fledged story. A few story beats that I knew would be part of it were:
- The mystery
- Some kind of treasure
- Escape room style
- Pandora being the bad guy and part of a crazy Anubis-worshipping cult
- The existence of a crazy Anubis worshipping cult
- Save the World cliche
- And... Shadow dying.
Yes. Yes he does die in this. No. No, I don't know if he really is immortal, and that doesn't matter because he was never going to stay like that. For a majority of the story, after his death in a booby-trapped ritual chamber, he'd remain as a ghost until Sonic and the gang could find his body and bring him back. Now how thy do that is up to our imaginations because I never figure it out. The white crystal mentioned a few times in the "trailer" is like his protective anchor. And while in this form, he couldn't access his chaos powers, so he'd have to rely on the protection of the others. Yes, it is hinted that he has some kind of electrical spectral powers, but that requires him to get close to the opponent, who will most definitely have ghost-countering maguffin items or powers. Yes, this was basically an excuse to build trust and friendship between the five via damseling an OP character so sue me.
The hawk girl mentioned in only three sentences and Pandora are two original characters created just for this concept. Pandora was inspired by Ebony from Fleetway Sonic (appearance wise), and the hawk girl just came to me. The latter was a lower ranking cult member, while Pandora was the head. And of course, she was the one who rigged the room where Shadow died. Spoiler alert.
The inspiration for this includes not just Sonic and bits of House of Anubis (due to me never being able to finish it), but also parts of the YouTube series Escape the Night. Mainly the villain trapping the heroes in some kind of escape room, and Shadow's fate.
Aaand... yeah, I think that's everything. Sooo... if anyone wants to steal and/or rip off this idea, be my guest, just say where you got it from. or don't. That's okay. I know for a fact that there are many, many, MANY other talented writers out there who could turn this silly idea into something great. So go nuts, you have my consent. I honestly don't know how this works.
Okay, detour done. Next chapter of Security Breach: Demented Edition should be out after this is posted. See ya!