This is the first chapter in awhile with one plotline in it. You don't have to make the mental switch here.

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Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had dropped into one of the many corridors in Theta Black's ship. The ceiling was high, not a surprise from their drop into the hall; and everything was slathered a dark bluish grey. Plain, long lights were lined across the ceiling. The walls were dotted with machinery. They happened to land right in front of Theta Black's fancy insignia in the wall.

"Alright." Tails flipped out the scanner once more and pressed a button in the middle. Breakneck-fast beeping commenced as data flowed into the machine. After around a minute, the data ceased its streaming and he examined it.

"I've got some exact data now. Forty-one life forms were located. The majority of them are at the opposite side of the ship from us…the radioactive pulse is like nothing I've ever seen before. Apparently it isn't truly a pulse. The entire city is covered in a sort of field. It's not pulsating, but steady. That's not all…get this." Tails turned around to face them. "According to the scanner, the radioactive pulse is…alive."

Sonic froze in his stretching position. Knuckles didn't seem incredibly afflicted. "So?" he said defiantly.

Tails gave him a little leer as if he were joking, and turned his head back to the scanner. "I also got something that wasn't detected from outside…" he lifted the screen up for the other two to see. The data had formed a sort of map of the ship. The areas were outlined in grey. But there were also small segments dotted throughout the map that were outlined in red. Sonic squinted at the screen. Knuckles remained there with his arms crossed.

"These sections," Tails began, "I can only assume are under maintenance. That may not be the case, but I think we should be more cautious than usual in here."

Tails put the scanner away and they stood in silence for a moment.

"Ready to - " Tails began, but Sonic and Knuckles had already blasted off down the corridor. After a moment to allow his brain to process what had happened, he shook his head and took off at a blur after them.

Besides a few forks in the corridor and the doors that were spread across the walls, the layout of the ship was monotonous. Of course, it was a barely comprehensible wave, but otherwise the ship didn't throw anything at the trio to make them stop. Due to the lack of surprises, Sonic and Knuckles silently ignited a race through the wide and seemingly unending corridor. A minute into the little competition Tails abruptly stopped, and the two completely unaware blurs of blue and red careened forward. Tails smirked and clamped his eyes shut as he heard them realize their danger and screech.

A massive confusion ensued Sonic and Knuckles's splat into the wall. Knuckles flew backward while Sonic remained plastered, his face out to the side. Knuckles lay on a heap on the floor and Sonic slid down the wall after a few seconds. Tails tried desperately to hold back a roar of laughter at the sight. He helped Knuckles up and asked them if they were hurt. Knuckles threw his arm off of him. "Are you grinning?" he yelled incredulously, his fur standing on end.

"So you're fine, then."

Knuckles was clearly losing his temper for the first time since his last encounter with them. It all spilled out at once. Sonic watched with increasing interest.

"You planned that, didn't you!?" he shouted. "You – "

Knuckles didn't speak anymore. Keeping true to his former self, he let his anger boil out into action. He took a swipe at Tails. Tails leaned to the side, slightly surprised. "All right. I apologize."

"I bet," Knuckles spat. He took an even more massive swing at Tails, which was stopped right in place. This was the first time Knuckles had attacked Tails; his fights were always with Sonic. Sonic's rubbed off on me, Tails realized.

Knuckles growled and assaulted Tails with a barrage of fists and feet. Sonic did nothing, silently grinning. Tails, fast as lightning, sidestepped and ducked all the attacks, jumping over the last one – and spin kicking Knuckles smoothly in mid-air. Absolutely in shock, Knuckles flopped onto the metal floor. Sonic let out a sharp laugh. Exasperated, Knuckles scrambled up and threw the hardest punch he could muster. Tails grabbed his arm and twisted it; with it, the rest of his body. Knuckles spiraled off his feet. Tails stepped up to him on the floor and put his shoe on Knuckles's side. "You're exactly the same," he said through a smirk.

"You're not," Knuckles gasped. It was a profound thing to say.

Tails helped him up again. Sonic removed himself from the wall he was leaning against and approached them. "I won that race," he said.

Knuckles scoffed at him, his arguing fuel spent.

For the first time they turned their attention to the wall (slightly dented by the impact). It was the only difference in the corridor they were trekking down to that point. In its center was a large metal door not unlike the opening hatch on the top of the ship. "This must be the threshold between wings of the ship," Tails asserted. "Give me a minute." He stepped in front of the door's panel. In a matter of seconds the door was open. "It becomes second nature."

The area in front of them wasn't much different from the one they were just in. The only noticeable change was in the color of the stripes lining the walls; they had changed from powder blue to a lush green. "We should be in the center wing," Tails whispered unconsciously. "We have to be more attentive for Theta Black members, the bridge, and averts in the hallway. We shouldn't run anymore."

"But then we're more likely to be seen," Sonic pointed out.

"I'll handle that." Tails beckoned them to follow and they trotted down the hallway until Tails held up his hand. He was standing underneath a barely noticeable surveillance camera. He pulled out what seemed to be a tiny pair of pliers and opened the control panel under the camera. After a few minutes of poking around and incomprehensible mutters, Tails cried out in triumph. A tiny snip noise wafted past Sonic and Knuckles. Tails pulled his gloved hand out of the panel. "I cut the universal surveillance cord. The camera system should be off now."

They started down the corridor yet again. They kept a slow pace and searched around for large doors, splits in the hallway, and black hooded figures. Nothing came up. Suddenly Sonic shouted, and they all halted. Sonic motioned them over to a strangely placed and created door. It was exceedingly wide, but barely tall enough to fit a human child. It seemed to be a triple door and its vicinity was littered with control panels.

Tails was about to say something when a deep beeping echoed throughout the hallway. They swiveled around frantically. Suddenly Tails felt the floor drop from under his feet. He dropped in confusion, hearing Knuckles utter a short cry. His mind was in a whirlwind. Once he regained control of his thoughts he realized he was falling headfirst. He felt a pang of panic – then his fall ended. It seemed like he became enveloped and encased in a large cloud. His descent slowed to a stop and he hovered in mid-air for a moment. He tried to take a breath, but it was extremely difficult to. He finally deduced that he was actually underwater, and pawed upward.

He hit the surface and coughed out the water he had consumed. After prying his bangs away from his eyes and regaining his breath, he scanned the place he was in as best he could. He appeared to be in some sort of power current room in the underside of the ship. It, apparently, was powered by hydroelectric energy. Tails deduced the water he was in was quite deep. They must have doubled this room as a trap entrance, he thought, grimacing. That must have been what the red outlines on the scanner were. He observed that the room was inactive. The ship wasn't using hydroelectric electricity at the moment. That baffled Tails; the ship was giving off innate energy readings.

But he was faced with a bigger problem – there was no place where the water ended for Tails to climb on to, nor were there any doors visible. He decided not to waste any energy to swim around and search. His strength was already starting to recede from treading water, so he took a breath and broke under the surface. He kicked downward and looked around for any openings or exits. He found the bottom of the pool – and a large opening through the wall across from him. Tails pushed off and emerged above the water again. Gathering his nerves, he inhaled massively and dove under again. Using his tails to speed up his movement, he swam down and eventually through the indentation.

He was inside an underwater corridor, illuminated by lights that reminded him of the hallways in the upper floor. The moving water made reflections off the walls that gave Tails a peaceful feeling as he was swimming, but he didn't concentrate on it. He was looking for another place to surface. Quickening the revolutions of his tails and his strokes, he began to ascend as the corridor became vertical. He paddled up, and suddenly broke above the surface. Stunned, he flailed above surface and dipped back under. He got a flashback to his last encounter with Eggman as he accidentally inhaled more water. He re-surfaced and choked. Becoming slightly agitated, Tails sputtered a bit more and scanned the new surroundings.

To his relief, the tunnels made a U-turn. In front of him, the tunnel sported shallow water. He gratefully swam toward it. His feet touched ground and his muscles relaxed a bit as he ceased the constant effort of floating. Tails leaned against the wall of the tunnel, panting as he rested briefly. The water came up to his waist. After his short break he hopped above the water and hovered forward using his tails. The wound in his back wasn't troubling him much anymore. He snaked around with the tunnel and sped up a bit. Soon he realized the floor was slowly descending again. He swore silently and braced his wits. He hovered in place and suddenly dropped in a dive. Tails cut through the water and exploded down the tunnel. He was tired of it, and his strength was failing him. He followed the walls for a bit longer.

The tunnel abruptly stopped in front of him. Puzzled, he looked upon a wheel mounted on the wall. Desperate, with his air supply in his lungs rapidly fading, he began to turn the wheel. At that moment a stony rumbling bounced through the water as the wall parted. Excited, Tails turned the wheel faster. Once the wall was open enough for him to squeeze through, he floated past the opening and stopped dead in front of it. The floor ahead of him ascended – and directly above him was the surface.

Tails shot toward it and burst out. Triumphant, Tails floated on his back while he let his lungs refill themselves. He then swam over to the ground and lay down on it, making land angels. That was his second close encounter with water in one week. Sonic would have died around six times.

Standing up, he turned around and examined where he had traveled through. It looked like a vent for exchanging water. Above him, Tails noticed a large duct on the ceiling. After a moment, he figured out it was where water flowed into the room. It was now dormant. Tails shook himself, water flying everywhere, and –

A sudden clang made Tails start. He whirled his head around. Spikes were shooting at him from the walls. Annoyed, Tails jumped straight up, and, analyzing the separation between the spikes, began twisting. He weaved his body through the top wave, then flipped backward to duck his back under the middle wave. The lowest wave was the trickiest one. Falling now, he performed the quickest corkscrew he could manage. It wasn't fast enough. He felt sharp pangs all around him as the formidably sized spikes buried themselves into his body. Tails hit the ground face-first. The pain was overwhelming. His diminished strength, coupled with the new assault on his body, were too much for him to handle. His vision darkened, and his thoughts slowed as he passed out.

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Another bout with water. Of course I'm not running out of ideas! :(