Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 37 - The Doomsday Protocol
Stage 19 - Darkegg Fortress
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related OCs are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
"I walked so very long
Always on my own
Somebody came along
And from that moment, I wasn't lone
I found a friend... Someone who stood by me
Until the end... No matter what, unconditionally
I became more than a clone
My destiny...
I'll find it with my friends
What I will be...
Broken hearts in time will mend
And I will find my way to my destiny" - Destiny of a Clone; Original Punchy Theme, by 2BIT
Previously on GeneX…
Despite putting up a valiant battle to protect the Chaos Crystal, Punchy and Heather were unable to stop it from being stolen by the Lost Ones (with the aid of their Dark allies, including "Punky" and "Soleil," Punchy and Heather's own dark forms.
Heather displayed new powers in order to protect her friends, however...but this was the diversion Lospecter needed to warp the Chaos Crystal away.
Using the Crystal's power, the Lost Ones raised Demon Island from the depths of the ocean! Our heroes may be unsure of the Lost Ones' plan, but they know they need to get the Chaos Crystal back!
Now, our tale continues...
Minnie the divine had gotten a call from her brother, Lucky Jr, to check in after they were all split up to escape the Lost Ones at "Omochao's Battle Factory." It was time for a quick roll call. "Well, we got Aurora, Argyle, Venice, the burger shop dude, and the police chief guy." Minnie reported. "Hey! I'm not just a burger guy! I was interning in that building Eggman took over..." Dave murmured. "Fine, you're burger guy the intern, then." Venice replied. Lucky Jr's voice came through Minnie's ProwerPhone. "So, no Skye? Why can't we reach his phone?" he questioned. They all shrugged, and Aurora pulled out her own phone. "Well, gimmie a call if you guys find him. I'm gonna check in with my dad..." she told them. Argyle raised an eyebrow at that. "How? You can't call him! He don't got a ProwerPhone!" he pointed out. Aurora turned her phone around to show a map on the screen. A flashing red dot indicated someone she was tracking. "Dad made me get his shoes... Don't ask. Anyway, I attached a tracker to them since I knew we'd be separated." she smirked. Minnie did a facepalm and groaned. "Why aren't we ALL tracking each other?? We'd know exactly where Skye is!" she sighed. Argyle chuckled awkwardly. "We could probably track his phone... If any of us WERE Skye..." he muttered. Aurora shrugged and started following the tracker to find her father. "I'll give you a call if I run into him. Nobody's accomplishing anything standing around here." she grumbled. "...Should someone go with her?" Chief Paynson asked, only for everyone to continue ignoring his presence. The chief frowned and stood beside Dave the Intern. "We're such third wheels, aren't we?" he muttered. "Speak for yourself! I'm invested in this. Will they find Skye or won't they? What happened to him? Who even is he...or she?" Dave rambled. Most of those were good questions...
Punchy, Rainbow, Heather, Guard, Team Chaotix and Professor Pickle all looked up and watched as Demon Island passed overhead. "Wh-where's the island going??" Charmy stammered. "Wherever it's going, it's taking the Chaos Crystal with it!" Rainbow realized, "I gotta get it back!" Thus, their current problem presented itself. "How do we get up there? Garen can't carry all of us." Heather pointed out. Vector looked around a bit uncertainly. "Don't think we're all goin' anyway. The professor could use an escort to safety." he reasoned. Punchy was also looking around. Unfortunately, Spy had taken Mia's flying cab out of the city. "Only thing I can think of is checking Darkegg Fortress for a plane. But I don't think the ferry's gonna take us there now..." he sighed. A Wrongo flew past his face, and Punchy knew who had just found them. "There isn't a single problem that can't be solved, young ones!" Everyone turned to the voice, seeing Illusi the shrew approaching from the shore, a fanciful boat with a Wrongo motif floating in the ocean behind him, likely an illusion itself. "Oh, fantastic, but...uh...how 'bout an illusion plane?" Punchy asked. The shrew folded his arms. "Now that would be terribly unsafe. You all CAN swim by the way?" he asked, making Heather look rather nervous. "Rrr... I'll stay close in case you need a lift." Guard told her. With all this conveniently settled, they were about to leave, but Professor Pickle hurriedly rushed after Guard. "If you're going, take this with you!" he said, handing off the Scepter of Darkness to the gargoyle, "I've finished repairing it. Hopefully it will be of some use sealing away Darks." he stated. Guard nodded and joined the others while Team Chaotix motioned for Pickle to follow them. "So, was that shrew just waiting here for us?" Espio questioned. "We're off this case, Espio..." Vector sighed.
Fortunately, the boat ride went very smoothly, carrying the group swiftly to the island where the ominous tower, Darkegg Fortress, stood. This had been Punchy and Rainbow's home for quite a while, but now the base was back in Eggman's control. What was more, the Chao that once lived in the tower were found milling about the coastline, including a distraught Char. "What's goin' on here? Androids run amok again?" Punchy asked. Char sniffled sadly. "Dr. Eggman kicked us all out! I th-thought he was my friend! Why would he do this to meeeee?" he wailed, falling into Rainbow's comforting arms. "There, there, Charlie. It'll all be okay..." she said calmly. Before they could get closer to the tower, a small drone approached them, displaying Eggman's face on a screen to communicate with them. "Ah, Punchy! Welcome back! You're not still cross with me, are you?" the doctor asked. Heather stared at him blankly. "What do you think?" she asked. The doctor chuckled nervously. "Well, beggar's can't be choosers. The Lost Ones are keeping me on a tight leash here on Demon Island. So, I'd like to ask you fellows a favor and prep Darkegg Fortress' Doomsday Protocol for me." he said with a sincere smile. Guard pointed his scythe at the drone. "Why would we trust you? Grrrr!" he growled. The doctor shrugged with a nervous chuckle. "How about a deal? I shut off the base's defenses if you do this for me... Look, I don't have much time here, the Lost Ones'll catch us!" he said urgently. Shrugging, Punchy nodded. "How can we refuse?" he stated. "Excellent! Godspeed, my friends!" Eggman smiled before the drone hovered away. Everyone looked to Illusi as though asking what he thought. "He does seem afraid of the Lost Ones now, doesn't he?" the shrew mused, "Maybe the Doomsday Protocol is less to help them and more to help him?" he hypothesized.
"Well, don't look at me, I have no idea about any Doomsday Protocol. I lived here but I didn't build the joint." Punchy said as the group entered the familiar tower. Familiar to most of them, anyway; Heather not so much. "Well, this place looked huge from the outside. Any clue where we'd find a plane or a ship?" she wondered. Exiting the elevator across from the entrance, Hoover ran out to greet them. "There ya are, ya dad-gum idjits! Why ain't any of ya brought back my Hurricane yet?" he shouted. "Heya, Scooter, how'd you get back here?" Rainbow replied cheerfully. Hoover groaned. "Not that name agin... Uh, I done hitched a ride with Eggman when things got scary. Sue me!" he said with a bit of a pout. Guard tapped his scythe against the ground in Hoover's direction. "Grr! Robot! What is Doomsday Protocol?" he demanded, getting things on-topic. The beaver robot reached for his swiss-army tail and grabbed a screwdriver. "No idea, but it's ringin' some bells in the program. If'n we gotta set it up, I know whut ta do." he stated. Illusi nodded. "With the defenses down, we can do this task while looking for transport to Demon Island..." Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. The alarm went off, and BAS had an announcement for them. "Defenses reinstated by order of E-3X! Sorry, guys, he threatened me!" the A.I. squawked. Punchy took a moment to recall what E-3X was. "Ugh, Terra! He overrode Eggman's orders? He can DO that??" he said in bewilderment. "He's willing to deactivate the defenses again... But only after Experiment 1 has faced him!" BAS reported. Punchy tapped his foot. "BAS, how long did we live here? You still don't know my name??" he grumbled. "It's not like anyone talked to me while you were squatting!" BAS retorted.
Punchy was quick to head for the elevator, planning to find Terra. Guard followed after him. "Grrr... You can have your personal battle. I'm going to see if Dr. Eggman's communications equipment can restore contact with our allies." the gargoyle grunted. "Be careful, you two!" Heather said with a wave as the elevator shut with both of them inside. "Well, at least we got Mousy to help us out... Uh, Mousy?" Rainbow looked around to find that Illusi had also left them alone. Exactly where the shrew had gone was a mystery. "How's he do that now without his old key?" Rainbow questioned. Hoover twirled the screwdriver in his hand and motioned for the girls to follow. "Let's git this show on the road! I gotta release some locks 'ere at ground level as step one in the 'ol Doomsday Protocol! An' since defenses are online, you gals are gonna have ta watch my tail while I work on that!" he explained, heading for a side door that Rainbow had never bothered to explore before. "Ah, well, it's the old Tubby Tower! How bad could these defenses be?" Rainbow chuckled, pushing the door open to see a pack of armored Egg Pawns hunched over a table, seemingly playing poker or something. "Ha! See? It's just the same old goons!" she pointed. Then, the slimy face of a Lost One poked out of one robot's head, twisting around to peek at another robot's cards. Rainbow's expression turned grim, and she hurried behind Heather, shoving her forward. "Teehee! They're all yours, Seven!" she said nervously. Lost One heads poked out of all the robots and glared at the girls, making Heather yelp. "Not this again! Try to remember how you used that crazy power back at the Sanctuary, Rainbow! I may need backup!" the phoenix stammered. Hoover scurried ahead carefully. "Jus' keep 'em busy fer me! 'Kay, good luck!" he cried.
"Chaos Avalanche!!" BAS had forced the elevator to stop at a lower floor on Terra's orders, leading Punchy and Guard into a hall full of robots. Punchy made quick work of a bunch of them by collapsing the ceiling on top of them with his Chaos power. With that creating an opening to the upper floor, Guard picked the echidna up and flew him through the hole, leaving the other robots behind. "Make up your mind, Terra! You wanna face me or not!?" Punchy shouted as Guard dropped him on the ground. The gargoyle was quick to spot someone in their path, lunging his scythe toward him! "MEOWR!! Cease! Desist! I mean you no harm!" It was Firepaw in his robotic body. Guard kept his scythe pointed at him. "Grrrr... Forgive me if I don't trust you... I didn't exactly enjoy having you in my head! Grrrr!!" the gargoyle snarled, remembering the time his android brain was compromised by the virus. "I'm on your side! Dr. Eggman asked you to get Doomsday Protocol started, yeah? Meowr?" Firepaw asked. Punchy placed a hand on Guard's scythe to lower it slightly. "Yeah, any chance you could clue us in about that?" he questioned. Firepaw shrugged. "Classified above even my computational permissions. Meowr, I get the idea that it's a last resort function of this base. Anyway, I can get you to the Control Room good and fast. We all know you're bound to get lost if you don't use the main elevator!" the fiery feline snickered. Punchy turned a little red with embarrassment. "I'm sure my sense of direction's improved...but seeing as we're pressed for time, guess we'll follow your lead. RIGHT, Guard?" he asked, nudging him. Guard grunted grouchily. "I'm watching you, virus..." he snorted. Firepaw then tapped a concealed switch on the wall, and a secret door opened. "After you, fellas! Meowrrrr..." he purred, grinning to himself smugly.
From there, it was a fairly quick to reach the Control Room. Gone were the homey touches Rainbow and Gemini had applied to the room while they lived there; Eggman had redecorated for his own operations, adding some bronze statues of himself to either end of the room to menace any who enter. At any rate, the monitors were set up in essentially the same way as before. Punchy saw Rainbow and Heather via the security monitors, Heather burning up some possessed robots while Rainbow was trying to get her powers to work again. "Great, I gotta wrap this up quick. Where the heck is Terra?" Punchy grumbled. Guard sat at the control terminal and started typing, looking to establish communications with anyone he could. "Grrr... Can anyone hear me? We're at Darkegg Fortress! Grrr, over!" he shouted. One of the monitors flickered, and the face of Zipp the hornet appeared. He poked at the screen. "Hey? What're you doing in there?" the hornet asked. Vortex and Crash peered into the screen from behind him. "I ssssee Punchy. Let'sss hang up." Vortex hissed. "Why you gotta be like that, guys?" Crash grumbled. Punchy shrugged. "They're right, hang up, Guard." he muttered. "Don't you dare!" shouted Bucky, who shoved past his experiments to get in on the conversation, "One! Six! Where are you, what's been going on?" he shouted. "Only Rainbow can call me One!!" Punchy snarled. Guard rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "Rrr... We need a ride to Demon Island." he said simply. Bucky folded his arms. "Impossible, I'm far too busy figuring out how best to mobilize Gideon's power to cure the Lost Ones... Hey, is that the Scepter of Darkness!?" the rat asked, seeing it in Guard's hands. The gargoyle held it up, and Bucky nodded. "Yes, I recognize that from my time in Soleanna. Six! ...Punchy! I have a request. Use that scepter, and seal away all the Darks you can with it. Most of them are my doing, my sloppy experimentations splitting your hearts in two. It would put my mind at ease very much to see their evil stopped!" he stated. Punchy glanced at Guard and shrugged. "Sure, what's another thing on my to-do list...?" he mumbled.
During the fighting with the processed robots, Hoover had hobbled over to a hatch in the wall, close to the floor. He opened it with his screwdriver, finding an electronic lock inside, which he plugged himself into and activated, causing mechanisms along the walls of the base to shift and unlock in response. The whole thing had taken about the length of time it took for Heather to deal with the robots, as Hoover had to do a bit of hacking with the lock. "Right, gals, there's step one finished. Ready fer step two?" he asked, turning towards them before gasping with alarm! "What's the matter, Scooter?" Rainbow asked, only to yelp as someone snatched her in his arms! "Colors! Been lookin' for ya!" It was Dark Punchy, or "Punky" as he was called now! "Put her down!" Heather warned, hands burning. Punky laughed softly. "No, we'll settle this with my weaker half. Go bring him! Ha ha ha!!" he laughed, dashing off with Rainbow struggling, held over his shoulder!
Punchy caught sight of this in the security monitors. "Damn it, damn it!! Terra can wait, then!" he shouted, grabbing the Scepter of Darkness from Guard hastily and stuffing it in his pants pocket. "COWARD!! You will face my wrath, NOW!!" Glancing at the main exit, they saw Terra stomping his way in! Firepaw's eyes darted back and forth. "Yooo, Terra! Meowr, how's it hangin?" he asked awkwardly. Terra looked at Firepaw coldly. "Keep the gargoyle out of my business! Or I will delete your game saves!" he warned. "Meowr!! Y-you monster! Then I have no choice!" Firepaw shouted, turning to Guard and baring his claws. The gargoyle stood up and twirled his scythe. "Grrr!! I was just waiting for an excuse!!" he grunted.
Terra opened fire on Punchy, who tore up chunks of the floor with Chaos Avalanche and blocked those bullets quickly! At the same time, fireballs crashed into one of the Eggman statues, missing Guard as he flew up above the attacking Firepaw! In response, Guard slung energy blasts down from the blade of his scythe, but Firepaw simply erected a heated shield around himself to block them! "Meowr ho howr! You can't get past my firewall!" the robot taunted, only to yelp as Guard brought down his scythe hard, knocking Firepaw back even with his shield intact! "Grraah!! Not so tough when we're face to face, are you!?" the gargoyle growled! Firepaw gripped his spiky tail and ignited it, snarling as he ran at Guard, parrying his scythe by swinging his weirdly elastic tail! In the meantime, Punchy was doing his best not to waste any time with Terra. "You done with the bullets? Let's settle this with fists!" he shouted, tossing the chunks of floor at Terra's large, gun-toting arms to knock them aside, allowing him to run up and unleash a flurry of jabs at the robot's chassis! "DIE, echidna!! Firma will be AVENGED!!" Terra roared, retracting the guns and swapping his clawed hands back out, which he used to attempt to smash Punchy! The echidna's fists were held out to meet both hands, and he grunted, straining to hold them back. "You're tougher than the first time I wrecked ya... You came back from that, wasn't any reason... I'd think Firma couldn't!" he grunted, managing to push the claws back enough to leap backwards and avoid being crushed! "But if you do got a soul, I'm not here to murder ya! Just to stop ya from hurting my friends! Chaos Avalanche!!" Punchy started to tear up pieces of the control room with his Chaos power, hurling them strategically at the slow-moving robot! Terra tried to punch the rubble away, frustrated growls coming from his voice box. "Enough!! I need... VENGEANCE!!" The robot fired up his thrusters in his rage, charging straight for Punchy!
Punchy appeared to be blocking with large chunks of rubble again, but as Terra smashed through the rubble with his fists, he found Punchy missing. "WHERE ARE YOU, COWARD!?" he shouted. Then, a pair of swift, mighty punches smashed into the robot's legs, breaking the joints from behind! "Wh-what!? NOOO!!" Terra fell backwards, and rotated his head to look around, seeing Punchy simply start to walk away. "What are you doing!? We're not finished!!" Terra shouted, trying to point his arm only to fall over a bit, "One of us must DIE!!" the robot shouted. "No, we don't. C'mon, Guard. That's enough cat and dog play." he said. Guard and Firepaw glanced in his direction a bit awkwardly, but then Firepaw started running to Terra. "Hey, big guy! Can I get ya anything? Meowr?" he asked. "Don't patronize me!!" Terra growled. Guard flapped over to join Punchy, and they were about to leave when suddenly, the lights turned out! "What NOW??" Punchy groaned. BAS hastily put out an alert. "Oh, the black echidna intruder is still at large in the tower, by the way. Might be nice if somebody, you know, maybe does something about it. No pressure." That was enough to make Punchy figure the darkness was in fact his dark self's doing. Fortunately, being part-android had its benefits for Guard, and light beams emitted from his eyes like a pair of flashlights. "Rrr... Follow me. We'll regroup with the others." he said, heading out the door. "What others? Rainbow's caught so it's just Heather, can't count on Illusi to hang around..." Punchy complained, forgetting that Hoover was still with Heather. Not that he'd care. Right now, the important thing was getting Rainbow back safe...the mounting list of other problems could be dealt with later.
To be continued...
