Chapter 29

Scott couldn't even feel his trembling finger pointed at the camera image. He suddenly wanted to feel no fear of this. But such thing would require feeling nothing. And he was more fearful towards what was coming for them than anything else. Even Dave's words started to blur out as Scott imagined the infamous Sonic-EXE marching down these halls…

"Hey, CoolBoy19?" asked Dave, waving over the crow's eyes. "CoolBoy19. Are you listening here? What is…?"

His face paled once he saw the monitor. His mask slowly slid off his muzzle, revealing his clenched teeth.

"Oh, crap…" said Dave, his voice low. "These guys can walk apparently…" His voice was growing louder, stressed. "Are you kidding me right now?!"

Scott couldn't really say anything. He only found the voice to vocalize that he saw this for real.

"N-N-No!" he squawked out.

Dave rubbed his forehead. It was gradually becoming sweatier and wetter. "This is bad. This is bad. We can't-no, we are fine!" And like a switch, he went back into his confident state. "We are fine!"

Scott's eyes turned back to the computer and he squirmed at the sight of NOTHING. Great. Now, both Sonic-EXE and Akrasiel were gone. The crow squawked and began pressing buttons on the keyboard, hoping to find at least one camera recording the moving around. Hallway after hallway. Storage room after storage room. They were all empty.

But there was one room presenting someone waddling around.

Dave and Scott exchanged gasps with each other. "Agent Stone?!"

They didn't need to ask. It was all there for them to see. The safety of the locked doors provided them comfort. Suddenly, being trapped in this room didn't feel too bad, thought Scott. In fact, the crow felt much safer since there was an unlucky G.U.N agent walking to death's door.

Scott took the opportunity to sit in the wheelie chair, crossing his arms. "Maybe we can have him take care of the bots?"

Dave sputtered. "B-But we're behind schedule! We can't stick here for long!"

But Dave eventually relented and turned his eyes back to the screen. He wanted to see how tough those animatronics were.

On Agent Stone's side, he felt uneasy about how empty the room was. There was barely anyone here. He could only hear distant circus music blasting from somewhere. The rest of the crowd was partying. Meanwhile, he was alone with no telling who he would meet. He kept his guard up, not wanting to yelp at the sight of funny guys.

Even though Eggman himself could be a coward, Agent Stone swore not to be one. He had seen worse than just a big old fabric in reality and space.

Slowly pointing his gun at the clear air, he scanned the place for funny traps. It was all cardboard boxes in this space. However, he knew whipped cream pies and punching gloves could pop out from those props. He had already seen clown jokes like this before. Even if clowns looked scary, they were all the same.

There were footsteps. He froze. Clicking his gun to turn off safety mode, he whipped around to the source of the sound. Footsteps again. He twirled again. Another one. He turned to find the right hallway, but it didn't seem to be there at all.

He could feel it, but he didn't know where it originated.

But as he stood there, waiting, he realized those footprints didn't sound like a normal person's. And this year's circus didn't hire an elephant to come perform. It sounded heavier. More crunchier. Something of a heavy suit…

Realizing that this might be more than an average threat, Agent Stone slowly slid over to a larger pile of wooden boxes. Right at the corner. Convenient. But it was still open for all to see. It was still the best hiding spot he could take.

As he hid behind these boxes, he could hear those footsteps becoming louder and louder. The closer they became, the more mechanical whirs and clicks he could hear. He closed his eyes. Could this be one of Eggman's robots? But they make more hissing noises than rusty noises.

The person arrived. Cold, slow, metal footsteps. Much louder than a human or an animal. They weren't graceful, a definite stomp like it was natural for them. Agent Stone made sure to keep quiet, a glare to the left. Standing perfectly still, he considered looking around the corner to check.

But then, a smell whipped his nose. He leaned back, placing a hand over his mouth. It was disgusting. A mixture of salt and iron. Or was it blood? The last time he ever smelled blood was when the Mean Bean died in front of him.

This zombie was taking a long time to walk through the room. And when it stopped, there was silence. It seemed to stand still, motionless. Its servos clicked as if the head was looking around. Impatient, Stone gulped and looked around the corner.

Its back was facing him. A bulky, blue thing standing there, its head slowly moving side to side. Stone observed its clothing. Red boots with white cuffs, worn-out white gloves and long sharp quills poking out from the head…

"Oh, God," mouthed Stone, dumbfounded.

The thing clicked and its waist was slightly turning. Stone instinctively hid back behind the boxes. The Sonic lookalike clicked and turned its entire body around, probably now looking right at where he was hiding.

Agent Stone swallowed hard. Never knew he would be stuck with THIS kind of thing! Who in the right mind used this so-called hero to be the star of a horror show?! He could imagine it now. A wooden Sonic puppet staring into his soul. Its soulless, black eyes, devoid of any eyeballs, just looking right at him. A demon wondering what he should do with him.

That thing remained still for a while. Agent Stone's heart was racing like crazy. Why was he so afraid at this point? Or was it the thrill of putting a bullet in one of the most famous idols in history? Was this how Eggman felt towards his arch-nemesis? The lust in killing? Or the fear in being defeated.

He shut his eyes, telling himself to man up. There was no point sitting here. If he came here to end the operations Ice was behind, he might as well do so.

And so, he slowly revealed himself from the pile of boxes.

The Sonic animatronic was now facing front at Agent Stone. Its black eyes and red irises remained the same. Despite directing its eyes to the apprehensive agent, it remained unblinking. Not changing at all. And its gaping jaw was open for Stone to see the bleeding tongue and teeth.

Agent Stone held his gun forward, warning the animatronic not to take a step closer. Stone actually had fire in his eyes. His sharp glare shielded any vulnerability from being seen. Cold, hardened. And as a veteran agent, Stone could easily put this one down for the fight. A sickening display to the real blue hedgehog.

The two stood motionless, waiting for one to move. It was tense, slow. The emotionless machine standing there with a blank goal. As the only person in this room with him, Stone knew that the animatronic could suddenly lunge at him. It was a common instinct to know when one would leap at another.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Unfortunately, the animatronic was quick to block the bullets with its arm. Its foam-coated, metallic arm. And it was moving fast. Stone's mind was racing in pros and cons that he didn't take the time to make a fourth shot and the animatronic had its meaty fingers wrapped around his neck. Next thing he knew, he was pinned against the surprisingly hard wall in this 'circus tent'.

He couldn't breathe. He could feel his face going red. His eyes were bugged out, close to tearing up from the sensation squeezing his throat. The animatronic gripped harder, earning a squeak from Stone. He couldn't scream. He could only whimper. And in his search to find the right tool from his belt, he kept staring into those eyes.

Glowing, red eyes that were artificial. Symbolic of its apathy to the rest of the world. Faint red streaks glitched on its cheeks. Then, they disappeared. Stone wasn't sure if he imagined them.

Unfortunately for Sonic-EXE, Stone made sure to keep the animatronic's attention on him. Not the hands. Feeling the stick of a predator taser, he whipped it out and slammed it into the animatronic's neck. It crumbled like a domino, its wonky eyes now showing a breakable toy.

Stone gasped, finally feeling fresh air coming right back in. His lungs could finally breathe. But he knew the animatronic was still breathing. So, in his delirious state, Stone pulled out another gun and fired point-blank at the animatronic.

BANG!

The gunshot was so loud that Dave and Scott could hear it, not just from the monitor's speakers.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Now, Agent Stone was standing straight, finally able to stand his ground. Four times in the head. The body couldn't be seen by the camera. But Dave and Scott knew who he was shooting at. Though, for some reason, Stone seemed to relax and didn't stop when the animatronic lay dead. The only thing moving a lot was the gun firing in his hand.

His hardened glare remained on the animatronic.

It was surreal.

"Well, that reminds us we shouldn't be hiding here like sissies," said Dave.

"Now, all we have to do is to leash the hound and let him tear out the wires of Akrasiel," commented Scott, astonished by Agent Stone tearing the broken shell with new holes.

Dave hummed, tapping his chin. "I don't think it's possible to sic the fox onto him."


Twinkle Park went on throughout the night through its fanfare, rides and thrills. And despite a circus happening, there were still people around to just explore the park. Not too crowded, thankfully, but there were people around to show the park was still alive. For some reason, I believed they enjoyed the midnight-blue sky matching the beige lights turned on.

Fiyero and I were having our dinner, sitting nearby by the long rows of food stalls. I thought there would be food trucks in an amusement park from what was said in print. Though, it seemed this circus managed to bring over their food vendors for the extra old aesthetic. All colored in old print and no neon signs. It reminded me a lot of a kid-friendly desert market.

When coming into the area, I was smiling at the familiar sights of the greasy, humble market. However, I was disappointed by the numerous amounts of headlights, spoiling the vision to see any stars through all that warm light. The dark swirls of blue and purple remained, a constantly-moving watercolor painting. And that contrasted nicely with the reds, yellows and blues around.

Turning my attention back to the table, I observed the abundant food we bought. Oh, I was taking the time to let the food in my stomach get digested. Felt a little full from eating many corndogs. Just slow down before digging into the next meal. Despite enthusiasm from all this food, I was beginning to feel queasy.

Looking back at those food items didn't really savor my appetite for more.

Fiyero was able to get his hands on those 'K-Dogs'. I hadn't tried those ones yet. The one in front of me was covered in potato chunks with the promise of cheese inside. Don't get me wrong; it still looks nice, and the sugar powder was a nice blanket of snow.

Fiyero was gonna kill himself if drinking wasn't the only thing. A pair of sickly red candy apples, crunchy chicken fingers and a bucket of small, melting cookies. But he picked up the crazy things from these stalls: deep-fried Oreos, burgers with funnel cake acting as the bread slices and deep-fried butter on a stick. Did he like this kind of stuff?

I wasn't sure if everyone knew these food items, but the crazy ones surprised me the most. The sugar dust couldn't hide the same bloated and crusty skin even if I wasn't going through a food coma. The deep-fried Oreos and butter sticks stood out to me; no sugar or white drizzle could hide the fact they shared the sausage-like brown coating. Like eating rocks, only with added salt.

Was it the taste the appealing part of these meals? It seemed to be the case with Fiyero digging into his deep-fried butter on a stick, delicately dubbing his lips with a tissue occasionally. Despite eating that much, he still held the gentlemanly manner and kept his stomach iron-reinforced.

When he noticed my stare, the tiger smirked and swung the fried butter around like an orchestra stick. "I don't know why you didn't want this. It's pretty good! Salty and sweet!"

I stared blankly at the slight butter sauce oozing from the deep fried. "I don't think I'm a fan of buttercream. And I thought the butter would have been sucked up when it's fried."

"It's probably kept ice solid. Haven't you tried this kind of thing before? I'm sure out there, there's a lot of great deep-fried like this!"

I tried thinking back, but the last time I ever saw a french fry was when I saw what Eggman ate daily. "Not really. If talking about the ingredients of the batter, that's mostly for bread. Regarding the batter, we don't really see cooking it necessary…unless you're counting meat dipped into oil fully raw and only dusted with seasoning."

Fiyero raised an eye, a little surprised. "You're missing out a lot on this."

"Isn't it a bit unhealthy?"

Fiyero didn't see a problem with this. "Eh. My sister nagged me on this, but I know how to burn those calories than most slackers."

"I ate like five corndogs and I could only taste the sausage," I commented, slowly lifting up my K-dog. "What's up with deep-fry if it's already tasty?"

"The sausage probably overpowered the batter. But if you take another bite, you can taste the nicely cake crust coating it! This one you're holding is no exception."

I wasn't feeling too sick, so I took a bite of it. Fiyero's eyes and grin widened, but it seemed he was imagining something judging by his soft, goofy snickers. I closed my eyes and tried feeling the taste again. The saltiness of the dog coated in cheese…and the dough itself, already sweet with extra dust sugar on top. I even got the crunch of the fluffy yet crispy potatoes themselves.

This one surprisingly blended in really well. Just thinking about all the different key components got me to feel the taste of the salty and the sweet. Crispy, but not too crispy to enjoy the softness underneath.

"Not bad!" I commented, nodding. "A good combination."

But when I swallowed it, I felt nothing. It was in my mouth, but nothing went down my throat. Just disappeared in thin air. I could only feel its taste and how that made me feel.

As Fiyero bit his butter stick, he glanced at my ruby.

"...your gem is yellow, by the way," he commented.

And that was when I could feel my ruby purring in satisfaction. I could feel its hunger. For food. Not power, mind you. My eyes widened and I saw it turning a slight yellow color. Vibrant enough to give the look of lemon-lime. Blinking, I looked back at the K-dog and could feel the vibrations of my ruby making sounds of smacking lips.

"Is its energy source food?" asked Fiyero.

"That can't be possible," I said. "It is a prototype, but it's powerful enough to live independently. It couldn't be able to consume the food I ate…" That was when I paused, remembering what the Phantom Ruby was about. A reality-bending gem. The one that gave me illusions to see. "...unless it just has a black void stomach of its own."

Fiyero grinned, his eyes sparkling. "Would eating a full buffet get you past the bathroom? That would be amazing to see!"

"But I still feel a little full from all those corndogs. Enough to make me feel tipsy."

"I can't really change what your mind is pleading you to do when you're full," whispered the ruby in my mind. "I can suck up what you swallow, however. The more energy, the more I learn. And it's DELICIOUS!"

The growl could have made it sound menacing, but how it said it was pretty funny. Like a child needing more candy. I took the moment to look around to see if anyone was watching us. Only the stall vendors, taking in the pleasure of their customers enjoying their food. And being the wild jackal I was, I went straight for the candy apple to swallow it whole.

Despite its unnatural red coating, the promise of the candy coating enhancing the healthy fruit's sweetness got to me.

Nevertheless, I dug my little canines into the top, pulled it off the stick and gulped it without biting.

Fiyero stood up, shocked. "OBSIDIAN! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I didn't need to answer and I already trusted the ruby. I had dealt with swallowing large amounts of food before and when the sweet apple came into my throat, it disappeared. The lump was gone. I could breathe. No urge to cough. The ruby turned rose red, beeping happily.

"This isn't half-bad!" it said to me. "Wonder why you are hesitant with this food."

In reality, Fiyero burst into a nervous laughter. "Sweet apple pie! For a moment, I thought you were getting red choked out of your mouth!"

"That's rare for people like me," I said with a coy smirk. Despite the flat, bragging tone, I was indeed shocked that I had just done that and the ruby saved me in the nick of time. "At least I won't have a heavy stomach."

"You CAN get past the buffet," said Fiyero, grinning.

He finished chowing on his deep-fried butter and moved on to the funnel cake burger. At that moment, I decided to continue eating as well. I decided to go with the deep-fried Oreos. Even though they didn't look too nice, they looked like gentle, little bites. And then…

The first few chews were alright. I nodded a few times, feeling the cookie's sweetness. And then, came in the dough. I instinctively placed a hand over my mouth at the urge to vomit. Fiyero was watching, jerking upwards in a near laugh at my confused look. I kept chewing, reluctant to swallow it.

And when I asked my ruby to take it, it responded.

"What the-?! What is this?! This dough…this dough is betrayal!"

Eventually, I swallowed it and stuck out my tongue. Fiyero also munched on the deep-fried Oreos and he even looked reluctant. This already turned into a cooking competition where we are the judges.

"I don't think I want the Oreos," I muttered, pushing the bowl away.

Don't get me wrong, I like the cookies around here. I could taste the sweet crumble inside, but the bloated dough suddenly overpowered that. It was eating a cookie with too many calories.

Fiyero, on the other hand, seemed thrilled by this. He choked a little by the taste but looked too excited to take another one. "Fine by me!"

"Remind me again why we're eating this much?" I asked, my hand twitchy. "We'll be going on RIDES soon."

"This is the fun part," said Fiyero nonchalantly. "Sometimes, me and my friends make a dare on who can hold their stomachs on these tongue-twisting rides. They're physical versions of a hangover motel ride. I ate a lot. You must as well."

If you ask me, it sounded more like a test of strength. Of course, Zero would want to do this. Just spilling your guts is another sign of being weak. But I wasn't in a hurry for competition. Fiyero seemed to be making this a self-deal, so I could go with it.

"I suppose we can do so?" I asked innocently.

"Sure then!" said Fiyero, already jumping up and down. "First one to throw up gives the other twenty bucks!"

He looked a bit too confident. Really confident. I wondered if this was his way of fun. Or probably what kids here would do. If kids come here for food, I wonder how much they forced themselves to keep in their bodies to enjoy the rides. No one could really wait an hour to swim after eating.

It felt like no competition. I had never gotten sick before and I wondered if vomiting would be fun. On the other hand, Ruby sounded excited. It suddenly stimulated me. Its enthusiasm got me mentally prepared and made me not tired anymore.

"New objective: don't die after eating everything," it stated robotically. "Failure is no option."

Maybe it was due to the ruby being red from all the sugar.

Right after the hefty dinner, we immediately got on the rides. I nearly forgot to focus on seeing the tiger handling himself during the challenge, but there was a lot more fun when just enjoying oneself.

First one on the list, the swing carousel. The dream version of the normal swing! I wasn't intimidated since it was like flying on a spaceship without a roof! And getting to kick your arms and legs around. I was barking the entire time in laughter as the carousal spun these swings around in one direction or another.

Exciting to say, I could say this was my kind of thrill. I had no worries and I was already high in the clouds without care. Feeling the breeze through my arms, legs, hair, and tail, it felt like the world was quickly passing by, allowing me to breeze by smoothly. An escape from the slow and hard ground.

In the midst of me barking happily, I kicked my foot upwards and so did my boot, now loosened. When I opened my eyes, my right foot was only covered by my sock. I only had enough time through the blur of the rest of the world when I spotted my boot crashing into the back of a security guard's head.

As soon as we got off the ride, I immediately ran after the guard despite feeling dizzy. Naturally, he wasn't amused when he shoved that boot into my chest.

The drop tower was when I got close to seeing Fiyero cheering away. I thought it might be scary for him since he might have never reached this height before. But for every drop, he was screaming loudly like the rest of the kids, a massive smile on his face. He had his fists pumped in the air, feeling the rush.

From the first impression long ago, he was smart and witty. Here, flashing his white hoodie, I could see the true party animal he was. Even in the impossible dare, he was laughing away. Eyes shut and mouth wide in a bright smile for a good laugh. I had to admit that he looked adorable like this. While I could be sure he went out on activities like this, he enjoyed the thrills he could make at any corner.

Sadly, it didn't last when we got vomit on us. No, not from Fiyero. At the end of the ride, we came to feel something sticky and wet on our heads, just in time for a kid with wet lips passing by us.

Fiyero's smile froze when he touched his dreadlocks.

My jaw dropped, feeling my fur wet.

Oh, um, spoilers, it was gradually going downhill for Fiyero. Strangely, while dizzy, I didn't feel the urge to barf. When we hopped onto the train cart for a haunted house ride, I noticed him looking…queasy. After all the laughing, the walking seemed to be weighing him down. He couldn't seem to keep his eyes open.

"...do you need to throw up?" I asked.

Fiyero pouted with a voice similar to a kitten. "No…"

I stifled a laugh. "You're sure? I can feel the corn dogs rising back up."

"It's all good," laughed Fiyero, drunkenly flapping his hand. "This ride is boring anyway."

I glanced at the haunted house building. A black, gothic, green-bleeding house repeatedly blaring wolf howling and witch laughing. This stood out heavily from the rest of the fun-looking rides in Twinkle Park. In fact, it looked like a house of its own! It also didn't deter the number of children entering the train carts.

What was exactly inside?

Nevertheless, Fiyero didn't seem too entertained by the haunted house.

"Just so you know," he said. "The Only reason I picked this is that the carts tend to jiggle for cheap scares. That adds to the vomiting test."

"You're sure about this one?" I asked.

Fiyero laughed, cocky. "I'll be fine! It's just a cheap horror movie we'll be experiencing."

"Should I be concerned? There's kids with us!"

"No. Just hold your stomach. I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when it's over."

Before I could ask why, he succumbed to the food he was holding in his belly and his head slumped over the seat. Fiyero looked really drunk.

I turned back to the haunted house. Well…I guess it wouldn't hurt to see more horror. Feeling the ride moving, I gripped the handles and prepared myself. But if there were that many kids, maybe the entirety of Twinkle Park was made to be kid-friendly, right?


Scott made it his priority to look through the rest of the cameras. While Agent Stone seemed busy with Sonic-EXE, they still had Akrasiel searching for them. They doubted that anybody would be able to hear the shooting or that Stone would likely drag Sonic-EXE away. However, Dave and Scott needed a miracle since they couldn't confirm where the devious fox was.

As they were greeted with more empty camera footage images, Scott was growing worried that they might bump into Akrasiel once they made their way out of the office.

In the meantime, Dave decided not to sulk around. This would lead to their ultimate downfall. As the highly successful leader, Dave couldn't really drop their plan for such distractions.

If Agent Stone can kick down a likely haunted animatronic, so can they.

"Sonic-EXE seems to be in decommission for now," said Dave, marching up and down. "So, we only got one robot to worry about. There are no other active bots from all the storage rooms we checked."

"So…how are we going to take care of him?" asked Scott.

"Well, I suppose we can have Akrasiel kill Stone, but the problem is that we don't have sound cues in this circus to lure him to the agent. But the Sonic-EXE animatronic walked quite slowly, so the best option is to use stealth when heading to the storage room."

"And what happens if one of us gets there? If the circus finishes, people will knock on that door."

"Then I might as well block that door and make a quick escape. And you do the same, too."

"Wait, I do the same as well?"

"Well, I can go out on my own. And considering you being smart in technology, I suppose you can hack into this computer to control the bots, CoolBoy19."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "I'm good at crafting technology, not coding through technology."

"Whatever," said Dave dismissively. "Same thing! Now-"

There was a loud thump from far away. Immediately, Scott flipped through the cameras and only stopped when he came across the camera that showed the scene where Agent Stone shot Sonic-EXE. Neither of them were in that room.

"OK, now Stone is on the prowl," warned Scott.

"Oh, please, I'll be careful," said Dave with a smirk. "I didn't reach the top by making TikTok videos. I climbed the ladder with enough warrants on my head!"

The crow spun around on his chair, facing the cyan nutria with an unimpressed look. "So you're basically gonna rush in on him and your feet will be flying upwards when you get shot in the chest?"

"Low possibility. Just sit back, enjoy the show and do your job of alerting me. It's a game of cats and mice."

Scott raised an eye as Dave marched towards the door. But the crow decided not to question. Dave did a lot of feats to get into contact with crooks before him. It showed from his confident strut to the door. His skinny arms and legs couldn't be defied by the weight of a screw-up. He was well-prepared for this.

Coming close to the metal door, Dave took the time to admire its shine. Its metallic, grey, monotone shine. The only thing that stood out from this safe room. What led to the darkness created in this circus. But knowing that his men never got killed, Dave lifted his chin high and his chest puffed out like the supervillain he dreamed of being.

"Well, now!" he announced. "Do not be afraid because these silly willies cannot crush our capability to-!"

And when the door opened, it revealed Akrasiel's menacing blue eyes.

Dave screamed at a high pitch, hopping many times away from the door. Right as the frantic Scott managed to close the door. Just before the door closed, the cyan nutria got a good reminder of those plastic blue and black eyes compared to Tails' naive blue eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" squawked Dave.

"Don't tell me!" yelped Scott. "I didn't know he was standing outside!"

"Oh, c'mon…bro, look!"

The crow was already hyperventilating, aware of the fox animatronic they attracted. And this danger of threat was upon them, sucking the bravado Dave carried. He flipped to the camera closest to the left door. Akrasiel wasn't there. He kept flipping through different places, trying to search for the fox. No sign of the animatronic.

Scott was starting to sweat tennis balls from his head, his anxiety reaching a new high. He could feel his heart begging to jump out of his chest. It was a literal game of cats and mice, one trying to hunt the other. You might never know where the cat would hide.

Finally, he found the fox animatronic and the jumpy Scott nearly stood up on his chair in shock.

The Tails lookalike was staring directly at the camera, inches away from the camera. The grainy filter made it hard to see the blue, but he could see the glow in the pupils. The lighting in the room made it difficult to see if there were tear streaks on the fox's face.

"Oh, sweet merciful crap!" he hissed. "He's right down that hallway! We're so screwed, Dave!"

Dave was still reeling from his screaming episode, now too ashamed to admit defeat. "N-No, we're not! Maybe…we can take the other door?"

Scott opened the right door but closed it the minute he saw Akrasiel stationed right there.

"Nope," he grumbled, rubbing his face. "We're never getting out of this! This place is rigged!"

"No, no," reassured Dave nervously. "We should be fine! We're always fine! No one is in control of those bots. Stone might…reach here! And these doors are built with metallic locks. We should be safe as long as the circus goes on."

And then, all the lights turned off.

"Aaaaaand crap."

They completely forgot that the backstage could blow a fuse at random times. Agatha didn't explain why that happened, but any reason could be believable. Too believable. The two were left in the dark, now relying on it as their first cover. But the sudden shift in lighting left them meek, confused, worried. And, of course, they couldn't see properly.

The metal doors slowly opened, its mechanical locks now useless and without any power. But since they acted more like regular swinging doors, their bottom screeched against the floor, giving an ear-piercing screech. And that was grating compared to the chirpy synths playing in the distance, a mix of a guitar and a trumpet. A screech of a reminder of what they were dealing with.

Dave immediately dragged Scott to the nearby table, finding a lot of space underneath it. They also found a good space behind the shelves, but they knew they would still be found anyway.

The two were close enough to peek around the shelves. They still couldn't see properly in this room, their eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. The chirpy circus music was still playing, drawing closer to the room…and then, they could see a face at the door on their left, flickering by uncanny strobe light.

Those blue plastic eyes did NOT bring them any hope of an angel rescuing them.

Both boys held onto their breaths. They didn't even see the animatronic stomping through the hallway. Akrasiel only just…appeared. That was all. It was a force that could be light on its footsteps. A crusty machine that could enact light to flash on itself and on their intestines.

Who could have known that an uglier version of Tails would scare them tonight?

Dave was already whimpering, clinging onto Scott's arm. "Dear, heavens. We're screwed. We're totally screwed, CoolBoy19!"

"It's Scott," whispered Scott, trying to contain his heavy breathing. "At least get that right if we die."

"I don't see a way out of this," said Dave, moving his head back into the shadows. "They seem to know how to play with the lights."

Even in a state of panic, Scott could swallow his fear and get his mind straight into a quick plan.

"OK, don't say this out loud," he whispered. "We're gonna book it out of this room down the left hallway. Take the right and left turn to the storage room. We're gonna have to get past that robot, but we must run fast, OK?"

"Can't we just fight back?" asked Dave.

"I don't think we can hold a flashlight while taking down that guy. We didn't even bring bullets for the job! Stone already put 10 rounds to the head to put the bastard down!"

Dave's eyes were directed back to the source of the upbeat music. "Fine. fine. Just go out there and see if he's still there."

Scott was about to protest, but he could feel himself pushed away. Right on time, the strobe light turned off and the music paused, leaving the room dark and quiet. Fortunately, hiding in this shadowy desk allowed him to see through the dark. Well, only a little. He could make out Akrasiel's silhouette at the door on his left.

Hopefully, those blue eyes won't turn on, thought Scott. All he needed to do was to check the door on his right. That could be their way out. Thanks to his dark feathers, he blended in the dark room. As quietly as he could, he crawled through the room as slow and quiet as possible. Nearly fast, but he wasn't exactly a land animal. He had to stop a few times when heard the slightest taps of his fingers against the floor.

He looked back at Akrasiel. The fox animatronic suddenly took a slow step forward. The clicks and mechanical whirs were light in comparison to the heavy footsteps. Seeing the fox animatronic jolt forward stiffly, meaning none of its limbs or tails shook in response, was uncanny. It was indeed a soulless robot programmed to destroy.

And it was heading towards Dave's hiding spot.

Scott crawled further to the door's frame when the animatronic took another heavy step. When he looked back, Akrasiel was gone. The crow was close to making assumptions but chose to look through the hallway left and right.

And on the right, he could see Akrasiel standing idly in the hallway.

He didn't need to wait for Akrasiel to turn around when Scott forcibly shut the door and scurried back to the desk. He didn't care if he was heard. He just needed to get back to Dave for some friendly company.

"What?!" hissed Dave. "What?! Why are you…?!"

Poor Scott was already close to breaking down, his yellow eyes bugged out. "T-T-There's a…there's a…t-t-there's a…THERE'S A-!"

Dave just shut his beak before he could get too loud. "...you know you're black enough to creep through those shadows, right?"

The crow narrowed his eyes at that comment but kept his mouth shut. Especially since Dave finally swallowed up his own fear and crawled out from the desk.

With no animatronic in the room and the door on their right closed, the cyan nutria was already on both feet. Dave was a bit quicker in making quiet footsteps towards the opened door on his left.

It could be out of frustration towards Scott's cowardice. It could be now feeling the empty coldness without the presence of unholy figures. But Dave's confidence shot up to eleven. It suddenly felt more like these animatronics were making themselves too easy to know their tactics. But Scott couldn't deny the creepiness when observing the hallway.

A liminal space where the darkness stretched to unknown destinations. Who could pop through these halls to reach the office? Those things were still out there, waiting for the right moment to strike. And Dave knew his face could be ripped off by this move. But seeing nothing moving around told of no monsters wandering around this corner.

"I think he's gone," whispered Dave.

The crow didn't seem convinced, but judging by him turning on his phone flashlight, he seemed to believe a little. Now, with the dim light provided, Dave could see the horrified look on Scott. The latter could see the former's forced mask of bravado. Scott could imagine Akrasiel jumping out from that door and tackling the cyan nutria to the ground until he was paste.

Scott found it hard to drag his feet, but in a state of flight, he was already running towards Dave. Once at the door, he looked through the hallway. He flashed his light at the darker parts. There was nobody there. No one.

Scott sighed a little in relief. "For a moment, I thought you would end up killed by the oldest tactic they would use: checking the same door."

Dave nodded. "Yeah. This would be the best way to get to-"

He didn't get to finish it when Scott screamed and pulled him right out of the way. Just in time when Akrasiel's face was close to his eyes. The fox animatronic made the opportunity to wait at the other door and tried to pounce forward, giving Dave an earful of a mechanical roar he would never forget.

In that split second, he could see Akrasiel's widened, blue eyes, already crying blood. But what he couldn't forget was the THREE rows of teeth aligned in his widened jaw, stretched into sharp fangs; a widened grin much like the Cheshire Cat himself. Fortunately, Dave didn't see the rest when it crashed into the door they were investigating.

The duo immediately blocked the door with their backs, feeling the feral animatronic attempting to enter again. They grunted, huffed and tried pressing every mole of their feet against the ground as Akrasiel screeched and scratched the door.

And it went on like this for the longest of seconds. The animatronic didn't seem to know when to give up. It was a surprise when it did…leaving the door suddenly motionless.

Immediately, Dave rushed over to the other door and shut it tight, even if the locks wouldn't work.

They waited in silence in case Akrasiel was deceiving them. Their eyes darted around for any clues. But there was nothing at all.

"I think he's gone…" said Dave nervously.

The two yelped when Scott's phone flashlight suddenly turned off. The crow smacked his phone, and it was turned back on. Scott's eyes widened, and Dave immediately noted the horrific smell, covering his nose. The two of them felt something wet reaching up to their ankles.

A pool of blood was beneath them. It didn't look fake. It looked so hyper-realistic! Just a gush of the red liquid popping into reality straight out of their imagination. How could Agatha let this kind of thing happen?! And the source of the dripping blood came from the walls, now stained in red. The blood seemed to be coming from the ceiling itself.

Scott's eyes drifted to the right and he found what looked like a drawing of Sonic-EXE. That cursed drawing of Sonic with the wide, sharp grin.

"Oh, sweet merciful crap…" muttered the crow. "This is gonna haunt me forever…"

Dave, on the other hand, used his finger to get some of the blood and taste it. His reaction explained the awful smell in the room.

"They couldn't even afford cranberry juice to do the trick," he grumbled, disappointed. "It's only paint."

But the animatronic who paid a visit was real here. Right enough to see through Dave's counteract.

The two froze at the sight of the animatronic sitting on the table. Just sitting straight up with its hands clenching the desk tightly like it could tear it to splinters. Ready to pounce. Blood was spilling from his eyes, dripping into the red pool below.

Sonic-EXE looked more alive than ever before, his red and black eyes widened. You thought that those gunshots would bore him?

They just excited him.


I'll admit, not everyone seemed to like the scary and graphic bits. A lot of children were screaming throughout the haunted house ride. But you have to start somewhere with liking scary things. Maybe this was why a few people like Pam didn't mind violence? This ride was probably like the first look into hardcore things before they climbed up to my age.

The whole time, I was shushing and even telling them that things would be alright. It was starting to feel like a mantra in calming them down. Eventually, weird looks were given to me, and my voice was drowned out by the speakers, so I piped down.

The dark atmosphere of this haunted house felt repetitive, if not unnerving. The same dark blue lightning. The monster animatronics used? They just popped out slowly from their compartments before emitting a loud sound. I only felt freaked out by the children screaming in either fear or happiness. I could only sit there awkwardly.

A lot of emphasis on the props being themed from old money. Paintings, cobweb-covered bookshelves, candles, things hanging from the ceiling. There was even a narrator's voice soothing my anxiety of what might come. However, I could see why these sights scared people. Kept in low lighting and an abandoned look, nobody could know what could pop out from the dark.

But still, I found myself observing every ambient piece here and there. Whether it was empty corridors, hidden basements, graveyards or even upside-down rooms. Actually, those abstract rooms with the majority of the props hanging from the ceiling were really impressive to me.

How much time did they nail those chairs and staircases to the ceiling? And looking up, it gave me a feeling of being on the ceiling. Being the ghost in this house without feeling the blood rushing through your head. The lighting probably helped due to the addition of glowing white spots like stars; a cosmic power granted on this ride.

The plastic monsters themselves, not as scary as I thought! Glowing skeletons, pimple-covered witches, even just…eyes in the darkness. In fact, too many colorful eyes that looked more cartoony than scary. That still got a reaction from the chittering children. In fact, the more I stared at those animatronics, the more I felt weirded out by them.

The glowing skeletons didn't look too bad. They were neon-lit! Skulls were probably a good symbol of danger. And one dangled above my head harmlessly. It nearly peeled off my bandanna, but its soft foot thankfully let go ot it.

I looked back at the sleeping Fiyero. So far, there was no shaking. He slept like a baby, the carbs he absorbed allowing him to rest easy. I'm surprised he slept through all the noise. Given the slight predictability of this ride, I was starting to see what he meant.

Unless he wanted to use a child's ride as an excuse to fall asleep.

There was a sudden loud scream of agony that rocked the train carts. I yelped and held onto the handles, alarmed by the sudden shaking. Matching what sounded like screams of pain turning into animalistic growls and bones snapping in quick rhythm.

However, that only lasted five seconds and a window on the left lit up. Revealing a dark silhouette of a hedgehog screaming at the bright moon. A loud howl emitted from the speakers, sending excitement and scare into the screaming children. I blinked blankly, not sure what to make out of.

The hedgehog here had a grown muzzle with sharp teeth, curved ears and furry shoulders, but…I couldn't really make out what was scary about this.

The artificial howl seemed to erect a reaction from Fiyero. His long tail uncurled and flipped upwards. As his eyes fluttered, he let out a low, growly yawn and slowly sat back up. Though, his droopy eyes told me he wasn't there yet.

"Are we there yet?" he moaned.

"Nearly finished," I muttered.

By the time the train carts came out of the house, Fiyero was starting to regain his energy and his eyes widened at the familiar night sky. And once it stopped, many children hopped out of the carts, blabbering happily. As I followed the bouncing Fiyero, I glanced back at the haunted house and the numerous short kids still playing.

I am too old to enjoy this kind of ride.

So is Fiyero. He was already stretching his thin arms, stretching his body. And as he did, his hoodie shifted upwards to reveal a bit of his belly. I couldn't help noticing how relaxed he became.

"Man," he yawned, flexing his tail up and down. "I was having this weird dream of some kind of guy moaning as he shifted into a huge, beastly, muscular man and then howling at the moon…"

"Umm, it kind of happened?" I said, vaguely remembering the hedgehog…thing howling from the window.

"Oh, right!" said Fiyero, his tail lowering down, wagging slowly. "I forgot it happened in real life. You should have seen the Halloween short Sonic was able to make."

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Anyway! How did you find it? Feeling sick already?"

"...I was referring to one of the…things in the haunted house…"

Trailing off, I paid attention to how I felt. Touching my stomach, all I could get out of was confusion…and awe from the production level. I tried asking the ruby. It only hummed in astonishment and enjoyment, not needing words to describe. There weren't any scares that got a disgusted reaction out of me. It only felt like a boat ride in an art museum.

"It was…something?" I said, randomly brushing my chest fur. "I thought it made me feel paranoid. It's not even gross, either."

Fiyero smirked, puffing up his chest. "Glad that I picked that ride! I've been through there many times before. I wasn't sure how fearful you would be, but I thought this might be a good start. It's pretty tame. I'll admit, I was scared the first time I came into a ride like this. But later on, it starts to grow on me."

"It grew on me immediately. I was more distracted by the look of the entire place. Even if it's not scary, I have to hand it to the team for creating such a unique haunted house!"

Fiyero tilted his head. "What makes this unique for you?"

"It's more of the environment and surroundings. Sure, they didn't change much of some creepy lighting and looks. But the decorations are fire. Like those glowing skeletons hanging around? Looks legit!" While I didn't notice, I could feel my tail wagging as I explained alongside my ruby glowing in interest. "They're pretty tame as well for kids. They might look 'scary' but they appear quite nice. A badass furniture for a killer party."

Fiyero nodded, his eyes bright towards what I found interesting of the ride. "Guess that nerves of steel got you to know this kind of props for a Halloween party."

I rolled my eyes. "Not exactly. I-I mean, I got scared from videos people were playing."

"Fair point, but you don't seem to be scared by the ride."

I shrugged, smirking a little. I knew he would want to pick this ride for a free nap, but he was right. I also handled it well without feeling too scared of what could jump out. I only paid attention to the interactions with the other kids on the ride and the look of the interior. Glancing back at the haunted house, it might not give the kids that many nightmares. After all, it was supposed to be a fun ride in Twinkle Park, if cheesy.

"I'm surprised that this acts as the first gateway for kids to see something more graphic," I said.

"Graphic?" asked Fiyero.

"Well, like getting to see scary things."

"But why would that be graphic?"

"Cause it's scary? And explicit?" On instinct, tail wrapped around my legs shyly. "Well, like something, that…could end up being violent? Monsters can be violent and…" The image was already in my head. "...tear the guts out of people? Isn't this the kind of thing kids want to hide from their parents?"

Fiyero blinked. "That was oddly specific."

"I mean, well…it's not too bad for a place meant to 'scare' people. Kind of like for the whole family, but not exactly aimed for adults?"

"Well, it is for the whole family. And you said it yourself: the environment is a highlight of such attraction."

I grinned, now fully confident with explaining clearly. "Oh, yes! Doesn't give a bi scare, but just a little hints here and there to enjoy. Easygoing, subtle, but enjoyable."

Fiyero rubbed his chin, staring back at the haunted house. He muttered something about 'art' before turning on his heel. I followed after him, leading him to the right for an attraction that caught my sight earlier. As we walked away, he placed a friendly arm around my shoulder and leaned a little onto my shoulder. I responsed with just resting my head against his.

"I'll admit they did a good job with the look!" he said. "It could look like a spookier version of my house. The handmade touch could add to the Halloween feel."

"That I can tell," I remarked, comparing the new money look of Fiyero's mansion to the old money look of this attraction. "And would you say the 'monsters' inside are to admire?"

"I suppose so. I actually like the witch legends. They're good cat petters! Though, the only missing monsters to give me PTSD are spiders."

"Aren't non-anthropomorphic spiders small? Like you can just…?" To demonstrate, I lifted up one foot and slammed it hard to the ground.

Fiyero just laughed sheepishly. "I just don't like the sting. One time, it took about three gunshots to put a tarantula down. It wanted some gold flies, so I gave it some golden spikes."

This time, it was my turn to laugh. Even my ruby beeped loudly in response. Unable to hide my amusement, I shook him by the shoulder. "Oh, man! That's a huge counterattack you put on such an insect! Though, if I have a gun, I would put a bullet into the head of one monster that scares me the most."

"What would that be?"

"Clowns?"

As if on cue, I turned to see a clown staring right at me.

"Oh, Judas Priest!" I hissed, jumping on my toes.

No, wait. It was just an inactive clown animatronic sitting in a fortune teller stall. You know, the ones where you placed the coin in and the animatronic inside tell you your fate? It was cross-eyed, but the green eyeshadow, the pale face and the exaggeratedly red thick lips made it uncanny. Surprisingly, this fortune teller was positioned a few feet away from the circus tent.

Fiyero, on the other hand, wasn't fazed by the animatronic. "That so?"

"Wait, you don't find clowns scary?" I asked.

"I've hired at least 300 in the past. They're all the same." Judging by the tiger's bored look, he seemed familiar with clowns a lot. "I mean, some monster clown who only slapped on mascara for extra flair, chasing little children who are more scared of their dreams crushed and always focused on collecting candy than finding the nearest adult. It's repetitive."

Just seeing the clown animatronic staring absentmindedly was enough to send chills down my spine. "But they're REALLY scary! And it's for their deranged laughter. Who knows what they're put through? Who knows how many times they bleached their faces? Who knows if their rooms were filled with helium…?"

As I explained, my mind drifted off when I thought back to the circus shows me and my squad watched. Arguably, the clowns were the most remarkable things I could ever remember. The jesters were the more calmer performers, but it was the clowns that caused a riot. They just kept laughing and laughing until their faces showed a sign of real color…

Let's not forget how bad of a nuisance they were. I remembered having one clown shoving my face in a cream pie. For 5 minutes. I nearly suffocated that day. Another moment was seeing Ace leaning back from a big grin and a flaming torch pointed at him. And you couldn't forget when Fender decided to prank me and Paz by dressing up as a clown and pointing a rocket at us.

I could hear it now. The sound of her laughter was like the nasty, masculine clowns high on drugs. The crackle of colorful sparkles that symbolized the nightmares you would see in your sleep. And the explosion warm under my feet sending me a thousand feet in the air until I concentrated on landing properly. And now, my insides felt like they were turned inside out!

"Hello?" called Fiyero, a blurry hand waving in my vision. "Wakey wakey. You're there, mate?"

I was daydreaming again. Remembering what happened last time, I shook my head and adjusted myself back to the present. I looked down at my hands. They were not glitching. At my ruby, it growled deeply. Slowly, my fear of clowns turned into surprise that I didn't act out again.

"I-I'm fine!" I quickly said with a grin, sweaty. "I'm fine."

Fiyero looked concerned. "OK. Well, there's no typical 'clowns' at this circus. We should be fine! They won't come at us…"

Too late.

The next biggest surprise came when an ACTUAL clown, one with white makeup and red lips, popped right between us.

A tall, lanky, plump-looking clown…wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses and whooping at the top of his lungs?

As we made for him to pass, we looked behind to see more happy-go-lucky clowns following him, dancing around with one holding onto a STEREO out of all things. Their brightly-colored clown outfits couldn't make up for their horny, gangster, poet attitudes. Those dark sunglasses and golden teeth that shine like stars.

I was too shocked to comment on the song and utterly destroyed by the amount of drunk teens following the crazy group, singing along.

But as I watched those clowns pass by us, I took into the song. It sounded…pretty free, like it didn't need a melody. Just a catchy rap and rhythm. I don't always hear rap, but hearing that added to the silliness of these clowns definitely made them funny. They were intentionally funny by BEING funny for once.

I was beginning to smile for once. These hip clowns didn't look too bad! And after all the worries of today's technology, they used today's music to muck around the right way.

Fiyero, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded. "OK. Wut?"

"Actually, these ones aren't so bad!" I commented.

"You're sure about that? That's 'trying too hard'. I know what trendy looks like."

"At least they are not threatening anyone! Can we please have a closer listen to what song they are playing?"

"You know you can listen to it on Spotify…"


A bruised Dave flailed around in the long hallway. He would have to thank Chaos when he found the window at the wall of the circus tent. Disoriented and high on energy, he slammed his face and hands against the window and started banging on the hard glass.

"HELP!" he screamed in agony. "SOMEBODY, HELP! PLEASE!"

And that was when Sonic-EXE finally caught up to the whiny nutria and tried pulling him away. Dave wasn't one to be overwhelmed, repeatedly elbowing the animatronic in the stomach. Outside, it was a blurry of hits and punches people nearby could hear. Well, except for one group who just passed by.

The gangster clowns were already walking down their turfs, dancing carelessly to the awful hip-hop music. Obsidian and Fiyero were among the fans following them. The jackal was already holding onto his second given cocktail, laughing drunkenly. Meanwhile, the growling tiger sipped his fifth glass to stay sober…before he crushed the glass.

The loud music, laughter and constant movement of the group drowned out the commotion inside the tent. Not even Sonic-EXE pinning Dave to the window and smashing the entire window caught attention. Obsidian's head had just turned away from the window before the impact when a female clown gave him a blow-kiss, prompting a bashful blush.

Even when Fiyero turned to the clown, his blurred mind was on her instead of the window. A kiss on his cheek was enough to make him forget about anything.

Nobody heard Sonic-EXE throwing Dave to the ground before punching him multiple times like his fist was a dagger. But as the group continued to walk on, a blur of black tackled the Sonic lookalike to the ground. A few seconds later, black eyes with red pupils shot back up. Now without its prey, the animatronic glared at the oblivious people at Twinkle Park before chasing after its prey.


AN: For some reason, the horror parts feel a little slow-paced and too much like the Brandon Rogers video I took inspiration from. I wish I had done more for Agent Stone's encounter with Sonic-EXE. But don't worry. I promise I'll make scarier scenes in the next chapter. :D

When trying to think of the kinds of things Obsidian and Fiyero would do, I only thought of attractions and rides. Then, I came across a 2023 Food Theory video where they tested out the best state fair food. That one got me drooling. So, I decided to have them take on the challenge to not vomit. So far, Obsidian is winning and might be due to cheating.

I'll admit that the ominous music box tune Akrasiel used on his prey would be the theme song of The Amazing Digital Circus (another damn great show my favorite Aussie animation studio). And the song those hipster clowns play would be the incredibly sexual 'Hot in Herre' by Nelly. Just ask Dave his thoughts on that song when Sonic-EXE gave him a beatdown while the B-Boys blare music in a Scream 2 reference.

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. If there is any feedback or constructive criticism you want to share, let me know in your review. It would be nice to hear open thoughts to know what to improve.

Until next time, keep on rocking!