Halloween of Hope

**Halloween of Hope** is the first holiday special of Sonic X: Heroes Forever.

## Characters

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Miles “Tails” Prower (mentioned)
* Cream the Rabbit
* Cheese the Chao
* Amy Rose (mentioned)
* Sally Acorn
* Bunnie D’Coolette
* Ray the Flying Squirrel
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Rotor Walrus (mentioned)
* Manic the Hedgehog
* Sonia the Hedgehog
* Mina Mongoose
* Dulcy the Dragon
* Zan the Dragon (first mention)
* Antoine D'Coolette (mentioned)
* Lupe Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Lobo Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Marcos Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Maria Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Aerial (indirectly mentioned)
* Athena (indirectly mentioned)
* Lyco Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Leeta Wolf (indirectly mentioned)
* Jules Hedgehog
* Sabina the Dragon (mentioned)
* Ferrell (mentioned)
* Aurora (mentioned)
* Chaos (mentioned)
* Brandon Mutt
* Biter (first appearance)
* Hope Kintobor
* Lady Agnes Hopkins (mentioned)
* Angela Hopkins (mentioned)
* Christopher Thorndyke
* Danny
* Helen
* Frances
* Chuck Thorndyke
* Lindsey Thorndyke (mentioned)
* Nelson Thorndyke (mentioned)
* Doug
* Ella
* Mr. Tanaka
* Doctor Eggman (mentioned)

## Plot

The episode starts at the Thorndyke Mansion with Chris dressing up as a vampire and Hope is dressed up like a mechanic in a blue jumpsuit. She is grateful that Lindsey allowed her to choose her own costume as dresses don’t suit her. The two head downstairs to see Chuck dressed up like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Unfortunately, Hope doesn’t get the reference as she hasn’t learned that much on Earth pop culture. Chris admits it was contributed to him training with the Wolf Pack and Hope constantly tinkering. The three of them then decide to help get decorations up.

While that going on, Danny, Frances, and Helen show up as a clown, witch, and Alice from Alice in Wonderland, respectively. Danny wanted to be a basketball player, but, the store was sold out and Helen was taken up the wheelchair ramp. Hope then tells the others it’s her first Halloween ever as she was in space for most of her childhood. She admits she’s keen to learn about Halloween and Chuck goes to fetch Ray and Cream.

The two young Mobians show up dressed as a soccer player and an angel, respectively, and Cream is lamenting that she hasn’t seen Tails for the Halloween party. Bunnie, who is dressed as Annie Oakley, manages to brighten up her cousin for the occasion and she, Chuck, and the kids head out to get some candy and chocolate.

The kids explain the rules of trick or treating to Hope and they reach a woman’s house on the street. With the rules being simple enough, they repeat this process on Helen’s house and Doug greets them with some candy. He also comments that he’s never seen Mobians before and when Ray stutters, he wonders if he’s made him nervous. Chris admits he always talks like that.

The group return to the mansion so Chuck, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka can look over the candy to see if it’s safe, making sure it’s not got razor blades or if anyone has any allergies. Ray admits Eggman made candy with motor oil, which grosses everyone out, but, with it being Eggman, it was to be expected. Jules walks in and quickly scans the candy. He deems it safe, but, jokes that Danny has a tapeworm before admitting that he really doesn’t. The kids are then asked of any peanut, coconut, or chocolate allergies and while they all don’t, Helen says she doesn’t like coconuts. She trades the coconut flavored candies with Chris’ popcorn balls.

Chuck, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka enter the room and with Jules already giving the candy the safety check, the group decide to watch a movie - Back to the Future - as it would help Hope see the context behind both Chuck’s costume choice and Chris’ previous costume choice as Marty McFly.

Mighty meanwhile was meditating in the entertainment room, in the zone, as he had been doing this a lot since he accidentally hurt Rotor’s back. The walrus had been using nanites to fix it and Hope mentions she confiscated some off of Eggman. Ray mentions maybe tropical fruits would help Mighty get out of the zone and Ella comes in with some fruits in question. Ray chooses a banana - leading Ella to believe he's expanding his pellet - and as he peels it, Mighty snaps out of his meditation. He had been in the zone for four hours and he decides to join the group for the movie night and Hope writes down notes.

After the movie, Hope admits that the time travel methods they used in the movie were very unsafe, which were thankfully not used in real life. She also thought that the fusion generator looked more like a coffee machine. Hope also admits that Mobius has matter replicators instead of the Mr. Fusion device, though unfortunately, Eggman has most of them. Bunnie is interested in seeing part 2, so, Chuck decides that’s the next movie to watch as they have part two of the collection.

After part 2, Hope notes that the alternate timeline looked very bad to live in and the year’s technology was a bit too optimistic for 2015 standards, given the current state of the technology in 2003. The self-tying shoelaces would be helpful for people in wheelchairs and Hope admits that they’ve got hoverboards on Mobius already - Manic has one himself - but, they aren’t as sophisticated as extreme gear. Chuck admits the hoverboards don’t quite work right on Earth and they decide to wrap up the trilogy.

After the last part, Hope has enjoyed the trilogy, but, she realized that Biff and his composite relatives looked similar. This contributed to the fact they were played by the same actor and Chris says Lindsey has met him and he’s a decent guy. Chris also tells the group that his grandfather, parents, and he would watch the movies when he was little, which made him a science fiction fan - or science fact in Mobius. The time travelling bit was still not invented proper yet, but, Chuck believes Hope can build a time machine, even if it will take a while. It’s at this point where Hope gets into a geography lesson of where Italy is located in Rome and and learns a bit of its history. The group also decide to go outside to see Dulcy.

Dulcy is sleeping under a tree and it’s revealed she had been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the origins for the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. When Dulcy starts drooling, Chris admits to his friends Dulcy doesn’t eat anything with a pulse and her favorite food is chocolate. Upon hearing this, Dulcy wakes up to see everyone in costumes and is surprised she wasn’t told it was Halloween. Chris admits the humans aren’t ready to see dragons just yet. When she asks for some chocolate, Danny unwraps his chocolate bars and hands them to Dulcy. She eagerly eats them, but, accidentally has Danny in her mouth. Embarrassed, she spits him out before swallowing the chocolate and admits that humans and Overlanders taste like burnt rubber. Helen and Frances give Dulcy their chocolates, too, and the other kids learn that Mobian dragons are usually very large, with a newborn is about as tall as Sonic is now. Frances comments about the motor oil chocolate, much to Dulcy’s disgust, and she also admits her mother taught her how to make homemade chocolate. Dulcy also explains she had lost ten stones before Chris found her - a weight measurement commonly used on Mobius - and she’s slowly getting back to a more healthy weight. Dulcy also explains her legs - loaded with fat and muscle - and wings are strong enough to carry her around, as well as her friends. Only problem, she can’t land properly. As a test of her strength, she asks Danny to throw a big rock at her, and she easily bounces it off her belly and it lands away from the kids, much to Danny, Frances, and Helen’s amazement, and as long as she’s not an enemy of them, the kids have no need to worry. She also reveals her ability to read the truth and when Danny admits Chris hasn’t told them this yet, Dulcy is able to see that. She gives the kids a hug and as Helen is paralyzed from the waist down, she’s the only one who can’t feel anything.

When the kids are set down, Dulcy offers to tell them a scary story. The story isn’t just made up, it really happened. She met a dragon from Yurashia - similar to Earth’s Asia - named Zan. Zan was long and snake-like and he could fly without wings. Unlike Dulcy, Zan openly attacked villages with non-dragons as he saw dragons to be superior. One day, Dulcy was prepared to break up with him, only for Zan to die in an Eggman attack. She also went on to describe his abuse - his claw would wrap around his neck if ever she got him the slightest bit annoyed. The human kids, as well as Hope, Cream, Ray, Bunnie, and Cheese did their best to comfort Dulcy and they admit she was brave for telling them the story. Dulcy admits she swore off romance ever since and she gently hugs the group. Helen then rubs Dulcy’s belly and the group learn she’s ticklish. Hope elects herself to tell the next story as the group are set down.

The Overlander reveals the locket with a photo of her grandmother, Agnes Hopkins, as well as the tragic story of her grandmother being robotized and destroyed and looking after her after her mother, Angela Hopkins, died. The group all hugged her and Cream started to fall asleep. Bunnie takes her in her arms as the group decide to head home - Chuck drives Chris’ friends back to their houses - or head to bed for the night.

Chris is in his pajamas and Hope is back in her normal clothes as she gets to work on tinkering more Upgrade Items. Chris asks if he can get her anything and she assures she’s made herself a sandwich as he heads to bed.

Further away from the Thorndyke Mansion, Sonic, Sally, Sonia, Manic, and Mina are out having a campfire. Sally remembers the time she dressed up as a sorceress and it was back when she had pink fur and black hair. Mina and the other two hedgehogs are confused what Sonic and Sally mean and Sally admits she fell into a vat of chemicals, which had her hair turn blonde and fur orange. She had taken chemical baths which turned her fur pink and hair black and continued to do so until her colors were back to brown fur and red hair. Sonic shows the others a picture of Sally in her Halloween costume - mostly blue - and she explains how she used a stick to complete her costume. She admitted Antoine offered to go with her to get one, but, she declined despite his warnings of Eggman and the SWATBots. Sonic was watching Sally secretly and when she was captured, he had to rescue her. He was invisible while Eggman was ordering Sally to cast spells and Sonic made it look as if Sally was actually casting them. He then told Sally he was doing it to protect her and Sally kissed him for the appreciation and whacked him for disobeying orders. Sonic never was mad at her as Rotor admitted the chemicals messed with Sally’s head and Sally looked back on that day with shame as she broke an important promise she made to Sonic.

The subject shifted over to the destruction of the Doomsday Project, where Sonic and Sally explain to Sonia, Manic, and Mina about the time they used the Deep Power Stones to destroy it. When that was all said and done, they destroyed the stones so that no one could ever use them again, which means using them to take out Chaos wasn’t an option. They also explain the power stones were 10,000 times as strong as a regular Power Ring. It’s also revealed the Deep Power Stones had Eggman look different since their usage and Sonic and Tails went on adventures after Eggman following that event. Sonic was even trying to stop Eggman once and for all before the Chaos Control that warped everyone to Earth. Sonic starts beating himself up for transporting everyone to Earth and practically handing it to Eggman to conquer, but, Manic and the girls assure him that he couldn’t have known what Chaos Control could have done in that moment and he is still fighting Eggman, giving the humans more of a chance to live. The group decide to hit the sack and Sonic goes to get water to put out the campfire.

When he is at the lake, he comes across a surprise - a skeleton dog. Manic tells the others Ferrell had one before he was roboticized, but, Sonia is very scared and disgusted by it. Manic reveals Skeleton Dogs don’t eat brains and Sally adds it were a zombie, the dog would have rotten flesh, not pure bone. As Sonic puts the fire out, he notes that skeleton dogs are as loving as Mobini dogs. Manic wishes Amy were here so they can ask the dog on more information and as the dog rubs against him, he senses it feels familiar. Manic gets a closer look and finds the dog tag saying ‘Biter’, his and Ferrell’s pet. After a playful lick, Manic realizes Biter didn’t eat his breath mints. Mina, Sally, and Sonic take to Biter pretty easily, but, Sonia is still hesitant, until Manic points out stereotypes associated with the upper class. Sonia reluctantly pets Biter and he licks her, much to her disgust. Sonic also realizes the humans aren’t ready to see a skeleton dog and Manic promises to look after him as he was a magnet for the skeleton dog back home. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places to hide in station square, but, Manic says that skeleton dogs can turn invisible and Biter can do it for a treat. As skeleton dogs can eat anything without getting sick, Manic gives Biter a cupcake and he turns invisible. There is a green flame inside Biter that doesn’t go out, meaning when he eats something, it turns into energy. The group hit the sack in their tents - Sonic and Sally sharing one as the episode ends.

## **Trivia**

* This holiday special takes place during Halloween before the Chaos saga.
* The opening scene is Brandon Mutt imitating Alfred Hitchcock as birds fly over and he is picked apart by them. Later, he’s wearing gauze and a cast on his left arm, and explains the special is quite different from the others, being one story instead of two.
* References to some of the comics are made.
* It’s revealed that Chris and his family are fans of Back to the Future and Helen doesn’t like coconut flavored candy.
* It’s also revealed here that Dulcy has sworn off romance due to a toxic relationship with Zan.