GeneX Generations
Chapter 13 - Dimension in Crisis
Stage - Crisis City, Flame Core - Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Additional Stage - Shadow Arcangel - GeneX Series
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
"Because the pressures of this world, they can take their toll,
And it's tough to get away when they take a hold.
The only way to break free is to break the mold.
You can't stop now, lock and load!
Don't stop now, c'mon, rock n' roll!!" - His World, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
The story thus far:
Dr. Eggman has revealed his plot! He teamed up with Gunner and his younger self, Dr. Robotnik, launching the Egg Carrier and a GUN Warship over white space. They summoned and controlled the monster, which Eggman called Time Eater, and used the power of a Chaos Emerald to enable it to complete a doorway leading to a new area. With Copter trapped aboard the GUN Warship, Dimentime and a group of others followed Sonic through the door and found themselves at the ruins of Station Square as it was being attacked by Perfect Chaos! While Sonic took on Chaos, the Egg Carrier began firing its superlaser at Dimentime and the others, forcing them to struggle to find cover! Meanwhile, Copter obtained the GUN Warship's Chaos Emerald, only to be attacked by the Diablotron, controlled by Gunner! When things were looking bleak, Razor took the GUN Warship's controls and moved it into the path of the Egg Carrier's superlaser, protecting their friends below and vaporizing the Diablotron in the process! Gunner escaped the warship with Guard, while Copter and his friends jumped into the flooded city below. Perfect Chaos soon knocked out the Egg Carrier with a water geyser, forcing Eggman and Robotnik to flee as well. Sonic then managed to defeat Chaos and fish out the Chaos Emerald, which Copter had dropped upon landing in the water. After returning to white space, Sonic & Tails noticed a frozen Chaos Emerald and moved ahead to check it out, while Copter, Dimentime, and the others received a message from SPOT, written by Bucky, which invited them all to Shadow Arc to discuss their next move in the battle with Dr. Eggman!
Now, on to the next chapter!
Sonic and Classic Sonic had found another city in ruins. This one, however, was not drowned in water, but burning in flames. Unlike every other place they had been to thus far, however, neither of them had any memory of this place. They split up to check out the ruined city, and as they explored, Sonic soon came across a familiar face. It was Silver the Hedgehog, and he was holding the white Chaos Emerald! "Hey, Silver!" Sonic said, waving. At first, Silver hid the emerald behind his back, but realizing this was futile, he glanced at Sonic suspiciously. "Sonic? Is that really you? Or are you some kind of fake, sent for the Chaos Emeralds?" he asked. Sonic raised an eyebrow. "A fake? Can a fake run like THIS??" he said, taking off at incredible speed down the ruined highway ahead of them! Silver immediately followed after him, using his psychic powers to levitate in the air. "I don't know... Eggman Nega's pretty good at building things... How do I know you're not a very convincing fake? I'd better test you a bit more thoroughly..." he said, smirking as he flicked his wrist and used his powers to pick up some cars and hurl them at Sonic, forcing him to both dodge and slow down at the same time, enabling the silver hedgehog to catch up a bit! However, they continued moving, both speeding down the wrecked road as they started their battle...
Meanwhile, almost everyone else who was trapped in white space had gathered in the control room of Shadow Arcangel. Bucky and Zipp were hosting the meeting, and were seated near the ship's controls as the others were arriving. Copter, Dimentime, Knuckles, Rouge, Big, Cream, Amy, Omega, SPOT, Razor, Tommy, Illusi, Punchy, Rainbow, Gator, and even Kosmo had shown up for the meeting. A couple of them had even brought snacks, as per Bucky's request. Knuckles brought grapes from Sky Sanctuary Zone, Gator brought cans of Chaos Soda from City Escape, Big had brought some fish he'd caught in his spare time, and Cream brought cookies and chips she'd bought from a store around Speed Highway. Rouge crossed her arms. "Why are we wasting time with snacks?!" she grumbled. "Excuuuuse me, I haven't eaten since the monster swallowed my ship up!!" Bucky snapped. "Robots do not require such time consuming procedures..." Omega complained. "Hey! All this cola is mine! Hands off!" Gator objected as people reached for something to drink. Copter snatched a can from him and growled. "Some of us have been fighting all... week! Gimme!" he grumbled. Bucky chuckled. "Actually, Copter, according to my and Tails's calculations, there is no actual time here." he said. Knuckles stopped munching his grapes and stared at Bucky. "Huh?? Tails? What are you talking about?" he stammered. Razor nodded. "Tails has been coming here between trips with Sonic, especially after his robot got busted." he explained. "Who do you think fixed Copter's plane? Vortex, wherever he is?" Zipp chuckled. Bucky nodded. "The young Mr. Prower was quite helpful and enthusiastic. He repaired everything, including my ship... although it now requires repairs once again... I was lucky to walk away from the crash. If Kosmo hadn't shown up to catch the ship as it spun out of control, we might not be meeting here now..." he explained. Everyone stared at Kosmo, who had been standing off to the side inconspicuously up to this point. "Hey! Everyone knows Bucky's the big genius around here, aside from Eggman! He's our best chance of getting out of this white prison!" Kosmo pointed out. "How'd you catch a giant ship, Three?" Rainbow asked. "Um... Remember? I can be a huge dragon?" Kosmo sighed. "All right, I guess he's with us... weird as it sounds..." Amy said, "Now what are we all doing here, anyway??" Dimentime cleared his throat. "Listen up! I saw the truth up there on the Egg Carrier. The monster that brought us all here... Eggman calls it Time Eater. He's controlling it! He's behind everything, and it seems like it's all mostly to get to Sonic!" he said. Big stared blankly. "What's a Time Eater...? Oh, I get it! You mean it's time to eat! Where do I fry up the fish I brought?" he asked. Half the group shook their heads in annoyance. "Ever heard of sushi?" Razor muttered. "These fish aren't good for sushi..." Big sighed. "Will ya stop talking about food!!" Punchy shouted, "What do ya mean Eggman's just after Sonic? He came after us!" he pointed out. Cream shrugged. "Well, we were around Sonic..." she said. Bucky shook his head. "It doesn't matter why. What matters is determining his next move, stopping him, and getting us all back home! Preferably fixing the damage done to time and space while we're at it. For all of this, we must work together..." he said. Amy raised her hand. "What about Sonic?" she asked. "Ooooh, Sonic. Some good he is, running off without talking to anyone! All he's good for is target practice!" Zipp teased. Amy growled. "You take that back!!" Illusi grabbed her by the arm and shook his head. "I wouldn't... He's got guns..." he warned. Amy pouted. "I'm so gonna tell Sonic..." she growled. Bucky sighed. "Zipp, behave. We cannot rely on Sonic. He's taking too long, and he's not waiting around to listen to us. Let's instead split up and investigate the areas of interest around this white world. For... sanity's sake, I'll leave it to you to assemble into teams among yourselves. Report to me for your assignments." he said. Everyone seemed hesitant at first, but then Knuckles spoke up. "Beats sitting around doing nothing. If the man has a plan, let's go!" he said. So, everyone began assembling into teams. Copter and Dimentime were quickly joined by Punchy and Rainbow. "I don't wanna work with ol' Red or Kosmo, so it looks like 'Team Copter' is back together..." Punchy said. Bucky walked over to them with SPOT. "...Cute. Well, Two... Seems Tails's robot is fond of you, so I'm putting you in charge of finding the remaining Chaos Emeralds." he said. Copter scratched his head. "Why? Sonic's just gonna take them again..." he grumbled. Bucky rolled his eyes. "Don't you think we might need all seven? Help him along! This robot can detect them! For some reason Tails didn't think to pick it up." he said. Dimentime smirked. "Sonic probably left too fast for him to suggest it." he joked. So, with Punchy, Rainbow, and SPOT in their group, Copter and Dimentime exited the ship and began their search.
They started heading towards the fiery city that the Sonics were exploring: Crisis City. SPOT was picking up a signal in that direction, but before they could reach it, Classic Sonic emerged from the city and found a statue of Blaze the Cat frozen nearby. As he ran up to her, she unfroze, and quickly leapt up to a high point on a nearby structure at the entrance to the city. After looking around briefly, she jumped back down and looked at Classic Sonic. "I wish I hadn't needed your help, Sonic, but thank you. By the way, you seem to look less...spiky." she said, prompting Sonic to look over his spikes again, much like when he met up with Cream. As Team Copter was arriving with SPOT, Modern Sonic was also emerging from Crisis City, and Tails and Classic Tails came from nearby as well. "Hey, everybody. What's up? Why do you have SPOT, Copter?" Tails asked. Blaze looked around awkwardly. "Why... are there two of everyone?" she mumbled. "That's not true! There isn't two of me!" Rainbow pointed out. Tails looked at SPOT's monitor. "Chaos Emerald detected." he read. Sonic held up the white Chaos Emerald. "You mean this? Yeah, five down, two to go!" he smirked. Copter growled. "Stupid Bucky! He gave us busy work! Well, that tears it! You take the robot and find the remaining emeralds yourself!" Copter shouted. Classic Tails covered his ears a little. "No need to yell. We already know where one is. We just need to find the last one." he pointed out. Punchy groaned. "Copter's right... busy work!" he scoffed. Sonic and Classic Sonic waved at them. "Well, we'd like to chat, but that emerald needs us running around in order to get its color back, so..." without another word, the two Sonics took off for the next area, and they left in such a hurry that the two Tails had to run off without SPOT! "D'oh... WAIT!! You forgot your... Geez, you were right, Dimentime!" Copter groaned. Dimentime wasn't paying attention; he was staring at Crisis City, his eyes full of concern and seriousness. "...Dimentime?" Copter muttered. "We have to check this place out..." he said. Blaze glanced from him to Crisis City. "No you don't. But I do." she said. Dimentime glared at her. "NO, I do! YOU don't. Who are you, anyway?" he asked. Blaze cloaked her body in fire briefly in order to startle everyone before speaking. "Don't tell me what to do. Understand?" she said. Everyone nodded except Dimentime. "If you want to come, then by all means, but we're going too, so don't be such a spoiled princess." he grumbled. Blaze gasped and opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it and silently followed the group into Crisis City. A few steps into the city, and Dimentime's heart sank. All around them was fire and destruction, the very nightmarish future that his timeline's Punchy had once described to him. "It can't be... It just... can't be!!" he stammered, falling to his knees. Everyone hurried over to him. "What're you freaking out about?" Punchy asked. Suddenly, the voice of Mephiles caught their attention. "It's very troubling, isn't it? Knowing... just how futile your efforts truly are." The Dark emerged in front of them in his crystalline version of Shadow's form, an eerie look in his eyes, as though he were pleased with himself. "Do what you will. Your failure is inevitable! It always was... Just ask the phoenix!" he gloated. Dimentime immediately rose to his feet, growling in his rage. "Mephiles!! I'll destroy you!!" he snarled, charging towards him! Mephiles rose into the air and waved his hand. "Good luck with that... There's more for you to worry about than me here." Just then, several monsters sprang up from some nearby rubble! They appeared to be made out of lava, though the lava was cooled on some parts of their bodies. "Iblis Biters!" Blaze groaned, glaring at the creatures. Mephiles began to fly away, but Dimentime ignored the Iblis Biters and charged after him in his fury. "You'll pay for what you did to my world, Mephiles!!" he yelled. Blaze sighed and took off after them without a word, leaving the others to contend with the monsters. "Uhhhh... Nice doggies..." Rainbow murmured. Suddenly, a giant laser blasted several of the Iblis Biters! It had come from SPOT! "Oh... I forgot that bot was here..." Copter grumbled. "All right, I'm not gonna be upstaged by a puppy! Chaos Avalanche!" Punchy shouted.
They made short work of the Iblis Biters in the immediate area and quickly hurried in the direction Blaze and Dimentime had gone. "What's the deal with those two!? You'd think this was their hometown or something!" Punchy said, jumping aside as a jet of fire shot up from the ground in front of him. "Whoa!! This place is crazy!" he shouted. Rainbow poked around a wrecked car. "Hmmm... I think we'll have to walk." she mumbled. Suddenly, the ground shook a little. "What's that...?" Copter muttered. They all scrambled as a monstrous worm creature made of lava burst out of the ground, an Iblis Worm! It immediately started spitting fireballs at them, but as Team Copter was busy playing dodgeball with it, SPOT quickly blasted it with several well placed lasers! The worm collapsed in a heap of lava, and Rainbow sighed. "I vote the doggy as the new team captain!" she said. Copter growled. "Stupid city..." Suddenly, they heard more noise coming from nearby! Looking around, they saw a huge pile of cars and rubble blocking a long street. Some objects were flying away from the pile, and soon a hand stuck out of it! Copter flew over and grabbed the hand, soon pulling out Silver the Hedgehog. "Yaaah!! Whew... Thanks... Boy, Sonic must've been in a hurry to leave me like that." Silver said. Copter landed a safe distance away from the pile of rubble and scratched his head. "Sonic? Figures... I always seem to be cleaning up his messes." he groaned. Silver sighed sheepishly. "Well, I did sorta ask for it... Hey, are you guys lost? Do you need some help?" he asked. Rainbow smiled and waved at him. "We sure could use a hand! Nice to have you with us, Shiny!" she said.
Meanwhile, Blaze easily caught up to Dimentime, and then ran past him, chasing after Mephiles herself! She hurled a fireball at him, but it seemed to do little beyond catching his attention. "That flame... feels familiar..." he muttered. Blaze ignored him and covered her hands in flames. "Mephiles! You tricked us! You sent us after the wrong Iblis Trigger! And now I think I get it... You were sided with Iblis all along, weren't you!?" she shouted, a fury hotter than any flame she could conjure burning in her eyes. Dimentime glanced at her in disbelief, but also noticed that the color in the area was largely drained. Looking around, he saw a statue of Vortex off to the side. "Oh, great. Couldn't be Crash, could it?" he sighed. Mephiles glanced around, his gaze finally settling on Blaze. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you're mind is lost in another reality. Here, why don't you work out your issues with my pets?" His eyes suddenly flashed, and out of nowhere, purple versions of the Iblis Biters began to appear! "Oh, Mephiles Biters... How original." Blaze sighed. Dimentime quickly shot some bolts from his staff at the monsters between him and Vortex, but they barely flinched, and started shooting laser beams from their mouths! He jumped out of the way and tried Chaos Whirlwind, blowing them aside, and then hurried to the statue. Blaze covered her body in flames and charged at the laser-spouting monsters while Vortex was regaining his color, hissing angrily. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you, too, Vortex. Care to help out?" Dimentime suggested, turning to assist Blaze in fighting the monsters. Vortex backed away slightly, his body turning red to blend in with his fiery surroundings. "Where in blazessss am I??" he hissed, looking around. Part of the area was still white, and he could see yet another statue nestled among some debris in that area. "Crassssh wasss clossse to me when we were captured... I better get him." he said, sneaking towards the frozen rhino.
As Vortex attempted to reach Crash, however, a stray shot from Dimentime's staff whizzed past him, making him jump backwards and revert to his normal black color. "Watch where you're ssshooting, idiot!!" he snapped. Dimentime kept his focus on the monsters, but shouted back at Vortex. "You could be a little more helpful AND grateful, lizard lips!" he yelled. Vortex growled. "My massster would have gotten me out eventually! I don't owe you anything!" he hissed, resuming his trek towards Crash. "Remind me to leave you next time, then!" Dimentime yelled, flying over a couple lasers fired from the monsters. Mephiles watched the two of them argue thoughtfully. "The enemy of my enemy..." he whispered, raising his hand and summoning more monsters for Dimentime and Blaze to deal with! These monsters were winged beasts, also purple in color. As they flew down to attack, Mephiles vanished into one of his portals! The creatures came after Vortex as well, and he, Dimentime and Blaze were forced to scatter in different directions! Vortex ducked and weaved to avoid the enemy attacks as he finally reached Crash. However, as his ally's color started to return, a fiery whirlwind began to brew over the ocean of lava nearby! It kicked up a fierce wind, and as Crash gained control of his body, the first thing he did was grab hold of his yellow derby to keep it from blowing away! "What a wind!! Is that monster sucking us up again!?" he grunted. Blaze backed away and tried to hold her ground against the fierce wind. "Stay back! If you get sucked into that vortex, it'll scorch you!" she warned. Dimentime teleported himself further away, escaping Mephiles's monsters in the process, but Vortex was both too close and too lightweight to escape the force of the wind! "Crassssh!! Do ssssomething!! Gaaaahhh!!" Unfortunately, it was too late, and the chameleon was lifted up and carried into the air! "Vortex!!" Crash shouted, watching helplessly. However, the whirlwind started to die down as quickly as it had started up, so Vortex was not sucked into it. However, he had instead been flung into the distance! "Serves him right for being a jerk." Dimentime grumbled. "He was helping his friend. Can we blame him for that?" Blaze asked. Dimentime sighed. "Fine, we'll look for him. I need to figure out why this place exists, anyway..." he said. Crash looked around as Dimentime and Blaze started walking off. The monsters had been blown around a bit, but were still alive. "Um... You know we're gonna get ambushed by... things... right? Hey! Wait up!" he shouted, chasing after them.
Meanwhile, Vortex groaned in pain as he climbed off of the roof of a decrepit car. "Couldn't be a convertible, could it...?" he groaned. "You're lucky you survived... Everyone considered." Looking down from the car, Vortex saw Mephiles watching him. "You!? Here to pick me off ssssince I'm alone?" he hissed, clenching his fists. Mephiles chuckled. "I just thought you might wish to know something... That fox, does he seem... different to you?" he asked. Vortex thought about it and it occurred to him. "That sssstupid cloak... That wasssn't Copter, it wasss the double of him from Ssssoleanna..." he realized. Mephiles nodded. "Perceptive of you. He's not of your time... your reality, even! I know something you might want to know about him." he said. Vortex glared at him. "Why sssshould I trusssst you?" he asked. "Why should you trust him? After all, in HIS reality... he destroyed you." Mephiles sneered. Vortex's eyes went wide, staring at Mephiles in disbelief. "What are you talking about? You were created in my massster'ssss lab! How would you know!" he snapped. Mephiles cackled at him. "Can you afford not to trust me? I have had some time on my hands, during which I have learned much. But it's up to you what you believe. I have my own business to attend to..." he said, creating a portal and using it to disappear once again. Vortex stood there for a moment, glancing around. "All thissss dessstruction... I ssssupossse anything issss possssible..." he murmured.
Elsewhere, Copter and the others had found yet another statue frozen in the city. "Hey... What's happened to her?" Silver wondered, having somehow avoided becoming a statue himself. Copter looked at the statue and recognized her immediately. "Hey... It's Heather!" he exclaimed. Heather the Phoenix had only returned recently, and Eggman probably didn't know much about her, but he apparently had the idea to capture her with the Time Eater along with the others after all. "Hmmm, think she should be allowed near Dimentime? Last time they met, she died... Might be traumatizing for her, and it hasn't happened yet for him..." Copter realized. "Geez, Copt, you're makin' my brain hurt!" Punchy groaned. "Let her out, Two! What if she's all itchy, or has to sneeze? That'd be torture!" Rainbow said. Copter nodded and approached the statue, restoring color to the phoenix. Heather yawned and stretched, then covered her mouth as she sneezed. "Aaaahchooo!! Gosh, that smoke gets to ya... Um... Hey, everyone... Where are we and why is it smoky?" she asked, turning around to see the ocean of lava covering much of the city. She shuddered. "Whoa... As a phoenix, I should be comfy in a place like this, but... Those flames are really bothering me more than anything ought to..." she said. Silver tilted his head. "Why do you say that? Seems natural to be bothered by it to me, especially being from your time." he pointed out. Suddenly, a menagerie of Iblis monsters leapt out of the lava and began to advance on them! In addition to Iblis Biters were flying Iblis Takers, similar to the flying creatures Mephiles had summoned earlier, and Iblis Worms began rising up out of the ground near Heather, forcing her and everyone else to move away! Silver grabbed up as much debris as he could with his psychokinesis and blocked the barrage of fireballs that followed. "OK... That was weird..." Rainbow gasped. "Seems to me they came for Heather!" Punchy said suspiciously. Heather looked back at them. "Don't look at me? You think I have any idea what's happening? I've been frozen!" she snapped. Silver hurled the debris at the monsters and pointed in the other direction. "That'll buy some time! Let's hurry ahead and keep looking for those people you were looking for!" he suggested. SPOT ran off ahead, using his "Tails Tracker" to lead the way to Dimentime as the others followed.
"Chaos Emeralds, lend me your power... Eternal Sun! The living flame that has been entrusted to the royal family! Fall into slumber with my soul, Iblis! You cursed flames of disaster!" Silver had attempted to use a pair of Chaos Emeralds to seal the flames of disaster known as Iblis within himself, but those flames merely bounced off of him. "Ah! No! Why won't it accept me as the vessel!?" he shouted. Blaze walked towards him. "Blaze!?" he gasped as she reached for the Chaos Emeralds. Blaze grabbed them from his hands. "I'll take Iblis. Don't worry, my soul is already alit with flames. I will be accepted." she said, holding up the emeralds the way Silver had moments before. The flames changed course and flew into her body! "Come on! Make it quick! Use your Chaos Control to stop time! Then, seal us into a different dimension!" Blaze shouted, feeling that was the only choice. "No!! I can't do that to you!" Silver protested. "Didn't we already go through this? We agreed to save the world at ANY price!" Blaze said firmly. Silver raised his hand to do it, but he held himself back. "I can't! I wouldn't know what to do... without you! You've fought alongside me to save the world! You're my friend... right?" he said, looking at the ground with uncertainty. Blaze turned to Silver. "You're still so naive..." she said, "But I've always liked that about you..." She dropped the Chaos Emeralds and began to rise into the air. "Blaze!!!" she heard Silver cry out. As she rose up into the heavens, she looked down at Silver, smiling. "Good luck, Silver!" she said in parting. "I have no choice...but to go..." she thought, holding back tears as she sent herself off to a different dimension in a flash of light!
But that was some time ago now.
Blaze was thinking about that moment as she, Dimentime and Crash were nearing Flame Core, a large volcanic region located near Crisis City which had apparently been snatched up along with Crisis City by the Time Eater. "What's eating you?" Dimentime asked, noticing her melancholy face. Blaze shook her head and tried to pretend she was fine, but Dimentime wasn't fooled. "You know something. You... know Mephiles. I know you do." he said. Blaze sighed. "So what? So do you. Just drop it, okay?" she said uncomfortably. "I'm from this world. Its past. I saw what Mephiles did. I'm one of the people who tried to defeat him... But looking at this place... It looks like I failed..." Dimentime sighed. Blaze shook her head. "This is a chunk of the original timeline... I don't know how it's here, but the new timeline is better. Don't be discouraged." she said. Crash was looking around and calling to Vortex, ignoring their conversation. "Bah, it's no use... I don't think he was tossed this far..." he grumbled at last. They were now walking down a rocky cliff leading into Flame Core, passing over a sea of lava. Suddenly, Vortex climbed up from the side of the cliff and stood in front of the group, glaring at them! "Hello, sssstranger... If there'sss one thing we don't need, it'ssss another Copter!" he hissed. Crash waved to him. "Vortex! Good to see you made it!" he said. Vortex rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and suddenly a team of Mephiles's monsters appeared behind him! Mephiles Biters and Mephiles Takers started coming towards Dimentime and Blaze, while Vortex motioned for Crash to join him. "Get over here you idiot! That'sss not the real Copter!" he said. Crash scratched his head, but charged past the monsters to Vortex. "You can fill me in later, 'Tex. I've got your back!" he said. Blaze quickly started fighting back with her flames, while Dimentime groaned to himself. "Yep, he's gotta be a pain in every reality..." he muttered, shooting at the monsters with his staff in an effort to fend them off. However, Vortex soon fired at Chaos Inferno blast at him, forcing him to dive out of the way quickly! Before he could get up, Vortex leapt onto him and grabbed for his staff! "Nice toy you have! Let me ssssee it!" he hissed. "Hey! Get your slimy mitts off!" Dimentime yelled. Vortex pulled it out of his hand and jumped off of him, running away with it. "Let me ssssee if I can figure thisss thing out... If not, I guesss I'll tossss it in the lava! Hehehehe!!" As Vortex started to run off with Crash following, Dimentime charged after him. "Vortex!!! Get your crooked tail back here!!" he shouted. Blaze dodged an attack and looked to see Dimentime chasing the others. "You know he just wants you to focus on him so the monsters will pick you off... Oh, whatever..." she said, sidestepping a Mephiles Biter's laser and joining the chase.
Back in Crisis City, Punchy was staring nervously as a gun was being pointed at his head by, of all people, Gator. He was looking quite stressed, and was freaking out everyone standing around Punchy. "Say it, Punchy!! Say I never shot you!!! ...before." Gator yelled. Copter raised an eyebrow. "Dude... Look at him. He hasn't been shot...yet." he said. "Yeah... Now will you STOP POINTING THAT GUN AT ME!!!" Punchy shouted. Gator glanced at the gun in his hand and yelped, tossing it aside. "How silly of me. We all know that girl over there shot Punchy." he said. Rainbow sighed. "I think you better lie down, Bluehair. The heat's gotten to you." she said. "Where'd you get a gun anyway??" Punchy asked. "Crazy bee's room." Gator replied. Suddenly, Zipp flew over and grabbed up the gun Gator had tossed on the floor, shooting him in the chest angrily. "Steal from me, will you!? Grrr, I gotta get my stuff locked up!!" he growled before flying off. Gator slowly stood up again after being shot. He was left with no wounds, not even a bullet hole in his suit. "Ow... See what I mean? Crazy. I bet HE shot Punchy. Well, I'm outta here. I never liked this city. Byeee!" he said before teleporting away. Copter glanced at Silver. "Hey, why didn't you catch the bullet? How'd you know he was immortal?" he asked. Silver was looking at something in the distance, and was startled by Copter. "Huh?! Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I thought you were catching up with a strange old friend... Um... I see fire and lasers coming from that volcano." he said, pointing to Flame Core. Heather looked at the volcano and shivered. "Let me guess... You want to go there. Listen, I'm a pyrokinetic. I have a sense about these things. That volcano is not exactly stable..." she warned. "Of course it's not. That would make things too easy." Copter said. "Don't worry. I'll keep us all safe." Silver promised. Punchy chuckled nervously. "As long as there isn't gunfire, I'm not worried..." he said sarcastically. SPOT started heading off in the direction of the volcano at this point, signifying that he'd caught Dimentime's signal again. "Well, that settles it then. Don't worry, guys. If the volcano erupts, Dimentwo will teleport us out!" Rainbow said. "Who...?" Silver asked. "Never mind that, let's go!" Copter said.
Despite being separated from his staff, Dimentime was far from crippled. Using the same skills as Copter, he smacked aside any monsters in his path as he chased after Vortex. Chaos Whirlwind to blow away Takers, tailband powered tail whips to knock out Biters, and some quick flight time to dodge attacks if necessary all helped him keep up with the black chameleon. Blaze was helping out with her own firepower, as well, and they soon cornered Vortex at the base of the volcano, his path blocked by a large, rocky wall. Vortex turned around and smirked as Crash came up behind Dimentime and Blaze. However, Crash stared at him questioningly. "Did... did you call those monsters, Vortex?" he asked. Vortex frowned. "I'm planning to kill a traitor, Crassssh. Don't critisssize my methodsss!" he snapped, "Ssssince you sssseeem to have chasssed me away from the lava, I think I'll tossss thissss thing ssssomewhere... darker. Chaosssss Hole!!" At Vortex's words, a black hole appeared between him and the others, and began to pull everything in the area into its crushing oblivion! Some stray monsters flew in first, but Dimentime, Crash, and Blaze pulled away from it, Crash holding on to his hat as he backed away. However, Dimentime couldn't flee. He needed his staff. The future of Soleanna still depended on it, his timeline had yet to run its course and if it never got the chance, the repercussions could be terrible indeed. Vortex tossed the staff, but Dimentime flew after it, desperately struggling against the pull of the hole as he rounded it! He reached out his hand and managed to grab the staff, then immediately used it to teleport out of range before he could be swallowed by the black hole! "Grrrr!! You sssswine! I won't lossse that easssy! More power! Chaossss Hole!!" Vortex shouted, strengthening the hole, making it larger, causing it to start swallowing up chunks of the nearby volcano! Mephiles watched nearby and cackled as Blaze and Crash started to lose their footing. "You pathetic beings... So easily manipulated... All you need is a little push in the right direction..." Mephiles said. Crash glanced at him and then at Vortex, his eyes narrowing as he realized what was going on. Chunks of the area were being pulled up all around, and lava was flowing out of the volcano through holes left behind, trapping Vortex on a small platform! "Gaaah!! Sssshoot! I've got to get out of here..." he gasped. "Vortex!! Stop the hole!" Crash shouted, running from platform to platform towards him while struggling to resist the pull of the black hole. "You've been tricked, Vortex! Someone wanted you to do this!!" he shouted. Vortex was finding it hard to keep from being pulled into the hole himself, so he knew that whether he believed Crash or not, he had to do something. "Fine! You win!! I'll... Gaaaaahhh!!" It was too late, the hole picked Vortex up and was about to pull him in! However, a hand suddenly grabbed him and started flying him away! "Huh??" Vortex gasped. It was Dimentime! He had come back, and once again, he teleported away, this time taking Vortex with him. They emerged away from the lava, but still close to the hole. "You have to stop it or it'll consume everything!" Dimentime said. Vortex nodded and raised his hands to the hole, focusing his energy. A faint glow covered his body, and then the hole, and soon the black hole dissipated, and Vortex collapsed from exhaustion. Mephiles observed this and shrugged. "Whatever... There's more than one way to skin a fox..." he said before taking his leave. Lava was still spilling out of the holes in the volcano, so the group was forced to head for higher ground. Crash picked up Vortex and carried him as they left. They made it to a cliff overlooking what was now a sea of lava covering the area they had just come from, and as they rested there, their friends caught up to them, led by SPOT. "Silver!?" Blaze gasped upon seeing her old friend. "Hey, Blaze. You got sent here too, huh? This place is weird, isn't it?" Silver replied. It seemed this wasn't, in fact, the same Silver she had fought Iblis with in the original Crisis City, but the one she had met in the new timeline. Copter waved to Dimentime as he arrived. "Hey, me. What's with Vortex?" he asked. "You don't wanna know..." Dimentime replied. "Well, good. We're all reunited. Can we go now? It's too hot around here..." Punchy groaned. As Heather approached, however, she shivered violently upon seeing Blaze. "Oh... NO!! Something about that girl... Something's... really wrong!!" she cried, holding her head and stumbling around! "What's wrong, Seven?!" Rainbow asked in concern. Suddenly, Mephiles appeared again behind Heather. "Be calm, my dear. You and her have so much in common. I think you should get better acquainted!" he sneered, grabbing her! "Mephiles!? N-nooo!!" Heather shouted as Mephiles shoved her towards Blaze! As the two pyrokinetics neared each other, they both started to react to each other's flames, and Blaze doubled over in pain. "Eeerrrrrghh!! W-what's happening!!??" she cried, her flames bursting out everywhere, going out of control as Heather collapsed next to her! Mephiles cackled as he watched. "It seems you've been keeping a secret hidden inside you... I believe it is known as... IBLIS!!!"
In a moment, the sea of lava created by Vortex earlier contained a new occupant. The flames of disaster Blaze had been concealing inside her had reacted to Heather's own version of the same flames, and returned to life! Iblis stood tall, some hardened lava forming a sort of "armor" over parts of his body. Everyone started with wide eyes, including Vortex, who was now back on his feet. Mephiles laughed victoriously. "I'll leave you all to die now. Have fun!" he said, vanishing into one of his portals. Blaze had now fallen unconscious, so there would be no easy way to reseal the monster even if they had a Chaos Emerald to work with. Heather stood up and stared at the beast. "THAT'S the true form of the flames of disaster?!" she gasped. "What do we do??" Rainbow wondered. "YOU stay back!" Punchy said. Silver stepped forward. He had no memory of Iblis, but he could tell he was about the only one who stood a chance against a beast made of lava. "Leave this to me... You all should stay back!" he said. Most of them backed away as Iblis roared and started spewing fireballs towards the cliff! Silver attempted to catch some of them with his psychokinesis, but he would not likely be able to grab all of them! As the fireballs approached, a wall of energy appeared and blocked those of them that Silver did not catch! Looking around, Silver saw Dimentime standing nearby with his staff at the ready. "You don't have to do this by yourself." he said. Silver nodded and hurled the fireballs at Iblis's head, damaging his armor somewhat! Punchy ran up to help as well. "We need more projectiles! Chaos Avalanche!" he shouted. pulling up chunks of the ground for Silver to use. "I can't throw that far. You better do your psychic thing on these rocks, Silver!" Punchy told him. Dimentime added his magic attacks to their assault, but Iblis started fighting back by emitting walls of flame from his body, which forced everyone to jump over them, including those who were staying back, except for SPOT, who ducked under it. Copter picked up Blaze and jumped her over the fame walls as well, feeling frustrated that he could do little else to help. "How'd she have a monster inside her!? Hey, kitty cat! Wake up!" Copter grumbled. He then glanced at Heather. "Can you wake her?" he asked. "Me? I'm responsible for this... All I ever do is mess things up..." she sighed. "You're like her. A fire...person. Maybe you can get through to her. Maybe you can make things right...like you did with Solenix. You stopped Mephiles then. Maybe you can stop him now." Copter said, setting Blaze down again. Heather looked at her and nodded. "I'll try..." she said. She brought her hand to Blaze's forehead, and started to heat up her body, hoping the heat would stir her inner flames. Meanwhile, Iblis was through playing around. He summoned a massive meteor and hurled it towards the group! Punchy whimpered and covered his face. "WE'RE DEAD!!" he wailed. However, before it could hit them, Silver caught it with his psychokinesis. "It's just one little meteor. Get a grip." Silver said, flinging it back at Iblis! This impact seemed to really do damage, especially considering most of his armor was already smashed. Now, all of Iblis's armor was gone! As Silver, Punchy and Dimentime let loose everything they had on Iblis, Blaze began to open her eyes. "Hnn... W-what...? Iblis!!" she gasped, knowing immediately what was going on. "Whew... I did it..." Heather sighed. Blaze quickly stood up and stared at Iblis as he crumbled into a ball of flame. "Yes! We did it!" Silver cheered. "No, we didn't..." Blaze sighed. "Huh?" Punchy whimpered. Blaze stepped past them and stared at the ball of flame. "Iblis is immortal... The only way to stop him... is to trap him. We can't risk him going free. But normally, a Chaos Emerald is required. I had him before... I'll have to try to make do without an emerald..." she said. Heather stood beside her. "My soul is lit with his flames... I'll try to help you." she said, taking Blaze's hand. She nodded, and they looked up at the flame. "Eternal Sun! The living flame that has been entrusted to the royal family! Fall into slumber with my soul once again, Iblis, flame of disaster!" Blaze said. At those words, both Blaze and Heather's flames reacted, shooting out and grabbing at Iblis, and in a moment, the flames of disaster returned to Blaze's body! She shook for a bit, the flames circling her for a while, but Heather quickly moved away from her, and she was fine. However, Blaze smiled at her. "You helped me seal Iblis. I don't think we'll have a repeat of how he escaped." she said.
The group finally returned to white space, gladly leaving Crisis City and Flame Core behind. Vortex turned to Dimentime and crossed his arms. "It ssseemsss I wasss... misssled..." he said. "Don't let it get you down. It's not that farfetched an idea. You ARE a pain." Dimentime pointed out. Crash sighed. "All right you two, take it easy. Come on, 'Tex. Let's see how the boss is getting on without us." he suggested. Vortex nodded. "He'sss probably a basssket cassse. Punchy sssaysss Zipp got back ahead of ussss." he sighed as they left. Punchy nodded. "I think we'll head back, too, Copter... Shadow Arc is air conditioned!" he panted. Rainbow giggled. "I just wanna see the birdies again!" she grinned. "You mean the Flickies?" Copter asked. Rainbow giggled again. "See, One? Two makes up names, too! Follow me!" she said, leading Punchy off, and SPOT as well. "Circuits overheated. Air conditioning sounds good." SPOT's monitor read. Heather glanced at Shadow Arc and shuddered. "What, THAT'S the best shelter we got out here?" she asked, "Where IS here, anyway?" Silver looked around. "This... is... weird. Nothing in history says anything about this." he said nervously. Dimentime nodded. "That's why I'm here. To right this time-space anomaly." he explained. Blaze pointed to an area a distance away. "I've been there... Water Palace! Look... Sonic's coming out with that little Sonic." she said. Sure enough, Sonic had already finished up in another area while Copter was in Crisis City. "Gee that's swell. Maybe we'll go there later just to look at everything Sonic missed while he was speeding." Copter grumbled, "But for now, let's go AWAY from the annoying hedgehog." he added. "You find Sonic annoying?" Silver asked. Copter and Dimentime both rolled their eyes. Silver then looked up and noticed something. "Hey, that's Onyx Island! It's from the future!" he said. Heather looked where he was looking. "Really? Wow! Wait... A whole place that doesn't appear until the future??" she asked. Silver chuckled. "Well... It's what we call Angel Island in the future... I can tell the difference, though." he explained. Dimentime looked thoughtful. "Let's go there next. I think Eggman chooses these locations. First Crisis City, now Onyx Island... I'm wondering what his game is..." he said. "I think Crisis City was just meant to trap us. That's why so many people were there to rescue." Copter pointed out. "Good point." Dimentime said, "But still..." Blaze shivered. "I'd like to explore... on the ground, thanks... See ya." she stammered, doing a poor job concealing her fear of heights. Silver scratched his head and started to follow her. "I'm gonna stay with her. She's been through a lot. I wanna make sure she's all right..." he said. Copter shrugged. "Guess we're on our own... as usual." he said. "Hold it!" Heather yelped, stopping them, "Let me go with you!" Dimentime glanced at her and then glanced away. "Um... Hello there, Heather... Nice to see you're well and all... Do you, um... know about... um..." he mumbled, appearing a little shy. "This is young Dimentime. Don't tell him how his story ends." Copter said. Heather looked a little confused, but nodded. "Okay... Good to... um... meet you?" she said. Dimentime blushed. "No, we've met... In another time and place... Would you... care to walk with me?" he asked. Heather smiled a little and nodded, taking his hand and walking off with him. Copter stared at them and tilted his head, then growled softly. "HEY, YOU DUMMIES!! We can't WALK to Onyx Island!!" he shouted, pointing upward before pulling out the Hurricane remote. "This is gonna be a long trip-without-time... stupid Bucky and his science..." he groaned.
To be continued...
