The Antiverse Works! Presents: MECHA SONIC: THE DARK SIDE PART ONE All SEGA characters copyrighted by SEGA of America, Inc. Mecha Sonic II, Boing, Erik Drocken, Mother Manassai and Reverend Mother Darius Arcana Harkonnen created by C. Gast Davey Crockett copyrighted by David Gonterman Phenix copyrighted by Emily Smith Packbell copyrighted by Dave Pinstone ************************************************ Note: Due to some of the topics covered in this story, it is suggested that readers be of the age of seventeen or older. Thank you. -C. Gast ************************************************ The rain beat fiercely down in the Great Forest. The black stormy sky dimmed the moons' light, making it hard to see. The wind picked up and blew leaves into Amy Rose's face as she frantically tore through the undergrowth. Her skirt, soaked and clinging to her legs, almost tripped her, and slowed down her flight. Her shirt caught on tree branches and jerked her backwards; her neckline dug painfully into her throat. She pulled against the branches; some broke free and stuck to her; others tore out sections of her clothing. She heard heavy footfalls behind her and began to cry in terror. The tree had cost her valuable time--time she needed to escape. She began to run again, her tired legs plodding one in front of the other slowly, as if someone had tied lead weights to her ankles. Fear and adrenaline spurred her burning muscles onward. She pitched forward, not looking, into a patch of sawtooth grass. The sharp blades of the bushy grass cut into her arms and legs, leaving itching, stinging slashes that dripped a red trail behind her. Now she was too easy to track! Her brain burned with shock as she felt fingers grab her arm. Her blood-and rain-slicked skin was too slippery for her pursuer to hold on to; she quickly wrenched her arm free. He fell behind her, slipping in a patch of muddy ground, but not before he seized her ankle. She fell onto her belly and choked and wheezed as she tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her. He struggled with her, turning her over onto her back in a pile of wet, stinking leaf-litter. "Don't worry, Amy. This won't hurt a bit," he leered. His red on black eyes flamed frighteningly; he gave her a cold, evil smile that made an instinctive fear turn her insides into a frozen knot. His wet, blue-grey spines dripped in her face. He held her down with one arm, and slashed off her shirt with razored finger-claws on the other hand. "Please don't do this!" she begged, tears streaming from her pale blue eyes. "Shut up!" he growled. He slapped her hard across the face, splitting her lip and causing her nose to bleed. Mecha Sonic stopped cold as he realized what he was doing. "What have I--?" His shocked lament was cut short by a nerve-rending agony that made him double over. His lungs burned like acid had been poured into them; his internal organs felt like they were about to burst. He fell onto Amy Rose, unable to keep his balance. Amy choked and gasped, each little breath of air she could steal a God-send; Mecha Sonic's five-hundred pound body was nearly crushing the life out of her. Mecha Sonic bellowed in terrible pain; his torture was increasing exponentially. In a vicious spasm he flopped off of her. She coughed and wheezed, trying weakly to get on all fours. Little fireworks began to creep up from the corners of her field of vision until she could barely see. Her head began to spin until she felt so dizzy she vomited. "...Amy...I'm so s-sorry....p-please...get away from me...." She turned around and looked at Mecha Sonic. He was shaking violently; his teeth were clenched together and his eyes were tightly shut. He went through another spasm and his limbs flailed wildly. As he returned to his tense fetal ball, Amy noticed his right arm hanging limply, like the spasm had torn the muscles from bone. The rain poured down over him, washing the red, bloody tears from his eyes. He screamed in agony and his echoing cry was accented by a rolling thunder-crash. Amy stumbled away, but lost her footing and fell backwards; she was caught in mid-air by a pair of gloved hands. She looked up into a near vacuum of a hood. Only a decidedly feminine face- disk protruded from the earth-brown cloak. "Who.....who are you?" she asked, still shivering from cold and shock. "I am Reverend Mother Darius Arcana Harkonnen," the hooded figure spoke through red, full lips. "What do you want from me?" Amy queried, fearfully backing away as the cloaked woman let her go. "You needed help. I came to aid you in your escape." She looked back at Mecha Sonic, feeling suddenly sad. Had this woman somehow caused Mecha Sonic's pain? Or was something desperately wrong with him? She felt the warm brown cloak wrap around her. It was scratchy and rough at first, but as she touched it, it began to soften, and became increasingly warmer. It felt almost as if the cloak was trying to comfort and protect her of its own accord. "What's wrong with him?" Amy asked, looking back once more at the suffering blue-grey bio-mechaniod hedgehog. "There is nothing I can do for him, Amy. His fate is sealed now." Amy felt herself growing sleepy at a rapid pace. Reverend Mother Darius Arcana Harkonnen picked up the weak pink hedgehoglette and carried her off into the mist of the rainy forest. **************************************************** Mecha Sonic was drug roughly through the streets of Knothole by a lynch mob. Davey Crockett and recently adopted nephew Kitsume Twyn Destroyer took him to Knothole's prison area. They threw him into a very specially made cell; it had been designed by Davey as a place to put him if he should ever go bad. Nothing could break out of it; Davey himself made sure of that. Mecha Sonic's unconscious body dropped onto the steel floor, his right arm bending unnaturally behind his back. The floor was streaked with bright red liquid; it reminded Sally of a butcher's shop. "Did they find Amy Rose?" Tails asked, fearing the news of his friend's death. Sonic put his hand on Tail's shoulder. He looked down, searching for a delicate way to break the news. Sonic's silence was all Miles Prower needed to hear.....and all he didn't want to hear. Tears began to form in the young fox's eyes. She was gone...and someone who they all thought was her friend, possibly even boyfriend, was responsible. He heard Rotor talking quietly to Bunnie. "What happened, to her Rotor? Ah didn't hear all the details," Bunnie asked. "Well, so far they think Mecha Sonic raped and murdered her, and hid her body," he answered in a near whisper. He knew Tails was listening. "Oh mah stars and garters!" Bunnie gasped. "But how'd they know he raped her if they couldn't find the body?" "They found....well...." Rotor couldn't bring himself to say the word. "... liquid evidence." Tails shot out of room, blinded by tears. ************************************************** Amy's eyes began to flicker open. She was warm, clean and dry, and her face didn't hurt anymore. She tried to get up, but nearly lost her balance; she quickly realized she was in a hammock, made of the same stuff Reverend Mother whats-her-name's cloak was. A little silver box was on her chest; it had silver cord/wire thingys that were taped to her wounds. She felt her face, expecting a swollen puffy disaster, but instead felt smooth skin. "That box on you is a Medikit. It helps to heal wounds very quickly. You can untape it now; you're all better." Amy took the little electrodes off and they quickly retracted back into the box. She looked around the room. The walls were smooth and greenish-white; when she touched them, they felt smooth and like a plant in texture. The ceiling gave off a warm glow that lighted the room. There were some chairs and a table, all wooden; a bookshelf with all kinds of weird mechanical objects and a few old tomes; a dresser that had two doors instead of many drawers sat in the corner. Amy noticed she had on different clothes than before. It looked like a bodysuit of some kind; it was jet black with pink trim. A red haired woman wearing a similar outfit was leaning over the table, preparing something. Amy noticed her red, double- clawed hands had two large, spikes--just like Knuckles. "Would you like something to eat?" the woman asked. Amy noticed that her voice had a pleasant, soothing ring to it. She came to the realization that her tummy was empty. "Yes, please!" she replied enthusiastically. The red-haired woman turned around. Amy recognized her. "Wildfyre?" "Just one of my collection of names and titles," she smiled. Amy didn't quite know what to think. Wildfyre had tricked everyone into thinking she had raped Davey Crockett; and Tails had told her that she was going to blow up Twyn D just to get rid of Robotnik. Arcana noticed the apprehension on Amy's face. She wondered just what Amy had been told about her. "It's about Davey and Twyn D, isn't it?" Amy nodded quietly, and looked away. "I owe you an explanation, Amy Rose," Arcana sighed. She gave Amy a plate of chili dogs, the staple diet of Mobian hedgehogs. "I'm going to start at the beginning." "A long time ago, when I was just a young girl like yourself, I was being raised by foster parents: A draconix, named Mother Manassai, and a Drocken, named Erik." "What are Draconixes and Drockens?" Amy asked, puzzled by the unfamiliar names. "A Draconix is a person who is half dragon, like Dulcy, and half Phoenix. They live for a *very* long time. Mother Manassai is over five thousand years old. A Drocken is a person who is half Dragon, and half human....like David Kintobor used to be. Erik is also very old, about two thousand years, but he doesn't look it. No one knows how his human mother came to Mobius two thousand years ago, not even him." Amy's eyes grew wide. A half human dragon? Weird! "To continue, I was trained to be a wisewoman. This includes learning how to judge character from the most minute observations, and how to read the lines of time. I learned that Davey is very important to the future of Mobius; I decided to get a DNA sample from him, so that in case Davey were ever killed, I could make a Bio-Mech version of him to take his place. However, Robotnik ruined my plans by kidnapping my timber wolf, Cyrix. I had to turn over Davey's DNA sample to Robotnik. He asked me to make a Bio-Mech Davey; I had no choice. But his technology wasn't advanced enough to make Bio-Mechaniods; Twyn D was imperfect. Do you remember what was happening to Mecha Sonic, Amy? Twyn D would have gone through the same pain. I didn't know Davey had the knowledge of how to fix Twyn D, so I had planned to put him out of his misery.....and get rid of Robotnik at the same time." Amy listened as she finished the last of her chili dogs. It made sense to her. Maybe Uncle Davey didn't know as much about Wildfyre as he thought. "How do the clothes fit?" Arcana asked. "Perfect. Almost like they were made for me," Amy said, getting out of the hammock carefully. She took her plate over to the table. Arcana smiled sadly. "I made them for my daughter." "Where is she?" Amy asked, unaware of the truth. "She didn't survive being born." Amy looked down, sorry she had asked. Poor Wildfyre! No wonder she seemed so sad all the time. ************************************************** Phenix stood alone in front of Mecha Sonic's cell. She kept a constant vigil, waiting for him to wake up. By now the bleeding from his eyes and mouth had stopped. The dried blood was beginning to make the place smell of death. She had heard the others talking of his trial like he was already sentenced to die. She would not let that happen. Guilty or not, she would make sure he had a fair trial. Mecha Sonic shot up and roared in pain. He flopped onto his back, confused by his surroundings. He managed a thin smile as he saw Phenix. She gripped the bars of his cell wanting desperately to go in there and help him. "....phenix....kill me, please kill me!" he begged, tears streaming down his face. He lay there shivering and with his good arm, clutched his sides and gritted his teeth. Davey ran in, hearing Mecha Sonic's cries of suffering. "Good, you're awake you bastard," he snarled. He walked over to the cell, a hateful gleam in his red-irised eyes. "I hope you're really being tortured. You deserve it." Phenix's eyes slitted in inner rage. "David, I want permission to get him cleaned up and get his arm braced," she said coldly. "No way, Phenix," Davey declared authoritatively. Phenix grabbed Davey's arm and forced him around. He looked into eyes that changed fiery orange as they burned into his gaze. "You listen to me, Kintobor. You are not going to treat him any differently than any other prisoner. You can practice your vigilante justice on the battlefield, but in Knothole we do things by the book!" she snarled. Davey was taken aback by the venom in her words, but stood firm. "What about his strength? Do you think you could stop him if he tried to escape?" he asked with an icy stare. "I'm PHENIX, Kintobor. I could take ANYONE down!" she snapped, glowing slightly. Davey grudgingly agreed to let Phenix have custody of Mecha Sonic, but only to get him fit for trial. Phenix opened the cell and went to Mecha Sonic's side. She helped him up; it was difficult because his legs had weakened considerably. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you," she whispered to him. "..just kill me, beloved....I can't stand....the pain..." he said, his voice a thin raspy whisper. Phenix carried him out of the prison, receiving surprised and cold glances from passers-by. She headed to her hut. *************************************************** Packbell was enjoying this thoroughly. After he had discovered that Mecha Sonic's old programming still existed, it was a simple operation to re-activate it. And true to form, he had gone after the last target he had been assigned to--Amy Rose. The nanites they had introduced into Mecha Sonic's system had brought the old program back up; now Mecha Sonic was, to his great pain, trying to fight it. Things were going perfectly. With any luck, someone would try to cyberjack to Mecha Sonic to either gain evidence from his memory, or to try to help him; then the nanites would cross over into that person and take control. He had to laugh at the twisted joke he had played on Mecha Sonic. He had given the nanites a small, extra program that should prove amusing when someone stumbled onto it. The nanites had installed a false memory routine in Mecha Sonic; anyone trying to read his memory would see a record of Mecha Sonic brutally raping and murdering Amy Rose! Once the nanites had crossed over to Davey, or hopefully Phenix, Knothole's fate would be sealed! ****************************************************** Phenix had a hard time removing the blood-and waste- encrusted clothes from Mecha Sonic. She wanted no help however; she knew that he would only feel comfortable nude around her. And even then he still felt horribly embarrassed. True to what the others had found at the crime scene, she detected the slight odor of reproductive liquid on his clothes.....but it seemed to her that he had evacuated every orifice. What could cause him to do that? And how did his arm get injured? Amy Rose was *not* capable of doing such damage. And of all the blood they found, almost all was Mech's. He still shook vehemently, even in warm, soapy water. Phenix examined his right arm. He winced as she touched a swollen, hot lump on his shoulder. *She* winced when her suspicions were confirmed. His muscles *had* torn away from the bone underneath. "I-I d-didn't t-touch her," he stuttered. "S-something's w- wrong with m-me, Phenix!" She thought about it for a minute; the pulled the cyberjack out of her index finger. She held Mech's hand, looking for the access port... He jerked his hand away. "No...d-don't...my p-pain...y-you'll feel it t-too!" he warned. She appreciated his concern for her. She helped him up, and got him some towels. He felt somewhat better, but he still hurt badly. At least now he didn't stink. His arm was wrapped and braced, and Phenix gave him his robot fighter uniform. She had snuck it out of DREAMTIME, in case he ever needed a spare set of clothes. Her forethought paid off today. He buttoned up the gray-black, blue-trimmed body suit as best he could, with occasional help from Phenix, and prepared to return to his cell. *************************************************** Boing walked onto the streets of Knothole. He got immediate stares from passersby. He stopped and stared back at them. Maybe this was their way of greeting one another. Sally went to investigate the crowd forming at the end of Knothole. She pressed through the mass of bodies and stopped cold as she saw what everyone was staring at. "What the heck?..." Boing noticed the brown mammal female with the small computer in her hands. She seemed to be important to the others. He stepped closer. Sally looked carefully at the weirdly-shaped silvery creature. It had a bulbous head with a goofy-looking overbite that almost encircled it; it had red, triangle shaped eyes; its body became increasingly *smaller* from the head down, and it didn't seem to have a neck at all. Its limbs, which were all exactly alike, were thin and tube-shaped where they connected to the body; at the joints in the middle, they began to flare out until they reached the square shaped base, which had a flexible claw at each point. On its head, chest and forelimbs it had a symbol that looked like a circle with a rectangle underneath. Where in the universe had this creature come from? And more importantly, what did it want? Boing remembered that some beings shook hands as a greeting. He offered an enormous, putty-like limb to the brown mammal female. Sally cautiously put her hand in the creature's grasp. It shook her hand, almost a little to roughly, and gave her a huge, dopey smile. "Who are you?" Sally asked slowly, hoping the creature would understand. Boing stopped and scratched his chin thoughtfully. He snapped his claws and closed his eyes. A vibration filled the air around the crowd and from a seemingly incoherent mass of noises, a word formed. "Boing." "Is that your name?" Sally asked. Another vibration. "Yes." "What are you doing here, Boing?" Sally queried. This would be the moment of truth. The triangle eyes saddened. "Lost." Sally stepped forward and took Boing's arm. "Maybe we can help you get home, Boing," she smiled. Boing returned the gesture with that goofy grin. "Pay for stay," he vibrated. "What do you mean?" Sally asked, confused. They begin to make their way through the gathered masses. "You help Boing, Boing help you." Sally understood. He didn't want to freeload. But how could this weird creature help? Sally didn't even know what he was capable of doing. "Would you like something to eat?" Sally asked. Boing shook his tear-shaped, rubbery head in agreement. ************************************************** Amy Rose stepped outside into the sunshine. She and Arcana were in a grassy plain somewhere. A large bee flew up to them. Amy thought it was strange that the bee had gloves, shoes, and a pilot's cap with goggles on his head. "Hello Wildfyre! Who is this charming young lady hedgehog?" Arcana had to smile. Charmy was his usual, charming self. "Charmy, this is Amy Rose. Amy Rose, this is my friend, Charmy Bee." "Pleased to meet you," Amy said shyly. "Pleased to meet you, too, Amy," Charmy replied. "Where are we, Arcana?" Amy asked, noting surroundings vastly different from the Great Forest. "My home, on Floating Island." Amy gasped. How long had she been out?? Well, she had always wanted to see Floating Island! "Can we visit Knuckles?" Amy asked, excited. "As a matter of fact, I had to see him today," Arcana beamed. "I'll accompany you!" Charmy offered. With that, they set of for the ruins of Echidnopolis, home of Knuckles the Echidna. ***************************************************** Phenix continued her watch over Mecha Sonic. He had passed out once again and she had laid him down on the mat in the cell. She heard footsteps approaching the holding area and turned her head to see who was coming. She jumped to a defensive posture as Boing poked his head around the corner. He had a fork sticking in his head. Sally stepped in. "Don't worry about him Phenix, he's harmless," Sally assured. She covered her face with her hand as she noticed Boing's fork and groaned. "I told you that's *not* what that's for!" she grimaced at Boing. With a cheesy apologetic grin, he removed the fork and handed it to Sally. "Thank you," Sally said with a 'will-you-knock-it-off' smirk. Boing squinted his eyes as he looked at Mecha Sonic. His smile disappeared, and was replaced by a look of serious study. He walked over to the bars of the cell and squeezed through them as if he were made of clay. He squatted next to Mech and his eyes shot two red beams of light that hit Mech's chest. He looked up and down Mech's body, the ruby light following his field of vision, then stood up, and stretched back through the bars. "Nanites." "Of course he has nanites; so does Davey and Mechtail," Phenix replied, puzzled. Boing shook his massive rubbery head no. "No Nanites in Bio-Mechs." Sally and Phenix both looked at each other. They simultaneously cupped their hands over their mouths in surprise. "Do you think that's what--?" "Who did--?" "Did he--?" Phenix and Sally continued to exchange fragments of thought until Boing spoke up. "Nanites killing him." That got the girls' attention. "How?" Sally asked. "He resist, they fight harder. Fight too hard, he dies." "We've got to get them out of him!" Phenix exclaimed. "Boing help!" the silver behemoth volunteered. Boing melted into a puddle, then slithered over to Mecha Sonic, and poured himself down Mech's throat. Sally almost lost her lunch as she saw Mech's chest and stomach bulge and writhe. Within a minute or two, Boing crawled back out and reformed. "Nanites gone." Mech began to stir and he lifted himself up on one arm. "Am I dead?" he asked weakly. "Well, at least not yet," Sally said remorsefully. "You're still going to be tried for the rape and murder of Amy Rose." "But I didn't do it!" Mech said, stunned at her statement. "Maybe not of your own free will. I promise you that will be taken into account." Phenix couldn't believe what she was hearing! Was Sally really *that* cold? "But Sally, he says he didn't do it!" she stated incredulously. "We still have to try him, Phenix. Amy Rose is gone and he is the prime suspect. Even if he did it outside of his free will, he's still guilty of the crime," Sally explained. She walked out of the room. Boing put his arm around Phenix, who was still in shock. "Help Phenix," he vibrated softly. She looked at Mecha Sonic, who sat up against the wall with his good arm folded around his legs, and his eyes closed. Tears came to her eyes. "Don't worry love. I'll prove your innocence. One way or another." *************************************************** So ends part one of my tale! If you would like pictures or descriptions of Boing, Erik Drocken, Mother Manassai, Arcana (Wildfyre), Mecha Sonic II or any other characters, contact me at: msmrp1@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Thanx!