Floating around at the speed of sound! Got places to go gotta follow my rainbow!

Maybe I've been playing a bit too much Sonic Adventure 2: Battle… BUTOHMYSHADSCHAOARESOCUUUUTE…

Ahem. That was totally and completely uncalled for. Hope y'all had a Happy Christmas. I did. And well, I guess that's all that really matters.

I got more games than I know what to do with, and a TV that's big enough to play them on. HAVE YOU DIED OF JEALOUSY YET? ((takes a picture of your jealous faces with her new camera))

Askjfhdsfowiua 'Nough 'a that.

Now; lay in the wax and spit in the sound! …Or something along those lines. O.o

WARNINGS: Careful treading here. Out there be OOC-ness. But just for now. …Or is it…? Really, I have no idea. Or maybe I do. Or maybe I should just stop talking before I say something stupid…

A BIG THANKS TO Hikari-san42. WITHOUT HER THIS WOULD BE 25 PERCENT LESS AWESOME. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

and I'm sorry I forgot you proofed this only about an hour ago…

That Moment of Silence Before Everything Moves
Chapter one

"W-... Where am I? What's going on? Who... am I...?" the blue hedgehog sat huddled on the floor of what appeared to be a prison cell. Eyes wide, the small mammal curled closer into himself; a natural self-defense technique. "I..." he trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut and curling up tighter. "...I'm scared..."

"Enjoying your stay, runt?" a thunderous voice arose from all around, causing the minute creature to jump in terrified alarm.

"W-what! What was that? A voice? Where? H-hey! Um, voice! Do- do you know who I am? What's going on here!" the hedgehog's eyes snapped open and he cast a pleading look at the ceiling.

Eggman frowned. That... wasn't supposed to happen. Gaze fixed on the visual monitor, he saw his enemy- the strong, proud, confident and cocky Sonic the Hedgehog. Yes, he erased his memory, but the majority of the personality should've been left intact.

"Hello?" the sapiens's voice sounded oddly tiny and desperate. It was unnerving.

"Yes; can you hear me?" Eggman called, trying to sound as soft as possible.

"Yes! Yes! I can! Please, you have to help me! I don't remember who I am or where I am and I'm... scared. Please help me..." the Mobian had stood and collapsed against the wall, eyes wet.

Eggman sighed and made a decision. He'd caused this and now he had a chance to start over - this time on better terms.

"I can help you, little one. Your name is Sonic the Hedgehog and mine is Dr. Robotnik. You and I are the best of friends." Eggman had moved out of the monitor station and came to stand in from of the lone prison cell.

"R-really?" the hedgehog looked over to him and stood again. Making his way slowly to the heavily barred door, the newly dubbed 'Sonic' clung to the iron until his knuckles turned white under his gloves.

"Yes, boy," the human responded. He took a step closer to the cell and hit the button to open the door. Sonic had been unprepared for the sudden turn of developments and nearly hit the floor; and he would've if Eggman hadn't of been standing where he was. As it was, the blue one stumbled into the doctor and froze.

Eggman froze as well, surprised at the sudden and direct contact.

"U-um… I-I'm sorry, doctor. I-I didn't mean t-to fall on you, i-it just kind of happened, and…" the hedgehog was literally tripping over his words to offer a hasty reply, wary of what the other may do in retaliation to the unwarranted contact.

Eggman looked down at Sonic, and had to admit he didn't know what to think of the situation. The doctor's eyes held a sort of pity; the blue one looked kind of pathetic now, and it was totally unlike him. The tall human had to wonder what was wrong with his adversary. This new unconfident Sonic was starting to creep him out. Furrowing his brow, he made up his mind.

He was going to fix the hedgehog - this time, the way he wanted.

o0o

Tails glanced out the window with a worried look on his face. Sonic had been missing for the better half of two days, and no one knew where to look for him. It was a tad unsettling, but not entirely a new concept. Sonic was famous for disappearing for days without telling anyone where he was going. "It was a day's work!" as he always said. He said the disappearing was his way of relaxing. It helped him unwind and calm down. As long as the kid had known him, his hedgehog friend always acted funny when he had something important on his mind. For the past few weeks Sonic had been acting strange. Tails had no idea what his friend was thinking about, but judging by the way he was acting, it wasn't anything good.

Sonic had been distancing himself from all of his friends and hadn't been talking to anybody. He usually only did that when he had a bad feeling or he knew a secret he didn't want to share. It didn't help that Knuckles and Amy had also come over and irritated him; Knuckles with a fight and Amy with a date. Going by the look on his face, both of the visits were not something he wanted. So, this speedster ran off without telling anybody when he was going to return.

Tails, as usual, was angry with his friend for doing this and yet again forgetting his communicator. The hedgehog was good at that, the fox admitted, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. For as long as the two had known each other, it still surprised Tails how much Sonic could surprise him. But, that in itself wasn't too shocking. The hedgehog was always unpredictable, and it only got worse with age. As Sonic approached the age of 16, the boy genius could safely say that his older brother was getting weirder each year.

Tails turned away from the window and proceeded to his lab. As per usual, he figured that tinkering with his mechanical stuff would distract his mind long enough to stop thinking about Sonic. He stayed down in his workshop for a few hours before coming back up again, his mind clouded with worries and none of his work even remotely touched. Releasing a heavy sigh, he glanced out the window again and was surprised to see a red echidna knocking on his door. "Knuckles?" the fox asked as he moved to the door.

"Tails? Come on; open the door! I may be used to the weather but it's warm out here!" The banging continued. The kit was surprised he hadn't heard this racket before. But then again, he was also downstairs and the lab was soundproof.

Which, admittedly, wasn't a very good idea in the first place. "All right! I'm coming, calm down, will ya?" His face was alight with good humor, though his insides were a raging storm. Trudging over to the door, he twisted the knob and pulled it open, giving Knuckles a friendly glare for his troubles. "So why did you come here in the first place? Aren't you supposed to be watching the Master Emerald? And if you aren't, then who is?"

Knuckles waved off with one of his big hands. "Oh, don't worry. I've got everything under control; the Master Emerald is fine, and the Chaotix are watching it. Vector said he would guard it (which I think was a bluff, but Espio is probably the one that will end up doing it) and he would make sure that Charmy didn't knock it over or anything." He moved further into the small house, and took a seat on one of the two short couches in the room. "Have you heard anything from Sonic yet?"

Tails sighed. "No, but I'm not giving up just yet. We have no idea where he is, but he's bound to show up sooner or later. He used to do this at least once a fortnight when we first met. I'd say it was natural if he didn't seem so distracted these past few days, and if I wasn't so worried. But like I said, we should just slow down and calm down and put our heads together, because he's bound to show up when he feels like it. We should just let him do his own thing for now."

Knuckles growled and jumped up, the glare on his face and fire in his indigo eyes. "Yeah, but what if something bad happened to him? What if this is all an elaborate plot by Dr. Eggman? What if he found that blue idiot and kidnapped him or something? What do we do then? Or, a better question would be, how would we get him back?"

The kitsune flopped down on the couch, throwing one arm over his eyes. "You know what? I dunno what happens then; I just don't. I may be smart, but no one is that smart. I'm no psychic. I can't predict the future. And though many have tried, neither can anyone else. That's what I have to say about that."

Knuckles blinked. That… was a tad confusing. "Um… Are you sure you're all right, Tails? You sure are acting weird."

"No, Knuckles. I'm fine. Like I said - just a bit worked up."

"Why? Something wrong?"

"No, it's just that I've considered that as well, and don't want to think about the possibility that Eggman may have him. It's just something I don't like to give consideration to. I mean, after all these years, Eggman still hasn't caught us, or beaten us. It just seems too good to be true sometimes. Half the time, I question how we won. Was it pure dumb luck, or are we really just that good? You know what? I just don't know anymore."

The echidna frowned at his fox friend. All this contemplation was completely unlike him. The smart and logical side of the eight-year-old seemed completely hidden under this new outlook. It was a smidgen disheartening. "So. Are you going to try and look for him? Or just hope he comes back on his own?"

The fox stuck out his bottom lip in thought. "Hm. We've already looked some, but it wouldn't hurt to try and double check. I mean, better safe than sorry, right?"

The red one nodded. "It seems that way. C'mon, then. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

Tails jerked his head in agreement. Apparently some company was all that he needed; he was already feeling better.

Sadly, he knew it wouldn't last.

o0o

Water dripped from the ceiling in slow, repetitive plops. At each drop that hit the ground, the lone occupant gave a slight flinch. He didn't remember much else about himself, but he knew one thing for sure - he was terrified of water. "Aquaphobia," as he'd heard it called. It was a natural fear that many people felt, although he wasn't sure why he himself was afraid of it. He could remember small tidbits from when he was younger, but anything after the age of 10 was a complete blank. He could remember two people in particular; a yellow flying squirrel, and a red and black armadillo. He wasn't sure of the names, but he knew somewhere deep down that the two were important.

Once the door creaked open, the hedgehog jumped a foot in the air. A soft roll of laughter followed the action. "Jumpy, are we?" Eggman asked, a slight look of amusement on his face and a shimmer of pity in his eyes. A nod was his only response. "Well I hope to fix that pretty soon. I have a better room prepared for you, so if you'll just follow me, I'll take you there myself."

"O-okay. Thanks…" Sonic stuttered out, climbing shakily to his feet, dodging around the surprising deep hole of water. Robotnik watched the action with a blank face and a thoughtful look in his eyes. The runner managed to tip toe his way across the floor and looked to the human as he stopped. The man started out, motioning for the blue one to follow.

In an attempt to see how many holes were in his memory (both natural and machine inflicted), he began a conversation. "Was there a reason for that?"

"For what?" was the response. Sonic seemed a lot more confident when he wasn't locked up in a cold, dingy cell and surrounded by water.

"You skirted around the water. Was it a dance routine, or was there a reason for it?" Eggman specified, glancing down.

"Well, uh… I'm… kind of terrified of water. Think… kitten in a bathtub, except I'm a hedgehog. Heh – it's kind of ironic. Hedgehogs are supposed to love water and be decent swimmers. I sink like a rock and freeze up in the presence of any large amount." The speedster was looking straight ahead, a carefully neutral expression upon his face. In his mind, the company and surroundings were still extremely unfamiliar; he felt that if he didn't let on his true feelings, he'd stay alive longer. Thinking about it, he laughed; it sounded kind of ridiculous.

But yet he wondered why it was so awkward if the two were friends.

The man nodded. "I see… Do you know why…?"

Now his brow furrowed and he wrung his hands together. "I'm not sure… but I think it has something to do with the ocean and a storm and people disappearing… I couldn't have been very old at the time. And I'm about sixteen now, so I must've been around… a year? I dunno."

"Hm. Very interesting," Eggman murmured, studying the blue one. Seems that Sonic ran deeper than he had ever thought; it was fascinating.

Throughout the next long while, the doctor would learn a lot more about his ex-arch-enemy than he ever imagined.

Ah…? AH…? So… Based on the fact that I have no reviews, I'm going to say it's safe to assume that I have no readers! So, maybe the next chapter can have a bunch of useless and pointless junk! Maybe add a few crack pairings, some stupid internet memes… I dunno. But if I don't get any reviews at all, that's what will happen.

PLZ. I NEED AT LEAST ONE OR TWO REVIEWSSSSS.

…

plz?