Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic the Hedgehog characters.
Chapter 2: Chocolate Crazed
The office building wasn't what may have been expected from a psychologist's business residence, but then again the psychologist wasn't what may have been expected of a doctor.
The rectangular slab of brick and mortar was in ill repair, with a time worn look that most likely preceded the "incident". Windows were patched up with duct tape, the roof looked capable of caving in and a thick coat of grime covered everything. The decrepit look was in no way helped by the mountainous glob of jelly dripping from the roof. That in itself wasn't strange since half the structures in the city had the same problem. The fact that this jelly had eyes and was staring down at passerby was, however, somewhat creepy.
At the moment, Knuckles was the only one on the street and he glared back at the jelly thing while rubbing his chafed wrists. Six hours with a jack hammer and a chisel had finally released him from his cement prison with only a mild irritation to show for his trouble.
"Eww. When'd they start growing eyes?"
"I guess it was too good to be true," Knuckles sighed.
"What? Non-sentient goo monsters?" The blue hedgehog that had showed up beside him asked.
"No. I was hoping you'd stay gagged."
"Well, sor-ry. Too bad for you, my little bro's a genius. Isn't that right…Tails?"
Sonic was looking behind him at the thin air where a two tailed fox was supposed to be. Knuckles gave him a questioning look.
"He was right behind me," the hedgehog said with a shrug.
"Maybe he got eaten."
Sonic got considerably paler at the thought. It wasn't exactly a rare occurrence anymore.
"I'd better go-,"
"I'm here! I'm here."
The little fox landed on the sidewalk with a plop, panting heavily. He was back to his un-puffed up size and nearly all the socks were gone although a couple seemed to be peeking out from his tails.
"Did we really have to run all the way here?"
Sonic grinned sheepishly while Knuckles rolled his eyes.
"Sorry bud, I'll-,"
"FAKER!"
"Shadow?"
Shadow screeched to a halt in front of the trio, looking more terror stricken than they'd ever seen him. He had Rouge in his arms who looked equally horrified.
"Go inside. Block the door. I'm going back for Omega."
He set Rouge down and ran back the way he'd come. The three looked at the bat blankly.
"Well! What are you waiting for? Hurry up!" She yelled, snapping them out of it. They rushed inside the office building to find themselves in a small lobby with a flea bitten couch as the only furniture. Rouge closed the door and took up a position at the window, watching for the rest of her team. She suddenly opened the door and in dove Shadow and Omega.
"Block it!"
Rouge shut the door and Omega sat in front of it, a one man barricade. Not long after there was a thunk as something heavy slammed into it. The old door creaked ominously but with the robot's extra support it held. There was a collective sigh of relief among the three new arrivals.
"What the heck was that all about?" Knuckles yelled irritably. Wasn't it bad enough they had to go through this farce without bringing a deadly monster into the mix?
"Apparently," Shadow said from where he leaned against the wall, trying not to show how tired he was, "Rouge still smells like chocolate and-,"
"And those wretched little ankle biters won't leave me alone!" Rouge yelled her usual controlled demeanor not at all present.
"Wait a minute. So what's chasing you? Hoygytoygies, Crew Bubbles, Moth Riddles…" Sonic was counting off all the small creatures he knew of that had appeared after the "incident".
"They're children okay," Rouge said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"…Children?"
There was a resounding splat as something flew into the window. All eyes turned to the little boy that was somehow still sticking to the dirty glass. It looked like any cute kid you'd find in a park with curly hair and pinchable cheeks. The only problem was that its pupils were dilated to pinpricks and it was sucking on the glass, mouth wide, like some giant crazed leech. A low shivering sound echoed from its maw.
"Cho-co-late," it said before sliding off the window, leaving a trail of slobber in its wake.
"…"
"Severely sugar deprived children," Shadow said as he closed the moth eaten curtains, "We've been dodging them since yesterday, trying to get Rouge out of her chocolate column. When we finally did, the column was left behind and they went after it like rabid dogs. We thought that was the end of it, but they must have followed us and you know the rest."
"Geez Rouge, didn't you shower?"
The bat's eyes narrowed and she went right up to Sonic.
"Listen hedgehog, those little feral creatures have the sense of smell of a bloodhound. I took three showers and a bath, trying not to smell like a bad Easter and I am not having a good day."
"Okay, okay, got it," he said with a healthy step backwards.
"Can we please just get this over with?" Knuckles asked, clearly annoyed.
"Um, wait a second," Tails was looking around the lobby, "Aren't we missing-,"
"HELP!"
"-Amy."
Everyone just stood there as crashes, cries, and gurgles echoed from outside the door.
"Sonic, shouldn't you go help her?" Tails asked, tugging on his hero's arm.
"…Do I have to?"
"Yes!"
The hedgehog sighed before walking up to Omega."
"Statistical percentage of survival: 1%."
"Thanks Omega. Thank you very much."
Omega stood and opened the door for a fraction of a second which was just enough time for Sonic to sprint into the fray. There were more crashes, cries, and gurgles along with some garbled expletives and then-
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
Omega did so in the same amount of time as before and in rushed Sonic pulling a bedraggled Amy behind him. They were both covered in slobber and Amy had a bite mark at the hem of her dress.
"Animals!" She exclaimed looking at her damp, mutilated dress, "Oh why didn't I wear the hazmat suit."
"Excuse me but what's all the noise about?"
Bill had cracked open the door at the opposite side of the lobby and stuck his head through.
"There's a gang of ravenous children outside attacking anything in sight and Omega can't move because he's blocking the door," Tails explained quickly.
"Oh that again," Bill said, far less surprised than he would have been at any other time. "We have some extra broccoli. You guys can go on in. I'll send back Omega once the children are gone."
"Finally," Knuckles said as he stomped through the door with Bill jumping out of his way.
"Um, just do through the door at the end. Doctor Rutabaga is waiting for you."
The lobby door led into a long hallway with the only remarkable feature being doors down each side and one at the end. The group crowded through the end door and into an office only slightly larger than the lobby. An oversized mahogany desk took up the majority of the space while creaky folding chairs and dying ferns took up the rest. There was also a taxidermy turkey in the corner.
Behind the desk, looking like a child at the grown up's table, was Doctor Rutabaga as bespeckled and orange coated as before. He cleared his throat dramatically.
"Now we shall begin the experiments!"
"…"
"What do you mean experiments?" Several voices yelled at once.
"Ahem, I meant therapy. Yes, you will each be assigned one of my hand picked employees to oversee you're treatment."
"So you won't even do it yourself?" Rouge asked with arms crossed.
"Oh, no no no no no, far too much data for one man to go through. But have no fear. I will be supervising the entire project. Your well-being is in my capable hands."
"Well, isn't that comforting."
"Indeed, indeed. You have been extremely fortunate to fall under the care of such genius. Here is your assigned room numbers."
He handed over a piece of scrunched up stationary with numbers and letters scrawled on it. As the assembled anthros tried to decipher it, Doctor Rutabaga suddenly hopped onto the desk and struck a heroic pose.
"Now, let the exper- I mean therapy begin!"