Sonic and the Ink Machine

by blazingstars2000

What started off as your usual haunted house fun turns out more than what Sonic, Tails and Knuckles bargained for. Now they have to fight for their very lives from the clutches of the Ink Demon and set his victims free. Will they succeed?

3. Chapter 3

First I want to apologize for taking so long. This isn't one of my favorite chapters of the game but I'm done and that's all that matters. As most of you have noticed with chapter two, I made some changes to chapter three. Such as Alice actually talking to Sonic and his friends and Boris actually helping so it could flow with the story. Future chapters will have the same similar changes. Just so you know in case you come across a part where it's different from the game. Enjoy!

Chapter Three: Fight and Flight

For the past several days, Team Sonic stayed at Boris' safe house. It was decided by Sonic and Knuckles for the sake of Tails and his broken brush. Despite him saying that he'll be fine and his tail is getting better, the older boys couldn't risk going back out there and see it get worse or infected by the ink. They were covered with enough ink as it is. Besides, they all could use the rest after what they been through, especially with their second encounter with the Ink Demon. There was also the fact that Boris had enough medical and food supplies for them all.

As for the cartoon wolf, Boris was a generous host with a heart of gold. He always made sure Tails was in bed resting while checking his new bandages on his tail. There were times that he would turn on his own radio and dance with Sonic. Both of them showed their own dance moves whenever they felt competitive.

"Not bad, Boris!" Sonic would comment after seeing Boris swing his body around while using his arms for support. "You should sign up for a dance contest!"

Best of all, he got along fine with Knuckles. The echidna was at first unsure of Boris, considering that he showed up out of nowhere just when they escaped Bendy. He would ask the wolf some questions as to what happened to the studio and how he came into being.

Unfortunately, Boris couldn't remember. All he remembered was waking up hungry in his safe house and tried to look for food.

"I tried looking for clues in the studio, hoping that something would trigger my memory," he would write on a piece of parchment so he could communicate. "But no matter how hard I looked, nothing seems similar."

"So you have no idea what happened here? Or what happened to you?" asked Knuckles with his arms crossed.

Boris shook his head sadly. They both heard Sonic call from the kitchen. They went over and saw Sonic looking at some kind of portrait. The image contained the movie posters and were smashed together to create a whole new person, a frowning person at that.

The Blue Blur asked Boris what it was. The dog replied through writing that some time ago, he was gathering them to create someone. As to why, he had no idea. But he did recalled the day glancing at it and suddenly had a glimpse of his past. But it went away before he could grab it.

"Sounds like you were trying to remember something," Sonic suggest.

"Seems you remembered too late," added Knuckles. All he got out of the cartoon dog was a sad face of agreement.

There were times that he played some card games with the boys, teaching them his card tricks while Sonic delivered his own. Even Tails came in a few times to play whenever he got bored of lying in bed.

One day, seeing that everybody in the kitchen, Knuckles announced that it's time to go.

"Now that Tails' brush is healed and we're all fully rested, we have to find a way out of here."

"But where to?" Tails queried. "We have no idea where to find an exit."

"That's why Boris is coming," Knuckles said, slapping the wolf's back, almost causing him to fall off his chair. Boris looked up at him in shock while Sonic and Tails lite up at the news.

"That makes sense," Sonic agreed. "Out of all of us, Boris knows how to get by in this place."

Finding a piece of paper, Boris scribbled on it, saying that he tried to find a way out many times, each with no success. He was prisoner here just like everybody else.

"Maybe you just need an extra set of eyes to find it," encouraged Tails, sounding optimistic. "There were times that I asked Sonic and Knuckles for help whenever I can't find one of my tools."

"Plus," added Knuckles. "You did so much for us these past few days. The least we can do is help you get out of here."

Sonic included, "And once we do, we can help you get back your memories and get everybody else out."

Boris thought for a moment, shuddering a bit. The boys understood since this was a big step for him. His black, pie-cut eyes suddenly turned determined. Maybe this time, with the help of his new friends, Boris can finally escape. To embrace the sunlight on his fur, feel the cold breeze blow through him and to never live in fear again. That was an offer that Boris can never refuse. He nodded, confirming that he's in. But he lifted an empty soup can, indicting that they should eat before they head out.

"Good idea," Sonic concurred. "There's no telling when we'll have our next meal."

"Yay," cheered Tails in a sarcastic voice. "More bacon soup. Like I haven't eaten more of this stuff."

Sonic ran throughout the safe house and found four soup cans for everybody. As he put them in a pot to heat up, he told Boris that the minute they get out, he's going to introduce him to chilli dogs. Seeing his inquisitive face, Sonic explained that a chilli dog was like a hot dog, except he can put on meat chilli sauce along with cheese, onions or any other topping he wants.

"Seriously, Sonic?" Knuckles chuckled. "Why not something more to Boris' liking? Like a steak?"

That got Sonic to recall the time he and his pals went to went to the best steakhouse in town.

"We should totally go there! Boris, you are gonna LOVE their steaks! They serve it with mashed potatoes and they pour gravy all over it. It was SO good!"

Boris could feel his mouth water at the sound of gravy. With all this talk of chilli dogs, steaks and mashed potatoes, it made him more excited to get out. It'll be like a food-made heaven!

But the scent of bacon soup heating up reminded everyone that the steakhouse was going to wait. Sonic served everyone and they all began to eat. They dinned in animated fashion as everyone was too thrilled of getting out together at long last.

When they were done, they headed off to the door. Boris was the last to come out. He stopped halfway and glanced behind him. He felt sad for leaving the one place he called home for so many years.

Seeing this, Sonic put his hand on his shoulder and assured him that it'll be okay.

"Besides," Sonic added. "A whole new world is waiting. And we'll be right next to you when we get there."

Boris smiled at Sonic's comfort. Taking one last look at his safe house, Boris closed the door behind him.

"Looks like we're good to go," Knuckles grinned.

At that, Team Sonic with their new teammate were off.

As they walked through the passage, Tails saw some kind of box tucked near a corner.

"Guys!" he called. "Look at this!"

They all turned to see the same box. As they got closer, there was a small door with a painted black halo. It looked like one of those confession boxes you see in a church, except this one looked too small for two people. Above it was a little sign that read, "Little Miracle Station."

"What is this thing?" questioned Knuckles, not understanding the sole purpose of a small confession box in a cartoon studio.

Boris demonstrated by walking in the box and closing the door, revealing only his eyes from inside.

"Oh, I get it!" Sonic exclaimed as Boris got himself out. "You use this miracle station to hide from whoever's chasing you."

Boris nodded while Tails added, "That might come in handy."

"Perhaps," said Knuckles. "But there's no way all four of us are gonna fit in that thing when trouble comes around."

"We'll figure something out," Sonic told him, leaving Knuckles uncomfortable at the thought.

They turned to their right and found a doorway that was filled with darkness. Seeing a nearby flashlight, Tails grabbed it, saying it might be useful to spot someone who might lurk up and attack them.

"Good idea," agreed Sonic. Although they could see fine in the dark, it was wise to have a flashlight in case it could see something they can't. Also, Boris was scared of the dark.

"It's okay, Boris," Tails assured the frighten wolf. "Just stay close to us. I'll hold your hand if you want."

Boris nodded in gratitude as he took the fox's gloved hand. Knuckles told them to go up front while he and Sonic cover the back. Each did as they were told and entered the darkness.

They followed a small pathway through the blackness thanks to the light. The machinery whistled and whirled around them. Drops of ink dropped from the ceiling, sometimes hitting one of the boys. They no longer cared now that they were drenched to the bone of it. They past some shelves that contained lite candles, buckets labeled ink and more bacon soup cans. Suddenly, they heard a loud thumping noise, causing them to stop.

"What was that?" asked Sonic, peering around with wide eyes.

"I think it came from above," Tails guessed, with he and Boris having the same anxiety as they clutched their hands tighter.

They all waited a minute until Knuckles told everyone to keep moving. "But keep your eyes open."

Finally, they came upon a lite room. The only problem was that the gate before them was closed with no switches to open it.

"Great," muttered Knuckles. "Another dead end."

"Maybe I can hot wire the door," proposed Tails.

Boris noticed a vent and got an idea. He pulled out some paper and wrote down his plan to his friends.

"You're gonna open the door through the vents?" Sonic asked after reading the plan.

Boris nodded as he added, "And don't bother waiting for me. I'll meet you at the end of the vent."

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?"

Boris shook his head, indicating he'll be all right.

"Okay," Knuckles said as he raised the little gate for the wolf. "It's your call."

Tails handed him the flashlight and wished him luck. Boris responded with a thumbs up. With the flashlight in his hand, he got to his knees and crawled through the vent. Knuckles shut the gate once he was all the way in. All they could do now was wait.

Literally 30 seconds later, the gate slowly opened, creaking as it went.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tails. "That was quick!"

"That wolf doesn't mess around!" grinned Sonic.

Tails hoped that Boris was doing all right, wriggling his way through the vents. But Sonic assured him that he'll be fine despite that he was worried, too. It was because that Bendy was able to get to Sammy through the vents. But Boris has lived here for 30 years so he knows how to stay out of trouble.

Everyone went through the passage which lead to a split pathway aside from the fact that they both lead to the same room. They took a left and marveled at the new chamber.

It was a huge room with two toy airplanes hanged from the ceiling with metal strings. There were railings that all lead straight ahead except for the one on the right that was cut off at the end. There were 2 couches, one leaned against the right wall and vice versa on the left. Both of them were covered with Bendy cutouts, some on the couches while the others either leaned on them, near them or on the closet railing. There were also two huge plushies, one of Bendy and the other Boris. There was another Bendy plushie near the Boris doll but was smaller in size. Above them was the "Heavenly Toys" with a Joey Drew Studios trademark underneath it. Behind it was an inky waterfall that spilled from the ceiling, staining the halo above the sign.

"Whoa," Sonic finally spoke after a minute of staring silence. "How big is this place?"

"Where did they get the idea of having dolls THIS huge?" Tails asked as he ran up to the Boris plushie. "They could've put toy companies out of business with these!"

Knuckles didn't say anything, although he was just in wonder with the area as his friends were. They all ascended to the stairs when they heard someone humming. They stopped dead in their tracks as they glanced around in a wild manner.

"Okay, I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Knuckles asked, making sure he's not going crazy.

"I wish I could say no," Sonic said.

Tails remained silent as he glared around. But Knuckles shook it off saying that they should keep moving.

They entered from what it appears to be a toy workshop due to the huge collection of toys. Sonic picked up a nearby girl doll for a look. He guessed that it was Alice Angel, the character that Susie Campbell said she played back in the music department. However, she had devil horns and had no wings or halo that indicated her being an angel.

"Maybe it's her personality that makes her an angel," He guessed.

Tails noticed that there were two machines on both sides of the walls facing his sides. He went over to the one on the right for a better look. He glanced up at the shelves, saw the door on the other side and realized how it works.

"Guys, we have to turn on this machine."

"Why?" Sonic queried, still holding the angel doll as he walked over to the fox. Knuckles, meanwhile, went over to the shelves.

"Well, if we want to get through, we have to pull this lever to get the shelves out of the way. So maybe there's an on switch some-"

CLANK!

The boys jumped and turned to see Knuckles tore the shelf blocking the door with his bare hands. Some of the toys fell off, but he didn't seem to care. He tossed it aside and dusted his hands with pride. He took heed of the jolted hedgehog and fox.

"What? You wanted this shelf out of the way so I took it down. You're welcome."

Knuckles walked over to the door with his friends behind him, still shaken up by the sudden racket.

The door led them to an empty room, other than some barrels and an ancient camera. Up front was a small room separated by a glass wall. Inside was a couple cardboard clouds and door in the middle with a halo hanging over a star. Above it was a "She's Quite a Gal!" sign written on a scroll. On their right was a book shelf full of angel plushies behind a glass wall. To their left was another glass wall, this time protecting an Alice Angel cutout and her movie poster, which having the female toon wear a halo above her head. In fact, there were quite a few of those Alice Angel posters all over the chamber. Before they could find a way out, the lights turned off.

"Hey, hey, hey, what happened to the lights?" stammered Sonic as he fanatically scanned the dark room for the switch.

Both Tails and Knuckles admitted they didn't know as they, too, looked for the button to the lights.

Just a second later, six little televisions came on with the face of the cartoon angel, four on the left and two on the right. They brought light to the room, but only a little. A girlish sigh came through the tv speakers. The voice then giggled before singing her theme song.

I'm the cutest little angel, sent from above, and I know just how to swing. I got a bright little halo, and I'm filled with love... I'm Alice Angel! I'm the hit of the party, I'm the belle of the ball, I'm the toast of every town. Just one little dance, and I know you'll fall... I'm Alice Angel!

Knuckles turned to see Sonic dancing to the catchy tune. He slapped the back of his head, causing the blue hedgehog to give him the "what?" look with raised arms.

"Will you cut that out!?" gritted Knuckles.

The singing continued. I ain't no flapper, I'm a classy dish, and boy, can this girl sing.

A light from the room in the middle flashed on, causing the boys to slowly tip toe toward it to see who's on the other side.

This gal can grant your every wish...

Walking up to it proved to be a huge mistake for right as the lyric ended, a woman in a cartoonish form with half a face came out of nowhere, screaming, "I'M ALICE ANGEL!"

She let out another scream as she slammed her fists to the window, shattering it as the lights went dead again. The boys huddled together, their hearts racing with fear as the woman let out a crazed laugh. They all peered around the chamber, seeing if she got out through the broken glass. But even in the darkness, the lady was nowhere in sight.

"I see you there," a female voice spoke from the void. "Three new flies in my endless web. Come along now. Let's see if you're all worthy to walk with angels."

The lights for the whole room came back on, revealing a now large cracked window from the central room. The boys, meanwhile, remained huddled in a tight grip.

"And I thought Amy was the scariest woman alive," Sonic shuttered. All his friends could do was nod in an agreement.

They eventually broke off from each other when they found a passage on the broken window's right. As they made their way, Tails couldn't shake off the horns on the woman's head when she scarred them.

"Not to mention her halo," added Knuckles.

Sonic stopped dead in his tracks when he heard those words. Horns? Halo? The only character that had those were…

The size of his eyes doubled as he shouted, "That was Alice Angel!"

Tails and Knuckles were puzzled by this so Sonic explained about the third character to the show, Alice Angel.

"Okay, now it makes sense," Tails said as he put the pieces together. "The main character, Bendy, is now an ink monster. Nothing's changed about Boris. And then there's Alice, who might be a mixture of both, given her spilt face. Or she might've have an accident that caused it, I don't know."

"But how does that explain the Boris corpse back on the first floor?" Queried Knuckles. Tails guessed that maybe that one was a test subject but somehow failed.

"Speaking of Boris," Sonic stated. "We better get going. He's probably out of the vents by now, waiting for us."

They continued on until the came across two separate paths; a demon path and an angel path.

"Perfect," grumbled Knuckles. "Just what we needed."

"How come there's never a sign that leads to the exit?" appealed Sonic, who was in agreement with the ink-covered echidna.

"Ha! You wish!" joked Tails. Looking back and forth, he asked which rotate to take.

"Well," began Knuckles. "Let's focus on what we know. We encountered Bendy before, so we know that he can unpredictable whenever we show up. As for his abilities, we know that he can form ink veins on the walls and appear out of ink. Other than that, we still have no idea what he's capable of."

"Not to mention he's still pretty fast with that limp of his," added Sonic.

Knuckles nodded to the hedgehog's statement before moving on. "And then there's Alice. There's no telling what will happen when we meet her again or what her inner strengths are."

"I say we take the demon path," affirmed Sonic. "At least we know what we're up against."

Tails agreed. Turning to Knuckles, he also approved of going to the demon route. But he did warn everyone to be on their guard. They nodded and walked to the left.

Before they could make it in the room, they heard a loud crash behind them. They all ran back and saw that the angel path was now closed off. Now obvious that there's no second thoughts, they continued down the demon path.

They got to a room completely covered with the ink, the floor, some of the walls and even the ceiling. Ink from above leaked down to the floor, forming a cylinder. There was a Bendy cutout up ahead, giving the intruders the same devilish grin. On its right was a tape recorder sitting on a chair. Tails trudged up to see the device's previous owner. His eyes went huge while his jaw dropped when he saw the name.

"Guys! This one's from Joey Drew!"

"The founder of this place?" Knuckles asked as he plowed against the ink to get to the fox with Sonic behind him.

"Yeah! You can see his signature!"

He showed it out and pointed at the label where the name was written in fancy writing.

"Let's hope he can enlighten us on what happened," hoped Sonic.

Tails turned on the recording, where a western male voice came on. "There's nothing wrong with dreaming. Wishing for the impossible is just human nature. That's how I got started. Just a pencil and dream. We all want everything without even having to lift a finger. They say you just have to believe. Belief can make you succeed. Belief can make you rich. Belief can make you powerful. Why, with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself. Now that… heh… is a beautiful, and positively silly thought."

"Seems like Joey had an obsession with dreaming," Knuckles stated once the recorder clicked the founder's message.

"Maybe that's what brought his studio to its end," suggested Sonic. "He might've spent most of his time dreaming of success that he didn't focus on his work."

"Live life to the fullest, they always say," Tails agreed.

They continued their journey out of the dark sludge room and entered another hallway. They passed another miracle station. As they took a right, they found a closed door. Luckily, it wasn't locked, but it lead them to yet another hall. Just as they took a few steps to the end, a Bendy cutout popped out from the left corner, startling the boys before disappearing back to the corner.

"Oh, for the love of…!" yelled Knuckles, who sprinted toward the cutout, ready to rip it to sheds while choking the life out of the prankster.

"ALL RIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH, YOU LITTLE…"

Sonic and Tails caught up to him and saw him hovering over a terrified Boris.

"B… B… Boris!" cried Knuckles, ashamed for scaring the wolf. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were somebody else!"

Boris got up while trying to assure Knuckles he meant no harm, still feeling his fear work through his ink veins.

Tails went up and hugged the cartoon. "Boris! "You're all right!"

Boris returned the hug with a huge smile. Sonic asked him how long he was waiting for them. The dog replied on his scrapped paper, saying that he just got out. He accidentally tripped over the Bendy cutout but he caught it before setting it back in its place. Everybody else can gather what happened next.

"Again, sorry about that," Knuckles said, still regretting for frighting him.

But Boris patted his shoulder, assuring it's all right. "The cutouts give me the creeps, too," he wrote.

Tails took notice of something in Boris' hand. Asking what it was, the wolf held up it, which revealed to be a pipe. He pointed at the vents indicating that he found it in there. He handed it to the boys, wondering if they want it.

"Why don't you hold on to it?" suggested Sonic. There was no need for him or his friends to need it due to their abilities. "You're the one that needs it more than we do."

Boris looked at the pipe curiously and unsure. Seeing this, Sonic asked if he ever used it in defense before. The toon shook his head; he usually runs away whenever he spots trouble.

"It's actually pretty easy," Sonic told him as he took the wrench from his hands to demonstrate. "When you see an enemy coming, you raise the pipe as high as you can and you smack 'em!"

He hit Knuckles on the head, leaving him to yelp in a confused state.

The hedgehog continued. "And if they're still coming, you do it again!"

He repeated his action, leaving Knuckles pissed. Especially after he did a couple more times so Boris would get the hint.

Finally, Knuckles had enough. He snatched the pipe from Sonic's hand and yelled, "ALL RIGHT, HE GETS IT! GEEZ!"

He threw back at Boris, who tried his best to resist his laughter along with Tails. The toon then stuck the pipe in his pocket. Sonic, meanwhile, just smiled at his accomplishment for pissing Knuckles off.

They followed the grumpy echidna through a corridor filled with shelves filled with various dolls and airplanes. The floor had various piles of ink here and there, but they weren't in the way of the ink-filled travelers.

They came to another passage only to find another a closed door. Seeing a small device near it, Tails went up for a closer inspection. Seeing two flashing dots labeled A and B, he looked over to his right and found a switch.

"Oh, okay," he said. "We have to throw down two switches at once to open this door. There's one right here but I don't see the other one."

"Knuckles and I will find it," Sonic volunteered. "You two stay here."

Seeing a couple large wires, Knuckles proposed that they should lead them to the second lever.

"Sounds good, Knucklehead," teased Sonic.

They followed the wires to a little hallway, where they switch laid waiting. Right next to it was a movie poster, showing three new characters that they have never seen before.

"The butcher gang?" Sonic read as they walked up to the lever. "Why do I have a feeling that something's gonna-"

Suddenly, a small monster ripped out of the poster, wheezing out a weak roar. They boys yelled at the sight of the thing. There wasn't much to see about the ink figure. But all they got out of it was that it had a crossed-out eye, a huge mouth, wore some kind of suit and had a pipe in its hand. Before it could get out, Knuckles punched it right in the face. He hit the thing so hard that he sent it flying back into the dark abyss, shrieking as it went.

They took a moment to regain their breath just as Tails called out if they were okay since they heard them scream.

"We're good!" Sonic called. "Just ran into a little bug! That's all!"

After slowing down his heart, Knuckles put his hand on the lever and yelled back to the others to get ready.

"On the count of three, we pull! One.. Two… Three!"

He pulled the lever and the sound of machines came to life, opening the door. He and Sonic returned to Tails and Boris, who were waiting for them. They went through a little room, a passage with machinery on each side, and onto a balcony. Below was an elevator near the end of the stairs.

"There's our ticket outta here, guys!" Sonic cried. He dashed to the elevator, leaving his friends in the dust. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for everyone else to get down. When all of them made it inside, Tails went up to the buttons to see which one to push. That was when the gates suddenly shut and they felt the elevator descending, the opposite direction they wanted to go. It got worse when a familiar voice spoke from the speakers of the elevator.

"You're so interesting," Alice said, leaving all of the boys on edge. "So different. I have to say, I'm an instant fan. Looks like you boys got a date with an angel!"

Everybody was horrified at the news. Sonic even muttered a "no" in a whispered wail.

"Come to me, now," she continued. "Level Nine. Just follow the screams."

The moment she stopped talking, everybody glared and yelled at each other in a quiet tone, hoping that somebody has a plan.

"Everybody just calm down!" soothed Knuckles, raising his large hands. "Let's just hear what she has to say. And if we're lucky, she'll tell us how to get out of here. But we have remain calm!"

His companions took deep breathes to calm themselves, nodding to Knuckles' plan. Although there was no telling what will happen or what the twisted angel will do, they had to keep it together. And at least Alice was willing to cooperate than Bendy.

For what seemed like forever, the elevator stopped at level nine, which was another balcony with stairs that lead to a large room.

"Come on," Alice spoke in a cooing voice. "Step out of your cage. There's a whole twisted world out here." She ended her invitation with a few chuckles.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Sonic grabbed Boris by the hand and ran to from the upper platform, down the stairs and to the open chamber. They passed through a small bridge and up the stairs to a huge door. Above it a giant sign that had the same words from the chamber where they meet Alice. Only this sign had the cartoon version of Alice holding it up. It wasn't long until Tails and Knuckles joined them, both of them taking to the sky to get to the door.

"Sorry, Boris," Sonic said, noticing Boris holding to his head with dazed eyes. "I didn't mean to give you whip lash."

Boris shook it off with a thumbs up, assuring Sonic that he's good.

It was then that the noisy contraptions slowly opened the door.

Boris smelled something familiar on the other side. As soon as the door was wide enough, he ran straight into the passage and made a right to see where the smell came from.

"Boris?!"

Unsure what just happened, everybody chased after the wolf. By the time they got to him, their faces turned from puzzled to pure horror. There stood before Boris was another Boris, but strapped to a table with his rib cage wide open and his eyes crossed out. But that's not what got everybody's attention; the entire room was filled with Boris corpses, all of them in the same pose. There were even some corpses of the little piper that attacked Sonic and Knuckles earlier with other ones like it.

"Oh, my chaos," gasped Tails. He had never seen anything like this before. It actually scared him.

"This explains a lot," muttered Knuckles, meaning that the Boris corpse up on the first floor wasn't a test subject but Alice's first victim.

Sonic turned to Boris, who had a blank face as he stared at his dead clone. Turning to Tails, he told him to take Boris back to the elevator.

"What about you and Knuckles?"

"We'll talk to Alice," he replied with Knuckles nodding behind him. "We'll let you know the details when we're done. Plus, Boris is in need of a friend. And nobody seems more qualified than you."

Tails smiled at the compliment and agreed to take Boris back. He gently shook the wolf back to the real world and guided back through the corridor.

Turning to each other, Sonic asked if Knuckles was ready. He nodded, ready to get it over with before anything else happened. Sonic took lead to the plank path that lead up to another closed door. As they passed through the dead cartoons, Alice spoke to them again.

"Look around. It took so many of them to make me so beautiful. Anything less than perfect was left behind. I had to do it. She made me."

Sonic took note of how often Alice switches her voices. One being mature and creepy while the other was more girlish and innocent.

"Maybe she's got a split personality," guessed Knuckles.

"If that's the case," said Sonic. "Let's hope we can get through with the nice Alice."

They both made it to the door, which it immediately opened a new path. They made their way in which lead them to a corridor. Alice wasn't kidding about follow the screams because both Sonic and Knuckles could hear someone yelling in pain inside. When they got to the room where the noise was coming from, they saw that the same little guy that attacked them was strapped onto an upside table, screaming as the electricity went through its skin, releasing its sparks from above. And on its left was Alice herself at the controls.

Now that they got a good view on Alice, they could tell what she meant about being so beautiful. Her right side of her face was in between human and cartoon, but looked normal compared to her left side. It looked like someone had poured acid on it and tried to stretch it out. Her left eye was either gone or was soaked with ink, leaving the boys to wonder if she could still see out of it. Her inner mouth was exposed, showing her sketched teeth and black gums. Above her head was her horns and her halo. That got the anamorphic animals wondering if she hammered the halo into her head since it slanted on the side. She wore some kind of apron which was either attached to her black dress or was just ink fooling their eyes into thinking she wore one. Near her breast was a dirty white bow tie, much like Bendy's but smaller. Her arms were covered with ink, making it look like arm-length gloves. The same was with her legs, making it seem like she wore black leggings.

Sonic called out to her since the little guy's screams filled the room. She looked up from the controls, smiled at her new guests and motioned them to come with her finger. That got the boys feeling uneasy as they walked in the room.

The door slammed behind them and the pipe man stopped yelling. They glanced at it, who was now breathing slowly, its head slanted while trying to gain its breath. They turned their face back to Alice, who couldn't help but grin at them, showcasing her filthy teeth.

Sonic decided to break the silence. Slowly raising his hands, pointed at her and asked, "Alice?"

The cartoon woman replied in a drawn-out nod, still smiling.

Sonic continued. "Okay, we figured it was you. We just wanted to double check in case the Alice we ran into earlier was a different one."

"There is no other Alice," she declared in a high voice mixed with various tones. "And if there were, I rip out her heart with my bare hands and eat it!"

Sonic felt his heart skip a beat when Alice said that. Knuckles, however, looked more annoyed. "Nice."

"Where is your friend?" she asked. "There were three of you back on level k."

"He's back in the elevator," Sonic replied, excluding Boris for his sake. "Your little 'collection' gave him quite a scare."

"Aww, how adorable!" exclaimed Alice, putting her hands together near her face. "He's going to have to learn that the world isn't a place filled with butterflies and rainbows."

Sonic was just about to defend Tails when Knuckles put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head, stating that it's not worth it.

Looking back at Alice, the echidna said, "Let's just cut to the chase; what do you want?"

"Ah, yes, the question we all waited for!" proclaimed the half-faced angel. "Do I kill you? Do I tear you apart to my heart's delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How's a girl to choose?"

She made a few chuckles as the boys got to their battle positions.

"If you want to kill us, lady," Sonic told her. "You gonna find out it's not gonna be that easy!"

"Oh, I know," she said. "Rumors of mighty newcomers have flown throughout the studio. Why waste your abilities and skills when you could prove useful to me?"

"And what is it that you want?" queried Knuckles, his fists still raised.

"I'm in need of certain supplies," she said. "They are scattered throughout the studio. But with your abilities, you can deliver them to me in no time, especially since one of you are quick on your feet."

She glared at Sonic when she said the last part.

"So you want us to go shopping?" asked Sonic with his eyebrows raised.

"It's just a few eensey weensey little favors," assured Alice. Sonic and Knuckles shot glares at each other; they knew perfectly well that 'eensey weensey' have a whole different meaning with women.

She added, "And in return, I will show you the way out of here."

That got the boys off guard. "Say what?"

"I will let you ascend and leave this place if you do what I ask," repeated Alice.

"Hold up! Time out!" Sonic exclaimed, putting up his hands in a stop sign. "If you know the way out, how come you're still here?"

"Well, who can accept someone with this face?" she posed with her mixed voices, pointing at her face. "It was his fault that I became like this!"

The boys got confused as she continued on. "Once he touches you with his hands, he pulls you into the ink! Do you have any idea what it's like? Living in the dark puddles? It's a buzzing, screaming well of voices! Bits of your mind, swimming… like… like fish in a bowl! The first time I was born from its inky womb, I was wiggling, pussing, shapeless slug. The second time… well… it made me an angel! I will not let the demon touch me again!"

Alice's eyes brought her back to reality where she saw her humanoid animal guests giving her a weird look. She cleared her throat while she adjusted her smooth, silky hair and brushed her dress.

"So what do you say, boys? Do we have a deal?"

"Uh," Sonic mumbled as he looked over at Knuckles, who tilted his head to the side, stating that they should discuss this. "Give us a minute."

They turned their backs to the angel while she just watched with interest, her hands underneath her chin.

"What do you think?"

"What do I think?" repeated Knuckles with wide eyes. "It's obvious! We can't trust her! She could be playing us for saps for her own entertainment! Hell, she could be lying about the exit just so we can do her shit!"

"Knux, look," Sonic assured him. "I don't like this, either. But she has access to the elevator and chaos knows what else. We have no idea what will happen if we refused to do her bidding. It's like you said, we have no idea what she's capable of."

"But what about Boris?" Knuckles pointed out. "If she finds out about him, he's bond to end up like the others back in that room!"

"Not if we play our cards right!" Sonic said. "We'll just play along and keep him out of sight. Besides, this may be our one chance to get out of here."

Knuckles let out a heavy sigh. "I don't like this. But I'm trusting you on this, Sonic. I only hope you know what you're doing."

"Me, too," Sonic admitted. "And if she is lying and ends up backstabbing us, you have my full permission to take the first blow."

"Deal," Knuckles quickly agreed.

They both turned back to Alice and told her that they agree to the deal.

"Good," she said with a smile. "Return to the lift, my little errand boys. We have work to do."

She suddenly slammed a button which caused the shutters to close the windows. That was when the little pipe guy started to scream again with the electricity acknowledging its presence. But that wasn't what got the boys off fetched.

"Did she just called us errand boys?" Sonic turned to Knuckles who face-palmed himself.

"I'm already hating this job," he muttered.

They went back to the corridor and through the cartoon-corpse filled chamber and back out the room where Tails and Boris was at. They waved down at Sonic and Knuckles who waved in return. But before they could go out onto the small bridge, the gate suddenly closed.

"My machines are hungry," Alice announced their first assignment through the unseen speakers. "Gather me some spare parts!"

They heard something behind them and saw a small lazy-Susan machine spun around and showcased a wrench. Sonic took it as Alice informed them that the parts she needs are inside little boxes on a wall. She added that they'll find plenty of them on level k.

"Roger that!" Sonic saluted with the wrench in his hand. Knuckles just rolled his eyes.

The gate to the bridge went back up, allowing the boys to rejoin their friends. As they went up, Alice started to monologue. "There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths. But there is one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. For if you see him, you'd better hide. If you don't, well, I enjoyed our date. Now, let us begin our work."

"That's one way to encourage us," Sonic mumbled with Knuckles nodding in agreement.

The gate opened back up, signaling them to go in. Sonic asked how everybody's doing while they went to met Alice.

"We're good," answered Tails. "It's been pretty quiet since you guys left."

"What about you, Boris?" Knuckles asked the toon wolf. "You alright?"

Boris smiled as his response, showing that he's feeling better after getting out of that chamber. That was when Tails asked about Alice's demand. Sonic explained everything as he pushed the k button on the elevator.

"You really think this is a good idea, Sonic?" Tails asked after Sonic finished.

"Honestly," confessed Sonic as the elevator ascended. "No. I think going shopping for a half-faced angel is a terrible idea. But considering that she can control the elevator, she may have access to other stuff we don't know. Plus, she's our only lead out of here."

"But if we want to confirm that," added Knuckles. "We have to play along to her demands."

"But she could be lying," added Tails with a nod from Boris.

"Then there's no reason for us to beat the shit out of her," Sonic said with a grin. That got everybody to laugh. But it went silent when Alice spoke again.

"Have you met him?" she asked once the elevator made it to level k. "The Ink Demon? They say he hears everything. Every creak on the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn't run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw him in."

"Thanks for the tip," Knuckles called as the elevator doors opened. Sonic made a quick explanation to Tails and Boris about what Alice told them if Bendy touches them.

"Well, it's a good thing that we're fast shoppers," Tails declared, trying to light up the mood.

Just as everybody got ready to emerge from the platform, Knuckles stopped them.

"Somebody should stay here in case somebody comes in and sabotages the elevator."

Boris volunteered to stand guard. Sonic wasn't sure about the idea of leaving Boris alone and them going off to find stuff where they had no idea where to look. But Boris assured everyone through paper that the needed supplies won't be hard to find due to his own experience of fetching his own.

"We should at least give you something so we can communicate," Sonic proposed.

Tails suggested an idea that Boris should have a wist monitor. He explained that he was only able to make two back at the safe house as he pulled them out of his invisible pocket. Boris just stared at the young fox, clearly indicating that he didn't had any technology in his home.

"I have a habit of making something out of nothing," Tails clarified as he put one on the wolf's wist and vice versa on his own.

He gave out quick instructions of how to use it since this was new territory for the toon. Luckily, Boris was a quick learner.

"All right!" Sonic clapped his hands together, ready to get going with Alice's errands. "Remember, if anybody comes at you, give them a hard hit with that pipe."

Boris grinned as he held up the pipe.

"Okay," announced Knuckles. "Let's get going, guys! The faster we get this done, the sooner we can leave!"

The boys set off as Boris closed the platform doors so nobody else can get in. He waved to his friends as they went up the stairs with them waving in return. The boys retraced their steps back through the machine corridor and back out the room where they threw the two stitches. Near the doorway where they came out was a box where Alice told them to find the parts.

"Looks like we're off to a good start," Knuckles announced.

Tails took the wrench and opened the box. And behold, the part was inside, waiting to be taken out.

"That's one," he declared as he took the part out with ease. "How many more do we need?"

Sonic and Knuckles turned to each other for answers. They both admitted they she didn't say how much she needed.

"I guess we just collect as much as we can," Sonic said with a shrug.

They went back to the ink-filled, toy section, which several more lie hanging on each wall. They suggest they each pick a wall and find the gears. Sonic picked the one on the left, Tails the right and Knuckles straight ahead.

Knuckles tried opening it with his hands which popped out like a beer cap. However, nothing was inside.

"Weird," he muttered.

Just when he was about to head off to the next box, a Piper clone came running up to him, gurgling as he went. This time, Knuckles let out a heavy sigh and just punched the piper in the face. Like with the last one, it went flying through the room and into the wall like a smashed fly. He noticed that the something fell out of the creature's hand as he fell to the floor.

Sonic and Tails peeked their heads out to see what caused the commotion.

"Eh, it's just another ink bug," Knuckles reported as he walked over to the crippled toon, who formed into an ink puddle before disappearing.

He smiled when the object turned out to be a gear. "That's two."

Tails checked the box on his side, only to find nothing inside. Sonic used the same tactic as Knuckles since they only had one wrench. It also popped open with ease, revealing the third gear.

"Ah, that should be plenty," Alice said when Sonic pulled out the small wheel. "Return them to me. And try not to die on the way back."

They went back to the elevator without thinking twice, happy that the first errand was done. They found Boris leaning against the wall playing with the pipe. He was surprised that they came back so soon.

"That was quick," he wrote.

"If there's one thing you should know about Team Sonic," Sonic told him as he punched the nine button on the elevator. "It's that we get the job done at top speed!"

"Sammy said I had talent," Alice suddenly spoke as they descended to the abyss. "He was always a good liar. Still, he was once a very handsome man."

"Oooooookay," Sonic said before admitting that came out of nowhere. Tails suggested that maybe she and Sam were together before the studio closed down.

"I wonder if she knows what happened to him," pondered Knuckles, with everybody else thinking the same thing.

When they returned back to level nine, Boris and Tails stayed on the platform while Sonic and Knuckles take the parts to Alice.

"Here's your gears!" announced Sonic. "Is there a place where we…?"

"Put them in the garbage pail on your right," commanded Alice. Knuckles did as he was told since he was the one holding them all along with returning the wrench.

The two-faced angel gave out her second errand. "Have you seen them? The swollen ones! They're just stuffed full of extra thick ink. It makes me sick! And yet… it's the perfect thing for keeping myself together. If you're going to catch them, you're going to have to learn to move quietly. I have something that you'll need."

The small device that gave them the wrench turned and revealed a syringe. She added that they'll find them on level eleven.

As Sonic looked at the syringe, he asked, "So what? We just stick this in them and extract their insides?"

Chuckles emerged from the hidden speakers. "Use your imagination."

Glancing over to Knuckles, who simply shrugged. They returned to the lift, where they went up to level eleven. As the gates opened, not too far from where they were was an ink searcher who just emerged from the ink. But this one didn't do anything other than just standing there, moaning. It looked so old and… swollen.

"That must be our guy," Knuckles said. He turned to Boris for confirmation, which the toon nodded in response.

"Alice said that we have to move quietly if we want to extract them," Tails reminded everyone.

"Leave that to me," Sonic grinned. Before anybody had time to blink, Sonic ran up to the swollen searcher and stabbed it with the syringe. It groaned as it went back to the puddle. Looking at the syringe, it had room for two more.

"You guys wait here," the hedgehog told everyone. "I'm going swollen hunting."

"Good luck," Knuckles said, already making himself comfortable by leaning against the gate.

Sonic grinned as he sprinted for the corridor where he entered a large room. Seeing one pop up from the ground, he extracted its ink with ease and speed. One more to go.

He ran into another hallway and came to a sudden halt. On his right was another room shielded by a glass window. But that wasn't what got Sonic's attention. It was the walking ink creature with a projector for a head. He could hear it the device roll on the other side as it stalked off in a frankensteinish manner, lighting the way as it went. Sonic sighed with relief that the projector guy didn't see him.

It was then that another swollen searcher appeared, this time in the same room where camera-head's in. It was risky, but Sonic was sure that he would be quick enough to take the ink and get out before the creature can turn around and see him.

He speed up to the door, which lead to another door and into the room. Unfortunately, the sound of the door opening made the old searcher to retreat to the pool where it came. However, the projector guy was already gone so that was a relief. But that didn't stop Sonic from stomping his foot with irritation.

"Damn it!" he cursed. There was no telling when this one will come back. He figured to head back and see if there was any more he missed. He was just about to go back when he saw another figure outside the room where he was minute ago, staring at him.

This creature was a woman who, like Alice, was both human and toon. Unlike Alice, however, her face was fully formed and full of curiosity. She didn't possess anything that resembled the fictional character, either. She had curly ink hair with bright glowing eyes. She wore a dirty blouse with the black liquid covering her arms to her hands like gloves. On her left arm was slightly glowing but Sonic couldn't tell what it was.

Seeing that she had been spotted, the girl's curiosity was replaced with fear and made a run for it down the corridor.

"No! Wait!" called Sonic. He went through the doors and ran out to the huge room. He looked around but she was no where to be seen. That was when he found a miracle station near a corner.

He couldn't see her inside or her bright eyes so he guessed that she must be hunched over with her eyes closed. Clever girl.

Sonic slowly walked over to the station. He just about to tell her that he didn't mean to scare her when something poked him from behind.

"Ow! What the…!?"

His eyes widen when he saw another ink bug coming after him. Unlike the one with the pipe, this one had a fishing pole for a neck with its head dangling from the bottom. It made it a second attempt to stab Sonic but the hedgehog simply struck it with the syringe while telling it to piss off.

"How sickening!" exclaimed Alice through the invisible speakers. "Makes my skin crawl! But the task is done. Bring me back my equipment, please."

When she finished, Sonic checked the syringe and saw that it was filled. Guess the fishing guy had plenty of leftover ink.

He looked back at the miracle station. He wanted to open it and tell the glowing-eyed girl that he meant no harm. But considering that he and his friends were the only creatures out of place in this studio, she might be terrified of him. So approaching her might not be the best idea. He recalled his promise to Boris to get him and everybody else out when they find an exit.

"And I intend to keep that promise," he told himself.

He ran back to the elevator where his friends were waiting. Once he was gone, the miracle station door opened. Out came the woman with a surprised face. Not because of the fact that he didn't bother to look inside. But because of what she saw in his eyes. Something that she hasn't seen in a long time: hope.

There was another person in the building that shared the same eyes. But it's been so long since she's last seen that person so she doesn't know if it's still there.

She took out a white emerald from her pocket and glared at it. She found it several days ago after making her escape. She noticed that it slowly returned to its faded glow. It was brightly gleaming earlier which made her try to find the source of its glow. Imagine her surprise when she ran into the spiked creature. Of course her curiosity got the better of her since she was drawn to how different he was compared to everyone else in the studio. But the minute that he saw her, she made a run to the nearest miracle station, afraid of what he would do. But after seeing his eyes, that got her thinking that he wasn't a threat; just a traveler trying to find an escape like everybody else.

Now that the stone was fading back to its former light, the girl started to think that maybe the jewel and the newcomers were somehow connected. If that's the case, she better find the other emeralds before HE does.

…

Back on the lift, Alice made another monologue about how perfect her character was as everyone went back down. This time, the boys could care less as they were more intrigued with Sonic's tale. He told them about the projector ink figure and the girl with the bright eyes.

"She hid in a miracle station," he said. "But I didn't actually look inside because she might think that I wanted to hurt her."

"Considering that she probably spent most of her time hiding from ink monsters," Tails agreed. "Who could blame her?"

Sonic asked Boris if he met her. The wolf shook his head, adding to the parchment that he hasn't seen a cartoon woman with yellow eyes before.

By the time they returned to level nine, Sonic and Knuckles returned Alice's syringe, now filled with ink while everybody else stayed in the elevator.

"I'll make this simple," She said once they put the syringe in the garbage pail. "Look for valve panels. Turn the little wheels. Then bring me their power cores. Please don't make me regret sparing you boys. I can always change my mind."

"Yeah, whatever, lady," muttered Knuckles.

He and Sonic went over to the lazy-Susan machine to find a plunger. They both gave each other puzzled looks. Sonic picked up the plunger and asked Alice why they need a plunger if they can just turn the wheels with their bare hands.

"Oh, you never know," replied Alice with a seductive voice. "It may come in handy."

Sonic crossed his eyebrows. "I can't tell if you're playing with us or you're just being gross."

"C'mon," Knuckles rolled his eyes as he dragged Sonic across the floor. "We're almost done so just go with it."

"You'll find plenty of them on level P on the walls like with the gears," added Alice. Sonic joked that the 'P' must stand for plunger. That resulted a back slap from Knuckles.

The platform ascended the boys up a story to another room they've never been before.

"Alright, guys," Knuckles announced. "Same thing: Boris, stay here and keep a lookout. Everybody else, let's go."

Taking a left, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles went down a corridor to another room. Another miracle station laid in a corner. On the wall across from them was another message that read, I don't want to work here anymore.

"Why am I getting a Disney vibe from this?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles gave him a glare. "What does Disney have to do with this?"

Tails explained, "A couple days ago, Sonic and I watched this video about Disney's dark secrets. One of those secrets was this chief back at the Disneyland in Paris who committed suicide after writing the same message on the wall of his apartment."

"That's comforting," said Knuckles.

He turned to find the valve panel on his left. Only that this one was already opened.

"This is no surprise," he muttered.

Also seeing the panel, Tails took notice that the ink in the pipes were all alined in the middle.

"Maybe that's how you open it," he suggest.

Suddenly, they heard similar rabbling not too far from where they were. They turned and down the central hallway that separated two rooms to find another ink bug. This one had a similar resemblance to a spider, despite it having four arms. Two on its left were connected and merged into one, extendable arm. Also the face gave it away, despite it having two different eyes, one more human and the other more cartoon. It even had two mouths, one on its usual spot except it was switched up while the second one was right on top of its head, chattering as it went.

Tails saw the power core on its extendable arm. Telling Sonic and Knuckles to stand back, Tails used his spin attack to take out the bug while grabbing the power core. He held it up in triumph as his foe disappeared into the floor.

"Congratulations, Tails," announced Sonic as he pat his friend's back. "You just took down your first ink bug."

"Thanks," said Tails with a few chuckles. "Now that we have one power core, that leaves us with two more since the last items we got usually ended with three."

"Lucky for us, there's one in that room," Knuckles pointed. They followed his finger to a room exposed by its glass windows. Aside from the random junk that was inside, there on the wall was another valve panel. And this one wasn't open.

"Sweet!" Sonic cheered.

He dashed through the new hallway with another He Will Set Us Free message at the end. He turned right only to notice another valve panel. But like the first one, it was empty so he just skipped over it. His friends did the same thing as they followed him.

By the time they made it inside, Sonic handed the plunger to Tails, making it obvious that there's no need for it.

"If she knew the plunger was going to be useless, why bother giving it to us?" Queried Sonic.

It was then that a searcher came from the ground, moaning as it went. But Tails hit it with the plunger twice before it went back to the ink puddle.

"I guess it's for defending yourself," Tails shrugged.

Knuckles didn't seem to care anymore. "Let's just get the power core and get out of here."

He turned the knob so the ink inside the pipe would level with the others. As he did so, it made a loud clanging followed by the ink gurgling down. Everyone winced at the sound and glared around, praying that the Ink Demon didn't hear them. Thankfully, no one came. Everyone sighed with relief.

"Damn, that's loud!" exclaimed Knuckles. "How are we supposed to get the power cores without causing any attention with that racket?"

"I got an idea," Sonic said. "I'm going to align them as fast as I can while you guys stand watch."

"Okay," agreed Tails with a nod from Knuckles.

They both turned their heads to double check if there was any sign of the Ink Demon or anybody else around. They gave Sonic the go. Within seconds, Sonic turned the knobs and the imprisoned ink either fell or rose to their aligned spots. The hatch popped open, showcasing Sonic's reward.

"Whew!" panted Sonic as he took the core. "Talk about a close call!"

"Don't celebrate yet, Sonic. We got one more left," Knuckles reminded him.

He proposed that they go to the other room and see if there's any panels there. There was one, but it was open with the tubed ink already aligned. There was another miracle station in a corner near another corridor. Straight down was a valve panel that was untouched.

The boys repeated the same process like before: Tails and Knuckles would look around to see if anybody's coming, give Sonic the go signal and then the Blue Blur would work his magic to get the ink aligned.

"You're quite efficient little errand boys, aren't you?" declared Alice once Sonic pulled out the last power core.

"We don't mess around, lady," replied Sonic. "And by the way, we didn't need your plunger! It was useless!"

There was no response but Sonic didn't care. He felt that he just had to get the message out.

They returned to the elevator where they found Boris almost completely surrounded by bacon soup cans. He wrote on his piece of paper explaining that he got bored and decided to collect to some soup cans to eat as well as to stay occupied. He gathered enough for everybody to eat in case they were hungry, too.

Sonic put a hand on the toon's shoulder as he declared, "You, my friend, are a lifesaver." He was getting hungry with all the shopping around the studio. So were his friends.

The elevator took them back to level nine where Alice once again started to make her 'poor me' speech.

"There was a time people knew my name. 'It's Alice Angel!' they'd say. Feels like so long ago. But those days can come back."

Knuckles let out a moan. "Ugh, why is she still talking?"

Everybody else just rolled their eyes with a shrug. They were too busy drinking their soups to pay any attention to her.

"Dreams come true, Susie. Dreams come true."

It was clear that Alice was referring to herself when she said 'Susie.' Then that could mean…

"What's wrong?" asked Tails when Sonic spit out his soup with his eyes filled with shock.

"My chaos!" Sonic exclaimed. "That's Susie Campbell! The actress who played Alice in the cartoon!"

"What!?"

Sonic recalled her tape message saying that she felt like the character is a part of her like they're connected. So he suggested the ink must've turned her into Alice Angel because of that connection. But it seemed that the ink didn't suit her which caused her to go around killing everyone to gain her 'angelic' beauty.

"It makes sense," Knuckles said. "Out of all the tapes we listened to, Susie was the only one who was obsessed with Alice Angel."

"If that's the case," added Tails. "Then who is, or was, Bendy? And who were you, Boris?"

Boris shook his head in response. He added in writing that the ink could be the reason why he can't remember his past.

"We'll figure out more later," Knuckles promised. "But right now, we got to return the power cores to Alice. Might as well call her Susie since that's who she originally was."

With Sonic behind him and everybody else on the elevator, Knuckles went to the gates of Alice's lair and dumped her items in the garbage pail.

"You see those grinning demons?" Queried Alice. "Let's remove them, shall we? I would give you boys a tool to help with the job, but it seems you're capable with your own fists."

"Uh, thanks?" muttered Knuckles.

"Hey, before we go," added Sonic. "Does the name Susie ring a bell to…"

"SUSIE IS NO MORE!" Screehed the two-faced angel. "I AM ALICE ANGEL!"

"But… but didn't you just…"

"SUSIE'S GONE! ONLY ALICE REMAINS!"

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Sonic shouted as he and Knuckles sprinted for the elevator.

"That went well," remarked Tails as the platform ascends.

"Yeah, I saw that differently in my head," admitted Sonic. "Maybe she's too far gone."

"You just figured that out now?" teased Knuckles. Sonic gave him a dirty look as his response.

Seeing that they're on level k again, Knuckles queried on what they were doing at this level.

"Well, Alice wants us to destroy the Bendy cutouts," Tails recalled. "And there was a whole bunch of them back in the toy factory."

"Oh, yeah. That's right."

That actually got Boris worried. Getting the boys attention, he wrote on his paper saying that it may not be a good idea doing so.

"Why?" Sonic asked. "What happens if we tear them down?"

Boris wasn't sure, but he wrote saying that the Ink Demon comes to those who destroys the cutouts and kills them on sight. He never tried to test that theory out of fear of Bendy.

"Hey, there's one right there!" Tails pointed behind the staircase where a Bendy cutout laid against the wall with a couple ink-covered barrels for company.

"Let's test it with this one," suggest Sonic. "See what happens."

"Hold up!" exclaimed Knuckles. "If anyone's going to take the first cutout down, it's gonna be me!"

"Okay, whatever you say, buddy," said Sonic with his arms raised. He let the echidna pass as he saw him crack his fists with excited delight.

"You guys ready?"

Everybody nodded, including Boris who hid behind Sonic. Knuckles nodded as he raised his closed, mighty fist.

…

Somewhere in the studio, Bendy dug through a pile of broken wood with exhilaration. He could feel the power source grow stronger as he went deeper into the pile. Finally, he found it: the third stone!

It made him even more happy that this one was also in a different color. Although he couldn't tell what color it was, it still made him feel happy inside.

As the Ink Demon held up his prize for a closer look, he felt something in his bones. His joy was now replaced with rapid anger as he knew what it was. He also knew where it came from. He could feel his entire body shake with rage, feeling the plank in his other hand break in two.

…

Knuckles looked around right after he punched the cutout to pieces. HIs friends did the same thing as they tried to scan the area for anything 'Ink Demon' related.

But there was nothing.

"Okay," announced Sonic after another minute of silence. "Either the Ink Demon's taking a nap or this whole 'he's gonna kill you when you destroy a cutout' thing is just a rumor that gets people scared."

"Either way, we should keep our guard up just in case," Knuckles said. "All right, you guys know the drill. Let's get to it."

Boris wished them luck as he closed the platform's doors. They wished him luck as well while they made their way up the stairs.

As they retraced their way back to the toy factory, a few ink searchers came in to stop them but they were easily defeated. There were some cutouts here and there, which they destroyed with ease. Knuckles even took down the one where Boris accidentally scared him with. By the time they returned to the Heavenly Toys area, it was a treasure load of cutouts.

"All right!" declared Sonic as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's do it to it!"

Within a minute, all the cutouts were smashed to pieces with Sonic's homing attacks, Tails' spin dashes and Knuckles' punches. They all exchanged smiles as they saw that their work is done.

"Damn, that felt good!" exclaimed Knuckles with his friends nodding in agreement.

"Ah, now that was fun!" proclaimed Alice. "Oh! But I forgot to mention…"

Everybody turned their attention to the invisible speakers when Alice said that.

She finished with, "He hates it when I do that."

"WHAT?!" the anamorphic animals yelled, making it obvious that their actions were a grave mistake.

"I would hide if I were you."

She let out a small laugh before ink veins emerged from the wall up the stairs on the right with a heartbeat. And out came the Ink Demon himself.

He looked around hastily till he saw his destroyed cutouts. He ran down the stairs and stared at his broken portraits. He picked a piece that was part of the little demon's eye.

Bendy smelled a familiar scent on the broken board. He brought it closer for a good smell. He felt his ink boil within his wet skin. It was the newcomers! He knew they were nothing but trouble!

He sniffed at the air. They're here! Or were here since the spiky one was the fastest one than the other two. They couldn't have gone far. After taking another sniff with his crescent moon shaped head high in the air, he couldn't help but grin.

The Ink Demon made a growl through his Cheshire cat smile as he limped to the hallway near the miracle station. He went through the wall that separated the two pathways. As he went through his ink portal, the ink auras on the wall vanished along with the heartbeat.

Up above where the airplanes were, Knuckles stuck his head out to see if the Ink Demon's gone. He looked around to make sure. But the ink veins were nowhere to be seen.

He turned to the other plane and reported, "We're clear."

Sonic and Tails poked their heads out as well. One by one, they got off the planes and landed back on the ground.

"Whew!" Sonic puffed, removing the sweat from his head. "Talk about a close call!"

"We should return to the lift before he comes back," Tails said. Everybody made their way to the staircase without having second thoughts.

Knuckles expressed his anger toward Alice for sending them into danger with full knowledge of what will happen. "Once we get back on level 9, I'm gonna tear down that gate and stick a cutout up that angel's-"

But before he could finish, the Ink Demon appeared in the same place he had before, launching himself onto the screaming boys with arms open wide. His smile seemed to grow bigger by the second as he got closer to them. Fortunately, everyone ducked, allowing Bendy to slam himself against the wall, spilling out some ink from his body.

"RUN!" Sonic yelled. He took the lead while Tails and Knuckles were right behind him. However, it didn't take very long for Bendy to recover. He growled at his escaped victims and started to gain on them.

Seeing the veins coming up behind them, Tails lifted his wist monitor to his lips as he screamed, "BORIS! OPEN THE ELEVATOR! WE'RE COMING IN HOT!"

Within a second later, they returned to the lift, where Boris was signaling them to come in with fearful eyes. Sonic didn't bother taking the stairs as he just jumped down from the rail. Tails did the same thing except he used his tails to fly to the elevator.

Knuckles was just about to glide his way to the others until he felt Bendy grab his shoulder. He heard his friends scream his name as he felt the ink beginning to drown him in darkness. But before it had a full grip on the echidna, he punched the Ink Devil right in the face. Much like the two Pipers, Bendy went flying through the machinery corridor to the wall, again splattering his ink.

He went back up on his feet and got to its attack position, and roared at the echidna. Knuckles roared back as he felt someone take his hand and drag him through the stairs. It was Sonic, who hurried to the elevator with his face full of worry.

By the time he and Knuckles were in the elevator, he punched the nine button. The lift took everyone down below just as Bendy made it down the stairs. He let out a raspy cry of rage that his portrait destroyers got away.

It was then he felt a familiar power source. The Ink Demon looked at an open door where it revealed a passage way of stairs, one going up and one going down. Perhaps it was another stone! He turned back to the elevator. He sneered at it, knowing that they'll show up again eventually. And when they do, they're going to regret ever coming to the studio.

But then he had a thought. Why would they destroy his cutouts? They haven't done it when they arrived so why now? That was when it hit him. SHE told them. There was nobody else in the studio who had the courage to destroy his cutouts other than her.

Seeing that she needed to be taught a lesson, Bendy used his powers to summon his ink minions to go after her and put her back in her rightful place. He was sure that the newcomers will be there as well so they can do the same to them.

Either they succeed or not doesn't matter. It would keep them distracted long enough for him to find the fourth stone. Soon he would use all the stones' combined powers to escape from this God-forsaken place permanently.

…

Everybody panted with releasing anxiety as they tried to calm themselves down. Seeing Boris taking a swig of a soup can, Knuckles nudged him, indicating that he would like some. Boris handed it to him, leaving the rest for the petrified echidna.

Once he got his heart rate down, Sonic asked if everybody was okay.

"I'm better now that we're away from Bendy," Tails replied. Boris replied with a shaking thumbs up.

Turning to Knuckles, the ink-covered hedgehog queried, "What about you, Knux? You're good?"

"Yeah," answered Knuckles. "Thanks for pulling me out of there. I would've been a goner if it wasn't for you."

"No problem, buddy," Sonic said. "I'm just glad Bendy's ink didn't swallow you whole."

"Me, too," agreed Knuckles. "And it's definitely something that I DO NOT want to experience again."

Tails asked, "So everything that Alice said about the ink is true?"

"I wish I could I say no," admitted Knuckles. "Even though I didn't went all the way in, I could hear all kinds of voices fading in and out in the darkness. It actually kind of scared me."

Sonic looked up and saw that they made it back to level nine. "Well, let's hope you still got enough strength to have a good talk with Alice."

Hearing the name made Knuckles grin. "Oh, yeah."

As he got up to his feet, Tails told Sonic that he's coming with them so he can help Sonic hold Knuckles back when necessary.

"I also have a bone to pick with Alice," he added.

Boris was fine with Tails going along with Sonic when the hedgehog asked if he was okay being by himself. He did tell them to not lose their tempers at Alice for they might make the situation worse.

Sonic nodded before speeding up the gate while Tails took to the sky. They both made it to the gate just as Knuckles came to a sudden halt to the mouth of the main gate.

"You boys made it," cooed Alice. "And without a scratch, too. I'm impressed."

"Yeah, about that," began Knuckles. "You knew that the Ink Demon would show up the minute we took down those cutouts! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise," replied the two-faced angel.

"Spoil the surprise!?" repeated Sonic, now sounding just as pissed as Knuckles. "We almost got killed out there! And our friend here almost drowned in the ink because of your 'surprise!'"

"You could've avoided all of this if you just told us!" added Tails.

"Where's the fun in that?" queried Alice. "And it's just like I told your friends, not everything's all rainbows and butterflies. Besides, I got to see that even the purest of hearts can be blackened by the Ink Demon's touch."

That got Knuckles pretty mad to hear Alice refer to him as an witness to become just as dark-hearted as Bendy. "Listen here, you little bitch…!"

Sonic and Tails each grabbed his arms to keep him restrained while Knuckles began to mutter unrecognized curses. They suddenly stopped moving when they heard a loud thud. Everyone looked around, trying to find what caused the crash. That was when they heard Alice whimpering.

"No! No, no, no, no! Not now! Not now!"

"What?" asked Sonic, who was just as confused as his friends were. "What's going on?"

"The disgusting wretches have wandered my halls, have gone unchecked!" cried Alice, sounding both angry and afraid. "They're trying to drag me back to the darkness! Don't let them take your angel! Purge them one by one! Smash them into puddles! Kill them!"

Sure enough, steams from the machines was heard somewhere in the room with more thudding. And a familiar sound of chattering ink bugs grew louder. Seeing them coming, Boris slammed the elevator doors shut with his pipe in his hand, ready to battle. However, they passed him without even noticing him.

As they got closer, numerous searchers emerged and tried to attack the boys. But they were defeated within seconds. That was when the deformed Butcher gang ran across the bridge with more searchers and charged at the Mobians.

"Okay, Knux!" Sonic yelled. "You take the ugly one!"

Knuckles gave him a quick glare. "What!? No! You take the ugly one!"

"Guys!" screamed Tails, "They're ALL ugly!"

With that, Tails went up Piper, ready to kick his inky butt. Knuckles took the spider guy leaving Sonic with Fisher. Their battles didn't last long thanks to their abilities. Sonic took out the last of the searchers using his homing attacks.

Everyone looked around for more ink bugs and searchers as they panted. Boris gave them the 'all clear' signal from the lift when he didn't see any more come.

"So quiet," Alice suddenly said. "Like a welcoming grave. I like the silence, don't you?"

"Yeah, whatever Alice," Sonic said. "You all right?"

"Even I know how to defend myself," she replied. "But thanks to you boys, I'm now…"

She suddenly let out an irritated yell while something heavy fell to the floor, making it clear that she was using something heavy to protect herself.

"I hate leaving work unfinished! Fortunately, I have you three to pick up the pieces."

"Oh, gee. What a shock," mumbled Knuckles, who was far too tired to be mad at Alice now.

"I'll be needing some hearts."

Everybody glanced up in shock.

"Hearts?" asked Sonic. "Like actual hearts?!"

"Yes," Alice answered. "I'll be needing five in total. But don't worry about ripping them out. Most of them are scattered outside their bodies."

She continued. "But you'll have to go even deeper. Down, down, down into the abyss. Take the lift down to level 14. Say hello to an old friend. Sending you a little present. A little firepower. Take good care of it. It belonged to someone very special."

All the eyes on all the members of Team Sonic went wide when they saw what the lazy-Susan machine revealed; a gun.

"Woo hoo!" cheered Knuckles. "NOW we're talking!"

Just as he ran up to the gun to grab it, it began to fall apart as ink until it became nothing.

"Oops," announced Alice. "I forgot. It's a little hard to get a hold of. Oh, well. Better luck next time."

As she laughed, Knuckles stared at the empty container with empty eyes. He turned to the gate and started to mutter, "Red rum."

Before he could reach the door, Sonic and Tails grabbed him and dragged him across the floor back to the lift. He continued to say 'red rum' as they hauled him.

When they finally got to the platform, Tails looked for the 14 button. Once he did, he pushed it, sending everyone further down to the studio.

As Sonic tried to calm Knuckles down, Tails asked Boris if he been this far before.

"Yes, I have," he wrote. "But it's not one of my favorite places to go because it's so dark and spooky."

"Don't worry," Tails assured him. "You'll be guarding the lift while we're getting the hearts."

Boris told Tails that he and the others should still be careful as they landed on level 14.

Just as Boris had said, it was dark. There were some lights here and there, but they were too dim to light up the whole chamber. The ceiling, the walls even parts of the balcony were either dripping or covered with ink They were high up above a balcony where a black sea of ink lay below. In the center of the room was a Bendy statue but bigger than the ones the group had come across. There laid two doorways that lead to different passages.

"This looks nice," comment Knuckles, who was feeling better.

Looking to the right, Tails saw the Striker bug in pose clearly indicating that it's dead. Sitting on top of its hand was a heart.

"Hey, there's a heart!"

Everyone, including Boris ran up for a closer look. Seeing that it's indeed a heart, Tails grabbed it. But as he did, a loud shriek was heard throughout the chamber.

"What was that?" Sonic asked, his eyes trying to scan the darkness.

Boris ran down a set of stairs due to seeing a small light coming from the left passage. Everyone else followed him before Alice's voice returned to the speakers.

"Shhhh… there he is," she said. "The Projectionist. Skulking in the darkness."

The light grew brighter as Alice continued. "You be sure to stay out of his light, if you don't want trouble. Just bring me back the pieces I need."

Soon, the creature revealed its presence to the boys. Sonic's eyes turned huge as he recognized it as the same guy he came across earlier while trying to collect the ink from the swollen searchers.

After telling his friends, Knuckles hatched an idea. "I'm gonna keep this thing busy. While I'lm doing that, Sonic, you go through those doorways and find the four hearts. Tails, you fly around the place to make sure Bendy or any other ink creature aren't around. And Boris, you're gonna be my eyes and ears. If you see someone come up behind me, give me a signal."

Boris wrote down on his paper asking what kind of signal. Knuckles suggested that he slam his pipe against the railing, creating a racket loud enough for the echidna to hear.

"Sounds good, Knux!" Sonic said. "Let's do it!"

Tails handed the heart to Boris before taking off to the other side of the room. Both Sonic and Knuckles went over the railing and landed on the ink-covered floor, causing a loud splash.

Hearing this, the Projectionist turned and made another shrill at the intruders. As it charged, Sonic ran to the left passage and began his search.

Letting out a yell, Knuckles hit the camera-headed inkling right in the chest. Like everyone else, the Projectionist screamed as it went flying to the Bendy statue into an uncomfortable pose. It then slammed its knees to the ground before its whole body went crashing down.

Knuckles walked over to the unconscious Projectionist. He heard Sonic run past him to go the other maze. He glared down at the body, kicked it and waited for a response.

Nothing.

He kicked it again just to make sure. But he got the same results as before. He looked up at Boris, who only shrugged with his eyes sharing the same expression as him.

"That was easier than I thought it was gonna be."

Sonic returned to Knuckles with his arms full of inky hearts. It was then that Alice spoke once again.

"Tell me. Were they still writhing in your hands? Bring them to me. Now! I don't like to wait."

"With pleasure," mumbled Sonic. "These things feel so gross!"

Seeing the Projectionist down, Sonic asked if it's dead.

Knuckles replied, "Yeah, it's dead. I thought it put up more of a fight, but it's just like the Butcher gang."

Tails called from the balcony, saying that the whole area is clean. Seeing that it's time to go, Sonic and Knuckles jumped up to the balcony and walked in the elevator.

Boris put his heart onto Sonic's pile, leaving him annoyed. "Oh, c'mon! I got enough of these things already!"

"You'll live, you big baby," Tails teased while everybody else snickered.

As the lift took them back to level nine, the Projectionist's chest began to glow within the ink, giving out a blue light. Unknown to both Sonic and Knuckles, another jewel laid hidden within the inky sea. When the Projectionist crashed down, the stone was shoved into its inky body. Feeling its life source fading away, the power of the jewel began to restore it. The ink creature suddenly raised its head gasping for air, its light restored thanks to the unknown magic now residing in its chest.

…

Once they elevator opened its doors, Sonic sprinted for the gate, leaving everybody else in the dust. He poured the hearts into the garbage can, grumbling with disgust as he did his best to clean himself.

"It seems like we've reached the end of my todo list, my little errand boys," announced Alice.

Sonic raised his head to the Alice Angel statue with surprise. Everybody else shared the same expression.

"I hope you enjoyed our time together. I'll always treasure it. Return to the lift. It's time to go home."

"Really?" asked Sonic, still bewildered at the news. "That's it? We can go?"

"Absolutely," answered the horned angel.

Sonic let out a roar of cheer as he ran back to the elevator. Everybody else was in the same state as they cheered along with him.

"Freedom, here we come!" exclaimed Sonic as the elevator doors closed and they ascended up to the surface.

"Have you ever wondered what Heaven is like?" Alice suddenly asked. "I like to dream that it's quite beautiful. A soft valley of green grass, blanketed by a warm sun. I don't think I'll ever get to see it. Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boys? The heavens are waiting."

She went silent for a minute before she started to cry. Everyone glanced at each other, wondering what was going on. Then she began to laugh. It started off as small chuckles but it soon turned to deranged laughter.

"I don't like this," muttered Knuckles as Alice continued to laugh. "I don't like this one bit."

All of a sudden, the elevator stopped. Then without warning, it was taken prisoner by gravity, sending everyone screaming in confusion. Sparks flew by as the metal of the lift scraped across the sides with great speed.

"Did you really think I'd let you steal from me!?" bellowed Alice. "Did you really think I'd just let you go!?"

"What? Steal?" Sonic repeated. "We didn't steal anything from you! We did what you asked!"

"No, Sonic!" shouted Alice, leaving the hedgehog stunned at the fact that she knows his name. "I know what you and your friends are! And I know why you're all here! And you will not stop what needs to be done!"

"Lady, all we want is to get out of here!" yelled Knuckles.

But the deformed angle paid no heed to the echidna. "Now come down and bring me back my Boris!"

Everyone shot heads to Boris, who was now beyond terrified when his name was mentioned.

"It's the most perfect Boris I've ever seen and I want it! I need it. I need its insides so I can be beautiful again! Don't you understand?"

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles glared at each other, wondering how Alice found out about Boris.

"Don't you get it?!" Alice yelled again. "Give him to me!"

"NO!" roared Sonic. He went over to Boris and put his arms up as a shield. "If you go after a member of Team Sonic, you're gonna have to go through us!"

"Yeah!" Tails agreed as he, too, went over to protect Boris.

Knuckles added as he joined his friends, "And we will not hesitate to give you a better make-over, you poor excuse of an angel!"

"Fine!" screamed Alice. "I'll take him! Once… you're… all… DEAD!"

Looking around, Knuckles yelled, "Hold on, guys! I got an idea!"

He went over to the sides of the elevator and shoved his giant hands into the walls, hoping that'll slow it down. It did for a few seconds, until his fists went up to the top sides of the lift and crushed his hands.

Knuckles let out a scream as blood began to spill from his smashed hands.

"We're going way too fast!" yelled Tails.

Sonic looked over to Boris, who was now cowering in the corner with his hands over his eyes.

"Boris! Look at me!"

The wolf did as he was told, revealing his eyes filled with ink tears, ready to spill.

"She's not going to get you!" Sonic told him. "We're not gonna let her! We stick together, no matter what! You hear me?"

Boris nodded as he found the courage to stand up with a determined but fearful face.

"Get ready for a hard landing guys!" notified Sonic.

Tails and Knuckles gathered close to Sonic and Boris, ready for the crash and ready to take down Alice. Suddenly, everything went black.

…

Boris fluttered his eyes as he woke up. He rubbed his throbbing head. He was surprised that he survived the crash. He raised himself forward and saw the elevator, or what was left of it since it was nearly wrecked beyond repair.

His ears were raised when he heard a familiar humming. He looked around for his friends. If he survived the crash, then surely his friends must have, too.

He found Tails next to him, lying on his back and his black fur revealing small spots of a color that Boris had never seen before. He shook him, but Tails didn't move.

He turned his head and found Knuckles lying on his stomach, his inky coat also contained spots of the same shade. But his crushed hands were covered of a liquid sharing that color, making the bones in Boris' body shudder. This included some white bone-like structures popping out in places that shouldn't be in. He went over and shook him, too, hoping he'll wake up. But like Tails, Knuckles was completely comatose.

The humming grew louder, causing Boris to shake the echidna again with no success. Suddenly, he heard a groan.

He turned to see Sonic slowly coming to as he was in the same position like Knuckles not too far where the broken elevator was. The cartoon wolf went over to see if Sonic was all right. He was in the same condition as Tails with nothing broken unlike Knuckles. He dragged Sonic to a part of the lift so he can put the blacked out hedgehog in a sitting position with the part holding him for support.

Boris tried to wake Sonic in hopes of helping him carry the others. Sonic slowly open his eyes to find Boris in front of him, shaking him. He saw Alice going up behind him in a calm manner with a devilish grin.

"Boris.." wheezed Sonic, causing Boris to stop and listen. "Behind you…" Then he lost consciousness again.

Boris turned and found Alice at the doorway with her hands on her hips, his fear tripled in size.

"Oh, dear. Looks like your friends won't be able to help you."

Boris got to his feet as Alice began to walk toward him. "You escaped from me the last time, Boris. And now you're mine!"

The toon took out the pipe in his pocket, ready to defend himself and his friends, despite him shaking. Alice couldn't help but laugh.

"How adorable! The little wolf is going to fight back! This should be-"

Before she could finish, Boris struck her on the head, causing her yelp in pain. As she massaged her head, Boris looked at his pipe. He didn't think he hit her THAT hard. But remembering what Sonic told him, he got himself ready for round two.

Alice glanced up to the toon with fury eyes. "Why you little-"

THUNK!

"You're going to-"

THUNK!

"That's enou-"

THUNK!

"QUIT IT!"

THUNK!

Having enough of Boris's pipe attacks, Alice charged at him with a yell and her arms raging out of control. But Boris jumped to the side to see her trip over Tails and land on a small pile of shattered planks. She wailed in pain when some splinters got onto her face. Boris couldn't help but laugh. His whole life he had been afraid of her. But standing up to her was actually a piece of cake!

The two-faced angel got herself up with her eyes even more angry than before, charged at him again, this time with a plank in her hand.

Boris deflected her plank with his pipe. Soon, the wolf and the angel were having a pipe/plank duel. She roared every time Boris hit her head while she kept missing thanks to Boris' reflexes.

Seeing a small wooden box near the busted lift, Alice got an idea. She pushed Boris and went over to pick up the crate. Before Boris could defend himself, Alice knocked him out, destroying the little crate in the process.

The humanoid toon stood there, heavily breathing as she stared down at the unconscious wolf.

"You're the first to actually put up a fight," she admitted. "It's a shame that you'll also be the last."

Picking him up from his armpits, she dragged him across the hallway, leaving the others. She was originally going to kill them while they were out. But she was worn out from her skirmish with Boris that she decided to leave them behind. Besides, no one could survive a crash like that.

By the time Alice was completely gone with her prize, a portal made of golden ink emerged from the right wall.

…

The deformed angel hummed her theme as she strapped Boris onto her operating table. He was still unconscious when they arrived back at her lair. It was no big deal. She found it easier to operate her victims when they're knocked out, anyway.

She went over to her tools to get her saw. Not seeing it on the table, she went through her drawers.

"Oh, where did I put that…" she muttered as she ran through each drawer.

When she came to the last one, she found a jewel. Her eyes lite up at the sight of it. It had the same color like the liquid oozing out of the Knuckles' hands. And it sparkled with such a beautiful radiance.

She picked it up and marveled at its magnificence. It made her wish that she was just as beautiful as this jewel.

That was when it began to glow. Suddenly, her whole body was lite by the same light of the jewel. Alice gasped as she dropped the stone and fall backward. The light suddenly faded away back to its normal light.

"What?" queried Alice, who was in a state of confusion. "What just…"

She let out a gasp when she saw her hands. They were different. They were no longer covered by her ink gloves but were normal and wore small, white gloves. She also wore some kind of black sleeves.

Alice felt her eyes grew wide as she made the realization. She went over to her personal things and tried to find her handheld mirror. Once she did, she held it up to her face and was in utter shock.

Her face shared the exact same resemblance of her cartoon self. She had the same pie-cut eyes, the mole, the hairstyle, everything. She even looked down at her body and saw that it, too, went through the same changes.

She felt her eyes tear up as she lost her grip on her mirror, letting it drop to the floor with a thud. She was beautiful! At long last, she was beautiful! She ran over to the jewel and showed her gratitude.

"Oh, thank you! thank you!" She hugged the stone close to her beaming toon face. "Thank you for granting my wish!"

Then her happiness suddenly faded away. If word of her new form gets out, people are going to want answers. Including HIM.

Not wanting to part with the 'wishing' jewel, she put it back in the drawer. She suddenly thought of Sonic and his friends. Even if they did survived the fall, they'll most likely go after her and take away her most precious gift. So how can she protect it?

She turned to Boris, who was still knocked out. Alice let out a wicked smile as she got an idea. She doesn't need the jewel's power for what's she's about to do. She's going to save that for something else. But for now, it was time to work.

To be continued.