Across the Rift (SNT X Rookie/Gizmo)

Chapter 21: Temporary Headquarters

Everyone looked at Vector. "Charmy, Espio, we need to go out there and help them!" "But who will keep the Emeralds safe?" Espio said. "Let's just leave everyone else to deal with 'em." Charmy opened the front door and flew away. "It's better if SNT stays here, it'll be easier to just fight the robot than to ask every time." Vector left the house. SNT wanted to argue but she couldn't. Gadget looked at Rookie. "That means you to Giz." "How did you?!" "I saw the look in your eyes." "Stay safe everyone." Espio said, and exited the premises. Amy closed the door. "We'll stay here just incase. Safety in numbers right!" Miles said. He picked up Amy's TV and struggled to carry it. Amy picked it up for him. "Thanks, can you take it outside, I have to dispose it safely." Miles wiped his head with his arm, he and Amy went outside.

SNT and Rookie were watching the window while Gadget was sitting down near the back door. Maria was outside to help Miles and Amy. "So lovebirds, how was your trip?" Gadget asked. "I'll tell you after this is all over." Rookie slightly flinched back when an explosion erupted in the distance. "We've got time right now." Gadget said. "It didn't go as well as I wanted it to." SNT mumbled. "What do you mean?" Gadget asked. "Sonic and Shadow kept bothering Rookie, and then Infinite showed up! We were only able to have one date." "I enjoyed this trip, minus the whole Infinite taking over the island." "Really? Even though Sonic and Shadow kept harassing you?" "I'm used to this sort of stuff because of Gadget dating Maria." Gadget chuckled and slightly blushed. SNT felt slightly better, she decided to stop looking out the window and checked to see if her communicator was fully functioning. "Does this thing work?" She spoke. "###I can sort of hear you.###" Amy's voice could barely be heard. "###The Phantom Ruby messes with communication.### This is the best I can so for now.###" Miles said. "###We properly disposed the Egg TV!### At the cost of Amy's TV.. haha.. Sorry Amy.###" Maria informed them. SNT turned off the communicator.

Miles, Maria and Amy came back inside the house. "Bad news everyone. While we were heading back here, we saw a bunch of Infinite's Phantom Ruby clones coming this way." Miles locked the door. "They must be looking for the Emeralds!" Maria said. "Where are they anyways?" Gadget asked, sitting up from his chair. "Only Espio knows." SNT said. "I'll go find the Emeralds hiding spot incase we need them." Maria started searching around for them. "I don't think that's necessary!" Amy said. "What if we need to move them?" Rookie said, and SNT repeated that for Amy. "Look! All we have to do is beat up those knockoffs! Simple!" Amy got slightly aggressive. She looked towards her room. "The Emeralds are in here! Oh shoot that's her diary!" Maria shouted. Amy ran to her room.
"Alright, let's deal with these clones." SNT was about to go outside when Gadget stopped her. "You two need to stay here remember." "But they're coming towards here, we have to protect the Emeralds." "Leave it to us." Gadget pulled out his wispon and went outside, SNT glitched a little. Maria and Amy came back to the living room, Amy went to help Gadget while Maria stayed. "Aren't you going to help?" SNT asked. "Oh I'm not really good at fighting." Rookie went outside to see how Gadget was doing, Gadget looked at him. "Gizmo! I told you to stay inside! Infinite can see you to!" Rookie looked around. "I don't see him around anywhere." "What if he's watching us? Didn't you say he can see where you are at all times." "We can't use our Phantom Ruby Sense while the Ruby's activated. I tried it already." Gadget felt relieved, he then felt pain when an illusion of a Badnik hit him. He returned the hit, then turned back to his brother. "You should head inside now just to be safe." He destroyed the illusion. Rookie flew back.
Rookie phased back inside. He looked around in the living room but couldn't find SNT or Maria. He walked around a little before spotting them. Maria was picking up all of the electronics Miles scattered in the kitchen, and SNT was helping. "Gizmo come help us!" "I can't pick anything up, sorry." "Well at least do something to clear your mind. Both of you look very stressed out." Maria pointed out. "W-we are?" Rookie looked at SNT and noticed she her quills were messed up from all the fighting. "Do you want me to brush your quills SNT?" Maria asked. SNT poked her hand with her quills trying to touch them. "Ouch! Yeah, please do." "Okay! I'll go grab Amy's brush for you then." Maria went outside to ask Amy where her brush was. Rookie looked at SNT's bangs. "Maybe I can dye my fur to match yours. When this is all over of course!" "That sounds adorable!" SNT blushed at the thought. "My bangs should've gone back to normal by now, I don't know why they're still green?" "It looks very beautiful on you." SNT blushed more.
Amy, Gadget, Maria and Miles entered the house. "We taught those Badniks a lesson!" Gadget shouted. Amy put her hammer away, she grabbed her hair brush and gave it to Maria. "Listen up everyone, Amy told me that your Dimension's me has two Chaos Emeralds. I'm not risking him losing those in combat." Miles handed Amy a tracking device. "This can detect the Phantom Ruby, it'll let you know if Infinite's nearby." Amy turned it on and it started beeping loudly. Amy and Rookie went into a panic causing SNT to immediately leave the house. SNT flew up to high ground. "Calm down everyone! It's just detecting SNT and Gizmo!" Miles turned off the device and SNT flew back inside. "You could've told us that BEFORE you handed it to Amy." Miles got embarrassed. "Well I said it could detect the Phantom Ruby, that also meant you two." He pointed at the Dimensional Duo. "I'll get the Emeralds now, remember to point that thing away from those two!" Miles went searching for his Dimensional counterpart.
Maria and SNT sat by the window to brush her quills. Amy stared at the tracking device puzzled. Gadget went up to her. "This thing can track Infinite from really far." "How can you tell the difference between SNT and Infinite?" "The ringing was different, we took our chances and went towards you guys. Luckily it started beeping twice as much when it detected Gizmo." Gadget explained. "So what's my counterpart like?" Amy asked. "Well she's kind, compassionate, tough, and willing to take the role as leader when she needs to. I'm pretty sure you have those qualities as well." Gadget said in a slightly flirty tone. "That does sound like me." Amy said. Rookie gave a look of doubt that only SNT could see. "Gadget don't get a crush on this Amy as well." Maria teased. "Hey! She didn't have to know that part." Gadget slightly backed away from Amy while Maria giggled. "Speaking of crushes, does my counterpart still have a crush on Sonic?" "They're dating!" Maria said. Amy was so surprised she almost dropped the tracking device. She started stumbling over her words. "Me! D-dating Sonic!? I never thought that'd happen- I thought it was always a fantasy of mine! I-I am so happy for me- her- you know who I mean!" Amy was blushing at the thought and jumping around excitedly.
Amy calmed herself down. "Sorry, hearing that got me excited." "Ooohh, so that's what that reaction meant. I just thought you did that with everyone." SNT said. Amy put her hand to her face and shook her head, when she heard that Maria put her hand on Amy's shoulder. "When we defeat Infinite maybe you could ask our Amy to give you advice." Amy scoffed. "That won't work. Sonic seems to be after someone else now." "Don't worry Amy, I'm sure there's some girl out there for you!" Maria said. "Thanks." Amy said. Maria gave Amy her brush back and SNT stood up. "This feels much better." She touched her quills with her hands. "Until you get into another fight. I always brush my quills after I know the battle's over." Amy said. "She's right, and not just about the quill and fur advice, the battle isn't over. It's been nice catching up with but we came here to help." Gadget adjusted his glasses.
"After Tails comes back with the Emeralds, I think we should help the others, it doesn't look good out there." Maria pointed to the window. Everyone looked outside, not only could Eggmanland be spotted from very far away, but explosions as well. "For living on an island, there's quite a lot of room if Eggmanland can fit." Gadget commented. "If we're going, we should go in quietly and stealthily." Rookie said. "Of course we will! Gosh I'd hate to think about what Infinite would do if he found out me and Gadget were here as well." Maria said. "But we still have to get the Chaos Emerald Infinite has. We can't exactly take that away from him without getting seen." SNT said. Maria gasped. "We should find Rouge! She's the perfect girl for this kind of thing!" Gadget seemed to like the plan however, SNT, and Amy didn't like that idea. "Uhh.. How about another person?" "What other person is there? Rouge is the best professional jewel thief out there! There is no one else to do this as good as she can!" Maria said. "Her alliance with us is.. questionable to put it lightly." "She lured me into multiple traps before." SNT said to Maria and Gadget. "She's not exactly the most trustworthy person." Amy said. Maria frowned.
"Do you think Eggman has the Emerald somewhere hidden in Eggmanland? We were able to take the Emerald away from Infinite before." SNT asked Rookie. "Infinite could be hiding right now because of that." "Which means he'd still have it." There was a knock at the door. SNT looked through the window and could only see a pair of yellow tails. "Tails' is back!" She said. She opened the door to see Metal SNT. "Look I'm super! Hahah, I'm just playing with you. It's just my settings." She started to change her color before she went back to SNT's fur color. "Anyways, it seems like you have something we need." Metal Sonic took a step before Metal SNT stopped him. "Patience Metal. Let's see if they're smart enough to willingly hand it over." She turned off her disguise.
"Woah, you look a lot more advanced than Metal Sonic." Maria said. "Thank you Maria! Hey aren't you supposed to be dead? Speaking of being dead. Am I going to have to get messy or will you hand them over." She stuck out her hand. Amy went in front of Metal SNT. "And just what makes you think we have them!" "Don't play dumb Amy. That's my job!" Maria went up to Amy. "Hey Amy can I have your watch. Maybe I can fix it!" Amy looked at Maria. "What? Uhh, okay?" Amy handed it over and then Maria whispered something to Gadget. "Tick tock. I don't have all day" "We're never giving you the Emeralds! You're going to have to get through me first!" SNT raised her fists. "Hahaha." Metal Sonic dashed into the room and started tearing the place apart. Metal SNT turned her hand into a cannon. "Don't even think about trying to stop him."
Metal Sonic started searching the guest bedroom, and Metal SNT followed him still pointing her cannon at everyone. Gadget leaned over to SNT. "Psst. Maria has the Emeralds. When she turns on Amy's watch, run as far as you can from here." "So that's why she asked for it?" Amy whispered. Metal Sonic went into Amy's room and Amy had to stop herself from rushing in there. Metal SNT noticed. "What's wrong? Is there something in there you don't want us to find." Metal SNT started searching the room with Metal Sonic. SNT's communicator beeped. SNT looked up at the others. "Go!" Gadget whispered. SNT ran out of the house as fast as she could. She turned on her communicator. "Maria! Where are you!" "###I'm by some metallic cylinder.### it looks like a base?###It's by the coast.###" SNT started heading in the direction when she saw Tails. He was waving and SNT went to him. "SNT, I got them!" He pulled out two Emeralds. SNT took the Emeralds. "What are you doing all the way out here? You were supposed to stay back at the house." "They figured out where we were hiding them. Luckily Maria left with them. I'm going to find her now, you should come to just incase."
SNT and Miles went to where Maria was. "The battle's turning in our favor." "Phew, that's a relief." "I'm not relaxing just yet, it's clear Infinite's holding back. Let's just keep you hidden until we can deliver a heavy blow to his forces." SNT and Miles spotted the metal cylinder Maria was talking about. "Eggman's old base." SNT commented. She walked towards it when she heard Maria's voice. "SNT! Is that you? I need help! I'm stuck down this hole!" SNT saw the hole and walked to it. She looked down and saw Maria at the bottom. "Don't worry I'll get you!" She flew down to grab Maria when the Chaos Emeralds started glowing brightly. "Taaaails, what's happening!" SNT stopped flying. "Get the Emeralds away from each other before they-" he was unable to finish his sentence before the Chaos Emeralds shot a beam of light. The light was able to shoot through the cloudy sky and revealed a blue sky behind it.