Sonic GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna
Arc 3 - Pieces of the Puzzle
Chapter 21 - Sewage Scramble
Stage 13(Hero 7) - Sewage Scramble
Minor Boss 9 - Techno Sonic

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:
As Knuckles set off on his way to rescue Sonic from the clutches of Dr. Eggman, Tails and Amy broke Sonic out themselves! After a treacherous journey through Sandopolis and Lava Reef Zone, they discovered a hidden chamber in Hidden Palace Zone, which the Covenant of Despair was fighting GUN to destroy! After a series of battles, during which Kosmo rendered his assistance, Fera and Dr. Nammad both set off massive attacks that started a huge cave in! Did they manage to escape? And what does all this mean for Knuckles?
Now, on to the next chapter!


Arriving at the nearest city, Knuckles parted ways with Cream, who was eager to reunite with her mother after Despair's attack on Central City. Heading for the nearest train station that would take him back to Troblusk City, Knuckles was soon stopped when a flash of light went off in front of him! Gemini the fennec emerged when the light faded. "Knuckles! There you are! Can you help me? I really messed up!" she said quickly. Knuckles was a bit startled at first, but quickly became annoyed. "Gemini!? ...Um, not to sound mean, but isn't there anyone else you can bug right now? I kinda got my own problems!" he grumbled. Gemini sighed. "Well, Copter's on the case... maybe. He might've given up, though. He's such a flake!" she groaned. "What case?" Knuckles asked, motioning for her to follow as he resumed walking to the train station. Gemini looked at him a bit awkwardly. "I kinda ticked off Kosmo and he stomped off. I'm worried he might go berserkoid or something." she frowned. Knuckles suddenly jumped, staring at her in disbelief. "Kosmo!? That dude who Tails went super to duke it out with!? Where'd he go??" he shouted. "I talked to some people and he might have hopped a train to the Mystic Ruins." Gemini said, pointing ahead to the station. "OK, come on! It might take both of us if he's on a rampage!" Knuckles said hastily, grabbing her arm and rushing off!

Upon arriving at the Mystic Ruins, they saw Shadow and Omega leaving Angel Island from the train, so they decided to start their search there. On the cliff just outside the entrance to Red Mountain, they found a crowd gathered. Sonic, Tails, Amy, SPOT, Professor Pickle, Silver and Rainbow were gathered along with Bucky and his experiments: Vortex, Zipp, Zeke and Whisk. "Uhhh, Kosmo's not heeeere..." Gemini said skittishly upon seeing Silver, "Darn, him again? He ignored me before, but I'm sure he'd take me back home if I let him..." she thought. Knuckles looked around in surprise. "Hey! It's Sonic!? He's okay!? ...You mean I've been running all over the place for nothing!?" he groaned. Tails gasped upon seeing them arrive. "Oh, hey Knuckles! I, uh... I promise, I didn't forget about you!" he stammered. "He forgot about me." Knuckles sighed. Sonic was busy getting chewed out by Amy for taking too long to rescue her. "This is not acceptable! I almost got carried off by Kosmo just like that color-challenged echidna did!" she growled. "Whatever echidna you're talking about, leave them outta this, Pinky!" Rainbow snapped. Knuckles crossed his arms. "Sounds like Kosmo WAS here..." he muttered. Gemini backed away a bit. "I'll hang back here, Knuckles. You talk to 'em. In fact, I think I'll find you later!" she babbled. "Huh?? Why??" Knuckles wondered. At this point, Silver noticed her. "Hey, Gemini!" he called, forcing her to act fast. "Abra-ka-warpra!" In a flash of light, Gemini was gone. Thanks to that light, the entire group finally noticed Knuckles. "Umm... Okaaaay." Knuckles mumbled, "Sonic! Sorry about... um..." he sighed. "Yeah, you were way outta line." Sonic smirked. "What!? Wait a minute!!" Knuckles snapped. "But... Tails told me how Eggman had you over a barrel... Guess I jumped to conclusions." Sonic admitted. Bucky cleared his throat loudly. "I think the fennec had the right idea. We'd best be off." he said. "Hey, what's Bucky doing here?" Knuckles wondered. "He got us outta a jam after trying to kill me." Sonic explained, slowly glancing at the rat, "Hey, why DID you do that??" he wondered. Bucky had already turned his back to leave, and quietly muttered something. "Humans turned their back on me... However... If the Covenant of Despair knew the truth..." he whispered, turning, "We'll be watching, Sonic. Until next time." he said, nodding to Whisk, who promptly teleported Bucky and his experiments away, save for Zeke. "Huh?! Oh, I get it. I'm to find the others..." Zeke groaned, wandering off slowly. "So, what now?" Sonic said, turning to his friends. Professor Pickle wiped his forehead. "I'm quite exhausted. I must return to my office in Central City and rest... Preferably with a plate of cucumber sandwiches." he sighed. Knuckles looked around. "I gotta get those Covenant of Despair jerks so they'll leave my island alone! ...They were just here, weren't they?" he growled. Tails nodded. "I suggest we try Eggman. He's mixed up in this somehow. He might know something we can use!" he said. "All right! I'll tag along, too!" Silver offered. Since they were generally in agreement, they headed off for the train station to once again set out for Troblusk City.

Joined by Rainbow, and parting ways with Professor Pickle, the group soon arrived at Troblusk City. They started on their way to Eggman's not-so-hidden base right away, but they soon stopped when they noticed Covenant of Despair agents hanging around in the middle of the street. What's more, Gemini was there shouting at them. "Hey, isn't that your girlfriend over there, Knuckles?" Sonic joked. "I'm not gonna dignify that with..." Knuckles muttered. Silver scratched his head. "What's she doing here? She shouldn't..." he said, trailing off. Eddie the hyena and Infin the weasel were there, keeping Gemini busy while some gargoyles in black suits were forcing open a sewer cover. "Why would they be sneaking into the sewer?" Tails wondered. Suddenly, a loud tremor startled the group, and drew their attention away from Gemini and Despair! "That came from Eggman's Eggtopia!" Sonic shouted. "Did you seriously just say Eggtopia?" Tails groaned. "What about Despair?!" Knuckles wondered. Sonic started running off in the direction of Eggtopia. "You better hold 'em off, Knuckles! I'll be right back after I check out Eggman's base!" he shouted. Tails, Silver and Amy immediately started to follow him, while Knuckles turned to the sewer entrance again. "Stop!! Come back, you crooks!" Gemini was shouting, following them down the open manhole! Rainbow started towards the sewer as well. "Come on, Knucklehead! Those guys might know about my sister!" she said. "Huh? You're still here?? ...Do you have to call me knucklehead?" Knuckles groaned. Suddenly, SPOT beeped loudly. "Alert!! Alert!!" it said. "Huh? Tails's mutt's still here, too!" Knuckles gasped. Rainbow checked out SPOT's monitor and gulped. "It... It says those guys have bombs!" she stammered. With that information, Knuckles, Rainbow and SPOT quickly jumped down into the sewer after them!

They found themselves in a long sewage canal, with rank water rushing by and a narrow walkway above the rushing water. Not far from the ladder leading back out of the sewer, they found a blue gargoyle busily planting a bomb against the roof! Below the gargoyle, Gemini was standing face to face with Sergeant Drol and Agent 32! "Please! Listen to me! The Covenant of Despair is loose in the sewers!" Gemini shouted. "She's, uh, lyin'! We're, umm... contractors?" the gargoyle said feebly. Drol was covering his nose with his cape, a very displeased look in his eyes. "I am aware of the situation, you impudent girl! Why else would I be down here in these wretched depths!" he growled. He then spotted Knuckles and Rainbow, and the look in his eyes became more intent. "However, the petty schemes of the Covenant of Despair mean little to me next to the big picture, and I see people to interrogate." he said. Knuckles squinted at him. "Heeey... I know you... I think." he muttered. "Address Sgt. Drol only when he speaks to you!" Agent 32 shouted, seeming not to mind the stench of the sewer as much. Drol pointed at Rainbow. "You! Female echidna! You were at the shore before! Tell me, where was the stone tablet taken?" he asked. Rainbow shook her fist at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dork Knight! Besides, you tried to hurt my sister! Shame on you!" she yelled. "Hmm, I'll come back to you." Drol muttered, glancing at the other echidna, "Knuckles, isn't it? I've read up on you. You're USUALLY on GUN's side. Tell me about the Chaos Gauntlets." he demanded. "Umm... I think Eggman's got 'em." Knuckles mumbled. Drol was getting very frustrated now. "You THINK?! Are you echidnas taking me for a fool!?" he growled. Just then, a blast of ice came shooting at the gargoyle from behind the echidnas! "Halt! You will not activate that explosive!" said Freeze the Gizoid! "Whaa!? Eggman's robot!? I'm outta here!!" the gargoyle shouted, flapping away hastily! Freeze glanced up at the bomb intently. "I will put this on ice. And pursue them." he said. "Looks like Eggman wants his base protected from the explosion, too." Knuckles smirked. Drol growled in aggravation. "If I waste any more time I'll be buried in this filth! Most unbecoming for GUN's Noble Knight!" he said. A familiar-looking robot started to stir behind him, and Drol stepped aside to let GUN's robotic copy of Sonic through! "Techno Sonic! Brute force seems to be the only way to obtain the truth from them! Show them GUN's true might!" Drol commanded!

"Target locked! Preparing to strike!" Techno Sonic said, swapping its hands for laser cannons! "Gemini, get back!" Knuckles shouted. "It's not... targeting me, is it!?" she gasped, scrambling to get away as it opened fire on her! "Wanda! Look out! Didn't you get back your wand??" she asked noticing she wasn't holding it. "That gargoyle swiped it when I came after him..." she said hopelessly. Knuckles shrugged. "Then I'll take it on myself!" he said, running ahead and dodging lasers on his way to Techno Sonic, hurling his fist straight at the robot! However, he was repelled by an invisible energy shield around it! "I am Techno Sonic Mark 2, redesigned by Dr. Nammad! You cannot defeat me!" the robot declared, opening a hatch on its chest to reveal a sparking electrode. This electrode fired a burst of electricity at Knuckles, throwing him back even more, but he wasn't ready to quit yet. "Nice bug zapper... But in order to protect the Master Emerald, I have to be ready for cheap tricks like this!" he smirked. Rainbow and Gemini backed away a bit to give them room. "Not that I don't have confidence in you, but I'm gonna keep my distance..." Gemini sighed. Knuckles nodded. "Fine, and I'll take this even further away..." he said, gliding across the sewer water to the walkway on the other side! Techno Sonic tried staying put and shooting at him from across the water, but it was too easy for him to dodge at this range. "Don't let him escape." Drol ordered. Techno Sonic fired up its jetpack and flew after him, and Knuckles jumped and glided at him at the same time! The electrode fired at him again, but he glided right through it, clenching his teeth through the pain and punching at Techno Sonic's head, only to be repelled by the shield! It tossed him upward, and he kicked off the roof in order to strike the shield with greater force! Techno Sonic fell into the sewer water, and Knuckles glided back to the walkway Rainbow and Gemini were on. "I guess the shield was still affected by gravity." he smirked. "Don't be dumb. You just made Techno Sonic reroute his power too much." Agent 32 said. Knuckles shrugged. "Well, anyway, the water should short him out..." However, Techno Sonic quickly splashed back out of the water!

Suddenly, a laser was fired at Techno Sonic, striking the electrode on its chest! Its shield had apparently been shorted out by the water, and the laser caused an energy overload in the electrode, causing Techno Sonic to explode! Turning around, Knuckles saw Metal Sonic standing beside Rainbow and Gemini! "{Metal Sonic is the superior Sonic!}" the small text on his eye monitor read. "Our robots stink..." Agent 32 groaned as Drol growled. "So... You were threatening us?" Knuckles said, smirking at them. "Colonel Gunner was right about you... About all of you!" Drol growled, stomping his way past them toward the sewer exit, "Come on, Agent 32! We must find the Chaos Relics!" he sneered. Once Drol was gone, they noticed that Freeze was also gone, but Metal Sonic remained. "Well, can't count on Freeze to stop any bombs other than those that threaten Eggman. Can you find 'em, Gemini?" Knuckles asked. "The Covenant of Despair swiped my wand! I... I'm useless..." she whimpered. "No, you're not, Wanda! We'll all look together!" Rainbow said. "Emergency!!" SPOT said loudly. "Huh? SPOT? I didn't notice you there!" Knuckles gasped. "I know..." SPOT's monitor said, "Explosive signals detected. They will be detonated by remote." it added. "Well, good thing you can detect them... So, why is Metal Sonic still here?" Knuckles wondered. "Yeah, I thought we left you at the floaty island, Robo-Speedy!" Rainbow said. "{Mission Directive: Locate Bombs beneath Eggman's Eggtopia & disarm.}" Metal Sonic's text read, not that anyone could read it. "Seriously, WHY did Eggman take away your voice??" Knuckles groaned. "Maybe he couldn't afford a voice actor...?" Rainbow mumbled. "{Knuckles is following same directive... Team up advised.}" Metal Sonic "thought." The robot pointed deeper into the sewer, and the trio around him all crossed their arms. "I guess... He wants to go with us?" Gemini figured. Metal Sonic nodded. "See, Wanda? You're not useless!" Rainbow said as SPOT started to lead them to the next bomb. "Great... I'm the robot-whisperer..." she sighed.

Soon, they found that the sewer tunnels were less like tunnels and more like an expansive underground complex, a mazelike facility with water being routed in numerous directions. "Shouldn't the sewer water all be going to the same place...?" Knuckles muttered. "Oh, when is anything ever simple!? It HAD to be a stinkin' maze, so we'd never find the bombs in time!" Gemini shouted. Suddenly, the group was startled by something leaping out of the sewer water! "Gah! Techno Sonic lives!!" Knuckles yelled, while Metal Sonic started shooting at the intruder straight away! "No, Robo-Speedy! Wait! It's Bluehair!!" Rainbow stammered. A dazed man in an alligator suit stood smoking from Metal Sonic's lasers, a robotic crab latched to his "tail." He groaned weakly. "Everyone in this city stinks! Sic a crab on me and flush me down a toilet, will ya, city!?" he grumbled. Knuckles blinked a few times. "Are... are you okay??" he muttered. "Huh? Oh, sure! I'm the Great Gator! I love a good swim in stinky, swamp-type water! Um... Please get this pinchy guy off my tail..." he yelped. Gemini reached for her wand, then shrugged, realizing she didn't have it. Knuckles pulled the robot off of Gator, but then several more of Eggman's Crabmeat robots jumped out of the water! "You can shoot them, Robo-Speedy!" Rainbow shouted. SPOT opened fire on the robots instead, Metal Sonic refusing to shoot Eggman's creations. "Can I borrow this?" Gator said, taking the robot Knuckles had pulled off of him and using it to pummel another one! "There! Now who's the smart guy!?" he grinned, only to find the remaining Crabmeats aiming missiles from their claws at him. "Aw, fudge..." With the robots distracted by Gator, the group hurried on their way. "Sorry, Bluehair, we got bombs to find!" Rainbow said hastily. "I'll never eat seafood again!!" Gator shouted.

They didn't get far before running into Vortex and Whisk, who were drawn to the noise caused by Gator and the Crabmeats. "Oh, Knucklessss. We meet again." Vortex said. "No time, Bombs!" Knuckles shouted. "Wait, that'sss our concern, too." Vortex said hastily. "Now what are YOU doing here? You on a date?" Rainbow giggled. Vortex glared at her. "We were keeping an eye on Ssssonic! But Zipp detected the bombsss... Much more presssing." Vortex hissed. Whisk smiled. "Hi, my name's Whisk! Who are all of you?" she asked. Rainbow quickly realized that she didn't even recognize her. "It's me, Angel! We were JUST on an adventure together!" she said. "Hm? Oh, nice to meet you, Angel!" Whisk said. Rainbow took a moment to process what she'd said. ".....Huh, WHAAAA???" she gasped loudly. "Real battle of wits going on here..." Knuckles sighed. Gemini squinted at Vortex. "Hey, don't I know you?" she asked. "Oh, uh, Gemini, this is Vortex. He helped save you from the Lost Ones when you were a dragon." Knuckles explained. Vortex's eyes widened. "Wait... Thisss isss the dragon!? ...Never mind. We could usssse assssissssss.... Argh!! We could ussse help finding the bombsss." he said. Gemini nodded. "I suggest we split up. SPOT, give the chameleon the coordinates for one of the bombs, and we'll chase another of them." she said. SPOT displayed a map of the sewer with a few blips on it, which Vortex studied quickly. "Good thing I have a near-photographic memory..." he muttered. Metal Sonic buzzed impatiently, and Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Let's get this show on the road, before we explode!" he said.

With Vortex and Whisk heading off in a separate direction, the rest of the group went through a short series of corridors before finding the next bomb. The gargoyles had attached it to the roof, hanging over the rushing sewage water. "Great, and we sent that winged whatever-she-was with Vortex..." Knuckles groaned. Making matters worse, Lospecter floated out from under the water! "Greetings and cowabunga, sewer spelunkers! Your ol' pals the Lost Ones are here to save you a lot of trouble... and blow you to smithereens right now!" he grinned. Spiderlike lospides rose from the sewer water with him, their arachnid legs somehow skating across the surface as though it were ice! "Spiders to climb the walls... Why not doom us faster and use the bats?" Gemini sighed. Lospecter chuckled. "Thanks, Gems, you just gave me Plan B! ...But I'm actually planning to blow the bomb myself. Lospides, keep 'em busy!" he said, flying off toward the bomb while the spiders skated towards Knuckles and the others! SPOT and Metal Sonic started to fire at them, but their lasers had limited effect on the Lost Ones! "Quick, use your superpowers, One! ...errr..." Rainbow said, glancing at Knuckles and quickly realizing her mistake. With things looking bleak, they suddenly received some unexpected aid! Adam the bat flew up to the bomb, pulling it off the roof and away from Lospecter! "Hey... can you do that!?" he stammered. "Bomb's not motion activated. Despair gets what they pay for." Adam said. Evelyn the fox stepped between Rainbow and Gemini, firing a futuristic laser that disintegrated any lospides it contacted! "We got this, guys!" she grinned. "E-eve?! Adam!?" Gemini stammered in disbelief. "No time to chat! Gotta get rid of this bomb!!" Adam shouted, flying off as fast as he could! "Hey, come back with my toy!" Lospecter shouted, only to almost get zapped by Evelyn's blaster! "Eeep... I didn't like that I could feel the heat from that... Know what? I got better things to be doing!" Lospecter said, flying away through the roof! Gemini growled at Evelyn. "How could you miss!? You could've..." Evelyn gave her a stern look and shook her head. "Well, better catch Adam. He doesn't know how to disarm that thing!" she said, running off. Knuckles stood there with a dumbfounded expression. The lospides that weren't killed vanished under the water once Lospecter was gone. "Ummm... I guess... Find the next bomb, SPOT?" he muttered. Gemini looked off in the direction her friends had gone intently. "Oh no... They've come to take me home..." she thought.


Chapter 22 - The Wrong Wand
Stage 13(Hero 7) - Sewage Scramble
Boss 13 - Eddie & Infin

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.


Vortex and Whisk had fought their way through a number of Eggman's Crabmeat robots, which had apparently been released into the sewer as part of a plan to infiltrate the city. Now, they'd found one of the bombs, attached directly to the underside of a manhole cover. "Thought they could hide it from ussss there, hm?" Vortex muttered. "What do we do? That thing's blocking the way out." Whisk said. "We're not looking to get out! Errr... Jussst leave thisss to me." Vortex sighed. "It's stinky down here." Whisk protested. While they were talking, a beam of ice struck the bomb, freezing it solid and startling Vortex! "What'ssss thisss!?" he hissed. Freeze stood nearby, glancing up at the bomb. "Explosive disarmed. There are still more down here." he said. "Disssarmed? It'sss jussst cold!" Vortex snapped. Freeze started to run off. "If you do not trust me, attempt to dissect it yourself!" the Gizoid shouted. Vortex glanced up at the ice and shivered. "Umm... Let'sss go..." he sighed. "But what about that thing?" Whisk asked. "I sssaid let'sss go!" Vortex hissed, running off. Whisk shrugged, and flapped up to check out the frozen bomb. A loud crash made Vortex spin around, and he saw the explosive device in pieces on the floor amidst chunks of ice. "Um... I broke it..." Whisk said sheepishly. "Happy? Ice disssarmsss the cheap explosssive. NOW can we go?!" he groaned. Whisk sighed as she followed him. "I don't think he likes me..." she muttered.


Knuckles, Rainbow, SPOT, Gemini and Metal Sonic were riding the rushing water of a sewer pipe, escaping from lospides that Lospecter had left behind. It was like a smelly, disgusting water slide, but soon they saw a mass of ice blocking their trip! "Iceberg, dead ahead!!" Rainbow shouted. "Good, grab it!" Knuckles gasped. Climbing onto the ice, the group was soon able to get back to stable ground. "That icy robot must've been through here." Gemini realized. However, SPOT was still detecting a bomb nearby. "Guess he missed something." Knuckles groaned. "{Impossible. Explosive must have been planted after Freeze passed by.}" Metal Sonic figured. Before they could start looking for the bomb, they found themselves getting surrounded by Crabmeats and Kuragens, Eggman's aquatic robots! While Knuckles and SPOT started punching and blasting the bots, respectively, Rainbow and Gemini were stuck hiding behind Metal Sonic. "Can't you reason with them or something?" Gemini asked. Metal Sonic stood firmly, doing nothing. "Are you helping us or what, Robo-Speedy!?" Rainbow yelled. Metal Sonic beeped a little. "{Analyzing situation... Eggtopia may still be in blast zone. Delay does not compute.}" As Crabmeat missiles came searing toward Rainbow and Gemini, Metal Sonic suddenly shot them out of the sky! He then sped into the fray and started to whack the robots with homing attacks, his metal body being impervious to the electric shocks emitted by the Kuragens! "About time you lent a hand, Metal Sonic!" Knuckles said. Rainbow smiled and started to run ahead once there was an opening. "I'll scout ahead! Let's stop those bombs!" she cheered. "Hey, wait! You don't know that's the way!!" Gemini yelled, chasing after her. They came running back moments later, being chased by lospides again. "Wrong way!" Rainbow shouted. SPOT started leading them down another path, so they hurried to escape the monstrous spiders, swiftly knocking out any robots that happened to get in their path on the way.

They spotted the third bomb, planted on yet another ceiling, but the lospides were still chasing them. "All right! Deal with the bomb! I'll squash these spiders!" Knuckles yelled. "Solare!!" A sudden beam of light took out the lospides before Knuckles could approach them! Gemini gulped, and looked around to see Cuthburt the alligator stomping toward her. "You know how many flushed into the sewer jokes I've had to endure from Adam thanks to you, Gemini!?" he growled. "Oh, geez!" Gemini whimpered. Her teacher, Fred the fennec, was standing behind Knuckles, and was the one who had taken out the spiders. "Better stop that bomb. Poppration!" Fred's spell caused the bomb to burst into a harmless display of fireworks, and once it was gone, he turned his attention to Gemini. "T-teacher! What are you doing here!?" she stammered. "Teacher?" Knuckles muttered, scratching his head. "At the moment, I'm defusing bombs..." Fred sighed, "We have to have a talk, Gemini, but first we must get back your wand." he said, crossing his arms. Gemini was a bit surprised how quickly he'd put together the fact that she'd lost it. "O-okay..." she mumbled, quietly sighing with relief that they didn't have to have that talk NOW. SPOT beeped a bit. "Alert!! Alert!!" Glancing at the robot's monitor, they could see that the remaining bombs were all being set up in a single location. "Well... They sure don't like whatever's above that place..." Knuckles muttered. When they looked up, Fred and Cuthburt were already gone. "Well, Freddie's awfully quick. Oh, wait... He coulda teleported us! Aw, he's as bad as Mousy!" Rainbow groaned. "Teleporting's not that easy! It's better to warp small groups around so no one gets stuck in a wall." Gemini said in his defense. Knuckles shrugged. "Whatever! Let's get to those bombs before they blow up the whole city! That many bombs in one place will make a big explosion!" he said, heading off in the direction SPOT started to lead.

They soon found themselves wandering an abandoned subway tunnel. "Are we lost? Why does the sewer lead to a subway?" Knuckles wondered. "Looks like poor planning." Gemini said, noticing water on the tracks. On the way, they saw a gargoyle in a suit, looking a lot like the ones that were with the Covenant of Despair. "Cover me. I'm going in..." Gemini growled, stomping over to him. "Hey, what'sa matta you?" the gargoyle grunted. Gemini stomped his foot and shoved him against the wall, growling at him. "My wand! You got it? Know who has it!?" she yelled. "Jeez, youse one whacked out fox! Where's the resta da gang when I need 'em?" the gargoyle groaned. Knuckles and Rainbow stood there awkwardly. "Umm... Maybe point us in the direction of the bombs?" Knuckles suggested. The gargoyle's eyes went wide. "Ya kiddin me? B-bombs!? I thought we was doin' another smash and grab job! That coven's outta there gourds!" he yelped. "This guy talks funny. Funnier than Six." Rainbow muttered. "What are you saying? You guys in the suits aren't with Despair?" Gemini asked. The gargoyle nodded. "We're a, uh... family business." he grinned. Knuckles crossed his arms. "Ho ho, so it's a gargoyle mafia. Cute." he said. "Ya won't think it�s so cute when we fly ya a mile out over the ocean and drop ya... wearin' cement shoes!" he growled, reaching into his coat slowly. Suddenly, Metal Sonic appeared beside him and grabbed his arm, twisting it and making him drop the gun he was reaching for onto the ground! "Gah!! Youse mugs are as nuts as Despair! I'm flyin' out before I blow sky high!" he growled, jumping into the air and flapping his wings hurriedly to get away from them! Gemini started after him, but Knuckles called after her. "He doesn't have it, Gemini! C'mon, let's get going before WE get blown sky high!" he suggested. Gemini sighed. "You're right... But I don't know what good I am without my wand..." she whimpered.

SPOT led the group to a large storage room that Despair had mostly cleared out in order to plant the remaining bombs. Infin and Eddie were there with a few of the gargoyle mobsters, including one particular blue one. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!" Knuckles shouted as he entered! "Geez, what now!?" Infin yelped as he turned around. "Eeee hee hee! Keep working, 'goyles. I know how to handle this goof." Eddie chuckled. "Hey, he can't boss us around! Shoot him, Infin!" one of the gargoyles yelled. "How about you do as he says... or I shoot the bombs?" Infin said, turning and pointing a gun up at the nearest bomb. "You- you don't got the guts!" the gargoyle stammered. "Don't I? Wanna know how I lost this foot?" Infin grinned. "Y-you... You mugs're... insane....!" the gargoyle gasped while his associates whimpered. "Heehee! Who says 'mugs' anymore? Unless they mean cups, that is." Rainbow chuckled. Knuckles growled softly. "Enough! Eddie, stop it right now! You're gonna get people killed!" he shouted. "Eeee hee hee hee! That's the idea, stupid!" Eddie laughed. "Get back my wand, Knuckles. I'll put them in their place!" Gemini said. "Grrrr!! I'll put them in their place myself!" Knuckles shouted, running at Eddie and hurling a punch at him! As the punch connected, however, Eddie vanished and Knuckles stumbled over! "AAAAH, What the!?" Knuckles stammered! "Eeee hee hee hee! BOO!!" Eddie said from behind the girls! "Eeeek!! Sneak attack!" Rainbow shouted as she and Gemini backed away! "Magic!? No... wait..." Gemini murmured. "Hey! What's the big idea!?" Knuckles yelled. Eddie grinned. "The idea? It's me... Kicking your butt... And taking the Master Emerald. Eeee hee hee!" he cackled. Infin turned, pulling a second, more high tech gun from his coat. "We'll waste ya here, and blow the police station and the GUN outpost ta boot!" he grinned. "Huh? This wasn't about Tubby?" Rainbow asked. "Eeee hee hee! Why yes it was! The tubby old police chief! We'll be taking out the humans who run this town..." Eddie began, "...And then we'll own it!" Infin finished. "That's gotta be the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!" Gemini shouted. "Let's clobber these psychos quick so we can stop those bombs!" Knuckles said. Eddie's hands glowed slightly, and then two more Eddie's appeared beside him! "Eeee hee hee hee hee!! My illusions will make quick work of you! Eeeeeee hee hee hee!" he laughed. "Aw, it's an evil version of Mousy..." Rainbow sighed. "Illusions? Hah! I'm not gonna fall for that! You're going down!" Knuckles shouted.

Infin was about to pull the trigger while Knuckles was distracted with Eddie, when Metal Sonic fired his own laser at his feet! "Wuzzat?? A robot?" he grunted. "{Eggtopia bombers located! Destroy!}" flashed on Metal Sonic's monitor. Infin pointed his shock gun at Metal Sonic, and the two started exchanging shots while Knuckles charged at the three Eddies. He took a swing at the first one and it vanished. "Missed me!" Eddie chuckled, "Wrong again!" he laughed as Knuckles knocked out his other copy. He looked around and couldn't see the real Eddie anywhere. Suddenly, a feral alligator tackled him from behind, and he started struggling to force it off of him! "Eeee hee! The things people dump down here!" Eddie taunted. "Where'd this even...come from!?" Knuckles yelled, struggling. Rainbow slowly approached them, looking for an opening. "St-stay back! It'll take your arm clean off!" Knuckles shouted. However, Rainbow simply struck the gator in the back with a swift karate chop, and it disappeared in a burst of smoke! "Wha...WHAAAT??" Knuckles stammered. "Mousy's critters just take one good hit to knock out. This guy's the same way!" Rainbow grinned. Eddie chuckled and jumped over the echidnas, landing as a quartet of Eddies juggling lit sticks of dynamite. "I'm inspired by our explosive plot to blow you to bits! Try and stop me! Eeeee hee hee!!" Rainbow chuckled nervously. "Did I mention my sister works for you guys?" she whimpered. Knuckles shoved her out of the way and started trying to fight the four Eddies, though he was forced to duck and dodge as the hyenas tossed the dynamite back and forth between each other, laughing at him. "Wise guys... How about this, then?" Knuckles said, changing his tactic into attempting to catch the dynamite tossed at him! "Not sure how this illusion-dynamite works... But the hot potato's gonna burn you!" he said, tossing each stick of dynamite to a different Eddie than it was originally heading for! The hyena seemed to have trouble keeping up as he tried to control all four of himself at once, and soon they missed catching the explosives and were blown away! Once there was just one Eddie left, Knuckles attempted to throw a punch at him again. However, he once again fell right through him! "I think that one almost hit me! Eeee hee!" Eddie chuckled from behind him!

"Quit playin' around! We gotta finish these chumps before the cops catch wind of what we're up to down here!" Infin shouted, struggling to avoid Metal Sonic's homing attacks. "Dr. Eggman has already caught wind of this!" shouted Freeze as he, Vortex and Whisk charged into the room! "Another bot!? Oh dis is just great! Eddie, this operation's blown!" Infin yelled. Eddie backed away from Knuckles and glanced at Infin. "Eee hee... Wasn't that the point, Mitch?" he asked. "I-It's INFIIIIIIN!!! This is why I didn't wanna put my real name on the application form in the first place!" the weasel whined. "Um... Do you surrender yet?" Knuckles asked. Gemini, who had been sneaking toward the blue gargoyle the whole time, suddenly spoke up. "Before you go, GIMME BACK MY WAND!!!" she cried. "Make me!" the gargoyle said gruffly, seeming unfazed that she'd been sneaking up on him. "C'mon, give her back her toy." Whisk said, nudging him. This startled him. "How'd you!?" he yelped. "Whisssk!! Come back here until the bombsss are disssarmed!" Vortex yelled. Eddie grinned. "Eeee hee! That reminds me! Detonate the bombs!" he said. "Ignore him, boys." the lead gargoyle ordered. "No time to waste! Give back my wand right now!!" Gemini insisted. "No way! You'll zap me wit it again!" the gargoyle protested. Infin once again pointed his gun at the bombs. "Right, then. I'll shoot those bombs real quick!" he growled. "One, do something!!" Rainbow shouted to Knuckles. "I'm NOT One-err, Punchy!!" Knuckles shouted indignantly. Before Infin could shoot, Freeze ran ahead and blasted the bombs with ice! Infin fired anyway, but this only dislodged the bombs from the roof, making them crash down uselessly. "Whew! That was close... If Freeze hadn't froze them, they'd blow sky high!" Knuckles sighed. Infin looked completely dumbfounded. "What kinda cheapo explosives we got here!? A little ice clogs 'em up!?" he grumbled. "Oh, well. Guess we can settle for causing a ruckus in the city on our way back to base. Eeee hee hee!" Eddie chuckled. "Huh!? Hey, wait a second! Don't even think about it!" Knuckles warned. However, Eddie started to cover their escape with a swarm of illusion locusts! As Despair and the gargoyles began to escape, Gemini and Whisk grabbed the blue gargoyle. "Hold still, you!" Gemini yelled. "Eeee hee hee! So long!" Eddie cackled in the distance as the locusts vanished. "That was gross..." Rainbow sighed. "I will pursue them!" Freeze said, joined by Metal Sonic as he left.

"No more bombs detected..." SPOT's monitor read, allowing Knuckles to breathe a slight sigh of relief. However, the blue gargoyle was breaking free of Gemini and Whisk's grip. "Outta my way, or get a gut fulla lead!" he warned, pulling out a gun. "Wanda!!" Rainbow shouted. "Whisssk! Teleport!!" Vortex yelled. "Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me!" Whisk cried, vanishing from the sewer in a flash of light! However, she'd left Gemini. "You gonna move!?" the gargoyle growled. "I... can't..." Gemini whimpered. Knuckles and Rainbow started toward the gargoyle, but they wouldn't make it. Suddenly, a large flash of light emerged in front of the gargoyle! Fred, Adam, Evelyn and Cuthburt stood between the gargoyle and Gemini, and quickly surrounded him! "Who what where!? What's goin' on!? What's happening!? My parole officer was right!!" the gargoyle stammered in a panic. "Teacher!" Gemini cried in relief. "Hand over the wand... Or I'll show you what MY wand can do!" Fred warned. "And if ya don't believe in magic, then how about I just rough ya up!?" Cuthburt growled. "We got ya surrounded, chump!" Adam added. "You okay, Gemini?" Evelyn asked. Gemini nodded, and the gargoyle started to freak out. "I didn't sign up for all this! Bombs and illusions and crazy magic people! I'm goin' straight! Take the stick! TAKE IT!!" he screamed, thrusting the wand into Fred's hands and flying as fast as he could for the exit! "I WANT MY NANA!!!" the gargoyle cried as he left. Vortex shrugged and left now that the drama seemed to be over, and Knuckles and Rainbow rested nearby while Gemini had a proper reunion with her friends. "T-teacher Leo... I... I'm so relieved to see you..." she sniffled. Fred had a stern look on his face. "Gemini.... You're in serious trouble, you know that? Time travel is not to be trifled with..." he said, glancing over Gemini's wand, "Wait a second... This isn't your wand!" he gasped. "What? Of course it is! What are you saying?" Gemini stammered. "I don't doubt that the gargoyle had nothing to do with this... He could barely tie his own shoes." Fred muttered to himself, "How have your spells been lately?" he asked. Gemini thought back. "Well, they worked. I even healed someone with a gunshot wound! Only... it wasn't enough..." she said. "Are you sure the wand's a fake?" Adam wondered. "Positive. It should have put the victim in stable condition if you used the spell right. The wound couldn't be fully healed, but... The victim couldn't walk?" Fred asked. Gemini shook her head. "What's going on here...?" Knuckles wondered, noticing the looks of concern among Gemini's friends. "Was your wand stolen at any other point?" Fred asked. "Eggman's Tree Fort! That Dr. Nammad took my wand! He was experimenting on it! I thought I got it back..." Gemini explained. "Eggman has a Tree Fort?" Knuckles wondered. Rainbow nodded. "It's in the Mystical Ruins. Not far from your island." she said. Fred looked thoughtful. "He must've crafted a replica for some reason... and he still has the real wand! Gemini, we must recover it!" he said urgently. "Awww... Gemini, you really are a troublemaker!" Cuthburt groaned. "Well, I guess I'll leave you with your friends here, Gemini. I'd better catch up with Sonic!" Knuckles realized, starting off to find a way out of the sewer with SPOT. "Good luck, Wanda!" Rainbow said, following Knuckles. "Thanks, Rainbow..." Gemini said. "I'm gonna need it..." she thought. She had to get her wand back, but GUN would not be easy to infiltrate...


Chapter 23 - Demon Island
Stage 14(Dark 7) - Despair Corridors
Minor Boss 10 - Patch & Daisy

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:
Separated from Rainbow, Punchy went out in search of her, but found her sister Violet instead. To secure her aid finding Rainbow, Punchy went looking for a key to the deepest chamber of a sunken ruin. Inside was the Chaos Wing, a golden cape, but Freeze got away with it. After getting into a battle with the Deathbringer, the ruins started to collapse! Violet was forced to drag Punchy away from the Deathbringer. On the way out, Punchy saw a vision of Tikal, Shadow Chaos, and a mysterious wolf named Howler. He awoke in Troblusk City with Violet, and they set out to find Rainbow at last.
Meanwhile, Kosmo went on his own journey through Sandopolis and Lava Reef Zone. Reaching a secret chamber of Hidden Palace Zone, he was drawn into a battle with GUN's Hotfoot mech! When GUN and Fera were about to launch attacks that would destroy the secret chamber, Kosmo hurriedly rescued Experiment 14, Carrie, who sent him to Angel Island to begin with.
Now, on to the next chapter!


Kosmo and Carrie were just outside Sandopolis, having just recently gotten out of the pyramid. "Well... thanks for your help." said Carrie, standing a bit awkwardly. "What was all that about, anyway?" Kosmo wondered. "The ruins told the story of the Chaos Relics. Seems like the Covenant of Despair didn't want anyone to know about it." Carrie explained. "And what do you know about it?" Kosmo asked. Carrie sighed. "I was there to support Bucky, Kosmo... He's my creator..." she said. Kosmo growled softly at the mention of Bucky. "But he's NOT our father! He's made that plenty clear to me!" he snapped. Suddenly, someone called out to Carrie. "Fourteen!!" said Talon the griffin as he flew toward them. Carrie rolled her eyes. "Yeesh! What's the big emergency, 'Fifteen!?' Can't you see I'm talking, here?!" she shouted. "Huh?" Talon muttered, glancing at Kosmo, "Oh, hey there... I'm Experiment 15... Who are you?" he asked. "Experiment 3..." Kosmo grumbled. Carrie crossed her arms impatiently. "What IS it?" she snapped. "I need your help! I... I've run into a bit of trouble infiltrating the Covenant of Despair..." Talon admitted. Carrie stared at him in bewilderment. "What.... You mean they saw you!?" she groaned, "I guess we'll have to pick up this conversation later, Kosmo!" she sighed, starting off with Talon. "Hmm... Maybe..." Kosmo muttered, watching them. "Come on, ya klutz!" Carrie shouted to Talon. "Sorry!!" he groaned. Unbeknownst to them, Kosmo morphed into a mouse and started to follow them inconspicuously...


Figuring on checking to see if Rainbow had gone home, Punchy and Violet arrived in Station Square. To avoid attracting attention, Violet had made a stop to change her clothes before taking the train, and was now wearing a simple, pale lavender miniskirt with blue along the edges. She looked much more similar to Rainbow in this outfit. As the two echidnas started their stroll through the city, they noticed Copter standing next to a taxi cab, talking to Mia, the driver. "Stop beating yourself up, Copter... You can't control everything." Mia was saying. "I guess... But I don't know what the heck I was thinking! That whole thing was disaster waiting to happen!" Copter groaned. Once Violet recognized him, she immediately grew furious. "YOU! What are you doing loitering around here!? Didn't you have a mission!?" she yelled, making Copter jump! "Ummm.... Hey, Punchy. And, Violet! Nice outfit. Are you two out on a date or something? 'Cuz I gotta warn ya, Punch, she's a nut." he muttered. "SHUT UP, COPTER!" both echidnas shouted at once! "I'm not on a date! I'm looking for Rainbow! She's Violet's sister! Have you seen her?" Punchy said. Before Copter could respond, Violet interrupted. "I'm a nut, am I?! How'd you like my foot up your--" Just then, Mia honked her horn to get everyone's attention. "Hey, guys! Does Rainbow have rainbow quills?" she asked. "Well... yeaaah...." Copter mumbled. Mia nodded. "I saw her follow that Experiment 3 creepo out of town... When I was on my way to visit Katie at the hospital." she said. Punchy crossed his arms. "Copter, did you put the reporter in the hospital?" he asked. Copter glared at him. "Why is that your first thought!? Why not Kosmo?" he protested. "You've got more reason." Punchy said. Violet was looking a bit concerned at this point. "My sister's following Kosmo?" she wondered. Copter groaned. "Ugh! I'm not gettin' away from him today, am I? Fine, let's get to Despair Castle and look for 'em." he said. "You mean... The Covenant of Despair's base!?" Punchy asked curiously. "Long story." Copter shrugged. Violet sighed. "And how will we get to Demon Island exactly? I kinda separated from the group to follow this clown!" she pointed out. "See, Copt? Would my date call me a clown?" Punchy said. "I could see that." Copter joked, "Well, I could call the Hurricane, but it only seats two." he muttered. "Anyone call a cab?" Mia grinned, pulling a special lever that caused her cab to transform! It suddenly sprouted wings, enabling its flight mode! "I warn ya, I charge extra for flight fare!" the cat smirked. Violet stood there looking dumbfounded, and Copter glanced at her and simply said "Don't ask..."

With Violet to guide them, the flying cab soon found its way to the dark, foreboding floating landmass known as Demon Island. Parking the cab in the outer woods, Mia remained behind while the others headed for the imposing black castle at the center of the island. As they drew close, they noticed the area was in an uproar. Basker the hound and Conan the raccoon were outside the front gate, and quickly spotted them. "Violet?? What are you doing out of uniform?" Basker asked. "Ah... Commander Basker..." was all Violet could manage to say. "You're behind this, aren't you, Copter!?" Conan shouted, clasping the hilt of his sheathed blade. "Behind.... what?" Copter stammered. "Intruders have infiltrated the castle. Some reports indicate that they are with GUN, but they have yet to be confirmed..." Basker explained. Copter frowned. "I don't work with GUN, Conan." he growled. "psst... Should I be hiding?" Punchy whispered, though he was ignored. "Violet! No time to change back into your uniform. Pray that your allies recognize you. Get looking for those intruders." Basker ordered. Violet stood up straight. "R-right! Yes, sir!" she said seriously. "What about Rainbow!?" Punchy complained. Violet turned in his direction. "Can it. You look for Rainbow! I've got friends here to account for, too!" she whisper-shouted. "Well... least you're not ditching her for evil..." Punchy whispered back. "Hey! Talk to your boyfriend on your own time!" Conan shouted. Punchy looked at him indignantly. "Do we really look like we're--" He was interrupted by Basker. "I don't care! You can help or stay out of the way! Pick one!" he said, turning back to the gate. "Nice chat, Conan." Copter muttered. "Next time, you must permit me to trim those scruffy tails of yours..." Conan replied, not letting go of his sword. "The intruders blew a hole in the wall. We'll head them off this way." Basker said, leading Violet and Conan inside. Copter and Punchy thus started looking for the hole in the wall. "Kosmo could be behind this. He was ticked about what happened to Katie..." Copter said. "What if Rainbow's with him? Oh boy..." Punchy gulped. "Hey by the way, what's with the Despair bracelet, Punchy?" Copter asked as they walked. "Well... don't panic if I suddenly go dark, okay?" Punchy sighed. They passed by a single grave stone with flowers left in front of it. Several names had been carved into the stone over time, it apparently being the only form of memorial the Covenant of Despair possessed. A violet and a daisy were carefully preserved at the very center of the memorial, directly in front of the stone. Copter stopped there, just for a moment, a melancholy look on his face. Despite his differences with the covenant, he still felt obliged to pay his respects...

Rouge the bat was flapping around the high ceiling just inside the castle where the hole in the wall was blown. She perched herself atop a demonic statue high on the wall, resting and waiting for the commotion below to die down. Soon, Copter and Punchy came through the hole in the wall, and quickly ran into Daisy the skunk and Patch the fox, who were standing guard at a nearby hall entrance. "Oh, hey. You're that guy that found the key at the underwater palace. Hey, what'd you do with Violet!?" Daisy questioned. "Hee huh? You kidnap her? Are you the intruder?? Can I kill you?" Patch asked excitedly. "Nice friends, Punchy." Copter smirked. Daisy looked from Punchy to Copter, then back at Punchy. "Wait, you're friends with that jerk, Copter!? That's even worse!" she yelled. "My friends? Sounds like you're the one they know, Copt." Punchy remarked. Suddenly, Rouge swooped down next to Punchy. "Guard, what're you... Aw, Punchy! Your green hide blew my cover!!" she shouted, having mistaken him for a certain gargoyle. "Rouge!?" Punchy gasped in confusion. Patch had a goofy look on his face when he saw the bat girl. "Burglars!! Hee hee! Hot winged burglars!" he babbled. Daisy growled and smacked him in the back of the head. "This is no time for hot wings... You little..." she grumbled. Just then, Fera emerged behind Patch and Daisy. "I've got it, you two." she said. "You! You're with the Covenant of Despair, too!" Punchy gasped. "Uhh... Uniform's a dead giveaway, Punchy." Copter muttered. "You didn't forget my name, did you? I'm Fera!! By the way, how's that delightful darkness of yours developing?" the wolf grinned. Punchy shrugged. "I guess it... Comes in handy?" he mumbled. Fera nodded. "Hm... And what's happened to your little friend?" she wondered, "Ah, well. Why don't you show us your progress?" she smirked. "Punchy.... You're not with the Covenant are you? You're not really THAT dumb, right?" Rouge asked. Fera frowned. "Silence! You'll answer for your treachery against furkind after we test Punchy's dark power!" she shouted.

Punchy shook his head. "I don't think now's a good time for Dark Punchy." he said. Copter nodded. "Good call, pal." he smiled. "Hee hee! Dummy! Anytime's a good time for darkness! If I could use it, I'd be zapping stuff like crazy!" Patch giggled. Fera crossed her arms. "Hmph... Daisy, Patch... I think he needs convincing. So convince him." she ordered. Daisy drew her katana, while Patch produced some nunchucks. "Easy, there... You're Violet's friends. I don't want to hurt ya..." Punchy said, backing away. "Well, I don't mind hurting those numbskulls!" Copter growled, rushing in only to get knocked backward by a blast of darkness from Fera! "We're testing PUNCHY... Though I sense darkness in you, too... but it's far to suppressed to be useful." she scoffed. Copter stood up slowly. "Huh? ...Whatever. Knock their heads together and let's go, Punchy!" he shouted. Patch's nunchucks slapped Punchy across the face, starting to get on his nerves as he laughed at him. "Hee hee! I'll pummel you into a pile of busted green quills!" he taunted. As Daisy slashed her sword at him, Punchy was forced to jump back to avoid a nasty cut. "You did something to Violet, didn't you!? Where is she!!?" the skunk shouted. This line of questioning made Punchy even madder. "Idiot! You're the ones who ditched her in a collapsing ruin!" he snapped, attempting to punch back, only to be easily evaded and whacked by Patch's nunchucks! "Ow!! Cut that out!!" he yelled. "Hee hee! I haven't even started trying to kill you yet." Patch grinned. "Punchy, don't let them get to you! That's what Fera wants!" Copter shouted. Punchy rolled his eyes. "I KNOW, you idiot! Why aren't you in here helping, anyway!?" he growled. Copter was about to say something, when he noticed Fera's hands glowing with dark energy. "Is she doing something to you...?" he wondered. As Daisy and Patch moved in for another attack, though, Rouge swooped in and tried to strike them, causing Fera to try to zap her like she'd done to Copter. She'd gotten pretty close, though, and Daisy got caught in the crossfire! "Yow!!!" she yelped. "Um... Oops." Fera frowned.

"Grrrrr!! Get out of the way!!" Punchy shouted furiously. "Hee... hee? Guy looks mad." Patch said, almost seriously. "That's it... Use that rage..." Fera whispered. The Despair Seal started to flash, and a wave of darkness shot from Punchy's body, knocking Daisy, Patch and Rouge away! "Rrrrrgh.... Wait.... E-enough!!" Punchy yelled, stopping darkness before it could take hold of him. "...What the heck are you!?" Daisy stammered. "I... I don't know..." Punchy panted. Fera shrugged and started to walk away, motioning for Daisy and Patch to follow her. "Let's secure these corridors..." she said. Once she was gone, Rouge approached Punchy. "Well, I'd say you owe me one for that... Care to help me look for the stuff the Covenant of Despair stole?" she asked. "Hm? You mean like the Chaos Boots?" Copter asked. Rouge smiled. "See? You're helping already. I knew this'd be worth it. We can also keep an eye out for any other Chaos-related trinket they got." she said. Punchy nodded. "Well... Might as well, while I look for Rainbow or Kosmo." he figured. 

As they proceeded into the dark corridors of Despair Castle, they soon found some familiar faces fighting each other. Vector the crocodile was trying to catch E-2X Alpha as he flew around, shooting lasers randomly. "Huh? How'd these two even get up here!?" Punchy stammered. "You kidding? Eggman's robots get everywhere somehow." Rouge groaned. "Omigosh! It's another talking cucumber! And some flying fudge-pops!" Alpha gasped. "Did he just call us fudge-pops...?" Copter growled. Alpha turned to fly away, seeing that he was outnumbered. "Okay! I'll go look for shiny Chaos dealies!" he said as he escaped! "What!? He's looking for the same thing we are?" Rouge stammered. Vector shrugged. "Yeah, seems Eggman's team up with Despair's just a ruse." he said. "Yeah... Nice deduction... How are you here!?" Punchy asked. "Oh! Uh... heh heh... A detective's got his secrets..." he replied. "You get captured or something?" Copter wondered. Vector frowned. "Well, anyway, I tracked you guys down! Why don't we work together to solve what these Despair goons are up to?" he suggested. Punchy shrugged. "What's one more goofball wandering with us? I'm sure we won't look AT ALL suspicious..." he mumbled.

Continuing their exploration, they tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. If Violet could wander around out of uniform and not get attacked, maybe they could pull it off, too. With Covenant of Despair agents running to and fro searching for the intruders, Copter and Punchy tried to keep a similarly urgent expression. They were passing by what appeared to be a shooting range used to train new recruits when Corky the frog stopped them. "Oi... You ain't got uniforms! Wait a mo, I know dat bat gal! She's dat lady what works fer GUN!" he shouted, whipping his tongue into the shooting range and pulling out a gun, which he quickly took into his hand and pointed at Rouge! "Why'd I have to be so glamorous? Fame isn't such a good thing for a spy..." she sighed. Before Corky could shoot, she flew out of the way, swooping down and kicking the gun aside! "Hey! I need backup here, putzes!!" Corky yelled, getting attention from several Despair agents of varying species. "Well, there goes stealth." Copter sighed, "This way guys! Chaos Whirlwind!" His chaotic wind knocked several uniformed animals over, giving them an escape route! "Great! Get a head start, guys!" Vector shouted, turning to face the advancing enemies as Punchy, Copter and Rouge ran ahead. "Remember me in song, fellas..." Vector grinned, vocalizing loudly and making the Despair agents clutch their ears in agony from his generally terrible singing voice. "Hm, some guys just got no taste." he scoffed, running off to join the others. "Reminds me of my Spagonian Idol audition..." Corky groaned.

Entering a room with small pools of water in the corners, they found the white Chaos Emerald sitting on the floor. "Beautiful! I was hoping to find an emerald stashed here!" Rouge grinned. Suddenly, Illusi stepped in front of the emerald! "Hello, Dark One... Seems your darkness is getting stronger." he said. "Yo, Illusi." Copter waved. "You here to kill me again!?" Punchy growled. "...Wait, WHAT!?" Copter gasped. Illusi shrugged. "Let's call this a wager... Pass my little test, and you get the Chaos Emerald. Fail, and... well, you don't." he sneered, vanishing. "Hey, wait! What test? Where'd he go??" Vector stammered. Suddenly, the water in the pools started to churn, and the room rapidly began to flood! "Ha! It's illusion water! We can't drow--" Punchy muttered, only to start choking as the water covered his face! He immediately jumped to the surface to take a breath, but was pulled under quickly by a big, red eel! "What's this, a sea Wrongo!?" Punchy thought, struggling to get free. Looking around, he could see that the others were being assaulted by similar eel creatures. As Vector tried to swim away from them, they blew fire at him! "Huh?? Fire underwater!? Oh... Illusions..." Vector grumbled. As Punchy struggled, he thought about using the Despair Seal, but he remembered that this was one of Illusi's tests. "These things probably feed on darkness... Dang, where's Rainbow when I need her?" he thought. Rouge struggled free of the eels attacking her and jumped out of the water, flying above in what limited airspace the room still possessed. "All right... How do I grab that emerald...?" she muttered, only to have to avoid fire that the eels blew at her! "Argh! Someone get rid of these things!" she yelled. Punchy shut his eyes and tried to think. "Just illusions... They're just illusions... Hmm..." With his eyes shut, he couldn't feel anything but the water. He kicked his legs, and slipped right through the eel's grip! "Must be tough, not existing!" he grinned, swimming straight for the emerald while the eel tried to untangle itself! The other eels tried to blow fire at him to stop him, so Punchy tried to pick up the pace... He felt a wave of heat around him as he grabbed the emerald, and suddenly the illusions all vanished! The only water in the room was once again in the small pools, and Illusi stood at the doorway with crossed arms. "When I catch you... I will not be as forgiving as this illusion of me..." he said, vanishing as the other illusions did. The group took a moment to catch their breath, but they couldn't waste too much time. The Chaos Boots were still in the castle somewhere!


Chapter 24 - Agents of Despair
Stage 14(Dark 7) - Despair Corridors
Boss 14 - Basker

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 Covenant of Despair was now on alert, and targeting anyone not wearing uniforms as potential intruders. They considered looking for spare uniforms to disguise themselves, but they couldn't find any in Vector's size. Frustrated, Punchy started to rely heavily on Dark Punchy to clear any Despair agents out of their way during their search for the Chaos Boots, which left the others a bit uneasy. "I don't care if he CAN control his dark form now; it gives me the heebie-jeebies..." Rouge whispered behind Dark Punchy's back. "Yeah, doesn't he remember wrecking half of Station Square not so long ago?" Copter grumbled. "Wait, that was HIM??" Vector gasped. "Are you really a detective?" Copter sighed. Dark Punchy glanced back at them, holding up a uniformed bear that tried to get in their way. "Does anyone have something they want to say to me?" he growled, tasering the bear with dark energy. "N-not me!!" the bear whimpered before Dark Punchy tossed him aside! "Um... We wouldn't mind talking to regular Punchy for a minute..." Copter muttered. Dark Punchy snarled a bit. "I'd snap you if he'd let me... Just wait, eventually I'll be the one in control." he said before the Despair Seal flashed, changing him back into normal Punchy. "Problem, guys?" he asked. "You're psychotic!!" Vector yelled. Punchy crossed his arms. "Just blowin' off steam. Yeesh. I didn't kill anyone, did I?" he grumbled, raising an eyebrow. Copter shrugged, and Rouge avoided the subject by looking into the room ahead. "Hey, is that a safe in there?" she mumbled, dashing past Punchy. "...I didn't kill anyone, right?" Punchy asked again, looking worried. "No, Punch. But you seemed kinda tempted." Copter sighed. They quickly joined Rouge in the next room, where she was looking over a heavy-duty safe with Despair's red star on the front. "I'm guessing the Chaos Boots are in there." Rouge concluded. "I could smash it open, but you guys are having anti-dark sentiments right now..." Punchy muttered. Rouge chuckled. "Smash it? Don't be silly. I can crack this thing. Just keep a lookout for me..." she grinned.

While Rouge was busy attempting to crack the safe, one of the many canine agents of Despair showed up. "Hey... You can't be in here..." the dog muttered. Before anyone could react, the dog pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew it! The high-pitched sound called in several hornet-shaped robots reminiscent of Eggman's buzzbombers, only with a nastier disposition. "ROBOTS!? Even up here I gotta deal with dumb robots!?" Copter shouted. "They're our special Beecon drones! Great for checking out dangerous terrain or just... avoiding direct confrontation." the dog said, a big sheepishly. "I think it goes without saying that I need those bugs outta my hair!" Rouge shouted. As the dog fled to avoid "direct confrontation," the Beecons started buzzing around, firing lasers from their mouths while attempting to get in close with their sharp stingers! Right away, Copter started chasing after them, smashing any he could catch with powerful tail whips! Punchy used Chaos Avalanche on some of the statues hung high in the room, dropping them down on unsuspecting bees. Vector, being the largest target, had to take cover from the lasers the most. However, when they came in close with their stingers, he took the opportunity to bite back with his powerful jaws! "Yuck! Blugh! Wish I had gum on me..." he grumbled, thinking of creative tactics he'd used in the past, "So, are these Eggman's robots or what??" he wondered. Copter blew away a few Beecons with Chaos Whirlwind before answering him. "After Despair swiped the Chaos Boots from Eggman? I don't think he'd be giving them his designs... Then again, Techno Sonic works for GUN." he reasoned. "Ugh, now my head hurts..." Punchy groaned as he punched out the last robot, "How's the safe coming?" he asked. Rouge dangled the Chaos Boots from her fingers, smirking. "Done with robots to spare. Anyway, my theory is Despair has its own scientist building the bots." she said. Copter scoffed. "Yeah, who? Bucky?" he grunted. Vector sighed. "Never mind. We better keep moving."

With the Chaos Boots in hand, Rouge's primary mission was complete. "Now I just gotta grab Guard and get outta here. Wish I had some idea where that flying mutt got to." she said. Copter and Punchy both groaned at the mention of the gargoyle. "Guard? Do we have to...?" Copter grumbled. "Well... Maybe he's seen Kosmo and Rainbow..." Punchy sighed. Vector grinned and nodded. "Leave this to me! I'll track down your missing pal!" he said, taking the lead down the next hallway. "He's not my pal!" Rouge shouted. Chasing after Vector, they soon found the croc cornering the same dog that had sent the Beecons after them! "Hey, sparky, how'd you get ahead of us? Plannin' ta pull a sneak attack? Sit! Stay! I gotta ask you some questions!" Vector said, lifting the canine up by his collar. "How come when I do this kinda stuff as Dark Punchy, I get scolded?" Punchy pouted. Vector glanced back. "Hey, I ain't gonna hurt him. I might drop him... If he doesn't talk." he said. The dog struggled in Vector's grip. "Wh-what?? You already robbed the safe!!" he yelled. "Naw, I wanna know if you've seen a gargoyle around." Vector sneered. "Th-there's gargoyles all over the place. We've got the mob doin' some of our dirty work..." the dog whined. Copter shrugged. "Maybe Gunner would be happy with one of those gargoyles instead?" he joked. "You didn't exactly answer me, pup! You see a gargoyle or not? This guy's not with the mob. Think carefully... I'm losin' my grip on ya." Vector growled. "A-all right! Maybe I saw him... But I dunno where he is now! He was clobbering anyone in his way, so I ran..." the dog stammered. Vector gently put him on the ground and pointed down the hall. "Hit the road before we change our minds." he said. While the dog fled, Rouge thought about what he'd said. "Guard's probably going deeper in the castle. Typical. He doesn't care what kind of danger he throws himself, or ME, in." she groaned. Copter shrugged. "Well, good news is that he's clobbering everyone ahead of us. Let's go!" he said, leading the charge down the hallway.

After a while, they arrived in a strange room that was filled with laboratory equipment. There was someone lying on a metal table in the back, with wires and tubes attached. Copter looked around nervously. "Is this Bucky's room? Who's that lying back there? Looks... familiar..." he said, squinting in the darkness. Out of the shadows, Violet, Daisy and Basker emerged, glaring at them. "Violet? So, I see you made time to change back into your uniform anyway..." Punchy observed, "What about Rainbow!?" he said suddenly. "Don't pretend you care! You haven't been looking for her! You've been sabotaging the Covenant of Despair!" Violet shouted. Copter and Punchy looked confused, while Rouge whistled nonchalantly. "Did you think your thievery would go unnoticed? We know you have stolen the Chaos Boots." Basker said. Copter pointed at Basker angrily. "Ha! Very funny! You stole them first! I was there!" he shouted. "From a man who most likely stole them as well. Must we go into such preposterous politics?" Basker sighed. "As a matter of fact, politics sound good right about now." Rouge said, pressing a button on a gizmo hidden under her glove, "I'll be transmitting the location of this island to GUN! Expect an invasion any moment!" she smirked. Basker smiled lightly. "Hm... Haha... Most amusing." he said. "That's not funny! Shouldn't we be calling a red alert!?" Daisy said in panic. "By the time GUN gets here, the island will be gone... And you will be dead." Basker said calmly. "Grrrrr!! I don't think so!" shouted Guard, dropping down from the roof and brandishing his scythe! Punchy raised his fists as well. "Good timing. Actually, you're late. Violet, outta the way! We're gonna mess up that punk!" he said. Violet glared at Punchy with rage. "I will not! Punchy... Give back the Chaos Boots... Or I'll TAKE them from you!" she shouted. "Girl trouble, eh, Punchy? Hey, red eyes! I got a bone to pick, too! Who have you guys got stashed back there!?" Copter shouted, trying to move in for a closer look, only to be blocked by Basker. "That's none of your concern. Our master has plans for that one. She needs her rest." he said. Daisy started toward Vector and Rouge with her katana. "All right, you..." she growled, only to be blocked as Talon the griffon suddenly dropped in front of her! "Hiiyaaaah!! Hold it right there, stinko!" he shouted. "Whaaaaat!?" she gasped. "My name is Talon! With the power of my psychokinesis, watch as I disarm you and turn your weapon against you!" Talon shouted. A blue light glowed around him, and Daisy started struggling to keep her grip on her katana! "H-hey! Get away, you freak!" she yelled. "Ummmm... I'll take it." Punchy said, watching. "Don't ignore me! I was trained in dark magic by Fera!" Violet shouted, her hands glowing with dark energy! "Fera? Shoulda known." Punchy groaned.

Rouge glanced back at the exit, holding the Chaos Boots in her hands. "Guard, maybe we'd better get these to HQ." she suggested. "GIVE ME THOSE!!" shouted Violet, knocking Punchy back with a quick bolt of darkness before charging at Rouge and grabbing for the boots! Rouge tried to hold on to them, but blasts of dark energy forced her to back off without them! "She's nuts!" she yelled. "Guys! Play keep-away with the Chaos Emerald!" Punchy suggested, first tossing it to Vector, who threw it to Copter next. "I'm gonna have to ask for that, Copter." said a familiar voice that startled the fox. A certain cheetah emerged from the shadows, wearing a Covenant of Despair uniform! "Wha....?! CHET!? What in Eggman's name are you doing in that stupid getup!?" Copter stammered, shocked. "What do you think?!" Chet snapped, baring his claws, "REVENGE!!" Rouge groaned as she watched this. "So, you're not going to toss me the emerald, huh?" she complained, glancing at Violet next, "Then I'd better get back those boots!" she realized. Violet launched a blast of darkness to keep her away. "I suggest you leave while you still can! I may not be fully trained, but my darkness can still destroy you!" she warned. Basker stepped forward as well, raising a hand to Guard threateningly. "Darkness and fear ride hand in hand... Let me show you the power I wield..." he growled, his eyes glowing brighter as he enveloped his hands in a dark blue energy, which he swiftly cast over Guard! "Grr... Rrrraaaa!! What... is this???" the gargoyle gasped. However, a sudden laser blast interrupted Basker's spell! "What?" Basker mumbled, looking at the entrance to the room. Alpha started to fly in, and then pointed his laser straight at Vector. "It's the cucumber again!! You tripped me!" the robot yelled. "Aw, come ON! I said I was sorry!!" Vector shouted. Guard backed away from Basker and shook his head to snap out of the spell. "Grrr.... Your tricks won't stop me!" he growled. Rouge landed beside him, while Punchy found himself face to face with Violet. "Violet... You don't wanna do this..." he growled. "...Yes I do!" she snarled.

Violet started to hurl bolts of dark energy at Punchy, which he sidestepped as quickly as he could. He didn't want to have to fight Rainbow's sister, but she really wasn't giving him any choice. Copter didn't want to fight with Chet, either. "What are you thinking!? Cut it out, you nut!" he shouted. "No, Copter! Eggman or GUN killed Katie! I can't... I can't let them get away with this!!" Chet growled. Copter raised an eyebrow. "I can think of at least two things wrong with your logic. Slow down a sec, pal." he sighed. "You're NOT my pal!!" Chet yelled, punching Copter square in the nose! "YOW!! ...OK, guess I had that comin'..." Copter grunted, "But now that we're even, you better listen!" he yelled. While Copter tried to reason with Chet, Basker was battling Guard and Rouge with his fear powers. With every strike he made with his magic, he seemed to vanish from his enemies' sight, replaced with eerie dark shadows or a writhing mass of snakes! "He's trying to trick us with illusions... like that shrew guy!" Rouge said, only to hear Basker chuckling in her ears. "Illusion implies that I conjured something..." he said, the shadow behind Rouge seeming to leap out to attack her! "Whoa! Back off!" she shouted, kicking at the shadow only to watch her foot go right through it! "Grrrr... Where are you, Rouge??" Guard grunted, looking around. For some reason, he could see neither Rouge nor Basker, though his android sensors could still detect them. Suddenly, the mass of snakes came at him and hurled some snakeheads his way, like a whip! "Grrrr!!? What demon is this!?" he gasped, jumping back and attacking with his scythe's beam! Rouge saw a beam of darkness come from the shadows at that moment. "This isn't funny. Where's Guard?" she growled. Guard noticed the snakes hesitate for a moment, and checked his sensors. "Gr? That can't be right..." Looking around, he saw an oddly-shaped shadow looming over him. "Grrrr! There you are!" he growled, slashing his scythe to fire its beam at the shadow! Basker stumbled over, while the snakes melted away to reveal Rouge, and the shadow-being she was fighting turned out to be Guard. "Well, this is awkward..." she sighed. Meanwhile, Punchy had grown sick of Violet's dark magic and started to fight back with Chaos Avalanche, breaking apart the very walls of the lab to toss at her! She started firing beams of dark energy at Punchy's projectiles to defend herself, but soon a fragment knocked her over! "Ow! I can't believe you'd actually hit a girl!" she said, a whiny, pouty look in her eyes. "Oh, my gosh, you and Rainbow really are related..." Punchy groaned.

With Copter and Chet wrestling over the Chaos Emerald and Violet still firmly holding on to the Chaos Boots, Kosmo suddenly crept into the room and snuck up on Talon. "Hey, fur-feathers! Where'd Carrie get to?" he asked. Daisy grabbed her blade while Talon turned around in surprise, and then she looked at him, too. "Kosmo?? Are you saying there's ANOTHER intruder in here!?" she exclaimed. Basker glanced back, noticing that the person on the metal table was stirring. "All this noise has awakened our guest..." he sighed. A red bird arose from the table, slowly pulling the wires from her body. "What's going on here!? Am I... at Shadow Arcangel!?" she stammered, zipping her coat closed once she'd removed the wires attached to her body. "That IS Heather!" Copter yelled, his expression growing tense, "That's it!" he growled. Suddenly, light flashed from Guard's eyes. "Gr!? I'm getting a hologram from HQ!" he said as Col. Gunner started to materialize in front of him via the holographic projector in his eyes. "Dude... You've got Gunner in your brain? That is beyond creepy." Punchy shuddered. Violet's face turned white at the sight of Gunner. "HIM!! Murderer!!!" she screamed, startling Punchy. "Guard! Dr. Nammad has informed me that there is a red bird in your vicinity." Gunner began, "He has requested that you acquire this bird immediately. It is... necessary. So do it! Gunner out!" he said before his hologram vanished. Without further delay, Guard started to approach Heather. "Grrrrr!! Ms. Phoenix! This way, if you will! Or I will bring you by force if necessary." he growled. Heather looked extremely confused and nervous. "Huh?? What? Why would you do that!?" she stammered. Just then, a hidden door at the back of the lab started to open up, and Despair reinforcements started to arrive, led by Fera and the Darkseeker! The hooded, red-eyed being immediately fixed his gaze on one individual. "Kosmo! So good that you are here..." he said.

"Did you find who you were looking for, dark one?" Fera asked Punchy. "Fera! Your brainwashing's gotta stop!" Punchy shouted. "Brainwashing?" Chet mumbled. "Like a weird ballet cult." Copter nodded. The Darkseeker did not seem concerned with most of what was going on. "Kosmo... Do not allow them to leave with the Chaos Emerald. Do you understand?" his voice boomed. "I... uh..." Kosmo gulped, even he found the Darkseeker intimidating. "That guy freaks me out..." said Copter as Talon slowly snuck up on him, "HEY!! The Emerald!?" he gasped as it simply jumped out of his hand! "No worries! I've got it!" Talon said, saluting him. At this moment, Illusi was arriving in the room. He looked across and saw Fera and the Darkseeker, and instantly panicked. "No... NO!" he screamed, filling the room with Wrongos which immediately set to work distracting the Despair agents present! "Dark One!! Get out of there now!!" Illusi shouted. "Illusi!? NOW you decide to help me!?" Punchy gasped, staring at him. In the confusion, Guard quickly grabbed Heather. "Let go of me!!" she yelled, getting Copter's attention. "Heather!!" he yelled. This enabled Talon to begin making his escape, pushing past Vector and Alpha on his way out. "Hey! We were minding our own business fighting a pointless fight here!" Alpha yelled. "Um... Yo! Gimme that Emerald!" Kosmo shouted, pushing past them to chase Talon. "Give ME that Emerald!" Rouge yelled, joining the chase. The Darkseeker glared at Illusi and pointed forward. "Agents of Despair! Cut through these illusions and stop those intruders!" he bellowed. "It's HIM again..." Fera grunted. "C'mon, Copt! Let's chase and scram!" Punchy said, him and Copter pushing past Vector as they chased after Guard. "Hey, I gotta get outta here, too!!" Vector yelled, finally running off himself. "GUAAAAAARD!!" Copter screamed. "Birdoooo!!" Kosmo yelled, making Talon stumble briefly. "Birdo??? Seriously?" he groaned. "My emeraaaaaald!! I HATE THAT GRIFFIN!!!" Rouge shouted. "I HATE THAT HEDGE-HOG!" Alpha added for no apparent reason. In the confusion of the escape, Punchy somehow found himself reaching the hole they'd entered the castle from alone. "Hello?? Guys??" he muttered. He then took a moment to think. "Rrrrr... Kosmo was in there... Where was Rainbow!? If he's hurt her..." he growled, so frustrated with everything that'd been going on that he was ready to pummel the next person he might run into...


Chapter 25 - Security Breach
Stage 15(Hero 8) - EggSecurity Tower
Minor Boss 11 - Jolt & Freeze

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:
After escaping Sandopolis, Sonic met up with Knuckles before leaving Angel Island. Their group decided to head for Eggman's base in Troblusk City to see what the doctor knew of the Covenant of Despair. As they arrived, however, they saw Despair agents heading into the sewer and heard a loud tremor coming from Eggtopia! They decided to split up, Knuckles chasing Despair while Sonic went to check out Eggtopia...
Now, on to the next chapter!


"Hey, Eggman! What's all the ruckus!?" shouted Sonic, looking around as he entered the small base. However, all he found was a certain orange coati. "Gah! Ridley!" he groaned. "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" BAS shouted. "Some alarm." Ridley grumbled as he turned around, seeing Amy, Tails and Silver catching up to Sonic. "Uh, hey dudes. What's the 411?" he chuckled awkwardly. "Where's Eggman, you maskless raccoon!" Amy shouted, holding up her hammer threateningly. "Raccoons don't wear masks, Amy..." Tails muttered. "I JUST got back from Sandopolis, guys! I was trying to figure that out myself." Ridley stammered. "Well... What about all that noise earlier?" Silver asked. "Obviously, that was Eggman's fleet taking off. You might not have noticed them because they look just like clouds." Ridley explained. "I don't trust this guy!" Amy growled. "He's telling the truth about the cloud fleet... I've seen that before." Silver said. Sonic rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Ridley. Don't tell me Eggman didn't let you in on where he was going." he grumbled. "He doesn't trust people so much anymore. Something about Knuckles and Experiments turning on him over and over." Ridley shrugged. "You know, there's a good reason for that." Sonic smirked. "You sure you can't help us?" Tails asked. Ridley grinned at them mischievously. "What makes you think I'm not stalling you?" he sneered. Suddenly, a familiar voice startled them! "BOO!! Heeeelloooo, do-gooders!" Zipp the hornet appeared from the nearby stairs to the basement! "For the glory of Bucky, or was it the Covenant of Despair? I have just finished planting a feisty little virus in this base's computers!" he grinned. Suddenly, red lights started flashing and BAS went nuts. "ALERT!! ALERT!! Debug mode engaged! It's magically delicious!" the alarm system shouted. "That's just great! Now how will we find Dr. Eggman!?" Silver groaned. "You won't... Not before we do!" Ridley grinned. As Zipp and Ridley started rushing past them toward the exit, Knuckles and SPOT arrived. "Uh... Sonic?" he muttered. "Knuckles! Good timing! Tackle Ridley for me, will ya?" Sonic shouted. However, before Knuckles could react, Ridley struck! "Chaos Splatter!" A burst of Chaos-charged water erupted from his body, smacking away anyone near him and granting him an opening to escape! "GAAAAAH!! WATER!!" Sonic yelped, growling as he shook himself dry, "We gotta find Eggman! Quick!" he grumbled. "Well... Um... Maybe he's at his Tree Fort?" Knuckles suggested. "Tree Fort? What's that?" Tails wondered. "Rainbow told me it was in the Mystic Ruins..." Knuckles explained. Just then, BAS started babbling. "Daisy~~ DAisY! Gimmie yer ans-er do~~ Egg-man's tak-in ov'r~~ Secrity Tower~~ too!!" it said in a clearly distorted voice. "What'd he say? Secretary Tower?" Sonic mumbled. "The Security Tower! A GUN building in Station Square!" Amy said, remembering hearing about it on the news back when Copter and Punchy broke into it. "Eggman's... gonna take over a secure GUN building? Are you sure the virus doesn't just have the alarm saying crazy stuff?" Silver wondered. "On the contrary, I think the virus made the alarm spill the beans!" Tails grinned. Knuckles didn't look so sure. "I think the Tree Fort might still be worth checking out, Sonic..." he said. Sonic nodded. "We might as well split up again. You're cool with checking out the fort, right Knux?" he asked. Knuckles nodded, and they started to set out for their destinations...


Meanwhile, Bucky the rat had returned to his ship, Shadow Arcangel. He was seated at the controls, with Crash the rhino standing close by. "So, how did it go, Zipp?" he said into a communicator. "Ummmm... Sonic showed up. Dunno if he knows anything." Zipp replied from wherever he was now. "Right... And what about you, Talon? Report!" Bucky said into a separate com device. "I found another Chaos Emerald! Oh, by the way, um... Red bird mean anything to you?" Talon asked. Bucky's eyes went wide as he contemplated this. "Get back here! Now!" he ordered. Crash looked similarly shocked. "You don't think he means...?" he mumbled. "...I never recovered the body... I'm a fool!" Bucky muttered, turning in his seat. "Crash, get to the capital city! I need eyes and ears down there!" he growled. "Um... What about Vortex and Zipp?" Crash wondered. "There may not be time. Everyone's stretched thin. Go, go, go!" he shouted. "Y-yes sir! Right away!" Crash said hastily, rushing out of the control room. "What have I done..." Bucky muttered, distressed. Suddenly, a somber, strained voice spoke to him. "Do I... detect... sorrow in your voice? Yes... it is unmistakable..." Bucky looked around with a start. "What? Who's there? The ship hasn't detected any new life forms aboard..." he growled. "Just a voice... in your head... Your guilty conscience plaguing you, perhaps?" the voice said. "...rubbish... What voice is this supposed to be, then?" Bucky grunted. "Oh... Let's say... Your old colleague... Nevin Crimm..." the voice replied. "...Crimm?!" Bucky gasped, alarmed. "I sense your sorrow... Care to discuss it with me...?" Crimm offered. Bucky had a cautious look on his face. "I don't care to speak with ghosts..." he sighed, "But... You are on to something. Did I ever tell you about how I met...her..."

A long time ago, Bucky Stein sat in a hallway within an apartment complex. His head hung low, tears flowing down his face like rain. As he sobbed, someone soon approached him. "Are... Are you crying?" asked a voice that was sweet and full of kindness. "N-no..." Bucky sniffled, looking away to hide his face. "Yes you are! ...What's wrong? Are you hurt?" the stranger asked. "Yes... Now leave me be... I'm a monster... And monsters should be left alone..." Bucky sighed. The stranger stepped around in front of his face so he could see her. She was a raven, with beautiful black feathers and loving blue eyes. She wore a purple shirt, white pants, and a necklace made of cyan gemstones. "You're not a monster. Why would you say that?" she asked. Bucky's eyes swelled with tears as he thought about it. "My own family believes it. My mother and father... Just cast me out... Just look at me. I'm a freak." he growled. "How could they say that!?" the raven shouted. "H-huh?" Bucky gasped as the kind girl started to dry his tears with her sleeve. "You're not a freak! Actually... you look kinda... cute." she smiled. "You... you really think so...?" Bucky gasped. "No more tears now. My name's Hope. What's your name, friend?" the raven smiled. Slowly, the heartbroken rat began to smile back. "I... I'm Buck. Buck Stein... It's nice to meet you... Hope..."

"Hope... Where is she... now?" Nevin Crimm's voice asked. Bucky sat slumped in his chair. "Let's just say... I'd rather she were the ghost I was speaking to now..." he said, a tear escaping his eye, "I only pray that she has found peace..." he sighed. "You should know... One's soul never knows peace!" Crimm declared deviously! Bucky growled, standing up. "Haunt me no longer! I have work to do! And no foul spirit is going to distract me!" he roared. "Hmmm... Very well..." said Crimm, falling silent as Bucky fell to his chair, wiping the tear from his face.


Sonic, Tails and Silver hurried towards the Security Tower upon reaching Station Square, going off ahead of Amy, but catching the eye of a certain rabbit. "Mr. Sonic? What's up?" Cream wondered, only to be ignored. "...Cheese, think we should follow them?" she asked, getting an enthusiastic response from the Chao. Near the forest trail to the Security Tower, Sonic's group was stopped by familiar foes. "Sonic! Stop right there, you disgusting princess!" Spiny the porcupine growled. "You realize he's just you with less hair gel." said Zeke the dragon, who was also standing guard with him. "Go shoot yourself!" Spiny snapped. "Hey, spine-puss! Is Eggman home? He left his base in such a hurry he didn't get to see me pretend to trash it!" Sonic chuckled. "Did Zipp trash it? Once he gets here, guard duty's over and we get to rejoin the Covenant of Despair! RAWR!!" Zeke roared excitedly. Spiny stared at him, stunned. "What!? You mean you're actually WITH those insolent pansies!?" he shouted. "Yeah, they bad..." Zeke chuckled, "Wait, what'd you say!? You aren't actually on Eggman's side are you!?" he gasped. "I think he is. And uh... I'm not sure who to root for here." Sonic shrugged. "SHUT UP, Sonic! I'm not on Eggman's side! I'm on my own! That's the only side worth fighting for!" Spiny snapped. Zeke growled at him. "Why you! You traitor! Eat flames!" he yelled, blowing a fireball at Spiny! The porcupine dodged it, and glared at him. "Oh, no he didn't!" he growled. As Spiny and Zeke started brawling, Sonic and the others just continued past them. "Later, guys! Lemme know who wins!" Sonic waved. Cream went skipping by as well, flapping her ears to evade a Chaos Spear as she went. "Hee, so far this is easy!" she giggled.

Sonic, Tails and Silver stopped soon after entering the forest surrounding the Security Tower. Squinting up at the tower, they could see a ship of Cloud Carnival hovering around the roof. "Outta the way, fake Sonic!" they heard Amy shout from somewhere behind them. "Oh, hey Cream..." she said as she ran over to the group. SPOT was with Amy as well. "Huh? Oh... Guess the gang's all here now." Sonic sighed. "SONIC!!! You left me at Eggman's Eggtopia!!" Amy shouted angrily. "So did Tails." Silver pointed out. "How is that helpful?!" Tails groaned. Amy glared at Sonic and Tails. "I bet Silver's the only one who wanted to wait for me, isn't he!? ISN'T HE!?" she snarled. "Amy, please calm down..." Cream said nervously. Sonic glanced at Silver. "Well, maybe you should follow him around then, if he's so great..." he said grumpily. "W-well... MAYBE I WILL!!" she snapped. Tails, who'd had his fill of getting yelled at, checked out SPOT's monitor to find that the robot was detecting something. "It's settled, then! SILVER will be my boyfriend now!" Amy said, linking arms with the bewildered hedgehog. "Wait... what!? D-do I get a say in this...?!" Silver stammered. "No, I don't think you do. I sure didn't." Sonic teased. "S-Sonic!! YOUUU!!!" Amy growled, held back by Silver and Cream as she went to hit him! Tails interrupted them. "Guys! SPOT says he detects Chaos energy in Eggman's base! Errr... The Security Tower!" he reported. "A Chaos Emerald?" Silver wondered. "Or maybe the Chaos Gauntlets..." Tails figured. "Negative. Cannot be the Chaos Gauntlets." the text on SPOT's monitor displayed, but no one paid attention. "Outta the way, Sonic! My new Team Rose will nab the Chaos Gauntlets without you!" Amy shouted. "Huh? Do you think Mr. Big would mind being replaced by Mr. Silver?" Cream mumbled. "Grrr.... No one ever pays attention to the robot. Assessing whether it is important enough to get their attention..." SPOT's monitor displayed. "I have a better idea, Amy. You stay and get acquainted with your new boyfriend while Tails and I check out the Security Tower!" Sonic smirked. "I'm NOT her boyfriend!" Silver groaned. "We're going, too!!" Amy insisted. "Oh, brother... I miss Knuckles..." Tails sighed.

They started through the forest, Amy steering Team Rose ahead of Tails since they couldn't outrun Sonic. "Why do I get punished for Sonic's problems...?" he growled as he walked at the rear of the group. Cream put a hand on his shoulder. "We could walk together!" she smiled. "HEY! No fraternizing with the enemy!!" Amy shouted. "Tails doesn't work for Eggman!" Cream protested. Suddenly, Zipp popped out of the trees. "Oh, hey... Have you seen Zeke?" he asked awkwardly. Amy growled at him. "Silvy! Swat that bug!" she shouted. "S-silvy??" Silver stammered. "Short for Silvy-wilvy! You love it, right?" Amy giggled. "Um... Errr... Go on, Silvy." Sonic said, trying to keep from laughing. Zipp frowned. "I don't know what's going on with you guys, but aren't you usually trying to stop Eggman? Why are you hassling me?" he pouted. "If you're so noble, then why get in our way at Troblusk City?" Sonic pointed out. Zipp shrugged. "You ask too many questions. Do you have time to fight me? Or would you rather climb the tower together?" he offered. "No deal. Bye!" Sonic said, speeding ahead and prompting Team Rose and Tails to chase him! "H-hey!! Come back here!!! HOW DARE YOU OUTRUN ME!!!" Zipp shouted, firing several shots in their direction before calming down. "Eh, I shouldn't waste ammo on ya..." he grumbled. As they neared the Security Tower, Egg Pawns started to get in their way, but Sonic easily took out most of them as he went, while Silver tossed the stragglers into the trees. As they reached the front doors, they found them locked tight. A note was attached to the door. "No hedgehogs allowed! By order of Col. Gunner!" it read. "This place stunk even before Eggman got here." Sonic remarked. "I could try to rip the door out... If we want Eggman to immediately know we're here." Silver said. Tails pointed to a small building nearby. "Look, there's a bridge linking that building to the main tower! Maybe we can get in that way?" he suggested. Amy nodded. "Good idea. I'm sure Silvy thought of it...he was just being gracious enough to let someone else speak up!" she chuckled. Silver frowned. "Help me..." he whimpered.

The smaller building was the Security Center, a warehouse that existed before the larger tower was built. The door to the center was open, and inside they found that Eggman had likely already taken over the main tower. Freeze the Gizoid had come this far down from the roof, and was busy talking to, of all people, Lospecter! Sonic, Tails and Team Rose attempted to sneak around the GUN crates in the warehouse and avoid being seen so that Freeze wouldn't sound the alarm. "I will ask one final time. What are you, and why are you here?" Freeze said to Lospecter. "I told you. I'm just visiting my old stomping grounds before paying a visit to the ol' commander in chief at Central City. Would you believe I voted for him?" Lospecter grinned. "What's King Boom Boo doing here?" Sonic muttered. "That's Lospecter!" Tails and Cream said at once. Lospecter smirked and turned to face them. "Hey, who's skulkin' behind those boxes? Oh, Soooonic the pain-in-the-smoke. Pleasure to meet you all proper and stuff. I'm Lospecter the Lost!" he said, waving. Their cover blown, Sonic and the others stepped out to face Lospecter and Freeze directly. "Confirmed! Creature is one of the Lost Ones! Advise treating as hostile! Jolt! Get over here!" Freeze shouted. "But I'm guarding the dooooor!" Jolt whined as he flew down from the staircase leading out of the room. "Jolt! I owe you one for... letting me escape!" Sonic said, realizing partway that Jolt was only his cell guard. "Um... You're welcome?" Jolt muttered. Lospecter grinned now that everyone was out in the open. "Hey, Sonikku, wanna play cards? I don't have long. I have a meeting with the prez in a few minutes." he said, shuffling the Chaos Cards in his hands! "The President!? Hold it, buster! I won't let you lay a smoky paw on him!" Sonic shouted. "Wait, Sonic! I just realized you insulted me! I'll get YOU!!" Jolt babbled, his body sparking. "Dr. Eggman is busy establishing his new base here. He has been waiting a long time for this chance. You will not interfere." Freeze added, cold air emanating from his hands! Sonic paused and groaned. "Why is EVERYONE always against me?" he sighed.

Freeze immediately started firing icy beams from his hands, swiftly encasing SPOT in a frozen block! "Oh, no! My icepick is inside SPOT!" Tails gasped. "I could thaw him... And/or crush him to kibbles and bits." Lospecter sneered. "Oh, no you won't! Get him, Cheese!" Cream shouted, but the Chao simply flew right through Lospecter! "Ew. Chao cooties. I was thinkin' of sparing you for old time's sake, but... Nah." Before he could attack them, though, Sonic jumped through his smoky body! "Oooh! Blue boy's got a bone to pick with me! Too bad I got no bones..." he said, drawing some cards as he turned to Sonic. "I'll keep Casper busy! You guys can handle Eggman's robots, right?" the hedgehog said. Silver grabbed several GUN crates with his psychokinesis. "I'll manage..." he said. "Silvy and I are a real team, not like when YOU were my boyfriend!" Amy shouted, clutching her hammer. "Oooh, awkwardness..." Jolt chuckled, "Well, One, two, three, four!! You ain't gettin' through this door! Five, six, seven, eight!! I... ummm... ohhhh, great..." the bot chanted, throwing off sparks to keep anyone from getting close. So, instead of approaching, Amy threw her hammer at him! "Ow! Hey, can she do that!? I call foul!" Jolt yelled. "Get in there, you clown." said Freeze, who was busy blasting the GUN crates with ice as Silver tossed them. Meanwhile, Lospecter was casting spells with the Chaos Cards to keep Sonic on the run, blasting him with flames or tossing balls of water as he kept waving 2 different cards back and forth. "Make up your mind! Fire or water!?" Sonic shouted. "How about flying skulls?" Lospecter smirked, tossing another card that turned into a trio of Loskulls! As they started to surround Sonic, Cheese flew over and started knocking the skulls aside! "Hey, I don't beat up your minions, do I Chao? Wait, don't answer that." Lospecter muttered. At that moment, Jolt was keeping Amy on the run by flying out of her reach and attempting to zap her, while Freeze started targeting Tails and Cream while they were trying to free SPOT, making Silver's job of defending them difficult. "Hold that thought, Mr. Specter." Sonic said, running off in the opposite direction and quickly bouncing from the distracted Freeze up to Jolt, and then using this momentum to smash the Loskulls with some swift, well placed homing attacks!

Lospecter watched Sonic's display and whistled. "That's one bouncy ball there... Can't wait to deflate it." he grinned. "Huh? You make no sense." said Sonic, who was standing in front of him again. Silver had buried Freeze in GUN crates once Sonic gave him an opening, and the Gizoid was sparking a bit as he climbed out. "Zzzzzt!! Security breach!" he yelled. Jolt nodded. "Code blue! Red sneaks are sneaking in the base! All units respond!" he babbled as the two robots fled up the stairs. "Buh-bye, you unlost scamps. I gotta train to catch!" Lospecter chuckled as he flew out through a wall! "Thanks a lot, Sonic! You scared 'em off and now the base is on alert!" Amy scoffed. SPOT finally managed to break free of the ice, and Tails sighed in relief to see that he seemed to be functioning normal. "Lay off Sonic, Amy. Let's just follow those bots to Eggman!" he said. "Only if Silvy thinks it�s a good idea..." Amy pouted. Silver sighed and joined the others in heading up the stairs without a word. "Huh? Uh... Wait for me, Silvy-Wilvy!" Amy stammered, chasing them. "If this is only temporary, you better not call me Sonny-wonny..." Sonic grumbled. Upstairs, they found a small room leading to the bridge to the main Security Tower. Halfway across the bridge, they found Gator chatting with a GUN agent with purple shades, Agent 77. "...Captain Gator? Why are you here?" Sonic mumbled. "Ohh... That reminds me of the romantic cruise to Eggman's base I took with... Err... I don't care!" Amy said, still pouting. Gator shushed them. "You trying to get me fired for piracy? Sweeping this tower's my day job!" he said. "...And we're the only GUN employees left here." Agent 77 whispered. "Huh? What happened?" Tails asked. Agent 77 frowned. "Everyone was called to HQ very suddenly. Something about an attack by the experiments..." he began, "I was stuck here to keep an eye on the place. And of course, Eggman shows up. As if my day hasn't been crazy enough..." Gator shrugged. "At least Agent 32 didn't flush YOU down a toilet!" Gator grumbled. "Don't worry. We'll stop Eggman. But you should probably get outta here. It's not safe." Silver suggested. Agent 77 nodded. "There's an elevator ahead, but I can only vouch for the first floor as safe." he said. Sonic nodded. "You've been helpful... GUN should try that more often!" he said.

Exiting the elevator and arriving at the main entrance, they found that Eggman had already made the tower his own! A new red and black paint job and defenses upgraded to include spike traps were among the first things they noticed. They also spotted EggRobos flying around, patrolling the base! "Hello, Sonic!" said Dr. Eggman over the PA system! "I don't like this..." Cream whimpered, holding Cheese close. "Hey, doc! What's up?" Sonic grinned. "You're just in time! I've finished just enough renovations that I can welcome you to my new EggSecurity Tower! Much more spacious than Eggtopia, right? You remembered to wipe those muddy sneakers before coming in, didn't you?" Eggman said. "And what if I didn't?" Sonic smirked. "NOOO!! I just cleaned that floor!" shouted Gator, who had apparently followed them down without anyone noticing. Everyone chuckled awkwardly before leaving Gator to his mopping. Eggman's latest scheme was now underway, and Sonic was determined as ever to stop him!


Chapter 26 - The Eggman Empire Strikes Back
Stage 15(Hero 8) - EggSecurity Tower
Boss 15 - Metal Eggman

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.


Making their way through the dangerous base, the group came to a room with a big sealed vault, the door appearing to be made from a very strong material. "Rip that door down, Silvy!" Amy suggested. Tails shook his head. "According to SPOT, the Chaos energy signal's not coming from in there. It's above us." he said. "Maybe Dr. Eggman couldn't get the door open." Cream figured. The door slid open as Sonic played with the password-entry pad beside it. "Huh?! I just typed GUN!" he stammered. A small, spherical robot rolled out of the vault. "That wise guy Alpha thought it'd be funny to lock me in here! Ergo, I'm heading back to Eggtopia where it's safe!" the robot grumbled, rolling away. "Hey, I thought Eggman tore that guy apart after Dark Gaia was defeated..." Sonic muttered. Looking around, they found another door, and it led them to another warehouse like the one in the Security Center. "What's the deal with this place? It's GUN's junk heap?" Sonic wondered. SPOT was walking ahead of them, and was suddenly propped up atop a set of spikes that popped out of the floor under him! "Yikes! ...Good thing SPOT's new body's got good armor..." Tails yelped. "I don't feel so lucky..." SPOT's monitor said as the robot flailed its way off the spikes. "So, Eggman set a spike maze in here..." Silver mused. "You can lead us through, right Silvy?" Amy asked. Sonic shrugged impatiently. "Let's just see..." he said, dashing through the warehouse at high speed, faster than the spike traps could spring out from the ground! Soon, Sonic had reached the stairs at the other end of the warehouse. "I think I made all the spikes pop out! Hurry on over here!" he shouted. "It's not that I'm not confident, but I think I'll ride SPOT through here..." Tails sighed. "Erm... I can float you over the spikes." Silver said to Amy, chuckling awkwardly. Amy pouted in frustration. "That show off Sonic... Why is he so awesome?" she muttered under her breath. "Get ready, guys! There's some kinda robot lab upstairs!" Sonic shouted after popping up the steps briefly. "Maybe I'll start clearin' the way!" he suggested. "Leave without us and you're DEAD!!" Amy yelled.

A hologram of Firepaw met them at the entrance to the robot lab. "Meowr! Sonic! Let's see you pass me THIS time!" he said, only for the entire group to simply walk through his hologram without paying him any attention. "Huh? HEY! ...Don't just let them humiliate me, robots! MEOWR!!" In response to the angry virus's shout, swarms of assorted robots started to emerge from everywhere in the massive GUN lab! EggRobos, Buzzbombers, Gohlas, Orbinauts, and Egg Pawns carrying big metal shields were among the robots seeking to stop Sonic's climb up the tower! "What, this is it? Eggman didn't try building anything in this lab?" Sonic joked. As the blue hedgehog led the charge, smashing bots with high speed acrobatics, the others proceeded in their own way. SPOT started zapping Gohlas and Orbinauts so that no one would need to penetrate their deadly defenses, while Tails and Cream flew up to take on the airborne Buzzbombers. Amy attempted to smack an Egg Pawn's shield with her hammer, only to fall backward, finding the shield to be too tough! "Grrr... I'll get that stupid..." she muttered, only to watch the shield fly up out of the Pawn's hand and get flung through its metal chest, causing it to explode! "Huh? Silveeer! I had it under control!!" Amy protested. "Not from where I was floating... Why don't you help Tails and Cream with those unshielded robots?" he suggested. Amy growled softly. "Are you kidding?? I can hold my own! I don't need them to back me up!!" she shouted. Suddenly, Silver picked her up with his psychokinesis so that an EggRobo's laser would miss her. "Hey!!" she yelped. "Pay attention, Amy!" Silver groaned, putting her back down gently. They both grumbled softly as they resumed fighting, and Sonic ran by with a chuckle. "Trouble in paradise?" he teased. "Come here, Sonic!! I'll show you trouble!!" Amy yelled. 

Once the robots were dealt with, the group found another elevator at the back of the lab. Looking inside, they heard BAS's voice welcome them. "Hello, hedgehogs and other creatures! I am the EggSecurity Tower Base Alarm System!" it said. "Is it Alarm or Announcement?" Tails wondered. "Depends on the base." BAS replied, "So, what floor do you want?" it asked. "Maybe we better find stairs, with Eggman's computer in control now..." Silver muttered. "Now, none of that! I give you my solemn promise that the elevator is perfectly safe!" BAS said. Sonic shrugged. "Well, where does SPOT want us to go?" he asked Tails. "Seems like the roof..." Tails mumbled. "Top floor! Going uuuuuuup!!" BAS shouted, starting to shut the doors, and forcing Cream and Amy to hurry aboard to avoid getting left behind! "Ugh, this elevator's cramped!" Amy complained. "At least we won't have to walk all the way up..." Cream sighed. The elevator started carrying them up at high speed, and through the windows of the elevator, they could see spider-like robots crawling around inside the building! "I don't feel safe..." Tails muttered. "Just for that, I'm dropping you!" BAS snapped, making the elevator suddenly start plummeting downward! The group screamed as the elevator fell, and Tails frantically apologized. BAS chuckled at them, and moments before they hit the bottom, stopped their descent and started moving the elevator up again! "Just foolin! Ha ha! I love elevators..." BAS giggled. "That makes one of us..." Amy frowned. As they reached the top of the tower, a hatch on the roof opened up, and the spider-like Grabber robots dropped into the elevator and tried to grab everyone! However, Silver quickly stopped them and flung them back up through the roof, shaking his fist as they exploded! "And stay out!" he yelled. "Isn't Silvy cute?" Amy smiled. "Thank you for using BAS-powered elevators. Have a nice day!" BAS said as the doors opened, revealing stairs to the roof. "I could've gotten here faster running up the stairs..." Sonic grumbled.

Having reached the roof, they found Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic, Freeze, Jolt, Firma, Char and Alpha. The robots were standing guard while Eggman was busy working at a computer terminal he'd apparently brought from the Cloud Carnival ship docked with the tower's roof. There was a gold cape sitting beside the computers. "Hey, Eggman! We were wondering why you couldn't build your own base." Sonic shouted. Eggman stood up slowly, without turning. "Ho... ho... ho... ho. Welcome Sonic. I am the Eggman. That is what I am." he said, pausing briefly between each sentence. "Um... Is he okay?" Silver wondered. "Nah, he's never okay." Sonic said, crossing his arms. "From here on this tower, my EggSecurity Tower, my master plan to conquer the world will unfold!" Eggman said slowly, turning around, "You... Will not interfere." he said. "Why are you talking like that?" Sonic wondered. "It's a trap, Sonic! We're surrounded!" Tails shouted, noticing that the robots had started to advance on them while Eggman was talking. "Silver! Do something!" Amy shouted. Silver looked thoughtful. "Ummm.... So, errr... Eggman, what do you know about the Covenant of Despair?" he asked. "Is he serious!? Ugh... This charade isn't working..." Amy groaned. Eggman's face looked a bit strained. "The... Covenant of Despair... is my... en...em...y...." he mumbled. "'Scuse me, guys. Eggman's talking WAY too slow today." Sonic growled, charging at the doctor! "Halt! Desist! Launching counterattack!" Firma shouted, attempting to shoot at Sonic, but missing and blasting Eggman as Sonic jumped back! "Ennn...eeeeemmmy.... Covvvvennnant.... Ennnneeennnemmmyyyyyy.....!!! Zzzzzzzzzttt!!" Eggman started sparking and whirring! "What's happening?!" Tails gasped. "Father!!! Noooooooo!!" Alpha wailed. Then, an explosion destroyed the disguise, and Eggman was revealed to be Metal Eggman! "NOOOOO!!! My perfect plaaaaan!! Now Sonic knows the truuuuth!!" he shouted. "Not that robot fake again..." Sonic groaned. "NO! I am the REAL Eggman! And I will rule a vast empire from right here at the EggSecurity Tower!" Metal Eggman shouted, making Metal Sonic look at him funny. "Ignore him. I am the true mastermind behind the operation here." said Freeze. "Huh?? You?" Sonic wondered. "Metal Eggman posed as the real Eggman to distract you... And everyone." Freeze said.

"You may have noticed that only one ship in the Cloud Carnival fleet is here. Taking over the Security Tower is merely a ruse." Freeze continued. "Where's the real Eggman!?" Tails asked. "If I were to tell you that, it would defeat the purpose of this trap." Freeze replied. "Aw, I HATE traps..." Cream frowned. Metal Eggman glanced at Freeze and nodded. "Errrr... YES! And a clever little trap it is! Now, all robots advance on Sonic!" he shouted, pointing at the blue hedgehog, "We'll overwhelm him with sheer numbers!" he said. "Well, it was a good scheme... Until I led your double agents up here!" said a voice coming up the stairs behind Sonic and the others! Zipp emerged from below, followed by Spiny and Zeke, with Ridley sneaking up behind them! "Argh! That metallic Sonic!? All right, I'll rally against that!" Spiny growled, stomping toward Metal Sonic. "Anyone call for a dragon? RAWR!!" Zeke roared, flying toward Freeze and blowing fire at him! Zipp started shooting at Alpha as well, and Sonic and Tails stared in surprise. "Bucky's experiments are all HELPING us...?" Tails muttered. "Well... This should be easy." Sonic shrugged. "Hmmm... I'll just help myself to that shiny cape and let myself out..." Ridley whispered, tiptoeing around the roof to make his way to the cape. SPOT, seeing this, started sneaking after him. "This is MUTINY!! Mutiny of the foulest order!!" Metal Eggman yelled, "And you're saying they were Bucky's lab rats all along!? I won't stand for being duped!! I do all the deception around here!!" he growled, glaring at his foes. "I'll deal with you MYSELF, Sonic! Firma, get your counterpart in here to terminate his little friends!" Metal Eggman ordered as he ran for the Cloud Carnival ship to find a weapon. "Acknowledged..." Firma said, glancing back at the cloud ship as well. Suddenly, a purple and black robot with the same build as Firma leapt onto the roof from the cloud ship! "Targets acquired... E-3X... En route... To ANNIHILATE!!" the robot snarled with a crazed voice! "TERRA!?" Sonic stammered. "I see that you are acquainted!" said Metal Eggman as he pulled up to the roof, piloting a huge tank with a sort of rotating turret weapon. Terra raised a metal claw to Sonic. "I have been reborn! I will be AVENGED!! You will DIE!! DESTROY!!!" he boomed. Sonic, Tails, and Team Rose exchanged glances and nodded. "Let's get 'em!" Sonic smirked.

Tails was quickly drawn into a fight with Jolt, so it was up to Sonic to take on Metal Eggman and Team Rose to battle Terra and Firma. Terra drew his claws into his thick arms and replaced them with buzz saws. "I will slice you to scraps!" he said. "Organics are not made of scrap metal, Terra..." Firma corrected, "Excuse him, his mind could not be totally restored." she said. Terra glared at her, then fired the buzz saws from his hands at Amy and Cream! "Yikes!! That looks sharp!" Cream yelped, flapping her ears to escape the saws while Amy swatted it away with her hammer! The saws went flying back to Terra's hands, while Firma slammed the ground with her fists, shaking the rooftop and making pieces of it crumble under Team Rose! Silver grabbed Amy with his powers and floated away from the hole while Cream flew to safety on her own. "Can't you grab THEM and toss them off the roof??" Amy shouted. "They're... too heavy." Silver muttered, "And they'll resist too much." Fortunately, Cheese flew in and started kicking the robots in the heads, providing a distraction, though he couldn't really damage them. "Puny Chao! I will OBLITERATE you!!" Terra roared. "Oh no! Do something!" Cream whimpered. Silver and Amy ran up to the distracted robots. "Hey, girly-bot! THIS is how you smash stuff!" Amy shouted, whacking Firma with her hammer! Terra turned and fired his buzz saws, but Silver grabbed them with psychokinesis and tossed them back! Terra spun his mechanical body around to evade them, and retracted his saw launchers to replace them with laser blasters. "Try to catch THIS!" he growled. Meanwhile, Sonic was busy dodging bombs fired from Metal Eggman's tank turret. "Quit running! You can't stop my Metal Egg Tank!" he shouted. Sonic raised an eyebrow as he avoided a bomb. "Whaaat? That's the most pathetic name ever! I can't believe I ever fell for you as a phony Eggman!" he groaned. Metal Eggman rotated the tank's turret to change the weapon. "Joke's on you! The other Eggman named this thing! ...He's really short on ideas." he said, firing cannonballs at Sonic from the turret. Sonic zipped out of the way, seemingly easier than before. "Really, why would cannonballs work better than bombs? At least the spike balls you littered around provided a challenge until they rolled away." he teased. Metal Eggman chuckled. "Well, it still stands that you are making NO progress in defeating me!" he said.

Sonic snickered and leapt from cannonball to cannonball, kicking off of them to make his way to Metal Eggman's cockpit! "Hey! You can't do that! Those are projectiles!" the robot protested, but Sonic soon smacked the tank hard, and bounced off it a couple more times on his way to the floor, causing the Metal Egg Tank to start exploding! Metal Eggman detached an Egg Mobile from the machine to escape the explosion. "My beautiful tank! Curse you, Sonic! Curse you back to Super Eggman Land!" he shouted. "Must... Ki-IIIILLL...." Terra was groaning after getting ganged up on by Amy, Cream and Silver. "Enough. Conserve your energy Terra. We will have revenge." Firma said, dragging her counterpart back a bit. "Well, Metal Eggman? Gonna call off these robots and tell us what ya know now?" Sonic asked. "I told you, I'M in charge here!" Freeze insisted, though he was forced to evade Zeke's flames at the same time. "Yes, ice-boy. You look very in charge." Metal Eggman teased. Ridley, who had almost reached the gold cape, suddenly found SPOT jumping in front of him! "Where did this mutt come from? Wait... You're not Eggman's!" he gasped. "Do not move. I am armed to the teeth." SPOT's monitor warned as various weapons emerged from his compartments to illustrate his point. "None of this matters! This tower is mine! And that means I can... um..." Metal Eggman stammered, scratching his metallic head. "Oh, shut up! You give me a bad name!" came the voice of the real Dr. Eggman! "Huh??" Amy gasped. "Where's his voice coming from?" Tails wondered, leaving Jolt flailing on his belly and having difficulty getting back up. The computer Metal Eggman had been working from started to buzz and whirr, and a hatch on it opened, revealing a projector that displayed a hologram of Dr. Eggman! "Here I am! Coming to you live from the Cloud Fleet hovering undetected over Central City!" the doctor announced! "That can't be good..." Silver muttered.

"That isn't me! It's an ILLUUUUSION!" Metal Eggman shouted, hovering his Egg Mobile in front of the hologram. "Shut it!" Eggman growled, shooing him away, "How'd you like my decoy, Sonic?" he asked. "He's not as ticklish as you, Eggman." Sonic grinned. "Teehee! I wanna tickle him!" Alpha giggled. "Well, be that as it may..." Eggman sighed, "Now you're helplessly miles away, and I'm poised to strike at GUN and the Covenant of Despair at the same time!" he grinned wickedly. "Come again?" Zeke yelped. Eggman clasped his hands behind his back. "Through my dealings with Despair, I found out about GUN's little GXterminate project. Curious how Despair knew about it?" he asked. "Not as much as what it IS..." Sonic said impatiently. "It's an ingenious mechanism." Eggman said, stroking his moustache, "Once completed, it will wipe out all animal life by selectively targeting GeneX force." he explained. "What!? ...Oh, no!" Silver gasped. "You can imagine the appeal such a device might have for me. I could get rid of you from continents away!" Eggman cackled. "Well, you aren't getting ahold of it! We're headed straight for Central City right now!" Sonic said. "You can try... Ridley!" Eggman called, slightly startling the coati. "Finish fetching the Chaos Wing, and then pick up the Chaos Gauntlets that the robo puppy withheld from me before!" Eggman ordered! Sonic stared in surprise. "Wait... SPOT's got the Chaos Gauntlets!?" he gasped. "Huh?! Why didn't you mention that, SPOT!?" Tails stammered. "Entering defensive modes!" the robo-puppy's monitor said as Ridley approached him. "Give me those!" Ridley growled. Eggman looked back at the Cloud Carnival ship docked to the tower. "BAS! While they're sorting that out... Activate the Cloud Cruiser's self destruct!" he sneered. "SELF DESTRUCT!?" Sonic yelped. "Farewell, Sonic the Hedgehog! I hope you had a blast in my EggSecurity Tower!" Eggman grinned as his hologram vanished! "Self Destruct in 10 seconds!" BAS announced. In that moment, everyone had to act fast. "I gotta get those Chaos Relics!" Sonic determined, speeding past Amy. "S-SONIIIIIC!!! What about us!?" she stammered. "Amy! Over here, quick!" Silver called. Zipp flew over to SPOT and fired some shots at the robot. "'Scuse me, guys. I'LL take those Gauntlets!" he shouted. "Damage taken! Cargo hatch loosened!" SPOT's monitor displayed as Zipp snatched the gauntlets! "Hang on, SPOT!" Sonic shouted as he approached, only to see a pinkish light flash in his face! "Huh?? Light?? No, no, no!!" he cried as he whited out.

Sonic found himself back in a familiar place. It was dark. There was fire. Injured Chao littered the ground. This was the night Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald. "Oh... no... Not this again." he muttered, "Thanks a lot, Tikal. My friends better still be alive after this!" he grumbled as he sped up the steps of the nearby altar. He heard familiar words and saw familiar sights. Tikal was pleading with the Master Emerald. "The seven emeralds are the servers... Chaos is power, enriched by the heart... The controller serves to unify the chaos..." she said in a panic, gasping as she reached a sudden realization. "The seven emeralds can change our thoughts into power! If this emerald controls that power... Please! You must stop him!" A bright light erupted from the Master Emerald, and Tikal fell to the ground as Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald. "OK... And now I wake up, right?" Sonic muttered. However, Sonic noted that Tikal was still alive. He'd been led to believe that she'd sacrificed everything to seal Chaos. After a moment, something else started to happen. A dark force started to emanate from the Master Emerald. ".....Huh!?" Sonic muttered. In moments, black fluid escaped from the emerald, taking the familiar form of Shadow Chaos! "What!? You!? ....You came from the Master Emerald?" Sonic gasped. Shadow Chaos flailed angrily, and then leapt down the steps of the altar, fleeing the area! "Hey! Where ya goin!?" Sonic shouted. However, the creature escaped. "So.... The Master Emerald couldn't fully hold Chaos?" he mumbled curiously.

"GAH!! Where am I!?" Sonic yelped as he awoke. Tails was standing in front of him, and they were in Station Square, just outside the entrance to the forest leading to the Security Tower. "You spaced out! Just like Knuckles did at Frostbite Maze! Are you two skipping breakfast or something?" Tails wondered. "I'll have to compare notes with Knuckles later! What happened, Tails?" Sonic asked. Tails looked at the ground. "You won't like it, Sonic. Ridley made off with the gold cape and Zipp got away with the Chaos Gauntlets." he sighed. "Argh... Sorry, buddy..." Sonic groaned. "There's... More... Silver, Amy and Cream are... missing." Tails whimpered. "Rats! I hope Silver's looking after them..." Sonic said in frustration. "SPOT got rattled in the explosion. I had to call Professor Pickle to pick him up." Tails added. Sonic sighed. "We're not having a good day, huh? I'd better hurry to Central City and try to stop this GXterminate thing before it's completed!" he said urgently. "How can I help?" Tails said eagerly. Sonic nodded. "Go find Knuckles at the Mystic Ruins. He's on a wild goose chase now, and he'd be more useful tracking down those Chaos Relics!" he realized. Tails and Sonic exchanged thumbs ups and then took off on their missions, not letting their setbacks harm their determination to stop Dr. Eggman or GXterminate!


Chapter 27 - Experiments Unite!
Stage 16(Dark 8) - GUN Headquarters
Minor Boss 12 - Rhinolord

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:
Kosmo, after helping Carrie escape from Hidden Palace Zone, followed Carrie and Talon to their next destination without their knowledge. This destination turned out to be Despair Castle on Demon Island, where he found Copter and Punchy battling with the Covenant of Despair over the Chaos Boots and a hostage, Heather the Phoenix! Guard the gargoyle escaped with Heather as Despair reinforcements arrived, and Talon escaped with a Chaos Emerald. Kosmo had lost track of Carrie, and was forced to follow Copter as he chased Talon and Guard on the way out of the castle. Punchy, however, got separated from the group along the way. With time to think, Punchy realized that Rainbow was spotted with Kosmo before, and started to wonder where she was now, and grow enraged at the morph he now blamed for her disappearance...
Now, on to the next chapter!


Mia sat in her cab, filing her nails in boredom as she waited for Copter and Punchy to return. The first person she noticed heading her way was Vector. "Start that flyin' car!!" he shouted. Behind him was Punchy, who actually arrived ahead of Copter and Kosmo. "Wait up, Punchy!!" Copter panted as he ran his way. "Hurry up, Copt... Huh? You!!" Punchy growled, seeing Kosmo bringing up the rear. "Oh... Hey, Experiment 1." Kosmo said nonchalantly. Punchy clenched his teeth angrily. "Can it, creep! Where's Rainbow!!?" he snarled. "Wow. You forgot to tell him your name's not One." Copter mumbled. Punchy ignored him, his gaze fixed on Kosmo. "The whole reason I came to this stupid island was to find Rainbow, 'cuz someone saw her with YOU! What have you done with her!!?" he shouted. "Whoa there, dude... I didn't do anything with that nutcase. She followed ME..." Kosmo stammered. "Huh? Even I'm havin' trouble buying that, Kosmo." Copter said, crossing his arms. "What?! YOU followed me, too!" Kosmo snapped. "Oh, right..." Copter replied sheepishly. "No lies! Tell me where Rainbow is or I'll punch those shiny eyes out!!" Punchy threatened, raising his fists furiously! Fera, Violet and Chet were catching up around this point. "Copter?? And those guys!?" Chet mumbled. "Stay back. This looks interesting..." Fera grinned. Kosmo looked a bit saddened as he thought back. "I don't KNOW where that girl is, all right? There... there was a cave-in... I... I couldn't get EVERYONE out, right?" he stammered. Punchy's eyes widened. "What are you saying!? Did... did you get Rainbow hurt!?" he growled. "Punch! Calm it down, dude! You're not thinking straight!" Copter warned. "No, YOU'RE not thinking straight!!! Why aren't you smacking Kosmo with that tailband of yours!?!?" Punchy screamed. "Cut it out, you psycho! It wasn't me!! Fera was the one who..." Kosmo tried to say, but was interrupted. "He hurt her, Punchy. He hurt your friend..." Fera taunted, "Give in to the Despair Seal...! Use the power of darkness!! Punish this traitor!!" she yelled. Copter glanced at her nervously. "Traitor...? Punish...? Um.... Puuuuunchy?" he murmured, glancing over at the snarling echidna. "KOSMO!!!!" Punchy roared, erupting in darkness and transforming into Dark Punchy! "Um... I did not know he could do that!" Kosmo muttered. Copter backed off and pulled out the Hurricane remote, starting an argument with Hoover to get him to send it while Dark Punchy glared at Kosmo. "Well, finally I've got control over my own form! I should thank you, Kosmo... But I'd rather kill you!" he growled. "What are you babbling about? Gah, I'm sick of you, and however many personalities you've got in there! I'll knock 'em all out!" Kosmo shouted back!

Dark Punchy unleashed shockwaves of darkness, knocking both Copter and Kosmo back! As Kosmo stumbled backward, he morphed gargoyle wings onto his back and took to the air! "I think you forgot... I INVENTED transforming!" he shouted. "No, you didn't!" Dark Punchy growled, tossing balls of dark energy up at Kosmo as he flew his way! Kosmo morphed his tail into Copter's tails and smacked at the dark energy, lessening the impact! "Hey, leave me outta this! I've fought Dark Punchy before..." Copter groaned unpleasantly. Kosmo rolled his eyes and changed them to Tails's tails before dropping down and attempting to strike Dark Punchy with them! The black echidna simply caught the tails in his darkness charged hands! "I'll rip these off!" he growled. However, Kosmo simply morphed them away, turning himself into a hedgehog. "Chaos Control, pal!" he said, vanishing and reappearing behind Dark Punchy! "Oh, yeah!? DARK Chaos Blast!!!" Infusing Chaos energy with dark energy, Dark Punchy caused a terrible, violent explosion, throwing Kosmo into a nearby tree and snapping it in half! "Ow... Shadow's spleen..." Kosmo groaned. "Isn't it YOUR spleen if it's your transformation?" Copter muttered. "Help or shut up!" Kosmo grumbled, glowing as he took a new form. Dark Punchy's eyes went wide as he stood before... himself! "Okay, wise guy! Let's see how YOU like it!" Kosmo growled, his hands emitting a light amount of dark energy. "You DARE copy me!?" Dark Punchy roared, hurtling black lightning at Kosmo from his hands! Kosmo sped past it and started punching at him with darkness-powered punches, but his Dark Punchy form seemed notably different from the real thing. "Ha! You are untrained in the power of darkness! In fact, it is practically foreign to you!" Fera laughed. "Huh? It IS!?" Copter gasped. Dark Punchy pushed him back and started zapping him with lightning fiercely, making Kosmo revert to his normal form as he lost energy! "Gaaaah!! Anytime you wanna jump in, Copter!?" he yelled, panting as he struggled to get away. "Prepare to die!!" Dark Punchy snarled. Finally, someone stepped forward. "Punchy... Stop!!"

Violet stepped between Dark Punchy and Kosmo, which made him hesitate for a moment. "Neither of me are too fond of YOU right now, traitor!" Dark Punchy growled. "I... I know... This is all my fault... But this isn't helping Rainbow, and you know it! Now get ahold of yourself!" Violet shouted. "Gee, nice speech. Now, Copter, if you would be so kind as to lend a tail..." Kosmo grunted. However, Dark Punchy was suddenly stopped in his tracks, clasping his head! Punchy's normal voice escaped his mouth. "She's... right! I gotta help... Rainbow!" he gasped. "....And Heather! We need to help them both!" Copter added. "...Carrie..." Kosmo muttered to himself. Fera stomped forward angrily. "Violet! What are you doing!?" she snarled. "My... My sister..." she muttered. "Your... sister...?" Fera gasped. While Punchy grappled with Dark Punchy, Chet ran up to Copter. "So... You're going to save that phoenix?" he asked. "Welcome back, Chet." Copter replied. "I'm NOT back." he snapped. "Dark Punchy....!! Let me... GO!!" Dark Punchy flashed brightly as Punchy was restored to normal, but Chet had to finish telling Copter something before they wrapped this up. "Guard was talking to that Gunner dude's hologram. He's probably taking the phoenix to Central City. That's where GUN's HQ is." he reasoned. Copter nodded. "Thanks..." he said before returning his focus to Punchy. "Violet... You helped me... Or was it the Despair Seal FINALLY working again?" he muttered. Fera shrugged. "I have something to attend to... You three are free to go. You don't have the Chaos Emerald anyway." she said, turning and leading Violet and Chet away. "Punchy... You okay?" Copter asked nervously. Punchy nodded. "Yeah... I guess... But YOU owe me, Kosmo!" he said. "How do ya figure?" Kosmo grumbled. "You lost Rainbow. Now you're gonna help find her!" Punchy insisted. "If it's all the same to you, Punchy, why don't we start in Central City. Heather's there." Copter reasoned. "Not to mention Gunner. We all owe him a little payback..." Kosmo added. "But why would Rainbow be THERE??" Punchy snapped. Kosmo shrugged. "GUN forces WERE nearby when I lost her. Maybe she was caught by them." he figured. Punchy scratched his head a moment. "...Okay, fair enough. Remember, if you try anything funny, I can go all dark again!" he warned. "As if that frightened me!" Kosmo scoffed as they started toward Mia's cab. "Could you BOTH please behave!!" Copter growled. "Um, are we ALL riding back, 'cuz we might have a space problem..." Vector shouted, stuffed in the back seat of the cab. Kosmo sighed in annoyance. "I'll fly myself back..." he muttered.

GUN's Headquarters wasn't difficult to find. GUN troops and robots were flocking to the building from all over, something clearly putting them in an uproar. "Do we still wanna do this?" Punchy grumbled as they walked through Central City, heading for the place GUN's forces were meeting at. "Don't worry, getting in will be a cinch." Kosmo said, morphing into his GUN Agent form. "What about us...?" Copter wondered.

"Agent 16" led Copter and Punchy into GUN HQ in handcuffs. "Oh, woe is me! How could I have been stupid enough to fall asleep in that trash can?" Copter wailed, overacting a bit. Somehow, this ruse was working, and it didn't take long for them to find the source of the uproar in the base. They found Gemini the fennec, pointing her wand at Dr. Nammad! However, Agents 32 and 64 were behind the doctor, pointing guns at Adam the bat and Evelyn the fox. "Let them go! I'm the one you want!" Gemini growled. "No, uh... No I don't." Nammad said blankly. Kosmo reverted to his normal form as he approached this scene. "Okay, these guys are blocking the road." he growled as Copter and Punchy discarded their unlocked handcuffs. "Guns on that morph! Protect the doctor at all costs!" Agent 32 growled. Agent 64 nodded and targeted Kosmo. "Gemini! Are you all right?" Copter asked, a bit confused to see her. "Aw, geez. Not again. Why can't you guys get captured AWAY from me??" Punchy groaned. "I'm not captured 'till I'm in a cage! Let's go, Eve!" Adam said. "Wait... for... Fred!" Evelyn grumbled. Dr. Nammad shrugged. "I propose a trade. These, uh, troublesome pests... For the, uh, artificial wand I worked so hard to, uh, make." he suggested. Kosmo looked impatient. "Can't I just move this guy and we can all be on our way?" he sighed. "No, don't! I need to ask him something!" Gemini yelped. "Ask him when he regains consciousness!!" Kosmo snapped. "Let her speak, Kosmo!" Copter insisted. "Huh...?" Kosmo muttered. "She's my... friend. I'm going to help her, too." Copter decided. "Greeeeat..." Punchy said in annoyance. Gemini nodded, smiling at Copter before returning to her business. "Dr. Nammad! Why do you want the fake wand?" she asked. The doctor shrugged. "Well, I can't, uh, use the real one. So I made one that I, uh, could use." he explained. "Then... would you return my wand?" Gemini asked. Nammad thought about it and nodded. "Very well. We'll make the exchange, uh, at the same time." he said. Despite a few grumblings from the nearby experiments who distrusted Nammad, the exchange went by quickly, and Gemini sighed with relief as she finally held her own wand again. "There... Now let my friends go!" she insisted. "Hmmm... No. I, uh, gave up the wand. I need to, uh, be sure you won't use it to, uh, cause any trouble..." Nammad grinned. "WHAT!?" Gemini yelled. "That slime! I knew it!" Kosmo growled. "That was pretty predictable." Punchy sighed. "Can I move NOW?" Adam asked, only to watch Evelyn shake her head. "This artificial wand will, uh, be the final piece of Project GXterminate! Now I, uh, gotta go turn it on." Nammad announced. "G-what-inate!?" Copter muttered. "Enough! Let's get him!" Kosmo yelled. However, Agents 32 and 64 started to shoot to cover Dr. Nammad as he waved the fake wand, causing a blinding flash of light as they escaped with Adam and Evelyn! "Aaah!! They're gone!" Gemini gasped. "Don't worry, Gemini! We'll get them back! They took Heather, too!" Copter said. "Huh? ...Isn't Heather dead?" Gemini muttered. "Yeah, and they might've took Rainbow! Let's trash this dump!!" Punchy added. "And shut down this extermination thing they mentioned! Sounds dangerous..." Kosmo concluded.

Despite everything on the line and any determination the four of them might have had to accomplish this mission, they were still in GUN's own headquarters. A brief walk further into the base revealed just how serious this was. They had gone down some elevators to get into the base, and now they found an alarming area beneath Central City: a hangar filled with GUN Warships! Making matters worse, GUN had sounded the alarm on them, and this massive area was filling up with Beetles, Hunters, Hornets, armed GUN Agents, and worst of all, Bigfoot mechs! "We're dead, aren't we?" Copter gulped. "I'd like to disagree, but look who's leading this army of death." Punchy pointed out. Shadow the Hedgehog and Guard the Gargoyle were coordinating the troops into a line to block the experiments' advance. "Wait there. I'm going to have a talk..." Shadow said, running up to Kosmo. "What are you doing here, Shadow?" Kosmo growled. "Don't worry. I'm not here to rescue you again..." the black hedgehog said wryly. "When did YOU ever need rescuing?!" Copter stammered. "The President may be in danger. I'm here to investigate at Rouge's request." Shadow explained. "Well, we're here for everything BUT the Prez." Punchy said. "Kosmo?" Shadow asked. "You know who I want, Shadow..." Kosmo replied. Just then, Guard flew over. "GUARD!! Where'd you stash Heather!? I will have Kosmo snap you in two, you bot brain!!" Copter yelled furiously. Gemini held her wand defensively. "I'll pay you back for imprisoning me, too!" she growled. "You don't scare me. Grrrr... She is safely with Dr. Nammad. You'll never reach her." he said. "We'll see about that!" Kosmo growled. "...without my assistance, that is." Guard added. "Did he just say that?" Punchy groaned. "Dr. Nammad... Grrrr... He's insane. His actions will endanger all of us. Grrrr... After assessing the situation, I have deemed it worthy of ignoring my programming." Guard explained. "Prove it!" Copter said. Guard turned around and swung his scythe, firing a beam that blew a GUN Hornet sky high! "Grrrr! We must work together to stop GXterminate!" he growled. Shadow nodded. "You four go. Guard and I will handle things here." he grinned. Punchy flashed and became Dark Punchy. "Not that I lack confidence in your boundless abilities, but I'll just blow a hole in that line..." he said.

Dark Punchy led the charge, knocking bots and agents alike out of the way with dark shockwaves as he bolted past the line of GUN troops! Copter and Gemini added their own attacks as they followed, thinning out the robots that might chase them, while Kosmo brought up the rear in the form of a Flying Dog mech, both confusing and blasting enemy troops that remained to pursue. Shadow busily warped around knocking out GUN forces that started to chase after them, while Guard stayed airborne and fired beams from his scythe where they were needed. However, the group didn't get far past the first GUN Warship before they came across their nemesis. "Ha ha! Furry freaks!" Colonel Gunner stood in their path, accompanied by Sergeant Drol. "Fearful that the end is near, you desperately charge straight into the jaws of your destroyer! Fools!" Gunner laughed. "What'd you say?!" Punchy growled as the Despair Seal returned him to normal. "If I didn't have this seal, you'd be SO dead." he added. "Silence, knave!" Drol sneered, "You stand before Colonel Richard Gunner! The master strategist behind the battle with the Covenant of Despair!" he announced. Copter couldn't contain himself. "Master strategist? HIM?? BWA HA HA HA HA!!!" he started cracking up. "Stop that snickering, you! I owe all of you a long overdue debt of vengeance!" Gunner snarled furiously. Kosmo, having morphed back to normal, crossed his arms in a huff. "Funny... I was gonna say thanks for letting me out, but now you don't even get that. Bloody big nose." he sniggered. Sgt. Drol couldn't help snickering at that as well. "D-drol!!" Gunner gasped. "E-errr... I think the robot is malfunctioning, sir." he mumbled. Gunner glanced back at the huge tank accompanying himself and Drol. "It'll be fine. Where was I?" he muttered. Suddenly, Spy came running towards them from behind the next GUN Warship. "Boooooooss!! Saaarr-I mean-Colonel Gunnerrrrr!!" he screamed frantically. "Hey, lookie, it's the dimwit patrol." Copter pointed. "Spyyyyy... You were SUPPOSED to be watching the President!" Gunner growled, grinding his teeth. "Yes, your bossiness! I was! That's just it! The Prez has gone totally bonkers! He's out of his gourd! He must be stopped!" Spy stammered. "He... Are you sure, Spy?" Gunner muttered. "He's plotting something sinister with Project GXterminate, sir." he whimpered. "Well, he can't do much from his little office..." Gunner shrugged. "No, no, no!! You don't get it!! HE'S HERE!!!" Spy shouted. "Come again!?" Drol gasped. "What do you mean the president's up to something sinister??" Gemini wondered. "Eh, who cares!" Kosmo sighed. "Grrr... GXterminate is MY master plan! No one else is getting their grubby mitts on it!" Gunner growled, glaring at the experiments and Gemini, "And once it's activated, it will drain the special energy of the phoenix, and use it to target the same life energy all over the world! The life energy... of furry freaks! GXterminate will eliminate you all in one fell swoop! Ha ha ha ha ha!!" he cackled. "You're not going to do that, Richie!" Copter shouted. "Yeah! We won't let ya!" Punchy added. "As though you have any choice in the matter! M73-F/A Rhinolord! Trample these disgusting freaks!" Gunner shouted. Kosmo glared furiously at the colonel. "You are beneath scum, Gunner!" he growled. "Oh, yeah? Aren't I basically doing the same thing you intended to do before? Only I'm going to succeed!!" Gunner retorted. Kosmo gasped, a look of true rage growing over his face. "I'll make you choke on your bile!!" he roared.

The Rhinolord tank charged past Gunner and Drol, forcing the experiments and Gemini to scatter as it charged at them! It was a heavily armored vehicle, much like GUN's smaller armored tank robots, only this one was covered with weapons! "You are fools to march into GUN's own Headquarters like this! You'll never leave here alive now! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Gunner laughed as Rhinolord started firing lasers and bombs from all directions! "Aa-a-Abra-ka-warpra!!" Gemini shouted in panic, vanishing and reappearing on top of one of the nearby GUN Warships. "I'll be back when my heart catches up to me!" she shouted. Copter and Punchy were busy scrambling to avoid the attacks, while Kosmo stood his ground, his hand having morphed into a shield Hunter's shield. "Hey, Gunner! I'm using your own tech against you! How do you like that!?" he yelled. "Flatten him!" Gunner yelled. "...oh..." Kosmo yelped as Rhinolord came charging his way! However, Kosmo simply added a Hunter's jetpack to his body and flew above the tank quickly! Unfortunately, the tank had laser turrets on top of it as well, and he went spinning out of control as the jetpack was struck! "You stupid, stupid, STUPID machine!! Outta my way!!!" Copter shouted, trying to damage the tank with Chaos Whirlwind! However, it was ineffective. "Punchy, I think we need your dark form..." he sighed. "No... I'm not sure I have enough control over it..." Punchy sighed. Instead, he tried Chaos Avalanche, tossing chunks of the floor at the tank. However, they bounced off uselessly, and the tank started to charge at him! "...warpra!" Gemini appeared beside Punchy and quickly warped him out of the way as the Rhinolord attempted to flatten him. "Whew... Thanks. Hey, you got a nuclear blast spell or something?" he asked. Gemini glared at him disapprovingly. "Oh, nuclear winter. That'd solve things. Your Chaos move pulls apart the floor, right?" she asked. Punchy nodded. "I've already puzzled this out!" Kosmo shouted, morphed into Punchy's form, "THIS is how you Chaos Avalanche!" he said, raising his hands at the Rhinolord as it charged at him! The ground shook, and Kosmo pulled chunks of the floor out from directly under the tank! It flipped over backward, exposing its underside, which seemed decidedly less armored! Copter, who was already flying around to avoid getting flattened, dropped toward the flipped tank and swung his tails, his tailband shining as he tapped into its power! "Stupid, stupid STUPID MACHINE!!" he screamed as the Rhinolord exploded in half!

Gunner wore a familiar dumbfounded expression, followed by outrage. "Grrrrrrr!!! I despise you freaks! With all my soul! Just you wait, I'll destroy you all!" he shouted. "Um... Sir?" Drol muttered with concern. "Nice speech. Now take us to where you're keeping this doomsday weapon!" Kosmo growled. "You don't know Gunner very well, do you?" Copter panted. "You'll burn, freaks!" Gunner said, stepping back slowly. Suddenly, Spy handed him a coffee mug, on which was a hidden button that he hastily pressed. A hidden platform on the floor started to rise up, carrying the three GUN officials away as a wall of flames blocked the experiments from chasing them. "YOU'LL BURRRRRN!!!" Gunner screamed, sipping his coffee as his platform vanished into the distance. "How'd he do that...?" Kosmo muttered blankly. "Old coward's always got an escape hatch." Punchy shrugged. "Well, we'd better get chasing!" Kosmo grumbled as the flames died down. "You, there... Wait a moment!" came a voice exiting the nearby GUN Warship. "No time, military guy! We've got lots of ground to cover before people start dropping dead from some superweapon!" Kosmo said. "Hold up..." Punchy gasped, "That's the President!" 


Chapter 28 - The President's Secret
Stage 16(Dark 8) - GUN Headquarters
Boss 16 - ?????????

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.


Kosmo looked at the well-dressed human suspiciously. "If you're the President... And you're over here... Then who was that spy running from?" he asked. "Listen... I don't know who else to turn to..." the President began, "Someone's been posing as me for some time. He's fooled GUN and propagated a war with the Covenant of Despair." he explained. "Seriously?? Sounds like the work of a morph!" Copter said, glancing at Kosmo. "Please. Eyes would be a dead giveaway. Gotta be a really good human in disguise." Kosmo scoffed. The President looked at them urgently. "Whoever it is, he's after the real me. I've had to go into hiding. Few know I've been here... Those who do tend to disappear. I don't know who to trust... So I thought... Maybe it's time to trust you." he said. "Us? Do you know who we are??" Kosmo stammered. The President sighed. "There's no time to ask such questions. I need you to cover me while I head for the laboratory. Can you do it?" he asked. The experiments all glanced between each other awkwardly, until Gemini piped up. "If he can trust us, we can trust him. Let's go before more troops show up!" she reasoned. "You think they'd attack the president?" Copter wondered.

Unfortunately, the robots, while programmed not to harm the President, were not exactly programmed to obey him, and kept attempting to capture or destroy the intruders despite the company they kept. Fortunately, they were able to reach a relatively safe office area of the base and lock the door behind them using a Presidential emergency code. "I do have a tiny bit of clout with GUN... within my own nation." the prez muttered. Gemini gasped as she looked around the office. "You guys have a worse security breach than us..." she gulped. The agents working the office were hunched over, moaning. A closer look revealed that they were skeletons! "Urgh... Loskel..." Copter groaned. Punchy looked a bit greener as a memory flashed through his mind. "These things make me vomity..." he grumbled. "How utterly rude! And I was just gonna have a friendly quiz with you!" said Lospecter as he floated in front of them, "But now I gotta make this a wager. You win, you pass through. I win, and my lovely assistants nab your President. Make this quick, I have an appointment with another prez." he said. "What do you mean, you sludge!?" Gemini growled. "Now, name calling is for after the game. LOSPECTER'S QUIZ MANIA! What question number is this for the day? Eh, lost count. Okay, just how many of you doofy experiments is there now?" he asked. Copter and Punchy stood there counting for a bit, but Kosmo just put a moment of thought into it. "That griffin seemed young... I'll say... Fifteen." he answered. Lospecter grinned. "Final answer? Well, thanks for your candor. I'll take my bones and be on my way!" he said, holding up a card that caused the loskel to vanish! "Hold it!" Gemini shouted, but Lospecter escaped through a wall quickly. "...He pumped us for info again, didn't he?" Copter groaned, slapping his forehead.

Heading through a long corridor between areas of the base, the group soon found Whisk the divine skipping along, seeming strangely calm in spite of the alarms going off through the base. "Hey... You're that creature from Eggman's flying carnival..." Kosmo muttered. Whisk looked around with a dazed expression for a moment. "I am soooo lost." she muttered. "I'll say. What happened to that lizard you were with in the sewer?" Gemini asked. Whisk looked at her blankly. "Um... Could you show me to the GX-story-time room? I was invited to story time!" she smiled. Everyone frowned awkwardly at her. "I would recommend you find your way out of here..." the President sighed. "Before that crazy doctor uses you in some experiment..." Copter muttered. Whisk shrugged, and then vanished in a flash of light! "...What's she got to do with GXterminate?" Punchy wondered.

An electronic security door was at the end of the corridor, and the President didn't know the code. "Let me try... Blasting the thing might get us surrounded without Shadow and the gargoyle to bail us out again..." Kosmo said, morphing into a GUN Hunter and plugging himself into the electronic lock. "What the... What are you expecting to?" Punchy began, only to shut up as the door slid open. "This is a bunker, designed to protect the laboratory." the President warned, "I'll follow behind you. Disable the defenses as we go..." he said. As they entered, they found Bigfoot and Flying Dog mechs waiting for them, as well as armored turrets positioned throughout the bunker! "Yeah... we can do that..." Copter muttered. Punchy quickly changed into Dark Punchy, growling as he proceeded into the room! "Good, they'll waste bullets on him. I'll use magic to disable those turrets!" Gemini said, waving her wand and warping ahead of the group! Kosmo chuckled as he stepped into the room. "I've got a fun idea. Watch this!" He glowed brightly and transformed into a slightly smaller version of the Rhinolord tank they had fought earlier! "Hey, no fair! Everyone's got a way to be bulletproof but me!" Copter shouted. "Ahem..." the President cleared his throat. "Yeah, like they'll shoot you." Copter scoffed. The others had ignored his complaints, and were already battling it out with the GUN mechs, bullets, lasers and dark energy flying everywhere! Gulping nervously, Copter charged into the fray, jumping and weaving to avoid the projectiles coming his way! "If I were evil and smart, I'd use the prez as a human shield!" he grumbled halfway to the nearest turret, figuring he'd try disabling the ones Gemini wasn't busy with. He took to the sky, spinning his tails frantically to avoid the shots of the turret and land on top of it! Then, he bumped into Gemini. "Ow! Hey, what're YOU doing here!? Outta my way!" she yelled. "Me!? I thought you warped that way!!" Copter shouted. "I already turned that turret's Chaos Drive into an apple core. Look, it's shooting seeds... oh, it stopped." she said. Copter rolled his eyes and thwacked the turret with his tails, blowing it to pieces with his tailband's power! "...My way's more creative." Gemini pouted.

In the meantime, Dark Punchy's assault was getting notably brutal. He was snapping the metal limbs off the Bigfoot mechs and tossing them at Flying Dogs, and he'd blast clear through a mech to grab its pilot and hurl him to the ground, badly injuring the pilot. Soon, one of those metal limbs knocked Kosmo's Rhinolord form over, and he morphed back to normal to get back to his feet. "This guy's gettin' outta hand again..." he grunted. Copter and Gemini arrived on the scene after disabling the turrets, and gasped at Dark Punchy's onslaught. "I was afraid of this..." Gemini muttered, "Someone should take that crazy bracelet away from him." Copter shrugged. "Yeah, and then they'll take away my tailband. I'm not gonna tell him..." he said. As the last of the mechs fell, Dark Punchy glared straight at the President! However, Gemini appeared in front of him before he could make another move. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" she yelled. Kosmo was soon by her side, and Copter approached Dark Punchy from behind. "We're voting regular Punchy back again." he said. Dark Punchy glanced back at him and chuckled. "Think your vote means anything to me?" he sneered. The Despair Seal glowed softly, but seemed to be struggling. Kosmo cleared his throat. "C'mon, we know he's in there. Don't be dragging this out." he said. "Think what Rainbow would want, Punchy." Gemini said. Dark Punchy groaned as the Despair Seal glowed brighter, and in a moment normal Punchy was back. "...What's wrong with this thing?" he muttered, flicking the Despair Seal gently as though testing it for something.

The laboratory door was open. Inside, they found that Shadow and Guard had beaten them there, as had Colonel Gunner, Spy and Sgt. Drol. Shadow was accompanied by Rouge and Omega, and there were several GUN agents present including Agents 32 and 64. Adam and Evelyn were stuck in a cage at the back of the room, and Dr. Nammad and the "President" were standing over a machine made up of monitors, several antennae, a power core with a blue Chaos Emerald and the fake wand inserted, and Heather the phoenix clamped to a table beside it, with a machine strapped to her chest! Copter, Punchy, Kosmo, and Gemini gazed in alarm at the scene that unfolded before them. "Mr. President! Just what are you doing in here!? This lab is... dangerous!" Gunner babbled. "I know, Col. Gunner... I'm making sure of it." the duplicate President said. "Huh?" Gunner mumbled. "Our little war is going to come to an abrupt end." the phony President grinned. Dr. Nammad nodded. "Well, uh... That was always the, uh... plan." he stated. Kosmo couldn't take any more. "Hold it, chumps! We have some complaints about your little plan!" he shouted. "You're gonna let our friends go, NOW, or so help me...!!" Punchy growled. As Spy turned around, he shrieked. "Gaaah! Sarge, it's those evil experiments!" he yelped. "If you don't stop calling me sarge, Spy, I swear I'll have you scrubbing toilets..." Gunner grumbled as he and most everyone turned to acknowledge the new arrivals. "Hold on... How is it there can be TWO Presidents in here!?" Shadow gasped. Also growing impatient, Gemini started to stomp toward the cage at the back of the room. "Never mind! I've got to save my friends!" she grumbled. "Gemini, get back here! It's not safe yet!" Copter warned. "Omega, which one's the real President?" Rouge asked. Omega scanned them both from afar. "It is a near perfect disguise... But if I were to venture a guess, I would say the one who just entered is the true President." he said. "Grrrrr!! Then who's this imposter!?" Guard growled, glaring at the fake. "Impossible! An imposter could never pull the wool over my eyes!" Drol protested. Gunner stared at the real President in shock. "Wait... If you're the President... What are you doing with these....???" he stammered. "Richard! That... thing over there... attacked me in my office! It stole my very identity, and has been posing as me all this time!" the President explained, "I was in hiding in this base until these... intruders showed up. I had to place my trust in them." he said. "S-seriously?? You're kidding?" Gunner yammered in utter disbelief. "It doesn't matter!" the imposter President declared, "I saw to it that GXterminate was completed to MY specifications! Turn it on, Nammad!" he ordered. Dr. Nammad scratched his head awkwardly. "Um...? You say you did something to it?" he gulped. "Awww, never mind! I'LL do it!" said Lospecter as he emerged through a nearby wall! "Him again!?" Copter, Punchy and Kosmo all said at once. 

Gemini stopped short of the cage upon Lospecter's arrival. "YOU... Not here...!" she growled. Suddenly, Copter and Kosmo cringed as they heard yet another person entering the lab. "Excuse me! What is going on in here!?" said the GUN Commander, looking around, "Mr. President! What... There are two of you!!" he stammered. The fake president ignored him and explained his scheme. "When this machine activates, it'll run haywire. The flames inside the phoenix will intensify the power of the Chaos Emerald... All life as we know it... will end!" he sneered. Gunner's eyes went wide. "WHAT!? That's not... But that'll kill you, too! You're insane!" he yelled. Dr. Nammad tried to block the way to the machine. "Get back, Lospecter! It's not, uh, supposed to work like that! Let me get in there and fix your, uh, sabotage!!" he said in panic. "Step aside, Ivan, ya bother me." Lospecter said, simply floating around him, and then knocking him away with a water-based projectile from one of his cards! Nammad fell to the ground, unconscious, and Gunner began to freak out. "Drol!! Guard!! Someone stop them!!" he shouted. "Solare!!" Gemini growled, firing a beam of light from her wand in Lospecter's general direction! "Whoooops! Missed me, sweetie!" Lospecter chuckled, flipping aside. However, she had hit the phony President! "Eeeeeeeyaaaaaah!!!" he howled in pain, and his body started to convulse and shake! "Ew, what's happening?? Am I gonna throw up?!" Punchy gasped, covering his eyes. "Aaaah heh heh heh heh haaaa!!!" the fake president laughed as his disguise disintegrated away, revealing greenish bones, clawed hands, and glowing red eye sockets in his green skull! "Oh, my... What IS that!?" Rouge gasped. "It can't be!! It's a Lost One!!" Gemini stammered. Col. Gunner's eyes burned with rage. "A FREAK!! A FREAK has been posing as the President!! Do something!! Kill it!! Don't let it turn on that machine!!" he screamed furiously. The Commander looked stunned, but nodded. "For once... I agree with you, Colonel... Mr. President, you need to get back, sir!" he said. Kosmo nodded and started toward the skeleton. "Come on! That machine's not getting turned on, right?" he said. Copter and Punchy looked at him funny. "Isn't destroying all life what you WANT?" Punchy said. Kosmo scoffed. "Where have you been? That's what the Lost Ones want. All I want... is to be free!" he declared, "And that can't very well happen if I'm dead! Let's go!" he said, leading the way! Gunner glanced at Guard in the meantime. "I want troops in here, NOW! Stop them ALL!!" he ordered. "Grrrr!! Yes, Colonel!" Guard said, hurrying out of the lab. "Ooooooh, sounds like a par-tay! I better dole out some cards to keep everyone occupied!" Lospecter chuckled, flying up high and picking out cards for the battle. The green skeleton looked at the experiments as they approached him. "I am Loskeletor! The Lost Ones have been the silent army in this war!" he said with a hollow, ghastly voice, "And now, we are here to take this city for our own! Thou souls shall soon be ours!! Now, meet thy doom!"

Loskeletor's eyes glowed brighter, and red hot beams fired from them, surprising the experiments and making them scatter! Lospecter chuckled from above and tossed a few cards around. "Enjoy! I stacked the deck special for this occasion!" he grinned. Three Losol Golems appeared in the lab, large blobs made up of several losol combined together! Shadow, Rouge and Omega sprang into action, heading for the golem closest to the President. "They lack weaknesses... together. So let's try splitting them apart!" the hedgehog suggested. Copter found himself cut off from the others by the second Losol Golem. "You giant ugly gelatin! Don't make me splatter you all over the walls!" he growled, "Go on, guys! I'll catch up!" The third golem went straight for Gemini. "Hah! You asked for it! I've got my wand back! Slibeam!" she shouted, slicing the golem in half with a magic beam, which only succeeded in creating two smaller golems. "Why didn't I see that coming...?" she mumbled, trying to think of a better spell that wouldn't slime everyone with the golem's remains. In the meantime, Loskeletor kept Punchy and Kosmo at bay with his eye lasers, so only one could get close to him at a time. When one got close, he swiped his claws at them, which were not only sharp, but would burst into blue Ghost Fire from time to time, creating the danger of turning the victim into a loskel! Kosmo morphed his tail into a mace and started to toss it from afar in order to stop this cycle, but one advantage of being a skeleton was that it was pretty easy to bend and twist to dodge attacks! "Heh heh heh! Alas, like my performance as President, this bout must also draw to a close. Now falls the curtain on thou dismal lives!" Loskeletor taunted, rotating his head rapidly as he fired his laser eyes! Kosmo and Punchy ducked hastily, but one of the Losol Golem pieces Gemini had lost track of was sneaking up on them! "Augh! Get away from me!!" Punchy yelled as it jumped on him! "Grrr... Chaos BLAAAAST!!" He eradicated the golem with a huge blast of chaos energy, which even rattled Loskeletor's bones! The skeleton reassembled its body back to normal and looked around. "Hark... The fell golems...fell." he gasped.

Lospecter looked around in disappointment. "Aw, no!! My cute little Losol Golems!" he whined. "They're on the ropes! Someone go save that bird, quick!" Kosmo shouted. Gunner growled in frustration. "Don't let them escape with the phoeni-- errr.... the President! Protect the President at all costs!" he barked. Loskeletor's eye sockets narrowed. "We are far from through... Lospecter, I need another dose of the presidential form." he said. Lospecter chuckled. "Heh, sure. We won't let the fact that our cover's blown stop us!" he smirked. "What are they scheming...?" Gemini wondered. "GEMINI!!! Little HELP!?" Adam yelled from his cage. As Loskeletor started toward the President, Kosmo stood in his way. "Hold it, you phony morph!" he growled. "I haven't time to fritter away exchanging blows with such a... boor. Heh heh..." Loskeletor muttered. "Geez... Talk normal, would ya?" Lospecter sighed. Meanwhile, Heather was waking up. "Copter! Why am I hooked up to all these crazy gizmos!?" she stammered as she looked around. "Burn 'em, Heather! Burn 'em to scrap!" Copter shouted, joining Kosmo in blocking Loskeletor. "Pray, excuse me, knave." the skeleton said. "Is... is that creature mocking me?!" Sgt. Drol stammered. Loskeletor swiped his eye lasers across the area, knocking Copter aside and forcing Kosmo and Punchy out of the way! "Copter!!" Heather shouted in concern. Punchy ran to assist him, while Kosmo turned to follow Loskeletor. "It... It's coming this way!!" the Commander stammered. "Spy, you sniveling coward! Get in there!!" Gunner ordered. "I can't hurt the President!!" Spy yelped, running over to hide near the GXterminate machine. Drol turned to the nearby GUN agents. "We'll take care of it! Troops, fire!" he shouted, prompting Agents 32 and 64 to open fire on Loskeletor! Meanwhile, Lospecter popped in front of Gemini as she reached her friends' cage! "Trouble, witchy?" he smirked. "Augh! Stay back, you gassy monkey!!" she shouted. Kosmo glanced back. "Copter, your friend's in trouble!" he shouted. Hearing him, Copter scrambled back to his feet. "Gah! Gemini! I told her it wasn't safe!!" he growled. "That wakes you up??" Punchy mumbled. "Hey, Loskels! Go fetch!" Lospecter grinned, tossing a card that summoned a horde of loskels to surround Gemini!

Guard finally arrived with reinforcements as things started to look bad. Even Omega's guns were failing to affect Loskeletor. "N-no!! Our guns aren't doing anything!!!" Drol grunted, "Guard, get those robots over here!!" he yelled. Behind Guard, a black cat wearing red and blue pants snuck into the lab and approached the GXterminate weapon. "Me-yow!! Look at all this craziness! Well, least I can snag this emerald... I am NOT useless..." he said to himself. However, Col. Gunner didn't fail to notice him. "What!? W-who!? Gah! No time for all these freaks! Spy, deal with the emerald, I need to protect the President!" he shouted. Being the closest to Loskeletor, Agent 64 stood in front of the skeleton, refusing to get out of the way. "G-get back, monster! I am prepared to lay my life on the line to protect my nation!" he declared. "...Huh??" Kosmo gasped, watching this. Shadow and Rouge were speeding towards Loskeletor, having been occupied with Lost Ones summoned by Lospecter up to this point, but Loskeletor didn't seem to care. "Sorry. Your pitiful efforts bore me." he said. Moving with surprising speed and acrobatics, Loskeletor slipped past Agent 64 and everyone in his way, heading straight for the President! "N-NOOOOO!!" the President screamed, realizing the skeleton was unstoppable! At the same time, Spy was holding a gun to the cat, and Copter had arrived to aid Gemini, while Punchy was sitting back wondering which direction he should be going, if any. In the next instant, everyone was startled by the President's ear-piercing shriek as he and Loskeletor vanished in a flash of red light! "Mr. President!!!" the Commander shouted. Shadow stopped in his tracks and stared. "No... I was too late!" he growled. Meanwhile, Fred the fennec had appeared behind Adam and Evelyn inside their cage. "Adam! Evelyn! Did Gemini find her real wand yet?" he asked, startling them. "Don't DO that!!" Adam yelled. "ME-YOW!! Where'd you come from with that gun!?" the nearby cat shouted at Spy as he clutched the Chaos Emerald. A voice was heard coming from near them. "Lucky!! Hold on, you dummy!" Kosmo recognized this voice immediately. "Carrie!?" he blurted. As Spy looked for the source of the voice, Carrie appeared out of nowhere next to him! "BOO!!" she shouted! "WHATINTHEWHOTHE WHAAAAAAT!?" Spy screamed, jumping back! "I coulda got out myself... I think..." Lucky, the cat, grumbled. "Guys! I think we gotta go!" Heather shouted as she jumped away from the GXterminate machine. "Before I go Dark Punchy from CONFUSION!!" Punchy yelled. Gunner turned to the dumbfounded GUN Commander. "Don't just stand around! LOCK DOWN GUN HQ!! Don't let anyone out!" he shouted. "Huh? R-right! Exactly right, Colonel! If the President's still here, we can't let him be taken away!" the Commander said, snapping out of his state of shock. Copter tugged at Gemini's arm as she hurled spells at the Lost Ones frantically. "Geminiiiii, no time for grudge matches! Let's go!" he insisted. "Meh, I got a city to conquer anyway. Later, foxy!" Lospecter said, flying off! Kosmo, Punchy and Heather quickly joined Copter and Gemini, though Kosmo's eyes were fixed on Carrie as she and Lucky made their escape. Gemini and Fred raised their wands and cast their warping spells to get everyone out of there. "GALAPORTA!!" As the light of the spells surrounded them, Colonel Gunner could be heard screaming. "GAAAAAAAHHH!!! How could they ESCAPE!!?? You... BLASTED EXPERIMENTS!!!"


Chapter 29 - Foreboding Dreams
Stage 17(Hero 9) - Dream Temple
Minor Boss 13 - "Shadow Tails"

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:
Knuckles met up with Sonic at Eggman's Troblusk City base after leaving the sewer. Knuckles decided to check out Eggman's Tree Fort, which he heard about from Rainbow, while Sonic checks out another lead.
After a disastrous conclusion to checking out that lead, Tails decided to go find Knuckles while Sonic heads for Central City to stop Eggman's latest scheme.
Meanwhile, Gemini managed to reclaim her wand at GUN's HQ and rescue her friends again. Now, she's made a hasty escape after witnessing dramatic events unfold in GUN's laboratory...
Now, on to the next chapter!


After emerging outside GUN Headquarters, Gemini bade farewell to Copter, Punchy, Kosmo and Heather, and hastily started to make a retreat before her teacher could catch her and try to make her change her mind about her mission to the past. However, Shadow soon appeared in front of her. "Wait..." he said gruffly as she stopped short. "Huh?? What do you want?" she stammered. "You can use magic... Could you locate the President?" Shadow said plainly. Gemini sighed. "Not really... I'm not great at tracking the Lost Ones when they don't want to be found." she admitted, "You'd think I'd be able to track Lospecter's cards or something..." Shadow looked thoughtful. "Hm... What about Sonic or Knuckles? Could you find them?" he asked. "Knuckles has Master Emerald stink all over him. I bet I could find its residue on him even if he lost it." she chuckled. Shadow nodded. "His treasure-hunting abilities might be useful right now... Take me to him."

Since arriving at the Mystic Ruins, Knuckles had been wandering lost for what seemed like ages, trying to find a "Tree Fort" that he figured had to have been built somewhere overnight. "I stumbled into what's left of Final Egg a couple times... I wonder if that was it?" he mumbled as he kicked his way through some bushes frustratedly. Suddenly, some Chaos Spears struck the ground at his feet, making him stumble back a little! "Whoa!!" He fell backward as a blade slashed towards his chest, barely missing him! As he hit the floor, he dropped the Master Emerald, and as he turned himself over to see where it tumbled, he saw a blue boot stop it from rolling. "All I had to do was wait for you to let your guard down..." said Conan, his blade pointed down at Knuckles while he lifted up the Master Emerald with his other hand. "You...put...that...DOWN!!" Knuckles warned. "If you had anything else on you, I'd stick around, but I've got places to be. Ta!" Conan said, fleeing into the jungle! "Come back here!! CONAN!!" Knuckles roared, scrambling to his feet to give chase!

While on the chase, Knuckles ran right past Tails. "There you are! Wait! Knuckles!!" the fox shouted, following after him. Knuckles had kept running straight in the direction Conan had gone, and was entering a section of forest bordered by fog. Beyond the fog was a dense maze of trees, and beyond it, a crystalline building could be glimpsed. Knuckles looked around in a fury. "CONAN!! Argh!! I've lost him!" he shouted. Tails glanced around awkwardly. "Way to go. You found the Forest of Dreams. Um, Knuckles? Sonic sent me to find you. Eggman's invading Central City to steal a doomsday weapon from GUN!" he said. Suddenly, Gemini and Shadow appeared beside them in a flash of light! "Knuckles! We found you!" Gemini sighed. Knuckles grunted angrily. "I can't be bothered. I have to get back the Master Emerald!" he growled. Shadow sighed. "Can you give that thing a rest for a minute? The Lost Ones have kidnapped the President. I could use your expertise finding them. They've got plans to wipe out all life on the planet, so I think that's more important than your rock." he said. Tails looked a bit shocked. "Whoa... Well, at any rate, we'd better get out of here. This forest can play tricks on you..." he said. Suddenly, a loud crash of thunder could be heard as rain started pouring across the forest! "Great... As if things couldn't get worse." Knuckles groaned. "I see a building over there! We'll just wait out the rain!" Gemini shouted, leading the group toward the temple beyond the trees. "Wa-wait!! Magic us across the jungle or something! DON'T GO IN THERE!!" Tails yelled frantically. However, he was ignored, and the four of them soon arrived at the mysterious Dream Temple. They climbed the stone steps and hurriedly entered the crystal doors to get out of the rain. Inside the dark entrance, they found Rouge the bat and Omega drying off as well. "Huh...? When did you get here?" Shadow gasped. "You disappeared without saying anything! I figured either you had a lead, or the Lost Ones got you!" Rouge growled. The darkness within the temple took form as a crystal room, and in the center, a black shadow resembling Tails appeared!

"Shadow Tails!" Tails gasped as the red eyed spectre glanced about the room. "Ahhh... So many new faces... Full of dreams. Full of nightmares!" he mused. Knuckles glared at Shadow Tails threateningly. "Not in the mood, creature. You better reconsider whatever deviousness you're thinking of." he growled. Shadow Tails chuckled. "You're free to try to leave..." he said. However, a quick look back revealed that the door was missing. "Why did I know that was a lie?" Gemini gulped. Shadow stepped to the front of the pack. "I'll take care of this. Put the door back, or I'll use you to bust open a new door!" he threatened. Shadow Tails's body swirled and shifted into a new form. "It's adorable how little you comprehend what you're up against..." he said, emerging as a shadow of... Shadow! "I did try to warn everyone..." Tails sighed. "And yet you returned inside this temple... But I am no longer interested in you, fox." the shadow said, altering his form again into a red-eyed shadow of Knuckles. "What are you interested in? Shadow puppets?" Knuckles asked. "My interest... Is your nightmares!!" his voice echoed, seemingly causing the temple to quake! "Emergency!!" Omega shouted as the quake made everyone stumble. The room was soon consumed once again by darkness, Shadow Knuckles vanishing into this darkness, leaving only a pair of glowing red eyes for a moment, before they, too, blinked out of sight! The temple continued to quake, and the ground seemed to be splitting apart, forcing everyone to move in order to keep their footing! "Waaaugh! This didn't happen last tiiiiiime!!" Tails wailed, apparently plummeting into the darkness! "Everyone watch your footing!" Knuckles yelled, jumping into a glide so he could try to seek safe ground. "I'd warp us outta here if I could see...ANYTHING!" Gemini said in panic. Shadow could tell from the distance of the voices that they were being split up. "Omega... track everyone you can with your sensors... if you can still hear me." he suggested. Some faint lights started to glimmer around him. Shadow looked around in shock. "...SPACE!?" He was gazing at stars, and the entire Earth hung above his head!


Gemini saw the temple take a different shape. She stood once more deep in the darkest corner of the forest on Onyx Island. "What....? No! How can I be here!?" she gasped. In front of her was the dark temple of the Lost Ones, the shadows around its door dimly lit by torches of ghostly blue flames. From the doorway, the turquoise vampyrical being, Losipher, emerged! He cackled, coming at her with a clawed hand! "N-noooo!! Stay away!!" Gemini wailed, raising her arms defensively, not having time to do much else! A body thrust itself between her and Losipher, quickly pierced by the demon's claws. "...TIIIIM!!!!" Gemini shrieked, tears streaking down her face as she once more watched the young fawn sacrifice himself, once more witnessed the death of her friend. Ordinarily, this was the part where she'd wake up in a cold sweat. However, the scene continued. Timothy fell to the ground, and Losipher's attention returned to her. "You will be lost forever!!" he snarled, approaching her. However, the island started to shake, surprising them both. "...Shouldn't my teacher be showing up at this part?" Gemini wondered. Instead, the door of the temple burst open again, and slime started flowing out, seizing the landscape. BONDING with it. Slime took the trees, poisoned the soil, even reached back to the mountains and other landscapes on the horizon. Losoars and Lospirits flew out of the temple and out to every corner of the land, screeching in victory, while Gemini felt the slime beneath her feet grab at her, pulling her down! "Wake up!! Waaaake uuuuup!!!" she whimpered, struggling against the bluish-green gel quicksand she was stuck in. "All is lost... All is sorrow... All is now part of ME!!" Losipher moaned, a crooked, toothy smile crossing his hideous face! "No... This isn't right... I went to the past... To stop you!" Gemini cried, holding her ears and closing her eyes, trying to shut this world out. "You cannot succeed. Each move you make... causes this future to become more real." the voice of Shadow Tails rang out in her mind. Her eyes flung open, and she was at the edge of Onyx Island. She could see. The entire world was consumed by the Lost Ones' slime!

"This isn't real... You're trying to deceive me!!" Gemini said weakly. Shadow Tails emerged beside her, arms crossed. "It is you who deceives yourself. You pretend to believe you are making a difference. But in your nightmares, it is clear. Oh, yes..." he said. Gemini tried to turn in his direction, but her feet were still stuck in slime. She could only turn her head. "You're... wrong! I know I've done good... I've saved people!" she protested. "You know there are also terrible consequences that resulted from your actions. Just look at that doomsday weapon, crafted from YOUR wand." Shadow Tails pointed out. Gemini gasped slightly, but did not question his knowledge. If he could conjure Onyx Island, clearly he had his ways of knowing. "I can still fix it..." she whimpered. "You? You can't even keep yourself safe. Or your friends. Your weapon gets stolen. You get captured. Your friends... fall. When have you EVER had any hope of preventing disaster?" the shadowy spectre mocked. The trees behind her cracked and fell over, and Losipher emerged behind her! "You!! Last spark of life!! I shall snuff out thy soul!!" he roared. Gemini struggled to point her wand, but it seemed useless as long as she was stuck. She was about ready to give up. "You're right... I'm no hero... I'm a klutz. Everyone would be better off... if I just fade into the darkness here..." she sniffed. However, this was not the end. The sound of a propeller cut through the darkness. "Gemini! Hang on!!" Tails was flying up from below, and as she saw him, her spirit was instantly lifted. She reached out and grabbed his hands, pulling her own legs as he pulled her up. Together, they broke her free from the slime, and Tails continued to fly her high into the air, searching for safe ground! "You have chosen to interfere... How predictable, hero of light." Shadow Tails hissed. Suddenly, Losipher moaned loudly and furiously. Massive wings burst from his back, and his arms exploded into tentacles ending in sharp points! "Aaaaugh! I did NOT think he could do that!!" Tails yelped. "Don't gawk at him!! FLY AWAY!!!" Gemini yelled.


Shadow found himself walking across a sort of lunar surface, like a pathway made of meteor materials. Rouge and Omega had caught up with him, and together they were searching for any sign of the others. Yet, all they could see for miles were stars and blackness. The Earth and the Moon hung in the sky above, lighting the ground below them and casting their shadows upon the lunar pathway. However, something was odd about Shadow's own shadow. Where Rouge and Omega's shadows followed behind them, Shadow's was cast in front of him, eerily glaring up at him as he walked. Glaring... Shadow could swear he could see eyes in his shade. "The infinite blackness of space... A fitting comparison for the darkness within you." Shadow looked around for this voice when it spoke, but he quickly knew where it had come from. He looked to his shadow and saw a pair of red eyes leering up at him from it! "Are you that creature?" he wondered. His shadow ignored the question. "Even on Earth, you often find yourself staring up into the night sky, its infinite abyss of darkness beckoning you... Why do you suppose that is?" the voice mused. Rouge and Omega made sounds of alarm as Space Colony ARK appeared overhead, and as Shadow gazed up at it, he found himself inexplicably pulled inside! Scenes flashed before his eyes. He awoke beside Professor Gerald and Black Doom, and watched the two shake hands, their bargain struck. He was then pulled to another area of the ARK, and watched as lightning crackled through a sealed laboratory door, a frantic Bucky in a tattered lab coat banging against the glass window as scientists panicked! Suddenly, he was pulled away again, and saw vision after vision of his time with Maria. "Enough... Stop!!" he growled, only to hear the voice's laughter in his ears as GUN forces landed on the colony. A soldier pointed a gun at Maria... "ENOUGH!!!" Shadow screamed through tears, shutting his eyes tightly as the gunshot rang out! When he opened his eyes, he was watching a scene of himself, Rouge and Dr. Eggman in the Eclipse Cannon Control Room. "What...? I have no memory of this..." He watched himself toss a Chaos Emerald into the machine. "You are a weapon of destruction... Thus was your original purpose, and thus you shall always be..." the voice sneered.

Shadow found himself in a massive crater. Where was he now? He looked up and saw the Earth above. A memory triggered in his mind. He realized where he was. "This is... The hole in the moon! Eggman... blew this hole with the Eclipse Cannon..." he gasped. His shadow stretched out before him, and seemed to rise into the air, taking form! "And who showed him how to use the Eclipse Cannon? Who's plan was it... to turn this weapon on the world!?" The shadow took a twisted form, a jagged, red-eyed silhouette. It was a shape Shadow recognized, though he was unsure why. The name "Mephiles" briefly passed through his mind. "Take a good look at me, Shadow! I am your destiny! A harbinger of endless darkness and destruction!!" Shadow Mephiles declared. "No... It can't be!!" Shadow grunted, clasping his head. A jumble of memories he'd thought were lost now plagued his mind. He could see a furious, vengeful version of himself, desiring nothing more than the destruction of the Earth. "I left the past behind me... But is it a useless effort? Am I doomed to become the monster Black Doom intended me as...?" he panted, dropping to the floor. "Of course...You know the answer." Shadow Mephiles sneered. As Shadow struggled with his memories, a voice called out to him. "Snap out of it, Shadow!" It was Rouge, and she was rushing into the crater with Omega! "Target located! ...Failure to identify entity..." Omega stated. Shadow Mephiles chuckled. "It's no use. Shadow has already realized the truth... His fate is sealed in the dark..." he said. Rouge scratched her head. "Uh, yeah... Whatever. Come on, Shadow!" she shouted. However, Shadow remained motionless. Shadow Mephiles glared at the intruders and raised his hand, briefly charging energy before swinging his arm in front of him and unleashing a wave of energy that hurtled Rouge and Omega into the air! The lack of gravity caused them to start floating out into space! "Aaaugh! Shadow... we need you!! GET UP!!" Rouge yelled. "System error!!!" Omega babbled. The voices of his friends caused Shadow's ears to prick up. His eyes slowly opened.

In a flash, Shadow was on his feet, and his fist came hurtling toward Shadow Mephiles. "Leave my friends... ALONE!!" he snarled, knocking the creature back a bit! However, Shadow Mephiles simply seemed amused by this. "A weapon doesn't have friends." he stated. Shadow stared at the creature intently. "I'm done with your mind games. You see, I decide who my friends are... and you just attacked them!" he said, growling softly. An eerie smile seemed to twinkle in Shadow Mephiles's eyes. "We seem to have hit upon the key theme of your nightmares..." he said, flicking his wrist to send Rouge and Omega screaming further away! "Stop it!!" Shadow yelled, charging at Shadow Mephiles! The creature responded by conjuring meteors above him, directing them toward Shadow with his strange power! He jumped the first one, but was soon knocked into orbit along with Rouge and Omega! "Ngggh!! M-mariaaa!!" The impact seemed to force his mind to replay the memory of his friend's death once again. "Shadow...why are your nightmares merely your memories? Is it your terror to repeat the past?" Shadow Mephiles mused. Shadow shook his head to snap out of it, and then started to warp. Using what energy he could muster without a Chaos Emerald, he warped from meteor to meteor, and leapt at Shadow Mephiles when he was as close as he could get. The spectre raised his hand in preparation to hurl Shadow away with energy, but the hedgehog acted fast. "Chaos Spear!!" He tossed a single spear at the creature's eyes, forcing it to shield them while he closed the distance. "Now... Take this!!" Shadow had tossed aside his restraint rings, and set to work pummeling the dark creature with a flurry of punches and kicks, taking advantage of the weightlessness of space to keep him on target. With a final kick, he sent Shadow Mephiles soaring into the distance, and the environment around him shifted back to the lunar path they had been walking before. "So... Bad dreams about the past, huh?" Rouge asked, standing safely behind him. Shadow picked up his restraint rings and gave a passive "Hmph." There was still more to be done. Where were the others in this temple?


Knuckles, for his part, was quite perplexed. He was walking through an endless crystal maze. Some doors led back to the same room. Stairways took him to the walls and ceilings, where gravity would shift to allow him to walk upon them. Then there were random trap doors that would drop him into an even more complex variant of this maze. "I wanna punch this building's architect in the face..." he grumbled. This wasn't a peaceful maze for him to puzzle out, either. Reproductions of enemies he had faced in his past would emerge, composed entirely out of what appeared to be living crystal. The annoying lead EggRobo, Robo-Robotnik, would fly about in a crystal Egg Mobile and drop the very same type of bomb that once gave him a rude awakening at Mushroom Hill Zone. Crystalline Boom Boos would pop out of nowhere, prompting him to throw a punch to shatter them into shards. And of course, there were crystal Egg Pawns, the most recurring annoyance Knuckles had ever had the displeasure of encountering over and over again. He took out his frustrations on these and other fragile apparitions, until he came across a door that was larger than the others. He pushed it open, and the entire temple seemed to change shape around him! "Ugh... Not this again... Hey! Shadow! Tails! Gemini, you in here!?" he shouted. As the area began to take shape, he stared up in surprise as he realized where he was. He was now staring up the stone steps of the altar of the Master Emerald! "....I'm home!" he gasped.


Chapter 30 - Awakening
Stage 17(Hero 9) - Dream Temple
Boss 17 - Dream King

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.


Losipher was still chasing Tails and Gemini through the sky, his bladelike tentacles flailing at them as Tails swooped back and forth through the air between them, desperately looking for some way out of this. Gemini cast spells pathetically, watching them bounce off of Losipher uselessly again and again. "You fool... If you are the one to change the future, will you not eliminate your need to travel to the past in the first place? The flow of time is inexorable. The more you fight the tide, the more you seal your fate!" Shadow Tails's voice rang in her ears, making her clutch them and shake her head in denial. "No! You're wrong! It... It HAS to work! Why would time travel be POSSIBLE if it didn't work!?" she wailed. "Gemini... We need your magic! DO SOMETHING!!" Tails shouted, straining his propeller tails in a futile struggle to keep away from Losipher. "It is over! I will now separate your souls from your lifeless bodies!" Losipher growled, thrashing his tentacles at them! "Abra-ka-shine-ra!!" Gemini shone a light at Losipher's face, which briefly blinded him and enabled Tails to find his way to the ground, allowing him to take a much-needed rest. This was a mistake. The ground was still covered in the same slime, which pulled at their feet as soon as they touched the floor! "Ah! Oh, no!" Gemini gasped. Tails looked around nervously. "I... left my tailband with SPOT and Professor Pickle..." he gulped. Shadow Tails emerged next to him, arms crossed. "Such a pity. And that mystic, ancient light that aided you last time seems to have forsaken you..." he mused. Gemini fired some spells at Shadow Tails, but they seemed to go right through him. "Now, to complete your nightmare... The last remnant of life will be snuffed out of this world... Watch closely, time traveler." he said before fading away.

Losipher dropped down from the sky and started to slash his tentacles wildly at the helpless fox! Tails ducked and weaved in his place, using every reflex he had to try to stay alive a bit longer. Suddenly, Gemini snapped. She couldn't take it any longer. "You... won't... kill... anyone!! Any more!!" she screamed, flourishing her wand and casting a spell...on herself. "Abra-ka-warpra!!" She warped free and appeared in front of Tails, blocking what might have been a killing stroke! "GEMINI!!!" he screamed, unable to do anything further except cover his eyes. However, there was no scream, no sound of death. Tails slowly uncovered his eyes and gasped. Losipher's tentacles had struck her, but a bright light was glowing from her body, seemingly protecting her! "What... is this!?" Losipher gasped. The slime beneath their feet retreated from Gemini's light, freeing Tails from its grip as well. "...Losipher... Begone!!" Gemini pointed her wand forward, and the light from her body burst forth, seeming to erase the Lost Ones' influence from everywhere it touched as it spread through all of Onyx Island and beyond! Losipher was gone! Gemini and Tails looked around for a moment, and then the scenery transformed into the crystal halls of the Dream Temple. "I...don't understand..." Gemini mumbled at last. Tails nodded. "You let your heart do the talking... and you became filled with light. It's kind of like what Tikal told me last time I was here..." he said. They saw a door nearby and knew they had to enter. "Knuckles and Shadow are still in here. They may need our help." Tails said. "Whose idea was it to come in here, anyway?" Gemini muttered. Tails groaned a bit as they passed through the door and started on their way through the next area.


Knuckles climbed the familiar stairs of the Master Emerald shrine, and a look of relief came over his face as he reached the top. The Master Emerald was there, resting where it belonged. This relief was short lived, however, as Shadow Tails materialized beside the emerald. His gaze fixed on Knuckles, he shifted his form to mimic his, becoming a Shadow Knuckles. "Ever dutiful, you sit here, day after day, and watch over this emerald... Sworn to protect it. Your life's one and only purpose, to keep it out of the wrong hands..." As Shadow Knuckles spoke these words, the Master Emerald began to dissolve away, vanishing from right before Knuckles's eyes! "No!!" Knuckles gasped, reaching for it but only finding empty space where the emerald once stood. "You have lost that which you were sworn to guard. It has fallen into the hands of evil. You are a failure." Shadow Knuckles sneered. Knuckles glared over at him. "Oh yeah? I've lost the Master Emerald before. I'll just get it back again!" he snapped. Shadow Knuckles snickered. "Until you lose it yet again. How long until you lose it for good? You are pathetic." he taunted. Knuckles raised his fists at Shadow Knuckles. "Oh yeah? I'd probably have the emerald back by now if you hadn't TRAPPED ME IN HERE!!!" he shouted. This seemed to amuse Shadow Knuckles. He laughed, floating up to the Master Emerald's pedestal and looking down on Knuckles. "Wanna tell me what the joke is?" Knuckles muttered. "No matter what, when separated from that gem, you only think of retrieving it. So stuck in your given role you are. You have even forgotten your friends who are now separated from you in this same temple..." Shadow Knuckles said. Knuckles opened his mouth to deny it, but in truth, he had forgotten about them until just this moment. "...Shut up! I don't have to listen to this!" he growled. Shadow Knuckles crossed his arms, glaring down at him. "Without the Master Emerald, you are nothing... Nothing more than an empty shell of an echidna..." Knuckles growled loudly, clenching his fists. "ENOUGH!!" he screamed.

Shadow Knuckles anticipated the oncoming attack, and caught Knuckles's fist as it soared at his face. "Predictable. It doesn't take much to determine what your fears stem from..." he sneered. Knuckles growled and tried to give him an uppercut with his other fist, only to be evaded and socked back with a shadowy fist! "Fears?? Now you're talking about fears!? Stop changing the subject!!" Knuckles yelled. Shadow Knuckles kicked Knuckles to the ground, faster than he could react! "Fear IS the subject, fool! This is your nightmare!!" he shouted. Knuckles got up quickly and flew into a rage, his fists flying wildly in Shadow Knuckles's direction! "I guess if I KNOCK YOU OUT, I'll wake up!!" he shouted. Between punches, Shadow Knuckles seemed to vanish, and as his fist flew past where the creature was, Knuckles suddenly saw that he was about to hit Sonic! "WHAT!?!?" he yelped as his fist flew right through the hedgehog's chest, a look of pain on his face before his body crumbled into dust! "S-sonic...?? What...?" Knuckles said, bewildered, frightened, and angry... with himself. Shadow Knuckles could be heard laughing, though he was nowhere to be seen. "You small-minded imbecile. Not only are you a failure as a guardian, you are a failure as a friend. Is there anything you can't fumble in pursuit of your single-minded obsession with duty?" he mocked. Knuckles looked around, a bit crestfallen. "...So, you may have a point. I kinda mess things up for my friends...a lot. But it works out... Right?" Suddenly, Angel Island began to rumble. Looking around him, Knuckles could see that the island was falling rapidly without the Master Emerald, and breaking up as it descended! "Whoa!! Wait!! What's happening!?" he stammered. Looking above, he could see the Death Egg flying high in the sky. Dr. Eggman flew past his face, carrying the Master Emerald with a claw attached to the Egg Mobile. "Thanks ever so much for the assistance, Knuckles! I'll... name a robot after you... or something." he said as he rose high into the sky, out of the echidna's reach. "STOP!!!" he shouted. Suddenly, the Death Egg exploded in half, becoming the Space Colony ARK, and pointing its superlaser directly at Angel Island. "He's...charging a laser with the emerald!? Wait! NOOOO!!!" Knuckles yelled.

The lunar path Shadow, Rouge and Omega were walking had now led them to the crumbling Angel Island. Tails and Gemini had caught up with them as well. "I guess Knuckles must be up there... But what do you think is happening there?" Tails wondered. "Well, it clearly isn't good." Shadow observed, seeing that the island was falling to pieces. Gemini twirled her wand and nodded. "I'll get us up there, then." she said. Rouge and Omega backed away a little, looking a bit apologetic. "Our assistance must come to an end at this time." Omega said. "Huh...?" Shadow muttered in confusion. "It's fine, Shadow. Actually... We were never REALLY here at all...." Rouge said. Then, the bat and the robot faded away, just like any other illusion of the temple! "What the!?" Shadow gasped. Gemini scratched her head. "This temple really is a mysterious place..." she said. Tails sighed. "Well, we'd better keep going. Knuckles still needs us!" he said. The others nodded, and Gemini used her magic to warp them to the "shore" of the island. Shadow Knuckles met them there. "I'm busy with the echidna. You are free to exit the temple, if you can locate the exit." he stated. Tails shook his head. "We're not leaving without everyone! Drop the games, Dream King!" he shouted. "...Dream King?" Gemini wondered. Shadow Knuckles's glowing red eyes narrowed. "If that is how you will it, that is how you will face it, hero of light. Approach the shrine where the echidna makes his home... If you dare!" he said before vanishing. Shadow nodded. "I guess you're leading the way, Tails... Or should I call you 'hero of light?'" he said somewhat mockingly. "...Tails will be fine..." the fox murmured, a little annoyed.

Knuckles fled the altar as the superlaser reduced it to a pile of rubble! Looking back, he saw Shadow Knuckles standing atop the remains. "What... What ARE you??" he panted. Shadow Knuckles chuckled. "I am as you perceive me. Thus, I am Shadow Knuckles... Yet, I am not Shadow Knuckles..." The mysterious creature's body started to grow and shift, the shadowy form seeming to become clear liquid. Knuckles watched in shocked awe as he beheld the creature take on the terrifying shape of a sea monster! Not any sea monster, though. "...Chaos!!?" he gasped. Shadow Knuckles started to flood Angel Island, taking the form of Perfect Chaos! The water was only ankle-deep for now, and Knuckles was too bewildered to start looking for higher ground. "I am the Dream King!!" the Perfect Chaos replica roared, "Your dreams... Your nightmares... Are my domain! I know your heart from them. You are a hollow, duty-bound shell! You will perish here, on this island! A meaningless, useless death!" he declared. Knuckles looked at the water-covered ground. The Dream King's words struck harder than any attack possibly could have. "...He's right... I'm always sitting around this island. Watching that rock...alone. I guess I reasoned that there was no point thinking about... doing anything else... But what's the point? It never ends..." he mumbled. Suddenly, a bolt of magic flew past Knuckles and struck the Dream King! "Look out!!" shouted Tails, and as Knuckles looked up, he saw the fox fly between him and an approaching Perfect Chaos tentacle! Tails was lifted up, but then Shadow appeared out of nowhere and swiftly pulled him out of the creature's grip! Gemini was soon at Knuckles's side, flinging spells at the Dream King heroically. "Didn't think we'd leave you behind, didja?" she winked. Knuckles gasped, watching his friends battle the massive form of Perfect Chaos in front of him. It unleashed tornadoes, fired beams, and whipped liquid tentacles around, which knocked them around a bit, but did nothing to daunt them from their goal. As a huge beam shot toward Gemini, Knuckles dove to shove her out of the way. They slowly stood up, and Knuckles glared at the Dream King. "I just figured it out." he said.

The Dream King swatted Shadow and Tails aside, and placed his focus on Knuckles. "I'm anxious to hear what you have to say, dutiful one." he sneered. Knuckles raised his fists. "I know my place. It's not Angel Island. It's wherever I'm needed!" he stated. The Dream King scoffed. "A weak answer from a weak mind." he said. Knuckles shook his head. "It's not a weak answer. Not as long as I'm willing to back it up. So, let's test it out... Right now, there's one place I'm needed..." he smirked. The Dream King growled softly, a bit impatient, so Knuckles finished his thought, "...It's between you and my friends!" he shouted. The Dream King stared, his eyes flashing red. "That is your answer?" he snarled. "Just call me... the guardian of all!" he said, making a few practice punches in anticipation of the coming battle. "...Fool. Then try to guard all!!" the Dream King roared. Tails and Gemini tried to move in to help, but Shadow quickly stopped them. "This is Knuckles's fight..." he said. The Dream King whirled a tornado directly in Knuckles's direction, and he glided directly into it, looking to ride it to get some height. As it blew him into the sky, the Dream King opened its maw and blew out a strange, purple smog. This made it difficult for Knuckles to see anything, so he was forced to drop down. However, he found footing much lower than expected. It felt slippery, like ice. "So, this is like a dream, huh? Hmmm..." As Knuckles tried to wrap his head around what was going on, a breeze blew the fog away from behind him, and glancing around, he saw the Dream King, holding up Shadow, Tails and Gemini in his Chaos tentacles! "Hey!! No fair!" Knuckles shouted. "You are doing quite a job so far... 'Guardian of all!'" the Dream King mocked. Knuckles ran to chase, but started to slip on the ice platform. There were more ice platforms leading over to the Dream King, but if he kept sliding, he'd never reach them. "Well... It's obviously not MY dream, or I'd be able to control it. I'll just have to wing it!" Knuckles growled, raising his fist and slamming it down on the ice platform to smash it! It broke in half and swung upward, catapulting Knuckles into the air! "Well... That happened..." Knuckles muttered.

Knuckles broke into a glide and headed for the next ice platform. The Dream King fired huge beams from his mouth at him as he jumped from one ice platform to the next, so Knuckles repeated the same maneuver as before, smashing the platform below him in order to catapult himself higher into the air! It worked, but the Dream King blew that purple smog into his path again, making his target difficult to see. "Cut it out! Chaos can't do that!" Knuckles complained. The Dream King only cackled through the fog. But this was helpful; Knuckles headed for the sound of his voice. Soon, he spotted the glowing red eyes, and swooped toward the bulbous brain of the Dream King's Chaos form! However, the tentacles holding his friends rose up and blocked him! The Dream King laughed hideously as he dangled Tails over his gaping maw. "Uh... I don't like to rush you, but..." the fox whimpered. Shadow grunted with effort, struggling to get free so he could make a move, while Gemini fumbled to move her wand hand. It was up to Knuckles. He decided to go right through the barrier, socking Shadow's tentacle aside and resuming his glide. "Hey!!" Shadow grunted. "You can take it, right?" Knuckles chuckled sheepishly. "Too late, guardian!!" the Dream King roared, sending Tails plummeting down his throat! "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" the fox screamed, while Knuckles growled furiously and landed on top of the Dream King's "brain." He raised his fists high. "You... SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!!!" he screamed, slamming both fists down with as much force as he could muster! The Dream King screeched, and a burst of light erupted from the point of impact. The area around them rapidly returned to the crystal room that they had entered the temple from, but with water sloshing all around in a torrential flood, slowly draining through some invisible crack in the center of the room. When it was over, Knuckles, Shadow, and Gemini stood up shakily. Tails was leaning against the wall, watching them with a bored look on his face. "Took long enough for the water to drain." he mumbled. The Dream King hovered before them at the back of the room, a mere shadow with red eyes swirling upon the wall. "I have seen your strength, guardian of all. Well done..." he said before fading into the darkness. The door leading outside then reappeared.

Heading outside, the group puzzled over what had transpired in the temple. "Exactly what IS that temple, anyway?" Knuckles wondered. "I dunno... The Dream Temple." Tails shrugged. "Yes, but what is its purpose?" Shadow wondered. Gemini sighed. "More importantly, why did we even go in there??" she mumbled. The rain had stopped by now. Suddenly, it dawned on Tails. "Waaaaugh! Knuckles, we still gotta stop Eggman!!" he shouted. "And the President's still missing..." Shadow realized. "Yeah, and the Covenant of Despair has the Master Emerald..." Knuckles sighed. These were all separate problems, and it would be necessary to split up to take care of it all. Or would it? "Well... Wait, Eggman's headed for Central City... and the President went missing in Central City?" Tails realized. Shadow nodded. "I'm thinking the same thing. You do what you like, Knuckles. The rest of us are going to Central City!" he said as Tails pulled out his remote to call the Tornado. Knuckles turned to Gemini, but she didn't seem intent on helping him either. "What I saw in the temple made me more... worried... about my own problems... I have to go to Central City and stop the Lost Ones there!" she said. Knuckles frowned, but then he nodded. "If I'm going where I'm needed... It looks like I'm needed most at Central City, too. Who knows, maybe I'll find a clue about the Covenant of Despair there..." he decided. Their destination decided, it was time for the group to begin their journey. Hopefully, they wouldn't arrive too late...

To be continued...