-Sonic-

Very very slowly, I begin to become aware of things again. All around me is a blue-green liquid, as if I am under the ocean, but it's not like water. I just float here for a little while, then - I don't really know how - I begin to rise. It's like being in the ocean, and it gets lighter as I get higher. I look up, almost dazzled by the light shining down above me. Suddenly, I come to a halt. A cold, hard barrier, like ice, blocks my way. There are long-frozen cracks in it, as if it was broken once, and then reformed. I suddenly feel a jolt of pain, and realise I can't breathe, though I didn't seem to need to before. I bang on the icy barrier, at the point where it was already weakened, but my efforts have no effect. If I can only break through, I might find air, somewhere. An idea comes to me. It may not work, and I may not have time to pull it off, but it's the only chance I have. I flip myself around and dive, pushing off the ice. I go down faster and faster, and the liquid gets darker and darker. I stop quite suddenly, exactly when I decide to - this is no liquid, nothing I've ever seen before, but I seem to be able to do as I please. I'm almost out of air when I somehow push myself upwards, spinning at the same time, getting faster and faster…

Just when I think I'm not going to make it, when I'm just about to die for lack of air, I hit the barrier - and break through, shattering it into a thousand scintillating pieces. Air, and a blinding light. I close my eyes, and concentrate on breathing…

After a time, I begin paying attention to my new surroundings. While I don't open my eyes, I listen hard. For once, there is anything but silence. A thousand small noises catch my ear, the hum of a computer, a whirring fan somewhere, footsteps, my own breathing - and somebody else's, too. I feel strange, but this is more real than the ocean or the plains I remember being in before. Slowly, I open my eyes a fraction. The light is almost too bright, and I nearly close them again, but force myself to look around. Someone in a thick coat and some kind of helmet is standing, looking at some kind of readouts on a screen. Whoever it is, its back - his? hers? - is turned to me. I don't recognise what I can see of this place at all.

"Where is this?" My voice sounds oddly loud to my ears, though in fact it's quieter than usual if anything, and it sounds a little strange, too, like I haven't used it for a long time. The figure whirls round at once, staring at me with an expression of surprise. That face is almost familiar, but there's no way it could be Tails - it's older, and the figure is a little taller than he is - yet I catch a glimpse of two tails as he turns. Does Tails have some relations he's never told me about?

"Sonic?!" The voice is like Tails', too, but older. I repeat my question, then ask

"Who are you?"

His answer shocks me.

"I'm Tails, Sonic! Don't you remember me?"

"Tails?" I say disbelievingly. No way! It can't be him! And yet…

"Yeah, it's me, Sonic." I stare at him. How…?

"Oh, yeah, I forgot… I guess I must have changed a bit, huh?" Tails - if it really is him - pulls off the helmet and drops it on a chair with the coat. He looks so familiar and yet so strange.

"What do you mean, you must have changed a bit?!"

"Well," he begins hesitantly, "it's like this… Do you remember going to rescue that hostage?" I'm sitting up now, on the edge of this bed, and I nod, watching him. "The blast from the explosions destroyed most of the nearby buildings. It half-buried you and knocked me out. When I recovered I went looking for you, but you were out cold… and you've been that way for several years now."

I stare at him for a few moments. "No way! This isn't funny, you know!" But it feels uncomfortably true. I stand up, and feel dizzy and strangely weak, like I haven't stood up in a long time. Tails obviously notices.

"We've done what we could, but you're nowhere near as fit as you used to be, I'm afraid." He sounds strange, like he can hardly believe what's going on. To tell the truth, neither can I.

"Tails… what's going on? So where is this, anyway?"

He sits down atop the discarded jacket.

"This is the hideout of the last free people in the world."

And I stare at him in shock and horror.