Sunshine had arrived to Angel Island with the mysterious gear in hand, hoping Knuckles might be able to help him figure out exactly what the seemingly ancient object was for and where it came from. He had already gone to Rouge to see if she had ever found anything like it on one of her treasure hunting adventures, but the bat unfortunately hadn't, so he had set off to ask Knuckles upon his best friend's suggestion. The echidna is quite familiar with ancient artifacts after all, so the likelihood that he might have at least an idea of what this thing is was quite high. At the very least he'd probably find it interesting to look over.
"Hey, Knuckles! I found this thing under my side of the bed and it looks old so I thought you might...know what it is...oh"
The hedgehog calls out, only to trail off when he saw that Knuckles was nowhere to be seen. Maybe Starlight, Tails, and Amy had decided to bring him along to the Starfall Islands with them? But then why was the Master Emerald still sitting out in the open and not hidden away in one of the many alternate hiding spots on the island like it always was whenever Knuckles had to leave it unguarded? What the Hell was going on lately? He decided to look around Angel Island to try and find Knuckles. Perhaps he was just tending to the chao, or exploring the ruins his ancestors had left behind? The hedgehog searched through the lush mushroom jungle, the abandoned theme park that was slowly being reclaimed by nature, and even the remnants of a pyramid before ending up in a seemingly endless maze of marble pillars, pulleys, and traps when the gear in his pocket began to flicker and glow. Was it reacting to something? Or was this just a coincidence?
Sunshine takes the gear out of his pocket to examine it, holding it out in different directions to see if it's glow would change, following where it seemed to be the brightest until he could see another source of light glowing in response to the gear. He quickly heads toward the light only to find that what appeared to be a large stone throne of some kind was the cause of the gear's now nearly blinding glow, cautiously approaching when he notices a gear shaped slot on the front of the throne and places the gear into it, only to then vanish in a bright flash of light.
