Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of its associated characters and lore.

[FBH]

Fresh Bounty Hunters

[FBH]

Chapter One

[FBH]

Outside the Bottom of the Barrel Bar and Grill, The Badlands, Northamer, Planet Mobius, 3235 P.X.E.

Having followed Caterkiller's instructions, Sonic the Hedgehog, eager to clear his name after the Mecha Sonic incident, ran straight from the Robo Hobo Jungle to the most rundown and seediest bar on Mobius, the Bottom of the Barrell Bar and Grill, in order to find Nack the Weasel and bring him back to Knothole Village for a confession. It would probably have been dangerous, considering the BBB&G's reputation as a haunt for even more bounty hunters like Nack among other criminals that were not friends to the Freedom Fighters any more than they were to Doctor Ivo Robotnik, but Sonic was on a deadline and not in the mood for playing around.

Upon reaching the entrance of the Bar and Grill, surprisingly without any hassle from the gorilla of a bouncer aside from a warning glance, Sonic quickly entered to find what looked like Nack seated on his back to him while playing cards with a green bird and a yellow polar bear. Growling to himself out of anger for what Nack's capture of him put everyone threw, Sonic did not waste time and immediately ran at top speed to grab the weasel around his chest and ignored the surprised gasps that echoed in the entire bar.

"Now I've got you, Nack," he declared to his foe somewhat smug before he then realized that there were three things immediately wrong with the situation he found himself in.

While the person Sonic was grabbing onto had purple fur and brown clothes similar to Nack's, their hair was long and ponytailed, a tank top was worn over their chest, and, as Sonic guessed from feeling it himself, their chest was not that of a boy's. To make it worse, the female weasel had turned her head to glare right back at him incredibly angry.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," she growled at the sheepish Freedom Fighter, prompting him to let go of her before she then demanded with a gun in hand to his head, "Just what was that about?!"

Deeply embarrassed, Sonic stuttered in response, saying, "Uh, sorry about that, ma'am, I thought you were-," but was then cut off by someone new.

"You," a feminine voice yelled in Sonic's direction. The blue hedgehog himself barely had time to react before he noticed a red furred fox with brown hair and light blue eyes in yellow boots and white gloves pointing a dagger at his throat. "You have a lot of nerve coming here, 'hero,' ", the fox girl around his own age remarked coldly to him with open disdain.

After a moment of looking at the resentful girl, however, Sonic found his voice in positive recognition as he said, "Wait, you're Fiona Fox from the same prison camp Mighty is from! Tails told me about your Auto Automation, but man, am I glad to see-,"

"Shut up," both females interjected Sonic's happy words as the nearby bird took out a black bomb from seemingly nowhere with an eager grin while the polar bear appeared ready for a fight, too. In light of the emerging conflict, all the other BBB&G patrons had taken their leave, which left Sonic alone with four bounty hunters that he rubbed off the wrong way.

"Hey, Nic," the bird said to the weasel woman, "how many little pieces do you want me to blow him up into?"

"Stand in line, Bean," Fiona told the bird as she returned to glaring at Sonic, dagger in hand, "I've got him first."

"Actually, I do, Fiona," Nic informed the fox before adding in a sweating Sonic's direction, "considering how grabby he was around my chest while you were in the bathroom."

Fiona could not restrain a gasp at Nic's words as she turned to Bean, saying, "Oh, no, he didn't!"

Bean just shrugged, replying, "Hey, if you won't take my word for it, or even Nic's, just ask Bark." Pointing at the polar bear, who then nodded gravely in Fiona's direction, Bean then added enthusiastically, "See?"

"Can we please talk about this," Sonic could not help but plead. He was starting to think the show trial he went through earlier was preferable than being accused of perverse behavior by four mercenaries that would not hesitate in beating him up. And while the hedgehog could outrun them, he did not want any new enemies, especially when he was looking for a different hoodlum altogether.

Fortunately, it seemed that Nic was agreeable to Sonic's suggestion as her shrug suggested, while saying, "Fine, I'll go first, and you listen." With narrowed eyes, she began to vocally list while gesturing to Fiona, "First, you abandoned my first partner that wasn't my twin brother to die in a Robotnik mining camp," seeing Sonic about to interject, she then added harshly, "Recently, you've been giving my brother, Nack, a good deal of trouble. Sure, he's my rival and a jerk, but he's still family, so I have to be somewhat loyal, if he can't take care of himself."

"And now, there's this," Bean added with a glare in Sonic's direction.

"Let me handle this, Bean," Nic retorted back to the startled bird before returning to Sonic, saying, "And now, there's this. I may not be a big fan of the fat man himself, but if me and the gang here have to, we will do a job for him and hope to get something out of it." Inching her head forward to an intimidated Sonic, she then said, "So give us one good reason why we shouldn't hand you over to Robotnik and be done with it."

Thinking fast, Sonic instantly answered, "Because Sally Acorn will make it worth your while if you help me clear my name!"

At the sight of Sonic's wide smile at the end of his words, Nic and her partners all had stumped facial expressions before they then all laughed at Sonic's own strained face which then gave way to dismay.

Seeing the look on the hedgehog's face, though, Nic was the first to calm down before she then dubiously asked, "You're serious?"

Empowered, Sonic replied, "Well, yeah! I mean, Sal's still a princess, so she's bound to have a good amount of mobiums for you guys to spend on whatever stuff you want!" While he said his words in good cheer, deep down, Sonic was not even sure if what he said was true, considering he was a Freedom Fighter, not a businessman, which would have bound to make things awkward later between him and Sally as much as between the bounty hunters and all of Knothole's citizens.

Nic, however, shook her head as she said in a correcting tone of voice, "My doubts about that aside, I was really talking about the other thing you said."

"Yeah," Bean inputted before adding, "you made it sound like your own friends accused you of a crime or something."

"Oh, right," Sonic muttered. Clearing his throat, he then said, "Well, the last time I dealt with Nack, he took me straight to Robotropolis where I was roboticized and-," before Fiona raised her empty hand to interrupt skeptically.

"If you were roboticized, then why are you here as a regular Mobian?"

"My friends did a onetime de-roboticization on me after my 'mecha self' tore Knothole apart," Sonic quickly explained, even as he internally figured that Fiona had a valid point in her disbelieving him, before he then continued to say, "Anyway, since I brought up the idea of roboticizing myself to take down Robotnik just before Nack captured me, almost everyone thinks I surrendered myself and willingly brought Knothole to ruins as a result, so I have until dawn to find Nack and have him confess to what really happened, or else I'm banished."

Having lowered their weapons and fists, Nic and her gang were silent for a moment before, out of all of them, Bark finally commented with the unimpressed expression to match, "That's stupid. And I should know from having Bean do a good portion of my talking."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Bean said with an innocent smile and showing of hands.

"Hey, I'm telling the truth," Sonic replied, defensively, his embarrassment put in place in favor of his returning frustration.

Nic raised her hand for calm as she said in response, "We can all see that, Sonic. It's your teammates' actions that have us surprised."

Fiona nodded with an unpleased look as she said, "Banishment is a pretty stupid sentence for someone who apparently turned traitor, especially when that someone is their top Mobian resource." She then scoffed before adding, "Then again, it's Princess Sally Acorn, so why should we all be surprised?"

Hearing the emphasis that the fox placed on Sally's title and last name, Sonic could not keep silent as he said with a snap, "Sal's a good leader! It's not her fault that she got carried away with how everyone else is acting!"

Bean could not help but chuckle with a nudge to an amused Bark, commenting, "Someone's in denial for sure."

Nic, without turning her gaze away from Sonic, then raised a hand as she said aloud, "Let me handle this, kids." Once her partners were quiet, she then said to Sonic, "What Fiona meant, blue boy, was that even if your princess hasn't faltered at being a 'good leader' yet, it doesn't excuse the mistakes her old man and the King Acorns that came before him all made. I don't know how much history you've read, if at all, but surely you know that it was King Max who welcomed the Overlander who became Doctor Robotnik into his own inner circle."

At Nic's last words, Sonic could not help but lower his head at the memory of the coup that took place in Mobotropolis when he was just five years old and of how his Uncle Chuck and Mobini dog, Muttski, were among the many roboticized by Robotnik. To top it off, Nic was not wrong that it was Sally's own father who allowed the future despot asylum and power despite the doubts everyone else presented.

Hearing Nic exhale, Sonic turned to face her as she then said, "As I understand it, the goals of your specific group are to find King Max and pave the way for the Kingdom of Acorn's restoration, right?"

"Well, kinda, but we want to free all of Mobius, too," Sonic replied uncertainly.

"You don't sound very sure," Nic pointed out and then said, "Besides, restoring the Kingdom, king included, and freeing Mobius may sound like they're the same thing, but they're not." Seeing Sonic's silent look, she explained, "The first part sounds like you're clinging to the past, rejecting what's going on in the present, and will refuse to adapt for the future. In contrast, the second implies that you've learned from your experiences, and are determined to embrace change and enact reform as a true revolutionary would and should."

In an attempt to be dismissive, Sonic replied, "I leave the politics to Sally for good reason, and I know she'll make the right decisions once Robotnik's brought down permanently, anyway."

Nic could not restrain a smirk at that as she asked, "Even if her father's back and eager to retake leadership his way?" At Sonic's stunned look, she added, "Would you even want him back after what might've been his greatest mistake put the whole planet through for ten years and more?"

Although Sonic could not discount Nic's logic, he recognized that time was running out and instead decided to change the topic of the conversation. "Look, I'm sorry if this might cause a family feud between you and your bro, but I need to find Nack and bring him back to Knothole. Just tell me where he is, and I promise I won't badly hurt him. I'll even see about getting you some mobiums as well later."

Sighing at the hedgehog's stubbornness, Nic replied, "I doubt my brother is anywhere near here, Sonic. He invited us to the Bar and Grill over the phone as if it were innocent socializing, but he hasn't shown up yet, and seeing that you're here now, I can imagine why."

"Nice to know how much Nack values us as his patsies," Fiona said in annoyance, while Bark looked unsurprised, and Bean had his attention elsewhere.

Feeling defeated, Sonic held his hands up in the air, as he exclaimed, "Then what am I supposed to do now?!"

Having recaptured Bean's attention with that shout, the bird advised, "In my experience, Speedy Bluey, it's best that if anyone tries to betray you first, you might as well abandon them first!"

"I can't do that," Sonic instinctively snapped.

With a satisfied smirk at Sonic's reaction, Fiona rhetorically asked, "Why not? You're a Freedom Fighter, aren't you? Surely you should have the 'freedom' to choose your own path in life, right?"

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is," Nic asked firmly. Getting his attention, she added, "Is it because you don't want to make your 'friends' feel even more betrayed than they already are? Do you still have hope in the cause you're fighting for?"

"Yes, on both counts," Sonic replied with what he hoped was a resolute nod, even though, deep inside, he could not get the mercs' words out of his mind.

Nic, on the other hand, would not let Sonic off that easy. "So you're not afraid of them exiling you to who knows where," she pointed out before adding, "Or better yet, that even if Robotnik is defeated for good, that there will no doubt be another tyrant to take his place in the future?" Seeing Sonic waver at her points, Nic then said, "You may think you're making a difference, and maybe you are, but what's the point of any of that if the people you trust can't be trusted to move with the changing times?"

"I don't know," Sonic yelled in admittance. Catching his breath and calming down, he repeated himself, "I don't know."

At the hedgehog's outburst, it was then Fiona's turn to contemplate and sigh before she then told Sonic, "If you feel insecure with the Freedom Fighters, then you should join us, Sonic."

The fox's offer was bold enough to widen the eyes of even Bean and Bark.

Seeing her partners' reactions, Fiona admitted with a showing of her hands, "Yep, never thought I'd say that, too." Turning to Sonic, she then said, "Still, your superspeed could come in handy and just like myself when I first met Nic years ago, you have nowhere else to go now." She then narrowed her eyes at the unsure hedgehog, shouting, "But if you try to backstab us in anyway, I won't hesitate in kicking your spikey butt straight to Muckury!"

Absorbing Fiona's words and glancing at the tracking device on his wrist silently, Sonic thought hard about his prospects then. He never thought about leaving the cause, but he never had someone such as Nic and her comrades point out the flaws in his stance. Sighing at last, and hoping that his friends, family, and first love would forgive him someday, the hedgehog then asked, "Can I persuade you guys to let me fight Robotnik still?"

Nic shrugged with a grin as she answered, "Hey, it's your life, kid. It's only fair that you live it your way. And that freedom is what being a mercenary is all about aside from the money." Chuckling, she then added, "Of course, if you want our help, you'll have to make a convincing argument for us to get involved."

Nic's last sentence actually surprised Fiona that time as her words indicated. "Wait, you're not opposed to going up against Robotnik?"

"Who are you and what did you do to Nicolette the Weasel," Bean could not help but ask. After a moment, he then said, "For that matter, am I even Bean the Dynamite, or somebody else?"

Nic could not restrain a laugh at that before saying, "That depends on what the blue boy here says," turning to Sonic, she asked, "Do we have a chance of winning and being rewarded for it?"

Showing the sincerest smile he had on his face since departing Knothole, Sonic took off the tracker and threw it away as he replied, "As of this moment, I don't see why we wouldn't be the well-paid winners of this war."

With an eager grin, Nic then held out her hand to Sonic, saying, "Then let's fight together, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"My pleasure," Sonic replied with an excited smile as he shook Nic's hand with his own.

While the change of events was ironic and unexpected, and he still felt bad for leaving the Freedom Fighters, especially the youthful Miles "Tails" Prower who looked up to him as a big brother, his Uncle Chuck working undercover in the Robotropolis Spy Network, and Sally herself, Sonic had hope that he might find what he was looking for as a fresh new bounty hunter in his own style.

[FBH]

A bit of a new piece, especially since I really wanted to update my ongoing works instead, but April of 2022 got hectic overtime, so I am hoping to get back to my regular routine in May at least. Thankfully, some advice from Talyllyn the Iron Warrior on FanFictionNet went a long way for this piece among other works.

Truth be told, I have no idea if Nic is the oldest or youngest sibling compared to Nack. TV Tropes currently says Nic is the youngest, I may have gotten the idea that she is the oldest from somewhere else, and I cannot find a real source that confirms either one at the moment, but I suppose whichever is workable regardless.

Anyway, even though I have no idea how old Nic was meant to be depicted in the Archie Sonic Comics, I got some inspiration from the works of fan artist, Ardan Norgate, to see how she and Sonic could work out together and having it start in Issue 40, after the Mecha Sonic event, felt like a good idea to instigate divergences in the canon story. Not that I mind Sonic/Fiona, but I already did that, and I like to explore more than just one option in my writing.

Speaking of Fiona, I might have downplayed how resentful she is of Sonic and Sonic's own internal conflict about leaving the Freedom Fighters at this time, but it is just the starting chapter, so I have a good long time to figure out more situations for Fiona to butt heads with Sonic before they become true friends just as Sonic will get into his own arguments with his former team before they have a mutual understanding.

While I do have some ideas to continue this, I would like to gauge how it is well-received first and foremost, especially if there are some more ideas in the reviews to boot. So please, fire away constructively.