In the training grounds of the palace; the acting Captain of the guard were overseeing a sparring sessions of the royal cadets and once again Antoine was being paired with the 2nd most promising cadet Hamlin. With how he was an active field member on Sonic's team; it was easy to forget that he was still the top royal cadet.

With some impressive moves Antoine disarmed Hamlin off his sword and double pointed them at Hamlin with a smirk as the acting captain declared him the winner. "I still can't win... I would be a much better guard than you Antoine and I bet I wouldn't be cowering at the face of Robotnik's Badniks..." snapped Hamlin as he got himself up and glared at Antoine but Antoine just looked smug.

"Easier said than done; we will see that confidence if you do go out on the field as I have learned the hard way that training in a controlled environment is much easier and different than being out in the field." Antoine replied and then there was an alert on his phone and he looked. "A reminder about my matched date on this service; a lucky maiden gets to have a date with me tomorrow afternoon!" Antoine bragged with a confident look on his face and there were scoffs from other cadets as he looked at them.

"You signed up for a dating service to get over that you wasted all those years chasing after the Princess? She had eyes for her turned computer program friend and Sonic?" asked a rabbit Mobian called Johnny Lightfoot.

"Can you blame her? Sonic is amazing; my home village was one of the first attacked by Robotnik's Badniks after the ten years of peace and I got to see him up close! Inspired me to sign up! I wanted to help out like he does so I signed up for the cadets!" beamed a sheep Mobian called Lanolin.

"I signed up wanting action and being stealthy like a secret agent so I am hoping that I get placed into the Secret Service. I want my codename to be 'Joker'; from this really old human video game that I love called Persona 5." said a lynx Mobian called Larry.

Antoine looked at the disrespect from his fellow cadets that became more and more common ever since the ten years of peace and he sighed as he just left. He thought about going to the dungeons to visit his father who has been grumpier and more bitter ever since his punishment started. Perhaps learning of his progress could lighten his spirits.

He made his way there but there was an alarm going off with palace staff panicking; Antoine was afraid and ended up spotting guards taking King Elias to safety and there was Sally in her field uniform looking ready. "Princess? Are we under attack?" Antoine asked running up to her and she faced her.

"You could say that; there was a prison break from the dungeon and criminals got loose and are ransacking the streets. The security network is down for an update so we don't know what happened." Sally explained to Antoine who gulped and his eyes widened in realisation.

"Wait... Prison break from the dungeon? Something could have happened to my father... Princess; I shall go and check on him and help you and everyone out afterwards..." Antoine muttered as he ran before Sally could respond and wondered about if he was caught by criminals still there. He then found a vent system that would take him overhead of the dungeons and went through.

He groaned about how cramped it was as he crawled through; however he ended up overhead and gulped seeing Dark Legion soldiers free. He then noticed Lien-Da talking to... His father as he opened up an escape route? This couldn't be right as he thought in disbelief and shocked sadness.

His father wouldn't do this...

Then again he did release Bark in an effort to have him steal the Warp Topaz for him to use...

He listened in as Armand told them "as promised; this is your escape route and everyone else will be too busy to be able to catch you and you will be far away when they realise you are gone. They will find me injured from heroically trying to stop you all. Speaking of which..." Armand then nodded and then one of the Dark Legion soldiers then took his spear and stabbed him in the knee with it with Antoine covering his mouth and looking away as his father screamed in pain.

"What's stopping us from finishing you off right now?" Lien-Da demanded as Armand held his damaged knee as Armand looked at her.

"Your tech is still heavily damaged and I can still fight you off but it would waste time you can use to escape. You will be allowed to fix yourselves up but when you come back; all bets are off. I use my sympathies of having been injured trying to stop the evil invasion force from escaping. Our truce will have ended and we will see who wins as I have plans to use our resources to put me in charge after I am restored as Captain." Armand told them and Lien-Da glared at Armand but motioned for her soldiers to follow her through the escape.

Antoine looked heartbroken and saw the smirk on his father's face and got his swird as he attacked the vent cover as Armand was limping away and ended up falling down on top of his father with him yelling in pain. "Antoine... You heard..." Armand asked in shock as he noticed his son who was looking at him.

"Why father... This was more treason than what you did before!" Antoine asked exasperated as Armand got himself up.

"I had to... The kingdom was losing it's way... That hedgehog delinquent was being hailed as a hero and that so called King and the Princess were letting them while allowing the Princess to put herself in danger... King Max is assuredly rolling in his grave knowing what his children had done..." Armand spoke as Antoine looked in denial. "I had to act... This stupid punishment forced upon me for having to take action... We had all those Chaos Emeralds and could have used them as a weapon against all potential foes of the Kingdom and yet they were wasted away contained only to be brought out when that hedgehog wants to look shiny... Plus; seeing you go soft..." Armand muttered as Antoine was open mouthed.

"Soft... But I have been helping to go out and defend Mobius and our kingdom from dastardly villains" Antoine asked but Armand glared harshly at his son; Antoine wasn't used to his father looking at him with anything but pride in his talents and training so it was scary.

"You gone soft my son! You let the Princess be swept up by that computer program that the Princess and the hedgehog wants everyone to believe is Dr Ellidy's dead daughter as if it was nothing more than just data! Plus you let that bad influence Sonic seduce her as well! I had high hopes for you since you were really young; romancing the Princess as a suitor and be in line for the Crown since the failed King doesn't have any heirs! I thought that you were living up to them but you disappointed them! I bet that the spirit of King Max could relate on disappointments for children considering everything that his offspring has done including the Mark of Shame on Geoffrey St John who actually lived up to his father! The Devil Dogs project was never meant to be known to the public; we all knew..." Armand ranted as Antoine looked fearful but a lightbulb lit up as his eyes widened with Armand realising that he said too much.

"...You were in on that horrible project..." Antoine cried out as Armand was silent; Armand then tackled him and Armand tries to fight him off but tripped and sprained his hurt knee causing him pain. "You taught me all about valiance and chivalry and how to be a heroic defender of the people... Too find out that you didn't practice what you preached..." Antoine cried out as he grabbed handcuffs from his father's belt.

"Antoine... What are you doing..." Armand asked desperately as his hands were handcuffed behind his back as he was taken by surprised and his injuries.

Back outside the palace the citizens were cheering on Sonic as he helped take down the remaining criminals with Tails using his drones to threaten them into a circle with Sally helping. The guards started arresting them as they looked at them satisfied. "Where is Ant? He usually shows up at least..." Sonic asked looking around as Sally frowned.

"He went to check on his father at the dungeons." Sally said as Nicole looked to Tails.

"Hopefully he would have found any clues as to what caused the jailbreak as without the security network; we won't be able to use the footage..." Nicole said as Tails pointed and they and the guards blinked to see Antoine dragging his handcuffed father out.

"On behalf of the royal cadets; I have caught and arrested the treacherous culprit..." Antoine whispered fighting back tears as Armand was struggling.

Early the next morning; Sonic and his team including Antoine watched in the viewer's gallery of a hearing in a court where King Elias was presiding looking furious and stern with Armand defiantly trying to get out of the holds that the guards had. "For your treasonous and dangerous actions; I hereby blacklist you from the Royal Guard and fully strip you all rank and titles. I shall be thinking it over whether to fully give you the Mark of Shame. Until then I sentence you to no less than 10 years in the dungeon. Court adjourned; take him away..." King Elias spoke and banged his gavel and the guards dragged the ranting Armand away as Antoine put his head down.

"Ant; you alright... Do you need time on your own because your pals are here for you... We could have Knuckles talk to you as you both could talk about having bad dads. Remember; he had to banish his own dad's ghost away..." Sonic asked Antoine looking concerned.

"Plus there is me and Elias if you want to talk as we both grew up looking up to our father only to find out that he wasn't what we thought like you and your father..." Sally asked as Antoine sighed.

"I appreciate it but... I am going to have some time to myself before I get ready... I have a date and that could help me get my mind off it..." Antoine sighed as he got up and his friends let him have his time to himself. "Funny... I somehow became more friends to Sonic than I ever were with anyone training with me as royal cadets..." Antoine thought.

In a stolen ship out on the water were the Dark Legion soldiers with Lien-Da acting as leader as she was furious; "We lived our lives thinking that once we get to Mobius the home of our ancestors; we would be rejoining the Echidna Empire but it's dead and that traitor Knuckles is out there... The proud Dark Legion cannot stand for this... I shall act as the Grandmaster and once we have repaired ourselves..." Lien-Da fumed only for a giant craft's shadow to overlook them and they got a glimpse of the logo of the Eggman Empire.

Antoine was in his best suit as he waited by the gates to Mobotropolis ready to meet his date who lived in a village not too far away. "Are ya Antoine D'Coolette? I do hope so because ah always loved a man in uniform and you live in Mobotropolis? So lucky and jealous! You already look like a gentleman that a gal would be lucky to have!" asked a voice with an accent and Antoine looked and there was his date a yellow furred smiling rabbit Mobian in a dark purple dress.

"Bunnie; I presume?" Antoine asked taking her hand to kiss as she smiled at her good lucky. Arm in arm they went in to start their matched date.