GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna
Chapter 6 - Darkness in the Shadows
Boss 4 - Shadow Chaos (Theme- CHAOS 6 from Sonic Adventure)

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.

The story thus far:
As Copter was wandering through crime-infested Troblusk City, he was surrounded by GUN robots under Razor's supervision! However, Kosmo arrived and destroyed the robots, forcing Razor to retreat. Copter followed Kosmo to his hideout, a deserted mansion. There, they found GUN robots searching the place! Kosmo decided it was time to get his belongings and leave, and Copter decided to help him. Soon, however, they found a member of the Covenant of Despair following them! Basker the Hound presented them with the choice of joining the Covenant of Despair. Copter promptly refused, and now awaits Kosmo's decision.
Now, on to the next chapter!


Patch was jumping around impatiently as Kosmo stood there, thinking. "Are you OK? Hee hee! We didn't ask a trick question!" he said. Kosmo opened his eyes and glanced up at the hole in the roof. "Too bad. I don't have time for you kooks. GUN's probably gonna swarm this place soon, so I gotta finish here and leave, quick." he said. Copter lowered his guard somewhat. "Right... No time." he muttered. Basker stared at Kosmo calmly. "I am aware of GUN's presence. It is of no consequence. However, I can see that you need more time to think about this. Give him something to think about, Patch." he ordered. Patch hopped a few steps toward Copter and Kosmo, holding ninja stars in his hands. "Hee hee! Mull this over!" he said, throwing several of the sharp stars at them! Reacting fast, Kosmo morphed into his gargoyle form and flew up through the hole in the roof, followed closely by Copter, who barely dodged some of the stars as he flew to the next floor! As they escaped, Patch attempted to chase them, but Basker quickly grabbed him by the arm! "Lemme go! Lemme go!! I wanna poke holes in them!!" Patch whined. Basker tugged his arm roughly. "Patch, you'll be the death of us all! Come now. You can toss knives at GUN's robots." he insisted. Patch stopped attempting to run and frowned. "Well, that was a given. Why are we letting them go?" he asked. Basker released his arm and started walking towards the hole in the roof. "We still have our mission, and I believe that Experiment 3 may yet be persuaded to join us." he explained. Patch pulled out a switchblade and started playing with it. "Well, whatever. Hee hee! I guess we'll see those guys again!" he giggled.


After returning to the upper floor, Kosmo realized that chasing Patch had caused him to become somewhat lost. Therefore, they were forced to retrace their steps until they found the hallway where they fought the possessed GUN beetles. They arrived near the secret passage leading to the library, which had been broken down while they were away. The loskels they'd left in the library were now in the hallway, and noticed them as soon as they entered! "You guys couldn't figure out how to use the switch. No, you had to wreck the bookshelf-door. This is why monsters have such a bad rep, you know!" Copter groaned. Kosmo backed away from the loskels a step. "Dang! All this morphing and fighting is starting to wear me out! Enough already!" Kosmo yelled in frustration. Copter glanced at him in surprise. "Wear you out? What about on Shadow Arc! You had energy to spare then!" he said. Kosmo shook his head. "I had more of a break between fights that night... I think." Their conversation was interrupted by bullets speeding between them! "Whoa!! Good thing they're lousy shots!" Copter exclaimed, turning his attention to the loskels. As they started shooting again, Copter and Kosmo ducked and rolled out of the way. As they did, the loskels ran out of bullets, and switched to holding the guns by the barrel as though they were planning to hit Copter and Kosmo with the handle. As they rose to their feet, Kosmo transformed into a tough-looking echidna form. "What a shame. No more bullets..." he grinned. As the skeletons swung the guns at them, Copter and Kosmo dodged to the sides and retaliated. Copter smashed one loskel to pieces with a powerful tail whip, while Kosmo punched the other to pieces! As the loskel quickly reassembled themselves, Copter and Kosmo stepped past them and began rushing for the end of the hallway. The loskels gave chase, running unusually fast! "Whoa. Pretty good for having no leg muscles!" Copter noted. Kosmo glared at the fast approaching skeletons with annoyance. "I've had it. Chaos Avalanche!" Using the power of chaos, Kosmo caused part of the floor between them and the loskels to collapse, resulting in the monsters falling down to the floor below! "Whew... Good thinking, Kosmo..." Copter sighed.


Basker and Patch were wandering the first floor, searching for a way up to the next floor. Basker had chosen not to use the hole Copter and Kosmo used to get there, since he was unable to fly. So, he was following Patch as he led the way to the stairs he'd used to get up there earlier. Soon, they reached the hallway where Copter and Kosmo snuck past the GUN agents, and were stopped by the same agents. "Halt! Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" one of the agents shouted, pointing a gun at them. Basker sneered at the men in his path. "Foolish humans. It is you who have no business here." he said. The agent Kosmo had called "Reggie" backed away slowly. "Th-those guys are from the Covenant of Despair!" he gasped, recognizing the uniforms. The other two agents targeted Basker with their guns, since his red eyes filled them with particular dread. "Don't move! You two are coming in for questioning!" the agents said. Basker glared viciously at them. "Lower your weapons... Immediately!" he growled. Reggie dropped to the ground and crawled in front of Basker in cowardly fashion. "I'm not pointing a gun at you! Spare me!" he begged. Basker was too busy focusing on the hostile agents in front of him. "Patch... Remove them." he commanded. Patch held a knife in each hand and grinned sadistically at the GUN agents. "Hee hee... Pleased to meet you!" he said sinisterly. Reggie gasped in horror, and scrambled past Basker and Patch to escape. "Reggie!! You coward, cover us!" the agents yelled, but Reggie dared not look back. All he could think of were Basker's fearsome red eyes, glistening with murderous rage! As he left the hallway, he heard gunshots, followed by the screams of his two comrades amidst Patch's manic laughter! "They're... Worse than mere animals..." Reggie muttered, "I have to tell the Commander about this!" As Reggie escaped, Basker and Patch walked past the broken heaps that were once GUN agents and resumed heading for the stairs. "Satisfied, Patch? Now you've had your fun." Basker muttered sleepily.


Now that Kosmo knew where he was again, he and Copter were getting close to his room. They met little further resistance, so they had time to chat along the way. "Say, Copter, that ring thing that you wear on your tail..." Kosmo said. "My tailband? What about it?" Copter asked. Kosmo recalled when he fought with Super Copter. "Didn't there used to be two of them?" he asked. Copter nodded. "Yeah. There still is." he replied. "Then why don't you use it? Don't you have it?" Kosmo wondered. Copter shook his head. "Don't have it. Don't really need it." he said. "That's debatable. Anyway, if you don't have it, where is it?" Kosmo asked. Copter crossed his arms. "I'm not gonna tell you!" he yelled. "Fine, fine. I'm just making conversation. I don't need it either." Kosmo replied. They continued walking in silence for a moment before Copter spoke up again. "It's not debatable, either. I don't need the other tailband!" he insisted. Kosmo laughed at him. "Ha ha ha! Oh, yeah? Then why did you look so nervous when those GUN robots surrounded you in the city?" he asked. "They took me by surprise, is all! I could've handled them myself... probably." Copter insisted, "Anyway, I kicked your butt as Bucky, so shut up!" Kosmo rolled his eyes. "That ain't how I remember it. Didn't Sonic have to run in and save you?" he recalled. Copter sighed with frustration. "Aw, forget it. Are we there yet?" he asked. At this point, they'd entered a fairly empty room, with no apparent exits. Kosmo looked around briefly. "Yeah, looks like we're here. Excuse me a moment." He walked over to the back wall and pressed down on a tile on the ground. The building seemed to shake once he did, as a portion of the wall began moving backward slightly before sliding out of the way, revealing yet another secret room! "Geez, maybe it isn't necessary for you to leave this place. With all the hidden passages, GUN would probably never find your room!" Copter pointed out. Kosmo shrugged. Maybe, but I was getting kinda tired of this place, anyway. Well, come on in and make yourself at home while I fetch what I came for!" he said.

Kosmo's room was probably the dustiest room in the mansion, and the most empty. Aside from a few blankets in the corner, the most notable thing about the room were large cracks in the walls. Kosmo walked over to the blankets in the corner and pulled some things out from under them. "Let's see... Chicken bones... Newspapers... Some guy's hat... heheheh... Ah! Here it is!" Kosmo stood up holding a small object in his hand. "This is my only real possession. Well, besides the hat. That's good for disguises." he said. Copter walked over to get a look at what Kosmo was holding. "It's a gold coin... Looks kinda ancient." he observed. Kosmo nodded. "Yeah. There's some writing along the edges of it in some form of old gibberish. Probably older than Bucky is." he said. "Where'd you get it?" Copter wondered. Kosmo shrugged uncertainly. "I found it after I escaped Shadow Arc. Don't remember where exactly. Sometimes it glows. I think it might come in handy someday." he said. "Well, I guess we should go now..." Copter said, turning to leave. As he did, an explosion of light erupted from Kosmo's coin, startling them both! "Whoa!! What's goin' on!?" Copter shouted, turning back towards Kosmo. In seconds, the coin stopped glowing, and Kosmo blinked his eyes a few times to recover from the shock. "Ugh... Almost blinded me... It's never flashed that bright before..." he muttered under his breath. "What's the matter, Kosmo?" Copter asked. Kosmo flicked the coin into the air and caught it. "Ah, it's nothing. Let's get outta here." As they headed for the exit, Copter hesitated. He heard a strange noise coming from the cracks in the back wall. "I know that sound... Kosmo! Something's coming!" Copter shouted, turning around to see what was happening. A strange, black liquid was oozing through the cracks in the wall! Kosmo looked at it with curiosity. "That's new... What is that sludge?" he wondered. Suddenly, the black liquid gushed out of the wall faster, and then rose from the floor, taking the shape of Chaos! The black Chaos had yellow eyes, and was familiar to Copter. It was Shadow Chaos, the creature Copter had encountered in the Chaos Shrine!

"Hey... What's this thing!? What does it want!?" Kosmo growled. Copter thought back and remembered his fight with the creature. "I've seen it before... You! Monster thing! What do you want from me!?" he yelled, shaking his fist at Shadow Chaos. "It's not you he's looking at!" Kosmo realized. Suddenly, Shadow Chaos stretched its arms and threw its fists at Kosmo, knocking him a few feet backward! Copter turned in Kosmo's direction. "Whoa! You OK, Kosmo?" he asked. Kosmo stood up and shot a furious look at Shadow Chaos. "Got a bone to pick with me? Then show me what you got!" he yelled. Shadow Chaos jumped over to Kosmo and swung its seemingly elastic arms at him, knocking him aside again! This time, however, Kosmo didn't fall down. "Talkative thing, aren't ya?" he said. Copter ran over to assist Kosmo. "This thing's a real piece of work, Kosmo! Let's take it on together!" he suggested. Kosmo glowed with white light, attempting to transform, but abruptly shifted back into his normal form. "Well... It does seem that I'm more tired than I thought..." he realized. Shadow Chaos took advantage of Kosmo's failure to transform, and slapped him aside with his powerful arms again! However, this gave Copter an opening to attack it with a tailband-powered tail whip! Shadow Chaos exploded into a black puddle, but quickly reshaped itself into its normal form. "Aw, that's cheating!" Kosmo grunted as he stood up again, "Well, I'm not getting knocked down again! Let's try Kosmosis!" A purple light shot out of Kosmo's eyes, similar to his Kosmos attack, but weaker. The attack wasn't powerful enough to explode Shadow Chaos, but it did knock it backward a bit. Shadow Chaos recovered quickly, and ran between Copter and Kosmo, spinning its stretched-out arms in order to smack both of them away! They were flung into the air, but both landed on their feet. "That kinda hurt... And it seemed like my tailband didn't hurt it any more than a regular attack would've..." Copter realized, seeing that Shadow Chaos didn't seem to be growing any weaker. Kosmo grinned at the creature. "Not bad, but it's time to end this!"

As if in response to Kosmo's words, Shadow Chaos charged at him, flailing its arms violently! Copter flew over in an attempt to help. "Look out, Kosmo!" he shouted. Kosmo prepared to dodge, but Shadow Chaos stopped to smack Copter out of the sky with its long arm! Copter fell onto the pile of junk Kosmo left next to the blankets. "Ow!! Those chicken bones hurt!!" Copter groaned. Kosmo was about to attempt to attack Shadow Chaos, but the creature already turned to him and started attacking again. Kosmo jumped aside and ran out of the way, putting some distance between himself and Shadow Chaos. The creature pulled its arms back to their normal length and pointed its hands at Kosmo. After aiming, it began firing globs of black fluid at Kosmo with speed similar to a bullet! Kosmo quickly ran out of the way. "Good at long-distance fighting are you? Try this on for size then!" Though he was now panting with exhaustion, Kosmo managed to force his tail to morph into a mace, which he threw at Shadow Chaos quickly, smashing the spiked ball into Shadow Chaos and causing it to break down into a puddle again! As his mace-tail snapped back to him, Kosmo morphed it back to normal and glanced at the black water on the floor. "OK... He wasn't so tough. I think I beat him... Let's get outta here, already..." he said, starting to head for the exit again. However, Shadow Chaos began quickly reforming after Kosmo took his eyes off it, and as soon as it was able, it fired its arms in Kosmo's direction! "Look out!" Copter yelled, running over as fast as he could! Kosmo turned just in time to see Copter run in the path of the attack. Shadow Chaos's arms smacked into Copter with such force that they splashed against his chest, but Copter stood firm. "Yeow!! That hurts... Lousy monster!!" Copter groaned. Shadow Chaos retracted its arms and backed away a step, making odd noises in frustration. Kosmo stared wide-eyed at Copter. "Hey! Why'd you do that!?" he asked. Copter glanced back at Kosmo. "Heh... Now we're even..." he said. Kosmo stepped out from behind Copter and faced Shadow Chaos. "That sneak attack was uncalled for! If that's the way you're gonna be, let's finish this!" he growled.

Rather than attack Kosmo, Shadow Chaos backed away towards the wall. Naturally, this confused Kosmo. "Hey! We're not done yet! Come back here, you coward!" he shouted. Shadow Chaos sank back into a puddle and started slipping back into the cracks. Suddenly, a voice came from outside the room. "Stop! Shadow Chaos!!" It was Basker! He and Patch ran into the room, but they were too late. The last of Shadow Chaos's liquid form slipped into the cracks, escaping into the darkness. Basker was panting, having apparently been running for a while. "Missed him..." he said unhappily. "Well, it isn't a total loss! We found these guys again! Hee hee!" Patch giggled, pointing at Copter and Kosmo, who were now cautiously approaching the Covenant of Despair members. "That's weird. Almost seems like you guys scared that monster away." Kosmo observed. "Well, those guys ARE pretty creepy." Copter pointed out. "BOO! Hee hee!" Patch joked. Basker glanced around the room, as though looking for something. "It seems Shadow Chaos is no longer here..." he said. "Is that the creature that attacked us?" Kosmo asked. Patch laughed at the question. "Hee hee! That's classified!" he said. Basker crossed his arms. "I'd ask what you two were doing here, but I don't think it matters. Our operations here are concluded. We must now return to headquarters." he said sleepily. Patch jumped towards the exit and ran out hastily. "Hee hee! Later, losers!" he giggled. Basker hesitated. "I am anxious to return to headquarters. You two are welcome to come along, if only to get a sense of how hopeless it is to oppose us." he suggested. As Basker started walking away, Copter and Kosmo exchanged puzzled looks. "So... Were they looking for that monster?" Copter wondered. "I don't know, but they've got me a little curious. Besides, I need a new place to hang out. Perhaps I should follow them." Kosmo said, starting to follow Basker and Patch. Copter watched him go with concern. "I don't know about this... Well, maybe I can learn more about these creepy weirdos if I visit their HQ..." he decided, running off to catch up to the others.

Eventually, Kosmo and Copter found themselves in what appeared to be a throne room of sorts. Basker and Patch had taken them a long way, and they stopped to rest before walking far into the room. It was a very large room, with giant columns along the walls reaching up to the high roof. Unlit torches lined the path to the back of the room, with two lit torches in the center, burning with black flames. A large, black chair dominated the back of the room. It had various fearsome images carved into it, and was emblazoned with the Covenant of Despair's symbol, the thirteen-pointed star. As they wandered towards the throne, Conan watched them from the shadow of one of the columns to the right, doing his best not to be seen. His expression grew tense as he gazed at Copter's tailband. "What a revolting development..." he thought. Patch had left Basker's side and started goofing around near Conan, prompting him to sneak away to avoid being noticed. Near the throne, Basker turned to Copter and Kosmo. "We must wait a moment." he told them before walking in front of the throne, which was currently empty. "I guess we gotta wait for someone for some reason..." Copter muttered. To the left of the throne, a black and red hornet wearing a black leather jacket and a black helmet was looking at them. His helmet had a black visor that made his eyes impossible to see. "Heyyyyy..." he muttered, slowly flying towards them. "Psst! Copter!" he whispered. "Zipp?" Copter said, somewhat surprised, "What are you doing here?" Zipp's companions, Crash and Vortex, were hanging out by the columns at the left wall as well. Crash, a grey, green-eyed rhinoceros wearing a yellow bowler hat, was the first to join them. "Nice to see you again." he said. Kosmo's eyes widened as he realized what their presence meant. "Oh... No... It couldn't be..." he groaned. Vortex, a black chameleon with two horns on his head, orange eyes, a jagged tail, and two red spikes on his back, confirmed Kosmo's fears. "Masssster, Kossssmo issss here." he said, looking up towards the ceiling. From the rafters, someone jumped down, using a strange electric power to slow his descent!

It was a brown rat wearing a white lab coat, with yellow eyes and purple shoes. "Let me see him!" He said, pushing past Crash and Zipp in order to greet Copter and Kosmo. "Ah, what do we have here? I must say, I never expected to see you both together." he said upon seeing them. "Bucky! Hey, why'd Vortex only tell you about Kosmo? What am I, chopped liver?" Copter asked. Vortex had emerged from the shadows to greet them now. "Hanging out with Kossssmo? If you had a death wissssh, Copter, you could have came to sssssee Zipp." he hissed. "Seems to me I just did. Hey, Zipp." Copter replied, waving at Zipp. "If only Crash hadn't confiscated my shotgun! I'd give you a proper welcome!" Zipp chuckled. Kosmo looked around at his creator and fellow creations with contempt. "You know what? I think I'll be leaving now!" he growled. Bucky blocked his path as he turned to leave. "By all means, don't leave on account of me." he insisted. Copter frowned. "All right. We'll leave because of Vortex." he said. "Ssssshut up." Vortex snarled. Kosmo backed away from Bucky. "Don't even speak to me... None of you! You, who created me and then caged me! I want nothing to do with you!" he said threateningly. Bucky crossed his arms and glared at him. "I'm not too thrilled to see you either. But I have my reasons for being here, so I'll just have to live with it." he said. "Just why ARE you here?" Copter wondered. Before Bucky could reply, Basker turned to call them. "Kosmo! Copter! Come, it is time!" Copter and Kosmo left Bucky and approached the throne. "Time for what?" Kosmo growled, "If it's about joining you guys, I don't think I want to." Basker motioned to the throne. "Tell that to our master." he said. Suddenly, the throne burst into black flames, and began forming the shape of a creature! As the flames faded, a truly fearsome entity emerged. It was hooded, much like the Doomsayer and the Deathbringer, but this one's hood had three black stripes going along the sides and top. His cloak had a red collar, and his gloves were a dark red color. His shoes were red and grey, and he had a grey tail with a red furred tip. His hate-filled eyes glowed red as well, and were the only part of his face visible under his hood. Copter and Kosmo backed away a step, shocked by his appearance. The being first looked at Basker. "Basker... The mission ended in failure, did it not?" he said, with a demonic voice as fearsome as he was. Basker backed away as well, keeping his eyes fixed on this fearsome being as he did. "True, master. However, I have brought the morph." he said, pushing Copter and Kosmo forward. The mysterious being glared down at them from his throne. "Welcome, newcomers. I am the master of the Covenant of Despair. They call me...... The Darkseeker."

To be continued...