After Fiona and Queen Sally were finished talking about how to best keep Fiona around as a Freedom Fighter, they went out of the kitchen and the queen told Fiona to, " Follow me, " to Rotor's lab, where everyone in the team happened to be, handing Rotor the various materials and tools he needed to make inventions, although Scourge was simply standing against the wall watching them. Scourge, who was holding his teleporter Warp Ring creator in his hand, said, " Getting those sub-bosses deroboticized is gonna be really easy with THIS thing! "

Queen Sally answered, " Not really. " Scourge looked confused and said, " What d'ya mean? I'll just warp to another dimension, make a portal inside of the sub-boss' house and warp there! Then I can force him through a portal to the other world and then force him into the portal back HERE. We should be able to get all of them taken care of in an hour. "

Queen Sally explained, " I wish it was that simple. For one, every sub-boss has an anti-teleportation enchantment around their underground base. After all, Chaos Emeralds have been known for letting powerful mages use Chaos Control throughout history, and they can also power machines to achieve the same thing. So every sub-boss, as well as Robotnik of course, made sure to take advantage of the powers of the castle's former royal wizard, Merlin, to keep any Freedom Fighters from simply teleporting to their bases. Of course, Robotnik had to roboticize him to make him compliant in the first place, and he needed a Chaos Emerald himself to use Chaos Control to make the enchantments. "

Scourge complained, " Well, that's disappointing, but I guess it does make sense. If there was such an easy obvious solution – besides just killing the bad guys I mean – you guys would've already done it. But, why not just warp to right in front of the enchantment field? Nothing's stopping us from doing THAT. "

Rotor said, " Aside from the Robian guards around their bases and DNA-detecting security system. The minute any organic being would try to go into a base, all those doors would start automatically closing. Sure, Uncle Chuck can get around that because he's a robot with free will after I reprogrammed him, but he'd have to hope to lure the sub-boss to him outside of the enchantment field, AND make sure he's alone so he doesn't blow his cover as a spy to any witnesses when he warps him back here, and you can't exactly tell a sub-boss what to do. What's he supposed to do, tell him there's a stain on the floor? It's not a sub-boss' job to clean that up, and usually there's cleaning machines going around 24/7 anyways. "

Queen Sally explained, " Our best bet would be, we'd need Bunnie with her super strength to lift up a sub-boss and carry them into the portal, but he'd just struggle and fight back, and if she defends herself, the only way she could hope to do anything to damage him, like with her laser-shooter or super strength attacks, would also cause too MUCH damage and we're trying to save them, not destroy them. Sub-bosses never leave the safety of their bases because they know Freedom Fighters would take advantage of that. We can't exactly lure them out of their bases with free food. They're not THAT stupid. If there's anything they want outside of their base, they just send Robians to get it FOR them. "

Fiona asked, " Why don't they extend the anti-teleportation field further than their base? Like to their entire city? " Rotor explained, " They can only extend so far. It'd require too much power to enchant an entire city at once and they were lucky they could even get THAT done. Besides, having too much chaos energy in one place for the sake of having a spell on an entire city is begging for trouble; the landscape wouldn't have stayed the same like that for long. We've already got weird places on Mobius from too much magic, like an entire field of giant musical instruments. The ground itself forms into loops with too much in one place, so imagine what that would do to a city full of Robians! That didn't mean they couldn't try to enchant specific areas that needed protection, though, like their generators. We had to stop Merlin before they could try to make enchantment fields in more places than their bases and try to cover their the most important parts of their cities with them. Sonic had to pull a risky move attacking Merlin from a long-distance to force him to drop that Chaos Emerald and stop enchanting. He had to use a taser device to shock him with a very specific controlled voltage to knock him out from behind, and we were lucky he ended up surviving. I had to do some repairs before we could deroboticize him because of the damage, or he might not even be able to move, and I had to reprogram him to stay asleep at a certain time of night while I worked on him just to make sure he wouldn't wake up and attack. "

Bunnie complained, " That's the problem with deroboticizing Robians. They don't exactly let you take them with you. They fight back, and we have to be careful about how we defend themselves because we're not trying to kill them. Rotor can fix the damage to them, but we can't damage them TOO much. " Scourge asked, " But why can't we just put power back into them and turn them back on? They're machines, aren't they? Why don't you just plug something into their battery and recharge them? "

Rotor explained, " They get their power from eating food like corn and turning it into gasoline with their stomach, and it sends that to the pump " heart, " which creates electricity for their wires and sends it to every part of them. So really, I just need the stomach working. The problem is, how do you force that process to happen to a Robian that's not functioning? If parts of them are opened to force stuff to happen in them with machines from the outside, they'd just leak out oil from them. I have to use a machine connected to a Robian's mouth to do it, having a tube connected to them to force energy back into them, and that turns them back on. Okay, it's not like it's impossible, but it's a lot more work for me and it's unsettling having to do all that for a robot that's technically a person. I can repair robots from a lot, but we'd rather not deal too much damage to people we're trying to save. I don't like having to fix their computer brain of damage because Sonic hit them in the head too hard. If a memory's gone, I can't exactly bring it back without knowing the memory myself. Usually we just focus on knocking them out and getting them to the deroboticizer. "

Queen Sally reassured Scourge, " Don't worry, we'll make sure you focus on destroying stuff like robot factories. I know you're not used to holding back. That's our job. " Rotor explained, " So sub-bosses, even if we could get to them, won't exactly let us take them to the deroboticizer, and THEY don't hold back. The Robians care more about getting rid of Freedom Fighters outright, they don't really NEED even MORE Robians. And the metal making up a sub-boss' skin is really tough. Sonic's spindash didn't make a dent in that kind of metal! That's why we needed to resort to shocking Tails' uncle to rescue him. It requires repairs, of course, but Rotor can handle it. "

Fiona said, " I use an electricity-shooter all the time against Robotniks! We could use that against sub-bosses no problem. But of course we'd be lucky to even come face to face with one. " Scourge asked them, " Why can't Rotor just make bombs to blow up the walls of their base? You could make sure there's no Robians nearby, and just keep damaging the walls until you can get up to him! "

Rotor explained, " Their bases are made of REALLY hard stuff. Like carbon nanotube hard. If we could just throw bombs and missiles at them, we would've done so by now. I think we'd have to try really hard to damage the bases, and at that point, the resulting explosion would definitely spread to innocent Robians and collateral damage would be unavoidable. Obviously nukes are out of the question. Not only would that damage the buildings and thus the Robians, but we don't wanna poison the city and ruin it for organics like us. We don't want buildings collapsing on Robians, and sure, they can be repaired, but if the wrong parts of their computer brains are damaged, it's gonna be impossible to restore their mind to exactly the way it was before. We could still repair and deroboticize them, but I want a job done WELL if it's gonna be done at all. "

Antoine said, " Not to mention we can't risk ANYONE getting a hold of your teleport device! It could be a sub-boss or a regular Robian who would bring it TO them. They don't care about holding back in a fight, they'll attack people and interrupt them when they're talking. We only really have one shot, to defeat them on the first attack when their guard is down. That's why we use tasers and hit their legs and arms. But again, the sub-bosses are always in their base and it's so high-security that it's impossible to get in. So we're just focusing on deroboticizing the Robians we CAN get to. It's going to be safer to just leave your teleporter in the castle after you create the portal. You don't wanna risk anyone taking it from you if they get lucky and surprise you with an attack. I-I'm not trying to insult you, I'm just saying it could happen eventually. E-Everyone trips at some point! If you always have it with you, it's bound to get stolen or damaged eventually! "

Scourge was annoyed, but reluctantly said, " Alright, you made your point! I don't want anything happening to this thing either, and with my super speed, it's not like I need it to get back here quickly. I criss-crossed a planet in a race at one point! I can run across the ocean no problem. I just don't see how you expect to win any time soon since any Robians you deroboticize could be replaced with other Robians, so they'll almost always have human shields to keep you from using bombs and missiles in some places! We might have to wait until there's almost no Robians left! Although the sooner you get everything done, the faster I run out of stuff to do here and can't destroy factories for you anymore, so I won't let this get me too down. It's just that hearing about how tricky deroboticizing them can be is annoying. I wish you could just fire a beam at them and do it that way. "

Queen Sally said, " That's what we need Chaos Emeralds for! Portable deroboticizers! Their Chaos Control is necessary for warping the chemicals for deroboticizers to the target, but unfortunately for us, all of the Chaos Emeralds are hidden in buildings that are just as impossible to bomb and break as the bases. They're in the middle of populated cities, well, ' middle, ' we don't know where EXACTLY they are. So trying too hard to destroy those hiding places would cause more harm than good. And we don't want to do that just to find out the Chaos Emerald was destroyed in the process. What they tend to do with Emeralds is put shards of them in the big deadly robots sent after the Freedom Fighters. "

Scourge looked excited saying, " Oh, that sounds fun! I could trash those for you no problem! " and Sonic and Bunnie smiled. Queen Sally explained, " Well, it's not like their metal is soft enough to easily spindash straight through, or they'd all die in seconds, but if Sonic could beat them, you can. Each Emerald has a specific elemental power that you can tell from their color, so they're needed for that, and we need to drain a certain, large amount of Emerald shards to power the juice for one use of a portable deroboticizer. So it's only a matter of time. They'll never stop trying to get rid of the people who are deroboticizing their civilians and destroying their robot factories. It's just not in their programming, they deal with threats, even in ways that are basically GIVING us Chaos Emeralds, even if just a LITTLE bit at a time. "

Scourge said, " OK, so it's only a matter of time before you deroboticize them all. Just keep beating big robots. " Fiona said in concern, " Your city and Knothole can hold so many people, though. You can't exactly bring those deroboticized people back to where they lived before, they'd just get turned back into robots. And Angel Island's only so big, too. " Scourge asked, " Come to think of it, do they know where you guys live? Why don't they just nuke this whole continent if they wanna get rid of you guys so bad? "

Queen Sally explained, " Well, that's why we destroy their factories. If there's any nukes they're trying to make, let alone bombs and warships, we get rid of them before they could make them. They spend most of their time without them. Also, Knothole has the advantage of being in a separate sub-dimension three hours ahead in time from the rest of Mobius. We can thank Merlin for that, he's the one who made Knothole the perfect hiding place for people if the king were ever dethroned. He simply used Chaos Control on the whole place and teleported it through time to a pocket dimension. Its only entrance and exit is the Great Oak Stump. "

Fiona commented, " Oh, that's pretty brilliant. We're lucky Knothole on my planet lasted as long as it did without that luxury. Robotnik always knew it was in the Great Forest, so they always needed Freedom Fighters to protect the place. I know Robotnik tried to nuke Knothole once, it was the first mission I had where Sonic was back from space, but usually Freedom Fighters destroy that stuff before it can be a problem. "

Queen Sally continued, " Even if they destroyed the Great Forest over here, it'd never be destroyed as far as Knothole's concerned because we're always three hours ahead over there. They could cut the whole forest down and they'd still never see Knothole on Mobius! It'd still suck to have to wear hazmat suits every time we try to navigate it outside of Knothole, though, we don't want a situation where the ONLY good places to live on Mobius until the end of time are in the tiny pocket dimensions. So we still need to protect the world. And Mobotropolis doesn't have the luxury that Knothole does. Yet. We're still having people construct a Great Pine Slide so we can have a proper entrance to it. "

Rotor explained, " We can establish villages in perfectly safe places by simply sending them to pocket dimensions, like we did that for Furville too. But every time we do that, it drains the Chaos Emerald of all its power and we need to go find another one. Good thing there's so many of them! There was also the problem where it's difficult to get supplies to a place that can only be accessed from a winding slide underground, so fortunately we have portal technology thanks to the Chaos Emeralds. Merlin can just Chaos Control supplies to Knothole and whatnot to bypass the slide entirely. And Knuckles insisted that we put Angel Island in a temporal zone as well. What better way to protect the Master Emerald? But just because our hometowns are safe from the sub-bosses doesn't mean the rest of the world is. They're constantly trying to pollute the place with toxic waste and destroy its nature. And all we can do about their smoke-spewing is destroy the buildings that do it, and destroy them again when they rebuild. "

" Why? What do they have to gain from it? I mean, they're putting time and money and resources into getting themselves the polluting stuff just to put it somewhere and forgot about it, and they're living in that world they're pointlessly wrecking. I-I mean, I could understand if they had something to gain from it… " Scourge asked in confusion, getting awkward about the fact that he was sounding like a hero who was opposed to it.

Queen Sally explained, " Biological warfare, basically. If the world's too polluted for organics to survive in, it'll be a place where only robots can survive. So they're trying to get rid of anyone not under their control by making the world a place where only Robians can exist. And Robotnik told us that he planned on roboticizing himself and keeping his free will so this wouldn't backfire on HIM, because HE wasn't a robot. As for why he took so long to do it? I guess he was too scared. Who wouldn't be scared of turning into a robot? So that's where you two come in. Half of our goal is deroboticization, but the other half is getting rid of any factories that are causing pollution to our continent. Rotor has to use a special vacuum device to suck up the pollution and get rid of it. And Bunnie and Sonic make sure to evacuate the Robians in those factories and nearby them first, and then we get those places blown up, courtesy of Rotor and his dynamite packs. Since our continent is free now, thanks to you two, we're focusing on Mercia now where Antoine's father is ruling. "

Fiona asked, " Wait, I just realized, why aren't you trying to focus on saving your father first? You know, your king? " Queen Sally looked awkward, and answered, " Well, I used to really care about that as a kid, but when I got older, I thought it over. The minute the king comes back, I'll have to step down from ruling, and he'll be exercising his authority as much as he can. What if he does something stupid like disband the Freedom Fighters because his own country doesn't need them anymore? Not that I'd follow that order anyways. He already dismantled the military when he was in power, not to mention he hired Robotnik as his warlord and scientist in the first place! "

Scourge exclaimed, " Wait, WHAT?! Dismantling the military?! That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! Why would he ever do that?! No wonder he got overthrown! " Fiona was worried since he just came off as rude and most of the Freedom Fighters were glaring at him in disapproval, although some of them, like Rotor and Sonic, merely looked just as exasperated with the king as he did. Queen Sally explained, " I know it sounds stupid, but when he made that decision, the Overlanders his kingdom was warring with had all gone to space to have their own territory after losing the war. We checked their country and found no signs of them. And the Overlanders were the ONLY people that the Acorn Kingdom ever warred with! The whole continent only had two countries on it that really interacted, and no other country than Overland was even interested in bothering the kingdom. It's always been self-sufficient anyways. So the king thought he was fine getting rid of a military that wasn't doing anything anyways. He was told it was a waste of taxpayer money. Somehow he didn't realize that Robotnik would be a threat later. I mean, Robotnik probably lied to him constantly and he didn't know him very well. "

Scourge said in confusion, " Only one country warred with your kingdom? Ever? On my planet, we had wars all over the world since like ever! I'm surprised other countries didn't go to war with yours with their planes, whether they were near it or NOT. " Queen Sally explained, " Planes were only a recent thing over here. Sure, the echidnas had a lot of technology, and they did used to have this big empire of colonies on the surface world before they rebelled and became independent of their rule. Albion's the most obvious example. They're the only place on Mobius' surface where echidnas still bother to live after Robotnik came around, and only because that place keeps itself hidden and safe with their technology. But the rest of the world only got industrialized in any sense after Robotnik took over, so they just got stuff like planes. "

She said, " Anyways, it's not like I don't care about my father. But, well, maybe the kingdom's better off with me in charge. The people certainly think so, and I only knew the king when I was like four years old. I barely even REMEMBER him anymore. I hate to say it, but he'd be like a stranger to me if I saved him now. I just don't see why we need to focus on saving him first and not last when I'm doing a perfectly good job ruling in his place, and upsetting the power balance in the kingdom wouldn't be fun for me. Rescuing any of the other sub-bosses wouldn't cause any problems in the kingdom. I don't think it would be fair if he rewarded me for saving him by revoking my right to rule just because I'm not an adult yet. I might as well be. "

Fiona and Scourge were shocked and confused at hearing that, since Fiona's Sally was a lot more righteous to a slightly ridiculous extent. It made it all the more obvious to them that she was more about being pragmatic, and none of her friends looked at her in disapproval for it. They simply looked sheepish with nervous smiles, understanding why she had come to that conclusion. While Fiona was interested in learning about their world, Scourge said looking bored from all the information, " Alright, so you guys are about turning people back to normal and getting Chaos Emeralds, and you're also about destroying certain buildings. So basically I'll get to destroy big robots and factories for you whenever I want. Sounds like fun to me! See ya tomorrow! "

Queen Sally told him, " Wait! I can get you a place to stay. You two can stay in the guest room of my castle when you want somewhere to sleep. It'll be the most convenient way to do things, since you'll want to be here every morning anyways. " Scourge replied, " Awesome, I missed living in a castle! " while Fiona simply smiled nervously at how lucky she had gotten, and was thankful that Queen Sally's Freedom Fighters weren't complaining about it. Detective Sonic looked irritated at it, but he knew that complaining because of his distrust for them wouldn't accomplish anything.