Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters, trademarks, locations, etc. are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima. "Sink or Swim" is the property of Falling in Reverse. I claim no ownership to any element except original story content.

Sink or Swim

Not. Freakin'. Again!

*SPLASH!*

Darkness enveloped him as soon as he hit the water, everything feeling weightless and uncontrolled as his body recovered from the shock of the fall. His arms instinctively flailed around him, propelling him upward to the surface for a much-needed breath of air. He blinked away the water in his eyes as he tried to adjust to the sudden darkness around him.

Almost darkness, anyway. The eerie violet glow reflecting off of the walls around him was barely enough to see in, but he was able to spot a way out of the pool he was treading in just above him, one that he was all too glad to grab onto and climb up.

Shaking himself dry as he felt the comfort of solid ground, he bent over on his knees and tried to steady his breathing. Water trickled down his nose, dripping onto his soggy gloves and leaving yet another dark splotch on the fabric. Every inch of his skin and fur felt damp with filthy, freezing water, causing his every move to send a chill through his spine. At that moment, his entire world felt nothing but cold, dark, and soggy.

By now, he was feeling really tired of falling down holes. Enough was enough.

"Have you ever considered slowing down once in a while, Sonic? Perhaps then you would be able to see where you're going…"

Given his track record so far, Sonic was starting to begrudgingly admit that Nate was probably right. About everything.

Well, despite where he was now, Sonic figured he had one thing going for him: Nate and the rest of South Island were safe now thanks to him. At least, more safe than they were five minutes ago. He briefly wondered where they were now.

As he tried to pull himself together, he looked around him. It was an all-too familiar feeling; the corridor he was in was narrow and claustrophobic, the water felt slimy and cold on his skin, and the walls were covered in strange, unreadable hieroglyphics. There was no mistaking it: for some reason he'd found himself back in the underground Labyrinth.

With the ceiling hanging low above him and nothing but a wide pool of dark-tinted water behind him, there was nowhere to go but forward, down the giant marble steps that descended further into the darkened corridors. It should have been a simple few steps forward, but for whatever reason, despite having been down in the labyrinths before, something about this place made his stomach churn and his quills stand up on their ends.

He suddenly had to get out of there. Now.

He started running, going two, three steps at a time down the stairs. The dim light of the corridors grew fainter, but it was still enough to see when the path started branching out in every direction, earning an exasperated sigh from the hedgehog. This again...

"You think you're untouchable, don't you?"

He felt himself grimace, his mouth stretching into a thin line and his eyes narrowing as he took off down the corridor to his left.

"All this running around, all your boasting, all that inexplicable anger you feel… you just consider yourself invincible, is that it?"

Each of his steps became heavier, his fists clenching beside him, the frown on his face molding into a childish scowl as they threatened to unleash an infuriated scream. All sound began to melt away around him as the doctor's voice echoed within the corridors, everything fading away into white noise.

"I knew you were finally getting serious when you finally stopped cracking your inane little quips…"

Ears pounding, silence beginning to swallow him whole, just gotta make it around this next bend…

"…I knew I may have upset you, but I never knew you would be so petty over it…"

Wait… the white noise… growing louder…?

"I'm worth twelve of you, rodent. If you thought an inferior species such as yourself could outsmart my genius, well…"

It wasn't white noise. This churning sound… this rushing sensation he could feel in the air…

"You think you're so much better than I am? You think you cannot be beaten?"

Running water…

"Well, now. I have just the thing to test that theory."

*CLICK*

Sonic snapped his head around. To his horror, he saw exactly what he was expecting: the corridor behind him was quickly being flooded with a quickly-advancing wave of water. Suddenly, he knew exactly why he had been so on edge since falling into Robotnik's trap.

He picked up the pace down the tunnel, arms clenched at his sides as he tore through the

Labyrinth. Though he had been going at a pretty decent clip before, there was now desperation with every split-second step, one that had even him a little surprised. He loved going fast, but he couldn't remember the last time he felt the need to resort to… whatever this was.

It seemed to hardly matter now, though. No amount of speeding up seemed to stop the water from creeping up to him and lapping against his sneakers threateningly. Still, he thought he could keep ahead as long as he didn't run into…

…a wall.

He skidded to a halt before his face crashed into the dead end before him, and for the first time in his life, he froze, completely at a loss for what to do.

*SSSPLAAASSSHH!*

All too soon, he was back underwater. This time though, it was impossible to fight the current sucking him under as the water level rose higher and higher, lifting him above the towering ledge he had run into. All around him, the cursed liquid swirled and turned, knocking him around the labyrinth walls and carrying him to who-knew-where.

It was more terrible than he ever could have dreamed. Scampering around the underground maze in still water for hours on end was uncomfortable enough. Being flushed through the corridors with no end in sight was indescribable. He couldn't breathe. It was far too dark to see. His sense of direction had been shattered the moment he got caught in the current. There were no air bubbles to bail him out this time. Whatever courage he had carried into the Labyrinth with him was now gone.

Sonic had always put on a brave face through life. After everything he had been through to survive for 12 short years, he bragged to everyone he knew that nothing could possibly scare him, so much so that he even began to believe it. After all, for every time a local patrolman caught him tagging a wall or hiding in a barrel, every robot he had ever took aim at him, every bath his parents tried to get him to take, there was always such a simple solution. It became his mantra, even. Run fast enough and soon the world's problems will fall behind. All the running in the world wouldn't save him now.

So cold… Mom… it's so cold…

His limited vision began to darken ever further as his lungs gasped for oxygen. The current didn't seem to care, keeping him held under the surface despite his best efforts. At this point he was so lost that he wasn't sure where the surface even was, or if it even existed anymore. Every muscle in his body started to slow, his energy nearly spent. At long last his exhausted cheek muscles gave way, causing him to release the hold he had on his breath and send a swarm of miniature air bubbles fly from his lips… and the irony was not lost on him.

So this was how it would end.

…or not.

His feet finally found a foothold on a corner of a ledge, and he wasted no time. In a burst of strength that was just shy of miraculous, he sprang from the ledge in the direction he felt was closest to "up," shot through the water, and broke through the surface. One miracle later, and he landed in a heap on the one ledge that didn't seem to be submerged underwater. He coughed, gagged, sputtered, and retched as he fought to expunge all the water in his lungs and replace it with glorious oxygen. He was breathing. He was alive.

He took one ragged breath after another, trying to shake his fur dry and rid his body of any evidence that it had been touching that vile, vile substance. He shook, trashed, and smacked his left ear to rid his other one of water, but he didn't dare stand back up. He wanted to lie on this precious, uncomfortable block of marble, safe and sound, for the rest of eternity. Anything to never touch water again.

Judging by the ever-growing sound of rushing water flooding closer and closer, however, lying still would hardly fulfill that dream. No time to rest, then.

So he found himself once again running faster than he ever had in his life, ducking and dodging a surprise spike trap here and there. And for once, he found no thrill in feeling the wind blowing through his quills, no rush of adrenaline from dodging traps or seeing the flash of hieroglyphs pass by, and no masochistic satisfaction from feeling his every muscle burn from exertion. His earlier vengeance towards Robotnik was now a distant memory, no longer quickening his pace through determination. All that mattered—what he needed—was to get as far away from this place as physically possible. The only question was how.

He found his answer in the unassuming red springboard lying coiled on the ground in the middle of the corridor beneath a sizable, seemingly endless opening in the Labyrinth ceiling. With a leap, he threw all his weight on it without a moment's thought, hearing a familiar SPROING! echo throughout the labyrinth as he felt himself soar upwards to freedom.