The cyclone flew towards the center of the ocean, not that any of them could see it. The giant storm clouds blocked all view of the ocean below. As they approached the center of the ocean, hundreds and hundreds of feet in the air, an island appeared on the horizon above the clouds. While most would react with shock upon finding a giant island defying gravity and floating in the air, Sonic and his friends had no problem with it. They knew that the island floated due to the power of the Master Emerald, the emerald controller. The only that they worried about was if the emerald's guardian would give them a warm welcome, or give them his instinctive reaction to uninvited guests. Only one-way to find out, Sonic sighed.
They approached the island and its full size became real to them, it had been several years since they visited last. The Floating Island was the size of Iceland. It was huge and used to rest on the surface of the ocean, that was before the ancient echidna race's forceful mistake. The catastrophe they caused made them think. They decided to place one of their race to guard the emerald which they had tried to steal, the original guardian had been trapped. The new guardian used the Master Emerald's power to raise the whole island into the air. Up there it would never be disturbed again. The guardian remained on the island to ensure he Emerald's safety. For thousands of years the island remained unknown.
Tails landed the Cyclone on the shore, or was it cliff, of Floating Island. The current guardian didn't like machinery on his island. For Amy this was the first time on the island. The lush, green forest just beyond the islands beach was short and bright. Birds flew in the air and the whole northern edge of the island opened out to them. While the storm clouds crashed below, the island was calm, sunny, and bright. "Oh, they're so beautiful!" Amy cried and she ran up to a patch of forest flowers. Amy couldn't help but continuously admire the forest as they walked on. For Sonic and Tails it was a different story. The first time they had been there Eggman had burned this forest to a crisp. That was many years ago, and the forest had recovered impressively. They came to a river, a river surrounding the small Angel Island. Amy begged to cross and see the scenery on the island in an island. Sonic shook his head and said, "Sorry Amy, but we need to go south."
Amy's enthusiasm drained quickly when they got to the southern edge of the forest. Before them lay the desert Sandopolis. Amy had to ask, "We have to cross that!?"
Sonic said, "No, we need to follow the edge of the forest. We will then come to the hidden palace and the Shrine of the Master Emerald. But first we will have to pass through the abandoned city of Echidnaopolis. "Why is it abandoned?" Amy asked.
As they walked on Sonic told the story, Tails and Amy listening intently, "The Floating Island used to be home to the whole of the Echidna race. But when Eggman first attacked, the guardian sealed them all into another dimension to keep them safe. However, with the threat of Eggman still around he will not bring them back. The trouble for him is that he can't leave the emerald to stop Eggman, so for now he waits and waits."
Sonic stopped talking as they entered Echidnaopolis. The city took up a third of the Floating Island. Tall buildings and stores were all over the place. There was no one in sight though. Echidnaopolis was a ghost town. Tails spoke up, "Hey guys, I heard something in that ally!"
"I didn't hear anything but your fox ears are better then my hedgehog ones. Lets check it out." Sonic said. Sonic went first down the dark ally. On his toes, Sonic was approaching the first corner. Sonic held a hand up in a gesture to have Tails and Amy stop and keep silent. Sonic stepped beyond the corner. Simultaneously something white whipped out. If it wasn't for Sonic's quick and reflexive instincts he would have been hit in the head, even more likely he would have been knocked out. Sonic leapt backwards. The thing stopped. Now that it was still they could see what it was. A fist with two sharp spikes on one end, and in a white glove. Attached to the fist was a strong, red arm. They looked further along and now emerged from behind the wall… "Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed. "Hey Knucklehead, trying to take my head off?" Sonic asked.
"Guys, sorry about that. Although I don't know how much trouble losing your head would be Sonic, you don't use it anyways." Knuckles chuckled, "but I'm glad you are here. There is some force at work here that can disrupt the super emeralds. I've been looking for what the trouble is." Knuckles stepped into the light. Knuckles was around three feet high, the same height as Sonic. He wore steel topped shoes; there was literally a strip of metal on top of his shoes. He had sharp quills but unlike Sonic's his pointed straight down and only from the back of his head. On the back of both hands were two very sharp spikes. He was red except for a white V shaped past on his chest. He continued in his gruff voice, "If I had three more guys here I know the problem would be easy to solve. Unfortunately…"
Knuckles was cut off abruptly by a shout from the room of the building they were on, "Hey, here come to more." A yellow hover board with a blue stripe down the middle came over the edge of the roof. They couldn't see who was on it for it was high above their heads. The voice continued, "This will make two more for the number." The hover board drifted down and they saw the two who were riding it. Both were green hedgehogs the same size as Sonic. Sonic recognized them instantly as his brothers Ashura and Manic. "Guys!" Sonic shouted.
Ashura jumped of the board, "Never will I ride that thing again!" Ashura looked right at Knuckles. Ashura looked just like Sonic but he had black all over his face and the rest of him was green. Manic asked, "What, all I did was take it low over the cliffs." He jumped off the board and put it under his arm. Like Ashura he was green. He however had no black on his face. Instead he had several long, green, straight hairs sticking up from his forehead. He also wore an orange vest.
Knuckles, who was getting really impatient, said, "ALRIGHT ALREADY! LET'S JUST GET GOING!" He walked off towards the shrine. Following closely Sonic said to Knuckles, "Can't get any redder, can you?" The others all laughed and walked as Knuckles chased Sonic all the way to the shrine.