Episode 2: Dangerous Territory

In New Mobotropolis, Cloud-Ra is working on another machine on the table while Obsidian is making some tea. She pour the hot tea in the cups and brings one cup to her husband.

Obsidian asks, "What are you doing dear?"

"Just working on a few things, including with my robotic arm. I've been trying to put a few upgrades on it," Cloud-Ra says.

"I see. I wonder how the kids are doing," Obsidian says.

"I'm sure they're doing okay. Besides, we both know that Eve is not a kid anymore so she's good at taking care of herself and taking care of Maria and the young ones," Cloud-Ra says with a smile.

"I suppose you're right," Obsidian says.

Suddenly, hey both hear the sound of crashing and glass shattering.

"What was that?" Obsidian asks, weary

Cloud-Ra stands up and walks to the source, "I don't know, but stay close."

Cloud-Ra walks out of the room with Obsidian behind him. They both walk over to see the broken glass of the window that is broken through.

"Who could have done this?" Cloud-Ra wonders.

Suddenly, six spider ninjas who are the Arachnis Spider Ninjas appear before them.

"The Arachnis? Where did they come from?" Cloud-Ra says, concern.

Obsidian asks the spiders, "What are you doing here?"

The Spider Ninjas don't say anything. One of them throws a smoke bomb to the ground where the Echidna and Hedgehog are standing and the smoke is released into the room. They both cough rapidly as the smoke is covering them. Suddenly, they both begin to feel drowsy and a few minutes. In no time, they both fall to the ground and fall unconscious.

One of the spiders, Chang turns to the others, "It's done. Now we must bring Obsidian to the Iron Queen."

One of the spiders asks, "Do we really have to?"

"I'm afraid so," Chang says.

One of the spiders picks up Obsidian and all six of them leave the scene, taking Obsidian with them. At the same time, leaving Cloud-Ra unconscious.

Meanwhile, closing in on New Megaopolis, Sonic, Eve, Shadow, Rouge, and Monkey Khan are speeding over for an attack.

"I can't believe Eggman's city and dome got taken over by the Iron King and Queen," Eve says.

"I remember you telling me about them. Aren't they the same ones you and Tails told me about. You said that he took control of Ken back then," Sonic says.

"She did. She and the Iron King are really tough and dangerous," Eve says.

Shadow says, "We're about to know soon enough because we're in the city's limit."

The group hurry over to the city's limit and are now in the city.

"We're hitting New Megaopolis proper. Be on the lookout for…" Sonic says.

Suddenly, a laser blaster begins to strike. Ken quickly uses his staff to block the attack while everyone else dodge them.

"Sneak attack! Called it!" Sonic says.

"Which means they're here," Eve says.

The group speed over and are already fighting with the Dark Legion.

Ken punches on as he says, "I'm not familiar with this Clan. Do you know them?"

"They're the Dark Egg Legion! They're an organization of Echidnas who have a mad-on for technology!" Eve says.

Rouge kicks the other one and says, "Sucks that you and Shadow are practically related to them because of your father!"

"No now, Rouge!" Shadow says, and spin dashes a few of the Legionnaire like bowling pins.

Then Sonic says, "They also have a bad habit of picking the losing side."

"You said the doctor was defeated. Why do they side with the Iron Dominion Now?" Ken asks.

Suddenly, they see a hovercraft and Lien-Da is on it.

She says, "Because we're not content to pander to the Guardian or his allies! Now surrender while you have the chance!"

"Surrender?" Sonic questions with a smirk.

"I give no quarter and no sympathy to allies of the Iron Dominion!" Ken angrily says.

Then uses the staff to destroy the hovercraft, while Lien-Da falls off of it.

She sits up with a smirk on her face, "And I return the sentiment!"

Then calls out to the Legionnaires, "Legion, fall back to support!"

The Legionnaires then fall back.

Lien-Da commands, "Yagyu-Move in!"

"Yag-who?!" Sonic asks.

Suddenly, the Yagu ninjas, or ninja bats dive in to attack them. The Yagu ninjas begin to attack with karate attacks and sharp weapons.

Sonic dodges them, "Yow! Watch it!"

Eve uses her sword to repel the shurikens attacks.

Rouge flies up and shouts, "Screwkick!"

Then dives down with a screwkick, knowing some of them down.

With a smirk, Lien-Da says, "One perk of joining the Iron Dominion? Our small numbers just got doubled. I don't hear any wise-crackers, hedgehogs. Is something wrong?"

The yagu ninjas then strike at Sonic. Sonic then punches some of them and Eve gives them a high jump kick.

Sonic dodges the attack and calls out, "Yo, M.K! What's the story of these bats in their pajamas!"

"They're ninjas of the Yagyu Clan. They used to be simple sneak-thieves pillaging the Dragon Kingdom," Ken says.

Then uses his staff to attack the ninjas, "Until the Iron Queen slew their master, the Bride of Rick Nights. Now they're her personal army."

"Bride?" Shadow replies.

"It's an honorific title… I'll explain later! Now is not a good time!" Ken says as he continues to attack.

Then says, "I just hope the other three clans aren't here."

"Three clans? Hoo boy…" Sonic says.

"And we only know one of them because of Shun and his siblings," Shadow says.

Suddenly, Lien-Da commands, "Legion! Fire at will! Take care not to hit our allies!"

The Legionnaires begin to fire their attacks. Ken ends up getting his on his arm, but uses his staff to fire a lightning bolt at them.

"Hang in there! It's rough, but I think we've got this," Sonic says.

"Maybe. Just as long as they don't send in…" Ken says.

Suddenly, they feel the ground shaking the sound of loud stomping.

Eve gasps to find the source, "Oh no!"

The group turns their heads to see Jun Kun, the Iron King.

"What is that?" Sonic asks.

"I'm assuming that's the Iron King, you told us about?" Shadow asks, turning to Eve.

"Yeah. That's him. And I don't think he's happy to see us, especially me. I'm just glad Sonia isn't," Eve says.

The Iron King says, "Eve the Hedgehog! My tremorace has hungered for this day! I owe you and your other hedgehog friend for my humiliation!"

"It makes me wish we had the Fan of Fen Xing right now," Eve says.

"And it looks like we're surrounded!" Sonic says.

"So… we take our chances with the big guy?" Sonic asks.

Ken says, "Cover me while I get my Atom-bat, and then I'll be right behind you."

"Got it," Eve says.

With that, Sonic, Eve and Shadow perform spin dashes at the Iron King, but his armor is hard so that they feel sore on their heads.

The Iron King laughs, "You cannot harm me, puny ones!"

"Then we'll just have to try harder!" Ken says, holding his bat.

He then slams the Iron King, but the Iron King brings out his club for defense and knocks Ken down.

"I never thought there'd be a day when I honestly missed the Swatbots," Sonic says.

"Yeah. At least they don't have hard heads like this guys armor," Eve says.

Rouge lands on the ground as she takes deep breaths. Suddenly, she feels a tap on the shoulder.

Rouge turns her head to see Espio, "Espio? When did you get here!"

Ken shouts, "Look out! He's one of the Shinobi Clan!"

"Shinobi Clan? What are you talking about? He's part of the Chaotix…." Rouge says.

Unknown to Rouge, Espio has hands up and straight. The next moment, Espio sits Rouge on her neck making her yelp, and causes to fall to the ground and lose consciousness. Eve and Shadow quickly turn their heads to see Rouge unconscious and in Espio's arms.

"Espio? When did you…" Sonic asks.

Before Sonic and the others can act, the Arachnis arrive and one of them takes Rouge in their arms. Then Espio attacks Sonic.

Eve panics, "Stop it, Espio! Why are you acting like this?!"

Espio then begins to attack Eve, but she quickly dodges. Shadow then punches Espio, but he dodges.

"If he was only as fast on the up-take…" Ken mutters.

But Lightning Lynx attacks Ken, "Speak for yourself, your 'majesty.'"

Ken struggles to stand up as he holds his side to see the Lynx before him.

"You're one of the Raiju Clan… but I don't remember you specifically," Ken says.

"I am Lightning Lynx, servant to the Bride of Conquering Storm on these shores… and with honor restored," Lightning says.

Meanwhile, Espio kicks Sonic, but Sonic blocks the attack.

Still shocked by Espio's actions, Sonic asks, "What's going on, dude? Say something? Is it mind-control?"

"It's mind control, isn't it? Punch me once for 'yes,' twice for 'no.'" Sonic says, and then gives a spin dash.

Espio then kicks him on his back.

"No, see that was a kick," Sonic says.

Sonic then says, "Sorry, Es, but this has got to stop."

Then spin dashes him. Shadow then attacks Espio now. Eve is still stunned to see Espio is now fighting against them, not with them. Before she can question what's going on, she turns her head to see the Arachnis and realizes those are Chang and his siblings, and they're Shun's older siblings as well. What really shocked her is that she's not only seeing Rouge unconscious in one of the spider ninja's arms, but her mom as well in another spider ninja's arm. And Jazz is trying to pull Obsidian away from them.

"Hey!" Eve shouts and charges after them.

Just then, the spider ninjas speed away from the scene, taking the hedgehog and bat with them.

As Eve chases them, she screams, "Mom! Rouge! Jazz!"

The Spider ninjas continue to speed away as Jazz is hanging on to Obsidian's quill as best she can. Eve continues to speed after them, but is soon noticed by Shadow and he chases after her.

At the same time, Ken and Lightning Lynx are fighting against each other.

"You think you're 'lightning?'" Ken angrily says.

Then swings his bat releasing lightning, "I'll show you lightning!"

Suddenly, the Legionnaires attack Ken and is pushed back to where Sonic and Shadow are.

Ken turns to Sonic, "Have you finished beating these 'push-overs,' hero?"

"What are you talking about? Sally said this was a recon only mission," Sonic says.

"Anything to get out of an 'I told you so,' huh?" Ken questions.

"Yeah. Pretty much," Sonic answers.

Ken looks around, "I wonder where Eve and Shadow are?"

Meanwhile, Eve continues to chase after the Arachnis as Shadow chases after her. Jazz continues to hang on to Obsidian until she isn't able to hold on and falls off.

"Jazz!" Eve calls out, and kneels down to her

"Chao Chao," Jazz calls out.

Suddenly, the Arachnis throws smoke bombs at Eve and Jazz, and Shadow stops to see the smoke appearing over them. Eve looks around to see the smoke is clear and to see the ninjas along with her mom and Rouge are gone.

"No!" Eve says, sounding upset.

"Eve!" Shadow calls out.

Eve turns to see Shadow hurrying to her.

"Shadow!" Eve calls out.

Shadow hurries over, "Eve, what happened?"

"Those spider ninjas took Rouge, and they took our mom," Eve says.

"What?!" Shadow says, shocked.

Eve says, "We need to find the others and tell them what happened. Those guys are very strong for us to handle."

Shadow simply nods his head. The two hedgehogs then hurry back to the others. By the time they arrive, they see Sonic and Ken are worn out.

The Iron King confronts Sonic and Monkey Khan, "The champions of the East and west are defeated! Me and my queen, and you may live to serve the Iron Dominion."

"I dunno. What's your dental plan like?" Sonic mocks.

"Sarcasm is lost on him," Ken says.

"Pity. Thanks for the offer, kingy… but we'll pass," Sonic says.

Then turns to Ken, "M.K, we could really use that little cloud-thingy of yours!"

"Here!" Ken says.

He conjures up a cloud and hops onto it.

"I'd say our mission's complete!" Sonic says and grabs on to Ken's bat.

Then says, "Fly magic cloud monkey… fly!"

Soon, Sonic and Ken are able to escape, Eve and Shadow along with Jazz are not far behind.

Lien-Da commands, "Legion! Shoot them down!"

But the Iron King says, "Ignore that last command!"

"How dare…" Lien-Da angrily says.

But calms herself, down, "I mean… why? Sir?"

"The enemy is wounded. We let it run and finish itself off. Let their champions tell of their utter defeat. Let the morale of the enemy crumble and humiliation poison the would-be heroes!" The Iron King answers.

Then says, "Today was the first of many victories to come. Today the Iron Dominion stands triumphant!"

After returning to New Mobotropolis, Sonic, Eve, Shadow, and Ken explain to the Freedom Fighters, Chaotix, Royal Service and the Royal family about what has happened. About Espio is now fighting for the Dominion, Lighting leaving the Destructix, and now Rouge and Obsidian have been abducted. It's a big shock to everyone, especially for the Chaotix of Espio's actions. According to Sally, the Arachnis attacked Cloud-Ra and Obsidian and used knock out gas, but only Obsidian disappeared from the event.

"And then we got back here and called you all here as soon as possible," Shadow says.

Eve places an ice pack on her father's head, "Are you okay, dad?"

"I'm okay, but I'm worried about your mother at this point," Cloud says.

"No kidding the Iron Dominion means business. They got the Dark Egg Legion on their side, plus a slew of those Yagyu bat ninjas. Lightning seems to have left the Destructix. Espio's gone rogue, the Arachnis are working for the Iron Dominion, and Obsidian and Rouge were kidnapped.. Eggman may be done, but we're essentially back to square one," Sonic says.

"I don't understand. I thought Espio was from Rainbow Valley. I know there isn't a ninja clan there," Knuckles says.

"I'll have the Royal guard on high alert and inform the populace," King Acorn says.

"Yes. And we need to figure out what to do from there. The Iron Dominion could be serious trouble if we don't act," Elias says.

"No sweat! We have to make sure everyone knows the 'good news,' right?" Sonic says.

"But that still leaves another question. What does the Iron Dominion want with Obsidian and Rouge?" Sally questions.

"I'm not sure. Maybe about the fact that my mother was once the heir of the Hayai Kaze Clan must have reached them. Or the ninjas must have told them about her," Eve says, concern.

"But what about Rouge? What does she have anything to do with it?" Knuckles wonders.

"That's something we need to figure out," Sally says.

Meanwhile Sonia walks to Ken and asks, "Ken Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I'm not, Sonia," Ken says.

"It's okay Ken. Don't let it eat at you. We've faced setbacks worse than this," Sonia says.

Ken sighs and says, "Yeah, but it's just one more in a long list of failures for me."

"Ken," Sally says, concerned.

Ken walks away as he mutters, "What kind of leader have I turned out to be?"

Sonia can't help, but feel worried for Ken. She suspects that something must have happened and it's practically feeding inside him.

Later in the night, Snively is with the Iron Queen in her room and they are laughing and having a good time.

"A-and then the monkey flew off, hauling Sonic on the end of his staff! With the other two tailing behind them," Snively says.

The Iron Queen laughs, "Delightful."

"Ah… my dear Regina," Snively happily says.

"What is it, my little Snivies?" Regina asks.

"I feel bad. You know all about me and where I came from… but I know so very little about your past," Snivley says.

"Oh, but mine isn't a very happy one, but if you insist," Regina says, feeling reluctant.

Then with a big of a heave hear, Regina explains, "I was born into a cult of technomages. We practiced our arts in secret in mecha-central. This was well before the Great War, mind you. I was taught how to control the electrical impulses found in all active electronics and how to send them out as well. I could 'read' electronic signals 'see' how they moved through the air, and with some practice… I learned to control robotic devices! The good times didn't last, though. Magitek was illegal, and my cult was arrested. The High Chancellor at the time showed me 'mercy' due to my age. I was allowed to live… in exile. I didn't know any other technomage cult in the other overlanders cities… and the Great War was just beginning, so I wouldn't take refuge among the Mobians. Not that I would've wanted to anyway. Urgh. Wandering the world, running from each new threat was hard on me… but I survived. I was the last of my cult, and I was sure their craft would not only survive, but dominate this wretched little mud ball of a planet. I traveled for years, honing my skills, until I reached what would be the heart of my own empire… the Dragon Kingdom. It was there that I would meet a local warlord… Jun Kun… who would be my ticket to a swift rise to power."

Right there, Snively asks, "did he become your Iron King? How did you come to serve my uncle as the Regional Sub-boss?"

"Tut-tut, my little Snives. It's late and I'm tired. I will tell you the rest another night," Regina says.

"Of course, my dear, Regina, but can you answer me one question?" Snively replies.

"What is it?" Regina asks.

"Why did you have the Ninjas abduct Obsidian Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat? Are you planning to use them as hostages?" Snively asks.

"Yes. I suppose I left you in the dark about that detail. I am still tired, so I'll be brief about it. Obsidian was actually the surviving child who was the heir of a great Hedgehog nation known as the Hayai Kaze Clan. I found that a small fraction of the nation exists, so I plan to use her to control the nation as their Bride. As for Rouge, it's necessary for her to be returned to kind, not that she's aware of it," Regina says.

"So Rouge and Obsidian are both from the Dragon Kingdom, but I never knew Rouge was one," Snively replies.

"It's understandable. It's not like her guardian told her about her being part of the Yagyu Clan, more of which is part of the Bride of Rick Nights family," Regina says.

"She is?" Snively asks, confused.

"Yes. I'll explain to you tomorrow," Regina says, and continues to hug Snively.

Snively hugs Regina as well.