Chapter Two: The Forgotten Song

Sonic groaned as he regained consciousness. His ears rang uncontrollably, making it hard to hear himself. He slowly opened his eyes only to see everything in an inky blur. After blinking a few times, his vision cleared with his ears slowly ceasing their ringing. He found himself on the wooden floor in the circle along with Tails and Knuckles, who were also waking up with moans of their own.

"Oh, man, my head," Sonic muttered as he rubbed his aching skull. "What happened?"

He got himself to his knees as everybody else got up as well.

"Boy, do I feel dizzy," Tails said as he held his head to keep it from falling off.

Knuckles wasn't doing so well, either. He grumbled some words under breath that were too low to be heard. Finally, he said aloud, "Next time, I'M picking the haunted house."

He got up to his feet and wobbled to the door where they came in, mumbling as he went. He stopped at the entrance so he could massage his head, leaning against the wall for support.

Remembering what happened, Tails apologized for getting everybody in the pentagram. "If only if I hadn't broke my tail, I never would've tripped on that stupid piece of wood!"

Sonic put his hand on the fox's shoulder to calm him. "It's okay, Tails. It's not your fault. We're still in one piece."

Knuckles' headache finally went away, leaving him thankful. He looked up and his eyes went wide at what laid before him.

Sonic continued as he got to his feet. "Besides, we've been through situations that were a lot worse. So don't let that piece of wood get to you."

Happy that Sonic cheered him up, Tails asked what to do now after Sonic aided him up.

"Well, the only thing we can do; press on until we find our way out."

"Not like we have a choice," Knuckles added. "The way back is blocked off."

Sonic raised his eyes with confusion at the echidna. He walked over to Knuckles, peaked out the door and found that the roof crashed onto the hall. It was completely destroyed, planks in and out with an ink waterfall coming down and leaked to a wide cracked, boarded up wall right across from it.

Sonic exclaimed, "How the hell did THAT happen?!"

"I don't know," replied Knuckles. "Maybe it fell with all the ink weighing it down while we were out. Either way, it keeps the ink guy closed off till we can find a way out."

"Speaking of which," Tails said. "Before we passed out, I remember seeing images of it reaching out to me."

"Yeah, I had that, too," Sonic added.

Knuckles asked if they also saw a hand with a glowing spiral and the ink machine as well. Both boys nodded with concerned faces.

"Okay, even I have to admit that's creepy."

Sonic suddenly had a thought. "Guys, what if that ink monster is actually Bendy?"

Seeing their faces, Sonic explained that in the vision, the figure had the same head structure like Bendy. He recalled seeing a dirty white bowtie on it when it attacked him. It even wore a glove on its left hand.

"You're saying that thing could be an evil incarnation of Bendy?" queried Tails, who was starting to see the resemblance between the two.

Sonic nodded. "We all saw the corpse of Boris so maybe something like that happened to Bendy only he somehow revived."

"Well," declared Knuckles. "Evil incarnate or not, I'm not sticking around to ask. I'm already getting unpleasant auras about this place."

That was one thing that everyone in the room agreed on. Now that they stepped in the pentagram, there's no telling what will happen next or who they will come across.

Knuckles went over to the door near the coffin boxes and punched it down. Looking ahead, he saw a small sign that read, 'utility shaft 9.' Underneath it was a small staircase that lead down. He reported back to Tails and asked if he needs Sonic to help him.

"No, it's okay," Tails responded. "My tail still hurts, but I think I can walk fine now."

"Well, let me know if you do," Sonic told him.

At that, Sonic and Tails followed Knuckles to the staircase. Sure enough, Tails was doing much better. He went slow, but he managed to find his way to the next step. Suddenly, a broken plank fell and startled the boys. After a minute of silence, they continued on with their hairs on edge.

By the time Knuckles got down, he found more words on the wall straight ahead. Below it was a table holding a few lite candles, a bowl and a miniature Bendy cutout. On its right was a banjo leaning against its corner.

He read the words out loud, "He will set us free."

Hearing him and seeing the ink written words, Tails ejaculated, "I've read those words before! They were on a piece of paper back in that room where we found the music record!"

"What do you think it means?" Sonic queried as he played on the strings of the banjo.

Knuckles walked around in hopes of finding a clue. There wasn't much to see other than more coffins, machinery of some kind, and two more pentagrams, smaller than the one he and his friends found. One was underneath the coffins while the second was on the wall where a Bendy cutout leaned against. He turned to another table with a tape recording.

"Maybe this will tell us."

Everyone gathered around the table where Knuckles picked it up and scanned for a name label.

"Weird," he muttered. "There's no name."

Sonic guessed that the tape is empty.

"Let's see," Knuckles said as he pushed play.

A soft-spoken man was heard. "He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my savior. I pray you hear me. Those old songs, yes, I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. But, love requires sacrifice. Can I get an amen?"

Just as the recorder clicked the end of the message, the same voice spoke within the room, alarming the boys. "I said, can I get an amen?"

They gathered around each other for protection as Sonic called out, "Who's there? Where are you?"

No answer.

"We're not in the mood for games, pal!" Knuckles yelled. "Come out to the light!"

Still nothing.

"What the hell?" grumbled Knuckles as he glanced around the room.

"Who was that?" Sonic asked, just as creeped out and annoyed as Knuckles was.

"Apparently, someone who lost his sanity and worships Bendy," Tails replied.

"Obviously," agreed Knuckles as he took one final look around before telling the others to move on. Sonic glanced behind him to make sure no one was sneaking up on them. Fortunately, nobody was there. But he's definitely going to be on full alert if this Bendy worshipper decides to show up. That is, if he's still around.

They went down the passage, passed the Bendy cutout and found a hallway flooded with ink.

"Well," announced Sonic. "We're already covered with this stuff so why not?"

With Knuckles and Tails behind him, Sonic stepped in the ink and trudged his way to the other side. As he got closer, he saw a man holding a Bendy cutout walk by, muttering under his breath.

"Hey, pal!" called Sonic. "Hold up! Can you help us?"

The man didn't seem to hear him as he wandered on. Sonic ran out to get the man's attention. He turned and found a dead end with the cutout leaning against another pentagram.

"Where the hell did he go?" he said to himself as Knuckles and Tails caught up to him. Knuckles asked the same question to Sonic.

"I don't know! I turned here and now's he's gone!"

Tails saw a large crack on the wall right of the cutout. Sure it was boarded up, but maybe he snuck his way out from there. He suggested the idea to his friends.

Sonic shook his head. "No way, Tails. Those boards are a tight squeeze for a guy like him."

Knuckles took note of the man holding a cutout in his arms. He believed that this is the same guy that was taunting them back on the first floor.

"Maybe," said Sonic. "But I don't think this is the same person who boarded up the room to the ink machine. I saw him wearing shoes. And the person up there was barefooted."

"Perhaps they're two different people," proposed Tails. "There could be other people down here that despise Bendy while everybody else adores him."

"That explains the part where whoever goes in here doesn't come back out," Sonic said, referring to the rumors he heard about Joey Drew's Studios.

"Because they had to deal with the screwballs that thinks a cartoon devil is their Savior," Knuckles added, adding humor to the tale.

That got a chuckle out of them before they continued their way. They came upon a garage door that was activated by a lever. However, in order to turn it on, they have to find three other switches.

"Perfect," lamented Knuckles. "Another scavenger hunt."

"The switches could be closer than you think, Knux," Sonic said, trying to lighten his mood.

He went back to the mascot cutout and found a bunch of soup cans all stacked up on each shelf to his right. He picked up one of the cans and read out the label.

"Bacon soup?"

Raising his eyebrows in interest, Sonic opened the can.

"Uh, Sonic," Tails said, catching his eye on the curious hedgehog. "What are you doing?"

"Trying out this bacon soup."

"Sonic, that can's been sitting there for 30 years!" yelled Knuckles, his hand extended to the rest of the cans. "You don't even know what's in that!"

"Yeah I do, bacon."

"That's besides the point!" Knuckles shouted, extending his arms. "You could get sick from that!"

"Well," Sonic announced as he raised his can to a toast. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." And he took a swig of the soup. Knuckles slapped his face, wondering why he even bothered. Tails, on the other hand, couldn't help but stare with disgust.

Sonic smacked his lips together as his tongue absorbed the taste. He nodded his head while humming with approval.

"This is really good! Here, Tails, try it!"

Tails was unsure at first as he stared down into the can. But he trust Sonic so he took a sip. Like the Blur Blue, he took a minute to let the soup sink into his tase buds. Sure enough, the results were positive.

"Wow! For soup that's 30 years old, it's good!"

That convinced Knuckles to give it a shot. He ended up liking the soup as well.

"Well, I'll be damned."

"I know, right?" Sonic said.

"No," Knuckles told him. "Look!"

He turned his attention to where Knuckles pointed, which was the shelf where Sonic picked out his can from the can stack. All he got from the blue rodent was a confused face. Rolling his eyes, Knuckles moved several cans and revealed one of the switches. He flipped it and sure enough, one of the lights stopped flashing back at the lever and glowed.

"That's one," Knuckles declared.

"Hey, good eyes, Knux," congratulated Sonic.

"Now we need two more," Tails said, noticing the two lightless bulbs back at the gate. "Maybe they're back in the other room."

The three mammals trudged back through the inky passage and returned to the chamber where they found the worshipper's tape. Sonic found one right next to a Bendy poster where the devil was in a train. Tails found the last one near the coffin boxes.

"That should do it!" indicated Tails when he flipped the switch.

"I honestly thought that was gonna take longer," Sonic admitted, considering that their last search took a while.

"Well, imagine if they were small," joked Knuckles. "Otherwise we'll be here a lot longer."

They laughed as they again made their way back to the black fluid hall and to the garage door. Tails pulled down the lever and took a step back when the machine yawned to life. The door rattled and lifted itself from the ground, revealing a new path for the boys.

They all grinned as their luck was getting ahead. However, when they got to the end, the doorway was blocked off. But that wasn't what go them on their toes; it was the muffled moan that was heard on the other side.

"Hello?" Sonic called. He leaned closer to the entrance but not too close considering the last time he did that. "Anybody there?"

After a minute of silence, Knuckles suggest that it probably the gate's mechanism causing the noise. Tails was unconvinced but he preferred to keep going and leave the question in the dust.

Knuckles punched down the wood and walked into the room with Sonic and Tails behind him. Thanks to their night vision, the boys were able to see beyond the darkness' veil. There was a sign that read "Music Department" on a scroll label with music notes and records around it, giving it a decorative style. There were two speakers on each of the sign's sides above.

Sure enough, Knuckles located another tape recording on a shelf next the board. He picked it up and found a name label entitled, "Sammy Lawrence."

He called his friends over so they can listen. With everyone gathered, Knuckles pushed the play button. The same voice from the previous tape was heard, only this time he sounded more sane and annoyed. "So first, Joey installs this ink machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month, we couldn't even get out of our department because the ink had flooded the stairwell. Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office. People in and out all day. Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions. These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves, you know."

Once the recording clicked the end, Sonic implied that the guy had to be the music director, given the hint that he mentioned about writing songs.

"Probably before he went nuts," agreed Knuckles as he set the tape back on the shelf.

Tails included, "Not to mention his opinion about the ink machine is the same like Wally's and Thomas'."

Knuckles wondered with so many employees complaining about the ink machine, why did this Joey Drew guy keep it? Tails mentioned that ink back in the 30's was expensive and was hard to come by, especially with cartoon makers.

"So he hired Thomas to build a device that produces ink?" Sonic queried. "I'm no financial expert, but that seems more expensive than to actually buy the ink."

Tails shrugged. "That could be the case, but then, I could be wrong."

"Speaking of ink," Knuckles said. "Sammy mentioned that he and his fellow employees couldn't get out due to the stairwell being flooded. Maybe that's our way out."

"Let's look in here," proposed Sonic, pointing a small hallway with a "recording" sign on the wall. With Sonic in the lead, the fox and the echidna followed him down the passage. They took left and entered a large room, revealing it to be the recording studio.

"Whoa," marvel Sonic as he glanced around the room. "This room is huge!"

As he went over to play random notes on each instrument, Knuckles looked for the exit. He let out a heavy sigh when he found none. He guessed that it must be somewhere else. Tails checked out the sound booth and found another tape recording. Picking it up, he found a label with the name, "Susie Campbell."

Seeing Tails walking toward him with the recording in his hands, Knuckles fussed about there being so many tape recordings.

"Like I said," Tails reminded him. "Ink wasn't cheap in the 30's."

"Let's hear what Susie had to say," Sonic said, now intrigued in the tape than in the musical instruments.

The two-tailed fox turned the little device on. From the machine came a young woman's voice. "It may only be my second month working for Joey Drew, but I can already tell I'm going to love it here! People really seem to enjoy my Alice Angel voice. Sammy says she may be as popular as Bendy some day. These past few weeks I have voiced everything form talking chairs to dancing chickens. But this is the first character I really felt a connection with. Like she's a part of me. Alice and I, we're going places."

"Well," began Knuckles once Susie finished her message. "I'll give her credit for being more optimistic than the other guys. And for being the first to not complain about the ink machine."

"Maybe she came in before they installed it," Sonic guessed.

"It's a shame that the studio closed down," Tails said. "Especially with Susie loving her role as Alice Angel."

"Yeah, but it doesn't help us," Knuckles stated. "There's no staircase here."

He proposed that they go back to the main room and see if they missed it. As they began to leave, a figure from the shadows watched them from above. His hands were on the balcony rails while his hidden eyes gazed at them.

When the boys returned, they found a doorway near the one where they came in with a sign that said, "Stairs."

"Are you kidding me?!" Knuckles shouted with great annoyance. "It was right there the whole time?!"

"At least we know we missed it," mentioned Sonic. "Now we're starting to see things from your point of view, Knux!"

Knuckles sneered at him in defense.

Rolling his eyes, Tails said, "You girls can argue when we get of here. Let's go!"

They all ran to the stairs and sure enough, it was flooded.

"Perfect!" groaned Knuckles. "Just our luck!"

Tails noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a lever with a lighting bolt above it.

"Looks like it's about to change," declared Tails as he pulled it down.

Heavy sounds were heard throughout the building. The last one turned on the lights in the main room, revealing it to be the light switch.

"Well, at least we can see," Sonic said, lighting up the his friends' disappointed spirits.

"Eh," mumbled Knuckles as he took his leave. He was soon followed by Sonic and Tails.

Just as they walked back to the music department, a huge glob of ink fell from the ceiling. It began to bubble up as if it was starting to boil. Sonic went over for a closer look, despite Knuckles' warning to stay back.

"It's okay, Knux," assured Sonic. "I just want to see what's causing…"

Suddenly, something came up from the ground with an eerie groan, bringing Sonic to jump, causing him to fall backward. Once it emerged all the way out, it had the top feature of a man with no legs. It looked revolting and menacing with it being completely made out of the thick fluid.

It saw Sonic, who was wide-eyed with horror, gave him a nasty glare with its faceless expression and crawled toward him. Without even thinking twice, Sonic spin dashed the ink creature, causing it to groan and shrink back to the ground, moaning as it went. That was when six more rose from the floor and made their way to the boys. Sonic got up to his feet and got to his fighting stance with his friends doing the same.

"What are these things?!" Tails yelled.

"Who cares!" Knuckles shouted. "Just get 'em!"

He ran up to one of the ink crawlers and punched it in the face. He then proceeded to the next one. Sonic kept himself busy with punches of his own and spin dashing. Tails tried spin dashing but that made the pain in his broken tail grow worse. So he grabbed a broken plank and hit the ones coming toward him.

When Sonic took down the last ink monster, he and his friends panted as they peered around, seeing if there were more coming their way. The puddles where the ink creatures emerged from remained, but nothing came out. That was when the speakers woke up, playing some kind of upbeat tune, leaving the mammals into a confounded state. As it played, the garage door near the recording room began to open.

Even after it opened all the way, the music continued to play. The boys glance at each other, wondering if it was a good idea. Knuckles hand motioned them to follow him but slowly. The others nodded and they tiptoed to the entrance.

Knuckles peeked inside and saw no ink crawlers anywhere. He wait a minute in case they decided to pop out. Nothing.

"Whew! We're clear."

That sent Sonic and Tails sighing with relief. Sonic walked over to check out the room. At the end of the hallway, there was a black sign with bright words. He couldn't make it out since there were so small. But he did make out one word: Sammy.

Sonic's eyes widen as he realized his discovery. "Guys, there's Sammy's office!"

In his recording, Sammy recalled that he had a pump switch in his office so that might be the one to drain the stairwell. They sprinted with excitement to the end of the hall. By the time they got there, the sign read, Sammy Lawrence: music department director. However, the door was blocked off by a pipe that was leaking uncontrollable. Not to mention it was occupied by a Bendy cutout.

"Hello again, you little shit," greeted Knuckles with a nasty look.

Seeing a tape recorder near the impassable door, Sonic went over, grabbed it and found Wally's name on the side.

"Maybe Wally can explain this," he said. The boys gathered around as they listened to Mr. Franks. "So I go to get my dust pan from the hall closet the other day and guess what? I can't find my stupid keys. It's like they disappeared into thin air or something. All I can think of is that they must have fallen into one of the garbage cans as I was making my rounds last week. I just hope nobody tells Sammy. Because if he finds out I lost my keys again, I'm outta here."

As soon as the recorder clicked, the boys stared at it with crossed eyes. Not because of Wally's lack of keeping his equipment together but the fact that they had to find his keys to open a closet door, not the door that they wanted. Even if they did open the door, it would probably lead them on another search quest to get Sammy's office open. And they all know perfectly well what happened last time they did that.

Raising their heads, they looked at each other and smiled, sharing the same thoughts. Sonic took a few steps back and spin dashed threw the office's window. Knuckles and Tails went over to see if he was all right.

"I'm good!" Sonic gave them a thumbs up as he got to his feet. Sonic found the lever near the door and pulled it down with no sweat.

"As in the words of Wally Franks, we're outta here!"

"And good riddance," added Knuckles, happy to finally get out of this place. He called Sonic to come out so they can head out. The Blue Blur was just about to do until he noticed a piece of paper over at the desk. It turned out to be blueprints of the ink machine, only this one looked different.

"Hey, Tails, check this out!"

He handed it to Tails for him to read. The fox looked at the title of the blueprint.

"Ink Machine CK2?" He read. "Maybe this was the prototype for the ink machine."

He folded it up and stuffed it in his invisible bag behind him, saving it for later.

Sonic also noticed a radio on the desk. He turned it on and an unrecognizable song came on. Unlike the one up on the first floor, this tune had a more upbeat mellow swing to it. Sonic grinned as he began to dance to the rhythm.

"Oh, come on, Sonic," lamented Knuckles. "Seriously? You have to start dancing now?"

"Call it a dance to freedom!" Sonic said. "Besides, this song is great! Great beat, catchy tune and awesome piano skills! If Sammy was the one who wrote this song, he's a killer artist!"

As the song progressed, Sonic danced all sorts of moves, even some of his own..

"You're doing great, Sonic!" cheered Tails.

"Yeah, very nice," Knuckles added sarcastically. "Now, can we… oooff!"

Sonic didn't hear him as he continued to sway to the tune. Soon the song reached to its end.

"Aww, so soon?" keened Sonic in a teasing manner. He then shrugged it off. "You were saying, Knucklehead?"

His eyes widen when he saw Knuckles and Tails gone. Thinking they were lying down to scare him, Sonic smiled. He jumped back to the other side and found no one there, making him lose his grin.

"Guys?"

He scanned the entire room but no one came out from the shadows.

"Tails? Knuckles? If this is your idea of a prank, it's not funny."

Thinking that they might be waiting at the stairwell, Sonic went over back to the main room. He didn't run because he had a feeling that something was about to happen. He continued on while constantly looking left and right.

"Guys, are you there?"

As he stepped out of the passage, he saw Tails' brush sticking out of the room where the staircase was along with Knuckles' hand.

Sonic sighed as he calmed his racing heart. "Whew! It's just for a moment, I thought…"

Someone from behind came out and knocked Sonic hard on the head. The blue hedgehog grunted as he fell to the floor. In his dazed eyes, Sonic saw a man covered with the ink, dressed in overalls and had Bendy's face. He was holding from what it appears to a dust pan.

"Rest your head," the man said. "It's time for bed."

At that, Sonic saw nothing but darkness.

…

Sonic's conscious slowly woke up as he tried to lift his heavy eyelids.

"Here we go now. Nice and tight," said a voice. It sounded familiar but Sonic couldn't put his finger on it. Probably had to do with his head still waking up from the hit.

"We wouldn't want our sheep roaming away now, would we?" The voice continued. "No, we wouldn't."

Sonic opened his eyes all the way and saw his captor. It was the same guy that hit him with the dust pan. Now that he's actually in front of him, his face was actually covered by a Bendy cutout that was used as a mask. The top of the devil's teeth was a large gap, probably so the guy can talk without sounding muffled. The guy was buff as if he worked out every day.

Sonic moved but found himself tied up to a pole. It didn't make it any better that the pole was right on top of a small pentagram. As he tried to nudge free, he felt something heavy on his right shoulder. He cocked his head and found Tails unconscious, leaning his head against him. Knuckles was in the same condition to his left with his own head sticking out.

"Guys? Guys!"

"Your friends are still unconscious," the man said as he picked up a nearby axe. "But don't worry. They'll wake up soon."

As he got to his feet, the man continued, "I must admit I am honored you came all the way down here to visit me. It almost makes what I'm about to do seem… cruel."

He turned around to set his axe down underneath a speaker, saying, "But the believers must honor their savior." As he did so, Sonic still couldn't help but found something familiar with this guy's voice. It gnawed at his head as he tried to remember.

When the guy turned back, he added, "I must have him notice me."

That was when it hit him.

"Wait, Sammy?" queried Sonic, his voice quivering with shock. "Sammy Lawrence? The music composer?"

He couldn't believe it! Sammy was alive, after all these years! But that leaves the question of how.

"Oh, my," exclaimed the man. "It appears my reputation has gotten the better of me! I'm almost regretting my plans with you, little sheep!"

"Okay, uh," Sonic mumbled, feeling awkward with being mistaken for a lamb. "First off, I'm a hedgehog, not a sheep. There's a difference. Second, what plans?"

"Oh, of course! You deserve to know your fate! You see, if I want to be free from this ink prison that I call a body, I have to sacrifice you and your friends to my lord, the Ink Demon."

Sonic felt his blood pressure flow increase its speed having heard the last part.

"Heh, heh, I'm sorry. I must have some ink in my ears, cause it sounded like you said you're gonna sacrifice us to an Ink Demon."

"I did," replied Sammy.

Sonic just stared him with unbelief. "Okay, Sammy. You clearly have no idea what you're doing. If there's one thing you should know about demons, they don't keep their word." He said out of experience from the demons he faced in his adventures.

He continued, "Me and my friends ran into the Ink Demon several hours ago and it tried to kill us. It'll do the same to you when it gets the chance. So why don't you untie us, help us get out of here and then we can help you with the ink. We can skip the whole ritual thing and nobody gets hurt."

"I do appreciate your concern for your friends and myself," Sammy said. "But our lord is calling to us, my little sheep. The time of sacrifice is at hand!"

"I'm telling you, Sammy, you don't want to do this!" Sonic cried, becoming more desperate to snap Sammy out of it. "The Ink Demon's not what you think! It's…"

Suddenly, a noise in the vents were heard. Sonic raised his head and glanced around, wondering where the sound was coming from. From what he can tell, someone was crawling in the vents. It was just a second later Sonic realized who that person is.

Sammy, however, seemed excited like a child ready to get a present. "Listen! I can hear him. Crawling above. Crawling!" He wiggled his fingers as he gazed around.

"Let us begin. The ritual must be completed!"

Looking back to Sonic, he declared, "Soon he will hear me… he will set us free."

As he walked over to the door to his right, Sonic called out, "Sammy! Don't do this! It'll kill us both! I can help you! Just let me and my friends go! Sammy! SAMMY!"

But Sammy ignored the hedgehog's pleas as he shut the door behind him. Sonic began to panic. With the Ink Demon getting closer, he had to get out! He tried to loosen up his bonds with no success. Sammy tied him up pretty good. But that didn't stop him.

That was when the speakers came alive with Sammy speaking through them. "Sheep, sheep sheep. It's time for sleep. Rest your head, it's time for bed. In the morning, you may wake. Or in the morning, you'll be dead."

As he said this, Tails and Knuckles started to wake up, groaning at the pain of their heads.

Tails quickly took note of their bonds. "What? Sonic? Knuckles? What's going on?"

"Sammy Lawrence is sacrificing us to the Ink Demon," Sonic explained as he continued to struggle his way out.

"What!?" Knuckles screamed. "Doesn't he know how dangerous that thing is!?"

"I tried talking him out of it!" Sonic yelled. "But Sammy's too far gone!"

Looking at the ropes, Knuckles asked how much time they have until it gets here. But Sammy already answered that question.

"Hear me Bendy! Arise from the darkness! Arise and claim my offering! Free me! I beg you!"

As he spoke, the garage door across the captive mammals began to rise. All three of them started to squirm through the tight ropes, hoping to bust out before the Ink Demon comes. As they looked up, they saw nothing. They squinted their eyes to make sure they were seeing it right. Sure enough, the Ink Demon was nowhere to be found.

Sammy didn't seem to notice as he proceeded, "I summon you, Ink Demon! Show your face and take these tender sheep!"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash coming from the room where was Sammy was in. It was followed another.

"No! My lord!" cried Sammy through the speakers. "Stay back! I am your prophet! I am your - AAAHHH!"

Ink went through the door, revealing the demise of Sammy Lawrence.

"Can't say I told you so," Sonic said, feeling guilty that he couldn't convince him sooner.

Knuckles roared as he used all his strength to break their bonds. After a minute, the ropes finally gave up and released their prisoners.

"C'mon!" shouted Knuckles. "Let's get out of here before the Ink Demon wants to have seconds!"

Before they could get to the hallway, five ink crawlers emerged and attacked them. Tails grabbed Sammy's axe and swung one back to its puddle. Knuckles punched the ink searcher near the passage as he charged through the boards blocking their escape. Sonic covered him as he home-attacked the remaining ink creatures.

He, along with Tails, went after Knuckles as he bashed down the last plank. There before them was the exit with only an inch-tall flood of ink.

Everybody shared the same expression; there was no way they were getting of here THAT easy.

Sonic motioned his friends to stand back. They did so as Sonic slowly walked over to the ink. Nothing happened. He lifted his shoe and slightly touched the liquid.

That was when the Ink Demon came, bursting its way out from the ground, with black veins appearing on the walls and floor.

Now that they got a clear view of the Ink Demon, it was obvious now to why Sammy called it Bendy; because it was Bendy. It had the same head, the same grin, the same horns, the same bowtie, and even the same gloved hand. The only difference it had compared to its cartoon form was its skeletal body, its eyes blinded by the ink melting down its head and its right, gloveless, scrawny, inky hand, the same one that tried to grab Sonic back on the first floor.

Seeing the intruders, the Ink Demon made an eerie growl in an attack stance before charging them. As everyone screamed, Sonic grabbed Tails and Knuckles and ran to the room to their left at top speed. He had no idea how many turns he made due to him running so fast, but it no longer mattered when he finally came to an open door, leading them to a small room.

Putting his friends down, he turned to see the black veins come closer. Then the Ink Demon came running in, limping as he went. His hands reached out, ready to grab them.

"Get the door!" screamed Knuckles as he and everybody else slammed the door in the demon's face and held it down.

They heard pounding on the other side along with a moan, similar to the ink searchers' moans but be more eerie. There was a sudden silence until they heard footsteps fading away. The boys let out a huge sigh of relief as they collapsed to the floor.

"Everybody okay?" asked Sonic in a relived, tired voice.

"Yeah," quivered Tails while Knuckles gave out a thumbs up.

They lied on the floor for several minutes, recovering their breath until Knuckles finally spoke.

"Well, now we know who we're up against; an evil incarnation of the studio's mascot."

"And boy, do I hate being right," grumbled Sonic, since he was the one who made that theory in the first place.

He added, "And for a demon with a limp, he runs pretty fast."

Knuckles raised his head and said, "He had a limp?"

"Yeah, Didn't you guys see it?"

Knuckles and Tails both shook their heads. Knuckles admitted that everything went so fast that he didn't had the time to notice.

Getting to his feet, Tails recommend that they keep moving. Bendy might change his mind and come back.

"Good idea," Knuckles agreed as he and Sonic stood up.

As they made their way out the door, Sonic asked Tails about his brush.

"It still hurts, but I'm good. Your bandage is doing great."

Suddenly, a soup can rolled its way toward them. It came from the hallway up ahead.

"Hello? Someone there?" Knuckles called. Everybody got their battle positions, Knuckles and Sonic with their fists and Tails with his axe.

"We know you're in here," Knuckles told the unseen stranger. "Come out and show yourself."

Loud footsteps echoed throughout the room, getting louder as the person got closer. But the person wasn't a person; it was a cartoon wolf, dressed in overalls. He strolled his way to the stunned boys and stopped in front of them, staring at them with his curious, black eyes.

"Boris?!"

…

The Ink Demon staggered slowly through the passage to return to the ink. Thanks to his limp, he walked very slow. But he didn't mind. He had it for so long he barely noticed anymore.

As he limped forward, Bendy couldn't get his mind off of the creatures that got away from him. He had never seen anything like them before. They had to be outsiders given how much they talked of getting out of here. The scrawny devil started to think that humans weren't the only ones occupying the outside world, that there were more creatures out there in different shapes and sizes.

But what really got his attention was their colors. The only colors Bendy has seen were black, white and yellow. Seeing the new colors back on the first floor made him want to reach out and touch it. But his excitement scared the small figure that bore the strange color. It wasn't anything new considering that everyone in the studio was terrified of him, but he couldn't help himself when it comes to something he hasn't seen before.

The Ink Demon wanted to know more about them. He wanted to know their names, their stories, their life outside the studio, everything.

However, somewhere deep down, he had a feeling that they're nothing but trouble. Granted that they did stir up that idiot prophet and killed most of his searchers, as anyone else would do, excluding the part with Lawrence. But still, he had to know their business here.

Questions about them buzzed his head until he couldn't take it anymore. The Ink Demon slammed his gloved fist against the wood, causing it to crack. As he breathed heavily, he told himself to keep it together.

All the devil wants is knowledge of the studio, its secrets and the outside world. But no matter how many times he looked, it refuses to be found. Putting his thoughts back on the outsiders, maybe they can shed some light in his search. They might prove useful to him, as they will search for clues to find out what happened here as they try to escape. Not like they can escape, anyway. Everybody here knows that there's no way out, even the Ink Demon. But soon the newcomers will understand that. Then he'll use that opportunity to gain the wisdom he craves.

He was just about to make a turn when something shined in the distance. Despite the ink blinding his eyes, Bendy could feel a presence; a presence he hadn't felt before in his life. He hobbled over to the source and felt something touch his foot. He looked down and saw some kind of stone.

His face lite up as his grin drew bigger. The object had a different shade of color! He picked up excitedly and gave it a good look. He had never seen anything like it before! It was amazing!

The Ink Demon started to wonder what this thing is when it suddenly glowed. That was when he made his famous devilish grin, but more grinch-like.

Not because of what the stone told him of its true identity and purpose. But because that there were six more of them within the studio.

To be continued…