By the King Frederick Airbase, Tails is bringing out the blue Tornado with Sonic, Y/N, and Kirby by his side.

"Yo, Tails. What's going on, man?" Sonic asked.

"Hey, Sonic, Y/N, and Kirby! I'm just putting the finishing touches on the New Tornado!"

"Wow! Nice design!" Y/N awed, touching the airplane.

"Pooteetah pooteetah." Kirby agreed, seeing the reflection of himself.

"The ol' biplane never looked better. But Nicole could've built one for you in no time."

"I know. She even offered to." Tails said, cleaning his hands with the towel. "But what kind of mechanic would I be if I let her do everything for me? The Tornado is my plane, and it's my responsibility to get her up and running again."

"Makes sense." Y/N said.

Suddenly, the siren went off.

"Now what??"

"Is the Iron Dominion attacking again?" Tails questioned.

They immediately went after Nicole who appeared on time.

"What's the word, Nicole?" Sonic asked.

"The Iron Dominion appears to be staging a full invasion..."

Sally and Ken came over.

"Nicole! Report!"

"I'm raising the city's protective force field now. The Iron Queen's forces are taking their time and made no effort to hide their approach."

"I don't like this. They're being too forward." Sally said.

"I agree. It could be a trap." Y/N said.

Ken placed a hand on Y/N's shoulder.

"They aren't known for their subtlety."

"But this seems arrogant and reckless, even for them."

Sonic glared at Ken, not liking him touch his sister like that.

"...Yeah, I don't like the looks of this at all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the New Mobotropolis, Snively helped Iron Queen out of her hovercraft as Jun Kun and the army of Yagyu Ninja Clans and Dark Egg Legion are standing behind.

"This way, my queen."

"Thank you, dear Snively."

"Careful with your tone, Regina. You don't want the lackeys to feel too familiar with you." Jun Kun warned with his arms crossed.

"Oh, calm down, Jun Kun...! Snively knows his place."

Just then, Nicole appeared before them.

"And you apparently do not. As steward and administrator of this city, I am informing you of your trespass. You will leave now."

Iron Queen smirked and raised her staff towards her as it glows.

"MREE-HEE-HEE-HEE! As a masterful technomage, I am exterting my will over yours, my digital dearie! You are mine now!"

Nicole's data started swirling around her.

"NOOAAAAAUUUHHK!"

Nicole was now changed as her hair is turned into a bun with three hairsticks, her eyes red and orange, and wears high-collared black and purple dress with long sleeve purple gloves that goes up to her elbows and red belt.

"Iron Nicole is online, your majesty. Awaiting your first command."

Iron Queen came up to her and placed a hand on her chin.

"That's a good girl. Now open the city for your queen."

"At once."

Iron Nicole pointed at the force barrier and it opened. Jun Kun and the army of Yagyu Ninja Clans and Dark Egg Legion began charging straight towards the New Mobotropolis.

"Finally! This city falls to the Iron Dominion!" Jun Kun said in glee.

"Oh, mah stars..." Bunnie gasped.

"Bunnie! Leave!" Sally ordered.

"But you'll need mah help..."

"Fly! Now!"

Bunnie activate her rocket feet and flew out of the city.

"This is the right thing to do. Ah'd be a danger to them. Ah'm not runnin' because ah'm afraid. Ah'm doin' this for— Oh, no!"

She stopped to see the metal wall covering up New Mobotropolis as everything went pitch black.

"S-Sonic...? Y/N...?" Tails stuttered.

Kirby whimpered in fear, digging himself into Y/N's neck.

"Sit tight, little bro. I can't see a thing yet, but once I can, I'll—"

Then, the spotlight brightened up on them.

"—Okay, that really doesn't help."

"Attention, citizens. You are under arrest for defying the will of the Iron Dominion. Resistance will be met with strict punishment."

Everyone began to panic as they ran for their lives.

"AHH!"

"RUN!"

"HELP!"

"NOOOO!"

"WE'RE DOOMED!"

"Guys! Guys! Chill out!" Sonic shouted.

"Everyone! Keep calm! We need to stay together!" Y/N shouted.

"Civilians to your homes! Royal guards pair up and create a perimeter!" Sally ordered.

"This is madness..." Ken mumbled.

"Ken, I need you to get my brother and the Acorn Council out of the palace and back to their homes."

Ken brought out his cloud.

"You can count on me."

"Keep calm and head to your homes! I need all Freedom Fighters and Chaotix to rally to me!"

What Sally didn't know is that the Ninja Bat is about to attack her from behind.

"Heads up!"

Ken came right on time and kicked the Ninja Bat off.

"Ken, I told you to...!"

"I'm sorry, Sally, but the castle has been sealed shut."

Sonic and Y/N punched and elbowed the members of Dark Egg Legion away as they ran and skated away with Tails on their tails.

"YOW! Where is everyone?!"

"I don't know. It's like trying to fight in a strobe light."

"Sonic! Y/N! Over here!"

They stopped to see Sally and Ken.

"Finally!"

"Sally! Ken! Thank goodness you're okay!" Y/N sighed in relief.

"How did we even get split up like that?" Sonic asked.

"It doesn't matter because we're sticking together now."

"I agree." Y/N nodded with Kirby who's still holding her tight.

"I can't see well enough to kick all the deserving butts, so it looks like we need one of your brilliant plans."

Tails smacked the Ninja Bat with his twin tails that was about to attack Y/N while Ken knocked the Dark Egg Legion member with his staff that attempt to attack them.

"Like I said—A plan, and pronto. You know it's bad when Tails is stealing my thunder." Sonic said with a joke.

"Hey! Hey!" Tails smirked, causing Y/N to giggle.

"Kidding, kidding."

"Our problem stems from a total lack of control. We need to debug Nicole and have her regain command of the nanites in our favor." Sally said.

"Sure. How?"

"If we can get to Freedom HQ, I can access the city's mainframe from the lab." Tails explained.

"Then we have a plan."

"Sweet!" Sonic grinned. "Let's get out of here before things get any—"

He was immediately cut off by Jun Kun slamming his tremor mace on the ground, which they all dodged it.

"—worse. Seriously, did you take classes in 'dramatic timing'?"

He pointed his tremor mace at them.

"Spare yourself further embarrassment, princess. Bow to your king."

"I wouldn't bow to Robotnik, and he was twice the tyrant you are." Sally glared.

Ken charged him and hit him in the stomach with his staff and lightning comes out.

"Take a knee yourself! I'll hold him here. I'm trusting you to protect Sally, especially Y/N."

"...Right. Good luck, buddy."

"And you."

"Be careful, Ken. Don't worry about me." Y/N said.

"I know."

Sonic carried Sally bridal style as he, Y/N with Kirby, and Tails went off straight towards the New Tornado as Tails started the engine. Sonic, Y/N, and Sally on each side of the wings.

"Go go go! Punch it, Tails!"

Just as they were about to fly off, a giant hand with blue circulars around it grabbed the airplane and stopped it.

"NO!"

"Hit the thrusters! We'll get you loose!" Y/N shouted and went into spin dash along with Sonic as they broke the hand in half, letting the airplane go.

They landed on the hand that was held open.

"Thanks, we needed a hand."

Sonic and Y/N then boosted themselves off and flew back to the New Tornado before the hand could crush them. They landed on the wings once again.

"Nicely done, Sonic and Y/N!" Sally smiled.

"Thanks, but it won't do us any good if we can't find a way out."

Ken then flew in next to them with his cloud.

"Are you okay, Sally, Y/N?"

"We're fine! What about you?" Sally asked.

Ken glanced at Sonic with a smirk.

"Fine."

"What happened to Iron Dork?"

"I believe her name is Amy Rose?"

"Ah. Say no more. Think you can show us the way to the exit?"

"I think I can manage."

Ken blasted lightning at the metal wall with his staff, creating a big hole enough for them to get through as they escaped New Mobotropolis.

"Get us to Freedom HQ as fast as you can, Tails. If we can't rescue Nicole, then we've lost everyone in the city and the Iron Dominion wins." Sally said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not too long, they made it to the Freedom HQ as they are now in the lab filled with microscopic machines with Tails typing on the computer. Sally looks frustrated.

"This is all my fault! I knew the Iron Queen could control electronics. I knew our city was composed of nanites. I know Nicole better than anyone else. I knew all this, and I still didn't put all the pieces together. Now the Iron Queen controls one of my best friends, not to mention our city, all of our families, Robotnik... I've completely failed us."

Y/N walked over to Sally and tried to comfort her by hugging her.

"No, you didn't put the pieces together. Neither did anyone else. Or me. You're not alone in this."

"That, and you make it sound like we're already lost. Did you forget we escaped? More importantly, that I escaped? We've come back from way worse than this, Sal." Sonic added. "So stop wallowing in self-pity and start coming up with a plan!"

Sally turned and glared at him.

"I am not walking in self—"

She stopped, realizing he's right with Sonic still smirking.

"You're right, Sonic. Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for, Sal."

Ken scratched his head.

"The two of you baffle me."

"Don't try to figure it out, man. It's something that comes from serious relationships over time."

"Ah. I'm sure I'll find that out myself."

Y/N rolled her eyes at their weird behavior.

"Any progress hacking into the city's mainframe?" Sally asked.

"No way! Nicole just cannot be hacked! I can almost keep up with her in my head, but I just can't type that fast." Tails said.

"If speed's the issue, why don't we use that digitizer-thingy we used to access Gerald's diary?" Sonic suggested.

Y/N raised her eyebrow in confusion on who Gerald is.

"The particle-to-light organizer and transporter device! That'd be perfect!"

Tails ran off.

"I'll get everything to set it up!"

"Care to fill me in?" Y/N and Sally asked in unison.

"We digitize ourselves and Tails can upload us directly into the city's computer! Then we can do our thing just as if we were in the real world."

"It's a plan, at least. Alright—Let's do it!" Sally declared.

"Heck yeah!" Y/N smiled in excitement.

"As much as I like taking the direct route, is that even remotely safe?" Ken asked in uncertainty.

"No, probably not. And something this brazen is bound to get the Iron Queen's attention. Watch over us while we're gone?"

"But I don't even know how to work a computer."

"She means the base, Banana-Brains! Tails will monitor us while we're cruising cyberspace." Sonic said, pointing at Tail.

Y/N removed Kirby to Tails.

"We'll be back, Kirby. Stay safe with Tails and Ken, alright?"

Kirby saluted her with a smile.

"I'll upload you guys as deep into the mainframe as I can access. You'll have to 'hack' your way in from there."

"Sounds good, pal. Juice us!"

"Digitizing!"

Tails pressed the button and in the flash, Sonic, Y/N, and Sally disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sonic, Y/N, and Sally landed in the digital world.

"Sweet! We're right at the front gates!" Sonic said.

"Well, not precisely." Sally said.

"But isn't this the gate of New Mobotropolis?" Y/N asked.

"If we've been digitized then this is just how we're perceiving the defensive measures Nicole has put up against us."

"Look, let's keep this simple, okay? I'm going to 'perceive' me spin dashing that gate into little 'perceived' bits." Sonic suggested, stomping his foot impatiently.

"Be my guest."

Sonic was about to get into spin dash mode when the gate opened to reveal Iron Nicole.

"Bonza!—OOP! Nevermind?"

"I would rather you did not." Iron Nicole said.

"Nicole!" Sally and Y/N exclaimed.

"My file has been renamed to 'Iron Nicole' now. A digitized frontal assault was not anticipated, but was within the range of predictability?"

"I'll take that as 'that was clever'. Which it was. Thank you, thank you." Sonic said.

"Surrender to the Iron Dominion or face deletion."

Sally faced Iron Nicole.

"Nicole, stop! You're stronger than this! Your coding is too much for Rotor, Tails, or Robotnik. Even when A.D.A.M. invaded your system, you were still you."

Iron Nicole placed a hand on her head.

"Error: Fatal Argument... Root command cannot be found... Sally?..."

"That's it, Nicole! Fight it!"

Sonic and Y/N turned and their eyes widened.

"Yo, Sal..."

"We've got a problem."

There stood before them is the head of Iron Queen with her eyes glowing white.

"MREE-HEE-HEE-HEE! I SEEM TO HAVE A MULTIPLE OF VIRUSES IN MY NEW CITY'S SYSTEM! I'LL JUST HAVE TO PURGE YOU!"

Iron Queen zapped them with red lightning as Sonic quickly grabbed Sally and he and Y/N zoomed off, dodging it.

"Nicole!"

"We'll come back around. We need a plan, Sal."

"Yeah, and fast!"

They dodged the hand of Iron Queen that attempt to grab them.

"I think I can bend the rules of this world to our favor and help Nicole, but we have to do something about the Iron Queen."

"Yeah, about that..."

They ran up to the top of the tower.

"I get that she's a techno-wizard, or whatever, but I'm pretty sure we didn't have a digitizer in the city, so how the heck is she here?!"

They stopped to see a full titan body of Iron Queen. Sonic and Y/N began to zoom off to get away from her with Sally by their side.

"MREE-HEE-HEE-HEE! RUN-RUN-RUN, YOU LITTLE BUGS!"

"Alright, me and sis will see if we can distract Iron Quirk while you do your thing." Sonic said, placing Sally down.

"Right. Be careful!"

"Ha! Where's the fun in being 'careful'...? Get ready for a Super-Sonic and Super-Y/N Black Eye, queenie!"

Sonic and Y/N spin dash towards titan Iron Queen when a brown spin dashed blocked them. They landed down to reveal Iron Nicole.

"No way!"

"Nicole!"

"This is my domain. I am without limitations here."

Sonic and Y/N charged her.

"Oh, yeah? Let's see if you can really match our spin."

"Sorry, Nicole. This is gonna hurt more, more than it hurts me."

They clash against each other with spin dash back and forth and no damage as they landed on the ground again. Sally ran over to the hedgehog siblings.

"What happen to the part where I handled Nicole?"

"Dude, Sal, I think we're in trouble."

"Yeah. Nicole can do spin dash mode too."

"Keep her busy then."

Sonic and Y/N nodded and began attacking Iron Nicole again with their spin dash as Sally got to work. She began to make a red line through the green cube on the ground.

"Alright... If I apply Rotor's firewall coding as if I could 'cast' it like magic..."

Sally made a red cube wall with red lightning glowing out.

"Yes! Now we can make some progress!"

Jus then, a red lightning blasted the red wall and destroyed it.

"YIPE!"

"NAUGHTY LITTLE VIRUS, TRYING TO MAKE YOUR OWN FIREWALLS IN MY SYSTEM!" Iron Queen smirked.

"Sonic! Y/N! Go on the offensive! I can hold Nicole now!"

Sonic and Y/N who are dodging Iron Nicole's spin dash gave her thumbs up.

"Gotcha!"

"Okay!"

Sally began to make a shape of the square around herself and Iron Nicole.

"What are you—?"

"Give me a half of a second, and I'll show you."

She began to make a red cube as it's covering them. Sonic and Y/N then spin dashed up to Iron Queen.

"Now, like I said before... here's hedgehogs in your eye!"

They made it up to her face and hit her right eye.

"GYAAAH! EEEYARGH! I HATE THOSE HEDGEHOGS!"

She blasted them down with her red lightning, causing them to fall to the green cube ground. Sally ran over to them, helping them up.

"Tails! Get us out of here! Tails?! Tails!!! Can he even hear us in this world?"

"Whoa... The whole city is doing a spin-dash around me..."

What they didn't see behind them is the titan Iron Queen reaches out to crush them, but then they disappeared before she could.

"Iron Nicole?"

"The invaders have been purged from the system. New Mobotropolis remains fully yours." 'Iron' Nicole explained.

What Iron Queen didn't know is that Iron Nicole is now back to Nicole as her eyes are green.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sonic, Y/N, and Sally are now back home where the lab is. Kirby jumped onto Y/N's face.

"Pooteetah, pooteetah, pooteetah! *splutter*"

Y/N patted his back.

"It's good to be back."

Ken walked over to Sally.

"Welcome back. How'd it go?"

"Not perfect, but we made some headway. How have things been here?"

"Just fine. Nothing exciting on our end." Tails replied with a closed eye smile.

"Good to hear. Tails, shut everything down. Then, everyone pack some supplies. We're heading straight to the Dragon Kingdom and breaking the Iron Dominion's support lines before retaking the city."

"And Nicole?" Y/N asked, looking hopeful.

"One of us again. She's undercover in the city."

"Yes!!"

"Good. That's good." Ken said, looking back at Tails who gave him a smirk.

"Ready for another adventure, Kirby?" Y/N asked.

"Pooteetah!" Kirby jumped in excitement.

And so, Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, Sally, Tails, and Ken took off in the New Tornado and Ken's clouds.

"Next stop—The Dragon Kingdom!" Sonic said.

"We have to succeed in our mission. Otherwise the Iron Dominion will have won." Sally said.

"Don't worry, Sally. We can do this. I believe in all of us." Y/N assured her.

Six heroes travel to a distant land to attempt the impossible!