Knuckles was at Angel Island, guarding the Master Emerald, and wondering where all the Chaos Emeralds could be—and more importantly, where all his old friends are now. He knew where his new friends, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream were, but he wondered where all of the old ones, Mighty the Armadillo, Bunnie Rabbot, and Mina Mongoose were. He even missed Scourge, the evil king. But most of all, he missed Julie-Su.

Julie-Su was a 16-year-old pink echidna. She had purple eyes and long, long hair. She wore a tank top with one half black and the other half green, a gold belt, and green boots. Her favorite weapon was her trusty gun; she was a Chaotix member, along with Mighty, Vector, Charmy, and Espio. She had also been Knuckles' soul mate, and she absolutely loved being with Knuckles anywhere he was.

At one point in time, Knuckles and Julie-Su had a daughter, Lara-Su. Knuckles remembered what a happy baby Lara-Su had been and how she loved to play with blocks. But he would now never see her or Julie-Su ever again. Would he? He was pretty sure that all his old friends died in the explosion, but it was possible that some of them survived?

He cleared his mind of all of that. Of course everyone dies; there was no way anyone could survive and explosion like that. He sat up straighter and checked on his Master Emerald—still safe. He kept on the lookout for that bat, Rouge. She was always trying to steal the Master Emerald; one time, she almost did, but Knuckles was able to stop her. He hated her lust for jewels, and he wished she had worst taste in jewelry.

He stood up and walked around a bit, then descended down the stairs of the temple-like platform. He wandered on the surface of the floating Angel Island, looking up every once in a while to check on the Master Emerald. He liked being the emerald's protector, but it could get lonely sometimes. He walked around some more and turned the corner of the platform. He was looking at the ground as he walked, so he couldn't see what was in front of him—and tripped and fell on somebody.

He lifted himself off of the person just enough to see their face—and gasped. He had fallen on top of a female echidna!

She had pink hair with purple tips on her bangs—one of the locks of hair being metallic—and purple sparkly eyes. Her left arm was covered in silver rings and her large hands were enveloped in three-fingered gloves. The left half of her tank top was black and the right was green. She was also wearing a gold belt and green boots.

Then he realized who he had fallen upon—it was Julie-Su, his long lost love!

"Julie, w-what are you doing here?" Knuckles asked, slowly backing away.

Julie-Su stood up and dusted off her tank top. "Knuckles, I can explain."

They were now sitting where Knuckles sits when he guard the Master Emerald.

"Well, Knuckles," Julie-Su started, "you may not like this but…I didn't survive the explosion—or rather, the real Julie-Su didn't."

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked. "Are you saying…that you're just a figment of my imagination? Do I miss Julie-Su that much?"

"No," Julie-Su answered. "I'm not in your imagination. I'm a clone."

"What? But how?"

The newly announced clone sighed. "You see, right before the explosion, Julie-Su was able to make a perfect clone of herself; same figure, same features, same personality, same everything. I was exactly like her—I even had feelings! In her last moment, she activated me. I wandered off and was far away when the town exploded. When I saw the place go, I raced to the carnage and searched vividly for my mother. I found her body, but…she was already gone…"

"My god, a clone," Knuckles whispered. "A clone of Julie-Su."

"I wandered around for a very long time, and finally came to a floating island—this one," she finished.

"Wow," Knuckles said. "I'm speechless. That explosion…oh, man…"

He buried his face in his hands and shook his head. "So Julie-Su didn't survive…"

The clone patted his back; and he noticed that her touch felt exactly like Julie-Su's used to. A little cold, but exactly the same. It made him feel a bit better to know that she was exactly like Julie.

"So you were the only one on Mobius who survived?" he asked her.

"That I know of," she answered. "There just might have been someone else who survived, too."

"But I guess we'll never know," he commented.

"Hey, don't feel bad," the clone told him. "Cheer up."

"How can I?" Knuckles asked. "My lover is dead and I just met her clone. What is there to be happy about?"

"Well, it's kind of like having Julie-Su back," the clone answered. "I mean, even though I'm a lot colder than Mommy was, I am an exact copy."

"Could you please not call her 'Mommy'?" Knuckles pleaded. "That's what Lara called her, even when she was a teenager."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she responded. "It's just that I miss Mo—"

She cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Julie-Su, so much."

"I know, me too," Knuckles added.

They sat alone and quiet for a while. Knuckles didn't even look back to check on his precious Master Emerald.

"You know, you could just pretend that I'm the real Julie-Su," the clone suddenly suggested.

"How, clone?" Knuckles asked. "It would really just remind me that my love is dead."

The clone patted his back again. "Come on, I look like her, I talk like her…"

Knuckles looked her in the eyes, and then he saw Julie-Su in her. He leaned forward and kissed the clone. He broke it later and said, "Ok. We can do that…Julie-Su."