It was a nice and sunny day when the Freedom Fighters were flying around in one of Antoine's Air balloons, looking for a nice spot to have the annual Freedom Fighter's picnic. Sonic was pointing out a nice place while Antoine was reassuring Bunnie that they would be fine in the air. Rotor was steering while Tails was looking over the edge. While they were distracted, a pair of Buzzbombers popped their balloon. Thankfully, the group landed unharmed in a tree, but their balloon was badly damaged, and Antoine was getting ridiculed for the uselessness of the balloon.
The Buzzbombers reported back to Robotnik, who discovered that the Freedom Fighters were looking for a place for their picnic. Robotnik grinned evilly as he plotted how to best disrupt their fun.
The next day, Collin found Antoine sitting on a rock in the middle of the forest pouting. "Aren't you going to the picnic, Antoine?" Collin asked. It was a rare moment for him to not be wearing his cloak, since he was starting to gain self-confidence.
Antoine looked up at his overlander friend. "No, I am not. I am too ashamed, Collin! I have let everyone down!"
Collin sat down next to him. "I was told you landed in a nice tree, at least." He tried to comfort the boy.
Antoine sighed. "If only there were some way to prove that ze balloon… and I… are not useless…"
Collin took a deep breath. "I have an idea. Come, let's make some necessary repairs to your balloon and give it a go."
"Really? But what about ze picnic? Did you not wish to go?"
"Antoine, there are more important things than stuffing your face, or rather, seeing Sonic stuff his face." Collin chuckled.
Later at the Freedom Fighter's Annual Picnic…
"Got any more mashed potatoes, Sonic?" Princess Sally asked as the group sat on the blanket.
"Just my instant potatoes, Sally!" Sonic smirked.
Bunnie looked at him curiously. "Instant? You mean you just add water?!"
Sonic smirked and disappeared for an instant. "No, I mean it takes me an instant to zip home and get them!" He was back with some potatoes.
"Did you say Smashed Potatoes?" asked a buzzbomber as it shot the bowl and allowed it to cover Sonic's head.
"A Buzzbomber!" Tails cried out.
Rotor then pointed out something worse! "It's Robotnik with a squad of swatbots!" The fat man could be seen riding a robotosized rhino in the lead.
"Let's get out of here!" Sally called as the stampeded headed towards them.
"The picnic is over, Freedom Fighters…PERMANENTLY!"
From up in the sky, two balloons came into view, both quite colorful. "Hang on, children!"
"Oui, we are on ze way!" Antoine and Collin were both in their own hot air balloons and flying to the situation.
"Look!" A Buzzbomber called out. "It's balloon popping time again!
"Don't you ever learn your lesson?"
"Or are you just a down-to-earth kind of guy?" Two Buzzbombers laughed.
Antoine and Collin just glared as they grabbed a bucket each. "We'll show you Down-to-Earth…"
"Here's some mud to weigh down your wings…" The two dumped buckets of mud on the buzzbombers, causing them to fall. "Au revoir, Buzzbombers!" The two bots crashed to the ground.
"Nice shot, Antoine! Next step!"
"Oui! I am so glad we emptied ze sand from ze sand bags…"
"Don't let them escape!" Robotnik called as they bots tried to corral the Freedom Fighters.
"…and filled zem with ze Explosives!" Antoine threw the bomb filled bags off in one direction while Collin threw the others in another direction.
The Swatbots started to run away. "You clanking collection of cowards! Come back here! I command you!" With a sudden swoop, Collin had grabbed the fat man by his yellow cape. "What the… how dare you? UNHAND ME!"
Collin grunted as he held the fat man up about twenty feet in the air. "Unhand you?" He chuckled darkly as he looked at his target. "Gladly!" He dropped the tyrant with a dark smirk.
"WAIT! Let me Rephrase that…" Robotnik cried out before splashing down into the lake.
Antoine cheered. "Long live the Freedom Fighters!"
Sonic cheered for the coyote and his cousin. "Way to go, 'Twan! Nice job, Collin!"
"You're our heroes!" Sally called out with delight.
"Three cheers for Antoine, Collin, and their balloons!" Rotor laughed as they saw Robotnik splutter to shore before running away.
Soon…
Sonic was regretting allowing his cousin to talk him into riding the balloon with Antoine back to Knothole while the others were in Collin's. The hot air burner had broken, but Sonic wasn't worried, as Antoine was going on and on about how his own version of the fight went, surprisingly filling the balloon with hot air still! Sonic looked over to Collin's smirking face from the other balloon and rolled his eyes. This was probably pay back for something he had said or done to the boy earlier. He'd live though.