The first thing Sonic heard as he regained consciousness was the sound of water. Almost immediately he opened his eyes, as quickly as anything else he'd done in recent memory. Recent memory…all he could remember recently was a huge battle in space aboard the Cyclone. He along with Tails had been tracking down Eggman's new Interstellar Amusement Park project...Tails! Where was he?!
But there was no time to worry now. Another countdown bell had rung. He wasn't drowning yet…he couldn't have been out for long. Opening his eyes for the first time, he looked far up at the surface of the water, seeming so far away. Thinking fast, he broke into a Drop Dash to boost his way further to the water's surface. But the density his body had in the water seemed to hinder his efforts…and then the countdown started.
Desperate to save himself, he initiated a second Drop Dash, thrusting himself to the surface faster and more desperately. Just near the surface, his limbs finally gave out, and he lost the energy to keep up, sinking as the countdown jingle in his mind increased in speed. Or was it just part of the game? The physics we're exploring here are a little wonky, plus Modern Sonic has the Drop Dash here…never mind, we're getting off script.
Just then, a mysterious figure broke the surface of the water, and while Sonic was starting to lose consciousness, he knew from what was left of his vision that she was dragging him back to land. Once he knew he was fully recovered after a few seconds, she first words he heard after the crash that knocked him out like this were "Are you hurt, citizen—oh my god, another alien?".
Sonic was looking up at a female panda, but humanoid, like him. He stared up in confusion for a few seconds before shaking off the water and leaping to his feet. "Never been better" he proudly exclaimed, before focusing on the matter at hand. "Did you see a jet of some kind crash nearby just now" he hastily inquired. "Wow, you're already recovered so fast, this is incredible", The mammal was a bit shocked "I mean yes, about half a mile in the direction of that forest." "Thanks for the assist" Sonic replied. "I've got a friend there who was with me when we crashed and I gotta check on 'im. You sit tight, 'cuz I gotta juice!" And with that, he was off, faster than the wind itself.
Neera needed some time to process this. Sure, some weird stuff had happened a lot really recently. Aliens had somehow gotten into the head of the prince of a nearby kingdom…and nobody knew. Then the Magister decided to send the two girls she had to deal with pickpocketing the rich of Dragon Valley to save the world from said evil aliens, even though she had just arrested them seemingly two seconds ago…it was just a complete mess in total, and she still couldn't make sense of what was going on. And now another alien crash after only a week…
"I wonder if it would help if I took a day off" she sighed out loud.