GeneX Generations
Chapter 14 - Enemies & Allies
Stage - Onyx Island - Sonic Rivals;  Lost Mine - GeneX- Soleanna Struggle

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.

"In the nightlight, do you see what you dream?
All your triumph, and all you'll ever be.
Look around you, then you may realize,
Happiness lies trapped in misery.
And who knows what of our future?
We can all try to change the past.
Only you know if you'll be together tonight...
'Cause every night I will save your life.
And every night I will be with you.
'Cause every night I still lay awake.
And I dream of an absolution." - Dreams of an Absolution, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)


The story thus far:
After Dr. Eggman was revealed as controlling the Time Eater, Bucky rounded up Sonic's friends and rivals (with only a few exceptions) and started to formulate a plan to stop Eggman's scheme. They all split up to explore what was left of white space, with "Team Copter" on the trail of a Chaos Emerald. SPOT led them to Crisis City, where Sonic had already obtained the emerald and rescued Blaze the cat, but both Dimentime and Blaze still desired to check out the city. Inside, they encountered Mephiles, and monsters! Dimentime & Blaze chased Mephiles, splitting up with the others. Along the way, they found Vortex and Crash. Mephiles observed Vortex's hostile attitude towards Dimentime, and after a fiery tornado hurled Vortex away from the others, he deceived Vortex into believing that Dimentime was an enemy. Meanwhile, Copter's group met up with Silver and located Heather, freeing her from a frozen state as well. They started to follow SPOT's "Tails Tracker" in order to locate Dimentime, since he, too had Tails's DNA. Meanwhile, Vortex found Dimentime's group near Flame Core and started a fight with them, eventually summoning a massive black hole in an effort to destroy them! However, Crash soon noticed Mephiles chuckling at his success, and told Vortex that he'd been tricked. Dimentime managed to save Vortex from his own black hole, and Vortex used his power to close the hole before it could do more damage to the area. As they started to leave, they met up with the other group, but Heather's flames had a reaction with Blaze's, causing Iblis to escape from within her! A battle with Iblis began, with Silver leading the fight, but it wasn't until Heather and Blaze worked together that Iblis was sealed within Blaze once again. Outside, Copter and Dimentime spied Onyx Island in the sky. With Heather accompanying them, they headed off to check out the future version of Angel Island.
Now, on to the next chapter!


While everyone else had gone off on missions to work on stopping Dr. Eggman, young Tommy the porcupine had been left behind on Shadow Arc at his brother Razor's insistence. He was the youngest of the group, except for Cream, and was certainly the least experienced at adventuring. Bored out of his mind, he decided to explore the ship a bit, accompanied only by a pair of the Flickies who were apparently also bored. "It's no fair... Tails and Cream get to go fight bad guys... Why does everyone think WE'RE useless?" Tommy sighed, glancing at his feathered companions as he walked down the dark corridors of the spooky ship. He shivered a little as it seemed to get darker. "Say... Where are we? Um... Not that I'm lost... O-or... Scared..." he whimpered. He took a few cautious steps towards a door, carefully pushing it open. "H-hello?" he whispered, starting to worry he's wandered too far from the control room. The Flickies chirped nervously and peered into the room ahead of him, when suddenly, something appeared at the door and screamed "BOO!!" Tommy and the Flickies yelled in fright as they saw a ghost in front of them! "YAAAAAHHH!!! Heeeeeeeeeelp!!!" Tommy cried, fleeing back the way he came in a panic, followed by the Flickies, who were screeching loudly! The ghost passed through the part of the door that was in his way and laughed as he watched Tommy flee. The ghost had cyan gloves, a greenish muzzle, and blue eyes with green whites. It was Lospecter. "That was the most fun I've had since I got stuck on this ship! But now I'm alone again! Blast it... Should've turned him into a losol so I'd have company... I sure picked a grand time to finally move all our forces off this dump! As soon as I finish, a monster sucks the ship up before I can get off!! Now I'm stuck playin' solitaire till they figure out how to get us all home!" he grumbled, taking out his Chaos Cards and shuffling them. "What if I could help you?" Lospecter glanced around to see Mephiles standing down the hall. "Well, you're a pleasant looking fella... Did you say something?" Lospecter smirked. Mephiles crossed his arms. "I think perhaps we could help each other... Are you bored of playing solitaire?" he asked.


The Hurricane soon landed on Onyx Island, and Heather shakily stumbled out of the cockpit. "W-why did you suggest I drive...??" she stammered. Dimentime hopped off the wing and shrugged. "I was feeling nostalgic." he said. Copter fell off the other wing and groaned. "I'm drivin' back!" he growled. Dimentime glanced nearby and noticed an Egg Mobile sitting a short distance away. "Huh...? Wait, Robotnik wouldn't leave that lying around..." he muttered. Just then, Omega came stomping around from behind the Egg Mobile, having apparently exited from the other side. He had taken the Egg Mobile from Launch Base Zone in order to reach Onyx Island. "Eggman technology detected... Negative, it's just that worthless biplane." he said to himself. "Oh, great, it's that psychotic robot." Copter remarked. "Hey, that's my friend you're talking about!" said Rouge the bat, who was hanging from a nearby tree. "Hey, what are you doing up there?" Heather asked. "Spying on you." Rouge said wryly, "Didn't you have your own mission, Copter?" she asked. Copter shrugged. "Let's just say it's more or less accomplished. What's your job?" he asked. Omega raised his metal fist. "Hunt down Eggman!!" he said. Rouge rolled her eyes. "Bucky couldn't talk over Omega. So, I'm looking for clues." she said. "To find Eggman!!" Omega shouted. "Yeah, yeah, sure..." Rouge muttered. Copter, Heather and Dimentime all glanced at each other. "Well, might as well search the island together. Right?" Heather said. "That's not what I was thinking..." Copter sighed. "Mission commencing!!" Omega shouted, charging ahead. Dimentime started following him and Rouge. "The robot will lead us to Eggman, if he's here. That's something, right?" he said. "Why are you so smart!?" Copter groaned as he and Heather joined them. The section of Onyx Island they landed on was a heavily forested area, not unlike the Mystic Ruins of the present. It was likely close to Forest Falls, an area Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and Silver had been through before, but none of them would recall any area of Onyx Island. For a while, the island seemed pretty peaceful, but after walking for several minutes, they finally came across resistance. There were Egg Pawns in the forest! "Well, what have we here? Eggman's robots!" Rouge smirked. However, something was different about them. They were black Egg Pawns, and Omega seemed disappointed at finding them. "Cheap knockoffs. These are not Dr. Eggman's robots." he said. Copter scratched his head. "Really? Could they be Robotnik's...?" he asked. Dimentime shook his head. "Robotnik IS Eggman. The question is, who would copy Eggman?" he wondered. The black Egg Pawns soon noticed them and aimed their laser guns at them. "Well, they're not friendly..." Heather sighed. "Very well. They asked for it!" Omega shouted. The five of them scattered as the Egg Pawns started firing at them, but there weren't many of them, and all it took were a few blasts from Omega to take them out! "Worthless consumer models!" he grumbled. "Uh...yeah... and on that note... watch out for more." Copter suggested.

They soon came across a whited out area of the forest. "Oh, joy, just like outside the island..." Rouge muttered. "There's someone frozen here." Copter realized. Heather spotted the statue, surrounded closely by white trees. "There! We gotta get her out!" she said. Rouge groaned upon seeing who it was. "Gemini... can we leave her? We've got enough crybabies running around already..." she said. "Are you one of them?" Dimentime grumbled, heading over to free the fennec. As Gemini's color returned, she looked around at the cage of trees she was trapped in. "Umm... Abra-ka-warpra!" she said, waving her wand so she could warp to the other side in a flash of light. "That's better... Now... What happened? The last thing I remember is a huge monster showing up and... and... this place...is..." she stopped short, taking a few steps and looking around. "It's just a future version of an island... That monster messed up time and space." Heather explained. Gemini sniffled and had a hopeless look on her face. "No!! Of all places, WHY did it send me HERE!?" she whined. Copter raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?" he asked. Gemini turned away from everyone, hiding her face as she was unable to fight back the tears that were coming. "I... I can't explain!! Just leave me alone!" she shouted, running off into the forest alone! "Hey! Gemini, wait!!" Dimentime yelled, chasing after her. As they went off ahead, Rouge smirked. "See? Crybaby." she said smugly. "Meatbags are all illogically emotional..." Omega remarked. "HEY! Whose side are you on, Omega??" Rouge snapped. Heather stomped her foot. "Stop it! Can't you see she's upset about something? Come on, we gotta make sure she's okay!" she insisted. They reluctantly agreed, and started to follow Heather after her, but they didn't get far before they found themselves ambushed by a large group of black Egg Pawns! "Bah!! See, I knew there'd be more!" Copter groaned. They were accompanied by black Egg Flappers this time, and that wasn't all. Piloting a futuristic Egg Mobile was a futuristic looking Eggman, wearing a black coat with red pants, green shades, and sporting a gray mustache. It was Eggman Nega! "Surprise!! We have you surrounded, my friends!" he smirked. "Eggman Nega??" Copter and Rouge both gasped. "Why, Copter, I haven't seen you since the Winter Olympics! But enough small talk. You must be quite shocked to see me. It just so happens that I'm assisting my ancestor in his endeavor to conquer the world this time..." Nega explained. Omega didn't buy it. "Nonsense. That disguise does not fool me. I will destroy you, Eggman!!" he said. Eggman Nega looked a bit upset. "How can a robot not see that I'm a totally different person? That's my ancestor's handiwork for you... I sure hope I don't regret working with him again... Ah, well. Black Pawns, would you be so kind as to eliminate these pesky meddlers?" he commanded. The black robots began to attack, forcing Copter, Omega, Rouge and Heather to scatter to fight them. As Heather backed away the furthest to get room to aim her fireballs without hitting the others, Lospecter arrived on the scene, hiding in the bushes near her. "Oh, goody... A diversion. This little job for Mephy might just be easier than I thought..." he whispered, chuckling quietly.


The island seemed to grow darker as Dimentime started to catch up to Gemini. She was stopped behind a thicket, and was looking up from them at something, a horrified expression on her face. Dimentime crept up beside her to see what she was looking at. There, concealed in the darkest, most dismal part of the forest, was a large, sinister looking temple. Ghostly blue fire lit a pair of torches by the entrance, and Dimentime knew what kind of fire it was. The Lost Ones' Ghost Fire! Near the temple, backed against the wall, Dimentime was astonished to see a second Gemini! "Huh!? Wait... If that's you, then... You must've been here when this place was taken by the monster... That would mean..." he mumbled, confused. "Yes, yes, I'm from the future..." Gemini groaned anxiously, panting heavily as the event unfolded in front of them. Her past self was cornered by a Lost One resembling a turquoise-skinned vampire, Losipher, as well as a few spider-like lospides. She wasn't alone, either. A young deer, Timothy the fawn, was with her, each of them holding their own wands, but they were hopelessly outmatched. Gemini tried to cast a spell, but she made a mistake and the spell backfired, knocking her backward and causing her to drop her wand! "I was so clumsy..." the present Gemini whimpered, crying softly. The Lost Ones saw an opening to attack, but Timothy threw himself in front of his friend. "You won't hurt Gemini!! I won't let you!!" he shouted. "Tim... No!!" shouted Gemini as the lospides strung him up with slimy webs! He struggled, shouting spells, but was unable to move his wand. Losipher sighed. "You foolish children of light... You should have watched where you were wandering... Now, you pay the price! You will be lost forever!!" he moaned demonically, raising his hand and showing off a set of dagger-like claws! "Slibeam!" Timothy finally said, using a cutting beam from his wand to slice through the slimy webs! "Tim, get out of here, quick!" Gemini shouted as Losipher approached. Timothy ignored her and went for her wand. "I'm not leaving without you!" he said, grabbing the wand. However, Losipher was going for Gemini while she was defenseless! "I'm done for!! Run, Tim!!" she cried as he raised his claws to her. However, Timothy thrust himself in front of her once again! Both Geminis shrieked as Timothy collapsed, and Losipher backed away in surprise. "Fool... He could have escaped... Such a pity..." he smiled slightly as he glanced over the fawn's body, "I can feel your sorrow..." he said. Both Timothy's wand and her own rolled out of Timothy's hand and stopped at her feet, and she picked them both up, pointing them at Losipher angrily. "I'll... NEVER... forgive you!!" she panted. "Fortunately, you won't have to live with it long..." Losipher sneered. "Proplasmar!!" Before Losipher or the lospides could attack, a barrier appeared around Gemini, and another fennec dressed in black appeared in front of her in a flash of light! "Teacher!" Gemini cried. It was Fred Leo, the Divine sorcerer she was apprenticed to. "You're too late, priest. This one is mine!" Losipher snarled, scooping up Timothy in a mass of tentacles coming from his body! Fred backed towards Gemini and took her hand. "But this one is not! Hold on, Gemini! Galaporta!" he said, warping Gemini to safety in a brilliant flash of light! The Gemini of the present was sobbing now, but also growling. "L-losipher... You... you monster!! I'll KILL you!!" she snarled, attempting to claw her way through the thicket to go after him! However, Dimentime pulled her back by the tail. "It's not gonna do any good NOW!" he said. "Ow! My tail!!" Gemini groaned. "Sorry... That was... that was horrible. I couldn't let you face him... He looks like a really powerful Lost One... I don't want to lose you again..." he said. Gemini glanced at him. "Again...?" she asked. "I'm Dimentime. My timeline hasn't played out all the way yet, but... You came back with me in my timeline. A duplicate of you was created the same as me. You... died. And bequeathed this to me." he said, showing his staff to Gemini. "It contains my wand... Doesn't it?" she realized, "Thanks for stopping me... You're right, it won't change anything. That's why I went back in time. To make a REAL change... To save him... But when I return to my own time, I'll be in a lot of trouble... Time travel magic is almost totally forbidden, and I'm still in training..." she said sadly. Dimentime nodded. "You've carried this burden alone for some time, haven't you? We can talk about it on the way back to the others." he said. Gemini wiped some tears and gave him a hug. "Thanks, but I've gotten enough off my chest for now... Dimentime, could we keep this between us? I'd rather not influence the past too much with my presence here. Maybe if people don't know I'm from the future, it'll be... better." she said. Dimentime nodded. "Okay... Come on, let's go before the Lost Ones notice us..." he said.


Eggman Nega's robots might have had a more menacing paint job, but they were certainly no more competent than ordinary Egg Pawns and Egg Flappers. It seemed all time really did was enable Eggman Nega to make them a tad more agile, but even without Omega tearing through dozens of them with his explosive weaponry, Copter, Rouge and Heather could hold their own fine. Nega was starting to worry that he'd underestimated his foes, but Lospecter was humming nonchalantly as he sneakily floated around, taking advantage of the distraction. He snuck up behind Heather and drew a card. "Ho hum... Here, have a drink, little birdie!" From his card, some water splashed over Heather, dousing the fire she was fighting the robots with! "Aaaahhh!! Wh...what...?!" she gasped loudly, falling backwards and passing out! Lospecter caught her, but her loud shouting caught Copter and Rouge's attention. "Huh? Oh, great... What's that ghost doing here?!" Rouge sighed. Copter growled. "Hey! Unhand her, Lospecter!" he shouted. "Aren't you forgetting Mr. Nega? Hey, Nega! Miss me?" Lospecter waved. Eggman Nega frowned. "How'd HE get here...? I don't think my ancestor intended to catch him with the Time Eater..." he said. Lospecter scooped the unconscious Heather into his arms and smirked. "We'll catch up another time, then! Places to go, people to meet! Ciao!" he said, flying off towards the edge of the island! Copter started to chase after him, but several Egg Flappers flew in his way! However, Rouge quickly flew over and kicked them aside! "Go after him, Copter! We'll handle these robots!" she said. Copter nodded. "Thanks... Hopefully I'll be right back!" he said, rushing off. Rouge turned to see Omega thrashing a group of Egg Pawns that had surrounded him by spinning his giant arms violently. "Take your time... I think we'll be fine." she said. Eggman Nega growled and took off after Copter in his Egg Mobile. "Now, hold on there! Don't be so rude! I wasn't finished with you yet!" he shouted, firing lasers at Copter from his vehicle. Copter jumped in surprise and tried to evade the blasts while keeping up with Lospecter, but it wasn't going to be easy. Lospecter was getting further ahead! Eggman Nega took aim at Copter once more. "I won't miss this time..." he snickered. Suddenly, a pair of magic bolts came from the side and struck the Egg Mobile, knocking Eggman Nega away! "Gaaaaaahh!! I'll get you, whoever did thaaaat!!" he yelled as he crashed into some nearby trees! As Copter kept chasing Lospecter, Gemini and Dimentime soon joined him, and quickly understood the situation after looking ahead. "Lospecter?! Hey!! What do you think you're doing!?" Gemini shouted. "Sorry, I can't hear you, I'm too busy ditching you!!" Lospecter yelled, flying off the edge of the island moments later! Copter and the others stopped running, and quickly spotted the Hurricane nearby. "Quick! Let's stay on his trail!" Copter said.

Keeping Lospecter in sight as Copter piloted the plane, Gemini pointed them to where he took Heather: a single building sitting by itself across from the entrances to the other areas in white space. It seemed oddly small for something taken by Time Eater. It was some sort of warehouse, and Lospecter had gone inside, so after landing the plane, Copter chased him inside along with Dimentime and Gemini. It seemed like an ordinary warehouse inside, except that some of the boxes had been moved around, and a hatch on the floor had been opened up! "Lospecter must have gone in there!" Copter realized. Heading down the hatch, they found an extensive series of tunnels; a hidden mine! "Uh huh... So the mine is what Time Eater pulled into here... The warehouse was just a hitchhiker." Dimentime mused. "Abra-ka-shine-ra..." Gemini said, casting a faint light around her wand to make it easier to see. "Doesn't look like anyone's been down here in ages... Might be dangerous..." she said. Copter glanced around at the roof. "Well, you'll warp us out if the place starts to collapse, right?" he asked. Gemini looked nervous. "Ummm... Not a good idea. Getting stuck INSIDE a wall's as deadly as getting buried... maybe more so." she sighed. They began to explore anyway, choosing their paths more or less at random through the maze of tunnels. Some of the paths were already blocked by cave-ins, confirming the instability of the mine, but they had to get Heather before leaving. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be so easy. As they came to a chamber at the end of a tunnel, they were suddenly surrounded by Mephiles Biters! "What!? The monsters from Crisis City!?" Copter growled. "Mephiles's... He's in here somewhere..." Dimentime realized. Gemini glanced around uncertainly. "We can't get in a fight! The whole place could cave in!" she warned. Suddenly, the tunnel shook as several purple worms burst out of the walls! Now there were Mephiles Worms to deal with, too! Dimentime wasted no time blasting one of the worms with a powerful beam of light from his staff. "I don't think the monsters care about the mine! Stop them before they bring it down on us!" he shouted. Copter blew black the Mephiles Biters with Chaos Whirlwind, and Gemini turned her attention to the next worm. "Blastrotall!!" She fired several balls of light from her wand, gradually taking it down so as not to cause any further damage to the mine. "Hurry, let's get outta here before more worms show up!" she suggested, leading them into the next tunnel while the Mephiles Biters were still reeling from Chaos Whirlwind.

Exiting the next tunnel, they found the next section of the mine to have white walls, which stood out in the darkness. There was a statue knocked over in the corner, someone who apparently wasn't on the ground when the Time Eater caught him. "Hey... It's someone on a... board..." Gemini muttered, shining light from her wand at the statue. It was Jet the hawk, frozen atop his Extreme Gear board! "That looks uncomfortable...looks like he crashed." Copter said, "Except he doesn't know it yet." Gemini slowly approached the statue, and it began to regain its color! Jet promptly stumbled onto the ground, since he wasn't exactly airborne to begin with. "Oooof!! Argh! What happened?!" he growled. Copter snickered. "Sorry, that was hilarious..." he said. Jet stood up and grabbed his board, glaring at Copter and Dimentime. "Hmmm... Aw, I don't even wanna know! I'll just find my teammates and get outta this... wherever I am!" he grunted, stomping away and looking around at the tunnels snaking in different directions. "You might as well come with us. Who knows if your friends are even in this mine?" Dimentime pointed out. "Can it!" Jet squawked, "That stupid monster just surprised me... Next time, I'll outrun it!" he murmured. Just then, Lospecter peeked out of one of the tunnels. "I thought I heard a racket! Lookie here. You found me. Too bad, I've already brought your feathered friend to the deepest part of the mine!" he said, sticking his tongue out. Jet glared at him. "Huh? Who do you mean...?" he asked. "Well, thanks for coming back to tell us that Lospecter... Now take us to her!" Gemini said, raising her wand threateningly. Lospecter chuckled. "OK, follow me... If the roof doesn't fall on you! Check out my new cards!" He drew some Chaos Cards from his deck, revealing Mephiles Worms instead of Lost Ones on them! Moments after tossing the cards, they vanished, and the worms started bursting out of the roof, blasting the ceiling in an attempt to bring it down on top of them! "He's working with Mephiles now!?" Copter gasped. "Never mind that, RUN!" Dimentime shouted. They all hurried into the tunnel after Lospecter, who was already getting far ahead of them, but as soon as the path branched off, Jet turned in a different direction! "Where's he going!?" Gemini wondered. "No time to ask him!" Copter grumbled.

Heather found herself in a large chamber at the end of the mine. There were colorful crystals of various shapes and sizes sticking out of the ground, walls and ceiling in the chamber, evidence that the mining operation was abandoned before it was finished. Heather was standing face to face with Mephiles, who had his hand extended to her as it had been once before. "We almost succeeded in ridding the world of all who would oppose us once, my dear... If not for the interference of that hooded fox... But that's in the past. Join with me again, and we can finally fulfill our destiny!" he said. Heather glared at him, smacking his hand away. "Your lust for destruction is disgusting! Get away from me!!" she growled. "One more move and you're history, Mephiles!!" shouted Dimentime as he and the others entered the chamber. Lospecter floated between them and Mephiles, looking around worriedly. "How'd they NOT get buried...?" he muttered. Mephiles scoffed and forcibly grabbed Heather's hand, but she kept pulling away from him. "No!! You won't fuse with me!! Ever again!!" she shouted, punching and kicking Mephiles in her rage. Gemini and Dimentime both fired bolts of magic, which Lospecter dodged and allowed to strike Mephiles in the back! "Gah!! No!! It seems... Solaris is now eternally beyond my reach..." he growled, "Heather, you fool! If you will not join me, then you opt for oblivion!" He released her hand, and then fired a massive beam from his other hand, blasting through her chest! "Heather!! No!!!" Gemini shrieked. As Heather fell to the ground, Mephiles turned to Lospecter. "Leave none alive..." he sighed, vanishing into one of his portals. However, Heather's body had caught fire through her own internal flame, and before their eyes, she was soon reborn from the ashes! Lospecter scoffed. "Typical. Leave me with an impossible task. Leave NONE alive. How am I supposed to kill an unkillable... Eh, I'll turn her into a Lost One... After the rest of you are dead!" he said. Heather sighed and shook her head. "Be with ya in a minute, guys... I'm a bit dazed..." she grumbled. Gemini smirked. "Take your time. Lospecter's alone." she said. Copter smacked his forehead. "Didn't you pay attention in the mine? That guy's never alone!" he groaned. Lospecter chuckled. "How right you are. My usual minions are out of my reach... But I've been saving a little something here... A little pet project of mine. Hope you like it!" he said, going through his deck and grabbing a specific card. Tossing it out, a dragon suddenly appeared! It was greenish in color, dripping with ectoplasm. It had red wings, and glowing red eyes. Gemini gasped in shock upon seeing it. "Th-that's... ME!!" she yelped. Lospecter laughed hysterically. "Priceless! Yep, that time you spent as a Lost One came in quite handy, even if you didn't fully transform! I gathered up the 'data' and made a duplicate of your form at the time! Been keeping the data with me for special occasions..." he grinned. Copter and Dimentime looked truly confused. "Dragon...copy?" Copter asked. Gemini chuckled softly. "Let's just kill it, okay!?" she said.

The dragon, Los Gemini, roared loudly at the trio in front of it, and started blowing fire at them! Copter and Dimentime ran out of the way, but Gemini waved her wand. "Abra-ka-blockra!" she said, surrounding herself with a weak shield of light. "Nuts, I meant to shield all of us..." she muttered. "No problem... Heh, after dealing with Chaos and Iblis, a nice, simple dragon seems like a break!" Copter smirked. Los Gemini snorted and shot blue Ghost Fire from its mouth next, forcing Gemini to move out of the way as well! "Aaaah!! That's not good!" she whimpered. "No kidding..." Copter whined, "Gotta stop it fast! Chaos Whirlwind!!" The chaotic wind ordinarily worked wonders on lesser Lost Ones, but this large dragon simply flapped its broad wings and blew the wind back! The three of them were knocked over, but now Heather was moving around again. "Hey, everyone... I kinda dozed off... What'd I miss?" she said groggily. Lospecter chuckled. "Oh, nothing. Go back to sleep, sweetie." he said. Heather looked up to see Los Gemini glaring at her. "Wha... YIKES!!" she yelled, scrambling over to where the others were holding their ground. Gemini stared at the dragon angrily. "Copy me and terrorize my friends will you... This is a new low for you, Lost Ones! I won't tolerate it!!" she growled. The dragon roared at her, and Lospecter laughed. "The copy's superior to you in every way... Bigger, stronger, and slimier. What're ya gonna do? Turn yourself into a wimpier dragon? Heh heh heh..." he teased. Gemini raised her wand as the dragon prepared another fiery attack. Dimentime stepped forward to join her. "Let's show him!" he said. Copter and Heather stepped forward as well, and the four of them attacked the dragon together! "Solare!!" shouted Gemini, leading the attack with a powerful light beam attack! Dimentime used a similar beam, while Copter added Chaos Whirlwind and Heather added her flames! Together, their attacks overwhelmed the dragon, and it roared one final time before exploding into a puddle of slime! Lospecter frowned. "Aw, come on! That's it?! I guess it needs more fine tuning... Ah, well. I still win. A good cheater always has a card up his sleeve!" he said, tossing a card up to the roof, which exploded on impact! The explosion seemed too much for the mine to take, and now the entire mine was rumbling violently! "Enjoy your tomb! Bye-bye!" Lospecter cackled, flying up and passing through the roof safely! Heather glanced at Gemini in her panic. "You're magic! Teleport us!" she suggested. Gemini rolled her eyes. "I caaaaan't!! Run for it!!" she yelled, leading the way as they all hurried into the tunnels. Unfortunately, the cave-ins had already begun, and many of the paths were already becoming blocked! "What do we do!? Dimentime! Think of something!!" Copter shouted. "What!? You're me, too! You think of something!" Dimentime scoffed, "I'm not THAT much older than you!" As they ran around hopelessly, however, they suddenly heard a new voice. "Outta the way!!" A large, gray bird flew by on an Extreme Gear board, smashing through the collapsed rocks in his path and clearing the way! "...Babylon Rogue?" Copter muttered. Just then, Jet arrived behind the other bird, followed by a purple bird; Wave the swallow. "C'mon!! Umm... We can carry two of you!" Jet offered, reaching a hand toward Gemini. She hopped onto his board, and Heather hopped on Wave's. "Why are we slowing down for these chumps!?" Wave asked impatiently. "Um... Now we're even!" Jet squawked as he took off ahead, followed by Wave. Copter and Dimentime hurried behind them. "Great... Let's hope we're as fast as Tails!" Copter groaned. 

Thanks to the gray albatross, Storm, the path through the mine had been cleared, and they managed to make it out just before the entire thing began to collapse! Back in white space, Copter and Dimentime panted heavily from exhaustion, having barely made it out. "Not bad for not having any gear... I didn't think you'd make it!" Jet smirked. Gemini hopped off his board and smiled at him. "Thanks for your help." she said. "Aw, I don't like owing people... I don't know if I'd ever have gotten out of there if you hadn't unfroze me." he muttered. Heather hopped off Wave's board, too. "Finally! You were throwing off my balance!" she groaned. "Sorry..." Heather sighed. Storm looked around white space nervously. "B-b-boss? Where are we?" he stuttered. Jet shrugged. "Who cares? There's tons of room to fly. That's... something." he said. Wave sighed. "Think there's anything of value around here?" she asked. "Only what's valuable to Eggman." Copter muttered. On hearing that, the gears in Jet's head started turning. "Uh huh... You don't say... OK, Babylon Rogues! Eggman's clearly behind this, and you know what we do to people who mess with us?" he grinned. "Oh! Oh! I know this!!" Storm said, raising his hand. Jet turned around, ignoring him. "We rob 'em blind, that's what!" he chuckled. "H-hey... I was gonna answer..." Storm muttered. Wave smirked. "All right, Jet. Then let's get to it!" she said, hopping on her board and flying off. "Huh? Hey!! I give the orders, Wave!!" Jet snapped, flying off after her. Storm followed them last. "Wa-wait for me!!" he yelled. Copter watched them go and scratched his head. "I wonder what they're scheming...?" he murmured. Heather yawned loudly. "I dunno, don't care... I need a place to catch a nap... Dying and coming back to life really takes it outta ya..." she muttered, walking away, "Later, Dimentime." she winked. Dimentime blushed and waved as she left. Gemini started to leave, as well. "I'd better get my bearings in this crazy place. See ya, Dimentime!" she smiled, waving. Copter glanced at Dimentime, and then at their departing friends. "Hey, what about me!?" he grumbled. Dimentime patted him on the back. "There, there... You'll bond with people someday." he said, walking off in a third direction. "...What's that supposed to mean!?" Copter wondered as he followed him. Rouge and Omega were waiting by the Hurricane. "Hey, boys. Thought you were coming back." she said. "Umm... Sidetracked. Find anything up there?" Copter asked. "Negative." Omega replied. "Island's a big dead end. By the way, you guys owe me one for taking on those robots... Later!" Rouge said before flying off, followed on foot by Omega. Dimentime shrugged. "Figures. Well, better try somewhere else..." he said. As they walked, they saw Classic Sonic and Classic Tails near the entrance to a theme park; Tropical Resort. Their modern counterparts weren't there. Instead, Classic Knuckles and Classic Amy were hanging out there with them! Copter and Dimentime ran over to check it out. "What's going on!? Hey! You were told to stay at Little Planet!" Dimentime said to Amy. "I'll go back. Yeesh, can't a girl spend a little time with her hero?" she said innocently. Tails glanced at the Copters. "Our older selves are still in that theme park, so we're catching up with our friends from our time. Isn't that okay...?" he asked. Copter nodded. "I don't see the harm. I mean, come on, Dimentime. If Sonic and Tails's younger selves can go running around, why can't they?" he asked. Dimentime sighed. "Time's unstable as it is... I don't like it..." he murmured. Knuckles crossed his arms. "Don't be such a whiner. The Sonics will fix everything. And if they don't, my older self will!" he said. Classic Sonic looked at him as if to shout "Hey!!" but still didn't say anything. Suddenly, they all heard something zoom overhead, accompanied by playful chuckling. Looking up, they saw Char and Alpha flying in the sky, and they were heading toward Water Palace. "Heeey... Weren't you there already, Sonic?" Copter asked. Classic Sonic nodded. "That robot must be up to something!" Classic Tails said. "Then let's check it out!" Classic Knuckles decided. "All right! I get to go on an adventure with Sonic!" Classic Amy cheered. Before the Copters could say anything, all the young heroes were on their way! "Now what...?" Copter groaned. "We go after them. I smell a trap. If any one of them falls, all of their timelines are drastically altered." Dimentime warned. "I was afraid of that..." Copter sighed. Thus, they set out after the Classic heroes...

To be continued...