All Stars! 🌟 Start Your Engines!

Chapter 5 - Rocky-Coaster

"Alright racers! It's been a long race but we just have this one last track left here in Carnival Town!" NiGHTS motioned toward a big screen behind him. That was what the audience watched the race from. On the screen right now were some select parts of the track.

"Welcome to Rocky-Coaster! Here you can become one with the party and enjoy one of the finest attractions! Even though there are a few obstacles on here, the biggest one is getting knocked off the track! Try to stay steady and on the road!" NiGHTS waved his checkered flag. "On your mark! Get set! GO!!!"

We all took off, clanking down the wooden track. The stands and solid ground were suddenly so far behind me as I drove up the coaster.

"Hey everyone! Get ready to dance! Ulala is in the lead!" NiGHTS shouted. I had to pick it up a notch.

I dashed past an item box and picked up a rocket. The rocket hit into one of the racers and I took off into fifth. The haunted house was no picnic either. I swerved in and out of saws and skeletons just trying to grab me.

With a few close calls and nearly getting shoved off the track by a horn, the first lap was done. With the second lap, Shadow came up right next to me.

"How's it goin' Shads?" I asked him. He groaned at the nickname.

"About as well you could get, Faker." Shadow replied. "Froggy really did a number on my own strategy."

"And what was that?" I tilted my car just enough to avoid a piñata.

"I was hoping to use my Super form here but instead I had to use it to avoid that frog just to stay in the race." Shadow explained. He cut a corner, nearly falling off the track as he did.

I drifted through the waterfall. "Froggy did do more damage than an All-Star should, didn't he?"

"You don't know the half of it." Shadow replied as he sped up to pass me.

"Would you look at that! We really will be dancing! Amigo has an All-Star!" NiGHTS exclaimed, watching us with a camera.

Shadow and I both glanced behind. The samba monkey was hot on our trail. He had started to shake his maracas. It was pretty rhythmic and made you wanna dance all day. I just had to stay focused.

In order to avoid any casualties, I closely rounded bends and made it to the pit stop. Shadow did too. I did my usual tire change. My tires were almost done when someone stated. "Hey Sonic, what's that in your trunk?"

Ulala was pointing at the back of my car. I scratched my head. "What do you mean?" Now that I looked at it, my truck was bulging out a bit.

"I think she means this." Alex Kidd came over and yanked my trunk open. What was under the hood was a sight to behold.

All of the missing items, Amy's hammer, Big's fishing pole, Beat's spray paint, and some parts from one of the vehicles.

NiGHTS came over. "What's going on here? You still have one lap left." Everyone pointed at the trunk of my car. "Oh my." NiGHTS looked at me.

"Look, I don't know how any of this even got in my car!" I exclaimed. NiGHTS rummaged through my trunk. He pulled out a few small black boxes. The explosives... "It has to be Eggman!"

"Leave him out of this! I know it was you! And here I was starting to think you were different than I thought. It seems as though you've been lying to us the whole time!" Alex Kidd shouted.

"Guys?" Tails interjected. I could barely hear him but I'm that moment. I was just trying to clear my name.

"I wasn't! Someone must have put this stuff in my trunk!" I shouted back at Alex. We were both face to face, glaring at each other.

"Guys." Tails repeated.

"Yeah, and that someone was you!" Alex shouted back.

"I never stole anything!" I defended.

"Guys!" Tails shouted over us. I immediately stopped. Alex did as well. The two of us looked over at Tails. The twin-tailed fox pointed. "Look!"

Down below, purple energy sparked. A portal showed up in the middle of the track, facing the stands. What came out of it was a sight to behold. It was like stepping into a nightmare. Different creatures, big and small, trickled out of the portal. They each had one destination. The stands full of spectators. I stepped back, revving myself up to race down there and give those creatures what was coming to them.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails grabbed me before I could even take two steps. "We can't just run down there!"

"But there are innocent people and our friends down there! We have to help them!" I responded, trying to shake his hand off. The nightmarish creatures were already grabbing the spectators and placing them in special cages.

Tails continued to hold me back. "What good would we be if we got captured too? What we need is a plan!"

"Tails is right, Sonic." NiGHTS explained. "We can't just barge into this situation." His jubilant self was replaced with a grave expression, even more so than the one her gave me earlier. "These are Nightmarens, and not the good kind. I've never seen them escape from Nightopia. How could they have?"

I looked around. There was someone missing. "Eggman's gone." Down below there was a large purple beam shooting up. The beam was so bright it was blinding. Squinting, I looked at where the beam was coming from. "It's that teleporter. That's what brought those other Nightmarens here." I explained.

"So, was it really Eggman the whole time?" Tails asked. He came up right next to me to take a look.

"Maybe, I'm not sure." I replied. "Last time I checked, his teleporter was only able to travel through worlds, not dreams and nightmares." Those seemed like thoughts, bits of imagination. They were accessible during the night when we sleep.

"Actually, Nightopia is very much a real world. So is Nightmare." NiGHTS explained. "I was afraid they would figure out how the device worked." He crossed his legs and sat down, still hovering in the air.

"So this is how you came to be here." Shadow came up. He looked down at the scene below. Right, Rouge and Omega we're down there. "As much as I would like to continue this chitchat, shouldn't we get to the plan?" Guess that a nice way to put it.

NiGHTS placed a hand under his chin. "If it's a plan you want," his eyes flickered mischievous again, "then I might just have one, but I'm going to need all of you to remain courageous."

Amigo nodded and shook his maracas. AiAi was next to him and jumped a few times. Ulala nodded. "You can count on us!"

Tails cocked his head. "What's your plan NiGHTS?"

NiGHTS uncrossed his legs and looked at the situation. He seemed to follow the track. "We finish the race."