Naugus Resurging

(Note: Please refrain from commenting spoilers in the comments. Thank you!)

***Naugus Resurging*** is an online novel/fan-fiction that appears as a canon event within the Zarvok Federations continuity, therefore becoming apart of the lore's history.

The story takes place in the year 3238, a few months after the events of ***Invasion of the Black Arms: Black Doom's Return*** and Naugus is once again attempting to take the Republic of Acorn for himself. Plagued by the return of the spirits of the three former wizards that created Naugus, he decides to go all in with yet another Eldritch Rite by controlling the minds of not the Council of Acorn, but the Royal Army itself. Once again however, he is opposed by the members of the Secret Freedom Fighters, who gain the assistance of the Zarvok Federations. Will Naugus finally succeed, or will he be foiled once more?

## Part One: Mutatious Inducement

***June 29th 3238; Republic of Acorn city of New Mobotropolis; Westside Island, Northamer***

The capital of the Republic of Acorn: New Mobotropolis, was seeing quite a windy, but slightly cloudy day, as everyday citizens were going about with their business and routines. Even with the ever present threat of Dr. Eggman and his Eggman Empire, faith in the Royal Army and the Freedom Fighters prevented any sort of fear or panic in the streets. However, today was also a very important day.

The Republic’s governing body: the Council of Acorn, were to hold a meeting today regarding a proposal with the Zarvok Federations, which meant that not only were the entirety of the Acorn Council were to be present… but also the Zarvokian faction leader as well! As such, citizens of New Mobotropolis were gazing at the sight of the arrival of the ZFAS Velocity, emerging from it’s rupture. After contacting the city’s air traffic control, the Velocity made its way above King Frederick Airport before a Holomane Transport flew out of the hangar it resided in, descending downwards to the ground (as it was a VTOL) as flight crew personnel directed the craft to it’s landing destination.

Waiting for the aircraft to land were two familiar looking figures, one of them a male blue furred hedgehog with thick grey eyebrows and mustache, the other a female brown/tan furred fox with long red hair, both wearing an Acorn councilor uniform, implying they were members of the Council of Acorn. Soon the Holomane Transport landed, its side doors opening up as a second later, the faction leader of the Zarvok Federations: Adex Zarvok Burns, had stepped out of the transport, looking towards the two councilors that were awaiting his arrival.

“Ah, Sir Charles and Rosemary, it’s been a while hasn’t it?” Adex said to them “A couple of months is hardly a while Adex” The fox, being referred to as Rosemary, said with a light chuckle “But still, it is good to see you again. How are the children?” The hedgehog, referred to as Sir Charles, asked him with a light smile that was concealed mostly due to his thick mustache “The children are doing well, Jayden is... well, still herself, so nothing off with her. Joshua is doing good as well, things with Marilyn seems to be going smoothly for him… how about you, Rosemary?” Adex replied, before asking Rosemary the same question.

“Tails is doing just fine, still helping the Freedom Fighters and the Republic however he can” Rosemary replied with a proud smile “That is good to hear, I’m glad everything is going well, despite the toll brought onto them by the Black Arm’s invasion” Adex said “Yes, it’s amazing on how the young ones can endure so much” Sir Charles said in agreement “Anyways, we should probably be on our way now, the rest of the council is waiting at Castle Acorn” Rosemary said, which surprised Adex as he looked at her with a surprised expression “Castle Acorn has been restored?” He said “Yep, it was restored a couple of days before the Black Arms were defeated actually, with the approval of the council of course” Sir Charles said in response.

“Huh, very good to hear then… anyways, let’s not keep the council waiting” Adex said, as Sir Charles and Rosemary nodded, before the two began to walk towards their destination “Follow us Adex, we’ll lead you there” Rosemary said, as Adex did so, following them on their walk to Castle Acorn. Several minutes pass, and the three of them made it to the entrance of Castle Acorn, which actually resembled the appearance it had before being destroyed by the Tails Doll several months prior.

“Hmm, interesting on how it looks like it once was before it was reportedly destroyed… both the interior and exterior as well!” Adex commented as they walked inside the castle halls “Nicole wanted to restore the castle to how it once was before, so she worked very hard to get every detail correctly” Rosemary said “...Miss Nicole did a fine job doing it as well, I’m impressed” Adex said as he looked around “The council chamber is just ahead, the rest of the councilors should be there” Sir Charles said, gesturing to a door at the end of the hallway.

About thirty seconds pass before the three of them reached the door and went through it, revealing an arched platform that had the Republic’s insignia in the middle of it, along with steps to allow members to get to their seats. The five other council members already being seated, which were Dylan Porcupine, Hamlin Pig, Penelope Platypus, Isabella Mongoose and… of course, the figurehead of the council, the king: Ixis Naugus. The other members of the council looked down at Adex as Rosemary and Sir Charles made their way to their seats, before Adex went to sit at a table that was set up for him, looking up at the entire Council of Acorn.

“Greetings to you all” Adex said to them after a couple of seconds of silence went by, the council members giving their respective replies; Penelope silently with a wave, Isabella saying “Hello Adex”, Hamlin saying “Faction Leader…”, Dylan saying “Hello Faction Leader”, and Ixis saying “Hello, Adex…”, while Sir Charles and Rosemary simply nodded as they already greeted him beforehand. Adex nodded to all of them being he put his hands together on the table “Shall we begin with the meeting?” He asked.

“Yes, let’s start the meeting, shall we?” Ixis said with a tap of his staff that held a purple Chaos Emerald “Very well… now, as far as I’m aware of, the council wanted to make a proposal?” Adex said “Well actually, Isabella made the proposal. She said she needed you and the council to discuss it in person” Dylan said “Oh? Well then, let’s hear this proposal” Adex said as he, as well as the rest of the council faced Isabella. “Thank you” Isabella said before standing up, while grabbing a couple of sheets of paper “I did some digging into some archives during the Black Arms invasion in search of something to help us combat their forces, and I stumbled upon a couple of files. However, before I could present it to the council, Black Doom and his comet was already eradicated” Isabella said, before slowly walking towards Adex’s table.

“However, with the threat of Dr. Eggman increasing ever so steadily, I decided that it may be worth bringing up now” Isabella said as she was at Adex’s side, handing him the papers, Adex taking the papers given to him before going over their contents. It took him a couple of minutes to go through them before finding out they were actually schematics, which he was taken by surprise when he went through them; he was so much surprised that it took him a couple of dozen seconds to speak after fully going through the schematics “...The Metal Sonic Trooper?” He said.

Almost the entire council was taken by surprise when Adex spoke those words, Sir Charles being the only one shocked by hearing this, knowing very well what Adex was looking at before lowering his head “No, not those abominations!” Hamlin spoke “Agh, bad enough there’s Metal Sonic, now **this**?” Ixis said, clearly showing his dislike towards robots “Along with those Robians and Sonic himself, makes me sick thinking about them being combined into one, ugh…” Ixis thought to himself “We had a hundred of those things at one point, and they attacked us!” Dylan said “What happens if we made more, would they attack us too?” Penelope said, while Rosemary and Sir Charles remained quiet while glancing at each other, Sir Charles looking troubled by this “Now now, everyone calm down” Adex said to the council as he and Isabella were looking at them calmly, the rest of the council quieting down, though still had doubtful thoughts on where this was going.

“We haven’t even heard councilor Isabella’s proposal yet… allow her to speak her words first, before we decide” Adex said before looking at Isabella “Go ahead, do your thing” He said to her “Thank you, Adex” Isabella said, before clearing her throat and facing the rest of the council “Now yes, I’m aware of the past incidents regarding the Metal Sonic Trooper, but from what I gathered, their attacks on both Knothole and Dr. Eggman were the result of a hacking of their systems, not faulty programming. With that in mind, I request that the council to authorize the creation of a new unit of Metal Sonic Troopers” She said, before facing Adex “And request that the Zarvok Federations to assist in improving the design to prevent further incidents like with Knothole” She said, finishing her proposal.

“Let me get this straight, you want us to authorize the creation of these robots that were once used against us?” Hamlin asked aggressively “No. You’re misunderstanding her intentions” Adex replied calmly before standing up, walking to stand in front of the table while looking up at the rest of the council “She wants you to authorize the improvement, and later creation of these automatons to protect the Republic” He said before looking back at Isabella “These automatons of which… have peaked my interest, and on that note, if the council were to approve this motion, they will have the full support of the Zarvok Federations” He said.

“Well Adex, how can we be sure that your support will guarantee prevention of any of these units from being hacked into?” Rosemary asked with a calm, but serious tone “...It won’t guarantee prevention” Adex replied simply, which made everyone in the room look at him with unsure expressions on their faces. Noticing this, Adex continued “It will however, decrease the chances of all of them being hacked into all at once or individually. With our support, we’ll even provide energy shielding systems to them to improve their defenses” Adex said “Oh no, that isn’t needed Adex” Isabella said to him, which took him by surprise a bit as he looked at her “...Are you sure?” He asked curiously “Mhm, I only seek improvements that will decrease their chances of being hacked, but just in case that they are, we don’t want stronger Troopers to come knocking on our door” She said.

“...I understand then, I’ll just have the RnD department provide the former then” Adex replied before looking back at the council, as they were looked down at him, Rosemary and Penelope feeling confident in Adex’s abilities… Hamlin and Dylan less so, while Sir Charles having mixed feelings about the proposal. Ixis on the other hand, looked infuriated as he looked down at Adex and Isabella “I am disgusted by the idea of making robotic enforcers, when we already Team Freedom and the rest of the Freedom Fighters to protect the Republic from further threats!” Ixis said “As much of a nuisance they are, of course…” He added in his thoughts “...And if the Freedom Fighters aren’t available?” Adex asked “Then we have the rest of the Royal Army backed by their king to protect them! Regarding that, as the king, I forbid the creation of this monstrous atrocities!” Ixis commanded… with no success “I’m afraid that can’t happen without the approval of the council, Ixis. You are well aware of that, right?” Penelope spoke up, as Ixis glanced at her angrily.

“Grr… in that case, I vote Nay!” Ixis said with a loud tap of his staff on the platform floor “I vote Yea” Isabella said with a raise of her left hand “This is a bad idea; Nay” Hamlin said with a raise of his right hand “...I’m confident in your ability to help us Adex, as you have done before; Yea” Rosemary said with a raise of her left hand “Well, uh… I really don’t like the idea, so… Nay?” Dylan said with a slow raise of his right hand “I’m willing to give this idea a shot; Yea” Penelope said with a raise of her left hand. At that moment, the voting was at an even 3 - 3 motion, with a much needed tiebreaker for both sides of the voting process to be played out… and that tiebreaker was Sir Charles, as everyone in the room had looked at him, in much suspense of what his decision would be.

Being plagued by both the memory of creating the Metal Sonic Troopers in the past and the destruction they brought, though also undoubting the abilities of Adex, he raised his head to look down at him and Isabella “...Adex, do you promise that these creations of mine won’t go haywire and harm the citizens of the Republic?” He asked him “To the best of my ability, Sir Charles” Adex replied truthfully “...Then my vote is clear” Sir Charles said as he slowly stood up… before raising his left hand a couple of seconds later “Yea” He mouthed, officially bringing the vote to 4 - 3, in favor of improving and creating a unit of Metal Sonic Troopers to use by the Royal Army “Very well. I will oversee the process personally at Fort Zarvok” Adex said, before giving a small bow to show his respects.

“If you don’t mind Adex, I’ll like to oversee the process too” Isabella said “I want to come along as well; these are my creations, and it’s my responsibility to oversee their creation” Sir Charles said “I understand you two, I don’t mind if you come along” Adex said, before Ixis gave a low snarl “Fine, but if these Metal Sonics get in my way, I won’t hesitate to do the world a favor and destroy them myself” He said, before standing up from his seat and storming out of the chamber, everyone in the room watching him do so.

“...Well, guess he’s not happy about this” Adex commented “No, he isn’t… but it doesn’t matter” Rosemary said before the others looked at her “You two have the faith of the Republic, and it’s Council” She added “Yeah, well… you just better not mess this up” Hamlin said, crossing his arms “I’m eager to see how these new Metal Sonic Troopers will help us in defending the Republic… just don’t have any of them destroying the castle, alright?” Penelope said, jokingly “I won’t let any of you down, you have my word” Adex said, giving a slight smile.

“And on that note, I presume the meeting is adjourned?” He asked “I think so, yeah” Dylan said “Yeah, we’re pretty much done” Hamlin said “Alright… if you ever need my presence, don’t hesitate to ask” Adex said, with the rest of the council nodding, before they stood up from their seats to leave the room to go back to their daily routines, all except Sir Charles and Isabella, of which Isabella remained standing at Adex’s right side while Sir Charles approached from the left.

“You guys don’t mind if we depart now, do you?” Adex asked the two “Not at all Adex. Though it wouldn’t hurt to grab something to eat, would it?” Sir Charles replied “...Are you treating?” Adex asked “In fact I am, I own a diner a couple of blocks away that we can eat at” Sir Charles replied “I can go for a bite, sure!” Isabella said “Well it’s agreed then, let’s go to this diner of yours” Adex said to Sir Charles, as the two councilors and the faction leader began to make their way out of the room to go to Sir Charles’ diner.

***Meanwhile, with Ixis Naugus…***

Ixis was storming through the halls of the castle, making his way to where the throne room was before having made it to said room to sit down on his throne, no one else being in the room at the time. “I’m really getting sick and tired of this blasted council, always overruling my rightful authority over this land” Ixis said to himself as he sat on his throat, he head against his right hand “Eheheheh… having trouble ruling over your subjects, Naugus?” A voice said to him “...What? Who said that? ...Wait… no... no, it can’t be!” Naugus said to himself, as where he raised his head, he saw three figures appear in front of him, which he recognized very well… it was the spirits of Agunus, Suguna, and Nusgau!

“Oh, but it is us!” Nusgau said, who took the appearance of a yellow spirit of a Mobian bat “No, this isn’t possible... you three were gone from my head when that dreaded NICOLE’s machine healed me!” Naugus said in disbelief “Do you honestly think that you could get rid of us? After all, we are apart of you” Suguna said, who was a blue spirit of a Mobian lobster “And it seems like you need our advice more than ever, Naugus” Agunus said, who was a red spirit of a Mobian rhinoceros “No, I know what you’re really here for, you three each want control of my body” Naugus said back to them.

“Hm, guess the past really does leave impressions on others” Suguna said “We could have taken your body in the past several months if we really wanted to, but we have other plans” Nusgau said “Other plans?” Naugus questioned “Yes… you see, even if we were to take control of your body, there’s only but one problem” Agunus said “Problem? You three have a problem?” Naugus asked in irritation “Even spirits inside one’s mind can have problems, Naugus, one of which is competing over these two to get your body” Suguna said “But here’s a kicker, even if one of us does take over your body and carry out our domination of the world, there’s too many foes that neither the three of us can take out alone” Agunus said.

“But with your position as king of the Republic of Acorn, you can take down a few pegs to ease the problem for all four of us” Nusgau said “Yes, as the king of the Republic, you can manipulate their forces behind their back, and launch a coup of your own, much like how Eggman had done in the past when he was the warlord at the time” Suguna said “And the best way to do it, is with mind control” Agunus said “Mind control? Have you forgotten that I tried that already with the council with a spell by using the remains of Ixis Vale, only to have her remains destroyed by some robot with an arm cannon and my spell ruined?” Ixis said, frustrated of being reminded of his prior defeat.

“Yes, her remains were indeed destroyed… however, you have yet to find a possession of hers, something given to her by Ixis Mogul himself!” Nusgau said, which took Naugus by surprise “A possession? What sort of possession?” He asked “A spell book containing an Eldritch Rite” Suguna said “What? How is it that I haven’t found out about this sooner?!” Naugus said, clearly still surprised “There are some things that are best left found later than immediately. If you would’ve known of it sooner, then it’s most likely that the book will be destroyed alongside Vale’s remains” Agunus said “But now that we’re almost out of options, I’d say it’s time that we retrieve this book” Nusgau said.

“And I suppose you three know the location of this book?” Naugus asked “Actually, we do” Suguna said “There is a hidden ritual chamber that once belonged to Ixis Vale in the Southern Tundra, where the Forgotten War had took place centuries prior” Agunus said “Southern Tundra? Where exactly **is** it in that gaia-forsaken barren wasteland?” Naugus asked, irritated “That we don’t know, but we do have a hint of its whereabouts!” Nusgau said “Beneath the barren wastelands is where the tomb lays… but the entrance above, is at the site of a former battlefield, the one to determine preservation, or destruction ” Suguna said.

“I get the feeling that you three know where the book is and that this is just a game for you all to watch” Naugus said impatiently, as the three spirits couldn’t help but snicker “Maybe we do, maybe we don’t, you’ll never know for sure” Nusgau said “But if you want to reestablish the Order of Ixis as your own, you best better retrieve that book, and learn of the Eldritch Rite” Agunus said “And use it to take over the Republic of Acorn, and with it; the rest of the world” Suguna said. “You best hurry however, it won’t be long before the mutations will be coming back” Agunus said “Did that machine even fix anything that was wrong with me?!” Naugus said, both a bit stunned but also frustrated.

“Nothing that it can’t heal, and us being apart of your mind is one of them” Nusgau said “Now you best get going, before any of your subjects catch wind of what is going on” Suguna said “Or before one of us decides to fight for control of your body again” Agunus said, which prompted the three spirits to snicker at Naugus, before the three of them slowly disappeared from Naugus’ line of sight. Naugus was silent for a bit as he sat on his throne, thinking to himself of what to do.

A couple of minutes passed before Naugus stood from his throne, making his way out of the throne room to get transportation to go to Southern Tundra “Beneath the barren wastelands is where the tomb lays, but the entrance above is at the site of a former battlefield, the one to determine preservation or destruction… it must be referring to Mobius, which means... it’s where the Quantum Dial used to be!” Naugus thought to himself, thinking he had figured out the hint as he exited Castle Acorn, making his way over to New Mobotropolis’ airport, to acquire his personal aircraft granted to him by the Republic when he became king.

Unknown to Naugus however, he was being watched from afar by a hooded figure, watching as Naugus left the castle to go to the airport. The hooded figure then raised their wrist closely to their mouth, having a wrist communicator of some kind as they spoke quietly “Agent Ace, gather the other agents and meet me at Secret HQ, we have a situation developing” The hooded figure spoke, before walking away from where he was observing Naugus.

***Meanwhile, back with Adex…***

Adex, along with Sir Charles and Isabella Mongoose, had made it over to Sir Charles’ diner, which was named “Uncle Chuck’s.” Adex took a look around the establishment as he saw many people enjoying their meals, the atmosphere of the diner overall being light. “This is a very fine establishment you have here, Charles” Adex said with a slight smile, complimenting the state of his diner “Thank you. Now let’s say we order something, shall we?” Sir Charles replied, Adex and Isabella nodding before the three walked up to the order counter.

*“Hold on, I’ll be there in just a moment!”* A robotic voice called out from the kitchen, which caught Adex by surprise as he recognized the voice “Is… is that?!” Adex thought to himself, as an automaton looking like a male hedgehog with blue and grey metal plating came into view, exiting the kitchen as he came up from behind the counter *“Ah, hello brother, councilor Isabella, and… Adex? Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise”* The automaton said to the three of them “It is a surprise. I didn’t know you worked here” Adex said in response.

“He does work here, and does a very good job around here too” Sir Charles said with a smile, that was once again concealed by his mustache as he faced the automaton *“Thank you, Charles. Anyways, I didn’t hear that you were coming. I would have gotten Bernadette and Sonic so they could’ve seen you too”* The automaton said “Heh, sorry Jules, I guess I should’ve let you know” Adex said while rubbing the back of his head “Speaking of which, how are the two doing?” He asked.

*“Bernadette is at home now relaxing. Sonic on the other hand is out and about somewhere, either on a good run or with the Freedom Fighters. In any case, the two are doing well”* Jules replied “That is good to hear” Adex said, before Isabella cleared her throat “I don’t mean to interrupt the reunion, but is it okay if we order now?” She asked politely *“Of course. I was about to go on break anyway, so we have time to discuss matters”* Jules said as he gestured to the menu, Adex and Isabella taking a look at the menu, several of the notable items being listed from the others as specials: “Kooky Cookies & Pie, Drano Cookies, Chili Dogs, Chocolate Chickens, Mint Milkshake, Demonic Peanuts, Drewdle Strudel, and Yummy Lnr Pudding.”

“...The menu had me at Mint Milkshake, and I guess a basic ham, lettuce, and cheese sandwich will do for me” Adex said “A Drewdle Strudel would do nicely for me, please” Isabella said *“Coming right up you two. Just take a seat anywhere in the restaurant, and I’ll join you with your orders”* Jules said, before flipping a little sign on the counter that said “On break” in bold letters, before going back into the kitchen. “...You don’t want anything, Charles?” Adex asked “Oh no, Jules already knows what I order from here, so he’ll be bringing that along as well” Sir Charles said “Ah, I see. Well then, let’s seat ourselves then” Adex said, Isabella and Sir Charles nodding in response before the three went over to an unoccupied table, and seated themselves.

“So, while we’re here waiting, do you two mind telling me more about these Metal Sonic Troopers?” Adex asked, prompting Isabella and Sir Charles to glance at each other before facing him “...Well, they were supposed to be protectors when we thought Sonic died after the Xorda’s attack, and when Knothole was still around” Isabella said “Yes, under Maximillian’s order, me and Rotor made them using the programing of the original Metal Sonic to make them powerful guardians” Sir Charles said “I see… and from what I heard earlier, there were a hundred of them? What happened to them all?” Adex asked curiously “Destroyed, with nothing but spare parts left from their remains” Sir Charles replied “Oh. Well then, glad they were taken out before further harm was done” Adex said.

“Yeah… honestly, I still have the burden on me, being their creator and all” Sir Charles said “You don’t have to anymore; your creations are going to once again be used for good” Adex said “But will the people see that, after what has happened?” Sir Charles asked, Adex replying only with silence for a bit as he took time to think of his answer “...Give it time. There will be a point where the citizens of Acorn won’t be afraid of them, and instead look at them as protectors. I’m sure of it” Adex said reassuringly to Sir Charles “...If you say so, then I’ll give them time then” Sir Charles said, lighting up a bit as Jules came into view with all three of their orders on two trays.

*“Here you are, your meals as you ordered”* Jules spoke, setting down the trays on the table, which said trays had Adex’s Mint Milkshake and Sandwich, Isabella’s Drewdle Strudel, and what seemed to be a couple of Chili Dogs and a can of oil that apparently had a straw in it “...Heh, taking after your nephew, I see?” Adex said to Sir Charles as Jules sat down in the middle of Adex and Isabella *“More like the other way around. Charles here used to run a Chili Dog stand before Eggman came in with his coup”* Jules said, grabbing the can of oil and sipping from the straw.

“Ahh. Well, let’s dig in” Adex said as Isabella and Sir Charles nodded in agreement, before the three of them began to eat their meals, while also conversing occasionally about certain topics. Adex even mentioned Isabella’s daughter: Mina Mongoose, and how his own daughter Jayden had became a fan of her songs, which made Isabella even more proud of her daughter. After the four were done, Adex, Sir Charles, and Isabella proceeded to make their way over to the airport to board the ZFAS Velocity, Jules waving them off when they left the diner.

As the three were making their way over to the airport, Adex was taking a few last looks of the scenery of New Mobotropolis… before he accidentally bumped into someone, surprising him as he faced a hooded figure “Oop, apologies” Adex said to the figure “It’s no problem at all, just be aware of your surroundings” The figure replied, before they continued walking along. Shrugging it off, Adex continued walking towards the airport as well, though Sir Charles couldn’t help but overhear the figure, glancing at the figure as they walked in separate directions from each other “...Was that **who** I thought it was?” Charles thought to himself, before he progressed over to where the airport, and later the waiting Holomane Transport that would take them to the ZFAS Velocity, and by extension: Fort Zarvok.

***Meanwhile, in the skies over the Mobian Sea...***

Already having taken off from the airport of New Mobotropolis several minutes before, Ixis Naugus was within his personal aircraft, which was a high-speed jet, that was speeding it’s way to the Southern Tundra. While the jet was being piloted by trained professionals, Naugus himself was held up in his personal quarters of the jet, which basically only consisted of a throne and a couple of windows.

“King Naugus, we’re nearing Southern Tundra as we speak” One of the pilots said to Ixis via intercom “Good, do not keep me waiting much longer” Ixis replied via the same intercom, as he sat in his throne. “This book is my last chance of ever taking over the Republic, if it’s destroyed, then my Order of Ixis will never come to fruition” Ixis thought to himself as he was resting his head on his right hand. Suddenly however, he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his body, as he didn’t expect the pain to come in all so suddenly. Turning to look where his lobster claw was, and what he saw surprised… maybe even horrified him.

He saw that additional spikes had emerged where his lobster claw was, along with minor spikes that were going up and down his arm and even his thigh… his mutations had began. “...No… they’re already starting to… ergh… I have to try and force them back, as long as possible” Ixis thought to himself, as he put a lot of his concentration into forcing back the mutations taking effect on him by the spirits of Nusgau, Suguna, and Agunus. A couple of minutes later, the spikes on the left side of his body were slowly disappearing.

Ixis sat in his throne, panting as he had used a good amount of his stamina to force back the mutations for now “King Naugus, we’ve arrived at one of few towns on the continent. We can’t stay landed due to the weather, but we’ll come back once you give the order“ One of the pilots said to him via the intercom, as he prepared to reply “V...very well, just prepare to pick me up once I’m done here” Ixis said back.

Soon the high-speed jet reached the nearest town to them, as they made a couple of pass-bys before slowing down to land in the town’s airport. Feeling the jet skit to a stop, Ixis stood from his throne before making his way to the exit. Upon opening the door to the jet that allowed his exit, he was immediately hit with the freezing breeze of a snowstorm, taken a bit by surprise as he stepped outside. Being immediately fed up with the cold, Ixis casted a fireball in his right hand using Ixis Magicks, in an effort to warm himself up.

“The Dial’s remains shouldn’t be far from here, I should be able to walk there without freezing to death” Ixis thought to himself as he wandered his way out of the town’s airport, and eventually the town itself as the jet took it’s opportunity to take off back to Westside Island while it’s engines were still warm. Ixis watched as the jet flew overhead out of the area as he walked out of the town.

A couple of minutes into his journey, and the same feeling of pain suddenly rushed at him, except now instead of it just being his entire left side, it was his entire body that was in pain, as he knelt down on the ground from instinct. When he looked at himself, he saw the spikes on his left side appearing once more, and noticing his nails had grown a bit, along with a tail “...Egh… I’m starting to regret unpossessing myself from Geoffrey's body… it won’t matter anymore as soon as I get that book” He thought to himself, before looking around the area to see if anyone was present “No one’s here… I’ll allow the mutations to progress for now, it’ll just waste my energy to force them back” He added in his thoughts, before he slowly stood up and continued on his journey to the Quantum Dial’s remains.

Unknown to Naugus however, he was being watched from afar. Four figures wearing winter protective clothing that were each of different color were watching Naugus while lying prone on the snowy ground. One of these figures, a very light gray furred male hedgehog with white chest fur (although concealed by the winter protective clothing) had a disturbed look on his face “Those are some odd features on his body” He said to the others with him “He must be sick or something… but that just gives us an advantage” One of the figures, a female pink wolf with blue eyes and light purple hair styled in thick dreadlocks said in a somewhat serious tone.

“Well we still have to find out what he’s up to, Lyco” Another female pink wolf said to the one named Lyco, having the same eyes and hair as the latter. The two apparently looked to be identical twins, the only thing able to tell the difference between the two was the color of their outfits, Lyco’s outfit had blue accents on her clothing while the other had green accents “That we do, Leeta” Lyco replied to her twin sister, as they still kept a watchful eye on Ixis.

“What do you think he’s up to this time?” A male brown furred Lynx with black stripes and a long tail said “I don’t know Larry, but if he’s all the way out in the Southern Tundra just to wander around, then he must be looking for something” The hedgehog said to the lynx. “If it’s something he’s looking for Silver, then what is it?” Lyco asked the hedgehog “I don’t know… but I feel like we’re going to find out at some point” Silver replied “He’s on the move, we should too” Leeta said to the others, of which they nodded in response as they began to move, to follow Ixis from afar.

***Several minutes later…***

Ixis Naugus was still walking through the snowy wastelands of the Southern Tundra, his mutations still taking a hold of him as he wasn’t forcing them back… luckily they weren’t affecting his health for now. Though eventually, as he was walking up a hill and made it to the top, he looked down from the hill he was standing on. He saw a very deep crater in the middle of a snowy field “That’s where the Dial should have imploded…” Ixis thought to himself as he began to make his way down the hill he was standing on to walk over to the crater “Now they said the entrance was above the surface so it can’t be inside the crater… I just got to look around” Ixis thought to himself as he began looking around the area of the crater of the now destroyed Quantum Dial.

As he was searching for the entrance, Silver and his companions came atop of a different hill as they looked down on Ixis, lying down prone once more to remain from being seen “Isn’t that where the Dial was?” Larry asked “Yes, but… why would he be there of all places?” Lyco replied “Well he’s looking for something, right? He might be looking for something near the Dial” Silver said, the others looking back down on Ixis as he was searching.

About half a hour passes before Ixis had almost covered the entire area of where the Quantum Dial’s crater… he was getting impatient as he was finding nothing “Erg… I’ve searched all over this damned place for the entrance, but I’m left with nothing!” He thought to himself angrily as he was searching. A realization then hit him as his expression went from angry to shocked “Wait, No… it couldn’t have been destroyed when the Dial imploded now, could it!?” He thought to himself, looking over to where the crater was.

...He then heard snickering from within his mind which soon developed into laughter “You fool!” A voice spoke to him, before the yellow spirit of Nusgau appeared before him, Ixis looking at the spirit a bit surprised “What!? What do you mean? Answer me!” Ixis said impatiently as he then looked frustrated “Did you really think the tomb was where the Quantum Dial is? As much entertaining as it is to watch you wander about aimlessly, I can’t take your idiocy anymore” Nusgau said “It’s not where the Dial is? Then where is it?!” Ixis said even more impatiently.

“Well first of all, the hint wasn’t directed to the preservation or destruction of Mobius. It was actually referring to the preservation or destruction of the Order of Ixis. Which means…” Nusgau said, before pausing to leave Ixis to figure out the rest “...It’s at the site of the order’s final battle against the Albion Knights” Ixis said “Bravo! You finally figured it out” Nusgau said “And lucky for you, the battle site’s not that far from here” He added as he pointed to the east “Just several miles that way, and you should get there… eventually” Nusgau said.

“Excellent! And what about the entrance itself?” Ixis asked “Oh no, in truth we only knew where the area the entrance was in. Where the actual entrance itself is however, we don’t know… but it should be easy” Nusgau said “Ugh… whatever, it’s a start at least… now get out of my sight!” Ixis said, still frustrated as Nusgau grinned “Careful with your tongue Ixis, you wouldn’t want your mutations to get worse now, do you?” He said, which brought Ixis to a frozen silence “Hehe, that’s what I thought… now get going, the new Order of Ixis awaits!” Nusgau said, as he suddenly disappeared from view.

“‘Careful with my tongue’... I’ll give him a good reason to hold his” Ixis thought to himself as he began making his way east of the Dial’s crater, still frustrated that he wasted some of his time searching in the wrong area. Seeing him make his way east, Silver and his companions began moving as well in secret from afar as to not get Ixis’ attention.

As he was walking through the long journey to the final battle site of the Forgotten War, Ixis’ mutations were getting noticeably worse as he still kept a fireball in his hand to keep himself from being frozen in the snowy wastelands of the Southern Tundra “The mutations are getting worse with each passing minute, and this dreaded blizzard isn’t making my situation greater… if it keeps up, it’s going to start affecting my health” Ixis thought to himself as he was walking, still unknowingly being followed by Silver and his companions.

***About a few hours (and some quick breaks) later…***

After traveling that seemed to be several miles of harsh blizzards and snowy wastelands, Ixis had finally saw something from afar. It looked to be some kind of statue of Ixis Mogul (or Mammoth Mogul as most know him nowadays) himself, though it looked ruined. As he got closer, he saw various other buildings in ruin that gave the impression that a war had occurred there… finally, he had made it.

“Finally… the final battle site… now I just got to find the entrance and get that Eldritch Rite book to manipulate the forces of the Republic of Acorn” He thought to himself as he began searching “And by crippling them with their own armies, the Order of Ixis can begin anew, with me as their master!” He added in his thoughts as he searched the ruins.

Once again, unknown to him, he was watched from afar by Silver and his companions, though this time they managed to sneak their way on separate rooftops; specifically Silver and Larry were on one rooftop as Lyco and Leeta were on another not too far from them, while Ixis was searching for the entrance, getting increasingly frustrated as he searched inside and out for the Ixis Vale’s hidden ritual chamber.

After about fifteen minutes of searching the ruined battlefield, finding nothing but snow, debris, and occasional bones of the fallen participants in the battle that were left lying in the snow, Ixis found himself standing near the ruined statue of Ixis Mogul, as his mutations were worsening even more. “I’ve checked… every inch of this forsaken battleground… but I’m left with nothing!” Ixis thought to himself as he then looked up at the ruined statue.

“Where!? Where did you give Vale that Eldritch Rite!? And why did it have to be in such a dreaded wasteland such as this!?” Ixis shouted at the Ixis Mogul statue as he looked up at it in anger, unknowingly being overheard by Silver and co. “I can’t believe I ever swore my allegiance to you, you dreaded immortal monstrosity!” He again shouted as he suddenly swung his staff at the base of the statue in a sideways motion… a small circular opening quickly cracking open where the staff hit almost immediately afterwards.

“...Wait, what?” Ixis said to himself, a bit confused as he saw the little opening he made in the base of the statue before he knelt down to it’s level. As he looked inside the opening, he saw what appeared to be a little switch in the middle of the opening “A concealed switch? ...Vale, you clever crow!” Ixis exclaimed as he flipped over the switch with his right hand.

Suddenly the statue began to rumble a bit as Ixis took his hand out of the opening the watch the statue shake. To his astonishment, the statue then moved backwards a bit, revealing an underground passageway via a spiral staircase “...So you found the chamber” A voice said to Naugus as he turned around, the spirits of Agunus and Suguna appearing before him “Yes, with little help from you two!” Ixis said, impatient.

“It doesn’t matter now” Suguna said “What does matter now is that you get the Eldritch Rite from the chamber, and use it along with your Magicks to claim the minds of the Republic of Acorn’s military” Agunus said “And along with them, their leading general” Suguna said “...Amadeus Prower” Ixis said “Yes. Now go forth, my- … **Your** future order awaits” Agunus said, before the two spirits disappeared once more.

“...Hmph, don’t have to tell me twice!” Ixis said before he made his way down the spiral staircase. As he was making his way downwards, the statue began to move back into place… until it stopped, only halfway closed. On one of the rooftops, Silver had extended his right hand towards to statue, using his Psychokinesis to keep the statue from moving further. As he was doing that, he floated down to the statue using the same power while keeping the statue in-place.

A minute had passed when Larry, Lyco, and Leeta came down to the statue with Silver as he was keeping it from closing “One of us needs to stay behind, in case things go south” Silver said to the others “I can stay behind if you guys want” Larry said to them “Are you sure?” Leeta asked him “Yeah. Kind of better that way, so my bad luck doesn’t get to you guys” He replied with a slight chuckle “If you insist Larry, just make sure you’re out of sight” Lyco said, Larry nodding in response.

“Okay, let’s go then” Silver said as he kept his hand out towards the statue, Lyco and Leeta walking down the staircase, Silver following them down as he then allowed the statue to move back into its place. Watching the statue move back into place, Larry made his way back up to the rooftop he and Silver had hid in previously to keep his eyes on the statue, remaining out of sight.

***Meanwhile, deep within the Ritual Chamber…***

Ixis had at this point made it down the flight of stairs as he was now progressing through a hallway that was barely lit up with torches, as well as another fireball in his hand as it was still cold down there, but not as much as it was on the surface. His mutations were actually getting a bit better, though it was still a hassle to deal with for him “Almost there… and then the Eldritch Rite is mine… luckily for me, this place doesn’t have any traps as far as I know of...” He thought to himself as he progressing.

About a few minutes later, and Ixis approached what seemed to be an ancient looking door as it had a keyhole the shape of an emerald “A keyhole? Wait… it’s in the shape of…” Ixis thought to himself before he looked over to his staff that was held with his claw, said staff having his purple Chaos Emerald attached to it “...The emerald is the key?” He thought to himself as he looked back at the keyhole.

As such, he took his staff and inserted the emerald attached to it into the keyhole, twisting it a bit to the right before taking it out and a loud “Click!” being heard afterwards. Soon, the door opened up as it slid upwards, allowing Ixis further passage as he walked through the doorway, the door itself remaining open.

When Ixis went through the doorway, he had entered a room… but to him, it wasn’t just any room. The room’s floor and walls were that of stone with some torches here and there that lit up the room itself, along with a couple of rather old statues of Ixis Vale herself, several empty bookcases, and a pedestal in the middle of the room that had a book flat on it’s side… he was in the Ritual Chamber, and had found the Eldritch Rite!

“Yes… yes! I finally found it! The Republic of Acorn is now mine for the taking!” Ixis said in sheer excitement as he walked up to the pedestal and opening the book that was on it to view the contents inside with his right hand, while his staff was held by his left cla “Yes, this is definitely it! And from the looks of it, it’s powerful enough the takeover the majority of the Republic’s military forces and its commanding general by itself!” Ixis again said as he was looking through the contents of the Eldritch Rite.

“I just need to get it back to Westside Island without opposition, the range here is too great to do it here” Ixis said as he faced one of the statues of Ixis Vale, giving a slight nod to it before he turned around… before he was suddenly thrown against the stone wall as he hit his back, still holding the book and staff  “Urgh! What in the!?” Ixis shouted “Sorry, what was that last part about opposition?” A voice said to him as Ixis looked at who it was… it was Silver, as he had his hand extended forward as he had used his Psychokinesis to throw Ixis into the wall. Lyco and Leeta were besides him as well.

“What!? You again?!” Ixis shouted as he remembered the face of Silver, and although Lyco and Leeta’s faces were concealed by their facemasks, he remembered them as well... though he didn’t exactly know their identities “Ergh… you may have bested me last time…” Ixis said to them, before he extended his staff towards them, the chaos emerald glowing as it then shot out a beam of energy at Silver “But you won’t stop me here!” He exclaimed.

Seeing the beam of energy shot towards him, Silver pointed his extended hand at the beam, using his psychokinesis to hold it in place “Agents Queen of Hearts and Diamonds, get that book from him!” Silver said as he held the beam “We’re on it!” Leeta said as she and Lyco suddenly charged forward towards Ixis, who still had his back against the wall as he stood up, dropping the book from his right hand onto the ground, as he extended it towards the two.

“You’ll never get the Eldritch Rite from me!” Ixis shouted, as a sudden rush of strong wind came at Lyco and Leeta, halting their charge and pushing them back as the wind was too strong for them to move forward. Silver then stepped to the right, allowing the beam of energy he was holding back to shoot right past him, before he extended his hand towards the book, using his psychokinesis to pull it to him.

Seeing the book being pulled towards Silver, Ixis extended his right hand towards Silver, the strong blow of wind disappearing as he shot out flames from his hand, akin to how a flamethrower would do as Silver had to redirect his attention to the flames being shot out at him, causing the book to fall down back on the ground as he redirected the flames upwards to the ceiling. Leeta took this chance to grab the book as she rolled underneath the flames being shot out, before managing to grab the book.

“I got it!” Leeta said as she had her right knee knelt down on the floor while looking at Silver “Good! Get it out of here!” He said to her as he kept the flames away from him, Leeta nodding as she made her way to the exit… just before she was home free however, the exit was blocked by a wall of stone that suddenly appeared before her “You aren’t going anywhere with that Rite!” Ixis said as he had his hand extended to Leeta, having his claw shooting out the flames instead as his staff was on the ground, before he picked it back up with his hand.

“Damn it, he’s locked us in here with him!” Leeta said as she faced Silver. But before Silver could respond, Lyco charged forward towards Ixis suddenly, the latter of which realizing too late that the former was charging, allowing Lyco to get a punch in on the side of Ixis’ face, almost knocking him down on the floor as he managed to balance his footing by using his staff to support him, but the flames being shot out of the claw had stopped. This in turn allowed Silver to use his psychokinesis to lift Ixis up to launch him towards Leeta, who was preparing to strike Ixis in the mid-chest region.

To their surprise however, just before Leeta could land her strike on Ixis, he had suddenly disappeared from view, only to reappear in front of Silver as he used his Shadow Meld ability to teleport in front of him, using the speed he was going at from Silver’s telekinetic pull to crash into him as Silver fell on his back on the ground, with Ixis landing on top of him. Quick on his actions, Ixis quickly used this opportunity to grab Silver once he got off him, while noticing Leeta charging at him to get him off Silver, only for the latter to get thrown at her by Ixis as she was caught off-guard.

Silver collided into the front of Leeta as both fell down on the ground… Leeta letting go of the book in the process! Seeing the two fall down on the ground, Lyco quickly sprang into action as the book was still in mid-air as she reached out to grab it. However, her efforts were soon put in vain as she was suddenly pushed back by a strong force of wind, while a different gust of wind launched the book in the opposite direction. Lyco could only watch as Ixis caught the book with his hand, as he had quickly put his staff in his claw as he looked at the three Secret Freedom Fighters.

“Farewell, Interlopers!” Ixis said as he grinned at the three, before he used Shadow Meld to teleport on the other side of the wall of stone that was brought up earlier, getting away with the Eldritch Rite in hand. “No!” Lyco exclaimed as she saw Ixis get away, while Ixis and Leeta were just now recovering from the previous attack Ixis did to them “Did he get away?!” Silver asked as he didn’t see Ixis in the room any longer, Lyco turning to face him “The wizard used teleportation to escape, the coward!” She said before facing the stone wall blocking their passage “What’s worse is that we’re trapped in here!” She added.

“Not if I crush the wall” Silver replied as he extended his hand towards the wall, before making a gripping motion with his hand as the stone wall shook, and then shattered from the force of his Psychokinesis, allowing them passage once more. “Quick, before he gets away!” Leeta said as she rushed out of the exit, Silver and Lyco not too far behind as they quickly followed. In a matter of minutes, they would be back up at the surface, with no sign of Ixis being seen.

“Where did he go?!” Leeta asked aloud as she and the others were looking around the ruins of the battleground. It soon became clear to them… Ixis didn’t just teleport to the other side of the wall… but out of the area as well. Wherever he was, he already had a headstart from them. “He’s gone!” Silver said as he smashed his fist on the ground “He could be miles ahead of us by now, there’s nothing we can do” Lyco said.

“What happened?” A voice asked the three as they turned to face whoever spoke, the person being Larry as he was running up to the group “Ixis, he… he got away with an Eldritch Rite” Leeta said to him “He got away?! We need to go after him!” Larry said “He’s got a headstart on us, we’ll never catch him…” Silver said as he was looking down on the ground “Well we got to at least warn Harvey about it so he could have Agents King and Jack deal with him” Larry said.

“Right, we can at least give them some warning” Lyco said as she looked at Silver, who nodded to her as he put his hand on his right ear, an earpiece being in said ear as he attempted to contact Secret HQ. After a half minute passed, he would get a response “Agent Ace, how goes the mission?” A voice asked him “It’s… not going good. Ixis got away with an Eldritch Rite” Silver replied.

“He has another one? Did he get it while venturing through the Southern Tundra?” The voice asked “Yes, in some kind of ritual chamber. We tried to stop him from escaping, but he overpowered us and escaped… he’s probably on his way now” Silver said “Then the people of the Republic are at risk. Knowing his last attempt, he’s going to try to take over the minds of the citizens in New Mobotropolis. I’ll get Agents Jack and King ready, you four return to the city as fast as possible” The voice said.

“With respect, can the six of us stop him on our own? I mean he’s probably already halfway there” Silver said “Hm… perhaps not. But I know where we can get some help” The voice said “You have someone that can help us?” Silver asked “Yes. In fact, he’s already helping out a couple of our councilors as we speak” The voice said “...Wait, what? Harvey, who are you talking about?” Silver asked “I’m speaking of the Zarvokian faction leader himself, Agent Ace... The former royal general: Adex” The voice replied.

## Part Two: Smashing Acorns

***Republic of Acorn city of New Mobotropolis; several minutes later…***

The personal aircraft of Ixis Naugus soared overhead the city as it made its way to the airport, getting clearance from the air traffic control tower to land as the jet proceeded with it’s landing down one of the airport’s runways. A few seconds after the jet had came to a complete stop, a door opened from the side as Ixis exited the aircraft, his mutations not being visible as he was doing his best to hold them back in for the sake of public appearance.

As he walked out, he had the book in his hand while the staff in his claw as he made his way out of the airport “Finally, the Republic is in my grasp. Most of the troops have been notified at the garrison of an address I will make… little did they know, they’re going to be under my mind control once I read the Eldritch” Ixis thought to himself as he had a smirk on his face, while he was walking over to the military garrison of the city that housed many Royal Army troops and hardware.

About a few minutes passed before Ixis entered the garrison as he saw divisions upon divisions of troops gathered for the “address” that Ixis was going to make, all of which were standing in front of platform with the Republic’s logo on it. Ixis made his way on top of the platform as he stood before the troops, standing behind a pedestal with a microphone, the troops looking up at him at attention.

One of the troops at the very front of the others then walked over to the top of the, looking to be a male brown furred fox with blue eyes although the left was covered by an eye-patch as he wore an Acorn commanding officer outfit. He approached Ixis from the side and gave a quick military salute “King Naugus, all of the able bodies of the garrison have been assembled for your address” The fox said.

“Very good, Amadeus. Now get down there with the rest of your men” Ixis replied as he placed the book on the pedestal, opening it a bit as the fox named Amadeus nodded, before he stepped off the platform to stand with his fellow troops. Ixis kept his eyes on Amadeus as he walked over to the rest of the troops, before he quietly cleared his throat and gave a loud tap with his staff, as to signal that the address was about to begin.

“Loyal forces of the Royal Army, all of you have gathered today for a very important reason” Ixis spoke into the microphone as the troops in the garrison paid their full attention to Ixis as he was making his address “And that reason is…” Ixis spoke before he glanced down at the book… before he began to speak in an unrecognizable language, confusing most if not all of those listening to him… little did they all know, he was speaking the words necessary to activate the effects of the Eldritch Rite.

Soon enough, the book he was reading from began to shine a glowing green light from it as he progressed with the enchanting, showing complete concentration as he was doing so. “King Naugus, what’s the meaning of this?!” Amadeus asked out of concern but only to receive no answer as Ixis was speaking “...Your minds… are mine!” Ixis said with a wide smirk as the book glowed brighter, before he continued speaking in the unknown language.

“Wha- AUUUGH!” Amadeus said before he felt a very sharp pain in his head, as he held his head from instinct and knelt down on one knee. “General, are you oka- AGGH!” A soldier was about to ask before he felt the same pain as well “Quick, someone sto- AAAAH!” Another spoke as he was about to point his weapon at Ixis before she too, succumbed to the same pain in their head. Soon, just about every troop gathered was feeling a sharp pain in their head, as Ixis was taking control of their minds, some troops even kneeling down and collapsing on the ground from the sheer pain.

After about a half minute but seemed like hours, Ixis stopped speaking in the language as he closed the book and looked over to the many troops that had succumbed to the Eldritch Rite’s effects, as the last of the pained screaming were dying down before complete silence filled the garrison, some of the troops on the ground, others kneeling or standing.

Ixis then turned over to look over at Amadeus, who was still knelt down on one knee as his back was facing Ixis “General… rise, and face me” Ixis said with a smirk. Slowly, Amadeus rose to stand and turn around, facing Ixis as while his eyes were still blue, there was a quite noticeable slight green glow around the irises… there was no mistaking it now, Ixis’ mind control had worked.

Ixis could only grin in joy as he looked over at the rest of the troops, assuming they too were under his control “All of you, rise! Rise, and face your master!” He said to the troops before him. With no hesitation, all of the gathered troops that were on the ground or knelt down had stood up, almost in sync as they all faced Ixis in attention “Yes, yes! The city’s entire military garrison and the famous General Amadeus is under my control!” Ixis thought to himself as he looked at the troops before him “Now, that address…” Ixis thought to himself before he once again cleared his throat and tapping his staff.

“Loyal subjects of the new Order of Ixis, you all have been brought here for a very important reason” Ixis said as he grin grew widen “And that is to exact dominance over the entire Republic of Acorn, starting with its capital of New Mobotropolis! First we’ll march into the streets, causing as much chaos and panic as we can, before we storm into Castle Acorn and overthrow the Council of Acorn, and declare me as the sole leader of the land!” Ixis said to his mind-controlled subjects before he faced down at Amadeus.

“You’ll be leading one half of the force while the others are with me. I want you to make sure that you show no mercy to anyone or anything standing in your way. You are to secure the city while I march to Castle Acorn, got it?” Ixis said as he gave Amadeus his orders “Yes, Master Naugus… no mercy to anyone or anything standing…” Amadeus said in a trance-like state as Ixis grinned “Good” He mouthed before looking at the troops.

“Gather all of your equipment, we move ahead with our conquest in half a hour! Understood!?” Ixis said to the other troops in the garrison “Yes, Master Ixis Naugus!” The troops said in sync “Good! Now get going!” Ixis said as he extended his staff forward to point to the armories and vehicle bays of the garrison, as the troops gave a military salute in unison, before they all marched over to the armories and vehicle bays to gather their equipment and man the vehicles as ordered.

“Grab your gear as Master Naugus instructed, come on let’s get a move on!” Amadeus shouted to the troops in his command as they were gathering their weapons from the armory, while mechanic crews were preparing up the vehicles for the operators to use. Ixis was watching as his mind-controlled troops were preparing for the takeover of New Mobotropolis “Yes… at this rate, not even the Freedom Fighters can stop me now” Ixis said with a snicker.

***Meanwhile, at the Zarvokian installation of Fort Zarvok; Downunda; twenty-five minutes later…***

In one of the many buildings of the Zarvokian RnD Department, there was a special project taking place in said building as a group of scientists and engineers were in a room, as they were working on some kind of automaton that resembled a blue hedgehog… upon further inspection however, it looked to be a Metal Sonic Trooper, as the automaton was actually almost finished with construction. Though this one had a few noticeable differences as he had a captain’s insignia on it’s left shoulder pad and had the Acorn logo on it’s right.

Watching from a blast resistant window in another room stood Acorn councilors Isabella Mongoose and Sir Charles Hedgehog, along with the Zarvokian faction leader Adex Zarvok Burns as the three were watching the development of the improved Metal Sonic Trooper. At Adex’s side though was a fourth individual, a female violet furred hedgehog with shining dark green eyes who was wearing casual clothing, and oddly enough an eyepatch on her left eye and a pirate hat. She actually had an arm around Adex as well, while she too watched.

“Do you think our improvements will help them, Adex?” The violet hedgehog said as she was looking out the window “...I have no doubts in the RnD’s capabilities, Nora” Adex replied to the hedgehog, before he glanced over to Charles and Isabella “They should be finished momentarily, just the finishing touches” He said to them “To think… that I would see one of these active again never came across my mind until now” Sir Charles said as he glanced back at Adex “And thanks to your help, I’m actually glad to see them used for the good will of the Republic” He added, as Adex cracked a slight smile as he gave an acknowledging nod.

“Oh! I think they’re done now” Isabella said as she was still watching the Zarvokian RnD team insert the finishing touch to the Metal Sonic Trooper; the chip necessary to make the automaton harder to hack, as well as provide it with all of its essential programming. The RnD team then backed up from the automaton as one of them, the leading individual of the team from the looks of it, held out a remote before pressing a button on said remote. Almost instantly, the automaton’s red glowing eyes flickered on, before it slowly rose it’s head.

“They activated it” Nora said as she and the others watched the Metal Sonic Trooper watched it look around it’s surroundings “MT-0000, face me please” The leader of the RnD team said to the Metal Sonic Trooper as it turned to face him “MT-0000, please state your designation and your directives” The leader said to the Metal Sonic Trooper as it kept looking at him.

*“...Designation: MT-0000 ‘Captain Metal’. Primary Objectives: Protect every and all law-abiding citizen of the Republic of Acorn, and bring down anyone willing to bring harm and/or destruction to the Republic as necessarily instructed”* The Metal Sonic Trooper said “Very good, Captain Metal. Are all systems optimal?” The RnD leader asked *“Affirmative”* Captain Metal mouthed “Then approach at your will, please” The RnD leader said.

At his command, Captain Metal approached the leader with slow steps as it looked at him “Good. Will you strike me or anyone in this room down?” The RnD Leader asked *“Negative, unless they are an active threat”* Captain Metal said “Very good. I will allow the others to take it from here then” The RnD Leader said before he looked over to the others that were watching from the blast-resistant window “You're good to enter!” He said to them.

“The Trooper is safe then?” Isabella asked “Indeed, it won’t harm you or anyone else unless it detects a threat. As such... let us greet it” Adex replied as he and Nora were the first to walk into the room, Sir Charles and Isabella following soon after as most of the RnD team leaving the room, with only the leader staying as the four entered and approached Captain Metal, who turned to face them when they approached.

*“...Creator”* Captain Metal mouthed to Sir Charles upon seeing him, before lowering his head and slightly bending his right knee *“I apologize for the actions of the hundred Metal Sonic Troopers that came before me.”* He said, which Sir Charles had a surprised look on his face “Y-You don’t need to be sorry, Captain, none of us could have seen it coming” Sir Charles said in a forgiving tone as Captain Metal stood and raised his head *“It is a pleasure to serve you and the Republic once more, Creator”* Captain Metal said.

“...Adex, he knows about what happened?” Isabella asked him in a whisper as he turned to face her “It appears so… to tell the truth, I didn’t really expect him to” Adex replied back in a whisper “I guess it must of came with the programming, somehow” Nora commented silently to them before Sir Charles and Captain Metal looked over to the three “I can’t thank you enough Adex, you just gave these old bones more room to breathe” Sir Charles said, smiling.

“It’s no problem at all, Charles” Adex replied “By the way, the Federations is willing to replace the hundred Metal Sonic Troopers destroyed in the past, but after that I’m afraid you’ll have to construct more on your own” He added “That’s completely fine” Isabella said “We’ll take it slow and easy at first with the hundred, see how it goes” Sir Charles said “Very well, do you want to stay until the others are constructed?” Adex offered “We can’t unfortunately, we need to attend to our duties as the Republic’s councilors” Isabella said.

“We understand. But at least let us give you a ride“ Nora said with a joking smile “Ha, will do” Sir Charles replied “I will accompany the councilors” Captain Metal said aloud “Okay then… we better get you back to-” Adex said before he cut himself off when noticing someone enter the room, looking to be a taller than average Mobian that wore a Zarvokian Primary Infantrymen uniform “Faction Leader” The infantrymen said to Adex as the others looked at the individual.

“Hm? Do you have anything to report?” Adex asked the Infantrymen “Actually, I came for a different reason” The infantrymen mouthed before he raised both of their hands to their helmet, before taking it off and holding it on their right side, revealing the head of a brown, cream, and black feathered Mobian owl with an orange beak and brown eyes as he looked at Adex and the others. Immediately, Sir Charles recognized the owl as he looked generally surprised but remained silent, while Nora and Isabella were a bit confused to see the owl.

Adex blinked a few times when the owl took off his helmet, but then the realization struck his head “Hold on, aren’t you... Harvey Who? The head of the Republic’s Secret Service?” He asked “I was the head of the Secret Service when Maximilian was in charge and the Republic was still a kingdom, before I stepped down when Robotnik took over during his coup” The owl said “Oh… well, with time comes change I guess” Adex said “Wait, why are you in a Zarvokian infantrymen uniform?” Nora asked Harvey.

“It is a disguise that I used so I wouldn’t attract attention to myself when I came looking for Adex… I needed to speak to him personally regarding a serious matter” Harvey said “...Oh? Well, you could have just asked to talk with me personally, but I guess you have your reasons” Adex said “Secrecy, Adex, that is the main reason why I didn’t ask openly” Harvey replied “I see. Well, I guess since we’re here we might as well cut to the chase… if you two don’t mind” Adex said, glancing at Isabella and Sir Charles “Oh no, you’re fine Adex” Sir Charles replied, Isabella nodding in confirmation.

“Alright… well, what do you need to speak to me about, Harvey?” Adex asked, facing Harvey “I need to ask for a big favor from you” Harvey said “A favor? What sort of favor?” Adex asked, tilting his head slightly to the left “I need you to lend assistance Secret Freedom Fighters at New Mobotropolis with an available force of yours” Harvey said, as Adex and Nora’s eyes widened a bit “That’s a very big favor to send troops, Harvey” Nora said “Indeed… what’s the issue, is the city under attack or something?” Adex asked.

“It’s going to be, from Ixis Naugus. Or should I say King Naugus?” Harvey said, as Sir Charles and Isabella were taken by surprise “The king is going to attack his own city? Why would he do that?” Isabella asked “It’s simple, he wants complete authority over the entire Republic” Harvey replied “He’s right Isabella, Naugus wants nothing more but power for his own intent… but why decide to act now?” Sir Charles asked Harvey.

“Very recently he went to the Southern Tundra to acquire what’s called an Eldritch Rite… I dispatched most of the Secret Freedom Fighters to stop him, but he escaped… and as much as I wanted to chew them out for it, I kept calm about the situation” Harvey replied “An Eldritch Rite?” Nora asked “They’re incantations that allow the user to impose mind control… I thought the last one was destroyed by the Secret Freedom Fighters when Naugus tried a previous attempt a year ago, but it appears I was wrong” Harvey said.

“...Mind control? He’s going to take control of New Mobotropolis?” Adex asked “Could be, but I suspect he’s going for it’s military garrison after he failed to take control of the council in his previous attempt” Harvey said “The military? Why would he go after them instead of going after the council again?” Nora asked “...He must’ve thought someone would have tried to alert them of his attempt if he was found out… it’s easier to safeguard six councilors than an entire military garrison” Adex said “But either way if he took control of the council or military, it would be disastrous” Isabella said.

“Mhm… but back to the topic at hand, I can’t just send in forces over to New Mobotropolis out of nowhere Harvey, otherwise that’ll cause suspicion and panic of the citizens there. I need to wait until some kind of action is m-” Adex said, before he was cut off by a noise coming from Sir Charles, sounding like some kind of intense beeping as everyone looked at him suddenly. Knowing exactly what that noise was, Sir Charles reached down somewhere in one of his pockets, before pulling out what seemed to be a small grey laptop-like device as the beeping stopped once he pulled it out.

“You brought Nicole, Charles?” Harvey asked him “In case anything happened at New Mobotropolis, I had Nicole come along since she could keep an eye on the city even when away… that, and she wanted to come along” Sir Charles said, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand “...You brought the A.I? ...Er... apologies, I meant to say Nicole” Adex said as he looked at the little laptop “You’re good, and yes I brought her… sorry for not telling you sooner Adex” Sir Charles said, with Adex giving a forgiving gesture with his hand.

At that moment, a small hologram was projected from the laptop, taking the appearance of a brown furred female Mobian lynx with green eyes, black hair that wore a purple single-shoulder wrap dress, who had a worried expression on her face, which was quickly noticed by the others “...Miss Nicole, you look concerned, what’s wr-” Adex said to the hologram, before he was cut off when she turned to face the five of them.

“Something is going on at New Mobotropolis!” Nicole said in a worried tone “What’s happening?” Isabella asked her “There are helicopters in the skies and there’s troops in the streets with jeeps and tanks… our own forces are firing at everything in sight, including the citizens, and my nanites can’t hold them off for much longer!” Nicole said worryingly “Nicole, calm down, who’s leading the attack?” Nora asked in a soft tone in an attempt to calm her down.

“I… I don’t know. They all look coordinated but I haven’t seen… wait, I see someone” Nicole said, calmed down from Nora’s tone before she managed to catch sight on something in the city “I… I see Naugus down there, he’s commanding them!“ Nicole said “So he did go for the garrison like I thought...“ Harvey said aloud as he faced Adex “He has troops attacking the city and its people, is that enough action for you to intervene?” He asked.

“...More than enough. An attack on an ally is an attack on the Zarvok Federations itself” Adex replied before he faced Nicole “Miss Nicole, where is Naugus at in the city?” He asked “He just came from the garrison, but I don’t… hold on… the army is splitting into two groups” Nicole said as she still had eyes in the city “Two groups? Why would he split up his army?” Isabella asked “He has two goals in mind it seems. Do you know where they’re headed?” Harvey asked Nicole.

“Let me look, give me a second” Nicole replied as she went into concentration “...I see them. One group has its forces spreading out throughout the city while the second one is all heading towards… Castle Acorn!?” Nicole said, a bit shocked “His motives are clear now, he wants to overthrow the council and claim New Mobotropolis for himself” Sir Charles “...Then he must be stopped” Adex said.

“Do we have a force that can be deployed?” Nora asked “...The Madison Battalion is deployable. I’ll give Commander Madison a call and tell her to mobilize her forces immediately” Adex replied “Should your children participate too, Adex?” Isabella asked “...No. They are still recovering from the conflict with the Black Arms. I refuse to let them participate in the battle” Adex said to her “Okay, was just asking” Isabella said to him.

“Nicole, a thought just came to me, where are the Freedom Fighters?” Harvey asked Nicole “They’re not on Westside Island, they’re all over at Yurashia” Nicole replied “They’re on a mission? Timing isn’t on our side, apparently” Harvey said, sighing a bit “It appears like that… give me a minute to have Madison mobilize her forces” Adex said as he turned around to walk away from the group a bit, sliding down what appeared to be aviator glasses what was in actuality his BFT-HUD as he prepared to contact Commander Madison.

“Nicole, how far has Naugus’ forces gotten through the city?” Isabella asked “Hold on, let me check… the group heading to the castle is almost there, and the other group has almost half of New Mobotropolis in their control. They just captured King Frederick Airport and it won’t be long until they reach the Coliseum” Nicole replied, as Isabella gave a worried expression to her “Isn’t the Forget Me Knots holding a concern there today?” She asked.

“They are, but it isn’t due for another few minutes until they finish their preparations” Nicole said “Nicole, you need to get my daughter and everyone else out of there!” Isabella said with worry “Don’t worry Isabella, I’m already addressing an evacuation order to the rest of the city, they should have gotten it by now” Nicole said “But they could still get caught in their attack” Nora pointed out before Sir Charles looked at Harvey “Harvey, you said you sent most of the Secret Freedom Fighters, right? Who did you send?” He asked.

“I sent Agents Ace, Agents Queen of Hearts and Diamonds, and Agent Joker. They should be making their way back to Westside now” Harvey replied “What about Agents King and Jack?” Sir Charles asked “They should already be assisting in the city’s evacuation, right Nicole?” Harvey said while turning to face Nicole “Yes I can see them now, Agent King is over at Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital while Sh-... Agent Jack is making his way to the Coliseum” Nicole replied.

“They should buy some time for Adex’s forces to arrive, but not for long” Harvey said “...Speaking of which” Adex said to them as he was walking back to them, his BFT-HUD back on his forehead, the others turning to face him as he did “Commander Madison has been briefed about the situation. She is mobilizing her forces on the ZFAS Seratord now… for your safety, I suggest the four of you stay here” He said.

“Wait, four?” Sir Charles asked, confused “Yes, four. I’m referring to you three and Nora” Adex replied “Wait, why me?” Nora asked, also confused “...Because I’m going with Madison, and I’d prefer you stay here” Adex said, before Nora gave a laugh as if he was crazy “Like I’m going to stay behind while you charge head first into a warzone!“ She said “...Thought so. Oh well, guess I’m not going to stop you then” Adex said with a smirk, as if he expected this answer in the first place “You better not, either” Nora replied with a smile… and a playful punch on his left shoulder.

*“I will accompany you to the city as well”* Captain Metal said suddenly to them as the others faced him “...Oh? Well, that’s to be expected at least” Adex said “You are ready to fight, right?” Sir Charles asked Captain Metal *“Combat protocols are prepped and weapon systems primed. I am ready to defend New Mobotropolis with the given command”* Captain Metal replied “Well if you say you’re ready, I won’t object… if Adex is alright with it” Sir Charles said “I don’t mind... in fact i’m curious to see a Metal Sonic Trooper in combat” Adex replied.

“Since you’re fine with it. Captain Metal, I want you to accompany Adex and Nora to New Mobotropolis and help to fight Naugus” Sir Charles said to Captain Metal *“Orders received and confirmed”* Captain Metal “In the meantime we’ll stay here, be careful out there you three” Isabella said to them “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t… Nicole, where’s a suitable place for Zarvokian forces to land?” Adex said before turning to Nicole.

“Either the Civic Center or Marketplace will have to do I’m afraid Adex, but I can help you with that” Nicole replied “Very well, let’s get a move on then” Adex said as Nicole nodded “I’ll meet you there at the city, but please hurry!” She said “Then let’s not waste time” Adex said before facing Nora and Captain Metal, the former nodding before the three ran out of the room, Nicole’s holographic projection disappearing as they did while the others watched “I hope they’ll be able to stop Naugus” Sir Charles said “We’ll have to wait and see. That’s all we can do for now at this point” Harvey replied.

***Back at New Mobotropolis, in the streets near Castle Acorn…***

The assault done by Ixis Naugus’ mind-controlled forces was reaching full swing as the group led by Amadeus was taking New Mobotropolis city-block by city-block, opening fire at any citizen in sight while they were fleeing in a mass panic, while parts of the city not yet under attack were given an evacuation order by Nicole once the attack started. The group led by Naugus, which all consisted of infantry, would also be shooting at anything in their path, as they were marching straight to Castle Acorn, which was becoming closer into view as they got close.

Ixis Naugus himself, as he was right in front of the army he was personally leading, had allowed his mutations run free again to preserve his energy and, as an added bonus, look more intimidating towards anyone else that saw him “March, my loyal subjects and subordinates! We’re almost there to the Castle, where we’ll place me as the rightful ruler of the Republic of Acorn!” Ixis said to his troops as they continued their march to Castle Acorn.

Soon they would make it to Castle Acorn, Ixis Naugus standing before the castle’s gates, which were closed and prevented him entry “So they expected me to come here, well that shouldn’t matter” He said before he faced his troops “Get this gate open!” He ordered them, several of them nodding in response before they ran up to the walls of the castle, Ixis raising his claw up a bit as the troops that ran up to the wall were raised via earth platforms, which they used to hop the wall to open the gate.

Several seconds later, and the gate began to open slowly “Good! Now let’s-” Ixis said to te rest of the troops before, to his surprise, a wall had suddenly appeared in place of the gate, which had apparently formed from the city’s nanites “What!? Who dares?!” Ixis said aloud, looking around for whoever had the nanites place the wall there “I dare, Naugus!” A voice said from on top of the gate, as Ixis and the rest of the troops looked up… it was Nicole, who looked down at them with a serious expression on her face.

“You!? How have my forces not destroyed you yet?!” Ixis said in frustration “You should know by now I control the city’s automated systems Naugus, and even then they wouldn’t be able to kill me!” Nicole said back at him “You dreaded little nuisance of an A.I, stay out of my way to rightfully rule this Republic!” Ixis said, attempting to command Nicole to stand down “I’m not letting you in the castle, Naugus!” Nicole said in defiance.

“Then say goodbye to more of your precious nanites!” Ixis said with a grin, before he extended his staff towards the wall, a green beam being shot out towards it. Within seconds, the wall began turning into crystal as Nicole watched, horrified “No, stop!” She said to try to make him stop, but to no avail as Ixis grinned when the entire wall made of the nanites was covered in crystal, of which afterwards he had the wall destroyed when he used his crystallization to make the nanites disperse into a pile on the ground.

“You can’t stop my right to rule, no one can!” Ixis said to Nicole, who still looked a bit horrified before her expression went back to serious “If I can’t stop you, then I know someone else who will!” She said to him “Who, that blue quickster Sonic? Hah! Not even he and his friends can stop me at this rate!” He said as he walked past the gate with his back facing Nicole as he began to enter the castle, his troops following immediately as he did.

“No, not Sonic. I’m talking about someone else” Nicole said before Ixis entered the castle, of which the latter turned around to look up at Nicole “It doesn’t matter who you’re talking about, they’ll be crushed either way!” Ixis said in a boasting claim “You’ll see, Naugus. You’ll be knocked off of your throne when he arrives” Nicole said, before she disappeared from view “...Hmph, whoever comes for me, will be met a rather unfortunate fate” Ixis said aloud to himself as he entered Castle Acorn.

As he was walking through the halls of the castle, he noticed it was oddly empty as he looked a bit puzzled “Search the castle for the council if they’re here, I want them and anyone else eliminated on sight!” He ordered to his troops, as most of them nodded as they charged ahead to search the rooms within the castle, while some soldiers remained with Naugus to accompany him to the throne room.

Soon Ixis made it to the throne room with the accompanying soldiers at his side as he looked at the throne “Hm… doesn’t quite fit my style anymore” He said aloud before he pointed the staff towards the throne, before the same green beam used before was shot out towards the throne, before it was quickly turned into crystal “That’s better” He said with a grin, walking over to the now crystallized throne to sit down, looking at the soldiers that accompanied him.

“Stand guard here, in case anyone decides to sneak in and tries an attempt on my life!” Ixis commanded to them, as all of the soldiers nodded before they complied, standing in formation at the sides and front of the throne, keeping guard and being wary of any potential intruders. Not before long, one of the soldiers that were sent to search the rooms came into the throne room and approached Ixis, giving a salute as he stood at attention.

“Master, the entire castle has been searched” The soldier said to Ixis “Very good, did you find anything?” He asked the soldier “No master, it looks like everyone evacuated before we arrived” The soldier replied, which Ixis gave a low growl “...Whatever, that doesn’t matter now. The council can’t do anything to stop my conquest” He said, before a thought struck his head “How goes Amadeus and his forces in the city?” He asked to soldier.

“They last reported in that they are making significant gains on the city, Master… but they’re having trouble Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital and an area near the just claimed Coliseum” The soldier replied “What do you mean we’re having trouble? Those citizens should be in an utter panic right now!” Ixis said “Well Master, there is some… resistance from some people in those two areas, but they should be dealt with sooner or later” The soldier said reassuringly “So long as it’s done with and the city is captured, I don’t care” Ixis said “I’ll keep you updated, Master” The soldier said, before leaving the throne room.

“...This city and it’s republic will be mine, and I don’t care who has to say otherwise, they’ll be met with a swift end!” Ixis said as he sat on his crystal throne, with his guard of troops still at attention for intruders. The troops that had previously searched the rooms of the castle had now began securing the perimeter and taking defensive posts all around, effectively making it a stronghold.

***Meanwhile, near the Coliseum…***

As the secondary force commanded by the mind-controlled Amadeus had just captured the city’s Coliseum, a bunch of citizens were fortunate to have evacuated the coliseum in time before his forces arrived, as they were making their way out of the city in the evacuation that Nicole had instructed. Among the evacuating civilians in the very front of them were two yellow furred Mobian mongooses, one of them a male with black hair and blue eyes while the other was a female with purple hair and green eyes.

“I hope the rest of the Forget Me Knots got out of the city by now...” The female mongoose said to the male in worry, of which he looked at her “Don’t worry Mina, I’m sure they got out when the evacuation was given. I’d be on their backs right now if this wasn’t the first time they were late that helped in their evacuation from the place” The male replied with a chuckle as to lighten the mood “I guess it is a good thing they were late then” The mongoose named Mina replied, giving a soft smile in response to his lightening of the mood.

“But… what if we don’t make it out, Ash? What if one of us doesn’t make it?” She asked the male mongoose as her smile faded, who the male was named Ash as he looked over at Mina, concerned “Mina, we’ll be alright. But even if we get attacked, I’ll make sure that you’ll at least be the one that makes it out” He said, pulling Mina closer to him as his hand was around her waist, attempting to comfort her “I don’t want you to get hurt Ash, so let’s please try to get out of this unharmed” Mina replied as she held his free hand to further comfort herself.

“I’ll make sure to do that, Mina” Ash said, softly smooching her on the forehead before turning to face someone in front of him “So, how far are we until we’re out of the city?” He asked the individual in front of him, who looked to be an automaton that resembled a Metal Sonic, except this one had green eyes, a black, gold, and gray color palette, and had a green gem on his chest as well as an arm cannon where his left arm would be. When hearing Ash’s question, the automaton turned to face him.

*“Not too far, we should get there in no time”* The automaton said, giving a thumbs up to them with his right hand “Mm-hm… so, I’ve been meaning to ask, who or what exactly are you?” Ash asked the automaton *“Sorry pal, I can’t tell you. All I can say to you is that I’m Agent Jack, and I’m helping to evacuate the city under Nicole’s instructions”* The automaton said “I don’t like the secrecy… but if you’re with Nicole, then I guess we can trust you” Ash said.

*“Yeah don’t worry, so long as I’m around you don’t have to- ...Oop, hold on for a sec, gotta take this”* Agent Jack said as he looked in front of him while placing his hand on his right ear, apparently having been contacted by someone *“Yes, King? ...Uh-huh… uh-huh… Oh. Yeah that sounds pretty bad. I’ll give them a good beating they won’t forget. Thanks for the heads-up King, see you at the Hospital later!”* He said to the person he was contacted by before he turned to face Mina and Ash, along with the other citizens evacuating with them, the former two looking at him confused.

“What was that all about?” Mina asked *“Well, don’t be alarmed… but that part of the army that took over the Coliseum not too long ago is on it’s way here”* Agent Jack said as Mina, Ash, and most of the citizens behind them widened their eyes in response “They’re on their way here?!” One citizen said “Oh no, they’re gonna slaughter us!” Another citizen said “We need to run!” A third one said… everyone was about to go into a sheer panic.

*“Whoa whoa, hold on! Let’s not all panic just yet”* Agent Jack said as most of the citizens looked at him “Why shouldn’t we panic?!” One of them asked *“Because-”* Agent Jack mouthed before his previously green eyes and gem turned to a red color *“-You all got your friendly neighborhood Agent Jack here to protect you from the guys that want to hurt you”* He said with an arrogant smirk, as he held up his arm cannon with his hand, implying he was ready to fight the force that was coming.

“Can you even take them all on by yourself?” Ash asked, who was surprisingly calm while Mina was also calm, but had a frightened look on her face as well *“Well, only one way to find out”* Agent Jack replied *“But just in case, you guys might want to start running”* He added as he pointed forward with his hand. At that point, the distant sounds of helicopter rotors could be heard approaching, as well as moving wheels as everyone looked in the direction said sounds was coming from.

*“...Go! I’ll see if I can stall them!”* Agent Jack said to them all as he suddenly propelled into the air with his propulsion systems, before heading straight towards the source of the approaching army. “You heard him, let’s get out of here!” One of the citizens said before they all began to run in the opposite direction, and would have trampled Mina and Ash if they hadn’t quickly gotten out of their way “Hey, you need to watch it, you almost trampled us!” Ash said to them, which the others ignored as they ran.

At that point the sounds of distant gunfire and plasma blasts could be heard as Mina and Ash turned to glance in the distance “He’s distracting them, we need to go Ash!” Mina said to him “Right, we can make it” Ash replied as the two began running in the opposite direction, following the other citizens that already had a head start on them… to their surprise, after a few minutes of running, they heard the approach of a helicopter from behind them as they turned to look.

Just as they looked behind them, a Royal Army Transport Helicopter flew overhead, as it stopped to hover in-between them and the citizens that were ahead, right side facing Mina and Ash as they came to a stop to look up at the helicopter, while the left side faced the fleeing citizens that the helicopter crew were able to see. The helicopter’s left side door was already open as one of it’s crew members began to fire a door-mounted light laser machine gun at the fleeing citizens in an attempt to mow down as many as possible.

The helicopter’s right side door opened as Mina and Ash saw someone manning the helicopter’s other door-mounted light laser machine gun, looking to be a Royal Army soldier as he aimed the gun down at the two, aiming down the iron sights when he did. Mina’s eyes widened before closing them tight as she thought this was going to be her final moments, though Ash immediately stood in between her and the hovering helicopter as to try to protect her from any incoming fire. Was this the end, they thought?

…To their sudden surprise, just as the person manning the right door-mounted laser machine gun was about to pull the trigger and the one manning the left one already injuring several citizens and even scoring a couple of kills, a plasma blast suddenly hit the tail rotor of the helicopter, which in a single second the helicopter began to spin out of the control, the soldier manning the right laser machine gun pulling the trigger when the helicopter spun, though all of his shots missed Mina and Ash, same with the soldier on the left laser machine gun.

Mina opened her eyes before she and Ash looking at the out of control helicopter as it crashed onto the ground close to the two of them, which didn’t explode but it was assumed that all of the helicopter crew members died on impact. Hearing the helicopter crash, the citizens that weren’t shot began to help the wounded out of the city while they left those dead on the ground alone. Mina and Ash looked at each other confused, but relieved, as the former hugged the latter tightly “We’re alive!” She said, happily relieved as Ash hugged back “We are Mina! But… who shot the helicopter down?” He asked.

At that moment, Mina spotted someone in the sky as they were descending down to the pair. It was none other than Agent Jack, who then landed down next to them as his eyes and gem reverted back to green as there were a few burn marks around him, implying he got hit a few times, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired later. However it didn’t stop Mina and Ash from noticing or being concerned.

“You’re damaged… are you going to be okay?” Mina asked out of concern *“What, this?”* Agent Jack said as he pointed to his burn marks with his hand *“This is almost nothing compared to what I’ve dealt with in the past”* He said confidently “So you took them all down?” Ash asked *“Oh yeah, there wasn’t even that many to begin with, but I have to admit… they were a hassle”* Agent Jack replied *“...Didn’t I tell you two and the others to run though? Why are you still here?”* He asked.

“Well you could say the others had a head start” Ash said with a mild chuckle “Yeah, they didn’t hesitate to take off when you went to fend them off, but it’s alright” Mina said with a smile *“Well, alright. We should probably get going though before their ‘buddies’ realize that they’re gone and come for our heads”* Agent Jack said “Yeah, let’s get out of he-” Ash said… before the sound of a laser being fired was heard nearby.

The three of their eyes widened in shock, not expecting for the laser to be shot as, if everything happened in slow motion, Agent Jack turned to face the source of the laser shot, which it came from an apparent survivor of the nearby helicopter crash as he had a laser pistol pointed at the three of them. Mina however looked at Ash as his eyes were very widened in shock, before they slowly closed, falling down face first onto the ground as they closed, laying there lifeless… he had gotten shot in the back of his head.

“A-ASH!?” Mina shouted in worry as Agent Jack’s eyes and gem quickly turned red, of which he swiftly aimed his arm cannon at the soldier who was holding the laser pistol, the latter of which was about to aim at Mina to bring her the same fate as Ash before Agent Jack stopped him by firing a beam of plasma at the soldier’s upper chest, taking him down. When his eyes and gem reverted back to green upon turning to face Mina and Ash, he saw the former on her knees, tears forming in her eyes while she was shaking the latter’s body a bit.

“Ash, Ash! Please tell me you’re only faking it! Come on, this isn’t a joke!” Mina said in a very distressed tone while shaking Ash, in hope that he was still alive… to her great dismay, she realized that her boyfriend was no longer with her, of which she stopped shaking his body only to collapse onto his chest as she cried, tears running down her face as she did. While Agent Jack was incapable of crying, he was still capable of emotion due to his free will, of which he had a look of sadness on his face as he looked down at the two.

*“...We… we can’t stay here, Mina. We need to go before more of them show up”* Agent Jack said to Mina, the latter of which looked up at him, tears still running down as she did “W-We can’t leave him here, n-not with those soldiers!” She said as she held the body of Ash close to her *“Don’t worry, we won’t leave him here, not if I have anything to say about it… but we need to get you out of here”* Agent Jack said.

“I-I’m not leaving him!” Mina said in protest to this action *“You don’t have to”* Agent Jack replied, before he knelt down to her before grabbing a hold of Ash’s body before picking him up in his arms, Mina strangely not resisting to his actions as she sat there looking up at him, before facing the ground “I… It all happened too fast that… I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him” Mina said with tears still running down her face.

*“I know Mina, I know… come on, let’s get going”* Agent Jack said as he looked forward onto the path, noticing the few bodies that laid dead in the distance as well, before looking behind to see if anyone else was coming *“...On second thought Mina, we should have time to bury him and the others”* He said, walking over to the side of the path where the grass was before setting down Ash’s body on the ground. Mina would be sitting there and curled up in a ball while watching him walk over to the other bodies before placing them next to Ash one by one, which including his made a total of six.

“But… w-we don’t even have shovels” Mina said as she watched Agent Jack set down the sixth body *“We don’t need shovels”* He said as his arm cannon transformed into a drill, his eyes and gem turning red again when the drill began to spin, before he began to drill several holes into the ground right beside the bodies, before the drill reverted back to his standard arm cannon as he placed each body in their own dug hole. Afterwards, he placed his hand on his right ear as he was contacting someone.

*“Hey, Nicole… yeah can you please come over to my position real quick, I need a favor… okay”* Agent Jack said as his hand lowered to his side before turning around. At that moment, Nicole materialized in-between Agent Jack and Mina as she was facing the former “Okay I’m here, what did you need, Agent Jack?” Nicole asked Agent Jack, of which he was silent as he stepped to the side where Nicole could see the holes. When she saw the bodies, she covered her mouth with both of her hands while looking in shock.

When she noticed Mina curled up in a ball behind her after seeing Ash’s body, she immediately felt a great pity for her loss “Oh, Mina… I’m so sorry this had to happen” She said as Mina had her head in her legs, but was responsive “I-It’s not your fault Nicole, but… I wish it was me instead of him” She said as tears were still running down her face “He would have wanted you to live, Mina… just as you would have with him” Nicole replied.

*“So, um… Nicole… about that favor…”* Agent Jack said to Nicole, of which the former didn’t get to finish his request as the latter extended her hand towards the holes that had the bodies as if she already knew his request. The holes were then covered up while accompanied by a single tombstone had listed all of the names that were buried, including Ash’s “...Naugus will pay for what he’s done to this city” Nicole said a bit with ferocity and vengeance *“Hear, hear”* Agent Jack replied approvingly.

...A few seconds had passed, before the three of them heard something in the sky and looked up to see what it was. What they saw was something that looked like a circular purple vortex in the sky… in fact, it wasn’t just the three that looked up to see the vortex, but also almost everyone in the city that were outdoors had turned their attention to it, with those inside buildings looking out of their windows to see it as well.

Soon, something began to emerge from the vortex as it was coming into view. It took about ten seconds for whatever was coming out of it to completely emerge… from the looks of it, it was a large battleship in the sky that hovered above New Mobotropolis’ Civic Center. And not just any battleship, but some actually recognized the black, red, and orange color scheme of the battleship, as well as the actually model of said battleship… they recognized it as a Zarvokian Reaper X3Y Battleship, which meant… the Zarvok Federations had come!

Agent Jack gave a sharp whistle as he saw the Reaper X3Y *“Now that’s some serious firepower”* He said as Nicole looked hopeful and relieved, which Mina and Agent Jack noticed as they looked at her “Did you… ask them to help us?” Mina asked while still in her ball “I had something to do with it, but I’m just glad they arrived in time” Nicole replied while looking down at Mina *“Good thing too, I honestly didn’t think me and King could have defended this entire town by ourselves, what with the others trying to cross the Mobian Sea”* Agent Shard said.

“But you did buy them some time! Speaking of which, I need to help them land their forces in. In the meantime, get Mina out of the city and then Agent King still needs you at the memorial hospital” Nicole said *“Alright, since it’s only her I can fly her out of the city quickly to get back to King in time, no more worries here Nicole!”* Agent Jack said as he smiled at her, Nicole returning the smile as she dematerialized from view.

“Come on Mina, let’s get you to safety” Agent Jack said to Mina, who replied with a saddened nod as she gave one last look at the grave before standing up from her curled up ball. Afterwards, Agent Jack went to carry Mina in his arms, before taking off into the sky to quickly get her out of the city, being careful to not drop her in the process.

***Meanwhile, at Castle Acorn…***

One of the troops under Naugus’ command was hurryingly making his way over to where the throne room was before he bursted through the door, which prompted Ixis Naugus to look at him with a disgusted look “Do you not know it’s rude to barge into a king’s throne room like that? Unless you have news for me, then begone!” He said to the soldier “But master, I do bring news! Reports from our forces in fact!” The soldier said to him.

“Well then, what do they have to report?” Ixis asked the soldier “Well, I’m not sure you’ll like it, but… they reported of a massive warship that appeared in the sky about a couple of minutes ago” The soldier said “...WHAT!?” Ixis said furiously, before he swiftly stood from his throne before storming out of the room while being followed by the soldier, only to walk out onto one of the balconies to see if what the soldier said was true… and sure enough, Ixis saw the “massive warship in the sky”, of which he almost immediately recognized as a Zarvokian Reaper X3Y Battleship.

“Augh! So those dreaded councilors called on their allies in Downunda to come help them out!” Ixis said frustrated as he looked up at the battleship “Speaking of which master, one of our attack helicopters managed to pursue the transport carrying them and their escort, and caused it to crash land somewhere in the Badlands” The soldier said “...Oh so they did? Well at least that’s an acceptable consolation to satisfy me. Who died and who survived?” Ixis asked.

“Well from the reports of a scout helicopter we sent, all of the council members survived the crash unfortunately… but they did report that all except councilor Rosemary had sustained major injuries in the crash… weirdly enough, councilors Isabella and Sir Charles weren’t seen” The soldier replied “You only brought that up only to report they were injured and a couple missing? I’m less satisfied now” Ixis replied with a low groan as he was still looking up at the battleship

‘If you want master, we can send in a strike team to take them all out for good” The soldier suggested “No that’s not necessary, their injuries are significant enough that at least most of them will die without medical attention. Besides…” Ixis said, before he extended his staff up towards the Reaper X3Y Battleship, a glowing green sphere appearing in front of the staff, as if Ixis was charging up an attack “I’d rather have them live long enough for them to hear that their call for help was in vain” He said, before the sphere fired a wave-motion blast of crystallization at the Reaper X3Y Battleship.

The wave-motion beam fired from Ixis’ staff was, to his dismay, blocked by the Battleship’s outer plasma layer shielding, which thankfully saved the ship from being crystallized and put under his control… it did inflict some moderate damage to the shield however. “...Ugh, I can’t bring down that battleship until those shields or down!” Ixis said in frustration “They won’t dare fire on the city with the weapons on that battleship though master” The soldier reminded.

“You’re right… which means they’re forced to put troops on the ground. Tell Amadeus’ group to get ready for a fight, while the troops at the castle are to remain on guard!” Ixis ordered “It will be done, master!” The soldier said, before he ran back inside to follow his orders. As he did, Ixis looked back up to the ship “You think you can defeat us with your advanced technologies, Adex? Well think again, because this city is mine!” Ixis said aloud to himself, looking up at the battleship for a bit, before turning to walk back inside to the throne room.

## Part Three: Countering Tides

***Over at New Mobotropolis’ Civic Center…***

Over up on where the Reaper X3Y was, two larger aircraft flew out on what was the battleship’s front left hangar, while several smaller aircraft flew out of the back left hangar. The large aircraft looked to be transports capable of VTOL, with the several smaller ones (eight of them to be exact) looking to be light combat VTOL; those who recognized the models would know they were Genesis Transports and T7-N4 VTOLs, which the formers were heading towards the Civic Center, while the T7-N4s acted as their escort.

Nicole materialized within the Civic Center as she was looking up to see the transports arriving. She then extended both of her hands outwards to the sides, before a clearing was made with the nanites at her disposal by simply removing any excess space such as tables and chairs and anything that basically blocked the transport’s capability to land troops, without getting rid of any buildings or part of the buildings of course.

Several Royal Army Attack Helicopters in the area had noticed the T7-N4s and Genesis Transports approaching the Civic Center, as they all moved towards them in a V formation. In turn, the T7-N4s saw the Attack Helicopters moving in to attack, as they too began to approach. Soon the two aircrafts would be locked in a dogfight as the T7-N4s fired their plasma miniguns while the Attack Helicopters fired their laser rotary autocannons and some AAM missiles from their left missile launchers.

As the dogfight was happening, the two Genesis Transports managed to make it to the Civic Center, as they hovered above it with Nicole watching. Soon the Genesis Transports’ gravity lifts activated from beneath them, as ground forces were being deployed. One Genesis Transport was deploying infantry, a total of thirty-seven as seventeen Zarvokian Primary Infantrymen, eight Demolition Troopers, seven Close Quarters Specialists, and five Combat Medics were deployed, while the second transport deployed land vehicles, a total of five as three Seravix Assault Mechs and two MX46 Mobile Anti-Air vehicles. Thankfully there was enough room to accommodate for all of these forces.

As the last of the infantry were deployed from the first transport, three individuals came out from the gravity lift as well, before both transports began making their way back to the Reaper X3Y Battleship. Upon closer inspection of the three individuals that landed from the gravity lift, they looked to be three hedgehogs, one a male, one a female, and another an automaton… they were Adex, Nora, and Captain Metal respectively, Nora of which had changed from her casual clothing to her Zarvokian uniform, still having her eyepatch and hat though, while Adex’s attire didn’t change.

Nicole approached the three as Nora was ordering the troops to secure the Civic Center, which said troops followed her orders without hesitation as they began to secure a perimeter as Captain Metal was looking around the place, while Adex noticed Nicole approaching them. “...Ah, Miss Nicole. Thank you for clearing the way for our troops” Adex said to her “No problem, thank you for helping us” Nicole said with a grateful smile.

“So what’s the plan, Adex?” Nora asked when she turned to face him “...We have the Civic Center secured, right? We must keep it that way so if we need more troops, we’ll have a landing zone just in case. Meanwhile, we must take back the city as swiftly as possible without causing a lot of destruction, though we must not rush either” Adex replied “Alright, I’ll go lead our troops to the front lines” Nora replied, reaching for what seemed to be an advanced rifle of some kind from her back holster, which upon further inspection was her V-M21 Tesla Rifle.

“...Very well” Adex mouthed before he turned to face Captain Metal, who looked back at him “Captain Metal, I need you to assist Commander Nora at the front lines” He said *“Roger, I will help the commander with her mission”* Captain Metal said in acknowledge “Wait, what about you and Madison, dear?” Nora asked “...There are some old friends of mine within the city that I must ensure of their safety. Commander Madison on the other hand received word of a crashed transport in the Badlands that was trying to escape from the battle… she’ll be checking the wreckage for survivors” Adex replied.

“Old friends? ...Oh wait, I understand now” Nora replied as Adex nodded to acknowledge “...Once I’ve made sure things are alright, we’ll meet at King Frederick Airfield and secure it” He said “Okay dear, in the meantime I’ll take care of things here” Nora replied with a smile on her face which prompted Adex to return a slight one, before Nora turned to her troops “Okay everyone, let’s move out and retake New Mobotropolis for our allies and for the Federations!” She said, as her troops rallied “For the Federations!” They said in unison, before they all began to move out with Nora and Captain Metal in formation.

Adex and Nicole watched as the first forces of Zarvok’s landing party that were now under Nora’s command march out of the Civic Center to battle it out for the city, before the former looked over to the latter “...Nicole, do you know the whereabouts of Jules, Bernadette, Alicia, and Maximilian? As well as Rosemary and the rest of the council?” Adex asked her “Well, um… that transport you mentioned earlier had Rosemary and the council in it when I had them evacuate, so that’s where they’re at” Nicole said “...What?!” Adex mouthed in shock.

“Don’t worry Adex, I think they survived the crash. I intercepted a transmission from Naugus’ men and heard they had a scout helicopter survey the crash and saw the others were alive… injured, but alive!” Nicole said reassuringly “...Ah, I see… well that’s a relieve then somewhat… what about the others?” Adex asked “Hold on, let me check” Nicole replied before she looked through the city’s surveillance feeds to see where Jules, Bernadette, Alicia, and Maximilian were at.

“...Oh this isn’t good, Adex! Jules and Bernadette are under attack at their house, and the Acorns are at a besieged Royal Army HQ! The barricades I placed there earlier are holding, but they can’t hold out for much longer!” Nicole said worryingly “...Where is Jules and Bernadette’s house?” Adex asked her “I… It shouldn’t be that far, just a couple of blocks away, you can’t miss it... why?” Nicole asked “...Try to keep those barricades at the Royal Army HQ up for as long as possible Nicole… I’m going to make sure my friends make it out of this” Adex said as he reached behind him to pull out what looked to be an advanced shotgun of some sorts, which upon further inspection was actually his modified C-T34 Plasma Shotgun.

“Okay Adex, I’ll try” Nicole said as Adex replied with a nod, before he turned around before taking off in a sprint at half his speed, which clocked at about fifty-five miles an hour. Nicole watched him run out of the Civic Center as she looked up at the dogfight between the T7-N4s and Attack Helicopters, the former of which only having lost three while most of the latter were already destroyed “I have faith in your ability to save us from Naugus… please don’t let us down” Nicole thought to herself, before she dematerialized from view.

***Meanwhile, at Jules and Bernadette’s Residence…***

Outside the house that belonged to Jules and Bernadette hedgehog, a Royal Army Reconnaissance Jeep was parked outside as a soldier was behind the wheel, while four others were attempting to barge their way into the house by trying to knock down the door… with very little success as the four of them even tried their combined might to take the door down, but it still stood  “For the love of Ixis, what is keeping this door secure!?” One of them said.

“Here, let me try again!” Another one said as he backed up a bit to get a running start at the door. Unbeknownst to them though, on the other side of the door was Jules himself, who was pressing his back on the door to prevent them from breaking in. He heard a bang on the door as the soldier who tried to ram the door in failed “Agh! How is this door still on it’s hinges!?” Jules could hear the soldier shout in frustration.

Suddenly, something heavy was thrown at one of the soldiers as it hit his head, which knocked him out as he fell unconscious on the ground. The other soldiers turned to face their knocked out comrade, surprised as they saw a rather large and heavy book on the ground next to him, before they noticed a blue furred female hedgehog with blonde hair looking at them from an open window “Get off of our property!” She said at them furiously, before she ducked when the three soldiers pointed their laser rifles at her and fired, which missed her entirely when she ducked.

*“I don’t think asking them kindly to get off of our property is going to work, Bernadette”* Jules said to the female hedgehog while looking at her and keeping his back on the door “Then give me something else that’s heavy” Bernadette said as she kept out of sight of the soldiers “Screw it, let’s just blow the door open!” One of the soldiers said, before he took off what seemed to be a fragmentation grenade off of his belt, gesturing for the others to back away before he pulled the safety pin.

“Jules, get away from the door!” Bernadette said to her roboticized husband as she quickly made for cover, with Jules quickly did the same as the soldier tossed the grenade at the door before he backed away. A couple of seconds passed before the grenade exploded, blowing the door off its hinges as Jules and Bernadette were safe from behind their couch that they flipped over to serve as their cover.

“Move in the house and kill the both of the-!” One of the soldiers said, before the three of them heard a shot ring out close behind them as them, turning around to face what it was before one of them was suddenly shot in the upper chest, falling back onto the ground as they were dead. The two remaining soldiers caught a quick glance of whoever shot at their other comrade, seeing a red hedgehog with an advanced looking shotgun in his hands, who was already about to fire again at them… it was Adex himself, who had already gotten the driver of the jeep with the first shot heard earlier.

Adex pulled the trigger of his shotgun against as a widespread shot of plasma at one of the soldiers, though they managed to avoid the shot as they ran into the house before using the walls at the door as cover “Son of a…” Adex muttered to himself as he used the jeep as cover. Forgetting Jules and Bernadette were in the house, the soldiers had their attention on Adex as occasionally they would peek out to fire their rifles at his cover, Adex doing the same with neither side being successful “Interloper! Naugus will have your head!” One of the soldiers yelled as they fired.

Peeking out from the couch, Jules and Bernadette saw the two soldiers before looking at each other “They’re distracted by something. Quick, hand me that vase, love” Bernadette whispered to Jules while pointing to a vase made of toughened glass that were filled with flowers on an end table next to the couch, of which Jules nodded in acknowledgement as he crawled over to where the end table was to grab the vase, before crawling back to give the vase to his wife *“Surprise attack them I take it?”* Jules asked her in a whisper “Definitely” Bernadette whispered back as she took the flowers out of the vase and set them aside.

*“Alright, on go… one… two… three!”* Jules whispered before he and Bernadette emerged from their cover on opposite ends, running towards the two soldiers as they prepared to attack “...Wait, what the!?” One of the soldiers said as he noticed the two approach out of the corner of his eye, as the other turned around to see them running towards them. But before they could react, Bernadette already had swung her vast to hit the right side of the soldier on the left, while Jules went to grab the right soldier’s by his neck.

Adex emerged from his cover to point his plasma shotgun at the door again, only to be left confused when he heard sounds of commotion from inside the house. Before he knew it however, he saw one of the soldiers, quite literally, thrown out of the house as he impacted the jeep at a sheer force, hitting back first as it almost tipped the jeep over, of which Adex was caught completely by surprise as he looked at the soldier, who was either dead or unconscious… hard for him to tell.

“...Adex? Is that you?” Bernadette said when she looked out the open doorway to see Adex behind the jeep while looking at the soldier, of which he looked over to Bernadette, also noticing Jules when he looked out the door too when Bernadette mentioned Adex *“Wait, Adex is here?”* He said surprised “...Well, seems you two didn’t need my assistance after all” He said to them, before walking out from behind the jeep to approach the two, keeping his shotgun out but had it pointed at the ground.

“We still appreciate it though” Bernadette said to him as she and Jules walked out from the doorway to approach Adex, the two standing in front of him soon after *“But what are you doing here? I thought you were going back to Downunda”* Jules said to him “...I was notified of the sudden coup from Naugus when your brother Charles and councilor Isabella went with me. Miss Nicole alerted me of the situation and… well, I don’t find this little uprising acceptable” Adex replied.

“Well that explains the battleship in the sky, but… you’re not planning on bombarding the city, are you?” Bernadette asked “...Of course not. If anything it’ll be a last resort before I have to resort to artillery bombardment” Adex replied “But anyways… we need to get you two out of here, it’s no longer safe” He added *“Us? Leave? You’re kidding, right?”* Jules asked  “...Eh?” Adex mouthed surprised.

*“This is our city too, Adex. And I’m not going to stand by and allow some tyrant take over the city and… your turn, Hon”* Jules said before giving Bernadette a turn to speak “What my husband said, we don’t want to see this city taken over again, we’ll fight to keep it under the people’s will even to our last breaths” Bernadette said “...Heh, well this is ought to bring up some memorable moments back in the Great War” Adex said with a slight, nostalgic smile.

*“I guess it will remind us of the old times, huh?”* Jules said while he and Bernadette returned the smile “Yes… though I cannot allow you two to participate… unprepared” Adex said, as he slid down his BFT-HUD to his eyes “Unprepared, Adex?” Bernadette asked, of which Adex lifted up his right index finger to her, gesturing for her to hold that thought “...ZFAS Seratord, this is the faction leader. I need a Tereado Mobile Drop Pod Bay to drop a couple of weapons and some light armor to my location. Yes, thank you, Adex out” He spoke before he slid his BFT-HUD back to his forehead, with Jules and Bernadette looking at him confused.

*“Who were you talking to, Adex?”* Jules asked first “...Ah, I was talking to the captain of the Battleship with my Battlefield Tactical HUD” Adex replied while pointing to the BFT-HUD “Those sunglasses allow you to communicate with others? That’s pretty neat” Bernadette said in a compliment “Thank you, it comes quite handy depending on the situation” Adex replied *“So Adex, who’s getting what?”* Jules asked, regarding the equipment.

“...Well, you’ll see. But obviously the armor is Bernadette’s” Adex said, before the sound of an aircraft passing by was heard overhead, as the three of them looked up to see a plane passing by. A minute passed before three drop pods landed, all of them landing on the main road “Whoa! That was fast!” Bernadette said surprised “Mhm… now let’s see here” Adex said as he walked over to one of the drop pods, as a hatch opened.

“Bernadette, here is some light Zarvokian armor, complete with a light personal shield system” Adex said as Bernadette walked up to him as he began handing her some equipment one by one, which consisted a helmet, chestplate with a vest, arm and knee pads, and combat clothing “Thank you Adex, let me go change real quick” Bernadette said as she walked inside the house to change.

“Very well… now as for you, Jules” Adex said as he walked over to another drop pod as Jules walked up to as well, it’s hatch opening when Adex approached. When Jules approached, Adex pulled out an advanced light machine gun “You get a YT5 Plasma Light Machine Gun, quite powerful… but easily inaccurate so use it accordingly” He said as he handed it to Jules, who took it in his arms to inspect it *“Well this will do, Thanks”* Jules said as he was inspecting the weapon, before he was handed a couple of plasma battery cartridges “You’ll need these for more ammunition” Adex said, of which Jules nodded before he took the cartridges as well.

“I’m back” Bernadette said to them, the two of them looking at her to see that she had changed from her simple purple dress to her Zarvokian uniform, minus the helmet however as it was nowhere to be seen “...You don’t prefer a helmet, Bernadette?” Adex asked, of which she gave a shake of her head as a reply “...Very well. Anyways, let’s give you your weapon” He said as he walked over to the third pod, of which both Jules and Bernadette walked over to as it’s hatch opened.

“...And for you Bernadette, is a standard C-T59 Plasma Rifle” Adex said as he took out an advanced rifle before handing it to her, of which she took and inspected it “Thank you again, Adex” Bernadette said to him “It’s no problem… oh, and here’s a couple of cartridges as well” Adex said as he handed her a couple of plasma cartridges, of which Bernadette took and stored it in one of her pockets on her chestplate’s vest.

*“Alright ‘General’, what are our standing orders?”* Jules asked as he and Bernadette stood at attention dutifully, as Adex couldn’t help but chuckle “You don’t have to call me General anymore you two, but… well, it doesn’t hurt” Adex said with a shrug “Anyways… we’re going to the Royal Army Headquarters to evacuate former queen Alicia and former king Maximilian” Adex said.

“Royal Army HQ? That place must be surrounded by enemy troops” Bernadette said “...Exactly. And more the reason why we must get there as quickly as possible before Nicole’s barricades break” Adex said *“Well no matter the odds, we’ll fight by your side always”* Jules said, as Bernadette nodded in agreement “...Thanks, you two. Well then, let’s move out” Adex said, as he looked at the now vacant jeep behind him “...Hm…” He mouthed.

***Meanwhile, at Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital...***

 The memorial hospital dedicated to the now deceased Tommy Turtle was under siege, as many platoons of infantry surrounded the building. While the earlier evacuation order issued by Nicole had allowed many of the wounded to be transported safely, there were still many left in the building as the medical staff of the hospital barricaded any point of entry into the building, though they were barely managing to keep the mind-controlled Royal Army at bay.

Though while some were trying to get into the hospital, some were actually firing their laser weaponry at the hospital’s rooftop… but why? Suddenly, a figure quickly emerged from the rooftop as he aimed with a crossbow at one of the soldiers, before firing and managing to land a fatal blow at a soldier’s head, before the figure went back into the cover of the rooftop.

The figure itself looked to be a light/dark brown furred male Mobian squirrel with dark auburn hair, who wore a black bodysuit with red accents and a red visor that concealed his identity. He was reloading his crossbow as he peeked out again to fire another shot from his crossbow, once again hitting a soldier in the upper chest, as a laser beam graced the right side of his face as he quickly went back into his cover.

“That was too close… Agh, that burns a bit” He said as he placed his right hand on the side of his face that was grazed, before placing his free hand on an earpiece on his left ear “Agent King to Ace, where are you now?” He asked on the earpiece “...Almost at Westside? Very well, but please hurry. I don’t know how much longer I can last here” He said before he looked up over at the Reaper X3Y still in sight, which was previously referred to as the ZFAS Seratord.

“At least we got help from the Zarvok Federations, so there’s that… alright, King out” He said before the transmission was cut and he sighed deeply while watching as the many laser beams were zooming overhead as the troops below had him pinned under suppressive fire “This couldn’t get any worse” He said to himself as he was reloading his crossbow.

At that moment, the sounds of an approaching helicopter was heard as suddenly a Royal Army Scout/Light Attack Helicopter flew overheard the hospital, almost passing by before it turned around once one of it’s pilots spotted Agent King, and hovered in place as it’s light machine guns were taking aim “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Agent King thought to himself as he shot his crossbow at the helicopter in hopes of hitting the pilot, but unfortunately he missed as it hit the front of the helicopter’s nose.

The co-pilot of the helicopter grinned as he was about to press the button needed to firing both machine guns at Agent King… before the helicopter suddenly exploded, much to Agent King’s surprise as he saw the the remains of the helicopter fall out of the sky and crash on the ground below “What in the-?” He said confused, before he was interrupted by an approaching figure *“Yo, King!”* The figure called out to him with a familiar voice, as it looked to be a flying automaton that only now landed on the rooftop to face Agent King… it was Agent Jack! And he appeared just in the nick of time too!

“Shard! Er… I mean Agent Jack, glad you could make it here” Agent King said, referring to Agent Jack by his actual name of Shard *“Hey that’s supposed to be a secret, Elias. Hence the name: **Secret** Freedom Fighters... Ah well no one’s gonna hear us up here anyway”* Shard said teasingly with a grin and shrug, calling Agent King by his actual name of Elias “It doesn’t matter at this point, we need to protect the hospital!” Elias said.

*“Oh right. Well let me just-”* Shard said as he peeked out of his cover to shoot his arm cannon at the troops below… only to be forced to duck back into cover when a swarm of laser beams were fired at him, one of them hitting his right ear and almost blowing it clean off while a few others grazed his sides and right shoulder… thankfully he doesn’t feel pain *“Uhh on second thought, that’s not such a good idea”* He said, as Elias facepalmed before placing his hand on his side “We need to think of something…” He said, the same hand placed on his chin.

*“Hmm… Oh, I got it! One of us serves as a distraction, while the other mows them down!”* Shard said “That’s… not a bad plan! But who’ll be the distra-” Elias said, before being interrupted *“Dibs!”* Shard mouthed with a grin before he suddenly took off in the air to be spotted by the soldiers on the ground, of which they tried to fire at him though Shard’s speed proved very difficult for them to hit him.

“Wait, Sha-! Agh… oh well, it works” Elias said a little agitated, before he emerged from his cover, taking the chance to fire his crossbow at one of the soldiers as the crossbow hit him in the back. “What the- Hey, shoot him!” One of the soldiers said as they noticed Elias emerged from his cover. But before some of them could take aim, they were suddenly shot at from Shard’s Arm Cannon as he fired a plasma beam at them.

*“You guys used to be so great at fighting, what happened?”* Shard taunted to the soldiers as he kept flying around, dodging their laser beams and firing plasma beams of his own at them, while Elias fired yet another shot with his crossbow, hitting a soldier in the back leg as he yelled in pain. One of the soldiers pulled out a communicator as she went to contact friendly forces “Resistance at the hospital is too much, we need reinforcements!” She said, before she was shot by one of Shard’s plasma beams in the upper right back.

“They’re too much for us, fall back, fall back!” One of the soldiers yelled as he began to run, the others following suit as the remaining soldiers were retreating from the hospital *“Yeah that’s right, you better start running!”* Shard said to them in a taunt, grinning arrogantly as he watched them run, before strafing backwards to land on the rooftop of the hospital, landing next to Elias as they watched them run.

“I can’t believe that worked” Elias said as he watched them run *“I know right? But we should probably stay here in case they come back for some reason”* Shard said “I was about to suggest that, we can’t leave this hospital unprotected while the wounded are still in there… but with the soldiers gone, we can resume evacuations” Elias said *“Okay, but I’m going to stay out here to make sure we don’t get caught with our pants down while we’re evacuating”* Shard said “Well so long as you’re protecting the place. I’ll go let Doctor Quack know that he and his staff can continue” Elias said, before he ran over to where he could enter the building through the rooftop.

Shard watched as Elias entered the hospital through the rooftop entrance, before he looked over the edge of the hospital to keep a watchful eye of the area *“...Well this is boring”* He said to himself as he placed his hand on his head, allowing it to rest on said hand as he watched over the area. Meanwhile, Elias was cautiously running down a flight of stairs before making it to the third floor of the hospital, running through the hallways, occasionally seeing medical staff, worried citizens, and injured patients as he ran.

Within a couple of minutes or so, he made it to the office of Doctor Horatio Quentin Quack, as he opened the door to see the yellow feathered male duck with blue eyes, who wore a doctor’s attire and an eyepatch that covered his right eye. He turned to look at Elias when he opened the door “Oh, ‘Agent King’, are things going well outside?” He asked “The battle has improved in our favor for now, we can continue evacuating your patients” Elias replied.

“Ah, a vast improvement indeed! I’ll notify my medical staff right away… but you’re sure you drove them away from the hospital?” Dr. Quack asked “For now we did, but we must get as many people out of here as we can before more show up” Elias replied “Well, temporary is better than never I suppose. Give me a second” Dr. Quack said, before he walked over to his desk, where he went to speak into the intercom.

“Attention all medical staff, please continue the evacuation efforts until further instructions are given. Remember: Wounded are of the highest priority and should be evacuated first” Dr. Quack said into the intercom as his instructions were heard throughout the halls and rooms of the hospital, of which all available medical staff began to remove some of the barricades that blocked their way out of the hospital before proceeding with the evacuation, as even some of the citizens were helping out.

“Very good doctor, I’ll make sure the evacuating citizens make it out of the city safely… well, before the Federations potentially takes over the evacuation effort” Elias said “The United Federation or the Zarvok Federations?” Dr. Quack asked, unsure which side was present “The Zarvok Federations” Elias replied “Ah, them. Well good on them for helping out” Dr. Quack said “Like good allies should… I better get going now, take care Doctor” Elias said, as he turned to leave the office, as Dr. Quack watched him leave “You too, Agent King” He said.

***Several minutes later…***

As Elias was assisting in the hospital’s evacuation, Shard was still on the rooftop, as he was keeping a wary eye on his surroundings to make sure nothing was coming his way. He did hear distant blaster fire from another part of the city, though he knew it was only a ground battle between the Zarvokian ground forces and the mind-controlled Royal Army forces. He couldn’t help but wonder which side was winning that skirmish in the larger battle of the city.

Still bored, Shard’s attention was directed to a dogfight in the sky near the ZFAS Seratord, as Royal Army Fighter-Bombers and Attack Helicopters were desperately attempting to bring down the battleship’s shields, as T7-N4s and Zarvokian CFT59 Interceptors were seen fighting them off. Shard noticed the Seratord’s defensive array of TS4L Plasma Cannons weren’t being used, though he figured it was because since they were above the city, they didn’t want any shots to unintentionally hit the ground below.

...He then heard something approaching as it sounded like a mix of wheels and treads on the ground. Redirecting his attention from the distant dogfight to the ground, he immediately began searching for what was coming his way. It took him several seconds to see from a city block away that a force of eight Royal Army Infantry Fighting Vehicles and two Royal Army Main Battle Tanks were approaching, while accompanied by squads of infantry… the reinforcements called from the female soldier earlier was approaching!

*“Hoo… boy, Naugus really wants us dead”* Shard said, as he placed his hand on his right ear to contact Elias *“Hey King, we have a situati-”* Shard said on the communicator, before his right ear sparked, as Shard didn’t hear a single reply from Elias… apparently that laser beam from earlier had damaged his communicator, of which Shard was only now realizing *“Okay, that’s far from good… I need to buy the hospital some time”* He said to himself, of which he leapt from the rooftop of the hospital, using his propulsion systems to slow his descent before he landed on the ground.

Shard then dashed towards the direction the incoming Royal Army strike force was coming, as his eyes and gem had once again changed from green to red. It would only be a couple of minutes until he had confronted the strike force, of which the squads of infantry that were escorting the IFVs and Main Battle Tanks were startled when Shard boosted in front of them at his full speed before he stopped.

“What the!? It’s the robot from earlier, shoot it!” One of the soldiers shouted as he and the other infantry pointed their laser weapons at Shard, but not before the latter had fired plasma beams from his arm cannon that had taken down at least five infantry until they returned fire. Having the overall speed advantage, Shard began dodging the beams fired from the Royal Army soldiers, of which despite their accuracy, missed most if not all of their shots due to Shard’s dodging. As he was dodging, Shard continued to fire his arm cannon at the soldiers at were trying to take them down, as one by one they were falling in almost quick succession.

*“Come on, you guys can’t seriously suck this badly!”* Shard taunted as he was taking down the squads of infantry with relative ease, it was like to them he was unstoppable… and then a couple of the IFVs went forward, of which the gunners manning their heavy laser autocannons took aim and fired, catching Shard by surprise as his focus was on the squads of infantry, which resulting him getting hit several times in the chest, a couple of shots which hit his gem *“Agh, that smarts!”* He said, as he actually felt something similar to pain when he was hit a couple of times at his gem, of which he quickly used his speed to boost himself up in the air.

*“I’m not letting you get to the hospital, not while I still have power!”* He said as he began to charge up something where his gem was located as it glowed. Fortunately out of the range of the IFVs, Shard was allowed to charge up his attack without interruption. Then from the gem he was charging up, fired two powerful beams of plasma that were both aimed at the two IFVs firing at him. When the beams hit each IFV, they were powerful enough to take them down in a single shot, as said IFVs exploded from the inside while killing anyone inside them.

Shard then descended downwards to where he’d be hovering a few feet off the ground, where he saw a main battle tank approach him with it’s main cannon pointed at him, the second tank behind it while the IFVs were at their sides *“So you want to battle too, tough guy? Bring it then!”* Shard said as he pointed his arm cannon at the tank, firing a plasma beam at it as it hit the lower part of it’s frontal plating, which injured the driver of said tank as it got her arm. Before Shard could fire another beam however, the tank fired it’s main cannon as a beam was fired at Shard’s upper chest and arm cannon, which knocked him back several yards before he landed back-first on the ground. Luckily, he was still operational.

*“Ooo… that was \*bzzzt\*... a lot of damage there…”* Shard spoke to himself as he raised his head slightly only to see that his arm cannon was blown off as sparks were flying out of his right joint, while the parts of his chest that were hit were damaged *“Welp… I’m out of options now… I tried my best”* Shard said before he laid his head back on the ground, looking at the sky as he laid there *“...Sorry Harvey, I think I’m \*bzzzt\*... out of commission for right now”* He said as he heard the sounds of tank treads growing near, as well as rolling wheels and marching boots. He knew it was the tanks and IFVs advancing, of which the latters must have deployed the six infantry each in their holds.

“...Mech! We got a mech! Take it down!” One of the Royal Army soldiers suddenly shouted as she noticed opposition from an adjacent street on the left, the tank at the front of which stopping in its tracks, before turning it’s turret and hull to face whatever opposition was coming their way, while the IFVs turret their turrets to face the opposition as well before firing their heavy laser autocannons. The infantry were firing their weapons as well while the second tank stayed where it was before since it couldn’t move anywhere else for the time being due to the IFVs and the other tank blocking any possible movement besides going back.

*“...Huh? What’s \*bzzzt\*...going on?”* Shard asked himself as he lifted his head up a bit while his eyes and gem finally reverted back to green as to save power, seeing the strike force firing at… something. He couldn’t quite see what they were firing at. Suddenly, he saw a beam of energy pierce right through one of the IFVs as it exploded a second afterwards. The tank fired it’s main cannon a couple of time before it too shared the same fate as the IFV.

“Move back! Move back!” One of the soldiers yelled as he and the others began to move back onto the other street from where they were approaching earlier, the IFVs backing up as well as one of them got shot with the same kind of beam, destroying it. Shard was only watching the situation unfold while astonished, before he heard the sound of clanking metal… like some mech was coming near *“...Is the Egghead here?”* Shard quipped to himself as he laid there with his head still raised.

Very soon, a kind of walker mech had indeed came into view, as it turned to it’s left to see the four remaining Royal Army IFVs and the second Main Battle Tank staying where they were, along with the infantry accompanying them, of which all of them opened fire at the mech that stood before them, which their shots were being blocked by some sort of energy shielding. After a few seconds, Shard recognized the model of the mech that was being fired upon as a Seravix Assault Mech, which meant… a Zarvokian force was in the area. They’ve made gains into the city it seemed!

*“Ha, who would’ve thought \*bzzzt\*...”* Shard said to himself as he slowly sat up before standing on his feet, though he was barely able to stand straight *“That deus ex machina would save me \*bzzzt\*... this time around… sheesh I keep cutting out, how much damage did I \*bzzzt\*... take?”* He added as he looked at the Seravix Assault Mech, of which fired what seemed to be an advanced railgun from it’s left arm cannon at one of the firing IFVs, destroying it when the beam made contact.

Soon, infantry came into Shard’s view, said infantry being a squadron that consisted of four Zarvokian Primary Infantrymen, two Demolition Troopers, a Combat Medic, and a Close Quarters Specialist, the former and latter two firing at the opposing infantry with the second former loading in missiles into their Seramabin EMP Launchers and taking aim at a IFV and the tank, of which they were still firing at the mech in a determined effort to bring it down.

The shielding of the Seravix, having both it’s plasma and energy shield layering dealt too much damage and therefore collapsed. This allowed for the tank to fire it’s main cannon at the mech’s left leg, which the laser beam shot from the cannon hit the mech’s joint as it’s leg blew off, as the mech tipped on its side, causing it to be immobile and nonfunctional anymore. Though in consolation, the two Demolition Troopers fired their missiles at their targets, said missiles locking on to maintain perfect accuracy.

When the tank and one of the surviving IFVs were hit by the EMP missile, they were rendered immobile and disabled, though their crew members had survived. The two surviving IFVs began moving back as to maintain distance from the Zarvokian infantry in order to fire their heavy laser autocannons at them, aiming for the Demolition Troopers first as their shielding couldn’t handle and therefore they perished, before a Primary Infantrymen was taken out as well before the other five got into whatever cover they could find, mainly using the wrecked and disabled vehicles to do so.

Hatches on top of the tank and IFV then opened, of which a person popped out of each one before firing a laser handgun at a couple of Primary Infantrymen that were taking cover behind their vehicles, landing a few shots on them. Thankfully however the personal shielding tanked the shots though the plasma layer was only at 35%, but regardless the Infantrymen had enough time to react before they fired their weapons at the soldiers that had peaked out of their hatches, which they took out quickly.

They then climbed onto the vehicles before throwing what seemed to be a plasma grenade into the hatches, before jumping off and running to a different cover, the two still-functioning IFVs gaining sight of them and firing, but only for a second as the infantrymen managed to get to their cover in time. The grenades thrown into the disabled IFV and tank then detonated as the former exploded while the latter only shook, as any surviving crew member in them had died.

One of them peaked out of their cover, seeing reinforcements coming in as a couple of IFVs and even a transport helicopter came in, the latter of which roping in twelve more infantry while the former dropped their hatches as six infantry each came running out. The helicopter after deploying their infantry then began to fly away in order to gather more to deploy elsewhere. The infantrymen soldier that was peeking out of his cover then faced his fellow soldiers.

“We got about three more squadrons of infantry that just got deployed, along with two new IFVs. We might be in trouble” He said to them “Don’t worry, the Commander and her metal friend will be here soon” Another said “What’s their ETA?” One of them asked “About thirty seconds when she contacted me, though her metal friend should be he-” The other replied, before he was interrupted by some kind of blue figure that had sped past them “What the!?” One of them said, surprised.

Said figure approached the newly deployed infantry that were advancing at the point, as it suddenly rammed into a few of them which knocked them out, much to the shock of their fellow comrades as the figure then sped past the four IFVs. “Wait, what on Mobius was that?” One of the gunners of the IFVs said as he began to rotate the turret of the IFV to see what just sped past them. But before he could completely turn the turret around, a couple of laser beams were shot out at the turret, which destroyed it as the gunner inside the IFV was spared, but was left dumbstruck.

“Damn it, what just happened?!” The gunner said in frustration, before the driver of the same IFV radioed in to the other IFVs “Be advised, there’s a hostile behind us, take it out before we’re rendered sitting ducks!” He said as the other IFVs except one began turning their turrets behind them to see what was behind them. The one that didn’t turn its turret was preparing it’s 110mm mortar to fire where the Zarvokian infantry were. That was until a couple of laser beams shot off the turret along with another one.

The last IFV that had its turret active successfully turned to face whatever was firing those beams. They saw an automaton, resembling that of a blue hedgehog that was facing one of the now disarmed IFVs, before turning to face the IFV that had it’s turret facing them. Unknown to them, it was Captain Metal that was looking at them, as his red irises began to glow “Shoot at it, before it fires again!” The driver of the IFV said to the gunner, of which the latter acknowledged as he managed to fire a couple of shots at Captain Metal.

To their dismay however, he simply strafed to the right very fast to dodge the shots before he fired a couple of laser beams from his eyes at the turret of the IFV, destroying it “Son of a… we’re just sitting ducks now!” The gunner said in frustration “There’s not much we can do, fall back!” A driver from a different IFV radioed in to the others, as they began to turn around to drive away.

Captain Metal however did not allow this to happen, as he began shooting laser beams at the tires of the IFVs, eventually getting them all as they could no longer escape, though the distance each IFV went differed. Captain Metal then began walking towards one of the disabled IFVs, before he suddenly came under fire by some of the infantry that only just now noticed him while the others pinned the Zarvokian infantry in suppressive fire, preparing to assault them.

Instead of retaliating against the infantry however, Captain Metal simply boosted himself to the IFV that was farther from him before using it as cover for a bit before he went up to the hatch of the IFV, forcefully opening it before reaching in to grab whoever was there “Wh-What the!?” The driver of the IFV said shocked before he was pulled out, punched in the stomach and side of his face that resulted in a knockout, and threw onto the ground by Captain Metal before he entered the IFV to knockout the gunners still in the IFV.

“We need to get out of this suppressive fire!” One of the Zarvokian soldiers said as he and his fellow soldiers were still pinned down “Where’s the commander?! I thought you said she’d be here in thirty seconds!” Another said as he peeked his out for a second before going back into over, a few laser beams barely missing his head “I’m right here!” A voice said to them from behind, the others turning to face the source as they saw a violet furred female hedgehog holding some sort of rifle, while wearing a Zarvokian uniform that immediately made the soldiers recognize her… it was Nora.

“Commander, glad you could make it!” One of the soldiers said “Thank you. What’s the situation?” Nora asked them as she joined them in their cover “Ma’am, we’re pinned down from three squadrons worth of infantry and we lost three men and our Seravix, and I don’t think we have the shield strength to take them on without taking severe casualties” The soldier replied “That’s… bad… but we can’t give up now, we’ll make it out of this” Nora replied “I saw those IFVs of theirs disabled and immobilized when I peeked out for a second, I think your metal friend helped us with that” Another soldier said.

“Captain Metal you mean? That’s good, but we need to take care of those soldiers if we are to proceed to the airfield” Nora replied “Yes Ma’am, but how do you suppose we get through them?” A soldier asked *“Yo”* Someone mouthed behind them before they turned to face who it was, which they saw Shard ducking there as the laser beams were zipping by overhead him and the over the soldiers were in *“You’re apart of that Zarvokian force, right?”* He asked them “Yes we are... But who are you, and… what happened to your arm!?” Nora asked.

*“Uhh, long story \*bzzzt\*... short, I picked a fight with a tank and failed miserably. Somehow I’m still active, but I’m damaged almost \*bzzzt\*... critically here… oh, name’s Agent Jack by the way”* Shard said *“...You’re Agent Jack? I didn’t expect that”* Nora said *“You know about me? Ohhh right, Nicole must’ve told you when you landed in otherwise you would’ve \*bzzzt\*... shot me on sight, right?"* Shard said “Yeah, em… let’s go with that” Nora said.

“So what, do you have a plan to get rid of those soldiers?” A soldier asked Shard *“Well I can’t do anything, my arm cannon’s gone and my \*bzzzt\*... communicator is damaged. I know what you can do though”* Shard said, pointing to the belt of plasma grenades that were on those who still had them, which the others looked down to see them “...Oh, right” One of the soldiers said “In that case, grab your grenades and prepare your strong arm!” Nora commanded the other soldiers, as they nodded before they grabbed their plasma grenades.

Nora then faced Shard “And you should probably stay here, Agent Jack” She said *“Well yeah I can’t do anything else at the moment”* Shard said “Mm-hm, but we’ll patch you up after we deal with these infantry” Nora said *“Oh, well… sure Nicole would \*bzzzt\* ...appreciate that”* Shard said as Nora gave a smile before facing her troops, holding up her V-M21 Tesla Rifle “On my word, prepare and throw your grenades!” She said.

The soldiers nodded, as the ones who had them placed their hands on their grenades before awaiting Nora’s order “Now!” Nora commanded, as the soldiers activated the grenades and threw them over their cover, a total of four being thrown at the Royal Army soldiers that were still laying down suppressive fire “...Grenades!” One of them yelled when they noticed the grenades thrown at them, which rolled besides their feet before they began to run. They didn’t get far however when the grenades blew up, taking out at least fourteen of them while the other six managed to make it out.

A Primary Infantrymen peeked out of his cover, seeing the soldiers run for their lives “They’re on the run, we have the edge now!” He said “Move forward!” Nora ordered them, as she emerged from her cover while charging forward. The others, besides Shard, emerged from their cover as well to charge forward, which they pointed up their weapons and fired when they did, though Nora waited to get within close range to them before firing her weapon.

A couple of running soldiers were shot and fell onto the ground before the rest managed to get into cover behind the immobile IFVs. This however turned to be a mistake as they saw each driver and gunner knocked out on the ground, which surprised them. But before they could react, Captain Metal rushed in from behind one of them and punched the side of their jaw, knocking them down and out on the ground, the others of which noticed him and pointed their weapons at them to fire.

While they did fire a few shots at him, Captain Metal would manage to speed out of the way of their shots, which they desperately kept trying to hit him. Nora would then come from their left side before pointing her rifle at one of them, firing an electrical discharge at one of them which shocked them quite literally, while the electrical discharge arced to the other two soldiers and shocked them as well. All three of them then fell on the ground, only unconscious however as the electrical discharge didn’t have enough intensity to electrocute them all.

“I think that’s all of them for now” Nora said as her troops approached from her sides “Excellent work Commander, you saved our skins” One of them said “Well of course, you’re my troops after all. I intend to bring you all home safe and sound” Nora said, giving them all a smile “Very good, commander” One of them said. At that moment, Captain Metal approached them as well, which Nora glanced to “Oh, and don’t forget to thank Captain Metal here either” She said.

*“Thanks is not necessary”* Captain Metal said to them, of which Nora acknowledgingly nodded before she noticed Shard walking slowly towards him, sparks still occasionally coming out of his arm but they grew less frequent. He noticed Captain Metal and turned to face him surprised *“Whoa-hoh. I didn’t think you’d be helping the Zarvokians here, Metal Sonic”* He said with a grin, but it disappeared when Captain Metal turned to face him *“I am not Metal Sonic. My designation is MT-0000 ‘Captain Metal’ of the new Metal Sonic Troopers”* He said.

*“Oh a Metal Sonic Trooper? Never thought \*bzzzt\*... I’d see one of you in person”* Shard said as his grin returned. Nora then looked over at him “We need to do something about that ‘Bzzzt’ing” She said before placing her left hand on the side of her eyepatch. Amazingly, that eyepatch seemed to have a communicator on it as she was contacting the ZFAS Seratord “Hello? Yes, this is Commander Nora. I need a Holomane Transport at my location to extract an automaton to the ship for repairs. I’ll transmit the coordinates now. Thank you very much” She had said while Shard were looking at her curiously, Captain Metal less so while her men were making sure the perimeter was secure.

*“Y’know I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with the eyepatch and the hat? Never seen a \*bzzzt\*... Zarvokian wear those before”* Shard said to Nora, who turned around to look at him “It’s what I like to wear even when I was a space-faring pirate back several months ago, but my eyepatch is more of a utility than a cosmetic. I’m not even blind on that side either” She said as she lifted up her eyepatch to reveal her other eye. There were no wounds at all or any signs of blindness, which didn't surprise Shard. What did surprise him was the fact that Nora pointed out that she was once a former space pirate.

*“You used to be a pirate? Well that’s definitely a \*bzzzt\*... first. So what made you go from space pirate to Zarvokian commander?”* Shard asked him “It’s… complicated” Nora said before she gave a memorable gaze away from him as she smiled, remembering the first encounter she had with Adex, his son Joshua, the latter’s best friend (now girlfriend) Marilyn, and how quickly she fell in love with the former. Before her loving memory went on however, she heard an approaching aircraft as she turned to looked up at the sky, Shard and Captain Metal doing the same as very soon a small VTOL came into view before landing in the middle of the open street. It was a Zarvokian Holomane Transport, as its side doors opened to allow passage into it.

“There’s your ride, Shard. They’ll patch you up on-board the ship” Nora said *“Will do… but do you even know my schematics?”* He asked her, as a noticeable sweatdrop went down the side of her face. The thought hadn’t struck her mind at all until now “No, no we don’t… do you know someone who does?” Nora asked *“Well of course, Nicole has them. But I can’t contact her, so I can always just \*bzzzt\*... tell you”* Shard said “But you don’t need to tell me, just tell the people repairing you” Nora replied *“Oh yeah, that works too”* Shard said.

“Well you better get going, this is a warzone after all” Nora said *“Oh no, don’t you worry. If the battle is still going on I’m going right back into \*bzzzt\*... the fray after I’m good as new”* Shard said with a grin as he was walking over to the Holomane Transport “Wait, you still want to fight? You’re one determined robot” Nora said *“That’s what makes me \*bzzzt\*... what I am. Don’t hog all the fun \*bzzzt\*... while I’m away!”* Shard said, still grinning as he hopped onto the Holomane Transport before sitting down in one of its seats while Nora watched in silence, the Transport closing its side doors before it took off, heading over to the ZFAS Seratord.

“Come on, let’s link up with the rest of the forces at the Science Center and wait for Adex to give the word to reclaim King Frederick Airfield” Nora called out to her men as they all looked at her “Yes Ma’am, we’ll follow you” One of them said, Nora nodding in acknowledgement before she took point, her men following as well as Captain Metal. Not even a couple of minutes passed by however before Nora was being hailed by someone from her eyepatch, which she placed her hand on it again.

“Hello? Yes this is Commander Nora… what? Are you sure that’s a wise decision? ...Okay, I understand. I’ll send someone to assist. Nora out” She said before the transmission was cut, her men looking at her curiously “What’s going on, Commander?” One of them asked, before Nora turned around to look at them “The captain of the Seratord is sending another strike force to take out Naugus and reclaim Castle Acorn. He was contacting me to notify me of the decision before he went through with it” Nora replied.

“Is that it? Hopefully we take him down then!” One of them said “I don’t know, I really wanted to have my rifle pointed at his face…” Another said. Not paying attention to them, Nora turned to face Captain Metal, who faced back “Captain Metal, I need you to assist the strike force being sent at Castle Acorn. We can handle things over here for now” She said *“Affirmative. Moving out”* Captain Metal said, before he used his propulsion systems to ascend into the air a bit, before speeding off to meet up with the strike force.

“As for the rest of us, let’s continue to the Science Center” Nora said to her men “Of course, Ma’am” One of them said, as they all continued making their way over to the Science Center, where the rest of the Zarvokian land forces were located as they had secured the building earlier. Of course over the course of the battle, the Zarvok Federations had made significant gains into the city in their push towards Castle Acorn. But it was still a question whether or not their mission will end at the gates of the castle.

***Meanwhile, at the Mobian Badlands…***

Many miles away from New Mobotropolis and the ruins of the original Mobotropolis (which is referred to now Robotropolis nowadays) guarded by Fort Acorn, there was a crashed VTOL in the middle of the area. The VTOL itself was on fire in some areas that it was damaged, but from the looks of it, it was only recent. Though it could be safely assumed that “all hands on deck” were lost, that actually wasn’t the case.

About several yards from the crash site were four survivors of the crash, one of them a Mobian pig with wounded arms and a fractured leg, one a Mobian brown furred porcupine with a wounded chest and disorientated head, one a Mobian purple furred duck with an orange beak that was hurting and also having a broken left arm and wounded right leg, and lastly a Mobian brown furred fox with red hair who amazingly only had some bruises and scratches here and there. All four of them wore the attire of the Council of Acorn, the ruining of their clothing varying from individual to individual. There was no doubt, they were Hamlin, Dylan, Penelope, and Rosemary respectively.

“Agh! I can’t even move an inch without my leg swelling in pain” Hamlin said as he was sitting against a tree stump “Rosemary, do you see anyone? I can’t see that well right now, so… I kind of need help” Dylan said as he was on the opposite side of the same stump that Hamlin was sitting against “Sadly I don’t, Dylan. It might be awhile before anyone comes, we’re miles away” Rosemary replied.

“See, this is why fleeing over to the United Federation by ourselves was a bad idea, we should’ve went with the others!” Hamlin said agitated “There’s nothing we can do about it now… Penelope, how’s your beak?” Rosemary asked while facing Penelope, who looked over her as she gave an expression that pretty much said it was still hurting, possibly why she isn’t opening her mouth to talk in the first place.

“Just… hang in there. We need to have hope that someone will come looking for us” Rosemary said to them reassuringly to them “Yeah, and hopefully not one of Eggman’s lackeys” Hamlin remarked as he laid there “Or any of Naugus’ men… one of their helicopters swung by and spotted us, right Rosemary?” Dylan asked “Yes they did… I’m surprised he hasn’t sent anyone to take us out” Rosemary said, keeping an eye out on the skies.

“It will take hours for anyone to find us other than Naugus, and we can’t go anywhere else so we’re stuck here, waiting for the end” Hamlin said “We won’t die out here… right?” Dylan said nervously as Penelope shook her head no “We **are** going to die out here, if Naugus doesn’t get us, then it’ll be Eggman, or if not him, then we’ll just succumb to our injuries, or starve, or-”

“Shush Hamlin” Rosemary said suddenly, interrupting him as he turned to look at her “Well it’s true, might as well accept it, right?” Hamlin said “No we’re not” Rosemary said, sounding sure of herself as now the others looked at her… Dylan tried to at least but he was too disorientated “How can you be so sure?” Hamlin asked “Look” Rosemary mouthed, pointing her right index finger in the distance, which caused Hamlin and Penelope to look where she was pointing. The two of them widened their eyes at what she was pointing at.

What Rosemary had pointed at was an approaching aircraft. It wasn’t a Royal Army or United Federation helicopter. In fact it was a VTOL, except it didn’t belong to the Eggman Empire. Rosemary began waving her hands outwards to signal the aircraft that they were right there, knowing exactly who was coming to their aid… the Zarvok Federations “What? How did Adex know we were here?” Hamlin asked “Wait, Adex is coming?” Dylan asked, surprised.

“Hey! We’re over here!” Rosemary shouted as the aircraft approached, which was a Holomane Transport as it’s pilot spotted Rosemary via her waving hands, also seeing the crashed transport “Confirmation of four survivors of the crash. They are the councilors of the Republic of Acorn, repeat, we have found the Council of Acorn” The pilot said “That was the council’s transport? We’ll need to bring them back to the ship to check for any injuries, it’s of the highest importance” Someone said to the pilot from the Holomane’s transport hold.

“Roger that, we’ll be landing very shortly” The pilot said to the individual calling out to him, as after half a minute had passed, the Holomane stopped to hover near where the Council of Acorn was at, before descending down to land. Rosemary stopped waving her hands when the Holomane hovered near them, and when it began to land, she looked over to the others “I’ll be right back” She said, before she took off towards the landing Holomane Transport “Yeah, don’t take too long” Hamlin called out to her when she ran off.

The Holomane Transport then touched down on the ground, its side doors opening once it did. Rosemary watched as three Zarvokian Combat Medics came out on the right side of the transport, each one pushing hovering stretchers over to where the rest of the council was, even though a total of eight could’ve fit in there. Rosemary approached the left side of the transport, looking inside it “Adex, how did you- ...Oh” She said when she looked in, expecting to see her friend.

Instead however, she saw a cyan furred female Mobian fox with orange eyes and short brown hair, who wore a Zarvokian commanding officer armored suit, excluding the helmet of course. The two of them had actually recognized each other as the cyan fox spoke first “...Rosemary?” She mouthed “Madison? Is that you? I haven’t seen you ever since Savanna…” Rosemary said, before she paused “...Yeah… I’ve been with the Federations ever since it’s Revolution” The fox referred to as Madison said.

“Well… how’ve you been? It’s been years” Rosemary asked, attempting to lighten the mood “I mean, I can’t complain. It’s been nice commanding the Madison Battalion under Adex’s wing” Madison replied “That’s good… so, um… how did you know where we were?” Rosemary asked “We heard reports from an intercepted communication that there was a crashed transport here… I didn’t expect it would be you and the rest of the council” Madison said.

“Yeah, we tried to get away from the island over to the United Federation, but… we got shot down. We were the only survivors” Rosemary said “Well, you’re alive, and that’s all that matters” Madison said before she gestured to the seat next to here “Come on and sit down, I think we have a lot to catch up on” She added, which Rosemary nodded in agreement before she hopped onto the transport to sit next to Madison.

At that moment, the Combat Medics had arrived with each of the council members on the hovering stretchers, getting them inside of the transport specifically in the middle, before the Combat Medics took theirs seats as well. The Holomane Transport’s side doors then closed as it began to take off to go back to the ZFAS Seratord.  Thanks to the efforts of the Zarvok Federations, the Council of Acorn had been saved for now. However, the battle for New Mobotropolis was still continuing.

## Part Four: Vanishing Sarrows

***Back at New Mobotropolis; Royal Army HQ…***

The barricades that were made earlier by Nicole to keep the Royal Army soldiers from getting in had been broken. While a couple of squadron stayed outside to make sure no one was getting in, a couple more squadrons entered the building as they went through the hallways. Soon one of the squadrons came across a set of three doors, all of which led to the commander center of the HQ as the eight soldiers gathered at the doors.

“The officers are in that building, on three we’ll breach the doors and kill them all” The squad leader whispered as his men nodded “Alright, on go… one… two… three!” The squad leader said to them before three soldiers kicked in the doors with the entire squad rushing in, their weapons aimed and ready to kill… however, their eyes widened in shock when all eight of them entered the room.

They saw that every Royal Army commanding officer that wasn’t affected by Naugus’ Eldritch Rite were all looking at the squad, a total of twenty of high-ranking officers ranging from Lieutenant Colonel to General. They weren’t just looking at the squadron however… they all had laser handguns and semi-automatic rifles aimed at the squadron, as if they were expecting the squadron to arrive and burst in.

In the middle of the room was a dark auburn furred male Mobian squirrel with blue eyes, white hair/eyebrows/mustache, wore a blue long-sleeve uniform with gold epaulettes and red boots, of which he sat in a wheelchair as his arms were crossed. Suggesting by the various wrinkles on him, he was of old age. Standing next to him was a light and dark furred female Mobian chipmunk with blue eyes, dark auburn hair, and wore an orange and gold dress. She also looked to be of old age.

The squirrel in the wheelcheel then attempted to speak, but had some difficulty in doing so as no words were said for a few seconds, he even shook a bit when he tried to speak “...Fire” He mouthed finally, as every commanding officer complied with his order as they fired their laser weapons at the squad. The squad attempted to retaliate, but it was no use. The squadron was slaughtered before they could fire even a single shot, all eight of them now lying dead on the ground.

“We got them, sir” One of the commanding officers said to the squirrel, who slowly turned his head to face the CO, before slowly nodding “Dearest, I think I should handle the orders from now on, okay?” The chipmunk said to the squirrel, the latter of which slowly turning to face her, smiling slightly before nodding slowly as to approve of this. He knew with his difficulty in speaking that it’d be best to allow her to handle things from now on.

“Madam Alicia, if I may...” One of the commanding officers said to the chipmunk, who was referred to as Alicia when she turned to face the commanding officer “What is it?” She asked “I’m not sure how long we can hold them at bay, we may not be able to protect you and Maximillian when they decide to push a large force in” The commanding officer said “You have to try for the time being, the building is surrounded and there’s no way out” Alicia said.

“We never said we’d stop trying, Madam” Another commanding officer said “Very good, let’s prepare for the traitor’s attack… dearest I suggest we get you out of sight” Alicia said to the squirrel in the wheelchair, previously referred to as Maximillian, who slowly shook his head “...No… I’ll… stay here” Maximillian said strugglingly, before he faced forward towards the doors “Max, I’m not sure I can approve of this, but… I respect your decision” Alicia said as she also faced the doors “Close the doors and wait for their next assault, use whatever you can for cover” She said to the commanding officers, who all nodded before three of them proceeded to close the doors, while the rest used whatever they had for cover, even overturning some furniture to hide behind. Maximillian and Alicia only watched their loyal commanding officers prepared themselves.

Meanwhile on the outside of the building, the two Royal Army infantry squadrons that were keeping guard outside it’s entrances were still looking around cautiously. One of their squad leaders then held up a communicator as to check in on the squads “Squad one, how’s it looking in there?” He asked “So far so good, place almost seems empty however, we only found a few stragglers here and there” A soldier replied to him “Have you searched the command center yet?” The squad leader asked “Not yet, but squad two was sent to check it” The soldier replied.

“I’ll check in on them then” The squad leader said before he went to contact squad two to check their progress “Squad two, do you read?” He asked, but no one replied. “...Squad two, do you hear me?” The squad leader asked again, but still no one answered. “...Squad one be advised, we think squad two might have run into something at the command center, go there and await squad three” The squad leader said when he contacted squad one “Copy, moving now” The same soldier replied.

The squad leader then turned to those employed in squad three as they nodded, knowing what they have to do as they entered the building, leaving the supposed squad four all alone to protect the building “Stay on your best, we’re all that’s standing between them and the possibility of being flanked” The squad leader said to his men, who all nodded as they kept a wary eye of their surroundings.

Then they heard something approaching, the sounds of a car from what they heard. The squad turned to face the direction from where the sound was coming from, wondering if friendlies were just going to pass by. Soon they saw something come into view from the distance as it continued to approach. Indeed it was a Royal Army Reconnaissance Jeep, but yet something was off… the driver window was shattered and the people manning it weren’t Royal Army personnel. Instead, there were three Mobian hedgehogs, of which were Robian, along with a Mobian squirrel.

As the jeep neared them, the squad was able to get a better look at them. The squirrel himself was wearing a black bodysuit with red accents and a red visor, while two of the hedgehogs, a male and female, wore Zarvokian uniforms, though the former wore the uniform of the Faction Leader, the latter wearing a Primary Infantrymen uniform without the helmet, while the Robian himself had a color scheme of blue and grey with red eyes.

No doubt about it, they were Adex (who was driving), Bernadette (who was sitting as passenger), and Jules (who was manning the jeep’s turret) respectively, the three of which apparently having picked up Elias (also sitting as passenger) along the way. While the former three did initially only knew him as Agent King, they had quickly put two to two together and figured out his identity after some discussion, and agreed to keep it a secret in front of anyone else.

“...Wait, they’re not Royal Army, they’re hostiles! Open fire!” The squad leader said as he and the others in his squadron began to fire at the jeep when it got closer. When the first laser beams were shot, Jules began to open fire with the jeep’s heavy laser machine gun at the squadron, which a couple were shot and killed. As the laser beams were zipping past the jeep, Bernadette and Elias kept their heads down, Adex doing the same as he was now blindly driving the jeep. A few lasers managed to hit the jeep’s front and one even hit the window, shattering it though the others were unharmed.

Then suddenly one of them landed a hit on the jeep’s front right tire as it blew off, but not before Jules had gotten three more, all of them dead. The jeep suddenly swerved to the left before Adex jolted his head back up to have his eyes on where he was going again, seeing they were going to crash into the Royal Army HQ before he suddenly slammed on the brakes to stop the jeep, all while Jules was still firing at the three remaining squadron members before they took cover inside the building.

Adex managed to have the jeep stop before it crashed into the building as it was mere inches away from colliding “This jeep isn’t sufficient enough with a blown off wheel, we’ll have to go on foot once we’re done here” Adex said to them “It’ll be fine, let’s just go!” Elias said before he opened his passenger door, Bernadette and Adex doing the same as Jules hopped off the gunner while they all prepared their weapons. They talked as they approached the entrance to the headquarters.

*“They went inside the headquarters”* Jules told them “…Then they must’ve gotten through Nicole’s nanite barricades” Adex replied “Who knows how much are in there now” Bernadette said “No matter how many there are, we’ll get through them all, I won’t let them lay a finger on my parents” Elias said “Likewise ‘Agent King’, but we’ll need to be cautious...” Adex said “Do we even know where they are?” Bernadette asked “The command center” Elias replied “They usually keep themselves in there” He added.

*“Then that’s where those troopers are going”* Jules said “Likely…” Adex said as the four of them had approached the entrance, though they were at the sides of the doorways as they didn’t want to get potentially shot “Those three haven’t came out yet… they could have a trap set in store for us” Adex said “We need to get in somehow” Elias said “Yes… so let’s set it off” Adex said before he looked over to the dead soldiers nearby.

He then walked over towards the body before kneeling down to it *“What are you planning, Adex?”* Jules asked him “...Scavenging” Adex mouthed as he searched the body for anything. Very quickly he saw two fragmentation grenades and took them off the dead soldier’s belt “...This’ll do” Adex said before standing up and facing the others, showing them the grenades “That will work” Bernadette said, Adex nodding acknowledgingly before he walked back to the door, handing Jules one of the grenades when he walked back to them.

Adex then positioned himself in front of the door before facing Jules “When I kick the door in and there’s any reaction, throw the grenade in” He said, of which Jules nodded before he placed his index finger on the safety pin. After a couple seconds, Adex prepared to kick the door open with his left leg as the door swung open. When it opened, laser beams were fired from inside, though they weren’t aimed outside. They even looked like they were fired from the sides.

In a swift movement, Jules pulled the safety pin of the grenade before he threw it inside, having it thrown at the right side of the interior building where the laser beams were coming from. “Grenade!” A voice cried from inside, before the sounds of an explosion followed a couple of seconds later. Almost immediately, Adex entered, aiming his plasma shotgun to the right as he saw a soldier dead on the ground while two of them still standing.

Quickly, Adex fired a shot at them with his shotgun, aiming for the one on the ground as he fell down on the ground upon being hit, while the other soldier; the squad leader, aimed his rifle at Adex before opening fire. Before he was hit however, Bernadette quickly came in front of him, having a few laser beams hit her light shielding provided by the Zarvokian light armor, before she fired at the squad leader with her C-T59 Plasma Rifle, of which he fell dead on the ground after a few shots to his upper chest.

“That… was not expected… but thanks” Adex said to Bernadette as she turned to face him “No problem” She said to him, before Jules and Elias entered the building as well *“Okay, we’re in. Now we just need to get to the command center”* Jules said to them “I can take us there” Elias said “...Very well, take point then… but keep a cautious eye out” Adex said to him, Elias nodding in response as he began making his way down a hallway, the others following behind him, Adex and Jules watching the sides while Bernadette were watching their behind.

“It shouldn’t be that far, we’ll get there in no-” Elias said, before he was interrupted by the distant sounds of laser fire. The four of them stopped in their movement before they looked further down the hallway, where the sounds of laser fire were echoing down through the halls “...Double-time it!” Adex said to them before he began running, which the others were quick to follow as Elias was at Adex’s side, reaching for his back before pulling out what seemed to be a pair of exotic daggers that had two blades running parallel to their different looking handles.

Adex decided to go for the melee option as well, putting his shotgun on his back holster before sheathing out a sword out of a scabbard on his right hip, the blade resembling that of a 1832 Foot Artillery Sword in terms of appearance (to compare it to real swords), which said sword was dubbed the Rackersand. Jules and Bernadette kept their YT5 Light Plasma Machine Gun and C-T59 Plasma Rifle out as they didn’t have any melee weapons on their person.

Soon they came to the same set of three doors that led to the command center, the four hearing laser fire from within the room as a firefight was occuring in the room. They saw a few soldiers, five of them to be specific, standing besides the doorways, using them as cover as occasional laser beams flew out of the room in hopes that it would hit one of the soldiers in cover. Neither one of them noticed Elias or the others as they were too focused on the firefight.

Seeing this as their chance, Adex and Elias charged forward towards them with their weapons out, as Adex went for the one closest to him with a swift stab to their back, while Elias went for the soldier near the one that Adex was going for, swinging the exotic dagger in his left hand to the right towards the soldier’s right side. Both of them would be successful in their attacks as neither soldier expected them, effectively taking them out before Adex and Elias pulled out their sword and dagger out of the soldier’s back and side.

The three other soldiers immediately noticed the two when they stabbed their two comrades in the back and side, quickly aiming their weapons to fire at the two of them. Unfortunately, the three of them were mowed down by Bernadette’s C-T59 and Jules’ YT5. The four of them then placed themselves at the sides of the three doorways, before Adex peeked his head inside the room to see what was going on, Elias and the others doing the same.

They saw that the room was a complete battleground as the brainwashed Royal Army soldiers of groups one and three were fighting the commanding officers still loyal to the Republic of Acorn. Alicia and Maximillian Acorn were still in the command center as well, though they were hiding behind some cover as the former didn’t have a weapon and the latter couldn’t fight at all. They were actually hiding in a different room of the command center with the door closed, though could still see the battle going on through some glass windows even though they tried to keep out of sight.

“Move in!” Adex said to the others, which they nodded in acknowledgement before they entered the room, Elias and Adex charging towards a pair of soldiers while Jules and Bernadette opening fire at the other soldiers. The charge towards the pair of soldiers were done successfully, Adex and Elias stabbing them in their backs while Jules and Bernadette had taken out a majority of the two squadrons before they even noticed… they had been entirely outflanked!

A couple of them turned around, completely surprised that they had been suddenly outflanked by four individuals. They aimed their weapons at the four of them, but before they could fire they were shot in the back of the head by a couple of the remanding commanding officers. About a few seconds later, and the last of the two squadrons were taken care of. Some of the commanding officers were actually going to open fire at the four when they entered, but they had both recognized them (excluding Elias) and saw they were attacking their foes, so they had kept their fire on the squadrons.

*“I think that’s the last of them”* Jules said as he and Bernadette were looking around the place. Adex and Elias looked around as well, the former nodding before he sheathed the Rackersand back into its scabbard, Elias placing his exotic daggers on his back when he did. “Is that… the Zarvokian faction leader?” One of the commanding officers said aloud, catching Adex’s attention “Greetings. And yes, I am” He said to them “We didn’t expect you, Jules, and Bernadette to come save our skins, we appreciate it” Another one of them said.

*“It’s no problem to us at all”* Jules said to them “We’re always willing to help out New Mobotropolis and its people however we can“ Bernadette said. At that point, Elias noticed one of the dead commanding officers on the ground “...How many did you lose?” He asked them “Well, er… there are about six of us left before you guys showed up. Even though we had the element of surprise, they were superiorly equipped” One of the commanding officers said “...It was crucial that we showed up when we did then” Adex said to the commanding officers.

“By the source… is that you Adex?” A voice said to him, of which he turned to face whoever spoke to him, which that person was Alicia as she was peeking out of the doorway “...Queen Alicia? It’s… been a while” Adex said as Alicia couldn’t help but chuckle before walking out of the doorway “I’m not a queen anymore dear, but I appreciate your respect” She said as Adex nodded in response “...Where’s Maximillian?” Adex asked “Oh, right. Hold on” Alicia said before she went back into the room she was hiding in previously.

Not even a dozen seconds passed before Alicia came back in with Maximillian, the former of which wheeling the latter into view with his wheelchair. Maximillian took a bit to notice Adex in the room as his eyes widened in surprise, seeing his former general for the first time since the end of the Great War. The same went for Adex who saw his former king in the same amount of time, surprised as to how much Maximillian had aged in eighteen years.

“...Adex…?” Maximillian said strugglingly “...Maximillian. You, uh… aged quite a bit” Adex said, scratching behind his head, slightly nervous “We both aged quite a bit, dear… but we’re glad to see you again after so many years” Alicia said with a chuckle, as Maximillian slowly nod as to agree with her “...I apologize this has had to happen to the Republic you two… but I intend to fix it” Adex said “...Heh… still the… same as ever… I see” Maximillian said to Adex, who turned to him “...With time comes change… but my morals will remain the same” He said.

“That was well said, Adex” Bernadette spoke up as she and Jules stood on the opposite sides of him “Oh! Jules and Bernadette, you’ve helped Adex here? Reminds me when you all used to be squadmates” Alicia said *“We said that ourselves, actually”* Jules said with a chuckle. Adex though turned to face Elias, who was standing behind them with his arms crossed “...Elias, is it alright if I revealed your secret to them?” He said… without making a single sound. In actuality he moved his mouth to where he would say those words without speaking. Elias’ eyes slightly widened as he was able to read Adex’s words before he glanced over to his left for a bit, before he looked back at Adex, giving a nod of approval.

“...Very well” Adex said without a sound again before he faced back to Alicia and Maximillian “...It wasn’t just the three of us that helped out” He said, gesturing with his left hand behind his back for Elias to come forward. Seeing his gesturing, Elias walked up to Jules’ side and stood there, facing Maximillian and Alicia while they looked over at him. They couldn’t help but think that his appearance looked oddly familiar.

Not delaying to reveal his identity to them, Adex spoke “...We also had help from your son, Elias. He was very helpful” He said to them. Alicia and Maximillian looked shocked at Adex, before they turned over to face Elias, who began to remove his visor and the part of the suit that concealed his face, revealing that it really was him to his parents, while also surprising the other commanding officers in the room that were watching “...Surprised to see me?” He asked them.

“...Elias…?” Maximillian mouthed strugglingly “Hon, you… you’ve been fighting Naugus since he started his coup?” Alicia asked him “I fought him ever since the beginning when he took the crown. I couldn’t allow Naugus to put the people’s will in danger” Elias said “...Indeed. He’s apart of an organization of Secret Freedom Fighters that oppose him in secrecy” Adex affirmed “But now that Naugus is attacking the city directly, we have no choice but to come out in the open. Me and the other members tried to keep our identities a secret still, but… Bernadette saw through my disguise” Elias said.

“...Then… why reveal yourself… now?” Maximillian asked strugglingly “Because I felt like you two had the right to know, as former king and queen of the Kingdom… but also wanted to know that as my parents if you are proud of my actions” Elias answered “...Elias…” Maximillian said strugglingly, before slowly placing his hands on the wheels of his wheelchair. Knowing of her husband’s intentions though, Alicia pushed his wheelchair closer to Elias to save him to trouble, which he let go of the wheels once he felt the wheels spinning. At this point, everyone else in the room was quiet and watching, as to not interrupt the three of them.

Once Maximillian and Alicia were in front of Elias, the latter looked down at his father, who was looking up at him, before slowly placed his hand on his son’s left arm “...Son… I couldn’t… be more proud” Maximillian said strugglingly, who cracked a slight smile “Your father is right, Elias. We’re very proud that you are putting your concerns in the people, like a king should” Alicia said with a smile, which she had wrapped her arm around Elias’ shoulders “I’m… glad you both think so” Elias said, smiling back at them with relief before he knelt down to hug his father, of course being careful to do so due to his old, frail body. Alicia knelt down as well to hug her son and husband, the three Acorn family members hugging it out.

“Aww… this is such a touching moment” Bernadette whispered to Adex and Jules *“It is… it makes me happy seeing them like this”* Jules whispered back in agreement “...It makes me happy as well… but as much as I hate to interrupt, we must return to the matter at hand” Adex whispered to them before he looked at the three Acorns “...I’m terribly sorry to interrupt the moment, but we have a pressing issue to attend to” Adex said to them, of which the three of them looked up at him.

“Right… we still have to deal with Naugus and the rest of his men in his mind-control” Elias said, before he and Alicia stood up, breaking off from the hug they had shared while Adex nodded “...We need to get you and the rest of the commanding officers out of here, until Naugus is dealt with once and for all” Adex said “Right. Come on dearest, let’s get ourselves to safety” Alicia said to Maximillian, who gave a slow nod before Alicia prepared to push his wheelchair out of the building

“...A Holomane Transport is already en route to our location. Let’s not keep it waiting” Adex said, before he proceeded to leave the command center. Jules and Bernadette followed him as well as Alicia and Maximillian, having his wheelchair being pushed by the former, while Elias put his visor back on and the part of his bodysuit to conceal his face again. The commanding officers followed them as well. When they all left the command center, and soon the Royal Army HQ building, they saw a Holomane Transport only just now landing, before it’s side doors opened as six Zarvokian infantrymen and two Combat Medics came out, which they approached the others.

“Sir, we’ll secure this position for you” One of them, a Primary Infantrymen said to Adex “...Very good. But before you do, please help Maximillian into the transport” Adex said to him “Yes, sir” The Primary Infantrymen said to him as the commanding officers seated themselves in the transport while Alicia was trying to get Maximillian in the transport. The Primary Infantrymen walked up to the two, before he helped Alicia get Maximillian inside “Oh, your too kind” Alicia said gratefully, the Infantrymen nodding at her before he went back with his squadron to secure the Royal Army HQ.

Alicia then hopped into the transport as well, sitting down as she looked over to Adex, Jules, Bernadette, and Elias “Good luck, we’re counting on you” She said to them “...We won’t let you down” Adex said *“You can leave it to us”* Jules said “We’ll kick Naugus right off of his throne!” Bernadette said “And we’ll take back the Republic” Elias said “...I have… faith in you… four… don’t let the people down” Maximillian said strugglingly to them, before the side doors of the transport closed, and the Holomane Transport took off for the ZFAS Velocity.

Adex at that moment slid his BFT-HUD down to his eyes, before gaining a birds-eye view over the entire city, to check on the progress of the battle “...The battle has gone a lot better than I expected!” Adex said to the others surprised, which they turned to face him “The battle for the city? Well, what gains have we made?” Elias asked him “From the looks of it, we have most of the city in Zarvokian control. The forces I left over at the Hospital to help evacuate the wounded is almost done with their mission, and we just recaptured the Memorial Garden, the School, and the Power Plant. All that’s left is the Airfield, the military garrison, and Castle Acorn itself… wait, that’s odd” Adex said.

“What’s wrong, Adex?” Jules asked him “The Castle… it looks like a battle just went off in there. I think an attempt was made on the Castle” Adex replied “Was it a successful attempt?” Bernadette asked “...No. I still see Naugus’ men stationed there. Whatever force was sent there has without a doubt failed… but we have plenty of forces up in the Battleship… Naugus will fall eventually” Adex said.

“So what will we target first?” Elias asked “...First we’ll meet up with Commander Nora and Captain Metal at the Science Center, so we can coordinate our next move… originally I thought about taking the Airfield first, but I think we may be able to do both” Adex said, before the other three looked at each other confused *“...Captain Metal? That better had not been directed at me-”* Jules said before Adex interrupted “No I didn’t mean you Jules… I wouldn’t even call you that, it sounds offensive” He said to him.

“Well it doesn’t matter right now, we’ll see who it is when we get there” Elias said, before Adex nodded in agreement “Indeed… now we must go, before Naugus tries a desperate counterattack to take back the city” He said *“Alright, let’s go then”* Jules said “Going to take us a bit without a jeep though” Bernadette said “...No worries. We all need some exercise anyway” Adex said jokingly, which was sort of surprising to them, but nonetheless the four of them began making their way over to the Science Center.

***Meanwhile, at Castle Acorn…***

Within the throne room of the Castle sat Ixis Naugus, as the room itself seemed to have recently experienced a battle, as there were many burn marks throughout the room, as well as some bodies, both Zarvokian and Royal Army. Ixis was only watching his men lifting some of the bodies one by one out of the room to be disposed of in a different room. One of the soldiers at Ixis’ side then spoke to him.

“Master, the next reports came in from the city, and it’s not looking good… the enemy has wiped out most of our air force, and they took most of the city from us” He said to Ixis, who snarled “Amadeus had a single job, and that was to secure my rightfully claimed New Mobotropolis… but he couldn’t even defend some houses!” Ixis said frustratingly “But master, they’re facing Zarvokians, we’re technologically outmatched” The soldier said to him “It does not matter, subject. He could’ve at least taken back some land, a disgrace he is… where is he anyway?!” Ixis asked.

“He’s at King Frederick Airport, master. He’s preparing for a last stand over there with what’s left of his forces” The soldier said “A last stand? Well let’s hope he doesn’t screw up like he has done all day!” Ixis said “But master… what about us? We lost a lot of men trying to defend this castle from their first assault, if they come at us again, we’ll be done for!” The soldier said “Not necessarily, my frightened subject” Ixis said “...Huh? What do you mean? The soldier asked.

“You forgotten that you have your master to protect you all for one! And two… well, let’s say my specialization in crystallization has proven to be quite useful in the many years I’ve had it” Ixis said, as he gave a smirk at the soldier. At the point, the soldier saw someone walk into view from behind the throne, as the individual looked at him back. It looked to be a certain automaton that resembled a hedgehog, though its body components and parts were covered in green crystals…

***Meanwhile, at the Science Center…***

There were a large concentration of Zarvokian troops and vehicles at New Mobotropolis’ Science Center. With the dogfight over at the ZFAS Seratord reaching its climax in a Zarvokian victory, all that was needed was to take back the Royal Army garrison, King Frederick Airport, and Castle Acorn itself. With many squadrons of Zarvokian infantry that composed of Primary Infantrymen, Demolition Troopers, Combat Medics, and Close Quarters Specialists, along with a few Zarvokian Seravix Assault Mechs and RYD-43 Light Mechs that would support them.

Waiting with them was Nora, as she was sitting down at a bench with her Tesla Rifle beside her, while she was looking around her surroundings, waiting for Adex to arrive at the science center “...I wonder what’s taking him so long… maybe I should… no, it’s fine. Knowing him, he’ll be alright” Nora thought to herself, having initially being worried for Adex’s wellbeing, but then remembered that he had gone through worse situations than this before, and would be fine.

Her patience for his arrival paid off a couple of minutes later when she noticed four individuals walking up to the science center out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at them, and recognized immediately that one of them was Adex, while taking a bit to recognize Jules and Bernadette, but failed to recognize Elias as she didn’t meet him before, and that he was still disguised within his bodysuit and visor. She stood up from the bench regardless though when the four approached him.

*“Nora? What an unexpected surprise”* Jules said to her, which Nora smiled with surprise “Hello Jules and Bernadette. Yep, he brought me along for the ride” She said, “he” referring to Adex, of which the latter received a quick smooch on the right cheek from her when he was at her side “Er… indeed I brought Nora along” Adex said, a faint blush on his face, which Bernadette and Jules couldn’t help but chuckle to, Elias having a slight smile on his face that was concealed underneath his bodysuit.

Adex then looked around to see the amount of troops around, thinking that’d be more than enough for his plan to attack both Castle Acorn and King Frederick Airport… but then he noticed the absence of Captain Metal “...Hey Nora, where’s Captain Metal?” He asked “Oh… um… I sent him along to help the strike force that was ordered to attack the castle earlier. After hearing they had failed, I thought… he might’ve gotten destroyed in the battle” Nora said.

“...So I see. A rather unfortunate loss, but not one that’ll be in vain… with their defenses softened up at the castle, I thought of an alteration to my earlier plan” Adex said “An alteration? What did you have in mind?” Nora asked “...I was thinking we split up our forces. One group leads one force to the Airport, while the other leads a second attack at Castle Acorn” Adex said “Kill two birds with a single large stone… I like it” Nora said “But now the question is… who’ll lead who?” Bernadette asked.

“I believe we can help you with that” A voice said to them from above, which the four of them looked up to face whoever it was. They saw a very light gray male hedgehog hovering in the air in a cyan glow and wore a black bodysuit with cyan accents. There were three others around him who had the same cyan glow. Two of them were pink furred female wolves that both had black bodysuits, though one had blue accents and visor, with the other one being light green accents and visor. The third one was a brown furred male lynx with black streaks, also wearing a black bodysuit that had yellow accents and visor, along with claw-gauntlets where his gloves were.

After looking at each one of them for a bit, Elias immediately recognized the four of them. From first mentioned, they were Silver, Lupe, Leeta, and Larry respectively, the second former of which was looking terrified as she was in the air. Thankfully for her, Silver descended down onto the ground to land himself and the others “Agent Ace, you and the rest of the agents made it just in time” Elias said to Silver “Of course, we wouldn’t want to miss overthrowing Naugus, especially after he got out of our grasp earlier” Silver replied.

Larry at this point was looking around for someone, before he looked over at Elias “Where’s Agent Jack?” He asked him “That’s… a good question. He was at the hospital the last time I saw him, but I haven’t heard from him since” Elias replied to Larry “You mean that black and yellow robot?” Nora asked them, overhearing them before they all turned to face her “Yes. Do you know where he went?” Lupe asked her “He’s over at the ZFAS Seratord, getting repairs for his damages. He was pretty beat up” Nora said “Oh. That’s a shame, he would have liked beating Naugus up again” Silver said.

“...So” Adex mouthed suddenly, getting the attention of everyone as they turned to face him “You four are Secret Freedom Fighters?” He asked Silver, Lupe, Leeta, and Larry “Yeah we are… how did you know?” Leeta asked him “...Harvey informed me earlier when he notified us that Naugus’ coup was underway. At the time I was with councilors Isabella and Sir Charles” Adex replied “Harvey told you? I guess he trusts you then” Silver said “...Possibly. But back to the matter at hand” Adex said.

*“Yes. So who are we sending to the Castle, and who are we sending to the Airport?”* Jules asked “Let’s see, there are… nine of us. Since the castle is likely guarded more we’ll need to send more of our people there” Bernadette said “...Exactly. Elias, how would you and the Secret Freedom Fighters like to attack the castle?” Adex asked “Wait, what? You don’t want to do it?” Elias asked, confused “...No. I’ll leave that honor to you and your team” Adex replied.

“So that leave us two, Bernadette, and Jules with the Airport, right?” Nora asked to clarify “...Indeed. We’ll leave some of our troops with you as well” Adex said to the Secret Freedom Fighters “That’s appreciated, but I think we’ll go at this by ourselves” Silver said “...Oh? Are you sure?” Adex asked “Of course, we wouldn’t be the Secret Freedom Fighters if we didn’t strike from the shadows” Larry said.

“...Very well. We’ll leave it up to you then” Adex said “Alright. We’ll head out now, wish us luck” Lyco said *“Just be careful, we don’t know what Naugus has in store for us”* Jules said “Whatever he throws our way, we’ll endure it just as we did in the past” Silver said “Alright, hit him in the face for us, okay?” Nora said “We will. Alright Secret Freedom Fighters, let’s move out!” Elias said as the other agents nodded, before the five of them began making their way to Castle Acorn.

“Well that leaves us with the airport” Bernadette said “Indeed… we need to end this battle as soon as possible now, the city has endured too much” Adex said *“Let’s get going then, the sooner the better”* Jules said as the other three nodded, before Adex turned around to face the idle troops and vehicles, all of which faced him and stood at attention “Gather your equipment, we’re moving out immediately!” He said to them “Yes, sir!” They said in unison, before they all got their weapons ready up, while the Seravix Assault and RYD-43 Light mechs went into full combat effectiveness.

“We good to go now?” Nora asked him “...Yes. Let us move to the airport” Adex replied *“We’ll follow right behind you”* Jules said “Let’s take back the airport!” Bernadette said, which Adex nodded, before he moved forward, being followed by Nora, Bernadette, and Jules, while the entire Zarvokian force at the Science Center followed suit behind the four of them. Adex was leading the charge towards the Airport it seemed.

***Several minutes later, at King Frederick Airport…***

Over at the airport waited many Royal Army troops that were backed by Royal Army IFVs, Main Battle Tanks, and even Mobile Anti-Air vehicles that prevented Zarvokian aircraft from landing troops there in the first place. They were all waiting for the eventual attack by the Zarvokian forces, which were already almost there. At the very back of the awaiting force was a male brown furred fox with blue eyes, the left covered by an eye-patch as he wore an Acorn commanding officer outfit… it was Amadeus Prower.

“They’re almost here, I can feel it… we must beat them here so we can commence a powerful counterattack, in the name of our master!” Amadeus said to his troops to boost their morale, which was successful as his troops raised their fists in the air as a response to their boost of morale. Then a scout from the front ran into the airport, quickly making his way to Amadeus as he stopped to catch his breath before speaking “S… Sir. They’ll be here in a minute” He said.

“Good. We’re ready to take them all down, and send them back to their leader in body bags” Amadeus said “...The faction leader is with them, sir” The scout then said, which took Amadeus by surprise “He’s here? With them? ...Ha ha! The upcoming bout will be even more intense then!” Amadeus said with a grin as the scout looked at him surprised “Sir?” He mouthed “It’s the fight between old acquaintances and fellow leaders if you didn’t understand. But nevertheless…” Amadeus said before he began to walk forward “...I think I’ll greet him personally” He added.

At that moment, the Royal Army forces saw approaching figures in the distance, which they immediately recognized as the Zarvokian strike force that was coming to take back the Airport. They saw Adex, Nora, Jules, and Bernadette at the front as well, which all four had their weapons at the ready as well as the troops behind them. The Royal Army troops had their weapons ready too, as they prepared to fire their first shots to begin the battle

“Hold your fire, do not shoot” Amadeus said to his troops, which they all looked at him in surprised and confused… but nonetheless, they obeyed without question and lowered their weapons. Adex and the others looked confused when he saw the troops lower their weapons, not seeing Amadeus yet as he had not yet reached the front “Are they surrendering?” Nora asked “No… they’re standing down” Adex replied as they walked closer to them, Adex gesturing his troops to lower their weapons while they approached.

After half a minute had passed, Amadeus finally made it to the front of his troops, facing Adex and the others while walking several steps closer before stopping. Adex suddenly froze in place when he saw Amadeus walk forward, Jules, Bernadette and, Nora doing the same as the troops and mechs behind them stopped to a halt, most of them surprised that their leaders had stopped and had assumed they were to do the same as well.

Adex stared at Amadeus for a bit as the latter did the same, before the former took a couple of steps forward, only several scores of steps apart from each other now, before he spoke “...So. He got you too, it seems” He said to Amadeus “My master has only showed me who truly should be in charge. You’d be wise to recognize that as well” Amadeus replied, taking a few steps forward again before standing “No. I’m wise enough to put him out of commision… but I don’t expect you to understand, given your current state” Adex said.

“My current state is that I’m enlightened by my master’s ambitions. It’s a shame that you can’t understand it” Amadeus replied, before Bernadette spoke “Amadeus, you need to snap out of it! Naugus is controlling you!” She said to him “Naugus controls all” Amadeus replied simply, making it clear that negotiations weren’t going to work… and Adex understood that clearly, but yet he didn’t want to harm nor kill his friend and former squadmate… so he thought of a way to buy the Secret Freedom Fighters some time to defeat Naugus.

“...Let’s make a wager, Amadeus” Adex said, which surprised Nora, Jules, and Bernadette while Amadeus looked at him curiously “A wager? What sort of wager?” He asked him “...Remember how the Great War ended?” Adex replied with a question “...It ended with a duel” Amadeus answered, a smirk slowly growing on his face as he knew where this was going *“Adex, you don’t think a duel will work, will you? And even then, I don’t think he’ll honor whatever terms you give him if you win the duel since he’s controlled by Naugus”* Jules said to him.

“...He has to. Even with Naugus’ mind control, Amadeus has to honor a duel’s winning and losing terms… and Naugus probably knows it too” Adex replied to Jules “But do you think it will work, Adex?” Nora asked him “...If I keep it up long enough, it will work” Adex replied, which the three of them were a bit puzzled as to what he meant by “keep it up long enough” as they didn’t know his plan… but nonetheless, they left him to do whatever it was he was planning to do.

“So Adex, what will happen if you win?” Amadeus asked him, who turned to face him “...If I win, you and your army surrenders and I get the Airport” He replied “And if you lose?” Amadeus asked “...Then the airport is yours, and my forces and I will be at your mercy” Adex replied, which shocked Bernadette, Jules, and Nora, as Adex literally just put their lives and their troops lives on the line “Adex, you can’t be serious?!” Nora said to him, who gave no reply as Amadeus snickered.

“I accept to those terms, Adex” He said, as he grabbed a handle of a sword, before unsheathing it from a scabbard as it resembled a cutlass, holding it in it’s right hand. “...Very well” Adex said, before he too grabbed a blade handle and unsheathed a sword out of a scabbard, which was his Rackersand, the two of them standing firm while the troops on both sides stood and spectated “Adex, you **need** to win this for our sakes” Bernadette said to him “...Don’t fear Bernadette. It’s all apart of my plan” Adex replied while he still faced Amadeus “Have at me!” Amadeus shouted as he charged towards Adex, who charged towards him as well. Before anyone knew it, their blades clashed against each other, and the duel began.

***Meanwhile, at Castle Acorn…***

There were several Royal Army soldiers guarding the wall of the castle, some of them stationed outside of the wall while others were on top of them, as each of them were keeping a cautious eye of the area around them. Unknown to them however, Silver was observing them from afar from the rooftop of a building that was far enough for him to remain hidden when he was lying prone. He observed their patrol patterns and positions so he could plan a suitable approach without getting spotted.

He then placed his hand on an earpiece as he established contact with his fellow Secret Freedom Fighters. “Ace to all agents, do you read?” He said in the earpiece “We read you, is there any way inside without alerting them?” Elias spoke back as he was in the streets with Lyco and Leeta, while Larry was on the opposite side of the street, all four of them within eyesight of the castle “There’s fewer guards on the right side of the castle. If we can take them out without anyone noticing, we **might** be able to sneak in before they realize they’re several men short” Silver replied.

“Sounds like a plan, how do you reckon we take them out?” Larry asked on the earpiece “Me and Queen of Diamonds may be able to get on the walls if Joker, Ace, and King can take care of the ones outside the wall” Lyco said on the earpiece “Alright, let’s move into position then” Silver said on the earpiece, before he levitated off of the building he was on to go on the streets below, navigating through them carefully as to not be noticed by any potential patrol. The other agents of the Secret Freedom Fighters did the same.

Soon, the five of them had gathered at behind another building that was closer to Castle Acorn, specifically the right side of it’s wall. Silver was at the corner of the building, as he peeked out to get a headcount of guards that were on the right side of the wall “There’s only eight of them guarding the right side, five of them on the ground” Silver said to the other agents “How should we deal with them?” Larry asked.

“Hm… I’ll pull them in with my Psychokinesis. Once I do that, we’ll take them out when they’re close enough while Queen of Diamonds and Hearts will get the ones on the wall” Silver said to them “That’ll work. We’re ready when you are” Lyco said as the others got ready to execute their plan. Silver then extended his left hand towards the five Royal Army soldiers that were patrolling the outer wall and were all coincidentally in Silver’s line of sight. The five of them were then surrounded by a cyan glow as they couldn’t move.

“Wh-What the? I can’t move!” One of them said as they were frozen in place. At that moment, Lyco and Leeta ran to another corner of the building, running from said corner to approach the wall, while Silver suddenly pulled his hand backwards, which all five of the soldiers were suddenly flung towards Silver, Elias, and Larry. Elias quickly emerged from the corner as well to deliver a shot from his crossbow at one of them… unfortunately, as if bad luck had hit him hard, Elias not only missed, but his bolt actually struck one of the three soldiers on the wall in the head, alerting the other two quickly when Lyco and Leeta scaled the wall, as they pointed their weapons at them and prepared to fire.

Fortunately for the twin wolf sisters, they managed to disarm them of their weapons when they knocked them away in time, before the two of them quickly took the soldiers down with a few punches to their upper chest and head, knocking them out. The other five soldiers on the other hand, landed on the ground near Silver, Elias, and Larry, as they wasted no time in taking them out by delivering knockout blows to them, via Silver slamming three of them into a wall, Elias swinging his crossbow at one of their heads, while Larry gave a good few swings with his fists at the last one, though made sure his claws weren’t extended.

Once the five soldiers were knocked out, the three agents looked at the wall to see Lyco and Leeta standing there, with the three other guards having been taken cared of “We have an opening, let’s move quickly while we still can!” Elias said, which Silver and Larry nodded before they quickly made their way to the wall, Silver using his psychokinesis to bring himself, Elias, and Larry up to the wall. Once they made it up to the wall with Lyco and Leeta, the five agents began to move their way up to one of the rooftops of the castle, where they saw a skylight that led to the council chamber.

Lyco carefully opened the skylight before Silver looked inside, finding out that the chamber itself had been ransacked, but yet no one was inside. As such, he descended down into the chamber, using psychokinesis to lower himself carefully so he wouldn’t hurt his legs, while bringing the other members of the Secret Freedom Fighters down with him “The council chamber… it’s been awhile since I’ve been in here” Elias said “It looks like they trashed the place though” Larry commented “Yeah, Naugus will pay for that” Elias replied.

Then out of nowhere, a blaring alarm was heard throughout the halls of the castle, though they sounded makeshift as if they were just put together “Well, they know we’re here now!” Leeta said, alerted “Okay, stealth is not an option any longer, now we strike head on!” Silver said “We might as well, let’s move out Secret Freedom Fighters!” Elias said, which the others acknowledged as the five of them ran out of the council chamber into the halls, ready to take on any alerted soldier in their way.

***Back at King Frederick Airport…***

The sounds of clanging swords were heard as the duel between Adex and Amadeus was still ongoing, with their respective troops and companions were watching. Both of them tried to strike the other with their swords, but neither one of them could land a blow as the other would also counter with a block or parry. In Adex’s case, it came as a bit of a surprise to Bernadette and Jules as they noticed he was struggling… but Nora on the other hand wasn’t surprised… in fact, she knew why.

“I don’t understand, back in the Great War he used to be so efficient with his sword” Bernadette commented to her husband and Nora *“Amadeus was too hon, but I’m surprised they haven’t overpowered each other yet“* Jules replied to his wife “He’s holding back” Nora said to them suddenly, which they turned to face her “What? You mean he’s not fighting seriously?” Bernadette asked *“...It makes sense now. He doesn’t want to hurt his longtime friend, so he’s intentionally holding back his strength”* Jules said “Yeah” Nora mouthed before she turned back to watch the duel “That, and he’s gotten rusty with a sword” She added with a quick giggle.

At that moment, Adex and Amadeus clashed with their blades again, though this time instead of backing up to swing again, both of them were trying to overpower the other with their strength. Amadeus looked like he was getting the upper hand as he was slowly overpowering Adex… until the latter suddenly delivered a swift kick to the former’s waist, causing Amadeus to stagger back a bit, before Adex followed with a punch with his free hand that aimed at his left cheek, causing Amadeus to stagger further back. Though he managed to prevent himself from falling backwards, he was but several feet from his troops as Adex stood there and watched.

Amadeus then turned to glance at his troops, before a grin was shown on his face before he faced Adex and his companions/soldiers behind him “Let’s modify the terms of the duel a bit... all soldiers, open fire at the Zarvokians, but leave the Faction Leader to my blade!” Amadeus said to his troops, who all pointed their weapons at the Zarvokian forces, while Amadeus suddenly rushed at Adex “...Eh!?” Adex mouthed shocked before he was forced to block Amadeus’ strike, which he was barely able to do so before the Royal Army forces opened fire at the Zarvokians, their shots intentionally zipping past Adex and Amadeus.

“What?!” Bernadette shouted “Damn it, he’s pulling a fast one on us!” Nora shouted before she pulled out her Tesla Rifle, while Jules and Bernadette had to get their weapons out as well along with the rest of the Zarvokian forces. Thankfully the personal shielding of Bernadette and Nora (who also had it as she also had Zarvokian armor on her person) and most of the Zarvokian forces protected them from having significant casualties, while Jules managed to get behind Bernadette so her shield could tank the shots. Though several had their shields collapsed and their armor pierced from the laser shots, wounding or killing them before the rest had returned fire with their weapons.

There was little cover for the Zarvokians, safe for the Seravix Assault and RYD-43 Light Mechs that were now firing at Royal Army vehicles and infantry, while the Royal Army forces had the advantage of the airport. So they stood their ground, as they used the advantage of their advanced technologies and personal shielding to combat against the numerically superior Royal Army forces (or at least numerically superior at the airport). Both sides were taking losses, the Royal Army forces losing more than the Zarvokians, though each loss to the latter forces put a dent in their army strength.

As both armies were avoiding to interfere with the duel between Adex and Amadeus, the former of which was now fighting more seriously, but still struggling due to his rusted experience with a blade compared to Amadeus’, while the latter was still trying to take him down, the Zarvokian forces began to advance slowly, which was headed by Nora as she was taking down entire fireteams and squadrons with her Tesla Rifle, which she was backed by Jules’ YT5 Plasma Light Machine Gun and Bernadette’s C-T59 Plasma Rifle. While the forces were advancing, they made sure to stay away from Adex and Amadeus as to not interrupt them.

“...A cheap move to open fire on my forces like that, Amadeus” Adex said as he swung his sword at him “It doesn’t matter Adex, once you fall to my sword, they’ll all die regardless. It’s best to put them out now than later” Amadeus replied as he managed to parry Adex’s sword, whom of which didn’t reply to him as his focus now was to either beat Amadeus, or stall enough time for the Secret Freedom Fighters to defeat Ixis Naugus.

***Back at Castle Acorn, within the throne room…***

The alarms were still going off within the castle, as the guards within the throne room had already been alerted to the Secret Freedom Fighters. Two of the guards of which had their backs pressed against the entrance to the throne room as laser fire was heard within the halls outside, implying something was coming their way. The other guards on the other hand had their weapons pointed at the entrance to prepare to engage the attacks, while Ixis Naugus sat on his throne to watch his mind-controlled men preparing to protect his life.

The laser fire within the halls then went silent as the attackers were taken out… or otherwise the defenders. Pretty soon it proved to be the latter, as the doors banged once and the two guards pressing their backs on them almost fell forward, before they pressed again on the doors. Then the doors flew open, knocking the soldiers on the ground as the five Secret Freedom Fighters entered the throne room. The soldiers standing guard opened fire at them as their guns were already pointed at the entrance.

However, Silver quickly extended his hand outwards to use his Psychokinesis on every laser blast that was fired at them, which they all had suddenly stopped in place before they shot towards the soldiers instead, immediately hitting them in the upper chest as they all fell down to the ground. Watching from his throne, Ixis Naugus only grinned as he stood up from his throne, while the five Secret Freedom Fighters looked over to him, which they noticed his mutations going at full-swing on him. A bit unnerved and maybe even a little fearful, they ignored it as their task was more important.

“Ah, the Interlopers. It’s satisfying to see that you’ve all come here to be ended by my hand!” Ixis said with a grin “The only thing that’s ending here is your coup, Naugus!” Silver said “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. Even with their advanced technologies, those Zarvokians were foolish to intervene. And now not only will I have the Republic in my control, but I’ll also prove that my magicks are more powerful than any technology they could come up with!” Ixis said confidentially.

“If you’re so confident about your magicks, then put your money where your mouth is” Silver said to him “Very well, Interloper. Then come and face me” Ixis said with a grin, which Silver quickly took it as a challenge before he charged toward Naugus, ready to fight “Let’s get him, Secret Freedom Fighters!” Silver said as he charged forward. The others were quick to follow as they prepared to charge alongside their companion…

Before they could however, Silver immediately noticed something approach him from his right from the corner of his eye. But before he could react, he was suddenly punched right in his right cheek with sheer force, which sent him flying into a wall. The other Secret Freedom Fighters were taken by surprise to see Silver attacked so suddenly, which from their point of view they saw an automaton, which resembled a hedgehog that had its body components and parts were covered in green crystals, with it’s red irises staring right at Silver.

“Is that… a Metal Sonic Trooper?!” Larry said surprised as he and the others saw the automaton right in front of them “So it is, my observant interloper. Let me introduce you to MT-0000… **Captain Crystal!**” Naugus said to them, as “Captain Crystal” turned to face the four other Secret Freedom Fighters, staring at them with it’s glowing red irises “Weren’t they all destroyed a couple of years back?!” Lyco said, surprised “Yes, they all were destroyed Interloper” Naugus said, still grinning.

“However, thanks to the efforts of the Council and the Zarvokians, there was to be more Metal Sonic Troopers that would serve to protect the Republic. It seems they managed to build one of them already, the very leader of the troopers so to speak… who now serves my very command without a second thought!” Naugus said, as the four Secret Freedom Fighters prepared themselves for a fight “Awaiting orders, Master Naugus” Captain Crystal said, as Naugus snickered “Enforce my right to will, and kill them” He said “Affirmative” Captain Crystal replied, as it was preparing it’s propulsion systems to charge right at the four, as they braced themselves for a tough fight.

For a split second, Captain Crystal had charged at them, but then he was suddenly sent upwards, as he slammed into the ceiling “What?!” Naugus mouthed, before he looked over to where Silver was, who was on his feet with some scratches on him with a bad mark on the cheek where Captain Crystal had punched him, while his hand was stretched out towards Captain Crystal as he had apparently used Psychokinesis to slam him into the ceiling. He then looked over to the other Secret Freedom Fighters while he slowly floated into the air.

“You guys deal with Naugus, I’ll handle this ‘Captain Crystal’” Silver said to him, as he then flew towards the automaton that got himself out of the ceiling, before he flew towards the charging Silver in order to engage him in battle “You heard him, let’s go beat him once and for all!” Leeta said, which the others nodded as the four of them charged towards them “You think the four of you interlopers can stop me? You’d been wiser to think otherwise!” Ixis said with laughter, before he extended his claw towards them, before flames were emitted from the claw like a flamethrower at them.

The four of them quickly leapt backwards out of the way, before Elias got out his handheld crossbow that already had a bolt loaded into it before shooting it at Naugus, while Lyco and Leeta charged from one side and Larry from the other, planning to overwhelm him from multiple angles. Naugus however, managed to react to the bolt in time as he moved out of the way as the bolt hit the wall behind him and the throne, while he extended his hand toward the wolf twins and used a strong gust of wind to keep them at bay, which resulted in him dropping his staff while he redirected the flames from his claw at Larry, who had to stop his charge and run the other way.

This however, gave Elias an opening as he charged towards Naugus, attaching his crossbow back to his side while he got out both of his exotic daggers to attack him with a couple of swings with both daggers. Naugus notices Elias charge towards him, and he leaps to the left to avoid the swings, however said swings manage to cut off a small piece of his long beard. His leap also allowed Lyco and Leeta to charge forward as the wind from Naugus’ hand was no longer concentrated on them, and the same going for Larry with the flames, which he charged towards him as well. Naugus watched as they charged at him as he prepared to counter them with a Shadow Meld teleport.

Meanwhile, Silver and Captain Crystal were battling it out in the air of the throne room, that was tall and spacious enough for them to do so in the first place. Captain Crystal was shooting laser beams from his eyes out at Silver in an attempt to shoot him out of the sky, however Silver was redirecting them all in different directions, some hitting the ceiling while others the walls and floor. Then one of the directed laser beams managed to hit Captain Crystal in the upper chest, which thankfully the crystal that surrounded it had gave it some protection, though it still damaged him.

Now realizing ranged attacks were of no use, Captain Crystal then sped towards Silver at fast speeds in a charging ram, which the former managed to successfully do as Silver was hit in his belly region, letting out a loud “Oof!” as he was knocked backwards by Captain Crystal’s ram. However, before he could collide into the wall behind him, he used his Psychokinesis to send Captain Crystal off of him and slowed down his own speed, which as he neared the wall behind him, he slowed down enough to where it gave it a harmless tap.

Having been sent off of Silver, Captain Crystal slowed down to hover in the air, before he charged towards Silver again “Hey, Captain Crystal!” Silver shouted at him with his hand stretched out towards to Captain Crystal, who now had a cyan aura around him as he was slowed down to a stop in mid-air by Silver’s psychokinesis “You’re relieved of your command!” Silver said to him, as he gripped his hand into a fist, as Captain Crystal’s systems began to short out with the psychokinesis reaching the metallic body underneath the crystal.

However, while it seemed like Silver was going to defeat Captain Crystal by shortening it out and destroying it, he was suddenly struck at his left side by a fireball “Augh!” Silver exclaimed in pain, as the sudden strike to his side broke his hold on Captain Crystal, while also causing Silver to fall down onto the floor below, landing with a thud as he was on the ground. He then heard laughter from Naugus as the former looked up to face him.

“Fools! Did you really think you could defeat me?!” Naugus said as he was standing triumphantly while looking over at Silver, his claw even extended out towards him as it was evident that he had struck Silver, while his staff was back in his hand. Silver looked around to see the wolf twins Lyco and Leeta were on the ground and knocked out, with Larry also knocked out on the floor as it was apparent Naugus had defeated them. The only other Secret Freedom Fighter standing was Elias, who was panting and on one knee while standing in front of Silver, his daggers still in hands as he was looking at Naugus.

Silver then slowly got up on his feet, before he and Elias were suddenly knocked backwards by a strong gust of wind as they landed on the floor on their backs, Naugus once again laughing maniacally as he saw them looking up at him, while Captain Crystal made a slow descent down to Naugus’ side “You’re finished and done for! Now I’ll secure my position as the rightful ruler of this land, the rightful rule of the Order of Ixis!” Naugus said to the two of them, who they slowly stood to their feet as they looked at him.

“Now if you will, Captain Crystal, finish them off” Naugus said with a grin *“By your command, Master Naugus”* Captain Crystal said, as he looked at Elias and Silver, preparing to strike at them again “We need to think of something fast, Ace” Elias said to Silver “I still have enough in me to stop his attack… but I don’t think I can short out his systems” Silver replied, as the two of them prepared for Captain Crystal’s attack.

...Everyone’s attention was then directed to the ceiling however, as a distant shot was heard that was followed by a small explosion that blew a small hole in the ceiling “What is the meaning of this?!” Naugus said as he looked at the hole *“...Additional target detected”* Captain Crystal said as Elias and Silver looked at each other “Additional target?” The former thought to himself before the two looked back at the hole in the ceiling.

At that moment, someone flew into the throne room through the small hole as it hovered above the four of them, looking down at them. The person who flew in looked to be a Metal Sonic with red eyes, colored black with gold and gray accents, along with a red gem on it’s chest and a left arm cannon… it was none other than Shard himself, who looked good as new *“Yo, what’d I miss?”* Shard said to them as he looked down with a visible grin.

“You!?” Naugus shouted in anger at Shard, remembering how he was the one who destroyed Ixis Vale’s bones and ruined his previous attempt *“Oh hello Naugy, you look a lot uglier than you did some months ago”* Shard replied with a taunt, which made Naugus even more mad “Destroy that dreaded Metal Sonic, Captain Crystal! Leave no remains of him!” He commanded *“Affirmative”* Captain Crystal replied without question, before he sped up towards Shard *“Man, and I just got repaired… ah well”* Shard said, before he boosted to the right in a strafe as he pointed his arm cannon as the approaching Captain Crystal, firing a beam of plasma at him that managed to hit him in the shoulder, though the crystal around it prevented it from coming off. Naugus on the other hand, had a grin on his face as he was aiming his staff at Shard, a green sphere coming off from the front of the emerald as he was preparing a blast of crystallization.

Elias and Silver quickly looked at each other, before both of them realized that now was the time to strike Naugus while he was distracted. As such, the two of them charged towards him as his back was turned. Naugus’ ear twitched as he heard the approach of running footsteps, before he turned around to see Silver and Elias running towards him. But before he could react, he reacted a punch to the left side of his face by Silver as he was flying, while Elias had elbowed his left side as he was running.

This was enough to send Naugus falling down to the ground and letting go of his staff, which fired off a premature beam of crystallization that barely missed Shard, who was taken by surprise as the beam zoomed by the front of his face “Whoa! That was awfully close!” He said, before he shot another plasma beam at Captain Crystal, which missed when he dodged it. When Naugus fell on the side, something had fallen out onto the floor from what had apparently been a back pocket, as the object looked to a familiar looking book that was glowing green.

“Is that... the Eldritch Rite!?” Silver said surprised when he and Elias saw the book on the ground. Immediately alerted that the book had fallen out of his possession, Naugus quickly got up on his right knee before extending his hand at the book and his claw at Silver and Elias. Using his hand, some stone emerged suddenly from the floor at a elevated position under the Eldritch Rite that sent it flying into the air towards Naugus, while he used his claw to send a rushing wave of water at Elias and Silver that also emerged from the floor, implying both abilities were the result of Ixis Magicks.

Elias braced himself for the incoming wave, while Silver extended both of his hands outwards, his right hand pointed at the incoming wave while the left was pointed at the airborne Eldritch Rite “Shard, the Eldritch Rite!” Silver yelled as he used Psychokinesis at the incoming wave to separate it into two, so it would go around himself and Elias, while he used it on the Eldritch Rite as well, to fling it further into the air, which was heading towards Shard and Captain Crystal, the former of which narrowly dodged the latter’s attempted rush at him before he noticed the Eldritch Rite “I’m on it!” He said, before he dashed over to the airborne book, which Captain Crystal quickly noticed, and pursued Shard.

When Silver had used his Psychokinesis to redirect the waves however, Naugus had quickly approached him with a surprise swing of his staff towards Silver’s side, having apparently grabbed it beforehand while it managed to hit Silver, which he was knocked down onto the ground as a result, while Elias was quick to react, which he dropped one of his daggers while reaching to grab his crossbow, having a bolt loaded into it already as he shot it at Naugus in his right shoulder, which managed to hit and caused him to drop his staff and hold it with his claw “Agh! You annoying pest!” Naugus said in anger as he looked over at Elias, before extending his claw outwards to shoot out flames from it like a flamethrower at him.

Meanwhile, Shard was still boosting towards the airborne Eldritch Rite, as he managed to outrun Captain Crystal before he grabbed the book with his hand “I got it!” He said, before he quickly turned around to see Captain Crystal approaching fast, which he managed to give Shard a good punch in the face that sent him flying back, but managed to keep the Eldritch Rite in his hand, while Captain Crystal planned to follow up the attack with laser beams as his eyes glowed red, before shooting them out at Shard.

Shard however… only grinned when he saw Captain Crystal fire those laser beams “Hey buddy, catch!” He said, before he suddenly threw the Eldritch Rite from his hand towards the laser beams, as he thought destroying the Eldritch Rite would render everyone free from Naugus’ control, or otherwise kill everyone in his control via spontaneous brain combustion… but it was a risk he was willing to take, as the Eldritch Rite was then struck by the laser beams. Upon being struck, the book began to glow brighter with each passing second.

Elias at this point was doing his best to not get caught in Naugus’ flames, before the latter notice the brighter flash from the corner of his eyes, before he looked up to where the Eldritch Rite was, while Elias and Silver did the same as the latter wasn’t knocked out, but still on the floor “...NO!” Naugus shouted, as if he knew what was about to happen. After a couple of seconds had passed, the Eldritch Rite then suddenly exploded into a green puff of smoke, before the smoke dissipated with the Eldritch Rite nowhere in sight… it had been destroyed.

“You destroyed my Eldritch Rite and intervened in my plans to control this land after getting so dreadfully close… Once again Interlopers, you have halted my right to rule… but it’ll be the last time!” Naugus said completely enraged, as a sphere of energy formed on top of the emerald on the staff, while flames appeared where his claw was. Silver slowly stood to his feet as he watched Ixis preparing his attack, while Elias was also watching and bracing himself, while Shard was looking down at them with Captain Crystal. Then Naugus extended both of his hands at Elias and Silver, firing a wave-motion beam at Elias, while flames were shot out towards Silver. Captain Crystal on the other hand then rushed at Shard, who quickly reacted as they continued their fight.

***Back at King Frederick Airport…***

The battle over at the airport was still ongoing, as the Royal Army forces were getting an edge in the battle with their sheer numbers against the technologically superior Zarvokians, so much so that they were slowly getting pushed back. Most of the Seravix Assault and RYD-43 Light Mechs had been taken down, with only a single Seravix Assault Mech still standing as it was fighting until it’s very end. Most of the remaining Zarvokian infantry were using the tipped over or destroyed mechs and Royal Army vehicles as cover while they still fought.

Nora was behind a tipped over Seravix Assault Mech with a few Zarvokian Primary Infantrymen, as she and her men occasionally peeked out of their cover to deliver some shots from their weapons before narrowly avoiding some shots at them “Ma’am, there’s too many of them! They’re going to overrun this position soon!” One of the Infantrymen said “Fall back, I’ll cover your escape!” Nora said “Ma’am?” Another mouthed “Just go, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine!” Nora said reassuringly, before her men looked at each other and nodded, before they began to retreat, Nora giving covering fire with her Tesla Rifle as well.

Then a couple of Royal Army soldiers got around the tipped Seravix Assault Mech that Nora was behind, quickly noticing her as they pointed their rifles at her and opened fire, which thankfully her shields protected her from their shots, giving her enough time to turn around to see the two Royal Army soldiers that flanked her, and prepared to fire her Tesla Rifle at them. Just before she could pull the trigger however, a few plasma shots were fired at the soldiers from a different angle, which said shots killed the soldiers as Nora stood there, confused as to whoever fired at those soldiers.

*“You think we’re going to leave you here by yourself?”* A familiar voice said to Nora, who turned around to face whoever it was. It was Jules, who ran up to the tipped over Seravix Assault Mech as he was now besides Nora, of which Bernadette came along as well as she was accompanying Jules “What?! What are you two doing here, you need to move back!” Nora said to them “We’re not going to leave you here by yourself in a last stand, we’re getting out of this together!” Bernadette said, before peeking from her cover to fire a few shots. “...Okay then you two, let’s handle them all together”! Nora said, Bernadette and Jules nodding in response as the three of them proceeded to hold their ground against the Royal Army forces that were advancing forward.

Meanwhile, Adex and Amadeus were still dueling with their swords, both of them of which were starting to get tired out, evidently so by their panting. However, neither one of them wanted to give up, which Amadeus was the first to attack as he swung his sword at Adex, who managed to parry the strike and attempted to counterattack of his own with a sideways swung to Amadeus’ legs with his sword. However, Amadeus managed to dodge the swing by jumping over the swing, before managing to knock Adex back with a kick to his face, which got him in the forehead.

As Adex was knocked back, he landed on the ground on his back with a thud, as he placed his free hand on where Amadeus had kicked him… that kick hurt quite a bit. As he was on the ground, he saw Amadeus walking up to him with his sword in hand as he looked down at Adex with a smirk on his face. Adex attempted to get up on his feet, but Amadeus placed his right foot on his chest, preventing him from getting back up as he could only look up at Amadeus with a serious expression “It seems you’ve fallen down, and can’t get back up” Amadeus said to him “Ergh, damn it… I was hoping the Secret Freedom Fighters would’ve taken him down by now” Adex thought to himself, before he saw Amadeus lifting up his sword as if he was preparing to thrust it into his chest “This is where your reign as faction leader ends. Now die!” Amadeus said, as he thrusted his sword into Adex’s chest, who accepted his fate while closing his eyes.

...However, Adex felt nothing. No pain, no blade in his chest… nothing. He did hear however the clank of metal, and a pained scream, which prompted him to open his eyes. When he did, he saw that Amadeus was holding his head with his sword on the ground next to Adex, as if he had dropped it… Amadeus was clearly experiencing some kind of pain in his head as he backed up a bit while screaming in pain, which allowed Adex to get back up on his feet as Amadeus was no longer on him “What on Mobius…!?” Adex said as he was getting up on his feet.

The same was actually happening with the Royal Army forces, as they dropped their weapons and held their heads while screaming in pain, some on their knees while others managed to stand. The remaining Zarvokian forces stopped firing when they saw this happen, along with Nora, Jules, and Bernadette “What the? What’s happening?” Nora asked confused as she watched *“I don’t know… but it’s happening to all of them”* Jules said, who was also confused.

Meanwhile, Amadeus was still in pain as he felt to his knees, still holding his head as he was in much pain “Amadeus, what’s going on with you?!” Adex asked him out of concern for his friend, who gave no response as he was still screaming in pain. And then he stopped suddenly, as he felt forward with his hands on the ground, his screaming turning to panting as if he was exhausted. Adex only watched in silence, but with a concerned look on his face as he looked at Amadeus. The same actually went for the Royal Army soldiers as they stopped screaming as well, with most of them laying on the ground or on their knees and hands.

“...Huh… wh… where am I?” Amadeus then said as he held his head with his left hand, before he slowly stood up to his feet. He noticed Adex standing before him, who still looked confused “...Adex? What are you doing here, and… what happened here!?” Amadeus asked, which the green tint around his irises were gone, implying he was no longer under Naugus’ control as he looked around the airport, seeing the aftermath of the battle as there were destroyed vehicles, damaged buildings, and some bodies here and there scattered about, though there were also the Royal Army soldiers that looked around in confusion, being freed from Naugus as well.

“...You… don’t remember?” Adex asked “Remember what? What has happened here?” Amadeus asked as he turned to face Adex “...I don’t know when, but at some point you were affected by Naugus’ mind control via an Eldritch Rite... In that time, he had you do horrible things… I don’t know the full details” Adex said “...The address. That was all a plot to gather me and my soldiers so he could control our minds!?” Amadeus asked, remembering the “address” that was given earlier by Naugus.

“...So it seems. But now you and your men are free… what’s left of them anyway” Adex said, looking at the Royal Army soldiers that survived the battle, who were confusingly conversing with the surviving Zarvokian soldiers to ask what the hell happened “Naugus… he’ll pay for what he did!” Amadeus said while vengeful “...Do not worry, Amadeus. A few ‘friends’ of mine are dealing with him right now. And seeing how his control over you has broken… I’d say he’s close to getting defeated” Adex said to him “Good, I hope he gets what’s coming to him” Amadeus said.

“Adex!” A voice said from afar, which Adex’s ear twitched when he heard someone call his name before he turned to face whoever was approaching. It was Nora, accompanied by Bernadette and Jules as the former hugged Adex when she approached him “You crazy bastard, putting our lives on the line like that!” Nora said, giving him a grin… and a playful punch to the shoulder “...Heh, as crazy as it might’ve been, it still worked in the end” Adex replied, hugging her back “Yeah, at the last second!” Nora said, chuckling.

“Amadeus! Are you alright?” Bernadette asked him when she and Jules approached “Yeah, I’m okay… I’m not sure I can say the same for anybody else here though” Amadeus replied *“Well all that matters, is that the problem was taken care of before it got worse”* Jules said “...Yes, indeed. Who knows what would’ve happened if Naugus was successful in his coup” Adex replied “Speaking of which, Adex… who are your friends dealing with him?” Amadeus asked “...I’ll tell you later” Adex replied.

***Back at Castle Acorn...***

Both Silver and Elias were sliding back on the floor, as if they were knocked back by something, before they both hit a wall behind them, though not as hard as one would think, before the two split up and rolled to their sides, as a fireball that was thrown at them impacted the spot that they once were at. Meanwhile, Captain Crystal was chasing Shard around the spacious air of the throne room, as he was firing laser beams at Shard, though unfortunately missing due to the latter’s speed.

Naugus on the other hand, was launching fireballs from his claw at Silver, who was managing to dodge every one of them by either outrunning them, or leaping out of the way before they could hit. With the staff in his hand, Naugus was firing beams of chaos energy out at Elias, who was also doing his best to dodge the beams coming straight for him. Overhead, Shard then turned around suddenly to fire a plasma beam at Captain Crystal from his arm cannon, which took the latter by surprise as he was knocked back a bit, but then suddenly rushed towards Shard once again.

As Silver was avoiding the fireballs being thrown at him, he noticed one of them coming straight for him, but not before he extended his hand towards it, the fireball being surrounded by a cyan aura before it stopped in mid-air, implying Silver had assumed control of it by using Psychokinesis as it then suddenly launched towards Naugus, who saw the attack and had to move to the right to avoid it, which at that point a beam was fired at Elias, which would’ve hit if he wasn’t forced to move, which allowed the beam to zip pass behind Elias. Shard simply gave a grin to Captain Crystal as he rushed towards him, which the former’s arm cannon transformed into an extendable sledgehammer, which he used to land a sudden blow on Captain Crystal, as he was hit in the head and was knocked back whilst flipping backings in the air.

Silver and Elias then charged towards Naugus, the latter of which was trying to deter them with fireballs and beams of chaos energy, though they pushed forward while avoiding his attacks. When they got close enough to him though, Naugus suddenly raised his claw upwards, before a barrier of stone appeared from the ground suddenly in-between Naugus and his charging two attackers, Silver of which simply using his Psychokinesis to fly him and Elias over the barrier, landing on the ground before continuing their attack.As Captain Crystal was still out of control, Shard took this opportunity to boost himself towards him, his sledgehammer transforming into a powerful drill, as he extended it forward when he charged forward. By then, Captain Crystal managing to stop flipping out of control…  before was rammed into by Shard as his drill had impacted his chest!

Seeing his attempt to stop Silver and Elias failed, Naugus then pointed his staff towards the two, the emerald glowing a bit before a strong gust of wind, amplified by the emerald’s power, was shot out towards his two attackers, Silver of which extended his hand towards Elias as he used his psychokinesis on both of them to try and stand against the force of wind, though he was having difficulty in doing so. Shard on the other hand was still ramming Captain Crystal as his drill was slowly getting through the layer of crystal surrounding it’s body... before the two impacted a wall. Once they impacted, Silver’s drill suddenly went through Captain Crystal’s chest, as the drill came out of his back.

Sparks were shown coming out of his chest and back, as Captain Crystal slowly put its hands on Shard’s arm, trying to get the drill out as he was losing power fast… but his efforts were in vain, as the drill was pressed against the wall, which said drill stopping drilling when it did. As a last ditch effort, Captain Crystal slowly looked at Shard, before his eyes began to glow as if he was charging up one last laser beam attack, which Shard quickly noticed. “Oh I don’t think so” He said, the gem on his chest glowing quickly before it suddenly shot a beam of plasma at Captain Crystal’s visor, which successfully hit as said visor was blown out, halting his attack… and finishing him off as the beam even went through his head.

*“A word of advice for next time, get a weapon that you can pierce someone’s chest with, it goes well with your speed”* Shard said to the now disabled Captain Crystal, before he looked over at Silver and Elias, who was struggling to stand against Naugus’ powerful gust of wind, only being able to resist with Silver’s psychokinesis that was slowly being strained to it’s limit *“Uh oh, that’s not good”* Shard said to himself, before he looked back at Captain Crystal *“Hm… how about I return package to sender?”* He said with a grin, before he grabbed Captain Crystal with his hand and took his drill out of his chest, leaving a gaping hole as the drill reverted back to his arm cannon.

*“Hey Naugy! Here’s your toy robot!”* Shard said to Naugus as he suddenly threw gave himself a boost forward before throwing Captain Crystal at him. Naugus reared his head to look over at Shard who called out his name, his eyes widening when he saw Captain Crystal coming straight for him. Before he could react however, Captain Crystal slammed into Naugus’ right side as the impact caused him to fall down on the floor, while the impact itself bruised Naugus heavily with a lot of pain. This also caused him to drop the staff in his hands as it fell on the floor, canceling out the gust of wind, allowing Silver and Elias to stand freely without his psychokinesis.

“He’s down! Let’s finish him off, and fast!” Elias said as he saw Naugus struggling to get back up, while Silver nodded “I have enough in me for one more pull, make it count!” He said, before he extended his left arm towards Naugus. “Ergh, Fools! I’m not easy to take down!” Naugus said, not wanting to go down without a fight as he extended his claw towards the two while he was on his left knee, before another fireball was launched towards Silver. Having to think fast, Silver extended his other hand towards the fireball… but he didn’t need to.

All of the sudden, seeing Naugus prepare his attack, Shard rushed at a very fast speed, almost reaching the speed of sound as he managed to get himself in-between the fireball and Silver, before he pointed his arm cannon at the fireball, and fired a beam of plasma at it. The beam managed to intercept the fireball as it blew up in the sky “What!?” Naugus yelled angrily *“Now!”* Shard yelled, signaling Silver to proceed, while he nodded and proceeded on.

Before Naugus knew it, there was a cyan aura around him, before he was lifted in the air and then thrown towards Silver and Elias, as the former used his psychokinesis to do so. Naugus however, grinned as he suddenly disappeared from view, using his Shadow Meld technique once more to teleport behind Silver so he could ram into him… however, Silver was prepared. Knowing he would possibly try that trick like he had done in the ritual chamber, Silver simply turned around and extended his hand towards Naugus once more, using his psychokinesis to have him suddenly stop and hold in place.

“What!?” Naugus yelled out of disbelief “You didn’t think I’d learn from last time, Naugus? Think again!” Silver said, before Elias used this as a chance to finish Naugus off, as he ran towards him, held back his left hand while it was gripped into a fist, jumped into the air… and punched Naugus on the right side of his face, while Silver let Naugus go from his psychokinesis so he could be knocked sideways, while Shard followed Elias’ attacked by transforming his arm cannon into the extendable sledgehammer, and had it hit Naugus’ left side, which didn’t help he was going straight towards it from Elias’ punch. It did Naugus in, as he fell down onto the floor as he landed on his front, not even trying to get back up afterwards… He was knocked out.

“We… we did it!” Silver said as he panted, while seeing Naugus knocked out on the floor “Finally, after an entire year, we took him down” Elias said, with some relief that their work was finally done *“Thank Gaia too, I was getting tired of being a secret to almost everybody”* Shard said, which Elias and Silver looked over to him “You came quite in the nick of time too… but how’d you know we were here?” Silver asked him *“Oh that’s easy. After I was done being repaired in the Zarvokian ship, I simply asked their commander if you were here yet… while we were talking though, she sounded fierce with some background noise like there was a war going on. But she told me where you guys were, made my way here, and now we’re up to this point”* Shard said while explaining.

“Oh. Well, thankfully you did” Elias said *“No need to thank me, just getting here in the nick of time via deus ex machina”* Shard said jokingly “Yeah yeah, don’t be a showoff” Silver said with his eyes narrowed halfway and a smirk *“Oh and by the way, what do we do with him?”* Shard asked, as he gestured over to the unconscious Naugus with his hand “...For now, he will be locked up in prison” Elias said while he was walking over to Naugus, stopping when he was in front of his head “And then when the time is right, he’ll face trial in our courts” He said, before he kneeled down to pick up the crown on Naugus’ head, inspecting it as Silver and Shard watched.

“I’m not even sure if the people will take me back as their king… but at least it’s out of his hands now” Elias said *“Of course they’ll take you back as king, I mean it’s not like they’ll still want Naugus after what he did”* Shard said “I guess you have a point… but it’s still not a guarantee” Elias replied “We’ll have to worry about it later… we have a city to rebuild, teammates to patch up, and a… um…not so good looking wizard to imprison before he wakes up” Silver said “Right… let’s take care of those first, and then we’ll worry about the rest” Elias said *“Yeah. And then maybe afterwards we can finally start living normal lives without any secrecy”* Shard said “Well… I still need to find the cause of why my future is the way it is” Silver said.

“Oh, right… well once the Secret Freedom Fighters are disbanded since Naugus has been overthrown, we’ll wish you the best of luck to you” Elias said “Thanks. Now come on, let’s get to work” Silver replied as Elias nodded *“I’ll contact the Zarvokian commander and tell her what’s up. Oh and I’ll also ask her if she could help us”* Shard said, as he went to do just that. Elias and Silver decided it’d be best to attend to their still knocked out teammates first, as one by one they took them to the castle’s infirmary. Not before long, a few Zarvokian soldiers sent by Nora arrived at the castle to assist, as most went to go help get Naugus out to the city’s prison, while medics were sent to the infirmary to heal Larry, Leeta, and Lyco.

Meanwhile, Adex had ordered the remaining Zarvokian forces to assist the now freed Royal Army forces to keep the peace in the now damaged city. Nicole on the other hand, notified the evacuated citizens of the city, who hid in the Secret HQ that was underneath the city while others were told to go to Freedom HQ, that it was safe to come back, even if the city was damaged. It wasn’t before long that the city was filling back up with citizens, which they saw the Zarvok Federations had came to their aid, most of which even thanked any Zarvokian soldier they saw for their efforts. Most however were hesitant when they saw a Royal Army soldier, but were reassured that they were no longer in danger, which most were relieved while some held a grudge against them and stormed off.

The attempted coup by Ixis Naugus... was finally over. And New Mobotropolis, although fractured, is at peace once more.

## Part Five: Recovering Epilogues

***July 2nd 3238; New Mobotropolis***

 It has been a couple of days since Ixis Naugus had attempted to take over the Republic of Acorn by controlling the minds of the Royal Army garrison at New Mobotropolis. The city itself in terms of structural damage had quickly been rebuilt the day before, thanks to the efforts of Nicole’s nanites and Zarvokian Cetravix Atom Construction Vehicles. On that very day, the rest of the Council of Acorn returned to city to fulfill their duties as counselors, including Sir Charles and Isabella, who were brought back to the city via the ZFAS Velocity. Zarvokian soldiers had also left the city entirely, and left the job of protection to the Royal Army, which was reinforced by some personnel from Fort Acorn, and a new batch of Metal Sonic Troopers.

However, even with normal life in the city came back, it would be a bit of time before everything truly went back to normal. A memorial site was built at the Julayla Memorial Garden to honor those who had perished in the coup; the names of average citizens, brainwashed Royal Army soldiers, and Zarvokians alike were put up on the memorial site so they wouldn’t be forgotten by their loved ones. Meanwhile, Dr. Horatio Quack was working restlessly over at Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital to heal up anyone wounded in the coup, as well as those who were wounded before. It’ll be days or weeks before those wounded in the attack could return to their normal lives.

Ixis Naugus on the other hand was right back in New Mobotropolis’ prison, as he was detained in a maximum security cell that had the proper measures to keep him from escaping. Of course, he was enraged beyond reason that his attempt to take over the Republic had failed… but yet he still plotted to take over the land, and even plotted a way on how to escape… more than likely however, he would be kept in the prison unless an outside force broke him out. As for the purple Chaos Emerald on his staff, it had been retrieved and was brought to Secret HQ covertly by Silver.

After Ixis Naugus openly tried to take over the city and stopped, the Secret Freedom Fighters officially disbanded on the previous day, with the wolf twins Lyco and Leeta saying their goodbyes to the rest of the team to return home to the Wolf Pack Nation in Soumercia. Larry, still wanting to have a purpose in his life, decided to join the Royal Army as a covert agent. Silver also departed while saying his goodbyes, before leaving the city in search for the cause of his endangered future. Shard actually became the new captain of the new Metal Sonic Troopers, who didn’t even hesitate to turn down the offer. Elias Acorn and Harvey Who on the other hand...

***Uncle Chuck’s Diner…***

Both Elias and Harvey Who were at Sir Charles’ diner, accompanied by Sir Charles himself, along with Adex, Nora, Isabella, Jules, and Bernadette. The seven of them sat at a large table as they were enjoying their meals. Elias at this time was wearing the royal acorn king uniform along with a crown, implying he had became king once more under the people’s will, while Harvey was no longer in disguise and wore a red smoking jacket. Adex still wore his faction leader uniform while Nora and Bernadette went back to their casual clothing, with Sir Charles and Isabella still wearing their councilor uniforms.

*“How are you enjoying your food?”* Jules asked before sipping on a can of oil with a straw “Your food is always prepared nicely, hon” Bernadette said “Mhm, I can see why it’s rated five stars, it’s delicious” Nora said when her mouth was empty “I’d say, this is even on a level where royalty can enjoy” Elias said in agreement “I cannot complain, it’s good” Harvey said. Seemed everyone had great compliments about the food... Isabella however, had barely touched her food as her head was lowered, which Adex noticed.

“...Councilor? Are you okay?” He asked her, who looked up at him while the others faced them “Oh, um… yeah I’m fine. I’m just thinking about some things” Isabella said “...What kind of things?” Adex asked, while Isabella went silent for a bit “It’s okay Isabella, you can tell us” Sir Charles said to reassure her of any doubts “...It’s my daughter. She hasn’t been the same since Ash…” Isabella said before pausing “Oh… right, the… oh dear” Bernadette said “...It must be tough for her, isn’t it?” Adex asked “It is… she hasn’t even came out of the house when she came back. I’m worried about her” Isabella said.

“...And reasonably so as well. As a father, I understand how this feels to you” Adex said “Yeah… say, Adex. Can you do me a favor?” She asked “...Of course. What do you need?” Adex replied “Can you… speak to my daughter, you and Nora? See if you can comfort her?” Isabella asked, which Adex and Nora glanced over at each, which the former gave a facial expression that asked “Do you want to do this?”, as the latter nodded yes. As such, the two looked back at Isabella “...Sure. We’ll be happy to” Adex said. “Thank you. It means a lot to me” Isabella said.

“So Harvey. Now that the Secret Freedom Fighters are no longer needed, where will you be going now?” Sir Charles asked him “That information I’m afraid, is classified to everyone except Elias” Harvey replied “So you’re going back into hiding?” Elias asked “Only until you need me again. But for now, yes” Harvey said “...Are your services open to me as well?” Adex couldn’t help but ask “Perhaps, you’ve shown promise to me so far Adex. But you’ll have to go through Elias to contact me” Harvey replied “Mm, I see.... Very well” Adex said.

“Now I’m afraid this is the time where I must leave” Harvey said, before standing up from his seat “You’re leaving already, Harvey?” Bernadette asked “I’m afraid so. Before I go though, I’d like to thank Adex for helping us out once again in our time of need” Harvey said “...That’s what allies are for, right?” Adex said “Oh, and Elias. I hope you won’t make the same kinds of mistakes your father did when I served him” Harvey said “...I won’t make those mistakes” Elias said “Good. And now with that said, I’ll be leaving now. Take care, everyone” Harvey said, before he went for the door to depart “Goodbye, Harvey” Isabella said to him “Safe travels” Jules said as well. And then like that, Harvey was gone.

“Well, I think it’s about time we go back to our duties” Elias said as he also stood up “Right. I’ll see how Shard is doing with the new Metal Sonic Troopers… hopefully well” Sir Charles said “I’ll return to the counter. See you at home, hon” Jules said to Bernadette “Okay dear, see you in a few hours” Bernadette replied with a smile “Adex, Nora. Can you follow me to my residence, please?” Isabella asked “Of course, lead the way” Nora said while Adex nodded. Not before long, everyone stood up from their seats, and proceeded on with their day.

***Several minutes later, Castle Acorn…***

Elias, Adex, Nora, and Isabella were making their way over to Castle Acorn, which was already restored back to how it was before the coup. The former however would be making his way to a different part of the castle, probably his own private quarters, while the latter three approached a door that led into Isabella’s personal residence within the castle, as most council members had their own living space within the castle. Isabella reached for the door handle, and opened the door so the three of them could enter her residence.

Upon their entry, they were already in the living room of the residence, which consisted of a couch suitable for three people, a recliner, coffee table, and a television set. There was also a rectangular rug underneath where the coffee table was “She’s in her room. I’ll lead you to it” Isabella said to Adex and Nora, the both of them nodding before following Isabella, who walked towards a small hallway that had a small closet, some pictures on the walls, and doors on both ends of the hallway. Isabella walked to the door on the left end of the hallway, before slowly opening it.

Inside the room was of course a bed that had black and purple bed sheets, a couple of dressers, some posters on the wall that related to rock bands and music, and a closet... Mina Mongoose could also be seen on the bed, who was curled up into a little ball as her back faced them, as she was wearing a white tank-top and honeydew sweatpants, which looked to be her pajamas. Her head reared over to see her mother, Adex, and Nora standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Mina… these two wanted to talk to you, if you want them to” Isabella said to her daughter, who looked at Adex and Nora for a few more seconds before she faced forward toward the wall again “S...Sure” She said. Isabella nodded before she looked at Nora and Adex “Just try to make her feel better, okay?” She asked them “...We’ll try our best, councilor” Adex said. When he looked back at Mina however, he saw that Nora had already walked up to her, sitting down on the bed with her, Mina glancing at her when she felt her sit down on the bed and then looking back at the wall. Nora looked at Adex and Isabella, waiting for the former to come to them.

“I’ll leave you three alone” Isabella said, before she walked into the living room. Adex nodded to her before she left, before he too walked over to the bed Nora and Mina, and sat on the other side of Mina as the two looked at her “Hey… Mina, was it? Are you feeling alright?” Nora asked “N...No…” Mina replied as her tone quickly became distressed “...Is it about what happened a couple of days ago?” Adex asked “...Y-Yes...” Mina replied “It’s okay Mina, we understand. If you want, you can talk to us about it” Nora said.

“...If it’s too painful for you, then we understa-” Adex said, before all of the sudden Mina had thrown herself onto Adex’s left shoulder, which her face was pressed onto her as she began crying, catching both Adex and Nora by surprise. “I-I don’t know what to do, A-Ash was both my manager and most importantly my boyfriend! W-Without him, the Forget Me Knots can’t perform anywhere, a-and… I-I miss him so very much!” Mina exclaimed in distress as she was bawling her eyes out.

Adex and Nora looked at each other for a bit, before the former placed his right hand on Mina’s back, patting it “...I know how you feel Mina, to lose someone close to you... But while things are grim now, times will get better at some point. It’ll be a tough road… but I know you can pull through” Adex said “He’s right Mina, Ash would’ve wanted you to move on, you just got to be strong, okay?” Nora said, as Mina sniffled “Y… you really think I can be strong enough to get through this?” She asked, slowly raising her head from her shoulder to look at him in the eyes, which hers was still full with tears.

“But of course, Mina. And I’m sure your friends will help you along the way” Adex said “Mhm. And if able, we’ll help you too” Nora said “R...Really? You will?” Mina asked while looking at the two of them “Mhm. If you want us to” Nora said, giving a soft smile “Agreed” Adex mouthed. Hearing those words of encouragement from those two had made Mina feel a little better, as she suddenly gave a hug to Adex’s side, which surprised him “T...Thank you. But…” She said, before she let go of Adex to face the two of them “You don’t have to help me, I already have enough friends to help me out” She said to them, a slight smile on her face.

“...Eh? Are you sure, Mina?” Adex asked “Yes. Even if the experience a couple of days ago was traumatizing, and I may not feel like myself for a while… I know now that Ash would want what’s better for me and to move on, and that I have my friends to help me through my suffering… But I will never forget Ash for as long as time stands” Mina said “...Good. Never forget him… it’s important that you don’t” Adex said “...Does that mean you haven’t forgotten Savanna?” Nora asked him out of curiosity “...No, I have not… but like Ash, she would’ve wanted me to move on… besides, I have you now” Adex replied to Nora “Heh. I guess” Nora said with a slight smile.

“I… I don’t know if I’ll ever find someone else like Ash again“ Mina said “Give it time, Mina. You’ll find someone just like how Adex did with me” Nora said “...Yeah, guess I could be used as an example here” Adex said, rubbing the back of his head, which Nora chuckled to. “...Well, you two seem to have things covered over here” A female voice said to them, which sounded familiar to the three of them as they turned to face whoever it was.

There were two individuals standing in the doorway. One of them was a female light and dark brown furred Mobian chipmunk with dark auburn hair and blue eyes, who wore a closed blue vest that was worn over a black crop-top, along with black shorts with white accents, dark blue boots with white outlines on the buckles, and white gloves with blue bracelets around them. The other one was a male orange furred Mobian fox with light blue eyes and two tails that were tipped white, who wore only red and white sneaker shoes with white gloves. The three of them immediately recognized them.

“...Sally? Tails? What are you two doing here?” Adex asked them, referring to the chipmunk as Sally and the fox as Tails “We and the other Freedom Fighters just came back from Yurashia… we heard what happened here, and thought we’d help her” Sally replied, as she and Tails walked over to the bed to sit down, the former sitting next to Adex while the latter was next to Nora. “What were you two doing in Yurashia anyway?” Nora asked “The usual, Eggman had a scheme to conquer the world again” Tails said “...Mm, figured as much. But you see Mina?” Adex said before looking over to her “Your friends got your back. You have nothing to worry about” He said to her.

“Y… You’re right” Mina said before she looked at Sally and Tails “I think with your help, I can get through this, for Ash” She said “Of course, we’ll help you cope for as long as you need it, along with the other Freedom Fighters” Sally said “Thank you... though while I might have help, I don’t know about the rest of the Forget Me Knots. I mean, without a manager, we’ll have to disband and end our career, and I don’t know how to run everything, or who’ll be able to fulfill the role...“ Mina said “...Although it’s not my call, perhaps Tails can. He’s intelligent enough to qualify as a manager after all” Adex suggested.

“Whoa whoa, hold on a minute. Me as a band manager? Are you sure?” Tails said, taken by surprise by Adex’s suggestion as he looked at him “...Well, why not? I mean you don’t have to, but it’ll be interesting as a side-job to being a Freedom Fighter” Adex said “Are you sure about this Adex? I mean, management isn’t an easy job, and I know by just leading the Freedom Fighters” Sally said “...I’m aware of how hard management is, Sally. But I’m confident Tails can do it just as well as anyone else with management skills can, if not more“ Adex replied, as all eyes were now on Tails “ “W… Will you do it, Tails?” Mina asked him as she looked at him, who looked back at her while rubbing the back of his head.

“Um… I mean… I guess I can give it a shot if it helps, at least until you find someone else” Tails said “R-Really!?” Mina mouthed excitingly... before she suddenly went over Nora to give a tight hug to Tails out of sheer joy that surprised everyone, Tails more so as he was caught completely off guard “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She said with joy as she hugged him. When she looked at him, she saw that his eyes were swirly, implying that she either taken him by surprise a lot, had hugged him too tightly, or simply both “Oh, um… I’m sorry Tails” She said apologetically as she let go of him and sat down “Hah… no, you’re fine Mina” Tails said, giving in a quick inhale when she let go.

“...Well then. Since now that is settled…” Adex said, reaching over to place a hand on Tails’ shoulder “I wish you the best of luck” He said “Yeah, thanks” Tails said, giving him a quick glare since he didn’t appreciate Adex suggesting him to run as manager without his consent… which he noted and gave a nod before removing his hand from Tails’ shoulder and sat back in his spot “Oh, Adex. We need to get going back to the fort soon” Nora said “...Eh? Why?” Adex asked “Remember? You said you’d take your children out to do some bonding some time this week” Nora said, reminding him.

“...Oh! That’s right” Adex said, before he quickly stood up from the bed to face the others “I apologize for having to leave so quickly and suddenly, but we need to get going” Adex said “It’s okay. You made me feel better than before” Mina said to him with a smile “It’s okay, we’ll take it from here Adex. We thank you two” Sally said “It’s no problem” Nora said, standing from the bed as well to stand next to Adex, wrapping her arms around his “Very well… take care” Adex said, giving a departing gesture as he and Nora went to leave the room, which when they entered the living room, they gave the same gesture to Isabella, who waved them off as they left their residence to go to King Frederick Airport.

“So um… where do I start Mina?” Tails asked, facing her when he did “Um… I don’t really know, I never managed before… but maybe something in A-” She said, before she paused, the pain of Ash’s death coming back like a migraine “...I… In his office” She then said “...Maybe it’s best I don’t” Tails said “W...What? But… how will you know what to do?” Mina asked “I can just research how to do it at the library. They must have something there I can learn, right?” Tails said “Well… okay! Say, how about we and the band meet in about a week so we can begin?” Mina suggested “That works for me, where do you want to meet?” Tails asked “Back here will be nice, momma won’t mind!” Mina replied.

“Okay, I’ll meet you back here in a week” Tails said before he stood up from the bed and then faced her “And hopefully I’ll know a thing or two about management” He added with a chuckle, as Mina couldn’t help but chuckle back “Sounds like a plan! I really appreciate you doing this Tails, it means a lot to me” She said to him gratefully “Your welcome” Tails said, before he noticed Sally standing up from the bed to stand next to him “Well we need to get going back now, Mina. If you need us, you know where to find us” She said “Okay, thank you for being so helpful” Mina said “No problem Mina, we’ll see you later” Tails said, before the two of them left the room and later the quarters. Mina then laid down flat on her back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she couldn’t help but have a smile on her face from excitement, happy that someone was willing to manage her band in Ash’s permanent absence.

As Tails and Sally were walking out of Castle Acorn and through the streets of the city, the latter couldn’t help but have a curious thought in her head, before she reared her head to face him “So Tails… why did you accept the management job?” She asked him “Just… thought I wanted to help out. She looked like she needed it, even though I didn’t think about doing it until Adex came up” Tails replied “Even though you’d rather work on mechanics than management?” Sally added “Well… I can be a Freedom Fighter, and work as a manager. It can’t be that hard, right?” Tails said “...If you say so Tails” Sally said, the two continuing walking through the city to return to Freedom HQ.

***Meanwhile, at New Mobotropolis Prison…***

The prison was awfully quiet, as the guards stood wary on watchtowers and officers patrolling the halls of the prison cells in the cell blocks. Not many prisoners were within any of the cell blocks, which explained the quietness of the prison. However, in one such cell block, sat a familiar mutated wizard on the floor in his prison cell, as he had an enraged look on his face… it was Ixis Naugus, who couldn’t escape due to the magic in the cell that interfered with his Ixis Magicks. All he could do was sit there and think of a way to escape.

His thoughts however, were interrupted as he heard snickering in his head. He looked up from the ground as he saw three spirits appear front of him, the spirits of his former selves: Nusgau, Sugana, and Agunus “My, how unfortunate how that plan had failed” Agunus said “You’re the one who suggested this plan in the first place!” Naugus said angrily “Oh but we did! But it is you who carried it out, and therefore you are to hold the blame!” Nusgau said “And no one would believe that you were told by a trio of spirits to carry out this plan” Sugana said.

Naugus growled a bit at them as he looked at them angrily “Whatever! You three are stuck in this cell with me, until one of my loyal supporters comes and sets me free from this dreaded prison!” He said to them “Oh but on the contrary, Naugus…” Agunus said to him… before Naugus felt a sharp pain in his head as he held it with his hand “Augh!” He yelled in pain, before he looked up at Agunus… who was trying to take over his body “...You mean one of my loyal supporters?” He said with a smirk on his face.

“Nonsense, this body is mine!” Sugana said suddenly as he intervened, trying to take over the body for himself “This body was meant for me, not one of you two fools!” Nusgau interjected, as he also tried to get control of Naugus’ body. Soon, the three spirits were battling it out for Naugus’ body, as his body was going through morbid mutations that were utterly painful for Naugus “AGH! Get out of my head, you’re not getting this body!” He yelled, as he tried to use his own power to stop the three from taking control of his body.

...However, the mutations that were wrought onto him had weakened him, which only allowed him to stop only two of the spirits, which were Nasgau and Sugana as their efforts had halted “What!? No!” Nusgau shouted as his attempt had failed “You fool! You can’t stop all of us!” Sugana exclaimed, his attempt also being thwarted… Agunus however, saw this as an opening, and quickly used this advantage to take control before his two fellow wizards tried again “This body… is… **MINE!**” He yelled triumphantly, as he was quickly gaining control.

“NO!” Sugana and Nusgau yelled, as they attempted to try again to regain control… their efforts however, were in vain, as Agunus’ control was already sweeping through Naugus’ body. Naugus was screaming in pain from the mutations and Agunus’ rise to control… it wasn’t long until he felt his consciousness slowly fading away as he held his head “No! I won’t let some spirit take what’s rightfully mine!” He yelled, as he tried to use the last of his power to prevent Agunus from taking over his body… again, it was of no use.

All Naugus could do now was hold his head and scream in pain… while experiencing the complete overhaul of his body that the mutations were doing. His claw was painfully mutating into a normal hand, while he could feel his head reforming its shape and form, even feeling a second horn growing from his head. The mutated tail he had before when all three spirits were plaguing him had grown smaller, but was still there. Soon, Naugus’ voice slowly changed from his own to that of a different individual… within seconds, the voice didn’t sound like Naugus anymore.

The screaming stopped soon after as the mutations plaguing the body had completed, leaving the body to no longer look like a Mobian hybrid of a rhinoceros, bat, and lobster. Instead, what was left from the mutations was a complete male Mobian rhinoceros. The body was on its hands and knees while it panted, exhausted from the mutations had brought it. Soon it lifted up its head while looking at its hands, and then body… it then began to snicker as it slowly stood up from the ground.

“Excellent… I’ve gained control of my new body” It said to himself, because he was quiet for a few seconds, waiting for some sort of response… but nothing did. It was completely clear now; Naugus, and the spirits of Sugana and Nusgau had vanished from the body forever… and in its place, was Agunus himself. Realizing that he was not only successful in taking control of the body, but also had erased Naugus, Sugana, and Nusgau from his mind, he began to laugh silently, but maniacally.

“Finally… I’m the sole survivor. Now nobody from the old order but Ixis Mogul can stop me from rebuilding the Order of Ixis as I see fit. Once I’m free… I will put my schemes into action” He said to himself quietly, as he sat on the bed within the prison cell, as he brought a silent, maniacal laughter to himself, as he sat inside his cell while waiting to bring his schemes to fruition… Ixis Agunus had returned to the living world at last.

## Trivia

* Naugus Resurging was worked on and off for more than two months until it was finally completed. It started on March 12th of 2018 and finished on May 18th of the same year.
* The story was worked on a Google Doc for the entirety of it's creation. It was 89+ pages long, from start to finish.
* Originally the story was going to only have three parts. However, Part Two was getting so big that two new parts had to be made.