Spirit of the Phantom Ruby

Part 7 - A Deadly Encounter

"So, can you-?" Infinite's repeated question was followed by the doctor's abrupt and slightly annoyed, "Just a moment."

The doctor quickly paced across the room holding the ruby. He set the stone down into a rectangular hole in his desk as the jackal, hovering above, watched him work. Eggman's hands flew across his keyboard as he squinted up at the screen, concentrating.

Without even looking at the jackal, he plainly stated, "try receding back into the gem so I can do a scan."

Infinite evaporated within seconds. The machine in which the ruby sat in made a loud beep. The doctor stared up at the screen as the numbers for the ruby's energy level rose. His dumbfounded look slowly turned into a callous grin.

"My goodness..." He chuckled in disbelief, looking at the other feedback on the gem to confirm his conjecture.

Laughing, he closed the program and pulled out the gem. Infinite immediately reappeared, looking at him expectantly.

"So, can you change me back?"

"Change you back?" The evil genius repeated with a look of confoundment. "With you combined into the Phantom Ruby, the gem's power levels are through the roof!"

"What..." The jackal studied the doctor's face, perplexed. "-are you saying?"

"No, I can't 'change you back.' Even if I could, what would be the use? The gem is more than fully powered now! What I can do, though, is power my robot." Chuckling, Eggman picked up the gem and carried it into the next room over.

"What?!" Infinite was panic-stricken. "You mean you won't-?!"

"You know, I liked you a lot better when you followed my every command with no questions asked." Frowning, Eggman dropped the ruby into a suitcase-like mechanism. Infinite was instantly sucked back into the ruby, his look of disbelief turning into one of fear before disappearing. The doctor picked up the containment chamber with the docile ruby inside and carried it out of his laboratory.

"Orbot, is the Eggmobile fixed yet?" He called, kicking the door open.

"Yes sir!" Orbot replied, floating beside the vehicle. "Good as new! Say, where's Infi-?"

"I'm visiting the East warehouse." Eggman cut him off, grinning as he leapt inside and set the box down. "The stone is finally powered enough!"

"I'll hold down the fort until you return, boss." Orbot said obediently. "Good luck!"

"I don't need luck." Eggman powered on his machine and gripped the steering wheel, grinning. "The Resistance made my job easy."

The room inside the Eggfort was entirely dark until the large circular window high up on the wall slowly opened, revealing a penetrating light. Entering through the window, Eggman flew his vehicle down and landed near the garage doors. He carried the containment chamber over to a large mass covered in a blanket. The mad scientist kicked the blanket off and set the box beside his massive machine - his deadly mech suit.

"Hello, old friend." He chuckled to the machine, opening up the front. He picked up the box and quickly dumped the ruby inside. The machine sparked to life as the gem floated in place, emitting a warm crimson glow. Smiling, Eggman shut the front of his mech suit and climbed inside through the back.

Suddenly the garage doors beside his Eggmobile blasted inwards, massacring his vehicle and revealing six colorful beasts outside. The leader of the Zeti entered, snarling.

"Zavok..." Eggman growled from inside his suit. "And I just had that repaired!"

"We'll be taking the ruby." The red beast replied, sneering. "Zazz, Zeena!"

The two stepped forward, ready to attack, when suddenly Eggman's meta suit began humming. The hum grew louder, and Eggman realized it was beginning to heat up.

"I put AC in here..." He muttered to himself before realizing what was wrong. "Infinite...!"

The doctor ejected himself out of the suit and fled the warehouse by foot.

"Hey, we're not-!" Zavok and his team ran after him but were suddenly thrown back by a blast of phantom energy.

Parts of the mech suit flew everywhere, spilling its contents out across the old warehouse with a loud boom. After the dust settled, the Phantom Ruby could be seen sitting on the ground, completely unharmed. It pulsed a rich scarlet hue and sat radiating its energy on the floor as the Zeti recovered from the explosion. Zavok slowly stood up and approached it.

He reached down to pick it up, but it burned his fingertips. "Ah!"

Master Zik trotted up beside him with the suitcase-device Eggman had dropped and scooped up the ruby with it. The gem immediately cooled down and stopped glowing.

Zavok chuckled, accepting the metal gem-holder from the shorter blue Zeti. "That was too easy."