DREAM CAST

I have an interesting life.

I live in a place filled with checkerboard hills and loop-de-loops that rise out of the ground. Tails doesn't understand them. He says that there's no reason for nature to create loop-de-loops like that. Especially not in perfect circles.

I don't really care. I love that split second when I hit the top of the loop, when I slow down just enough to almost not make it around, and then throw myself forward to complete the circle. God what a rush.

I live in a place where nothing ever changes. I wake up and the flowers are still dancing, the waves are sparkling, and the clouds hang in the sky. This makes Tails nervous. He says there's something scary about it. He asks me where the waterfall on the mountain comes from. He says for the water to fall down the mountain, it has to come from somewhere… but there's no lake on top of the mountain.

I've been up and down and all around the mountain, and I don't know where the water comes from. All I know is it's kind of pretty, that waterfall, and I love lying under it in the heat of day and relaxing on hot afternoons.

I live in a place where every once in a while an egg-shaped man with a long moustache and glasses will try to capture all the animals and make them run robots. I think he wants to take over the zones. I don't know for sure. I've never spoken to him. Sometimes Tails asks me why we don't just ask him to stop, we've beaten him a million times, and why doesn't he just stop?

I like beating the egg-man. I like saving all the animals, and running through the zones as fast as I can so I can catch him. Sometimes it's one set of zones, sometimes another. I run through them a different way each time. One day I'll try to beat my old speed records, another day I'll collect as many rings as I can, another day I'll free as many animals as I can.

(Where do all those animals go when I free them? I never see them again.)

I'm not chasing the egg-man today. Today I'm sitting on top of one of the loop-de-loops and wondering where the star-post went. It's like the rings. It appears and reappears when they do. I don't know where the rings go, but when I'm chasing the egg-man they stop me from being hurt too badly. I see a shadow and I look up to see Tails. He's breathing hard, and he's tired when he sits next to me.

(Why doesn't he get any better at flying? He flies every day)

"Sonic… I was… I was flying the Tornado and… and I saw something strange."

I wiggle my feet over the side of the loop.

"There's a… a wall, Sonic. There's a wall behind the Doomsday Zone."

I like the Doomsday Zone. Sometimes when I go there, I have a lot of powerful shiny stones. They make me shiny and powerful too. When I have seven, I turn into Super Sonic. When I have 14, which doesn't happen a lot, I turn into Hyper Sonic. It feels so good to have the shiny stones, I always try to find them but I don't always.

Tails is pulling on my arm. "Sonic! Sonic! C'mon! I need to you come see!"

I nod at him and jump to my feet. I never go to the Doomsday Zone if I'm not chasing the egg-man. I mostly stay in the Green Hill Zone.

(How do I know what the zones are called?)

I start running. I don't look to see if Tails is following me. I know he is. And if I go too fast for him, he'll catch up. He always does. I'll look up, and see him flying up to me with that smile on his face.

When we finally reach it, I do have to wait a minute for Tails. I tap my foot and look at my watch. I don't have all day.

(Why am I in such a big hurry?)

"Sonic, look at it! Isn't it strange? It's… it's not like any wall I've ever seen before!"

It's a really, really big wall, and it's so long and so tall we can't see around it. It's brown, with long brown lines from top to bottom on it.

"S… Sonic, what is it?"

I stretch my hand out to touch it, but Tails' little hand reaches out and grabs my arm. "No, don't! Don't touch it!"

I look at him, making my best adult face. With my brows stern and a frown. He doesn't like it when I do that.

"I… something bad'll happen if you touch it, Sonic!"

I pull my arm away and fold it into my other arm. After all this time Tails is still a scaredy-cat. I tap my foot. He doesn't like it when I do that.

"Sonic, please? Can we go? I… I just wanted to know if you knew what it was, that's all! We can go home now!"

I rub underneath my nose. I don't know what it was, but I can't tell Tails that. I'm the big brother. I'm supposed to know everything. I let him fidget for a second, and then I shrug and start to walk away. Tails smiles and runs after me.

After a long time I manage to get rid of Tails so I can be by myself for a while. I run and run and run as fast as I can. I have these really cool sneakers that let me run as fast as I want. If I don't wear them, running hurts my feet, so I don't take them off.

(Where did I get these sneakers from?)

I run and run and run and hop and spin and twirl and jump and run and run and run. I don't know where I'm going, but I will when I get there.

(How will I know when I get there?)

When I finally stop, I'm dizzy and fuzzy, and I feel like I'm floating. I'm really happy too. This is the fun part about running. The part after isn't so fun, when I start shaking and I can't see straight and I feel really sick, but the part before is worth it. When the world stops spinning so much I open my eyes.

I ran all the way to the wall.

It's so big. I've never seen anything so big. Not even the egg-man's ships or giant floating buildings. I think about trying to run around the wall. It looks like it'll never end. I wonder if the egg-man built it.

But why would he put a giant wall behind the Doomsday Zone?

I want to know what it's doing there. I want to break it, to find out what's behind it. New zones to explore maybe? Where is the egg-man anyway? I haven't seen him in a long, long time.

I reach out to touch the wall. If it's not really hard I can spin-dash through it.

(Why are my quills so sharp they can break through walls?)

I touch the wall.

A little jolt runs through me and my fur stands up. I shudder, and my hand comes off the wall. I don't like it. I feel different. Tails was right. I shouldn'tve touched it.

I start running back to the Green Hill Zone. I run and run and run and jump and twirl and spin and hop and run and run and run. When I finally stop I look around for Tails. But I see this weird shadow on the ground I've never seen before. I look up, up, up to see what's causing the shadow…

There's… there's giant shapes in the air. I don't know what they are. They look like the shapes on the Tornado. I know those are letters, and they say Sonic. The shapes in the sky don't say Sonic though.

"You touched the wall, didn't you?"

I look behind me, and there's Tails. He looks scared. He's swishing his tails back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, like he always does.

(When was the last time he stopped doing that?)

I nod at him and cross my arms.

"Those are words and numbers." Tails steps closer to me, and points up at the sky. "I have them on my computer."

I jump a little in excitement. Words in the sky! That's new. I like new things.

(When was the last time something new happened to me?)

"It says, SCORE, and then a zero. Then it says TIME, and then three zeroes. And then it says, RINGS, and another zero."

He tugs on my arm, and points at the ground.

"That says SONIC, and then it says X 3."

Sonic X 3? What does that mean?

"And there's a picture of you." Tails is holding onto my arm real tight. "There's a picture of you, Sonic."

Oh that's cool! A picture of me? But… what do the words mean?

"Sonic, I'm scared."

I push him off. He's holding my arm too tight.

"Sonic, why is this happening? Why did touching the wall make that come?"

I shake my head at him as if the answer was easy to figure out.

He looks very sad. "Sonic, I have a question and… and I need you to tell me the answer."

I pat him on the head and give him my best big brother look.

"Where did we come from?"

I stop looking at him and turn around.

I haven't thought about that in a long time.

I don't know where I came from. I just am. I know I was here first, because I remember there being me and no one else but the egg-man. And then one day Tails was there. And then one day the red spiny guy was here too. I don't know if he has a name. I've never spoken to him. I call him Knuckles. I always try to be his friend and he always laughs at me. It's always just like that when I see him. I don't hang around with him like I do Tails.

(Why does it always happen the exact same way?)

I shrug. It's not important anyway, where we came from. All that matters is that we are.

"Sonic, I want to know where I came from! Where did I come from, Sonic?"

I shake my head. He's just being silly now.

"Sonic, I need to know! Where did I come from!"

I just look at him.

He starts crying.

I've never seen him cry before. I know he's younger than me, but he's very old for his age. He never cries.

Tails runs away, and his voice echoes in my head.

(Where did I come from?)