Another idea given to me by RaDaR125 in a Sonic forum (who has provided me with several ideas for this series) is being implemented in this episode. (What? I like giving credit when credit is due.)

I would also like to take this time to point out that when I do not specify things, such as movie titles in this case, I`m leaving it up to your imagination to decide what it is to suit your individual tastes.
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Thursday.

The Sonic crew are walking from the elementary school. Cream is proudly explaining to everyone how she and the rest of her class made macaroni picture frames and other little projects. Tails and Charmy are older than she is so they had more book work to do than her. At times, everyone misses the simplicity of school back when they were Cream`s age. But at the same time, the teens are glad that their school days are numbered. Once they complete their senior year, that will be that.

Amy is so excited about the Halloween dance tomorrow. Since not everyone can make it to the dance, she has been thinking of what they can do to celebrate Halloween altogether. During this walk from the elementary school, it hits her. She happily suggests that everyone get together for a slumber party tomorrow night and it will be held at her house.

Everyone quickly agrees to this. If there is to be a slumber party, Amy`s house would be the best place. With so many people in their group, they would need a lot of space so that they could sleep in the same room. Her living room is the biggest out of everyone`s even though it is Vector who has the biggest house. Cream asks Amy if she and the other children are invited to the party as well. Amy pats her on the head,"Of course! Everyone here is invited."

Since the last time they went to the mall they had planned on going to see a movie but ran out of time to do so, the Sonic gang decide to head straight for the movies today. They stand in front of the plaque that displays what movies are available today and what times. Everyone has a difficult time deciding on which movie to see. Such a large group would mean a wider variety of taste. At nearly every option, only a few members of the group agree on a single movie. They go back and forth on the different movies, even almost breaking into an argument at one point. Finally, everyone agrees on one movie.

After the tickets are bought, everyone heads for the upstairs of the mall. The upstairs floor is where all the booths of the move theatres are kept. The snack bar and small machine games are up here, too. A few benches are placed along the sides of the walls for anyone who wants to sit down for a while as they wait for the show time of their movie to begin.

Tails sees one of the UFO catcher machines and dashes towards it. Amy notices Tails running to the machine,"Tails! Don`t run off too far!"

Sonic turns around and sees Tails standing at the machine. He decides to walk over and investigate. He stands behind Tails and leans over him, peering inside the machine. There are all kinds of plushes inside such as blue hedgehogs, red echidnas, purple chameleons and many others. Tails puts his hands on the glass and pulls his face up close to the machine, eying up all the treasures inside. Sonic smirks and looks down at Tails,"You want one?"

Tails looks up at Sonic,"Yeah! The blue hedgehog! It makes me think of you."

Amy snickers as she walks up to the two boys,"Probably because of the hair."

Sonic pulls out some money from his pocket,"I`ll give it a go and see if I can get it for you."

Tails jumps up and down,"All right!"

Sonic puts in some money and presses the start button. The claw comes to life and Sonic uses the control stick to move the claw to the blue hedgehog. He fails to grasp it with the claw but he doesn`t give up easily. Sonic tries over and over to get the plush but each time fails. But time is passing quickly. Knuckles comes over to the small group,"Come on, guys, the movie is going to start any minute."

The claw grasps nothing once again. Sonic curses at this failure and turns to the disappointed Tails,"Sorry, buddy..."

Amy tries to cheer Tails up,"Maybe we can try again after the movie."

Everyone gathers back together and gives the usher their tickets. The usher tears the tickets in half and give one half back to the others. Once everyone is checked in, the Sonic gang walk down the hallway to their theatre room. There are still plenty of seats left open. The search for the perfect spot is on. The rows that the Sonic gang need to sit in have to be two rows in front of one another. There has yet to be a threatre that has rows long enough for the entire crew to sit in a single row.

As everyone gets to their chair, the previews of the movie begin to play and the lights dim down. The seating arrangements are as follow:
Row one: Rouge, Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Espio and Mighty.
Row two: Cream, Charmy, Vector, Fang, Silver, Blaze, and Big.

Every time they go to the theatres, Tails always wants to sit by both Sonic and Amy. Amy always wants to sit by Sonic but she is willing to sacrifice that desire to allow Tails his happiness. She can`t help but adore how cute this boy is. He would be upset if he couldn`t sit with both of his favourite people.

The movie begins after the previews. A few minutes into it, Amy hears a distinct crunching noise nearby. She looks to her side and sees Espio eating some candy. Her mouth opens a little. That`s right! She did not get her movie snacks. It`s too late now, she doesn`t want to miss out on the movie to go get fattening foods. Then she hears Shadow`s voice. But his voice is lost in the noise from the movie. Amy puts her hand to her ear and leans over to Shadow more,"What was that, Shadow?"

Shadow leans a little closer to Amy and repeats himself,"Did you want something to eat?"

Amy smiles nervously,"Um, well, sort of. I got a craving for the candy Espio got."

Shadow turns his head around and looks at the candy in Espio`s hand. Espio can feel Shadow looking at him so he turns his head to Shadow. Neither one says a word though. Espio begins to wonder if Shadow is going to snatch the candy out of his hand. Shadow turns back to face Amy and Espio feels relieved. Shadow tells Amy that he will get Amy the candy. At first Amy declines his offer and says that if he leaves he will miss out on the movie. Shadow replies,"I really don`t mind..."

"Well, all right."

Amy digs into her pocket and pulls out some money,"Can you get Tails a soda? I`m sure he`ll get thirsty."

Amy grabs Shadow`s hand and turns it palm up. Her other hand slaps the money down onto his hand. Shadow looks at Amy with some confusion. Amy thanks Shadow and turns to Tails to let him know that Shadow is going to get soda for him. Shadow rises up from his seat and crosses in front of Espio and Mighty to get to the middle isle. Shadow leaves the theatre room.

He sighs upon stepping out onto the hallway. It`s a relief for his ears to be out here than in the room.

In the room, a comical situation has come up in the movie which sends everyone in the room into laughter. Charmy laughs so hard he throws his bag of popcorn up in the air. Popcorn gets sprayed about and the bag taps Knuckles on the back of his head. Knuckles quickly whirls around in his seat and has a fist ready,"Hey watch it!"

Vector scolds Charmy for wasting food. Charmy sheepishly apologizes and promises to be careful next time.

It`s been quite a while that Shadow has been in the line. There were several people in front of him and now he just has to wait for this woman in front of him to finish buying everything for her screaming child. Shadow folds his arms and makes sure that he stands back a ways to keep the distance between him and them. Girlish giggling catches his attention. He turns his head to the side as finding out who is giggling is more interesting than watching a seven year old child order it`s parent around. He sees two girls who are giggling among themselves and looking at him. A quick "Hm!" and Shadow turns his head back forward. He is not sure if they are laughing at his appearance or if they are giggling because they think he is attractive. Whatever the reason may be it means nothing to him.

Finally, the woman walks off with her arms full of junk for her child. Shadow sighs and steps forward. The clerk is obviously tired from filling the child`s order and greets Shadow sluggishly. Shadow sets the money down on the counter and tells the clerk his order of the candy and soda. As the clerk turns to fill the cup with the soda, Shadow looks over to the side and he notices someone familiar walking away from the UFO catcher machine. Why is Jet here by himself? He has a little gang like Sonic, right?

The clerk`s voice snaps Shadow`s attention back to the task at hand. The clerk hands Shadow the candy and the filled soda cup. The clerk begins to enter numbers into the register as Shadow picks up the items and turns to walk away. The clerk calls to Shadow. Shadow stops and looks at the clerk. The clerk holds out his hand to Shadow with some money in his hand,"Don`t forget your change."

There is another comical situation in the movie as Shadow re-enters the theatre room. He pays no attention to the movie as he walks down the isle and back to his seat. He sits down in his original spot next to Amy.

Then Shadow hands the candy, soda and change to Amy. Amy thanks Shadow and gives him a smile as she receives everything. She gives Tails his soda who eagerly accepts it and begins to slurp it down. Amy puts her change in her pocket and opens the box of candy. She politely offers the candy to Shadow. He did go get it for her after all. Shadow silently shakes his head to decline her offer. Amy offers some candy to Tails and Sonic, each take a few pieces. She begins to consume the candy herself. Now everything seems to be in place in her mind.

When the movie ends and the credits begin to roll, the lights come back on and the viewers begin to leave the theatre room. The Sonic gang remain in their seats to wait for the rest of the people to leave first. There`s no hurry in leaving the theatres and they would just get lost among all the people.

Tails finishes his soda. He was pretty thirsty as Amy said. Sonic takes Tails` empty cup and tosses it in the trash bin as they walk by it. Amy tosses in her empty candy box as does Espio. Tails begins to tug on Sonic`s arm,"Can we still try to get the plush from the machine??"

Sonic smiles and allows himself to be dragged off by Tails,"Sure."

Tails is the first to reach the machine. He looks around inside the machine but the blue hedgehog plush is gone. Tails becomes worried and searches frantically in the machine. No blue hedgehog plush is to be found. The one Tails saw earlier must be the only one. Sonic pulls the insides of his pocket out and comes to the discovery that he has spent the last of his money on his and Tails` movie tickets,"Uh oh..."

The disheartened Tails turns to Amy,"It`s gone! The plush is gone!"

Amy bends down and hugs Tails,"Someone must have grabbed it..."

"Yes, someone indeed won the plush."

Shadow pulls the blue hedgehog plus from it`s hiding place and holds it out to Tails. Sonic`s jaw nearly drops to the floor. A childish smile creeps it`s way back onto Tails` face. He quickly takes the blue hedgehog and hugs it tightly,"Wow! That`s so cool! Thanks, Shadow!"

Shadow gives Tails a nod. Amy smiles at Shadow for his kindness to Tails. Cream voices her own happiness to the act,"Oh wow, Mr. Shadow..."

In a split second, the claw from the UFO catcher machine bursts through the glass of the machine and clamps onto Tails` waist. The shattering of the glass sends everyone leaping back to avoid being cut by the glass. Tails drops his new plush and the claw yanks Tails back inside the machine through the hole in the glass it just created. Tails grabs the sides of the hole, trying to keep himself from being taken inside. He calls out for Sonic.

Sonic reacts quickly. He dashes up to the machine and grabs Tails by his wrists and tries to pull him back out of the machine. Sonic reassures Tails as he does so,"Hang on, buddy! I got ya!"

By this point, everyone except the Sonic crew have fled the top floor. Their running and screaming is getting everyone in the mall riled up. The police will be on the scene soon to quell whatever is causing the panic.

Amy and Knuckles come to help Sonic pull Tails from the machine. The claw has a good grip on Tails and is not budging. It wants to pull Tails in further but the strength of the three teens pulling Tails in the other direction is keeping it from going further, although they can`t seem to free Tails. Poor Tails feels like he`s about to be ripped in half and he begins to cry. Amy calls to Tails, worry is plainly obvious in her voice,"Hold on, Tails!"

Without warning, the side glass of the UFO catcher is kicked in by Shadow. Then he thrusts his elbow into the remaining pieces of the glass to get it all out of his way.

Rouge shouts to Shadow,"What are you doing?!"

Shadow grasps the new opened side of the machine and uses his arms to pull himself inside through the opening. The machine is big enough for him to fit and he can still have a little room to move around. The lack of height in the machine forces Shadow to be horizontal. He quickly slams his foot into the claw several times until the claw finally releases Tails. Amy, Sonic and Knuckles all fall backwards onto the floor with Tails falling on top of pile of bodies.

Rouge pulls Tails up to his feet while Mighty picks up Knuckles. Espio assists Amy to her feet and Silver helps Sonic to his. Sonic and Silver look back to the machine. Sonic is about to question what has happened but there is no time to do such a thing. The machine`s claw has turned on Shadow. It has grasped a tight hold on his shin much like how it gripped Tails. Unfortunately, there is not much room in the machine for Shadow to manipulate his body as needed to free himself.

Sonic and Silver come back up to the machine and they both reach inside and grab the arm of the claw. The mechanics of it look pretty delicate. Sonic gets an idea,"We need to turn and snap this thing. That should make it stop."

Shadow silently agrees and prepares himself. Sonic and Silver then together quickly twist the claw`s "wrist" and jerk it to the side. The claw snaps as expected. Wires break in half and the claw`s fingers loosen up and allow for Shadow to slip his leg away. The claw now dangles loosely from it`s arm. Just in case anything else happens, Sonic and Silver back away from the machine and Shadow hops out from the opening he made.

The Sonic gang watch the machine for a moment as though they expect something to happen. Sonic turns to everyone,"Let`s get out of here."

He dashes for the doors that are on this upper floor that lead outside. Everyone follows him without question. They decide to just leave the mall for the day.

Jet crosses his arms with a look of disapproval on his face. He walks to one of the exiting doors to leave as the police are dashing up the escalators.

The mall is a dangerous place...

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