"Finally! I finally got all of that gunk off." Shadow sighed in relief.

"Good," Rob said, solemn again after his fit of laughter at Shadow's predicament, "let's get moving again." Silver still recovering, couldn't quite talk yet, and so instead nodded his consent.

"I agree. I want to get as far away from that river and its memories." Shadow said.

"Not to mention its smell." Rob said, smiling again.

"Let's just get going." Shadow grumbled.

"Wow! There are crystals growing on trees and plants here!" Knuckles stared around him at the amazing sight of Flicky Island. He had lost sight of Metal Knuckles and Metal Tails when they landed and had not been able to find them since.

"Yes there are, Original. Why do you state the obvious?" Knuckles spun round to see the two very robots he had been looking for.

"Wha- Oh." Knuckles got ready for a fight when he noticed that the one who had asked the question, Metal Knuckles, was not standing in a threatening manner, but had his head slightly cocked to the side, like a curious dog.

"I, uh, was just thinking aloud." Knuckles couldn't think of anything else to say, he was too shocked.

"Ah. I see."

"Um, Metal Me? Why did you knock out Tails and steal the Sol Emerald?"

"That statement is incorrect. I did not knock out Miles Prower, Model 74115, or 'Metal Tails', did. While I did steal this 'Sol Emerald', at the time I believed it was a Chaos Emerald, for that is what I was designed for: to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. You may have this one back, if you wish, for it is not my target."

"Yeah, uh, thanks." Knuckles was still a little shocked by this turn of events. He took the Sol Emerald that Metal Knuckles was holding out.

"If you'll excuse us, we must retrieve this island's Chaos Emerald." Metal Knuckles and his companion turned and left, heading towards the centre of the island.

"Hey, wait! I'm not done with you!" Knuckles yelled, chasing after them.

Bam! Bang! Poof! Sonic zoomed around smashing every Badnik in sight.

"Yay! We're free!" A young rabbit yelled as it popped out of its robot shell.

"Wow, it's been a long time since I got sucked into a Zone like this." Sonic reminisced. "All the Badniks are so retro. I mean, seriously! Buzz Bombers? Coconuts? What is this? Emerald Hill Zone? What is Zonic up to this time?" After the gangs encounter with Metal Amy, just as they had been deciding which direction to go in, Sonic had been sucked up by a portal and dumped at the beginning of Emerald Hill Zone. He had decided to do what he always used to do when this happened, and that's how he ended up zooming along the Zone defeating all the Badniks. Suddenly, an inter-dimensional portal appeared in front of Sonic and he had to skid to a halt to avoid being sucked into it.

"How did you know it was me?" Zonic the Zone Cop stepped out of the portal and it zapped shut behind him.

"Who else do I know who sucks me into different Zones to help out the locals?"

"Fair enough."

"So, why am I back here? Are you running out of Zones to send me to or something?"

"Haha haha. No." Sonic looked sceptical. "No, really. I just needed to talk to you."

"About what?"

"All right. You're not going to like this but, here goes . . ."