Sonic X: Season 3: Shuffle Edition

Game Night!

Disclaimer: All Sonic characters belong to Sega. And Sonic X is owned and made by TMS Entertainment, LTD. This story will be based off of the movies "Jumanji" and "Zathura", but mostly "Zathura" because it's obviously space themed. That's the joke of this story. I don't own either of the movies, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Sonic X.

It was a regular day in Sonic's world. It had been six months since Sonic and his friends had gotten back from Earth. They had expected to feel a little bored since Dr. Eggman had somehow managed to take a break from his usual evil schemes, but let's just say that they were kept busy by "tormenting" their favorite red echidna by having some fun misadventures with him. Knuckles would not talk about it, but Sonic and the rest of his friends would talk about it all the time. All they can say was it was a blast! It was like an awesome family vacation! And this particular day was no different for Sonic.

He was busy running around the beach for a brief workout. It was around sunset as he was running through Neo Green Hill Zone. He may not like the beach for the water, but he loved the view of the sunsets that happen at this hour of the day. He had a calm smile on his face as he looked at the sunset in peace.

Wow. This is sweet! These sunsets are always beautiful to me. I always feel at ease while looking at them. Sonic mused calmly with a bright smile while running through the beach.

As Sonic was running, he failed to notice a little sand dune in front of him as he accidently tripped over it.

"Woah! Oooof!" Sonic yelped as he tripped and fell onto the beach a few inches away from the sand dune. He landed on his stomach with his arms stretched out in front of him. Yowch! Just what did I trip onto?! Sonic pondered in confusion and in slight annoyance as he cringed in pain. He slowly lifted his body and used his hand to wipe the sand off of his stomach and chest. While on his knees, he turned around and looked at the sand dune more inquisitively.

Just what the heck was it that tripped me? Hmm...I better go check it out. Sonic thought calmly for a bit in curiosity before he crawled over to the sand dune.

Once he had gotten to the sand dune, he looked at it for a bit before he began digging into the sand. He dug around the sand dune and onto it. Eventually, he felt something hard and rectangular...like a box. He kept digging to get this object out of the sand. Once he finally got most of the sand out of the way, he was even more perplexed as to what he saw in front of him.

"Huh? What is that? …...Is that...Is that a board game?" Sonic said out loud as he looked surprised and curious. He carefully grabbed the two sides of the rectangular box and lifted it up a little. There was still some sand on top of the box. He slowly turned the box downwards so that the sand would fall off. The sand did fall to the ground, and the board game was more visible now.

Sonic could see that the design on the board game is space themed as it has beautiful stars, planets, and a gigantic spaceship in the middle of the box. He then turned the box around to see the back of it. He saw five big robots covering most of the back side of the box. Each robot was red, yellow, gray, black, and dark blue. Also, near the center of the back of the box, there was a strange, green girl in the middle of the robots. Sonic could guess that it must be a space alien since the board game is space themed. Sonic felt curious as to why the girl in the box was frowning, but he hadn't had a clue. He shrugged as he turned the box again to face its front.

"Hmmm...'Shuffle', was it?" Sonic said slowly as he read the name of the strange board game. The name "Shuffle" was in bright colors of the rainbow from red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The letters had cards behind them as a part of the board game aesthetic. If Sonic was being honest here, he would say that he felt curious as to why someone would bury a board game in the sand. It's just too strange for him to comprehend that. He would guess that it was Dr. Eggman who threw this game away, but even he knows that it's way too out there for Eggman to do that. It just doesn't fit the doctor's M.O. to do that. Sonic looked to his right and left to see if someone was watching him or if someone was coming to fetch the box. However, no one had come or was in the beach.

Sonic sighed tiredly. Well, there is no way that I'm going to stay here and wait for someone to get this box. If they are very serious into burying this box, then it's their loss because I'm taking it with me! Sonic pondered as he stared at the box that he has in his hands.

He smiled as he slowly stood up while carrying the box with him. He shook the box a bit to get the rest of the sand off of it. Hmm...if this box really is a board game, then I definitely would want to play it! Heh heh heh. I bet that I could even convince my friends into playing this new board game with me! I heard that Tails, Amy, and Cream are about to see a meteor shower in a couple of hours. Maybe having them playing this board game with me will help them pass the time! This will certainly be entertaining! I just know it! Sonic pondered as he smiled widely at the box.

Feeling resolved in his decision, Sonic then placed the board game under his right arm and ran from the beach. He soon left Neo Green Hill Zone while carrying a mysterious, strange board game in his arm.

[Meanwhile At Tails' House]

Tails, Amy, and Cream were discussing where they should go to see the meteor shower. The event will happen soon. They all want it to be a special time together as friends. After all, that event only happens once in a lifetime. So, they don't want anything happening to ruin it.

"We should go to Casino Night Zone to view it!" Amy exclaimed with a smile. They were all seated on a blue couch in front of a T.V. They were also watching T.V. to pass the time.

"But Amy. The lights from the zone will distract us more from the meteors. We should go up on a mountain to view it. That is the more logical approach to this," Tails calmly argued back as he shook his head.

"But the zone looks romantic at night! I bet that Sonic would love to go there since he thought it was 'cool' to go there! I heard him myself saying that!" Amy yelled in irritation as she frowned.

"Are you sure that it was you who thought it was 'cool'?" Tails countered with a knowing grin.

"Do you want to be whacked by my hammer?!" Amy yelled as she threatened to pull out her Piko-Piko Hammer.

Tails gulped as he stuttered a response, "A-Ah! N-N-No! S-Sorry, Amy! I-I...uh...Didn't mean it like that!".

"Well, good! So, we're going to Casino Night Zone tonight! Nothing will change my mind!" Amy exclaimed with a determined smile.

"Ummm...Actually, Miss Amy...I...uh...I was thinking that maybe we could go to a little hill out in the woods so that we could see the meteors in a natural setting. I think that...um...it would look more lovely there than in the city. Miss Amy...can we go there instead? ...Please?" Cream asked meekly with a little smile while holding her chao, Cheese, in her lap.

Amy then beamed as she exclaimed, "Why sure, Cream! We could go there if you want! You always know the best spots in this area! We can go there instead!".

"Yay! (Chao chao!)" Cream exclaimed happily with Cheese joining her.

"Wha?! What the-?! Hey! How come you listen to Cream instead of me?! Why does Cream get all the special treatment from you?!" Tails yelled out of shock and of irritation. He crossed his arms and had a cute pouty face as he glared at Amy.

"Because silly! She's like my little sister! And you're the little brother of the group! Don't you dare think that I had forgotten on how you and Sonic had pranked me many times during those last six months!" Amy exclaimed with a smile before she looked devious.

"Oh, come on! It was Sonic who had come up with those pranks! I would never had done them if he hadn't begged me to do it with him!" Tails yelled back in defense as he had his hands in the air.

"But aren't you supposed to be the mature one of the group? I mean. Besides Knuckles, you are the only one in the group who is the most responsible in taking care of us," Cream replied quietly with a curious expression. Cheese added too, "Chao chao!".

"Cream...Not now. This isn't the time for that. Besides, I deserve to have my opinions be heard since the whole 'go watch the meteors' thing was my idea. Amy...can't we just go try my ideas for on-" Tails replied with an embarrassed expression on his face before he was cut off by Amy.

"Nope!" Amy exclaimed as she denied Tails while turning her head around and crossing her arms.

Tails faltered as he looked at Amy. Does she had to be this stubborn? Tails thought as he sweated. He then turned to look at Cream as he said to her, "Cream, will you please hear me-?".

"But I want to go to the hill! The view there is beautiful, Tails! (Chao chao chao!)" Cream exclaimed with a frown while Cheese exclaimed with her.

Tails leaned into his seat with a sigh. He shook his head. Why can't I have nice things? Girls...I can never understand them. Maybe it would better if I remain single for the rest of my life than trying to figure out how girls work. Tails pondered as he placed a hand over his forehead.

Before he could argue with the girls even further, his front door was swung open as Sonic walked in while carrying a box in his arm.

"Hey guys! What's shakin?" Sonic said with a bright smile.

"Sonic! You're back!" Amy exclaimed happily with a smile.

Saved by the Blue Blur again. Tails thought as he sighed in relief. He finally found a way to distract the girls for a bit.

"Hey, Mr. Sonic? What is that? Are you holding a box? Where did you find that box?" Cream asked curiously as she looked at the box. Cheese was curious too as he flew over to where Sonic held the box and looked at it. Sonic smiled as he grabbed the box and showed it to his friends.

"It's a board game that I had found at the beach. I think that it's pretty cool. Why don't we play it to pass the time before the meteor shower begins?" Sonic replied with an enthusiastic look on his face.

"Yay! I love board games! (Chao Chao!)" Cream exclaimed with a happy smile. Cheese joined with her too. Cream quickly turned off the T.V. with the remote, got off the couch, and ran around it to face Sonic.

"Let's play, Mr. Sonic! Please?" Cream said brightly with puppy-dog eyes.

Sonic chuckled as he replied, "Heheheheh! Well, it looks like I got one volunteer waiting to challenge me! How about you two?".

"Oooooh, Sonic! I would love to play a game with you! Anything to have some quality time with my boyfriend!" Amy exclaimed happy with hearts in her eyes as she clasped her hands together in an adoring way.

Sonic cringed a little while weakly giving Amy a thumbs up and a small smile. Is she still going on about that? Sonic thought as a sweat drop went down from his head. Amy then got off the couch too and joined Sonic's side while having a bright smile on her face.

Sonic then turned to Tails and grinned at him. "Well, Tails. That's two competitors now. Do you want to join in too? I can get down with three!" Sonic said brightly with a teasing grin.

Tails had a frown on his face while his ears drooped. "Um...Sonic? I hate to be the one to break the cheerful mood, but where exactly had you found that board game? And secondly, who in their right mind would leave their board game in the middle of the beach? That sounds oddly suspicious to me," Tails replied with a small frown.

Sonic scratched his head as he replied with a sheepish smile, "Ummm...Well...The funny thing is...I found the board game while it was buried in the sand at the beach".

"Why would someone bury a board game?! Okay! This is obviously a trap! No one would do that! That is such a crazy thing to do!" Tails exclaimed in shock as he looked surprised.

"Oh, chill out, Tails. You're being overly dramatic. You're just as bad as Knuckles sometimes. Hahahahahaha!" Sonic replied with a smile while chuckling a little.

"I am not!" Tails yelled as he defended himself. He had his fists up in determination.

"But seriously, Tails. Who cares if someone threw this game away? It's their loss if they don't want to play it. You know what they say, Tails, 'Finders keepers, losers weepers'," Sonic replied again with a grin.

"Well...yeah. But! It still doesn't make sense that a board game is buried under the sand in the first place. Who put that there and why?" Tails argued back as he reasoned while crossing his arms.

"Would you stop overanalyzing the situation, Tails?! I want to play the game with Sonic! Stop being such a downer, Tails!" Amy exclaimed in irritation as she frowned.

"But Amy! We can't just play a board game that we just found by accident! This sounds like bad news! Who knows what will happen if we-?!" Tails exclaimed while frowning.

"But I want to play it too! Please, Tails? Can we just play it only one time? We could put the game back to its place after we're done with it. Please, Tails? Pretty please?" Cream asked with a frown and with sparkling eyes.

Tails flinched once he saw Cream's eyes. He hates it when she pulls that on him. His ears drooped again as his shoulders sagged down. He frowned even deeper as he replied, "I...I...I hate board games, okay?".

"Ooooooh, so, that's what this is all about," Sonic replied cheekily as he grinned at Tails.

"Sonic, you're not helping," Tails replied tiredly with a frown.

"Oh, come on, Tails. It's just one little game. How bad can it go?" Sonic continued as he teased a little.

"Sonic...you know me. Every time we play a board game together with either you or your friends, I always lose in the end. I've lost like over 78 times with you. You're just lucky, Sonic. I will never win a board game. Never!" Tails replied tiredly with a sad expression. He doesn't want to feel the embarrassment of losing at a game again. He had gone through enough.

"Oh, don't be like that, little buddy! Maybe this board game will be your lucky break! You can finally break your losing streak with this game! You can break your board game 'curse' with this!" Sonic encouraged with a smile and a wink.

Tails sagged his shoulders down further. He knows that Sonic is playing with him, and yet, he couldn't do anything about it. As Tails sighs, he finally relented by saying, "Alright, Sonic. You win. I'll play one game with you".

"Yay!" Amy and Cream cheered happily. Tails rolled his eyes and got off the couch too. He soon walked towards Sonic and said, "So, where do we want to play it at?".

"Maybe right here. I mean. The living room is just fine for playing a board game. Why not we just play it here?" Sonic suggested as he sat down in the middle of the living room floor.

"Okay, why not?" Tails replied calmly with a shrug. Tails, Amy, and Cream all sat across from Sonic. Tails sat on the right; Amy sat in the middle; and Cream sat on the left side with Cheese on her lap. Sonic then lifted the lid to the box and picked up the board game itself. He can see that it is folded like a book.

He smiled to the gang as he replied, "Well, let's see what this game is about!". The others had nodded and felt curious as to what the game is too.

Sonic cast the lid aside and then placed the board game down at the middle of the group. He opened the two folds in the front of the board game and had gasped as to what was inside it. The others had also gasped.

"Whoooooooooaaaaa!" all four of them gasped in awe on how cool the board game looked. It was certainly a space themed game as they saw the map of the galaxy before them. There were stars, planets, black holes, and the like on the board game. At the center of the game, there was a red, smooth, oval shaped ruby. They could all guess that it is the end goal of the game. At the start of the game, they could see five, small spaceships. The colors on the spaceships were red, orange, blue, pink, and peach. Sonic could also see on his side of the board game that there was a card slot and a red button with numbers next to it. Sonic slowly tried to lift the blue spaceship up, but he could see that it wouldn't budge.

"Huh? What gives?! Why can't I move this game piece?!" Sonic asked in surprise as he tried to lift the blue one up some more. The others also shared Sonic's confusion. Sonic tried to move the other spaceships, but they wouldn't move either.

"I don't get it! If you can't move the pieces, then what's the point in playing this game?! Maybe this is why that person threw this game away! It's broken!" Sonic exclaimed with a frown as he gave up and crossed his arms in frustration.

"Sonic? Do you always assume that if things don't move, it's broken?" Tails asked with an annoyed look.

"Yes!" Sonic replied with a pouty face. Amy secretly adored Sonic's pouty face as she looked sympathetic to him.

Tails sighed in annoyance. He then replied, "Here. Let me see what we have to do here". He then turned the board game around so that it is facing his group now instead of Sonic. He then carefully looked at the board game more closely to see if there were instructions along with game. He then pulled onto the sides of the game. He was surprised to see that he could feel a tiny compartment on the right side of the box. He quickly opened the compartment and looked inside it. He saw a white piece of paper and took it out.

"Ah! Here we go! This must be the instructions to the game! See, Sonic? You should learn to be more patient," Tails said brightly yet calmly with a smug grin at Sonic.

Sonic rolled his eyes and muttered, "Whatever".

"What does it say, Tails? Come on! Tell us! Tell us!" Amy asked a little impatiently as she looked over Tails' shoulder.

"I'm reading it! I'm reading it! Geez! (Sigh)…...Okay then. Here's what it says..." Tails exclaimed as he pulled away from Amy. Amy frowned a little in annoyance but had allowed Tails to continue.

"'Welcome, New Players, to the game called 'Shuffle'. This game can be played up to five players. To win the game, you must reach the red ruby in the center of the game. To move, you must push the red button that has 'Go!' written on it. This button will roll the number of spaces you will go on the board. It can roll up to ten spaces'. Oh!...Sooo...like this?" Tails read the instructions before he stopped and pushed the red button on the side of the board. The numbers kept spinning as it makes it move.

Amy was upset that Tails went before her. "What the heck, Tails?! Why do you go before us?! You know that it's always 'ladies first'! How dare you go before our turn!" Amy yelled in frustration.

"Yeah! (Chao chao!)" Cream and Cheese yelled too with Amy.

"Guys! I'm sorry! I was just curious on how this works! I didn't mean to do that! Uh...umm...Anyways, where was I?" Tails exclaimed as he panicked before he looked back to the instructions. The numbers kept rolling as Tails reads further.

"'After a roll is done, you will receive a card. Each card will tell you of the game event that you and the other players are about to participate. You and the other players must complete the event before another person could take their turn. Best of luck and have fun'. Hmmm...'game events', huh? I wonder what that means?" Tails finished reading and spoke to himself out loud.

"Hmm...well, whatever they are, I'm sure that it'll be interesting!" Sonic said optimistically with a smile.

The numbers on the small roulette wheel had stopped. Tails looked down on the board to see the number that he had rolled.

"Two?! I rolled a 'two'?! Ugh. I am going to lose again based on how I roll. This is going to suck," Tails replied with a frown and a sad look. The gang soon noticed that the orange spaceship had moved on its own. It had moved to the second space on the board.

"Oh! So, that's how these game pieces move! Man, this is even cooler than I thought!" Sonic exclaimed with a bright grin. He felt excited already into playing this game now.

KACHING!

A white card soon came out, and Tails slowly took it out. He turned it around to read the card.

"So, what does it say, Tails?" Cream asked curiously with a little frown.

"Hmmm...'The game had begun, and you've just started. How about a hunt for one of your friends' lives before they had departed?' Huh? The heck does that mean?" Tails read his card before he asked out of confusion.

"Hey, who knows, maybe it's something that we should-" Sonic spoke calmly before he was suddenly cut short as he had shockingly disappeared!

PING!

"Wh-Wh-WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Tails and Amy shouted in surprise as they saw that Sonic had suddenly disappeared before them. Cream had gasped in shock while Cheese looked surprised but didn't say anything. The rest of the gang didn't say anything for a while.

…

"Did Mr. Sonic just disappeared on us or is my eyes playing tricks on me?" Cream asked tentatively as she felt anxious now.

"Sadly, Cream...I think that you're right," Tails said quietly with a sad, worried look on his face.

Little did the gang realize that the game had just begun.

Well, guys, the game did indeed just start! I'm so glad that I'm going to write this! It may not be my tenth story because I'm certainly going to have a lot of fun with that one, but my ninth story will be enjoyable at least! I'm also going to have fun with the whole "game" metaphor throughout this story. This story is basically going to be a rewrite of Season 3 of Sonic X. I'm going to follow the story's structure while completely paraphrasing the entire plot of the Metarex Saga. It'll kind of be like an abridged version of that story except not really. So, the dialogue will be different, but the main ideas will still be the same. I hope you guys will enjoy this story! Please R&R if you had enjoyed this!

This is only the prologue of the story. The first episode of Season 3 will start in the next chapter. See you guys next time!