The fifty-ninth episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
When Sonic vanishes mysteriously, Tails enlists the help of a biplane pilot named William Le Duck and Professor Von Schlemmer.
This episode provides examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Von Schlemmer, as usual. When Tails introduces Le Duck to him, Von Schlemmer thinks Tails is introducing him to himself. Tails mentions to Le Duck that even though Von Schlemmer is absent-minded, he's a great inventor, proven when invents a device he uses to track Sonic when he goes missing.
- Ace Pilot: Le Duck is said to be one of Mobius' greatest pilots.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Le Duck describes himself as such.
- Alliterative Title: Tails' Tale.
- Badass in Distress:
- This episode begins with Le Duck getting his plane shot down by Scratch and Grounder, and he would've suffered a fatal crash if it wasn't for Tails' intervention.
- Sonic gets captured by Dr. Robotnik and imprisoned in the dungeon of Komometz's temple. He has to be rescued by Tails, Von Schlemmer, and Le Duck.
- Badass Unintentional: Since Le Duck is afraid of the dark, he ventures into the Temple of Komometz with his eyes closed and ends up falling through the floor... Only to land on Grounder, who had Tails at his mercy, incapacitating the badnik and allowing Tails to break free. Immediately afterwards, Tails returns the favour by saving him from Scratch.
- Beeping Computers: In this episode's "Sonic Says" segment about learning to use computers, Tails' computer keeps beeping, much to his chagrin.
- Character Development: Tails freely introduces himself as Miles Prower to Le Duck, after being shown in "Tails' New Home" to dislike his real name to the point that Sonic threatens to reveal it if he doesn't escape his fake parents' home.
- Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey: Zig-zagged with Le Duck; he is afraid of the dark, but still enters dark, spooky ruins to rescue Sonic and Tails. He is also afraid of flying, which isn't something you'd expect from an Ace Pilot.
- Cowardly Lion: Le Duck is afraid of the dark, but still enters dark, spooky ruins to help Tails rescue Sonic.
- French Jerk: Averted with Le Duck. While he does seem to have a short fuse, he is nonetheless a rather nice fellow and is nothing but friendly towards Tails and Sonic.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Le Duck sports a pair of goggles that he never wears over his eyes, though this is justified since he flies an open-cockpit plane.
- Got Me Doing It: When Scratch and Grounder capture Tails, Tails calls Robotnik "Robuttnik". When Grounder calls Robotnik to tell him he and Scratch have captured Tails, he calls Robotnik "Robuttnik" before correcting himself.
- Gratuitous French: Le Duck peppers his speech with French words such as "sacre bleu!" or "mon dieu!", and has a thick French accent to boot.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Discussed; After Tails and Le Duck rescue Sonic, Sonic gets Tails and Le Duck out of the temple before the sun rises and it disappears. This surprises King Komometz, who didn't believe that Sonic was willing to risk his own life to save those of his friends, as Robotnik previously convinced him that Sonic was a villain who needed to be imprisoned forever to protect the planet.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Robotnik convinces King Komometz that Sonic is a villain who needs to be imprisoned forever to protect Mobius, and pays him in counterfeit money. When Sonic risks his life to get Tails and Le Duck out of the temple before it disappears when the sun rises, this gets Komometz to realize that Sonic is not who Robotnik said he was.
- I Owe You My Life:
- Tails saves Le Duck after Scratch and Grounder cause him to fall asleep at the controls of his plane with a bomb filled with sleeping gas. When they find out that Sonic has gone missing and is later imprisoned in the Temple of Komometz, Le Duck decides to help Tails in his quest to find and rescue him.
- In this episode's second act, Tails gets captured by Scratch and Grounder, but is rescued by Le Duck when he finds his way into the temple. Because Le Duck is afraid of the dark, he keeps his eyes closed so he doesn't have to worry, but this causes him to get captured by Scratch. Tails returns the favor by saving him from Scratch.
- Near the end of the epsiode, Tails and Le Duck rescue Sonic just before the sun rises, and the three are confronted by King Komometz. Sonic gets Tails and Le Duck out of the temple before the sun rises, which gets King Komometz to realize that Sonic is not the villain who needs to be imprisoned forever Robotnik told him he was.
- Iris Out: This epsiode's first act ends with one on Le Duck's plane after Tails goes into the Temple of Komometz to find Sonic.
- Ironic Fear: Le Duck, one of Mobius' greatest pilots, is afraid of flying.
- The Jailer: When Sonic disappears, Tails discovers Robotnik has paid a small fortune for a magical bat to lock the hedgehog up in his temple which will disappear shortly. Played with in that while the bat does charge a fee for his services, his victims are supposed to be actual criminals and villains and Robotnik had tricked him into imprisoning Sonic. Tails wins the day by proving Sonic's heroic nature, thus causing the angry bat to turn on Robotnik.
- Losing Your Head: Happens to Grounder after Le Duck lands on him as a result of finding his way into the Temple of Komometz.
- Mythology Gag:
- The bird that warns Tails and Le Duck that Sonic has gone missing resembles a Flicky, a small animal that escapes from a badnik when Sonic destroys it in the games. Actual red Flickies would appear in the games starting with Sonic & Knuckles when playing as Knuckles.
- Le Duck's plane is a red biplane that Tails ends up piloting. In the Classic games, Tails' plane, the Tornado, is a red biplane as well.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Scratch recites a curse that causes the bridge that Tails and Le Duck cross over a river of lava to collapse; "May your feet flop on the fickle foundation of flimsy nothingness!" Grounder then attempts to recite the same curse, but says, "May flop be your fickle, the foundation of flimsy on!", reversing the curse and rebuilding the bridge. Scratch re-recites the curse, but Tails and Le Duck make it to the other side before the bridge can collapse again. Scratch then asks Grounder to say what he said before to rebuild the bridge so they can catch up to Tails and Le Duck, but now Grounder has forgotten what he said before. Grounder then makes the mistake of telling Tails and Le Duck where Sonic is being held prisoner.
- Race Against the Clock: Since the Temple of Komometz is only visible at night, Tails and Le Duck have to go inside it to find and rescue Sonic, also needing to escape from it before the sun rises and the temple disappears.
- Quacking Up: Le Duck is a Cowardly Lion Ace Pilot duck with a French accent who assists Tails in his quest to rescue Sonic.
- Temple of Doom: Robotnik imprisons Sonic in the Temple of Komometz, a temple that is invisible by day, but visible by night. The temple is also filled with booby traps, and Tails and Le Duck have to rescue Sonic so he can escape before the sun rises and the temple disappears.
