Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails find themselves in a strange Zone, piled on top of each other on a floating rock. Knuckles complains about having another Chaos-powered looney like Mammoth Mogul get the better of him when the rock beneath them comes to life and tries to eat the trio. Sonic uses his super speed to grind the rock into dust, but they're left floating in space. They spot a vision of Athair nearby and follow it into a vortex, which they hope will lead them back to their friends.