Sonic GeneX Generations
Arc 1 - Classic Eras
Chapter 1 - Party Crasher
Stage - Green Hill, Marble - Sonic the Hedgehog

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

"Sonic, he can really move.
Sonic, he's got an attitude.
Sonic, he's the fastest thing alive!" - Opening Theme, Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM


A long time ago, Sonic was running through the familiar landscapes of Green Hill Zone. Robots he'd fought before had repopulated the normally peaceful locale, but he wasn't worried. As always, he'd managed to smash and spin dash his way through the danger, and now everything seemed to be more or less OK. As he ran along, he suddenly heard a loud noise. At first he shrugged it off, but an even louder roar got his attention! Looking up into the sky, Sonic saw a strange creature glaring at him...

Much time passed. A black and white furred fox with two tails was walking along a road leading into a quiet, outdoor park. He was joined by a small robotic puppy and a strange, blue haired man in an alligator costume. The fox was known as Copter, and his companions were SPOT and Gator, respectively. "I still can't believe Tails had his robot track me down to invite me to this party..." Copter grumbled, "Does he really think Sonic wants me there? Maybe to laugh at me for showing up..." Gator chuckled. "For showing up without a present you mean." Copter glanced at Gator, who didn't seem to have a present either. "Were you really invited, too?" he asked. Gator nodded. "Look, see? I got an invite and everything!" he said, showing Copter a piece of paper. "This is addressed to someone called 'Mighty.'" he pointed out. Gator nodded. "Yep, the mighty Gator!" he insisted. Copter rolled his eyes. Suddenly, SPOT started beeping loudly! The text on the robot's monitor eyes flashed urgently. "Incoming S.O.S!" it read. Copter heard a familiar voice coming from SPOT. The voice of his creator, Bucky the Rat! "Anyone who is listening! I haven't got much time! Something has come after my ship! Whatever it is, it's powerful, and it poses an immense threat! I recognize that sort of power... It's manipulating the fabric of ti-" Suddenly, the signal was lost. Copter and Gator exchanged worried looks. "Tails forgot to pay his phone bill..." Gator muttered. Copter shook his head. "No... But I think Bucky is gone. Great... Now what are we getting into..." he muttered, starting to get a bad feeling.

Elsewhere, a party was about to begin. Sonic's friends had been setting things up at a table next to a tree. They had a cake and some balloons, and the main food was, of course, Chili Dogs. Knuckles. Amy, Cream, Cheese, Rouge, Espio, Charmy, Vector, and even Blaze had made it to the party. Tails ran up to the group, panting excitedly. "He'll be here any second!" he gasped as Sonic came up behind him. "Hey guys, what's going on? You having a party or something?" the blue hedgehog asked. Everyone hurriedly took up their positions and yelled out "SURPRISE!!!" despite the fact that a couple of the invited guests still hadn't even arrived. Sonic smiled sheepishly. "Awww, you guys!" he said as the party officially kicked off. Amy immediately began smothering Sonic with affection, but he still managed to pay attention to Tails, who had organized the whole thing. "It's kinda impossible to surprise you." Tails admitted. "You totally got me this time! I had no idea!" Sonic tried to say as Amy squeezed him. "Yeah, right." Tails muttered, "Happy birthday, Sonic! I hope you like this!" he said as he handed Sonic a Chili Dog with a ribbon tied around it. Sonic smiled. "Like it? I love it!" he grinned as he took a bite. However, the party would not last much longer. A powerful force blew the food off the table, and the Chili Dog out of Sonic's hand! "Whoa!" As Sonic looked frantically for his missing dog, Tails saw something appearing nearby. "Sonic! What's that!?" he shouted. A giant, dark purple creature made of a strange energy emerged seemingly out of nowhere! "What's it doing!?" Tails wondered as the creature motioned with its arms. Giant portals opened up all around it, and started to pull in Sonic's friends! One by one, Sonic's friends were each sucked in to a different portal! "Hey! Not cool!" Sonic shouted, charging at the creature in an effort to save those of his friends who hadn't been sucked in yet. He jumped up and launched a homing attack, but the creature simply swatted him away, sending him tumbling to the ground! As the last of his friends were sucked in, and he started to lose consciousness, Sonic heard Tails calling out to him. "Help us, Sooooonic!" Just then, Copter, Gator and SPOT arrived on the scene. "Uhhhh.... I guess we missed the party." Copter muttered. The creature glared at them, and then opened a couple more portals, instantly catching Gator and SPOT in them! "Worst party eveeeeer!!!" Gator screamed. Copter immediately pulled out a remote and called his plane, the Hurricane, which he wasted no time hopping into. However, the creature merely repositioned the portal, and the power of its suction proved too great even for his plane! "Oh, shoot! C'mon, one of these levers must do something clever! Eggman built this thing, for crying out loud!" he growled, pulling a switch labeled "Emergency Shield." The plane suddenly began to transform into a sturdier shape, with a protective shielding covering the cockpit! However, it didn't help the plane escape, and Copter soon found himself pulled into the portal! With nothing left to stand in its way, the creature could now do as it pleased...


Copter awakened in the cockpit of his plane. It had protected him, but it had gotten plenty beaten up in the crash landing. It was situated in the middle of a land formation resembling a loop, and as he hopped out of the plane and looked around, Copter vaguely recognized the place he'd arrived at. "Huh? What? This is Green Hill Zone... How did I get flung all the way over here?" he muttered, glancing around. Odd totem poles, palm trees, checked green hills, large flowers, this was definitely Green Hill Zone. He groaned. "I've got a feeling it's going to be a long walk back to civilization. I better get going..." So he went on his way, and the first thing he noticed was that he was not alone. Robots were patrolling the area, but something seemed off about them. "Eggman's robots? They seem kinda primitive for Eggman..." he muttered. There were lady bug styled Motobugs, which seemed to lack any combat skills, and bee styled Buzzbombers, a relatively simple robot. Copter thought to just ignore the robots, but his attention was drawn back to them as he heard them explode! A young blue hedgehog was taking them out! "Oh, Sonic's alive after all. Well, maybe he can tell me what's going on." he muttered, rushing over to him. "Hey! Sonic! What was that all that about!?" he grumbled. The young hedgehog looked at him with a puzzled expression, without saying a word. "Err... You know, the giant monster? Say, did it do something to you? You seem kinda different." Copter said. Sonic looked even more confused, and a little impatient, looking at his wrist as if to check a watch. Copter growled at him. "Wise guy! Give me the silent treatment will you! You annoying little shorty!" he attempted to strike him with a tail whip in his frustration, but Sonic zipped out of the way and ended up behind him. He then stuck out his tongue at Copter and took off at high speed, leaving him behind! "You're getting FAT, too!! You gotta lay off the Chili dogs!" Copter shouted. More frustrated than ever, he decided to go looking for more of those primitive robots. "I'm gonna tear some tin cans apart!!" he growled.

It was a simple matter to destroy most of the robots that crossed his path. A swift kick to the head would take out a Motobug or a Buzzbomber. As Copter reached one of the log bridges of Green Hill Zone, though, he found something a bit more tricky for him. Fish robots called Choppers, leaping out of the water below. They weren't exactly accurate attackers, but Copter was finding it hard to hit them, too. During the distraction, a crustacean robot called Crabmeat snuck up on him and fired missiles! "Oh, boy..." Copter hurriedly flew out of the way, only to get slapped in the face by a Chopper's tail! Before it could get away, he grabbed it and swung it around before tossing it at Crabmeat, destroying both robots! Copter landed on the bridge and sighed. "I'll just ignore the other fish, then... It's not like there's people trapped in these robots." he muttered. A bit more wandering, and he made his way out of Green Hill Zone. He made a brief trek through a strange white space, and came upon another area. There were old marble buildings around, and bubbling lakes of lava could be found here and there. "I don't know what's more unpleasant, that white nothingness, or this." he muttered. As he stepped closer to a lava pool and saw a couple fireballs jump out suddenly, he jumped back. "This, definitely this. Goodbye." As he was turning to leave, however, he saw a hooded figure standing by one of the buildings. "Welcome to the Marble Zone." the hooded figure whispered. Copter faced him and sighed. "OK, let's hear it. I suppose you have a message for me?" The hooded figure turned and took off into the Marble Zone, forcing Copter to give chase! "Sure! Make it complicated! I hope your cloak catches fire!" he shouted. Looking ahead, Copter could already see more Buzzbombers in the zone. "You better have some answers for me! I'm not going through this for nothing!" he yelled. Suddenly, the hooded figure smashed some stone blocks beneath him and dropped underground! Copter glanced down into the dark dungeons below. "You've got to be kidding me..." he groaned, hopping in just as the Buzzbombers started shooting at his location.


Sonic had also found his way out of Green Hill Zone, and arrived at the white space it now seemed to be contained in. As he looked around, he was surprised to find what appeared to be a white statue of himself! He ran over to check it out. It was taller, older looking, and appeared knocked out. To Sonic, it didn't really seem much like a statue. He shook it, as if attempting to wake it up, and suddenly, a light flashed from it! Startled, Sonic dashed back toward Green Hill Zone, hiding behind a corner. In a moment, the "statue" had gained color. In fact, it was an older Sonic! The elder Sonic slowly regained consciousness and rose to his feet, looking around. "Where am I?" he muttered. He saw Green Hill Zone ahead of him, and not much else around him. With nothing better to do, Sonic headed into the familiar zone, hoping to find some clues about what had happened there. The younger Sonic jumped out from behind the corner and watched his older self go in. He scratched his head curiously. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this. He decided to head back into Green Hill Zone. He would observe this look alike for a bit, and see where it leads him.


Copter continued the chase through the dungeons of the Marble Zone, dodging spike traps and Bat Brain robots as he ran. The hooded figure seemed able to time the traps perfectly, slipping through giant moving tubes before they could crush him and barely missing the spike traps that would rise and fall from the ceiling. Copter was barely able to keep up, but soon managed to corner the mystery person at a room filled with lava. Or so he thought. The hooded figure jumped on a stone block and began to surf on it across the lava! There was a second block there, but Copter initially shook his head. "What am I, suicidal?" he grumbled. Suddenly, a swarm of Bat Brains dropped from the ceiling, forcing him to jump on to the block! It worked for a bit, but soon the block stopped moving! "Oh, brilliant..." he grumbled. It was a long way to the other side, but somehow the hooded figure made it. Copter looked up. There was a hole in the roof, but it was a long way up. "I just can't win, can I?" he muttered. Suddenly, he heard a sound. The lava was bubbling below him. "That can't be good..." he whimpered. In a moment, a column of lava shot up beneath him, carrying the block he was standing on up and shooting it through the hole! Copter jumped off and found himself in another dark room, far away from the hooded figure. "Great! Fine! I'm getting out of this dump before I get barbequed!" he growled. Looking around, he found himself in a long, narrow hallway filled with segmented, spiked robots called Caterkillers. "...Or skewered..." he groaned. The spikes made Caterkiller dangerous everywhere except for its head, so Copter had to move cautiously. "I guess sometimes simpler is better..." he mumbled, noting how much easier it would be to get through this hall if it were filled with Egg Pawns. Luckily, the Caterkillers moved slowly, so Copter crept carefully around them and smacked their heads with his tails. This worked on the first couple, but they quickly got mad. "What are you gonna do about it, huh, slowpokes?" he teased. Suddenly, they self-destructed, sending their spiked segments bouncing all over the place! Copter slipped his goggles over his eyes and gulped. "This is gonna hurt..."

Copter had a few cuts and bruises, and some singed fur, but he eventually managed to get out of the dungeons. Upon reaching the surface, he found an eyesore waiting for him. A sign was posted with the face of a man who greatly resembled Dr. Eggman, only looking a bit younger, and dressed differently. "You made it." came a voice from behind the sign. The hooded figure emerged. Copter raised his fists angrily, but lowered them when the figure removed his hood. The mystery person shared his face! "D-dimentime??" Copter gasped, bewildered. It was true, though he looked younger than the last time Copter had seen his double from an alternate timeline. "Yes, It's me. Excuse me a moment..." Dimentime reached behind himself and untied his twin tails, allowing them to poke out through his cloak. He also produced his staff, though his younger form obviously didn't need it to walk. Copter looked confused. "But you disappeared. I thought you were... Gone." he said. Dimentime chuckled. "Time travel. I came from the past. Well, I take it my ultimate mission ends up accomplished. Don't bore me with the details, it wouldn't be appropriate, plus we may not have time. Over here. This is what I wanted you to see." he said, motioning to the sign. Copter nodded. "I see it. Looks kinda like Eggman." he said. Dimentime frowned. "He's sending robots into each of the areas that have been pulled into this white world, and claiming those areas as his own, judging by this sign." he explained. Copter sighed. "And I suppose as long as he's in the way, it's gonna be harder to get at that monster that apparently trapped me here in the first place." he said. Dimentime nodded. "Don't worry. I'm going to help you." he told him. Copter raised an eyebrow. "If you were gonna help me, why lead me on a death chase?!" he growled. Dimentime shrugged. "Had to hurry. On that note, let's go. We're still in a bit of a rush." he said, rushing off. Copter followed him quickly. "Hey! Wait up! Where are we going now!?" he shouted.

A bit further ahead was the man from the sign, sitting in a vehicle resembling a primitive version of the Egg Mobile. In front of him was an early design of Metal Sonic, more closely resembling the younger Sonic Copter encountered at Green Hill Zone. "Well, I think I'm just about finished here. Go out and look for the Chaos Emeralds, Metal Sonic! We can't let those be used against us this time!" the round man said. Copter and Dimentime arrived before Metal Sonic could leave. "Hey, you! Egg...guy. Whoever you are!" Copter shouted, not entirely sure if this was Eggman or not. The Egg Mobile turned around, and the round, mustached man stood up in his seat and stared down at them. "What? Why aren't these two frozen!? Nobody should be running around except for maybe Sonic!" he growled. Dimentime scoffed. "Never you mind about that. Care to explain why YOU aren't frozen? Exactly what are you up to?" he asked. Copter glanced back and forth between them. "Frozen??" he wondered. The rotund man simply sat back down and chuckled. "You dare to question me? I am the great Dr. Robotnik! I am the world's most brilliant mind, and I will be its greatest ruler! And no one will get in my way!" he shouted. Copter snickered. "That's Eggman all right... Let's get him!" he said. Robotnik turned to Metal Sonic. "Get going! I can handle these fools by myself!" he commanded. Metal Sonic let out a robotic buzzing and took off, leaving the two Copters alone with Dr. Robotnik. "Now, I have ever so much to do, so I'll leave you kids with a warning. Don't follow me, or you'll regret it!" he said, turning his Egg Mobile and taking off through the Marble Zone! Copter and Dimentime exchanged annoyed glances. "Does it always gotta be chasing!?" Copter groaned. "Well, at least the robots are behind us..." Dimentime said as they both took off after Robotnik.

A small hatch opened underneath the Egg Mobile, and a nozzle appeared on the underside of the vehicle. "You asked for it! Let's see if you like your fur singed!" Robotnik began dropping fireballs from his Egg Mobile, which set fire to the grass below him, and the fires began to spread! Copter and Dimentime jumped over the flames, but Robotnik weaved his Egg Mobile left and right, dropping more fire in several places! With fewer places to land, the foxes took to the air, spinning their tails to fly! Robotnik looked back and saw them catching up in this manner. "What!? Grr... No matter..." He turned his Egg Mobile around, flying backwards, and rotated the vehicle to aim his fireball cannon directly at the flying foxes! "Take this!!" He fired a few shots, which Copter and Dimentime moved in different directions to dodge, and then Robotnik started firing continuously, his fireball cannon operating more like a flamethrower! Dimentime flew away from the flames and over to Copter, grabbing his arm and swinging him before hurling him ahead, above the flames and over to Robotnik's Egg Mobile! Copter tapped into the power of his tailband and hit the Egg Mobile with a powerful tail whip, sending it tumbling to the ground and landing on the fireball cannon, wreaking it! "Ack!! Impossible!!" Robotnik growled, glaring at Copter. The two foxes landed in front of the Egg Mobile and started to catch their breath. "All right... You ready to talk?" Copter asked Robotnik. The scientist chuckled. "Nope, I'm much too busy for that." The Egg Mobile rose back into the air, still functioning fine, and took off, flying over a large lake of lava nearby. "So long, suckers!" Robotnik cackled. Dimentime shook his head. "Well, he's going to be a pain. Don't get too comfortable, Copter. We have other worries, too. I'll fill you in after a bit. For now, we should get out of this place." he said, starting on his way. Copter nodded. "I'll be glad to get out of this dump..." he muttered. As they were leaving, a young fox peered out from behind a downed marble pillar. "That was Dr. Robotnik... I guess he's up to his old tricks again! I'd better find Sonic!" said the young, two tailed fox.


By now, Sonic had made it through Green Hill Zone. Some areas of the zone had turned white and lifeless, like the area it was now contained in, but Sonic had somehow managed to restore it. He'd also found Tails, who had been frozen much like he was, and restored him, too. After finding Tails, they spotted a place not so far away that appeared to be a strange city, so Sonic had gone to check it out, leaving Tails at the entrance to Green Hill Zone. The younger Sonic followed his older self, though not without briefly confusing Tails with his presence. Moments later, Copter found his way to Tails, and was updated on Sonic's progress. "You don't say? You were frozen? I guess the shield on the Hurricane protected me from that effect..." Copter figured. Tails looked a bit worried. "If you're here, SPOT must've gotten sucked in here, too. I guess I'd better keep an eye out for him." he said. Copter nodded. "Yeah, you do that..." he said, glancing around. Dimentime had snuck off after they got out of the Marble Zone. Now Copter was unsure what to do and where to go. Tails glanced at the city ahead. "I suppose I should try to catch up with Sonic. He might need my help." he said, running off towards the city. Copter looked around the white world he found himself in. Only a handful of areas were visible. "I guess I'd better pick a place and check it out. If that monster is picking on Sonic and his friends, who knows how far that extends. I'd better see who else I can find frozen in this whiteout, and see if I can help 'em out." he decided, heading in the general direction Tails had gone.


Chapter 2 - Secrets of the Chemical Plant
Stage - Chemical Plant - Sonic the Hedgehog 2

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

"Sonic the Hedgehog!
You can't catch what you can't see!
Sonic the Hedgehog!
He's gonna make Mobius free!" - Sonic's Song, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog


Copter now found himself inside a massive chemical plant. The grey buildings were spewing pink fluids all over the place, creating a sea of toxic sludge. Blue and yellow pipes twisted all around between the buildings, carrying the strange chemicals from one area to another. Copter groaned as he looked around. "This is definitely Eggman's kinda place..." he grumbled. Still, he had no place better to go, so he headed into the plant. As he ran across the first few rooftops of the buildings, he came across an area where blobs of the chemicals were being spewed out of one hole in the floor, and landing in another. Several blobs would be shot out at once, and the resulting image reminded Copter of the Caterkillers at the Marble Zone. "Ulp... All right, don't touch that stuff..." he muttered, carefully ducking under the goop as it jumped between the holes. When he passed that section, he came to what seemed to be a dead end. At the edge of the building, there was a sea of chemicals separating him from the next building. "Hmmm... Maybe I can fly across... But I don't want to end up swimming in this stuff if it's too far." he thought. Looking around, he saw an odd sort of red object. "Huh? That's an odd looking spring..." he thought. It was a springboard, and it was positioned to allow the user to reach the other side, provided they jumped off it correctly. Copter backed up to get some distance, and ran at it, building up speed before jumping from it! However, it seemed he didn't jump quite right, and he wasn't going to make it! "Aaaargh!! Not in there!!" he yelped, spinning his tails desperately to avoid falling into the pink chemicals! Using his tails to fly, he managed to reach the other side without getting wet, or worse, poisoned. As he caught his breath, he looked ahead. The plant became more of a maze from here on out, and it seemed quite possible that he might have to go swimming in the chemicals at some point down the line. "Who's dumb idea was it for me to follow Sonic and Tails in here anyway? I should have tried that place with the neon lights a few miles away. It looked more fun..." he complained.

After some exploration, Copter managed to make it to a higher rooftop. There, he found an Egg Mobile. "Aha! Eggman! Or Robotnik! Now I've got you cornered! Now, would you care to explain all that white space out there!? Or do I have to get rough!?" he threatened. However, as the Egg Mobile turned to face him, he found that it was neither Eggman nor Robotnik, but an Eggrobo, a robot designed to resemble Robotnik. "You foolish two tailed pup! I care not for your nonsense! I have just been informed by my agent here that Sonic the Hedgehog is in the Chemical Plant!" he said, glancing at his agent, a red praying mantis robot. It was a Slicer, but modified. "Two Sonics, boss! I saw two Sonics!" the Slicer buzzed. The Eggrobo glanced at Copter. "Whatever, Slash. Sonic, two Sonics. As you can see, I'm about to be busy. I must keep this plant running smoothly! These special chemicals must be ready to fuel the Death Egg!" he explained. Copter yawned. "That's great. So, is Robotnik here?" he asked. The Eggrobo snickered. "Of course. You are looking at him! I am the leader of the Eggrobos, and commander of the Badnik army, Robo-Robotnik! That's why I get to fly an Egg Mobile! Isn't that impressive?" he bragged. Copter rolled his eyes. "Ugh... You're just a retro Metal Eggman. What is this, kiddie table day? I see a short Sonic and a short Eggman and now you... And a slightly older me. Weird." Robo-Robotnik was not amused. "Make fun of me, will you!? Slash, cut him up!" he ordered. "With pleasure, boss!" Slash replied, raising his bladed arms and suddenly throwing them! Copter gasped with alarm and stumbled to dodge them, but ended up with some minor cuts anyway. Slash chuckled and shook the stubby remains of his arms, calling his boomerang-shaped blades back! "Aw, shoot!" Copter jumped and flew out of the way, only to get shot at by Robo-Robotnik's laser gun! Copter dropped back to the ground quickly to dodge, and the two robots laughed at him. "Oh, that's funny, huh? How funny is this? Chaos Whirlwind!!" Copter's chaotic wind was too strong for Slash, and he started to blow away! Robo-Robotnik's Egg Mobile spun around a bit as well, and the two robots began to worry. "He's got magic, boss!!" Slash whimpered. "Retreat! We'll regroup in the power plant!" Robo-Robotnik shouted, prompting both robots to flee across a set of giant pipes!

Copter began to give chase. Right now, these goofy robots were his only lead, and he had to get whatever information he could from them. The pipe he was running across was twisting around another pipe, and the robots flew over to the next pipe, forcing Copter to jump over as well! It was tough to keep his footing, and he briefly wondered how Sonic does this sort of thing all the time, but he had to stop thinking about that as the pipe he was running on separated from the other and started going down into a steep slope! Slash hopped on to Robo-Robotnik's Egg Mobile and waved as it carried the two robots away, while Copter began sliding out of control down the pipe! "No, no, no!! Stop!! Gotta stooooop!!" It was no use, Copter tumbled and started rolling, spinning and spinning until he reached the bottom and smacked into a wall! "Ack!! Oooohhh... I'm gonna throw up... Spinning is for hedgehogs..." he moaned, stumbling his way back to his feet. As he stood around waiting for his stomach to settle, he noticed a shadow cast over him. It looked like a spider. "What the..." Looking up, he saw a yellow and black striped robot dropping from the ceiling, and in a moment, it was carrying him back up with it! It was a Grabber, and he was caught tight in its grip! "Agggh!! Lemme go!! What's the matter with this thing!! Hey, why's it flashing like that!?" Copter shouted, panicking as the robot was preparing to self-destruct! It started to seem like Copter was done for, when suddenly, a yellow ball of fur jumped up and struck the Grabber, knocking Copter out of its grip moments before it could explode! As Copter landed on the ground and stood up, he saw his rescuer hovering to the ground, flying with two tails. It was Tails, but shorter. Younger. Copter could tell the difference immediately. "Uh... Hey. Thanks, little guy." he said. The young Tails looked at him with concern. "You should be more careful! It's really dangerous in this place!" he warned. Copter nodded. "No kidding. But you don't have to worry about me. Now that I know about those things, I should be fine..." he said, starting to walk off, waving at Tails. "Wait!! Watch where you're going!!" Tails shouted hastily. However, it was too late. Copter suddenly fell into a suction tube, which carried him off at high speed! "I tried to warn ya..." Tails sighed, shaking his head.

The tube carried Copter for a while, eventually shooting him out in a room with walls covered in robots with spike covered spouts on their heads, called Spinys. They were immobile robots attached to the walls, but that wouldn't stop them from attacking. As Copter landed on the ground, the Spinys opened their spiky "mouths" and fired shots from the spouts on their heads! As the shots started raining down on him, Copter desperately ran for cover. There was no cover, however, so he could only desperately attempt to dodge the barrage. Luckily, the blasts were fairly slow moving, but unless he could take out some of those robots, he'd be in trouble. "Chaos Whirlwind!" he shouted, hoping to knock the robots off the wall. It was no good, the robots were stuck to the wall pretty good. Copter looked around in frustration, trying to think of a strategy. Suddenly, something flew in and took out one of the Spinys! Startled, Copter looked and saw a black shadow soaring around the room! "What the... What's that!?" he wondered. The shadow flew about, tearing through the Spinys one by one! Copter jumped out of the way as the wrecked robots almost fell down on top of him. "Yaaah! Is this thing on my side or not?" he wondered. Copter could hear a voice coming from the shadow. It was laughing as it was smashing the robots, taking pleasure in the destruction it was causing. It creeped Copter out a bit, but he allowed it to destroy each of the robots before saying anything. "Hey, shadowy thing? What's your deal?" he asked, unsure if he even could get an answer from whatever this was. The shadow took another lap around the room, chuckled at Copter, and then took off, heading into the next area. This shadow was going in the only direction Copter could go from this room, so it seemed he had little choice but to follow it. "What a day. Kid versions of people, crazy robots, another me, and now a psychotic smoke cloud. I wonder if it has anything to do with that monster that sent everyone here... Get back here, cloud!!" he shouted, chasing the shadow.

After a bit of an uneventful chase, Copter followed the shadow to a somewhat whited out section of the chemical plant. There, he saw someone was frozen into a white statue. Copter recognized him. It was Officer Razor the Porcupine, someone who was often trying to arrest him. Now it seemed Razor was the prisoner. The black shadow was examining the statue. It found the shadow cast by the statue, and then dove in! Copter moved as if to do something, but hesitated, not knowing exactly what to do. Once the shadow finished diving in, it vanished, along with Razor's shadow! Copter wasn't sure how to feel about this, but found himself running over to Razor and shaking his lifeless body. "Hey, dude, wake up! I'm tired of being on my own in this crazy haunted poison factory! Be alive, darn it! Be alive..." he yelped, almost crying in his misery. As if things weren't bad enough, he suddenly ended up snatched up by another Grabber! "Arrgh!! No!! Get your claws off me, you freak!! Ack!! Sooooonic!!!" he yelled desperately. As the Grabber started to flash in preparation for self-destructing, Copter shut his eyes and braced himself. Then, he heard a gunshot! He fell to the floor, while the Grabber exploded above him! Copter opened his eyes and saw a hand held out in front of him. "Need help?" It was Razor, alive and full of color again! Copter climbed to his feet and shook his hand. "Errr... Way to do your job for once, officer." he said. Razor's eyes narrowed. "And what are you doin' here? Care to explain... Anything?" he asked. Copter shrugged. "Someone will have to explain things to me first." he said. Razor nodded. "I guess we're pretty much in the same boat then. I guess I can quit hassling you for now." he frowned, looking around. Copter glanced at Razor awkwardly. "Errr... Um... You didn't hear me, um..." he muttered. "Calling for Sonic?" Razor guessed. Copter growled in response. Razor chuckled. "It'll never leave this room." he said. Copter looked around. "Hey, we're outside! Hey, Razor!! If you blab to anybody, you'll be sorry! I mean it!!" he shouted.

They hadn't gone far before Dimentime found them. "I see you found someone. Uhh... Hey, officer." he said awkwardly. Razor glanced from Dimentime to Copter. "Wha... Two of you!? Wait... This has happened before, hasn't it?" he realized. Dimentime nodded. "Errr... Yeah. That's my future. No more spoilers, please." he said. Copter growled at Dimentime. "Where have you been!? I could really have used your help!" he snapped. Dimentime crossed his arms. "I've been scouting for information. This black cloak doesn't make me know everything, you know." he said. Razor nodded. "So, did you find anything out?" he asked. Dimentime looked thoughtful. "It seems like Robotnik may not be working alone. But I couldn't identify who he was working with. So, Razor, why don't you tell us how you got here." he suggested. Razor looked uncertain. "I'm not sure. I remember... GUN was getting more insistent that we catch you experiments. So I went to interrogate your colorful echidna friend. That wasn't so popular with my own friends. Things were getting more outta hand when Experiment 1 showed up. Then a weird purple monster appeared outta nowhere..." he recalled. Copter frowned. "Purple monster. The same monster! It got Punchy and Rainbow, too! They're frozen somewhere in this white world!" he growled. Dimentime nodded. "Along with Razor's friends. That could include Katie." he pointed out. Razor nodded. "It does. White world you say? What do you mean?" he wondered. "Wait'll you get out of this plant." Copter said. Dimentime sighed. "That monster took a lot of people. Before dealing with that monster, we've got to find everyone it froze and restore them." he said. Copter crossed his arms. "Yeah, that's obvious. Do you know anything about that creepy black shadow that I chased over here?" he asked. "Black shadow...?" Razor muttered. Dimentime ignored the question and pointed deep into the chemical plant. "A 'Robo-Robotnik' is prepping Dr. Robotnik's great war machine for launch using this chemical plant. To keep Robotnik from being a serious problem, we've got to put a stop to this." he said. Copter shrugged. "When you're right, you're right. We better go!"

"I found Robo-Robotnik's hiding place, and the fastest way to get there is through that stuff..." Dimentime said, pointing into the sea of chemicals. Copter stared in disbelief. "No way. You're crazy. We'll die in that stuff!" he protested. Dimentime leaned against his staff. "Believe me, this isn't my favorite route, either. Just move fast and try not to swallow too much of it." he suggested. Razor backed away from the edge. "You guys are crazy... Count me out. I'll try to find a better way, thanks. I don't see what the giant rush is, anyway. I'm sure Sonic's got it covered." he said, walking away. Copter watched him go and sighed. "He had to bring that up. I'm not gonna leave this up to Sonic. He let the planet get split apart a while back. What was up with that?" Dimentime stared at Copter. "Split apart...!? Sheesh, let's move it!" he said urgently. The two foxes hopped into the chemicals and sank to a pipe running across below them. The chemical plant was quite a bit different from under the "water." Strange yellow blocks were moving up, down, and around each other, possibly mixing the chemicals a bit, while spike traps were set to discourage intruders from using the chemical sea as a shortcut. "Poor Sonic. Since he can't swim, coming down here must be pretty dangerous." Copter thought, a bit amused. Dimentime motioned to the yellow blocks. "Avoid... Crush you!" he gurgled, finding it difficult to speak in the chemical water. Copter nodded, and they started swimming as quick as they could. In some places, the yellow blocks barricaded the way forward a bit, but their movements assured that with patience, the foxes could pass them. As they swam up a bit, however, their path started to seem more dangerous. Swinging spike balls were set up throughout the flooded corridor, and Spinys were attached to the walls and ceiling. Copter gargled in alarm. "We'll either be skewered, blasted, or drown!" he thought. Dimentime tugged at his arm, urging him to move on. If they didn't hurry, they'd run out of air! They dived and weaved through the pink waters, careful to avoid the spikes, while the Spinys started to shoot at them! Copter panicked and grabbed a spike ball's chain, and ended up swinging along with it! Dimentime watched this and got an idea, swimming towards another spike ball closer to some Spinys. He grabbed the chain and swam with all his might, swinging the chain at the Spinys on the wall! The spike ball smashed them, but then it started swinging more wildly! Dimentime swam out of the way quickly, but now Copter had to get by. He let go of the chain he was holding as it neared the direction he needed to go, and let the momentum help him swim past the other spike ball, barely passing it without getting hit. He glanced at Dimentime with annoyance, but didn't say anything as they moved on.

They were running out of air. They needed to get out of the chemicals, quick! Swimming frantically, they turned a corner and found a spring, aimed at a series of springs leading upward. It was guarded by a gang of Spinys, but they had no time to worry about them! Copter and Dimentime swam for it, evading the blasts from the robots as best they could, and soon reached the spring! Dimentime first, and then Copter jumped on the spring, and they were launched from spring to spring until they splashed out of the chemicals and high into the air! They took a deep breath as they were freed from the toxic sludge, but they couldn't rest yet. The springs caused them to land on a set of rails, and they had no choice but to start grinding! "Gyaaaaah!! Who designed this crazy place!!?" Copter yelled. "I know, and those springs hurt! Were they made of steel or something!?" Dimentime groaned. They were grinding on separate rails, side by side, and saw a hook hanging from a crane up ahead. Not sure where the rail would lead, and having no better ideas, they jumped at the hook and grabbed it, swinging from the crane! "Aaaaah!! Brilliant idea, me! Now what!?" Copter yelled. Dimentime looked around. "I'm working on it! Hold your horses!" he said, and soon saw their destination below them. "There it is! The power plant! Get ready to jump!" he shouted. Copter glared at him. "I'm not gonna jump!" he yelled. "Then enjoy the view!" Dimentime snapped, jumping towards the power plant, using his tails to slow his descent once he was about halfway there. Copter gulped. "Sure wish the Hurricane was in one piece..." he muttered before jumping from the crane, mimicking Dimentime's flight pattern and crashing into the power plant through a window! The two foxes started to catch their breath and look around. There was some whirring machinery that neither fox could understand, and a control panel on the other side of the room. There was also a balcony overhead, but it seemed pretty useless to them. However, they were being watched from there...

"That's it, intruders... Stay right there... You're all mine!" Robo-Robotnik stealthily emerged from the balcony and hovered over them in his Egg Mobile, which was modified with a chemical tank, which was slowly pumping chemicals into a jar. Dimentime heard the pump, and glanced up. "Ummm..." he muttered, stepping aside just in time to avoid the contents of the jar getting dumped on him. However, Copter ended up soaked. "Ha ha ha ha!! Wither and die in toxic chemicals!!" Robo-Robotnik cackled. Copter groaned and glared at Dimentime. "WARN me next time!!" he yelled before looking up at Robo-Robotnik. "Hey, idiot! We just went for a swim in this junk! You really think more of it will make much difference?" he pointed out. Robo-Robotnik scratched his metallic head, while Slash hopped on the rail of the balcony. "He makes a good point, boss." he buzzed. Robo-Robotnik turned to Slash and fired his blaster at him, which he dodged hastily. "Shut up, you Metropolis reject! This is why we have backup plans! Release the minions!" he ordered. Slash nodded. "Releasing minions! Clap on!" he said, banging his claws together. Suddenly, a multitude of Grabbers hung down from the ceiling, threatening to drop down and seize Copter and Dimentime! Spinys popped out of hatches on the walls as well, and the two foxes were looking quite outnumbered. Copter growled. "I'm gonna blow that robot's head off..." he grumbled. Dimentime raised his staff like a weapon. "Concentrate on the spiders. If they grab us, we're toast." he warned. The robots started attacking, with Robo-Robotnik and Slash adding in their attacks from above! Copter and Dimentime focused on the Grabbers, using their tails, fists, and Dimentime's staff to bust up any that lowered close enough to hit, but they had to dodge the other robots' attacks as well, and the simple fact was that they were far outnumbered. Soon, they both were grabbed, and things were looking hopeless. "Ha ha ha ha! Yes!! Now sacrifice yourself to destroy those foxes!" Robo-Robotnik commanded. Slash looked conflicted. "Isn't that a sick thing to expect a minion to do?" he asked. "Don't think about it." Robo-Robotnik replied. Suddenly, two gunshots came from behind Robo-Robotnik and Slash! The shots struck the Grabbers' cables, knocking them loose and freeing Copter and Dimentime! Robo-Robotnik spun around. "Hey! Who dares!?" he roared. Razor stood there, pointing his gun at the Eggrobo and smirking. "I see I'm not too late after all. Where do you want it, bot?" he asked. Robo-Robotnik chuckled and dumped some chemicals on Razor, soaking his eyes so he couldn't see to shoot! "Aaagh!! No fair!!" he yelled. Meanwhile, Copter and Dimentime ignored the remaining robots and ran for the control panel. "Maybe something..." Dimentime muttered. "There! Emergency self-destruct!" Copter grinned. Dimentime scratched his head. "Why do these places always have a self destruct button?" he muttered. Copter shrugged. "Who cares! So long, chemical plant!" he snickered as he and Dimentime pounded the red button at the same time. Alarms blared loudly, and Robo-Robotnik and Slash looked around in a panic. "No!! NOOO!! Not the emergency destruct!!" Robo-Robotnik yelled. "Why do we even have that?" Slash asked. "Never mind! Let's get out of here!!" Robo-Robotnik growled, allowing Slash to board his Egg Mobile before he took off through the broken window. Copter and Dimentime hurried past the panicking robots, flew up to the balcony, and grabbed Razor. "Time to pay the white space a visit!" Copter said. Razor nodded. "Deal. I think the fumes in this place took ten years off my life!" he said as they hurried out of the power plant. As they began flying off, the chemical plant started exploding behind them! They made a mad dash for the exit, and luckily, they were close enough to escape before they could be caught in the explosions.


Sonic had barely managed to escape the explosion as well, and was now looking around what was left of the exterior. Most of the Chemical Plant was still intact; the explosion may have merely slowed down Robo-Robotnik's operation. As Sonic looked around, Tails flew towards him. "Sonic!" he called. "Tails!" he replied, watching his friend land. Tails looked around. "This Chemic Plant feels familiar. I'd never forget a smell like this! And that pink water makes me really nervous for some reason." he noted. Sonic nodded. "You're right, Tails. This place is giving me deja vu all over again." he realized. Looking around a bit longer, Sonic found a frozen statue resembling Amy. Like the frozen parts of Chemical Plant, she was now regaining her color and life as he approached! She smiled as she saw Sonic. "You saved me, Sonic! I was afraid I'd never be able to flirt with you again!" she said.

As Sonic, Tails, and Amy were settling down, Copter, Dimentime and Razor caught up with them outside the entrance to Chemical Plant. "Hey, Tails. You're looking... taller..." Copter mumbled. Tails scratched his head. "Wha...?" he muttered. "Never mind." Copter said. Amy glanced at Dimentime. "Huh? Why are there two Copters? Isn't one clone enough?" she groaned. Sonic chuckled. "Hey, I know! It's Dimentime! I haven't seen you since the Sun Festival! What's up?" he asked. Dimentime shrugged. "Well, a lot. It seems that Dr. Robot-" he didn't get to finish before something caught Sonic's attention, though. "Hey, that's swell, buddy. Hey! Isn't that a casino?" he said, looking at another white and lifeless area nearby. Razor put his hands on his hips. "Uhhh, Sonic...? Maybe you should listen to this..." he suggested. Copter nodded. "Yeah, also, I've been seeing another y-" It was no use. Sonic was too intrigued by the next area. "Slot machines, here I come! Whooo!!" he cheered, rushing off. Amy started after him, but he was too fast. "Sonic! Wait! We should go together! It could be romantic!! Awww..." Tails sighed. "He wanted to check that out since I brought it up a little bit ago. I guess I'll see you later Copter, and uh... Other Copter..." he said, rushing after Sonic. Amy took off behind him, leaving the two Copters with Razor. "Well, um... Maybe I should look for clues as to the whereabouts of... Everyone." Razor said, nonchalantly walking off. Copter turned to Dimentime. "Do you think the fact that there's two of us is weirding everyone out?" he asked. Dimentime nodded. "It's weirding me out." he said. "Me too." Copter agreed. Just then, the younger Sonic, joined now by the younger Tails, exited the Chemical Plant. They looked around, seeming a bit lost. Dimentime pointed at the casino. "Try there. Everyone else is going there." he suggested. Sonic gave him a thumbs up and took off. "Thanks, mister!" Tails added, spinning his tails and following Sonic from the air. Copter glanced at Dimentime. "Where should we go?" he asked. Dimentime shrugged. "Somewhere else. We'll cover more ground that way." he said. Copter nodded. "We'd never keep up with the Sonics anyway." he reasoned. Looking around, they saw some more places unfamiliar to either of them. They still had a tough journey ahead of them, and neither of them could guess what was in store next.


Chapter 3 - Little Amy
Stage - Collision Chaos - Sonic CD

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

"Sonic boom, sonic boom,
Spinning through a world in motion.
Sonic boom, sonic boom,
Take it all the way!" - Sonic Boom, Sonic the Hedgehog CD


Copter and Dimentime saw a brightly lit area ahead. It was lit with neon signs, and it seemed to be some sort of high tech club of some sort. Like the other areas, some of the color had been drained away. "It looks somewhat similar to the casino Sonic ran off to, but kinda different, too." Copter said. One of the signs read "Collision Chaos." Dimentime scratched his head. "I've never seen this place. But maybe our friends are frozen in there." he reasoned. "Aw, no! I remember this place!" came a voice behind them, startling the two foxes! It was Amy Rose, who had followed them! "This place is from the Little Planet! Dr. Eggman first started coming between me and Sonic here!" she groaned. Copter looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Uh... No kidding. Speaking of Sonic... Why aren't you with him?" he asked. Amy sighed unhappily. "Oh, he ran off without me, and I can't catch up..." she said, clenching her fists and glaring with determination, "Well, I'm not getting left out of all the action this time! If I can't go with Sonic, I'll settle for going with you! Let's get to the bottom of this mysterious white... whatever's going on!" she insisted. Copter and Dimentime both rolled their eyes. "No way! It'll be way too dangerous! Err, probably!" Dimentime said. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you hate me." Copter added. Amy was taken aback. "Wha... Whoever said I hate you? I do not! Just because I think you've been a little stupid for working with Eggman in the past, and that you kinda smell funny, and the fact that you look like Tails but don't act anything like him kinda weirds me out... That doesn't mean I hate you!" she protested. Copter held his forehead with his hand while Dimentime looked away awkwardly. "Well, we're not gonna babysit you. You'd better keep out of trouble." Dimentime warned. Amy nodded. "Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about! I'm much tougher than I look!" she said. Copter chuckled. "You'd have to be..." he joked. "What'd you say!?" Amy growled. Dimentime groaned. "No infighting, you kids. Let's get going already." he insisted. Amy scoffed and walked ahead. "He's the kid!" she said, leading the way into Collision Chaos.

Upon entering, they saw that Collision Chaos was essentially a giant pinball machine, not unlike the place Sonic had run off to. However, this one was more Robotnik's kind of place, with a much more mechanical feel to it, though oddly the metal was colored pink for some reason. There were some signs of the area's former natural environment, like patches of grass, but it seemed Robotnik had been working on replacing it with his own personal playground. As they were walking along, taking in the scenery, they soon caught a glimpse of someone who was already in the zone and not frozen either. Amy gasped upon seeing her. It was a young, pink hedgehog, sporting a spiky set of quills similar to Sonic's. She was wearing a green shirt with a frilly yellow dress, and a familiar red headband. It was Amy, only younger! Copter blinked a few times upon seeing her, but didn't make the connection. "Cute kid. You know her?" he asked. Amy shook a little. "Th-that's ME!" she yelped. The younger Amy glanced in their direction, but didn't get a chance to react. Before anything further could happen, Metal Sonic flew onto the scene! The robot glanced at the little Amy and charged at her, grabbing her in his metallic arms and carrying her away! Copter and Dimentime started to chase, but he was out of sight before they could really begin to go after him! Amy stared in disbelief. "N-no way... That... Already happened... But Sonic was there for it. Augh!! Metal Sonic kidnapped me again!!" she screamed. Copter shook her. "Calm down, you idiot! You're right here!" he said. Dimentime looked out in the direction Metal Sonic had gone. "That was her younger self. Copter, I don't think this was supposed to happen right now. Not without Sonic. We should save her." he suggested. Copter shrugged. "Why? We already got one Amy." he pointed out. Amy glared at him. "What are you saying!? We've gotta save me, NOW!!" she yelled. Dimentime nodded. "Besides, if anything happens to her younger self, it could have drastic consequences on the rest of history. We can't let that happen." he explained. Copter chuckled. "I was just kidding. Let's go get her..." he said nervously, hoping Amy would stop glaring at him.

In order to proceed, the trio had to enter the giant pinball machine. There were a few robots patrolling within, but they didn't seem all that dangerous, so they dove right in. However, pinball isn't easy for everyone, and it's even harder when you have to be the ball yourself. As Copter stepped onto a flipper, he was instantly flung into a dizzying nightmare, complete with bumpers of several shapes and sizes, though most were round. The primary bumpers were red and white, with a yellow star in their center, and Copter found himself bouncing between several of them, back and forth, up and down, all over the place. He was starting to feel quite sick. "Stop the ride, I wanna get off!!" he shrieked, unable to control his bouncing in the pinball machine. Amy and Dimentime, on the other hand, had a somewhat easier time. Amy even used her hammer to smack the bumpers and control her trajectory to an extent, enabling her to reach the top and exit of the area first. Dimentime, however, had to take things slower, in order to rescue Copter. He spun his tails to stop his ride and grabbed the battered Copter, carrying him partway up before using a flipper to send them the rest of the way! Copter hit a flat bumper on the wall upon exiting the main pinball machine, and then tumbled into an odd signpost. "Ack!! Ohhh... Kill me... Please..." he moaned. Dimentime examined the signpost curiously. "Past" was written on it, and a few feet away was another signpost, with "Future" written on it. They looked like they would light up ordinarily, but they weren't receiving power. "I wonder what the purpose of these is...?" he said. Amy looked them over. "Oh. Those let you travel through time! Sonic used them when he was here." she recalled. Copter glanced at them. "What? Those things?" he muttered. Dimentime looked thoughtful. "Whatever's been manipulating time has probably rendered them useless. It's best to ignore them. We don't need to foul up time any more than it already is anyway." he reasoned. Amy chuckled. "We couldn't use them anyway! You need to get up tons of speed to time travel! Only Sonic could pull it off!" she pointed out. Dimentime chuckled. "Oh, there's more than one way to time travel." he mused.

It didn't take long before they found the building where Metal Sonic had stashed the younger Amy. What's more, they found Metal Sonic! "All right, robot! I'll teach you to kidnap me! Take this!!" Amy shouted, charging at the robot with her hammer, only to pass right through it and crash! "It's a fake?" Copter muttered in confusion. It was a hologram displayed from a nearby projector. The displayed image depicted Metal Sonic beating up a few small animals. "Now, that's just sick. Smash that projector so we don't have to watch it." Copter growled. However, before they could do it, the image changed to that of Dr. Robotnik! While Amy was busy trying to untie her younger self, Robotnik spoke to the two Copters. "Well done, foxes. You found my hostage. Now, here's the truth: I only captured that annoying girl to keep you fools busy chasing her! Metal Sonic's real mission is to find the Chaos Emerald hidden here! With it, Sonic won't be able to interfere in my plans! Ha ha ha ha! We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast!" With that, the projector returned to showing images of Metal Sonic's brutality. Copter promptly smashed the projector. "Of course it was a trick! Lousy Eggman." he groaned. Amy turned around, having just finished untying herself. "Hm? Eggman? I missed it." she muttered. "He's after a Chaos Emerald." Dimentime explained. The younger Amy looked at her older self with an odd expression. "W-who are you...? Why do you seem... Familiar?" she asked. Older Amy smiled a little awkwardly. "Wow, did I really dress like that? Um, I mean... It's cute, but kinda silly. I mean..." she wasn't quite sure how to begin. Copter rolled his eyes. "Oh brother. It wasn't this hard for us to get past the whole 'I'm you, you're me' thing. Just get on with it." he said. The younger Amy stared with wide eyes. "Wait... She's ME!? Like, from the future!? I knew there was time travel going on in the Little Planet, but I didn't expect THIS!" she said. Dimentime tapped his foot impatiently. "Maybe we'd better leave her here. We're going after Metal Sonic." he said. The younger Amy shook her head and waved her arms. "Wait! Hold up!" she shouted.

"You're looking for some sorta Emerald? I think I saw one..." young Amy said. Older Amy looked skeptical. "Huh? I hadn't seen a Chaos Emerald before until after I left the Little Planet. Are you sure?" she asked. Little Amy made a shape with her hands. "It looked like this!" she said. Copter gasped. "I don't believe it! This means we have to take her with us!" he said. The young Amy still seemed a little surprised by her older counterpart, though. "So... You're me all grown up, huh?" she asked. Amy blushed. "Um, well... Practically." she said. The young Amy blinked a couple times. "You look OK, but... Why are you hanging around with these guys? They seem a little creepy. Especially that black-robed guy." she said. The older Amy sighed. "Well, it's a long story... But when I get back, I'm sure I'll meet up with Sonic again!" she said. The younger Amy's eyes lit up. "Sonic! All right! I hoped I'd still be in touch with him! So...? Are we married yet?" she asked. The elder Amy sighed. "He's still shy as ever, but I think I'm getting closer to him!" Young Amy cooed romantically. "Yeah... I'll never give up hope for my Sonic..." As they both began sighing in their romantic daydream, Copter cleared his throat. "Ladies, please! If we don't get that Chaos Emerald, Sonic might have trouble later on. You wouldn't want that, would you?" he said. Older Amy nodded. "Right! For Sonic, let's get that Emerald! Then, maybe he'll be impressed, and he'll ask me to marry him!" she cheered. Copter turned to leave. "You'd have to have a date first..." he muttered under his breath. "What'd he say?" the younger Amy wondered. "Ignore him." older Amy replied. As they exited the building, Copter glanced at Dimentime. "What's Sonic got that I haven't got?" he asked. Dimentime shrugged. "You want HER attention?" he asked. "Errr, no. Just thinking out loud." he said. "I dunno." Dimentime replied. Suddenly, all four of them yelped. Metal Sonic was a distance ahead, and he pointed back at them, commanding a horde of insectoid robots to swarm into the next pinball area! Younger Amy shrugged. "Oh well. We can do it! Right?" she said. "Shut up..." Copter grumbled.

The group tried walking beneath the pinball area, hoping to avoid the difficult to navigate area. However, Copter wasn't paying much attention to the floor, distracted by the blue moth-like robots swarming overhead, and stepped on a spring, which launched him into the air! He fell onto a flipper, and was hurled into a mess of bumpers and moth robots! Dimentime groaned. "Lucky my timeline is not connected to his in any way, or he could get me killed by getting himself killed..." he said, "Stay out of trouble, girls, I'd better go help him." He jumped on a spring and joined Copter in the air, smacking robots with his staff as he attempted to bounce closer to his hapless doppelganger. Meanwhile, the two Amys casually continued moving below them, avoiding the springs so as to stay out of the pinball mayhem. "This place wouldn't be so bad if it were better decorated. Those neon signs are an eyesore." the elder Amy remarked. "It could use a place to eat, too." younger Amy added. A few bulky ladybug robots were lurking around, but they weren't very mobile, so neither Amy thought much of them. Above, Copter's momentum was suddenly stopped as he landed in a hatch on the wall, apparently a "bonus target" or something. Inside, he was spun around rapidly. "No, no, nooooo!! Let me outta heeeeere!!" he screamed, before the hatch suddenly ejected him! Dimentime caught him by the tails as he flew out, flying just above the bonus hatch. "What am I going to do with you?" he muttered. Suddenly, they heard two screams below them! The two Amys were being surrounded by the moth robots, and also a group of green, mantis robots similar to the Slicer, but on wheels. Copter shook his head and composed himself, twirling his tails and flying out of Dimentime's grip so they could both fly off to help the girls. "Metal Sonic's gonna regret this!" he growled.

As Copter and Dimentime were getting close, the ladybug robots launched their attacks. They fired missiles at the foxes, taking them by surprise and forcing them to take evasive action! They dove into the moth swarm, causing the missiles to blow up a few of them, but also enabling the moths to strike back at them! The foxes were knocked low, and forced to land, where they now had to contend with the mantis robots. They hurled their bladed arms at them, and the Copters had no choice but to tackle the Amys to the ground to protect them from the blades! "Yaaaah!! Warn me next time you're gonna do that!" the older Amy yelped. The foxes scrambled to their feet and glared at the now disarmed mantis robots. Unlike Slash, they weren't designed to retrieve their arms. "You are so dead." Copter growled. Suddenly, they were struck from behind by some sort of sticky, stringy substance, which quickly tied the two of them up! "Ack!! What's going on here!?" Dimentime grunted. They turned around as they heard someone laughing at them. "Suckers! I got you while your back was turned!" A green robot resembling a scorpion was there, with a sort of gun for a tail. The tail pulled into the robot's body and switched out, now sporting a new barrel for its gun. "I tied you up in a web shot, but my gun is now a laser, so don't try anything funny! Hyah ha!! My name is Sting, and I'm usually stationed at Quartz Quadrant, but Dr. Robotnik sent me here to assist in the search for the Chaos Emerald!" the robot explained. Copter stared coldly at him. "Well isn't that swell..." he said. Sting motioned to his fellow robots. "You moths! Take 'em away! I've gotta catch up with Metal Sonic! You girls won't make trouble if I leave you here, right? Hyah ha ha ha ha!!" With that, the moth robots swarmed around Copter and Dimentime in order to carry them off, while Sting took off to meet up with Metal Sonic, leaving the Amys with the remaining robots. The older Amy stood up and took out her hammer growling. "Won't make trouble, eh?" she growled, running up and thrashing the mantis robots in front of her with her Piko Piko Hammer! One charged at her from behind, but before it could hit her, someone else smashed it! Amy turned around to see her younger self holding a smaller, but similar hammer to the one she was holding. "Let's go rescue those guys!" she grinned. Amy smirked. "Good hammer. It's a classic." she said. "Classic" Amy chuckled. "Your modern hammer's not bad, either!"

Since most of the robots had left with Sting, it didn't take long for the Amys to take the rest out. Then, Classic Amy started leading the way towards the spot where she'd seen the Chaos Emerald. "It's not much further away! Rescuing those guys and getting the emerald should be a piece of cake with two of us!" she said. Amy nodded, but as they reached the next pinball area, they saw something blocking their path. "Huh? What's this stuff? It wasn't here before!" Classic Amy muttered. There were a bunch of strange bubbles all over the pinball area, with an odd sort of nucleus inside them. "I guess it's part of the pinball game..." Modern Amy figured. A few moth robots were also fluttering around the pinball area, but that didn't worry them. They clutched their hammers and prepared to step onto the flippers. "We'll just have to pop those bubbles!" Modern Amy said. "Yeah! It's payback time, fake Metal Sonic jerk!" Classic Amy added. They launched themselves off the flippers and soared into the air, swinging their hammers to strike the obstacles as they neared them! The bubbles burst harmlessly when struck, despite the strange nucleus, they didn't appear to be explosive or otherwise dangerous. The moth robots didn't seem to attack much, either; they merely dropped a sort of dust below them as they flapped their wings. Classic Amy sneezed as she passed through some of the dust. "Blaaagh!! Yuck! Take that!" she shouted, hitting the robot back with her hammer as she flew by. A bit more bouncing and hammer smacking, and they managed to reach the top safely. They took a moment to catch their breath before hi-fiving each other. "All right! We rule!" Modern Amy cheered. "We're almost there! That way!" Classic Amy said, pointing. As they ran, they soon saw Copter and Dimentime tied up, with Sting and the moth robots nearby. Metal Sonic was a short distance away as well. Sting was busy ordering around the moths in different directions with no apparent goal in mind, and while he wasn't paying attention, Dimentime was breaking through his bonds using his staff! As the Amys approached, he broke free, and quickly saw to freeing Copter! "All right, bots! We've got the jump on you, now!" Dimentime yelled, startling Sting. The Amys ran up and started bashing moths with their hammers, while the Copters targeted the ones the girls couldn't reach. "Chaos Whirlwind!!" Their chaotic wind easily knocked out the robotic moths, leaving Sting in a panic! "Aaaah!! Ohhh... M-metal Sonic!!!" he screamed.

As Sting began to flee the area, Metal Sonic hovered overhead, clutching the purple Chaos Emerald in his metallic claws! "Hey, short Metal Sonic! I'm betting you're not the same robot who sets me free in the future! Why don't you put that down so we don't have to trash you?" Copter warned. Dimentime shrugged. "I... don't know. He could have been upgraded..." he muttered. "You're not helping." Copter grunted. Metal Sonic glared at them, tucked the emerald away in some compartment in his metallic body, and made some angry robotic noises. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Amy said. An electric field surged around Metal Sonic's body, and then the robot blasted through the sky above, which was filled with neon signs, pinball bumpers, and other miscellaneous parts of Collision Chaos! As he smashed through a neon sign, it came crashing down towards the group, forcing them to dash out of the way! "So that's the way you want to play it!? All right, you punk!" Copter yelled. Looking around, they noticed that though this area was a bit more open, it, too was a pinball area, and there were springs and flippers around here as well. However, Metal Sonic had no interest in letting them get up to fight back. He fired up his jet engine and smashed into some bumpers, knocking them loose and grabbing them to toss at his enemies below! The Copters and Amys scrambled frantically out of the way as several bumpers came their way, and ran for the springs! Modern Amy was nearly flattened by one, but jumped up and bounced on top of it instead, which caused her to go flying in a random direction. "Yaaaaah!! I hate you, Metal Sonic!!!" she screamed. The others made it to some springs and launched themselves from flippers positioned in the air, but now had to watch out for Metal Sonic as he flew about, attempting to attack them both directly and with pieces of the pinball machine! Copter ended up tackled by the speedy robot, but struggled against it in the process, causing them both to crash into a flipper! The flipper knocked them both back into the air, separating them. They were battered, but neither was beaten. Classic Amy took advantage of the confusion to bounce between some of the remaining bumpers, using her hammer to control her direction a bit, until she caught up with Metal Sonic. She gave the robot a quick smack with her hammer, knocking it for a loop! "That'll teach you to kidnap me!!" she said, sticking out her tongue. Metal Sonic composed himself quickly and built up as much electrical energy as he could, firing it as a powerful blast in the direction of the three of them! Dimentime hurriedly flew after Classic Amy and pulled her out of the way, while Copter had bounced completely away from the attack. The blast left Metal Sonic dazed, and needing to recharge, so this was their chance. Copter flew at Metal Sonic and flipped in midair, giving the robot a powerful tail whip! The robot buzzed angrily, but it still didn't seem to be enough. However, before Metal Sonic could strike back, Modern Amy came flying up from below! "Taaaake THIS!!!" she shouted, slamming her hammer into the robot one more time! Metal Sonic began sparking, appearing to be taking a dangerous amount of damage. Suddenly, the robot blasted off at high speed, making a break for it! He smashed a few more bumpers as he went, tossing them back to make it impossible to pursue him! Despite their best efforts, Metal Sonic had escaped with the Chaos Emerald. "Sore loser!" Classic Amy shouted as she and everyone else made their way back to solid ground.

Soon, they'd made it to the exit of Collision Chaos. Metal Sonic was long gone, and there was no sign of any frozen people, but the color had been restored to the location. "Bah, what a wasted trip..." Copter grumbled. "Hey! We saved me! What do you mean wasted!?" Modern Amy growled. Classic Amy giggled a little. "It's OK. Sonic would have saved me. Oh, but thanks anyway." she said. Dimentime nodded. "You should be safe here. I don't think Robotnik will come back." he said. Classic Amy smiled. "OK. Good luck, guys. I'm glad I got to meet you. And... me. Hee hee!" she said. Modern Amy chuckled. "Yeah! Bye, then! Keep up the good work! Your future will be filled with romance! Count on it!" she said.

Outside, they soon found Tails again. Amy looked around, but Sonic was nowhere to be seen. "Awww... I missed him again..." she sighed, walking off dejectedly. Tails chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. He whizzed right through that casino. We've been there before." he said. Dimentime nodded. "Something tells me Sonic will have been to most places here before." he said. Tails chuckled. "Well, he's been all around the world! Now he's checking out that place with the giant mushrooms. It looked kinda familiar, too." he said. Copter glanced at the area Tails was pointing at. "Looks like... part of Angel Island... I'll pass." he said, turning and walking away with Dimentime. "Well, let me know if you find SPOT!" Tails said. Copter saw what appeared to be a base belonging to Robotnik in a secluded corner of the white space. "Dimentime... I'm sick of Robotnik messing with us." he said. Dimentime glanced at him, crossing his arms. "This is a dangerous road you're going down. Are you sure you're up to it?" he asked. Copter scoffed. "This whole place is dangerous. Let's just head into the belly of the beast now! Let's take the fight to Robotnik!" he suggested. Without another word, the two foxes started heading for the base in the distance, dominated by a huge statue of Dr. Robotnik. That scientist had gotten on Copter's last nerve, and now it was payback time!


Chapter 4 - Free the Flickies!
Stage - Panic Puppet - Sonic 3D Blast

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

"Yo, put the pedal to the metal, and baby, I guarantee, 
You'll be juicin' to the tenth degree! 
Crank it super sonic! It don't take any fuel, 
'Cause the rocket's in my pocket, 
And I'm waaaaay past cool!" - Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM


Copter and Dimentime had arrived at Dr. Robotnik's headquarters, a high tech base with a massive statue of himself towering over everything. Copter grimaced at the sight. "Technology everywhere... Goody..." he groaned. "And we thought Darkegg Fortress was bad." Dimentime remarked, looking around, "We should split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Besides, I want to check something out..." he suggested. Copter glanced at him suspiciously. "Like what?" he asked. Dimentime shrugged. "I'll know it when I see it." he said, walking off. Copter watched him leave and scoffed. "Cloak goes to his head. Well, let's see what kind of nonsense I'm in for..." he thought, heading into the base. The first major obstacles he encountered were a few turrets set up in the middle of the entrance room, which rotated around and started shooting as he got close. So, Copter quickly learned to keep his distance. "That's it...? No problem..." As he started towards the exit from the first room, however, he noticed a glass container in the corner, guarded by another of those turrets. Inside the container was a blue colored bird, which was known as a Flicky. Copter looked at it curiously. "What's that doing here...? Well, if Eggman Jr. wants it, he doesn't get to have it!" he decided, running over and jumping on top of the turret before attacking the container, smashing it to pieces and freeing the bird! Copter quickly flew away from the turret and checked on the bird, which the turret seemed uninterested in shooting at. The Flicky flew over to Copter and hovered around him, looking cheerful. "Uh, yeah... Good for you. Take care." he said, heading for the next room. The Flicky followed him closely, chirping cheerfully as they went, prompting Copter to glance back. "Oh, no... It wants to follow me home now!?" he groaned, "Look, bird, I'm heading deeper into this dump. It's gonna be dangerous, and I can't protect you." he warned. The Flicky chirped playfully and flew in a circle around him. Copter had a hopeless expression on his face. "This day just keeps getting better..."

As Copter and his new companion were moving through the base, they were being watched from the upper platforms. The mantis robot, Slash, and the scorpion robot, Sting, were there, and Sting was holding a walkie talkie in his claws. "That nasty fox is sneaking around in our base!" Sting reported. "And he freed one of the Flickies, too. How dare he!" Slash buzzed. Sting listened to some chatter on the walkie talkie. "Uh huh... Right... He says we gotta stop him, Slash..." he muttered. Slash whimpered. "With his voodoo magic? Well, first let's turn on all the machinery. Maybe the booby traps will trip him up!" Slash suggested, turning around and pushing a large lever in order to activate all the mechanisms that were turned off within the base.

Copter looked around in surprise as the base suddenly came to life. Before, only the turrets had been activated, but now, various other machines were active. Fans on the floor started blowing, and were so powerful that they would likely blow Copter away if he stepped over them. Electrodes on the floor started receiving power, and conveyor belts started moving as well. The activity seemed to wake up the robots in the base as well. There wasn't exactly a variety of them: there was a four legged robot with four guns mounted on each side of its body, and a goofy looking robot with a propeller on its head and pincer claws for hands, but no legs, which flew around. Copter could also see more Flickies of different colors trapped in more glass containers ahead, and his new companion flew a short distance in the direction of some of these containers, urging Copter to free the others. "I see... Well, if I'm gonna face this obstacle course anyway, someone might as well get something out of it, right?" he muttered, looking for the nearest trapped bird. "This is for the birds..." He ran ahead, straight across some electrodes on the floor. They let out some sparks, but as long as Copter kept moving, he stayed clear of the danger. Some turrets started shooting at him next, along with a robot. He dodged back and forth and tail whipped the robot, smashing it to bits, and proceeded towards the container, only to be blown upwards by a fan on the floor! "Bwaaa!! Who put this here!?" He spun his tails and flew out of the air current, then finally landed beside the container and broke it open, freeing a chubby green Flicky, who happily joined the blue one and started flying around Copter. "I'm going to hate this place... But I knew that already." he grumbled.


Meanwhile, Dimentime had found his way to what appeared to be a control hub. There were a few guards within, robots that were apparently related to this base's original purpose. One resembled a crocodile, a pair resembled black penguin robots, one resembled a mouse on wheels, and the last resembled an orange, fanged bat. None of the five robots seemed particularly dangerous, but they immediately rushed at Dimentime as he entered, so he set about fighting back, careful to avoid the croc's jaws, which appeared to be the most dangerous thing in the room. The penguins went down easily, a swift smack with his staff was all it took, and a smack with his tails dispatched the mouse next. The bat moved around a bit more erratically, so he gave it a blast of Chaos Whirlwind to knock it out of the sky. Last, a simple jump on the head took out the croc, enabling him to avoid its jaws. Dimentime noticed that a small bird popped out of each robot he destroyed: Flickies. "Odd... The other robots we've seen so far haven't contained animals... Well, better check the computers in here for any information on that shadow Copter mentioned before..." he said, sitting down at a nearby computer, not paying attention to the fact that the Flickies were keeping close to him. He did some digging through Robotnik's database, attempting to find any information that might be helpful. "Out of date files about 'Flicky Island...' Research notes about the Chaos Emeralds... Ah, here we are... Black shadow. Strange entity sighted within White Space. Origin unknown... Status unknown... Orders: Destroy on sight. Seems Robotnik doesn't like this thing..." he muttered. He noticed another recent file on the computer as well. "What's ShArc? Wait... ShArc. Shadow Arc!" he said quickly, clicking the file and looking it over hurriedly. "I think it's time for me to get moving. Feel free to tag along, birds, but keep a safe distance from danger." he said, standing up and heading out of the control hub.


Copter had wandered onto a conveyor belt, which was moving in the opposite direction from where he wanted to go, but otherwise seemed safe. He now had a red and a pink Flicky following him in addition to the blue and green ones, and it hadn't been easy freeing them. At the end of the conveyor belt was yet another trapped Flicky, but it was being guarded by Slash and Sting! "Sorry, sucker! This is as far as you go!" Slash buzzed. "Hyah ha ha!! We've got you cornered!" Sting taunted. Copter rolled his eyes and kept moving, while Slash pushed a giant lever next to the conveyor belt. It caused a device above the beginning of the conveyor belt to start dropping odd blue objects. As the conveyor belt took the objects toward Copter, and they neared him, they exploded, sending pieces of themselves flying! Copter jumped back a bit, and the Flickies started flying all over the place in a panic! "No, don't do that, you dummies! You'll set those mines off even more!" he yelped. To make matters worse, some of the base's flying robots were coming on to the conveyor belt from behind, undeterred by it, since they were airborne. Copter growled and started moving as quick as he could. "Hold... still... you... crazy... cuckoos!!" he grunted, grabbing each of the birds and tucking them under his arms as he carefully avoided the exploding mines. The robots started to attack him, but he just took off towards the other end of the conveyor belt, passing the mines and letting them take out any robots behind him! Slash and Sting exchanged worried glances as Copter approached them. "Well, let's get the heck outta here!" Slash suggested. "Y-yeah! I'll cover us! Chaaaarge!!" As the robots fled, a smokescreen was sprayed from Sting's cannon. Copter jumped off the conveyor belt and smashed open the container to free another blue Flicky. He then released the other four he was carrying and sat down to catch his breath. "Who do you birds think I am, anyway? Sonic? Well, I hope you guys are all happy..." he grumbled. The five birds all started to sing cheerfully, and Copter watched them, finding himself calm down a little. "Okay, okay... I get the point." he said, smiling a little.

Copter went off in the direction Slash and Sting fled, and soon met up with Dimentime and his band of Flickies. They had met up at what appeared to be a dead end, where there was a strange horizontal ring floating in midair, with what appeared to be a red band on it. "So, I see you found some, too." Dimentime said. Copter nodded. "I don't know what that goofy Eggman wants with these guys. They don't seem good for anything..." he said. Suddenly, Dimentime's Flickies flew towards the horizontal ring, right through the middle! They then disappeared, creating a portal inside the ring as they did! Copter stared in surprise, while Dimentime smirked. "I believe we just found their purpose. See you on the other side!" he said, jumping and diving into the portal. The portal closed behind him, but Copter's Flickies eagerly created another portal. Copter chuckled. "Figures. Well, here I go, then..."

The portal dropped them off higher up the base, about halfway up the giant Robotnik statue. There were platforms all around the front of the statue, possibly left over from its construction, and these platforms would be their road to the top. Looking around, they found someone frozen, as Razor and Amy had been before. Copter and Dimentime both groaned upon seeing who it was. "Can we just leave him?" Copter muttered. They had found Bucky the Rat, the creator of the experiments, and Copter's "father." Despite their mixed feelings, they approached their frozen creator and caused his color to return, and his life as well. "Ahh!! Hmm... Copter. Somehow, it's always you. Uhh... And now there's two of you. Well, I guess it's not surprising. My ship came under attack from that time manipulating monster. I sent the experiments on board out to fight it, but it sucked them into portals. They could be anywhere." he explained. Dimentime nodded. "Your ship is here. Dr. Robotnik is holding it." he informed him. Bucky stared at him. "Did you say Robotnik? As in Gerald Robotnik!?" he gasped. Copter held his head. "He's still dead, you idiot." he said. Bucky crossed his arms. "Well, we ARE time traveling, and I DID just awaken from suspended animation. I think you could cut me a break!" he pointed out.

With Bucky tagging along, they started on their way towards the top of the statue. "Don't overdo it, old man." Copter teased. Bucky scoffed. "Full of disrespect as always, I see." he said. As they approached a walkway, they saw that the turrets along the side were firing electricity. Bucky pointed his fingers at the turrets and fried them with electricity of his own. "There, now let's move on..." he said. "Show off..." Copter grumbled. Overhead, Slash and Sting were watching them with wide robotic eyes. "Lightning magic, now?!" Slash whined. Sting pulled out his walkie talkie again. "Boss... They let out the rat, and he looks MEAN and MAD... What do we do?" he asked nervously. Robotnik's voice came over the device. "You two are utterly useless! Fine, just keep an eye on them! I'll handle the rest myself! And I'll put some serious thought into your replacements!" he shouted. Sting glanced at Slash. "Uh... I'm sure he's just under a lot of stress..." he said. Slash glared at him. "Shut up!" he said. Below, Copter, Dimentime, and Bucky were smashing through the turret and helicopter robots with ease while navigating the precarious platforms positioned around the statue. Fortunately, all three of them were capable of flight, though the exact method allowing Bucky to fly still puzzled both Copters. Partway up, they found a small chamber leading to a sort of high speed transport tube. "Oh, I hate these things..." Copter groaned. "Less talking, more moving! I want my ship back!" Bucky said, pushing Copter in! The tube carried them inside the statue and all around before depositing them close to the top. Copter dizzily walked out of the exit chamber. "When they ask to stamp my hand so I can get back in, punch them in the face, OK, daddy..." he mumbled. Dimentime didn't look much better, but Bucky appeared fine. "Maybe you're not as strong as I thought. Pull yourself together, Experiment 2!" he said. Copter growled at him. "Why are we helping this guy?" he grumbled. Dimentime sighed. "Because he's smarter than us. We may need him somewhere down the line." he explained.

Despite their differences, they soon managed to reach the top of the statue, where the Robotnik head seemed to be holding a cigar-like tube in its teeth. The tube was another transport tube, and it appeared to be the only way forward. Copter shook his head. "No way. Smoking's bad for you." he said. Bucky growled. "Must you waste so much time!! The world could be ending from that monster's mayhem, you know!" he warned. Dimentime scoffed. "What else is new? Well, in we go, then." Dimentime curled up and rolled into the "cigar" first, followed by Copter, and then Bucky. The tube deposited them in a small room with a large, glass tube at the back. As they looked around, Bucky suddenly let out a surprised scream as he fell through a trap door! Dimentime looked worried, but Copter couldn't help smirking. "Oh, he's so much smarter than us. Well, I for one feel safer now." he said. "Really? How about now!" came the voice of Dr. Robotnik, whose Egg Mobile lowered from the ceiling, inside the glass tube! Copter ran over to attack him, but his tails merely bounced off the tube, doing no damage! "Ho ho! This tube is made of a special glass. It is bulletproof, fireproof, hedgehog-proof, and as it turns out, fox-proof!" Robotnik proclaimed. Dimentime shrugged. "No worries. He's got to be vulnerable somewhere..." he said. A pair of robotic arms were resting at the sides of the tube, and when Robotnik started manipulating the controls, the arms rose up! Each arm ended in a cannon, and it was likely that they would shoot something unpleasant. Copter glanced at Dimentime. "Any ideas? The usual weak spot's invincible." he said. Robotnik laughed at them. "You could hold still while I pound the tar out of you!" he said, moving the arms as if preparing to throw a punch. Dimentime glanced at the joints connecting the arms to the tube. "There. That's the weak spot!" he said, pointing. Copter stared blankly. "You've gotta be kidding me." he said. "Got a better idea?" Dimentime asked. Copter snickered. "Yes. Just stay out of range and taunt the nitwit." he said. Dimentime glanced at the tight space they were in. "Where?" he said, mockingly. They would have to take a chance on those joints!

Robotnik started attacking by hurling the arms at the foxes, throwing punches, flailing the arms, and even attempting to flatten them directly, but Copter and Dimentime easily dodged them. It helped that the reach of the arms still wasn't quite enough to get all the way to the end of the small room. Robotnik growled. "Grrr, hold still!! I can't pay attention to two of you at once! Oh, fine then! We'll do this the easy way! Eat this!" He maneuvered the arms so that their guns were horizontal again, and then started firing strange, blue shots rapidly! He didn't exactly aim, but he didn't really have to, as the shots started bouncing off the walls, making it very hard for Copter and Dimentime to dodge! "Ow!! Ack!! What the heck are these things!! YEOW!!" Copter yelled as the objects started pummeling him. "Never mind! Let's get him before he gets us with those arms!" Dimentime suggested. The two foxes split up, charging each side separately. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm bound to get one of you!!" Robotnik said, attempting to hit both of them with the robotic arms while still shooting the bouncy projectiles all over the place. Dimentime smacked some of the projectiles away with his staff and jumped over the arm as it came at him. As he landed back on the ground, he leapt into the air and struck the joint of the arm with his tails, causing some damage, but the arm started flailing wildly, so he fled to the other side of the room for safety's sake. Copter had a harder time reaching his target, and ended up holding on to the arm as it was swinging around, trying to smash him. "Why did I think this was a good idea!?" he said to himself. He finally jumped off, narrowly avoiding getting smashed, and hurried to the weak spot. Wasting no time, he struck it with his tails, causing the arm to go berserk. "I'm outta here!" he yelled, joining Dimentime on the other side of the room. However, in a few moments, the two arms stopped flailing and were back under Robotnik's control. They had smashed the bouncing projectiles, however, so Robotnik wasn't looking very pleased. "OK, foxes, you had your chance. Now you die!" he growled.

Robotnik made a quick adjustment with his controls, and the robotic arms started spewing flames at Copter and Dimentime! They gasped and tried to move, but Robotnik was cutting off their escape! "Ha ha ha ha ha! You honestly thought you stood a chance against me? Now your goose is cooked!" It didn't look good, but as they looked for a way out, they saw something moving above them. The Flickies were flying overhead! The ten Flickies that were trapped in the base had arrived, and now flew around the flames and in front of Robotnik, chirping angrily at him! "Hey!! What are you doing!! You're blocking my view!! Get out of the way!!" Robotnik shouted, his aim affected by the Flickies' meddling! Copter and Dimentime seized this chance, and ran for an opening in the flames. They each dashed towards a separate weak spot and leapt at it, using all their strength to smash the joints to smithereens! The arms started to fall apart, causing cracks to form in the seemingly indestructible glass tube as well! Robotnik yelped, and his troubles weren't over yet! The trap door burst open, and Bucky came flying out, sparks flying from him and a furious look on his face. "I wish to lodge a complaint with the owner of this fun house..." he growled. Robotnik gulped and started flying his Egg Mobile up the glass tube. "L-later! I have a Death Egg to prep for launch!" he stammered as he made his escape. Bucky fired his electricity, shattering the glass tube, but Robotnik had already escaped. His theatrics had startled the Flickies, and they were now flying all over the place in a panicked fashion. "Smooth move, dad, you freaked out the birds." Copter remarked. Bucky landed on the ground and looked around at them in embarrassment. "T-take it easy. Look, it's fine. I have no quarrel with you..." he said. Dimentime chuckled. "Well, I think I see your ship..." he said, pointing up at the hole in the roof where the tube led. From the looks of it, Shadow Arc was being held above. After calming down the Flickies, they flew up to the hole and headed for the ship. They would use it as a shortcut out of the base.

Bucky's ship, Shadow Arcangel, took off from the roof of Robotnik's base. It flew a short distance from there, but had to make an emergency landing within the white space. As it turned out, the engines had been damaged when the monster had taken the ship, and it was beyond Bucky's abilities to repair. However, the ship did serve a purpose, as a safe haven for the Flickies, which had tagged along for the ride. Officer Razor had also seen the emergency landing, and had boarded the ship as well. Bucky sat with his visitors in the control room, thinking on the situation. "Well, I suppose you can't stay in the white space... I will offer up my ship as a haven to you, and any who wish to use it... Provided you stay out of my business. Keep to the direct pathways. Don't wander. Stay out of my lab." he said, sounding somewhat displeased by the prospect. Razor nodded. "This isn't exactly my first choice either... But I can't very well hang out in the past places. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be here that much. But when I find my friends, they need a place to keep out of trouble." he said. "This is a place to keep out of trouble?" Copter joked. The Flickies were flying around, singing and tweeting, and it made Dimentime smile. "With these birds here, it might seem a bit more homey than it would otherwise. Take a load off here for a while, officer. Bucky won't be too much trouble without his creations." he said. Razor shrugged. "I guess." Bucky chuckled. "Just don't antagonize me. Copter... Do keep an eye out for the others. I would have them do the same for you." he said. Copter nodded. "Yeah... But would they listen?" he wondered.

Copter and Dimentime exited the ship and soon met up with Sonic and Tails. "Well, well, if it isn't the mushroom man. Find any to make you change size?" Copter joked, somewhat recalling the other Sonic he'd seen earlier. Sonic shook his head. "Nah, but I saw some robot mushrooms. Hey, is that Shadow Arc back there?" he asked. Dimentime nodded. "If anyone needs a place to hang out, Bucky could use some company. His experiments are missing." he said. Tails looked concerned. "That freaky monster must've got everybody!" he said. Sonic shrugged. "We'll worry about that later. We just saw another familiar place nearby. Looks like one of Eggman's old bases relating to a real nasty ship..." he said. Tails nodded. "I sure hope the Death Egg's not back..." Upon hearing Tails mention the Death Egg, Copter and Dimentime exchanged worried glances. "Why don't you let us go with you, Sonic? You might not like to listen to me talk, but I know some stuff that might help out here." Copter said. Sonic shrugged. "Tag along if you can keep up! We're on our way!!" he said, taking off for the next area at high speed, with Tails following by flight. Copter and Dimentime shrugged and followed Tails's example, unsure if teaming up with Sonic would really be the best idea...


Chapter 5 - Escape the Ice
Stage - Launch Base, Ice Cap - Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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

"Never, never give up! Never give up the fight!
Never, never give up! Never give up the fight!
No matter how tough it gets for us,
I know we can make it through.
Long as we keep standing tall, working together, oh!" - Never Give Up, Sonic Underground


Sonic, Tails, Copter and Dimentime had arrived at Launch Base Zone, a headquarters built by Dr. Robotnik on Angel Island in the past which had apparently been pulled into the white space by the monster, much like the other places. The base was centered around a massive structure, which was actually a battleship, or possibly a space station. They all stood there gawking at the ship for a moment. "No way! I never thought I'd see THAT again!" Sonic remarked. "It's the Death Egg! Could Eggman have rebuilt it?" Tails wondered. As Sonic and Tails discussed the situation, Copter and Dimentime turned around and talked amongst themselves. "This is worse than I thought. Who knew Eggman was capable of such a monstrosity?" Copter whispered. "Well, I've heard stories. His grandfather made one heck of a super weapon, too. It must run in his family." Dimentime said. Suddenly, a large shadow was cast over them, and they heard a fiendish chuckle. "Welcome... I've been expecting you!" Dr. Robotnik had found them, and he was piloting a machine with giant arms attached and spikes protecting its roof! "Care to shake hands with Big Arm? Maybe you'd like a high five for blowing up my Chemical Plant! Now I need a new source of power before my Death Egg can launch! But I see the mere sight of it has Sonic and Tails distracted..." he chuckled deviously. Copter and Dimentime gasped with alarm and glanced back at Sonic and Tails, who were still gawking at the Death Egg, Sonic even throwing rocks at it. "Sonic! Eggman!!" Copter shouted, but it was too late! Big Arm came swinging its giant arm at them, slapping the entire group high into the air and far into the distance with a single slap! "So long, friends! Send me a post card from wherever you wind up!" Robotnik chuckled. However, some rapidly approaching footsteps suddenly caught his attention. Turning around, he saw Classic Sonic arrive! The younger hedgehog waved to him and then winked smugly. "S-s-sonic!? Errr... Right... Sonic. I don't have time for you, you pest! Good bye!" he said, taking off for the Death Egg in a hurry, seeming to realize that this wasn't the same Sonic he'd just flung away. Classic Sonic shrugged and sped after him, eager to mess up Robotnik's plans yet again! "Grr... Sting! Launch the Death Egg! We'll have to make do with what power we have! I've got company, and I'd like to ditch him if possible..." Robotnik shouted over Big Arm's communicator.

Sonic, Tails, Copter, and Dimentime were knocked far, far into the distance. Robotnik had even knocked them clear out of Launch Base Zone, and they found themselves hurtling towards another place with its color partially drained! As they screamed and shouted, they plummeted into the middle of this new area, landing in a pile of snow! "Ooof!! Tails... Did you get the license number...?" Sonic mumbled after he pulled his head out of the snow. Copter and Dimentime groaned and looked around as they climbed out of the snow. "Uhhh... Tails?" Copter muttered. Dimentime looked thoughtful. "It appears he landed somewhere else." he said. Sonic frowned and looked around. They had landed in an area that appeared to be completely walled off, except for a cave, the only apparent exit. "I'd better find him quick, then! There's no telling what kinda trouble he might have landed in!" he said, dashing for the cave entrance too fast for the others to follow. "Hey! Wait for us!" Copter yelled. Sonic ignored him, but stopped suddenly as a blast of icy air blew down from the roof of the cave! "Whoa!! Hey... This seems familiar..." he muttered with irritation, looking up. There was a device on the ceiling poised to freeze anyone who might enter, and more were positioned throughout the cave. Copter and Dimentime spotted them as they caught up. "We'll have to move slowly and carefully around them." Dimentime suggested. Sonic groaned. "Great. My favorite activity..." he said sarcastically. As they were entering the cave, someone was watching them from the top of the walls surrounding the area they landed in. It was a young, red echidna. "Hmmm... Trespassers... How'd they get down there!? Well, one of them looks like Sonic... He might have sped in without me noticing..." he said to himself thoughtfully, "I've never seen those other two before. They don't look trustworthy. I'd better catch them and see if they know anything about how all the color is disappearing from Angel Island, or why I can't get to parts of the island..." He jumped down and grabbed the wall, quickly climbing to the bottom so he could follow them. "I'll catch them or drive them off. This island is MY responsibility, and outsiders have no business here!"

Sonic had soon realized that they had been thrown to Ice Cap Zone, another area of Angel Island. It was a system of icy caves and the snowy areas outside them, but despite all the cold, they still managed to find a lake of unfrozen water to block their way. There were some blocks of ice floating in the water that they could use to cross, but round robots surrounded by spiky chunks of ice rotating around them were hovering over the lake. These robots were called Star Pointers, and although they were slow, they were hovering in places that would make it difficult to jump between the ice blocks. Copter dipped a finger into the water and shivered. "Well, swimming's out..." he muttered. Sonic stared at him. "Uh, yeah... I'll say." he muttered, not bothering to mention the fact that he couldn't even swim at all. Dimentime shrugged. "Just use the platforms. Maybe Chaos Whirlwind will take care of the robots..." he suggested. Copter tried it on the nearest Star Pointer, but it quickly rearranged its icy spikes to block the wind, protecting itself! Sonic frowned. "Seriously? Geez, why'd Eggman stop using these, they work better than what he has now..." he remarked. So, they had no choice but to cross the water with the Star Pointers there, and as they stepped on the ice blocks, they started to sink under their weight, so they had to move fast to avoid falling in the freezing water! Sonic provided some help, taking out the Star Pointers through any gaps that would arise in their defense using his homing attack. However, not far away, the echidna was approaching a switch concealed behind an icy boulder. "I'll fish those intruders out of the water! Ha! This should take the fight out of them!" he said, stepping on the switch. This caused a tremor in the cave. Looking up, Dimentime saw that the large icicles on the ceiling were starting to fall towards them! "Look out!!" he shouted. Copter yelped and took to the air, flying out of the path of the icicles and the Star Pointers, while Sonic jumped up and bounced off the sides of the icicles as they approached, using them to speed up his trip to the other side of the lake! Dimentime calmly jumped from ice block to ice block, evading the obstacles as he went. The icicles ended up mostly hitting the Star Pointers, destroying them and enabling Copter and Dimentime to reach the other side with ease. The echidna watched this and growled with frustration. "That wasn't supposed to happen!! Oh, well... Those robots were a menace, anyway..." he muttered.

On the other side, they found a bunch of Penguinator robots, which were blue penguin robots that usually attacked by sliding on their bellies. Sonic shrugged. "OK, these guys should be no problem." he said. However, before they could do anything about the robots, the black shadow Copter had seen at the Chemical Plant flew onto the scene! It immediately started attacking the Penguinators, sending them into a panic, dropping onto their bellies and flailing wildly in a futile effort to escape! Sonic watched this and growled. "I know I was gonna trash the robots myself... But there's something about this shadow that I just don't like! Hold it right there!" he shouted, running at the shadow and launching a homing attack at it! The shadow chuckled and took the attack, but somehow repelled it, sending Sonic flying backwards! "Whooooa-ooof!!" Sonic landed on his back and lied there, dazed, while the black shadow started to escape! "Oh, no ya don't!" Copter shouted as he and Dimentime took off after it, ignoring the robots and traps along the way as the black shadow led them to a whited out portion of Ice Cap. "Where do you think you're going, creepy?" Copter growled, jumping after the shadow as he neared it, but failing to catch it and falling over. The shadow stopped at a white statue. It was someone who had been frozen, just like Bucky, Razor and Amy. Dimentime raised his staff threateningly. "Back away from the statue. I'm warning you..." he said. The shadow chuckled, and then spoke! "Exactly how are you planning to stop me? Fool..." Dimentime gasped and backed away as the shadow dove into the statue's shadow, laughing manically before fading away! Copter stood up and glanced at Dimentime, scratching his head. "What's with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." he said. Dimentime looked at Copter and then at the statue. "Errr, uh... Is... Is that Punchy over there?" he said hurriedly. Copter turned to face the statue. Sure enough, Punchy the Echidna was frozen in a colorless state. "Well, well. Here he is on Angel Island. Figures." Copter smirked.

Before they could free Punchy, the red echidna emerged from the direction they had come from. "All right! That's enough, foxes! I want some answers!" he growled. Copter glanced at him with surprise. "Hey... Is that Knuckles...?" he said in bewilderment. Dimentime nodded. "It appears to be his younger self." he pointed out. Classic Knuckles paid no attention to what they were saying. "Listen up! I watch over this island, and I've been watching you. You look like troublemakers to me, and I bet you know something about what's happening to this island! So, you're gonna tell me! Right now!" he insisted. Copter rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for this! Mind your own business!" he snapped. Dimentime shook his head. "I don't think it'll help to aggravate him..." he sighed. Knuckles raised his fists in preparation for a fight, but stopped as he heard footsteps rapidly approaching. "Huh... You got reinforcements... Grrr..." Classic Knuckles quickly jumped up and started gliding away, escaping from sight just as Sonic arrived. The hedgehog stopped in front of Copter and Dimentime. "Hey... Where's that shadow? Did it get away?" he asked, looking around. Dimentime nodded. "It vanished... But we found someone." he said, pointing at Punchy. Sonic frowned and shrugged. "Ugh... Even grouchier version of Knuckles... Maybe I should go the rest of the way by myself..." he grumbled. Copter chuckled. "Maybe I should, too... But we better unfreeze him anyway." Sonic and Copter approached the statue, and it quickly came to life, Punchy's fur regaining its bright green color! Punchy groaned and stretched out his arms. "Argh... I feel so stiff... Who did this to me!? Let's get him!!" he growled. Copter and Sonic jokingly pointed at each other, and Dimentime bonked Copter over the head with his staff. "Don't joke around! He may be very much confused at the moment." he said. Punchy stared dumbfoundedly at Dimentime. "Uhhhh... Must be a long story... Just give me the latest update..." he muttered. "We're lookin' for Tails and a way outta here." Sonic said, glancing around for the way forward. Copter took Punchy aside. "You might see a mini Knuckles around here, too. Time travel." he whispered. Punchy groaned. "My head hurts... Let's get outta here fast." he said. Sonic pointed up at some platforms leading up the side of the wall. "We'll go up and out! Maybe Tails is outside the cave! Try to keep up!" he said, jumping up from platform to platform quickly! Dimentime was right behind him, while Copter and Punchy proceeded a bit slower. "Sheesh, I only just got reanimated! But no big deal, right?" Punchy grumbled.

They all caught up at an area where the next platform was across a long chasm. There was a platform in front of them too high to get on top of, with large icicles hanging from it. On the other side of the chasm, Slash and Sting were waiting for them. "Nya nya nya-nya nya! You can't get us!" Sting teased them. "But we can get you!" Slash shouted. Sonic scratched his head. "Do I know those robots? They look kinda familiar, but then they don't..." he muttered. Copter groaned. "If it isn't dumb and dumber... Sonic, could you smash them, please?" he asked. Sting suddenly started shooting a laser at them from across the chasm, while Slash began tossing his sickle arms at them, which would come back to him like boomerangs so he could toss them again! Punchy growled as he dodged a laser blast. "How are we going to get over there?" he groaned. Sonic smirked and jumped at an icicle, grabbing it and shimmying around in order to position himself to jump and grab another icicle! Copter, Punchy and Dimentime stared at him with their mouths hanging open. "Sure, you can do that and survive. WE aren't fast enough!" Copter protested. Dimentime frowned. "We'll have to try. At least we can fly." he said. Punchy groaned. "I can't even glide! I missed that day in echidna school!" he whined. "Actually, that's normal for echidnas, I think!" Dimentime said as he jumped on to an icicle. As they jumped from icicle to icicle and desperately attempted to dodge Slash and Sting, a new problem arose. Slash started aiming for the icicles with his sickles, which was damaging them and making them loose! As Copter grabbed on to a loose icicle, it broke and started to fall! "Aaaack!!" Copter quickly let go and started flying, grabbing on to the next stable icicle and gasping to catch his breath. "I'll kill those bots!" he whimpered. Even worse, there was someone on the platform above them. Classic Knuckles was there, and he was fully aware of their situation. "This'll either soften them up for capture, or chase them off the island... Going down!!" he said, moving around and punching at the ground hard in an effort to knock the icicles below loose! Some of the icicles did start to shake, and they realized something had to be done fast, before they all ended up plummeting!

Punchy had had enough, and jumped towards the edge of the platform with the icicles so that he could climb on top of it. Once there, he spotted Classic Knuckles punching the ground. "Hey, red! Cut it out!" he shouted. Knuckles glanced at him with surprise. "Huh!? Wha... An echidna!? But... I'm the last echidna... Aren't I?" he muttered. Punchy raised an eyebrow. "You need to get out more." he said. Knuckles shook his head. "Never mind! It's my duty to protect this island, and I'll protect it from ALL intruders!" he shouted. Punchy nodded. "Uh huh... While I protect the Master Emerald, right?" he smirked. Knuckles gasped. "Wha... You're after the Master Emerald!? Grr, I should have known! Take this!!" he shouted, hurling a punch at Punchy! It took Punchy off guard and knocked him back a bit, but Knuckles's younger self wasn't as strong as he would be in the future. "Bah, calm down before you hurt yourself. I just... uh..." Punchy realized that picking a fight with a past version of someone might be bad for history, but now he was in a predicament. As Knuckles hit him again, he instinctively tried to punch back, but the younger Knuckles was more nimble, and dodged him! Punchy grew frustrated and swung at him again, only to be counterattacked! "Ooof!! Darn you! Cut it out! I'm not here to take the Master Emerald!! Errr... I said protect!" he said, trying to talk Knuckles down. Knuckles scoffed. "Yeah, right. Protect it from what?" he asked. Suddenly, Slash and Sting ran by, screaming. "Sonic's gonna smash us!! Heeeeelp!!" they whined. Punchy grinned and pointed at them hastily. "Them! They're the goons who're after the Master Emerald!" he shouted. Knuckles glanced at them as they passed. "Dr. Robotnik's robots! He might be telling the truth! Hey you bots! Come back here!!" he yelled, chasing after the robots! As Knuckles and the robots disappeared deeper into the cave, Sonic, Copter and Dimentime reached the platform. "Well, we made it! Um... What were you doing here, Punchy?" Sonic asked. Punchy shrugged. "Bridging the generation gap with the locals. Now what's next?" he asked. Suddenly, they heard a sound coming from deeper in the cave. It sounded like Tails's voice, and it sounded like he was shouting! Sonic glanced in the direction of his voice. "Hang on, buddy! I'm coming!" he said, taking off! Copter, Punchy and Dimentime were right behind him.

As they headed through the cave, they came to an area where pillars of ice were crashing up and down against the ground over and over. There were more robots around as well, so the area was pretty dangerous. "What's up with those pillars?" Copter wondered. Sonic shrugged. "Must be traps set by Knuckles. He used to REALLY hate visitors..." he remembered. Punchy nodded. "He's as bad as Eggman. In a primitive way." he said. They made their way through the cave, carefully timing the crashing ice pillars, then taking on the robots. The penguinators were no problem, and Punchy's Chaos Avalanche easily took care of the Star Pointers as well, though not before some of them tossed their spiky ice chunks at them! However, the ice chunks seemed to defy gravity, moving incredibly slowly through the air, and were rather easy to dodge. "I take it back... These guys stink." Sonic muttered as he watched an ice chunk inch through the air. They soon came to an ice block at the beginning of a steep slope, which seemed to lead to a dead end. "Well, now what?" Punchy groaned. Sonic chuckled. "All aboard the ice cube express!" he said, motioning for everyone to hop on the ice block. Punchy shrugged and hopped on, followed by Dimentime, but Copter hesitated. "Are you all nuts!? Don't you see where he's going with this! He'll kill us!!" he shouted. Punchy shrugged. "When has he been wrong?" he said. Copter growled a little. "Weeeell..." he started to speak, but Sonic shoved him onto the ice block. "Don't answer that! Just keep your arms and legs in the block at all times! Away we goooo!" he shouted, giving the block a push and starting it down the slope at high speed, quickly boarding it along with the others! They started to scream as it neared the wall, but when it struck, the wall crumbled, and they rode the block further down the slope out of the cave before tumbling into a snow bank! As Sonic struggled to pull himself out of the deep snow, someone reached out and offered his hand. "I gotcha, Sonic!" Looking up, Sonic could see that it was Tails!

Once everyone climbed out of the snow, they learned why Tails was shouting. "I was bouncing on these crazy trampoline-like platforms... You remember, Sonic? They're platforms held up by loose chains or something like that... It can be scary because it sends you really high..." he said. Copter shrugged. "Well, we just sledded through a solid wall. How's that for scary?" he grumbled. Sonic chuckled. "Well, anyway, I think it's time we got outta here. We owe somebody for smacking us into here!" he said. The five of them set out right away, and soon started crossing an icy bridge. However, Slash and Sting were waiting for them there. "Hold it you! You guys think you can terrorize us and get away with it!?" Slash buzzed. Tails scratched his head. "Uh... Do we know you?" he asked. "Don't play dumb! Now we're gonna get you! We brought backup! Hyah ha ha!!" Sting laughed. Behind Slash and Sting, a big, round robot with two electrodes by its head and one on its underside was floating in the air. It had a gray body, and a face somewhat resembling a snowman's. The electrodes soon started buzzing, causing a number of balls of ice to float over and rotate around the robot! Sonic scratched his head, looking somewhat annoyed. "Yeah, this definitely looks familiar..." he said. Punchy raised his fists. "Big deal! We've got you outnumbered! That thing doesn't stand a chance!" he said. Not far away, on the other side of the bridge, Classic Knuckles was watching them. "Now I've got you all! I don't trust a single one of you, and this should fix you all, or at least take the fight out of you so I can toss you off the island myself! Ha ha ha!" he chuckled, pressing a nearby switch which seemed to cause all of Ice Cap Zone to start shaking! Looking around, Sonic and the others on the bridge noticed that they were positioned below the slope of a mountain, and the mountain was rumbling violently! What was worse, the bridge suddenly started collapsing! "Waaaah!! Save us, backup!!" Slash and Sting whined as they fell along with Sonic, Tails, Copter, Punchy and Dimentime!

They landed in the canyon below the bridge, and found five snowboards waiting for them. "This is all TOO convenient..." Copter muttered. Dimentime quickly grabbed one of the boards. "Don't bother questioning it! An avalanche is about to start!" he shouted. "Don't look at me! Not my fault!" Punchy said as he grabbed a board. Sonic chuckled and jumped right on to a board as the avalanche began! "Woo hoo!! Meet you at the bottom guys!!" he shouted. Slash screamed and jumped on Sting's back. "Do something!! Anything!!" he yelped. Sting retracted his legs and started to function as a snowboard, making Slash sigh in relief. "That's good, but turn around!" he buzzed, flipping Sting over and using his stinger cannon to aim at Sonic and the others as they snowboarded down the mountain. "We can still blast those pests!" They started by firing at Tails, but he was fairly experienced at snowboarding, too, and he dodged the blast with ease! "You gotta do better than that! Ha ha!" he teased. However, Slash and Sting weren't on their own. The ice robot they had brought as backup sped on to the scene, and started hurling its ice balls at the boarders! Dimentime in particular found himself having trouble. He blocked the ice balls with his staff, but he wasn't doing well with his board, being the least experienced boarder there. Tails moved over and swatted some of the ice balls aside with his tails, defending Dimentime. "We've gotta stop that robot!" he shouted. "Way ahead of ya! Chaos Avalanche!" Punchy shouted, tossing balls of snow at the robot using the power of chaos. It slowed the robot down a little, but it kept coming! However, it had dropped its ice balls and needed time to gather more! "Uh, oh... Slash! We gotta defend our backup!" Sting shouted. While Slash and Sting attempted to shoot at them, Copter moved in, evading their shots and skillfully jumping and giving the robot a tail whip, knocking it back a bit more before landing on his board again! "Heh... I sure learned a lot at the Winter Olympics!" he chuckled. Sonic slowed his descent next, cutting in front of Slash and Sting and causing them to wipe out! "Whaaaaa!!! I hate that hedgehog!" Slash yelped. Sonic then jumped and gave the larger robot a homing attack, sending it crashing into the avalanche! With the robots out of commission, the five snowboarders hurried to the bottom of the slope, escaping the avalanche and reaching the exit of Ice Cap Zone. As they left the pile of snow created by the avalanche behind, however, two metal heads popped out of the snow. "Oooooohhh... We made it..." Sting groaned. "You wanna tell the boss Sonic got away? I don't feel so good..." Slash whined.

With the exit in sight, Sonic and Tails were ready to go. "C'mon! Let's get to a warmer climate!" Sonic said. Tails nodded. "I'm eager to find out what exactly sent us here in the first place..." he said. The others were about to follow, but Punchy hesitated, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. Classic Knuckles had seen them escape, and was heading for a wall in the mountain. He pressed a seemingly normal spot on the wall, and a secret passage opened up! "Hey, guys... Where's he going?" Punchy said, getting Copter and Dimentime's attention. Copter shrugged. "Who cares? He can't really get anywhere without going through the white space, can he?" he figured. Punchy glanced at him. "Pretend I don't know anything about what's going on. Because I don't. Anyway, maybe we should follow him. He knows Angel Island better than anyone. Maybe he'd lead us somewhere useful." he suggested. Dimentime sighed. "It would be futile, and we don't have time. We really must be going." he said. Copter groaned. "Where?! Back to the place where we got slapped by Eggman!? That was part of Angel Island anyway, so maybe Punchy has a point!" he said. Dimentime shook his head. "Copter, the Death Egg..." he said. "Is just a diversion! You know the big picture, don't you? What about that black shadow? Why won't you tell me about it? Hm? Give me some answers, already!!" Copter snapped. Dimentime backed away slightly. "So... you don't trust me?" he asked. Copter crossed his arms and glanced at Punchy. "Hmmm... Let's go. Maybe we'll find more of our friends along the way. Following this Doomsayer wannabe is just gonna get us both killed." he decided, taking off in the direction of the secret passage. Punchy nodded. "Never trust a guy in a cloak..." he grumbled. Dimentime glared at them. "Fine! But whatever happens to your time is on your head! I'll try to handle this myself!" he said, stepping out of Ice Cap Zone and into white space. Looking around, he saw another part of Angel Island a distance away, one that was normally high in the clouds. "That might be the way to go... Hopefully Copter comes to his senses before it's too late!"


Chapter 6 - The Death Egg Rises
Stage - Hidden Palace, Sky Sanctuary, Death Egg - Sonic & Knuckles

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

"We have to learn to fight!
Learn to overcome!
Resist with all our might!
Learn to overcome!
And we can make things right,
If we learn to overcome!" - Learn to Overcome, Sonic Underground


Copter and Punchy followed the secret passage a long way, finding themselves in a strange cavern where the walls seemed to be made of a sort of blue stone. Ahead of them, they could see an entrance to a sort of underground building. "This must be where Knuckles is heading..." Copter said. Punchy looked in wonder as they approached the building. "...What is this place...?" he muttered. They wandered into the Hidden Palace, and after some exploration, they came across a strange red sphere. "No sign of Knuckles... What do you suppose this thing is?" Copter wondered. Punchy stared at it for a moment. Somehow, he seemed to know. He jumped on top of it. "Hey, what are you doing!?" Copter shouted as a bright red light started to surround Punchy. "Follow me!" Punchy said as he disappeared into a tunnel above! Copter gulped and climbed onto the red sphere. "You better know what you're doing, Punchy..." he growled. In a moment, he was transported to a similar sphere in the room above, where Punchy was already waiting. "There's something strangely familiar about this place..." Punchy muttered. Copter shrugged. "That's just your clone memories talking..." he said. Punchy glared at him. "WHAT was that?!" he growled. "Errr... Nothing..." Copter muttered, realizing that he'd brought up a sore subject for Punchy. They continued into the next room, a large chamber with a big mural on the wall, showing what appeared to be a shining hedgehog in battle with a sort of giant carrying a huge gem. Copter and Punchy glanced at the mural and looked puzzled. "Is that... No, it couldn't be..." Copter muttered. "Intruders!! How did you find your way into my Hidden Palace!?" Copter and Punchy were startled as Classic Knuckles stormed into the room, glaring furiously at them! "So, you ARE after the Master Emerald, aren't you?" Knuckles yelled, raising his fists. Punchy scratched his head. "What do you mean? This isn't the Master Emerald shrine..." he muttered. Copter shrugged. "What good is reasoning with Knuckles? We'll have to subdue him!" he said. Knuckles growled. "Bring it on! I'll take you both!" he shouted.

Knuckles came at them, flinging his fists furiously! Copter jumped out of the way while Punchy started getting pummeled by the young Knuckles like before. "Argh!! Why you little!!" he took a few swings at him, but Knuckles jumped and glided out of the way! Copter ran at him and smacked him with a tail whip, but Knuckles blocked the attack! "Heh, not bad! Now try this!" he said, curling into a spin dash and charging at them! Copter flew out of the way while Punchy dove hastily. While Knuckles was getting up, Copter took advantage of the opening. "Chaos Whirlwind!" The chaotic wind took Knuckles by surprise and blew him into the wall, causing him to land on his back! He started to climb back up, but before they could resume fighting, they heard a crash coming from the next room! Classic Knuckles gasped. "No, not again! It can't be!!" he shouted, running for the next room. Punchy watched him in confusion. "Can't be what?" he wondered as he and Copter gave chase. In the next room, they found a large shrine with crystal pedestals, shaped to house huge gems. Inside one at the center was a truly massive green gem. "The Master Emerald!?" Punchy gasped. Suddenly, an Egg Mobile emerged, with a claw attached to the bottom, enabling it to lift the Master Emerald out of its pedestal! Piloting the Egg Mobile was none other than the EggRobo known as Robo-Robotnik! "Stop!! Put that emerald down!!" Knuckles shouted. Robo-Robotnik chuckled menacingly. "Ah, Knuckles, we meet again! Sorry, but the Death Egg needs a new power source. You can thank these fools for destroying our Chemical Plant!" he explained. Knuckles shook his fist at Robo-Robotnik. "You!! I should have known you wouldn't stay destroyed! Come back here!!" he shouted, chasing Robo-Robotnik as he carried the Master Emerald into the next hall. Copter and Punchy gave chase and watched as Knuckles jumped up and grabbed the Master Emerald. "Don't do that!!" Punchy groaned, his cloned memories seeming to warn him of something. Robo-Robotnik pushed a switch on the Egg Mobile, and a pair of electrodes emerged from the vehicle and gave Knuckles a powerful shock, knocking him away from the Master Emerald! "Aaaaaargh!! I can't believe I fell for that AGAIN!!" Knuckles groaned. Copter ran at the Egg Mobile and attempted to hit it with a tail whip, but Robo-Robotnik quickly started to fly away! "Adieu, my furry friends! Enjoy my parting gift!" he said. Suddenly, an explosion took out the floor below them, and the three of them plummeted down into the darkness below!


Meanwhile, Dimentime was at Sky Sanctuary Zone, a beautiful garden sanctuary hanging high in the clouds, one of the highest points of Angel Island. Despite the apparent lack of power, the Death Egg had somehow managed to take off anyway, and Dimentime was desperately trying to climb high enough to get on board. It wasn't easy, because as the Death Egg took off, it had released a multitude of EggRobos on Sky Sanctuary, and they were making the trip more hazardous than it normally would be, but Dimentime was getting close despite their interference. As he charged towards the Death Egg, which was still somewhat low, a swarm of EggRobos flew at him, firing their lasers, which had been modified to shoot three beams at a time! Dimentime gracefully dodged the beams without missing a beat, and smashed the robots with his staff as he passed by! "I don't have time for all this nonsense! I've got to catch that giant disco ball!" he growled. He sped up and ran around a walkway as it spiraled around a tower, the walkway collapsing behind him as he went! He climbed higher and higher, and leapt towards the Death Egg when he was as close as he could get. He twirled his tails rapidly, flying with all his might, and managed to grab on to the edge of an entrance to the massive, Robotnik-shaped ship! "Whew..." he sighed as he climbed aboard, glancing down at Sky Sanctuary when he was safely inside. "I guess I'm on my own. I don't think Sonic made it. Probably too busy smashing every robot in sight..." he muttered. As he was about to turn around and start exploring the Death Egg, Dimentime was startled as he saw something heading his way. It was the black shadow! It flew up from Sky Sanctuary Zone and blasted into the Death Egg, laughing as it blew past him! "You! What are you doing here?! Never mind... You won't get away from me this time!" Dimentime shouted, chasing the shadow into the Death Egg. "Come back here! I'll... I'll tell Robotnik you're trespassing!!" he shouted, though he quickly realized he might as well save his breath and concentrate on the chase.


Copter, Punchy, and Classic Knuckles slowly climbed to their feet. They had landed in a chamber of the Hidden Palace far below the Master Emerald's room, and it seemed to be a dead end with no way out. "Ugh... Copter, do you think you can fly back up?" Punchy asked. Copter groaned. "What am I, a jetpack?" he said. Classic Knuckles looked around and felt a nearby wall. "Let's see... I'm a little disoriented, but... Here!" he said. Copter and Punchy glanced at him as he threw a punch at the wall, reducing it to rubble! There was a hidden room on the other side! Knuckles motioned for them to follow. "Come on! We've gotta get the Master Emerald back!" he said, hurrying into the next room. Copter and Punchy stared in surprise, but followed him. He seemed a little beat up, but Knuckles led them to another red sphere like the one used to teleport them into the Hidden Palace earlier. "This way!" he said, jumping onto it. As the teleporter carried him off, Punchy quickly followed. "Ugh, this again? The last one made me feel queasy..." Copter groaned before following the echidnas. The teleporter dropped them off at Sky Sanctuary Zone, where they saw the Death Egg hanging in the sky! "Whoa... That Master Emerald worked fast..." Copter muttered. Punchy scratched his head. "No way! They must have stolen the emerald for something else!" he said. Knuckles growled. "There's not much time! We've gotta catch that ship before it gets out of range!" he said, hurrying to a gap ahead of them and gliding across in order to press a switch on the other side, extending a bridge. "Hurry!" he shouted. Though he was weak, Classic Knuckles led the way as Copter and Punchy ran through Sky Sanctuary. It was still crawling with EggRobos, and there were a few EggRobos that were firing missiles from their heads instead of lasers! Using Chaos Whirlwind, Copter managed to knock back the missiles, causing them to explode harmlessly on the ground, while Knuckles and Punchy attacked the robots as they passed by, though many of the robots kept flying out of range and kept shooting at them! "Grrr... Never mind these guys! We've gotta keep moving!" Knuckles said, running ahead without paying the robots any mind. Punchy sighed. "That plane of yours would be good right about now, Copt!" he said. Copter groaned. "It needs a tow truck!" he yelled.

They kept moving, going across an unstable bridge as it collapsed behind them! They approached a tower, and as they did, some birds flew out of it in a panic. Behind them, an EggRobo burst out for a surprise attack! "Outta my way!!" Knuckles shouted, smashing right through the robot with his fist before it could attack! Inside the tower, they found a spring to send them up through an opening at the top of the tower! Once there, they couldn't spot anything to land on! "Aaaah!! What now!?" Copter yelled. Knuckles moved towards a cloud in front of the tower, and as he landed on it, he bounced off of it! Copter stared in surprise as he fell back into the tower and landed back on the spring, but Punchy caught on fast enough to bounce off another cloud. Copter followed behind them, bouncing from cloud to cloud to get higher up until they arrived at a platform with a spherical teleporter like the ones at the Hidden Palace. "I hope this takes us high enough..." Punchy said. Copter nodded. "Yeah, 'cuz this whole place is making me nauseous..." he whined. They hopped on the teleporter and arrived at a much higher platform, but they were still nowhere near the Death Egg. "No!! We'll never make it..." Knuckles growled. Copter scanned the sky for any way to catch up, when his ears caught a familiar sound. "Huh... That sounds like... Naw, it couldn't be..." he muttered. Punchy heard it, too. "A plane engine?" he said. Classic Knuckles pointed to the source of the sound. "Look! Over there!" It was Classic Tails piloting an old model of the Tornado, with red paint and gray wings! He was heading in their direction. "Hey, guys! Need a ride?" he asked as he neared them. Copter and Punchy glanced at each other and nodded, jumping on the wings of his plane, while Knuckles remained behind. "Uhhh... I guess it's up to you. Bring back the Master Emerald, OK?" he said. Punchy nodded. "Errr... You can count on me!" he said. "Next stop, the Death Egg!" Classic Tails announced. However, as they set their course, a swarm of EggRobos took off after them, some firing missiles at them! "Yikes! Evasive maneuvers!" Tails yelped. Copter groaned. "No, not that! Keep her steady! We'll handle this!" he begged, but Tails started moving the plane to avoid the missiles anyway, forcing Copter and Punchy to hold on. "Next time, we take a bus!!" Punchy yelled.

Below them, Sonic was nearing the top of Sky Sanctuary Zone. He homing attacked a few EggRobos, and then started dashing across a collapsing bridge before reaching a set of springs. The springs led him to another platform, and that led him to the highest point in the area, where he could see the Death Egg clearly, but he had no hope of reaching it. "Darn... Guess I missed my flight... Hmmm... How am I at long jumping?" he wondered, recalling that he'd made the jump once before. He backed up and built up speed before leaping towards the Death Egg... but it was no use! He started to fall, screaming in his panic, but his jump carried him far. He fell right out of Sky Sanctuary and landed on the soft ground of white space. "Whew... That was close... I'll never go bungee jumping without a bungee again... Maybe." he said to himself. Looking around, he spotted a statue near the exit from Sky Sanctuary, another familiar face. He ran over to set his friend free. The statue glowed, color was restored, and Modern Knuckles the echidna started to move! "Thanks for the help, not that I needed it! But it's good to have my Sanctuary back!" he said, glancing at Sky Sanctuary and seeing that its color had been restored. Sonic crossed his arms, but then gave Knuckles a thumbs up. "Sure, Knuckles. But the job's only half done. The Death Egg's floating around there again!" he explained. Knuckles stared at him. "WHAT!? That's crazy talk!" he shouted. Not having time to discuss it, Sonic looked around. Ahead, he saw a big, menacing looking door floating in the white space. "Excuse me, Knux... I think I've found something worth checking out..." he said, running off. "Hey, wait!! What about my Sanctuary!?" Knuckles shouted. As he watched Sonic go, Classic Sonic dashed past him as well. "Huh, wha!?" Knuckles gasped as he saw him. "...TWO Sonics...?" he muttered as he saw Classic Sonic follow Modern Sonic through the door. He shook his head and nodded. "Hold it right there, Sonic! You're not leaving me out of this one!" he said, running off for the door as well. He might be a bit late, but he wouldn't miss whatever was about to happen for the world!


Classic Tails managed to find an opening in the Death Egg large enough to fly the Tornado inside. He brought it in for a landing, and he, Copter and Punchy hopped off the plane to begin looking around. "OK, we've gotta get the Master Emerald and put this thing outta commission!" Copter said. Punchy crossed his arms. "We know that, Copt. Why do you gotta state the obvious." he grumbled. Classic Tails sighed. "Let's not fight. I'm sure there are plenty of robots to fight with us! Let's try to find Sonic! He should be here already. He'll help us!" he suggested. Copter shrugged. "Yeah, sure, keep your eyes peeled for anyone. Let's just try to get the job done as fast as we can. This place makes me REAL uncomfortable..." he muttered.

Meanwhile, Sonic was walking down a long hallway with a mirror on one wall. He thought perhaps it was a trick mirror, because the Sonic in the mirror looked different than himself. He seemed shorter, younger even. Halfway through the room, Sonic stopped to check himself in the mirror. He stroked his quills, checked his teeth, and patted his belly, which seemed a bit chubbier in the mirror. Something definitely seemed off, so he banged on the mirror a little. Suddenly, a voice called out to him from the next room. "Take a good look at yourself, Sonic!" He recognized the voice immediately. "Dr. Eggman!?" he gasped, looking in the direction of the next room. He didn't notice that his "reflection" was still staring at him, shocked that he was no longer acting like a reflection. "It's the last look you'll get before I close your eyes forever! Hoo hoo hoo ho!" Eggman laughed, daring the hedgehogs to come after him. The smaller Sonic decided not to dwell on his doppelganger, and took off for the next room, finally catching the taller Sonic's attention. "Another Sonic!? What!?! Wait a second!!" Modern Sonic gasped, hesitating in his surprise before rushing to follow Classic Sonic. However, as Classic Sonic passed the door, it closed behind him, and Modern Sonic ran straight into it! "Ooof!!" he grunted. As he stood up, he looked around. "I'd better find another way in there, quick!" he decided. "Hey, Sonic!!" shouted Knuckles, who had just arrived. "Did I miss the fireworks?" he asked. Sonic shook his head. "Nope, but I'm missing 'em! Or... one of me, anyway... C'mon, I'll fill you in on the way!" he said, dashing off in search of another way to catch up with Classic Sonic. On the other side of the door, Classic Sonic ran to the edge of the hall, nearly tripping over it, but falling backward onto his rear instead. An elevator rose up, bringing a giant robot to meet him. It was a robot resembling Dr. Robotnik himself, only huge, and much more dangerous than an EggRobo, the Death Egg Robot! Classic Sonic jumped onto the elevator, ready to face this menace. Robotnik cackled at him from inside the machine. "Ha ha ha ha!! Catch me if you can!" he challenged as the battle began!


The Death Egg was a massive ship, filled with all sorts of deadly traps, including spikes, spots where gravity would flip, electric fields, and of course, various projectile weapons and robots. However, Copter, Punchy, and Classic Tails worked together and managed to make their way deep into the ship, where they eventually managed to catch up with Dimentime. He glanced at them when they arrived and scoffed. "So, you ended up here anyway. Did you find anything interesting for your trouble?" he asked. "Well, um... We know that Eggman has the Master Emerald." Copter mentioned. Dimentime nodded. "Well, how else would this thing be flying." he said. Punchy shook his head. "That's NOT how this ship is flying. This ship was flying before he got it!" he pointed out. Dimentime scratched his head. "Doesn't matter. That shadow is here. Look out!" he said, pointing. The black shadow was hovering around a nearby statue. The statue was young Tommy the porcupine, and the shadow was hesitating to go after him. It seemed uninterested. "Now might be our chance! Surround it!" Dimentime suggested. Copter and Punchy joined Dimentime in approaching the shadow while Tails stared at it, freaked out by it. "Wh-what is that thing!?" he wondered. The shadow seemed to look around. "This boy has no power... What use would he be to me...?" it muttered before 'glancing' at Classic Tails. "This one, on the other hand... You have seen battle, haven't you? I guess you'll do..." it said, soaring at Tails suddenly! Tails gasped and backed away while the others tried to chase the shadow, but they weren't fast enough! The black shadow dove into Classic Tails's shadow, disappearing into it! Copter ran over to Tails, and the young fox collapsed into his arms! "Whoa! Tails, you OK?" he asked. Tails whimpered. "Aaah... That was scary... What'd it do to me? Now I feel all woozy..." he groaned. Meanwhile, Punchy and Dimentime took a moment to release Tommy from his statue. The yellow porcupine looked around a moment and let out a shocked scream. "Bwaaa!! Where in the heck am I!?" he yelped. "About the last place you wanna be. Just do whatever we tell ya and you'll be safe." Punchy said. Dimentime nodded. "You're brother is waiting for you. We'll get you to him." he told him. Tommy sighed with relief. "Good... Razor made it..." he said. Suddenly, mechanical laughter resonated through the room. "You little thieves... Did you really think you would get out of here alive?" said Robo-Robotnik as he hovered into the room, accompanied by Slash and Sting! "You've had it now, punks!" Slash buzzed. "Hyah ha ha!! You picked the wrong place to trespass! Hey, how'd we get on board from Ice Cap?" Sting muttered. Slash smacked him. "Shut up! You don't even know how you function!" he growled. Classic Tails stood up, ready to fight. "Well, we've got you outnumbered!" he said, apparently feeling better. Copter frowned. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this anyway...?" he said to himself.

As the group prepared to deal with Robo-Robotnik and his lackeys, Sonic and Knuckles arrived on the scene. "Well, if it isn't Copter and Punchy and... Copter..?!" Knuckles said, confused. "Dimentime." Sonic explained before noticing Classic Tails. "Um... Is that a second Tails, too!?" he said. Copter scoffed. "Took ya long enough..." he remarked. Classic Tails also looked confused. "Why are Sonic and Knuckles big...?" he muttered. Robo-Robotnik wasn't enjoying being ignored. "Sonic and Knuckles! Finally! Now we have a worthy adversary!" he growled. Knuckles stared at Robo-Robotnik like he saw a ghost. "YOU!? But you're destroyed!!" he said. Robo-Robotnik chuckled. "This time things will end differently! Prepare to meet your doom!" he declared, flying to the back of the room as the wall opened up, revealing a massive robot that dwarfed even the Death Egg Robot! He flew into the robot's cockpit, and it shut behind him. The robot resembled a humungous EggRobo, with giant three fingered hands, a big red nose with a flamethrower attached, and an apparent inability to fit inside the room, having to stand outside in its hangar! "Ha ha ha ha!! Grovel before the might of the Ultra Death EggRobo!!" Robo-Robotnik bellowed from within the robot. Sting glanced at Slash. "Um... That's not its name, is it?" he asked. Slash shrugged. "Let Robo-Robotnik have his fun. Or you can correct him yourself!" he said. Sonic whistled at the huge robot. "And I thought I was missing the action! Woo hoo! Yeah!" he cheered. Copter, Punchy, and Knuckles all glanced at Sonic hopelessly. "You enjoy certain death way too much..." Punchy grumbled. Tommy backed away as far as he could, while Classic Tails stepped in front of him. "Stay back! We'll take care of this!" he said. Robo-Robotnik laughed and went on the attack, smacking at the heroes with the robot's giant fingers! They fled out of the way, while Slash and Sting started launching attacks of their own at them! "This is great! We've got them on the run!" Slash chuckled. "And there's nothin' they can do about it!" Sting laughed. The group frantically dodged the attacks, and Copter found himself knocked back by the giant's hands! "Whoaaaa!!" he shouted, but was caught and placed on the ground gently by Tails! "Easy does it! Be careful, OK?" Tails said. "Err... Yeah..." Copter muttered. Sonic sped between the robots fingers and gave them some homing attacks, eventually smashing one of them! "Rrrrraaaaa!!! Blast you, hedgehog!!" Robo-Robotnik roared, blowing fire at him from the Death EggRobo's nose! The fireball missed Sonic, but kept going towards Tommy! Dimentime dove at the young porcupine and knocked him out of the way! "Don't just stand around, kid! Pay attention!" he said. "Um... Sorry..." Tommy whimpered. Knuckles jumped up and grabbed the robot's arm, attempting to reach its head, but found it difficult due to attacks from Slash and Sting! Seeing this, Punchy ran over to the robots. "Hey, you bolt brains! Aren't you a little out of date for this fight?" he growled, cracking his knuckles. They yelped and focused their attention on him, allowing Knuckles to reach the robot's nose! He gave it a punch, but instead of destroying it, he merely caused a reaction, which opened a hatch around the robot's "mouth." A giant laser beam weapon was inside, and they could see that the Master Emerald was attached to it! "H-hey!! How did that get in there!?" Knuckles shouted. Punchy shrugged. "Looks like SOMEONE was asleep on the job..." he joked.

Robo-Robotnik laughed manically as the laser started charging. "You revealed my little secret! Now prepare to face its wrath!" he cackled. Sonic gasped as he realized the extent of the laser's power. "Everyone, take cover!" he shouted. Classic Tails grabbed Tommy and started flying, while Knuckles and Punchy grabbed the walls and Copter and Dimentime took to the sky as well. The laser fired in a wide area, covering the entire floor! Slash and Sting had barely escaped the blast as well, Sting having swapped his laser for a helicopter tail and grabbed on to Slash with his legs. When the laser stopped, the hatch concealing the laser closed again. Dimentime saw this and got an idea. "That laser must take time to charge up, but while it does, it must be a weak spot! That's why it's hidden! Rush it!" he said. Tails nodded. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" he said. Sonic grinned. "Get the hatch open and I'll take care of it! Break!" he shouted. They took off, but Robo-Robotnik had heard everything. "Oh, no you don't!" he shouted, intensifying his attacks. He attacked with the robot's arms, and fired more fireballs from the robot's nose, so Classic Tails remained back to keep Tommy safe from those fireballs. Dimentime turned to deal with Slash and Sting, bashing at them with his staff as he got close! "Ahhh! Get him, Sting!!" Slash shouted. "Ow!! I can't!! He keeps smacking my laser aside!" he whined. Copter and Punchy kept the robot's arms occupied, dodging their attacks and then attacking the fingers, whittling them down until all it had left was its palms! Knuckles jumped at the nose, dodging the fire and punching it again, revealing the Master Emerald laser! "No!! Stay away from there!!!" Robo-Robotnik screamed as the laser frantically attempted to charge up! Sonic sped at the laser, but not before Knuckles got his punches in! Sonic then launched a high speed homing attack, smashing the laser and causing the Ultra Death EggRobo to begin exploding! "No!! No!! NOOOOOO!!!" screamed Robo-Robotnik, trapped in the explosions as the robot fell forward in a heap! Everyone sped out of the way, but Knuckles leapt into the flaming wreckage! "Whoa!! Wait, Knuckles!!" Tails gasped, worried. In a moment, Knuckles emerged carrying the Master Emerald, which was miraculously intact. "Whew... I did NOT wanna hunt down the pieces of this thing again..." he said as the robot exploded behind him once more! Slash and Sting stared with a horrified expression. "They... killed... Robo-Robotnik!" Sting whimpered. "L-let's scram before we're next!" Slash added, leading the way as they escaped. Classic Tails approached Knuckles. "We'd better get this back to the floating island, quick!" he said, pointing to the Master Emerald. Knuckles nodded. "Errr... Yeah, I guess..." Classic Tails smiled. "I'll be glad to take it in the Tornado!" he offered. Dimentime nodded. "You should get it to the other Knuckles who's waiting for it." he suggested. Knuckles scratched his head. "OTHER Knuckles...?" he said, leaving with Tails to see the emerald safely home. Copter glanced at Sonic. "Any sign of Eggman yet, Sonic?" he asked. Sonic gasped. "That other me! I'd better go check on him!" he said, running off!

In an observation deck, looking down on the world below, Classic Sonic had defeated the Death Egg Robot, leaving it in a broken heap! Dr. Robotnik was coughing as he attempted to climb out of the rubble, while Sonic watched impatiently. Finally, he decided to try to help him, but he wouldn't get the chance. An unexpected guest flew into the room, the monster that had sent so many people and places into the white space in the first place! It started to lift Robotnik up into the air, dropping the pieces of his robot as it did. "What!? No! No! Sonic! Save me!!" Robotnik cried, but Sonic couldn't even see him in the ball of energy the creature was carrying him in. Once the creature had Robotnik in tow, it vanished into a portal, leaving Classic Sonic staring in astonishment. "Whoa... Unbelievable... Who'd think anybody would wanna kidnap Eggman?" said Modern Sonic as he entered the room. "Hey, little me! We'd better bail! We found the ship's power supply on the way up here! Turns out it was the green Chaos Emerald! Who knew one emerald had so much power, huh?" he shouted, prompting Classic Sonic to run after him.

Classic Sonic met Modern Sonic, Tails, and Classic Tails outside the large door at white space. On the way there, he had shown them the purple Chaos Emerald he acquired earlier, having apparently bested Metal Sonic, meaning they now had 2 Chaos Emeralds, but now that they were in white space, there was something more pressing on Sonic's mind. "I can't believe there's two of me." he remarked. Classic Sonic made a gesture of agreement, but not of displeasure. Classic Tails looked thoughtful. "I think I've figured it out." he said. Modern Tails nodded. "Yeah, me too." he said. "Doubles of us..." Classic Tails began. "Places and enemies from our past..." Modern Tails added. "We're traveling through time and space!" the two Tails finished together. Sonic scratched his head. "How did this happen?" he asked. "I think it's got something to do with that big thing that just kidnapped Eggman." Modern Tails explained. "It sounds like that same thing that kidnapped your friends... I mean our friends. You know what I mean!" Classic Tails noted. Copter, Punchy, Dimentime, Tommy, and Razor were gathered at the entrance to Sky Sanctuary, listening in on Sonic and Tails's conversation. "Yeesh, talk about being the last to figure things out..." Copter remarked. "Hey, I didn't know this stuff either!!" Tommy protested. "And me, neither!" Punchy added. Copter chuckled. "Kid was frozen, what's your excuse?" he joked. Razor sighed. "Well, anyway... Thanks for getting Tommy back. It's far from over, though. We've gotta find the others, and we've gotta get home." he said. Suddenly, everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of the monster that kidnapped Robotnik, which soared through the air, briefly diving at Sonic before rising up and disappearing once again! Classic Tails looked around frantically. "Where'd it go!?" he wondered. Sonic growled. "We need to find that thing, and fast!" he said. Classic Sonic nodded in agreement, smiling confidently at his elderly twin. They saw some new areas they hadn't explored ahead, and so the two Sonics and Tails set out to check them out. Copter saw them, too, and decided it was time to move on. "Can't leave this to Sonic... Coming, Punchy?" he asked. Punchy shrugged. "Maybe later. I need a breather..." he said. Razor nodded. "Come on, I'll show you to Shadow Arc. Amy came by, and we're fixing up a room there for refugees." he said. Tommy and Punchy both gave him an awkward expression. "That creepy place?" Tommy asked. "Amy!?" Punchy added. As they left, Dimentime joined Copter in heading for the new areas. "Copter... You were right. If you're involved in this, I shouldn't keep anything from you. Had I leveled with you from the start, perhaps this whole Death Egg thing would have been easier..." he said. Copter shrugged. "We all make mistakes... Especially if you're me..." he said. Dimentime nodded. "So, it's time for the truth. The black shadow... I wasn't sure for a while, but now I'm certain. That shadow is what I've feared all along. Somehow, our worst enemy has been revived and found his way into this white netherworld... That black shadow... Is Mephiles the Dark!"


Chapter 7 - Raiders of the Lost World
Stage - Lost World - Sonic Adventure

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

"I can't tell what is wrong and what is right, I've got to find the answer.
But until I do, there's no way I will ever give up!
Place all your bets on the one you think is right." - It Doesn't Matter, Sonic Adventure


Sonic and Classic Sonic found a colorless version of what appeared to be the busy streets of Station Square. Even Copter recognized the area they were running towards this time. "Hmmm... Speed Highway... Why don't we let Sonic deal with this one?" he suggested, looking a little uneasy. Dimentime looked confused. "Huh? Why? It should be a piece of cake. It's just Station Square." he said. Copter sighed. "Let's just say I'm sick of being on the run... And Gunner hasn't helped things recently." he said, thinking over some recent events that Dimentime wouldn't be aware of, "Of course, it wasn't all his fault. Certain crazy animals made matters worse for every animal in the United Federation. If Sonic wasn't always stopping Dr. Eggman, Gunner might be running us outta town right now..." he muttered. Dimentime sighed. "Enough spoilers, please. Let's focus on where we're going to go." he suggested. Looking around, they saw a whited out building a distance away. Unlike Speed Highway, this building looked ancient. "Let's try there!" Copter said, running over to check it out. It was an ancient echidna pyramid, and it was positioned somewhat out of the way, much like Robotnik's base was, almost as if it was placed there on purpose so that Sonic would overlook it. "This looks like part of the Mystic Ruins, not far from where Chaos Shrine was located..." Dimentime noted. "Nice find. You think some of our friends are lost in there?" said someone behind them. It was Razor the Porcupine, adjusting his police cap as he approached them. "All right, guys. I'm going with you on this one, and I'm not taking no for an answer! I can't take another minute of listening to Bucky and Punchy argue!" he insisted. Copter and Dimentime exchanged nervous looks. "Are you crazy? Shouldn't you go with Sonic to the city instead? That's more your jurisdiction..." Copter pointed out. Razor shook his head. "I can't keep up with Sonic! Plus he barely knows me. C'mon, I'm on your side today. I'm an officer. You can trust me, I'm more worried about YOU!" he said. Dimentime sighed. "Don't slow us down..." he said. Razor scoffed. "I'm a trained professional! I think I can handle myself!" he pointed out.

They entered the ancient pyramid, an ancient place that explorers to the Mystic Ruins had dubbed the "Lost World." There was shallow water flowing along the middle of the floor in the entrance hall, and they followed it until they came across the first sign of trouble. A massive, snake like robot called a Boa-boa was floating around the area, shooting bursts of fire from its sides! Its design and color scheme somewhat reminded Copter of the Caterkillers from the Marble Zone, and that got him riled up. "Eggman's robot! Come to trash the archaeology?!" he growled. Razor drew his hand gun and pointed it at the robot. "Step back... A flame throwing robot might make a big explosion!" he said, firing his weapon several times! However, the Boa-boa spun around and cloaked itself in flames, defending itself from the bullets! "Huh...? That doesn't make sense!" Razor grumbled. Copter rolled his eyes. "Chaos Whirlwind!" The robot was too large to be carried off by the wind, but the chaotic blast blew out Boa-boa's fire! Dimentime took the opportunity to jump up and smack a segment of the robot's body with his staff, causing a chain reaction that led the entire robot to explode! Razor shrugged. "It still would have been safer if you let me shoot it after blowing out the flames..." he pointed out. Copter scoffed. "Guns are cowardly." he said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I can't make a mini hurricane or punch through solid rock or anything like that! I have to rely on my police training... Which includes firearms." Razor said grouchily. "Enough, you two! Let's move on!" Dimentime growled, annoyed with their bickering. As they moved into the next room, they found something far worse than Boa-boa. It was Dr. Eggman himself, the version of him Copter was more familiar with, complete with his gold buttoned red coat, small black glasses, and goggles atop his head! He was piloting a large battle machine known as the Egg Hornet, which was equipped with duel missile launchers and drills. He glanced at them as the entered the room. "Well, well, well... If it isn't Copter and... another Copter...?" he said, confused. "You can call me Dimentime." Copter's cloaked copy said in introduction. Eggman shook his head. "Too long. Forget it. So... You wouldn't happen to have come to work for me again, would you?" he asked hopefully. Razor raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. "Right, police officer. I figured it was a long shot. Well, I'm busy in these ruins, and I can't have you or the law meddling!" he warned. Copter looked at him curiously. "Hey... How are you here? The past you was supposedly kidnapped by that monster." he said. Eggman grinned at him. "Confused, huh? Good. Stay there..." he said, pressing some buttons in order to fire several missiles at the group! "Get down!!" Razor shouted, prompting them all to scatter as Dr. Eggman retreated deeper into the ruins! The explosions caused by the missiles caused some slight cave-ins, but the trio quickly evaded the falling rocks and began their pursuit of Eggman. "If the bad doctor wants something in here, we must be on the right track! Let's go!" Copter said.

They soon arrived at a large chamber with a deep pool of water in the center. A stone snake was swimming around in circles in the pool, and there were high stone platforms on either side of the entrance, leading up to the way out. It seemed like a tough climb. "Well, good thing most of us can fly." Copter said. Razor ignored him and spotted a blue stone switch on the floor. "What do you suppose that does?" he wondered. "It might provide an easier way forward, or it might activate a trap." Dimentime said. Razor shrugged. "Well, I know neither of you want to carry me..." he said, walking over and hopping on the switch. "No, you idiot!!" Copter yelped, taking cover in anticipation of a trap being activated. Suddenly, the room began to fill with water, carrying them up until they could reach the first of the stone platforms! Copter splashed in a panic. "See, I knew it was a trap! There's piranhas in the water, aren't there!?" he growled, swimming to the platform as quickly as he could. Razor rolled his eyes and followed him. "Chill out! The only way that's a trap is if you can't swim." he said. As they looked around, they saw that another platform was over their heads, but it was too high for Razor to reach. They walked forward a bit, but Dimentime stopped them. "Wait... What's that break in the shadow there?" he said. Suddenly, a spike trap fell down from above them, just barely missing them! "Whoa!" Copter yelped. The trap was spiky on the bottom, but flat on top, so they were able to use it as a step to get higher up. "All right... Let's see what's up here..." Razor muttered. There were two switches, one round, blue switch identical to the one below, and one square one. Looking up, they could see a door at the top of the room, with three symbols above it, matching the square switch. "It appears we need to find three switches like this." Dimentime noted. Suddenly, something splashed out of the water and rose into the air in the center of the room! It was the black shadow! "Mephiles!" Copter gasped, watching the shadow helplessly from the inconvenient platform they were on. The shadow charged at the stone door at the top of the room, and as he reached it, he crashed right through it, reducing it to rubble! Razor sighed once the shadow was gone. "Good news... We don't have to find those switches." he said. Dimentime pressed the round switch, raising the water level in the room even higher. They were now floating across from the exit, and it would be a bit of a swim to any platform they wanted to go to. "Which way...?" Copter muttered. Razor glanced around and nodded. "The quick way. Follow me!" he said, swimming towards the stone snake that was swimming around the center! Copter stared at him. "...He's crazy..." he muttered. Dimentime ignored him and followed Razor, and the two of them grabbed on to the snake as it passed, carefully climbing on to its back! Copter gulped as he realized he'd have to do the same. "Why are we so dumb?" he grumbled, swimming towards the snake. He twirled his tails and attempted to fly onto its back, but that actually proved more difficult, and he stumbled as he landed. "Whooooa!!!" Before he could fall, Dimentime grabbed his arm. "Careful! It's a long way to the bottom!" he warned. Soon, the snake neared the platform with the door, so they jumped off, Copter and Dimentime flying in order to land safely. Razor, however, barely grabbed the edge! "Aaaagh!! Little help!! Wasn't... close enough!!" he grunted. Copter sighed and pulled him up. "You're hopeless!" he growled. "Me? I'm not the one who couldn't even grab the snake!" Razor protested.

After a brief walk through an outdoor balcony, they entered a very dark room with platforms standing above a seemingly bottomless pit filled with water. Some light was pouring through holes in the roof, but it provided little help. Immediately ahead, however, they saw some of this light hitting a small mirror attached to a pedestal on the floor. Dimentime looked at it curiously. "Let me see..." he muttered, walking over and examining it. "You don't suppose it'll set off a trap, do you?" Razor wondered. Dimentime stood on the pedestal and noticed he could shift it around in a circular motion with his weight. He grabbed the mirror and rotated it, using the light it produced to find another mirror hanging on a column in the water. With the light hitting the mirror, a larger section of the room was lit up, and they could see the way forward! "This temple seems more like a test to gauge the worthiness of intruders, not a means to protect valuables." Dimentime noted, "Ergo, everything is not a trap." Ahead, they could see flaming arrows shooting past the platform almost continuously, leaving only a little space to pass between shots. "Well, THAT definitely is a trap." Copter groaned. Beyond the arrows was a gap in the platforms, so they would have to time their run and then jump! Razor watched the arrows carefully. "Piece of cake..." he muttered before running ahead, swiftly dodging the arrows before making his leap to the other side! However, he was startled as a number of fireballs emerged in front of him, surrounding a red, spherical robot! It was a Gola, a robot similar to the Star Pointers from Ice Cap, but with control over four fireballs rather than ice! Razor grabbed for his gun, but he was forced to back dangerously close to the edge! Luckily, Copter and Dimentime simply flew over the gap, and were already on the scene. Dimentime grabbed Razor's arm as he slid, nearly falling over the edge, while Copter dropped between Gola's fireballs and gave it a kick in the head, destroying it! "Well... Eggman's robots certainly make this place dangerous. Let's be more careful." Dimentime muttered. "Roger that..." Razor sighed. The dark room was treacherous, but every so often, they found another set of mirrors to light the way, enabling them to pass through spikes, rotating platforms, and Golas as they neared the exit. Copter and Dimentime flew Razor across a gap at the end of the room, and they arrived at a brief corridor leading to a tunnel with rapidly running water. "What's up with this...?" Copter wondered. Dimentime shrugged. "It's the only way forward. Think of it as an amusement park ride." he said. Razor scratched his head. "They don't have water slides at Twinkle Park..." he muttered. They all hopped into the water, and the current dragged them into the tunnel, causing them to scream as they saw what was ahead: a waterfall! "I don't think this ride is safety tested!!" Copter yelled as they all fell over the falls, barely missing the grassy platform at the bottom and splashing into the water below, which carried them further into the temple.

They washed up in a medium sized room with puddles of water scattered in the sandy colored dirt. There was a small structure in the room, and a Boa-boa floating around. Copter staggered to his feet, walked over to the robot, and gave it a quick tail whip to take it out of commission before he was joined by Razor and Dimentime. "Anyone else sick of this dump?" Copter grumbled, "I didn't have to go through nearly as much trouble to get my tailband..." he recalled. Razor looked thoughtful. "There must be something pretty important about this place, then..." he reasoned. They continued into the next room, which was pretty large, and had been drained of most of its color. A small statue was standing in the room. It was Tails's robotic puppy, SPOT, who was with Copter when he was sucked into Green Hill Zone! They started to run towards the robot, but stopped when they noticed the black shadow hovering overhead. "I come all this way, only to find a robot. Pitiful. That doesn't interest me in the slightest. Perhaps I should destroy it while it's defenseless?" he mused. Copter ran ahead, determined to protect the robot. "Don't even think about it, Mephiles!" he growled, jumping at the shadow! His jump came up short, but he landed between Mephiles and SPOT. The shadow chuckled at being called by name. "You figured me out, did you? How nice that you remember me!" he sneered, his shadowy form solidifying into a physical shape! Copter, Dimentime and Razor gasped as they recognized the form Mephiles had taken, a twisted, crystalline form resembling Bucky the Rat, which he had used in Soleanna! "You... never mentioned HE was back..." Razor muttered nervously, drawing his gun. "It's on a need to know basis..." Dimentime said. Mephiles glared at Copter, a hatred burning in his demonic eyes. "You seem intent on standing in my way once again. That's just fine. After all, vengeance was always a part of my plans. Let's see how you like your consciousness being shattered, and your broken body left for dead!" he growled. Copter raised his fists, and Dimentime stepped forward to join him. "Be careful, Copter! He might have been running away from us all this time, but I expect he's still a very dangerous opponent." he said. Copter chuckled. "Hey, if I get to knock Bucky around, I'm all for it. Let's do it!"

Razor fired a few shots from his gun at Mephiles, but they simply bounced off of him without effect. "Heh... Pitiful!" Mephiles sneered, raising his fingers towards Razor and shooting lightning at him just like Bucky! Razor dove out of the way, barely avoiding the attack! "Well, it was worth a try... I'll leave it to you, foxes..." he grumbled. Mephiles shrugged and turned his attention to Copter and Dimentime. "Why waste my energy on someone who isn't a threat? That's why obliterating robots is starting to bore me..." he said. Copter and Dimentime ran at him, only to have him shoot lightning in both their directions, forcing them both to dodge. "Oh, yeah? Chaos Whirlwind!!" Copter shouted, sending a chaotic wind towards Mephiles. It passed right through him, and appeared to do minimal damage, if any. "Ahh, what a refreshing breeze!" he said mockingly. Mephiles then altered his shape again, his body taking on a spinier appearance with a green hue. His form even mimicked a police uniform. "No... way..." Copter grumbled. Razor stared in bewilderment. "Hey... I didn't know he could turn into me!!" he shouted. Mephiles chuckled. "When I enter another's shadow, I absorb their form, and also their power..." he said, lowering himself to the ground and drawing a crystalline hand gun from his holster. "Your friend here happens to be a fine marksman..." he sneered, pointing the gun at Copter. "Oh, shoot... I mean, don't shoot!!" he yelped, running out of the way. Mephiles started shooting crystal bullets from the gun, which Copter desperately attempted to dodge. Dimentime wasted no time attacking Mephiles while he was distracted, giving him a tailband powered tail whip! Mephiles flipped over and hovered in midair, shifting back into Bucky's form. "You'll pay for that!" he yelled, firing electricity at both foxes! Suddenly, while Mephiles was preoccupied with Copter and Dimentime, a laser came from below and took him by surprise! Though it also surprised Copter and Dimentime, they took advantage of Mephiles's brief distraction, jumping at him and hitting him with tailband powered tail whips! "Unnnhh!!" Mephiles grunted in frustration and smacked the foxes away. As they landed on their feet, he glanced to see the source of the laser. SPOT had been restored from his frozen state, courtesy of Razor. Mephiles chuckled. "Amusing, but pointless. You can never defeat me. But why spoil the entertainment? I'll grant you insects a reprieve. Find more of your pathetic friends. Maybe destroying all of you at once will be more... fun, as you call it." Before anyone could stop him, Mephiles reverted to his shadowy form and fled into the temple, leaving them behind. SPOT crawled over to Copter and Dimentime, wagging his metal tail. "Two Tails detected! ...Error. Cannot I.D. real Tails." the text on the robot's monitor read. "Hoo boy... He might explode if he detects a third... and fourth Tails later on." Copter muttered. 

The battle seemed to influence the room, restoring its color. There was some steps leading down to a portion of the room covered in shallow water, but most of the interesting parts of the room were on the walls. There were blue panels along the walls, mostly disconnected, but they could see a switch on the floor in the shallow water. "Aw, are we gonna have to swim again?" Copter groaned. Dimentime walked over and pressed the switch, causing the panels on the wall to align and glow! SPOT let out a robotic bark. "Strange energy signature detected." the text on his monitor read. "What does that mean?" Razor wondered. "There's our way forward... I think..." Dimentime mused. He walked over to the glowing panels and placed his foot against the lowest one. Astonishingly, it stuck, as though gravity was altered on the panel! Dimentime began to walk along the panels, and motioned for the others to follow. "You coming?" he asked. They reluctantly followed. "Does not compute..." SPOT's monitor read, though the robot followed as well. The walls of the room had their share of traps, such as flaming arrows being shot at them, spike traps, and perhaps most irritating were chameleon robots called Leons, which would disappear and reappear between attacks involving tongue lashing and tail whipping. However, the Leons were easily dispatched by Razor's gun, or SPOT's laser. Despite the treacherous climb, they soon reached an alcove at the top of the room, where they took a moment to rest. Suddenly, something snuck up on them. "BOO!!" Copter screamed in surprise, while Razor turned and pointed his gun at the intruders, startling them. "Aaaack! Don't shoot!" Copter, Dimentime, and Razor stared bewilderedly at Slash and Sting, who had somehow managed to follow them all the way here, which was particularly surprising considering the state they were in. Their bodies were cracked and dented. Some of their joints were somewhat crooked. They looked a little rusted, too. They were a mess. "We were just messing around!! We wouldn't dream of attacking you now!!" Slash whined. "Yeah... We really got trashed when the Death Egg crashed... Now we just do recon." Sting explained. SPOT growled at them. "Enemies detected... Battle systems engaged!" his monitor read. Seeing this, Slash and Sting yelped and bolted. "W-well, it was nice catching up!!" Slash yelled. "See ya!!" Sting cried. Copter and Dimentime glanced at each other. "Geez... Eggman saves everything..." they muttered.

Soon, they arrived at the center of the ruins. They entered a large chamber with steps leading to a huge mural on the wall. The mural depicted a terrible sea monster attacking the ancient city. Dr. Eggman was there, still piloting his Egg Hornet. He seemed to be using an odd scanner mounted on the front of his vehicle. Razor gazed at the mural, and seemed to recognize the monster. "It can't be... That's the monster that destroyed Station Square a while back..." he said. Copter glanced at him. "Station Square... destroyed? Hm... That explains a bit." he remarked, recalling that the city wasn't in the best shape on his first visit. "Eggman! What do you think you're doing?" Dimentime growled. His scan completed before anyone could do anything to stop it, and the scanner retracted safely into his Egg Mobile before he turned his vehicle around to face his visitors. "I have all I need now. My visit here should prove most enlightening!" he grinned. "For what?" Razor asked. Eggman chuckled. "I couldn't tell you, you might tell Sonic and spoil the surprise!" he said. Copter scoffed. "As if Sonic listens to me. Come on, doc. For old time's sake?" he asked. Eggman shook his head. "No! I think for old time's sake, I'll remind you what happens to those who meddle with the great Dr. Eggman! Get a load of this!" he growled, aiming and firing a bunch of missiles at them! They scrambled to avoid the missiles, except for SPOT, who simply erected an energy shield to protect himself. "Oh, if it isn't that annoying little robot Tails built. Why don't I grind you into scrap metal?" Eggman sneered, flicking a switch to bring out the Egg Hornet's drills, and then charging at SPOT with them! The robot suddenly propelled itself out of the way by its feet, which were fitted with engines of some sort! Eggman growled and struggled to pull the drills out of the ground, while Razor attempted to take some shots at his machine. Unfortunately, he ran out of bullets. "Uh... Heh heh... Can't get supplies lately..." he said sheepishly as Eggman's machine emerged from the ground. "That's enough fooling around..." he said.

Eggman started spinning the Egg Hornet around, firing missiles all over in an attempt to hit everyone! SPOT brought up his shield and ran to defend Razor, while Copter and Dimentime used Chaos Whirlwind to blow away missiles as they neared them, but Eggman kept firing, making the situation dangerous. "We'll have to strike back! Just dodge them!" Dimentime shouted. Copter nodded. Eggman could only fire so many missiles at once, so it wasn't too crazy to try. They charged at the Egg Hornet, but Eggman stopped spinning and fired directly at them! "Ha ha! Too slow!!" he laughed. However, as the missiles came at them, SPOT's laser shot them out of the sky! "Huh? Hey!! No fair!" Eggman yelled. Copter and Dimentime jumped at the Egg Hornet, and with just a couple hits, the machine started to fall apart, leaving just the Egg Mobile! "Aaagh!! Oh, fine! You win. I'm leaving. Bye now!" Eggman said quickly, smirking as he hurriedly flew his Egg Mobile out of the room, leaving them behind. Copter scratched his head. "Hey, what? He didn't even seem all that upset..." he muttered. Razor groaned. "You let him get away!!" he pointed out. Dimentime sighed. "He always gets away... And I think he's pleased that we're in the center of this temple and we'll have a long way to go to catch up with his vehicle." he said. They all groaned and started heading out of the room, leaving down a long, sloped hallway that they had used to enter the room. As they walked down the slope, they heard a loud thud behind them. "Hey... What's that?" Razor wondered. They looked back and were terrified by what they saw. A giant, flaming boulder was falling from the ceiling behind them, and was starting to chase them down the slope! SPOT ran off ahead first, an alarm blaring from him. "R-RUN!!" Copter yelled, and the three started to flee the giant rock. It was coming closer and closer, and it looked hopeless when Razor suddenly tripped and fell! "Aaaah!! No!!" he yelled. Dimentime stopped and stood between Razor and the boulder as Copter kept running, only glancing back and shouting "ARE YOU INSANE!?" As the boulder neared, Dimentime raised his staff and muttered something, causing the staff the glow! He then struck the boulder with his staff, causing it to shatter into a million harmless pieces! With the boulder gone, he helped Razor up and joined Copter at the end of the hall, who was staring with a stunned expression. "You... you... Whaaaaaaat!?" he stammered. Dimentime nodded. "Magic. How do you think I time traveled in the first place? I told you I sought out this time-space disruption on purpose, right?" he said. Razor tapped his foot somewhat angrily. "You mean, you had powers all this time, and you never once thought of using them to make things easier!?" he grumbled. Dimentime rolled his eyes. "What good are we if we rely on magic for everything." he said, walking off. "Come on. We've got a long way to go to get out of here." he said. Copter growled angrily. "Why don't you just TELEPORT us out!?" he shouted.


Outside Speed Highway, Classic Sonic had freed Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao from their colorless statues. "Oh, thanks, Sonic!" she said, "Hey, is it me, or did you get a new haircut?" she added, not realizing that she was speaking to a younger version of Sonic. Classic Sonic stroked his quills insecurely, but Modern Sonic soon showed up to end the confusion. "Hey, Cream. Good to see you're all right." he said. "Umm... Two Sonics??" Cream gasped. Tails and Classic Tails were right behind them, leaving Cream even more bewildered. "Cheese, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she wondered. "Chao, chao..." Cheese nodded. As if that wasn't enough, Copter and Dimentime arrived with SPOT next. "T-two Copters??? What's going on here?" she whimpered, falling over in disbelief. Classic Sonic ran over to see if she was all right while the others went to visit with Copter. "I brought you your mutt." Copter said, motioning to SPOT. Tails's eyes lit up. "Ah! SPOT! It's good to have you back!" he said cheerfully. SPOT looked up and displayed a message on his monitor. "Four Tails detected. Maintenance required." Classic Tails looked at the robot curiously. "What's that?" he asked. Sonic shrugged. "That's Tails... err... your pet project. A robot that can do all kinds of stuff." he explained. Classic Tails looked impressed. "I built my own robot?" he gasped. Copter nodded. "Yeah, yeah. So, I guess I'll get going..." he muttered. Modern Tails shook his head. "It's OK, SPOT. You're not crazy or anything. There really are four of us..." he argued. Suddenly, Classic Sonic jumped with alarm, picking up Cream and dashing out of the way as a gunshot was fired in their direction! "What the!?" Modern Sonic gasped, looking around. Reacting fast, SPOT pushed Modern Tails aside, intercepting another shot as it was fired at him! The shot struck SPOT in the side, and caused him to start sparking! Copter and Dimentime spotted the source of the gunshots quickly. It was coming from the entrance to another color-drained area, which looked like another city. Holding the gun was a fairly old man in a GUN uniform who Copter recognized instantly. "It's Gunner!! Son of an Egg Pawn, it's Gunner!!" he growled furiously. His lackey, Spy, was standing beside him. "They spotted us, boss... What do we do?" he asked. Gunner smirked and holstered his weapon. "We escape into the city, Spy. The trap is set. Now we'll get them all at once! Revenge is sweet! Ha ha ha!!" he laughed, running into the city with Spy behind him. Sonic and Classic Sonic took off after him, leaving Cream and SPOT in Tails and Classic Tails's care. Copter took off in the direction of the city as well. "Copter! Where are you going?" Dimentime asked. "Can you honestly sit back and let Gunner get away with this!?" Copter shouted. Dimentime glanced down at Tails, who was cradling SPOT in his arms. The robot had taken a hard hit, and would be difficult to repair in white space. "Take him to Shadow Arc. Maybe Bucky can do something for him." Dimentime suggested before following after Copter. "I don't know how Gunner got here, but he's going to regret it!" he growled. "Good luck, everyone!" Cream shouted, waving as they ran out of sight. No one noticed Dr. Eggman's Egg Mobile hovering over the scene, observing the action at a safe distance. "Have fun, Richard... Buy me lots of time to examine the data I've collected. Ho ho ho ho ho!!"


Chapter 8 - Shadows of the Past
Stage - City Escape, Final Rush, Cannon's Core - Sonic Adventure 2

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

"Live and learn!
Hanging on the edge of tomorrow.
Live and learn!
From the works of yesterday.
Live and learn!
If you beg or if you borrow.
Live and learn!
You may never find your way." - Live and Learn, Sonic Adventure 2


As the two Sonics and the two Copters entered the city, climbing onto a high rooftop to get a view of their surroundings, they saw two big trucks speeding off in different directions. The trucks belonged to GUN, and robots were swarming out from the back of the trucks, so it seemed pretty obvious that Gunner was in command of them. "Can anyone else say trap?" Copter grumbled. Sonic shrugged. "So what?" he said. Dimentime nodded. "Gunner's not the most strategic military mind. He probably thinks just swarming us with robots will be enough." he said. Sonic chuckled. "Well, he'll have to call 'em off if we catch him. Let's split up and chase both those trucks! He's probably in one of 'em!" he suggested. Classic Sonic nodded in agreement. Copter groaned. "GUN robots... Am I doomed to spend my entire life fighting them?" he wondered. Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, probably." he joked. Copter was not amused. "Well, YOU'RE doomed to fight Eggman's robots!" he shouted. Sonic chuckled. "Bring 'em on!" he smirked. Dimentime and Copter shook their heads. "He's hopeless..." they muttered. Sonic found a metal board lying around nearby and picked it up. "This brings back memories... Well, catch ya later, guys!" he said, jumping off the building and using the board to ride his way into the city! The others watched him, and Classic Sonic jumped with excitement before taking off on foot. "What is WITH him?" Copter wondered. Dimentime shrugged. "At least he has fun. We used to have fun doing this. What happened?" he asked. Copter spun his tails and started towards the city streets. "Maybe we just need to rediscover the joy of trashing Gunner's toys! Let's go!" he grinned.

While Gunner drove his GUN truck through the city, he had company in the passenger seat. It wasn't Spy, though. It was Guard the Gargoyle, the android experiment created by Bucky and programmed to serve GUN. Gunner glanced at him briefly. "Guard, get out. Go and deal with the others. Sonic is mine! There are robots to assist you, but since when can we count on them? I've got a little surprise for Sonic..." he said. Guard grunted and opened the car door. Gunner wasn't about to stop the vehicle for him. "And shut the door behind you! This isn't a barn!!" Gunner shouted. "Grrr... Understood." Guard said, rolling his eyes. He jumped out of the truck, flapping his wings, and struck the door with the back of his scythe in order to close it! "Grrr... On my way..." he growled.

Meanwhile, Copter and Dimentime were busy doing what they do best, smashing the hapless GUN Beetles that dared to get in their way. Most were just the pathetic drones that didn't appear to have any combat capabilities at all, but a few were equipped with guns to shoot back at them. Copter swiftly dodged their shots and hit back with Chaos Whirlwind, knocking the round robot out of the sky! "Heh, you were right, Dimentime! This is fun! It's more like a shooting range than a death gauntlet! No poison chemicals, no crazy traps, and no Eggman!" he chuckled, enjoying himself. A few of GUN's Hunter robots dropped out of the sky suddenly, one of them landing right on top of Copter and knocking him over! "Yeow!! That was rude!!" he growled. As the robot targeted Copter with its laser, Classic Sonic suddenly fell onto its head and destroyed it, riding a skateboard! He landed his skateboard gracefully on the ground and kept going. "Show off!" Copter shouted. Suddenly, he heard a rumbling behind him. "What's that...?" he muttered, standing up. Dimentime pointed behind him. "Truck!! Out of the way!!" he shouted. Copter spun around, and was forced to fly for his life as one of the GUN trucks came speeding towards him, chasing after Classic Sonic! Copter managed to fly over the truck, while Dimentime ran out of the way entirely. Lucky for them, the truck smashed into the rest of the Hunter robots in the immediate area. "Where'd he get his license?" Copter muttered. Dimentime looked nearby and found a skateboard like the one Classic Sonic was using. "Let's roll!" he suggested, to which Copter raised an eyebrow. "Um... what??"

Driving that particular GUN truck was Spy, who was chasing Classic Sonic relentlessly on Gunner's orders. As Classic Sonic climbed an apparently incomplete structure, Spy rammed it with the truck repeatedly, sending it crashing down floor by floor! "Good thing this truck is built better than that building..." Spy muttered. Classic Sonic jumped to the nearest rooftop and made his way back down to the street, but Spy caught up fast! "This is one impressive truck! All right, pedal to the metal! Get that hedgehog!! ...If that's even possible..." he said, speeding up as much as the truck could go. However, Classic Sonic was heading off the street, and Spy suddenly found himself heading for a building. "Whoa!! Wait!! Turn!! This way? That way!? Aaaaaaaugh!!!!" The truck swerved out of control, and due to the excess speed it had built up, it fell over on to its side, crashing! Classic Sonic stopped to check on the crash, and Copter and Dimentime soon caught up with him, Copter riding the back of the skateboard while Dimentime did most of the steering. "That was a stupid idea, Dimentime..." Copter remarked. "We made it here, didn't we?" he said, looking at the crash. Spy struggled, but managed to open the door of the truck, and then sat hanging in the doorway for a moment. "Anyone gonna save me...?" he whimpered. Just then, the other GUN truck pulled up, and the window rolled down. "Spy, you're pathetic. Get in here, and be quick about it! If I don't get Sonic, I'll have your hide!" he shouted. Spy wriggled his way out of the truck and hustled to the other truck, panting the whole way. "Geez, I almost died... You'd think you'd cut me a LITTLE slack..." he muttered under his breath. "Can I turn on the radio at least?" he asked. Gunner rolled his eyes and tossed him a pair of headphones. "Why do I keep you around...?" he grumbled as he drove away. Copter, Dimentime, and Classic Sonic watched this, and realized they had to give chase. Classic Sonic quickly grabbed the skateboard and took off, leaving Copter and Dimentime to figure their own way of catching up. "Hey! What happened to yours!?" Dimentime shouted after him. Copter looked around. "Try the truck?" he suggested, running over to the back and prying it open. Securely tied up in the back were GUN motorcycles, and since they were tied up, they seemed to have survived the crash.

With the motorcycles, Copter and Dimentime managed to catch up with the GUN truck and Classic Sonic. Beetles and Hunter robots were flying around behind the truck, shooting at the trio to hinder their pursuit, but Copter and Dimentime shot back with Chaos Whirlwind whenever they could. However, as they neared the truck, an energy blast struck Copter's motorcycle from above! As it began to swerve out of control, Copter jumped out and started flying, heading towards the roof of the truck's cargo, but not without looking to see what had shot at him. He spotted Guard flying nearby, holding his scythe at the ready! "Grrrr! If it isn't Copter! Perfect! Now I can finish you!" he growled. Dimentime flew up to join them, leaving his motorcycle behind. Classic Sonic looked up with concern, but he had bigger troubles. The robots now only had him to focus on! Hopping off of the skateboard, Classic Sonic started to focus his attention on the GUN robots. The rest was up to the others. As Copter and Dimentime landed on the roof of the GUN truck's cargo, Guard joined them and glanced at Dimentime. "Gr? Two of you? Grrr, fine! I'll eliminate you both, once and for all!" he growled, swinging his scythe at them as they leapt out of the way! As they started fighting, Gunner kept driving, while Spy sang along with the music he was listening to. "Follow me! Set me free! Trust me and we will escape from the ci-ty! I'll make it through prove it to you! Follow me! ...Oh yeah! Danger is lurkin' around every turn! Trust your feelings, got to live and learn..." Annoyed by his off-key singing, Gunner snatched his headphones and tossed them on the floor. "Enough! Keep a look out for that furry freak!" he growled. Suddenly, Modern Sonic dropped from the sky and landed in front of the truck! Spy pointed nonchalantly. "Um... Look." he said. Gunner smirked. "Ah, finally! Now, Sonic... Allow me to give you a little haircut!! Courtesy of the modifications Ivo made!" he said, pulling a red lever off to the side of his seat. As Sonic ran from the truck, giant buzz saws popped out of a section of its cargo and extended towards him as Gunner sped up, attempting to either slice him or run him over! "Whoa!! This race just got interesting!" Sonic yelled. With less room to stand on the cargo and Gunner driving more wildly, the battle with Guard had just become even more dangerous. Copter and Dimentime carefully dodged his scythe swings, struggling to maintain their balance on the speeding vehicle. Guard was having trouble standing as well. "Guard!! We're all gonna get killed up here! Can't we take it someplace... stable!?" Copter shouted. "Grrrrr!! What's the matter, scared!?" Guard yelled, charging at Copter! Before he could reach him, however, Dimentime struck the gargoyle from the side with his staff, knocking him off balance and almost off the side of the truck! Guard flapped his wings and steadied himself, swinging his scythe to send energy blasts at the foxes while the truck made sharp turns around several corners! Copter and Dimentime grabbed each other's hands and dropped down for cover, dodging the blasts and staying on the truck, but putting themselves in a vulnerable position. However, Guard could see trouble for the truck ahead. The road was running out, and Gunner was about to attempt an insane maneuver in a last ditch effort to catch Sonic. "Grrr!!! Not good!!" Guard grunted, flying off the truck and attempting to get ahead as the buzz saws retracted. Copter and Dimentime saw what was coming, too, and realized they had to bail. "This truck is toast! Fly for your life!!" Copter yelled, spinning his tails and flying off, with Dimentime following. As Sonic sped up a wall, Gunner somehow managed to maneuver the truck to follow him, determined to flatten Sonic into a hedgehog pancake! "Aaaah!! Nooo!! What are you doing!? Moooommiiiiiiiieeee!!!" Spy screamed as Gunner laughed manically. "I'll smash you, you freak!! I'll SMASH YOOOOOU!!!" Sonic made his way to the end of the building he was running on and ducked into a low bridge, which meant the truck was going to crash! Before Gunner and Spy could be caught up in that crash, though, Guard swooped down to the truck, crashed through the window, and grabbed them both, saving them from the fiery crash that occurred seconds later! They were heavy for him, so he quickly dropped them on a nearby rooftop, Spy sobbing loudly the whole time. Gunner stomped his foot furiously at this failure. "Ivo! I should have known better than to trust your pathetic equipment!!" he growled, stomping off. "Let's go! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" he snapped. Copter and Dimentime landed a good distance behind the wreck of the GUN truck, and Classic Sonic was waiting for them there. "I think we've taught Gunner his lesson for today. Let's get outta here." Copter suggested. Classic Sonic gawked at the wreckage, as though wondering exactly what happened. Dimentime sighed. "Let's hurry, before Guard comes back for us..."

While Copter and Dimentime were resting from their ride atop the GUN truck, Sonic and Classic Sonic took a quick pass around the city to see if there was anyone lost there. Soon, Classic Sonic found Rouge frozen, and hurried to free her. She took a quick flight into the air to stretch, dropped back down, and looked at him. "Thanks, buddy. The thing that snatched me was like nothing I've ever seen before! Watch out! Come to think of it, you're nothing like the Sonic I've seen before..." she said. Classic Sonic shrugged and scratched his head, but then Modern Sonic showed up. "Hey, Rouge." he said, waving. She glanced at him and sighed. "Well, the more the merrier, I guess. You came to help me, too, right? Thanks, big blue! That's the first time I've ever been stolen..." Copter and Dimentime approached next, and Rouge scratched her head upon seeing two of him as well. "Ummm... Is there two of everyone? Is there two of me? 'Cuz I work alone." she said. Dimentime shrugged. "Well, there's only two of a few people, really..." he said. Modern Tails caught up with them next, but Classic Tails was nowhere in sight. "Hey buddy... Where's the other you?" Sonic asked. Tails glanced at Copter. "Punchy said that his plane is stuck in Green Hill Zone. A bunch of guys went to try to get it out, including the other me. He thought maybe the Tornado might be able to tow it or something." he explained. Rouge had a mischievous look. "Hey, is Knuckles there? Maybe I should drop in on him. Check on the status of a certain emerald..." she said. "The Master Emerald wasn't at the party, Rouge..." Tails muttered. "Like he'd leave it unguarded." Rouge replied. Suddenly, a blast of Chaos energy came at Sonic, nearly hitting him! It was a Chaos Spear, and as he looked around, he spotted Shadow lurking in the platforms above the entrance to the city! "Hmph!" Shadow jumped down and took off. "Shadow! What was that for!? Hey, come back!!" Sonic shouted, chasing after the black hedgehog. "Shadow...? He wasn't at the party... What's he doing here?" Rouge wondered, chasing after them. "Sonic! Wait up!" Tails shouted, joining the chase. Classic Sonic joined the chase as well, but Copter hesitated at first. "Should we check this out?" he wondered. Dimentime shrugged. "If Shadow's flipping out, it could be bad for all of us. We better go!" he said. Sonic caught up with Shadow at a door similar to the one that led to the Death Egg before. "You're finally here, Sonic. I don't know where we are, nor do I care. This is where I finish you, Sonic!" Shadow said, running into the door. "What!? I don't think so! Bring it on, Shadow!" Sonic shouted, running in after him. The others caught up in time to see the door shut behind Sonic. "Come on! Let's see what's going on in there!" Tails said. As he pulled the door open, however, they were startled as the black shadow, Mephiles, flew out of nowhere and took advantage of the opening to follow Sonic and Shadow into the door! "Well, now we HAVE to go in there!" Dimentime said, rushing into the door, beaten inside only by Classic Sonic. Copter, Tails, and Rouge were right behind them.

As they ran through the door, they found themselves in dark, high tech hallways. "This looks familiar..." Rouge remarked. "It's the Space Colony ARK!" Tails realized. Copter looked around. "What? No way! Not this space dump..." he grumbled. Tails and Rouge glanced back at him in surprise. "You've been here, Copter?!" Tails asked. Dimentime pointed ahead. "Sonic's getting away!!" he shouted. Modern Sonic was far ahead of them already, and turned a corner. They'd never catch up to him at this rate. "Maybe this was a bad idea... We'd need a rocket to keep up with those two..." Rouge pointed out. Suddenly, a loud roar came from deeper in the Space Colony, catching Classic Sonic's attention. Curious, he turned and ran in the direction of the sound to check it out. "Hey, where's he going!?" Copter wondered. "He's heading towards the core of the Eclipse Cannon..." Tails said, "Hey, that roar... Rouge, you don't think..." he said nervously. Rouge shivered. "I certainly hope not. We'd better stop him before he stirs up trouble. Sonic!! Wait!!" she shouted as she and Tails took off after the young hedgehog. Copter and Dimentime glanced at each other in confusion. "What are they freaked out about?" Dimentime asked. "I was hoping you knew! You have all the answers!" Copter replied.

Meanwhile, Sonic caught up with Shadow on the platforms outside the Space Colony. They jumped onto the same platform and started running side by side. "Before this is over, I'll show you the true power of Chaos Control!!" Shadow shouted. Sonic scratched his head. "Is this a rerun?" he muttered, dodging out of the way of some small meteors floating near the platform they were running on. Shadow was acting like he was still working with Eggman, and it seemed Sonic would have to fight him to get to the bottom of this!

The others caught up with Classic Sonic in a room full of GUN robots. "Hey, there weren't so many of these guys guarding Bucky..." Copter muttered. Sonic was making short work of most of them, but they'd have to deal with some of them. Rouge took flight and started kicking some Beetles that were dropping bombs from above, while Tails ran over to get the attention of a robot with multiple homing bombs attached to it, called a Hornet. It launched its bombs at him, and he flew out of the way, causing them to strike another robot nearby. This left the Hornet defenseless, and Tails easily took it out with a tail whip. Copter and Dimentime found a couple of Hunter robots equipped with shields. "Huh...? Shields? So what? Take that!!" Copter said, smacking the shield with his tails. It failed, so he tried Chaos Whirlwind, which the shield also repelled. The robot shot back at him, forcing him to dodge. "What's happening here!? That robot's invincible!!" Copter yelled, freaking out. Suddenly, the robot exploded! Dimentime was standing behind it, having attacked while it was distracted. "Don't hit the shield!" he shouted. Copter scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "Oh... Right..." He then jumped up and flew over the other Shield Hunter, evading its laser and landing behind it so he could smack it from behind with his tails! With the robots gone, Classic Sonic ran ahead, continuing his journey towards the Cannon's Core. "Here we go again..." Rouge sighed, "Somebody grab him next time he stops!"

They passed through one of the security doors as they went, still destroyed from the last time the group fought their way through. "Hey... I remember blasting that..." Tails remarked. They continued into a strange room with a green substance on the floor. Blocks were passing back and forth through the room. Classic Sonic was jumping from block to block in order to cross. "Well, lucky thing the rest of us can fly." Tails said. They nodded, and flew from block to block, timing it carefully. With so many of them, there weren't quite enough blocks, and somehow, Copter kept finding himself having to wait while the others rested on a block before moving on. "Hey, you block-headed block hogs! My tails are getting tired!!" Copter yelled, panting as he finally got to land on a block... that was heading for the dangerous green substance below! "Grrrr, of all the..." Copter hurried off the block, and soon joined the others at the solid ground on the other side. He took a moment to rest, and saw that the area ahead was lacking color. "Well, we must be on the right track..." he said. "What do you mean?" Rouge asked. "Let's hurry. Someone should be ahead." Dimentime realized. As they reached the room with the next security door, the first thing they noticed was that the color being drained also stopped the moving blocks in the room, making it easy to climb to the upper platform. The next thing they noticed was Classic Sonic staring up at the shadowy form of Mephiles, looking ready to pick a fight with him! "Don't make me laugh, child! Your older self isn't even a match for me!" Mephiles warned. Classic Sonic jumped at him, only to be repelled much like his older self was at Ice Cap! Below Mephiles was a statue of Rainbow the Echidna. "Ahh! Stay away, Mephiles!!" Copter shouted, running at the shadow. Mephiles ignored him and dove into the shadow cast by the statue, vanishing into it. As Copter approached, however, Rainbow regained her color, returning to normal! Copter was so focused on chasing Mephiles, however, that he was going too fast and couldn't stop! He stumbled into her, and ended up on the ground on top of her! "Yaaah!! I missed you, too!! But don't hug me so roughly, Two!" Rainbow groaned. Copter scrambled off of her, blushing. "I... I wasn't... I mean..." he stammered. "Fine time to get fresh, Copter!" Rouge grumbled. Dimentime shook his head. "He wasn't..." he insisted. Tails blushed as well. "Copter and Rainbow??" he muttered. Suddenly, the roar they heard earlier shook the room, sounding extremely close! Classic Sonic jumped to his feet and looked around. "That sounds close!" Tails said. "Huh? What's that!?" Rainbow gasped. "Wait... Is it behind us!?" Copter realized. Looking in the direction they came from, they saw a massive creature emerging from the hallway! It barely fit in the hallway, so it was struggling to get in. It was a big, red lizard, with life support technology attached to it. "It... it can't be!!!" Tails shouted. "The Biolizard!!" Rouge yelped. Rainbow screamed. "Eeeek!! A T-Rex!! Everybody RUN!!!" she shouted, heading through the security door, and prompting everyone to do the same as the Biolizard fired some sort of purple energy sphere at them from its mouth!

They ran ahead, and soon found their way to a room with a large chamber filled with yellowish colored liquid below. The next security door was ahead, but this time, they found it locked, rather than busted open as the previous two had been! Rouge groaned upon seeing the door locked. "Ugh! What's it doing closed!? Can't Knuckles do anything right!?" she groaned. Classic Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "Knuckles opened this door the last time we were here, but it looks like it's been closed again." Tails explained. "Yeah, I got that..." Copter grumbled, "Now how do we open it?" he asked, jumping as he heard the Biolizard roar down the hall behind them. Rouge glanced into the flooded chamber below. "The switch to open the door is in there somewhere... If only I knew why I had to flood that chamber in the first place..." she muttered. Copter smacked his forehead. "YOU flooded the way to the switch? Whaaaat!? Does something always have to make things more difficult!?" he growled. Rouge scoffed. "Don't blame me. It was Eggman's plan. Anyway, it worked. The world was saved... Or, I thought so. Oh, how is the Biolizard chasing us!?" she stammered. Copter sighed. "Well, let's get swimming. You four keep watch." Copter said, "If we're not back in five minutes, send Bucky after me! Maybe he can re-create me." As Copter and Rouge dove into the liquid, however, it was just a few seconds before the Biolizard charged up from below, its head splashing out of the liquid and glaring at Tails, Dimentime, Rainbow, and Classic Sonic! "Yaaaaah!! It's a sea monster!!" Rainbow shouted. "How is this possible!?" Dimentime gasped. "The Biolizard can use Chaos Control to warp!" Tails whimpered. Classic Sonic made some punching motions in the Biolizard's direction, eager to challenge it, but suddenly, a bunch of strange, egglike objects emerged from its neck and what little bit of its body could squeeze out of the water, and these objects shot at the group like projectiles, forcing them to move out of the way as though they were playing dodge ball. They needed the security door opened fast!

There were a few GUN robots floating around in the liquid, but they didn't seem particularly mobile in the water, so Copter and Rouge evaded them with ease as they searched for the switch. It didn't take very long to find it; their real problem came when they found their exit blocked by the Biolizard's rear end. "Blargh! Nooo!! I'm out of air!!" Copter gurgled, punching at the Biolizard desperately, to no avail. Rouge wasn't looking very good either, and with the Biolizard blocking the path, the others wouldn't be able to reach the now-opened security door! "We've gotta do something! Two and Batty are gonna drown!" Rainbow cried. Dimentime clutched his staff and looked as though he was struggling to think. "I don't know if I know any spells that are strong enough... How about this!" He quickly muttered a spell and sent several bolts of magical energy at the Biolizard, but they seemed to have little effect, other than annoying the beast! It fired its own purple energy sphere back at them, forcing Classic Sonic to run and pull Rainbow out of the way! Things were looking bleak, and they seemed to have no way to fight back, when suddenly, something intervened. "Chaos Control!" Shadow the Hedgehog suddenly appeared next to the Biolizard, and as it glanced at him, he jumped above its head and launched an attack. "Chaos Blast!!" A chaotic explosion erupted from Shadow's body and knocked the Biolizard into the liquid, giving Copter and Rouge an opening to float to the surface, though they didn't have the strength left to swim out. Shadow dropped down and grabbed them, joining the others as they hurried through the open security door. The Biolizard would be after them again shortly, and they couldn't stop to rest. They hurried to the next area, which looked a lot different from the previous areas, and once they were confident that the Biolizard had lost them, they stopped to let Copter and Rouge breathe. "Sh-shadow... You saved us... But why were you attacking Sonic...?" Rouge panted. Shadow looked at them suspiciously. "Attack Sonic? I did no such thing... Today." he said. Dimentime gasped. "Oooh, of course! Why didn't I see it! That wasn't the Shadow of the present attacking Sonic! That was the Shadow of the past!" he realized. Everyone stared at him. "We just didn't notice because Shadow hasn't aged since we met him!" he explained. "Oh... That makes sense." Tails said. Shadow nodded. "I see... Then it's my responsibility to deal with this. Leave it to me." he said before taking off. "Well... Shadow's handling it... I feel much... better..." Copter panted, still exhausted. Suddenly, they heard the Biolizard roar, and the roar sounded close. Copter shook his head hopelessly. "Nooo... No no NO!!!" he whined. Classic Sonic jumped and motioned for everyone to follow, leading the way as they headed for the core of the Eclipse Cannon. There were Artificial Chaos robots hovering around to impede their progress, but since their situation could become dire at any moment, Dimentime finally started using magic to clear their path for once, shooting bolts from his staff at the robotic parts of the Artificial Chaos.

Meanwhile, Sonic charged at "Classic Shadow" and rammed him with great force, finally managing to knock him out! The dark hedgehog even dropped a yellow Chaos Emerald! "Game over, Shadow! Hey... This isn't the fake emerald, is it...? Oh, wait, I had that. Heh heh..." Sonic said, picking up the emerald. As he turned around, however, he found himself face to face with "Modern Shadow." Sonic jumped. "Yaaah!! Don't you usually yell 'Chaos Control' first!?" he stammered, glancing back briefly, then doing a double take as he noticed the presence of two Shadows. "Ooooooohhh... Figures." he said. "Hmph. Couldn't figure it out before I got here, could you? Thanks a lot." Shadow grumbled. "You started it..." Sonic replied. Shadow walked over to his past self and then turned to Sonic. "I'll keep an eye on him. You need to help yourself, and I mean that quite literally. He's run into trouble with the others. A familiar face..." he said. Sonic scratched his head before decoding what Shadow had said. "Errr, right. I'm on my way! Where to?" he asked. "Cannon's Core." Shadow replied. Sonic sighed. "I got a pretty good hunch who that familiar face is then! I'd better hustle!" he said, speeding off. Shadow glanced at his past self and sighed. "You're pathetic. I wish I could escape you... But no matter how I try to put you behind me you keep creeping back." he grumbled. "The past is always there, there's no escaping it..." came a voice. Shadow looked around. "Who's there!?" he gasped. "But one could try... rewriting it!" As Shadow turned to face the sound of the voice, he saw Mephiles charging at him! He dove into his shadow, and then, rather than vanish as he had been doing, Mephiles emerged, now taking a form very similar to Shadow's. "Ha ha ha ha! The ultimate life form! This body suits me. I thank you for the vessel, Shadow the Hedgehog!" he chuckled before flying off. "Wait! Stop!! Who do you think you are!!" Shadow shouted. "Mephiles the Dark! Think about joining me, Shadow, if you want to break the shackles of your past!" Mephiles shouted back, his voice echoing as he vanished.

Finally, the group fleeing the Biolizard had run out of places to run. They had arrived at the core, where a replica of the Master Emerald shrine was set up to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds for the Eclipse Cannon. A recording played as they entered the room. "All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me... will feel my loss and despair!!" Rouge frowned. "Professor Gerald sounds as crazy as ever..." she muttered. Copter scratched his head. "That was old Gerald?" he said. "I'm surprised you know who Gerald is." Rouge commented. "Everyone knows who created Shade, 'cuz he's Tubby's grandpa." Rainbow said. "L-look out!" Tails warned. Suddenly, the Biolizard used Chaos Control to warp into the center of the room, and there was no easy way to get back out of the room, so they were cornered! "We'll have to fight it after all!" Dimentime said. Classic Sonic jumped excitedly, as if to say "leave it to me," but the others were looking much less confident. The Biolizard created tons of egglike projectiles and immediately started attacking them, shooting them with its purple energy sphere's at the same time, too! This was getting extremely dangerous! "That thing's just too powerful!" Copter shouted, "Let's just cut our losses and find a way off this space colony!" Rainbow scrambled as far away from the Biolizard as she could. "I agree! Even you have your limits, Speedy!" she said, making Classic Sonic pout. "Leave this one to me!" came a new voice. Everyone looked to see Modern Sonic, who was doing his best impression of Shadow, although overly exaggerating his grouchy face. He ceased his impression as the Biolizard glanced at him. "I got this, guys! Hey, Sonic! Get the others to safety for me, will ya?" he asked. Classic Sonic nodded cheerfully, giving Modern Sonic a thumbs up. They dashed for the exit, but not without the Biolizard launching attacks at them! "Yow!! Sonic!! Cover us, will ya!?" Rouge shouted. Classic Sonic glanced at her. "She means the other Sonic..." Tails pointed out. "Hey, why won't Dimentime TELEPORT US!!??" Copter yelled. "Too many of us." Dimentime muttered. As Modern Sonic jumped at the Biolizard and grinded on the tube connecting to the life support device on its back, he finally managed to get its attention, giving the group their chance to escape. Sonic jumped from the tube and launched a homing attack, striking the life support device on the creature's back! "Ha ha! I'll just keep this up and you'll be history! ...Again!"

With the Biolizard off their trail, the group easily made it back to the door they entered the Space Colony from and arrived back at white space. Rainbow looked around in surprise. "Hey, who took all the color?" she wondered. It wasn't long before Shadow caught up with them outside the door as well, and soon, Sonic arrived too. "Hey, Shadow. How's... uh, Shadow?" Sonic asked. Shadow frowned. "He'll never understand what's going on, and I'm not sure it's wise to explain it to him. He has his role in history. So, I'm going to stay here to make sure he doesn't get out of this door again." he said. Rouge nodded. "I guess it's for the best. I'll come by to check on you from time to time... if I'm not busy." she sighed. As they all waved to Shadow and started to leave, Classic Tails started to catch up to the group. Copter was eager to hear about the status of the Hurricane, so he ran over to the young fox. "My plane? My plane??" he asked. "It was rough, but we brought it to that Shadow Arc place. It's still broken, though." Classic Tails said. Modern Tails was talking to the Sonics as they approached Classic Tails. "I never expected to see Biolizard again!" he said. Modern Sonic chuckled. "Eh, that was easy. I fought him before, after all." he said. "By the way, I didn't get to give you this before, but I have a little present for you." Tails said, leaning over to Sonic and whispering in his ear. "Huh? Uh huh, okay..." Sonic muttered, "Whoa, that's a great idea! Sounds awesome, Tails!" he said at last. Tails took Sonic's shoes and tinkered with them. "Then here you go!" he said. "Thanks, Tails! Let's give 'em a try, then." Sonic replied, trying them on and running off. "What were you doing?" Classic Tails asked. "I made Sonic's shoes lighter by approximately 30%. If my design works, it'll let him move more freely, even in midair." Tails explained. "Yeah, Sonic's shoes seem REALLY heavy!" Copter remarked from a distance away, eavesdropping on the conversation. They ignored him. "Interesting! Maybe I can do that for my Sonic, too." Classic Tails wondered. "Sure, I'll show you how to do it later." Tails replied. "Thanks! This is kinda weird though, isn't it?" Classic Tails observed. "Hm? What's weird?" Tails asked. "I'm getting tips from myself!" Classic Tails pointed out. "Ha ha ha! That's right!" Tails realized. While they were busy, Copter and Dimentime set out for the next area, followed by Rainbow. "Where we going?" Rainbow asked. "Why don't you go see Punchy? He's at Shadow Arc." Copter suggested. Rainbow's eyes lit up. "One's safe? All right! I'm off to check on him! Later, Two!" she said, taking off. Dimentime sighed. "Thank you. I forgot how annoying she was with the nicknames..." he said. Copter nodded. "Yeah, but she's not so bad... And after today, I'm not sure Bucky's so bad either. At least he's not as crazy as Shadow's creator... Seriously, what WAS that lizard thing!? I'm glad Bucky didn't create anything like that..." he said. "Kosmo?" Dimentime muttered. Copter shrugged. "You can reason with Kosmo... sometimes. That thing couldn't even talk!" he argued. "Kosmo's psycho, though." Dimentime insisted. The two continued to argue as they headed for the next area, not really paying much attention to which area they were headed for.


Chapter 9 - Team Copter
Stage - Seaside Hill, Hang Castle - Sonic Heroes

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

"Follow me inside! Outside! Through the stratosphere!
The moon is shining for you; it knows that I adore you.
Suddenly all the sadness will just slip away,
And you will see what I mean.
If you just follow me in my dreams!" - Follow Me, Sonic Heroes


Copter and Dimentime found themselves at the entrance to Seaside Hill, a coastal area with what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient civilization nearby. As they contemplated checking it out, Amy, Cream and Cheese approached them nonchalantly, looking into the entrance to Seaside Hill. "Hey, guys... Going to the sea, are you?" Amy asked. Copter glanced at her. "Maybe..." he muttered. Cream smiled, seeing no reason to beat around the bush. "Can we come along, Mr. Copter?" she asked. Copter and Dimentime both shook their heads. "It's safer for you two out here..." Dimentime pointed out. Amy groaned. "It's also boring! Sonic always runs off before I can ask to go with him! I went with the others to rescue your plane earlier, but that wasn't much fun... A trip to the sea shore is just what we need!" she insisted. Dimentime sighed. "This isn't a pleasure trip. We're looking for clues to help us fix the world. Sure, you were fine back at that pinball place, but I'm not sure about bringing Cream along..." he said. Cream looked at him with sweet puppy dog eyes. "Please let me come along. I won't be a burden..." she promised. Copter and Dimentime glanced away, trying to ignore her cuteness. "I don't know..." Copter groaned. Amy tapped her foot grouchily. "Oh, come on! Don't be jerks! Anyway, we have more experience with this than you do! We've both been here before!" she said. Cream nodded. "We went on a big adventure with Mr. Big! Cheese and I were looking for Chocola..." she explained. Copter scratched his head. "A chocolate soda...? Um... Sounds tasty?" he muttered. Cream shook her head. "You can't eat Chocola!" she groaned as Cheese yelped angrily. Copter wasn't quite sure what that was about, but he knew when he was beat. "Okay, okay... Seems you two know something about this place... I guess you can come." he said. Amy and Cream cheered a bit, while Copter and Dimentime glanced at each other awkwardly. "This could be a long day..." Copter said. "Has been a long day... Can you tell when one day ends and another begins in here? Because I can't." Dimentime sighed. "All right, you two! Enough mumbling! Let's hit the beach!" Amy ordered, leading the way into Seaside Hill.

They soon found themselves on the beach by the sea, which was missing quite a bit of its color. "All right... Let's look around. Someone's frozen around here somewhere." Copter realized. "Huh? You think so?" Amy asked. Cream pointed by the edge of the shore. "Found him!" she said. He was pretty hard to miss. It was Big the Cat, and he was frozen sitting by the water with his fishing line cast, with a serene expression on his face. "Wow, he looks so peaceful. Seems a shame to wake him..." Copter said awkwardly. Dimentime took a look around and sighed with relief. "We've caught a lucky break. There's no sign of Mephiles. Let's not miss this opportunity!" They hurried over to Big, and his color began to return. However, he remained still for a moment, until something started to tug at his fishing line. "Hey, I got a bite!" he mumbled, pulling his rod back and working on reeling in his catch! Much to everyone's dismay, he pulled up one of Eggman's Chopper robots. "Aaawww, that's not Froggy..." Big groaned. Dimentime blasted the robotic fish with magic from his staff, not giving it a chance to bite the slow-witted cat. "That takes care of that..." he muttered. "Ummm... Did you say something about Froggy, Big?" Amy asked. Big glanced at her. "Oh, hi Amy. Hello, Cream and Cheese! Have you seen Froggy? We got separated and I was looking for him, when I heard something go 'WHOOSH!' Then the fish stopped biting for a long time..." he explained. Copter smacked himself on the forehead. "He didn't even notice the monster suck him up!! How oblivious can you get!" he groaned. Cream smiled at Big cheerfully. "Don't worry, Mr. Big! We'll help you find your friend again! Cheese and I promise!" she said as Cheese cheered. Copter crossed his arms. "I don't want to rain on your parade here, but he said they were separated BEFORE the monster got him. 'Froggy' probably isn't here." he pointed out. Amy pulled out her hammer. "Big comes with us! Any objections?" she growled. Copter backed away and mimicked Big's voice. "Froggy!! Oh Froooggy!!" he shouted. Big smiled. "Thanks. I'll be glad to help you out with what you're doing, too! Um... What were you doing?" he mumbled. "Just smash robots, OK..." Dimentime sighed.

With that, their journey through Seaside Hill truly began. As Copter looked around, he started to groan. "Anyone else notice that this place is just Green Hill Zone with some ruins in the background? If I didn't know better, I'd say this was some sort of lazy writer's work..." he grumbled, prompting everyone to stare at him for a second. "Don't talk for a while, Copter... Just don't..." Amy sighed. As they proceeded towards the ruins, they saw robots coming towards them. For the first time since Copter had been exploring these past areas, Eggman's robots now looked familiar. "Aw, nooo... Egg Pawns!?" he growled, prompting Amy to raise her hammer towards him. "What did I say!?" she reminded him. The Egg Pawns were carrying spears, and didn't seem particularly threatening, except for their sheer numbers. Big nodded. "All right. I remember what to do... I think." Amy and Cream nodded, too, and jumped up on Big's shoulders as the Egg Pawns started to charge at them. Copter and Dimentime watched, scratching their heads. "What are they doing...?" Dimentime wondered, holding Copter's mouth shut to keep him from getting in trouble with Amy again. Big reached up and hurled Amy and Cream at the Egg Pawns like projectiles, the two girls tucking themselves into balls as they flew at the robots! They crashed into a couple of the Egg Pawns, destroying them, but the rest kept charging towards Big! Unfazed, he raised his fishing pole and started swinging it around, smacking the robots with his lure! In a few moments, the robots were reduced to scrap, and Copter and Dimentime stared with their jaws hanging open. "All done!" Big said cheerfully. "That was easy." Amy grinned. "Come on, guys, let's go!" Cream said, motioning for the foxes to follow. Dimentime blinked a couple of times. "Did that... just happen...?" he muttered before following Team Rose. Along the way, they found sections of the ruins begin to fall apart for no apparent reason. "Again!?" Amy groaned. Big simply smashed through the rubble, enabling them to continue forward. "Good thing Mr. Big is really strong!" Cream giggled. Copter just stood back and watched, sighing and groaning periodically. When would he be allowed to talk again, anyway? Not that he cared, he was feeling somewhat tired after so many crazy adventures with no rest. They soon came to a large fan, and saw no apparent way forward. Big shrugged. "Okay. Hold on to me, I guess..." he muttered. Amy and Cream grabbed on to him, and he held up his fishing rod. Dimentime scratched his head. "Huh...?" he muttered. With a flick of a switch, his fishing rod turned into a big, strong umbrella, which he used to catch the current from the fan and ride it up to the high platform above them! Copter stared up at them. "Wait!! What about us!?" he groaned. Dimentime raised his staff and teleported up, leaving Copter. "Huh!? Very funny!! You jerk!!" Copter groaned and jumped over the fan, using its current to aid his tails in flying himself up. There, he found the group dealing with Egg Flappers, flying versions of Egg Pawns. Cream was airborne, and was carrying Amy, while Big held on to her by the ankles. "Oooh, that looks like a broken back waiting to happen..." Copter grimaced. Cream seemed to be carrying them both amazingly easily, though. She was unbelievably strong, and she was tossing Amy and Big at the Egg Flappers like balls, taking them down one by one! Soon, the robots were gone, and Cream set Amy and Big on the ground, panting heavily. "Did I ever mention how much that takes out of me, Amy?" she sighed. "I'm sorry, Cream... You gotta admit, the thunder shoot's effective, though." Amy said.

With some exploration, they found their way to a strange vehicle parked at the beginning of a long road. "Hey, it's a bobsled!" Amy said. Copter raised an eyebrow. "No, it's not. I was at the Winter Olympics. I remember what bobsleds looked like. This is no bobsled." he grumbled. Big stared with wide eyes. "Uh oh... Now I'm confused..." he whimpered. "See what you did, Copter? This is why you shouldn't talk! It's not THAT kind of bobsled!!" Amy growled. Dimentime looked it over. "It seems to require three people to operate. One to steer, one to push the vehicle forward, and one to... jump." he said. Cream stared at him. "That's right! How did you figure all that out?" she wondered. Amy sighed. "Never mind. Let's get riding! We'll meet you on the other side!" she said, hopping onto the back of the bobsled. While Team Rose was boarding the vehicle, Copter spied another one not far away. "Hey, are we gonna take this from them? Let's show 'em a thing or two!" he said, pointing to the spare bobsled. Dimentime raised an eyebrow. "It's a three person vehicle. Who's going to be our third, Cheese?" he asked. Copter shrugged. "Do we really need a jumper? C'mon, let's go!" They hurried to the bobsled, and Amy glanced at them. "Oh, you wanna race, huh?" she sneered. Cream looked down from her jumping perch nervously. "Amy, isn't that dangerous?" she asked. Amy snickered. "For them, maybe!" she said. "Ready? I'll... steer." Big said, looking ahead uncertainly. Copter sat in the driver's seat of the other vehicle, while Dimentime did a spin dash from behind to start it up. As the bobsleds started moving, the drivers saw obstacles ahead; there were bombs scattered along the road! Amy twirled her hammer and knocked her team's sled towards Copter's, trying to ram them and knock them off course! "Yaaah!! Hey, that's cheating!!" Copter shouted as Cream jumped her team over the bombs safely, leaving Copter to swerve frantically out of the way. Dimentime stopped spinning and switched to a jump-ready position. "H-hey! We're gonna lose!!" Copter yelled. "Yeah, and the other way we were gonna die. Besides, have a little faith in yourself, Copter..." Dimentime winked. Ahead, Cream scolded Amy. "That wasn't nice, Amy! You could have hurt Mr. Copter!" she said. Amy didn't say anything; the spinning was making her nauseous. Big was focused on his driving, and certainly wasn't as interested in winning any race as Amy was. As they evaded some bombs and plowed through some hapless Egg Pawns on the road, Copter and Dimentime's bobsled suddenly came charging towards them! "Heeeh? What's that??" Big muttered, glancing back. Dimentime was still operating the jump function while Copter drove, but some force was propelling their bobsled forward without a third rider! "So long, ladies!! And... Big..." Copter taunted as they zoomed by. Amy growled as she spun around. "Using... magic... is... CHEATING!!!" she yelled. Copter and Dimentime was getting close to the end of the road, but there were more and more bombs and they were moving a bit too fast for Copter's taste. "I... can't... steeeeeer!!" Copter groaned, causing the bobsled to spin out of control as he tried to evade the bombs and eventually crashed the vehicle onto its side, sending himself and Dimentime tumbling onto the ground! In a few moments, Team Rose passed them by, taking the lead and winning their race by default. Copter shook his fist at them. "If we had a third person, things would be so different!!" he shouted, slowly working his way towards them. "Losers gotta stay quiet until we find Froggy!" Amy shouted, "And if you talk, you gotta buy us dinner!" Copter opened his mouth to protest, but it occurred to him that he might have to buy Big dinner. He hung his head and silently vowed revenge.

They ran past an area with giant, round, spiky rocks rolling around trying to crush them, screaming hysterically as they went. Not far past there, they arrived back at a strip of the beach, where they heard what sounded like a combination of a helicopter and a plane engine. Soon, they saw the source of the noise landing in front of them. It was Dr. Eggman, piloting his Egg Hawk, a big, red, bird vehicle. "So, you're the ones who were playing games with my army?" Eggman asked, glaring at them. He was even holding Froggy, so Copter sighed with relief and cheered. "Yes!! Thank you, Eggman!! I've never been happier to see you!! I can talk again!! Now give back that frog or we'll whup ya!" he shouted. Eggman sighed. "Useless frog! I was hoping it could give me a little bit of helpful data for the next phase of my plan... Say, maybe that could... Perhaps you'd be willing to trade your Chao for my frog?" he suggested. Cream hugged Cheese tight. "You're not taking Cheese!!" she yelled. "You shouldn't have took Froggy, doc!" Big bellowed. Copter sighed. "Hey, what happened to Char, anyway?" he asked. Eggman had a stupid look on his face. "Errm... Good point. Char... Grrr, but how dare you tell me what I should and shouldn't do! I'm the boss here! My Egg Hawk says so!" he declared. Amy pulled out her hammer. "That's not what it said last time!! You are so going down!" she said. "Oh, yeah? Come and get me!" Eggman growled, flying his Egg Hawk in reverse down the strip of beach. Copter, Dimentime and Team Rose gave chase, though Big wasn't exactly built for running like this. Some Egg Pawns manning the Egg Hawk's turrets began firing at the group as they ran, forcing them to evade in different directions. "Go, Cheese!" Cream shouted, prompting the Chao to fly ahead, nimbly dodging the shots from the turrets until he reached one of the Egg Pawns. Cheese then gave the pawn a good smack in the head, and then a kick and another smack! He managed to damage the robot enough to make it start sparking, and then flew out of the way as it exploded! With that robot down, Eggman started firing on them with the Egg Hawk's main gun, but the group stayed to the side with the busted Egg Pawn and had an easier time. Soon, they arrived at an open area where some of Eggman's robots were waiting around. The Egg Hawk stopped moving and started rotating in place. "Initiate rotary attack!!" Eggman shouted. Copter stared for a minute. "What, does he want to hit us with his rotors??" he wondered. Amy ran up and started smacking at the Egg Hawk with her hammer. "Take this and this and this!! Give back Froggy and stop harassing Sonic so we can get married and live happily ever after!!" she yelled, furious. Copter chuckled. "What was that? You want to marry the frog?" he teased. "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!" Amy yelled. For all her rage, her hammer wasn't doing much damage, and Eggman laughed from the safety of his cockpit. "Tell you what, I'll give you the frog if you invite me to the wedding. I want to see Froggy in a tuxedo. Hooo ho ho ho ho!! I'll leave before you have to kiss him, though, that's just gross... Hee hee hee..." he was getting such a kick out of teasing Amy, he didn't notice Big catching up. Now that the Egg Hawk was in sight again, Big was coming at a run, and he looked mad. "You... give... back... Froggy!!!" he shouted, catching everyone's attention. Copter finished smashing an Egg Pawn that was bugging him and glanced at Big. "Hey, is that a meteor?" he mumbled. Eggman yelped when he saw Big coming at him. "Wait, what are you doing!? Are you insane!? Get back!!" Unfortunately for Eggman, Big would not be deterred. He charged and slammed into the Egg Hawk with a powerful crash, resulting in a large explosion! "M-mr. Big!!" Cream gasped, watching with concern. As the dust settled, the Egg Hawk crumpled to the floor as a wreck, while Big hopped to the ground, unscathed! "...Froggy??" he muttered, looking around. "Rrribbit." The frog hopped onto his head, safe and sound. "Ah, there you are!! I was worried for a minute!" Big said cheerfully. Amy and Cream ran to Big to congratulate him, while Copter and Dimentime crept towards the wreck to check on Eggman. He was lying on the ground, and he wasn't moving. "Is he... dead?" Copter wondered. Dimentime picked up a broken metal rod and poked him, only to be shocked when a hatch opened in his chest and a goofy toy Eggman head popped out!! "Yaaaah!! It's an alien hatchling!!!" he shouted, freaked out. Eggman's voice came from the toy, laughing at them and catching Team Rose's attention. "Muahahaha!! Too bad, suckers! That me wasn't me!" Eggman taunted. Amy raised an eyebrow. "A fake Eggman?! This is all TOO familiar..." she said. Copter growled angrily. "Eggman!! Too lazy to face me in person!?" he shouted. The Eggman head bobbed back and forth on its spring, taunting them in its way. "No, no, not at all! In fact, let's settle this right now, shall we, Copter? And, uh... Coptwo." Eggman said. Dimentime rolled his eyes. "It's Dimentime..." Big glanced at him. "It is?? I thought it was snack time." he said hungrily. Eggman could be heard chuckling at this, but quickly composed himself. "Anyway... You two treacherous clones have been a thorn in my side for long enough! So if you'd like to end this petty conflict, meet me at Hang Castle, which you can find floating in the white space. I'll be glad to put you in your place! See you!" with that, Eggman hung up, leaving Copter and Dimentime to think about his challenge.

Upon reaching white space, Copter and Dimentime were ready to say their goodbyes to Team Rose. "Good luck, Copter. I'd go with you, but... I get the feeling you don't really want my help." Amy said. Copter smirked. "Who needs ya. Besides, I know you just want to wait for Sonic to turn up again." he pointed out. Amy blushed and looked away. "Well, there is more to life than blowing up robots..." she giggled. Cream bowed politely. "Thank you for letting me go with you, Mr. Copter. And you too, Mr. Dimentime. It was fun! Good luck out there." she said. Big smiled. "Thanks for helping find Froggy! Now, um... Where are we? And um... When's lunch? And... Why's it all white? My head hurts..." he sighed, sitting down with Froggy on his head. Copter frowned. "Poor simple guy... Think he'll be all right?" he wondered. Amy nodded. "We'll just find him some food and he'll feel like a million rings!" she said.

Copter and Dimentime began their search for Hang Castle, when they heard someone call out to them. "AHA!! There he is!! Wait for us, Two!!!" Copter stopped in his tracks and started to sweat. "Oh... I thought I was free of craziness..." he groaned. Turning around, he and Dimentime saw Punchy and Rainbow chasing after them. "We've been looking all over for you, Copt! I'm sick of hanging around Bucky and the rest of the loony bin! Take me with you!" Punchy begged. Rainbow giggled. "Never mind him. We just wanted to help you on your epic quest, Two! It'll be like old times... Just without Tubby!" she said. Dimentime sighed. "Not exactly... We're going after 'Tubby' right now..." he explained. Punchy made a fist and smacked it into his hand, grinning. "Perfect! Sounds like fun!" he said. Copter shrugged. "He's somewhere above us. In a place called Hang Castle. He's waiting for us..." he told them. Rainbow glanced up. "A hanging castle? Sorta like that?" she asked, pointing. High above them, there was a spooky castle partially obscured by dark clouds. There were a number of platforms leading up to it, but it was out of the way, another place Sonic was unlikely to find in his haste to just run forward. Copter nodded. "Yeah, I guess that'd be it..." he said.


Copter, Dimentime, Punchy and Rainbow soon arrived at Hang Castle. Actually appearing to be a series of castles suspended in midair and connected by bridges and floating platforms, the dark locale had a very haunting feel to it. Rainbow shivered as they made their way towards the first of the castles. "Why would Tubby lure us out here...? Isn't he s-scared?" she stammered. Punchy scoffed. "This coming from the girl who lives in the underground ghost town. I swear your place is haunted." he said. Dimentime shushed them. "I sense something... There is a dark presence in this place..." he whispered. Copter rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're a ghost whisperer now?" he grumbled. Dimentime shushed him and proceeded into the courtyard of the castle ahead of them, holding his staff in front of him. He looked around carefully, and suddenly, he jumped back. "It's here!!" he gasped. Suddenly, a swarm of pumpkin headed ghosts surrounded the group, giggling as they menaced them! "Eeeek!! Bad spirits! It's not even Halloween yet!" Rainbow shouted, slapping a ghost as it neared her. The ghost vanished from the physical contact, and Copter and Punchy exchanged surprised looks. "It's THAT easy...?" Punchy muttered. However, Dimentime had somehow missed it. "I cast you out, dark spirits!! Take this!!" he shouted, firing blinding lights at the ghosts from his staff, making the spooks flee in horror from the spells! Copter glanced at Dimentime and shook his head. "Ever hear of overkill... Mr. no magic?" he sighed. Suddenly, a squad of robots started to lower into the area from above. They were magical robots called Egg Bishops, which carried magic staffs and looked like wizards. Punchy sighed. "Magic, magic, magic... Whatever happened to a good old fashioned butt kicking?" he said. The robots stayed in the air, just out of reach, and started flinging spells at them! "Aww, that's no fair!" Rainbow groaned. Copter saw this and got an idea. "Hey, I know... Why don't we try the thunder shoot ourselves!" he suggested. Punchy and Rainbow stared at him in confusion, while Dimentime chuckled. "You sure you don't want my magic?" he asked. Copter rolled his eyes and gathered Punchy and Rainbow into a huddle, while Dimentime distracted the Egg Bishops. Punchy occasionally shouted "What!?" and "You're crazy!!" during the huddle, but soon the thunder shoot had been explained. "Sounds like fun! Let's try it, Two!" Rainbow said at the end. "You're crazy, too!" Punchy scoffed. "Don't pout, One! Be a team player!" Rainbow said. Copter flew up and grabbed Punchy's hands, while Rainbow grabbed Punchy's ankles. "Why do I gotta be in the middle?! Ugh..." Punchy grunted. Copter panted. "This... isn't as easy as Cream made it look... You two are heavy!" he groaned. He took aim at the Egg Bishops, and then hurled Punchy and Rainbow at them! Rainbow didn't seem to get as much distance as Punchy, but she made up for it by gliding at the robot she was closest to. Two robots went down, but there were still several more. Copter dodged some spells and shot back. "Chaos Whirlwind!" His chaotic wind did not destroy the robots, however. Instead, the robots flipped over, revealing a more sinister, purple version of themselves. Punchy and Rainbow scrambled back to the formation. "Copter... What did you do!?" Punchy yelped. The Egg Magicians started flinging fiercer, darker spells at them, as if to answer Punchy's question. Copter weaved out of the way. "Don't blame Two, One... He was just trying to heeeelp!!" Rainbow shouted as Copter pulled them away from another spell. "Grrrr!! Take this, robots!!" Copter tried the thunder shoot again, using Punchy and Rainbow to take out a couple more robots, but this strategy was getting him tired. As Punchy ran back again, he grabbed Copter by the ankles. "Hey, what the...?!" Copter yelped. "Let's see how YOU like it!!" Punchy growled, hurling Copter at the next Egg Magician. "REAL MATURE, PUNCHY!!!" Copter yelled as he crashed into the robot. Rainbow giggled. "Oooh! Do me, do me!" she suggested. Punchy scratched his head, but accepted her hands when she offered them. He swung her around and tossed her, taking out another robot! Copter staggered back and grabbed onto Punchy, anger in his eyes. "You little... I'll show you!! Chaos Whirlwind!!!" he shouted. Punchy gasped and then growled. "Oh, yeah? Chaos Avalanche!!" he yelled, grabbing Copter by the arms. The two of them started tumbling around, kicking up wind and rubble as they went, forcing Rainbow and Dimentime to take cover! "You maniacs!! What are you...?!" Dimentime yelped, only to notice their crazed rumbled was taking out the remaining robots! When the dust settled, they were lying on their backs, groaning. "I hate you..." Punchy growled. "Knucklehead..." Copter grumbled. Rainbow giggled. "Way to go, guys! We make a great team!" she said. They sat up and looked around. "Team...?" Copter muttered. "Uh, right. We're Team Copter!" he said. Punchy glared at him. "WHAT!? No way!! Why?" he snapped. Copter chuckled. "Because the thunder shoot was my idea. Hence the team up was my idea." he said. Punchy shook his head. "I don't wanna be on your team. Hey, Dimentime, wanna join Team Punchy?" he asked. Dimentime was examining an odd switch at the other side of the courtyard. "This switch has a strange power..." he muttered. Copter, Punchy and Rainbow hurried over to him. "What's up, Dimentwo?" Rainbow asked. Punchy shrugged. "It's a big ball. What's the big deal?" he said, reaching out to touch it. "No, wait!!" Dimentime shouted.

The switch glowed with eerie light, and before they knew what was happening, the entire world seemed to flip upside down! "Aaaaaaahhh!! I don't wanna be a ghoooost!!" Copter yelled. Below them, they spotted what appeared to be another building, with something like a rail along the roof... or was it the bottom? At any rate, they each aimed for the rail and used it to grind their way to wherever it might lead. To their dismay, it led straight to a wall. "Oh, nooo!!" shouted Punchy, who was at the front. He smacked into the wall, and the others smacked into him one by one. Then, they all fell, landing on a platform floating below. There, as they rested their sore bodies, they found someone sitting around looking rather lost. It was Shadow! "...Hmm... You four wouldn't happen to have seen a bat and a robot would you? I seem to have lost them." he muttered. Dimentime got up slowly and squinted at Shadow. "Um... Do you know who I am?" he asked. Shadow frowned. "I don't even know who I am." he muttered. Punchy looked at him curiously. "Amnesia?" he suggested. Copter sighed. "Past self, I think... Hey, why are there TWO past Shadows around here!?" he grumbled. Dimentime shrugged. "Maybe the monster likes his... mopey attitude." Shadow crossed his arms impatiently. "You're wasting my time..." he grumbled. Suddenly, a sinister chuckle was heard nearby. "How observant. I like that about you, Shadow..." Mephiles the Dark emerged from behind Shadow, still using Shadow's form that he had taken while at Space Colony ARK. Dimentime gasped upon seeing it. "How...?!" he stammered. Mephiles ignored him and faced Shadow. "Interested in your past? Why worry about it. Together, we can control the future. In the past, you were hated and feared. Why do you think you woke up in the same place as Omega? Together, Shadow... The world could be ours..." he offered. Shadow watched Mephiles intently. "What you say... Makes sense... Maybe I was feared..." he muttered. Copter growled and stepped forward. "Hey, Shadow! Snap out of it! Who cares if a bunch of losers are scared of you? I mean, you ARE scary. You can't really blame them. People are scared of me, too, but you don't see me working for Mephiles. You strike me as the independent type, anyway. Are you gonna let someone boss you around?" he snapped. Mephiles fired a dark energy blast at Copter in anger, which Copter promptly evaded. "Insignificant pest! How dare you meddle with me!" he yelled. Shadow glanced at Mephiles and gave him a swift punch in the chest in retaliation. "Oooof!! Why you..." he growled. "Hmph... The fox is right. Only I decide what I'm going to do. And it seems to me... You have an agenda of destruction. One that I'm not sure I share." Shadow said. Just then, a group of robots jumped down to the platform from a higher platform! Mephiles sneered at the group and created a portal of darkness. "You'll see it my way, Shadow... We were meant to work together. And if you won't join me... You'll die!" he warned, escaping into the portal. With Mephiles gone, the group turned to face the robots. They were mostly Egg Pawns, but they were joined by a massive, hammer toting robot appropriately named Egg Hammer. Copter, Punchy and Rainbow assembled together. "All right, Team Copter, let's get 'em!" Copter shouted. "Yeah, go, Team Two!" Rainbow cheered. Copter hung his head hopelessly while Punchy laughed, but Shadow did not seem amused by their theatrics. "Hmph... I don't need help fighting the doctor's toys. Stay out of my way." he said, dashing ahead to tackle the Egg Hammer on his own.

With Shadow's help, traversing the castle was much easier. They flipped it over again, made their way through some traps, and found another castle flipping switch near a giant statue of Dr. Eggman. "That statue must mean this is where Eggman wants to meet us..." Copter realized. Sure enough, Eggman came cruising along in his Egg Mobile to greet them. "Well, well... That's more visitors than I was expecting." he said. Copter looked around and then looked up at Eggman. "I'm no coward, if that's what you're saying! I'll take you on, fox to egg!" he shouted. Eggman chuckled. "Oh, I have no doubt. But I'm a multitasker, anyway. And to me, you're a nobody. A nothing. You'll always be a nobody, Copter. You've got nothing on Sonic, which is why I'm busy focusing my efforts on plotting HIS demise..." he said. Copter opened his mouth to argue, but before he could speak, Dr. Eggman started to transform before them! It turned out, Eggman was not there at all; it was another fake, and this fake soon took the form of Metal Sonic. This version of Metal Sonic was looking spikier and more fearsome than usual, with a more armored body and a black cape. Eggman's voice echoed from somewhere, perhaps the statue. "I pulled some strings to get Neo Metal Sonic here to take care of you. He may be treacherous, but so are the rest of you. Maybe I'll get lucky and you'll all exterminate each other!" he said, laughing before his voice faded away. Neo Metal Sonic hopped down and activated the switch, flipping over the castle and sending everyone to the somewhat larger platform below. From upside down, the Eggman statue resembled Neo Metal Sonic, surprisingly. "When I'm through with you, I'll escape from here and find Sonic... And once I take him down, nothing will stop me from becoming the ultimate overlord of this world!" Metal Sonic declared. Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Aww, not THIS again..." she sighed, making Copter look at her funny. "Metal Sonic turned on Eggman when he and Gunner set Kosmo loose back on Shadow Arcangel way back that day, going on about wanting to be the ultimate overlord." Punchy explained. Copter chuckled nervously. "I didn't know you had mental problems, Metal... Look, I'd rather not wreck you. I'll need you later. I don't wanna go boom in Gunner's jail cell..." he said. Metal Sonic charged at him, only to get knocked away by Shadow! "Hmph... Enough talk..." he said.

Copter scratched his head as Neo Metal Sonic started fighting with Shadow. "Come to think of it, we fought Metal Sonic already... Oh, yeah, Robotnik was in charge then. But shouldn't Eggman remember? Arrgh..." he mumbled. Shadow attacked Metal Sonic with Chaos Spear, but the robot jumped aside. Then, to everyone's surprise, Neo Metal Sonic mimicked Shadow's movements. "Ultimate Life Form data has been copied... Chaos Spear!!" he shouted, flinging his own version of Chaos Spear back at Shadow! Rainbow backed away slowly. "Metal Speedy's a copycat! This looks bad..." she said. Punchy growled. "Oh, yeah? Let's see him copy this!! Chaos Avalanche!!" He used Chaos energy to break off chunks of the platform and toss them at Metal Sonic. "Experiment 1 data has been copied. Chaos Avalanche!" The robot snatched the chunks as they came at him and hurled them at Punchy and Copter, forcing them both to run! "Seriously, Punchy!? Seriously!?" Copter yelled. He then ran at Metal Sonic, determined to end this before it got out of hand. "No chaos nonsense! He can't copy my tails!" he reasoned, jumping at Metal Sonic and whipping his tails at him. However, Metal Sonic simply warped out of the way! "Chaos Control!" he shouted. "What!?" Copter whimpered. "Experiment 2 data has been copied... Chaos Whirlwind!!" Metal Sonic yelled, smacking Copter towards the ledge with the very chaotic wind he'd refused to use! Dimentime ran over and grabbed Copter before he could fall. "No fair!! I didn't even use it!! You dirty stupid... I HATE MACHINES!!!" he yelled. "How are we supposed to beat this guy?!" Punchy growled. "You can't hope to match my power! With all your data, I'm unstoppable!" Metal Sonic taunted them. Shadow had been silently observing, but now seemed to have an idea. "You can't hit him if he uses Chaos Control. But I can use Chaos Control, too. I'll stall his Chaos Control. While I do, hit him with everything you have." he said. "I'll get him to use the Chaos Control." Dimentime said, running ahead. Copter, Punchy and Rainbow exchanged glances and then nodded. "Up to Team Copter..." Punchy muttered. Copter smirked, but then Punchy added, "I don't want my name on this train wreck." Dimentime came at Metal Sonic with his staff, prompting him to try to use Chaos Control, but Shadow activated his Chaos Control at the same time, attempting to neutralize the affect. "What is this!?" Metal Sonic roared. "Now! Attack!!" Shadow shouted. Copter, Punchy and Rainbow joined hands. "This'll either work or kill us all... Chaos Whirlwind!!" Copter shouted. "Chaos Avalanche!" Punchy added. "I want my mommy!!" Rainbow yelled. The three of them started spinning towards Metal Sonic, a whirling vortex of chaotic wind and torn up stones! Metal Sonic attempted to evade the attack, but there was little he could do. He was struck hard and caught in the vortex, knocked around for a few moments before the trio let go of each others' hands and went flying in different directions! Dimentime caught Rainbow before she could tumble over the ledge, while Shadow stopped Punchy's fall. Copter ended up hanging over the edge, grumbling to himself. "I hate you, Metal Sonic..." When they all got back up, they found Neo Metal Sonic on the ground, apparently deactivated. "What do we do with him?" Shadow asked. "I'll wipe his mind a bit. He has a place in history that doesn't involve the white space." Dimentime said, lowering his staff to Metal Sonic's head. Copter scratched his head while Dimentime worked on Metal Sonic. "Why'd you mention white space in front of Shadow?" he asked. Once finished with Metal Sonic, Dimentime quickly smacked Shadow on the head and did the same to his memory! "Hey! That was mean, Dimentwo!" Rainbow snapped. "For him, these events are best forgotten. He has a team waiting for him, and it's best he get back to them." Dimentime explained. So, they took Shadow away from Metal Sonic, leaving him somewhere Rouge and Omega, if they were in Hang Castle, would be likely to find him.


Sonic and Classic Sonic had just gone through Seaside Hill. They might not have found Eggman there, but they did manage to find something Copter had missed. A statue of Espio, blended in to its white environment. Fortunately, Classic Sonic managed to spot him. As he awakened, Espio jumped up into the air, looked around, and gracefully landed back on the ground. "Thank you my friend. Beware, for I have looked into the soul of our enemy, and I saw only darkness." he said. Classic Sonic nodded, and was soon joined by Modern Sonic. "BOO! Did we surprise ya, Espio?" Sonic chuckled. Espio seemed unimpressed by the fact that there were two Sonics. "I knew you were there. But I must admit the monster took me by surprise. It takes a mighty foe to trap a ninja. Be on your guard, Sonic. If you'll excuse me, I'll be searching for clues to my team's whereabouts..." the chameleon said, vanishing before Sonic's eyes. Sonic sighed. "Well, good luck, pal..." he muttered.

While the Sonics walked away from Seaside Hill, Tails and Classic Tails flew over. "So I think we've pieced together more of what's happening... and it's not good." Modern Tails said. Suddenly, white space shook violently as the monster made a sudden appearance in the sky, flying by really quickly and disappearing into a portal. "When that thing goes through time it tears space apart, leaving the areas empty and dead and sticking them in this weird white limbo." Classic Tails explained, glancing at a number of areas ahead that were still white. "When the Sonics accelerate through time they fix space, returning color and life!" Modern Tails added. Sonic looked thoughtful. "Then I guess we have to run like there's no tomorrow, or there won't be a tomorrow!" he said, glancing at Classic Sonic, who nodded in agreement.

Copter and Dimentime had arrived back at white space. Punchy and Rainbow said goodbye to them and headed off to find something safer to do for a while, but promising that they'd be back to help if Copter needed them. Alone again, the two foxes soon spotted the Sonics and Tails making their way towards Emerald Coast. "What? Another beach? No thanks, I've had enough sunburn..." Copter muttered. Dimentime nodded. "We should try somewhere else..." As they looked around for a place they felt like checking out, however, they heard someone shout at them. "Get down!!" Suddenly, they were tackled to the ground as a barrage of crystalline bullets passed over them! Espio suddenly appeared over them, having tackled them to the ground, and tossed a shuriken at their assailant, Mephiles, who had taken the form of Razor! "Bah!! Meddler! I won't forget this!" Mephiles growled. Espio helped Copter and Dimentime to their feet and glared at Mephiles. "Cowardly tactic, sneaking behind your foe. Shameful." he said. Mephiles shifted his shape to that of Classic Tails, much to Copter's shock. "Dude, that ain't right..." he growled. Mephiles chuckled and flew off. "Catch me if you can... We'll settle this in more... suitable surroundings!" he challenged. Copter and Dimentime took off after Mephiles, waving to Espio as they ran. "Thanks, guy! I owe ya one!" Copter yelled. "Good luck..." Espio said, watching them. Mephiles led them towards what appeared to be a large comet resting behind the areas of white space Sonic had already visited. Much of it was whited out, but the areas that retained their color appeared black. As they ran, someone else came up beside them, joining their chase, running beside Copter. Copter glanced at the man running beside him, and then did a double take. "Oh, hey, Gunner... Wh-what!?!? GUNNER!?" Copter yelped as he recognized the man chasing Mephiles beside him. Gunner glanced at him and growled. "FREAK!! Die!!" he yelled, pulling out a gun and firing at Copter! He missed, and then lowered his weapon. "Grrrr, forget it! I'll need my ammo... Bigger freak ahead! You just stay out of my way!!" he yelled. Copter chuckled nervously. "Greeeeat... Wait, how is Gunner on OUR side?" he asked, glancing at Dimentime, who looked completely dumbfounded. "He's on OUR side???" he muttered. Neither was sure what to make of Gunner's sudden appearance, but as the three of them chased Mephiles towards the comet, it certainly seemed they were in for some excitement...


Chapter 10 - Black Rage
Stage - Black Comet - Shadow the Hedgehog

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

This chapter is rated E10+ for violence of a possibly nauseating nature. If you have distaste for splattering aliens, we apologize, and hope you will make use of the "previously" feature for the next chapter, rather than subject yourself to such violence.
Due to the writer's preference, there is no swearing in this chapter, despite heavy use of certain words during Shadow the Hedgehog. Believe me, though, Gunner truly wished to use those words frequently, and has filed a grievance with the management. 

"Can you see all of me?
Walk into my mystery.
Step inside and hold on for dear life.
Do you remember me?
Capture you or set you free.
I am all, I am all of me." - I Am (All of Me), Shadow the Hedgehog


As they entered the massive comet, Gunner decided to try shooting Copter and Dimentime anyway, hoping they'd let their guard down now. However, there was no way they would let their guard down with Gunner around, and they swiftly dodged his bullets. "Ha!! I knew you weren't on our side!" Copter shouted. Suddenly, Dimentime pulled him aside. "Look out!!" Lasers suddenly flew by them, and more lasers whizzed past Gunner, who took cover behind a rock formation and shot back before really looking at what was shooting at them in the first place. "...WHAT!?" he yelled upon seeing their assailants. Copter and Dimentime gasped as well upon seeing it. The comet was filled with, what appeared to be, alien invaders! Dimentime shook his head and looked for Mephiles, but he was gone. "That sneak! Mephiles must want us to get blasted by these aliens..." he realized. He and Copter took cover and glanced at Gunner, who was being joined by Spy and Guard, having apparently followed them from white space. "Grrrr... What's the situation, boss?" Guard asked. Gunner fired a few shots at the aliens and hid behind his cover. "The Black Arms are back!! I thought they were wiped out! Figures, never send a furry freak to do a man's job!!" he shouted. Spy scratched his head. "Don't you think maybe they're just here because of the time travel?" he pointed out. Gunner growled. "There is no such thing as time travel! There is a rational explanation for everything! Now did you bring the ammo!?" he snapped. Copter turned to Dimentime. "Well, now that Gunner's brought us up to speed... What do we do?" he asked. Dimentime frowned. "There might be friends of ours or Sonic's trapped in here. We can't let Mephiles get to them." he reminded Copter. Just then, a swarm of GUN robots arrived on the scene, apparently coming from deeper inside the comet. The usual beetles were accompanied by something Copter was less familiar with, some armored war machines called GUN Troopers. Gunner smirked upon seeing them. "Ahh, reinforcements. Go, GUN forces! Show these alien freaks their place!" he barked, already taking command. As the aliens began to fight the GUN forces, Copter and Dimentime took advantage of the chaos to escape deeper into the comet. As they went, they observed that the interior of the comet seemed to be converted into some sort of alien base, or possibly even a spaceship. It looked more high tech and alien than rocky or mineral, despite how the comet looked from the outside. Some basic alien troops emerged ahead of them, Black Warriors, which were black skinned with red hands and feet and very alien looking heads with big yellow eyes. They were carrying laser pistols, but Copter and Dimentime evaded their shots with ease and gave them a swift tail whip to knock them down! The aliens screeched, and then exploded in a mess of green goo. "Well... um... oopsy... Aren't these guys fragile." Copter groaned, wiping the gunk off his tail. Dimentime pointed ahead. "Copter... Shadow again." he said. Sure enough, Shadow was in the middle of a crossfire between the alien forces and GUN troops ahead. "Oh, come on! I'm tired of Shadow..." Copter groaned.

Various Beetles, Troopers and even a pair of Bigfoot mechs made up GUN's side of this skirmish. The aliens, however, had a small ship dropping in troops and keeping the pressure on GUN. Aside from Black Warriors, batlike Black Wings were soaring around firing blasts from their mouths, and armored Black Assassins were dropping from the ship and using their technology to disappear for brief periods, giving them a stealth advantage. Shadow was in the middle, and seemed bent on battling both sides. Copter and Dimentime scratched their heads. "What do we do?" Copter asked. "Steal a gun and help, I guess..." Dimentime suggested, "I don't favor our chances in this firefight unarmed." Copter groaned and nodded. "If we have no choice, let's aim high... Go for a laser." he suggested. They took off into the aliens� side of the battlefield, surprising a pair of warriors with Chaos Whirlwind! "Eeew, they splattered from that, too!" Copter groaned as he picked up an odd weapon. Aiming it at a GUN Trooper, he found that it fired a ring shaped beam of energy, but it still proved effective. "I better not catch anything flying through the gap in the middle..." Copter growled. Dimentime acquired a regular laser pistol. "Let's move, Copter. Don't give them a chance to shoot you..." he suggested, taking off and blasting the enemies with both his pistol and his magic as he headed for cover. Copter glanced at the Bigfoot mechs and smirked. "Heeeeere GUN dopes..." he snickered, confident he'd found a target that couldn't cheat his laser. While the foxes fought the minor forces, Shadow turned his attention to the alien ship. He was holding a gatling gun he'd acquired from a wrecked Bigfoot mech. "I'm sick of your reinforcements..." he grunted, raining bullets all over the ship, and taking out some Black Wings while he was at it. It took all of his ammo and some fancy footwork evading enemy fire, but Shadow soon managed to cause the alien ship to explode and crash to the ground, crippling the alien forces in the area! Meanwhile, Copter and Dimentime swiftly blasted the Bigfoot mechs, which were pretty easily dispatched with lasers and magic. With their teams dealt heavy blows, the aliens and GUN forces fell back, leaving Shadow to turn his attention to Copter and Dimentime. "Well, well... And just whose side are you two on?" Shadow asked. Dimentime sighed. "Another past Shadow..." he realized. Copter shrugged. "I just like blowing stuff up..." he smirked. Shadow frowned. "Well, whatever... I've got to figure out just what I'm doing here..." he sighed. "Always so confused, Shadow... Allow me to enlighten you!" Shadow, Copter and Dimentime glanced towards the voice of Mephiles, who was standing atop the remains of the alien ship, having once again taken Shadow's form. "Always wondering who you are. Well, you are like me. A being of incredible power. So I'll ask you one final time to consider joining me... We can end this, and all wars..." Before Mephiles could finish speaking, however, Shadow shouted back, "Enough!" holding his head in rage. "Hmm? I believe I've struck a chord..." Mephiles mused. Shadow leaned back and roared furiously, startling Copter and Dimentime into backing away. "I've had enough!! Dr. Eggman tries to manipulate me! Then Black Doom! GUN tries to destroy me! Sonic tries to tell me what to do! And now there's another me!? Who wants me to do his bidding!? I AM NO ONE'S SLAVE!!!!" he yelled, hurling Chaos Spears at Mephiles! The Dark took the attacks without flinching and started to laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha!! Well, what will you do, then, hmmm? You were created to serve. How will you escape that?" he taunted, egging him on. Shadow glared at him. "No one deserves my help... Rather, I believe I'll punish all those who have made me suffer! Starting with GUN and the Black Arms!" he snarled.

Dimentime stood in Shadow's way as he turned to leave. "Ummm... I don't think that's a good idea..." Copter whispered. Shadow grunted at him. "Stay out of my way, or I'll be forced to punish you, too!" he warned, grabbing Dimentime by the collar and giving him a swift kick in the gut, sending him flying across the room! "Warned you..." Copter muttered. Shadow then sped off, roaring furiously as Mephiles let out a triumphant laugh. "What's so funny, crystal head?" Copter snapped. "This has gone quite well... Shadow is being molded to my purposes quite nicely. I daresay you have no hope of stopping me now!" Mephiles sneered. Dimentime groaned as he climbed to his feet. "We have to fix Shadow! At all costs! He could destroy the planet before we're even born... well, you anyway, Copter." he warned. "Oh, wouldn't that be a SHAME? If you'll excuse me, I think I'll give Shadow a bit of encouragement..." Mephiles said, flying off after Shadow! Copter ran ahead after him, with Dimentime following, but as they entered the tunnel Shadow had exited through, they found more aliens in their way! "Hey, wasn't Shadow gonna kill these guys!?" Copter groaned. "He's so full of rage, he must have missed them... Unless he's planning to destroy the whole comet." Dimentime muttered, "Bad, considering good guys might be in here." The aliens in their path looked pretty hard to miss, too. They were larger versions of the Black Warrior, known as Black Oaks, and carried big swords. Copter smirked. "Swords? Really?" he said, pointing his laser. As he pulled the trigger, however, he found that it was actually out of ammo. "WHAT!? Lasers run out of ammo!? Now I regret going ballistic on that mech..." he sighed. Dimentime held up his staff, glaring at the Dark Oaks. "We... do not... have time for this!!" he growled. The giant aliens started stomping towards them with their swords, but before they could strike, a massive beam of light erupted from Dimentime's staff, reducing one of the aliens to a puddle of green goo. Unfortunately, it fizzled out before he could direct it at the second. Copter glanced at him. "WELL?!" he asked. "Magic's not perfect. Guess what, he's slow. RUN PAST HIM!!" Dimentime shouted, leading the way as he and Copter left the giant alien behind, and looking quite frustrated.

They soon arrived at a somewhat whited out room with a strange substance forming a large pool between the platforms. There were strange little saucer vehicles hovering nearby, which might be a method to cross this substance. Right near the entrance, they spotted the frozen form of E-123 Omega, whose shadow Mephiles was already jumping into! "Dang it! Now he's got super robot power!!" Copter growled. Mephiles soon hopped out of Omega's shadow, taking a dark, crystalline version of the robot's form, and quickly resumed his pursuit of Shadow. "Enjoy your swim! I'm sure this liquid works wonders for the complexion!" he taunted as he escaped. Dimentime wasted no time in freeing Omega from his frozen state. As his color returned, Omega slowly buzzed to life. "Rebooting systems... Accessing memory... Error... Current location impossible. Require immediate explanation and possible maintenance." the robot determined. Dimentime nodded. "You were thrown into the past by some sort of... monster. We're working on it... But right now, the past has been altered and we need your help. Shadow has been driven off the deep end by a villain known as Mephiles. Now Shadow wants to destroy both GUN and the Black Arms... and maybe the world itself when Mephiles is done messing with his mind." he explained. Omega turned to face the foxes. "Situation understood. I will do what I can to assist." he said. Suddenly, a group of Black Wings and larger, yellow colored Black Volts flew into the room! Omega immediately retracted his hands and replaced them with machine guns, firing at the aliens and making short work of them! Copter backed away nervously. "I am not happy that Mephiles can be him now..." he whimpered. "Why are you standing there? We must hurry to Shadow! I will not wait for you, stupid meatbags!" Omega complained, firing up his engines so that he could hover over the liquid to reach the next platform in the room! Dimentime tugged Copter's arm and led him to the saucers nearby. "We'll have to ride these things!" he said. As they hopped on, they noticed some Black Warriors riding the same saucers across the liquid ahead. "Oh, yeah?? I'll fix your hovering wagon..." Copter growled, leaning on his saucer to make it go. "Whoa!! OK, I think I got the hang of this thingy... Now... Chaos Whirlwind!!" The chaotic wind didn't seem to affect the saucers the aliens were riding, but it still caused the aliens to splatter on impact! "They gotta consider chaos-proof armor..." Copter muttered. Dimentime sighed and started shooting aliens with his staff. "Let's hurry! Omega's leaving us behind!" he pointed out.

They caught up with Omega as he was wrestling with a Dark Oak. "ANNIHILATE!!!" In his rage, Omega unleashed a barrage of explosives, knocking away the brute and reducing it to green slime! Copter grimaced at the scene. "These aliens are making me sick..." he groaned. "Robots are incapable of illness. We are superior!" Omega bragged. "Tell that to your pals at GUN getting their butts kicked. Right over there..." Copter said, pointing ahead. There were many explosions taking place in the chamber ahead, and lots of aliens being blasted as well. As Copter, Dimentime and Omega hurried in to check it out, they found Shadow warping from unit to unit, using a combination of his Chaos powers and physical might to tear everyone apart! Not far away from them, Copter spotted Gunner and Spy cowering behind some cover. Copter chuckled at them. "What's the matter, old man? Problem?" he shouted. Gunner growled and pointed his gun at them, but was startled when Guard suddenly fell out of the sky and landed on his back in front of him! "Baaaaahhh!! G-guard!!?" he gasped. "Grrraaaah... The black hedgehog... is too strong... I have failed..." Guard groaned. Gunner kicked Guard in frustration. "Useless!! I should shoot you, but I need my bullets! Look at this, Spy! See what that FREAK Shadow is doing?! This proves everything I've said all along! Those furry freaks are EVIL! Pure evil!! They must all be destroyed!!" he shouted. Spy backed away from him. "Don't draw his attention over here!! He's attacking things without caring what he's attacking! I don't wanna die!!!" he whined. Omega ignored Gunner and charged towards Shadow. "Enough! I must reason with Shadow!" he said impatiently. Dimentime gasped. "Wait! Shadow's in a blind rage!!" he shouted. Shadow had just finished with the enemies in the room, and spotted Omega coming at him. He scoffed and charged at the robot, giving him a hard kick to his metal chest! Omega was knocked back towards Copter, who backed away and panicked before scrambling for cover! Omega fired up his engines to stop himself from crashing, but Shadow fled deeper into the Black Comet before anyone could stop him! "This is bad... He's out of control!" Dimentime said. Copter glanced at Gunner and gulped. "We're going to need all the help we can get, aren't we?" he muttered, slowly approaching the hateful old man. "What???" Dimentime and Spy both said at once. Gunner fumbled with his gun as Copter approached him. "What do you want!? Get back, freak!!" he yelled, firing at Copter, only to have his shot dodged. "Chaos Whirlwind..." Copter said calmly, blowing Gunner backward in order to make him drop his gun. "Aaaaack!! NOO!! Spy!! Guard!! Do something, you imbeciles!!" he screamed. Guard slowly stood in Copter's way, glanced at him, and then stood aside. "Grrr... Say what you will. I'm... tired." he grumbled. Gunner growled at him. "You traitor!!" he snapped. "Shut up, Gunner. I... I need your help." Copter groaned, swallowing what pride he had left. Gunner raised an eyebrow. "What!? You have some nerve..." he said. Omega approached them next, raising a fist at Gunner. "I suggest you hear him out." he warned. Gunner made a face. "Fine, then..." he sighed. Copter nodded. "Thanks, big guy. Listen, Shadow's flipped, and none of us can stop him alone. Like it or not, we need to work together." he said. Spy nodded. "I think he's right, boss." he said. Gunner looked thoughtful. "Do you have a plan, freak?" he asked. Dimentime nodded. "I think I'm forming one..." he said. Gunner sighed miserably. "I am going to regret this..." he grumbled.


Together, they managed to gather some GUN forces and track down Shadow. As Copter and Omega circled around separately from the others for their part of the plan, Copter watched a GUN Beetle fly by without bothering him. "It feels so weird to be working on the same side as GUN... and Gunner, no less." he said. "Focus on the mission. Must detain Shadow." Omega insisted. Meanwhile, Gunner's forces gathered in Shadow's path. Gunner himself, along with Spy, took cover on a balcony overlooking the room. "I'm in position, freaks. Your plan had better work." he said. Dimentime flew up from below the balcony. "Just leave it to us. And don't try anything funny, big nose." he growled, heading for cover below. Guard landed with the GUN forces as Shadow reached them. "Still out to stop me, GUN? Then you'll pay, too!!" he yelled. As Shadow began to fight the GUN robots and Guard, Copter and Omega approached him from behind. "You do have something... non-lethal to hit him with, right?" Copter asked Omega. "Warning... Asking too many questions will result in immediate termination." Omega said bluntly. As Omega was targeting Shadow, however, a crystal object suddenly flew at Copter's feet. It was flashing, and he knew that couldn't be good, so he took to the air just as it exploded! It knocked Omega aside, messing up his shot and alerting Shadow! "Hmmm? Grrrr!! What's going on here?" Shadow growled. Copter and Omega turned to see Mephiles in Omega's form approaching them, laughing. "Everyone's against you, Shadow... They'll use all forms of trickery to get to you..." he cackled. Omega quickly started firing his weapons at Mephiles, while Copter added Chaos Whirlwind for good measure, but Mephiles shot back with his crystalline variations on Omega's weapons, forcing Copter to dive behind Omega for cover, who was fortunately well armored. Dimentime ran out and held out his staff, attempting to salvage their plan before Shadow could escape, but as he and Guard attempted to detain the seemingly distracted hedgehog, Shadow started to glow red. "Chaos... BLAST!!" A chaotic red explosion tore through the GUN robots and knocked Guard and Dimentime away as Mephiles laughed manically. "You see, fox? You can't do anything now..." he said, shifting back to Shadow's form. Gunner slammed his fist on the railing angrily and tried to fire his gun at Shadow, though it was futile from his position. "Idiots!! Why did you talk me into this, Spy!?" he snarled. As the dust settled, Guard and Dimentime landed on the ground in a heap, and Copter and Omega ran to help them. Shadow glared at them furiously. "This is taking too long... I need the seven Chaos Emeralds so I can finish this NOW!" he yelled, taking off even deeper into the comet. Mephiles laughed and took off as well. "I do hope I'm there... to witness your demise! Ha ha ha ha ha!!"

Copter helped Dimentime to his feet. "The Chaos Emeralds aren't here... They're outside. Shadow can't be allowed to leave to pursue them! It would be catastrophic!" Dimentime warned. Omega glanced around. "Shadow location currently unknown. Recommend splitting up to maximize efficiency in locating him." he said. Gunner growled from his perch above them. "Well, I tried it your way, freaks!! And you have failed! Get out of my life!!!" he yelled. Guard got up and growled back at him. "Grrrr, the plan was compromised! It changes nothing!" he yelled. Gunner sighed. "You're so right! I hated the idea then, and I hate it now! Let's cut our losses!" he said. Guard sighed and started to fly to Gunner. "Grrrr... I have no choice... My programming demands I obey my commanding officer..." he grumbled. Copter scoffed. "Who needs ya? Let's get going, guys!" he said. He, Dimentime and Omega took off in the direction Shadow had gone, with Omega turning at the first crossroads. "I will look this way. Good luck, foxes." he said.

Copter and Dimentime continued onward, and found themselves stepping in something...squishy. Copter looked down and saw what appeared to be larval aliens (called Death Leeches), which he was squishing like insects and leaving a mess. "Come on, aliens!! Quit grossing me out!" he yelled. Dimentime pointed ahead. "White room... Someone besides Omega might have been frozen in here." he said. They found some Black Assassins in the whited out room, and Dimentime immediately started attacking them with his magic, but they quickly vanished, evading his attacks! "Boy, magic's really not that helpful..." Copter muttered. Looking around, they saw a familiar hornet in a leather jacket in a frozen state. Copter frowned. "We just walked into this trap for Zipp!? Aw, just let the aliens shoot me!" he yelled. The Black Assassins appeared and nearly did hit him, and Dimentime sighed dejectedly. "No choice. We need his help!" he reasoned. They hurried over, evading the aliens' shots, and restored Zipp. As his color was restored, he immediately pulled out a machine gun and started shooting all over the place! "Aaaaaaaaahhh!! I'll get you, monster!!! Eat lead!!" he yelled, managing to mow down the Black Assassins with a hail of bullets! Copter and Dimentime had ducked, and stayed low until Zipp's gun started clicking. "Awww... I wish they'd invent an infinite ammo gun..." he sighed, looking around at the mess he'd made. "Whoa... Hehehehe... This is turning into the best day ever." he smirked. Copter and Dimentime stood up and uncovered their ears. "Heeey... Psycho... Could you possibly help us find and knock out Shadow?" Copter asked. Zipp glanced at them. "I think there's a long story behind this... Can I blast stuff?" he asked. Dimentime nodded. "There are evil aliens and GUN robots." he said. Zipp grinned and flew over to one of the assassin's dropped laser weapons. "Save the story, then. Ohhh, a new type of gun, how's it work? What's it do?" he said excitedly, pointing it a safe distance away and pulling the trigger. It fired several laser beams rapidly, which bounced off the walls and forced Copter and Dimentime to duck again as it whizzed by. Zipp hugged the weapon affectionately. "Heaven... I'm in heaven!" he cheered. Dimentime walked over and whacked him with his staff. "Focus!! Find Shadow!" he snapped. "Oww! Fine, fine!! Party pooper..." Zipp grumbled, adjusting his helmet. "Chaos energy detected... Probably Shadow's crazy energy signature. This way!" he said, leading the foxes ahead. As they went, they found the next corridor teeming with aliens, but Zipp started shooting like a madman, clearing the path quickly as he laughed ecstatically. "This... is... AWESOME!! I love this gun!!" he yelled. Copter and Dimentime followed behind cautiously. "He's going to kill us, isn't he...?" Copter whimpered. Dimentime groaned. "He's better than Gunner... I... think..." he said.


Zipp soon led them to Shadow, who Omega had already located and was attempting to reason with, though this required being on the offensive somewhat in order to defend himself. "Shadow! Attacking me is madness! I am not your enemy!" the robot shouted. "Hmph! You're getting in my way!!" Shadow scoffed. Zipp attempted to aim his laser at the black hedgehog. "I think I can take him out..." he muttered. Dimentime smacked him with his staff. "That's not why we're here!" he snapped. Omega backed away from Shadow and momentarily stopped attacking. "Listen, I am not here to destroy you, and I understand that you do not require my assistance. However, I must relay a message to you." he said. Shadow lowered his guard and stared at him curiously. "A... message?" he asked. "Pay no attention..." said Mephiles, who was watching nearby, "He's just trying to confuse you..." Omega ignored him and spoke. "You may feel betrayed by many, but you must remember... You once had those you cared about. Some time ago, I acquired this message, and kept it contained in my memory banks for posterity. I believe now you should hear it." he said. Mephiles scoffed. "Play all the messages you like... Shadow is mine." he murmured. Suddenly, a different voice came from Omega's audio outputs. "Shadow, my son..." Shadow recognized it instantly. "Professor....?" A video display was projected from Omega's eyes, depicting Professor Gerald Robotnik aboard the ARK, approximately 50 years before. Zipp gasped and then chuckled. "For a minute I though Eggman had gotten really old!" he said. "If you're listening to this, then the worst has happened. You need to know the truth. The government plans to shut down this research facility." Gerald's recording said sadly. Shadow listened intently, but Gunner was arriving at this point. "Aha! There are those freaks!!" he growled. "Wait, boss! There's Professor Robotnik!" Spy said, pointing. "Who cares?" Gunner snapped. Copter walked back and shushed them. "We're trying to listen!! Shut up!!" he snapped. Gunner sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. "I already heard this, though... But I'll wait for reinforcements..." he grumbled. Gerald's recording continued. "The government plans to cease all of our research...and imprison all who know about you. I made a terrible mistake, Shadow. It's all my fault... making contact with that comet." he said. Zipp scratched his head. "Is this why GUN wants Bucky imprisoned...?" he asked. Gunner shook his head. "No. But you could say it was part of it for years..." he mumbled. Gerald continued. "Now listen very carefully... In 50 years the Black Comet will return. They plan to harness its powers to destroy this planet! The only way to stop them was to develop a way to use the very power they intended to use against them." Mephiles looked bored. "Is this done YET? Surely Shadow will not be moved by this..." he groaned. Shadow, however, was listening with wonder. "Shadow, it's up to YOU and only YOU can stop them! I developed the Eclipse Cannon. It's the only weapon that can destroy that Black Comet! Shadow, you are the only hope to save mankind as we know it. The future of this planet depends on you!" he concluded. Suddenly, Maria Robotnik, Gerald's young granddaughter, appeared onscreen. "Don't worry, grandfather. Shadow and I will protect this planet. Right, Shadow?" she said, looking at the screen cheerfully before the clip ended. As the projection faded, Shadow looked at the ground contemplatively, and then lowered to his knees. Mephiles chuckled victoriously. "That old fool. Shadow is already filled with rage, determined to end the world!" he said. A single tear fell from Shadow's eye as memories flooded his mind. "Maria... I'm sorry..." he whispered. Mephiles glanced at him. "What...? What is this display? Get up! Stop mewling on the ground. Are you the Ultimate Life Form, or are you an infant?" he growled. Gunner cocked his pistol as his reinforcements began to arrive. "Time's up, freaks..." he muttered. Copter whimpered. "We'd better do something..." he said. Suddenly, Shadow stood up and charged at Mephiles, kicking him in the chest! "Oooof!! Again!? Will you... ALWAYS... defy me?" Mephiles growled. Shadow stood in front of him and crossed his arms. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog... I have been haunted by the past long enough. From now on, I'm going to focus on creating a better future, and I'll start by teaching you a lesson! And by defeating Black Doom and his army!" he declared, pointing at Mephiles threateningly. Mephiles laughed at him, and at everyone in the room, with sheer malevolence. "Oh, really? Well, why don't you see if you can't tackle both of those tasks at once, in a way? I found something quite interesting while I explored this comet... I'd like to share it with you... And use it to bury you in endless darkness!!" Mephiles's body suddenly became enveloped in darkness, and began to expand into a large, hideous shape! He took on the form of one of the Black Arms' most powerful soldiers, Black Bull, only his version was more twisted and crystalline in appearance. Copter reached out and shook hands with Gunner. "Renew the truce..." he muttered. "Curse you... Fine. For now." Gunner grumbled.

Gunner gave the order and sent his robots to attack Black Bull Mephiles first, but the first wave of robots was quickly destroyed by a powerful black laser blast from the creature's mouth! "Shoot! Pull back! A straight assault is no good!" Gunner yelled. Omega and Zipp began firing on Mephiles from a distance, but his crystalline hide was even thicker and more armored than Black Bull's normally was, and their weapons weren't making a dent! "You fools can't harm me... Does that leave you frustrated? Here, try these..." Mephiles laughed as he loosed several crystal objects from his massive body. The objects twisted in the air and as they landed, revealed themselves as strange "mini-Mephiles" creatures. Mephiles created dozens of them, and Gunner was forced to turn his troops attention on them. "Get those mini-freaks!! You, too, Spy!" he shouted. "Wha... ME??" Spy whined. Gunner growled. "Unless you'd like to take on the giant creature..." he suggested. Spy yelped and cocked his pistol, charging at the smaller creatures. Copter, Guard, and Dimentime attacked Mephiles directly, attempting to hit the single eye of his Black Bull form, the only apparent weak spot, but he kept them at bay with lasers, fireballs, and some assorted attacks from his other stolen forms, like Chaos Spear and Chaos Avalanche. Copter evaded a piece of the comet from Chaos Avalanche and growled. "Use Punchy against me will you!? Now it's personal... I'll get Punchy for this!" he yelled. Guard tried shooting an energy beam from his scythe at the eye, but it did little damage. "Grrrrr! Blast! He's too tough!" he growled. "Hahahaha! Was that supposed to tickle me?" Mephiles taunted. "Chaos Control!!" Suddenly, Shadow warped right into Mephiles's face and started beating the eye with all his might! However, Mephiles didn't take kindly to the assault. "Aaaargh!! Chaos Blast!!" The blast knocked Shadow away, but he was far from out. "Hmph... I guess it's going to take more..." he muttered. Omega and Zipp blasted through some miniature creatures and approached Shadow. "Do you require assistance?" Omega asked. "Keep him busy..." Shadow said. Zipp nodded. "That's easy enough. Gunner's hogging most of the fun... I wanna shoot his robots..." he grumbled. As Copter, Guard and Dimentime struggled to get at Mephiles's eye, Omega suddenly struck his side with a missile blast! Mephiles glanced at him curiously. "Yes? Do you want something, little tin can?" he asked. Suddenly, Zipp flew in his face and pointed his stinger at him. "Chaos Stinger!" He fired a miniature chaos shot from his stinger into Mephiles's eye, which annoyed him into spitting several fireballs in their direction. However, Dimentime got his attention again with a powerful magic blast! Mephiles turned at him and fired his black laser, which he, Copter, and Guard flew away from in different directions. "Insolent pests! It's only a matter of time before I finish you, you know!" he yelled. Suddenly, Shadow flung his restraint rings aside and used Chaos Control once more, charging at Mephiles from a slight distance at his full power! "Too bad for you... I am the Ultimate Life Form!!" Shadow crashed into Mephiles's eye with such force that it created a great explosion, the shockwave sending Copter, Dimentime, Guard, Zipp and Omega backward a short distance! As the dust settled, Shadow and Mephiles both fell to the ground, only now Mephiles was in Shadow's form once again, possibly to confuse the onlookers. They both stood up, and Mephiles created a portal to escape through. "Pests... I will have my vengeance... You all know... you WILL die!" he vowed, jumping into the portal and closing it behind him. Shadow scoffed and started putting his restraint rings back on. "I'll deal with you after Black Doom..." he muttered, only to be whacked by Dimentime's staff! "Time to repair your memories... This was not the way Shadow was supposed to learn the truth. It is my duty to see that time plays out... semi-properly, at least." he said. Gunner glanced around and called his troops to him. "And if I'd like to alter history in some way...?" he threatened. Copter, Omega and Zipp stood beside Dimentime. "We will have to escort you out of the comet!" Omega warned. "Yeah, or something..." Zipp grinned. Guard stood alone, neither joining Gunner nor siding with the others. "Grrrr... My programming does permit me some amount of free thinking and self preservation. If you alter history, I have concerns about whether I would be created... and about the fate of the world. Grrr... I cannot aid you in this." he said. Spy whimpered. "You wouldn't destroy the world to get the animals... would you?" he muttered. Gunner rolled his eyes and sighed. "Let's get out of here... I'm sick of this place..." he grunted.


Neither letting the other out of their sight, Copter and Gunner arrived at white space together, along with the others. "All right... Go away, Gunner. Before people start to think we're best friends or something..." Copter insisted. Gunner nodded. "I'll let you freaks go, for now... But I promise you, I WILL have my revenge on you! And all you furry freaks will get what's coming to you, too!!" he snapped, leaving along with Guard and Spy. "Nice seeing you again!" Spy said cheerfully as he left. "Come on, you twit!" Gunner shouted. As they left, Zipp goofily saluted Copter and Dimentime. "Well, I'm off! Gotta report in to Bucky! Oh, he must be utterly lost without me! He must be crying in a corner, missing his little Zippy! I'm coming, master!" he said as he sped off, chuckling to himself. "He is really weird..." Copter said bluntly, watching him go. Omega started on his way as well. "You say the Shadow of our time is here somewhere, guarding an area?" he asked. Dimentime nodded. "That way..." he said, pointing it out. Omega started in that direction. "I will check on him. Make sure no damage has been done to his timeline." he said, leaving without another word. Copter and Dimentime shrugged and moved on. "I guess old man Robotnik was all right after all... Before he went nuts..." Copter mused. "I wonder why GUN really has it out for Bucky... Just the fact that he's nuts?" Dimentime wondered. As they walked, they soon encountered Sonic and Tails. Sonic seemed to be a bit upset. "No more ocean... Why so much ocean...? I hear evil music... Like a countdown... 5... 4... 3... 2..." he mumbled, sounding a bit distraught. Copter scratched his head. "What's with him?" he asked. Tails sighed. "Sonic can't swim, but he went to two beaches in a row anyway... I think it got to him after all. The younger him is running through a loop in Green Hill Zone over and over to burn off his nervous energy..." he explained, "Sonic, the next place is another city... No water at all, it looks like!" Tails pointed to the area in question, Radical Highway. Sonic looked at it and perked up. "Sweet! Looks like where I first met Shadow! Let's go get... uh, me, and check it out!" he said, instantly calming down. Tails sighed and then glanced at Copter. "Ummm... Sonic? Since you don't really seem to need me right now, mind if I go with Copter for a bit?" he asked. Sonic shrugged. "Sure, if you're bored. I am running a bit fast for you lately." he said. Copter looked surprised. "Hey, wait, what!? You want to go with me!?" he asked. Tails looked at him curiously. "Why? Aren't we friends now?" he wondered. Copter glanced at Dimentime and then nodded. "Oh... Yeah, sure, Tails! Just... Won't it be weird walking around with so many yous?" he asked. Tails chuckled. "At least we're not identical! C'mon, let's go!" So, the three foxes set off together...


Chapter 11 - Memories in Dreams
Stage - Dream Temple(Forest of Dreams) - GeneX- Tails the Fox

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

"I feel the pressure raining down
Like a hand on my heart that's stopping me to breathe.
You were never the one to let me down.
Now you ripped up my heart, I don't want to believe.
One foot after the other...
It will all become clear.
One day after another...
And sing it with me now!
I've gotta be so much more than this,
And I'm gonna try!
I'm cool in a twisted kind of bliss,
With saying good-bye.
'Cause I can't look back
No more turning back
Til I find my way back home, and I know
I've gotta be so much more than this
But what can I be if not me?" - Bentley Jones, So Much More, Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing


The story thus far:
Copter, Dimentime & Gunner chased Mephiles into the Black Comet, only to be caught up in the battle between GUN and the Back Arms. Copter & Dimentime soon found Shadow, who Mephiles tried to manipulate, and succeeded in driving insane with rage! Furious at peoples' attempts to control him, Shadow set out to destroy all the GUN and alien forces on the comet, forcing Copter to unite with Gunner and Omega in order to try to bring Shadow under control. However, their efforts were thwarted by Mephiles, who turned Omega's own powers against him, having absorbed them through his shadow! Further enraged, Shadow went looking for the Chaos Emeralds. Looking to stop Shadow from escaping the comet to search for them, Copter & Dimentime found Zipp, whose helmet was able to track Shadow's unique energy signature. Omega played the message Gerald left for Shadow, telling him of his past and of the purpose of the Eclipse Cannon, which Omega had obtained after the Black Arms invasion and saved to his memory banks in the present time. The message, which contained a clip of Maria as well, triggered memories in Shadow and drove him to stand against Mephiles with the others. Mephiles took the form of Black Bull, an alien he'd encountered in the comet, and faced Copter, Dimentime, Omega, Zipp, Gunner, Guard and Shadow all at once. It was a difficult battle, but in the end, Shadow managed to defeat Mephiles, who vowed revenge as he escaped. Dimentime erased Shadow's memories of these events before the group left, saying that this was not the way Shadow was meant to learn the truth. Back at white space, Gunner, Omega, and Zipp went their separate ways, leaving Copter and Dimentime to go on their way. They were soon joined by Tails, who was bored due to his lack of usefulness traveling with Sonic recently and decided to go with them.
Now, on to the next chapter!


Copter, Dimentime and Tails soon arrived at an impressive looking crystal building. Copter squinted at it. "Is this Mephiles's house?" he wondered. Tails stared in surprise. "It's the Dream Temple!! I... wasn't sure if that place was real, or if I imagined it..." he gasped. Dimentime glanced at him. "Really... Fascinating. Well, lead the way." he said. Tails shook his head. "I'm not sure we should go in there..." he warned, "It's more like a nightmare..." Despite the warning, Dimentime pointed ahead with his staff. "Someone has been trapped in just about every place we've visited. We have to check it out." he reasoned. Tails and Copter both nodded. "Nightmares, here we come..." Copter muttered. "At least we're not alone." Tails smiled. Suddenly, a massive portal began to emerge above them. From it, the monster that brought them all to white space emerged, and began to dive towards them! Dimentime noticed it first and shoved Tails and Copter aside, striking the monster with his staff as it grabbed him! "D-dimentime!!" Copter shouted, scrambling back to his feet as he helplessly watched his cloaked doppelganger grapple with the massive, shadowy creature! As they soared ahead, the doors of the Dream Temple creaked open, and the monster flew inside, carrying Dimentime along with it! Tails and Copter quickly gave chase. "We've gotta help!" Tails shouted, "Ohh... I wish Sonic were here now..." he whimpered. Copter scoffed. "Typical, he's never around when ya need him!" he growled. Tails stopped and raised an eyebrow. "How can you say that?" he said. Copter groaned. "He never helps ME!" he pointed out. Tails sighed. "I'm sorry... Let's just hurry inside..." he said. However, they found the doorway blocked as Espio the Chameleon suddenly appeared out of nowhere! "Be warned, you two... I have checked out this temple in my search for my team. If you are heading inside, you should be cautious." he said. Copter gasped and backed away. "Don't sneak up on people!!" he snapped. Espio frowned. "Hmm... I am trying to help. I have been inside the temple, and I found nothing but shadows..." he explained. Tails nodded. "I know... We'll be careful." he said. Espio nodded and stepped aside, allowing them to enter. "Good luck..." he said, looking around cautiously before running off somewhere.

The entrance hall of the Dream Temple appeared truly like a dream. The crystal room was filled with staircases leading everywhere, up the walls, to the ceiling, across the room, and stretching seemingly to infinity. Tails and Copter's jaws dropped. "This is... not how I remember it..." Tails whimpered. Dimentime and the monster were nowhere to be seen, but they could see someone else in the room, ready to greet them. It looked like Tails, or Copter, only all black with glowing red eyes. It was Shadow Tails! "Ahhh... Welcome to the Dream Temple! Tell me... why have you returned, hero of light?" he asked, staring at Tails. He shivered upon seeing the shadowy fox again. "Shadow Tails? No... The Dream King! I'm not here for you... We came to find our friend... or friends, if there are others here." Tails explained. Copter stared at the apparition in front of them. "What the heck is this thing? It kinda looks like... me!" he gasped. The Dream King glanced at Copter and chuckled. "Do I indeed? Hmm... I no longer have interest in the hero of light... You... You are far more intriguing..." he said, pointing to Copter, who backed away nervously. "Hey... what's your deal? Quit freaking me out!" he growled. Tails nodded in agreement. "Yeah, leave us alone!" he said. Shadow Tails shook his head. "Such a troubled, twisted, dark mind... How can I ignore you, hero of shadows?" he said, quickly sliding across the room and appearing behind Copter. "Yaaah!! You're creepier than Mephiles and the Doomsayer put together!" he yelled. Tails nodded. "He's scary all right..." he recalled. Shadow Tails, AKA the Dream King, chuckled. "Tell me, dark fox... What do you fear? Ha ha ha... Or maybe I should show you? It's right in your mind... I can see it all..." he taunted. Copter whimpered. "Could you please... Not do that? Wait, what am I doing!? Tails, let's clobber this guy!!" he suggested. Tails yelped. "Don't antagonize him!!" he warned. Shadow Tails grabbed Copter and then Tails each by the shoulders. "Now, don't turn up your noses to my gracious hospitality! I'd like to take you on a little journey, dark fox... and if you behave, the hero of light may accompany you... Let's have a look... into your memories..." he said, shoving Tails and Copter forward, causing them to fall as a swirling vortex of darkness emerged below them! They fell through, and landed on the ground in a place with bright lights! As they opened their eyes, they were stunned to find the landscape had completely changed. "Glitter Casino!?" Tails exclaimed.

They found themselves near a familiar water fountain, surrounded by slot machines and neon lights. As they climbed to their feet, they heard a loud thud nearby. Looking at the fountain, they found a giant slot machine robot with E-777 written on its side! Copter squinted at it. "Rouletar??" he mumbled. A more familiar robot hovered in the air behind Rouletar, a blue and green E-X series robot that resembled Chaos Gamma. Tails scratched his head. "That's Alpha, but why does he look like he did before he... Wait... This is an illusion, Copter. Shadow Tails said he'd show us your memories. This is when we first met!" he realized. Rouletar's slot reels began spinning as Copter looked around. "I don't remember it like this..." he said. Alpha flew over and targeted Copter. "Experiment 2 is fraternizing with the enemy! He has betrayed the Eggman Empire! Must destroy them both!" he said, sounding unusually sane. Copter frowned. "I KNOW that didn't happen..." he said. Tails pulled him out of the way as Alpha began shooting at him. "These may be illusions, but they can still hurt you! And if that Rouletar is anything like the real one, its armor is pretty much impenetrable!" Tails shouted. Copter pulled his arm free from Tails and flew away. "Lemme go! I can handle myself!" he insisted, flying at Rouletar with the intention of attacking him. Rouletar's reels stopped at three cherries. "Heh heh heh... Eggman's sense of humor is priceless. Have some CHERRY bombs!!" Rouletar laughed, flinging red bombs at Copter from his mouth! Copter yelped and tried to evade them. Luckily, Tails had followed him and swiftly pulled him out of the attack again! "That's two I owe you... When will I learn..." Copter groaned. Alpha resumed shooting at them, forcing them to split up to evade his shots. "If only Sonic was here... He can handle both of them easy..." Tails sighed. "Sonic, Sonic, SONIC!! Cut it out, Tails! That's not helping!" Copter snapped. Rouletar's reels landed on three sevens. "Jackpot! Here comes the payoff, pipsqueaks!" Coins with razor sharp edges came whirling out of Rouletar's mouth, and Tails remembered something. "Its mouth is its weakness! OK, I've got an idea!" he said, whispering something to Copter quickly before they had to flee from Alpha and the coins! "You will fall to the might of Eggman, and E-2X Alpha!" Alpha said, firing at the foxes from the safety of the air while Rouletar's reels spun again. Tails and Copter ran around, keeping Alpha focused on keeping track of both of them, but not so much where they were going. As Rouletar's reels stopped again, this time on a skull & crossbones, Tails and Copter flew in front of his mouth. "Come and get us, Alphie!!" they taunted. "Wait, nooo! I can't stop from opening my mouth!!" Rouletar pleaded. Alpha fired several shots, which the foxes dodged and allowed to fly into the robot's mouth. Whatever was about to come out reacted to Alpha's shots, and started causing Rouletar to explode into a million pieces! Alpha buzzed in frustration. "Mission failed. Must return to base..." he said, flying off. Copter and Tails slapped their hands together in midair and chuckled. "See? Who needs Sonic? Man... I wish... We'd been on the same side from the beginning..." Copter said, somewhat sadly, "All the trouble we could've avoided..." As they landed on the ground, Shadow Tails emerged and chuckled. "Ohh, how tormented you are... True, the past could never have happened another way. In fact, you cannot bear to be with your so-called 'friends' most of the time even now, can you?" he said tauntingly. Copter glared at him. "Shut up! Let us out of here you... whatever you are!!" he yelled. Shadow Tails stared at him as if staring right through him. "Always pushing those you care for away... You even initially blocked his help just now... Hehe... Caged in your dark, troubled soul... Forever caged..." he sneered. Copter ran to throw a punch at Shadow Tails, but the Dream King merely smacked him away, knocking him into Tails and causing them both to fall into another shadowy vortex, emerging in what appeared to be an actual cage!

On closer inspection, it was Copter's old prison cell from the Death Row facility. Copter began to panic as he realized where he was. "Oh, no, no, no!! We're trapped! We'll have to wait for Metal Sonic! And he hasn't been friendly when I've seen him lately!! Not good, not good... I don't wanna die HERE!!!" he whined. Tails, however, stayed calm and collected, and banged on the wall. He then grabbed some tools from somewhere in order to tinker with the electronic lock after removing a hatch on the wall. In a moment, the cell door slid open! "Copter, you can calm down now... Look." Tails said. Copter glanced at the open door in disbelief. "Wha... You mean... HUH?!" he muttered. "Prison break!! Prison break!!" Unfortunately, the GUN Beetles were still guarding the cell, and immediately tripped the alarm. Tails started out of the cell, but Copter stopped him. "Allow me... Metal Sonic destroyed them before. I owe these guys..." he growled, dashing into the room and jumping at the robots, tearing them apart one by one, wreaking his vengeance upon them! Tails watched with wide eyes, then joined Copter once he was finished. "That was therapeutic..." he sighed. Tails shivered. "I think I saw the old, evil Copter for a second there..." he murmured. As they headed out onto the balcony outside, they found that it was dark, raining, and quite huge inside the Dream Temple. As they looked around the balcony, they heard a voice behind them. "You are doomed..." Looking up, they saw what appeared to be the Doomsayer on the roof! However, on closer inspection, they saw his eyes were glowing red beneath his cloak, rather than golden. "Hey, you're not the Doomsayer... Who are you!?" Copter asked in bewilderment. Tails shook his head, knowing who it probably was. The cloaked figure responded. "I am the ghostly mirror... The darkness of spirit... The dark lord of nightmares... I am what you believe me to be." he said. Copter scratched his head. "What!?" he asked. "It's the Dream King, Copter." Tails pointed out. The figure took off his hood, revealing himself as Shadow Tails. "You fight and fight, but can never stop the inevitable. You will lose, dark fox. And no matter what you do, you know you will always be hunted..." As if on cue, dozens of GUN robots swarmed the balcony, joined by Guard the Gargoyle! Tails yelped upon seeing him. "Copter, look out!" he shouted. Copter spun around and grabbed Guard's scythe as he came at him, but was unable to pull it away from the gargoyle. "Grrrrr!! Get back in your cell, Experiment 2!!" he snarled. Copter smirked. "Get a breath mint, Experiment 6!" he said. Guard had a look of astonishment as Copter spoke his experiment number, and Copter used his surprise to fling him at a nearby GUN Hunter! Tails was busy fighting the other Beetles and Hunters, but they were surrounded. "Copter... Were there this many when you broke out for real?" he asked. Copter looked around. "The Dream King is cheating... Gotta... think..." he said, closing his eyes tight as he and Tails backed towards the wall. Suddenly, they both fell through it! "How about a change of scenery?" Shadow Tails's voice echoed.

 They stumbled into a partially whited out room. Even the Dream Temple was affected by the strange monster's time-altering power. As they looked around, Tails looked thoughtful. "If this room is white, it must mean we're moving through the temple after all..." he mused. Copter was able to recognize the room despite the lack of color. There was a mural with strange, ancient text on the back wall, and a strange pedestal in the center. "We're in the Chaos Shrine... Where we got the tailbands..." he observed. A closer look at the pedestal, and Tails and Copter saw what appeared to be the Chaos Tailbands sitting there! Next to them, a caped shrew was in a frozen state. "Is that Illusi? And how'd the tailbands get back over there..." Copter muttered, checking his tail. Sure enough, his own tailband was gone! Before they could head over to reclaim the tailbands, however, a big, black blob dripped down from the ceiling! It quickly rose up and took shape, revealing itself as Shadow Chaos! Copter chuckled nervously. "Greeeat... You AGAIN... Maybe this time I won't let you get out of this room!!" he growled. Tails glanced at him. "I don't think that'll change the future... I'd sure like to not have to face Shadow Chaos later on, though..." he said, thinking of more recent events. Shadow Chaos lunged at Copter, flinging its elastic arms at him, while Tails flew past him towards Illusi. "I'll be right with you, Copter!" he said. Copter evaded Shadow Chaos and gave it a tail whip. "Take your time! This tub of gunk hasn't changed up its strategy..." he said, only to be taken off guard as Shadow Chaos tangled him in a mess of tentacles. "Whaaaa! Hurry up, Tails!!" he yelled. Tails reached for the tailbands as Illusi's color was returning, but as he did, his hand simply passed right through them! "Huh!? I can't take the tailbands!!" Tails gasped. Illusi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Tails, this is the Dream Temple. Everything is an illusion. Everything." he said. Tails glanced at him. "What are you saying?" he asked. Illusi glanced at Copter and spoke louder, so he could hear. "I'm saying, it's ALL an illusion, including the absence of what you should possess! Don't be fooled by this trickery, dark fox!" Copter struggled his way out of the tentacles and focused, trying to feel the energy of a tailband he wasn't sure he was wearing. As Shadow Chaos came at him again, he whipped his tails at it with all his might! His tailband suddenly flashed, revealing that it was still there, and he smashed Shadow Chaos into a weak black puddle. Illusi clapped as he and Tails approached him. "Well done! And thanks for rescuing me, you two. That creature took me by surprise. I sense, though, that it is not what it seems..." he muttered. Tails looked at Illusi curiously. "How did you know that he still had his tailband?" he asked. Illusi chuckled. "I grew up around this temple. I know many of its secrets. I myself am a skilled illusionist, as the dark fox knows." he said. Copter frowned. "Can't you call me Copter? I'm getting enough 'dark fox' from the Dream King." he grumbled. Just then, the Dream King's voice echoed through the room. "Perhaps you are afraid of the truth... Aren't you, dark fox?" Suddenly, the entire room began to transform before their eyes, distorting and shifting into a section of GUN's Security Tower, which Copter had infiltrated with Punchy at a time when he worked for Dr. Eggman.

Illusi looked around. "Ah, the Security Tower. I haven't been here since you and the Dark One came to take the Chaos Emerald, and found the place infested with Lost Ones." he recalled. Tails glanced around and saw the walls covered in ghostly blue flames, the GUN equipment seeming to be twisted and warped by something. "Is the place... Exactly as you remember it?" he asked. Copter shook his head. "No... This place is more screwed up than any we've seen yet." he realized. Shadow Tails emerged from the Ghost Fire and twirled in the air. "Your memory is a playground of darkness to me... Look at this playmate I found..." he said as Lospecter appeared in the room, performing tricks with his gold-backed cards. It was Lospecter as Copter recalled him from his most recent encounters, with a more physical, but still ghostly form, rather than the fully gaseous shape he took at the Security Tower before. "Hey, that's not right! He's supposed to be smoke!" Copter complained. Shadow Tails chuckled. "Afraid of this form? I took it from your more recent memories..." he explained. Lospecter waved. "Hi, foxies... And Illoser... Wanna plaaaay?" he giggled. A Wrongo appeared beside Illusi, meaning he surely did not. A gun clicked elsewhere in the room, and Tails, Copter and Illusi turned to see Sergeant Gunner and Spy, accompanied by a squad of their reprogrammed Shadow Androids they had been using at that time. "Well, if it isn't a whole mess of furry freak intruders! Androids, wipe them out!!" Gunner shouted. Lospecter tossed some cards in the air, summoning Lospirits and a pair of Loskels into the room as well. "War is good for the soul... Harvesting souls, anyway." Lospecter grinned. Tails took off in the direction of the Shadow Androids, while Illusi unleashed a flurry of his Wrongos in both directions, hoping to at least slow down the enemies. Copter wasn't sure where to turn. This was not how things happened at the Security Tower before. "Well, at least Techno Sonic isn't... WHAT AM I SAYING!?" he yelped as Techno Sonic, Gunner's own Sonic robot, dropped down in front of him and shot a plasma blast at him! He flew over it and struck the robot with a tailband powered tail whip, which broke through the robot's plasma shield, but the shield repelled him enough to let the robot back away! Shadow Tails hovered near them and crossed his arms. "GUN, the Lost Ones, that doctor, Despair... You battle so many foes, dark fox..." he observed as Copter launched Chaos Whirlwind at some approaching Lospirits, reducing them to slime. He then jumped to avoid a plasma beam from Techno Sonic and glanced at Shadow Tails. "Your point?" he growled. "Why do you fight so many foes? Why do you care what they do to the world that despises you so much? Why bother anyway? There's little you can do... Do you not fail more often than anything?" he taunted. Copter backed away as several foes surrounded him. "Chaos Blast!!" he shouted, blasting away several of the enemies, but also accidentally striking Tails, who he didn't realize was nearby! "Aaaah!!" Copter spun around upon hearing his companion's shout. "Tails!! I..." he gasped with alarm, stunned by his mistake. Gunner laughed at him. "Pathetic freak. You deserve to die..." he growled. Suddenly, Lospecter flew at Copter. "Fry a bunch of my minions, will ya!?" he yelled, tackling Copter towards the flaming wall! "No!! NOOOO!!" Copter screamed, recalling what Ghost Fire does to a person. He shut his eyes tight, fearing this was the end. However, he felt himself released by Lospecter and fall backward, landing on a cold floor in a cold room. He wasn't in the Security Tower anymore. He opened his eyes. "...Space Colony ARK..." he muttered. Looking around, he saw no one. "Tails!? Tails...?" he was alone.

Copter found himself in a corridor of the route to the Cannon's Core on Space Colony ARK. This time, however, he found it in severe disrepair, even seeming somewhat wrecked. "Hey... Come to think of it, I didn't recognize this place looking all spiffy when I passed it earlier today... or yesterday... or whenever. Stupid place with no time." he mumbled to himself, "How'd it fall apart so much in such a short time?? At least, I assume a short time..." Suddenly, he was startled by Illusi's voice behind him. "It was the Black Arms, of course." he explained. "Yaaaah!! Where'd you come from!?!?" Copter yelped, turning around. Illusi sighed. "I followed you. Tails has been through here before. It's you I'm worried about. As I was saying, the Black Arms invaded the Space Colony along with Earth, that's why the ARK is a mess today." he explained. Copter rolled his eyes. "I wasn't THAT curious! I better free Bucky, quick before I... wait, I already did... This is so confusing!!" he groaned. Suddenly, they both heard a buzzing nearby, and Copter growled softly. "Run..." he muttered. They both dodged quickly as a gunshot tore through the corridor from Zipp's pistol, the hornet laughing at them from down the hall. "What's the matter, Copter? You chicken out of our little fight? Run for backup? Here, let me get a bigger gun to accommodate you..." he tossed aside his pistol and pulled a machine gun seemingly from nowhere. Copter frowned. "What is he DOING here!?" he moaned. Illusi ran from Zipp's bullets, sending a Wrongo to distract him, but was suddenly met with Shadow Tails! "Illusionist... You know you are no match for me. Begone!" With a flick of his wrist, Shadow Tails hurled Illusi into a dark vortex, sending him away from the illusion of the Space Colony! "Aaaah!! I'm sorry, dark fox! You're on your own!" he shouted as he faded from the area. Copter snarled and flew at Zipp, using Chaos Whirlwind to try to blow him away, but Zipp flew up and pulled out a bomb, tossing it behind Copter! The blast knocked him forward as the room changed shape around him, becoming the prison room with the rubber cell where Bucky had been imprisoned. As Copter stumbled to the ground, he quickly picked himself up and glanced around to see Zipp, Vortex, Guard and Shadow Tails. "Why fight, dark fox? Even when you win, you lose. Those you work so hard to protect... Do they not always betray you in the end?" Shadow Tails laughed as Copter felt something clasped around his left wrist. He raised the cuff of his glove and saw a familiar timer ticking dangerously close to zero. "No... NO!!!" he shrieked. As he began to panic, Guard and Vortex came at him. "Grrrr... Stop sniveling and fight me, copter boy!" Guard growled. Copter jumped over an incoming scythe swing and whipped the gargoyle with his tails. "NOOOO!!" he screamed, fury in his eyes. Vortex unleashed a Chaos Inferno beam at him, but Copter rolled under it and threw a punch at him. "Ssssshoot! You'll pay for that, you ssssorry excussse for a fox!" Vortex hissed. Guard came up behind Copter, sending beams from his scythe at him as he got closer! Copter took the attacks, unable to see them coming, and doubled over in pain as Vortex kicked him. "Aaaargh!! This isn't how it happened!!" he yelled. Shadow Tails cackled. "It might as well have. The result would be the same..." he taunted. Copter growled and yelled. "Chaos BLAST!!" The blasts knocked his assailants away just as Guard was getting ready to strike with his blade, but as Copter was getting up, Bucky was exiting his cell. "Experiment 2... What do you think you're doing?" he growled. Copter stared at him in abject horror. "Wait... Bucky, please!! All I ever did was try to help you!!!" he pleaded. Sparks flew from Bucky's hands, and then jolts of electricity seared Copter's body! "Noooooo!!! Buckyyyy!!!" he wailed. "You have betrayed me, you wretch!! Now you will die a miserable traitor's death!!" Bucky snarled, stopping his assault as the timer on Copter's bomb neared zero. Shadow Tails started to laugh, as did Bucky, Vortex, Zipp, and strangely, even Guard. Copter fell to the floor and shut his eyes tight, refusing to watch the timer tick down to his demise. "No... No, not again... It can't happen again!!! ...T-taaaaails!!!" he cried, tears soaking his face as the timer reached zero. The explosion rang out in his ears, and his eyes shot open!

The bomb was gone, and he was no longer on the ARK. "...Am I dead...?" he muttered. It was dark at first, but then the room began to take form. He was still in the Dream Temple. Now the temple took the form of Darkegg Fortress, and Copter found himself in a somewhat distorted version of one of the tower's lower floors. "Oh, goody. Eggman's base. Home sweet home." he grumbled. Losol dripped down from the ceiling, and Copter looked around to see that the entire fortress was teeming with Lost Ones. "...Is this how the base is NOW? I don't remember it this way..." he said, "Aw, heck. I'll head up. Maybe Tails will meet me at the top, like before." He ran for a doorway and it slid open, revealing a long spiral staircase leading up, seemingly endless. "This was NOT here..." Copter muttered, glancing at Eggman symbols all along the walls. "Sure, the decor fits, but I don't see Eggman walking up all these stairs." he pointed out. Suddenly, Copter heard the familiar voice of BAS, the Base Alarm System. "Alert! Alert! Situation highly abnormal! All robots shoot Copter on sight! By order of the Dream King!" it said. Copter sighed and started up the stairs. "Very funny... Veeeery funny. Wait'll I get my hands on you, you shadow puppetmaster..." he mumbled under his breath. As he started up the stairs, the tower began to shake, and sections of the walls began to twist and bend as the illusion distorted! Copter's expression tensed as an uncomfortable thought came to mind. "Tails... What's happening to Tails during all this?" he wondered. He started to break out into a run, speeding up the stairs towards the Lost Ones and Egg Pawns waiting for him in his path. His tailband would give him power to strike the Lost Ones, so he whipped his tails at Losol and Loskel as he approached them, careful to evade the Loskel's blades. He attacked the Egg Pawns any way that was convenient, even if he merely jumped over them and kicked them down the stairs! Shadow Tails flew up beside him, the walls opening up ahead of him so that he could follow Copter without taking up space on the stairs. "Keep running... Keep fighting... It's all futile in the end..." he laughed, shifting his shape into that of Bucky. "Your own creator destroyed you. You cannot trust your allies." he taunted. Copter smashed a Loskel and kept running. "Shut it!" he yelled. Shadow Tails took on Lospecter's shape and stuck out his tongue. "Supernatural forces seek to destroy you and your friends at every turn. The very world itself may crumble despite your best efforts!" he laughed. Copter hurled an Egg Pawn at him, which flew through Lospecter's form and fell out of the tower into oblivion. Shadow Tails took on the form of Gunner, adjusting the hole in the wall so he could fit. "You're a freak! A monster! The world will be well rid of you! And I will never stop until you're DEAD!!" he snarled. Copter growled and spun his tails behind him to run even faster. "ENOUGH!! I won't listen to any more of this!!" he screamed. Suddenly, the tower transformed around him, the stairs vanishing under his feet, causing him to fall to the floor of the new room. It was a dark room with seemingly no roof, and a spider web made of cables above. Dr. Eggman dropped down from the web, piloting the mechanical spider mech known as the Arachnoegg! "Copter, you traitor! Any last words before my Arachnoegg slices you to ribbons!?" the doctor threatened. Shadow Tails, back in his normal form, stood on the web. "All you seem to do is betray people... Fascinating..." he mused. Copter glared at Eggman and clenched his teeth furiously. "EGGMAN!! I can't kick your sorry mustache enough!!" he yelled. As the Arachnoegg fired its web laser at him, Copter swiftly moved out of the way and ran at the cockpit, evading the bladed legs of the machine as they attempted to stab him! He jumped at the cockpit and slammed his tails into it with all the might his tailband could muster! "Aaaaaaaarrrgh!! Impossible!!!" Eggman yelled in shock. As the Arachnoegg exploded, the room changed once again, and Eggman vanished. "Knew what was coming... Had no time for games..." Copter said smugly, dusting his hands.

He now found himself in Darkegg Fortress's power plant, at the top of the tower. Electricity surged and sparked beneath the bridge leading across from the entrance elevator that Copter was across from. The room seemed almost pitch dark, despite the light generated from the electricity. Glancing at the elevator doors, Copter could see Tails emerging from inside. He sighed with relief. "Finally... You are a real sight for sore eyes, Tails... Any sign of that crazy shrew?" he asked. However, something was off about Tails as he exited the elevator. There was anger in his eyes! "You're going down, Copter! You're gonna pay for your crimes!" he said. Copter looked at him in disbelief. "T-tails?! What's gotten into you...?" he gasped. The yellow fox came at him and flung his tails towards him, which Copter fell backward hastily in order to dodge. He caught a glimpse of the tailband equipped to one of his tails. "You're serious...! Wait a sec... Are you an illusion, or the real Tails?" he wondered, unable to tell for certain. If it was the real Tails, something surely had freaked him out. If it was a fake, it was a convincing fake. Copter knew he couldn't take any chance that it wasn't the real Tails. "Hey, we're on the same side! You know you don't have to fight with me! I'm your friend now..." he reasoned. Tails glared at him. "Friend? Friend?! Since when? What kind of friend sends Eggman's robots after me and my friends!? What kind of friend tries to kill me!? I see right through you, Copter! You're just as bad as Eggman, and I'm going to stop you, no matter what it takes!" he shouted, lunging at Copter while he was still on the ground and struggling with him! Copter managed to push him off and scrambled to his feet, putting distance between them. "Dude, that was eons ago!! Ugh... I'm not getting out of this, am I?" he groaned, frustrated. Tails spun at him to deliver another tail whip, which Copter blocked with his own tails, their tailbands parrying each other with a flash of light! Copter charged at Tails and struggled against him, the two foxes punching and kicking at each other, each getting filled with anger, but neither seeming to get the upper hand. Finally, Copter kicked out Tails's legs, knocking him onto his back! He stared down, his expression softening. "Tails... I'm not going to kill you... Just... cut it out..." he panted, turning around and taking a few steps away, panting. "We've got to get out of this crazy tower... temple... whatever." he said, "It's making us crazy..." Suddenly, Tails got up and charged at him, which Copter barely heard coming in time! He flew up, but Tails caught his leg, causing them both to tumble to the ground! They hurried to their feet and simultaneously tail whipped each other, their tailband power causing their strikes to explode on impact! The explosion sent them flying in opposite directions, and Tails tumbled over the edge of the bridge, barely grabbing it in time to avoid falling! Copter quickly got up and saw his original's predicament. "Tails!! Hold on!!" he shouted, rushing over to lend a hand. Shadow Tails emerged in the room, watching from nearby, providing neither assistance nor hindrance. "Always a failure... Always watching your friends... FALL!!" he boomed, taunting Copter as he reached his hand out to Tails, just as Tails let go of the ledge! Copter jumped after him, grabbing his hand, and then catching the ledge with his feet! The electricity crackled below them, calling them to their impending deaths, and Tails stared up at Copter with tears streaming down his face. "C-copter!!" he called. Shadow Tails cackled. "Remember Heather? Try as you might, neither you nor Dimentime could prevent her ultimate fate in Soleanna... Remember GUN? You constantly fail to keep Gunner from persecuting your kind. Eggman remains at large. The Lost Ones devour souls. And now a time eating monster threatens the WORLD! But what can you do about that? You can't even save your friend here..." he laughed. Copter clutched Tails's hand, but he was slipping. "Can you fly?? Tails... Hang on!! FLY!! I'm too weak to carry you!! Please... YOU CAN'T DIE!!" he yelled, choking back tears. Tails stared up and smiled. "Save yourself... Copter..." As Tails released his hand, Copter screamed in defiance, his feet going limp and giving up their hold on the ledge. "Nooooo!!!" he cried, watching as his friend fell rapidly into the electric horror below, his body reduced to ash in moments. However, Copter seemed to fall more slowly. He didn't bother trying to fly. He was content to share Tails's fate. However, this was not to be. "Copter!!!" Before Copter could fall far, a figure leapt down from the bridge and moved towards him, reaching for him! Copter looked up, his eyes widening as he saw who it was. A pair of bright, bushy tails began spinning rapidly as he caught Copter in his arms. "T-t-tails!!!" Copter gasped, choking back his tears. Tails nodded and flew him to the safety of the bridge. "I made it, Copter... Are you OK?" he asked. Copter tried to hide his tears. "Y-you're real...?" he asked. Tails nodded. "Yeah, why?" he asked. Copter chuckled. "I've missed your naive stupidness..." he grinned.

They opened a door and moved on to the next area, since Shadow Tails had vanished. Copter and Tails found themselves in pitch darkness. No more rooms, no more memories. They could see no walls, no roof, no floor, but they could see each other clearly, and they seemed to be walking on some sort of floor. Despite the darkness, they could clearly see any objects ahead of them. They saw a white statue, someone who was frozen as Illusi had been. This one, however, was Dimentime! Copter growled. "That monster..." he said. "Careful, Copter. It could still be around..." Tails warned. Next to Dimentime, a dark, crystalline figure was admiring the statue: Mephiles. "Frozen in time... I rather like this fate for you. Trapped, helplessly watching as I do as I please with this world..." he sneered. Tails stared at him. "Umm... You're not... Shadow... Who are you!?" he asked. Mephiles chuckled. "I've enjoyed watching your little trip down memory lane... In fact, I came here just for the entertaining show. I'll leave you to see how it ends now. Send me a post card from oblivion!" he said, creating a portal so that he could quickly exit the temple. With Mephiles gone, Tails and Copter noticed others in the room behind the statue of Dimentime. Illusi was tied up a distance away, off to the side. "Tails! Dark fox! You might want to hurry!!" he shouted, tilting his head towards a figure in the shadows. It looked like a shadowy black fox with yellow eyes at first, but then its shape shifted to that of Experiment 3, Kosmo the Morph! Tails and Copter shook with fright, knowing they'd be no match for the Kosmo from their memories of the particular day the Dream King had been using. However, Kosmo wasn't moving. Shadow Tails emerged from nearby and let out a sinister laugh. "I can feel your fear... It feeds my nightmares!! Now, face their wrath!" He stepped closer to Kosmo, then seemed to step inside him, merging with the morph! Kosmo's body became black, his eyes red. Instead of Shadow Tails, they were facing Shadow Kosmo! "This... is... not... good." Copter whined. The Dream King let out a menacing laugh, and then a terrible roar as his shape shifted into a giant black dragon with glowing red eyes, surrounded by dark energy. He resembled a hideous version of the Kosmogon, and seemed even larger, large enough that it lowered its head, picked up Dimentime's statue, and swallowed it whole! "NOOOO!!" Copter screamed, rage in his eyes. Tails slipped his tailband on his tail and shook Copter's hand. "It's been great, Copter... Now let's do our best to stop the Dream King!" he said. Copter nodded. "Right! ...You wouldn't happen to have the Chaos Emeralds on you, would ya?" he asked, "Worth asking..."

The Dream King started by blowing beams of fire at them, which they flew in different directions to avoid. Without their super forms, they would have to fly with their tails, and attack from the ground. This would be a lot more difficult than before. Copter charged at the Dream King, dropping to the floor and rolling under his fire attack in order to reach him and attack with a tailband powered tail whip, but the Dream King merely swatted him away with his broad wing, having taken very little damage from the attack! "Your nightmares are strong, dark fox! The darkness in your spirit is stronger than you are! It will devour you!!" the dragon roared! Tails tried to attack from the side while the Dream King was distracted, but the dragon tangled him in its tail! "Aaagh!! Put me down!" Tails yelped. The Dream King turned and prepared to blow its fire at Tails, but was suddenly struck in the head by a red symbol! "What!?" he mumbled, dropping Tails. There were a small number of Wrongos flying around the Dream King, serving as a distraction! Illusi was whistling nonchalantly, twirling a free finger that gave him limited control over his illusions. The Dream King scoffed and blew beams of dark energy instead of fire, which he could spread in a wider arc and destroy the Wrongos quickly! He also managed to blast Copter with the energy, sending him tumbling to the ground and pulsing with darkness! Tails ran to him. "Copter! Are you all right!?" he asked. He got up and shook his head, only to have the Dream King follow up his attack with his own variation on the Kosmogon's Kosmos eye beams! The beams struck both him and Tails, knocking them down, but Tails refused to succumb to the maddening effects of the beam. "N-nooo!! Stay out of my head, Dream King!!" he growled. Copter, on the other hand, already had darkness coursing through him from before. He emerged with blue streaks in his white fur, and his chest fur and ears having turned blue entirely. He'd become Dark Copter! He lunged at Tails and struggled against him! "You goody-two-shoes twit! You corrupted my other half, and for what!? So Bucky could KILL me!? So GUN could hunt me endlessly!? And where were you to clear my name?? You should have told everyone the TRUTH!!!" Dark Copter screamed, punching and beating Tails as he did his best to defend himself and the Dream King watched in amusement. Hearing these words, Tails couldn't help but burst into tears. "Y-you're right, Copter!! I should have done something! We all should have done something! GUN's been allowed to get away with too much!! I'm sorry!! I'm so sorry, Copter!!" he cried, falling to his knees as if ready to accept the punishment he was about to be given. Copter, however, stopped attacking. He'd begun to hold himself back. "N-no!! It's... not his fault!! The blame is... Bucky's! And Gunner's!! Get... out of my... head!!!!" he yelled, falling to the floor! Tails hurriedly helped him up as Copter reverted to normal and the Dream King scoffed. "You both are weak. You think you are strong... But you cannot fight the WORLD!!" As Tails and Copter approached the Dream King to resume their battle, the dragon flapped its mighty wings, and a powerful wind blew a maelstrom of illusions their way, which seemed to be emerging from the Dream King himself! GUN Beetles, Egg Pawns, Lospirits, Wrongos, and other miscellaneous robots and monsters swarmed and blew around them, as though caught in a terrible hurricane formed from their memories! Tails and Copter shook each other's hands and marched ahead, not letting the impossible odds deter them, even as the Dream King blew fire and darkness their way in addition to the storm of enemies! They stood their ground, dodging attacks as they could and smacking aside any enemy that dared to fly at them! "Are you not afraid?" the Dream King roared. Tails nodded. "Terrified... But I've got to help Copter!" Copter nodded as well. "Pretty sure we're gonna die, but what the heck. There's no way out, is there?" he said. Suddenly, they were both taken by surprise as the Arachnoegg came flying at them! They were knocked over, and as they struggled to get back up, the Dream King's mouth opened with fire crackling over his lips! They held their heads and prepared for the worst, when suddenly, something big flew over them! A purple and red dragon flew past them, smashing everything in its path as it made its way to the Dream King! Copter stared in disbelief. "Th-the Kosmogon!?" he gasped. Indeed, it was the real Kosmogon, and it charged into the Dream King, holding him back! "You cheap knockoff! Why don't you try a taste of genuine Kosmos!!" The Kosmogon shot beams from his eyes that exploded on impact with the Dream King, and during the distraction, Tails helped Copter up. "Come on! This is our chance!" he said. Quickly, they dashed through the scraps of the wrecked robots left by the Kosmogon, then jumped on the purple dragon's back, climbing as it struggled with the Dream King! "How dare you interfere! They were about to succumb to their fear!" the black dragon roared. Tails and Copter climbed up the Kosmogon's neck and stared the Dream King in the face. "We don't have to be scared of you, jerk." Copter said. "Because we've got friends!" Tails added. Together, they jumped from the Kosmogon and whipped their tails at the Dream King's head simultaneously, a bright light emerging and engulfing the entire room as they did! It was blinding, and everyone was forced to shut their eyes. Copter flew up into the sky until the light faded, and found Tails and Kosmo flying nearby as well when he opened his eyes. Kosmo was now in gargoyle form. The room had changed to be a simple, crystal room with a stone floor, and a single exit, leading out of the temple. The Dream King was gone, but Illusi was still tied up in the corner. "Hey, uh... little help?" he asked. Dimentime's statue was resting in the center of the room as well. While Tails and Kosmo saw to Illusi, Copter restored Dimentime to normal. "Hey... What'd I miss...?" Dimentime asked, looking around. Copter smirked. "Well, you got eaten by a dragon." he said. Dimentime glanced suspiciously at Kosmo. "You don't say..." he growled. Copter shook his head. "Um, no, not him! Uh... I'll fill you in later. It's a looooong story..." he chuckled.

Outside the Dream Temple, they found Espio the Chameleon again. "I see everyone's all right." he said. Copter scratched his head. "Have you been waiting here this whole time!?" he asked. Espio shook his head. "Of course not. I have better things to do. But I found Kosmo while I was away, and when we talked, I managed to convince him to aid you." he explained. They glanced at Kosmo. "Well, thank you, Kosmo! We'd have been toast if you hadn't shown up!" Tails said. Kosmo shrugged. "I owed you... both of you." he said. Copter scratched his head. "Well, me, that's a given. That whole Despair business recently. But how do you owe Tails?" he asked. Tails chuckled. "I found him frozen in Radical Highway. Sonic wanted to leave him... Kosmo makes him uncomfortable." he said. Illusi chuckled. "Can you blame him?" he pointed out. Kosmo morphed into Sonic's form and stuck out his tongue. "What, do I disturb you when I do this? Look at me, I'm someone you know! Well... anyway, my debts are paid. Later, slow-mos!" he said, dashing off while still in Sonic's form! Espio bowed politely and disappeared. "Good luck on your quest!" he said in parting. Tails, Copter and Dimentime turned to Illusi. "Got anything clever for us, cape guy?" Copter asked. Illusi looked around. "This... is no illusion. I'm stumped. I'll get back to you." he said, snapping his fingers in an attempt to vanish. However, it failed! He tried again, but it still failed! "W-what?! My path to the dimensions is blocked! Well, this can't be good... My legs cramp easily..." he sighed, rushing off while mumbling unhappily. "You can rest at Shadow Arc! Punchy's there!" Dimentime suggested. Copter snickered. "Punchy'll kill you for that." he said. Dimentime glanced at him. "No, he'll kill you. I mean nothing to him." he smirked, "Now, on to the pressing matter... where did that monster and Mephiles get to?" They started to ponder this, but were soon interrupted by the arrival of Sonic the Hedgehog! "Kosmo, can't you see we're busy!?" Copter grumbled. "His eyes are normal, Copter." Dimentime pointed out, realizing it was the real Sonic. Tails waved to him. "Hey, Sonic! What's up?" he asked. Sonic grinned. "Well, it just so happens that I found another of those big suspicious doors! You know, the kind that had Eggman and the Biolizard behind them? I just bet there's something major behind this one, too!" he said, "Mostly because the... other you suggested it." he added sheepishly. Copter chuckled. "What's the matter, Sonic? Being out-thunk by someone who can't use big boy scissors?" he joked. Sonic growled softly, but ignored him. "ANYWAY... This door is actually locked! It must be REAL important! We gotta find the keys, so I thought maybe you could help with that!" he said to Tails. The yellow fox looked thoughtful. "If only SPOT was functional... I could probably rig him to sense the keys... Well, we'll think of something!" he said. Sonic nodded. "Cool! Let's go, pal!" he said, speeding off. Before Tails could leave, Copter chased after him. "Hey, Tails!" he said. "Hm? Yeah, Copter?" he asked. Copter walked over and clasped his hand in his, smiling at him. "Thanks for being my friend, Tails." he said. Tails smiled back and shook his hand gently. "Thank you, Copter!" he replied. Dimentime stepped beside Copter as Tails left. "What was that about??" he muttered. "Never mind. Let's check out that door Sonic was talking about. I've got a feeling about it..." Copter said. As they went on their way, they were unaware that they were being watched. Dr. Eggman grinned as he watched them, Sonic, Classic Sonic, and others on several video screens from inside a control room. "Run, run, run, as fast as you can, you little pests! I'm ready to put my next little plan into action!" he grinned, glancing at a screen depicting the locked door in white space. "BAS! Prepare for launch! We can't keep Sonic waiting once he gets that door open!" he said. "Yes, Dr. Eggman! Egg Carrier, preparing for launch! Please turn off all cell phones until we have taken off!" BAS announced. Eggman let out a gleeful laugh as his next scheme began to get underway. "Oh, Sonic... If you only knew what was in store for you... This time, my plan is perfect! Hoo ho ho ho ho ho!!"


"I'm the dark angel...
A captive from the light.
The dark angel...
Forced into this evil plight.
I'm flying as a dark angel for all eternity!" - Dark Angel, Theme of Copter

2011 was also GeneX's 5th Anniversary, in addition to Sonic's 20th!
Happy Birthday, Copter!


Chapter 12 - Unleashing Chaos
Stage - Egg Carrier, Sky Deck, Station Square - Sonic Adventure
Additional Stage - GUN Warship - GeneX- Tails the Fox
Briefly Revisited Stage - Launch Base Zone - Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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

"I don't know what it can be but you drive me crazy!
All your cunning tricks make me sick, you won't have it your own way! 
Can't hold on much longer,
But I will never let go!
I know it's a one way track.
Tell me now how long this will last!
I'm not gonna think this way.
Nor will I count on others!
Close my eyes and feel the burn.
Now I see what I gotta do!
Open your heart, and you will see!" - Open Your Heart, Sonic Adventure & Sonic Generations


Copter and Dimentime soon found the locked door, a very large and menacing looking portal closely resembling the one that led to the Death Egg. It was situated between the areas they had already visited, and a number of areas still whited out, waiting for them to arrive. They weren't the only ones checking out the door, either. Knuckles the echidna was staring at the locks, his arms crossed grouchily. "Hey there... uh, you... What's up?" Copter asked. Knuckles glanced at them and groaned. "Aw, great... Punchy's friends... I'm in no mood for you jokers, so scram!" he growled. Dimentime glared at him. "You're not on your island anymore, tough guy! You can't boss people around!" he snapped. Knuckles sighed and turned to look at the door again. "Fine, do what you want... I'll just wait here for Sonic to give up and admit he needs me to find those keys! I can't believe he didn't bother to ask me for help! I'm goin' nuts just waiting around with nothing to do!! I wanna see some action, too!!!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the door in frustration, succeeding only in hurting himself a little. "Aaagh... That smarts... Tough door...." he groaned. Suddenly, they all were startled to hear a loud noise coming from somewhere in the distance! Something was shaking up Panic Puppet Zone, a pretty long distance away from them. The giant Robotnik statue in the zone seemed to be opening up, revealing a massive hatch in its belly, and from it, a large ship was flying out! Copter stared and shook his head. "That's kinda nasty when you think about it. A ship just flew out of his stomach." he said. Dimentime rolled his eyes. "Grow up. It's a statue." he pointed out. Knuckles gasped, recognizing the ship. "It's the Egg Carrier! I thought that was destroyed!" he said. Dimentime scratched his head. "That's not the Egg Carrier I remember..." he muttered, recalling a different one from Soleanna. Copter shook his fist at the ship. "Eggman!! Think you can hide from us up there!!? Well... um... You're right." he whimpered. Knuckles chuckled. "Are you kidding? This is my chance to FINALLY beat Sonic to the action! I'm not letting Eggman get away! Come on, we'll 'borrow' a ship or something from Launch Base Zone! There's bound to be some stuff left!" he suggested. Copter scratched his head. "Heck of a jog... And I got tossed like a salad last time I went in there..." he whined. Knuckles grabbed his arm and started running. "Come on, ya big baby!! You're coming! I may need a pilot!!" he insisted! Dimentime chuckled. "He may be disappointed there... I'll try to teleport up ahead of you, guys! Our time may be short! I'd try teleporting us all, but... It could be dangerous. I can't really see my destination." he shouted. "Fine!! See ya!!" Knuckles shouted back.

Copter and Knuckles hurried across white space, past the Dream Temple, Seaside Hill, City Escape, Speed Highway, the door to the Death Egg, Sky Sanctuary, and Ice Cap. Copter swore he could hear constantly changing music coming from somewhere as they ran, but shrugged it off as they neared Launch Base Zone. The base was in a bit of a shambles after the Death Egg had taken off, and as they walked along, Knuckles and Copter could see Slash and Sting still cleaning up some of the mess, currently moving a large, familiar looking broken arm. "Well, good to know those dopes are so busy they'll be staying out of our way from now on..." Copter mumbled. The pair stepped through a gate before Knuckles realized what they were doing, and Knuckles slapped his forehead as an alarm went off and several birdlike robots appeared. "WHY didn't we go around that!?" Knuckles groaned. Copter shrugged and quickly dispatched the robots with a few quick tail whips, then yelped as he nearly fell into a black Orbinaut! Its spiked balls were completely protecting its head, so Copter flew over it while Knuckles jumped and went into a glide. "No time for this!! Let's find some of Eggman's spare ships!!" Knuckles yelled. It didn't take long before they found a number of Egg Mobiles parked near a small depot, not far from where the Death Egg was once "parked." Classic Sonic and Classic Tails was there as well, looking somewhat lost. "Sonic, I don't think those keys are anywhere near here..." Tails realized. "I coulda told you that!!" Knuckles said in a huff, examining one of the Egg Mobiles. He was startled suddenly, as Amy popped her head out from inside! "I can't figure out how to start this dumb thing!!!" she yelled. Knuckles stumbled over, yelling in surprise. "Where'd you come from!?" he yelped. Cream, Cheese and Big peered out from behind another Egg Mobile, chuckling softly at Knuckles. Froggy hopped onto Big's head as well. "He sure gets spooked easy, doesn't he Froggy?" Big said cheerfully. Espio the Chameleon appeared out of nowhere as well, startling Knuckles further. "You need to strengthen your focus, Knuckles." he said, "It was far too easy for me to sneak up on you." Copter glanced around and started to feel himself growing annoyed as well. "Hey, stop picking on the guy! What're you all doing here, anyway!?" he demanded. Classic Tails shrugged. "Looking for keys." he said. Amy giggled. "I was gonna take one of these ships on an air search for Sonic, but young Sonic will do..." she grinned. Classic Sonic gagged, and Cream shook her head. "Oh, boy... Poor Mr. Sonic..." she said. Espio sighed. "I WAS looking for my team, but I found something more intriguing. Perhaps the bat girl would care to explain further..." he said. Knuckles looked around. "Bat... ROUGE!? Where is she?!" he snapped. Rouge dropped down from the sky on top of him, knocking him to the floor before stepping back! "Gotcha, Knucklehead! Espio's right... You're really slipping." she said. Knuckles mumbled incoherently as he rose to his feet, sounding furious. Copter rolled his eyes and got to the point. "What do you know that we don't, lady?" he asked. Rouge opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, the whole Launch Base started to rumble! A hatch below where the Death Egg used to be began to open up, and just like with the Egg Carrier earlier, another ship began to rise! This one was rising along with a takeoff ramp, so there was still time to board it. To the group's surprise, it was a GUN Warship! "That's it! That's why I'm here!" Rouge shouted. Copter stared at the ship. "Gunner!? Aw, man!! He's working with Eggman again!? I should have known!!" he yelled, immediately taking off for the warship! Knuckles stared in surprise. "C-copter!! What about Eggman!?" he shouted. "Dimentime's got that!! Why don't you go help him?" Copter shouted back. Rouge flew off after Copter. "I work for the President first, and I think he'd be VERY angry with Gunner for working with Eggman!" she said. Classic Sonic, seeing the huge ship, immediately got very excited and sped off towards it! Classic Tails followed him. "Sonic!! Wait!! Th-the keys!! Sooonic!!!" he yelped. Amy hopped out of the Egg Mobile and chased after them. "Wait for me, Sonic!!! Don't leave meeeee!!!" she cried. Knuckles shrugged and hopped in the Egg Mobile, and Espio, Cream and Big each boarded another Egg Mobile. Espio glanced at them. "Are you sure you all can fly these things?" he asked. Big stared blankly. "I flew a plane once... I think..." he said as Froggy tugged his fur tightly. "D-don't worry... How hard can it b-be...?" Cream added, hugging Cheese for good luck. The Egg Mobiles each started up, and though none of them quite flew in a straight path, they all started heading towards the Egg Carrier together.


Dimentime soon teleported successfully onto the front deck of the Egg Carrier, where he found a swarm of bladed Spinner robots waiting to greet him. However, someone was already hard at work shooting the Spinners down one by one! Zipp the hornet was already on the deck! Dimentime ducked to avoid the bouncing blast of the Black Arms laser that Zipp was still using, and fired shots from his magic staff to aid in removing the Spinners. "What are you doing here, you psycho bug?!" he yelled. Zipp glanced at him and frowned. "H-how'd you get UP here!? Aw, never mind. More the merrier! I'm here paving the way for Shadow Arcangel! The ship is just about ready to take off!" he announced. Dimentime looked shocked. The last he knew, the engines were damaged and couldn't be repaired. "How...? What's going on, Zipp?" he asked. Zipp shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm just here to disable this heap's weapons so we have an easy time taking down Eggman." he said. Suddenly, Eggman's voice rang out around them! "Mua ha ha ha ha! Don't get any ideas you fools! You haven't a clue what you're up against! Here, have a demo... Whew, I almost thought I was going to have another deja vu moment like I had at Lost World and Seaside Hill...." Suddenly, the Egg Carrier began to shift and move, changing its shape and becoming much more difficult to traverse! "Augh, what!? It transformed! Did you see th... Um..." Dimentime started to say. Zipp stared at him. "Shut it, Tails." he grumbled. "Hee hee hee!" Eggman laughed, "I bet you weren't expecting that, were you? There's only one way to get to me, Son... I mean, Coptwo, and that's through the Sky Deck! I'm... going to take five now... I feel like I'm reading a script..." he whined. Dimentime scratched his head. "How is that any different than usual, you cheesy walking cliche?" he said. Zipp growled. "Don't insult the maker of super weapons! He's my HERO!!" he said dreamily. Dimentime rolled his eyes and headed into the Sky Deck first. It appeared to be a huge, largely outdoor deck, loaded with treacherous walkways, giant laser cannons, and of course, robots. Zipp held onto the railing of the first walkway to keep from being blown away by the fierce winds blowing across the deck. "OK, hero status revoked, Eggman..." he growled. "Hey, guys! You finally made it here!" Dimentime and Zipp looked ahead to see a blue haired man in an alligator costume. "GATOR!?!?" Dimentime gasped, having no clue as to what he was doing here. "Shhh, indoor-outdoor voice. I'm trying to enjoy the cool view! Even though most of it is white. What's the deal? This is a cool ship though! Despite its lack of sails!" the strange man said. Zipp looked at Dimentime. "Can I shoot him?" he asked. Dimentime shook his head. "Umm... Why are you... here? And not a statue?" he questioned. Gator shrugged. Dimentime scoffed. "Probably too stupid and that somehow gets him out of it..." he mumbled. Gator looked around. "This place looks like fun! I hereby commandeer this vessel in the name of... um, me!! I'm gonna find a switch to play with the ship's tilt! Byeeee!" he said giddily, running ahead at high speed! Dimentime's eyes went wide at the notion. "Can he do that...?!" he stammered. "Now can I shoot him?" Zipp smirked. They both took off after him, officially beginning their exploration of the Sky Deck in the process.


Classic Sonic led Classic Tails, Copter, Rouge and Amy through the GUN Warship as it took off. The ship was more structured than Eggman's ships, and had many small hallways connecting the larger areas. As they passed one of these halls and reached a bridge going across an outdoor area, they found Gunner and Spy waiting for them on the other side! "Furry freak intruders! Surrender! You are in way over your heads this time! This GUN Warship is far more secure than the last ship I commanded. I had a little help from the good doctor there... He installed something on this ship to be powered by the Chaos Emerald, and there's no way I'll let you freaks take it!" he shouted. Spy tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you sure you should tell them all that?" he asked. Gunner frowned. "They're about to be DEAD!! Who cares!" he snapped. Rouge crossed her arms. "Just wait'll I tell the President what you're doing..." she said. Spy laughed. "We both know that you'll keep your mouth shut in exchange for a few priceless gems!" he said. Copter and Amy glanced at Rouge, who looked back at them defensively. "What!? Don't you DARE judge me! You have no idea what they gave me before..." she babbled. Amy shook her head. "You're pitiful..." Copter sighed. "I knew I didn't like you, bat girl..." Classic Sonic jumped and started moving forward as a number of androids joined Gunner on the bridge. They were androids based on Bucky's experiments, including Punchy, Vortex, Zipp and even Copter. "HEY!! You can't copy me like that!! I'll sue!!" Copter yelled. Gunner smirked. "Enjoy getting killed by yourself..." he said. Just then, several Chaos Spears flew down and blew up several of the androids, startling Gunner and Spy! Looking up, everyone could see Mephiles floating above the bridge! "How convenient! So many of my enemies in one place. I think I'll try bringing this ship down in a fiery crash! Hahahahaha!" he laughed, dropping to the bridge and charging at Gunner, continuing past him as the old man rushed out of the way and crashing through several of the androids! Gunner chased after him, but not before Classic Sonic could run and Rouge could fly in their own pursuit! "Spy! Have Guard keep the freaks lagging behind busy! And send in more robots!!" Gunner shouted. Spy took out a comm. device and relayed the orders. "Guard! We need backup on the bridge!! S.O.S!! Save ol' Spy!!" he cried. Guard flew over to the bridge in seconds, as though he'd been watching nearby all along, and was leading a swarm of GUN Beetles as well! Classic Tails saw this and gulped. "Is... is that a devil!?" he whimpered. Copter growled softly. "Close... It's a flying mutt. Hey, you wanna deal with him, Amy?" he asked. Amy pulled out her hammer. "Outta my way!! I gotta catch up with Sonic!!" she said. The trio started across the bridge, their battle in the GUN Warship now beginning.


Dimentime and Zipp found their way to what appeared to be one of the Egg Carrier's wings, or perhaps it was just a large outdoor platform. It was covered in gun turrets and huge laser blasters, but fortunately, the wind had died down a bit, possibly due to the unique environment of white space, now beginning to have an effect on the ship as it flew. Dimentime and Zipp took cover to avoid the ship's turrets, and then Zipp started glancing around. "Hey... My helmet's picking up Eggman's hover thing... FOUR of 'em?!" he grumbled, tapping his helmet in case it was malfunctioning. The Egg Mobiles piloted by Knuckles, Espio, Cream and Big had managed to arrive, but quickly found trouble as the ship's turrets and blasters began targeting them! "Huh... They must be designed to target organic life forms, therefore piloting the Egg Mobile provides no cover. How does Eggman slip past his own defenses, then?" Dimentime wondered. "He wouldn't go this way." Zipp pointed out. "HELLO!? HELP!? We're gonna get BLOWN UP here!!" Knuckles yelled, swerving his Egg Mobile around like a crazed pinball to evade the shots coming his way. "Cheese, help us!" Cream asked, backing her ship away while Cheese flew ahead, sneaking around the turrets and tackling several of them hard to destroy them! Espio decided to abandon his Egg Mobile and nimbly jumped between the shots coming at him, tossing a handful of shurikens at the turrets, which seemed to strike right where they needed to to cause them to explode! As the shots began to thin out, Dimentime and Zipp joined the fray, shooting with their respective weapons to take enough of the turrets out so the remaining Egg Mobiles could get close enough to the ground for their pilots to bail out of them! Big tumbled onto the Egg Carrier, ending up flat on his back, while Froggy landed safely on his belly. "Owww... My poor tail... At least you're OK, Froggy..." he whined. Cream & Knuckles pulled him to his feet as Cheese rejoined Cream. "Oh, thank you, Cheese!" Cream said, hugging the Chao. Dimentime stared at the group. "Knuckles... Why'd you trade Copter for all these guys? Where's Copter??" he stammered. Knuckles sighed. "It's a long story..." he said. "There'll be time for explanations later..." Espio said, pointing ahead, "We have company." E-2X Alpha, in his upgraded, winged form, was flying towards them, and he wasn't alone. The red Chao, Char was there, as well as a squad of robots including Spinners and newer models of the black Orbinaut from Launch Base Zone, called Unidus. "Hey, there guys! Miss me? Well, Alpha and I are baaaaack!!!" Char giggled. Alpha gasped loudly. "Lookie! I found the frog!! Mission complete! Can I go play Hedgehog Hammer now?" he said crazily. Char chuckled, but Big was not amused. "Not this again! Leave Froggy alone!!" he shouted. "Don't worry, Mr. Big. They won't hurt Froggy this time!" Cream assured him. Char grinned. "All right! Go get those intruders, robots! Chaaaaarge!!" he cheered. Knuckles growled, but smiled. "Finally, this is what I wanted!! Some action!! HERE I COME!!" he yelled, taking off and plowing through the robots in his path. Big followed suit. "Wait for meeee!!" he shouted, apparently feeling safer around Knuckles. However, his girth was knocking more robots in his path to pieces than Knuckles was! Dimentime scratched his head. "Um... I think they've got the robot situation well in hand... Let's move everyone!" he said, leading the way forward. Zipp frowned. "I wanted to do it!!" he whined.


The Egg Carrier and the GUN Warship were both gradually making their way to the locked door in white space. As they flew across the sky, Modern Sonic and Tails happened to be exiting City Escape after finding one of the three keys they needed to open the door. "Sonic! Look up there!" Tails gasped, pointing out the two ships. "The... Egg Carrier!?" Sonic exclaimed. "But who's flying it? Eggman got caught by that monster..." Tails said. Sonic looked at the GUN Warship curiously. "That GUN ship isn't fighting with it. Maybe Gunner's controlling both of them somehow..." he suggested. Suddenly, they felt the ground shake and heard more engines roar as a third ship started to take off as well! Shadow Arcangel was beginning to rise into the air and chase the other two ships! "Whoa! Tails... I think something's goin' down that we weren't invited to..." Sonic realized. Tails held up the two keys they found so far and handed them to Sonic. "You better look for the last key on your own, Sonic. I'll go get the Tornado that my younger self has parked around Sky Sanctuary so we can check this out!" he said. Sonic nodded. "All right, pal! Let's get movin' before those ships get where they're going!" he agreed. Thus, they headed off in different directions.

Inside Shadow Arcangel's control room, Punchy, Rainbow, Razor, Tommy, Illusi and Omega were gathered together, arguing. "I'm not going back to the GUN ship!! Forget it! It was a nightmare... I crashed the Hurricane through the hull, and later the whole ship crashed into the ocean. I don't know how it's even here now!" Punchy complained. "But Dark One, your experience on that ship is exactly why you would be a valuable asset in invading it now! We should go there!" Illusi insisted. "Negative. GUN forces do not interest me. We must take the battle to Eggman! I will have my revenge!" Omega asserted. Razor shook his head. "That Gunner jerk's gone too far this time! I want to see him brought to justice! He is NOT above the law!!" he snapped. Tommy shied away from the arguing. "C-can I just stay on the ship...?" he stammered. Rainbow tapped her foot impatiently. "Hey!! Don't we need to stop BOTH of them!?" she pointed out. The group started arguing louder, riling up the nearby Flickies into chirping angrily. Finally, Bucky, who was piloting the ship, fired a few bolts of electricity over their heads in a fit of aggravation! "SHUT UP!! I'm driving this ship!! We're going where I take us! Idiots..." he grumbled. "Stupid meatbags..." Omega muttered back.


Copter and the others fought their way deeper into the GUN Warship, finding their way to a large hangar of some sort. Guard led some androids ahead to block their progress, but there were only a couple Experiment based androids left. "Grrrr... Call in the backup!" he growled. A squad of Shadow Androids marched in after being called via Spy's comm. device, prompting Copter to growl furiously. "Rrrrrrrr... ENOUGH!! I have HAD it with you, Shadow!! I'll tear you apart!!" he screamed. Guard shook his head. "Grrr... That annoyed him, but that wasn't what I had in mind..." he said, snatching the comm. device while Copter, Amy and Classic Tails began smashing up the androids. After placing a quick call, it wasn't long before the backup Guard desired arrived on the scene, casting a pair of large shadows over the intruders. Tails looked up and whimpered, hiding behind Amy as the large, disc shaped vehicles hovered into their path! The war machines were covered in rocket launchers, and were each piloted by a GUN soldier. Guard smirked as Copter's jaw dropped. "Grrrrr... Say hello to Heavy Dog and Blue Falcon! Grrrr... They'll be 'assisting' me now." Guard said. "Oh, no!! Now what do we do??" Tails yelped. Amy held up her hammer defensively. "Um... I'll get back to you..." she said. Copter clenched his fists and shook his head. "I refuse to give up! You're nothing but a coward, Guard!! And I'm gonna beat you like always!!" As rockets started firing from the GUN mechs and Copter, Amy and Tails started their desperate attempt to approach them, another fight was happening on a bridge overhead, a place overlooking the planes parked in the hanger. Rouge and Classic Sonic were battling with Mephiles, who was changing forms throughout the battle. He blocked Rouge's kicks using the tails from Classic Tails's form. He caught Sonic as he jumped at him using the strength of Punchy's form, and then shot him across the bridge by turning his arm into a cannon shaped like Omega's arm! Sonic tumbled into the distance on the bridge, but quickly started to run back. "You fools are no match for me... I've grown far too powerful! And I'm only going to grow stronger!" Mephiles taunted. Rouge and Sonic attempted to attack him together, only to have him shift into Bucky's form and fly over them, jolting them with electricity as he went! "Aaaahhh!! No fair!!" Rouge groaned, "All right, so you're stealing all this power. What for, anyway!?" she yelled. Mephiles stared at them. "What for!?" he snapped. Just then, Gunner started to come up behind the trio. He was holding an explosive device. "Goodbye, freaks!!!" he hurled the device at the trio, expecting to catch Mephiles, Rouge and Sonic all in the blast, but Mephiles suddenly changed his form to Rainbow! "Did you know this girl has latent abilities locked inside her?" he said, somehow stopping the bomb and turning it back towards Gunner! "What!? Noooooo!!!!" Gunner attempted to avoid the explosion, but it took out the bridge below his feet, causing him to begin to fall as Mephiles cackled hysterically! "Gunner!!" Rouge gasped, looking over the side of the bridge. However, Spy was below him, and heard the explosion. "I got ya, boss!! I got ya!!!" he shouted, only to have Gunner land on top of him, knocking him over! "Ooooff!!! I need a better health plan..." Spy groaned. Gunner nodded shakily. "W-we'll talk l-later... Spy..." he stammered, battered and injured, but alive. Rouge sighed. "Is it weird that I'm relieved?" she asked, glancing at Sonic. He sighed as well and smiled, also relieved. Mephiles scoffed at them, reverting to Shadow's form. "You are weak. You will never win because you haven't the stomach to destroy your enemies..." he said.

Suddenly, an explosion tore open the hangar doors, and to everyone's surprise, Copter's plane, the Hurricane, flew into the hangar, piloted by Punchy! Illusi and Razor were hanging on to the plane's wings as well, and as the plane landed, Copter stared in disbelief. "You mean someone had fixed my plane, and I could have flown it onto the Egg Carrier instead of taking this suicide detour!?" he shouted. Punchy groaned as he hopped out of the plane. "This wasn't my first choice either... but apparently I'm an expert on GUN Warships somehow." he muttered. "You did find exactly where we needed to go somehow, Dark One." Illusi pointed out. Razor stared at Heavy Dog and Blue Falcon in disbelief. "Holy... Gunner's really serious this time... I only brought a pistol with half ammo..." he groaned, "Zipp wouldn't share much." Illusi nodded. "Aim your shots carefully, and leave the rest to us. I'll handle diversions." he said, sending a swarm of Wrongos out to mess with the GUN mechs as much as possible! Amy and Tails grinned at this development. "All right! Let's get 'em!" Amy cheered. "We can do it!" Tails added. They started off focusing their efforts on Heavy Dog, and now that the mech was distracted with the Wrongos, Amy and Tails could get in close and start smashing the rocket launchers on the sides! Tails flew Amy up so she could smack them with her hammer one by one, weakening the mech's offense! Razor quickly emptied his pistol trying to find a weak spot, but noticed the rocket launcher fall from the mech, seemingly intact. He ran over and picked it up, noticing that it might, oddly enough, be usable. "Oooookaaaay... I'll take it!" he said. Punchy found nothing he could use Chaos Avalanche on in the hangar, so instead he ran up to the cockpit of the machine and smashed his fists into it! He smashed through the glass and grabbed the pilot! "Aaaahhh!! Don't kill me!! Nooo!!" The pilot shrieked. "Yeesh, what a baby..." Punchy grumbled, carrying the pilot away. With no pilot, the machine started spinning out of control! "Stand back!" Razor shouted, prompting everyone to move aside. Razor fired several rockets at Heavy Dog, piercing the mech's armor and causing it to begin exploding! Meanwhile, Copter was fighting with Guard, dodging rockets from Blue Falcon the whole time. Guard slashed his scythe at him, firing energy beams for good measure, but Copter kept one step ahead of his blade! Thinking about the problem at hand, Copter flew toward Blue Falcon, luring Guard close to it as well! Their close proximity to the mech made it all the more difficult to dodge both its attacks and each other's, and in his frustration, Guard began to grow careless and strike Blue Falcon with his scythe! He sliced off a rocket launcher, nicked the mech's armor, all while Copter taunted him. "Hey, clumsy, are you fighting me or the mech!?" Guard growled loudly and chased Copter towards the cockpit, thrusting his scythe towards him, only to smash it through the glass and strike the control panel, narrowly missing the pilot! "Whups! Gunner's gonna write you up for that!" Copter teased. "You fool! Look what you've done!" The pilot yelled as the control panel sparked and the mech began to go out of control! Guard, groaning in defeat, grabbed the pilot from the mech and flew off as Copter flew away from the mech as well. In a moment, Razor fired a few more rockets to destroy Blue Falcon as well! With the machines and androids out of commission, Gunner and his remaining allies were forced to retreat deeper into the ship. "You'll pay for this, Guard!!" he shouted, having somewhat recovered from his fall. Copter started to run ahead, motioning to the others to follow him. "Come on! Let's go get the Chaos Emerald!" he suggested. Punchy's eyes went wide. "Chaos Emerald?! Oh, of course! All right, I'll lead the way! I know exactly where it is!" he said. Suddenly, Mephiles knocked Sonic and Rouge backward with a Chaos Blast and jumped down from the balcony. "Not so fast! I'll be taking that Chaos Emerald! If you fools don't want to be caught in the crash, I suggest you take that plane off the ship now! Ha ha ha... Of course, I realize that's out of the question for you, meddlers... So enjoy your deaths!" he laughed, heading off to search for the emerald! "Well?! What are we standing around for! Hurry!!" Illusi shouted.


On the Egg Carrier, Dimentime, Knuckles, Zipp, Cream, Big and Espio had nearly reached the end of the Sky Deck. Though they were still on the exterior of the ship, they were on more of a secure area, which appeared more like a room lacking a roof. On a high ledge towards the back was Gator, and he had discovered a big lever. "Ooooooh.... Joystick...." he said reverently. Below, the group soon felt the ship shake suddenly. "What was that??" Cream wondered. Knuckles looked around with wide eyes. "Tilt lever..." he whimpered. Zipp smacked his forehead. "There actually IS one!? That creep in the gator suit's gonna kill us all!!!" he groaned. Espio pointed to some metal bars ahead, which looked like ladders attached to the floor in an odd position. "Get over there, quick!" They hurried towards the bars as the ship began to tilt sharply, flipping dramatically to the point where they might fall! Big, Espio and Knuckles quickly grabbed on to the bars, while Dimentime started spinning his tails to fly, grabbing Cream's hand as she began to fall! "Yikes!! That was close!!" she gasped. He flew her to the bars, and they both grabbed on, but Zipp and Cheese continued flying in the air beside them. "This is NOT good... We've got company!" Zipp shouted. Char and Alpha were catching up to them after having been left behind earlier, and Alpha began shooting at them as they dangled from the bars! However, the ship started altering its tilt, messing with Alpha's shot and tossing the group around, though they kept hanging on! "GATOR!! I'll KILL you!!!" Dimentime shouted. Big groaned groggily. "I don't feel good..." he said as Froggy hopped off his head onto the bars, looking for safe ground. "All right, Alpha! I think we've got 'em cornered! Let's toss them in the jail!" Char grinned. Alpha spun his head around. "I smells a UFO!!" he said. Char scratched his head. "Huh??" he muttered. Suddenly, several explosives came hurtling towards Alpha, forcing him to fly out of the way quickly, along with Char! Omega was flying onto the scene, carrying Rainbow on his back! "We're here to help, guys! Hey, why's the ship all crooked?" she wondered. "Irrelevant! Must eradicate all Eggman's robots!" Omega yelled. A swarm of Spinners and Unidus were arriving to aid Char & Alpha at this point. "Hey, bro! Let's play laser tag! Oooh! Or Paint ball! Wheeee!" Alpha grinned. The ship's tilt was beginning to right itself now, and Dimentime turned to Espio. "Keep the bots occupied... I've got to stop Eggman!" he said. Espio nodded. "You can count on us." he said. Dimentime raised his staff and used it to teleport ahead, landing relatively close to Gator, who was clinging to the tilt lever nervously. "I almost fell, mommy..." he murmured. "Let go of the lever, idiot!!" Dimentime said, pulling him away from it and quickly centering the lever before moving on. Gator began to follow him. "Wait up! I almost died! I need a hug!!" he whined.

Dimentime & Gator quickly reached the ship's control room, which had been remodeled and expanded from the original Egg Carrier's. Inside, two men were seated. "Eggman! I'm here to put a stop to... Whatever nonsense this is!" Dimentime shouted. Gator nodded. "And I'm here to take command of this awesome ship!" he said. One of the chairs began to turn around, and Dimentime's eyes went wide as he saw the younger Dr. Ivo Robotnik standing before him once again, perfectly fine, despite having seemingly been captured by the monster some time ago! "How bold of you, barging in here, expecting to capture my... OUR Egg Carrier!" he said. Dimentime backed away in shock, and an electric barrier emerged to bar his way to Dr. Robotnik! "You!? I should have known! I mean... Eggman turning up... You couldn't have been captured, then!" he realized. Robotnik chuckled. "Sharp, aren't you? Not sharp enough, though." he sneered. The other chair turned around, revealing the present day Dr. Eggman. "Yes, Coptwo! We've been on the same team from the get go! I allowed my younger self to try the Death Egg scheme as a testing ground for something we're tinkering with together, and now we're ready for the next big test! Sit back and watch the fireworks!" he said, turning to the controls and pressing some buttons. "Now allow me to call in our little friend... The Time Eater!" Outside, a satellite dish mounted atop the Egg Carrier began to send out a signal, and in response to the signal, a portal opened up in the sky! From it, the monster emerged, which Eggman had referred to as the Time Eater! Aboard the GUN Warship, Copter, Classic Sonic and the others were attempting to reach the Chaos Emerald, but an announcement from Gunner played over the PA system. "Too late, Furry Freaks!! Ivo's plan has come full circle! Ha ha ha ha!!" As the ship began to shake, Classic Tails looked worried. "I'm not sure, but I think it might be a good idea to get off!" he suggested. "Go if you want. Take my plane in the hangar." Copter suggested, "I'll get the Chaos Emerald!" Outside, the GUN Warship fired a beam of blue Chaos energy at the Time Eater, filling it with power! Shadow Arcangel began to fly towards the Time Eater in a last ditch effort to stop Eggman's plan. "Kid... I suggest you find a closet or a table to hide under or something... We don't have seat belts!!" Bucky said as Tommy scrambled for cover and the Flickies flew around in a panic. Bucky was attempting to ram Shadow Arcangel into the Time Eater, but the creature simply swatted the ship aside, sending it spinning out of control! Eggman and Robotnik cackled from their control room. "No one can stop the Eggman Empire now!!" Eggman bellowed. Robotnik scratched his head. "Eggman Empire...? Say... That sounds pretty good, actually. Everyone was calling me Eggman, and I was finding it a bit annoying. But it's starting to grow on me. Perhaps it's time I embraced the future!" Robotnik grinned. Outside, with the Eggmen controlling it, the Time Eater unleashed a strange energy on the locked door, making it larger and causing it to truly match the door to the Death Egg in appearance, having previously been "incomplete." The Time Eater then created a trio of portals, vanishing into one of them while the Egg Carrier and the GUN Warship started to fly towards the others! Dimentime gasped upon seeing the ship heading for the portal. "Better get going, unless you'd like to be my prisoner!" Eggman smirked. "I hope your friends on the deck enjoy the trip through the portal... White is definitely their color!" Robotnik said ominously. Dimentime hurried out of the control room. "I don't even want your ship! It smells like your socks!" Gator said, sticking out his tongue as he fled the control room as well. At the Sky Deck, Char hastily left the group to find an entry to the interior of the ship. "Bye, guys! See ya later!" he said. Seeing the frightening looking portal fast approaching them, the group began to scramble for any means of escaping the ship! Rainbow hopped back on Omega's back. "Mush, Mega!" she shouted. "I can only hover, not fly, foolish echidna." he growled. Dimentime and Gator teleported in, looking panicked. "If we're caught on the deck going through the portal, we'll be turned into statues!! We gotta get off!!" Dimentime shouted. Fleeing as quick as they could, they soon found the Egg Mobiles they'd left on the ship ahead of them! However, the ship was already passing through the portal! Worse, there weren't enough Egg Mobiles for all of them! However, much to their surprise, the Tornado suddenly flew onto the deck, piloted by Modern Tails! "I think I'm a bit late, but anyone need a ride?" he asked. Rainbow & Dimentime quickly hopped on to the plane's wings. "Get us outta here!!" Dimentime yelled. The others hopped into their Egg Mobiles from before. "Let's go!! Let's goooo!!" Knuckles shouted in a panic as Gator leapt into his Egg Mobile. "Hey!! No hitch-hikers!!" he growled. "My ship!" Gator insisted. As the Egg Mobiles took off, Zipp and Omega jumped off the ship on their own, Zipp using his wings and Omega hovering as much as he could. They had made it off just in time to avoid being caught by the portal! Meanwhile, the group on the GUN Warship had also unanimously decided to bail upon realizing they were headed for a mysterious portal, but Classic Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Illusi had a lead on the rest of them. "How did I let you talk me into staying to show you the way to the emerald!?" Punchy growled at Copter. "Hush, let's just get outta here!" Rouge said. They made their way to the hangar, but found the Hurricane already gone! "Huh?! Wha!? SONIC!!! You dare not to wait for me!!?? That was MY plane!!" Copter shouted. "YOU told him he could take it." Razor pointed out. "Use the remote!!" Punchy suggested. "I can't recall them now! They might get sucked into the portal with us, and... We don't all fit in the Hurricane anyway... Let's find another plane!" Copter suggested. Oddly, though, the hangar was barren of planes. "Maybe we better find cover from the hole in the doors... In case the swirling vortex we're heading for is dangerous!" Rouge suggested. "R-right... This way!!" Razor shouted, leading everyone back into the ship! Mephiles observed them from the shadows. "Before I could get the emerald, too? No matter. But I have no interest in seeing what's behind that portal?" So, he created his own portal and escaped into it before the warship passed through.


Having escaped the Egg Carrier and the GUN Warship, the groups were now assembling at the door that the Time Eater had manipulated moments ago. Classic Sonic knocked on the door a couple times, and tried to open it, but had no luck. "It's still locked..." Classic Tails pointed out. Amy raised an eyebrow. "Well, that seems pointless then. Why go to all that trouble if no one can get in?" she said. Classic Sonic then noticed Shadow Arcangel. It had crash landed up ahead, in the middle of an area of white space they hadn't explored yet. Sensing he may be needed, Classic Sonic rushed in the direction of the crashed ship! Classic Tails hurried after him. "I guess we're checking out that crash! Later, guys!" he said. Everyone else stuck around the door, wondering what to do about Copter and the others trapped aboard the GUN Warship, until Modern Sonic arrived. He was carrying the three keys with him. "What's up, guys? Having some sort of party or somethin? Oh, wait... tried that already..." he said. "And it stunk!" Gator added. Sonic shrugged and quickly unlocked the door, peering inside. "I'll be checking this out if anyone needs me..." he said, rushing inside without another word. Zipp scoffed. "Some nerve! We did all the work and HE gets to check it out!?" he growled. "What do you mean? He found the keys." Amy said. "It sure FEELS like we did all the work..." Knuckles grumbled. Dimentime rolled his eyes and started through the door. "You idiots! What EXACTLY is stopping us from following him in, anyway?" he asked. Amy's eyes went wide and she sped past Dimentime. "Sonic, here I come!!" she yelled. Tails and Knuckles followed behind her. "Amy, be careful!" Tails shouted. Then Dimentime, Big, Omega, Rainbow and Gator went through the door as well. Cream and Illusi glanced at Zipp. "I thought you wanted to go in." Cream said. Zipp frowned. "Are you kidding!? It's a TRAP! Besides, I gotta go check in with Bucky. Later!" he said, flying off. Illusi glanced at Cream. "Don't worry... I'm sure they'll be all right... I think..." he said. Cream hugged Cheese. "I hope so..." she murmured. Espio sighed. "Only fools walk into an obvious trap, though." he said. Illusi growled. "You killjoy..."

The group that entered the door found themselves walking amidst a ruined city. They were stepping atop the floating debris, the city having been flooded. "...Station Square...?" Knuckles mumbled, recognizing the scene before them. Rainbow gasped loudly. "Not AGAIN!! It took ages to dry out my clothes and sheets after the last flood!! Stupid Tubby!" she growled, prompting everyone to stare at her. "I... think this IS the last flood..." Tails pointed out. Dimentime sighed. "This explains a lot about the state of the city when I first visited it..." he said. A distance ahead of them, Sonic was jumping down from a rooftop to a lower platform and glancing ahead, noticing some activity in the water. Something enormous was rising out of the water, letting out a furious roar! Everyone looked over at it in shock, seeing dozens of tentacles surrounding a gigantic sea serpent with huge jaws lined with jagged teeth, though the entirety of the creature appeared to be made of water. It was Perfect Chaos! Gator yelped and backed away. "That is one big, ugly croc..." he grumbled. Big held on to Froggy nervously. "Not that thing again..." he whimpered. "It can't be! It's Chaos!!" Tails shouted. Rainbow sighed. "I hate that monster..." she said. Sonic stared up at Perfect Chaos and chuckled somewhat nervously. "And me without all seven Chaos Emeralds... Well, what's a hedgehog to do? I guess I'll just have to give it my best shot! Bring it on, Chaos!" he said, running off to take on the monster. Dimentime watched him in disbelief. "I said it before and I'll say it again... He's nuts!" he stammered. Amy grabbed him and shook him angrily in response. "HEY! That's my Sonic you're talking about!!" she shouted. Suddenly, Omega pointed out something overhead in another direction. "Eggman detected..." A safe distance away from Perfect Chaos was the Egg Carrier, and the GUN Warship as well! The two ships had flown in through the portals in order to observe Sonic's battle! "One and Two are up there!" Rainbow realized, pointing to the GUN Warship. "Let's get as close as we can and check it out!" Knuckles suggested, "There's not much we can do about Chaos!" So, they all began making their way towards the two ships, carefully traversing the ruined city. "I say this plan's all wet..." Gator muttered. Meanwhile, aboard the GUN Warship, Punchy had finally led the group to the engine room, where the Chaos Emerald was held on the last ship he'd infiltrated. Sure enough, a blue Chaos Emerald was fitted in a power terminal here as well. Copter ran ahead and quickly pulled the emerald out, immediately setting off an alarm! "Geez, you'd think cutting off the power would keep the alarm from going off. Well, let's get outta here, guys!" he said. "Oh, there's SOME backup power... But you're right, without the Chaos Emerald, this ship will fall into the ruins of Station Square below us!" Copter was startled as a hidden door slid open, revealing Gunner and Spy, as well as a massive mech that somewhat resembled the Diablon. The machine flew at Copter and fired several lasers at him, forcing him to scramble out of the way as quickly as he could! "Gaaaah!! What!? Station Square...??" Copter muttered. "Never mind, freak. You won't live long enough for explanations to matter. The Diablotron is about to tear you limb from limb!!" Gunner snarled. Rouge called out to Copter. "We got the emerald! Let's go!! There's no time to mess around with that thing!!" she shouted. "I'm inclined to agree!" Punchy added. Copter nodded. "Enjoy the crash, Gunner!" he said, running off with the others. Gunner was taken aback. "D-don't you DARE turn your backs on me, furry freaks!! FIGHT ME, YOU COWARDS!!!" he roared, controlling the Diablotron via remote to send it after them!

As the group below approached the two ships, the Egg Carrier began turning to face them. "Those fools dare to approach us!? It's high time they learned to fear the Eggman Empire!!" Eggman sneered as the front of the Egg Carrier opened up, revealing a massive laser cannon! Tails looked up at it and started to sweat. "N-no... He wouldn't!!" he stammered. "Wouldn't what...?" Amy asked. "TAKE COVER!!" Tails shouted, leading everyone behind the nearest wall they could get behind! In a moment, the Egg Carrier's giant laser fired down in their direction, splashing across the water and impacting the wall, leaving a large hole in it! "Waaaah!! That was close!!" Big gasped. "T-tubby's gonna fire again!!" Rainbow yelled, pointing at the Egg Carrier. "Retreat or be terminated!!" Omega shouted as everyone scrambled to find more cover! However, as they sought out the nearest wall sticking out of the water, one of Chaos's tentacles snapped across the area and knocked the wall over, destroying their best chance at avoiding the laser! "Aww, come on!! We weren't even bothering you, monster!!" Gator groaned. The laser impacted the water near the group, creating a huge splash that sent everyone flying backwards a little! Eggman and Robotnik laughed victoriously from their control room. "There's no escape, you little pests!" Robotnik sneered. "You should have known to fear my Egg Carrier!" Eggman growled. Aboard the GUN Warship, Copter and the others were seeking a way to escape, all while evading the Diablotron's lasers and rockets! To their dismay, they ended up wandering up to the bridge of the warship, a large control room with huge windows surrounding it to allow the captain to see most of the way around. Unfortunately, this room was a dead end! They jumped down from the elevated captain's platform they entered at and landed at the control area, but the Diablotron was right behind them! Razor gazed out the window at Perfect Chaos below them. "No way... I was on duty the last time that thing smashed Station Square! It ruined my old motorcycle!" he shouted. "You're a motorcycle cop?" Rouge asked. "Sometimes..." Razor replied. Punchy ran to the window while Copter was keeping the Diablotron busy. He looked from the Egg Carrier to the direction its laser was firing. "W-what!? Eggman's shooting at our friends... and Knuckles... with a superlaser!! We gotta do something or they'll be toast real quick!!" he shouted. Copter flew against the window as the Diablotron unleashed its anti-matter cannon, a destructive force that covered the whole area, stopping just short of the control mechanisms! "Wheeew... GUYS, can't you see WE'RE in a bit of trouble ourselves!?" he shouted. Gunner and Spy were standing at the captain's platform now, and Gunner was better able to control the Diablotron. "Stay at the window, freaks! I'll hurl you through it!" he shouted. Copter flew up, hoping to get the drop on the Diablotron, but the mech was also flight capable, and it flew after him, smacking at him with its giant arms! Rouge rolled her eyes and flew towards the Diablotron as well. "All right!! I'll help!" she yelled. While they were fighting the mech, Razor looked over the controls of the GUN Warship. "What the heck? This ship's crashing anyway, and things are looking grim for us. We might as well go down saving the others..." he said. Punchy stared at him and gasped as Razor grabbed the controls. "What in the heck are you doing!?" he shouted. "Improvising! Why don't you try to think of how we're gonna get off this heap while you cover me!" Razor suggested. Copter and Rouge each made several attempts to strike the Diablotron, but it would simply raise a shield and block them before countering with lasers and rockets! Frustrated, Copter turned to Razor. "Hey! We don't have enough thrust to ram the Egg Carrier, if that's what you're thinking! I have a better idea!" he shouted. Gunner was unable to really make out what Copter was saying from his perch, and he scratched his head. "Spy, what are they plotting?" he asked. Spy shrugged. "Surrender maybe?" As the Egg Carrier pointed its laser at the helpless group below once again, they found themselves powerless to get away this time. "This is it!!!" Tails whimpered. "DO SOMETHING!! Teleport us!!" Knuckles shouted at Dimentime. "What, ALL of us? I can't. Who am I to choose who lives and who dies!?" he whined. "Wow, you can teleport?" Gator said in amazement. As the laser was charging, however, the GUN Warship suddenly moved into its path! As it fired, the laser crashed through the windows of the control room! Copter and Rouge scattered away from the Diablotron as the laser disintegrated it, continuing trough and tearing deeper into the warship until an explosion resulted! It wasn't enough to obliterate the GUN Warship outright, but the ship was no longer keeping itself aloft much, and was falling much faster! As it began to fall, Perfect Chaos emerged nearby and grabbed the ship in one of its tentacles, which wrapped through the control room, nearly flattening Copter as he was making his way back to Punchy and Razor! "Yaaaah!! What's going on!? Is that thing gonna try to eat us like a can of sardines!?" Copter yelled. Spy shrieked like a little girl, his legs getting wobbly. "We're all gonna diiiiie!!" he whined. Gunner slapped him as Guard joined them on the captain's platform. "Grrrr... Uhhh... O-orders, sir...?" Guard stammered, even he becoming nervous in the presence of Perfect Chaos. "What do you THINK, idiot!? Get us out of here!!!" Gunner yelled, hiding his own panic as best he could. Guard grabbed Gunner and Spy and flew them out through the hole in the roof, heading for the nearby Egg Carrier. Copter and Rouge landed near Punchy and Razor, and the four of them stared in terror at the tentacle holding the ship. "OK, what do we do?!" Rouge asked. "I thought YOU knew! You're the government agent!" Copter whimpered. Suddenly, the tentacle began squirming around! It snapped across the control room, forcing everyone to either duck or jump it if they could, which Punchy failed to do and was knocked through the window! "Blaaargh! Remember me as an individual!!!" he shouted, only to have his arm grabbed by Rouge! "I will not! You are a total clone, and that's that!" she grunted. The tentacle released its grip on the ship, and Perfect Chaos sunk into the water, apparently seeking out Sonic once again. Now, the GUN Warship was falling rapidly. "Uh, guys... I think we gotta trust the water to cushion our landing... We gotta jump!" Razor shouted. Rouge pulled Punchy in and laughed. "YOU gotta jump. I'm gonna fly. Later." she said, blowing a kiss to no one before flying off and saving herself alone. The warship was rapidly falling, and they had to move fast. "All right... Now we die... Geronimo!!" Copter yelled as the three of them ran out the window and leapt as far from the ship as they could, plummeting into the water below! They'd escaped the warship, but now they had to survive the onslaught of the Egg Carrier and Perfect Chaos!

As the Eggmen waited for the GUN Warship to fall out of their laser's blast range, Sonic managed to strike Perfect Chaos on its apparent "brain" once again, enraging the beast. Despite not having the seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic had picked up enough tricks in recent years to enable himself to stand a fighting chance now. In his rage, Chaos began summoning massive geysers throughout the city, many of them lifting up chunks of street or walls with them, which were carrying several of Sonic's friends up into a precarious and dangerous position! "Warning!! Ground unstable!!" Omega shouted. "Gee, YA THINK!?" Knuckles yelled from the separate platform he and Dimentime were trapped on. "The important thing is, I'm still safe!!" Gator shouted from a solid platform a fair distance away. "Sure! The immortal gets out of it somehow!!" Dimentime groaned. "Bluehair is NOT immoral... He's just a little immature." Rainbow said from yet another platform, which she was sharing with Amy and Tails. Big held on to his own platform tightly. "Careful, Froggy... The storm is getting scary!!" he cried. A distance away, Copter, Punchy and Razor were catching their breath on their own platform, and caught sight of a gigantic geyser shooting up from underneath the Egg Carrier! It hit the ship hard, knocking it into a devastating spin! "Nooooo!! Not AGAIN!! Chaos, you traitor!!" Eggman yelled. "Wait... This happened before?" Robotnik mumbled. In a moment, the two Eggmen were escaping via a pair of Egg Mobiles, along with Gunner and Spy, while Guard flew beside them. As the Egg Carrier crashed into the water in a heap, Copter, Punchy and Razor grinned at each other and exchanged fist bumps. "There IS justice, after all!" Copter smirked. "I keep saying that, but no one listens." Razor replied. With Eggman out of the picture, everyone started jumping from platform to platform along the geysers, struggling to get to safe ground! Rouge flew over to where Knuckles was and smirked at him. "Need a hand?" she teased. "NOT NOW, BAT GIRL!!" Knuckles yelled. "Either save us or scram!!" Amy shouted from her platform. Luckily, the struggle wouldn't last much longer. Sonic soon managed to launch himself high into the air with a spring, and struck Chaos's brain once more, sending the creature screeching back into the water for the final time! The geysers all began to stop, dropping everyone safely back down, though many of them found themselves swimming. Sonic managed to jump himself to solid ground, and as he took a moment to survey his surroundings, he spotted something floating in the water. It was the blue Chaos Emerald, which Copter had dropped upon landing in the water earlier! "Sweet! This was totally worth it!" he chuckled, fishing the emerald out of the water.

Sonic made sure everyone else got out through the door before himself, having noticed they were around during his fight with Perfect Chaos. As Sonic was finally exiting the door himself, he found Modern Tails had reunited with Classic Sonic & Classic Tails. "You've brought back quite a bit of this world." Classic Tails was saying to the younger Sonic as he was walking backwards towards the door. Noticing Modern Sonic, he turned around and hi-fived him. "You're doing great, Sonic!" he said. "You mean, 'you're doing great, Sonics.'" Modern Tails corrected, glancing at both Sonics. "Right, I may never get used to that." Classic Tails replied, scratching his head. He then gasped with surprise as white space appeared to shake, and the Time Eater once again emerged from a portal! "Watch out!" Modern Sonic shouted as they all ducked away from the Time Eater! The monster swooped away from them and soared towards a Chaos Emerald floating in the air, which appeared to have been frozen much like everything else! However, as the Time Eater attempted to grab it, the emerald repelled it, and it roared angrily before vanishing into another portal without the emerald! "That monster sure didn't like that emerald!" Classic Tails observed. Modern Tails sighed with relief at the monster's absence, and looked thoughtful. "Those things have come in handy in the past. We've already got a couple, but..." Both Tailses pointed at each other and spoke at once. "We need that emerald!" Classic Tails turned to the Sonics. "Sonic, you should go over there and check it out! I bet you can bring that Chaos Emerald back, just like you brought back our friends!" he suggested. "And I bet you double we're going to need all seven emeralds." Modern Tails added. Classic Sonic smiled and pointed at Modern Sonic, who returned the smile and gave him a thumbs up. They started to leave, but Classic Tails looked slightly concerned. "You guys have your work cut out for you!" he said. The Sonics turned around, grinning. "An adventure's no fun if it's too easy." Modern Sonic said, giving Classic Sonic a fist bump. With that, the four of them set out into the next area, having a Chaos Emerald and a few more places to return to color. Everyone else was assembled a distance away, resting after the danger at Station Square. Cream, Cheese and Illusi were still there as well, but Espio had left to resume his search for Charmy and Vector. Copter glared at Sonic as he left, knowing he had taken the Chaos Emerald. "That... emerald... was... MINE." he growled. Dimentime put a hand on his shoulder. "Let it go. You have a tailband, and it's arguably better." he pointed out. Copter glanced at him. "I really got to stop forgetting I'm wearing this thing... It really would have come in handy recently." he mumbled. While everyone else was chatting and resting, their attention was soon caught by the sudden arrival of SPOT, the robotic dog built by Tails, which Gunner had damaged before fleeing into the city a while ago! SPOT had been repaired, much like the Hurricane and Shadow Arcangel, and was beeping loudly so as to get everyone's attention as it approached! "Aaaargh!! What the!?" Punchy snapped. "Hey, it's the doggy who took a bullet for Mr. Tails..." Cream said. "What's it want?" Rouge wondered. Copter glanced at its screen. "Huh!? What in the..." he stammered, reading the text on SPOT's monitor: "Dr. Buck Stein hereby calls a truce and invites all available prisoners trapped in this white world to come to his HQ at Shadow Arcangel, RE: the recent events regarding Dr. Eggman and the 'monster,' and our next move. Snacks and beverages appreciated. Regards- Bucky."

To be continued...