Author Notes: Something that came off of the top of my head. I hope it's good! ^^;

Clichés Are Overrated

Do you remember those evenings when you're so bored and nothing on the television, so you decide to watch some cheesy horror flick where a bunch of brave but stupid kids go into a haunted house for the rest of the night? Or have you ever read those books where the hero has to survive the wrath of a bunch of confused spirits who are bent on causing any kind of bodily harm to anyone who enters their territory? Yeah, I think everyone's had one of those nights. It's always the same; a bunch of kids go into an old, abandoned house where rumors say it's haunted. You have the skeptical one, the scary one, the cool one and that one guy who gets killed off first. And the ghosts are always evil, accept for that one who wants to cross over. Same ol' story, same ol' plot, blah blah blah...Just a big cliché all together.

I think they knew that already, so why were they watching a cheesy 80's flick about ghosts? They had no idea, but it was after 6 on Saturday...they had nothing else better to do. There were three of them all together (it's going to be four very soon); each of them from very different ends of society. One of them is a cocky bastard who thinks he can do everything better than everyone else, the other was this emo/goth guy who acted like he didn't care about anything at all and never smiled, the guy who's appearing soon is just an all around jackass, and the last one just needs more love because, even though he's naive, he's a good guy.

A hedgehog with smooth, cobalt blue fur, peach skin and shining green eyes yawned as another horrified scream came from the television. Sitting to his right on the same couch with him was a silvery hedgehog with a magnificent crown of quills going upwards, along with two big one going down his back with chest four and golden eyes started to flick his popcorn kernels at the cobalt hedgie next to him. The last hedgehog was a mysterious dark ebony, with piercing red eyes, red stripes, and once again, chest fur. He looked like he was about to fall asleep, leaning on his hand with his eyes halfway closed, but he managed to look over to see the silvery one flicking popcorn kernels at the blue one. Because, let's face it, seeing flying popcorn seeds bounce off the cobalt one's ear repeatedly was mildly entertaining. Eventually, the silvery one ran out of popcorn kernels and sighed heavily.

"Can we PLEASE watch something else?" he practically begged.

"There's nothing else on..." the cobalt one yawned. The ebony one squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples.

"I swear to Chaos," he muttered "if that girl screams one more time..." The silvery one sighed again before he took the remote from the coffee table and began to surf through the channels aimlessly.

"Give it up, Silver."

"Up yours, Sonic."

"Shadow, can you get me a soda?"

"Get your lazy ass up and get it yourself."

"He should be called the "Laziest Thing Alive" instead of the fastest..." Usually, this would have turned into some sort of argument where each insult would not have been related to what started the argument in the first place. But today, they just didn't give a damn. Shadow, Silver and Sonic have been living in a two floored complex in Station Square ever since certain "accidents" occurred that left all three (or four) hedgehogs homeless. They were just renting the place out until they could afford their own houses. It's been four months, and they were still trying to adjust to living under the same roof. Shadow was the main one paying the rent, Silver was responsible for groceries, Sonic was trying to find some sort of job, and the other one was just taking up space to tell the truth, getting most of his money from the government.

Eventually, Sonic sighed as he got up for the couch and dragged himself into the kitchen to find whatever he could to put in his mouth for the time being. Shadow deduced that reading would help him recover any lost brain cells, so he picked up the recent newspaper he received earlier and began to read. Silver had nothing else better to do, so he kept flipping through the channels.

Seconds later, a cabinet could be heard closing, and then the sound of what sounded like paper being ripped, followed by what could sound like pebbles hitting the floor, and then an agitated "DAMMIT!" coming from the kitchen. Shadow (now wearing reading glasses) didn't even flinch to this; it was practically a normal thing around here. Whenever Sonic got bored, he would go into the kitchen to find something to eat, and 99.8% of the time, he would waste something.

"What did you spill this time?" Shadow called, reading over a crossword puzzle and contemplating if he should attempt it or not.

"I really wanted to eat those Goldfish..." Sonic said, mostly to himself. Silver suddenly perked up and finally averted his eyes from the television.

"Were they flavor blasted?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Dammit Sonic! I was saving those!"

"Calm down. I'll buy you some more." Silver muttered something under his breath as Sonic left the kitchen for a brief moment to get the broom from the linen closet. Shadow finally decided to do the crossword puzzle just to pass time. Silver decided to watch "How It's Made" on the Science channel, and Sonic was busy cleaning up those flavor blasted Goldfish.

A few more moments passed-not really sure how much time had passed exactly-before there was a knock at the door, followed by someone going "'Ey! Three Stooges! Open up!" All three hedgehogs moaned. That could only be one person...

See, even though it was a two floor complex, it was only Shadow, Silver and Sonic who lived on the first floor. They gave the second floor to the jackass just to fill in the empty space, even though he rarely paid his rent until he was just second away from being kicked out of the place.

"Should we just leave him out there?" Silver asked, already knowing the answer.

"Might as well let him in," Sonic said from the kitchen. "If we don't, he's gonna pound on that door for an hour, and then someone's gonna call either the landlord or the police, like last time."

"I'll let him in," Shadow sighed as he took off his glasses, placed his newspaper down and got up to go to the door. "But if he tries anything stupid, I'm blowing his brains out." Shadow had to undo a few locks (they upped the security a bit ever since they were robbed when they first moved in) before the door opened. Standing on the other side was a peridot green hedgehog with two scars on his chest, a scar on his eye, tattered ears, unnaturally sharp teeth and icy blue eyes. He wore his favorite black leather jacket with flames on the sleeves, red sunglasses rested on top of his head, black fingerless studded biker gloves, and green and black boots. He was wearing black jeans with some holes in them, and even though he was wearing a belt, his pants were sagging off of his waist a bit, revealing his boxers underneath (which were black). In fact, that's how all four of them wore their pants. They all sagged for whatever reason, but Silver was the only one out of the four whose pants were ALMOST perfectly up on him. But that was irrelevant.

Shadow had to keep himself from scowling at the peridot one, even if he was scowling at him.

"What is it, Scourge?" Shadow asked with annoyance in his voice.

"We're broke so get lost!" Sonic randomly shouted from the kitchen, which made the peridot hedgehog raise his eyebrow.

"I ain't here for money," he said, almost too coolly.

"Good. Now beat it." Shadow attempted to close the door, but Scourge was very quick and managed to stick his foot into the doorway just before the door closed. He forced the door open, making the large piece of wood get out of Shadow's grasp.

"Look," he sneered "I don't care if ya don't like me, but I'm gonna get a word in whether you like it or not."

"Then say what you're gonna say and get lost!" Silver said. Scourge made a face before he crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe.

"Well then, I'll just be quick. Did'ja hear 'bout the auction goin' on down on Palmer Street?"

"What auction?" Shadow asked, a bit curious. A smirk suddenly appeared on Scourge's lips.

"So ya didn't. That's a shame."

"What auction?" Sonic asked, but with more interest than Shadow.

"They're sellin' this tight crib down there. The place is worth millions since it belonged to that old rich guy, but I heard that they're selling it for 4600 rings, possibly more or less." Sonic, Shadow and Silver were standing at the doorway now, ears perked up.

"You mean old man Gordon's place?" Silver said. "That guy had trillions! Why are they just giving his house away! Shouldn't his heir get the house?" Scourge just shrugged.

"It's on the news," he said. "They said that even his kids want to house, and his oldest daughter was the one who put it up for sale. Now Palmer Street is crowded with suckers tryin' to buy the place. The reason I came down here to tell ya was because the current auction price that's stickin' is 4600 hundred rings, but it might be goin' lower. Thing is, the auction has been going on for more than two weeks now, and they haven't sold the house yet, even with those low prices." Shadow rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"We have just enough to buy the place," he mused. "But that's if we combine all of our rings that's in the bank right now."

"But if the price is going lower," Sonic trailed "then we could get it without emptying our wallets completely!"

"The auction ends at 7," Scourge went on, and then he looked at his watch (which wasn't there before, mind you). "Aaaannnd...it's 6:50 right now."

. . .

The fact that all four hedgehogs were the fastest things alive meant that they could reach the auction at 6:51, and that's no boast. Sonic and Scourge could have gotten there in no time flat just by using their feet, and Shadow and Silver could have just Chaos Controlled there and instantly teleport to their destination. Except, there was only one problem...

None of them knew where they were going.

Sure they knew about old man Gordon and his luxurious mansion on Palmer Street; he's been living there for more that 70 years after he rebuilt the place from the ground up. However, Palmer Street was like a maze; there were so many tall business buildings, luxurious apartments and other buildings that made the place seem like a labyrinth. Finding a lil' ol' mansion wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. To be honest, the four of them looked like four trapped mice desperately trying to find a piece of cheese in the area. Silver suggested the most logical and smartest thing as to ask for directions, but Scourge told him to shut it because he knew that way.

But he didn't. Neither of them did. But they had too much pride to ask someone for directions, and that was just sad.

Silver eventually said screw them and asked a mongoose with his girlfriend where the place was, and he pointed him in the right direction. Silver then rounded up his clueless brethren and led them to the right place. But by the time they got there, it was 7:30...They've been running around the city for almost an hour, relying on someone who magically gains wrist-watches from thin air.

"Great. This is just great," Sonic growled once they gotten to the right place, only to see the area deserted with an empty podium and litter scattered across the grass. "We're almost an hour late and we missed the auction!"

"Calm down," Scourge said casually. "They'll be back tomorrow. The place hasn't been sold yet. The sign's still up."

"This was a waste of time," Shadow sighed.

"Not necessarily..." Scourge almost strolled over to the large iron gate and inspected the large chain and lock keeping outsiders out. The mansion that lied just a few yards ahead was a sight to be seen. Though most of the house were covered with pretty green vines, you could see the pieces of gold decorating around the windows and door. There were fountains in the front yard, and sculptures made from bushes in the shapes of various animals were lined along the bricked path leading up to the mansion. The mansion itself looked like it had six floors; you could house your whole extended family in it from the looks of it! He smirked to himself before he got a firm grip on the bars and began to climb up the gate.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? !" The other three ran up to the gate and attempted to pull Scourge back down, but the peridot menace kicked their hands away.

"Dude, you could be arrested for trespassing! And they'll lock you up for a long time since this is old man Gordon's place!" Silver cried.

"I ain't afraid of the slammer anymore," Scourge grunted, swiftly climbing up the gate. "'Sides, I wanna find out why they're just givin' this place away for a few hundred rings." The three hedgehogs on the ground exchanged glances. Scourge did have a valid point. Gordon had way more than enough money in his bank that could last him several life times. But with a place this valuable, it was rather strange that his heir was practically giving it away for a mere few hundred rings. Something just didn't seem right with that...

By now, Scourge had made it to the top of the gate and jumped off the top, landing gracefully on his feet. He turned towards the other three and grinned.

"You sissies can sit out here and go home if ya want," he said "But I'm gonna go tour the place and see what's really goin' on. There's something lil' Miss Gordon ain't tellin' us, and I'm gonna find out. So, you're either in, or you're out. Either way, I'm goin'." And then he turned and began his trek up the long red-bricked path. The other three hedgehogs remained where they wee standing, staring at Scourge as he walked up the path. They looked at each other again before Sonic sighed, went over to the gate and began to climb it. The other two followed suit, but they were reluctant.

"I know we're gonna regret this..." Silver muttered. In just seconds, all three hedgehogs were over the gate and were soon jogging after Scourge, mainly to make sure he doesn't steal anything out of the mansion or get himself caught and lead the police to them if he's questioned. But they were following him to also see why the house is being sold for such a cheap price. What if he was right? What if there was something really going on that the Gordon's didn't want to public to know? Was it a dark secret? Or were they just tired of the house? Maybe they'll find out when they go into the house, maybe not. But hell; this was way better than staying in the house and watching cheesy 80's horror flicks!

. . .

On the third floor of the mansion, a figure with strangely colored eyes watched the four hedgehogs advance towards the house.

"Oh? Oh-oh? What's this?" it said to itself (though it had a female voice) as it leaned closer to the window. "Well, isn't this a treat! Some of those people finally decided to come in! And they're so cute! How wonderful! It's so very delightful! The others must be told! We finally have playmates! That old guy was no fun...But that doesn't matter anymore! We have playmates now! It's so exciting~! Oh! Oh-oh! I better go tell them! They'll be here soon!"

And just like the that, the figure disappeared, going where ever "the others" were.

End Notes: Trust me, it may seem like your average fic with spirits in it, but it's not. It'll get good in the later chapters, I promise.

Review if you want to; I'm not forcing you, but all I ask is that you don't be mean if you do leave a review. I accept criticism, not flames.

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless you all!