I had been keeping an eye on the views for this story, and I have seen quite an increase for the past couple of days. Just how many of you were able to sniff out a new chapter on the horizon?

This one turned out to be of a regular - perhaps on the long side - chapter length. Completely unintentional. I uploaded two things tonight, so you shouldn't be too angry with me - as I've worked my little butt off. Hopefully this makes up for the long hiatus.

Theme 5: Midnight Misadventure

A pair of amber eyes opened after a sudden – yet brief – torpor, something that had occurred without even the slightest clue as to how or why. Groggily they wandered around the room, which somehow seemed off than before.

Perhaps his eyes have yet to adjust, but the room was quite dark, only illuminated by the dim flames on the walls and chandelier. He goes to move from his sitting position, only to be restrained from doing so. Again he tried, wriggling his body and limbs as much as he could, only to find the same results. There was something sturdy around him that tightly held him in place. Someone else was in here – he already knew – and was beginning to suspect if this was done on purpose to knock the competition…

Soft moaning was heard from behind, as he felt something stir against his back. As if their 'competition' could sink no lower as to tie someone else in the room with him. The suspect he had in mind seemed low enough to betray their own partner, and here he laid – tied up beside him.

Quietly, although hesitantly, he called out to whom he thought was behind him.

"Knuckles..?"

At first he wasn't given a response, which worried him further. He heard another moan, tensing as he was about to call his name again…

"…Espio..?"

It was his own comrade, he concluded, a wave of relief washing over him. However, his previous speculation was shot, and raised more questions. Perhaps the duo in question are innocent in this case, and that there are others inside the mansion. What is it that everyone's after – are they all after the same thing? It doesn't sound likely that everyone else is also looking for the secret chamber. At least, not for the same reason.

But who was it that captured them? And why? Most importantly: how close are they to the hidden lair at this point? If they're tied up, it's plausible that they're close to discovering the room. Whoever trapped them either knew something – so much as the whereabouts of the room – and only had to drag them out of the way… or this was a mere and rather rash plot made by someone who sought revenge against them.

…Or it may have something to do with both.

His companion behind him fully sat up – practically pressing against his back – fussing and writhing as he struggled to move. Espio continued examining the room, noticing something interesting that caught his eye. To his left was a wall of thick three-inch spikes, as well as to his right. With his eyes he searched for a door, high and low, some way to get out of the room.

The struggling from his partner behind him came to an end, who spoke with agitation clear in his tone. "What is this? Where are we?"

Still searching for an exit from the room, the chameleon answered "…I don't know."

Nightfall seemed to have took ages to arrive. The pair took the time to rest, settling within a new environment that currently surrounded them.

It was, yet, another forest. Dark, eerie, and detached from any other life forms. The trees played a mournful tune each time they danced in the wind. There was no other sound, no other species, no warmth, no path, no signs… Their only other companion, and savior from eternal darkness, was the ever beautiful moon herself – unaccompanied in the sky.

As of late, the tension between teams was already beginning to show. Their previous battle was a rough one, their opponents hadn't held back any punches. One whom neither could keep up with, another whom had a few surprises of his own, together their teamwork was fluent – which that alone made the chameleon and his companion have to constantly stay on their toes. The mech, of course, didn't make anything easier.

To make matters worse; Eggman Nega, slimy and crooked as ever, gave them the slip as he vaguely hinted towards a haunted mansion – hidden somewhere deep in the woods – with a hidden chamber filled with his own Chao he collected to feed to the Ifrit. All of their time and effort to foil his plans was in vain – so he said.

Thus, their reason for being here in the first place.

Espio continued to care for Silver's wounds, in which the moonlight gave a silvery crimson hue. In a gentle hold, he had the hedgehog's nose within a rag, in which he ordered Silver to keep his head down momentarily. Their injuries were minor, which he only had to clean. Once he was finished, he proceeded to clean the rag within the small stream nearby.

As he did so, Silver warily examined their new surroundings from a log he sat on. His eyes glanced from tree to tree as he wondered aloud, "Are you sure about this, Espio?"

"A Chao can be found anywhere." the chameleon bluntly stated while twisting the water out of his rag. "If we're lucky, a few may have gotten loose while Nega wasn't looking."

"Really? I haven't seen a thing since we've came over here. Doesn't that seem a little strange to you?"

With a tired sigh, Espio sat beside the hedgehog, his hands folded between his knees. It was only a moment later before he finally answered him. "And here I thought you were already unfazed by oddity."

For a moment Silver froze, slightly caught off guard by the comment. He turned his head towards Espio, a wry smile crossing his muzzle. "We each have different ideas of oddity, stalker."

A dry chuckle escaped from the chameleon, his gaze transfixed on the stream nearby. "For some reason you seem to believe I did it for pleasure."

"Are you sure you weren't enticed in any way?"

"Do you truly find yourself enticing?"

"I asked you first."

Espio snorted a laugh, his gaze darting away from the hedgehog a brief moment. "I can't answer that."

"Because it's true and you do?"

"Because you're flirting with me, and it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable." The pair stared at the other's eyes, two pairs of golden orbs glistening beneath the moonlight.

However, the moment was lost when Silver tore away, possibly to roll his eyes. When he returned his gaze, his smile had nearly waned completely – in which the chameleon's absently faltered itself. Another moment was spent in uneasy silence as the pair remained in their positions. What was it that was eating him most; Espio couldn't tell exactly what was going on. As of now, he wasn't sure on whether or not to take his companion seriously.

Hell, he was uncertain if he meant what he said himself.

Once again the hedgehog restored an air of life between them, once again looking away, his gaze fixed towards something ahead of him – as if whatever was through the dense forest had suddenly caught his eye. The chameleon couldn't read what laid hidden beneath his impassive countenance, as if he wasn't already on edge. Perhaps, the detective thought, he hadn't thought this one through at all, and ridiculed himself for not fully taking caution with a peculiar hedgehog whose claimed to hail from a later time period.

An already odd mission almost instantly becomes ludicrous. Just like old times…

With his hands folded in front of him, Silver finally spoke, a hint of wariness in his tone. "No, of course not… You know I don't have time for that."

"Of course. How foolish of me…" For a moment he paused, dropping his sarcasm to attend to one of his suddenly disturbed senses. Almost instantly his body became tensed, as he cautiously scanned the area around them. His partner seemed to have took notice, as he watched him with a concerned expression.

The detective was nearly certain as he murmured "Something's nearby…"

Whether he hadn't heard him, or just confused, the hedgehog felt the need to lean slightly towards the chameleon. "What?"

Espio stood up, and began to carefully tread towards the group of trees they were already facing. Also getting up from the log, Silver began to chase after him, following the chameleon further into the woods.

"Wait! Where are you-" before his sentence was finished, Espio camouflaged with their surroundings, disappearing into the night. A sigh had escaped from Silver, shaking his head in an exasperated manner. "I thought we already talked about this…"

When he hadn't received a response, he began to wonder if he had already lost him. "…Espio?"

"Over here!" he heard the chameleon hiss. "And keep quiet before they see you."

He was quickly joined by Silver, who hid behind a nearby tree. "Who are we hiding from?" His question was answered as soon as Knuckles and Rouge came into view. The pair walked silently, one behind the other down the dirt path. A mutual agreement was shared between the two before they trailed the duo down the road.

Soon they stood before a rusted and open gate. The shadow of a tall building loomed over the large yard, for the moon – much more apparent than before – had stayed by their side. Both gazed upon the possessor of the shadow; a soft wind rushed by them with the acoustic of a moan, leaving behind only a slight chill.

After all this time, they finally found what they were looking for: a haunted mansion deep within the woods.

Looking up from where he sat tied up, Espio noticed a slight change with the walls. They appeared closer than where they were before. Come to think of it – from what he couldn't help but notice – they still seemed to be coming closer together, slowly but surely. He though he lost his mind for a moment – or so he hope would be the case. Were the walls really moving?

Silver glared ahead at the wall. "So what do we do now?"

"Hell if I know…" murmured the chameleon, a frown on his muzzle as he looked around the room. He spotted a pebble by his foot, which gave him a small idea. He kicked it across the room, he watched as it rolled towards the wall he faced. Amber eyes stayed on the stone, and widened as he watched the stone slide forward towards his direction. The walls are moving…

…but they are still stick there…

His body literally shook, coming to the unfortunate conclusion that his eyes do not deceive him. The walls were closing in on them, and they can do nothing but watch the horror unfold before them. As if the mere thought of walls closing in on them weren't bad enough, he now witnesses it actually happening. And of course, there wasn't a way to get out of the room. It was almost as if he was living a nightmare.

Desperately he wished he could wake himself up.

The hedgehog must of took notice, as he addressed him with concern in his tone. "Espio?"

As if he meekly came out of a dazed state, Espio blinked , his mouth slightly gapped. His words weakly – almost inaudibly – passed through his lips. "They're moving… The walls…"

"What?" Silver began to kick and squirm, almost in a frantic manner, searching the room for something they could put to use. "There has to be something we can do to get out of this! Got any ideas?"

The chameleon stared blankly at the wall, as if nothing was ever said to him.

"Come on Espio! Pull yourself together!" the hedgehog snapped. "If we don't do anything, we'll never stop Eggman Nega from releasing the Ifrit. Is that what you want?"

"Silver, I'm petrified! I don't know!" the chameleon barked.

There was a long period of silence, before he head his companion speak once again. "Wait… So you're…" Another silent moment longer, Silver took a deep breath, relaxing his body. "Espio, please… You need to overcome your fear, now more than ever. For both of our sakes. If not that, then at least do it for your world, for your loved ones. I cannot do this alone. Please, Espio…"

His next words froze him to his very core, causing his eyes to nearly pop out of their sockets. "…I need you."

He had just reached the courtyard, coming from a hall of the mansion. Carefully he treaded along the mossy cobblestone path where it lead him to a dead and corroded fountain, containing nothing but a brownish-green liquid nearly filled to the brim. The chameleon cringed in disgust and started to remove himself from the fountain.

That is, had he not caught sight of the water moving… assuming that sludge was once water, anyhow.

Espio withdrew a kunai and placed it into the water, prudently stirring it around and scraping against the sides and bottom. Once he pulled it out, he found a large wad of muck on the blade, which he quickly he wiped off on the fountain's edge. But there was something odd about that wad of muck… it felt solid. At first he poked it with the blade to see what could be inside – coming to the conclusion that it was something small and thick. He scraped away what he could from the mystery object, and came to find a peculiar item…

A coin.

It was a hexagonal shaped coin, golden, but tarnished. On the coin was a Mobian – a hedgehog he assumed – with something strange on his face, a bizarre looking mask that he couldn't quite make out. On the back there was a strange symbol in Japanese, from what he could decipher, it appeared to be a name of some sort… Without a second though, he tossed the coin onto the dead grass. He tried again, taking the blade back into the water…

…and felt something cling to his wrist.

He was yanked roughly towards the fountain. Something that is inside is trying to pull him in with it. What kind of monstrosity lived within the fountain? Espio struggled with it, he placed his foot against the wall to use as much force as possible to pull away. Something else clasped around his arm as it – whatever it is that's trying to get him – tired with all of its might to pull him in. He felt his foot that was still on the ground sliding more and more towards the fountain. The beast that was inside was perceptibly stronger than he was, and something needed to be done about it.

The ninja detective hastily reached for a shuriken and sliced it into whatever had his wrist.

Almost immediately something covered in black and green sludge shot up to the surface, yelling as he nursed where it was slashed. Espio fell to the ground screaming in horror, wasting no time in throwing the shuriken at the monster. It cleaved its cheek, the monster howled before it dropped back into the water. Panting and clutching his chest, the chameleon slowly brought himself to his feet, keeping his eyes glued to the fountain eve as he approached it a second time. He readied his weapon, carefully leaning over the water…

"SHAA!"

It jumped at him, and they rolled across the yard within impact. The beast, atop of him, raised its fists. Espio, having his weapon fly out of his hand – and a defense mechanism being triggered from a surprise attack – crossed his arms X-styled in attempt to block the oncoming blow.

However, nothing ever came. Except for a voice that sounded very surprised.

"E-Espio?"

Shocked to have heard the familiar voice, Espio's arms fell to the pavement as he stared up into a pair of violet eyes. "Knuckles?!"

"What the hell?!" he got up as he helped the ninja to his feet. "I knew I was being followed, so I hid in the fountain to make an ambush. But I didn't expect I'd run into you like this!"

"I'm equally surprised."

"Hang on… What are you doing here anyway? the echidna narrowed his eyes as he leaned closer to the chameleon. "You were following me, weren't you?"

"A-absolutely not!" the chameleon answered rather hesitantly. "I honestly had no idea you were even here."

The guardian said nothing more to him. Instead, he watched him, which made the detective even more twitchy. He composed himself as he gave the echidna – or tried to – a small and innocent smile.

Thankfully, it was shrugged off with a nonchalant "If you say so…" The chameleon sighed inwardly, silently giving his thanks. "By the way, have you happened to see Shadow or Eggman recently?"

"I haven't. Why do you ask?"

Tensing and clenching his fists, Knuckles growled "I'm almost positive one of them has the Master Emerald." Looking away, the chameleon silently chuckled to himself, and turned his back completely towards the enraged echidna. He stomped his foot and barked at him. "Hey! What gives?!"

He glanced back at him briefly, a small smirk seizing his lips. "Oh, nothing. I'm sorry, Knuckles, but I'm uninterested. I have more important matters to attend to. So if you don't mind…" without another word, the chameleon walked away from the pouting echidna.

"Fine, who needs you anyway?" he turned to walk the other direction. "I'll just gather some Rings for the detector… and find something to wash this goop off…"

"Remember what you said to me earlier? Before we went searching for the mansion?" the psychic hedgehog continued, even while the walls continued to inch towards them as each second passed. "Now I need you to heed your own words. We can't give up, Espio… Not when we're so close. I'm your strength, and I need you to be mine as well.

"We can't let Nega win… Don't give up!"

The chameleon closed his eyes, a small smile growing on his muzzle. "I know. I haven't once thought of giving up."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Get us out of this jam." he opened his eyes, a warm smile upon his lips which the hedgehog couldn't see. "Until we finish our journey, I'm still your strength."

After another moment of silence, Silver spoke up, and Espio could not deny noting the cordiality within his tone. "Then let's get out of here, partner."

His smile enriched with the same feelings. "Agreed. Let's get out of here." However, it faltered when he found the walls beginning to grow uncomfortably close. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to compose himself.

Until his eyes opened with an idea in mind. "Quickly, stand on your feet."

"But how? Neither of us can move."

"We'll stand together, and we'll both be supporting each other. Lean into me."

Using only their legs, and the support of the other's body, slowly but surely they made their way to their feet. Once they finally did, they each desperately scanned the room – once again – to find something to cut them loose from the sturdy rope.

"Maybe we'll find a hidden passage somewhere in the room…" the chameleon murmured as he looked to the unmoving walls. "…or a trapdoor…"

As the detective began to carefully lead them towards the back – or assuming so – of the room, Silver said aloud "I'm almost positive we were close to discovering the room… That's why Nega trapped us."

"But how? I don't remember encountering him anywhere within the mansion."

"He's been following us the entire time, Espio. Do you know of anyone else who could have purposely trapped us in here?" Before anything more could have been said, the floor beneath them suddenly parted, and the pair fell into a world of pitch-black.

Kudos to you if you understood the reference I made with the coin. Now if you excuse me... sleep awaits.