A/N: Ok, it's been a while since I've written a part to this story, so I decided to go ahead and give you guys something to read. ENJOY! ^_^

"What was that thing?" Sonic asked while leaning back into a bean bag that sunk under his weight.

Tails plunked down onto a small arm chair and replied, "I'm not sure. But as far as I can tell, it's another Eggman robot designed to look like you. Mecha Sonic, I think it was."

"Well, as if we haven't seen quite enough robots trying to impersonate me," Sonic said sarcastically.

Tails stood up and walked over to a blank wall. Reaching high above his head, he caught onto a string and pulled down on it to reveal a page of blue prints.

"This is my newest invention idea." He said, pointing towards the object on the sheet. "I've started to remodel your hover board, make it more advanced. But then I came across something. At the time, I was also working with the Chaos Emeralds, and trying to find a way to harness their power without them separating each time. The emerald I had reacted to the board. It began to power it and fill it with its own energy. I decided to take it on a test run first, so took the Blue Star II outside and rode it off the bridge."

"Yeah? So? It can hover in the first place. Over land, water, you name it. But how is this going to help me?"

"Let me finish," Tails said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "So, I took it out for a test run. But when I rode off the bridge, instead of falling to the water, it flew straight up! I rode high above the clouds! And that means…"

"The Chaos Emerald's the key!" Sonic gasped. "But wait. Didn't we lose that emerald a while back?"

"Yes, we did. But you found that other emerald in the desert. So now we only need 2 more."

Sonic turned back to Tails. "2 more? I thought you said it worked with just one."

"Well, yes. But for what awaits you in the future, you're gonna need more than 1 or even 2 emeralds. The board will have to run for a while."

"Ok, I'll see what I can do."

Sonic heaved himself to his feet and turned towards the door. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Tails," Sonic began. "Do ya mind if I take the Blue Star for this?"

Sonic stood still looking across the half bridge sided with palm trees. The Blue Star was tucked neatly under his arm. Suddenly, he shot forward and leapt off the bridge, extending the arm that held the board. He quickly spun into a ball and threw the board beneath him. It slapped onto the surface of the water just as Sonic landed on top of it and willed it to go forward.

Shooting low over the water, Sonic pushed down his back foot and the Blue Star instantly jumped into the air. He held on with all his might as the small vehicle rocketed into the sky.

Sonics' eyes widened when he saw the clouds quickly approaching him. His arms shot up to cover his face as he blasted through their surface. Water droplets showered over him as he broke through the thick layer of white.

"Whew." Sonic sighed. "Glad that's over with."

Uncrossing his arms, Sonic took one glance at the scene before him and gasped. Not 10 yards ahead a small green chaos emerald bobbed up and down.

Sonic sped by quickly, extending his arm and tilting the board slightly to reach out for the emerald. But then, with a loud Fwooooshh!!! the emerald disappeared with a small blue blur.

"Oh no!" Sonic though aloud, desperately trying to maneuver the board down.

And then, as if in slow motion, Mecha Sonic appeared, knocked Sonic straight off the board and hurtled away into the thick layer of cloud.

This isn't happening, Sonic thought as he plummeted through the clouds and saw the vast ocean rushing up to meet him. It just can't be.

Then Sonic found himself steadily slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

Jolting awake suddenly, Sonic sat up and took in his surroundings. Somehow, he was floating in the middle of the ocean, yet, on the surface.

He rubbed his eyes vigorously then looked again. No, it wasn't a hallucination. He was really floating on the surface of the water with even touching it.

Sonic glanced down, half expecting to see the Blue Star II underneath him, but all he saw were the waves gently lapping up at his fur. Almost unconsciously, Sonic slowly rose to his feet. He gently took one step forward. Then another. And 2 more.

He briefly wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him again when he felt a shiver run down his back and saw a faint green glow out of the corner of his eye.

Pulling his arm up to his face, Sonic strained his eyes slightly and saw that a thin green aura was pulsing around his body.

He slapped his hand to his face and dragged it down as he tried to add everything up. All he could remember was almost reaching that chaos emerald, then being attacked by Mecha Sonic. But, there was something else. Some tiny little memory crouching in the darkest corner of his brain.

"That's it!" He suddenly yelled. "The Chaos Emerald was green! It must have…"

And that's when he hit a wall. What had happened? Didn't Mecha Sonic have the emerald with him now? Or maybe…

Once again searching his brain for anything he might have remembered before he blacked out, Sonic pulled out the faintest of a memory, dotted with the faintest of green light.

That must've been it. Mecha Sonic must've dropped the emerald and it had….Landed in his mouth or something?

It then occurred to Sonic that he felt the slightest bit of energy welling up inside his chest. Summoning all his might, Sonic forced his legs to propel him across the rocky waves. Without thinking, Sonics' legs steadily rose from the surface of the water and began to take him high into the air, practically soaring above the shimmering ocean beneath him.

"This…is…AWESOME!!!!" Sonic screamed and he ran past a small flock of seagulls.

"Tails is never gonna believe this!" He thought out loud.

And with that, he skid to a mid-air halt, did a hasty U-turn, and rocketed off towards the small runway bordering the horizon.