Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, the heroes make their way to confront the pirates, aware of Queen Angelica's potential mistrust. And as if having read the script, Sonic was right and the Striker Force followed the heroes in pursuit of the pirates. At first, the meeting was tense but went well otherwise. But then a massive battle royale broke out as Striker and his soldiers made their appearance. And with the captain having made her late arrival, things were about to get a lot more complicated.

Under the water, Amy and Julie went to help the underwater pirates by providing long range assistance. Amy uses her magic materialization abilities to create a crossbow, firing off magic arrows to stun the Meropis soldiers, allowing the pirates to easily knock them out, with Julie doing much the same with her laser gun. But then a strong current pushed them away, almost costing them their air as the current bounces off soldier after soldier like a bullet had hit them. A figure then hits the bottom of the pirate, rocking it a bit. Almost as soon as it arrived, the figure jumped out of the water, landing on the pirate ship. Captain Titania had just arrived… and she looked angry.

Sonic: "Whoa… Nice entrance."

Striker: "Well, if it isn't the pup. Are you the one leading these scoundrels?"

Titania didn't answer, simply observing the current situation. She saw Rotor was dealing with a few soldiers, with a two tailed fox lending him a hand. She saw a pink hedgehog and echidna firing off stun shots underwater earlier. This gave her all the conclusion she needed.

Titania: "Oi. Hedgehog."

Sonic: "Who, me?"

Titania: "You see any other around? If'n you are friends with the two tailed kit over there. Then you must be an ally. Bring me up to speed… Why is Meropis on my ship?"

Sonic breathed a bit of relief when he realized the captain was more perceptive than he first thought. But as he was going to speak, Striker fired a laser blast from his gauntlet claw. But Titania swiftly jumped over the blast and lunged at the mantis shrimp, grabbing him by the face and chomping down hard on his gauntlet with her sharp teeth, slamming him to the floor as he drops his bident.

Titania: "Bad move, captain. Don'tcha know that sharks are an always-ready predator?"

Sonic: "Whoa… Yeah, this is her element…"

Titania: "You mind answering my question?"

Striker: "Get off! And give back the princess!"

Titania bites down harder, glaring at the mantis shrimp.

Titania: "Don't make me decide to flail - I don't mind seeing you without an arm if'n it means you stop being a pain my arse."

Sonic felt like stopping her, but he wasn't quite sure if he should make things worse. So he takes the safer option of just answering.

Sonic: "Me and my friends were called to Meropis to find Princess Undina. She was vague on the details, but, after we left, she sent her hit squad to try and do away with your crew. We weren't playing that game and hoped to just bring Undina home."

Titania: "That all, eh? And you prefer needless bloodshed over a peaceful resolution, Angelica? I wish I could say I'm shocked… but the sad thing is I'm not."

Striker: "You'll find that we think you pirates… are a plague on our fair oceans!"

Striker grabs his bident and attempts to stab Titania in the eyes, but she let's go and jumps away from the stabbing, causing him to stab his weapon deep into the deck of the ship.

Titania: "So who are you, hedgehog?"

Sonic: "Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Titania: "Sonic. Alright. Help me beat down this twerp and I'll bring you to Undina myself. Deal?"

Sonic: "Now you're speaking sense."

Striker pulls his bident out of the deck as he sees Sonic speed at him with a Spin Dash, bowling him over as Titania rushes, grabbing the still curled up hedgehog and slamming him onto Striker. Jumping off the mantis shrimp, the duo got into a ready position for another combo attack.

Striker: "Grr… Striker Force! Back me up!"

Titania sees three soldiers jump out of the water, grabbing Sonic and jumping back before they get struck down by several spears at the same time.

Titania: "You scared of the water?"

Sonic: "Uh… Why do you-"

Sonic starts screaming as Titania, still holding him, jumps into the water, swimming beneath the ship as she starts planning a sneak attack. She sees Sonic curled up into a ball, his spikes on full display, misinterpreting his fear of the water as him knowing her plan. Or she did know his fear and was taking advantage of it. As the soldiers look over the edge for the pirate captain, Titania jumps from the other side of the ship, having leapt high in the sky.

Titania: "Oi! Guppies! Time for game, set, and match!"

Titania tosses Sonic like a volleyball and spikes him down at the trio of soldiers with her tail, impacting the ship hard enough to send the trio back into the ocean. Titania lands back on the ship as Sonic uncurls, having 'X's on his eyes as that action practically knocked him unconscious.

Titania: "Oop. Guess that was a bit much for him… Sorry about that."

Striker: "Well, that stunt leaves you all to me, pup. The little brat of the traitor, Borea."

Titania: "Don't ever call my mom a traitor. She was far more loyal to Meropis than you will ever be."

Striker: "Then why leave Meropis, the home she was supposedly loyal to?"

Titania: "Because she what kind of person Angelica was becoming. A woman not worthy of ruling."

Striker lunges at Titania, aiming to stab her with his bident - and if she dodged, he'd get Sonic instead. Titania sees this and quickly slaps Sonic aside with her tail before moving slightly, getting grazed at her side by the bident. She grabbed the pole as she pulled Striker in, grabbing his claw with her other hand.

Titania: "Of course, talking to some two-bit loser, who thinks he can handle whatever by himself, wouldn't see past the fog. Angelica isn't like who she was. She's become increasingly paranoid, but you're too blind by bias to even notice."

Striker: "Enough! How dare you insult her grace like you know her!"

Striker reels back his claw and swing it at Titania, but she ducks under as she punches Striker in the gut, knocking him back away from his bident. She then closes the distance as she comes in with a straight punch to his face center, knocking his head back as he grits his teeth.

Striker: "Her majesty does what she can to make our kingdom great! And among those of her decisions, she made piracy an offense that must be purged! And I will see it done personally!"

Titania: "You must bathe in delusion. Because the nonsense you're speaking could drown the ocean. So do me a favor… and stop crying!"

Titania lunged at Striker, avoiding a laser blast from his claw before grabbing his head and headbutting him, causing him to get dazed by the impact. But he recovers and punches his claw on Titania's cheek, causing them to start exchanging blows, neither one going down.

Meanwhile, Undina, though very tired from having to swim such a far distance, finally saw the battle royale in the distance, wide eyed at the situation and the lengths Meropis had went to find her. She got ready to charge in to stop the battle, but a figure soon stopped her.

Undina: "Wha!? You!?"

The figure held a trident, and the figure was quite regal. A glowing bauble soon got Undina's attention as she was then put to sleep, with an accompanying guard coming to catch her and swim away towards Meropis. The figure then turned her attention to the battle.

Titania and Striker continued their back and forth, neither noticing a storm forming above as they kept trading blow after blow. Striker eventually breaks away and grabs his bident, slashing it at as Titania got close, slashing her stomach. Rotor and Tails, who have been dealing with the hardiest bunch of soldiers they have ever had the displeasure of fighting, soon see this, but then see Sonic rush in and smash at the bident, snagging it away from Striker.

Sonic: "Alright, enough of these."

Sonic snaps the bident in two on his knee before tossing both pieces overboard.

Sonic: "That was a low blow and I'm not tolerating it."

Striker: "I hope you realize the danger you put your kingdom in, Sonic. You should've kept your nose out of our affairs!"

Sonic: "Excuse me for being a hero!"

Sonic dodges a laser blast from Striker's claw before he's grabbed by Titania from behind, being put into a half nelson.

Titania: "Sonic! Strike him now!"

Sonic: "Here I go!"

Sonic charges up a Spin Dash before blasting at Striker, kneeing him hard in the gut, causing him to choke in pain as he finally collapses.

Striker: "D-Damn you…"

Titania starts panting as she holds her stomach, containing the bleeding she got from that slash. As she drops to a knee, Sonic, Rotor, and Tails come to hold her steady.

Sonic: "Easy, captain. You got a doctor?"

Titania: "Nurse Amelda should be in the lower deck…"

Rotor: "That's where I saw her. Come on, let's get you-"

A sudden lightning strike gets their attention as the water below glows a sudden bright light. Silence then creeped up as Sonic got a worried expression for Amy and Julie, who haven't come up for air in a while. But as he approached the edge, a spire of water suddenly rises from the ocean, with Queen Angelica on top of it.

Sonic: "You!? Why are you here!?"

Angelica: "...To clean up your mess."

Angelica raises her trident to the air to call forth a lightning strike, hitting her trident before she unleashes a lightning blast from her weapon, hitting the group of heroes with a bright flash of light, knocking them all out. Striker soon recovers before he sees his queen, bowing to her.

Angelica: "Get the guards to arrest these cretins. I will be speaking to the captain personally."

Striker: "Yes, your majesty."

At Genocide City, the World's Knights, minus Bunnie due to be on duty that day, were at Tiara and Gazebo's bakery with everyone enjoying a good meal. Except for Rei, who was just staring at her slowly cooling coffee. Tiara notices the rat's growing frustration as Rei started glaring and tapping her finger rapidly.

Tiara: "Yo, Rei. You okay? You look like you're trying to burn a hole through your cup."

Rei: "...Hm? Oh. I guess I am making that kind of face, huh?"

Gazebo: "Alright, that moment of hesitation means something is wrong. Your ears are your greatest weapon so there's no way you didn't hear Tiara. So why hesitate?"

Rei turns to Gazebo before staring ahead of her, crossing her fingers as she glared even harder.

Rei: "It's Sonic and Team Fighters. Ever since I let them leave, something of a bad feeling has just been hitting me. Almost like I should've just given them a different mission and dealt with the problem myself."

Antoine: "But miss Rei. Zis was a test for zem, yes? Wouldn't zat defeat ze purpose?"

Relic: "Antoine's right. Are you sure it's anything?"

Rei: "I wasn't sure; I don't know Meropis quite that well. Which is why I called someone who did."

The door to the bakery opened as a woman spoke up.

Voice: "Excuse me. Which one of you is Miss Rei? She said she knew my son."

Rei: "Has it been that long? Surely your wife told you plenty about me."

Rei stood up, turning to the voice and standing in front of the figure, almost like a stand off.

Rei: "So we finally meet face to face… Queen Aleena the Hedgehog of the Kingdom of Snow."

Queen Aleena looked at Rei with a mixture of uncertainty and wariness against the bounty hunter, sizing up the blind rat multiple times as the two continued their stand off… What was to come next? What has happened to Sonic? And why was Queen Aleena of all people called?...

To be continued…