Legal mumbo jumbo: Characters, settings, and basic plot are copyright Sega. Some characters copyright AM2.

Sonic lay down under a palm tree. The day was a typical day in the Green Hill Zone, and Sonic had spent much of it sat under the same tree dozing gently. There was a gentle wind blowing from a southerly direction, and the small white clouds in the sky moved gently along, occasionally casting the sun into shadow.

"Sonic," Tails yelled. Sonic turned around and looked behind him. From the east a twin tailed bipedal fox came running into view.

"Yes li'l bro?" Sonic asked, wondering what would make Tails run towards him with such concern on his face.

"Robotnik's modified the Death Egg!" Tails yelled. The smile dropped off Sonic's face instantly. He knew the Death Egg was bad news, and the fact that it was back again was something Sonic never wanted to hear.

One question immediately sprang to Sonic's mind, "Where is it?" he asked the fox tentatively.

"It's in orbit Sonic," Tails said quietly.

"So how do we get to it?"

"I'm glad you asked," Tails smirked, "follow me Sonic."

The pair of them dashed through the Green Hill Zone. Jumping off the odd cliff, and rolling along into the valleys below, through tunnels in the oddly checkerboard styled ground, and past the odd wooden totem pole sticking out of the ground to a large metal shed hidden on a small island just on the outskirts of the Green Hill Zone. The doors were made of sheet metal, and the many screw holes in the metal showed that this wasn't the first time the metal had been used.

"So what, you've got a rocket ship hidden in there then?" Sonic asked, still unsure how he was going to actually get anywhere.

"Well actually," Tails hesitated, before pressing a button. The roof slid open with a very loud whir, revealing a large orange rocket. Tails looked to Sonic. His face was a mix of shock and awe, which pleased Tails.

"Woah," was about the only thing Sonic could utter at this.

"There's a problem though Sonic. I don't have a power source for it," Tails mumbled, "The only way to make fuel powerful enough requires a massive refinery."

"…And the only guy on Mobius who has one is Robotnik," Sonic said, disappointed, "and I can't imagine him letting us make fuel for the rocket that'll result in the destruction of his Death Egg."

Tails shook his head. "There is one possible power source y'know," he said hesitantly.

Sonic looked at Tails believing he was thinking the same thing Tails was, "you mean the Chaos Emeralds right?" Tails nodded, before Sonic continued, "I guess we'd best go talk to Knuckles then."

"You really think he'll just hand them over?" Tails asked,

"If not, then we'll have to take them from him," Sonic smirked.

As luck would have it, Knuckles was roaming through the Green Hill Zone himself. There had been some confusion on the Floating Island with a robot or sixty, and Knuckles had managed to inadvertently lose place of the Chaos Emeralds. Last Knuckles had seen they had become scattered, and now Knuckles had to search Mobius for them, before the Floating Island's reserve power tanks ran out. Knuckles smirked as he felt the presence of an emerald nearby. Following the feeling, he looked to a robot not too far ahead of him, a glowing red gem in its metallic claw.

Knuckles' fist made contact with the robots head. The damage caused the robot to collapse into a small pile of debris on the floor. Knuckles watched the emerald fall to the floor. He went to pick it up when a blue blur dashed past, knocking him off balance. The emerald was swept away in the following breeze, and rolled onto a small island in the river nearby. Knuckles jumped for it, and was met on the island by a familiar looking blue hedgehog.

"Hey Knuckles, it's a good thing you brought the emeralds with you actually," Sonic said noticing the red Chaos Emeralds faint glow in Knuckles' paw.

"Emerald," corrected Knuckles, somewhat annoyed.

"So you wouldn't be able to hand them over to me so we could use them to power the rocket that'll take down Robotnik's new Death Egg?" Sonic asked rhetorically.

"Why would I hand them over to you anyway? Maybe I wanted to go up in the rocket and save the world myself," Knuckles mocked, dismissing Sonic's idea.

"Listen Knuckles, I don't have time for this," Sonic said angrily, "I just want the emeralds for a bit so I can stop Eggman. You'll get your emeralds back when I'm done."

"I've heard that one before," Knuckles spat, "There's no way I'm handing the emerald over now," he said, turning around to get off the island.

Knuckles changed his mind when he was knocked over by a rolling ball of blue. Loosing grip of the emerald, he fell to the floor with a bump, and looked up to see Sonic's smirking face. "Looks like I'm taking the emerald," the hedgehog grinned.

Knuckles had other ideas, and a quick swipe from his leg sent Sonic flying. Knuckles took advantage of Sonic's current horizontal stance, and jumped on him. Sonic struggled under Knuckles' weight, and eventually threw the red echidna off of him. Grabbing the emerald again, Sonic used it to punch Knuckles square in the jaw. Knuckles winced and got up off the floor, smacking Sonic with a left hook, followed by an uppercut. Sonic jumped over the low kick, and clean over Knuckles' head. Sonic raised his fists to match Knuckles'

"Listen Knuckles, I don't wanna fight with you,"

"Then surrender," Knuckles suggested.

"Can't do that Knux, I need the emerald," Sonic answered.

"Then unless you know how to swim, you've got a fight on your hands mate," Knuckles smirked, an evil glint in his eyes as he talked. Sonic braced himself, and watched Knuckles. It was clear that the Echidna had no intention of letting Sonic escape, not with the emerald anyway. An idea began to form in Sonic's head, but he'd need to catch Knuckles off guard.

Knuckles had made a run for Sonic, extending his fists forward. Sonic had narrowly dodged Knuckles' punches, but wasn't expecting for Knuckles to plant his fists into the ground, and use them to arch a kick at Sonic's face. It sent Sonic flying, and he landed face first in the grass. Sonic got up slowly, and Knuckles struck him with another blow. Sonic rolled away on the ground, dodging one of Knuckles' ground strikes. Leaping up, Sonic went to strike Knuckles on the head with a spin attack. Unfortunately Knuckles second guessed this, and the resulting punch sent Sonic flying clean into the river.

Knuckles smirked as Sonic went under, only to curse when he remembered when the Chaos emerald was.