Antoine D'Coolette and the Alternative Freedom Fighters.
First Episode: Origins.
Chapter 1: Return of two astute foxes.
On the planet Mobius, somewhere in the Great Forest of Northamer, on a warm spring morning, an alien-looking ship travels above the treetops. Soon, the ship arrives in a village. The village is called Knothole, and is the headquarters of the Freedom Fighters.
Several years ago, the Kingdom of Acorn had begun the "Great War" against the Overlanders; the Overlanders had a great advantage at first, since they were technologically superior, while the Acorn mobians avoided developing industry and lived in harmony with nature. At that time, Dr. Julian Kintobor had escaped from the Overlanders, and asked King Maximilian Acorn to allow him to work for the mobians; the King, convinced, decided to appoint Julian as Minister of War. From that position, he developed weapons that gave victory to the Kingdom of Acorn; however, when the Great War ended, Dr. Kintobor betrayed and overthrew the King, converted the entire population into robots (by robotization), converted the capital of Acorn (Mobotropolis) into the capital of his own robotic empire, took the control of the rest of Mobius, and called himself "Dr. Ivo Robotnik".
Since then, the KFFs (Knothole Freedom Fighters) have engaged in guerrilla warfare against their robotic dictatorship. The effort paid off: the KFFs, along with other resistance groups in different parts of Mobius, struck a blow to the Robotnik Empire a year ago; in that attack, Sonic Hedgehog (called by many "the world's fastest thing alive" for his ability to run almost as fast as light) and Princess Sally Acorn (the leader of the KFFs) used the Deep Power Stones to destroy "Doomsday", a powerful weapon with which Robotnik planned to end any resistance to his domain. Apparently, Robotnik had died, which allowed the Kingdom of Acorn and other mobian nations to begin rebuilding. But, a month before the present, Snively Kintobor, nephew and second in command of Robotnik, had recovered the conscience of his uncle and introduced it in a robotic body; surprising the world, "Dr. Eggman" (as it was called this robotic version of the dictator) rebuilt his Empire, forcing all Mobius to resume the war.
The ship lands in the middle of Knothole. From there, a blue hedgehog emerges, cheered by some villagers who had stopped their daily labors to receive it; this is Sonic, without a doubt. Next to him, there appears a marriage of mobian foxes of brown fur, taking hold of the hand; Amadeus, the husband, wears a military uniform and has a patch on his left eye, and his wife Rosemary is wearing a long purple dress.
Showing the village to the newly arrived foxes, Sonic says: "Ok... Amadeus, Rosemary, welcome to Knothole."
"I remember when this was a village where the royal family was traveling. It didn't change much." Says Rosemary.
Amadeus is somewhat astonished by the sight, and adds: "I can't believe that you managed to stay hidden for... How long? 10 years?"
"That's right. And Tails helped with his inventions to make it. My little brother is great." Sonic responds.
After a couple of seconds, Amadeus draw attention to that topic: "Speaking of Tails, when will we be able to see him?"
"He's usually busy at this time, but he's probably very happy to see them."
"Sonic, you're back!"
A young, brown-haired mobian chipmunk with red head hair dressed in a blue jacket and blue boots comes out of a hut. "You brought Mr. and Mrs. Prower."
"Yeah, and it wasn't that difficult, Sally."
"Sonic, you always say that." She responds.
"Your Highness, it's been a long time." Says Amadeus. "Sonic has told me about you. You've become a formidable leader."
"Thank you, Colonel. You can call me by my common name, it won't bother me." Sally replies.
"You deserve can call me Amadeus, if you like. My rank in the military lost its value a long time ago."
"Oh, come on, Amadeus, don't say that." Rosemary intervenes. "I'm sure that, with the Kingdom of Acorn restored, you'll have your rank again."
"Darling, I was able to reach Colonel by using ancient ways of fighting. In a situation like this, in the midst of a war with someone like Eggman, I doubt very much that I'll have my rank of Colonel again." Amadeus replies with regret.
"Remember: technology isn't the only thing that matters, Colonel." Sally replies.
"Sally is absolutely right, we're very successful, everyone can see it. Except Eggman, of course." Sonic adds, causing the 5 to start laughing.
"Sonic, the generator is ready. You should see how well it works-"
Sonic turns around, and finds Miles, the son of the Prower marriage, better known as "Tails" by his two tails. Knothole's child prodigy has oil stains on his gloves and golden pelage, a wrench in one hand, and stared in amazement at his parents. The couple had noticed, and now they're in shock; it was even noticeable in the Colonel, who normally carried a serious face.
"Mom... Dad... Are you guys?"
"MILES!" Rosemary shouts, teary-eyed, as she runs to her son to embrace him, paying no attention to the oil. Her two tails had quickly told her that it was her son.
"Miles... my son... Are you?" Amadeus can't give credit to his only healthy eye, and begins to walk slowly toward Tails and his mother. When he arrives, he hugs Tails suddenly; a tear runs down her right cheek.
"Well... Mission accomplished, as always." Sonic tells himself.
After the meeting between Tails and her parents, Sally decided to organize a special dinner to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Prower. At 8:00 PM, everyone gathered in a sort of "central square" at Knothole.
"Dad, Mom, these are my friends: the Freedom Fighters." Tails begins introducing team members to their parents. "You already know Sonic and Sally." He says, pointing to the "Hero of Mobius" and the KFFs leader.
"Yes, I thought you and Sonic were very friendly." Rosemary says, remembering what Sonic told them during the return to Mobius.
"Yes, he always took care of me, we're like brothers."
"Tails, you did a lot too." Sonic intervenes. "You two don't know how many times your intelligence has saved us, me and the whole team."
"It's good that you had someone to take care of you all this time, Tails." Amadeus adds.
After a moment, Rosemary turns to Sonic. "Also, a little bird told me that you and the princess are dating."
Sonic and Sally blush, but soon regain their composure (or they tried to do it, at least) and look at Tails, trying to look angry. "Tails..." they say at the same time.
"It's no big deal, bro. What's between you and Auntie Sally is already an open secret." Tails answers, raising his hands in defense.
After this little outburst, Tails continues. "She's Bunnie Rabbot." He says, pointing to a mobian rabbit girl; her left arm and both legs were robotic.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Prower, it's a pleasure to meet you." Bunnie greets them with their southern accent.
"Honey, what happened to you?" Rosemary asks, referring to the robotic parts of Bunnie.
"That this?" Bunnie replies, lifting his robotic arm. "A 'gift' from Robotnik. Nothing serious." She seems to be calm, even cheerful, despite the fact of having her body in that state because of the dictator.
"He's Rotor Walrus." says Tails, introducing a male mobian walrus, who also has some oil stains on his hands.
"Welcome. Sorry for not being able to shake hands. It happens that I come to work." Rotor says, showing his greasy hands.
"Don't worry, my friend." Amadeus replies, reassuring the corpulent mechanic. "I understand what your work entails. Also, I've gotten dirty before, on the battlefield."
"Rotor and I take care of everything that has to do with mechanics and other things related to technology." Tails adds, with his characteristic smile.
Meanwhile, something surprises the Prower marriage: a young male mobian coyote appeared, his head hair neatly styled "stripe in the middle", wearing a military uniform. This young man looks old-fashioned and tries to look like someone superior, but it's obvious that he seems ridiculous to some of those present; in fact, it's noticeable that Sonic tries to hide a laugh, while Sally and some more don't hesitate to demonstrate that they don't tolerate the presence of the newcomer.
Tails, still smiling in a sincere way, began: "He is-"
"Antoine?" Said the Prowers at once, ignoring everything else.
The coyote, responding to the call, looks at the couple and, surprised to be recognized, take a military pose. "Bienvenue, Monsieur Colonel Prower." He replies, with his strong Mercia accent.
"You're the son of General Armand D'Coolette, are not you?"
"The same, Colonel." Antoine replies presumptuously. "Madame Prower..." continues the young man from Mercia, bowing to Rosemary, and she respondes by bowing her head politely; she likes the boy's manners, however "old" they seemed.
Anyway, the marriage are aware that the boy is trying to impress them. Still, they approach Antoine, and Amadeus extends his hand solemnly. "I've not seen you for a long time, brave little one."
"It's great to know that you two are still alive. Given your experience, it would be an honor to learn from you... If you don't find it a bother, of course."
"'Brave little one'? It's obvious that this soldier isn't well in sight..." Sonic says to Sally in a low voice, still trying to hold back the laughter.
"Sonic, don't ruin this, please. They're very important people, besides being Tails' parents." Sally answers, also lowering her voice.
No one realized that both Amadeus and Rosemary had been able to hear Sonic and Sally. However, none of them shows any reaction, and continues their conversation with Antoine; they'll find out what this is about, at another time.
"On the contrary, Tony, it would be a pleasure to resume your training." The Colonel replies, smiling broadly and leaning one arm on Antoine's shoulder. "Anyway, I'm from 'the old school', so I don't know if I'll be able to teach you anything that will suit you, and you've probably gathered experience with Freedom Fighters, right?"
When Antoine was about to respond, Sonic shouts. "Okay, it's time to eat!"
"Sonic, there's still plenty of time to eat." Sally says in a low voice.
"I know, but if I don't do anything, Ant will begin to boast about his 'achievements', and we know how unbearable he is. So I'm going to bring something to eat as an entrance, to kill the time." Sonic answers, also in a low voice.
Like the previous time, the Prowers listen to them without anyone knowing it.
"My love, could you and Antoine talk about military matters any other time?" Ms. Prower asks, trying to talk about another topic.
"You're right, we're beginning to resemble the Military Circle. A lot of-"
"A lot of useless old men, who almost never fought in battles, with a very high rank that isn't well known how they got it, and that they sit in a circle and sit there, doing absolutely nothing useful." Rosemary completes, automatically. "Yes, I heard you say that about a thousand and one times."
"That's the truth!"
"I know. The problem is you're getting repetitive, and when I'm telling you this, I'm getting repetitive as well."
And so, they continue for a while, amusing the others present, and amusing themselves for their own discussion, a discussion they seemed to have had on previous occasions.
The welcome party continued normally, with the assistance of King Maximilian. Robotnik had sent the King to "the Void", a parallel dimension from where a person couldn't leave without turning into crystal; on a mission of the KFFs, shortly before they attacked the weapon Doomsday, the King was rescued and it was obtained that he remained healthy when leaving the Void.
During dinner, the Prowers recounted everything that had happened since Robotnik's coup d'etat. It turns out that Rosemary also knew how to defend herself very well and knew about the art of war; this was demonstrated when Robotnik took power, since both she and Amadeus tried to resist together, even when Rosemary was pregnant with Tails. In the middle of the war, while Rosemary gave birth to her son, Amadeus was captured and robotized; when Mrs. Prower was discharged from the hospital, she left Tails in the care of Sonic's family, and departed to free Amadeus. Since then, neither of them had been seen again.
When Rosemary rescued Amadeus, both were abducted by an alien race called "Bem". The Bems took the Prowers to their home world, Argentium, where they had the technology to robotize and de-robotize any living thing whenever they wanted (at that point, Sally suggested asking them for that technology to the Bems). There, the Colonel was de-robotized; however, for a legal matter of the Bems, the Prowers had to stay in Argentium, although they managed to have a dignified life there. Finally, Sonic arrived, overcame a challenge imposed by the Bem, released the Prowers and brought them back to Mobius.
"Well, this has been... a strange story." Said the King, keeping a calm face and running a hand over his chin, when the newcomers finished their story.
Later, the Prowers talked with Tails on the most diverse matters. It was obvious the pride and happiness they felt for the achievements of their son, who even showed them his ability to fly by twisting his two tails like the blades of a helicopter.
At midnight, after eating the cake made by Rosie (who took care of Knothole at the current KFFs when they were still children), the party was over. At that moment, Antoine quickly returned to his hut, without speaking to anyone; in fact, after his meeting with the Prowers, he had hardly spoken during the party. Sitting in the back of his bed, the boy thought of everything that had happened during the day; suddenly, he put his hands to his face, and began to weep disconsolately, in utter solitude and silence.
As the villagers returned to their respective homes, Tails continued talking to his parents for almost an hour, until the tiredness was too great; in the end, they decided to continue talking the next day. Sally and Sonic then took Mr. and Mrs. Prower to a reserve hut, where they would stay until a definitive home was built for them. When Sally left, Sonic turned to Amadeus and Rosemary at the door of the cabin.
"So you'll be Antoine's mentor, huh?"
"Well... Yes, I'll be his mentor." Amadeus replies. After a moment, he continues: "I have a casual question: Do you have any problems with Antoine?"
"Where did you get that?"
"For something we have big ears. We heard your conversation with Sally. In addition, it was obvious they were trying to suppress a laugh. And we realized when Sally rolled her eyes in a not very subtle way." Rosemary answered quietly.
After being silent for a moment, Sonic gave up. "Okay... I'll tell you." To be honest, Ant is boastful and useless, he doesn't know how to do anything, and it doesn't make sense to teach him to do something. He's a lost cause."
Rosemary's face changes to a serious expression. After a long silence, she replies: "How dare you say something like that without being ashamed?"
"And how dare you spy on the conversations of others?" He replies blatantly.
"It doesn't matter how we got that information." Amadeus intervenes. "Whoever does wrong is you. You're talking about someone without even knowing him."
"You're the one who talks about Antoine without knowing him." Sonic answers. The wrath of him and Amadeus gradually increase.
"You're wrong. I met Antoine, and I saw that he was brave and had great potential, despite being a bit old-fashioned or a bit shy."
"That was when Ant was only 5 years old, now he's 16, and it shows who he really is, especially after living with him all my life." Sonic responds mockingly.
After a moment, Amadeus's face relaxes, and he smiles mockingly, in response to the blue hedgehog. "I get it: you're jealous of him winning Sally's love."
"Me, jealous of Ant? Is it a joke? I have nothing to envy him, he's The Envious One." Responds Sonic, proud of himself. "Ask the other Freedom Fighters and the other villagers, and you'll find that everyone agrees with me: Ant is frightened by anything, and always escapes at the first sign of danger; he says he can be a gentleman, but he's clumsy. He's not only very shy and nervous, he's the personified nervousness; he's much more antiquated than the King himself, he's inopportune when he speaks, and he's always saying ridiculous things and asking silly questions when we're planning the missions; and to conclude, he has always been the worst conceited in Mobius, and I dare say he's been like that ever since he was born. Maybe I'm a little smug too, but at least I have real achievements, and I don't presume to have performed false exploits extracted from tales of medieval knights."
Sonic continues to smile mockingly, although his anger is partially noticeable. Amadeus remains silent and poker-faced, in a heavy silence, and finally he and Rosemary enter their house an closed the door. The discussion is over, at least for now.
"Sonic seemed pretty sure of everything he said. Do you think there's any truth to it?" Amadeus asks his wife when Sonic walks away from the house.
"Even if it's true, I think what else is in Sonic's words is rage." Rosemary replies, pondering the matter. "On the other hand, I know that you can solve Antoine's problem, whatever it may be. Do the same thing with the soldiers, talk to him as what he really is: someone with emotions, with their particular virtues and defects."
"I think you should talk to him. You're the one who writes books and knows about oratory. Was it not you who wrote me a speech to motivate the troops on one occasion?" Her husband replies in jest.
"So are you going to train him?" Rosemary asks after a moment.
"I think he still has potential, but first we have to talk to him." Amadeus replies.
"Surely, in these ten years, Antoine would have been unlucky enough to have his own weaknesses outweighed his friends' weaknesses, apart from his tendency to brag. In response, the other Freedom Fighters scoffed at him and excluded him. Teens... "Rosemary sighs. "Antoine must be suffering a lot right now, I'm sure. Who could endure this situation for a decade without suffering mentally? We would have to help him in some way, but considering what he had to live, I can bet that we'll be in front of a very closed Antoine. Maybe we can ask a little help to Tails, he's quite intelligent and he has a good heart, and obviously he's not the kind of person who makes fun of others' faults. And this also would be an opportunity to do something as a family. Imagine: the family reunited after so much time. Our son, me and... Amadeus, are you listening to me?"
While Rosemary was making his "dissertation", Amadeus had sat at a table, his head resting on one hand, looking at his wife, seemingly hypnotized by her. When Rosemary catches his eye, he just keeps looking at her.
"You're perfect, Rosemary. You're so beautiful, so intelligent, and you're also very good at fighting... You don't cease to amaze me."
Rosemary, smiling, grabs her husband in his uniform and kisses him, breaking the kiss several seconds later.
"I love you, my Colonel."
"I love you too, my rose."
"Am I your... rose? Amadeus, you're getting too cheesy."
"Well, there's nothing to do about it. We should go to bed now. Tomorrow will be a busy day."
Glossary:
"The old school": It refers to the traditional and / or ancient teaching of something.
"Kill the time": Doing anything, taking advantage of the time available until something happens.
"Where did you get that?": Refers to "How did you get that information?".