Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 24 - Chasing the Eggman
Stage 13 - Eggtopia

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 am the enemy, I will succeed.
My mission, yeah, I must complete.
My name is Eggman, don't forget my name!
If you ask me again, I'll tell you the same." - e.g.g.m.a.n. - Sonic Adventure 2


Previously on GeneX…
The attack on the Troblusk City clock tower may have succeeded in terms of rescuing Skye, but in the destruction of the tower, Razor the Porcupine was mortally wounded, and died from his wounds surrounded by friends.
Blaze and Silver managed to reclaim two more of the Sol Emeralds, but Eggman Nega got away from them. They continue to chase him.
Tails and Copter fought valiantly to help the city's survivors escape via the subway, but when Ophiuchus trapped the train, Gemini was forced to give herself up so that the others could get out alive.
When Guard the gargoyle was freed from Gunner's control, the old man escaped with Dr. Nammad and Spy by stealing Mia's taxi cab. Where have they gotten to since then?
Now, our tale continues...


In the desert, the top of Eggman's pyramid base opened up, creating an exit for a ship to take off! The rising ship looked much like any other battleship Eggman might build...but Eggman wasn't controlling it. Snickering and rubbing his hands in glee, Eggman Nega sat in the driver's seat. "So easy! He might as well have gift-wrapped this vehicle for me! Now, where to? Hmmm..." While the doctor considered this, the monitor flickered and showed intruders on the ship. "Oh, of course. Suppose I'll have to deal with the stowaways before anything..." Nega sneered.

An alarm also alerted current day Dr. Eggman while he was sitting deep in thought within his old Troblusk City base. "Whaaat?!" he yelled, spinning in his chair to a screen in order to figure out what the commotion was. "Is the lasagna ready??" Cubot asked, perking up excitedly. Orbot sighed and shook his head. "Between you and Alpha, the boss will just have to start giving us mouths..." he grumbled. "I don't have a mouth!? BUT I MUST SCREAM!!" Cubot screamed. "Quiet, you dolts! I just found out one of my battleships was hijacked!" Eggman snarled, slamming his fist next to his keyboard in aggravation, "As if today hadn't brought enough trouble! Who would dare to steal a ship from me!? Is it Gunner? Ooooh, it's Gunner, I wager! Well, I'm about ready to feed him to a Lost One!" the doctor shouted, standing up and kicking over his chair, which fell right into a panicked Orbot! "So...no lasagna?" Cubot whimpered. Eggman grit his teeth. "Get us ready to launch! It's time for these fools to witness the true brilliance of Eggman's Eggtopia!!" the mad doctor proclaimed!


SPOT's comms were down, but Sonic was able to make contact with Tails by borrowing his son's ProwerPhone. Tails explained his situation using a phone from one of the kids on his end. It was certainly troubling to hear that Gemini was captured. "Guess we'll add that to the list of things to fix..." Sonic sighed, "Or to get payback for... 'Cuz I got one thing on my end that can't be fixed." he reported. Tails frowned. "What is it, Sonic? It's not like you to sound upset like this..." he murmured. Punchy grabbed the phone from Sonic. "Tails, Copter still there? I gotta tell him... Razor's dead." Copter's face popped onscreen next to Tails. "Real delicate way to break that, Punchy!" he snapped. Rainbow squeezed in front of the ProwerPhone next, squishing Tails between her and Copter. "Officer DIED!? Oh, god, One!" she cried, tearing up. "Hey! What the heck are you doing there, Rainbow!?" Punchy stammered. "Yes, tell us!" added Illusi, glaring at her. Sonic backed up from the phone and sighed, letting them take over the conversation. Juice and Skye walked up to him, looks of guilt on their faces. "It's our fault... He died because we came back in time..." Skye murmured. Sonic patted Tails' son's head. "Make sure you stay alive...for Razor's sake." he told him, "Don't let him die in vain." The kids looked at Sonic and nodded. There wouldn't be time for further catching up, though. The ground began to shake, startling everyone! Amy threw her arms around Sonic in her panic! "What's happeniiiing?!" she cried. The ocean along the southern edge of Troblusk City started to churn, and something huge began to rise out of it! Sonic struggled out of Amy's grip and started to run in that direction. "Eggman!! It's Eggman!!" he cried. Juice and Amy started after him while Punchy lowered the ProwerPhone to look up. "SONIC!! Don't go after him alone!! ...We'll call ya back!" he said, hanging up. Rising from the water was a flying fortress with neon signs on the side. Neon signs reading "Eggtopia!"

Juice took back the ProwerPhone and started fiddling with it. "What are you doing?" Amy asked, watching him. "Dad shouldn't go in there alone. But we'll never catch him. We need help..." he explained. Amy startled Juice by suddenly hugging him. "I still can't believe I'm a mommy and my son is so cute!!" she squealed joyfully. In the meantime, Punchy had started to wander off, so Heather followed after him. "Where to?" she asked. "Rainbow's in the subway! Actually, so is Guard. Come on, we've almost caught them!" Punchy told her. "You think they'll still be there? Aren't they evacuating?" Heather asked. "Worth looking..." Punchy shrugged, "Besides, Sonic obviously doesn't want our help..." The phoenix nodded, and both of them headed off on their own. Skye was busy watching the battleship rising out of the sea, in the meantime. "It's biiig... It's rising just slow enough that I think Sonic's gonna make it on... Hey, is that a flying taxi?!" he stammered, pointing in the sky. Bill and Bob popped out of the nearby tavern with two pairs of binoculars. "Flyin' taxi?! Dat's gotta be Mia!" Bill exclaimed. "Boy, I'm sure glad she's okay..." Bob added. As they peered at the flying cab with their binoculars, however, their hearts sank. "You tell 'em, Bob. I'm sick of givin' bad news..." Bill grunted. "What bad news? Is my Sonic in trouble!?" Amy shouted. Bob handed her the binoculars so she could look herself. "Oh, there's Sonic! He's jumping onto the ship! Way to go!" she cheered. "Look at the flyin' cab..." Bill grunted. Amy looked around for it, and soon found the cab trying to land on the Eggtopia battleship. Amy let out a panicked yelp. "It's Gunner! What's Gunner doing there?! Sonic, watch out!!" she cried. Juice gulped. "Come on, pick up... Pick up!!" he whined.

The Eggtopia battleship started to rise faster once Sonic was aboard, and soon they were soaring through the clouds above Troblusk City while Sonic walked along the top deck looking for a way inside. "I'm gettin' some Egg Carrier vibes from this thing. But where exactly are we going? Guess it doesn't matter..." Sonic sighed. He could see a hatch leading inside the ship ahead, but before he could approach it, he felt rain drops on his head. "Again..." he murmured. The weather had sure been awful lately. Turning around, Sonic saw the Doomsayer standing behind him. "Fight on. It won't bring them back. The dead are dead." the hooded figure hissed. Sonic clenched his fists. "Take off that hood! Apocalos! Your mind games are gettin' old!" he shouted. The Doomsayer saw Sonic running in to attack him, and to the hedgehog's surprise, the Doomsayer easily sidestepped him! "He has discarded this mantle. I am the one true Doomsayer now." the hooded one whispered. Sonic turned towards him again. "Whatever! The dead may be gone, but I won't give up on my friends who are still here!" he shouted. The Doomsayer turned away from him. "You will... Once your soul has been broken by defeat upon defeat... The only remaining answer is...doom." he said, his raspy voice rising as he spoke. Sonic prepared to make another move on him, but the sound of Eggman's voice made him look around. "Attention passengers! This is a private cruise! If you don't have a ticket, you will be thrown overboard! Ho ho ho ho!!" The playful tone made it clear that Eggman knew he was there. When Sonic looked to the Doomsayer again, he was gone, and the rain was stopping. "What's with that guy?" he questioned before opening the hatch and dropping into Eggtopia.

The first thing Sonic noticed as he began to explore the ship's interior was that it looked pretty identical to the interior of the Eggtopia building in Troblusk City. Were the corridors underneath that building just this ship? It felt likely. The second thing Sonic noticed was that Eggman was using a lot of Lost One-fused robots now. Even the motobugs charging after him now had tendrils bursting out of their black spots, making them more dangerous to simply jump onto than before! So, Sonic was smashing them with a series of spin-dashes, charging through the halls like a pinball. That seemed like a sound strategy until his path was barred by a set of grabbers. "Don't you guys hang around chemical plants? Heh, well, what are you gonna do different? Drop down with slime webs?" Sonic chuckled. Nope, they dropped down partway with normal wires, and then their legs suddenly burst out of their sides, several nets of slime covering the path ahead of Sonic! "Ugh! Well, this is a sticky situation! But you didn't exactly catch me..." he smirked. A blue flame lit from the grabbers' mouths, and they started to spit that fire in Sonic's direction! "Ah! Now you're gettin' fired up! This could be a problem!" Sonic admitted, unsure if there was a safe way to remove this obstacle. To his surprise, a few laser blasts whizzed past him and blew apart the grabbers and the webs of slime! Sonic was further surprised when he turned to see Gunner standing there. "Go on, hedgehog. Clear the damn monsters from this ship! Go, before I change my mind!" the old man shouted. Sonic shrugged. "Try not to get munched by them, gramps!" he said before speeding ahead. Dr. Nammad scratched his head as he approached Gunner. "You could've finally, uh, killed him." he pointed out. Gunner scoffed. "Annoying as it is, he's worth more to me alive right now... I can't take over this ship without a little disruption!" he stated, starting forward. Spy followed along at the back of their group, grumbling. "Take over the ship, of course... Help me, Sonic..." he whimpered under his breath.

Sonic sped further into the ship, searching for Eggman, slowing down only to battle the possessed robots. Alone with his thoughts, the hedgehog felt a new anger towards the doctor. He'd been a villain before, but working with the Lost Ones, the creatures that will supposedly destroy the world, felt like crossing a line. As he blasted through another set of mutant Motobugs, Sonic leapt to his feet and shouted out. "Eggman! Where are you!?" The response from the PA was pretty quick. "Impatient today, even for you, Sonic! It isn't as though I've never knocked down a building before!" the doctor said, having a laugh at Sonic's angry tone. The blue one looked around for the source of his voice, and once he confirmed that Eggman wasn't there, he growled his response. "Because you sided with those creatures, Razor is dead! What's more, you pulled the trigger!" he snapped. Eggman sat back in his seat at the control room, watching Sonic from a monitor and shrugging. "Casualties have always been inevitable. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs... And I'm aiming to build an empire!" he said with a sneer. Sonic shook his fist up at the screen Eggman was watching. "I'm knockin' this eyesore out of the sky! Then we'll see how smug you are!" Rather than listen to Sonic anymore, Eggman switched off the sound, folding his hands on his round belly as he watched Sonic on the monitors. "Casualties are inevitable... Yes..." he murmured, frowning, "Break all the eggs in the world, and there'll be no more chickens. Are any amount of omelets worth that?" he asked himself. "I could sure go for an omelet!" Cubot chimed in. Orbot shrugged and sighed, while Eggman turned around in his seat. "The omelet is made of ectoplasmic slime." he grumbled. "Ahh... On second thought, I don't have a mouth!" Cubot babbled.

Sonic found his way to a corridor covered in strange panels. At the end of the corridor stood Firepaw, who was now free to roam reality thanks to a robotic body. "Meowr! Welcome back to Eggtopia, hedgehog! Let me make your visit a bit more nostalgic, hehe..." Before Sonic could approach Firepaw, the panels on the walls lit up, making him shield his eyes! When he looked again, the corridor was filled with odd blocks, pipes, and the turtle-esque "Egg Troops." It was a virtual projection of Super Eggman Land! Sonic remembered exploring this whimsical game, at the end battling Firepaw to free some trapped police, including... "You seriously wanna remind me of Razor right now? You really wanna tick me off!?" Sonic shouted, leaping over one of the strange pipes and bonking one of the Egg Troops on the head, forcing it into its shell! "This isn't a game!!" he shouted, kicking the shell and sending it bouncing into the other turtles! Firepaw lit his clawed fingers on fire and glared at him. "We're in agreement, then. Meowr!" He started to lob fireballs down the corridor towards Sonic, and the hedgehog jumped to evade them, accidentally whacking his head on a block! "Ooof!! What the heck is up with the floating blocks!?" he shouted. "Meowr! You get score points by hitting your head against them!" Firepaw chuckled. "Eggman's sadistic..." Sonic groaned, rubbing his head. As he took a step forward, the ground suddenly vanished from under him! "Oh, by the way, the illusion was hiding trap doors! Bye bye!!" Firepaw laughed as Sonic started to fall through the hole and out of the ship! His hands clawed at the walls, trying to avoid falling to his doom! "I...just...need traction!" he grunted. "Down here, dad!!" Looking out of the ship below, Sonic saw a plane heading towards him. The Hurricane! Juice was shakily standing on the wing, while a reddish female echidna, Lara, was piloting!

Lara sighed with relief when Sonic landed safely on the wing. "Glad we could help! Hey, you wouldn't happen to have seen my dad?" she asked. Sonic looked up at the hole he fell through. "Uhh... Not lately. Sorry to drop in so briefly, but I gotta finish things up there!" he said. Juice nodded. "We'll find a way to catch up with you!" he told his father. Sonic smirked. "That's my boy. Catch ya later!" Leaping off the Hurricane's wing, Sonic planted his feet on the walls of the trap door and ran his way back up, leaping out of the hole and launching a homing attack at the panels on the corridor walls, knocking out the projections! Firepaw looked back at him with a start. "Meowr!! You should be a floor pancake down there! Uh, I mean... Congrats on winning my game, meowr! B-BAS, tell him what he's won! ...Bye!" Turning, Firepaw retreated down the corridor in a burst of fiery turbo speed! Sonic tapped his foot. "Well, BAS?" he asked, not too concerned with catching the feline robot. The Base Announcement System replied crankily. "I don't have to play along with Firepaw's nonsense! I have my own nonsense! This is the song that ne-ver ends...!" Sonic shrugged and started following Firepaw as the annoying voice started singing. "Shouldn't have got him started..." he sighed. In a few short moments, Firepaw had led Sonic to a large hangar where an Egg Mobile was floating in the air. "Eggman! Decided to face me yourself!? Good, we can get the thrashing over with!" Sonic shouted, clenching his fists. The Egg Mobile turned, revealing Metal Eggman in the seat, and Sonic smacked his own forehead upon seeing him. The robotic doctor laughed at him. "Indeed, Sonic! Let's finish this rivalry between us once and for all! Prepare to be crushed by my latest masterwork! Err, just a moment!" he babbled, flying the Egg Mobile up above into the oddly dark ceiling for a moment. He crashed back down a moment later, his Egg Mobile inserted into the head of a giant praying mantis robot! "Face the Egg Slasher!" Metal Eggman sneered.

Sonic pointed and laughed at him. "Slash with what? That looks like a busted up old robot that you forgot to re-install the weapons onto!" he chuckled. He wasn't wrong; Tails had faced the Egg Slasher a long time ago, and this re-hash was oddly missing its scythe claws. Metal Eggman glanced down and tilted his head. "Hm? Ah, right. This is also a Lost One experiment!" he said, snickering as sickles of slime burst out of the stubby arms of the robot! These slime-based scythes were then hurled at Sonic like sharp boomerangs, forcing him to move quickly to evade them! "Gah! I'm havin' the worst kinda Metropolis flashbacks!" the hedgehog shouted, running around the robot and leaping into a homing attack, smacking the cockpit! As Sonic bounced back, Metal Eggman flew the Egg Slasher out of range and turned to face Sonic again. A new pair of sickles replaced the old ones. "Just try and get me up here! Firepaw! A little assistance!" he shouted as he wound up the sickles to toss them again! "Meowr! Let's add a little firepower!" the robo-cat shouted, hitting the scythes with blasts of flame as they soared towards Sonic! The flames turned blue as they covered the scythes, only making them less appealing to touch. Sonic leapt over the fire once, and dove under the next burning scythe, only to find two more already coming! He changed direction, speeding around the robot to make himself harder to hit! "Hold still! You're making me burn up my ship!" Metal Eggman shouted. Indeed, the fiery slime was making a mess with each miss, leaving less room to run. Sonic had to make a move fast. He quickly charged up a spin dash, zooming right into Firepaw and knocking him over! Now under the Egg Slasher, Sonic leapt behind it, smashing into its back like a wrecking ball! The jetpack that was carrying it exploded, and as Sonic landed on his feet nearby, the Egg Slasher collapsed in a heap! "Get up, you hunk of junk! You're a Lost One, you can't be destroyed!" Metal Eggman shouted. Sonic was surprised to hear a scream from the robotic doctor next, and turned to see the slime inside the machine going crazy, tearing it apart from the inside! "No! Bad creature! Stop!! Nooooo!!" A slimy tendril tore through the Egg Mobile, and with a fiery explosion, Metal Eggman's head plopped down at Firepaw's feet! "MEOWR!! The horror!! I want to go back in VR!!" the cat shouted, fleeing the scene in a panic!

The mass of slime seemed to be busy, like it was trying to eat Metal Eggman's broken remains. Sonic watched this with a bit of shock, unsure what to do about this creature. "Is it trying to eat Metal Eggman's...soul?" he questioned. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by an explosion, and Sonic stumbled a bit before looking around for the source of the blast. "What's goin' on now!?" he wondered.

Outside, the ship taken by Eggman Nega had been caught by Eggtopia. Rather than discuss the situation, Nega had decided to open fire on Eggtopia, and for some odd reason Eggtopia wasn't firing back. Juice and Lara looked on from the Hurricane with concern. "If that ship goes down, so does Sonic..." Lara said grimly. A shot did take attention away from Eggtopia; A shot fired from Shadow Arcangel! Bucky was looking at the situation from his control room, and came to a quick conclusion. "We have to prevent either ship from going down until we can establish who is friend or foe! Keep the aggressor's attention on us for now!" he ordered. "Thisss isss going to hold up the Losssst One cure, isssn't it?" Vortex mumbled.

Eggman himself couldn't figure out why Eggtopia's weapons weren't firing. He hadn't counted on Richard Gunner. The old man stood behind Dr. Nammad as the scientist used a computer terminal to hack the whole ship. "I should get, uh, hazard pay for all this..." Nammad grumbled. "Just get the job done! Quickly, before we're blown out of the sky!" Gunner shouted. Riley, "Spy," stood close by, looking rather anxious. "What's taking over Eggman's ship gonna do?" he questioned. Gunner glared at him. "Aside from taking revenge on my so-called 'friend' Ivo for aligning with those monster freaks? With his weapons, we'll save this world...save it from ALL the freaks that plague it! I'm here to save humanity, damn it!" he shouted. "...By killing all other sentient life..." Riley huffed. Gunner pointed his gun arm at his head. "If you make yourself a problem, you can be removed. Remember that!"

Sonic raced away from the Egg Slasher's remains. He had to figure out what was going on, and he had to make sure Juice and Lara weren't in danger from it. There was no time to waste!

To be continued...