Chapter 1: Lost

This first drop of rain would have be welcomed, had it not turned the situation our group of four was in grim and suddenly very real. It was a hard thing to explain, you see, this group of four was not from the planet this story takes place on. No, in a simplistic way they were aliens to the Natives of Earth, a fact unknown to either party at this point.

Now it wasn't strictly unusual for this particular group to end up in circumstances paralleling this, it was simply the first time that they had been transported across space and time rather than varying locations on their home planet. For the lives of these four were anything but dull, because such were lives of heroes.

Yet where there were heroes, they was always evil for them to defeat. For our group that evil came in the form of Doctor Robotnik, a human who specialized in building robots and elaborate schemes to take over the Mobius – the world this story will not take place on. The Doctor's origins are unknown to our heroes but since the first day his robots appeared they have been fighting him until the days dragged on into years. It was Robotnik, undoubtly, who was to blame for their current situation. The groundwork for his latest scheme had center around gathering an immense amount of energy to power his otherwise lackluster machines but our heroes had interrupted at the ideal moment.

But in the fight something had been damaged and through the magic of science that same energy had sent our group here to Earth. But they were not alone.

Now, it's not that there was another party in their group, no, in fact it was something greater. Robotnik had chosen a very particular location for his plan, a place that held the source of a great power, perhaps the greatest on the planet: Angel Island.

The history of Angel Island is a long one and not well-known to most residing on Mobius. Fables told of the island's mysterious ability to float over the lands, miles over the land and to move as it pleased in the sky. They also spoke of the strange beings who lived there and of the powerful treasure they guarded: The Master Emerald.

Little did most know that the stories were mostly accurate. The citizens of the island had died off long ago, save one, and it was the lone survivor who now guarded The Master Emerald and prevented anyone from using it. At least that had been the plan until recently.

In truth Robotnik had gotten the best of The Guardian and had stolen the great emerald for an endless power supply, prompting the fight with our heroes and resulting in their current situation. The only good thing, perhaps solely in the mind of The Guardian, was that somehow they had retrieved the emerald and, more astonishingly, the massive floating island had arrived with them, a testament to the true power of The Master Emerald.

Despite the familiar surroundings they now stood on, there was an entire world beyond the island that was strange and unfamiliar. Upon their initial arrival, miles in the distance of the ink black sky and tiny stars, they had been able to see countless yellowish lights spotting the horizon. A city, and a big one from the look of it. However, the illuminations they had seen when they arrived were gone. There was no debating it, they hadn't imagined it, and they had just vanished like someone had thrown a switch and threw the region below into total darkness. It was daunting, almost alarming but after what had happened to them they had no choice.

They had to figure out what was down there, they had to find a way to get home.

"No."

Knuckles the Echidna, however, had another opinion on the matter.

From partially up the stairs of the ancient yet pristine temple that stood in the midmost clearing of trees Knuckles, the protector of the island, opened intense purple eyes to glare at the cobalt hedgehog who was staring back at him in incredulity with jade eyes.

"No? What do you mean no?"

"It doesn't need a definition, Sonic," Knuckles grated folding powerful arms squarely over his chest, the action made all the more menacing due to the large and only source of light that was raised behind him, casting his features into shadows. When all else failed, The Master Emerald was a good lantern.

Sonic the Hedgehog let out a prolonged groan at the red-clad Guardian's stubbornness. It was a trait that never failed in the worse of situations, nor did Knuckles' need to blame the hedgehog for anything that went wrong just because he happened to be standing right next to bad things when they happened. "What are we supposed to do then? Sit here and do nothing? In case ya haven't noticed, Knucklehead, we're kinda stuck here. Wherever here is."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Okay, okay," Sonic held up two gloved hands in a mock defense, feigning an apologetic look for all of three seconds. "Maybe, maybe, we're here because of something I did but it wasn't all my fault. Robotnik's responsible too, y'know."

"Congratulations," Knuckles' tones were coated in a toxic sarcasm as he descended the stairs, stepping up to Sonic. "You're just as bad as the evil genius who tries to take over our world every other day and imprisons innocent Mobians. Must be a real honor."

Blue ears fell as the hedgehog let out an awkward laugh, taking a step back so he wasn't quite within attack range for the echidna. "Well…I wouldn't put it that way… At least I'm trying to do somethin' to get us back. Who knows where Robotnik ended up and what he's doing?"

"Is that supposed to make us feel better? You of all people should know what he's capable of, especially when he's not being watched," Knuckles added irritably. "If he is here I have no doubt he'll be trying to find a way to take over this place or find us and finish the job. If he's not, and he's back home…I'll let you piece that one together yourself, Hero."

Sonic didn't want to. This was rapidly turning into the most chaotic night of his life. Though he wouldn't accept the role if it was forced down his throat, Sonic was the leader of the small group consisting of himself, Knuckles, Tails – his little brother and two tailed fox - and Amy – a pink hedgehog with a temper all her own. The title only came because he was the first to have fought against Robotnik back when he was ten, being fifteen now it was more of a job then anything. Over the years he had met Tails, Amy and Knuckles while chasing The Doctor and they had stayed together and friends since, for the most part.

"Don't be so stupid, Knuckles," Amy snapped at the echidna coming between Sonic and the echidna with a threat in her olive eyes. "If the four of us, your island and your stupid rock all ended up here there's no way Robotnik could be back home. We were all in the same area."

Over to the side, Tails nodded in agreement, his twin tails swaying thoughtfully behind him. "She's right, you know. It wouldn't make any sense for him not to be here somewhere when everything else is, and we all know there's no chance that he knew something like this was going to happen and came up with a plan to save himself from the effect."

To that they were all in agreement. For all of his ideas and schemes Robotnik was far from the most logical or smartest guy out there. Most times he was easily beaten by Sonic and his friends, very rarely did he get the best of them. It was his determination and endless ideas that were the real threat.

"Then what do we do? Find a way over there?" Knuckles asked after a silence had filled the air around the shrine. "We'll end up in another fight with him and Chaos knows what else is down there. We could be going from a bad situation to a worse one, and be leaving the island unguarded and open to attack."

"Then you stay here and I'll go," Sonic suggested, receiving a prompt snort from the echidna. "What now?"

"You expect me to believe that you're going to cross all of that," an outstretched arm motioned to the vast darkness that was all around and beneath the island. Due to the lack of lights and the fact it was night it was hard to see anything past the shrine but back when the lights had been on in the city Knuckles had grasped their outer surroundings, off the island, more than anyone else. "That's not just a black hole down there, Sonic, it's water."

That one word was enough to pop the blue hedgehog's spirit, evident by his frown, sagging shoulders and lack of clever response. It was no secret among their group that Sonic had a severe fear of water and was unable to swim because of it. In the rare times the hedgehog had to deal with it, it wasn't pretty and usually lead to sleepless nights.

This time the silence that fell wasn't shattered for a while, letting the sound of the wind brush over them and the plant life around the shrine. Now that it was quiet they could hear the ocean beneath them and the occasional 'plop' of the unknown creatures in it coming up for air, or perhaps for a peek at the floating mass of land.

In the end it was Tails who broke it with an excited gasp, nearly hopping in place as an idea struck him. "What if we use The Tornado?"

Just like that, as quickly as it had disappeared, Sonic's spirit was elevated again, a smirk across his face. "That'll work! If everything else got put here with us it outta still be were you left it."

"Way to go Tails!" Amy applauded, hugging the fox who chuckled.

Knuckles only grunted, walking back to the steps of the shrine to show he wasn't moving from it or the island. "Do what you want, I'm staying here."

"Kinda figured that one already, Knucklehead," Sonic quipped, unfortunately it went unheard as the echidna had already fully ascending the steps to The Master Emerald. Turning back to his little brother the hero jabbed a thumb towards the forest. "Now let's you and me go grab the plane so we can see what's up with this place."

Tails nodded but next to him Amy frowned and huffed, glaring at the blue hedgehog who had just excluded her from the escapade.

"I'm going too!"

"You can't," Sonic said firmly, holding up two gloved hands before gesturing to where Knuckles was perched. "I need someone to stay here and keep Knuckles out of trouble. Besides if something does happen to us then we'll need both of you to figure out a way to save us," a bigger smile adorned his face as he looked squarely at Amy. "I can trust you to do that, right?"

For a second Tails thought she would protest the idea, as she usually did whenever Sonic suggested leaving her somewhere that wasn't right by his side, but the pink hedgehog's expression turned determined and she nodded, all at once throwing her arms around Sonic's neck and hugging him to her.

"Of course you can! Just promise you'll be safe, okay?"

"Gah…" Sonic groaned at the contact and the lack of air, trying his best to keep his balance. "Fine, promise, can I go now?"

Amy submitted and released him, waving as she too turned to ascend the proximate stairs. It was best to stay as close as possible to the person she was assigned to keep out of trouble after all.

After watching the echidna glare at the pink hedgehog, then him, then Tails just for good measure, Sonic laughed victoriously before clapping the fox on the shoulder with a wink.

"Ready to go?"

"Ready."

First chapter's up! Please let me know what you think!