GeneX - Soleanna Struggle Chapter 25 - Final Chapter - Soleanna Struggle 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. "Evil poisons all I see. It won't stop us, just come with me! Together we can at last break free! We'll be what we always wished to be! What can I say? It's a beautiful dream. I wish that we could be a team..." - Dark Angel, Theme of Copter the Fox As the Sun Festival continued, Copter walked up to Heather. "Hello. Nice night, isn't it?" he said to her. As he spoke to her, she backed away from him, recoiling in fright! "Whoa! Hold it! I mean you no harm!" he said, trying to sound as calm as he could. There was something strange about the phoenix, and she stood there glaring at Copter with intense hatred. Gone was the feeling that either of them recalled the other. "Get away from me! D-don't come any closer!" she shouted, shaking intensely. Copter backed away slightly. "Easy... It's OK... My name's Copter. I've come to help you. What's your name?" he asked. The phoenix continued shaking, as though she was overcome with terror. "I... I'm Heather. Pl-please... J-just stay back!" she screeched, causing the crowd around her to back away, as they were unsure of what was going on. Suddenly, Punchy and Rainbow ran up to Copter, pursued by Razor the Porcupine! "Freeze, experiments!! You're under arrest, punks!" Razor shouted, pointing a gun at them. "H-hold up! I'm not an experiment!" Rainbow shouted, raising her hands over her head. Copter turned to Punchy. "What did you do, pack that guy in your suitcase?" he grumbled. Punchy shrugged his shoulders. "That guy hates us so much, I think he followed us!" he said. Heather screeched as she saw the gun in Razor's hand. "Y-you're here to hurt me!! Get back!! I-I'm warning you!!" she shouted. Razor looked at Heather with surprise. He wasn't pointing his gun at her, but she was still terrified of him. "I'm just here to arrest these experiments... I--" before he could finish talking, Heather screamed again. "I-it's not my fault! I didn't ask to be an experiment! Y-you're all sick people!! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" she screamed. Copter had a terrible feeling all of a sudden, like Heather was going to explode if she didn't calm down. "Enough! You point that gun away from us, officer! You're scaring civilians! Anyway, I was just trying to help--" Copter was interrupted by a sinister laughing that could be heard throughout Castle Town. It even startled Elise, who dropped the flame she was going to light the torch with into the water. The crowds began running off in a panic as a strange, black shadow flew by, stopping at the bridge behind Heather and taking the shape of a black, crystalline rat. "Bucky?" Copter gasped, finding the creature's resemblance to the lab rat to be uncanny. The crystal rat cackled loudly as it began walking towards Heather. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark!!" Heather gasped in horror at seeing Mephiles. "Y-you!! N-n-noooo!!!" she screamed, backing away as he approached. "Wait. Do not recoil from me. I am not the one who means to do you harm." Mephiles said, staring coldly at her. Heather stopped backing away, but still appeared scared. "But you..." she muttered, unable to speak further. Mephiles pointed to Copter accusingly. "Him... and his kind. And the rat who's shadow I resemble... They all mean to do you harm. But I... I only wish to return to you, my love. These creatures... They tore us apart. Please, come back to me..." he said. Copter ran between Mephiles and Heather, feeling for sure that Mephiles was planning something evil. "You're a liar! I don't know who you are, but I do know why I came here! I want to help her, not hurt her!" he shouted. The spectacle unfolding near the Festival Torch had now gotten the attention of certain visitors to Soleanna, including Sonic and Tails! "Hey! What's goin' on here?" Sonic asked, somewhat confused. "No clue, really. But I don't like the looks of this guy." Copter said, pointing to Mephiles. Tails looked over at Heather, who was still shaking. "Are you OK?" he asked, stepping toward her to see if he could help. Heather backed away from him, and ran toward the canal nearby. Seeing the water, she backed away from there as well, and felt trapped as she looked around the area. "You... You all stay away from me!!" she yelled, holding her head as though it was hurting. Gemini had wandered into the area from New City, and was now looking around with confusion. "What the... What's happening?" she asked, but was ignored. Mephiles continued walking towards Heather, extending a hand to her. "Come with me, my love. Together, we will rid the world of everyone we choose, and make it a place where we may live in peace." he said calmly. Heather looked around. Of all the faces in the group, Mephiles's was the only one she recognized, so she decided to trust him. "O-OK... I will go with you... Please, protect me from them!" she said, taking Mephiles's hand. Copter ran after them. "Heather, no!!" he shouted, but it was too late. As their hands met, they began glowing, and Mephiles began laughing as Heather tried to pull away, but found she couldn't. "Wh-what is this!? What are you doing!?" she shouted fearfully. "Relax. This is what you wanted, isn't it? Come now, Flames of Disaster, it is time for our last dance!" Mephiles proclaimed, carrying Heather with him as they began levitating high above Soleanna! As Mephiles carried Heather high into the sky, Heather's body burst into flames! These flames spread out in a similar way to Iblis's flames before, surrounding Mephiles and Heather as they began to transform! A bright light covered the sky above, but it wasn't quite as bright as the light from Solaris. Still, the world around the light began to be distorted, and the sky became a dark shade of purple. As the light began to fade, everyone could see a giant creature above, that resembled Solaris! Rather than the previous, monstrous form of the original Solaris, this creature looked like a giant bird made of the same glasslike crystal. Blue flames covered its body, while a large red sphere was lodged in the creature's chest. It had giant, crystal talons, and its birdlike head had red eyes with green pupils, resembling the eyes of Mephiles. The creature let out a horrible screech, and everyone covered their ears. As Copter, Sonic, and Gemini looked up at the creature, they heard a familiar voice behind them. "Blast! I'm too late!" They turned to find Bucky staring up at the creature. Behind him were his experiments. All of Team GeneX was there, including Crash, Spiny, Zeke, and Whisk. Vortex and Zipp were beside Bucky. "Oh, sssshoot! Thissss doesssn't look good at all!" Vortex hissed. "Hmm... Maybe a real big rocket launcher can stop it?" Zipp suggested. Copter glared at Bucky. "You have some explaining to do, old man!" he shouted. Bucky nodded. "Yes... I owe you all that much. You see, a long time ago, I was living here in Soleanna. The previous king was my friend. During my stay, I met a wolf. She told me of Solaris, which the king had referred to as the 'Flame of Hope.' This wolf told me that I should take an ember from the flame, and do it quickly, for I would find something incredible to do with it one day. I didn't think much of that prediction, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I snuck in and took an ember from the flame. I hid it in my secret lab. I knew that the king was planning an experiment involving the flame, but shortly after I took that ember, I learned that the flame went out! I saved the flame until recently, when I decided to use it to make a phoenix. But something went wrong... I don't quite understand, but I triggered something in the flame, creating both that dark creature, Mephiles, along with Heather! Mephiles attacked me, and took his form from my shadow! But the incident frightened Heather, and she ran away! I knew something terrible was to come of this, so I made a few more experiments to aid me..." As he finished his explanation, he noticed Sonic was tapping his foot impatiently. "You sure know how to make a mess. Now what do we do?" he asked. Gemini looked up at the creature. "I think it's planning to destroy Soleanna! We have to stop it, fast!" she realized. "That creature is similar to Solaris, but it's a phoenix. Let's call it, Solenix." came a voice nearby. Looking around, the group could see a bent figure in an old cloak, leaning on a wood staff. It was Dimentime! "Hey, what gives you the right to go naming things!?" Spiny growled. "What's a Solaris?" Crash wondered. Dimentime tapped his staff on the ground, calling for silence. "I told you I'd see you again somewhere, young fox." the hooded figure said, chuckling. Copter had no idea what he was talking about. "Do I know you?" he asked. "Call me Dimentime. We met shortly before you reached Soleanna, in another place and time. Now, don't anyone panic." the old person said. "Why shouldn't we panic!? That thing looks like it'll smash everything in just a few minutes!" Zeke shouted, panicking slightly. Dimentime shook his head. "Now, now, hold your horses. You young ones are always in such a hurry. Listen, Solenix doesn't have the aid of the Chaos Emeralds, nor does Heather really want to be up there. It needs more time before it can begin doing irreversible damage to time-space. However, once it is powerful enough, it will consume all timelines, and essentially destroy the universe." he explained. Sonic scratched his head. "How do you know about... what's her name? Heather? She disappeared before you got here!" he said. "Who cares!? You heard the man!! Time's... um.... That bully's gonna wreak everything!!" Whisk shouted with fear. Rainbow pointed at the red sphere on Solenix's chest. "What's that thing? Sure is pretty.... In a scary, destructive way." she said. Dimentime looked up at Solenix. "That contains the consciousness of the creature. However, that sphere contains two consciousnesses, battling for control! That's why the creature is hesitating. Mephiles and Heather disagree on how to proceed!" he said. Punchy crossed his arms. "Who cares. Once that internal struggle is over, we're doomed, aren't we?" he said. Bucky turned to his experiments, holding up a green Chaos Emerald. "All of you... Did you collect the Chaos Emeralds, like I told you to?" he asked. Each of the six experiments accompanying Bucky held up a single Chaos Emerald, and Bucky's made seven! "There's still one chance!" the lab rat said, turning to Sonic. The blue hedgehog grinned as he realized what Bucky meant. "All right! I'm ready!" he said excitedly. Copter looked a bit worried. "Do you think you can handle it by yourself? I'd like to go with you..." he said. Just then, Tails ran up to Copter and handed him his tailband. "You can help, Copter! I know you can use the tailbands!" he said. Copter accepted the tailband gratefully. "Thanks for keeping it safe for me!" he said. Dimentime walked over to Gemini next. "You want to go as well, don't you?" he asked. Gemini looked unsure. "I'd like to... But I can't use the Chaos Emeralds..." she said. Dimentime tapped his staff on the ground. "That's no hindrance! All you need is some help." he said, leaning close to her and whispering instructions. Gemini still didn't seem sure about this, but nodded anyway. "I'll try." she said. So, all at once, Sonic, Copter, and Gemini invoked the powers at their disposal! The Chaos Emeralds spun around Sonic rapidly as their power became active! Copter placed the tailband on the tail that lacked one and they both began to glow! Gemini held her magic wand above her head and called out the spell Dimentime told her about while concentrating on her friends and loved ones. "Light of Friendship!!" All at once, the three of them transformed! Sonic glowed a bright, golden hue, while Copter glowed silver, and Gemini glowed in a lighter shade of gold. Super Sonic was the first to take flight, followed by Super Gemini, and finally Super Copter. As they flew up towards Solenix, the others below watched the Soleanna struggle unfold! As Sonic, Gemini, and Copter flew towards Solenix, the flames covering its body dissipated, and it began moving to attack! To begin the battle, Solenix summoned hundreds of Mephiles's tiny shadow creatures to battle with them. Sonic and Gemini immediately started attacking the creatures, but Copter hesitated. "What did Dimentime say? Heather doesn't want to be up here? I wonder if there's a better way to handle this..." he thought, flying past the shadow creatures to get close to Solenix's core. "Heather! Can you hear me!?" Copter shouted. There was no response from Heather, but Solenix clearly didn't like how close Copter had gotten. It swatted Copter away with one of its giant wings, knocking some rings from Copter as a result! Rather than turning back to find more rings, Copter tried again. "It doesn't have to be this way, Heather! Try to get Mephiles to stop!" he shouted. Sonic and Gemini had defeated most of the shadow creatures by now, and flew towards Copter. "It's no use! I don't think Heather can hear you in there!" Gemini told him. "Besides, this creature seems pretty sure of itself now! We're gonna have to stop it the hard way!" Sonic added. Solenix let out a loud roar. Sonic, Copter, and Gemini was too close to it for its liking. It fought back by blowing fire at them from its mouth, forcing them to get out of the way! As the three super forms backed away from Solenix, the giant crystal phoenix began to fly higher into the sky, above the clouds! Sonic and Gemini chased after it immediately. "I guess they're right... It's too late for me to reason with her now..." Copter said sadly. Realizing that his ring count was running low, he flew off to try to find some rings. Everyone in Soleanna watched the battle as best they could. Though the clouds obscured their view, each of the combatants were glowing, making it easy to spot them through the clouds. By now, Tails had been joined by Knuckles and Cream, who were also visiting Soleanna. After he explained the situation to them, they looked up at the battle overhead. "Wow... This is scary. I hope they'll be OK..." Cream said. Knuckles looked around and spotted Punchy and Rainbow, who grinned and waved to him. "Aw, great, of all the... I can't even take a brief vacation..." Knuckles groaned. Punchy turned to Rainbow. "He's not waving back. Think he's not happy to see us?" he chuckled. Rainbow glanced up at the fight overhead. "Maybe he's just worried, One." she said. Not far away, Razor was observing all of the experiments. As Chet arrived in the area, Razor gazed up at the battle in the sky. "There's experiments here too, eh?" Chet said, seeming surprisingly calm despite the battle taking place. "Did they follow us?" he asked Razor. "No. In fact, it seems like they came here to help... They may have done some bad stuff, but I'm beginning to think there's no reason for you witnesses to be protected... From them at least." Razor said. As the battle overhead raged on, the people of Soleanna soon started cheering for Sonic, putting all their hopes in the speedy hedgehog. (After all, they didn't know Copter or Gemini!) As Copter finished collecting the rings and returned to the battle, he found Sonic and Gemini fleeing laser attacks from Solenix's core! Copter flew towards Gemini to ask her a question. "Did you guys find any weak point yet?" Gemini shook her head. "Every time we attack, Solenix finds a new way to stop us! But we can tell you one thing, attacks to the head don't work!" she said. Sonic glanced at the core where the lasers were coming from. "That sphere! Didn't Dimentime say that Solenix's two consciousnesses were in there?" he said. Copter nodded. "Yeah, but so what?" he asked. Gemini understood what Sonic was getting at. "Its body seems impervious, but maybe that core isn't!" she said. To test that theory, Gemini began firing bolts from her wand at the core! Solenix used its broad wings to block the attacks, but this only served to convince them further. "It won't let anything get close to that core! That's gotta be its weak point!" Sonic said. Now that they knew, all three of them began attempting to attack it! Gemini went in first, attempting to get close enough for her attacks to hit before being blocked. Solenix blew fire at her to keep her away, but since it was distracted, Sonic and Copter were able to quickly fly around the fire and strike the core! Sonic quickly flew away after hitting it, but Copter hesitated after smacking the core with his tails. From this close to the core, he could hear voices coming from inside it. It sounded as though Heather was screaming, but Mephiles was laughing. "Do that all you want, you’ll only knock out Heather! Then, full control will be mine!" Mephiles sneered. After hearing that, Copter was blasted away from the core by a laser! He was sent flying away, and lost a bunch of rings, but he had no time to waste. "Copter!! That looked pretty bad! Go get some rings, and we'll handle this!" Gemini suggested. "Wait!! Don't attack the core! You can't..." Copter shouted, but Sonic and Gemini wouldn't listen. As they moved to attack the core again, Copter dashed ahead to stop them! Sonic struck the core, but Copter managed to stop Gemini. "Listen! Heather's not attacking us on purpose! She's a prisoner inside Solenix! We have to find a way to stop Mephiles without hurting her!" he said. Gemini looked concerned. "How can we do that?" she asked. Sonic had overheard them talking as he fled Solenix's lasers. "Heather's a part of that thing. If she really wants to fight it, she can!" he told them. Copter understood, and flew towards the core in an attempt to talk to Heather again. "Listen, Heather! You can stop this! You just have to fight Mephiles!" he shouted. This time, Heather's voice was heard calling from the core. "I can't fight Mephiles! He... He's too strong! You have to stop him! Even if it means destroying me..." she said. Gemini and Sonic heard her as well. "It's true! She's a prisoner! Sonic, we can't destroy her!" Gemini said. Sonic looked very serious. "Are you sure you can't fight back?" he asked. Heather responded again. "There's no way... I'm not strong enough..." she said. Mephiles laughed at them from within Solenix. "You can't defeat me without destroying your friend! Now, what will you do? All you can do is watch as I consume everything!" he declared. Gemini and Copter looked to Sonic, wondering what to do. As Solenix hovered in front of them, Super Sonic knew there was only one choice. He started to fly away, but then quickly turned around and slammed into Solenix's core, shattering it to pieces! "NO!!! You maniac!!! What have you done!?" Copter shouted in terror. Gemini patted him on the back. "It had to be done, Copter..." she said. Sonic flew beside them and pointed to Solenix. "I don't think it's over..." he said. Suddenly, Solenix's body burst into flames, and as the flames covered the entire creature, a new core was created, bringing Solenix back to full power! "She's a phoenix, and so is Solenix! It can just regenerate itself!" Sonic shouted. Solenix demonstrated its power by shooting lasers from its core in all directions, knocking the super forms away as it descended back to Soleanna, hovering above the giant sconce of the Festival Torch! As Solenix hovered where the torch's flames should have been, the citizens of Soleanna began running for cover! Tails and Knuckles stood in front of Cream, as if to shield her, while Punchy and Rainbow ran to join Team GeneX. Solenix hesitated while Super Sonic, Super Gemini, and Super Copter collected rings to maintain their super forms. As they approached Solenix, Gemini lagged behind. "Guys? I don't think we can win this..." she said. "We have to!" Copter insisted. Sonic stopped suddenly, and Copter and Gemini stopped with him. "Isn't that Dimentime?" he said, pointing to the altar in front of the torch. Dimentime stood there, gazing up at Solenix. The creature looked down at him, appearing somewhat confused by his boldness. "Heather!! Can you hear me? Listen to my voice!" Dimentime shouted. Gemini looked very worried. "Has he gone insane!? What is he doing!?" she wondered. Copter and Sonic remained silent, waiting to see what would happen. Solenix screeched at Dimentime, flapping its wings fiercely in an attempt to get rid of him! Dimentime struggled against the wind, leaning on his staff for support. "You don't want to do this, Heather! Please, calm yourself and listen to me!" he shouted. Copter wouldn't wait any longer. "He's going to get himself killed!" he shouted, flying towards Solenix. "Copter, wait!!" Sonic shouted. Copter could not reach Dimentime fast enough anyway. As Solenix flapped its wings even faster, the hooded being was flung into the air! Copter stopped moving suddenly as a pair of tails slid out from under Dimentime's cloak and began spinning, allowing him to land back on the altar! The force of the wind had blown off his hood, revealing a familiar black fox with a few strands of white hair on his head. As Solenix saw Dimentime's face, something stirred within Heather's heart, and she finally managed to hold Solenix back for a moment. Dimentime glanced back at Super Copter and waved to him before turning back to Solenix. "You sense memories in your heart now, don't you? This will help further." he said, tapping his staff on the ground once more, this time invoking a strange power. The wood staff seemed to melt away in his hands, leaving a magic wand in its place. Super Gemini flew beside Super Copter and compared her wand against Dimentime's. "Th-that... wand..." she said, realizing that the two were identical! Dimentime whispered a spell, and as the tip of the wand began to glow, Solenix began screeching again. Sonic and Gemini started to fly after Solenix again, but Copter held them back. "I'm sure I know what I'm doing..." he said in an almost dazed voice. Dimentime stared lovingly at the core of Solenix, as though he could see Heather inside it. "You remember now, don't you? The adventures we shared. The bond of friendship we forged. I know you're no evil being. You never were." he said. Heather's spirit seemed to step out through the core of Solenix, and smiled at him. "I missed you..." she said as she started to cry. "Yes... And I missed you..." Dimentime replied. Only he and Heather quite knew what was going on, but they were no longer afraid for their safety. "I... I'm sorry for what happened to you... It looks like it was rough..." Heather said. Dimentime nodded. "I set out on this adventure, hoping to save you. Things never did go quite as planned, but I wouldn't trade our time together for anything. You owe me no apology." he said. Heather smiled at him through her tears. "I know what I have to do. Thank you... For everything. Though it may not look like it, you did save me in the end." she told him. Dimentime shed a tear as he waved to her. She waved back at him, and then to Copter. "Good bye... Copter the Fox..." Heather's spirit returned to the core of Solenix, and immediately set to work. The creature screeched loudly as Heather battled with Mephiles. In a few moments, the crystal phoenix began flapping its wings, flying high over Soleanna and towards the ocean. Super Copter could see that its eyes had changed from Mephiles's to Heather's, and tears were falling from them. He attempted to chase Solenix, but Sonic and Gemini held him back. "No, let me go!! Heather!! Don't do it!!" he shouted, realizing what was happening. Solenix glanced back at Super Copter briefly, but then resumed flying towards the coast of Soleanna. It hesitated a moment as Mephiles attempted to regain control, but continued flying shakily as a terrible struggle was waged within the creature. As Solenix reached the ocean, it began to shatter into pieces, collapsing! As the core of the creature exploded in a ball of flames, the super forms could just barely see Heather pulling Mephiles down with her as the creature crashed into the ocean. Mephiles tried to pull himself away from her, but they were still fused together, and so their fates would be the same. In a few moments, Solenix disappeared beneath the waves, finally putting an end to Solaris and the Flames of Disaster. Copter had tears in his eyes as he watched Heather sacrifice herself to save the world, and as he turned away from the scene, he could see Dimentime was crying as well. In a moment, Copter's attention returned to the sea as a bright light flashed from where Solenix had sunk, and with that light, the sky began returning to normal, signifying that the struggle was finally over. As Sonic, Gemini, and Copter landed back near the gate to New City and reverted to their normal forms, Dimentime flew over to them. Copter handed Tails's tailband back to him, then turned to Dimentime. "Y-you're me... right?" he said, somewhat confused. Dimentime nodded. "I am you, from another time and dimension. In my world, Heather was not the only one to carry the Flames of Disaster, and Mephiles fused with that other being to create Solaris." he said. "That's the name of the sun god of Soleanna..." Razor pointed out. Dimentime continued his story. "Solaris nearly destroyed our world, catching all timelines in his grip. After Sonic and his companions weakened Solaris, Heather was able to use our world's Time Stones to send us to a time when we could stop Solaris. But there was one misguided person who tried to stop us. After the flame Solaris came from was blown out, this person grabbed the Time Stones, taking myself, Gemini, and Heather with her as we went to an even earlier point in time." he explained. Bucky stepped forward. "That wolf... She was from another time and dimension? So, that's how she knew of the flame." he said. Dimentime still had more to say. "She got Bucky to get the flame early, but without the knowledge he gained in my dimension from helping the king of Soleanna's experiment, he made the same mistakes as before, and Mephiles was created along with Heather." he said. Sonic was curious about something now. "What happened to the others that came back with you?" he asked. "They... are no longer among us. In either dimension. You see, the Time Stones reacted in a way unexpected. They created duplicates of the four of us that existed simultaneously in both our original world and this world. Events played out differently in both worlds. The wolf was defeated before she could see Bucky in our original world, but not in this world... The story still confuses me somewhat even now..." As Dimentime fell silent, he began to turn to leave. Copter started to follow him, and once they were away from everyone else, Dimentime turned back to him. "I took on a new name once you were created. Actually, I got this name from someone very special to me. It was Arthur... Arthur Prower, I called myself. I changed it to Dimentime shortly before you left for Soleanna. I... don't really know why..." he said. Copter looked at him funny, and Dimentime chuckled at that. By now, Gemini, Punchy, and Rainbow had caught up to them. "We still have so many questions..." Gemini said. Dimentime raised his hand to halt them before they got any closer. "Cherish the time you have on Earth, as long as you have it. For you cannot control time, and the future is naught but a memory, yet to be recalled." Those words were all Dimentime had to say. Before anyone could say anything else, he faded right before their eyes as though he'd never really existed. Copter scratched his head as he thought about the strange events of the past hour. "Arthur Prower, eh? Hmmm... I suppose it does suit me... In a way..." Copter, Punchy, Rainbow, and Gemini turned back towards the group they'd left behind. As they did so, the Sun Festival had already begun to resume, as though nothing had happened. Looking around, Copter noted that Bucky and his experiments had already left, and Sonic was leaving along with Tails, Knuckles, and Cream. Razor stood in the path of Copter and Punchy, accompanied by Chet. "Did you arrest Bucky or something?" Punchy asked. Chet shook his head. "We let them go." he said. Copter raised an eyebrow. "Why? I thought you were determined to see us rot in prison." he said. Razor nodded. "And I will... But for now, I'm granting you a pardon. You all did help save the city. But you'll still have to pay for your crimes one of these days!" he said. Rainbow grinned at him. "Yeah, I caught One littering once!" she said sarcastically. Razor chuckled at her. "Whatever... Let's go, Chet. I think Katie and the others will be anxious to get back home." he said, leading Chet away. Gemini waved to Copter, Punchy, and Rainbow as she began to leave. "I'll see you guys later. Sonic's 'girlfriend' is in the city, and I bet she'd like to hear where Sonic was last spotted!" she said, grinning. As she walked away, Copter, Punchy, and Rainbow began heading back towards the place where they left Gator. "So, now what do we do, 'Artie?'" Punchy asked. Copter glared at Punchy. "First off, don't call me Artie! I'm still Copter to you!" he said. "And you're still Two to me! Where to now, Two?" Rainbow asked. Copter shrugged. "No clue. I kinda wish I could've gotten to know Heather the way Dimentime did..." he said. Punchy nodded in agreement. "She wasn't so bad after all in the end, was she?" he said. "Maybe she'll be back. Maybe Binky will re-make Seven somehow!" Rainbow said. Copter smiled. "Yeah, maybe. Who knows what the future may bring." he said, stopping briefly to gaze out at the sea as Punchy and Rainbow kept walking. "...But I'll try to make it a good one. Thank you, Heather...." As I said, Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and Sonic Team. GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author. The End... Until the next adventure...