The black fur of his sweaty back made contact with the door as it slammed shut behind him. His eyes closed as he looked up and his breathing was deep.

"I am NOT going back in there." He announced, but was soon alert again when a familiar cry echoed around him. His pupils stared forward as a familiar, pulsating flesh appeared before him. He raised a brow at how it could just materialise wherever it liked, but then remembered the first note he read. Was this the 'something' that was after him?

"Pfft, it's just tissue." He thought. "It can't possibly-" As soon as he made contact, it seemed to tear at him without so much as moving.

"AHHH!" His cries of pain sounded throughout the hall as he jumped over the flesh and fell to the ground.

"Fucking dammit!" He clutched his left forearm, but slowly lifted his glove to see a deep gash going across. His voice hissed in pain as he got up and moved back towards the stairs. The wound stung and his eyes watered, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to cope with it. Luckily, his legs were unharmed and he was able to make it to the door of the Wine Cellar. He got the key in his now blood-stained hand and unlocked the door, allowing him entrance.


The first thing that caught his attention was the smell. His stomach churned at the musty smell of decomposing flesh. The hedgehog didn't want to think about the many possible causes and moved forward down some more wooden steps. Just before he descended, the sounds of glass bottles breaking tore through the silence. The mammal peered over the banister, but it was too dark to see anything. The only way he was going to get answers was to go where the noises were coming from. He took each step with caution, but they creaked horribly under his weight and Shadow couldn't help but think that he was attracting some kind of attention.

The urge to curse greatened at every unexplained noise. Every creak, every disembodied footstep from the floor above, every distant groan caused more anxiety to build within him, but as much as he wanted everything to silence itself, he found himself unable to talk. As if the very thought would cause him some more bad luck.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, his lantern allowed him to see five doors. Two to his right, one directly in front of him and two left. Before he could make his decision however, the white light returned.


"MWAHAHAHAHA! Perfect! I knew they wouldn't be able to resist! Still, I wasn't expecting that little pest to get it. No matter, revel in your glory now, but soon you will be screaming with despair!"


Once the light had faded, another confused expression was present on the mammal's face; something he seemed to be doing a lot of. This time though, he recognised it from previously. It was the same voice that was mixing the chemicals, but who was this guy?

With another quick glance, he decided for convenience sake that he would go into the door in front of him first.

It was a basic box room with barrels piled up in each corner; this may have been where the wine was kept. He gently closed the door only to notice that the small room he was in was horribly dark. He checked his oil supply to realise that it was getting low and used this opportunity to use one of the many lighters that he had in his possession. There was a wooden table with a candle on it, that Shadow lit, and a strange bottle. It certainly wasn't alcohol despite where he was and he read the label.

'Cuprite'; it was one of the chemicals that he needed and he quickly picked it up.

*Groan*

The hedgehog's ears perked up to the sound of an alien-like groan.

"It-it followed me?!" His gaze slowly moved to the door. Shadow listened for any footsteps before returning to the main area. The door slowly creaked open to reveal that no one but him was there. Now came the choice of which door to go through next. The two which were previously on his right, now on his left, were the closest so he decided that would be the best path to take.

It was another small room with a few tables, one of which had been knocked over and a few boxes on a shelf. It seemed to be a small storage room. A container in the corner with a tap caught his eye and Shadow wondered if there was anything in it, hopefully not wine. A familiar substance dripped from the tap; oil. He placed the lantern underneath before turning the tap and releasing the precious liquid. It filled his lantern significantly, by more than half for sure.

"Lucky." He thought before continuing to look around and finding another chemical bottle next to the table that was on its side.

'Calamine' the label said this time and Shadow picked it up. The walls suddenly began to violently shake and support beams near the door quickly caved in. The black hedgehog stood up in panic at the unexpected earthquake, but got slammed in the head as a heavy barrel fell upon him. In an instant, he was unconscious.


The bones within him trembled furiously as he lay motionless upon the icy, stone floor. Shadow gasped as he awoke with no idea at how much time had passed. The room was deathly quiet and his eyes could barely make out the silhouettes of furniture. He didn't get up and instead searched the floor with the arm he wasn't laying on to see if his lantern was near. Luckily, it hadn't travelled far and he was able to grab it and turn it back on. With its warming glow now illuminating the room, Shadow picked his body up from the ground and remembered that the doorway out was blocked. He grumbled both in frustration and pain as the blow to his head had caused a very noticeable headache. A sharp sting in his arm reminded him that he still needed some kind of first aid in order to patch up his wound caused by the tissue, but he knew he wouldn't find it sitting around.

His legs, still shaken from the impact, carried him to the door, which was blocked by two wooden support beams and several boulders of varying sizes. Using another lighter, the hedgehog lit a nearby torch, so that he could have both his hands free in order to move the debris. His body weight proved useful in assisting him when moving the boulders, despite it probably doing no good to his back. He then moved the beams, which were heavier than he had first thought. Despite this, Shadow was able to move them enough to get the door open and climb through.

His lungs let out a deep sigh of relief as he freed himself and he even felt his headache ease off a little.

Three more doors remained; one to his immediate left and two at the opposite end of the room. Left was the obvious choice, but as he approached, the stench of death got stronger, enough for the hedgehog to nearly wretch with disgust. His gloved hand, still stained by his own blood, covered his nose and mouth. It was a few more steps towards the door before Shadow was halted in his tracks. Cries of agony came from the other side and the sound of someone smashing on the door caused the hedgehog to jump back. His breathing was now inconsistent and his headache quickly returned. The mammal's furred body would not move until he was certain that the commotion had died down. Shadow approached the door again, this time with no disturbances. As soon as he opened it however, he was greeted to a horrific and bloodied sight.

Limbs, skin and bone lay scattered all over the exposed floor boards. Blood seemed more like paint as it covered almost everything. Shadow's stomach reacted horribly and he soon found himself throwing up violently in the corner. Coughs tore through his throat and he choked on bits of his own stomach lining that got caught; nearly causing him to vomit again. This time though, he managed to hold it back. He wiped away some of the vomit that was dripping from his chin and breathed heavily to calm himself. For now, he could only hope that his endurance would pay off and that something useful would be in here.

Trying his best to ignore the current unpleasant surroundings, Shadow noticed another small chest and began to head for it. Before he could reach it, the whiteness came back.


"Excellent! Now that I have some background information on that buzz boy, perhaps I could use him to my advantage. Being so young and so innocent makes him vulnerable! I can trap him again, just like I did before."

The overpowering smell quickly told the hedgehog that he was


back to normal, but he still couldn't figure out why he was hearing these things. He opened the chest, deciding that he would think more about these 'visions' once he was out of this place. The mammal grumbled at only finding a single lighter and moved into the only part of the room that he hadn't checked. The only items of interest were both on the table with a closet nearby wielding nothing. There was the third chemical and a note next to it.

'Today, I looked back through some of my previous inventions. I only paid attention to those that brought me the closest to success and chucked complete failures to the floor behind me.

My eyes lit up when I found one of my most brutal, but effective machines; the Egg Grape Chambers. I had thought about recreating them before, but the resources and hassle of it were far too great.

I then remembered that I didn't need a whole vineyard… I only needed one with perhaps a backup.

This time will be different and they are hopeless to stop it.'

It seemed that with every note that his blood, red eyes skimmed over, the more questions that accompanied it. Shadow didn't have a clue at what the note was talking about, but he could only assume that it was something terrible. He took both the note and the bottle, 'Aqua Regia' and hurried out of the room before his insides turned to chaos.

Once Shadow had returned to the bottom of the steps, he could see the two remaining doors that he had yet to enter. His insides had calmed now that he wasn't in the previous room and felt as if he could get through the last area without making such a mess.

*Groan*

As he reached for the handle of the first door, he heard a growl from the other side and a bottle break as if something was moving around. Shadow slowly backed away from the door and moved to the second whilst his gaze made sure that nothing followed him.

Before he entered, the hedgehog glanced left and right to make sure nothing was there and then headed left to a dead end with some shelves. His mind was sceptical that he would find anything, but was soon glad that he checked. Upon the bottom shelf was a bottle he had not yet seen, but as he picked it up…

*Growl*

…an all too familiar growl came from his right. Shadow quickly turned and his eyes met with a shadowy figure stood near the door. The hedgehog instantly turned the lantern off and crouched in the corner. The darkness made it hard to tell what it was, but the silhouette looked human, yet the noises it made certainly weren't. Shadow paid attention to his instincts, which were screaming at him, telling him that the figure was not to be trusted. The mammal stayed low hoping that it would eventually walk away. Each second that passed felt like an hour and the stress of having some unknown creature near was making his headache unbearable. It still stood motionless and Shadow knew that he would have to move at some point. With no weapons and his vision becoming steadily less focused, the thought of throwing up again quickly gave him enough courage to move. His feet moved quietly across the dirt floor with the idea that he could perhaps sneak out and sprint back up the stairs before it could catch him. His plan however, was unnecessary as the creature began walking in the other direction and out of sight around the corner.

Shadow slumped against the wall and leaned his head back in relief. His lungs begged for air and his heart rate was still through the roof to the point where he could hear it in his ears. He put a hand to his head, but soon put it back down when another sharp sting ran through it. The hedgehog remembered the bottle he picked up and turned on his lantern so that he could read it.

'Laudanum: A medical bracer to improve health and help heal wounds.'

"Perfect." He whispered, placing the lantern next to him and applying it to his arm. Shadow continued this until the bottle had run out, but at least he was feeling better. Now he would have to be more careful, at least until he found some more… assuming he would.

After sitting down for a few more minutes to gather some kind of coherent thought, Shadow stood back up and very quietly searched the rest of the room. He failed to notice a hole in the ceiling, so when a few stray rocks fell from it; he nearly tripped over in fright.

"Sweet fucking Chaos!" He growled after they had fallen. His feet reluctantly continued into another part of the cellar until he saw another door. It didn't take him long to realise that this was the door that had the growling behind it. Looking around now, it was clearly empty. His pace was slow, but steady as he wanted to get out as quickly as he could. Another dead end greeted him, but thankfully upon one of the wine racks, was the fourth and final chemical.

'Orpiment' it read.

"I am done here." Shadow thought as he headed for the nearest door that took him to the stairs. With no hesitation, he quickened his pace until he was out.


Shadow had no time to even breathe as the first thing that greeted him was more of the dangerous red flesh. With no more Laudanum, Shadow would have to be agile in order to dodge the crimson death. He effortlessly dodged the first pile only to be welcomed with more in front of the Laboratory, which was where he needed to go. The hedgehog took a deep breath and leapt over. Despite nearly tripping over, he made it unscathed and returned to the lab.


Since being here once already, Shadow knew where he needed to go and focused only on the job at hand. A lighter was used on a candle next to the station with the four burners before getting to work. He gathered the four chemicals and poured one into each of the fours glass bottles, but as he placed the third, a cry echoed through the lab and something crashed in the other room. Shadow stopped what he was doing and crouched down, in case anything was near. Once everything had quietened down, he poured the fourth chemical. The chemistry pot, which he had picked up the first time he was here, was placed underneath the outlet. Once done, he lit all four burners and turned some wheels before allowing science to do the rest. Out the end came an illuminous, green liquid.

"Acid." Shadow thought with a smirk. "I'd like to see that freak come after me now." He carefully took the acid and headed to the-

"What the…" Shadow couldn't believe his eyes. The crash he had heard earlier was the stairs collapsing. With a stern glare, the hedgehog looked around to see if there was anything he could use or climb on. Aside from an additional pot of oil, Shadow found a sturdy plank of wood, which he only hoped could hold his weight. He leaned it against one of the support beams and climbed up it enough so that he could grab the edge and pull himself up to the next level. He grinned smugly, being proud of his progress and left the laboratory.


The mammal was forced to take a step back and clutch his head when another roar shook the world around him. Flesh was now everywhere. It was as if the walls, floor and ceiling had been entirely replaced with it and Shadow was certain that he would sustain some kind of injury. In a sudden burst of speed, he ran and jumped over as much of the tissue as he could. Pleasantly, he didn't take any damage and came back into the Entrance Hall unscathed. His eyes looked back at the obstacle only to see it over the walls and stone floor as if it was reaching out to take over more of the environment. The odd flesh made Shadow feel nervous and he wanted to get away from it as much as he could.

Shadow re-familiarised himself and remembered that the only path he didn't take was the one leading down. Knowing there was literally no other way to go; he walked steadily down more stone steps and through a door to see another wall of tissue.

"Now where am I supposed to go?" He questioned aloud until he remembered the acid. Shadow thought that the liquid could've been an effective weapon, but his current situation forced his hand. He got the pot and poured the acid onto the flesh causing it to react and dissolve. The mammal sighed, but decided to keep the pot in case he could get his hands on some other dangerous liquid. In the meantime, he moved onwards into the Refinery.