Hello fellow authors! Here is the first chapter of a Sonic fic I'm writing. Funnily enough, this fic is the product of three years' worth of planning, scrapping, writing and re-writing. Feel free to leave feedback via a review or a PM or whatever, but I'm not forcing you. Anyway, enjoy! :D - CN

Disclaimer- I don't own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise or any of the characters associated with it.

Chapter 1

Angel Island. One of Mobius' most sacred and historic land masses. The hazy morning sun had just risen, signalling the start of a new day, and its beams had reached almost every inch of it. The old Echidna monuments and buildings were suddenly bathed in the light, and atop the most central of them, the Master Emerald was set. It gave off a warm green glow as it pulsated, the feral birds in the trees being quite alarmed and taking off, flying far away from the gem.

In the far distance, around a mile from the island was a bright red and white plane soaring through the sky. The word 'SONIC' was printed in bold on the side of it, and a little rust was visible in places, although that had been covered up by more red paint. Sitting in the pilot's seat was a young yellow-furred Mobian with a determined, but slightly worried look on his face. Too much was racing through his mind at the moment... The wind whipping at his exposed face and ears contrasted this greatly, as it looked as if someone had held a hairdryer inches from his nose. Proudly standing on the left wing was another Mobian, who had just looked over at his fox friend and had began to laugh, unable to stop himself from stomping his feet on the metal below him. Although, he was quick to stop after he saw the other Mobian looking at him with confusion. There was a huge difference in their fur length, so to the yellow fox, the hedgehog beside him looked almost completely fine. He was still pretty miffed about what he was laughing at, that was, until the blue one spoke.

"Having a bad fur day, are you, Tails?" The hedgehog asked, forming a toothy grin.

The fox, realising what he meant, slid a gloved hand up to his face and touched his cheek, feeling the fur slapping against it. I didn't think the wind affected me that much... He thought, surprised.

"Well, Sonic," He said back in a forced joking manner, "At least I'm warmer than you!"

"True, but that isn't a good look. What if you got stuck like that? We'd have to shave it all off!" Sonic chuckled as Tails broke into a smile.

The kit remained focused on his pilot work and so gave a short response, "Yeah... I don't know what we'd do then. Maybe shave yours off to compensate?"

After sharing another quick chuckle, the pair fell silent, and Tails' solemn expression showed more and more through his forced smile. Sonic then turned his attention to the Island, which was looming ahead of them. He was immediately reminded of why they were coming here, and although it was important matter, the blue speedster seemed to be shaking the bad feelings off.

As they reached the edge of the Island, a muffled but very low-pitched droning noise reached his ears from behind them. This made both of them shudder, and Tails, now slightly paranoid, began to increase instead of decrease the speed of the plane as they were coming in to land. He released the wheels from underneath it and braced himself. There wasn't much time to circle the Island until they found a perfect landing spot, so the lumpy grass plain ahead would have to do.

Not too far away from the landing site was a red echidna, lying on his side. The woven hammock he was resting on blew sideward a little as the red vehicle flew past, making his long dreads fly up into the air momentarily. He was in a deep sleep, and didn't take too kindly to being rudely awoken to the all-too-familiar sound of his friend's plane. Scowling, he raised his head to see it bounce dangerously along the ground before coming to a screeching halt. The two occupants jumped out of the plane and while one sprinted back through the overgrown foliage, the other twisted his namesakes and flew just behind.

Rocketing towards the echidna, Tails called, "Knuckles! Eggman's coming this way and he's after the Emeralds!"

The fox let himself drop right next to him, the hedgehog coming in on the other side. The words created an enraged look on Knuckles' face, but before he could speak Sonic broke in to give the more complete story. "We were flying back to the Mystic Ruins, but then he had to show up behind us, and that took us off guard. So we had to make an emergency detour so Tails' workshop didn't get bombed, and that led us to come out here. We were trying to fight him off over the sea, but as much as I hate to admit it Egghead had the upper hand, 'cause he knows I can't swim. Then he gave the whole 'Give me the Emeralds' speech, and 'cause we knew where he would be going we jacked it outta there to warn you first. Besides, now we can kick his butt on land!"

He cracked his knuckles before Knuckles finally spoke, his increasing rage apparent in his tone of voice, "He's coming here? Now? Why didn't you tell me before?"

The echidna stood up tall in front of the duo, his purple eyes wild with anger. Any attempt of looking intimidating must have worked because Tails now looked even more worried and had quickly moved back a couple of steps. The fox began nervously, pointing to his wrist, "We couldn't, because... well... you never wear your wrist communicator. We would have been able to make a call immediately and make a plan, too, in advance as soon as Eggman found us."

"And it's not like you actually have a landline phone here..." Sonic said, knowing full well there was no electricity to be found on the Island, save for Knuckles' discarded communicator.

Knuckles was nearly shaking in fury now, and shouted, "We don't have time for this! He might be there by now, and all you're doing is stalling me!"

Shocked at his hot-headed friend's sudden outburst, Sonic took no time in letting the echidna lumber past him who was running as fast as he could towards the shrine. Tails, still recovering from their sudden interrogation, had jumped a foot in the air and said, "I'm s-sorry! We were just heading over there n-"

The young vulpine was interrupted by a loud, megaphone-amplified, all-too-familiar voice, and the deafening sound of an aircraft's rockets as one flew closer to the duo. Amidst all the talking, Eggman had caught up with them...