Like with the Chaotix Caper arc before it Knuckles's absence means that the focus can actually be given to the side characters. Here we see Julie-Su reminiscing with Mighty.

The subject of Knuckles though is truly a equivalent to the Bechel test. Even though he's gone he's still the main focus.

After this is Knuckles open casket funeral. It's so odd just to type those words. I highly doubt that the Sega of today would let a scene like the one below appear in the current comics.

When we next see Julie-Su she appears to be in Knuckles's home which is a cavern/cave. I did some quick research and apparently caves are a natural part of a echidna's habitat.

Aww it's so adorable he kept a picture of her on his nightstand. Vector appears in the entrance to confront a already agitated Julie and the two start brawling it out.

Now it's Vector's turn to give Julie-Su a flashback story to how he first met Knuckles.

Meanwhile Knuckles in the afterlife goes through basically a clip show of his life including a recreation of Julie-Su's face reveal from Knuckles issue #4.

This goes on for a while until Knuckles's return in Sonic issue #125. This marks the first time Julie-Su was written by someone other then Penders as Karl Bollers was writing the main stories in the Sonic issues at the time. He will continue writing Julie-Su as Penders would shift his focus to the Mobius 25 Years Later back up stories starting in Issue 131.

what is this a crossover episode