Honesty is the Best Policy! {w/Rosy}

Chapter 18: And Now Back to Forces

"I've made it this far because of my friends' support throughout the whole journey. Victory is ours!"

Sure now that both my body and soul had fully merged with the Ruby, our joined energies were completely sapped and I could no longer fight. However, that didn't mean I couldn't still try.After having struggled to get up, I could feel myself fading in and out of Null Space. It was as if both dimensions were overlapping in my vision.

"No matter how perfect your virtual reality seems to be, it is still no match for the heartfelt bond of friends." It was Sonic talking. He glanced beside him at the Avatar. "Like us," he said. He appeared to be oblivious as to what was really going on, seeming to be blinded by his victory.

Before I could really grasp what was happening, a beam shot out from the central tower behind me. Its red light encompassed me and I felt as if I were being pulled towards this tower.

"What? No, I can still fight...!" I shouted at the beam, knowing that Eggman was behind it. However, I was pretty positive that he couldn't hear me, especially since, as soon as I had protested, I was immediately wrenched towards the tower at an even faster rate.

Before I knew it, I was inside some sort of metal chamber. Lights on the walls were glowing dark red, slowly blinking.

Suddenly a voice echoed throughout the room. Electrical feedback let me know that it was being transmitted outside whatever this was via a microphone. "To think Infinite could be defeated... I'm impressed, Sonic. That's exactly why my defeating you will be so much more fulfilling."

All of a sudden, the glow of the prototype Ruby on my chest intensified.

By now I had suspected what I was in was a large machine of some sort. It began to shake and a loud noise was heard. Immediately after this noise began, the prototype Ruby was ripped from my chest and stored in a compartment in front of a glass window before me.

"What the-?!" I heard someone exclaim. The voice from earlier resumed. It was unmistakably the voice of the Doctor then as he said, "Gotcha! The nuclear power reactor in the fortress was just a decoy. A true winner keeps his trump card out of sight until the very end!"

We must've been real close to Sonic and the Avatar then because I could hear voices coming out of Sonic's communicator from here, reporting an increase in my duplicates up to around 10,000 troops. What? I hadn't created them. Then Eggman must've been-

"What did you do, Eggman?" Sonic asked. Judging by his tone, he was not amused by what had happened.

The Doctor then laughed. "I inserted the Phantom Ruby into this Death Egg Robo," he said.

Next it was Tails who spoke. He was there too it seemed. "That can't be... That would mean the limits of the energy supply are gone, and the Ruby has become flawless."

As in... the Doctor's ultimate weapon was no longer dependent on me and my ability to fight. I was only a nuisance then. Without the Ruby... I was useless.

"A great deduction, Tails! This Death Egg Robo has become... No, I have become an ultimate and complete form that surpasses Infinite!"

No...

"You will be crushed by this perfected Death Egg Robo, and my plan will succeed just as I have predicted it!"

And then we were once more within Null Space.

After another round of fighting during which I was mostly unconscious as I struggled to recover without the Ruby after my own fight, the Death Egg Robo, powered by the Phantom Ruby prototype, was still standing. Sonic, Classic, and the Rookie had fought Eggman's machine one-by-one, as I observed through the glass window in front of me and the Ruby, but their attempts at destroying his mech had left no mark from what I could tell.