Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 7 - Sol Emerald Scramble
Stage 4 - Lost Dimension
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related OCs are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
"It's the price of being aware,
But too afraid it all might die,
Some things, they never mend,
I know I'm never the same again." - Worth A Chance, Sonic and the Secret Rings
Previously on GeneX…
When Lospecter appeared with the Lost One army, he announced that the army was built by devouring the souls of everyone in Blaze's dimension. But Blaze needs to see this for herself. With Silver by her side, she set out for Tails' Workshop to use his transporter to get home. Joined by Copter, Gemini, Timothy and Cosmo, they found a note from Marine saying she'd gone to find the Sol Emeralds. Their groups split up, and Silver & Blaze found Marine on the Haunted Ship, along with Eggman Nega and Captain Whisker. After destroying Whisker, they formed a shaky alliance with Nega to track down the Sol Emeralds so that they could use them to fight the Lost Ones...
Now, our tale continues...
Eggman Nega flew ahead while Silver, Blaze, Marine and Timothy followed him through the cluster of broken, beached ships that formed something of a pirate's graveyard. Timothy had used the "Connechatra" spell to get back in touch with Gemini, the pair of them communicating their situations. "Be careful, Tim... I don't trust that Nega." Gemini told him. "Yeah, seriously..." Timothy murmured, glancing towards the doctor's Egg Mobile with a frown. "We've arrived at Sky Babylon, so we'll look for a Sol Emerald here..." Gemini reported before the magical call ended. Silver had been listening in. "I hope they don't run into any trouble..." he murmured. Blaze spotted a sparkle at the top of a broken mast, and went into a run, leaping up the ship's rigging to get up there. "Careful, mate! Watch out fer spooks!" Marine shouted, shivering as she looked around the Haunted Ship. The raccoon probably would have gone somewhere else to look for a Sol Emerald first, but a place like this, devoid of life, was the last place the Lost Ones would look for her. As Blaze neared the sparkling object, Eggman Nega reached it and snagged it before she could. "Nice acrobatics, but I've got this little beauty..." he chuckled, clutching the blue Sol Emerald in his hand. Blaze crossed her arms, balancing atop the broken mast. "You have no need of it. I'm the guardian, hand it to me!" she huffed. Nega placed the emerald in a compartment inside his Egg Mobile and shook his head. "Partnerships are about trust, Blaze. You're expecting me to trust you to guide me out of this world. So it stands to reason, you should trust me with this. Besides, it will help me to improve my radar and find the other Sol Emeralds more quickly." he stated. Silver rubbed his head with an uncertain expression on his face. "As hard as he is to trust, finding the other emeralds faster would definitely be good." he murmured. Marine pointed to Timothy. "Why we need Mr. Moustache when this cobber can just magic us to the Sol Emeralds??" she asked. Timothy chuckled awkwardly. "I've gotta keep the magical lines of communication open in case Gemini calls us. That means limiting my spell useage..." he explained. Marine did not understand, and folded her arms grouchily at the idea of working with Nega. Blaze let out a sigh. She was the princess, they'd follow her decision. "Well, you'd better get to tracking down that next emerald before the Lost Ones find us..." she said with a light groan. Eggman Nega nodded and his Egg Mobile started to float down. "Follow me... I believe we'll need your ship." he stated as he examined the radar on his Egg Mobile. "Can I take my own ship?" Marine sighed, not wanting to hang around Nega. "Leave it, we're safer together." Silver told her. Thus, they were on their way...
Gemini, along with Cosmo, Copter and his son Chopper, had arrived at Sky Babylon. The location was somewhat familiar to Copter, with its odd levitating crystals and flames burning here and there. "I seem to remember running into that Captain Whisker around here, and being in a treasure hunt race with the Babylon Rogues... The treasure turned out to be junk, though." Copter said. Cosmo was holding a futuristic scanner, tech that she had from her homeworld. "I'm detecting the energy of the Sol Emerald...I think. I've never actually encountered such a gem." she admitted. They began to follow Cosmo as she led them in the direction of the signal, not noticing that some losquids had slipped out of the water to follow them from the shore. They did notice Chopper's scream as one of the creatures grabbed him in its tendrils! "Yaaah! Let go of me! D-dad, help!!" he cried! Gemini turned and tried to aim her wand, but the creature was behind Chopper, using his body like a shield! "Distract it, I'll circle around!" she said. There was no need, though. Several beams of light shot from somewhere to the side, swiftly destroying the losquids! Chopper shook some slime off himself and groaned. "I thought I blasted all those things..." he whined. Looking in the direction the beams had come from, Gemini saw her former teacher, Fred Leo the white lion, accompanied by Cuthburt the turqoise alligator. Gemini pouted to see them. "If it isn't the liar lion. Were you spying on me?" she asked. Fred rubbed a hand through his light blue mane, frowning. "I truly am sorry for what passed between us, Gemini. However, the Lost One invasion is bigger than both of us. The future time I made my home in is in jeopardy. If there's any way I can help, I must." he said. Cuthburt nodded. "Look, I dunno what happened with you two, and I gotta say I was weirded out to learn Fred was really a lion, but from where I stand, I can't believe that this lion never cared about you, Gemini." the gator stated. Gemini looked a bit thoughtful. "Well, seven Sol Emeralds. We could use some help. You stay here with Copter, MISTER Leo, and I'll take Cosmo here to another island to search." she said, grabbing Cosmo's hand and lifting her wand, thinking about where to warp. "Wait, she's got the detector!" Copter babbled. "Detector? I got something like that!" Cuthburt said, pulling a futuristic scanner of his own from...somewhere. Copter didn't look too happy as Gemini cast Galaporta to warp far away. Fred looked at him with a sheepish smile. "How have you been, Aries? Who's the kid?" he asked. Chopper looked at his father awkwardly. "Aries?" he questioned. Copter groaned. "Thanks, Fred. Now I gotta have THAT conversation..." he complained.
In the meantime, Eggman Nega was busy making tweaks to the Ocean Tornado so it would traverse the ocean faster. Blaze was watching him closely, a look of intense distrust in her eyes. "You missed out on the war with Eggman and Infinite..." Silver said, walking over to her, "There were some strange team-ups and stranger betrayals. You can't really know who to trust during extreme situations like this..." he told her. Blaze nodded. The only part she had in that conflict was getting trapped in her own dimension by a distraught Tails who didn't want to see Blaze's world destroyed...an act that felt utterly pointless now. "Peoples' true nature won't really change, though. Nega was dangerous before, he's dangerous now." the cat insisted. "You should hope so!" Nega said, standing up from his work, "It's that kind of dangerousness you want on your side now! Hold on, this ship's about to blast off!" he said with a smirk.
Lost Ones and robots possessed by Lost Ones stalked Copter's group at every turn as they searched Sky Babylon for a Sol Emerald, aided by Cuthburt's scanner. Arachnid Lospides were trying to string them up in slimy webs while Chopper snuck around, leaping over a levitative crystal and using its energy to float himself. "According to the signal, the Sol Emerald should be across this...chasm!" he whimpered, his tails tangling up as he tried to fly to gain control of himself. Sometimes a third tail was one too many. "Chillazim!!" Fred cast a freezing spell to hold the Lospides still while Copter finished them off. "Chaos Whirlwind!" The fox's trademark attack blew the icy Lost Ones over the ledge, and they shattered on the ground below. "How ya doin over there, kid?" Cuthburt called out to Chopper. The younger fox grabbed the ledge on the other side, panting heavily as he pulled himself up. "I made it... Now, where's that Sol Emerald?" he murmured, walking around a corner. He found a piraty Egg Pawn holding a cannon in its hands, pointing it right at him! "Oh, hi..." he squeaked with a gulp. Copter heard the cannon go off, and looked in the direction of the sound with a hint of panic. "Kid! Are you alive!?" he yelled. Chopper had sidestepped the initial shot, but the cannon began burning with ghost fire as the robot approached him. "Oh, yeah, it's haunted of course!" he yelped. Fortunately, Fred warped to his side. "You came to this time from yours and didn't prepare to deal with the dangers of this time?" the lion asked, pointing his wand and casting Solare to blow the robot and the Lost One within away. Chopper let out a sigh. "You sound just like Lara..." he mumbled, dashing ahead and picking up the purple Sol Emerald. Fred chuckled softly. "And you remind me of... Oh, but that couldn't be... Could it?" he mused. "What are you guys doing over there!?" Copter shouted, "C'mon, hurry up before we get swarmed again!" He had a point. Fred grabbed Chopper and warped him back to the others. The lion wondered about the boy's parentage... But since Copter didn't know, it was best not to look into it. He shouldn't know too much about his future, right?
The powered-up Ocean Tornado brought Blaze's group quickly to Blizzard Peaks. The snowy region was normally home to the Vikings, but there was no sign of them anywhere. Like the Coconut Crew and Blaze's royal guard, they had been devoured by the Lost Ones. Blaze was trying to keep up a brave front as they proceeded through the snowy mountain, but Marine was looking less cheery than usual as it became clear that no living souls would greet them. "Our poor world... What kinds of adventures can we have if everyone's gone?" she sniffled. Timothy patted her on the shoulder. "Maybe we can get everyone back somehow..." he said. "Don't make promises you can't keep!" Eggman Nega huffed as his Egg Mobile floated above them. He pointed beyond an icy canyon, clearly the Sol Emerald was that way. Seeing this and nodding, Blaze sped off ahead of the others to check it out. Once she was gone, though, some of the nearby snowballs began to move! "Oh, right... I designed robots to camoflauge using snow." Nega babbled. Silver was quick to react, using his powers to lift his own clumps of snow and hurl them at the disguised robots! It simply caused them to leap out from their snowball hideaways, revealing their tiny bodies that looked almost like toys. Marine growled and tossed a snowball at one, knocking its head off! However, the head was replaced by a ghostly Lost One face! "Great, the bots are just snow suits for those creatures!" Silver groaned. The robots kept their group busy while Blaze was busy grinding on icy rails to cross the canyon. Lospirits were floating up to chase her, ghostly Lost Ones that were likely the same type that had possessed the robots. Most Lost Ones hated the cold, but these seemed to be adapting to it fine. "If you don't mind the ice, how about I turn up the heat!?" Blaze shouted, tossing fireballs at the lospirits while attempting to keep her balance on the icy rail. She soon came to the end of the rail, though, and had to leap to land on the next cliff safely! There, Lospecter was hovering over the sparkling white Sol Emerald. "I'm holding too much chaos here. I wonder if it'd be safe for me to touch Sol energy, though? Too bad it's Sol like the sun and not soul, heh..." the ghost chuckled. Blaze angrily threw a burning punch at him, but Lospecter just floated up above her. "Kitten, why so mad? Oh, right, this was your world..." he chuckled. Blaze suddenly reached into her coat and pulled out the Chaos Crown, placing it on her head. "I'll destroy you!!" she yelled, her body glowing. Lospecter pointed his key to create a portal nearby. "Attack me with my own crown, would you!? Ho ho, but there are other Sol Emeralds out there! Try and beat me to it!" he taunted, escaping into the portal and leaving Blaze to cry out in frustration. She picked up the Sol Emerald and took off the crown. "Coward! Just wait until I find you..." she warned, vengeance burning in her heart.
Gemini and Cosmo had warped to a forest, with long vines twisting around giant bouncy mushrooms. It was a strange feeling being there; Despite all the devastation the Lost Ones had caused, wiping out most sentient life in this world, the forest still felt calm and peaceful. Cosmo let out a nostalgic sigh as the pair of them walked. "The plants make me feel almost at home..." she murmured. Gemini couldn't help giving her a light smile. At least it wasn't all gloom and doom. However, Cosmo stopped short as the pair of them neared an old-looking tree. "Gemini, don't go any farther! That's not a real tree!" the Seedrian gasped. Gemini looked up at it curiously, and then felt the ground under her feet go unsteady! She was lifted up in hand-like branches, crying out as she saw a ghostly face stare at her from the tree trunk! "A-a trap!?" she gasped. Lospecter, having warped from Blizzard Peaks to here with the Chaos Key, emerged from the top of the tree. He was holding a green Sol Emerald with a set of tongs. "Heeey, ladies. Lookie what I found! Oh, and Gemini! You wouldn't mind coming home with me, would ya? Your magical self is holding secrets that the Lost Ones MUST know about!" he snickered, pointing his key and creating a portal just above Gemini! The fennec wasn't going to let herself be captured, though. "Abra-ka-warpra!" she said quickly, using simple magic to teleport back down next to Cosmo! Lospecter shrugged. "Have it your way. The animals that used to live here can soften you up..." he sneered, flying into the portal with the Sol Emerald as dozens of lospirits flew out! Gemini and Cosmo backed up a step, and each of them started shooting off their weapons! Cosmo fired her laser around with a look of rage in her eyes. "Get out of this forest!!" she shouted. Gemini saw the tree robot reaching out for Cosmo and decided to do something about it. "Pyrower!!" she shouted, shooting flames from her wand that caught onto the tree-bot and made it flail its wooden arm around in panic! At this point, Cosmo heard a blip from her radar device. "Oh! There's still an emerald here!" she gasped. Gemini nodded. "Go find it! I'll deal with these spooks!" she said. While the Seedrian ran after the emerald, the lospirits ignored her and began to surround their main target, Gemini. "Why would the Lost Ones want to capture me? ...Never mind!" She started to spin about with her wand quickly, firing bolts of light at the spirits rapidly! "Blastrotall! Take that and that!" she yelled, zapping each spirit as it closed in on her! Soon, Cosmo came running back with the light blue Sol Emerald! "I've got it! Now l-let's get out of here!" she yelled as pirate robots chased her! Gemini nodded, running over to her and casting a warp spell once they grabbed each others' hands!
Blaze's group was sailing the seas on the Ocean Tornado again. During the trip, Eggman Nega was expanding his search by boosting the radar signal. "Hmm... I'm getting energy signatures moving on two separate islands. Then, there's two final emeralds back at Southern Island..." the doctor stated. "Whaaat? How did I not know about that!?" Marine gasped, "I coulda just...NOT gone to the spooky ships..." she added quietly. Silver looked to Timothy. "We should check in with Gemini to see if they have either of those other emeralds..." he suggested. Timothy nodded and cast connechatra to get in touch. Both Gemini and Fred were projected by the wand. "Teacher??" Timothy gasped. Fred smiled. "Good to see you, Tim. We have one of the Sol Emeralds over here, by Gemini's request." he explained. "We've got one too, but Lospecter got away with one..." she reported. Blaze clenched her teeth and growled softly. "We can't let them take anything more from this world! Everyone, back to Southern Island, quickly!" she told them, "The final emeralds are there!"
It was a fairly uneventful trip back to Southern Island, and as Blaze's group left the Ocean Tornado, the cat was looking over the white Sol Emerald that was the only one in her possession. "I have to do better than this..." she sighed. Eggman Nega smirked as he looked at a monitor on his Egg Mobile. "So, the portal to Sonic's world must be there..." he said quietly. Then, with a flick of a switch, he sent an arm out from his Egg Mobile to snatch the Sol Emerald from Blaze's hand! "Hey!!" she gasped. The doctor was already fleeing, kicking his boosters into overdrive. "Forget this world, princess! It's dead! Time to move on to other worlds to conquer! Hee hee hee hee!!" he cackled. As Blaze and her group began to give chase across the island, Gemini and Cosmo ran up to them. "Now what's going on here?? ...Eggman Nega!?" Gemini gasped. Copter, Chopper, Fred and Cuthburt came from another direction, uniting their entire group. "Hey, Tim! Wassup?" Cuthburt waved. "Why we runnin??" Copter huffed. Eggman Nega cackling ahead of them pretty much put everyone up to speed. "I've just had a thought, Blaze! Since you like this world so much, I'll destroy the portal device on the other side so you can remain here!" the crazed scientist laughed, still speeding ahead of them. "Grab him, Silver!!" Blaze yelled. "I-I can't get close enough! Sorry..." he panted, struggling just to keep up with everyone else. He was one of the slowest runners there, after all.
During the chase across the sandy beaches of the island, Marine suddenly tripped and fell over. "Ooof!" Cosmo stopped to check on her. "Let me help you up..." she offered. "She'll be apples..." Marine murmured, kneeling up and glancing at what had caused her to trip. She noticed a yellow sparkle in the sand. "Strewth!!" she exclaimed, reaching into the sand and pulling out the sixth Sol Emerald! "Oh! What luck!" Cosmo smiled. However, the others had disappeared from their sight now. "...Oh dear, where do we go?" the Seedrian wondered. Marine leapt to her feet. "You just follow Captain Marine! I'll lead ya right!" she announced with confidence!
The others had followed Nega into Marine's house, where the portal device could be found. Conveniently, the red Sol Emerald was also sitting right in front of the portal. Nega ignored it, though. "Blaze would have picked it up already. Obviously a trap!" he said, racing for the portal device. "Stoooop!!" Blaze cried, only to see Eggman Nega pass through the portal and escape! "Don't worry! Just grab that Sol Emerald!" Gemini panted as she and the others were catching up to Blaze. She looked at it, and stepped towards it, when something dripped down from the ceiling next to it. "What...?" Blaze murmured, glancing upward. The others looked up as well, gasping. Losipher the Lost was clinging to the roof, slimy drool dripping from his fearsome fangs as tentacles from his body pierced the ceiling to hold him up! He quickly dropped down, standing over the Sol Emerald as his body shifted back to his usual vampire form based on the combo of the ancient human Gunther and Bucky's old colleague, Nevin Crimm. He then reached down, picked up the emerald, unhinged his jaw, and swallowed it! "What the!? H-how can you...?!" Blaze gasped. Losipher let out a sinister chuckle. "I am formed of too many souls to let something as trivial as the energy from ONE emerald bother me. And yet, there is still one among you with a strange power... Immune to my soul-stealing charms!" he said in a raspy voice. This didn't make sense to anyone there. No one was aware of any immunity to the Lost Ones. Gemini, Timothy and Fred stepped forward, though, pointing their wands at Losipher. "You should have stayed in your own dimension! Now we'll finally destroy you, Losipher!" Gemini smirked. Copter and Chopper ran up behind them, ready to back them up. Losipher, however, only smirked. "This timeline, this version of you... only ever had a taste of my power. Now...experience the pain and sorrow of a thousand souls sent screaming into the abyss! As your souls join them!!"
An explosion suddenly came through the exit portal, and the device powered down. Nega had gone through with destroying the portal device from the other side! "We're trapped!!" Chopper gasped. Making matters worse, a new portal emerged behind them, Lospecter poking his head out of it. "Ah, good. We got them cornered. Remember, big guy, don't kill the fennec... Though, a lost limb or two might not be too problematic. Here, we'll keep the other kids occupied!" he snickered, snapping his fingers before a small army of lospirits, lospides and loskulls started to swarm out of his portal! Silver turned in the direction of the swarm and immediately started trying to grab some of them with his powers. "Nobody panic! We can fight our way out of this!" he shouted. Gemini nodded, and quickly fired a spell at Losipher. "Solare!!" Fred and Timothy joined her, the three of them combined firing a massive beam of light at the powerful Lost One! However, the red Sol Emerald glowed within his chest, and a small force field surrounded him, blocking the attack! "Your Divine light has grown dim... Even with forces combined, you are powerless against me!!" Losipher bellowed, as great black wings burst from his back, and he pulled twin blades from inside his slimy body, each of them burning with blue fire! Copter saw this and pulled his son by the arm, moving to face the swarm with Silver instead. "What's up?" Chopper asked him. "You're not ready for that kind of fight. Tell me, can you even use Chaos Whirlwind?" Copter asked. His son shrugged, and Copter rubbed his head, groaning softly. "Stay behind me, then!" he groaned. Silver was unfortunately unable to grab the lospirits, and the lospides were a bit resistant to his powers as well, so he had to focus on tossing the floating loskulls into them. Cuthburt had joined the battle with a laser gun, and Blaze was in the center, glancing back and forth between the swarm and Losipher. She placed the Chaos Crown on her head. "The small ones can keep spawning indefinitely... I need to defeat the big one!" she declared, her body glowing with energy from the crown as she faced Losipher!
Losipher flew at the three mages, his blades crashing against a magical barrier they had swiftly erected. "Cowards... I will wrest your souls from your flesh!" he hissed, tentacles erupting from his sides and smacking fiercely at the barriers, cracking them! Timothy shuddered, looking at his friends with fear. "What do we do?" he asked. The barriers shattered from Losipher's attacks, and he raised his blades to strike! However, vines suddenly burst from the ground, wrapping around his tentacles and pulling him back! "What!? ...Gah, the crown!!" Losipher sneered, glaring at Blaze as she stepped towards him, glowing with the crown's power. "You can't kill me as long as I have this... But I can burn through every one of your tainted souls!" she declared, charging at him with her body on fire! As she leapt at him with a spinning kick, he blocked her by crossing his blades together! "I can still corrupt YOUR soul!!" Losipher cackled, his blue flame mingling with Blaze's red! "N-noo!! Blaze!!" Gemini cried, horrified that she may become a loskel! However, as the blades repelled her, she bounced back onto her feet, the fire surrounding her body burning bright red still! "My soul burns too brightly already for you to burn it!" she declared. So, instead, Losipher used his blades to slice right through his bound tentacles, howling in pain for a moment before growing fresh new ones! Blaze stood in shock at what she was seeing, and didn't react fast enough to prevent those tentacles from whipping toward her and knocking off her Chaos Crown! Now, she was vulnerable, and worse, those tentacles quickly wrapped around her, squeezing her in their grip! "If I swallow you like the emerald, no amount of fire will save you!" Losipher roared. "Slibeam!!" Gemini leapt at Losipher, creating a magical blade to slice at his tentacle herself, freeing Blaze! However, this just served to enrage Losipher. "Souls, to me! Give me power!" he howled, his jaw opening wide! Lospirits and loskulls freely threw themselves into his maw, and Losipher grew to a massive size, his tentacles growing out to fill the room! Copter was busy blowing away some lospides with Chaos Whirlwind when he heard Chopper scream, grabbed by a tentacle! "Shoot! I'm coming, kid!" he shouted. The tentacles mostly were whipping towards Gemini, though, attempting to grab her!
Everyone raced to Gemini's aid, Timothy and Fred flinging spells, Silver trying to push the tentacles back with his powers, while Blaze scrambled to get the Chaos Crown back to regain her advantage. Gemini herself was shooting spells at the tentacles above her, but not doing much good. Losipher's fang-filled scowl loomed down on them, his furious roars filling them with dread. "I will take all your souls!!" he howled, pointed tendrils bursting from his chest towards Gemini! Everyone else was occupied, but Cuthburt saw this, and he ran to push her aside! "Get down, Gem!!" he cried, letting out a shriek as the sharp tendrils pierced his body! "C-cuthburt, no!!" Gemini shouted, looking in horror to see slime starting to spread from his wounds! "Ha ha ha... Fate catches up to him... Change time all you wish, but fate wins in the end!" Losipher sneered. "W-what?" Gemini gasped, her eyes tearing up as Cuthburt was turning into a Lost One before her eyes. The voices of Marine and Cosmo snapped her out of it. "Crikey!! Hang in there, guys!!" the raccoon shouted. Cosmo began to shoot off her laser from across the room, though it wasn't doing much good. Fred grabbed Gemini by the arm, pointing his wand in Losipher's face. "Solare!!" he shouted, blinding him for the moment! "Galaporta!!" he and Timothy shouted at once, warping the group near Marine and Cosmo as fast as they could, though leaving Cuthburt behind. "You can't escape! We'll find you anywhere!!" Losipher roared. Fred twirled his wand and pointed it away from the Lost Ones. "Poriftica!!" he cast, creating his own portal through which they could escape this dimension. Blaze looked around with distress as Lost Ones swarmed Marine's house. "Come on, it's no use staying here..." Silver told her. Copter held his son in his arms as he jumped through the portal first, followed one by one by the others. As the portal closed behind them, Lospecter hovered to where the Chaos Crown still laid on the ground. "Well, this hasn't been a total loss..." he muttered, glancing at Los Cuthburt. The slimy alligator leaned down and picked up the crown, while Losipher shrank back into his default form. "Death follows me always... Or, was that my thousandth soul? Hmm, such pain in that soul..." he murmured. "Yeah, yeah..." Lospecter grumbled, "Let's keep the scheme movin. Apocalos will start getting impatient at this rate..."
Blaze, Silver, Marine, Cosmo, Copter, Chopper, Gemini, Timothy and Fred all emerged on Angel Island, not too far from the Master Emerald shrine. It had seemed like probably the safest place for Fred to send them. There was a collective feeling of defeat amongst the group. Blaze's world was dead. Cuthburt was gone. The Chaos Crown was lost, and they'd only escaped with three of the Sol Emeralds. After resting for a moment, Blaze stood up and dusted off her jacket. "Right, I'm off to find Eggman Nega. He's got two of the Sol Emeralds... This is all I have left, so anyone who wants to come with me, that's fine..." she said, heading for the tunnel that would lead away from the Master Emerald shrine. Silver and Marine watched her. "All you have left? We don't count?" Marine said sadly. Silver patted her on the head. "C'mon, let's remind her that we're still in this with her." he suggested. Timothy was busy tending to Chopper's injuries, leaving Copter and Gemini to sit together, while Cosmo headed for what she hoped was the safety of the Master Emerald shrine. "I may come back..." the Seedrian had said, "I need to rest my mind..." she told them. Copter and Gemini leaned against one another as they rested. "So... he was your friend?" he murmured. "Kinda. He lived close by. Always was friendly..." Gemini sighed, thinking about Cuthburt. She glanced at Fred grouchily, knowing they'd have to talk eventually. Her expression softened when she felt her hand clutched by Copter's. He was dozing off next to her. Gemini nuzzled him gently. "I can't be Chopper's mom, I don't belong in this time..." she murmured to herself, "...right?" Fred sat beside Timothy and Chopper, sighing. "I'll need to tell Adam and Evelyn about Cuthburt..." he said. "You also need to talk to Gemini." Timothy told him, "You were like a father to her, it's not right seeing you two avoiding each other." he murmured. Fred looked out at Gemini with a sad expression. "...It's best I maintain my distance. She's suffered enough on my account. Perhaps she's...better off without a father." he said, standing up. Chopper jumped. "Wait, are you her dad?!" he stammered. "Stay still!" Timothy grunted, "Of course he's not! He's a lion!" he told him. "So? Melody's dad is a fox but she's a rabbit..." Chopper argued. Fred ignored them and started heading off on his way. "Hey, who's your mom, huh?" Timothy asked Chopper. "Don't change the subject! And lemme go, I feel fine!" Chopper grumbled. "Yeah? Then do me a favor... Look out for Gemini, will ya? I've gotta...go..." Timothy said, hurrying after Fred. He couldn't let the lion go alone.
"Blaze, wait!" Silver and Marine caught up with her in the icy tunnel. She glanced back at them. "Ya can't abandon ship without your captain!" Marine huffed. Blaze looked at her and let out a light sigh. "If things get dangerous, you get to safety! I... I can't lose you!" she said sternly, "...either of you..." she turned away with a blush as she said that. Silver nodded. "We can't lose you either." he smiled. Sonic's voice suddenly shouted in Blaze and Silver's ears as the comms devices came back online. "Hello?! You alive!?" he cried. Blaze held her head due to how loud he was. "Y-yes, Sonic, barely... Let us tell you what happened..." she said. This mission might have gone horribly wrong, but Blaze felt slightly better knowing that she didn't have to face this darkness alone. Her friends were still with her...
To be continued...
... ... ...
Darkosmo and Dark Spiny waited in a dark chamber. Across from them floated Mephiles the Dark. They watched him uncomfortably. "I remember this guy... He controls time." Dark Spiny murmured. "Tough guy, is he? Heh..." Darkosmo scoffed, scowling. Mephiles held up the glowing soul of Firma, looking it over thoughtfully. "You have nothing to fear from me. We're all Darks here, after all..." he said calmly. "Right. And where are all the other darks, anyway?" Dark Spiny asked. "They have their own tasks to fulfill..." came a fourth voice. Glowing eyes gazed at the darks through the shadows, and out of those shadows stepped Apocalos. "All of you are quite powerful, and will prove useful to my plans... Yet, you are insufficient." he stated, drawing their attention. "Two of us nearly destroyed the world before already!" Darkosmo scoffed. "Yet failed. Time and again, Sonic manages to turn back destruction. He has the aid of countless allies...so we need such aid as well. We need our own allies... and we need them under our control. Fortunately... I know where the means to gain control over some of those allies can be found... So..." Apocalos grinned widely, baring his pointy dinosaur fangs, "While you collect a certain conch for me...be sure to destroy a certain scepter..."
