GeneX - Tails the Fox
Chapter 48 - Experiment 3
Final Stage - Shadow Arcangel

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

At the end of the hallway Shadow had been traveling through was a small room that led to another hallway. The gate to that hallway was barred, and Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Punchy, Illusi, and Rainbow were all standing in front of the gate, wondering what to do next. "What's going on here?" Shadow asked everyone. "Eggman and Gunner are both on this ship." Sonic replied. Tails stepped to the middle of the room. "I think they must have the other five Chaos Emeralds! That's gotta be what's powering this ship!" he said. "Nope. That's not it!" Illusi insisted. "He's using fake Master Emeralds!" Knuckles and Punchy both looked confused. "I thought we got them all!" Punchy protested. Illusi nodded. "Yes, you got all the ones made from Master Emerald shards. The rest are made from something Eggman had plenty of: scrap metal. It's not as powerful as the others, but it obviously was powerful enough!" Sonic looked at the barred hallway. "So, we gotta get the fake Master Emeralds to stop this ship." he noted. Tails found a flaw in this plan. "If we do that, this ship will crash! We should try to land it first!" he suggested. Shadow stepped to the barred gate. "At any rate, it appears we all share the same destination." He smashed the bars using Chaos Spear, and they all headed down the hall.

At the end of that hall was a huge room with five exits, excluding the path they came in through. In the center of the room was a large containment unit, which had eight slots on its door; One for each Chaos Emerald and a larger one for the Master Emerald in the center of the door. Standing before the containment cell was Sargent Gunner, accompanied by Spy, Rouge, and Guard. As everyone entered the room, Gunner turned around and glared at them all. "So, here you all are! The furry freaks that plague my life so!" he growled. Spy grinned at them smugly. "Good timing, dopes! Now you get to watch the Sarge take over this dump!" Guard growled at them, then introduced himself. "I am called Guard the Gargoyle..." Before he could say anything else, Gunner silenced him. "Not now!" Shadow crossed his arms and glared at Gunner. "Right. So why are we freaks, but Guard there isn't?" Gunner shook his head in reply. "Make no mistake, Guard and Rouge are freaks as well. But they're obediant freaks." he said coldly. Rouge scowled at Gunner, but said nothing. "So, what are you doing here, Sarge?" Sonic said, getting back to the point. "There's a reason Dr. Eggman wants the seven Chaos Emeralds!" Gunner replied. Rainbow raised her hand like a student in a classroom. "Oooh! Let me guess! Is it insanity, Gramps?" Both Punchy and Spy snickered at Rainbow's choice of names for Gunner, which caused Gunner to give Spy a dirty look. "Uh, I wasn't laughing..." Spy lied. "I don't know why Eggman wants the emeralds, but I know someone who'd better know by now!" Gunner declared.

Just then, Team Chaotix barged into the room, pushing past everyone to get to Sargent Gunner. Rouge and Spy hid behind Gunner as Vector approached. "We're here, boss!" he said cheerfully. "We've solved the case!" "Case closed!" Charmy cheered, twirling in the air to Vector's left. Espio slowly stepped to Vector's right. "It wasn't easy..." he muttered. Gunner looked at them quizzically. "Who are you three?" "Looks like Gunner isn't their client." Tails pointed out. Vector held out the Chaos Emerald that Espio and Charmy found earlier. "We even found this, too!" Gunner turned around and scowled at Spy and Rouge. "Who is this freak talking to?" he demanded to know. Rouge's face had turned bright red. "What are you dopes doing here now!? Can't you see this is a bad time!?" she shouted. Gunner was stunned. "Rouge, what is the meaning of this!?" Spy looked thoughtful. "Is she a double agent? Coooool... I mean, baaaaad...." Rouge placed her hands on her hips and stared angrily at Gunner. "You've had me totally overloaded today! You wanted me to find out about Eggman, then you gave me endless other orders! How else was I supposed to get to the bottom of Eggman's plans?!" she complained. Gunner looked about ready to explode. "You freak! All those other freaks are the ENEMY!! You're a traitor!" Knuckles found this amusing. "Smooth move, bat girl!" he chuckled. "That Sargent guy's the real freak!" Amy muttered. "We're not the enemy here!" Sonic was getting bored with this. "So, Vector, you solved the case?" he asked impatiently. Vector smiled proudly. "Of course! You're talking to the world's greatest detective!" "Yeah, me!" Charmy chuckled. Espio also seemed impatient. "Let's get to the point, Vector." "Right..." Vector said. "The Chaos Emeralds aren't what Eggman's after! He just needs them for..."

Before Vector could finish, Eggman's voice interrupted. "Allow me to finish that thought!" Eggman, Char, Alpha, and Metal Sonic dropped down from a hatch in the ceiling, landing on top of the containment cell. "Hahahaha! We're gonna win!" Char cheered gleefully. "Bad people! You're under a rest! Go to sleep!" Alpha ordered. Eggman frowned at Alpha's moronic babble. "Why I brought that robot I'll never know..." Suddenly, BAS's alarm went off. "All seven Chaos Emeralds have been gathered!" it announced. Sonic's eyes went wide. "All seven!?" Tails seemed equally surprised. "We only have two... So Eggman has FIVE?!" Vector held up his emerald, and Tails realized his error. "Excuse me, four..." "Three!" Gunner corrected. "I've got the last one!" Eggman let out an evil laugh. "Thanks for sharing. Char, Alpha, Metal Sonic! Get those emeralds!" he commanded. "Not so fast!" Gunner wasn't about to give up. "Spy, Rouge, Guard, get the emeralds for me!"

Thus, a chaotic battle ensued, with everyone fighting over the seven Chaos Emeralds or the Master Emerald. It was a short lived struggle, however, as everyone mostly ignored Char, and he was easily able to snatch the emeralds one by one and insert them into the slots on the door of the containment unit.

"Looks like I win, despite your efforts!" Eggman gloated. "No way! How'd he do that!?" Sonic shouted. "He even got the real Master Emerald!" Illusi gasped. Gunner looked absolutely horrified. "What are you going to do with them, Ivo?!" he asked fearfully. Eggman approached a control panel beside the containment unit's door. "With these seven Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald that controls them placed in the power terminals, the ultimate weapon can be released! Experiment 3!" he explained. "Three's a weapon?" Rainbow gasped. "Impossible! Bucky wouldn't leave his most powerful creation just lying around!" Punchy shouted. "Doctor! You can't release that!" Shadow warned. Eggman scowled at him. "Why not? According to the report 'X Experiments,' Experiment 3 is a device that can destroy the world! A device! There's no harm in releasing it, just in using it! And I won't...as long as the world submits to my rule." Eggman turned to the door. "So, seven emeralds! Grant me the power to control everything, at last!"

"I cannot allow it!" Metal Sonic jumped between Eggman and the control panel. "What?! What are you babbling about, you twit!" Eggman shouted. "You have stood in my way of being the ultimate overlord for far too long!" Metal Sonic declared. Char flew over to Metal Sonic and kicked him in the head, to no effect. "You traitor! You're worse than Omega!" Char scolded. Eggman pushed Char aside and chased Metal Sonic across the room. "You idiot! Do you know who you're talking to!? I'll make you sorry you were ever built!" While everyone else was busy watching this, Sargent Gunner approached the control panel himself...

"Eggman! You tampered with my memory! I'll tear you apart!" Metal Sonic vowed. "No, I believe I'll be the one taking things apart!" Eggman insisted. Tails was the first to realize the significance of this. "Quick! Now's our chance to get the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Too late, scum!" Gunner shouted, having placed commands into the control panel. "Unlocking containment cell..." BAS announced. Hearing this, Eggman rushed to Gunner's side, leaving Metal Sonic to watch the next events with everyone else. Shadow Arcangel began to shake violently as the door to the containment cell began to open. It appeared stuck, so Knuckles decided to try to stop it. "I'll appeal to the Master Emerald!" he shouted. Sonic gave him a thumb's up. "Good luck, Knuckles!"

"The servers are the seven chaos!"
Punchy ran up to Knuckles side, and joined him. He remembered the poem through his memories from Knuckles as they continued.
"Chaos is power, enriched by the heart!"
"The controller serves to unify the chaos!"
"Master Emerald, use your power to stop the Chaos Emeralds!"

Eggman just laughed at them as they realized what he was about to tell them. "You're wasting your breath!" Sargent Gunner appeared to share Eggman's excitement. "Now, with Experiment 3, we'll wipe out those freaks together, Ivo, my friend!" The ship ceased shaking suddenly, and the torches lit along the walls blew out. The Chaos Emeralds were suddenly warped out of the room, and the door slid open. As they peered inside, all they saw was darkness. "Where's the big weapon?" Gunner whispered to himself.

A black silhouette could be seen rising in the containment unit. In the darkness, it was difficult to make out what it was, but from Tails' point of view, it looked just like the dark fox from his nightmares! In fact, the silhouette seemed to look like the shadow of the person looking at it. "Heh heh heh... Free at last..." the creature said, in an almost alien sounding voice. Tails was more scared than anyone at this moment. "Is that the Dream King? It can't be... What IS it?" he thought to himself. Sargent Gunner was the first to speak. "Ivo Robotnik, you fool! That's not a device! That's another furry FREAK!!!" Everyone was silent as Experiment 3 stepped out of its containment unit, still shadowy and impossible to actually see clearly. "Ha ha ha! Bucky was a fool to think he could contain me! And what's this? The Arcangel is in the air? Then there's no escape for you fools!" the creature snarled. "Who or what are you?" Sonic asked. Tails was backing away slowly, pointing shakily at Experiment 3. "It's a monster! Everyone stay away from it!" Guard pointed his scythe at the creature. "You look like me, but that can't be right! Master never made the same creature twice! It was a rule of his!" he growled. "What are you talking about, fool? I'm your master!" Gunner yelled. Experiment 3 looked around the room at everyone there. "I shall enjoy this. I shall pick off you fools one by one! You'll all be powerless to stop me! I'll kill you all, and Bucky as well! Then I'll reshape the world... into MY world!" he exclaimed. "You're crazy!" Knuckles shouted. Experiment 3 shook its head. "No, but you soon will be! Imagine the looks on your faces when you find yourselves killing each other FOR me!" he hissed. "In your dreams, monster!" Vector said. Experiment 3 payed little attention to what anyone was saying. "The seven emeralds aboard the ship... That's how I'll do it! I'll find them all and destroy this pitiful, horrible planet!" he seemed not to care that he was giving away his entire plan. "No way! We'll get those emeralds first!" Sonic declared. "You can try, but you'll just end up handing them to me yourselves!" Experiment 3 growled. Then, the experiment launched itself high into the air and exited through the hatch Eggman had come in through!

"He's loose in the ship!" Amy cried. "No kidding!" Punchy groaned. Eggman looked confused and devastated. "This doesn't make any sense! The report specifically stated that Experiment 3 was a device! What's going on here!?" he yelled in frustration and confusion. "The report we found called it a monster!" Vector said. Espio glanced at Vector, a bit miffed. "You mean the report I found!" he said. "I wonder why the reports were different?" Charmy said.

"I can explain everything!" Bucky's voice came from the main entrance to the room. He was accompanied by Vortex and Zipp. "Whoa, are you guys troublemakers!" Zipp said. "Experiment 3 wassssn't ssssuppossssed to be releassssed!" Vortex added. Guard waved to Bucky. "Hello master!" he said. "I should've expected to see you here." Sonic said. Apparently, Sonic had encountered Bucky before. "You escaped?! Impossible!" Gunner shouted, totally perplexed by Bucky's presence there. "Yes, I escaped!" Bucky said, proud of himself. "It was all part of my plan! Everything that has transpired today was part of my plan!" Shadow looked from Bucky to Eggman. "You even planned what Eggman's been up to?" he asked. Bucky smiled, recalling what he'd done. "I planned everything down the the last detail..."

Bucky revealed the details of his plan, "I long dreamed of unlocking the secrets of life and death. My discoveries would have been a godsend to everyone on Earth. So I toiled away... with little success. After Shadow's victory over Black Doom, something came to my attention. I went to Angel Island..." He paused a moment, ordering his thoughts, and continued, "You see, I had discovered a faster method of cloning. I hoped to learn to create life that way as well. My find was the life gene, the very fuel for life. I called it Gene X, or GeneX for short. Hoping to embark on an experiment, I tricked that red echidna and clipped some of his hairs..." Knuckles stepped forward. "You dirty rat! Do you know how silly I looked after that!?" Bucky chuckled. "Indeed. Using those hairs, I completed my first life creation experiment. Experiment 1." Punchy shook his head. "It's a lie!" he protested. Bucky glared at him. "Let me finish my story!" After another pause, he continued, "Experiment 1 was flawed. He had memories from his original. He disbelieved the nature of his existance, and ran away. But my hope, which had been gone for ages, was restored! My first life creation experiment would now become Experiment 2, but I could not complete it yet. I needed someone to complete the DNA gaps, but no one would be as easy to trick as that red echidna. At any rate, I decided I would kidnap Miles Prower in order to further my research. But I needed accomplices, and I knew GUN would come for me. So I created Experiment 3. But he was also flawed, badly. He came to hate creatures born naturally and threatened to destroy the world, so I was forced to seal him away. But I would not give up. I created Experiment 4 and 5 then, completely from scratch! I accomplished more than I'd ever dreamed! But I wanted Experiment 2..." Rouge had a question. "Why go to all the trouble of kidnapping for an experiment that you'd already gone beyond?" she asked. Bucky sighed. It seemed there was likely more to the story than he was telling. "I had come to feel as though this creature was my son. I had to finish him. For that, Vortex and Zipp were invaluable! Together, we made our plans. Vortex was a computer wizard! With his help, we created a fake entry for professor Gerald's diary, and planted it in Eggman's database, where he'd find it. I knew Gerald well, and I could easily fake his words. I made sure the diary would lead Eggman here, to Shadow Arc, where he would read my diary and the fake X Experiments report I left out for him!" Vector guessed the next part of his plan. "You lied about Experiment 3 in the fake report!" Bucky nodded. "I knew that Eggman wouldn't release Experiment 2 to help him search out the Chaos Emeralds if it didn't help him take over the world. I told him it was a weapon! And it was true, a living weapon! I did not disclose to him the location of the experiments, but I knew he'd find Experiment 2. I left Vortex and Zipp hidden in a secluded area of the lab. Then, I kidnapped Tails, completed Experiment 2, and attatched a bomb to his wrist, concealed by his gloves! An extra incentive for him to release me! The cloning process took a lot out of Prower, and he did not remember any of it later. Just as I completed my experiment, Sonic reached my laboratory, and GUN's troops weren't far behind! Both myself and Experiment 2 were arrested. I knew it would happen, so I made sure Eggman found Experiment 2 and instructions for operating this ship. But just now, my plans went drastically awry! Eggman collected the seven emeralds faster than I thought he would, and he found an alternate power source for the Arcangel! It was supposed to run on the Chaos Emeralds! Now, the emeralds were used to unlock the containment cell, and were warped to their predetermined locations on the ship, which I had prepared just in case this happened, so that Experiment 3 wouldn't get the emeralds right away! If he manages to find them, he'll be able to destroy the world! We have to find them first!"

"No problem!" Sonic said confidently. "We're all experts at finding Chaos Emeralds!" Zipp flew up to Sonic. "Think you're so great, eh? It won't be so easy!" Vortex pointed to the five exits to the room. "The trapsss along the way were not ssset by ussss!" Bucky explained why. "I did not build this ship! It was built by an ancient, magical race, and now the Lost Ones infest it! It's not looking good!" Vector knew the dangers better than most in the room, having read Bucky's report. "We can't just give up!" he said urgently. "Of course not! Do you people always have to state the obvious?" Shadow said. "We can do it together!" Tails added. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, freaks!?" Gunner pouted. "No thanks, I'll get those emeralds myself!" Illusi chuckled at him. "It'll be pretty tough on your own, won't it, old man?" Vortex hissed at Gunner. "Sssstupid sssargent! Let him do asss he pleasssssessss!" Spy let out an exasperated sigh. "I'd like to, but he's my boss..." Guard pushed past Spy. "I'll lend a hand finding those emeralds!" he offered. Knuckles stepped forward next. "You can't possibly consider going without me! It'll be a piece of cake after all those Master Emerald shards!" Rainbow raised her hand excitedly. "Don't forget us! We'll go, too! Right, One?" Punchy didn't look very enthusiastic. "Uh... sure... but don't expect me to do everything!" Alpha fired a shot into the air. "Find the gems, win a cookie!" he cheered. Char chose to translate. "Uh, Alpha says we're in, too!" Amy ran to Sonic's side. "It'll be easy with both of us together, right, Sonic?" Sonic, not wanting to answer, turned to the nearest person, Espio. "Uh, you in?" he asked. "I guess I could be of some help..." Espio replied. Charmy flew over next to him. "All right! I'll get past those traps! Leave it to me!" Metal Sonic had joined the group as well. "My revenge will have to wait! New target: Experiment 3!" Rouge pushed past Spy as next to join the crowd. "Sorry, Sarge, but I'm with them this time!" Eggman walked over to Bucky and shook his hand. "Don't worry, Dr. Stein! Those emeralds are as good as found!"

Bucky looked over the incredible team that had assembled before him, and felt that maybe they had hope after all. "All right then! We'll split up into teams! Let's get to work!"

To be continued...