Chapter 27: Scared Stupid Part 2

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all screamed as they fell through the trapdoor on the doorstep down, down, down a dark chute before they roughly hit the ground.

The three of them lay there on the slippery ground, unconscious from the fall.

Sonic eventually stirred as he sat up, rubbing his temples. "Ooh, my head…" He groaned in pain.

Tails and Knuckles began to wake up too as they sat up.

"You guys okay?" Sonic asked in concern, brushing off his Flash costume.

"I have endured far worse." Knuckles replied, brushing off his shoulders.

"Ow!" Tails cried painfully as he sat up, holding his rear. "I think I sprained one of my tails!" Tears of pain welled up in his eyes.

Sonic immediately pulled the little kit into a hug. "Shh, it's okay, Tails." He whispered while Tails cried into his chest. "It's probably best if you don't fly for a while."

Tails nodded, shifting a bit so that his Sonic hoodie fit more comfortably on him. "Y-Yeah." He replied shakily, reluctantly pulling away from Sonic's embrace. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

Sonic rubbed his head slightly. "Nah, I'm fine." He then tried to stand up, only to feel a stinging pain in his knee. "Ah! My leg does hurt, though."

"Let me see it." Tails said, crawling over to Sonic and inspecting his leg, noting the skin underneath the blue fur swelling. "I think you may have bruised your knee. You probably shouldn't run for now."

Sonic groaned. "Seriously? No running? C'mon!"

"Well, on the plus side, you should still be able to walk." Tails smiled sheepishly.

Sonic then looked around. "On the minus side, our candy's gone." He grumbled.

"I believe we have more concerning matters to attend to, hedgehog." Knuckles told him sternly, looking around the dark tunnel they were in. "Such as where we are."

The tunnel itself was wide and damp, dimly lit by a single electrical light above them. Off to the side, they could see a rushing river of water that was obscured by darkness.

"Looks like some kind of sewer." Tails noted.

"Hey, look! There's a door!" Sonic exclaimed, pointing ahead of them. "Maybe that's our way out."

"Are you sure about that? We don't know where it goes." Tails questioned with a nervous skepticism.

"I understand your concerns, fox. But what choice do we have?" Knuckles stated.

With some reluctance, Tails went along with his brothers as they walked through the door and headed up the stairs.

Emerging from the staircase, the three young mobians found themselves in a large lobby room with a double set of stairs on each side of the room. At the end of the room was a pair of doors that matched the same doors as the front of the mansion. The room itself, like the sewer tunnels, was dimly lit by a candle-lit chandelier that hung from the ceiling, revealing the walls to be cracked and rotted with several cobwebs, indicating that the place had not been refurbished for quite some time.

"What is this place?" Tails asked aloud as he, Sonic, and Knuckles wandered into the large room.

"I think we're inside the mansion." Sonic pointed out the obvious.

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

Sonic and Tails briefly screamed as a loud, thundering cackle rang throughout the room, the two of them jumping into Knuckles' arms.

Knuckles, though startled as well, quickly set his brothers down, giving them both a deadpan look.

"Bingo, Jack! Mwa-hahahahaha!" The anonymous voice from before cackled maniacally, sounding raspy and slightly high-pitched. "Your in my mansion, and you are intruders."

Sonic, Tails, and even Knuckles glanced at each other nervously.

"Uh, no, no, not intruders!" Sonic quickly denied. "We were just out trick-or-treating and happened to fall through your termite-infested porch!"

This, however, did not work to their favor. "How dare you speak of my beautiful home in such a way!" The voice scoffed. "Trick-or-treat? Fine! I'll give you a trick you won't soon forget. How about we play a little game? If you win, you get to live! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Knuckles raised a brow skeptically. "Why should we indulge in this… 'game' when the door is right there? Come, brothers!" He began walking towards the front door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" The voice spoke teasingly.

Knuckles stopped the door. "Well, you are not me, are you?" He remarked sarcastically.

Grasping the door handle, Knuckles opened the front door and then froze.

Standing out in the front yard now were several people with clammy, rotting skin with some body parts missing while they groaned lifelessly.

In a word: zombies.

While Knuckles considered himself to be a brave and strong warrior, he had seen several of these 'zombie films' with Sonic whenever Tails wasn't around. And while you might think this might not scare him, it most certainly did.

Because the thought of a sickness that could resurrect the dead into flesh-eating monsters that could also turn you into one via a single bite was terrifying.

"I told you!" The voice cackled as Knuckles slammed the door shut, looking pale as a ghost.

"So, how about that game, hmm?" The voice offered, a smirk clear in it's voice.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all looked to each, realizing that under these circumstances they didn't have much of a choice.

"What do we have to do?" Tails inquired.

"It's a scavenger hunt! A Halloween tradition!" The voice stated. "The rules are quite simple, really. In this house are three objects that I need to attend to me. Collect all three items and you win! And if you win, you get to leave!"

Sonic tapped his foot. "Alright then, where do we start?"

"Excellent! I knew you'd see it my way!" The voice said giddily. "In my mansion lies three artifacts that the three of you must obtain in order to leave."

"The first object is the book of everlasting knowledge! Within it's pages lies the answer to anything you ever wanted to know!" The voice said as a bright blue glow lit up the room, displaying the image of a worn-out-looking book.

"The second object is the rose of the fallen lover. This rose belongs to the weeping widow who longs for her lost love." The image then shifted to a dying red rose.

"The third object is the heart of Louie the gardner. Collect all these items and you'll be given the way out!" Finally, the image shifted to a shriveled human heart before the glow faded.

"Huh, that doesn't sound too hard!" Tails smiled with relief, only for Sonic to clamp his hand over his mouth.

"Tails, don't say that! Those very words can open Pandora's Box!" Sonic exclaimed. "Besides, haven't you seen any horror movie ever! It's never that easy!"

"I agree, hedgehog." Knuckles nodded. "There must be a catch to this."

"Indeed there is!" The voice spoke up as if in reply. "You must collect all these objects before dawn."

"And if you fail… well, let's just say we'll gain three new additions to this household…" The voice said sinisterly before cackling once more.

The laughter then faded, leaving Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in a terrified silence.

Tails pulled his miles electric out from the pocket of his hoodie, turning it on and checking the time.

12:00

"We've got six hours before the sun rises." Tails noted, putting his device away.

"Then let us start searching." Knuckles stated.

Sonic groaned, holding his injured knee. "If only my leg wasn't hurt, I could speed through every room and find all three objects no problem." He sighed. "Alright, let's get searching! Where do we start?"

"We should probably start with the book." Tails stated. "A huge mansion like this has gotta have a library somewhere."

Deciding to start with the upstairs, the Wachowski brothers headed up the stairs and began searching every room in the eerie old hallways, each lit by a series of candles.

"It looks like no-one's been here for years…" Tails mused as they wandered down the halls, the old floorboards creaking beneath their feet.

"I can see why." Sonic shivered. "This is like if the Haunted Mansion was made by Stephen King."

"Focus, we need to find that library." Knuckles reminded them before opening the door right next to him and looking into the room. "And I believe I have found it."

The three young mobians cautiously entered the library, which was a large room with a huge shelf of books on each side with a large window at the end. At the center of the room were two arm chairs sitting in front of a lit fireplace, which illuminated the room in a faint warm glow.

"Woah…" Tails gasped in awe as he walked up to one of the shelves and pulled out a random book. "As creepy as this house is, this library actually seems kinda cozy."

"Let's just find that book already." Sonic said, already searching through shelves as quickly as he could. "Would rather not have my soul trapped here like this was the Overlook Hotel!"

Tails shivered. "Can we please not have any more Shining references? They scared me enough as books!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all spread out around the room, searching each shelf for the book they were looking for.

Sonic randomly pulled out a book from the shelf, slightly surprised to find it was a copy of 'Treasure Island'.

As much as he wanted to read it, Sonic set the book down on the ground before pulling out another randomly selected book from the shelf, this one a copy of 'The Lord of the Rings'.

Sonic narrowed his eyes on the book. Ugh, boring. He much preferred the movies.

Throwing the book over his shoulder, Sonic continued his search.

Unbeknownst to him, the copy of Treasure Island that Sonic had set on the ground began to shift on its own before the cover suddenly.

From the very pages of the book rose a green spectral pirate, his eyes white and glazed over.

Tails let out a shiver as he searched through the shelf. "Hooo… did you guys feel that?"

"I feel nothing, fox." Knuckles noted.

"Me neither." Sonic added, oblivious to the specter looming above him.

Tails turned around to elaborate, but then he froze as he saw the ghostly pirate turning towards Sonic.

The young fox's jaw fell open, the book in his hand limply falling out of his grip as he stared the ghost with wide, terrified eyes.

The ghost pirate growled as he drew his cutlass from his belt, raising it above his head threateningly.

"S-S-S-S-S-Sonic!" Tails stuttered fearfully.

"What?" Sonic and Knuckles turned around and froze as well, seeing the ghostly pirate standing over the blue hedgehog.

"Get away from me treasure!" The pirate ghost snarled.

Just then, the copy of Lord of the Rings on the floor opened up, and a green spectral knight rose from it.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" The knight ghost moaned, drawing his broadsword.

The pirate ghost snarled before the two specters engaged each other in a fierce duel.

"Guys! What do we do?!" Sonic cried, now on the verge of freaking out since he seeing freaking ghosts fighting with swords.

Knuckles pulled a random book from the shelf, with it being a copy of 'Eldest', before throwing it to the floor.

In an instant, the room began to tremble as the pirate and knight ghosts both paused in their duel before the book opened up and a spectral projection of a dragon emerged from the book, roaring loudly.

The pirate and knight ghosts seemed to call a temporary truce as they both charged at the dragon ghost.

"C'mon, man! Where the heck is this book?!" Sonic yelled in frustration.

"I don't know! You'd think it'd be in the library! Where else do people read books?!" Tails cried.

The three of them continued searching the shelves as frantically as they could while the three ghosts fought in the center of the room.

Sonic felt it hard to control his breathing at this point. He was in a creepy haunted house, with freaking ghosts, and being forced to go on a scavenger hunt or else he and his brother will be trapped in this house for all eternity! He could feel his stomach turning, and for a moment, he thought he might have to run to the bathro–

Wait a minute…

"Guys! I think I know where it is!" Sonic exclaimed.

"What, how?" Knuckles shouted.

"No time to explain! Let's just get out of here!" Sonic yelled before he, Tails, and Knuckles made a dash for the door, rushing back out into the hallway and leaving the three ghosts to their fight.


A few minutes later, Tails and Knuckles stood in the hallway outside of a small room at the end of the corridor.

The door to the small room then opened, revealing it to be a bathroom as Sonic stepped out holding the Book of Everlasting Knowledge in his hands.

"Oh wow! How'd you know it was in there?" Tails said in surprise.

"What do you think people did in there before cell phones were invented?" Sonic asked rhetorically.

"Still, clever thinking on your part, brother." Knuckles smiled, patting Sonic on the shoulder proudly.

"Thanks, Knux." Sonic smiled back.

"The Book of Everlasting Knowledge… anything you want to know is right in this book." Tails mused as the three of them inspected the book closely.

"If only more people knew of this great power…" Knuckles added as Sonic opened the book to read from one of the pages.

But before he could, the book was suddenly levitated out his hands by an unseen force.

"Well done! Well done! You found the book!" The voice from before exclaimed, congratulating them. "Good thinking on your part, Sonic!'

Sonic smirked. "Well, I guess it's part of my natural smart-ification!" He bragged, to which Tails and Knuckles playfully rolled their eyes.

"Unfortunately for you, the book was child's play compared to what comes next." The voice warned them. "You see, there is a poor sweet girl in one of these rooms who has a broken heart. Her lover gave her a rose that she oh so cherished. But on the day of her wedding, he never showed up. Little did she know, her Prince Charming joined the dead that night! And she still waits for him. All she wants is to be loved again. You must retrieve the rose for me. Good luck!"

The voice then cackled before fading away, leaving Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in silence to themselves.

"Well, c'mon! Let's find that rose!" Sonic stated, starting down the hall, quickly followed by Tails and Knuckles.

The three of them searched the rooms in the corridor for several minutes before eventually finding the master bedroom.

Peeking inside, they spotted the rose sitting in a small vase on the other end of the room.

"There it is." Tails said.

"Let's grab it." Sonic stated.

The two were about to step into the room when Knuckles suddenly grasped them by their shoulders and pulled them both back into the hallway.

"Knuckles, what the heck?" Sonic questioned indignantly as he and Tails mildly glared at their echidna brother.

Knuckles shushed the both before pointing to the inside of the room.

Peeking into the room and looking to the right, Sonic and Tails spotted what Knuckles saw.

In the corner of the room was what look like a shriveled-up person, a woman to be exact, facing the wall. Wearing scrapy clothes that covered her gray and clammy skin, her hair messy and falling out, her nails so long and sharp that they were like claws.

Sonic and Tails were frozen in fear as they stared at the woman.

"What do we do?" Sonic whispered.

"I don't know… think we can sneak around?" Tails suggested.

"I could simply punch her." Knuckles added, quietly hitting his palm with his fist.

Sonic shook his head at that. "I'll try to sneak up on the rose. You guys watch my back."

Quietly, Sonic tip-toed into the room, occasionally glancing at the woman in the corner, who didn't seem to notice him.

However, just as he was halfway across the room, the woman let out a series of screams and screeches.

Sonic froze mid-step, fearing they had been caught, with Tails and Knuckles looking ready to go in and pull him out any second.

Glancing over his shoulder, Sonic expected to see the woman coming at him, but was relieved to find her still facing the corner, having not moved at all.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Sonic continued towards the rose, slowly reaching for it.

Just when it was within reach, however, the woman suddenly rose from the floor and turned around, revealing her decaying face and soulless eyes.

The woman let out a screech as she lunged at Sonic, catching him off guard as she smacked him across the room.

"Sonic!" Tails and Knuckles cried out for their brother.

Knuckles growled as he rushed into the room, lunging at the woman with his fist coated in red chaos energy, only for the woman to move faster than him as she batted him aside.

The woman then grabbed both Sonic and Knuckles by their heads and threw them across the room, causing the two of them to land in a heap.

Sonic and Knuckles sat up fearfully as the woman approached them, raising her claws threateningly.

"My love!"

The woman, Sonic, and Knuckles turned to see Tails with the rose in his hand and in a kneeling position.

"I have, uh… returned to thee… Yeah!" Tails acted out.

The woman paused, gazing at the little fox curiously.

"Come to me my darling…!" Tails said. "Wow, I can't believe I just said that…" He murmured to himself before getting back into character. "And express your love to thee!"

The woman stood there silently before walking over to the fox cub, picking him up and flat out kissing him passionately on the lips.

Tails' eyes were wide open as he flailed his arms frantically before the woman faded into mid-air, allowing Tails to fall to the ground.

"... Thank you…" The woman's voice sighed happily in the air as the rose faded as well.

"Alright, Tails, you did it!" Sonic cheered, leaping to his feet and patting his little brother on the back. "Great job, buddy!"

"Indeed. That was very clever, fox." Knuckles smiled, gently ruffling Tails' bangs.

Tails giggled, his cheeks blushing in embarrassment as he tried to hide his face with his hoodie.

"I say, Tails! That was brilliant! Good show, o-boy! You three make an inseparable team!" The voice congratulated them.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood by each other proudly at that.

"Your final test will truly test your bond." The voice warned. "Somewhere in my garden out back is the remains of Louie the Gardener. It seems his obsessions with the plants came back and… bit him." The voice giggled. "I need you to retrieve his heart! Once you do, you win and you will be able to leave!"

"But beware! The garden has a mind of it's own…" The voice said ominously before fading into silence.

Tails turned to his older brother's determination in his baby blue eyes. "C'mon, guys! We've made it this far! We can do it!"

"Yeah!" Sonic agreed, equally determined. "Let's find that heart and get out of this place!"

"So swear on a Power Bump!" Knuckles declared, holding out his fist, to which Sonic and Tails bumped him back.


Heading downstairs, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles headed out the backdoor and into the yard.

To their surprise, the 'garden' itself was a huge hedge maze that was easily several yards wide. The trees in the area were all either removed and were planted further away, giving them a clear view of the night sky and the full moon shining down on them.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all looked at each other in anticipation.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm a hedgehog not hedge clippers." Sonic quipped, hoping to break the tension.

Tails snickered while Knuckles rolled his eyes.

The three then entered the maze, searching for the heart, occasionally making some small talk and frequently checking the time.

As they walked through the maze, however, Tails' ears flickered as he could've sworn he heard an odd buzzing sound passing from above.

"Hey, did you guys hear something?" He spoke up.

Sonic shook his head. "Nope."

"I heard nothing, fox." Knuckles added.

Just as they were about to move on, however, when they heard a soft thud coming from behind them.

Turning around, the three of them yelped in shock at a massive insect that was about the size of a dog crawling towards them.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles slowly backed away as three more bugs landed as well, surrounding them and backing them up towards the hedge wall.

Looking around with a calculating eye, Knuckles turned towards Sonic and Tails. "Brothers, when I say go, you run as fast as you are able. I will hold them off."

Sonic and Tails were quick to protest. "What? No, we're not leaving you!" Tails exclaimed.

"Yeah, we're a team! We stick together!" Sonic added.

"I am the only one capable of fighting at the moment. I will be fine." Knuckles stated firmly. "Now go!"

Before Sonic and Tails could protest further, Knuckles shoved them through the wall of the hedge maze before turning around and slamming his fist into one of the bugs, killing it instantly.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails quickly began to run through the maze as fast as they could, Sonic not being able to go at his full speed due to his injured knee and Tails being unable to fly because of his injured tail.

It wasn't long before the bugs began to give chase as they heard the buzzing of their wings above them.

They ran as fast and as long as they could, but the bugs quickly caught up to them, surrounding them once more.

Sonic and Tails glanced around nervously, unconsciously holding hands as the situation seemed rather dire.

However, before the bugs could advance on them, an unfamiliar roar filled them, getting the attention of not only Sonic and Tails, but also the bugs.

The bugs chittered and clicked before taking to the air and flying away, leaving the blue hedgehog and the twin-tailed fox cub alone.

"What was that all about…?" Tails questioned after a brief silence.

"Something must've spooked them." Sonic mused. "I hope Knuckles is okay."

Before Tails could reply, a massive vine rose from the maze, coiling around Sonic and lifting him into the air.

"SONIC!" Tails cried, watching helplessly as his brother screamed and squirmed in the vine's grasp.

Sonic tried his best to get, his heart beating faster and faster in a panic as he could feel the vine constricting tighter around his midsection.

In a last ditch attempt to get free, Sonic bent down and bit the vine, causing a loud growl to emit from the maze before the vine threw him away like a ragdoll.

"WOOOOOOOAAAAH…!" Sonic cried before he crashed to the ground in a heap, now completely separated from both Tails and Knuckles.

With a groan, Sonic shakily got to his feet, surprised to see that his was in a large clearing with a stone fountain at the center.

And resting at the foot of the fountain was a human skeleton with a heart stuck in it's ribcage, the body surrounded by several gardening tools.

"Louie…" Sonic whispered, recognizing what this was before he grinned. "Yes!"

Walking up to the skeleton, Sonic bent down and grasped the heart in his gloved hand.

With a few strong tugs, Sonic finally yanked the heart out of the skeleton.

"Heh…" Sonic chuckled, tossing the heart up and catching it like a ball.

Finally, now he, Tails, and Knuckles could get out of here and go ho–

Something slammed against the back of Sonic's head, knocking him to the ground. His head spinning and ringing with pain, Sonic desperately tried to stay conscious, but couldn't.

He closed his eyes, and everything went dark.


Pain was all he felt as he woke up, his eyelids heavy. Everything was white. Was this Heaven?

No. As Sonic's vision cleared, he realized this was not the Afterlife. He also realized that he couldn't move, causing him to look down and see that he was strapped to some kind of table.

"Wh-Where am I?" Sonic moaned.

"You are in my laboratory."

Sonic turned his head, surprised to see a man who looked to be in his eighties wearing a white lab coat.

"Who are you?" Sonic questioned.

The man turned towards him, revealing his wrinkly skin and circular glasses.

"I am Doctor Schnitzelhosen." The man introduced himself, his voice coated with a thick German accent. "I am a professor! Vell, I vas. I vas a medic during ze war. I lost my medical man during ze war. I lost my medical license and retreated to zis house to perform my… experiments."

Sonic quirked a brow in confusion. "But… the voice said me, Tails, and Knuckles needed to find the items and we could go home!"

Schnitzelhosen barked out a laugh. "Oh, you are silly! That was me."

Sonic shook his head. "No, no! That voice was a bad Joker impression. You're a bad German stereotype!"

"What you heard was my computer." The doctor explained, typing in some commands. "Whatever I type…"

"... comes out in this voice!" The computer voice finished, with the same voice that had spoken to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles earlier.

"So… this was all a trap?!" Sonic questioned.

"Sadly for you, yes." Schnitzelhosen confirmed, adjusting the lights. "The hunt you vere on vas all a distraction. Granted, I didn't actually expect you to find all of ze artifacts. I just needed some time to decide vhat to do with you."

Sonic gulped nervously. "What are you going to do to me?"

The doctor grinned. "That is the part I had such a hard time with. I was going to feed you to my son, Francis, but then I recognized who you were. You were that alien lifeform who saved the town twice from that government agent, Robotnik, yes?"

Sonic hesitantly nodded. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Ah, I'm getting to it." Schnitzelhosen explained. "I'm going to put that brain of a madman inside you. With your 'powers', you will wreak havoc on ze world." He smirked evilly. "And ze best part, you'll take ze fall!"

Sonic felt his breathing quicken. "What about Tails, and Knuckles?" He was almost afraid to ask. "Where are my brothers?"

Schnitzelhosen turned away, going back to his tools. "Unfortunately, they met their demise in ze garden. I'm sorry, old boy…"

Sonic's eyes widened in horror. No. No, his brothers couldn't be gone. Tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to fall before the grief he felt morphed into anger.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Sonic demanded, his quills and eyes sparking with blue chaos energy.

"Because I'm mad, you see…" Was Schnitzelhosen's chilling response. "You and your friends are the only idiots to come to this house in decades. I can't waste this opportunity!"

"Don't worry, though, it won't hurt…" He turned around, holding a corded, buzz saw above Sonic's head as he grinned sinisterly. "... much!"

Sonic squirmed, trying desperately to get away from the manic holding a saw to his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the inevitable pain…

… when suddenly the buzz saw stopped.

Sonic blinked his eyes open, confused over what just happened.

"What? What is going on?" Schnitzelhosen seemed just as perplexed as he turned away. "Darn fuse! Oh! This house, I swear…!"

As the doctor continued ranting, Sonic heard a faint, "Psst!"

Looking down, Sonic's eyes widened as he saw Tails and Knuckles kneeling down beside him, Tails giving him a wink as he went to work on Sonic's restraints.

Back with the doctor, he quickly found the source of his problem. "It came unplugged." He realized, before plugging the saw back in. "Oh, sorry about that! Old house as proble–"

Schnitzelhosen's remark died in his throat as he turned back to see Sonic was no longer on the table.

"W-What? WHERE IS THE HEDGEHOG?!" He cried in a panic.

Turning to one of the security monitors, he quickly found Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles rushing down the hallways.

"Oh, dear. It would be such a waste, but they need to be taught a lesson." Schnitzelhosen sighed. "Oh, Francis! Francis, my son, come to daddy!"

A series of loud footsteps approached him from behind, followed by a deep rumbling growl.

"Chocolate is escaping, my son. Get them."


Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles put as much distance as they could between Schnitzelhosen's lab and themselves, running through the creaky old hallways before briefly coming to a stop.

Immediately, Sonic threw his arms around Tails and Knuckles, pulling them into a hug. "Thank god you guys are okay! That crazy guy told me you guys died in the maze!" Sonic exclaimed with relief.

Knuckles chuckled, patting Sonic on the pack. "It will take more than plants and insects to finish us, hedgehog."

Tails smiled, hugging Sonic back. "Yeah, are you okay, though?" He asked in concern.

"I'm fine." Sonic nodded. "How'd you guys get out of the maze?"

Tails held up his miles electric. "Well, I managed to track down Knuckles with my device which we then used to find you. Simple as that."

"Nice, little bro." Sonic smiled, ruffling Tails' bangs affectionately. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"

The three were about to continue on when they heard a low growl coming from behind them, followed by heavy footsteps.

Emerging from the shadows was a massive hulking beast, with rough green scales that didn't seem to match and large crocodilian teeth.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood there, briefly stunned at the appearance of the beast.

"I'd like you all to meet Francis, my son! You're his dinner guests! HAHAHAHAAAA!" Schitzelhosen's voice came through the speakers.

Francis growled as he slowly stalked towards the three young mobians.

"Oh! You have your father's eyes!" Sonic said sweetly with a fake smile, laughing hysterically before devolving into fake crying.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles quickly began to run, with Francis giving chase as they rushed back into the main lobby before going up the stairs to the upper floors.

Francis attempted to go up the stairs as well, only for them to collapse under his weight, giving Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles more time to get away.

Going further and further up, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles soon managed to get on top of the roof of the house, where they could see the front yard was still filled with zombies.

"We're trapped!" Tails cried, much to Sonic and Knuckles' horror.

Just then, Francis emerged onto the roof as well, growling menacingly as he approached them.

"I'm so sorry, guys! This is all my fault! All for some stupid candy!" Sonic exclaimed guiltily. He then paused before pulling out a candy bar from his quills. "Still, better not let it go to waste."

As Sonic was about to eat the candy bar, Francis suddenly perked up at the sight of the chocolate. He began chittering excitedly and bouncing up and down like a small child, his eyes not leaving the candy bar.

Tails, seeing this, smirked as he got an idea.

Sonic was about to bite down on his candy bar when Tails suddenly snatched it from him. "Hey!" He cried indignantly.

Tails ignored him, waving the chocolate out in front of Francis, who continued to bounce up and down excitedly.

"Hey, big guy! You want the chocolate?" Tails asked, to which Francis gleefully nodded. "Well, here ya go!" He tossed the chocolate bar to Francis.

Francis immediately caught it and began munching on ravenously. Like it was the last meal he would ever eat in his life.

"Hey, that was mine!" Sonic whined, only for Knuckles to nudge him with his elbow and point at Francis. "Oh…" Sonic whispered, quickly catching on.

Once Francis had finished eating it, he quickly licked his clawed fingers of any chocolate.

"You want more…?" Sonic asked.

Francis nodded enthusiastically.

"You know, we know where there's an entire bucket of candy!" Tails said.

Francis' eyes went wide at that prospect.

"And since we're such good friends, we'll give it to you!" Sonic added.

Francis happily clapped his hands, chittering like it was the happiest day of his life.

"Here's the deal," Sonic said, leaning against Francis' arm, "you let us go and take care of your little friends down there, and it's all yours! Deal?"

Francis scratched his chin in thought, considering the offer, before he nodded in agreement.

"Alright! Go get 'em!" Sonic ordered.

Francis nodded before leaping off the roof and into the fray of zombies, his thick hide protecting him from their bites as he easily tore the zombies to shreds. The fight was pretty one-sided as the zombies were slow and very fragile, allowing Francis to easily fight them.

By the time Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles got down from the roof, Francis had already defeated all of the zombies.

It was there that Sonic and Tails found their candy buckets.

"Alright!" Sonic exclaimed, picking up his bucket.

"Finally!" Tails grinned delightedly as he counted his candy.

Francis, however, let out a growl, getting their attention.

"Brothers, I believe Francis wants his candy." Knuckles reminded them.

Sonic and Tails looked at their candy, then to each other before they both sighed.

"A deal's a deal." Sonic lamented.

"Yep." Tails agreed.

The two then reluctantly handed Francis their candy buckets, which Francis eagerly nabbed and began devouring the candy whole.

With Francis occupied with the candy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles walked out of the yard and back onto the main road, taking one last look at the old mansion in all it's terrifying glory.

"Let's go home." Sonic said after a long silence between the three of them.


Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles walked down the road, coming back into town where there were still a few trick-or-treaters out, but significantly less than there were before.

"Not bad for a first Halloween, huh?" Sonic remarked.

"Yeah, I'm just glad we managed to make it out of there." Tails replied. "But other than that, I actually enjoyed tonight!"

"Even the scavenger hunt was somewhat enjoyable." Knuckles admitted. "Still, no matter what the danger, I am glad I got to experience it with you, my brothers."

Sonic and Tails both smiled at their older brother.

"Happy Halloween, guys." Sonic said as they finally made it home.

"Happy Halloween, Sonic." Tails smiled.

"Yes, Happy Halloween indeed." Knuckles nodded as they entered the house.

As soon as they came in, the three young mobians were greeted by Tom and Maddie, who were frantically asking where they had been for the past several hours and why they had not come home for some time.

After a brief explanation, Tom immediately called the station and arranged to have a squad investigate the supposedly abandoned mansion.

And even though Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were grounded for staying out late, Tom and Maddie were just glad that their kids were okay and that they had had a fun night.

The next morning, Tom would lead a small squad into the mansion where they would find and arrest Dr. Schnitzelhosen on charges of kidnapping, unethical experimentation, and attempted assault and murder.

And even though they had lost all of their candy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had a blast recalling their story to their friends at school.

Needless to say, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles couldn't wait for next year's Halloween.

And done! Hope you enjoyed this! I've spent so long on this chapter that frankly, I need a break! I'm putting this story on hiatus until I'm ready to resume it. I'm currently writing stories on Ao3, so be sure to check that out. Might consider moving there permanently after I finish Kung Fu Ninja Turtles: Tales of New York.

Happy Halloween, everybody!