Across the Rift (SNT X Rookie/Gizmo)

Chapter 17: Ruby Madness: Episode Rookie

Rookie started helping Knuckles fight off the Badniks. Knuckles crushed a Motobug with his fist. Rookie summoned a giant Null box to crush a few Badniks. "Huh? That's odd." Knuckles commented. "What is it?" Rookie asked. He turned to Knuckles. The Badniks Knuckles just destroyed were all of a sudden gone. Rookie then got shot by a Buzz Bomber. He went and kicked it. When Rookie turned his back, the robot turned into Red Null Cubes. "Is it me or do these guys keep coming?" Rookie said. Knuckles rolled a bunch of Badniks into a ball and started lifting them. "I'm not complaining. Having trouble dealing with them?" He then threw the ball away. "Not really." Rookie replied. "That's because I've been going easy on you." Infinite flew down from the sky. Rookie was shocked. Knuckles stood there ready for a fight. "And who are you masked clown?" Infinite scoffed. "I have the name of my power. That being Infinite." Knuckles chuckled. "Don't kid yourself pal. Nobody's stronger than me but even I don't call my power infinite!" "That's because you're nothing compared to me." "Oh yeah! How about you prove it in a fight then!" Knuckles challenged. "We need to tell the others." Rookie said. Knuckles swung his fist at Infinite. Infinite dodged the punch and summoned a couple of Badnik Illusions. Knuckles easily defeated them all. "Your party tricks won't do anything to me!" Rookie tried to contact the others but Infinite grabbed his hand. "Not yet. We can't ruin the surprise for them." Infinite plugged in a USB drive with an Eggman logo. Rookie's communicator suddenly started to freak out. Knuckles was able to land a clean hit while Infinite was distracted. "How did you get here!" Rookie shouted. He looked at his communicator worried. "The same way you did." Infinite showed his stolen communicator. Knuckles punched Infinite again. Infinite got mad. "I'm trying to enact my vengeance here!" "Vengeance? Do you two know each other?" Knuckles asked. "Unfortunately." Rookie replied. "Hold on I have to ask SNT about this." Knuckles started to use his communicator. "Oops that's Tails." He turned it off. Infinite quickly plugged in the Egg USB into Knuckles' communicator. A voice suddenly came from Infinite's communicator. "Activate the Phantom Ruby!"
"Get ready. For your new reality!" Infinite started to bend the reality. Rookie started running towards Infinite. Sonic and Tails busted out the door. "What in the world?!" Sonic looked as his world slowly changed. "It's the Phantom Ruby I was studying! It can create Virtual Reality and Illusions! We have to-" Tails' lab expanded, knocking everyone away. Sonic, Knuckles and Rookie were all launched to a random grass field. "Hello! Can anyone hear me?" SNT said to everyone's communicators. Rookie tried to speak through his but it didn't work. Infinite floated down. "Good luck talking to each other now." Infinite laughed. Sonic was able to communicate to SNT. "If you dated me instead this wouldn't have happened. Just saying." Infinite quickly disabled Sonic's communicator. "Be right back." He flew back to the lab. Sonic followed Infinite. "I knew something was off! It seems like Eggman has a new trick up his sleeve. Do you know any way to stop this?" Knuckles asked. "The Ruby needs a strong power source for his virtual reality to be this strong." Rookie started thinking. "I'll go find Eggman's base then!" Knuckles started heading to Eggman's base. "Wait! You don't know what you're up against!"
Rookie chased after Knuckles. "I don't need to know! All I need to do is trash whatever power source that guy's using!" Sonic and Tails ran to them. "Guys!" Tails shouted. Knuckles stopped and Rookie bumped into him and fell to the ground. Sonic held in his laugh. "We're headed to Eggman's base to stop this before it gets any worse." Knuckles punched his hand. "Uhh. Look around Knucklehead. Do you really think Eggman's base would still be where it was." Sonic said. Knuckles looked around. "What happened to the island! Why are there streetlights!" Knuckles stood under one. "We need to stick together! We outnumber Infinite!" Tails said. "He can just make more illusions than us." Rookie pointed out. Tails didn't know how to respond. A thick fog slowly started to form. Rookie looked at the sky to see SNT and Infinite fighting. "There he is! Let's help SNT!" Everyone was heading to the battle but one by one they were disappearing into the fog. Rookie summoned some platforms to jump on before using the Null platforms floating around. He looked back to see that he was the only one left. He pushed onwards
"Rookie!" SNT noticed him. "SNT! I lost the others! We-" Infinite interrupted him. "You're not taking her away from me!" He formed a hand out of Null Cubes and knocked Rookie away. "Rookie!" SNT jumped after him with Cream and Cheese following behind. Rookie and SNT extended their arms out. Rookie almost grabbed her hand when Cream caught SNT and started flying. Rookie decided to brace for impact. He hit the ground and Infinite landed next to him. "What's wrong? Too weak to get up?" Rookie stood up. "The only weak one is you." Infinite shot Null energy at Rookie. He dodged it. Rookie hit Infinite. "Hello! Anyone!" Tails shouted in the distance. Rookie looked at the direction before Infinite kicked him. "Go on. Run away like a coward. Needing teammates are a sign of weakness." "Is that what you tell yourself to feel better?" Rookie shot Null energy back at Infinite, then ran to find Tails. "If you really want your friends. Here." Infinite's voice could be heard from all sides.
"Tails!" Rookie said. Tails suddenly swiped his tails at Rookie. "Hey! What the!" More Tails appeared. Rookie started fighting them off. "Sonic! I need your help! Stop attacking me Rookie!" Tails shouted. "Hold on Tails!" Rookie went to where the voice was. He found the real Tails being attacked by illusions of Amy and him. The illusions followed. "We're toast!" Tails shouted. He glitched a little. Rookie started defeating his illusions. He easily defeated them. All that was left was the Amy and Tails illusions. "What's gotten into you?" Rookie asked. He dodged one of the Amys. "I don't know! For some reason I feel like Sonic's dead. B-but he can't be right?!" Tails grabbed Rookie. "My Dimension must've merged his memories with the Tails back home." Rookie kept fighting the illusions. He decided to use his Ruby powers to push them away. He wiped sweat off of his head. Tails looked around. He glitched. "What was I doing again?" He asked. "We're finding the others. They don't know how the Phantom Ruby works." Rookie said. "Right! Let's split up. You look for them that way. I'll look this way!" Tails ran off. "I don't think this version of Tails has the best battle strategies." He headed in the same direction as Tails. Rookie saw a silhouette of Amy with her hammer. He stopped in his tracks and tilted his head. She suddenly dashed to him and hit him hard with her hammer. Rookie crashed straight into a rock.
Rookie slowly slid off of the rock. He looked at it. "Of course it's Infinite shaped." He groaned in pain. "Guess you're not going down that easy." Amy threw her hammer at him. Rookie dodged and hid in the fog. "Not dealing with any more illusions." He said to himself. "Funny coming from YOU!" Amy swung her hammer at him. Rookie got sent flying, bumping into another Amy. The Amy chasing him suddenly turned her focus to her. She started attacking her until the illusion faded. Amy then turned back to him. "Amy it's the real me!" "That's what these doppelgängers want me to think! But I'm smarter than that!" She jumped up into the sky. Rookie couldn't see where she was landing. Amy slammed her hammer straight at the ground. The entire ground shook. Rookie fell to the ground. He blocked Amy's attack. He punched her. "That actually hurt. You're not like the other clones." "That's because I'm not one." Rookie swung at her again but she moved out of the way. She twirled with her hammer hitting him out of sight. She ran to where he was sent but she tripped up a sudden slant of ground. "Stupid fog." She mumbled. Rookie was on top of a streetlight. "Can't we talk this out? We need to work together." "Oh please. I hardly see myself working together with the real guy. Why would I work with a clone?" Shadow suddenly knocked Rookie off the streetlight. Amy looked at Shadow. Shadow lunged at her before she hit him in the head. The illusion faded away. "Hey I'm getting better at taking out these clones. Except for you." She pointed her hammer at Rookie.
Rookie adjusted his glasses. "How about this. I'll tell you something only the real me would know!" "I don't even know you! And I especially don't want to hear anymore about you!" "Hasn't SNT said anything about me to
you?" Amy's eyes lit up with rage. "OH I'VE HEARD SOMETHINGS!" She started attacking Rookie furiously. All he could do was defend himself. "Hearing about your good deeds!" She broke a wall. "Your nickname essentially being a pet name the way she's so happy saying it!" Rookie summoned another wall just for her to break it. "STEALING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME!" Rookie made the wall stronger just for it to break like glass. Rookie fell on his knees. "Amy." "Shut up!" She broke another wall. "We had a connection! All for you to come in and destroy it!"
("Great!" "Why are acting like this?" "I.. I don't like you dating that guy. Pick someone else." "You don't get to dictate who I date! We have a connection!" SNT shouted. "I thought we had a connection!" Amy shouted. Vanilla tried to break up the argument. "Girls! We're having a picnic. Please don't be shouting. Amy I know you don't like that SNT's dating someone, but please be nice." "Be nice! What's there to be nice about! If I ever see that guy any-" "Don't finish that sentence Amy!" "Saving your princess? He can fend for himself can't he?" "Girls!" Vanilla raised her voice. They kept fighting. Cream watched worried and holding Cheese. "Why are you trying to fight him! That's something Sonic or Shadow would do if they liked me! You're better than this!" "I had a chance unlike those two!" "Don't bring those two in! They have nothing to do with this!" "All of those times you blushed at me! Your eyes meeting mine. I thought you liked me!" "I.. I did! But things change Amy!"
...
"You know what, I'm going to help Knuckles find that tracking device!" Amy sped off holding back tears.)
"I was going to ask her out you know!" Amy was towering over him. Rookie used all of his energy to make a shield for himself. Thud! "I was planning on doing it sometime after she came back from your Dimension!" Bang! "And now I can't even talk to her!" Wham! "Why did you have to ruin EVERYTHING!" Crack! "WHY DIDN'T SHE ASK ME OUT FIRST!" The shield shattered. Amy had tears streaming down her face. "I.. I was too late." Rookie slumped to the ground.

Rookie opened his eyes. He slowly sat up, his body was in immense pain and he grunted. "You're up." Amy was sitting with her back facing him. "Dragging you around was hard you know." Rookie looked around to see they were at her house. "You took me here?" "The only reason I did that was so SNT wouldn't be mad at me!.." Rookie slowly walked to where she was sitting. She was looking out her window. All they could see was fog. "When will this fog go away?" Amy asked. "Infinite created it, it won't be going away anytime soon." Rookie answered her question. Amy was about to yell at him but she couldn't. She just sighed. "I was talking to myself." The room was silent for a bit. "I ha-" "Don't! Talk to me. Just recover for now." Rookie laid on her couch. Amy quickly hid behind the window. "Wh-" "shhh!" Amy waited a couple of seconds and looked out the window. "It's that guy. What's his name again? Infinite?" Rookie got up to look out the window. He could faintly hear Infinite. "Where is that nuance? I've found everyone but him and SNT."
"Why is that guy looking for you and SNT?" Amy asked. "He has a vendetta against us. More towards me." "Is it because he has a crush on SNT?" "It's because we have similar powers." Amy nodded her head. "So can SNT make those cube things to?" "I'm not sure. We'll have to find her. Does your communicator work?" "He did something with it." Amy tried to turn it on but it didn't work. "We'll have to travel through this fog." Rookie went outside of the house. Amy was still at the window. Rookie motioned for her to join him. Amy crossed her arms. "You can find SNT on your own." "I need you to come with me. All I can do right now is walk." "SNT hates me! I blew up at her, I beat you until you could barely walk! Why would she ever want to see me again?" Amy looked down at the ground. "SNT doesn't hate you. She's been wanting to talk with you again. Come with me and you'll get to apologize in person." Rookie extended his hand at the window. Amy closed the curtains. Rookie sighed, he started walking away when he heard something, the door opening. Amy stepped out looking annoyed. "We're not friends by the way. I just want to make amends with SNT. I still hate you for asking her out." "She asked me out first." Amy slapped his hand. "Ow!" "Let's just find her already."