Alternative Freedom Fighters:

Season Two.

Chapter 7: The reinforcements are here.

Duchy of Soleanna. 11:00 PM, Local Time, 9:00 PM, Mercia Time.

Under a sky full of stars and without a single cloud, in this city-State as picturesque as Spagonia and Hessen am Main, the streetlights shine throughout the urban area, reflecting their light on the channels whose waters are still traveled by some luxury boats.

There are two main worship sites in the Duchy, which are adjacent to a plaza. One of them is a replica of St Mark's Basilica, an ancient christian temple built by venetian humans twelve centuries before the Xordas' attack, a temple that was later rebuilt in Soleanna; the other is a large temple built in honor of Solaris, a goddess of the Sun who was often worshiped in this city-State.

Just in front of the square where the two temples are located, on the other side of a canal, is the Ducal Palace of Soleanna. On a high and extensive terrace of that palace, the team of Marshal Amadeus Prower is waiting for someone.

Rouge: [impatient] "When do the reinforcements arrive?"

Antoine: "They should arrive."

Rouge: "They should arrive, huh? What if they don't arrive? They'll have made us wait here for nothing."

Amadeus: [raises a hand and speaks in a low voice] "Silence. I heard something. It sounds like a jet approaching."

A short time later, they can clearly hear the turbines of a jet approaching the castle. However, nobody sees anything.

Until...

Antoine: [pointing to a specific place in the sky] "C'est là-bas! It's over there!"

Rouge: "What?"

Antoine: "The jet! It's invisible!"

Rouge: "Did you go crazy?!"

Fiona: "Wait! I see it too!"

Everyone looks attentively, and then they can see that a portion of the sky looks distorted: there's something there, something that is altering the path of light in a certain area. A few seconds later, that deformed portion of the sky reveals itself as a medium-sized jet, which immediately uses a vertical take-off and landing system to land softly in the middle of the terrace.

A hatch opens below the back of the jet, and four mobians walk off the ramp.

The first one is Agent Shadow Hedgehog, sent by Commander Tower himself.

Next, Fiona Fox's former partner: Nicolette "Nic" Weasel, a female mobian who's a weasel and wolf hybrid, with violet and white fur, dressed as a treasure hunter.

Next to Nic is her boyfriend, a former member of Destructix: Lightning Lynx, a male mobian lynx with light brown fur and black hair on the head, eyebrows, ears' tips and other parts, equipped with clothing and weapons ninja.

Finally, the one sent by the Team Chaotix, Guardian Knuckles' girlfriend: Julie-Su, a female echidna who has got legionized her left arm and one of the dreadlock-like spines on her head; her coat on her body and her thorns are pink, she has lilac hair on her head; she's armed with two double-barrel proton guns for multiple uses, and she wears a black and turquoise vest, a black shorts, a gold belt, turquoise boots, and white gloves that only have the thumbs and index fingers separated from the rest.

As soon as they get off the plane, Shadow and Lightning walk towards Amadeus and Antoine to shake their hands with them.

Amadeus: "Welcome, comrades. It seems that my son knows how to choose reinforcements."

Shadow: "It's a pleasure to see you again, Marshal. As for the agents selected by your son, he had actually recommended that Sergeant Simian also be part of these reinforcements."

Antoine: "It would have been a good choice. Cependant, I don't see the Sergeant anywhere. Can we know why?"

Lightning: "He had received a call from the Gorilla Colony, in the Northamer Great Forest: his old compatriots finally decided to fight against Eggman, then they learned about Simon and his new job as a member of the Resistance, and they called him. What Tails originally planned was to send Simon, me and Nic together, since we had already formed an independent team of Freedom Fighters, and he had also thought of sending only Shadow to accompany us all; but when Tails knew Simon wasn't available, he had to call more people, and that's how the echidna woman joined the reinforcements as well."

Meanwhile, Fiona and Nic greet each other with a big hug.

Fiona: "I'm so happy to see you, Nic!"

Nic: "Same here, Fio. [pauses] I learned about the problems between Tails and you."

The red vixen undoes the hug suddenly.

Fiona: "He told you, is not it?"

Nic: "Actually, the others told me when Tails wasn't present. [makes a slight smile] Hope everything is resolved between you two."

Fiona: [hesitating] "Yeah, I hope so too..."

On the other hand, Julie-Su and Rouge just shake hands.

Julie-Su: "We two working together... This mission will really be a unique experience, don't you think?"

Rouge: "I can already imagine it."

Julie-Su: "Anyway, you don't need to worry about me. Tails made me swear I wouldn't fight with you... although I didn't plan to do it either."

Rouge: "Tell me... How's it going with Knuckles?"

Julie-Su: *tsk* "We do the usual: working with Chaotix, kicking the ass to the bad guys, taking care of the Master Emerald together... which ain't as boring as you might think."

Rouge: "You're lucky, and Knux too... unlike Tails." [looks at Fiona from afar]

Julie-Su: [looks at Fiona] "Yeah... Poor boy. And poor Fiona, too. [in a low voice] It seems to me that the Civil War has affected these two foxes a lot, especially the boy."

Rouge: [in a low voice] "The Civil War affected us all. And all because of Finitevus and the green motorcyclist who tries to imitate Sonic."

Julie-Su: [in a low voice] "Yes, Sally told me what those two had plotted... And as for the effects of the Civil War: yes, it affected us all, but I have proof that it was worse in the case of Tails."

Rouge: [in a low voice] "Proof like ... Which?"

Julie-Su: [in a low voice] "He used to take baths like a maniac, but when I visited, he just took a bath after Sally and Sonic insisted. Sometimes he looks a little discouraged in his way of acting and speaking. However, when that ninja lynx asked him about Fiona, Tails attacked him fiercely; then he calmed down, but every time one of us mentioned her again, he became very aggressive and even dictatorial when talking to us; I had to threaten him that I'd call Knuckles so that he could 'make him see reason', and then Tails began to take care of his tone, but not without first insulting Knux and me sotto voce. And finally: Tails could have traveled to Station Square as soon as he returned from Moebius, so that his right eye would be regenerated; however, he continues with his right eye empty and covered with a patch. On the other hand, I heard how he cried and insulted himself for several things: for supposedly being the cause of the Civil War, for having taken Fiona away from him, and so on. When he discovered I was listening to him, I had to swear I wouldn't tell anyone about this."

Rouge: [in a low voice] "Confirmed: Tails is sick in the head."

Julie-Su: [in a low voice] "He was falling into a spiral of depression when I saw him. Anyway, last night, while I was traveling from New Mobotropolis to Snottingham, I received an SMS from Tails: he said I shouldn't worry about him 'cause he had invited another girl to lunch today. I wonder if he did well on that date."

Rouge: [in a low voice] "Is he dating another girl? Surely Tails already gave up on Fiona... but perhaps the date with that girl was a failure."

Julie-Su: [in a low voice] "Why do you say that?"

Rouge: [in a low voice] "Because I contacted him a few hours ago, when it was already afternoon in New Mobotropolis, and he seemed to have faith that he could solve his problems with Fiona."

Amadeus: [approaches Rouge and Julie-Su] "Ready to travel to Chun-Nan?"

Julie-Su: [whispers in Rouge's ear] "Let's not tell the Marshal anything. We'd make him nervous unnecessarily."

Rouge: [whispers in Julie-Su's ear] "I agree." [to Amadeus, with a normal tone of voice again] "All ready, sir."

Amadeus: "I guess you were talking about the famous 'women stuff'. Don't bother telling me, it would be in vain."

Julie-Su: [kidding] "Yeah, you men would never understand. That's why they're 'women stuff'."

Both Amadeus and Julie-Su and Rouge laugh.

Julie-Su: "Leaving the jokes aside, it's an honor to work with you, Marshal-"

Antoine: "Attention! I'm listening to two more objects approaching!"

Indeed, there are two mobians flying through the skies of the Duchy. One of them is Leonidas Procion, who's using a jetpack and carries a metal suitcase in his hands. The other mobian is a strapping male coyote, apparently between 35 and 40 years old, who looks a lot like Antoine but whose hair has a military cut; he wears a black leather jacket, a white sleeveless undershirt, gray nautical pants, black leather gloves, and sunglasses; this coyote isn't flying with a jetpack, but uses rockets that seem to be inside his feet.

The two mobians land on the roof of the Ducal Palace. While Procion approaches Amadeus and both make the military salute, Antoine and the adult coyote give each other a hug, although the latter seems to be very cautious when giving him that hug.

Antoine: [undoing the hug, smiling] "Good thing you came back, Dad. Tails did well to recruit you."

Antoine's father: [with an accent similar to that of his son, but somewhat softened] "Yes, Amadeus' son knows what he's doing... although your friend seemed quite tense when I saw him. By chance, what do you think of my new look?"

Antoine looks up and down at his father.

Antoine: [raising an eyebrow] "Seriously? Are you still imitating The Terminator?"

Antoine's father: "What's the problem? I look a lot like The Terminator now, don't you think? Think of this: an evil robot, possessor of great resistance and many weapons, but reprogrammed to fight for the forces of good."

Amadeus and Procion approach the two coyotes.

Procion: [to Antoine's father] "Sorry, General D'Coolette, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is and always will be unmatched."

In response, General D'Coolette takes off his gloves, revealing his robotic hands and forearms, and then he turns his left hand into a drill and unfolds a circular saw in his right hand while retaining a completely expressionless face. Seeing all this, the raccoon is paralyzed and a drop of sweat appears on the side of his forehead.

General D'Coolette: [in a voice exactly like Schwarzenegger's] "Do you want to bet?"

Proción: [smiling nervously] "No need, General."

General D'Coolette is a robian: a mobian victim of robotization by Dr. Robotnik during his world dictatorship. More than a week ago, the alien race of the Bems, originative from the planet Argentium, had abducted all Robians to de-robotize them and make them organic again; Antoine's father, who had regained his free will and wished to help the Resistance by fighting as a robian, refused to be returned to normal; Now he'is one of the most powerful secret agents in the service of Rob O'Hedge, the King of Mercia, his native country.

General D'Coolette: "Oh, and don't call me 'General'. I don't have that rank anymore."

Amadeus: [puts a hand on the shoulder of Antoine's father] "Come on, Armand... Don't be so bitter."

Armand: [laughing] "It's easy for you to say it, Marshal."

Lightning: "Alright, meetings between old colleagues are beautiful, but... Can we know what this mission will consist of? I and the other newcomers have no idea."

Amadeus: "We will explain. Gather round."

The other nine mobians approach him, forming a circle among the ten of them.

Rouge: "Are everyone here aware of the existence of the GFA, the Great Finitevic Army?"

The six agents of the Reinforcement Team nod.

Antoine: "And do you already know who is its leader?"

Nic: "We received detailed reports about that militia. We know who Finitevus is."

Julie-Su: "And we, Chaotix's members, know him quite well."

Fiona: "Okay. It's suspected a Finitevic division is involved in illegal commercial activities in a part of the city-State of Chun-Nan. An Division of Intelligence of GUN, the Division of Investigations for the Internal Security, found evidence of clandestine factories where they're producing weapons and vehicles intensively for the goons and traitors who now serve Finitevus."

Amadeus: "There has also been an increase in the population in that part of the city, a result of internal migration from the rural area to the urban area, and these migrants have settled in shantytowns; this would indicate the establishment of factories and an increase in economic activity, which is suspicious: according to the official records, the number of factories installed in this last month is almost the same as in previous times, so the economic activity has grown as a result of something that isn't in the official records; in the same way, if the legally installed factories were the only ones existing, the people who still remain in the countryside wouldn't have found new opportunities in the city, and these internal migrations wouldn't take place."

Rouge: "Anyway, the evidence found is still not enough or only circumstantial, and GUN cannot carry out an attack within the national territory of the United Federation; so, we will do it with the unofficial support of Commander Tower: he will provide us with the necessary equipment; in addition, before our attack, he will also order that all the members of GUN leave the territory 'invaded and occupied by the GFA', and if there's still someone who identifies itself as an agent of GUN, then it's someone who doesn't obey Tower but Finitevus. Our mission is to enter that 'occupied territory', neutralize the occupation forces, destroy everything possible from those Finitevic weapons, vehicles and factories, and expose the GFA's operations in Chun-Nan; in this way, the Central Government will have solid evidence that will allow it to intervene in that city-State."

Fiona: "We will board a ship that will cross the Emerald Sea and take us to Chun-Nan. During the trip, we will review the plans of the city-State, and we will plan the attack. Got it?"

The six reinforcement agents nod.


The next day...

Chun-Nan's Downtown. 8:00 AM, Local Time, 6:00 AM, Soleanna Time.

A portion of an avenue, in whose sidewalks there are numerous grocery stores, is being guarded by between five and ten human Finitevic soldiers, who are posing as GUN's soldiers (having been casually GUN's soldiers before swearing their loyalty to the echidna mad scientist).

Suddenly Antoine appears on the balcony of a department, he shoots an arrow that hits and explodes at one end of that portion of the avenue, and he hides immediately. Half of the humans run to the explosion's site.

When they get there, they realize it's a decoy.

But it's too late.

RA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

[Soundtrack: Back to the ChinaMetal Slug 2/X OST]

At the same moment, Armand D'Coolette and Amadeus Prower appear from behind a corner at the opposite end of the avenue and they start to attack the distracted soldiers by surprise. Antoine's father goes ahead, acting as a shield and firing with a 20mm Vulcan machine gun, which he's able to carry with his own arms thanks to his robian strength. The fox walks behind him and fires with a modified Uzi machine gun equal to the ones he and his team used in Jordan City.

When a human tries to shoot with an RPG-7 from behind a pick-up, Amadeus throws his modified saber, which sticks into the rocket launcher's bullet and makes its charge explode, killing the human too; then, while other soldiers continue firing, the fox stays behind Armand and activates a device integrated in a glove in his right hand, causing small rockets to light on the saber's handle and carry the weapon directly to the right hand of the owner, who then repeats the technique when attacking the other soldiers.

The few Finitevic soldiers who were there perish quickly, but another five soldiers appear driving motorcycles with a full fuel tank. When they're close to the mobians, the humans jump making the five bikes jump in the air and fall on top of the war veterans like real rolling Molotov bombs. Amadeus shoots at two of them with his modified Uzi, causing his naphtha to explode; Armand destroys two others with his Vulcan machine gun, and Antoine leaves the building from where he fired and throws his modified saber at the fifth motorcycle, whose naphtha explodes as soon as it's touched by the burning filament of the weapon.

The three mobians arrive at the end of the avenue, where there's a double-floor bus blocking the road. Then the upper floor opens and its wall joins the lower floor's wall in a diagonal position to form a ramp, allowing the passage of more soldiers, who were hidden inside and behind the bus. However, before the humans can even react, Armand attacks the bus with his hands turned into drills, and he destroys the vehicle in a matter of seconds, causing the soldiers to escape in terror.

Meanwhile, near there, a group of ten Finitevic soldiers are guarding a stream that crosses Chun-Nan. In the middle of the stream there's a small tower with only two floors, originally built for surveillance, and half of the soldiers are concentrated there.

Fiona, hidden, uses her weapons to electrify the water of the stream. Suddenly, the humans who are stuck in the water are electrocuted and fall; they're not dead, but the others believe they do and they, terrified, stay in the tower. Then Lightning, who had hidden among them in the midst of chaos, starts to attack them; within five seconds, the soldiers are neutralized, disarmed and thrown into the water, where Nic faints them with a powerful sedative and starts to tie them with steel cables.

A stealthbot surprises the three mobians in the stream and starts dropping their particle bombs on them in groups of three, but Julie-Su appears and she, using her two proton guns, destroys the bombs one by one. The drone descends, deploys a shuttle below it, and fires a rocket; the rocket is evaded by the mobians but destroys the small tower. When the stealthbot is about to fire a second rocket, Nic takes the opportunity to shoot at the second rocket with her revolvers and blow it up inside the drone; the latter rises a little, and it finally explodes as well.

BOOM!

Fiona and Julie-Su get ahead of their teammates, cross the stream and find a Prower Slug Mk 1, guarded by two soldiers whom Fiona immediately neutralizes with her "Taser-Fist". Coincidentally, a turbo-jet for passenger transport departs from an airport not far from there.

Julie-Su occupies the bottom of the tank to drive it and use the gun pods, and Fiona occupies the top to control the cannon. Then, the Prower Slug begins to move downhill through the sloping terrain of a shantytown, whose houses are fortunately empty after GUN's loyal soldiers have quietly evacuated them; while the tank advances over the empty houses' roofs (seriously damaging them as well), several paratroopers fall on the shantytown and try to shoot the vehicle by using RPG-7 rocket launchers; the Prower Slug is slowed by the rockets' impact but manages to resist, and Fiona uses the gun pods to fire guided missiles that intercept the paratroopers.

Some light tanks try to prevent the advance of the vehicle invented by Tails: they're new tanks built by the GFA, completely handled by computer and whose treads have the same traction system as the Prower Slug. But these tanks are destroyed by two mobians who appear to help the red vixen: Shadow, who generates and throws Chaos spears without needing to possess a Chaos Emerald, and Rouge, who flies swiftly and shoots the Finitevic soldiers using two common pistols.

When the Prower Slug and the two members of GUN's Team Dark finish down the slope and arrive at a part of the shantytown with a more horizontal terrain, they find a turret that immediately points its plasma cannon towards them; luckily, Procion appears there and shoots at the turret with a new weapon that he was carrying in his metal suitcase in Soleanna: two strange machine guns, which look like MP5 but, thanks to the energy generated by miniature quantum reactors, shoot water drops at more than 2000 kilometers per hour. The bullets go through the turret's armor and hit its unused ammo, which then bursts and destroys the turret almost completely.

Procion: [to his teammates] "Improved versions of the famous 'super-water pistols'. A gift from the Marshal's son."

Fiona pokes her head through the hatch at the top of the Prower Slug.

Fiona: "Will you also start saying things that remind me of Miles?! You all are doing this just to stress me out!"

Realizing the outburst she has just had, the red vixen blushes and slowly puts her head back into the vehicle.

Procion: "If you want so much to avoid remembering Tails, why are you driving that tank, one of his most amazing and representative inventions?"

In response to the raccoon, Fiona abruptly closes the hatch.

Procion: "Okay, got it: you don't wanna know anything about your former boyfriend, and besides you're proud to be a hypocrite!"

Shadow: "Let's end this mission once and for all and leave the discussions for later."

The black and red hedgehog begins to run through the sheet metal roofs of the houses, followed by his teammates. The terrain is lower, but the houses' roofs in that terrain are aligned in a way that allows them to keep moving forward. Several soldiers and four missile launchers try to stop them. Rouge flies and dodges the soldiers' shots, goes to one of the vehicles, installs a bomb in the part where the vehicle and the tubes are joined, and when it explodes, the missile launcher becomes unusable and then explodes; Shadow neutralizes all humans by running towards them and using only hand-to-hand combat; meanwhile, Procion shoots a few bullets of his "water machine guns" at two other vehicles, and although both are one behind the other, both are completely crossed by the bullets and they finally explode; in the tank, Julie-Su uses the gun pods in Machine Gun Mode to destroy the launched missiles, and Fiona charges the cannon and destroys the last missile launcher by a single shot.

When everything is clear, the Prower Slug crouches, and both the pink echidna and the red vixen open their respective hatches and poke their heads over them.

Julie-Su: "HAHAHA! Take that, Finitevus! Changing the subject... [to Fiona] It would be great if we could chat a little about... You know... The inventor of this tank."

Fiona: [turns around and looks at Julie-Su in a threatening way] "How about activating your cabin's ejection system, right here, right now?"

Although the vixen was trying to scare Julie-Su, the ex-dark legionary isn't scared at all but just makes a long sigh and goes back into the tank. A few seconds later, the other members of the team reach them.

Amadeus: "Nice job, comrades. Time to leave-"

Antoine: [his right ear moves] "Wait."

Armand: [intrigued] "What happens, son?"

Antoine: "Something is coming. It's very, very big."

Amadeus: [with authority] "Get ready, everyone."

The ten members of the team prepare their weapons and wait, until...

[Soundtrack: Steel Beast 6 BeetsMetal Slug 2/X OST]

In an almost dry riverbed, next to the shantytown where Amadeus' commando group is, a few hundred meters away from them, a battleship surprisingly capable of moving by land appears. In addition to the control tower and radar in the center of the "ship", there are also more than one hundred cannons mounted on turrets distributed in the prow, in the stern and around the tower; on each side there are equally gigantic treads with traction system similar to that used by the Prower Slug, which allows the battleship to move by land at a respectable speed.

Rouge: "That thing was mentioned in Intel reports! We must destroy it at all costs!"

PUM! PUM! PUM! PUM! PUM!

The she-bat pulls a "plasma-thrower" out of the backpack, she flies swiftly close to the amphibious battleship's turrets, she skillfully dodges its clumsy shots and she fires at the cannons in an attempt to overheat them with the burning plasma.

Meanwhile, the others start to directly destroy each of the turrets and the already fired bullets, each using their own weapons: Procion's "water machine guns"; Amadeus' modified saber, repeatedly thrown into the mouth of some cannon and then drawn back into the war veteran's hand; the Prower Slug's cannon, aiming at the turrets, and its gun pods in the Missile Launcher Mode, firing at the bullets that fall on the mobians; the arrows accurately shot by Antoine at the cannons; Nic's revolvers, also accurate but aimed at the bullets fired, and Shadow's Chaos spears, thrown into the turrets. To dodge the shots, they move quickly or are teleported by Shadow, and to protect themselves, they use the evacuated precarious houses or the Chaos energy shields, the latter also generated by Shadow occasionally.

Armand is looking for a good time to take a big jump into the battleship and destroy the turrets right there; but this is prevented by the cannons' intense fire and because he, unlike Rouge, is an easy target and isn't the best at dodging.

Armand: "Damn... [in a voice similar to Schwarzenegger's, again] I'll be back."

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Marshal Prower's team gets to destroy almost all the turrets of the amphibious battleship, after several minutes and of being running over the roofs while the "ship" was advancing along the riverbed. Then the battleship stops, its prow moves forward and separates a little from the rest, and this creates enough space for the deployment of a huge cannon already stored inside that versatile mechanical monster. The "super-cannon" is short compared to its caliber, it's kept above the prow thanks to a thick column that can be retracted and hide the weapon inside the battleship, and its mechanism can be seen from the outside.

Fiona: [from inside the Prower Slug] "WOAH! Look at that thing! How much caliber does it have?! Twenty meters?!"

The super-cannon points to the group of mobians...

PUM!

And it shoots an equally wide and short warhead, more similar to the warhead of a giant version of a 9mm bullet; a "cap" of a size and proportions similar to those of the warhead is also dropped from behind the weapon. They all run away from the impact site, and Shadow teleports taking the tank and its two occupants with him.

KA-BOOM!

While the super-cannon reloads, they try to regroup.

Shadow: "I'll take off the rings and make a Chaos Blast!"

Amadeus: "No! We will do that only as a last resort!"

Nic: "We have to destroy the super-cannon! Surely that will also destroy the ship... or whatever that bucket of bolts is called!"

Julie-Su: [from inside the Prower Slug, by using communicator] "But we should also destroy its support!"

Antoine tries to shoot an arrow at the super-cannon, but the smaller cannons start to shoot right in the middle of the trajectory that the arrow should follow, preventing the young coyote from setting the target.

PUM! PUM! PUM!

Antoine: "The smaller cannons protect it-! RUN!"

As soon as they hear Antoine's loud scream, they all see how the super-cannon prepares to shoot, and they disperse. However, Julie-Su keeps her tank immobile.

Fiona: [to Julie-Su] "What the f*** are you doing?!"

Julie-Su: "I have an idea. Shoot the cannon when I say it."

PUM!

The super-cannon fires directly into the Prower Slug, and Julie-Su makes the tank jump at the precise moment to dodge the warhead.

KA-BOOM!

At the same moment that the super-cannon warhead hits the ground, the tank is at its maximum height, just above the impact site. The explosion doesn't damage the Prower Slug, but its blast wave drives it until it reaches twice or perhaps even three times the height the tank could reach on its own. When the latter is right in front of the battleship's turrets...

Julie-Su: [to Fiona] "Fire!"

PUM!

Fiona fires the main cannon, and the bullet destroys one of the turrets.

BOOM!

Meanwhile, the tank falls heavily on the ground, but it's not damaged nor do its two occupants get hurt.

Amadeus: [by using communicator] "Excellent idea, Julie-Su! Prepare yourself and Fiona to do that again."

Fiona: [from inside the Prower Slug, by using communicator] "It'll be a pleasure, Marshal!"

Amadeus: [by using communicator] "To all the other agents: form groups of three; when the super-cannon is about to fire again, the one with the most damaging weapons will be held by the other two, and they'll throw it over the warhead's impact site so that it's propelled upwards by the blast wave; when the 'thrown' agent reaches its maximum height, it will shoot at the turrets as much as possible. Shadow will be the first to be thrown and attack, and when the others do the same, he will teleport and Rouge will fly to pick up the agents before they crash into the ground. Shadow, Rouge, can you two do it?"

Rouge: [by using communicator] "Consider it done."

Shadow: [by using communicator] "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform. You already know my answer."

Amadeus: [by using communicator] "Armand, Julie-Su, Fiona, Shadow, Rouge, Antoine and Procion: when the turrets are destroyed, we will have free way to attack the super-cannon. Pay attention to my orders."

They all approach each other and form groups of three: Rouge lands, and then she and Amadeus hold Shadow on top of them; Armand, thanks to his great strength, is able to hol Antoine on his own while the latter stands on his father's shoulders; Nic and Lightning hold Procion, and Julie-Su and Fiona prepare to repeat their technique using the Prower Slug. They all remain at a safe distance from the place where the super-cannon is pointing. Meanwhile, the turrets are still pointing to the ground, waiting for attacks coming from there.

PUM!

The super-cannon fires, and when the warhead is halfway to the ground, the mobians throw Shadow, Antoine and Procion towards the impact site, while the Prower Slug also moves forward and jumps. The black and red hedgehog is thrown with an anticipation of a fraction of a second.

KA-BOOM!

The bullet hits the ground; then, the Ultimate Lifeform, the archer, the raccoon and the tank are instantaneously and violently propelled upward; when they're at their maximum height, they destroy the few remaining turrets by using Shadow's Chaos spears, multiple explosive arrows fired simultaneously by Antoine, Procion's "water machine guns", and some cannon balls quickly loaded and fired by FIona. The turrets, which were pointing towards the ground, don't realize this and are destroyed by the mobians; as for them, the Prower Slug falls back to the ground without suffering any damage, Shadow catches Antoine and teleports to the ground with him, and Rouge flies to Procion, she picks him up in the air and both land softly.

Amadeus: [by using communicator] "Well done, colleagues! Let's get this over with!"

Now the only undamaged and still functional is the super-cannon. But while this loads another bullet, Armand jumps and lands in the battleship's prow.

Antoine: [by using communicator] "Good jump, Dad."

Rouge: [by using communicator] "General, you should compete in the Olympic Games."

Once Armand is in the battleship, he turns his hands into drills and tries to destroy the support of the gigantic main weapon of the "ship". At the same time, Antoine shoots guided arrows with acid bombs, and they turn around and hit the other side of the support in such a way that the acid doesn't reach his father. Amadeus, Shadow and Procion also use their weapons to damage together the super-cannon itself.

Half a minute later, the weapon has its entire structure severely damaged, and begins to collapse. The metal resonates as it slowly bends, dents, stretches and breaks, and its pieces collide with each other; there are even some small explosions.

TAN! TAN! TAN! BOOM! TAN! BOOM! TAN! TAN!

Armand quickly gets out of there by jumping and lighting the rockets on his feet. Just a second later...

BROOM!

The support finally gives way, and the super-cannon falls on the prow of the "ship" and crushes it. The engines are also damaged, and the amphibious battleship starts to have explosions that finally destroy it.

BOOM! BOOM!

KA-BOOM!

Everyone stands still and silent, contemplating how that machine is destroyed...

Until Fiona opens the Prower Slug's hatch and her body's upper half comes out.

Fiona: "YEAH! We made it! Three hurrahs for Tony's Dad! Hip-hip!"

Her teammates just look at her.

Fiona: "C'mon, folks... A little party won't hurt anyone, will it?"

Amadeus: "First we should contact GUN and let them know about this. But Fiona is right: after informing Commander Tower, it's worth celebrating for this. After all, we've managed to defeat that war machine together before it has destroyed any city."