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 31

"How is he Doc?" Sonic asked.

Doctor Quack looked over at the small group of Mobians that had gathered outside. "He just woke up, but unlike Sonic, his memory of these past events is seemingly nonexistent."

"Would it be alright if we saw him?" Ali-Su asked.

Dr. Quack frowned. "Yes, but please keep it short, he needs to rest and you saw his... condition."

Tails, Sonic, Sally and Ali-Su filed in to see their friend. Jonny had been out for a solid 3 days since they had gotten back. Ali-Su had spent every moment possible by Jonny's side, the others had convinced her to get something to go for a walk, during which she told Sonic and the other exactly what had transpired in Robotropolis. Needless to say, Sonic was surprised that he had fought like he had, and not being able to remember what happened had teed him off a little.

They found Jonny in the same spot he had been these three days, in bed with one of those nasty green hospital gowns on. His eyes had been bandaged, but the most disturbing thing was his right arm.

"Hey Jonny."

"Who's there?" Jonny's voice was a little hoarse, but otherwise he sounded okay. "I seem to be having trouble with my eyes..."

"It's Sonic man, I'm here with Tails, Sal, and Ali-Su."

Jonny smiled at the mention of Ali-Su's name. "She's okay?"

Ali-Su smiled, glad to hear Jonny sounded normal again. "Yeah, I'm fine... How do you feel?"

Jonny let out a tired sigh and frowned. "My eyes hurt... and I can't feel my right arm. Did the doc have to amputate or something?"

"No... You see Jonny..." Ali-Su bent over and whispered why he couldn't feel anything.

"What?" Jonny lifted the bandages that covered his eyes with his left hand and saw his arm, then let out a cry of pain before clasping the bandages down again. "My EYES!" he cried as he squirmed on the bed in total agony.

"What is it?" Dr. Quack asked as he rushed back in.

"We don't know. He lifted the bandages, and he started screaming like someone stuck him with a hot poker." Sally said, stepping out of the way as the doc went to check up on Jonny, bedside.

"There was nothing wrong with eyes when I examined him..." Doctor Quack looked at the others, "Would you mind leaving for the time being? I need to do some more tests."

The gang waited a full hour outside in the room that served as the waiting room for the medical center before Dr. Quack came in.

"Is he okay?" Tails asked, the fox wore a look of worry that only a small child could make, the kind that made bad news even harder to deliver.

Dr. Quack sighed. "His robotic arm is not causing any complications, and I am at a loss to explain as to why his eyes cause him so much pain.

"But what hurt him Doc?" Ali-Su asked, looking every bit as worried as Tails.

"Believe it or not, it was the lights." Dr. Quack directed everyone's attention up to the Florissant lights in the ceiling. "For reasons I can't explain, his eyes have become ultra sensitive to light. He can seems just fine with his sunglasses on, but it seems he will not be able to take them off with out severe pain."

Dr. Quack noted how distraught he had made everyone, and quickly added: "However, this may be only temporary, and there is nothing else wrong with him."

"Although I think you chose a poor room mate for Jonny, I think you were wise to pull the curtains between them so they can't see each other." Sally was of course referring to the warthog that had nearly killed Jonny. Whether he had been under the influence of the Evil energy or was truly that violent, it would be a very bad idea to let them see each other now.

"Yes, ever since he woke up he's been a pain in the neck." The doctor sighed. "He yells at the nurses, threatens Cold man and Doc, and is downright rude." I'll have him moved into a vacant room as soon as possible."

"Thanks doc, you better get on that ASAP." Sonic said, as he headed off in the direction of the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Sally's answer came as the dinner bell rang from the PA system. "Never mind..."

Sally, Ali-Su and Tails all headed to the elevator.

"How did he do that? Sonic never carries a watch?" Tails asked.

Sally just shrugged. "We may never know..."

In the hospital room Jonny's mind was a tangle of questions... 'Why is my arm made of metal? Why can't I use my eyes like I normally do? What happened? Why can't I remember anything?' Tears soaked the gauze that covered Jonny's eyes as he slowly drifted off into a saddened slumber.


2 weeks later...

Ali-Su entered the lab hoping to find Jonny, she needed to talk to him. "Hi Rotor, Tails, is Jonny in here?"

"We haven't seen him in two weeks Ali-Su." Rotor said, "His desk hasn't been touched since Robotropolis

"I asked Shadow man if he knew where he was and he told me that Jonny's been hold up in room this whole time." Tails said.

"Thanks guys." Ali-Su sighed. "I'll try to talk him out of there."

"Good luck." Tails called to her, then sighed. "She'll need it."

As the elevator opened to the first floor, Ali was greeted by the heavily armored Hard man.

"Is something... Wrong?" Hard man asked.

Ali-Su looked up at Hard man. "Yeah... Have you seen Jonny?"

Hard man nodded and pointed in the direction of the auditorium. "He just went... In there..."

Ali-Su jumped up and kissed the robot on the cheek, and without another word she ran to the auditorium.

Hard man smiled. 'It's nice that the boss has someone who cares about him.' He thought and resumed his post at the side of the lab's elevator.


Ali-Su found Jonny sitting alone on the stage looking at his metallic arm as he opened and closed his fist, listening to the servos and other workings worked in comply to his brain's commands.

"Hey." Jonny didn't even look at Ali-Su as he spoke.

"Hey. How you doing?" Ali-Su was surprised at how distant and depressive he sounded. 'I gotta cheer him up. Depression is very unhealthy.'

"Just fine. I just nearly killed you and Sonic, and from what the computer told me, I nearly destroyed your whole planet." Jonny was laughing, but it seemed like he would break into tears at any moment. "I'm no better than my grandfather."

Ali was surprised he knew what happened, she had only told Sally and Sonic what had happened. "You... Who told you?"

"Sonic. He felt I had a right to know what happened, personally I wish he hadn't told me." Jonny turned away from Ali-Su. "I don't deserve to be near you."

"Why are you are always comparing yourself to your grandpa? Let me tell you, you aren't him! His sins are not yours, so stop moping around!" Ali-Su yelled, getting quite upset.

"Why do you care so much about me Ali?" Jonny's question aught Ali-Su off guard, she was silent for a time. "You're my friend Ali. But my friends always end up hurt. I understand if you don't want to be near me any more."

Ali-Su couldn't take it anymore. Before Jonny could get up to leave Ali-Su latched onto Jonny and buried her face into Jonny's chest. "I love you, you dumb fool..." She sniffed. "This whole thing doesn't change the way I feel about you."

"You… love me?" Jonny stammered, shocked at the echidna's sudden outburst.

"With all my heart." Ali-Su said. "You risked it all to save my life and you nearly died. I never want to see that again..." Ali-Su tightened her grip on him a little.

Jonny looked down at the echidna and put his arms around her. For the first time in a fortnight Jonny smiled. The only thing that saddened him was he couldn't hold her as tight as he wanted to due to his new arm. "I love you too Ali..." Jonny said, all the aching depression that had caked around his heart melted away as he spoke those words. "It's just... I can never recall when someone last told me those words. I was so young when my parents dies, and my grandpa never told me that."

"Well, now someone does love you." Ali-Su blushed, enjoying the embrace for a while before settling next to Jonny and rested her head on his shoulder.

For a time they sat in silence, just enjoying each others company.

"So, what now?" Jonny suddenly asked.

"Would you like to try going out?" Ali-Su asked, her face bright red at the thought.

"As long as you want to." Jonny smiled. "You ever been on a date?"

"I have once. But we decided to remain friends." Ali-Su looked up at Jonny. "You?"

Jonny shook his head. "I tried once. But once she found out who I was, she told her father and he got a mob together... and you get where I'm going with this."

Ali-Su leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I'd never do that."

Jonny looked straight at Ali-Su and smiled. "Good. It's just..."

"What?" Ali-Su asked, watching as Jonny's smile faded into a depressive frown.

"You think your parents would accept me?"

Ali hadn't thought about that. But she knew that if her parents could see what he had wrought and paid to protect everyone in Knothole, they would certainly not object to him. But they where her parents, and parents are never predictable.

Ali-Su suddenly realized that Jonny was staring at her, waiting for an answer. "I'm sure they would. Listen, I'll handle them, don't worry."

"Okay. I'll trust you Ali..." Jonny and Ali-Su smiled at each other, then leaned in and shared their first real kiss in the emptiness of the auditorium.


Sword man was at the front gate and Knight man stood next to him, staring into the distance as the sun rose.

"Lord Wily hath been most strange these past few days..." Knight man said.

Sword man looked over at his closest friend. "After what happened to him can you blame him?"

Knight man shook his head. "It is not that Sword man... I meant that he has been in high spirits."

"I believe the reason is that young echidna. She and him have indeed grown close." Said Sword man.

"Let us hope she does not break his heart." Knight man said sternly.

Sword man nodded solemnly and resumed his post.


Sonic and the others looked over at the table where Jonny and Ali-Su were sitting and talking like they used to.

"It's great that Ali-Su finally got Jonny to cheer up." Sally said, enjoying another bite of her salad. She had complimented Wind man frequently on the dressing he and Plant man had man together.

"Yeah, and I'm glad everyone's acting normal again." Tails said. "You think the Evil energy was effecting everyone in the tower in some way?"

Sally nodded. "I guess. And it seems when the energy was destroyed its effect on everyone was gone as well."

"This stuff is almost as good as Uncle Chuck's chili dogs!" Both Sally and Tails looked over to see that Sonic was scarffing down a plateful of Heatman's atomic chili like it was lukewarm soup.

"How he does that without exploding I will never know..." Sally said shaking her head.

Tails sweat dropped. "Me either Aunt Sally... Hey we have some guests." Tails pointed to the small group that was Geoffrey of the king's secret service.

Sally asked, setting her fork down and turning to look at look at the skunk. "What is it Geoffrey?"

"We just came from a scouting mission to Robotropolis." Geoffrey stated. Ignoring the glare he was getting from Sonic.

"I hope you have good news." Sally frowned.

"We have good and bad. It will take Robotnik months to even begin repairs. But there's no way to get through the force field he erected. But there IS some more good news; Robotnik's so scared of Jonny attacking again, he's pulling his leftover forces from all over the planet to compensate for every Swatbot that was destroyed.

Sally sighed. This meant there was no way to finish off the fat man when he was at his weakest. "Is there anything else?"

Geoffrey shook his head in response. "None Princess. Other than I suggest we see what the 'human' has down in that 'Sub basement'."

Sally looked "I'll talk to him about that. But I know of one thing you could do Sir Geoffrey."

"What is that highness?" Geoffrey asked, giving the Princess a quizzical look.

"I want you to stay away from Jonny for a few days." Sally said in a demanding tone. "You hounded him for weeks before the last attack, and I want you to stop."

"Sorry Princess," Geoffrey said, frowning almost defiantly at Sally. "But those are orders from your father. I will continue to keep a close watch on him. Like it or not."

Geoffrey walked away, shooting a scowl at Jonny as he left.


"So Ali, you tell your parents about you and me?" Jonny asked. "I mean it's been a few days..."

Ali-Su sighed. "I sent them a few letters, but it's just, I really miss them ya know?"

"Home sick?" Jonny said, placing his warm non metallic hand on Ali-Su's. "I mean, you've been here for months now..."

"Kinda." Ali-Su smiled at Jonny and placed her hand on his. "But I do have you to cheer me up."

Jonny and Ali-Su finished their dinner and continued to talk for a few hours until they both became tired and went their separate ways.

'I can't believe she likes me...' Jonny thought, smiling to himself as he laid down on his bed. But the thing that Jonny loved most at the moment was that no voice came from the shadows...

To be continued...

A/N: yes I know this was a Jonny/Ali-Su heavy chapter. If you prefer I'll try to tone it down in later chapters.

This chapter was proofread by Dark Dragon Reborn.