Chapter 30

"That's bad, that's bad!" Sonic shouted. He and Sonja turned tail and ran. He grabbed onto Sonja's hand. She could fly fast, but not quite as fast as Sonic could run. Trying to close the door behind them, the cockroaches on the other side scratched and tried to knock it down with their weight. Sonic, putting all his might into pushing the door back, with Sonja helping with all the strength she could add to aid Sonic.

"Just a little further!" Sonic grunted. The cockroaches tried to pile out of the door, but before any could get out, the two heroes successfully managed to shut the door, squashing the cockroaches trying to get out. A clear ooze splashed all over the floor, narrowly missing Sonic.

The scratching and hissing continued from behind the door, promising threats of death to both Sonic and Sonja. But they knew, they were safe. As they breathed heavily in and out, there was a little chirping sound. Sonic's blood ran cold, as Sonja looked down at Sonic's glove and screamed. What appeared to be a baby cockroach, about the size of the one Sonic had stepped on earlier, had made its way onto his glove. Sonic yelled, but the cockroach didn't attack. Instead, it coughed up what appeared to be a small key. Then, it scurried up Sonic's arm, down his tummy and leg, and into the abyss. Sonic and Sonja looked at each other, and shrugged.

"Well, that was... something..." Sonic said, as he scratched his forehead. Looking down at the key, it had the word right engraved on the handle. "Hmm. I'm guessing the 'right' alludes to the door on the right."

"Whatever you say!" Sonja agreed. She smiled.

Sonic dashed to the door, Sonja following. Sonic put in the key, and turned it. "There we go!" He put the key in his bag and opened the door.

On the other side, there was a long corridor with a cardboard box at the end of it. There were puncture holes in the walls on both sides. Even some on the ceiling. "Huh... maybe Knuckles was here too?" Sonic asked, taking a look around. The wallpaper wasn't torn around any of the holes. This couldn't have been Knuckles. He was reckless and powerful. The last thing he was was precise like this.

SHANK! A long, sharp spike shot out of the wall. Sonic, acting fast as ever, dodged out of the way. It went into the other wall, and slowly retracted back into the wall from whence it came. Sonic breathed heavily. That wasn't a common spike that Eggman would place throughout Zones, one which wasn't quite sharp enough to instantly impale you, rather cause you to bounce off from the initial pain. This was a real spike meant to cut, maim, shank, and kill. This would have left a hole in Sonic's head coming out from his quills.

"Sonja, we need to be careful," Sonic stated, stepping back into the safe zone where there were no holes in the wall. "Someone knows we're here."

"How do we get through?" Sonja asked.

"I don't know, you're the ghost who can phase through objects, why can't you just phase through these and get to the end of the hall?" Sonic remarked.

"Well, I still feel things a little, like when I pass through the bookshelf there's a serious pressure..." Sonja stated. "For so long I've only done stuff like accidentally hit my arm on the bookshelf or get a paper cut. I don't exactly want to test out what happens if I touch something that would usually kill me."

"That's actually fair..." Sonic replied, sighing. "There's a lot of things I don't know about ghosts in the real world. I've only had brief run-ins with mindless Boos trying to kill me, ghosts that mimic my every move, and this one mute girl named Lah. You know, the works. You're the only one I've really had a chance to talk to. So I guess what you say about ghosts goes."

Sonic turned towards the door and reached for the knob. "Wait!" Sonja called out. Sonic turned back instantly.

"Yeah? What is it?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic the Hedgehog never turns away from a challenge," Sonja stated all matter-of-factly. "Why are you letting this get the better of you?" She seemed almost upset over something or the other. Problem was, she was right.

Sonic, groaning and admitting defeat, closed his eyes, put his fists on his hips, and smirked. "You really know me well!" He congratulated her. "Well done, A plus!" He walked over to her, golf clapping, and grabbed her hand. She smiled.

"On your mark," Sonic said, smiling up at her.

"Ok! Ready... set..." Sonja counted down.

"GO!" The two shouted in unison. They had no idea what they were doing as they dashed forward. But Sonic and Sonja alike did not need a plan.

Behind them, in front of them, above them, and even below them, spikes shot out of the ground and walls. "You're too slow!" Sonic snarked, referring to the spikes. If one came out under them, they jumped. If it was from either side or above, they slid. Sonic just made it to the end of the hallway, when Sonic heard another shank as he felt Sonja's glove slipping off. Something was wrong. Sonic looked back, to discover Sonja had...

Gotten her dress caught in a spike...

"Uh oh..." Sonic said. The spike wasn't retracting. Almost as if it wasn't just a simple automatic mechanism controlling the spikes. Then, he realized something. Any second now, the spikes would be coming around for more. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the spikes at the other side of the corridor started to poke out of their holes. Then, they came out faster than the last time. They were approaching Sonja one by one. Sonja looked behind her at the spikes and screamed. Looking back at Sonic, she had this look in her eyes that Sonic couldn't deny, not that he would. It was this panicky stare and it sent a desperate message that can't be described in words to Sonic.

Sonic tried pulling her out by her arm, but she cried out in pain. The material making up the gown must have been pretty sturdy. Sonic only managed to get her a little more loose. And the spikes were approaching fast. "Hurry!" She yelled, her voice shaky and fearful.

Sonic, not knowing what else to do, wrapped both of his arms around Sonja and pulled her towards him, with all of his might. "Uwa!" She exclaimed, alarmed but not seeming upset. Sonic heard it as the fabric broke away at the part where the gown was caught like he was cutting strings on a guitar with scissors.

The spikes slowed their approach as they neared Sonja. Almost as if it was a dramatic countdown. The spike behind Sonja's head came out of the wall. She screamed again, fearing for her afterlife. Then, like catching a pocket of air at the last second while drowning, Sonic felt Sonja break free, as the two tumbled onto the ground, landing on their backs next to each other. A spike that would have resulted in two holes in Sonja's head burst out of the wall, slowly retracting back into its slot.

Sonic and Sonja didn't bother getting up. They just lied down on the ground, periodically glancing at each other to make sure the other was okay, as they breathed rapidly. Eventually, as Sonic had gotten quite uncomfortable staying still, he got up and cracked his back. Sonja floated up too.

"So, I guess we should check that box now..." Sonic said.

"Yeah..." Sonja sighed. She averted her eyes, but quickly looked back at Sonic. Sonic had, at this point, turned around and started looking through the box. Mostly full of packing peanuts and bubble wrap, at the bottom was a shiny key. Sonic took it out of the box and held it up modestly. "Guess who's awesome?"

"Us!" Sonic and Sonja exclaimed at the same time, something they had grown accustomed to at this point. This didn't stop them from catching a case of the giggles, however.

"I see you're enjoying yourselves quite a lot, aren't you?" A frivolously villainous voice called out, immediately capturing Sonic and Sonja's attention. The voice itself felt like it was coming from all sides of the room. As if it was inside the walls. Sonic broke out into a sneezing fit. Sonja backed away, not wanting to get anything on her clothes.

"Who is this?!" Sonic yelled, as soon as he caught a break from his constant sneezing. Could this be the person behind all this? "Reveal yourself!"

"I will be revealed in due time, old friend..." The voice boomed like speakers set to max, although there were no signs in the voice of it yelling. "Take that key. Go to the last room that you have yet to explore... and there... I will be waiting."

Old friend? Just what was this guy on about? Sonic had never even heard his voice before. "Hey, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but you don't sound very threatening at all, if that's what you're even going for!" Sonic called out. But there was no response. The voice had vanished. He turned to Sonja. "You heard that, right?" He asked. Sonja nodded. Sonic felt slight relief. He hadn't gone completely insane yet. But this also meant someone was after them... or at least... heckling them??? Sonic didn't quite know what to make of it. All he had were a bunch of building blocks with no clear directions of what to turn them into.

"So it looks like there's no way forward, but backward..." Sonic sighed. He didn't really want to go through that again. But it seemed he had to. "I think we should check to see if it's safe."

Sonja slipped off her glove, and threw it onto the floor in front of the spike holes. Nothing happened for about five seconds as they stared at the glove. "I think it's safe..." Sonja said. "Unless it's not automated."

"I think it's worth the chance," Sonic groaned. He walked forward with no concern of being impaled by spikes this time. "I am so boooored of this place." Sonic had made it quite a distance before Sonja stopped staring in awe at what she perceived as sheer bravery, but what in reality was probably just Sonic's usual carelessness. Sonja then made a dash forward, swallowing her fear.

Sonic felt he should get to know Sonja better. What should he do?

To stay silent, go to Chapter 31

To ask if she got any memories back yet, go to Chapter 32

To ask what the best book she read is, go to Chapter 33