"What are you doing here?"
"This is our home," The monsters answered, "Has been for a very long while."
"Where's Kintobor?"
"He's safe," the monsters continued, "As are you. We're all here, but we're not together in any form bar communication, and nothing you can do will harm us, or vice versa."
The monsters spoke as a group, several distinct voices all speaking near simultaneously, creating a bizarre echoy harmonic on the sound they produced that Sonic found both creepy and annoying. It ran through him, seeming both insincere and also slightly uninterested in what they were actually saying.
"So why am I here?" Sonic asked, keeping his guard up. He had an immediate distrust of these creatures, and wasn't going to take everything they said at face value.
"This is just the nexus between worlds," the monsters replied, "You'll leave soon enough."
Sonic's mind erred on caution, even if what they said about being incapable of harming him was true, they were being a little bit too nice, it was suspicious in the hedgehogs mind. In the same way Sonic knew he needed to know more about what was going on, Sonic knew the Monsters of Chaos were the last people he wanted answers from, and while he couldn't figure out why, something about them was making him angry and eager to fight, it was something that only ever stirred up in him normally when Robotnik was up to his old tricks.
An awkward silence befell the nothingness. This wasn't the silence of nobody being around, but the silence of Sonic wanting answers but unsure whether or not he should ask the questions he wanted to. The hedgehog had no choice but to wait out the time, and hope that upon his exit he'd get more answers.
Eventually boredom got the better of Sonic, "Why are you being so polite?"
"Why have we done anything Mr Hedgehog?" the faceless voice of the Monsters of Chaos asked, "We are all motivated by the same desire, to get everything back as it once was."
"So you're responsible for everything then?"
"We merely put everything into motion. We aren't responsible for what you or your friends did, but we are indeed the ones who started everything, gave you what you started with."
"But," The voices continued, slightly different in tone, "We did have Dawn watch over you, guide you towards the best choice as far as our plan was concerned."
"Yet you still did it all yourself," the voices finally finished, in the same tone as before.
"So you took my memory from me?" Sonic asked.
"It was necessary. We needed you to co-operate, and that was the only way."
"You realise I'll get it back!" Sonic yelled, "I'll remember what's happened and I'll stop you again."
"You haven't stopped us the first time," the Monsters of Chaos taunted, "You weren't even close to stopping us. We destroyed your world, reshaped it as we saw fit, and convinced the entire population that everything was fine. Yes, you undid that, but what has it actually got you Sonic? You're no better than when you started, you still don't have the emeralds, and you still don't know what's going on?"
Sonic froze. As far as he could tell the voices were right. But since Sonic didn't know for sure one way or the other he stubbornly refused to accept that he had been defeated.
"All you did Sonic," the voices continued, there echo still disturbing Sonic as he listened to it, "Was move things along. You caused us a few setbacks but after all of it we got what we wanted. We may not be free now, but the second you're out of here we can leave to, then it's just a matter of choosing the right moment, and crushing the Servers of Chaos once and for all."
"See, that's how I can beat you," Sonic said confidently. Unable to see anyone, Sonic could only wonder just how exactly they would take this news. Without a face to judge for himself, Sonic could only hope it would annoy them how he wanted.
"You don't understand," the voices said smugly, "You don't get a choice. Any second now you will exit from this realm and return to the real world."
As the voices finished there sentence an overwhelming sense of nausea hit Sonic. He clutched his stomach, occasionally looking up and seeing swirls of colour appearing out of the darkness. The blackness of the nothingness was edging away, and Sonic could only wince as he recalled in his mind what he had just been told. Sonic tried to fight his return, but with no solid ground to stand on, Sonic was getting no friction, and was thus powerless to resist the pull of reality.
With his last breath in the darkness, Sonic swore blindly that he would not allow the Monsters of Chaos access to the real world. He knew deep down he had to, even if it would cost him everything. Sonic closed his eyes once more, his head now severely spinning from the disorientation.
His eyes opened again, his head now calm. He was stood in the middle of a road, cars either side of him yelling at him to get out the way. As Sonic looked on bewildered, he felt a firm grip on his arm pulling him towards the kerb. It was Dawn, and she looked worried.
"Are you okay Sonic?" she asked, as the hedgehog tried to make sense of his new surroundings. Finally noticing the Casino he realised he was in Station Square, not too far from the train station that led to the Mystic Ruins. Sonic looked around him, an uneasy feeling about him as he was lead to a nearby bench, urged to sit down by the green cat.
"I'm fine," Sonic answered, "Just sorta zoned out for a moment there."
"Well be more careful," the cat scolded, "Hedgehog's don't do well against cars."