Art by Richard Elson
The Sky Sanctuary Zone was a Zone located somewhere above the Floating Island. Regarded by the echidna as a holy place, the area was littered with ruins, pillars and other vestiges of a forgotten civilisation including, oddly, a working water fountain. The most remarkable feature of the Zone was a massive pillar towering above anything else in the vicinity, complete with a spiral design around that allows passage to the top. The Zone could only be accessed by means of flight, or a teleporter in the Floating Island's Emerald Chamber.
History[]
It has never been revealed why the Sky Sanctuary hovers above the Floating Island, but it is suggested that it does so thanks to the powers of the Chaos Emeralds. Metallix Mark 2 fled to the Zone via teleporter when confronted by Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna. When there, Metallix powered itself up with the Master Emerald, knocked out Knuckles and punched Sonic all the way to the Emerald. Unfortunately for him, Sonic turned into Super Sonic and tore the Badnik apart. While Super was busy punching Knuckles to death, Grimer activated the teleporter from the Death Egg and retrieved the gem. Without its power, the Sky Sanctuary Zone quickly began to fall apart, leaving Sonic and Knuckles nowhere to go but up the pillar. From their vantage point, the pair watched the launch of the Death Egg and were forced to jump off when there was no land left. To add insult to injury, Doctor Robotnik sent out several EggRobo Badniks to hasten their fall.
Appearances[]
The Zone was originally a location in Sonic & Knuckles and played exactly the same role.