Black. It colored every sense, binding him in nothingness. Cobwebs knitted around the frayed edges of the mind; gagging thought, stifling consciousness.

There: shades of gray. Color leaked behind the veil of his eyelids. He could open them, but why? The dark was blinding, but comfortable. The light stung, piercing the haze of apathy. He could just keep swimming in the darkness for a little while longer…

No. Something- Can't think. It was important. Need to find it, to get out of the fog. He pushed up on the invisible blanket, a child fighting against the bed sheets. The movement was slow, drugged, drunken. Still, had to fight; had to remember.

The drapes on his face opened, a blue flare burning him. They slammed shut again, then opened a fraction, films of liquids blurring the sight beyond. He raised his right… What were they? Hands? Yes, one of those- rubbing the closed windows to his world. He pulled up the blinds again, slowly, adjusting to the light.

There was a low hum, constant, the sound of machinery. Beeps and other ambient noises sounded in the distance. He rose and instantly regretted it, a knife embedding itself in his skull. The other hand went up too, and regretted that as well, white fire burning the muscles of his arm from within.

Did he scream? He might of, couldn't tell through the pain. It still hurt to think too, but pictures were beginning to come back, gears turning. He panted, blinking in the light. Iron framework was all around, beams thicker than a room running both horizontal and vertical around him. Where-

Memory kicked in. Tails instantly went alert, looking wildly about. The ARK! He was on the ARK! But- Yes, he'd fallen. Looking up, the kitsune saw only a long passage that disappeared into shadows far above. But where to? Parts of the Cyclone lay warped and dented around him, yet he didn't see-

"Cosmo!" the fox shouted, jumping to his feet and promptly falling back over from vertigo. Stars lingered in his view, colored blots jumping about like bouncy balls. The kitsune shut his eyes until everything stopped spinning, then once more, slowly this time, stood up. Glancing around, he saw no sign of the seedrian, and only then remembered she had not fallen with him off the platform.

Still concerned, but his fears somewhat relieved, Tails then moved to inspecting himself. Raising his right hand this time, he gingerly felt the back of his head again, quickly encountering a swollen lump. No wonder he had such a splitting headache- it was probably from that bar that had cracked him in the head and caused him to fall down. For all he knew, it could have caused a concussion as well.

He traced his fingers past his bangs and ear, sliding the tips down over his left arm. A burning sensation with awkwardly angled flesh greeted the contact, his hand clenching over the pained area as if to strangle the source of his hurt. So his arm was broken too then. It made sense, he'd had to have landed on something after undoubtedly banging about during the long fall down. Better a limb than another blow to the head, anyway.

Sitting back down on a piece of the Tornado 3's hull, the kitsune gingerly pulled his left arm onto his knee, flipping open the small computer on his wrist. After about a dozen or so taps, the small console beeped an affirmation of its command, Tails closing it and leaning his head back against the shattered carcass of his plane. Even with the message, it would be hours before Amy managed to round up a rescue party to come get them, much less find them on the derelict. The communicators did have built-in locator devices, but navigating the convoluted colony was still difficult, as he and Eggman had already been reminded of.

Despite this, there wasn't a point in being idle. It wasn't the fox's legs that were broken, after all. Getting back to his feet, Tails squinted about in the dim light. He had to be very low, likely near where the base of the Eclipse Cannon met the ARK's bulk. Aside from the wall of the cannon's spire, however, all other directions appeared to be open, vanishing into the darkness beyond his field of view. Shrugging to a nonexistent companion, he picked the direction farthest away from the cannon's side and started walking.

As he journeyed over uneven metal surfaces and avoided footfalls, the kitsune pondered all that had happened over the last few hours. Mephiles had torn a rift through time and space, sending the ARK from Earth's orbit to that of Mobius. He likely did this to lure him and Cosmo aboard, and perhaps even Eggman or Shadow as well. And, being the clairvoyant eldritch entity that the doppelganger was, Mephiles had been correct: the ghost-dwelling halls of the colony had been too threatening to ignore.

But why? Ever elusive were the demon's goals. As always, what had he to gain? He revealed the origin of Shadow, set Artificial Chaos and other minions after them, and tried to obliterate the fox's house from orbit. It was as if Mephiles was working at cross-purposes with himself. One minute he'd help, another try to harm or slow them down. Carrots and sticks for an agenda that made no logical sense to the kitsune. What could an entity that ancient want from mere mortals like him and his friends?

Tails hopped down another ledge, taking pause on the smooth metal floorboards. Peering ahead, he noticed a rather large object a short distance away. Faintly illuminated by the floor-set lights that had guided him thus far, there appeared to be a very large set of concentric circle embossed on an equally large platform.

Curious, the twin-tailed fox moved forward at a quicker pace, stepping up a small dais that led to the top of the platform. Getting on his knees, he used his good hand to run a finger over the largest of the three rings, a thick layer of dust coming off with it. Beneath was a strange array of circuitry and engravings, the faintest of lights flickering through the conductive traces.

A deep hum caused the kitsune to snap to attention, stumbling backwards as the air in front of him crackled and somehow grew even darker despite the lack of illumination. Streams of violet light tore through the air from no source, a tear sundering apart reality and opening a space beyond this dimension. Tails knew it all too well, he had traveled through it thrice before, and was coldly aware of the being who created such wounds in reality. Staggering to his feet, he prepared for a confrontation with the worst of his foes.

The void snapped hungrily at the air, the azure pulses streaming from the black pit beyond. With an angry hiss, it popped close, depositing a single entity in its place. But as Tails stared at this kneeling individual, he realized quite quickly that it was not Mephiles the Dark.

"Who- Who are you?" asked the confused fox.

The figure stood up; a hedgehog of pale fur, neon-lit runes running across his gloves and boots. Golden eyes met Tails' in the dark, reflected in the glow of the Red Chaos Emerald clasped tightly in the traveler's hand.

"My name… is Silver."

TO BE CONTINUED IN PROJECT GATEWAY