I don't own Sonic, Sega, or a certain puppet.

23. The Psycho Game

Sonic and practically everyone else he knew were getting ready for the Freedom Stakes. Should Sonic win, he would be the Triple Crown winner.

"Where did Ryko go?" asked Sadie, looking around.

"He said he went to the bathroom. You could go check there."

"Female species."

"Fine, I'll go." said Shadow.

Minutes later, he came back running.

"Look at this." he said, holding a note.

Too Late. He's already broken.

Ares

"How are we going to find him? Sonic and Shadow need to race-"

"I've already scratched us. We need to go, right now."

"Where? The odds of finding him will be next to nothing." said Tails. Shadow gave a very rare smile.

"I'll take those odds."

Undisclosed Location, 3:30 PM

When Ryko woke up, he knew something was wrong. His leg was perfectly healed. He noticed that the room he was in only had a T.V. It started to produce static and on the screen appeared Ares.

"You're up."

"Ares, what the hell are you doing?"

"I would like to play a little something I call 'The Psycho Game' I guarantee that by the end, you will go mentally insane. You may even end up killing yourself, if my hypothesis proves correct. Anyways, you will walk into three rooms, each with a test. If you pass, then you will be able to move on. If you pass the final test, then I will allow you to leave, that I swear. You may enter the first door."

Ryko slowly opened the door to find Laoch and Shade tied to a chair, both beaten and bloody. They both seemed to be unconscious.

Ryko went up to one of them and punched as hard as he could. It went straight through 'Laoch'.

"Nice try, Ares. Open the door."

"Clever. I didn't think it would take you long to figure that one out, although I bet that image will last in your head for a while."

It did. Ares had this whole thing planned out. Coward as he was, he was beginning to see how much of a genius Ares was. Maniacal, yes, but a genius. He went on to the second door and cautiously opened it.

Inside the room was Sadie and a man he had only seen in pictures, his father Conan.

"No…" muttered Ryko, clutching his father's necklace, who, in eerie similarity, had the same one on.

"Illusion… illusion…"

"Me? An illusion?" asked Sadie coming up close and stroking his quills.

"Illusion…" muttered Ryko again, attempting to shove away the figure, who was solid.

"We are merely the truth, Ryko. Not illusions, not the lies that you have become to know. We are what really matter."

"No… you aren't real!" said Ryko, trying to shove off the figure again. Why was this happening? He knew all of it was a game… so why was he freaking out?

"Come on, Ryko… it's okay… "

"Get away!"

An earthquake suddenly shook the room and one half of the floor fell. He grabbed on to the upper half, where Sadie and his father stood. He knew there were illusion, so why…

He held out his hand, not knowing why. He wanted a sense of security from somebody, something… 'Sadie' smiled.

"I'm sorry, Ryko."

"But now it's time to go." said his father, both of them stepping on his foot.

He took a hard fall, all the way down thinking why they would do such a thing, before the thought that they were just illusions. He slid hard into a room and hurt his ribs. When he looked up, he noticed the door was wide open and there was nothing in the room except for something on the floor.

In a cruel and sadistic joke, a revolver with one bullet beside it lay in the center of the room. Ares must have seen the MWF show.

The door lay wide open.

The revolver lay on the floor, the bullet beside it.

Ryko looked at the door, wide open. If he took it, he would be free to leave.

But for some reason, the revolver seemed…

Calling.

He picked it up and sat cross legged. He put the bullet in the chamber, spun it around, and pointed it at his head.

Outside the Undisclosed Location,4:00 PM

"Keep going, Knux!"

"It's pouring rain!"

"That doesn't matter! We need to get to him before he tries to, I don't know, kill himself!"

"Come on, Shadz, no way! Ryko wouldn't do that!"

"We're talking about Ares, aren't we?"

"Who cares! Sally, did you find anything?"

"Yea! There's a door right here!"

"And?"

"It's open!"

"Let's go!"

Undisclosed Location, 4:10 PM

He was about to pull the trigger when all of his friends burst through the open door. Sadie was the first to see what he was doing and her eyes went wide from shock.

Ryko, seeing all of his friends there, grasped reality and quickly dropped the gun. He stared into Sadie's dark red eyes.

They say that the eyes are a gateway to the soul. In Ryko's, Sadie could see dark, unforgiving. Ares, contradictory to Ryko's spirit, managed to crack him and make him lose his grip.

Ares walked into the room at that moment.

"Well, I guess my hypothesis-"

"ARAAGGH!" Sadie screamed. She picked up the revolver, aimed it at Ares' leg, and shot.

Ares, fully expecting the gun to be empty, was surprised when he heard the loud pop meaning that the gun had gone off. He looked at his leg to see it pouring blood.

"What?"

"Game over, Ares!" shouted Shadow, jumping up and trying to land a kick, but Ares managed to teleport away.

"Damn that hedgehog." muttered Shadow.

Ryko slowly got up, to which Sadie fiercely hugged him, tears dripping from her eyes.

"That chamber was loaded…you wouldn't be here right now…idiot…"

Ryko had nothing to say, still comprehending what he was about to do, everything that had happened. Ares had become so close to achieving what he wanted… eerily close.

In fact, Ryko was starting to wonder if he had accually done it.