Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 1 - Doomsday
Stage 1 - Security Tower: Act III

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


We run and run through life. We run to escape danger. We run to reach our goals and dreams. We run, just to feel alive. Each run begins with a single step. There will come a day also when we take our last. Keep running...but know that every runner must come to a halt eventually. This is the story of Sonic the Hedgehog's last run. This is how he ran right from mere heroism...into legend. This is how it all ends.


Sonic the hedgehog stood at the outskirts of Station Square, looking up at the ominous Security Tower that "President Gunner" was holed up in. The hateful man had gone too far. He'd seized power from the rightful president, from GUN's Commander as well, and had violently attacked Troblusk City just to get at the Covenant of Despair. Sure, they needed to be stopped, but not like that. Not at the risk of innocents. Not to mention, Gunner's reign threatened all Mobians, all "furry freaks" as he called them. This man had to be stopped, even in spite of the recent doomsday prophecy from the Doomsayer which now implied that the Lost Ones were the true threat. The Lost Ones, creatures of ectoplasm born of stolen souls, originally created through the horrific union of a sort of Anti-lifeform with energy from Light Gaia some thousands of years ago. Sonic knew precious little about them, but he'd seen their handiwork, not to mention the fact that one of them had murdered a good friend not too long ago. Sonic and his friends would be coming for them next. They'd trained for this. Heroes, united, no more senseless bickering and vying to one-up each other when there were real threats to worry about. They were beyond Dr. Eggman now...although Eggman was also still at large. There was much to do. No time like the present to get started. Sonic tapped a finger to a comm device attached to his left ear. "Tails? Guys, can you read me? I'm ready to knock at the front door!" he said with a smirk.

This would be the third raid on the Security Tower by Sonic's friends. The first was by Copter and Punchy, the genetic clones of Tails and Knuckles who at the time were working for Eggman to swipe a Chaos Emerald...and happened to find the tower swarming with Lost Ones. The second time, Sonic himself scaled the tower while it was under Eggman's control, and encountered Lospecter of the Lost Ones for the first time during the assault. Lospecter, formerly a hero in the time before the Lost Ones, the ghostly being had acted as the public leader of the creatures until recently. This time, though, the Security Tower had been re-fortified by Gunner's loyalists. They'd be less likely to find ghosts, more likely to find robots and traps waiting for them now. A proper Security Tower.

"I read you, Sonic!" Tails replied through the comms, "And thank goodness! I wasn't sure using SPOT as the transmitter for these communicators would work, but thanks to that, Gunner won't be able to listen in on our conversations...unlike that time on Shadow Arcangel, heh." the fox explained. Sonic could hear the voice of GUN's Commander next. "I appreciate your efforts, but you'd better take care of that robot, then. If anything disrupts its signal..." he warned. Shadow the hedgehog was circling behind the Security Tower with Rouge the bat and Omega, and he was listening in. "Hmph… It's just Gunner. I think we'll be fine. Small army or not, he's still the same idiot who wrecked all of GUN's top combat mechs in twenty-four hours." he said. "He's also the same idiot who took over GUN less than a month ago, mister ultimate." Copter retorted over the comms. Sonic snickered from his position in front of the tower. They did have a bit of an overkill team assembled for this assault. The Commander wasn't actually there, but they had Knuckles the echidna, Punchy the echidna, Silver the hedgehog, Blaze the cat, Kosmo the morph, Guard the gargoyle, Shade the echidna, Violet the echidna, Amy Rose, Cream the rabbit, Gemini the fennec...basically everyone who'd been present for the big battle in Troblusk City or the Doomsayer's prophecy. Bucky the rat was flying his fortress/lab Shadow Arcangel in for support, which Sonic could see over his shoulder. And on top of all that, Lucky the cat and Whisk the divine had returned from their travels and were raring to join the fight. "Lemme at him, I'll show Gunner that scared kitty he remembers is long gone!" Lucky smirked, the black cat in baggy red pants stepping up behind Sonic with the angelic Whisk following. "Isn't that cute, the kitten thinks he's grown up..." Knuckles teased. "Hey, how many times have you saved the whole universe, huh? Hm?" Lucky snapped. "I dunno, I don't keep count." Sonic shrugged, starting into a run. "You guys can catch up once you're all organized! I'm bored!" he shouted. "Agh!! Y-you don't need to yell on comms!!" Tails grumbled while everyone else groaned.

Gunner stood at the top floor of the tower, glaring out the window and pointing his gun arm at the rustling plant life in the forest below, trees branches blown by the force of Sonic's speed. The aging, hateful man scowled down at the world below. "As expected, the freaks are coming to me. Give the order, Spy!" he snapped. Spy stood up from a seat at a nearby desk. "Finally!" he grinned, picking up the phone, "I'd like a large pizza with extra pineapple!" Gunner was far from amused by the shades wearing Spy's antics. "You know what? I'm the damn president now! You're fired, Spy! Fired! Go hide in the closet until the battle's over and then leave my sight forever!!" he shouted, stomping to the PA mic and giving the order himself. "Everyone be on high alert! Intruders on premises, shoot to kill!" He then stomped out of the office, leaving a bewildered Spy to mull over what just happened. "F-f-fired...? Me? Fired? B-but I did...everything. I kissed every butt! I... I did every dirty job... And... And that old creep couldn't ever bother to even learn my name!!" he shouted. "Do tell..." Spy turned to see the window open, and a familiar dark green gargoyle with a scythe stepping in. "Y-you! What are you doing up here??" Spy babbled. Guard, the gargoyle, softly laughed at him. Quite the uncommon thing for the gruff android to do. "Me? What are you doing up here? Grrrr… Why is it the robot realized Gunner wasn't worth working for before the human? Grrr… Who's the real robot, I wonder?" Guard stated. Spy hung his head. He was right. "No time for the pity party. Grrr... You can still be useful, Riley." Guard added. Before Spy could say anything, the door swung open and Guard was shot with a shock blast from Gunner's arm cannon! "Indeed, well said, Guard! Take that mess to Dr. Nammad, Spy. He could do with some reprogramming..." Gunner sneered before walking out again. Spy stood there with a nervous expression, considering what to do. "...My name is Riley. And I was just fired..." he said, attempting to scoop Guard into his arms. "Ack!! Y-you're heavy!" he groaned, heading for the door.


Sonic approached the main entrance to the tower and playfully knocked on the door. "Hello, anyone home? It's the scouts! We're here selling cookies!" he said sarcastically. There were cameras mounted above the door, and as they turned toward the hedgehog, laser cannons emerged from their undersides! "Don't care for thin mints, huh?" Sonic smirked, easily sidestepping the laser blasts that followed. "We have their attention..." Tails reported over the comms, "GUN Warships inbound. The Tornado and the Hurricane will carry some of us up to disable them..." he stated. Sonic nodded and zipped back into the forest out of the cameras' sight. Then, he zoomed back toward the door, spinning in a destructive blue ball that tore right through the metal doorway! "Huh... You'd think they'd reinforce that thing with tougher stuff. I mean I smash bots like its my job." Sonic muttered, brushing metal dust off himself as he stood up in the entrance hall. He then remembered that Lucky and Whisk would be following him. "Right, the cameras..." he muttered, glancing out to plan his attack on them. Before he could make that move, another hedgehog came out of nowhere and smacked each camera with a quick set of jump attacks! "Wrong side, Shadow..." Sonic murmured, but when he saw who it actually was, he tilted his head in confusion. It was a light purple hedgehog, with green eyes like him. In fact, he pretty much had Sonic's eyes. "Hey, dad! I was worried I wouldn't catch up!" the youngster said. Sonic turned around to compose himself. Punchy's wife, Rainbow, had apparently met with a bunch of time-travelling kids from the future recently. But they ran off when the Doomsayer delivered his prophecy. "Who are you supposed to be?" Sonic asked without looking at him again. The younger hedgehog shrugged. "You named me Juice for some reason. Lucky's right behind me, if you're wondering." he said. Sonic tapped his foot. He didn't have time for any time travel shenanigans. "Well, let's juice, Juice. You're on Gunner's hit list now, like it or not!" he said, running into the tower. Juice shrugged. "What else is new? Let's try getting you out of this with those legs intact, old man..." he murmured, rushing after his father.


Shade was piloting the Tornado, carrying Knuckles and Violet on the wings as they approached one of the GUN Warships. "Urgh… S-shade, you said you could fly this thing! Why aren't you up here, Tails??" Knuckles complained. "I can fly! This plane is just an old-fashioned hunk of junk!" Shade retorted. "I can hear you both..." Tails sighed over the comms, "I'm taking care of the side building with Amy and Cream. Wanna trade?" he asked sarcastically. "...Yes." Violet murmured. The echidnas were forced to hold on tight as Shade turned hard to evade laser fire from the warship. "How are we supposed to get onboard?!" she growled. They heard Punchy's voice over the comms. "I know a way, but you won't like it..." Before he could elaborate, Kosmo flew up to the warship in his familiar purple dragon form. His glowing eyes glared in annoyance as the warship pelted his tough scales with laser fire. "I'll give you an opening...!" he grunted, firing a hot beam of his own from his mouth and melting a hole in the ship's hull! Knuckles stared in surprise. "Did you know the Kosmogon could fire a superlaser?" he asked. "I didn't even know this guy's dragon form had a name!" Shade replied. The Tornado quickly flew up to the hole, and Shade put it on autopilot as the three of them hopped into the ship. Kosmo flew to the hole as well, morphing into his fairly minimalist true form as he landed behind them. "Let's bring this heap down!" he smirked. "If you were coming up here did we even have to?" Violet grumbled. That notion made Knuckles growl in annoyance. "No one questions my usefulness! I'll bring down this rust-bucket myself! Yaaaaaaaaah!!" And so, he charged forward, equipping his Chaos Claws as he ran and using them to slash apart the first steel door in his way, finding countless beetle robots pointing their guns directly at him on the other side. "Uh, wrong door..." he said before running the other way hastily. "Yaaaaaaah!!" he shouted as the lasers shot at his heels! Once he'd put some distance between himself and the bots, he turned and slashed a hole in the wall, passing into another section of the ship. The others were close behind him. "You know we could handle whatever's in the path together!" Shade shouted to him, slipping on the Chaos Gauntlets so she could assist with extra power, too. Knuckles was circling his way around to surprise the swarm of beetles. "I don't need any help... I just need space to punch!" he murmured. However, by the time he'd circled around, he found Kosmo and Violet smashing up the beetles without him, the morph doing his best Sonic impression while the echidna blasted the bots with dark magic blasts. Shade came up behind Knuckles and pushed him out of the hole in the wall he'd made as he was gawking at the scene. "See? Don't try to hog all the glory, knucklehead!" she said. While she was distracted, a flaming beetle was making a kamikaze run towards her face, but Knuckles leapt in the way quickly and swiped it aside with his claws! "Noted, Shade... If you pay attention!" he said while she blushed a bit sheepishly. "Err... thanks..." she murmured.

Copter the fox had piloted his own black plane, the Hurricane, to the second GUN Warship, and brought along Gemini the fennec and her good friend Timothy the fawn. The white fennec with the pink sweater had come quite a long way with her magic, and was able to simple warp the whole plane into the warship's hangar. "Now that the flying's done, I feel redundant..." Copter murmured as Gemini and Timothy held their wands, ready to zap anything in their way with magic. "Don't start thinking like that again. We've all gotta watch each other's backs!" Gemini told him. While the others hopped out of the plane, Copter secured his goggles on his head, took a breath, and twirled his two spiky tails to fly down and join them. He heard his plane's mechanic, a beaver robot named Hoover, over the comms. "Don't fergit to bring back the plane! I don't think I kin go crawlin' back ta Eggman agin, so... I need somethin' to work on!" Gemini giggled lightly at his worried tone, but Copter looked annoyed. Hoover was always nagging him. Timothy darted his eyes around nervously. "Is it weird how empty it is in here?" he asked. "Kinda… Kinda not. Who'd expect us to come in through a closed hangar?" Copter shrugged. Gemini rubbed her chin, pointing her wand around. "...Reveasualia…" she said, casting a new spell. It caused invisible objects throughout the room to reveal themselves...and the trio gasped to find themselves surrounded by hundreds of Gold Beetles! "...Wait a minute! Aren't these things just recon bots?" Copter asked. Alarms started to blare from them, and they began to blink with red lights. "I think Gunner made them explosive." Timothy hypothesized. "Chaos Whirlwind!!" Copter shouted, blowing a bunch of them away from the Hurricane to keep it safe! Timothy then jumped between Copter and Gemini. "Proplasmar!!" he shouted, casting a barrier around them with his wand! As the beetles began to explode around them, Copter felt himself panic slightly. He ran to Gemini's side and hugged her close to him, protectively...instinctively. When the dust settled, Timothy looked away from them awkwardly as Copter realized what he'd done and quickly released her. "I, uh... Ahem... Not used to magical barriers. Thought you might, uh... F-forget it..." he babbled, turning to walk away and hide his blush. Gemini wrung her own tail as she watched him walk away from her. "You two need to have a talk later." Timothy said. "About what? Aren't I going back home to the future when everything's done..." Gemini sighed. "Is that even your home anymore?" Timothy asked. "Hey! Guys, don't leave me to do this on my own! I think it's been established that I make bad choices!" Copter shouted back. As Gemini and Timothy started to follow him, a stowaway dropped from the underside of the Hurricane, having been clinging tightly to the bottom, blending in with his black fur. "Bad choices? Aw, dad... Well, I did have to grow up without you..." said the three tailed fox as he climbed out from under the plane. It was Copter's son from the future... Chopper Prower.

Sonic and Juice were stopped about halfway up the tower. They'd found a big door that actually was reinforced enough to withstand Sonic's spin. Whisk teleported up with Lucky to catch up after a moment. "Oh, hey Sonic, thanks for waiting for us!" Whisk murmured. Sonic shrugged. "Eh, well, I'm told you have a key on ya that can unlock anything. Care to do the honors, Lucky?" he asked, leaning against the wall in a relaxed pose. Juice did a double take upon looking at Lucky. "Wow, he really does look exactly like you..." he murmured. "How's that? Hey, Sonic, where'd the little guy come from? Eh, never mind. Time to do what I do best!" Lucky grinned, holding a hand toward the door. There was silence for a moment. "Uhh… Lucky?" Whisk murmured. The black cat squinted as though focusing hard. "C'mon... Scourge can't have swiped it again...!" he grumbled. Juice whistled nonchalantly and looked away while Sonic tapped his foot. "Hey, Tails, we could really use you up here to deal with an electronic lock..." he murmured. "We've got our own problems, Sonic!" Tails gulped over the comms. "We're surrounded by stupid androids! And some of them look like ME! I'll sue!!" Amy shouted. They couldn't help letting out nervous chuckles. "Not sure which is scarier, Amy or Android Amy..." Sonic murmured. "What'd you say!?" she growled. Lucky was still trying to summon his key, but it wasn't working. Whisk patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. My magic can handle it..." she told him. However, before she could do that, they heard a loud scraping noise coming from the door. The four of them backed up, watching as flames burned around the edges of the door, and then it was yanked out from the other side, held up by the psychokinetic power of Silver the hedgehog! Blaze the cat was there beside him. "Hey, guys! We took the elevator!" Blaze said with a wave. "Gunner's up ahead. We could sure use you!" Silver added. Sonic shrugged and stepped through the opened door. "Heh, I'd have wrapped all this up by now if that door wasn't in the way! ...Guess it's less lonely this way!" he chuckled. "Careful, dad... My friends and I think this is a trap." Juice stated, "You see, Skye Prower built a device that detected an anomaly in the timeline..." he continued. "That's nice, kiddo. Gotta run!" Sonic said, speeding ahead! Lucky and Blaze glanced at Juice curiously. "Who did you say you were?" Lucky asked.

Each group had their part to play. Shadow Arcangel kept a third GUN Warship occupied in the air, unable to bother Shadow and Punchy's groups as they secured the perimeter below. The team seemed to have thought of everything, and Sonic was proceeding to the roof of the tower pretty quickly, ready to bring down Gunner once and for all. However, he was again halted as he reached the final stairway leading to the roof. The Doomsayer was standing in the way, cloaked in black with only his glowing eyes visible per the norm. Also as usual, a rain cloud accompanied him, even inside. Lucky held up his hands, feeling the rain drops as he, Whisk and Juice started to catch up to Sonic. "Hey, how'd you get up here? Outta the way!" Sonic said impatiently. The Doomsayer simply stared at him. "I beat you here. I'm faster than you." he said, clearly intending to rile Sonic up. "Oh yeah? Try again when I know we're racing, I dare ya!" Sonic warned. The Doomsayer shook his head. "There will be no chance for future frivolities. I'm afraid your time is up. Today... is Doomsday." he said, his voice low, almost a tone of mourning. Juice looked particularly nervous. "Wait, that can't be. I...exist!" he protested. "Not for long... Time has changed once too often, I'm afraid. And there are no Divine Masters to correct it any longer. Good job, Sonic." the Doomsayer said, mockingly applauding. The Zodiac Council of Divine Masters had previously watched over time, but their leader had gone mad with power, and Gemini turned to Sonic for help in defeating him. They trapped Ophiuchus the serpent in a dimension of nothingness where he could do no further harm, but the Zodiac Station that was the source of the Divine Master's powers had been obliterated. Sonic didn't care what the Doomsayer had to say, though. "Every time you say the end is here, we stop it! So get out of my way and lemme stop it!" he snapped. The Doomsayer calmly stepped aside and let Sonic through, the others following. "Nice to meet you. Or see you again. My memory hasn't always been good, hehe..." Whisk said as she passed the Doomsayer by. The hooded one looked up the stairs and sighed. "Yeah... This is happenin'. And I can't stop it." he said, clenching his fist.

Shots whizzed past Sonic's head as he stepped up to the roof. It was now raining up there, too. Gunner growled as he stood with his arm cannon aimed at the four animals. "Sonic! I hereby formally charge you with treason! Terrorism! Trespassing on Government property! Aiding a fugitive! Assisting a murderer!!" he snarled, his eyes glancing toward Shadow Arcangel as his voice lingered on "murderer." Sonic just made hand puppets to mimic his flapping lips. "Yap yap yap. Back at you, old man." he yawned. Gunner growled fiercely, and behind him, the wild haired scientist Dr. Nammad approached. "Uh... We should attack with our robot, yes?" he murmured. The old man rolled his eyes. "Yes, idiot! Deploy the Techno Sonic Mark Six!" he ordered. A hatch on the floor opened, and up rose a heavily armored robot that vaguely resembled Sonic. "Six?" Lucky asked. "Never can, uh, get it quite right..." Nammad confessed. Sonic smirked, and leapt at the robot, which rocketed at him with jet-powered feet! Juice watched in concern as the two Sonics clashed, and he tugged on Lucky's arm. "We should do something! I've got a very bad feeling!" he warned. Lucky shrugged. "I can try to get my key working... Hnnnnghh!!" he grunted, looking rather constipated. "What are you even doing, Lucky?" Whisk murmured. Meanwhile, Sonic had knocked the robot close to Gunner, who kicked it in rage. "Stupid machine!! Kill him! Kill him!! Why is it so hard to kill him!?" he shouted. The robot raised its arms toward Sonic, which it turned out ended in machine guns, and started shooting as Sonic sped out of the way. "Gotta say, he's pretty uninspired, Dr. Nam!" Sonic yawned. The doctor shrugged awkwardly. Suddenly, the battle was ended by a strike of lightning crashing down and zapping the robot, frying it! "Huh??" Sonic gasped, glancing around to see the Doomsayer peeking from the stairs. "...time's up. Look at the sky." the hooded one said. They looked up, and saw a single ghost hovering above them. Lospecter!

The ghost glanced down with them with his greenish gaze, smirking before taking a bow. "Hello! Sonic, Gunner, thank you both for gathering such a marvelous audience for our show." he said. Silver and Blaze had been taking care of some pesky robots inside the tower so Sonic could get up here so fast, but by now they hurried past the Doomsayer to join the others on the roof. "Hey, guys... What are you all looking at?" Silver wondered. Lospecter smirked but also frowned. "Aw, not the future face I was hoping to see. Guess Gem's got other plans for this evening. But I know she's close!" he smirked. Gunner fired a shot up at Lospecter, which just went right through him. "Hahaha stop! It tickles! Aw, don't you worry Richie, we're going to spare you for now... Your ruckus did gather all the pesky heroes that might get in our way right here so we could take care of 'em in one fell swoop!" the ghost announced. "What's all this 'we' stuff? You're all alone!" Sonic pointed out. Voices called over the comms, worried about what might be happening. "Sonic? Sonic! Is there a trap up there?" Tails asked. "Do you have Gunner?" the Commander questioned. "The Doctor didn't decide to get involved, did he?" Shadow asked. Sonic tapped his comms off so he could hear Lospecter. The ghost produced the Chaos Key, the mystical object that could open anything, including portals. "We've been quiet for a bit because we've been prepping. Ever since Zodiac went kaput. Prepping to eat up all the souls in this world...and then all worlds! Everything will become nice and lost, and live forever with us! Won't that be nice?" he asked with a giggle. "It sounds like a nightmare..." Blaze said. Lospecter shrugged and shook his head. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way... Because we were prepping by building our army using your world, and all the yummy koala souls on those islands! Ha ha ha ha!!" As Lospecter cackled, Blaze looked up at him with shock and horror. "Wh-what?! M-my world?! Destroyed in my absence?! M-marine!! N-nooooo!!" she fell to her knees, and Silver rushed to console her. Sonic clenched his teeth. "If you're telling the truth, you're history!" he warned. Lospecter laughed at him. "Oh... I forgot one thing... I touched base with a fellow Lospecter who successfully conquered his world, too. So, I've got a two world Lost One army to add to my own... And they're waiting behind portal number one!!" he announced, pointing the Chaos Key skyward! The Doomsayer stepped back and shut his eyes. "Game over..." he said. Sonic watched a beam shoot upward from the key, a look of panic sweeping over him very suddenly. He turned his comms back on. "Everyone... RUN!! As fast as you can... GET TO SAFETY!!" he cried.

A massive portal radiating green energy appeared above the Security Tower. From it, every type of Lost One began to swarm out, rapidly forming a swirling cyclone of evil that surrounded the tower, starting to tear it apart! Gunner grabbed Nammad by the collar in panic. "Get us the HELL out of here!! Where's Guard??" he shouted. "G-guard?" Nammad blurted. Spy hadn't done as told. They had no idea where he'd gone with Guard. Whisk grabbed Lucky's hand, ready to teleport them both, but before she could, a Loskull struck her, causing her to lose her grip as she teleported! "W-whisk!!" he gasped. Silver helped Blaze to her feet and led her to the edge of the building. "W-we have to jump!" he said. Blaze nodded. "Get us out, Silver... I can't die here. I have some monsters to kill..." she hissed. They both jumped over the edge together, while Nammad hastily made some repairs to Techno Sonic. "We'll have to, uh, hold on to this!" he told his boss. "Rrrrgh… Damn FREAKS!!" Gunner growled, grabbing on to Techno Sonic with Nammad and letting it fly both of them off the roof. Sonic grabbed Juice and Lucky by the arms. "We're going fast, kids. Swallow your gum now!" he warned. A Losol Golem landed right in front of the stairs, trying to block them. "No, Sonic... No, no, no, meeeee-yoooooooow!!" Lucky wailed as Sonic sped right through it at such a speed he broke it into individual losol! Lospecter watched everyone flee and cackled, glancing up as the hedgehog-tyrannosaur fusion known as Apocalos descended from the portal. He grinned with his huge, pointed teeth. "The end has begun, at last. Wipe out the heroes. Find a way to defeat our weaknesses. Bring me the one with immunity to us. And ensure Sonic the hedgehog cannot get in our way." he commanded. Lospecter smirked. "Tall order. Fortunately, I have all the grunts I need to get it all done. Every world will be all ours, hehehe..." he said, floating away.

The GUN Warships were all plummeting to the earth below. Knuckles and his group raced to get back to the Tornado. However, the collapsing interior of the ship separated Shade and Kosmo from Knuckles and Violet! "Don't panic! I'll get Shade out!" Kosmo promised. "You'd better!" Knuckles shouted as he followed Violet on the path to where they left Tails' plane. Timothy was quick to warp himself out of the other collapsing warship, but Copter had to get his own plane back. "I know what Hoover said, but it's not worth your life!" Gemini told him. "Well, it's not worth YOUR life..." Copter replied, continuing on his way back. Suddenly, a group of Losoar bats flapped into the ship and came gnashing their teeth toward the surprised Copter! It was then that Chopper leapt out of nowhere and pushed him out of harm's way, while Gemini zapped the beasts with her wand! "Dad! You gotta be careful!" the tri-tailed fox cried. Copter shoved the boy off him and leaned up. "What the... DAD??" he gasped. Gemini frowned. "That's it... Galaporta!" she said, taking both foxes and warping them off the ship with her...dooming the Hurricane.

Sonic fled the Security Tower as the Lost Ones shredded it apart behind him, leaving only a skeletal remains of the building in their wake before they began to scatter and chase the fleeing heroes. They were spreading into nearby Station Square, too. Sonic left Juice and Lucky by the burger shop and turned to the swarm. "Stay here... I gotta… do something!" he said, dashing back to help anyone he could. "Dad, wait!!" Juice cried, leaving Lucky alone. "Gah! What should I..." Lucky began, but suddenly heard a "Psst!" Turning around, he saw someone watching him from a nearby alleyway. He didn't get a good look, but it appeared to be a black cat like him. "Okay, I'm coming..." he said, having nowhere else to go.

The Lost Ones spread through Station Square quickly. Some tried to flee, some tried to fight. Libra the fennec, Gemini's blue-furred sister, was out with the surviving Zodiac Council members for a meeting of their support group. When the Lost Ones attacked, they tried to fight them off, despite Libra's warnings. "Guys, I know you miss all your powers but you don't have them!" she pleaded. Pisces had a replica of her old trident, and tried to stab a Lospide tarantula. "I've been waiting for something to skewer again!" the shark lady growled. Taurus tried to charge down a Loskel while Aquarius tried to punch out some losol. Capricorn was the only one who shared Libra's concern. "Get to safety, Libra. I'll try to help them!" the ferret said, rushing to Aquarius' side as his hands got stuck in the losol's slime! "Aaack!! Th-they won't let go!!" he grunted. "Graaahh!! F-firrrre!!" Taurus wailed as the Loskel set him aflame! Libra gasped and started to run, glancing back only to see each member of the former council succumbing...transforming. They were losing their souls and becoming Lost Ones! "G-gemini… I need to find Gemini!!" Libra gasped, tears flowing from her eyes.


Before long, Station Square had come to resemble a ghost town. Lucky had taken cover in the remains of the burger shop. "I've been through so much... I've fought to save so many worlds... But is the fight for my own world...all for nothing?" he asked sadly. Outside, Sonic sped past, his finger tapping furiously on the comms device. "Tails!! Knuckles!! Shadow!! Anyone!! Please respond!! ...Please..." He was a wreck. The mission had started out so perfect. They seemed so prepared. Now he didn't know if anyone was alive or dead. Back in the burger shop, Lucky was panicking. "Whisk!! Whisk, where are you!?" he shouted out the door. "Lucky, are you listening? She's not here. You'd think you'd listen to me, I am your son." the other black cat from before had been talking to him but he hadn't been paying much attention. Until now. "Meee-yow!? Wh-what!? SON?!" Lucky gasped. The other cat had a bit of blue hair on his head like Whisk's, and a collar identical to Lucky's. "Yeah. Lucky Junior. Nice to meet ya, pop. Also, I think I might have something to do with why your key's flown the coop..." he said awkwardly. Meanwhile, Sonic stopped at the desolate street where the Central Station stood, windows broken and slime spattered all around. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, struggling to hold back tears. Then, static came over the comms. He perked up. But the words he heard weren't encouraging. "We lost the city... We lost Shadow Arcangel… Anybody, can anybody hear me? This is Tails... I'm trapped behind enemy lines..." A lump formed in Sonic's throat. This could be good news. It could mean all wasn't lost; the Doomsayer's prophecy said that the first official death of the end of the world would be a Prower. It also could mean that Tails didn't have long. "I'm here, buddy... Hang in there... I'm on my way!"

To be continued...