Whats? Another chapter so soon? Well, with exams finished, and the weather here being wetter than in the ocean, I pretty much have too much of free time ^^ .

revan blackheart - How could you hate Knuckles!? He's, like, the most uber character evur!

petite-dreamer - Yay, someone else uses 'Oh noes' as well! ^^ Fair dues on the grammar notes, but I can't break the habits of a lifetime I'm afraid, and I'm far too lazy to try.

Unconscious Truth

There had been a rush of pure joy, a sudden feeling that he could do anything, that he, Sonic, was nothing less than a god, that he was greater than the greatest of gods. But then that wondrous feeling had quickly been replaced by a protracted bout of agony. It had felt like every atom in his body had been ripped apart, stabbed, cut up, diced, burnt, and then remade and had the same torture inflicted on itself once more. The hedgehog, unable to do anything with the formidable pain that was being inflicted on him, curled into a ball, and waited. How long was he curled into a protective ball? He didn't know, time held no relevance, for him there was nothing besides the constant pain. Finally, the agony ended.

Hesitatingly, Sonic uncurled himself. For the first time since the sudden agony he looked around. There was nothing. He was floating in a featureless black void. His thoughts suddenly turned to the fearsome Belial, that invisible creature that had haunted his dreams, and almost killed him. What had happened again? The voice, the room, the capsule. He remembered now, the Emerald shards! He hastily examined his arm, where he remembered one of the shards had burrowed into him. Nothing, not even a mark. Had it been real? There was no doubt that pain had been, the fear. The emotions had been real. The void he was floating in was real, at least, he thought it was.

How long he stayed there, floating inanely in that dark expanse he didn't know. Time merged into one long moment, captured forever in that featureless place. Where exactly was he? Why had he been brought here? He looked at his arm again, why had those Emerald shards been infused into him? Almost as though trying to answer his question, the very arm he had been looking at glowed a light, ethereal green. Chaos energy? Unable to take these vague indications and, overall, this eerie silence and darkness, he shouted out, bawling at the top of his voice,

"Why am I here!!?"

His voice echoed, filling the void with a cacophony of shouts. Then, he heard it, a tiny scratching noise, a tiny stab of light, a tiny hole of brightness in the dark expanse. He tried to make his way over to it, clumsily trying to swim in that infinite ocean of nothing. The point of light grew larger, brighter. He was blinding by it, he stopped moving; but it didn't stop growing. He was enveloped by the sheer brightness of it, and the scratching grew louder.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The light dimmed, the scratching came to a close. Sonic tentatively opened his eyes. Where was he now? The dark void had been replaced by a circular room, with whitewashed walls, tiled flooring, and nothing else. He had swapped an infinite expanse of nothing for a limited room of nothing. Still, at least there was a solid surface beneath him.

"That's a good point actually. It's very worrying floating in nothing." That voice!? The hedgehog spun round, there was no one! But that voice!? He recognised it from somewhere. And then it struck him,

"Eggman!?" he called out. There was a silence for a few moments, and Sonic actually found himself wishing his old rival was here, just so his situation could regain some normalcy. He heard Eggman's voice again,

"Behind you rodent." Sonic spun round, and this time, Eggman was there. How was this possible!? Eggman was dead! He had seen the body himself! They had buried it! Had he somehow faked his death!? Eggman gave him a trademark grin,

"No I didn't. At least, to the best of your knowledge I didn't." What? Had Eggman somehow read his thoughts? Another grin,

"In a way, yes." Sonic couldn't take it any longer,

"Shut up Buttnik, and tell me where we are, what I'm doing here, and why you're alive."

For a while, Eggman was silent, as though he was wondering whether he should tell his arch-nemesis anything. Then he shrugged and said,

"You tell me. I know as much as you, literally." Sonic ran a hand through his quills angrily,

"Enough mind and word-games. Tell me the truth." Eggman gave a wide smile, and almost cackled,

"The truth? I'm your conscience Sonic." Sonic gave a burst of laughter,

"Right, and I'm President." his eyes hardened, he had had enough of all this secrecy,

"Tell me the truth."

Eggman raised his hands in a sardonic manner,

"That was the truth Sonic. You're actually unconscious. This is your subconscious." He waved his hands around the bland room, and the walls faded for a moment, back to the black void,

"I'm not actually here, you're not actually here. This is what you're imagining. I'm still dead, but you're imagining me being alive, and therefore I only know what you know." he gave the hedgehog a smile,

"You know all this, though you haven't realized it yet." Sonic a chuckle of disbelief,

"Riight. So how come I don't know all this?" Eggman looked him in the eye, his expression serious,

"You know a lot more than you know you know." Sonic had had enough of this, jumping into the air, he attempted to spin dash into the walls, and went straight through. He was back into the void

'No, no! Not again!' he thought desperately. As though reading his thoughts, a hard surface materialize beneath him. He was now standing on a platform in the ocean of infinity. A sudden spasm of pain racked his body, he thought he heard Eggman walk up beside him. The pain became atrocious, he fell down, unable to stop himself crying out in agony. He saw Eggman's feet, followed by his face as the Doctor bent down to see the hedgehog closer,

"Go...go away!" cried Sonic. The Doctor slowly faded away. The pain grew worse, and the last thing he saw was a faint glimmer of light.

Is the good Doctor alive or not? Has Sonic gone insane? Will the plot grow evermore complicated? Find out next time, or the time after time, or the one after that, etc. In the meanwhile, please R&R!