I started writing this on the day of Halloween 2023 but it quickly stopped being an easy one-scene affair. So I released it on Tumblr a few days after Halloween. I've decided to share it here now because I can.

General Audiences, Mild Horror Themes and Depictions of Cartoon Violence.

I do not consent to any use of this work in training Machine Learning programs, referred to by some as "AI."

Flickering yellow lights illuminated a dilapidated asphalt road ahead. Rotten utility poles creaked as they strained to hold many thick cables against a light breeze. On either side stood tall red brick buildings, warehouses and factory plants strewn with cracks. Far ahead past the flickering lights and under an old electric substation was a small shed with an uncharacteristically well sealed metal door. This whole environment offered many interesting sights of old industrial technology. So Tails wondered why it seemed Sonic didn't agree this was a good place to take it slow.

"Yet another hidden lair, one of many scattered around the world. What sort of machinations do you undertake here?" Sonic the Hedgehog stretched his arms as he strolled onward, giving Tails a glance of his cheeky grin.

"Only the dark matters of sleep, microwave meals, and video games," said Tails, "...and maybe some evil reverse engineering."

Sonic chuckled, then started humming as he resumed meandering from side to side ahead of Tails. "You really chose a spooky place to put this one huh?"

"Well, I guess if you find cool mechanical computers and assembly lines scary, it is." A nearby light fixture exploded with a pop, making Tails jump and sending a shower of sparks and glass to the ground. "...And I guess electrical fires can be scary."

"Pfft, bring it on!" said Sonic.

Chuckling to himself, Tails rubbed his heavy eyes and pulled out a tablet device. It'd be a good idea to disarm his security system so he wouldn't have to run a gauntlet to get to bed. Of course there was no doubt Sonic wouldn't mind that.

As he watched his tablet attempt to contact the auxiliary workshop, Tails felt a tap on his shoulder. Sonic was pointing at the front office of the largest nearby factory. It was decorated with black and orange paint and a sign that read 'Haunted ware-House.'

"Wanna check this place out?" said Sonic, "I'll bet I can get through without screaming once."

"I'd make that bet if Halloween wasn't last night," said Tails.

"I'm sure whoever set this up won't mind us checking it out alone real quick," said Sonic.

"You're probably right." Tails glanced at his tablet still trying to make a connection, then put it away.

The two of them pushed through the front door, it was heavy but left ajar. All sorts of custom made spooky art and decorations adorned this office, now converted into a foyer to some scary times. Many decorations were made from rusty wires and shaped into classic skeletal imagery. Most notably was one wire-skeleton slumped back in a rolling chair, its hand pointing at a dark hallway surrounded by warning tape. The creepy vibes here were actually pretty neat.

Sonic had already started wandering around investigating the wire skeletons and copying their poses. His impression of a skeleton face down, fully dead, in front of a computer terminal made Tails chuckle. But after a moment Sonic looked up at the terminal. "Oh hey this things on."

"It is?!" Tails ran over and leaned over the wire skeleton. The crt screen in front of him was indeed on, showing a list of green text. One glance at the ports on the terminal showed it wasn't connected to a full computer anymore. Yet the terminal still displayed a history of input commands and responses between the last user and a computer.

There were several commands to send power to machines whose names were completely corrupted. These commands ended with a mistyped command to shut everything down, followed by a notification that connection between the terminal and the computer was cut. Even then there were three more attempts to command a shut down with no response. A chill ran up Tails' back as he noticed that at the bottom, one more shut down command was half-typed but never entered.

"Must be pretty immersive, huh buddy?" said Sonic

"Oh! Yeah, this is so clever!" Tails couldn't help but smile as he quickly recounted everything he'd observed. He then paused for a moment to articulate better to Sonic. "Basically this feed makes it look like some terrible accident happened here! I can't believe they left this here, who'd even pay attention to it?"

"Well evidently they got one fan," said Sonic.

Tails giggled, Sonic was right. He now really wanted to meet whoever set up this 'haunted ware-house'. Upon noticing the slightly ajar staff room door nearby he figured maybe he could. He hurried over and took a peek inside, it seemed to be a dressing room. Many hangers were covered with mundane jackets and clothes. Nearby old mirrors were set up over tables with an assortment of makeup.

"Tails buddy, It's probably rude to just walk into a dressing room," said Sonic.

Tails frowned and started to object, but he focused on the mundane clothes again. Those were definitely not the costumes actors would be wearing here. Those were their casual clothes. Several bags and other garments strewn about reinforced a growing notion in Tails' mind that didn't make much sense. "Wait, are the actors all still here? With no guests?"

Sonic stepped past Tails and looked around for a moment. "Any way this is another part of the immersion?"

"...Maybe? Well no, it doesn't make sense with the theme…" said Tails, "Unless, we're supposed to think the staff here actually fell victim to evil machines."

"Or they actually did," said Sonic.

They both glanced back to the dark tunnel leading into the attraction proper. A hum of electricity echoed from within the factory.

"Hello?" shouted Sonic, His voice echoed and faded into the background hum. "Anyone in here?! Is this part of the act?"

Tails felt his ear twitch as he thought he heard something else, a distant scrape, or even yell? It sounded as though it could be part of the humming or Sonics distorted echo. Even still his heartbeat elevated slightly. He then saw Sonic's ear swivel.

"Did you hear something?" said Tails.

"I'm not sure," said Sonic.

Tails felt his tails puff up slightly at Sonic's response. "Same here…"

"Well, let's check it out!" Sonic turned to Tails and gave him a wide smile.

Nodding in response, Tails followed Sonic into the dark hall. If anyone was in actual trouble Sonic could help them. They moved quickly, finding just enough dim light from the buttons and bulbs on several large old terminals along the sides of the hall. Tails kept his eyes and ears focused on everything they passed. First he noticed that this hallway was ramshackled together out of spare metal sheets and bolts. Many disparate extension cords ran in and out of the walls to the terminals as well. Clearly a lot of work went into moving this equipment around… and maybe an electrical fire should be a real concern.

A crunch rang out from Tails' foot. He stopped, and lifted his shoe to see a crushed lollipop. There were a couple other pieces of candy dropped on the ground. Not a good sign. He scanned the area closely and noticed the candy forming a messy trail down the hall. Surely this could be part of the attraction. Signs that some trick or treater had been dragged away, leaving only a trail of candy was a compelling idea. But the trail didn't lead to a spooky set, it led to a wall.

"Sonic!" said Tails, "There's a trail here!"

It took a second, but Sonic appeared from around a corner further down the hall. He still didn't look worried, which was comforting. But as he opened his mouth, he let out a gasp. In an instant he glared daggers toward Tails, his quills shooting up into spikes.

Tails' heart skipped a beat. He managed to dive to the ground and roll away in time to avoid a large shape that hit the ground behind him. It was a badnik.

It was, until Sonic slammed into it with a spin dash. Its body shattered instantly. Most of the shrapnel and Sonic himself tore through the ramshackled wall. The resulting cacophony echoed through the factory. Somewhere in Sonic's path of destruction he must've hit some wires as the little light they did have disappeared with a loud pop. All of the terminals and industrial control panels went silent and dark.

"Are you okay?!" said Sonic from within the hole in the wall.

"Am I okay?!" Tails ran over to the hole and pulled out his tablet. Its flashlight illuminated Sonic, who was completely tangled up in wires and warped metal. "Are YOU okay?!"

"Watch for more!" said Sonic.

Tails knew Sonic was right. He swiveled on his heels and aimed the flashlight to the ceiling. Up in the old rusty rafters hung several dark light fixtures, many industrial sized wires, and more notably some sort of rail. There was a mess of cord all along this sprawling rail line. That was some high end tech for a factory like this. It was also exciting. Scanning his light over more of the rafters revealed that the rails seemed to form a grid. He stopped his light at a trolley wheel fixture that had a cord hanging from it. It was snapped halfway down, looming over the spot the badnik fell.

"Oh."

Sonic appeared by Tails' side, accompanied by flying shrapnel. "Are there more?"

"No… Not yet."

Tails leaned down and picked up a piece of the badnik. It was the head of a grabber, a spider like badnik. But some of the damage on it was old. He quickly gathered more parts of the badnik to examine the damage closely. Within a minute he had most of it laid out on the ground. It didn't take long for him to recognize the signs of previous damage, as well as patches on its body. Then he found a cord hanging from a cavity on the badnik. It had been powered by the factory's electricity.

"Hey bud I know you like this stuff but I think we've seen this one before," said Sonic.

"We have."

"Okay then let's get movi-"

"No, we've seen this specific one before. You probably busted it a while ago."

Sonic squinted, then his eyes started to widen with realization. Tails couldn't help but smile as Sonic picked up what he was getting at.

"They made this part of the attraction?"

"Definitely," said Tails, "It doesn't even have its brain. It was being run from whatever this cord connects to."

"Wait…" said Sonic, "You didn't set all this up to scare me, did you?"

"What, no?"

"It just seems up your alley, literally and metaphorically."

"If I was trying to scare you I wouldn't just explain how this works yet. Besides, I'dve put it together a bit better than this."

"Okay I believe you on the point that you're a better engineer."

"But, I do think this came from my stash."

"... your what."

"Don't be mad."

It didn't take long for Sonic & Tails to run outside and to his nearby workshop. If Tails was right, then the whole haunted ware-house was being operated from his computer inside. As they reached the secure metal door on the small shack entrance he whipped out his tablet. His security system was still not responding. He growled at this, if someone shut down his security system he was supposed to get an alert about it.

"Sonic, can you use your spare key?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Have fun."

With a woosh Sonic dashed away. Then with a delayed boom Sonic returned and slammed into the door. He bounced backward and careened through the air as the door, and the wall around it, collapsed. Tails took note that he oughta remember where he got that security door.

After Sonic shook off the impact he accompanied Tails inside. With the press of a button, the floor inside the shack lowered and became a rampway to a bunker below. The collapsed security door slid down the ramp and hit a tripwire. An alarm blared and a large net fell over the door, magnetic weights clamping it down. This was a surprise. His security system was online. Which was worse.

Luckily none of the further traps and barriers along the path to the control room stopped Sonic as he sped through. This wasn't by design, but Tails tried not to be bothered by that right now. It wasn't long until he saw Sonic reach the door to the control room, where he should've been stopped by an energy barrier boxing him in. Instead nothing happened. Great. This was a good thing. Very good.

As Sonic forced open the last door Tails ran inside past him. Someone had definitely been here. Most of the space here had been reserved for storing mostly intact badniks, but only a few pieces of scrap were left on the pallets.

"Oh shit."

"Tails."

Tails glared at Sonic, who was giving him a disapproving head shake. This didn't last long as both started laughing. Things felt a little less tense.

"Soooo, what were you doing with the badniks?"

"Nothing anymore…" Tails walked across the room to an area with several desks, a foldable mattress on the ground, and a 'modest' computer. "Sometimes I went back to help clean places up after we chased Eggman away. Back then I still wanted to know how his badniks worked inside and out. So I brought them here and reassembled them."

"Without turning them on, right?"

"Duh!" Tails rolled his eyes. "I took out all of their brains. But, they could still be run by direct commands if you hooked a computer up to their empty heads."

Sonic meandered over to Tails and patted his head. This was distracting, but nice.

"So why'd you think I'd be mad?" said Sonic.

"Because someone found them. Now people might be getting hurt."

As Tails pressed the power button on his computer, the screen lit up instantly. It didn't need to boot up. Cool. he also found that there was no longer a password necessary to access his operating system. Nice, very convenient. Tails knew he must've been glowering because Sonic nudged him and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Well I know it's not your fault."

"How, my security system didn't work at all apparently."

Sonic pointed to a nearby wall. Though it was dark, now that Tails paid attention he could see a large forklift shaped hole in the wall. The hole led directly into the dark basement of the next door factory. A bundle of cords laid across the floor to Tails' computer, all plugged into a port on the back.

"Huh."

"Workplace accident," said Sonic, "go figure."

The solution here was obvious, unplug the cords. But, it'd be prudent to check what they were doing first. He dug around the task manager for a bit before finding a terminal emulator running. "Wait what?" Opening the window revealed a screen similar to that on the old terminal in the office, a list of green text. The last output from whatever computer he was connected to claimed to be running a 'plant containment simulation.'

"So can you shut it down or do I gotta smash some stuff?" said Sonic.

"...Could you try cutting the power lines outside?"

With a woosh Sonic ran outside the workshop bunker. A second later Tails heard a distant snap. An echoing crack and winddown sound emanated from the tunnel into the factory. Then a following powerup sound echoed out accompanied by several bells and alarms. The piercing ringing made his ears twitch as he checked the terminal window again.

'ALERT. AUXILIARY POWER ONLINE."

"How about you don't," said Tails.

With a gust of wind Sonic reappeared behind Tails. "Didn't work huh?"

"I'll keep trying here, you should probably-"

"Find if anyone's in trouble, got it!" said Sonic before he ran down the dark tunnel.

"TURN ON YOUR COMMUNICATOR!" shouted Tails.

Tails' wrist beeped, and Sonic's voice replied over the comm, "Oh yeah, gotcha!"

Typing at an admittedly incredibly fast rate, Tails attempted many generic help commands to find out more about what he was hooked up to. In short order he found it responded with a new window labeled security mainframe. It was sending a constant stream of indecipherable data. As he squinted at this, the computer automatically opened several more windows. Then in quick succession they closed. It was a very good thing he didn't keep anything important on here.

Distant echoes of crashes put pressure on him. Then he noticed outputs from the terminal window with each crash, 'power redirected.' This usually accompanied a new window opening on his computer that spat out garbage text or fuzzy visuals. "Hey Sonic, can you stop breaking the badniks for a second?"

"If they stop jumping me," said Sonic over the comm, "can you get some lights on in here?"

"Uh, probably," Tails entered a couple more commands, and suddenly a wave of hanging lights lit up down the tunnel and inside. "There you go."

"...Buddy, how many badniks did you have?"

"Why?" Tails was refocused on his computer as he now managed to find a window that opened up a security camera feed. It was fuzzy but he could make out Sonic on the floor, he was staring up at the ceiling. "Uh, hang on." Tails flipped between cameras, each with incredibly fuzzy feed, some completely black. All were looking at Sonic from different angles. "Hey, are there any cameras looking at the ceiling?"

"...There aren't any cameras," said Sonic.

"Wha-oh…" Tails felt his hands shake. But not from fear. "Okay okay, I'm patched into the badniks. Let me have a look around."

Tails started flipping through every available feed. Most were in the ceiling above Sonic and the ramshackled haunted-house path. As he found another black screen and went on to the next feed his computer let out a garbled noise. He paused, then went back to the black screen. The garbling resumed. Tails pressed his ear close to the speaker. Then he realized it wasn't coming from his speakers, it was playing over the factory intercom.

"Tails, what is that?" said Sonic.

"I don't know," said Tails.

Suddenly a voice could be made out through the garbling. "Hey! Is someone Here? We need Help!"

As the voice spoke a garbled ringing escalated through the intercoms, eventually drowning everything else out. The piercing noise made Tails fold his ears down. Since Sonic's inside it must be worse for him. Then with a loud pop, the intercom, and evidently the lights, went out. A fuse must've blown.

"Tails! Where are they? Tails!?" said Sonic over the comm.

"I don't know!" said Tails.

Down the tunnel Tails heard the echoes of combat resume. Flipping through the feed on his computer revealed the badniks chasing Sonic as he ran through the floor. Motobugs rolled after him as buzz-bombers swung down at him from the ceiling.

"Shit, sorry Tails!" said Sonic, as one by one the visual feeds cut out.

As before, the workshop computer went haywire. Windows opened all over making it impossible to use. Still he managed to reach the terminal window again and attempted several shutdown commands. Each was met with 'unknown command.' A growl rose from his throat. He wasn't able to help at all from here. Screw it then. He reached around the back and pulled the cords out of the port on his computer.

The computer crashed of course. But in the factory all of the old machinery began turning on. With the sound of engines, the song of the factory drowned out everything else. This was bad, it was dark and now Sonic couldn't hear. Why did the power redirect like that anyway? What was turning everything on? Tails almost dropped the bundle of cords in his hand, then looked at them closely. Oh, duh!

"Sonic! I'm gonna find the main computer, hold on!" shouted Tails into his communicator.

Sonic's response was completely muffled by the running machinery. Right, too loud.

Plugging his ears with the closest rags he could find, Tails ran through the tunnel and into the factory. He kept his light on the bundle of cords as he followed it along the wall. This path took him behind the set of the haunted ware-house and up a pole to the ceiling. With his spinning tails he flew up into the rafters. There were many more cables here wrapped along the ceiling like old corroded roots. But with the light of his tablet, Tails could discern the bundle of newer cords from the rest.

Ducking and weaving past cables and rails, Tails heard the occasional crash of Sonic breaking something below him. He glanced down at the dark for a second, seeing only bits of action from flying sparks. Suddenly his body hit a net of cables. He yelped and flailed, nearly dropping his tablet as his tails tangled up in the cables.

"Ow ow ow!" said Tails as he scrambled to grab the cables above him. Soon he got a grip of one and shined the light on his tails. The knot wasn't that bad. What was bad was the eyes of a buzz bomber on the other side of the mass of cables.

"...Please don't."

The Buzz-Bomber came to life and fluttered only one in-tact wing. As it charged into the cables, Tails gasped and dropped his tablet. Several cables snapped, allowing the Buzz-Bomber to slam its body into him. They both fell down toward a spinning machine of many spikes and gears. But before they met that fate the cord on the Buzz-Bomber came taut and sent them both swinging back up into the Rafters. Tails kept a tight grip on its thorax as it carried him back up and onto a rusty beam.

Now on stable footing, Tails kept hold of the Buzz-Bomber while reaching for the cable hooked into its head. It glared at him while trying to fly with its single wing. Tails gave it a smile back. "Thanks, and sorry." With a hard yank he pulled out the cable and the badnik went limp.

Now back to that dang bundle of cords. Glancing around, another flash from below showed Tails a large utility tunnel into the ceiling in front of him. Most of the cables and cords, old and new, ran up it.

"HEY! Up here!" shouted Tails.

Despite the deafening machinery and Tails' earplugs, Sonic shouted back, "'Kay! One sec!"

With a running leap Sonic landed onto the beam next to Tails. An odor of burnt rubber accompanied him. His quills were clearly covered in oil and fine metal dust. That had to be uncomfortable, and yet Sonic just casually stretched like normal.

The two of them looked up the utility tunnel and saw more darkness. Spooky. Undeterred, Tails took Sonic's hands and flew him up the tunnel, being mindful of anything in his path.

At the top, they were met with a large open room. In the middle was some sort of dark mass. From within the mass came a series of fuzzy speaker sounds. It'd be really nice to have a light here. As Tails waited and tried to discern what they were looking at, Sonic walked closer. Suddenly a series of red lights lit up the chamber, making Tails jump. Seeing Sonic stiffen up made him feel less embarrassed. But the mass of cables hanging from an Eggman capsule in the ceiling made Tails feel less relaxed.

Inside the capsule was a small group of mobians. Most of them seemed to be unconscious, but one jackal looked down at them. "H-hey! Watch out!" she said, muffled through some kind of speaker.

"Hang on!" said Sonic. He immediately dashed a lap around the room and jumped up to the tangled up capsule. Then as soon as he touched the wires he seized up. With a flashing arc of electricity Sonic was sent flying off of the capsule.

Heart jumping in his throat, Tails flew after Sonic and caught him just feet from the ground. He could feel Sonic grip his hand, which was a relief. It shouldn't have been, Sonic is tough.

"I'm good. But how do we get them out?" said Sonic.

"Uh…" Tails looked over the wires, they seemed to lower down from the capsule on the ceiling and form a curtain shrouding the middle of the chamber. He took a step toward it. The wires shook and parted, but nothing clearly came out from underneath. Yet cables on the ground shifted around. Each one getting nudged was closer to Tails and Sonic.

"Sonic."

"I see it."

Tails stepped aside and watched Sonic spindash in that direction. With a loud bong he bounced back. For the moment of impact a much larger than usual chameleon shaped badnik was visible. It was a Newtron, but with bounce pads on its head and back. It continued crawling toward Tails as it returned to invisibility. They could handle this.

Sonic spun around and hit the Newtron a few more times from each side. Eventually he landed in its path and waited. After a few more steps, the Newtron reappeared with its mouth open toward Sonic who immediately rolled at it. But instead of firing a projectile, a vacuum in the Newtrons mouth sucked Sonic right up. Its tail extended to the curtain of wires and cables, where Sonic was shot into a vacuum tube of some kind and pulled up to the capsule.

Tails' mouth was wide open as he watched Sonic get dropped into the pile of people inside the wrapped up capsule.

"Tails," said Sonic through the muffling of the speaker, "Coulda warned me that Badnik could do that."

"I didn't build that one!" said Tails.

"Okay! But you can handle this!"

Tails made eye contact with the large modified Newtron before it turned invisible again. His heart started pounding more, but he didn't need to panic. This thing wasn't that fast. He watched for any cables hooked into its invisible body as he got some distance away. Then he saw it. One black cable rising into the air, the end of it fading into invisibility. He let out a slow breath, then dashed toward it. Using the momentum he flew up into the air right at the cable. But as he almost reached it, he hit the bumper on the Newtrons head.

Tails yelled as he careening up toward the tangled up capsule. Heart pounding, he swung around and used his spinning tails as a brake. His shoes stopped inches short of the exposed high-voltage wires. Looking up he made eye contact with Sonic, and gave him a shaky thumbs up.

"Watch out!"

Tails looked down and saw the Newtron visible again, its jaws open. A powerful vacuum of wind into its mouth started to pull Tails down. He clenched his teeth and spun his tails as hard as he could. But the wind continued dragging him down. There had to be a way out! He was smarter than this. Yet he wasn't able to fly himself away and the vacuum showed no signs of losing power.

A series of loud bangs above Tails got his attention. It was Sonic, kicking the side of the capsule repeatedly. It felt awful to make Sonic worry like that. But as they made eye contact Sonic gave him a wink. With one last kick one of the wires fell loose, its torn end casting sparks around. That could work! Tails let the wire fall past him, then stopped spinning his Tails.

Sparks flew as the Newtron choked on the hot wire. The vacuum in its throat stopped, and Tails landed right on its snout. It made eye contact with him, so he gave it a wink. He then jumped off of its snout and dived toward the cable in its head. The Newtron turned its body invisible again, but Tails managed to reach the cable. He gripped it as hard as he could and tried to fly up, but it was plugged in tight. Growling as he strained, Tails felt the Newtron trying to shake him loose. If it hit him with those bounce pads he'd be back at square one.

That was an idea though. Tightening his grip, Tails bit into the cable. Then he let himself drop. As soon as his feet hit the bounce pad the force shot him away, putting strain on his arms and jaw. Strain the cable couldn't take. Hearing a snap, he opened his eyes to see himself swinging away from the now powerless Newtron. He'd done it.

Tails couldn't help but shout a muffled cheer through the cable in his teeth. This was interrupted by an impact into the ceiling, and a subsequent flop down to the ground. Taking only a moment to catch his breath, Tails cheered and laughed some more. Soon he saw Sonic standing over him with a relieved look on his face. Tails started to stand, but Sonic lifted him up under his arms.

"You good pal?" said Sonic.

"Yep!" Tails wagged his tails despite the soreness in his body, "just jostled."

"Good! Let's get everyone out of here then!"

While the others in the capsule were drowsy and thirsty, no one was badly hurt. The costumes most of them wore implied they must've been here since Halloween the previous night. One problem emerged as they got ready to lead everyone out though, the factory floor below was still running with dangerous machines everywhere.

"Hey, do any of you know where the computer running all of this is?" said Tails.

"...Uh, yeah." A dark green jackal lady with grease matted fur walked forward while rubbing the back of her head. She wore overalls that were pierced with metal shrapnel and blood stains.

"Are you okay?!" said Tails.

"What? Oh yeah, it's a costume."

She led Tails to a wall next to an elevator on the other side of this upper chamber. A panel moved aside easily, revealing a massive computer room. Tails felt his jaw drop in awe, it was beautiful. Rows of ancient electrical computers the size of sheds buzzed and clicked. At the far back wall was one large control panel with a button for every function. As Tails approached and saw several new components plugged into this panel he realized what the problem was.

"You… you supplemented the processing power of the factory with computer chips from badniks?!"

"Yeah, I thought they'd be cool with it," said the Jackal.

"That's actually super cool!" Tails looked over at Sonic, "But reckless! So reckless. Irresponsible."

"Also maybe don't steal stuff," said Sonic.

"Everything here's abandoned," said the Jackal, "also you look kinda like Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Dude my computer was obviously way newer than all this," said Tails. "Did you really think my workshop was part of this factory?"

"I mean it was full of old broken stuff," said the Jackal.

Tails shook his head and crawled into the control panel computer. It wasn't hard to find the power supply and unplug it. With that, the entire factory shut down with a whine. He looked at the badnik computers for a moment then left them plugged in as he crawled back out.

"Okay, these Badniks should stop trying to kill us with assembly lines now," said Tails.

"Oh before you guys go, did our Haunted Ware-House scare you at all?" said the Jackal.

"At most it was startling sometimes," said Sonic, "but I'm used to danger, so I'm not a good metric for that."

"I did like the aesthetic!" said Tails.

With the danger passed, Sonic and Tails lead the staff and kids out of the factory. In that time Tails grilled the staff more about how they'd set all this up. Apparently the Newtron sucking people into a capsule was supposed to be the main attraction. But then it didn't release anything it had sucked up afterwards like it was supposed to. Even still this 'Haunted Ware-House' seemed pretty neat, maybe they could run a safer version next year.

But not at this sight, as within minutes of everyone escaping out the front, the old factory became engulfed with flames. A strong scent of burnt rubber as it started told Tails exactly why. "Electrical fires spread scary fast. Neat."

"I guess the true haunting was the safety violations we made along the way," said the Jackal.

"This is one awesome fire though," said Sonic. "But yeah, you all could've died if we hadn't showed up."