The island of Albion and holding onto the remaining Chaos Emerald and on his knees was the young warrior known as Knuckles; "what? What has happened? Where are the Ixis wizards... Have they run like cowards after sending the other Chaos Emeralds away..." Knuckles muttered found the Chaos Emerald glowing and was met with the glowing green ghostly vision of his father Locke. "Father; has your spirit become one with the Chaos Emerald like what we had planned? Is Mogul stuck?" Knuckles questioned walking up to the vision of Locke.
"Yes my son; the power you were enfused with and the sacrifice of my physical body was able to keep Mogul trapped here in the Emerald. My spirit has become one with the Chaos Emerald and I shall be here to guide you." Locke replied and Knuckles calmed down.
"What about the Ixis wizards? Should I gather the remaining of our forces of the Island to hunt them down..." Knuckles asked as Locke sadly shook his head while putting up his hand.
"That will not be necessary my son; I am afraid that the Ixis wizards had banished our Empire's home away from Mobius... Not only that but I am afraid that in this war; the Ixis Order was vanquished at the cost of the rest of the Echidna... The Empire has been extinct for thousands of years and you are the remainder of the Empire." Locke informed him as Knuckles was taken aback and had tears in his eyes while going to his knees.
"What... No... This can't be... What have we been fighting for then? Has this war cost us everything... Any point in me having survived..." Knuckles cried as Locke put a hand on his shoulder.
"Cry not my son; you have suceeded in ending the threat of Mogul once and for all with him trapped forever. I sense that you have a greater destiny beyond this victory; it shall be you to reunite the Chaos Emeralds to restore our Empire and kind with you as the new Emperor... Until then; it is important that you stay here and guard the Emerald..." Locke said and Knuckles calmed down once more as he got up but Locke stopped. "I sense intruders have found Albion..." Locke told him as Badniks came into the temple as it reminded them of the invaders from the sky and Knuckles wanted to fight them but Locke told him to focus on his training and that as long as they don't come to Albion; they are not their problem.
Knuckles then went to work fighting these strange 'metal golems'; they felt stronger than he thought he would as he punched them as hard he could, managing to smash through them with enough force...
Tails piloted the Tornado with Sonic on the wing; Sally, Antoine & Sergeant Doberman in the seats, Nicole having gone back into the Miles Electric and the guard members having left with Geoffrey's team onto their craft. They reached the floating island of Albion and landed on and looked disgusted at the corpses of Ixis wizards and echidna warriors that littered the ground.
Sonic covered Tails' eyes as Sally inspected the corpses and her eyes widening; "these bodies are warm; this whole island after all this time had been frozen in time!" Sally exclaimed in deep shock making their eyes widen; they heard a roar and hid out in the bushes and their eyes widened as they saw what seemed to be brightly coloured dinosaurs roaming the island.
"Mobosaurs... From extinct to endangered species..." Sergeant Doberman muttered in awe as Sally had muttered that she had heard that the Echidna Empire fought them for sport and would take some. Sergeant Doberman then began leading them to quietly and stealthily make their way through the island, hoping not to get their attention and going around the corpses in their way.
They found the temple being surrounded by Badniks and went to work fighting them; they were tired but they were able to take them down. They began exploring the temple and the paintings of events in the Echidna Empire's history from their founding here on Albion to the birth and training of Knuckles himself.
"Intruders! You are here with your 'metal golems' but I have taken care of them!" shouted a voice and they looked up and saw Knuckles up there hanging onto the walls with his bare claws.
"So you must be the legendary Knuckles..." Sonic muttered and went to greet him when Knuckles glided down and started punching him. "Hey... Stop and listen... These 'Metal Golems' you may have encountered were sent by a bad guy called Robotnik seeking all the Chaos Emeralds to rule Mobius and we are trying to stop him..." Sonic tried to tell him with Knuckles easily able to take a bazooka shot from Sergeant Doberman meant to tire him down.
Knuckles then began easily countering Sally with her wrist blades and Tails with his blaster trying to restrain him. Antoine was stepping back as Knuckles taunted "is this all that you got... I have had tougher training sessions when I was 6..." Sonic got frustrated as he stepped back and ran charging himself into a spin dash but Knuckles ended up catching him and threw him to the wall as Sonic landed on the ground with a thud. "I sense Chaos Energy in your attack hedgehog; must be the work of Ixis wizards..." Knuckles muttered going up to him and Sonic ran at his speed and tried to use his punches and kicks but Knuckles began countering him. "Undisciplined and without strategy; I have been honing my skills with training all my life!" Knuckles taunted back as Sonic got frustrated as he managed to get his quills glowing with blue electricity.
Sonic then managed to push him back and used a spin dash to send him back to the wall; "Can you stop to fight so we can talk this out? There is Robotnik coming to claim that Emerald and..." Really?" Sonic asked as there were the others next to him ready to try and restrain him but Knuckles looked defiant and about ready to continue the fight.
Then suddenly there were more Badniks coming into the area and a blast of Chaos Energy disorienting them; Robotnik appeared in the Eggpod smirking as he used an attachment to grab the Chaos Emerald which Knuckles had dropped. "You must be the famous Knuckles and here I am without my autograph book; I'm Dr Robotnik the leader of the Eggman Empire and future ruler of Mobius. I must thank you for keeping this safe for me all these thousands of years." Robotnik casually said as they started getting up.
"Now do you believe us?" Tails asked as Knuckles shook his head.
"This hairless ape is Robotnik and I'm supposed to be scared of him? I will retrieve the Chaos Emerald right now..." Knuckles scoffed as he jumped up to charge at Robotnik but hit a Chaos energy force field with him dropping to the ground. Robotnik in the Eggpod then began leaving with the others helping Knuckles up.
"What do you have to say now?" Nicole asked shaking her head with her arms folded having stayed out of the fight and Knuckles went to push Nicole back only to see that his fist went through her with them unhappy about him trying to push past their friend.
"I see now ghostly lynx that you had a point and that the 'metal golems' were your enemies and you could not be my enemies." Knuckles said as Sonic went and smiled.
"I'm Sonic and this is Tails, Princess Sally, Nicole and Sergeant Doberman. We shall act as your new friends and help you to stop..." Sonic said but Knuckles began running after Robotnik in the Eggpod who was moving across the halls of the temple. "Hey where are you going?" Sonic asked as they then began running after him.
"The Echidna Empire doesn't seek help from outside sources and as the last heir; I shall follow my people's ways. Besides; you all would just slow me down..." Knuckles shouted and Sonic was open mouthed.
"Oh; he did not just say that to me..." Sonic muttered with a glare as he then began using his speed to easily outpace Knuckles causing the echidna to start running faster.