Antoine D'Coolette and the Alternative Freedom Fighters.

First Episode: Origins.

Chapter 7: Paradoxical Mission.

"You're calling the office of the President of the United Federation. What can we do for you?"

"I want you to contact me directly with the President. Tell him that it's Antoine D'Coolette, a Knothole Freedom Fighter."

"One moment, Mr. D'Coolette."

Antoine is in his hut, preparing his things to leave and waiting for the President to answer the phone.

KNOCK KNOCK

"If you're Bunnie, come in." Antoine shouts.

Bunnie enters the house, also with a bag full of her things. "I'm going with you." She tells him.

"Are you sure, mon amour?"

"I don't think working elsewhere is such a bad experience."

"Ok, I'm trying to talk to the President of the United Federation. I'm going to ask him to give us some job at GUN for the two of us."

"I think you should talk to the President of Station Square. He's our friend."

"He has left his post and assumed as ruler of the entire Federation. That's why I call directly to the central government, in Central City, the capital."

"Antoine, I think, when the President looks after you, you'll have to ask him for more than two jobs." Says Tails, appearing next to Bunnie.

"Tails... Are you going too? Je thought vous were friends with Sonic and Sally." Says the coyote, surprised by the fox's decision.

"Yes, but I don't agree with what she does, and Sonic no longer deserves my respect. In addition, he will surely be able to arrange them by himself. And if in fact he can't do it and realizes that, then he will return to Knothole."

Having said that, Tails lets in his parents and Fiona. "We come with Tails." Says Fiona.

"Okay, now there's six of us, and the President won't like us asking for six worthy jobs in GUN, waking him up at 3:00 AM, Central City Time." Antoine says to himself.

"Antoine, are you there? It's me, João Falcão. Do you need anything?" The President's voice rings on the phone, with a certain accent.

"Ah, good night, monsieur President. Sorry to bother you at this time. Do you remember us, the Knothole Freedom Fighters?"

"Okay, it's no trouble. And yes, I remember the Freedom Fighters. You avoided the destruction of Station Square. If you're calling me on the subject of our alliance with the Kingdom of Acorn, I must tell you that we're planning everything to be able to act properly against Dr. Eggman."

"I don't call for that, monsieur. Me and some more wanted to ask for work in GUN."

"Why? I thought you were good as members of that team."

"We had some differences of opinion. Do you think you could get us jobs there? We prefer that, if possible, these jobs are not in offices."

"I'll see what I can do. I'll tell Abraham Tower, the Chief of GUN, to take care of this."

"Merci, monsieur." Says Antoine, and immediately afterwards, the President leaves him on hold.

A few seconds later, someone's talking on the phone. "I'm Commander Abraham Tower, Chief of the Guardian Units of the Nations. The President has told me that you, Antoine D'Coolette, want to work for us."

"C'est certain, monsieur le commandant. It's me and a few others: Bunnie Rabbot, Miles Prower, Colonel Amadeus Prower, Rosemary Prower, and Fiona Fox."

"Do the Prowers want to join us? I heard that little Prower is a true genius. Also, in the Great War, I've fought against Amadeus, and he's really a formidable person, an opponent worthy of respect."

"Oui, monsieur. And Miles Prower also fights very well." Antoine pauses. "Commander, is this phone line safe?"

"Yes. Why do you ask that?"

"Do you remember that television broadcast made by Eggman?"

"Yes, I've seen that group make him look ridiculous. What happens to them? Do they also want to join GUN?"

"That group is us."

"Really?"

"Oui, Commander. I was the one who shot the explosive arrows, and Fiona Fox was the one who generated the electromagnetic pulses. Miles Prower was handling the armor of advanced technology, and he also invented the weapons that I and Fiona had used. As for the Prower marriage, they infiltrated Robotropolis and destroyed forty transcontinental nuclear missiles that Eggman planned to use to destroy any resistance, including the KFFs, the Acorn Kingdom, the United Federation, and GUN. In basic terms, we've saved the world."

"And that "Bunnie Rabbot" you mentioned?"

"She's our most recent addition to the team. She can lift very heavy things and fly, and carries a plasma cannon with her."

"You sound like amateurs, even more so than the Freedom Fighters."

"I assure you, Abraham, that we're not mere amateurs. We have among us a scientific genius like Miles Prower and a military genius like Colonel Amadeus Prower. That's sufficient proof of our professionalism."

Tower remains silent. "Okay. You can come here whenever you want. We will be waiting for you here, in the United Federation."

"We're going to solve some of our own issues that we still have to resolve. When we've everything resolved here, we'll call you and we'll arrange an encounter with you. Au revoir." Antoine finishes the call, and addresses his fellow AFFs (Alternative Freedom Fighters). "I talked to the Chief of GUN, Commander Abraham Tower. He can give us decent jobs there."

"Abraham Tower ..." says Amadeus. "I remember that he was an Overlander war hero. An encounter with him, a decade after the Great War, would be interesting."

"Two powers greet each other." Adds Rosemary. "Mobians and Overlanders, working together."

"Mom, we've actually worked with GUN before, and they're not exactly Overlanders." Responds Tails. "It's complicated, I'll explain it later."

"Alors, what do you think? Do we join GUN?" The coyote asks his five companions.

"Antoine! Please! Wait!" From a distance, Sally's voice is heard.

"Speaking of Rome... Welcome, oh, magnanimous princess whom I don't care." Says Fiona.

"Please, don't leave the team." Sally tells them when she reaches them. "We really need you, we need you six. I need you to find Sonic and bring him back to Knothole. If you do and remain members of the KFFs, I swear I'll be a better leader. What happened to Antoine in these ten years won't happen again with anyone ever again. And I'll control Sonic, I won't let myself be influenced by him."

The AFFs are silent for a few seconds. Meanwhile, Rotor rushes toward them, visibly worried.

"Sally, Eggman has just broadcast a message on TV. He has captured Sonic." Rotor tells the princess in a low voice, so as not to panic in the village.

The seven assembled mobians leave Antoine's house, in the direction of Rotor.


Sally, Rotor and the AFFs watch an old TV in Rotor's workshop. In it, Sonic is seen in a state of suspended animation, contained within a tube whose ends are attached to the ceiling and floor of a room. The room is dimly lit with a red light, and there's also a robotizer ready to work. The hedgehog seems to have badly injured his legs, which could mean that he wouldn't be able to use his super-speed, although he managed to escape the tube. While Sonic is being shown in that state, Eggman makes his usual speech about "having accomplished something so great and that he had never believed it would be so easy".

"I've already made sure this video doesn't leak." Says the walrus. "Except for us eight and Eggman, no one else knows about this on Mobius."

"Well done, Rotor." Sally answers without looking at him, still shocked by the capture of Sonic by the dictator.

"Teammates, I want to talk to you five in private." Tails tells the AFFs, as he leaves the workshop. Fulfilling his request, his five companions follow him.

Once outside, the fox addresses them. "Teammates, I think we should rescue him."

"Clearly we must." Says Antoine. "Sonic won't be able to get out of there on his own."

"Besides, we can show him that he was wrong." Adds Tails. "We'll have rescued him using our skills and teamwork. He will learn the lesson."

"What do we do about our permanence as members of the KFFs?" Bunnie asks.

"We'll solve it later." Amadeus answers. "Now, we have to tell Sally that the six of us will go to rescue Sonic, that we'll need to have access to all available resources, and that they should let us act without anyone interfering."

"And there's another detail, monsieur Colonel: we must show the princess that we don't do this with the aim of humiliating Sonic publicly, so we'll agree to keep the whole thing a secret."

"It's okay. Are we all in agreement?"

"Agree." Say the other members of the new team.


In the workshop, the AFFs enter and address Sally. "Princess Sally, let's rescue Sonic." Antoine tells him. "But, first of all, we would like to be able to clarify some important points."

"I'm hearing." Sally replies.

Antoine starts to speak: "Although we managed to rescue Sonic, we can't guarantee you that the six of us will be members of the KFFs again. As for this mission itself, we'll need to have all of Knothole's resources at our disposal. And last but not least, we don't want interference, either during planning or during the mission itself. On the other hand, regarding what we'll do when our mission is finished, we'll keep everything in the most absolute secret, and by that I mean both the mission itself and the capture of Sonic. In this opportunity, we're not interested in obtaining the glory nor in humiliating Sonic in front of the public. Do you accept our terms?"

"Yes, I accept your terms." Says the chipmunk, after thinking about what the coyote told him. "Now, could you do what you should do?"

"Bien sûr, votre altesse royale. We're people who keep their word."

With the conversation over, the AFFs leave Rotor's workshop, and head to the Tails' workshop to prepare everything they'll need.

Meanwhile, Sally and Rotor accompany them, and they stare at them and think.

"This is paradoxical, Rotor." She tells the mechanic. "Now, Sonic is in trouble and Antoine will save him. I don't know what to think."

"Votre altesse, it's worth mentioning that I'll not rescue Sonic, but we'll rescue him as a team. There's a difference." Antoine replies, watching Tails.

The child prodigy is making the arrows with tricks that the coyote is going to use, while Bunnie is in charge of melting the metal to make the filaments that they're going to insert into the sabers of the young soldier and Amadeus. At the same time, the Colonel puts on his suit, impregnated with special tincture not to be detected by infrared sensors, and his wife Rosemary tests his invisibility suit. Fiona is the only one absent in the Tails' workshop, since she went to an open space, outside the Great Forest, to test her electric weapons without the sparks igniting any tree.

After making the 150 arrows with tricks of Antoine, Tails retires to a room of the workshop, closing the locked door from the inside. In that room, which is completely insulated and covered with metal plates that could perfectly serve as mirrors, the fox has kept his ATA (Advanced Technology Armor) suit, which he had used in the first mission with the AFFs, and also keeps ammunition for his weapons: miniature nuclear missiles, bullets and batteries to supply the railgun with ammunition and power to operate, batteries whose energy is used as ammunition of the laser machine gun; there are also several "quantum reactors" invented by him to provide energy to the ATA suit, which requires quite high amounts of energy.

"Activating ATA via Voice Command."

"ATA activated via Voice Command: Welcome back, Miles "Tails" Prower." A sensuous female computer voice responds from the inside of the suit.

"Check the general conditions of the suit."

"All weapons are charged. The quantum reactor has been replaced and is 100% charged. The armor is still in excellent conditions. The antivirus is working in perfect conditions."

Tails opens a small hatch in the right forearm of the ATA suit, discovering a USB port, and connects to it a pendrive. "ATA, download the "Control Turbo" Program from the USB memory that I just connected."

After a couple of minutes, the computer voice reacts. "Download complete."


Eggman is sitting on his throne, inside his fortress in Robotropolis, looking at a screen. Through it, Sonic is seen, in stasis inside a tube.

"I lose my nuclear missiles, most of my robotic troops and also my prestige, but managed to capture the famous 'Hero of Mobius'. It was a good exchange, don't you think so, Snively?"

"There's no room for doubt, Sir." The second in command of the dictator responds, then going to a control panel. He reads a message on a screen, and then turns to the robotic version of his uncle. "Some SWAT-bots have disappeared in different parts of the city. Do I send robots to investigate?"

"Do it, but don't send too many. You have to relax." Says Eggman. "Snively, summon a summit with the Grand Masters of my Dark Legion."

In response to his orders, Snively sends a message to the SWAT-bots to investigate, and then makes calls to the Dark Egg Legion's Grand Masters: the leader of the original Dark Legion of Echidnas, the old Dimitri, with his body almost totally converted into a robot, and Lien-Da, his great-great-granddaughter and second in command, also with a few cybernetic improvements; Bill Platypus, of Downunda; Drago Wolf and the felidae Razorklaw, of Soumerca; Akhlut, the killer whale, of North Tundra; Baron Beauregard, a cyborg rabbit very similar to Bunnie Rabbot, and commissioned to control the Northamer Great Desert; the overlander Regina Ferrum and the ox Jun Kun, Queen and King of the Iron Dominion in the Dragon Kingdom; the High Sheriff of Snottingham, a robotized aged coyote who has a certain similarity with Antoine D'Coolette, and is in charge of Mercia's control; Diesel, a motorcycle bear who had linked the Bear Pack and the Nasty Hyenas in a single group to the service of Eggman in Efrika; Hugo Brass, the former Chief of GUN, now with the brain washed, responsible for the control of Eurish; an obese nerb with a claw crane replacing his left arm, who calls himself "the Foreman" and controls the Nerb People and the monstrous Kraken, both being inhabitants of the underground world... The leaders of the ten factions of the DEL (Dark Egg Legion) are presented inside the command booth, in the form of holograms.

Within the race of mobian echidnas, the Dark Legion was a faction of them. They favored the use of technology and their members had cybernetic improvements in their bodies, unlike the rest of the equidna race and its leaders, who had banned the use of technology. After an incident where they fought against Enerjak, an echidna god, they lost their cybernetics and the power they used to have, and had to ally with the Eggman Empire to retrieve all that. This resulted in the Dark Legionaries merging with Eggman's Armed Forces and forming the DEL. In this sort of "elite corps" within the Empire, cybernetic improvements were also given to many members, including some who weren't even of the echidna race; the great majority of the members adopted the black tunics with hood, previously used by the original Dark Legionaries, and the Sub-Bosses of Eggman's Armed Forces took the titles of "Grand Masters" from the leaders of the original Dark Legion, calling themselves "Grand Masters of DEL."

"Grand Masters of my Dark Legion, I summon you to this meeting to make you the greatest announcement in the history of this Empire: I've captured Sonic a few hours ago." The Doctor tells his subordinates. They start to look at one another; like their dictator, they also have, in their own command centers, the other Sub-Bosses present in the form of holograms, which allows them to relate as if all were present in the same room.

"Doctor..." starts Regina Ferrum, the Iron Queen. "Remember there are many groups of Freedom Fighters, and although the Knothole group has its morale reduced, I doubt the other groups will do the same. Snively, you know what I'm talking about." She says, addressing the original Robotnik's nephew with a seductive look, a look that Snively seems to recognize.

"In addition, the United Federation is about to formalize its alliance with the Kingdom of Acorn." Hugo Brass completes.

"There is also the matter of the young guardian of Angel Island, that one 'Knuckles'. He is tremendously dangerous with his control of the Chaos Force, and he may be even more powerful than his predecessors of the Brotherhood of Guardians." Adds Dimitri. "He is accompanied by a team called 'Chaotix', which is supposed to be a group of detectives."

Lien-Da advances and stands next to her great-great-grandfather. "In addition, my sister, Julie-Su, is in love with him and follows him in his fight against us."

"It shouldn't be forgotten that the Shadow Project fell into the hands of GUN, as well as the most powerful unit in the E-100 robot series." Adds Hugo Brass.

After a pause, the Iron Queen speaks again. "The only good thing about all this is the fact that I finally gained full control over the Four Clans of the Dragon Kingdom."

"Congratulations, Regina." Says Snively after the announcement.

"Yeah, that's so interesting..." Diesel says, bored.

"Shut up, motorcyclist." Orders Platypus.

"No one tells me what to do."

"Yes, that was evident when Robotnik died."

"What are you blaming me for? The nerd boss also ignored the Doctor's leadership."

"The name is 'Nerb', idiot." Responds the Foreman.

"Shut your ass, nerd." Diesel answers.

"My anus can't speak. Does yours have that capacity, inferior being?"

"Can you all shut up at once?! Horde of incompetents!" The High Sheriff shouts, making everyone quiet. "We should take advantage of this moment to counterattack our enemies, not to fight between us."

"Personally, I agree with the High Sheriff, and also with Regina." Says Snively.

"Nobody asked for your opinion." Eggman replies, while Snively looks at him in disguised anger.

"Wait, Doctor, I'd like to hear the opinion of someone like him." Says the Iron Queen.

"Thank you, Regina." Snively replies with pride. "I think we've to lower their morale in a more effective way. We should torture Sonic, then robotize him and put him to the service of the Empire, and all this should be televised live. Oh, and there's another matter." Says the dictator's assistant dwarf, now addressing Diesel. "Starting fights with other factions, like the Nerb Kingdom and Downunda, isn't the only thing you should stop doing. Nor should you underestimate the beings you call 'nerd'. Miles Prower is a nerd, and the last time we underestimated him, he organized a surprise attack and destroyed all our nuclear arsenal, which we could have used to destroy all our enemies right now."

"Not to mention that little plague also destroyed almost all my robots, ruined my Eggmobile and humiliated me in front of the whole planet through that trap." Adds Eggman.

"So how do you want us to proceed now, Doctor?" Asks the Baron, with a notorious southern accent.

"First thing's first: Let's make a visit to 'Sonic the Prisoner'."


Bunnie, Antoine, Fiona and Tails are hidden on the roof of a building near Eggman's fortress. Meanwhile, Rosemary and Amadeus join them, with Rosemary invisible.

Rosemary is the first to speak, as she becomes visible again. "We've wiped out several SWAT-bots at different Robotropolis sites."

"That way, the other SWAT-bots will be distracted while investigating their 'disappearances'. They'll leave this building unprotected, and we'll be able to enter and rescue Sonic." Adds Amadeus.

"Luckily, this is going to end soon." Says Antoine. "I still have the feeling that I'll regret having rescued that hedgehog."

Everyone is wearing their specially made clothes to work as the AFFs: Antoine, his hair a little disheveled, his purple vest with red details, and his matching pants and glasses; Amadeus, in his special uniform, impregnated with the invisible dye for heat sensors; Rosemary, with her dress invisible to normal sight; Fiona, with her "electro-gloves", a black suit with some breaks and full of circuits and blue lights, blue glasses of the style of the aviator glasses, and a purple red cloak with several thin, bright blue lines running through it. As for Tails, he wears his ATA suit, which now has several parts painted red.

"I just listened to Eggman's conversations with the Grand Masters of the Dark Egg Legion." Reports the two-tailed fox. "They plan to do something big, taking advantage of Sonic being a prisoner. But before they're going to torture and robotize him, showing everything on television. We must hurry to the rescue."

"Okay, I already have a plan done... I guess." Fiona starts. "As we make the rescue, Tails will watch from the air, and Amadeus and Rosemary will guard the entrance. I'll go in first, and I'll use my electric weapons to kill any robot that gets in the way. When everything is safe inside the building, Bunnie and Antoine will enter there, find Sonic, release him, and return. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a good plan." Bunnie thinks.

"There are cameras watching in there. I'm going to send a signal to infect them with a virus, and so I can make them show a still image to Eggman, as a distraction during the time required for the rescue." Tails reports.

Immediately after this, Tails rises into the air in his ATA suit, and his teammates sneak down to the surface.


In a tube inside the building, the blue hedgehog stays in stasis, guarded by three SWAT-bots. Meanwhile, the door suddenly opens, showing Fiona, Bunnie and Antoine. Simultaneously, the young vixen shoots a robot with a sort of lightning, the cyborg rabbit shoots with the cannon of her robotic arm to another robot and destroys it completely, and the coyote shoots towards the head of the third robot and passes through it with an arrow, which has its tip heated red hot and allows the young soldier to use it again.

Antoine approaches the control panel and presses some buttons, getting Sonic out of the tube and recovering from his stasis. Now Sonic is lying on the ground, and when he manages to raise his head, he sees Antoine looking at him patiently.

"Give me one good reason why je don't regret having rescued vous." Says the coyote.

"Hmm... Know! I'm the Mobius's fastest thing alive, I'm indispensable for all the teams of Freedom Fighters in all Mobius, and a long etcetera." Responds the sprinter.

"Bon, I wouldn't mind listening to that 'long etcetera' of which vous presume so much."

Sonic tries to say something, but finds that he's unable to say anything in his own defense.

"It's already a fact: officially, I regret having rescued you." The coyote dictates.

"Wait a minute." Says Sonic, quickly. "On one occasion, I rescued you in very similar circumstances, and since then you have owed me. Now, with this rescue, we're even."

"We were even. After you rescued me, you took the opportunity to humiliate me."

"Actually, it was you who started bragging about something you didn't do."

"C'est certain, but then you started to boast of having done more things than you actually did. And you didn't recognize that I was trying to overcome my fears and to do something that could make us win. You didn't bother to accept that I had made an effort, even though my effort had been a failure. You didn't want to accept that I was trying to be better. And since you ignored my effort and everyone listened to you only, then everyone forgot me and nobody gave me even a few words of encouragement. Tails and his parents were right when they spoke at the meeting we did a few hours ago at Knothole. Now, if you really believe that I don't deserve the same treatment as the other Freedom Fighters, then I'd rather you kick me out of the team, than keep me in that strange middle category where I'm still a member of the team but I don't get the same good treatment that other members receive." Antoine, still calm, pauses. "Although, now that I remember, the princess has already done it: I was fired directly by her. Don't get angry with her, this is better for you, because I'm not planning to return to the team, at least for the moment."

"Antoine, don't forget what we did for you." Says Fiona.

"That was going to tell him, Fiona. Sonic, it happened that she, Bunnie, Tails and his parents had decided to leave the team and accompany me." Says Antoine, who still uses a relaxed tone.

"Friends, SWAT-bots are coming here." Warns Tails, who watches from the air and communicates with his colleagues through his communicator. "You'd better go out, to avoid trouble."

"Okay, let's get out of here. Sonic, put this in one ear." The coyote tells the hedgehog, giving him a communicator. "We've noticed that your legs were injured. Can you stand and walk?"

"Yes, I can still do it."

"And run?"

"Not as fast as I'd like."

"Tails, have you heard?" Asks Antoine, through his communicator.

"I've heard it, Antoine, but that doesn't worry me, we can solve this without Sonic's super-speed."

"D'accord. Allons-y!" Says Antoine, making a gesture as if he were saying "come with me".

As they move down the corridors, Antoine retakes his story. "As I was telling you, Sonic, this group of friends decided to separate from the KFFs and accompany me. So the princess decided to be smart and summoned us to convince you to go back to Knothole. Faced with this proposal, we six established certain conditions to work, and she accepted them. While we negotiated that agreement, we learned that you were captured."

"And what did you guys agree with Sally?"

"We didn't ask for much. Premier: even if we succeed at the end of the mission, that doesn't necessarily mean that we return to the team. Deuxième: both in preparing the mission and in executing it, we've requested access to all the resources of the village. Troisième: both in preparing the mission and in executing it, we've asked that only six of us work, and no one else should be involved. Quatrième: both your capture and your rescue will be kept secret, since we don't want to have fame on this occasion. Que pensez-vous?"

"It sounds fair."

"All that was planned by Antoine. Well, Amadeus has also helped." Adds Bunnie. "When it comes to diplomacy, they're both great."

"Do you admire him for that, Bunnie?" Sonic asks.

"Well, yes, I admire him for that. Why you ask?"

"Because I believe that what you feel for him is more than just admiration."

"Sonic, Bunnie already told you: I'm not her boyfriend." Antoine answers.

"That's not true." Says Sonic. "I saw you two together, doing something... pretty... hot. It was this very afternoon today, about 6:00 PM, at Antoine's house."

"HAVE YOU BEEN SPYING US?!" Scream Antoine and Bunnie, enraged, as Fiona facepalms.

"Calm down. At that moment, I thought of retaliating against you, Antoine, for daring to believe that you were better than me in terms of relationships with girls. However, now I've thought better, and I decided not to." Sonic answers.

"Teammates, stop arguing about marital issues, Eggman has arrived at the gates of the building, accompanied by Snively, some robots with TV cameras, and a group of SWAT-bots." Tails warns.

"Amadeus will hide near the door, Tails will remain in the air, and I'll make myself invisible and I'll enter with Eggman and his entourage." says Rosemary. "You four, those who remain inside, return to the room where Sonic was locked up, and hide well. Let's surprise the good Doctor."


Eggman arrives at the entrance of the building, and opens the door using a password. When the dictator and his entourage enter, an invisible presence enters with them, without them noticing.

"This time no one is going to stop me, I'll show the whole planet my great victory. Everyone, helpless, will see the slow fall of the Hero of Mobius." Says the Doctor.

He opens the door of a room, hoping to find the sprinter hedgehog in stasis inside a tube, but all he sees is an empty tube.

"What is this all supposed to be?" Eggman and his entourage continue to advance, until they're all inside the room. When that happens, a group of four mobians sneak toward the door, and when they arrive, one of them, a red vixen, points toward the robots with her electric weapons.

"Trying to do a reality-show on TV again?" She says.

Eggman, Snively, the SWAT-bots and the robots with the television cameras look towards the door, and find Fiona, Bunnie and Antoine; the first two are disguised, and all three have their respective weapons ready to fire; Eggman and his entourage also see Sonic, free and standing. Before Eggman's forces react, the AFFs attack: Fiona loads the cannons from the palms of her hands and fires an EM pulse, deactivating all robots except Eggman, and damaging the robotizer in that room; Bunnie fires her cannon at Snively, leaving him unconscious, and Antoine sets his sights on Eggman himself and fires an arrow with an acid capsule, with which he manages to corrode a metal cover that had prevented the robotic dictator from being deactivated by the EM pulse.

"Vixen?" Antoine asks.

"I'm pointing to the hole in the metal cover, Frenchy." Fiona answers, with her "Taser-Fist" ready to shoot.

"Did you hear the vixen, Eggman?"

"Yes, I heard." The Doctor answers, grudgingly. "But first I have a question: Who are you? 'Hawkeye' or something like that?"

"I wish I was something like that. But I can't fly."

"I remember someone very like you. He was also a coyote, and he also had an accent from Mercia, but that accent was more pronounced, and he himself was a coward. His name's Antoine D'Coolette. Do you know him? Did you hear anything about him?"

"Yes, I heard about it. Remotely, but I heard about him, after all. But I remember hearing something different from what you say. I seemed to hear that he was charming from the ladies' point of view, to the point that they fainted when he passed near them." Antoine gives Bunnie a look, a look that Bunnie manages to capture. "Anyway, there's always the possibility that I've heard badly. Who knows?"

"Friends, get outta there. Right away." Tails warns through the communicator. "This is gonna get ugly."

"D'accord." Says Antoine, then turning to Eggman. "Pardonnez-nous, monsieur le docteur, but we have business to attend to, so we must withdraw. You want to do the honors, Vixen?"

"It will be a pleasure, Frenchy." Says Fiona, firing her Taser right into the dictator, who begins to tingle on the ground, because of the passage of electricity through his metal body.

"He will live." Says Fiona, deactivating her Taser. Once this is done, the four go to the exit.

When they arrive at the exit, they find the door closed. However, Rosemary appears out of nowhere and opens the door from the inside.

When they go outside, they face a difficult situation: 100 Hover units fly towards them; the ships are heavily armed and have shields, and each one also carries inside them several SWAT-bots, equally prepared to destroy everything that they find.

"I doubt we can escape." Says Amadeus, who's standing at the door, next to the group of infiltrators that has just left.

"Dad, I didn't know you could be so pessimistic."

After saying this, Tails appears in the sky and shoots one of the ships with the cannons of his hands. Now, the energy beams are greener and brighter, and they manage to cross and deactivate the shield and damage the fuselage of that Hover unit. Antoine takes the opportunity and shoots an arrow with a bomb, destroying the ship. In response, the other 99 ships start to chase and attack the AFFs while they try to escape from Robotropolis.

One of the ships starts to descend precisely in the middle of the path taken by the team, but Tails deactivates its shield, and then Bunnie destroys the ship with the cannon of her robotic arm. Despite this, some SWAT-bots manage to get off the ship, but Fiona deactivates them with her EM pulse cannon, and the team continues their escape.

Then, three ships surprise them, surrounding them and firing towards them with the laser cannons in their roofs.

However, the AFFs remain unharmed, surrounded by a green energy shield generated from the Tails' ATA suit.

"What's all this, Tails?" Sonic asks, astonished.

"Do you remember that, during the mission to save Station Square from the attack of the god Chaos, you became a Super form with the help of the Chaos Emeralds? Well, I've discovered that I possess, in my body, energy similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. I think I'm an Adept to Chaos."

"Are you serious? Do we have an Adept to Chaos in the family?" Rosemary asks.

"In fact, this shield is made from that energy. However, until this moment, I could only use it by putting together the seven Chaos Emeralds or taking the Master Emerald, thus becoming Turbo Tails, my Super form. But, with the ATA suit, I developed a system, governed by software also of my invention, with which I can take advantage of this potential energy of Chaos in my body without having to possess any Chaos Emeralds nor the Master Emerald. I called it "System of Control and Manipulation of Potential Corporal Energy of Chaos for the Autonomous Use of the Abilities and Capacities of Turbo Tails", although you can simply call it "Control Turbo System". Although I can only take advantage of this energy, I can still do many things."

Outside the shield, SWAT-bots leave the ships and join the attacks. Despite this, the shots continue to be rejected, while Tails still speaks quietly.

"The shots from my cannons are a mix of the cannons' own energy with spears made of Chaos energy. My thrusters on my feet, with the addition of my Chaos energy, would allow me to travel off the planet. In addition, as is obvious, I can generate a force field that can act as a shield, but which can also serve as a kind of bubble, which would allow me to be in outer space while maintaining a reserve of oxygen with me inside that bubble; what I wouldn't be able to do would be to generate a force field at a distance, to contain something or someone other than myself, although I can generate a force field from myself and use it to contain others with me, as you can see; in short, whenever I want to generate a force field, it must be generated from myself, and I must be within it."

With his explanation finished, Tails expands his shield in all directions and with great speed. The shield hits and destroys all nearby SWAT-bots, and although the three Hover ships have shields, they're ignored by the Chaos energy shield, which also hits them and causes them to be destroyed by colliding with nearby buildings. After expanding, the force field is broken, and its energy returns to Tails' body in the form of lines of green light, similar to magnetic force lines.

The AFFs, now unprotected, resume their escape, while gradually destroying the other 95 ships. Meanwhile, Bunnie takes Sonic into her arms and Tails stands by her side, pointing the repulsor cannons of his hands to the sprinter's legs, apparently for the sole purpose of lighting them with its greenish light.

After an attack, the team members disperse, and Antoine is left alone, separated from the others. Preparing for the worst, the coyote pulls out his saber and activates the system to heat the filament to red hot.

Two SWAT-bots approach him, but the young soldier easily destroys them. Suddenly, a Shadow-bot hits him, causing him to lose his saber, and leaving him stunned and dizzy on the floor. The robot picks him up by his neck, ready to break it.

Suddenly, the blue hedgehog appears, destroying the Shadow-bot with his super-speed, while Antoine falls to the ground and tries to recover the lost air. Sonic approaches him, wielding the saber to give it to the coyote.

Antoine grabs the saber. "Merci... How did you manage to use your super-speed?"

"Better, let Tails explain it to you later, because I didn't understand it. And you're not obligated to thank me. We all know how important that saber is to you."

"I meant when you saved me from that robot."

Sonic stares at Antoine, unaware that another Shadow-bot is silently approaching him behind. But Antoine can see it.

"Watch out!" Shouting that, the coyote pushes Sonic violently to one side, jumps to the robot, clings firmly to one of its feet, climbs the metal surface with great agility, cuts the arms of the robot so it can't attack him, and finally he decapitates it. He does all this in a few seconds, almost without allowing the Shadow-bot to respond.

Sonic has a stunned look on his face, after seeing Antoine's performance in his fight against that Shadow-bot. Before either of them said anything, Tails appears on the spot, alone.

"We all are gathered. Follow me, so we can get outta here once and for all." Says the fox.


Glossary:

"Speaking of Rome...": Part of an Argentine popular phrase: "Hablando de Roma, el Papa se asoma." ("Speaking of Rome, the Pope appears."). When you have been talking about someone previously, and immediately after that someone makes an appearance, this phrase is often used.

More or less: The term is used as a reference to something that, roughly, is similar to what is being sought or what is being talked about. This term is also used as a synonym for "approximately" or "one could say that ...". It would also be the equivalent of "so so".

"First thing's first": Shortened form of saying "First, we will do the first thing that must be done". Although redundant, it is used to reaffirm that there are certain issues that need to be addressed before the others.

"Who knows?": It's a way of saying "How can you know that?" Or "How can you predict?". Your translation could be the interjection "Wonder!".