In various fairy tales, there is often talk of an island… An island that is not marked on any map, that hangs far above the clouds, hidden from the prying eyes of the world below. This mystical island, regarded as the Island of the Heavens, is said to keep a legendary treasure… What kind of treasure though? The fountain of youth? A magic lamp? Perhaps a philosopher's stone? Well… The stone part might be accurate…

Sonic sees himself inside the Death Egg, in a heated battle with the Death Egg Robot. Eggman's taunts ring in his ear, his efforts to defeat the mad doctor resulting in nothing but failure. However, his body absorbs the power of the Chaos Emeralds, turning his fur golden as he erupts with power, obliterating the Death Egg Robot. But he then sees his golden form, mocking him for his weakness, for his reliance on the Emeralds. Sonic watches as the golden figure rushes him and slams him into the black abyss below, Sonic screaming before…

Sonic: "Oomph!"

Sonic finds himself on a wooden floor, having rolled out of a bed of soft leaves. Sonic rubs his head as he grabs the edge of the bed to stand himself up.

Sonic: "Ugh… Mom. You think I could get a Queen sized bed next- …time?"

Sonic pauses as he finds himself in an unfamiliar location. A hut of some kind - a very simplistic one at that. The bed he rolled out of was a couch it looked like, though there was no TV or much furniture outside of a table with a bowl of fruit and a bunk bed set, though no ladder to climb the taller bed.

Sonic: "Okay… Definitely not my home… Or my island… Where am I exactly?"

Sonic got ready to run out, but his leg suddenly started hurting, causing him to fall to the floor in pain.

Sonic: "Aaaah! My leg! …Wh-What happened while I slept?"

As Sonic turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling, he recounted what he could remember. That nightmare was no nightmare - it was the battle on the Death Egg playing out. How Eggman thrashed him and how he resorted to using the Chaos Emeralds to… do something… That part was a blur, even for him. He placed a hand on his face as he tried to think about what happened next… That's when a voice calls out.

Voice: "Hey! You awake yet!?"

Sonic didn't recognize the voice, nor did it sound robotic. He sat up and picked himself back onto his feet, though needing to use nearby objects as support as he made his way to the nearby door. Opening it, he finds… Two echidnas, both some shade of red. The one on the left was a male, few inches taller than Sonic, and wore a pair of spike knuckled gloves; the one on the right was a female, half a foot taller than the male, and wore a pair of spiked gray shoes. The female was a brighter shade of red, and both of them had some kind of crescent moon tattoo just under their necks. They both had dreadlocks, though the female's was fashioned into a ponytail, with only the front two dreadlocks being the only ones not tied up. She also wore clothing beyond just gloves and shoes, much like Sally and Rosie, though hers was more simple - a white tank top and green traveling shorts. Sonic looked at the duo, not sure of what to say right away.

Male Echidna: "Ah good. You're awake. I was wondering if I had to toss a dead body off the island or not."

Sonic: "Uh. Nope. I'm not dead yet. Hopefully not going to be any time soon!"

Sonic then repeated what the male echidna said before deciding to ask.

Sonic: "Wait, you were planning to just toss me off? Dude, do you not see how screwed up that sounded?"

Male Echidna: "Not really. We toss the trash off the island all the time. Not our problem if you can't swim; you came and bothered us."

Sonic: "O-Okay! Before I argue morals, who are you two anyway? Where am I? And how long have I been out? What happe-"

Sonic is clocked on the head by a foot onto his head, knocking him back out as the female stood behind him.

Female Echidna: "...I got annoyed of his fifty questions…"

Male Echidna: "...Still, that was… a bit extreme…"

A little later, after Sonic woke up again, he finds the two echidnas with him this time as they eat. Of course, he was still a bit woozy from getting clocked on the head by a foot to his head.

Sonic: "Ugh… I better not make a habit of waking up in a daze, or else I may need to change my name to Daisy…"

Male Echidna: "Welcome back to the world of the conscious. Glad you could join us."

Sonic: "Um… Thanks?"

Female Echidna: "...One question at a time…"

Sonic: "...Huh?"

Male Echidna: "She means you should probably ask one thing at a time. Overloading us with a bunch of questions is an easy way of annoying her."

Sonic: "Um… Alright. Let's start with names… I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Male Echidna: "I'm Knuckles the Echidna. Known for my brawn and my knuckle sandwiches. The girl with me is my twin sis, Kicks the Echidna. She's more brainy but she hits just as hard."

Kicks: "...I'm quicker to anger too…"

Sonic: "Huh… Lady of few words, I see…"

Knuckles: "Yeeaaah… You get used to it…"

Kicks glares at Sonic before continuing to eat her fruit.

Knuckles: "My turn. Why'd you come to our island?"

Sonic: "Whoa, hey. I like exploring the unknown, but I haven't the faintest of what island this is. I don't remember how I ended up here. One minute I was in the clutches of a mad man who was planning to destroy all life on Mobius just to build some robotic utopia for himself… The next, I wake up in some hut with a hurt leg."

The two echidnas look at each other before turning back to Sonic.

Knuckles: "So you just happened to land on our island by accident?"

Sonic: "In a manner of speaking…"

Kicks: "What about the metal rocks that fell with you?"

Sonic: "Metal rocks…? You mean the Death Egg?"

Knuckles: "You weren't the only thing that crashed here. Some debris fell on our island too, creating a mess that might damage the ecosystem here if it isn't cleaned up. Me and Kick have been taking turns finding those debris, and so far, they really did spread all over the island…"

Kicks: "Picking up litter isn't my idea of a pass time… It's your fault, hedgehog…"

Sonic: "I… er… uh… I'm not the only one necessarily."

Knuckles: "Right right… That mad man you mentioned. What happened to him anyway?"

Sonic: "Well… Going back just before that battle, me and my friends were trying to keep these gemstones called Chaos Emeralds, which the mad man, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, was using them as a power source to power the Death Egg. Unfortunately, his "children" proved a bit too crafty for us and they stole the Emeralds we had from us… When I confronted Ivo, he proved way too much for me, and I almost saw Mobius become a wasteland in an instant. But then… I started reacting to the Emeralds… or the Emeralds reacted to me… Either way, their power entered me and then… I blacked out."

The two echidnas listen to the story, both processing this information. Knuckles wasn't quite getting it, but Kicks was as she spoke up first.

Kicks: "The Emeralds likely felt your emotional distress and gave you power… You had no control over that power, leading to a possible expulsion of raw energy, leading to an explosion on the Death Egg."

Knuckles: "Which does make this your fault again, blue boy. Regardless if you had good intentions."

Sonic: "I… Well… Oh fine… When you put it that way…"

Kicks: "Don't be like that. You help us clean up the debris, we'll put this whole thing behind us."

Sonic: "I mean… Sure. I don't mind. But um… One last question… Where am I exactly?"

Knuckles starts to think for a moment before looking at Kicks with a serious expression.

Knuckles: "Should we tell him?"

Kicks: "...A trust exercise."

Sonic: "A what exercise?"

Knuckles: "Good idea, Kicks!"

Knuckles stands up before looking at Sonic with a serious expression.

Knuckles: "Sonic. Our island has been a secret for a very long time. And we would like to keep it that way. If you promise to keep it a secret, we'll tell you where you are."

Sonic: "...And, hypothetically, say I do tell someone else…"

Knuckles: "Well… Better hope we don't find you then."

Knuckles pounds his fists together just to emphasize his point.

Sonic: "O-Okay. Fair enough. Then it's a deal."

The two shake on it before Knuckles and Kicks take Sonic to the edge of the island. There, Sonic could see clouds below them. Clouds that obscured the world below. His eyes widened as he realized where he was…

Sonic: "N-No way… But… I thought it was a myth… A fairy tale told to kids to inspire them to go outside…"

Knuckles: "Nope. It's real… This is… The Island of the Heavens… Angel Island."

To be continued…