GeneX - Entering Despair
Chapter 5 - Shadow Striker

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:
Violet the Echidna, full of rage at the actions of heartless humans, has joined the Covenant of Despair, and completed her first mission with her friends Simon the Gecko and Daisy the Skunk. They captured Troblusk City's police chief, Paynson, and delivered him to Mitch the Weasel for questioning. The intervention of Copter the Fox bought Officer Razor the time he needed to find them, but Mitch still managed to complete his interrogation. During the escape, Razor shot Mitch in the foot, but Violet warped him and her friends safely away. The events that began with the robbery of Troblusk Museum are about to come full circle...
Now, on to the next chapter!

Upon arriving back at Despair Castle after the mission, Mitch was immediately transported to the medical center. "We don't have much in the line of a hospital, but I'm sure Mitch will survive." Fera told Violet and her friends. Violet sighed with relief. "That's good..." she said. "Congrats to all of you, you completed your first mission. You did well to bring Mitch back, considering he had the information we needed... But I am a bit disappointed..." Fera told them. Daisy was shocked. "Disappointed? Why? We did a great job!" she protested. Fera pointed to Violet. "You let the human go. You had a chance, and you hesitated. Had you not shown mercy, you may have finished before Mitch was shot! The next time you show mercy, a human could be the one to retaliate, and they will not be forgiving!" she explained. Simon crossed his arms. "Take it easy. Not all of us are cut out to be killers. It wasn't Violet's idea to be the one that had to shoot the chief." he said. Fera nodded. "Yes, Mitch should have finished the human himself. Don't worry, though, he's paying for it. We don't have the equipment to heal his foot. Our scientists are going to work with our healers and create a new foot for him. Once he's back in action, I can tell you he won't make the same mistake again. I know from experience..." she said, turning her bad eye away from them. After a moment, Fera walked away. "Whew... She can be... intense..." Daisy muttered. In a moment, Fera returned with the other members of her unit, and they gathered in front of her to hear an announcement. "Oh, boy, we're not going on another mission NOW, are we?" Simon groaned, apparently tired. Fera called for everyone's attention. "Get a good night's sleep tonight, team. Tomorrow, we have a dangerous mission ahead of us. We'll be heading for the outskirts of Troblusk City, where I have been informed GUN's Outpost Shadowy Black can be found. We will be fighting with the military itself this time, so there's no room for sloppiness! That'll be all for now..." she announced, turning to leave once more. Patch, who was part of Fera's unit, walked over to Violet, Daisy, and Simon. "Hee hee! You guys joined at a great time! Hope you're all ready for action!" he giggled. Violet looked a bit worried. "Yeah, I hope so, too..." she thought.


The next day, Colonel Thade and Sergeant Gunner arrived at Outpost Shadowy Black. Their first stop was the science department, where GUN's greatest minds worked on the technology used in all of GUN's operations. Colonel Thade approached a man with messy black hair, a white lab coat, and a pair of small glasses. The man was seated at a lab table, working on a Rubik's cube. He put the cube down and glanced up at the colonel as he approached. "Sergeant Gunner, allow me to introduce GUN's greatest genius, Dr. Ivan Nammad." Thade said. Nammad stood up and adjusted his glasses. "You can call me Dr. Nam. Just, uh, remember the 'Dr.' It took a lot of work to get that added to my name, and I insist it be used." he said. Gunner crossed his arms in annoyance at "Nam's" words. "We've met, you imbecile... Are we visiting this puzzle-playing slacker for a reason?" he asked impatiently. Thade ignored Gunner and looked to Nammad. "How is the work on your project going, doctor." he asked. Nam stood up and walked over to a large crate in the corner of the room. "Not only am I done..." he said, opening the crate, "...but I've had them mass produced! I would've waited for your approval, but, uh, I think you'll agree... This is my greatest work of, uh... genius. Heh heh..." Dr. Nammad reached into the crate and pulled out what appeared to be a sword with a clear, crystalline blade. There was a large jewel lodged in the handle. Gunner frowned. "A glass sword? I'm not impressed." he said. "Uh... Hold on, allow me to demonstrate..." Nam said, pulling a remote out of his coat and pressing a button. A hatch in the floor opened a good distance away, and a dart board suspended by a pole slid up. Thade stood back, so Gunner did as well. "This should be something..." Thade said seriously. Dr. Nammad pointed the sword at the target and tapped the jewel on the handle like a button. "Chaos... Spear!!" he shouted, and as he did, a spear was shot from the blade of the sword, slamming into the dart board and knocking it off the pole! Gunner's eyes went wide, and Thade clapped softly. "Bravo. I see you made good use of the items we shipped over." he said. Dr. Nammad tossed the sword back into the crate and adjusted his glasses again. "Not as powerful as real Chaos Spears... It's of course, uh, artificial. I call it the AC Sword... Uh, that's 'Artificial Chaos' Sword. The shot isn't lethal... But, uh, the blade is." he said proudly. Colonel Thade glanced at the crate, then at Nam. "It is good, I'll give you that, but I'm not sure how useful it could be in combat. It'll need to be tested in experimental situations..." he told him. Dr. Nammad nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure, I'll see to it... But, I'm telling you, it's ready... Definitely, ready..."


At Despair Castle, Fera's team was preparing to leave for the GUN Outpost. It was a rather large group, as it would take an army to fight an army. Violet had arrived in the area with Simon and Daisy, and soon, Patch found them. Anubis was also present. He stood near Fera, and was apparently the second in command. Violet noticed one person in the group that wasn't in uniform. It was a brown raccoon, wearing a black cape, a grey hat, and a belt with a sheathed sword attached. "Who's that?" Violet asked. Simon and Daisy didn't seem to know, but Patch did. "Hee hee! You're wondering why he gets to wear whatever, eh? It's 'cuz he's so coooool! Hee hee! That's Conan the 'Coon!" he explained. Simon glanced over at Conan. "No foolin'? Wow, I never expected to be working with him!" he said. Daisy looked thoughtful. "You've heard of him? Is he famous?" she asked. Simon chuckled. "Only among the right people. Conan's a treasure hunter, and he's known to do whatever it takes to get the treasure he's after. Even if it’s already got an owner. I wonder what he's doing here..." he wondered. Conan apparently noticed them looking at him, and walked over. "It is not polite to stare!" he said to Simon and Patch. He then turned to Violet and Daisy, tipping his hat to them. "G'day, loves. Sorry to disturb your conversation." he said politely. Daisy giggled at him. "He called us 'loves.' Hehehe!" Patch pushed between the three of them and held his nunchucks up to Conan. "Hee hee! I'm a big fan of shiny-thing finders! Will you sign my chucks?" he asked. Conan looked a bit uneasy. "Don't... stand so close to me..." he said, backing away. Suddenly, Fera called for everyone's attention! "It is time you all knew our objective! Three days ago, a team led by... sigh... 'Infin,' broke into Troblusk City's museum and seized a shipment of items GUN had hidden there, expecting none would look for it there. Unfortunately, someone in their organization had the foresight to move the true target of the mission: artificial Chaos Emeralds! Now, according to information 'Infin' brought us, the emeralds were moved to GUN Outpost Shadowy Black, where GUN has been experimenting on weaponizing them! Our mission is to get it, seize the emeralds or the weapons the emeralds have become, and escape with them! If we can harness the power of chaos artificially, this could give us an incredible advantage over the humans! Any questions? Good! We leave immediately!" With Fera's speech finished, the team immediately began moving. Violet followed nervously. This was it, now she would truly find out if she had what it takes to be a true member of the Covenant of Despair!


That night, under cover of darkness, the mission began. Anubis approached the outpost from the front entrance, while the rest of the team was sneaking around the side of the building, being careful to avoid detection. As Anubis neared the entrance, he began waving his hands above the ground, calling upon his undead servants. "Rise! Show these humans true terror!" he commanded as the black mummies clawed their way up from under the ground! Within moments, Anubis was commanding a small army of his own, and his troops quickly got the attention of the outpost's guards! Hearing commotion at the front entrance, Fera called Simon over to her. "It's time." she said. Simon nodded and produced a time bomb, which he set by the wall of the outpost. Everyone quickly backed away from the wall as the timer started, and in a few seconds, the wall was blown to smithereens, giving the covenant another entrance! As they scrambled into the outpost, they found themselves in a large room that was relatively empty. One man was sitting with his feet resting on a table. He was wearing a suit similar to Spy's, but had purple tinted sunglasses. He began to stir as the covenant entered the room, apparently having been awoken from sleep. "Wha...? Security breach!! S-soldiers!! This is Agent 77, requesting immediate support!" the man shouted through a walkie talkie as he jumped out of the chair and ran for the nearest door! Just as he reached the door, it opened, and a squad of GUN soldiers scrambled into the room, preventing Agent 77 from exiting as a result. Panicked, Agent 77 stopped one of the soldiers and grabbed a rifle from him. "I need this more than you do!" he said. Fera glanced around the room as she entered, surveying the situation. "All right, team. Attack!!" she soon shouted, pointing at the GUN soldiers entering the room! Patch was the first to spring into action, pulling out his nunchucks and pressing a tiny button on each handle, which caused knives to pop out of each end! "Hee hee! Playtime!!" he giggled. Behind him, other furries, with Daisy among them, ran towards the soldiers! Conan pulled out his Chaos Sword and pointed it at the soldiers from a distance. "I was hoping this wouldn't be too easy! Now, die! Chaos Spear!!" he shouted, firing spears from his sword! Simon joined him with a gun, helping to cover the others. Violet hesitated, finding herself the only one remaining near Fera. "Go, Violet. You can't hide while everyone else does all the work! Some of your friends are out there, right? Help them!" Fera ordered before running ahead to join the fight!


Elsewhere in the outpost, Sergeant Gunner had been informed of the attack. Now, he ran into an office where Colonel Thade was looking over some papers. Spy followed behind him. "Colonel! The outpost is under attack! It's those freaks from the Covenant of Despair!" he shouted with urgency. Colonel Thade stood up from his seat, frowning. "I guess they're here searching for the fake Chaos Emeralds. That must have been their true target all along. I'll have to secure the lab." he realized. Gunner opened his mouth to say something, but Thade wasn't finished speaking. "I'll be prepping the outpost's secret weapon. Sergeant, I'm counting on you to defend the outpost until I'm ready. Understood?" he said. Gunner nodded. "Yes, but colonel..." Thade began walking towards the door. "Good. Get moving right away. Hopefully the soldiers are doing all right on their own so far..." As Thade exited the room, Gunner noticed Spy was pacing around nervously. "What's your problem now!?" he asked. Spy stopped to respond to Gunner. "Guard's not back yet... And I've heard the covenant is really tough... We could really use that gargoyle... But he'll never make it, even if we do get a message out to him..." he said. Gunner crossed his arms. "You forget, Spy, we have a small army of well trained soldiers here. There's nothing a furry freak can do alone that they can't do together, and that goes for Guard, too!" he snarled, heading for the door. Spy hesitated, and when Gunner noticed, he glared at him. "Are you not finished?" he asked. Spy looked at Gunner nervously. "Um... Well... What you said makes sense, but there's a lot of... 'freaks' attacking us... and, um... Well..." he saluted nervously as he spoke his mind. "Requesting permission to retreat, sir!" he said. Gunner looked as though he was sickened by Spy's cowardice. "You want to retreat?! Well, fine! You do that! You wouldn't be any help anyway! I'll handle those vile FREAKS myself!!" he yelled, slamming the door behind him as he left!


As the battle raged on between the GUN soldiers and the Covenant of Despair, Daisy and Patch found themselves running into a bit of trouble as soldiers managed to get closer to them. "Yikes!! Stay back!" Daisy shouted, slashing one of the agents with her katana! However, soldiers were rushing them, and they wouldn't be able to fend them off easily. Luckily, the soldiers were suddenly stopped as a jet of flame shot through the area, setting several of the soldiers ablaze! Patch knew what this meant immediately. "Hee hee! Thanks, Anubis! But you're laaaaate!" he giggled. Anubis had managed to catch up with the team while his mummies kept the soldiers at the entrance busy. At this point, the soldiers began retreating to the next area of the base, since most of their forces were being overpowered. Fera pointed at the fleeing enemies. "After them! They are most likely heading for the areas of the base that need the most defending! That would most likely include wherever the emeralds are being held!" she ordered. As the covenant followed the soldiers into another large room, they were forced back a little as bullets rained down at them from a turret mounted on a raised platform towards the back of the room! Sergeant Gunner was manning the turret himself! "Come on out, furry freaks! It will be my pleasure to exterminate you all!!" he roared. Fera pointed at the turret. "Don't be deterred! Scatter and attack! Someone, stop that turret!!" she instructed. Violet followed from the back as the team charged into the room, scattering to avoid giving Gunner easy targets. The hateful Sergeant wasted no time firing down at the generally defenseless furries below! Violet watched as several of her comrades were hit, falling over as they died. Suddenly, her mind was back at the night her parents were killed. Once again, she felt completely helpless as her friends were being gunned down by a demented human. She ran into the room, but away from where the turret was facing, terrified. She saw Simon nearby, heading towards the turret with his gun. Realizing the turret was probably bulletproof, he instead pulled out a grenade. He used one of the stairways located at either side of the turret's platform to get closer, then tossed the grenade at the turret! Gunner spotted the grenade quickly, and scrambled to get away as the turret was blown apart! Violet was greatly relieved, and started to walk over to congratulate Simon, but she wouldn't get the chance. As Gunner made his escape, Dr. Nammad emerged from the top of the steps and pointed an AC Sword at Simon. "Ah, uh, hello, sir. Don't come any closer!" he warned. Simon chuckled at him and held up his gun. "Don't make me laugh." he said. Dr. Nam suddenly took on a crazed expression. "You think this is, uh, funny? Well, uh, I think so, too! Laugh it up! Chaos Spear!" he shouted, stunning Simon with a spear shot from his sword! Violet screamed as Simon dropped his gun! Before she could run over to help him, Dr. Nammad reached him and plunged the sword through Simon's chest! He was laughing as he pulled back the sword, and Simon fell down the stairs, dead. "I told them... It was, uh, ready! Hya ha ha ha ha ha!!" he laughed, running away. Daisy, Patch, and Conan arrived as Violet began chasing the mad scientist. She was completely enraged now. She had to avenge Simon's death!

As Violet chased Nammad, he stopped briefly, realizing he was being followed. "Oh, was that lizard your, uh, friend? Well, you saw how he, uh, died. You don't want to die the same way, do you?" he said unsympathetically. "Shut up!" Violet yelled, "You... How could you!? You heartless human!! I'll break your neck!" Dr. Nammad chuckled at her. "Ha... huh ha ha... Right. I've been, uh, watching this battle, and, uh, I can see you can't do it. New in their group, I'll bet. Well, I've got places to be..." Nammad's stalling was all the time needed for soldiers to find them, led by Agent 77! They quickly surrounded Violet. "Get going, Dr. Nammad! We'll handle the fighting!" he said. Violet glanced around, realizing she was trapped. "H-hold it... Wait!" she pleaded desperately. Agent 77 glanced at the agents next to him, then back at Violet. "Open fire!" he ordered! Before they could do it, though, Chaos Spears rapidly knocked down most of the soldiers, while Patch took out several of the others using the gun Simon had dropped! As Conan and Daisy came closer, Agent 77 found himself alone. "Whoa, wait a minute!" he stammered. Violet's hands became covered in dark energy as she glared at the agent. "Which way did that scientist go!? Tell me!" she shouted, since she was distracted by the arrival of the GUN soldiers and didn't see him leave. Agent 77 pointed to a door behind him. "Th-that way! Definitely! That's where his lab is!" he said. Violet grinned at him devilishly. "Thank you... Now, get out of my way!" she yelled, firing sparks of dark energy at Agent 77, knocking him over! The agent scrambled away on his hands and knees, which Patch laughed at. "Hee hee! Bye! Send us a postcard sometime!" he giggled. As Agent 77 escaped, Violet ran through the door Dr. Nam had exited through. Daisy, Patch, and Conan attempted to follow, but as Violet entered, a metal door slammed shut behind her, sealing her friends out of the lab!

The lab had been mostly emptied recently, but the crate holding the AC Swords was still sitting in the corner. Dr. Nammad was standing near the box, still holding the sword he used to kill Simon. "Hmmm... No, uh, I can't carry all this... Ah!" he quickly noticed that Violet had entered the room. He wagged his finger at her. "Oh, no, no, no! You, uh, can't be in here! I just had the door locked to keep you covenant members, uh, out... Besides... You'll regret it." he warned. Violet's eyes were spewing dark energy. "You'll regret it, more!" she growled. Suddenly, the back wall slid up through the roof, revealing a larger room behind it! Dr. Nam ran into the room, escaping as a large mech in the center of the room sprung to life! It looked a bit like a combination of a bigfoot mech and Diablon, only it was painted black. Its robotic "head" was a cockpit, and in the driver's seat was Colonel Thade! Written in white text on the sides of the ship was the code St-66/M. The mech stepped into the lab, which was a decent sized room itself, especially with all the lab equipment removed. Violet continued emitting dark energy, but was now backing away a little. Thade looked down at her from his seat, frowning. "You should have stayed with the rest of your team, covenant agent! I am Colonel Thade, and I order you to surrender! Come quietly, there's no need for you to die here!" he suggested. Violet glared up at him. "I know you humans. If I surrender, you'll just kill me later! I won't be killed in captivity! Not after all I've been through!" she shouted. Thade sighed regretfully. "So be it. I gave you a chance. Now, prepare to feel the might of the Shadow Striker!" The machine began firing at Violet using guns mounted on its arms, which she protected herself from by blocking the bullets with a dark energy barrier! The barrier didn't last very long, and Violet was forced to run in a moment! The Shadow Striker moved quickly, cutting off her escape! Violet attempted to hit it with dark energy balls, but the machine blocked them with a plasma shield! "You have no hope of defeating me! Come to your senses and surrender!" Thade shouted. Violet tried to hit the Shadow Striker again, only to have it shield itself and fight back with laser cannons! The lasers missed Violet, but exploded on impact with the ground, knocking her backward!

Suddenly, a flash of dark energy appeared nearby, with Fera emerging from within it! Immediately, she attacked the Shadow Striker with sparks of dark lightning! Thade was caught off guard, but managed to erect the plasma shield before taking too much damage! With his attention now diverted from Violet, she backed away from the Shadow Striker a little, unsure of what to do now. Fera was holding the Shadow Striker back somewhat, but she seemed unable to break through the plasma shield on her own! "Fera! Let's get out of here!" Violet suggested. Fera did not stop her attacks even a little. "The mission! Those swords were made with the fake emeralds! We have to bring them with us! But we can't get them with this machine here!" she shouted, struggling to maintain her dark lightning. Violet was terrified, realizing that Fera would sooner die than fail in her mission. This was the person who saved her, who brought her to the covenant and gave her life a purpose. Violet did not want to watch her die, too! As Colonel Thade began aiming the arm cannons of the Shadow Striker to shoot at Fera, Violet's fear turned to rage. "Don't you dare harm her! I won't let you!!" she shouted, her entire body seeming to be enveloped by dark energy as she let her rage take over for her! Fera, seeing this reaction, ceased her attack on the Shadow Striker. As Colonel Thade was about to shoot at her, the machine's plasma shield was lowered, giving Violet the opening she needed! "Human!!! Feel the despair that you have brought to my friends!! DIE!!!" She fired a large beam of black energy from her hands, which pierced the armor of the Shadow Striker, causing the machine to explode! As the Shadow Striker collapsed to the ground in a heap, Fera wandered over to the crate, peering inside to be sure it was what they were after. "Perfect. Let's go, Violet!" she said. Violet ran over to her. "Are you all right?" she asked. Fera scoffed at her. "Touching, but we have no time for sentiment. Let's go, before any more of us die!" she said. As Fera and Violet warped away with the weapons, Sergeant Gunner entered the room from the exit Dr. Nammad had used earlier. He quickly scrambled to the Shadow Striker and used the blunt side of a gun to smash the cockpit open so he could reach Colonel Thade. "Sir! Is... Is there anything I can do?" The colonel was gravely injured, having received severe burns in the explosion. He was bleeding heavily, and they both knew he was dying. "R-richard..." Thade said, calling Gunner by name for the first time ever, "Y-you will be the next colonel... I'm sure of it... D-don't let your hatred rule you... Promise me... You'll do the right thing... in the end..." As Colonel Thade passed away before Gunner's eyes, he did not shed any tears. "I'll do the right thing. You can be sure of it. All the furry freaks... All of them... I will see them all perish!! I'll kill them all!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!" As he realized that he would have more power to accomplish his dark goals than ever before now, Gunner couldn't help but laugh. Indeed, Thade's death was far from a victory for the Covenant of Despair.


Much later, not far from Despair Castle, Violet was standing over a large stone, with Simon's name carved into it. Daisy was standing nearby, a sad look in her eyes. Fera was watching from afar, glaring at the display. The covenant had never held any sort of funeral for fallen comrades before, but despite being unable to recover Simon's body, Violet and Daisy had insisted on it, just so they could say goodbye. Violet was crying as she thought of her friend, who had been so mercilessly slain so soon in his life. She placed a violet beside the stone, which was the best grave they could manage. "I'm so sorry, Simon... If I hadn't been so hesitant, if I'd only understood what we were up against, maybe I could have saved you..." she said sadly. Daisy placed a hand on her shoulder. "You can't blame yourself. Lots of people died during that attack." she pointed out. Violet didn't care, and continued to speak as though Simon's spirit was there. "I promise... Your death will not be in vain. The humans... They'll pay! All of them.... I'll see them all pay! I'll avenge you, as well as my parents. I promise..." As Violet and Daisy fell silent, Fera was further disgusted to see more approaching the grave. First, was Patch, who was unusually quiet and still. "Bye bye, guy... I'll always remember what a good shot you were..." he said sadly. Following behind him was Mitch, who was hobbling, and used a cane for support. His left foot, which Razor had shot, was replaced with a robotic one, which he was still getting used to. "You was still in your prime... Tragic. Bye, pal..." he said, pulling out a cigarette. He glanced at it a moment, then threw it away without lighting it. "No, can't smoke. Might be disrespectful, eh?" he murmured. Fera had had just about all she could take of this. She abhorred such displays of emotion. She walked over to the mourners and cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem... Yeah, um, all of you... Get ahold of yourselves!! Simon knew what he was getting into when he joined us, probably more so than any of you! Now, enough of this foolishness! Our fights are far from over! Get some rest, because the next mission will start before you know it!" As the mourners began walking away, still hanging their heads in grief, Fera hesitated at Simon's grave. She looked slightly sad for a second, but only a second. "Goodbye.... Simon the Gecko..."

The End.

However, the story continues in "GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna".