This fiction is a parody/cross over of both Sonic the Hedgehog (property of Sega, using Archie Comic's universe) and Gungrave (property of Red Entertainment). I make no profit from it, and it is purely for the enjoyment of the fans. Long live fanfiction and chocolate.

Episode 01 – Dawn / Guardian

A cool moonlight breeze ran swiftly through the great forest, sending chills down the girl's spine and ripples through her blonde fur as she walked. Try as she might, there was no rest in sleeping tonight. Too much was on her mind to allow anything close to rest. Haunted by loneliness, Bunnie walked aimlessly through the forest, always alone in the freezing night. It seemed like ages had passed since Antoine had left her, and even longer still since she had lost her arms and legs to Dr. Robotnik's infernal machine. The latter Bunnie had grown used to over time, but being alone after finding someone that liked her hurt more than losing parts of her body ever could. This is why she walked through the forest, long past midnight and without direction. And this is also why she didn't notice the Swat Bot squad that had been tailing her. In fact, the first clue she ever had was a Swat Bot's fist smashing into her side. She fell to the ground with a pained cry, rolling with the impact to escape a second blow. The pain cleared her head, adrenaline pumping into her veins and awakening her senses from their depressed slumber. Rolling to a crouching position with eyes darting in the darkness, she counted ten, no, twenty Swat Bots in front of her, and heard more moving in from behind.

'Uh-oh. This doesn't look good… Dang it! Ah shouda' paid more attention!'

Rising from the crouching position she had taken earlier, Bunnie did the only thing she could at that point, which was run. Using the boosters in her feet the blonde tried to get an advantage in altitude, but her attempt was cut short when one of the Swat Bots launched a grappling device that wrapped around her feet. The weight of the robotic minion was too much for her to drag along, let alone fly away with. More Swat Bots began crowding in, hands outstretched to restrain her and…

"No…!"

Desperately, Bunnie gripped the cord tying her to the droid, tearing at it in vain. They were closer now, only a few more feet away. And once they closed that gap, they would…

"NO! Sonic! Tails! Antoine! Anyone, help me! Help me!"

Her calls went unanswered. Another grapple fired, this one grasping her mechanical arm. She struggle harder, pulling at the cord with all her might. They closed in, the first reeling her in as the others moved, hands outstretched to grasp her struggling form. A cold fear filled Bunnie's heart as panic swept over her. Tears streaming down her cheeks, a mixture of hate and fear forced its way to the surface. One was within range now, it's had reaching, groping the air and trying to restrain her. She screamed … and the machine lost half its head with a deafening boom. More followed, cutting the robot to pieces. The other Swat Bots froze, searching for whatever was attacking them. Bunnie too looked, and found a figure in a long coat standing in the distance. Something - most likely a gun of some sort - flashed in his hand, and another of Robotnik's minions found a hole in itself. The machine crumbled under its own weight, and its brothers charged forward to seemingly avenge it. The figure's other weapon flashed as well, crossing in the process before continuing to fire over and over again. The machines fell under the onslaught of gunfire, shattering under the massive impacts and shattering from the sheer power of the weapons. In a spare moment, two shots were deliberately aimed at the cords which still held Bunnie in place. The cords were hit and she was freed, but her boosters were still active. Still frozen by a little of the panic and fear, she didn't react fast enough to stop herself, hitting a tree at full speed and knocking herself out as a result. The stranger continued firing, decimating the opposition with no hesitation or pity. The last machine fell to the ground, silenced forever by a hole in its processor. Heavy footsteps broke the peace that followed as the stranger walked through his fallen opponents, heading straight toward the girl that he had rescued. She was unconscious, but otherwise fine.

'…Where am … I…? Who… am I? I… can't seem to remember when it all… This girl… Why did I protect…? Protect? Protect… I don't remember… But to protect … is to never betray. Never.'

Sliding the monstrous handguns he held into holsters on his hips, the stranger lifted Bunnie into his powerful arms and began walking away from the destruction. They disappeared into the night with only the sound of his boots striking the ground…

It was morning now. No one had seen Bunnie since the night before, so Tails had been sent to check on her. Knocking at the door, he called to her over and over again with no response. Softly, he pushed against the door. It swung wide, revealing a room devoid of the person who normally lived there.

"Aw man, where could she be? Sally needed to talk with her too…"

Dejected, he walked away to find Sonic and Sally; Sonic so the blue blur could speed search the village for her, and Sally to deliver the bad news. Hopefully Sally wouldn't take it too hard, especially since whatever they had agreed to talk about was of personal importance to both of them. The young fox sighed. This was going to be a long day…

Elsewhere in the great forest, far away from Knothole village, sat huge vehicle. Resembling a giant semi-truck, it was covered in overgrown vines and moss, a sure sign that it hadn't moved in some time. One part that wasn't covered in vegetation was a door on the trailer's side, which was currently open. Inside the darkened vehicle, the missing person that soon most of Knothole village would be searching for began to awaken. Rubbing her eyes, Bunnie sat up from the bed she had been laid on. Not recognizing where she was, she began to panic until she noticed the blanket around her and the bandage on her head. Piecing what had happened together in her mind she calmed herself and guessed rightly that whoever had saved her earlier had also been kind enough to shelter her for the night. A quick look at her wrist proved to be depressing, as the communicator in her glove had been smashed by the impact. Removing the blanket from around her, she looked around and found that the walls were covered with computers, books, and lab equipment. Not finding anyone in her immediate vicinity, Bunnie got off the bed and began walking towards the open door in hopes of finding the stranger that had saved her. Her movement stopped when she heard something move from a darker part of the trailer. Turning, she moved to investigate it when the lights came on around her. She covered her eyes, shielding them from the harsh light that came from above. Eyes finally adjusting to the light, she dropped her hand only to bring it to her mouth in shock.

"…What…!"

Sitting in a chair with needles sticking into his wrists and neck was a huge grey wolf. Attached to the previously mentioned needles were bags filled with a red liquid, one that looked suspiciously like blood. The bags appeared to be draining into him, replacing the bodily fluid that had been lost. Shirtless at the moment, she could easily see numerous scars crossing his body, as well as several bullet wounds that had yet to heal, but were mysteriously not bleeding. Rhythmically, the wolf's well defined chest rose and fell as he slept. Perched upon his nose was a set of glasses, one side holding a black piece of metal with a white cross inscribed on it that covered a nasty looking scar over his left eye. Long locks of grey hair fell over his face, shielding most of face from Bunnie's view. At the wolf's booted feet was a plate of metal inscribed with large letters that read "Here sleeps Beyond the Grave". She stood, disturbed by his mutilated body and whatever deranged treatment he was going through.

"Uh… My God, he's --!"

Her words were cut off by the sound of pressure being released. She took a step back as the bags and needles were retracted, swinging mechanically into the wall behind the wolf. His eye opened, revealing a golden hued iris that stared tiredly at her. Saying nothing as he stood, the wolf reached for a shirt that had been carelessly tossed to the side and pulled it on. He towered a full foot over her when he got to his full height, grey locks of hair brushed aside as the long shirt slid over his battered body. A heavy looking leather coat was next, a gothic cross scrawled across the back and metal rings encircling the upper arm. Bunnie stared silently at him as he dressed, seemingly uncaring about whatever had just happened and oblivious to the fact that he had holes in his chest. Apparently finished dressing he turned, walking past her and out the door. Waking from her momentary stupor, Bunnie followed.

"Hey! Ah, uh, wanted to thank-ya for savin' me last night… What's your name?"

He stopped walking and spun to face her. He nodded slightly. "…Grave…" Without another word, he began walking away again.

Slightly unsure of what to do but fascinated and horrified by him, the curious rabbit followed the wolf known as "Beyond the Grave" into the forest. Several times Bunnie thought about asking him questions, but each time she though it better to stow them away for later. Silence prevailed.

Sonic stopped moving. While this wasn't an uncommon event, the reason for his ceased motion was. The sun had raised itself high into the sky, though lunchtime still hadn't passed, and still no one had seen hide nor hair of Bunnie. Sally and the others were worried, and had set up a few search parties to seek their lost friend. They all had orders to retreat if they ran into trouble, but Sonic knew he could deal with a few of 'Ro-butt-nik's machines. However, dealing with the robots he had found in the forest wasn't the problem. Figuring out what the heck had happened to them was. Chunks of metal had been torn asunder by something incredibly strong, and the results had not been pretty for the machines that the metal had belonged to. Sonic hunted around cautiously for any trace of Bunnie. He had found several casings in the grass, something that overlanders usually left behind after using one of their guns. Keeping that in mind, the hedgehog prepared for the worst as he searched around the combat zone, always fearing that he'd find the body of a good friend behind the next bush. The only thing he found however, was her hat…

"This is Sonic. I've found a ton of destroyed Swat Bots and Bunnies hat in my area… as well as a lot of bullet casings."

Rotor's voice crackled through the communicator on his wrist, confirming that he had been heard. "Bullet casings? I see. Are there any tracks around? Places in the ground were you can identify footprints from the person using the gun? We might be able to track whoever it was and see if they know where Bunnie is."

"Okay Rotor, but how do we know that this guy or group of guys didn't just take her out along with the bots?" Kneeling among the casings, he found several huge boot prints. Carefully, he followed them through the wreckage.

"I'm not sure Sonic… I'm just trying to hope for the best…"

"Well don't worry. I've found you're foot prints and I'm following them. Take care, Rotor."

After a few minutes of walking, Gravefinally stopped in front of an aged stone that had been set in the ground. Surrounded by leaves and fallen trees, it seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. From what Bunnie could tell, words had once been carved into it, but the elements had almost entirely erased their meaning. Approaching it, she tried to make out what it said.

"M-I-K-A… A-S….A-G-I.. Mika Asagi? Did ya know this person, Grave?" There was no response. "Grave?"

She turned and found that he was gripping his head in pain. His lips curled, bearing his fangs and allowing a heavy growl to escape his lips.

"Grave, are you okay!"

The growl softened, and he wasn't gripping his had as much anymore. Soon, he had stopped the odd behavior all together. The wolf shook his head negatively, but refused to give any explanation. He bent down, took a small rock in hand and began re-carving the name with a sharp edge. With his massive strength, it didn't take long for him to finish touching up the grave. He dropped the stone and turned, feeling around in the dead leaves for something. Then he found it and pulled. A heavy looking chain was pulled tight to something buried deep in the leaves, but eventually the mystery item was ripped free from the rotting leaves. A huge metal object came out of the leaves, a skull set into one end and several odd parts sticking out across it. It was huge, whatever it was, and had a machine gun sticking out of the skull end.

"My coffin…"

"Huh!" Bunnie kneeled next to him, inspecting it. "Your coffin? Ah wouldn't want ta be buried in somethin' like this…" She waited for a response of some sort, but he didn't say a word. "You don't talk much, do ya Grave?"

Grave smirked for a second, wrapping the chain around the metal rings on his arms and lifting it without a second thought. Bunnie could have sworn that the coffin weighed more than Grave, but he lifted it like a feather. Turning to her and helping Bunnie to her feet, Grave smiled fully before he started walking back the way they had come from. He stopped and raised an eyebrow when Bunnies stomach growled loudly. She blushed furiously.

"Uh, ya wouldn't happen ta know where some food is, would ya Grave…?"

It had been over an hour since Sonic had found the tracks, and he still had to move slowly so he didn't lose them. Moving slow wasn't something that he liked to do, obviously, but he had little choice in the matter. Spying something ahead in the forest, he quickened his pace slightly. The truck awaited him, it's door still wide open. Moving into it, he searched for any sign of Bunnie. A single bed and two chairs were the only furnishings besides the lab and computer equipment. The bed had obviously been slept in recently, and mostly likely by Bunnie because of the blond hairs scattered on the pillow. There was really no sign that anyone else had been there though…

"Hey Rotor! I've found some kinda vehicle out here. Looks like someone's been here recently, and there are two sets of tracks leading away. I'll search the tracks, again, if you'll come over here and check this thing out."

"Why would I need to check it out Sonic?"

"Because there's a bunch of computers in there, and I don't know how to work that kinda stuff…"

Bunnie was starving now. Grave kept on walking towards the truck, offering her a rest ever few minutes to help her conserve energy on the way, but they still kept moving. From the scenery, she guessed that it wouldn't be long until they reached the truck. Though Grave hadn't said anything, she silently hoped that there was some kind of food stored there. Thankfully, she spotted the silver and black colored vehicle in the distance and began to run toward it. Grave joined her, ignoring the huge coffin's weight and moving just as fast. He caught her however, stopping her before she could get any closer to the vehicle.

"What is it Grave…? Is there --"

He silenced her by putting a finger to her lips. She obeyed for the moment, deciding to give him some trust for saving her life. Reaching underneath his coat, Grave pulled out two huge handguns that were almost as long as his arms. One of the weapons was made with a white metal cross composing the main shaft, while its brother used a red. Seeing these reminded her of his rescue from the last night, causing that small bit of confusion to disappear. These were the weapons he had used to destroy the mob of Swat Bots. Whatever had Grave on edge wasn't going to like being on the receiving end. Motioning for her to stay in place, Grave quietly approached the truck. He heard voices inside, speaking about the computers. Not wasting any time, he spun into the doorway and leveled his guns. A purple walrus and a blue hedgehog were inside, caught completely off guard by the wolf's movement…

Episode 01 – Dawn / Guardian – Fin

Episode 02 – Admittance / Protector is next. "The wolf has awoken from his long slumber. But why has he woken up? Why protect? This is a wolf's decision…"

End Note: As my first Sonic fiction, I'd like to point out a few facts about myself before any large objects are thrown at me. It's been a while since I've read any of the Sonic or Knuckles comics, though I have purchased a few of them recently. Any out of contexts or falsities that I put in (inappropriate character actions, dialects, events, ect.) because of a lack of knowledge should be reported so I can fix it. A proof reader would be nice as well, but I'll take what I can get. Please give me some response, though.