Chapter 1: Island Camping
On the floating Island of Angel Island, Sonic and friends are having a camp out today. The ones who show up are Sonic,Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Maria, and surprisingly Shadow. Of course, Maria is able to convince him and Shadow like to spend some more time with her.
After arriving Angel Island, everyone are setting up camp and more friends arrive. The Chaotix; Vector, Charmmy, and Espio, along with Mighty and Ray, and Charmmy's friend, Saffron. The only locals who are on the island are Knuckles and his girlfriend, Julie-Su. Everyone also help each other pitch each other's tents and set a fire place along with logs to sit on. Once everything is ready, the camping can begin.
Maria looks at the edge of the island close to the Master Emerald Shrine to see the world that is being passed by from being on the island.
"Wow! This is really amazing. I never seen a floating island before. And I can see the world from up here," Maria happily says.
Julie-Su walks to Maria, "It sure is. You can practically see the whole world from here."
"I'm very happy to meet you Julie-Su," Maria says.
"I can say the same about you. It's nice to meet a Robotnik that isn't trying to take over the world," Julie-Su teases.
Maria giggles, "I've been told a lot. But I'm just happy to get to see the planet after so long."
"From what Sonic and the others told me, you lived in a Space Colony ARK for a long time and never got to experience a life on your home planet," Julie says.
"Not, but I'm glad to be here now, making new friends, going to new places, and I'm glad to be with Shadow," Maria says.
"Sounds very nice. I can tell how much you like him," Julie says.
Maria blushes, "Of Julie, stop teasing me."
"Hey girls," Sonic's voice shouts.
Maria and Julie-Su turn to see Sonic walking up to them.
Sonic says, "We're going to go exploring, you wanna come?"
"I love to," Maria says.
"I'm a local here as much as Knuckles so I don't need too much exploring," Julie says.
"If you say so," Maira says
Then head back to camp to see the others. Julie smiles and glad see Maria happy here.
At the campsite, Shadow is sitting on a tree branch with his arms crossed on his chest and is legs crossed laying on the branch. He looks like he is taking a nap.
He then hears Maria's voice, "Shadow. Shadow."
Shadow opens his eyes and looks down to see Maria looking up with a smile on her face.
"Hi Shadow," Maria happily says.
"Hey Maria," Shadow calmly says.
Maria asks, "Sonic and the others are going to go exploring, you wanna come with us? Also, you don't have to go if you don't want to."
Shadow thinks about it, and answers, "No thank you, but make sure to stay with Sonic and the others."
"Okay. Try not to sleep too long or you'll be up all night," Maria says. Then happily smiles.
In the Forest area of Angel Island, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Might, Ray, and Maria are off exploring the area. Everyone else decide to stay at camp to relax or do some work.
"Exploring the forest is a great idea, we get to go to find some new activity," Mighty says.
"Y-yeah. I think e-exploring the island i-is a great idea," Ray says.
Maria giggles, "I never been on Angel Island before, so I'm glad to explore around the area."
"Yeah. We like it here," Mighty says.
"There are so much that goes on around the island, and many Echidnas live here," Tails says.
"Really? Do you think I get to meet there?" Maria asks with glee.
"Probably. However, there are some Echidnas you need to watch out for. Not all of them are friendly," Amy says.
"Right. I understand," Maria says.
"D-don't worry Maria. I-I'm sure the island is a-a safe place to b-be r-right now," Ray replies.
Everyone continue to walk around the forest to see what the forest part of the island has to offer them. Maria looks around to see the large trees and turns her head to see a strange flash of light.
"Hmm, what was that?" Maria asks herself.
Maria sees the strange light and becomes curious about seeing it, Maria stops in her tracks as everyone else continue to walk forward. She then begins to walk away to see what the strange light is. Maria walks for a short amount of time to come across a clearing past the trees.
She reaches the end of the forest to see a clearing full of grass, some flowers, and a lot of sunshine. Maria smiles with glee to see the bright and beautiful clearing. Suddenly, she notices something that catches her attention.
"Hmm, what is that?" Maria asks herself.
She walks over to see a campsite. There is a tent, a fireplace, a table. On and next to the table are a few supplies and science equipments. There are also five strange gold rings on it.
"Hmm, someone else must be here camping as well," Maria says to herself.
She then picks up the ring, "Wow! This ring is so pretty. I wonder what it is? Who could be here?"
Suddenly he hears someone calling out, "Maria!"
Maria turns her head to hear where the calling is coming from.
Then hears more voices calling her name, "Maria! Where are you?! Maria!"
"That's right, I forgot about my friends," Maria says to herself.
She then places hurries back to find the others. However, she forgot that she has the ring from the table back at the campsite, so she ends up placing it in her pocket.
In the forest, Sonic and the others are looking for Maria.
"Where could that girl be?" Sonic asks.
"Yeah. She just up and disappeared," Amy replies.
Mighty looks up at the sky, "We better find her soon, it's already starting to get dark."
"I'm here! I'm here!" Maria calls out.
Everyone turn to see Maria hurrying to them.
"There you are. We were looking for you," Amy says.
"Sorry. I saw a strange light so I follow it. I came across a camping site over there," Maria says, pointing the way.
"Really?" Ray asks.
"Yes. I didn't see anyone at the camping site, but they have a lot of stuff over there," Maria says.
"Well, it's not safe to go to someone's camp site without asking. All the same, we're glad that you're safe," Amy says.
Maria blushes, "Again, I'm sorry I disappeared on you."
"That's okay. As long as you're okay and if you don't ran into trouble, you'll be safe. Plus, Shadow will have our ncks if anything happens to you," Sonic says.
Maria nervously laughs, "I have to agree. Although, I think Shadow can be a bit overprotective of me."
"That's a bit of an understatement," Tails mutters.
"You can say that again," Mighty replies.
After returning to the campsite, everyone are having dinner by the campfire. Shadow however is sitting by the tree away from the crowd. Maria decides to join him so he won't be alone.
"So guys, how was your exploration?" Vector asks.
"We had a good time, but I kind of wondered off when I saw a strange light," Maria says.
Shadow says, "I told you to stay with the others. You could get yourself lost. You don't know the island very well."
"I'm sorry. I also found a campsite," Maria says.
"A campsite?" Knuckles asks.
"Yes. Someone seems to be camping in the forest and there was these strange rings," Maria says.
Charmy asks, "What kind of rings are they?"
"Well… they're a gold color and the ring is large enough to be a bracelet of some kind," Maria says, describing the ring.
Espio thinks, "Hmm, could the rings actually be Warp Rings?"
"Could be, but who would be on the island?" Vector asks.
"I'm not sure. There was no one at the campsite, but I did remember seeing a lot of equipment. Maybe someone is here for work or something," Maria says.
"Could be," Ray says.
Shadow also begins to think, "That leaves one important question, who could be here besides us? And why did they have War Rings around here."
Maria asks, "Um, if you don't mind me asking, but what's a Warp Ring?"
"That's right, you never saw one before. A Warp Ring is like a gold bracelet like you said, but you're able to use it to create a portal that will take you to anywhere you can think of," Knuckles says.
"Wow! That sounds amazing," Maria happily says.
"Too bad we don't have any right now. It will be much better to show you how it works," Might says.
"I wish I could see how a Warp Ring works," Maria says.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to see how it works once we found one," Julie-Su says.
"If we had one now, we can go anywhere around the world. There are still cool places for us to go to and friends for you to meet. There's still G.U.N Headquarters, Casino Park Zone, Casinopolis, Meropis. Heck, there are still so many for you to see," Sonic says.
"I can't wait to see it. Shadow is already making plans for me to go to G.U.N Headquarters the next time he goes to work," Maria says.
Then worriedly says, "I hope I'll be alright going over there."
"Why? It's not like you have anything to be nervous about," Sonic says.
Shadow then pulls Sonic by the war with a stern look, "May I remind you about the last time G.U.N police forces got close to Maria."
"Shadow's right. They invaded the ARK, and well, they're the reason why Shadow and Maria had a tragic separation," Amy sternly says.
Sonic nervously laughs, "Oh, right. I forgot."
Then takes his ear away, "But you and G.U.N were able to break ties from the past. Even the Commander who was actually Maria's old friend. Abraham Tower, right?"
"Really Abe's there! I can't wait to see him. I'll be he's grown a lot since the last time I saw him!" Maria happily says.
"He's grown alright, for about fifty years worth of it," Shadow says.
"Right," Maria says.
"How about tomorrow we can start by going to Mushroom Hills on the island. They got giant mushrooms to jump on," Sonic says.
Maria happily says, "I would like that."
Late in the night, everyone are in their tents fast asleep. Maria is also sleeping in the same tent as Amy. Maria then wakes up a little and lets out a yawn. She reaches to her things and grabs a water bottle, but then something falls from her pocket. She looks at what has fallen, and gasps in shock to see the ring from the camp. She then realizes that she must have taken the ring from the campsite by mistake.
"Oh no. I… I took one of the ring. I need to give it back," Maria says.
Maria then quietly sneaks out of bed and puts her shoes and jacket on. She then slowly leaves from the campsite and hurries to find the campsite. Unaware to Maria, the campsite she has come across earlier belongs to someone who will give her troubles.