Deal with Doom
Back on Mobius, Julie-Su and Remington had been brought into Dr. Quack's office by Finitevus. He said he wanted some DNA samples from them.
"What exactly are these for?" Julie-Su asked.
"Option two, my dear. I merge Remington's DNA with yours, and by some miracle, it turns out be exactly the same as Lien-Da's." Finitevus replied.
"Can't you just use some of her old DNA? Like a strand of hair on her clothes or a hairbrush?" Said Remington. He'd had some experience with DNA analysis back when he was a Constable and his team used it for tracking down criminals using forensics.
"Wouldn't work. The cybernetics in her head would have contaminated any hair I found."
Finitevus pulled out two syringes from a medical kit. He first extracted blood from Julie-Su and then Remington. He placed the samples of blood in vials and put them into a small machine no bigger than a lunchbox. He then activated the machine and left it to its job.
"It's unlikely this will work, but I think the others will be successful in bringing back the DNA." Said Finitevus.
The three of them walked into Lien-Da's room. Her eyes were open and she appeared to be calm. Perhaps she was getting better on her own.
"Lien-Da! How are you feeling?" Julie-Su asked.
"Mari-Su? Is that you?" Lien-Da said, still delusional. Lien-Da must have thought Julie-Su was her own late mother whom Lien-Da had loathed ever since she married her father. "Am I with you and Aurora in the fabled Virtual Zone? The place some people call heaven?" Lien-Da asked.
"As if she'd ever go up to heaven..." Finitevus said under his breath, earning him a kick in the shin from Julie-Su.
"I'm afraid you're not there yet, fortunately." Said Julie.
"I am so sorry for what Kragok and I did to you. We didn't mean for it to happen." Said Lien-Da.
"Didn't mean for what to happen?"
"Killing you... I couldn't believe what had happened."
"You... killed her?" Julie said while trying to hold in her anger.
"In a way, yes. Kragok and I wanted to show you that you weren't in charge and that you weren't our mother, the one we cherished. We discovered a way to escape the Twilight Zone ourselves without anyone knowing and we took you to Angel Island to the mountains with the large rocks. We had earlier managed to hire some rogue Overlanders to come and out with guns to surprise you and show where the real power lied, but they betrayed us and made the rocks give way and crush us. Kragok pushed me out of the way, but he couldn't save you."
"So... you never meant to kill Mari-Su?"
"No. Why would we? You made father happy and as much as I loathed you, I couldn't bare to make father that miserable."
Julie just stood there, shocked by what she heard. For years she had believed that her half-siblings had killed Mari-Su, she had been sot of right, but they never meant for that to happen.
"Mari-Su, I am sorry again, but could you please leave me? I am tired and wish to sleep." Said Lien-Da.
"Yes, you rest now. And don't worry, all is forgiven."
"All the planets I've conquered and destroyed, all the galaxies I've stolen from and you're telling me we don't have a single piece of medical equipment capable of curing a pathetic Mobian disease!?!?!" Yelled Black Doom at one of his servants. This one kept inventory of all medical supplies and knew what each and every one could do.
"I am sorry, master, but I have never even heard of anything like this." Said the servant.
"Be gone, you worthless N'rrgal slime!"
"Thank you for sparing me, master." Said the servant and ran off.
"I apologise for this."
"For what, Black Doom? Not saving the life of someone you fought only a few days ago?" Said Sonic.
"She defeated me and my forces along with the rest of you and is a friend of my son's, I owe her my respect."
"First of all, she is not my friend, I barely even know her, and second, I am not your son." Said Shadow.
"Genealogy says different."
"Would you guys just shut up!" Said Knuckles.
"Knuckie's right. We are here to help Lien-Da and that's what we need to do instead of fighting." Said Rouge.
"What we need is to find the Seedrians and get some of their DNA." Said Tails.
"Seedrians? Well, in that case, I still may be able to fulfill your end of the bargain, for I know where the Seedrians are." Said Black Doom.
"Where?" Sonic asked.
"On their battleship and they should be a few thousand light years away from the battlefield by now."
"What do you mean? Are the Metarex holding the Seedrians prisoner?" Tails asked.
"The answer to that is yes and no. The Metarex commanders are some of the last Seedrians alive, and there are others on board being kept as slaves. Dark Oak's mate and his two daughters, so I'm led to believe. This is a fortunate turn of events. Now you can collect the blood of the Metarex as we spill it. Hahahaha-" Black Doom suddenly went into a coughing fit and several other Black Arms came in with medical equipment and aided Black Doom. When the Black Arms had finished, Black Doom returned to normal.
"Mind telling us what that was about?" Knuckles asked.
"In all honesty, I'm dying."
"Yeah right. You really looked like you were dying when we were fighting or when you dropped from a few thousand feet in the air." Said Shadow.
"I never show weakness in front of an enemy. Chaos Control enabled me to escape that fall without injury. I have lived a life of 15,000 years."
"Gee, if black people age better, I'd hate to see what somebody else that old would look like." Rouge commented.
"You misunderstand." Black Doom said. "The average life span for a Black Arm is five thousand years. I have been invading the planets that kept the Chaos Emeralds for years. At first it was just to get the legendary power, but they also granted me immortality. But, unfortunately, I needed to keep in contact with a Chaos Emerald every so often to stay alive. I invaded the Xorda planet to get the emeralds, but they had been transported to a place known as the Special Zone. I sensed many emeralds on Mobius when I first went there, but I found an easier method of obtaining them."
"Professor Gerald." Said Shadow.
"Yes. I gave him the secret to immortality which I passed on to you. But unlike me, you don't require contact with a Chaos Emerald after certain periods of time, Gerald made sure of that. I then went away to search for other emeralds while Gerald was still doing research and vowed to return in fifty years. Gerald said that if he was not alive by then, his soon-to-be-cured granddaughter would. Unfortunately, my plans were interrupted by the military of the United Federation who killed Gerald and his granddaughter, and I had to commence the invasion that led to our meeting."
"Why didn't you just take the emeralds and leave?" Said Sonic.
"Because that would make other aliens suspicious. If I, Black Doom, leader of the blood thirsty Black Arms, simply went to planets and did nothing, they'd know something was amiss. I couldn't risk my secret getting out to those who would use it against me. To my knowledge, any Black Arm who absorbs the power of an emerald can have their life span increased, but Argus knows what others may do. They could become a great and powerful species even greater than the Black Arms, and I will not let that happen."
"So the bottom line is, you don't want anybody else getting their hands on the Chaos Emeralds because then they'll be greater than the Black Arms." Said Sonic.
"Precisely; this war with the Metarex is but one of territory. They wish to invade our planet, but I will not let that happen."
"We shall see about that!" Said Dark Oak. He had just entered along with his commanders right at the end of their conversation. Luckily, they hadn't heard about the Chaos Emeralds, minus a little girl standing behind them.
"We are here to arrange the next battle." Said Dark Oak.
"Why no messenger? It is very rare we meet face to face outside the battlefield. Although I can't really see your faces now, Seedrians." Said Black Doom.
"How dare you call us that! We are the Metarex, we are far more than just Seedrians."
"Hiding yourself in a shell doesn't change what species you are. But you haven't answered my question."
"My three servants are too much of an escape risk."
"Three? I only count two."
Dark Oak turned in the direction of his two servants. They were both blue female Seedrians. One looked considerably older than the other.
"Where is Cosmo!?" Dark Oak yelled.
The servants remained silent and looked at the ground. Angered by this, Dark Oak picked them up by the throats.
"Earthia, Galaxina, you will tell me where Cosmo is!" Dark Oak ordered.
Sonic wasn't standing for this and performed a spin dash on Dark Oak's head causing him to drop the slaves.
"Head shot!" He cried out.
"Why you little-" Said Dark Oak before being cut off by a loud scream.
Everyone but Black Doom rushed towards the noise. Cosmo was in the middle of one of the lakes of black ooze and was being grabbed by large tentacles trying to take her under. Tails flew towards Cosmo and tried to pull her free, but the tentacles were too strong. Sonic and Shadow then proceeded to use spin dashes in a pinball manner by bouncing all over the room and hitting the tentacles, but they were caught by them.
"Looks like we're up." Said Rouge to Knuckles and Omega. The two sat on the robot's shoulders as he flew towards the tentacles. Rouge and Knuckles then jumped towards the tentacles simaltameously. They both lashed out with a series of kicks and punches and some of the tentacles crumbled like they were rock on impact. But others remained and grabbed Knuckles and Rouge, then more tentacles appeared out of the ooze and grabbed Omega by the arms and legs. Black Doom finally joined the party and looked with embarrassment at the heroes of Mobius.
"Your ultimate life form appears to have caught himself in a pinch." Gloated Bay Leaf.
"The tentacles are a security system and are difficult to get out of." Said Black Doom.
"Hey, Black Dummy, mind giving us a hand here?" Yelled Sonic.
"As you wish. En guarde, Swift Strike." Black Doom launched an energy boomerang that bounced off the walls and cut off all the tentacles.
They all fell into the ooze and swam towards Black Doom and the Metarex. Tails had to assist Cosmo who couldn't swim and had her grab on to him. When they reached the platform the aliens were on, Dark Oak snatched Cosmo out of Tails's hands and pulled out his sword.
"Another escape attempt? Perhaps I should put an end to this here and now." He said.
"No, Lucas, please!" Said the older blue Seedrian. "I'll take her punishment!"
"As tempting as that sounds, Earthia, I'd much rather deal with Cosmo."
He was about to strike when Black Doom smashed into him and flew into the air with Cosmo in hand.
"I am the only one who'll be doing the killing here, Dark Oak. You came here to settle a date for battle. I say tomorrow." Said Black Doom.
"Tomorrow? But we have only just fought. We need to-"
"Silence, Bay Leaf! Tomorrow will be perfect. We will meet at co-ordinates 000." Said Dark Oak.
Black Doom put Cosmo down and she went over to Earthia, but not before mouthing the words "Thank you" to Tails. The Metarex then departed for their ship. When they were out of ear shot, Shadow spoke.
"Since when are you the compassionate type?"
"I'm not compassionate, just sneaky." Black Doom said holding a leaf. "I pulled this off the female's head. I'm sure it will be enough for your friend's cure."
"Looks like we're heading home then." Said Knuckles.
"What about the others? Those people enslaved by Dark Oak. We've got to stop this and help them." Said Tails.
"Tails is right. We can't leave with those girls in danger. We've gotta stick around and beat them." Said Sonic.
"But what about Lien-Da? She's dying we've got to get back." Said Knuckles.
"Since when have you cared so much for her?"
"I don't, but she's Julie's sister, and..."
"And what?"
"And I can't wait to get back to Mobius and teach Finitevus a lesson, one that lasts fifty years to life."
"I hear that. But we can't let them get away with this. What do the rest of you think?"
"We've got to help them." Said Tails.
"I'm in as long as I get a shot at that Zelkova guy." Said Knuckles.
"Why not? Maybe they'll give me one of those jewel things they were wearing as a reward." Said Rouge.
"The Metarex robots are remarkably powerful. This will be a perfect opportunity to prove my power." Said Omega.
"What about you, angst master?" Said Sonic.
"As much as I loathe the Black Arms, I will assist them in winning this war."
"Looks like we're all in, Doomie." Said Sonic.
"Perfect. This shall prove to be an interesting battle." Said Black Doom.
Hours later, Dark Oak was entering the laboratory on his flagship.
"How is the mutation of the Planet Egg proceeding?" Dark Oak asked.
Planet Eggs are objects of power usually contained within some kind of crystal. They are found inside the ground of planets and give them the power to maintain life. The Metarex had been collecting these for years for unknown reasons.
"Well, master. It has grown in both size and power. We are about to extract the power of the Planet Egg from Coranaxia and transfer it into ours. Once we have done that, the galaxy will belong to the Metarex." Said a Metarex scientist.
Dark Oak walked over to a large glass dome filled with liquid with a Planet Egg the size of a wrecking ball inside. Wires were attached to the dome coming from other domes with Planet Eggs inside. The Planet Eggs looked like massive multi-coloured jewels with star constellations inside them, as if a person was looking at the galaxies themselves. Some didn't look like that, though. They just appeared to be big chunks of crystal, drained of their power. Dark Oak put his hand on the glass of the large dome.
"The Planet Egg of Green Gate. Our home planet that was destroyed but only a few days ago by the Zoah. They had won and it cost us everything. I shall not let that happen again. The goal and dream we have had in our sights for years shall soon be realised and then we shall destroy the Zoah for all the deaths they caused during that thousand year war." Vowed Dark Oak.