Chapter 4: Retaliation 

Sonic had been working on the lock of the door for some time now. Finally it came lose and the door swung open. The guards had been gone for a while. Probably a riot going on somewhere in the city.

The Freedom Fighters made their way to the exit, releasing the other prisoners on the way. Now if they could get to Kevin and the others. They opened the door that lead out of the prison area and then they were quickly assaulted by a small group of SWATbots. The team made quick work of these with the help of the other prisoners, some of which were fairly skilled in combat.

The group descended a long staircase that would lead to the main level. About the room were various automated turrets. Sonic had to take them out quickly before they could open fire on the group, as he was the only one fast and strong enough to do so. He spun dash at each one’s base, which caused it to deactivate. 

They made their way about the room avoiding security cameras and motion sensors. Then finally they ended up in front of a security bulkhead. It surly wouldn’t be an easy task to penetrate, if they wanted to remain unnoticed. So Rotor and Tails worked at the electronic console, that was the keypad next to the door.

The rest of the group held watch for the few minutes it took to open the door. Once done, the group fought their way though a number of Robowaps. It wasn’t particularly hard to get though, just difficult in a sense that if they were to set off the alarms, they would be assailed by a greater number of opponents. 

Finally they made it to the cyber-jail area. Several high-level SWATbots stood guard. They maintained more sophisticated armor and arms. The group counted twelve of them.

Sonic made his dash toward the furthest one. The group spread up among the rest. Kevin, Why Kit and Zhi Wei watched the battle. The SWATbots IC blasters flashed red, the sparks showered the area. Metal clanged and cries rang out. 

Finally the last of the SWATbots fell. The battle was over… but most of the prisoners had gave their lives in this battle, their charred bodies smoked on the floor. The IC blasters were defiantly fatal. The group found the keys for the cell on one of the remains of a SWATbot. The three captives were released, but they had not been successful in going unnoticed. 

The entrance door of the jail opened quietly. The group looked over to see their enemy. It was Sotsu.

"I am glad to see you’ve made it this far. But you know I can’t let you go," Sotsu said coldly. 

Sonic quickly picked up one of the IC blasters and fired at Sotsu. The blast connected. A blackness enveloped him.

The Freedom Fighters just made it back to Knothole and were greeted with applause. With them was the one they took as a prisoner, it was Sotsu. He was wounded and unconscious. They handed him over to Dr. Quack. Dr. Quack secured Sotsu and strapped him down with a strong metallic alloy. He also secured a psychic nullifying device to his head.

Kevin looked over Dr. Quack’s work and waited for Sotsu to awake. Finally after they treating his wounds, he did.

"Wha… am I al… shoot I’m still here," Sotsu said realizing he’s still on Mobius.

"You were in bad condition. I’m surprised to see you’re alive," Dr. Quack said while working over some monitoring equipment. 

Sotsu looked about the room. It was small but sufficient enough to work as a medical ward. Sotsu found himself restrained by not only physical means but psychical as well.

"So you’re finally awake," Kevin said giving the echidna a cold stare.

"Yes and it looks like you got me this time," Sotsu replied.

"We should have let you die for all of the horrible things you did. But that’d be wrong because you spared all of our lives," Kevin said, his tone was cold toward Sotsu, but not exactly vicious.

"Well stand back when Robotnik fries me," Sotsu said lying his head back on the table. The light gleamed into his eyes. This reminded him of when he first arrived, though he hadn’t been restricted in this fashion. 

"I don’t think he will, I’ve successfully deactivated the device," Dr. Quack said.

"I only had a few minutes to do it before Robotnik would receive the signal from the collar. Kevin says that you were forced to work for Robotnik against your will, so I’m assuming that we have no right to restrain you like this," the doctor added.

"You have no right to trust my though. I was brought here my Robotnik and for that I owe him the favor," Sotsu said, his eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. It was funny to see natural material now. He had adjusted to his previous metallic surroundings, but wood and plants were a common site about here, though this room did contain a good amount of metal equipment.

"So will you join us?" Kevin asked.

"In this situation… I have no choice but to do so. If I say no, I’ll be held prisoner here," Sotsu said with a cold tone.

"Good point. If it were up to me though I’d kill you no matter what," Why Kit said as he entered the room, his voice filled with anger and hate.

"Why Kit don’t say that, we should be happy he’s on out side now," Kevin said toward his friend.

"Yeah, he just wants you to think that. Once we have our back turned he’ll kill every one of us," Why Kit snapped.

Later that night Sotsu was shown to a small hut near the edge of town. He rested on the bed. He had little energy to use since his body forced itself to use most of it to keep him alive before his wounds were treated. He now had the option of fleeing back to Robotnik, or staying here to help the Freedom Fighters. 

He was already recognized as a hero. Here he was more recognized as a great villain. He didn’t know what the Freedom Fighters did with his medal, he figured they discarded it somewhere as a symbol of Robotnik, which it was. 

Sotsu turned his head and starred out the window. The stars glimmered in the dark night sky. They were all unfamiliar with him. This is the first time he’s been able to see them since he’s been here. All the light in Robotropolis overpowered the stars. But here in Knothole, they shined down on the small village. 

Sotsu heard a small beeping sound. He realized that his collar hadn’t been removed because the Freedom Fighters didn’t have the correct tools needed for it. Dr. Quack said that he’d develop a corrosive chemical for it, it’d be ready by tomorrow.

"Backup power activated," the collar said.

"Er… crud," Sotsu said through his teeth.

"Sotsu… Sotsu can you hear me?" Robotnik’s voice rang though the collar. The stars seemed to dim as reality sank back into Sotsu’s mind.

"Yes sir, loud and clear," Sotsu said quietly. 

"They got you eh? Take out every last one of them if you can," Robotnik said sternly.

"Understood."

Kevin and Nikki were doing there usual routine in bed. 

"I’m glad your okay Kevin," Nikki said sweetly.

"This is a gross disappointment. I always thought you were one with self-control," it was Sotsu’s voice. It was coming from somewhere in the room.

Kevin frantically looked around.

"Where are you, you pervert!" Kevin shouted.

"Me a pervert! I’m not the one married at the age of 14!" 

Three shadowy figures rose from nowhere and stood tall in the room. They were human in shape and stood almost like zombies with their backs hunched and their arms hanging. 

"Oh my God what are those?" Nikki cried. She recoiled pushing herself as far back against the bed’s back as possible. 

Kevin put on a light and revealed that they were living mannequins. They had no features on them whatsoever. They were a brown/tan color and were rounded all over. 

They slowly stalked toward the bed in a zombie like fashion.

"These are my friends Kevin. Have fun. Oh yes… and I have several more attacking all over the village. This is a fun scenario I set up. Hurry up you don’t want the bomb in the middle of the village to blow up either," Sotsu said, his voice seemed to be telepathically speaking though the mannequins. 

Kevin shot out several ice arrows at the mannequins. But they merely took the hits and kept coming. A series of cries rang out though the village. The Freedom Fighters were having trouble fighting them off. 

Sonic buzzed though, totally destroying a few, then one actually caught Sonic and through him at a fleeing Mobian like a throwing blade, wounding the Mobian badly. 

Tails could barely do anything to the mannequins, he was simply too weak. The others faired a decent fight. But it took a long time just for them to kill off one mannequin, let alone the twenty or so that were attacking the village. 

Kevin got frustrated and went into a lunatic rage, he blasted the three near him with a shock wave from his open hand. Then he flew outside and began wildly tearing away at the others.

In the middle of the village sat a small ornate brown box. Is had a crank on one side that was turning, like a jack-in-the-box kind. It was even playing the jack-in-the-box song, but in a fast pace. 


On the front of the box was a clock looking design. The hands spun quickly across the several wild looking symbols that made the clock’s perimeter. The overall thing was the design from the Chaos Clock from an episode of the Twilight Zone.

After Kevin finally managed to rid the village of the mannequins. He set down in front of the device. It began to play the music even faster. He tried to pick if up but it wouldn’t move. No doubt, it was being held there by Sotsu.

"Go check Sotsu’s hut!" Kevin yelled at Why Kit. Sotsu wasn’t there though.

Kevin tried several things with the clock, but nothing worked. Finally he realized the symbols on the face of the clock could be moved. He began to move them around, the music began to play even faster. It was now at a psychotic pace. 

Finally Kevin noticed the symbols were pieces of letters. He put them together, they weren’t in order though, and they said "lfWodowo". He put the capital in front and began arranging the letters into different words.

"Woolfowd", "Woodfloo" and several others. Finally he put in "Wolfwood" and the music abruptly stopped. 

"It’s not over yet," Sotsu’s voice rang out from the head of one of the disfigured mannequins.

A loud bang was heard, suddenly a chunk of the ground to the side of Kevin was blasted. Kevin reacted by getting up and running back a ways.

Then another chunk of the ground in front of him was blasted. The dirt showered the area. It wasn't a large hole, just enough to signify that Sotsu was using a large gun.

"Sonic you check around the forest here," Kevin began, pointing toward the forest area in front of his view, "Why Kit, stay and protect the people here. Zhi Wei and I will take the air."

Sonic felt bad for wounding the Mobian. Even though the mannequin actually did it, it was still relative to his actions. 

Kevin took to the air with Zhi Wei. As soon as they rose above the tree line they were almost hit, as a bullet zipped right by Zhi Wei.

Sonic was rushing away from Knothole at max speed. Several shots threw up the dirt around him. He dodged more then enough as well.

"Sally can you hear me?" Sotsu asked telepathically.

"Yes I can? Why are you doing this? We were going to help you?" she said as she and Dr. Quack were helping the wounded Mobian to the medical ward.


"Dr. Robotnik had reactivated the collar. I’m sorry," Sotsu said sadly. 

"Where are you? Dr. Quack can try and jam the signal?" Sally replied.

"I’m sniping from the near the edge of one of the mountains," Sotsu quickly replied.

"I’m trying not to hit Kevin, Zhi Wei or Sonic, but I must try to keep them away from me. If they get close enough I’ll have to use my psychic powers," Sotsu added.

Sally looked toward Dr. Quack. She explained Sotsu’s situation. She said she’d take care of the wounded Mobian and told him to begin sending a jamming signal.

Kevin and Zhi Wei both saw a large black object near the base of the mountain nearby. They finally saw that Sotsu was using a ridiculously long sniper rifle to shoot such a long range.

Sonic made it there finally. He saw the same thing. It was a long and large sniper rifle. The barrel was almost fifteen feet long, and made of a flexible material, several supports held it off the ground. The scope on it was equally large and the whole thing was black.

Sotsu stood up. 

"Sonic I’m glad I didn’t hit you," Sotsu began.

"Shut up you damn killer!" Sonic spun dash at Sotsu how barely had time to stop him with a psychic hold.

"Ah… I see you can’t fight like a man. You have to hold your victim still then kill them," Sonic spat, his voice was strained as he tried to prevent from crying out from the pain of his body being twisted.

"I don’t want to kill you. My collar’s been reactivated," Sotsu said quietly. 

He saw a large flash in the sky as a huge fireball was coming down at him. Kevin and Zhi Wei were above tossing a barrage of projectiles at Sotsu. 

Sotsu managed to dodge all of them with amazing agility. The splash of some of them did edge a bit close to Sotsu though. He was trying to keep the projectiles away from Sonic, who was helpless in Sotsu’s hold. 

"Sonic I’m going to release you. Please don’t attack me," Sotsu said as he let Sonic go.


Kevin and Zhi Wei landed near by. Sonic ran and tackled Sotsu to the ground and began to pelt him with punches. Kevin and Zhi Wei cheered Sonic on. Sotsu got hit a few times then pelted Sonic with one hard punch to the jaw, the spikes skinned the edges of Sonic’s face.

Sonic fell back and stumbled. He felt the warm blood trickling down the sides of his face. Kevin and Zhi Wei conjured their weapons and dashed at the echidna, who was just steadying himself.

"This is Dr. Quack, can you hear me?" the doctor rang over the comm. of the earpiece.

"Dr. Quack?" both Kevin and Zhi Wei stopped in their tracks as they heard the voice.

"Yes doctor did you jam the signal?" Sotsu asked, he was still in a defensive position.

"Yes Sotsu. Yes I jammed Robotnik’s signal now get the collar off!" 


Kevin and Zhi Wei gave each other confused looks, then let their weapons disappear.

"No it’s a trick!" Sonic shouted as he pushed past the two and ran toward Sotsu.

He plowed into Sotsu and grounded him. Then he began to pelt Sotsu again with a barrage of wild punches that really didn’t do much. 

"Hurry up you have less then thirty seconds!" Dr. Quack rang over the comm.

"Sonic… get off!" Sotsu shouted. He grabbed Sonic by the neck and threw him to the ground next to him. Then he got atop him and yelled at him, "You idiot! You do that one more time and I’ll blast you to hell!"


He then grabbed the collar and summoned all of his strength. It hurt as it put pressure on the back of his neck, but after a few seconds of painful struggling the thing came off with a loud snap. 

Sotsu tossed it to the ground. He got up and offered Sonic a hand. 

Sonic gave Sotsu a glare, then took the hand and Sotsu helped him up. 

The fur underneath where the collar was flattened out, from having had been that way for two days.

"I’m sorry for what I did," Sonic said apologetically.

"Don’t be. I deserved it," Sotsu said quietly. 

The four began their walk back to the forest. All of them were weary from the tenacity of the battling. Now they could rest finally. Sotsu was now truly on their side. Everything Sotsu created eventually disappeared, having been forgotten. 

"Ahem," Kevin began as they walked back to Knothole.

"What?" Sotsu began.

"How long were you… um… watching?" Kevin said, his face turned a shade of red.

"Only a few seconds," Sotsu said, not even looking at Kevin, just keeping faced ahead.

"Oh. Hey what’d you mean I have a lack of self-control?" Kevin snapped.

"Just what I said. You have no self-control. Just because I’m not evil doesn’t mean I’m not a jerk," Sotsu replied.

"It took a whole two hours for me to make those mannequins to. You broke ‘em all," Sotsu added, he was half-joking. 

"You know I don’t think I’ll like having you around," Kevin said.

"I don’t care. Just for that, I think I’m gonna insult you more often. You sicko," Sotsu replied, with a sarcastic tone.


Sonic and Zhi Wei broke into laughter and Kevin turned a brighter shade of red, now anger and embarrassment took onto him. 


The continued arguing until they reached Knothole. Sotsu was greeted with a normal harsh greeting. Then it was announced that he had once again been under control of Robotnik, but now that threat had been taken care of. The village rejoiced as they heard that he was going to be a Freedom Fighter, he owed them that because of what he did. 

He was unenthusiastic about the whole thing. He had a problem for almost never being enthusiastic, he figured being emotional about things was pointless. Sally commented him being like Kevin about that.

He then told the group that he planned on going to Echidnaopolis in hope of meeting Knuckles and perhaps becoming a Chaotix. He was now free of the hold of Robotnik, he had regained his free will. What was going to become of him now?