Across the Rift (SNT X Rookie/Gizmo)

Chapter 20: Doppelgänger Disaster

It started heavily raining as SNT and Rookie headed inside. She walked up to a random person. "Excuse me, have you seen Espio?" The feline stranger shook their head no. SNT went to his office to see if he was there when Metal SNT suddenly pushed her all the way to another room. SNT crashed into a wall. Rookie tried to grab Metal SNT seeing if she'd glitch again, however she didn't this time. SNT got up and ran towards Espio's office when Metal SNT opened the door hitting her. "SNT! What's all this noise I'm hearing!" Knuckles walked towards the metallic clone. "I'm looking for Espio." "Well someone told me they just saw you break through a wall. You need to fix that before someone takes advantage of it!" SNT tried to push the door out of her face when Metal SNT slammed it again. "How responsible of you Knuckles. Did Vanilla tell you to tell me this?" "Why yes." Knuckles proudly announced. "Now come on!" Knuckles grabbed her hand and dragged her away.
The door finally closed and SNT fell flat on the floor. Rookie picked her up, he looked inside Espio's office. "He doesn't seem to be here." "Vector and Charmy should know where he is." SNT walked around looking for him, she headed upstairs. She spotted Vector and a group of people watching the TV. "Welcome back to EggTV, the only show you are able to watch at all! Tonight get ready to witness the battle of the century! We have Metal Sonic vs Sonic and Tails, I even had Infinite make it stormy to add to the atmosphere! Who's gonna win? The greatest machine to ever be constructed by a genius, able to reach impossible speeds and is determined to finish his mission through any means possible! Or the world's most annoying pincushion with his troublesome cheerleader. To place your bets, head to Eggmanland and while you're at it, try a few rides!" Vector scoffed. "This guy cannot be seriously trying to make a profit off of this?" SNT approached Vector. Vector looked slightly confused. "I thought you were with Vanilla?" "That wasn't me! Eggman made a robot copy of me and now she's trying to steal the Emeralds! You have to warn Espio!" Vector glared suspiciously. "And how do I know you're not the clone trying to get on my good side?" "That's why I'm letting YOU warn Espio." "Ha! With your speed, you can reach Espio before I do. I'm going to need proof you're the real SNT." SNT started thinking of a way to show Vector that she was the real SNT.
"I noticed that Metal SNT never had a watch on her, maybe you can use that?" Rookie said. "You're right!" SNT shouted. SNT showed her watch to Vector. "A communicator? How is that proof?" Vector inspected the watch. "A robot wouldn't need this since they have built in communicators." Vector sat there for a moment. "Espio said he'd be outside patrolling." He got up. "I'll warn everyone of the doppelgänger, you tell Espio to move the Emeralds location." SNT shook her head and started running. She looked around for Espio, Metal SNT suddenly started running with her. "Did you find Espio yet?" SNT was surprised and quickly dashed away from the castle. "Decided to help Sonic instead? I can't let you do that." Metal SNT tripped her but SNT was able to rebalance herself. SNT homing attack Metal SNT and the two began fighting.
Meanwhile, Rookie decided to look for Espio. He went back to the Chaotix Agency and started looking for him. He spotted Espio staring at the battles ahead of him. "How do I tell him to move the Emeralds?" Espio suddenly turned around and look right at Rookie. "You can see me!?" Rookie shouted. Espio didn't respond, he only looked suspiciously. He looked back at the battles. It looked like Espio was about to join in before Rookie grabbed his shoulder. "Wait you can't go!" Rookie's hand phased through Espio but Espio glitched a little. He looked around frantically. Espio pulled out a ninja star and turned invisible. "At least Metal SNT can't find him now." Rookie said. He went to see how the battles were going. Metal SNT stopped fighting. "I don't have time for this! I need to find those Chaos Emeralds!" She flew back the Agency, forgetting to move her holographic tails. SNT followed, she suddenly bumped into Rookie. They both held their heads in pain. "Sorry!" She sped past him and Rookie followed. "Espio went invisible. Metal SNT won't be able to find him now, but we won't be able to either." Rookie informed her. "Good! Now we just have to tell everyone else about the faker." SNT said. The Dimensional Duo went back inside the building when Rookie suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. "Huh?" SNT looked at Rookie before he disappeared. "Rookie!?" SNT looked around.
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Rookie looked back at Null Space to see two familiar robots staring back at him, a green blob with a pointy nose and wheels, and a tall robotic chicken. "Phew, we found you! About time to, my wheels were starting to get tired." Grounder said. "I was starting to think we'd be searching for eternity!" Scratch sounded relieved. He pulled out handcuffs and tried to restrain Rookie. "Back off!" Rookie kicked Scratch off of him only for Grounder to cuff his hands together. "There! He shouldn't be a problem anymore. Now come on!" Grounder started dragging Rookie away. "We've been looking for you for a week straight! Now you're gonna experience the whole journey back home! Wherever that is?" Scratch shouted. "Don't worry Scratch I remember where it is. Hope you don't get hungry, cause there's no food here pal." Grounder snickered. "I can't get hungry in Null Space." Rookie clarified. The Dumpster Demons looked disappointed.
They were walking silently for what seemed like an eternity before Grounder spoke. "Infinite's going to be so proud of me when I tell him we captured Rocky." "Don't you mean he'll be proud of me?" Scratch argued. "I caught him!" "I distracted him! We both know you wouldn't have been able to catch him if it wasn't for me." Scratch and Grounder started bickering. Rookie took this opportunity to break his handcuffs apart. He summoned a line of Null Cubes and shot them between his handcuffs. He checked to see if either noticed, they were still arguing. Rookie started running as far as he could before they noticed he was gone. He eventually stopped running and went to check on SNT.
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"Amy! This robot killed my boyfriend!" Rookie was shocked to see what he came back to. "He's gone Amy, I watched him go. Please believe me." Holographic tears began to show up. Metal SNT got close to Amy. "I said Back off! Neither of you get near me until I know which one's the real SNT!" "What is going on!" Rookie shouted. SNT turned around. "Eggman decided to start attacking the base! Now I'm trying to get Amy to help me fight this clone." "Who are you talking to?" Amy pointed her hammer towards SNT. "I'm talking to Rookie. We have a connection, even though he's out of our Dimension I can still talk to him." "Amy come on! Which sounds more realistic, that Rookie is dead or he's in another Dimension and by some magic connection, she can still talk to him." "Knowing you it could be the second one." Amy commented. Rookie then realized something. "You can use your Special Aura to get Amy to believe you." Rookie told SNT. "You're right! Why didn't I think of that?"SNT concentrated. Amy looked at the two SNTs. "Can you two stop acting suspicious! One of you is talking to someone without using your communicator and the other is very aggressive." Amy rubbed her head with her hands. "Why do I have to be the one to tell the two of them apart. Please SNT give me a sign." Amy thought to herself.
✨Special✨
Amy shook her head for a bit. She looked at SNT and blushed. She then looked at Metal SNT and held her hammer tight. "Sorry glorified tin can, but there can only be one SNT bothering me!" "If I go out with you will you change your mind?" Amy hit Metal SNT with her hammer. "Fine! I'll just get the Emeralds and go! I do know where Espio is now." Metal SNT went upstairs while Vector opened the door. He looked at SNT's watch. "Phew it's the real one. Listen! The Emeralds are in the attic, get out of the Billiard Room and get there now!" They all went to the attic and saw Metal SNT and Espio. "Quick! Hand them over now!" Espio had a bag in his hand. He gave it to her and Metal SNT broke through the wall and started flying away. "Later losers!"
SNT looked at Espio. "Espio! Why did you give them to her!" Espio grinned. "I didn't. Those were just random jewels that look like the Emeralds." He walked over to a shelf and started to move stuff around until he grabbed a box that nobody was able to see before. "The real ones are in here." He opened the box, inside were the Green, Yellow, and White Chaos Emeralds. "Shadow wouldn't give me his Emerald until I made a fake stash first." SNT opened her bag and put one inside. Amy put the rest inside. "I thought the bag could only hold one Emerald?" SNT questioned. "I added more space." Amy said. "We need to get these to a safe location before she figures out she has fakes." SNT repeated what Rookie told her. "We need to stay here to protect everyone!" Vector said. "We can all go. As long as Sonic and the rest stay here, this place can be defended."
They all went outside and Vector went to Knuckles to explain the situation. SNT dodged an attack from Metal Sonic. "Metal it's me!" SNT said. Metal Sonic looked confused before Amy pretended to hit SNT with her hammer. SNT flew away pretending she got hit.
Tails knocked Metal back using his Emeralds. He started panting. "How does Sonic handle these all the time?" He saw SNT and quickly pulled out a device, scanning her. He looked at the readings. "Phew! It's the real SNT." "Tails can you make sure Metal SNT and Metal Sonic are distracted? We're moving the Chaos Emeralds location." Amy asked. "I need mine to help Sonic, I'll give them to you when the coast is clear." Amy waved bye at Tails as she headed away from the battle.

The Dimensional Duo, the Chaotix, and Amy were all at Amy's house. Espio was hiding the Emeralds in a safe location when someone knocked on the door. Everyone went quiet, Espio slowly walked up to the front window. He went invisible and looked through the curtain. He saw Tails holding a tracker that was beeping, Rookie but he looked slightly off, and a yellow hedgehog wearing a blue dress with white stripes and a heart stitched on it. "Who is it?" Vector whispered while covering Charmy's mouth. "It's Tails, Rookie and a civilian." Rookie looked outside. "Gadget!? Maria!?" SNT went and opened the door. Tails celebrated. "It works!" "Are you guys okay?" Maria asked concerned. "Did Sonic party too hard or something?" Gadget joked.
"I thought Rookie was dead." Charmy said. "WHAT!" Gadget shouted. He quickly entered the home. "Gizmo!" Maria and Tails followed. Gadget looked at Rookie and freaked out. "Gizmo! What happened to you?!" He reached to grab his brother but his hand phased through. Maria looked at Rookie with a worried expression. Everyone else stood there confused except for Espio. "I had a feeling there was someone else here." "Wait, I thought that was him. Are we being haunted by SNT's dead boyfriend orr?" Charmy asked. Tails cleared his throat. "No. Due to him being from another Dimension, his molecules react negatively to your Dimension's-" "BORING!" Charmy shouted. Vector and Espio glared at Charmy. "Eheh, how about you explain it in simple terms." Charmy said nervously.
Tails waited a couple of seconds, before continuing. "Without the watch I gave Gizmo, he'll be stuck between Dimensions. Only people from other Dimensions can see him and SNT." "Why can SNT see him?" Amy asked. Tails rubbed the back of his head. "It's hard to explain." "Why are you guys here?" Rookie asked Gadget. "When you and SNT left, Infinite showed up. He said he was gonna 'pay you two a visit', I knew he was up to no good. I tried to get here earlier but-" "He trashed my whole workshop!" Tails shouted. Everyone looked at Tails surprised. He blushed in embarrassment. "Also I had to do adjustments to my Dimensional traveling devices." "The communicators." Maria clarified and showed her communicator. It looked like the ones SNT and Rookie had but was circular instead of square shaped. "What happened to your watch?" Tails asked Rookie. "Infinite did something with them."
Tails looked at SNT's watch. "What's the damage Miles?" Gadget asked. "It's been corrupted with Eggtech, they're practically useless now. Don't worry, it should be easy for me to fix them. I could probably find all that I need in this house." Amy tapped on Miles' shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll only use the things that are broken." Miles started walking around Amy's house. "Is it me or is Tails acting different?" Charmy asked Gadget. "He's from my Dimension, I don't know where your Tails is. Actually, where is everyone else?" Gadget looked around, Espio was keeping watch out the window, Vector was coming up with a plan, Charmy was making himself at home, and Amy was making sure Miles didn't damage her home too much. "They're fighting Eggman and Infinite right now." SNT said. "Why are you hiding here?" Maria asked. "We have to make sure they don't get ahold of the Emeralds we have." SNT answered.
"Then turn super and wipe the floor with Infinite!" Gadget got excited. Maria and Rookie side eyed him. "We don't have all seven yet." "Infinite has one of them Gadget." Rookie said. Miles suddenly rushed into the room. "He has one!? Oh no this is bad, REALLY REALLY BAD!" The room fell silent and everyone looked at him. "The Chaos Emeralds can leave behind some of its energy on the Phantom Ruby, if he keeps that Emerald then he'd basically have the power of all seven! That's why I hid them when this happened in my Dimension." Miles quickly pulled apart Amy's TV. "Tails! I doubt my TV is going to help us in this situation." "Yes it is!" He carefully removed some wires. "Well, it's been fun living life y'all!" Charmy said. "It's not over yet. Tails, how long do we have until he reaches that point?" Espio asked. "Worst case scenario, by tomorrow. Best case, never!" He grabbed SNT's watch and Amy's now modified TV. "Wait fix mine to!" Amy gave Miles her communicator. He plugged in some wires from the TV into the communicators, the TV suddenly had an Eggman Logo on it. Miles gave back the watches. "Congratulations Amy, you have an Eggbox!" "Don't break this one out of anger Giz." Gadget commented. Rookie got embarrassed by the reminder. Vector whistled. "Listen up everyone, I have a plan!"