Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 42 - Love's Light
Stage 20x - Doomworld
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related OCs are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
"Your shadow captured in the silent night.
(In the silent night)
I feel your breath-it whispers like a breeze.
Oh baby, please be mine,
Till the end of time!
I'm holding you in my arms,
(Hold you in my arms)
Loving you beneath the stars!
(Beneath the stars)
I don't want the night to steal you away!
(Steal you away, steal you away)
Hold me close, I want you so,
Don't you know that, baby?
Your love has touched my very soul.
Can you feel it baby? Oh!
Never let me go darling 'cause we're so in love
And we can dream on,
Sweet dream!" - Sweet Dream; Sonic the Hedgehog 2006
Previously on GeneX…
During the journey to rescue Gemini, Libra was captured, too. Seeing her sister brought in, she had an emotional reaction that activated her full power temporarily, enabling her to escape.
She was reunited with Copter, but Apocalos summoned Dark Copter to attack them. Apocalos had resurrected Copter years ago, giving him access to the dark part of Copter's soul.
Together, Copter and Gemini defeated Dark Copter, just in time for Fred, Timothy, Adam and Evelyn to catch up to them. Fred and Gemini made up, but when he learned that Libra was captured, the frantic lion let slip that he was in fact the twins' father.
Now, our tale continues...
Fred had a bit of explaining to do as the group traveled together through the Lost One nest, searching for Libra to rescue her. "The Zodiac Council were supposed to be guardians of the cosmos. This involved watching over the entire timeline, so we were supposed to avoid distractions...such as family." he began, glancing at Gemini, "But when I met your mother... I broke our code. She was a beautiful fennec, and I fell deeply in love. But Ophiuchus...he found out. Despite my efforts to hide my bride and our twins from the council, it was futile. Ophiuchus gave me a choice...either you girls would be groomed as Zodiacs yourself, or my family would be purged from the timeline. You, Gemini, were selected to be trained... while Libra was left to be raised by my wife, whose memory of me was erased by Ophi... I changed my form when I took you to the future because...because I could not live with myself, having to abandon your mother and sister..." Copter was listening as well, and he couldn't help bringing up a question. "What's her real name? Becoming Zodiacs made them Gemini and Libra, so what are their real names?" he asked. Fred looked from Copter to Gemini awkwardly. "They've been known by their Zodiac names since they were toddlers... But ahh... Libra was meant to be named... Brittney. You, Gemini, were named for your mother...Gwen." he said, as though straining a bit to remember. Gemini held her wand close to her heart. "My...my mom's name... My name..." she murmured, lightly gasping as she felt Copter's hand on her shoulder. "Hi, Gwen, I'm Arthur." he chuckled. She had a slight blush. "Ahh, let's stick to Gemini and Copter, okay? Mom can keep her name, seeing as I never got to use it..."
Adam growled softly now that the story had been told. "How could that snake do that to Gemini's family?" Evelyn nodded, placing her arm around him. "Just be glad we weren't Zodiac material." she sighed. Timothy's eyes widened at that. "Hey, wait, why were you training me, then?" he asked. Fred didn't look at him as he continued onward. "Gemini needed a friend. Ophiuchus needed her to have a friend, too. Her journey to the past was part of the plan, you know. She was meant to leave her mark on the timeline... But I think Ophi underestimated the strength of the bonds she'd forge with people." he explained. Gemini gasped, glancing at Copter and Chopper. "Wait, Libra lives in this time! That means this is my time!" she declared. Fred stopped walking. "It doesn't matter when you're from, Gemini. You spent too much time growing up in the future. If the future were altered too drastically, you would cease to exist. It...might be best for everyone if you returned when this is all over." he sighed. Gemini took hold of Copter's hand, looking at her father desperately. "You don't know that! I could be meant to stay here!" she shouted. Fred glanced back at her, a light smile on his face. "You're right, I don't know. You must be the one to decide. I trust your decision won't be a selfish one..." he stated, returning to leading the way forward. "Selfish?" she questioned. Copter shook his head. "You're the least selfish person I know, Gemini. Don't read anything into that." he said, lifting his hand and yelping to notice it was holding hers. He let her hand go and continued onward, chuckling nervously. At the end of the hall they were walking, they arrived in an area where the walls actually resembled slimy honeycombs. Now they understood why Lospecter called this place a hive!
Of course, a hive meant bees, and out of the honeycombs came blue and green striped loswarm bugs, which did indeed swarm after them! "Ha! Bugs! That's it?" Adam laughed, twirling his laser. "Shaddap!" Chopper groaned, pointing lower as slimy losol were rushing to pool their power together and form losol golems! "Oh..." Adam gulped. Copter leapt into action, blowing Chaos Whirlwind at the loswarm before they could get their stingers into them. Adam and Evelyn backed him up with their lasers, while Chopper had a Wispon to work with. "Hey, are those guns just super-advanced Wispons?" Chopper asked, "How far in the future are YOU from??" he stammered. "Far enough that we needed a spell to stay stable here!" Evelyn chuckled. Gemini, Timothy and Fred were slinging spells at the losol golems to blow them apart, when Eve's words reminded Timothy. "Hey, doesn't Gemini need that spell?" he asked. Fred grunted, twirling his wand in an upwards arc to zap a loswarm bee as it came at him. "Hang on! Gemini! I need to place a protective spell on you!" he shouted. "Wait!" Chopper shouted, "You sure I don't need a protective spell? What protective spell? How's time got to do with it!?" he babbled. Gemini cast a barrier around herself and Fred as he neared her. "Think of it as a vaccine against the timeline breaking..." Gemini murmured. "Yes, but it's only a temporary protection, really. If time changes enough to stop our future existence, we will fade away eventually." Fred explained, casting his spell, "Chronokazam!" While Fred treated Gemini with the spell, Timothy poured on the power and zapped away the losol quickly! "Aaahh...hahh...gyah... So, I'm just a pawn and a hostage, huh? Not...worthy to be a Zodiac, huh? Well, how bout that?" he huffed. "Great, kid!" Copter shouted, "Don't get cocky..."
Working together, they passed the hive and soon found their way to the lab, where Libra was strapped to a table. She seemed to be passed out. Fred and Gemini ran to her side. "Libra! Is she...?" Gemini whimpered. Fred sighed in relief. "She's alive, just out cold." he murmured. Copter looked around at the lab equipment uneasily. "...Let's get her outta here, fast." he suggested. Fred lifted his wand to cast a spell, but before he could, he gasped in pain, and Gemini shrieked to see a deadly bolt of energy pierce her father's chest! "T-teacher!! Dad!!" she cried as her friends gasped in alarm. Fred clutched his wound. "G-gwen..." he breathed out, his last breath. The lion collapsed to the floor dead, and Gemini turned in rage to see Ophiuchus blocking the exit. "Zodiac traitors... I pass my judgement upon you!" he shouted. Copter looked from Fred to Ophi and gulped. "That attack... That was Deathbringer's..." he stammered. Ophi raised his hand, energy surrounding it. "My experiments are complete. Through rigorous torture, some of it just for fun, I have extracted Gemini's immunity to the Lost Ones, and applied it to myself! Then, I dug deep into Libra's mystical energies and recovered the power of the Deathbringer! With these powers combined, I can safely go and contact my past self, and set my history right!" he declared, holding up a wand in his other hand. Adam and Evelyn grit their teeth and aimed their lasers at him. "You think we'll let you after you killed Fred!?" Evelyn shouted. "He's about to kill us, too, isn't he?" Adam gulped. Ophi twirled his wand. "Morphicadabra!" he cast, transforming the lasers into snakes in their hands! As they freaked out, Ophi turned and cast another spell. "Chronokadabra! Fear not! When I overwrite time, you won't live to see this future!" he cackled. "You won't live to see any time!" Copter growled, chasing after him along with Gemini! Before they could enter the time portal, Timothy pointed his own wand at it. "Chronokadabra!" he shouted, altering the destination of the portal as Ophiuchus, Copter and Gemini vanished inside it! Chopper looked at him with alarm. "Where'd they just go??" he stammered. Timothy's eyes narrowed. "I sent them home..." he said.
Copter and Gemini stumbled into a desolate landscape. The world, for miles, was burning in blue flames. The ground they stood upon seemed to be part of a large mass of rubble. Unrecognizable. Gemini looked around. "This isn't the past, this is the future... But it's changed!" she said. Copter realized what rubble they were standing on. It was the remains of Shadow Arcangel. They were in the Mystic Ruins. "Looks worse than the last time I saw the future, even... Hey, where's Ophiuchus??" he grunted. They heard a furious howl to the left. "What have you fools done!? Why won't you let me do what must be done!? Don't you understand!? Look at this world!!" Ophiuchus shouted, holding up his arms to the horizon, "Look at it crumble!" Indeed, looking out into the distance, they could see the earth itself was breaking apart and slowly rising into space. Ophiuchus turned towards them. "Only I have the power to shepherd a dimension to safety... To protect a populace in a realm outside of time, where the Lost Ones cannot destroy them! Only my world can live forever..." he declared. Copter stepped towards the snake with clenched fists. "I've seen how you rule. Any world of yours...won't be worth living in!" he shouted. Gemini stepped to Copter's side, wand at the ready. "Besides, we'll stop this future! We'll create a world of freedom and peace!" she promised. Ophiuchus stared at them a moment, then started to laugh, loud and maniacally, as he backed himself into the blue flames, which did not burn him since he had taken the immunity from Gemini. "Idealistic fools! Just like Astra! Just like all of them! I'm going to do to you children what you did to me, now!" he cackled, holding up his wand which glowed brilliantly, as did his eyes. "I'll leave you for dead in this nothing world... Never to be seen again!!"
As Copter and Gemini looked on, Ophiuchus began to transform, rising into the air and letting out a roar as his body twisted and grew into that of a massive serpent monster! His eyes glowed yellow, but unlike a morph there were no pupils to be seen now, his draconian face snarling in a crazed manner! He no longer had arms and legs, but glowing wings sprouted at various sections of his back, spread out several feet and blowing small whirlwinds with each flap! Copter and Gemini held onto one another, standing their ground against those whirlwinds together. The monstrous serpent laughed at them with a deep voice. "You're in over your head, younglings! I trained for centuries to hone my power! How could you possibly hope to match my strength!?" he snarled. Gemini brought her wand to Copter, and the pair of them held it together. "There's one power you never found in all that time, Ophiuchus!" Copter smirked. "Oh? And what's that!?" the snake scoffed, leering down at them. Gemini looked at Copter, eyes meeting, and she gave him a confident smile. "A spell more powerful than any other..." she said softly, turning toward Ophiuchus and raising the wand along with Copter. "Love's Light!!" They spoke it at once as though casting a spell, and in response, the wand glowed brilliantly, enveloping them in a warm light. Then, Gemini's wand vanished in a small burst of sparkles, and Ophiuchus snorted at them. "Pathetic. Pitiful... Eh?" his insults were interrupted, as Copter and Gemini each started to glow themselves, their own divine wings sprouting once more, not only at will this time, and not only intangible glowing wings... They were glowing angelic wings, resembling those of Whisk or other powerful Divines. They flapped those wings and rose up, staring Ophiuchus in his glowing eyes. Their full magical power had awakened. "Zodiac traitor... We pass OUR divine judgement on YOU!!" they shouted, pointing at the serpent defiantly.
The blue flames surrounding Ophiuchus swirled around his serpent body, and collected around his head before he blew it at Copter and Gemini like a dragon's breath! The pair were forced to separate, their wings carrying them in opposite directions! Ophiuchus had said he "took" the immunity from Gemini, but whether that meant she'd actually lost it was a question they didn't want answered. Instead, they moved to the side of the giant snake monster, and raised their hands toward it. "Solare!!" They both cast powerful beams of light at once, but it only seemed to irritate Ophiuchus, who flew in a circular path to attack both of them with his jaws! Each fox evaded the attack and added more spells to the assault. "Poppration!" Copter shouted, striking him with fireworks! "Oblastion!" Gemini cried, hitting the snake with a large explosion! Ophiuchus roared angrily, glaring at them. "Childish games! My magic is far beyond yours... Hypnoconquera!!" he shouted, attempting to control their minds and end the battle instantly! Copter grunted as the spell struck his mind, grabbing his head. "That's it... Obey me! Aries, kill Gemini, now!" the serpent ordered. Gemini looked at him with worry as Copter lowered his hand, staring off into space. He turned slowly towards Gemini. He raised his hand. He...winked at her. "Chillazim!" he shouted, turning toward Ophiuchus suddenly and hurling a freezing spell his way! The snake erected a barrier and snarled in aggravation. "Impossible! Your mind is too weak to resist my control! You're a being ruled by primal urges and dark impulses, the shadow of the fox you're copied from!" he growled. "Oh, you're thinking of Aries, dude... He's dead now." Copter smirked, "My name is Arthur Prower, and I've got a light to guide me away from your darkness... Her name is Gwen Leo!" he declared. Gemini tilted her head, but then blushed a bright red. "Oo-oh! Y-you're talking about me! R-right!" she stammered.
Ophiuchus rolled his eyes. "You persist with this love narrative? Fine, perhaps it grants you the strength of will to avoid my mental control. But know this!" he shouted, flying up and coiling his body in the sky above them, "I can cast invented spells using mere words, too! And you're breaking Zodiac's law in choosing love... So I end you with... Divine Judgement!!" Glowing halos surrounded Ophiuchus, and they glowed brighter with terrible, crackling energy as they charged power! Gemini and Copter glanced at one another anxiously, unsure what to expect. "I end you...now!!" Ophiuchus snarled, sending the halos spinning towards the pair, homing in on them! Copter and Gemini took off, trying to escape the attacks, but the powerful halos were fast! Copter was struck in the back, then the leg, tearing his pants! Gemini wasn't faring much better, getting cuts and nicks in her clothing as the apparently sharp halos struck her! "W-we have t-to do something!" she gasped, looking towards Copter with eyes widening as she saw the halo pierce one of his wings! He started to fall, and she cried out. "Copter, no!! Ack! G-get away!!" A shockwave of magical energy burst from her, and without speaking her spell, she warped out of the halo barrage and appeared under Copter, grabbing his hand as he fell! He started to twirl his tails to carry himself a bit, and looked at her with a smile. "Sorry, Gem... Don't mean to always drag you down..." he sighed. Gemini hugged him into her arms and kissed him deeply, but quickly. "You don't drag me down. You lift me up." she told him. Watching this display, Ophiuchus groaned. "Divine Judgement!! Finish them!!" he roared. More halos were being charged, and the duo couldn't let them surround them. Gemini looked at Copter and smirked. "Ya still got one wing. Let's power up together! Charize!" she started to fill Copter's body with magical energy, his single wing glowing brighter. "Two can play this game. Charize!" he grinned, charging up her power as well!
The powerful halos started to home in on them, but the duo quickly warped away, right in front of Ophiuchus! "You dare look me in the face!? I'll devour you!" he snarled, opening his jaw in preparation to do just that! Copter and Gemini's wings glowed brilliantly with charged power, and they pointed a finger each into the serpent's gaping maw. "This is for my Father..." Gemini whispered, "Abra-Kadabra!!" she cried, Copter following suit without knowing why. The result was spectacular and terrible. It was as though casting every spell at once, concentrating them all into a beam of light, fire, ice, wind, explosions, fireworks, balls transforming into plasma, all kinds of magic swirled into Ophiuchus' gaping mouth! He groaned and roared in pain, his serpent belly expanding from all the magic filling it! Finally, Ophiuchus exploded in a burst of fireworks...hiccupping fireworks, somehow! This took all of Gemini and Copter's divine power, and Copter was forced to fly her back to earth with his tails, though she did find her wand returned to her free hand. As they landed, Gemini jumped in a giddy fashion. "Haha! I always wanted to use that spell! ...but it doesn't work unless your magic power is strong. Super strong!" she said, looking at Copter with a big smile. Copter smiled back, but the destroyed world around them brought down the mood quickly. "Better head back..." he said. "Right... Chronokadabra!" Gemini said, creating the portal that would return them to the present.
Libra was awake, and helping Adam, Evelyn, Chopper and Timothy to fend off the Lost Ones charging into the lab as Lospecter watched. "Just a matter of time, chumps..." the ghost taunted. However, Gemini and Copter emerged from the portal in a moment, and Gemini slung a spell at Lospecter to distract him while the group gathered around Fred's body. "Too bad, Ophi's gone! And now so are we!" Copter taunted as Gemini cast the spell to warp the group out of the Lost One Hive! Lospecter rubbed his eyes, but snickered. "Still got what we needed from him..." he grinned.
They picked up Dr. Nammad at the entrance, and together the group found a quiet spot to lay Fred's body to rest. Adam, Evelyn and Chopper were busy digging a hole while Gemini and Libra knelt by the body to say their goodbyes. "It isn't fair... I never even knew him. But he was our father?" Libra sniffled. Copter nodded. "He said your name is Brittney." he told her. Libra shook her head. "I appreciate that, but... I'm always gonna be Libra." Gemini nodded. "And I'll always be Gemini... But I'm glad we know now. He did what he did to protect us, and though he couldn't protect us fully... I'm gonna miss him..." she sniffed. Timothy wiped a tear from his eye. "He was like a dad to me, too..." he murmured. "Unngh! Well, that oughta be deep enough..." Adam grunted. "I'm not sure Demon Island's the right place to bury him..." Evelyn sighed. Gemini looked at the lion's body and took his hand in hers. "Goodbye, father... Thank you for taking care of me..." she said tearfully. As her tear dropped onto his hand, Fred's body glowed, and vanished into a thousand particles of magic before their eyes! The group watched this in awe, and then Adam groaned. "Bury me in the hole, then..." he whined. "Leave it. We, uh, may have further use of it..." Nammad said ominously. All that remained of Fred was his wand, which Gemini picked up and handed to Libra. "He'd want you to have it." she said. Libra hugged her. "Thanks, sis... Now, how do we beat those monsters?" she asked. Copter frowned. "...I wish we knew..."
Gator's Crazy Adventure!!
The GUN Warship shook. Though GUN had attempted to launch a counterattack on the Lost Ones, they were the ones caught by surprise instead. While heroes aboard the ship scurried about battling the invading undead creatures as best they could, Gator sat in front of a computer screen scratching his...hood. "Stupid machine! Order my pizza! Oh, and I need to make a call." Gator said, smacking the keyboard as if that would make it listen to him. Zooey fell backwards into his chair, holding one of GUN's artificial Chaos Swords in her hands. "What are you doing?! Now's not the time for social media!" she shouted, swinging the sword to knock back a loskel as it approached. "You're just jealous 'cuz I have a bigger role in this story than you!" Gator said a bit smugly. Watch it, Gator, you may never have a role again. At any rate, Agent 77, or "Steven," poked his head out from behind the computer terminal, having been hiding. He'd made it this far from the Death Row facility, but, "I wasn't trained for monsters! What do I do??" he stammered. Gator looked up at him. "Hey, purple-glasses, can you get this thing to call someone?" he asked. Steven gulped, cautiously stepping around the computer, watching Zooey fending off the Lost Ones as best she could with merely a sword. "Ahh... Who are we calling?" Steven asked, quickly bringing up a communications app. Gator looked around at the chaos in the area. Zooey wasn't the only one fighting off monsters. "I gotta call 2BIT. This whole zombie apocalypse thing isn't funny anymore." he murmured. Steven scratched his head. "Ahh, 2BIT? That a codename? Err, what's the phone number?" he asked. "Phone number??" Gator babbled, "Umm... There's this blocky guy, I think his name is...Blocky, and, uhh..." Steven could just stare at him blankly, and even Gator realized that this wasn't working. "Well, I'll figure out how to call them! Gator, away!" he cried, suddenly vanishing in a burst of smoke! "WE WERE IN THE SKY!!?" he could be heard yelling outside. He'll be fine. With the computer free, however, Steven sat down and typed at the keyboard, engaging a security protocol that slammed the doors to the room shut. "That should keep more of those monsters from getting in..." he sighed. "Great, great... I think we're gonna crash, but great..." Zooey grumbled, backing away from approaching creatures with sword in hand...
To be continued...
"Hey, wait, I'm supposed to comment something! Uhh... Where's my pizza?" - Gator
