Nearly four hundred years in the past, a group of Fire Ants watches as Edmund and Dimitri explain their plan to lower the Floating Island by draining the Chaos Emeralds with their Chaos Siphon to the people of Echidnaopolis. Their sons, Steppenwolf and Menniker, watch with pride; Menniker brightly relays to Steppenwolf that his father is sure the High Council of Echidnaopolis will approve of the plan. The council, however, decides to not proceed with their plan, driving Dimitri to take matters into his own hands.