sᴏɴɪᴄ ᴛᴏʏ: 𝓐𝓭𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓸𝔂𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓼

      Mikhail Sinitsin, while driving home in his car, tried to calm himself down, saying to himself: — Calm down, calm down, Sinitsin! You just imagined it! You've just worked too hard, and it seems to you that the toys in your store have come to life and rebelled against you and your workers. I'm sure everything will work out. The most important thing now is to return home, get on the plane and fly straight to the emperor himself and deliver him this very collection. Then I will become rich and can calmly rest from work and all these hallucinations with fears will pass over time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure of it! With these convictions, the collector calmed down and turned towards the house. After parking, he turned off the engine and got out of the car, leaving his bag on the passenger seat. — Ha! And he forgot to take his bag! — said Cream when she realized that Sinitsyn had left. — No time to chat! This is our chance! — Shadow said seriously and got out of the bag. After looking around, he ran to the driver's door and tried to open it, but it did not budge. — Closed! Okay, now I'm going to blow up these doors! Chaos Blast! — he says and extended both hands forward. However, the explosion he hoped for did not happen. — Chaos Blast! — he repeated and again no explosion happened. Cream rolled her eyes at what Shadow was trying to do, got out of the bag, grabbed the steering wheel of the car, stood up and reached the lever on the door, pulling the button that closed the door. At the same time, the alarm went off. The car began to squeak. Cream grabbed Shadow's hand and hid inside the bag with him. — Cream, why did you do this? — Amy was indignant. — Well, we should have opened the door for us. Nothing! If Sinitsin does not hear the alarm and does not return, the alarm will go silent over time and we will then leave. — says Cream. Fortunately, there was no one on the street yet and Sinitsin himself did not hear the alarm and did not return, since he was already in the elevator and going up. The car alarm stopped beeping and then went silent. — It became quiet! — Bokkun says. — Even too much! — Omega answers. — So what are we waiting for? Let's go out! — the Time Eater rejoiced. — Hey, I was just about to say that. — Shadow intervened. — Oh, shut up! You're already annoying! — Mephiles swore and walked out of the bag with him first. The others followed them out. — And who are you such a strange toy, since you behave so strangely, like a real Shadow the Hedgehog? — Do not understand what you talking about! — ULF answers. They opened the car, whose alarm had already gone off a minute ago, and they got out of it. There were no people or animals nearby. They ran to the glass doors, which were closed. Shadow grabbed the edges of the wooden middle and tried to open it, but even this door did not budge. — In the name of Black Doom, I, Shadow the Hedgehog, force these doors to open! CHAOS BLAST!!! — he shouted, hoping to blow up the doors, but again nothing happened. Cream, Amy, Blaze and Rouge looked at each other questioningly about this Shadow. Cream twirled her right index finger near the temple of her head, silently saying that Shadow's toy was crazy. Amy, Blaise and Rouge nodded back at her, confirming her thoughts. -Are you crazy? - Mephiles pushed Shadow in the right shoulder, and then went to look around. “We’re already wasting our time!” Devourer, come with me! — I'm coming. — says the Devourer and follows Mephiles to the right behind the bushes. — You dare to push me? — Shadow was indignant, pointing his finger at the crystal hedgehog toy. — Do not quarrel! Let's better think about how we can get inside! - Bokkun suggested. — I have an idea. — Omega suggested. — How about we repeat that scene from Stuart Little? Find and take a bucket of balloons somewhere, make yourself a basket and use it to climb up to the roof? — No, it's too long. It will take us a lot of time while we look for the right things for this. — Rouge doubted. — That's my plan! Let's all just stand on top of each other, with our feet on our shoulders, making a ladder out of each other, go up to the intercom, call someone in some apartment and say that the plumber has arrived or the post office has brought a letter so that they open the door for us. — Not likely! This only worked at the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s, when the first intercoms began to appear. Nowadays, no one will fall for this. Moreover, the post office, plumbers and others also have their own keys to intercoms, or they simply know the code for the intercom to enter any entrance. Amy explained. — What if we say that they brought pizza? — Blaze suggested. — They can say that they didn’t order pizza and won’t open doors. — Cream answers. — While we are still thinking, a lot of time will pass. Bokkun says. - What do we do? Suddenly they heard a creaking sound to the right and turned in the direction of the sound. It was the Devourer and Mephiles who opened the ventilation cover on top of the air conditioning fan. They climbed onto it along a branch of a tree that grew nearby. — HEY!!! ALL COME HERE!!! — shouted the crystal hedgehog, waving his hand in his direction. The Devourer was holding the ventilation grate itself in his hands and wanted to throw it down onto the grass, but Mephiles stopped him: — Do not throw! Danger for pedestrians! — And where do you propose to put her? If we don’t throw it, then the wind will. — the Devourer explained, placing the grate next to it. Then, looking at where he put it himself, his eyes bulged. — I am amazed at myself! How can I think so smartly and quickly that I don’t even notice it? At that time, all the toys and Shadow climbed up the tree table, climbed onto a branch, crossed along it and jumped to those two. Rouge even kissed Mephiles and the Devourer on the cheeks. — Perhaps, it is you, Mephiles, who will be our leader and will continue to lead us while Silver is not with us. — By the way, where is Silver? — Bokkun asked. — Who is Silver? — asked Shadow. All the toys responded by slapping their palms on their foreheads. After all, how can this fool not know who Silver the Hedgehog is? — Okay, stop standing and arguing! Behind me! — Mephiles commands and runs into the ventilation first. All the toys and Shadow run after him. Since it was dark inside, Blaze lit the way with her purple material, which glowed in the dark. On the way, Shadow took out a toy plastic walkie-talkie and began speaking into it as if it were a real one: — Base, Agent Shadow speaking! I'm heading straight to Black Doom's fortress. Looking forward to further instructions! How can you hear me? Reception! — Why is he acting so strange? — Blaze asks. — It looks like no one bought it and it was collecting dust on the shelves of that store for too long, and then it just went crazy! — Cream joked. Further on the path there was a fork with three paths, forward, left and right. — So! Left, right, or straight? — Mephiles thought smiling, as if he were playing a board game on a card, like a pawn. — What is there to think about? — Cream came forward and began to list the words with the index stones from the fairy tale, pointing with her hand along the path. — If you go left, you'll lose the battery. If you go to the right, you yourself will die. If you go straight, you will find Sonic. -Are you sure it needs to go straight? In my opinion, you need to go right. Bokkun says. — It seems to me that it’s to the left. — Rouge intervened. — Guys, maybe we can just split up and each go in our own direction? — suggested Metal Sonic. — The idea is good, but dangerous. It’s good if one of the paths just leads to a dead end and we can return. But if not, then you can end up in an unknown place and get lost. — Mephiles answered seriously. — So what should we do then? — Omega asks. Shadow came forward and took out some kind of toy that looked like a mini metal detector. He turned it on and it began to make a cracking sound while the red piece of iron on top was spinning. The toy of a perfect life form, starting from the right path, moved its detector along the paths to the left and the rattle stopped by coincidence at that moment. Shadow decided that the device indicated that he needed to go there. — We must go here! — he says and runs first. The others ran after him. — How do you know? — asks Metal Sonic. — I am the perfect life form! I know everything. Suddenly a loud metallic sound was heard and the walls of the ventilation began to shake slightly. — What's happening? — Bokkun didn’t understand. — I'm scared! — said the Devourer. — What the plastic? — Mephiles cursed, replacing the word “Heck” with “Plastic”. — We've been spotted! The walls are closing in! — says Shadow, takes Cream and puts her to the corner on the right wall and to the ceiling. — It’s better to frame someone, otherwise we’re all screwed! — Hey, let me go! Idiot! — Cream shouted displeasedly. — Quiet already! It's not the walls that move, it's the elevator! — Blaze said, pointing to one of the passages where the sound came from. At first there was something like a dead end, whose wall was moving down. Then a roof appeared on iron ropes. The toys ran up and made sure that it was indeed an elevator. They looked up, where the elevator descended. It was very high up there and also a little foggy, so you couldn’t see what was further up there. — Let's not waste time! — says ULF and took out magnetic Velcro for the wall. Then he jumped onto the wall on the right and the magnets pulled him to the iron rails along which the elevator rose and fell. - Follow me! — Maybe it’s easier to take the elevator? — Mephiles suggested. — Negative! This is what they expect from us. — Who are they? — The crystal hedgehog did not understand. — Who-who! Servants of Black Doom. — You're with that Black Doom again. There is no Black Doom. Whatever you want, we'll take the elevator. — Mephiles stated sternly and took a couple of steps back and took a running jump from the ventilation to the roof of the elevator. — Smooth landing. Jump! Shadow rolled his eyes and decided to go upstairs on his own. — “If these naive people want to die, then it’s not my problem!” — he thought on the way. The rest at this time jumped onto the roof of the elevator. — So what now? Blaze asks. — Let's wait until someone takes the elevator to the top... Probably. — Mephiles suggested a little doubtfully. Then he sighed heavily. — It’s a pity Silver isn’t with us after all. I must be a bad leader if I don’t know what to do next! — Well, what are you talking about! You are also a good leader. You just need to be able to think well. Not like him! — Amy pointed to the one who had already crawled away from them high enough and disappeared into the fog of the elevator shaft. Cream scratched her chin and found something like a hatch on the floor. She tried to lift it, but the hatch was very heavy and would not budge. — Don't stand still! Help me! — asked the rabbit and the rest of the toys helped her move the elevator roof cover. — Great! Now we need to figure out how to reach one of the buttons with a number and somehow press it. At the same time, we will all have to stay here, outside, and under no circumstances fall into the elevator.

***

      And Sinitsin at this time put all the collectible toys in black plastic with pressed silhouettes for their body shapes and for now left them on the floor, deciding to collect individual things in boxes and lower them down in fours. At the same time, he communicated with the airport by phone: — The price is very urgent for the delivery of twelve packages to the Saggan Palace.” — The price will be six hundred and sixty. — Is it in rubles? — No, in dollars. — What? — Mikhail was indignant, putting the last box on the stretcher. — You’re robbing me! You are brazenly profiting from those who are in a hurry! — Sir, this is my first day working here and I was told that these are the prices we have. I'm not involved here. — Okay, consider that today I’m kind only for you. Basically, I'll leave all the bags in the lobby and you just have to pick them up in fifteen minutes, otherwise I'll miss the plane. Is everything clear to you? — With these words and the collected boxes on the stretcher, he walked out the door and closed the room. — Woo-hoo! Can we really be leaving very soon?! Very soon we will be at the Emperor Saggan Museum! — the revived Tails shouted joyfully. The rest of the toys were also partly happy about this news, although on the other hand they were still a little offended by Tails for doing this. Sonic was also the same in his thoughts. Although he also became interested in getting into that very museum. Maybe if he is accepted with them, he will at least make their lives better and thereby at least make this two-tailed fox happy. Let at least his dream finally come true. — I can imagine my first time traveling in first class luxury in a new plastic box. I'm so terribly excited. — Nicole smiled, clenching her fists and holding her hands clenched towards herself. — And I’m so glad. Especially, even if I am destined to live inside this box my entire life and never leave it. — says Robotnik. — You know!... I’m also completely sincere... Well, I’m a little glad... — Sonic says to Tails. - Seriously! — What’s bad and strange about that? — asks the brown fox. Sally was the first to get up from her silhouette slab, took Sonic by both hands and began to dance with him. Sonic also had fun dancing. Everyone else followed them out. Even Robotnik started shaking his box, pretending to dance. — Look at me, everyone! I'm doing a dance in a box!

***

      Shadow was still climbing up. Having almost reached the ceiling, there was a single entrance to the ventilation along the way with the number sixty-nine indicating the floor of the building. Stopping at this height, Shadow removed one of his magnets and tried to attract himself to the adjacent wall. But the Velcro didn’t stick to other walls. And no wonder. After all, all the walls were made of concrete, and these Velcro were magnetic and only attached to iron. — I don’t understand anything! Apparently all these walls, unlike this one, are covered with something slippery. — he suggested and decided that apparently he needed to jump there himself from this place. He climbed a little higher, but not so much that he would not hit the ceiling in his jump. Then he swung with both hands on his Velcro, released them, unclenched his fingers, and jumped. He grabbed the edge of the ventilation floor with only his feet, and his heels stuck out slightly back. The black-scarlet hedgehog immediately began to lose his balance and wave his arms in an attempt to hold on. However, he still slowly leaned back and could not move forward. — No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!!! — he screamed as he eventually fell. Fortunately, Amy, Cream and Rouge fell to catch him in their arms, who, along with the elevator, were already slowly rising at that time. — Are you okay? — asks the rabbit. Shadow didn't expect to see them, but was very happy to meet them. — You... You save me?... — he asks, and when they put his feet on the floor, he knelt in front of them, like a servant before a king. — From now on I am your eternal debtor! I will do whatever you want for you. — First, stop acting as if you are real and showing off in every possible way.— Mephiles asked. — Fine. As you order, commander. — he answered him with a bow. They went up to the entrance to the ventilation with the number sixty-nine and stopped near this entrance. — We're lucky that someone brought this elevator up here. We didn’t even have to go down to the buttons. — says Blaze. — Well, yes. All you had to do was wait. — says Metal Sonic. They jumped from the roof of the elevator into the ventilation and moved on. Shadow was now the last to follow them. — By the way, may I ask, what are you looking for here? — asked Shadow. — Not anything, but who! — Omega corrected. — We are looking for our friend Sonic the Hedgehog, whom he kidnapped. — The same one whose huge photograph fell from that giant? — asked Shadow. — Yes. — Rouge confirmed. — A! Clear! — he answered briefly, and in his thoughts he thought: “Apparently this is another faker hedgehog, like that one! When they bring me to him, I will immediately betray them all and kill him in front of everyone. Black Doom will be very proud of me when he sees what prisoners I brought into his trap." — He thought about it and smiled slyly. — Why are you smiling like that? Are you thinking about something? — Bokkun asked. — A? Yes! Once again the memories just tormented me. — Memories? Apparently you really sat in that store for too long and that’s why you’re acting like a crazy person. — I don’t understand what you’re talking about! — Well, well. Lie even more as if you don’t understand anything. — the toy robot cat grinned. — Apparently he has completely gone crazy, that he refuses to accept reality, that he is a toy, like the rest of us. He needs time to realize this himself. — Amy suggested. — What are you talking about? — Shadow asked her. — No, no, nothing! Forget! — the hedgehog waved her hand. Suddenly Blaze began to slowly extinguish her glow and stopped glowing. It became dark around and nothing else was visible. — HEY!!! FOR JOKING WITH LIGHT??? — Mephiles shouted. — Sorry, my light energy accumulated inside me has run out and that’s why I no longer glow in the dark. — How can we go further in such darkness now? — Metal Sonic asked. — Wait, I’ll turn on the flashlight! — Bokkun answered and took out a flashlight, which he turned on. Everyone looked at him questioningly, and he answered: — Why did i steal it right away? I borrowed it, you might say! — We didn’t ask you whether you stole it or not. — Mephiles answers, after which he walked on and everyone else followed him.