Immersive Environment
Author's note:
Hello! And welcome to 'Immersive Environment' another long-fic installment featuring none other than Team Sonic themselves! This was something that I've thought about for a very long time, but had no idea how to properly execute. I had to work out some details and the overall plot, but I can confidently say that I am excited to share this!
For those of you who have read 'The Unseen One' this will be about the same length as that one, though as chapters get written it may be more, it may be less. And speaking of chapters, updates will be sporadic and when I have time to write since I've got my hands pretty full right now. But with that being said, I don't expect this to have a ton of wait for the next chapter, though I might eat my words.
Anyway, you wanna get started (hopefully) I just wanna do a quick shoutout to AndTails who did some proofreading for me in terms of characterization, he was really helpful! Do go check out his Sonic X reimagining story 'Bridge', it's amazing!
But without further ado, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of: Immersive Environment
Rated T: Injuries, sickness, tough topics, fights - no ships
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, SEGA does and forever will
Be aware of spoilers in the reviews
Some time after Sonic Lost World, before Sonic Forces
Rocky start
Sticking out his tongue for that extra concentration while trying to screw on the stubborn nut, wasn't helping him as much as he could have hoped for. Screwing them on tightly always had the downside of him not being able to screw them off again. Though he would rather lay underneath the underbelly of the biplane and struggle with trying to get them off, rather than the entire skeleton falling apart midair.
He smirked satisfied as the nut finally gave way, being able to turn the wrench around, his other hand already supporting the panel so it wouldn't fall on his face and squash his nose - like last time. As the nut came loose, he moved the red panel out of his way, leaving the wrench and nut on the ground beside him as he frowned at the wiring he had exposed.
Many would assume that mechanics were doing guesswork whenever they were checking and rechecking machines and constructions for faulty electronics. A door that wouldn't open, a scanner that didn't cooperate. Though, you had to be a part of the field to understand how it worked in the first place, and by ruling out different components that could be constructing the issue, there would eventually be less and less parts of the machine to check.
Tails wasn't any ordinary mechanic and had been building machines, constructing, and repairing them ever since he was little, he knew exactly what to look for in the Tornado's inner components.
Since their last attack against Eggman, the speed dial had been bothering him, showcasing a larger number on the dial than what they were going at. The plane did have a close call with a missile, so that something got juddered inside wasn't impossible. Either that, or he was hanging out with the fastest thing alive too much and his mind was playing tricks on him, thinking that they were going way slower than any number could tell him.
Either way, the skilled aviator wanted to be safe than sorry, nimble fingers working around the slim rubber wires, a dexterity earned throughout multiple checks. He frowned at a frail wire, a part of him now wondering if maybe the engine was starting to overheat, trying to remember when he had switched these out the last time.
Pulling himself into a concentrated mindset, he started to think about varying concepts of needing to check the static tube system for broken pipes to wondering if stronger winds had messed with his head. Airspeed was complex as it was simple, something the young fox found interesting but difficult to incorporate. Many factors could play into it, could make it wrong as much as it could make it right. Factors from the mechanical components to the organic eyes observing. It was essentially a question of either the AI functioning or his mind being manipulated. Two very possible scenarios that were difficult to disprove.
If he 'fixed' the wiring and checked the system, and the dial was still going slower than he thought it did, then it was either a question of the problem not being fixed yet or his mind playing tricks on him. Machine versus Mobian.
His musings and mumblings were an ordinary and subconscious action for the two tailed one, pulling him far away from the real world and into his own logically thinking mind. This meant, however, that everything and anything around him was ignored.
"Hey litl' bro! Whatca-" the sudden voice that had appeared abruptly stopped itself as the fox yelped, interrupting the visitor.
Startled, Tails banged his head against the underbelly of the plane after the exclamation, hissing through his teeth as a surge of pain went through his forehead. He let out an irritated sigh as he rubbed his hand against the affected spot, starting to throb painfully as he craned his neck back to figure out who had disturbed him.
It wasn't easy to forget the face of none other than Sonic himself, the hedgehog biting his lip to prevent himself from bursting out laughing, his emerald eyes glimmering with mirth. Tails wasn't amused just yet, still rubbing his head as he started to push himself out from underneath the plane, mumbling about quiet annoying hedgehogs underneath his breath.
"Hey Sonic," he greeted either way, sitting down on the floor as he pushed a screwdriver underneath the plane before the inattentive hedgehog could kick it somewhere. "I was working on the plane, when someone decided to startle me," Tails mentioned, quirking an eyebrow at his older brother who somehow had contained his laughter, placing his hands on his hips.
They went up in a placating gesture after the comment.
"Sorry man, I thought ya heard me," he truthfully stated, despite still trying to hold back his laughter. "Though you should have seen your face!" Sonic couldn't help but snort, the imagine in his mind apparently being too precious.
Tails made sure that the hedgehog heard the offended 'hmpf' he let out.
"Yes, ha-ha, getting hurt is sooo awesome," he deadpanned sarcastically, even taking his time to roll his eyes into the ceiling, still rubbing his head. "What do you want Sonic?"
"Aww, c'mon bro, you're happy to see me," the hedgehog believed, grinning warmly as he reached a hand down to the two tailed fox.
Tails looked at the hand he was offered, a grin of his own starting to form on his lips as he took it. Staying mad at Sonic was difficult, especially when he hadn't been mad from the start – though it was fun to try and make him believe he had been mad. He was swiftly helped to his feet, twin appendages behind him moving in relieved strides, being glad to see the hedgehog being alive and well.
"Lemme see," Sonic insisted, swatting the fox's hand away from his own forehead, leaving a gloved hand on the other side of Tails' face, green eyes quickly looking over the spot that had hit the biplane. "What're ya whining for? There's not even a bruise!"
"Did you actually want something? Or did you come to hurt me both physically and emotionally?" Tails asked, quirking another brow at the hedgehog, as he couldn't hide his own amused smirk on his lips.
Sonic's eyes travelled down to sapphire blue, checking if the fox actually meant it for a hot second, before the smirk gave way. Emerald, green eyes gained a mischievous twinkle, before he pulled the fox's head into a headlock with a yip from the latter, rubbing the fox's scalp with his knuckles.
"I came to see how you were doing! Can't a hedgehog check in on their best friend!?"
"Ow, Sonic! Quit it!" It was difficult being serious, when he was laughing in between his words, though valiantly trying to get out of the headlock again. He had never been able to.
It wasn't until Sonic had made sure that his head fur was ruffled, and his scalp was practically dented, before he let go of him. Tails took a step back and rubbed his head, trying to smooth down his fur in the meantime. The large grin on the hedgehog's lips was warm and welcoming, a light shining in the bright emerald, green eyes he hadn't seen in a long time.
"It's good to see you Sonic," Tails smiled, reaching a fist out towards his older brother.
"Right back at ya little bro," the hedgehog agreed, as he fist bumped him. "Still doing prepares on the Tornado huh?" he asked afterwards, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the red biplane beside him.
The sidekick found himself giving the hedgehog a once-over, his eyes looking for any bruises or old wounds he might have acquired. His dark blue fur stood out in the fluorescent lights in the workshop, the same old body that didn't look to be any different from the last time he had seen him.
"Yes – there's something that had been bothering me for a while, and I just needed to check the wiring, but it looks like I'll have to open the static tube system as well, check the pipes and such," he explained happily, gesturing a hand towards his red biplane, tails twirling calmly behind him.
The hedgehog raised a confused brow, crossing his arms over his chest instead, trying to regard the biplane. Tails had a smile on his lips, being grateful that the hedgehog at least tried to understand what he was saying.
"Well, whatever it is I'm sure you can figure it out," it seemed like he had given up, giving the fox a smile. "Anyway, there was actually something I wanted to tell ya," the hedgehog explained, as he looked behind him and jumped up and sat on a worktable.
The fox had already crouched down to get back under the plane, though stopped his actions from the information. He turned his head to face Sonic, the hedgehog poking at a drill he had left on the table.
"There's something going on with Eggman. Apparently, he got a Chaos Emerald at Seaside Hill not too long ago. He's up to something," he explained, having been examining the drill with his eyes as well, though turned towards the fox.
Tails' eyes were analyzing the hedgehog's for a second, before a wide smirk spread across his lips, suddenly understanding the situation.
"So that's why you came back early," Sonic's confused stupor was an attempt to pretend that he had no idea what the fox was talking about.
Though it was hard to fool the sidekick who had been following Sonic around for four years after all.
"Seaside Hill is beside the ocean," Tails explained, despite being aware of the fact that the hedgehog knew exactly what he had been talking about. He tried to deny it, letting out a puff of air before crossing his arms over his chest.
"That's not the reason," he blinked.
Tails smirked.
"Okay, it's a part of the reason," Sonic admitted, jumping down from the worktable. "There's three parts of the reason: One – it's near the ocean. Two – Eggman has been quiet for a good while, so I know he's up to nothing good and three – I actually wanted to see how you were doing, believe it or not," he emphasized, having counted the three reasons on his fingers, while looking at his sidekick.
Said sidekick laughed good naturally at the hedgehog's indication, though was smiling warmly.
"I know Sonic," he agreed, before turning briefly back to the biplane. "And I agree – Eggman hasn't said a word since last time we got him, and that's three weeks ago,"
"Ah. So, you do count how long I'm gone, huh?" That made the fox look back at the hedgehog, seeing a quirked eyebrow at him. Tails shrugged nonchalantly.
"I miss you too, you know?" He countered, making sure that the hedgehog saw the grin on his face, while searching for his wrench on the ground. "But if you're sure that Eggman got an emerald, then maybe we should go check it out," Tails decided, as the wrench careened towards him from a gentle shove of a certain red and white sneaker, before ducking underneath the plane, thinking he would have to check out the problem later.
"The Tornado's ready for that?" The hedgehog asked, as he stepped beside the fox, knocking on the hull of the plane.
Tails winched as the sound of the metal reverberated through his ears near painfully, rolling his eyes into the metal above him.
"Yeah, I just need to put this back. It'll take a minute though."
"Nah, it's cool bro. I wanted to grab some food before we get going anyway," Sonic explained, while the fox pulled back out, observing as the hedgehog walked towards the stairs. "You want something?" The hedgehog turned around before walking up the stairs, a grin dancing on his lips.
"No thanks, I grabbed something not too long ago. You'll have to eat quickly though, this really won't take long."
"You're underestimating me buddy!" Sonic grinned, before sticking his pink tongue out at the fox, darting up the stairs.
Tails smiled at his childish antics, a part of him hoping that he wasn't going to choke himself to death just to prove his own point. He guessed he would see in a couple of minutes.
With that thought in mind, the fox returned underneath the red biplane, picking up the red paneling and saved the nut between his teeth. He had no idea what Eggman had planned this time, but if the madman was going quiet, then it only meant that it would be for something big.
There was a ringing in his ear, one so loud and deafening it was almost painful. Coming from somewhere deep within his cranial capacity, carrying through his entire skull. It was high-pitched and annoying, one constant tone that wouldn't stop.
It didn't seem like it had any intention of going away any time soon, as he squeezed his eyes harder to try and make it stop. Placing his hands against his face and rolling onto his side was another attempt, pushing his fingers into his ears. Maybe it came from outside? Or was it in his head? He couldn't tell anymore, but if the resounding and earsplitting tone didn't stop any time soon, he was pretty sure it was going to pop an eardrum.
"Shut up," he hissed through his teeth, having no idea if it was something near him. His verbal request didn't give him any results.
As it seemed to reach its apex, and screech louder than he was capable of enduring, it started to slowly dim in volume. Or he was slowly going deaf.
It became more and more faint, the sound starting to untangle him from his nightmare. He untensed from the dimming, letting out a sigh of relief as it completely disappeared, hoping that the throbbing in his head would disappear with it.
As the internal irritating threat had perished, he opened his eyes to get a look at his surroundings. Only to close them again as he had been met with a face full of sunlight, his eyes hurting a bit from the sudden brightness. This time, it was an irritated sigh that left his lips, his ears flicking as he slowly opened his irises this time around, giving himself time to get used to the light.
The brightness was still stinging, but through the haze, he could see trees and trees before him. He frowned confused, one hand leaving his head and left it on the ground, his fingers curling around grass and dirt. He was on the ground, outside somewhere.
As his eyes got used to the light, he opened them fully to get an idea as to where he was, his mind puzzled. He slowly sat up with difficulty, feeling oddly heavy and tired, as if he weighed more than a ton, his two tails splaying out behind him. He rubbed his head where the throbbing was starting to subside, as sapphire blue eyes looked around at the landscape.
He was in a forest, he guessed. Fresh green grass all around him, maple trees surrounding him on all sides, their tree crowns large and cast a shadow underneath them, the recognizable maple leaf silhouette making out the foliage. A calm breeze was passing through, slightly ruffling his fur as he curiously looked around, getting more and more confused by the second.
"Where am I?" He questioned himself, despite having nothing that could give him the answer.
Why was he here? Where was here?
He blinked, tried to look around for anything he might recognize, though there were only trees as long as the eye could see. He slowly got to his feet, his legs being oddly wobbly as he let his hand fall by his side. He slowly traced the outskirts of the forest visually, his mind calculating and thinking, considering if maybe he was dreaming. Had he fallen asleep? Had it been night? What had he done prior to this?
Tails frowned confused, blinked as he suddenly didn't know. Or rather, didn't remember.
His memory had completely vanished, having no idea what he had been doing or what had happened. The last thing he remembered was being in the workshop, working - working on something. He didn't remember. Why, how, and where he couldn't answer.
The fox looked around to try and find some kind of answer to his predicament, tails whipping about as he would love to find some kind of sign. But nothing was around him.
"Hello?" He asked into the forest, a part of him half-expecting to not get an answer.
He wasn't surprised when no voice answered his call, even as sapphire eyes tried to find someone. Though no one was there. As he started to conclude that there was nothing or nobody here that could tell him what had happened, the fox let out a puff of air, placing his hands on his hips.
Well, this wasn't the weirdest situation he had ever been in. When you have traveled through time and space in a sub dimension accessed by a singular pole, avoiding bombs, and triggering blue balls into red, there wasn't much that surprised him anymore.
Though, he would like to know where his memory had disappeared off to. Did he somehow gain amnesia? Is this how Shadow felt? The entire idea of sharing some kind of experience with the black hedgehog felt oddly interesting to him.
He frowned at the thought, slithering a tail around his hip and fished his hand into his fur. He easily found his trusty Miles Electric, clicking on the button that turned it on. What met him was a static screen with no sound coming out of the speakers, showcasing him nothing.
"Great," he sighed annoyed, while effortlessly trying to make it respond with a push of a couple of buttons, however it was unresponsive.
Somehow his Miles Electric had been damaged during his – travel? Teleportation? Kidnap? He was open to any possibility at this point. He sighed out his irritation, before hiding his tablet in his tail once more, biting his cheek.
He supposed that standing around here wouldn't give him any answers to his predicament, and therefore started walking, looking around. The dew in the grass made footprints in his way, giving the fox an indication that it could be early morning, given that the sun wasn't high into the sky yet. Warily his ears twisted and turned for any sound around him, not accepting the serenity and peaceful forest at face value. If there was anything he had learned about innocent facades, it was that they were hardly their true colors.
Something could be in there, or someone for that matter. Eggman? Zavok? The Time Eater? – Oh Chaos, he hoped this wasn't a nightmare and it wasn't the Time Eater.
The thought made him bite his lip, his eyes taking an extra look around him. Though, nothing seemed abnormal, having traversed through this kind of forest before, and knew only small feral animals, such as rabbits and squirrels, lived here. He hoped that was the case at least.
"Sonic?" He started calling, having no actual idea if he was even here to begin with. "Amy?... Cream?" He frowned in thought. "Shadow?... Blaze?... Jet?" He knew he was asking because nobody would answer at this point.
The frown deepened as his thoughts started to plague his mind, the ever-thinking logical mind trying to gain some kind of answer out of practically nothing. He had no idea where he was, couldn't remember why and how he was here, his Miles Electric was broken, and he looked to be alone.
He couldn't even recall any zone that looked like the one he was in. He let out another irritated sigh, more so because he didn't know what to do, and had no idea where he was going either. He stopped frustrated, frowning at nothing in front of him as he considered just flying into the air, above the trees and seeing if he could find anything.
Then, the ground started to rumble under his feet.
He looked down as if the ground had offended him, feeling unstable and irregular, a low-pitched rumbling appearing in his ears. He had no idea where it came from, as Tails looked around disoriented, feeling as the rumble intensified, making him crouch down and put his hands on the grass. It vibrated through his fingers, could hardly keep balance with his legs, as his eyes were wide, feeling the adrenaline kick in, his heart pumping.
An earthquake he had experienced before, more so from giant machines that launched itself out from the ground than the ground itself starting to shake. No windows or tall buildings could crush him, though his eyes were fastened on the trees around him. He didn't have time to give it any thought, merely felt as the shaking intensified under him, his legs not being able to keep him standing as he fell on his side.
The moment his entire body vibrated with the ground itself, it cracked apart. He crawled backwards as it sounded like the planet was breaking in half, an earsplitting rumbling echoing seemingly throughout the entire forest.
The crack got larger. In instinct alone, he wobbly got to his feet, if it was the shaking or the adrenaline he didn't know, and spun his tails around, lifting into the air. Up here, it was more still, the fox frantically looking around to get an idea as to what the Chaos was going on?!
All his sapphire eyes could see, a sight that made his pupils widen and a gasp escape his lips, was a ravine. A crack in the ground, getting larger and larger, wildly continuing making a gap in the ground itself, snaking forward like an animal hunting for their prey. The ground was crumbling, falling into the far abyss underneath him, trees getting uprooted and falling to their demise, underground lakes emptying into the hole.
It was deep, it was dark, and his eyes couldn't see the bottom. It was still deafening in his ears, the sound of roots getting torn, rocks and stone hurling over each other, the ground splitting open like velcro getting split apart. His eyes were still wide, hands shaking with adrenaline as he started to follow it, his scientific mind trying to process how this was possible. Sure, the ground could split, and it could continue to split, but not this large and not this fast.
He could only watch as it unfolded itself, stopping at a certain width which he couldn't calculate right now, but it continued to be longer. Trees and dirt falling into the newly created ravine, continuing its course like there was no tomorrow. Tails merely followed its path, having no idea if it in actuality was leading him somewhere, or if he was chasing nothing.
His eyes travelled through the trees, figuring which of them were going to fall in, when an off color appeared in the distance. A spark of hope appeared in his heart, as he flew faster, being pretty sure that he had seen a dark blue speck.
As the earth fell apart underneath him, the rumbling and shaking rattling his ear canals, he suddenly saw him. He was swirling around the trees, the ravine not reaching him as he was just out of its reach, though he seemed to be slowed down by the intense rumble.
"Sonic!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth.
When the hedgehog didn't answer he realized he couldn't hear him over the rumbling, and decided to fly closer, see if he couldn't catch up to him.
That's when a tree was uprooted in front of the hedgehog, having to stop in the middle of his escape, the ground shaking under his feet, pinwheeling his arms to keep his balance, but he fell.
The sidekick felt a surge of adrenaline course through his veins as he thrusted towards him, the dark blue hedgehog falling into the ravine, trying to catch himself somewhere on the wall but to no avail. Tails knew he needed to get to him before his survival instinct kicked in to roll into a ball, otherwise he wouldn't be able to catch him.
He could hear his frantic scream as the sidekick came closer, stone, dirt, rocks falling around him reaching out his arms towards the hero. Stretching out shaking fingers, finding an opportunity where he could grab Sonic's hand, the two of them had descended far down into the abyss already. An arm came upwards, Tails grabbed the hand with both of his own. They fell with the sudden extra weight, but the fox was used to adjusting his thrust with it, quickly going upwards.
"Tails!" He looked down as Sonic finally realized he was there, his green eyes wide with remaining panic and adrenaline, merely staring at the fox above him.
Tails tried to give him an encouraging smile as the hedgehog reached up his other hand, the fox taking hold of both of them.
"Hey Sonic," he greeted with a grunt, as he avoided a rather large rock plumbing down towards them, quickly flying upwards, as a terrifying thought in his head considered if the crater could close itself around them again.
Veering around stones and dirt, barely avoiding getting flattened by a tree, the fox carried the hedgehog above the ravine, going even higher for good measurement. He released a breath he had been holding, clutching his fingers tighter around Sonic's wrists as he looked down.
"You okay?" He asked, as he began panting, the extra weight of the hedgehog making it difficult to stay in the air. He had already been flying for a good while before having to catch him.
"I'm fine bud. Thanks for catching my blue butt," he praised, sending his sidekick a proud smile.
Tails was rather glad to meet the nonchalant and carefree demeanor, a normality to the utter craziness that was happening around them.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Sonic then asked, already searching for answers which the genius sidekick could only answer.
Though Tails shook his head, looking at the still crumbling and tumbling rocks and stones that fell into the ravine, getting larger and longer.
"I have no idea," he admitted, swallowing something in his throat, feeling his behind appendages starting to cramp.
He planned on landing a good bit away from the crater to avoid any of them falling in, turning his head to search for a safe spot. That's when the world finally seemed to calm down, the curious fox turning his head again as the rumbling ceased.
The top of the ravine where it had drawn a large cut into the planet's surface stopped its chase. A couple of trees fell into the abyss, some more rocks and stone falling into the newly created ravine before everything remained still. Dust was creating a fog around the edges, some trees valiantly holding on to the edge, as no sounds remained around them.
It was surreal, a completely new world that had appeared before them, the beforehand cacophony of low-pitched rumbling and tumbling, turned into a quiet and silent wound. It remained still.
"It stopped," Sonic sounded surprised as well, his sentence not formed into a question, but sounded confused.
Tails watched with amazement, blinking since he wasn't sure if it actually had stopped or not, observing the crater that had been created before him.
He was pulled out of his stupor from a cramp that went through his spine, very quickly determining that any place would be good and carefully lowered back down to the ground. His ears flicked from hearing remaining dirt and rocks hit the walls of the ravine below them.
Sonic let go when he could hit the ground safely, making the fox land less gracefully than the norm, putting his hands on his knees while panting to get air back into his lungs. He looked up just to make sure that nothing was going to move, the hedgehog standing with his hands on his hips, looking at the ravine as if it had offended him.
"Well, that's not something you see every day," he commented, looking over his shoulder at the sidekick. "You doing alright bud?" Tails looked up from Sonic's question, swallowing something in his throat before standing again, walking towards the edge of the ravine.
"I'm alright," he quickly answered, looking down.
From the air he had believed he hadn't been able to see what was at the bottom due to the rocks and trees falling, dust covering his vision. But now when he looked down, the entire ravine tunneled down into a black abyss, sunlight not being able to reach the bottom. It was wide, at least a hundred feet as far as he could calculate, too far to jump across.
Something like this took centuries to create, ice or earthquakes being the culprits, though this one had been created in mere minutes. He had a difficult time wrapping his head around it, a part of him starting to believe that he maybe was dreaming. He pinched his arm just in case, but he didn't wake up.
He turned his head when Sonic kicked a pebble, sending it down into the crater. He perked his ears to listen for it when it landed, though as it disappeared into the blackness, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hear it either way, he stepped back.
"I've never heard of the ground suddenly – split open like that," he mused, as a frown appeared on his brow "or actually seen it before," he supposed, having a hard time figuring out if he should be honored or frightened.
He put his hands on his hips in a thoughtful manner, as he tried to figure out if an earthquake had actually happened or if it was something else. What that else was, he hadn't figured out yet.
"Me neither, I was just running, and it suddenly started chasing me," Tails turned his head towards Sonic who had explained, scratching his quills as if he was wondering what his own sentence meant. An earthquake couldn't chase someone, could it?
"Though I'm glad that I'm not the only one here," he smiled then, padding the fox's head before crossing his arms, regarding the crack in the ground. Tails smiled out of relief as well, being glad that someone was here to experience this wizardry with him.
"Do you remember how we got here?" He asked curiously, hopefully even, as he looked at Sonic's green eyes. Though he shook his head, a frown appeared on his brow.
"I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember was running through Windy Valley and then everything's a blur," he explained, blinking before looking at the fox. "You don't remember anything either?" Tails shook his head as his answer, before looking back at the ravine in front of him.
It had stopped moving, no rocks or trees were falling in and the dust had mostly settled around them.
"Okay," he sighed, as he regarded the ravine as well, as he figured Sonic knew as much as he did. "What's your guess? We're in a Special Zone of some kind?" He questioned firstly, since they tended to be the mysterious zones that made them scratch their heads.
It could be possible they had entered it somehow and ended up here – both of them. At the same time.
Tails shook his head when he figured it sounded ridiculous, though Sonic was already gesturing a hand towards the forest behind them.
"I don't think so. The special zones are more. Weird – there's no floating balls, bombs, rings or colorful platforms here," he dismissed, as he looked at the maple forest behind them, a lot more leaves having left the crowns and fallen to the ground, though they looked as if nothing had happened.
Tails frowned as he had drawn the same conclusion, gesturing towards the ravine while his behind appendages were whipping.
"Then what, a middle zone?" He questioned again, as he tried to find some sort of middle ground to lay his facts on, trying to obtain a conclusion since he would know the side effects then. Sonic shrugged his shoulders beside him.
"Could be," he agreed, "though I don't think I've ever been in a middle zone that stretched this far," the hedgehog argued, though didn't dismiss the idea completely.
Tails nodded to his statement, agreeing that it was their best guess for now.
Mobius was a big place, having tons and tons of zones with different laws of physics as well as different plants and foliage. They spread large and small, and some of them had desert on one side and ice on the other. There were zones that split these worlds, the edges of each zone blending together with an area that housed both elements or none of them.
It was a sort of safe area, back in the day people had called them 'dead zones' since there was hardly anything there. Some trees, rocks, maybe some feral animals, maybe a river or a lake if you were lucky. And that was it. You didn't notice it with Sonic's speed, he had travelled with the hedgehog for a long time, they were small and easily passible, a mere bridge towards their next area. If this indeed was a middle zone then it was a large one, and one which he hadn't visited before.
The only zones he could think of he hadn't explored properly were around Shamar, Holoska, Spagonia and Empire City, since those places were explored when Sonic had grown thrice as much fur and had claws and fangs. He had spent his time sitting inside a university and reading and doing research. Though not even Sonic seemed to remember this place.
"Then if it's a middle zone then I say we keep running until we figure out which zone we're headed towards. And see if there's a village or something that might have been affected by-" Tails was still continuing to tell the hedgehog his plan when the dark blue one was tackled to the ground.
The fox spun around towards him, adrenaline once again rushing through his veins, being ready to attack whatever had attacked Sonic. Though all of that settled from the sight, seeing as a red figure had tackled his best friend.
"What have you done to the Chaos Emeralds?!" Knuckles was yelling into Sonic's face, knees in his stomach and hands on his shoulders.
The fox blinked, baffled by the pure fact that he didn't know what to do. He was both confused that their echidna friend was here as well and that he was accusing the hedgehog of something that didn't remotely relate to their current situation.
The hedgehog had been in the moment to kick off the attacker, though upon their friend's recognizable voice and color Sonic merely blinked.
"Knuckles!" He exclaimed, as if he hadn't seen him in years. "You're here too?"
"Where are they?!" He yelled one more time, putting pressure on the hedgehog's stomach. Sonic hissed between his teeth, lifting a placating hand into the air.
"Alright, Knux, I think this falls into the category of 'you-thinking-before-acting' because one: I have no idea what you're talking about and two: please get off me or you'll turn me purple," he mostly grunted than said, another puff of air forced out of his throat from the pressure.
The echidna opened his mouth to seemingly yell another set of words at him, before reality seemed to catch back up to him, blinking at the hedgehog.
Sonic blinked back, waving.
Knuckles turned his head towards Tails, the fox currently biting his lip, being indecisive about him doing something or not. Though the echidna crawled off him, getting to his feet while the hedgehog let out a sigh, placing his hand on his stomach.
"Aw man, remind me to never let you tackle me like that again. I would rather have you on my back," Sonic lectured, laying on the ground for a few moments.
Knuckles merely looked at him, his violet eyes wide, before they suddenly turned towards the fox, sharp and agitated.
"Tails, what's going on?!" For some reason, that outburst of anger had returned and was directed towards the fox instead.
The one mentioned blinked confused, understanding that he was the smart one and therefore he should have the answer. Though he didn't.
"You tell me! First, I woke up here, trees all around me, the Miles Electric doesn't work, and no one was around me. Second, the ground suddenly starts moving, and before I know it, it splits open before me! I have to rescue Sonic from falling into the hole, then we both learn that neither of us knows why we're here and where this is! And now, you come here and start yelling about the Chaos Emeralds! If anything, it seems like you have the answer to what's going on here, unless you don't remember anything either, do you?!" He hadn't exactly been yelling, but he could tell from the surprised expression Sonic sent him that he hadn't been quiet either.
Knuckles had a deep brow that seemed to match the fox's frustration, throwing out his arms in random directions.
"I don't remember!" he admitted, his brow still furrowed, "the last thing I remember was sitting on Angel Island near Marble Garden – then it just became black," the echidna explained, blinking as if he was trying to recall his own memories.
"I woke up here and heard the ground rumbling, but I didn't know what was going on. I followed the sound and then I saw you two here," Knuckles explained lastly, looking at them both.
Tails had been listening to his explanation, and slowly concluded that the echidna had no memory either. And since Knuckles was the one out of the three of them who had been spending less time on the ground, the fox doubted that he knew which middle zone they were in. If it was a middle zone in the first place.
The anger was still overly present as the echidna turned back towards Sonic, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"I don't know why I'm here! And since you're the only one who can pull stunts like this, then you've messed up somehow!"
"Alright, we're going back to the whole 'acting-before-thinking' Knuckles. How am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know! Somehow!" The guardian yelled, as he had answered Sonic's question.
The hedgehog sat up and opened his mouth to seemingly say something else to him, when it closed again, putting his hands on his hips. Tails was drawing the same familiar conclusion that Sonic had done – the pure fact that Knuckles was angry and rattled whenever he was far away from the Master Emerald.
Though it wasn't like a kid who wasn't allowed to go to an amusement park, there was something else in Knuckles' voice, something he was desperately trying to hide from them. He was panicking, the echidna currently trying to get a grip on himself by clutching his fingers into fists, taking a deep breath.
"Knuckles? Is everything okay?" Tails ventured carefully, as he had been carefully observing the echidna, being specific of his words.
His red friend's gaze switched sharply towards the fox, the frown still deep in his brow, but it seemed to occur to him that the two of them had no idea what he was talking about. Either that or he was realizing that he wasn't acting rational.
Knuckles managed to close his eyes for a moment, letting a sigh go through his nose before he started talking again. It helped to reduce the fiery anger into a dim fire instead, as Knuckles' violet eyes met sapphire blue.
"Something's wrong," he stated matter-of-factly, as if none of them had realized that yet.
Tails resisted the urge to roll his eyes into the sky, instead looked towards the hedgehog as he had gotten to his feet, crossed his own arms over his chest.
"Oh really? If you hadn't pointed that out, I wouldn't have noticed!"
"Shut up hedgehog, that's not what I mean!" Knuckles interrupted, looking as if he was ready to growl at him. "What I mean is that – there's something wrong with the Chaos energy," he explained, getting onto a new page the other two hadn't thought about before.
"Does it have something to do with the Master Emerald?" Tails asked, a bit carefully, since he knew the subject was a bit sensitive.
The fierce gaze Knuckles sent him, one that warned him that he might be the next person he tackled, only confirmed his answer more than a verbal answer would have. Though, the guardian seemed to catch his own demeanor once again, letting out a sigh through his nose before he closed his eyes.
"I can't feel it."
That made the fox's eyes widen in surprise, his twin appendages moving a bit faster behind him. He knew that Knuckles had a connection to it, knew that he could always locate wherever the Master Emerald was, despite if it was in pieces. It was a guardian trait, something that Tails had no idea how worked since he believed that Chaos reacted differently to different subjects. If the Chaos around them was separated from Knuckles and the larger emerald, he didn't know.
But science wasn't going to resolve the situation they had at hand right now, as the fox now understood why their friend had been rattled and panicked. It was gone from his grasp.
The silence that had remained seemed to be too much for the guardian as his fierce expression turned back towards the hedgehog.
"And since I know that the Master Emerald has a connection to the Chaos Emeralds, then that means that something must have either tipped the balance or shut it off or something and you're the one who could do that with an emerald!"
"Knux, I swear, I haven't even seen or touched an emerald for a while. I have no idea where they are!" Sonic quickly defended, moving his hands in a placating gesture.
For a moment it looked like the echidna didn't believe him, that deep frown still settled in his brow, until he let the words settle. The anger that had sprouted started to dim again, his facial expression easing just a bit.
"Me neither," the fox added, as Knuckles' gaze switched towards him. "I've been looking for one for the Tornado, but I haven't been able to locate one," he explained further, emphasizing the point that neither of them had been in near contact with any emerald.
"And even if I did, I would have no idea how I even would tip the balance or shut it off, as you say," Sonic continued, the echidna switching his gaze back to him. "Unless you mean one of the casinos back in Studiopolis," he grinned, placing his hands on his hips. Tails frowned confused.
"How do you tip the balance in a casino?" He asked rather confused, since he knew how Sonic would shut it off - it wouldn't be the first time.
"I'll tell you when you're older," Sonic dismissed, with a wave of his hand. Though the eight-year-old translated that perfectly to 'I don't want to tell you because I got in trouble for it'.
He resisted the sigh he wanted to unleash, instead looked towards their echidna friend who had remained quiet. If the banter had made him calm down, he wouldn't know, as he suddenly looked more lost than anything.
"So – you don't know what's going on?" He asked again, looking between the two. Sonic was quick to shake his head.
"Nope, nah-nah, nothing, zilch," the hedgehog emphasized, the grin on his lips being more of an attempt to calm Knuckles down than an actual amused expression.
Tails shook his head as well when the guardian looked for answers from him. He bit his lip as he suddenly looked guilt ridden, concluding that they really had no idea why he couldn't feel the Master Emerald's energy.
"Sorry," he mumbled with a look towards Sonic, most likely an apology for the previous tackle.
Though the hedgehog waved his hand dismissively, as if the echidna had merely pushed him a little too hard.
"No worries Knux," he shrugged, giving his red friend a grin of acceptance, before he turned his head towards the two-tailed one. "Your little tablet doesn't work?" He asked suddenly, more out of empathy since the fox knew that the hedgehog knew that the Miles Electric was his pride and joy.
Tails blinked, having hardly remembered his earlier explanation, though shook his head from the question.
"No," he sighed, hoping that all the frustration he was feeling came out with it. Getting frustrated wouldn't get him anywhere, he would figure out his answers sooner than later.
"But I know I can get it to work again, if I have a bit of time," he explained, his whipping appendages slowing down to the usual calm strides, gesturing a hand around them. "I have a module installed that can detect Chaos energy around us – if I get it working again then maybe we can figure out what's going on," he suggested lastly.
"So, if there's something wrong with the ME and we all got sent here with no memory then I guess it's some Chaos shenanigans that's happening," Sonic concluded rather quickly, though scratched his head from his own conclusion.
Tails frowned since there weren't enough facts or evidence to prove that theory. The chaos emeralds hadn't given any of them amnesia before. You could teleport with Chaos Control, but he couldn't do it, and to Tails' knowledge, neither could Knuckles.
"I guess your theory isn't totally out the window," Tails concluded, despite his thoughts.
They didn't have anything right now to do research on, nor an explanation for how the ravine suddenly came to be. Any speculation could be correct at this point, and right now he was willing to accept anything, just to have something to work with.
"I say we explore around, see if there's another zone here that could give us an explanation as to what's going on here," he then concluded, looking at them both to get an approval.
"Sounds like an adventure to me," Sonic smirked quickly, never saying no to exploration before looking at the guardian.
Knuckles had been looking at them with crossed arms, a critical frown set on his brow that only seemed to want to do the exact opposite. Whatever that opposite was. Not even the echidna seemed to know, since the sigh that left his lips was more a realization of acceptance. He guessed there wasn't any other choice.
"Which way?" He asked, as he looked at the clever fox. Tails shrugged, gesturing around him.
"Any way, really."
"Then I vote this way! Let's go!" And with that, all that was left of the hyperactive and excited hedgehog was a blue blur, as he disappeared left, away from the ravine.
"Sonic, wait up!" The sidekick tried to call after him, already spinning behind appendages to get into the air and followed the blue streak.
He looked over his shoulder to make sure that Knuckles followed, though the echidna had already picked up speed, being able to follow no problem. Maybe it was an echidna thing, needing to chase after intruders or something. That was a topic for another day.
Right now, Tails merely followed the blue streak, swerving around tree crowns and branches, his mind running as fast as his tails. He wasn't completely satisfied with the 'Chaos shenanigans' theory, that either the Chaos Emeralds or the Master Emerald of all things, would have either teleported or brought them to this place. Where this was.
Though he supposed he couldn't do much calculating right now, as he would need to prepare his Miles Electric first, the rest was speculation. He was very glad about Sonic's enthusiasm, accepting their predicament much faster than he did, and was mildly worried about Knuckles' lost touch with the Master Emerald. He knew that it bothered him, the anger outburst from before being a testament to it, but he supposed they would figure it out along the way.
He would take this experience as a new adventure instead of focusing on the confusion and frustration it had brought him, letting a smile come to his lips as they explored this new and undiscovered area.