Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26167440-20160111225919/@comment-679780-20160128153402

Well, let's review my theory and what we know.

The Special Stages are still regarded a thing in modern Sonic games. While not frequant in the major games they are usually seen in the handhelds (And I regard the handhelds more of "midquals" than simply alternate retellings of main games, not including Battle and Chronicles which have the weakest canon) Some may believe Chaos Emeralds hold charge and after awhile go back to the Special Stages to recharge. I believe that the Chaos Emeralds power are infinite but over time become instable and chaotic, the reason they go back to the Special Stages after awhile is either they are put there or the special stage environment is ideal for the Chaos Emeralds to restablize.

Throughout the series, they say the Chaos Emeralds hold unlimited power, that means that while in a sense they do function like batteries and that power can be removed, I don't believe the Chaos Emeralds need to be "recharged" because then that power wouldn't really be "unlimited". While the Chaos Emeralds are named "Chaos Emeralds" after the God of Destruction, the emeralds have been known to give of unpredictable energy surges at times throughout comics, cartoons and games. So I think the Chaos Emeralds serve more as a conduit to chaos energy than simply contain it.

Now for the rings which, unlike the Chaos Emeralds which serve as a conduit and source of chaos energy, gold rings are capable of holding a charge more traditional to batteries. However gold rings only hold a small, harmless portion of chaos energy within it's metal, this is enough to magnetize them to such radical levels that they can defy gravity, gravity itself is a fundamental force like magnetism is.

The chaos energy within gold rings is enough to protect those who have them from severe damage, but this will cause the rings to loose energy. They can still be collected, but as they loose energy, they will vanish and return to the Special Stages where they will recharge.

I have stated that Chaos Emeralds and gold rings function differently from one another. Chaos Emeralds are a conduit to chaos energy while gold rings merely hold a minor charge, but both rings and emeralds return to Earth the same way. Once they're recharged or stabalized, they will "warp" back the same way they got in. Rings perhaps charge quicker than and Chaos Emeralds stablize for the emeralds may take a few long months. Both rings and emeralds seems to be attracted to zones than just anywhere on Earth which prevents them ending up in unobtainable places (for example below the worlds deepest ocean).

As for how Super Sonic relates to them both. Sonic needs the seven chaos emeralds to become Super Sonic, but needs the gold rings to sustain. As for how this work given the Chaos Emeralds themselves are powerful I am not sure, it could be for various reasons. It could simply be Super Sonic gameplay is not canon which explains most of the good points. However Super Sonic gameplay has persist since Sonic 2 to Sonic Generations so I believe it should count for something.

My only theory is that the powers bestowed from the Chaos Emeralds are not permanant, they are suppose to be unpredictable. While the Chaos Emeralds can make Sonic become super, they're not ment to sustain him unless Sonic can draw the energy from the Chaos emeralds and that takes constant will and concentration. In comparison to Chaos Control, that ability requires the will and reserve to pull off, but not neccisarily require conscious, plus chaos energy itself is somewhat sentient given in Sonic Adventure the Master Emerald indicates to Knuckles what he must do at times.

So instead of lots of raw power from the Chaos Emeralds, it's more ideal for Super Sonic to draw off the small yet steady power from the gold rings to sustain his state of supremecy which would require a lot of power which is why the rings deplete by the second. Every ring gone by the second is drained of it's power and vanishes back to the Special Stage to recharge.

I know may seem like I'm pulling straws to explain this, and yeah I can be wrong, I'm just trying to logically explain the cause and effects of things in Sonic's world. But it is my headcanon that chaos Emeralds are conduits of unlimited power, but such power can be changed and removed while the gold rings can hold a minor charge of chaos energy. Special Stages play important roles to both emeralds and rings which explains why they are so spread out across Sonic's world.