Knothole Freedom Fighters

The **Knothole Freedom Fighters** were the main protagonists of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* and *Archie Sonic Online* comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. They were one of the first modern Freedom Fighter groups, formerly based and operating out of Knothole, and, like other groups, were opposed to the tyranny of Mobius' former despot Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and as such spent years fighting his reign via guerrilla warfare and sabotage. Following his defeat, the Freedom Fighters later became involved in a war against one of his inter-dimensional counterparts, Dr. Eggman, as well as a number of other villainous individuals who emerged to threaten Mobius. Shortly after the first Genesis Wave in 3237, the team disbanded into Team Freedom and Team Fighters. After Sally's rescue they reformed

## History

### Formation

The original members of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Sonic, Tails, Princess Sally, Rotor, and Antoine, were children evacuated to the hidden village of Knothole in the Great Forest following the fall of Mobotropolis to Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and the first resistance operations began when the Original Freedom Fighters formed, serving in this capacity until Robotnik trapped, roboticized and banished the group to the Zone of Silence. Inspired by their sacrifice, and many of their number looking up to them as inspirations and guides, the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the kids being the main core of the team, formed to carry on in their stead. (StH: #142, #143)

### Campaigns against Robotnik

Despite being only a small band of Mobians, with time, the group quickly stood out among the rest as a major force to be reckoned with. Their members, led by Sally and their primary agent Sonic, quickly gained experience and intelligence with time, performing many operations against Robotnik; launching several guerrilla tactic strikes, sabotaging supply lines, destroying factories, interfering with his projects, etc., effectively doing anything to hamper and/or ruin Robotnik's plans, all in the name of their primary objective: to defeat Robotnik forever, reclaim Mobotropolis and restore the Kingdom of Acorn. Other missions included helping Mobians across the planet in need. (StH: #1, #13; T: #1, #2, #3)

On a personal level, the group's members began friendships and relationships with other members, and the group joined several other Freedom Fighters groups, mostly getting along well (the only exception being the Rebel Underground, the "official" underground resistance movement against Robotnik started by the last members of the Royal Secret Service under the pompous and imperious Geoffrey St. John). (StH: #20, #26, #46)

### Disbanded

Eventually, the group succeeded in its mission with Robotnik being killed by the Ultimate Annihilator while engaging Sonic in combat, and Maximillian Acorn was retrieved from the Zone of Silence and resumed the role as king. Upon their victory, the Kingdom was quickly re-established and Mobotropolis re-captured, with time becoming habitable and functional again. With time, Max began to see no need for the group to continue fighting, as he considered Freedom Fighters, who were nothing more than children (according to him), no longer preferable in favor of the restored Royal Army, and as such, eventually officially disbanded the team in favor of using the re-built Royal Secret service under St. John. (StH: #41, #43, #50, #70)

### Reformation to fight on

King Max's policy regarding the Knothole Freedom Fighters was changed following the coming of an alternate version of Robotnik called Dr. Eggman and his attack and re-invasion of Mobotropolis. As such, the group was officially reformed and relaunched by King Max, with their status changing from ragtag rebels fighting a ruthless dictator to soldiers fighting a threat to the Kingdom. (StH: #75, #76, #78)

Upon their revival, their old base was restored and links with other groups established, most especially the Chaotix under Guardian Knuckles. The group fought threats by Eggman across the world, along with other threats such as Mammoth Mogul, Ixis Naugus and his minions, the Destructix, Scourge the Hedgehog, other Bounty Hunters, and the Dingo Regime. (StH: #130, #132, #133, #138, #139, #160, #162, #163, #164, #165, #187, #188)

After years of fighting, with professional and personal struggles, and the comings and goings of allies and other members, the group suffered a massive defeat when Eggman launched an all-out assault with his Egg Fleet, which razed Knothole to the ground, and all but a handful of Freedom Fighters taken prisoner. Quick actions were taken by the remaining team members, however, and the population of Knothole was rescued from the Egg Grape Chambers and sent to safety in New Mobotropolis. (StH: #175, #176, #177)

Following this the Freedom Fighters began to rebuild Freedom HQ, though they were first forced to contend with the threat of the second Enerjak. Not long afterwards, they fought to defend it against the invading Suppression Squad. Although withdrawing for the time being, they later allied with the Suppression Squad to take down Scourge and send him back to Anti Moebius. (StH: #181, #182, #189, #190, #195, #196)

With the Suppression Squad defeated, the Knothole Freedom Fighters pressed their assault against the crumbling Eggman Empire. Working along side the Chaotix, they managed to force the Dark Egg Legion to retreat, and defeated the Egg Phoenix. The next day the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix proceeded to break into the Eggdome and face off again with the Dark Egg Legion. (StH: #198, #199)

After Bunnie and Mighty the Armadillo finally managed to knock down the barricade, all of the Freedom Fighters entered and found Eggman broken and defeated. Having finally won, they all went back to New Mobotropolis to celebrate. The festivities were cut short, however, as Monkey Khan arrived with news that the Iron Dominion had taken over the Eggman Empire. Not long afterwards, the Freedom Fighters were forced to battle Bunnie as she was manipulated by the Iron Queen's magitek powers, and then Monkey Khan as he was similarly affected. This would be the first of many engagements with the Iron Dominion, as they were forced to confront the Iron King, Queen, Yagyu Clan, and Dark Egg Legion in a battle over the escaped Dr. Eggman. Later, the group would lose Nicole to the Iron Queen's power, forcing them to fight the Iron Dominion inside New Mobotropolis as they attempted to evacuate civilians. Sally was later able to free her, and left Nicole as a spy to aid resistance forces-including teammates Amy Rose and Antoine-against the Iron Queen while she, Khan, Sonic, and Tails set out for the Dragon Kingdom. The group of four set out to break ties between the Dominion and the Clans that had sworn loyalty to it, and later returned to join their teammates in a final battle with the enemy. (StH: #199, #200, #201, #203, #204, #206, #208, #209, #211; SU: #13, #14, #15)

With the Iron Dominion beaten, the Freedom Fighters found themselves with other tasks to perform. After a largely fruitless search for Dr. Eggman and returning the Iron Queen to the Dragon Kingdom for her imprisonment, the group found itself split up yet again. Sonic and Sally accepted an invitation that had been extended to the entire group to become honorary members of the new Wolf Pack Nation, only to land in the middle of a conflict between the Wolves and the Felidae. Tails, Antoine, and Bunnie departed New Mobotropolis as well, leaving Rotor to his Council of Acorn duties and Amy Rose to keep watch over the city in the absence of her teammates. (StH: #213, #214)

### Fallen and divided

Following the events of the arrival of the new Death Egg Mark 2 in 3237, everything slowly fell apart for the team. Sally sacrificed herself to save Mobius from being roboticized during Eggman's Operation: Clean Sweep. The end result had her roboticized and becoming one of Eggman's most dangerous soldiers. Some time later, after Ixis Naugus became the new king of New Mobotropolis, the Freedom Fighters were tasked with escorting Elias Acorn, the true king, to Feral Forest. An ambush by Mecha Sally and the Death Egg resulted in Antoine being critically injured while fending off a self-destructing Metal Sonic. (StH: #230, #231, #232, #234)

With the departure of Bunnie (who was recently deroboticized by Naugus's magic), Nicole's exile (who was still blamed for the Iron Dominion's invasion), and Antoine's hospitalization, the Knothole Freedom Fighters had suffered too many loses to be capable of combating the threats posed by the Eggman Empire and Naugus effectively. The remaining members split into two teams with Team Freedom protecting New Mobotropolis, while Team Fighters would combat Eggman. (StH: #236)

## Tactics

The Freedom Fighters originally used guerrilla tactics as they did not have the numbers or the resources for a proper army. However, since the reestablishment of the Kingdom of Acorn and Eggman's open declaration of war, they have abandoned these tactics for a more direct and frontal method of attack.

## Equipment

* Tornado
* Freedom Fighter Special
* Bathysphere: Rotor's personal submarine
* Sea Fox: Tails' personal submarine
* Saucers: Repurposed Dark Legion hovercrafts. These are not as high-flying as the originals, but can cover a lot of ground. Before the team splintered, these would often be used to carry several Freedom Fighters at once.
* Mobo-Cruiser: An all-terrain vehicle used by the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix during their attack on New Megaopolis.