"Alright, now we can go to the Moon Kingdom!" Fine cheered.

Bright and Altezza opted to join the heroes on their quest, taking the Jewelry Kingdom Airship to accompany them. Aaron and Camelia gave their children their blessing to accompany the others but made them promise to return safely.

As they made their way closer to the Moon Kingdom, they saw Eggman's fleets heavily occupying it. Things were looking pretty grim all around.

"Oh no! The Moon Kingdom!" Fine and Rein cried out in unison.

"Shade-Sama..." Tio muttered, worried for his idol and fellow prince.

"Come on, let's park outside. The area surrounding it is all desert, so we won't have to worry about remembering where we parked." Eddy said.

"Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell cheese and onion buns!" Ed laughed.

"Was he dropped on his head as a kid?" Altezza asked.

"Honestly, I blame his father's chromosomes." Double-D sighed.

After parking their airships, the gang disembarked and made their way to the Moon Kingdom, only to see a pair of Eggman's Egg Pawns stationed in front, holding out crossing guard signs.

"Halt! You are not registered to enter the kingdom! Turn back now or be annihilated!"

"Awww, that's too bad. And we were taking these kids on a field trip through the place."

"Where from?" The second Egg Pawn asked.

Suddenly, in a flash of golden light, Calvin had transformed into a red gremlin with a pair of golden revolvers which he slapped together to make a sentry minigun.

"TEXAS!"

A flurry of coins pelted the two Egg Pawns, reducing them to scrap in an instant as Calvin transformed back to normal soon after.

"Seems like you're getting the hang of that magic necklace," Hobbes noted.

"Yeah, I'm really digging it, too!"

"Come on! We need to see if Shade and Milky are okay!" Fine said as everyone entered the kingdom, leaving the trashed Egg Pawns behind.

"Take...my...Wife...pleeeeaaaaase?"

Eggman saw the heroes entering the Moon Kingdom and frowned as he zeroed in on Sonic leading the pack alongside Fine and Rein.

"I knew that miserable blue rodent and his friends would come here..." He then turned to Furnace. "Take care of them!"

The robotic Sonic doppelganger nodded before activating an exhaust-based jetpack, rocketing out of the Egg Carrier and making its way down to the Moon Kingdom.

BGM: Studiopolis Act 2 (Sonic Mania)

The residents of the Moon Kingdom were holed up in their homes, too scared to come out in fear of the patrolling Eggman Badniks. However, hope sprang up as the heroes came in, taking the evil robots apart efficiently.

"Oh yeah, time to party!" Sonic said as he delivered an Axe Kick that sliced a Crabmeat in half down the middle.

Bright sliced a Caterkiller's head off with his sword before noticing Kirby waving to him, having transformed into Spark Kirby after inhaling a Flasher.

"Yes, what is it, Kirby?"

Kirby gestured for Bright to raise his sword in the air, which the Jewelry Kingdom Prince obeyed before Kirby sent a spark that ran through the blade, causing it to become a blade of pure electrical energy.

"Amazing! Thanks!"

Bright then rushed forward, lashing his new Zap Sword as it sent waves of electrical energy that destroyed the Badniks that got in his way. Altezza formed diamond spikes with a wave of her wand that impaled a Shellcracker when it tried to punch her.

"Allow me to assist you, fair princess!" Ed said as he yanked one of the diamond spikes out of the ground and used it to send a horde of Motobugs flying with a single swing.

Mario took aim and threw his hammer, which slammed into a Slicer and crushed it into pieces while Luigi charged lightning in his hands and grabbed a Nebula, channeling lightning through the Badnik before throwing it at a group of its colleagues to make a massive explosion.

"Oh yeah!"

"Nice going!" Eddy said as he rode on Hobbes' back, the tiger running on all fours as Eddy used his fish to club any approaching Badnik that got in his way.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Double-D said nervously as several Badniks approached him before noticing a button on his lightsaber and pressing it, causing it to transform into a freaking ray gun blaster.

With renewed confidence, Double-D began blasting the Badniks one by one, taking them all down as if he was a professional quickdraw from the Wild West.

Calvin had transformed once more, this time into a Beehive Monster that fired bees from a gun and spat out globs of honey that trapped the Badniks it hit, allowing some of the others to take them down.

"How many are there?" Lione asked as she formed her Bo Dragon Cannon from her ring and shot fireballs at some approaching Egg Pawns dressed as police officers.

"Eggman sure knows how to make all of these in short order!" Sonic said as he did a flip kick which launched an air blast that picked up several Badniks before exploding. "But I think they're starting to slow down!"

Fine and Rein were back to back, sending out bolts of starlight from their wands at any approaching Badniks. Tio flew by, slashing up an Astron with his Sizzle Saber. However, a tractor beam suddenly picked up Fine, who flapped her arms and legs in the air in panic.

"Fine!" Rein called out to her sister, seeing her abductor was an Egg Keeper.

Before any of the heroes could make a move to save Fine, a whip cracked through the air and struck the Egg Keeper, making it drop the tomboyish Sunny Kingdom princess as Mario slid on the ground and caught her in his arms.

End BGM

Everyone turned to the source of the whip to see a young man the same age as Bright there. He had sharp blue eyes, dark messy blue hair, and slightly tanned skin. He wore a dark blue cowboy hat and a black coat over a light blue shirt with a yellow tie, long, gray pants, and white cowboy boots.

"Shade-Sama!" Tio exclaimed in joy as he finished slicing a Buzz Bomber apart.

"Babu! Ba-bu!" Came a little baby girl's voice as behind Shade was a young girl, probably 1 or 2 years old. She had light pink hair, and dark blue eyes, and wore a butter yellow dress with long frilly sleeves and a frilly hem. She also had a tiny tiara with a crescent moon on top.

"And Milky too!" Bright said.

"I saw that machine kidnapping Fine and I had to do something. Sorry that we couldn't get here sooner, we were in hiding from those robots." Shade explained as he walked over, Milky floating beside him while sitting on a golden star.

"Hey, can't really blame you. Eggman and Bowser are completely new to you guys, it makes sense that you'd need to keep away from them to figure out how they tick." Sonic said.

"Luckily, you-a have us to help-a out!" Luigi said with his hands on his hips as Milky looked at him like he was a superhero, spinning around him on her star.

"How have things been-Pumo?" Poomo asked, floating out of Fine's hat after seeing everything was under control and all the Badniks were destroyed.

"Not too good...When Eggman set up shop here, he kidnapped our mother." Shade said, clenching his fist tightly.

"Babu Ba..." Milky sorrowfully said as Luigi petted her on the head to console her.

"Before she was taken, she had me and Milky take a secret escape route. For the last month or so that Eggman has been occupying the Moon Kingdom, we've been in hiding, never staying in one place for too long. We almost ran out of places to hide until you showed up."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure Eggman and Bowser are both taken down for the count!" Sonic reassured, punching his fist into his palm.

"Yeah!" Calvin said, having transformed back to normal. "We've already freed the Flame Kingdom and Jewelry Kingdom. How hard can this one be?"

"Very hard, you seething little brat!"

Hearing the familiar voice of the nefarious doctor, everyone got on guard as a type of video recording robot floated down, bearing Eggman's symbol as he communicated through it.

"My Badniks were just the appetizer! Now that you've had a taste, it's time for the full meal...AND YOU ALL WILL BE THE MAIN COURSE!"

Suddenly, a figure crashed down, kicking up dust as everyone shielded themselves, Luigi even holding Milky close to his chest while using his hat to keep his eyes protected. When the dust settled, everyone gasped at what they saw except for Sonic.

"What's this? A new Metal Sonic? After what happened to the original, I figured you'd-"

BGM: Prey (Friday Night Funkin': Sonic EXE)

"Give up? Fat chance, Hedgehog! This is Furnace and he will roast you all until you're all perfectly crisp and ready to be feasted on by him!"

Furnace turned his arms into a pair of flamethrower-minigun hybrids and dashed forward with his exhaust pack, firing fast-moving volleys of fireballs at the heroes as they quickly scattered.

"Alright, time for a Fire Type!" Calvin said as he transformed in a flash of red light. "SLASH & BURN!"

Calvin had now transformed into a Fire Knight wielding a flaming pitchfork-like sword. Rushing forward to meet Furnace, he swung the blade as the robot formed a flame blade from his arm and blocked the attack, the two clashing against each other furiously.

"Allow me to help you, Calvin-Sama!" Tio said, taking his Sizzle Saber and rushing to assist. However, Furnace formed another Flame Blade and used it to fight him at the same time.

"Man, he's pretty dang tough!" Sonic said before running in place, doing his Super Peel-Out Technique. "But he can't match Sonic Speed!"

"Nor can he match a-Mario Fire!" Mario said as he channeled fire through his hands. "I need to charge-a this up, can you Paisanos keep that bucket-a-bolts busy?"

"We can try!" Altezza said as everyone rushed in to take on Furnace, who pushed Calvin and Tio back before flying into the air and charging up large fireballs in his hands before shooting them down.

"I'll stay here and keep Milky safe," Luigi said, holding the toddler princess close like a protective father figure.

Shade swung his whip and used it to wrap it around Furnace's arms, binding them together as he pulled down and dragged the robot doppelganger back to the ground, crashing hard as Ed leaped up and then dove down with his butt, slamming into the machine's back.

However, Furnace released a massive discharge from the exhaust jetpack on his back, burning Ed's behind as he yelped and jumped off, running around with the seat of his pants on fire.

"YEOWCH! TOO SPICY FOR ME!"

Altezza raised her wand high in the air and a circle of diamonds surrounded Furnace, trapping him as Sonic jumped into the air, curled up into a ball and dashed downward to slam into the latest of his robot doppelgangers, sending it staggering as Calvin jumped in as well, swinging his sword and dealing huge amounts of damage to the robot.

"It's on its last legs, we're taking it down now!" Double-D said as he rushed forward with his lightsaber, only for Milky to squirm out of Luigi's arms.

"Wait-a! Milky, it's-a-dangerous!"

"Babu! Babu ba-ba-bu!" Milky pleaded, getting in front of Furnace and stopping Double-D, Sonic, and Calvin from delivering the finishing blow.

End BGM

"Milky, what's wrong?" Bright asked as everyone calmed down, Furnace looking poised to attack again only for Milky to turn around and look sadly at the robot.

"She knows it's not really a robot..." Shade said. "It's...it's our mother."

"WHAT?!"

Calvin turned back to normal as everyone surrounded Furnace, who now seemed to become docile as it looked at Milky.

"Moon Malia-Sama?!" Fine and Rein gasped in shock.

"Yes...I don't know what he did but Eggman put her in this...suit that forces her to attack others."

"That's low, even for him..." Sonic growled.

"But how do we free her?" Eddy asked. "Eggman might have booby-trapped that hunk of junk!"

"We can help!" Fine said.

"We can help!" Rein parroted.

The two then activated the Prominence, raising their wands high in the sky.

"Twin Fortune Bloomish! Free Moon Malia...from Furnace!"

Sparkles of golden light surrounded Furnace as Moon Malia was pulled free from the suit, looking relatively unharmed as she collapsed to the ground, everyone surrounding her as Shade and Milky looked at their mother in worry.

Mario, using his knowledge as a doctor, put two fingers to Malia's neck and nodded as he saw she had a good pulse.

"She's alright. I guess-a even Eggman isn't evil enough to do-a something too horrible to-a her."

"We still gotta take him down. He forced the queen of this kingdom to terrorize her own subjects. That is something that simply cannot be forgiven under any circumstance!" Double-D said with a glare.

Moon Malia soon let out a small moan, her eyes fluttering open as the first thing she saw was her children.

"Shade...Milky..."

"Mother..." Shade said, his eyes quivering.

"Babu! Ba-buy!" Milky whined, hugging her mother in relief.

"I'm sorry...did I worry you both again?"

"Moon Malia-Sama...it's great to see you're alright," Bright said with a relieved smile that his best friend's mother was okay.

"Awww, they're a happy family again!" Ed cooed. "I love happy endings!"

"You're such a softie, Lumpy," Eddy smirked as he poked his friend. "But yeah, I agree with you on this, happy endings are the best."

"That magic of yours is something else for sure, you two," Sonic said, playfully ruffling Fine and Rein's heads like a big brother would.

"It's the power of the Prominence blessed to us by Princess Grace, our ancestor!"

"And you two have certainly come a long way in using it-Pumo!" Poomo said proudly.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Furnace had somehow regained motion despite Moon Malia no longer being inside him and boosted away with nobody the wiser...

Eggman sighed as he pinched the bridge of his forehead. He was at least lucky he had made that backup program in case Furnace was separated from Moon Malia. In fact, he was counting on it.

"I'm not a monster that I'd make her destroy her own kingdom and children while stuck in that suit. Either way, I'm just relieved Furnaced is in satisfactory condition to return."

"Yeah, we kinda felt it was messed up that you'd put her in that suit. At least you put her to sleep first." Bowser said with his arms folded.

"Yeah, that was a big no-no, Uncle Eggman!" Bowser Jr. said.

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Eggman said in frustration. "I'll just stuff the whole 'Put a Queen in an evil Mecha Sonic suit' in the bad idea file...along with the Metal Virus. Hoo boy did that one go wrong in every way..."

Next Time: With Moon Malia and the Moon Kingdom safe our heroes' next stop is the Waterdrop Kingdom where someone close to Eggman is stirring up a paintload of trouble for everyone.