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, 6 Years later.
Part 2
"Sonic, Sally. Glad you got my invitation." Jonny said, turning to see the arriving couple.
"I'm glad to get away from Mobotropolis for a while." Sonic said, looking around the room and giving his old friends a friendly grin. "Good to see you all."
"Likewise blue." Knuckles said, smirking at his old rival. "Is this Manic and Sonia?"
The two children waved and mouthed a 'hi' before beginning to fidget. It was clearly obvious they wanted to play with the other children.
Ali-Su bent down, smiling warmly. "Why don't you two go play with the other kids. Just don't do near the pool."
The hedgehog and squirrel/chipmunk sped over to the echidna/human children like beams of light, both very eager to play.
"I see your kids got their father's speed." Ali-Su smirked over at the royal couple.
"And their mother's lungs. I'm glad we had the help of the servants at the castle or we'd never get any sleep." Sonic grinned, even though Sally glared at him.
The other two couples just rolled their eyes.
"Well weren't you fortunate..." Julie-Su sneered.
"What ever happened to Metal?" Sally asked, changing the subject. "Last I remember he was a broken torso in a stasis tube in the sub basement of your tower."
"He was the first realistic Robain I made Sonic, and I mean realistic down to the feel of his synthetic fur. He could pass for you if it weren't for his red eyes."
"That's kinda creepy. I mean the old Metal looked enough like me." Sonic said giving a small shiver, the thought that his copy could now pass as him was indeed terrifying.
"It's okay, I lied." Jonny laughed. "I based Metal's body more off my old power armor. From the neck down he has a blue Bass like armor with silver details and a midnight blue gem on his chest. He has none of the powers of the suit but he can transform into a large buzz saw."
Sonic gulped. 'Note to self, keep a far distance from the metal hedgehog.'
"Shame your armor was destroyed in the final battle." Knuckles said. "It really did a number on ol' tubby before we threw him into the portal to the Void."
Jonny nodded. "It was more of a push than a throw really."
They all shared a hard laugh at that thought.
"I still think your plan was brilliant Jonny." Sally told the human, over the years she had grown to really respect how the human did things. "Reprogramming whole groups of Swatbot and sending them in as sleeper agents... Then when we had nearly all of them under our control you ordered them to take down Robotnik."
"It took a while to pull off but it worked." Jonny said, leaning against the wall. "Too bad we couldn't get many of the Combots, Eggbots, and various other powerful robots he had on our side. But we pulled it off all the same. Robotnik was thrown into the Void and is having 'fun' with that wizard, and the only remaining bots of his are empty shells in the museums."
"Where is Metal anyway?" Sonic asked, more interested in learning the fate of his doppelganger than in the past.
"Metal as well as most of the Robot masters are living in Down Town now." Jonny said. "I'm often thought of as the unofficial community leader."
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Down Town? That small village around Skull tower?"
"It's mostly populated by the Robot masters, Robians, and people who had to have cybernetic parts." Jonny explained. "And it's just Wily tower now, Ali-Su thought that the skulls didn't serve a real purpose anymore."
"Wait, cyborgs?" Knuckles said, obviously having something on his mind. "I thought that machine you where building would turn all partially roboticized Mobians back to normal?"
Jonny sighed in defeat. "The Organicizer was only a half success. Although I managed to turn everyone who had been roboticized to normal, including cases like Bunnie. Whenever I tried to turn a robot into a flesh and blood creature it was destroyed in the process." Jonny sighed again, he never liked to think that this life's work may never be realized. Jonny had spent countless hours working on the Organicizer's equations, they seemed almost endlessly complex. Six years of daily work on them was proof of that. "But an interesting thing is when someone is restored to their normal, whatever parts that where robotic are restored to the condition they where prior to robotization. IE: if you had bad eyes before, you have bad eyes when you step out of the Organicizer."
The group nodded, letting the human know they understood.
"It's not uncommon for people nowadays to ask for cybernetic parts. Besides, most cybernetic parts are undetectable without a metal detector or something of the like." Jonny shrugged, this sort of thing had become very commonplace for him and Ali-Su. "Even Mina has a replacement knee from her car accident last year after her concert."
"Really?" Sonic asked, he remembered how badly the poor mongoose was hurt on that day. "Huh... Mina's career really took off after that day. After she got better, an agent saw her in the paper and signer her up."
"Funny how the media works." Sally commented.
Sonic turned to Knuckles. "Hey Knux, did you hear about Amy?"
"That pink hedgehog that idolized you? What about her?" Knuckles gave Sonic a quizzical look. He had met Amy a few times before, she seemed nice if not a little naive.
"Amy had to be roboticized." Ali-Su said.
"Wha? Why?" Knuckles asked, very surprised at this news.
"Amy was taking a short cut home through a construction site, and a crane lost its grip on an iron 'I' beam... It was either Robotization or death. And I refused want to see one of my friends die." Jonny's face was very stern as he ended that sentence. Recalling how they nearly lost one of the nicest people on Mobius.
"I hope it was consensual." Julie-Su said, the idea of being turned into a robot wasn't something many Mobains liked to entertain. The memories of Dr. Robotnik where still fresh in their minds.
Jonny nodded. "It was. I've had to permanently roboticize many patients that where either terminally ill or had no chance for survival after an accident or botched surgery. I make sure they have a temporary home in the tower for a while then they move out after they accept these dramatic changes in lifestyle. Most of them and stay in Down Town, afraid of the Anti-Techs that are around nowadays."
Sally sighed. "The Anti-Tech protesters... Every time I go out nowadays I get hassled by one of those machine hating crazies..."
"Same here." Jonny said. "Only when they see me or a Robian they give chase. But they're getting start to stop trying to attack me. Since I just use Gravity Hold and keep them suspended in mid air until the authorities arrive." Jonny laughed, recalling how ticked the protesters where. "Besides, Amy wasn't too upset about the robotization."
"Why's that?" Sally asked.
"You remember she and Star man fell in love?" Jonny got a few odd looks from the others but he continued undaunted. "Her robotization eliminated a LOT of barriers between them. Most importantly the 'no aging' thing."
"So they'll be together forever huh?" Julie-Su asked.
"More like three hundred years at the most." Jonny said nonchalantly. "Eventually anything breaks down even if properly maintained. And three hundred years is the average life of the standard batteries I give out. Even with an infinite power source I theorized that their programming would begin to fragment and become an empty shell after five centuries without proper upgrades."
"Hmm..." Knuckles thought about that, he didn't think he could stand to be alive for that long. His great uncle Dimitri had lived much longer than anyone he knew and he didn't want to have anything more in common with him.
"So what are the Robot masters doing these days?" Sonic asked, he hadn't been out of Mobotropolis since he had married Sally so he hadn't seen many of them.
"Well..." Jonny thought for a moment. "Bomb Man, Crash man, and Grenade man are in the demolition biz now, while Guts man, Hard man, and Stone man are in the construction business. Sword Man, Shadow man, and Yamato man have opened their own training centers and are competing against each other. Pharaoh Man is helping with the excavation of the Sandopolis zone. Crystal Man's occult and paranormal store is now a big hit, magic man sometimes does a promotional stunt for him. Wave Man and Bubble man are exploring the oceans. Tomahawk Man is helping the wolf pack rebuild their village. Wind Man is now Down Town's most renowned cook. Clown Man and Magic Man hit the road and are performing for just about anyone. Cold Man is in charge of Down Town's medical center, which isn't used much since there aren't many people who need physical healing. Pirate Man now owns a cruise ship. And Skull man owns, runs, and referees the 'anything goes' K-1 Tournament."
"Didn't someone die in that tournament last year?" Julie-Su asked.
"Yeah. Some cocky young Legionnaire who thought it would be a great idea to attack Skull man. Lucky for Skullie each fighter has to sign a contract that waves all legal recourse if they die in the ring, neither the tournament staff or competitors can be brought up on charges." Jonny smirked. "Skull man's smarter than most people think."
Sally frowned. She, like most people, didn't like how Skull man ran things. "You'd think the city officials would've closed it down by now..."
"You think so, but the tournament is really popular and it rakes in a lot of cash and tourism." Jonny said. "Besides, Skull man doesn't need all the money and he ends up giving most of it away to charities. Just don't tell anyone I told you this, Skullie would kill me if I told anyone his little secret."
The group was surprised that Skull man would do ANYTHING charitable. Being the most violent thing on the planet you'd expect him to be selling children piece by piece on the black market, not sending money to orphans the homeless.
"So, how is it that you two have kids?" Knuckles asked, not wanting to think about the last time Julie-Su had caught him watching the tournament on pay-per-view. "I mean... Even the entire Brotherhood couldn't think of an unconventional method for you two to have kids."
"So, I used an unconventional method." Jonny said, looking a little uncomfortable.
"And what would that be?" Sally asked.
Jonny heaved a tired sigh and stood up. And what happened next shocked everyone, save Jonny's own family. Jonny took off his coat and set it down on the chair he had been sitting in and reached behind him and stuck his hand in his pants. At first the others thought it was just strange to see him rummaging around back there but their expressions soon changed when they saw what he pulled out. A proportionally correct, brown-furred echidna tail.
Needless to say Knuckles, Sally, Julie-Su, and Sonic were all stunned.
"Wha... How?" Sonic stammered, barely managing to get the words out.
Jonny stuffed the tail back into its hiding place. "It's not something I'm very proud of. I used the genetics from a willing echidna donor and spliced his DNA with mine. In fact the files the Brotherhood had on your birth were a great help to me."
Knuckles grimaced. "So who was the donor?"
"Chief Remington was kind enough to donate." Ali-Su explained. "He understood our little 'situation' and gave us a sample of blood and fur."
Knuckles smirked at Jonny. "So you're what now? Half echidna?"
"More like a tenth. The tail is the only thing that I got when I spliced myself. Still I'm glad I didn't have to augment myself any further so we could have the kids." Jonny then gave the others a solemn look. "I'm begging you guys, don't tell anyone about this..."
Ali-Su smiled and softly hugged her husband, she hated to see her true love in such a sad mood. "It's not just about him. It's also about our children. They get picked on enough for their human heritage."
Jonny put an arm around Ali-Su and smiled warmly at her, she always could cheer him up. "Yeah, Jack more than Alison surprisingly. Just because he's got five fingers instead of the normal four. And he's got a lot of talent at building robots for a six-year-old."
Ali-Su lifted her shirt, revealing a large cesarean scar over her belly. "Let me tell you, echidnas were not built to give birth to human children." Ali-Su glanced over at Alison, the little girl was playing a game with Manic and Lara-Su, Whereas Jack was showing off the first robot he made (a palm sized botonton) to Sonia and Riki-Le. Ali-Su loved both of her children very much, but sometimes she thought Jack had a little too much of his father in him. She smiled and turned back to the other adults, she didn't want to miss this get together, heaven knows when they'd get back together like this again.
Julie-Su and Sally both flinched.
"Still, I'm grateful for Ali-Su for giving me both Alison and Jack." Jonny said, getting a warm smile from Ali. "We both were surprised when we saw the ultra sound of Alison, but I still say that the day Jack was born was the weirdest day of my life."
Knuckles shrugged. "I would've had a clue what to do if Julie-Su HADN'T laid eggs."
Julie-Su laughed. "You'd have lost it in the delivery. Just like you did anyway."
Knuckles smiled weakly at his wife, then glared at the others who snickered behind his back.
"Anyway what's Tails and the gang been up to?" Knuckles asked, looking at Sonic. "The little guy followed you everywhere as a kid, almost strange not to see you without him."
"He's one of the visitors at Albion." Sally said. "Learning as much as he can before he has to come back. They only let outsiders stay there for a year before they're sent back."
Sonic continued where Sally left off. "Most of the old gang is still in Mobotropolis. Antoine married Bunny a few years ago, both of them live near the palace in a very nice house. Rotor lives in the palace as the head advisor and scientist. The position you turned down."
Jonny pushed his shades back against his face. "And if you don't remember Robotnik had that same position before he took over. I didn't want people to start getting ideas."
"Um... Excuse me," Everyone turned to see Car-Li in the hallway. "These people are here and they demand to see the Overlander."
A few police officers walked into view followed by Chief Remington.
One of the officers stepped forward and held "Jonathan Wily, We have a warrant for your arrest for violation of treaty 4912"
Jonny knew that one... 4912: No robot was to be made for war against the Floating island or Mobotropolis.
To be continued...