Just as Scourge fires the attack he was charging up, the echidnas he was about to wipe out with it vanish, when the dust cleared after the attack, he realized that they were gone, he looked around for them but didn't see them anywhere. Nearby Knuckles, Tails, Sally and the echidnas that were supposed to be killed by Scourge were seen hiding from him.
"Thrash, where'd they go?" Scourge asked confused.
"What makes you think I know," Thrash answered as Knuckles, Tails and Sally quietly moved the echidnas towards the safety till they get stopped by Fiona.
"Scourge! Over here!" Fiona shouted getting Scourge's attention, he turns around to see Knuckles, Tails, Sally and the echidnas he tried to kill earlier.
"Run for it!" Knuckles shouted before they all tried running, but Scourge appeared right in front of them.
"Quit running and face your demise," Scourge demanded before charging up the attack again, just as he was about to fire again, an unknown beam of energy hits him and turns him back to normal. Knuckles, Tails, Sally and the echidnas look to see a futuristic energy cannon powered by the master emerald in the distance, standing next to it was Lien-Da and Julie-Su.
"Surprise, I had a little trick up my sleeve that I was saving in case you transformed into a super hedgehog," Lien-Da said before Scourge got up with the help of Thrash and Fiona, they were then restrained by Knuckles, Tails and Sally while Sonic who was hurt from Scourges attacks walked over.
"You okay, Sonic?" Tails asked.
"I'll be fine, just a little beat up," Sonic pointed out before looking at the super weapon.
"How were you able to use the master emerald's energy?!" Knuckles asked.
"Isn't obvious, red head, I used the prayer that you used to use," Julie-Su answered.
"Wow, Lien-Da must have really messed with her head," Sonic said.
"You think!" Knuckles shouted as the Chaotix arrive while the rest of the echidnas ran towards the safe area.
"How do we deal with this?" Espio asked.
"Take these three to the camp, I want to have a word with Thrash as soon as we're done with the dark legion," Knuckles answered before the Chaotix took Scourge, Fiona and Thrash to where the other echidnas were while him, Sonic, Tails and Sally got ready for a fight.
"We'll need to take down that weapon before any of us can use the chaos emeralds," Sonic pointed out.
"Something's not right about that weapon," Tails said looking at the weapon before a battalion of dark legion soldiers emerge next to it.
"Here we go again," Sally pointed out before her Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and the dark legion charge at each other with soldiers firing their weapons at them. They eventually clash and Sonic and his friends start taking down dark legion soldiers one by one using their combat skills while Tails fought his way towards the weapon.
"Oh no you don't, sister," Lien-Da said before Julie-Su pulls out a rifle and aims it at Tails before firing, luckily he dodges each shot as he makes his way towards them.
"That two tailed brat is gonna sabotage the weapon," Julie-Su said before tossing the weapon aside and rushes at Tails while Lien-Da feels a tap on the shoulder, she turns around to see Sonic standing right in front of her.
"You better tell Julie-Su to back off," Sonic demanded as Lien-Da stood there shocked by how quick he disposed of her battalion while Knuckles and Sally walked up. Tails got into the system and got to work on shutting down the weapon unaware that Julie-Su was right behind him.
"Tails, look out!" Sally shouted before Tails turned around and dodged a punch from Julie-Su.
"Sister, step down!" Lien-Da demanded before Julie-Su surrendered.
"Smartest decision you've made," Sally said before punching Lien-Da in the face knocking her out.
"Nice one, Sal," Sonic commented before Knuckles walked over to Julie-Su and restrained her.
"Sorry," Knuckles said.
"It's too late for sorries, red head, you left me in limbo to rot. All this is your doing," Julie-Su said with an angry tone.
"Lien-Da, I don't know what you did to Julie-Su but your gonna bring her back," Sonic said.
"I told her the truth by force, Sonic and you, your friends and Albion will be next," Lien-Da said confusing Sonic.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked.
"You'll see soon enough," Lien-Da said with an evil grin. Meanwhile, in the wolf pack territory. Shadow was seen sitting by a fire with Hope in his arms fast asleep, then Rouge walked in.
"How is she?" Rouge asked.
"She's okay, if anything you should be asking how I'm doing," Shadow pointed out.
"You were worried about her weren't you?" Rouge asked.
"When that light hit us and erased her, I thought I would never see her again. That and it also made me forget Maria," Shadow pointed out.
"Well you mine as well get some rest, I'm not sure what we have planned for tomorrow, but I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be a long journey," Rouge pointed out.
"We're going to retrieve a chaos emerald, after that, we go home," Shadow explained before out of nowhere Rouge kissed Shadow on the cheek and walks over to where she was sleeping. Shadow takes one last look at Rouge before looking up at the stars. The next day in Albion, Thrash was in a jail cell waiting, then Knuckles walks into his cell.
"You happy about what you did?" Knuckles asked in an angry tone.
"I did what was right," Thrash said.
"Some right thing that was. You saw what Lien-Da did to the love of my life, she thinks I left her there to die and now it probably can't be undone thanks to you," Knuckles explained.
"Well maybe if your people didn't mutate and killed mine, I never would've had to banish them!" Thrash said.
"Well maybe if you'd listen instead of being an idiot you wouldn't be in this jail cell!" Knuckles pointed out before Thrash in anger tried to strangle him, but was being held back by chains that were attached to the wall, he eventually gives up and punches the wall in rage.
"My people are innocent, they had nothing to do with the mutations that the ancient echidnas carried out on your people, in fact they could have reversed the damage. Now you can either let us reverse the damage, or you can spend the rest of your days in prison," Knuckles explained before leaving the cell, "Think it over."
Knuckles goes a few cells down to Lien-Da who is seen laying down in her cell bed when Knuckles walks in.
"Well hello there, red head," Lien-Da said greeting Knuckles.
"Your proud about what you did to Julie aren't you?" Knuckles asked.
"The truth hurts, but I know that she needed to hear it," Lien-Da said.
"There more to it, I can tell," Knuckles pointed out.
"What more is there?" Lien-Da asked obviously lying.
"You said to Sonic that him us and Albion will be next, what do you mean?" Knuckles asked.
"Your clever, red head. Telling her the truth my force was easy, but an entire population won't be," Lien-Da explained while near the city a group of dark legion soldiers sneak in carrying the same device she used on Julie-Su.
"What are you planning?" Knuckles asked.
"Let's just say that we'll make you and everyone in this city cooperate soon enough," Lien-Da answered making Knuckles' eyes widen realizing what she was up to.
"Guard! I need the patrols to search the parameter for any dark legion soldiers, I think I figured out what Lien-Da did to Julie-Su and what she plans to do," Knuckles ordered. Meanwhile Sonic was running around the city at high speed looking for any dark legion soldiers trying to attempt a rescue mission while Tails patrolled the skies with Charmie and Saffron.
"Hey Sonic, anything on your end?" Tails asked through a watch on his wrist.
"Negative, buddy, it's silent out here," Sonic pointed out before a transmission comes in on their watches.
"Sonic, we need everyone back here immediately, Lien-Da's planning something big," a random Echidna said before Sonic ran at sonic speed back to the city followed by Tails, Charmie and Saffron while the undercover dark legion soldiers set up the device in the tallest building.
"We're just about ready, sir," the soldier setting up the device said.
"Good, now we just need to free Lien-Da and her sister," the higher ranked soldier said before he looks at the holding area with a pair of binoculars.
"How do we get in there?" The soldier asked after he finished setting up the device.
"We wait for a distraction, and then we free them both," the higher ranking soldier said before he spots Sonic talking to a guard who points out that they went into the building a while ago, "shoot we've been compromised."
The higher ranking soldier puts the binoculars away and readies the device.
"What do we do? The soldier asked.
"We move quickly before..." The higher ranking soldier said before Sonic breaks through the door.
"Before what?" Sonic asked all cocky after stepping into the room, the higher ranking soldier tries to shoot him but gets punched in the face by him.
"Look we give up," the soldier pointed out.
"Good. What's this?" Sonic asked looking at the device.
"That's the dark legion's concern," the higher ranking soldier answered.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Sonic said. Later the device was seen on a table with Tails examining it.
"This is unlike any dark legion device I've ever seen, one thing I'm noticing is that whenever I turn it on, it projects colors that are pretty hypnotizing, other than that I really don't know what it's for," Tails explained.
"You said the thing projects colors that are hypnotizing, is it possible that they could have used this on Julie-Su?" Knuckles asked.
"I think that's what this device is for, all the device does is project hypnotizing colors," Tails answered. Meanwhile outside the city, a dark legion sniper team is seen watching the tower the two dark legion soldiers were set up earlier with the device.
"All units, get ready to move," the sniper team leader said. Meanwhile in the holding cells, Lien-Da was seen waiting in her cell when a guard walks in, and then out of nowhere the sniper team leader hits a button and an explosion occurs inside the tower before half of it falls over, luckily no one was underneath the rubble. Back at the holding cells a few seconds earlier, the guard gets distracted by the explosion before Lien-Da grabs him and knocks him out, she then runs out of her cell and makes her way towards Julie-Su, a guard tries to shoot her but she grabs the gun and forces it away from her just as it goes off and then she beats him to the ground. Lien-Da reaches Julie-Su's cell, shoots the door open before helping her sister up.
"We need to get your gear back," Julie-Su said before Lien-Da freed Scourge, Fiona and Thrash.
"You'll be a good distraction," Lien-Da pointed out.
"Why should we distract them just so you can escape?" Scourge asked as Thrash started thinking about Knuckles' offer, was he actually telling the truth about reversing the damage, he then looked at Lien-Da and Scourge who were very close to exchanging punches and eventually runs off getting their attention.
"Where's he running to?" Scourge asked before several guards run in and aim their rifles at him and everyone else that escaped, but Scourge spin dashes into several of them, taking them out one by one while Lien-Da started shooting the rest. Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, Sally and Knuckles were taking down a dark legion strike team who was attacking.
"Sonic I thought you said the guards checked the place," Knuckles said punching a dark legion soldier to the ground before grabbing another and throws him into the air.
"They did," Sonic said after spin dashing into several soldiers. Nearby Shadow, Rouge, Omega and Hope were making their way to Albion in response to hearing gunfire, they eventually stop to find a war zone in the city.
"How do we get through that?" Hope asked.
"We'll have to fight our way through," Shadow answered.
"What about me?" Hope asked.
"Stick close to us, Hope," Rouge answered before Omega got his weapons ready, they then rush towards the dark legion who were fighting resistance everywhere, eventually they were being outmatched, but would not leave without their leader. Shadow ran up to an unaware dark legion soldier and kicked him into the cover he was in before grabbing his rifle while Rouge kicked another to the ground, Omega started firing at others that saw them. Shadow looked around and saw several guards rushing towards a small building.
"Follow me, I think I know where they're keeping the chaos emeralds," Shadow said before they ran towards the building taking down anyone that stood in their way. Back in the building, Lien-Da finished off the last of the guards before looking at Scourge who escapes through the wall that Thrash made.
"We should get moving too," Julie-Su pointed out before Lien-Da nodded her head and ran for the exit with her, but she stops and thinks of the chaos emeralds.
"Hang on, half sister, there's something we need," Lien-Da said. Outside the building Shadow and his team enter the building and looked around, eventually, Hope finds the chaos emeralds, but before she could grab them she hears the clicking of a rifle and looks to see Julie-Su aiming her rifle at her.
"And just what do you think your doing, overlander?" Lien-Da said with an evil grin, meanwhile, Shadow searched several drawers when he heard Hope scream.
"Hope!" Shadow shouted and ran to where the scream came from to see Hope with a rifle to her head.
"Not another step, hedgehog," Julie-Su demanded.
"We're leaving, hedgehog, and we're taking this girl with us," Lien-Da pointed out making Shadow mad.
"You wouldn't," Shadow said.
"We are, so don't try to stop us," Lien-Da demanded before her and Julie-Su backed towards the exit with Hope while Rouge walked in, she tries to attack but is stopped by Shadow.
"Don't. I don't want to risk getting her killed," Shadow said as Lien-Da and Julie-Su Leave. Back outside Knuckles smashed two dark legion soldiers together before spotting Lien-Da and Julie-Su getting on a transport with Hope.
"Nooo!" Knuckles shouted realizing that they were about to escape as he ran towards the transport, but it starts firing machine guns at him, luckily he gets into cover before any of the bullets reach him. The transport then flies away as Sonic, Tails and Sally join Knuckles.
"They're heading towards the master emerald," Knuckles pointed out before heading in the same direction as the transport, but Sonic stops him.
"They have the chaos emeralds as well, you won't stand a chance," Sonic pointed out.
"Then what do you suppose we do?" Knuckles asked.
"Sneak in," Rouge answered coming out of the building with Shadow and Omega.
"And what brings you here?" Sonic asked.
"That's none of your concern, faker," Shadow said.
"How do you suppose we sneak in?" Tails asked.
"They have Hope, and if we get too close without sneaking in, they'll kill her," Shadow pointed out.
"They'll probably use that device on her or worse legionize her, which means we're low on time," Tails pointed out.
"Like heck there gonna, we need to move quickly," Shadow pointed out. Meanwhile at the master emerald the transport lands and Lien-Da leaves it with Julie-Su And Hope who had handcuffs on.
"Set her down by the shrine," Lien-Da ordered before Julie-Su led Hope to the master emerald's shrine and forcefully set her down by it, feeling frightened, Hope crawled back a little until she bumped into the wall of the shrine.
"What are you gonna do?" Hope asked.
"You'll see soon enough, little girl," Lien-Da said with an evil grin before walking towards a tent making Hope fear the worst. Nearby, Scourge and Fiona were seen rethinking their approach on getting the chaos emeralds back.
"Using us as a distraction, who does that echidna think she is?" Fiona asked herself as Scourge wandered around thinking about what approach to take.
"Without Thrash or the rest of our group, we really need to be careful, but what can we do to ensure that we get the chaos emeralds and get rid of Sonic?" Scourge asked himself.
"Everything we tried so far didn't work, unless... yeah that might work," Fiona said after getting an idea.
"What might work?" Scourge asked curious.
"Let's just say I know that my former friend Tails has a weakness, but we gotta get him separated from the rest of the group," Fiona pointed out before Scourge grinned after realizing what she was talking about.
"I like where this is going," Scourge said with an evil grin.