It has been a full day of flying and Sonic was still in excitement. He loved the wind in his quills, the scene from being so high up, and the fact he was now traveling with a friend. He felt like the journey will now go a lot smoother.

"So Tails any readings yet?" He asked wondering if there were any signs of another chaos emerald.

"Not yet."

"OH, man!" Sonic said in disappointment. He thought for sure that being in a plane would make it a lot easier to find the emeralds but it was apparent it was still going to be difficult.

"But I did find something?" Tails said in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Sonic said, looking at the scanner even though he had no clue how to read it.

"Well, I did find an energy reading that is similar to the emeralds but I don't think it is."

"Why?"

"Well… the first thing is that it is in the sky?" Tails said, sounding just as confused as Sonic was feeling.

"In the sky? So it's floating? Are you reading that thing right?" Sonic said in doubt.

"I…I think so." Tails was also in doubt since even he didn't know what he was seeing.

"Do you really think it could be an emerald?" Sonic asked.

"I highly doubt it but I guess it is possible. After all, there is still so much we don't know about them." Tails rationalized.

"Then let's go take a look." Sonic declared.

"Are you sure? I mean what if it's not and we waste our time looking." Tails said knowing how important it is to find the chaos emerald as soon as possible.

"And what if it is? With a similar reading, it has to be something with power at least. I think it is worth checking out." Sonic said.

"OK." Tails was still not so sure but he believed Sonic so they flew in the direction of the mysterious readings.

After a long while of seeing nothing but clouds and sea, both of them began to doubt if the readings were right.

"And you're sure you're reading that thing right." Sonic groaned.

"I know I did. I think the object is moving." Tails declared.

"Moving?! So it's on a cloud or something." Sonic said in a serious tone.

"I don't know what is going on. All I know is that we are heading towards it but it's taking longer than I…" but before tails could finish his thoughts the biplane started to act up. "Woah! What is going on," he asked himself.

"I would like to know too," Sonic said, holding on for dear life.

"I don't know what is going on but we need to land." Tails said doing is best to stay in

control.

"Land? Where?" They looked to the ground and they were still in the middle of the ocean. There was currently no place to land. Just then Tails got a reading that was pointing toward a giant cloud in the sky. Tails had no time to think and just headed for it.

"Where are you going?" Sonic said in a panic.

"Somewhere to land. I hope." Tails said.

He flew right into the cloud and the moment they got close the cloud instantly disappeared much to their surprise.

"W-what happened," Tail asked.

"No time to figure that out. LOOK!" Sonic said, pointing in front of them. To their shock, there was a ruin floating in the sky. "What is this place?" Sonic asked dumbfounded by what he was seeing.

"I don't know but look." Tails pointed to a cliff with a clearing. "I think I can make a landing there."

"Great!" Sonic said, remembering that the plane was malfunctioning.

Tails steadied the plane and carefully flew in for a landing. It was bumpy but both of them and the plane were safe. For a minute at least. The moment they landed the engine in the plane started to smoke and strange sounds came from it.

"Oh no!" Tails said, jumping out to get a closer look. He opened the panel and a huge puff of smoke came out.

"Is it bad?" Sonic asked.

Once the smoke cleared Tails was able to get a closer look. It took a couple of minutes but Tails said, "Not really. If we kept flying it would have been a lot worse. I think I can fix this up in an hour or so." he said, going to grab his tools from storage.

"Awesome. Mind if I explore a bit." Sonic said not wanting to sit still. "Maybe I can find what made that strange signal."

"Sure. Want to borrow my scanner?" Tails asked.

"No thanks…." he said knowing full well he couldn't read the scanner. "Well, See you soon," Sonic said zooming off before Tails could say anything else. Tails just watched him disappear and then went straight to work.

Sonic was fascinated by all the ancient buildings and how they were still intact. Many had strange paintings and symbols that he couldn't even begin to try and translate. It was cool though and that was all that mattered. During his search, he couldn't help but ask himself, "Who made all this?" as well as "Where are they now?"

In the paintings, he could see pictures of people who once lived there but now no matter where he went he saw no signs of life. It looked completely abandoned. Then suddenly he came to a picture he couldn't help but stop to look at. It was a picture of an emerald that looked like the chaos emerald but it was a lot bigger. It was surrounded by a group of people and underneath them were 7 smaller emeralds.

Sonic got a closer look and questioned, "if these are the chaos emeralds…" he looked at the bigger emerald, "...then what's that?"

Sonic couldn't find an answer and decided to go running again but when he took one last look around he saw a building. Curiosity took control and he ran in. What he found was a tunnel that led downwards. There were no doors or windows, only strange gems on the walls that illuminated whenever he went past one.

Finally Sonic saw something ahead. A mysterious green glow. Even if he couldn't see what it was he could tell it gave off a strange power. He was nervous but was even more excited to see what it was. He slowed down and walked closer and closer till finally, he entered a giant room. There were again no windows and no other doors besides the one he came through and in the center was a large gem. If sonic were to pick it up he would take both hands and Sonic was mesmerized by it.

"I think I found the strange reading Tails." He said to himself.

Suddenly out of nowhere, he heard a voice. "And have you come to take it as well." Before Sonic could answer, someone attacked him from behind. He got a solid hit in the back and it sent him flying. He hit the wall on the other side of the room and left a hole in it.

"What was that?" He said as he got up.

In Front of him was a red echidna who was obviously not happy to see him. He was a good head taller than Sonic and he also had strength that Sonic could not match. However, this did not scare him since what he lacked in muscle he had in speed.

"Hey what you do that for?" Sonic yelled.

The echidna did not answer his question, instead, he said, "I will only say this once. Leave the chaos emeralds here, then get off this island and never return."

Sonic was surprised by the mention of the chaos emeralds but he had left them on the plane. "Would if I could but…" Sonic began to explain how the plane was damaged and that the emeralds are there but when the echidna heard him say he wouldn't leave he got ready to attack again.

"Then I have no choice but to make you." The echidna leaped in for an attack but this time Sonic was ready. He ran out of the way which resulted in the echidna punching the wall instead. The wall crumbed and created a huge hole. Sonic was impressed but also knew it would not be a good idea to get hit by too many of those punches.

"Hey…hold on. Can't we talk?" Sonic said not want to attack this person.

"You are the one who has been causing the disturbances. I can not let you continue." He said attacking again but this time at a much faster speed.

"Disturbances? What are you talking about?" Sonic was barely able to dodge each attack.

"You are using the emeralds recklessly and causing the energy in the world to collapse. I can't let you continue." The echidna continued his endless attacks.

"Hold up buddy. I don't mean to use them but I have to stop this bad guy called Eggman from using them to take over the world." Sonic said as fast as he could. Luckily the echidna stopped.

"If what you say is true then why are you here? To take the master emerald's power?"

"What? No, no, no! I don't even know what this master emerald is." Sonic said. "My buddy and I had issues with our plane and happened to find this place. We only landed to fix our plane."

The echidna lowered his fists. "And why did you come in here?"

"Mostly just to explore," Sonic said, chuckling. "I can leave if you want me to."

"Yes and bring me to the chaos emeralds as well." The echidna said.

"And why should I do that? I don't even know who you are." Sonic questioned.

The echidna took a stance and said, "I am Knuckles. The last of the echidna clan and protector of the master emerald and the power balance in the world."

"Great and I am Sonic the hedgehog," Sonic said sarcastically, not knowing why he had to say that so dramatically. "So why do you need the chaos emeralds?"

"As I said, You have been using them recklessly and causing massive disturbances in the world. The first time you only tapped into the power but the second time you used too much. Because of it the power balance almost shifted. Luckily I was able to stop it. If I hadn't you and anyone around you would have been in trouble."

"Ok so using them is dangerous but what do you mean you stopped them and how do you know that I used them."

"I can tell when the emeralds are being used and using this ability I can use the master emerald to balance out that power."

"Balance out the power?" Sonic was confused.

"Yes. If not for the balance of power this world would not exist." This was a heavy statement that Sonic had a hard time hearing. "So I will be taking those emeralds so you do not endanger this world any further."

Sonic couldn't argue about that but he also was worried, "But how can I fight Eggman? Without the emeralds, I could lose."

"Not my problem. My only missions are to protect the world's balance and guard the master emerald."

"Well the emeralds are back on the plane," Sonic said feeling a bit deflated. It was obvious this guy would not help him and he knew he would never allow him to keep the emeralds.

"Take me to this plane. I do not want you to escape." Knuckles said. Sonic could tell this was not a request.

"Alright. Follow me." Sonic said

They then left the master emerald behind and made their way back to the plane.