Sonic The Hedgehog: Blood and Metal Alpha Volume Two--Revision Three By David Gonterman for FoxFire Studios Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters (c) Sega of America Davey Crockett and Blood and Metal story line (c) 1995 David Gonterman Vixie Lamenta by Holly-Beth Kraft Mighty Fox by Doug Loconti Bear (The Hermit) by Daniel Davis Sasha Prower by RottinKid Sonia Hedgehog by Sonia da H Oh, by the way, I didn't put the sticker on this story yet....... [MA-17], (Mature Audiences, 17 and older), for graphic violence done to robots, and for what happened to Davey's real left arm. [NPC], (Not Politically Correct); Wussies who get offended by being in the same universe as white males need not apply. ---------------------------- Zone Three, Act One: The unearthly sound of Davey Crockett throwing up greeted knothole village the morning after the night he arrived. It came from Sonia Hedgehog's hut, who drew the short straw to find out with who he'll sleep with until he got his own hut. Sasha Prower, a healer-slash-mage and Tail's cousin, and Rosie, the grandmothery nanny of Knothole, were headed there. "It sounded like Davey, Rosie," Sasha said. "Either Sonia's playing too rough with the guy . . ." "Or th' last twenty-four hours hav' caught up t' th' poor lad. Ye remember, Sasha. Davey's been fed into th' Roboticizer, chucked through th' Void, and had his species changed. An' all in th' same day . . ." " . . .why, no, Davey. I don't exactly envy you right about now," Sonia said to the human-turned-fox who was vomiting for the fifth time into the john. "Maybe giving you that chili dog late night snack wasn't a good idea. Hope you're no mad. . ." "Wuz that ya said? Ah's buzy . . ." "Buzy puking your guts out, I see. I wouldn't be surprised if your biochip fell outta your mouth." "Ha-Ha-Ha! Now that's an image burned int' memory fo' th' rest o' th' day. Ha-Ha--HARRUGGH!" He hacked three more times into the toilet, but nothing came up. "I'm afraid you are on empty, Big Guy." "Aw, crud. It's harder t' tell the ol' gag reflex to quit it when there's nothing left to puke." "Ach," said an incoming Rosie, "Look at ye, Crockett. Ye look like roadkill." "So that's what ah fell like?" "C'mon," interjected Sasha, "Let's get you back to bed." Davey managed to flush the toilet and lower the seat ("That was awfully nice o' him.") before he collapsed on his bed, actually, it was a cot that didn't compensate for the extra foot of legs that Davey left sagged on the floor. Sasha set her hands on the tall fox and both started to glow. "It's not really bad, it's probably a rough day catching up with him. I especially sense the stress between his roboticized shoulder and . . . his . . ." She gasped. Her eyes dilated. Her fur turned white. "What's wrong Sasha? You look as if you seen a . . ." Sasha managed to lift the lid of the porcelain altar before adding her offering to Davey's. "His . . . His arm . . . Oh, God." "What is it, Lass? What's wrong?" "I-I just saw his left arm. It was chopped off--NO! It was SHOT off! It's lying in a pool of Davey's own blood. Hand . . . twitching . . . crying out for mercy . . . But, was only greeted . . . with blood . . . and metal." "Oh my. Y'mean his arm wasn't roboticized!?!?" "No, Sonia. It was removed." ---------- "Removed, you say," Sally asked as she arrived into the hut. "That was one of the original uses of the Roboticizer, until Robotnik got his hands on it, of course. Will the poor dear be all right?" Sasha was still gasping for breath. "That depends on what you mean my 'all right!'" Sally couldn't find anything about Davey from Nicole, so she wanted to link up to his computer for an update. She also wanted to catch him up to speed on Mobian current events, especially the parts about Robotnik leaving the planet for the time being, and Sally having speed granted to her by the Deep Power Stones. She also found out why Davey's arm was shot off, as another hologram from King Acorn appeared: "I hope you're not viewing this file in front of all of Knothole, Sally. This concerns something that Davey here would like to forget: The political strife where he lost his arm. It would appear that there were a faction of Davey's ancestors that behaved much like Dr. Robotnik, for they captured a certain sub-race of their own species as slaves. Some of the descendants of these slaves, although granted their freedom almost a century ago, thought themselves fit to demand reparation for their captors' sins on their children. One of those such people shot Davey's arm off." ("I swear, I would never consider to do such a thing . . . unless o'couse to a robot." "Was that before you became one, Sonia?" "I'll pretend I didn't heard that, Sasha.") "I suspect that you would feel, as I did, very sorrowful over the whole ordeal, especially for how it left Davey. It is a situation where acts of injustice and intolerance is only met by another, and ages-old hostilities are prepeturated over the generations. Davey Crockett would rather be dead than live in that world, and for a while, he was, until I brought him back to life with Sir Charles' toy. I will not blame him at all if he doesn't want to return to his home planet. . . " "The feeling is mutual, Daddy. Why would they make you answer for your ancestor's sins, Davey? I's just not fair." "Yeah, if I want equality between different species, I wouldn't go and shoot off someone's limbs--" "DO WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW?!?!?!?!" "Sorry, Sasha." "My, Sasha, that psionic backlash must've spooked you, didn't you?" "Like you wouldn't know," she sobbed as she hung her head over her patient. "You wouldn't know how much pain that tragedy causes him." Tears ran down her eyes. "You wouldn't know how much it will return to haunt him. . . " "Aw, Davey," Sonia cried as she huddled by her new-found friend. "Why did they, whoever they are, do this to you? Are you doomed to become someone like Robotnik?" She felt a cold nose press up against her hot cheek. She opened her eyes to find Davey slurping her tears off with his tongue." "Will you look at that? Davey, you're too much." "He's supposed t' be th' one who's cryin', and here he is, drying our eyes. Ah tell you, Sally, this guy's a prince." ---------------------- Sasha gave Davey something that resembled Alka-Seltzer for his stomach and let him rest for a couple hours. After the nap, he found Sally still has Nicole connected to his arm by a wire housed under his wrist. Davey calls it his "Data Spear," because it reminds him of Scorpion's projectile in 'Mortal Kombat.' CYBORG PRIME DIRECTIVES: 1) DELIVER MESSAGE TO PRINCESS SALLY 2) ASSIST FREEDOM FIGHTERS 3) DESTROY ROBOTNIK BY WHATEVER MEANS DEEMED NECESSARY 4) LIVE "I like that fourth one, Nicole. Continue." BIOCHIP GENERATES A HEADS-UP DISPLAY DIRECTLY GRAFTED IN HIS EYES, WHICH GIVES THEM THEIR RED COLOR AND OCCASIONAL GLOW. . . EXCUSE ME, SALLY, BUT I BELIEVE THAT MR. CROCKETT IS "BACK ON-LINE," SHOULD I SAY. "'Back on-line?' But what. . . Oh! Hi, there. Don't mind me. . . " "Surfing my forearm, Princess?" Sally giggles, half out of embarrassment and half out of Davey's cyberpunk-talk. She'd never expect someone who wasn't 100% roboticized to talk that way, but she figured that they always talked like that on his planet. "I'm just trying to figure out what your arm can do, other than act like a built-in Nicole, that is." "Humm. I wonder if your father bothered to give me some docs for this thing." EXCUSE ME, MR. CROCKETT, BUT I'VE DETECTED A COMPLETE SET OF USER HELP FILES ARCHIVED IN YOUR HARD DRIVE. DECOMPRESSING THEM SHOULD TRANSFER THEM DIRECTLY INTO YOUR BRAIN. "Thanks, Nicole. If you'd excuse me. . . . . . O.K. I've got them. . . Hardware Compression and camouflage, eh? Let's give that a try. . . " Davey's left arm began to collapse on itself, starting from the shoulder and down to the wrist, synthetic fur appeared in much the same manner. It appeared more like a fox left arm after it was done with itself. "Ah do declare," Bunnie said as she saw this, "Ah should talk to Rotor about an upgrade." "I can transfer the parameter settings to his Roboticizer, if you want. They're supposed to convert anything roboticized into this model." "It looks and feels much like a robot duplicate model I encountered about 6 months ago when training new recruits. It's almost like you've got your old arm back. Ohh, I forgot. I ran out of disks a while back. I should've got some while I was in Robotroplis. Oh, well. Another item in the Minoc Grove shopping list." Sally meets Davey's eyes. "Are you going to be all right, Dave?" "Why, sure, Sally. Just let me get some coffee and I'll be up and running in no time." "It's not that at all! I mean . . . are you going to be . . . all right? You've been through a lot before coming here, more than any of us want to know. It'll probably take your whole life to heal . . ." Davey shushed his Princess with a finger to her lips. "I'll be alright, Sally. Trust me." Zone Three--Act Two: "A good cup of coffee and you're up and running, eh Davey?" Said Bear, a brown fox with a weird name (According to Davey, anyway, but he kept it to himself), "Join the club." "Thanks, er, Bear." As Davey sat down next to Bear, he looked into those blue eyes of his. There were deep, almost ageless. They showed a lot more age than what the rest of him shows. Davey had the impression that there is a lot more of this Bear than meets the eye. "Antoine De'Collete's the best coffee maker on Mobius," Bear continued. "Hey, Frenchie! Anytime today?" "Merci, I just want to give Misu Crockett zometheeng nice to welcome heem by, eef zat's all right with you, mon ami?" "Something nice, Ant? What did I do t' deserve this honor?" Antoine came out with a couple mugs. "Eet is like zis, David. You fulfilled your zolumn duty as a royal messenger. I always hold members of ze royal court of Acorn in high regard. Zis of course means you." "Hey, a house latte! Thanks Ant." "Dey have ze latte where you come from, mon ami?" "Have 'em? Heck, I can make 'em. I used to have a small coffee shop in my old apartment." By the time Davey's done with the latte, other freedom fighters arrived to get to know him better. Some of them already do. "Hi, Sasha. You feeling better? That flashback gave you quite a fright." "I'm okay now, Davey. Thank you for being concerned." Other critters are new to him, like Vixie Lamenta and Mighty Fox. "Hey! Ain't your left arm supposed to be roboticized?" "It is. I just shifted it into compact mode and switched on the hologram. See?" Davey set his arm down and allowed the forearm control panel to show through. "My oh my, talk about state of the art. Bunnie's gonna be jealous." "She is. Good thing I plan to set Roboticizers to this model. It takes power from my own body heat, is practically non- polluting, and in every manner, looks and feels just like a real arm." "Whoa. Wait until Sir Charles catches wind of you." Vixie turns to Mighty, and whispers to him. "So, Mighty, are you gonna tell him?" "Tell him what?" "You know! That you were a human once, like he was. Maybe Dave would feel better if he know that there's another one like him." "I'll tell him later." Mighty did so on a shooting range. He shot at a tin can with a BB gun--a childhood memory--as he told Davey about becoming a fox to rid himself of the curse of being in the same species as Robotnik. He figured Davey went the same route. "I have never met Blubber Butt," Davey said as he fired-- BRRRRRRAAAAPPP!--with a mechanized assult pistol, "the curse that bit me was Political Correctness, and my change of species was purely by the fluke of a power ring. But by every other reason . . . you're not that far off, Mighty." Mighty and Davey checked their targets. Mighty was only shooting for fun, so the oil can looked like swiss cheese. Davey's steel Swat-Bot target, on the other hand, was missing it's head, arms, legs, chest, and whatever counted as its private parts. "Daaaaaamn. What to you do, sleep with those things under your pillow?" "Well, I don't know any martial arts yet, although I'll probably pick one up while I'm here. Until then I have to stick to these guns." "Guns? You call them guns? Dave, you've joined the Freedom Fighters, not the Ozark Malitia!" "Mighty, you should know this as much as I do. There is no such thing as the ATF on Mobius." "Hey, Mighty," Sonia shouted from outside. "Sasha needs ya." "Excuse me, my appointment with Doctor Prower awaits" Mighty walked out as Sonia walked in. "Hello, Davey. Oh my gosh, look at that target! You've shot everything out of it. Not only is that Swat dead, it's going to be singing soprano for the next week!" "Just relieving some angst, Suni." Davey notices by her red cheeks that she's been crying. "Suni, dear, what's wrong?" "It's just . . . . . . that stupid mudball of a planet . . . . . . y-y-you come from. . ." she collapsed into his arms and wailed. "W-why? How could they do this to you?" She looks at his left arm. "You're such a nice guy. . . " "It's okay, child." Davey licks her face for tears again. "I'm here now. I'm alive. That's all that matters." Just as he said that, his mind's eye flashed back to that dank, dark alley, and those eyes filled with sparking rage, that heart, black as the skin color of the chest it was housed in, the killer bullet screaming out for his innocent blood. Davey Crockett would find his loss easier to stomach if it weren't for the politics involved. "I'm still healing after Piasa, my dear. Let's not talk about it right now." "Oh. . . okay. . . Hey, wanna have a picnic? I know this great place." "Sure thing." _________Special Stage #1_____________ As Sonya led Davey to her private lagoon, she asked him about 'Piasa.' "Shortly before I came to your world, I was hunting down this local legendary monster known as The Piasa Bird. It was the ugliest overglorified canary you'll ever see. He popped up a hologram of it to prove his point: It was a jaguar with wings and a tail that can do three laps around the body. "Had to use a super-powered sawed-off shotgun to take that thing out! And that's with illegal ammo and an over 800 meter drop!" "Oh, Davey, you're so brave. You think you'd join those Power Rangers you were talking about last night. That is, if you remained in your world, which I'm glad you're not, by the way." "I dunno." They arrived at a picture-perfect lagoon under a waterfall. "How'd you like my little niche in the world, Davey? The flowers, the water, the trees. . . " "Nice place you got here, Suni." ". . . the skyline of Robotropolis just down that hill . . . " "Oh, just put that in the long-as-my-Data-Spear list of reasons to kick Snively's ass." " Ha-Ha, that's a good one, Dear." They sit down on a grassy spot. "Okay, what would you have?" She removes her bow and lets her red Pocahontas-length hair fall. "I dunno, what you've got." He opens the empty basket. "Davey, have you forgotten, I use magic! What's your favorite dish? Anything." "Well, my favorite food's Mexican . . . let's make it a chili dog burrito, so we both can enjoy it." "Okay," she waves her hands, and with a spark, a chili dog burrito appeared. "Thanks, Suni," Davey said as he took a bite. "Yummy." "Ulm, if it's alright with you, I'm feeling like Italian today." Suni created a bowl of spaghetti. Davey looked a little surprised. He thought that the Mobian Hedgehog's diet is predominantly chili dogs. "Besides, I'd like to show you what my cyborg parts can do." She rolled up the fur over her arm, and punched on the control panel underneath. Her index finger morphed into a shaker cheese shaker." "Neat trick," Davey said as he opened up one of the secret compartments in his robot arm. "What's that." "Oh, this is a packet of Taco Bell hot sauce. I have the recipe in my hard drive." "What's a Taco Bell?" "It's a Mexican Restaurant in my home planet. I go there a lot; it'll be one of the things I'll miss from my home." After emptying the packet, he looked for a place to pitch it. "That's what the basket's for, darling." Suni opened up the basket for Davey to toss the packet in, eyeing Davey's burrito. "So, Suni, how'd you become a 'borg?' Let me guess, Ro-Butt-Nik?" "No, I got my cyborg parts from this android named Packbell." "Never heard of him." "He used to work for Robotnik, but now he's probably Snively's right hand droid. He has his own agenda, though. He want's to take over Robotroplis for himself. Excuse me, but that chili dog looks delicious!" Davey chuckled at first, but was surprised again at how easy Suni turned a bowl of spaghetti into another chili dog burrito. "Wow, wish I had that undo command!" "You know, hon, between you, me, Bunni, and Uncle Chuck, we can be pretty cool cyborgs." "You think so? Maybe we should team up together." "All four of us?" "Yeah, imagine us going up to Snively and say 'PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE WILL BE FUTILE.'" The duo giggled. "Aw, no," Tails can be heard from a distance, "Borg humor." Two seconds later, he was tackled by a pink enchida from behind. Suni said that her name was Chuckles, Knuckles' kid sister. "I've heard of him. Do you know where he's at?" "Probably still at the floating island, for all I know, Sonic can tell you more, but there's some bad blood between the two." Suni changed the subject and got up close. "Y'now, Dave, I've been talking to Vixie, and we here wondering why humans-turned -foxes are so darned cute?" "I dunno, give us a built-in fur coat and a tail, and we become studs, I guess." She began to open up Davey's shirt and snuggle into his furry chest. She confessed to him that she's drawn to Foxes and Wolves, but she was a bit worried about the age difference: She's a teen, while he's in his twenties. However, Davey said that he's not the kind of guy who'd take advantage of a girlfriend sexually, especially one who can be classified as a minor in his world. That made her feel safe to trust him, and maybe she can get close for a little while. "You know, Davey, you can be just a sweet and lovable teddy fox at times," she said as they looked gray eye to red eye. "Part of my charm," he said as they touched noses. . . . BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! "Aw, crud," Suni pouted. That was an alarm from built-in pagers both Davey and Sonia have installed in their cyborg parts. Quite possibly, that was Sally calling everyone in for a meeting. "I swear, between her timing and her father's aim . . . . Talk to me, Sal." "I hate to break you two lovebirds up, but I'm assembling a meeting about that CD of Davey's, and to plan our next mission. . . " Zone Three--Act Three: "The walking care package that Daddy gave me just seems to keep on giving. He's thrown in several computer programs from Davey's world that started to help us out the moment we installed them. Look at the stuff I've added to Nicole. . . "Stacker takes existing hard drives and increases their size by more than double. This will really give us more storage space for our little friends. . . Windows is a graphic based operating system that's so easy, even Amy Rose can be computer literate in no time. What used to be a complicated list of commands is now a simple click on to a small graphic called an icon. . . WordPerfect is, by far, the best word processing computer program I have ever used. It does everything except stuff your letters into the envelopes and mails them itself. . . " Suddenly, Robotnik was shown in a cave, having his spare tire blown to hell by a missile. He collapses into his own pool of blood and guts. Some of the villagers gasped at the sight, others cheered. "Alright, Sally! I haven't been here one week, and already, I caught someone playing ROTT!!!" "Man, that was cool, a little gross, but cool." Sally giggled nervously. "How the heck did that program got in there." "SIMPLE SALLY, YOU INSTALLED IT IN. I DID WARN YOU ABOUT THE MA-17 RATING." "yeah, right. . . " "You like that game, Sal, and you know it." "You're eyes were saying 'no,' but that numb thumb of yours was saying 'Yes!'" "rub it in you guys. . . A-ha! This is the one I was looking for; the schematic drawing for the process Davey was half-roboticized in. Oh, I found a disk for you to transfer those parameters in." "Okay, Sal." Davey said as he slipped the disk into his forearm disk drive." "I beg your pardon, my preencess, but what ess all theese talking about Daveed's robot arm?" Sally went up to Davey to retrieve the disk. "Because this robot arm is more advanced than anything found on Mobius, Antoine. This design my father used is almost indistinguishable from a real living arm, especially in this compact mode and with the hologram on. You'll actually feel fox fur; it's even warm to the touch; and . . . . . . a pulse. . . I feel a pulse. . . Nothing roboticized should have a pulse. . . " Everybody gasped in astonishment. "Are you askeeng moi that that arm's alive?" "If this' not a cure, it's certainly the next best thing." "Man, wait til Uncle Chuck hears about this!" "Hold on for a moment, Sonic. We don't know if we can pull this off first. Tests need to be made." "I want my Uncle Chuck to be the first one treated, Sal. He was the first one roboticized, it's only fair." "Okay, Okay. After the test, we'll do Charles first." Sally then turned to the audience. "Besides, we've got other things to do: Mr. Crockett, of course, needs a place of his own to live in. We have a good number of volunteers to do the building already. . ." "I want to help 'em out, Sally. It's going to he my home after all." "Not right now, Davey. I need you for a courier run. I need you to go to Minoc Grove to get some supplies. I'd go there myself, but I'm kinda buzy tonight." "Sure thing, ma'am." "An' I'll tag along t' show ya the ropes." "Tag along, Sonic? That ain't your style. You're the kind that likes to lose trailers in the dust." "Not with that bike Rotor's working on, Big Daddy." ____________ But first, Davey had to link up with Nicole to get a shopping list for the Minoc Grove errand run. It includes two pictures of critters that needed to be picked up. "THE CAT IS MELANIE, A MARTIAL ARTIST AND A PREVIOUS FREEDOM FIGHTER. SHE IS ANTOINE'S GIRLFRIEND, AND HE WENT ON AHEAD TO MINOC GROVE EARLIER TO MEET HER. THE CHAMELEON IS CLEO. SHE'S MELANIE'S YOUNG WARD. TAILS KNOWS HER WELL, THEY USED TO DATE." "Tails? I thought he was with Amy Rose." "AND CLEO, AND CHUCKLES, AND NINA, AND EVEN A ROBOTIC DUPLICATE THAT RESEMBLES AN 8-YEAR-OLD VIXIE. . . OH, SONIC AND TAILS HAVE JUST ARRIVED." "Hey, Tails, you Heartbreak Kid, how's life." "Uh-Oh, Big Guy. Davey's found out about your love life!" "Aw, no." Tails hid his head under his arms. Sally came by with a bag of Mobians. Apparently, they used the 'coins only' monetary system, as it appeared heavy when she tossed it to Davey. "A little something to get something for yourself while you're there, Dave. Consider it as your salary. Just don't spend it all in one place, okay?" "Does it include Psycho Pay, Sal?" "Oh, Sonic. . . Rotor's done with your hoverbike, you can pick it up." ____________ "Wow, Rotor. You've worked all night." "Yeah. Tinkering's a hobby for me. I just can't sleep at night without messing around with anything mechanical. I've covered all the outside surfaces with solar cells to reduce fuel consumption, and added 50 horsepower to the engine. I've installed a force field at the nose to act like a front bumper." "You're an artist in your field, Bub." Davey hopped on the bike. "Your Data Spear acts as the bike's starter key, and you can control it through your interface." The Data Spear appeared from its hiding place under Davey's left wrist, and snaked its way into place. The twin 'tire' blowers sprang into life, rushing air straight down. The hydraulic twin stands that held the bike up lifted up and snapped into place. Davey found the clutch pedal, and the turbine in the back produced a little forward trust, just enough to take itself out of Rotor's garage. Sonic and Tails saw him appear. "Wow!" "Davey Crockett! Big Daddy! Jucin' it up on a hog of his own!!" Sonic revved in place. Davey squeezed the throttle. Both produces copious amounts of dirt as they staged in front of an imaginary drag strip 'Christmas Tree.' The roar became deafening. An orange glow growled from behind both of them. And then all three of them simply vanished, leaving behind a thunderclap as air rushed to fill the space that their bodies once occupied. __________________ End of Issue Two. Not bad for 'slow time,' if I may say. It heats up in the next zone, where Snively notices that the new freedom fighter's got a new fur coat, and while in Minoc Grove, Davey Crockett meets the Super Sonic Special Search and Smash Squad.......See you then....... Special thanks to my first fan, [[[Sonia da Hedgehog]]] (Sonia da H@aol.com), whom I met over AOL and became good friends. Only problem is, she's in her early teens, while I'm in my mid-20s......oh, what the heck. Sonic has his Tails..... Where to get "STH: Blood and Metal" The official place to Download it is American On-Line, in the Toon Talk message board. Directions: Keyword 'Cartoons,' then go 'More...,' then 'Toon Talk.' You can also get the story from the Word Wide Web, for you more serious net surfers. The address is http://rat.org, then go to the 'Sonic The Hedgehog' fandom page, Brookshire's page, Sonic Fan Material, then Stories....I think, I could be wrong here, I'm trying to trace my steps from memory. Also Coming Soon..... "Sonia and de Fox," A story of budding romance between Sonia and Davey. Can love stretch across two species, two worlds and over ten years in age difference? And get your mind out of the gutter if you're thinking what I'm thinking; this is not a Calvin Kline commercial!!!! "Blood and Metal I: The Deluxe Edition." If you don't have Netscape yet, this will be a good time to get a copy, because this story is destined to become an on-line HTML with full-colored illustrations from the author. It'll be coming from http://rat.org! Also be on the look out for a FoxFire Studio Newsletter, with information on other FoxFire products, including stuff on the up-and-coming WWW Page!