As Knuckles came out of the portal, he saw several floating islands in the distance and slowly floated towards them, he eventually landed on the island furthest from the others and looked around for any sign of Julie-Su or the rest of his race, but couldn't find either of them, instead he saw several signs of fighting. Assuming that it could be the Dark Legion fighting his people, Knuckles quickly rushed over to where he heard gunfire and saw that the Dark Legion was fighting a group of echidnas dressed in black armor and had blue marks on their foreheads, these were members of the Nocturnus clan and as Knuckles saw, they were currently fighting the Dark Legion.
"I should probably stay out of that," Knuckles said in his thoughts before moving on ignoring the Nocturnus clan and the Dark Legion fight and engaged only if absolutely necessary, getting his people and the girls out was top priority, aside from watching out for Thrash who would do anything to make sure that he doesn't succeed. Knuckles kept moving on and eventually reached the highest point on the island, knowing he could get a better view he looked around and saw the several other islands in the dimension and saw that it was also a war zone everywhere he looked he saw Dark Legionnaires and people of the Nocturnus clan fighting. Meanwhile on the other side of the dimension Lien-Da and Julie-Su were looking at several screens overlooking the fighting happening across the twilight cage.
"As you can see, half sister, they're giving us a hard time, but the good news is we have this island locked down and with the fresh slaves brought in from Albion we should have the numbers to defeat them," Lien-Da explained with an evil smile while Julie-Su scrolled through the cameras and notices a silhouette on the furthest island that jumps out of site.
"I saw something," Julie-Su pointed out before Lien-Da came over and rewinds the footage to see the silhouette herself, they zoom in on it to see that it was a red blur.
"Is that who I think it is?" Lien-Da asked herself before Julie-Su got up and grabbed a rifle from a table close by.
"If it is him, he's mine to handle," Julie-Su said.
"Got it, but just be careful," Lien-Da said before Julie-Su left. Back with Knuckles who landed on the next island and snuck his way towards Dark Legion territory, he took down several Dark Legion soldiers along the way before reaching a small outpost in the middle of the island. Knuckles goes inside and finds the command center very shortly after doing so to find several Dark Legion soldiers ready for him.
"Stop right there, Knuckles," one of the soldiers demanded aiming his rifle at Knuckles.
"Have you guys learned a single thing while being trapped in here?" Knuckles asked before uppercutting the rifle out of the soldier's hand and kicks him, the soldier next to him tries to shoot him but is unsuccessful as the red echidna punches him in the face before looking at the cameras and sees several prison camps with almost all of them containing his people. Thinking quick, Knuckles looks up the defenses that were online in case a prisoner escapes and sees that there were a couple still active, he then leaves and heads for the text outpost. Along the way, Knuckles gets kicked in the face by an unknown force and falls to the ground before Julie-Su emerges from the shadows.
"Hello, Knuckles," Julie-Su said in a grumpy tone as Knuckles gets up and looks at her.
"Babe?" Knuckles asked confused by what Julie-Su was doing as she aimed her rifle at him. "What are you doing?"
Knuckles got up and looked at her realizing something was wrong.
"Making you regret leaving me here," Julie-Su answered confusing her former lover.
"Leaving you here? Are you serious?" Knuckles asked.
"Lien-Da told me everything, red head, now it's time to pay for what you did," Julie-Su answered before Knuckles swiped her rifle from her.
"This isn't you, Julie, whatever your half sister did to you, you have to fight it," Knuckles pointed out before Julie-Su jabbed him in the gut.
"Fight what? The truth?" Julie-Su asked.
"This is even worse than I thought," Knuckles said in his thoughts realizing what happened to Julie-Su, he then knew that she had to wait, Lien-Da was probably legionizing his people and trying to help his girl was as much as he hate admitting it a distraction, so with quick thinking he tosses a boulder at her to distract her before running off towards the next outpost.
"This isn't over, Knuckles," Julie-Su pointed out after getting up. Meanwhile on Mobius, Sonic was helping Tails get back on his feet.
"Really, I can do this by myself, Sonic," Tails said trying to convince Sonic that he's okay to walk by himself.
"Okay then, but I'll be standing by to help if you need it," Sonic said before Tails started to slowly walk on his own, then Sally walked in.
"How are things going?" Sally asked.
"I'm doing much better, the doctor said with some help, I should be back on my feet in no time," Tails answered before noticing that Sally was wearing the same gloves she wore from the other universe.
"Oh, that outfit I wore came with these, so I thought I'd keep them since they were so useful in defeating Robotnik," Sally explained.
"I have to admit, those ring blades were something else," Sonic pointed out.
"Speaking of rings, I wonder how Knuckles is doing with rescuing his people?" Tails asked thinking about Knuckles.
"Maybe when we get you back on your feet, we can go see how he's doing," Sonic said.
"I just hope he isn't too late, we know what the Dark Legion does to their prisoners," Sally said worrying about how Knuckles is doing in the the twilight cage. Meanwhile in one of the prison camps, Lien-Da was walking through and opens up a cell where a red male echidna in a yellow dress named Lara-Le is seen sitting in her cell.
"Look at you, still thinking that your son will save you and his people," Lien-Da said with an evil grin.
"Well he will, you just watch," Lara-Le said having faith.
"I wouldn't celebrate too early, you see I have a little weapon that can manipulate your kind into thinking that your son left you here to rot, I've already used it on the girl he loves, who knows, I might even use it on you," Lien-Da explained.
"You wouldn't turn me against my own son," Lara-Le pointed out.
"Who knows, I might, just depends on how willing you are to cooperate," Lien-Da said as she walked out of the prison cell and shuts the door behind her. Later with Knuckles who got done disabling the fourth outpost and glides over to the next one.
"Man, how many of these outposts are there?" Knuckles asked himself before landing in front of the next outpost and rushes inside, using the same strategy, he quickly disposed of the guards and disables the gun before heading out towards the last one. Soon after disabling the last gun, Knuckles sees Lien-Da on screen.
"Hello, red head," Lien-Da said greeting Knuckles.
"What did you do to Julie, Lien-Da?" Knuckles asked.
"Let's just say I convinced her that you left her to rot in this dimension," Lien-Da answered.
"No! I know you did something else to her! What is it?!" Knuckles asked in rage.
"Im afraid I can't tell you, knucklehead, but if your that curious, why don't you come find out for yourself," Lien-Da said before stepping out of the way to show Lara-Le chained up causing Knuckles to smash the screen in rage.
"If Thrash didn't get so desperate for revenge this never would have happened!" Knuckles said in rage before disabling the gun and leaving for the first prison camp. Back with Lien-Da who walks over to Lara-Le.
"You won't get away with this, Lien-Da," Lara-Le pointed out.
"I think I already have, besides, it's fun to see your son get angry," Lien-Da said confident about her plan, she then leaves realizing that Knuckles will be coming for her. Meanwhile Knuckles glides towards the first prison camp and punches his way through a watchtower knocking it down before landing in the middle of the camp, snipers take aim at him, but he dodges each projectile with no problems. One by one, Knuckles takes down the watch towers beating up any Dark Legion soldiers that get in his way, after taking down the last watchtower, he frees his people one by one.
"I'm looking for a bee named Saffron, has anybody seen her?" Knuckles asked.
"Two soldiers took her along with Julie-Su to the main outpost, we haven't seen them since," a young echidna girl answered.
"Thank you, grab a weapon and free the others," Knuckles said.
"What about you, guardian?" The young echidna girl asked.
"I have some unfinished business with Lien-Da," Knuckles pointed out before making his way towards the Dark Legion's main outpost while the echidnas of Albion make their way towards the prison camp, despite the Dark Legion's efforts to stop them, they manage to overwhelm them and free more prisoners.
"Everyone grab a rifle, we're gonna have to fight our way out of here," A male echidna pointed out before everyone got ready to raid the last couple prison camps. Meanwhile Knuckles breaks into the Dark Legion's main outpost and first searched the prison area for Lara-Le, as he looked he found Saffron Bee chained up in her cell.
"Knuckles!" Saffron shouted in excitement before Knuckles broke into the cell and unchained her.
"Do you know where they took my mother?" Knuckles asked.
"I haven't seen her since we got surrounded by the Dark Legion?" Saffron answered.
"Okay, did you see what they did to Julie?" Knuckles asked.
"I saw whole thing, they used some kind of device on her and a little later she just wasn't herself," Saffron explained.
"I want you to get out of here with everyone else, I'll take care of getting Julie back," Knuckles said.
"Okay," Saffron said before leaving while Knuckles raced upstairs and heard crying, he broke into a room to see a male red baby echidna in a cell named Kneecaps, he quickly broke him out and proceeded onward with his half brother in his arms. Knuckles and Kneecaps makes it to the main HQ and sees Lara-Le chained up.
"Knuckles!" Lara-Le called out before Knuckles tried to rush over to her, but is stopped by several Dark Legion soldiers.
"We've been waiting for you red head. I knew you would come," Lien-Da said stepping out of the shadows, Knuckles puts Kneecaps somewhere safe before getting ready for a fight. Back with the echidnas of Albion who manage to meet up with Saffron and try to locate the way Knuckles came in and spots a small light in the distance.
"How are we supposed to get over there?" A male echidna asked before Saffron looked over at a hanger containing flying vehicles.
"Follow me," Saffron said signaling everyone to follow her. Meanwhile in the HQ, Knuckles is seen backing up as the Dark Legion soldiers step forward.
"You've gotten this far, Knuckles, but I can't let you get any further," Lien-Da said.
"Knuckles just get out of here," Lara-Le said thinking she wasn't worth it.
"Not without you and Julie," Knuckles said before Julie-Su appeared next to Lien-Da.
"I'm not going anywhere, red head, after we're done with you, we'll recollect everyone you helped escaped and use them to take both this dimension and Mobius," Julie-Su explained
"Listen to yourself, Julie, this isn't you," Knuckles said.
"You already told me that Knuckles, But it isn't going to work, ever," Julie-Su said before Knuckles beat up the Dark Legion soldiers and rushed over towards Lien-Da, but Julie-Su aims her rifle at Lara-Le's head.
"Not another step, Knuckles, or its goodbye to your mom here," Julie-Su said being out of character.
"Julie, please don't do this," Knuckles demanded before Lien-Da pulled out an whip made of pure energy.
"Enough, my half sister has made up her mind, now it's time for you to make up yours, red head, either you give up and tell the escaped prisoners to step down, or it's lights out for your mother," Lien-Da explained as a Dark Legion soldier grabs Kneecaps.
"What's it gonna be, Knuckles?" Julie-Su asked before out of nowhere an explosion destroys the wall behind her, they all look to see Saffron driving a saucer shaped vehicle that had a blue finish and a golden trim to it. Taking the advantage, Knuckles manages to grab Kneecaps and break Lara-Le free before boarding the aircraft with both of them, he takes one last look at Julie-Su before the hovercraft leaves.
"Don't worry, Knuckles, we'll come back for her," Lara-Le pointed out as everyone flies through the portal leading to Mobius and soon lands in Albion. After shutting the portal down, the Chaotix quickly head over to the city to welcome everyone back while Charmie and Saffron embraced each other with tears in their eyes.
"Well looks like you did it, Knuckles," Vector pointed out.
"Not all is won, Chaotix, Lien-Da has manipulated Julie-Su into thinking that I left everyone there to rot and I'm not celebrating or even resting until I get her back," Knuckles pointed out.
"And we will, until then, just rest," Lara-Le said. Back in the twilight cage, Lien-Da and Julie-Su was seen examining one of the hovercraft hangers.
"The echidnas of Albion sure know how to put up a fight," Julie-Su said.
"This isn't good, now the Nocturnus clan has the upper hand thanks to Knuckles," Lien-Da pointed out before a Dark Legion informant rushed up to her.
"Mam, we just got a report that the Nocturnus clan is close to completing a portal out of this dimension," The informant said causing Lien-Da to grin evilly.
"Good," Lien-Da said.