A/N: Hey readers... Sorry that it's been a bit. I've been having trouble trying to write this story along with handling real life problems. During my time writing this, a lot of personal events had happened and caused me to lose motivation. It's been happening to me since late October last year. So this is what I decided to do, I've split this chapter into two parts. This would allow me to work on the second part of this chapter while giving you guys something to read and see what happens next.

NOTE: I do not intend to abandon this story unless I have no choice. I've started this over a year ago, now. I can't just let it die out.

But anyway, let's press on and find out where Manic ended up to.

Crystal white light blinded everything in sight for what felt like moments but also felt like hours. Then, the light faded away and everything was dark as night. Nausea flooded every sense. At least, for a moment before his vision cleared. Then, he noticed his scenery changed entirely.

"Manic? You alright?"

"Uhh…" The only response he could give.

Kirb laughed, realizing the cause of the nausea. "Don't worry, it'll wear off soon. Happens to everyone with their first transport."

He then walked off what looked to be some kind of floor pad connected to a rounded section of a wall. Their patterns almost looked like how you would tie dye a shirt with only two colors.

Manic shook his head which seemed to clear his thoughts a bit. Enough so that he could think and speak.

"W-Where-"

"Welcome back, Captain." A new voice greeted.

"Glad to be back." Kirb responded.

He moved his head towards the new voice to see a new mobian at the controls of what brought him here. He was a dark maroon cat mobian in a similar uniform as Kirb but different in some areas. He had semi-long hair above his face with one eye a shade of purple and the other was light gray. As he looked closer, he noticed a color difference lining their uniforms. His was a dark red while Kirb's was gold yellow. Along with that, he noticed that he had less silver pins on the front of his shoulder. He had 3 silver pins instead of 4.

Wait… did he say Captain? Captain of what?

"Captain?" Manic questioned Kirb.

"It's a long story, but this is Tigre. He is my tactical officer."

Tigre moved from the console and reached out his hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Manic."

"You know me? Wait, that's a dumb question."

Tigre laughed. "Everyone knows the youngest of the royal family! Did you forget that you ended the war years ago?"

"Guess I'm just used to keeping everything a secret." Manic chuckled.

"Well, I have to get back to my station on the bridge. I gotta run a few tests, see you there?" He pointed to Kirb.

"I'll be there soon, I just wanna catch up with an old friend." He patted Manic's shoulder.

"Aye, Captain." He looked at Manic and gave a quick nod, "Later."

He turned around and walked further down the corridor. Kirb gestured to Manic to follow him as they walked the other direction.

Manic took a look back one more time before running to catch up. He had a face that showed puzzlement.

"Captain? What did you do? Create a whole new resistance?"

Kirb chuckled at something like that.

"No, This isn't a new resistance or a resistance base.."

Manic looked at him with confusion.

"Then where are we?"

"Well…"

Manic looked around and every corridor they passed looked futuristic, filled with technology he had never seen before. As they walked, he noticed that there were doors everywhere that possibly lead to different rooms as they had names printed on the doors themselves. Just how many people are here?

"You see, we are not in a base, a home, or even a building. We are on a ship."

"A ship?" Manic said, "What are we doing at sea?"

Kirb laughed once more, "Ha ha ha ha! We're not at sea, Manic."

He stopped, even more confused, "What? You lost me here… We are on a ship, but not in the ocean?"

Kirb turned around to face him as he lifted his arm and gestured to the window nearby. Manic slowly moved closer with a brow raised. Once he looked through the window, his face changed to one of astonishment. Outside was nothing like the sea. Instead, it looked like some kind of chamber with lights from above. Those lights were illuminating metallic sheets of what Manic was standing in. Another look above, he noticed windows to what he believed to be a command center. Then, a mobian worker appeared in his view on the hull of the ship. He moved to an open panel and started working on it. Manic tried to look all around the window and saw that he was in some kind of saucer, but he noticed something at the rear of the ship. He saw some kind of pylon slightly angled upward with a cylindrical object attached to it. It looked to be unpowered as anything not covered with the same metal as the hull of the ship was as black as tar.

"Duuuuude… Where are we?"

Kirb stood tall and gave a huge smile.

"Welcome aboard the MSS Freedom! The final project that will end Robotnik's tyranny once and for all!"

"The what?!"

Manic was flabbergasted. Everything was happening too fast for him to process it all. But before Kirb could respond, the intercom nearby activated and spoke out.

"Bridge to Captain Kirb…"

He reached for the intercom and pressed a button to allow him to talk.

"Kirb here."

"We are ready for the final engine test, Waiting on your order."

He looked over to Manic who was still confused,

"Understood, Let's light 'er up!"

"Yes, sir."

A few moments later, loud humming of the deck plates could be heard all across the ship. Kirb walked up behind Manic and looked out the window to the same pylon that he noticed a few moments ago. They both witnessed a spark of power that ignited the cylindrical object as it got brighter and brighter with color. The front was red with some kind of spinning hydraulic moving about and the sides revealed a light blue glow that extended all the way to the end.

"Wooaahh…" Manic awed.

After a few more seconds, the loud humming rapidly halted and all the light from the engines flickered and quickly died out. Kirb saw this and ran back to the com panel to call the bridge with a confused and worried tone.

"Kirb to bridge, what happened?"

"There must've been a faulty coolant line, sir. The temperature was reaching critical levels. It had to be shut down and I recommend we stay that way until we can find the leak."

Kirb sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How long until it can be repaired?"

"Could take a couple of hours."

"Get on it, we can't miss our window. Make it a priority."

"Understood."

He walked away from the panel and gave a loud sigh. Manic took a step closer and saw that he was frustrated. Then, he heard a soft whisper from him. He couldn't make it out but it was most likely about what just happened. But before he could ask, Kirb turned around with his face showing no frustration at all. Just a fake smile to conceal his true feelings.

"I guess this gives us a bit more time for a tour."

Manic stared in confusion. So many questions were going through his head.

"Look, I don't wanna be rude, dude. But I don't want a tour, I need answers. What happened ever since the war ended? How did you become a captain of this… whatever it is? And what is this window you spoke of? What is going on?!"

As he spoke, his anger rose in his voice. His power began to show itself once more. His eyes turned crystal and electricity wrapped around his hands. It only stopped when he noticed Kirb's expression had changed into one of shock. He looked down and saw the sparks on his hands. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. Then, it all went away. Kirb only stood still.

"Are you alright?" He said with concern.

"Y-Yeah, it's nothing', man…"

Kirb tried to move closer and place a hand on his shoulder. But that caused a stray spark to shock him before he even touched him.

"Maybe we should go to sick bay. Just let the doctor check you over."

Manic didn't agree but he didn't argue either. After a few moments, they both went to the end of the corridor and reached a cylindrical door. It opened to reveal some kind of elevator but in the shape of a cylinder instead of a square lift. They both entered and the door shut in front of them.

"Sickbay." Kirb said aloud.

Just like that, the elevator started to move very fast, but it felt like they weren't moving at all. Manic just stood next to him, not knowing what's going to happen. He still needed to understand everything that happened… or what's going to happen…