Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 27 - The River of Lost Souls
Stage 14 - Giant Jungle

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


"I'm gonna get those fools.
They wanna play with my Emeralds?!
They playing with the wrong guy!" - Kick the Rock!; Sonic Adventure 2


Previously on GeneX…
Shadow and Kosmo fought the Deadly Six and the forces of the Lost Ones to prevent the Gaia Wellspring from being tainted. Though it took sacrificing Tikal, they succeeded, and next had to make the journey back to regroup with their friends, finally arriving in Giant Jungle where they met up with Rouge and Omega.
Searching for the Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles was led to Giant Jungle by Violet's friend, Mitch, who built a tracker using the Chaos Emerald Knuckles already had. They were joined on the trip by Mighty, Ray, Patch and Daisy.
While Violet found one of the emeralds, Knuckles was faced with Zeena, Zik and Zim of the Zeti. The team repelled Zeena and Zik, but Zim wanted to ask for help freeing his people from the influence of the Cacophonic Conch.
Now, our tale continues...


Omega's radar quickly picked up one of the Chaos Emeralds, so the trio followed him to it. "Let me get this straight, Omega. You've been able to detect the Chaos Emeralds this whole time!?" Rouge asked, a bit peeved that he'd been holding out on her. "It was inconsequential until now." the robot replied, detecting the aggravation in Rouge's voice as well. Finding a white sparkle nestled in the shade of some bushes, Rouge hurried over to pick it up. "My precious baby! I missed you!" she said, holding up the gem and admiring it while Shadow rolled his eyes. A voice above caught his attention. "How did every one of you heroes survive, anyway? We dropped a building on most of ya... Oh, welcome back, Shady. Eyes." Lospecter floated above, and waved at Shadow and Kosmo. The morph smirked at him. "What's the matter? Allergic to the Chaos Emerald? Couldn't pick it up?" he asked. Lospecter shrugged. "What's one little emerald? When we kill that knuckle-brain and his friends, we'll get all of theirs. Anyway, we just need to keep those rocks apart, far as I know." he said with a bored yawn. Shadow folded his arms. "So, you're saying Knuckles is in this jungle, then?" he reasoned. That caught Rouge's attention. "Oooh, the Master Emerald..." she murmured. "Stay on mission!" Omega scolded her. Lospecter turned around the Chaos Key in his hand, yawning again. "What a day... Oh, hey, we are taking that emerald from you, by the way. I just thought it'd be more interesting if it was taken by force or whatever. So...here come da minions." he said, snapping his ghostly fingers. A number of LoShadows emerged, the creatures created from the Ultimate Life DNA samples. Rouge looked at them in surprise. "Androids, Mephiles, now this! I'm fed up with fake Shadows!" she groaned.

Omega started firing at the creatures straight away, but bullets were little use against the Lost Ones, and one of the LoShadows quickly slipped inside the robot! "Error!! Error!!" the robot shouted in a glitched voice! Rouge and Kosmo flew up to fend off the other LoShadows, leaving Shadow to check on Omega. "Hey...can you hear me? Omega!!" he called. The robot's eyes glowed a sickly green, and he pointed his arm cannons at the hedgehog! Shadow leapt to the side, evading the bullets quickly as his friend opened fire! "Get ahold of yourself, Omega!" he shouted. "This robot...is programmed...to eliminate Shadow!!" Omega said in that glitched voice. Shadow scoffed. "You'll need to catch me, first." he said, warping out of the way as Omega lobbed bombs in his direction! Lospecter watched Shadow flee the explosions and chuckled. "Not bad, but I better check on those six morons. Be back for your corpses!" he said, flying off into the jungle! Shadow landed on top of Omega, making it difficult for the robot to shoot him. "Listen to me! I don't want to fight you!" he shouted. Omega extended his arms outward. "Annihilate!! Zzzt zzt!!" His body then began to spin rapidly at the hips, his upper body resembling an odd sort of fan! As he sped up, it became difficult for Shadow to hang on, so he leapt off, warping to avoid the hail of bullets that followed. "His program's taken over! We need the Chaos Emerald!" he shouted. "That's the only thing keeping me alive, here!" Rouge groaned, pointing the emerald around to repel the LoShadows with its sheer energy as they neared her. "I'll cover you!" Kosmo said, morphing into Copter and waving his hand, "Chaos Whirlwind!!" Using the windy attack on the Lost Ones, he gave Rouge an opening to fly back down...

As Rouge approached Omega, her body glowed with Chaos energy. "This is for all the emeralds you could have found me before!!" she growled, giving the robot a chaos-charged kick in the head! Omega stumbled, and the LoShadow popped out, growling angrily! Shadow dashed between Omega and the LoShadow, but the creatures were gathering around Rouge now. "They want the emerald!" Kosmo shouted. "The emerald repels them!" Rouge protested. "Doesn't matter. They'll kill themselves to please their masters." Shadow grunted. "Pass the emerald to me!" Kosmo said, flying closer to Rouge, "You don't have time to deal with these guys if you wanna help Knuckles!" he pointed out. Rouge clutched the emerald tightly, whining. "The Master Emerald, Rouge." Omega stated. Of course, Knuckles would have that. Rouge gritted her teeth and tossed the white emerald to Kosmo. The morph then changed shape into the form of Shadow. "Hey, copycats! I invented mimicry! And I got your shiny! Come and get me!!" he laughed, dashing into the jungle! The LoShadows gave chase, doggedly pursuing the morph and leaving Team Dark behind. "Weird to see a version of you laughing..." Rouge said, looking at Shadow. "I know how hard it was to hand over that emerald, Rouge. Now, let's get looking for Knuckles." Shadow said, getting right to the point. They both looked at Omega. "Well, how about that radar? You said Knuckles has the Master Emerald, right?" Rouge asked. Omega looked as sheepish as he could with his robotic face. "Sensors jammed as a result of invading entity. I only mentioned that to get you to do what was necessary." he reported. Rouge ground her teeth and closed her hands into fists. "Well, if Knuckles lost that emerald, I'll kick his ass!" she yelled.


Despite Zim's apparent desire to only free his fellow Zeti from the Lost Ones, the fact that he'd fought with Patch and Daisy made the group err on the side of caution and have him tied up. Mighty found himself leading Zim by a leash of rope while they continued together through the jungle, staying in a group just in case the Deadly Six attacked again. "You will regret this humiliation! When Zim's friends find you, you will be the ones tied up and paraded about like fools!" That was just some of the shouting that Zim was doing on the way. Mitch tugged his hat over his ears as best he could to try and drown out the noise. "We should gag that dweeb." he grumbled. He was probably right, too, as the noise was drawing enemies to their location. Egg Flapper robots zoomed towards them, ghostly faces poking out of their heads to show that they were possessed. With Chaos Claws equipped, Knuckles dug into thin air and climbed up to greet them, while Violet teleported up with her magic! Both echidnas were quite impressive fighting, and seemed to make the others kind of redundant. Ray remembered how he'd gotten in the way fighting the Zeti, too. "Maybe I should've stayed in the city..." he sighed. Patch nodded. "Yeah, we could have played Grand Theft Duty on my DreamStation 5! Hee hee!" the fox giggled. "Now, Ray, don't talk like that." Mighty sighed, tugging the struggling Zim along. Daisy nodded in agreement. "Just because monsters are a bit outside the scope of our training doesn't mean we can't help!" she added. Knuckles and Violet dropped down amidst a flurry of scattered robot parts and inactive slime, and turned to check on their friends. "Everyone good? Try to shut that Zeti up, could ya..." Knuckles grumbled. As the echidnas continued onward, the others looked a tad discouraged. "We're just babysitters, Mighty." Ray pointed out. "I prefer to be called a guard." Mighty groaned.

Soon, the group came to the edge of the river of slime, where they oddly found a raft tied to the shore. "Why a raft? Why not a bridge?" Violet wondered. "Bridge is upstream, back the way we came." Mighty said, pointing a ways back. The group really wasn't sure which way to go, though. Mitch's emerald radar had stopped working when they arrived in the jungle, and he hadn't managed to fix it. "Well, you're never getting me in that raft." Daisy said, looking at the oozing river anxiously. "That's fine, we'll just hurl you in the river!" Looking around, the group saw Zavok approaching them, giving them a sneer! The rest of the deadly six leapt out of the shadows as well, surrounding them! "I've been waiting to smash something!!" Zazz shouted. Zim jumped up and down excitedly. "Zavok! Boss! Hey! Untie Zim! I was trying to get them to free you from the conch but these cretins wouldn't listen!" he shouted. Zavok tilted his head. "Zim? Didn't I cast you out... Your loyalty is annoying." he grumbled. Zik tapped his staff and hummed softly. "But now that I think on it, he's got an intriguing idea. What if we forced these children to take the conch out of the equation?" he suggested. The blaring of the Cacophonic Conch was immediately heard, and the Zeti growled and groaned, holding their heads! Lospecter floated down from above holding the conch, a stern look on his face. "Bad demons! No negotiating! Kill!" he said, pointing at Knuckles. The echidna raised his fists, ready for a fight. "Do your worst!" he growled. Mitch, however, hopped onto the raft and started trying to untie it. "Hee hee! Are you mad?" Patch giggled, "I know I am!" he added, hopping onto the raft with him! "It'd be mad to stay and fight wit those goons! Youse mugs comin' or what!?" Mitch shouted. Knuckles hated to run from a fight, but he joined the others as they piled into the raft. Mighty even tugged the struggling Zim on. "Why ya bringing him?" Ray asked. "Better with us than working for them!" he explained. Zazz leapt for the raft, planning to stop them before they could escape, but Violet struck him with a zap of dark magic while Knuckles sliced the rope Mitch was fiddling with using the Chaos Claws! As the raft started down the river, Lospecter waved at them. "See ya on the other side! ...Idiots." he snickered.

The raging slime rapids rushed the raft along, and during the ride, tendrils lashed out of the slimy river in hopes of grabbing those aboard! On top of that, finned creatures were leaping out of the river and back in. "Are those...shark Lost Ones!?" Knuckles grunted. "Losharks!!" Ray gasped, hugging Mighty. Daisy sliced at a tendril as it tried to reach onto the raft, growling at their predicament. "Why, why, why are we riding this thing!?" she groaned. Patch giggled, watching losharks hop out of the river near the raft. He whacked one on the head with his nunchuck as it jumped, but it turned in midair and tried to bite him! Instead, Mitch shot it with his custom pistol, sending it back into the river sparking with electricity. "Don't play, Patch!" he grumbled. At the front of the raft, Knuckles was busy slashing away tendrils that rose in their path. "Is this whole river ALIVE!?" he shouted, wondering if this ride was a good idea. "I think it's more dead!" Violet replied, hitting some of those losharks with dark lightning. Ray sighed as he stood with Zim in the center of the raft. "We're safe here, ri-AAAH!!" he yelped as shark teeth poked through the raft from below! He then leapt up, opening his wings to glide over the situation while Zim ran circles around the problem. "We're going to sink and be eaten by monster fish! Curse you, this is not how Zim ends!!" he shouted. As the sharks rammed the raft with their teeth again, Mighty rammed them back by giving the spot a good thumping with his shell! It stunned the shark below, but the raft didn't look to be in great shape. "Are you insane!? Don't sink us faster!!" Zim shouted. "All I got is strength! You have any suggestions?! Didn't think so!" Mighty snapped. "...My suggestion was untie me..." Zim whimpered.

As tendrils tried to grab for Mighty, Ray swooped down, and returned to the air with Mighty clinging to his legs...and Zim's rope leash clutched in Mighty's hand as well, causing the Zeti to dangle under them. "Hey! What in the!? Put me down!!" Zim shouted. Ray tried to flap his glider-like wings. "We're not gonna stay up long under all this weight!!" he whimpered. Another tendril wrapped around Daisy, causing her to drop her katana! "Gaah!! Nooo!!" she wailed. Patch leapt to her side, grabbing her katana in one hand and using it to slice the tendril as he rolled under it! Daisy fell out of the tendril and onto the raft, and as she rose to her feet, Patch offered her the blade back. "Hee hee, lose this?" he grinned. Rather than take the blade, Daisy put her arms around the fox's neck and kissed him quite suddenly, shocking Violet as she looked their way. "Wha...buh...guh...D-daisy??" she stammered. She chuckled softly as she stood back up, taking back her katana. "W-well, Patch and I have been together so much, we just kinda became a thing... We gotta really catch up sometime, Vy!" she giggled. A gunshot sounded and Patch and Daisy cringed as a loshark crashed down behind them, felled by Mitch's gun. "Dammit, will you pay attention!? I ain't got too many bullets!" he shouted. Ray had dropped Mighty to regain some air, and the armadillo bounced his strong shell atop one of the sharks as it attempted to attack the raft, rising back up to grab Ray's legs again. Zim's eyes seemed to twirl around in their sockets as he went along for the ride. "I-I miss my best friend, Zeke..." he babbled. All the while, Knuckles was trying to protect the front of the raft, but he could see the slimy water churning. "Guys, I think it's time to get back ashore! Jump!!" he shouted as tendrils started rapidly rising from the river ahead! The slime was determined to devour them!

Everyone leapt from the raft as the tendrils grabbed it up and tore it apart! While Knuckles, Violet, Patch, Daisy and Mitch landed shakily on their feet, Zim dropped down onto his head with a groan, followed by Mighty landing beside him and Ray gently floating down last. The purple Chaos Emerald was resting on a big rock up ahead, conveniently. "Perfect! Let's grab that emerald and get the heck outta here!" Knuckles sighed. "Hold on, someone's there..." Daisy pointed out. Standing by the rock and the emerald was a familiar face for Violet and her friends. A gecko in a Despair uniform. It was their old friend. "S-simon!? But I saw you die!" Violet stammered. The gecko looked her way, a cold, pale green glow to his eyes. "You mean you left me for dead." he said, his voice gurgling. Mitch checked his bullets. "This guy's one of them. I think we're surrounded." he warned. Hearing footsteps, Knuckles turned to see Zavok stomping their way. "Such a pointless game you're playing. You can't escape from me!" he sneered. Zim hopped to his feet excitedly, cheering for Zavok's arrival, while Mighty and Ray looked in another direction to see another problem. "Hey, guys? Hooded dudes aren't good news, right?" Ray asked. Losipher was approaching, the Deathbringer's hood cloaking him. "Tell me...do you feel anything? Reunited with your friend?" he asked of Violet's group. Simon stared at them with dead eyes, and Patch twitched nervously. "Hee hee... He doesn't blink anymore!" he babbled. Violet turned to Losipher with a growl. "We laid him to rest! We buried him!! How dare you dig him up for this!!" she shouted. Losipher was walking slowly towards the river the group had come from. "...It's no different to what I'll do with you!" he smirked. Before he could move, though, explosive blasts struck him in the chest, knocking him into the river! Looking, the group saw Omega with smoking hands, and Shadow and Rouge were beside him! "Welcome back, Shadow! Mind helping my friends while I knock out Zav-ock?" he said with a grin. Zavok growled. "It doesn't sound right when YOU say it like that. Fortunately, you won't be able to speak when I'm through with you!" he shouted. Shadow looked at the river, and saw it bubbling. "Well, we've walked into a mess, haven't we? Somebody grab that emerald, would you?" he asked, stepping toward the river. Rouge smirked and looked toward the purple glimmer. "Count on me!" she said.

Losipher rose out of the river, growing to a massive size! The tendrils from the slime river seemed to extend outward at his command, reaching toward Shadow! "Chaos Emeralds can't save you now! Prepare to die!" the massive Lost One bellowed! Shadow leapt out of reach of the tentacles while Omega started firing on them. "Am I supposed to be impressed? Bring it on..." Shadow huffed. While he and Omega kept Losipher occupied for now, Rouge flew toward the Chaos Emerald, only to find LoSimon blocking the way to it, pointing a slimy gun at her. "The Chaos Emerald stays right here... As do all of you..." he grunted, glaring at his former friends. Violet looked distressed to be facing him, but Patch just laughed. "Hee hee! There's only one of you and a bunch of us! How you gonna stop us?" he said, hopping up and down while sticking his tongue out. "I wish you didn't prompt him..." Daisy sighed. Indeed, following the question, the slimy Lost version of Corky hopped to his side! "It's a Despair reunion! I could just eat you lot up!" the frog cackled, lashing his long, slimy tongue toward the group! Daisy slashed the tongue with her katana, making Corky howl in pain and cover his mouth! "Don't try to keep me from a Chaos Emerald!" Rouge growled in annoyance, tossing bombs at the distracted Lost Ones to splatter them! "You insensitive bat!! They're our friends!!" Violet shouted. Rouge quickly snatched up the purple emerald and flapped into the air. "You deal with them, then. I have places to be!" she said, flying away while the Lost Ones reformed their bodies in front of their old friends. Patch and Daisy gulped, while Mitch fired a shot uselessly at them. "We probably coulda used that emerald!! Ah, wait, I still gots the one in the tracker!" he babbled, bashing it with his gun to try and open it up. Simon fired a strange bullet at Mitch's robotic foot, short circuiting it with slime and making him fall to his knees! Seeing this, Violet's hands glowed with dark magic. "You're just monsters. Our friends aren't coming back, no matter what. I'll destroy you, Lost Ones!!" she shouted.

While Knuckles squared off against Zavok, Mighty and Ray were trying to chase the fleeing Zim as he scampered toward them. "Come on, we can't afford for you to get loose, too!" Ray shouted. "Grab his rope!!" Mighty cried. Zim stopped a few feet from Zavok. "Master! Come on, let's ditch this battle and get that conch! Zim will help!!" he panted. Zavok growled. "Don't mention it, you fool! That ghost will- GAH!!" Right on cue, Lospecter floated over and blew the conch, making Zavok groan and hold his head. "C'mon, boys! Over here! Move it! We found 'em!" Lospecter shouted. Knuckles watched this thoughtfully. "You're not really my enemy today, Zavok. You're just a victim..." he murmured. Unfortunately, Zavok didn't have the luxury of caring. He raised his fists and pounded the area Knuckles was standing, the echidna forced to move to avoid getting flattened! Zim was also busy trying to headbutt Mighty and Ray. "Darn it! He's still a pain tied up!" Mighty grunted as the small Zeti bashed his shell. "I got the rope! Whoaaa!!" Ray shouted, flying behind Zim like a kite as the Zeti charged! This gave mighty an idea. "Hey, Knuckles! You're an Olympic hammer throw champ, right?" he shouted, sidestepping Zim as he ran by and grabbing the rope! Knuckles hopped over Zavok as the large Zeti tried to grab him. "This idea is stupid, but okay!" he replied. Mighty gripped the rope and tossed Zim toward Knuckles! "Heeeelp!!" Ray cried. "Let go, Ray!!" Mighty groaned. As Ray released the rope, Knuckles caught it, smacking Zavok as he spun Zim around, and then tossing the small Zeti towards Lospecter! "What are you...hey!!" the ghost yelled as Zim fell through him! He knocked the conch from Lospecter's hand, and it smashed on the ground below! Rubbing his head, Zavok looked toward Lospecter with anger. The ghost chuckled softly. "Ohhh, you broke my toy. Well, now you ALL get to contend with Losipher..." he sneered.

Losipher's giant fist crashed down as Shadow leapt up to avoid it. "Chaos Spear!!" he shouted, pelting the monster with several spears, which made him flinch and snarl. "Annoying gnat!" Losipher growled, swatting Shadow with the back of his hand and knocking the hedgehog to the floor! Omega stepped between them, erupting in bullets and missiles in an attempt at destroying Losipher. Rouge joined in, lobbing bombs at the creature, but during the assault, one of the tendrils from the river snaked around Omega and lifted the robot into the air! "Danger!! Unstable footing!!" the robot shouted! Before Rouge could to anything to aid him, she was swatted down by Losipher as well! The tendril started to squeeze Omega, causing him to spark. When things looked bleak for the robot, an energy beam struck the tendril, and the Kosmogon swooped in, snatching Omega out of the tendril's grip! "I'm back, baby! Miss me?" the morph smirked. Losipher wailed in agony, but the look on his face was simply that of rage. "Surround me, band against me, it matters not. I am a THOUSAND, and you are specks! All of you...DIE!!" he howled.

Violet was busy trading blows with Simon and Corky, and she was growing tired. The gecko smirked, pointing his gun at her head. "Get ready to join us, my friend..." he sneered. But before he could fire, a powerful shot pierced the gecko's gut, and he choked, starting to melt into inert slime! Violet turned to see Patch and Daisy holding up Mitch, who had siphoned the Chaos Emerald's energy to his gun with a quick tweak to the scanner. Corky was left on his own, and the cowardly frog started hopping away. "Ya see, that's what friends are really like, Lost Ones!!" Violet shouted. Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate. As they turned around, they saw tentacles wildly shooting out from Losipher's body and reaching out for everyone! As one of the tentacles stretched all the way toward them, Mitch shoved Patch and Daisy behind him. "Down, down! Don't die on m-aaah!!" he gasped, the tentacle actually piercing through his chest! "M-mitch, no!!" Violet cried. "Why!?" Daisy gasped. The weasel grunted as slime started to claim his body. "I ain't never done a thing right... 'cept lookin' after you kids. M-make sure you l-live...or I'll kill ya!" he sighed, the tentacle then pulling him back and dragging him inside Losipher's slimy body. Violet, Patch and Daisy backed up, unsure what they could do. Losipher was a beast beyond any of them.

The Deadly Six had gathered, and were leaping around, trying to fight Losipher, but one by one they were getting tangled in the tentacles. "Eeew!! Put me down so I can stomp you!!" Zazz shouted. "We can't...be defeated by...these creatures!!" Zavok growled. Kosmo had carried Omega up high, and was struggling to get the robot to safety. Knuckles was slashing tentacles with his Chaos Claws to protect Mighty and Ray, but Shadow could see there was no good way out of this. "Give me the emerald, Rouge!!" he shouted. "Shadow, no... We can..." the bat stammered. Shadow tapped his restraint ring. "It's the only way." he said. Rouge frowned, avoiding tentacles as she flew to Shadow and handed him the Chaos Emerald...while also hugging him tightly. "We'll find you." she promised. Nodding, Shadow left Rouge's side while clutching the purple Chaos Emerald. Without a word, he vanished, and then reappeared in front of Losipher's fanged face. "What is it, pathetic gnat? What do you think you can do?" Losipher snarled. Shadow held out the emerald. "Chaos...Control!!" A bright light then enveloped Shadow, Losipher, and the Deadly Six. In a flash, they all vanished, leaving behind the others as well as a dumbfounded Lospecter. "No, no no! Come back! I wanna see how this ends!!" the ghost shouted, flying off a ways before vanishing into a portal! Kosmo placed Omega next to Rouge and looked around. "Where did he go?" the morph asked. "Shadow is gone..." Omega reported. Rouge sighed and spread her wings. "We've got to find him. Care to come along, Knuckles?" she asked. Knuckles and Mighty were consoling a frightened Ray, but he turned towards Rouge. "Huh? Oh, you're here... Ah, I gotta find those Chaos Emeralds..." he murmured. Kosmo held up the white emerald. "I could give ya this one?" he suggested. "Ah, no no, I'll look after it!" Rouge insisted. In the meantime, Violet's group untied Zim. "Master Zavok is gone... Now what will I do? Zim is adrift in a sea of despair!" he whined. "Don't mention water or Despair..." Daisy sighed. "Maybe Zeke has an idea..." Zim murmured. Violet then looked to Knuckles, sighing with relief that no one other than Mitch had died. "Let's take a moment to remember Mitch... Then, we'll get back to work." she said. Patch silently held Mitch's gun and the detector with the emerald inside. No laughter. He shed a tear for his fallen friend. "At least...the smoking didn't get him..." he murmured.

To be continued...