where we've been growing slowly;

The matte black cylindrical shape shifted when Sonic spoke, giving him a brief glimpse of a black leather belt with a very shiny buckle. Definitely legs. Likely an Eggman. A member of the Chaos Council? Or did this world have its own Eggmen, like the blonde guy with the fire extinguisher back at the visitor centre?

The male voice which had been talking about rings before spoke again, although not to answer any of Sonic’s questions. Sonic frowned, trying to make the words make sense in his still-dazed mind. ‘Trank’, like… like tranquiliser? Like that thing inside a knock-out gas bolt? If they’d hit him with one of those already, it would make sense that his brain felt as fluffy as a cloud. If the voice had decided to trank him again then there wouldn’t have been anything he could have done, but fortunately another voice decided against it. Sonic flicked his ears, trying to make sense of where the different voices were coming from and get clues about what kind of space he was in. There was no kind of echo, which suggested somewhere small and enclosed or somewhere soft. Or both, Sonic thought groggily, as he stared at the stitching in the black leather.

There were other noises too, beyond the vehicle. A rumbling sound, and a noise Sonic recognised from Eggman’s various contraptions: the whine of electricity. Bright spotlights periodically shone from above, making the leather gleam, before passing by and plunging them all into darkness again.

He wiggled again, trying to push himself onto his back so that he could get a different angle on what was going on. Unfortunately, he seemed to be wedged between two leather arms on the seats; between those and the cuffs, he was getting nowhere.

The woman’s voice followed on from the men’s, and this time someone was finally talking to him. She was asking questions of her own instead of answering his, but Sonic could take that as long as he wasn’t being ignored. He hated being ignored.

“That’s me.” They knew him in this shatterspace, then. Did that mean there was another Sonic here? The possibility made his head hurt even more. “He’s Nine, and he has nine tails. Don’t try and call him Tails though, he hates that. You said he was with me, like not with me now? Like, you guys didn’t get him? He’s out there?”

Sonic wasn’t one for shuttering away his emotions; hope and relief lifted the tone in his questions. Of course they didn’t get Nine. They’d get more than they bargained for if they messed with Sonic’s best buddy. And if Nine was out there, he was most likely putting his brainy fox brain to use trying to track down and rescue his friend.

If Nine were here, he would have used his brainy fox brain to tell Sonic to shut up so he could listen for the clues which would tell them more about where they were as the vehicle slowed to a stop. Unfortunately for Sonic, Nine was not here, and shutting up wasn’t exactly one of the hedgehog’s go-to moves.

“So you know me then? Or like another me?” He asked, hoping the female voice would answer him this time. “Is there another me here? And another Tails? You didn’t seem to know who he was though. Hey, can you sit me up? I can’t see anything. All this security is really unnecessary, you know. I don’t even know who you are, dudes, I’m not going to attack you or anything. Who even are you guys? Do you know Eggman? Are you related to Eggman? Ugh,” he groaned. “This isn’t going to be another one of those Eggman family reunions, is it? I’m so done with those.”