Mystery's P.O.V

Now that the sun was gone, we could continue this hard battle in Eggman's base since we had no imminent threat at the moment. Sonic & I raced off to Mortar Canyon to help defeat more robots so Eggman's army would soon become depleted in a hurry. And so we could have a chance of winning this fight after all!

"That must have used up a ton of energy. The Phantom Rubies should be much weaker now." Tails said. Scarlett quickly replied, "Well, of course, you little two-tailed brainiac. This could be our only chance to defeat Infinite & Romeo." She sure was happy that we had this opening. And I was glad too. And also she was right. But before I could say anything, Knuckles & Olivia spoke up.

"All ships, provide backup to Sonic, Mystery & the others!"

"Draw the enemy's attention and shield them from damage!"

We performed multiple homing attacks and landed on a rail, Sonic in front and me trailing closely behind. Grinding on the rail and keeping our balance so we wouldn't fall.

"All hands, maintain altitude and assemble a tight formation, Sonic & Mystery's team is our last hope! We have to protect them!"

We sped through the canyon. Destroying anyone who got in our way and not losing too many rings, but enough to stay alive. It was quite the adrenaline rush and I loved it. SO much.

"A huge enemy force is closing fast! We're falling under attack!" They're trying their best, despite losing a lot of times, they haven't backed down. They won't abandon ship now, would they? To be fair they could be heavily depleted themselves.

"Keep an eye on them! Don't let them get near! Every second we can buy for Sonic & Mystery counts!" Good, they're still fighting. Until I overheard...that they were losing ships. Okay, if I were the commander of that, I'd abandon ship, they have done enough. And I was happy they had.

"Ship 3 took a direct hit to the bridge. They're falling back! Ship 7 has been crippled by heavy fire!"

"Evacuate the flagship! All hands, abandon ship! Sorry, Sonic, Sorry Mystery, we did all we can. Good luck out there!" They yelled to us. Their voice genuine.

"You did plenty already!" I yelled and Sonic continued straight after, "Leave the rest to us!"

We raced the rest of the way through the canyon. We met up with Infinite, & Romeo at the end of the path. They looked annoyed but stayed calm. But they also looked like they wanted to rip us apart like a savage wolf.

"Pathetic little hedgehogs, even with the Phantom Rubies weakened, we still have enough power to smash you two to blue and orange jelly."

Romeo chuckled at Infinite's line and then added one of his own.

"We'll show you how outclassed you really are."

"We're in a class all of our own!" Sonic yelled and I just had to add, to make them madder.

"It's time to put up or shut up, Infinite, Romeo." I signalled Sonic to go after Infinite and I went after Romeo. Just him and me for now, at least. I chased after him as Romeo asked me this.

"What would you like your epitaph to read? How about...' here lies the orange baffoon.'?"

"Why not, 'here dozes the family betrayer.' Might as well make it for the person who needs one, right?"

I only took two rounds of hits to him and...great, he had his power back. I'm gonna need some help here!

(Y/n)'s P.O.V

Oh no. Jesse & I looked in horror. It was recharged, we were too late!

"Jesse, if we're gonna help Mystery, you know what we need to do, right?"

"No?"

"We need to fuse, now!"

"Really? We haven't fused in ages! Would it still work?" 

"Let's try anyway!"

Mystery's P.O.V

"You're done for, Mystery. The Phantom Ruby's energy is recharged! Perish, along with your useless friends." Romeo told me. He chuckled. I was dead meat.

All of a sudden, I saw a figure with...a mask that turned from black at the top to blue at the bottom, had a tye-dye shirt covered by a dark blue jacket, had big, black shoes, a light blue beanie...long brown hair...peicing green eyes. No...they did it...they fused.

"Jesse! (Y/n)! You fused!"

"YOU!" They raced to me and I had the widest smirk. Now with this fusion on our team, I had no worries to stop Romeo from destroying us.

"My friends have got me this far!" I yelled and I overheard Sonic yell as well "And together, we're gonna win!" Then Romeo flew next to Infinite, causing Six & Sonic to join beside us.

"Uh...where's Jesse & (Y/n)?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic...you may be shocked. That IS Jesse & (Y/n). They fused!"

"That...that is so cool!" Romeo growled and his voice began to glitch with Jesse's, shocking all of us.

"It matters not how many of you there are. You will all submit to the Phantom Rubies powers!"

The world flashed white for a second and we found ourselves in a place between Null Space & Mortar Canyon. It felt oddly familiar yet completely new all at once. It was hard to figure out what was real, what was fake and what we had to avoid and hit. This world was made to confuse the heck out of all five of us, despite seeming like four since (Y/n) & Jesse are fused into one.

"Friends are nothing but a fleeting illusion. You can count on nobody but yourselves."

"Your mask can't hide how sad and lonely you two are!" Sonic yelled. I chuckled and then added.

"This Phantom Rubies virtual realities of yours are the real illusions."

We had to dodge enemies, avoid obstacles while navigating this path of pure red. We got Romeo and Infinite down to one part of health each and that was when they began to make an energy blast between the two of them, intending to end the fight and kill us in one fell swoop.

"Oh no." But Sonic was too pumped to back down now.

"Here it goes, partner! When we join forces, the sky's the limit!"

"Mystery, with us, ready to increase this to 11?" I was confused. Until I heard...

"Double...BOOST!" Sonic & Six defeated Infinite. I nodded at the fusion, we high fived, held hands and the fusion yelled.

"FUSION BOOST!" We flew through the air, destroying the energy blast and knocking down Romeo in the process. We...we did it. We actually did it. As soon as we stopped, Jesse & (Y/n) unfused and Jesse felt to the floor, tired out of his mind. (Y/n) was okay though.

The landscape was back to normal, Romeo & Infinite began to fade out a bit but I could quietly hear Romeo say to Infinite,

"Impossible...how can they be this strong? We cannot be defeated." I decided to talk down to them, they did nearly kill us.

"Wrong, losers. The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul, and the bonds of friendship," But then Sonic continued for me.

"Three things that you and you counterfeit cronies lack!"

(Y/n) & Six walked up to Romeo & Infinite and helped them up slowly. They both clutched their sides as the began to fade slightly. They rejected further help fro (Y/n) & Six before falling back down. Six & (Y/n) were about to help them up again, but their hands were slapped away & (Y/n) looked worried.

"Romeo...Nil...please, let us help you..." They clutched their masks for a bit and tried to get rid of the pain. "No. Wait...we can still fight!" But they flew off before we could do anything.

 Six & (Y/n) put their hands out to them, before falling to their knees and hugging each other as tears slowly developed between the two. I looked at Sonic and signalled him to comfort them, I had nothing to go off of, so I stayed back for the meanwhile. He slowly walked to them and put his hands on each of their shoulders.

"I know you're worried about them. I am too. That's all the reason to take the fight to Eggman. For your friend, for your brother and the world. Let's end this!"

Then out of the blue, here comes that stupid Egghead.

"You never fail to surprise me, Sonic, Mystery. I didn't believe Infinite & Romeo could lose. Victory will be so much sweeter when I defeat you two. Don't think this is over yet, you blue & orange nuances. My plan, and this game just went into overtime!"

"HEY! THAT'S MY LINE EGG FACE!" Eggman flew off. (Y/n) stared at Jesse.

"What?! He stole that line from me! I can feel it!"

"Maybe great minds think alike? Not saying you're bad or anything." Sonic added.

At least we defeated Infinite. 

And we're one step closer, to ending this war once and for all.