SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: SUPER SONIC Z
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: THE DEVIL'S GULAG, PART II

Bunnies stood there, in the middle of the arena inside a prison called the Devil's Gulag, the place her childhood was wasted, the place a friend of her died, and the place she failed to protect Nicole from her fate…as the bad memories came back to her more than ever, once again she found herself in the middle of a display of violence that would amuse the robotic minions watching her.

"Meet Bunnie's opponent, he's a killer, he's a savage wild dog, he is a shadow, he's Kage Von Stryker!" the Announcer said as a dingo whose left half was literally cybernetic came into the ring. He seemed to enjoy the cheering he received from the Egg Pawns. "Thank you, thank you…what? I'm going to fight a girl? Is this a joke?"

"It ain't joking! But we don't have to fight. Ah can help you get outta here…" Bunnie suggested. "Why would I want that? I got the fame and the glory, they love me. And I get to punch shit!" Kage answered. Bunnie realize this one has gone delusional. "Ah see you lost yer mind…then sorry for doin' this!" she said as she prepared for combat. "Bring it on, toots!" Kage mocked as he rushed at her.

He swiped with his cybernetic claw, but she ducked under it and uppercut him, sending him flying. "Heh…feisty one, 'ey?" he said as he recovered pretty quickly before he stretched his arm on a cable, grabbing Bunnie's face and slamming her into the opposite wall. But Bunnie tore the claw off her face, and pulled Kage in closer by it, and then punched him real hard and sent him flying in the opposite wall.

Kage now looked rather pissed. "Okay, no more Mr. Nice guy!" he roared as he rushed at her yelling, the two locking hands and tried pushing each other back. Both were evenly matched since they both had cybernetics. But Bunnie had something Kage didn't have. "I've got sumthin' to fight for, while you haven't!" Bunnie said as she tossed Kage to the ground, before she punched him in the chest, creating a crater in the ground, before jumping on top of him, pushing him deeper in the ground and making the crater bigger.

Kage looked dazed for a moment, before he lost consciousness. The Croc Pawns all cheered at her victory. "Ah've played yer game long enough now, Crocbot, now lemme out so I can whoop yer ass!" Bunnie said as she morphed her hand in a cannon and shot at Crocbot, but the blast bounced off the force field and Bunnie jumped back to dodge her own deflected energy blast.

"Oh no you won't, not until my people get bored…and that might take a while. You'll keep fighting and fighting. But hey, remember how you enjoyed it back then? I read your body signals during that time, the rush of adrenaline, the increase of your heartbeat, you loved it, but you didn't want to admit it…" Crocbot taunted.

"Ah didn't, not that way!" Bunnie said as she started blasting the force field with barrages of arm cannon blasts, but they always deflected and Bunnie was forced to dodge them again and again. "Keep lying to yourself…it won't help, cause the next contestant is on his way." Crocbot muttered.

Muttski followed his nose (he's a dog after all) and tracked Bunnie's scent. He came across the door Bunnie had stepped through to fall in the arena trap. He tried prying the door open, but wouldn't budge. "Doesn't work...!" Muttski put his ear to the door and could hear from the other side the announcer commenting on how Bunnie was fighting. "Muttski must get back to the others quickly." Muttski said.

Meanwhile, Antoine took Guru and Nicole to a control room, from where the prison was run, but it was run automatically by a program as Crocbot was watching the show personally. "What Crocbot has put in, can't be as bad as the programs protecting the Death Egg, I should get control of this in no time." Nicole stated. Guru plugged Nicole in and started dialing himself, hoping to make things easier. Antoine blocked the door with a chair as they continued.

Nicole, in the digital realm, found herself confronted by several programs shaped like floating crocodile heads. Nicole grabbed two small data blades and slices them apart in no time. "I almost miss Eggman, his programs at least could put up a challenge. I really hang out around Sonic too much…" she said as she slashed the final croc head apart. She waved her hand to bring up some programs she already unlocked.

One of them was direct video footage from the arena. "So they still have that going on…Bunnie? Guys, you need to see this!" Nicole said as she made the video footage visible to Antoine and Guru. "Sacre Blue, how did she get in there? And what is she doing?" Antoine asked.

"Guess the big croc dude has lured her in…" Guru stated. "This is bad, Bunnie is currently reliving some bad memories this way, and if things get out of hand, she'll lose herself. It nearly happened once." Nicole stated.

"Lose 'erself? What are you talking about?" Antoine asked. "Bunnie was forced to fight hard and to the limit to survive and protect me. They really drove her far, she nearly snapped and lashed out at me once. What if they'll try that again? I know her wounds haven't healed." Nicole explained.

"Then 'elp her! I can't stand to see ma chèrie zis way!" Antoine begged. "It appears the programs running the arena's equipment and security systems are a bit tougher, but I should be able to hack it. Just give me some time." Nicole said as in the digital realm, she found herself confronted by programs that are hybrids of crocs and tanks. There was then some banging on the door of the control room, probably from patrolling minions.

"I vraiment hope we can give you ze time!" Antoine said as he and Guru rushed at the door and put their weight against it, trying to keep the door closed, while Nicole in the computer fought the croc-tank programs. She avoided their energy blasts as she agilly landed on one of them, bent his turret, so that it blasted itself, before jumping up as it shattered itself, and use her data blades to cut down some croc tank programs as she landed.

In the arena, Bunnie had continued fighting opponents. Her current one was a scarlet red Mobian salamander who had robotic arms and a robotic lower jaw, as well as a fuel tank on his back connected to his arms. He used that to shoot streams of fire from his hands. "Burn, burn! That's what Zan wants! Burn!" he said, being another prisoner driven insane by the fighting.

"Zan needs to shut his yap!" Bunnie said as she used her jet boosters to fly up and dodge the stream of flames, then rush at him and deliver a flying punch, knocking him back. He tries to get up and aim his flamethrowers, but Bunnie grabs his hands in hers and crushes them. She then ripped the fuel tank from his back before she punched his jaw, knocking the metal lower jaw off…

She then slammed him into a wall, and repeatedly kept punching Zan, leaving a deep imprint in the wall, and kept punching for a while, even as Zan was unconscious. She got tired and leaned with her hands on her knees, panting heavily as she had scored another victory. Her eyes were dull and she was sweating, and she seemed off…

"She's slowly getting back into it I see…has been a while since I saw that spark in her. She's getting more ruthless as the fights get on, I actually might be on the verge of rooting for her." Crocbut muttered amused.

"And now for the main event, a battle royale! The current champion now must hold her own against an entire team of fighters. Presenting the Downunda Freedom Fighters." The new opponents came into the ring: Barby, Bill, Stu, Walt and Trash, all wearing headbands that allowed Crocbot to control them. How would this turn out?

Antoine and Guru no longer could hold back the hord of Croc Pawns, as they broke through the door, so they started fighting them. Antoine grabbed his sword while Guru picked up the chair to smash the robotic minions. "I was under ze impression you dislike ze violence, non?" Antoine asked. "May be, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to fight. Just prefer to not do it, but there are times where you are forced and…you get the idea." Guru replied as they kept bashing the croc pawns.

Muttski arrived to help the others, ripping the wings of a wing dingo and use them as shields and smashing weapons at the same time, as he said the others: "Guys, Muttski knows where Bunnie is, she…" "She eez at ze arena, I know! Nicole is trying to stop ze fighting!" Antoine explained.

Nicole was just ready finishing the last croc programs as she was putting some bits and bytes of data in different places to get control of the system. She brought up the footage again and saw how Bunnie was fighting the mind-controlled freedom fighters.

Bunnie dodged punches launched by Barby as she punched her back, sending her flying, only to get grabbed from behind in a bear hug by Trash. She headbutted him and he let go as she throws him over his shoulder, knocking him into Bill in the progress. She then got a boomerang to the head, as she was dazed. But she recovered quickly to catch Walt's next boomerang in her hand and crush it, before she punched him too. Stu jumped on her back, but Bunnie dropped on her back, smashing Stu into the ground. The Downunda Freedom Fighters got up again, Bunnie roaring in anger, pumped up from the fighting.

"Oh, I need to do something quickly…maybe I can hack the collars with a wireless signal and…there!" Nicole said as she quickly did as told. The headbands beeped and shattered, returning them back to normal.

"Oof, I'm glad to be able to think again." Bill said in relief. But he was immediately forced to dodge blasts fired from Bunnie's arm cannons as she was firing around wildly. "But I never wanted to run into that." He noted. "It's five to one, we can take her." Barby said. But then their communicators (Crocbot hadn't taken them all away, as Nicole allowed Guru to talk to them: "Don't hurt her dudes! She has suffered emotional scars in the past and now Crocbot is tearing them open again, she's not herself."

"If that's so, then we need to hold back!" Trash noted, as he quickly dodged another blast from Bunnie. "Easier said than done, I think she doesn't feel like holding back." Stu noted. "Just distract them dudes, I got a friend here who can help us out, just hold her back some longer."

"Got it! okay everyone, dogpile her." Bill said as she five Freedom Fighters both jumped on top of Bunnie, pinning her down. "Whatever you do, don't let her…" Bill stated, but Bunnie roared in anger as she tossed of the five Freedom fighters, knocking them in the air, and hit them with her cannons like in target practice, knocking them all out the air and onto the ground.

Bunnie's eyes were red and devoid of what made her Bunnie, gritting her teeth, breathing heavily…she was going completely insane. She moved over to Barby, picked her up by the throat, as the entire crowd of Pawns muttered: "Finish her!" Bunnie was prepared to do so, but then…

The video screens on top of the arena, used for play-by-play and replay action, suddenly sported Nicole's face on it: "Bunnie, stop!" Nicole shouted. Bunnie tilted her confused head in the direction of the screen.

"Muttski has told us of your crazy move. You tried getting after Crocbot…I know the memories that haunted you, they haunted me as well. But they aren't as scary as I remember because every time, I recall you being there, being strong and protecting me. I don't blame you for what has happened to me. They would have gotten us anyway. We would be wandering the desert aimlessly after our escape…Bunnie, please don't lose yourself, don't let it get to you. Be strong." Nicole said.

Nicole then let Antoine have a word: "Bunnie, ma chèrie? Why 'ave you not told me about ze pains from ze past? Why 'ave you kept eet from me? I know you wanted to be strong, but no one can be strong all ze time. Whenever you would feel you were losing strength, you could come to me to lend some…If you 'ave pain, let me take it away, Bunnie!" Antoine begged.

Bunnie shook her head as her face returned to normal. "What am ah doin'?" she realized as she let Barby down. "Ah'm sorry, I didn't know what came over me…" "It's nothing, if I got what your friends said, you have gone through a lot." Barby said.

"No, fight! Fight for my amusement!" Crocbot growled in anger, not happy his games were disrupted. "Ah'm sorry, but ah'm not a fightin' machine! Ah fight to protect, ah'm no longer fightin' to amuse ya!" Bunnie bit back.

Crocbot growled in anger. But it turned into a grin as he said: "You know, I'll just lower the force field and leave you at the mercy of my Egg Pawns, who are dying to make you pay for ruining their amusement." Crocbot wanted to press a button on his throne, but it didn't work. "What the…"

"Sorry, I control everything now!" Nicole's voice sounded again. "What? Gimme the control back!" "Ah-ah-ah! You didn't say the magic word." Nicole said, as she opened the gates, allowing Bunnie and the Dowunda Freedom fighters to get out. At the same time, Nicole had opened every cell door to open and the prisoners to run out in joy and stampede. The heroes joined the crowd of prisoners. Nicole had returned to her handheld, but had left enough programming behind to leave the prison unoperable.

The prisoners stormed out, the Croc Pawns, unable to stop them as the prisoners, so excited to have their freedom back, waltzed over them, and with the security disabled the Egg Pawns couldn't get the prisoners back under control. "Jailbreak!" rang through the air as the prisoners kept shouting it over and over again.

The crowd had made it outside, as they ran off, and Nicole had programmed the prison's security system to shut itself completely off once everyone has gone out, so Crocbot and his troops were trapped inside. "Drat, that bunny bitch got away. They think they can keep me inside, this is my prison, I'm the warden, I'm the boss."

"Self-Destruct initiated. This place will blow in sixty seconds." A computerized voice said. "Oh crud!" Crocbot moaned. "This was Cyber-Brawl, thank you and good night, forever…" the announcer moaned. And just like that, the prison blew up, taking down all of Eggman's robots with it.

Everyone cheered, that the place where nightmares were born were gone. The prisoners were free, the cyborgs Bunnie had fought would be committed to a mental asylum and the freedom fighters of Downunda were complete again. "I can't believe you actually went on a field mission to save us!" Bill complimented Guru. "I needed some encouragement, but I couldn't let my friends rot in there." Guru replied.

Bunnie sighed as she turned to her friends: "I wanna thank ya all for savin' me. Otherwise I'd be another mindless fightin' machine. I wanna thank ya." She said. "It's the least we could do. You thought us to be strong, the best way to repay you was to remind you of that." Nicole replied. "Oh Nikki-gal, if only you had a body I'd could hug…" Bunnie said.

"You can hug moi!" Antoine said. "Don't mind if ah do…I'm sorry sugah-Twan. I have told ya of my past, but I left sum important chapters out. I knew I should've trusted ya, but I didn't want to look weak…" she said. "It's all right ma chèrie. Just don't forget that in ze future, if you feel like losing your strength, I'll lend you mine." Antoine said as the two embraced and kissed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaww!" all the bystanders said. Muttski moved in front of them: "Okay people, give the two some privacy! Get out, scram! You have no life to rebuild, or some Freedom to enjoy? SCRAM!" Muttski said as he guided the escaped prisoners away. "Bunnie and Antoine have some time together, Muttski, Nicole and Dowunda Freedom Fighters will take care of the rest." Muttski said as he took Nicole's handheld and left the two for some time alone.

A seriously damaged Crocbot, who had lost both his arms, his tail and half his face, managed to crawl out of the remains of the Gulag, miraculously active, but barely. But he only took a few steps as he saw a flying probe approach him. "Huh?" he asked.

"Hello Crocbot. I see you have allowed the Gulag to be destroyed and the prisoners to escape." A voice said from the probe. Crocbot recognized the voice and sounded scared: "No! You're supposed to be dead…"

"I'm very much alive. But you, not so much. I'm going to make my return, completely reimagined. To erase the tracks of my former persona completely, I need to dispose of every trace, that includes you." the voice from the probe said.

"No, please, give me another chance!" "Bye-Bye!" the probe shot a laser from it's front, slicing Crocbot clean in two, finally shutting him down forever. The probe flew off in the distance.

Meanwhile, at the factory, the smoke being, being the source of the voice, had completed a body for himself, but it was shrouded in the shadows, only it's red eyes visible. "Now I just need to wait till the Freedom Fighters dispose of the remaining sub-bosses. Anything related to my previous incarnation must be erased, so I can start of freshly…"

He then turned around to his army of Swatbots, and then he turned to a trio of new minions. They were in suspended animation for now, but not for long. The villain snapped his fingers and the trio sprung to life.

The first two were small hovering robots, one being based around an orb, the other around a cube. The third looked human, like a female Overlander girl in a black bodysuit and short red hair. Her eyes showed however she wasn't human, as streams of data were visible on her retinas.

"SA-55 Orbot, How can I be of service master?" the orb robot asked.

"Yee-haw, it feels good to be runnin'! Or my name ain't SA-56 Cubot, no sir!" the cube robot said in a cowboy accent.

"About time you woke me, being dormant for so long is such a pain in the neck." The Overlander android girl said as she cracked her neck. "But oh well, Infiltration Unit EL-153, ready for action." She replied.

"Excellent. Now, while the Freedom fighters are busy erasing all of Eggman's work, it is time for a new ruler to take its place, and they'll soon find out who it is. But first I need to set up a few things for my arrival, and you three need to help me on that." The villain said growling.

TO BE CONTINUED