| << Previous book | — | Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic and the Tales of Terror |
Sonic and the Tales of Terror[1] is a paperback book for 7-10 year olds published by Penguin Young Readers Licenses. It contains three original stories.
Official solicitation[]
- EEEEEEEEEEK! Take a walk on the weird side with the most spine-tingling Sonic the Hedgehog adventures ever!
- In three tales, the fastest hero alive encounters some of the spookiest threats Dr. Eggman has ever unleashed, including zombified friends, midnight transformations, and mischievous ghosts.
- Based on the popular characters in the Sega game Sonic the Hedgehog, these terrifying stories featuring an iconic digital hero will thrill both longtime players and a new generation of Sonic fans!
Featured stories[]
Night of the Unliving[]
Synopsis[]
Tails, Big, Amy, Cream, and Cheese encounter a strange saucer-like machine in a glade which speaks to them in an eerie voice to submit. With the timely arrival of Sonic the Hedgehog, the heroes destroy the saucer, only for it to spill strange green slime all over Team Rose. All that remains of the machine is a tall spire and a meteorite pulsing with green light and slime. Tails recommend they contact a medical team to get them decontaminated while Sonic speeds off to find more action.
The next day, Sonic runs through town and finds it eerily quiet. He notices Cream and Cheese in front of their working on a piece of sheet metal. When Sonic asks what they are doing, Cream replies that they are "building the spear". Once he sees Cream surprisingly use an uncharacteristic amount of strength to pull the metal apart, he denies the rabbit's request to join him and speeds off. Sonic reaches Amy's house next, where the pink hedgehog is examining a bunch of maps; marking city streets and country borders. Amy sneezes out green slime and encourages Sonic to touch it. Creeped out, Sonic races away.
Sonic deduces that the crashed saucer must have something to with his friends' strange behavior and he speeds towards it, only to encounter Big, whose eyes have been turned a bright green and slime leaks from them. He attacks Sonic and tells him to submit. Sonic immediately rushes off and dashes for Tails' Lab, hoping that Tails will help him cure Team Rose. He informs Tails of the situation, and the fox cub says the medical team checked the entire site but found no trace of any organic virus. However, he has obtained part of the meteorite to perform some tests on it.
Seeing this, a nervous Sonic asks Tails if he has touched it. Tails denies this, saying he took every precaution extracting it from the crash site. The only thing they can do is wait until he has completed the tests. Sonic looks out the lab's window to see the infected Cream flying through the streets and spreading the goo to many bystanders, infecting them as well. He tells Tails that if there is one thing he is bad at, it is waiting. Leaving Tails at the lab, Sonic races into the city to warn the citizens not to touch the slime, but he arrives too late. Most of the city has already been infected and have their eyes glowing green, tearing up anything made of metal and repeating the word "submit". Sonic realizes they must be building something and escapes the infected Team Rose, who try to infect him.
Sonic speeds back to the lab and makes it inside just as Tails locks the lab down, a measure he installed in case Dr. Eggman ever attacked. The diseased mob reaches the lab and scratch the sealed metal door while Tails begins to explain the meteorite to Sonic. He says it is not just a power source, but has a mind of its own and is neither living nor dead, but more like a computer. It has been traveling through space for thousands of years, using the saucer as a vessel. Tails compare it to a spear thrown into the sky that never came down, containing a program to take over everything it comes into contact with. Sonic asks how they can stop it.
Tails shows Sonic an amplifier he built, attuned to the meteorite and its unique frequency. He used it to communicate with the fragment he collected. When Sonic asks him to continue, Tails turns his attention to the meteorite, admiring its patience and telling Sonic he cannot begin to understand what it can do. It can communicate, by touch, transmission, and sight and once its frequency is amplified, then everyone will understand. While Tails starts scratching at the glass case, Sonic becomes horrified. When Tails used his amplifier to communicate with the meteorite, he had been infected.
Tails breaks the glass container, takes the meteorite and lifts the lockdown on the lab, allowing the infected mob to swarm in. In a panic, Sonic swipes Tails' amplifier, realizing the infected need it to complete their plan, and rushes out of the lab through an open window and into the dark night. He worriedly asks what he is supposed to do next, when he notices a memo written by Tails attached to the amplifier. Sonic reads the note, which gives him his next instructions.
At the crash site, the infected Tails, Team Rose, and the other citizens assemble to create a broadcast tower built from the metal objects they had taken. They plan to use the broadcast tower to send a signal to the planet the sentient slime originated from and call another meteor to the planet. Then, they will infect the entire world and make it submit. Just then, Sonic appears in the trees with the amplifier in hand. He lands in the crowd and allows himself to be infected by the mob, who lead him to the tower. Big lifts him Sonic up while he struggles with the last of his free will and attaches the amplifier to the tower. With a final apology, he activates the amplifier, and his vision erupts in fire.
Sonic comes to in a hospital bed where his hands are wrapped in gauze. Amy, Tails, Cream, Cheese, and Big surround him, all of them now cured. Tails explains that overriding the amplifier created a feedback loop that overwhelmed the meteorite, destroyed the tower, neutralized the slime and burned its "programming" from everyone it had infected. The amplifier had caught fire and was destroyed in Sonic's hands, leaving them burned. Big tells him that he will make a full recovery, but it will take time and patience. Sonic collapses in the bed with a groan and says if there is one thing he is bad at, it is waiting.
Appearances[]
| This section requires an expansion. |  |
Characters:
- Dr. Eggman (mentioned)
- Team Rose
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Sonic the Hedgehog
Races and species:
Trivia[]
- The title of this story is a reference to the title of the 1968 American independent horror film, Night of the Living Dead.
Spook Forest[]
Synopsis[]
Team Sonic and the Chaotix are spending the weekend camping in an ancient forest. Over a campfire, Sonic finishes up his scary story of a disembodied hand and the guys debate over which story was more frightening: Espio's tale of an invisible truck driver or Vector's story of a mummy DJ. An unimpressed Knuckles calls them out and denies the existence of supernatural creatures like ghosts. Sonic tries to lighten the mood, teasing that the echidna is just scared. Knuckles gets angry at this and storms off into the forest.
Knuckles lets out his anger on the trees by punching them down. Suddenly, he hears some cracking noises and sees the trees falling to the forest floor. Next, he notices a mechanical tail, which could only mean one thing: Eggman is here, and he is making his way towards the campsite. Knuckles chases after the machine as more of the forest is torn apart around him. Just then, a tree larger than all the rest sprouts from the ground and reaches higher than the other trees. He keeps chasing after Eggman, but suddenly the ground gives way beneath him and he falls.
Back at the campsite, Sonic and Tails talk about Knuckles. Sonic admits he feels guilty, saying the whole point of the camping trip was to build their friendship. Tails assures Sonic that Knuckles will return, and that he just needs time to himself. Suddenly, the heroes hear the sound of trees being ripped from the ground and feel vibrations in the earth, which wake up Espio and Charmy. Vector remains asleep at first due to his noise-cancelling headphones until he is startled awake by the heroes. Charmy asks if this is the work of a ghost, and Sonic answers that it is more likely a ghoul named Eggman. The mad doctor appears right underneath the campfire, piloting a massive Egg Dragoon and surprised-yet-delighted to see Sonic here. He says that he plans to tear the forest down to make room for a new robot factory, but that now that Sonic is here, he will bury him. Sonic stands ready to face the mad doctor with Tails and the Chaotix by his side. The Egg Dragoon uses the fallen trees as weapons against the heroes, throwing them and using them like clubs.
Meanwhile, Knuckles digs his way into an underground tunnel, where he encounters a strange spirit seemingly in pain. Manipulating the earth to capture the echidna, the spirit takes him to its queen and other apparitions like it. With the forest in danger, they are in pain with every tree that is torn out from the ground. Knuckles tells them Eggman is behind it, and that he is the one they want. The queen shows Knuckles visions of what they are: spirits of the woods that have been long forgotten by man that are slowly dying. The giant tree, the heart of the forest, grows weaker and weaker. The queen agrees with the echidna about Eggman, but accuses Knuckles that he has been destroying the trees of the forest himself for years to release his anger. Eggman has just accelerated the long, slow, agonizing end of the spirits. Knuckles apologizes and offers his help to the spirits.
The heroes continue to fight Eggman, but they have little success. Everyone notices the giant tree off in the distance and Eggman goes to destroy that next. Before he can, the earth opens up and Knuckles emerges with the spirits. The spirits swarm Eggman in a fury, who tries to flee the Egg Dragoon in panic. He slips and falls during his escape, but a tree branch snags him and flings him off into the distance. After Knuckles thanks the spirits and vows to keep fighting, they leave for the giant tree. Tails says that this could make a good ghost story while Sonic and Knuckles inspect the giant tree for damage.
The echidna tells Sonic that he wishes he felt what he did when he met the queen and that this world must be saved from extinction. Sonic replies that if he did not know Knuckles that well, he would say he was scared. Knuckles just says that he is not scared: he's haunted.
Appearances[]
| This section requires an expansion. | |
Characters:
Races and species:
Vehicles:
Hunt of the Werehog[]
Synopsis[]
At Professor Pickle's laboratory, the elderly professor shows Sonic, Tails, and Amy Rose a video of a strange creature that had been spotted three blocks away the previous night. According to Pickle, the creature is a minion of Dark Gaia, and reports of attacks had come in for two weeks. The trio are all too familiar with the deity, since he nearly destroyed the planet when he awakened too early from his slumber. Sonic is determined to defeat Dark Gaia a second time, but Amy warns him of the effects his minions have on people. Dismissing this, Sonic says that the little monsters are just stragglers that they had defeated with nothing but a flashbulb camera. Tails then announces that he's been building a light-based gadget to better fight Dark Gaia's monsters: a form of "super-camera". Sonic is eager to head out and fight the minions, but Amy notices that the sun is going down.
Suddenly, Sonic collapses in pain as the sun sets and becomes enveloped by purple smoke... and when it fades, Sonic is surprised to see that his Werehog form has returned. He asks Professor Pickle for an explanation, and he deduces that Sonic's contact with Dark Gaia's energy has reignited his Werehog form. Sonic was able to keep his personality intact, but his new physical state left him susceptible to Dark Gaia's energy. Taking this as a sign that Dark Gaia has returned, Sonic and Tails start to leave the lab. Amy wants to join them and help out, but Sonic says that it's too dangerous before he leaps into the night with Tails.
Tails readies his flash-banger device, which consists of a golden power cell worn like a backpack and cords connected to a pair of gauntlets. The gauntlets are bulb-like fists capable of blasting streams of concentrated light, and a screen located on Tails' wrist records images of targets to steal their power. Sonic and Tails have been searching for Dark Gaia Minions for some time, but have found nothing so far. Tails suspects the monsters are hiding, which doesn't make sense since it's not their style. Suddenly, an eerie scream pierces the night and prompts Sonic to run down a hill. The Werehog comes across a woman pulling at her hair, and upon Sonic's approach, she spins around to reveal dark skin around her eyes while wailing in despair. Just then, Dark Minions emerge from the darkness and Sonic charges to meet them in battle. But the monsters constantly avoid his attacks until Tails uses the flash-banger against them. Sonic uses his elongated arms to block off the exits, but the monsters flee by crawling up a building.
Sonic gives chase and corners the minions, but a sudden explosion of dark energy knocks him off the building. Tails says that he lost sight of the monsters while trying to flash-bang the source of the blast, adding that the sun is about to come up. The woman comes to her senses and explains that she was out on a pre-dawn run when she felt something telling her the was destined to be alone forever, as if she was the last person left on the planet.
Back at Professor Pickle's lab, Sonic is recovering from the fight while Tails examines the images on the flash-banger's screen. The minions have never been this tricky and affirm Tails' belief that Dark Gaia has returned. Amy, who is looking over a Gaia Manuscript, objects and thinks he may be close to resurfacing. She's been up all night reading the professor's research on Dark Gaia to find a clue as to what's happening. Sonic tells Amy not to drive herself crazy from all the "double-speak and weird riddles" the manuscript has, but Amy tells him what she has found: when Dark Gaia slumbers, his extant energy can sometimes scour the planet in search of its master. If Dark Gaia's minions are attacking people, they may be searching for someone to take his place. Tails then brings up another image of a shadowy figure commanding the minions with a blurry wave of its arm. Tails suspects that this could be Dark Gaia, who has taken a different form until he can consolidate his energies again. Amy protests that that shouldn't be possible, but Sonic tells her to stay out of it and "leave the spooky stuff to the professionals".
After a day of rest, Sonic and Tails head out onto the streets the following night and fight more of the minions, who are taunting them with the civilians they possess. The creatures don't stick around, infuriating Sonic and asks what the minions are doing. Tails isn't sure of the minions' motives, but he does have an idea as to where they're going. He pulls up a map with blinking red lights, explaining that every time the monsters are driven off, they flee towards the older section of town. The duo head that direction while Sonic secretly loathes not being in control and not being fast enough to bash in a bad guy's face. Suddenly, a mysterious voice calls out his name.
Breaking away from Tails, Sonic rushes down an alley and follows the voice down a pit that leads underground. Within seconds, he's surrounded by Dark Gaia Minions... but they don't attack. Instead, they seal off the entrance with rocks and trap Sonic inside, forcing him to journey further down the passage. Soon, the Werehog comes face-to-face with the mysterious being, who speaks to him in a squeaky and thunderous voice. The figure says that without him, Sonic would have never found the energy source. Sonic, believing the figure to be Dark Gaia, tells the figure that he's going to beat him again. The figure laughs and tells Sonic that Dark Gaia is still slumbering within the planet, but his energy called out to someone to care for it. And the figure had answered the call. Wielding a hammer, the figure smashes open the ceiling and allows Dark Gaia energy to leak through along with the moonlight. The figure then tells Sonic that they, too, were obsessed with Dark Gaia and came to this place. Suddenly, a shocked Sonic realizes the truth: the new leader of the Dark Gaia Minions is Amy!
Now corrupted with Dark Gaia energy, Amy's pupils are a solid black with a red glow and her quills ripple the same power responsible for Sonic's transformation. With a wild smile, Amy says that the energy had called to Sonic, but he ignored it just as he ignored her. Sonic tries to explain but struggles to find his words. Amy says that her investigation of the minions' actions led her to the underground passage, and that she was able to both study the Gaia Manuscript and gather every creature to this place. She demands Sonic to recognize that she has more skills than him. Accepting his mistake, Sonic apologizes and says that he should've asked Amy for help in the first place instead of casting her aside. He asks Amy what she wants him to do now... and Amy swings her hammer at the ceiling again and calls out to Tails.
The fox flies into the chamber and rains down blasts from his flash-banger, and the minions have nowhere to go before their power is drained from them and they evaporate into smoke. The Dark Gaia energy fades from Amy, who drops into Sonic's arms. Sonic then realizes he's back to normal again and Amy apologizes to him. It was hard to fight Dark Gaia's influence, but she knew she could resist him if she tried. Sonic also apologizes for not being reliant on Amy and says that things would have been easier if he had asked for her help from the start. Amy asks if Sonic doesn't think of her as a monster. With a laugh, Sonic just says that everyone can turn into monsters sometimes. But with friends like her, it's easy to turn back.
| This section requires an expansion. | |
Appearances[]
| This section requires an expansion. | |
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Werehog
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Amy Rose
- Professor Pickle
- Dark Gaia's Minions
- Dark Gaia (mentioned)