The Starfallen

On the outside looking in

"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.