Chapter Fourteen
Ghost Queen-Sorceress: Ghouleena
With Knoal's warning still fresh in mind, Tails and the girls exited the fortune teller's room, ready to head upstairs and take care of the Ghouleena business. But just as they were leaving, they found the hallway shrouded in a veil of ominous red mist. When they looked around the area, the trio were baffled; the red mist was flooding the entire mansion, covering every single room they'd visited here.
"I bet you it's that witch's work." Sticks said, "She knows that we know and she's probably gonna cast some evil illusions to distract us, maybe open a portal to... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A horrid cackling sound made the three heroes shudder and a shadow fell over them. Tails, Amy and Sticks turned around, their hearts thumping, and found themselves face-to-face with a humongous ghost awash in the color of crimson, baring hideous eyes and terrifying demonic horns atop its head.
More phantoms then appeared, baring horns and monstrous eyes. The phantoms glared at the heroes and screamed a hideous laugh, then the demonic specters floated in to attack. Tails knew what to do, he activated his Ghost Vac and the device's hose roared to life, sucking in the mist with the phantoms caught in the pull of the vacuum.
The ghostly beasts howled in terror and tried to grab something, but it was no use; they were sucked up into Tails' vacuum. However, the terror was just getting started!
A scream rattled Amy and Tails' ears, a terrible scream that shivered their spine. They turned around, just in time, seeing Sticks trying to break free from the grasp of a gnarled, scaly hand that had just emerged from the nearby wall and nabbed her. Amy powered down her Vacuum and drew her hammer; nobody tried to harm her friends on her watch and she was going to protect Sticks.
With a yell of determination, the pink hedgehog leaped in and brought her Piko hammer down on the creature's wrist and smacked it so hard, the hand thing dropped Sticks and retreated into the shadows. Sticks caught her breath and took a minute to retrieve her Ghost Vacuum, which she ended up dropping when the hand creature snatched her up. Then, she hugged Amy.
"Th-Thanks, Amy..." The badger said with a shaky voice, "I'm glad you saved your pal, Sticks."
"Friends help each other." Amy reminded Sticks, "No matter what."
"What's that sound?" Tails asked abruptly.
A low ominous howl came its way from above and a large shadow shrouded the trio, Tails looked at Amy and Sticks, the girls looked at each other and back at Tails. Their hearts pounded and their fur crawled with anxiety, they quickly ducked and scattered for cover just as something landed. When the trio looked up, Amy let out a blood-curling scream and covered her mouth to avoid gagging.
Massive, shaped like a hand with multiple fingers for legs, covered in hideous and spiky hair, a monstrous spider-like creature had appeared and looked at the trio with frightening red eyes as it gnashed its mandibles. The monster snarled, clicking its finger legs; it was horror beyond all horror.
Sticks and Amy prepared for battle, drawing their signature weapons. However, the creature spat a web-like substance at the girls, who ducked and then pinched their noses when they began to smell something dreadful that smelled like; sulfuric acid?
Everyone turned to see the web-like substance sticking to the wall, steaming as it burned into the wood and concrete. The monster had spat some kind of phantom acid, had the girls not ducked, their weapons would have been toast or maybe one of them would have been badly burned by the acid.
Whatever this thing was, it had to go quickly...
Tails took flight and dove towards the monster, he flew above its head and stopped twirling his rotors at the right angle with his feet positioned over the weird abomination's head.
CRACK!
The fox dropped down, landing right on top of the creature. He hopped up and down, stomping the strange monster until it stopped moving and dissolved into mist. Amy and Sticks breathed a sigh of relief, they didn't have to worry about whatever that thing was anymore; but there were still phantoms and the sinister sorceress to worry about.
Shrill disembodied cackling echoed through the house, causing Tails to shudder and his namesakes to fluff up. Sticks screamed and Amy shivered, that laugh was hideous, creepy.
"Fools!" A voice howled, "The more time you spend down there, the more phantoms I shall summon from the underworld to terrorize. If you wish to stop this 'nightmare' you face, if you wish to see your friends again; then come to my attic and face me with whatever courage you have left. I am waiting and so are your precious friends, not that you care and they want to be saved anyway."
"It's Ghouleena..." Tails remarked, "She's obviously stirring up trouble, she wants to scare us off. But if we run, we won't save our friends and she will gain more power to conquer our home island. If we spend more time down here, Ghouleena will send more monsters to overwhelm us."
"Well, then we better go up there and kick her magic butt!" Amy decided, "And, hopefully, there will be less horrible supernatural entities for us to face when we deal with her."
"You said it." Sticks told the pink hedgehog and the fox, "Let's get up there already, if we don't do somethin', that witch will probably brainwash Sonic and Knuckles into attackin' us or will probably do some creepy evil voodoo hexing ritual with the power to brainwash the entire island as the first step in her plan to conquer the world. Or worse, Eggman tries to cause a ruckus again!"
-Eggman's Lair-
"Huh?"
Eggman paused the TV and sat up on the couch, looking around the room with a raised eyebrow. He put down the remote and left the sitting room, heading out into the hallway. Eggman looked around curiously, then he waltzed into the main control room of his lair.
The doctor sat down at the control panel and accessed the security feed, looking at the front and back doors of his lair, then he looked at the hallways and his lackey robots' room. Eggman tapped into his Fly Bot network, observing Hedgehog Village and the villagers doing their usual activities and Comedy Chimp in his studio, reading lines for a new comedy sketch he had in the plans.
"Odd." The doctor remarked, "I had the funniest feeling that someone was thinking about me just now. Am I getting a little paranoid or have I been watching too many stories already?"
-The Mansion-
Amy snapped her fingers. "Let's focus!" She told the badger firmly, "Less worrying about Eggman, more kicking Ghouleena's face in and saving our friends before the sorceress overwhelms us with more phantoms!"
"Then after that is done, we can worry about Eggman as usual." Tails agreed.
"Got it, Eggman's not the most of our concerns, it's that crazy sorceress ghost woman!" Sticks jabbered, "Let's get up to that attic and stop our would-be ghost overlords from brainwashin' everyone's minds and ruling the world with a phantom army from the underworld and a crazy horned lunatic who's been the villain in every religious mythology causin' misery for us people."
"Enough already, let's go upstairs!"
Both heroes made their way through the mist to the staircase, keeping an eye out for more enemies in preparation for the next attack that could come at any moment. Tails went first, the fox put his foot on the first step, checking to see if it was safe to climb.
After enough caution, the twin-tailed fox began ascending the stairs, walking up each step carefully, with the girls following behind with their weapons ready. Loud cackles and howling filled the mansion, sending shivers down the heroes' spine, while the mist seemed to let off an eerie gleam. Tails gripped the handle of his Ghost Vacuum, his heart pounded and the fox felt on edge, so did the girls.
Whenever and wherever the next attack happened, it could be waiting in the wings, Ghouleena was not going to let them make it that easily.
Thunder exploded and a massive eyeball-looking monster appeared in front of the trio, roaring loudly enough to shake the mansion to its foundation. Lightning flashed and Tails shrieked, almost dropping the Ghost Vac and would have tripped down the stairs had he not stopped himself in time.
The eyeball roared again, showing teeth in the creature's pupil and a horrific red aura surrounded the eyeball monster. Tails and Amy got ready to fight, their finger hovered over the activation button of their devices. The eyeball roared again and more lightning flashed, scaring Tails even more, but just before any of them could attack...
"YAH!" Sticks threw her boomerang at the eyeball and her trademark weapon smacked the monster hard across its pupil before heading back to Sticks. The eye exploded into a layer of mist, vanishing without a trace left after what felt like a humiliating way to go out; hit by a boomerang without a fight.
"Well, that was an EYE-sore!" Tails said, attempting to add some humor to the situation.
"Shut up, Tails." A mildly unamused Amy told the twin-tailed sidekick.
"Eh, it was fine." Sticks commented, "That actually made sense and lightened the mood."
"Not another word, Sticks."
The three heroes made their way further up the stairs until they'd made it to the next floor, even with all the mist surrounding them. Tails, Amy and Sticks kept an eye out for ghosts and monsters, then they turned left and headed down the hall. Very few phantoms appeared along the way with the trio vacuuming them up, neutralizing the enemies even before they could even begin their attacks.
With little enemies to face, Tails and the girls continued traveling the hall until they found another flight of stairs, leading up to a third floor. No attic on this floor apparently.
Both heroes ascended the staircase and made their way to the next floor of the mansion, looking around cautiously in the event of another attack. Tails, Amy and Sticks turned to the right and jumped in alarm; without warning, the heroic trio were face-to-face with a green-haired woman wearing a black coat with red markings on it.
"Do we know you?" Tails asked.
"My name is Shantaia, Madame Ghouleena's servant..." The woman said, "I have looked after the house on behalf of my mistress for years and I am the one who led Sonic and Knuckles to her. My mistress is waiting for you, it would be wise if..."
Sticks threw her boomerang and hit Shantaia on the head, the boomerang flew back into the badger's hand and the ghostly servant moaned incoherently. Without another word, Shantaia fell to the ground and her eyes rolled up. Tails saw something sparkling at her side and reached down, finding a key in the pocket of the unconscious attendant's coat.
"If I didn't know better, the key must go to the attic." Amy said.
"RIGHT THERE!" Sticks yelled.
The badger pointed and the three ghost-busting, 'bot-smashing heroes looked up to see a tall door with metal bars covering it. Tails nodded to Amy and handed Sticks the key, they walked around Shantaia's unconscious body towards the door and held out the key, looking around for a lock. They looked closely at the bars covering the door and spotted the lock, just next to the covered knob.
Sticks inserted the key and turned it, the bars vanished and the door opened with a click. Tails inspected his Ghost Vacuum, hoping it wasn't too full, and Amy did the same. Sticks did so as well. Once the inspection was complete, they pushed the door open and made their way into the attic.
Quietly and carefully, the trio walked inside the room with light footsteps, wanting to take their enemy by surprise. The door glowed a sinister green light and closed behind them; a metal clink sound indicated that more bars had appeared to cover the door. Until Ghouleena was beaten, there was no going back.
For an attic, the place looked clean, attics were usually covered in junk; items that had served a purpose a long time ago. But this place, it looked more like a shrine for the enemy.
Amy, Tails and Sticks ceased their movements, not wanting to step on a part of the floor that could potentially make a creaking sound. They looked ahead, spotting a tall robed figure with a staff in hand and their back turned to them. It was her; the dark sorceress Ghouleena.
And just beyond her, sitting on the wall, were the paintings that contained Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna. Tails was terrified to see this in real life, he'd looked up to Sonic as a big brother to him and seeing that big brother figure in a situation like this made the fox feel scared. And while Knuckles was an idiot, he was a caring doofus with immense strength.
"Men are so foolish..." Ghouleena said, talking to the paintings as the two heroes seemed to come alive and move every few seconds. Amy frowned angrily, she could not believe that this witch was saying that, especially to the hero whom Amy was in love with.
"Soon, you two will become accustomed to your eternal prison, watching helplessly as the world bends and accepts the new order I will lead." Ghouleena went on, "But neither of you have to worry about being alone, despite your... limited interactions that you will share, especially with the likes of your friends..."
The sorceress turned at last, facing Tails, Amy and Sticks with her sinister yellow eyes. She almost looked catlike; like a cat who'd tried to turn itself into a human through a form of magic.
"What do we have here?" She mused, "The fox boy, the blue hedgehog's pink cat-eared counterpart and the jungle badger. Oh, I've been watching you since you came to the mansion. How delightful, I get to have the entire set. Soon, I will rule over this very world as it's great phantom queen and all I have left before my conquest is the neutralization of you three."
Ghouleena cackled and raised her magic staff; "Shall we play a little game? It's going to be so much fun. Once I'm done playing with you, you three shall be my paintings forever and everything that mattered to you will be nothing of importance for all eternity. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
Her eyes gleamed a sinister hue and the magic staff's core glowed a sinister vibrant red, the world suddenly began to distort, mist filling the attic and a dark void descended. Tails, Amy and Sticks braced themselves as Ghouleena screamed with laughter and a hideous roar filled the air. The trio looked at one another, holding hands gently, as the sorceress' magic altered reality around them.
The final battle had begun!