FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rotor grumbled under his breath as he put away his latest failed experiment, a Bride of Frankenstein-esque robotic feline he had affectionately named "Ro-Becca". A sickly rattling within the robot's chest compartment as he wedged her into his storage closet was a grim reminder of why he had to scrap her; a bunch of nuts and bolts, haphazardly dumped into her chest cavity, thoroughly trashed her inner workings, rendering most of her delicate components nigh-irreparable. It would take weeks to scavenge the parts needed to salvage her, and that's only if he had the time alone to do so.

Dammit, Ant, why couldn't you leave well enough alone when I told you to?_the walrus growled to himself, irritably. He didn't mind that he was being called to the field less frequently, in the past couple of months; he had never felt that comfortable on the front lines, and he knew he could best help the Freedom Fighters in the lab, tinkering with new gadgets the others could use to thwart Robotnik's schemes. What he did mind, however, was Sally's insistence that Antoine stay behind as his assistant; while he understood the cowardly coyote was proving to be more of a burden to the gang on their missions than a help, he couldn't fathom why the princess thought assigning him lab work would be any better. In fact, it was Antoine's clumsy attempt at "help" that was the source of the debris that ended up ruining Ro-Becca, as he eventually got the coyote to confess as he was disassembling her. _All I asked of him was to get me supplies and let me do the tinkering. How in the hell can he screw_that _up?_As soon as he thought that, he mentally slapped himself, shaking his head ruefully. _It's Antoine, what else was I expecting?

It didn't help matters that the incident was caused partially because Antoine was getting just as sick of being Rotor's assistant as the walrus was; he admitted, during the interrogation, that the items he was asked to get were too big and foreign for him to reliably bring...at least, that's what he claimed; Rotor was always suspicious that Antoine was smarter and stronger than he acted, but being the tech genius of the group, Rotor had to admit that half of the stuff he messed around with in his lab the other Freedom Fighters didn't understand, so he couldn't be sure if Antoine's statements were true or just an excuse to get out of helping him.

As he closed the door to his storage closet, though, Rotor couldn't help but smile, despite himself; in the end, the incident caused Ro-Becca to behave in a way that was both humorous and surprising. He had to admit, as he walked over to his workbench, one hand idly slipping under his work coat to adjust his nether regions, that he had planned to program Ro-Becca for full-range assistance in all areas of his life, both in the lab, around the house, and - as much as he was embarrassed to say - in the bedroom. However, he hadn't even gotten to that step before Antoine fouled her gears up, so he had to wonder what happened in the interaction between her processors and the nuts and bolts to turn her into a love-crazed stalker, one obsessed with French accents, to boot. Seeing Antoine - and Sonic, in a brief if unfortunate fit of imitation in her presence - struggling to get away from the amorous android was such a hoot, so much so that he couldn't stay mad at the coyote for long.

As he sat down, he idly fondled himself, remembering one particular incident he had to save Antoine from; trapped in his own bedroom, Rotor found the coyote pinned on his belly by the wayward robot, and manhandled in what Antoine later explained was Ro-Becca's attempt at a massage. At the time, the scene was quite humorous, and they both wound up having a good chuckle over it, after the robot was subdued, but now... Now, as he sat alone with his thoughts, the walrus had to admit to a certain envy toward the robot, his thoughts turning to fantasies as he imagined what it would be like to be in her place. A touch of pink emerged from the walrus' sheath as he envisioned himself pinning Antoine underneath him, giving the coyote a different kind of "massage".

With a sigh, though, he flicked on the monitors on his desk and shelved those thoughts, for now; it was obvious that Rotor swung both ways - or, it would've been, had Rotor not been so reclusive - and had to admit to having a certain crush on the coyote, but Antoine had made it known several times who his heart longed for, so he knew those fantasies were just that. Leaning back in his chair, he got comfortable as he settled into his duties for the night. On the monitors were camera feeds into nearly every part of Knothole, including inside the Freedom Fighters' houses - a safety precaution insisted on by Tails after an incident in the past where Sally was replaced by one of Robotnik's androids. Normally, the walrus was too shy and polite to use the cameras for peeping, though sometimes he couldn't help it; he had a stack of incidental recordings of his friends' sexcapades, which revealed quite a bit about them - for instance, Tails was quite popular among the group, both Sally, Bunnie, and Sonic getting it on with him, while Sally and Bunnie had their flings together. There were several times where he caught Antoine masturbating in his bedroom, but that was all, making him feel more longing for the coyote.

The sound of a slamming door and an unmistakably French expletive drew his attention to one particular monitor, the one located in Antoine's bedroom. He watched in surprise as the coyote stormed in, cursing in his usual mangled French, before throwing himself onto his bed, his expression clearly showing him close to sobbing. Flicking on a switch, Rotor activated the zoom feature of the camera, drawing in close to the coyote to get a better look at him and determine why he was acting this way.

"Oh, zis is zee con comme une bite, and I am zee con bite!" Antoine called out, dourly. Growling in frustration, he grabbed one of his nearby pillows and hugged it close, burying his head deep within the soft fluff as he continued to cry. Rotor couldn't believe his eyes as, for a solid couple of minutes, the coyote poured his heart into the pillow, sobbing and cursing in French without rhyme or reason. It was surreal; He had seen Antoine upset, but never to this extreme. He had to wonder...

As if to answer his musings, Antoine finally came up for air and stared at the pillow, talking to it as if it were a person. "I tried my best, no? I worked as best as I could for him, but it wasn't enough to satisfy him. Even worse, I messed up one of his prized projects." He sighed, bitterly, biting his lip to keep from crying again. "But then again, what did he expect of me, eh? It is not as if I was zee strongman of the group, zee 'Arnald Schwarzenschnouzer' that he was wanting." The coyote smiled, thinly, as he slipped into an Austrian accent, the same accent Rotor recognized him using to finally thwart the advances of Ro-Becca.

Which means...he's mad at himself over me?_Rotor thought, surprised. _I thought we got that issue cleared up, by now. Indeed, although he was a bit stern with his warnings against Antoine screwing up, any longer, he made sure to let the coyote know there were no hard feelings between them over the incident, and that he found it more humorous than anything. Why is he beating himself up over this?

"But that is just like moi, isn't it?" Antoine continued, tears still welling up in his eyes. "No-good Antoine, shoved off to the side, too big of zee screw-up to be trusted." He sighed and laid back on the bed, snuggling the pillow a little closer. "I do not know why I stay with zis group; Sonic does not like me, Sally does not like me, Bunnie thinks I am annoying, and Rotor..." Tears started cascading down his face, again, as he mentioned the walrus, startling Rotor greatly. "He must think me useless, by now. Stupid, useless Antoine, zat is_moi_..."

Sighing, he put away the pillow and rolled onto his side, biting back his sobs as he started tracing a finger in circles along the mattress, idly. Rotor was beside himself as he witnessed the coyote's breakdown; He always knew Antoine was an excitable, highly emotional individual, but he never expected such a strong reaction to the whole incident.And all we've done about it is tease and taunt him each time he gets like this, the walrus mused to himself, bitterly. No wonder he feels so alone, after this. Tapping his fingers on the desk in thought, he continued to watch the coyote wallow in his own sorrows, struggling to think. It was clear he wanted to do something to help mitigate things, but nothing was coming to him. As he thought, he heard snoring coming from Antoine's camera. Looking back at the feed, he saw the coyote curled up in a fetal position, having cried himself to sleep. That just deepened his sympathy for his friend, and inspired him to wrack his brain harder to find a solution to his problem.

Unfortunately, just as his grief had exhausted Antoine, Rotor's worry was exhausting him, and soon he found himself yawning and nodding off without coming up with anything. Shaking himself awake, he took one last look at the coyote and, sighing to himself in sorrow, turned the feed off and shut down the terminal for the night. As he got up to head off to bed, he glanced over to where he had stashed Ro-Becca... and got an idea...

Antoine woke up the next day feeling like crap; his eyes were bloodshot from the sheer amount of crying he did, his hair and clothes were disheveled, and despite getting a rather sound sleep given the circumstances, he felt exhausted and cranky. Rubbing the sand from his eyes, he looked up at the vanity mirror across the room and scowled at his reflection; his outward appearance perfectly matched his inner loathing, and brought back all of the bad memories he was bemoaning about the earlier night.

Sacre bleu, I am zee mess, he thought to himself, pathetically, drooping his head at the words. Zen again, zat is how I've always been, no? Just a stupid, sorry mess of things. Sighing in frustration, he slammed a fist into the mattress and got up, making his way to his bathroom. As he did, he started stripping off his clothing, muttering to himself all the while. "Well, there won't be any way of messing zis up, again. After last night, I'm done, fini. Zey won't have poor old sniveling Antoine to deal with, anymore." He entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind him as he peeled the last bit of clothing off his body and tossed it haphazardly to the ground. Heading over to the sink and mirror, he took another long look at himself before turning away, spitting out a French curse at what he saw. I am not cut out to be Rotor's assistant, let alone a Freedom Fighter. When I get to Rotor's workshop, I am telling him right zen and zere zat I quit as his assistant. Zen, I am packing up my things and leaving. I'm not going to bring zis group's efforts down any more zan I have...

Turning the water on, he cupped his hands underneath the hot stream and started splashing it on his face, washing the red from his eyes and dried tears from his cheeks. With a few more splashes, he wetted his hair and combed it down to more professional level. He didn't even bother to transfer himself to the shower to clean up, his attention too drawn inward to his sorrows to do any more sprucing up than splashing himself with sink water. It took a good five minutes of this before he finally stopped, shutting off the water and reaching for a towel to dry himself off with. He was soaked to the bone from the waist up, his outward appearance more presentable but still matching his dour insides.

Walking out of the bathroom as he continued to towel himself off, Antoine headed back into his bedroom, dropping the towel behind him as he headed over to his dresser to dig a clean set of clothes out. As he did so, his mind wandered back to the events that led up to this point, and his already-dreadful demeanor grew more dour from the memories, memories of his time as children with the other Freedom Fighters, a time before the Great War, when they were happier... and he began to doubt himself. What in the heck am I thinking?_he asked himself, shaking his head defiantly. _Have I become so pathetic, so self-conscious, zat I would abandon my friends so easily? "Zen again," he reminded himself, "I was never zat good with zee group, either. At zee very least, I should quit my job as Rotor's assistant..."

He glanced down at his clothes, still in his hands, and sighed, finally making up his mind. Alright, I will quit myself of being Rotor's assistant, and find something else to do. Maybe I can guard the Lake of Rings; quiet, secluded, no chance of me being a screw-up with that... unless some big, scary monster comes around... or a Swatbot finds and follows me... or I fall asleep on zee job and someone takes the Rings before Sonic can... Oh, mon deiu, I cannot do anything right, can I? Growling a bit in frustration, he tossed the clothes onto the bed and started putting them on, roughly, not caring if he wasn't looking his best. Looking down at himself as he put on the last of his outfit, he sighed again and slumped his shoulders. "Well, it is now or never, I am guessing..."

Rotor looked up as he heard the door to his workshop open, smiling a bit to himself as he saw Antoine walk in, though that smile faded a little as he noticed how down Antoine was, still. Composing himself, he got up and shoved the screwdriver he was currently using back into his labcoat pocket. In front of him stood Ro-Becca, strapped firmly into her workstation with solid iron bars, shut down and chest compartment open to give the illusion that Rotor was still working on her. He hoped Antone would be fooled long enough as he turned toward the coyote to not realize what he was really doing. "Hey, Antone. Glad you can make it. I'm going to need your help with something, over here..."

Antoine, hearing that, gritted his teeth and shook his head. "Rotor, I am meaning no offense by this, but I am of the mind that - "

"It'll only take a second, Ant," Rotor interrupted, smiling as warmly as he could, under the circumstances. "You don't need to do any heavy lifting, just a bit of brainstorming, okay?"

"Brainstorming...?" Antoine repeated, confused. Rotor knew he wasn't that great at any sort of extreme thinking, so why... _Well, if zere's no lifting needed, for this, what would be the harm, no?_Sighing to himself, he nodded and walked over to the walrus, holding back his displeasure. "What is it zat you want of me, Rotor?"

Rotor smiled and wrapped an arm around Antoine's shoulders, hugging him close as he waved his other arm over to the robot. "I've been trying to figure out what you did to change Ro-Becca's programming, but other than the damage caused by the nuts and bolts you dumped in there, I don't have a clue what happened. Maybe you can tell me, step by step, what you can remember happening, that night?"

Antoine frowned at the suggestion. "Rotor, I do not think this is such a good idea..."

Rotor just patted the coyote's back, reassuringly. "Don't worry, Ro-Becca isn't coming back. I'm just curious what happened, so we can figure out how to replicate it under more controlled circumstances with the next robot."

"Next robot?" Antoine didn't like the sound of that. "After what that mechanical mademosielle did to me? Oh, no no no no no! I definitely do not think that is such a good idea!"

"I said _controlled_circumstances, Ant," Rotor repeated, knowing perfectly well he was lying to the coyote; he had no plans on remaking Ro-Becca or any other robot, in the near future, or of recreating the incident that brought Ro-Becca to life. He was simply making idle conversation to make Antoine feel better and not as useless as he did. "For now, though, I'm just curious how it happened, for posterity's sake."

Antoine nodded and sighed again, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, if it's for posterior's sake, or whatever, I guess I can be helping you out. What is it zat you want to know?"

Rotor giggled at Antoine's malaprop, stopping himself just short of correcting him, and tilted his head, questioningly. "Well, for one thing, what happened after you dumped the nuts and bolts down her chest? I checked and the amount of damage they caused couldn't have caused her change in behavior by themselves."

Antoine bit his lip as he struggled to remember what happened that night. "Well, I was trying to get the bolts and nuts out of her, when I was startled by the lightning that had struck. I fell back and... and I hit zat machine, over zere..." He pointed to the generator across the room from them, its antennae directed toward Ro-Becca in order to feed life-giving electricity into her. "It turned on, and zat scared me back onto zee robot, and..."

"...And the machine zapped you both," Rotor finished, piecing things together. "That must've transferred some of your personality traits over to her. No wonder she was so fixated on you..." The walrus unwrapped himself from Antoine and walked over to Ro-Becca, his mind racing over the new information he was given. "Astounding. Antoine, you may have made a breakthrough in robotic engineering with that blunder!"

"I have?" Antoine asked, perplexed. "You mean zat... transfer of personalities zat happened?"

Rotor nodded, his grin growing wider as he realized the implications of what Antoine had done. "It may have been a freak accident, but if we can recreate it under more controlled circumstances, we could potentially create decoys with our memories and personalities, or transfer our free will to a captured Robian to break them free of Robotnik's control, or..."

"... Or enslave other Mobians by transferring zeir brains into robotic shells," Antoine responded, horrified. Rotor, confused at the coyote's words, tried to say something, but Antoine shut him up with his next comment: "If we do find a way of doing this, of making people's brains transferred into robots, who is to say zat Robotnik couldn't copy us and use it for his own nefarious purposes?"

Rotor hummed as he contemplated that, his initial excitement over their discovery draining away as he realized the implications Antoine had pointed out. "You're right; We already dealt with a look-alike with Sally's personality in the past, and that was just a crude version. If we were able to figure out a way of transferring someone's memory and personality into a robot fully, Robotnik could figure that out, as well, and use it to create perfect copies to infiltrate Knothole. He could even upload himself into a robotic body, and with that kind of power, there'd be no way of stopping him."

"So, we are not going to be doing it, si vous plait?" Antoine asked, with nervous hope.

Rotor shook his head. "No, it would be too dangerous to try. For now, I think we should stick with regular old-fashioned programming."

Antoine breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. At least zat is some comfort, he thought to himself. Turning around, he looked toward the door, hopefully. "If zat is all, I would like to be getting going, now, if you do not mind..."

Eyeing the coyote turn his back on him, Rotor frowned to himself, bitterly.Great, he's still down about what happened. I need to do something to keep him from leaving... Snapping his fingers, he placed a hand on Antoine's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Actually, there is something I'd like to help you with."

Antoine stopped and turned around, blinking at Rotor in confusion. "Help_moi_ out with something? What is it zat you mean?"

Rotor shrugged. "Well, I was just thinking, if you're going to be my assistant, you're going to need to do more than just getting junk for me to put together. If you're willing, I'd like to teach you some of the basics of taking something apart, like say... Ro-Becca, over there?"

Antoine stared into Rotor's eyes, uncertainty reflecting from him off of them. He hadn't anticipated doing anything else but telling Rotor off and quitting, but a growing sense of puzzlement was encroaching on that, puzzlement over Rotor's sudden insistence on making him feel useful. "I thought you had said I was not to be touching your projects, anymore?"

Rotor shrugged, his pulse quickening as he struggled to come up with a justification for his actions. "Yeah, but this project's pretty much scrap, anyway, and well... think of it this way: by learning from me how to dismantle a robot, you can learn how better to tear apart Swatbots out on the field, if you need to."

Antoine scowled a little at that. "You are making zee joke, aren't you? You know how I am reacting to zee Swatbots. Do you think I could smash through one like Sonic can, no?"

Rotor fell silent at Antoine's words, folding his arms in contemplation. I hate to admit it, but he's right,_he mused, worriedly. _But I can't stop now; I have his attention, and I want to help him out, but what can I do...?"Well, do you have anything that you _can_do any smashing with? Like a weapon of some kind?"

"A weapon?" Antoine glanced over to the workshop door, his lips pursed as he thought. "I think so. Hold on for one of zee moments, I will be right back." With that, he ran out of the workshop and out the door, leaving Rotor staring at the open portal in confusion.

Back at his bedroom, Antoine ran over to his closet and started digging, pawing through several clothes and boxes before finding what he was looking for: a sword, latched tightly in its sheath, perched precariously against one of the far corners of the enclosure. Both sword and scabbard were plainly but fabulously embellished, trimmed with gold with a precious jewel at the pommel. Along the side, in gold lettering, was the name "A. DePardieu", though what the "A." stood for, no one but Antoine knew. Grabbing the sword, he drew a length of it out of the scabbard to make sure it was still in good shape before slamming it back in and slipping it under his belt. Before he left, he took another look at himself in the vanity mirror, turning around a little as he observed how he looked with the sword on him. A slight smile graced his lips at the image, his confidence growing slightly as he headed out of the room and back to Rotor's workshop. On the way, though, the last person he wanted to see ran right past him, stopped, and came back to see what he was doing... all in a blink of an eye.

"Nice toothpick you have there, Ant," Sonic whistled as he leaned over to "marvel" at Antoine's sword. "What'cha planning on doing with it? Shish-kebab?"

Antoine growled a little in his throat at the insult; He may have been forced to take flak from the speedy blue hedgehog, but that didn't mean that he had to take it about his family heirlooms. "Zis, mon ami, iz a priceless antique zat Rotor is going to be teaching me how to use to dismantle a robot. Now, if you will excuse moi, si vous plait..."

The hedgehog barely bothered to stifle a laugh. "Rotor? Teach _you_how to fight a robot? Now this I've got to see!"

"And what, may moi ask, is so funny about zat, mon ami?" Antoine scowled, growing a bit tired of Sonic's indignation. "You know as well as I do zat Rotor is a capable fighter in his own right and has more knowledge on how to fight a robot than anyone."

Sonic waved him off, impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, he's the tech-head of the group, I know. No offense to either of you, but I just can't see it. You sure you're up for scrapping some 'bots, even practice ones?"

As if in response, Antoine drew the sword and flourished it into position in front of him, reaching up to thumb the blade in a test of its sharpness. "As you said, mon ami, you are welcome to come and see how well I do."

Even Sonic had to step back a little, impressed at Antoine's skill at handling the weapon. "Whoa, careful there. I don't need a haircut that badly, and I don't want to see you turning yourself into a papercut factory. Besides, Sally wants to see me for something about our next mission, so I'm afraid I'll have to miss your little show. See ya!" With that, he raced off into the distance, leaving Antoine grumbling to himself at his arrogance.

Sheathing his weapon, Antoine made his way back to Rotor's workshop. As he neared it, he caught a glimpse of Rotor in the woods behind the building, setting something up for him. Obviously, he suspected what Antoine was getting and preparing some sort of demonstration for him, but of what he didn't know. Patting the sword's hilt with nervous reassurance, he walked up behind the walrus and tapped on his shoulder.

Rotor glanced up from what he was doing at the tap and looked back, his eyes widening as he saw the sword hanging from Antoine's belt. "Wow, Ant, that's a nice piece of weaponry you have, there. Know how to handle it?"

Antoine just stared blankly at him. "Was zat meant to be some sort of pick-up line, or what?"

Rotor blinked, then realized what he had said, smacking himself in embarrassment. "The sword, Ant, I meant the sword."

Antone blinked back, looking down at the weapon as he finally got it. "Oh, yes, I was taught by my father how to wield this weapon. I inherited it after..." He fell silent, rubbing the sheath of the sword in somber remembrance over what happened.

Rotor didn't need to know anything more. "I understand. Just hold on a sec while I get this set up for you..." With that, he turned back around and continued what he was doing, his bulk keeping Antoine from seeing what he was working on. After a few minutes, Rotor stepped away, waving his hands toward the project as he revealed it to the coyote: a crudely-reassembled, non-functional Swatbot shell, propped up like some sort of scarecrow, ready for whatever hacking and slashing Rotor expected Antoine to do to it. "I hope you like it; I figured you'd need some sort of training dummy to help you with your attacks."

Antoine was impressed, walking tentatively up to the dummy and running his hand along the robot's body. "Mon dieu, you made this for me?"

Rotor nodded, smiling back as Antoine continued to admire the dummy. "I'm not too good at fighting, myself, but I thought that, with my mechanical knowhow, I could at least help you figure out the best way of taking care of these rust buckets, when you encounter them."

Antoine whistled, impressed at the forethought of the walrus. Stepping back, he fully unsheathed the sword and flourished it in front of his face, settling into an epee stance. Rotor, realizing what was happening, himself stood back from the action as Antoine started on his paces, thrusting, slashing and flourishing the blade with an expert skill that astounded the walrus, given its source. Within a matter of minutes, Antoine managed to score several near-misses on the dummy that, in a real fight, would've been damaging wounds to the Swatbot, were it not for the thick armor plating that made it up. With one more gesticulation, the coyote ended his attack, swiping the sword away from his face in a symbol of respect for his opponent.

Rotor mimicked Antoine's earlier whistle, applauding the coyote's efforts with surprised enthusiasm. "Jeez, Ant, how did you learn how to fight like that? And - " he winced a little at what he was about to ask," - why haven't you tried this out on the battlefield, beforehand?"

Antoine sheathed the sword again and looked over at Rotor, frowning a little at his performance. "Thanks, but I am knowing I am not as good at zis fighting zan zee others..."

"Are you kidding?" Rotor responded, starstruck. "You were remarkable! I've never seen anything like that before!"

Antoine blushed at the compliment, rubbing his hand through his hair, sheepishly. "I guess so. I was taught by my father in zee Royal Guard academy, but I never finished my training before the war started."

"You certainly didn't seem like you didn't finish. Why haven't we seen this from you, until now, if I may ask?"

Antoine bit his lip, not sure how to respond. "Well... I guess... oh, Mon Dieu, I am still zee coward when it comes to everything. I was always disappointing my father with it, and when zee war started..."

Rotor nodded as he realized where Antoine was going with this. "You didn't feel like you could keep the faith and continue your training or use your skills to help fight." Antoine nodded dropping his gaze to the ground. Working himself up with a smile, Rotor walked over to the coyote and gave him a big hug, trying his best to comfort him. "Ant, don't worry about it. If you keep at it, you'll be able to get into the swing of things, you'll see."

Antoine looked up at his friend, seeing the bright, big smile on the walrus' face, and returned it and the hug, weakly. "Thank you, Rotor. I appreciate zee vote of confidence, and... and I am sorry for ruining your robot..."

"Don't worry about it," Rotor responded, dismissively. "It's not like I had any big plans for it, anyway. C'mon, let's start on your training, now. I've got a lot to teach you about Swatbot anatomy..."

That night, Rotor fell into his chair, sighing exhaustively, and flicked on the security feed to Antoine's house. He had spent the day helping the coyote with his workout on the Swatbot dummy, teaching him about vulnerable spots on the machine that he could strike with his sword to get maximum damage with minimal risk. The walrus was amazed with how good Antoine was with the sword; each thrust, parry, and slash were perfectly executed, striking true and honed on each area he instructed Antoine to attack. Though the dummy was built to be able to handle multiple strikes, he assured the coyote that each strike would do devastating damage to a real Swatbot. By the time the sun was setting, both were slick with sweat and heavy with exhaustion from their workout. While Rotor had taught him everything he knew about the physical weaknesses of Swatbots, that day, he did promise to keep the dummy up for Antoine to use and to help him out with his training whenever he needed it before they parted for the night.

As he settled down for another night of monitoring, Rotor couldn't help but feel a bit of personal triumph over what he did with Antoine; not only had he finally settled Antoine down fro his depression, but he started building up confidence and pride with the coyote, keeping him on as his apprentice for the foreseeable future... at least, he hoped. Antoine didn't necessarily state that he would continue to be Rotor's assistant, but he did seem to loosen up, after their regimen. Leaning back, the walrus began reminiscing over the training, murring a little to himself as he remembered the ferocity and grace Antoine showed in his fencing skills. The coyote seemed to move like a cat, swiftly but with a dexterity he rarely saw in anyone but Sonic. He mentally traced his eyes over Antoine's frame in the vision, taking in every muscle, every sinew of strength and gentleness he showed as he attacked the dummy. Every now and then, his eyes would dart down toward Antoine's waist area, sometimes catching a shot of the coyote's crotch or firm buttocks, flexing and bobbing with each foot movement as he danced his lethal dance around the training dummy. It wasn't much of a money shot, and he was forced to tear his eyes away from the coyote's nether regions before he was noticed, but it was enough of a glimpse for him to enjoy.

Just as he was about to start enjoying his fantasies, however, Rotor was torn from his daydreaming by a short series of French curses and mumblings from Antoine's bedroom feed. Looking over at the monitor the feed was being played on, he quirked an eyebrow as he observed the coyote take off his clothes and toss them into the closet, nearly doing the same to his prized sword before catching himself and placing it carefully back into the enclosure. That wasn't what Rotor was expecting; when he left Antoine, the coyote was happy, far happier with himself and his situation than he was the other night. What had upset him was unknown, given Rotor's inability to understand French, but it was clear that something happened between them parting and now to have raised Antoine's ire. Adjusting a dial on the computer, he tuned in the microphone to the security camera to better listen in on Antoine, hoping to hear through the French what he was mumbling about.

"Oh,sacré bleu," Antoine groused to himself, leaving out his normal tag-on of "cheese" at the end, which in and of itself surprised the walrus. "What am I going to do, now? I do not like being Rotor's assistant, but how can I pass up such an offer such as zee one he is proposing, no?" He took one last look at his sword before closing the closet door, plodding back to his bed and flopping back-first onto it, sourly. "And zat accursed hedgehog! How dare he call my father's prized sabre a mere toothpick! Who is it zat he thinks he is, a ha-ha Pierrot? I should have shown him what zat little 'toothpick' of mine could really do, non?"

Rotor frowned as he heard that, shaking his head a little in disgust. Sonic and Antoine were always at odds with each other, usually to the latter's detriment, but he never expected Sonic to be so calloused as to mock a family heirloom of Antoine's. True, he likely never had seen the sword until now, but still, only Sonic would be cavalier enough to make fun of someone with a sharp blade, even if it was one of his friends. Looks like I'm going to have to smack some sense into that hedgehog, again...

Antoine rolled onto his side and started tracing a finger over the mattress again, this time with a somewhat sad smile on his face. "At least Rotor isn't mad about my screw-up, anymore. I just hope he doesn't do anything fuelish with zat idea of his..." Sighing, he rolled back onto his back and stretched, scratching his belly and sides tiredly. "Why is it zat he is the most tolerant around me? Sally and Sonic still do not like me, and Bunnie still thinks of me as annoying. What did I ever do to change Rotor's mind about me? ...Or did he?" Pouting his lips in thought, Antoine sat up and scooched back, until he was able to lay back against the bed's headboard. "Maybe he hasn't forgiven me, and zis is just a ruse to lull me into a faux sense of security? Non, that does not make sense; why would he try so hard to help me if it was all fake? Maybe he never was actually mad at me? Maybe I was just imagining him thinking I was useless, no?" Sighing to himself, he slumped his body into a more comfortable half-sitting, half-laying position on the bed, legs instinctively spread and drawn up, giving Rotor a clearer shot of the naked coyote's crotch; his plump, plum-sized balls and thick sheath seemed to almost tease the walrus as he stared at them.

As Rotor continued to watch him, he saw Antoine relax himself, sliding his hands down his body and into his lap as he stretched himself out, deep in thought over his speculations over Rotor's sudden interest in him. "Oh, mon dieu, I hope Rotor does not expect me to do as much as he had me do, before. I do not think my back or footsies could handle it..." He brought one of his feet up within arm's reach and grabbed it, rubbing it gently for emphasis. As he did so, he murred a little in his throat in pleasure, the feeling of massaging his own foot sending ripples of ecstasy through his body. Rotor could tell Antoine was getting aroused by his self-ministrations; the coyote was always proud of his taste in the finer things in life, which included his appearance and health, and the walrus could see a hint of pink emerging from Antoine's sheath as he continued to work on his feet. Rotor couldn't tell if it was just the massage that was working him up or if Antoine had some sort of foot fetish, but he nonetheless noted it for future reference.

Switching feet, Antoine continued his ministrations, his sheath swelling more and more at the sensations. As he did so, he started mumbling to himself, a familiar combination of broken English and semi-broken French, gentle moans breaking up the monologue. Once again, the words were nigh-unintelligible, but they did seem to be much happier than those of the other night as he moved his massage up to his legs. Not to Rotor's surprise, the closer Antoine moved his hands toward his groin, the higher in tone his mumblings, and the thicker the swelling in his sheath, got, until finally, he found himself rubbing both hands along the inside of his thighs and cupping his groin gently. Rotor, for his part, tried to keep his cool out of respect for his friend despite his own growing arousal, but once the coyote started focusing his ministrations solely on his genitals, his libido just couldn't be denied.

Lying back in his chair, Rotor set the camera to full zoom, centering it firmly on the coyote's crotch as he continued to massage himself down there, the head of his luscious cock slipping out of his sheath. The plump knob of flesh was already impressive, spanning an inch in diameter and at least half again of that in length, and he wasn't even nearly hard. Of course, it didn't come close to matching Rotor's cockhead, which was standing a good inch bigger in both directions than the coyote, and just as semi-hard. Sliding a hand over his own sheath, Rotor thumbed the head of his cock, mimicking the movements of his friend as he watched the coyote start to masturbate. He could tell what it was that was getting Antoine aroused, the same thing that the coyote thought about every time he put hand to groin in this manner: the thought of screwing Sally as his girlfriend. A sudden moan of Sally's name from Antoine's lips confirmed it, and not for the first time Rotor felt his heart sink a little; he always had a crush on the coyote, ever since he found out he was bisexual, but despite his own fantasies about him, he knew such a crush was unrequited, and so kept it to himself, simply enjoying the sight of Antoine pawing off.

And what a sight it was; cupping his plump balls with one hand, Antoine started stroking himself with the other, groaning Sally's name again as he squeezed his thick shaft gently, its length and girth growing exponentially until it reached its full 7 inches by 2 inches. At the base, a bulbous knob started forming, which he began groping into full engorgement once he felt it. It was the best part of Antoine's package, in Rotor's opinion; at full swell, it measured 3 and a half inches in all directions, perfect for filling up a nice hole... a hole that Rotor wished he could've been able to provide. Another good squeeze around the knot caused Antoine to moan in ecstasy, a small jet of precum squirting from his member's tip, a clear indication that he was drawing close to his climax.

However, just as Rotor was about to reach his own orgasm, a sudden grunt of frustration from Antoine drew his attention away, and he noticed the coyote had stopped, his face twisted in a look of confused disgust. Perplexed, Rotor watched as his friend suddenly shook his head and released his junk, leaving himself bobbing in the air as he settled down into a laying position and sighed. Clearly, something popped up in the coyote's mind to distract him from his masturbation time, but when Antoine started mumbling underneath his breath in French again, Rotor knew there was less of a chance than a snowball in hell that he'll be able to find out what. Even raising the volume of the microphone in the camera didn't help; all he could hear was gibberish and Sally's name, clearly indicating that he was struggling to get back into pawing off to the Freedom Fighter leader. Throwing another curse into the air, the coyote curled up and rolled onto his side, hugging himself close as he drifted off to sleep.

Rotor frowned as he watched Antoine go to bed, confused and frustrated over what had just happened. He was hoping to see at least one cumshot from the coyote, that night, but whatever distracted him from his self-ministrations made that impossible, now... but he was also way too close to his own orgasm to stop, now, himself. Sighing, he switched the feed to a backup video he had saved of an earlier instance of Antoine's "alone time" and began watching, idly rubbing his cock in time to the video. He must've been dangerously close, though, as a few more strokes and a quick fast-forwarding to the good stuff was all that was required to cause Rotor to shoot his load... and what a big load it was. Ounce after ounce of white liquid goo sprayed from his cocktip, coating his face, chest, and even the floor behind him. In fact, it dwarfed Antoine's load, which, while still big, was only a quart or two maximum and only covered the coyote's chest and muzzle; Rotor's, by comparison, could practically be measured in liters. The walrus huffed as his orgasm continued for a good 5 minutes, moaning out Antoine's name as he relished in his impromptu creamy shower... only to momentarily snap out of his haze and blush as he realized what he was doing, and what was missing.Damnit, I forgot the sucker, again, didn't I? he thought to himself, barely noticing the absence of a particular gadget he had invented for this particular event; as he was both hung and incredibly fertile, Rotor knew that it would be a pain to clean up his erotic messes each time he pawed off, so created a device that would suck up and store his semen straight from his cock during each orgasm. Unfortunately, as was the case tonight, he usually forgot all about it, resulting in the mess he found himself in, now.

Feeling his orgasm finally start to subside, Rotor leaned back and growled a little in exhaustion, staring at the computer screen and the hunky coyote projected within through blurry, half-lidded eyes. I don't care if it takes a millennium, Ant, he thought to himself, with conviction. I will do everything I can to make sure you feel appreciated, no matter what..._With that promise in mind, he got up and headed to the shower, daintily licking the semen from his lips, imagining it to be Antoine's sperm he was covered in instead of his own. _Whatever it takes, I will make you feel appreciated.. my love...

The next day was a continuation of what Rotor had already set up for Antoine, more training against the Swatbot dummy he had made for the coyote, and more talk about Ro-Becca and the events that led to her being shelved. The training went by swimmingly; under Rotor's tutelage, Antoine was able to strike true and deadly against the dummy, cutting through its weak joint armor to get to the delicate circuitry - or, in this case, stuffing - within. The walrus still couldn't believe how skilled Antoine was with his sabre, wielding it like a master swordsman against his opponent, and making Rotor wonder even harder why he hadn't shown this kind of skill against Robotnik in the past.

The talk about Ro-Becca, however...

"Oh,oui, oui, zee mademoiselle was doing zee baisoter to moi. It was quite harrowing, if I do say so myself. Even I do not pursue my love interests with zat kind of vigor, je ne pense pas."

Rotor just blinked in befuddlement at Antoine's French babbling. "She did what, now?"

Antoine sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. Let us just say, I do not want to be around her when she is reactivated, si vous plait. She was like zat skunk from zat cartoon, pursuing zee unwilling cat... or something."

Rotor stifled a giggle at Antoine's joke and nodded, leading him back into the workshop for a break. "Well, there must've been something you transferred to her during the accident to make her so amorous to you..." _And I have a good idea what that is,_he thought to himself, longingly. "Then again, it may have been something I programmed into her before the incident."

Antoine blinked and tilted his head as he entered the shop, perplexed. "But, I thought vous said vous did not program anything into Ro-Becca before zee accident."

Rotor sighed and took his cap off, running his hand through his headfur in embarrassment. Crap, he's right. I need to think of something..."Well, technically, yes, but there were a few basic algorithms that I set up for her that was meant to form the basis of her programming. Maybe the jolt activated some of them?"

Antoine was still confused. "What kind of algo-rhythms would cause zee mademoiselle to act in such a manner?"

"Well, um..." Rotor blushed and tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for this... only to falter. Sighing, he decided to spill the beans, hoping Antoine wouldn't get too mad at him. "To be honest, I was planning to use her as a replacement assistant. Sorry, Ant..."

Antoine frowned, his confidence a little shot by the news. "So, you were building her to... to replace moi?"

Rotor shrugged and patted Antoine's back. "I'm sorry, Ant. I know you didn't like being my assistant, and to be honest, I was getting a little tired of it, as well. I didn't want to just throw you out, like that, but it was either that or put you in a position where you'd get hurt and angry. And, well, there were a few tasks I was planning on having her help me with that I knew you weren't prepared to do for me..." _Even though I want you to,_he finished, silently.

That just deepened Antoine's frown. "So, why is it zat you now are wanting to help me out? If you knew how I felt..."

Rotor frowned back and sat down at his console, swinging over to stare at the monitors. He was tempted to reveal what he had learned from his observations of Antoine on the video feeds, but he was concerned about what he'd say. Instead, he just shrugged and lied, "I've just been noticing your performance as my assistant, lately, and I'm starting to realize I haven't been giving you the kind of attention or support you needed, especially now that my plans for Ro-Becca's gone down the tubes."

"Well, I guess zat zere is no reason not to thank you for what you have done," Antoine noted, somberly. It was clear he didn't like what Rotor had told him, but he also knew there was very little he could do about it. "If you want to be repairing or rebuilding Ro-Becca for zat purpose, I will not stop you..." He sighed and turned away, looking longingly at the doorway.

Rotor pursed his lips as he noticed Antoine's reaction to the news, not sure what to do. Getting up, he placed a hand on the coyote's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Look, I know this has been hard for both of us, but Sally's trusted both of us to work together, and I realize it was wrong of me to try and build a replacement to you. If you're willing, I'll be happy to help you get back on track with this job." He took his hand off of Antoine's shoulder and offered it in friendship to him to shake. "What do you say?"

Antoine stared at the walrus' hand, carefully, unsure of what to do. He could tell that Rotor was serious about his offer, but something about it was... off to him, like there was an ulterior motive to it. He also was concerned about Rotor's insistence on talking about Ro-Becca, lately; talking about what he had done to the robot, what Rotor had been planning for it, etc. Now that he knew of what Rotor had been wanting to do with it, the coyote was convinced he would want him to help repair the robot and get it back up and running for just that purpose, but why the offer, in that case? Flustered, Antoine grabbed his head and shook it, frantically. "Oh, non, non, non, non, non... Je ne pas savoir sur quel pied danser. Je ne peux pas accepter ceci, pas après que l'enfer j'ont été à travers avec vous, mais... Oh, mon Dieu, ce qui peut faire?"

Rotor didn't catch a lick of that, but the look on Antoine's face said it all: he was torn on whether to accept or not. Frowning, he dropped his hand and rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "Look, Ant, I don't mean to put you on the spot, like that. I just don't want to make you feel like you're being shoved off without being able to contribute, you know?"

Antoine looked back at the walrus, eyes pleading for something Rotor couldn't quite grasp. The pleading turned to desperation as his indecision froze him in place, keeping him from accepting the offer or backing away. Eventually, after a few minutes of debate, he sighed and drooped his head, defeated. "Maybe I should be thinking on this,n'est-ce pas? If you have not been noticing, I am not quite in zee mood to be working much as your partner."

Rotor nodded and smiled. "I know. Hopefully, if you do accept my offer, you won't be doing as much for me as you were. At the very least, you won't be hauling up as much junk for me as you used to."

"I see," Antoine mumbled, still unsure of Rotor's intentions. "Well, as I said, I would be needing to think about it, but you are making a very tempting offer. For now, let us talk about something else, okay? I am not in zee mood to be making such big decisions, right now, mon ami."

Rotor continued to nod, his smile widening. "Hey, no problem, man. Just let me know, soon; I don't want to get Sally mad at us for holding up production over this."

Antoine nodded back, understandingly. "I understand. So, what else should we be talking about? I am hoping it is not more Ro-Becca discussion,si vous plait..."

Rotor hummed and nodded, sitting back down. "No, I think we've had enough of that hunk of tin for now. Right now, I think we should focus on other things, like..."

Antoine frowned as Rotor paused in thought. Clearly, the walrus didn't know what else to talk about, and frankly, neither did he. He could tell what the walrus was musing over: what could they talk about? Anything Rotor could converse about would likely go over Antoine's head, and anything Antoine said would either be misunderstood or mocked by Rotor. They were two totally different people, their interests and even their train of thought so thoroughly discordant from each other that it was a miracle that they could be lab partners, let alone close friends and allies. Even now, the awkward silence that hovered in the air as both Freedom Fighters struggled to come up with some topic to discuss only served to remind them of the awkwardness of their situation in general. Eventually, much to his consternation, Rotor sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "I dunno. Look, um... If you want to take the rest of the day off to think of my offer, go ahead; I can take care of the rest here..."

Antoine's frown deepened as he heard those words; he knew Rotor liked to be left alone, especially during awkward moments like this, and he obviously didn't want to put the coyote in any more spots. He was tempted to acquiesce to Rotor's suggestion, and even started turning to leave... but something stopped him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the more he thought about it, the more... wrong it seemed. The more it felt like Rotor was hiding something from him. Just by the tone of his voice, Antoine could tell the walrus had been desperately trying to find something, anything to talk about, but it didn't sound as much like he couldn't think of something, as it did he wasn't sure if he could say it - as if Antoine would react badly if Rotor brought it up. The coyote bit his lip as he thought over what Rotor could be thinking, right now; perhaps he wasn't as sincere in his request to remain his assistant as he seemed? Maybe he felt awkward admitting to him his plans for Ro-Becca, and was concerned he'd further hurt Antoine if he divulged everything about it? Those two possibilities certainly came to mind, but as he reminded himself of the effort Rotor had put in in helping him develop his fighting prowess, the coyote couldn't commit to them. It was such an insane juxtaposition, Rotor simultaneously pushing him away and drawing him in, both shunning him and attempting to work with him, and it was driving him mad. Growling in frustration, Antoine finally shook his head, turning back around to face his friend. "Non, I will stay. It would not be fair to you to leave you with zese things to do. And... I do want to continue with zee talking with you, if you do not mind..."

Rotor blinked in surprise at that response, a little nervous about its implications, but didn't feel like questioning it. "Okay, then. What would you like to talk about, then?"