In the Council of Acorn, Nicole showed them the hologram of Guntiver from her eyes with Sonic and Y/N by her side while Kirby has to stay home after hearing something bad happened with Rotor's parents and she wouldn't want to risk him.

"...And we've seen Rotor's people being used as laborers and security for the construction of something it looks like a refueling station, but it's way too big. Anyway, we could really use a hand if you've got someone you can spare."

Nicole then shut off the hologram of Guntiver.

"That concludes the transmission from the Northern Tundra."

"Th-Thank you, N-Nicole. Thank you." Dylan nervously said.

"Uh... You're... welcome? Is everything alright?"

Dylan flinched when Nicole approached him.

"Y-Yes! Sure!"

"It's fine, Nicole. Thank you." Penelope assured her.

Nicole's ears dropped down in sadness.

"...I see."

Y/N patted her back to comfort her.

"Well, unless Sal and Amy find something in the Eggdome, me and sis are free to run up there and lend a hand. Pack something warm, Rote, and we'll get going." Sonic said.

"Councilor Rotor isn't going anywhere." Hamlin disagreed, glaring at him.

"Uh... wasn't asking for your permission there, Hamlin."

"Rotor has returned from your team. His duty is to this council and the people of the republic."

"I think you missed the part about his family being in danger."

"You're just saying that because you used to be part of the Freedom Fighters and look where it has gotten you. This is Rotor's choice, not yours." Y/N said, glaring straight at Hamlin.

This made him quiet and looked away with a scoff.

"It's okay, Sonic and Y/N."

Sonic and Y/N turned to him in shock.

"But—!"

"No, Hamlin is right. My place is here."

"If you're sure about it, big guy." Sonic said.

"I'm sure, besides, I know I count on you two to save the day."

"I can't argue with that."

"Alright. But you know, even if you hurt your back, you can still keep fighting on not just for us, but for your family." Y/N said.

"Thanks, Y/N." Rotor smiled.

"I'll just grab a couple of power rings and we'll be on our way, then."

Sonic and Y/N then walked away.

"Very good, then. If there is no further business, the council is adjourned." Elias said, ending the meeting.

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

Later— the Northern Tundra, Sonic and Y/N made it as they went through the warp ring to see Guntiver in front of them as he covered his face from the incoming snow spray after Sonic skidded into a stop with Y/N beside him.

"Yo, Guntiver! Sorry to take so long." Sonic greeted.

"Ha! We only sent word the other day!" Guntiver laughed.

"Nice to see you again, Guntiver." Y/N greeted.

"Great to see you too."

The three shook hands.

"Yeah, we had some business to take care of down south. Where's the rest of your team?"

"Down below. C'mon, I'm sure you two're freezing."

Sonic, Y/N, and Guntiver head inside the igloo and went downstairs.

"Dude, with the power rings I was carrying, the cold couldn't keep up with me."

"Haha! I missed your spirit, man."

"I'm perfectly well fine surprisingly. Since I'm holding this new sword here." Y/N said, showing him the crystal ice katana.

"Nice!"

They then made it to see the familiar faces.

"There they are! The Arctic Freedom Fighters! It's been forever!" Sonic greeted, but was suddenly crushed into a hug by Sealia.

"Oui! The last time we ever had ze mission together, it was when Dr. Robotnik used his weather controlling device."

"Gak! Hey, Sealia. Yeah, seems like a lifetime ago."

Sealia let go of Sonic and turned to Y/N.

"Oh, Y/N! How good to see you! You're looking pretty! Is that your new outfit? I almost didn't recognize you! You look beautiful!"

Sealia was about to give her a hug and Y/N quickly hug her first.

"Great to see you too, Sealia."

She then quickly pull away before she could hug back, not wanting to get crushed.

"I thought I heard something about you guys breaking up or something?" Sonic asked, rubbing his arm.

"We were originally just an activist group. We weren't officially Freedom Fighters when we first met." Guntiver explained.

"Some of us wanted to be more proactive." Erma added grumpily.

This made Guntiver glare at her as they glare at each other for a second.

"Anyway, as the Eggman Empire started tightening its grip up here, we all agreed to come back and fight for the Northern Tundra. Together!"

Sonic punched his fist in excitement while Y/N grinned.

"Cool. So what's the plan?"

"We were just about to go over that." Erma said.

"Start us off, Erma." Guntiver said.

She showed them the map.

"Thanks to Flip and Sealia's reconnaissance, we know their base runs both above and below the ice. The Legionnaires run the lower portion of the base while their walrus slaves run the upper half. Between the Legion's own cybernetically-boosted sonar and the psionic emitter in the top of the tower, the herd has no way to resist the mind-control signals."

"Me, Sealia, and Augustus can handle the underwater portion well enough, but that would leave only Guntiver and Erma to handle things on land." Flip said.

"So you need us to fill in on the second team. Divide their focus and bring down both parts of the tower at once." Y/N said.

"Precisely." Erma nodded.

"I like it! I'm ready to go when you guys are!" Sonic cracked his fingers.

"We are technically ready, but... where is Rotor? Is he not concerned about his family?" Sealia asked. 

"Yeah, about that... See, Rotor got hurt really bad during a raid on Freedom HQ. It really did a number on his back. He's able to get around on his own now, but when it comes to adventuring he's had to call it quits." Sonic explained sadly as the Arctic Freedom Fighters were saddened by the news of Rotor.

"I sure hope he'll come around." Y/N said, not knowing that Rotor is indeed coming around.

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

They are now outside of igloo as they march forward.

"We're almost to the base, people. Get ready." Guntiver warned.

"Yeah-Yeah-Yeah, do or die. Maybe the herd will stay rescued this time. Don't get me wrong. I feel bad for their situation, but why is Eggman always after them?" Sonic said.

"Maybe because they're the most prominent species in the Northern Tundra? Maybe because the it's of Iceborough is the most influential settlement in the entire polar cap? Take your pick." Erma sassed.

"...Really?"

Sonic playfully elbowed Flip.

"So... 'Iceborough,' eh? Not 'ice-burg?' Ah? Get it? 'Iceberg?'"

"This is the Northern Tundra, dude. That joke's older than the permafrost."

"Ha ha! That's cold, man, cold!"

"Quit it, Sonic!" Y/N smacked his head.

"Everybody down! We're here!" Guntiver ordered.

They all immediately went down on the snowy ground.

"Wow... Looks like some nasty weather is coming up from the south."

Y/N looked up to see the clouds beginning to darken.

"If you're here to help, would you please focus?" Erma scolded Sonic.

Y/N looked over the rock and gasped to see a mind-controlled walruses and saw a giant metal totem pole with Eggman's face on top.

"What? It's just an entire herd of zombie-like walruses who want to tear us apart for trying to save their lives. No biggie!"

Y/N scoffed at how stupid her brother can be to thinking it would be easy. She looked at Guntiver.

"Just to make sure I've got this straight—the local Dark Egg Legion is using this special wave to send a brain-washing signal?"

"Right."

"And that base there is boosting a signal a few million times?"

"Yeah."

"And there's just as much tower underwater that'll need to be taken out too, right?" Sonic asked.

"You got it, champ." Flip nodded.

"Okay, cool. Now the army of zombie-walruses makes perfect sense."

Y/N looked around for a perfect spot to cut before pulling out her crystal ice katana and stabbed the ice and made it into a circle before pulling the pack of ice out that's big enough for them to dive into the cold water.

"This is it, Sealia! You and your team will take care of the underwater tower."

"Oui, mon capitaine!" Sealia saluted before diving into the water.

"Careful down there, guys. Your brand of Dark Egg Legionnaires sounds nasty." Sonic warned.

"Meh, they're just orcas. What's so scary about 'killer whales'?" Flip said.

"Just don't underestimate them. They're called killer whales for a reason. They even eat penguins like you." Y/N said with a dark tone, making Flip gulp and dive into the water. "That should get him to be careful."

"You're mean, sis." Sonic said. "But I like their style."

"We've got a good group of folks." Guntiver said.

"If we're done being all snuggly-friendly, can we make our move?" Erma asked, looking impatient.

"Yeah! Time to do that hero thang!"

Sonic, Y/N, Guntiver, and Erma charged at the mind-controlled walruses and fought them off. Y/N didn't want to hurt them so she just knock them out by whacking them on the head. Sonic spin dashed them.

"Sorry, everyone!" Y/N apologized, dodging the punch and knocking one out again.

"...If they let us. Sorry! Badniks I can smash."

He ducked the sword that was being swung towards him.

"I don't mind knocking a few legion heads together. But the herd is innocent!"

Guntiver kicked the mind-controlled walruses away as they crash into each other.

"HNHF! That's why we're trying to take down that tower! To free these poor people once and for all!"

"I get that, but it doesn't help things n-OW!"

Sonic fell to the ground and looked up to see two familiar walruses.

"Skeeter! Mrs. Walrus! Er... Rotor's mom! Lady! It's me—Sonic! I'm Rotor's best friend! Hero of Mobius! Too good-looking to get pummeled!"

"That last one is just stupid!" Y/N exclaimed, kicking the walruses's sword away from their grasp.

Rotor's mom was about smash Sonic when she was suddenly bonked on the head with Skeeter's head and fell to the ground unconscious. They revealed themselves from the invisibility to be Erma.

"Wow! You can do that invisible thing, too?"

"I'm an ermine!"

"...Does that make you a ninja?"

"Focus, hedgehog! Either help, or get out of the way!"

Sonic kneel down to Rotor's family and fixed Skeeter's hat.

"I hope the other team is having a better time than us."

"Don't jinx it, bro."

Their battle went on as the other team did their best into the tower, not knowing someone else had already got there and helped them as they shut down the tower. Sonic and Y/N stopped and noticed the walruses stopped and their eyes are back to normal as they look around. Sonic and Y/N helped one walrus up who's holding his head in pain.

"You back with us, buddy?"

"...All I remember is ear-splitting whale songs..."

"Well, at least you're not trying to, y'know... bash my head in anymore."

All of the sudden, the loud boom was heard, shaking everyone to the ground.

"That must have been the undertower! The other's did it!" Guntiver cheered as Erma hugged him.

"And I think I know who we have to thank for it all."

Sonic and Y/N looked up with a knowing smile to see Rotor in a yellow suit flying down with Silver in his arm.

"Heh heh... Hi, everybody. Sonic, Y/N, you know Silver, right?"

Y/N noticed Silver was holding his head in pain and checked on him.

"Yeah, we've met. You doing alright, Silver?"

"Yeah... Just a headache."

"At least, you helped. You did good with saving the walruses."

This made Silver blush.

"...Thanks."

"What happened to 'I belong on the council, I don't adventure anymore, wah-wah-wah'?" Sonic joked.

"Eh, long story. Let's just keep it between us, okay?" Rotor said in embarrassment.

"We promise." Y/N said, crossing her heart.

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

Later, in Iceborough, Sonic, Silver, Y/N, Rotor, and the Arctic Freedom Fighters are sitting in the table eating their food together with Rotor's mom and Skeeter.

"...And just as I was thinking we were done for..." Sealia said, explaining her mission.

"...Then Akhlut totally flips out!" Flip added, doing a gesture of someone acting crazy. "The whole legion chapters swam off, running into each other the whole time. I don't think they knew which way was up."

"If their sonar was linked to that psionic amplifier, then Silver's psychic wave must have hit them extra hard." Rotor said.

Rotor's mom hugged him.

"My brilliant boy. A Freedom Fighter at heart and helping to run Mobotropolis. Your father would be so proud. I know I am."

"Thanks, mom."

"Yeah-and-that-robot-suit-was-so-cool-can-I-try-it-on-Boomer?!" Skeeter asked in excitement.

"'Boomer.' Peh." Silver sighed.

"Yeah. That was his nickname growing up. We called him that all the time." Sonic said.

"Boomer is the multi-version of Rotor from the Multiverse." Y/N added to let him know about the difference.

"I know. I get it. His mother explained it repeatedly on the trip here." Silver grumbled.

"You're really bent on finding this imaginary traitor among our friends, huh?"

"My research was... lacking, I'll admit. But I'm trying to save you all, as well as my time. At least this wasn't a total waste of time."

"Oh?" Y/N raised her eyebrow.

"When I was hooked into that machine, I could see into the minds of the herd. I didn't just break the legion's control, but I made it so that these walruses can never be mind-controlled again."

This made Sonic and Y/N smile and clink their cups against Silver's.

"Okay, that is pretty darn cool."

"I'm glad you learn."

"Thanks."

"But Silver, next time be patient when it comes to research. You've already assumed Sonic and Rotor without thinking. Learn some consequences and behave yourself. You have to look in deeper."

"...I'll try."

Suddenly, Silver was swooped up in the air and looked down to see Rotor holding him up.

"Yeah, well— try sitting across from Hamlin for a week— then I'll be impressed!"

"What in the world is a 'Hamlin'...?"

"The pig. The mean one." Y/N explained with a giggle.

"Oh..."