With the Freedom Fighters established, a new era of heroes is born. In times past, when tyrannical despots would rise to claim the world as their own, a group of fighters would often rise to the occasion to stop these tyrants. The first of these Freedom Fighters were said to be the first king of Acorn and a dear friend, a hedgehog, according to historical records…

At the Hill Top Mansion, Sonic is seen with Ebony and Ivory to playing a game, with Sonic's speedy button pressing putting the kids in awe as they watched.

Ebony: "How does he do it?"

Ivory: "Maybe his magic outshines our mom's?"

Sonic: "Nah. Just skill, reflexes… And a gamer's thumb."

As Sonic lowkey brags about his skill, he… dies in-game. This causes him to look down in shame as Ivory tries to comfort him. Agatha and Jenni were in the background, talking as Jenni was checking progress on her latest project.

Agatha: "My kids seem to have connected with Sonic pretty well."

Jenni: "Spike has that effect on people. But what is it you wanted to speak about?"

Agatha: "It's… regarding Nicole… And the… minor spat between us…"

Jenni: "Ah that. If you're worried about a trial - I took care of that by analyzing the picture Nicole provided. I pointed out some inconsistencies between your wardrobe and the one worn by the perpetrator. Your outfit is more of a deep purple while the perp's was lavender. And I detected quills that belong to a hedgehog, which Sonic identified as well."

Sonic: "Takes one to know one!"

Jenni: "And finally… I don't think sneak attacks like those are your forte. You are, after all, more of a magical lady."

Agatha was actually stunned silent by Jenni's detective skills, unsure of what to say to all that beyond…

Agatha: "That… some impressive perception talent."

Jenni: "I didn't get my doctor's degree by doing nothing, Agatha. I try to notice details like those in order to see potential wounds or worse on those that come."

Agatha: "...I see… But that isn't why I'm here… Not fully anyway…"

Jenni: "Hmm?"

Agatha: "I wanted to… apologize for stirring such mistrust in the first place… Attacking Rosie and keeping secrets…"

Jenni: "Bah. To quote my grandfather: 'Poppycock'. You did nothing wrong. Nicole was quick to jump to conclusions, leading to that mistrust. Not that I blame her… Being in a computer for so long has got to be rough on a person's psyche… But that's no excuse to accuse someone of lying and kidnapping. If anything, you deserve an apology."

Agatha: "I… would rather not force such a confrontation…"

Jenni shook her head before putting her hands in her pockets.

Jenni: "Freedom Fighter or not, Agatha… You shouldn't let this fester. And neither should Nicole. Doctor's Advice: You two need to confront each other. Preferably sooner rather than later."

Agatha looks down, once again silent as she had nothing to say. Jenni looked up to the ceiling, knowing that Nicole was listening in. Jenni was a fair parent to Nicole, but she never minces words - Nicole knows she is right… As the conversation comes to a close, Jenni hears the door open; Uncle Chuck enters for a visit.

Chuck: "Hello, everyone!"

Sonic: "Yo, Uncle Chuck!"

Jenni: "Charles. I wasn't expecting a visit from you. If you're in need of materials, I do apologize; I need as much as I can to get Project Paradise off the ground… literally…"

Chuck: "Ah, no. I have all I need today, and then some. But… Have you seen young Miles? I saw him wake up earlier than usual and leave without so much as a 'See you later'."

Jenni: "Hmm… No, I can't say I have… Sonic?"

Sonic: "No. Me neither. Honestly, I figured he'd spend more time with you since it has been a while. Though… after the meeting adjourned… He did kind of just… leave."

Chuck and Sonic began to think on that, definitely finding it an odd behavior.

Meanwhile, at Robotropolis, Eggman appears from a teleporter with a grin on his face, walking out of it as he is greeted by Sage, who curtsies his appearance.

Sage: "Lord Robotnik. Welcome back. Am I to assume everything at Mt. Robotnik is going according to your specifications?"

Eggman: "Of course, Sage. Once the Egg Carrier is completed, the world will soon kneel to my untouchable might. But I have to check up on my other project…"

Eggman walks into an elevator and descends to the lower levels, entering an open chamber with a single glass tube hooked up to various cables, built by a new generation of robots labeled "Egg Pawns".

Eggman: "Good! It seems to be coming along nicely…"

Sage appears beside him, looking down at the tube and tilting her head curiously.

Sage: "What is it?"

Eggman: "Something that will change history. Actually… Rather than tell you… How about a demonstration?"

Eggman then calls in for a test subject to be brought in. An Egg Pawn comes into the chamber, holding a gazelle boy who seemed to be from some village.

Eggman: "This one is from that village Omelette razed on South Island. Age: 8. Quite feisty, given his struggling. A lovely test subject."

Gazelle: "Let me go! I refuse to be stuffed into a stupid ro-"

The gazelle boy is thrown into the open tube before it slams shut, causing him to start banging on the glass.

Gazelle: "Wh-What is this!?"

Eggman: "Now… Activate the procedure."

The machine activates by a button press from the Egg Pawn as a bright green light shines from under the boy's feet, slowly traveling up his body. Eggman smiles evilly as the boy starts to cry out.

Gazelle: "What's happening!? N-No! I can't feel my feet! My legs! M-Momma! Papa! ANYONE! HELP MEEEE!"

The light continues to travel up the boy's body as the kid starts to cry streams of tears, calling out in desperation for anyone to help him. His body begins to morph; what was natural hooves for a gazelle turned metallic, sharp like drills. His legs became metal, complete with exposed joints. His clothing merged with his skin as they too became metallic, corrupting his very being. He lets out one final desperate yell before… His mouth closed shut, becoming a separate piece from his muzzle; his eyes became visors with a lifeless gaze. His arms stayed in their panic position for a few seconds before they dropped to his sides. The chamber opens as he marches out, now a complete robot.

Gazelle: "All hail Robotnik!"

Eggman begins to laugh, practically congratulating himself on making a truly evil project. Sage though was… visibly disturbed, cringing at the sight of such… body horror. She then turned to her father to ask a question.

Sage: "Lord Robotnik… A question, if you will allow it. Why go this route? Wasn't your goal to build a utopia for robots?"

Eggman: "Oh it still is, Sage… But after the Death Egg glitched up from over-exposure to the Chaos Emeralds, I took some time to think that maybe I was going… too fast with my ideal utopia. Rather than just wiping out the entire populace… Why not convert them to my ideology?"

Sage: "...Over-exposure? Sir… There was no gli-"

Eggman glares at Sage, his smile very suddenly gone as his piercing gaze practically made her sweat at the sight.

Eggman: "It was a glitch. Nothing more. I'm willing to accept that my genius was too ambitious and I made a slight miscalculation or two. No big deal… It just means I'll take things slow… and painful in the case of my enemies."

Sage: "...Then what of the hedgehog who opposed you?"

Eggman: "Hm? Bah. Don't care. He's not even a blip on my radar. …But his home will make for a perfect first target for my conquest."

Eggman smiles evilly as he leaves, Sage looking on as he leaves before turning to the gazelle boy that had been forcefully turned into a robot. A hint of remorse was written on her face before she herself vanishes.

At Metropolis Zone, the reconstruction process was still ongoing as Mobians worked with Jenni's Worker Robots, albeit reluctantly. This did speed things up though as the foreman instructed where certain pieces of concrete should go based on the building schematics Jenni provided. Tails Doll, however, made his way towards the construction site and smirked. He kept himself hidden as he snuck through the site, approaching a few of the robots that were lifting up heavy materials. Tails Doll's antenna appears before he releases a signal to the robots. Once the signal hits the robots, the robots' eyes glow red before going into a berserk frenzy… A robot holding a girder swings it with such force that it starts toppling the building with several Mobian workers still on it, causing collateral damage and casualties. The foreman tried to get the robots back in line, but no amount of whistling could stop them…

An alarm goes off in the mansion, alerting those present before Nicole appears on a monitor.

Nicole: "Alert. Alert. Trouble in Metropolis. Immediate assistance required."

Jenni: "Sonic-"

Before Jenni could even utter anything beyond the name, Sonic had ran out the building. She sighs before shrugging.

Ebony: "...So cool."

Ivory: "...Too bad he's taken…"

Sonic arrives to the construction site to see several Worker Robots on a destructive rampage, swinging and throwing whatever they could just to destroy.

Sonic: "What the heck's going on with Jenni's machines now?"

Voice: "Sonic!"

Amy and Sally run in, Amy with her hammer out and Sally holding a sword.

Sonic: "Good timing. What's the plan, Sal?"

Sally: "Sonic, you get as many people out of range of the robots. Smash any if you need to. Amy, take on the heavy hitters. I'll be disarming any that I can - we'll need one mostly intact to run a diagnosis."

Amy: "By Jenni, right?"

Sonic: "Good call. Let's do this!"

The trio run toward the frenzying robots. Sonic rushes to grab whoever was in the way of the robots' attack, destroying any robots he could with Spin Attacks before taking civilians to safety. Amy ran at any girder holding robots, smashing them with her hammer before swinging at any objects flying toward her. Sally slashes the arms off of the robots she was fighting, then slashing their legs to render them unable to move or attack. The situation, in comparison to a normal Eggman attack, was cleaned up in a matter of minutes.

Sonic: "Boy… Not much of a work out, were they?"

Sally: "Never mind that. We need to see what happened to these robots. Why did they go berserk?"

Nicole soon appears, bowing to the trio politely.

Nicole: "I am running a diagnostic scan on their systems. So far all seems normal aside from the damage they took."

Sally: "Sonic? Think you can run around the city and find anything? Maybe a leftover device from Omelette's attack?"

Sonic: "Call me 'Speedy Service'."

And with that, Sonic is gone, speeding off to the construction site and everywhere else.

Sally: "Amy? We're going to check up on the workers and citizens; making sure they aren't hurt."

Amy: "Right. Let's go."

Sonic runs around the city, looking for anything that might have caused the robots to go haywired. He spots a yellow tail with a white tip briefly before skidding to a stop and backing up. The tail was gone though.

Sonic: "...Weird… That looked like Tails' tail… Tails! You over there, buddy!?"

Tails walks from the shadows, approaching Sonic and looking… oddly afraid.

Tails (Doll): "Sonic! I-It was horrible! I was on my way to help in the construction and suddenly… the robots started attacking! I don't know what happened or why it happened!"

Sonic: "Did you see anyone suspicious?"

Tails (Doll): "N-No… I'm sorry, Sonic…"

Sonic: "It's fine, Tails. Wanna join me to look for them?"

Tails (Doll): "Uh… N-No. I need to go… I'm still working on something with the Tornado after all."

Sonic: "Alright. See ya around."

Sonic dashes off, leaving the fake Tails as the fox flashes an evil smile. But as Sonic ran, a strange feeling came to him.

Sonic: "Something's up… Tails is still new to the adventuring thing, but he's no coward. …So why didn't he help anyone when they needed help…?"

Sonic looks back to where he ran from, curious if Tails was actually okay or not. He didn't want to suspect it was Tails, and it could have been coincidence… At least… he hoped…

To be continued…