Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 19 - Egg Sphinx
Stage 10 - Death Chamber

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 falling free in the wind, in the wind.
Free to be me in the wind, in the wind.
What would it take for you to make,
A simple speed transition?
Into the known, from the unknown.
I feel this wild temptation." - Free, Sonic Free Riders


Previously on GeneX…
Silver, Blaze and Marine tracked Eggman Nega to Eggman's old pyramid base, and teaming up with Metal Sonic to fight the invading Lost Ones, they ventured into the Death Chamber.
After fighting a tough battle against Loscream, Blaze's group was able to recover one of the Sol Emeralds that the Lost Ones had stolen. Metal Sonic set out to find his creator, leaving the trio to explore the Death Chamber alone.
Now, our tale continues...


As Silver, Blaze and Marine continued deeper into the Death Chamber, it started to get oddly chilly. They began to find sections of the pyramid's interior had been frozen over somehow. "Looks like the air conditioner's on the fritz..." Silver remarked. Marine jumped excitedly. "Lookit that! Looks like the floor's all slippery! I gotta try this out..." she babbled, dashing off towards the ice before Blaze could say anything. "Mari-and there she goes. Every time I think she grows a bit, she regresses into this childish carelessness..." the cat sighed. Silver shrugged. "Maybe because she is a child...? Wait, how old is she?" he questioned, rubbing his chin uncertainly. They heard Marine shout and giggle as her feet slid on the ice. "Oi! Blaze! C'mere, cobber! You gotta give this a go!" the raccoon shouted playfully. Blaze rubbed her head in annoyance. "If robots come after us, we'd be at a disadvantage! I need to melt all this ice!" she insisted, stomping over in Marine's direction, "So, get off it! I don't want to burn you!" she said sternly. Marine glanced at her seriously. "Look 'ere, Blaze. I know it's dark and dire. Don't forget I saw our world get gobbled by monsters. But if ya don't let yerself have fun now an' then, yer face'll get stuck all frowny like that." she said. Blaze folded her arms. "I'm serious here, Marine." she said. Marine grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the ice. "I'm serious too, mate! C'mon, let's forget the doom and gloom for a bit!" she said, giggling as the pair of them went sliding away! Silver watched them with a soft smile. "Someone's gotta make sure we keep our humanity and not get consumed with revenge. Good work, Marine." he murmured. "Silver!! We finally found you!" a voice called. Looking around, Silver was surprised to see Fred the lion, accompanied by Adam the bat and Evelyn the fox.

Silver greeted them with concern. "Hey, uh... Is Gemini okay? You guys usually come with her..." he said. Evelyn shrugged. "Oh, Fred and Gem aren't much on speaking terms, you know. She didn't like the whole 'I was training you for Zodiac all along' thing he had going on." she recapped. Adam scratched his head. "I thought it was the lion thing? Gotta be honest, even I thought Fred was her father for a while..." he muttered. "You were the only one!" Eve retorted. While the pink fox and grey bat started bickering like an old married couple, Fred grabbed Silver's hand and pointed his wand at his palm. "I need to cast a protective spell on you. I should catch up with Gemini and do this, too. The danger to the timeline increases exponentially by the hour... I can at least keep you anchored in this timeline with this spell... Chronokazam!" Silver yelped as a burning brand emitted from the wand, etching an hourglass symbol into his palm briefly before fading. "Did it have to hurt?? And will that really do any good if..." he asked, his voice trailing off. Adam finished his thought. "If your grandpa dies in the past? You're a goner." he said. "Hopefully YOUR grandpa is tougher than you!" Evelyn snorted at the bat. Fred nodded. "Err, yes. To put it simply. Time is a bit more complicated than that...especially for us. The spell will slow down the process of your erasure from the timeline, though. It may give you time to do something heroic if you feel yourself fading. We've all been treated with this spell now." he explained. Silver rubbed his hand. "Well, thanks... I think. Too bad you don't know how Gemini's doing. We've lost contact with the other teams..." he explained. Fred, Adam and Eve exchanged worried glances. "We'll get moving. She may need our aid. Good luck, Silver! Galaporta!" Fred said, warping his friends away with him. Silver turned to see a path burned in the ice. "...At least I can find Blaze." he muttered.


Blaze and Marine had found Whisk the divine getting hassled by some Kiki monkey robots. They were leaping and grabbing onto the statues, torches, and whatever was in the room to give them enough range to toss their bombs at the winged feline. She wasn't in a position to warp away, either, because she had dropped her wand and was scrambling to get it back. Naturally, Blaze leapt into action to help, acrobatically leaping at the Kikis and giving them fiery kicks to break them apart and free animals that had been trapped inside for who knows how long! Marine raced to catch the animals as they dropped, but most of them turned out to be birds and started flapping their wings before falling far. "Crikey, that creepy mustache guy just turns everything into robots..." she babbled, "Oi! Wings! What're you doin' having a walkabout in this place, anyway?" she asked Whisk as Blaze was finishing up with the robots. "Hold on!" Whisk whimpered, racing for her wand, "Gotta pick this up before the magic, and my memories, go poof." she said, sighing with relief as she recovered her wand, "...Well, actually, my wings are technically the source of my magic and memories, but I can't focus it so well without my wand." Blaze looked around, and the area seemed safe. "Marine does raise a good question. This is a pretty random place to find someone like you." she said. Whisk chuckled softly. "Oh, you don't know me very well, I'm always turning up in random places! However..." she said, pulling a ProwerPhone from her pocket, "I'm actually here 'cuz of this thing. It's a bit of a story..." she began. Blaze fidgeted impatiently as Whisk started to tell her story. Did they really have time for a flashback?


Little did Lucky know back in Troblusk City, that Whisk was very close by. She had been looking for him just as intently as he'd been looking for her, but she had the advantage of magic to lead her to him. That magic led her to the city as it had been overrun by Lost Ones, the Clock Tower transformed into a slimy HQ for them. Despite the danger, she flew from rooftop to rooftop, keeping up her search, and soon spotted him talking to Rainbow down below. "Thank goodness, you're alright... Wait, there's two of him!" she babbled, noticing Lucky Junior there. She was about to fly down and join them, when a pair of lights flashed next to her, and her future daughters Pepper and Minnie appeared! "Yaah!! Eeep, so that's what it's like for people when I just pop out of nowhere!" Whisk babbled, looking at her visitors curiously. "You're...divines! What in the...?" she stammered. Pepper took her hand, looking at her anxiously. "This might be hard for you to believe, but..." Minnie interrupted in a much louder, more upbeat tone, "You're out mom! Teehee!" The news was certainly surprising. Whisk shook her head and squinted at them. Their fur might have been drastically different colors...but she could see a certain resemblance. "Ohmigosh…" Whisk gasped softly, glancing back down in Lucky's direction with a blush. Pepper loudly cleared her throat to get Whisk's attention back. "Very delicate there, Minnie. Oh, uh, I'm Pepper... Ugh, no time! We want you to come with us on a little mission we're doing!" she said hastily. "Toootally not that we just wanna keep you outta danger or anything, def need your help." Minnie nodded. Whisk smiled at her kids. "Well, of course I'll help... What do you need?" she asked. Pepper and Minnie glanced at one another, and Pepper held up their ProwerPhone...


Whisk showed Blaze the ProwerPhone as she finished telling her story. "I don't really know what all this is about, but we were tracking something with this thingy when robots made us scatter. I got separated from them and somehow ended up being the one holding the tracker. So, I'm trying to find what they were looking for even though I don't know how this thing works... But I figure it's better than waiting for them to find me. No sense trying to look for a couple of teleporters anyway." she shrugged. While she was wrapping up her explanation, Silver caught up to the group. "Hey... What's she doing here?" he asked. Marine looked at Whisk blankly before looking back at Silver. "Eh, she's just lost." she said to sum it up. "Hey...Silver? Long time no...see?" Whisk stammered as though unsure she actually remembered him or not. "Um... Yeah. Sorry I've been so slow, Blaze. I was kinda held up." Silver explained. Marine smirked at him. "He was havin' too much fun playin' on the slippery floor! Haha!" she teased. Whisk's feathers ruffled at the mention of the slippery floor. "Ahh... You came from the frozen area, didn't you? Yeaaah, one of the robots that was chasing us kinda did all that. He caught me by surprise, almost iced over my wings..." she murmured. Silver rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmm... I think I might have come across an ice robot before..." he muttered. Whisk chuckled softly. "Actually, I might have run into him before, too. Eggman's been recycling a lot." she said. Blaze tapped her foot, getting a bit impatient with all this. "Well, you can come with us, I guess. We'll probably have to deal with this robot anyway, so we might as well work together." she sighed. Marine shook hands with Whisk and giggled. "Welcome to the crew, cobber!"

And so, the four of them resumed exploring the partially frozen Death Chamber. Some of the ice was melting off without Blaze's intervention, as fiery Gohla robots floated around with fireballs surrounding them. "Aww, don't melt it! It's fun to slide around!" Marine shouted, shaking her fist at one of the Gohlas. The robot glared at her, made a buzzing noise, and suddenly a squad of Egg Pawns came running in from the side rooms, carrying Egyptian-looking staffs and with headgear reminiscent of King Tut. Whisk looked around at them and raised an eyebrow. "Why does Eggman like to dress up his robots?" she asked. "Why does Eggman anything..." Silver sighed. Blaze charged right in, jumping right into the fire of the Gohla first and easily taking it out, freeing a trapped skunk that scampered away hastily. Watching Blaze run into the fray, Marine got a bit excited. "Yeah, let's RUMBLE!! Avast ye!!" she shouted, going into a slide over the ice in front of her and heading straight for an Egg Pawn! The tip of the Egg Pawn's staff started to crackle, and Silver realized it was a taser. "Marine!! Watch it!!" he shouted, jumping and sliding onto the ice to chase her! His hands glowed, and he used his powers to shove the pawn aside as Marine slid by the spot where it stood! "I did it! Didja see?! That was ripper!!" Marine shouted, thinking she'd knocked the pawn over. Silver groaned softly. "Sure, Marine...sure..." he grumbled. While he babysat Marine, Whisk whipped out her wand and zapped any Egg Pawn that approached her with fiery magic, while Blaze took advantage of her fireproof nature to eliminate the Gohlas and save all the...skunks. "Ugh... Can we move on? It smells in here..." Blaze groaned once they were finished. "At least they're cute..." Marine said, holding her nose as she watched the skunks frolic.

They eventually came to a large chamber where a deactivated Egg Golem was slumped over in the center, a platform ringed around it. Eggman Nega's Egg Mobile floated above the Egg Golem. "Well, that thing's a piece of junk... Ah, hello there, Blaze! Silver! Still struggling to avenge the fallen? Their troubles are over. Better to focus on the goals ahead... the new worlds out there to conquer!" the doctor said to them. Whisk's eyes darted back and forth. "Worlds? What worlds! There's no worlds! I-it's a myth, we're all alone in the multiverse, hahahaha!" she babbled nervously. "Where do ya think we came from, mate?" Marine murmured. "So much for 'order...'" Whisk sighed. An ice blast whizzed past her suddenly, catching the group's attention! Freeze emerged from behind the Egg Golem! "There you are, intruder... And your friends. Old faces and new, it matters not. I will keep you all on ice for my master..." the Gizoid said, his hands steaming cold. Blaze scoffed. "Fire will beat ice every time. I hope that's not all you have up your sleeve, Eggman Nega!" she said mockingly. Nega stroked his moustache and grinned at her. "Well, it was a bit short notice, and I had to work with some of my ancestor's unfinished projects, but I have something... Apparently this world's Eggman once tried combining his machines with Gizoid technology...and there was some odd plot with the Master Emerald involved based on his notes, but that's unimportant! I have perfected his tech using this Gizoid he created!" Nega announced, snapping his fingers. As he did, a new robot dropped down from the ceiling on top of the Egg Golem, pounding it deeper into the sand! It was a feline-looking robot, and Nega slotted his Egg Mobile into its back! Then, its Egyptian-looking eyes glowed, and Freeze was drawn toward the robot, fusing into its forehead until only a vague semblance of his face could be seen, like a crown! Icy wings burst from the back of the robot, and Nega cackled. "Say hello to my Egg Sphinx! Now we'll see who the top cat really is, Blaze!!" Nega sneered.

Blaze jumped after the Egg Sphinx, but landed on the broken Egg Golem instead as the robot flew above the ringed platform on icy wings! Freeze's eyes glowed on the machine's forehead. "My power is unmatchable now! Your icy tomb awaits!" he declared, giving his power to the Sphinx to enable it to blow a chilling wind so strong that it iced over the ringed platform! Silver, Marine and Whisk found their feet frozen to the spot! "Aah!! Strewth!! I'm s-stuck!! This isn't fun anymore!" Marine shouted. Blaze growled, creating fireballs in her hands. "Just try to do that to me! I dare you!" she challenged. Eggman Nega snickered softly. "How about this, then?!" As the Sphinx flapped its icy wings, its pointed icicle "feathers" flew at Blaze like dozens of tiny daggers, aiming to cut her up! She leapt off the Golem and landed on the ring platform, running along the ice and tossing fireballs at the icicles to minimize the chance of getting stabbed! Meanwhile, Whisk had warped herself free of the ice, and was carefully using fire magic to try and melt through the ice holding Silver and Marine. "Hurry up! Blaze needs help!" Silver shouted. "Why don't ya just poof us on out like yerself?" Marine asked. "Well, we gotta get rid of this ice anyway!!" Whisk shouted, clearly a bit stressed out. Silver was stressed as well, watching Blaze struggling to protect herself while leading the Sphinx away from them. "Well, I'm not waiting here!" he growled, his hands glowing and the ice cracking under him! With a crash of the ice, Silver flew into the air, chasing the Egg Sphinx! Nega saw him coming and turned, sending the icicles in his direction, but Silver started catching them with his powers! Blaze took advantage of the distraction to leap up and give a fiery kick to one of those wings, causing the Sphinx to fall onto the platform! Freeze growled angrily, and a sweeping ice beam was shot from the Sphinx's mouth, trying to hit both Silver and Blaze! The hedgehog connected the collected icicles into a shield, blocking the beam while Blaze ran for cover as it turned in her direction!

It seemed Blaze was cornered, but Nega couldn't watch both of them at once. Silver floated over to Blaze, bringing his ice shield along and blocking the ice beam! "Eggman Nega… You can't understand how we feel, why we fight...!" Silver shouted, pushing back against the laser with the shield, "Because you don't have friends to fight for!" The shield suddenly covered the Sphinx's face, and Blaze had her opening to attack! "Give me back...the Sol Emeralds!!" she cried, hitting the Egg Mobile hard as she leapt at the Sphinx, knocking it off the robot! The Spinx itself then exploded, Freeze falling to the ground while Whisk stood across from him, pointing a smoking wand his way. "Ooops, I missed a piece of the robot..." she smirked. A frosty while Sol Emerald sparkled in the rubble of the Sphinx, and Blaze quickly grabbed it up while Nega started to fly off and Freeze hopped off the ring platform, the villains escaping. "I'll get those Sol Emeralds back, Blaze! Just wait!" Nega called back as he vanished into the shadows. Marine wiped her brow, walking over to the others now that the danger was behind them. "Aw, sorry I was stuck! I coulda given 'ol Nega a right thumping!" she said, playfully punching the air a bit. The ProwerPhone in Whisk's possession was beeping quite a bit, and a brief examination led them to realize it was detecting the Sol Emerald. "Well...that's interesting." Whisk murmured. "Hey! Mom!!" Whisk turned to the sound of Minnie's voice, and saw her and Pepper flying towards them. "Hey! I found what we were tracking!" Whisk cheered, pointing at the emerald in Blaze's hand. "Wait, you can't have this!" Blaze stammered. As Whisk's kids landed, Pepper took the ProwerPhone and frowned as she looked at the emerald. "No... That's not it. It must've thrown off our tracker." she sighed, making Blaze sigh in relief, too. "Well, good luck to you... We have to keep chasing Nega. He's still got one more Sol Emerald." Blaze pointed out. Marine sighed. "Crikey, I'm tired 'o him..." Silver was more optimistic, though. "Well, we've got 5 emeralds. Come on, girls! We're almost there!" he smiled. This would be where they'd part ways with Whisk and her daughters. They hoped that it wouldn't be the last time they'd meet...


Far from the desert, there was Shadow. He was attempting to make contact with the others via comms, but they did know full well that they might go out of range. Despite that, his group had a feeling of dread, especially Carrie. "I don't know what it is... I feel like...it may have been a mistake to leave the others." she murmured. Kosmo looked at her with uncertainty. "I mean, they've got people who've kicked my butt before. I think they're good." he said in an unconvincing manner. Shadow took the comms device out of his ear. "The fact is, we can't know..." he murmured, "But, Mephiles brought Lost Ones to mess with us. Our mission may be too important to go back if it's important enough to mess with." he stated. Carrie had a serious expression as she thought this over. "I'll go back, you go on." she said. Kosmo looked worried. "By yourself? What if you're right and it turns out dangerous back there?" he asked. Shadow hid a light smile. It was nice to see Kosmo showing genuine concern for someone. He'd come such a long way from when they met. Carrie shrugged at his concerns, though, and turned herself invisible. "Let them try to catch me. Not only can they not see me, I have psychokinesis. Honestly, I'm more worried about you!" she said, surprising Kosmo with an invisible hug before turning visible again, her pink eyes looking into his glowing yellow eyes lovingly. Shadow cleared his throat. "One way or another, let's get moving. The Gaia Remnants are close. I'm not going back." he said seriously, turning to go. Kosmo's entire body turned pink as though blushing, and he hugged Carrie back. "Be safe... Evil me is out there..." he whispered. "You be safe... See me later!" Carrie winked, vanishing before his eyes, her footsteps soon leading away. Kosmo turned to follow Shadow, and they could see it in the distance. A building-shaped hole where a Gaia Temple once stood. They were nearly to the Gaia Remnants...

To be continued...