Sonic - The Squid Games

by AnsDoesFandoms

Summary:

*The overall story is finished, just not the endings. I’ll get to them when I have the motivation lol*

“The awakening sound of a classical tune rings throughout the building. Sounds of groans and screams fill the air, causing chaos to ensue.”
Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends wake up in a dormitory full of 456 people. They must compete in 6 games over a course of 6 days to win 456 million dollars to escape this hell. Lives will be lost, friendships will be broken, and people will die.

Notes:

This is mainly a rough draft! Feel free to give feedback and comments💕. It would be much appreciated!

Chapter 1: Smile

The awakening sound of a classical tune rings throughout the building. Sounds of groans and screams fill the air, causing chaos to ensue.
“Where am I?!?”
“Please help!”
“Where’s my daughter?!”
Sonic rubs his eyes, sitting up in his bed. He yawns, glancing around at everyone in matching muted teal tracksuits. He mutters a quiet ‘what?’ to himself, gazing at the hundreds of bunkbeds surrounding the walls of this dormitory.

Suddenly, a beep comes from a metal door, and masked men in hot pink tracksuits walk out.
The guard wearing a square mask stands firmly, beginning a speech. “I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all. Everyone here will participate in six different games over six consecutive days. Those who win each game will earn a handsome cash prize.”
All the players look around at each other, murmuring.
A young voice speaks up, “How…how much do we receive at the end of these games?”
The guard presses a button on a remote, and a clear piggy bank starts to slowly descend from the ceiling. “Your prize money after every game will be accumulated in there. The amount of money will be disclosed after the first game finishes.”
The guards stand there menacingly, then giving their last presentation. “The first game will begin shortly.”

Sonic tries sprinting to the guards, but stumbles, the quick realization that his powers were numbed. He couldn’t run.
“Sonic!” A young yellow-orange fox spots his cobalt blue hedgehog friend, sprinting to him, proceeding to push people out of the way.
“Hey, watch it!” The pushed guy yells out, but then his eyes widen when he realized who it was.
“Knuckles!” Tails gasps, a tinge of embarrassment on his face knowing he pushed him. Sonic approaches the two of them, forming a group of three.
“Are you guys okay?” Sonic asks, scanning them.
“I don’t know how I ended up here…” Tails mutters, watching the guards walk away.
“We’ll find a way out, fox,” Knuckles replies, trying to keep his stress levels to a minimum. Just then, people fall, crashing into each other.
“Hey, stop! Why are you fighting?!” A pink hedgehog gets in the middle of a fight, trying to stop it before more damage is done. One of the men push her up against the bunkbed, holding his fist up to her face.
“Hey, quit!” Sonic grabs the guy’s arm, shoving him away from Amy. “Are you hurt?” He brings her with him to walk away from the mess.
“I’m fine. Thank you.” Amy takes a deep breath, nodding her head.

“Amy!” Tails shouts her name, running over and hugging her tightly.
“What is this place?” A familiar white bat approaches, glancing at Knuckles then at everyone else.
“Rouge.” Knuckles scoffs, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
Tails gazes around, trying to spot more friends. Team Chaotix approach, a small bee enthusiastically waving at everyone. Right behind them are the Diamonds Cutters. A wolf with a mask is talking to a grey lemur.
“There is a lot of people here…” Sonic mumbles, scanning the room.
“There’s at least 400 people in here.” Tails replies, doing the mental math in his head.
“400 people in this one room. Nobody knows what’s happening, nobody knows where we are, nobody knows anything. Eggman’s most likely behind this.” Vector puts his hands on his hips while Charmy sits on his shoulder.
“What numbers do you guys have?” Whisper pops in the group that subconsciously formed into a circle.
“Numbers?” Tangle questions, but then notices a number on Whisper’s jacket. “Huh. Mines 71.”
Everyone says their numbers aloud, talking amongst each other.
“Ms. Amy!” A young cream colored rabbit strolls over to Amy, the assumed mother following in pursuit.
“Cream dear, you don’t know what’s happening! Don’t run to people without—“ Vanilla notices Amy alongside many familiar faces. She clears her throat, letting Cream go.

“Players. The first game will now commence. Please walk forward.” A guard calls out, a big metal door opening behind.
“Out of my way, punk!” A lime green tenrec shoves a person out of the way, dragging a teal kitsune behind.
“Surge…” Kitsunami grasps Surge’s arm tightly.
“Player 359, please step forward to take your picture.” A guard motions them to proceed.
“Smile!” A feminine voice rings out over an intercom. Surge walks in front of a camera, holding a middle finger up and sticking her tongue out. Right after, Kit smiles shyly, the screen displaying ‘Player 373’ after the picture was taken successfully. Kitsunami tags behind Surge swiftly, following the guards up the labyrinth of stairs.
“I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here with me…I’d be so scared!” Kit rambles on and on while Surge trudges towards the game’s opening door.
“You’ll be fine, kid.” Surge grins, patting Kit’s shoulder.

Everyone else walks in subsequently, taking their photos and admiring the strange…but almost nostalgic stairs in different bright colors.
“This looks like something I’d see on a show!” Charmy gasps, climbing up the steps like a little child—which he is.
“I wonder how someone can design this so effortlessly,” Espio questions to himself, then turning to the other two Chaotix.
“I know right?! It’s very cooly designed,” Charmy replies with enthusiasm.
“Cooly??? That isn’t a word, Charmy.” Vector rolls his eyes, proceeding up the stairs.
“It’s a word if you put your mind to it!” Tangle laughs, and Whisper shakes her head in response.
“I’m excited for this game! If we win, we get money, mama!” Cream says excitedly, dragging Vanilla behind her.
“We don’t need money, dear, but I enjoy the enthusiasm. Don’t ever lose that,” Vanilla says. Cream just nods with a smile.
“Nobody’s questioned how we got here
or what we’re doing. This is super suspicious.” Tails mumbles to himself, with Sonic walking beside him.
“Don’t worry, I understand what you mean, but we can’t stress over this. Let’s enjoy the game and then we can figure that out.” Sonic strolls along, putting his hands behind his head.
“Maybe if I win, I could get some new gems for my collection. Maybe a certain…green emerald?” Rouge puts her face close to Knuckles, with him shoving her away.
“No.”
In front of everyone, the door widens, and it leads to another area.

Chapter 2: Red Light, Green Light

Summary:

The players enter the game hall, being escorted into the next game: Red Light, Green Light.

“Woah…” People gasp and mutter, taking in the scenery. It was just a fake wall, but the sky was open, birds flying over.
A woman’s voice goes over a loud speaker. “Attention all players. After you enter the game hall, please stand on the white line drawn on the field and await further instructions.”
“Huh…”
Everyone diverges across the field, talking to one another.
“Look at that, over there.” Someone points out a robotic doll at the end in front of a tree.
“That looks like Sage!” Amy taps Sonic’s shoulder, pointing it out to him.
“It does. If there’s a doll of her, that means Eggman must be here.” Sonic squints his eyes, trying to get a better look.

“Welcome to Red Light, Green Light. When the doll says Green Light, you continue forward. When the doll says Red Light, you don’t move. If you move around during Red Light, you will be eliminated. If you do not make it to the other side in time, you will be eliminated. I will repeat the rules once more.” The same voice calls out over an intercom. During this explanation time, the doll spins around, facing the tree it’s stationed at.
“Red Light, Green Light?! I love this game!” Charmy grins with happiness, shaking Espio out of excitement.
“Me too! But we don’t want to lose! I want the money.” Cream smiles, jumping up and down. “Mama, is it okay if I go on ahead with my friends?”
“Sure, sweetheart. Don’t trip and get hurt.” Vanilla nods.
“Here Cream, you can hold Froggy for me.” A big purple cat approaches, offering a small green frog who quietly ribbits.
“Wow, thank you Mr. Big!” Cream exclaims, Froggy jumping into Cream’s small hands.
A few yards away, Sonic is challenging his friends. “Race ya to the end,” Sonic grins, Knuckles shaking his head no in response. Seems he likes doing that.
“I’m not racing you. It’s useless anyway, our powers are gone.” Knuckles inspects his gloves, then glancing back at the familiar doll. “Hey, it’s that girl from the islands!”
“I know, I know. We can figure this all out later. Let’s play this game and get it over with, yea?” Sonic nudges Knuckles’ shoulder.

“With that, let the game begin!” The voice finishes, and a timer on the wall appears, displaying a solid five minutes. The doll begins humming some sort of song. Everyone begins to head towards the doll. Some run, some leisurely walk, some stand still in confusion. The doll abruptly stops, and Big doesn’t notice. He continues forward, then noticing the doll’s eyes staring directly at him.
“Oh. I didn’t stop.” Big blinks a few times. Without warning, a loud shot rings through the air. Big gets shot back into the ground, blood spilling everywhere. A player slowly contorts their head, gazing back at Big’s dead body. Immediately on the spot, they too get shot.
“Player 420, eliminated.”
Panic and chaos forms, with players sprinting to escape. Those not moving stand in complete shock, bodies numb. Froggy jumps out of Cream’s hands, hopping over to Big. Cream looks through her peripherals, witnessing Froggy get absolutely obliterated by a bullet wound. Someone rushes into Cream hurriedly, pushing her down to the ground.
“Cream, no!” Vanilla runs to her daughter, but falls in front of her—the now lifeless body landing right beside her child.
“Mama…” Cream trembles, her own self miraculously living. Vanilla’s body twitches, the blood swiftly pouring out begins to soak Cream’s light fur and attire.
Just a few seconds later, it goes quiet. The gunshots stop. The feeling is the air is no less than fear and the sense of dread. The only sounds are Cream quietly sobbing beside her mother.
“Players, I will now repeat the rules.”

“MWAHAHAHAHA!!!” A loud voice laughs which resonates around the whole room.
“Boss, your food is prepared,” A robotic voice speaks out from behind the big man who previously laughed.
“Good. Metal, oversee the game while I go eat.” Eggman grabs a mask, putting it on his face as he promptly walks out. Metal Sonic watches the boss trudge out, the electric door closing behind him. Metal twists around, staring up at the screen displaying the players.
In another room, a bunch of the masked men in pink suits sit in front of computers, monitoring the game.
Eggman marches in, announcing himself, “Good work my machines. Continue this work while I eat.”

“Guard 05, you’re stationed to shoot players on the right side of the field.” A walkie talkie displays the voice of another.
“Yes sir,” the guard numbered five replies deeply, aiming his sniper through the window peeking out towards the players. He shuts his eyes for a moment, composing himself. He glances down at the young rabbit beside her deceased mother.
“Good shot on the big rabbit. Eliminate the other one and the trauma should be gone.” One of the other guards casually laugh into the walkie talkie.
“No. We go by the rules,” Guard 05 responds, staring down at the field now tainted with splotches of crimson.

“The game will now continue.” The feminine voice stops the automated speech. The doll turns around, humming again. Players walk forward, some stay put in fear.
Sonic knows he’s a leader. He’s always been one. He needs to live up to that title. “When she stops singing, don’t move!” He yells out, looking back at his friends. Vector runs backwards, grabbing Cream and hoisting her up into his arms.
“Mama!” Cream shouts, lifting her arm in a grabbing motion.
Surge grabs Kit’s hand firmly as they speed walk forward.
“We have to go, come on!” Knuckles yells back, seeing a group of people huddled together without moving an inch.
The doll finishes humming, the head twisting 180 degrees sharply. The eyes of the doll move frantically, scanning the field for any moving targets. An innocent mobian falls back, blood shooting out of their chest. The doll resets, humming that same tune.

“Everyone go, now!” Sonic shouts, grasping Tails’ hand. A suddenly realization dawns on Tails. He can’t keep quiet.
“The doll’s eyes are sensors! It senses when you move!” Tails looks around at everyone.
“Tails, stay behind me,” Sonic mutters, stopping instantly when the humming falters. Around the field, a small number of people perish, and the games continue. The clock ticks down.

Chapter 3: Guarded

Summary:

Post-Game trauma—how is everyone holding up after the devastating loss of so many lives?

The clock hits 0, and the remaining players get shot down, claiming the title of eliminated. The overhead voice announces the numbers of the perished players. Everyone’s dazed, oblivious, traumatized, and scarred for life.
“My god…” Amy sobs, sprinting over and hugging Cream tightly, putting her hand on the back of the rabbit’s trembling head.
Off to the side, Rouge throws up away from everyone else. Knuckles stands a distance away, occasionally glancing to make sure she’s okay.
“Whisper, are you alright?” Tangle holds Whisper’s hands, looking in her eyes.
“Yes,” she whispers back.
Tails sits on the sand, anxiously rocking back and forth in a ball shape.
The Chaotix are together, with Espio holding Charmy close to him. Vector stares back onto the field, his eyes lingering on Vanilla’s deceased body.
Surge sits on the grass beside the sobbing Kitsunami.
“Players, you will now be headed back to the dormitory.” A guard announces, the overhead sky slowly closing above.

Guard 05 rises from the chair stationed in the sniping quarters.
“Guard 05. Why didn’t you shoot the little bitch who moved? If she died, she wouldn’t have to witness her mother’s death,” A fellow guard chuckles. “You’re a pussy.”
“The player didn’t show up in the spots.” The guard responds. “Now leave me alone.”
“Pssht, okay man.” The fellow guard marches away, leaving Guard 05 alone in the hallway.
The guard walks to his designated quarters for the free time until further notice. He locks the door, shutting it tightly. He sits on the mattress, letting out a sigh of frustration. He yanks the mask off, throwing it against the wall and muttering curse words.
“Damn it…” The guard pulls down his hood, adjusting his black quills with red highlights. “Why am I here?”
Shadow turns to the bedside table, grabbing a notebook he keeps inside one of the drawers. He got the trait of describing personal thoughts down from Maria when she was on the ARK. He grabs a pen, sloppily writing his thoughts on the page.

The guards escort the players back to the dormitory, firmly holding their firearms to show their place in this hierarchy. A guard motions Cream to go, and she stands in place, shaking. Vector walks over and picks her up, carrying her with him back to the sleeping quarters.
Tangle and Whisper trudge down the stairs holding hands, gazing over at Surge and Kit in the other stairwell.
“Sonic,” Amy starts, walking behind Sonic into the huge room they woke up in. “You and Tails probably saved so many people.”
Sonic just nods his head, sighing and staring at the ground as he walks. “We’ll talk later about this, alright?”
“I understand.” Amy replied, looking back at Rouge covering her mouth crying.

After everyone proceeds into the dormitory, the higher-ups give a moment of interminable silence over the current events.
“I want to get out of here!” Charmy sobs, shoving his head into a pillow. Espio sits beside him on the same bunkbed while Vector sits on another, holding Cream against his shoulder.
“We’ll find a way out, I promise,” Espio states, looking at everyone with firm and revenge-filled eyes.
“I miss my mother,” Cream mumbles, clinging onto Vector tightly.
“I know you do, kid. We’re all here and we’ll protect you.” Vector glances at Espio, deeply sighing. Before he can mutter any more words, the big metal doors open, with guards flocking out and onto the platform which they stand on.
“Congratulations to all the players who have passed the first game. Here are the results.” A square-masked guard pulls out a remote, and stacks of money begin pouring into the piggy bank. Simultaneously, a huge screen displayed on the front wall counts down the number of plays and shows the increase of prize money.
“We don’t need money,” Whisper says quietly, clenching her fists in her lap.
“I know.” Tangle sighs, staring at the piggy bank increase with every death from the previous game.

“The current prize money stands at 245 million dollars. Players, rest up and prepare for tomorrow’s game.” The guard turns around, walking out of sight along with the others. A lot of players stare in awe at the money, others sobbing quietly.
“Tails, you alright?” Sonic walks over to his two-tailed friend, who’s watching everything go down from his bunkbed against the back wall.
“I’m fine.” Tails hops off the bed, wiping a tear with his palm. “I’m acting like a coward.”
“Don’t say that. Anyone else would have the same reaction.” Sonic rests his hand on Tails’ shoulder.
“I know, but—“ Tails’ train of thought gets lost in all of the other overly complicated things he has going on in his mind.
Amy approaches from another direction, gazing at both of her friends. “Are you two okay?” She embraces Tails with a hug, looking at Sonic.
“We’re going to find a way out.” Sonic stares up at the ceiling, then meeting Amy’s eyes for a moment. “I promise.”
At another side of the room, Rouge and Knuckles sit on adjacent bunkbeds.
“With all the prize money, I could buy myself all the jewels in the world.” Rouge smirks, picturing the scenario in her head.
“Your last concern should be winning the prize money. Your safety is more important than some temporary happiness.” Knuckles rolls his eyes.
“I know, I was joking.” Rouge gives back that same attitude. “But I’m glad you care for me.”

“Attention players. Dinner will be distributed in 30 minutes. Please prepare for your meal.” The same female voice goes over the intercom.
“How can anyone eat after what just happened?” Espio shakes his head with disdain.

Chapter 4: Warning

Summary:

I’ll be so honest I don’t know how to summarize this chapter. It’s pretty much filler. But good filler…?

“Father.” Sage approaches, gazing at her father who’s staring at a big screen.
“What is it my dear?” Eggman twists his head around to look back at his child.
“The VIP’s have put in their bets. Most of them picked Sonic,” she says, holding a piece of paper.
“I’m not surprised. Very well. Go rest now, daughter.” Eggman pats Sage’s head, shooing her away from him politely.
“Yes sir,” Sage replied with a nod, hovering over to the door.
Eggman sighs deeply, staring up at the camera in the corner of the room.

A few hours later, another classical tune is the sound to announce that it is time to rise from the slumber everyone had.
“Players, breakfast will be distributed in 30 minutes. Please get up and ready.” The intercom declares.
Sonic gets out of bed first, going over to his friends one by one to either wake them up or ask how they’re doing. As he’s discussing the game to Tangle and Whisper, he looks over and sees another group starting a fight. He glances over, eyeing Amy when she hesitates to walk over.
“One moment,” Sonic says, leaving the two girls alone for a moment. He paces over to Amy, narrowing his eyes when she tries reaching for someone who’s throwing punches. He pulls her away, grabbing her wrist for a moment.
“Hey, what was that for?” Amy shoves him off her.
“You should know better than putting yourself in a middle of a fight! I know you want to help everyone, but in a situation like this, just let it go.” Sonic holds her shoulders for a moment, then letting his arms drop by his side.
“Those people will end up getting hurt.” Amy crossed her arms.
“And you will too, Ames. In here, if you make yourself a target, you’re gone. We haven’t been here long, but I can guarantee that something will go down eventually.” Sonic speaks the truth. She is listening and does understand, but she doesn’t like the thought of it. She already saw some of her friends die, and she wouldn’t want anyone else to have that same fate.
“…Fine.” Amy huffs.
“Thank you.” Sonic sighs, watching her go sit back down.

“Players, please prepare for the second game.” A bunch of guards stand at the metal doors, awaiting further instruction.
“What do you think the game is?” Charmy asks, sitting on Vector’s head.
“It could be anything! How are we supposed to know?” Vector groans, holding Cream’s hand.
“Maybe it will be easy,” Espio states.
Cream observes one of the guards who stares down at her. She can’t tell what the guard is thinking because of the mask concealing it’s face, but she has the feeling it won’t harm her. She releases her hand from Vector’s and strolls over to the guard.
“Hi Mr. Guard! I was wondering if—“ She smiles, then gasps when she sees the guard aiming their gun at her chest.
Amy immediately steps in, pulling Cream back. “Don’t touch her!”
“Please do not toy with the guards,” a square-mask stares down at the child.
“I-I’m sorry…” Cream clings onto Amy’s side, wrapping her arms around her tightly.
“Players, please enter into the game hall to proceed into the next game.” The square-mask opens the door to the game hall, preceding everyone else to come after.

“I wonder what this game is going to be,” Kit yaps to himself out loud.
“I dunno, but we have to make some fun out of it! We can’t be fearful 24/7, that just makes everyone pussies.” Surge yells, not realizing it.
“O-okay. I’ll have fun then..!” Kit smiles.
“Now that’s the spirit!” Surge chuckles.
“Go.” A guard pushes Kit forward.
“Eep!” Kit runs down the steps, almost tripping on himself.

“How interesting…” A voice scoffs, watching the game play out.

Chapter 5: The Cookie Crumbles

Summary:

The players are escorted to the second game: Cookie Cutting (Dalgona).

"Players, welcome to the 2nd game. Please stand in one of the four lines in front of you." The feminine voice announces, repeating the same speech a few times as the players proceed into the game room.
"There's 4 different lines and each door in front has a question mark on it..." Tails thinks.
"So what, is this just a luck thing?" Rouge checks out a guard, then averts her attention to Tails.
"I suppose so. I think we should split up and pick different ones!" Tails declares.
"I'll go to the right one then." Knuckles trudges over to the right door, and Amy follows behind to join in that line.
"I'll just fill in I guess," Sonic says, strolling over to the door to the middle left. Tails pops into the middle right, and Rouge goes to the far left. Tangle and Whisper go into the same line as Tails, and Surge and Kit join Amy and Knuckles' line.
"Mr. Vector, I will go join Ms. Amy," Cream tells Vector.
"That's alright. Just stay safe, okay?" Vector nods his head, observing her as she bounces away.
"We should all go into different groups." Espio points to the different doors.
"Oh, okay! I will go into Sonic's line!" Charmy attempts to flip in the air, but gets reminded that he can't fly here and plummets to the ground. "Aw dang it."
Vector joins Tails' line, and Espio joins Rouge's line.

"The game you will be playing is Cookie Cutting. The door you picked will open and you'll receive a cookie of a shape that is secret until the game starts." The voice commanded. The doors all open in sync, and guards march out. A table is wheeled in, and a bunch of metal containers lay atop. The circle-mask guards start handing them out one by one. The triangle-mask guards diverge around the game area, waiting for the game to start.
Eventually all the players settle down, sitting in different spots on the sand.

"Oh wow, a cookie!" Charmy opens the lid of the metal container and picks up his cookie. The shape to cutout is an infinite symbol similar to a horizontal number eight. "Mine is a backwards five!"
"Mine's an emerald." Espio glances down at his.
Rouge gasps in relief. "I got an emerald too. How fitting."
"I have a ring." Vector shows his friends. "Wait Charmy...what did you get?"
"A backwards seven!" He motions to Vector.
"No you bimbo, that's an infinite sign. It's a horizontal 2." Vector scoffs.
"You two are idiots. It's a horizontal eight. Eight!" Espio shakes his head in disbelief.

"Players, the timer starts now!" The voice announced abruptly, causing almost everyone to be caught off guard.
Everyone begins to work on attempting to cut out the cookie. Within just the first few seconds, someone gets shot, and blood splatters on Knuckles' cookie.
"Holy..." Knuckles' eyes widen when he sees the dead body fall right in front of him. He seems to be having a hard time cutting out his heart cookie with his gloves.
Tails glances over at Sonic, who is staring down at the cookie in his hand which is an infinity symbol. "Sonic, we don't have time. Cut the cookie-" Tails tries helping his friend, but flinches when he hears a gunshot near him.
"I know, I know..." Sonic struggles to focus. Whisper and Tangle work on theirs at the same time, looking over at each other's progress. Surge and Kit do the same, and Surge pokes herself with the needle used to cut the cookie.
"Ow, shoot..." Surge twitches, seeing the small cut on her arm release blood. Kit doesn't seem to notice yet, and he's fully locked in on his cookie in his palms.

"Hey, I did it!" Charmy taps Espio and Vector's shoulder. Charmy holds a crumble of the cookie he once had.
"Charmy, where's the rest of the cookie?" Vector asks.
"I ate it." Charmy laughs.
"You... WHAT?" Espio grabs Charmy's tin, seeing nothing left inside.
"Charmy, please be joking!" Vector sets his own cookie down on the sand and he holds Charmy's forearm.
"What's wrong?" Charmy looks over at both of his friends before suddenly toppling over. Blood gushes out of his chest and floods out of his mouth. The blood instantly stains Vector and Espio's tracksuits.
"CHARMY!" Vector shouts, grabbing his deceased brother.
"Damn it, why did you do that?!" Espio frantically eyes Charmy's body.
"Player 005 has been eliminated," The intercom says, "Players, you have five minutes remaining."

The players begin turning in their cookies one by one. Some players get slaughtered by a bullet train of shots.
Cream walks over to the guard, handing her cookie over with a grin on her face.
"I'm done!" Whisper shows Tangle, and Tangle shows Whisper her cookie. They get up together, turning in both cookies simultaneously.
"Surge, are you done?" Kit shakes her slightly, gripping the tin.
"Yea, one- one sec..." Surge trembles, picking up the ring and biting off the side to get rid of some excess cookie.
Sonic glances over at Tails, who just finished his cookie.
"Lick it. It should make it easier to break," Tails whispers to Sonic.
"I finished mine!" Rouge stands up and hands the cookie to a guard, winking. Knuckles hops up off the ground, giving the cookie to the guard.
Amy finishes her cookie, but she waits to turn it in until she notices that Sonic has as well.

"You have one minute remaining." The intercom warns.
Sonic finishes the cookie with a little less than a minute remaining. As he gets up off the ground to turn his in, Amy does too.
"What cookie did you have?" Amy asks, looking at Sonic.
"An infinity sign. You?" Sonic answers, then asking her the same question.
"A heart." She smiles.
"That fits you well," Sonic chuckles, then glancing away and running his hand through his quills after realizing what he said.

"Players, the time is now up." The voice announces, and the guards immediately shoot whoever hasn't turned their cookie in.
Vector stares down at Charmy's body, the blood covering his face and staining the sand surrounding him. Espio turns away, not being able to bare the sight of him.
"You will now be escorted back to the dormitory."

Chapter 6: Lights Out

Summary:

After the loss of Charmy, everyone heads back to the dormitory to rest. At least…that’s what they think.

“Vector, Espio, what’s wrong?” Amy notices the two of them sitting alone. Her eyes widen in realization.
“Charmy…” She mutters, covering her mouth with her hands. “I’m sorry.“
Neither of them could find a response to give and just look at her, appreciating the sympathy in silence. She smiles weakly, plodding away with tears streaming down her face.

“Hey, dude, watch it!” Surge pushes a guy away, kicking his knee.
“You’re the one who pushed me in the first game…!” The guy yells, pointing at her.
“Wh- no! Of course not!” She shrugs it off.
“And that guy. The red one. He threatened me and my friends!” A random girl points at Knuckles, accusing him of torturing her friends. Knuckles stands there in confusion, crossing his arms.
“You guys, stop fighting!” Amy barges in, holding her arms out.
“You annoying bitch, get the hell out!” A man yells and pushes Amy back, but Sonic manages to grab her before she completely falls.
“Okay dude, back off.” Sonic puts her back on her feet and menacingly steps towards the Mobian who yelled.
“Sonic, we don’t need to start anything-“ Amy places a hand on his shoulder. He stares at the guy and then sighs, turning around with Amy.
“What did I say about barging into fights that are none of your concern? You could seriously get hurt.” Sonic complains. Amy doesn’t object and just nods her head slowly.

“Players, lights out are in 30 minutes. Please prepare for tonights rest.” The feminine voice announces. Sage shuts off the intercom she just spoke into.
“Brother, I have reason to believe a fight will happen tonight,” Sage says.
“My children! Good to see you both here and well. Now, what is the plan tonight?” Eggman shoves himself through the door that was struggling to open.
“Tonight is Lights Out according to your schedule. Brother told me that everything is set up and ready for action.” Sage pops up a hologram screen in front of her, showing graphics of the system.
“Ah, you’ve been informed. Good work kiddos. I expect absolute chaos. Someone has to die.” Eggman grins widely, letting out a mischievous laugh. Sage and Metal exchange glances for a moment before averting their attention back to their creator.
“Now then—back to work. You both have been spectacular! As for Orbot and Cubot…” Eggman groans, displaying a screen on the wall which shows Orbot and Cubot as two masked guards.
“I suppose you two can also become guards...” Eggman pats Metal’s shoulder and fluffs Sage’s hair. He glances up in the corner of the room, his expression changing when the red light dimly flashes.

“Players, lights out in 2 minutes. Please head to your beds for tonight’s slumber.” The voice says. Surge shoves a guy off her, pointing a middle finger.
“Okay Surge, we need to go sleep.” Kit yanks Surge away, almost slipping on the bottom of his pants. Surge just gets dragged behind.
“It’s our second night here. Something is going to go down.” Tails mumbled, his ear twitching anxiously.
“I have the same thought. I’ll be there to protect all of you. Hide under the beds if you have to.” Sonic gazes over at a group of Mobians which are all bundled up together sketchily. “I wouldn’t trust those guys.”
“Players, lights out in…
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1.”
The lights shut off, and the piggy bank slowly dims.
Metal Sonic and Sage put on the appropriate gear and attire to fit in with the rest of the guards, though Sage is significantly shorter. Orbot and Cubot stumble over, adjusting their circle masks. Sage applies her square mask and Metal equips his triangle mask.
“Let’s go.”

“Surge?…” Kit sits up, shaking and gripping tightly onto the bedsheets. He scans the room, and suddenly a loud scream rings throughout the dormitory. His eyes widen when just a few beds away, someone gets stabbed with a broken glass bottle. The glass shatters on impact and a shard manages to fly and cut Kit’s cheek.
Suddenly, groups of Mobians and different people flock out of their beds and begin running after their targets. Knuckles sees a lanky guy running towards him, and he pushes his fists together, then pointing one at the guy. The Mobian lunges for him, but Knuckles grabs his arm and twists it, kicking the guy in the back of his knee and pushes him to the ground. Knuckles puts a foot on the guys arm and stabs his fist through the Mobian’s chest.
“Pitiful.” Knuckles grabs the guy by the legs and slings him across he floor, causing other people to trip and fall over. Rouge shoves Knuckles away from all the people fighting to stop any more being done.
“Whisper!” Tangle searches the room for her, and just as she was struggling, she feels the bed underneath her start to topple over. With her quick reflexes, she manages to jump off in the nick of time. The overhead lights begin to flash on and off, causing disorientation and chaos.
Amy groups up her friends and they all retreat to a corner and hide. Vector stands up and guards all of them. Tails scans for any more of his friends that might be in danger. Tails stumbles to his feet and runs through multiple fist fights to reach his fennec friend in the distance. A bunkbed descends to the ground, and it lands on Kit.
“Kit!” Tails trembles, struggling to help Kit escape. “We have to go!”
Kit winces in pain, staring down at his foot that’s under and crushed by the metal structure of the beds. He musters up the strength and energy to hoist himself up, the skin on his ankle tearing off. His detached foot and shoe peek out from underneath the bed. Tails grabs Kit’s forearm, helping him to run to everyone else.
“I’m gonna die!” Kit sobs.
“No, I got you!” Tails tries his best to support Kit and retreat to the group, but his small stature doesn’t help. Sonic dashes over—to the best of his ability without his super speed—and grabs both of them, returning them to the group.

“Ugh!” Surge yells, struggling against another strong Mobian. They exchange punches, and Surge falls back to the ground. She tries propping herself up, but the Mobian stands on her hand, crushing it instantly with his size.
“Get off me!” She attempts to punch him, but the guy kicks her chin, knocking her unconscious. The Mobian finds a metal rod from one of the beds and starts to bash Surge’s head against the concrete floor. Her brain matter splatters across the perimeter, and the blood shoots up and stains the clothes of her murderer. Out of pure rage, he slashes the rod against her stomach, making sure nothing is left of her. He twitches, manically laughing as he looks down at her.

Chapter 7: Twin

Summary:

Idk what to summarize leave me alone

“It is time.” Sage opens the doors, and all the guards stand waiting for the main metal doors to open. Metal Sonic holds his gun tightly, staring at Sage leading. After a moment, Sage presses a button and the doors leading to the dormitory open, and the guards rush inside, one shooting the gun to the ceiling as a warning.
“Players, drop all weapons. Put your hands in the air as we come inspect each individual.” Sage motions to Metal to lead the search for every individual.

Shadow treks over to Sonic’s large group huddled in the corner. “Everyone, stand up for inspection.”
“My friend can’t stand-“ Tails tries to reason with the guard.
“I said stand.” Shadow notions that he isn’t messing around. He inspects everyone for any shanks or harmful objects. He purposely skips over Cream, but pretends as if he didn’t notice.
“Player 408, eliminated. Player 453, eliminated.” The overhead voice announces all the deceased one at a time. “Player 359, eliminated.”
“359…!” Kit gasps.
“What, what is it?” Tangle questions.
“Where’s Surge?!” Kit tries hopping on one foot, holding Tails for support. “Surge!” He frantically glances around, noticing his best friend’s body smashed into the ground across the dormitory. She doesn’t even have a face anymore, let alone a head or torso. He immediately forces himself to look away, using his free arm to cover his eyes in fear.

A bunch of guards proceed to walk into the dormitory, bringing black caskets with pink bows on them. They put the deceased players in corresponding caskets, including parts of Surge that are left. The beds get put back in position and everyone’s bodies get disposed of.
“Players, please go back to sleep.” Sage alongside the other guards walk out, shutting the lights off behind them.
“You did a good job.” Metal says, directing the comment towards Sage.
“Thanks!” Cubot replies.
“He isn’t talking to you.” Orbot shakes his head no.
“Come on. Let’s go report to father.” Sage walks forward.

Shadow reports back to his quarters, setting his mask down on the bedside table. He lays back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Eventually, he falls asleep like that. As he’s asleep, a knock is on the door. He groans and gets out of his bed, looking through the peep hole. He notices a circle-mask standing there with his arms by his side. He flicks his light on and opens the door, motioning for the guard to come in.
“Who are you?” Shadow scoffs, locking his door behind the two.
The guard unveils his mask, holding it in his left hand.
“Wh- what…” Shadow’s eyes widen.
“You’re here too…” The voice of a silver hedgehog mutters.

 

The next day arrives as if no time has passed, and everyone enters the game room.
“Players, you have 10 minutes to decide join a team of 11 individuals total. Each team has to pick one person to be the subject of the game. Your timer starts now.” The clock on the wall ticks down, and players frantically begin planning their teams.
“Okay, how many do we have?” Sonic gathers his friends in a corner.
“Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Tangle, Whisper, Cream, Vector, Espio, Kit- oh and me.” Sonic counts on his fingers as he tallied up the number of players on the team. “We aren’t missing anyone, right?”
“Uhh..”Tails hesitates, but then realizes Charmy wasn’t there to be accounted for.
“That’s everyone.” Espio confirms.
“Okay, we need a player to be the subject. Any volunteers?” Amy glances around, not seeing any hands raised. “I expected that.”
“Someone has to go.” Knuckles eyes everyone.
“I-I will!” Kit raises his hand, his hand gripping onto Tails’ shoulder.
“What? Are you sure?” Tails looks over at his friend.
“I’m positive! I’m brave enough to do this!” Kit nods, and everyone looks at him with concern.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Kit,” Tangle says.
“I want to! Please.” Kit understands he has his life on the line, if not others, and he doesn’t even know what he’s being subject to. But he knows Surge would be proud of his bravery, and that’s all that matters.

“Players, put in your subjects for your team.” A square mask stands above everyone else, holding a tablet in their hands.
Kit releases his arm off Tails and hops over to the stairs. Whisper walks over and offers to help, but Kit waves his hand to decline. He steps forward to the guard, inputting his name into the system.
“Subject 1: Player 373.” The guard opens a gate, and Kit slowly tramples over and out of everyone’s sight.
“I’m so nervous for him…” Amy covers her face with her hands then runs them through her quills.
“It was his choice, Amy. He’s brave for that.” Knuckles nods, admiring the sacrifice of the young fennec.

 

“Welcome to the third game. You will all be participating in Hangman.” Sage calls out. A huge whiteboard lies in front of the players, displaying a stick drawing of a guy hanging onto a pole. The guards manually roll it out of view, and behind it are all the subjects with the spotlight almost blinding them. They have ropes attached to their ankles, wrist, and neck. Kit is attached to the pole on the far left.
“KIT!”

Chapter 8: Hangman

Summary:

once again i don’t know what to put

“In order to win back your team’s subject, you must guess the correct word. Each letter you get wrong, a rope is cut off from the subject until they are left hanging by the neck. If you do not guess the word correctly, your whole team will be eliminated; however, if your subject is eliminated, you have once chance after their elimination to guess the word to save the team.” Sage explains the rules, adjusting the microphone as she speaks. “Every team, please step forward towards your subject to begin the game.”

Kit gazes down at his team.
“We’ll save you, Kit!” Amy yells.
“Team 1, your word has been chosen.” A guard loads a screen on his tablet, and a whiteboard in front of the team displays a five letter word, but the letters are not revealed. “Please take a moment to decide your first letter.”
The team forms around each other.
“Okay, I think the most rational decision is picking a vowel. They’re the most common letters.” Espio nods his head, giving out the basic suggestion.
“Well, what vowel is the most used?” Tangle asks.
“A or E,” Whisper responds.
“I think the words are most likely related to the games, or something we’ve done in here.” Tails walks around in a circle thinking to himself.
“I think we should go with A.” Cream decides.
“Okay…” Amy breathes in and out. She walks over to the team’s whiteboard and writes the letter A. The whiteboard takes a moment to process and an A pops up as the third letter in the word.
“Yes!” Cream smiles.

“An A as the third letter?…” Sonic mumbled to himself.
“Look, we’re just playing Wordle. Except a life is on the line.” Vector crosses his arm, and Espio narrows his eyes at the comment.
“Beach, grace, death, craze, bland, chain, spare, stand…” Tails just begins to name a bunch of words out loud.
“We should try out E.” Espio mutters.
“Are you sure?” Sonic questions, and Espio replies with a yes. Impulsively, without the others approval, he grabs the whiteboard marker and begins to write out the letter E. The board inputs E as the second letter.

“Thanks guys!” Kit yells from afar, his voice barely projecting outwards.
“We’re doing great, team!” Cream hops up and down.
“We need a consonant. There’s 21 choices. What do we pick?” Tails searches for answers from others.
“Do a K.” Knuckles repeats himself since he wasn’t heard before.
“How about an R?” Rouge replies, trying to steer the attention off of him and onto her.
“Let’s do a K and then an R.” Tails grabs the marker, flipping it in his hand as if it was a wrench. He stares up at Kit before beginning to write the K. As he’s working on the letter, the team beside them lose their subject. When the other team guesses incorrectly, then all get shot on the spot.
“That won’t be us. Let’s do this.” Sonic glares at one of the guards cradling a gun. He squints his eyes. “Shadow?…”

Tails writes the K and averts his eyes up to Kit. One of the guards on a lift retrieves a sharp knife, and begins to cut the rope attached to Kit’s leg that’s missing the foot.
“Wait, no no! You don’t have to do this!” Kit tries kicking and fighting back, but the first rope is cut. Kit’s left leg is dangling, and it’s already worse enough with the lack of a foot.
“I’m sorry.” Silver whispers, but not loud enough for anyone to notice.

“It’s okay, Kit!” Tails shouts. “We’ll save you!” He writes the letter R, and it fills in the fourth letter. Kit motions a thumbs-up.
“_ear_” Amy taps her finger against her cheek.
“Heart!” Tails gasps. He turns to the whiteboard and begins to fill in the letters.
“Are you sure?! If you put in the wrong word, we can be eliminated!” Sonic grabs his shoulder.
“Trust me.” Tails finishes writing the word.

“Team One has completed the first section. Onto section two.” The guards refresh the whiteboard, and a six letter word appears.
“Let’s go with A again,” Whisper says, taking the dry-erase marker and writing it down.
“Okay, but be careful!” Tangle advises her. The A is in the fifth spot.
“We should go with another vowel that isn’t the same one. They wouldn’t make it that easy.” Vector shrugs.
“So what letter?” Knuckles questions.
“Kit, what letter!?” Sonic yells up in Kit’s general direction.
“Oh come on guys, d-don’t put the spotlight on me…!!” He presses his lips together, then blurting out O. Sonic takes the marker from Whisper and writes down an O. On the other side of Kit, a guard cuts off the last rope attached to his legs.
“AAAH!“ Kit trembles, trying to hoist himself up onto nothing.

“Be careful about decisions now!” Tails warns them all.
“We know!” Knuckles grunted.
“Okay, don’t get so worked up guys! This doesn’t help the situation.” Amy barges in, immediately ending the verbal fight.
“Let’s go for E.” Espio repeats the same letter he once did before.
“Okay, an E it is…” Sonic handed Espio the marker. Espio writes an E, and it appears as the first letter
“Huh…” Tangle observed the word.
“We’re probably done with vowels, I’d say.” Vector assumed.
“If I had to pick a common consonant, I’d go for C, H, or S.” Amy dictated.
“I would pick S.” Tangle suggested. They all nod for her to write it. She shakes, writing the S. Silver trembles from behind the lift, reaching for his knife. He appears in view and cuts the rope attached to Kit’s left hand. Kit hyperventilates, using his now free hand to grip at the noose around his neck.
“G-Guys! I’ll be okay!” Kit reassures them, starting to feel light-headed.

“Kit…” Tails sniffled, wiping his tears. “This isn’t over. We need to think wisely now.”
“M. Do M.” Knuckles stated, confident in his answer. He takes a moment to get the marker from Tangle’s hand with his gloves. He grips the marker, pressing down an M on the whiteboard. M fills in the fourth spot.
“You got it guys!” Kit kicks downward, trying to exert force to push himself up.
“We got this!” Cream tried her best to comfort everyone.
“What letter do you think it is, Cream?” Vector indicated that she should be the one to put in a letter.
“I want to put a C. Because that’s what my name starts with.” Cream smiles with determination. Nobody objects, so she skips over to the whiteboard and writes down a C.

The guard on Kit’s right side retrieves their knife, slowly trimming the rope.
“No, no no! Stop!” Kit yells, gasping for air. The guard slashed the rope, and Kit is left dangling by the neck. “Surge!” Kit nags at the noose, his breaths ragged as he’s choking himself to death. His neck suddenly snaps. He’s left dangling in the air—saliva and blood drips down his mouth. His arms fling down, and his lifeless eyes stare down at the team.
“It’s… all my fault…” Cream covers her eyes, taking steps backwards.
“N-no, stop that! Stop! This isn’t over!” Tails snaps darkly. He steals the marker out of Cream’s hand.
“Tails, wait!” Sonic grips Tails’ arm. “Be rational, damn it!”
“Let go of me! I know what I’m doing!” Tails cries out, pushing Sonic off of him. He staggers over to the whiteboard, writing Eggman as the word.

“Team One has successfully completed the game. You will now be escorted back.” A guard announced, motioning for them to all turn backward. Shadow glances over at them, and Sonic glares at him agonizingly.

Chapter 9: Picnic

Summary:

Please don’t attack me 😍

“It’s all my fault…” Cream tugs on her ears, staring up at the bunk above her.
“You can’t blame yourself for what happened.” Tangle chimed in, reaching out to Cream from the bunkbed beside.
“It wasn’t just you. We are all at fault, stop blaming yourself.” Whisper hisses, but composes herself after Tangle pats her shoulder.
“Players, please get rest for tomorrows game. Lights out in five minutes,” Sage announces.

Tails stands in the middle of the room, inspecting his surroundings. He stares at the wall, noticing the pattern. Each image on the wall represents the games. Red Light Green Light, Cookie Cutting, Hangman-… Marbles? Tails ponders to himself. If this is what he assumes it is, what should he do? Tell them?
Sonic walks over, his hands shoved in his pocket. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Sorry, I’m just stressed…” Tails is despondent and completely out of it at the moment.
“No, no, I understand. You should get some rest, okay?” Sonic relates completely, and he’s trying to empathize with him.
“I will. I’m trying to figure out what the next game might be…” Tails crosses his arms, thinking.
“I don’t know, bud.” Sonic taps his foot on the ground, then seeing the overhead lights slowly dim. “Well, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Alright.” Tails nods his head, dragging himself to his bed.

“Who is it?” Shadow opens his door, noticing Silver in his pink suit again. He greets him, then shutting the door behind the two.
Silver pulls down his mask, adjusting his quills as he speaks. “I can’t believe I killed Kitsunami.”
“You didn’t do that. It was his team.” Shadow crossed his arms, double checking the door is locked.
“I was the one that had to retrieve his body from the pole!” Silver’s frustrated, digging his face in his hands with black gloves on.
“I know how it feels.” Shadow nods in understanding. He glares over at his hedgehog friend. “I’m going to find us a way out of here.”
“WHAT?! Are you insane?” Silver analyzes him in shock. “You don’t know what could happen if you’re caught!”
“I’m probably not making it out of here alive. But if I could save at least someone, I will take that risk.” Shadow scans his drawers, searching for something that could help him with the escape.
“We don’t even have our powers! How are we supposed to escape with nothing?” Silver face palms himself in annoyance.
Shadow continues. “Sonic knows I’m a guard. I can tell when he looks at me. I might have a chance to pull him away so we can devise a plan.”
Silver objects. “We have three days left here. How in the world are we going to escape within this timeframe? How do you know you won’t get killed!”
“I don’t know! I know I’m not making it out of here alive, but if I could save someone—I will, damn it!” Shadow bangs his hand on the desk and then sighs deeply. Silver doesn’t respond and just sits there with his legs dangling off the edge of the bed.
“It’s best that you go now before you get caught by the higher-ups.” Shadow peers over at Silver, who swings himself off the bed.
Silver straps his mask on, shoving the hood up. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Players, today you will all be receiving a plentiful meal. Please pick one person for a picnic.” A square-mask guard stands at the podium while the circles form around him, holding picnic baskets and checkered blankets.
“Oh, finally, some good food! Let’s hope they have chili dogs.” Sonic’s eyes light up, and Amy follows and shakes her head no. He turns to face her. “You wanna join me for the picnic?”
“Hmm, sure. I don’t mind.” Amy and Sonic stand together as they wait for their picnic basket.
“Mr. Tails, do you want to have a meal with me?” Cream beams.
“Yea, I don’t mind!” Tails glances around first to see if Sonic has a partner. When he notices him and Amy beside each other, he disregards sharing the food with him. “I’ll go get the basket.”
Vector and Espio challenge each other in ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ to see who has to go get the basket.
“Aw dang it.” Vector groans, getting up to go grab their basket.
Tangle and Whisper wait in line patiently for their own basket to share.
Tangle makes a bet with Whisper. “I bet it’ll be a PBJ sandwich.”
Whisper replies, “No, it’s most likely something else.”
“You’ve never even had a picnic before!” Tangle rolls her eyes.
“I’m not a big picnic person.” Whisper takes the basket from the guard’s hand. She quickly opens the basket as they’re walking back to sit down. “You’re right.”
“See? I told you!” Tangle retorts.

In the office, the Eggman family sits on a plaid blanket, eating their own picnic.
“Boss, this food is great!” Cubot stuffs the food against his robotic head.
“You imbecile, you can’t even eat the food!” Orbot wipes the peanut butter off of Cubot’s face.
“I cannot eat either.” Metal Sonic stares down at his sandwich, then glancing up at Sage who is gobbling down hers.
Eggman laughs, enjoying the time with his children.
“I’ve consumed the sandwich.” Sage eyeballed Orbot and Cubot, who are playing with the sandwiches.
“What are you!?” Orbot attempts to yell.
“An idiot sandwich!” Cubot then proceeds to steal the bread from his brother.
Eggman sighs and averts his attention to Metal and Sage. “Please start the preparations for the fourth game.”
“Yes sir.” Metal Sonic stands up, helping his sister to her feet.
“Metal, be a soldier for Player 456. Sage, oversee the operation. Orbot and Cubot, you two will hand out and receive the marbles.” Eggman puts his hands behind his back, facing away from his children as he continuously steals glances at the camera in the room.

“You didn’t get your chili dog. Buuuut, you got some pretty sweet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!” Amy bites down on her food, enjoying the change of taste for once.
“Yea, you’re right.” Sonic rummages through the basket, looking to grab some more food. He finds two packs of chips. “Wouldja look at that?”
“I’ll take the red bag.” Amy snatches the red bag of Doritos from Sonic’s hand.
“Wha- hey!” Sonic narrows his eyes at her, then checking the basket for more chips. He feels his hand against something hard at the bottom of the basket. He pulls out a fake bottom, and he stares down at two small pouches. He opens up one pouch, and inside are 10 marbles.
“What is it?” Amy notices Sonic’s panicked expression.
“No…” Sonic’s hands shake, and he almost spills his drink beside him.
“Sonic, what is it?” Amy grasps his hand, opening it up and seeing marbles. “I- I don’t understand…”

“I told you picnics aren’t so bad!” Tangle nudges Whisper’s shoulder. She goes through the basket for another dessert, but is only met with two bags filled with marbles in each. “Huh?”
“What is it?” Whisper motions to see. Tangle opens the pouch, emptying the marbles onto the blanket.
“Is this…a game?” Tangle glimpses around, noticing everyone else finding their bags of marbles. “Oh no.”

“Guard 06, you’re stationed to greet the VIP’s.” A square-mask guard stands in front of Silver, pointing to his right. Silver nods and grabs his belongings, slipping a hand knife into his side pocket.
“Guard 05, please go into the game room into your stationed area. You will be in charge of players 178 and 246.” The captain reports to Shadow, who hurriedly makes his way to the game hall.
“178 and 246.” Shadow repeats to himself out loud, then freezing in place.
“Cream…”

Chapter 10: All Marbles Lost

Summary:

sadness

“Players, welcome to the fourth game. Please follow your designated guard.”Sage closes her eyes, breathing shakily as she announces the rules. “The rules will be explained momentarily.”
“Good, child.” A dark flame of a hedgehog stands behind Sage, cackling deeply.
“Do not taunt her.” Metal Sonic stands straight, his eyes locked onto Mephiles.
“Hmph.” Mephiles disappears, then appearing at the door of the office. “Your father is having a meeting. Don’t worry about us.”

“What is this game?” Cream trails behind Tails, holding her bag of marbles in her fist.
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.” Tails peers over his shoulder at Cream, and a guard follows behind the two, holding his gun firm.

“I’m not understanding. Why do we have tiny glass balls?” Knuckles trudges behind the guard, displaying his bag in his hand to show Rouge.
She shrugs. “Who knows, maybe the marbles have gems inside.”
“Now that’s a stretch.” Knuckles shoves the marbles back in the pouch.

“We have marbles. What do we even play?” Espio questions.
“Let’s see who could put the most marbles in their belly-hole!” Vector chuckles.
“No.” Espio yanks the bag of marbles from Vector’s hand.

“Player 456, walk forward.” The guard, Metal Sonic, pushes Sonic forward to get him to keep moving.
“Yea, yea.” Sonic proceeds forward, putting an arm around Amy’s shoulder. “Just ignore them.”

 

“There should be a set of ten marbles in each bag. Please check and confirm the number.” Sage stated. “In this game, using your set of ten marbles, you will play the game of choice with your partner. The player who manages to take all ten marbles from their partner wins. I will repeat the instructions.”

“Wh-what?” Tangle turns her head to Whisper, who’s staring down at her own marbles. “But…”
“I can’t play against you.” Whisper immediately hands over her marbles, and the game hasn’t even started.
Tangle pushes her hand away. “No! You’re not going to just hand me your marbles!”
“Why not?” Whisper opens her fist with the ten marbles.
“We need to make this fair.” Tangle lays her hand on top of Whisper’s and lowers it to the ground. “There’s no choice.”

“You have 30 minutes to complete this game.”

“I can’t play this. I can’t.” Amy walks in circles, sobbing with a defeated smile on her face.
Sonic feels her trembling body. “Ames, stop saying that. We’ll get out of here.”
“Don’t lie to me, Sonic. We both know we won’t.” Amy slides down to the ground off a wall, covering her face with her knees. Sonic gets on the ground beside her, gazing at the pouch of marbles in her hand.

“There’s this game we can play, okay?” Tails sits criss-cross in front of Cream.
“What is it?” Cream asks.
“We both grab marbles and have to guess whether they have an even or odd amount. This way it’s just luck.” Tails explains the rules, and Cream naively complies. “Whoever gets all twenty marbles wins.”
Shadow stands there, muttering curse words to Tails.

“Oh come on Espio, we can’t play against each other.” Vector sets his marbles on the sand beneath him.
“We have to. That’s the rules.” Espio is on the ground, making a tiny hole in the sand to prepare a game.
“What’re we doing anyway?” Vector looks at the ground, puzzled.
“We’ll play until one of our marbles makes it in.” Espio demonstrates, throwing a marble but not making it into the hole.
“Okay…” Vector hesitantly tossed a marble, missing the hole.

 

Silver stands in a line with other circle guards saluting. The VIP’s walk past on a red carpet laid out. The range of the VIP’s go from villains like Mephiles to Zazz. They all make their way into the building, following Orbot and Cubot.

Tangle and Whisper don’t play anything and they just sit on a set of stairs, talking to each other.
“I don’t want to play against you.” Tangle sees the timer slowly tick down to twenty minutes, and they’ve made no progress.
“I don’t either.” Whisper fidgets with the strings of the bag filled with marbles. She turns to her friend, looking her in the eyes. “Do you want to die?”
“Preferably no.” Tangle weakly chuckles, looking down at her feet.
“There’s your answer.” Whisper gets on her feet.
Tangle follows her, confused. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve accepted my fate.” Whisper places her ten marbles in Tangle’s pouch.
“No, this isn’t how this goes. We need to play something—“ Tangle counts ten marbles to give back to her friend, but Whisper stops her.
“This is what I want.” Whisper turns to their duo’s guard, motioning to Tangle holding all twenty marbles.
“Whisper, what are you doing.” Tangle sets her bag on the sand, gripping Whisper’s shoulders. She doesn’t reply, and Tangle feels the tears flowing up in her eyes.
Before she could blink, her grip on Whisper loosens. Whisper drops to the ground, the blood from the headshot getting on Tangle’s fur. The guard snatches the pouch from Tangle and pushes her along out of the game room.
“Player 125, eliminated.”

Espio picks a marble out of his pocket, underhand throwing it to the hole. He misses by just a few centimeters. He inhales, stepping back so Vector could have his turn. The timer is at fourteen minutes remaining.
“Come on Vector…” Vector mumbles to himself, blowing on the marble before aiming. The marble lands on the sand, then slipping into the hole. “I did it…!” He then realizes what that means. He spins around and sees the panic on Espio’s face.
“You won fair and square. I’m happy for you.” Espio gathers the marbles in his palm, sliding them into the bag. “You have a better reason to go on.”
“What do you mean?” Vector receives the marbles from his friend.
“There’s nothing left for me. You have Cream and you swear you’ll protect her. I’m glad you won.” Espio glances away, seeing Tails and Cream playing their game of marbles. Vector doesn’t know how to respond.
“You were a great lead detective.” Espio nods, waiting for the trigger to release.
“You’re saying this like you’re going to die…” Vector cups the bag in his hand.
“I am going to die.” Espio shuts his eyes, and the guard shoots him in the temple. He falls sideways, and Vector manages to catch him before he completely hits the ground. Reality manages to set in just when it’s too late.

Chapter 11: Traitor

Summary:

hey so i cried

"Player 068, eliminated."
A guard drags Vector out of the game room since he passed his test. He stares out at Tails and Cream.

"Even." Cream grins when Tails opens his palms holding two marbles.
Tails clears his throat, doing the mental math in his head. "You have even." Cream opens her hand, four marbles inside. Tails takes those marbles, adding them to his pile of now sixteen.
"You're good at this game." Cream sneaks a marble from Tails' pile and adds it to hers when he isn't looking.
"Just lucky guess." Tails picks his number of marbles, holding his fist out. Cream does as well.
"Odd." Cream looks at Tails' hand, and he only has two. "Aw, dang it."
"Odd." Tails stares at Cream's eyes. She shakily opens her hand with five marbles.
"But how-..." Cream trails off, realizing Tails saw right through her. Tails collects his twenty marbles, inserting them into the pouch. He gets up off the ground, dusting off his pants.
"Mr. Tails, what are you doing?" Cream stands to her feet. He doesn't respond and turns in the pouch of marbles.
"I'm sorry." Tails turns away, a single tear rolling down his muzzle.
Shadow grips his gun, shakily aiming at Cream. He pulls the trigger, the sound resonating in his ears—memories of Maria's death overtaking him. Cream collapses, the bullet penetrating her shoulder. Her body lands the same way her mother did.
"Player 246, eliminated."
Tails mopes away, staring at his feet. Shadow is holding himself back from shooting the fox then and there.

"What is this game?" Rouge crosses her arms on her chest, and Knuckles scans for something to use.
"I'm thinking." He walks around, grabbing random items scattered across the playing field.
"We should just play that even-odd game that everyone else has been doing." Rouge rolls her eyes.
"No. Too complicated." Knuckles shakes his head no and looks down at some pebbles. "Actually, can you go look around for some items as well?"
"I mean, I guess so." Rouge shrugs.
"I can hold your marbles for you. If you're not careful, someone might take them." Knuckles adjusts his gloves. Rouge doesn't reply and just hands him the bag.
"What kind of items are we talking? I can always go steal someone else's marbles." Rouge takes off her jacket and proceeds to tie it around her waist.
"There's no need for that. We just need something for a game. I don't like chance." Knuckles placed his hands on his hips.
"I know, Knucklehead." She scoffs. "Whatever, I'm going to go find those items." She walks off.
Knuckles nods, turning away. He waits a few seconds for her to leave. He opens her pouch of marbles and places them in his. He grabs a handful of pebbles on the ground and replaces the marbles that was once in her bag. He pretends to look around and help with the search for a game item.

Sonic and Amy sit in the sand up against a brick wall.
"I'm sorry." Sonic averts his eyes away from Amy.
"Why?" Amy asks, sniffing.
"You're playing against me because I wanted us to have a simple picnic. Look where that got us." Sonic flicks a marble onto the sand in front of him.
Amy shuffles to her feet. "I'm ready to play." She throws Sonic's marble that he previously rolled in the sand.
"Wha- hold on." He props himself against the wall to get off the ground.
"We have our marbles, right?" Amy empties her pouch. "Whoever can get their marble closest to the wall without touching it wins."
"Are you sure?" Sonic hesitantly reaches out.
"We only have..." Amy glances up at the clock that displays a solid three minutes. "Three minutes."
"Okay..." Sonic exhales, drawing a line in the sand where the two must stand.
"You can go first." Amy wraps her jacket around her waist, counting the marbles in her hand. Sonic tosses his marble, landing a few inches away from the brick. Amy pulls out a marble, tossing hers.

"Ah, welcome!" Eggman stands in front of a conference room greeting the VIP's.
"Pleasure seeing you." A platypus in a suit walks past, bowing his head.
"Not a pleasure seeing you..." Eggman mumbles under his breath, turning to the next VIP. A huge red zeti and another lanky, purple zeti walk past. Multiple villains from different occasions come together to form the alliance known as the VIP's.
Many of them despise each other, but they have come together for one purpose: to see the downfall of Sonic the Hedgehog and his beloved friends.
Mephiles trots past the threshold, and Silver grimaces when he notices that damned face.

"Players, you have two minutes left."
"I'm back." Rouge ambles over, lifting a heavy metal bucket with different items inside. She peers behind the corner, and Knuckles stands there nonchalantly while holding both bags of marbles.
She takes the pouch out of Knuckles hand. "Thanks for holding onto them for me."
Knuckles just nods and begins to head towards the game room door.
Rouge opens her pouch, staring inside. She dumps out a large quantity of rocks and pebbles. In front of her, Knuckles turns in his twenty marbles. He doesn't even look her in the eye.
Rouge contorts her head to face the guard, and their gun is raised at her forehead.
"Traitor..." she mutters, then plunging instantly against the brick wall. Her body slides down the side, the rough brick scraping her wings. Her head pounds against the metal bucket, and it lands on her lifeless body, trapping her head inside.
"Player 141, eliminated."

"Your turn." Sonic faces Amy, waiting for her to go. She bends down a little to aim for the wall. Her grasp on the marble falters and slips out of her hand and lands right beside her. She stands up straight.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Sonic grabs her jacket's collar, staring down at her.
"I lost. You won." Amy smiles and chuckles weakly.
"No. No you have to play again." Sonic takes out some of his marbles and shoves them in Amy's hand, but they just end up in the sand beneath them. "You're not even trying..." He grips her jacket tighter, and she backs up against the brick.
"You won, Sonic." Amy averts her attention over to the marbles on the ground, but Sonic shakes her.
"Do another throw." He lets go of her, running his hands through his quills.
Amy gets on her knees and picks up each marble individually. She places them in Sonic's pouch. He looks straight at her with defeat.
"You're the one that will survive. You're everyone's hero." Amy takes Sonic's hand, giving what might be her last speech. He shakes his head no and tries his hardest to look away.
"You're my hero. I'd rather it be me than you that goes now..." She opens Sonic's palm and places the twenty marbles in it.

A guard escorts Sonic to the game room exit, and he trembles with every step. He hands over his marbles.
"Sonic," Amy calls out. Sonic twists his head around to look at her one last time.
"Don't do this..." Sonic whispers.
"I love you." She smiles through tears.
Sonic closes his eyes and turns back around, and the sound of Amy's cries come to a halt. She plummets downwards, her body ending up like the rest of the victims from this game. Metal Sonic feels something that isn't anger inside of him, but he can't understand...
"Player 008, eliminated."

Chapter 12: Avenge

Summary:

heyyy so sorry that it’s been taking awhile. i got writers block and im now working two jobs including school 😞🙏

Vector lays defeated on his bunkbed, shifting his head to see the empty bed that was once Espio’s. The game door opens, and Tails walks through, wiping a tear away. He scans the room, counting the number of people who survived so far.
“Tails!” Tangle runs over to him, giving him a tight hug. “I’m glad you survived…”
“I’m glad you did too.” Tails nods his head, then freezes when Vector stares him down. “Hey, uh, I’ll get back to you…”
Vector comes prowling over to Tails, and Tangle takes a step back.
“I’m glad you also survived, Vector-“ Tangle starts to speak to the crocodile, but before she could get a word out, Vector pushes Tails up against the bunkbed behind him.
“Hey, woah woah woah!” Tangle clings onto Vector’s arm to get him to let go of the fox.
“You killed her!” Vector growls, pushing Tangle out of the way and sending her flying back onto the concrete floor. He lifts Tails off the ground and punches him dead-center of his face. He continues relentlessly, letting out all of his anger on the kid.
“Vector, stop!” Tails coughs, his frail body failing at getting him away.
Tangle sprints over towards the two, yelling to end the fight. “Stop! This won’t help anyone!”
Vector ignores her, continuing to beat Tails until he’s just a bloody mess.
“This isn’t what Cream or Espio would’ve wanted!” Tangle cries out. Vector immediately drops Tails onto the ground, kicking him one last time in the stomach before taking a few steps back.
Tails shakily tries to prop himself up against the bunkbed, and Tangle assists him.
“Hey, we need a medic!”

“Welcome, everyone! It’s nice meeting you all again.” Eggman firmly stands in front of all the VIP’s as he twirls his mustache in between his fingers.
“Who is that?” A jackal with a metallic mask points at Sage.
“This is my daughter, Sage.” Eggman pats her shoulder, and she smiles shyly.
“Ahem. According to the data collected by each and every individual, I can say with confidence that Sonic the Hedgehog is the majority vote of this poll.” She hovers above, projecting a screen in the middle of the conference table which displays a pie chart of the votes tallied.
“Why are we here…” The purple zeti groans and rolls his eyes in contempt, and the red one slaps him.
“You are all here for one common goal, which is to defeat Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. Is that correct?” Sage crosses her arms, taking a glance at each VIP. They all nod their heads in agreement.
“Orbot, Cubot, retrieve the masks for each VIP please.” Eggman shifts his hands and puts them on his back.
“You got it, boss!” Orbot hurriedly makes his way out of the room, and Cubot swiftly follows. The VIP’s all go off and do their own thing while they each have a guard escort them.
“Doctor.” A voice calls out from the door, obscured by a shadow.
“Hm?” Eggman peers over, and a purple cat walks through. She conceals her face with a golden mask.
“I’m curious about one of your guards…” She speaks eloquently and properly, starting the conversation but wanting to quickly end it.
“Okay…?” Eggman scratches his bald head.
“Guard 06. I’m interested in this one.” She hands over a slip of paper. “Do you choose your guards personally?”
“No, I do not.” He skims over the photo quickly then gives it back to her.
“Thank you for your time.” She makes her exit, and Eggman narrows his eyes suspiciously.

Sonic makes his way into the dormitory, struggling to keep his eyes open or even walking without toppling over. He gazes at Tails, and his eyes widen. “Tails!” He runs over, stumbling on his own feet. Tails coughs, blood pouring out of his mouth. Tangle tries her best to take care of him. Sonic gets on a knee and looks at his friend, taking in the sight of his head all swollen, bruised, and bloodied up.
“Who did this…” Sonic mutters, then getting on his feet as a guard picks up Tails to take him to the nurses office.
“I’ll be okay.” Tails gives a thumbs up, closing his eyes as two guards take him away.
“Who hurt him.” Sonic turns to Tangle, and she motions towards Vector. Knuckles is already over there, backing him into a wall.
“Why did you hurt him?!” Knuckles takes off his jacket and preps his fists to fight Vector. “Answer me, coward!”
“He killed the people I cared for!” Vector spirals into madness and aims for Knuckles’ face, but Knuckles shoves his arm away.
“I know how it feels…but violence is not the answer.” Knuckles composes himself and steps aside, facing towards Sonic who’s walking over. Sonic doesn’t taunt with a response and he just stands there staring at the two.

“Players, please head to your beds for a good night’s slumber.” The automated voice of Sage announces as usual. The money in the piggy bank increases, and the screen displays a player count of sixteen. At this point, does it still matter?

Sonic lays in his bed and stares up at the ceiling. His mind flickers back to what Amy said…If only he said something sooner.

Chapter 13: The VIPs

Summary:

i’m employed now so i lowkey don’t have time to send in clips

“Blaze the Cat, requesting access to the Square-Guard dormitory.” Blaze holds her mask in hand. A machine beeps and opens up a turquoise door. She puts her mask back on and adjusts it as she walks through. She scans the numbers on the doors and stops in her tracks when she finds the number ‘06.’ She glances around and mutters a ‘hmm’ before knocking on the door.
Silver, all masked up, opens the door. He looks at her in confusion. Blaze’s mask obscures her face, so Silver can’t tell it’s her.
“Come with me.” Blaze yanks Silver out of his room and firmly holds his wrist. The two of them walk through the hallway until they make it to an unoccupied room. She closes the door and locks it behind the two. Blaze takes off her mask and stares at Silver.
“B-Blaze?!” Silver quickly fumbles with his own mask to take it off.
“Be quiet.” She twists his wrist to get him to be quiet. He pulls his hood down and holds his mask by the head straps.
“I didn’t think you’d be here,” Silver whispers.
“Mephiles is here.” Blaze releases her grip on his wrist.
“Wha- how?!” He accidentally raises his voice, and Blaze covers his mouth. The door has a little crack so they can see outside. A guard passes by without noticing the two. She drops her hand again and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“I’ve been working alongside Shadow. He’s one of the triangles.” Silver crossed his arms. Blaze nods in understanding.
“Why did you come to find me?” He asks.
“I want to get everyone out of here before it’s too late.” Blaze looks around.
“There’s only 16 people left in the games. Isn’t it too late now?” Silver questions.
“No, I mean the guards. We can’t save the players, but there’s a chance we can save you,” Blaze answers. “You are playing a game too, you just haven’t realized it. This is all a test.”
“Why are you even here? You’re not a guard.” Silver retrieves Blaze’s mask from her hands and admires the gold plates on it.
“I bet on who I think would win these games.” Blaze adjusts the fluff on her gloves.
“So you’re just here to put money on who would win and watch everyone suffer?” Silver rolls his eyes.
“Essentially, yes,” Blaze states.
“Hmm.” Silver faces the door’s peephole.

Tails’ eyes flutter open and he sits up in the nurses bed, looking around obliviously. In front of him lies a long, tall mirror with two guards on both sides. His head is all bandaged up—gauze wrapped around the left side of his face, covering his eye. His uniform is near the back. It has been neatly washed and ironed. His shoes are all clean and white, lacking the blood stains on the end.
“Guard 05, you will escort Player 178 back to the dormitory.” The small walkie-talkie projects.
“…”
“That’s an order.”
Shadow groans and makes his way to the nurses office, slamming open the door when he sees Tails. The fox quickly shoves on his uniform and makes his way out to follow Shadow.
Shadow’s voice is covered by a filter as he speaks to Tails. “You’re being escorted back into the dormitory. You will participate in the next game regardless of your physical condition.”
Tails nods in understanding.
Shadow nudges his gun into Tails’ side. “If I could kill you right now, I would.” Tails gulps and continues forward.

“Players, please proceed into the game room.” Sage steps up to her mic, adjusting it as she talks. She presses a button, and the intercom is directed straight into the VIP’s conference room. “VIP’s, each one of you will be escorted to the viewing area accompanied by a guard of your choice.” She goes down a list of names, starting with the first one. “Mephiles the Dark, which guard number would you like?”
Mephiles grins darkly to himself, yanking the mask off his face. “This is a bother..”He eyes Blaze then looks directly up to the camera with a wide grin on his face. “Guard 06.”
A few rooms away, Silver retrieves his walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “Shadow! Do you copy?”
Shadow pushes Tails into the dormitory and shuts the door behind. He grabs his machine to respond. “Yea. What happened?”
“I think Mephiles knows I’m here…” Silver looks around to make sure nobody’s overhearing.
“Damn, okay… we’ll have to think of something else.” Shadow quietly shuffles into the closest vacant room. “Blaze was supposed to pick you, right?”
“That was the plan! Ugh, what are we going to do now?” Silver paces around in place. His radio changes signal.
“Guard 06, please make your way into the VIP conference room,” Sage says.
“Silver? Silver are you there?” Shadow holds the radio up to his ear and stomps when he can’t get anything from the other line.

“Players, please proceed into the game room.” A guard trudges out of sight.
“Where’s Tails?” Sonic gets on his feet, scanning for his best friend. Tails stumbles out of the door, and he catches himself. He grips the side of his head, and Sonic dashes over.
“Tails!” Sonic inspects Tails.
“I should be okay. I have to participate in the game anyway.” Tails waves it off, trying to keep Sonic from more stress.
“Players, proceed into the game room.” Shadow stands there and scoffs when Sonic and Tails don’t go through the gate.
“Sorry, sorry.” Sonic takes Tails’ hand and they walk into the game room together.

The remaining 16 players arrive in a fully white room with 16 hot pink vests displayed in front of them all.
“Players, please pick a number of your choice.” A guard motions for the first player to choose. A few random Mobians go first and choose numbers around the middle. Tangle decides to step up and take a number. She grabs the number 4 and pulls it on over her uniform. All that’s left are a couple Mobians, Vector, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. As Tails goes up to retrieve his number of choice, Vector pushes him out of the way to get number 9. The last numbers remaining are 14, 15, and 16.
“This could be either really good, or really bad…” Sonic mumbles, handing Tails number 14. He puts on 16 and hands 15 to Knuckles.

The VIP’s settle down in comfy recliners and couches in front of a huge curtain. Each VIP has a guard by their side.
“Good choice by Sonic.” Zavok points to the screen.
“It’s all pure luck he succeeds.” Dr. Starline swishes his drink.
“What happened after he wins?” Zazz asks.
“I’ll kill him by my own hands.” A looming figure, one that looks like the devil, states.
“If the Doctor will even let you.” Infinite laughs.
“The game will now commence.” Sage pulls a lever and the curtains start to open, revealing a long glass bridge in a giant room that is built like a circus.

Chapter 14: Leap of Faith

“Players, welcome to your fifth game: Glass Bridge.”
The players all walk through and look around in scared astonishment. The room is massive and decorated with colorful lights. The ground below is at least 90 feet deep.
“In front of you all lies 32 panels of glass. One pane of glass is tempered glass which can hold up to two people on it. The other glass will break on impact. You have an hour to complete this game.” The timer immediately starts to tick down.
“Number 01, please step forward and choose the first panel.”
The player slips their shoes off and creeps up towards the glass. They take a moment to catch their breath. The moment, however, lasts a few minutes.
“Okay, dude, go!” Someone yells, and the player trembles.
“It’s a 50/50 chance…” Tails whispers, doing the calculations in his head.
“I-I’m trying!” A raccoon, the first to go, takes a deep breath.
“You got this!” Knuckles yells.
Sonic steps forward and puts a hand on the raccoons shoulder. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Wha- oh, uhm, Callisto,” The raccoon responds.
“I believe in you. We don’t have much time, a decision has to be made. Your sacrifice won’t be in vain, alright?” Sonic pats Callisto on the back.
“Okay...” Callisto takes another step forward and he shudders when he sees the ground below. “It’s so far down…”
“You got it!” Tails shouts from the back.
Callisto closes his eyes and jumps onto one of the glass panels with a blink of an eye. “Aha, I did it!” He starts to celebrate, but the glass underneath him shatters and he plummets down to earth. His screams wail through the room until it abruptly stops once he hits the floor. The crunch of bones resonate through the air and echo into the ears of everyone above. Down below, a group guards bring out a black casket with a pink bow.
“Alright, next person! We don’t have long!” Vector stomps, and some players freeze in place. The timer has only 30 minutes remaining.
The second player goes and takes their turn, the right glass being picked.
“Everyone should take a turn!” Tails stops the same player from going. He clears his throat and projects as loud as possible. “We have 15 players remaining, alongside 15 sets of panels! We all have a 50/50 shot.”
“I’m not taking that risk.” Knuckles crosses his arms.
“You’re number 15, don’t talk about risks!” A player yells at him.
“Let’s stop arguing, guys! The next player will go. If they pick the right one, the player after will go.” Tangle breaks up the fight.
“…Fine.” Vector scoffs.

“This is interesting, wouldn’t you say so doctor?” Starline comfortably lays back in his chair and looks over at Eggman.
“I enjoy seeing the discord between everyone,” Eggman replies, then averting his attention elsewhere to get Starline to stop talking to him.
“Hmm.” Starline adjusts himself on the seat and crosses his arms as he looks out into the distance.
“I know what you are.” Mephiles stares down Silver. “Take off the mask.”
“I’m not permitted to take off the mask. They will kill me,” Silver whispers.
“Hmph. Fine, come with me then.” Mephiles stands up, motioning for Silver to follow. The two walk out of the viewing room and into the game hall. This is exactly what Silver planned.
“Stop here.” Mephiles pauses in the hallway, putting his hand up to slow Silver.
“What do you need me for?” Silver asks. Mephiles chuckles lowly before cackling.
“Whatever it is, you’re not getting away with it!” Silver yells, trying to reach for a gun in his back pocket. To his dismay, the gun isn’t there, but instead in the grip of Mephiles.
“You didn’t think this through, did you?” Mephiles kicks Silver back and aims the gun at the hedgehog’s head. He grips off Silver’s circle mask.
“Shadow, Shadow do you copy?!” Silver grasps his radio.
“I copy.” The radio hums, but the other line of which Shadow should be speaking is just the present voice of Mephiles. “And I barely got to toy with you.”
Silver stares up at him in horror. His powers are gone, and there’s nothing he can do to protect himself.
“It was nice seeing you again.” Mephiles grins and releases the bullet from the gun. Silver falls back and blood pours out of the skin where the bullet penetrated him. Mephiles stands up straight and cocks the gun. He slowly walks away and leaves Silver there gasping for air. The wound ended up in the middle of his chest rather than his head where Mephiles originally aimed.

“Go, we have no time!” Vector growls, threatening to push people forward. Tangle shakes, staring down at the ground below. She turns around to look at the last remaining friends she has. She feels tears swell up in her eyes.
“This isn’t the way I wanted to go out, but—“ She hops up and down in place anxiously. “If I can help someone survive, then it’ll be worth it in the end. Say hello to Whisper for me.” Tangle inhales and leaps over to the next glass pane. The glass cracks immediately on impact and she starts to tumble down. Her tail contorts around her flailing body, and by some miracle she survives the fall. Her speech is slurred and her vision is warped. A guard marches over and points the gun at her head. Shadow pulls the trigger, adding her death to just another one of his death tolls.
“Player 071, eliminated.”
“Tangle…” Sonic peaks over the edge and grips a metal bar to make sure he doesn’t fall.
“Next person, let’s go! We don’t have that much time!” Vector points up at the clock displaying 20 minutes.
Another person steps forward and picks the correct glass, so another person goes after. Both picked correctly.

Blaze swiftly escapes out of the viewing room, having an underlying fear in the back of her mind. She runs forward in her heels and unclips her mask on her face. As she makes her way into the game hall, she notices a trail of blood on the ground.
“Silver?!” She pushed herself forward and finds Silver staring back at her. “Silver!”
“Blaze-“ Silver coughs blood out of his mouth. Blaze lifts him off the ground as carefully as she can and starts to head somewhere hidden.
“Why did you agree to go with Mephiles knowing the risks?!” Blaze curses herself.
“I had a plan-“ Silver tries speaking up, but Blaze shushes him.
“Don’t strain yourself. The pain will worsen.” Blaze halts and makes her way into the circle dormitory. As she carries Silver bridal style, another guard walks by. Using her quick instincts, she slips off her heel and wields it as a weapon. She bashes the guard’s head with the heel and cracks their skull open. She kicks off her other heel and continues to run forward until they stumble upon Silver’s room. He fumbles in his side pocket for the keys, but Blaze just digs it out for him. She immediately throws herself and Silver inside and locks the door behind them. She gently places Silver on the bed and he grips his stomach tightly.
“I will help you.” She reassures him, quickly leaving his room to go find some medical supplies. After she steps out, her vision is blinded and she’s pulled away. Silver doesn’t realize she’s just been kidnapped.

8 players have perished so far.
“Who’s number 9?” Tails mutters, glancing at the numbers on everyone’s shirts. He notices the number on Vector.
“Vector, it’s your turn.” Knuckles steps in front of Tails to defend him. “You have to go.”
Vector stares down Knuckles. “Get out of my way.” He pushes Knuckles off to the side so he can step forward to the glass. After a brief pause, he suddenly grabs Tails and throws him across as far as he can. He manages to land on a pane of glass that is tempered.
“You’re dead!” Vector swiftly moves from glass to glass to reach the fox.
“TAILS!” Sonic calls out. Knuckles shoves Sonic out of the way so he can reach Vector. Vector reaches the glass before Tails and he takes his step, planting his feet on the pane. He steps on one of Tails’ hands and it causes him to slip back, the only support being the railing on the side.
“Vector!” Knuckles dashes through and punches Vector which causes him to fly back onto the next glass. The glass shatters and he starts to fall.
“NO!” Vector opens his eyes fully, realizing what he’s done. He was blinded by rage. His cries empty as his body cracks on impact withe the floor.
“Player 362, eliminated.” “I’ve got you!” Knuckles grasps Tails’ hand and lifts him up. Tails trembles in place but he tries to push through. He jumps over to the next panel without any warning.

“10 minutes remaining.”
There are 4 players left and 4 glass panels. A rabbit steps forward with confidence etched on his face.
“You got this Clover…” He whispers to himself. He looks back at the group before hopping to the next glass. The tempered glass sustains his weight and he lets out a breath he’s been holding in.
“You’re doing great!” Sonic congratulates him. Clover nods his head shyly. He takes another gamble hoping the next one is correct. He lands on the glass, shaking slightly.
“Wow-“ Clover gulps and shifts his foot slightly which causes the glass to shatter. “Wait, no no no!”
“1 minute remaining.”
“Ah, shit.” The last mobian not affiliated with the group of three panics.
“We don’t have time kid!” Knuckles pushes his fists together.
The mobian leaps and falls right through the glass. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles step up to the last pane.
“30 seconds remaining.”
“I’ll go.” Sonic breathes in. He jumps across and lands on the last glass. It doesn’t budge. “Come on, hurry!”
Tails lunges himself forward onto the ending platform and Knuckles does too. As the three catch their breath, the glass breaks behind them. The shards fly everywhere and cut their fur and skin.
“The remaining players may now proceed back to the dormitory.”

Chapter 15: Kenopsia

Summary:

cries

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles proceed back to the dormitory. The game hall filled with a labyrinth of stairs is missing the bustling sounds of footsteps and whispered chattering. Kenopsia. The end is near.
“Sonic…” Tails starts, tapping his shoulder.
“Hm?” Sonic asks, staring off into oblivion.
“I have something to admit.” Tails inhales and exhales. Sonic averts his eyes to Tails to show he’s listening.
“I’ve known what the games were since the picnic. I was too afraid to say anything. And I did the calculations in my head during Hangman—I knew we’d need most likely an even number for the games, and so we had to get rid of Kit. I knew the word, but I didn’t want to say anything.” Tails admits.
Sonic stares straightforward but slowly turns to face Tails. “You…”
“I know, I’m sorry!” Tails holds onto his jacket for a sense of comfort.
“What is the matter?” Knuckles approaches the two.
“Nothing—“ Tails begins, but Sonic barges in.
“He knew the games. He knew the best strategy to get us this far.” Sonic mutters.
Knuckles stands in disbelief and he shakes his head. “Vector should’ve killed you while he had the chance.”
The three approach the dorm in silence.

Blaze adjusts her vision to the light hanging above her. She’s tied to a chair in the middle of an empty, vast room.
“If you couldn’t tell, I kidnapped you.” Mephiles spins around in a chair to take a look at her.
“Why? What is your motive?” Blaze doesn’t bare to look at him.
“I’m not going to do anything to you. But I have other plans.” He presses a button and a screen projects in front of them. The screen is a body cam of a guard. The guard drags Silver into the room Mephiles and Blaze are currently in. Shadow unveils his mask and he positions Silver up in the chair to tie him up.
“Shadow…you traitor!” Blaze shouts, but Shadow seems un-phased. On a table between the two, he places a gun with six shells inside.
“What’s the meaning of this?!” She struggles in the ropes grasp. Shadow doesn’t reply and he just stares off into space.
Mephiles turns to Shadow. “Thank you, my brother. Seems I’m not the only one who took dad’s traits.”

“My children, come with me.” Eggman opens a metal door and motions for his kids to follow.
“Father, what is it?” Sage questions.
“Listen to me very carefully. Cubot, look this way.” Eggman snaps his finger. “It wasn’t my plan to let this death massacre happen. It’s gone too far, even for me.”
“What are you saying?” Orbot tilts his head to the side.
“I have business to take care of.” Eggman closes his eyes and starts to walk away.
“Papa, wait!” Sage tries reaching out for him. “Don’t leave, I need to know what’s going on!”
“Finish running the games for me.” Eggman disappears out of the room.
Metal glanced over at the three siblings.
“I will try and access his database to track his movements.” Sage plops into a spinny chair and she kicks her legs to move it towards a computer. Metal just grabs the chair and moves it gently for her. She starts typing and inserting codes.
“Boss told us to run the games, remember?” Cubot says.
“Yes, we know. He was just here,” Orbot responds.
Sage’s appearance glitches ever so slightly as she discovers she’s been locked out of Eggman’s locational system. “He locked us out of his trackers.”
“So we can’t see where’s he’s at? Why would he do that?” Orbot lifts his head up to see the computer screen.
“I can’t teleport to him. My code has been disabled.” Her eyes widen. “He could be in danger!”
Metal Sonic immediately springs into action and he’s flies over to the door, but it doesn’t budge. He tries the padlock code to escape, but nothing happens.
“We are trapped!” Cubot gasps.

As the three enter the dorm, only three beds are left. The walls are revealed and it shows all the games in order; the games stop at glass bridge, so there’s no telling what’s next.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Sonic sits on the edge of Tails’ bed.
“It could’ve ended up worse! It’s already bad enough!” Tails digs his face in his hands.
“Are you doing this for your own benefit?” Sonic glances over.
Tails sits in silence, drowned out by his own guilt.
“Wait… you knew what would happen. You knew how marbles would go.” Sonic feels his anger build up inside him. “You knew you’d be better off with Cream because you had a better chance at survival. You killed people to make sure you survived!” He grabs his sleeve.
“That’s the point of the game!” Tails yells back and shoves Sonic off him.
“Killing your friends does nothing! All you’re doing is sitting in your own guilt… If you even feel that anymore.” Sonic gets to his feet to walk away.
“Sonic-“
“Don’t talk to me.”
A group of guards walk inside.
The square mask one begins. “Players, we sincerely congratulate you and commend you all for successfully making it through the first five games. The three of you are now the finalists, and as such, we have prepared a special gift for each of you. Before we reveal the gift, please take a moment to change into the outfits we have brought.” The guards hand each individual their outfit.

“Wha…” Silver flutters his eyes open. In front of him lies Blaze and a gun.
Mephiles scoots his way over in a rollie chair. “Russian Roulette. I’m sure you’re both familiar with the game. The gun has six rounds with one live bullet inside. You will both take turns without spinning the cylinder. 1 in 6 chance.” He eyes the two. “And don’t think about shooting me.” He spins his own gun on his finger.
They both reach for the gun, their hands colliding.
“I’ll go first.” Blaze grasps the gun, her palms shaking. She slowly aims it towards herself.
“You have to aim at the head.” Mephiles’ arm forms into a gun for example. Blaze doesn’t reply and she pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. She throws down the gun and shivers in place. Silver takes it from her, immediately aiming it at his head.
“Silver, think about what you’re doing.” She tries to stop him.
“I’m going to die either way,” he responds.
“Don’t think about it that way.” She shakes her head no, and Silver pulls the trigger. Nothing. Blaze retrieves it from him and she points it at herself again. The trigger clicks. Nothing.
“1 in 3 chances of survival.” Mephiles laughs.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles leave the bathroom and enter the dormitory. In the middle lies a huge triangular shaped table with platters of food spread across. The guards place eating utensils out and they shine the knives.
“This feast is to congratulate you finalists for succeeding this far. Please, sit down and enjoy your meal.”
The three go to separate chairs. There’s such a plentiful variety of foods with every color of the rainbow through meats, vegetables, and fruits. Yet, none of it matters. Nobody speaks the whole duration of the meal. Tails slips the sharpest knife down into his lap carefully.
An hour goes by, and they all fall asleep. Except Tails. He grips the knife in hand, staring down at it. His body trembles as he slowly brings it closer to himself.
“It’s for my friends…” He mutters through quiet sobs. He stops himself suddenly, shifting out of bed to go to the restroom. He brings the knife with him. As he enters, Sonic is in there staring at himself in the mirror. He glances down at Tails’ knife.
“Put the knife down.” Sonic, instead of defensively stepping back, he moves forward to comfort him.
“Go away. Let me do this.” Tails shakes in place, pointing the knife at Sonic to warn him.
“Damn it, Tails, put the knife down!” Sonic lunges at Tails, and he quickly shifts the knife around. As Sonic grabs Tails’ shoulders up against the bathroom wall, his eyes widen as he sees the knife punctured right through Tails’ heart. The blood trickles down his uniform and onto the floor. Tails looks up at him with a smile on his face. Sonic tries yelling for help, but nobody comes to the rescue.
“Sonic…” Tails slips down onto the floor, the knife falling out of his chest and then scraping his head where the bandages were previously.
“Tails, no no no. Stop that!” Sonic shakes Tails violently, trying to keep him alive.
“I’m…sorry.” Tails mutters his last words, smiling weakly.
“TAILS!” Sonic’s eyes start to water as Tails goes limp in his arms. The blood flows out profusely—you’d think Sonic dived into a blood bath. He stands up, laying Tails on the floor and staring at his fists.
“FUCK!” He punches the mirror beside him and throws Tails’ knife all the way across the bathroom. “It’s all my fault…”
A guard walks into the bathroom unannounced. They grab their radio, contacting the higher-ups of Tails’ death. “Player 178, eliminated.”

Chapter 16: Moribund - The Losses of the Mass

“Hm. Well, would you hear that?” Mephiles chuckles. “Two players left.”
Silver shares hopeless glances with Blaze. He takes the gun, driving it to his temple. The gun clicks.
“50/50, princess.” Mephiles removes the table between Blaze and Silver, snagging the gun from Silver to hand it to Blaze.
“I wasn’t meant to play this damn game.” Blaze fumbles with the gun in her hand out of fear, but she aims it at her forehead.
“That’s what you get for betting on the lives of people.” Mephiles rolls his eyes. “You’re no better than the rest of us.”
“Blaze, think about this. If you need to shoot me, just do it.” Silver grabs her wrists and stares into her eyes.
She closes her eyes and pulls the trigger. The bullet flies out the other side of her head and barely misses Mephiles. The blood gushes out of her head like the squeezing of a damp towel. Silver manages to grab her brain dead body before it crashes down on the floor. He moves his hand to the back of her head and brings her close to him, staring at Mephiles.
“Well, my job here is done.” Mephiles scoffs, running his hand against the armrest before getting off the chair. Shadow grabs Mephiles’ unattended gun and immediately shoots Mephiles at least a dozen times in the back of the head and his side. The body slowly morphs into a black fog and blows away. It was just a clone.
“You have to leave her here. We need to go, now.” Shadow puts a hand on the knob. Silver just kneels there in silence while holding Blaze against him.
“…If they come in here, you’re dead.” Shadow quietly opens the door and sneakily makes his way out.

The Eggman kids have been trapped in the room for a mere few hours. Orbot and Cubot are in the corner rocking back and forth while wearing padded white suits acting as if they’re in an insane asylum. Sage does everything in her power to unlock the door. Metal places a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head.
“Brother, we don’t know what he’s doing!” Sage gesticulates with her hands and paces around in a circle. Metal follows each footstep of hers intently.
She sighs. “As long as he’s safe, he will come back.”

Eggman makes his way down an elevator. The metal door opens, and in front of him lies incinerators for the deceased players. A guard wheels in a casket with a person inside, sliding it in the incinerator like placing a fresh pizza in the oven. Eggman struts forward while guards move out of the way for him. The exit sign lights up a bright red and in front of him lies just another basic door. He twists the handle and opens the door. The outside world’s incandescence is intoxicating, blinding even. He takes one step forward and doesn’t look back.

“Finalists. Prepare for your final game.”
Sonic lays in the middle of the dormitory staring up at the ceiling illuminated by the piggybank. He lifts his arm to reach for something, but it isn’t the money.
“Sonic.” Knuckles stands firm beside Sonic. The hedgehog doesn’t reply, just drowned in his own thoughts. His eyes shift to his now maroon covered gloves, and a new addition he made: one of Amy’s gold cuffs on his right arm.
“…Hmph.” Knuckles trudges away while adjusting his own gloves which have been cleaned white. “He made the right decision.”
Sonic freezes and slowly turns his head to look at Knuckles. He gets on one knee to prop himself up off the floor.
“He deceived his friends. He said it himself.” Knuckles side-eyes him as he’s turned away.
“How did Rouge die?” Sonic asks, taking a step closer to Knuckles. The echidna doesn’t respond immediately, but he knows he doesn’t want to lie or be hypocritical.
“What game did you play?” Sonic tries reaching a hand out, but Knuckles throws it away from him.
“Stop asking questions!” Knuckles yells back, and the lights slowly start to fade into red. Projector screens on each wall come out of the floor to overlay the wall of the building. The huge television that once displayed the number of players now has the Eggman logo.
“Player 300 and Player 456. Welcome to the final game.” Sage hovers out and into the platform while wearing a long, draping black dress as the glitches fade in and out of red to blue.
“Sage!” Sonic shouts, suddenly bolting at her. Before he could get near her, Metal Sonic aims a gun at the hedgehog’s head.
“Your game is Showdown. Only one will prevail.” She lifts her hand and the projectors display footage of each individual’s deaths in the game. Both Knuckles and Sonic stare at the deaths in Red Light, Green Light starting at Big and then Vanilla.
“You’re weak.” Knuckles scoffs, sniping at Sonic’s guilt. The hedgehog doesn’t reply, and instead stands up firmly. He glances down at his right arm and grips his hand into a fist.
“I’m not afraid to kill you.” The echidna steps closer to Sonic and he cracks his knuckles.
“Why do you want to win?” Sonic steps backwards.
“I will protect the Master Emerald if it is the last thing I do.” Knuckles charges at Sonic.
“You don’t have to do this, Knucks!” Sonic’s eyes widen as he sees one of his closest friends aiming a fist at his face. He goes the defense route and blocks the punch with his foot and he rolls backwards to get himself back on the ground.

“Silver.” Shadow runs back into Silver in the hallway.
“Don’t talk to me.” Silver pushes Shadow away as he grips Blaze’s gold VIP mask in his left hand.
“Do you want to escape or not?” Shadow grabs Silver’s hood and brings him close. After no quick response, he huffs and shoves him off of him.
“I want to escape. How am I supposed to go with you after what you did?” Silver crosses his arms and turns his head.
“We would’ve both been killed if anything else went differently. Accept that she’s gone.” Shadow grips his gun.
“Who are you to talk.” Silver glares at him. Shadow immediately points the gun at the silver hedgehog, his breathing heavy.
Silver dejectedly shakes his head side to side. “Just pull the trigger.”
Shadow lowers his gun. “The doctor fled the facility and left his minions trapped in a control room. I let them out.”
“Why would you do that?!” Silver looks at him in disbelief.
“We have a better chance of escaping if they’re not constantly watching the cameras.” Shadow motions to the two cameras on the ceiling.
“If we leave now, they’ll kill us. I’ve risked my life enough.” Silver inhales.
Shadow puts a hand on his hip. “I hate to admit this, but I’ll stay with you. We both have a better chance at survival if we’re together.”
“Exactly.”

“We can talk this out. We don’t have to fight.” Sonic reasons.
“It’s too late for reconciliation, Sonic. You’re blinded by your guilt and it makes you a vulnerable target.”
“You’re blinded by your desire to protect the emerald! It’s too late for that now!”
“I am following my tribe’s orders, and I will protect the emerald until I die.” Knuckles takes a moment to glance over at the projected screens, and he sees camera footage of him deceiving Rouge.
“You haven’t mentioned your friends ONCE.” Sonic’s deep hatred builds up again. His only best friend left doesn’t even acknowledge the losses of the mass.
Knuckles lunges at Sonic and bashes him in the side of the head with his fist. Before he could do any further harm, Sonic gets back up and charges up a spindash.
“How-“ Knuckles’ eyes widen and Sonic’s force of impact sends Knuckles slam into a wall. The echidna feels his strength come back to him. In a blink of an eye, he comes running back at Sonic. The hedgehog zips into a ball and rolls around.

Sage and Metal watch the fight intently. It’s just hit after hit.
“Brother, do you think one will end up being destroyed?” Sage turns to him. The robot nods his head.

Sonic huffs, putting a hand on his knee while wiping the blood under his nose.
“You will end up like the rest of your friends.” Knuckles kicks Sonic back onto the floor. The projectors surrounding him display the last moments him and Amy spent together. It then switches immediately to Tails’ body lying on the bathroom floor.
Sonic opens his eyes, seeing Knuckles standing with a foot on his chest.
“This is your end.” Knuckles pushes his foot down and starts to crush Sonic’s ribs.
The gold cuff begins to shine and Sonic musters up the strength to punch Knuckles right in the stomach. He turns over onto his stomach and coughs out blood.
“Agh…” Sonic barely manages to get to his feet. He shifts his eyes over to Knuckles lying on the ground. The cuff on his wrist dims. The echidna lays flat out on the ground and the projectors cut to black. The only lights are the illuminating piggy bank, the glitches present on Sage, and Metal Sonic’s red pupils.
“Knuckles…” Sonic starts to run, but he falls back to his knees and coughs out more blood. He gains the tiniest bit of energy to crawl over to Knuckles. His eyes widen as he sees a gaping hole in his abdomen just about the size of his fist.
“Knuckles!” Sonic makes his way over and he stares down at what’s left of his friend. There’s no words to be shed.

“Congratulations, Sonic the Hedgehog. You’ve won 456 million dollars.”
There’s nothing left. There’s no point. There’s no winning in a game when you lose everything.
Sonic’s eyelids grow heavy and he passes out right there.

Notes:

‼️‼️‼️ PLEASE READ: This is the end of the chapters, but the endings will come out after!

⚠️⚠️⚠️I have a bunch of voice actor friends and we will be dubbing the ENTIRE fanfic on our youtube channel: The Fandom House ! I don’t have a link yet, but i’ll add it once I get it.

Chapter 17: IMPORTANT INFO

This isn’t part of the story. lol. ANYWAY ITS IMPORTANT

I won’t be updating the Ao3 version in awhile most likely. Right now I’m getting my team and I to voice act the fanfic and turn it into a youtube series instead! It will be completely finished and updated there. I’ll send a link when it’s finished. It will take awhile fair warning