I wanted to upload this story last year already, but couldn't finish it until today. Anyway, enjoy!
ScareS1, Sonadow, Mephilver, Fleetourge, Knuxouge (Part 1)
With a scowl, Shadow took in the mansion in front of him. It looked menacing, but the black and orange paper chains and the pumpkins, that had rather funny, than scary, faces cut into them and that decorated the entrance, softened the impression a good bit.
Heaving a sigh, he made his way up the stairs to the heavy looking oak door. The large paper with the colorful writing 'Halloween Party! Welcome!' on it almost let him turn around and run as fast as he could, but he steeled his shoulders and knocked loudly.
The sound echoed through the house and when the door opened, the movement was accompanied by a creepy noise.
The true horror, however, was behind the door. "Rose.," the agent growled at the pink furred hedgette, who grinned happily at him. Strangely, she didn't wear any costume, although that was apparently required, according to Rouge at least.
The girl's grin turned into a pout, when she saw him. "Where's your costume, Shad?," she asked.
"First: don't call me 'Shad', you know, that this nickname is reserved for Sonic only. Second: I already wear my costume." He showed her his GUN-badge. "I'm a GUN-agent.," he declared.
Amy blinked at him, her jaw dropped, before she facepalmed. "You're such an idiot sometimes. Rouge, he needs a costume!," she muttered, before calling deeper in the house.
A chuckle answered her and a minute later, Rouge appeared, wearing a dark blue witch costume and carrying a bundle under her arm. "I told you, didn't I?," she smirked and gave the bundle to her partner, who unrolled it – to stare at the two items in his hands in utter shock, that would have caused a heart attack in normal beings. One of the things he held was a cape, that was light pink on the outside and dark pink on the inside and the other was a mask, that would cover the left side of his face, also painted in bright pink. "W-what is this!?," he asked, flabbergasted.
"Your costume, of course. Remember? I told you, that the party had a 'Pink and Blue'-theme. Blue for the ladies and pink for the men.," she reminded.
"Can't say, that Rose is keeping that deal.," Shadow growled, while holding the two items, as if they were stinking.
"Er- hello!? I AM wearing blue!," Amy huffed and pointed at a choker out of blue leather she wore around her neck. He would have noticed the new accessory, if he could stand looking at her for longer than a second.
"What kind of costume is a blue collar?," Shadow frowned. Amy gasped, looking horrified and offended, as if he had insulted her harshly, while Rouge laughed. "You're so mean!," Amy cried angrily and stomped away.
"Way to go, Shadow. Do you plan on ending the party by upsetting every guest? You still need to stay until midnight, remember? That's our deal."
"I didn't forget it.," Shadow snapped and put on the hideous costume. "Please tell me, that Sonic is somewhere around here, so I don't have to die from boredom.," he growled, getting used to the mask covering half of his mouth, that moved slightly with his lips, when he spoke.
"Yeah, he is already there – and unlike you in a real costume. It's a cool one, you won't recognize him!," the bat promised playfully.
"Yay. Remind me not to make bets with you anymore.," Shadow grumbled, moving past her. That was the only reason, why he was here: he had made a bet with Rouge concerning one of their last missions – who would catch his/her criminal first. Unfortunately, the stupid criminal he had searched for had been a master in hiding himself and he had lost – the bet, not the criminal, mind you!
And as they had agreed, that the winner could order the loser to do anything they wanted – and Rouge had insisted on this party, that Shadow had to attend until midnight –, he was here now.
If he disappeared before the time was up, he had to be her butler for a whole month and do absolutely everything she ordered him to – and she had already revealed, that she would establish a strict 'no sex at all'-rule, which Shadow definitely didn't want to do to Sonic...and himself.
He saw, that the room in front of him was alight and stepped from the dark hallway into it, his eyes quickly adjusting to the brightness. As he could see, there were already other guests in what was probably the living room.
Fleetway and Scourge occupied a cushioned chair, the green one sitting on the yellow furred one, making out aggressively. Both had decided for a pink 'slave and pharaoh'-theme, both wearing short skirt-like clothes, jewelry with pink gem stones – that looked fake – around their upper arms and Fleetway had an Egyptian looking crown on his head, he was apparently the pharaoh, if the fake chain around Scourge's ankle was anything to go by.
The crown, whose fabric looked, just like the one of the skirts, as if they had simply washed white sheets with something red, swapped its wearer during their making out pretty much every ten seconds, so it was hard to say, who was who in this costume-play. While Shadow watched, a black tentacle came suddenly out of their shadows, grabbed the green male, not without startled cries of both, and deposited its cargo on an empty chair not too far away from Fleetway.
"HEY!," both males complained loudly towards the dark furred, almost identical to Shadow hedgehog, who sat on a sofa with a scowl.
"Do I have to remind you, that this is MY house? I would like it to be as clean as it was before, when this night is over.," Mephiles grumbled annoyed.
He wore a dark pink toga, a pair of cotton candy-colored wings and a neon pink halo, held above his head with a stick, that stuck out of the back of his costume. His feet were clothed in pink painted sandals and his gloves were also pink. Either he took this 'pink for males'-theme very serious, or Rouge had given him that.
Next to him sat Silver, dressed in a pink devil's costume with pink horns, held with a plastic ribbon between his ears, a dark pink overall with short sleeves, red boots and he had a fake tail out of a pink fabric with a pointy tip, poking out from behind him, with whose tip he was playing, while giggling at his mate's exasperation. Fleetway and Scourge just huffed angrily, mumbling something about a spoilsport.
Shadow didn't know, why Mephiles of all people was hosting a Halloween Party – not to mention in his own house, in that he barely let anyone stay for longer than an hour. He knew, what happened every time, after Silver had hosted another sleepover, and it was close to a miracle, that Mephiles didn't wrap all rooms and pieces of furniture in plastic, before he let someone in. He would probably hire an army of cleaning teams to disinfect all the rooms after the party – especially the one, where Fleetway and Scourge would sneak off to later, without a doubt.
On another sofa sat Knuckles, who didn't seem very happy with his pink-dyed wizard costume. It looked, as if he would kill everyone, who dared to laugh at him, with his long, wooden wizard-wand, adorned with a fake pink crystal, that he held a little too tightly for comfort in his hand.
Next to him sat Tails and Cream, having identical zombie-costumes in their respective colors. They looked rather cute, than scary, though.
On the armrest next to Cream sat Blaze with an indifferent face, probably as happy to be here, as Shadow himself was. She wore a blue dress, blue bunny ears and had the hint of a sky-blue rabbit's tail behind her, resting on the base of her regular tail, that was wrapped lightly in blue ribbons, the dark purple tips poking out of the wrapping. Shadow could guess, that Cream had ,helped' her with her costume. If the girl would look in her direction, the cat would be all smiles, the agent knew that much.
Looking around the room, Shadow couldn't spot any more guests. Which meant, that Rose had sulked off to somewhere else – which was good – but that also meant, that Sonic wasn't there.
Frowning, Shadow stepped more into the room, going towards Tails and Knuckles, fully intent on asking the two for information, since they were the most likely to know something about his precious love's current location.
Before he could reach them however, Rouge's voice let him stop and turn around to see her standing in the door frame. "Since we are now all together-"
"What? You call THIS handful of people a party? How lame! Did nobody tell you, that it's only a party, when there are at least twenty guests!?," Fleetway interrupted her, which earned him a glare from Rouge, that let him hide behind his chair, actually.
"As I was saying, all people I asked to come half an hour EARLIER are here. I actually let you come here, because of a bet I have with our favorite trio of ukes."
Silver giggled again and he and Scourge stood up to walk towards and to stand next to her, while their boyfriends watched with obvious surprise. They had had apparently no idea about that.
"A bet? Again?," Shadow raised a brow, crossing his arms. "Come on, you know, that I love my bets!," Rouge grinned.
She was pretty much addicted to those. Before her greater successes as a jewel thief and then a GUN-agent, she had needed to finance her equipment and information somehow.
With her rather suggesting outfits, one could think, that her methods had been of the physical kind, but far from it – and everyone, who even hinted it, got to meet her shoe in not so nice places of their anatomy –, she only wore those clothes to catch her opponents off guard, to let them think, that there was nothing behind these make-up-layers.
A fatal mistake, as everyone knew, who got stripped of all his belongings by the bat's bets. And as old habits died hard, Rouge still loved to bet with everyone she knew, although she went easy on them and didn't bet about Chaos Emeralds – or worse, the Master – or other valuable possessions. If anything, she was betting about favors, or sometimes just for the feeling of victory. Once, she let Sonic run halfway around the globe to buy her her favorite perfume, just so she didn't need to import it.
Needless to say, that Shadow was her most favorite victim, as getting under his skin was a challenge she faced and accepted every day.
"Fine, what is this bet about? And where's Sonic?," Shadow gave up. He knew, when Rouge was determined – and, that you couldn't stop her, once she was like this.
"Oh, you know him, he wanted to start early. You see, our lovely ukes and me are curious, if you semes are able to find us, even if we are wearing different costumes." She smirked towards Knuckles, her boyfriend, who looked away stubbornly. He hated the public showing of affection, especially from Rouge towards him. "So, this little experiment/bet will work like this: We four will put on new costumes and mix under the other guests, who will appear in less than 30 minutes. You need to find us until midnight. If you find us, you win – if not, we win – and you four owe me one each!," Rouge smirked.
"Er..." Shyly, Tails lifted his hand, as if he was a pupil in school. He was rather careful, in case Rouge was still pissed because of Fleetway.
"Yes, Tails?," Rouge asked, playing teacher. "I don't really get, what we three and Amy are doing here, then.," the fox explained, gesturing to his two female companions on the sofa. "You can thank Sonic for that. He didn't want our semes to have no chance at all – because our costumes are great, believe me – so you four will give hints. You'll come with us, while the males wait and you'll see our costumes. Then you'll wander around the house and give our semes a small hint, when they ask you. But you aren't the hiding ones, so don't try too much to avoid them – just a little.," she added playfully.
Shrugging with an ever indifferent expression, Blaze stood up, closely followed by the youngest ones in the room, all three joining the bat and hedgehogs. "Now, let's go. The game starts, when the first other guest arrives. Until then, don't leave this room – unless you are hungry, the buffet is next door. Ta-ta!" Waving, Rouge shepherded the ones around her out and slammed the door shut behind her.
"This are still my doors!," Mephiles hissed after her. Almost immediately, the door opened again and Silver stuck his head in. "Mephy, don't be rude to our guests.," he chastised with a frown, before closing the door again, softer this time. The dark seme sighed in defeat and leaned back.
"So, YOU are hosting a Halloween Party?," Fleetway asked Mephiles after a few minutes of icy silence. Mephiles raised a brow at him. "YOU try contradicting Silver, when he really wants something. He throws tantrums like a child. A child with psychokinesis.," he added, shaking his head.
After what felt like an eternity, the first other guests arrived and the semes were finally allowed to search for their loves.
Knuckles had a scowl on his face, while he made his way through the mass of guests. Did Rouge invite half Mobius!?
He had found several bat mobians already, but none of them had been Rouge. Finally he had figured, that she was wearing the costume of another species, but so far, he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary.
He needed to correct that just a second later, when he spotted Cream, leaning against one of the windows with a bored expression, a glass of juice in her hand. That was rather strange – it was really hard to get someone as lively as Cream to get bored, especially during a party. He went over to her.
"Something wrong?," he asked loudly, over the music, that someone had brought with him, it seemed, since Mephiles preferred horror movie-music.
The girl looked up to him, before smiling quickly. "It's nothing, Miss Rouge just told me to be always available for you four, so I don't want to get lost in the crowd. Do you want a hint maybe?," she asked sweetly.
Knuckles raised a brow. "No, thanks.," he muttered, turned swiftly and marched away. "Suit yourself.," the young girl shrugged, not realizing, that he wasn't out of earshot just yet.
Fleetway walked around the big mansion mindlessly, frowning at the creepy decoration in the shelves he passed while looking through all doors he came across, before he noticed a familiar figure in the distance.
"Yo, fox!," he called and the golden furred male turned around, watching the taller approach. "I guess, I'm ready for a hint."
"Really?" The fox raised a brow, as if he didn't believe it. "Yeah.," Fleetway nodded. "Fine. He's wearing pink. Excuse me." Growling, the younger pushed past the other and marched down the hallway.
"Hey, what did I say!? Was I asking too early, or something like this? Come on, give me a better hint!," Fleetway called after him, but the fox just ran further.
With his powers, Mephiles had swiftly searched through every room in the mansion, but had come up empty handed. Just where could Silver be? Maybe he was in the crowd on the ground floor? Hiding among others?
Deciding to look there next, he opened the last door in the hallway and entered the library to search for Silver.
He was surprised to find Blaze there, sitting in one of the comfortable chairs, reading a book. Her ear twitched and she looked up to him.
"Why aren't you at the party?," Mephiles questioned. The cat shrugged, playing with her tail tip. "Too loud, too full. You know, how much I hate it to be among people."
Well, it was better, that she hated and avoided it – otherwise, the guests would probably already suffer from third degree-burn wounds.
"I see. Can you give me then any clue about Silver's whereabouts?" "Sure. He's close." "So he didn't leave the mansion? Well, it would have been unfair, wouldn't it be?"
Blaze chuckled and nodded. "Sorry, but I can't tell you anything else, until you have looked some more."
"Thanks, but that isn't necessary anymore, you have helped me enough.," Mephiles replied and left the room, leaving a confusedly blinking Blaze behind.
"Come on, stop already! Hello? Where are you?" Confused, Fleetway looked around the large dining room he had just followed Tails into.
Although the fox had been hardly ten seconds alone in here, he had been gone, when Fleetway had entered. Well, he couldn't have left through the door, could he? And the window opposite the door was shut and locked from the inside. He wasn't under the table and the shelves on both of his sides had glass fronts. So, where was he?
Scratching his quills, Fleetway was about to leave the room, when he heard a groan above himself and he looked up to see a surprisingly high ceiling with three chandeliers decorating it. On the biggest one, that hung the lowest, stood Tails, leaning against the cord holding it to the ceiling with a bored expression. "Are you done finally with running around like an idiot?," he asked harshly.
Fleetway blinked. Wow, Sonic's little brother had a bad day, huh? Seeing the confused face, Tails scoffed and jumped down, landing on the table. "You still don't get it, do you?" "Get...what?," he asked, even more confused.
"Forget it.," Tails growled, jumped off the table and swiftly left the room. "Aww, come on, not that again!," Fleetway moaned and ran after him again. "Please, give me another hint!"
Shadow looked out into the night with a sigh. Two hours. He had searched for Sonic for two hours straight and not even found a blue quill. He knew, that he wasn't sitting around somewhere and waiting for him to just find him, but that he hadn't found ANYTHING, yet...
Maybe Rouge lied about him being here? No, she wasn't the most honest person on the planet, but she only lied in emergencies, to save her hide. If Sonic hadn't come, then lying about him being already there would have harmed their relationship gravely, they both knew that. Maybe he should accept a hint? Maybe they were useful after all.
He turned to leave the balcony he had retreated onto and froze upon seeing someone stepping through the balcony door.
Just a second later, he relaxed. "Oh, you.," he greeted Amy Rose not really enthusiastically.
"Hey, Shad, I looked for you!," the girl chirped happily, apparently not mad anymore. Well, her moods had always changed quickly. "Rose, for the last time: It's Shadow. S-H-A-D-O-W. Get it in your head! My nicknames are reserved for Sonic only!"
"And Rouge, right?," the girl smirked, surprising Shadow a little. Since when was she this quick-witted? It was probably better, that she didn't start to cry, he couldn't be able to handle that. "What do you want, Rose?," he just sighed. "Well, don't you want to know, where Sonic is?," the girl asked. "By asking you? No, thanks.," Shadow growled and walked past her "Whatever you say, Shady.," Amy chuckled, waving after him.
Shadow had just left the balcony, when he froze. Only a second later, a smirk let his lips curl upwards.
It was the cellar, where Shadow and Knuckles met again, as if they had agreed on the meeting point instinctively. "You noticed it, right?," Knuckles asked. "Indeed I did.," Shadow nodded.
In that moment, Mephiles, holding a struggling Fleetway in his tentacles' clutches, appeared out of a shadow next to them. He looked in the two other faces. "So you figured it out.," he stated. Both males nodded.
"Figured out what!? And let me go, I need to find Scourge!," Fleetway snarled, struggling to get free. All three males groaned. "Go, I'll explain it to him.," Mephiles sighed and the other two left.
Shadow returned to the balcony and as expected, he found Amy there, leaning against the railing, looking up to the full moon.
"Rose.," Shadow called and the pink furred ears twitched and turned to him, followed closely by the hedgette. "Shads? Back so soon?," she asked, her head cocked to the side, which looked just adorable. "I changed my mind, I need a hint."
Amy's eyes sparkled playfully. "Okay! He's wearing a costume, that is absolutely perfect, you won't even find a blue quill anymore."
Shadow smirked. "I see, that'll make it hard for me.," he commented and started to move towards her.
"Of course, Sonic is the best after all, unreachable, I really don't see, why he is so after you.," Amy bragged.
"Oh, you don't?," the male asked, startling the pinkette a great bit, since she hadn't heard him approaching and he was now directly in front of her.
Gently, Shadow put a hand under her chin and pushed it up. "How about I show you?," he smirked and before she had time to react, he connected their lips.