Rod didn't know what to feel. This woman was a stranger to him, 
yet it was his mother.

"Ronnie, honey, are you ok?" She asked. Rod froze. He remembered 
that voice.

"I think so," he replied, "but I'm a little shaky. I need to 
sit down." Rod plopped down on the ground. Then he teleported 
himself back into Knothole. He ended up right in front of Sally. 
Sally jumped.

"Ya! Rod, you scared me! Hey what's wrong?" she said. She had seen 
his puffy red eyes and wondered why he had been crying.

"Nothing, don't worry." Rod answered. Then he said to her,
"Uh... Sally? I've decided not to stay in Knothole. I'm going to 
stay with Freelance. I'll go on one last mission with you, 
though." Sally put on a sad face. This was disappointing news.

"Are you sure?" she said.

"Positive."

The following day, the Freedom Fighters prepared for their last 
mission with Rod. They were going to break into Robotnik's 
headquarters to see what they could take. Sonic put a fresh power 
ring in his backpack, while Sally got changed into new clothes 
and went to supervise. Rod warmed up his finger, and practiced 
his magic by blowing up small stones on the ground. Antoine paced, 
and Bunnie gave her robotic arm an oiling, as it was squeaking. 
Tails cleaned his tails so to fly better.

Finally they were set. They trudged through the damp forest, and 
stopped at the edge.

"Ready everyone?" Rod called. He was going to morph all the Freedom 
Fighters into look alikes of Sonic, to completely confuse both the 
SWATbots and Dr Robotnik. Rod was very excited. Especially since 
morphing was the only form of magic he could put on himself and 
reverse.

"Ready, Rod!" Sally exclaimed. Rod pointed his finger at each of 
the Freedom Fighters, and, one by one, they all turned into Sonic 
lookalikes. When Sally looked own at herself, she giggled.

"This feels so weird!" 

They went on to Robotropolis. Inside, they payed a visit to Uncle 
Chuck.

"Hi Sonie, and, uh, Sonie and Sonie and Sonie and so on!" he said.

"Hey, Uncle Chuck!" Rod joked, "I'm the real Sonic here!" The real 
Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Gimme a break Rod!" he said, "It's me."

Uncle Chuck shook his head. 

"Ok everyone! Let's get going!" Sally anounced, and the others 
nodded.

"See you Uncle Chuck!" Sonic called out as they left. They crept 
through the city, until they came to a SWATbot patrol.

"They're blocking off the whole street!" Sally whispered to Bunnie. 
It was true; there were SWATbots lined up right across the passage 
way.

"Ah'll bet if they take one look at all us, they'll go nuts and blow 
up!" Bunnie laughed.

"Me too!" Sonic and Rod said at the same time. They laughed.

So that's what they did. First, Sonic walked slowly out. The 
SWATbots scanned him.

"PRIORITY ONE: SONIC HEDGEHOG." They said in unison. Sonic stuck out 
his tongue as they aimed their lasers. Then Tails ran out. The 
SWATbots turned to him.

"PRIORITY ONE: SONIC HEDGEHOG." they said again. Then the rest of 
the Freedom Fighters walked out. The SWATbots turned and looked at 
each Freedom Fighter. They looked back and forth, back and forth. 
Their heads started to move faster, and faster, and began to rotate. 
Faster and faster, until they snapped clean off! Rod gave Tails a 
high-five. Success!