Slowly opening his eyes, Sonic looked around. The last thing he remembered was that he was fighting Knuckles, and had stood in this bright light. Sonic remembered about the blue Chaos Emerald he was holding, he checked his hands, it was gone. Sonic looked at where he was, it was rather odd, full of nothing, as it were. Sonic felt a little uneasy about it.

"Great" he said, slightly annoyed yet also disappointed. "I'm back in the nothingness again. Haven't been here for a while now." Sonic was aware of this nothingness from an earlier adventure. It had led him to an alternate reality. Sonic thought for a moment, would he end up back in the fourth dimension? Sonic still wasn't sure how he remembered that, as it never technically happened, but it was certainly one of his more absurd battles with Robotnik, and it was also nice to meet up with old friends. Sonic sighed slightly, the memories of friends lost starting to get him down. Sonic laid back; enjoying the feeling of weightlessness. Despite having just lost a Chaos Emerald, Sonic remained calm, he was in the nothingness between dimensions; there really wasn't anything he could do but wait, so there was no point worrying. Sonic instead chose to think about what had led him to this, first he hears a voice calling out for help from Knuckles, then Knuckles goes on about loosing a Chaos Emerald, before he became teleported to who knows where. Sonic let out another sigh.

Although it didn't feel like it, Sonic was sure some time had passed, how much he had no idea, or even if the concept of time existed in the nothingness, all he knew was that he was there, trying to figure it out would require intelligence greater than his, he admitted to himself, slightly relieved that no-one was around to hear it.

"Well look what we have here" said a voice from out of nowhere "Erinaceus Europaeus."

Sonic looked startled. He was acutely aware that the voice was speaking in a different language to him, yet somehow Sonic understood it. The name that had been spoken, Sonic had heard that somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. Sonic began to grow curious. He asked the voice who it was, and what it wanted. The voice didn't answer, choosing instead to speak when it wanted to, and say what it pleased. This annoyed Sonic slightly, it was obvious now that he was not in the nothingness he thought he was, and instead he was in a different nothingness. This nothingness obviously had no intention of letting Sonic go until it wanted to, and Sonic had no idea what the nothingness wanted. Sonic waited, it was all he could do.

Sonic thought it was about ten minutes since the voice had last spoke, before it spoke again. It began to explain something to Sonic, but this was too much for Sonic, and he didn't fully understand it.

"What I am trying to say Sonic" the voice said, deciding at last to clarify itself, "is that we, the servers of Chaos, need your help" Sonic hadn't noticed, but the voice had a different pitch to it now. "Knuckles is the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, but he can only do so much. You Sonic the Hedgehog, are the prophesised one, the one who can and has saved the world from the monster of Chaos on numerous times"

"Numerous times" Sonic said repeating the voice. "but I don't remember…"

"You are confused" the voice said interrupting Sonic. Sonic was disgruntled at this; this voice clearly wasn't making any sense. Sonic decided not to question it though, for now Sonic was trapped in its realm, the last thing he needed to do was make the voice angry. "The monster of Chaos is not what you think it is"

"Then what is it?" Sonic questioned, if he was to help the servers of Chaos, then he needed as much information as he could get. Sonic didn't like being left with so many unanswered questions, especially as he could easily have the answers he needed while he was here.

The voice suddenly became panicked "Oh no, it's back already" the voice spoke in a slightly more disturbed manner. "I can't keep you here any longer, without harming you. The evil energy I put in the emeralds would corrupt you further"

"Wait a second!" Sonic yelled, finally twigging "you're not Dr Kin…" there was a bright flash, and Sonic was dispelled from the nothingness.

"…tobor" Sonic finished, finding himself sat in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. He kicked at a pebble, there he had been with one of his oldest friends, and he didn't even realise it. That was typical, he thought. Sonic looked around, the moss covered ruins of the original home of the Master Emerald moved in there usual pattern. Sonic always found this swaying to be unnerving. Almost anything could send this place back to the ground, and at the height Sonic was at; that was not a good thing. Sonic had no idea how long he'd been in the nothingness, he only knew three things; one, the blue emerald he had held was no longer in his possession. This oddly did not bother Sonic, although he had not been told, he felt as if he knew that the emerald was somewhere safe. Sonic admittedly had no idea where this was, but he wasn't too worried, they would turn up as and when he needed them.

The second thing he was aware of was that he couldn't get back to the Floating Island. He tried to use every teleporter in the place to get back, not one of them co-operated with his wish, leaving him in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. Sonic realised as he was doing it that he couldn't actually see the Floating Island. He looked around himself. Not only could he not get back to the Floating Island, he couldn't actually see it.

The third thing Sonic was aware of was the large group of robot's heading straight for where he was.