Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, blah, blah, blah. You've heard this sht before.
But I do own this story.
A Wily tale
Part 20
Robotnik was puttering around in his control room, trying to come up with a plan for attacking Skull Tower. He wanted those robots.
"Just think of the modifications to the Swatbots we could make Snivley... Capturing the Freedom fighters would be a snap if we had them..."
'By 'we make the modifications' you mean 'You'll make the modifications Snivley.' Snivley sighed, his uncle had been ranting like this for days. And it was starting to get on his nerves.
"But how to get them..." Robotnik relaxed in his chair and stoked his mustache. "This may require some time to think through..."
Days had passed and Jonny still hadn't woken up. Each of the Robot masters visited their maker, a few of them even threatened the doctor into promising to make sure that Jonny would be okay.
"Hey! He's waking up!"
Jonny stirred, "What happened?" he groaned. Jonny's eyes shot open, noticing that he had casts on his left leg and arm, and his chest was bandaged. That and the fact that he had an IV in his arm and was wearing one of those idiotic hospital robes in front of his friends. Needless to say he was a bit embarrassed, he felt naked without his shades. He looked at the small crowd that was around him, Sonic, Amy, Sally, Dr. Quack, Cold man and Doc stood around him, each with a happy yet relived smile on their faces.
"How long was I out?"
"Five days." Amy told him, smiling, "You missed your birthday, and even though you asked us to not get you anything, you never told the robot masters that."
Amy pointed to the small pile of gifts. Jonny smiled, he felt for the first time he had real friends, not like the ones back home that only liked him because he was using a fake name or wanted a death machine. His eyes began to dart around the room.
"What ya looking for?" Sonic asked.
"Can I have my shades? I don't right without them."
Amy reached underneath the bed, Jonny's shirt, lab coat and other clothes were sitting, folded underneath his hospital bed, along with his shades. Jonny frowned when he saw his T shirt, which was cut into sections. Jonny took his shades and put them on.
The Dr. Quack coughed, "I had to cut your shirt off, I didn't want cause any more damage to your ribs."
Jonny winced, clothes were one of the many things he didn't bring a lot of when he came to this world.
Jonny sighed, "Well doc, what's the verdict?"
"You've got 3 broken ribs and 3 more that are cracked. Along with that you have a broken arm, a cracked thigh and a concussion. And more bruises than I cared to count." Doctor Quack told him. "You'll have to stay here for observation for a day or two, and I'm afraid you won't be able to walk on that leg for a solid 4 weeks."
Jonny sighed in annoyance, that meant no arena fighting, his research on the roboticizer would be slowed to a crawl, and worst of all, he's be stuck in a wheelchair for two fortnights. Jonny yawned, despite having just woken up, he felt sleepy.
"You need to get some rest." The doctor had barely finished that small sentence before Jonny was out like a light.
The group left Jonny's room, Cold man carried Doc, he had grown to look at the little guy as sort of a younger brother, which, technically one could say they were.
Dr. Quack looked back in the room and shook his head in disgust. "I still can't believe how violent some people are. I mean, such a violent attack, and you say this was because our visitor from the floating isle thought that the kid stole the plans for these robots from an android he himself built?"
"Yeah. But who told you about this?" Sonic asked, "We've pretty much kept this info to ourselves."
"That robot that brought him in, nice fellow. Called himself Shadow man I believe."
"Sensei Shadow man?" Amy asked excitedly.
Sonic looked at the pink hedgehog next to him, "You know him Amy?"
"He teaches self defense lessons in the dojo, he's a very good teacher and for a robot he's surprisingly nice."
"He's been teaching you self defense?" Sonic gulped, 'Mental note: From now on, do not tick off Amy if at all possible.'
"Yeah, and Yamato man and gave me a few pointers too." Sally said.
"Crystal man warned me that something like this would happen." Amy turned and looked at Sonic, "A bunch of hooey, huh?"
"Uh Doc, who are these two?" Sonic said gesturing to the two robots that had sat over in the corner of the hallway.
The larger robot stood up and introduced himself, "I'm Cold man, and this little guy is called Doc." the tiny hard hated robot did a backflip and made a few blips, "He says he's pleased to meet you. We were assigned to help out here on the medical floor."
"That small robot is a lot more help than he looks, and Cold man's always there if you need ice for an ice pack too." Dr. Quack sighed, "I'm grateful for Jonny for giving me such a great office, I mean, the equipment is a lot better than what I had back in Knothole. I owe him that at least."
"That reminds me," Sally said, "What's the call on the Warthog he found in the hallway?"
"He has a cracked skull, a broken jaw, and a broken snout." Cold man said flatly.
"Is he able to talk?" Sally asked her old friend.
The Doctor coughed. "No, he's still unconscious. Hard to say when he'll come out of it at all."
Sally frowned, "When he does, contact me. I want to have a word with him." She stated firmly before walking off with the others.
"Yes ma'am." Dr. Quack called back to the princess.
"I have to go tell Quick man and his buddies that Jonny's okay. He said the race was off until Jonny was better." Sonic said walking off, "He said Turbo man wasn't too much of a nice guy on the road and wouldn't be too friendly if we raced."
The rest of the group went back to whatever they were doing prior to coming.
Jonny spent his 2 day stay in bed looking through the small pile of birthday gifts and talking to anyone who came in to see him. Needle man had actually been making his friend and creator a new pair of shoes, which where exactly like his old pair only plain brown. Crystal man had managed to part with a deck of tarot cards, Yamato man had made some origami cranes and Plant man even brought in a potted plant (big surprise).
After his last check up, Jonny slowly got into a wheelchair and left the medical center, fully clothed. His gifts either in the pouch or in his pockets (The plant he left in the room). Even though his shirt was torn, he wore it like a vest, 'Something is better than nothing.' he thought.
"Remember, no strenuous activities. Your ribs are still in bad shape." the doctor told Jonny for the umpteenth time.
Jonny mentally groaned, anymore lectures and Jonny would be hearing them in his sleep. "You have my word on that Doctor."
Jonny slowly rolled towards the elevator and hit the button for the first floor. He was going to keep his word to the doc, however, he still ad to know how things were going in the lab.
Sure enough, there was Hard man, guarding the elevator to the lab.
"Boss! It's good to see you." Hard man said, his voice was at about normal speed for everyone else, which was fast for him.
"Likewise Hard man." Jonny said, smiling.
Hard man stepped aside and Jonny descended down to the lab.
Ali-Su had spent the last five days in her room, she didn't want that attack to happen like it did. Looking back on every encounter with the human, she had given him nothing but harsh words and open hatred, while he had tried to be nice like he wanted to be her friend. She had been walking around the first floor, getting hard looks from the Robot masters. She knew they wanted to kick her out of the tower or worse, yet reframed solely because the human had told them not to. She had just seen Jonny go into the elevator and ran towards the door, but failed to get there before they closed because of the large fist that lifted her off the ground.
"Hard man please! I have to talk to him!" Ali pleaded with the huge cobalt robot.
"No one... goes down there without clearance." Hard man boomed, setting the echidna down.
"Please! I have to tell him I'm sorry." She pleaded, giving him puppy eyes.
Hard man remained adamant. He knew what had happened between her and his creator, "No..." he boomed in her face.
"Then I'll wait." Ali-Su frowned and stood next to the elevator.
Jonny was surprised to find Tails and Rotor were both sitting around the monitor, watching old video files that Jonny had brought with him. Scenes of Mega man and Bass fighting above an unknown city's streets were on the screen, and both watched the screen intently so intently, they didn't even notice Jonny sneak up on them.
"WHAT YOU DOIN!?" He yelled, making Rotor and Tails practically jump out of their skin. They both turned with evil looks, but instead smiled when they saw their friend.
"Jonny! I'm glad you're okay!" Tails yelled and hugged Jonny, who winced and let out a loud cry of pain.
Tails jumped back, "I'm sorry! You okay?"
"Yeah, just fine." Jonny's voice was horse with pain but he managed a weak smile, which turned into a sort of 'what the hell are you doing' kinda look. "So how did you access my private video files?"
Tails and Rotor both gave a sheepish grin. "We kinda... hacked your database." Rotor said.
Jonny sighed, then looked at the screen, "MEGA MAN! TODAY WE FINISH THIS!" Bass screamed on the screen, he was shooting at a blue robot riding on a robotic dog while riding on Treble.
"I guess you know what would've happened if I had made Bass." Jonny said, he didn't really care about the whole Tails and Rotor hacking his database, if it had been anyone else however...
"Yeah, and we watched your grandfather use his Robot masters to attack a city."
Jonny looked down at the ground, he didn't like being related to a man like Dr. Wily. The old man may have taught him everything he knew about robots, and one of his blood relatives, but he still didn't like the man.
Tails noticed his friend looked sad, "What's wrong?"
"You guys see why I'd be depressed about having a granddad like that. Robotnik may take your free will, but my grandpa didn't have anything like a roboticizer. So he wanted to enslave the world using robots to police my whole race. The only difference is that my grandpa was beaten everytime, while Robotnik took over." A tear escaped the human's thick shades, "Sorry, I'm just... ashamed to be related to such a mad man. It's because of him my parents are dead, because of him I'm an emotional wreck..."
"Maybe," Rotor said, laying a hand on Jonny's shoulder, "But because of him, you're here. Helping us defeat Robotnik and help create a deroboticizer, and let's not forget helping Bunnie."
Jonny felt like he was about to snap, he then shook his head to rid himself of this engulfing feeling of emptiness. "You're right, I'm being selfish. I'm sorry guys."
"What did you mean you lost your parents because of Dr. Wily?"
Jonny took off his shades "That beating I got knocked something loose in my head. After I tell you this promise me you'll never speak of this again."
Rotor and Tails agreed.
"My mother and father were... lynched." Jonny's speckled grayish blue eyes filled with tears, "At the age of four I saw an angry mob drag both my parents out of the family car, beat them in the streets and hang them from a lamp posts. Do you know what that'd do to a four year old?" Jonny looked at his hands, "I feel like an old man, I feel tired, worn out, like I need a reason to go on or I'll die. Hell, would you believe that I've never even been hugged by a girl in my life?"
Tails and Rotor looked at each other, not sure how to respond to that. A few minutes were passed in total silence.
Tails walked up to Jonny and hugged him again, much softer this time. "Always remember, you have friends now, and you're helping to save a whole planet. You are one of the good guys."
Jonny smiled and gently hugged the fox back. "Where'd you learn to talk like that?" he laughed, feeling a LOT better.
Tails let go of Jonny and grinned, "I've been listening to aunt Sally too much."
Rotor and Jonny laughed.
Jonny put his shades on and turned to the images on the screen. "So what else have you looked at?"
"Pictures of cities, places and animals among other things. The wildlife of your world seems to mirror our world. In some ways at least." Rotor said.
Jonny groaned, he didn't feel like talking about this right now. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I have to put some stuff away on my floor."
Come to think of it, you never showed us that floor. Can we come with you?
"I kinda feel like being alone right now." Jonny was depressed, and his tone showed it.
"Okay. Bye Jonny." Tails said as Jonny wheeled towards the elevator.
Tails then looked at the walrus next to him. "Rotor, he got messed up pretty bad. You think he's okay?"
Rotor shook his head. "I don't know, maybe he needs sometime to himself."
As the elevator doors opened, Jonny came face to face with a saddened yellow echidna.
"Hi Ali..." Jonny said with a sigh, thinking he'd get another chewing out like all the other times.
"Hi Jonny." she said, this surprised Jonny, Ali-Su had only used that name when she talked about the android.
"When did you find out about me and the android?" he asked.
"Sonic came to my room and chewed me out after he heard about you. I just want to say I'm so sorry. I didn't know you and were the same fox I... I mean... I kinda thought... you had a crush on me. When you were a fox that is." Ali-Su blushed a little at the end of that statement.
"Well, I... um..." Jonny trailed off, blushing a little.
Ali-Su laughed. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"You'd never let me finish telling you. You'd always interrupt me or stomp off."
"So... Am I forgiven?" the yellow echidna asked.
Jonny smiled. "Yeah. You are, I'll be okay, even though I won't be able to walk for four weeks."
"Were are you headed?"
"The fifth floor." Jonny said flatly.
"Isn't that the floor that's off limits?"
"Yeah, because it's where I go to be alone."
"Would... it be okay if I came with you?" Ali asked, "I'd kinda like to see it."
Jonny thought about it for a second, then smiled at the echidna. "Why not? I'll trust you."
Hard man smiled inwardly. 'It's nice that they're getting along.' he thought.
Ali-Su smiled and pushed Jonny's wheelchair to the other elevator. She was glad that he accepted her apology, but she still felt responsible for all this, and thus still felt sorry.
As they arrived on the fifth floor, the first thing Ali noticed was a small room, VERY small. All there was a heavy metal door with a security panel on it. Jonny pressed a few buttons and placed his hand on the hand reader.
Ali-Su's jaw dropped. Out of all the rooms and floors she had seen in Skull tower, this was one the most unfinished. All of the walls didn't even have plaster in them yet and only Jonny's room had carpeting. They walked down a long hallway to the room at the end.
"This is my room." Jonny said.
Ali-Su was surprised to say the least. His 'bed' was just two mattresses stacked on top of each other. There were a few books laying around, along with some other things. Needless to say, Ali was surprised how... incomplete Jonny's personal floor was. She thought that it would be the most decorative place in the whole tower, but it was a dump.
"Why is this place so..." Ali-Su paused, trying to find the right word.
"Unfinished? This floor was the last on my list of things to do." Jonny explained. "I ordered your rooms to be made using the necessary parts, and I haven't gotten around to making more."
"You put our needs above your own? That was nice of you." Ali smiled, not many people would do that.
Jonny scratched his head. "I just wanted to be a nice host."
Ali-Su noticed a picture on the dresser and picked it up, there was a young man wearing a lab coat, a young woman, and a small child standing for a picture. They all looked very happy together. Ali knew in a second it was Jonny and his parents.
"Do... you miss your home? Your world?" Ali-Su asked, turning to look at him
"I regret not seeing a few things... The Giza Pyramids for one. But I don't have any reason to go back. Even if I could go back, I'd still be seen as a danger to humanity." Jonny rolled over to an old dresser he had found and patched up, and took off his shades and set them on it.
This was the first time Ali had seen Jonny with his glasses. She stared at them in awe for a second she'd never seen eyes as pretty his.
"Ali," That snapped her out of her trance, Jonny "There's something I was going to tell you earlier, and you never let me finish. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what? I was the one who-"
"I tricked you into thinking I was a fox. In a way it's my own fault I'm in this damn chair." Jonny frowned.
Ali-Su shook her head. "It was my decision to do what I did."
"Ali?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we still be friends? Like we were before Robotnik attacked Knothole?" Jonny asked, his eyes seemed to plead with Ali to say yes.
"Sure." She gave Jonny a quick hug, causing him to blush. "I gotta go, but maybe tomorrow you could tell me about these Pyramids..."
Jonny watched as Ali-Su walked back to the elevator, leaving Jonny alone on his unfinished floor.
"Thanks Ali." he said, even though she was no longer there. Jonny laid down on his bed. 'This place isn't so bad, Mobius is a lot like Earth, and then there's Ali... What am I thinking? She doesn't care for me that way...'
Jonny sighed and closed his eyes. "I'll have to get a new shirt."
Ali sighed in elevator, 'Those eyes... He's kinda cute without those sunglasses.' She shook her head. 'He doesn't like me like that. We're just too different.'
Ali-Su went to get a snack at the cafeteria.
To be continued....
