GeneX - Soleanna Struggle
Chapter 12 - The Lost Mine
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.
"Fly in the freedom!
Time never stop and wait for me.
Show the way!
Looking for answers, and looking for the clues!" - Fly in the Freedom, Sonic Adventure 2
For a while, things seemed to be finally calming down. Katie had been rescued, and Heather as well. Guard and Razor now saw Sergeant Gunner for what he really was. Best of all, Heather's pursuers now generally seemed to believe she was dead. As the group took a much needed rest just outside the safe house, it felt as though nothing could spoil their peaceful afternoon. Unfortunately, the battles weren't over yet. The peace was soon shattered as residents of Soleanna began panicking over the sudden reappearance of the gigantic flying battleship, the Egg Carrier! Apparently, Dr. Eggman wasn't ready to give up on his plans yet. His voice boomed throughout Soleanna. "Princess Elise, ruler of Soleanna! By refusing to negotiate with me, you have forced me to take drastic actions!" The voice of the mad scientist reached everyone in the city, including Punchy and Rainbow, who had finally returned from Radical Train moments ago. "Wow, Tubby sure sounds angry!" Rainbow said, gazing up at the ship as it moved closer to the castle. Eggman's ultimatum continued. "Meet me at the specified point alone at four o'clock today! Failure to do so on time, will result in my leveling of this city, so that nothing but ashes remain!" On a balcony high atop the castle, Princess Elise was listening. One of her servants called out to her. "Miss Elise!" The princess didn't look at her. "I cannot allow harm to come to my people." she said, turning to leave. "Miss Elise?" another servant shouted, worried. "It is my duty as princess of Soleanna to go." Elise said, looking back briefly. "There is no other choice." With no other course of action, Elise left to meet Eggman by herself.
Copter, Heather, Chet, Katie, Mia, Guard, Tommy, Gemini, and Razor all heard Eggman's threat. "He's got some nerve, flying around up there like he owns the place!" Razor shouted. Heather looked thoughtful. "Eggman's after the princess, too? I wonder... Could that have been..." she muttered. "What is it?" Katie asked curiously. Heather took a moment to explain. "While I was being held captive on Eggman's train, I met someone else he'd captured. I didn't get her name, but she helped me escape. Now that I think about it, it was the same girl that hedgehog was talking to on the plains..." she said. Copter thought back. "That was the princess... Looks like she's been getting caught and rescued more than you today! Don't worry, I'm sure Sonic will take care of her." he said confidently. Chet was leaning against Mia's cab nearby, looking up at the Egg Carrier with binoculars. "That ship sure is impressive, but it seems kinda familiar. Didn't Eggman take a similar ship over Station Square once?" he said. Mia walked over and grabbed the binoculars from him. "Don't touch my stuff, Chet!" she grumbled, taking a look for herself. "Uh oh..." she said nervously after a moment. Gemini walked over and tried to see what she was looking at. "What's the matter? Is Eggman attacking?" she asked. Mia handed her the binoculars, and she took a look. "Oh boy... I think you'd better look at this, Copter!" Copter walked over to grab the binoculars, but a large, black object was already starting to come into view. "Oh, crud, is that what I think it is!?" Razor grumbled worriedly. Guard had used his android eyes to scan the skies. "Grrrr... It's Shadow Arc. My master must be here to capture the phoenix personally." he told them. "That's the ship that flew over Station Square on the night that monster attacked, isn't it?" Tommy said, a little frightened. "There's still time!" Katie said to Heather, "You can hide, really quick, before they get here!" Copter returned the binoculars to Mia, then turned to Heather. "I don't think we want to just keep hiding forever, though!" He thought for a moment and then glanced at Guard. "Um... I feel kinda weird asking YOU for help, but did you leave that GUN helicopter in a place where we can reach it?" Guard nodded. "Grrrr... It's close, but... Are you planning to fight our creator?!" he growled. Copter seemed indifferent to the idea. "If I don't have to, I won't. But I gotta try to convince him to leave Heather alone!" he said. Heather looked up at Shadow Arcangel with fear. "I'd rather not go back there... But all of this... Everything that's happend... It's my fault! I have to try to put a stop to it, too!" she realized. Gemini was thinking something over. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea... But I'll go with you, too!" Copter, Heather, and Guard looked over at her with surprise, so she decided to explain. "I'm here to stop the Lost Ones. They've often been spotted in that place. If I go there, maybe I'll find some clues to help me beat them!" she said. Guard began to walk towards the place where the helicopter was parked. "Grrr... I'll fly you up there, but I'm going inside with you, too. Grrrr... If you try to harm my master, you'll have to go through me first!" he growled. Copter grinned at him. "There's the Guard I know! Deal!" Razor and the others waved good-bye as they left. "Good luck!" Chet said. Once they were gone, Razor began to walk away as well. "I can't just sit here the rest of the day! I'm gonna see if I can do anything to help stop Eggman!" he said. The others started to follow him. "Yeah, well we're coming too, this time! And you ain't gonna say a thing to stop us!" Mia shouted. "Fine! At least that way, I can keep an eye on you guys myself!" Razor grumbled.
Punchy and Rainbow were not far away. They had wandered to the docks, searching aimlessly for Illusi. "Why couldn't that guy just take us with him for once!?" Punchy grumbled to himself. Rainbow seemed cheery as ever. "Don't worry, One! Mousy always seems to pop in when we need him! Besides, it's not like we had something better to do!" she said. Punchy rolled his eyes at her. "Have you been paying attention today, Rainbow? We have a lot of better things to do! Like helping out Copter, or finding out what happened to that knucklehead, Knuckles! ...and by the way, don't call me One!" Suddenly, that familiar puff of smoke appeared in front of them, followed by Illusi! "I'm here! Are you ready, Dark One?" he asked. Punchy stomped his foot angrily. "I... AM... PUNCHY!!!" he screamed, like a child throwing a tantrum. Illusi crossed his arms. "Is that a no?" he asked. Rainbow grinned at the shrew. "Don't mind One, he's grumpy 'cause he keeps getting interrupted from what he wants to do today." Illusi grinned back and chuckled to himself a little. "I know. Clearly someone up there likes messing with him. But, anyway, about Mephiles... You're not ready to face him yet. If you go as you are, he'll either escape or send you far away... Several years away, that is. He has the power to control time!" he told them. Punchy looked a bit surprised. "Control time? What does that mean? Can he stop time? Rewind? Pause? Picture-in-picture?" he asked. Illusi waved his hand and called in a Wrongo to illustrate that Punchy was incorrect. "Time is not a TV, Dark One! What I mean is he can send himself, or someone else, to a different point in time." he explained. Rainbow looked confused. "Then why not say time travel? I mean, it's not like he's really 'controlling' time..." she said. Illusi was getting a little annoyed. "Enough! That's just what everyone's calling it! Now, as I was about to say... You'll be powerless to do anything against Mephiles if you can't move through time yourself. Therefore, we need to find a Time Stone, and I just so happen to know where one is hidden." he said. Punchy thought about the Time Stones he'd seen so far that day. "Gemini's got one. Maybe she'll let us borrow it?" he suggested. Illusi shook his head. "No, she needs hers. We have to get the one I found. Quickly, before the Babylon Rogues find it. Those thieves have already beaten me to the last one I tried to get. Meet me at the warehouse area. It's not far..." Without even telling them which way to go, Illusi vanished once again. "Stop showing off and take us with you for once!! Arrrrgh!!!" Punchy shouted in frustration. Rainbow grabbed Punchy by the arm. "I know where that is! We passed it before! Follow me, One!"
It didn't take long to reach the warehouse district, which Punchy recognized as the place where Knuckles met Sonic before heading for White Acropolis. Illusi was waiting close to the entrance. "OK, why'd you drag us here? I don't see any Time Stone..." Punchy said. Illusi walked over to one of the warehouses and opened the door. "Follow me. And keep quiet. We're not exactly authorized to be in here..." the shrew cautioned. Inside, it looked like a perfectly normal warehouse. Soon, however, Illusi began moving aside some boxes, revealing a hidden hatch. Inside was a secret staircase! "Cool! This warehouse has a basement!" Rainbow said. "Not exactly. Come on, the Time Stone is down there... somewhere." Illusi explained. They walked down the stairs, and found themselves in an underground cavern. "What is this place, Illusi?" Punchy asked before they started wandering. "It was once an underground mine. There were all kinds of precious minerals and such down here. But the miners were inexperienced, and made many mistakes. Ultimately, the mining operation was shut down because it was deemed unsafe. But not before an extensive series of tunnels were dug down here. Be careful, it could be easy to get lost in here." Illusi explained. They now began to explore the dark tunnels, with only an illusionary flashlight to guide them. The tunnels were fairly wide, but not very stable; They noticed several areas where the mine had caved in. It also soon became apparent that they weren't alone. "Anyone else notice that it seems to be getting brighter in here? Where's that light coming from?" Punchy asked. He soon got his answer as a monster jumped out from an intersecting tunnel! "Eeeek!! It's the same monsters from the future!! Did we take them with us, One?" Rainbow shouted, hiding behind Punchy and Illusi. "Mephiles must've brought them here! We can't afford causing a cave-in, so let's just try to outrun it!" Illusi suggested. Punchy pointed behind the monster. "Hey, isn't that Sonic!?" he shouted. The monster looked where Punchy was pointing, and the three of them quickly ran past it. "Sucker!!!"
There were more of the monsters deeper in the mines, and so, they were left with little choice but to fight. Illusi's Wrongos kept many of them busy, while Punchy dealt with any others using his fists. Things were going well enough for a while, until a monster tried to sneak up behind Rainbow! Without thinking, Punchy attacked it from a distance! "Chaos Avelanche!!" The tunnel soon began to cave in, causing everyone to panic and scatter to escape the collapsing roof! Once the dust settled, Punchy could see Rainbow standing safely nearby, but no one else. "Illusi!? Hello!? Are you OK!?" Punchy shouted. Illusi's voice could be heard from the other side of the rock wall that now separated them. "I'm all right, but those monsters aren't. It's a lucky thing that the entire mine didn't start to collapse!" he shouted. "Can you poof yourself over here, Mousy?" Rainbow asked. Illusi was silent for a moment, but soon his voice was heard once again. "I'd rather not. I'm not sure just how large this rock wall is, and I believe I mentioned what happens when two objects try to occupy the same space to you before. I'll try to find another way around and meet you later! Just go on without me!" he told them. Punchy sighed dejectedly. "I guess we're on our own. As usual. Let's go, Rainbow!"
The cave-in apparently scared any monsters ahead of them away, so Punchy took an opportunity to talk to Rainbow. Despite Illusi's advice back at Wave Ocean, he couldn't help worrying about what he'd seen in the future. "Say... Uh... Rainbow. About these crazy adventures we're always on... Do you ever feel... Resentful?" he asked her. Rainbow looked a bit confused, so Punchy tried to explain better. "I mean, I never exacly ask you if you WANT to travel with me... And also, I did stay a while at your place like a bum... Are you ever... mad at me?" Rainbow chuckled to herself a bit. "Why would I be mad? I'm having a blast! To tell the truth... I was alone for a very long time. No family, just my mission to guard that relic. It was peaceful... but... lonely." she seemed to grow a little sad as she thought back on her past. Punchy felt a little guilty about thinking of her so suspiciously. However, she wasn't finished. As she continued, her eyes lit up. "Then, you came along! You helped me, and you took me on an adventure. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what I'd be doing right now... But I doubt I'd be having as much fun! Mad? No way! Not a chance!" The more she spoke, the more Punchy felt that he had to have gone temporarily insane in the future. Still, he saw it, and that scene of Rainbow with that smoking gun just kept eating away at him inside. "I have to ask you, Rainbow... Can you think of any reason you'd want to... do away with me?" he asked. Rainbow just laughed and placed her arm around him. "One... You're so silly!"
After some exploration, they reach a large, dead-end chamber, which was apparently the place the miners had been working at when the mine was shut down. There were several colorful crystals of varying sizes and shapes sticking out of the ground in several places, as well as on the walls and the roof! "Whoa! It's a treasure room! Pretty!" Rainbow said, awestruck. Punchy pointed to the center of the chamber. A glowing yellow object was there. "It's the Time Stone!" Punchy realized. As they began to approach the stone, they could feel a presence in the room. "Something's not right... This is too easy." Punchy said. "No, it's not. I'm here!" came a voice above them! Looking up, they saw the gaseous form of Lospecter! "Were you looking for that little glowing rock? Well, that's too bad. See, Mephiles knows all about your little plans to stop him. Hey, I got news for ya, you don't have to worry about it. After he goes and makes his big mess, we'll put him in his place... And then the world will be all mine... I mean-- ours... All of us Lost Ones. Hee hee hee!!" Lospecter dropped down in front of Punchy and Rainbow, who both raised their fists. "I don't think so, creep! You're gonna be sorry you ever teamed up with Mephiles!" Punchy shouted. "Yeah! Besides, Wanda's gonna stop you, Smokey!" Rainbow added. Lospecter just hovered there, shuffling his deck of cards. "You know something? You unlost ones amuse me. You take yourselves so seriously. Lighten up. Let's play a quick game. Single Draw. How's it played? I draw one card..." Lospecter stopped shuffling and drew a card and looked at it. "Ah, how nice. The great thing about this game, is that I always win. I win whatever's on the card. Like this!" The spirit showed the card to Punchy and Rainbow. It depicted a giant creature, that sort of resembled a Lospirit. Lospecter tossed the card to the ground, and it exploded into a cloud of black smoke! The smoke made Punchy and Rainbow start coughing, so they backed away from it. When the smoke cleared, the creature from the card was hovering before them! It was a huge ghost, with six disconnected hands around it. It had a pair of giant, black eyes, and a gaping mouth that was dripping slime! On its head was a large crown with red gems on it, except for one yellow gem. The Time Stone! "All righty, Lospirit Lord! Sic 'em!" Lospecter commanded, letting out an evil laugh!
Meanwhile, Illusi was exploring the mines on his own. The tunnels snaked in many different directions, though, so it was hard to know which way to go. Worse yet, there were several places where the mines had caved in and sealed off entire areas. Illusi was beginning to get the feeling that Punchy and Rainbow may be trapped. As he searched for any way to reach them, he eventually saw a black smoke ahead of him. The smoke soon took shape, and Illusi recognized that shape as the crystalline version of Mephiles. "I thought you'd be here..." Illusi said gruffly. "I heard you've been trying to find a way to stop me. I wanted to come and see what foolishness looked like." Mephiles replied coldly. Illusi decided this was probably the only opportunity he would get to talk to Mephiles, so he should find out all he could. "What exactly are you after? I know that a Dark can't be up to any good. What's your scheme?" he asked. Mephiles glared at Illusi with malice. "Scheme? I'm just trying to get back what's mine. To awakon the Flames of Disaster!" he declared. "To what end? Is it merely a desire to destroy all of time? What's your interest in that phoenix, then?" Illusi asked. Mephiles was tiring of these questions. "This is all none of your business. But if you insist on trying to stop me, then I have no choice. Prepare to die!!" Mephiles began preparing an attack of some sort, and Illusi realized that this was as long as he could linger here. He pulled out his strange key and used it to escape before Mephiles's attack could connect! "Have it your way! You won't be able to escape me in the end!" Mephiles growled before leaving himself.
Punchy had begun fighting with the Lospirit Lord, despite the fact that he couldn't figure out how to harm it. Every punch he threw at the creature simply went right through it, and it wasn't safe to use Chaos Avelanche in the mines. The Lospirit Lord, however, was very much capable of fighting back. It lunged its dismembered hands at Punchy, knocking him away, then fired shockwaves from its body that sent Punchy flying. "Whoa!! Careful, One! You almost fell into me!" Rainbow shouted, helping him up. "This thing doesn't scare me! It's just... kinda gross..." Punchy growled as the Lospirit Lord hovered in the air, drooling ectoplasm. Punchy ran after it again, this time trying a different tactic. He pulled some of the crystals from the ground and flung them at the Lospirit Lord. It swatted some away with its hands, while the others flew right through it. Next, the ghost fired more shockwaves at Punchy, forcing him to jump out of the way! "You better stop that! This cave isn't very stable! You might bury us alive!" Punchy shouted. Lospecter started laughing. "Like we care? We can just fly out through the roof, dummy!" he said. The Lospirit Lord next tried spitting slime at Punchy, which he quickly jumped away from. "Come on, what're you trying to do? Make me throw up!?" he shouted. Suddenly, he heard Rainbow scream! It wasn't slime after all, the Lospirit Lord had spit losol at them! Rainbow was running away from them, grabbing crystals and using them to clobber the losol. Punchy decided to just try to grab the Time Stone and escape, and to do that, he had to get to the creature's crown. One thing he'd noticed was that the Lospirit Lord's hands appeared to be solid, so he ran over and jumped on them, using them as stepping stones to get up to the crown! The monster seemed to panic suddenly, and attempted to fire shockwaves to stop Punchy! The shockwaves erupted from the crown and knocked Punchy away, but they also slammed into the roof! It had hit with such force, that the entire mine began to rumble! "Aw, now look what you gone and done! The mines are collapsing! Aw, well. Our work here is done. Let's go, Lospirit Lord! Remember to bring the Time Stone, too!" Lospecter said, flying out through the roof. Punchy had to stop this monster now, so he quickly came up with an idea! The monster panicked when the crown was attacked, and the shockwaves appeared to be coming from the crown. "That's it! The crown is its power source! Well, I'll fix that! Chaos Avelanche!!!" Since the caves were already collapsing, Punchy decided to bring down a portion of the roof right onto the Lospirit Lord's crown, shattering it into pieces! The creature began screaming and convulsing, and finally exploded into a rain of slime! Punchy grabbed the Time Stone from out of the slime. "Yuck! Why are monsters always so disgusting?!" he grumbled. Rainbow tapped him on the shoulder. "I hate to bother you, but I don't think this place is very safe right now! C'mon, we gotta find an exit! Follow me!!" she shouted, leading Punchy out of the chamber!
Unfortunately, the trembling of the mines had flushed out the monsters that had seemed to be hiding earlier, and they appeared determined to make sure Punchy and Rainbow would be buried here. Punchy simply charged straight ahead, smacking aside any monster foolish enough to get in his way. "I sure hope we're going the right way!!" Punchy shouted, noting that they seemed to be running through random tunnels. "Well, we can't go back the way we came, it's blocked!" Rainbow pointed out. Unfortunately, they soon found their path blocked by a cave-in! "It's been nice knowing ya, One!" Rainbow said in a panic. Punchy tried to think of something, but was distracted by a noise he could hear coming their way. "Is that..." Punchy turned around and saw the Babylon Rogues racing toward them! Storm was in the front, and he used his incredible strength to smash the rocks out of the way as he passed by. Jet and Wave stopped near Punchy and Rainbow. "There's no time to waste! Hop on now, or we'll leave you here!" Jet shouted. Since there wasn't any time, Punchy decided not to question this and simply jumped on to the back of Jet's board, while Rainbow hopped on to Wave's board. "Hang on, my colorblind passenger! If you fall off, I'm not coming back for you!" Wave sneered. Without further delay, the Rogues took off, speeding through the mines faster than the monsters in their way could react! Storm was sure to clear out any obstacles in their path, so all they had to do was find the way out. There wasn't much time left, as the mines had begun collapsing more rapidly! Luckily, they were nearing the exit. A few moments more, and they reached the staircase leading out. At this point, Punchy and Rainbow jumped off the boards. "We can't leave Mousy in there!" Rainbow shouted as she realized they'd forgotten him. Jet was lingering at the exit. "You're gonna have to! This place is coming down, now!" he shouted. "Illusiiiii!!!" Punchy shouted, hoping the shrew was nearby. The mines began shaking more violently, and Jet wouldn't stay any longer. Punchy and Rainbow quickly realized that there was nothing they could do, and ran up the stairs, just as the rest of the mine came crashing to the ground! The two of them ran out of the warehouse and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. "Boy, I hope Illusi wasn't still in there..." Punchy said to himself. Rainbow looked around the area. "Say, One... If the mine collapsed, how come the warehouses didn't collapse on top of it?" she asked. Punchy shrugged. "How should I know. Let's just get outta here..."
As Punchy and Rainbow left the warehouse district and began wandering the streets of Soleanna, Rainbow thought of something. "Hey, where'd the birdies go?" she wondered aloud. "Nowhere!" shouted Storm, who was behind them! Before Punchy could turn around, all three Babylon Rogues charged into them and snatched away the Time Stone! "Just think of this as our reward for rescuing you! Later, losers!" Jet shouted, leading Wave and Storm away. Punchy wasn't about to let them get away with it this time, though, and began chasing them as fast as his legs would carry him. "COME BACK HERE, YOU CROOKS!!! NO ONE STEALS FROM ME!!!!" he shouted, but it was no use. The Babylon Rogues were getting away. Someone watching from the sidewalk in front of them stepped out in front of Punchy. "Slow down. You're just going to tire yourself out like that!" It was a wolf, whom Punchy had never met. "Wha? Who are you, and what business is it of yours!?" Punchy growled. "My name is Fera, and it really isn't any of my business... I guess if you don't want my help, there's no sense offering it." the wolf said bluntly. Rainbow finally caught up with Punchy now. "Pardon One. You'd be pretty upset if something you risked your life to get was stolen from you, too." she said. Fera crossed her arms and began looking Punchy and Rainbow over, as though studying them. "Yeeees... I understand... You know, you both remind me of people I've seen before... But never mind. I think I will help you. See, I know where those thieves are taking the Time Stones." she told them. Punchy looked at her suspiciously. "Really? And how do you know THAT?" he asked. Fera placed her hands on her hips. "Look, do you want my help or not? I don't have all day!" she growled. Punchy and Rainbow glanced at each other. "What do ya think, One?" she asked. Punchy frowned. "I wish Illusi was here... Aw, what the heck, let's see what happens! Fera, we accept your offer! Lead the way!" he decided. Fera grinned at them. "Right. Anything for honest looking furs like yourselves! Come with me!" she said, leading them away. Punchy wasn't quite sure what to expect, but he couldn't help feeling all of a sudden as though he'd made a deal with the devil...
To be continued...
