The Perfect Anniversary Gift
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sega of America, Team Sonic, MGM nor anything else associated with any franchise mentioned within. The only thing that I own is the name Kerra. It is mine and if anyone steals it I will not hesitate to get creative on the torture. Also I do not own the original idea for the Mjolnir armor, that belongs to Microsoft and Bungie. That's how Kerra got the idea for her own version of it.
Kerra was sitting in her lab doing what she normally does in her lab, thinking and inventing. However, this day it was more thinking than anything else.
'What am I going to get them? I mean they've been married for almost thirty years. What kind of gift is appropriate that they don't have already?' The twin tailed genius thought.
The couple she was thinking of was Jules and Bernadette, Sonic's parents and her in laws. She had missed several anniversaries while she was on Earth and a couple more once she had returned to Mobius when she had to go off world or to another zone. So she had a lot to make up for this year even though the couple had said her return and her marriage to Sonic was more than enough.
However, she was like a dog with a bone. She just couldn't let it go, it was like a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that she still owed them.
'What is the one thing that both of them could use? Bernie could always use something for the kitchen, but then Jules wouldn't be able to use it due to the fact he is roboticized...'
Kerra bolted upright when she thought about Jules still being roboticized. This presented her with the perfect opportunity, but she had to do a little research first.
Heading upstairs to pack an overnight bag, she ran into her husband.
"Hey Tails, where ya headed?" Sonic asked as he saw his vulpine wife packing a duffel bag.
"I need to head to New Mobotropolis to do a little research for something." the vixen told her cobalt husband.
"Research for what?" the speed demon hedgehog asked.
"A surprise for later in the year. Also, if my research turns up what I think it will, my lab will be off limits until the project is complete." She said zipping up the bag and heading out to her hanger and the newly modified X-Tornado.
"Okay, well I'll see you when you get back." Sonic replied giving his wife a hug before she jumped up into the open cockpit and got strapped in.
"Thanks babe, I love you and I'll try to keep this quick." Kerra replied as she started up the twin engine fighter and closed the canopy.
Six hours later, New Mobotropolis
Kerra rushed from the capital city's airport to the first of her stops, Uncle Chuck's chili dog stand.
Taking a seat she greeted her aging mentor. "Hey Uncle Chuck! How's business been going?"
"It's been going good. How has yours been going?" The elderly hedgehog replied.
"Same, though I think I need to retire soon. I would like to start a family before I'm forty." Kerra said with a chuckle.
"I hear ya. I know that Bernie has been wondering when she's going to be a grandma. So can I get you anything?" Chuck replied with a chuckle.
"Four chili dogs with onions and cheese, a soda, and some information." Kerra responded skillfully moving the conversation to where she wanted it.
"Information about what?" Chuck asked as he started the dogs.
"The roboticizer. More specifically, does it turn the entire body into wires and circuits, or does it leave some biological material behind?" Kerra asked resting her chin in the palm of her left hand as she leaned on the counter.
"Now why would you want to know that? You aren't planning on building that cursed machine again are you?" Chuck asked with a tinge of anger in his voice.
"No, I'm not. I'm glad that it was finally destroyed. No my plans are much more selfless than trying to take over the world." Kerra replied trying to calm the hedgehog.
"What are your plans?" Chuck asked, calming but still suspicious of the vixen's intentions.
"Well, I was thinking about what I should get for Jules and Bernie for their anniversary, since I've missed so many it would have to be something big. Then it hit me, there was one thing that I might be able to be capable of giving them." Kerra replied.
"What's that?" Chuck asked, now intrigued at what the vixen had in story.
"Giving Jules a new body. One that would look, and feel like his original one from before the war, and one that would allow him to feel the touch of his wife again." Kerra explained, her eyes alight with a fire that was from both her desire to invent and her softer more romantic side.
"Now that is something that that I have tried to do for years, but nothing has really panned out. How do you plan on doing it?" Chuck asked.
"That leads into my question. Does anything biological survive the process?"
"Yes there is. For what ever reason, the brain and spinal cord stay intact. They are just covered in a layer of titanium that protects them. Why?" Chuck explained as he handed Kerra her food.
"Well, to see if what I'm planning will work, I need you to call Jules and have him meet us at Rotor's lab. That way we can 'take a look under the hood' as it were." Kerra explained.
At Rotor's lab
"So why did you call me here Charles?" Jules asked as Chuck led him to one of the side rooms.
"Kerra asked me to bring you here. She has and idea and if it pans out it will be the best thing to happen to you since Sonic was born." The older brother replied.
"Okay..." Jules said, wishing, not for the first time, that he had some kind of facial expression.
The two hedgehogs entered the lab to find Kerra and Rotor talking.
"So you think it's possible?" Rotor asked the vixen.
"Provided everything is set up the right way, yes I believe so." Kerra replied seeing the two men enter the room.
"Dad, it's good to see you again. Lay face down on the table for me, would ya?" Kerra asked as she unzipped her flight suit halfway and shrugged it off tying the sleeves around her waist.
"Okay, but what are you going to do?" Jules asked as he complied.
"I'm going to be poking around under the hood to see if I can give you a new chassis." Kerra said as she grabbed some tools from the workbench next to the table.
"How are you going to do that?" Jules asked as his sensors perceived panels on the back of his head and spine being unsecured and opened.
"Well since everything back here is as i thought it was, by building a new body that will allow you to have the senses of touch, taste, and smell again. Though I do have one question that you might find a touch embarrassing." Kerra said as she re secured the panels on Jules back.
"What kind of question?" Jules asked as he sat up on the table.
"Did Sonic get his size honestly or was that just a fluke of genetics?" Kerra asked as she crossed her arms under her breasts.
"Come again?" Jules asked, confused.
"In a manner of speaking you'll be able to if you'd answer my question." Kerra bandied.
"Huh?"
"Look do you want to give Bernie the 'business' again or do you want me to make you as anatomically correct as a Ken Doll?" Kerra asked getting tired of her father in law's cluelessness.
"You mean you could make it so that I could have sex again, and feel it?"
"Every glorious second of of it. I just don't want to have to take creative liberties when designing the body. So, I'll ask again. Did Sonic get it honestly, or does he put his old man to shame?" Kerra asked with a smirk.
"Oh, I'd say he got it honestly if you confirm the size." Jules said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Kerra held out her hands showing length and girth.
"Yeah, he got it honestly."
"Why did you ask? The boy's a bit of a nudist, figured you might have walked in when you shouldn't have." Kerra said with a smile and blush concealed by her fur.
"No, he always wore at least shorts when we were home." Jules explained simply.
"Okay, just a few more things I need from you and we'll be done. Then I'll head back to my lab."
Kerra then spent the next couple of hours scanning Jules's body, taking samples of his voice and playing with the images from the three dimensional scans until it showed the finished product.
"How does that look?" Kerra asked, turning her laptop so that Jules could see the screen.
"That's me alright. You do some good work Kerra." Jules said complimenting his daughter in law.
"Thanks. Course if this works out well, I'll be making new prosthesis for Bunnie. Though the question is, would you like a few special 'enhancements'?" Kerra asked, emphasizing the word 'enhancements'.
"Knowing you, it's probably something that goes boom." Jules said.
"Maybe..." Kerra dragged out while trying to look innocent.
"What did you have in mind?"
"I could make it a high output body that has a couple of hidden weapons in it. Your strength will be on par with mine, I can put jet boosters in the legs so you can move quick if you need to, and as the cherry on top, an ion cannon in each arm." Kerra replied as she listed the add-ons.
"Sounds good. When will it be ready?"" Jules asked, nodding that he accepted the add-ons.
"Just in time for your anniversary. Though to keep it a secret, you'll have to come to my lab to switch bodies. I'll come and pick you up when it's complete and we'll just tell Bernie that you're looking for someplace to take her in the big city." Kerra said as she packed away her laptop.
"Okay. I'll see you then I guess." Jules said as he hugged his daughter in law.
"You too Dad. Just make sure not to let anything slip to Bernie. Only the four of us are to know." The vixen said to the three men.
After getting some form of acknowledgment from the three, Kerra bid them goodbye and headed back to her plane.
Nine months later
Kerra pushed herself back from her computer and rubbed her eyes.
"Finally finished. Aura could you run a systems check on the shell?" She asked her AI.
"Sure thing.," The AI answered, shimmering into existence.
"Everything checks out as green." The holographic arctic kitsune answered.
"Good. Well, I'm going to get some sleep and head out to get Jules in the morning. Keep this room locked down tight until I get back." Kerra told the AI as she turned to leave the lab. "Don't get any funny idea's either. If this works, I'll make you your own body." Kerra said, anticipating a possible 'test drive' inn the AI's future. After what happened when Sally and Nicole switched bodies, she was so not going to let anything happen.
The next day
"Hey Dad what are you doing here?" Sonic asked as his wife and his father walked into the house.
"Kerra was going to help me out with a few issues I've been having with my body that Rotor can't seem to fix. She said her lab was better equipped." Jules explained, very cleverly hiding the true reason he was in the Mystic Ruins.
"Oh cool, so how long are you going to be here?" The younger hedgehog asked.
"Until dinner on Friday. I'll need you to get your mom and bring her here and to a nice restaurant. We'll all be having dinner together that night."
"Wait. what's happening on Friday?" Sonic asked.
"Babe, if you forget your own parent's anniversary, you are forbidden to spin-dash anything anymore so you don't forget ours." Kerra responded playfully punching her blue hedgie lover in the shoulder.
"Ow, that hurt. Shit, I can't believe I forgot. Don't worry Pops, I have the perfect place in mind. Just let me handle the reservations." Sonic said before kissing his wife on the cheek and running out of the house, speeding past the sound barrier with a thunderclap.
"Think he'll remember and not get distracted?" Jules asked.
"Yeah he will. It's my fault really, I can be very, distracting." Kerra said with low seductive tone.
"If I could blush, I'd be doing so right now." Jules replied.
"I know. I just like getting that reaction out of people." Kerra said as she walked towards the entrance to her lab, swaying her hips, causing her tails to move back and forth slowly.
Realizing that Jules wasn't following her, she called out over her shoulder; "You gonna keep staring at my ass all day or do you want to see you new body?" She asked with a smile.
"You are going to be the death of me girl." Jules replied after snapping out of it and hurrying to catch up.
In Kerra's lab
Kerra and Jules stood before the prosthetic body floating in a neutral buoyancy tank.
"So what do you think?" Kerra asked her father in law.
"It looks great, but will it work?" Jules asked as he looked over what would be the beginning of a new stage in his life.
"Well according to Aura, everything is reading in the green." Kerra replied.
"Sorry, but who is Aura?" Jules asked.
Crystals in the ceiling warmed and the aforementioned artificial intelligence shimmered into view.
"I'm Aura. I am an artificial construct who's directives include keeping the Colonel alive and assisting her in the lab as well as running the systems of any ship she puts me in." Aura said giving a curtsey.
"Okay, seriously was the curtsey necessary? You aren't even wearing a dress." Kerra said, looking at her 'daughter' with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really, but it's always fun raising your blood pressure." Aura responded with a giggle.
"Okay never heard of an AI that giggles." Jules said breaking in.
"That's because of her programming and how she was made. She is, in a manner of speaking, my daughter because I used a clone of my brain to form the basis of her memory matrix. This leads her to be a little more, what's the word, spunky, at times." Kerra explained. "Now lay down on this bed and we'll get started."
As Jules lay down on the bed, Kerra raised the new body out of the fluid and lay it on a similar bed next to Jules.
"Okay Jules. This next part requires precision. Precision that I can't get with these hands. I'll be using this bot here to remove your cyber brain and install it in your new body." Kerra said as she sat down in another chair.
"How are you going to do that?" Jules asked.
"I have a highly advanced neural interface that allows me to interface with machines and anyone else that has the same interface. Since you have one in your new body, you can contact me once you learn how to use your new abilities." Kerra explained as she hooked wires into the tranz at the base of her neck and laying back.
"What do you mean new abilities?" Jules asked.
He was answered not from Kerra's body, but the robot that she had indicated.
"You'll gain plenty of new skills. Using a quote unquote "cybercomm" is just one of them." Kerra explained, her voice electronic sounding and two of the manipulators on the robot forming quotation marks when she said "cybercomm".
"Now first things first. We can't have you moving in the middle of the procedure, so I need to disable a few of your functions. It'll also save on you battery power as well until we get everything hooked up over here." Kerra said as the robot picked up several long, fine needles and began to insert them into small holes in Jules's brain case.
After all the needles were carefully inserted, Kerra then began to carefully disconnect Jules's brain and spinal cord from his body taking care not to jostle them to much.
Ten minutes later, the brain was removed and Kerra slowly twisted the robot's 'torso' to hold the brain over the new body before starting the installation procedure.
Ten more minutes and the procedure was completed and all the needles were removed in the reverse order and the panels on the body were closed, leaving no visible seam.
Unhooking from the machine, Kerra sat up wiping her brow, which had become soaked with sweat she hadn't felt when she was diving. Another reason she had used the robot and not her hands. Using the machine, she could shield herself from all outside distractions.
Shakily, she stood up and walked over to the bed Jules's new body was laying on and slid underneath it to look him in the eye.
"Hey Jules. You still in there?" Kerra said as she looked at his face waiting for him to wake.
Slowly, Jules started to open his eyes. They revealed the same brilliant emerald orbs that his soon had and quickly snapped into focus and adjusted for the lighting.
"This is incredible. I'm no longer looking out of a heads up display anymore. everything is in color, and everything is so much sharper!" Jules exclaimed as he looked around with his eyes.
Suddenly panic developed in those eyes. His pupils dilated and his breathing increased. "Kerra, why can't I move?" He asked
"I put inhibitors on your new body so you wouldn't damage you or any one else. Sorry if it scared you." Kerra responded before calling out to Aura. "Aura give him his motor function back."
"Got it." Aura reasoned, preforming the indicated procedure. She ran into a build up of mecha pressure as she journeyed deeper into Jules's cyber brain.
"That's strange. I'm running into some kinda of pressure and interference as I travel deeper into his cyber brain." Aura said out loud.
"That would be his ghost line. Do not go any further, stay only in the sections I tell you to go to. I don't need you frying his brain." Kerra said keeping her voice level, despite the fact of how close Aura came to killing Jules.
"Understood. Pulling back to the furthest boundary of his cyber brain." Aura replied.
"Alright Jules. Slowly sit up. It's going to take you a bit to get used to the new body. I made it a lot higher output than your old one." Kerra said as she helped Jules into a sitting position.
"This is amazing. I haven't felt this good in years. I almost feel like I'm back in my original body." Jules replied as he sat up straight.
"Then I did a really good job in making this body. Can you feel my hand on your shoulder?" Kerra asked as she squeezed the hedgehog's shoulder.
"Yeah I can! This is unbelievable!"
"So you keep saying. Now, lets try standing on your own and walking." The genius kitsune said as she helped her father in law to his feet.
"Okay." Jules replied as he concentrated on relearning how to move.
The next four days flew by, Jules quickly progressed in learning how to use his new body. Soon he was running and flying with the help of hidden jet boosters in the back of his legs. He also became quite proficient in the use of his ion cannons, destroying the targets that Kerra set up in a field close to her house.
"Good job Jules! I think you mastered your new body in record time! You ready for tonight?" Kerra asked as she walked into her lab to present Jules his attire for the night.
"You bet! I can't wait to see the look on Bernie's face when I walk in. It'll be priceless." Jules said as he sorted out his outfit.
"Well you can take pictures and store them for later viewing. So you can save the moment forever." Kerra replied as she left the lab to go get changed.
"So are they meeting us there?" Jules asked the vixen.
"Yup I told Sonic that I would bring you in my car and to go ahead and be seated. You'll follow me and stay hidden until I get close enough to the table." Kerra said as she shut the door.
Two hours later Jules was wearing a pair of black slacks and a long sleeved, black button up shirt. He was waiting in the living room when Kerra came gliding down the steps. His jaw dropped when he saw the vixen's attire.
She was wearing a ankle length, spaghetti strap black evening gown with a conservative pair of high heels and a small black clutch purse in her left hand. Her hair was in a messy bun with a couple of ringlets of hair draped on wither side of her face.
"So are you ready to go?" She asked the stunned hedgehog.
"Yeah. I have to say you look stunning. I hope Bernie doesn't get jealous seeing me walking in with you." Jules said as they walked to the garage.
As they got into Kerra's rebuilt Chevelle she replied, "I doubt it. We dressed to match. Sonic has a similar outfit to yours as well."
A thirty minute drive found them in front of the Italian restaurant that Sonic had gotten reservations for earlier that week. After having the valet park her car Kerra led Jules into the doors, asking the matire'd where their party was seated and picked the most direct route there that would keep Jules hidden from view.
"Kerra! It's so good to see you again. I was wondering why you didn't stop by when you visited a few months ago." Bernie said as she stood to hug her daughter in law.
"Sorry. I was on one of my inventive kicks. Didn't think about much else." Kerra replied, scratching the back of her head nervously.
"It's okay. Now my son tells me that you were bringing my husband. But you are suspiciously alone. Did he get damaged by you tinkering?" Bernie asked
"No, if anything he's been improved." Kerra said with a smile.
"How so?" Bernie asked.
"May I present the new and improved Jules Hedgehog." Kerra said stepping aside allowing Bernie to see her husband's new body.
"Jules is that really you?" The elder female asked.
"It is dear. Kerra here is definitely a genius. She figured out a way to build me a new body that is even better than my original one. It's even fully 'equipped', Jules said with a sultry smirk, causing Kerra and Sonic to face palm.
Bernie swooped in and did something that she hadn't been able to do for years, kiss her husband and be kissed in kind.
Kerra moved to her seat next to Sonic and sat down.
"You did a good thing my vixen." The cobalt blur told his wife.
"I know. I was racking my brain after their last anniversary for an idea that would make up for everything that I had missed when I was gone. I cam e up with this. Building him a new shell that would allow him to live a normal life." the golden kitsune said as she held her husband's hand,
"Well I think they both enjoy it. I haven't seen them this happy in years." Sonic replied giving his wife a chaste kiss.
"Well I'm glad I could help." Kerra said with a smile before turning to the other couple, who were making out like two high schoolers.
"Come on we need to get some food going here, so quit macking like you're in high school and sit down." She said with a laugh.
"Sorry, I just missed being able to do that." Jules said as he pulled out Bernie's chair for her.
"So have I. Thank you Kerra this is the best anniversary gift you could have ever thought of." Bernie said as the waiter came up to take orders.
Later that night since it was a bit late to take Jules and Bernie back to their home, they decided to stay the night at Kerra and Sonic's.
About an hour after they got there Kerra and Sonic were in the middle of a session of some rough loving, when Kerra heard a beeping resound inside her head. Dividing her focus between pleasing her husband and her cybercomm, she answered.
"Jules?" She asked.
"Yup. I really have to thank you for this new body!" The older male responded.
"Why is that?" Kerra asked.
"Let me show you." Jules replied.
The image of Jules face that had popped up in her perspective disappeared and was instead replaced with a live video feed of Bernie in a position that Kerra didn't think was possible at her age.
"Okay that's a total mood killer. Jules enjoy your night, I'm going to try and purge that image from my head now." Kerra said as she cut the connection.
"Sorry babe but the mood has just been killed." Kerra said as she climbed off of her husband.
"Why was it something I did?" Sonic asked, his pride taking a hit.
"No it wasn't you. Unless you told your dad to give me a little view of his POV while railing you mom."
Sonic twitched. "No I had nothing to do with that. I can see why the mood got killed."
"Don't worry. We're still young and have plenty of good nights ahead of us." Kerra replied giving her husband a hug. "Plus I have a way to get revenge."
"This I have got to see." Sonic said with a smile that rivaled the one his wife was now wearing.
The next morning
"Good morning guys. Did y'all sleep well?" Kerra asked as she made breakfast.
"We slept pretty good." Jules replied as he winked to his wife.
"Good. By the way, Bernie, would you happen to take yoga?" Kerra asked slyly.
"No why?" Her mother in law asked.
"Then you must be naturally flexible then. I would have to do yoga every day to get into that position at your age." Kerra responded with a sadistic grin.
"Do you have cameras in every room or something?" Bernie said starting to get angry.
"Wrong person to direct the anger at mom. Try the hedgie next to you." The kitsune said pointing to Jules.
"Hey no fair!" Jules exclaimed as Bernie grabbed a frying pan and started to chase him around the house.
It was at this point that Sonic came downstairs and saw the chaos.
"Ah. Just like the good old days." He said as he grabbed a cup of coffee and watched the shenanigans.
A/N: Hey everybody I hoped you enjoyed this little one shot. I wrote this because my own anniversary is coming up in a few days and I will be unable to spend it with my wife due to being deployed. I got the idea for Jules's new body from the anime Ghost in the Shell. If you paid attention I made several references in the story to the anime. If you wish to understand more about cyberization and the concept of a ghost, I would suggest checking out the movies or the series. They explain it very well in both. Anyways,please read and review.
Hokuto out.