A/N: Just so you guys know, this fic follows on pretty much directly from my Sonic 2 adaptation Rising Star. I like keeping the continuity where I can :P

Pale wisps of cloud drifted lazily along in a deep blue sky. It was hardly worthwhile trying to find shapes in them; they were too thin and so small you probably wouldn't see them from the ground anyway. A couple of feet below, a salmon fisher (a kind of large Mobian bird named more for its colour than its diet) circled lazily around. It was unusual to find one so high up; the pink and blue birds tended to be only about fifty or sixty feet above ground level, circling their own individual fishing grounds and waiting for some unsuspecting fish to swim into them.

This particular salmon fisher had been doing just that and happily minding its own business when it had almost been hit by a plane, which had necessitated an emergency ascent of several hundred feet. The plane in question had continued on its way and was just about visible on the horizon.

This in itself was nothing very unusual. Quite a few Mobians had planes. The pilot was a little more unorthodox – he didn't look any older than four or five and had to sit on three large cushions before he could see where he was flying – and the blue hedgehog (and owner of the plane) standing on the wing was a pretty strange sight too.

Then again, since everyone on Mobius had heard of Sonic the hedgehog and his newly adopted sidekick and little brother Tails, perhaps it wasn't so strange after all.

What was unusual, however, was their destination; a lush looking tropical island. Although Mobius also had plenty of tropical islands, not many of these were found flying at several thousand feet, and Sonic was half inclined to take the rumours of it with a pinch of salt. Part of this was the sheer craziness of the idea – whoever heard of an aerial island – but part of it was also the fact that he and his new little brother were chasing Robotnik, and that thought didn't exactly fill the hedgehog with joy.

Tails, on the other hand, had grown more and more impatient as the six months of Sonic's recovery had passed, demanding to know when they were gonna go whump ol' Robotnik.

Sonic himself was feeling a lot less enthusiastic about this than Tails. The last time he'd fought Robotnik had been on the Death Egg, when he'd come up against Robo-Sonic and a giant battle robot the doctor had dubbed the Eggstreme Annihilator. Both had almost killed him; Robo-Sonic had tried to literally pin him to the wall. Sonic's fur hid the horrific scars from that encounter, scars he knew he'd probably have for the rest of his life. Granted Robotnik was almost certainly dead – nothing could have survived the Death Egg's explosion – but Sonic still wasn't entirely happy about this new excursion.

He was, however, extremely curious about this place Tails had spotted with one of the telescopes in Sky High Zone, and it had been that more than anything which prompted him to go along. The little fox had discovered an island floating in the sky, and wanted to go see if there was anyone there, and if not, did he get to name it as its discoverer?

A flying island? Sonic had never heard of such a thing before.

"Tails?" he said suddenly.

"Yup?"

"You sure it was an island you saw?"

Tails sighed and rolled his eyes. This was the eighth time Sonic had asked this question, and for the eighth time the little fox gave the same answer.

"I'm sure."

"Not some kind of odd metallic circular thing?"

"Well, I dunno if it's 'tallic without getting up real close, Sonic, but it's really an island 'cause I saw green stuff on the outside."

Did dead bodies go mouldy? Sonic imagined so – if you wanted to be perfectly crude about it, they were nothing more than carrion and meat after all – but he'd never actually seen for himself.

Green stuff...could it be Robot—no. He stamped on that thought hard. No, don't be stupid. Even someone as large as the doctor wouldn't...well...not that much. Yet.

He gritted his teeth. Sometimes he sure wished he didn't have such a vivid imagination.

Still, if there really was a flying island, that would explain why the Death Egg had never hit the Mobian surface.

Yeah. And because it was blown out the sky. Stop creeping yourself out, Sonic; you're not going to find anything there.

Sonic opened his bag and took a quick look at the seven Chaos Emeralds inside, then made up his mind. It had taken him a long time to learn how to harness their powers for himself – even now it didn't always work and not for very long – and he rarely did it, but this was something of a special case. He didn't know what he was going to find in this place, but he wanted to be prepared.

In the pilot's seat, Tails suddenly yipped with excitement. "Lookit, Sonic! I see it! I see it!"

"What? Where?" Sonic returned his gaze to the sky ahead and caught sight of the island.

"I'll be damned," he breathed softly. An island flying in the sky...what kept it up? What was it? Mighty the armadillo had supposedly visited it (and Sonic had first heard about it from him back in Emerald Hill Zone) but he hadn't been able to tell the hedgehog a great deal about it.

The Tornado rose slightly higher – it was running like a dream ever since Tails had fixed it back on Westside Island – and crossed the border of the island. Sonic made up his mind and jumped off it, feeling the power of the Chaos Emeralds surge into him. A few seconds later, he reappeared, bright yellow and moving so fast he skimmed over the surface of the lake the Tornado was now flying over.

Once on the other side, Tails managed to land on the outskirts of a jungle and hopped out, then started to run behind Sonic.

The hedgehog was feeling more confident with every step he took. Part of that was just his own natural optimism coming into play, but part of it was also the thought of the Chaos Emeralds protecting him from any danger. Granted it only lasted a short time, but all the while he had them on his side, short of drowning, falling or getting crushed, there was nothing that could hurt him!

It was just after he'd thought this that something erupted from the ground and rammed him hard, knocking him off his feet and a good three yards back, scattering the Chaos Emeralds around him. Stunned, he could only watch as his assailant – a strange creature he'd never seen before – raced past, gathering up all the Chaos Emeralds and turning to look mockingly at him. The sight jerked the hedgehog back to reality and he snapped to his feet furiously.

"Give me those!"

The creature laughed in his face. "Come and get them, thief, if you dare."

Sonic tensed. "Oh, I dare alright. And who are you calling a thief?"

"Not you!" Tails raced to stand between the hedgehog and the stranger, small paws jammed firmly on hips and a scowl on his face. "Do you know who you jus' whumped?"

"Perhaps a better question might be, do I care?" the other answered, his tone one of cool arrogance.

"You better care! You can't jus' go about whumping people like Sonic with imup...impy...immu...without getting whumped back!"

"This is my island, kid. What I want goes." The stranger paused for all of half a second before adding, "And I want you to go. Both of you."

"I wants don't get!"

"When I want a lesson in surface etiquette, I'll tell you. In the meantime, you have ten minutes to get the hell off my island."

Sonic moved up behind Tails in a protective fashion. "And you got ten seconds to give me my Chaos Emeralds back!"

"They aren't yours, Sonic."

"They are so!" Tails said loudly. "Sonic got 'em from the Special Zones, all of them! You can't jus' come in an' take 'em, 'cause that's stealing an' that's not fair!"

The other looked momentarily taken aback. Sonic couldn't blame him; Tails in full indignation mode often had that effect on people.

"Look, I need those Emeralds," he said. The creature snorted.

"That right?" He closed his eyes and the Emeralds in question rose to orbit him, getting faster and faster until they were nothing more than a multicoloured blur.

Sonic hesitated. He'd fight this guy if he had to, but he didn't feel comfortable about attacking when the stranger had his eyes shut...and especially not when there was a chance he was going to tap into the Emeralds' power at any minute.

Even as he watched, the Emeralds vanished into thin air and the stranger opened his eyes.

"If you need them so badly, go and find them."

Turning, he strode to the edge of a chasm that barred the way ahead and leapt off into it.

The thought that some weirdo had just assaulted him, taken all his Chaos Emeralds, made them disappear and then apparently committed suicide kicked Sonic into action and he raced forward, skidding to a stop on the edge and peering over.

The sight which greeted him didn't do a lot for his mood; the creature was riding the air in an almost comical superhero pose – ie, both clenched fists extended in front of him – and while it wasn't the fastest way of moving the hedgehog had ever seen, it was undeniably effective.

Sonic stared. "He can fly?" That...surely that wasn't possible? The guy didn't have any wings that Sonic could see. On the other hand, Tails didn't have wings either, but at least the whole propeller routine was...well, semi-logical.

Tails came up, panting for breath, then caught sight of the stranger and his jaw dropped. "Wow! I didn't know he could glide like that!"

Of course, that was it...gliding. Not that this made any difference; Sonic still couldn't see how the hell he was doing it.

"He's going to hit the cliff if he keeps going at that rate."

"I think he knows that." Tails pointed to where the creature had latched onto the rock and was now climbing up.

"Tails, can you fly me over there?"

The fox squirmed. "Uh...I dunno. Maybe. It's a real big ditch, Sonic."

"If you're not sure, then we won't risk it." Sonic shaded his eyes, watching as the stranger walked into the forest. That was what really irked the hedgehog; he wasn't running, he was walking, almost sauntering as though he knew full well there was no way anybody could possibly chase him.

Sonic continued to watch until his assailant was out of sight, then turned to stare at Tails, stunned.

"What was that all about?"

Okay, so that's the scene-setting done :P Granted it's short but there's not much else to write for the minute. Hope you liked it and if you read, please review!