Calling All The Monsters (Sonic Halloween Fanfic)

Chapter Nine

"Are we there yet?" I asked, dragging my feet as I walked. "We've been going in the same direction for forever!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Sonic. We'll be there soon," Cream said as she flew ahead of me.

But you've said that five times already... I thought.

Cream flew a little faster, going through a wall of vines hanging from a tree like a curtain. She stayed on the other side for a few seconds before coming back to me. "We're here!"

I walked through the vines, seeing...a tree stump. Nothing else around it, just the rotting stump in the small clearing.

"Uh, Cream, I think we might've taken a wrong turn way back there. This is just a stump," I said.

"It's not just a stump! See?" She flew over to the stump and landed on the ground next to it. She pressed one of the crumbling knobs on the bottom, and the stump lifted up like a hatch, revealing a hole that lead underground.

I approached the hole and looked down. It looked fresh, as if whoever made it put it here a few days ago, but it was pitch black. The opening was only a foot or two wide. "Are you sure this is safe...?" I asked. 

"Mhm! Come on, Mr. Sonic!" Cream flew down the hole, her body glowing faintly in the dark. I hesitated before rolling up in a ball and following. The hole turned out to be a kind of slide with many twists and turns and loops. I felt like I was going through the Chemical Plant zone again with all the loops, and it took all my shear willpower to not puke.

I had closed my eyes as I rolled through the narrow tunnel, so I didn't know where the end was until I crashed into a dirt wall, somehow managing to get my face stuck in it. I put my hands against the wall and pushed, getting my face out, along with a mouthful of dirt. I spat it out, the lump landing on what looked like a golden plate. I looked around and noticed that the room was full of all sorts of treasures, all of them illuminated by the dim torchlight. Coins, jewelry, and the like surrounded me from all sides.

"What is this place...?" My voice echoed in the large cavern. 

"It's the tomb of the deceased flame princess, Blaze," Cream said. "Her sarcophagus should be in here somewhere with her in it. Isabella put a curse on the entire cavern. If we don't disturb a single thing in here beside the sarcophagus, we could very well get Blaze out of here on our side."

"Okay...sounds easy enough." I started making my way through the treasure trove. There was probably millions of dollars worth of gold down here. I was tempted to take some with me, but Cream's words came back to mind, and I left it all be.

After about half an hour of looking, I finally spotted a coffin-thing laid down on a long table at the top of a set of stairs. It was painted a variety of colors, and a picture of Blaze's face with a headdress on was painting on the top part of the lid. "Cream, there it is!" I exclaimed. I ran the rest of the way toward it and up the stairs, making sure not to hit any of the vases overflowing with coins. 

When I got to the top of the steps, I carefully pushed the lid off the case, revealing the girl beneath. She was still dressed as she was at the party, though she was laying in the coffin with her arms crossed over her chest. Also, instead of looking dead, she looked like she was simply asleep.

I poked her arm. "Blaze?"

She didn't answer. She just murmured something in her sleep. At least that was a good sign that she was alive.

"Blaze, wake up." I shook her arm a little harder. She moaned before her fiery orange eyes fluttered open, looking up at me. "...who are you...? How do you know my name...?"

"For now, just consider me a friend." I helped her up and out of the sarcophagus.

"Why did you awaken me? Nobody was supposed to know where my tomb was," Blaze said.  

"Well, somebody did, and long story short, there's a chance we me and my friends could be in danger, including you, so we have to go." I pulled on her arm to lead her back to the tunnel, but she didn't budge. 

"Why should I go with you?" she asked. "I just met you. I do not even know your name, and you are already forcing me to go places with you."

"I'm not forcing. I'm just insisting and hoping you say yes, now come on!" In my haste to get Blaze out of the cavern, I accidentally bumped into a nearby golden vase, knocking it over and spilling the thousands of golden coins inside. My eyes widened, and nearby, I heard Cream gasp and cover her mouth with her hands. I quickly let go of Blaze's arm and turned towards her, my eyes widening even more. 

She had a glazed expression on her face, and her body was a rigid as a statue, but her eyes were full of life, a literal inferno forming in the orange. Her statue face turned into a look of rage, and her hands burst into flames. 

"Uh...heh, well, it was nice to visit, but I think it's about time we leave." I did a one-eighty and dashed across the room away from Blaze, a fireball landing where I was a second before. I kept running, not caring if I knocked anything else over. All I cared about was getting out of the cavern before my tail go singed.

"Die, puny mortal, die!" I heard Blaze shriek in a demonic voice that certainly wasn't hers. She lobbed more fireballs at me, all of them getting a little too close for comfort. 

I finally made it back to the end of the tunnel, Cream by my side. She flew in first, and I crawled in after her. It was tough going back up, but the thought of a fire-controlling psycho behind me kept me going through the hard trek.

Up ahead, I spotted a speck of white, and I picked up my pace, finally climbing out of the hole and collapsing on my back on the cool grass under the moon.

Cream landed on my forehead. "That didn't go as planned..."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to look up at her. "Ya think? I almost got my tail burned off!"

"Sorry..." Cream fiddled with the bottom of her skirt.

"Don't be. I'm the one that knocked over the vase, so it's my fault that all of that happened...at least we found all of our friends..."

Cream perked up a bit and dropped her skirt. "Really?"

"Yep! All of them have seen me at least once, and since they're still under Isabella's control, I bet they're all with her right now. All we have to do is take the fight to her, break this crazy spell she has on everyone, then everything will be back to normal."

"Great!" Cream flew off my head. "I know where she set up base. It's not to far from here. With your speed, we could get there in a matter of minutes!"

I sat up and smiled, giving her a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do it to it."