If Stan Lee Wrote Bambi
By
Wilber Arron
A dull hissing noise was the first thing Bambi heard.
He had never heard that kind of noise before. It was not an animal noise. It was not any of the Man noises he had heard. This was something new; this was something strange.
Bambi had been walking around the forest looking for signs of Man or dangerous animals like bears and coyotes, but had found none. It was late at night. Even Friend Owl had gone back to his tree. Faline would be waiting for him by the lake no doubt with romance still on her mind. They were still into the season for mating. She was a beautiful doe, but at times a little demanding, yet a lot of fun to be with. Passing through a thick stand of pine trees he heard the hissing again. He stopped to hear what direction it was coming from. He strained his ears to take in the sound, but the sound was coming from all around him. It was also getting much louder. Soon he realized it was not coming from next to him. The noise was coming from above him. He looked up. Through the first rays of dull orange light from the sun, he saw another light. It was the color of the summer leaves and was getting brighter as the sound got louder. Although the trees blocked his vision of the sky, the green glow increased. Soon it blocked out the rays of the sun. The noise increased until it was roaring in his ears. He looked up for a moment and saw a bright green light heading straight toward him from the sky. He had only a second to be afraid before his whole world exploded.
For a while he felt he was dead. He could think, but he could not see or move. He could also hear or smell nothing. It was like he was off in someplace different. Yet he felt warm and in no danger. In his head he could see things like sticks dance in front of him. He knew he had not seen them before, yet they looked familiar.
“They are equations,” a hollow voice told him. “You are being taught to understand.”
“What are equations?” he wanted to know.
“Things that relate the universe to you so you can understand how the universe works. In a while you will understand what they mean.”
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am Galshin A 267, an artificial intelligence probe sent out by the Darlonowin Confederation to explore interstellar space. My programming instructs me to seek out non-human intelligent creatures, give them knowledge, and then observe their actions.”
Bambi understood none of it. It was like a fawn talking nonsense.
“Am I dead?” he asked.
“You were injured by my arrival, but you are being repaired with gamma ray regeneration techniques. However, your cell psychology indicates there may be some interesting side effects to this process. We will have to see. In the meantime, relax and rest. This will take a while.”
Bambi slept without dreaming, moving, or sensation for some time. He did not know for how long. When he finally woke he was lying next to a green glowing rock about three times his size. It lay in a hole in the ground. It was a crater, but Bambi knew he did not know this word from before. He knew a crater was a hole a meteorite made when it impacted the ground, yet he did not remember these things being told to him by his now dead father and mother. He stood up on his legs. He felt fine, in fact he felt better than he could ever remember feeling before. He felt bigger, stronger, more powerful than he ever had in his life.
“Crash,” he heard off in the distance. Someone was coming through the forest.
“Where is it?” he heard. It was Man talk, yet he now understood it. It was far away, yet he could hear it fine.
“I don’t see it on my instruments. Dr. Banner said it has to be around here somewhere. Too much interference to pinpoint it exactly.”
“They cannot be allowed to find me,” the voice said in his head. “My knowledge is not for Man. He will abuse it. You must stop them.”
“Stop them!” Bambi repeated. “That is Man. They have killing sticks. I go out there and they will kill me.”
“Let me show you what will happen if they find me,” the voice went on.
Suddenly Bambi’s head was full of images like he was dreaming even though he was fully awake. The green forest vanished. Around him was a burnt out wood where there was nothing but blacken burnt trees, and the ground covered by a thick layer of black foul smelling ash. Around him lay the animals, all dead. Not just dead, but also blacken with fire, their organs burst out like they exploded from the inside. Not just birds, and trees, but bears, cougars, rabbits, and deer. There were lots of deer lying dead, brown fur burnt black as night, their faces frozen in horror. He looked and there was Faline next to Geno and Gurri lying together. Their insides oozing onto the ground. Their faces racked with agony.
“Man will do this,” the voice told him. “You must stop them.”
“NO!” he shouted out loud. “They will not.”
He became enraged like when he fought Ronno for Faline. As he did he felt a change come over him unlike anything he knew before. He started to grow bigger. The stone which was taller than he was had now become the same height as him. His brown fur changed to green. His thin legs became thick like tree trunks. His sleek body became heavily muscled. He easily leaped up and almost flew out of the crater like a bird. He landed maybe ten meters away. His ears picked up the Man noises again. He moved toward the sound ready to destroy anything that threaten his forest. In seconds in saw them. Four Men, two were carrying large killing sticks. The other two were holding out something in front of them. Sensors his new memories told him. They still did not see him. He put his head down and charged.
He flew out of the trees and into the small clearing the four men stood in. They all looked up at him and made faces of horror and disbelief. He leaped up and landed in the middle of them with a huge crash. The ground shook knocking the men to their knees. He reached down and scooped the sensors the men were holding in his antlers. He flipped his head and threw them away. They vanished as they flew over the tops of the trees. By now the Men with guns started to get up. He kicked out at the closest one knocking him aside. The killing stick dropped to the ground. He bent over and picked it up with his teeth. He bit hard, the gun broke in half like it was a twig. He turned around. The other Man pointed his killing stick at him and fired. He felt several impacts that stung like angry bees striking his side, but they bounced off like they were blades of grass. They did not harm him at all. He put his head down and charged the Man catching him between the prongs of his now massive set of antlers. He ran to the nearest tree and pinned the Man between the tree and his antlers. He could have easily crushed him, but he didn’t. It was as if something stopped him. He came to see they did not come to hurt him, so he would not hurt them. He threw the Man to the ground, but not hard. He then backed up.
“THIS IS MY FOREST!” he shouted out so loud the ground shook. All the Men put their hands against their ears. “You leave here now, do not come back.”
He backed away to the edge of the clearing allowing the Men to get up slowly. It was then he noticed they were all dressed in the same type of clothing. All one-piece black pull overs with large equipment belts. On their shoulders they wore patches. Shoulder patches his new memories told him. He could easily read them even at this distance: ‘S. H. I. E. L. D. Technical Operations.’
“Who are you?” the Man he pinned to the tree asked.
It came right to his head almost without thinking. “I am Stag. I protect this forest. Do not come back here. No Man will come back here. No more killing the animals of this forest.”
The four Men quickly left. He caught one of them saying as he ran away, “Fury will never believe this.”
He quickly made his way back to the large glowing rock. “They are gone,” he reported. Even his voice sounded more powerful.
“Thank you,” the voice in his head said sounding sincere. “You could have killed those Men; they surely would have killed you if they had a chance. Why did you let them go?”
“I will not kill unless I am forced too,” he said calmly. “As long as they do not try and kill the other animals of the forest, then I too will not kill.”
What of the bear and the cougar, they kill deer, will you kill them?” the voice asked.
“No,” Bambi said simply. “They kill because that is in nature’s way. Man kills for pleasure. The two are much different.”
“Thank you again, Bambi,” the voice said almost sounding like the voice of this dead father. “I now know why you were chosen. You are ready for this gift.”
“I still do not understand what you have done to me,” Bambi told the glowing rock.
“We have time, I will teach you, but first you must hide me. Take the soil piled up around the crater and bury me with it. It will not hurt me and will keep Man from finding me.
Bambi did as he was asked and found that even with his new strength it took him all day before the glowing rock was fully buried. By the time he finished the sun had set bringing on another night. By the time he was done he was covered in dirt. He went to the nearby lake to wash himself off. As he did he heard a familiar voice.
“Bambi, is that you?”
He turned to see Faline standing by the lake looking half unsure half horrified at what stood in front of her. She looked so
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