GeneX - Nightmare Zone: Act VIII
Lord of Nightmare

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Song, "High to be loathed" (c) the writers of The Simpsons &... Fox, I guess?


Herein lies the record of our struggle. We are the denizens of GeneX Necros...
Three years ago, our greatest heroes were lured to the ominous shroud of darkness known as the Nightmare Zone. A curse had befallen the Master Emerald, and the evil Dr. Eggman seemed to be behind it. However, the ghost of one of his robots, Xenegg, was actually behind the scheme, and saw to it that our greatest heroes fell that day...
With the balance of light and darkness shattered, the Nightmare Zone began to spread to the nearby cities. The survivors set to work trying to combat it, but every step was threatened by the evil witch, Tabitha. Vampires, Lost Ones, and zombies ran wild in the city, but a brave sorceress managed to revive our greatest hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, through magic. Then, he thwarted Tabitha's Spell of the Shadows, but the witch placed a black curse upon him in retaliation.
Last year, the surviving heroes split up into groups. One team faced Tabitha at the Mystic Ruins, hoping to defeat her once and for all. Sonic's Black Curse placed everyone in danger, but eventually he mastered the curse and used it to fight back, so Tabitha removed it herself. In the final battle, a shrew named Illusi managed to snatch Tabitha's Book of Nightmare from her, then vanished as she attempted to kill him. No one knows where he is, or if he survived...
The other team was joined by a traveler from another world, and they battled the forces of Dr. Eggman Nega, who was commanding darkness itself to take the shape of those who died. Ultimately, one spell of the Nightmare Zone was broken, and now aircraft are able to fly within it once again, giving our heroes a new advantage in the battle against the nightmares.
However, the Book of Nightmare remains missing, and the Master Emerald remains cursed. If our heroes do not act, Tabitha can complete her plot, and the Lord of Nightmares may finally be resurrected from his slumber...


As Halloween nears yet again, the surviving heroes of the Nightmare Zone gathered at a remote location on the border of what was once the United Federation, in a mountainous region where Shadow Arcangel could be relatively hidden. They met in the control room of the ship, with Bucky the rat hosting the meeting. Sonic and Tails had survived to make this meeting, and Fred the fennec had successfully protected the children, Charmy, Cream, and Tommy. Copter the fox, Punchy the echidna, Lucky the cat, and Heather the phoenix were the only experiments to make it to this meeting, Lucky having been recreated by Bucky in the same way as Punchy the previous year. Tails had brought his robot, SPOT 2.0, and Gemini the fennec, Shade the echidna, and Gator the costumed human rounded out the meeting. Now that the group had reunited with Fred, Punchy was keeping the Master Emerald on his person, having taken it upon himself to guard it in Knuckles's stead. However, in a year's time, none had been able to locate Illusi or the Book of Nightmare. "We sent Gator into Troblusk City... a bit against his will... and he brought back news." Shade announced once it had been established that the Book of Nightmare was still missing. Gator refused to speak out of anger at his treatment during the journey, so Lucky gave the report. "A dark island is floating above the city. Our best intelligence tells us it's Demon Island." he said. Sonic looked unnerved. "Best intelligence? Care to elaborate?" he snapped. Shade shrugged. "The limited historical records we can find seem to suggest it..." she sighed. Tails pulled out his book, his pride and joy since all the trouble began, "Three Thousand Dos and Don'ts of Scary Scenarios." He was well studied on it by now, and seemed to be looking for a particular passage. "Oy, let's move this meeting on before Tails reads from his bible..." Copter groaned. "Hey! ...Someone scribbled something in here!" Tails stammered. Bucky smirked. "All right! Who did it? I owe them a 20..." he chuckled. No one spoke up, and Tails stared wide-eyed at the writing scrawled in his book. "Listen to this! 3001; Do search Troblusk City. That which you are seeking is there...!" he read aloud. Everyone stared in surprise. "I thought the book had 3000 things in it..." Sonic mumbled. "This smacks of a trap." Fred cautioned. Still, it was very close to Halloween, and they'd need to attempt to counter Tabitha's next attempt to summon the Lord of Nightmares. "...We'll split up." Bucky decided. Tails collapsed in utter aggravation, having been saying for four years now that splitting up was the worst idea. However, everyone else agreed. "One group will search Troblusk City from the ground. The other will approach Demon Island from this ship." Gemini stated. Gator looked around and scratched his head. "Hey, the Doomy-guy never said anything to us this year. Is that a good sign or a bad sign...?" he mumbled.


The land based group that headed into Troblusk City consisted mainly of those who wouldn't be of much use aboard Shadow Arcangel. The group was led by Copter and Shade, with Punchy and Gemini rounding out their team. Cream, Cheese, Charmy and Tommy went along as well, since Demon Island would likely be far more dangerous than anywhere else they might go. At the edge of the city, an odd, yellow and blue creature with a forked tail approached them. Shade was apprehensive at first, but Copter quickly calmed the group. "That's one of Bucky's last creations, Carrie." he said, "She went missing last year...where you been?" he asked. "Eggman Nega got the jump on Talon and me last year. We were relentlessly pursued by demons for months. We lost them by splitting up... I don't know what became of Talon..." she sighed. "Well, welcome back!" Charmy said cheerfully, ever trying to defuse the tension. "How'd you know to come here??" Gemini asked, still a bit suspicious. "I've been trailing Gunner... That old guy's the easiest to sneak around. Got some intelligence, too. Gunner and some 'Covenant of Nightmare' are working with Tabitha..." she said. Punchy scoffed. "That's dated news. We've known Gunner joined them for months." he said. Carrie grinned. "But did you know? Gunner and the covenant HATE each other?" she informed them. Cream looked puzzled. "Wait... they're friends and they hate each other? ...That doesn't make any sense." she mumbled. Copter sighed. "War's a little over her head. So, you think we can turn them against each other?" he wondered. "Only if you gave the leader of the covenant an excuse!" Carrie smirked. Shade nodded. "If what you say is true, we'd be fools not to exploit it." she reasoned. "Yeah... Even in this mess of a world, Gunner has way too many toys..." Punchy groaned. Gemini looked at everyone like they were nuts. "Okay, but what are we gonna do? Just barge up to Fera and ASK her to help us???" she blurted.

"I can't BELIEVE we're just barging up to Fera to ask her to help us!!" Gemini groaned. Their split up group had been split into a smaller group led by Punchy and, to her annoyance, Gemini. Cream and Tommy went along as well, mainly out of a desire not to be involved in the attack on Gunner, a mission of peace seeming better to them. Troblusk City was in ruins, it resembled the remnants of a war zone not long after a brutal battle, and was now caught in the clutch of the eerie quiet that tends to follow such carnage. The group kept just as silent, hoping not to attract attention. Unfortunately, one of Gunner's allies happened to possess an aerial view. "Hee hee hee hee! Gemini... Didn't we kill you before? Oh, yes... I was there when you came back. Sorry, my mind is on the fritz lately." smirked Eggman Nega from aboard his black Egg Mobile, a sick expression crossing his face as he started dreaming up various ways for his enemies below him to die. "Hey... Who IS that??" Punchy mumbled, up to now having yet to actually face Eggman Nega. "No one... just your executioner! Hee hee hee! Nega Hunters, hunt them!" the dark scientist shouted. Metallic bodies started shambling toward them from the surrounding area. They crawled out of holes in buildings, car trunks, even from sewer grates. They were GUN's Hunter robots, and they weren't. Eggman Nega had repurposed them, painted them black, and programmed them with ghoulish demeanors. "WHY monsters!? Even when it's robots, it's ALWAYS monsters!!" Cream wailed, clutching Cheese and backing away slowly. "We'll just smash 'em, right?" Tommy smiled. Gemini pointed her wand shakily and fired a few bolts at the lumbering Hunters, which tore some small holes in their metal bodies, but otherwise seemed not to bother them. "...run..." she whimpered. "There's nowhere to go..." Nega sneered. However, the ghoulish Hunters were suddenly blasted back by several beams of what appeared to be dark magic! The group looked around to see a purple echidna hanging out of a second-floor window, her hand glowing with dark energy. "Covenant of Nightmare! Drive back that human scum!" she shouted. "...Why does that echidna look like Rainbow?" Punchy murmured. A number of other animals dressed in black emerged, ready to help drive back the Hunters! "Ugh... Am I going to have to call Tabitha again..." Nega groaned, shaking his head, "No! I'll punish you animals myself!" he growled.


After dropping off the team that would explore Troblusk City, the team bound for Demon Island waited in Shadow Arcangel's halls while Bucky and Tails sought out a place to land the ship from the control room. Waiting in the halls were Sonic, Lucky, Fred, SPOT, Heather and Gator, the rest of the group having gone down to Troblusk City. Lucky was honing his melee skills with a baseball bat, the only weapon at his disposal since Zipp's cache had been long since exhausted. "You really think a wood bat's gonna stop a bunch of monsters?" Sonic asked. "Stopped Gator a couple times when he was spazzing out." he replied. "IT WAS A BIG SPIDER!!" Gator snapped. The shuffling of cards could be heard down the hall, and the group immediately stood defensively. "Oh... already??" Fred groaned. A ghostly white shape emerged from the darkness of the hall. It was Lospecter, who had taken a new, more solid form since Tabitha attempted to cast the Spell of the Shadows two years before. "Hey, fellas. Modern Lospecter here, making his Nightmare Zone debut!" he grinned. "Funny... feels like that should've happened already..." Gator muttered. "How'd you even get up here!?" Heather shouted. Lospecter chuckled softly. "Why, tweety, we Lost Ones' have ALWAYS known our way around this ol' rickety cruiser... Isn't that right, my mopey buddy?" he said, glancing back. A low, sorrowful moan crept through the darkness to the groups' ears, making their flesh crawl. "Danger! Danger!!" SPOT beeped. "Yeah, you said it..." Sonic frowned. In the next instant, sharp, slimy tentacles came ripping along the walls, tearing in and out of them as they made their way toward the heroes! A giant, vampiric face charged them from the darkness, leaving them with no reaction but to turn and run away, screaming! "Losipher!! Somehow, Losipher stowed on board!! We have to warn Bucky and Tails!!" Fred shouted. "I'm on it!!" Sonic replied, speeding ahead while the rest of the group was left to attempt to fend off the tentacles! Lucky smacked one away with his bat, but Gator and Heather quickly found themselves snatched up! "Keep running, Lucky!!" Fred urged him, waving his wand frantically and trying to come up with a spell to save them...

Shadow Arcangel rumbled and groaned as the ship was torn up from the inside by Losipher. The ship swerved toward Demon Island, and smashed down into the dense forest region of the island. As the ship went up in flames, a ball of light emerged, carrying several figures out of the wreckage. Once that light touched the ground, it retreated into Fred's wand, and he looked around to see that everyone around him was breathing. Sonic, Tails, Lucky and Bucky were standing dizzily beside him, while SPOT hovered over from inside the ship moments later. Losipher's enraged roar preceded Gator and Heather being thrown from somewhere deep inside the flaming wreck of the Arcangel, Heather's body burning and lifeless as it struck the ground. However, she gradually revived from her ashes while Gator dizzily stumbled about. "Hah! Didn't like gettin' your eyes poked, did ya!!" he yammered. "Wait... We all got out alive!?" Tails gasped, "...cool." Suddenly, they heard rustling in the trees behind them, and Sonic spun around apprehensively. "Great! NOW something's here to kill us!" he groaned frustratedly. However, a griffin popped out of the trees with his hands up, instead. "...Talon!?" Lucky gasped. "Oh, good... People who know me." the griffin sighed. Bucky looked at him like he'd seen a ghost. "No, you have to be dead by now!" he stammered. "You mean like her?" Gator said, pointing to Heather as she groggily sat up. "What's goin' on...?" she mumbled. Talon ignored this debate. "I'm glad I found you guys. I found something on this island. I think... I'd better show you. It's important." he said. Tails scratched his head. "Well... what is it?" he asked. Before they could talk more, though, Eggman could be heard cackling above them. "Soooonic!! Oh, how I've missed you lately! Because... I was hoping I'd get to be the one to kill you! Or maybe my new friend could do it on my behalf!" he grinned, glancing down. Sonic and Tails looked in despair as they saw who Eggman was referring to. Knuckles the echidna, his body twisted by the Lost Ones, emerged from the shadows of the woods, his eyes glowing eerily green, and a murderous look on his face. "Oh, and LosKnuckles brought backup, too... Hehehe..." Eggman chuckled, snapping his fingers to call out a horde of hellish demons. Houndlike Biters and fearsome Worms were among the demons. "Okay, Talon... Lead the way, but make sure you lead AWAY from them!" Sonic said.


Copter, Shade, Charmy and Carrie started looking for whatever clue Tails's book had implied they might find in the city. However, along the way, they'd come across the remains of a GUN outpost, which Gunner was now inhabiting. The old man was keeping a vigil over the surrounding area from the rooftop using a pair of binoculars. "How much you wanna bet we take one step out into the open and he sends hordes of crazed robots after us?" Copter growled. "I can zipp by without being seen! Lemme go!" Charmy said playfully. "You want to end up like your comrades!?" Shade snapped. She'd learned long ago that if she so much as vaguely brought up Espio and Vector, Charmy's spirits immediately sunk, and sure enough, he dropped to the floor and hugged his knees sadly. "I'll be good..." he sighed. Copter saw a nearby garbage can, waited until Gunner glanced away, and then sped behind it. "I'm gonna try to divert grampa's attention. You three try to move on." he said. "Aw, isn't that cute, you being all heroic? Makes it all the more fun for me to ruin it!" The four of them all cringed at the sound of Lospecter's voice. "Hey, Carrie. Haven't hunted you in a few weeks." the ghostly spectre chuckled as he floated down from above, waving his hands to get Gunner's attention. "You... little... spit! Can't I ever get rid of you!?" Carrie yelled. "Tell ya what, WE'LL get rid of YOU!" he replied, drawing some cards and summoning up enough slithering losol to surround them! Gunner very soon joined them as well. "Damn you, Experiment 2! Are we never going to succeed in killing you again!?" he shouted. Copter stuck out his tongue and backed away to join his allies. "Yes, very witty. Well, here, we brought you a playmate, also returned from the grave!" Gunner sneered, glancing upward. Copter heard the beating of wings overhead, and whined frustratedly. "Oh, no..." he mumbled. Down dropped the slimy reanimated corpse of Guard the gargoyle! Lospecter chuckled. "Well, I got places to be... Have fun, LosGuard!" he said before flying off. Charmy hopped back into the air frantically. "Remember Tails's book! Don't try to fight the monsters!! RUUUN!!!" he screamed.


Sonic's group was busy following Talon as they fled from LosKnuckles and the legion of Biter and Worm demons under Eggman's control. The forest seemed to go on forever, and the demons were spreading out and attempting to surround them. "This is pointless! Unless that priest has an almighty demon-smiting spell, I'm going to have to hold them off!" Bucky growled. "What!? But you'll die!!" Tails shouted. "You don't know that. I just got shredded and eaten and exploded and I didn't die!" Gator said. "SHUT IT, GATOR!" seemingly everyone yelled. Bucky stopped in his tracks and started sending bolts of lightning in several directions, either frying the demons or setting fire to nearby trees! "I can take care of myself better than any of you! Leave!" he insisted. However, a cackling laugh was heard in front of them, and Talon doubled back as Tabitha dropped down from the sky, sitting on her broom and holding colorful, deadly lights in her hands. "Are you having a Happy Halloween? Finally, this year, my glorious darkness will triumph!" she grinned. "Then it will do it without you!" Bucky growled, turning his focus squarely on the witch, who blocked his lightning with her own magic, a dark trail of bolts meeting Bucky's and battling to determine which attack would hit its mark! "B-bucky!!" Heather gasped. "All of you... GO!!" he shouted commandingly. Though some of the experiments were a bit hesitant, the approaching demons quickly snapped them out of it, and the group ran to escape! However, as they started to get some distance from the demons, Sonic turned back. "What the heck are you doing!?" Talon stammered. "Goin' back for Bucky!" Sonic replied. "...WHY!?" he yelped. "Well... He CAN revive us if we die." Lucky pointed out. The rest of the group stayed together while Sonic made a solo run back. He hid from tree to tree, hoping not to get drawn into a fight if his mission proved to be hopeless. When he arrived, he glanced from behind his wooden hiding place and saw a disheartening sight. Bucky's lab coat lay on the ground, charred. There was no sign of a body. "...He's gone... Tabitha vaporized him..." Sonic frowned. The witch was still there, and LosKnuckles had stopped to take orders from her, too, so Sonic decided to eavesdrop. "Listen well... The hour is growing late. I need you to locate the Master Emerald. You of all entities should be able to do that! Now get going!" she commanded. Sonic backed away slowly and gritted his teeth. "We gotta stop that witch..." he growled.


Joined by the Covenant of Nightmare, Gemini, Punchy, Cream and Tommy were holding their ground against Eggman Nega's horde of ghoulish robots. However, the robots seemed incapable of being completely shut down, and Nega floated a safe distance above the battle, chuckling with glee. "Don't give them any quarter! Push those slime bags back!" Violet, the purple echidna, called to her allies. "Things are finally looking up!" Cream cheered. "Yeah! This might even be easy!" Tommy smiled. They clearly had forgotten they were in the Nightmare Zone. As Violet charged ahead, attempting to hit the robots harder with her dark magic, a laser blast from above pierced her chest, dropping her to the floor! "...Uh oh..." Punchy gulped. Looking up, they saw the ghostly form of Xenegg, the green robot that had lured several heroes to their death at the beginning of the trouble with the Nightmare Zone. "Let this remind you Covenant of Nightmare fools... You belong to the NIGHTMARE ZONE!!" he bellowed, pointing his ghostly gun around at the animals that stared dumbfoundedly at their fallen comrade. Punchy and Gemini glanced back at Cream and Tommy gravely, and they knew the tide had just turned dramatically. Eggman Nega chuckled in his high perch. "What the unkillable spirit said. Now turn around and obliterate our REAL enemies, like a good pack of animals." he sneered. The Covenant of Nightmare slowly turned around, and the ghoulish Hunters continued their advance as well. "Mr. echidna... Ms. fennec... This time, there will be no body for you to be revived from!" Xenegg moaned ominously. Gemini twirled her wand and cast a spell. "Cleviso!!" In a bright flash of light, the four of them disappeared! "Gah! Where'd they go!?" Eggman Nega stammered as the Covenant of Nightmare looked about in confusion. Xenegg, however, rotated his head a bit and groaned in annoyance. "An invisibility spell. My sensors detect them in that direction!" he shouted, pointing. Eggman Nega scratched his head. "Aren't your sensors technically broken?" he asked. "DO NOT QUESTION ME!!" Xenegg howled, leading every living thing to take off after the invisible targets without further argument!


After catching up with his group, Sonic and the others followed Talon to an ominous looking cavern. There was smoke coming from within. "So, Sonic... Where's the rat?" Gator asked. Everyone shook their heads; They'd been avoiding the subject because it was painfully obvious. "Come on... We have to go in there." Talon insisted. Sonic looked around grimly as Talon stepped into the cave. "Has he said where we're goin' yet?" he asked. "Nope." Tails sighed. Inside the cave, they found what appeared to be Hell itself. There was fire everywhere, and spirits were moaning with despair while writhing in the flames. They were greeted at the entrance by a goat-legged red hedgehog with horns on his head. "Hello there... I'm..." before he could finish, Sonic leapt back in alarm! "SATAN!?!? B-buh-but I thought that was just a DREAM!!!" he squealed. The devilish hedgehog frowned. "Your dream, my nightmare. Look at the company I'm forced to keep." he grumbled. As if on cue, the ghost of Patch the fox flew up beside Satan and loudly stuck out his tongue. "HEEHEE!! You jerks thought it was jerky to cast me to HECK, but I'm having the time of my death! Let's all sing campfire songs!!" he giggled manically. "No... NOOOO!!" Satan shrieked. "Oh, when it's your head they wanna sever and your blood they wanna shed; You know you're gonna live forever if everybody wants you dead! So list-en up because I'm given the best advice you'll ever know! Yeah, feel the thrill... I know you will! It's a high to be loooooathed!!" While Patch was singing, the others started tip-toeing past him and Satan, hoping they could make it safely to where Talon was leading them. However, Patch wasn't the only ghost of their past floating around. The ghost of Alpha soon spotted them! "Intruders!! It's the living live!! I thought we sprayed unholy water to keep them out!! GET 'EM!!" he yelled. Demon Worms popped out of the ground, the same worms Eggman had sent after them before. "What's your book say about Hell?" Lucky asked. Tails wore an annoyed look at the question. "Do you think the author's BEEN to Hell??" he growled. "I think he's there NOW." Heather grumbled. Alpha and the demons were coming at them, so they couldn't discuss this any longer. It was time to run!


Copter and Punchy's groups, chased by Lost Ones and the Covenant of Nightmare respectively, soon met up near the city's run down train station, a clock tower stuck at 6:00 looming ominously, casting its shadow over them as their enemies surrounded them! "Okay, Charmy... We can't run anymore. Now what!?" Copter growled. "Ask how their trip to talk to Fera went!" the bee suggested. Gemini stared at him coldly, and he gulped. "Great. I avoided demons for months just to die here." Carrie whined. Gunner arrived with LosGuard, overseeing the swarm of Lost Ones. "Perfect. At last, these freaks will die and I can mount their heads where I can see that they're STILL dead!" he crowed. "Not as long as I have anything to say about it!" The group glanced around to see Fera the Wolf push to the front of the Covenant of Nightmare's crowd. "Yay! She really did come to save us!" Cream cheered. "Gunner! There will be no desecration of the bodies! ...We'll burn them!" Fera declared, making Cream, Tommy and Charmy all shout "OH, COME ON!!" in utter frustration and disgust. Gunner nodded at Fera's idea. "Fine, then! At least I'll know they're finished!" he said. As the enemies, now joined by the slow moving Hunter robots, started to advance on them, Copter glanced about worriedly. "I don't think we're all gettin' out of this..." he admitted. "I could teleport, but they'd be on us again pretty fast..." Gemini sighed. "Just take the kids. You can go farther with a small group, right?" Shade said, slowly heading toward the swarm of Lost Ones. "Uh... What are you doin?" Punchy asked. "The rest of you, find an escape through the general direction my corpse will now attempt to cut through. Farewell..." Shade then activated her Leech Blades, preparing to charge into the horde of Lost Ones! "Wait! Shade! NO!!" Punchy shouted, but it was no use. Listening to her friend's request, Gemini grabbed Cream, Charmy and Tommy and cast a teleport spell as Shade started slashing at losol as she headed straight for Gunner! "Carrie, Punch, let's move it!" Copter shouted as the Covenant of Nightmare started coming at them! Punchy used Chaos Avalanche to knock a few of the incoming animals back as they ran, but couldn't help briefly glancing at Shade. "Back... Freak... Get back!! You... FREEEEEEAAAAAK!!!" Gunner shrieked, looking around for help from the Lost Ones and fumbling to get a weapon free, but Shade smashed through the losol furiously and, with a hate that only Gunner himself could match, plunged her Leech Blades through his chest! "Aaaaagh... I feel... heat... wh...why??" Gunner babbled as he fell backward, dead. Punchy smiled, but it quickly turned to a scream as LosGuard slashed Shade across the back with his scythe! "Shade... When this is over we gotta build her a monument..." Copter sniffled as he led Punchy and Carrie away.


Sonic and company's flight through the hellish cave was, naturally, fraught with peril. The cavern was haunted by various ghosts, furious at being defeated in years past, including Terra, Shadow Chaos, and even the Babylon Rogue vampires. SPOT beeped incessantly as they ran, his radar picking up further threats. Finally, Fred had had enough. He spun around while the others followed Talon through the cave, but those moving slow enough to notice stopped to question him. "What are you DOING!?" Tails gasped. "Giving you a chance. My magic can delay these ghosts and possibly halt the demons." Fred said. Some of the group was too focused on keeping up with Sonic and Talon to question Fred's decision, but Heather stepped by his side to join him, lighting fireballs in her hands. "Focus your magic on the ghosts. I'll take the demons." she insisted, "...I can't die. I think..." she added, glancing back and urging Tails to keep going. As he ran ahead, ignoring the sounds of bursting flames and crashing spells behind him, he quickly caught up with SPOT. "Arrived at destination. I will lead you to the others." the robo-puppy's monitor explained.

At the very back of the cave, Talon had led Sonic, Lucky, Gator, and the straggling Tails to a bubbling cauldron. Apparently Tabitha's cauldron. "You see? This is clearly the witch's lair." the griffin stated. Gator looked around at some skeletons littering the floor. "Or Bigfoot's house. He eats people. I saw on TV." he muttered. Some ghosts came floating through the wall, and the group started preparing to run, but were startled and saddened to see that it was Vortex and Crash. "Aw, guys... Loscream got ya..." Lucky sighed. "Worse... Tabitha got Bucky." Sonic grunted. Vortex and Crash glanced at each other solemnly, but there wasn't time to mourn. "Ssssonic... You mussst lisssten. We bring dire newssss. Gr, I ssspeak too ssslow..." Vortex hissed in frustration. So, Crash finished for him. "The witch's book is about to be found! You need to move!" he warned. "Really? Well... Where is it?" Tails asked. Suddenly, they heard a guttural groaning from Talon, and as they turned, they were horrified by what they saw! His body was transforming! "I'm afraid, Sonic... I can't allow you to leave this cave!" he moaned as his wings fell away, and his flesh contorted into slimy, greenish bones! "I, Loskeletor, have led you into this trap for but a single purpose... DEATH!!"


When Copter, Punchy and Carrie had gotten safely away from the Covenant of Nightmare, Charmy slowly flew out to greet them. "Hey, guys. Gemini wanted me to get you. We've got company." he said. "...Bad company?" Carrie asked. Charmy shrugged. "I don't even know anymore." he sighed, looking unusually glum, though not unexpectedly. Following the bee to an inconspicuous alleyway, they found Gemini, Cream and Tommy watching a familiar hornet buzz around anxiously. "Zipp!? You're alive!?" Copter stammered. Zipp's jacket was tattered and he was holding a worn out crossbow armed with makeshift ammunition crafted from tree branches, but he did indeed seem alive. "Don't act all surprised! You really think some great pumpkin could take ME out!? ...by the way, it's not HERE, is it?!" he stammered, looking about. "Ummm... No." Punchy muttered. "My helmet doesn't work anymore. I can't detect stuff..." he whimpered. "Then why do you wear it?" Tommy wondered. "My eyes don't take to light anymore." Zipp stated. "...What light?" Cream said, scratching her head. Zipp groaned and pointed his crossbow out of the alley impatiently. "Guys, I found you for a REASON. I can lead you where you need to go... The witch's spell book!" he said. Gemini nodded. "And you just HAPPEN to know where it is because...?" she asked. "...Illusi said you'd be like that. He also said your spell book is full of scribbles. He saw this torn page once... Who's name was in that heart with yours again?" he sniggered. Gemini held out her wand, which lightly glowed red. "Say one more word and you will spend the rest of your days as a drooling zombie!!" she growled. "Wait... Illusi!?" Punchy gasped.

With that, Zipp led the group to the outskirts of the city. A dark, foreboding mansion was their destination: Hollow Manor. He led them to a graveyard surrounding the exterior of the manor. "Fair warning... Illusi isn't the same anymore. He's sacrificed a lot to keep that book away from the witch." Zipp said. Soon, they saw what he meant. Illusi's mortal body had been reduced to a pile of bones around the Book of Nightmare, and his very soul rested over the book like a ghastly cocoon. "Ever since he gave up his body... I can't get the book out. Maybe that's a good thing, but I worry that the witch will be able to get it out." he said. "She... probably would figure a way out eventually." Copter sighed, "Any ideas, Gemini?" he asked. As Gemini pondered this, Illusi's ghostly eyes opened. "L...leave this place!! Dark One!!" he wailed. Punchy smacked his head. "Even in death, he's on my case..." he groaned, slowly turning away from the ghost. However, he suddenly yelled in alarm as he saw an actual being of darkness behind him. The pumpkin-headed scarecrow Lost One, Loscream had found them! 


Meanwhile at the hellish cavern, Loskeletor fired beams from his red eyes into the cauldron, which seemed to cause a reaction in the bubbling concoction inside it! Then, some monstrous jaws snapped out of the brew as demonic Biters started to claw their way out of the cauldron. "Behold! This is whence those demons spawned." he proclaimed. Gator clutched his stomach. "That is just NASTY! ...Anyone bring a barfy bag?" he groaned. Tails looked around frantically for an escape, but they seemed pretty well trapped in this small nook at the back of the cavern, since Loskeletor was blocking the exit. "We're going to have to go through that skeleton..." he whimpered. "Not until he tells us what he did with Talon!" Lucky growled. "...This, I'm afraid." Talon's voice was heard from behind Loskeletor, and the group watched with despair as his ghostly form flew past the skeleton. "He took my body and used it to copy how I looked when I was alive... But that doesn't mean I can't pay him back for this!" he growled, turning to Loskeletor and ramming his bones repeatedly with his ghostly form! "Gah! What devilry is this? I killed thee once, and thou still fails to learn thy lesson??" Loskeletor yelled. Vortex and Crash glanced at each other and nodded. "You mussst essscape! We will help asss well!" Vortex hissed as he and Crash joined Talon in distracting Loskeletor! Sonic nodded. "Let's get outta here!" he said, jumping hastily as one of the Biters leapt out of the cauldron and snapped at him! The group started past Loskeletor, only to find even more demons filling the tunnel ahead of them! "Me-YOOOW!! We're goners!!" Lucky shrieked. "Oatodera!!" A very strange sounding spell was shouted from further down the tunnel, and afterward, a bright light flashed within every creature in the tunnel, including Sonic and his allies. This light caused the demons to explode, and left the heroes shivering as the wondered what it was going to do to them, but as they saw Fred and Heather approaching, they sighed slowly. "Hey... why'd you cast a spell on us, too!?" Gator mumbled. Fred chuckled. "It was a holy spell. It only destroys demons, and ignores the pure of heart... Now, let's run. I can't cast spells again for a bit after that..." he said urgently. "Yeesh... Glad I'm not still cursed..." Sonic gulped, not wanting to know if that spell would have exploded him, too...


Back on the ground, the other group was faced with Loscream. Loscream alone wouldn't be too big a deal, had Fera and the Covenant of Nightmare not arrived with Xenegg and LosGuard in tow! Fera quickly cast a beam of darkness on Loscream, transforming him into the massive pumpkin octopus form he'd taken the year before, his giant roots flailing like massive tentacles! "Yeah, let's ask Fera for help. Great idea, Carrie!!" Copter growled. "I will devour your bodies and keep a collection of your heads!!" Loscream roared. "YIKES! It really is like the stories Gator tells!!" Charmy shrieked. Xenegg pointed down at Illusi. "Covenant of Nightmare... do as you will with those fools, but bring that book to me unscathed, or I shall cast you ALL into a Hell you can scarcely imagine!!" he warned. While the rest of the group huddled around Illusi in preparation to fight a possibly hopeless battle, Gemini was paging through her spell book and prodding the spirit of her friend with her wand. "Try to keep as quiet as possible, guys. I need to concentrate!" she said. "...SERIOUSLY!?" Punchy groaned. "Just so you know, as soon as this gets hopeless I'm bookin' out of here. That pumpkin can't die!" Zipp pointed out. Carrie struck a pose and gritted her teeth. "You run if you want! Now it's time for these fiends to face my true power--!" However, she was stopped short by Loscream's root stabbing her through the chest, lifting her into the air before hurling her into the gaping maw of the ghoulish pumpkin! (Author's note: I am horribly aggrieved to have to kill off Carrie in such unceremonious fashion, not even allowing her to fight back. However, at the time of writing, I have utterly failed to complete a certain project that shall remain nameless on time. As a result, Carrie's combat skills have yet to be featured in the GeneX canon. To maintain her mystique, I cannot allow any "spoilers" to be portrayed in the Halloween Special. Regards - 2BIT) While you were reading a seemingly endless parenthesis segment, Tommy was screaming in agony for his fallen comrade. Meanwhile, determined not to share her fate, Copter, Punchy, Charmy and Zipp set about evading Loscream's massive roots while battling it out with LosGuard and the Covenant of Nightmare. Zipp tried to down the undead form of Guard with several bullets to the head before he flew high above the field of battle to reload. "WHYYYY won't anything diiiiiie???" he groaned. "Oh... I'm sure YOU will die." said Xenegg, floating behind him. "YAAAARGH!!" Fortunately for Zipp, he was quick enough to fly back down before the ghostly robot could zap him. During all this, while Tommy was mourning and Gemini was trying spell after spell on Illusi, there was Cream and Cheese. She was watching Fera, who strangely was not participating in the violence. In fact, there was an air on melancholy about the wolf. Taking a chance, Cream boldly crept toward her, wary of Loscream's flailing roots. "M-miss Fera??" Cream called. "....You dare approach me, little girl?" Fera muttered, not looking at her. "Sorry... I was just wondering... Do you miss the light?" Cream said sweetly. Fera glanced at her slowly, studying her. "Oh, my... That pumpkin ate one of yours just now. Are you really okay with that?" Cream whimpered. Fera grunted. "I... don't have a choice..." she hissed. Cream looked up at her with sad eyes. "Aw... I feel bad for you. But, Miss Fera... You do have a choice. Just like we all do." she said.


Sonic's group had a fairly uneventful trip back through the cavern, until they reached the entrance, where they found that Satan had tipped off Tabitha, and now she, Dr. Eggman, and Losipher were all blocking their way out of the cave. "Excellent work, Lucifer." Tabitha said. "What did I do?" Losipher replied. "No, that's not... Aw, forget it..." the witch groaned as she chucked some shrunken heads at Satan as payment. "Ah, now maybe I can ward off some annoying spirits..." the devil remarked. "Hee hee! You should know shrunken heads are for boogermen, not ghosts!" Patch taunted. While the others backed away slightly and started looking for an escape route, Gator stared at Patch. "You lie! Boogermen don't exist!" he shouted. Suddenly, Alpha and Loskeletor emerged at the rear tunnel that the group had just come from, sealing their escape. "We'll have to fight our way out!" Heather shouted, immediately getting zapped by a laser from Eggman's Egg Mobile to take her out of commission for a bit. "Anyone else want to state the obvious??" Eggman muttered. "Eggs are fattening!!" Gator yelled, getting Eggman started as he attempted repeatedly to blast him as he scurried around the cave! Fred started firing magic at Losipher in an effort to delay his imminent attack, but the demon soon started to transform into a winged, clawed beast! Lucky crept toward Satan slowly and nervously, only selecting him as a target because somehow, he appeared the least threatening in the room. Satan glanced at him and smiled unpleasantly. "I have no quarrel with you. Just with HIM!" he hissed, pointing at Patch as he danced around singing show tunes. Lucky sighed and backed away. "I really AM lucky..." he murmured. All the while, Sonic was keeping both Tabitha and Alpha occupied, speeding between them and mocking them as he evaded their various shots in his direction. "You're too slow! I wanna hit a faster target!" Alpha said at last, making Sonic spin around and charge in his direction, running rapid circles around the ghostly robot and yelling "DON'T... YOU... EVER... CALL... ME... SLOW!!!!" as Alpha's head spun around uncontrollably in a vain effort to keep up!


The battle with Loscream and the Covenant of Nightmare was looking hopeless. Copter, Punchy, Zipp, Charmy and Cheese were fighting in a tight circle around Cream, Tommy and Gemini, and Loscream was grabbing members of the covenant and tossing them aside on his way toward the cornered heroes. As she watched this, Fera gritted her teeth, glaring hatefully as her friends were assaulted and even murdered by their so-called ally. Soon, she'd had all she could take. "ENOUGH!!" she roared, warping into the fray and using a dark shockwave to knock her own agents aside! "F-fera???" Copter stammered. LosGuard flew at her furiously, but Fera spotted him and attacked with powerful jolts of black lightning, which tore up the undead gargoyle's wings and caused him to drop like a stone, splattering against the ground! "...Ewwww..." Punchy groaned, turning and gagging. "Stand down, Covenant of Nightmare! We will die for the witch's schemes no more!" Fera declared. Loscream chuckled at her, raising his roots threateningly. "You should have thought of that BEFORE filling me with darkness!" he laughed. Fera was about to say something, but in her distraction, Xenegg simply shot her in the head from his hiding place in the sky! As the wolf dropped dead, the Covenant of Nightmare hesitantly turned on the heroes once more. "It is foolishness to oppose us. Now the Covenant of Nightmare shall be MINE to command!" the ghostly robot bellowed. Gemini groaned with frustration and slapped Illusi's spirit with her wand at this point. "WAKE UP, ILLUSI!!" she snapped. A magic spark from her wand seemed to slap the ghostly shrew, and he gasped mournfully and horrifically at the scene before him. "Dark fiends!! May my final conscious act result in your final damnation and destruction!! FAREWELL!!" he howled. "Whaa... What's he doing!?!?" Punchy stammered. There was a brilliant flash of eerie bluish light as Loscream's roots thrashed towards the heroes, only to clutch at nothing! "What!? ...NOOOO!!!" he wailed. The surviving heroes reappeared far away, on a high cliffside. Charmy hopped over to the cliff and peeked down. "Yipe!! Check it out!" he gasped. The group took a cautious look and shared his surprise. They were high in the sky, not on a cliff, but on the edge of Demon Island. Gemini found herself clutching two books. One was her spell book. "...The Book of Nightmare... Thanks, Illusi..." she sighed. "Now let's hope the others are still alive." Copter added.


Tabitha, frustrated at apparently being unable to hit Sonic, glared at Patch furiously. "You're supposed to be helping, not harassing the earthly incarnation of our great and terrible lord and master!!" she shouted. "Why thank you, madame." Satan bowed, "About time I was shown proper respect." he added under his breath. Patch sighed. "All right, guess I better do something before Tabby magics me something awful. Hee hee! I'll be back, goat-legs!" he giggled, "Come on, Ghosts of Covenant of Nightmare!! GET EM!!" At Patch's cry, several ghosts flew out of nowhere and surrounded the group. Fred immediately set to work attempting to drive them back, but this was just the opening Losipher needed, and he swiftly flapped to the fennec and drove his claws into his back! "GAAAAH.... Don't... give... uhhh..." he groaned weakly before Losipher lifted him up and proceeded to dismember him! Tails hid his eyes in his Dos and Don'ts book just to avoid watching his friend's death, but the shouts of his friends around him were harder to ignore. "....I've kept my eyes hidden in this book for YEARS..." he muttered as his eyes trained on a particular line, which read "DON'T throw this book away." A look of anger passed over his eyes, and he mouthed the word "No!" as he finally tossed the book behind him! Meanwhile, Gator had casually walked over to Satan and was engaged in a little chat with him. "I'm still not talking to you..." Satan grumbled. "Aw, don't be like that!" Gator muttered, "Lookie here, we want the same thing: No more ghosts. Can't you get rid of them?" he asked. Satan shrugged. "Not without making some kind of deal... But... I'm NOT talking to you!" he said. Gator looked truly flabbergasted. "D'ohhh... Fine! You can have my recipe for spicy pepper pie!" he groaned. Satan nodded, "AND the sweet & sour chili dogs?" he grinned. Gator glanced back at Lucky and Heather being swarmed by ghosts, and slowly nodded. "FINE!!" he said, shaking hands with the devil grudgingly. Satan then set the shrunken heads afire and laughed demonically as a powerful, ghastly wind forced the ghosts into the back of the cavern! This still left Losipher as the group’s most dangerous obstacle, but Tails was prepared for this. He had produced the tailbands of Chaos from a hatch on SPOT's back. "Bucky retrieved these from the Night Woods before he escaped with his ship... Now I'll use them to get us out of here!" he said. Seeing what he was doing, Sonic's first instinct was to try and stop him. "Tails!! No!! It's suicide!! Remember how I died!!" he shouted. Tails shook his head and slipped the bands on his tails, becoming Super Tails in a flash! Losipher snarled at him in contempt. "You dare!? My sorrow is too strong to be suppressed by mere..." Without waiting for him to finish, Tails let loose with a flurry of superpowered tail whips that sliced, diced, and reduced Losipher to a quivering puddle! "GAAAAH!! Wai-wait!! Y-you... can't...!!" he wailed. "Save your fake tears for someone who'll fall for 'em! This is for Fred and everyone else!!" Tails shouted, finishing off the evil Losipher with a mighty supercharged tackle! Dr. Eggman had already retreated in a panic at this point, but Tabitha was far from finished. "So... You killed Losipher, hm? Feeling powerful?" she mused. "Give up, Tabitha! You can't beat me now!" Tails warned. Tabitha yawned, and then wiggled her fingers a bit before casting a gray spell at Super Tails! He weaved aside, but it homed in and struck him! He then plunged to the floor, his body's glow having faded and been replaced... with stone! "Ah ha ha ha ha!! This was fun, but if you'll excuse me, you scared off my Eggman. I'll have to scold him now!" Tabitha cackled as she flew away. The tailbands popped off of the fox's petrified tails and rolled to Sonic's feet as he stood with a vacant, stunned expression. "Tails... No...." he whimpered.


Copter, Punchy, Gemini, Cream, Charmy, Zipp and Tommy, having arrived on Demon Island, were busy searching for any sign of the others. Tabitha's forces, fortunately, were unaware that they were on the island for the moment, so the group was able to explore freely for a bit. Soon, they came across a truly foreboding place. The combined madness of Eggman and Eggman Nega had been busy, and they had built a massive base at the center of the island, towering high into the blackness of the sky and surrounded by battlements resembling futuristic castle walls. Jagged spikes lined several areas of the exterior, and it appeared to be the hobby of Tabitha's minions to torture their victims by sticking them into those spikes...until death. A foggy graveyard surrounded the base, though these were unholy crypts and tombs with coffins jutting out of the ground, clearly not set up for laying souls to rest. "Well... This is the enemy stronghold... Clearly." Copter remarked. "Greeeat... Can we turn around now?" Charmy whined. Gemini pointed her wand around, casting light through the fog at something. "Who's there??" she called. A black shadow crept out of the darkness. It greatly resembled Shadow, but with several twisted differences, including a fanged jawline and a black cloak about his body. "Fools... I am Mephaust! The vampire lord! ...You will pay for destroying my minions...!" he said, though his mouth did not seem to move. The kids jumped as the coffins started to rumble and undead limbs started to lift their lids from within! "Oh... Mephaust, huh?? You sent those vampire birds after us two years ago?!" Gemini asked. Mephaust nodded. "And now my zombies will capture you so that I may slake my thirst... Two years is a long time to wait..." he growled. While Zipp started shooting at the rising zombies in a panic, Gemini picked up some pebbles and pointed her wand at them. "Morphicadabra..." she said, transforming them! She then approached Mephaust, holding up a holy cross! "Hah! You think that frightens me!?" the dark vampire grinned. Gemini then held out a clove of garlic and pierced it with one end of the cross. "Eeeeh... What are you... Gah!!" Mephaust then noted that the other end of the cross was pointed... A wooden stake! "This is the ultimate vampire-killing weapon. Oh... Solare!" Gemini said, flashing bright light in Mephaust's eyes to distract him as she jumped at him and staked him violently! The others watched her in shock as she destroyed the vampire, and Zipp was first to break the silence. "Gemini, will you marry me?" he swooned. However, Cream and Tommy's sudden scream was the next sound. The zombies were still coming! "Oh... I don't have a spell for that. RUN!!" Gemini yelled.


Sonic, Lucky, SPOT, Heather and Gator, meanwhile, had managed to escape the hellish cavern, but were stricken with grief over their losses. Only SPOT kept them moving, his incessant alarm urging them to move further away from the dangerous cave. They wandered through the forest for a bit, and Lucky finally collapsed on his hands and knees. "What's the point!? Look at our group! We've all died before, and basically it looks like nothing's going to stop Tabitha from winning once and for all eventually!" he grunted. Gator looked around nervously. "I died...? When??" he shuddered. The group was silent for a moment after that. Lucky's words rang all too true after what had happened to Tails. The silence was broken, however, when lasers knocked Gator off his feet! "Bwaaa! I'm dead again!!" Gator wailed, despite not actually dying. Turning in the direction of the laser blasts, the group spotted Eggman and Eggman Nega bearing down on them! "Great... Tabitha gave him his scolding and now he got his crazier copycat to come after us, too." Sonic groaned. "Shouldn't we run? They'll have backup for sure..." Heather reasoned. "Fight, run, surrender... What's the difference?" Lucky sighed. "Ah, sounds like at least some of you FINALLY get it!" Eggman grinned. "What are YOU talking about? Tabitha told me you were running with your coat-tails between your legs from them mere moments ago!" Nega growled in disgust. "Bickering among ourselves will get us nowhere! Let's go collect Sonic's head!!" Eggman retorted. While the grief-stricken group slowly backed away, considering their options, the Eggmen didn't hesitate to charge their weapons! With their current lack of decisiveness, their defeat might have been assured. However, the Eggmen weren't counting on the sudden crash of flames striking their ships FROM BEHIND! The pair of Egg Mobiles whirled out of control and got caught in the treetops, while a familiar feline dropped from those same treetops in front of the group! Sonic's eyes went wide, and a relieved smile came across his face. "...Blaze! You came to help us!" he gasped. "Let's move! Before those Eggmen pull themselves together!" the fiery feline instructed with dire seriousness.

Blaze led the way out of the woods, taking little time to explain her presence. "Eggman Nega has been bringing this madness back to my world. It's high time I did something about it." she stated, leading them out of the woods and starting toward the towering base the Eggmen had built. Not long after they started down this path, however, they found themselves faced with the fleeing group of Copter, Punchy, Gemini, and the others! "Run!! RUN!! Zombies!!" shouted Charmy before he spotted Sonic and hid behind him. "Saaaave us!!" he wailed. Sonic's group looked with fright as the zombies came shambling towards them. Worse, they could hear the chuckling of the Eggmen behind them. "Oh, Sonic! We still want your head!!" Eggman shouted. "And we've got demons and demon robots all ready to separate it from your tiny shoulders!" Nega added. The Hunters and Biters from before were coming up behind them, cutting off their escape! "I am so sick of this..." Copter growled, "Where's Fred? He'll warp us clean outta this!" Lucky shook his head in response, "Up to Gemini." he said. "I can't warp ALL of us!!" she whined. Blaze and Heather ignited their flames in preparation for a fight, when SPOT stepped out in front of the entire group, facing the zombies. "Huh?? What's he doing??" Cream wondered. Suddenly, SPOT's eyes glowed bright red, and machine guns and chain saws burst out of the various hatches on his body! "Zombie Apocalypse Mode: Engaged!!" his robotic voice shrieked! The small robot then fired up its hover-paws and charged into the crowd of the undead, slicing and shooting them up in a manic fashion! The zombies SPOT killed were apparently staying dead, so the group took off in the direction of the carnage. "Tails got a depraved side... I like it!" Zipp smirked. "That book he constantly had his nose in must've drove him to this... Finally, some good came of it." Punchy grinned. Heather growled as she burned up a zombie that SPOT missed with her flames. "...Don't laugh at Tails..." she grunted. Meanwhile, Gator simply strolled casually at the back of the group. "Ho hum... Is ANYONE gonna wish me a Happy Birthday today??" he muttered. "NO!" came a few annoyed shouts.

As SPOT, Heather and Blaze carved and burned a path through the zombies, the rest of the group followed quickly. However, Eggman Nega wasn't the only villain to have arrived from the surface. Xenegg breezed in front of them, the pale blue glare from his eyes giving off a demonic aura. "I will lay us all to rest... Once and for all!!" he howled, firing a powerful laser straight at SPOT! The zombie-surrounded robo-puppy didn't stand a chance, and was blasted into pieces once again! However, Sonic and the others refused to take this lying down. "NOOO!!" Sonic ran forward and grabbed up one of SPOT's chain saws, still functional despite being broken off his body. "We'll finish this ourselves!" he snarled, slicing the nearest corpse in his rage! Zipp helped himself to SPOT's discarded machine gun, and Punchy grabbed for another chain saw while Copter blew some of the monsters away with Chaos Whirlwind. "Your bravado is impressively annoying. Guardian! Fetch!" Xenegg shouted. Out of the shadows, LosKnuckles sprang forth, charging at the group in a depraved, manic fashion! Cream and Tommy were busy trying to sneak by all the carnage of the zombie slaughter, but at that moment, Knuckles came at them! "Eeeee!! M-mr. Knuckles!! It's me, Cream!!" the rabbit stammered. "Please don't slime us!!" Tommy added. Blaze and Lucky stood between him and the kids quickly. "Y-you'll have to kill me first!" Lucky stammered. "OR... I could just burn him up." Blaze suggested. LosKnuckles grunted and glanced around before tearing off in another direction. "H-hey! We're not finished!!" Blaze yelled. However, Knuckles had caught sight of his target, and he tackled the distracted Punchy to the ground! "Aaargh!! Get offa me, Dead-Red!!" Punchy growled, attempting to strike back with his chain saw! However, in knocking him over, Knuckles had caused him to drop his objective: the blackened Master Emerald, which Punchy had been carrying all night! "Huh?? Wait! No you don't!! You're not in your right mind for that!! Knuuuux!!" Punchy shouted as Knuckles climbed off of him, kicking him in the face as he claimed the Master Emerald! Punchy didn't let him go without a parting shot, tossing the chain saw, which severed LosKnuckles's left ankle, but didn't stop him from gliding away with the gem! "...We have what we need... Farewell, doomed meatbags!" Xenegg said as he and Knuckles vanished into the foggy shadows ahead!

The group gave chase through the fog, speeding past the zombies and soon finding their way back to the imposing base of the Eggmen. The front gate was open, and there was no sign of Xenegg, Knuckles, or their pursuers. "Weird... They stopped following us." Sonic said, scratching his head. "...They got what they were after." Copter reasoned. Gemini raised an eyebrow. "You mean... they don't want THIS?" she said, holding up the Book of Nightmare. Charmy sighed. "Whatever! Let's just get inside before those zombies catch up!" he said, flying toward the gate. As he did, he shrieked as hordes of giant rats, spiders, bats, and red-eyed snakes came rushing out from inside the base, escaping into the woods now that the gate had been left open! Most of the group had been a bit unnerved by this, but Charmy fell to the floor and started screaming bloody murder. "...Yeesh. Poor kid." Punchy groaned. "Think those were Tabitha's spell ingredients making a break for it?" Lucky wondered. Cream picked up Charmy carefully and talked to him soothingly as the group walked inside the dark base from which they likely would never return. Blaze looked around at their group as the gate slammed shut behind them. "Wait... Is this everyone??" she asked. They all finally took a moment to process how many people were now missing. "Aw, Shade..." Heather sighed. "Wait... You guys... lost Tails AGAIN?!" Gemini stammered bitterly. Sonic growled. "Yeah, we've been gettin' killed over here, OKAY?! And what have YOU contributed??" he snapped. "I made a helpful deal with the devil!" Gator said. "Not YOU!" Sonic groaned. Gemini waved the Book of Nightmare in Sonic's face again. "We got THIS!" she said. "For what good it does. It's just evil spells." Zipp pointed out. "Yeah, no good can come from that book!" Copter added. Gemini cracked it open with a huff. "Illusi sacrificed himself to see that we get it. There might be SOMETHING in here we can use!" she insisted. Everyone groaned a bit as they started deeper into the base, while Gemini kept her nose in the book. "Looks like she's the new Tails." Lucky commented.

A winding staircase led the group higher up the towering base. Every so often, they'd notice a cage built into the wall where the remains of some of their fallen friends had been propped up in disturbing poses. "Great... So they collected a bunch of people to turn into Lost Ones." Copter growled, peering into a cage where Silver's remains were chained to the wall upside down. Cream and Charmy stopped short at this point. "I don't think we can go any farther!" Cream wailed. "Well... It's not like we can turn back." Tommy pointed out, shivering as he spoke. "Go on, go on! You kids are blocking the steps!" shouted Gator from below them, urging them onward. At the end of the stairway, they found what appeared to be a large torture chamber. Lospecter was lounging on the rack as they entered. "Huh? Oh, hey! You made it! I was hoping we'd get to kill you ourselves!" he said, rising into the air as everyone got ready for a fight. Loskeletor emerged from a nearby iron maiden, startling the kids and Lucky as well. "Me-YOW!! How'd you get in there!?" he stammered. "Thou needn't mind that which lies before thee..." Loskeletor chuckled. Glancing behind them, the group yelped as they saw Loscream creeping up the stairs! His pumpkin had shrunk down to normal size, but his roots were still growing wild despite no longer having any dark energy from Fera to feed on. "We have you now, pitiful creatures! Your heads will be my trophies!" Loscream roared. "Oh, why do I make up stories!? They always come true!" Gator whined. There was no choice but to take action, so as Loskeletor started firing beams from his eyes, Punchy and Blaze started trying to approach him to fight back! Meanwhile, Sonic, Copter and Heather faced down Loscream, while the others had to contend with Lospecter, who started casting spells with his cards to keep them off balance! Sonic and Copter busily dodged Loscream's roots as they whipped and crashed towards them, but Heather was tired of evading these monsters. "I'm gonna burn those roots to cinders!!" she cried, setting her body aflame as she came at Loscream! However, the flames held no terror for the monster, and he simply grabbed her up in his roots and proceeded to twist and pull! "Let's see you ignite... When you are torn limb from limb!!" he roared. "H-heather!!!" Copter shouted, unable to do anything as he witnessed his friend literally ripped to shreds by a mass of vicious tentacle-like roots! Her head dropped several feet from the rest of her body, lifeless. Her flame was extinguished. "Only I am immortal in the Nightmare Zone!" Loscream bellowed.

"Heather..." Copter choked, despair welling up inside him. Sonic turned away from Loscream and faced Loskeletor. "I've had ENOUGH!" he yelled, giving Copter a serious glance. "Right... Let's DO THIS!!" he screamed in fury! They both charged at the skeleton, and Punchy and Blaze hastily got out of their way as they approached. "Heh? Wherefore dost thou think thou art going?" Loskeletor growled. "Geez, TALK REGULAR!!" Lospecter shouted. Copter leapt at Loskeletor and waved his hand to cast his attack. "Chaos Whirlwind!!" Loskeletor fired his eye beams into the chaotic wind, and both attacks seemed to be canceling each other out, but Loskeletor could fire continuously! "Hah! Meet thy doom!" he cackled. However, Sonic suddenly leapt up behind Copter, holding the green Chaos Emerald that had once housed the Black Curse. "Chaos CONTROL!!" he shouted, warping himself and Copter away as Loskeletor's beam passed by harmlessly. "What ho??" Loskeletor gasped, only to find himself pummeled by Sonic's spin attack, followed by Copter's Chaos Blast from behind, shattering him into bone fragments! "Aw... Pull yourself together, Shakespeare..." Lospecter groaned. Loscream, however, laughed at their efforts. "Destroy all the Lost Ones you want... But I cannot die!" he growled. However, Loskeletor was the only one blocking the way to the next staircase, so everyone bolted for the exit! "What!? Fools! I will catch you!!" Loscream bellowed. "That's what YOU think!" proclaimed Gator, who stomped defiantly between the Lost Ones and the stairs. "What!? Gator, no!!" Tommy stammered. "Forget him, kid. All for the cause." Zipp grunted. Gator glanced back and winked. "I'll be OK! I just remembered... I can do THIS!" As Loscream reached out for Gator with his roots, Gator suddenly vanished in a burst of purple smoke before the roots could touch him! He then reappeared behind Loscream and stuck out his tongue. "I'm over heeere! No wait! Now I'm over here! Can't get me, headless Lost One!!" he taunted as he teleported around the room. "Grrr... Don't let that guy make a fool out of us!! Grab him! GRAB HIM!!!" Lospecter yelled. With the Lost Ones well distracted, the surviving heroes headed up the stairs in search of the real menace...

The remaining group, consisting of Sonic, Blaze, Copter, Punchy, Gemini, Lucky, Cream, Charmy, Tommy and Zipp made their way through the castle, climbing stairway after stairway on their way to the top of the highest tower. There seemed to be little further opposition, so Gemini kept busy reading the Book of Nightmare. "This... This is a strange footnote..." she muttered as they were nearing the roof. "All right. What's it say?" Punchy sighed. Gemini held up the book and read slowly. "...Tome of Nightmare; Lord of Nightmare; I am one, and shall be forever in binding..." she muttered. "Whaaat? Okay, you gotta stop reading that thing. It obviously only makes sense to witches." Zipp grunted. Arriving at the very top of the base, they found Tabitha standing among several cauldrons and mechanisms emitting colored sparks. The Master Emerald was inserted into a machine, and the dark aura trapped inside it was being siphoned through the gizmos Tabitha had set up through the area. LosKnuckles, Xenegg, and the Eggmen were there observing, and they weren't the only audience. Ghostly white flames twinkled in the air around them like sinister stars: the ghosts of the Nightmare Zone! Immediately, once Gemini and the book was in sight, Tabitha flung a spell that instantly pulled the book to her hand! "Aaah! Shoot, she startled me..." Gemini whimpered. As Tabitha cracked open the book, the ghosts of the Nightmare Zone started to sing. "We are the ghosts who giggle and scare. Stay around and hear our song if you dare! The Lord of Nightmare created our zone. Ever unstoppable was he in his home! Lured away, the good people ended his reign. What once was, however, shall be once again. Witchcraft and evil brings back the dark lord. The conquest of shadows is all but assured. Our voices sing in fear and in warning. Now our time is over... the end is forming. Tee hee hee hee hee..." As the song ended, Tabitha snapped her fingers, and Char the Chao emerged from inside a cauldron, levitated over to the Master Emerald. "No! NOOOO!! I... I KNEW they were gonna sacrifice meeeee!!!" the Chao wailed as Tabitha spoke in a cryptic, black language. "Why are we standing here!? Do something!!" Lucky shouted. "You're too late... The end is here! Prepare for Hell!!" Xenegg roared as Char shriveled into a white husk of a Chao! Lightning struck the electric devices, and the ghosts of the Nightmare Zone were swept away as a figure started to claw its way out of one of the other cauldrons Tabitha was standing in front of. "Yes... YES!! At last!! I call forth... The Lord of Nightmares... CERBERUS!!" she cackled triumphantly.

Clawing its way out of the cauldron, Sonic and the others witnessed the appearance of the Lord of the Nightmare Zone, at long last. A pair of wild, furious eyes, glowing blood red, peered out of the mist emanating from the cauldron as Tabitha's spell worked its evil. Clawed hands reached out and grasped the edge of the cauldron, lifting a snarling body from within. A being with fur as black as midnight emerged, his white muzzle baring rows of jagged teeth. Red markings covered his chest, highlighting his ribcage. He wore red clamps around his wrists, and sickly green shoes with orange along the ankles. This creature was a hellhound, and his ever-glowing eyes struck terror into any that his gaze rested upon. "I am Cerberus... Lord of Nightmares." the creature said in a low, guttural voice, "How it pleases me to see so many gathered to offer themselves up in sacrifice at my return!" he mused. Tabitha knelt before him and took off her hat. "My lord! How I have toiled and troubled to see this day! Of course, you'll want me to rule by your side as your queen..." she said, only to be lifted up by her throat by a sneering Cerberus! "You can rule at my side... From INSIDE! I take your life force to strengthen my own!" he roared, a black energy swirling from his body and into Tabitha's drawing her very life energy into Cerberus as she shrieked and shriveled into a pile of dust inside witches robes! "Yeesh... How's that for a retirement plan, eh, Punchy? ...Punchy?" Copter said, glancing over to see his friend looking rather vomity. Eggman and Eggman Nega each had a terrified look on their faces as the full truth of what they had done finally dawned on them. "Uh... Have fun, Sonic..." Eggman chuckled nervously. "Yes, you as well, Blaze. We... uh, left our stoves on. Both of them!" Nega stammered, prompting both Eggmen to turn tail and try to flee in their Egg Mobiles! However, Cerberus raised his hand and fired a pair of energy blasts resembling skulls at them, crashing their Egg Mobiles down to the rooftop and leaving them little chance of escape! "Stay... All of you. Witness the final conquest of the Nightmare Zone as it engulfs this pitiful planet!" Cerberus then raised his hand to the sky and fired several "skulls" into the air, which started to zoom about and darken the atmosphere even more than it already was! "He... He's covering the rest of the planet in the Nightmare Zone... We've gotta STOP him!!" Sonic growled.

Cerberus glanced down at the Book of Nightmare on the floor, and carefully picked it up. Xenegg and LosKnuckles remained close to him, too dead to be afraid. "Now, to celebrate my return to power... I shall feast upon your souls!" the Lord of Nightmare proclaimed! Sonic glanced at his allies behind him. "Anyone not up for this, you better make a run for it!" he suggested. Lucky and the kids turned to take him up on that, but found the exit blocked by more than just the Egg Mobile wreckages. "Exactly WHERE are you running?" taunted Lospecter, who was accompanied by Loscream! Gator suddenly appeared in the midst of the heroes in a burst of smoke. "Heads up guys! I couldn't hold 'em off! ...Oh..." he said, slowly noticing that the Lost Ones had beaten him to the roof. While the Eggmen slowly crept away from Loscream, most of the group wasn't sure which way to turn. Gemini fixed her gaze on the book that Cerberus had so carefully picked up off the floor. "I am one, and shall be forever in binding..." she mumbled, turning something over in her mind. Punchy decided that the first thing to do was to get back the Master Emerald, which had finally lost its black hue now that the dark magic within it had been used for something. Of course, LosKnuckles stood in his way. "Stand aside or I'll splatter ya, Red!" Punchy warned. Cerberus lobbed an energy skull at the echidnas to break them up. "Fool! A measly emerald cannot save you!" he growled. Suddenly, a blue ball struck him in the head, bouncing away and landing on red sneakers! "What insolence is this?!" Cerberus snarled. "Sorry, it's just... I was expecting something WAY scarier when Tabitha was goin' on and on about the 'Lord of Nightmares!'" Sonic snickered. Xenegg floated down and fired several lasers at Sonic in retaliation, forcing the hedgehog back. "You insufferable twit! You understand nothing! Your end is NOW! We shall send you straight back to HELL!!" he wailed. "I wasn't in Hell, YOU were!" Sonic shouted back. Cerberus stared at the spectral robot before him curiously. "What manner of spirit is this? ...I wonder... What such a soul tastes like?" he grinned. "P-pardon?" Xenegg stammered, spinning his robotic head about in alarm. Cerberus opened his maw and started to inhale, a mighty breath that seemed to target nearby spirits! Lospecter grabbed on to Loscream's roots, and while Xenegg desperately tried to resist, Gemini crawled over to Sonic. "The book... Sonic, we have to destroy the Book of Nightmare! His life force is tied to it!" she said. Cerberus finished devouring Xenegg, and his body glowed a light green for a moment. "That was... A fine appetizer. Now, the main course!" he growled.

Sonic, Copter, Gemini and Blaze quickly discussed a plan of action, and started to move! The others had to contend with Loscream, whose pumpkin head was growing again as the Nightmare Zone was strengthened from Cerberus's power! Zipp tried shooting his eye holes to blind him, while Punchy was busy grappling with LosKnuckles. "I'll be right over there to help if I can get rid of this zombie Knux!!" he growled. Meanwhile, Copter blew a Chaos Whirlwind at Cerberus to try to knock the book from his hand, while Blaze and Gemini charged ahead with fire and magic ready to attempt to destroy it! The book blew into the air, and Sonic leapt ahead to attempt to grab it, but it somehow moved away from him as though with a will of its own! "What the!?" Sonic turned and skidded into the Master Emerald, making Knuckles screech and chase after him! "I can't tell if Red's still in there or if he's just guarding that emerald because Tabitha told him to..." Punchy grumbled. The book out of their grasp, Gemini and Blaze tried to back away from Cerberus, but he quickly grasped them by their throats! "You are strong ones... Your power will reawaken my full strength!" he snarled, the same black energy that destroyed Tabitha now working to feed him Gemini and Blaze's life force! "Let them go, ugly!!" Sonic shouted, launching himself at Cerberus repeatedly with homing attacks and spin dashes, which proved completely ineffective! Just when it seemed to be over for the girls, a bolt of lightning pierced the heavens, striking Cerberus with enough force to surprise him into dropping Gemini and Blaze! Sonic and Copter hurriedly rushed in to catch the girls and carry them a safe distance away before glancing back to see what had happened. To their surprise, Bucky was descending from the sky! His fur looked a bit singed, and he'd apparently ditched his lab coat to escape Tabitha earlier, but he was alive! "Sonic... You left these outside!" he said, turning and tossing the Tailbands of Chaos to the hedgehog! "Ah... I gave these back to SPOT... What good are these? Everyone who uses them in the Nightmare Zone seems to..." Sonic muttered. Copter smacked him in the back of the head. "Give 'em to me if you're gonna be a coward!" he snapped. Unfortunately, Loscream suddenly grabbed his ankle with his root, pulling the black fox away! "Gaaah! Someone get me down!" he yelled. An explosion broke the root holding Copter apart, and Copter stared in the direction of who caused it. Dr. Eggman was holding a bazooka and pointing it at Loscream! "You could call this a mutiny, but, THIS IS MY BASE!!" he yelled. "ENOUGH!!" roared Cerberus. He'd absorbed at least some of Blaze and Gemini's life force, and he was transforming from the power welling up within him! His body increased in size, and two more heads erupted from the base of his neck! He grew two more tails as well, and the three tails grew out and erupted in spikes. His eyes seemed to glow even more fiercely, and his three heads glared malevolently at everyone. "All will perish... My kingdom will be a kingdom of corpses!!" he roared, firing black beams from his mouths into the crowd! Punchy grabbed LosKnuckles and tried to use him as a shield, but the black beam pierced them both, and Knuckles started to disintegrate in Punchy's dying arms. The second beam was evaded, and the third knocked Gator into Loscream's mouth. "Nooo!! The Headless Lost One finally ate meeeee!!" he shrieked. Sonic clutched the tailbands and stared up at Cerberus. "All right... Even if I end up sacrificing myself... I have to protect everyone that's left! Here goes everything!!"

Sonic slid the Tailbands of Chaos onto his wrists as he'd done those three years ago, but this time, his positive desire to save his friends resonated stronger than his desire for vengeance, and the Tailbands transformed him into Super Sonic! Gemini, a bit weak from what Cerberus had done to her, struggled to point up at the Book of Nightmare, which was levitating around Cerberus, possibly being controlled by him. "Sonic... You have... to destroy that book..." she panted. Sonic nodded and flew up after Cerberus, who had also grown powerful enough to fly. Meanwhile, Lospecter shuffled his cards and smirked. "Well, while they're busy, what say we make some heads roll, 'Screamy?" he suggested. Loscream sent forth his vines without further warning, and everyone had to act fast or get caught by them! Tommy, seeing Cream was in danger, quickly ran to push her aside! "I won't watch anyone else die!!" he shouted, pierced through the chest by Loscream's vines the very next instant. As his body fell limply to the floor, Cream dropped to her knees beside him and sobbed. "No... don't...don't leave me and Charmy the last two kids alive!!" she wailed. "...Hey!?" Charmy muttered, wondering if she was implying something wrong with him.

Others were getting tangled by Loscream's vines. Sonic had to defeat Cerberus quickly, then focus on the unkillable Loscream. "Foolish hedgehog... You may be strengthened by magic, but you are still a mere mortal. You are nothing against my power!" Cerberus's three heads roared. The Lord of Nightmares immediately started firing his energy skulls at Super Sonic, forcing him to evade them or risk wasting his Super Form absorbing the hits. "Heh... One thing about you Nightmare Zone monsters... You're all real SLOW!" he chuckled, flying after the Book of Nightmare as it levitated up and down, avoiding him at every turn. "Hands off my book!" Cerberus snarled, his three heads unleashing their black beams once again in an effort to knock Sonic away! Not only did they strike Sonic and knock him down to the rooftop, but they zapped a distracted Zipp as well, reducing him to a helmet filled with dust! "Sonic!! Don't lead him back down here!! We got ENOUGH problems!!" Copter yelled, dangling upside down from Loscream's roots. "Hang tight there, Copter. I'll be right with you." Bucky muttered, firing jolts of electricity to keep the vines off his own tail. Sonic picked himself up and returned to the sky. His Super Form was still holding, but he needed to end this quickly. Cerberus came at him and lashed his spiked tails at the hedgehog, gnashing his fangs at him as well, but Sonic ducked and breezed past him, going straight for the book! Cerberus turned and fired more skulls at him, but Sonic simply poured on more speed! "Say good night, fido!" he said, smashing through the Book of Nightmare and scattering its torn pages to the winds! However, the energy skulls then slammed into him, and as he spun around, dazed, Cerberus appeared directly in front of him! "You pitiful fool... Were you truly naive enough to believe that destroying a book could destroy me?" he grinned, grasping Super Sonic's throat and bringing him level with his heads' eyes. "The book merely held a bit of my life force, so I may be revived. As long as it existed, I could be brought back from death, not that I am weak enough to be killed in the Nightmare Zone to begin with. But with your current immense life force flowing through me, what are the chances I will EVER die again!?" As Sonic struggled in the Lord of Nightmare's grip, he could feel his life force being drained away, just as Tabitha, Gemini and Blaze's! This might be the end, but Sonic had to try whatever he could to stop Cerberus! He pulled upward, desperately dragging Cerberus with him into the sky! "Struggle all you like... You will never break free of my grip. It may take a bit longer to drain your magic-infused life energy, but I promise I will enjoy every ounce of your agony!" Cerberus growled. Sonic ignored him, flying up, up, above the clouds. They soon found themselves floating in blackness high above the planet's atmosphere. "Hey... Cerby..." Sonic grunted through his squeezed throat, "If you can't die in the Nightmare Zone... How 'bout here?" he smirked. Cerberus looked around and chuckled softly. "Nice try. You will be dead in moments." he snarled. Sonic smirked even wider and held out the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos...Control!" Two of Cerberus's heads spun around as Super Sonic vanished from his grip! Those heads fired their black beams wildly, planning to knock Sonic away enough that his Super Form would run out! As the Lord of Nightmares turned and got a good look around, however, he saw Sonic clutching the Chaos Emerald tightly, using it to restore power to his Super Form! "...Happy Halloween, buddy! Say hi to Tabitha for me!" he shouted, charging Cerberus with all his might! Without the Nightmare Zone's power, Super Sonic was too much for him to take, and an explosion of skulls, black energy, and monster blood signaled the end of the Lord of Nightmares!

The light of Super Sonic seemed to tear through the darkness of the Nightmare Zone like a hot knife through butter. Without Tabitha, Xenegg or Cerberus to give the Nightmare Zone power, any source of purity and goodness rapidly caused it to fade away! As Super Sonic sped back to the roof of Eggman's base, Lospecter fled in a panic. "Nice knowin' ya, 'Screamy!" he cried. With the Nightmare Zone vanishing, Super Sonic just had to give him one good whack to smash the pumpkin to smithereens, freeing Gator in the process! "...It's too bright out here. My eyes hurt!" Gator whined. Sonic then landed calmly on the tower, reverting back to normal. The danger was gone, and they'd lost no more allies since he'd gone up into space! Lucky looked around and gasped in amazement. "Wow... I survived that! Maybe I'm not utterly useless after all!" he smiled. "Nope, you did absolutely NOTHING!" Charmy teased. "Hey, what exactly did YOU do?" Copter asked. They chuckled softly, and Blaze stomped over to Eggman Nega as he was attempting to sneak away. "Hold it, you! You have a lot to answer for!" she shouted. "See you back home, Blaze!!" Nega chuckled, dashing away. "Get back here!!" Blaze growled, chasing after him! Dr. Eggman snuck out behind them. "Happy birthday, Gator." he mumbled on his way out. "Finally, someone remembers!" Gator remarked. The others took a moment to watch the sunrise, and Sonic looked from Punchy's body to Bucky. "Are you going to bring everyone back?" he asked. Bucky shook his head. "The power to return from the dead was needed to stop the Nightmare Zone. I feel it should be buried with it. Much happened in the Nightmare Zone that should never happen. Death is a part of life, and it's what makes our time in this world all the more special and important." he said. "But then, who will guard the Master Emerald?" Cream wondered. Copter glanced at Punchy and nodded. "I guess I will... I don't have much better to do... Just promise some of you will visit. Job sounds boring." he said. Cream and Gemini both nodded. "We will." Gemini smiled. "And so will I!" Everyone turned with a start when they heard a new voice at the stairs. To their amazement, it was Tails! "...You're alive!?" Sonic gasped. Tails smiled. "Tabitha's spell wore off. I guess 'cuz... She's dead." he said, observing her hat and robe on the floor. The group ran over to greet and hug their friend who they thought had died, and Sonic returned the tailbands to each of the foxes they belonged to. "Now, let's go home, guys! Finally, seems like this nightmare is over!" Sonic smiled.

The End!
...OMG! IT REALLY IS OVER!!! AAAAAAAAHH!!

Happy Halloween!