Knuckles had no time to waste. He knew that the purple Tasmanian devil known as Thrash was the only one who knew where his people were. Knuckles quickly glided over to where the first of the chaotix were, they were a male Bee with a biker helmet and jacket named Charmy bee, he was accompanied by a Purple Chameleon Espio and a giant green crocodile with a necklace named Vector, they were talking until Knuckles landed in front of them.
"Knuckles, good to see you," Vector said greeting Knuckles.
"No time chaotix, we need to find Ray and Mighty," Knuckles said.
"Good point ever since that light hit us, they vanished," Espio pointed out.
"We better start searching then," Knuckles said before the Chaotix nodded their heads. Meanwhile Sonic runs across the city known as New Mobotropolis seeing that all the people who had vanished after the Super Genesis Wave were back, eventually he came across a house and looked inside to see two blue hedgehogs that looked just like him, one was a female with blond hair and wore a light purple dress named Bernadette, the other was a male but he was a robot, his names was Jules. Almost in tears, Sonic ran up to his parents and hugged them.
"Sonic, what's wrong?" Bernadette asked confused.
"You probably don't know this, but you and dad were erased by Robotnik's super weapon," Sonic explained confusing his parents even more.
"What do you mean we were erased, Sonic?" Jules asked.
"Do you remember anything?" Sonic asked before Bernadette started thinking.
"All I remember was seeing some type of light and then nothing after that," Bernadette answered.
"That's what that light was, Robotnik's super weapon, it erased you guys from existence," Sonic explained before his communicator went off, he answered it knowing that it was his friend, a two tailed male orange fox named Tails.
"Sonic, my parents are back," Tails said happy.
"I know, Tails, so are mine," Sonic pointed out.
"But something is concerning me Sonic, what exactly happened?" Tails asked.
"Well I was just going up to invite Knuckles to that celebration we were gonna throw when..." Sonic explained before pausing when he realized that the chaos emeralds and the master emerald had something to do with it, "the emeralds."
Tails immediately realized what Sonic meant, the chaos emeralds and the master emerald have the power to do stuff like that.
"I need to see the emeralds right away," Tails said.
"I'll meet you there," Sonic said before hanging up.
"What's going on, Sonic?" Bernadette asked.
"I think I figured out what happened, I'll be back soon," Sonic said before heading out the door. Back with Knuckles and the chaotix who were searching for Ray and Mighty, Charmie bee was seen flying across angel island looking left and right for them while Knuckles, Espio and Vector searched by ground but couldn't find them anywhere.
"Where could they possibly be?" Vector asked.
"They have to be somewhere," Knuckles pointed out.
"Hey Knuckles, I see something by the master emerald's shrine," Charmie said on he communicator before Knuckles and the rest of the chaotix head towards the master emerald, when they got there they see a male yellow flying squirrel with a blue jacket and a black and red armadillo, they were Ray and Mighty.
"There you guys are," Knuckles said.
"Hey good to see you guys, I'll be honest, after that light hit us, I thought we never see you guys again," Ray said.
"Now that we're all here, we can focus on finding the girls," Knuckles said.
"The only problem is, we don't know where Thrash sent them," Mighty pointed out.
"Then we better find him and soon, who knows what might be happening to them," Knuckles explained before pulling out a small golden ring. Meanwhile at an unknown location, a pink echidna with a black and green shirt, a yellow belt, and green boots is seen chained up to the wall, her name was Julie-Su and she had been out for quite some time, she eventually woke up all groggy and tried to move, but she couldn't thanks to the chains attached to her arms. The cell door opened and a red female echidna wearing a black suit walked in.
"Good to see your waking up, my half sister," The echidna named Lien-Da said with an evil grin on her face, Julie-Su looked up and only saw a blur for a quick second before the image came clear.
"Where am I?" Julie-Su asked before Lien-Da knelt down.
"Apparently we're in another dimension of some sort," Lien-Da pointed out before Julie-Su remembered that she was imprisoned here by Thrash, but why? What did her and the echidnas of Albion ever do to him? These questions flowed through her mind before coming back to reality as Lien-Da grabbed her by the hair.
"Pay attention, half sister, since that knuckle head of yours isn't here, it's time you became one of us again," Lien-Da explained before letting go of Julie-Su's hair.
"One of you guys again? That isn't going to happen, Lien-Da," Julie-Su pointed out unaware of what Lien-Da had planned for her as she walked out of the cell.
"You'll see soon enough, my half sister, until then, just rest," Lien-Da said before closing the cell door and leaving, Julie-Su just looked up at the cell window hoping Knuckles would find her soon. Back with Knuckles and the Chaotix who were searching all across Mobius for Thrash, but so far didn't have any luck finding him.
"Charmie, Ray, you guys having any luck?" Knuckles asked gliding across he city of Albion.
"No luck in this region," Ray said flying across the polar region with Charmie.
"Vector, Espio, how about you?" Knuckles asked.
"No luck on this end, but Sally said she'd keep her eyes open," Vector said after talking to a female squirrel/chipmunk named Sally who was examining her gloves.
"Well me and Mighty aren't having any luck here with Albion so we're going to head back to the master emerald after we check the outskirts," Knuckles said before making his way towards the outskirts of Albion with Mighty. Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were at the master emerald examining it along with the chaos emeralds.
"Any luck yet, buddy?" Sonic asked.
"Nope, not even close to discovering what could have brought everyone back and with Robotnik dead it'll take a long time to get the answer," Tails pointed out.
"I'm sure you'll find a way, Tails, you always do," Sonic said patting Tails on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Sonic," Tails said before getting back to work, but then Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix arrive.
"What are you doing?" Knuckles asked.
"I'm thinking that the emeralds had something to do with everyone coming back, so I'm studying them for a possible answer," Tails answered.
"Oh, well while your at it, could you keep an eye out for Thrash for us?" Knuckles asked.
"We will," Sonic said giving Knuckles a thumbs up.
"Thanks, I hope we find him soon, all knows what's happening to the girls," Charlie said thinking about his fiancé, a female bee similar to him that wears a pink jacket named Saffron. Back with Julie-Su who was still chained up to the wall when Lien-Da walks in with a figure in a black cloak and a face mask carrying some type of device.
"It's time, Half sister," Lien-Da said walking over to Julie-Su along with the figure that was a soldier of the Dark Legion.
"What are you going to do?" Julie-Su asked.
"You'll see soon enough," Lien-Da said before signaling the soldier to turn on the device which he does, the device admits several lights that flash from one to the other.
"What is that?" Julie-Su asked.
"You'll see. Now you wonder why we're here, Julie?" Lien-Da asked.
"Of course I know, Thrash imprisoned us here," Julie-Su answered.
"And who's fault is it that we're stuck here in limbo?" Lien-Da asked.
"Who do you think?" Julie-Su asked sarcastically.
"Knuckles," Lien-Da answered before Julie-Su closed her eyes to avoid looking at the flashing lights.
"I know what your trying, half sister and it isn't going to work," Julie-Su said keeping her eyes shut, but the Dark Legion soldier walked over and forcefully held her eyes open.
"Now listen carefully, it's Knuckles fault that we're stuck here, he let us get imprisoned by that purple devil guy, he left you here to rot," Lien-Da explained as Julie-Su tried to resist, but it was no use, she found herself getting dizzy as the three things that her half sister said to her repeated over and over again until she passed out. Lien-Da walked over to Julie-Su and looked at her to see that she was out cold.
"A mere side effect from the process, mam," the Dark Legion soldier pointed out before Lien-Da left along with the soldier. Back with Knuckles and the Chaotix who were discussing where to search next.
"Charmie, you take Ray and fly over to the Wolf Pack Nation and see if they know anything about Thrash," Knuckles ordered.
"Knuckles, there's something you might wanna see," Ray said before pulling out a futuristic double barreled pistol and shows it to him.
"Where did you find this?" Knuckles asked grabbing the pistol.
"I found it next to the shrine," Ray answered while Tails attached one last wire to the master emerald before heads over to a laptop and gets ready to test something out until he heard a loud noise and turned around to see a massive crack in the ground made by Knuckles.
"I hope we find his people soon, otherwise he's gonna take the entire island out," Tails pointed out before getting back to work and hits a button on his laptop causing the master emerald to let out energy.
"Is that normal, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"It should be, but I never have tried this before so I'm not a hundred percent sure," Tails said as he pressed a few keys on the keyboard when suddenly a burst of energy knocks him out cold before Sonic ran over to check on him.
"Tails, you okay?!" Sonic asked but didn't receive a response. Tails found himself in an unknown location floating in midair and saw a female figure standing before him.
"Am I dead?" Tails asked himself unsure as to what's going on.
"No, just out cold," the female figure said.
"Who are you?" Tails asked as the female figure floated closer to him and revealed herself to be a female pink echidna in a white dress.
"I am Aurora, goddess of echidna kind," the pink echidna answered.
"So what do you want, Aurora?" Tails asked.
"To help Knuckles find his people," Aurora answered.
"Oh, well where did Thrash send them?" Tails asked.
"The twilight cage, that's where you'll find them," Aurora answered.
"Anything else I should know?" Tails asked.
"The Dark Legion are beginning to legionize their prisoners, even women and children and if you go in there, be careful, not only will the Dark Legion attack you on site, Thrash will come out of hiding to stop you. If you want to get there, use the master emerald to power up the warp ring," Aurora explained before Tails woke up and found himself in the hospital with Sonic sitting in the chair waiting when he noticed that he's awake.
"Tails what happened?" Sonic asked as Tails tried to get up.
"Sonic, I need to get to Knuckles," Tails said as Sonic stopped him from moving any further.
"I'll get Knuckles, but you just rest," Sonic said before he ran out to the lobby to grab Knuckles.
"Knuckles, Tails wants to see you," Sonic said.
"Good to hear he's awake, but what does he want?" Knuckles asked.
"Don't know, that part he didn't mention," Sonic answered before him and Knuckles walked back to Tails' bedroom.
"So what is it, Tails?" Knuckles asked.
"They're in the twilight cage," Tails answered.
"Who?" Knuckles asked unsure about what Tails is taking about.
"Your people, Thrash sent them to the twilight cage," Tails explained, but Knuckles didn't believe him at first.
"How would you know?" Knuckles asked.
"Because Aurora told me," Tails said before Knuckles turned around to see if Tails was lying, but he wasn't.
"If it's true, than how do we even get there?" Knuckles asked.
"We use the power ring," Tails answered before Knuckles pulled out a golden ring and looked at it, "She said to use the master emerald to power it."
Knuckles looked at the golden ring for a few more seconds.
"Thank you, Tails," Knuckles said before leaving.
"Do you need help?" Sonic asked.
"That won't be necessary," Knuckles answered before he exited the room. Later at angel island, Knuckles arrives and regroups the Chaotix.
"Okay Chaotix, listen up, the echidnas of Albion and the girls are imprisoned in the twilight cage along with the Dark Legion," Knuckles explained.
"Why there of all places?" Ray asked trying to think of why Thrash would imprison the echidnas of Albion there.
"It doesn't matter, we get my people and the girls back and that'll be the end of it," Knuckles continued to explain.
"What about Thrash? If he knows what we're up to, than he'll stop at nothing to make sure we fail," Mighty pointed out.
"We'll figure out what to do with him later," Knuckles said before pulling out his golden ring called a warp ring and walked over to the master emerald and powered it up before opening it to the twilight cages location.
"Be careful in there, Knuckles," Espio said.
"I will," Knuckles said before entering the warp ring. Meanwhile, Lien-Da opened up Julie-Su's prison cell and walked in to see her waiting.
"Lets see if it worked," Lien-Da mumbled to herself before walking over to her half sister.
"Ready for orders, mam," Julie-Su said signaling that the device worked making Lien-Da grin evilly.
"Good, now let's get you combat ready," Lien-Da said before unchaining Julie-Su who then gets up and follows her out.
"Knuckles will pay for leaving us to die," Julie-Su said in her thoughts with an angry look on her face. Saffron looks at Julie-Su as she passes by.
"Julie-Su, please, you have to fight it!" Saffron shouted trying to get Julie-Su to fight back, but nothing happens.
"Ignore her, half sister, we've got better things to take care of," Lien-Da said before her and Julie-Su walked off.
"Chaotix wherever you are, you guys better hurry," Saffron said to herself hoping that the rest of the Chaotix would rescue them soon.