A/N: Right! Time to finish this! Been another few months between updates. This time it was because of computer problems, and the fact that I don't like starting something from scratch when it's already half-done, but that work has been lost (i.e. the half-finished chapter 50 sitting on my other, dead computer.) Oh well, best not linger any longer. Exams coming up, but hey, at least I can count this as essay-writing practice.

"So this means... I'm..."

"Yeah, you're over two hundred years old." Blaze still could not comprehend what had just been revealed to her, while in Tails' mind, it all made sense. "And what it also means, is that I doubt little Vesta here," he expanded, picking up the young child and swinging her round playfully while she giggled. "... is an immortal, or anything like that, so there's something that caused her to jump forward two hundred years."

"But what could do something like that?"

"Well the first thing that springs to mind is some kind of time travel. Robotnik may have had something lying around in here that could have been a primitive time travel device, off of which the one you used to come to now is based."

"That seems... possible..."

"The only other thing I can think of is cryogenic freezing."

"Cryogenic freezing?" Blaze asked.

"Cryogic froozle?" The young Blaze pondered, wondering just what the 'big people' were talking about. Both Tails and the older Blaze smiled.

"Don't you worry your head about it," Tails reassured the child, tussling her hair. She giggled and pulled his hand away. "Cryogenic freezing," he turned to Blaze. "Is a process of preserving stuff by keeping it in liquid nitrogen, which is around minus 200 degrees celsius. But, it's also been known to, with some modifications, work to preserve living beings in a sort of stasis until they are thawed. So, say, she fell into the cryogenic pods, or whatever it is. Then it would be like she's asleep until they return her to a normal temperature. Put simply."

"Right... I only got half of that, but it seems plausible... but wait. If what you say about time travel is true, that I'm from a disjointed segment of time, then it doesn't matter if she gets frozen, or sent forward in time, or whatever, right?"

"Correct. But we can't be sure of that. Although the fact neither you, Silver nor Diesel have changed dramatically or anything like that since you got here would be leaning in favour of my theory. Any which way we're clutching at straws."

Every corridor travelled seemed to get darker, every object discarded he saw more lifeless than the last, as he ventured deeper into the complex. Hopelessly lost at this stage, he was starting to give up hope for success in the mission. Not so much as a map to help guide him around the place. Oh, this is absolutely fantastic... Silver, old boy, look at the mess you're in now... he thought. He stopped eventually, and by the time he had, the corridors were almost pitch-black, and starting to tilt to one side in a strange manner. He looked around, trying to discern some kind of light from something, anything. Through one door it appeared to get a little brighter. He followed the light, seeing no alternative route. The light led him to another corridor, and another, slowly getting brighter and brighter, and he broke into a run. Soon, the light began to take on a colour, a white with a faint blue, and was bright enough that he had to squint. He came upon an open door, where the light seemed to be emanating from, and he hurried through it.

On the other side was a room with several chambers, filled with a swirling, white, translucent liquid. Each one was spewing vapour everywhere, extremely cold vapour. The room stretched on for a long distance, chambers all the way along it. As he continued, he started to see finer details in some of them - different patterns of swirls, and sometimes objects visible within. He stopped at one, out of mere curiosity. He peered closer, trying to discern what the chamber contained. His face millimetres from the glass, he could not have been less prepared when another face swept against the glass, causing him to leap backwards with a shout, and fall over. He stared in horror at the face, and the more he stared, the more it seemed familiar. When the name eventually dawned on him, he scrambled to his feet and started searching for a control panel. He had to rescue her...

"Okay Cream... I think we lost them..."

"How did they find us?"

"I don't know... any kind of heat vision would have been a give away, the whole place is stone cold..."

"Ack... doesn't matter. What do we do now?"

"We have to find the others without attracting the robots' attention again..." Diesel said to her, while scanning the surrounds. He saw a small ventilation shaft near the ground, maybe just big enough for Cream's slight frame to fit through. There was a door next to it, but it was locked. "Cream... I need you to do something..."

"What?" She replied, peering over their cover at the robots on patrol.

"I'm going to slide you across the floor, through that vent over there. Then I need you to open the door from the other side, and let me in. Okay?"

"You what?!"

"Just, come on! Do it! They'll find us soon if we don't get somewhere safer!"

"Wh... okay!" At this, she was grabbed roughly by the sides, not entirely expecting it, and was thrown across the floor. It was cold and icy, making her slide easily, but was very cold and uncomfortable. The vent was only just wide enough, and had she not had her hands out in front of her, she would have stuck inside when she came to a halt. Fortunately, though, she was able to navigate the shaft and emerge on the other side, and dusting herself off, she set about opening the door. A keypad with some numbers, and a card slot. Shit... it's gonna need a code or something... if only... she thumped the wall in frustration, and as if by a miracle, the door began to whirr open. She looked at where she hit, and it was a button marked "emergency fire release, penalty for misuse". Just below that in small print, it read "Robotnik Corp takes no responsibility for the fate of employees that press emergency fire release buttons in error or in jest". After taking the time to read the labels, she looked down to see Diesel, slid under the door along his back, clammering to find away to get the door to shut again.

"Just pull it down, it should be fine..." She said, before the fire alarm rang out, alerting all the nearby robots to their presence.

"We got bigger problems now. RUN!" He yelled. She stopped him before he could start, and pointed to the hangar below them, to which they had just entered via a raised walkway.

"Wait... why run, when..." she pointed at the massed vehicles, cars, motorcycles, boards, tanks, and gear of all kinds, on the floor.

"Whoa..."