Freedom Fighters (Kingdom of Acorn)

## Freedom Fighters

This picture was taken before Cream and Big Joined

 We've been through some **crazy** stuff together, which means we're more qualified to take on even **crazier** things! We're the Freedom Fighters! We can handle **anything**!
 — Sonic the Hedgehog, *Sonic Universe* #75

The **Freedom Fighters**, also known as the **New Freedom Fighters**, and formerly known as **Knothole Freedom Fighters**, are the main protagonists of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. They are a Freedom Fighter group, led by Princess Sally Acorn, who came together to oppose Dr. Eggman's tyrannical rule over their planet. Inspired by the heroic efforts of Sonic the Hedgehog, who became a member of their group, they managed to reclaim their home city of Mobotropolis. To this day, they continue to be a beacon of hope for the their planet as they travel the world and challenge Eggman's evil and other villains wherever they appear.

## History

### Formation

The Freedom Fighters were formed after Dr. Eggman had taken over the city of Mobotropolis by a young Sally Acorn, out of a desire to stop hiding and make a difference. The team first formed after Sonic the Hedgehog's victory against Eggman in the Final Zone, inspired by Sonic's heroism. Among their many victories were liberating Mobotropolis from Dr. Eggman and rescuing King Acorn from the Special Zone. Despite Sally's fears, King Acorn allowed her to stay with the Freedom Fighters, realizing how valuable she was to the team despite his own fears for her safety.

### Fallen and divided

Following the events of the arrival of the new Death Egg Mark 2, everything slowly fell apart for the team. Sally sacrificed herself to save planet from being roboticized during Eggman's Operation: Clean Sweep. The end result had her roboticized and becoming one of Eggman's most dangerous soldiers. Some time later, after Ixis Naugus became the new king of New Mobotropolis, the Freedom Fighters were tasked with escorting Elias Acorn, the true king, to Feral Forest. An ambush by Mecha Sally and the Death Egg resulted in Antoine being critically injured while fending off a self-destructing Metal Sonic.

With the departure of Bunnie (who was recently deroboticized by Naugus's magic), Nicole's exile (who was still blamed for the Iron Dominion's invasion), and Antoine's hospitalization, the Knothole Freedom Fighters had suffered too many loses to be capable of combating the threats posed by the Eggman Empire and Naugus effectively. The remaining members split into two teams with Team Freedom protecting New Mobotropolis, while Team Fighters would combat Eggman. The two groups continued in this capacity for some time, until Sally was rescued.

Eventually, the group later separated up on miscellaneous missions between them: Amy was spirited away to the Sol Zone, Sonic and Tails (the latter who had been working on a secret project) were dispatched by Nicole the Holo-Lynx to rescue King Acorn from Walter Naugus, Bunnie was sent undercover on a mission to the Metropolis to steal a Shield Generator, and Sally infiltrated the new Death Egg for files as Rotor worked on a secret project with Tails.

### Countdown to Chaos

Amidst a battle with the Tails Doll on their mission which ended in the doll's defeat, Sonic regained his memories of the original reality, and Tails regained his after contact with Nicole, who suggested that they sought out the other Freedom Fighters to get to the bottom of the matter. Having rescued King Acorn, the pair set out to locate their missing teammates. The duo found Rotor in the Mystic Ruins, hard at work on the Sky Patrol base, which they and Big the Cat saved from a Badnik Horde. Sonic and Tails restored Rotor's memories of the old world by having him hold Nicole. After processing this, Rotor informed the duo as to the last known whereabouts of the other Freedom Fighters.

Following Rotor's directions, Sonic and Tails headed to the Wood Zone, where they found Antoine serving as Professor Charles the Hedgehog and Muttski's bodyguard while they researched recent earthquakes. They soon restored Antoine's memories as well, and worked together to save the two scientists and their equipment from an earthquake. Antoine departed with Chuck and Muttski while Sonic and Tails traveled to Metropolis Zone to find Bunnie D'Coolette, who was undercover in the local Egg Army unit to retrieve a shield generator for the Sky Patrol. Escaping with Bunnie and the generator, they returned to the Sky Patrol and reunited with Antoine prior to restoring Bunnie's memories.

Meanwhile, Sally was at the Death Egg stealing information from the Eggnet, and escaped to Mobotropolis with Metal Sonic on her tail. There, Sonic and Tails arrived in time to drive Metal Sonic away. Conveniently, they also found Andrea, Amy, Cream, and Cheese, who returned from their trip to the Sol Zone. The Freedom Fighters then reunited in the Sky Patrol, where Sonic restored Sally's and Amy's memories. However, with Nicole repaired, she revealed the planet was tearing itself apart, just as the Shattered World Crisis began.

### Shattered World Crisis

#### Act One

The group quickly traveled to Station Square to provide relief to victims of the Shattered World Crisis until they were relieved by the arrival of G.U.N. forces aboard the Letter of Gabriel. Their next mission involved rescuing Professor Charles the Hedgehog and his colleague Professor Dillon Pickle from an Bullet Train run by E-106 Eta. While they failed to recover any of the professors' research, they did rescue the two scientists. After learning about the connection between the planet's shattering and the ancient Gaia Manuscripts, the group set out on their next mission-to recover the Chaos Emeralds and secure the Gaia Temples, which together could restore the world.

The Freedom Fighters split into smaller squads in an effort to accomplish multiple objectives at once, with one squad traveling to the city of Meropis while another went after a Chaos Emerald in Crystal Cave. The former squad made new allies as they defended the city from the evil Dark Gaia Creatures, while the second group battled Badnik Horde forces stationed in the cave. Both subsequently returned to the Sky Patrol, one with a supply of Power Rings and the other with a Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately, their movements were monitored by Dr. Eggman, who sent his War Walrus to attack the Sky Patrol en route to Soumerca and also instructed his Egg Army forces in the area to prepare for their arrival. Three of the Freedom Fighters were sent after a Chaos Emerald held by Egg Boss Thunderbolt while two others went on a relief mission to Harbor Heights. The former team joined forces with a members from the Chaotix–Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel and Saffron Bee–to recover the Emerald, but Sonic briefly left the team in order to master his Werehog transformation under the tutelage of Moss the Sloth.

The remaining Freedom Fighters soon embarked on a mission to recover another Chaos Emerald held by Eggman's forces. However, their attempt was anticipated, and Team Freedom was attacked by three units of the E-100 Series. When Team Fighters arrived to back them up, both groups were caught in an elaborate trap while the Chaos Emerald was flown to a more secure location. A reserve squad led by Cream managed to rescue them, but in the process the Tails Doll slipped aboard the Sky Patrol. Battered but alive, the group was rejoined by Sonic, who encouraged them following their defeat and was then one of three members to be accepted into the Chaos Emerald Championship roster. Their teammates observed the tournament, which ended with Sonic's group obtaining the Chaos Emerald and bringing Knuckles the Echidna and Chip-aka Light Gaia-aboard the Sky Patrol. The group was also contacted by Gregorios of Apotos with information regarding the restoration of the planet, which led to the Freedom Fighters traveling there. Before they did so, however, the group split up again, with a squad under Sally traveling to Isolated Island and battling the computer virus Phage to aid Dr. Ellidy.

The Freedom Fighters were later contacted by G.U.N. regarding the location of the final Chaos Emerald, and moved to meet with one of their units in the Crystal Desert Zone. Unfortunately, Metal Sonic seized the Emerald first and wounding the soldiers. Most of the Freedom Fighters remained behind to assist the injured troops while Sonic, Bunnie, and Tails went after Metal Sonic, only for Sonic to become separated from the others after chasing Metal Sonic through a Genesis Portal. Thankfully, Sonic returned with the Emerald in hand.

#### Worlds Unite

The Freedom Fighters were soon faced Sigma, a villainous artificial intelligence from the future of Mega Man's World. Having press-ganged Dr. Eggman, Dr. Wily, and the Deadly Six into his service, he had his minions capture Sonic and convert him and Mega Man into Sonic Man and M'egga Man. In the midst of worrying for their absent friends, the Freedom Fighters were called back to Mobotropolis to deal with the attacking M'egga Man. However, the robot proved too much for them despite the aid of Knuckles and Gemerl. Sigma's Unity Engines, which M'egga Man and Sonic Man had set up near Castle Acorn and in Mega City on Earth 20XX, then began merging the two planets together. As a result, the Freedom Fighters found themselves face to face with Break Man, Quake Woman, and reformed members of Wily Robot Masters. The growing force against Sigma was soon joined by X, Zero, and Axl from Sigma's time and Sticks the Badger, Comedy Chimp and Fastidious Beaver from the Sonic Boom World. After Sonic and Mega Man were restored to their normal forms, all the heroes boarded the Sky Patrol to prepare against Sigma's forces.

#### Act Two

After the events of Sigma's attack were undone thanks to Xander Payne changing the timeline, the Freedom Fighters returned to their previous task of restoring the planet to normal through collecting the Gaia Keys. This led to conflict with Egg Bosses Tundra the Walrus and Clove the Pronghorn, as well as a renewed alliance with their old friend Lupe the Wolf.

## Tactics

The Freedom Fighters originally used guerrilla tactics as they did not have the numbers or the resources for a proper army. However, since the reestablishment of the Kingdom of Acorn and Eggman's open declaration of war, they have abandoned these tactics for a more direct and frontal method of attack.

## Equipment

* Bathysphere: A personal submarina usually used by Rotor.
* Diamond: A plane usually piloted by Andrea.
* Freedom Fighter Special:
* Green Hopper: A transforming vehicle usually driven by Big.
* Mobo-Cruiser: An all-terrain vehicle used by the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix during their attack on New Megaopolis.
* Pink Cabriolet: A transforming vehicle usually driven by Amy.
* Saucers: Repurposed Dark Legion hovercrafts. These are not as high-flying as the originals, but can cover a lot of ground. Before the team splintered, these would often be used to carry several Freedom Fighters at once.
* Sea Fox: A personal submarina usually used by Tails.
* Sky Patrol: The base of operations for the Freedom Fighters.
* Speed Star: A transforming vehicle employed by various Freedom Fighters.
* Tornado: A biplane that is owned by Sonic, but is usually piloted by Tails.
* Tornado 2: A plane usually piloted by Tails.
* Twister: A plane usually piloted by Antoine.

## Trivia

* The Freedom Fighters originated from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* television series, upon which the early storyline of the comics was based. However, various modifications have been made to the group, including the addition of other Sega characters-most notably Amy Rose-and comic exclusive characters to the membership of the group.
* It was Sonic that came up with the name for the group.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Sonic Super Digest* #8, "Sonic, Tails and the Freedom Fighters must travel over land and under sea to rescue friends old and new in hopes of saving the planet!"
2. ↑ Ian Flynn on Twitter. *Twitter*. Retrieved on 5 December 2016. “**Alexander Soerensen**: Is the full name of Sonic's FF band "Knothole Freedom Fighters", "New Freedom Fighters" or just "Freedom Fighters"? / **Ian Flynn**: Just Freedom Fighters”
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Sonic Comic Origins* #1, "Sally–The Exiled Leader"
4. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man X Free Comic Book Day 2014*, "Rotor–The Exiled Inventor"
5. ↑ *Sonic Super Digest* #8, "Sonic Comic Origins - Little Lost Soldier"
6. ↑ *Sonic Super Digest* #9, "Sonic Comic Origins - The Belle in the Machine"
7. ↑ *Sonic Super Digest* #12, "Sonic Comic Origins: The Traitor"
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #288, "Genesis of a Hero Part One: Where It All Began"
9. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #230, "...Two Steps Back"
10. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #231, "Lost In the Moment"
11. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #232, "Dark Tidings"
12. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #234, "Unthinkable"
13. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #236, "Cry Freedom!"
14. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #236, "Leader of the Band"
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #253, "Countdown to Chaos - Part One: The Builder"
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #256, "Countdown to Chaos - Finale: The Princess and the Hammer"
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #252, "At All Costs - Part Two: A New Lease on Life"
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #255, "Countdown to Chaos Part Three: The Rabbot"
19. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #254, "Countdown to Chaos - Part Two: The Soldier"
20. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #257, "Damage Control"
21. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #258, "The Chase: Part One"
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #259, "The Chase: Part Two"
23. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #260, "Waves of Change Part One: First Ripples"
24. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #261, "Waves of Change Part Two: Current Events"
25. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #262, "Waves of Change Part Three: Terror in the Deep"
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #263, "Waves of Change Part Four: Divine Waters" Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "StH263" defined multiple times with different content
27. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #260, "The Light in the Dark: Part One"
28. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #261, "The Light in the Dark: Part Two"
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #262, "The Light in the Dark: Part Three"
30. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #265, "The Grand Tour"
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 *Sonic the Hedgehog* #264, "Control Part One: Breaking Point"
32. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #264, "A Nice Day To Start Again"
33. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #265, "Control Part Two: Unleashed!"
34. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #266, "Ambushed! Part One"
35. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #267, "Ambushed! Part Two"
36. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #268, "Champions Part One: The Gang's All Here"
37. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #269, "Champions Part Two: Climbing the Brackets"
38. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #270, "Champions Part Three: Raising the Stakes"
39. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #271, "Champions Finale: The One Left Standing"
40. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #71, "Spark of Life Part One"
41. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #72, "Spark of Life Part Two"
42. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #73, "Spark of Life Part Three"
43. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #74, "Spark of Life Part Four"
44. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #75, "Fury"
45. ↑ *Sonic Universe* #76, "Worlds Unite! Part One: Across Time and Space"
46. ↑ *Sonic Boom* #8, "Worlds Unite Part Two: Broken Heroes"
47. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #273, "Worlds Unite Part Three: Clash of the Corrupted"
48. ↑ *Mega Man* #50, "Worlds Unite Part Four: Death and Destruction"
49. ↑ *Mega Man* #52, "Worlds Unite Part Twelve: Last Rights"
50. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #276, "Cold Hearted"
51. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #277, "Hidden Costs Part One"
52. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #278, "Hidden Costs Part Two"
53. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #279, "Hidden Costs Part Three"
54. ↑ *Sonic the Hedgehog* #277, "Thunder, Rain, and Lightning"