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> あんまりにも痛いんで、ムシャクシャして、適当なぬいぐるみ **を報復したくなった** 。  
>  包丁で、無抵抗なぬいぐるみを滅多刺し。誰にでもできる惨殺行為、簡単すぎてものすごく無意味【つまらな】い。  
>  それはさぞかし気持ちが悪く、気色が悪く、後味なんか最悪で、つまり今のオレはそのぬいぐるみ役なのだった。

Because it hurt so much, because I got angry, I wanted to take revenge on a
stuffed animal.

Is it correct?  
I tought you should use に in this sentence.  
Is it there a difference?
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question
grammar words
報復する meaning in this sentence
The target of 報復 is usually marked with に or へ. I also think this sentence
should be 適当なぬいぐるみ **に** 報復したくなった, at least.

And I don't get why 報復 is used here in the first place, because you can't have
a grudge against a random (適当な) stuffed animal you didn't know. This kind of
action is normally called
[八つ当たり](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E5%85%AB%E3%81%A4%E5%BD%93%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8A&ref=sa).

**EDIT:** BCCWJ corpus has one example of ～を報復(する) and 15 examples of
～に報復(する), excluding irrelevant hits like 直ちに報復する, 他国を報復のために攻撃する. I wouldn't
say ～を報復する is never used, but it's certainly uncommon. I don't think there is
any semantic difference between ～を報復する and ～に報復する.
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answer
Both に and を are used, but:

に is "formally correct" and far more common. を seems 'fishy' to some native
speakers, but _some_ usages are correct to _some_ native speakers.

に can mark any of the following (all similar): the receiver of the revenge,
the "reason" for an act of revenge, the originator of the cause of desire for
revenge. (.. and possibly other cases as well).

[Note: following have been discussed/confirmed with a native speaker and are
consistent with the examples I've seen, but are 'shaky' ~ if you see counter-
examples or have specific doubts please let me know so I can continue to
improve this answer]

を is more limited! It can only mark a physical entity that is receiving the
act of revenge/retaliation. It can't mark a "reason" for retaliation like
"terrorism", but it can mark a target like "the country the terrorist came
from". That is 「テロに報復する」 is grammatical, 「テロを報復する」 is not, but both「その国に報復する」
and「その国を報復する」 are grammatical.

Although を's usage is low overall, its relative usage appears to be greater in
the context of news articles and broadcasts, especially when marking countries
targeted by retaliatory attacks. The intent might be to give a greater air of
neutrality, matter-of-factness, etc. It is more likely to be used by a third-
party and/or to emphasize that the marked noun was "just the actual/physical
target" of a retaliatory action.

In a comment, chocolate correctly points out that some dictionaries mark 報復する
as an intransitive verb, and that intransitive verbs generally don't take a
direct object via を. However, it is also worth mentioning that exceptions
exist. In particular, consider 走る, which is intransitive. However, it can be
used with を, e.g., 「道を走る」 is grammatical. To me, を報復する seems like a very
similar usage.

A **wild and unsubstantiated theory** about the を usage that is nonetheless
consistent with all examples I've seen so far is as follows. Is it possible
that in this case を and に collapse to に when both are applicable to the same
noun? According to some approaches to Japanese grammar, は and が behave the
same way (in 私はアメリカ人です, 私 is semantically both は and が, but は "eats" the が by
a forced convention). If so it would partially explain the prevalence of に
usage as を is eaten in all but special cases. If so, に might be more about
"reason" for revenge and を specifically for target ~ except that in the vast
majority of cases where the same noun is both, に wins out.

**EXAMPLE:** In any case, the following article actually uses both を報復する and
に報復する so it is an example of how a single native author uses them differently:

from <http://nor-net.jp/archives/2015/12/post-181.html>

を:

日本でテロが起きたとしても、相手を報復してはならない

Roughly: "Even if terrorism were to occur in Japan, (Japan) must not retaliate
on the other (country)" [note that "the terrorist/act of terrorism" and
"country from which that terrorist came" are subtly different, and here the
later is marked with を]

に:

テロにも報復してはならない

Roughly: "(Not just for murder, but) even for terror, vengeance must not be
pursued." [Here, "terror" is the action for which vengeance is being sought,
thus marked with に.]

[Note: this answer has gone through multiple heavy edits]
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answer