"Look out!" Tails exclaims, just in time for the stone to give way under Sonic. Caught off-guard, the hedgehog plummets, landing on a steep, sloped path and sliding/tumbling the rest of the way down, before being unceremoniously dropped into a lake, or at least, some other body of water of considerable size. The moment he hits the surface, however, he can tell something is wrong. Instead of being surrounded by cold and the pressing weight of liquid, he feels a slight chill, like an autumn morning, and light, as though gravity was either lessened or gone entirely. Not just that, but something goes THROUGH him–a dark thing, faintly familiar, but ancient and full of vile things like hate and bitter, unbridled fury. Everything pauses, and now he's levitating, as though Silver had used his telekinetic abilities on him. "Wh–hello?" He yells, looking around the dark space.

"Hello." Out of black and dark purple mist appears...him? They look identical in every way, not so much as a singular difference to be seen between the two hedgehogs. Other than the grin this other one has plastered on his–assuming they're male–face. "Who are you? What happened? Is this like, my subconscious?" He laughs, an unnerving sound that decidedly puts Sonic on edge. "No, I'm not your subconscious. I'll be far more prominent than that...I'll ensure it." He promises, stepping forward. "Okay, but who ARE you?" Sonic insists, crossing his arms. He smiles, one that shows no teeth, and performs a slight bowing motion, clearly mocking. "Call me...Sonic." He says, breaking back into a wide grin, looking giddy, and like someone told him the funniest thing he'd ever heard, and is struggling to keep from laughing. "You have no idea what you have done...I can't wait." With that, the strange look-alike disappears, and Sonic returns to his weird falling thing. He abruptly lands on a flat surface, smooth but hard and unforgiving, not to mention invisible among the black surroundings. Groaning, Sonic rolls onto his back. Then, forgetting the pain of his fall and tumble, he cries out and stands, stumbling as his equilibrium shifts. Above him is what appears to be a reflection, but it's him, floundering in the water. But he's...wherever this is, so surely it's not him? Another odd thing is that now, he can see in his mind's eye very clearly, even when he's not trying to, what appears to be what's reflected in the space above him, but from the weird not-him-but-looks-like-him's perspective. He refuses to call him Sonic. That's his name, not theirs!

Tails appears shortly, hovering above the water with an outstretched hand, which Other him takes, letting the young fox pull him to shore. Now that they're out of view of the lake, he can't see them in the giant sky-mirror-thing, but the mind's eye thing still works. Now, the lake looks like a sky at night; those glowy worms like distant stars. If he weren't trapped in this weird place, it'd probably be something to admire. Speaking of, Sonic figures to take this moment of respite while the other guy recovers to look around, see if he could maybe escape. At first glance, the area looks desolate and black; a void of nothingness. The ground is solid and doesn't so much as chip when he attacks it in any way. "Whooo! That was fun!" The other guy notes, laughing a little. He's laying on his back, but rolls his head to look at Tails when he speaks. "Are you okay? That fall must've hurt..." he asks, as the not-Sonic sits up and begins trying to dry off. "Meh, I've bounced back from worse with less. I'm fine, really." He promises, a little too cheerfully, if you asked Sonic. He can already tell, given the short interaction they had, this guy is probably bad news, which mean he needs to get out of here as soon as possible. "I'm a speedy hedgehog; how hard could it be?" He reasons, picking a direction and running. He listens in to the conversation between Other Guy and Tails while he does. "Well, if you're sure..." Tails decides, looking back up the way they came.

About one second later, he runs headfirst into a dark wall, lining up with where the cavern wall would be. "I guess I'm not going in this direction." He sighs, turning around and going in a new one. "Guess I'm not too used to actual legs..." Other Guy notes, chuckling lightly to himself, and Tails looks at him curiously. "What was that??" He asks, Other Guy lifting his head to disengage from his thoughts. "Hm? Oh, I was just saying I'm not all too used to legs yet. It'll come to me, though." He starts inspecting his hand, holding it out to admire. "For such a small body, it's quite efficient, isn't it?" Other Guy comments, clenching his hand slowly, turning over his wrist, and wiggling his fingers. "Eh, what do you mean? Did the water mess with your head somehow??" Other Guy snickers, shaking his head. "No, no, little fox...I've never had such a clear mind. But I thought you would have figured it out by now, what with you being called a so-called 'genius'." Other Guy sighs, then shrugs. "Doesn't matter all too much to me, honestly. It's not like it makes a difference to anything." Tails grows confused, maybe even a little nervous, tails lifted a little higher than normal. "Why not?? Sonic, what are you talking about??" Sonic can tell, this is going south, very soon. He wants to tell the young Mobian to run, that it's not him. Staring up at the lake he hasn't found the exit to, he inhales deeply, and charges for where he remembers a wall. "Well, if you don't know understand it by now, I have a plan, I think I'm going to put it into action." He announces, stepping forward, letting his arms sway limply at his sides. Tails' ears go back and down, stepping back. He's sensed something is wrong, too. "See, your friend, Sonic, he has quite the free spirit. Very strong-willed." Closing his eyes, Sonic curls into a ball and jets forward, hoping his momentum will be enough to get him up to the reflective sky, maybe even break through it. While he manages to reach the 'sky', it refuses to give under his momentum and power, sending him falling back to the ground. Sonic grunts, sitting up and rubbing his arm as he stares up once more. Other Guy makes a quiet, amused snort. "Even now, I can sense him, feel him fighting a losing battle. And while he can't do anything at all where he is, he can still see what I see." Other Guy taps his temple, grinning as he had when he'd spoken to Sonic. Bridging the distance between himself and the fox, Other Guy looms over Tails, who hops back again, surprised.

"Hey! You said you could sense me, right? Stop being creepy to my best friend!" Sonic shouts, mostly to test how much of this guy's claims were bluffs. if he hears him, he doesn't respond. "The first thing I'm going to do is break that spirit. Starting with you." Abruptly, Other Guy leaps at Tails, hands out like he's about to rake his claws across the little fox's face, despite having none present. Tails throws himself to one side, instantly getting to his feet and dashing up the slope, Other Guy(he'll figure something out eventually; he's already ruled out 'Faker' since that's what he calls Shadow.) chuckling low and dark as he watches the two-tailed fox flee. "This is going to be fun, huh? Enjoy the show." At a casual, sauntering pace, he makes his way up to the rest of the cave, picking up a little speed. "What are you doing?? I don't know what's going on, or who you are! Why'd you try to attack Tails?" Other Guy doesn't slow, now jogging, picking up the pace as he keeps going. "You'll see." He answers simply, refusing to elaborate. "I'd rather not??" Sonic replies, but doesn't pursue the conversation further.

By now, Tails must be outside, which gives him some hope. Maybe if he can escape and hide, he can find some help. Amy, or Knuckles, heck, even Shadow, though a part of him doubts the latter might help, assuming Tails can find him. "Let's try out that speed of yours, why don't we? I've always wondered how such a form could maneuver as you do with such ease." Other Guy speculates, putting on a burst of speed, nearly running into a wall, veering to the right in the nick of time to avoid crashing. "Good luck with that, you'll get no help from me!" Sonic calls back, hiding his unease. "You don't need to shout, I can hear you fine." Other Guy chastises, turning another corner with far more precision than last time. The blue hedgehog rolls his eyes, at a loss of what to do. He can't help Tails; in fact, he may as well not exist for all the use he is to him now. All he can do is wait, and explore his surroundings, or lack thereof.

In the meantime, Other Guy has caught up with Tails, and darts forward just as Sonic's friend is about to take off, grasping him by his tail. Sonic makes a face of either shock or outrage, he can't tell. He'd made a point of not touching them unless the fox had specifically said otherwise, it was still a sore point for him. Pulling him backwards, the not-Sonic now catches him by the throat, keeping him from touching the ground. "Wha–hey, what are you–stop it, stop, you're hurting him!" Sonic exclaims, opening his clenched fists like he'd drop Tails, then remembers it's not him, he's only seeing what's happening. As if in response, the grip visibly tightens, making Tails thrash a bit more, trying to swing and break free. "Stop!! Please!!" He pleads desperately. Pressing his hands over his eyes and sinking to his knees, Sonic tries to shut out the pained gasps of his friend, heart pounding against his chest. Unfortunately, since it's clearly some sort of mental link, he can still see what's happening. Other Guy tilts his head, still smiling. "I can hear him, you know. He's begging for your life. He's your planet's hero, isn't he? Sort of pathetic, if he's so quickly neutralized." He comments, shaking his head as though disappointed, before returning to that crazed, chipper attitude. "But it'll be interesting to see how he reacts when you die. That'll break him at LEAST a little bit, don't you think?" He asks Tails, who gasps, straining against the hand to his throat, eyes watering. He doesn't have much longer. "Tails..." Sonic says, tearing up himself.

Out of nowhere, though, Other Guy puts up his hand, catching something. In the corner of his mind's eye vision, Sonic can see metallic red, some of the paint scratched off due to hard, aggressive use. It's pressing hard into the hand blocking it, a familiar hissing noise accompanying it. "You certainly have a strong kick...why is that, I wonder? For anyone else, that would have been quite the headache, but unfortunately, I'm not so easy to take down." Other Guy muses, releasing Tails, allowing him to drop to the ground as an unmoving bundle. Sonic can only hope he's alive and just unconscious. He turns to face the new opponent, who makes Sonic stand back up, both surprised and hopeful.

"Shadow!" He cries, relieved. The hedgehog's angry gaze deepens, eyes flicking between Tails and the hedgehog in front of him, probably thinking about how to handle the situation. Unlike Sonic, Shadow will more often take some time to think. Other Guy points at Shadow, stepping forward. "You. The so-called 'Ultimate Life-Form', right? You look like one of these..." He motions towards himself "...but you aren't. You were MADE, by some other species. And that alien, Black Doom's help. It's the Black Arms blood running through your veins right now, isn't it? Does that make you immortal, like they are?" Shadow puts his fists up to his face, refusing to respond. "Too bad it didn't work for your little girl, though. What was her name? Mary? Marie? Oh, yes, that's right! It was Maria!" Sonic winces, he's hesitant to openly bring the girl up, at least around Shadow. He may have tried to ask Eggman about her a few times(the not-so-good doctor always said that he either didn't know, didn't care, or simply wouldn't tell him, so he gave up), though. How this guy knows about her, Sonic has no idea. He was trapped in a lake, no way out and no way to see other than the 'sky'. Unless he somehow saw what Sonic did, like he is now, but wouldn't he have interacted with him before? Whatever the case, Shadow obviously didn't enjoy this guy mentioning her, teeth clenched and moving into a fighting stance. "Oh no, did I hurt your feelings?" His counterpart asks, clearly mocking him. Shadow steps forward, as though about to engage, before thinking better of it and choosing to stay where he is. "Come on, Shads, what are you doing??" Sonic murmurs, waiting for his rival to act.

"So, Shads..." Not-Sonic stretches out the name, clearly echoing what Sonic had said. "...Are we going to fight, or are you going to stand there and keep thinking about poor Maria? After all, I've not met a creature that claims such immortality. I'd like to test that theory out." Shadow moves to one side, dodging a direct attack from Sonic's malevolent copy, once again attacking with his hands outstretched. Spinning to face him again, Shadow suddenly disappears, which Sonic recognizes as Chaos Control. He probably still has an Emerald, then. That's useful. His view spins, turning to look at Tails just in time to see Shadow scoop the unconscious Mobian up in his arms, shoot a glare at him, and disappear. Not-Sonic stands there for a moment, silent and still. Then, he bursts out laughing. "What's so funny?" Sonic demands, feeling more relieved than ever before. The tight, hot feeling in his chest is slowly releasing, but this guy doesn't need to know that he'd triggered such a visceral fear within him. "He's made this much more interesting. This'll not only give me the time to get a grip on this body, but I've had an itch for a game of chase. I do love a good hunt." Sonic shakes his head. "Remind me never to try and play tag with you." He mutters, reaching out his hand to brush the wall. He can't actually see it, it's more of an invisible barrier. But with nothing better to do, he decides to follow it. Maybe there is an exit, he just can't see it because everything is black. "What's your beef, anyway? I think I'd have remembered trapping someone in a lake somehow." He asks, noting that the angle of the floor has shifted. If he's right, he should be under the slope he fell down.

"Alright, that's something." He states, then turns around and jumps; standing behind him is the other him. "No, you haven't met me before. But you've met my reason. I'm just the one sent out to finish the job. Make it come to an End." On the last word, Sonic's surroundings shift and glitch, small hints of static buzzing in the air. "You asked what my name was? Well, as I said, you would be better off calling me Sonic. You may as well; I'm going to be what 'Sonic' is from now on." He adds. Sonic crosses his arms. "But I'M Sonic! I'm not just going to GIVE you my name! Besides, you hurt Tails! That's a very un-Sonic thing to do." Sonic objects, and the Entity(in that moment, he decides that's what he'll call it) chuckles. "That's the point, hedgehog." He says, raising a finger as if to stress said point. "Who sent you, then?? Eggman? Black Doom? Uh...the Zeti?" Sonic demands, changing the subject, and quickly realizing he doesn't have many threats that don't involve Eggman in some way. The Entity shakes his head. "Your doctor? The fact you haven't finished him off disappoints me. Besides, he is a fool. As for the Black Arms? The Zeti? I'd not work with such creatures. Too brutish, and their plans are small. No, I'm an accomplice of someone much older than that. Recent to you, but far beyond you in years. One with a plan much more everlasting and permanent." Sonic groans, rolling his eyes. "Look, I'm not good at all these riddle things. Just get to the point." The copy shakes his head, grinning. "Not yet. I'll let you think about it, first." The Entity decides. "Okay, well, whoever sent you, what if I talked to 'em? I'm sure we could work something out. Maybe something that involves...not killing my friends??" The Entity scowls, abruptly appearing in his face, cold and angry. "We're well beyond that now. You made sure of it." He replies coldly, voice dripping with a sudden, potent venom. Then, he disappears, enveloped by that blue-black mist, and momentarily displaying glowing red eyes and a jagged mouth, reminiscent of the Time Eater, if the Time Eater lost all its cogs and most of its shape. Sonic sighs, turning back and finding the wall again to remember where he is, then slowly starts continuing on. Unsure how long he spends wandering the tunnels, he eventually makes it out. Or at least, into a larger space.

A small grey shard catches his attention. The Entity seems busy with figuring out how he can use Sonic's speed efficiently, so Sonic focuses on investigating this shard. Once he gets close, he realizes it's some sort of window, allowing him to see the real world. He can't move it, but it's hard and if he had a bigger one, he'd be interested to see if it would hold his weight. But what is it that's allowing him to see through it? What is it? Once he gets over his initial revelation, Sonic moves on, half-hoping to find some more, which he does. He finds a whole collection of them, showing him what appears to be a small town of some sort. He's staring through the windows and mirrors, any reflective surface. If the Entity was here, he'd undoubtedly have known about this, and it would explain how he knows so much outright about Shadow, specifically. "If I can find one of my friends, maybe I can get their attention...get some help." He figures it's worth a shot, at the very least. Now, to find them. He isn't all too great with maps, and with nothing to go on but his own instinct(and undoubtedly plenty of bruises and running into things), it'll be harder than he likes, but he refuses to let that stop him. He sets out with new purpose, searching for another cluster of these reflections.

For a while, his searches come up empty, and he certainly has run into an unspecified number of objects, but eventually, he finds people. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize them. It's a tall wolf girl, with a sort of punk look to her, dark, ashy grey fur and dark blue edges to her hair and tail, while there is a circle on both her arms: the top goes over her shoulders and the bottom crosses just above her elbow. Walking beside her is a cat, with dull, beige fur and a hint of faded lavender on the tip of her tail and around her eyes. She has rich, dark blue pants and a red jacket, while the wolf has a purple shirt with no sleeves and dark army green pants. She also has tall, light purple boots and two small cuffs of cloth attached to ribbons around her wrists. Walking behind the two of them is..."Shadow?!" He exclaims, doing a double-take. Sensing something just outside his peripheral vision, he whips around, then relaxes when he sees nothing. Maybe this place is making him crazy. Or if the Entity can get in here, maybe he's messing with him. Turning his attention back to the trio, Sonic tries to closer observe the hedgehog. He manages to confirm it isn't Shadow, but the hedgehog looks very similar. Their quills are different colors, though–while Shadow's are primarily black, this one looks a little blue, so Sonic decides they aren't black, but some sort of almost-black in the blue, cyan, or teal range. The quills on this one's head are also pointed at a sharper degree, more triangular than the smoother shape of Shadow's. Furthermore, they lack the patch of white Shadow has on his chest, and wherever he has streaks of red, they have a tangerine orange. They also seem...off, in a way. Sonic doesn't know what it is, maybe the blank, emotionless stare, or the mechanical, almost programmed way in which they walk. "You really think this'll work? They're called the 'Mystic RUINS' for a reason." The wolf says, and the cat nods. "We don't know anything about it. If we want to find out what it is, or at least maybe where it came from, this place must surely be essential." Sonic furrows his brows, then steps back when they move too far from the reflection. Some water, Sonic's pretty sure. It ripples when he touches it, but never gives to pressure. The hedgehog frowns, and moves on. If he's around the Mystic Ruins, maybe he can find a way over to Knuckles. With luck, he'll be able to get a message across somehow to warn him of what's happening.

In the meantime, he now focuses more on whatever the weird guy is up to, having managed to ignore him up till now. It isn't perfect, he can still see what's happening at any moment, but he's convinced himself that giving himself the illusion of choice whether to acknowledge it or not is enough. The Entity is approaching a figure in front of a cavern. There's a few lights glowing inside, and Sonic is torn between hoping he is and isn't mistaking the low, barely perceptible mumble of voices. Standing guard outside is Omega, the robot from Eggman's lot that for some reason joined Rouge and Shadow. Nobody ever truly specified the details to that for him, but the machine has proved to be a formidable opponent time and time again, so he's glad he's not on Eggman's side. He turns to the Entity, who stops, backing up into the bushes again. Omega pauses for a moment, then follows. "Query: Sonic, why are you hiding in a bush?" He asks, formal and direct. The Entiry doesn't reply, only waits, until Omega is closer. "Answer: getting rid of you." The Entity replies, a little corny, but true enough as he attacks, jumping onto Omega's chest, grabbing his head, and throwing himself forward, as though trying to wrench off his head through brute force. He doesn't accomplish that, but he does manage to make Omega fall over, giving him the chance to scramble back onto Omega's chest and catch his arm, twisting it off and plunging it into the robot's chest, violently shoving it to the side to rip a hole into him. "Mmm...that feels better." He says, shifting to crack his neck for a moment. There's a double layer to his voice, now: Like someone were speaking under him at the same time in a more digital manner. Yanking it back out with a grunt, he then proceeds to wedge the tips of Omega's claws into the space between the robot's head and body, using it to push his head out and pull it off, then drops the arm, picks up the head, and sits down to inspect it. "The people of your world are very skilled in machinery, I will admit...how did you manage the programming and add emotional capacity into such things? Those humans can't claim much to AI, and yet the doctor created...this." The Entity marvels, tilting the head toward the sunlight, turning it over to look at and fiddle with the wiring. "I don't know, making robots and programming isn't my thing." Sonic replies, trying to process the brutality of what he just witnessed. Sure, Omega was a robot, but it's the implications–what if he tried that on a PERSON? On Knuckles? Or Tails? It'd be awful. Sonic shudders, pushing the dark realization out of his mind. "Well, I suppose I'll find out when I find Eggman. He may have some use." Sonic raises an eyebrow. "So...you're...not going to kill him?" The Entity shrugs, shoving the head back into its place, but damaging it more as he does, before standing up and grabbing the arm, and dragging Omega along by his neck. Or, where it would be, at least. "Why don't we return this back to your friends?" Sonic freezes. "Whatever you're planning on doing, don't do it. We can work something out, can't we?" He tries, genuinely afraid. "No can do. I told you I was itching for a good game of chase. I intend to follow through with that." Sonic frets, unwilling to experience that close call ever again. Though, now Shadow's with Tails. If the two of them were here, perhaps this would be okay. It's all the hope he has to hold on to for both of their safety, and he clings to it fervently. "...figuring out how to use the new form it's copied." Shadow's voice, low and serious states, which is not what Sonic wanted to hear when the Entity walked in. "Then nowhere on this planet is truly safe." Rouge points out. She's here, too?? Sonic groans, running a hand over his face. Even if Tails isn't here, they run the risk of being killed! The Entity stops when he spots them: Rouge and Shadow are speaking to Tails, who sits in a sort of cot. Shadow has a computer, which he's using at the moment to read something the screen's brightness won't allow the Entity to read. "Yes, this body's speed proves to be a bit of a problem for you, doesn't it?" Shadow immediately sets it down and spins around, Rouge flaring her wings in surprise, and Tails' eyes widening. The Entity moves closer, deliberately drawing attention to the body of Omega as it scrapes against the stone. "It's useful, but difficult to control and manage. By the way, does this belong to someone?" He tosses Omega at them, still holding its arm. "Please, Ultimate Life-Form," he snarls. "Were you REALLY hoping THAT thing would stop me? This body is small, but it is capable, like your friend was. He was worthy of his title of 'hero'...for a time. No longer." He drops the limb, and Shadow growls quietly under his breath, shifting his position. "And you." The Entity points at Tails. "You escaped me once, I wouldn't count on you being so lucky again." He warns, and Shadow steps in front of the fox, obscuring him from view as he stares the Entity down. "You aren't getting anywhere near him." He says, a statement of finality. "Oh, no? And I'm guessing that you intend to stop me? Go on, try it. I'd love to see you fall, too." The Entity sneers, spreading his arms wide in an open challenge. Sonic holds his breath, waiting to see what Shadow will do.

Just as Shadow moves, a darkness comes over Sonic's vision, obscuring his sight. "Hey!" He objects. He was against seeing what was happening, but he still wants to know if his friends are okay! He can't even locate those little shard patches anymore. It's as though he were put in a box with no lights whatsoever. He can't even hear anything. "What's the big idea?" He demands, reaching out as he walks around, looking for something that he can interact with again. "You didn't want to see what I would do, didn't you?" The Entity points out, though this time, his voice is changed considerably. "But, I can show you what will happen." There's a sense of being dragged somewhere, like he's frozen in place as the ground beneath his feet pulls him away. The darkness dissipates, revealing a scene he instantly turns his back on. "No." The sharp word is followed by something manually forcing his eyes open, making him look. "See what you have brought." Before him lay the scattered bodies of his friends. Amy has a savage gash on her throat, eyes open as the blood pools out and around her. Knuckles is battered, bruised, and covered in blood, either his own or someone else's, Sonic can't tell. He certainly went down fighting, either way. His hands, his knuckles, are especially damaged, one of the small spikes on his left hand chipped and broken. "Why would you show me this?!" Sonic demands, fighting to keep the tremble out of his voice. "Because you don't understand. You don't understand what you've done. You dared to oppose me, and this is what resulted of it." The hedgehog is finally released, the darkness clouding over his sight once more, and allows him to drop to the ground, breathing shakily. Of all the threats he's faced, none have made him this afraid. Concerned, sure. Worried? Absolutely. But not this level of pure, unbridled fear. He also recognizes the voice, the one laid underneath the strange entity's. "Well, I'm sorry, but you were about to destroy the planet. That I live on. That everyone else lives on. That everyone I care about lives on. I couldn't just sit idly by." He retorts, still too shaken to stand, instead sitting up with his knees close to his chest. "It isn't called the End for nothing." The Entity snorts, materializing in a smoky form. "Why do you help it?" Sonic asks, unable to fathom why something would aid in destroying worlds. "We all have no choice in doing something." He replies bitterly. "That's not true, it's always a choice." The Entity growls, then wakes his smoky hand. "You'll learn." He mutters dismissively. With that, he leaves, and everything goes back to normal. Or, whatever the established 'normal' is for this place he's in. "On with the hunt." The Entity announces, now by a stream. He's looking for something, seeking the source of various noises. "What did you do? Are they alive?" Sonic demands, a small part of him wondering if he's going to be fine without water or food. "Telling you takes the fun out of it. They might be alive, they might be dead." The Entity answers cryptically, waving his hands around. There's a red substance on them, which does not bode well for the hedgehog's hopes. Sonic pauses, then mentally slaps himself. He can't just give up. That would mean the End's won. He works best under impossible odds, and isn't Shadow immortal? For all he knows, the Entity's just bluffing. Picking himself up, he forces himself to keep going. Knuckles is close; he's still in the Mystic Ruins area. Now he just needs to find a way onto the floating island. 

Another two hours of wandering and crashing into things, and Sonic has a headache and slight progress. He's able to walk on the water below Angel Island, and if he remembers correctly, there's a waterfall flowing off of it. Assuming he can reach it, maybe he can run up the reflection to look for Knuckles. Sure enough, he comes across a long, vertical strip that stretches up into the darkness. Only staying still long enough to make sure he knows where he's going, Sonic charges, running up the strip of light and successfully reaching the island. Using the river's view there, he tries to remember the layout of the land, before heading off to the right. If he knows the Echidna, he's most likely still with the Master Emerald. Last he checked, it had at least SOME reflective properties, so now he just has to hope he can get Knuckle's attention. Before he reaches it, or maybe he'd passed it already without knowing, he stops at the sound of voices. "...while. Is there anything else you know or remember? anything at all?" That's definitely Rouge's voice, so he follows it to something in a wall, he thinks. Maybe a tree? Anyway, it's there he spots Rouge and Knuckles, patting the ground like they'd buried something. "I don't know. Whatever this Starfallen thing is, I don't think my ancestors were keen to talk about it. I mean, if it's such a big threat, I don't think they'd want other people to find it." The Echidna reasons. "Surely they left SOMETHING?" Rouge insists, and Knuckles shakes his head. "I've lived here my whole life. I know this island better than anyone else, and I haven't seen anything related to this other than the pool." Rouge frowns, putting a hand on her hip. "Now, you explain something to me." Knuckles waves at the patch of actually well-disguised earth. "You really think THAT is going to stop such a thing? I mean, it's the best we can do, but..." Rouge's expression turns grim, and she stares at it. "No." She answers finally, holding her arms. "But it might give us some time. At the end of the day, the best we can hope for is that Shadow can hold it off when we need him to, and that eventually, we'll figure something out." Sonic steps back, looking for more reflections. If Shadow's here, he's probably keeping a perimeter. While he claims to be different from Sonic, he shares that need to do something all of the time. Be it pacing or even just thinking, Shadow is almost always doing some thing or other. While he doesn't find Shadow, he does stumble into a sort of cave system, or a maze of some kind, which opens to reveal a pool, not that it reveals much. The space is closed in, though, so Sonic turns and heads back toward wherever the tunnel was. Directly behind him, he trusts. A few seconds after he's successfully located the tunnel and walked in, he hears a sound: some sort of angry grunt, and the splash of water. Racing back, he manages to catch the slightest glimpse of Tails, at least he thinks. It seemed like a pretty Tails-esque image. "Tails?" He asks, kneeling on the ground to get closer to the pool. "Tails, was that you? Can you hear me? Please, buddy, I've been looking all over for you..." he says. Just as he's beginning to suspect he was imagining it, the little fox appears, kneeling at the water's edge. "Sonic?!" The hedgehog sighs, once again we'll beyond relieved. "Tails, you're alive! I'd hug you if I could...Where are you? I don't recognize this." Sonic tries to indicate to where Tails is, however successful that may have been. "Somewhere on Angel Island. Hiding from the...thing." Sonic nods in understanding. "Is Shadow with you?" He asks, and the young Mobian glances behind him, then shakes his head. "He went out to go make sure it didn't follow us." Sonic makes a face; he'd suspected as much. "Okay. Now as glad as I am to know you're all alive and safe, this guy's still out there, and it seems like you might've found something." Tails inhales, and starts his explanation. "First and foremost, we know it's not from here. It's from the Ancient's time; and they named it the Starfallen, which we've been calling it, too. It's definitely tied to that lake somehow, though we don't understand how or why. Knuckles says that there was a connection between the Ancients who sealed the Starfallen away underground, the Echidna's involvement, and this pool here. This place was meant to keep an eye on it, but it feels more like a safe house, now. Another thing is that they suggested that it is a high likelihood that you can get out. The first time the Starfallen appeared, an Ancient fell into the lake, and they swapped places. They didn't specify how, but it seems they managed to put it back into the lake, which freed the Ancient." Sonic nods. "Which thankfully rules out possession. I was worried about fighting." Sonic waves his hand dismissively. "Yeah, he's not...he's not in my body. I mean, I feel real. But, I can see what he sees, and sometimes he'll come in here to talk to me, though mostly he leaves me alone." Sonic confirms, poking the reflection. He can see that on the other side, the water ripples where he touched it, but doesn't move otherwise. "I didn't know he had a name though, he just told me to call him Sonic. But he's a bigger faker than Shadow is!" Sonic huffs, miffed at the thought of this entity replacing him. "Can you...see where it is now? What's it doing?" Tails inquires. Sonic pauses, focusing on the Entity. "Yeah. He's running. Not fast, but normal running. He's, um...killing animals." He answers, looking down. Amy's going to be so upset... 

"Do you always see what it's doing? Are you okay?" The fox worries, twitching his ear. Sonic falters for a moment, but manages a smile and shrugs it off. The Entity and the End may have definitely gotten to him a bit, but Tails doesn't need to know that. "I'll be okay, so long as you and everyone else are safe." He promises, only a little lacklustre than he normally would have been. He hopes his friend won't notice. "And I don't think he knows how to get to Angel Island, what with how he's wandering around. Which gives us SOME time. Some." Sonic takes a deep breath, pauses to confirm and collect his thoughts. "I might have a plan. At the very least, I have a smart idea: I need you to go find the Chaos Emeralds. Even if we don't use them, if we can keep them out of the Starfallen's hands, that's a good thing. Shadow has one, right?" Tails nods. "Yeah, I thought so. I don't know where the other ones are, but I'm planning on enlisting some help." Sonic grins, a real, bright one this time. "This isn't the only reflection I can talk to you through. There's a lot of them here, so I think it's any water-based reflection around that I can use. Maybe metal. At least, that's what I hope. Once I figured this out, I started looking for you, or anyone, who could help. In my travels, I found some people. A trio, and if I had to guess, thieves of some kind. I didn't stick around with them for too long, but they might be able to help." He explains, as Tails listens closely. He may be wrong, but whatever 'it' was they were talking about, he'd bet it's connected to the Chaos Emeralds. It's a loose hope, but still, a sliver of hope is better than none. "Did you see any clues about where they are, or where they're headed?" He waves his hand, mostly indicating to the relative direction he's pretty sure the Mystic Ruins are in. "I think they were hunting through the mystic ruins, actually." Sonic frowns, noting a difference in the Entity–the Starfallen's behaviour. It's found something, or it's at least figured something out. "I should go. He's up to something, now. Think you can get Knuckles, Rouge, and Shads in on it, too?" Tails dips his head, confirming his part, and Sonic grins. "You can count on me!" He assures the hedgehog. "Great! Good luck, if I find you again, we'll catch up." He stands up and backs away, moving back out and sitting in a corner to focus. "Your friend, Amy...she lives around here, doesn't she? Her and that rabbit." The Starfallen inquires. Through its eyes, Sonic can see a field, large, white flowers swaying in the breeze. "So why don't we pay her a little visit?" 

A/N 

Yeah, it's cookin.

But, in other news, this chapter has the most words I've written in a chapter ever, at 6668 words, not counting the A/N! YAY!!