Chapter 5 - Kosmo's Dawn

GeneX - The Series
Episode 5 - Kosmo's Dawn

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:
Kosmo the Morph was a creature created by Bucky the Rat. Known as Experiment 3, he was the most powerful of all the creatures Bucky created, a shapeshifter. Unfortunately, for some reason or other, he came to despise beings not created as he was. His anger made him appear dangerous, so Bucky had him sealed away in suspended animation, where he could only grow more and more resentful in his sleep. One night, he was awakened, and his rage led him to threaten the world with the power of fake Master Emeralds that were nearby. However, he was stopped by the efforts of Super Tails and Super Copter, and they all landed on the roof of Shadow Arc, the lab where he was created.
"N-no... How can it be.... How could you... beat me?" Kosmo cried out in despair. Tails couldn't help pitying him. "Kosmo... There's no reason for all the hate you have for us." he said. Kosmo looked away from him. "I can't... stay here..." he whispered, morphing into his gargoyle form, "Farewell, Copter... And... Tails the Fox..." Kosmo hurled himself off the roof and flew into the dark, vanishing from sight. "Kosmo!" Tails shouted, to no avail. "I guess he needs to find his own place in the world..." Copter suggested.
As the dawn is breaking, Kosmo flees into the jungle. He attempts to make sense of how he could be defeated, and what he should do now.
Now, on to the episode!


Sergeant Gunner wasn't about to let himself be made a complete fool of by Kosmo the Morph. As dawn was breaking after the defeat of Kosmo's dragon form, Gunner did not wish to waste any time. "Guard! You have a long-range communication device in that head of yours, don't you?" he grunted as he paced back and forth, waiting for the Mystic Ruins train station to open. "Grrrr... You know that I do, sir." Guard grumbled. "Stand straight! What are you, sleepy!?" Gunner yawned, quite tired himself, "Put in a call to Death Row. Get me Corporal Drol!" he ordered. Guard nodded, and in a moment, a light shot from his android eyes, displaying a hologram of a blue haired man in a GUN uniform, wearing a cape. He had a noble bearing about him. "What's this? Who's there? How did you get this number??" Drol questioned. "It's ME, Drol! Pay no attention to the Gargoyle. I need troops dispatched to the Mystic Ruins jungle, emergency response speed! The creature that attacked Station Square is still here! I want it buried! Send Hot Shots or Flying Dogs or something!" he shouted. Drol's hologram glanced at him. "Are you sure that's wise, Sergeant? Already, yesterday, we've lost Techno Sonic, Diablotron, the Meta-Mammoth, dozens of androids and mechs, and a GUN Warship. Might it not be more... prudent, to consolidate our forces and gird ourselves for this creature's next attack?" he suggested. Spy, who was still nearby, nodded. "I like the way you think!" he said. Gunner sighed. "You might be right, Corporal. But I don't WANT that freak to get the chance for another attack! I want him stopped here and now! I want this nightmare finished!" he snarled. Drol's hologram nodded. "You do make a compelling point... Reinforcements are on the way!" he said before the hologram vanished. Spy scratched his head. "How do we keep getting reinforcements after wrecking all that stuff??" he wondered. Gunner shrugged. "I outrank Drol." he muttered.

Kosmo the Morph stumbled down into the trees. He crashed into a thicket of bushes, shifting into his normal form on the way down. He was a furry purple creature, with a tan muzzle, wearing red gloves and turquoise shoes. Between his fox-like ears, four spiky hairs stuck out in a row. He had a long, slim tail, and his most notable feature was his glowing yellow eyes, with black pupils. He thrashed in the bushes, frustrated. "How... could... I... LOSE!? First Bucky tricks me into that cage, then those little dweebs make a monkey outta me!!" he groaned, falling out of the bushes and shifting into the form of an ape. "Whooop!! Well... I thought of it..." he sighed, lumbering off. He started to climb a tree, morphing back to normal as he neared the top and resting on a branch. "...I guess power isn't everything... So what the heck do I do now?" he wondered. "That's a good question." Kosmo glanced down and saw Shadow the Hedgehog, who was staring up at him from the ground. "What do YOU want?" Kosmo growled. Shadow crossed his arms. "Nothing. I was just wandering the jungle. Good morning." he said, starting to walk away. Kosmo hung upside down on the branch from his tail, watching Shadow. "That's it? You're just gonna walk away?" he wondered. Shadow stopped in his tracks. "Hmmm... What do you think, Maria?" he whispered. Kosmo scratched his head and dropped to the ground, turning his arms into wings to slow his descent and enable him to land on his feet. Shadow turned to face him. "I know what it's like, Kosmo. Feeling like the whole world is against you." he said somberly. Kosmo scoffed. "Sure. That's why you jumped at the chance to fight me with that other hedgehog... Sonic." he growled. Shadow smirked at him. "Are you still looking to pick a fight, Kosmo? You took a beating from two super forms. Even though it was Tails and Copter instead of me and Sonic, I think you're still in no condition to fight. For once, why don't you try calming down." he suggested. Kosmo snarled and morphed into a form resembling Vector, attempting to grab Shadow with the crocodile form's powerful jaws! However, Shadow simply sidestepped him and did a spin, kicking him to the ground swiftly and easily! "You're tired, Kosmo! Quit this nonsense, you'll just embarrass yourself." he said, while Kosmo growled in frustration.

A large, flying assault vehicle was searching through the jungle. It resembled a large Flying Dog mech, but more heavily armed. R-6/A was written on its side, and it had a red and yellow color scheme. "Firefly to HQ, we've made it to the jungle." said the pilot. The Firefly was accompanied by several Flying Dog mechs. GUN was serious about stopping Kosmo now, before he could try anything again. "Beginning thermal scan of the area. Searching for any abnormal heat signatures. Chances are, that'll be the experiment!" the pilot stated. Firefly was specially chosen for this mission, due to its heat related technologies. It would be able to detect Kosmo based on his body heat, no matter what form he decided to take, in theory at least. The scanner picked up a heat signature from a rather large body right away. "Get ready, men! We may have already found it!" The Flying Dogs followed Firefly as it sped through the jungle, anxious to catch the morph before it could change forms. The mechs dodged and weaved between the trees, until they neared a clearing. A large, purple creature was sitting by a stream near a small shack. A small frog was resting beside it. Firefly's pilot caught a glimpse of the creature's eyes, which seemed to glimmer yellow in the dim light. "That's gotta be it! Purple and yellow eyed! And it's armed!" he said, seeing that the creature was holding... something. "Take him!" the pilot ordered. As the mechs charged into the clearing, Big the Cat shouted with alarm, raising his fishing rod over his head in a panic, which had a small fish hooked to it! Froggy jumped behind him fearfully as well. "Okay, okay!! I'll get my fishing license renewed!! Sooorry!!" Big shouted frantically, while the Flying Dog pilots started laughing at Firefly's pilot. "Grrrr... It was an honest mistake!!" he growled, "Um... As you were, citizen..." he mumbled.

Kosmo was walking through the jungle now, rubbing his elbow while Shadow walked beside him. "Since we've established you have the advantage here... Why don't you finish me? Aren't you worried what'll happen when my strength returns?" Kosmo grunted. Shadow frowned. "Maria wouldn't want me to..." he muttered. Kosmo glanced at him, blinking curiously. "Huh? Mar...ia? Why would she care if I live...?" he asked. Shadow stopped walking and looked up, possibly looking for where he thought the ARK was orbiting. "She felt... that everyone deserved a chance to be happy... She would have felt the same about you, were she..." his voice trailed off, not wanting to revisit the horror of her death yet again. Kosmo glanced at him. "...Happy..." he mumbled, his glowing eyes tearing up a little, "Look at me, Shadow! LOOK AT ME! I'm the only one of my kind! All others hate and fear me! How... how could I ever be happy in this world!? I will always be alone... Even if I had succeeded in my plan... I would have been alone..." he shouted, starting to run away from Shadow. The black hedgehog watched him go and then glanced up at "the ARK" again. "How am I doing, Maria?" he whispered before chasing after Kosmo. The morph had shifted into hedgehog form, trying to mimic Sonic's speed, but he was still weak, and he stumbled over a tree root, curling into a ball and rolling towards the ruins of the echidna pyramid at the center of the jungle. Shadow quickly caught up with him and crossed his arms as Kosmo dizzily sat up. "You don't have to worry... I won't bother trying to destroy everyone again... What's the point? They'll just unite against me and destroy me... They might do that anyway. My only chance is to disappear... Find a place to hide out alone..." Kosmo grunted. Shadow shook his head. "That's a coward's solution. You didn't strike me as a coward before." he scoffed. Kosmo got up and growled at Shadow. "Why are you following me!? What do you want from me!?" he snapped. "I didn't find my way to Shadow Arc just to find you and then watch you vanish into the shadows like a craven! You're the first life form I've seen that might almost be my equal... You have to have been meant for more than that!" Shadow shouted. Kosmo's eyes narrowed. "What...? Just who are you...?" he asked. Shadow turned away from him. "No, Kosmo... Who are YOU?" he said, walking away. Kosmo took a step after him, but didn't follow. "...Who am I...? What's that supposed to mean...?" he mumbled.

Sitting on a ledge of the echidna pyramid, Kosmo pondered what had happened since he'd been freed from his containment cell. Initially, all he could think about was getting revenge. "That prison... It wasn't fair... So, I was a bit tempermental. So, my powers make me stronger than pretty much everybody. That meant I had to be... put to sleep?" he mumbled, shifting his hand into various claws, wings and hooves to keep occupied. "I was so angry... But... was that me? Was that who I am? This... angry guy, who would rather kill everyone than... anything else? I can't remember... I don't think that crossed my mind before I got trapped in the cell. Maybe right before then? Was that why I was put in the cell? Why don't I remember!?" he groaned. Suddenly, he heard some rustling in the foliage below. He glanced down, morphing his hand back to normal. "...Shadow?" he muttered. In a moment, Big the Cat burst into the clearing, with Froggy clinging to his head! "Gwaaaaa! This place hasn't been so crazy since that earthquake a few hours ago..." he mumbled. Kosmo scratched his head. "Earthquake? Hm... He must've felt Shadow Arcangel take off." he muttered. Just then, Firefly burst out of the trees, followed by several Flying Dogs! "Arrrgh! That cat again!! Stop moving around, you!" Firefly's pilot yelled. "Sir! Up there, on the pyramid!" shouted one of the Flying Dog pilots. Kosmo stood up and gulped. "Crud... I knew they'd come to destroy me! I should have moved faster to find a hideaway!" he growled. "Experiment 3! In the name of GUN, we have orders to take you into custody! If you do not give yourself up, we are authorized to use lethal force to bring you in! Do you understand?" Firefly's pilot warned. Kosmo morphed into gargoyle form and sneered at them. "You'll have to catch me, first!" he shouted, leaping into the air and flying around to the rear of the pyramid! "Pursue the fugitive!" Firefly's pilot shouted. "We know that!!" the other pilot grumbled as they all scrambled after him. Big watched them fly off and sighed with relief. "At least they're off my back now... I wanna take a nap after that..." he groaned.

Kosmo was still weak, and he couldn't fly for long. He broke into a glide and headed for the nearby trees, but the GUN attack vehicles quickly caught up with him! The Flying Dogs began to circle around and cut off his escape, while Firefly moved in to attack him directly. "You had your chance! Now you'll have to deal with GUN's ultimate combat mech!" the pilot shouted. The nearby pilots snickered. "Yeah, only because Diablotron, Meta-Mammoth and Techno Sonic were all wrecked! Don't get too used to that title!" someone said. "You're all just jealous!" Firefly's pilot yelled. Kosmo was sneaking away while the pilots were distracted, and Firefly's pilot finally noticed. "Hey! I'm not done with you! Take this!" he shouted, firing missiles at Kosmo hastily. "That doesn't look friendly..." Kosmo mumbled, having never actually faced missiles before. He morphed into the more armored form of Metal Sonic, speeding away from the missiles quickly as they exploded around the area! "Whoa! He transformed! Did you all see that!?" Firefly's pilot gasped. "Way to go, Mr. Ultimate." one of the other pilots said mockingly as they started pursuing Kosmo's Metal Sonic form. All of the GUN vehicles were firing missiles at him now, and the explosions heating up his armor. "Think, think... What can I do in this state..." Kosmo grunted, unsure of how to get out of this. Suddenly, as some missiles came flying towards him, several energy spears flew through the air and blew them up before they could reach him! "Hey! What happened to our missiles!?" Firefly's pilot stammered. Just then, Shadow came running alongside Kosmo. "Having problems?" he asked. Firefly's pilot stared in bewilderment for a moment before calling out to Shadow. "H-hey! That's not Sonic, Shadow! It's not even Metal Sonic! It's a dangerous... creature! Please stand aside!" he shouted. Kosmo glanced at Shadow. "They started it! They came after me!" he insisted. Shadow stared at him. "And if you hadn't tried to destroy the world... do you really think they'd give you a second thought?" he said. Kosmo was panting, even though he was in a robotic form. "Wh-what are you saying? You think I started it...?" Firefly was gaining on them. It was very fast for its size. Kosmo morphed into his normal form, realizing he couldn't outrun the machines. "Fine... I brought this on myself. So what do you want me to do? Let them execute me?" he growled. Shadow stopped and crossed his arms. "Hmph... No... Right now, we'll have to fight our way out." he said.

Firefly was shooting off a pair of flamethrowers as it approached them, but Shadow jumped out of the way and hurled Chaos Spears at the mech, targeting its missile launchers. Kosmo backed away from the flamethrowers and tried to think of what he could do. "You want me to fight it?" he mumbled. "You destroyed the Meta-Mammoth. You must be able to do something, tired or not." Shadow said. Kosmo glanced at him. "Wait... That's brilliant. Wasn't the Meta-Mammoth fireproof?" he asked. Shadow glanced at Kosmo as he backed away from Firefly's flamethrowers. "What exactly are you getting at...? Kosmo??" Suddenly, Kosmo's body began to glow brightly, and he began to expand and change, his glowing silhouette taking the form of a certain machine. When the light faded, Kosmo resembled a purple version of the Meta-Mammoth, only a bit smaller and possessing glowing yellow "visual sensors." Shadow stared in disbelief. "Do you really have the energy to maintain that form?" he asked. Kosmo stepped in front of Shadow and started blocking the flames being shot from Firefly, his fireproof robotic hide doing its job perfectly. "I can frustrate the heck out of him for a bit... You think of something now!" Kosmo shouted. "Can you fire a weapon in that form? One good shot might be all you need." Shadow said. "I never saw its weapon systems in action." Kosmo pointed out. Shadow rolled his eyes. "I hope that form can withstand missiles, 'cuz the other mechs will be here any moment!!" he shouted, hurrying around Kosmo while the Firefly was distracted. He fired some Chaos Spears directly at the Firefly, but they simply bounced off its armor. "Hmm... It's a tough one." Shadow mused. Kosmo grunted. "Getting... hot... Better improvise..." he said, opening the tips of the Meta-Mammoth form's tusks that served as weapons of some sort, and in his improvisation, he fired jolts of lightning similar to what he'd used while in Bucky's form when he fought Copter on Shadow Arcangel! The attack seemed to mess with the Firefly's electrical systems for a moment, making its steering malfunction and causing it to spin out! Kosmo and Shadow took advantage of this chance, and Kosmo morphed back to his normal form so they could escape into the jungle!

They took cover in a nearby cave, where Kosmo sat down on a strange sort of structure that seemed to be left by the ancient echidna tribe that used to live in the area. It looked like a basin or something similar that had been filled with dirt over the years, and Kosmo just sat on the dirt. Shadow leaned against the wall of the cave, his arms crossed and eyes shut, looking contemplative. "Why... did you come back...?" Kosmo asked after a bit. "I heard explosions." Shadow said without opening his eyes. "You know what I mean." Kosmo said. Shadow sighed. "You remind me of myself, all right? Your story is almost mine... Only it lacks Maria. I'm trying to decide if that's good or bad..." he said, opening his eyes, "You haven't had to experience... What it's like to lose someone..." Kosmo twirled around some of the dirt with his finger, looking bored. "No kidding... You saying everyone hated you and decided to lock you up?" he mumbled. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, it seems you also don't know what its like to have a friend, either." he groaned. Kosmo slapped his hand across the dirt in frustration. "YES! I know that! I'm fully aware! I'm a freak, and no one will ever like or tolerate me! You don't have to point that out!" he growled. Shadow glanced at him. "And here I thought I was tolerating you right now." he grumbled. Kosmo stared into the dirt he was digging a hole into with his hand, and then blinked at it curiously as he noticed something sparkle. "Hey... what's this?" he muttered, digging a bit deeper until he pulled out something. It appeared to be a small, gold coin. There were designs etched on it similar to the sorts of imagery that could be found in the echidna ruins. Shadow walked over and glanced at it. "It's some sort of old coin... It might have archaeological value, but probably not much. Maybe you should keep it as a lucky charm." he suggested. Kosmo glanced at it. "A... lucky charm?" he muttered. Shadow nodded. "With Sergeant Gunner on your tail, you'll need luck. I don't think he'll stop hunting you." he realized. Kosmo frowned. "Gunner... He set the dogs on me... Suppose rather than take out everyone, I should just focus on eliminating him." he murmured. Shadow wore a slight smile. "Well, everyone needs a hobby. But once you've done that, what's next? What will you do with your life?" Shadow wondered. Kosmo slipped the gold coin into his sock, sighing. "Why do you ask so many tough questions? What's with you?" he grumbled. Shadow chuckled. "Just want to make sure I don't have to fight you again. Come on, Kosmo. Sonic fights for justice. Knuckles fights for his silly duty. Silver fights for the future. I guess you could say I fight for truth. With all your power, Kosmo, what will you fight for?" he asked. Kosmo scratched his head, and Shadow started toward the exit. "Don't answer that now. Let's just try to figure out how we'll get by those GUN agents." he said. Kosmo thought for a moment. "You know... I think I got an idea about that..." he said.

The Firefly searched the jungle for any sign of Kosmo's heat signature, determined not to allow him to make a fool of GUN. The Flying Dogs were searching the jungle as well; there would be no easy way to sneak by. Soon, Firefly picked up a heat signal and hurried toward it. "There's nowhere to hide now, freak! I'm gonna burn you to cinders and take your ashen pelt back to Gunner!" the pilot growled. However, as he approached the heat signature, he yelled in aggravation as he found Big the Cat once again! "Aw, for the love of!! Stop moving all over the jungle!! Geez, you're fast for a fatso!" he yelled. "Gee, sorry mister GUN agent, sir. I'll be more careful." Big said, recoiling away from Firefly a bit. The pilot groaned a little before flying off, muttering something about overtime not paying enough. Once he was out of sight, Big snickered a bit and glowed white, transforming into Kosmo! "That went well." he smiled. Shadow emerged nearby using Chaos Control. "Big's eyes are naturally a little yellow... The added glow from your eyes is difficult to pick up on. You could use that disguise to terrible effect." Shadow mused. Kosmo shrugged. "I don't think he has clearance in many useful places. I'll need more useful disguises... And a way to hide those eyes." he said, picking up his gold coin and giving it a flip. "Well, guess I'll see you later, Shadow. But you might not see me." he chuckled, walking off in disguise as Big. Shadow nodded. "Funny... I was going to say the same to you. Chaos Control!" Shadow replied, vanishing using Chaos Control. As Kosmo made his escape from GUN's pursuit, he watched the sun finish rising and smiled. "I'm... free... Thanks, Shadow..." he thought as a new day finally dawned for him.

Episode End!

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