FoxFire Studios presents

Sonic the Hedgehog:  Blood and Metal--Haunted Fantasies

Installment Two

Sonic the Hedgehog by Sega of America
Blood and Metal and Haunted Fantasies by David Gonterman
David "Davey Crockett" Kintobor by David Gonterman
Sonia Hedgehog and Phenix by Emily Smith
Packbell by Brookshire Draftwood
Old Man Coyote adapted for BAM by Edward Becerra and David
Gonterman
________________________

     While she was using her healing magic on Davey's now-stitched 
up wound which ran up and down his chest, Sonia was reaching out to 
him through their still-budding cyber-psionic rapport.  As she does 
so, she sensed . . . 

     "Sonia"

     . . . that he was . . . 

     "don't"

     . . . in deep . . . 

     "let"

     . . . trouble.

     "go!!"

     Sonia caught him as he was falling into a black hole.  She
got hold of his metal arm and pulled with all her might.  Davey
was hauling his brush up too, strengthened by the presence of his
girlfriend.  He was almost over the top when he felt someone grab
his leg.  Cold, hard, and metallic.  By the look on Sonia's
horrified face, Davey knew who it was that grabbed him.

     "Dad, somehow, I'm gonna blame all this on *you!*,"  he
reaches for his Power Rifle and turned to face his enemy, a
younger version of Robotnik, wearing Davey's human face!  "Even
if you *do* look like me!"  One shot between the eyes and David-
Robotnik was sent flying like a twiddly-wink, leaving behind the
metal arm, still clutching on Davey's leg.

     Sonia pulled him up the rest of the way out, and he
collapsed into her.  "S-Sonia, don't let me go."

     "It's okay, David.  I'm here for you.  You've always been
here for me."

     They just lay there in a tight hug while someone closed the
hole with a slab of memory block. . . Someone?

     "Damn," Phenix said, in her new black leather ensemble. 
"And I thought Suni had problems!  But who am I to figure out
what makes humans tick?"

     "I thought you were. . ."

     "Hey, Davey dear, we're working on it."  The 'yang' side of
Suni's personality smiled, or should I say smirked.  "That
Jessica Rabbit outfit was *my* idea, after all.  <Looks at the
now-clogged hole>  You think you'd become like *that* dork?  Ha!! 
Fat chance!  That ain't your style at *all*!  I prefer the bot-
slashing psycho myself."

     "Now, now, P.  Don't aggravate him right after a traumatic
experience like this!"

     "Come to think of it, it *does* sound too cliche?"  He got
up and walked around looking for something around him, he sensed
something amiss.  "I always thought that this <points to the
slab> was just a red herring.  The answer lies elsewhere."

     "The source of this anger I can sense from here?  You can
feel it too, can you Suni?"

     "I was too busy on Davey's chest, but come to think of it. .
. yes, I can sense it now.  It feels like some distant
thunderstorm, ready to blow over here any time."

     By now all three grew accustomed to the darkness, and can
see that they were in a square acre garden, old and unkept.  A
tall and thick brick wall surrounds all four sides.

     "Hmmm, it appears that when you came here, you brought your
emotional baggage with you."

     "Yeah, but I don't intend to hide from it.  As long as
you're here, I might as well show you around.  At least you
should know where this storm's coming from. . . "  He walks to
one of the walls and starts to climb it.  "I wonder if they're
frisky today. . . "

     He peeked over the top, only to duck back down to avoid a
flying rock.

     "Yep."

     Both Sonias leapt on top of the wall.  What spread before
them took their breath away.

     "You can say that I was *not exactly* the most popular kid
back home."  Davey dropped back to ground level as the two
redheads telepathically blocked flying debris.  "Let's just say
that I was the bottom man on the public school food chain.  A
pastor on earth talks about being tried for the charge of being
unpopular and proven guilty. And the sentence is loneliness for
the rest of your mortal life.  <His voice lowered>  That sure
applied to me."

     Phenix looked at Suni with concern in her face.  "Teased and
taunted all his life.  Treated like a common animal by human
beings."

     "And *they* are supposed to be higher evolutionary then us."

     "They were supposed to be created one notch below angels,
ladies.  Unfortunately, they forgot all that."

     "Humph.  That's obvious."

     Suddenly, a large wooded paddle flied past the two
hedgehogs, followed by a screeching woman's voice.  Phenix
screeched back.  "Throw a stick at *me* will you?!"  She pushed
Suni back inside to Davey's arms as she whipped out her own Power
Rifle.

     "Phenix, No!  You don't know what it'll do to Davey's--"

     "That must be my mother.  After Daddy Dearest fell down the
rabbit hole, she wanted to make sure that I don't end up like him
. . ."

     Phenix shouts.  "YOU SEE *THIS*, BITCH?  THIS IS MY *BABY*!! 
I CALL HER MY 'PHOENIX FIRE'!!"

     "She became overbearing, holding on too tight.  She
criticized every damned thing I say and do.  She's try to
criticize my *thoughts* if she could . . ."

     "I CAN'T SCARF STARS AND FRY THE BAD GUYS LIKE MY X-WOMAN
NAMESAKE, SO I USE *THIS* INSTEAD!!"

     "My mother nagged me constantly!  Nothing I could do was
good enough.  It wasn't just her; I couldn't seem to amount to
jack snikt at *anything* in general . . ."

     Suni just stood there stunned.  She never heard of this
child-bringing at all on Mobius.  It wasn't even considered.  To
hedgehogs, foxes, squirrels, and any other critter on Mobius,
their parents were always remembered, if they could, as warm and
nurturing.  

     "I just didn't *matter*.  All I was to the world was a
whipping boy.  Someone to pin the blame on for everything that
was wrong in their eyes."

     But this?  This was barbaric to her.  Savage.  Inhumane. 
And Davey said that they were one notch below the messengers to
the Gods?!

     "Go ahead, hon.  Blow her to hell.  I'm tired of her
screech!"

     Phenix fired a series of shots, each sounding like
lightning.  The area outside the wall ignited with starfire. 
Davey could still hear her mother's shouts of anger as she pulled
the trigger a few more times.  Then the high-pitched shrill was
drowned out.

     "I thought I got rid of all that direct rejection of me when
I left my parent's home.  I end up being rejected because of my
Redneck upbringing.  I thought I got rid of that when I started
College, I end being rejected because of me being a White Male
Christian With A German Last Name, and therefore the source of
all what's wrong in their so-called 'open' little minds.  I
thought I got rid of that when I shot that Piasa Bird dead.  I
thought I would be regarded as a hero.  Well?"  He holds out his
left arm.

     "And then you came here.  To another planet.  Surely you'll
be away from it *all*.  You'll won't be thought off by your skin
color, or your upbringing.  Surely you can be--"

     "Robotnik's eldest son.  Damn.  The Worst Case of Bad Karma
on Two Planets.  Now I see what you mean."

     Suni was by now sobbing on Davey's shoulder, sorry of her
boyfriends lot in life.

     "It's nothing I should bother someone else's life with."

     "You say that *Now?*"

     "It's *my* problem, P.  I don't want it to make it anyone
else's."

     Davey looked around again, still feeling that something was
amiss.

     "David, what's wrong?"

     "I seem to remember a bit about this garden.  To get away
from all that poison in my dysfunctional childhood, I withdrew
into a make believe world represented by this garden.  I haven't
been here since I learned about cyberspace, some several years
back, so this does look like crap, but I thought it would be
jumping.  I have an imaginary friend in here.  But he ain't
here."

     "Maybe he got removed from your memory when you got
roboticized?"

     "No.  On average, over a person's life, a setinent being
only fills up 5% of his or her brain's memory capacity.  That
leaves a lot of room to cram stuff in."  Davey scratched his
head.

     "Hey, honey," Suni wrapped her arms around him.  "You don't
live here anymore.  Who cares about what happened to someone's
stray thought."

     "You're right, Sonia."  Davey could feel himself slowly
returning to Mobius, and the sharp pain in his chest.  "Damn. 
Don't you have any aspirin around here?"

     "Allow me," Sonia was still psionically on-line, so she can
block the pain from registering into Davey's brain.  "That'll
keep ya until Sasha whips up something for ya."

     As a very concerned sally approaches Davey's cot with that
painkiller concoction Suni spoke about, Sammi's hysterical voice
can be heard.  "How can you *say* that to me?  To *me*, dammit?! 
After everything I've done as a God damned robot?!"

     "Excuse me, David, but I had enough of her."  Sonia walked
out toward the far room.

     "How can I look at myself?  How can I *live* with myself? 
Without being remin--*"

     He didn't have to hear the punched and kicks to know that
Sonia--no, Phenix--is beating the crap out of Sammi for nearly
sawing her boyfriend in two.  Besides, Sally was lecturing him at
that time.

     "I was afraid something like *this* will happen to you
sooner or later, David.  You've been on the edge ever since you
returned from Robotroplis; it just not funny.  You're going too
fast, taking to many risks!  You've made more 'kills' this month
than anyone else here can make in their whole lives.  And don't
think for a moment that I don't know about what you did to
Snivley!  I almost *pity* him, for Destiny's sake!"

     Davey smiled when he heard that name, wondering how much
Mobius' estraz dictator will be spending on therapy; or will he
just chuck it and just get himself roboticized to shut the
nightmares up?
_______________

     Snivley was about to do just that in Main Roboticizer #3,
and promptly had another panic attack.  "WHAT THE PHRACK AM I
*DOING*?"

     Packbell found him hyperventilating and slapped a VR visor
on him.  In a few moments, Snivley began to calm down, somewhat.

     "H-he's taking over, P-Packbell.  He's gonna take over." 
Snively stuttered while being led back to his quarters.  "He-s
going to k-kill us all.  Or w-worse. . ."

     "Shut up Needle Nose," Packbell said as he threw Snivley in
his room and closed the door.  'Take over,' the android thought
to himself.  'He may do just that.  A counter coup.  Behind
Princess Sally's back no doubt.'

     David Kintobor is fast becoming Packbell's greatest
challenge, and quite possibly his greatest threat.

     'Figures.  If *we* have a Sonic, then *they* should have a
Robotnik, I suppose . . .'  "What?!  He took out Mecha Sonic
*again*?"

     David may very well just waltz into Robotroplis like he owns
the place, and either crush it all under his foot to bring a new
golden age to Mobius, or just take out Snivley and Packbell and
take his father's place by birthright.  Both are equally likely
in Packbell's contingency program.

     'And either one of them will occur over my deactivated body.
. . and it just might.'

     Packbell remembers Davey using holograms in his left arm to
make Packbell think that Davey is roboticizing the critter
Packbell was using at that time as a 'human shield.'  "Kinship
has its privileges," Davey sneered in defense.

     'I hope that he doesn't find out about Robotnik's coming
return, or else he just might march his brush in here, take out
his dad with a sniper shot . . .'
________________

     " . . . and give me his head on a silver platter!"

     "Princess, please?  Yer putting ideas in my head.  The sight
of him with an apple in his mouth <yawn> and garnishes all around
his barbequed carcass."  Sasha's medicine is beginning to take
hold.  "Just like the pig he is."

     He hears someone shudder.  "David!  Will you mind?!  I'll
probably won't have the hiccups again!!  Ugh, Omnivores!"

     "Sorry about that, Hamlin," Davey yawned.

     "I want you to slow down for a while before you burn
yourself out; at least until you healed yourself up.  I'm putting
you on a paid vacation, Dave."

     "I'm not . . . in a position . . . to . . . complaiiinnnnn."

     Davey fell asleep as Sonia returned massaging her knuckles. 
Across the hall, Sammi could be seen hog-tied on a trapeze,
slightly bruised by the beating she took.  "Is he gonna be all
right, Sally?"

     "He will, as long as he stays putt and allow his healing
factor to work.  He needs some time of desperately."

     "For once, I agree."  Sonia puts her arms around Davey and
ports out of the infirmary in a burst of stardust, taking Davey
with her.

     Sally looked surprised.  Sonia very rarely agrees with her. 
"Well, see how much *that* lasts."
___________________________

     Davey was back to fighting that cold dark night that claimed
him back on Earth and nearly reclaimed him again if it weren't
for Suni, who laid exhausted by the bedside; and to think just
one week before, when she learned about the monster *her* father
had become, she tried to jump off the Death Egg on Robotroplis to
her death.  If Old Man Coyote didn't saved her . . .now there's
someone he haven't seen as of late.  What has that furry hentai
been doing lately?  Davey wonders if the Indian God caught the
news yet?

     'Speak of the devil,' he thought, when he heard someone pant
out to his left and felt a cold wet nose intrude his ear.  That
was common in a village of furballs.  He almost thought it was
Kopter or Tails or the kids, when he smelled the dog breath. 
'Only one dog I know that smokes Rush Limbaugh style cigars and
drinks super-strong coffee black. . .'

     -Hello, Gramps!  Guess what?  Davey got himself phracked
over *bad!*-

     #You're hurt.#

     -Well, Duh.  Damage report says it's moderate though. 
Apparently, my rib cage roboticized itself when they realized
they were about to be sawed in half.  I'll be all right in a
week.-

     #All right?  David, that hedgehog almost made two of you! 
Everybody's scared stiff.  Even me!#

     -Even you?-

     #Even me.#

     -Really?-

     A pause.  #You know something?  I just don't get it.  I
mean, this happens too much around you.  You bend over backwards
being a hero to your fellow man, and to this day you've been
everything but caned like the Late Michael Faye--I hear that an
anti-corporal punishment legislation is being named after that
crazy dog that waited till he died--It was is if what you have
been doing was a *crime* for Great Spirit's sake!  You lost your
left arm.  You found out that you're Robotnik's son.  And now . .
. this . . . I have yet to see an Indian treated like this or
even want to.  I wouldn't even wish it on Custard, I tell you. 
And while everybody else would just retreat into their tepees of
whatever you use as one, and forget about what's going on outside
there, you would get your sore guts back up--like you *will*
tonight, I'll make sure--and just come back for more, even if you
'know' that you'll just get beaten within an inch of your life
again.  What's next for David Kintobor, I ponder?  Full
roboticization?  Becoming a quadriplegic?  Being reduced to a
brain in a box like Sonia's mother?#

     -It's not as if I'm going to *die,* Granddad.  I *can't*
die.  I'm not allowed to.  I need *permission* to die.-

     #How do you know that?  Do you have a death vision?#

     -No.  Ah reckon that I can't die yet if I don't know *how*
I'm going to die--

     #It doesn't work that way at all, you . . . gooshon!!  (This
guy *is* White under his fur!  Cheesh!!)  Damn, Dave, for a White
Male Christian with a German Last Name, you must have the
strongest Warrior Spirit I have ever had the honor to see.  I
don't know if it's bravery, stupidity, or some wacko drug you
took when you were a child!  What keeps you going on against
impossible odds and the only way you can win blocked?  What keeps
you going?  Why do you go on?#

     -Yeah.  Why?-

     . . . why? . . .

     "Why, Unca Davey?  Why?  <sniff>"

     Reality faded back in while that question was being asked by
Kopter, who was crying by Davey's side in bed.

     And right there, Davey knew why.

     He brought the girl version of Tails Prower to his chest,
and held her there in his arms, telling her that he's alright;
that it's gonna take a *lot* more than that to take him out.

     Kopter fell asleep with her face buried in Davey's fur,
finding out why Sonia likes that part of him, despite the
bandages at that moment.
_________________________________________

     "So Old Man Coyote *did* get to you," Kickaha said later. 
"I can tell."

     "Hey, what can I say.  I've got friends in high places." 
Davey was standing upright in his hut, but still, he was told to
stay put.  He still wasn't 100 percent, or so Sonia says.  "Give
it a few days, hon."  Still, new strength was there, by his
increased will to recover.  He looked as if he could march over
to Robotroplis right now and take out Packbell himself.

     "Princess Sally still thinks that you should take it slow. 
That's why she took me in your place in this mission, but still.
. . I feel that this mansion that appeared when the chaos emerald
beaned you should be *yours* to explore."

     "So do I.  Buuut, if Little Miss Permanent Sugar High want's
something to do other than bite her nails . . ."

     "I *HEARD* THAT, KINTOBORE!!"

     Davey snarled at Liz.  It was in joke, really.  The fox just
loves to tease this particular hyper raccoon.  "You just keep
that up, Lizzie, and you'll be on my--"

     "ooooh.  ooooh.  Lizzie?  LIZZIE?  First you snip the tail
off a relative of mine for your little fashion statement which
does *not* work, then you, you, youyouyou!!"

     While the raccoon got off a mile a minute about joking about
how Pocahontas used his hat for a stunt Meeko, Davey snapped
Julian, his Nicole-like computer, off his robot arm, and handed
it to Kickaha.  "I programmed him to record what'll happen over
there, and play it back to me later.  Just keep it with you,
okay?  I just got him.  I hate to lose him this soon."

     "Oh, don't sweat it, son," Julian said in a voice too
similar to Robotnik not to be ignored.  "I just got a hovering
program from Nicole.  Even if I *was* lost, I'd find my way back
to you."

     "Are you coming or *what*, Golden Eye?"

     "I dunno, *what?*  You gonna shoot at me with homing
bullets?"

     "Yeah, you don't look like James Bond to us at *all*!"

     "Yeah, Davey.  Ha-ha!  She looks like something ready to be
roasted over an open fire,"  Kickaha turns to Liz, licking his
chops, having as much fun taunting Liz as Davey.  "With all those
rings and bracelets and all that jewelry.  All that's missing is
a long enough branch . . ."

     Davey watched in a roar of laughter--now everybody *knows*
he's going to pull through--as Kickaha chases Elizabeth away.  He
wishes a lot that he were going with him.  It's feels like
pulling teeth to stay behind.

     "You haven't been here that long, David," Sonia said as she
led him back inside.  "You need to stop and smell the roses for a
while, hon.  See the sights of Knothole.  Besides, I hear that
MechTail wants to talk to you about what you found in Packbell's
whacked-off arm.  Cramm it, I sure wish *I* was there to see
*that*!"

     "Yeah.  But after a while, Darling."  Davey took Sonia arm-in-
arm with his left, while rubbing his chest with his right. 
"And an aspirin.  Ow."

     "Your stitches again?  Here, let me take you in."

     "Sure thing.  Maybe we could go over to the Lagoon.  I liked
that babbling brook there, very relaxing . . ."
____________________________

     Finally, took me the entire Christmas Break, but I finally
got back in the swing of things.  Thanks to everybody who putted
up with me all this time, especially with BAM stories of their
own.  All I can say is see you all in the next episode...

     Oh, by the way.  I'm hopefully finishing up with Part Three
of Sailor Moon:  American Kitsune by the time you're reading this
part.  You can get it at the Web Page, or at r.a.a.s., now that
the newsgroup is now getting up-to-date.

     Oh, yeah, people wanted to know where to get me somewhere in
my files, so:

You can reach me by E-Mail at dgonterman@aol.com
My Web Page is at http://users.aol.com/dgonterman
I also can be seen at these following newsgroups and mailing
lists:
rec.arts.anime.stories
alt.fan.sailor-moon
alt.fan.sonic-hedgehog
Sonic Hedgehog Mailing List  (Hey, Benny7dude, a.k.a., Paul
Castiglia of Archie Comics, how is my submission going?)
Twisted Mettle Mailing List.  (Please bear with me, Mighty and
Albaster [I hope that the spelling is right].!  I'll get my but
back on animating Coconuts and Grounder now that the Holidays are
over.)
Sailor Moon Mailing List.  (I wonder if there's anyone there who
can tape me some Sailor Moon episodes?  I can't get them in Saint
Louis.  In the name of some decent cartoons . . .)

And of course, on American On-Line directly, as either DGonterman
or DCrocketFF.

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