The story of Sonic the Hedgehog continues to be a rather hectic affair for our plucky little rodent as the war against Robotnik rages on. After dealing with her robotic copy and putting a halt to Robotnik's hostage plans, Sonic's adventure took her to the Floating Island once again after it was turned into a superweapon by the mad doctor without Knuckles knowing. Their reunion was met with hostility as Knuckles tried to get rid of Sonic, but thanks to the night sky, Sonic convinced Knuckles of foul play, leading to their second truce to defeat Robotnik. Thanks to Knuckles' quick thinking, the Floating Island was saved once again, as was the Great Forest.

A couple of days after the Floating Island incident, Robotnik is seen in his lab with a Chaos Emerald in his hand, laughing with glee as a laser was fired onto it, seemingly super charging it.

Robotnik: "Excellect, Snively… Keep a steady feed on the Emerald."

Snively, who was operating the laser, peeked from behind the machine with protective eyewear on.

Snively: "Sir, might I ask why you are super charging this Chaos Emerald?"

Robotnik: "Simple. By super charging the Emerald, I will be able to build the perfect machine to crush the Freedom Fighters with. A machine of untold power, Snively… Imagine it!"

Snively: "I would… if I had any faith in your idea…"

This got a glare from Robotnik, but then the Chaos Emerald started to give off a very bright glow. A reaction that brought worry to the doctor.

Robotnik: "Th-The Chaos Emerald is going critical! Hit the deck!"

Robotnik shouted as he dashed to the nearest cover he could with Snively joining him shortly afterwards. The Chaos Emerald soon let off a massive explosion before two pieces flew out from Robotropolis to parts unknown.

Robotnik: "Gadzooks! That level of power was far too much for the jewel… It completely wrecked my lab!"

Snively: "Ugh… I'll grab the broom…"

Snively says in defeat, having done this a lot already. Robotnik on the other hand pulls out a phone book from his desk as he picks up a phone.

Robotnik: "Looks like I'll need to call in an expert to hunt down those Emerald pieces. I need the best of the worst… The most ruthless… The most cruel bounty hunter in all of Mobius."

Meanwhile, at Freedom Fighter HQ, Sonic and Tails are seen rushing into the base after having felt a massive quake from out of nowhere. Rotor is seen already trying to investigate the case.

Sonic: "Yo, Rotor! Did you feel that quake just now? Is that Robotnik's flabby gut rumbling or is it a genuine earthquake?"

Rotor: "Neither, Sonic! My sensors just picked up a huge spike in power out of nowhere before that power divided itself. Using some geometric triangulation, I was able to deduce that whatever caused that quake seemed to split itself."

Tails: "Uh… Mind if we get that in English?"

Rotor: "In other words, one something seems to have landed in this sector of Mobius while the other something is heading straight for the Floating Island."

Sonic: "Boy, that's going to sour Knuckles' day… Alright, Rotor. Just point me in the right direction and I'll make like a hurricane!"

Rotor: "Humm… Ah!"

Rotor pulls up a map which shows the spike of energy had landed some distance away from Robotropolis. Sonic wastes no time and dashes out of the base to make her way towards the energy spike.

In the area just outside of Robotropolis' range, Sonic found herself in a weird sludge swamp. Though the area was a ways away from the robot infested city, it was still hit by the influence of Robotnik's pollution.

Sonic: "That cruddy doctor… One thing me and my friends plan to do once Mobius is free is make sure places like these are cleaned up…"

Her sympathy for mother nature aside, she found smoke going into the air. Following it, she found a nearby lake and a single dead tree. Just a few yards from that, she found a hole with smoke coming out of it, a fairly small hole to be sure.

Sonic: "Whoa… Okay, this must be where our mystery object fell. Good thing hedgehogs are good at digging!"

Sonic jumps, using a midair Spin Attack to dig her way underground. However, as she dug, someone watched from afar. Cloaked in darkness, the figure had a pair of binoculars out as he watched the digging process. A single sharp tooth could be seen as he smiled evilly. After only a minute of digging, Sonic bursts out of the ground with the mystery object - half of a Chaos Emerald. As she held it, her hand reacted in pain as it burned it.

Sonic: "Ow! Jeez… That thing is hot… Never in my life have I ever seen half a Chaos Emerald… And more than that, one that was hot to the touch…"

Voice: "There's always time for new things to happen, lady."

Sonic goes into full alert mode as she turns towards the voice, getting into a fighting stance. Walking up to her was some kind of male jerboa/weasel mix. A bounty hunter's hat and a holster for a single revolver. Purple fur with a white belly, and a very pronounced single fang. The figure raises his hat, smiling as he kept a calm composure towards Sonic.

Bounty Hunter: "That being said… I think it's about time you handed over that pretty little gem you got beside you."

Sonic: "Sorry, but finder's keeper's. You want to get your girlfriend a pretty gem, go find one elsewhere."

Bounty Hunter: "Aw, but that gem right there is mighty special. My client is paying a mighty fine price for it."

Sonic looked at the gem, then at the bounty hunter. The gears started to turn as she started to figure things out.

Sonic: "So what does your 'client' want with this gem? Is he responsible for that quake from earlier?"

Bounty Hunter: "Dunno. Don't care. I just do my job… if the pay is good. Which does bring up something interesting… You'd fetch a mighty price if I brought you to my client."

Sonic: "Over my dead body."

Bounty Hunter: "Oh… Poor choice of words, hedgehog…"

The two get into a stand off, a light breeze blowing in the area to set the mood. Both mobians stare each other down, seeing which one of them was going to make the first move…

Bounty Hunter: "DRAW!"

He pulls out his revolver quickly, firing it at Sonic as the hedgehog starts to run and dodge the swift bullets. Sonic quickly closed the distance, swinging a backwards kick towards the hand holding the gun. However, the bounty hunter showed surprising quickness as he backed away from the hedgehog, firing off an explosive bullet as he backed away, throwing Sonic back from the force. The bounty hunter quickly reloads his revolver. However, Sonic was quick to recover as she Spin Dashed towards the bounty hunter, knocking him off his feet.

Bounty Hunter: "Tch… Yeah, I'm thinking that speed of yours might be a bigger pain in a fair fight…"

Sonic: "Then stay on the ground the-"

As Sonic spoke, she is sudden rammed hard by a vehicle - a yellow hoverbike - knocking her away from the bounty hunter, who had pressed a button on his wrist watch.

Bounty Hunter: "Good thing I come prepared. Time to show you how my Marvelous Queen operates!"

The bounty hunter hopped onto his bike before starting to circle around the hedgehog, firing off homing bullets from his revolver as he rode. Sonic quickly dodges the bullets, side flipping and back flipping away from each bullet that came at her. She landed, the bounty hunter turned his bike towards Sonic and went full speed at her, aiming to run her over. With a smirk, she quickly jumped over the bike and kicked the bounty hunter on the head, knocking him off his bike, which soon crashed to the ground and seemed to turn off.

Sonic: "Whew… Not often you get a bad apple to mess with you, but… You weren't going to beat me regardless. Might borrow your bike though."

Sonic says as she smiles and turns toward the Chaos Emerald piece.

Sonic: "If I'm fast enough, I can probably get that other half on the Floating Island before Knuckles notices… assuming he hasn't already…"

Sonic then feels a huge jolt on her back, causing immediate pain before her entire body goes numb and collapses. The bounty hunter smiles as he had his revolver out, having fired a stun shot. He then picks himself up and looks down at the collapsed hedgehog.

Bounty Hunter: "Thought you could pull the wool over ol' Nack the Weasel? Sorry, lady. But I'm far more clever than I look."

The bounty hunter, Nack, smiles as he moves his watch - a two-way communicator - to his mouth.

Nack: "Doctor Robotnik. I have a little something-something that I'm willing to bring to ya… With some negotiating…"

Sonic's eyes close as her mind shuts down, everything going blank. She didn't hear the rest of the conversation.

Sonic's mind wandered in unconsciousness for quite some time. Her body was numb and she wasn't quite sure if she was even awake or asleep. The numbness did fade, but she herself was still exhausted. She then heard something… unusual… Voices that were unfamiliar… Sounding like millions at people at once, but not at the same time…

Voice: "Hero who is gifted speed unparallel… Your mind is clouded… Your body is weakened…"

Sonic could not speak… She felt choked up by this strange force…

Voice: "You hold the key to save the island from disaster to come… Disaster which would take the lives in the sky…"

Sonic tried to speak, but she couldn't. In fact, when she tried to exhale, it felt like her lungs were filling up more. The sensation caused her to abruptly wake up as she felt herself drowning. Adrenaline filled her body as she tore through the bag that held her. Her mind was racing; she didn't know where she was or how she got there. She jumped off the hoverbike belonging to Nack. No time to ask how it got there… She saw sunlight above her, but her vision was beginning to darken again. Before she could collapse, she breached the surface, desperately grabbing for solid ground. A hand grabs her by the arm and pulls her out of the water.

Voice: "Sonic!? What were you doing in the water!?"

Sonic recognized that voice but her mind was still racing and her body was trying to catch up. She turned to the ground underneath her and started vomit out the water in her lungs. She coughs harshly, weakly getting back onto her feet as she saw an unexpected sight - Knuckles.

Knuckles: "Hey, you alright?"

Sonic: "Kn-Knuckles… Wh… Am I on the Floating Island?"

Sonic almost collapses from the adrenaline leaving her body. The force of getting out of water left her greatly disoriented. Knuckles thought about fighting Sonic if she tried to hit him, but in her condition, it wouldn't feel good. So instead, he helps her stay steady.

Knuckles: "Easy, Sonic. Get a grip before you start moving."

Sonic: "Urgh… Where's the stupid bounty hunter, Nack? And the half of the Chaos Emerald I had?"

Knuckles points out a knocked out Nack, hogtied by the echidna just so he wouldn't escape.

Knuckles: "If you mean that guy, he was speeding around on my island. One sneaky punch was enough to send him to dreamland. His bike drove off into that pond there, but I didn't think you were on it too. My bad…"

Sonic just waves that off. After finally getting a grip, she walked up to the sack containing the Chaos Emerald half before snapping back to the crisis at hand.

Sonic: "Knuckles!? Have you seen a stray Chaos Emerald piece like this!?"

Knuckles: "Yeah, I have. It's burrowing its way towards the Chaos Emerald keeping the island afloat! If what the Ancient Walkers told me is true, then if they connect, the entire island will go boom!"

Sonic: "We need to intercept it quickly!"

Knuckles quickly opens a hidden entrance slide into the Chaos Emerald Chamber, allowing the duo head right into the chamber just as the Emerald half had broken in. Sonic reacted quickly, jumping towards the half while holding her half, slamming the two together. The reaction of power creates bright light, blinding her for a brief moment before she lands back onto the ground. Once the light is gone, the duo saw that the Chaos Emerald that was rejoined together had vanished with not a trace of it anywhere. Sonic and Knuckles are left dumbfounded…

Later, after fishing out Nack's hoverbike from the pond, Sonic puts the bounty hunter on the back before turning to Knuckles.

Sonic: "Sorry for intruding on your island… Again… I try not to make it a habit, but…"

Knuckles: "Yeah, yeah. Just be glad that I didn't start smacking you around today."

Sonic: "Smacking me around? Pfft. What? Are you sore that you lost the first two times?"

Knuckles: "You want to start something, spiny!?"

The two glared at each other before turning away with a huff. Sonic gets on the hoverbike before glancing at Knuckles.

Sonic: "...See you on the flip side, Knucklehead."

Knuckles: "Tch. Get lost already."

Knuckles then walks away as Sonic drove off the island, leaving a bittersweet pause to their eventual fight. But as Sonic drove… A thought came to her mind. Two, actually… Just who were the voices that woke her up? She probably didn't want to know fully, but felt like she will soon enough… And secondly, if the half of the Emerald that landed on the Floating Island was drilling its way to the full one in that chamber, what was the half she went after first doing…? As her mind wandered more, she made plans to investigate that area one day, curious as to what she would find…