SHADOWS
Writer: Ken Penders
Penciler: Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante
Inker: Ken Penders
Colorists: Josh & Aimee Ray
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie

Julie-Su is out on the Floating Island heading for the Dark Legion (DL) complex (Knuckles #3) that was once "home" to her in an attempt to find out more about her past. As she continues to search around the seemingly deserted compound, she recalls life with the DL and how Kragok and Kommissar were always watching her but she never knew why. Suddenly, she hears a door slide open not too far away, which puts Julie-Su on alert as she takes out her gun. She heads for room where a light is on and she hears someone inside. However she activates "the security shield" and slams into a wall inside the room. Julie-Su doesn't waste anytime putting her gun up to the brown echidna she finds inside. He introduces himself as Simon and knows her even though she doesn't remember him. Simon tells Julie-Su that he and his wife, Floren-Ca, raised her as if she were their daughter and then begins to tell us her history. Moritori Rex had a son named Luger, who married Merin-Da and she gave birth to twins, Kragok and Lien-Da. When the twins were about 8 the portal between the Twilight Zone and the Floating Island opened and the DL entered the island again. However, Merin-Da became ill so the DL returned to the zone peacefully for the first time. Merin-Da died and several years later Luger married again to Mari-Su, though Kragok and Lien-Da didn't like it at all. Julie-Su was born a year later and was completely ignored by her half-siblings. When Julie-Su was a toddler, Mari-Su died in an accident (based on the panel Kragok & Lien-Da were behind it). Since Luger didn't know how to raise a kid, he gave Julie-Su to Floren-Ca. Soon afterward, Luger "disappeared without a trace" and Kragok assumed control of the DL. Every legionnaire has a "Memory Neutralizing Chip" installed at their birth and Kragok had Julie-Su's activated and everyone was ordered to pretend that Julie-Su was an orphan. Julie-Su wants to know why she doesn't remember anything and Simon says that a "mind swipe" was probably done. He was here gathering evidence for her benefit since he and Floren-Ca heard that she was alive and on the Floating Island. Julie-Su counters that if he was with the DL he would know that she was fine. Simon tells her that the portal opened again not long after she was taken away from them and they decided to live on the Floating Island, especially since Kragok was trying to get rid of him. Julie-Su finally trusts him and the two go off to see Floren-Ca for a little reunion.

Next story is in KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA #30