Sonic X: Season 3: Shuffle Edition

by KatherineTheMoth

When Sonic had accidently discovered a mysterious board game, he soon asked his friends to play it with him. Little did the gang realize that the board game is cursed and that they are now forced to finish it for the curse to be over. This resulted in a crazy adventure where they have to play the game in order to save their planet, their lives, and the entire universe. Now Game On!

10. The Haunted Game

Sonic X: Season 3: Shuffle Edition

The Haunted Game

Sonic and his friends were slowly traveling towards a new planet. Tails and Cream were on the bridge while Sonic and Knuckles were in a different part of the ship. Only Amy, Chris, and Cosmo were sleeping currently. Tails yawned a bit as he started to feel tired, but he shook his head to stay awake.

"You could take a nap if you want, Tails. It's not like we will reach towards another planet any time soon. Space is huge you know," Cream said calmly as she sat in the middle of the bridge with the board game in front of her. "Chao! Chao!" Cheese chirped happily too.

Tails smiled a little as he replied, "You do have a point, Cream. But I don't know. I just want to feel prepared for anything. I'm technically the captain of this ship, so, it's like my responsibility to protect it you know?".

Cream smiled back as she replied, "Yeah. Kind of like how Mr. Knuckles is with the Master Emerald".

Tails scratched behind his head sheepishly as he replied, "Heheheh. Yeah, something like that, but probably not too obsessive though".

"Hehehehehe! It's a good thing that Mr. Knuckles isn't here to hear you say that, Tails! You probably would've gotten in trouble because of that! Hehehehehe!" Cream exclaimed brightly while giggling.

Tails chuckled awkwardly as he replied, "Ahahahaha. Yeah, thank goodness! I'd be dead meat if he had heard that!".

And that is another remark that I'm going to keep to myself. I'm not risking getting ruffled up today. Tails thought with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Well, Tails, I'm glad that you're doing your best guarding the ship for us while we sleep. I gather that Chris must've taken his shifts when you're asleep, huh?" Cream replied with a smile.

"Yeah, that's right. I trust Chris enough to look after the ship whenever I take my turn for sleep. He's capable of alerting us whenever an enemy is approaching the ship or that we had found another planet. So, he's a good substitute for me," Tails replied calmly.

"That's good, Tails! I know that we'll be okay as long as you two work together as a team!" Cream exclaimed happily.

Tails nodded as he replied, "We will, and that goes for everyone here".

Cream nodded back as she replied, "Uh huh! We'll be just fine!".

Tails smiled calmly as he thought. Yeah. There is nothing for us to fear. We have anything under control. We'll finish the game eventually. Only one day at a time.

Cream soon focused back at the board game again. Tails then asked Cream, "Say, Cream? Are you planning on taking your turn now? Amy had finished her turn two days ago, and you hadn't taken your turn yet".

Cream looked back at Tails and beamed at him. "Yeah, I'm thinking on doing it now! Mr. Sonic is so kind to us ever since he had given us the idea to take our time on this game and to not rush it. Mr. Knuckles did have some choice words for Sonic's idea, but I've heard that he had given up after Mr. Sonic had decked him for his impatience. So, I feel at ease doing this now," Cream answered with a smile.

Tails smiled back while thinking. Yeah, I've heard about that. Knuckles really didn't take that well, and I have to be the one to break up their little skirmish since it had gotten out hand at one point. Still, poor Cosmo. She had seen the two of them fighting and had felt sad and nervous about it. She must've still felt uncomfortable whenever the two of them or any one of us fight each other. I wouldn't blame her for feeling that way after what she had been through.

Tails frowned a little as he continued pondering. I felt scared and anxious whenever my old bullies wanted to pick a fight with me or want to hurt me. Anyone would feel anxious towards violence if it had been a regular occurrence in their lives. You don't feel safe; there's no protection anywhere; and there's no one to defend you whenever others get violent. It's awful. Not to mention, people are more likely to argue and get emotional with each other instead of having discussions normally. Anyone who grows up without hearing these "discussions" will think that people are fighting with each other. Poor Cosmo. She shouldn't have to feel afraid of us being a little rough at times or just discussing with one another. I just wish that I could convince her of that.

"Tails? Are you okay?" Cream asked as she looked worried for Tails.

Tails quickly shook his head before he replied to Cream, "Hmm? Oh! I'm...I'm fine. I was just pondering to myself there, Cream. I'll be okay".

Cream frowned a little as she doubted Tails' statement, but she decided to move on from it. Tails smiled again at Cream as a way to ease her worries. "I said that I'll be fine, Cream. No need to worry about me. Hey, why don't you go make your move now? I'm sure that we should at least try to make some progress in the game. Do you think that you can do that, Cream?" Tails added as he changes the subject for now.

Cream smiled back as she replied, "Yeah, you're right, Tails! It's my turn to spin!".

Cream then turned around and opened the board game. Tails quietly sighed in relief as he saw that he had managed to distract Cream. Cream then pushed the red button, and the roulette wheel started to spin. After a few seconds of spinning, the wheel stopped at a certain number.

"I got a 6! That wasn't too bad for a roll!" Cream exclaimed brightly as she watched her spaceship move to space 30. Cheese chirped happily, "Chao!".

KACHING!

Another white card had popped out of the slot, and Cream grabbed the card and read it. "'Death is all around you, and there is no one to save. Where is the so-called victory that you players crave?' Oh...that just sounds depressing. I don't like this riddle at all. (Chao Chao)" Cream read the card before speaking out loud in a sad tone. Cheese added to this as well.

Tails frowned as he replied, "I wouldn't be surprised if this was the Metarex's way of making us lose hope into finishing the game. We shouldn't be discouraged by what that card says. Things will turn out good in the end. It will!".

Cream looked back at Tails and smiled a little as she tried to stay positive. "You're right, Tails. Who cares about what that card says?! Everything will be just fine when the game ends! It has to! Why else would we keep on fighting if we don't believe in a good future? There's no reason to feel discouraged! We'll make it through in the end!" Cream exclaimed brightly as she felt hopeful again.

Tails nodded calmly as he thought. Yes. Things usually turn out positive in the end. I'm sure that Cosmo would be relieved when the war with the Metarex is finally over, and that the curse is lifted from the board game. When that happens, she will then see that there is hope for a good future. I know that she would be happy once she sees that.

After that, Tails calmly looked at the view before him as he steers the spaceship forward.

Meanwhile, Amy, Chris, and Cosmo were all still sleeping in their beds in their own rooms. Amy and Cosmo were having good dreams, however, Chris was tossing and turning in his bed since he was having a strange nightmare.

"S-S-Shadow...Shadow..." Chris muttered in his sleep as he sees a red emerald with Shadow the Hedgehog in it.

-Chris' Dream-

"You were the chosen one, Shadow! You were meant to save this world! Not destroy it!" Chris exclaimed as he walks towards Shadow and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Stop making Star Wars references!" Shadow exclaimed back as he glared at Chris.

…...

("You must come home, Shadow! Back to where you truly belong!") Maria said in Shadow's mind.

"Grrr! I must go now! My planet needs me!" Shadow yelled valiantly while in his Super Form along with Sonic. Shadow then released his Inhibitor Rings to power himself up even more.

"Ready?!" Shadow asked seriously.

"I was born ready!" Sonic answered back.

Then at the same time, Shadow and Sonic put their hands out in front of the incoming Space Colony Ark before shouting, "E. T.! FOME! HOME!".

And thus, a bright flash of light had burst through the falling ark.

…...

Sonic was back in his normal form and had lifted up one of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings to Chris. Sonic then said solemnly once Chris took the ring, "The menace was gone...So was a great hedgehog".

As Chris held the ring, he then closed his eyes and cried. One of his tears came down towards the ring.

"It's...It's so sad. He died as he lived...Alone..." Chris muttered while tears still came down.

Sonic then grabbed onto Chris' wrists and looked up at him. "Chris?" Sonic said quietly.

"Huh?" Chris said as he opened his watery eyes at Sonic.

Sonic smiled gently at Chris as he replied, "He wasn't alone, Chris. He always had Maria...and us by his side. There is no reason to feel sad about that".

"But...But...he's gone, Sonic. He'll never come back! He won't survive because he's dead!" Chris exclaimed back with tears in his eyes. He continued to cry after saying that.

Sonic lets go of Chris and then said calmly, "But are we really sure that he's dead?".

"Wh-Wha?" Chris muttered in confusion as he looks back at Sonic again.

Sonic then winked as he gave Chris is usual thumbs up. Sonic smiled as he said gently, "You know what they say, Chris. 'Life...will find a way'".

…...

-Chris' Dream Ends-

Suddenly, a red light had shown over Chris' eyes. Chris cringed a little as he woke up from his dream and saw the red light. He covered his eyes for a moment as he thought. Ugh. Right now? Can't I just sleep for a few more minutes? …...Ah! Wait a second!

Chris then remembered that it was an emergency call whenever the red lights are on, and the beeping of the noise started to go off. He immediately sat up and turned on the speaker to talk to Tails. "Tails? What is it? Did something happen?" Chris asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, we had found another planet, Chris! Please get to the bridge quickly!" Tails exclaimed seriously through the speaker.

"I'll get to it then. I'll meet you there," Chris replied.

"Alright, see ya, Chris!" Tails exclaimed before he turned off the speaker.

Chris sighed as he turned back on his sheets. He placed a hand on his head as he said to himself, "Okay, I may not have the best memory, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't how it went down. Man, dreams can be so weird at times. It's not even funny".

He shook his head before looking at his left. There was a little side counter that has Chris' photo of his parents and one of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings that he had kept all this time as a memento of Shadow. He then grabbed the ring and turned to sit at the edge of the bed. He stared at the ring solemnly.

"Life...will find a way", huh? Well, I seriously doubt that, Sonic. Chris thought with a frown as he kept on staring at the ring.

-Meanwhile At The Bridge-

"So, yeah, Sonic, it had happened again. When Cream had made her move, we ended up finding a new planet a few minutes later. Maybe you were right into thinking that the board game will lead us to more planets in space. I guess that you were right all along, Sonic. And here I thought that you were just being impatient," Tails said as he looked down on his right where Sonic was leaning on a wall.

Sonic had his arms crossed and was smirking at Tails as he replied, "Heh! I told you so! Never doubt the board game! Have an open mind, Tails! We'll never get anywhere if we keep on being closed-minded all the time! Discoveries are bound to found if we keep having an open mind about things in life! So, don't you forget it!".

Tails smiled back as he replied, "I already get ya the first time, Sonic. No need to remind me. But anyways, we-Huh? Oh, Chris, you're here. We've been...Huh? Chris?".

Tails and Sonic kept on staring at Chris as he walks past them without saying a word. Chris then took his seat on the far right side of the ship and stared at the planet beyond him.

Sonic then walked up besides Chris' seat and leant his arm on the armrest. He then asked, "Chris? You don't seem chipper today as usual. Didn't get enough sleep?".

"Uhhhh...Huh?" Chris muttered as he turned his head towards Sonic.

"Hmm...seems like it. Look, you got bags under your eyes," Sonic added as he pointed at Chris' face for emphasis.

"What? I do? Umm...I'm sure that I did got enough sleep...Although...maybe I had stayed up for too long. Makes sense that I'd get a strange nightmare out of that," Chris replied weakly as he rubbed his eyes again.

Sonic smiled a little as he crossed his arms again. "Next time, Chris. Try to go to bed earlier than you usually do. We don't want you to feel ragged every day now, do we?" Sonic replied calmly.

Chris turned to look at Sonic and nodded to him. Chris smiled after Sonic had said that. "No way. I want to be ready for anything that happens to us. So, despite me having a rough night, I'm going to do my best to stay focused, Sonic! You can count on me!" Chris replied with a grin.

Sonic smirked as he replied, "Great! Now, no snoozing off, Chris! After all, we can't afford to lose now! Heh heh heh!".

Chris chuckled too after Sonic had said that. Well, I guess that I should try to forget that strange dream for now and focus on helping my friends. They need me, and I need to give it all I got! Chris thought with a determined smile on his face as he was ready to tackle the new day.

-Meanwhile In Dr. Eggman's Ship-

"I still can't believe what I'm seeing. Is it really true? Is Shadow...still alive? But how? I thought that...he was dead...Hmmm...this is so strange..." Rouge muttered to herself as she was staring at the glowing capsule in the secret vault. She then turned her head to her right and gasped at what she had finally noticed.

A red Chaos Emerald.

"Wow, I really must be blind then if I had been standing around in this dark room without noticing this little beauty. Hmm...Hopefully, this emerald is the real deal instead of that phony I've found in that tundra of a planet," Rouge said to herself as she walks towards the Chaos Emerald in the capsule slot. She soon reached towards the emerald and soon touched it.

BZZZZZT! BZZZZZZZT! BZZZZZZZT! BZZZZZZZZT!

However, after Rouge had touched the emerald, the emergency buzzer went off and the whole room was blinking with red lights. Rouge then muttered to herself, "I didn't think that the Doctor was smart enough to install a security system in this vault. I guess that I must've underestimated him. My bad".

Meanwhile, Decoe and Bocue were surprised that the emergency systems had gone off.

"Ack! An intruder?! Do we have an intruder in our midst, Bocue?!" Decoe exclaimed in shock and in confusion.

"I think that we do, Decoe! The alarm's going off!" Bocue exclaimed as he panicked.

"But I didn't see anyone coming into the ship! Do you?!" Decoe exclaimed as he looked at Bocue.

"No!" Bocue exclaimed in shock as he shook his head "no".

"Dr. Eggman! Please tell us what's...Doctor?" Decoe exclaimed as he turned around and saw that Dr. Eggman wasn't in his chair.

"Oh no! Where did the Doctor go?!" Bocue exclaimed as he turned around in shock as he saw the empty chair.

Suddenly, Bokkun had shown up at the bridge to tell Decoe and Bocue, "Dr. Eggman is heading towards the secret vault! He's confronting the intruder as we speak!".

"Save us, Dr. Eggman!" Decoe exclaimed as he stood up and ran around in circles in a panicked state.

"Yeah! Get that intruder!" Bocue exclaimed as he joined Decoe in running around in circles.

Rouge was still in the room as the alarm kept on going off. She turned her head around and gasped at what she saw inside the capsule more clearly this time. He...He really is still alive. But how did he get here? Rouge pondered as she stared at Shadow's sleeping body inside the capsule.

"Shadow...you shouldn't even be here. I...I saw you...falling towards your death..." Rouge muttered to herself with a frown on her face.

"You know...you shouldn't even be here either, Rouge. Just what gives you the right to sneak aboard onto my ship? I didn't even invite you on my journey!" Dr. Eggman spoke out loud as he entered the room.

Rouge looked behind herself and saw Dr. Eggman standing behind her. Rouge frowned as she put her hands on her hips. She watched Dr. Eggman put his hands on top of the capsule and said to himself, "But I agree with your statement, Rouge. Shadow shouldn't even be in here. Just how did he get here, and how is he alive?! I know that this capsule wasn't in the vault because I hadn't installed it in here! Secondly, how did this Chaos Emerald appear in my ship? I hadn't even found any Chaos Emeralds thus far, and somehow, I just got one now and a reminder of my previously failed plans!".

Rouge smirked as she replied, "Ah, so, even you don't have a clue as to why the Chaos Emerald and Shadow are here. But shouldn't you be happy? You got an advantage against Blue Boy's crew by having these two. This could be the turnabout that you need!".

Dr. Eggman looked her and asked, "What are you getting at here? You don't care about my plan for world domination. You just want to get the Chaos Emeralds all for your own benefit! Just like the thief that you are!".

Rouge huffed as she replied, "Sheesh! Is that any way to treat your old comrade? I could be a help to you, you know. What about Shadow there? Are you going to push him away just like you're going to for me?".

Dr. Eggman smirked as he replied, "Well, that is where you're going to have to wait and see, Rouge. Since now that I do have Shadow here with me, I'm not going to waste this opportunity to release him soon. He could be quite vital in the larger scheme of things. I'll be honest that I have no idea as to why he's here, but I'm going to take the chance that fate had thrown at me and use him for all its worth!".

He then pointed at the door to the room as he added, "Ladies first!".

Rouge then shrugged her shoulders before she walked out of the door. She then replied as she walked, "No need to act like a gentleman, Doc. Because we both know that you hate being one".

Dr. Eggman soon walked out of the door after Rouge and had closed the door behind him. As Dr. Eggman locked the door again, he pondered. Just why did Shadow come back? And with a Chaos Emerald to boot?! Hmmm...something is terribly strange here. Could that board game have to do with anything about this? Is the game that powerful to bring back the deceased? Hmm...this is something that I should look into at some point.

They soon heard Decoe and Bocue yelling at the same time, "Dr. Eggman! Did you do it?! Did you stop the intruder?!".

They soon halted once they saw Rouge. They stared at Rouge and at Dr. Eggman in confusion. Then Bokkun ran up towards Decoe and Bocue while exclaiming, "Wait! I...Um!".

Bokkun then gasped in slight worry before hiding behind Decoe and Bocue. Decoe then looked angry as he pointed at Rouge while exclaiming, "Wait a minute! How did she get into our ship?! We're far away in space! Don't tell me that you literally used your wings to FLY all the way here!".

Rouge looked smug as she cheekily replied, "Maybe I did".

"WHAT?!" Decoe and Bocue shouted in confusion and in shock. Dr. Eggman face-palmed himself at his robots' stupidity. Oh, come on! It's not that hard to put two and two together to figure THAT mystery out! She obviously snuck her way in here while we were taking off into space! Although...I wonder how her presence had been kept unknown all this time. That is the part that I'm stuck on. Dr. Eggman thought in slight irritation as he took his hand off of his face and stared at Rouge with suspicion on his face.

"Listen, you two, even if Rouge was being sneaky and had come here without my permission, she is still a guest here," Dr. Eggman said as he looked at Rouge.

"Oh?" Rouge replied in slight surprise as she looked at Dr. Eggman for a moment.

"Huh? 'A guest'?" Decoe and Bocue repeated simultaneously in confusion.

"Yes, a guest. Simply because we had worked together that one time in the past, right? You know. The Shadow incident? Therefore, Rouge is like an old comrade to me. She is allowed to stay here. Besides...her skills might come in handy for us again. Don't you forget that," Dr. Eggman continued while being sly as he looks at Rouge and then at his robots.

"Hmm? …...Oh, yeah...That makes sense," Decoe and Bocue muttered at the same time before they both remembered that particular scheme Dr. Eggman had come up with in the past. Meanwhile, Bokkun was not happy at all as he was frowning in worry and in sadness. Oh, great! Even Dr. Eggman is accepting her to stay in this ship! This is just the worst! The absolute worst! Bokkun thought in misery.

"You guys should listen to your boss more often. Because he is the team leader of the group. I bet that all of you can get into the team spirit, right?" Rouge replied coolly as she had her hand on her hip. She then leaned in next to Bokkun to poke him in the middle of his face as she added, "What about you? You know all about having the team spirit, do you?".

"Eeep! Yes! Yes! I do! I do!" Bokkun exclaimed quickly out of nervousness. He frowned as he gulped. Please keep your promise! Please keep your promise! Please oh please keep your promise! Bokkun thought in despair as his eyes went down.

Thus, a renewed team was just born.

-Meanwhile With Sonic And His Friends-

The Blue Typhoon went through another warp through space in order to get to the new planet quickly. Sonic and his friends can see the grey looking planet ahead of them. Chris was busy analyzing the energy levels of this new planet that they had found. He frowned when he saw the results of the analysis.

"Well, guys...it looks like we can't save this planet at all. It's already dead, and apparently...it's been like that for years. It's possible that the Metarex had taken the Planet Egg from this planet years ago and just left. There's no life energy at all in this planet. It's more like...a graveyard," Chris said solemnly as he looked at the computer and then at the others. Cosmo frowned in sadness at this terrible news.

Tails replied to Chris with a frown on his face, "Really? The Metarex was still around years ago? That's just awful! Say...Cosmo?".

"Oh?! What...What is it?" Cosmo asked in confusion as she turned around to look at Tails.

"Umm...Do you know how old that board game is? If the Planet Egg was taken from that planet years ago, then they must've taken a lot of them since then! You did say that there were players before us...so...how long was that board game been around for?" Tails asked in curiosity as he pointed at the board game on the ground next to Cream.

"Ummm...W-Well...to tell you the truth...I don't know how long it's been really. My memory of this whole war with the Metarex is...umm...hazy to me. Besides...I was certainly a 'guide' to the previous players when they too had played the board game. I've remembered that part at least...however..." Cosmo replied in a sad tone before looking down in shame. She then finished by saying, "...The time gaps between each different attempt is vague to me. It has never been clear to me on how long that board game had been around because of these time gaps. So...it could've been decades that this war had been going on. That's why...I have no idea on how old the game really is. I'm...I'm sorry that I couldn't help you with that".

Tails and the others looked sympathetic towards Cosmo after she had said that. Tails then looked solemn as he consoled Cosmo, "You couldn't be even more wrong than that, Cosmo. That was some very useful information you just said there. It had helped us to get a better understanding of the situation that we're dealing with here. If it's a decade old problem that we have here, then we're going to do our best to solve it! And since the Metarex had done this for years, then we better do our best to save the other planets from extinction! We will avenge the dead players and their people of these planets by stopping the Metarex once and for all!".

Cosmo gasped in shock after hearing Tails' bold speech. Cosmo then looked touched as she thought. Tails...you are so brave. I didn't think that anyone would be as passionate into saving these planets as much as I do, but...I guess that I was wrong. Tails is truly a hero. No wonder he is the captain of his own ship.

Cosmo then smiled a little with some hope in her heart. The others had nodded in agreement of Tails' speech and had looked even more determined than before. Chris then said, "He's got a point there. Why don't we just visit this planet to try to get some more information on that board game? Maybe we'll find some more clues on to what that board game is really about".

He then turned around and looked at his computer screen again. As Chris types some more things into his computer, Tails replied, "Good idea, Chris. That board game is so mysterious. We know next to little about it. Maybe getting a little legwork on this planet could give us some leads".

The others stared at the screen in question that shows an old, dreary castle in the middle of the dead planet. Tails then raised his eyebrows when he got a reading from the emerald radar. "Well, it looks like we're in luck guys. It seems that there's even a Chaos Emerald hidden within this planet. Quite possibly within that creepy castle there," Tails replied with intrigue as he stared at the castle some more.

The screen then transitions into showing some old buildings to the side of the castle. Chris added, "Or maybe in those ruins by the looks of it. The Chaos Emerald could be in either of those places".

"That is true. Hmm...I guess that we're going to kill two birds with one stone if we investigate those two areas for the Chaos Emerald and for information on the board game. This will be interesting," Tails agreed with Chris as he looked thoughtful. Boy, this is going to be tough. I hope that the others will do their best into finding the emerald or at least some useful information on the board game. We can use all the help that we can get in our situation. Tails thought with a frown on his face.

"We'll be just fine! If we both split up into two teams, then we can try to find the emerald AND some information on the board game at two different places at the same time! I'm on Team Sonic on this mission!" Amy exclaimed brightly as she had her finger up for emphasis.

Sonic quirked an eyebrow at Amy yet still was being quiet about it. Tails spoke up for Sonic by saying, "Do you always have to choose Sonic? He didn't even ask you to join him".

Thank you! Sonic thought while still looking at the stars through the glass window.

Amy turned to look at Tails and Sonic while replying with a smile on her face, "Yes, but he knows that he needs to have a 'trump card' with him whenever he goes on his adventures. I just know Sonic that relies on me to help him get out of a jam whenever the need demands it! Since he's so good at board games, he's actually uses strategy to beat his opponents! And I'm the best 'trump card' that he could use on this mission! Teehee!".

Tails looked surprised yet confused. He turned to look at Sonic and asked, "Ummm...Is Amy right about this? Do you really rely on her to get out of several jams in the past?".

Sonic looked at Tails and shrugged at him. Might as well let her have her way if I want to be saved from her wrath. Ugh. Sonic thought while cringing a little at the thought of Amy being angry at him.

-Few Minutes Later-

The gang soon reached into the dead planet and had the Blue Typhoon parked onto the ground. Tails and Cream decided to stay back and watch the ship while Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Chris, and Cosmo go out looking for the Chaos Emerald and for information on the board game. Speaking of which, Sonic was carrying the board game with him since he knows that it is his turn now. He believed that the board game could be useful into giving him and the others some luck on this mission.

We might even get some help into finding the Chaos Emerald this way! Sonic thought with smile as he looks at the board game that is under his arm. He then looked at Chris when he spoke out loud.

"Okay, as long as we use our wrist communicators, we can keep in contact with each other in case something goes wrong. Now, had everybody chosen which group they want to be at?" Chris said as he looked at the others.

"I did!" Amy exclaimed brightly as she held onto Sonic's free arm.

"Ummm...Okay. No surprise there. Anyone else?" Chris replied with a shrug.

"W-Well...ummm...I don't like the scary castle there. Umm...I would like to go with you, Chris. May I?" Cosmo replied as she looked at the castle before looking at Chris.

Chris smiled and nodded his head as he replied, "It's alright, Cosmo. You can stay by me if you want to. No one's going to pressure you into doing things that you don't want to. So, if you feel scared and want to feel safe, then you can just avoid them".

Cosmo frowned but had gotten closer to Chris in shame. She then muttered, "B-But isn't it cowardly though? To run away at something you're afraid of? I will never get brave if I keep on running away from my fears. What I'm choosing to do here is pathetic".

Chris looked sympathetic at Cosmo but didn't say anything. To his surprise, Knuckles spoke up for him and consoled Cosmo, "There will be days that you don't want to face your fears. You just want to live comfortably, and that's okay too. By what you've told us so far, you've seen trauma after trauma every time you got out of that board game...and have gotten sick of it. I don't blame you for wanting to take the safe route and want to stay away from your fears for a while. You've been through enough and want a brief escape from that. I'm sure that you want to be brave and face your fears, and I believe that! …...It's just that...today is just not one of those days...isn't it?".

…...

The others were rather speechless and shocked by Knuckles' speech. They can see that Knuckles had a solemn look on his face as he stares at Cosmo. Cosmo was shocked by this as she had an open wide mouth. She then looked embarrassed and looked down. She covered her mouth with her hands before replying awkwardly to Knuckles.

…...

"Umm...Actually...I just don't like the look of the castle is all. It's not like I have any traumatic memories of castles in general or anything. It's just that the look of the castle creeps me out," Cosmo replied awkwardly.

…...

Once Knuckles had processed what Cosmo had meant by that, he then blushed in embarrassment since most of his speech came from a...personal experience in the past. In which I won't mention...and neither will the writer! Knuckles thought with a flushed face before looking upward in the sky.

(A/N Aww man! Spoilsport!)

I don't care! Knuckles thought back as he shook his head in response.

Sonic then smiled as he asked playfully, "Did that speech come from an embarrassing incident in your past when you got scared?".

Knuckles growled in anger as he exclaimed, "Shut up, Sonic! It was totally not!".

"Was it because the ghosts that you've discovered in the Sandopolis pyramid on your island?" Sonic asked teasingly with a playful grin.

"No! It was not! That was not it at all!" Knuckles yelled back in defense as he crossed his arms and looked away from the others.

Sonic chuckled in amusement as he continued, "Oh, really? Then maybe you would want to go with Chris and Cosmo then because you're secretly scared to go into that spooky castle, isn't it?".

"What?! That's not true at all!" Knuckles yelled back in shock and in further embarrassment.

Sonic smirked as he realized he had hit that one on the head. "You're just scared that you might run into a ghost in that castle! That's why you had said all those things to Cosmo! You just wanted to justify your reasonings into going with them so that you will appear brave towards them while still feeling like a coward on the inside!" Sonic exclaimed teasingly as he challenged Knuckles.

Knuckles gasped in shock at Sonic's accusation of him being a coward. It's the one thing that he hated to be the most. He made himself to be bold and strong. Not weak and cowardly! He then narrowed his eyes at Sonic as he muttered, "You take that back".

"I don't need to take it back. All you have to do is counter my argument by going with us to that castle over there. Then we'll see if you are a coward or not!" Sonic replied happily with a grin on his face as he glances over at the castle ahead of him.

Knuckles' eyes went wide, and his mouth went agape once he heard Sonic's challenge. He then had a sweat drop come down from his head as he looked a little pale. Geez...me and my big mouth. I really hope that there aren't any ghosts in that castle...but...is it really worth going there to protect my dignity? Knuckles thought as he gulped in nervousness as he stared at the castle.

When Knuckles looked back at the group, his eyes went wide again as he realized that the two groups had left already. Chris and Cosmo went towards the old ruins while Sonic and Amy went towards the castle. Aw crud...Sigh. It looks like I'm going to defend my dignity today after all. Knuckles thought with a frown on his unamused face.

He then ran as fast as he could to catch up with Sonic and Amy.

-With Sonic and Amy-

"Wow, Sonic! You really did get Knuckles on that one! Still, that was a pretty mean thing to do. I'm sure that Knuckles didn't deserve that," Amy said with a little sad smile on her face.

Sonic chuckled as he shook his head. "Oh, relax, Amy. It's just a little teasing. Knuckles just doesn't have much of a sense of humor in himself. I don't really mean that I think he's a coward. He's quite the opposite of one if you ask me!" Sonic replied with a grin as he walked alongside with Amy.

Amy kept on holding Sonic's arm as she walked with him. She then replied with, "You got that right! Who knows if he's going to come with us just to spite you?".

"Hahahahahahaha! I wouldn't be surprised if he did that! He gets fired up so easily whenever his dignity gets challenged!" Sonic exclaimed brightly while laughing.

Amy smiled a little too at that before she frowned. "Still, it would be nicer if it's just the two of us, Sonic. We never get to go on adventures together like this...you know...being just the two of us," Amy replied as she turned her head to look at Sonic.

Sonic frowned as he looked a little nervous at that idea. "Umm...uhhh...I mean...yeah...we certainly never had much adventures together...with you as my...umm...partner," Sonic muttered slowly and awkwardly as he looked away from Amy.

Amy beamed at Sonic as she exclaimed, "Oooh, I had always dreamed of becoming a great partner in your adventures just like Tails is! Maybe this will be our chance to have one!".

Let's not. Please? Sonic thought in desperation as he wished something could prevent that awkward situation from happening.

Luckily for Sonic, his wish was granted.

"Guys! Hold up! I'm coming with you!" Knuckles yelled out loud as he ran towards Sonic and Amy.

Oh, thank goodness! I'm saved! Knuckles...as much as I had teased you before...you're a lifesaver! Sonic thought as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Sonic and Amy were walking along an old, rickety bridge when Knuckles had finally caught up with them. Amy was displeased as she halted on the bridge just to look back at Knuckles. Amy was frowning and had her hands on her hips as she exclaimed, "Knuckles?! Couldn't you at least go with Chris and Cosmo?! I'm very sure that Sonic and I can handle ourselves ON OUR OWN!".

Sonic was standing awkwardly between Amy and Knuckles while still having the board game under his left arm. Oh, boy. Two hotheads in the same area. This isn't going to go well. Sonic thought as he frowned while staying quiet.

Knuckles crossed his arms and looked away from Amy for a moment before exclaiming back to her, "And let my dignity be destroyed?! No way! I am not scared! Besides, you two might need me since we're searching for the Chaos Emerald here! I can sense chaos energy you know!".

Amy rolled her eyes as she sarcastically replied, "Oh, great. The coward had decided to man up now. How swell".

"Wh-WHAT?! YOU STILL THINK THAT I'M A COWARD?!" Knuckles shouted in anger as he growled at Amy.

Amy then looked smug as she added, "Yes. Sonic isn't a coward. Plain and simple".

Knuckles' eyes went wide in shock before he narrowed them down in anger. He growled in frustration as he thought. "Not a coward"? Yeah, right! I'll prove to her that Sonic is a coward. But...how?

Amy then walked a bit further on the bridge. When she did that, the bridge started to wobble and shake. Amy wasn't aware of the shaking as she kept on moving forward. However, Sonic was starting to feel worried that he might fall off the bridge and fall into the quicksand below. So, he carefully followed Amy by stepping slowly towards Amy one long step at a time. Okay! Okay! Easy...Easy there. Just keep your balance steady, and you won't fall off. Sonic thought as he tried to calm his nerves while walking slowly towards Amy.

Knuckles saw that Sonic was feeling anxious about crossing the rickety bridge. He then smirked as he found a way to make his own point while also getting back at Sonic for teasing him earlier. As Knuckles walked a few steps behind Sonic, he stopped as he cheekily said, "Careful, Sonic. We don't want to lose the board game due to some quicksand now, do we? I mean. That would be terrib-Ooops!".

Knuckles immediately stomped his foot onto the bridge once as he said that and had made the bridge wobble and shake very much as a result.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic shrieked like a girl as he immediately dropped the board game onto the bridge and instead hopped onto a large wooden pole next to the bridge and held it for dear life. Knuckles looked away while smirking evilly as he had a hand near his head. Priceless! Absolutely priceless! Knuckles thought as he snickered to himself.

Amy stopped walking and turned around after hearing Sonic's girly shriek. When she saw Sonic holding the large pole, the board game on the bridge, and Knuckles smirking, she can tell that Knuckles was the one who had scared Sonic. She frowned as she put her hands on her hips while glaring at Knuckles. She then exclaimed in irritation, "Knuckles! You almost made Sonic lose the board game!".

"Well, he wouldn't try to lose it if he wasn't being a coward now, would he? Heheheh," Knuckles replied sassily while snickering some more.

Amy pouted once Knuckles had made his point. She then replied with some frustration in her tone, "Oh, just behave already, okay?! We have an important mission to do anyway! So, no more funny business, alright?!".

Knuckles rolled his eyes but replied, "Okay, okay, fine. I'll be good. Just relax, Amy. I'll stay focused now".

Amy huffed but turned around and started to walk ahead again. Sonic was panting as he was recovering for his minor panic attack. Knuckles then picked up the board game and held it in his hands before turning his head to look at Sonic. While looking smug, Knuckles then asked, "Who's the coward now, scaredy-hog?".

Sonic looked at Knuckles and frowned in annoyance. Ugh. Yeah, yeah. Very funny, knucklehead. Sonic thought with a pouty face.

-Meanwhile With Chris and Cosmo-

Chris and Cosmo were standing in front of some ruins. It was some ruins of a space satellite or some kind of a colony. They can see that it was very old and hadn't been used in ages. Chris commented by saying, "This ruined colony is reminding me of something...but I don't know what it is. However...I have a feeling that there might be some clues regarding the board game in there".

Cosmo nodded in agreement as she looked at Chris before replying, "Yes, there must be. If the Metarex had taken the Planet Egg from this planet, then that must mean that the previous players in this planet had lost the game. I...I honestly don't remember who the previous players were on this planet since it's been so long".

Chris nodded solemnly as he looked at Cosmo. He then replied, "I wouldn't blame you for losing your memories of this place. You had guided over a hundred of players in the past that maybe your memories got jumbled up after seeing so many awful tragedies and death of planets and people. Who wouldn't want to repress those terrible memories after seeing so much death and bloodshed like that? It's completely understandable".

Cosmo still frowned in sadness as she looked back at the colony. Chris also looked back at it too as he added, "Still, it makes me wonder how the previous players had lost in the first place. Just what happened to this planet that made it as it is now? It's...completely empty...and full of despair".

"...I agree with that, Chris. I...I want to know too," Cosmo replied solemnly as she felt some of her courage coming back.

Cosmo then looked determined as she pondered. I need to know the truth. I won't overcome my fears if I keep on looking away from it. It might be horrible and scary...but I have to face it. If I keep on running away...I'll never see the reality this war had done to these poor planets. Maybe my past is more painful than I think...but...I have to keep on trying to be brave...because...my friends need me! I...I can do it! I'll find the truth! With Chris on my side, I can discover what really happened in this place.

With those encouraging thoughts, Cosmo walked forward into the lost colony. Chris followed behind Cosmo to get into the colony as well.

-Meanwhile With Sonic, Amy, And Knuckles-

They soon made it to the other side of the bridge and was about to walk into the castle. Sonic got the board game back from Knuckles after that little prank he had done to scare him. As they were walking, Amy soon got a call from Tails to see how they were doing.

"So, had you guys made it to the castle or not?" Tails asked through the wrist communicator.

"We're almost there. We just had a little...diversion earlier...but we're alright at least," Amy answered while glancing back at Knuckles for a second before back to the wrist communicator.

"Ah. I see. But I think that you are on the right track here because I got a better read on this place. The chaos energy is definitely stronger in the castle than at the ruins. So, I think that you guys got lucky and had chosen the right place to check first," Tails replied calmly.

Amy smiled as she replied, "Of course, we got lucky! We have Sonic here after all!".

Tails sighed as he replied in annoyance, "I highly doubt that it was Sonic's luck that you had found the right place to look for, Amy".

As Amy, Sonic, and Knuckles got closer to the castle, the wrist communicator had started to get static. Amy simply replied, "Oh, hush you! We'll find that Chaos Emerald in a flash! You can count on us!".

"...Hu-h?...Am-y?...What did you...s-s-say? I didn-t...cat-ch...th-that..." Tails replied through the static of the wrist communicator.

Amy frowned as she noticed that the signal was breaking up since she was in the castle now. She simply said, "I'm sorry, Tails. But it looks like the signal is becoming very weak. It's probably because we're in the castle now, so, it looks like I'll have to call you when we get out of here with the Chaos Emerald. So, goodbye, Tails! I'll see you later!".

"W-W-Wa-iit...A-Amy! Tha-That's not a g-g-ooo-d...id-ea..." Tails replied through the static one last time before Amy had turned off the call. She then switched towards the radar function of the wrist communicator now after that. She was staring at the radar to see where the emerald is at. She can see it beeping slowly to show that the emerald is still there but is just far away. Amy frowned a bit as she thought while walking a bit faster. Are we ever going to get closer to the emerald? We are walking closer to the emerald...but it's not getting a stronger reaction. Is Tails right about this place having an emerald? I wonder if it's actually a-

"Hey, Amy? Are we any closer to the emerald now?" Knuckles asked calmly as he walked along with Sonic.

"Knuckles! I was in the middle of my thoughts! Just be quiet and keep on walking!" Amy exclaimed in slight irritation while still staring at her wrist communicator. Where was I? Hmmm...Oh, great! Now, I lost my train of thought! Way to go, knucklehead! Amy thought in frustration as she realized that she forgot what she was thinking about prior.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was just confused and uncomfortable after hearing Amy's response. He looked slightly awkward as he shrugged while looking at Sonic. "How was I supposed to know that she was thinking?" Knuckles asked quietly to Sonic with a confused frown.

"That's the catch...You don't," Sonic replied quietly with a frown as he looked at Knuckles briefly before looking back at Amy. Knuckles also looked back at Amy too. All three of them kept on walking through the foggy area to reach the castle before them.

-Few Minutes Later-

The three had entered the old, abandoned castle and are looking around to see where they should start looking for the emerald. They can see how huge the castle is on the inside. It looks like a maze to them. Still, it's looks rather empty.

"...Okaaaay...Soooo...Where should we go first?" Sonic asked awkwardly with a frown as he looked right and left.

"I don't have a clue, Sonic. This radar isn't showing me any signals that the emerald is closer in any direction. It's...It's just vague," Amy replied with a frown as she looked ahead with a hand over her eyes.

"Well, that's just great. In other words, we have no leads on to where to go for the emerald," Knuckles replied in annoyance while being slightly sarcastic as he also looked around the castle.

Amy sighed as she replied, "...(Sigh)...If only we got a clue...".

Sonic scratched his chin a bit in thought before he smiled as he had an idea. Heh. Maybe we do have a clue, and it's right here at my fingertips. Sonic thought with a smile as he held onto the board game in his hands now. He opened the game up, and Knuckles saw what Sonic was doing and frowned.

"Sonic...Don't," Knuckles warned calmly with a frown.

Sonic looked back at Knuckles and grinned mischievously at Knuckles. "But Knuckles...We need a clue. How else are we going to get one?" Sonic replied in a teasing tone while grinning.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes at Sonic again while replying in a lower tone of voice, "Sonic...I'm serious...Don't do it...This is not the time".

Sonic shrugged a bit before smirking as he replied playfully, "Sorry, Knuckles...But's it's my turn, and I'm going to take my turns whenever I want to! You can't stop me!".

Knuckles growled in irritation before replying while having his teeth clenched shut, "Sonic...Don't...push...the...button...".

Sonic looked devious as he shrugged casually while saying, "Aw, alright, Knuckles. Since you want things to be done the old-fashioned way, I guess that I'll just close the board game then and-Ooops!".

As Sonic pretended to close the board game up, he then pressed the red button while looking devious at Knuckles. The roulette wheel started to spin again as it takes Sonic's turn. Knuckles gasped at this before growling even more in irritation. Sonic just smirked at Knuckles while thinking. Heheheh. That's what you get for scaring me earlier, knucklehead. Hope that you learn your lesson as to why you don't mess with Sonic the Hedgehog!

KACHING!

At the sound of the card popping out of the card slot, Sonic turned back to look at where he had landed in the game with his turn. He saw that he's on space 40 with that spin.

"Sweet! A got an 8! I keep on getting high rolls! My high rolling streak continues!" Sonic exclaimed happily with a grin.

"Just read your stupid card already," Knuckles replied in annoyance as he rolled his eyes.

"Heh. Fine. I'll do it if it will help you chill out for a sec," Sonic replied calmly with a shrug as he briefly looked back at Knuckles before at the game again. Sonic then took out the card from the game and read it out loud.

"'Search and search to your heart's content...But fear and confusion will be found along with regret'. …Huh...Well, that was depressing. Although it's a coincidence that we get a card like this while inside a barren, old castle. It makes the card even more creepy," Sonic read before saying his thoughts out loud with a frown.

Amy looked back at Sonic and asked, "So...Did we got a clue or not?".

Sonic shrugged as he answered, "Beats me. I think that it's something more poetic than helpful if you ask me".

Amy frowned in disappointment before replying calmly, "...Let's just keep on looking around then".

Sonic nodded in agreement as he replied, "Yeah, let's do that. It's our only option at the moment".

The three of them kept on looking around after that. However, little did they realized that...something was watching them. Something...from above.

Amy felt some shivers down her spine and looked up at the ceiling. She saw nothing at the ceiling. She frowned in worry as she thought. ...That's...strange...Somehow, I had the feeling that I was being watched. Hmm...Maybe it was my imagination then.

Sonic and Knuckles also looked up at the ceiling as well since they saw Amy looking up. They were confused as to why Amy was staring at the ceiling in the first place, but they said nothing to that. Amy looked around for several more second before running off towards the left.

"Alright! That's it! We won't get any progress made in our search if we keep on gawking around in this area! Let's investigate this castle from top to bottom!" Amy exclaimed in impatience while running towards the stairs and climbed them quickly. Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed Amy up towards upstairs.

Once they got there, they walked through the dark hallway while looking around to see what it looks like as well as looking out for anything suspicious or threatening. You can never know what's inside an old, abandoned castle. So, it's always a good idea to stay on guard.

Eventually, they had reached a door at the end of the hallway and looked at it. Amy was next to the door and was being cautious as she had her hand onto the door but hadn't opened it yet. Well, we've found one door, but...is it going to be safe inside? …Hmm...Might as well find out. Amy thought with a little frown.

"Here goes nothing. Let's look inside," Amy said calmly as she slowly opened the door and walked inside. Sonic and Knuckles walked inside too after Amy. They saw that they've entered a room where some old furniture was there. They were a bit surprised that the room looks normal and not...strange or creepy. It's just old and dusty. Amy looked at her wrist communicator and saw that the radar is reacting much stronger now than before. She can see that its source is coming towards another door, so, she walked towards the door and opened it.

As she walked inside, she thought to herself while looking at her wrist communicator. Just where could this emerald be at? It's like it's taunting us at this point!

Sonic and Knuckles were confused as to why Amy stopped walking and just stared at the empty room. Amy gawked as she saw that there was nothing in the room. There wasn't even a Chaos Emerald in the middle of the room! Amy was just confused and annoyed.

"This can't be right! There must be a Chaos Emerald in here! Why did the radar lead us here?! It's empty!" Amy exclaimed in confusion and in annoyance.

"Maybe it's broken," Sonic replied calmly as he quickly got inside the empty room and stood across from Amy. Knuckles ran inside the room too since he was confused too by this fact.

"No! It's not broken! See?! It's still working fine!" Amy exclaimed in annoyance before she showed the radar to Sonic and Knuckles. They can see that the radar is still picking up a strong signal in this room even though there is no emerald in sight. However, they can see that the emerald blip is moving away. Sonic and Knuckles gasped in shock of this.

"Huh?! How is the emerald moving away from us?!" Knuckles exclaimed in shock.

SLAM!

"Eep! The door!" Amy shrieked in fear as she clung onto Sonic for protection.

Amy, Sonic, and Knuckles saw that the room turned completely white and glowing brightly. They were all shocked and confused by this. Amy shivered in fear as she replied weakly, "...Are we t-trapped in here?".

"No! We! Are! Not!" Knuckles exclaimed quickly yet boldly as he punched at the door to break it.

But once he did that, he was shocked to see the door break like glass would. Knuckles gasped as he thought. Huh?! That doesn't make any sense! That was a door! Not a mirror! I...

"What the-?! Wait a minute! Where...Where is the room from before?!" Knuckles exclaimed in confusion as his eyes went wide when he saw nothing but a huge, vacant room.

Sonic and Amy gasped in shock as they also looked inside the strange, new room with confused looks on their faces.

"That...That can't be right! Wasn't it a bedroom with old, dusty furniture everywhere? How did we end up in here?" Amy said in confusion as she looked around the huge room.

"Just look at the radar again! That could help us to see which direction we need to go to next! We could just follow the emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed quickly as he looked back at Amy.

Amy nodded her head as she replied quickly, "Good idea, Knuckles!".

Amy then looked at the radar again but was shocked when she saw the word "ERROR" on the screen instead. Sonic was very surprised at this too.

"How?! How could there be an error now?! Wasn't the emerald moving before?! We just saw it!" Sonic exclaimed in shock as he stared at the radar too.

"Maybe you were right, Sonic! This thing is busted!" Amy exclaimed in shock as she pointed at the radar.

Sonic looked even more worried as he exclaimed, "If we can't search for the emerald with that radar, then how would we search for it?! We'll just be running around in circles at this rate!".

"Calm down, Sonic. Maybe this place is just designed to be confusing so that potential intruders could get scared and run away from this place once they got out," Knuckles replied calmly as he stared at Sonic.

Sonic gasped in surprise as he realized what Knuckles was saying here. He then calmed down and smiled as he replied, "Ah. I get it. So, this place is just one, big fun house then, right?".

Knuckles looked back ahead of him as he replied, "Exactly. And what you see in fun houses are simply parlor tricks. They are meant to confuse visitors and make them believe in something that's not even there".

Amy frowned as she replied, "So...Does this mean that we've fallen into a trap? I should've known better than to open that door".

"Don't sweat it, Amy. Even if we did fell into a trap, there's always a way out! Heheheh!" Sonic exclaimed confidently with a smile before walking forward into the room. Knuckles and Amy followed Sonic across the large, empty room. Sonic then opened the two doors at the end of the room and had gasped at what he found. It was a very dark and spooky hallway.

Amy frowned in nervousness as she replied, "Ummm...Maybe we should go back to the other room...".

However, Sonic ignored this and went inside the dark hallway first. What is this place? Sonic thought with an intrigued look on his face as he looked inside the hallway.

Amy gasped before running inside the dark hallway while being very worried. "Wait! Wait! Sonic! Don't go! Knuckles is the brave one here! You said so yourself! Let him do it!" Amy exclaimed in worry as she ran towards Sonic.

Knuckles just stared at Amy running towards Sonic with a slightly confused expression on his face. He shrugged as he thought. Uhhh...Thanks for the...compliment?

-Meanwhile With Chris And Cosmo-

Chris was holding out a flashlight as he looked around in the dark, dusty room in the abandoned colony. Cosmo was next to Chris and was looking around with a flashlight too. "See anything interesting, Chris?" Cosmo asked quietly.

"Not particularly. However, I can see that this place is the main base of the colony. Maybe we can find some clues about the board game in here," Chris replied calmly with a frown.

"I'll look downstairs then," Cosmo replied calmly with a nod. She turned around walked towards the stairs. But she accidently tripped and dropped her flashlight as she went down. "Eep!" Cosmo shrieked lightly as she fell.

"Cosmo! What's wrong?!" Chris exclaimed with concern as he looked at Cosmo next.

"I...I just tripped...Hmm..." Cosmo replied awkwardly with a frown before she looked at her left. She saw that she had dropped her flashlight onto the downstairs area.

"Ah. Your flashlight is right down there. Do you want me to go fetch it for you?" Chris replied calmly as he shown the flashlight below with his own flashlight.

"Oh, uh, that's okay, Chris. I can get it myself," Cosmo replied calmly as she stood back up and jumped down towards the bottom portion of the room. She floated gently down towards the downstairs floor and had made it next to the flashlight. She grabbed the flashlight and smiled calmly. See? I can do some things by myself. I don't need to be babied all the time. Cosmo thought with a smile.

"Did you get it?" Chris asked as he looked down from the railing.

Cosmo looked at Chris and replied calmly with a smile, "Of course, I got it. It's was no task for me".

Cosmo then accidently pushed a button on the control panel after saying that. Soon, a projector had started to light up and play a video on the screen. Cosmo and Chris gasped in surprise and looked up at the projection screen before them. Chris thought with a surprised look on his face. Now, what could this be about?

-Meanwhile With Sonic, Amy, And Knuckles-

They were all walking together in a long, dark hallway. As they approached the end of the hallway, they were quite intrigued at the strange, blurry thing in front of them. But when they finally got close to it, they saw that it was just a mirror.

"So, it was just another mirror then," Knuckles replied calmly with a frown.

"Yeah, but what's worse is that we've reached a dead end," Sonic added with a frown too.

"Okay! This is just getting ridiculous now!" Amy exclaimed in frustration before she walked forward towards the mirror in question.

"Amy, I could understand your frustration, but this is what this castle is about. A place full of tricks and illusions that is meant to deceive us," Knuckles replied calmly as he held a hand towards her.

"It's not about that!" Amy exclaimed back with a frown as she reached the mirror.

"Huh? ...Then...what is it that you're actually frustrated about?" Knuckles asked in confusion with one eyebrow raised at her.

"I'm frustrated that my hair is looking too frazzled even though I had brushed it three times today!" Amy exclaimed with a frown as she put her hands onto her hips while glaring at her reflection.

"Huh?!" Knuckles and Sonic exclaimed in confusion with surprised looks on their faces.

They looked at each other in confusion before shrugging their shoulders since they realized that it's something they can't understand. It must be a girl thing. Sonic and Knuckles thought at the same time as they looked back at Amy again.

They can see Amy readjusting her hair with her hands. She did it for a few seconds before stopping once she saw that she fixed her hairdo a bit. Ah...Much better...Amy thought with a smile as she's happy with her look now. She then placed her hand onto the mirror and looked back at Sonic and Knuckles with a smile.

"So, boys...How do I l-oooooooooooooooooooooooooook!" Amy replied calmly with a smile before screaming in panic as she fell through the mirror after the mirror flipped her around.

"Amy! We're coming!" Sonic and Knuckles yelled together as the ran towards the mirror.

CLAAAAAAAAAASH!

They broke through the mirror and then...fell...

...

Sonic and Knuckles were falling from... apparently... a very high height. They were both confused yet worried since they don't know what's at the bottom of this fall. As they fell, they both thought at the same time. Just what is this crazy place? This is just...too creepy. We don't know where to go...what traps are in this place...or whether...whether...we can survive in this place at all. What are we...What are we going to do?

But just when they could think any more than that, they finally landed back down at the...bottom.

"OOF!" Sonic and Knuckles yelped in pain after landing hard onto the floor in the main hall room of the castle. This hard landing had made Sonic let go of the board game from his arms. The board game was now in front of Knuckles. Knuckles was right next to Sonic's left side. They both grunted in pain before slowly sitting up. Ugh. What a rough landing...Sonic and Knuckles thought at the same time as they got up.

"Sonic! You're alive!" Amy exclaimed as she immediately leapt towards Sonic and hugged him in relief.

Sonic was on his knees as Amy hugged him. He replied calmly, "Yes, Amy. I'm alive. Do you really think that I would die from a fall like that?".

"No," Amy replied immediately while shaking her head.

Sonic smiled a little as he replied, "Then chill, Amy. Let go of me then if you know that I'm alright".

Amy frowned a bit at this, but she reluctantly lets go of Sonic after that. Knuckles sighed as he stared at the board game in front of him. I wouldn't be surprised if all the bad luck that we're having now is because of Sonic's roll on this game. Grrrrr...I told him not to play this game, but did he listen? No...He never does...The stubborn moron...Knuckles thought with a frown as he picked up the board game before standing up. Sonic and Amy also stood back up after Knuckles did.

"Guys...I have a feeling that someone had come in here after Sonic had made his roll on that board game. How else we've been getting all this bad luck?" Knuckles replied solemnly with a frown as he looked up at the ceiling. Sonic and Amy also looked up at the ceiling with concerned looks on their faces.

"Or maybe...maybe this place is...cursed! Haunted even!" Amy replied with worry in her tone while covering her mouth with her hands.

Knuckles rolled his eyes as he replied tiredly, "Amy? Really? A haunted castle? Is that your conclusion after experiencing something strange in a castle? It could be just someone messing with us".

"You mean like a ghost, Knuckles?" Sonic teased with a little smile on his face.

Knuckles turned his head to look at Sonic and had narrowed his eyes at him after that teasing remark. He then replied in an unamused tone of voice, "Sonic...Now's not the time for jokes".

Sonic frowned as he replied, "Hmph. Fine".

"Maybe Sonic might be right on this one, Knuckles. Ghosts...do exist. Sonic and I had seen them once before, and...it was not a pleasant experience," Amy replied nervously while cringing a bit as she remembered her last experience dealing with ghosts back on Earth.

Knuckles sighed as he looked back up at the ceiling before replying in annoyance, "Amy, not you too. Don't encourage Sonic with that ghost talk. It's not funny".

"But I'm being serious here! We know how dangerous ghosts are! I was possessed by one of them before! Sonic would know!" Amy exclaimed with a frown.

Sonic cringed as he also remembered the whole ghost ideal back on Earth and how Amy was possessed by a ghost. He frowned as he replied, "Amy is right, Knuckles. I saw what happened to Amy when she got possessed and let me tell ya...it was really creepy".

"Hey!" Amy exclaimed in protest as she glared at Sonic for that rude remark.

"But that was because you were possessed by a ghost! Easy there, Amy! You're fine as you are!" Sonic exclaimed quickly in a panic while having his hands up in mock surrender.

"Thank you!" Amy replied with a frown as she crossed her arms and looked away from Sonic.

Sonic looked sheepish as a sweat drop formed on his head as he thought. ...Although...There are times where I wonder if you are actually creepy or not.

Knuckles just shook his head at this as he replied in annoyance, "You guys may try to spook me with that ghost story all you want, but it won't work. There are no ghosts in this castle, and there are no ghosts period!".

"...Ummm...Is it a bad time for me to say that I'm a ghost?" a deep, spooky voice said out loud after Knuckles spoke.

"...Yes. It would be a bad time to say that you're a-WHAT?!" Knuckles replied calmly with his eyes closed before he exclaimed and opened his eyes wide open once he realized that it was a real ghost speaking to him. Sonic and Amy gasped in shock and had looked around to see where the ghost is at.

"Huh?! Where's the ghost?!" Amy exclaimed in worry as she looked around quickly.

"Grrr...Show yourself, you creep!" Sonic exclaimed boldly while gritting his teeth as he looked around the room as well to find the ghost.

Knuckles looked alarmed before he shook his head and looked solemn again. He even prepared his body for battle while holding onto the board game under his right arm. …Okay, Knuckles. This might be the most unexpected turn of events that you had encountered thus far. I mean...A real ghost? That...is something that I'd rather not deal with, but I must stand up to this threat. I'm not going to run away like a coward would do. I'm going to be brave and fight it! Knuckles brooded with a grimace as he looked up at the ceiling again.

"...I am right here...Above you..." the ghost said in response.

"...!" everyone gasped in shock when they saw the ghost in the ceiling.

It was a huge eye looking down on them.

...Okay...This is new...and creepy...Knuckles, Sonic, and Amy thought at the same time.

"...Get out, foolish players...Or else...You'll lose...the game..." the eye ghost spoke menacingly.

"...'We'll lose...the game'?" everyone repeated at the same time.

"Yes...Now, leave...If you want to live much longer in the game..." the eye ghost warned ominously. After the ghost had said that, it then disappeared.

Knuckles, Sonic, and Amy looked even more worried and solemn after receiving that creepy warning. Knuckles frowned as he brooded. On second thought, maybe it's better to run away. You know the saying "Pick your battles", right? Well, this situation is a perfect example of that saying because this is clearly a losing battle right now!

Knuckles then turned his head around at Sonic and replied to him, "Sonic? Don't call me a chicken for saying this, but I think that it's wise to leave immediately. We can't lose the game that we're playing right now by dying here in this spooky castle. Let's get out of here!".

"For once, Knuckles, I agree with you. The board game comes first. Come on, Amy! Hang onto me! We're going to skedaddle out of this creep show of a castle! Let's go!" Sonic replied with a frown and a nod before he held onto Amy.

"No need to tell me twice, Sonic! I want to get out of here!" Amy exclaimed as she held tightly onto Sonic for dear life.

"Quickly! Towards the window!" Knuckles exclaimed before he looked towards the high window and jumped up towards it while holding onto the board game under his arm. Sonic had jumped too towards the window, and he and Knuckles broke through it. After Sonic and Knuckles had landed on the ground, they (as well as Amy) were shocked that they were in another room of the castle and not the outside. They can see several doors in the room and had decided to run towards them to open them. Sonic immediately lets go of Amy and ran towards one of the doors in front of him.

"Come on! Come on!" Sonic exclaimed in worry as he opened both doors. Unfortunately, the doors were just a trick since there was only a wall behind them. Sonic grimaced as he thought. Oh...Don't tell me that we're locked in this room with no way out. No! That can't be!

Sonic then quickly went towards another set of doors and decided to open them. But just like last time, there was nothing but walls behind the doors. Sonic gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked behind himself and exclaimed to Knuckles, "Found a way out yet?!".

Knuckles opened the last group of doors and frowned when he saw the wall again. He looked back at Sonic and replied with grimace, "No luck on my end, Sonic. It seems that we really are trapped this time. We can't get out of here!".

Sonic growled in frustration as he banged the wall in front of him. He yelled in frustration, "Darn it! Just what should we have to do to get out of this stupid castle?!".

"Sonic! Please! Calm down! We can figure out a way to get out of here! You had said before that there is always a way out! Remember?!" Amy exclaimed in worry as she had her hands out towards Sonic in a concerned manner.

Sonic stopped banging his fist at the wall and sighed in exhaustion. He looked back at Amy and frowned. "Ugh...You're right, Amy. Sorry about that. It's not like me to lose my cool like that. That's Knuckles' thing. Not mine," Sonic replied calmly with a little frown.

"Hey. I'm still here you know," Knuckles replied in an unamused tone while narrowing his eyes at Sonic in annoyance.

Sonic then looked at Knuckles and smiled a little in amusement. Amy shook her head at this and shrugged her shoulders. "Guys, we really need to get out here. Don't you guys start thinking about fighting each other because this isn't the time nor the place to start doing that. Seriously, what are we going to do now since there's no exits anywhere?" Amy replied calmly yet with concern as she looked at both Sonic and Knuckles.

Knuckles sighed as he replied, "She's right, Sonic. This is not the time to fight or to goof off. We need to come up with a plan to get out of here. So...any ideas?".

"Hmmm..." Sonic mused in thought with his fingers under his chin. He looked around the closed room to see where they could get out. Unfortunately, nothing that seems remotely like an opening had appeared in Sonic's line of sight. He frowned as he thought. Great. We got no other windows or passageways to go through. It doesn't look like there are any special panels or anything that could suggest a secret route either. Just...what else is there we could do to get out of this place?

Eventually, Sonic's eyes looked towards the board game that Knuckles is holding, and slowly...a smile started to form on Sonic's face as he had an idea. Bingo...Sonic thought with a confident smile.

"Hmm? Got something, Sonic?" Knuckles asked with a quirked eyebrow as he stared at Sonic's smiling face.

"Heh...I don't got something, Knuckles...but you do," Sonic replied casually with a smile as he turned fully to face Knuckles.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Sonic?" Knuckles asked in confusion as his eyes went wide.

Sonic smirked as he put his hands on his hips. He then replied calmly, "Well...Since my turn on the board game had ended long ago...".

...No...Knuckles thought with a frown since he doesn't like where Sonic is going with this.

"...And that you hadn't taken your turn yet..." Sonic continued with a cocky smirk.

Nooooooo...Knuckles thought as his frown went deeper since he feared what Sonic is going to suggest next.

"...Annnnnd...the fact that we have no options left to take in this scenario..." Sonic continued as his smirk grew even more in amusement.

Noooooooooooooooo... Knuckles thought as he looked irritated now.

"...What a better way to have things turn in our favor than to use..." Sonic continued calmly with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

No! No! No! No! Don't you dare say that we're going to use that stupid-! Knuckles thought as he looked angry now.

"The board game!" Sonic finished with an enthusiastic look on his face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Knuckles shouted in fury as his fears were realized.

He's going to have play the board game and rely on it to help them get out of the castle. ...In which...He finds it completely insane to do.

...I'd rather fight a ghost than to use a board game to solve my problems. At least that makes more sense than this! Knuckles brooded with a deep frown on his face after he's done shouting in anger.

-Meanwhile With Chris And Cosmo-

"To every fellow traveler watching this, please heed to this warning well. Do not, and I repeat...Do not play the board game called 'Shuffle'. It is a cursed board game. Whenever you play the game, your friends, family, and loved ones will die along with your planet...just like ours did. Our planet was doomed the moment that we had started to play that board game that fateful day when we had found it...buried in the sand...at the beach. It may sound crazy to you, but that board game is real...and had done...tons and tons of damage onto our planet. By the time you are watching this, our planet would be nothing but a giant graveyard thanks to the board game's curse. And the sad part about this is...it was my fault that all of this had happened. I was the one who had found that cursed board game and had brought to my friends to play it. ...But as quickly as we had started to play it...our planet was then invaded by the space poachers called the Metarex. They've hunted down all of my family and friends...as well as everyone else on this planet. When it was only just a dozen of us left, we've soon created this space colony and had tried to warn others in different planets to not play the board game too. But alas...our efforts were fruitless. It's as if someone had been spying on us and had reported to the poachers to what we were doing behind the scenes. In fact...I had felt like that ever since we've started playing the board game. I've felt like our actions were being recorded and being sent to the Metarex just for every playing decision that we had made on that board game. I...I had never found out who that mole was for doing that, but regardless, see this as a warning to not play that game. Because someone...someone...could be... watching you..." the white lion alien said in the recording before it had ended.

Chris and Cosmo frowned in sadness after hearing that terrible message. Chris grimaced as he thought sarcastically. Well...That's not creepy at all...

"Kimba...The poor dear...You were such a strong person and a good player...You were so close into finishing the board game...Why? ...Why couldn't anyone win this game?" Cosmo said to herself in a sad tone as she frowned. I...I just never thought that I would see Kimba's face again. Just seeing him being bold and calm like that...just brought me back some of my old memories of him when he was still alive. I was confident that he would be the one to stop the Metarex...But alas...I was wrong...It seems that it's up to Sonic and his friends to beat them this time...Cosmo thought with a sad look on her face.

Chris sighed in sadness as he thought. This board game must be more difficult to finish than I thought. But anyways...that message was definitely a clue. So...Someone is watching Sonic and his friends play the board game, huh? Just...who could that person be? Hmm...

"Chris?" Cosmo asked meekly with a frown.

"Yes?" Chris asked back curiously.

"...Let's get out of here. I think that this is all that we're going to find in this place," Cosmo replied sadly.

"...Yeah...Let's report back to Tails to what we had found in here," Chris replied calmly with a nod.

Cosmo nodded and had followed Chris out of the abandoned space colony. Once they had walked back outside, they stopped and stared at the ruined planet before them.

"Just when will this horrendous game end? How much more will the poor victims fall due to the curse of the board game and the Metarex? I...I just wish all of this would end..." Cosmo said solemnly with a frown. She looked to her left and saw Chris being silent while having a solemn look on his face. Cosmo then looked intrigued as she quietly asked, "Is something the matter, Chris? You're being awfully quiet now".

"Hmm? Oh...Umm...I guess that I do have some things on my mind right now," Chris replied calmly as he looked at Cosmo with a frown.

"What kinds of things? Is it something about that message we just heard earlier?" Cosmo asked curiously with a frown.

Chris smiled a little while shaking his head. He then replied calmly, "Well...It's not about that per se...but...it's more so about that space colony that we were just in. It just...given me some flashbacks to when I was 12 and what happened while Sonic was on my planet".

"You mean...Some old memories of your childhood?" Cosmo asked with an intrigued look on her face. This is my first time hearing about Sonic being in another planet besides his home one. Maybe that's why the board game had decided to bring along this human child...or...man I guess since Chris is technically 18. I wonder what memories Chris is going to tell me. Cosmo thought with a curious look on her face.

Chris smiled a little more as he looked at the sight ahead of him while answering Cosmo's question. "Yeah, it was something like that. It was when I went to Space Colony Ark with Shadow the Hedgehog. I've met him while I was trying to find Sonic at the time on Prison Island," Chris answered calmly as he reminisced about Shadow and Space Colony Ark again.

"...'Shadow the Hedgehog'?" Cosmo repeated curiously.

Chris nodded as he continued, "Yes. When I had first met Shadow, it was after he had tried to frame Sonic for a crime that he didn't commit. I was angry at first when I had discovered that he was the one behind Sonic's arrest. I was even baffled by what he was planning to do with Space Colony Ark after collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds. He...He had originally wanted to destroy my planet just to avenge Maria's death from 50 years ago".

"...! That's...That's terrible..." Cosmo replied in shock with a gasp as she put her hands over her mouth.

Chris frowned and lowered his head a bit when he replied, "Yeah...It was rather tragic that he went through all that effort just avenge his friend. He cared that much about her. …I...I honestly didn't think that he could be redeemed...Even when I had tried to convince him to not destroy the planet"

Chris then smiled again and looked back up as he continued, "But...it seems that he had proven me and everyone else wrong when he had changed his mind and saved my planet from destruction. He really did have a change of heart in that moment. He and Sonic may be different people...but they both have a sense for justice in the end".

Cosmo was stunned when she heard that part about Shadow. She then replied quietly, "I...I never would've seen that coming. I'm...rather shocked".

Chris looked at Cosmo and nodded to her in agreement. "I was shocked too when he did that. I saw him save my planet by helping Sonic stop the Space Colony Ark from colliding into it. But...after that...he...he..." Chris replied calmly with a sad smile before he looked sad when he finished by saying, "...He died by falling into the planet that he just saved. He sacrificed himself...all for Maria's sake".

Cosmo frowned in sadness when she heard that last part. She replied sadly, "Shadow never gets a break, does he?".

Chris shook his head and grimaced. "No...He does not. There were times in my life when I wonder what would it be like if Shadow had survived. He really would fulfill Maria's wish by taking care of the planet. He may have done that by saving it from the Ark, but...it still would've been wonderful if he had lived longer. He could even befriend Sonic and the others if he had lived through that incident. It's...such a disappointment to me that he didn't survive that. I would've loved to be friends with him just like I did with Sonic. He was very cool in his own way," Chris replied solemnly with a frown as he looked ahead again.

"Hmm..." Cosmo mused with a frown on her face. But she then smiled a little as she looked at Chris while replying, "Maybe it's because he's just like Sonic. He is...or was a hero after all".

Chris then looked at Cosmo for a bit before smiling at that comment. He then replied calmly while nodding, "Yeah...Maybe that was why Shadow had stood out to me in my mind. He and Sonic are heroes...and I...I just want to be a hero to someone too".

Cosmo smiled a little brighter when she heard Chris say that. You really are a hero to me, Chris. I...I doubt that I'll ever be a hero to someone due to how weak I am compared to others. I'm only seen as a burden to others and is needed to be taken care of just like some sort of child. But I...I don't want to be treated like that anymore! I just wish that I could really...help someone...Cosmo thought with a smile before she frowned and had looked down to the ground in shame.

"Cosmo? What's wro-?" Chris asked in concern before he was interrupted by the sound of Cosmo's wrist communicator going off suddenly.

"Oh!" Cosmo exclaimed in surprise as she had her head up again and had opened her wrist communicator. Soon, the screen turned on and Tails appeared on the screen.

"Guys! We have a huge problem now! I can't make contact to Amy anymore! The moment when she had said that she's entering the castle was the moment where the transmission had cut off! I tried multiple times to contact her again, but nothing is working! I don't know what's going on in that castle, but something tells me that's really bad!" Tails exclaimed in a concerned tone through the transmission.

"Ah! That's a red flag if I had ever heard one! We better get to the castle then!" Chris exclaimed in shock as his eyes went wide. Cosmo nodded and turned her head around to look at the castle. But when she did that, she gasped in shock and pointed at it in worry.

"And we better get there quickly, Chris! Look!" Cosmo exclaimed in worry while pointing at the castle. Chris turned his head to look at the castle too and had gasped at what he's seeing too. He saw the castle structure waving back and forth like a mirage would do. Chris was baffled by what he's seeing here.

"...Okay...This planet gets even more creepier by the minute. Just what the heck is going on now?" Chris said to himself while looking both shocked and confused.

-Back at the Castle; Few Minutes Prior-

KACHING!

"...(Sigh)...There. I made my move. Happy now, Sonic?" Knuckles replied in a dead-pan tone as he grabbed the white card from the card slot. He had gotten a decent roll of a 7. Now, he's on space 23.

"Definitely! Now, read the card! Hurry!" Sonic exclaimed enthusiastically with a hopeful smile.

"Alright. Alright. Fine. I'll read it," Knuckles replied in annoyance as he rolled his eyes. I can't believe that I'm doing this. Knuckles thought with a frown before he read the card and spoke out loud. "'By the time you had drawn your last breath, you would've already sunken into the sand. You cannot escape or ignore death...especially by fate's hand'..." Knuckles read the card solemnly with a frown on his face. He was then quiet when he finished reading the card out loud. Sonic and Amy both had grimaces on their faces after hearing that creepy message. They thought that the board game would give them a clue of some kind, not a dark poem talking about one's demise. How are they going to get out now?

"...That...That's it?" Amy asked in confusion with an eyebrow raised.

"Yep. That's it," Knuckles answered promptly with a nod as he closed the board game again.

"Seriously?!" Sonic exclaimed in confusion.

"...Yes, Sonic. ...Seriously," Knuckles replied flatly as he stared at Sonic with a frown. Knuckles was by far the least fazed by this since he knew that this would be pointless in the end.

"Augh! Come on!" Sonic exclaimed in frustration as he slapped his forehead with his hand.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Amy replied casually with a shrug.

"Exactly what I was thinking, Amy. A complete waste of time," Knuckles replied flatly with an annoyed look as he stared at Amy before at Sonic.

"But I thought that could work!" Sonic exclaimed back in protest.

"Sonic, you rely on stupid luck to get through all of your problems without gaining any useful knowledge or skills. If you live life long enough, then you'll soon realize that luck isn't going to come through to you for everything that you do. You'll soon run into obstacles that will block you, and the only way to get through them is through hard work and learned skills," Knuckles replied solemnly with a frown while holding the board game under his right arm.

"..." Sonic was speechless after that surprisingly wise statement from Knuckles.

He then saw Knuckles smirk as he added, "But if you're me, then you can just solve those problems by confronting them head-on. Let's just bust through that wall through force!".

Sonic raised his eyebrows at that. He looked at Amy and was surprised to see her smirking too. Amy took out her hammer and replied casually, "You know what? I'm fine with that plan! Let's just break out of this castle together, Sonic! I'm sure that with all three of us working together then we can escape from this strange room! Come on, Sonic! Let's do this!".

Sonic raised his eyebrows again. But he soon smiled at Amy and at Knuckles as he realized that it's not a bad plan either. I mean...It's certainly an attempt that we hadn't tried yet. Besides, busting through walls had been a thing with us in the past. Especially with Knuckles! I'm honestly surprised that idea hadn't crossed my mind at all. But it's worth a shot anyway! Sonic pondered with a smile as he looked at Amy and Knuckles.

"You know what? I think that could work. Yeah! Let's get the heck out of here!" Sonic replied with a smile as he felt confident again. He turned around to face the wall ahead of him. Amy and Knuckles looked at each other and smiled too in agreement. They then walked next to Sonic on both sides. Knuckles was on Sonic's left while Amy was on Sonic's right.

Sonic smiled as he looked at Amy and Knuckles while replying, "Okay, guys, on the count of three, we're going to bust through that wall over there with all the might that we have! Are you guys ready?".

"I'm so ready!" Amy exclaimed brightly with a smile while holding onto her hammer.

"Hmph. No need to ask me that, Sonic. My fists were itching to punch something all day. You're lucky that it's not going to be aimed at you this time," Knuckles answered with a smirk.

Sonic frowned a little in annoyance of Knuckles' reply. "Yeah. Thanks. Glad to know that you're going easy on me today," Sonic replied in annoyance.

"I try," Knuckles replied simply with a shrug.

"Hey! Less talking more bashing please!" Amy exclaimed with a frown as she tried to get the boys' attention again.

"You're right, Amy. Now...Here we go...One...Two...Thr-Huh?!" Sonic replied calmly with a smile as he looked at the wall again before being confused at what happened next. Amy and Knuckles gasped in surprise when they saw the wall and everything else around them starting to look wavy. The afterimages of the castle were being dizzying and confusing as it went on. Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles stared at it in confusion. Amy was so confused yet entranced by the wavy afterimages that she slowly put her hammer away. They all kept on staring at the strange phenomenon with intrigued looks on their faces.

...This is...so weird...Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles thought at the same time with solemn yet confused faces. Sonic looked at the castle for a few more seconds before jumping up towards the wavy wall.

Might as well see if we can escape now! Sonic thought as he jumped up towards the wall. Once Sonic went towards the wall, he then went through it seamlessly as if it was never there to begin with. Huh?! It was only an illusion?! What is going on?! Sonic thought in surprise as he got outside the castle. Before Sonic could land on the ground, Chris had arrived on his white plane and had caught Sonic in time.

"Nice timing, Chris! I'll be right back!" Sonic replied quickly with a smile and a wink before he stood back up and jumped back into the wavy castle. When he entered back in, he then exclaimed, "Don't just stand there, guys! Jump! Jump out of the castle! Now!".

"Right!" Knuckles exclaimed quickly with a nod as he placed the board game under his left arm and carried Amy with his right arm instead. Amy quickly grabbed onto Knuckles, and after that, he jumped out of the wavy castle with Amy at his side. Sonic jumped out of the castle too as he followed Knuckles. They soon landed at the solid ground outside of the castle. Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles looked back at the castle and were a bit alarmed by how the castle is falling apart now. They can see some parts of the castle crumbling and turning into sand instead. In the next moment, a large chunk of grey sand had come to life and was shot out towards Sonic and the others. Before any of them can react to this, the sand soon grabbed Sonic and pulled him away from Amy and Knuckles.

"...Your time is up, Player Four," the creepy ghost spoke as the sand tentacle grabbed Sonic and pulled him away into the sky.

"Ah!" Sonic yelped in surprise as he was held up into the air.

"Oh no!" Amy and Knuckles exclaimed in shock.

Chris gasped at this before he made his attempt to attack the sand with the plane's bullets. But just as it is, the bullets went through the sand instead and didn't made any damage to the unusual sand enemy. Sonic looked at the sand tentacle with a stunned and worried face before he exclaimed to Chris, "It's not working, Chris! Do something else! Aaaaaaaaaah!".

Sonic screamed as the tentacle pulled him towards the quicksand trap below. At this point, the castle was completely gone and was nothing but the quicksand trap instead.

"Sonic! Hang in there! I'll get you out!" Chris exclaimed in concern.

"Ahahahahahaha! I'm afraid that it's impossible for any of you to get your friend out. For you see, his time is already up," the ghost spoke menacingly and creepily.

"What do you mean that his time is up?!" Knuckles exclaimed in shock and in concern.

"You see, everyone has an appointed time to which they will die in life. And it just so happens that this hedgehog's life had now been cut short...all thanks to the board game that you fools had decided to play," the ghost explained with an eerily calm voice.

"Wait a minute...No! That can't be!" Knuckles muttered in confusion before he exclaimed in shock as he realized what the ghost had meant by that.

"Ah. It seems that you had finally understood what you had just done, Player Five. It was thanks to your roll that had cut your friend's life short. The sand in his hourglass had sped up tremendously and now...it's only a matter of time until he'll lose...Permanently. Hahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahah!" the ghost replied menacingly before he laughed deviously.

"Grrrr...No!" Knuckles growled in frustration as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists after hearing that. He hated himself for being the one responsible for Sonic's potential demise. All he had thought at the time was how stupid it was to rely on the board game for help...But he had never thought that it could risk someone's life in the process of playing the game. This...This is all my fault. I should've said "no" to Sonic and suggest to him another way out of the castle. I...I just never expected that this would happen. Not at all! I...I may dislike Sonic, but not so much that I want him to be dead. We must save him somehow! Knuckles brooded with a grimace.

"Amy! We've got to do something!" Knuckles exclaimed solemnly as he opened his eyes again and looked at her.

"I know! But how?!" Amy exclaimed back while looking at the quicksand below.

"I'll handle it!" Chris answered quickly as he flew the white plane over Amy and Knuckles. They both looked at Chris' plane to see what he's going to do next. Chris' plane had flown upwards to make a loop in the air before heading towards the quicksand enemy. The quicksand immediately started to attack by firing sand shots at the white plane. Luckily, Chris was able to dodge the sand attacks by flying left and right. The quicksand kept on attacking the plane with multiple sand shots.

"Just give up trying to save your friend from death. It is inevitable," the ghost spoke in an eerily calm voice.

"Never!" Chris yelled back while still avoiding the sand attacks.

"Hmph...A brave one, aren't you? I see. It seems that your life is going to be short too," the ghost replied casually yet deviously.

"Not unless I do this!" Chris exclaimed boldly before he pressed a button that shot out a Power Ring from it. The ring was shot towards the quicksand and sunk deep into it.

"Ha! And what is that little ring going to do to save yourself?" the ghost replied back in amusement.

"Heh! You'll see!" Chris exclaimed confidently with a smile.

After Chris had said that, the quicksand had lit up by the ring's power. Multiple steaks of light had shot out of the quicksand. The ghost was confused as he exclaimed, "What the-?! What's happening here?!".

Immediately after the ghost had said that, Sonic had got out of the quicksand while in his Spinball Form. The ghost exclaimed in frustration, "Oh no, you don't!".

The quicksand enemy retaliated to this by creating a huge sand wave. The wave then turned into a solid, metal wall. It was rather effective since Sonic got out of his Spinball Form the moment he had hit the wall.

"Owwww!" Sonic yelped in pain as he crashed into the wall and fell.

"Sonic!" Amy and Knuckles exclaimed when they saw Sonic falling to the ground. Knuckles immediately threw the board game behind himself and ran towards Sonic. Amy was alarmed by this as she saw Knuckles running away from her.

"Knuckles! What are you-?!" Amy exclaimed in shock as she held her hand out at him.

"Saving Sonic!" Knuckles answered confidently and quickly without looking back.

"But what about the board-?!" Amy exclaimed back before Knuckles cut her off again.

"Behind you!" Knuckles exclaimed back while still not looking back.

"Oh?" Amy replied in confusion as she looked back behind her. She saw the board game lying on the ground. She quickly ran towards it, picked it up, and held it towards her chest as she turned around to look at Knuckles running towards Sonic in the distance. Amy smiled a little as she thought. He does care about Sonic after all.

"Sonic! I'm going to catch you!" Knuckles exclaimed quickly as he got closer to Sonic.

"Alright! I trust you!" Sonic exclaimed back while holding out a hand to help Knuckles catch him. Knuckles then jumped up and grabbed Sonic's hand. Sonic and Knuckles then spun in circles as they both went into the Spinball Form again. But this time, it's the Double Spinball Form which is a more powerful move than the regular Spinball move. They both flew into the air for a bit before ramming into the metallic wall together. They were successful into busting through that wall with their combined attack. They made a hole in that wall and went through it. They then landed on the ground again and looked back at the metallic wall. They both saw the hole in the wall that they had just damaged.

"Well, what do you know? We had managed to bust through a wall today! Isn't that great?!" Sonic replied with a smile as he stared at the hole in the wall.

"I wouldn't celebrate too soon, Sonic. Look!" Knuckles replied solemnly as he stared at the wall and pointed at it. Just when Knuckles had said it, the metallic wall then morphed a bit to fix the hole. The metallic wall was back to normal again after fixing itself.

"Mwahahahahahah! Nice try, players, but you'll never defeat me. I am time and death itself. You can't stop me or kill me. So, surrender your lives already because it is futile to resist your fate," the ghost said menacingly.

"Oh! You've gotta be kidding me!" Sonic exclaimed in frustration as he and Knuckles turned fully around to face the quicksand enemy.

"If our attacks won't hurt this thing, then what will?!" Knuckles exclaimed too in frustration as he stared at the metallic wall with Sonic.

-Meanwhile With Dr. Eggman-

Dr. Eggman's purple, egg spaceship had arrived at the same planet that Sonic and the others are in. It was hovering over the planet at this moment. Dr. Eggman, Decoe, Bocue, Bokkun, and Rouge were all watching the computer monitor to see Chris, Sonic, and Knuckles fighting the quicksand/ ghost enemy. They can even see them struggling to defeat it.

"Wow. It doesn't look like an easy enemy to beat. That sand enemy is just going to drive Sonic and Knuckles into circles due to how confusing and mysterious it is," Decoe commented casually with a shrug.

"Well, sand is coarse and rough to begin with. It's not that hard to imagine someone having a difficult time getting rid of it," Bocue replied casually too as he looked at Decoe.

"Since Sonic and his friends are busy playing in the sand, let's take our chance to snatch the Chaos Emerald from this planet before they do! Rouge! You know what to do," Dr. Eggman replied gleefully as he looked at the computer monitor before looking at Rouge.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Doctor. 'Super Sneaky Swipe Mission' will be accomplished in no time flat. Especially with me on the case," Rouge replied casually with a smirk while having her hands on her hips.

"Well, you better keep your word on that. And if you do manage to be successful in your mission, then I'll reward you by allowing you to have the Chaos Emerald that you will steal," Dr. Eggman replied calmly while pointing at her.

"Wait! What?!" Rouge exclaimed in shock as her eyes went wide.

"What?! Have you lost it, Doctor?!" Decoe, Bocue, and Bokkun exclaimed in shock too. None of them had expected that from Dr. Eggman.

And I thought he was just a selfish, greedy man...Kind of like me...Well then, I guess that he can have a kind heart when he wants to. Rouge thought with a shocked expression on her face before she smiled and turned towards Dr. Eggman fully. "I never thought that I would see the day that you would be kind, Doctor. You're full of surprises it seems," Rouge replied casually with a smirk.

"Oh, come now, Rouge. I'm just being a gentleman and giving a lady what she wants. You've always adored jewels, and I thought that it would be fair for me to give you one," Dr. Eggman replied calmly with a smile.

"It would be fair if you just given it to me for free without asking me for anything in return," Rouge countered with a knowing smile while waggling her finger a bit.

"Hey, now, we're just mutual partners in this predicament. You'll get what you want, and I'll get what I want. So, technically, it's fair," Dr. Eggman replied with a sheepish smile.

"Hmph. Whatever you say...Doctor," Rouge replied with a smirk and shrug.

Dr. Eggman frowned as he thought. That bat is too smart for her own good. Still...I'm sure that someone like a certain hedgehog will keep an eye on her to see that she won't screw me over in the future.

"I am a man of my word. Now, let's steal this Chaos Emerald as fast as possible! Ahahahahahah!" Dr. Eggman replied calmly before laughing evilly.

-Back with Sonic and the Others-

Tails was piloting the Blue Typhoon over to where Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Chris are. Cream was also with Tails at the bridge and was looking through her computer monitor.

"You know, Tails, I'm glad that I had stayed behind this time. This place is too spooky for me," Cream said calmly with a frown.

"I know, Cream. But now is not the time for some casual banters; now is the time to attack. Fire up the plasma lasers!" Tails replied calmly as he stared at the screen before him.

"Roger that! Firing the lasers now!" Cream exclaimed boldly as she pressed a button to launch the lasers from the tip of the Blue Typhoon's ship. The tip of the spaceship had lit up with the plasma laser and had fired a beam at the metallic wall. The light then shattered into multiple beams and had hit the wall at different spots. The lasers had gotten brighter as they kept on attacking the metallic wall. Tails and Cream watched the lasers attack the wall despite the light getting brighter from the attack. But once the light had dimmed down, they can see that the wall is gone.

"It's a direct hit! We broke it! (Chao chao!)" Cream exclaimed happily with a smile and Cheese agreed too in happiness.

"Huh. That was easy," Tails commented casually with a little shrug. He and Cream stared at the empty, grey view in the screen now.

However, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles were not as celebratory as Tails and Cream were. They stared at the dark, grey sky above with grimaces on their faces.

"Hmm...Was it really that easy?" Knuckles asked skeptically with a frown as he had his arms crossed.

"Of course, it wasn't," the ghost replied darkly.

They all gasped by seeing the dark clouds in the sky morph into a new thing.

It was...the ghost's creepy mouth.

"Don't you foolish players understand? You can't kill ghosts. Ghosts don't die. They are immortal, unlike you players with your fleshly bodies. Ghosts can take any physical damage all they want and will never die. But with you fools...just one critical attack will give you a game over. Such as...Right now!" the ghost continued while speaking through its creepy mouth. After the ghost had said that, dozens of light-blue arrows had shot from the air and had headed towards Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles.

"Run!" Sonic exclaimed quickly as he, Knuckles, and Amy turned around and ran away from the arrows hitting the ground. Amy still held onto the board game while running as fast as she could from the arrows.

"I hate that I'm saying this, Sonic, but...I liked it better when we were dealing with sand," Knuckles replied flatly with a frown as he ran and looked at Sonic.

"Same here, buddy! Same here!" Sonic exclaimed in agreement as he nodded to Knuckles while running.

...

"We have to try again, Cream! Fire the laser cannon this time! Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles need us!" Tails exclaimed quickly with a frown on his face. Man...That was one creepy mouth. Ugh...I hope that I don't get nightmares for that. Tails thought with a grimace.

"I agree! I'm firing up the laser cannon now!" Cream exclaimed back with a frown. Ooooh...I'm DEFINATELY going to have nightmares about that...that...mouth. Brrr...Cream thought with a grimace while shivering a bit in fear.

Chris was doing his best to maneuver his plane so that it won't take much damage from the light arrows. He grimaced as he turned his plane a bit, but his plane did rumble a little from the attacks. Geez! These attacks just won't stop! It's like raining from heaven! Chris thought with a frown as he kept on piloting the white plane through the "arrow storm".

Meanwhile, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles were doing their best to stay ahead from the arrows aiming towards them as they run. Amy was shrieking a bit in panic as she avoided the arrows. Sonic and Knuckles were just looking ahead of them and not looking back as they run while avoiding the arrows too.

"Sonic! I'm not sure how long I can keep on running! We need to find shelter fast! I don't want to drop the board game either!" Amy exclaimed in concern as she ran with Sonic and Knuckles.

"Don't worry, Amy! Shelter is right over there! Let's head there now!" Sonic exclaimed as he stopped briefly to point at the hiding place before running again.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Amy exclaimed as she ran towards the hiding spot along with Sonic and Knuckles.

Meanwhile, Tails had set up a shield barrier to protect the Blue Typhoon from the light-blue arrows. Many arrows just plinked off the shield, however, they were strong enough to do some damage to it. Cream was getting worried as she replied to Tails, "This is not looking good, Tails. We can't fight off this thing while letting the arrows hit the ship. What are we going to do?".

"Relax, Cream. This is only a minor setback. We'll find a way to counterattack this and fight back. You'll see," Tails replied solemnly yet calmly as he looked at Cream before at the screen again.

"...(Gulp)...I hope that you're right, Tails," Cream replied worriedly as she looked at the screen too.

Tails can see several targets blipping in the radar of the screen. He focuses onto the targets with a determined look on his face. The ship was rumbling a lot from the attacks as it charges up the laser cannon. "Almost there..." Tails replied calmly as he waited for the special laser cannon to charge up fully. Soon, the light-blue light had scattered throughout the sky in front of Tails.

"Hmm...So, that's what's going on here," Tails said quietly as he opened his wrist communicator again and called Chris. "I've finally figured out what's so strange about this Metarex poacher-" Tails started calmly before Chris cut him off.

"Oh, what had tipped you off that was so strange? The fact that it can morph sand into anything? Or the fact that it was a creepy ghost with a creepy mouth?" Chris replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes a bit.

"I'm being serious, Chris! The real reason that Sonic is having a hard time with this poacher is because it has a Chaos Emerald in it! We have to use a Ring Tunnel if Sonic is going to beat this poacher himself," Tails replied solemnly with a frown.

Chris nodded as he replied solemnly, "I understand. I'll get Sonic now!".

Chris then flown the plane lower towards Sonic. Chris then exclaimed to Sonic, "Sonic! Jump! Jump now!".

Chris fired a purple light towards Sonic, and Sonic jumped up towards the purple while exclaiming, "I got it! I got it!".

Sonic then flipped his body a bit so that his shoes were hit by the purple light. His shoes were transformed into Air Shoes. Chris saw that Sonic was ready, so, he fired the Ring Tunnel from his plane. "Time for a Ring Tunnel! Go, Sonic! Head for the tunnel, boy!" Chris exclaimed as he fired the Ring Tunnel in front of Sonic.

"I'm not a dog, Chris! But whatever!" Sonic exclaimed before he surfed into the Ring Tunnel. Sonic air dashed through the large rings in front of him and headed towards the high, dark sky above. Chris pulled some levers down so that more rings can appear in front of Sonic. He was guiding Sonic by adding more rings for him to follow. Chris even followed Sonic just to make sure he gets a safe landing when he's done attacking the Metarex poacher. Sonic was surfing through the Ring Tunnel while having a serious look on his face. He's ready to make a strong attack towards the ghost poacher. Meanwhile, Chris was looking at the blip at the radar on his lower screen. He can see that was where the Chaos Emerald is located. There's the Chaos Emerald. Now, Sonic just have to get a direct hit at the poacher to get it. Chris thought solemnly as he stared at the radar as the rings were now aligned with the target.

"Sonic! The target's right in front of you! Don't hold anything back!" Chris exclaimed solemnly as he stared at the screen.

"Like I'm gonna!" Sonic exclaimed back solemnly before going into his Spinball Form. He flew upwards towards the sky while the light-blue arrows kept on raining from the sky. He went past the arrows and went even further into the sky.

"Mwahahahahahah! You know that you want to die, Player Four! Just give up and resign to your fate!" the ghost taunted deviously while laughing.

"Never! I'll never resign to my fate!" Sonic exclaimed back as he flew higher into the dark sky.

"Hahahahahah! As...You...Wish..." the ghost replied creepily with a cackle. After he had said that, the ghost counterattacked Sonic by firing light-blue lightning at him. The lightning attack was a direct hit as Sonic was being electrocuted.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Sonic screamed in agony as the lightning attacked his body. Sonic was even out from his Spinball move because the attack was so powerful.

Chris gasped in shock when he saw that attack.

"Darn it! We were so close! We almost got the emerald!" Chris exclaimed in frustration with a grimace as watched Sonic being electrocuted. The others also had worried looks on their faces as they watched Sonic get electrocuted. They all said in unison, "Hang in there, Sonic! You can do it!".

"Look at you struggle against your fate, Player Four. Just submit to death, and it'll be a lot easier to cope with your loss in the game," the ghost said darkly while Sonic was being electrocuted for a few more seconds until it stopped. After the electricity was gone, Sonic fell from the sky head-first with his eyes closed. He was badly injured from that attack and had weakened from it.

"Oh no! Sonic's too weak to keep on fighting the Metarex! How will we stop the poacher now?!" Cosmo exclaimed in worry as looked at Sonic falling from the sky. She was in the Blue Typhoon the whole time along with Tails and Cream when the fight had started.

"I...I don't know, Cosmo. What can we do?" Tails replied sadly with a frown as he stared at Sonic falling further from the sky.

Sonic kept on falling and still had his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes while thinking. N-No...Don't...Don't submit, Sonic...Just hang in there...K-Keep...on...on...fight-ing...Uggh...

"Sonic! Sonic! I'm coming to get you!" Chris exclaimed as he flew the plane as fast as he can towards Sonic.

...W-What? …Ch-Chris? ...Are you...coming...for...me? Sonic thought weakly with tired eyes. But before Sonic could think even more, he saw the dark clouds raining more light-blue arrows and were heading directly at Chris' plane. Sonic then sobered up as he yelled to Chris, "No! Don't do it, Chris! Save yourself!".

"I'm not leaving you behind! I'm coming in to save you!" Chris exclaimed boldly with a determined look on his face.

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed in shock of this. Chris is going to...save me? Sonic thought in shock as he watched Chris' plane getting closer to the arrows. However, Chris hadn't realized how close he was to the line of fire since the arrows had easily hit the plane quickly. Chris yelled in shock as his plane was flying out of control now.

"I told you to save yourself, Chris! Please! Go back! Go back!" Sonic yelled quickly in alarm with wide eyes as he watched Chris' plane get pummeled with arrows. Chris' plane kept on spinning around and around in circles after the attack. Ugh! Can we ever catch a lucky break?! Chris thought in worry as he tried to keep his plane steady despite having it being out of control.

Just as Chris had thought that, the power from the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald had come into contact with each other despite being in separate locations. The powers of these emeralds had reacted and had gone slightly haywire. Chris was still screaming as his plane was spinning downwards from the sky, but while he was doing that, he was unaware of the Inhibitor Ring floating upwards from the plane's control panel.

Meanwhile, in Dr. Eggman's Secret Vault Room, the capsule was electrocuting as the red Chaos Emerald was being fully active. The red Chaos Emerald's energy had reached its max power and was...overpowering the capsule.

Dr. Eggman had seen the red signal going off inside his computer and had gasped. "Something's wrong in the Secret Vault Room! We must check it immediately!" Dr. Eggman exclaimed in shock as he pressed the button to have his seat be lowered down like an elevator.

"What?! How?!" Rouge exclaimed as she followed Dr. Eggman down towards the lowered parts of the ship. Decoe, Bocue, and Bokkun looked down towards the seat elevator that Dr. Eggman went down on.

BOOM!

Within a couple of seconds, the capsule had exploded, and smoke had arisen from it. But amongst the smoke and debris, Shadow the Hedgehog walked across the room while holding the red Chaos Emerald in his right hand. He had a stoic expression on his face as he does this.

While Shadow had awakened from his slumber, Dr. Eggman and Rouge had raced for the Secret Vault Room to see what had happened. Dr. Eggman was running as fast as he can while Rouge was flying. Rouge thought as she flew. Had Shadow...finally woken up? How? How did that happen?

Meanwhile, Shadow looked around the dark Secret Vault Room with an unamused look on his face. He can see all the smoke around him and the broken pieces of the capsule on the floor. He soon saw a flash of another Chaos Emerald in his sight. It was a purple emerald this time. Shadow looked at his red emerald with scrutiny as he had no idea why the red emerald had shown him that. He can see the red emerald still shining brightly in his hand. He somehow felt the compelling urge to go where the emerald was showing him. He still had no idea why that was the case either...but it felt important to him somehow. It's like he knows that he needs to find all seven Chaos Emeralds, but he doesn't know why he had to do it in the first place. Because of that...it's bothering him. Shadow frowned even further after thinking of that.

While Shadow thought that, Dr. Eggman and Rouge had finally reached the door to the Secret Vault Room. As Dr. Eggman typed onto the little keyboard panel, he said to himself, "I hope that it's not another pesky thief trying to steal my emerald this time".

"Hey! I heard that!" Rouge exclaimed in irritation after hearing that insult from him.

Eventually, Shadow then arrived at the conclusion that he should teleport to where the Chaos Emerald was showing him...or in this case...Chaos Control.

He looked up at the ceiling or...the audience in this case...as he asked calmly with a frown, "Want to see something cool?".

He then used Chaos Control on himself to warp to a different location. A bright yellow light surrounded him after he had warped. But just as Shadow had done that, Dr. Eggman and Rouge had arrived inside the Secret Vault Room and had shocked looks on their faces.

"No way! He's awake?!" Dr. Eggman and Rouge exclaimed at the same time in shock.

Meanwhile, Chris's white plane was flying down in the sky. Chris grimaced as he knows that he lost control of his plane. This...This is it...I can't fight back any longer...I'm...I'm so sorry, Sonic...I should've listened to you...Chris thought with a grimace while he closed his eyes as he braced himself for impact.

"Chris! You can't go down yet! You can still survive this!" Sonic yelled in shock and in worry as he watched Chris' plane go down even lower. Can anyone save him?! Sonic thought in worry as his eyes were very wide.

Just when Sonic had thought that, a bright steak of light went towards Chris' plane. Chris yelled in shock as he deflected the incoming light in self-defense as he thought that it was another one of the Metarex's attacks. "Leave me alone!" Chris yelled as he turned his plane towards the right to deflect the surprise attack. The light streak bounced from the plane's wing and had shot up towards the sky...right into the center of the ghost's eye.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhh!" the ghost screamed in agony as the surprise attack was a direct hit. The yellow light had covered the eye completely and had attacked it ruthlessly. "Noooooooooooooooooo! Whhhhhhhhhyyyyy?! Whhhhyyy alllllwaaaaaysss...the eyeeeeeeeeeeee?!" the ghost screamed in pain as the powerful attack had went on for a few more seconds before the ghost had exploded at last.

KABOOM!

The explosion was loud, and the wind just blew vigorously throughout the area. Amy and Knuckles blocked the sudden wind gust with either their arms or with the board game itself. Tails, Cream, and Cosmo were shocked by this surprising turn of events. Sonic was literally and figuratively blown away by this. He had no idea what just happened, but he's grateful that the Metarex poacher was defeated. Whew! Talk about a miracle! Sonic thought as his body was flipping through the air as the wind blew him away. He soon landed on top of the debris of the demolished castle with his hands on his hips. He stared ahead of him to see what's going on now after that explosion.

Okay...Whoever did this is either a friend...or a foe...I better keep my guard up...Sonic thought solemnly with a frown as he stared at the smoke ahead of him.

Amy and Knuckles also stared up at the smoke above to see what it was that did that. Both the smoke and the dark clouds had disappeared which revealed the waning moon above. But that...wasn't the only thing that revealed. At the top of the old, rustic castle was...Shadow the Hedgehog himself. Shadow stood firm at the top of the castle while the red and purple Chaos Emeralds floated around him in circles. With a calm, stoic expression on his face, Shadow stared ahead of him and saw Sonic standing on the other side of the other castle.

"Ah! It...It can't be!" Sonic exclaimed in shock as his eyes went wide when he saw Shadow staring at him from the other castle ahead of him. Amy and Knuckles gasped in shock as they saw Shadow too. They were completely confused by this. They don't know what to think of this. Tails and Cream gasped at this too, and Cosmo was baffled by what she's seeing. Is that...what Shadow looks like? Cosmo thought with a confused yet intrigued look on her face.

Chris was lying on the ground floor of his crash site. Luckily for him, he had survived the crash with surprisingly some damage on his plane but not severe enough to not fly again. Chris pondered while he opened his eyes and turned around. I...I can't believe it...I'm alive. I'm alive! Just what...what had happened back there? I thought that I was a goner when that streak of light had hit my plane. Was I...saved somehow? But by who I wonder?

Chris then gasped in shock by what he saw on top of the tall castle above. He saw Shadow the Hedgehog and two floating emeralds around him. While on his knees, he stared at him in confusion as he asked to himself, "Is this...Is this another dream? Am I in another dream? How is...Shadow here? He can't be alive...can he? Or is this...another one of the Metarex's tricks?".

Shadow was still silent as he stared ahead of him while the emeralds floated over him. Chris then tried to get his attention by saying, "Hey, Shadow! Are you really there? Please say 'yes'".

Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles just stared at Shadow while gasping in shock as they really don't know what's happening anymore. Shadow had looked at Chris for a second, and Chris gasped in shock of this. But before Chris had said anything else, Shadow looked back ahead of him and said, "No...".

Suddenly, Shadow's body was covered in the bright yellow again as he used Chaos Control to warp back to Dr. Eggman's spaceship. Both the Chaos Emeralds and the bright light were gone after Shadow had warped back. Chris was at awe of this after seeing Shadow disappear like that. He smiled a little as he thought. So...Shadow really is alive. After all, only Shadow would reply in a rude, aloof manner like that. …But...But still...it doesn't make any sense...

"Shadow...is supposed to be..." Chris muttered with a frown on his confused face.

"Gone...He's gone..." Knuckles muttered in shock as his eyes were wide. Amy was just as shocked as Knuckles was as she stared at the empty rooftop of the castle. She held onto the board game even tighter after seeing that. Okay...That was probably the creepiest thing ever. Out of all the spooky things that I've seen today on this planet...That was the one that tops them all. Amy thought with a grimace as she shivered a bit in fear.

Sonic just gawked after seeing Shadow disappear. He was too stunned for words at the moment. I...I did not just see that, right? Did Shadow...save us? But why is he here of all times? He's supposed to be dead! Hmm...Was it the board game's doing? Was it responsible for Shadow's revival from death? Sonic pondered with stunned look on his face. He soon smiled in amusement as he thought. Well, what do you know? It seems that life had found a way after all!

-Meanwhile At Dr. Eggman's Spaceship-

Shadow had reappeared in Dr. Eggman's Secret Vault Room after Chaos Controlling again. Dr. Eggman and Rouge gasped in shock as they saw the bright yellow light appearing before them again. Shadow stood before them while holding the two Chaos Emeralds in his hands. Dr. Eggman tried to talk to him by asking, "Shadow? Can you hear me?".

Shadow was silent as he held the emeralds in his hands. He was about to walk forward, but he soon collapsed on the ground since he felt exhausted. He laid on the ground on his stomach with his arms outstretched in front of him. He still had the emeralds in his hands even after he had collapsed. Dr. Eggman and Rouge gasped again in shock after seeing Shadow collapse. They just couldn't believe what they have now...Two Chaos Emeralds...and Shadow the Hedgehog. More importantly...Shadow himself. At this point, who knows what the outcome would be in the race to find all seven Chaos Emeralds? It's anyone's game now.

While Shadow laid on the ground in exhaustion, these were his last thoughts before drifting off into sleep again. I can't believe I only said two lines in this whole episode-Err-I mean chapter. What is my purpose anymore? Plot device? Sounds likely...Aw well...Back to sleep I go until I wake up and be cool again. I wonder if I'll just say one line next time? That'll be a new record for me. Anyways...see ya later suckers...I'm off to La-La land again...

…

…I'm still awesome though...

And that's episode 60 for ya. What a spooky chapter. Perfect for when Halloween arrives though! Now, that I'm done with this chapter, I'm going back into the shadows again until I upload the next chapter. Again, updates will be random from here on out, but I'll do my best to get a little better of that. I mean. I hadn't uploaded a chapter in almost three months! That's crazy! But hopefully, this chapter is worth the wait. Now, it's time to move on to episode 61.