Chapter #11: Resetti

Even after the sun sank into the west, leaving the world in darkness, the eight heroes saw no sign of the mole Resetti. When the town hall clock chimed 9:00, they retreated to their house for the night in defeat, with Ratchet vowing they would find their target the next day. They each went to their assigned floors and fell into a deep sleep.

But at around eleven o' clock, Sonic was awakened by a loud knocking noise. He crawled to the edge of the roof and stared into the darkness. A shadowy figure was knocking at their door. Actually, it was more like banging.

Bang bang!

"I wonder who that is, and what he wants at this time of night," the hedgehog muttered to himself.

He climbed back into the house through an open window and tiptoed past SpongeBob and Patrick (who were once again talking in their sleep). He found Ratchet, Clank, and Tails in the living room, groggy and irritated at being disturbed, especially Ratchet. Sonic couldn't help but stare at the N90 Hurricane in the Lombax's hands.

"Who's makin' all that racket?" Ratchet said angrily. "If he doesn't knock it off soon…" he cocked the assault rifle, "things will get ugly. I hate it when my sleep's disturbed."

"Ratchet, calm down," said Clank. "There is no need for violence." But his partner ignored him.

Tails rubbed his eyes. "I've gotta admit, that's getting annoying. I wonder if the others heard it."

Three loud knocks later, Spike and Jimmy were up as well, armed to the teeth with their Stun Clubs. It took six extra-loud knocks to wake up SpongeBob and Patrick…well, SpongeBob anyway. When Patrick came to the top of the stairs, he was actually sleepwalking!

"I'll get it," the starfish mumbled to no one in particular. But since he was wet from his tub, he slipped and tumbled down the stairs, landing on SpongeBob. When the strange visitor knocked again, he lifted his head and asked sleepily, "Who's there?" Everyone else quieted him with a "Shhhh!"

Spike opened the door, and they saw a mole dressed in a miner's outfit. He looked pretty ticked. "Well, it's about time!" the insectivore snapped. "I've been waitin' at your door for five minutes!"

"What do you want? It's eleven at night!" Spike shot back.

The mole squinted at Spike and then backed up a step. "Hold it! You're not the kid I'm lookin' for! He lives at this house!"

"Lived at this house. My friends and I live here now. Who are you anyway?"

"You don't know who I am?! Well, ya should! Mr. Resetti's my name, bein' mean is my game!"

Tails immediately perked up. "Mr. Resetti!" he whispered to the others.

Everyone realized that their loud-mouthed visitor was the one they had been looking for, and they instantly became cautious. All except for Ratchet and Patrick, that is. Ratchet was too upset about being disturbed to care, and Patrick, well…

"Who's Mr. Resetti?" the starfish asked.

"I am, dipstick!" Resetti screamed.

"No you're not! You're Mr. Rogers!"

"Patrick, shush!" SpongeBob told his friend. He covered Patrick's mouth, but the damage had been done. Resetti was furious.

"Mr. Rogers? That does it! I'm gonna take you downtown!"

Clank became suspicious. "Are you the chief of the law enforcement in this settlement?"

"No! Of course not! If I was, I would've sent someone else to do this job for me!"

Sonic held up his hands and exclaimed, "Alright, we got the point, so quit shouting! Why did ya come here, anyway?"

Resetti glared at the hedgehog and replied angrily, "That's none of yer beeswax, pin cushion!"

Ratchet, who hadn't said anything, suddenly lost his temper and pointed his rifle at Resetti. "Quit yelling or I'll blow your head off!"

"I can yell all I want!" the mole shot back. "Also, you're not supposed to have any weapons! Give that gun to me!"

The Lombax stepped back, gripping his rifle tighter. "No! It's mine!"

Clank said desperately, "Rat…err…Sarge, calm down!"

Resetti grinned at the nickname. "Listen to the trash can, Sarge, and gimme yer gun!!"

At the nickname of "trash can", Clank's eyes narrowed and glowed red. Slowly his head turned around to face Resetti. "What…did…you…call…me?"

All eyes turned to the angry little robot; even Ratchet stared at him. Everyone except Resetti instantly became afraid of Clank. "Uh oh. That did it," Spike said.

"Mr. Resetti, if I were you, I'd take that back," Jimmy warned him with wide eyes.

The mole just laughed. "No way! In fact, I'll say it again!"

Ratchet's eyes bugged out of his head, and he waved his hands frantically. "Resetti, no!" But it was too late.

"Pipsqueak, you're nuthin' but a trash can!"

Clank glared at him for five seconds, and then he folded his arms, legs, and head into his body.

Sonic became uneasy. "Ratchet, what's going on?" he asked. The Lombax only gulped in reply.

"Nuthin', that's what's goin' on!" laughed Resetti. "He hid himself! He's nuthin' but a chicken! Just a chick—"

Clank's voice from inside his body interrupted him. "Self-destruct in ten seconds."

Resetti gaped. "What the…?"

The heroes' eyes grew wide. That is, everybody's but Patrick's. Instead he put on a goofy face and shouted, "Yay! Fireworks!"

As Clank counted down, chaos ensued. SpongeBob ran in circles, Tails shouted for everyone to find cover, Sonic told them to run, and Patrick laughed like the moron he was. Finally Spike told the gang to take cover in the house, and he shut the door behind them. Ratchet yelled for them to brace themselves, and they covered their ears. However, Resetti didn't try to take cover; he was too shocked to even speak. As the countdown ticked off the final five seconds, the mole managed to say, "Uh…oh…"

KABOOOOOOM!!

The explosion was loud and broke the windows of the house, but it wasn't big. The heroes didn't move for a few seconds, but then they checked themselves; no one had been harmed. Finally, Ratchet poked his head out the door; he whistled at the sight before them. The others came out and surveyed the scene.

There was a black hole where Clank had been, and Resetti was covered with the same black dirt. He stared at them with wide eyes. He coughed and squeaked, "Mommy…" before falling over.

"Happy birthday!" Patrick said happily.

"What was that, Ratchet?" asked Sonic.

"Clank's self-destruct function," the Lombax replied. "I programmed it into him about a week ago. I made it so that if Clank found himself in a bad situation, he could activate it anytime he wanted. I knew he had activated it because of the red eyes."

Tails asked, "Where is he now?"

"All over the acre, no doubt," Spike muttered as he stared at the small black crater.

SpongeBob sniffed. "Poor little guy."

"Don't cry about it," Ratchet said. "Watch."

They suddenly noticed that Clank's head, torso, limbs, and other scattered pieces began to move back toward the crater, where they reassembled themselves. A few minutes later, the robot was back to normal. (A/N: I saw it in an animated movie, The Iron Giant; handy! But Clank doesn't really do this, as far as I know, heh heh…)

"That was…actually fun. Hehehehehe," said the robot. Then he turned to his companion and said with a mischievous grin, "You should start listening to me more, Ratchet." Ratchet chuckled uneasily in reply.

"Hey, guys, what are we gonna do with Resetti?" Jimmy asked, gesturing toward the mole with his Stun Club.

Upon hearing his name, Resetti sat up with a groan and stared at them. "I'll answer that: you're doin' nuthin' with me! I'm getting' outta here an' reportin' all of you to the robots! And I'll bring my brother Racketti to get you, alien freak!"

Ratchet's eyes grew wide; Resetti was annoying enough, but he hated to think of what his brother was like! "He has a brother?!" he cried. He turned to Clank and said, "Quick, load my Shock Blaster!"

In turn, Resetti was afraid to know what Ratchet's Shock Blaster was and what it could do. "Your what?! That does it; I'm outta here!"

But before he could escape, Spike and Jimmy jumped him with their Stun Clubs armed, both saying in unison, "Oh, no you're not!" The two cousins clubbed Resetti over the head several times, and he easily went down. Once they were sure that he was unconscious, Sonic sent Tails and SpongeBob into the house for some rope.

Ratchet smiled and rubbed his hands gleefully like a mad scientist. "Looks like we've got ourselves a hostage, boys," he said with a grin.

Sonic warned him with a glare for emphasis, "Don't even think about knocking him around with your weapons, Ratchet; we need him alive and unharmed."

"Please? Just an teensy weensy bit?" pleaded the Lombax.

"No!"

He folded his arms and pouted. "Fine. But if he refuses to talk, let me know, and I'll fix him for ya."


A few minutes later on the second floor of the heroes' house, the gang had tied Resetti to a ranch armchair. The mole had regained consciousness, and he yelled insults at them. Sonic and Spike had to restrain Ratchet a few times before Resetti realized what danger he was getting himself into. After that he shut up, squirming and glaring silently in his seat.

While the gang was talking about what questions they were going to ask their captive, SpongeBob paced in front of him. He demanded to him in a low, dramatic tone, "Alright, Resetti, spill it! Tell us everything you know! Who is Big Boss?! What are his plans? Who are his spies?"

Spike turned around from the hero group's huddle and asked, "SpongeBob, what are you doing?"

The sea creature replied with a smile and a shrug, "I'm just trying to make this more exciting!"

Resetti rolled his eyes. "Oh brother."

Sonic stepped out of the huddle and said, "Never mind him, Spike. Let's just question Resetti for real."

"Okay." The Monkey Catcher turned to Resetti. "First off, what errand were you running for Big Boss? Don't keep your mouth shut, 'cause that would be a mistake."

"Whatever happened to the right to be silent?" the mole muttered in reply. Ratchet, who was standing behind the chair, whacked him with his Omniwrench. "Ow! Okay, okay! I came here to arrest the kid that lived here! Happy?!"

Sonic shook his head. "Nope. What did the kid do wrong?"

"The Secret Police Chief found out he was with the Animal Alliance."

"How did he find out?" Jimmy asked, eager to be part of the interrogation.

"That's none o' yer…" Resetti began. But Ratchet's wrench made contact with his head again. "Ow! Fine! He interrogated the Able Sisters!"

"The Able Sisters? Who are they?" said Sonic.

"Seamstresses. They owned a tailor's shop by the beach before they were arrested. I'm surprised that you don't know 'em, pin cushion. I thought that you might be a cousin o' theirs."

Spike scratched his chin. "So they're hedgehogs, huh? Well, if you know that the Able Sisters are captive, then you must know whom else Big Boss has prisoner. Tell us…please."

At first, the mole growled angrily in defiance, but the sight of trigger-happy Ratchet raising his wrench changed his mind. "Alright, alright, I'll talk! Just don't sic that alien freak on me! The ACSP in AnimaCity has Rover, Chip, Joan, Jingle, Pelly, Pete, Blanca, Copper, Booker, and Wendell."

"Wendell?!" Ratchet exclaimed. "He's so stupid that he could never be an agent! Why'd ya arrest him?"

Resetti shrugged. "Good point."

Spike whispered to Sonic in a worried voice, "That's a lot of agents. Where in the world could they hide that many people?!"

"I think I know how we can find out," the hedgehog said. "Just follow my lead." He turned to Resetti and told him, "I'm surprised you managed to catch that many agents, Resetti. I'm even more impressed by the way you keep them hidden."

Spike quickly caught on to the flattery, and he added with fake exasperation, "We've seen the 'bots take them into the police stations, but we never see them again! We can't ever find them!"

Resetti couldn't help but brag about that fact, and that's just what Sonic wanted. "Ha! That's 'cause you morons never thought to look inside the lockers! The back walls are actually the doors to secret bases under the police stations! Even if you did find a door, you would need a password to get in the base! No enemy agent would ever guess it: 'Evil shall rule!' It's the biggest secret of the ACSP!"

Ratchet grinned. "It's not so secret anymore, 'cause you just told us, rocks for brains!"

(A/N: You know, 'cause he's a mole, and he mines…never mind, it was a dumb pun…)

The realization that he had been tricked struck Resetti, and he glared angrily at Sonic and yelled, "Hey! Why you little…"

The blue hero smirked. "Thanks for the info, Resetti. I guess the old saying 'There's more than one way to skin a cat' is pretty true after all."

"I'll get you for that, you rat!" He earned a whack on the head from Ratchet in return.

"Unfortunately for you, we're not done yet. Who else knows about this secret? In other words, tell us the names of other ACSP spies like yourself."

Resetti quickly realized that he was just making things worse on himself by refusing to talk. If he told them everything they wanted to know, maybe that weird alien would quick hitting him so much. With a "Hmph", he began his reply.

"There are just five of us: my brother Racketti scouts the territory like me, Gracie the fashion designer is cooperating with Big Boss, Phyllis sneaks us names of Allies, and Crazy Redd arrests suspected Rebels."

Spike frowned. "Didn't Phyllis work at the Post Office?"

Sonic nodded grimly and added, "She probably turned in the other two, Pete and Pelly."

"But Timmy and Tommy told me that Phyllis and Pelly are sisters," Tails interjected. "Would a sister really do that?"

The others shrugged, and Ratchet replied, "I hate to say it, but it's not impossible."

With a sigh, Sonic turned back to Resetti. "The last but not least question, Resetti: who is suspected of being an Ally?"

"You expect me to know everybody on the lists?" he asked with a sneer.

Ratchet held up his wrench threateningly and replied, "Not everyone, just the ones you know for sure."

"…Fine. Here's the list: Tortimer, Tom Nook an' his brats, Blathers, Porter, Saharah, K.K. Slider, Kapp'n, Gulliver, and some wimp named Sonic."

Everyone froze and stared at the mole. "Did you say…Sonic?" asked Ratchet.

"Of course I did! Phyllis told me 'bout the guy the yesterday, and I made a report to the Secret Police Chief. But I said that it's just a buncha baloney. Supersonic hedgehogs, ha! What's next, flying foxes?"

"Err…" Tails stammered, and quickly hid his second tail from view.

"Has the report reached Big Boss yet?" Spike asked, concern written all over his face. If the Secret Police and Big Boss knew about Sonic, then surely they knew about the rest of the gang. That would mean danger for all of them.

"Nah, I doubt it," replied Resetti with a small wave of his paw. "The Chief won't bother The Boss with some silly story 'bout a hedgehog that can break the sound barrier by running."

Sonic himself was a bit concerned about the enemy's awareness of his presence. "But will the Secret Police be looking for him?"

"What is it with you and Sonic?! He doesn't exist!"

"Then explain why he's staring you in the face," said the hedgehog with a smirk.

"Wha…" Resetti studied his interrogator, trying to remember Phyllis's description of the so-called supersonic hedgehog. He realized that he matched the supposedly fictional hero. "It is you!" he cried angrily and squirmed some more. "As soon as I get outta here, hedgehog, you and yer pals are dead meat! I'll spread the word about you and your buddies! You might be able to run fast, but you can't hide from The Boss's Secret Police!"

Spike folded his arms. "Which is why we're not gonna let you go."

"What?!"

"We don't want you to tell your friends all about us," said Ratchet.

Resetti erupted into a tirade of threats. "You just wait, traitors! They will find me!! And when they do, you'll regret the day you were born! You'll be tortured endlessly! The Boss will make sure that your deaths are all slow! All hail Big Boss!!"

"All right, that's enough!" Ratchet exclaimed, and he clubbed Resetti. The mole lost consciousness again, and Tails and Jimmy tied him tighter and gagged him with a washrag. "I didn't mind his threats," the Lombax said, "but when he started declaring Big Boss supreme ruler…blech!" The others nodded, and Jimmy made a gagging noise.

"I don't get it. How can ya use a bad guy to measure stuff?" piped up Patrick.

Jimmy slapped his forehead. "Oh brother."

"SpongeBob and I aren't brothers!"

"Can it, Patrick," growled Ratchet.

"Sorry, I don't speak English."

Spike muttered, "Oh, that's right. You speak Dorkinese."

The starfish heard a part of what he said. "What's that? Did you call yourself an idiot?"

"Why you little…"

"I told you I don't speak Spanish!"

Again Ratchet lost his temper with Pat and pointed his Annihilator at him. "Shut up, Patrick!!"

Patrick stared wide-eyed down the barrel of the weapon; he knew better than to say another word. "Finally!" said Spike.

Tails groaned and rubbed his forehead like he had a headache. "Do we have to go through this again?"

Sonic was just as annoyed. "Guys, let's just ignore Peanut Brain and try to make use of Resetti's information."

The starfish brightened. "Peanuts? I love peanuts!"

Spike glared at Patrick one last time before returning to the subject. "I just hope the info was worth kidnapping Resetti for."

"Trust me, guys, I think it was worth it. After all, he did tell us where the ACSP has taken Copper and Booker," Sonic pointed out. "Now we can sneak into the police station and rescue them!"

Ratchet quickly warmed up to the idea. He exchanged his Annihilator for his N90 Hurricane and said, "Sounds like we're storming a secret base! Count me in!"

Just then Jimmy noticed something stuck in Resetti's left pocket. He pulled it out. "Hey, guys, look! Resetti had a note on him! It's some kind of message to the Secret Police Chief!"

"What does it say?" asked Tails.

The boy read aloud to them, his eyes growing wider as he read. "Arrest suspected Rebels Tom Nook and Mayor Tortimer tonight. Both suspects are believed to be in AnimaCity. Signed: Big Boss."

SpongeBob's eyes grew big as well. "Wow. A letter from the bad guy himself!"

"Oh no," moaned Tails. "They're gonna arrest Tortimer and Nook!" Then his eyes widened with horror. "And maybe even Timmy and Tommy."

Ratchet cocked his rifle, a look of anger on his face. "No twisted police chief is gonna hurt innocent kids if I've got somethin' to say about it!" The others nodded their heads, thinking mutual thoughts.

Sonic rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, it looks like we've got two jobs ahead of us. We need to warn Tom and the mayor and rescue the ACSP prisoners. We can do both by splitting up."

"But we can't just leave Resetti here!" SpongeBob protested. "What if he escapes?"

"Or turns our lights off?" Patrick added with a grin.

Many of the gang glared at the starfish, but Spike stuck with the subject. "SpongeNerd has a point. We need someone to guard Resetti while the others do the other jobs."

SpongeBob raised his hand. "Patrick and I could do it!"

"No way!" Jimmy said. "You'd tear down the house!"

"Jimmy, let's give these guys a chance," Spike told his cousin.

The boy seemed uncertain, but complied. "Okay."

Sonic nodded his head in agreement. "Now that that's settled, who's gonna to find Tom, who's gonna warn Tortimer, and who's going on the jailbreak mission? I think Tails and I should search for Tortimer. My speed might make a difference."

"Jimmy and I can go find the Nooks and warn them," Spike volunteered.

"Clank and I will go rescue the POWs," Ratchet put in.

"You sure you two can do it alone?" asked the hedgehog, a bit hesitant.

The Lombax commando smiled recklessly. "Sonic, I've got an arsenal of weapons with me! And you can't forget Clank's self-destruct feature. We'll be fine!"

His confidence persuaded the self-appointed leader, and he exclaimed, "Then it's settled! Let's do it, gang!"

Ratchet grinned, slung his N90 over his shoulder, picked up his Dual Vipers, and cocked them with a wild grin.

"It's time to go commando."