A/N: Here comes 25. Our heroes continue on toward their goal of convincing the clans to break away from the Dominion, yet they may not get the same peaceful notion that the Gossamer Clan gave them.

Also, I've been thinking of another Sonic story not connected to this at all. Let's just say, it's a zombie apocolypse with elements of Left 4 Dead and Dying Light thrown in. Only problem is I haven't figure out where it will start.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie Comics except my OC.

When the sun rose, the heroes bid farewell to Li Yuen and Li Moon before setting out to the Yagyu encampment. Sonic and Tails were feeling confident that this would be easy, given that they managed to win the Gossamer to their side without much issue. Sally and Ken however, were not as optimistic.

"Ah come monkey boy. If we got one clan to our side, how hard can this one be?" Sonic stated.

"You don't understand. The Yagyu are known to be well-skilled assassins, and they have been known to be brash, devious, and manipulative...I wouldn't be surprised if this summons was a trap." Ken said in annoyance.

"Even if it is a trap, they couldn't possibly be harder to beat than the Gossamer. We've even knocked heads with them back home." Sonic countered. Ken just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

While the two continued to argue over whether their task would be easy, Sally noticed Kor was lagging behind. In all honesty, he looked rather tired. "You ok Kor?"

"Yeah...just didn't sleep much..." The engineer lifted his goggles, showing a few bags under his eyes as he rubbed the sleep off them.

"What were you doing last night that caused you a lack of sleep?" Sally asked.

"Too tired to tell ya right now princess...I'll explain it later..." Kor yawned slightly as he thought over what he did last night.

With his best invention, that was created to help bring peace, being used for malevolent purposes, Kor found it hard to fall asleep with the info Nicole shared with him. Since he was likely to have to kill the drone, he looked over the blueprints off it he had copied on his PDA to look for weaknesses. After a half hour of scanning them, he found 3 that never occured to him before. With this in mind, he decided to work on improving the 3rd state of his new sentry. Along with the function to fire standard rockets, each rocket would also have a smaller targeting chip in it that would allow Kor to turn the rockets into radar-guided missiles if he used a tracker. He kept working on it until he realized it was dawn.

By now the group was passing through rice fields, with small located here and there. Kor was broken from his thoughts when he still heard Ken and Sonic bickering. Being as tired as he was, he grew irritated quickly. "Would you two just-"

Suddenly, 5 Yagyu ninjas welding various weapons shot out from the ponds around them. "Ambush!" Sally yelled.

Immediately, Sonic took action and spin-dashed a ninja holding a pair of linked kamas.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted their summons!" Ken said as he struck one ninja in the chest, stunning it. He then swung the ninja into another that Tails lifted, knocking them out.

Kor glared at another ninja who was attempting to assault him with nunchucks. "I really don't have time to play games with you..." He stated.

The bat swung one of the ends at it, but Kor grabbed it with his cybernetic hand and tossed it, with the ninja still holding on, into another pond. Sally dodged a kick from another ninja who was then kicked into the air by Sonic.

"These guys aren't as organized or as disciplined as the others. This ambush is sloppy...the Gossamer did the same thing but we were caught in seconds." The princess noted.

A ninja with a katana suddenly appeared out of the water next to her, but Tails stomped on its head before it had the chance to strike. "If they're such pushovers, why did the Iron Queen bring them to help the Dark Egg Legion?" The kit asked.

"I don't know Tails. Maybe they were easier to uproot without upsetting the whole clan." Sally replied.

"Doubt the Queen cares about these guys." Kor said as he whacked a ninja in the face with his wrench. "If she wanted to, she could've had all of them assault New Mobotropolis. Didn't she kill their bride?"

"True..." Sally agreed.

"Man I forgot how much I hate getting wet..." Sonic groaned.

Ken knocked a sai out of the last ninja's grasp before grabbing it by its collar. "Now, are you going to fulfill the invitation to meet with your lord, or do I have to put you with the rest of the pond scum?..."

"W-Wait, you're the ones he sent for?" The defeated ninja asked.

"Do we look like locals?..." Sonic asked as he and rest dried themselves.

"Pardon! Pardon! We thought you were just travelers! Simple robbery! Honest!" The ninja explained.

"Just shut up and lead the way..." Ken commanded.

"Even if I was a 'simple traveler' I'd still gut ya for tryin' to rob me..." Kor glared at ninja.

The ninja led them back to its clan's current abode; the others were still unconscious back at the fields. "Not much further! Promise!" It told them.

"Ken...the Yagyu Clan has no bride for their house, correct?" Sally asked.

"Right. The Iron Dominion killed the Bride of Rich Nights and took the Yagyu as their own." Ken replied.

"Does that make things easier or harder? Without a proper bride, they may not fall back on tradition, but they may not want to give up on the Iron Queen either..." Sally pointed out, feeling uneasy.

"To be honest, I don't know Sally...if we can't deal with this lord then we'll just play it by ear." Ken said with uncertainty.

Soon the group arrived at an old temple in the middle of the forest. "Apologies again! Here we are!" The ninja said before it ran inside.

"Looks cozy." Sonic mused.

"I believe this was a temple from the old days, what locals call the 'lost dynasty' or something like that." Ken noted. "Keep your guard up. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried another ambush..."

"Try all they want, I'll still run rings around them." Sonic smirked, cracking his kunckles.

As they entered the temple, they were greeted by the Yagyu Lord himself sitting on an aged throne. Like the ninjas, he's a purple bat with a scar running down his left eye wearing a black outfit similar to them, but with metal shoulder-plates and a metal spiked helmet. The Yagyu Clan's banner was strapped to the wall above him while to his left was aged pot holding 3 swords; to his left was a bowl of fruit.

"Next time you invite guests, I recommend informing your cronies that they're coming. Otherwise they may get the wrong idea." Ken stated

. "Heh, you get the Gossamer Clan to roll over and all of a sudden you're high and mighty? Please." The lord chuckled. "The fact you've returned means you did no better against the Queen over there than you did here. At least you're consistent I guess." He then took note of the others. "And what's with all the tourists? Are you trying to impress us with a group of Freedom Fighters you haven't bene tricking into killing?" The lord then began to laugh.

Ken was beginning to boil with rage at this. "Well, he's just a ray of sunshine ain't he?" Kor asked. "Real classy chief..." Sonic stated.

Ken was about to give the Yagyu Lord a good piece of his mind when Sally placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked back as Sally gave a reassuring smile before calming himself. "All that aside...I'm here to broker peace between your clan and the free people of the Dragon Kingdom..."

"Hold it. There's something we need to get out of the way first." The lord suggested. "I'll meet with the Princess of the Republic of Acorn, and even the," he chuckled, "'King of the Free People.' But I don't feel comfortable with the Sonic the Hedgehog in my lair along with a gun-totting mercenary."

Sonic smirked. "Nah, wouldn't think so." "I second that." Kor agreed.

"And I won't dicuss important business in from of mere children."

Tails quickly took offense to this. "Mere children?!"

Sonic began pushing Tails out whilst Kor followed. "Ask all your guys with headaches back in the rice fields how 'mere' I am! I FOUGHT MASTER MOGUL!" The young fox ranted.

"Chill out bud. Saves us from listening to more political babbling." Sonic chuckled.

"Plus I can finally nap..." Kor yawned.

Once outside, Kor began to rest by the steps while Tails continued to preach about how he wasn't a child. "...And I've fought swatbots, egg pawns, and-and-and I built the Tornado from scratch! More than once!"

Sonic sighed and shook his head. "Dude, will you just chill for a sec? That guy's a colossal jerk. Why are you getting so bent out of shape?"

"I've worked really hard to prove I'm just as much a Freedom Fighter as everyone else. He knows who you are, even Kor, but I'm..." Tails stared at the ground in sadness.

"You're my best bud, and the guy I'd pick to have my back anytime. You've done more in your short life than he's going to do, so don't get worked up over one low-life, alright?" Sonic said with a smile.

"Yeah, guess you're right." Tails said, beginning to smile.

"I don't know Blue. He's still pretty hung up over this low-life." A voice suddenly rang out.

The two looked around confused before, low and behold, they spotted Fiona sitting on a bent bambo tree.

"Fiona?!" Tails asked in shock.

"We were wondering what rock you went hiding under after the whole Moebius fiasco..." Sonic stated whilst smirking at the fox.

"Simple: I got out while the getting was good. Kept myself busy though." Fiona said, her smirk not dropping.

"Yeah? Doing what?" Sonic asked.

"And why are you here?" Tails asked.

"I'll tell you...if you can catch me." She grinned before jumping off the tree and swinging into the forest. Sonic and Tails stared at each other before followng.

Kor was napping, though he kept an ear open incase they needed to spring into action. When he heard Fiona's name he kepted an eye open and watched the confrontation, though he still looked like he was asleep. When he watched Sonic and Tails follow, he sighed. "Maybe I should've just slept all night..." He said ran into the forest.

Because it so thick, he had to switch to thermal view to keep sight of them.

"Fiona knows she'll never outrun 'em...this has got to be a trap..." Kor thought and moved to a side path to stay hidden.

He watched as she started bending the trees she landed on, using the recoil to make them snap back and hit the two males. Tails got slapped by one. Sonic asked if he was ok before being smacked himself. Angered, the hedgehog began buzz-sawing his way straight towards Fiona, who was now in a clearing.

However, just before he reached her, the hedgehog was grabbed by a large gorilla wearing military attire including a pouch bag sash and a sergeant insigna band on his arm, aka Sergeant Simian. Simian then slammed Sonic into the ground, stopping his spin immediately.

"So here's some info as a consulation prize: I'm running with the Destructix again." Fiona told him.

"I'm coming Sonic!" Tails yelled, coming from the path Sonic just came from.

However, just as he came out he was knocked out of the air by a blue hawk wearing matching red gloves and boots. He was also wearing a bag sash similar to the simian. This was Predator Hawk.

"You make this too easy kid." The hawk chuckled.

At that moment, Sonic broke free of the gorilla's grip with his signature move. "I am getting so tired of dealing with you guys!"

But before he could launch a counterattack, he was ambushed yet again, this time by a green frog wearing aviators and brown flight pants with boots to match. He also wore a white scraf around his neck and, surprisingly, had a webbed membrance extending from his arms that allowed him to glide. This nutcase was known as Flying Frog.

"A bit of grit so the dirt will hurt!" The frog cackled.

Seeing this, Kor glared at them all through his goggles and moved to a spot to take them by surprise. If he has to, he will be burying corpses today.

The two heroes glared at their enemies. "Now that we have your attention, there's something we'd like to discuss." Fiona stated.

"Correction: you have mah attention..."

They turned to the side and see Kor aiming his laser hand at them. Next to him was a level 3 sentry poised to fire its deadly payload at the Destructix.

"As irritated as I am right now, we ain't got time for this crap. Now you have caused us alot of trouble in the past Fiona, and yer damn boyfriend cost me my eyes!" The engineer glared, that encounter still fresh in his mind. "So how about y'all tell us what the hell you want before I decide you ain't worth talkin' to..." He said, charging his hand.

The Destructix looked unfazed, but given the body language you could tell they were unnerved a bit from being at gun point. One wrong move could spell death for them.

At the moment, Sally and Ken arrive. "The Destructix?! What are you doing here?!" Sally said in shock.

"Oh we're just here to cause trouble, but when we found out you guys were in the area we decided to recruit you into the fun." Fiona said.

"Word sure travels fast around here..." Sally mused.

"Speaking of fast, how the heck did you get all the way out here so quick?" Sonic asked.

Fiona sighed. "It wasn't about you at first, but let's start from the beginning. Remember when you managed to sucker the Suppression Squad into turning on Scourge? I got out while everyone was fighting in the lab. I had my own plans after that and I needed some muscle, so I went looking for the Destructix. What I found though, was the team's miserable remains. Drago went back to working under Eggman whilst Lightning came back to his clan, something about having his 'honor restored'. Sleuth let me have them, saying he wanted to save his own hide."

"And they just let you take command. Just like that?" Sally asked.

"No. I had to promise that our first order of busniess would be to bring Lightning back on the team." Fiona said while looking at her nails.

Sonic, however, wasn't too convinced. "Since when did you guys care so much about each other?..."

"He was one of the original four. He's been with us from the beginning." Predator stated.

"Mogul, Kodos, Snively, Sleuth...leaders come and go. He is our comrade, and we know he is being used." Simian replied.

"Outcasts! Downcasts! No class!" Frog babbled.

"I really wonder how y'all deal with this clown at times..." Kor said.

"You get used to it..." Simian said.

"Huh, I'm impressed. That's alot of loyalty being thrown around while Fiona's involved." Sonic smirked, making Fiona glare at him.

She then turned her attention to Tails. "Can't you talk some sense into him big man?" She cooed.

"M-Me?" Tails asked, confused.

"Sure. You know me better than anyone else right? You said so yourself. You know I'm good on the inside. It would so much to me if you'd step in and-"

She was cut off as Kor smacked her on the head with his wrench. "Quit toyin' with him Fiona...incase you forget I still got a turret pointed at yer heads, so you wanna strike a deal or not?..." He stated.

Fiona rubbed the spot where he struck her while glaring at him. She could already feel a knot forming on the spot.

"So, you guys want Lightning to return to your group while we want his clan to renounce the Dominion, correct?" Sally asked.

"Then our terms are agreed upon." Simian said.

Ken looked at the others. "I'm game if you guys are. I know you're enemies, but..."

"Considering the odds, and from what you said the Raiju are the most aggressive out of the bunch. I think we can make this truce work, so long as they don't try to backstab us..." Kor said, casting a wary eye at the Destructix. He tapped his sentry with his wrench, making it to deform so he could place it back in its box.

"Eh, I'm good. But how do we get fuzz-head to leave the people he wants to be with? Nevermind the whole army of ninja lynxes..." Sonic said in thought.

"And this is why I'm in charge and brought us all together. I have a plan." Fiona said as the pain to her head finally subsided.

As the group made their way to where the Raiju were currently based, they saw it was a large steel fortress that cast a menacing glare on the land below. One could tell the place was wrenched with evil.

" *whistles* What kind of place is this?" Kor asked.

"The Iron Fortress, former home of the Iron King and Queen. It has meter thick walls and two heavily reinforced doors that can only be opened from the inside." Fiona stated.

"Eh, very primitive defense. The kind that only blocks attacks without giving back some sort of counterattack in return. Unless they got snipers or whatever in them towers." Kor theorized.

"Man, this place is uglier than I remember..." Sonic said in disgust.

"However, once inside it should be a straight shot to the throne room, and the Raiju Clan's bride." Fiona said, a smirk growing on her face.

"Then those doors will have to go won't they?" Ken asked, a grin forming on his face as well.

"Welp, shall we invite ourselves in?" Sonic stated, his signature grin appearing.

"Remember the plan..." Simian stated, a serious look still dawned on his face.

A/N: And I'll stop it here. While writing this I thought about having Sally hit Fiona like she did in the comics but I thought it'd be more comical if Kor did. Plus he really needed to smack some sense into her given what she did to all of them in the past. Also I'll explain how things went with the Yagyu in the next chapter, but that will be after they deal with the Raiju first.