Sonic GeneX - Tails the Fox
Arc 4 - The Darkegg Fortress Saga
Chapter 36 - Enter Darkegg Fortress
Stage 19 - Metal Heights
Boss 25 - E-2X Alpha

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
Extra Note: The Great Gator is 2BIT's mascot. Had to get him into the story somehow...

In order to reach Darkegg Fortress, Sonic and Amy needed a boat. After a bit of a search, they found that no one could help them. Sonic began to think that maybe they should look for Tails after all, when suddenly, a ship passed by the shoreline! It was a pirate ship, with... green sails? "Aha! I'm not too late!" said a voice behind Sonic. He turned around and saw no one. "Over here!" Turning around again, he saw a young man in an alligator costume. "Hello, there! I'm called the Great Gator! The writer of this story, 2BIT, has asked me to take you to Darkegg Fortress. Why me? OK, we'll be honest, we have no idea how you're supposed to get to a faraway island with the Tornado gone and all that fruitcake!" Sonic scratched his head, completely confused, when Amy took his arm. "Who cares why! We won a free cruise! Let's go!!!"

Upon boarding Gator's ship, the S.S. Everglades, they were greeted by the strangest crew you could imagine, including a skeleton, a bumbling ninja, and a few other miscellaneous characters, but since it really isn't important, we won't go into it. "Okie dokey! Hoist anchor, mateys, walk the plank, and all that rubbish!" Gator said to his crew. "Fire up the engines and bring me some pie!"

"Engines?" Sonic thought. "This ship looks too old to have engines..." Looking over the side to the back of the ship proved otherwise, and the engines sent the ship speeding on its way in no time! "Byeeee, Station Square!" Gator said from the crow's nest, waving. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Sonic said to himself, questioning the sanity of the writer.

Once they were well under way, Gator spotted Sonic looking out at the sea, a somewhat nervous expression on his face. "Hey, what's the matter, blue? You don't get seasick, do ya? Yikes! Mr. Skul, get the mop!" As Gator jumped around in a panicky frenzy, Amy yanked his "tail" to get his attention. "He's not seasick! He just doesn't like the water." she said. Gator still looked upset. "Get the mop, anyway. I just remembered I get seasick... Urp..." Just then, the ninja stumbled over to them. "Ahoy, captain! Um, we found land! And with that, my job is done! Now, I shall disappear, mysteriously, as is my way!" the ninja tossed some smoke bombs in front of him, and as the smoke covered him, he ran out coughing and stumbled over the side of the ship. "Not agaiiiiiiin!!!" he shouted. Gator smiled. "That Mr. Black is a genious. I can't figure how he always manages to disappear like that.... Oh! Land ho!!"

Darkegg Fortress was a large tower, reaching high into the heavens. The tower's color scheme was similar to the Egg Carrier, mostly red and yellow, but it was so dark on the island that it seemed black. There were balconies twisting all around the tower, and at the very top of the tower another large balcony surrounded the base's power plant. "Wow, when was the last time Eggman built such a large base that couldn't fly?" Amy said, gazing up in awe. Sonic spotted Espio and Charmy near the entrance to the tower, and ran ahead to talk to them. "Hey, guys! Where's Vector?" Charmy gazed up the tower. "He went inside. He's looking for clues in Eggman's base!" Espio pointed out to sea, where GUN's Warship was floating after the crash. "One of Eggman's agents took the power source for the Warship over there. It was a Chaos Emerald. We tried to call you and tell you where Eggman was, but there wasn't much backup power. It's good to see you got enough information after all." Sonic looked around to find Amy looking out over the ocean, admiring its beauty. "I don't want her involved in this. It's too dangerous. Could you watch over her? I need to go stop Eggman!" Espio looked over at Amy. "I guess that shouldn't be a problem. We'll handle it. Good luck Son--" Before he finished, Espio realized Sonic was already gone. "Always on the run..." he muttered.

It wasn't long before Sonic found Vector in a section of the base with several platforms suspended high in the air. Trails of rings led from platform to platform, and each platform was guarded by a variety of Eggman's most vicious robots. "There's no way I can get through this..." Vector muttered. "I can't fly!" Sonic looked down over the edge, and the pit seemed to go on forever. "Looks like I'll need to use the Light Speed Dash." Sonic said, getting Vector's attention. "Aha! About time you got here, Sonic!" he said. "We lost your signal, Vector. We thought you were in trouble!" Sonic informed him. "Well, I'm in trouble now..." Vector sighed. "How am I supposed to get across this?" Sonic pointed to a few bee robots buzzing around. "Stepping stones, genious." he said. Vector looked at the robots. "Uh, I would've figured it out myself eventually..." he said sheepishly.


Meanwhile, up in Eggman's control room, a very angry Eggman was worrying over his recent failure. "That plan didn't go over well... BAS! Status report!" he demanded. "Sonic has been spotted in the base, sir!" BAS responded. "Yes, I know that. Go on." Eggman said. "All seven Chaos Emeralds have been detected in the vicinity as well." BAS added. Eggman looked over his radar screen in disbelief. Yes, even accounting for the fake emeralds, all seven real ones were present! "Things couldn't have gone better! Soon, the Eggman Empire will finally reign supreme!" Eggman said gleefully, following it up with his usual insane laughter.


Sonic and Vector made their way through the platforms. Vector wasn't exactly used to jumping from robot to robot, but he managed to make it. Sonic, who had kept his Light Speed Shoes with him since the time Shadow first appeared, fared much better. One must wonder how the ring trails are so mysteriously and strategically hovering in paths between platforms in so many places Sonic visits. Sonic and Vector were somewhat used to such trecherous journeys now, so it didn't take long to reach the next area of Darkegg Fortress. It was an area that somwhat resembled the robot training facility on Final Egg, Eggman's former Mystic Ruins base. Targets were placed throughout the area, and not just Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles targets. It appeared that Eggman was also training his robots to fight Shadow, Copter, and Punchy. "I guess Eggman doesn't trust those experiments after all..." Sonic observed. The area was mostly empty, except for a few familiar faces halfway through the facility. Sargent Gunner and Spy were confronting Char and a upgraded Alpha, who now had a more speed friendly design and a pair of wings to go with its jetpack. "All right, why have you been following me!?" Gunner demanded. "Because I'm your lackey." Spy said. Gunner shot Spy a dirty look. "Not you, you idiot!" He turned to Char and Alpha, continuing in a very frustrated tone. "I mean this little animal and this robot!!" Char put his hands on his hips. "What's that? You break into our base, and you look at me like I'M the bad guy?!" he said, somewhat sarcastic. Gunner took it very seriously, though. "You ARE the bad guy! You work for Dr. Robotnik!" he growled. Char laughed in response. "No one calls him Robotnik anymore!"

Sonic and Vector came up behind Alpha. "Hello, there, Alpha!" Sonic shouted, startling the robot. "Sneak attack!! Enter defensive mode!" Alpha shouted. Gunner pointed an accusing finger at Sonic. "You again! I knew I'd find you here!" he yelled. "Hey, it's Mr. Weirdo again!" Sonic chuckled. Gunner, furious with the way this day had been going, just wanted to hurt something. "Spy! Let's get him!" he ordered. "With what weapon?" Spy inquired. Gunner, realizing he had a point, stomped off furiously. "I'll find a weapon somewhere!!" Spy, just standing there, bewildered, quickly found Alpha targeting him. "So, what are you gonna do, crook?" Char questioned. Spy, coward that he is, ran away crying. "I want my mommy!!!!"

"Must determine course of action." Alpha said. Char turned to Sonic, laughing playfully. "We'll catch up with Gunner later! Let's go clobber Sonic! That's what Dr. Eggman would say!" Alpha saluted Char. "Yes, sir!" then turned to Sonic. "This time, you will be eliminated!" Without further hesitation, Alpha took to the air and began firing missiles at Sonic and Vector, mostly at Sonic. Vector scrambled to get out of the line of fire and come up with a plan, while Sonic ran about avoiding the shots. This time, however, it was apparent that Alpha had improved, and since the robot was firing missiles rapidly, Sonic soon found himself in trouble. A few blasts threw the blue hedgehog in one direction, then more blasts threw him in another, until it seemed that Alpha had him caught in a deadly juggling act. Eventually, Sonic managed to jump off a wall, but this only served to allow Alpha to hit him directly! The firing ceased for a moment, and Sonic fell to the floor, struggling to get up. "How could he have improved so drastically?" he muttered. Char giggled at that. "I helped design Alpha's upgrade! His missiles are designed not to outrun you, but to catch you, no matter what! It's brilliant, he could fire at the training targets backwards and still hit them! Ha ha!" Char's explanation gave Sonic an idea. "Hey, Vector!" he shouted. "Way ahead of ya!" the croc replied before running off into the training facility. Char laughed some more. "Runnin' scared? Fine then. We'll just have more fun with Sonic, right, Alpha?"

Sonic jumped at Alpha and gave him a good smack, taking advantage of Vector's diversion. Alpha, surprised by the hit, found itself flying into the roof, then falling to the ground, where Sonic gave it another good hit. Alpha recovered quickly, though, and took to the air once more, firing more missiles at Sonic. This time, Sonic ran away from the direction the missiles were coming from, making it harder for them to catch up. Alpha and Char followed, keeping up as well as they could, until the missiles suddenly started flying off in different directions! "What the hey?" Char said, confused, until he looked around. Vector had gathered several Sonic dolls from the training area and spread them around, and the missiles had become confused as a result. Free from the missiles pursuing him, Sonic leapt at Alpha and gave the robot a swift kick in the head, knocking it to the floor with extreme force! Apparently, the force of the impact was a bit too rough on the robot, but not rough enough to destroy it. "ERROR!! Data scrambled!!" the robot yelped, rising shakily to its feet. "CRAZINESS!!! All the world is blue!!" it shouted in an insane robot voice. Sonic and Vector's eyes went wide. "Whoa! He needs help!" Sonic observed. "Alpha! Get ahold of yourself!" Char shouted, flying over to the robot. Alpha gazed at Char like a wounded child. "I am cold. May I have a blankie, mommy?" it said in an innocent voice. Char looked back at Alpha with a dazed expression. "Wha... Mommy?" he muttered in disbelief. Sonic and Vector chuckled at this turn of events as they passed by. "Looks like you got your work cut out for you here, little Chao. See ya!" Sonic said, trying to contain his laughter.

As Sonic and Vector exited the training area, Vector looked worried about something. "Uh, Sonic? I gotta go now..." he said. Sonic winked at him. "Fine with me, detective! Go finish up your case!" Vector's jaw dropped. "Eh, how'd you know about that!?" he stammered. "It's supposed to be a secret!! D'ohhh, when I get my hands on that Espio and Charmy..." he mumbled, and continued mumbling as he and Sonic went down different paths. "Guess I'm on my own." Sonic thought. "Eh, who cares! I can take it from here! I'd better follow that crazy military guy and see what he's up to!" Suddenly, he came to a place with several different hallways going in different directions. "Umm... Which way did he go? Aw, rats!" It appeared that this would end up being more difficult than he thought. Thus, Sonic's difficult search for Sargent Gunner and Dr. Eggman began!


Chapter 37 - The Diablotron
Stage 20 - Egg Maze
Boss 26 - Diablotron


When Spy managed to catch up with Sargent Gunner, he found him laughing. "What's so funny, boss?" he wondered. Gunner wore an ear to ear smile. "I'm so close! So close to obliterating those furry freaks once and for all!" Spy looked at him quizzically. "How so?" Gunner sounded like an excited little kid as he explained. "It's coming here! We have backup!" Spy, however, had no idea what he was referring to. "Backup? Really? Cool! What kind?" he asked, mimicking the old sargent's excitement. Gunner led Spy down the halls, talking along the way. "The ultimate backup! GUN's greatest weapon has been sent here, on my request! Nothing can stop me now! Sonic and Shadow are history!"

Meanwhile, Shadow and Copter were running up the balconies of the tower, since Copter refused to use the elevators after that last time. About halfway up the tower, Copter stopped. "I doubt Tails has gotten this far yet." he said. "Since the elevators are not exactly hero friendly around here, I figure he'll have to pass through here. And if he's not in the tower yet, I'll see him coming." Shadow leaned against the wall, looking a bit miffed. "So, you're stopping?" Copter sat down on the edge of the balcony. "I have to rest from what happened on the ARK, anyway." he said. Shadow stepped away from the wall impatiently. "Well, I'm not gonna stay here." he said. Copter looked up at him. "Then I have a request for you. Stop Dr. Eggman!" Shadow looked down at Copter, unsure he heard him right. Copter gazed down at the sparkling blue sea. "I'm no fool. I know Eggman's just been using me for his own selfish quest. Frankly, I have a severe distaste for the idea of the world being run by robots." Shadow turned to walk away. "You make a good point. I do believe I owe the doctor some punishment anyway. Leave it to me."

So, Shadow began searching for Eggman. A difficult task, considering the fact that the bad doctor had abandoned his control room, which was the first place Shadow thought to look. In fact, the control room was deserted. So, Shadow decided to search the computer system for clues. As he approached the computer chair, someone dropped from the ceiling into the chair! Shadow was about to go on the offensive, but calmed down when he noticed that it was just Rouge. "Well, well, what are you doing here, Shadow?" she said. Shadow crossed his arms. "I have my reasons. I suppose you're here with GUN." he said, changing the subject. Rouge was still curious to know how Shadow fit in to all this, but decided it didn't matter at the moment. "Yeah, GUN's here, but I have heard that there's an interesting bit of treasure in here." she said. Shadow chuckled. "Always looking for treasure..." Rouge began pressing buttons on the computer. "So, are you looking for anything, Shadow?" she asked. "I need to find Eggman." he replied. Suddenly, BAS spoke up. "Try the Egg Maze floor!" A map to the location appeared on the computer screen. "You both may find something at the end of the maze."

Shadow and Rouge decided to help each other search the maze, though Shadow didn't feel he needed help. They found the maze littered with androids, so Shadow realized that Sargent Gunner had reached that area. It shouldn't have been a problem, considering the fact that Rouge worked for GUN. However, the androids apparently didn't care, and would shoot at both of them on sight. Still, they weren't any tougher than they had been in the mines, and the only thing that really slowed Shadow and Rouge down was the confusing layout of the maze. It took a while, but soon they found the end of the maze, a large room locked by iron bars, possibly a room Eggman had previously intended as a prison, but for some reason or other, the room was left unlocked, unfinished, and there was even a back exit in the large cell. There was one large object in the center of the room that Shadow thought he recognized, a huge robot that resembled the Diablon!

"Followed me up here, did you, Shadow?" said Sargent Gunner, who was standing near the back exit to the cell. Spy was standing beside him, looking a bit nervous. "Didn't he beat this thing before?" he said, quietly. "No, he beat the prototype, Diablon! This is the perfected mech, GUN's ultimate force, the Diablotron!" Gunner proclaimed proudly. Indeed, the Diablotron did seem to have a few improvements. It was equipped with a new plasma shield, a few additional weapon systems attached to its hands, and appeared more flight capable. "This time, it'll crush that black monster!" Gunner said with confidence. Shadow began to approach it, recalling a time when he had desired to destroy the humans. "Ha! You think so, huh? Don't count on it! But I'm not interested in fighting you. I'm looking for Eggman, so just get out of my way and I won't have to hurt you." he said. Gunner, however, would not be swayed. "You don't scare me, furry freak!"

"Hey, there, Sargent Goon! Thought you could lose us in the maze, huh?" Char and Alpha had caught up with Sargent Gunner, and came in through the back. Spy, not liking the situation, was already panicked. "Yikes! We've been caught again!" he shouted. Alpha let out a robotic laugh. "Busted!!" the robot said. Gunner looked from Alpha to Shadow, then back again. "Now what?!" he muttered. "You might as well give up!" Shadow shouted. Gunner wasn't listening. "It's only one robot, Spy! You aren't going to tell me that you can't even fight that!?" he growled. Spy, realizing that he had no choice, nervously approached Alpha. "Um... hello..." he said nervously. "No resistance detected." Alpha said mockingly. "Don't make me laugh!" Char said, laughing anyway.

"Fine! I guess it's time to test our ultimate weapon!" Gunner growled, turning back to Shadow. "Then, when it's through with you, it'll wipe Sonic from the face of the Earth!" Shadow's ears perked up at the mention of the blue hedgehog. "Sonic? Have you seen him around here?" he asked. "Yes, he got in our way a short while ago. Now, enough of this! Diablotron, destroy that monstrous thing! Attack!!!" Rouge, who had been silently observing the whole time, finally spoke up. "Sarge, this is insane! Shadow's not doing anything wrong! Eggman's the one we should be worried about!" she insisted. Gunner glared furiously at her. "Are you questioning me!? Why don't you make yourself useful and fight that robot, so Spy doesn't kill himself! Get to it, or you'll be considered a traitor as well!" Considering her options, Rouge realized that it would be more profitable to do as she was told, for now anyway. So, she ran after Alpha, who was busy laughing at Spy's rediculous attempt to mimic karate.

This left Shadow and the Diablotron. During all the talking prior to this moment, it had been charging its weapons, and now it fired its anti-matter cannon directly at Shadow, who quickly used Chaos Control to warp out of the way. He exited the warp behind the Diablotron, and attempted to attack through the plasma shield. That didn't work, as Shadow merely bounced off it, doing no damage. Apparently, direct attacks were not going to work. The Diablotron flew up high and targeted Shadow, firing a barrage of laser blasts in his direction. Shadow simply used Chaos Control to get behind the robot again, but the robot very quickly turned around to resume shooting at him. "This one has a much better targeting system." Shadow thought, rushing to avoid the oncoming attacks. Shadow decided to test the power of the plasma shield by using Chaos Blast once he finally managed to get close to the machine. While the shield did flicker for a brief moment, it wasn't nearly enough for that tactic to be considered practical.

The battle continued for a while, neither of them showing any signs of gaining the upper hand. Finally, they stood face to face, machine and hedgehog glaring hatefully at each other. Before either of them could act, the Diablotron quite unexpectedly burst into flames and exploded. Shadow was dumbfounded. "What was that? Has it overheated? I didn't do that..." he muttered. "No, I did." came a voice behind him. Shadow turned around to see a creature in a black hood, similar to the Doomsayers, but with a decidedly different disposition. There was a pair of black, feathery wings on its back, but that was all that was not hidden by the black cloak it wore. "Who are you?" Shadow said, unable to think of anything else. The being pointed to the back exit to the cell. "Forgetting someone?" it said. It's voice was clearly being manipulated somehow, for it seemed to change as it spoke. Shadow looked around. Gunner, Spy, Char, Rouge, and Alpha were all gone. They likely ran off while Shadow was fighting the Diablotron. "Time is short. Hurry up, or you'll miss your chance." the hooded creature said before flying up through a hole in the roof. Shadow wasn't sure who to chase, but decided that it would probably be best to continue searching for Eggman. So, he ran through the back exit.

The hallway led to a large, square room with four exits; one for each wall. Coming through the exit accross from Shadow was a familiar blue hedgehog. "You again..." Shadow muttered. "Looks like I'm headed the right way. You're looking for Eggman as well, aren't you?" Sonic nodded, grinning. They both knew what was coming. "I'm on my way to stop Eggman and his buddy Copter." Sonic said. Shadow shook his head. "I must insist you back down, Sonic. I'll take it from here!" "What fun would that be?" Sonic said. "You could always join us, you know!" Shadow laughed at him. "Yeah, like I really need you slowing me down." Sonic laughed back. "I believe that's my line. You know I'm faster than you." "Sounds like a challenge!" Shadow said cockily. "But we both don't have time for games. Let's go, Sonic. The winner gets to take on Eggman first!" "Fine, Shadow, if it's a fight you want, you've got it!" The two hedgehogs faced off at opposite ends of the room, fire in their eyes. Both cried out at once, "Chaos Control!" Thus, their showdown picked up where it left off on Aqua Isle, this time with far greater stakes!


Chapter 38 - The Showdown Resumes
Stage 19-20 - Metal Heights & Egg Maze
Boss 27 - Sonic Vs Shadow


"That's it!" Sargent Gunner declared. "Sonic and Shadow go down now! They'll pay for destroying the Diablotron!" Spy shook his head. "If the Diablotron couldn't beat them, I think we should just give up..." Gunner smacked Spy over the head for that remark. "Quantity over quality! Enough of our best mechs will be far better than a single Diablotron anyway! Come on, you twit! Let's call for further backup!" Spy handed Gunner his phone, the only bit of useful equipment they had left. Gunner dialed a number. "Hello, Commander? We have a situation here..."


Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow began their contest to see which of them would get to challenge Dr. Eggman. As Sonic came out of Chaos Control, he couldn't see Shadow. So, he knew Shadow was behind him, and turned quickly to defend against Shadow's attack, which turned out to be a kick. Sonic grabbed his leg and threw him aside, but before he hit the floor, Shadow sent a Chaos Spear soaring in Sonic's direction. Sonic jumped out of the way hurriedly, landing on his back. Sonic and Shadow both quickly scrambled to their feet. "Still relying on your Chaos tricks, eh, Shadow?" Sonic snickered. Shadow scoffed at him. "If I have such power, why shouldn't I use it if I want to? Besides, you used Chaos Control first!"

The two of them, silently agreeing to abstain from using Chaos Control, dashed at each other, like horseless jousters. They rammed each other with seemingly equal force, both being knocked backward by the impact. However, neither of them seemed fazed by it, and both jumped at each other using their homing attacks. They bounced off each other, landed, and tried again, with the same result. It seemed neither of them could easily gain the upper hand. So, Sonic tried instead to run around and attack Shadow from behind. Shadow, realizing what Sonic was trying to do, fought back using Chaos Spear. After all, they had only agreed upon not using Chaos Control, not the other chaos attacks. Although Sonic found it easy to dodge the attack from a distance, it made it impossible for him to get close to Shadow. It seemed apparent that this battle was going nowhere fast. There had to be a way for one of the two hedgehogs to land a decisive blow, but how?


A few rooms away, there was a library, filled with all sorts of books Eggman had used for inspiration for his nefarious schemes.The racket from Sonic and Shadow's fight was annoying a certain someone who had come to the library, Illusi the shrew. "Blast those thick headed hedgehogs! I can't concentrate on my search with them blasting away at each other! Something on the bookshelves here must be useful for something!" the shrew grumbled, pulling books off the shelves and tossing aside everything that appeared useless. While Illusi was busy, Lospecter flew into the room behind him. "Well, well, whatever are YOU doing here, illusion boy?" Lospecer said, in a knowing tone. "None of your business, slime bucket!" Illusi replied angrily. "Try that shelf." Lospecter said, pointing. Illusi responded by sending a wrongo dashing through Lospecter, an act the spirit simply laughed at. "Seriously, what you're looking for, is on that shelf. Take it and use it!" Lospecter started towards an exit. "My losols' morale has been lower since getting bested by that red echidna. I must ensure it never happens again. At least, not that way."

Illusi ignored Lospecter as he left the room. But after another minute of not finding what he was looking for, Illusi decided to try where Lospecter had said to look. In a few moments, he found a paper with odd symbols written all over it. "What do you know? Lospecter was telling the truth. He must really have wanted me to use this after all. But how did he know what I was searching for? Clever demon. I have lingered here too long already. I better find Dark One so that I can finish what I started. Then I'll take this paper where it belongs!" Illusi heard a loud crash from where Sonic and Shadow where fighting. "I wish I wasn't in a hurry, because I'm REALLY wanting to give those hedgehogs a piece of my mind! But I sense that my interference is not necessary. It's about to get noisier in there. So I'd better get going, before my headache turns into a migrane!"


Sonic and Shadow had been fighting for some time, and they finally had enough. "Rrrrrgh! This is getting us nowhere!" Shadow growled. "Got that right..." Sonic agreed. "Well then, now what?" Shadow wondered.

As if in response, a large group charged into the room from the third entrance. The group consisted of Gunner, Spy, and about 6 really tough looking mechs. "Now I've got you both!" Gunner shouted letting out a heinous laugh. Shadow shook his head in annoyance. "You again? You're crazy." "No, you're crazy!" Spy said tauntingly. Gunner stepped behind his mechs. "You freaks are outnumbered and outmatched! These are our most elite combat mechs! You'll never win!" Indeed, it did look like it was going to be a tough fight.

"Aha! Caught ya!" called a voice from the fourth entrance to the room. "Get him, Alpha!" It was Char, and running up behind him was Alpha. The robot buzzed loudly, apparently having still not recovered from its fights with Sonic and Rouge. "The bunnies! They're EVERYWHERE!!! I've seen them!" the robot shouted in a horrified voice. "Snap out of it!" Char shouted to the malfunctioning robot. Shadow stared at the robot, utterly perplexed, while Sonic couldn't keep from laughing. "Still broken, huh? I must've got him good!"

Sargent Gunner had one of his mechs shoot into the air to get everyone's attention. "Don't you DARE ignore me! GUN army, EXTERMINATE THEM!!!" Sonic and Shadow exchanged glances. "Looks like we're calling that fight a draw!" Sonic said. Shadow grinned and then turned to face the robots. Spy cowardly dashed behind the sargent. "I've got a baaaaaad feeling about this..." he muttered.

Char broke out laughing just then. "OK, Alpha! You get in there and help triple team em!" Alpha responded by stepping between Sonic and Shadow, pointing his weapons at Gunner. "Give up your cheese, or else I won't share my cookies!" he said in an odd voice. "You don't eat!" Char called out. Alpha turned to look at Char, then turned angrily at Gunner. "Mean old jerky jerk! Alpha break all your toys!" the robot declared, referring to itself in third person. (which isn't a good sign) "That's more like it!" Char cheered. "Yours too!" Alpha said. "Awww..." Char muttered.

Gunner was sick of this. "Enough foolishness! Why do you mechs just stand there!? ATTACK!!!!!"

The robots jumped into action, as did Sonic, Shadow, and Alpha. Using Chaos Spear, Sonic Wind, and various weapons from Alpha, the three of them obliterated GUN's mechs in a matter of seconds, leaving Gunner completely dumbfounded. "Wha... buh...huh...? Impossible!?" was all he could utter. Spy calmly stepped backward. "Well.... Now we know our robots stink... SEE YA!!" With that, Spy ran off as quickly as he could. "You spineless twit!" Gunner shouted to Spy. Char now flew over to the hateful man. "Hello, Mr. animal-hater man!" Alpha stepped toward Gunner as well. "Hiya, big nose!" the robot said. Gunner was still in shock from the defeat he'd just been handed. "Wh-what did you call me?" he said. Char looked at Alpha with a devilish smile. "Sic em, Alfie!" Alpha began growling like a dog, and Gunner finally realized what was going on. "Whoa! Wait a second!" he said, panicked. Sonic waved to the sargent. "Better run, Sarge!" Alpha chased Gunner down the hall, with Gunner shouting, "Freaks! Get back! Aaaaah!!" Before leaving, Char flew over to Sonic and Shadow. "Be good, hedgehogs! Bye bye!"

As Char flew after Alpha, they could hear the robot shouting. "Get the monkey! He took my banana! BA-NA-NA!!!" Sonic chuckled. "There goes a grade A nut job, and the robot and Chao, too. So, what now, Shadow?" Shadow thought for a moment. "Our fight was a draw... So let's split up and try to find Eggman." "Sure! Race ya!" Sonic replied. With that, the two hedgehogs dashed off in opposite directions, in search of a way to end Eggman's scheme once and for all.


A short distance away, Sonic ran into Amy. "Sonic!! You went and did something dangerous without me again, didn't you!" she said, slightly miffed. "Uhhh... It was nothing.... Just Shadow and the mean sargent and Eggman's robot...." Amy growled angrily and pulled out her hammer. "You left me behind AGAIN!! I'll knock some sense into you yet!" Sonic backed away slowly, trying to think of a way to talk her out of this. "Uhh... Hold it! I'm in the middle of a race!" he explained. "Do you think I'm dumb!?" Amy growled, not believing him. "I'll teach you!!!" She chased Sonic off, swinging her hammer, with Sonic shouting all the way.


While Shadow zoomed through the hall, he zoomed right past the Doomsayer. Curious, he skidded to a halt and rushed to confront the mysterious stranger. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am known as the Doomsayer, Shadow." "Really? How did you know my name?" Shadow demanded. The Doomsayer glared at Shadow through his hood. "I know a great deal about you. But that is not important right now. A great calamity is coming." Shadow was now even more curious. "What do you mean?" The Doomsayer spoke softy, yet menacingly. "I speak of the end of the world. Copter's appearence signifies its beginning." "Copter!? What do you know about him?" Shadow said with alarm. The Doomsayer's tone became graver than ever. "I know everything about him. More than even he knows." "Tell me everything!" Shadow demanded. The Doomsayer started to leave. "Come with me. You will learn all that you need to know." he beckoned. Shadow sensed that everything the Doomsayer said was true. "Very well. Let's go."

And so, Shadow left with the Doomsayer, always ready to walk the dark path that others dare not follow.


Chapter 39 - Metal Madness
Stages 21-22 - Chao Chambers
Boss 28 - Metal Sonic


Knuckles and Gemini had finally reached Darkegg Fortress, and their search for both the Master Emerald and the missing page of Gemini's spell book was well underway. However, they hadn't made good progress, and Knuckles could tell something was troubling Gemini. "What is it?" he asked. "We'll find your missing page, don't worry." Gemini gave him a small smile. "It's not that. I'm just thinking. How could Eggman even use my spells? Even with my wand, he could never use it himself..." "Don't worry about it. We'll ask him if we run into him. Which I kinda hope we do. I owe him a beating!"

They had gone high up the tower when Knuckles finally began to sense the Master Emerald. That's not all they found either. A large amount of Chao were flying around that floor of the tower. "Apparently, Eggman built a Chao Garden into his base. Looks like he hid the Master Emerald pieces with the Chao." Knuckles observed. After looking around a while, they discovered some Chao flying around a fake Master Emerald. Gemini gently shooed away the Chao. "Eggman turned the pieces into fake Master Emeralds!" she realized. She flipped through the pages of her spell book and then waved her wand over the fake Master Emerald, casting her spell. "Despellicazam!" The fake glowed brightly for a moment, then transformed back into a shard. "That's a de-spell charm for objects. Unfortunately, it won't work on me..." she sighed. "Let's find the next one!"

Following Knuckles's senses, they soon found the next one, which Rouge happened to find first. "I know this isn't the real Master Emerald, but I'm hanging onto it!" she insisted. Knuckles explained the situation. "It's a piece of the Master Emerald, magically transformed into a fake Master Emerald. If you don't hand it over, we can't change it back, and if we can't change it back, we can't fix it. Long story short, hand it over, or else!" Rouge glared at him, angered by Knuckles's threat. "Um, please?" Gemini added politely. Rouge thought for a moment and realized that if what Knuckles said was true, there was no way she could get the Master Emerald without cooperating a little. So, she gave it to Gemini, who promptly used her spell to restore the shard. "So, you WERE telling the truth." Rouge said, now sure of it. "I don't lie!" Knuckles insisted.

The trio set out to find more shards, and discovered along the way that most had been transformed. On the trail of one shard, they found Sonic and Amy at a dead end. "See, if I was on my own, I'd be at the top of the tower by now!" Sonic complained to Amy, who was apparently "leading the way." Amy turned from the dead end. "You have something to say!?" she shouted at Sonic, then noticed Knuckles. "What're you doing here?" she wondered. "Eggman didn't trick you again, did he?" Sonic said, a bit annoyed at the likelihood that this was true. Knuckles shook his fist at him. "I RESENT THAT! He does not ALWAYS trick me!" "Oh, yes he does!" Amy said, still a bit frustrated over getting lost. "Out of my way! I'll show Sonic who has no sense of direction!" The pink hedgehog ran past Knuckles, Rouge, and Gemini, determined to find the way out of the Chao Garden. "Guess I'd better go after her..." Sonic groaned. Before leaving, he handed Knuckles a fake Master Emerald. "I would guess you're looking for this. You gotta get an alarm system for the Master Emerald shrine! See ya!" As Sonic took off, Rouge chuckled. "They make several good points, knucklehead!"

As they continued to explore, Knuckles sensed a large number of Master Emerald pieces all in one place. In the westernmost point of the Chao Garden, they found a large amount of fake Master Emeralds, with a bunch of Chao admiring them. "Who's been turning the shards into these, anyway!?" Knuckles wondered aloud.

"I did!" Char the Chao flew up to the fake Master Emeralds with pride. Gemini's eyes went wide. "A Chao? You can use my wand?" she said with surprise. Char nodded proudly. "Sure! That's what impressed Eggman so much that he made me his right hand Chao! My one condition was that he put a Chao Garden into the base that he had built over my family's home! It took practice to turn those icky shards into these pretty gems, so I practiced on rocks in the Lava Glacier! That was the fake you found there!" Knuckles, not wanting to have to rough up a Chao, tried to ask nicely: "Um... Would you turn over those fakes to me? Those shards you used belong to me, you see..."

"I cannot allow that!" a voice from behind them called out. The voice belonged to none other than Metal Sonic! As the Sonic copy approached, Char led the other Chao away to a safe place. "In fact," Metal Sonic continued, "Doctor Eggman insists that you return the wand so the remaining shards can be transformed!" Thinking back to the incident with Eggman's air fleet (see Sonic Heroes), Knuckles had a pressing question. "What happened to the Metal Sonic who used to lock up Eggman? Why are you helping him now?" Metal Sonic may be an emotionless machine, but none would deny that it was now quite angry. "I would never lock up the doctor! He made me! He is my master!" "But you did!" Rouge insisted. "We all had to team up to take you down that day! It was the day Shadow reappeared." "Incorrect data! Reference made to events that never took place! You are my enemy! It is my mission to guard the Master Emeralds! If you will not give the wand back, I will take it!"

Metal Sonic tore after Knuckles and punched him in the face, knocking him backward a short distance. "That's it! You're busted! I'm just gonna finish taking you apart!" Knuckles growled. "Gemini, Rouge, stay back! I must protect the Master Emerald, so this is MY fight!" "Fine..." Rouge grumbled, leading Gemini to the "sidelines."

Knuckles attempted to punch Metal Sonic back, but the robot was too fast. It ducked the attack and tripped Knuckles, following that up by pummeling the echidna while he was down. Knuckles endured the attack for a moment before leaping into action, tackling the robot from below and driving it into the ceiling! The two combatants landed on their feet, but it was apparent that Metal Sonic had been jarred a bit by the attack. "Data recovery initializing..." the robot said to itself quietly. However, this did not distract it. Metal Sonic charged after Knuckles again, mimicking Sonic's spin dash to catch Knuckles off guard. "Whoa!!!" Knuckles was knocked into the fake emeralds, causing them to scatter over the floor. "You're asking for it!" Knuckles shouted, running after Metal Sonic. He tried to punch the robot again, but Metal Sonic caught his fist in one hand and punched him in the gut with the other, not letting go of Knuckles hand. Metal Sonic then smashed his head into Knuckles, dropping the echidna to the ground.

"Good job, Knuckles!" Rouge shouted out sarcastically. "I guess you're right, you don't need any help!" Tired of watching this madness, Gemini decided to fight back. She opened her mouth and breathed a jet of flames in Metal Sonic's direction, but Metal Sonic simply grabbed Knuckles and used him as a shield! Gemini, realizing what she was doing, quickly stopped. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she shouted. "Stop 'helping' me!" Knuckles managed to shout. Thinking Knuckles could no longer fight back after all that, Metal Sonic let its guard down a bit. This was just the opening Knuckles needed. He quickly let loose with a flurry of powerful punches the the robot's body, ending up by hitting it with an uppercut. Metal Sonic fell backward slightly, but seemed largely unharmed, and yet, it didn't fight back either. "Huh? What gives?" Knuckles muttered.

"Data recovery complete..." Metal Sonic murmured. Suddenly, the robot clutched its head and began sparking up, its eye display flickering wildly. "ERROR!!! Conflicting data in memory!!! Impossible!!!!" The malfunctioning robot had recovered its previous memory, but still had its fake memory as well. This caused a terrible conflict within it as it tried to ascertain the truth. Gemini was the first to realize this. "The poor thing. Eggman really messed up its memory. That's terrible..." "Yeah, whatever..." Rouge said, uncaring. "Catch ya later!" Rouge ran off, something having come to her attention. "Hold it, thief!!" Char had returned, and apparently knew something of Rouge's past history. The bat simply ignored him and continued on her way, with Char trying his best to chase her.

"I guess I better get to work changing these back..." Gemini said, turning to the fake emeralds. "Despellicazam!!" The spell turned the fakes back into shards all at once. "That's about half of them!" Knuckles realized. 

"It.... can't..... be...." Metal Sonic groaned, collapsing to the ground. Gemini looked on the robot with pity. "Should we really leave it here like this?" she wondered. "Don't worry. Metal's a survivor. He'll be fine. More importantly, I sense that bat girl ran off in the direction of the remaining Master Emerald pieces! We have to get those first, then we'll find the missing page to your spell book, Gemini!" Knuckles promised. Gemini's eyes lit up. "Great! Then what are we waiting for! Lead the way, Knuckles!"


Chapter 40 - Terra's Revenge
Stages 21-22 - Chao Chambers
Boss 29 - E-3X Terra


Punchy and Rainbow had scoured Eggman's control room and found some more Master Emerald shards that the doctor apparently lost track of. "I sense more downstairs..." Punchy said as they started to leave. "OK! Let's go fix the big gem, One!" Rainbow said. Punchy normally would shout at Rainbow for calling him by number, but this time he was distracted by something on his mind. "The servers are the seven chaos..." he murmured. "I keep remembering those words. I wonder what it means..." Rainbow thought about it for a moment. "Sounds like gibberish to me, One." "I wasn't talking to you!!" Punchy snapped. "But I'm the only one here!" Rainbow pointed out. "Let's just go already!" Punchy growled, irritated.

It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves in the Chao Garden, which took up that entire floor of the tower, and was so large that as they searched, they remained completely oblivious to the fact that Knuckles was exploring the same area. Eventually, they found one of the fake Master Emeralds. "Hey, Rainbow. If these are shards of the Master Emerald, then what's that?" Punchy said, thinking the fake was the real thing. Just then, a beam of light appeared from the ceiling nearby, and when it faded, Illusi was standing there. "Sorry to disappoint you, Dark One, but that Master Emerald is a fake! Dr. Eggman magically created it using a piece of the real thing." The shrew pushed past Punchy and approached the fake. All of this left Punchy confused. "He wha-? Then how do we-? What's going on!?" "Pull yourself together, One! I think Mousy there is gonna explain everything!" Rainbow said, using her nickname for Illusi.

"I can de-spell this illusion! Despellicazam!" Illusi said, using the same spell Gemini had used on the other fakes. Just like that, the fake returned to its previous state as a shard. Punchy still looked confused. "How'd you do that?" he asked. Illusi shrugged. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that the Master Emerald is restored. It is of the gravest importance, I assure you. Which is why you will find me at the next one! Farewell!" The same beam of light that Illusi used to get there now took him away, while Punchy shook off his confusion. "I guess I'll just take this shard and catch up to him..."

So, Punchy and Rainbow searched the area, and every time they found a fake emerald, Illusi was there to change it back. However, the search wasn't easy. Eggman's robots had been ordered to attack ANY intruders in the area, even Punchy and Rainbow. Even so, it didn't worry Punchy much. A bigger surprise waited near the last fake Master Emerald...

"Blast! Another dead end!" Apparently, Punchy and Knuckles weren't the only ones exploring the Chao Garden. Bucky the Rat and his cohorts Vortex and Zipp had hit a dead end that happened to be where the last fake Master Emerald was hidden. "I thought you ssssaid thisss wassss the way out!" Vortex yelled to Zipp. "Don't try to pin this on me! You couldn't find water if you fell out of a boat!" Zipp retorted. Punchy watched this echange from behind them, alarmed. "It can't be..." he thought. "Not him! Not here!" Rainbow, however, did not share his dismay. "Hey! You guys found the fake gem thingy! Thanks a lot!" she said in a friendly tone. Bucky, without turning, laughed menacingly. "I heard you coming a mile away, Experiment 1!" The rat turned around to face his first creation. "B-b-bucky!! You stay away from me!" Punchy shouted nervously. Bucky sneered at him. "Don't tell me what to do! You ingrate! Betrayed me and ran off almost as soon as you were born! I should zap you back to the stone age!" he threatened. Zipp laughed. "That'd be fun to watch!" Bucky raised a hand to silence Zipp. "I have better things to do than visit with the likes of you, Experiment 1!" Punchy wasn't about to let himself be called an experiment. "I'm no fake lab project! I'm Punchy the echidna!" he growled. Vortex looked at him like he was nuts. "What'ssss the matter with you? You know you're an experiment. We all do." "Yeah, don't be dumb!" Zipp added.

"Hey, lay off One!" Rainbow said. "Of course he's real!" Punchy was surprised to hear her defend him like this, but quickly pulled her back. "Don't antagonize them, Rainbow!" Bucky laughed at this. "Oh, sure, he's real. As real as an experiment can be." Punchy shook his fist at him. "Stop saying that! I AM real!" Bucky crossed his arms. "You're a fool. I'm glad you ran away. You would have been useless to me, anyway!" He extended his arm and sent a bolt of electricity down the hall, which Punchy and Rainbow quickly dodged. "That's right! Out of my way! I must be going now. Four, five, come with me!" The trio headed down the hall looking for the exit. "Sssso long, big bro!" Vortex called. "Try to grow up before we next meet!" Zipp added.

Just then, Illusi appeared once more. "You're late, Mousy!" Rainbow observed. Illusi nodded. "I know what I've missed. I'm watching you two." he said. Punchy suddenly felt a bit uneasy. "You're watching us? Why?" Illusi used the spell to turn the fake emerald back before answering. "You will know why I watch you eventually, but not this moment." Illusi started to leave. Punchy, somehow feeling a bit better, waved to him. "Thanks for everything, Illusi." Rainbow waved as well. "You're all right, Mousy!" Illusi stopped briefly. "Keep control of your anger, Dark One. That's important. I'll see you later."

Leaving the dead end, Punchy took a moment to sense where the rest of the emerald was. "It's all in one place. I bet ol' red got hold of them, because they're moving! This is it! This quest is almost over!"

On their way to obtain the last of the shards, they had to head for the center of the Chao Garden. One thing they noticed on the way was that less and less Chao were appearing, until finally they couldn't see any. "Think the Chao know something we don't?" Rainbow wondered aloud. Punchy didn't like it either. It smelled like a trap.

Soon, they found a large corridor, with a familiar foe seated in the center. E-3X Terra, still looking a lot like Beta Mark 2, had been waiting for them. "Hey, One! I'm having deja vu!" Rainbow said, recalling when Terra attacked her home. Punchy could tell that Terra was preparing to fight, and he wouldn't have it any other way. "You again, eh? I've been waiting for this!" Terra began to fly toward Punchy. "I have been waiting for you! Dr. Eggman has ordered the destruction of any echidna in this area! I am to destroy them and take their emerald shards!" Punchy was a bit puzzled. "Why does he want the shards, anyway?" Terra continued to fly closer. "Data unavailable. Although I would not tell you. I have been looking forward to attaining revenge! You shall be destroyed, Experiment 1!"

Punchy clenched his fists in anger at being called an experiment, when Illusi stepped into the corridor. "Control your rage, Dark One!" Rainbow stepped beside Punchy and took his hand. "Don't worry! We'll beat that robot! This time, we'll work together!" Terra had grown impatient. "Silence! I was created for the sole purpose of destruction! I will destroy! Destroy all echidnas!" Punchy, with Rainbow at his side, felt calmer, and taunted Terra. "Sorry, but we have you outnumbered! There's no way you'll win!" It seemed Terra was the one that actually had the anger management problem. "TOO MUCH TALKING!!! Terra enter battle mode!! Kill!!!!"

Terra went into a mad frenzy, withdrawing its hand into its arm and extending a pair of buzz saws in their place! It flew after Punchy and Rainbow, and the two echidnas took off in opposite directions. Terra chose to chase Punchy first, firing its lasers at him while closing the distance between them. Apparently, after it was defeated by Sonic, it was given speed upgrades to make itself more formidable. Punchy had difficulty avoiding the attacks, but Rainbow came to his aid, tackling the robot from the side and then running away while it recovered. Terra, enraged, ran after Rainbow next, swinging the saws at her! But Punchy managed to give it a good smack to take its attention away from her before it could do anything. Once again, Terra went for Punchy, but this time Punchy fought back by jumping onto Terra's head and giving it a good punch, sending it to the ground. Terra recovered quickly, but its buzz saws were broken off, so it switched back to its claw like hands, grabbed Punchy, and tossed him aside. It tried to target Punchy as he fell, but Rainbow kicked it aside. Rainbow couldn't hurt Terra much, but she was making a great diversion. While Terra turned to fire some shots at Rainbow, Punchy got back into action and once again attacked Terra, this time kicking it from underneath and hurtling it toward the roof, but Terra managed to get its bearings before hitting the roof, and fired at Punchy, catching him off guard. Punchy fell back to the floor, injured, and Terra dashed toward him in an attempt to finish him off. Rainbow, who was too far to make it, could only shout, "Look out, One!" Just when it looked like Punchy was out cold and Terra was going to finish him, the echidna jumped suddenly and landed a powerful punch to Terra's head, cracking it and causing Terra to start sparking wildly!

Rainbow ran to Punchy to make sure he was all right, while Terra fell to the ground, still in a frenzy. "DE-STROY... ZZZT!! KI-LL.... Bzzzzt!!! RrrrrRRRRRrrRRrrZZzzZZzZ!!!!!" Terra was severely damaged and full of uncontrollable rage. "He's gonna blow!" Punchy realized. Terra started to head toward the echidnas. "Get out of its way!" Illusi shouted. They began to run, but Terra grabbed Rainbow by the arm! "KILL!!!" Terra roared, squeezing her arm in its claws. "Yikes! Ow, ow, ow!!" Rainbow shrieked. Punchy, panicked, ran over to Terra, punched it to make it drop Rainbow, and pushed Rainbow away! "DIE!!!" Terra screeched, rushing for Punchy in a kamikaze attack. Terra was destroyed in a violent explosion, with Punchy caught right in the middle of it! The explosion knocked Punchy far backward, and he landed on the ground in a heap! "Dark One!" Illusi shouted in alarm, while Rainbow ran over to him in tears. She was relieved to see that, aside from a few burns and bruises, Punchy appeared to be fine. "Are you OK, One?" she asked. Punchy slowly sat up. "I'm a little dizzy... But I'll live..."

Illusi clapped his hands as he approached. "Wow! That was unexpected! Such heroics I never thought I'd see from you!" Punchy smiled at him. "Yeah, maybe I'm not a dark one after all." Illusi and Rainbow helped him up. "I think the rest of the Master Emerald pieces are just up ahead." Punchy said, still a bit dazed. "Really, One? OK! I'll find them! Follow me!" Rainbow said, gliding across the room to the exit.

"Wish I could glide like that... or at all...." Punchy murmured. Illusi chuckled. "I'm surprised you can't, with all your power, Dark One!" Punchy frowned. "Why do you keep calling me that?" he said. Illusi sighed. "Because, as much as you hate to admit it, you are the dark version of Knuckles." "But, I remember..." Punchy began to protest, but Illusi interrupted him. "You only remember things in Knuckles's memory. You were created from his DNA." The shrew look out in the direction Rainbow had run off. "Up ahead, Knuckles is waiting for you. You must face him alone." Punchy nodded in agreement. "I understand. I don't want Rainbow mixed up in that anyway." Illusi smiled. "She's special. She can see past your darkness, even if you can't." he said. Just then, Illusi vanished in a puff of smoke. "I'll meet you there, Dark One!"

Punchy thought about everything that had happened as he started down the path Rainbow had taken. "It's time at last to settle this. We both have about half of the shards, and now we'll see who's going to be the one to put them all together!"


Chapter 41 - Battle for the Master Emerald
Stages 21-22 - Chao Chambers
Boss 30 - Knuckles Vs Punchy


Knuckles and Punchy came from opposite ends of the room, a large relaxation area for the Chao. Those Master Emerald pieces that the two echidnas hadn't already found were piled up to the side, and Rouge, who had gotten there first, was arguing with Rainbow, who had gotten there moments after she did. Apparently, Rouge had given Char the slip. "Hand over the rest of the shards!" she demanded of Rainbow, who replied, "No way, Batty! I'll never give up One's shard thingys!"

Punchy stepped between the two of them. "Hey, your fight's with me! Leave Rainbow alone!" Just then, Illusi reappeared at the sidelines. "Careful, Dark One! Beware your anger!" Knuckles now pushed past Rouge to face Punchy. "Hey, all of you, you may recall that that emerald's MINE! All of you, give back those shards!" Punchy grinned smugly at Knuckles. "Back again, eh, red? You know I found more shards than you! I'm already winning, so just save yourself the trouble and hand them over!"

Gemini, who had come in behind Knuckles, interrupted. "Excuse me, but has anyone seen the last page of my spell book?" "Forget your stupid page!" said Rouge, annoyed. Gemini looked a bit annoyed herself. "No way! I'm getting out of this stupid dragon form as soon as possible!" "Just to turn back into your ugly real form?!" Rouge shouted. "How would you know!?" Gemini shouted back. Finally, Illusi had enough. "Stop this foolishness! I found your page, Gemini! I stashed it somewhere for safekeeping!" Apparently, Illusi and Gemini knew each other. "You found it? That's great!" Gemini cheered.

"Page...?" Rainbow interrupted, confused. "What about the broken gem thing?" Illusi, taking it upon himself to act as referee, stepped in front of the pile of emerald pieces. "It belongs only to one of these two echidnas!" he said, gesturing to Knuckles and Punchy. "Now, they must fight for it!" "Hey, hold on!" Rouge protested. "What about me!?" "What about you!?" Rainbow replied. "You heard that shrewd shrew, it's not yours!" Rainbow and Rouge then began arguing again, appearing to be ready to fight themselves. Knuckles, who had been impatiently observing what had been going on, finally snapped. "ENOUGH!!!" Punchy mockingly scolded Knuckles. "Temper, temper, red."

"This is getting us nowhere!" Knuckles growled. "If you won't return the Master Emerald, then I'm just gonna have to get rough! I'll beat those shards out of you!" "Ha! Don't make me laugh, red!" Punchy replied confidently. "Fine, then let's see what you got!!!" Knuckles shouted in fury. The two echidnas immediately started punching each other, while everyone else ran out of their way. With all the tension in the air, everyone knew not to interfere. This was their fight.

Pounding each other with fists of fury, both echidnas got some good hits, but both endured the hits with the same ferocity. If Punchy was truly a clone, he was a perfect clone. They truly appeared equally matched. So, Punchy decided to use stronger tactics. "Chaos Avelanche!" Using the power of chaos, he lifted up chuncks of the floor and hurled them at Knuckles, but the red echidna wasn't slowed down a bit. He simply punched right through the debris, then ran after Punchy, who wasn't too surprised by that response. Knuckles and Punchy threw punches at the same time, hitting each other's fists. "YEOWCH!!" They both jumped backward, shaking their hands in pain. "They're each about as smart as the other." Rouge remarked.

Punchy, furious over that last hit, used Chaos Avelanche again, while Knuckles was still recovering. The red echidna, unable to get away, was buried by the chunks of the floor. However, he was still not finished! He burst out using his shovel claws and then tried punching Punchy again, with the claws still on his hand. Punchy, thinking fast, grabbed the claws and pulled them off Knuckles's hand, tossing them aside, but costing himself some time, giving Knuckles the opportunity to hit back. Punchy was knocked over, but as Knuckles tried to land another hit, Punchy retaliated with a swift kick to the chest, sending Knuckles flying away. The two quickly scrambled to their feet and resumed the battle.

Illusi was now overcome by a feeling of dread. As he watched the battle, he knew that Punchy was getting progressively angrier. Though he knew those echidnas had to face each other, he suddenly feared the worst might happen. He felt he had to do something. "But what could, or should, I do?" he thought, watching the fight nervously.

Punchy tackled Knuckles, driving him to the floor. Knuckles pushed himself back up and smacked Punchy across the face. It was clear they were both getting frustrated. However, Punchy was suddenly overcome by a surge of determination. "I'll.... show them who's fake! I'll win this battle and take back MY emerald!" he muttered. Knuckles heard, and responded. "You're demented! Someone must've played a nasty trick on you!" "I'm not gullible like you! I'M NOT YOU!!!" Punchy shouted, enraged. "Then you don't get the Master Emerald!" Knuckles replied, filled with a determination of his own. "Take this!!" Knuckles lifted one of the chunks of the floor left by Punchy's previous attacks and hurled it back at the green echidna. It hit its mark, but Punchy busted through it by sheer force of will, only getting angrier.

"Enough! Dark One, calm yourself!" Illusi called out, now in panic. Punchy turned to him, eyes burning with anger. "Shut your trap! You're the one who pushed for this fight in the first place! I'll do as I please!" Seizing the opportunity, Knuckles attacked Punchy while he was distracted. Punchy was knocked clear across the room, but landed on his feet. He ran right back after Knuckles, who simply stepped aside and let Punchy run past him. "Temper, temper, green!" Knuckles said, mocking him. "Chill out, One!" Rainbow shouted. "You're doin' fine! You'll win this!" Punchy turned around and chuckled manically. "Of course I will! Is there any doubt? Just one thing. I AM NOT ONE!!!!!" He now looked angrier than ever, but Knuckles was getting angry himself. "You leave them alone, Punchy! They've been trying to help you and you're just pushing them away! You're a cowardly thief who can't seem to remember his past, so your just trying to steal someone else's! Either you stop this madness, or I will!!"

"I'm stealing nothing!! I can't remember much of my past, but I do remember that emerald! It must be mine! I don't remember you at all! You stole it from me! So I'm taking it back! And there's not a thing you or anyone else is going to do to stop me!!!" Punchy's rage was reaching critical mass. He slammed Knuckles in the gut, but he resisted and was only hurt a little, and was knocked backward a few steps. Suddenly, he had a brainstorm. "Hold it! I don't remember you either.... But I remember something.... A few weeks before you first appeared..."

"That's right, Knuckles! That's when it all started!" Illusi shouted. Knuckles continued. "A few weeks before you showed up, another strange character was hanging around my island. He was watching me, so I went over there and gave him a piece of my mind. But then.... it gets a little hazy after that... I think he tricked me. First thing I remember after that, I noticed he had clipped some of my hairs... It was a strange rat in a white coat..." "It's not true!" Punchy insisted. "Why would I lie!?" Knuckles shouted. "I'm not even sure it has anything to do with you! The rat... I remember... His name.... was Bucky the Rat!"

"That's right!" Illusi said. "That is the person who created Punchy!" Everyone else looked a bit confused. "What are you all talking about?" Rouge wondered aloud. "Binky? Who's Binky?" Rainbow said, mispronouncing his name. "Bucky!" Gemini corrected her.

"SHUT UP, all of you!!! It can't be true!" Punchy screamed, covering his ears in an attempt to ignore them. "Dark One, stop it! There's no reason to get so angry!" Illusi insisted, but it was too late. "It.... It's not..." Punchy muttered. "It is true! My hair looked silly for a while because of it!" Knuckles insisted. Punchy shut his eyes and fell to his knees. "Dark One! Calm down!! Please!" Illusi shouted, panicked again.

At that moment... All went dark.... Rage hung in the air.... And Punchy the echidna submit to his anger....


Chapter 42 - Darkness and Light
Stages 21-22 - Chao Chambers
Boss 30 - Knuckles Vs Punchy


The room shook, and a dark energy filled the air as Punchy's anger took over! "It's not... true! IT'S NOT TRUE!!!!" His body was lifted into the air by an unknown force, and the earthquake worsened, making it difficult for everyone to keep their footing. "What's happening!?" Gemini shouted as everyone finally began to understand the danger of the situation. "One! What's wrong!?" Rainbow shouted. "I've got a bad feeling about this!" Knuckles added.

Illusi explained the situation. "All the anger, the rage, the fear... All the bad feelings that Dark One had been keeping bottled up within him is surfacing! And a terrible power has been awakoned within him! With all the anger building like this, I fear he may explode!" "Don't have to tell me twice!" Rouge shouted, running away along with Gemini. "It's no use! If this is allowed to continue, he'll take out the whole tower, and possibly himself along with it! We must get through to him!" Illusi shouted, trying to talk over the sound of dark energy surging through the room. The energy was coming from Punchy, and everyone could see that what Illusi was saying had to be true. Knuckles tried to get through to him. "Punchy!! You must control yourself!" "One, stop it! You're scaring us!" Rainbow added desperately. As everyone approached to try to reason with him, Punchy could only see enemies, out to attack him, and sent the dark energy soaring through the air, knocking them all away! He roared loudly, and his voice now sounded almost like a beast. "I AM NO ILLUSION!! I AM NO COPY!! I AM NO FAKE! I AM DARKNESS!!! DARK PUNCHY!!!!"

Darkness surged through Punchy's body, and he bagan to transform, becoming the very image of his dark form which Illusi had pit him against back at the GUN Warship. Now, Dark Punchy seemed very real, and appeared to have an urge to kill. Landing on the ground, he ran after Knuckles with an impossible speed, almost as though he was warping! He grabbed Knuckles by the throat and hurled him across the room, sending him through the wall! "No one can stop me! No one!!" Dark Punchy roared. The dark energy emanating from within him made it nearly impossible to approach him, and his murderous rage wasn't making it easier. Knuckles slowly climbed back into the room through the hole in the wall. He had been badly injured, and Dark Punchy's darkness had begun spreading through the room, causing it to shake even more violently. Dark Punchy rose into the air once again, moving to the center of the room, sending darkness through it like an evil power generator going haywire. Anything that wasn't either alive or magical was destroyed as the darkness touched it. (except miraculously the floor and walls...) The Master Emerald shards and the people in the room were pushed to the edge, injured by the force of the dark energy hitting them. Everything looked hopeless, but two people in the room fought valiently to get through the darkness, Knuckles and Rainbow. "Stop it, Punchy! You're going to hurt someone!" Knuckles shouted. "That's the idea!!!" Dark Punchy shouted back, pushing Knuckles away somewhat. "Rainbow! Get back!" Illusi shouted. "No way! One needs me!!" she insisted. Knuckles scrambled to his feet and tried to get to Punchy first. "You know you don't want to do this, Punchy! You didn't make those friends by trying to kill them! This hatred has turned you into something you're not! You have to stop it!" Knuckles shouted desperately. "What do you know, fool!? Get away from me!! Die!!!" Dark Punchy tossed Knuckles back through the hole in the wall using the power of darkness. Rainbow was getting closer, but she was behind him, and for the moment he didn't notice. "Why won't he just die!?" Punchy snarled as Knuckles slowly started to climb back through the hole. Suddenly, Dark Punchy started to turn around. Rainbow reached where he was hovering in the air just as he saw her. Knuckles looked out of the hole helplessly, and everyone suddenly shouted after her. "Rainbow!!!!"

Rainbow held out her hand to Punchy. "Please, One! Stop hurting everyone! Come down from there, and we'll fix the big gem and go home!" Illusi, horrified by what he believed was about to happen, cried out, "Dark One!! No!!!" Dark Punchy clenched his fists, eyes still blazing with rage, the tower shaking even more fiercely, and sent a wave of darkness through the room, blocking out all light and making it impossible to see what was happening. At the last moment, Rainbow jumped up to him and threw her arms around him, screaming. 

"PUNCHY!!!!!!!!!!!"

At the next moment, a blinding light cut through the darkness, causing everyone to look away and close their eyes. Slowly, the darkness began to fade, and everyone looked to find Punchy and Rainbow, gasping for breath, with his arms around her. He was normal, green Punchy again. "It's me, One... Your friend..." she said, shivering. Punchy's mouth hung open, horrified by what he almost did. He let her go and backed away somewhat. "R-Rainbow....?"

Everyone suddenly ran over to them except for Gemini. "Are you OK, you two?" Knuckles asked, out of breath. "That was too scary." Gemini gasped. "I'll keep my distance if that's okay..." Illusi let out a big sigh of relief. "She did it..." he muttered quietly.

Punchy looked at his feet in shame. "I just... Lost it..." he gasped. Rainbow placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "It's OK. No one was hurt... much..." Punchy looked around the room. "I'm sorry... All of you. This whole fight was my doing... I'm really sorry..." Knuckles crossed his arms. "If you're really sorry..." he said, trailing off. Punchy, understanding, tossed his Master Emerald pieces to Knuckles. "You're right. That emerald's not mine. I don't need it." he said. Knuckles was a bit surprised. "Just like that?" "I don't really know how to fix it anyway. And some things are more important than treasure." Punchy said, looking at Rainbow and smiling.

Knuckles wasted no time repairing the emerald. "Perfect! Another job well done!" he said. Rouge ran over and snatched the emerald from him. "It sure is! And now it's all mine!" she laughed as Knuckles chased her out of the room. "Come back here, you thieving bat crook!!" Knuckles shouted. "Here we go again..." Gemini sighed. Before leaving, she asked Illusi where her spell book's missing page was, and he whispered something in her ear. "That should do it! Good luck, Gemini!" he said as she took off in the direction Knuckles and Rouge went.

Punchy turned to Illusi. "What hapened back there. I know you know something, so talk!" Illusi looked at Punchy and Rainbow, and realized he owed them the truth. "My illusion, Dark Punchy, was a manifestation of the darkness within you." Rainbow's jaw dropped. "So, Dark One is real!? Is that why you kept calling him that?" she asked. Illusi's voice dropped to a low whisper. "Yes! If he hadn't seen the light at that last moment, he would have fully become Dark One, and killed us all!" Punchy looked at his hands. "You mean, there's someone else inside me? Someone evil?" Illusi looked a bit unsure. "At the moment, he does not truly exist. But if you allow your anger to get out of control, Dark One could be freed.... Think on that for a while, Punchy the Echidna!" Illusi said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Now, Punchy turned to Rainbow. "I... I want to thank you. It wasn't exactly 'light' that stopped me back there." he said. Rainbow, not quite seeming to fully understand, just smiled at him. "Don't mention it! Now, let's get going!" "Huh?" Punchy was confused. "Where?" "Where else, One? Follow me!" she said, taking off after Knuckles. Punchy chuckled a moment, then remembered something. "Stop calling me-- Aw, she'll never learn..."


After a while, Knuckles got the Master Emerald back and gave all those thieves the slip, allowing him and Gemini to search for the missing page. Following Illusi's directions, they soon found it in Eggman's control room. "Now I can change back into my true form!" Gemini cheered. "Congratulations, Gemini!" Knuckles applauded. Gemini smiled at him. "I couldn't have gone this far without you, Knuckles! Thank you!" Knuckles shook his head. "No, thank you. I couldn't have restored the Master Emerald without you!" Gemini chuckled. "We must've been destined to meet then. Let me just see now... What the spell is..." she said, looking at the page. "Good luck..." Knuckles said. Holding her wand above her head, Gemini read the spell. "Morphicadabra!!"

A brilliant flash of light shone forth from her dragon body. The light lifted her into the air, and she began to transform. Her body grew smaller, her tail became small and fluffy, her dragon horns being replaced by fox ears with small tufts of light blue fur on the tips. Her wings seemed to wrap around her, becoming a pink shirt and blue jeans. Her fur was a beatifully shiny white, with a light blue muzzle. As the light around her faded, she slowly dropped back to the floor, landing on her feet. Standing before Knuckles now was no scary dragon, but a very lovely girl. "Holy smokes... You're beautiful..." Knuckles said quietly. "What are you?" he asked. "You can call me Gemini.... the fennec!"

Just then, Rouge stepped into the room, and quickly realized what had happened. "That's the dragon!? I guess that was a powerful spell cast on her..." Gemini and Knuckles didn't notice Rouge, and began to say their farewells. "Thanks for everything, Knuckles. I guess now it's goodbye..." Knuckles smiled. "Don't be sad. I'm sure we'll meet again someday..."

"Oh, great! A mushy goodbye!" Rouge shouted. "Allow me to just throw up now!" Knuckles ran up to her, shaking his fist. "Who even said anything to you!?" he growled. Rouge very calmly said, "No one. So, I'll just take this and be on my way again!" Moving fast, she grabbed the Master Emerald away from Knuckles and ran off. "What the?! Hey, give that back!!!" Knuckles shouted, chasing her. Gemini waved to him as he left. "Bye, Knuckles!" "Bye! Sorry to leave like this!!" Knuckles called back. Gemini looked at herself in the reflection of one of Eggman's computer screens. "Finally, I'm me again! I feel so bad about everything I caused today. I guess I'll find everyone and apologize later." she thought, starting on her way out of the control room. "So long, Eggman! Looks like your plan's finished!"


Chapter 43 - Lospecter's Quiz Mania!
Stages 23-24 - Darkegg Fortress


From the roof of Darkegg Fortress, Eggman had watched several characters enter his base. "I suppose Sonic and Copter are headed this way." he said to himself. "Knuckles may have gotten hold of the Master Emerald, but at least the remaining fakes are safely stowed away! As for Bucky the rat, I can't imagine what he's doing here, but I'm sure he won't stir up too much trouble. The important thing to deal with is Copter. He's not acting very loyal, stealing my space shuttles without telling me! It's time I silenced that troublemaker! Ha ha! Nothing can stop me now!!"

Meanwhile, a few floors down, Bucky was talking to Vortex and Zipp via walkie talkie. "I think Eggman's moving slow enough! You two head back to the base, and I'll take care of a few last minute loose ends!" he said. "Yes, sir, master, sir! We won't let you down!" Zipp said over the walkie talkie. "All the pieces are in place now." Bucky thought. "I'll show GUN what happens when you try to imprison me! Ha ha!"

Tails and Cream had just reached the base, and Tails insisted that Cream stay behind. "According to SPOT, Copter's at the top of the tower. I need to go after him! I want you to go home with SPOT, Cream!" Tails had said. "But I want to help you! I can't let you go in there alone!" she insisted. Cheese also seemed intent on going as well. Tails, however, wouldn't be swayed. "Are you kidding!? This is Eggman's base! It's dangerous here! Don't worry about me. Sonic's here. If I get in trouble, he'll help!" Cream didn't like it, but she agreed to leave with SPOT.

However, as soon as Tails's back was turned, she started to follow him. SPOT didn't like it, but since it couldn't reason with Cream, it decided to at least protect her along the way.

At the same time, Espio and Charmy were looking for Vector, whom they had been separated from. Instead of Vector, they soon found that Eggman's base housed the green Chaos Emerald! "Lucky find!" Charmy exclaimed. "We'd better go find Vector and give it to him." Espio decided. "Right! Lead the way, Espio!" Charmy said excitedly. "I'm sure we'll be lost for weeks!"

Tails was certain that Copter would be somewhere towards the roof. However, he found that the elevator to the roof was locked. "Now what? There's gotta be a way up there." he thought. "Maybe there's a way nearby! I'll find it!" Tails headed down the hall and into a dark passageway. What he didn't notice was a sign near the doorway. "Danger! Monsters have taken over this passage! Enter at your own risk!"

Copter had fallen asleep waiting for Tails. Since he was unsure once he woke up if Tails was already in the base, he returned to the control room to ask Char. After a talk, Copter realized where Tails would end up. "So, the elevator is locked on that floor? Perfect! I'll catch him, easy!" Char wasn't so sure. "But that floor's teeming with monsters!" Copter laughed. "Monsters? Who cares! They can't kill me! I'm already dead!" Alpha, who was spinning around in circles nearby, started talking to himself. "Wheeee!! Robots don't get dizzy! Except me!!" Copter looked at Alpha, puzzled. "I think you need to fix him, Char." he said. Alpha then started singing. "This is the song that ne-ver ends! Yes, it goes on and on, my friends!" Copter, covering his ears, ran off in a hurry. "I hate that song!!!"

The passage Tails had entered split into two directions. As fate would have it, Tails and Copter each went down a different path.

On the way, Tails found that Cream had somehow gotten there ahead of him. She was accompanied by Punchy, Rainbow, and Illusi. However, SPOT was nowhere to be found. "Cream!? I told you to go home! And where's SPOT?!" Tails demanded to know. "Easy, little guy." Punchy said. "She had a rough trip." Illusi looked down the dark passageway. "Those vile fiends, the Lost Ones, have been making mischief throughout the tower. She was attacked by them, but we managed to help her. It would appear that this robot she was with became separated from us amidst the confusion." Tails was still a bit confused. "But what were you doing here in the first place, Cream?" Cream and Cheese glanced at each other, then at Tails. "We just couldn't leave everyone behind! We had to help!" she said. "You should probably turn back, you two." Punchy advised. "Nothing but monsters back there..." "And computers with big important looking buttons!" Rainbow added. Tails looked down the passage and pondered what to do. "Computers, eh? Maybe I can use them to unlock the elevator..." He started to head down the path, when Cream stopped him. "You aren't going to leave me here, are you?" she said. Illusi shook his head. "He can't leave you behind. He's going to need you. The monsters in the passage are Lost Ones. Those spirits, which emerged at the same time as the experiments, are ever on the lookout for beings to add to their ranks. You will need to keep each other safe in there." "We'd love to help you," Punchy added, "But we have... other things to worry about...." It seemed apparent that Punchy was not entirely sincere. "All right, stay close to me, Cream!" Tails instructed, and the two ran for the passage.

Meanwhile, Copter had run into Vector, Sonic, and Amy. The three of them had been chased out of the passage by the Lost Ones. Noticing Copter, they immediately became defensive. "What are you up to, Tails clone?" Sonic said. "None of your business! Out of my way!" Copter shouted. "Yeah, right, like we're just gonna let you go find Eggman and tell him we're here!" Amy yelled. Copter was rather annoyed. "I'm not really on Eggman's side, you know. As it happens, I was just using him to help someone I thought was my friend. It seems to me that he was just using me, as well, so now that I'm through being betrayed, I'll give Eggman what's coming to him the next time I see him!" he said, getting a bit worked up. "Wow, did you just figure out he was using you? Where does Eggman find you dopes?" Amy commented. "You shut up now!" Copter snapped. Vector, who was quietly listening to this exchange, spoke up. "Don't worry about this guy, Sonic! I'll go with him, to keep an eye on him! If he puts a foot out of line, pow!" Copter glared at him. "I'd like to see you try!" Considering his options, Sonic decided that it was more important to find Eggman than to fight with Copter. "All right, you two go that way and we'll look for Eggman somewhere else! C'mon, Amy!: Sonic and Amy took off for the exit, while Copter and Vector headed deeper into the passage.

Heading into their respective passages, Tails, Cream, Vector, and Copter soon ran into a Lospecter on each path. Interestingly, the two Lospecters appeared to operate as one, they both said the same thing to their visitors. "Hello, and welcome! You've all come very far into this tower, and fought very hard, so I, Lospecter, have graciously decided to call off the Lost Army. Instead, you will be contestants! Welcome to Lospecter's Quiz Mania!!"

Tails and Cream were relieved that the monsters had been called off, while Copter and Vector thought Lospecter was nuts. "Here are the rules!" Lospecter continued, "I and my others will ask you questions for passage further into this hall. Answer correctly, and I'll let you pass! Get it wrong, and you'll feel my wrath!" So, the quiz began.

"Question 1, for 'Team Tails!' OK, this should be simple for you. Who's older, this little rabbit girl, or the bee I saw in the lower levels?" This question had Tails stumped. "That must be Charmy, but I don't know how old he is..." Cream, however, knew the answer. "We're the same age! Neither of us is older!" The first Lospecter disappeared, but another was a distance further in the passage.

"OK, Copter, Question 1! So, how many of you experiments are there?" Lospecter asked. Vector and Copter answered simultaneously, "Six!" Copter was surprised Vector could answer. "How can you know that?" "Detective work! It's what I'm good at!" Vector said proudly. Lospecter number 1 vanished.

"Alright, boys and girls, question 2! Who was it that created Shadow the hedgehog?" Cream looked at Tails worriedly. "I'm not quite sure." Tails thought back to the recent Black Comet incident. "It was a collaboration between Black Doom and Professor Gerald!" "Correct!"

"So, then, Copter, who created you?" Vector answered first again. "Bucky the Rat!" Copter looked at Vector suspiciously. "I thought I was the only one who knew that..." Lospecter laughed. "Come to think of it, that was too easy... I'll try to stump you next!"

"Number three, Mr. Prower! What group of thieves was led by Jet the Hawk?" Once again, Cream didn't know. "I don't even know any Jet..." Tails thought back to the time he raced Wave. "Let's see... We wound up in Babylon Garden... Aha! The Babylon Rogues!" Lospecter grinned. "Interesting.... Err, I mean, correct!"

"Maybe you know my good friend, Illusi. What species is he?" Vector was finally stumped. "Never heard of him. I guess not all the questions are about this case..." Copter thought back to the Security Tower. "Looked like a mouse... No... A shrew!" Lospecter flew in a circle. "Righty-o! Until the next installment! Meet you there!"

"Fourth question, blue eyes. What is Copter's original name?" Cream looked confused. "He has a different name?" Tails nodded. "Yeah, he's Experiment 2! I learned that in the Chaos Shrine!" Lospecter looked Tails in the eye. "Chaos Shrine, eh? How interesting..."

"Blaze the cat was looking for which gems?" This one had both Copter and Vector stumped. "Blaze the who? That's no fair, we never met this person!" Vector shouted. "Sol Emeralds!" a voice called out. It was Gemini the Fennec! Lospecter frowned. "That's cheating! You're not playing!" Copter glared at Lospecter. "You never said we couldn't get help. That was not in your rules!" Realizing Copter was right, Lospecter vanished in a huff. Gemini gave Copter and Vector a friendly wink. "Glad I could help, but since you're here, I guess this isn't the way out of here. Gotta go, bye!"

"Final question for today, kiddos! Just how many Chaos Emeralds are there?" It was an answer Tails and Cream knew well. "Seven!" they both replied at once. Lospecter formed a pair of smoky "hands" and clapped. "Bravo, kids! You've won my quiz for now! Until we meet again, bye bye!" This left just one Lospecter in Darkegg Fortress, though Tails and Cream were not aware of him. "That's great! The rest of the passage is clear!" Tails cheered. "It was kinda fun, too!" Cream added as they ran for the end of the path.

"So, my last question, and I hope you'll answer it yourselves! What group did the alien Black Doom lead?" Vector recalled the alien invasion, and what Black Doom had called his army. "It was the Black Arms! Is that all you want to know?" Vector said, looking at Lospecter suspiciously. Copter looked from Vector to Lospecter, and realized what Vector meant. "Yeah, you didn't know all of those answers, did you?" Lospecter cackled menacingly. "You are a good detective, Vector! These little bits of trivia may be useless, only time will tell, but it was a great ruse, and you fell for it! So long, suckers!" Lospecter vanished as though he was never there, and Copter felt a bit stupid. "Can't believe all that was just to get information out of us..." he muttered. Vector pat him on the back. "That's all right! He would've learned all that stuff at some point anyway, I'm sure. Hey, the rest of the way is smooth sailing for now, so let's take advantage of it while we can!" Copter gazed down the dark passageway. Vector was right, this was no time for beating himself up. He had others to beat up, after all! The two ran for the end of the passage. There was no way for either of the two groups to know what waited at the end...


Chapter 44 - Redemption
Stages 23-24 - Darkegg Fortress
Boss 31 - Arachnoegg


Copter and Vector reached the end of the passage to find a dead end. It was a dark room, filled with various broken robot parts. "Looks like a robot graveyard..." Vector muttered. "Or a trash heap." Copter added. Clearly, this was not this place where the elevator could be unlocked. So, Copter realized that if Tails had gone down the other path, by now he had probably unlocked the elevator and was on his way there! "This has just been a wild goose chase!" Copter shouted in frustration. Vector ignored him, and looked up above them. "Hey, what's THAT?!"

There was what appeared to be a large web extended high up above them. "Must be one huge spider..." Copter said. "No, that's not a web. Those are cables." Vector observed. There appeared to be no roof to this room. Through the shadows above the web, something suddenly dropped down onto the web! Attatched to the cables, this large robot dropped down to the ground using the cable the way a spider might. In fact, it was a robotic spider! The head of the robot was actually Eggman's plane! "Look who's been waiting for us!" Vector said, pointing to Dr. Eggman.

"Finally decided to show up, eh, Copter?" Eggman said. "I really can't believe you! You stole my space shuttle! You let Sonic get away!" "I'm not your pawn, Eggman!" Copter shouted. "Besides, you're a crook! You STILL owe us for saving you from Metal Sonic!" Vector added. Eggman pounded his fist on his control panel. "Enough! We have no tolerance for traitors in the Eggman Empire!" he declared. "You don't scare me!" Copter shouted, shaking his fist at the doctor. Eggman glared at him, pushing a button as he replied, "Well, then you don't know me well enough!"

A pair of guns appeared on the underside of the robot and fired white beams at Copter, which he blocked with his tails. That didn't work well, though, as he was still tossed backward by the attack, and after standing up found that the laser had formed a sticky substance that caused his tails to stick together. "Ack! What is this goop?!" Copter yelled, struggling to pull his tails apart. "My Arachnoegg has some nasty web lasers, doesn't it?" Eggman chuckled. "Let's see you use your precious tail attacks now!" Copter realized that he didn't have time to be tinkering with his tails. "That was a sneaky move! You'll pay for that!" he threatened. Eggman's Arachnoegg jumped in place. "Silence! Anyone who gets in my way will feel my true wrath! That includes traitors!"

Vector had been rummaging through the junk while the others were distracted. Now, he tossed a sword that a robotic arm was clutching over to Copter. "You might need this!" Vector shouted. Copter caught the sword and swung it once to get a feel for it. "Ha! You know, you're really pathetic, doctor!" Copter chuckled. The Arachnoegg jumped again. "How dare you! Such ingratitude! Remember, I released you!" Copter shook his head in response. "And then you just threatened me. So I think we're even." Vector ran over to Copter's side holding an Egg Pawn laser. "You're finished this time, doc!" Eggman was not amused. "Idiots! You all just keep finding new ways to make me mad!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, that does it!" Copter growled, "I'm tired of you crooks, helping me only with the intention of using and betraying me! I've put up with it long enough! I'm stopping this once and for all!" Eggman let out an evil laugh. "Fine, then! Let's see what you can really do, Experiment 2!"

The legs of the Arachnoegg were sharp as blades, and Eggman used the front pair to attack! Vector ran out of the way and fired at Eggman using the laser. "I'll cover you, Copter! You get that creep!" Copter parried Eggman's attack with the sword, jumping away as quickly as he could. The Arachnoegg responded by using the cables connected to the web above to jump up and catch the web, using the high perch to shoot at Copter. Copter rushed out of the way and grabbed some junk from the pile, tossing it at Eggman. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything to the Arachnoegg. Vector, taking advantage of being ignored, fired a few shots at the spider robot. It jumped out of the way, but a few shots hit the cable of the web, causing it to spark a bit. "Sparks?!" Vector said in surprise. "That's not just a web, is it?"

The Arachnoegg landed back on the ground, and swiped its swordlike legs at Copter, while Copter attempted to use the sword to break the legs. Unfortunately, he found he was too busy defending against the attacks to get in a good counterattack. What was worse was that after a moment, Eggman began firing the web lasers at the same time. "Try to dodge all this, skunk boy!" Eggman laughed. "I only LOOK like a skunk, you two-timing tyrant!" Copter shouted, desperately trying not to get caught in the attacks. "I got your back, Copter!" Vector shouted from the sidelines, shooting at the laser turrets. It took a few shots, but Vector managed to blast the lasers to bits, causing Eggman to rethink his strategy. "I'm not finished yet!" he shouted as the Arachnoegg jumped back onto the web. He avoided hitting the damaged cable with the Arachnoegg's sword legs, which made Vector think a bit more. "What would he care if it breaks? The web looks strong enough to hold up without that cable..."

Suspended by the cable, the Arachnoegg was able to hop around the room quickly, a move Eggman now used to try to take Copter off guard. Copter was expecting this move, and ran directly below the robot as it fell in order to stab it from below with the sword. To his dismay, Copter realized that the sword couldn't do much damage. Eggman jumped again and again, and Copter had to move quickly to defend himself. Meanwhile, Vector fired a few more shots at the damaged part of the cable, causing it to spark a bit more, but it seemed the laser was too weak to really break it. Still, Vector had figured out what he was shooting at. "Copter! This robot doesn't run on internal power! It's plugged in! Break the web!"

Copter looked up at the web. With all the sparks flying from the damaged area, Vector's theory seemed a sound one. Running from the Arachnoegg, Copter tried to think of a way to get up there without his tails, which were still stuck together and unusable for flight. Desperately trying to think of something, Copter recalled something from his past...


"They're coming for us, Experiment 2. They will have me imprisoned, and maybe you as well. You must escape and free me, or this bomb I attatch to your wrist will destroy you! To aid you, I leave you with these shoes. They look like your original's, but they are unique. Tap the heels together, and something special will happen..."


Eggman had backed Copter into a corner, ready to slash at him with the Arachnoegg's claws. "Give it up, you fool! In the end, you're nothing but a weak shadow of Tails! You could never hope to defeat me!" Eggman said smugly. Copter stared up at him defiantly. "Ready to surrender?" Eggman taunted. In response, Copter tapped the heels of his shoes together. "I am not a slave to be controlled by you insane science freaks! I'll never surrender!" Tired of this, Eggman decided to finish it, swiping the claws at Copter, who jumped over them! Landing on the ground, his shoes sent him rocketing back up as though it was made of rubber! "The Bouncy Shoes... Thanks very much, Bucky!" Copter thought as he landed on the web cables. Sword still in hand, he ran over to the damaged part and sliced through it fast, so fast that the electricity didn't have a chance to shock him. The Arachnoegg jumped up on top of the web as well, still operational, as the power simply rerouted through the rest of the cables. "Nice try, you monotone miscreant!" Eggman shouted, still very confident. Copter realized that the only way to cut the power was to slice the section of cable directly linked to the Arachnoegg. Luckily, Vector realized that, too, and began firing at Eggman's cockpit in order to distract him. "Hey, don't forget about me, doc!" the crocodile shouted. Eggman blocked the shots with the Arachnoegg's claws. "I'll get you, too, Vector!" he yelled in a fit of frustration. This was Copter's chance. Bouncing off the web with his shoes, he soared over the Arachnoegg and sliced the cable attatched to its rear, severing its link to the web!

Eggman noticed this and laughed. "You idiot! You really thought that would stop me?! When all my other robots run on their own power?! All that cable does is speed the Arachnoegg up, but it doesn't need to be fast to catch you! You're not Sonic!" The giant robot spider slowly turned to face Copter, who took his sword and used it to slice through the gunk holding his tails together. "Why didn't I do that in the first place?" he thought. Then, looking up at Eggman with contempt, Copter tapped into the power of his tailband. "You don't even need to catch me, because I'm coming to you!" He tapped his heels again to stop the bounce effect, then ran at top speed at the Arachnoegg, ducking under the claws as they swung after him. Jumping at the cockpit, Copter slammed his tails into the robot furiously, causing a huge explosion! The explosion snapped the web, causing the Arachnoegg to crash to the ground in a fiery heap! The crash seemed to shake the very foundation of the tower, and was probably felt by Tails in the other passage even now! Copter hovered to the ground in front of Eggman using his tails. The mad doctor caughed from the smoke the fire was spouting. "Blast you..." he grumbled. "Surrender, doctor!" Copter shouted triumphantly. "Now, Copter, don't be hasty..." Eggman said nervously. Vector ran over to join them. "We want to know all about your little plan! Start talking!" the croc commanded. Eggman smiled, then laughed. "You two are very bold! You think I can't escape in my own base!?" The doctor pressed a button on his control panel, and his plane disconnected from the Arachnoegg, as miraculously undamaged as always, and flew away up into the darkness above the room. "Blast! Looks like he got away!" Copter said, knowing he was stating the obvious. "That fat, dumb, and bald guy sure plays hardball!"

"There's nothing more we can do here." Vector said. "I gotta catch up with Espio and Charmy anyway!" Copter nodded. "And I have my own matters to attend to. But the question is, will you let me go?" he said, glancing at Vector. The crocodile smiled at him. "I think I can trust you after that battle! But there's only one exit here. We'll split up at the end of the passage!" They ran back down the passage, which was eerily quiet, and split up at the first opportunity. "Tails must be near the roof by now!" Copter thought, "I need to get his tailband. Then, I'll be unstoppable, and no one will tell me what to do ever again!"


Chapter 45 - The Creator
Stages 23-24 - Darkegg Fortress
Boss 32 - Bucky the Rat


While Copter and Vector fought Dr. Eggman in the other passage, Tails and Cream also reached the end of the passage they were traveling through. A room that was likely intended as an alternate control room, computers were set up all along the walls. Tails ran across the room to a computer to check it out. "Hmm... This might just open the elevator..." Tails said after a few moments.

"The Chao have abandoned the tower. Clearly, they know something you don't. Are you quite sure you want to go higher up?" Someone had come in behind them. Tails turned around to see a true lab rat. "Huh? Who are you?" Tails asked, not recalling ever meeting the rat. The rat pretended to be sad. "Ohhh, you don't remember me, Tails? That's quite a shame..." he said sarcastically. "I must admit, it is no surprise. I suppose I should reintroduce myself. I am Doctor Buck Stein, better known as Bucky the Rat!" There was something sinister about Bucky, and Cheese flew behind Cream in fear. "He's scary..." Cream said quietly. Tails was too full of questions to be scared, though. "How do you know me? I don't think I've ever seen you before!" he said. Bucky casually began walking across the room, laughing before responding. "Wouldn't you like to know!" Dr. Stein walked past Tails and sat down in front of the computer Tails had been using. "You know, that Copter is truly amazing. Surviving both electrocution, and then an explosion from which he could not escape! He's more powerful than I EVER imagined." Tails thought about what Bucky had just said. "That's impossible..." he whispered. "Copter's really strong..." Cream said in amazement. Tails couldn't believe it. "No one could survive something like that! Not if he was really caught in the explosion!"

Sparks began flying from Bucky's body, a power that somehow lifted him into the air! "Nothing's impossible! Look at me, flying without wings! Of course, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Cream hid behind Tails, terrified of Bucky. Tails still had questions. "What are you doing here, anyway? How do you know about Copter?!" Bucky laughed menacingly, the electricity surging through him making his sinister eyes appear to glow. "You'll never know the truth! I cannot allow you to continue to corrupt Experiment 2's mind!" Cream looked up at him from behind Tails. "W-what do you mean?" she asked. "It's useless, Cream! I think he wants to fight with me!" Tails realized. Bucky laughed again. "Not just you! I'll kill you both! I'll have no friends left over to desire revenge! Prepare yourselves!" Bucky began cackling diobolically, preparing to strike down those he saw in his way. A sudden fear gripped Tails, and he flew up between Bucky and Cream in order to block the rat from attacking her. "Get away, Cream! I'll hold him off!" Tails ordered. Bucky looked down at them with fury in his eyes. "She won't escape! Nor will Sonic, once I find him!"

Just then, Cream stepped forward, and Cheese flew out from behind her, a look of determination in their eyes. "Stop it! You won't lay a hand on my friends!" Cream declared. "Cream, what are you doing!?" Tails shouted. "You can't fight him alone! Cheese and I will help you!" she replied. "But, it's too dangerous!" Tails said, worriedly. "Silence, you fools! I've had enough of this!" Bucky growled. "You and your friends have gotten in my way for the last time!" Like the room Copter was fighting Eggman in, this room had no visible roof, so Tails and Cream began flying up high, with Bucky in pursuit. "You won't get away with this!" Tails shouted, which only made Bucky angrier. "Pitiful fools! Witness true power! The power over life and death!"

Bucky shot some blasts of lighting from his hands, directed at Tails, which Tails quickly flew to avoid. This was a dangerous fight, because if either of them got hit by the lightning, Bucky would finish them before they could recover, and they all knew it. Making matters worse, Bucky was very efficient, aiming at Tails and Cream at the same time as often as he could. Every time Tails or Cream got close, they were forced to retreat before they could attack. Bucky was so preoccupied with attacking Tails and Cream, that he didn't see Cheese coming at him from behind! The Chao tackled him as hard as he could, but all it really served to do was annoy Bucky, who turned to attack the Chao! This gave Tails his opening, and he quickly flew at Bucky and kicked him from behind! In retaliation, Bucky immediately started shooting jolts of electricity at Tails and Cheese, leaving Cream free to attack! However, this triple team strategy wouldn't work twice, and Bucky quickly turned around before Cream could hit him and nearly hit her! Cream felt the heat of the electricity as it passed by her, and realized what a close call that was, so she started to retreat toward the ground, with Cheese following. Bucky refused to let her get away, and sent bolts of lightning hurtling towards her! "No! Cream, look out!!" Tails shouted, flying down after the bolts. He intercepted the attack, taking a bad hit that sent him crashing to the floor! "Tails!!!" Cream shouted in panic. Bucky landed near the young fox, charging up his power to strike a finishing blow!

He took some time to charge up, and Cream had time to try to save Tails. She flapped her ears to hover a short distance above the ground, and flew over to Tails, grabbing him in her arms and flew out of the way of Bucky's attack, just moments before it shot past them! Bucky was a bit tired from that shot, and decided to attack them from the ground. Cream desperately dodged Bucky's attacks as she waited for Tails to recover. In a few moments, Tails finally opened his eyes and jumped out of Cream's arms, flying away just in time to avoid another bolt. "You fools! Give it up! You cannot defeat me!" Bucky shouted, having stored up enough energy to take to the sky once more. "He just seems to recharge while he's attacking!" Tails thought. "What's more, I think he's toying with us. How can we beat him if he come after us at full power?!"

Just as Tails was thinking it, Bucky kicked it up a notch, expelling a large amount of energy from his body in a shocking explosion, which blasted Tails, Cream, and Cheese higher into the air! Due to the shock of the sudden attack, they couldn't snap out of it to fly before falling to the ground! In a few seconds, Bucky was there once again, laughing devilishly. "He's... too... strong..." Tails thought, thinking this was the end. "You see?" Bucky gloated. "I can bend life to my will. Through the powers of GeneX, I can create life! Through the powers granted me by the terrors of my past, I can kill at will! Just stay there, it'll all be over in a moment!"

Bucky started charging energy fast, and was apparently unable to contain it all as lightning bolts zapped in all directions! "This is it!!" Tails shouted in despair. "Hold on, Cheese!" Cream cried, clutching her Chao friend in her arms.

Just when it seemed Bucky was about to launch his attack, a laser shot past Tails and Cream, soaring into Bucky and knocking him over, causing his attack to be sent straight upward towards the roof, assuming there was one. Climbing to his feet, Bucky looked across the room to see what had hit him, and Tails and Cream looked as well, pleasantly surprised. It was SPOT! Using its special "Tails Tracker" sensor, it managed to find them just in time! However, Bucky was still not beaten. "So, you got a lucky shot at me! I'm through playing games!!"

Suddenly, the entire tower was shaken as though an earthquake had hit! Copter had just defeated Eggman in the other passageway, and the force of the Arachnoegg's fall rocked the entire upper portion of Darkegg Fortress! During the shaking, Bucky recieved a call via his walkie talkie. "Boss! What are you doing!? Do you know what time it is!?" Zipp's voice shouted. As the tower stopped shaking, they suddenly heard another rumbling coming from high above them. "Time...? Oh, shoot!" Bucky shouted, looking up. "Ah! Whatever that shaking was, combined with my misdirected attack earlier, the roof of this chamber is collapsing! And I have to go now, anyway! Every man for himself!!!"

While Bucky ran for the exit, Tails tried to get to the computer to open the elevator. "There's no time!!" Cream shouted, to no avail. "I need to get to the roof! I can sense it, Copter will be there!" Tails shouted back, frantically pressing buttons. At that moment, Cream saw the roof falling toward them, and acting fast, flew after Tails and dragged him away just as part of the roof crashed where he was standing!

It was a close call, but they all managed to escape into the passageway. "Now what? Those computers are wreaked..." Tails sighed dejectedly. "Tails, look! It's all right!" Cream said excitedly, pointing at SPOT's monitor. "Wireless interface successful. All doors and elevators unlocked." Tails read the text on SPOT's monitor. "Perfect! Good thing SPOT showed up when he did!" "Let's go!" Cream said enthusiastically. "Sorry, Cream." Tails said. "I need to face Copter on my own. I want you to take SPOT and find Sonic!" Cream looked at Tails worriedly. "Can't I help you?" "You really are a big help, Cream, but... It's just something I need to do by myself." Tails said. Cream could tell this was important to Tails. "OK! I'll go help Sonic! You just promise you'll be all right!"

So, upon exiting the dark passage, Tails took the elevator, while Cream headed off to look for Sonic. Now, it was time. Tails and Copter would meet on the roof, and settle things once and for all. "I sorta wish I didn't have to fight Copter..." Tails thought as the elevator carried him to the roof. "But I guess I have no choice. If he won't stop causing trouble, then I'll have to stop him myself!"


Chapter 46 - Battle For Supremacy
Boss 33 - Tails Vs Copter


The elevator came to a stop at the top floor, which was Darkegg Fortress's power plant. To Tails's surprise, Copter was already there! "I've been expecting you!" Copter said. "You must think you're so great, being 'real!' Kinda wish I was." he growled. Tails stepped out of the elevator slowly. "Copter, why are you siding with Eggman?" he wondered aloud. Copter ignored him. "Look at you! You make me sick! It is painfully clear to me: You don't deserve that Tailband!" Tails thought Copter meant that in response to his question. "What does that have to do with anything!?" Copter pointed at the tailband, which Tails was already wearing. "That tailband contains power beyond your understanding! Give it to me!" Tails would not let Copter intimidate him. "Not until you tell me why you want it!" 

"Why!?" Copter yelled. "You want to know why!?" Copter was stopped cold. "Hey... Why IS that?" he thought. "Then again, who cares!?" He laughed at Tails. "You do realize that you're in no position to be asking questions! That belongs to me! I opened the Chaos Shrine! So hand it over!!" Tails could tell that Copter was a bit uncertain about this, which served to increase his belief that there may be some good in Copter. "You don't even know why, do you? Why can't you just stop this then?" Copter was suddenly seized by an intense rage. "You want to stop me!? Just try and stop me!! Come on, if you want the tailbands so bad, take it from me!" Copter seemed ready to fight to the death over this. Tails felt Copter misunderstood him. "I don't want them! But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you have them!" Copter's anger only increased. "You annoying little.... GIVE ME THAT!!" He rushed after Tails and kicked him into the elevator doors, breaking them with the force of the attack. Tails fell to the floor in front of the elevator shaft. "Fine, then, Copter... Have it your way..." he muttered, rising to his feet. "If you want to fight, then I guess there's no choice!" His determination surprised Copter somewhat, but he found it more annoying. "Then face me, coward!"


"And so it begins." The Doomsayer had been leading Shadow toward the top of the tower, but stopped suddenly. "I warned those fools." he said. "What are you talking about?" Shadow asked, a bit confused. The Doomsayer looked out a nearby window, where he spotted Cream, Cheese, and SPOT exiting the tower. Cream was holding the light blue Chaos Emerald, the last one! "All seven Chaos Emeralds have been found!" the Doomsayer proclaimed, "It is time for total destruction to begin! It sure has gotten late. I must move quickly." He started moving again, his pace quickened. "Why the rush?" Shadow asked. "Oblivion waits for no one!" The Doomsayer replied.

"I can't believe we found a Chaos Emerald!" Cream said excitedly. "We better get it home and put it in a safe place!" Looking around outside, she realized that she had no idea how to get home. "Wait a minute! We came here on the Tornado, but it's gone!" she realized. "What should we do, SPOT?" The robot's monitor responded quickly. "Best action would be to find Sonic." Cream looked back up the huge tower. "Of course... Why didn't I think of that? Can you find him, SPOT?" The robotic puppy nodded, and led Cream back into the tower.


Tails and Copter fought for a while, neither making much progress for victory. Copter had begun to grow impatient. "Why don't you ever quit!? I guess it's time I kicked this up a notch! Catch me if you can, Miles Prower!" He ran up the stairs to the roof, using a remote he had gotten from Char before leaving. Tails chased Copter, and in moments they were at the top of the tower, many miles above the ground. Using the remote, Copter had called the Hurricane to him, and it was flying in circles around the roof. "I hear you're supposed to be a great pilot. So, I challenge you with my own plane, built by Dr. Eggman!" Tails used his own remote to call the Tornado, which he had left hidden nearby in case he needed it. "Eggman has a strange sense of humor, building a plane so similar to the Tornado for you." Tails said, running to his own plane. Copter started running for the Hurricane, concealing the terror in his eyes. "What AM I doing?!" he thought. "I'm bound to get us both killed with this crazy stunt... But I can't back down now!"

The two planes took off, flying out over the ocean, with the Hurricane in the lead while Tails followed in the Tornado. Though Tails had an easy target, he hesitated to shoot at Copter. Copter was a terrible pilot, barely knowing how to fly, but he was also a quick learner, and so took a gamble on this sky chase. It payed off, for while Copter was figuring out the controls, Tails was merely trying to catch up with Copter. In a moment, he did. "Copter, this is crazy! You can barely fly that thing! Please, land it before you hurt yourself!" Copter slowed down, so the Tornado passed in front of him. "Forget it, Tails! You had your chance!" Copter fired the Hurricane's guns, and nearly hit the Tornado. It was a shot a good pilot would easily have made, but since Copter was such a novice, he had trouble hitting the Tornado. So, he tried to get closer for an easier shot. However, he messed up again, and wound up in front of Tails. Tails fired a warning shot at the Hurricane. "Don't make me shoot you down, Copter!" he shouted. Copter wasn't listening. He put the Hurricane on auto pilot and jumped onto the wing of the plane. "There's more than one way to win a dogfight! Let's see how the Tornado likes Chaos Whirlwind!" Copter sent a chaotic cyclone soaring toward the Tornado, which caused the plane to spin out! Tails struggled to get the plane back on track as it began to dive towards the ocean below!

Copter, confident that Tails was finished, hopped back into the cockpit of the Hurricane and switched the controls back to manual. However, Tails had managed to save the Tornado from crashing, and was soon behind Copter again. "I guess I'll have to damage the plane to get him to land..." Tails realized. He fired a few shots at the Hurricane, taking Copter off guard. "Gah! I'm hit!!" Copter shouted, looking back and noticing smoke coming from his plane. "No matter! Follow me, Tails!" Copter turned the Hurricane in a new direction, leading Tails far away from Darkegg Fortress. "Where are you going, Copter!? You need to land, now!" Tails shouted, though Copter could barely hear him, being a good distance ahead.

Copter led Tails to the Mystic Ruins. Deep in the jungle was Copter's destination: Shadow Arc. Somehow, Copter managed to land the damaged Hurricane safely on the roof. Tails landed the Tornado there as well. During the trip, it had begun to rain, and now they were in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning was striking the metal "flames" on the torches at the roof of Shadow Arc, and a few of them appeared to be built for that purpose. Tails hopped out of his plane and approached Copter, who was waiting near the still smoking Hurricane. "Where have you led us, Copter?" Tails asked. "Don't remember, Tails? You were here before! This is where it all began!" Copter replied. After some thought, Tails realized what he meant. "You mean... You were created here, Copter?" Copter wasn't interested in answering questions. "Enough! Sorry, Tails, but it's time for you to die now!"

Copter leapt into action, and attempted to strike Tails down with a swift tail whip, powered by the Tailband of Chaos! Tails parried the attack by whipping at Copter with his own band powered tails. The impact knocked them both over, and both of them quickly returned to their feet and repeated the attack, with the same result. As in the Darkegg Fortress power plant, they appeared to be evenly matched.

The fight continued for a while longer, until finally they began to tire, and Tails decided to try to talk to Copter again. "It's a complete draw, Copter! Neither of us can win!" "Impossible! Look at you! You're such a weakling! How can you stand up to my power!?" "Please, Copter! Just stop this senseless fight!" "Never! I have to win!"

Another strike of lightning crashed onto the building, this time between the two foxes, causing them both to jump away. Copter used the surprise to try and take Tails off guard, but Tails fought back, and pushed Copter away. Just then, they heard an explosion nearby, and part of the roof was blasted open! Vortex and Zipp jumped out of the hole, with Zipp holding a stick of dynamite! "Gossssh, you two are loud!" Vortex hissed. "It's intolerable!" Zipp added. "Let's see how you like it when I throw a lot of noise your way!" The hornet lit the fuse on the dynamite and started to approach Tails and Copter. "Hold it, Zipp!" Tails and Copter both shouted at once, but it was no use. Zipp threw the dynamite at them, and it exploded between them, hurling them off the roof of the laboratory! "So long, bozos! Have a nice flight!" Zipp chuckled. "Now, let'ssss get back to work!" Vortex said.


Tails had landed near the entrance of the laboratory. Though he was battered and beaten by the blast, it appeared he would be all right. Slowly rising to his feet, Tails looked around, and spotted the sign that Shadow had read on his way into the lab earlier that day. "Shadow Arc... So this is where it began..." he looked around to see if he could spot Copter nearby, but saw no sign of him. "I hope Copter wasn't hurt too bad..." Tails thought. "I guess I'm finished here, for now. I better find Sonic. I bet I worried him after that incident at the construction site..." Thus, Tails began to head back to Darkegg Fortress to try to help his friends.


Copter had been thrown farther than Tails, and had landed near the Mystic Ruins pyramid. He was injured much worse than Tails was. "I hate Zipp." he managed to mutter. The sound of his voice caught the attention of someone nearby. "Hello? Who's there?" The person turned out to be Gemini, out for a late night stroll. "Whoa! What happened to you!? Stay still and I'll heal you, OK?" she said in a concerned tone. Waving her wand over Copter, she cast a spell. "Recoveration!" A soft, blue light covered Copter, and in a few moments, he felt like new. Climbing to his feet, he looked into the eyes of his healer. "Oh... Uh... Thank you, ma'am..." he said, not used to being given such kindness from a stranger. "No problem!" she said, smiling. "My name's Gemini, what's yours?" "Copter..." he muttered, taking a moment to think. "I have to go..." Copter began to walk away. Worried, Gemini followed behind him.


Tikal's spirit stood on the roof of Shadow Arc, gazing out over the horizon. "Through battle, they have gained each other's respect. They're going to need it if they're to get through what's to come..." She closed her eyes, lost in thought. "When darkness and light become one, the chosen ones will bring hope from doom. I just hope it's true..."

To be concluded...