Master Emerald (Sonic the Comic)

The Master Emerald is an object that appears in the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions. It is the largest and most powerful emerald of the seven Chaos Emeralds and the one most vital one to the Floating Island. If it does not remain in the Emerald Chamber at all times, the Floating Island will fall down to the surface of Mobius in a matter of hours.

Origin
The Master Emerald was created, along with the other Chaos Emeralds, by the Drakon Empire. Taken from the Echidnas' Sacred Emerald Mine, the Master Emerald was used as a means to storing the Chaos Energy the Drakons had discovered. Before they could be used for the Drakons' galactic conquest, the Master Emerald and the other Chaos Emeralds were stolen by Pochacamac and kept with the Echidnas, sparking a war with the Drakon Empire. Amidst a Drakon attack on the Echindas, a stray laser shot hit the Master Emerald, causing the Emeralds to 'leak' pure Chaos radiation which transformed a Drakon Prosecutor into Chaos.

Over the next 8,000 years, the Master Emerald and five other Chaos Emeralds somehow got split in half. One half of the Master Emerald remained in a temple on the Floating Island, keeping it airborne along with the other five halves, where it was vigilantly guarded by Knuckles the Echidna after his stasis ended. Meanwhile, the Master Emerald's other half was lost to Mobius. Over time, the Master Emerald would become drained of most of its power which caused it to shrink.

The Master Emerald on Mobius
When the kindly scientist Doctor Ovi Kintobor planned to rid Mobius of evil, he sought out a vessel that could contain such power. He located the Master Emerald and the other five Chaos Emeralds, which were highly suited to containing this energy, and planned to transfer the negative energy he had collected using his Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor into them. Before he could accomplish this however, Kintobor became distracted by a rotten egg and tripped on a cable, slamming the ROCC's control panel with his egg-laden hand. The resulting explosion and Chaos Energy from the Emeralds transformed him into Doctor Ivo Robotnik.

The explosion of the ROCC warped the Master Emerald into the Special Zone. Robotnik held no memory from his time as Kintobor, but knew of the Emeralds and coveted their power for himself. However, Sonic managed to recover the Master Emerald and the others before Robotnik could get them. Sonic brought the Master Emerald and the remaining Emeralds to Kintobor's underground lab for his friend Porker Lewis to monitor. However, it was discovered that when the Emeralds were brought together outside of certain stabilizing conditions (such as in extreme cold, the presence of Golden Rings, or in the temple on the Floating Island), they would generate and radiate energy, building to a chain reaction. The blast once again warped the Master Emerald back to the Special Zone, which also struck Sonic with a full blast of chaos energy and transformed him into the berserk Super Sonic for the first time.

The Master Emerald was retrieved from the Special Zone again by Sonic, who hid it away with the others Emeralds in the North Cave where the sub-zero temperatures rendered it inactive and prevented the spatial warp. They were briefly stolen by Captain Plunder and his Sky Pirates, but before they could heat up they absorbed the pirates' negative energy and turned them into easily-beaten hippies.

After this theft, the Master Emerald was kept in a refrigerated box in Sonic's Emerald Hill Zone headquarters so he could keep an eye on them. Robotnik, meanwhile, had met Knuckles and tricked the echidna into his service by claiming that Sonic had stolen the Emeralds from him. Allowing himself to be captured by the Freedom Fighters, Robotnik was able to lead Knuckles straight to their headquarters and steal the Emeralds. There, Knuckles reintegrated the two sets of Chaos Emeralds into one, completing the Master Emerald once more, with the help of one of Robotnik's devices that took the place of the Grey Emerald. Robotnik then turned on Knuckles, using the device to absorb the Chaos Energy into himself, but Knuckles stopped him.

Kept on the Floating Island
The Master Emerald was returned to the Emerald Chamber in the Hidden Palace Zone on the Floating Island, where it steadily regained its original size and power while keeping the island in the sky. However the Master Emerald was soon targeted by Robotnik who needed it as the power core for his new Death Egg. Dispatching the Metallix to retrieve it, the robot took the Master Emerald to the Sky Sanctuary Zone to be picked up. Here, Metallix drew upon its power to fight Sonic and Knuckles until Sonic accidently touched the Master Emerald and temporarily turned into Super Sonic. Regardless, the Master Emerald was brought onboard the Death Egg where Robotnik had it power this fortress. However, Sonic stowed aboard the Death Egg and, after a tough fight, was able to grab the Master Emerald and escape the Death Egg. The Master Emerald landed deftly on the island and Knuckles returned it to its rightful place.

The Chaos Emeralds would still the cause of some trouble later, when Sonic was accidentally exposed to them and transformed into an even more deranged, demonic version of Super Sonic.

Later on, Doctor Zachary found his way to the Floating Island and pretended to be the target of one of the Guardian Robots when he actually planned to use the power of the Master Emerald. When he got Knuckles to show him the Master Emerald, Zachery had his robot smash it and absorb its Chaos Energy. After Knuckles stopped Zachery, he used the robot's severed head a substitute container for the Master Emerald's energy. Eventually, Knuckles headed to the Kohenyu Graveyard, home of the Floating Island's Emerald mine where he dug up a raw Emerald and shaped it into a new Master Emerald. After a brief scuffle with the robot head, Knuckles was able to transfer the original Master Emerald's Chaos Energy into the new one.

When the Drakon Empire contacted Mobius once more, Emperor Ko-Dorr, head of the House of War, secretly entered into a partnership with Robotnik in order to reclaim the Master Emerald and the remaining Chaos Emeralds to fuel a coup against the House of Magic and the House of Knowledge. As part of a double-cross, Robotnik had his assistant, Grimer, defect to the Drakons and inform them of the Emeralds' whereabouts; the Drakons disabled all of the Floating Island's defenses, allowing Robotnik (after Grimer had the Drakons teleported away) to teleport in and finally seize control of all the Emeralds, the Master Emerald included. At first, the Emerald's power appeared to be too much for his body to contain and he turned into a crystalline statue, but this soon proved to be merely a chrysalis stage as his form adapted to the energies. With the power of a god, Robotnik toyed around with Sonic until the hero baited him into restoring Knuckles, who then drained him of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds' power which cause him to shrink into a sub-atomic state as he could no longer exist substantially without it.

Return of Chaos
When Chaos was freed by Grimer in an attempt to pull Robotnik out of a suicidal depression, the creature headed for the Floating Island, intending to absorb the Chaos Emeralds into itself. Before it could get to the Master Emerald though, Knuckles jettisoned it and the remaining five Emeralds to the four corners of Mobius. Without the Emeralds' power, the Floating Island crashed to Mobius and sank into the ocean. Dr. Robotnik gathered the Master Emerald and the other Emerald to draw Chaos and the Freedom Fighters to his fortress so they could all die together along with Mobius. As Sonic came to their aid, Chaos absorbing the Emeralds and became the monstrous "Perfect Chaos". Following the creature's defeat, the Master Emerald was once again in the Freedom Fighter's hands.

Powers and Traits
The Master Emerald is a near infinite source of Chaos Energy. While the Grey Emerald can control the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald is the most powerful of them in terms of raw power. Its power can be drawn from the Master Emerald to power machinery like the Death Egg and as well empower beings to immense levels.

Trivia

 * The Master Emerald was first mentioned as a distinct entity when Doctor Robotnik sent Metallix to steal it in Sonic the Comic #49.