While Y/N and Espio head to New Mobotropolis, the Iron Queen used her techno-magic to take control of New Mobotropolis is a city composed entirely of microscopic machines called 'nanites.' This also gave her full command of Nicole, the city's artificial intelligence. Only six heroes escaped the city-Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, Tails, Princess Sally, and Monkey Khan. They travelled to the Iron Queen's homeland-the Dragon Kingdom-to break her control over four powerful ninja clans. The handful of heroes left behind in the city did what they could to save its citizens, but soon fell into a trap set by the Iron Queen. Geoffrey, Amy, and Antoine were outnumbered and outmatched. Things were looking dire when Sonic, Tails, Kirby, Sally, and Ken came in right on time.

"I'm so disappointed with you! I go out for one world traveling adventure and what did I say? No crazy parties! Sheesh- You just can't count on world-conquerors these days."

"Looks like the cavalry just arrived, your highness. Pack it in early. You're done." Geoffrey grinned.

"MREE-HEE-HEE-HEE! Hardly! I still have the lovely little Iron Nicole under my control!"

Iron Queen waved her hand as they glow blue with circular above 'Iron' Nicole's head.

"Use the nanites to smash your friends right out of the sky, dearie!"

Nicole smirked and raised her hand, trapping her inside the green ball.

"Wh-What?!"

Nicole changed back to her original clothes as well as her hairstyle.

"Before Sally and the others left, she managed to help free me from you! During that time, I improved my programming to resist your magic."

"You can't play me for a fool! You're just a program! You're a tool! A thing!"

"Once, perhaps. But my friends have helped me grow into something far more than my original programming. Something you cannot and will not control."

Iron Queen melted the ball that are trapping her with her magic.

"All machines are mine to do with as I please! If you won't command the nanites as I say-"

Her machine turned into a robot spider but much more hideous than Eggman's.

"-Then I will do so myself!"

Nicole brought out her green shield.

"These nanites are part of my city-part of me. You will not misuse them any longer."

Meanwhile, Amy was locked in battle against Jun Kun.

"I am the glorious Iron King! I will not be beaten by a little girl! A little! Pink! Girl!"

"Stop being such a big baby and admit you're beat!"

"NevERGHK!"

Sonic spin dashed into Jun Kun, knocking him down.

"Hey, Amy. Miss me?"

Amy jumped on Jun Kun and hugged Sonic.

"Oh, Sonic! I knew you'd come back to save the day! Of course I missed you!"

"I know. I know. I was being ironically cliche."

"GET OFF ME!" Jun Kun demanded.

Snively was trying to crawl away from the battle, sweating bullets.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no."

"Snively."

He looked up to see Sally and Kirby who's on her shoulder, glaring down at him.

"EEP!"

"I gave you a chance. Not just a second chance. Not even a third. I've lost count. I would let you live in peace to take care of your crazy uncle. Even after all you've done to us, I was willing to be magnanimous. And this is how you squander my generosity?"

"It's far from over, you royal brat. The Iron Dominion still has three full ninja clans to call in from the Dragon Kingdom!"

Sally and Kirby looked up at Ken with smirks.

"Not anymore."

Ken raised his sparkling Atom Bat above him, grabbing their attention.

"Hear me, Yagyu Clan! I am Ken Khan, King of the Free People! Crowned by the citizens of the Dragon Kingdom! I come to you as a humble messenger! I have just returned from the Dragon Kingdom, where I met with your clan leaders. Upon my word of honor, your ties to the Bride of the Four Houses are absolved! You are free of the Iron Queen!"

Lien-Da began to laugh mockingly.

"HAHAHA! They're gone that long, and this is what they come back with? How absurd can you get?"

"Yagyu, we return home!" Yagyu Lord said.

"WHAT?!"

Lien-Da grabbed his arm.

"One monkey gives you his word, and that's it?!"

"I do not know how you do things here, Grandmaster Lien-Da, but in our homeland, even between fierce rivals, one's word of honor is sacred."

"B-But the Dark Egg Legion can't hold the city by ourselves!"

Yagyu Lord ripped his arm away from her.

"How unfortunate. Goodbye."

He and his army of ninja bats left the Coliseum.

"No! I won't let it end like this!"

She looked to see Nicole fighting against Iron Queen as she blocked the incoming metal tentacles with the wall she created from the Colisuem.

"Wait... The Iron Queen is busy with her fight..."

She then looked to see Jun Kun being attacked by Sonic, Geoffrey, Amy, and Antoine.

"...And the Iron King is being overwhelmed... This is it! This is the moment I've been waiting for! Dark Egg Legion! Fall back to me! The Eggman Empire now belongs to me-Grandmaster Lien-Da!"

"WHAT?!"

Iron Queen slammed her staff on the ground, knocking Nicole away.

"You will obey me! Legionnaires! Win back my city!"

"Are you trying to take control of me with the neural chip you had installed in all of us? Mine has been modified to not only resist you, but to ensure the Legion is mine to command! It looks like you just got played again! Ha Ha Ha!"

Iron Queen went in rage.

"You forget. I can still command the bomb in your cybernetics to detonate."

"What-NO!!!"

Lien-Da's cybernetics exploded after Iron Queen detonated it with her magic.

"What... just happened? We got the order to regroup, and..."

"The grandmaster! She's-!"

The Legionar turned to Snively.

"Snively! What do we do?! You're the only one left in command! Command us!"

"I...I don't... I can't... I... I... I... I... AYE-YI-YI-YI-YI-YEEEEEK!"

Snively high-tailed out of the Coliseum.

"Gather up the grandmaster and get her back to the Eggdome! We're retreating!"

Meanwhile, Jun Kun was struggling against Sonic and the others.

"RRARGH! Puny mortal peasants! You cannot break the Iron King!"

Sonic and Ken landed back safely.

"I hate to admit, but he's got a point. What is this guy?"

"A problem. The only way to reliably defeat him is with the mystical Fan of Fen Xing."

On cue, Espio appeared before them, holding something in his hand.

"Then it is a good thing I brought it."

"You've been hiding there this whole time just to make your entrance, haven't you?" Sonic grinned at him.

"Maybe." Espio grinned and turned to Ken. "I present this to the King of the Free People, along with the blessings of the Raiju and Shinobi Clans."

"I never thought I'd hear such a thing. Mind holding my Atom-Bat for a minute?"

"My pleasure."

"Say, where's Y/N?" Sonic asked, looking around.

"She's already here." Espio smirked.

A light blue zoomed in and froze Jun Kun's tremor mace in ice who looked at it in shocked and it broke into pieces. They landed dramatically in front of Sonic, Ken, and Espio and revealed to be Y/N in her new outfit with her crystal ice katana as she spins it and sheathes it behind her.

"Whoa! Nice outfit and entrance!" Sonic smiled.

"Thanks, bro."

"Good to have you back." Ken smiled dreamily at her and turned to Jun Kun and brought out a blue, red, and gold fan with spikes. "Everybody fall back!"

"Yeah, right! I want a front row seat for this."

"Me too." Y/N said, standing next to Sonic.

Jun Kun gasped.

"Th-The Fan of Fen Xing?! No! I had it hidden away in my armory! How could you possibly...?!"

"Care to do the honors?" Ken asked.

"I got to do it last time. He's all yours."

"Thank you."

"Don't worry too much, Iron Clunker! I hear the West Coast is nice this time of year!"

Ken lifted the fan over his head and slammed it to the ground, sending a strong wave of wind towards Jun Kun and he went flying out of the Coliseum and out of New Mobotropolis as he yelled.

They then turned to Iron Queen who had been cornered.

"It's over, Iron Queen!" Nicole glared.

"You're no longer the Bride of Four Houses. The Dark Egg Legion has abandoned you..." Sally said.

"Your partner in crime just took up reverse skydiving." Sonic added.

"...And you're completely outnumbered. Surrender now and we promise no harm will come to you."

"Really? You agreed to that?" Antoine asked Ken in surprise.

"It's something we discussed on the flight back. She convinced me justice is more important than revenge. Well, mostly convinced me."

"Surrender? Surrender? MREE-HEE-HEE-HEE!!! NEVER!"

Iron Queen raised her staff using her techno-magic as she tore wires and pieces of metal out of the walls of Coliseum to create a green giant dragon robot.

"I will never surrender to the likes of you!"

Sally noticed Nicole is glitching.

"Oh, my gosh! Nicole, can you...?"

"I'm using all my resources to keep her from using any more of the city!"

"Then we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way!" Sonic said, looking at Y/N who smirked.

"NOW, TAILS!" she shouted.

Tails is flying towards Iron Queen in the Tornado.

"Finally! Some action!"

He started firing rockets at the dragon.

"ARGH! I'll bite your tails off, you little orange freak!"

Ken then hit the dragon with his Atom Bat and once she fell to the ground, Amy smashed her straight into the jaws with her hammer. Iron Queen then tried to fly away to the hole where Jun Kun was sent flying.

"You haven't heard the last of me, you wretched vermin!"

Sonic and Y/N ran and skated up to the side of the dragon.

"Oh, no, you don't! There's no 'next-time-gadget' built into that thing!"

"No! Stay away from me!"

They then made it up all the way to her head.

"It's been fun, Meanie-Queenie, but it's time for us to win now."

"NO!"

Sonic then spin dashed to each of her sides, breaking it until Y/N went last as she brought out her crystal ice katana as it began to glow showing snowflakes, powering it up. She raised her katana and yelled out the move automatically.

"Icicle Massacre!"

She sliced the dragon straight down in half with the trail of ice, destroying it into pieces.

"NO!"

Iron Queen began to fall towards the ground, looking battered.

"I HATE THOSE HEDGEHOGS!!!"

Surprisingly, Ken caught her with his cloud, but then made it disappeared with a snap of his fingers as she fell to the ground with a grunt. Amy giggled at that. Antoine and Geoffrey quickly handcuffed her behind her back.

"Nicole? Report...?" Sally asked.

"All of my systems are still coming back online, but everything seems stable. I'm still checking, but I'm picking up no signs of the Yagyu or Legion."

"Then that's it." Sonic said, dusting his hands.

"Yep." Y/N said, sheathing her katana.

"It's over. We've won." Sally said.

"Surprise, surprise."

"Don't say it like that! We've won! HOORAY!" Amy cheered as she and Sally hugged Sonic on both sides.

Kirby who's been hiding the whole time came out and ran towards Y/N and hugged her. Y/N smiled and hugged him back, patting his head. Then, Sonic and Sally shared a kiss. Y/N took a quick memory on that. She turned to Ken only to see him smiling sadly a little. Y/N placed Kirby down and took Ken's hand.

"Come. I have something for you."

Ken was confused as she pulled off to the side where no one can see them as soon as they were far away. Y/N faced him for a moment and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Consider this a congratulatory present from me and knowing you will be a great king of the Free People."

Ken didn't say anything as he was speechless and embarrassed. He just held his cheek where she kissed with his face all red. He's not the only one as Y/N was embarrassed herself with her cheeks hot red as she couldn't believe she did that. Normally, she was fine with kissing Tails on the cheek all the time, but this is different.

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A/N: Here's the cute, amazing fanart comic of Shadow x Reader by WolfFang012.

Here's another fanart comic of Shadow x Reader by MedusasLaiir. This takes place in Chapter 4: The Good, The Bad, & The Unknown.

Keep it up! Looking forward to more fanart from all of you! 👍😁