章節 66: Chapter 66
There was the sound of a door being opened as light trickled through the open door between the circus tent, and a dark underground tunnel. Sonic hopped through, Tails floated down with Buck, and Sonja floated down with Pico.
Sonic and Sonja shivered from the cold. It was freezing down there. Buck, Tails, and Pico with their thick fur covering their whole bodies, didn't seem to notice the cold. "Which way do we go?" Sonic asked, shivering. The tunnel seemed to expand out farther than Sonic could see in both directions, forward and backward.
"I'll take my chances on forward," Buck groaned, walking forward with a bravery Sonic had not seen in him before. Buck was already out of sight before Sonic and the others followed.
The tunnel went on for a while. Every now and then, there would be light that revealed either a map of the tunnel, some sort of metal door with a padlock on it, or an aquarium full of dead, decaying fish of types that Sonic had never seen before. It smelled awful in that tunnel.
They continued on and on. Until they saw a figure in the darkness. Comparatively bright and vibrant colors lined his clothes. He had a round belly, with spotted overalls. No legs, just shoes. Arms that went down to his shoes. He had a face painted all white, with some cracks in the worn paint. Some of it peeled off his face revealing his actual skin underneath. His lips were painted red. The red paint had trickled down his chin and dried up. Sonic knew who this was... it was...
"Tatters the Clown?" Sonic asked. He recognized this man from the billboards in the carnival. The man was startled, as he opened his mouth to scream. Inside his mouth were rows of dry human teeth, teeth growing from teeth, and teeth growing from those ones. Yellowed, dirty teeth. Tatters had a purple, oozing tongue. Sonic readied himself for battle.
"Whoa there, children!" Tatters exclaimed, with a wacky voice like an old cartoon character's. "Don't be mad!" Tatters laughed. He soon gathered his bearings. "Sorry, no show is free! We gotta keep a hustle going..." Tatters smiled from ear to ear, his face stretching and squashing unnaturally. His fully black eyes flashed baby blue as his gaze landed on Pico. "But I see you have a baby with you... and in that case... the only price for admission is a SMILE!" Tatters did a headstand, dancing around, laughing and squealing. He squished his red nose. A squeaking sound accompanied the squish, but so did some sort of vile mucus coming from his nostrils.
"What are you talking about?" Tails asked. He looked at Tatters angrily, and pointed his finger at him. "We don't even know anything about you!"
"What is there to know?!" Tatters exclaimed happily. He flipped back onto his feet and rolled a plastic ball across his shoulders. "I'm just a happy man who loves making people SMILE!" He emphasized the word smile each time he said it. "And I'd like to make you SMILE too!"
"Oh, you do?" Sonic asked. This man seemed harmless, if not a bit intimidating. Pico was cooing and clapping, a smile on his face under his little trunk. His tusks seemed to have grown since the last time Sonic checked. "A good way to make us smile is by telling us... um... where's Knux, where's Sonja's memories, where's Buck's herd, what's with this hourglass, and where's the exit?"
A golden recognition flashed in Tatters's eyes. Literally. He looked at Sonja as he sniffled up some of the ugly mucus from before. "Sonja? Is that you?" He asked.
"I think so..." Sonja replied. "Do I know you?"
Tatters seemed hurt, though he tried to keep on a smile. "Oh, nononononono..." He said quickly. "This can't be!" He ran up to Sonja, but stopped when he saw Sonja back away. "Ah... sorry..." Tatters apologized. "You really don't remember me... I guess no one does..."
"I'm sorry..." Sonja apologized. "But, if you want, you can tell me about our past..."
Tatters looked up at her, smiling still. White flashed in his left eye, while his right eye turned a somehow even deeper black. Sonic felt the hourglass shake in his bag as everything turned black. He knew what would soon ensue.
Continue to Chapter 67
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