Mystic Ruins
Running outside of the cave, Knuckles gasps as he witnesses a bunch of black suited bunch that are standing as well as Eggman's Egg Mobile revealing its claw by grabbing the Master Emerald from the Altar.
"Eggman! What are you doing!?" Knuckles yelled while he raised his fist.
"Sorry, Knuckles, but it was my original plan to take the Master Emerald from you. Considering you betrayed me before I had my chances of successfully manipulating you until Sonic and his little friends showed up to you. We're never friends, Knuckles, but you're a tool to eliminate Sonic." Eggman concludes as he lets the Nocturnus Clan jump off the altar and approach Knuckles.
A bunch of Nocturnus Marauder Scouts that have a single glowing eye and they clench their fists as they approach Knuckles.
"Meet Team Egg Nocturnus, led by my loyal assistant Lunar!" Eggman reveals his new army, only for Knuckles to halt with confusion.
"Lunar?"
"That's right. Hello, Knuckles." Appearing is an unmasked Nocturnus Clan member, Lien-Da, putting on a mask as she reveals to have her dreadlock quills revealed below and her suit design is different to a common marauders.
"You!" Knuckles remembers that face from the time Sonic became corrupted by the negative chaos energy.
"Hmph! Since the Master Emerald is ours, your friends are now useless to go against us." Lien-Da, who is named 'Nocturnus Kommissar Lunar,' releases whip blades out of her wrists as lightning sparks are coming out of the blades.
"Echidnas… But how? That means Dimitri and others are still alive?" Knuckles is surprised that it's not just Lien-Da and the other echidnas Eggman mentioned earlier, but more outside, considering how rare they are these days.
That must mean Lien-Da is possibly the only female echidna found.
"Subdue him. We're getting out of here once this is over." Eggman orders as the Egg Mobile is leaving with the Master Emerald being pulled off the Altar.
"Yes, boss." The echidnas are ready to beat Knuckles all over, leaving Knuckles enraged by the fact that the Master Emerald is going away.
"You! Don't you dare run away from me! EGGMAN!" Knuckles roared until he heard a spin dash sound coming from behind.
"What th-"
"GAH!" The Egg Nocturnus echidnas yell as a blue ball dash towards the claw.
As the ball hits the claw, Eggman shrieks as the Master Emerald falls from the claw.
"No! The Master Emerald!" Eggman shrieks out of panic.
"Everyone! Catch the Master Emerald!" Lien-Da yells out of ordering her army.
"Lady Lunar!" The echidnas immediately catch the Master Emerald before it smashes to the ground, causing Knuckles to sigh with relief.
"Sonic…" Knuckles is surprised that Sonic shows up.
"You think you're the only one facing stuff like this? Looks like Lien-Da's got a sexy getup. Yeah I learned it from Anton." Sonic sighs while raising his fists with Knuckles.
"Never mind that. The Master Emerald is in danger." Said Knuckles.
"I know. Looks like Eggman really is desperate." Sonic can see why.
"Grr! Sonic! Always ruining everything! Team Egg Nocturnus, eliminate these rodents!" Eggman yells as he orders them.
"Yes, boss! Team Egg Nocturnus, let's show these brats who we really are!" Lien-Da ordered.
"Yes, Lady Lunar!" The Egg Nocturnus echidnas raise their fists.
"Lunar? Changing your name, have you?" Sonic mockingly asks, much to Lien-Da's annoyance.
"Silence, needlemouse. I'm more than surprised that you're able to revert back from your dark form." Lien-Da hisses as she raises both her whip blades.
"Yeah. Be happy I didn't ruin your makeup." Sonic pulls a mocking smirk, even Knuckles is amused.
"Yeah. And you with your army? I bet you're as weak and cowardly as my former clan's chief." Knuckles points at Lien-Da and her men, standing back to back with Sonic as they fold their arms and grin.
"So, lady, are you going to fight us and give us the Master Emerald?" Sonic taunts as Knuckles nods.
In Lien-Da's case, this hedgehog and echidna are both infuriatingly annoying to the point that she cuts a single rock with a whip blade she swings.
"Boys, get them. And make sure they're not breathing!" Lien-Da shouted.
Finally, a horde of echidnas yell as they charge, giving Sonic and Knuckles a chance to charge through.
After that, a hammer slams the ground as it pushes the echidnas away from Sonic and Knuckles.
"Amy!" Sonic is excited that Amy arrives, even Knuckles gasps with surprise.
Amy giggles while sticking out her tongue, only for a whip blade to charge towards her.
Appearing, a whip blade is tangled by an energy form of Caliburn, only for Tania to show up while growling.
"Little brat!" Lien-Da raises the other whip and throws it down towards Tania, making her dodge and jump.
This gives Knuckles the opportunity to jab a punch to Lien-Da's mask, causing her to slide backwards as Tania's sword is free, leading Tania to charge with her sword vanishing and then spin dash next to Sonic, creating a ball of blue and yellow quills, knocking Lien-Da towards the wall as she yells.
Before the Egg Nocturnus echidnas dive all over Knuckles and Amy, a barrier quickly appears, making all the echidnas hit face first into the outside barrier, made by none other than Tails.
"Hey, guys!" Tails waves while releasing a red boomerang out of his equipment and then chucks it as it hits many echidnas.
After that, Sonic and Tania run as they finally reunite with Tails, Amy and Knuckles.
"'Sup." Sonic waves as he hi fives Knuckles, rub Tails and Tania's head and dodge Amy's dive.
"I knew we could do it." Tails laughed.
"Um, guys." Tania points at a claw that picks up the Master Emerald, as Eggman grunts.
"THIEF!" Knuckles yells as he charges towards Eggman.
"Uh oh!" Eggman finally boosts his Egg Mobile until Knuckles grabs the Egg Mobile and punches the flying machine.
"Return the Master Emerald this instant!" Knuckles roared.
"Hold it right there, Eggman!" Sonic joins in while grabbing the Egg Mobile.
Tails, Amy and Tania are the next ones on the Egg Mobile as they're tearing the machine apart, causing Eggman to exclaim as his machine shows a warning of not only a critical damage, but weight that is too much.
"I have just about enough of you little brats!" Eggman presses the button, releasing both cords as they're slithering down towards Knuckles.
"What the-" A lightning sparks has caused Knuckles to scream as his electrocuted body falls to the ground.
"KNUCKLES!" Tails, Amy and Tania exclaimed.
After that, Eggman snatches the hammer and hits both Tails and Amy to the ground and grabs Tania by the hood and chucks her to Sonic, causing 4 more kids to fall as they're beaten by Eggman with the Master Emerald.
"I win. Farewell, Sonic! Ohohohoho!" Eggman laughs as he flies away from the Altar with the Master Emerald.
"Ngh… I guess we underestimated him a bit too much, huh." Sonic chuckles while sitting up and looking at Eggman and the Master Emerald.
Later, The Nocturnus Clan are tied up, leading Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Tania to stand in front of them.
"Heh. We won. The Master Emerald is ours." Lien-Da chuckles as her grin speaks for itself.
"You knew Knuckles betrayed Eggman. Why?" Amy asks with her hammer closer to Lien-Da's unmasked face.
"Because I know none of you are from the timeline I'm from. Also, Knuckles' betrayal is imminent. Knuckles the Echidna and Sonic the Hedgehog, I know Locke and Aleena, two best friends that act as an uncle and niece. You took everything away from me and none of us will ever forgive you." Lien-Da growls as she pierces a glare at Sonic and Knuckles.
"I know. But we have nothing to do with our ancestors and they don't have a choice. We choose our own path. I choose to become Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic points at himself with a grin.
"And I choose to be the guardian of the Master Emerald out of my own volition. It may be a duty for my people, but I will do it for the sake of the world." Knuckles reveals his path for his future.
Lien-Da frowns and then widens her grin while showing them her devilish expression.
"And I chose to become Eggman's ally. Me and my family have nowhere else to go. So we will forever be enemies, Knuckles the Echidna." Lien-Da laughs as her clan remains silent as they agree.
Amy is hugging Tails and Tania as they're scared of an echidna woman descending into madness.
"I guess there's no helping her." Said Tails.
Knuckles shakes his head as he can tell what happened to Lien-Da as a result.
Grunting Knuckles falls to his knees as Sonic catches him.
"Easy, Knucklehead. Where did Eggman go?"
"We're going to the palace. The super emeralds are our only hope to stop this." Knuckles grunts.
"They may be, but don't forget we have each other. Right?"
"Yeah! Like big brother Eli, big sis Megan and Mister King Nigel!" Tania cheers.
"Yeah and don't forget mom, Miss Wing, Nicole, Isabella, Sally, Bunnie and Queen Alicia." Tails added.
"Also Johnny, Tekno, Breezie, Mighty, Ray, Commander Tower, Miss Garnet, Rouge and Black Doom." Amy said as more are listed.
"And let's not forget Meg, mom and dad. They're all with us, so let's go and beat Eggman and get the Master Emerald back." Sonic concludes as he and his friends are giving Knuckles a chance to join.
To Knuckles' surprise, he finally sees the true nature of Sonic and his friends as they're truly the opposite of what Eggman described them as.
Finally, Knuckles grabs Sonic's hand and stands up, realising the errors of his ways.
"Sonic… You and your friends have gained more than just respect. I must apologise for my blind ignorance and the loss of your homes. I'm sorry." Knuckles bows down, making Sonic squat down and flick Knuckles' forehead.
"Relax. All is forgiven. Without you, I won't be able to see my sister again and you taught me about the chaos emeralds and their power. I really need to be careful when using it." Sonic grins while patting Knuckles' arm.
"Come on! Let's get the super emeralds and stop Eggman!" Tania runs ahead as she's being followed by Tails and Amy.
As Sonic stands in front of Knuckles, he turns around with a calm smile.
"Thanks for everything, Knuckles." Sonic is showing Nicky's personality to his new friend, knowing Knuckles is as Tikal described him.
"You're welcome, Nicky. We must go. I know a shortcut to a certain location. I sense the Master Emerald's whereabouts." Knuckles is walking with Sonic, making Sonic chuckle.
"Then let's do this." Sonic then runs forward, only to be followed by Knuckles.
Hidden Palace
As Knuckles prays for the super emeralds to aid his friends as a way to bring the Master Emerald back, leading the chaos emeralds to float out of Sonic's body as the super emeralds are exchanging their chaos energy into the chaos emeralds, changing their shapes as they are the very things Knuckles kept for a while, making them go back inside Sonic.
Now Sonic obtains the super emeralds as 7 empowered gems, making the super emeralds in the cave become colourless stones.
"So, what does that mean?" Amy asked.
"It means the chaos emeralds have transformed. They're the super emeralds meaning Sonic has 525 times extended into 3675 times the amount of power. It's able to surpass the Master Emerald alone, meaning Sonic's capable of defeating Eggman easily." Tails calculates the chaos energy Sonic carries which means he's now ready to beat Eggman.
"Really!? That means we already won!" Tania is hyped to see Eggman's downfall.
"Not really. The super emeralds have their limits. The reason why I don't use that much power is that it'll harm one's body. Sonic, be careful when using that kind of power." Knuckles warned.
"Sure thing. I'll use it when I face Eggman." Sonic pulls up his thumb, ready to finish his first adventure.
"Okay, we'll use the warp point to reach the road to our next location." Knuckles points at a red warp ball.
"Looks like we're really gonna go out there and fight Eggman again." Amy can tell what's going on, especially when they keep on going.
"Yeah. If we stop Eggman from using the Master Emerald's power, then Angel Island is about to be restored." Tails explained.
"Then follow me." Knuckles jumps into a warp point as he vanishes.
As Tails and Amy nod, they jump into the point and vanish.
This leaves Sonic and Tania looking at each other and smiling at one another.
"I bet you're scared as always." Tania giggled.
"Nah. I know you are." Sonic teasefully pulls Tania's muzzle.
As the siblings hop, they're ready to avenge those that lost their lives at Hedgehog Town.
The next stage of their journey is the beginning of the final battle.
Next stage: Sky Sanctuary.