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.

Responses:

Find-the-Lion: Thank-you for the review! Yes, Grave is a little different… but not in the ways you'd suspect. Of course, more of his past will be revealed as the story goes along, which will explain everything you need to know about the holes in him. And yes, that was blood in the bags, but I'm not telling you WHY he needed the blood. Yet another tidbit I'm saving for later.

Episode 02 – Admittance / Protector

There was a moment of complete stillness in the trailer. Sonic didn't move, gazing defiantly at the wolf in the doorway. Rotor just stared at the huge weapons he held, wondering how badly it would hurt to be hit with a blast from them. Grave glanced over them once or twice, sizing up their threat to himself and Bunnie. After a moment, he motioned with one of the weapons to move outside.

"…Well, if he wants us out, out we go!" Sonic shouted, going into a spin dash and slamming into the huge wolf. It knocked him to the ground, but he was up and firing in a moment. Sonic's pure speed saved him taking hits from the destructive bullets, but they were catching up rather quickly. Rotor saw this and acted, going out of the trailer, taking up a rock and throwing it to attract Grave's attention before diving back into the trailer for his own safety. Without looking, the wolf shot the rock out of the sky with one hand while continuing to fire on the hedgehog that had attacked him with the other. The low in Grave's firing gave Sonic an opening however, and the blue blur initiated a spin dash at the wolf once more. This time Grave was prepared however. With a mighty swing, the coffin wrapped around his arms swung around and smashed Sonic into a tree. To say that this hurt was an understatement, seeing as the tree behind him shattered from the impact. Granted, it wasn't a large tree and Sonic had still been spin dashing at the time, but the impact alone knocked the wind out of him. Hitting the ground with a loud thump, he lay in the grass stunned and breathless. A few heavy footsteps later and one of Grave's guns were pointed at his forehead.

"Grave, stop it! It's okay!" Bunnie shoved his gun to the side, half expecting the wolf to fire it. "It's okay. Ah know these guys… They're my friends…"

"…Friends…" Grave nodded and holstered his guns, a slight frown crossing his face.

"Yeah, friends, as in people who would like their friend back in one piece!" Sitting up with a groan, Sonic braced himself with one hand and rubbed his sore chest with the other. "What is that thing, anyway? It felt like you hit me with a sack of bricks!"

"Grave here said it was his 'Coffin', but..." Bunnie looked away, suddenly remembering the wounds that covered his body. She collected herself though, returning her attention to the conversation at hand. "Grave doesn't talk much either, so that makes it difficult to learn anything…"

"Hey, can I come out now, or should I just keep hiding in this thing?"

"Get out here Rotor. From the reception we received earlier, I'd say mister Grave likes his privacy." Sonic sighed, shaking his head. "We'd better make like a tree and leaf soon, otherwise Sally's going to go crazy."

"Oh! Ah forgot, we were supposed to meet, weren't we? Well, it's not like ah had a choice in the matter… But what about Grave? We can't just leave him out here all alone."

"No way, Bunnie." Rotor shook his head sadly as he approached the group, repositioning his hat as he walked. "You know our policies on guns! We can't bring him if he's carrying those!"

Bunnie sighed and turned to Grave, a frown on her face that spoke volumes. He nodded and set the coffin on the ground. Without warning, the eyes of the skull lit up and a compartment slid out to accept the massive weapons. He placed them inside and the compartment slid shut, sealing them in. Once more, he lifted the coffin and walked to the truck. He entered, and the sound of machines working could be heard as he stored it. A few moments later, Grave reappeared from the truck wearing a long trench coat instead of the heavy black coat from before. A smile and a nod to Bunnie confirmed that he was ready to leave.

"…Okay…" Sonic shrugged, "let's get moving! Just sitting here and chit-chatting isn't too fun, you know?"

Deep within the metal city that he had made, Dr. Robotnik was once again working on his nefarious schemes. Though his attempt at capturing one of the so called freedom fighters had failed, he was still determined to get more and better troops. In truth, either would work at this point. It had long been proven that that blue brat named Sonic could handle his Swat Bot troops, which was why he had been more than happy to accept an offer from someone else. A man by the name of Fangoram had appeared one day, carrying a huge cross shaped cannon on his shoulder and a case filled with research materials. Of course, the doctor had suspicions about the stranger, but after being held at the business end of the cannon while Fangoram explained the arrangement he accepted him quite willingly. The case had been left behind, filled with samples of what the man had called SEED and a ream of papers devoted to its study.

"Now, let's see what this drug does…"

The madman grinned as a helpless squirrel was held in place by restraints, a syringe of SEED being lowered into it by a mechanical arm. Safe behind a wall of steel and bullet proof glass, he watched as the drug was injected into it. For a few moments there was no change except for the innocent animal's initial squeal of pain from the syringe, but eventually its vital signs faded… The squirrel was dead.

"…What the … The research said that SEED would cause it to mutate, not die! Darn that Fango--!"

His words were cut off by a monstrous growl coming from the containment room. The squirrel moved, struggling against it's restraints as it came back to life. The once peaceful creature's eyes turned a menacing blood red as its muscles grew, spikes raising themselves from the legs, arms, back, and even the head in a gruesome display of SEED's power. The now mutated creature gave a horrific screech as it ripped free from the restraints and began clawing at the glass, desperate to kill something, anything. Tapping a button on his console, a poisonous gas drifted into the chamber and killed the creature within minutes of inhalation. Sitting in his chair, the doctor pondered. He had not read all of the texts yet, but that would come in due time. For now, he needed more test subjects. Preferably larger ones that could be used to attack the Acorn group that had bothered him for so long.

"Yes… YES! If I can capture one of those furred idiots, I'll have a killing machine that even Sonic would be incapable of defeating! That is, of course, if Fangoram wasn't lying. This is excellent… All I need is one. One of them, and to find that wolf Fangoram mentioned…"

Smiling, he abandoned his chair and began walking to an elevator. One that would take him to a hanger filled with his newest inventions and a hundred Swat Bots that had been in storage for such a time as this…

"Yes… I will have one of them… And then, I will have all of them!"

There was a pressing silence as the search parties returned. Greetings were spoken in soft tones, followed by whispered stories of a murderous wolf who had tried to kill Sonic. Grave watched and heard it all, his extreme sense of hearing letting him know what they thought of him. Rotor had taken his leave of the group, citing his need to continue research forgotten in the day's panic. Deciding to grab something to eat before she starved to death, Bunnie stopped the group at a vendor, grabbing a couple chili dogs for the three of them. Strangely though, Grave raised his hand when she offered him one, refusing it.

"What's the matter Grave? Ah know ya gotta be hungry after all that walking and no breakfast or lunch!" Bunnie frowned as he shook his head, worried for the wolf's health.

"Jeez, not wanting a chili dog?" Sonic grimaced, put off by the obvious dislike for – in his opinion – the greatest food on Mobius. "You're a crazy wolf, Grave. No one in their right mind could refuse a chili dog." Amazingly, Grave smiled at that. He shook his head once more and shrugged, as if saying that maybe he was crazy. Sonic grinned, noticing he hadn't taken the joke personally. "Oh well, more for me!"

Bunnie sighed at this, handing over the food before Sonic took her hand with it. She though over Grave's oddness as she ate, trying to figure out why he acted the way he did. 'That stuff that was being put in him might have somethin' to do with it… But he's always so quiet! Why is that? It's like he doesn't have a voice, but ah know he does. He so strange, but… he still protected me. Ah don't even know why he did what he did, and ah don't know where he came from either. Ah wonder what Sally's gonna say when we talk to her about this.'

"Hey Sally gal! We found Bunnie all in one piece and brought her back, just like you wanted." Mindless of etiquette as always, Sonic entered the throne room without waiting to be let in. Smiling at Sally and Antoine, he presented Bunnie and Grave to them in a grand fashion, sweeping his hands toward them as if presenting the previously lost rabbit on a platter. "And we even found ourselves a wolf in the woods too!"

Sally sighed at Sonic's antics, but smiled as Bunnie walked forward to speak with her. "I'm glad you're safe Bunnie. Sorry if it seems like I'm killing you with questions, but what happened out there? I was told that Overlanders and robots might have had something to do with it, but I was never given any specifics. And who's the new friend?"

"It's a long story. You sure you wanna sit through it?"

Sally laughed, a happy sound that Sonic hadn't had the pleasure of hearing in some time. "Sure. I have time to spare right now."

"But Princess," Antoine protested, "we've ztill got ze report from --!"

"That can wait Antoine. I really want to hear what happened, okay? Don't worry about that stuff when something important like this comes up. It is just a status report, right?"

Antoine looked over the reports. "Well, yes, but ze…"

"Please Antoine, we needed a break anyway. We've been going through these reports for an hour already. We can finish them in the morning."

Relenting at last, he gathered the papers and turned to leave. "As you wish, Princess… But do remember that zey wanted a response right away." With that he left the room, giving Grave an odd look as he passed. No one noticed however.

Sally nodded as he left the room. "Anyway, shall we?"

"Right, what happened." Bunnie nodded, collecting her thoughts. "Well, ah couldn't sleep too well last night, so ah decided ta take a walk and see if that tuckered me out enough to get some rest. Ah guess ah wasn't payin' enough attention, because the next thing ah knew, there were Swat Bots all around me. I tried to get away, but a few of 'em had grapples. Must've had heavier armor too, since they weighed me down like a ton a bricks. Well, I was scared out a my wits that they were gonna get me for sure when Grave here," she pointed over her shoulder, indicating the tall wolf, "came outta nowhere and shot 'em all to pieces."

"Shot?" Sally raised an eyebrow at that. "He was using an overlander's weapon?"

Bunnie hesitated. "Ah ain't sure about that… Looked like he knew how to use them pretty well, like they'd always been his. Maybe somebody made them for him." She shrugged and continued on, "Anyway, ah got knocked out during the fight, so I guess Grave took care of me for the night." She flashed him a smile, and he silently smiled back at her. "After that, we wandered around for a while until Grave found some rock with a name on it. Ah guess it was a burial ground for someone he knew, but it looked like he hadn't been there in a long time. Got what he called his 'Coffin' while we were there too. Sonic knows all about that."

"Uh-huh." Sonic nodded, rubbing his side again and feeling the bruises the impact had left behind. "Whacked me right in the side with it before Bunnie could tell him to stop. The thing was huge!"

"Grave has a good judge of character I see." Sally covered a laugh that Bunnie joined in on, obviously sharing some kind of inside joke. Sonic rolled his eyes, not getting it while Grave stood stone still. "Thank you Bunnie. Grave, I guess we owe you some thanks for saving my friend!"

The wolf shook his head, smiling and closing his eye. "To protect continually is to never betray. Never betray…"

Sally stopped smiling. Tilting her head to the side, she stared at him with a confused expression covering her face. "What do you mean, Grave…?"

Grave frowned slightly, looking down and shaking his head slightly. "I will protect … always … I will not betray."

"Grave?" Bunnie too frowned, concerned with what e was saying. "Hey, ah know ya wouldn't betray us. Ya already protected me once, and that was more than enough. But… are you really going to stay here and protect us?"

She blushed when he smiled at her. He nodded without a moment's hesitation, for Grave was an honorable wolf, and honorable wolves keep their word no matter the cost.

Gleefully, Doctor Robotnik continued typing out his plans. A few idle clicks of his boots against the floor and the furious sound of his fingers striking keys filled the air. Soon the plan had been completed and sent to his minions, the programming taking over immediately. A hundreds of footsteps marched in unison, stepping forward with a singular purpose. Mass produced robots armed with nets, grapples, and shock guns moved toward the great forest with grim intent written into their coding. Behind them, a single air unit moved with the utmost care. Unlike the shock troops below it, it carried a rapid fire energy cannon to dispatch it's foes with. Hovering above the rest, it served only one purpose that was of extreme importance to the mission. Retrieval of samples…

The room was empty except for the two females that had often come together to talk about anything and everything. After the meeting, Sonic had taken Grave out of the equation by offering to show the wolf around, leaving the two girls to the talk they had planned on having that morning.

"Grave seemed a bit… strange. He doesn't talk a lot, does he?"

"Sally, ya don't know the half of it…" Bunnie smiled guiltily for a second, realizing just how much she had omitted earlier. "He isn't willing to explain himself though… Ah think if we got more information about him, we might figure out a thing or two. Maybe there's some in that truck of his…"

"Why don't you and Rotor go back out there tomorrow? Grave can go too if he wants. Other than this whole protecting thing, he really has no allegiances to us."

"Well, that's true. Yeah, I think we'll go out there. Maybe I'll find some answers there. So, how's it going for you? I mean with Sonic?"

"We're still… distanced…"

"Yeah, ah figured as much. But don't give up, okay? Ya can still make it work."

"I know… But what about you? I know Antoine isn't interested in love right now… Too busy I suppose."

Bunnie, surprisingly, smiled softly. "That's okay… Ah ain't alone anymore, you know? Grave… He won't leave me, and neither will you. Ah am sure of it!"

Episode 02 – Admittance / Protector fin

Episode 03 – Wolf's prerogative / Shield is next. "A scent from long ago permeates the air. Something is coming. Will the wolf rise against the past? This is a wolf's decision…"

End note: Wow. I got this one out pretty fast… Don't expect me to keep being this fast with updates. I've been known to slow down considerably once I get into the middle of the story.