Tails the Fox
Chapter 24 - Vortex, Guide to Shadow Arc
Stage 13 - Shadow Arc

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Knuckles was lost. Very lost. Gemini had told him that she could use her magic to find the Master Emerald. She had told Knuckles to meet her at the place her magic had pointed her, a place shrouded in fog. That was an understatement, as Knuckles soon found himself lost in a place where he couldn't see anything but the thick, dense fog. Soon, he smacked into a wall. "Yeow! Who put that here!?"

The fog then subsided. Knuckles spotted a sign near the front door. "Shadow Arc Laboratory. No trespassing." he read. It was the very same building that Shadow had found himself at earlier that day, and as Knuckles entered the dark laboratory, he noticed that someone had left the machinery running. Knuckles noticed that amidst the spinning torch things and the dragon statues, there were slimy bluish creatures slithering all about, the word "losol" being repeatedly spoken, supposedly by the creatures. The staircase in the back wall that Shadow had previously opened was still open, and beside it was a gate that Shadow had previously missed somehow. The gate was barred shut, so Knuckles decided to head upstairs...

Vortex was calm and content. Mostly because he was asleep. Fighting with Tails was not as difficult as he had previously let on, but he was tired after nearly being frozen to death by the Doomsayer. Vortex was soundly dozed off on his chair in what he called his room. Zipp was hovering in the air nearby, firing his guns at a dart board. He had to use the silencer so that Vortex could sleep, which was one thing that really made him mad. "No noise, no one to kill. This day is so boring!"

Just then, the door swung open and Knuckles peeked into the room. Zipp turned to the red echidna and grinned excitedly. "What do ya know? This day just got interesting!" In his excitement, Zipp had talked too loud and woke Vortex up. "What'ssss the big idea!?" He hissed angrily. The black chameleon walked over to Zipp and grabbed the gun from his hands. "Quessstionsss firsssst! Sssshoot afterward, moron!" he yelled after the situation became clear to him. "Apologiesss, sssir. I am Vortex. What bringsss you to my lair?"

Knuckles stepped into the room and looked around. Sure enough, this room looked just like every other room. Turning to Vortex, Knuckles explained the situation. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. A white dragon. Either of you seen her?"

Zipp tried to grab his gun back from Vortex, but was simply swatted aside. "You'll pay for that!" Zipp muttered. Vortex, ignoring the hornet, replied to Knuckles's question. "I've never sssseen a dragon before. However, I have been assssleep for a while. Perhapssss your friend isss lossst in here. I will help you look." Vortex then tossed the gun to Zipp, who quickly snatched it back. "I don't trust this guy!" he grumbled. "I'm not going!"
"Fine." Vortex said calmly. "I don't need you, anyway. Come, let usss begin our sssearch!"

Vortex and Knuckles left on their search through the winding, maze-like corridors of the laboratory. It was a huge building, you could easily lose a Tyrannosaurus in there. It was also dark, the blue flame torches giving off very little light, so Vortex carried a flashlight with him. The swarm of losol, which had grown exponentially since Shadow had left, didn't make things any easier. It was a stroke of luck that Knuckles had enlisted the help of Vortex, his Chaos Hole and Chaos Inferno abilities easily dispatched most losol in their path. However, Knuckles found that if you hit the blobs hard enough, they actually can be dealt some damage. Little did they realize that as they went about fighting with the slimy monsters, something was following them...

Soon, they came to a large room with many of what appeared to be a sort of lamp post scattered all over the place. All of them were turned off. There were only two exits to the room, one directly across from where Vortex and Knuckles entered. Knuckles could see Gemini standing in the large doorway on the other side, a distant expression on her face. "Hey, Gemini! Wake up!" Knuckles called. Almost as if in response, two large metal doors swung shut in both doorways, locking Knuckles and Vortex in, and locking Gemini out! "What'sss the meaning of thisss!?" Vortex hissed angrily. "Who daresss lock me in my own lair!"

A gaseous form slipped in through the cracks of the door that Gemini was locked behind, the gas collecting and combining into the shapeless form of Lospector! His jumbled face took on an expression of anger. "Who are you to attack my losol!? That's really very rude, you know!"
Knuckles shook his fist at Lospector. "So, you're the one who commands these monsters!"
Vortex interrupted him. "Your beassstssss invaded our home! If anyone ssshould be ssshouting here, it'sss me!"
Lospector faked a sad face. "Oh, boo hoo! 'Oh, they invaded my home!' As far as I can tell, you invaded this place yourself! But ya know, who even cares who invaded what? It only matters who kicks who's butt in the end! I call forth the powers of the dark!" Lospector pulled a deck of tarot cards seemingly from nowhere. "The cards shall choose your fate! Ha! Let's just see..." He started shuffling them and performing various tricks, like snapping them out of one "hand" and catching them in another. Vortex grew impatient. "Let'sss get him, Knucklessss!"

As the pair of animals leapt into action, Lospector pulled a single card from his deck and evaporated himself, reappearing behind them. As they turned around, Lospector held up his card. "Looks like you win an army of Losohsts! Which really means I win! Huhuhuhuhuhuh!"
Lospector vanished into thin air, and a bunch of creatures began rising up through the floor! They wore grayish blue cloaks, their faces hidden by attatched hoods. They apparently had no legs, and their hands were covered by gray gloves. Each pulled a weapon from within their cloaks, such as scythes and axes, and Knuckles and Vortex realized they were in for some trouble! Vortex shined his flashlight on one of them for a closer look, and the creature quickly flew out of the way. Knuckles pointed at the floor beneath them. "Their cloaks are dripping with slime! They must be made of the same stuff the losol are made of!"
Vortex shone the flashlight around the room, and the Losohsts all avoided the beam of light. "There'sss a difference here! The Losssohssstsss don't like light! Perhapsss if we turn on the lampsss, we can dessstroy them all!"
Knuckles turned to Vortex. "Can't you just call a black hole to deal with them?" he asked.
Vortex groaned in frustration. "I can't! It'sss too sssoon after the lassst time I did that! I have my limitsss!"
Knuckles jumped to dodge a sudden attack by a Losohst. "Do you know how to turn on the lights!?" he shouted. Vortex changed his color to match his surroundings, not much of a stretch from his usual black coloring. His color change wasn't as advanced as Espio's, though, and he could be seen if one tried hard enough. "Dissstract them!" he shouted, "I'll figure thisss out!"

The Losohsts mostly didn't notice Vortex while his color was changed, but Knuckles stuck out like a sore thumb. The Losohsts quickly surrounded him, but Knuckles just smiled. "Finally, a challenge! I haven't had a real challenge all day!"

Vortex spotted the switch to activate the lights on the wall. He was in the center of the room, leaving it still a fair distance away. To make matters more difficult, some of the Losohsts were hovering near the switch, guarding it. "These creatures are smarter than they look!" Vortex thought as he stealthily attempted to reach the switch. Half-way there, Vortex sneezed, and the Losohsts looked in his direction. "Darn allergies!" Vortex thought. The Losohsts had spotted him, so he reverted back to normal coloring and charged forward, narrowly dodging attacks from the ghostly creatures before retaliating with a flurry of various physical attacks. Vortex had taught himself to fight, and while his style was a bit unorthodox, he fought very efficiently with it.

Knuckles, on the other hand, generally used punching as his primary means of attack. However, the Losohsts kept flying out of the way, and Knuckles was finding it difficult to continue dodging their blades. "I can't keep this up much longer!" he thought. "Vortex better hurry with those lights!"

Vortex reached the switch, but the Losohsts were undaunted by his attacks. All the Losohsts that were fighting with Vortex now stood between him and the switch. Vortex had had enough. "Cursssed Lossst Onesss! Get out of my home!!! Chaosss Camouflage!!!" Vortex's body erupted with a bright, white light. He was now glowing with chaos energy! The light caused the Losohsts to scatter. Vortex then doused the camouflage and grabbed the handle of the switch. "Lightsss out, Losssohssst!" he said, pulling the switch. The lamps flickered on and very quickly bathed the room in bright light. The Losohsts tried in vain to shield themselves, and they all erupted with ghost fire until they finally burned out of existence! Knuckles wiped some sweat from his forehead. "That was...tough..." he panted. Vortex turned his attention to the locked door to where Gemini was waiting. "Think you can punch through thisss, tough guy?" Vortex asked. Knuckles grinned. "Sure! No ghosts can wear me down!"

Knuckles launched a punch with incredible force, forcing the doors open. However, Gemini was gone. "C'mon! We have to find her!" Knuckles said, leading the way. Vortex followed hurriedly. "Ssslow down! I jussst made chaosss energy erupt from my ssskin! I'm exhausssted!"

At the end of the hallway was another large room. This room was filled with what appeared to be treasure chests, as well as the same spinning torches that were in the other areas. In the center of the room, Gemini was hunched on all fours, knee deep in losol! She had a crazed look in her eyes, and her skin was taking on a greenish coloring. Standing before her was the mysterious robed figure known as the Doomsayer! "This girl is doomed." he declared. Knuckles was shocked by this scene, but his resolve was never stronger. He called out to the Doomsayer in response, "Not if I can help it!"

To be continued...