Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26167440-20160111225919/@comment-679780-20160128005104

I believe Sonic simply stores the rings somewhere between stages and acts in exchange for points. This is the case in later major games where rings for points are instead stored for over-all currency, such as Sonic '06 and Unleased.

But rings are still use to maintain Super Sonic so I believe they hold some power to allow Sonic to sustain Super Sonic. As for where those rings go, well I believe they go back to the Special stages to recharge just as the Chaos Emeralds do to restablize. As all stated on my gold ring theory.

Super Sonic doesn't "absorb" rings, merely drais them of there power and the rings he has vanish back to the Special stages.