Across the Rift (SNT X Rookie/Gizmo)

Chapter 16: Ruby Madness

SNT and Rookie were walking to Amy's house. "We could just go inside and pick up Cream. We don't have to wait until she comes out." Rookie said. "I think the way Sonic and Shadow were acting towards you was a sign to not let Amy meet you." "Amy's a lot more mature than those two. She's probably over it by now." "I hope so. She's been avoiding me ever since she found out we were dating." SNT and Rookie glitched a little. "Ow!" SNT exclaimed. "Yeah it really hurts when that happens." Rookie said. They arrived and waited in front of Amy's house. They could hear Amy and Cream chatting. "I have to go now Miss Amy. It was fun hanging out with you!" "Nice hanging out with you to Cream." "Are you sure you don't want to say hi?" "..I'll have plenty of time to say hi." "But you will right?" "Chao." "Bye Miss Amy!" Cream opened the door. "Hi SNT!" "Hi Cream! Did you have fun?" Rookie peeked inside the house and he saw Amy peeping outside. She quickly ducked out of view. "Cmon Rookie." SNT got his attention.
SNT and Rookie were chatting while taking Cream home. "Chao Chao!" Cheese flew around spontaneously. "What's got Cheese so excited?" Rookie asked. "Cheese and I are going to draw something for mom." Cream said. "That's sweet of you two." SNT said. Suddenly out of nowhere Sonic sped past them. Knuckles was catching up but stopped when he saw them. "SNT! There you are." "What's wrong Knuckles?" "Eggman set up a surprise attack at Tails' lab. Something feels off about this one. He always attacks you or Sonic." "We have to help him!" Cream said. "Chao Chao Chao!" Cheese agreed and started fighting the air. Everyone headed to Tails' lab. Surrounding the place was a bunch of Badniks. Eggman wasn't anywhere nearby. Sonic was inside the lab helping Tails deal with the ruckus inside. Knuckles started destroying the rest of the robots and Rookie started to help. SNT and Cream went to help Sonic. "Tails!" SNT called out. Tails ran to them. "SNT! Cream! Thank goodness you're here! Look at the mess Eggman made!" The lab was destroyed. Papers torn and scattered, inventions being dismantled and the TV that is used to communicate with Rookie's Dimension was destroyed beyond repair. "Are you okay Tails? I took care of the last of these tin cans." Sonic checked for any bruises. "The attack was more on my equipment than anything." Tails commented. "What happened?" SNT asked. "I found a destroyed Badnik next to my lab and took it in to investigate. Next thing I knew it started destroying my lab!" Tails explained. "Seems like old Robuttnik got jealous of your inventions." Sonic said. "Where is he anyway?" Cream asked.
"I'm right here!" Eggman announced his presence. Everyone got surprised. "When did you get here!" Sonic asked. "I was inside the whole time! You think I'd sit back this time?" "That's kind of what you always do." SNT said. "Oh not this time! Now that you're all here I can announce my master plan to rule the world!" "Fat chance we'll ever let that happen!" Sonic replied. "Yeah!" SNT, Cream and Tails chimed in. "I'm going to have to disagree with you there! Me and my new friend have devised the perfect plan to finally defeat all of you for good! The last thing I needed was the notes that our favorite little fox recorded for me." Eggman pulled out a bunch of papers and showed them off. "That's!-" That's right! With this power none of you have ever seen, I can finally expand the Eggman Empire far past this tiny little island!" "And who's your new friend Egghead? Last I checked you have to build all of them." Sonic glitched a little. Eggman grinned and looked at the door. "You're about to meet him." Everyone stood there waiting. Nobody entered. "I think Knuckles and Rookie met them first." SNT said. Static started coming out of Tails communicator. "Hello? Knuckles?" Tails started to talk to the communicator. "Guess we'll have to cut the evil speech early then." Eggman turned on his badnik communicator. "Activate the Phantom Ruby!" A red light started glowing from the window. "Phantom Ruby?!" SNT shouted. "I don't like the look of that." Sonic said. He ran outside. "Sonic wait!" Tails followed. SNT was about to join them before Eggman grabbed her shoulder.
"I'd like to thank you SNT." "Thank me?" "Yes. You've clearly showed that this power is more than enough to rule the world. Am I glad my Dimensional counterpart put it to good use." Before SNT could say something, the building started moving. SNT looked around and saw red Null Cubes. "SNT!" Cream started to get farther from her as the lab grew bigger. SNT tried to run to Cream but a wall blocked her. Before she knew it, SNT was surrounded. She broke one of the walls, only to reveal Tails' lab became a maze. SNT turned on her communicator. "Hello! Can anyone hear me?" "SNT! I'm with- and R-! Apparently some- Phan-? Got here- illusions!- if you- me. Just saying." All of the communicators stopped working after that. "I have to find Cream!" SNT started navigating through the maze.
She felt like she was running in circles. "I swear the walls are moving!" SNT shouted. "SNT!" Cream yelled out to her. "Cream! Where are you!" SNT started breaking down the walls and found Cream. Cream hugged SNT. "What's happening? Why is Tails' lab doing this?" "It's Infinite." "Who?" "Someone who shouldn't be here. How did Eggman find out about Rookie's Dimension?" The walls SNT broke started to reform. Through the holes she was able to see Infinite flying around. He stopped and turned to them. "Oh there you are!" The walls stopped regenerating and he quickly flew towards them. SNT kicked him back out of the small hallway they were in. Infinite shot some Null Cubes at her. Cheese suddenly punched Infinite in the face. That distracted Infinite for long enough for SNT break the roof of the maze. She grabbed Cream and flew out of the maze. She looked around and saw her whole world was warped. The sky was purple, all of the trees were replaced with streetlights, and the grass was dying. "You like the remodeling?" "How did you get here!" SNT shouted. Infinite showed off his communicator branded with the Eggman logo which covered Tails'.
"Why didn't you tell me you were taking Rookie to your Dimension? I wanted to come with to." "Well you're giving me a pretty good reason why!" Cream started to flap her ears to fly while SNT started fighting Infinite. Infinite threw Cheese who was still hitting him. Cream caught them. Infinite summoned cubes from the sky. SNT dodged them all. She started kicking Infinite. He moved to the side and teleported away. "Now that there's no Rookie around to bother us. I want to ask you some things." SNT kept fighting. "Careful SNT!" Cream stood on a Ruby Platform. Infinite got rid of the platform Cream was standing on and made one for himself. "Hey!" Cream said flapping her ears. "It seems like you two have poor imitations of my power. I just want to know how much of it you have?" Infinite created some Badniks and they started attacking SNT. A platform was made so they can fight. SNT effortlessly took care of the robot illusions. Cream kicked one off of Infinite's platform. Infinite didn't pay much attention to Cream. "I'm not telling you anything!" SNT flew up to hit him but he vanished before she could. She looked around. "Aww. How about this. I tell you something. Then you tell me something." He teleported in front of her. SNT fell back.
"Okay! SNT always beats the bad guys!" Cream said. Infinite chuckled menacingly. "Good. That means I'll be the first one to defeat her." "Your turn." Cream said. "Very well. Just know that you're going to meet your complete equal sometime soon." "I can take down anything you dish out!" She dashed at Infinite. That knocked him off of the platform. Infinite got mad. "Oh please you only beat me because-" "Rookie!" SNT cut him off. Rookie was running up from Null Platforms that were passing by the fight. "SNT! I lost the others! We-" "You! You're not taking her from me!" Infinite formed a hand out of Null Cubes and flicked Rookie away. "Rookie!" SNT jumped off the platform to try and catch Rookie.
"SNT!" Cream and Cheese jumped off to catch SNT. Cream grabbed SNT and tried to fly. SNT started flying and everyone landed on the ground. She looked around for Rookie but Infinite covered the area with fog. The sound of fighting could be heard in the distance slowly getting farther away. Cream was shaking. "Chao." Cheese was sad. "It's okay Cheese, you got him pretty good." Cream said. "We have to find everyone. Who knows what Infinite's doing with them!" SNT started to dash away before Cream shouted. "Wait! What about my mom! We have to check to see she's safe!" SNT stopped. "Right. It might be hard to find her since the whole island's different." "Chao!" Cheese started flying. "Hey wait for us!" SNT and Cream followed Cheese. They were running when suddenly Shadow appeared. "Shadow!" SNT was happy to see a familiar face. Another Shadow then hit him and they both disappeared into the fog. SNT and Cream decided to continue following Cheese. The fog was scaring Cream. She held SNT's hand and stayed close. A couple of Badniks appeared from the fog. SNT destroyed them. They dissipated out of existence. She walked around and saw Cream again. "I've never seen those robots before." Cream mentioned. "They're probably from Rookie's Dimension." SNT said. "Chao." "Cheese says the house isn't here! It has to be here! We have to find mom!" Cream panicked. "Maybe it's not too far away from here." SNT reassured Cream. Cream walked a little bit forward before realizing something. The fog didn't cover the whole island! "SNT come here!" Cream excitedly said. SNT and Cheese went to where Cream's voice was. They were able to see again. "Good job Cream! That'll make finding the house a lot easier." They slowly navigated the now distorted island. The terrain was vaguely reminiscent of what it use to be. SNT suddenly stopped moving. She was trapped in quicksand! Cream rushed to grab her. "Don't! I don't want you to get stuck to." SNT slowly moved herself and grabbed a tree that was leaning towards the ground. She pulled herself out. "This must be where the beach is." She then realized something. "If the beach is here then that means the house must be that way!" SNT pointed. They all headed in the direction making sure to avoid the fog. "SNT!" Someone shouted. SNT stopped and saw who called her. It was Amy. She emerged out of the fog. Amy suddenly looked back. "What do you mean it might be an illusion? She's with Cream!.. Look out!" Amy disappeared into the fog. "Amy!" SNT shouted. Cream grabbed SNT's hand. "Please! I have to make sure my mom's okay!" Cream was on the brink of tears. SNT looked back at the fog. "Whoever's with Amy better take GOOD care of her!" SNT continued to find for her house.
"Look!" Cream pointed at their home. "It looks like someone got there first!" SNT and Cream went inside. There was a bunch of broken robot parts across the floor. "Mom!" Cream cried out. "Cream!" Vanilla went out of her hiding spot. Cream ran and hugged her. "Thank goodness you're okay!" Cream started crying. Vanilla hugged back. "What happened?" SNT asked Vanilla. "There were robots and I had to fend them off. I need a new pot lid now." SNT spotted the dented pot lid. "And some new knives." There were broken knives scattered around the kitchen. "I'm just glad you're okay! This new bad guy is scary! Now the whole world's destroyed!" Cream said. "Don't worry Cream it's not real. What we're seeing is just an illusion made by the Phantom Ruby." SNT explained. "But it feels so real." Cream said. "As long as Infinite's here it is real. That's why we have to meet up with everyone and figure out a plan." Vanilla looked outside. "So this is all fake? That's a relief. We'll have to find a place to settle in first." "But where do we go?" SNT said. Everyone started to think of a place to go. "How about Amy's house? We saw her earlier and she seemed to be with someone! Her house might be okay!" Cream suggested. The three headed for Amy's house. "Chao!" Cheese dodged an attack. It was another Badnik. A Crabmeat to be specific. "Did Infinite only create Badniks or something? We've only been running into those." SNT groaned. Cream destroyed the Crabmeat. Vanilla clapped her hands softly. "Good job Cream." "Thanks mom!" A speaker suddenly turned on in the distance.
"Attention the blue rat and my creation! Head to Eggman HQ and we can make this quick and painful! If not, then we'll have to keep sending an endless army until you give in! This message was approved by the Eggman Empire!" "Pfft. Like I'd ever fall for that trap." SNT crossed her hands and rolled her eyes. They searched carefully. They couldn't find the house at all. "You think her house is in the fog?" Vanilla suggested. "That's where all the chaos is happening." SNT pointed out. "What now?" Cream asked. "Chao Chao!" "No Cheese we shouldn't go back inside." Cream argued. "Oh please do. You're missing out on all the fun!" Infinite was behind them and he brought the fog to them. SNT suddenly had to fight. She was fighting Illusions of Shadow, Amy and Knuckles. She dodged an attack only for Amy's illusion to hit her with the piko piko hammer. SNT was then hit by Knuckles. Suddenly Shadow hit his illusion. The other illusions focused on him. "Thanks Shadow! Be right back I have to find Vanilla and Cream!" SNT started running. "Wait I'm with-" SNT sped off before Shadow could finish his sentence. SNT found Cream and Vanilla fighting illusions of Rookie. "Hey! Don't hurt them." She took out the illusions. "Thanks SNT but, they were really easy to deal with." Cream said. "Chao!" Cheese agreed. "I found Shadow! Let's hurry back and meet up with him!" They went back to where Shadow was last seen only to be greeted by their home. "Now it's easy to find!" SNT complained. They headed back inside. "It seems like they want me and Sonic to come to them. Infinite didn't take me to Eggman's base when he found us. That means we should have time to find the others! The problem is we keep losing track of them." SNT said. "We should find a way to tell your friends apart from the fakes." Vanilla suggested. "We have to make it subtle. If Infinite finds out how we can tell each other apart, he can just add that to his illusions." SNT said. "I won't leave Cheese's side!" Cream announced. The phone rang. Vanilla picked it up. "Hello?.. I'm not sure what's happening.. Oh! Can we perhaps come and stay with you while SNT sorts this out.. Haha. It seems like the answer's a yes then? Give the phone back now.. Meet you there." Vanilla hung up. "Who was it?" Cream asked. "I found a place we can stay at."