GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna
Chapter 32 - Project GXterminate
Stage 18(Hero 10) - White Base
Boss 18 - Loskeletor

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.

The story thus far:
Sonic arrived in Central City to find Eggman's attack already in progress. Not only that, but the Covenant of Despair, Bucky's Experiments, GUN and Team Rose were all caught up in the massive conflict as well. After hearing from Kosmo that the President had been captured by the Lost Ones, Sonic made finding him his first priority, and went to the President's house in Central City as a starting point. While battling GUN and Eggman forces, Sonic teamed up with Amy, Vector, Rainbow, Crash and Violet periodically. Soon, he was faced with the combined forces of Dr. Eggman and Col. Gunner, until their showdown was interrupted by the arrival of Lospecter and his army, which Eggman and Gunner quickly fled from. Now, Sonic, Amy, Crash and Rainbow are face to face with Lospecter...
Now, on to the next chapter!


Sonic glared at Lospecter, but then remembered something. "Wait... If you guys are here, that means the President might be here!" he realized. Lospecter set his cards aside and glanced at Sonic with an amused expression. "Well, that's the million-ring question, ain't it? Oooh, and you'd better find him quickly, too, eh?" the spirit mused, "If those fellas in the black jumpsuits find him first, he might end up too dead to appreciate your rescuing him!" he snickered. "Wow... You are one special kinda psycho." Amy sighed. Sonic nodded. "And on that note... I gotta search this whole base quickly!!" he said, starting to run off. However, Amy managed to grab on to his leg before he could get far. "You are NOT leaving me with these monsters!!" she shouted. Sonic glanced at her with slight annoyance. "If we both go, who will watch out for Rainbow??" he grunted. Crash cleared his throat loudly. "I do TECHNICALLY work with her sister... for the moment. I'll probably get fired for helping you as much as I have." he said. "Viola's gotta quit that team..." Rainbow growled. Lospecter yawned loudly. "By the time you guys work this out, the Prez will be dead. Lospirits, help them speed this along!" he ordered. As the Lost One ghosts charged at them, the four of them ran for the exit to the war room as fast as they could, slamming the doors behind them. Some ghostly hands grabbed at them through the doors, but didn't pursue them beyond that. Rather, Lospecter merely laughed at them. "I'd get a move on if I were you... Eggman and the Covenant are moving on, after all!" he taunted.

Rainbow motioned for Crash to follow her in one direction. "I think Viola went this way! Help me find her!" she asked. Crash sighed. "Sure... We might find who I'm looking for, too, what the heck..." he muttered. As they left, Sonic and Amy took off in a different direction, starting their search for the President. Despite calling off his troops from the war room, it seemed Lospecter had set losol and loskels loose in the base, so they had to deal with some along the way. Sonic set to work on the loskels with some well timed spin dashes down the halls, but Amy used the losol to vent, slamming them violently and furiously with her hammer while snarling and growling! Sonic stopped a distance away from her and sighed. "Still mad, huh?" he asked. "...Well, it's not like this is a new issue, Sonic! You've been ditching me... Since before we met Shadow! How am I supposed to feel!?" she yelled. Sonic groaned. "And how many times did you follow me anyway and get kidnapped??" he retorted. "Well... Th-that's hardly the point!" Amy snapped, "You've started ditching me when I'm in danger!" she growled. Sonic cracked a little smile. "You got out okay, didn't you?" he pointed out. "...Huh?" Amy murmured. Sonic continued talking as he walked ahead. "It used to be I'd try to leave you behind because I... worried about you. I mean, we first met with you getting kidnapped. But lately... I've sorta noticed..." he trailed off. "Huh? ...What?" Amy asked, blushing a little. However, they arrived at a new room where they found Vector seated in front of a computer, and Sonic took that as an excuse to cut the conversation short. "Vector! Found the computer room, eh?" Sonic smirked. Amy crossed her arms, pouting a little. "Thanks a lot, Vector..." she sighed. Vector was busy checking various things on the computer, when he suddenly stumbled upon something. "Sonic... Check this out. It's a communication channel..." he said. A voice came over the speaker. "Who is this? I'm afraid the one normally manning this channel is away on a mission..." Sonic recognized the voice. "...Anubis!?" he gasped. "Sonic... Curse you for finding this frequency. May we cross paths soon so I might burn your blue hide personally..." Anubis replied before hanging up. "Now why do you suppose GUN has a direct line to the Covenant of Despair...?" Vector wondered.

Sonic and Amy quickly filled Vector in on the situation, and they continued together on the search for the President. However, they didn't get far before they found a situation. One of the bases many bunkers had been broken open, possibly by Eggman's robots. Sgt. Drol and a squad of GUN soldiers were being overrun by the robots, as well as a few Covenant of Despair agents. Sonic sighed. "If that were Gunner in there, I might consider leaving him... for a minute." he said. Vector nodded. "Can't have it both ways. If we're tryin' to save the President, we're on GUN's side!" he noted. Amy pulled out her hammer, noticing Infin among the Despair agents. "I'll handle this guy..." she growled. Sonic nodded and took off after the robots, leaping up to strike some buzzbombers that had a few soldiers, and Agent 32, cornered. "I... I had that... covered." he muttered. "No one believes you, shades." one of the soldiers grumbled. Vector took on some of the Despair agents with "sound" warfare. His singing made them fall over, covering their ears. "Hate to resort to that, but who knows what superpowers you Despair guys are runnin' around with?" he said. "Mine WAS super hearing..." a uniformed bat whined, writhing on the floor. Amy approached Infin with her hammer at the ready. "Hmmm..." he mumbled, glancing around. "No dice, I'm not dumb enough to take on Sonic on my own!" he said, firing shock blasts from his special gun at Amy, which she deflected repeatedly with her hammer, leaving Infin plenty of time to escape. With the robots soon defeated and Despair making a retreat, the GUN soldiers let out a relieved cheer for Sonic and his friends. Drol looked a bit annoyed, but he grudgingly stepped to address Sonic. "You need to know... A terrible weapon may be in this base." he began. "...I'm listening." Sonic said. "Project GXterminate. After the President was captured, our Dr. Nammad confiscated the device for safekeeping, but he's been spotted in the base, it seems. I fear he, and Project GXterminate, may have been captured." he warned. Vector groaned. "Greeeat. Anything ELSE we gotta worry about???" he grumbled.

They left the bunker and returned to the route they had been on, soon finding their way to some sort of conference room. The Lost Ones were busy tearing the room apart, but they weren't entirely unopposed. Rouge and Omega were busy battling it out with them. "I sure wonder where Shadow got to..." Rouge grumbled as she swatted aside a losoar bat with a swift kick. "Need any help?" Sonic asked. "I am the ULTIMATE robot!!!" Omega shouted, blasting everything around him violently and nearly hitting Sonic, too. "...I take that as a no." he replied. "Either of you seen the President?" Vector wondered. "Obviously, we're a bit preoccupied!" Rouge yelled, chucking some bombs at some loskulls that were chasing her. Omega, having cleared some breathing room around himself, stopped to run a quick scan of the area. "Sensors indicate that the President is likely located in the Presidential Office... However, allow 30% margin for error, due to interference." he said. "You've already been more helpful than we ever expect you to be." Amy smirked. "Annoying mouth breather..." Omega grumbled. "We can save the witty banter for later, guys. In addition to the President, we also gotta find some weapon before all these dark forces do. See ya!" Sonic said, leading the way as he, Amy and Vector charged right past the Lost Ones, leaving Rouge and Omega to deal with them. "Don't you dare mess this up, Sonic! I mean it!" Rouge shouted, "My job's on the line, here! ...Not to mention my life, with that doomsday weapon..." she sighed. "Fortunately, that device apparently has no effect on inorganics." Omega remarked. "...Shut up." Rouge growled.

A quick stop to a map display used for tour groups, and they headed directly for the President's office. Along the way, they caught up with Rainbow and Crash. "Hey, any sign of your sister?" Amy asked. "...Nope. This place is huge, she could be anywhere..." Rainbow sighed. "I haven't found who I'm looking for either, but no one cares how my day's going..." Crash grumbled. "Yo, Crash, how's it going?" Vector waved. Suddenly, the PA system came on, and Col. Gunner's voice filled the halls. "Attention, troops! Dr. Eggman is on the run. Seems he couldn't handle a battle on so many fronts. This leaves the animal intruders. I've received word that Sonic the Hedgehog is marching on the President's office. He has no business there, save treason! All troops in the area, stop him with any means necessary!" he ordered. Sonic sighed. "Been a while since he accused me of treason. I was beginning to think he'd gone soft on me." he said. The five of them hurried down the hall to try to beat the troops to the office, but soon they found a number of soldiers in their way, led by Sgt. Drol. "Weapons at the ready, troops..." Drol said. Sonic glanced at Amy, inching in front of her. "I'm not abandoning you this time..." he said. However, many of Drol's troops lowered their weapons, saluting Sonic instead! "...Soldiers!!" Drol growled. "Sir! Sonic saved our hides, sir!" one of the soldiers said. Sonic smiled and nodded, but Drol was livid. "I am your commanding officer, and Gunner is MY commanding officer! We're GUN soldiers! Following orders IS our life!" he growled. Some of the troops held up their guns, but the others stood in their way. "Maybe we're more than just soldiers then. Maybe we still have our humanity!" they said. "At ease, men! We can take it from here!" Sonic suggested. However, all of the soldiers suddenly doubled over... in fear! Basker the Hound was coming from the next hallway, and he was using his power to incapacitate the GUN troops! However, some of them attempted to resist. "Go... Sonic! We'll stop... Despair!" they grunted. Sonic frowned. "I hate to leave them, but we've gotta get to the President and that weapon!" he growled. Amy, Rainbow, Vector and Crash followed him past the GUN soldiers. "That was nice, Sonic, but protecting me from non-dangerous soldiers doesn't get you off the hook!" Amy shouted. "Whatever!!" he groaned, frustrated.

The President's office wasn't far, and inside, the President seemed to be perfectly fine and having a calm chat with Dr. Nammad, who had the GXterminate machine propped up on the table behind him. "Could it be that something's actually easy?" Vector wondered. "Hey, Prez! ...How'd you get away from the Lost Ones?" Sonic asked. Dr. Nammad pulled up a sword with a clear, crystalline blade, which appeared to have a high-tech handle. "Stay back!" he warned. Sonic sped around the President and startled Dr. Nammad, making him fumble his sword a bit. "Eeep! You don't, uh, understand!" he stammered. Suddenly, Amy, Crash, Vector and Rainbow were all stunned by a volley of Chaos Spears, and Conan the Raccoon charged past them, straight for the President. "In the name of the Covenant... This is your impeachment, Prez!" he yelled. "Wait... No!!" the President winced. "Now, die!!" Conan said quickly, impaling the President with his blade just as Sonic turned to see what was happening! "No!!" he shouted, followed by a confused "...Huh??" Conan looked a bit puzzled as well, as the President grabbed at the hilt of the blade piercing his chest with a smile. "And thus, it would end... Hadst thou not missed me!" He pulled the blade out of his own chest, tossing it to the floor as his flesh melted and twisted into his true form. Everyone watched in horrified astonishment as the President took the form of Loskeletor! Dr. Nammad was the only one not surprised. "I tried to, uh, tell you..." he sighed. Conan retrieved his sword and backed away as Loskeletor's glowing red eye-holes followed him. "Woe upon thee... I had these simpletons fooled." he growled. Vector stood up and whimpered. "Am I the only one not REALLY hoping we didn't vote that THING into office?" he gulped. "Don't all politicians have two faces?" Crash mumbled. Suddenly, as if things weren't bad enough, Spiny the porcupine kicked open the door! "So, who was the moron who thought Eggman was finished? I've got a troop of robots here that says they're wrong!" he shouted, leading EggRobos into the office! "...Not our day, huh?" Sonic sighed.

Chet the cheetah also sped into the room, passing by the robots and joining Conan. They glanced at each other and nodded before heading straight for the GXterminate weapon. "Hey, step away from the doomsday weapon!" Sonic shouted, only to have a beam shot at his feet before he could pursue them! Loskeletor was still in his way, and he didn't seem to care who got the weapon as long as Sonic didn't get to it. Fortunately, Spiny hadn't come alone. Among the robots he'd brought with him was Metal Sonic, who dashed past Loskeletor and plowed right into Conan, knocking him to the ground and causing Chet to turn around to aid him. "Eggman has ordered us to retrieve that device!" Spiny stated, "But while Metal handles that... I'm going to muss up your pretty little face, hedgehog!" he growled. Dr. Nammad sat back in the President's chair and observed all this, seeming amused. "Okay...uh, may the best burglars win." he grinned. Some losoars swooped down from the ceiling and surrounded Loskeletor, apparently having been there the whole time. "Feast upon those wretched, pitiful beings. I shall reap the honor of dispatching the blue one!" Loskeletor cackled, pulling a couple ribs free of his own body as he spoke, revealing the ends that were attached to him to be covered in spikes! Meanwhile, Spiny had conjured some Chaos Spears that he'd begun steering around, preparing to send after Sonic. "Don't I feel special? Two psychopaths, just for me..." he said. Amy and Vector quickly became occupied fending off losoars, while Crash and Rainbow were taking on EggRobos. "Yeah, real special!" Amy growled, swatting one of the slimy bats with her hammer. "Gladly trade ya, Sonic..." Crash murmured. As Loskeletor fired his laser eyes and Spiny launched his Chaos Spears, Sonic took off in his effort to evade the two enemies at once. "I may take you up on that, rhino-guy!" he shouted. Loskeletor tossed one of his spiked ribs at Sonic, which he somersaulted to avoid. "Ha! Missed, and you're down a bone!" he taunted. "Speedy, look out!" Rainbow shouted. Sonic glanced back and jumped suddenly as the rib came circling back like a boomerang! However, the distraction got him zapped by a couple of Chaos Spears and knocked to the floor! "Now I got you, stinking hedgehog!" he sneered.

Spiny launched into his signature attack, Spear Storm, firing dozens of Chaos Spears from his body all at once! Sonic quickly curled himself up into a ball and took off toward Loskeletor, who tossed his spiked ribs at the rolling hedgehog in an effort to stop him, but Sonic moved too fast and rolled right between his skeletal legs! "Gadzooks?!" he exclaimed, suddenly finding the storm of Chaos Spears headed his way! The spears riddled Loskeletor into a pile of green bones, but he quickly pulled himself together and fixed his fiery gaze on Spiny. "I allowed thou knavish Sonic doppelganger to act so long as no interference came hither!!" he yelled. Spiny stared at him. "I don't know what you just said, but I'm sure it was a threat!" he snarled. Sonic dusted his hands and snickered softly now that he'd managed to turn them against each other. However, it was a bit late for that. The door, which had closed behind the last person to enter the room, now smashed off its hinges, and a menacing hooded figure entered. Glowing red eyes pierced the dark under his striped red hood. It was the Darkseeker! He seemed to simply and with great ease hurl aside and EggRobos and losoars that dared block his way as he approached Dr. Nammad. "Hold it, Mr. Hood! No one goes near the machine over there!" Sonic warned. The Darkseeker barely glanced at Sonic. "You are the blue hedgehog that chose to stand against us rather than rally at our side?" he sneered. "And who are...?" without letting Sonic speak, the Darkseeker raised his hand, and emitting a small dark spark from his finger, knocked Sonic to the floor! "Ooof!" This got the attention of Amy, Vector and the others, but Conan and Chet stood in their way. "You don't want to cross this guy..." Chet warned. The Darkseeker crept over to Dr. Nammad, who cowered before him a little, but stood up and shook his extended hand. "Well, Mr. uh, Darkseeker... A deal's a, uh, deal..." he said, motioning to the GXterminate machine! "Ah! No way... That scientist must be the one who used the line to call Despair!" Vector gasped. "He... sold out his own kind!?" Crash stammered. The Darkseeker turned around, his dark gaze meeting all. "We have what we came for. Those who would stand in our way, know that it is foolishness. I, the Darkseeker, master of the Covenant of Despair, will craft a new world! Any in my way... will perish!" he snarled, kicking Sonic aside as he and Dr. Nammad headed out, while Chet and Conan carried the GXterminate machine. Metal Sonic tried to stop them, but Crash charged into the robot from the side, taking it by surprise and damaging it greatly. "...Regrettably... I am with Despair..." he grunted, taking his leave. As Amy and Rainbow rushed to help Sonic, Gunner's voice came on the PA system again. "All troops... Excellent news. Despair forces are withdrawing. Dr. Eggman has been forced out of Central City by the efforts of our capable Commander. Furthermore, I have managed to locate our President, alive and well. Those monster freaks were apparently holding him on the grounds for some unknown purpose..." he said. Loskeletor gritted his teeth in defeat. "There goeth the source of my machinations... I take my leave of this place!" he growled, leading the losoar away. Sonic stood up shakily, but otherwise fine. "We'd better get outta here before Gunner comes for us..." he said. "Who was that guy?" Vector wondered. Sonic's eyes narrowed. "...Someone I gotta stop!" he said.

To be continued...