The farming fields of Knothole Village gave way to hills of emerald green as Sonic raced towards the dig site. Since he only had a passing idea of where he was supposed to be going, he did not push himself to his maximum velocity. He skidded to a stop when he spotted a gold ring floating about a foot off the ground. The ring was a foot in diameter and shimmered with golden energy. Sonic grabbed the ring with both hands. It shimmered and vanished as Sonic was bathed in golden light for a brief second. He felt instantly refreshed as he had just had a good night sleep and a full meal. Sonic did not fully understand what the rings were nor why he could use them as such, but he rarely gave it much thought. He was about to continue on his way when a laser blast impacted the ground in front of him. The source was a large red and yellow robotic wasp. The robot's wings flapped at high speeds, making a distinct buzzing sound. Its stinger was the source of the laser blast.

"Must be one of Antione's strange machines." Sonic leapt back as the machine fired another blast near him. "Need to work on your aim." He jumped into the air while curling into a ball. His body flashed with blue light as he shot towards the machine and smashed it to pieces. "That was simple."

As he looked at the destroyed machine, he heard a strange sound coming from a piece of it. Curious, Sonic picked it up. It was a metal sphere, that was just slightly large than his fist. The edges of the sphere glowed with green energy. With a bit of work, Sonic managed to pull the sphere into two halves. The glowing vanished and inside was a small bird. It tweeted a few times before flying away. "What is a bird doing in there?" A buzzing sound filled his ears, and he spotted three more of the robotic wasps flying his way. "I can already tell this is going to be a weird day."

Sonic ran towards the approaching robots intending to take them out the same way he had the first. A large red metal claw suddenly filled his vision and he had to roll across the ground to avoid having it hit him. The claw belonged to a robotic crab that was almost as tall as he was. "Seriously." A rustling sound alerted him to a second crab coming up from behind. Sonic dropped to his knees as its claw snapped the air where his head had been. The first crab scuttled forward to attack him. Sonic curled into a ball and rolled clear as the crab's claw clamped down onto the second one. The buzzing grew louder as the trio of robotic wasps swooped in and opened fire. He ran at the crabs and leapt over them as the wasps fired their laser. The lasers hit the crabs and they exploded.

"Dumb machines."

Sonic's body flashed blue and he launched himself into the air. Curling into a spinning ball in the air, he destroyed all three of the wasps by bouncing between them like a pinball. Each of the destroyed robots had the same metal spheres that remarkably kept the small animal inside safe. The wasps each had a bird and each of the crabs had a small chipmunk.

"Maybe I should have brought Nicole with me." Sonic sighed as he continued on his way. He would have to figure it out later.

Passing a few marble pillars signaled to Sonic that he had reached the ruins. The ground here was a mix of grass and broken stones, forcing the hedgehog to slow down. He stopped when he came across a large area of rubble. What caught his eye was the remains of tends and metal crates that were underneath the rubble. After a quick search, Sonic found the same type of tranquilizer dart the humans had used when they attacked Knothole Village. A loud crashing sound pulled his thoughts from the dart to the source of the sound. A five-foot wide metal ball had knocked one of the walls of the ruins down. The ball was connected to a hovering pod that looked like the bottom half of a sphere by a large chain. Sitting in the pod appeared to be a human with sparse spiky hair and a large nose. The human spotted the hedgehog and took off his goggles.

"Impossible."

Sonic shrugged as he walked up to the metal ball that was sitting on the ground. "I've been getting that a lot lately." He gave the ball a light kick. It appeared to be solid. "So, I am willing to guess you're reasonable for what happened here."

The human laughed. "Partially. I am simply here to wreck the place."

"Don't suppose you know what happened to the mobians who were staying in the camp?"

"I certainly do rodent." He pressed a button and the pod rose up into the air just enough to lift the ball off the ground. "But that won't matter in just a moment. I, Snively the Great will turn you into hedgehog paste."

The chain began to glow and the ball swung forward. Sonic jumped back to avoid it, but the pod chased him, as the ball seemed to swing with its own momentum. He picked a direction and ran with the pod following close behind. Sonic had to keep looking over his shoulder as the ball repeatedly slammed into the ground, trying to crush him. He spotted a pillar that had started to fall down, but was leaning against a large rock. There was a small opening between the pillar and the ground. He rolled through it as the metal ball shattered the pillar and part of the rock. The resulting destruction kicked up enough dust and debris to obscure Snively's vision for a moment. Sonic picked up his pace and ran up what was left of the pillar. He jumped off the pillar and curled up. He struck the pod with enough force to cause it to shake. Sonic dropped to the ground.

"Are you serious? You can't damage…" Snively's jaw dropped a bit when he saw a huge gash in the armored skin of the pod in the area the hedgehog had hit it. "Impossible!"

"Oh, I am very possible." Sonic began to run in a circle and a small tornado of dirt formed around the pod.

Snively pulled his googles down over his eyes. "This won't stop me." He pressed a few buttons and the metal ball began to spin around on its chain. It cut through the tornado and the pod lowered so the ball would drag across the ground. Snively heard plenty of rocks and other objects being obliterated, but nothing that sounded like a person being hit.

"Hey, Snortly." Sonic appeared in the air above the pod. He curled into a ball as blue energy sparked around his body. He dropped downward like a falling buzz saw. Snively pulled back on the flight stick and the pod moved enough that Sonic only crashed into the right side of the pod. Sonic cut through the pod and dug a few feet into the ground bellow before stopping and uncurling.

The pod rose high into the sky, but it seemed to be having a hard time of it. The large hole Sonic had cut into the pod sparked considerably from exposed and broken wires. "You will pay for this?" Snively smashed his fist on a button and the pod released the chain, and the metal ball crashed into ground near Sonic. "If you survive, I will find you." The pod shot into the distance, moving much faster without the weight of the ball.

"Survive?" Sonic glanced at the metal ball as it began to beep. "Oh crap." Sonic started to run as the ball exploded. Large chunks of metal shrapnel flew everywhere as the ground itself began to crumble. Sonic had to throw himself onto the ground to avoid being hit by the shrapnel, but the ground he was laying on fell apart and he dropped downward. He fell into a large chamber whose floor that was covered in lava. "Starting to think I should have stayed at home." He reached out to a large piece of rubble that was falling with him and pulled it close. He just needed a little bit of traction. Planting his feet on the rubble, he started to run and leapt from it. Sonic managed to crash into a stone platform that jutted out from the wall. He had a sore shoulder and several scrapes, but he was all right overall.

The chamber he was in had clearly been created by whatever mobians had lived in the ruins long ago. Several thirty to forty foot tall pillars ran from the floor to the ceiling were still standing. He could see a few murals carved into the walls, but could not make out what they depicted. The walls around him were a mix of carved stone and rough unworked rock. At full speed, he could run up the side of a relatively smooth wall, but he didn't have the required space to reach full speed or a smooth enough wall to reach the openings in the ceiling.

"Well, when up won't work." Luckily, the lava did a good job lighting up most of the chamber. He could make out a stone arch that framed a tunnel at the other end of the chamber. The platform he was on was roughly a ten foot by ten foot square. Another one along the same wall was a fair distance away. It would get him close, but not near enough to reach the tunnel. This was going to be tricky. Sonic smirked as he did a few quick stretches. He placed his hands on the platform as he began run. His feet made skidding sounds as he picked up speed while his hands kept him from moving. He took a deep breath and moved his hands as he let out the breath. Sonic ran along the side of the wall and just managed to reach the other platform. He picked up the pace and lunched himself onto a broken pillar that just poked out of the lava. He jumped from the broken pillar and rebounded off a still standing one. It was a bit of a crash landing, but he reached the tunnel. There was little to no light in the tunnel, so he had to walk while running his hand along the right wall. "Should have brought a flashlight."

He walked for a few minutes before coming to a place where the tunnel split. One went to the right and one to the left. The right one appeared to have collapsed a few feet down it. "Options." Sonic went down the left tunnel. It was a dead end. Sonic groaned and punch the wall. The wall moved slightly and light began to filter from the cracks. He gave it a hard push and the wall moved like it was on a turntable. He stepped into a relatively well-lit room. It was square with three large stone murals dominating the three walls. A small generator was sitting in the center of the room and was connected by wires to a lamp affixed at each corner of the room. A female chipmunk close to his age was sitting on the ground facing away from him. Unlike the small one he had saved from the robot earlier, this one was an evolved mobian. She had light brown fur and auburn colored hair. She seemed to be glued to the mural she was looking at and didn't react to Sonic's entrance.

"Hello!" She tensed at the sound of his voice. Her hand reached for a small laser blaster that was sitting on the ground next to her. She rolled to her feet as she picked it up and aimed it at Sonic. Sonic held his hands up. "Chill."

Her blue eyes widen at the sight of Sonic. "It can't be." She lowered the blaster and walked over to him. She walked around him examining him as if he was some rare relic. "This is incredible."

Sonic puffed his chest out a bit. "Well I am pretty cool."

The chipmunk ran her hand along one of his sharp quills, which caused Sonic to blush a bit. "You're really a hedgehog."

"Yeah, Sonic the Hedgehog. Who are you?"

"Sally!"

"Really!" Sonic looked over her dirty khaki shorts and vest. "You're Princess Sally?"

"Yes. Is something wrong?"

"You just don't look much like a princess."

She sighed. "You sound like my father. A frilly dress really would not be proper for a dig site?"

"I guess not. What are you doing down here?"

"Studying these ancient murals. They depict some legends from ancient echidna society." She pulled him to one. "Centuries ago, echidnas ruled these islands using the power of powerful emeralds." The mural showed several echidna kneeling in front of a large emerald. Seven smaller ones were depicted floating above them.

"What happened to the echidnas?"

"They vanished. Only the ruins of their civilization remain." She pulled him to the second mural. "This one displays an island of some sort, but I can't find anything specific in the ancient runes." She motioned to the third one. "That one should interest you."

"Whoa." The last mural depicted a rough outline of a hedgehog with the seven smaller emeralds from the first mural surrounding the outline.

"The writing I can translate about it mentions the seven savors and the chaos. I am thinking that some chaotic event is going to take place and the hedgehogs were supposed to stop it."

Sonic placed his hand on the mural. "Do you think what happened to the hedgehogs is related to this?"

"It is just a legend."

Sonic clenched his fists and took a few deep breaths. "No!" He held out his right hand. Blue energy sparked around his arm and flowed to the open palm of his hand. The energy condensed and exploded in a bright flash of light. A blue emerald was now in his hand. "It's a lot more than a legend."