Chaos Hearts 2
Chapter 2 - The Paradox Barrier
Copyrights: All characters belong to their respective owners, i.e. Sega, Sonic Team, Disney, etc.
Original GeneX characters belong to 2BIT.
2BIT had been carrying the broken Blocky around, looking for some solution to his current problem of being trapped on GeneX Prime. For a moment he thought he had a lead on his missing squad, but what he found instead was a version of himself with a top hat and monocle, sipping tea in the park. "Ohh, you're not anyone useful, you're just 2Bittington...or was it 2Brit?" 2BIT sighed. "Oh, that's nice. Me voicing Donald Duck for your videos isn't useful. Maybe you should do it yourself, then..." 2Brit complained. 2BIT sighed. "This isn't the time for fourth wall breaks. Maybe I should try to fix Blocky..." he mumbled. "I wouldn't trust you to fix anything, I've seen your videos..." 2Brit scoffed, "Why don't you just ask Tails?" he added. 2BIT nodded. "Good idea... Guess you were due for one." he said, carrying Blocky off while 2Brit made angry duck noises.
There were guests gathered around a table at Tails' Workshop. Gemini and Punchy were there, along with Shadow, Guard and Ridley. "Hey, where's Chet?" Punchy asked. "Still on leave after the whole Shatterverse thing." Ridley said, "Tommy and Daisy are still reeling from the whole thing, too." he added. "Let them rest, but we've got our own problems..." Shadow grunted. Tails nodded. "Yeah, the weird barrier around our world..." he pointed out. "Not to mention Copter going missing. And Fera never came back from searching for him." Gemini added. "Grrr... I take it your magic couldn't escape the barrier?" Guard asked. Around this time, 2BIT stepped into the room carrying Blocky. "Oh... Did I come at a bad time?" he asked. "Wha- 2BIT??" Gemini stammered. "Who's this guy?" Ridley questioned. "No one... I'm just looking to fix my...robot." 2BIT said, unsure how else to explain Blocky to the people around him.
Blocky was left on the couch in the next room while 2BIT joined the meeting. "So, even you can't get through the barrier?" Gemini said to 2BIT, "Guess Fera's darkness was the only way..." she murmured. Shadow frowned. "The government is debating trying to destroy the barrier with force. They're concerned about the impact such a barrier might have on the environment, despite lacking any data on it." he explained. "Using brute force against it would probably be a waste of time..." 2BIT murmured. "The barrier is like a storm system, what do they even expect to hit??" Tails wondered. The group looked at one another in silence for a moment. "Grrr... Well, I'm hearing no suggestions..." Guard grumbled. "We have to get through, though! Copter might be on a whole other world!" Punchy shouted. "And BIT Squad, too!" 2BIT chimed in. Tails rubbed his chin as he thought. "Well... I could always fly up in the Tornado to investigate. I gave it a mode that could help us get to the upper atmosphere without freezing over..." he stated. "Maybe if I get close to the barrier, my magic could find a way to remove it!" Gemini suggested. "What do we do, then?" Ridley asked. "Just try to keep people from panicking..." Punchy told him. "Easy for you to say..." Shadow murmured, "By the way, where's Sonic?" he asked. "Looking for the Eggman responsible for this mess. I thought that'd be obvious." Tails said with an awkward chuckle. As the meeting was winding down, Tails' robot dog, SPOT, stepped over to Blocky. The robot appeared to sniff at the odd polygonal fox. Cream stepped over and picked SPOT up. "Leave him alone, SPOT. He's hurt..." she sighed, "I hope everyone will be okay..." she added with a look of worry.
BOMB's base, where Eggman had kept the Paradox Prism, had been left a deserted mess after the prism had shattered. The agents of BOMB had scattered, and no one quite knew what became of Eggman and Sage. A metal door fell off its hinges, knocked down by the powerful dragon who was now exploring the base. "Gak! How is it dusty in here already? Well, this'll be worth it if we get the Chaos Emerald!" grunted Zeke, who coughed up some dust as he stepped through the door. "And with the power of the emeralds, none shall defy the might of ZIM!!" shouted Zim the Zeti as he hopped over the broken door, following along with his draconic friend. Unfortunately for them, their search yielded no emeralds, but they did find the remnants of BOMB's robots, which were quite displeased to see them. Zim found himself racing for cover as Hunter-esque robots fired lasers at him mercilessly. "Leave me alone!! Why didn't Sonic finish all of you?!" the Zeti shouted, finding Zeke also taking cover behind an abandoned Egg Mobile. "They've got us pinned down! Call the Heartless, Zim!" Zeke ordered. "ME?! My heart is TOO dark, you do it!" Zim protested. Suddenly, a flash of green tore through the robots, and they were destroyed with ease! Zeke and Zim peered out curiously. "What? Is that you, Sonic?! Are you trying to foil our plans??" Zeke growled. The hedgehog standing amidst the scraps of defeated robots turned around to reveal two scars across his chest. "Oh, Scourge!!" Zim gasped. The green hedgehog smirked at them. "Sorry. No precious gems left here. But you know what, boys? I think we can help each other... Who wants revenge on Lucky the cat?!" he asked. Zeke gave a RAWR of agreement while Zim also cheered for their new ally. "Yeah...I could use some new flunkies..." Scourge chuckled under his breath.
2BIT ventured down to Tails' lab while the two-tailed fox and his friends were busy. He attempted to activate the portal device leading to the Sol Dimension, but unfortunately, even that failed to function with the barrier interfering with interworld travel. "Looks like it's up to Tails and Gemini..." he sighed. Cream crept into the lab while carrying SPOT. "Your name was... Mr. Bit?" she asked. "Ahh... Well, coming from you, that's cute, so you can call me that." 2BIT said, looking at her in a friendly manner. Cream set down SPOT and looked at the ineffective portal device. "Guess we won't be seeing Blaze for a while... So, are you here to get your robot fixed, Mr. Bit?" she asked. 2BIT chuckled softly. "Blocky's not a robot... I guess you could call him an AI, but that isn't quite accurate either. But yeah, it would be great if I could 'fix' him. He could create portals to allow us to travel outside this world." he sighed. "How can he do that?" Cream asked. 2BIT scratched his head. "Ah, well... He transforms into sort of a cartridge, and I plug him into a device that opens the portal... Come to think of it, that device is gone now..." he realized with a whimper. Cream tilted her head. "A device... You mean like this machine here? Could you plug the cartridge into this, somehow?" she wondered, looking at Tails' portal device. There wasn't exactly a slot for a cartridge, but still, the notion intrigued the blue fox. "I'm not really sure if it'd work, but maybe you're on to something..." he said, smiling at the rabbit, "I can see why Tails likes you." he told her, making Cream blush. "Ah, yes... He even promised to marry me someday, hehe." she said, giving an adorable giggle. 2BIT smiled warmly. "I'd like to come to the wedding... Heh, someday." he said.
Tails was flying the Tornado up higher and higher, a special set of armor protecting the plane from freezing as it reached the upper atmosphere. There was also a glass dome over the cockpit and passenger seat to protect Tails and Gemini themselves. "Gonna have to open the cockpit so you can hit the barrier... Try to aim fast!" Tails said. "Haven't you literally been in space without a suit before? We Mobians should be fine..." Gemini pointed out. With an awkward chuckle, Tails opened the dome around the seats, and they got a close-up look at the storm-like barrier around their world. It was like black clouds swirling around, lightning crackling within in a chaotic fashion. Gemini clutched her wand and pointed it at the barrier. "Disspellikazam!!" was the first spell she attempted, figuring a de-spell magic would stop a seemingly magical barrier. The spell fizzled out, so she tried another. "Oblastion!!" Her spell set off a large explosion in the barrier, but there was no effect. "Cumulocasta!" This spell simply caused it to start raining around them. "It's not working..." Tails remarked. "There's more spells I can try...WHAT IS THAT!?" Gemini shouted, noticing something moving about inside the storm system. Whatever it was, it let out an angry roar towards their direction. "Th-there's a monster inside the barrier?!" Tails stammered, shutting the cockpit dome quickly. A serpentine head emerged from the dark storm, charging energy in its maw as it roared at them! A beam of energy was shot at the Tornado, the plane spinning quickly to evade the attack. The beam seemed to explode in the air, sending spheres of its energy flying about, chasing the plane! "We're in trouble! S.O.S! Come in, can anyone hear me!?" Tails shouted while Gemini stared helplessly at the beast they'd irritated. "What kind of creature...is this??" she whimpered.
"Can anyone hear? We're under attack! Mayday, mayday!" Cream and 2BIT heard the S.O.S. through a radio in Tails' lab. "Oh no! What could be happening to Tails up there?" Cream gasped, scurrying off to the plane hangar while 2BIT followed her. "Hey, wait! What are you gonna do??" 2BIT asked as Cream approached a vehicle covered up by a large tarp. She pulled it off, revealing a bright yellow and orange...warplane? It had a pilot's seat as well as a gunner seat, despite its colorful aesthetic. "Tails and I have been working on this plane together! I called it Peaches!" Cream announced, flapping her ears to fly up to the pilot's seat quickly. Cheese started toward the gunner seat, but 2BIT snatched the Chao quickly. "I don't think you're big enough for that seat..." he told the Chao, "Let me join you, Cream!" The rabbit nodded, putting on some flight goggles. "Stay here, Cheese. We haven't finished the model with the Chao-sized seat yet..." she stated. The Chao chirped sadly while 2BIT climbed into the gunner seat. "Are you sure you can fly this thing?" he asked. Cream started up the engine while the garage door began to open. "I've been Tails' girlfriend for years! He was bound to rub off on me eventually, hehe!" she giggled. As the Peaches started to take off, Cheese returned to the lab, where he saw SPOT approaching Blocky again. The Chao watched the robot dog curiously as it popped out a scanner device from a hatch on its head. "Scanning entity... Examining properties... Assessing capabilities..." the robot stated while Cheese fluttered over for a closer look...
The serpent-like creature was chasing the Tornado without fully leaving the storm system, lunging at the plane in an attempt to catch it in its jaws. If Tails attempted to fly out of its range, it fired its strange energy beam again, sending more orbs to home in on the plane in the wake of the beam's explosion. "Try more magic!" Tails suggested. "I can't reach my wand!" Gemini cried, having dropped it when the plane spun out earlier. The beast seemed ready to lunge once again, its eyes locked on the plane. That was when the Peaches arrived, with 2BIT aiming the guns right for the serpent. "Eat lead, or lasers, or whatever!!" he shouted, peppering the beast with energy bullets to distract the monster! The Tornado pulled away as soon as the beast's gaze was off it. "Cream! Hurry and get away from there!" Tails shouted. "Right, let's go... Aaah!" the rabbit cried as the monster lunged at her plane next, grabbing the wing in its jaws! "L-leggoooo!!" 2BIT cried, turning the gun and attempting to shoot the creature to cause it to drop them. It annoyed the beast, and it tossed the plane away violently, causing the wing to tear off! The plane began to spin out of control, falling to the earth! "Abandon ship!" 2BIT shouted, leaping from his seat and starting to freefall! Cream followed suit, flapping her ears in an attempt to slow her fall. The Tornado passed under them, catching the pair on its wings while the Peaches plunged into the ocean below. "Are you okay!?" Tails called out. Cream and 2BIT held onto each other for balance as they stood on the plane's wing. "I think we could all use some ground under our feet..." 2BIT said. With the monster still looming in the sky above, the Tornado started its descent, heading back to the workshop.
"What the heck WAS that thing??" Gemini asked once the four of them were safe inside the garage. She, Tails and Cream all looked at 2BIT as though he had all the answers. "Hm? How should I know?!" he replied, "I'm not a god!" he added. "I'm just glad everyone's okay..." Cream sighed, placing an arm around Tails and holding on to him. "Well, bullets and magic didn't do much besides annoy that thing." Tails noted. "Seems like it was similar to a Heartless, actually..." 2BIT mused, "I wonder if a Keyblade would stop it..." It was fairly pointless to speculate on with no Keyblade to be found, though. "Either way, it looks like we can't do much about the barrier without dealing with that monster." Tails sighed. At this point, Cheese flew into the room excitedly, circling around Tails and Cream, happy to have them back. Behind him, SPOT came scampering into the room, a claw extended from the robot's back holding onto a small object. 2BIT recognized the object quickly. "Hey... that's a portal cartridge..." he stated, taking it from SPOT to examine it. "...Where's Blocky?" he asked. SPOT's eye screens played back what the robot had seen. Apparently the robo-pup's scans had triggered something, causing Blocky to transform into the cartridge. "I don't get it..." Tails murmured. "Ah, this is like what Mr. Bit was saying before! We can use that cartridge to go to another world and maybe find Mr. Copter and Miss Fera!" Cream said excitedly. "Waaait, hold up. We still don't have anything to plug the cart into! And no idea where it'll send us!" the blue fox pointed out. "Who cares, if we can escape the barrier, we could probably go anywhere!" Gemini said. Now the group looked to Tails. "Hmm... I'll see if I can make something compatible with this cartridge, then..." he said with a soft chuckle.
It would take some time for Tails to put together something that would work with Blocky's cartridge, so 2BIT was left to think of alternatives in the meantime. Asking Gemini to use a search spell to find the rest of BIT Squad didn't work; It appeared they were all offworld. "I have to find them... Did you say that Fera was able to leave this world?" he asked. Gemini nodded. "I asked her to find Copter, but she hasn't come back. Her dark powers were able to let her leave our world." she explained. 2BIT rubbed his chin. "She must've left through a corridor of darkness... Traversing the Dark Realm could be dangerous, but it might be the easiest way out of here..." he stated. That would require someone with dark powers to reach, however. But that wouldn't necessarily be too hard to find. "Any of you know how to get in touch with Violet the echidna?" he asked. Gemini nodded, but could Violet really help to locate BIT Squad?
8BIT also had access to the Realm of Darkness, of course. He and the masked Future-2BIT were exploring one of the newly created Paradox Worlds together. They seemed to be in a spooky world, walking past a creepy old mansion within a dark, foggy woods. A corridor of darkness opened near them, and Nine stepped out, followed by the hooded Dreamcaster. "Oh, look, it's the latest Doomsayer knockoff!" 8BIT remarked. "And what's Nine doing here??" Mask-BIT asked. "This boy's dreams are a scrambled mess..." the Dreamcaster stated, glancing at Nine. With a flicker of green light, Nine suddenly transformed into Mangey, and 8BIT patted the dog-like fox with a chuckle. "He got messed up by the Shatterverse the Squad visited. Looks like he's losing his sense of self..." he observed, watching Mangey chase his own tails. "You know the future..." the Dreamcaster said to Mask-BIT, "What do you know of his condition?" Mask-BIT shook his head. "There's no future for this Tails." he said bluntly. With a flash of red light, Mangey turned back into Nine. "I won't just roll over! How do I get my life back??" he growled. "Might want to talk to the one who stole it in the first place..." 8BIT snickered. Nine glanced at him questioningly, and the black and red fox continued, "Come on, you know this. Who's always gotten everything while you were left with nothing, hm?" he asked. Nine took a breath, clenching his fist. "Miles..." with a flash of blue, he became Sails, but continued, "'Tails'..." then, he reverted to Nine again, "Prower..." he concluded. 8BIT took Mask-BIT aside. "Is Squad Tails still in there?" he questioned. "It...doesn't matter." Mask-BIT sighed.
To be continued...
