HELLO. I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! D; TIME GOT AWAY AND I LOST MY OUTLINE BOOK AGAIN! BUT THIS TIME, ENOUGH'S ENOUGH! I'VE DONE IT!
I GIVE YOU THE REQUEST DRABBLE I STARTED LAST YEAR!
I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT AND I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR PATIENCE AND LOVE!
I MADE SURE IT WAS EXTRA LONG THAN USUAL AS AN APOLOGY!
I hope you all enjoy it!
This was requested by Polinia!
Now then, onto the other request fics!
"This is the most stupid and ridiculous call in the history of this department," The blue male muttered as he sat in the patrol car. Waiting for a light to turn while his partner seemed oddly excited and alert for their call.
Having already landed in the needed zone, Zonic felt his slight irritation grow when they began driving to the area.
"What do you mean?," ebony asked innocently, his lazy and relaxed demeanor long gone as he stared out the window with earnest. His rubies sparkling in a childlike excitement that seemed impossible for someone his age and job type.
Zonic never grew tired of how surprising the other seemed to be at times.
"You know exactly what I mean," the emeralds rolled as he turned a corner. His frown deepening at the sight of the carnival and the source of the emergency call.
"You make it sound like it's wrong to investigate a haunted house in the summer!," a smirk settled on the tan muzzle of his partner.
Fur bristling slightly, he found that he couldn't tell if he wanted to smack that smirk away or claim the muzzle it rested on to silence the owner.
"This is a rookie call Zhadow….Well below the workload we get.," the cerulean male sighed as he parked the patrol car outside of the carnival.
"The only reason we were given this call is-"
"You say the warden I'll ground you," the crimson streaked male threatened, his rubies narrowed. "Because he didn't."
Blue ears twitched," What do you….What did you do?," Zonic asked, his own emeralds narrowing.
"Well, I offered to take this patrol answer from a couple rookies." The taller male said, smiling innocently.
"...WHY?"
"Because we've had nothing but difficult and tiring missions throughout all the last few months, so I thought an easy job would be relaxing."
Silently, the cerulean hedgehog pinched the bridge of his nose, slowly letting out a breath. "Oh come on Zonic! After we answer it and resolve it, we can have some fun afterwards!," Zhadow leaned over the arm of his seat, happily putting an arm around the other. "Even you need a break from being unstoppable." He smirked.
"...You're lucky I enjoy your company," the other muttered, sighing in defeat.
"HA! I knew you'd agree!"
"Kind of hard not to since we're here already…," He muttered.
Ignoring the happy little chuckle, the younger of the two let himself get pulled from the patrol car. He silently began to wonder if he was the only adult of the relationship.
"That's the spirit!"
"Look, let's just handle this alright?" "Oh don't be all huffy now, it'll be fun," that smirk returned, the azure officer deciding it was best to smack than claim.
Rubies rolled with a sigh," Fine, work first, fun later." The green boots clicked against the ground. "We're responding to a mild disturbance in the carnival's haunted house. They think a couple of teenagers are in there doing things."
Zonic made a face of pure disgust. "Don't you start, we do that stuff too," the taller winked, making his younger partner's cheeks burn a harsh red.
"Come on, the manager should be by the ticket booth," the older male winked before walking confidently off.
Muttering to himself, the officer reluctantly followed after debating whether or not it was best to just return to the car and drive off.
He had a feeling he'd regret not choosing the latter.
Crossing his arms, Zonic paused when his gaze settled on his partner. Who was vigorously talking with a short and rather aged chipmunk.
His irritation and annoyance melted just a bit at how attentive the rubies were as he jotted down notes of the incident. Nodding so often before asking a question.
Even when he put away the small pad, he gave a smile of pure reassurance as he calmed the slightly panicked chipmunk down.
It was moments like these he was thankful that his partner was so adept with assisting people.
"What have we got?," he asked, finally falling alongside his partner as the chipmunk went to handle the cotton candy booth. "Three teenagers. He thinks they're in the upper portion of the house and breaking things." The crimson streaked male said, his ruby orbs glancing up to study the upper part of the small haunted house attraction.
"We're going to have to go up past the spaces employees use to get up the stairs to the level," Zhadow said, his usual and lazy smirk settling into place.
"Great, so let's go," Zonic deadpanned as he walked up.
He walked past the other, pausing as he caught a look.
"...What?"
"Well, what if one of us gets scared?," Zhadow asked, a smirk tugging the edge of his mouth. "Just be quiet and come along so we can finish this," Zonic muttered, a frown tugging on his muzzle. His cheeks burned a light pink at the chuckle.
"Sir, yes sir!" Ebony teased, his hand grabbing his side torch as he followed his partner into the spookily decorated house.
"It's dark.." Zhadow stated rather bluntly," Well of course it's dark, it's a haunted house you-" Zonic sighed when he caught that irritating smirk once more.
"...Just turn on your flashlight already," he muttered, grabbing his own light and clicking the side.
"Did the manager say where the employee door was?"
"Off to the left by the sheet ghosts." Zhadow clicked on his torch, giving a tiny scream when it settled on a cartoony ghost," Oh lord have mercy!~," he swayed dramatically," A ghooost!~ What are we to do?~" He leaned against his partner with a grin," Shove off it!," the cerulean male huffed, pushing him away by the face.
Ebony merely gave that chuckle that sent red across his cheeks. "Be serious, let's get these teens out of here and go."
"Alright~ Alright~ Let's get down to business." Zonic gave a side glare to his partner, who raised his hand and brought it down over his face.
The ridiculous smile disappearing into a stern scowl," Let's storm them," he grunted," ….Why do you do these things?"
Zhadow cracked a smile," Because you're adorable when you're exasperated." He shrugged, walking past the blue hedgehog; who looked about ready to kick him.
"Manager said the door was slightly sticky in the knob. Might have to slam it.," Ebony clicked his teeth as his light danced over the door in a quick examination.
"Can see why, hinges are rusted beyond the proper code...Though that might just be rust paint to make it look scary…"
He reached out to touch the rust, only to cringe," Oh- nope, that is...that is gross is what that is," he wiped his hand on his pant leg.
"...Are you done petting hinges? Because I'd like to move now." Zonic rolled his eyes, emeralds narrowing when the rubies flicked over in mock hurt.
"Excuse, you're the one who always tells me to be through!"
"True, but...bit much don't you think?"
"...Perhaps," Zhadow tapped his chin before he paused; realizing it was the hand he used to touch the 'rust'.
"...Right then, let's rain on a teen parade shall we?"
"By all means, I've aged several years waiting." Zonic sassed, his eyes half lidded as he flicked his light curiously down the hallway.
"...Ugh, looks like the track of the house is a bit of a mini maze…"
"Hey, maybe we can go through it after this?"
"What? Why?"
"Well, it looks fun! Once you get past the gross unknown liquids oozing from the walls," Zhadow flashed a grin before grasping the knob.
After giving it a hard jiggle, he hummed," Yep, he wasn't kidding about the stickiness. Hang on." Shifting, he made himself shoulder to wall with the door before ramming against it.
The officer winced when the wood cracked. "...Well it's open!," he said with a sheepish expression.
"...That it is…" Zonic sighed, loathing the damage report he knew would fall onto his desk come morning.
"...Right," Cerulean brushed past ebony, light pointed up the stairway.
"Light's shining through from the track in the main halls," Zhadow mumbled against his partner's ear.
"Mm...Lucky for us it seems they haven't heard us yet," Zonic cringed at the faint mildew stench. "Ugh, remind me to file a health report for this place, this can't be sanitary…"
With another shift, the two began their climb up the narrow stairway. Zonic in the lead with a determined expression while Zhadow checked their rear on the case. "...Wood's rotting too." The red streaked officer frowned," Lucky no one's fell through these steps."
Zonic paused at the sight of another door, lopsided on the hinge. With faint caution, he pressed an ear to the wood. Catching faint noises on the other side. "...Go left." He muttered, flicking his torch around so the base could attack as a blunt weapon.
"...ZONE POLICE," he bellowed, slamming into the door and tumbling into the room," PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I- can...see them?" Emeralds peaked around the room, finding it empty.
"...Um...Zonic…" Zhadow awkwardly walked around his partner, who seemed frozen in the doorway.
"...Where's the teens?" His light danced over the room, resting on a worn yellowed blanket. It was obviously from an outside source, but from a very long time ago.
"...Good question…," the azure officer let his own light dance over the broken down walls, frowning at the lack windows.
"Got a hallway entry," Zonic stood slowly, emeralds trained on the doorframe.
"Weird...Manager said there was only one room and this is it…" Zhadow grabbed his notebook and flicked through the pages. "...Yeah, one room at the end of the stairway, used to be a break room for the haunted house employees."
Rubies scanned the pages,"...No mention of any other rooms."
"Well, obviously there's another room, Zhadow," Zonic let a hand rest on his hip; gesturing to the obvious doorway with his torch.
"I know, I'm just saying, it's weird the manager didn't specify…" Ebony huffed faintly, pocketing his pad with a small frown.
Zonic sighed softly,"...Maybe there's a reason he didn't say so.." he gave an attempt to at least cheer the other up faintly.
"...," Zonic rubbed the back of his neck,"...Come on, let's...go on an adventure into the hidden spook room," he gave a grimace of a smile," W-whoooo~"
Ebony cracked a small smile at that," Yeah, let's go look into the spook room."
Rolling his eyes slightly, Zonic walked forward. His ears twitching in an attempt to catch any sound of the three teens.
"Hey Zonic...We're in zone site 36SX, right?," Zhadow followed from behind.
"Yes. We are…," he turned slightly," Why?"
"And...36SX doesn't have skylights...right?"
"Zhadow. What is your-" The officer paused, emeralds locking on the face of his partner. Slowly, he turned to where the rubies were trained.
On the wall, a window was poorly shaped. Cracked with spiderwebs draped on the glass in a lazy attempt to make a spooky atmosphere. Outside the window, however, a swirl of colors exploded out and around.
"...What?"
Zonic slowly edged to the window.
That pattern and shape only occurred when officers of the zone corps traveled between the zone worlds.
"...Zhadow...Let's move back downstairs…"
"What about the teens?"
"Zhadow, look around the room…" Zonic gritted his teeth, chills going up his spines. His ears freezing upward.
"Do you see anyone in here? Or another door?"
"Well, no, but there could be a hidden one, this is a haunted house after all…"
"Zhadow, there was no evidence of this room being a room of the house. There's temporal swirls out the window, we need to back up."
With a shaky breath, Zonic turned. Not noticing how his breath came out in a cold white puff. "Move. MOVE!," he dived to the door, barely giving his partner time to react as they tumbled back into the main 'break' room.
Azure and ebony scrambled and shot down the stairs.
Their nerves cold and on fire when they tore out the main door, missing the faint red cubes behind them.
"What in the-"
"Zonic?"
The officer turned to his partner, ignoring the house for a moment.
"Where's the fair?" Zhadow asked, rubies wide as his torch washed over the surroundings.
The space was sparse.
The once brightly lit tents gone, the scent of carnival food gone, even the nice old chipmunk was gone.
There was nothing…
Zhadow found it hard to swallow when his light settled on their cruiser.
"What in the-" Emeralds dashed over the area, confusion evident. "What- WHAT?! What the hell is this?! Fairs don't just disappear!"
"W-well, houses don't either."
"WHAT?"
Zhadow slowly raised his hand, pointing behind his partner with a pale look.
Whipping around, Zonic felt his breath catch in his throat.
The house was gone.
"...What?"
Cerulean swallowed, frowning as a groan left him. "We need to report this. This is an unlicensed use of energy conversion."
"Um-"
"Not to mention the danger that innocents from the fair are subjected to! They were likely transported out! Yeah, transported!"
Zhadow swallowed, catching the faint glimmer of red cubes fade away into the ground where the house just stood.
"Can we...can we run a scan too? When we get in the car?"
"Of course we're going to," Zonic grasped his partner's arm, rushing to the cruiser.
Within the car, Zonic was slack jawed when the radio cracked to life. Asking where the two have been.
At some point, their radio went out; leaving the head command in silence. "This had to be a trap." He grumbled, driving into the zone transfer angrily. "It had to be! They scrambled our signal, made a divergence, put up a show to get us in a secluded area, this had to be a trap!"
Beside him, Zhadow remained silent. His rubies troubled.
"It...it had to be Nega...We've been fighting him so long Zhadow...It HAD to be. Who else has that power and spite?"
"...Maybe. We'll figure it out when we get back to base. We can run a through scan." Ebony smiled, though strained.
His partner didn't notice as he drove.
Zhadow swallowed, looking back down to the notes he scrawled on his pad.
The once neat writing nothing but blacked out lines, drawings of cubes surrounding the edges like cruel vines.
In the middle of the graphite from the pencil, a single phrase was scrawled out.
"Fun is Infinite"