Chapter 1: Fractured Worlds
"We're almost there."
"Good. This energy won't read itself."
A bright red biplane, the Tornado, zoomed through the sky, not far above the ocean. Its pilot, Miles 'Tails' Prower, was navigating a path from their current location to the strange Angel Island.
World-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog was there too, riding on the plane's wing. He had saved the world twice over from the hands of Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and was planning on taking a vacation when Tails noticed some strange energy waves coming from a distant island.
They reached the island, immediately noticing something strange about it. The island... was floating!
"Is... is it meant to be doing that?" Sonic asked curiously.
Tails looked at his notes, "Uh.. uhm.. the Angel Isle.. ah, here. Angel Island! It says here that its floating ability is caused by a mythical crystal kept on the island."
"Cool!"
Sonic opened a compartment in the Tornado and pulled out seven gemstones. These were the Chaos Emeralds, mythical gems of untold power that once lay dormant in dungeons across the planet. One day, the evil Dr Robotnik tried to harness them to power a superweapon, but was stopped by Sonic and Tails.
He juggled the emeralds and then fused with them to transform into his superpowered form, Super Sonic. Super Sonic was a bright yellow, his eyes were red, his quills stuck up and he was surrounded by an aura.
He flew through the air and quickly reached the forested coast of the island. As he flew into the forest, he was suddenly dealt an uppercut from below. A red echidna had broken through the ground and punched him! What was worse was that the Chaos Emeralds were knocked straight out of him, landing on the ground. The echidna collected the emeralds and laughed.
"Listen, hedgehog. Do what's best for you and get outta here. We don't want troublemakers around here! I will protect the Master Emerald, or my name isn't Knuckles!"
The echidna took off as Tails landed. Sonic explained what happened to him and they agreed that Robotnik must be behind it. So, the two took off. They progressed through the forest, were thrown into an underwater ruin, emerged at the Marble Garden, progressed to and through the Casino, and finally reached the peak of Mt. Ice Cap.
Tails was shivering, "Brrr.. it's rather cold up here!"
Sonic smirked, "I know. Let's snowboard!"
"Huh?"
But Sonic was already snowboarding at max speed down the slippery slopes of the mountain. He crashed into an icy wall at the bottom, flying straight through it and ending up in an icy cave. By the time that Tails caught up, Sonic was already confronting Robotnik, who laughed.
"Sonic, you don't seriously think you can beat me this time? You defeated me on South Island, again on West-Side Island, but NOT HERE."
Sonic snickered, "Sure, whatever egg-man."
Robotnik was unfazed by the insult. He simply pressed a button in his Egg Mobile and turned around. In the distance, something was rising. A giant, metallic sphere that looked like it had two eyes, a nose and a moustache.
"This is my giant battle station, the Death Egg." Robotnik gloated.
"Yeah, we've seen it before. West-Side, remember?" Sonic responded, to which Tails nodded.
"Oh."
Robotnik flew off towards a floating ship nearby and the two heroes followed suit. They were distracted when Knuckles confronted them in Mushroom Hill. They explained who Robotnik really was, to which Knuckles demanded proof.
They asked the echidna to see the Master Emerald, who reluctantly obliged. They passed through a desert and went into one of the pyramids, which led into a deep cave, eventually arriving at the Hidden Palace.
"Well," Knuckles mumbled, "Here it is."
In front of them sat the Master Emerald, a large green emerald. Suddenly, the three characters heard loud engines above. The ceiling of the Hidden Palace exploded, and the floating ship from before - the Flying Battery - was above them.
Robotnik flew out of the ship in his Egg Mobile and used its claw attachment to grab the giant crystal. Knuckles growled and tried to get the emerald back, but Robotnik electrocuted him. Knuckles finally realised that Robotnik was the evil guy as he fell to the ground. The egg man laughed and returned to his ship, which flew off to the Death Egg, which was still rising.
"Hey, what's the fastest way up there?" Tails asked.
Knuckles didn't say anything, he was far too injured. He just waved over to a small red sphere on the ground. Tails curiously went and poked it, and he was teleported away. Sonic gasped and quickly followed suit, leaving Knuckles behind.
The two heroes ended up at the ancient Sky Sanctuary, a floating heaven. They could see the Death Egg rising nearby. After quickly running and jumping through the sanctuary, they reached the highest tower. If they were quick, they could board the Death Egg in time. So they ran. They ran fast. The two reached the top of the tower and Sonic made a leap of faith. He would have missed and fallen to his doom if it weren't for Tails, who grabbed his hand and flew them both to the opening.
Sonic and Tails entered the main room, where Robotnik was using the Master Emerald to power the battle station. He looked over at them and laughed.
"Oh, you've gotten this far. But.. well, you won't be going much FURTHER!" He suddenly yelled the last word, pulling a large lever.
Upon the pulling of the lever, the Master Emerald lit up. It struck bolts of energy around the room. A mech suit formed around Robotnik and the Egg Mobile, transforming him into Iron Egg.
Iron Egg ran at Sonic, throwing a punch at the hedgehog, who jumped backwards. Meanwhile, Tails searched the room for the Chaos Emeralds. He found them on pedestals that surrounded the Master Emerald, so he grabbed them and threw them at Sonic, who promptly transformed.
"Uh oh" was all that Robotnik could muster.
Super Sonic blasted straight through the Iron Egg, destroying it. Robotnik tried to escape, but Super Sonic destroyed the Egg Mobile too. Robotnik then tried a last-ditch effort to escape, climbing into an escape pod and zooming back down to Angel Island. Super Sonic worked quickly to destroy the Death Egg, which exploded! Super Sonic and Tails both flew down. Tails piloted the heavily damaged Egg Mobile and used its claw to grab the Master Emerald, returning it to the Hidden Palace.
Robotnik was now on a collision course with the Master Emerald, which through a small fracture, fired a massive energy bolt. The bolt hit the escape pod, forming a purple crack in the sky, which engulfed the pod. Robotnik was gone and the emerald had been returned to Knuckles, who was very happy to see it back, but the crack's mark had been left.
The fabric of reality was damaged.
Another part of the sky started cracking. The new crack burst open, the escape pod zooming through it. The pod smashed straight into the ground as the second crack closed. Robotnik was no longer in the pod. But something else was. A little box. Sonic, now in his usual form, opened the pod and retrieved the box.
Knuckles and Tails both arrived and the three of them agreed that they should open the box; they figured that it must be from Robotnik.
All that was inside the box was a singular, grey emerald. Attached was a note, 'For Knuckles, Love from Robotnik'.
Knuckles was furious, while Sonic and Tails laughed their heads off - even though it really wasn't THAT funny.. maybe they were just tired.
The three charismatic characters heard a loud crackling sound and turned around. Another crack was forming.. This one tore open, letting out what looked like a Rocket Device. They had them at the Speed Highway on Summer Island. Sonic certainly wasn't expecting to see one here. The rocket broke apart, revealing a missile. The missile blasted upwards and collided with the area that the energy bolt had hit before, tearing the sky and creating a massive crack. Out of the crack flew Robotnik, in an upgraded Egg Mobile. Strangely, the crack didn't close.
Robotnik taunted the three, "Oh, Knuckles, my gullible echidna friend. Thank you for your help. I don't need the Master Emerald anymore. With this rift, I can do anything!" He proudly announced, pointing at the giant purple crack.
"Rift, ay?" Knuckles asked, "Well, there'll be a rift in YOUR FACE WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!"
Knuckles ran after Robotnik, who flew away chortling, leaving Sonic and Tails to wonder about the diamond that Knuckles now possessed, and the rift that loomed over Angel Island. The two decided that the rift would eventually heal and close so they left and went back home - they lived in Emerald Hill Zone. However, this was not the case.
Over the next few weeks, rifts appeared and swallowed random objects all over Angel Island. One of the barrels at the Casino was taken, a mushroom from Mushroom Valley vanished, the ruined Egg Mobile at Hidden Palace was swallowed, a rift even gobbled up an entire tower from the Sandopolis desert. Only one rift added something to the world, dropping a small book near the Master Emerald. The book's name?
The Legend of Chaos.