Sounds of water swooshing and bubbles popping brought Sonic back to his conscious state. He fluttered his eyes as they slowly opened only to see nothing but darkness. He looked around at his surroundings only to have the same black view.
Suddenly, the soft gargling noises were soon joined by voices, conversing in whispers. Sonic couldn't make it out of what they were saying because they talked over one another, almost like they were unaware of each other's presence. The voices started to grow louder which left the hedgehog constantly turning his head to see where the voices were coming from only to find nothing.
Then the darkened room began to shake as Sonic's head began to ache. He began to rub the sides of his head to ease the pain until he heard another voice; this one sounding much louder than the rest, making it easier to hear.
"Ssssssssooooooooonnnnnnnnnnic."
Sonic's ears perked; he heard that voice before! Granted, it wasn't growling nor parched like this one but it was still the same. The last time he heard it was…
The Mobian's heart began to beat faster than before when he realized where he was. Almost in an instant, invisible liquid kept him from breathing, causing him to panic even more. Sonic tried to swim upwards but wasn't making any progress. That was when he felt something in front of him.
He could feel that it was a smooth hard surface, possibly a door. He reached for a handle only to find none. Feeling that the unknown barrier was bigger, he traced it to find that it surrounded him, leading him back to where he started. Seeing that he was in some kind of tube-like containment, Sonic wasted no time in making a spin dash and bursted out of there, with the voices fading away.
He fell face-down on the floor with the ink falling with him as he gasped for air. Getting on his knees, Sonic crawled away from the inky waterfall and coughed out as much ink as he could, almost to the point of throwing it up. He could feel his head begin to fly with lightness and his arms started to shake. How long he was in that tube, he had no idea, but he was thankful to still be alive.
When he had finally stopped coughing, he turned over and laid on his back, taking deep breaths. He thanked Chaos for getting out of the tube in time; otherwise he would've died. Sure, he was soaked to the bone with ink but it's better than being drowned in ink with its dark, magical properties.
He glared at the ceiling fan and noticed how two dimensional it looked, almost as if somebody wanted to fan with a 2D model. Now that he was thinking about it, the color the fan had was odd. It was dark sepia, the kind of color you see in the photos that were taken in the 1930's. Even the ceiling itself shared the same color. Thinking his vision's having difficulty adjusting to the light, Sonic rolled over to his side and stopped dead when he saw the room he was in.
What stood before him was a small pool of ink that shimmered in the light. A small balcony separated it from the edge of the floorboard, pushing aside the fact that it's not that deep. Several strange, large flowers were found near the pool with their anthers glowing. Then there were various pipes that were hung in different places. An open pipe had ink falling into the pool, creating a waterfall. Behind that was a message written in ink that read, Welcome Home.
"Huh?" mumbled Sonic, as his mind began to wonder where he was. Given the sketchy environment covered with ink, it looked like he's back at Joey Drew Studios. But that's impossible; G.U.N. tore down the place when they did their search patrol for its contents. Unless Gent has made a replica of the studio. If that's the case, they did a bang-up job with some creative upgrades.
Wanting to look around, Sonic got to his knees and just when he's about to stand, he noticed something on his glove. Where it should've been black due to him being exposed to the ink in the tube, the glove had a dark, gloomy yellow shade. But that wasn't all that Sonic saw; on the back of his glove were two water drop ink stains. At first, Sonic thought that maybe that some of the ink from the container was still on him so he tried to wipe it off. He stopped when noticed the same pattern and color on his other hand.
"What the hell?" Sonic muttered, now looking at both of his hands. He constantly flipped them from front to back, wondering what happened.
Thinking his shoes might be in the same condition, Sonic rose to his feet and sure enough, where his red hi top sneakers should've been were shiny black shoes with a small buckle on the top. He even took note of his chest which bore the same color as his gloves.
Terror raced across his veins like lightning as he frantically glared around the room, hoping to find a mirror or something to see his reflection. Luckily, there was a door mirror that hung on a nearby wall. It was cracked and smeared with ink but was still in good shape. Sonic ran for the mirror and felt his heart and mouth drop in horror; he was an actual, living cartoon.
His green eyes were replaced with pie-cut optics void of any color except black. His sclera as well as his face also had the same dark yellow shade as his chest and gloves. His quills, arms and legs were completely black with a shiny radiance. Aside from that, Sonic still had his physical appearance. But that didn't stop him from screaming.
As the hedgehog's mind began to spin with questions to how this could've happened, a flashback of the man with the glowing eye who shot him appeared. His hands turned to fists as he realized that the guy must've tried to drown him in the ink. Whether or not it was his intention to transform Sonic into a toon, it didn't matter now that Sonic's one of Gent's prisoners as well as the ink machine's.
Even if he was able to escape out of the factory, there was no way he could risk exposing the ink to the surface. If Gent was able to recreate the ink the same way they did 30 years ago, imagine what it could do outside the corporation building. However, there might be enough time for Sonic to find the man responsible for his transformation and turn him back. If not, then it'll be up to him to once again destroy the new ink machine and free its prisoners. Recalling how Tom, Allison and Audrey died due to their maker's demise, it was possible that Sonic might die as well now that he was walking toon. But he hoped that it won't come to that. At least until he can find the glowing eyed man to turn him back so he can get out and use the chaos emeralds to stop Gent from whatever they're planning and save their victims.
"Here we go again," he muttered, getting flashbacks from his previous adventure in the studio with the same goal.
Seeing a desk in the mirror's reflection, Sonic turned to see several books stacked together, a couple of candles, a Boris plushie and a small container. But his attention was turned to the tube where he got out, its inky waterfall now at a slower pace.
Remembering that he didn't feel any edges when he was inside, Sonic walked over for closer inspection. Sure enough, there was no door or valve of any kind indicating that the guy who shot him put him in there. Could it be that he was flowing inside the pipes? That's gotta be it because there's no way he could be put in a pipe with no hinges or valves to open. However, that does raise the question: where was it taking him? Not wanting to find out, Sonic continued to find a way out.
Seeing a ladder that led to an upper area, Sonic merely jumped up with no problem. However, he did notice something about his speed as he leapt onto the balcony. It was almost like he, for lack of a better word, flowed his way up. He made a smaller jump just to see if it had the same effect. As he did, he took note of the small trails of ink that followed his body when he made his jump. Sonic then tried running back and forth to see the same inky waves flow behind him before they faded into the air. He even tried doing his famous moves which all had the same effect. He also noticed that instead of the usual whirling of his body when he made a spin dash, it sounded more like waves being tossed around in an ocean. For the most part, Sonic still had his speed; they just seem more smooth and water-like. He hoped that they could be used for his advantage while he went to the door and made his way out.
Much like the open corridor behind him, the hallway was just as sketched and two dimensional. However, something caught Sonic's eye up ahead in a small corner; it was a poster of a man with his eye sockets gone. Above the man's head was the word, Relax while underneath him were Wilson Knows Your Purpose. But what really got Sonic's attention were the words right next to the eyeless man that read, The Man Who Killed The Ink Demon.
"What?"
Last time Sonic checked, he was the one who put an end to the Ink Demon as well as the machine who created him. Unless…
Before he could think further, the sound of speakers turning on erupted throughout the hallway, putting Sonic on edge.
"Attention! Children of the machine!" said an elderly, raspy voice. "This is Wilson. Your friend, your protector."
Sonic looked back at the man in the poster as the voice continued. "For two hundred and eleven days, you've lived without the Ink Demon haunting your steps. I banished him away, tore his body in two."
Sonic's eyes widen at the fact that the Ink Demon's back. But that left him wondering what Wilson meant by tearing his body in two and if he's really dead.
"In return," Wilson went on. "I ask just a little favor: among you there is a stranger who threatens to take away our peace. A Mobian hedgehog. Bring him to me so that I may deal with him personally."
Sonic's eyes widen at the mention of him in Wilson's message. It's bad enough that he has to find a way out of this place. Now he has to watch his back for the ink creatures to avoid capture?
"Talk about Deja vu," he grumbled.
His eyes returned to Wilson's poster and noticed something. He pulled the parchment down from the wall for a better look. Sure enough, Wilson held the same physical appearance as the man who knocked him out and turned him into a toon. The empty eyes were misleading but aside from that, everything else was the same.
Sonic couldn't help but glare at the picture in confusion. If Wilson never wanted him here in the first place, why bother going through the trouble of turning him into an ink monster? It didn't make any sense. But one thing's for sure; Wilson got Sonic into this mess, and he's gonna be the one to get him out. He tossed the paper aside and continued his way.
He didn't run in case he came across something unexpected or a clue that could lead him out of the Gent factory. It wasn't long until he came across a small pool of ink with more coming down like a waterfall from the down sloped hallway. Sonic followed the flowing ink up the spiral corridor until a piece of paper with an imprint of a hand covered in ink. As soon as the inky river ended, he saw up ahead was a garage door. Once he approached it, the door slowly lifted up, allowing the hedgehog toon to walk in.
While he made his way through the long corridor, Sonic couldn't help but feel that something was about to happen. Sure enough, the vent above him suddenly burst open with a small ink monster falling out, tangled in wires that kept it from hitting the ground.
"Whoa!" yelled Sonic as he got to a fighting position, ready to take on the ink monstrosity.
But the creature didn't move. The only movement it had was its dangling arms in the air. It looked familiar to the Mobian so he slowly moved in front of it to get a better look. His eyes widened as he recognized the creature as the Piper, one of the 'ink bugs' that he and his friends encountered back at the studio. Unlike the other piper, this one seemed slightly bigger and looked even more hideous.
Seeing that it still didn't move, Sonic yelled, "Hey, Ugly!"
Nothing.
"Yeah," muttered Sonic, glaring at the Piper. "Let's keep it that way." Even though he constantly kept turning around to make sure it was still dangling from the vent, Sonic proceeded with his journey.
He came upon a small area where in order to continue, one had to climb the wall to get to the second floor. Taking a look around only to find nothing really important except for a desk, cabinet and a few stacked boxes, Sonic jumped up to the next floor, leaving his ink waves behind him.
He turned to his left to find another closed door while his right showed a dead end. Thinking it would open when he approached it, he went over only for it to remain close. Turning back, he saw from the corner of his eye the switch to the door. Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance as he recalled the old studio had complicated machinery. He went over to the lever and pulled it down with ease.
Once the garage door opened, he turned around just to make sure the Piper wasn't following him. Seeing no one around confirmed that he's still hanging out of the vent.
Glaring around at his surroundings as he ventured forward, Sonic couldn't help but get a deja vu feeling about this place. It started to grow after making a couple of turns to come across an area where up ahead, a wall had a picture of the Dancing Demon's head.
"Hold on a second," Sonic muttered, slowly recognizing the area. He ran for the wall, made a sharp turn to the left and stopped in his tracks as he gazed at the new sector of the facility. For it was no other than the heavenly toys factory.
"What the…?" mumbled the flabbergasted hedgehog.
He started to think that his theory about the Gent corporation making a copy of Joey Drew Studios might be true. Despite the significant similarities, there were some details that were different from the original. Up on the ceiling where the airplanes should've been were several torn tapestries of all the Bendy characters hung across from the heavenly toys sign. The couches that stood against the left and right walls along with a bunch of Bendy cutouts were gone with two desks that held various objects on the surface as their replacements. The large Boris plushie now stood in the way of the stairs on the right, making the ones on the left the only entry. Even the garage door that stood not too far from the wolf toy that leads in and out of the factory were closed off. But aside from that, everything was the same.
"If everything's the same," pondered Sonic. "Then the elevator's just on the other side of the factory!"
Recalling the one possible way out of the studio before Two-Faced Alice backstabbed him and his friends, Sonic sped up the stairway only to find the garage door closed.
"Okay," he muttered, trying to find the switch to the door. "No problem. I just gotta…"
He stopped when he saw the lever on his left. "Bingo!"
He ran over to it and just when's he's about to pull it, small sparks of electricity shot out of the switch, causing it to stop midway.
"Oh, c'mon!" Sonic yelled. He should've realized that the way out wasn't going to be that easy.
He turned back to the door and noticed the open ramp that led to the upper floor, the area that previously wasn't open the last time. Thinking there might be a shortcut to the elevator, Sonic ran up to the wall and leapt onto the upper floor only to be greeted by the Piper.
The ink bug roared at him while Sonic screamed before he lost his balance and fell back on the first floor.
"What part of, 'Let's keep it that way' did you NOT understand!?"
The Piper responded by leaping from the edge with its pipe in hand, ready to strike Sonic. He was ready this time and moved out of the way as the ink bug made its landing, creating a hard blow to the floor. It chattered as it charged at Sonic, limping on its peg leg as it went. The Mobian toon got into a spin dash and sent the Piper flying through the wall, creating a few cracks. It groaned as it got back up, more determined than ever to finish off Sonic.
"Huh, usually that works for you guys," Sonic admitted, remembering how easy the ink bugs were to take out.
The Piper snarled as it lunged at Sonic, who didn't expect it to jump up at him. As the toony hedgehog struggled to get the ink bug off, they both fell down the stairs until finally Sonic kicked him away. The Piper went sailing through the air until he crashed into a crate that stood near the inky pool of the heavenly toys sign, shattering to pieces. The Piper continued to jabble its unknown language and made another attack on Sonic. This time, Sonic made a round house on its face, cracking its neck in the process as it fell to the floor.
Sonic exhaled slowly as he rubbed his arms that ached due to how hard the Piper hit him. He was surprised at how efficient the ink bug was, not to mention stronger, too.
"Either you've been working out," Sonic said, glaring at the dead Piper. "Or Gent has given you some major upgrades."
If this ink bug is stronger and tougher than its counterpart, chances are the rest of the Butcher Gang are going to have the same results.
Suddenly, the body of the Piper slowly turned into ink. Sonic recalled Brute Boris going through the same phase when he and his friends defeated him. Once the entire body was a huge blob of ink, it vanished into thin air.
"Until we meet again," Sonic said.
Feeling something on his foot, he looked down to see a bacon soup can. It was then that his stomach started to growl. Glaring at the soup can, Sonic let out a heavy sigh and picked it up, feeling the contentments inside.
"Down the hatch we go," he mumbled as he recalled the days where his diet was nothing but bacon soup.
As he drank the soup, he heard a voice say, "I wouldn't drink too much of that if I were you."
Immediately recognizing the voice, Sonic spat out the soup, dropped the can and exclaimed, "Allison?"
He turned to where he heard her speak only to find no one there. He looked around with his eyes growing wider and sharper by the second.
"Allison?" he called, thinking she was hiding somewhere.
No response.
His hopes of seeing an old friend fell hard on Sonic's heart. But he was also confused to what just happened. He could've swore he heard Allison talking to him. Unless, it was the ink messing with his mind. After all, it drove Sammy Lawerence crazy so why not him? For the most part, Sonic felt fine and didn't feel any different. Then again, this could be the start of something far worse.
Realizing that he has to get moving, Sonic made his way back up the stairs, glancing around in case Allison might pop out. But nothing happened, which disappointed him for not seeing an old friend. Once Sonic jumped on the second floor, he continued his search for the elevator until he came across a closed door. Instead of a switch, however, there was a security code to open it.
"Really?" mumbled Sonic. "A security code? Were the levers too much to handle?"
He let out a heavy sigh and looked around, hoping to find a clue to the code. Not too far from where he stood was a desk with a toy duck with wheels on the surface while the wall had a question written in ink that asked, Where is the toyman? Seeing a locker right next to the desk, Sonic went over and opened it. Aside from the various jars and books, there was a piece of paper that caught Sonic's attention. He picked it up and saw the title that read, Code Cheat Sheet by Dale Little.
"How oddly convenient!" Sonic exclaimed as he scanned through the list to find the code for the door. Seeing how all the doors had their own number, Sonic walked back to the garage door to see the number 35 above it. Looking back at the parchment, the code to door 35 was 451. He punched in the numbers, pressed the button and the garage door groaned to life as it opened.
"Thank you, Dale!"
Sonic put the cheat cheat in his invisible pocket and walked through the threshold and into a whole new area where to continue, one had to take the stairs down. As the Mobian made his way down, the room shook with some electric sparks falling to the ground. The petrified hedgehog looked up to see the vent fan stop for a second before it began its spinning.
"No coffee for me! Thanks!"
He looked down and noticed a desk covered with lite candles and books that had a message straight across that read, He Sees Everything. Sonic began to wonder if the message was talking about Wilson, given the fact that he 'killed' the Ink Demon. Then again, there might be more to the mystery than meets the eye.
After glancing around the room, with no way out, he jumped to the next floor to see some ink monster close the garage door not too far from where he was.
"What the…?"
He went over, hoping to open the door in time to see who closed it only to find no lever nearby.
"Of course," he grumbled.
He looked around only to find another area that was separated from the room with the candle-lit desk by a picket fence and large pipes. Thinking the lever might be down there, Sonic jumped down and went through the half-opened garage door that released electric sparks. Seeing the lever on his right, Sonic hoped that it wouldn't short circuit like the last one. He pulled it down with ease and ran back to the other door to find it wide open, which gave him a thankful grin.
The new room he entered seemed to be some kind of locker room given with all the lockers stacked together and a couple of benches standing near them. He glanced around as he continued on his way until he came across a gate that was blocked off by a small cart containing a few blocks, gears and a Boris plushie. At that, Sonic merely pushed the cart to the side and saw that the gate had a lock with a chain keeping the gate from being opened. Taking note of how old the lock looked, Sonic merely punched it, freeing the gate in the process.
"Easy peasy lemon squeezy," Sonic cheered.
However, there was some kind of seal that kept him from entering. It even had the words, Caution: Keep Closed written on it.
"I wonder if," Sonic muttered, thinking that maybe he could move it. Strength isn't his best suit but it wouldn't hurt to try. Grabbing the sides of the seal, Sonic used all his might to push it to the side. It was heavy, but Sonic was able to pull through.
"Whew! Not bad, Sonic! Not bad at all!"
What stood before him was a corridor filled with pipes on both sides of the wall while the lights flickered, making it dark. Taking a deep breath, Sonic walked in, glancing around in case something should pop up and surprise him.
He could see a sign at the end of the hallway that read, Animation Alley. Glad that he was getting somewhere, he reached the end of the corridor, looked to his right to find a dead end and the gate to the alley on his left.
Just when Sonic was about to open the gate, another Butcher Gang member appeared from above and attacked him. Sonic yelled as he fell back as the ink bug tried to grab him despite being on the other side of the gate. Seeing that it wasn't making any progress, it dropped to the ground and crawled away.
"What the hell?" Sonic gasped as he got to his feet. He slowly opened the gate in case the ink bug decided to come back. Fortunately, it was nowhere to be seen.
In front of him was a huge cutout of Edgar the spider, one of the Butcher Gang members which Sonic guessed had to be the ink bug who tried to attack him. Granted he didn't get a good look but he did remember seeing it have more than two legs. Next to the cutout were two signs; the top one read, Employee Lounge pointing to the right while the bottom one read, Animation Dept. with its arrow pointing left.
Sonic remembered back at the original studio when he and his friends were searching for the random objects to turn on the ink machine, they came across the animation dept which was right next to the room where the exit was. With excitement running through his ink veins, Sonic ran across the alley while passing by two more Butcher Gang cutouts until he came across a gated area with a sign that said, Main Studio.
"YES!" he cried as he jumped in the air, happy to see his memory served him well. He started to think that he didn't need to find the elevator to get out of here, which would be a huge relief.
He passed through the gate with ease and came across some kind of ticket booth entry. When Sonic went over for a closer look, he saw another sign that said, Joey Drew Studios with another one underneath that read, Animation Alley This Way and another sign under that one with the words, Studio Tour Entrance.
"Joey did tours of his studio?" Sonic said to himself. He never saw anything tour-related back at the original studio. Then again, he's never been to this part of the place nor did he ask Joey about it. He concluded that it was probably one of his ideas to keep the money flowing so he can keep the studio from going bankrupt.
Suddenly, a nearby door on Sonic's left creaked with a voice that yelled, "Who's in there?"
Sonic ducked for the fence-like barrier with a few wood barrels and peaked his head, waiting for the intruder to reveal himself.
From his hiding spot, he could see the door slightly ajar, making it clear that it's locked. But that didn't stop the guy from shaking the door as he struggled to open it.
"Open up!" he shouted. He then let out a hard grunt as he tore through the door and looked around.
The man turned out to be a Lost One as he scanned the room with his angry, glowing eyes. This one seemed more buff and human-like than the ones Sonic encountered, who were more like ink-covered skeletons.
"Come on!" the Lost One yelled again, raising his fist. "I know you're in here!"
He was soon joined by two more. Sonic was shocked to see a female Lost One due to her long hair and feminine features. Looks like Gent has found a way to distinguish the male Lost Ones from the females.
"I think you might be hearing things," she said as she glared around the room.
"I know I heard something!" bellowed the first Lost One. "It's gotta be that hedgehog Wilson told us about! And I ain't leaving till I find him!"
The third Lost One said, "Well, since we're here, we might as well look around. We'll check the lounge. You look around here."
"With pleasure," the first replied, pounding his fists while he chuckled maniacally.
Seeing the two Lost Ones were coming his way, Sonic crouched down behind a barrel and waited for them to pass. As he did, he heard sounds of a device either being torn apart or put together. He slowly glared over to see the first Lost One taking a pipe and adding something to it. Probably something lethal.
While he finished his work, he yelled, "You better hope they find you first, trespasser! Cause if I do, I'm gonna rip your face clean off!"
"And I thought Knuckles had anger issues," Sonic thought as the ink creature walked off in the opposite direction of his companions.
The hedgehog toon slowly rose from his hiding spot, looking both behind to find the two Lost Ones out of sight. He looked back at the first one, who still had his back turned, muttering to himself. He glanced over at the entrance to the main studio, which turned out to have another chain wrapped around it with a lock keeping it in place. If the lock is just as old as the last one, then Sonic could break it easily and get out before anyone spots him.
Just before he could make his move, something fell on his head and tried to grab him. Sonic yelped as he tried to get the creature off of him, chattering its unknown tongue as it tried to grab ahold of Sonic. Hearing its blabbering made Sonic realize that this was the Butcher Gang spider that attacked him through the gate.
As the hedgehog tried to get the ink bug off his head, he began to wander around while crashing into barrels, chairs and walls. He even rolled around on the floor and slammed his head against the wall to get the spider off of him. But it refuses to let go as it continues to get ahold of the hedgehog.
Getting annoyed with the spider, Sonic yelled, "Will you just… GET OFF!?"
Finally gotten ahold of the ink bug's body, Sonic threw it across the room where it crashed into a knocked over barrel, knocking the spider out in the process.
The Mobian exhaled heavily, happy to get the ink monster off of him at long last. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hot-headed Lost One staring at him. He flinched as he turned to see him standing there as if he was waiting, tapping his pipe onto the palm of his hand.
"Heh, heh," Sonic chuckled. He made a small wave as he said, "Hi?"
Not even half a second later, the Lost One charged at him, screaming. Sonic homed attacked him, sending him flying across the alley until he crashed into a wall. Sonic ran over to check to see if the Lost One was out. After a minute of waiting, it was clear that he's not going to wake up in a while. He let out a sigh of relief until he heard the sound of feet stomping on the ground, growing louder.
He turned to see the other Lost Ones he saw earlier coming right at him, yelling. They were joined by another one who had a rolling pin as a weapon. Sonic used his spin dash to take them out, his ink trailing behind him before they faded away.
Sonic panted as he looked around, seeing if anybody else was coming. But no one showed themselves.
He went over to the gate to the main studio, punched the lock to dust and made his way through. He saw a garage door that one could mistaken for being broken due to the wooden planks covering the upper half. But a nearby lever said otherwise once Sonic pulled it down.
Once the door was opened, Sonic walked in without ducking his head from the board due to his small size. However, the floor to the next room was filled with ink, forcing him to trudge through it since it reached to his waist. The area had two floating couches; one near Sonic on his right with the second one not too far up ahead with a Bendy plushie, a book and a couple of bacon soup cans. Above that couch was the sign that read, Work Hard, Work Happy. Seeing the edge of the next room's floor close by, Sonic made his way toward it, trudging the ink as he went.
Just when he's halfway to the other room, Sonic suddenly becomes lightheaded. He looked at his hands which were shaking uncontrollably. With his head feeling heavy, he began to swerve left to right with his eyelids fluttering.
"What the hell?" he muttered as he leaned against the wall, growing more weary. As he massaged his head, he heard someone speak in an unworldly tone.
"Don't be afraid," it said, sounding both unsettling and soothing at the same time. "You are one of us now."
Despite his head spinning and his heavy eyes, Sonic raised his head to look around. But no one was there. Not wanting to play this game anymore, Sonic called out, "Look, I don't know what you want, but say it now or leave me alone!"
Faces of the searchers emerged from the ink, groaning as they went. Sonic's eyes widened as he stood back against the wall, feeling quite terrified. More and more faces appeared as the voice spoke again.
"Stop running. Join the Dark Puddles. They have a gift for you."
With the groans of the searchers, a great throbbing came to Sonic's light head. He put his hands over his ears to try to block out the noise and hopefully, the pain, too. He could feel his hands shake even more as he stared into the empty eyes of the ink crawlers.
"No," he mumbled, as he put all the strength he had into his legs to get out of the pool and to the next room. "I don't want anything from you! I don't want… I… don't…"
Sonic felt his world grow dark as he tried to pull himself up onto the floorboard. While he was able to free himself from the inky sea, the pain in his head took him over and he blacked out.
With Sonic unconscious, the back of his left hand began to glow. Then, a searcher's face appeared, glowing in the dimly lit area as it formed a golden spiral around it and grew onto the back of his fingers. It was then that the searcher's face slowly faded away, forming into a small golden ball. The hand shined as the hedgehog groaned in his sleep, unaware of the power that he inherited from the ink.
…
Tails listened to the radio as he worked on the Tornado. The usual news of the weather came in with a 20% chance of rain along with the drama with certain celebrities. But there was no news of any Eggman attack so that meant another day of relaxation.
As the radio began to play an upbeat song, Tails glanced up at the clock, which was getting close to noon. Usually Sonic would be here by this point. But Tails shrugged it off thinking that Sonic's just taking it easy for the day. Might as well since Eggman's taking his sweet time to come up with another plan to take over the world.
Just when Tails was about to get back to his work, he heard his Miles Electric ringing. Thinking it might be Sonic, Tails got off the plane and walked over to the device. He crossed his eyebrows in confusion as it was a number he didn't recognize. Thinking there's no harm in seeing who it is, Tails answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello!" cried a cockney-English male voice. He sounded out of breath as if he just got back from a jog. "Is this Tails?"
"Uh, yeah," replied Tails. "Who's this?"
"I'm Archie Carter," the man answered, still panting. "Is your workshop, by any chance, on the Seaside Island?"
Getting suspicious, Tails asked, "Who wants to know?"
"Look," Archie gasped. "We don't have much time! Sonic's in trouble and he told me to call you!"
Feeling his gut beginning to twist and turn with worry, Tails asked Archie what kind of trouble.
"I'll explain when we meet face to face!" Archie said. Tails could hear the wind in the background, indicating that Archie began to run again. "Is there a quiet place where we can meet?"
But Tails had a better idea. "No, I'll find you and bring you to my lab. Where are you now?"
When Archie explained that he's in Station Square near main street, Tails told him to wait in the park and he should be around to pick him up in around 15 minutes.
"Sounds good," muttered Archie. "I'll see you then!"
Tails hung up his Miles Electric and jumped in the Tornado. As he prepared to take off, he had a strong feeling that he should probably contact Knuckles just in case. If Sonic's in trouble, then he's going to need all the help he can get.
To be continued…