Sonic GeneX: Doomsday
Chapter 52 - The Dark Morph
Stage 24 - Chemical Plant
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related OCs are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
"Like a million faces, I've recognized them all,
And one by one they've all become
A number as they fall! (as they fall!)
In the face of reason, I can take no more.
One by one they've all become
A black mark on the floor!
Is it me, (Is it me)
You say (You say), you're looking for?
Let me show you who I am and what I have in store... (in store...)" - What I'm Made Of, Sonic Heroes
Previously on GeneX…
Tails and Skye set out to find the time machine with Fera and Alpha joining them. Their search took them to Demon Island, where they were joined by Conan and Emily, and the time machine's tracker led them to a location the Lost One-controlled island had assimilated; Eggman's Chemical Plant.
Raven the Dark appeared to warn them against using the time machine, leading to a face-off between factions of the group each wanting to time travel for their own reasons. The battle was interrupted when Darkosmo swooped down to capture Skye, but grabbed Emily by mistake! As he fled with his hostage, Conan put aside his differences with the group in order to try and save her!
Now, our tale continues...
Darkosmo flew up the side of a tall building, and the only real way to get up was to climb on strange yellow cubes. To this day, Tails had no idea what the purpose of those cubes was, but they were the only way Conan and Fera could feasibly get up there. Alpha started to fly up ahead. "Bye bye, doggies! I must chase squirrel!" he babbled. Conan scoffed and leapt up to the first cube. "Let's not dawdle!" he shouted. "Wait, can't he fly?" Skye pointed out. "I don't think he's in a hurry to get his tail handed to him." Fera huffed. As they started their climb, Lospecter floated down towards them. "I've got my share of stuff to do, but I thought I'd have a laugh before I go..." he smirked. The group tried to ignore him, attempting to keep their footing as the blocky stairs turned around themselves. Tails stumbled and then started to fly to right himself, grabbing onto Skye to help him as well. Lospecter wasn't keen on being ignored, though. "I just don't command the respect I used to. Well, see how ya like this!" he smirked, snapping his fingers. At his command, the slimed chemicals started to rise from a grate in the ground, beginning to flood the area and chase the group as they climbed! "This stuff will really eat away at ya... At your soul, that is! Have a good swim, kids!" the ghost cackled, flying off! Tails gulped. "I always hated this part! Let's move! Faster!" he gasped. The golden cape on Conan's back changed into the glowing Chaos Wings, and he started to fly up quickly. "Good luck!" he shouted. "You need me for the time machine!!" Skye shouted. Groaning, Conan flew back and grabbed him. "You're lucky you're not heavy!" he complained, carrying Skye up and leaving Tails and Fera to race the rising "lost-chemicals!"
Below, the jaws of losharks gnashed at the surface of the liquid. Above, robots were attached to some walls, dropping laser balls down towards Tails and Fera. The wolf staggered to avoid these lasers as she leapt from cube to cube, trying to avoid falling into the approaching liquid. "If just one thing could stop taking up my concentration, I'd thrash those machines in two seconds!!" she snarled. Tails tried to fly his way up, but he had to land quickly to avoid the falling lasers, and to avoid getting squashed by moving cubes. "Yeah, not sure how we're gonna get by!" he gulped. As if in response, Alpha reappeared from the top of the building, and started shooting at the other robots on the way down! "Bad porcupines! Leave my puppies alone!" Alpha shouted. "H-he's really helping us??" Tails stammered. "Only I can make a fur coat out of my puppies!!" the robot added, shooting down at the losharks in a crazed manner. Fera warped herself up to a higher block and glanced down. "I'd say to keep one eye on that one, but I only have the one to spare myself..." she sighed. Tails flew up past Alpha and joined Fera as they neared the top of their climb. Angry, the snarling losharks seemed to somehow speed up the rising liquid! "Doodlebugs! Ahh! I said a bad word!" Alpha gasped, flying back up quickly. Tails was briefly worried about the increase in flooding speed, but Alpha grabbed both him and Fera on the way back up. "Hey! Unhand me!! I won't trust my life to a machine, least of all you!!" Fera shouted, struggling. However, they landed safely, and the liquid stopped rising just before the top. Alpha set Tails and Fera down and ran to catch up with Conan and Skye. "But you'll trust the time machine?" Tails replied to Fera's earlier shout. "Ah... Wait, so are you!" she retorted. "Supporting my son. That's different." Tails replied, following after Alpha. Fera pouted, following behind him.
They found Conan and Skye at a bit of a crossroads. Skye was looking at the ProwerPhone that Aurora had given him. "The time machine's close, we should follow the signal. We've lost the morph's trail anyway." he said. Conan looked around. "I'm certain he wants to be found, and by Chaos, I'll make him regret it! With or without you!" he snapped. Tails rubbed his chin. "I'd half expect to find Dark Kosmo with the time machine anyway." he murmured. Fera sighed and stepped to Conan. "Well, I'm not letting this fool out of my sight. He's bound to do something that we all end up regretting." she huffed. Conan scoffed at her, while Alpha stepped toward Skye, who hastily hid his ProwerPhone behind his back. "H-hey there, buddy! What's up?" he asked with a soft chuckle. Alpha turned his robotic head all the way around. "Let's charge into battle, sarge! I'll cover you! Where's the blanket?" the robot babbled. "Huh?" Skye murmured. He had to think about it a bit, but it seemed Alpha was choosing to help him. Which was good, because Tails started to follow after Fera and Conan. "D-do you think you'll be alright, Skye? It's just, if they do find Dark Kosmo, I think they'll need my help. Keep your head down and let Alpha do the fighting, okay?" he suggested. "Don't worry, dad, I'll be fine. Do what you need to do." he told him. Conan and Fera were already leaving by this point. "If any of you are coming, hurry it up!" the raccoon shouted. Tails scampered after them, while Skye carefully took the ProwerPhone back out to check the tracker. "Alright, Alpha, it's you and me..." he murmured. "Okay, fluffy Char!" Alpha replied, confusing the fox a little.
Raven had found Darkosmo first. It was a pretty large rooftop littered with smoke stacks where he had tied up Emily. "What's the point of all this?" Raven asked him, "The Lost Ones will actually destroy the world, and Xezek got killed for that!" she shouted. Emily looked at her with sympathy. "I'm sorry for your loss. It's been a pretty awful day, hasn't it?" she said, only for Darkosmo to cover her mouth with tape. "Eggman is remarkably prepared for these kinds of situations, I have to give that to him." he grumbled, glancing at Raven, "If only I could tape your mouth shut without you poofing away!" he growled. Raven growled back at him. "What exactly is wrong with you? Do you WANT those monsters to eat you when this is all over? No one's seen Zapp, Thrash or Vanitas lately, and I've got a bad feeling about them, too!" she warned. Darkosmo morphed into her and mocked her voice. "Ahh, I'm so scared, help me, help me! Oh won't you save my ass?!" Then he changed back and spat in her general direction. "Maybe you're a bit too young to know, but I tried to destroy the world before it was 'cool!' I have no love for you or the other Darks, you're no siblings of mine! I never even bothered to make up a dumb name to separate myself from my weak half, because I don't CARE! Once the Lost Ones kill the world, I'll kill them! And don't even try to get in my way!" He then surprised Raven with a sudden kick to her gut, knocking her to the floor! "You bastard!" shouted Conan as he approached, "Untie Emily this instant!" Tails and Fera followed behind him. "Watch yourself, Conan, he's a damn morph!" the wolf grunted. Tails nodded. "And he's a morph who won't listen to reason, I think..." he said. Darkosmo snarled. "How right you are. Now, at long last, I'll be able to take my revenge on you, Tails the Fox!!"
"First, a hostage exchange! If you want this girl, hand over the boy!" Darkosmo told them. However, a brief glance around the area easily told him that Skye wasn't there. "Hold on, you split up? What is it with you idiots and splitting up? Gah, I should have seen that coming!" the morph growled. Conan grabbed Tails by the arm, making him yelp. "I can hand over this boy! Is he not valuable enough to your masters?" he asked. Fera stood in his way, however. "Try it. I dare you." she growled, dark energy glowing on her fingers. It didn't matter, because Darkosmo wasn't biting. "I can kill him anytime. But if the kid goes backwards in time, it may just erase my body and put me back in the prison that is my weaker self! I need that twerp now!" he snarled, apparently not putting together that killing Tails would take out Skye anyway, and certainly no one was about to make that point for him. "Well, this is a waste of time! Guess I'll just kill my hostage!" he growled, turning towards Emily only to see Raven at her side! "You shouldn't have attacked me! Find yourself a new hostage!" Raven scoffed, teleporting away along with Emily! "You still have such a way with people, Dark Kosmo! Shame you haven't learned anything the way regular Kosmo has!" Tails said with a smirk as Conan released his arm. Darkosmo glared at him, growling. "What exactly did he learn? Compassion? Friendship? Love? Spare me! His weakness got him killed, and led to my creation! Only the strong should survive, and I'm the strongest there is!" The morph started to glow, preparing to transform! Fera, Tails and Conan stepped back, watching and realizing that they'd have to work together if they wanted to survive this...!
Tails expected to see the Kosmogon again, and while he wasn't wrong, Darkosmo still managed to surprise him. The dark morph took on a larger, more terrifying draconic form, complete with three heads, three whiplike tails, and four strong wings on its back! He'd become a mutant hydra! The three heads spoke in unison, their glowing eyes glaring at each of the smaller mobians fiercely. "They say these chemicals will do things to you... Maybe I should drop you in and see!" the Hydrasmo snarled! Conan took to the air using the Chaos Wing. "I'd rather see if you'll grow more heads after I cut one off, demon!" he shouted. Fera glanced at Tails with a calculating expression. "If there were ever a time for your Relic..." she murmured. "You're right!" Tails gasped, producing both tailbands in his hands. He then surprised Fera by tossing one to her! "You'll need a little help, too!" he said. Fera looked at the golden band, stammering a bit. "I...work in the dark. Not the light." she protested. Tails slipped the single band onto one of his tails. "It's time you tried something new!" he told the wolf. "Cut the chatter, down there! As amazing as I am, there's only so much of this I can handle on my own!" Conan shouted. Hydrasmo was chasing him through the air, between the smokestacks, blowing both actual flames and dark flames at Conan from either of his side heads' mouths. "Lure him back low! We're not going super here!" Tails shouted. Fera scoffed, and slipped the tailband on her tail. "You could have. If you die, it's your own fault!" she snapped. Tails glanced at her with a smile. "I don't think you'll let that happen, buddy!" he winked. Conan crashed to the ground between them, the Chaos Cards scattering out of his hands as Hydrasmo loomed over the group. "Enough appetizer... Now for the main course!!" his heads hissed!
Fera scooped up a couple of the dropped Chaos Cards as she walked by Conan. They'd need every advantage they could get if they were going to beat a morph. Two of the three heads darted down towards the canines, planning to snap them up in their teeth! But Tails and Fera gave them each a good smack with their band-powered tails! Darkosmo growled, the third head foaming at the mouth with flames! "Cool off!" Fera shouted, holding up one of the cards and summoning a burst of water to douse the fire! They'd managed to delay Hydrasmo long enough for Conan to start moving again, but he was hurt and they needed to draw the morph's attention away or he'd likely be killed. Fortunately, help arrived as Raven landed on top of his middle head! She gave him a kick, and his left head turned to snarl at her. "What kind of idiot are you?! Want them to erase you? Have you put back in the body-box you came from?!" he snapped. "Maybe. I don't know! I know I don't want the world you and those monsters offer!" she replied, flying up a bit to avoid the flames spouted from the head glaring at her! Fera vanished in a burst of black energy, getting up on the hydra's back! "Hit me here, I dare you!" she smirked. Hydrasmo started to flap into the air, trying to shake her off as she held on! Tails followed after them, trying to find a good opening to strike the morph in some way. "Keep hanging on, Fera! He can't hurt you back there!" he shouted. "I'll hurt somebody!!" Darkosmo shouted, "Or I'll make somebody do it for me!! KOSMOS!!" As the three heads flailed about, the six glowing eyes shot out beams that would darken the mind of anyone struck by them! Tails took cover under the morph to avoid them, but Conan could barely move! To protect him, Raven teleported in front of him, taking the attack! "Well, that does me no good..." Conan gasped as he saw Raven turn his way, a crazed look in her eyes!
"Conan!!" Emily had come back, and in her concern, she'd given her position away to the crazed Raven. She snarled, her eyes swirling with rage! Conan had to act fast. He grabbed a card and held it up. "Buzz off, birdbrain!" he shouted, summoning a strong wind that blew Raven backward! During the distractions, Tails managed to fly up onto Hydrasmo's back with Fera. "Hopefully Conan and Emily can manage without us. Now, how are we gonna knock out this morph?" he asked. "You're asking me?? You're the one who's done this before!" Fera snapped. The three heads were all turned to look at them. "Why don't I put an end to this very simply?" those heads hissed. Before Tails and Fera could act, they were suddenly grabbed by the long tails of the morph wrapping around their bodies! Hydrasmo then took to the air again, flying off the roof and over a large vat of slime-mixed chemicals, filled with hungry losharks! "One of us needs a plan, fast!" Tails shouted. Darkosmo cackled in triumph. "My plan is to watch you both be shredded by sharks! Then, I'll take my time ripping apart your puny little friends!" he roared. Fera reached her hand towards Tails. "Do you trust me?!" she cried. The morph dropped them, and Tails grabbed her hand as they started to fall. "Completely!" Tails cried. Gritting her teeth, Fera first tossed her remaining cards upwards, creating a series of explosions to conceal them from view! "Hey! I want to watch!!" Darkosmo snarled. High above, Tails and Fera reappeared through a dark warp, and they started to plummet towards the distracted morph at high speed! "This is like..." Tails started, "...A Double Boost!!" Fera finished. Darkosmo heard them and looked up, but it was too late to stop their descent! "Wait, NO!!" he roared as the duo spun around, smacking him forcefully with all the might of the tailbands channeled into their tails at once!
Though Darkosmo tried to fly, his draconic form was too heavy to make up for the force of the impact, and he roared defiantly as he plummeted into the chemicals, the losharks leaping out and diving back onto him in order to enjoy their meal...of his soul. Tails grabbed Fera's arm again before she could fall, and with all the might his two tails could muster, he started to fly them back to the rooftop. There, they found a slightly disoriented but otherwise back to normal Raven, as well as Conan and Emily working together to finish collecting the Chaos Cards. "Well, I think we've got maybe a few minutes before a Lost-Dark-Kosmo bursts out of there and comes after us, so it might be good to run and find Skye now." Tails told them. Raven nodded. "I'll port out anyone who wants to join me." she said, "Best to get far away from this place..." Conan stood up with the full deck and nodded. "Emily and I will join you... I think... We'll make up for lost time in our own way." he said, glancing at her. Emily smiled warmly. "I'd like that." she said, hugging him. "Aww..." Tails said with a soft chuckle before turning to Fera. "I'm still going with you..." she said, making his ears droop briefly at the implication. "However..." Fera added, "I've decided not to alter my past. Something about what doesn't kill you making you stronger, I suppose. And what do I want, to be weak?" she asked, starting to walk away. Tails tilted his head as he watched her. "Besides..." she added, "We'd never meet, and then what would you do without me?" she smirked, glancing back. She then offered him her fist, and smiling broadly, Tails gave it a bump with his. "Alright! Let's get a move on, buddy!" he said cheerfully. Raven stepped over to Conan and Emily, warping them away as Tails and Fera set out to find Skye...
Soon enough, they found Skye and Alpha. "Everything okay, dad?" Skye asked. Tails nodded. "More or less. Any luck with the time machine?" he asked. Skye chuckled awkwardly. "Well..." he murmured, glancing at Alpha. Fera glared at the robot. "Ohh, you broke it and made this whole trip for nothing. Well now I'll smash you!" she snarled. "No, don't!" Skye cried, blocking her, "...he IS the time machine now." Fera's one eye notably bulged, and Tails' eyes widened in surprise, too. "Whaaaat?!" they shouted at once. Alpha's head popped open, and an odd antennae and satellite dish popped out. Also, a hatch on his chassis opened, revealing the two identical Chaos Emeralds installed. Skye rubbed his head awkwardly. "The Lost Ones had trashed the machine when I got there, so I... I kinda used Alpha for replacement parts..." he explained. Alpha raised his arms in reverence. "I have transcended! I have seen the ultimate truth!" the robot declared. "Err... Y-you have?" Tails asked cautiously. Alpha suddenly did a disco pose, pointing up in the air. "The ultimate truth of dance! Feel the power!!" he shouted, starting to spin and groove as his speakers played some music Tails could swear he'd heard before. Skye twiddled his thumbs at that. "Seems his... personality... is part of the soul he got from GeneX energy being used in his creation." he murmured, "But don't worry! I control the time travel element using the ProwerPhone, he can't control it!" he assured them. Fera let out an exasperated sigh at that. "So, now that we have it, what do we do with it?" she questioned. Tails looked thoughtful. "Anywhere in the past we go, the Zodiac Council would notice us..." he stated, "...except for one place, that's so temporally messed up that they'd never notice!" he realized. Skye tilted his head. "Ah, really? Where to, then?" he asked. Tails chuckled softly. "Well, I guess you might call it... A Time Collision!"
To be continued...
