Chapter 62

Sonic continued on. Nothing much happened... it felt like an endless sea of attractions that Sonic found creepy or just plain weird. Some of those wooden stand-ups with the faces cut out that are commonplace at carnivals like these, a few billboards advertising "Tatters the Clown and his Remarkable Juggling Act", and more.

"I know that girl told us to go here," Sonic said, getting everyone's attention. "But I don't know. This carnival doesn't seem to hold anything special."

"There has to be something here," Sonja replied, sure nobody would lie to them.

Then, the lights went out with an electric fizzle. Immediately, everyone stopped. Pico broke out into a crying fit. But amidst the crying, Sonic heard scuttling in the distance. It was growing closer. And then, he saw it. Out of one of the spaces between the rides, a hand scuttled out using its fingers as if they were spider legs, followed by another. And another. The nails were long, almost too long. It was almost like they were acrylic. They scratched at the ground as they made their way towards Sonic and his team. They had black eyes and wide grins, much unlike actual hands. They bled from where they were supposed to be attached to the wrist.

"Oh GOD!" Buck shouted. "What are those things?!" He tried running away, but a hand lunged at him and knocked him down to the ground. It rubbed its nails against the back of his head, trying to make a messy incision. Sonic, the only one brave enough to approach this thing, instantly ran up and kicked the hand against a wall. There was a horrible crackling sound as it hit, along with an ear-piercing shriek.

Sonic helped Buck up, but ducked as a hand lunged at him, ready to scratch him open and feast on his insides. While transitioning into a Spindash, another hand lunged at him, not seeing the mutilation that did become of it. Before it knew it, Sonic had chopped it up into many different bloody pieces. Sonic felt like vomiting.

Nonetheless, Sonic dashed forward and kicked away a hand. It knocked into the hand monster behind it, making them both skid on the concrete ground. The hand's knuckles were bloody and scraped. A dark red, slimy ooze slipped out of the scrapes and onto the ground as Sonic and his team ran forth.

Soon, they found a problem. What they had been running towards was another platoon of these monsters. And they were coming fast. Sonic, going into ball form, drifted left, with everyone else following right after, although not with as much accuracy due to their lack of drifting ability. Skidding to a stop, he realized he had filled his Sonic Boost gauge a little while doing this.

If his Sonic Boost was charged, he may have enough energy to pull off a Multi-Boost with his friends. With Buck on the team, they may be able to Boost longer.

So they did. "What are we doing?!" Buck asked as they all floated up in the air. Pico would have been joyous again from the Multi-Boost if he wasn't already terrified and devastated.

"We're gonna Multi-Boost!" Sonic exclaimed. "No more emptiness to feel inside! We're gonna get out of here. We just need to synchronize!" Buck felt his frantic heartbeat settle down. A multi-colored aura appeared around them, as small orbs flew around and into their hands. "Get ready! Quintuple Boost!"

Sonic and the others blasted forward in a multi-colored blur, each color representing a member of the team. Blue for Sonic, white for Sonja, orange for Tails, amber for Pico, and red for Buck. They plowed through the hand monsters, all scuttling towards them. Any that tried to lunge at them were blown away into nothing but a dark red mist.

The Quintuple Boost tore through anything in its way. Hand monsters, tents... rides were torn from their bolts to the ground and went flying. It was enough to escape, and scare the hand monsters away. Not completely destroy them. Eventually, Sonic and the others skidded to a stop. The aura disappeared as Sonic's Boost gauge depleted.

Buck stumbled around, in complete oblivion. Pico cuddled Sonja's face, standing up on her arms and snuggling his face against her cheek. He was so happy just to have her still with him. Sonic was a little dizzy, while Tails looked completely fine.

"Good job, guys!" Sonic exclaimed. His heart was still racing. He was terrified, but, again, couldn't let it show. "Now, we still need to figure out what to do here. We're here for a reason, we just don't know what."

Then, the lights flickered on and off multiple times. Sonic hadn't noticed before amidst the chaos, but the carnival looked to be changing between when the lights were on and off. What were cartoonish and colorful horses on merry-go-rounds in the light were, in the dark, realistic. Their jaws dropped down, revealing individual teeth much like his. Tongues fell from the roof of their mouths, something which didn't happen normally. Their eyes were black voids as unkempt manes riddled the backs of their heads.

Everyone else seemed to notice this too, as they looked around, puzzled. "Sonic, there's something wrong with this place..." Sonja stated. "The rides are changing!" Pico, who at first seemed interested in playing on the rides and looking at their different colors and shapes, now seemed horrified at them. He cried and squealed. Something Sonic knew would attract more monsters if there were any near.

To tell Pico to shut up, go to Chapter 63

To cradle Pico and sing him a song, go to Chapter 64