Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 54 - The Eggman Empire
Stage 25 - Robotnikland

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


"The sun is falling in the sky beyond,
And light is fading from our world.
Now's the time of reckoning!
The final battle has begun!" - Fading World, Sonic Forces


Previously on GeneX…
Sonic was distracted from helping Knuckles against Howler by the sudden appearance of Dr. Eggman, who goaded the hedgehog into a chase!
Meanwhile, during a desperate battle with Infinite, the jackal sliced off one of his tails, leaving him too injured to fight, and then began to overpower Fera! Realizing there was no choice, Skye sacrificed his life to allow them to escape. Infinite was then devoured by Apocalos, but his purpose had been served...
Apocalos interrupted Sonic's chase by delivering Skye's body, declaring the prophecy fulfilled. Sonic remained defiant, but Apocalos warned him to check on his son who came from the future...
Now, our tale continues...


Lucky, Whisk, Amy, Cream, Big, Juice and Lucky Jr. were all still together, and trying to catch up to Sonic. Fortunately, the imposing figure of the Despair Wisp was no longer behind them. Knuckles, Rouge and Violet had taken him down by now. As the group ran in search of Sonic, Juice suddenly tripped and fell, holding his gut. "Aaagh!!" he groaned, as Amy stopped to check on him. "Hey, are you okay, son?" she asked quickly, worried. He'd stopped running, but suddenly Lucky Junior groaned and fell over as well, drawing his parents' attention. "Mee-yow!! What's wrong with Junior??!" Lucky yelped in alarm. "I-I don't know... I feel awful... M-mom, Dad..." Junior whimpered, looking up at them as he held his stomach. Whisk touched his head as though to check his temperature. "What's wrong with him?" she questioned. Big and Cream could only watch with concern. "Maybe they ate something bad..." Big murmured. Cream hugged Cheese close, not wanting to say what she was thinking, not even wanting to think it. Unsure what to do, Amy called out. "Soniiiic!! Help!! Soniiiiic!!" she cried. Fortunately, Sonic was already on the way, and hearing her voice was just what he needed to be able to find them. He sped into the part of the woods where the group was stopped, and gasped to see the "kids" on the ground. "No...not again!" he exclaimed. "What do you mean...again?" Cream squeaked nervously. Sonic couldn't bring himself to tell her. He couldn't bear to look at Cream and tell her that her son had been murdered. Instead, he crouched down next to Juice, taking his hand in his. "Can ya hear me, kid? Hang in there... Come on..." he pleaded.

It was happening to the others, as well. Starr had doubled over and was having trouble maintaining a single form as Kosmo and Carrie watched in panic. "What's wrong with you? Starr!! Dammit, I just lost one kid, I can't lose you, too!" Kosmo cried, as Shadow looked on with a grim expression. Elsewhere on the island, Lara had also fallen over, as Shade rushed to her side. "You alright, kid?" she asked. "M-mom, I... I failed..." Lara gasped, reached for Shade's hand only to see her own hand starting to vanish before their eyes! The same was happening to Aurora as she was about to finally catch up to her parents. Rainbow dashed over to her, thinking she tripped. "Careful, sweetie! ....Sweetie?" But Punchy could see that she was starting to fade. "This can't be good..." he gulped. Their daughter had already been born, if she was fading, the implication was that her future was vanishing. And of course, Copter and Gemini saw this happening to Chopper, as well. "H-he's vanishing!" Copter stammered, "What does this mean?" he asked as he cradled his fading child in his arms. Gemini's face was paler than usual. "It means...we're losing." she said. "D-don't...give up...Dad, Mom..." Chopper gasped. Back with Sonic, there was nothing to be done. Juice and Junior were both fading away as though they never existed to begin with. "I'm glad... I got to meet you... Mom..." Juice managed to say to Amy, "And Dad... Stay strong..." Junior choked back tears as he kept his eyes on Lucky and Whisk. "You can still do this, Dad... You can open the door...to our future..." he gasped. Amy grit her teeth, but she couldn't hold back her sorrow as the children all finished fading away. "NOOOO!!" she wailed, as Cream walked over to hug her, crying with her. She knew that Melody and Skye were gone now, too, and to the rabbit's dismay, she couldn't even be there in her children's last moments.

The Doomsayer stepped out of the shadows, not Apocalos but Sonic. He'd apparently seen the young ones fade away as well, and looked quite grim as rain fell around him. "You see now? There's no saving this world. Beings from the future vanishing... shows that the future is setting in stone." he announced. Sonic turned to the Doomsayer with a frustrated growl, but then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you're still here. You're a time traveler!" he shouted, pointing at him almost accusingly. The Doomsayer nodded. "A few remain, yes. The only time travelers still clinging to this realm are the ones with magical protections placed upon them... Myself, I would say I'm cursed to see each timeline fall." he sighed. Whisk glanced at Lucky. "Hey, you think you can summon your key now? Maybe beat up this fake Sonic?" she asked. After all, with Junior gone, the main cause of his key's disappearance was also gone. Lucky was staring at the spot Junior had been, though, clearly out of it. Team Rose was busy mourning Juice as well, so Sonic was more or less on his own here. "Whatever! If we fix the future, we'll bring everyone back! Juice and Junior, Skye, and all of them!" he shouted. Lucky clutched his heart. "Pepper...and Minnie..." he realized. Casey, Argyle and Venice, too. They were all gone. But Sonic would attempt to get them back! The Doomsayer scoffed at him, though. "If they don't fade now, they'll suffer later. I have seen so many futures. We will ultimately lose... and you will ultimately go on to become me." he declared. "Never! I'll show you!!" Sonic snapped, starting to chase after him! "H-hey, Sonic... W-wait!!" Amy stammered, chasing after him as he chased the Doomsayer through the woods!

Eggman was also in the woods, and met with a jetpack-wearing Firepaw who was holding a briefcase. "Got what you wanted right here, meowr. What are you gonna do, boss?" he asked, handing the doctor the case. Eggman frowned, opening the case. "It may be in my best interest to stake out a safe haven to regroup if in fact these Lost Ones can't be stopped. And while I'm at it, I might as well take care of Sonic once and for all..." He took an object out of the briefcase and plugged it into the Egg Mobile's dashboard. "Stick close, Firepaw. I'll need one more thing from you..." he murmured, turning his Egg Mobile around as a large conical laser started to emerge on the front of the Egg Mobile! "Nanotech add-on! It's the future!" the doctor smirked before pulling a lever and firing a beam into the woods! This beam even caught the Doomsayer off guard, but Sonic and Amy also ran straight into the rift in the fabric of space that the beam had created! "Whoaaaa!! Now whaaaat!?" Sonic cried. Eggman smirked and flew the Egg Mobile toward the rift. "Hop in, Firepaw!" he ordered. "Meowr? Uhhh... What even is that?" the robot asked nervously. Eggman chuckled softly. "By my calculations... It should be the Eggman Empire!!" he declared, flying the Egg Mobile right into the strange rift in space! Firepaw groaned and hopped in after him, and the rift was starting to fade, but not before one more could find it. Metal Sonic skidded to a halt, scanning the anomaly. "A portal...to another world? You're not going without me, doctor!" the robotic hedgehog grunted, leaping into the rift just in time! The transport was a bit chaotic, and Sonic initially landed on the other side by himself. "Where am I...now?" he murmured, looking around. It was a city, its layout very much resembling Station Square. However, it was highly mechanized and futuristic, with robots flying the skies and huge screens adorning the sides of buildings! These screens displayed Eggman's familiar logo. "Welcome to Robotnikland! The ultimate city, and capital of the Eggman Empire!" came the voice of Dr. Eggman over a PA speaker!

Sonic folded his arms and tapped his foot. "What the? When did Eggman have the time to build all this??" he asked himself. "For having such fast feet, you're a bit slow in the head!" sneered Eggman as his Egg Mobile hovered in front of the hedgehog. The doctor gestured at the city around them. "Look in awe and wonder at this world! It is one of so many dimensions out there, and my latest invention has transported us here! A world where my genius prevailed as it should, a long time ago!" he explained with a bitterness in his voice. Sonic shrugged. "So, you copied Tails' dimensional transporter. Good for you." he said, unimpressed. Eggman let out an annoyed growl. "No, it's not a copy! For one, mine uses superior power circuitry, and can find any dimension I want, unlike Tails' whose portal only linked to Nega's dimension!" he snapped. "Blaze's dimension." Sonic corrected. "Who cares, it's a dead dimension!" the doctor snarled, the two archenemies now glaring at one another fiercely. Just then, a jingle played from the PA system, and the monitors started to display an alert. "Intrusion detected within city limits!" Eggman's pre-recorded voice announced, "Area guard robots, proceed to the indicated location and seize the intruders!" On the screen, Sonic and Eggman could see the intruders caught on camera. It was Amy, and she was being followed by Metal Sonic! "What? That's MY Metal Sonic! How'd he get here??" Eggman stammered. Sonic already started to speed off, leaving the doctor behind. "Hold on, Amy! I'm coming!" he shouted as Eggman watched him go. "Hmph... Run all you want. There's nowhere to escape to. In the meantime, I think I'd like a tour of my city while I look for wherever Firepaw landed..." he said to himself.

The doctor was fairly pleased with the sights of the futuristic city as he explored, but he had to put the tour on hold when he finally located Firepaw. The feline robot was hanging around the Robotnikland version of Casinopolis, which was certainly more brightly lit than its counterpart in their world. "Boss! I swear, I wasn't slacking off! Meowr!" Firepaw babbled. "You certainly won't. I've got one more thing I want you to pick up." Eggman grunted, rubbing his chin, "I've had time to think about it, and there's no time like the present. So, I'm sending you back to pick up my ultimate weapon!" he announced, pulling the lever to fire up his dimensional transporter again. Firepaw tilted his head. "Yeah, right. Which 'ultimate' weapon?" he questioned. Eggman growled softly. "The one that's actually perfect! Listen carefully, because you'll need these instructions to get back!" he began...


Meanwhile, Amy had her hammer clutched in her hands as Metal Sonic cornered her somewhere in the futuristic city. "I'm in no mood, Metal! I just saw my son go poof! You wanna know what that does to a mother?? DO YA!?" she shouted. The robot simply stared at her. "I only require you to lead me to my creator and Sonic... I have no other need of you... I have no need to harm you." he stated. Amy blinked, lowering her hammer. "Huh? ...This some kinda mind game?" she murmured. However, the sirens of several Cop Speeder robots suddenly caught their attention. These robots seemed to have more heavily armed vehicles than the ones from their world, and they started off firing shots at Metal Sonic, who leapt aside quickly. "Looks like we're on the same side for now!" Amy realized. "Yes...for now..." Metal murmured.

The Cop Speeders were fast, and there were quite a few of them, but Metal Sonic was easily faster. The robot leapt into action, evading their incoming lasers and then launching into homing attacks to take out the Kikis driving the vehicles! Amy dodged and parried some of those lasers with her Piko Piko Hammer, growling angrily at the robots and their annoyingly blaring sirens. "You...asked for it!!!" she yelled, leaping at the nearest speeder and smacking the driver out with her hammer! With the driver out of the way, she took control of the speeder and turned it in place, firing its lasers at other robots! "Don't mess with me!! I'm a mom on a mission!!" she cried. It seemed like they'd made short work of the robots, but a sudden laser blast took Amy off guard, knocking her speeder on a crash course with the wall! "Aaaahh!!" She hurriedly hopped out of the speeder before it crashed, while Metal Sonic looked in the direction the shot had come from. The speeders had gotten backup. A red robot and a black robot approached, "E-102" and "E-101" printed on their chassis. "...Gamma? Beta?" Metal said in confusion. They were and they weren't. These versions were quite a bit upgraded, more powerful than their counterparts had ever gotten back in Amy and Metal's own world. "Prepare to be exterminated..." Gamma stated. "...In the name of the Eggman Empire!" Beta added. Amy panted, a bit worn down, but fortunately she wouldn't be relying on Metal Sonic. "Hey, metalheads!!" The robots all glanced in the direction of the voice, to see Sonic standing with hands on his hips and a cocky smirk on his lips, "Were you all lookin' for me?"

Beta flew forth to meet Sonic, while Gamma put his focus on Amy and Metal Sonic. Amy looked at the warped version of her former friend a bit nervously. "You wouldn't by chance remember a time when we saved each other, would you?" she asked. The robot fired at her without speaking, forcing her to block quickly with her hammer! The blasts still knocked her back, however. "I...take that as a no..." she grunted. This was not the same Gamma...this was one that this world's Eggman had successfully built into a ruthless war machine! Metal Sonic fired a laser back at Gamma, catching the E-series robot's attention! "The doctor wastes his time on his pathetic E-series! I was always the perfect, ultimate robot!" he shouted. Gamma's red targeting sight aimed right at Metal Sonic. "Faulty data. It was not Metal Sonic who aided in the Eggman Empire's final conquest of Earth. You were a failed experiment." Gamma stated matter-of-factly. Then, once the targeting system was locked on, a hatch on Gamma's back opened, and multiple small missiles launched in pursuit of Metal Sonic! The robot sped to evade them, leading them on a chase around the area, but they had a powerful lock on him. "Hey! Call off the attack, Gamma! Listen to me! Y-you're not a bad robot! You don't have to do this!" Amy shouted. Gamma pointed his gun hand at her, a coldness in his digital eyes. "You...are correct. I am not required to..." he stated, making Amy sigh in brief relief, "...I have chosen to!" the robot added, starting to charge a laser blast! However, Metal Sonic suddenly landed in front of him! "You...are too slow!" he said, as the homing missiles suddenly struck Gamma in the back while trying to catch Metal Sonic, causing him to explode! Amy gasped, jarred by the event, but she had to accept it. This wasn't her former friend...and once again, Gamma was gone.

At the same time, Sonic was dashing around Beta, who was charging and firing a powerful laser at him again and again. Beta was essentially his Mark 2 design from Sonic's world, but with improved agility and speed. Still, Sonic was proving quite difficult to hit. "C'mon, you're supposed to be some ultimate Eggman's epic guard! This all ya got?" Sonic taunted. Beta had nothing to say to him. This robot had always been more silent and calculating than Gamma. It sped down into Sonic's path, swatting at him with its powerful arms before launching missiles of its own to rain down on the hedgehog's general area! Sonic leapt back to his feet after being knocked back, and swiftly leapt between the falling missiles, avoiding their explosions as best he could! Meanwhile, Beta was taking extra time to charge his laser. With Sonic distracted, the robot charged a massive amount of energy, and fired in Sonic's direction, resulting in a tremendous blast! "Target eliminated..." Beta determined. However, seemingly from nowhere, Sonic appeared behind Beta! He had moved so fast as to fool the robot's scanners! "I've got a message for Eggman! You'll never catch me in ANY dimension!! Hyaaaaaa!!" Sonic curled into a ball and struck Beta with immense force, causing the robot to spark a little. He then ran a distance ahead, circled back, and did a spin dash right into Beta as the robot struggled to charge another shot! Beta exploded on impact, and Gamma had exploded by now as well! Sonic emerged from the smoke of the exploding robot, and found himself face to face with Metal Sonic, while Amy nervously watched them from the sidelines. Metal Sonic pointed a clawed finger at Sonic, and the hedgehog nodded. "Yeah, that was a decent warm-up, huh? Guess it's main event time!" he smirked.


Eggman had arrived in the control center of the city. Being an Eggman himself, it wasn't hard to get in. He was eager to meet the architect of this glorious technological wonderland. But as he stepped in, he sneezed, noting an odd amount of dust built up. "Cleaner-bot must be in the shop..." he murmured, stepping slowly to the lit up control panel where a figure was slumped over in the seat. "Hello, Emperor! I'd like to introduce myself, but I imagine I need no introduction!" Eggman said cheerily. There was no response. He growled softly, never pleased to be ignored, and grabbed the seat, giving it a spin. "You will acknowledge me!! ...GAAAH!!" the doctor shrieked to find a dusty, rotting, mustached corpse. Mostly a skeleton, in fact. This emperor, the version of himself who had won completely and decisively, was dead. Long dead, by the look of it. "How? How did this happen?" Eggman stammered, holding his head as he leaned against a nearby console, letting all this sink in. "He defeated his Sonic. Conquered this city, then the world. Everything became robots. No one to oppose him... Except the robots. Is that what happened? Did they malfunction? Or...or did he go mad for some reason? Did he bring about his own end?" Eggman wanted to understand, but he wasn't exactly equipped to run an autopsy... Nor mentally equipped to perform one on himself. He heard his own pre-recorded voice from the computer at that point. "Intruder detected!" it said. Eggman sighed. "Put it onscreen..." he ordered. He looked at the screen and started to smile to himself. "Ah, Firepaw, excellent timing. I needed something to take my mind off this... And destroying Sonic once and for all is just the thing! I'll show you, old skeleton! I'll conquer this universe, and in the end, my reign will outlast yours by...generations!!" he shouted, storming out of the control room and leaving the corpse alone in the dark, lit only by the glow of self-sufficient computers...

To be continued...