Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, after resting up to help search for Agatha's kids, Rosie and Nicole are met by an irate Agatha, who believes they took her kids. After Rosie disarms the situation though, the trio head to the last place the kids were seen. Unfortunately for them, a trap is sprung, leading to Rosie's capture and Agatha's arrest. Nicole returns home, unaware of what was truly happening in the background, both at Oil Ocean and at the West Island Correctional Facility…

At the Hill Top Mansion's main computer, Nicole returns to her cyber space realm, feeling deflated as she creates a chair to sit on. She sighs as she leans in, deep in thought.

Nicole: "...So… Agatha was lying about those children to potentially hurt us. The fact that she didn't specify that they weren't her's is what tipped me off. While there is confirmation of there being two kids of those descriptions in our files, there is a high probability that they didn't belong to Agatha. …And yet, why do I feel awful about arresting her? She lied, she hid secrets, she… She did lie… right? The evidence of her attacking me and Rosie is right here…"

Nicole brings up the picture she used to get Agatha arrested. It was only a silhouette of a cat-like creature. The lynx sighed before analyzing the picture, doing some enhancements. But no matter what she did, she couldn't get a clearer image.

Nicole: "Damn it! The one time I wish I had a physical body! I could've helped Rosie! …Something really doesn't seem right…"

As Nicole continued to think, the light blue room suddenly turns black with a red tint to it. Nicole stands up, now on edge as she looks around with her ears perked up.

Nicole: "The emergency shut down protocol? No… Something else is going on…"

Nicole pulls up a hologram keyboard as she tries to run a diagnostics check on the system to ensure everything was okay. As she types on her keyboard, a figure in a black cloak appears from behind, materializing a scythe, with the blade being made of pure energy.

At the Casino Night Police Station, Agatha is pushed into a cell by Coconuts before the monkey bot slams the bar doors closed. Agatha stands back up, glaring at the monkey for her roughness.

Coconuts: "You're staying in there until Lady Jenni gets back. After that, your fate will be decided."

Agatha: "If you want to arrest me for something I didn't do, fine. But those kids are in danger. And so is Rosie. You should at least search for them!"

Coconuts: "Then where'd you stuff 'em? You attacked Rosie. And it's very likely you attacked those kids too."

Agatha: "I didn't attack them…"

Coconuts: "Heh. Suuure you didn't…"

Coconuts laughs before leaving the room and Agatha in her cell. The cat lets out an angered hiss before taking a deep breath and calming down. She looks at the one bed to her side and sits on it, crossing her legs as she starts to meditate.

Agatha: "...My kids are out there, scared… I can feel that much… The fact she would even say that I would attack them sickens me… But I have to think… I have to concentrate… Rosie and Nicole were the only ones I told about Ebony and Ivory… I told them… But…"

A sudden thought crosses Agatha's mind, one she was very blind to as she stood back up.

Agatha: "But they weren't the only ones who knew in general. No… One other person knew about them even before we were taken from our home… And the same one who would have a motive to kidnap them if it meant getting what she wants…"

At Oil Ocean, in a seemingly lonely warehouse, Rosie begins to stir, having been knocked unconscious before looking around. A dim light above her that shined a good portion of the room, crates everywhere, tools and supplies… As she tried to move, she suddenly finds her arms tied to a chair.

Rosie: "Huh? Why are my arms tied… What's going on?"

Girl's Voice A: "I spy something… bright."

Girl's Voice B: "Is it the lamp?"

Girl's Voice A: "Nope!"

Rosie: "Is it your mind?"

The voices stop before Rosie turns behind her - or tries to - and sees two cats tied to chairs, their backs to her's. One of them was a white cat that wore a light pink while the other was a black cat in purple.

White Cat: "Hey! The woodchuck lady woke up!"

Black Cat: "So I see. Nice to meet you, miss. I'm Ebony. And this hyperactive kitty beside me is Ivory."

Ivory: "Suuup~"

Rosie: "Ebony? Ivory? Oh my gosh! Agatha's been looking for you!"

Ivory: "Mom's been looking for us? I knew it! Told you, Ebony."

Ebony: "I never said she wasn't looking for us. I just said she may not be able to find us…"

Rosie: "Um… Before we discuss that… Would you two care to explain how you ended up here?"

Ebony: "I will. It was an afternoon at our home cafe… Mother was arguing with a lady over something we don't fully recall-"

Ivory: "It was adult stuff!"

Ebony: "When you put it like that, Ivory, it just sounds… wrong… Anyway, not long into their argument, a sudden hoard of machines rained down from above, attacking us and taking us away. We ended up as part of some giant space station which-"

Ivory: "It hurt a lot! It felt like multiple mosquito bites hitting us all at once!"

Ebony: "... This subsided though when a blue hedgehog managed to open our and everyone else's capsules and freed us. We all escaped in various escape pods and soon ended up in the Mobius Ocean, where we were picked up by ships from West Island and brought here."

Rosie: "Everything lines up so far with what I heard before. So how did you get captured?"

Ebony: "It was the day we arrived. We tried to find our mother in the crowd - we even heard her call out - but we couldn't find her. We eventually decided to head to the shipyard to try and wait for the crowd to thin. But that's when this big chicken thing and his drill thing with treads snagged us with a sack."

Rosie: "A big chicken thing and a drill thing with treads? That sounds like… Scratch and Grounder…"

Lady's Voice: "And you'd be correct."

The sound of a door closing is heard as three figures enter the light above Rosie and the cat twins - Breezie the Hedgehog, with Scratch and Grounder following her.

Breezie: "My, you stuck your nose where it needn't belong, didn't you?"

Rosie: "Breezie! So you kidnapped these girls!? Why!?"

Breezie: "Oh ho ho~ I guess you never did pass detective school did you? I wouldn't have stooped to this level, had Agatha just accepted my proposal from the start. I do need a good place to set up my mall and a fairly quiet island like her's is just the place I need."

Ivory: "If you need our island then you must be either desperate… Or you're compensating for something."

Scratch and Grounder start chuckling silently as they find the insult funny, though Breezie quickly gives them a glare, silencing them both.

Breezie: "Ahem. No, you little twerp. You seem to fail to realize just what kind of value a place like that can have. It starts off small - a simple mall in place of that dusty old cafe, growing into an entire resort, before becoming a place so rich and famous that I will feel completely like a queen! All the money in the world - mine to use!"

Ebony: "...Wow. Normally I find your jokes really dull, Ivory… But I think you hit the nail on the head on this one. She really is compensating for something."

Breezie: "I AM NOT!"

Rosie: "That still doesn't answer my question. Why kidnap these twins? From my perspective, you just want Agatha - these two are a nonfactor."

Breezie: "Under normal circumstances, they would be. Let's just say I have… ways to deal with people who refuse to cooperate. And if money won't talk… Then a little muscle can~ But because of that stupid invasion, things could not be more complicated. My usual methods won't work… unless I had some assistance in the form of a couple of robots native on this island."

Scratch: "I'm sick of working at the Casino Night Bar! I'm a highly sophisticated robot built for way better jobs! Yet I get the bottom of the barrel job!"

Grounder: "Yeah! Dat and she promised us donuts."

The room goes silent as Rosie and the twins take a moment to process that last bit. Rosie then speaks up.

Rosie: "So… Let me get this straight… You decided that, instead of just talking to your boss about your dissatisfaction, maybe negotiating a deal with them, you would work for a corporate bimbo… over a donut?"

Grounder: "Dey were delicious!"

Ebony: "...That… is the stupidest thing I have ever heard… And I live with stupid."

Ivory: "Yeah. …Hey, wait a minute."

Deflating the comedy routine for a moment, Breezie walks up to Rosie, putting her hand on the woodchuck's mouth in order to silence her.

Breezie: "You should have kept your business elsewhere. But thanks to you, I'm going to have to make you disappear too. Once Agatha is tried for attacking and kidnapping you, there will be no one left to stop me from taking that island and building what I want on it."

Rosie glared at Breezie… before Breezie immediately reeled back, now with saliva on her palm and Rosie's tongue out. Angered, the hedgehog landed a slap on Rosie's face, leaving a red mark.

Breezie: "You little vermin! How dare you lick my hand! Ugh… Now I need to wash my hands to get the peasant filth off… Scratch! Grounder! Commandeer a ship and get ready to send this pack of fools to somewhere far away. Doesn't matter where, as long as no one can find them."

Scratch: "Right, boss!"

Scratch and Grounder then leave to do as they were told, while Breezie leaves out another exit to go wash her hands. This left Rosie with the twins alone as the twins laughed.

Ebony: "Nice. Didn't think you were that kind of girl."

Rosie: "Ugh… Lady has a slap though. My face stings…"

Ivory: "We could take care of that for you. We know magic!"

Rosie: "Oh, that's nice."

Rosie pauses before the magic part clicks. She then turns to Ivory.

Rosie: "Wait. Magic? What kind of magic?"

Ebony: "Ivory! We promised Mom we'd never tell!"

Ivory: "Desperate times, Ebony! Besides, I want to go help her!"

Ebony: "Yeah, but… Mom did say that this magic is what got her in trouble…"

Rosie: "Excuse me, but… What do you mean?"

Ebony: "It's a long story, and it's probably best if Mom told you. But me and Ivory practice in magic and alchemy."

Ivory: "Ebony is magic, I'm alchemy! Meaning I mix things until they make funny results~"

Rosie: "So if you knew magic, why not burn these ropes?"

Ebony: "I'm still new to it. I can't find the spark I need to burn these confounded ropes. Mom explains that 'in order to cast any kind of magic, you must find a balance of your life energy and soul, manifesting it into power'."

Rosie: "Hmm… Have you tried picturing a candle?"

Ebony: "A candle?"

Rosie: "Yes. Try to make a visual image of a tiny flame to use as a reference. How much energy is being produced to make that flame?"

Ivory: "Oh! That's a great idea! C'mon, Ebony! You got this!"

Ebony: "Visualizing… a candle… Hmm…"

Ebony took a deep breath and nods, closing her eyes as she began to visualize a candle. One that often sat on her mother's desk, lighting it up during the night. The tiny flame burned brightly, never dimming. Ebony concentrated on the flame… before smelling smoke and finding her arms had become loose.

Ebony: "Huh? The ropes! I burned through them!"

Ebony shot up from her chair, though quickly realized her body was a bit stiff from sitting down for so long.

Rosie: "Great work! Now please untie us quick so we can get out of here before those three show back up."

Ebony nods before untying Ivory and Rosie, helping them to their feet.

Ebony: "By the way, lady. We never got your name."

Rosie: "O-Oh! How rude of me… I'm Rosie Woodchuck. Let's just say I'm the motherly type to kids~"

Ivory: "Nice to meet ya, Rosie! Now let's make like trees and get the bark outta here!"

The trio ran up the doors Scratch and Grounder left through, only to find it locked. Idiots that they were, they were smart enough to make sure the trio were trapped.

Rosie: "Ugh… Locked…"

Ivory: "Oh oh! Is this the part where I show my skills!? I know how to open the door!"

Ivory looked around the warehouse, finding some supplies. She found exactly what she needed - a set of building material and a small container of oil. Mixing the container with some other components, Ivory set the container next to the door. She then pulled out a piece of paper and held it to Ebony.

Ivory: "Ebby? Mind lighting 'er up?"

Ebony: "Um… Alright…"

Ebony lit the paper on fire, Ivory quickly putting it into the container before quickly having herself, Ebony, and Rosie move away from the door. After a few seconds, the container exploded like a firecracker, swinging the door open with a fairly big hole on the left corner of it.

Rosie: "Whoa! What did you do?"

Ivory: "I turned oil into thermite! Or a thermite-like compound that could give just enough of a burst of energy to blow the door open. The knob is still intact, but the force was strong enough to force the open anyway~"

Ebony: "The logic is weird enough to accept."

Rosie: "I'm not complaining. Come on, you two! We need to head back to Metropolis right away!"

The trio then left, running out of the building and towards the transit back to Metropolis.

Only around fifteen minutes later, Scratch, Grounder, and Breezie returned to the warehouse to find only ropes on the floor, chairs with no prisoners, and a broken door. Breezie was beyond livid as she was screaming at the duo.

Breezie: "How did they escape!? How!? Explain to me, you dolts!"

Grounder: "Duh… We dunno. Scratch probably didn't tie 'em tight enough…"

Scratch: "Don't lump this on me, you drill brain! I have a badge for knot tying for a reason!"

Breezie: "Ugh… And they probably made it to the transit system… Gaaah! If the police find out about this, I'll be ruined! Got to think… Got to think…"

As Breezie was venting to herself, Grounder and Scratch started to feel dizzy all of a sudden.

Scratch: "Ugh… Weird… I feel funny…"

Breezie: "You're a couple of robots; you're just not smart robots. Anyway… Let's see…"

Breezie turns her back from the duo as she starts muttering to herself some more.

Breezie: "Those twerps could cause a scene, but they have no proof of me kidnapping them… If I burn my costume, Agatha might still get in trouble by association… Oh but those kids might still defend her by saying she wouldn't work for me… I could try and win favors with the head honcho of the island. That might work. Besides, who said money can't buy happiness~ It's genius!~"

As Breezie starts to congratulate herself, her danger instincts kicked in before she turns to see Scratch and Grounder looming over her, now with glowing red eyes and very menacing expressions.

Breezie: "U-Uh… G-Guys…?"

Scratch & Grounder: "ALL HAIL, LORD ROBOTNIK!"

Scratch swipes at Breezie while Grounder tries to skewer her with his drills, causing her to jump away, landing on her butt. Breezie, now in full panic mode, starts to run away quickly as Scratch and Grounder give chase.

Back in cyberspace, Nicole is tied up by some black chains as a figure nearby is typing away on the holographic keyboard Nicole summoned. Nicole is struggling with the chains as she glares at the figure.

Nicole: "I was too distracted… I let you of all people sneak in… But when I break these chains… I swear I'll boot you right back out!"

Figure: "You'll find that will be impossible, lynx. Especially now that West Island and all of its security…"

The figure turns, revealing it to be Sage Robotnik, now having full control over the entire island.

Sage: "Belongs to the Robotnik Empire."

To be continued…