Fright Master

"Left alone long enough, these dark conjurers will summon forth an endless supply of Frights. Cut them off at the scource!"

- Description of the Fright Master in Sonic Unleashed (PS3/Xbox360)

The Fright Master (スプーキーマスター) is on of the types of Dark Gaia's minions that appear in Sonic Unleashed. As a member of the Master variant, these phantom wizard fiends can perform magical spell. The spells from these guys focus on summoning Dark Frights to the battlefield. They only appear during the game's nighttime stages.

Overview
The Fright Masters and the remainder of Dark Gaia's minions came into being when their original scource Dark Gaia fell apart in the beginning of Sonic Unleashed, as a result of it awakening millions of years too early. The fragments of this beast then scattered across the planet, with some of them becoming the Fright Masters and the rest becoming the remainder of Dark Gaia's minions. They first appear in Rooftop Run Night Act III: The Great Aqueduct on the PS2/Wii version and Dragon Road Night Act 1 on the PS3/Xbox360.

Like all the other members of the Master variant, the Dark Masters are born with exceptionally high intelligence amongst their species, which allows them to take on a near-perfect humanoid appearance and utilize Dark Gaia's power in a more refined way, similar to that of magical spells.

They Fright Masters always appear in the company of other enemies. On the PS3/Xbox360 version they always appear alone with other types of enemies, while on the PS2/Wii version they can appear in pairs as well.

The Fright Masters specialize in performing magical spells that allow them to call forth an endless supply of Dark Frights in order to aid them in battle and overwhelm Sonic the Werehog with numbers. This is done by forming a circular spell seal under them and sending out purple orbs that will call out the Dark Frights. It is unknown if the Fright Masters actually create Dark Frights or they simply summon some from another location. Like all other members of the Master variant, the Fright Master can fly in mid-air, making them somewhat hard to attack.

Their spells have their restrictions however, as they can only have a limited number of Dark Frights out at a time. Once one of the Dark Frights they have summoned is killed however, the Fright Masters will instantly try to call forth a new Dark Fright to take its place. Once a Fright Master calls forth Dark Frights they will act independently and will remain on the battlefield, even if the Fright Master that summoned them is killed.

Following the reconstruction of Dark Gaia, all of the Fright Masters returned to Dark Gaia, which was later resealed inside the Earth's core.

Attack Patterns
While mostly relying on the Dark Frights to do the fighting, the Fright Masters can also step into the battle themselves. Their fighting style differs between the versions of the game, however: On the PS2/Wii version the Fright Masters have very fast movements and can teleport to avoid attacks. They primarily attack Sonic by using their staffs as weapons to hit him. On the PS3/Xbox version, the Fright Masters are much slower and cannot teleport. While they can still use their staffs to whack Sonic however, and they can also enlarge them for greater range and attack power.

Appearance
The Fright Masters look like humanoid phantoms dressed in full-body wizard robes that have capes and pointy hats. These robes are colored in a cyan shade slightly lighter than the Power Masters' and have light purplish glowing markings. The only parts of their body that can be seen is their black faces and light purplish eyes. They are also always carrying a red staff with a head that resembles a Red Fright.

Trivia

 * On the PS2/Wii version, any Dark Frights summoned by the Fright Masters will release orbs upon their defeat. On the PS3/Xbox360 version however, the summoned Dark Frights leave nothing behind after being defeated.