Floating Island (Sonic the Comic)

The Floating Island is a location that appears in the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions. It is an island that floats through the skies of Mobius, suspended by the mystical powers of the Chaos Emeralds; without the Master Emerald however, the island will plummet from the sky in a matter of hours or almost immediately. The valuable contents of the island have made the island a target for villains such as Dr. Robotnik. Fortunately, it is protected by its guardian Knuckles the Echidna, one of the last known survivors of the Ancient Echidnas that once resided on the island.

Great War
The Floating Island's origins are unknown. Its ability to fly stem from the power of its six Chaos Emeralds, namely the Master Emerald, which were stolen from the Drakon Empire by the Ancient Echidnas 8,000 years ago (the Emeralds would later get split, and half of them would be found by Dr. Kintobor ). At that time, the Drakon Empire attacked the island's capital Megopolis City in retribution, starting the Great War. Though the Echidnas had to sent their savior Sonic the Hedgehog back to his time after summoning him, they warded off the attack.

After the war, the Drakons had left, but the Ancient Echidnas had disappeared from the island. Only Knuckles was left, who would awaken in the present with amnesia and solemnly guard the Floating Island and its Emeralds, having only ruins and ancient texts to help him understand his long-departed people.

Ruled by Robotnik
In the present, the Floating Island was initially considered a myth to the people of Mobius, only known through old stories and the shadows it sometimes cast on the clouds it passed. However, everything changed when Dr. Robotnik's second Death Egg crashed in the island's Ice Cap Zone. There, Robotnik tricked Knuckles into becoming his bodyguard by claiming that the "villainous" Sonic sought to steal the island's Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik constructed the Launch Base Zone in which he began repairs on his Death Egg, and populated the island with his Badniks and Troopers. He also made the existence of the Island public knowledge among the people of Mobius.

When Sonic and Tails came to the Floating Island looking for Robotnik, Knuckles protected Robotnik. Even so, the duo caught the dictator and left the island. However, Knuckles and Robotnik managed to steal Sonic's six Chaos Emeralds and return to the Floating Island's Temple of Chaos with them, where they re-joined the Emeralds with the six already on the island. Robotnik attempted to betray Knuckles and take the Emeralds' power for himself, but Knuckles used the missing Grey Emerald to stop him and sent him away. Knuckles afterwards kept the Emeralds on the Floating Island, safe in their shrine. Over time, the now-whole Chaos Emeralds regenerated into much larger gems, becoming powerful enough to protect the entire island with an energy barrier.

After discovering Robotnik's true nature, Knuckles set out to eradicate any trace of the evil doctor from the island. He broke into the Launch Base Zone and learned that Robotnik had laid siege on Sonic's Secret Underground Base. While Knuckles left to help Sonic, Robotnik's cronies the Marxio Brothers set up the Carnival Night Zone on one end of the island and invited the Emerald Hill Folk. Upon discovering the brothers, Knuckles was briefly convinced that they were not affiliated with Robotnik, and he allowed them to stay after they offered to let him use the park's revenue to fix up the Island's ancient monuments. However, he soon discovered the ruse, leading him to separate the Zone, and the entire edge of the Island, from the main landmass with a punch to a fault-line.

Robotnik continued to use the island as his base, briefly using the Ice Cap Zone to test out his Inter-Zone Technology. Sonic later returned to the Floating Island to prevent the re-launch of Robotnik's Death Egg, and teamed up with Knuckles. However, several distractions made them arrive too late. The Master Emerald got stolen from the Hidden Palace by Metallix, risking the Floating Island's fall, and then used by Robotnik to power the Death Egg. Escaping the crumbling Sky Sanctuary, Sonic infiltrated the Death Egg while Knuckles consulted the ancient texts to activate the island's ancient technology. He was able to use the island's propulsion system to move the entire island towards the Death Egg, then shoot it out of the sky with devastating energy weapons.

In exchange for recovering the Master Emerald, Sonic asked Knuckles for a favor. In particular, he requested that Knuckles provide a safe haven for the Emerald Hill Folk, to protect them from Robotnik's wrath. Knuckles agreed, and the entire population of the Emerald Hill Zone was moved to the Floating Island's Mushroom Hill Zone, to be protected by the island's force field.

Hosting the Emerald Hill Folk and new trouble
As Knuckles looked after the Emerald Hill Folk on the Floating Island, his duties were interrupted briefly by a visit from Shortfuse the Cybernik, the arrival of Predicto and the Freedom Fighters attempt to make him join them, and trips to the Special Zone and Nameless Zone. At the same time, more refugees would come to the Floating Island. Then, when the Freedom Fighters had a break on the Floating Island, Amy had to deal with Snownik, a Badnik left behind by Robotnik.

It was around this time that Nack the Weasel came to the Floating Island, seeking to steal the treasure of the Lost Pyramid of Sandopolis. With the aid of the Chaotix though, Knuckles prevented the theft. Knuckles would face further challenges on the island in the form of an Eggrobo who had managed to elude him and a rogue duplicate of himself created from a magical mirror.

Eventually, Knuckles met Dr. Zackery, another Echidna. Unfortunately, Zachary proved to be evil and used a Guardian Robot to absorb the Master Emerald's Chaos energy. As the island fell on top of a mountain, Knuckles defeated Zachary and used his Chaos energy-infused robot to return the island to the sky. Acquiring a new Emerald vessel from the Floating Island's Kohenyu Graveyard,   Knuckles transfer the Chaos energy from the robot into a new Master Emerald, though it destroyed much of the Emerald Chamber in the process, disabling the island's force field.

Fortunately, Knuckles met by Captain Plunder who would give Knuckles documents concerning the Floating Island in exchange for him raising the island up to the Ghost Ship of Tantaragor. Knuckles complied, but it lead to him spending a lengthy time away from the Floating Island. In the meantime, Sonic visited Porker on the Floating Island, but had an accident in the Emerald Chamber that turned him into the psychotic Super Sonic.

When Knuckles returned, he found out that Robotnik was back again, this time linking the populace of the Floating Island to a giant biological computer that would operate off their living brains instead of microchips. This plan was quashed by Sonic, Knuckles and the Omni-Viewer, and Robotnik was finally overthrown as ruler of Mobius. With Robotnik deposed and some persuasion from Sidney, Knuckles lowered the island down to Mobius and let the Emerald Hill Folk return home. Only Porker Lewis remained behind on the island with Knuckles, to help him repair the island's ancient technology.

Post-Ruled by Robotnik
With peace returned to the Floating Island, Tails and Sonic visited Knuckles at New Year. There, they tested Knuckles to see if he was still up for the fight against Robotnik. When later working on the island's systems, Knuckles was again wished away to the Special Zone, this with Porker.

With help from Grimer, the Drakon Empire returned to the Floating Island to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Tails came to protect the island, unaware that Knuckles was in the Special Zone. The situation looked increasingly bleak, as the heroes were captured and unable to prevent the theft of the Emeralds, which Robotnik took for himself after the Drakons did all the work. When Knuckles returned, Robotnik began absorbing the Emeralds' power. Although it initially looked like Robotnik's plan failed, the ex-dictator soon became a god and reshaped Mobius. Sonic was later returned to the Floating Island, where Robotnik made Knuckles attack him. Manipulated by Sonic, Robotnik returned Knuckles to his former self, allowing the heroes to defeat him and shrink him down to nothing.

The island remained fairly safe after this, despite a brief attack from Ms Alpha and her team of thieves who attempted to loot the island for its treasures. Not long after, Grimer and Nack the Weasel infiltrated the Floating Island to recover Robotnik, who had ended up on the sub-atomic world of Shanazar. While the villains escaped to Shanazar from the island, Sonic soon followed them.

After being released, the Chaos creature attacked the Emerald Chamber on the Floating Island and managed to absorb the blue Chaos Emerald. To stop Chaos, Knuckles had no choice but to scatter the other Emeralds to the four corners of Mobius, thus removing the island's buoyancy and sending it crashing into the ocean below, where it sunk.

Topography
The Floating Island consists of several locations and different ecosystems, each with its own wonders and secrets. All of the island's Zones are connected by a network of underground tunnels and Zoom Tubes that allow travel all over the island with ease.

Zones and areas

 * Carnival Night Zone (removed)
 * Ice Cap Zone
 * Launch Base Zone
 * Lava Reef Zone
 * Mushroom Hill Zone
 * Mushroom Valley
 * Sandopolis Zone
 * Sky Sanctuary (destroyed)

Settlements and structures

 * Emerald Chamber
 * Temple of Chaos
 * Megopolis City (destroyed)

Trivia

 * It is assumed that the Floating Island's weapons were built by the Ancient Echidnas for use in their war against the Drakon Empire, although this is not made clear.