Sonic GeneX - The Series: Armada!
Episode 1 - Missing Persons
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.
"Tails! My Uncle Chuck's gone missing! Meet me over his place! We gotta track him down, quick!" This voicemail message was the first contact Tails had had with Sonic a few weeks after Techno Sonic had been defeated in Troblusk City. Things had been fairly quiet in that time, but as the two tailed fox arrived at the home of Charles the Hedgehog, he found it quickly apparent that Sonic's search for clues was turning up nothing. Papers flew off shelves as Sonic sped back and forth through the house, looking for any evidence to point him in the right direction. "Well, I'm here Sonic. Thanks for not contaminating the building until cooler heads arrived..." Tails said sarcastically. Sonic stopped in front of him, looking a bit concerned. "I came by to pay him a birthday visit and he wasn't here! That's not like him! He's always here to see his favorite nephew on his birthday!" Sonic stammered. "Aside from that flimsy pretext, do you have any other reason to believe Chuck is in trouble?" Tails asked. Sonic nodded. "His birthday was two weeks ago. He hasn't been home since!" he stated. Tails looked around and sighed. "Well, okay... have you found anything?" he asked. Sonic crossed his arms. "The house is clean. TOO clean. I don't like it. Something stinks around here. His suitcases are still in the closet, too! No way he took a trip by choice!" he said hastily, clearly frazzled. Tails took out his smartphone and started to place a call. "I'll get the police, Sonic." he said. Sonic shook his head. "The police!? The POLICE!? The guys who spent all last year tryin' to catch me!? I'm not gonna rely on those donut-munchin' slobs! I'll solve this one myself- WAY faster!" he declared. "Thanks for that, Sonic!" Razor the porcupine said over the phone's speaker. Tails shook his head. "Don't take offense, officer, it's just that normally Sonic does handle these things himself..." he stated. "Then he can handle it a bit longer! We're swamped today! SOMEBODY caused a prison break at the Hopebringer Center!" Razor retorted before hanging up. Tails chuckled softly before glancing at Sonic. "Yeah... I guess that was kinda my bad..." he murmured. Sonic shrugged and sped out the door. He'd handle this himself. As far as he was concerned, he didn't need anybody...
Meanwhile, in a GUN facility miles away, Rouge the bat and Guard the gargoyle were joining a small mission briefing being given by Sergeant Drol, Colonel Gunner's favorite minion. Spy was sitting at a computer nearby, typing up notes on the briefing for the record. "Can't we just record this?" he muttered. "It's busywork to keep you occupied. I'd wager Gunner's sick of you." Rouge smirked. Drol stood in front of a large monitor and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Thank you all for being on time...for once. Now, I'd like to share with you all an image taken by our intelligence drones of an area of West Side Island..." he said, getting straight to the point. The monitor showed a large, green vessel of some sort, which appeared to be undergoing construction. "What's that? It looks almost like a UFO..." Rouge remarked. "This is a rebuild of the flagship belonging to the Battle Bird Armada. They were a group that once attacked a small island not too far from our borders. Mr. Miles Prower happened upon their attack and defeated them single-handedly... so it stayed out of the papers. It's not news if Sonic isn't involved, apparently." Drol stated. Guard scoffed. "If the little fox could handle them alone... Grrr... Why don't we call him again?" he grumbled. Drol glared at him. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. The armada has had time to upgrade their forces. Our tacticians believe they are now a credible threat. However, Gunner is eager to avoid another costly war on native soil, using GUN troops..." he said, his voice trailing off. "Then, what is this meeting about?" Rouge asked. Dr. Nammad stood up from the back of the group. "Oh, ah, this is my, um... part! Excuse me!" he stammered, racing to the front of the room. "I've been assigned to the task of solving this, uh, problemo. And I've succeeded! I've found a way to, uh... make outside agents of our choice...compliant...you might say." he grinned, adjusting his glasses. Guard raised an eyebrow. "What outside agents? Grrr... What do you mean?" he asked. Drol motioned to the screen, which now showed images of Eddie the hyena, Bean the duck and Bark the polar bear. "We've recaptured these escapees from the Hopebringer Center. We'd like you to pick up a couple more criminals for our cadre, Guard." Drol informed him, "They will comply, or suffer..." Rouge shuddered. "Talk about bad ideas..." she muttered. "Of course, Team Dark is welcome to join the mission as a countermeasure." Drol stated. Rouge shrugged. "I can look for Omega, but I doubt Shadow would be interested..." she sighed. Drol then turned to Spy. "Oh, yes, this meeting is actually off the books... Please erase what you've written there." he muttered. Spy collapsed into his keyboard and groaned. "I hate this job..." he sighed.
While GUN was busy prepping for an inevitable war, Gemini the fennec was back at Darkegg Fortress worrying about something else. "Libra...what happened to you? It's been way too long now... I should've gone looking for her that same day!" Libra was a girl who looked much like Gemini, and believed that Gemini was her long-lost twin. One day after a visit, it was revealed that Libra had briefly been a member of the Covenant of Despair, and after that, she vanished during an unexpected battle with one of Eggman's robots. Gemini had chalked it up to fear of judgment for her past, but Libra had not resurfaced since then, and Gemini was now worried. So much so that she found herself heading to Copter's room to seek his help. However, she opened the door without thinking, and was forced to close it quickly, only peering in a little by keeping it open a crack. He was inside with his latest girlfriend, Violet. They were atop his bed, and kissing quite passionately. Gemini blushed and gulped as she watched this scene, a tear forming in her eye as she clutched her heart. She had recently fallen for Copter, and it was hard to watch someone else kiss him like this. Suddenly, she stumbled against the doorknob, causing the door to loudly creak open. "Someone want something?" Copter asked as he and Violet quickly moved apart as though they hadn't been doing anything. "Uhm... C-copter?" Gemini muttered nervously. "You look flustered. Were you spying on us?" Violet asked. "Yes... I mean, no! I w-want to ask you for help finding Libra! She's still missing!" Gemini blurted out. Copter looked at her and nodded. "Well, alright. I guess I owe you one for possibly driving her off in the first place..." he sighed. "I'll go, too! Don't worry, we'll help you, Gems!" Violet said. Gemini shook her head. "Wait what? N-no, j-just Copter is fine..." she stammered, not wanting this awkwardness to continue with both of them along. "Oh, it's no trouble at all!" Violet said cheerfully, getting up and heading for the door. "I should've gone to Punchy..." Gemini thought, realizing she now had to be reminded of her longing for someone she couldn't have the whole time. At any rate, soon they were on their way out of the tower, passing Punchy along the way. "Hey, Copter! Goin' out with your girl, eh?" he sighed. "Uh, well, is it a date if you're looking for a missing person for another friend?" Copter asked. Punchy shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just a bit jealous, I guess..." he muttered. As the girls went on ahead, Copter stopped to stare at Punchy like he was nuts. "Jealous of ME? Punch, you dimwit... I've always been jealous of what YOU have!" he snapped. Punchy scratched his head. "What do I have?" he wondered. Just then, Rainbow came up behind him. "BOO!! Did I scare ya, One? Teehee!" she giggled. Punchy jumped and looked back at her, staring blankly. "...I'll leave you to figure it out. Bye, 'One!'" Copter chuckled as Punchy continued to stare at Rainbow. "Uh oh, did I yell too loud? Uh, Earth to One!" she said, waving her hand in his face. "Um... I'm fine, Rainbow... Just fine..." he muttered, looking thoughtful.
Guard's first mission was to recapture bounty hunter Nack the Weasel, who still hadn't finished his sentence for endangering civilian lives while trying to capture Sonic the previous year. His trail led to the desert city of Shamar, and Guard flew through the bustling market streets after his hoverbike, the Marvelous Queen, with Nack occasionally glancing back to attempt to shoot him out of the sky. "I ain't goin' back! No more of GUN's sick experiments! Go find that Zeti loudmouth if you wanna pick someone's brains!" he yelled, crashing through a food stall and leaving behind a very angry merchant. "Grrr... Send the bill to GUN!" Guard shouted as he flew by. Nack smirked as Guard seemed to be falling behind him. "Heh... Guess ya don't fancy gettin' yer wings blown off..." he muttered as he looked back ahead, "Gaah!!" Suddenly, an explosive dropped in front of the Marvelous Queen, sending Nack into a spin until he crashed against a stack of boxes! Rouge the bat dropped down and pulled the dizzy weasel out of the crash. "We're supposed to catch him, not kill him, Omega!" she grunted as she dropped the bewildered Nack on the ground, the shadow of E-123 Omega cast over him. "The sooner I complete this mission, the sooner I can resume the search for Eggman." the robot said impatiently. Guard and Rouge landed on either side of Nack, cutting off his escape route, and the weasel chuckled awkwardly. "Well, errr... Can we talk? How about making a deal?" he asked. "Grrr... You'll be making your deal with Sgt. Drol..." Guard growled.
Gemini brought Copter and Violet to the last place Libra was seen, her home in Troblusk City. As they looked around, though, they could find neither clues to her whereabouts nor any evidence she'd been back recently. "Ugh, her milk's rotten... She definitely hasn't been back..." Gemini muttered, looking around for Copter only to see him and Violet smooching in the corner. "Guuuuys!!" she groaned in frustration. "Sorry, sorry. We're looking, I promise..." Copter chuckled. "I just can't resist this foxy... He's an amazing kisser. Can't believe I spent so much time hating him before..." Violet said with a blush. As the couple resumed looking around, Gemini stomped outside to get some "air." She was beginning to think she should have just gone herself. "What's the matter with me? I need to focus..." she sighed, "...But that girl's all wrong for him. She's so...bad. I mean, she was in Despair way longer than Libra." she grumbled. "You're rationalizing. You want him for yourself." said a scratchy, robotic voice. Gemini looked around and saw one of Dr. Eggman's Crabmeat robots nearby. "Ugh, I forgot this place was close to Eggman's old base. Scram, or I'll zap ya!" she warned. "I am not Eggman's creation. I am merely using this mechanism as a shell, so to speak... You may call me Cancer." the robot stated. Gemini raised an eyebrow. "Cancer? How pleasant. Your parents must be a joy to hang around... What am I saying? You're a robot." she muttered. "Don't think about the robot. Think of me as a friend... Your guardian angel, perhaps. I suggest you remind Copter why you are superior to that other girl if you truly want him... Use your magic to gain his attention." Cancer suggested. Gemini stared into the cold eyes of the Crabmeat robot and shivered. "That'd be pretty nasty of me. I mean, he does SEEM happy..." she muttered. "You could make him happier, could you not?" Cancer mused. Gemini thought about it, but Cancer started to crawl away before she could say anything. "...What an odd robot. Hmm... Me and Copter..." she sighed, starting to daydream.
Next on Guard's list to catch for GUN's purposes was Conan the raccoon, who had been at large ever since the fall of Demon Island. However, he'd recently been spotted in Station Square, and now Guard as well as the police were hot on his trail. The raccoon was fleeing through the dark alleyways of Speed Highway, clutching a shiny golden pair of what appeared to be claws, similar to the shovel claws. "No sooner do I find a new Chaos Relic to replace my blade, and I get sloppy, leading the police to come to part me from it..." he grunted, looking around frantically as the sirens grew closer and closer. "I don't yet understand these Chaos Claws... I cannot use them to battle off legions of GUN troops... But I can't let them have my prize, either..." he growled, glancing around. There appeared to be some loose bricks in a nearby wall. Clawing at it, he managed to wrestle them free, and stashed the claws inside the wall, quickly putting the bricks back into place. "It'll have to do..." he muttered as a police car pulled up to the alley. Razor the porcupine and Ridley the coati hopped out of the car and headed towards him, guns at the ready. "We've got you, you bastard!" Razor growled. Conan smirked. "An officer, Ridley? Anything to save your pelt, eh?" he taunted. "You've got no tricks to get out of this one, Conan!" Ridley said. Conan turned to look into his options. Guard was landing behind him. "Grrr... Sgt. Drol requests a moment of your time..." he said. Conan shrugged. "Okay, I give up..." he sighed, raising his hands. As Conan was being restrained by Razor, Mia's taxi cab pulled up to the alley. "One side! Comin' through! Freedom of the press and all that jazz!" Mia shouted, holding up a camera as she stomped onto the scene. "You're not with the press." Razor grunted. "Katie's stuck in traffic. Asked me to get some pictures." she said. Guard grunted as he led the officers and Conan back to the car. "No comment. Don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong..." he grunted. Mia huffed in annoyance as they left, leaning against the wall as she pouted. As she did, the loose bricks toppled, and she stumbled forward with them. "Wha??" she muttered, peering into the hole to find something shiny. "...Golden claws...?" she murmured, "...I better take these..." she figured.
Gemini returned inside Libra's house, and tried to ignore what Cancer had said to her. By now, Violet and Copter had scoured most of the house. "If there's any clue here, I don't know what the heck I'm looking for..." Copter sighed as Gemini found them in the living room. Gemini shrugged. "Maybe I should give the Chaotix a call..." she muttered. Violet looked around awkwardly. "You know... it could be that this Libra doesn't want to be found. She WAS with the Covenant of Despair. I know from experience that they can get a pretty bad hold on you..." she trailed off. Gemini grabbed her wand and stomped toward Violet in a sudden fury. "Don't you talk about her like that! Libra was a good person, unlike YOU! She quit Despair as soon as she saw what they were really like!" she shouted. Violet backed up, defensively creating dark energy from her hands. "Hey, hey! What's with the anger!? I'm only trying to help!" she growled. Copter watched the pair of them nervously, unsure of what to do. "You wanna help? Leave me and my friends alone!" Gemini growled, firing a bolt from her wand at Violet! The echidna shot back with an orb of darkness, and Copter swiftly ran between them before more shots could be fired. "Enough!! You two, take five! I'm gonna do the same! Geez, no one I know can hang out without getting into fights!" he shouted, heading outside in a huff while Gemini and Violet grouchily looked away from each other. Copter found the front step and sat down, scratching his head wondering how things escalated like that. As he thought about it, Cancer crawled over to him. "I've determined it would be prudent to first point out that I have no affiliation with Eggman." the robot said. Copter glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah, that'll buy you a minute. What do you want?" he grumbled. The robot bowed as best he could, looking a bit comical with his large pincer claws. "I am Cancer. I'm a technomancer, thus enabling me to control this robot." Copter stared, so Cancer continued. "No, I don't expect you to understand that. I was just observing you... Seems fate hangs heavy over your person. A darkness you have been fighting to suppress... Does that not sound accurate?" he asked. Copter shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about, and your minute is up." he grumbled, turning away. Cancer started to crawl away, chuckling to himself. "You'll see things my way, Experiment 2... You can't escape your fate!" he snickered. Copter shook his head. "Never leave the tower, Copt. Just don't do it..." he sighed.
Locked up in cells side by side, Conan, Nack, Bean, Bark and Eddie soon were met by Sgt. Drol, who was accompanied by Spy, Guard, Rouge and Omega. Drol was fairly brief. "Everyone here... You are GUN's Strike Force. You will be sent to West Side Island shortly, under Guard's leadership. Should you succeed in defeating the Battle Bird Armada... We'll make your stay here a bit more comfortable. If you try to escape, there will be consequences..." he warned. "Does that go for those on the other side of the bars, too? Eee hee!" Eddie chuckled. Drol rolled his eyes and led Guard and the others away. "Oh, this is gonna be fuuuun..." Rouge muttered.
At the same time, in a certain mechanical flying fortress being constructed at West Side Island, the Battle Bird Armada had amassed to hear a few words from their leader: Battle Lord Kukku XV. He was a tall bird wearing a red and greed outfit, and possessing a big, broad beak. He wore a big black hat and large glasses covering his eyes, really looking rather comical despite his menacing nature. "Troops! It's been a long road, but finally, here we are! Vengeance! Not just on the little mutt that crushed our plans for global conquest before, but on all the people and places that little runt holds dear! Oh, it's going to be a blast! ... Okay! Speech over! Back to work! Report any suspicious characters on the island!" the Battle Lord said to the crowd over a microphone. As the birds went back to work, one particular bird hesitated. A sea-green albatross with like-colored wings on his back, who appeared uneasy in the crowd. His name was Aquarius. "Well... Okay... back to work..." he sighed, slowly stomping off into the halls of the fortress, "Sometimes I hate this job..." he grumbled.
To be continued...
