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Sonic the Hedgehog and Ivo Robotnik are '1991/2002 SEGA.

FOREWORD

Here's a little something I wrote a while ago that I was saving for around Halloween. Wa ha ha and all that.

Oh, and do submit to my Halloween fanfiction contest! Go to the following URL for more information: http://graffitiwall.tripod.com/halloweencontest.html.

Um, yeah. That's all. Enjoy.

SJZ

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Stephen Zacharus

THE DARKNESS

A Sonic the Hedgehog Halloween Story

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'You brought the ouija board, right?'

'Of course I brought the damn ouija board,' Joni said, reaching into her backpack. 'Like I'd forget that.'

'Just checking.' Carly rolled down her sleeves, shivering just a bit. A bitter, nighttime wind was slicing through forest behind them. 'Candles?'

'Yeah, those too.'

'Matches?'

A sigh. 'YES.'

'Okay, good. Getting a little chilly out here, though.'

'Everything about this place is cold.'

Carly grinned wickedly. 'You have no idea.'

They stepped up to the ruins of the Robotropolis factory with more than a little hesitation. 'This place gives me the heebie-jeebies,' Joni said. 'C'mon, Carly, let's go back''

'No! We came this far, don't chicken out on me now!'

''I don't want to talk to a ghost anymore!'

'It's not just any ghost,' Carly said flatly, taking the ouija board from Joni. 'It's the ghost of Sonic the Hedgehog! He's a martyr.'

Joni rolled her eyes. 'WhatEVER. A ghost is a ghost in my eyes. I don't care if his name is Sonic or Robotnik.'

Of course, everyone knew about the legendary Last Battle that took place at that very factory; any kindergartener, in fact, could probably recite the event by route. Exactly fifty-three years ago from that day, the Hedgehog had attempted to take out then-dictator Ivo Robotnik once and for all with a high-powered explosive device. He didn't escape in time.

Nevertheless, the sacrifice was what won the Freedom Fighters the war. The hollow, charred ruins of the overlord's city were left as an eternal reminder of what had been fought for.

And now here they were: standing before the very factory where the whole thing had ended. Twisted shards of steel hung unto the open like an architectural skeleton, gutted and exposed. A hole in the side of the complex was gaping like a shark's mouth'yawning, inviting. Joni had a bad feeling about this.

'C'mon,' Carly said. 'It's Halloween night. What the hell else are we going to do? Go trick-or-treating? Pa-leez.'

Joni gritted her teeth. She hated it when her friend pulled these shitty coercion tactics on her.

They always seemed to work, too.

'Oh-KAY, fine,' came her reply at last. 'Let's go.'

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The two teenaged foxgirls found a decent enough place inside to set up their ouija board and candles. It was probably the most structurally-sound room in the building (albeit a bit charred, of course): empty space, no windows, and a single, huge doorway leading right outside. That way if something scared the piss out of them, they could run away pretty easily. Joni didn't like the idea any better, though.

'There,' Carly said, lighting the last of the candles and placing it against the far wall with the others, 'we're ready.'

'Goodie.'

'Oh, try to have a little fun for once, will you? Who knows. We just might talk with the Blue Dude himself.'

'I hate that nickname.'

'Why?'

'I dunno. It just' sounds disrespectful or something.'

'Pfft. Whatever, girl. That's what he called himself, wasn't it?'

'I dunno. Are we gonna do this or what?'

'Right, right, right. Sit across from me and place your fingers on the pointer.'

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There was something about the darkness at the far end of the room that Joni found unsettling. Beyond their little pool of candlelight, the room became so dark, so completely, horrifyingly black that anything could be hiding there without them knowing.

''we mean you no harm,' Carly was saying, eyes closed, fingers on the pointer; evidently she had done this sort of thing before. 'We just want to speak with you''

Joni was hardly paying attention, of course, each line babbling in and out of her ears like the dust that gripped each corner of the dead factory. She couldn't take her eyes off of that awful darkness across the room. She could almost see a pair of eyes looking back at her' cold'

''and guide this pointer in answ' Joni, are your eyes closed?'

Her eyelids snapped shut. 'Sorry.'

''and guide this pointer in answer to our questions''

She couldn't help it. Joni opened her eyes and watched the nearby darkness, tensing, tensing. The candlelight was wavering slightly, dancing off the walls, occasionally diving deeper into the darkness only to recede again and'

She saw something.

Quick. Barely visible.

Nevertheless, she was certain. Something had moved from within that inky, gaping blackness. Shifted, maybe. Slipped further into darkness, perhaps.

Or maybe it was preparing to strike.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the darkness and the candlelight until she realized something that chilled her even more.

'Carly,' she said quickly, 'do you feel a breeze in here?'

A pause. 'No, nothing at all. Why?'

Joni nodded to the candles.

'They're flickering.'

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'Spirit,' Carly was whispering, 'are you here?'

Nothing. The pointer rested icily beneath their fingertips.

'C'mon, Carly, we've been here for over an hour, let's just get out of here''

'Wait! I think I feel something''

'You're crazy. There's nothi''

She felt it, too' a strange tickling underneath their fingers.

She gasped as the pointer, ever so slowly, began to move.

'O'

''O.

Silence.

And then, Carly began to laugh.

'You've flipped,' Joni exhaled, backing up from the ouija board.

'No' no! This all makes perfect sense! Here, let's keep going''

'You do it, I'm not touching that thing.'

'Fine.'

It was cold in the room. Not nighttime cold, but a stale, slow cold'suffocating, not stabbing.

'Spirit, please tell us your name''

Joni just watched, her back against the wall, arms hugging her knees.

Carly shuddered and the pointer moved.

'U'

''E'

'''S'

''''S.

Silence.

It didn't take as long for Carly to laugh this time.

'See?' she said, pointing, 'it's GOT to be Sonic! It fits his personality perfectly! '

But Joni had seen plenty.

'This is freaking me out, I'm gone.'

She would have left, too, had it not been for the doorway' which was now sealed with a thick steel slab.

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'Trapped' trapped, oh Goddess, TRAPPED''

Joni had collapsed in a heap against the door. She was hyperventilating. Now Carly was gripping her by the shoulders and shaking her.

'Snap out of it, Joni! Listen to me! We're getting out of here, okay? Just pull it together!! We're GETTING OUT OF HERE!'

Joni almost laughed at the irrationality of that statement.

Almost.

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The world didn't seem real anymore. It was so cold' cold' they could see each other's breath'

Through the remaining tears in her eyes, Joni could also see Carly at the ouija board.

'Is Sonic here'?'

The answer came immediately.

'O.

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She saw it again'whatever was moving in that dark spot across the room. It was moving more often now, but Joni had stopped caring a few hours earlier. Before long they wouldn't be able to see anything at all. The candles were snuffing themselves out, one by one.

Carly was throwing herself against the steel door, shrieking, choking on tears and indigestible fear.

'Who are you?' she screamed, 'WHO ARE YOU?'

Joni somehow had the presence of mind to glance at the ouija board. The pointer had moved since the last time she'd looked at it.

It was now resting on a single letter.

'R.

Just then, the last candle flickered out.

Darkness.

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It lunged.