THE BEST LAID PLANS...
Writer: Ken Penders
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Ken Penders
Colorist: Frank Gagliardo
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie

Nack rejoins Nic and tells her that his "delivery" was early and that the two were even given a bonus. So Nack says that they should leave and when Nic mentions the "happy couple," Nack basically says that they're just bees and can't do anything.

Since Charmy nor Safron can see them, Charmy figures that the weasels are gone and that the two of them have to go find Knuckles. Safron asks if they should get some help first, but Charmy nixes that idea saying they might not have time and the two fly off.

Not far away, Gala-Na continues to explain that Knuckles' abilities seem to be much more powerful than Dimitri's were as Enerjak and so she has to "nullify" the threat by any means necessary. The only "x-factor" is how Knuckles will "hold up through the process." So the Chaos Syphon is activated, and Gala-Na seems surprised that Knuckles is resisting the power transfer (ironically, this version of the Chaos Syphon is supposed to take Knux' chaos energy & put it into a suit that some other echidna is wearing) and the other echidna is also having problems as the suit "feels like" it's about to "overload."

At this moment, Charmy & Safron find Knuckles and the Albion echidnas, as Gala-Na reiterates to Knux that they have to do this to him because "the danger is too great." Charmy quickly figures that if they "take those guys out" (pointing at the echidna with the controls & the echidna with the suit) that they'll give Knuckles a chance to get free. So Charmy bothers the echidna at the controls, while Safron presses a button on the suit. The energy flow gets reversed while the echidnas start hopelessly swatting at the "lousy" insects that broke their connection. That all ends when Knuckles' eyes turn solid white and finally releases a blast of chaos energy that break his restraints and knocks everyone for a loop momentarily. Charmy & Safron check on each other and then Charmy looks at Knuckles and basically asks him if he's okay. Knuckles still has his solid white eyes and says "it's like someone flipped a switch and now everything's--different" just before disappearing.

When the other echidnas start getting their bearings, Gala-Na asks what happened and is told things went from "bad to worse." She tries calling Nack & Nic but they saw the "fireworks" from their aircraft and Nack responds that they'll "pass on this one." Gala-Na stands and says "Now what?"

Next Story is in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #95