You growled as the jackal in front of you started to float, bright red orbs appeared in his gloved hands. Within three throws, you were already dodging his energy spears, running around the bridge as the beams exploded.

-Great, what have I gotten myself in to?- You thought to yourself, Shadow's words of discouragement coming back to mind, -No way am I ready to fight Infinite of all people!-

Another few spears were thrown at you, and you had to jump out of the way, dropping the Phantom Ruby prototype in the process. You growled and aimed the Blast at him, pulling the trigger and watching as the fire engulfed him.

"Silly (a/t)..." He said from behind you.

Suddenly you were launched forward, hitting the ground like a smooth pebble bouncing on water. You let out a cry as you hit a pillar, your grip on the wispon loosened.

"Do you really think you can beat me...?" He flew over to you, kicking the wispon away, "No matter... I'll get rid of you now."

You groaned as he grabbed you around the neck, holding you up in the air. His eye flashed as he took in your features, and a chuckle left his lips, "I remember you. You ran from me before."

He threw you across the bridge, and you slammed into another pillar. Groaning, you searched your pocket for the Phantom Ruby, only to find it wasn't there.

-Where is it?!- You looked around, spotting it further down the bridge. Infinite walked over, clearly assuming you were too weak to even stand now.

"You survived then, but you throw it all away now. Curious." The jackal stood over you, tilting his head slightly and huffing. Suddenly, several cannons surrounded you, all powering up and glowing a bright red, "This will be good-bye."

The cannons all fired an energised blast, but you were quick, and now on your feet, ran for the gem. The jackal growled and aimed the cannons at you again, firing them instantly. You closed your eyes, tripping and skidding across the ground.

The gem found it's way towards your hand, and the energy beams phased right through you. Panting and shaking, you stood slowly and faced Infinite.

-It worked!-

"What!? How is this possible? It can't be... How did you?"

The jackal let out a growl, and you huffed in return, standing in a fighting stance. His eye flashed, and he flew at you, however you were prepared and jumped out of the way. But, what you weren't prepared for, was for the dark jackal to follow you.

You could almost hear his chuckle as he pressed his hand into your stomach, sending a burst of energy through your core. You let out a yell and fell to the ground, the fiery pain causing you to curl up.

"No matter. They have only two days left. Let them contemplate the inevitable until I end this once and for all." Infinite stated with amusement, before flying away.

Your ears pressed against your head and you let out a whine, hugging your stomach. It felt like you couldn't move, and no on was around to call for help. Were you bleeding? You couldn't tell, everything seemed red.

"Rookie!" Your ears twitched.

Red shoes stood in front of you, and you felt someone pick you up.

"Oh man, I need to find Tails..." The voice said, before everything went windy.

You let out a groan and pressed into the warm body, wishing the pain would go away. The person seemed to hold you tighter, and you could swear they were talking to you, but it was hard to hear in the wind.

"Stay with me.." The words sounded distant, slowly your eyes closed.

Everything went black.

~LATER~

"Things were going well with Operation Big Wave, but then everything fizzled out when that Phantom Ruby kicked in." Knuckles' voice made your ear twitch, and you tried to move around. Why was everything dark? It felt like you couldn't move.

"That fake Shadow was created using the Phantom Ruby's power, right? Even if it's a virtual reality projection, it's as strong as the real Shadow." Silver mumbled, and you could hear someone rapidly tapping on a keyboard.

You let out a groan, trying to open your eyes or sit up. The others seemed to go silent, and you felt a hand rest on your head.

"Hey Rookie? Are you awake?" Sonic asked quietly.

You sighed and relaxed, giving a small nod.

"Awesome. You took a big hit from Infinite when you were fighting him, you passed out while I was bringing you back." He stated, before lifting something off your eyes, "You seemed pretty warm, so Tails patched you up and tried cooling you down with an ice-pad."

You blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden bright light, and covered your eyes. After a bit, your head stopped pounding and you looked around the room. Sonic was sitting next to you, his hand still resting on your head. The others had gone back to talking amongst themselves.

"How are you feeling?" Sonic asked, causing you to turn back to him. You shrugged and tried sitting up, before a sharp sting went through your stomach and you let out a whine.

"Easy, it's probably still sore. He got you good." The blue hedgehog held you back, keeping you still, "You know, you had me worried for a sec. Heh.."

You blinked and stared up at him again, tilting your head. Why was he worried about you? And why was he keeping you company instead of talking amongst the others? They were probably talking about another important plan involving him, he should be with them. You flushed slightly and leant your head back on the bench you were resting on.

-He's just doing it to be nice...- You thought. It was the only logical answer you could think of.

"Hey are you okay? You're heating up again." He stated, pressing his hand against your cheek, "I'll get you another ice-pad."

You sighed as he ran to the other side of the room and turned to the group, listening to see what was going on.

"Rouge, have you found the intel I was looking for?" Shadow asked the bat, standing behind her and gazing into the computer she was using.

"No, not yet. But I have reports that Eggman's database is located at the Chemical Plant. If we can check that out, we might find something there." The white bat stated, her cyan eyes scanning the screen.

"That sounds like a promising lead." Sonic said from the freezer, "We have to figure out the secret behind Infinite's power and virtual reality. Tails, can you handle this?"

The kitsune nodded, "Got it. I'll take Sonic -I mean, the other Sonic- with me and head to the Chemical Plant!"

The smaller Sonic jumped in the air throwing his fist up as well, before running out of the room. Tails followed him close behind. The room fell silent, no one really knowing what to do now. Sonic walked back and placed and ice-pad on your head, causing you to jump.

"Easy." He chuckled, "It's just ice, it won't hurt you."

You smiled slightly and nodded, before looking around the room.

"Want to sit up?" Sonic tilted his head, "It might hurt but it would be good to see how you are."

You nodded again, before trying to sit up. The pain in your stomach came back and you let out a whine. You felt a hand on your side and back, steadying you slightly. The pain seemed to slowly ease as you were sat upright.

"So it only hurts when you move. Do you think you could walk or run? We kind of need you out there." The blue hedgehog offered a smile.

You nodded again and tried standing slowly, the pain wasn't as bad, and you were able to walk around with only a small wince.

"Great! Now how about fighting?"

Your ears lowered slightly, and you shrugged, rubbing your stomach.

"Leave her rest Sonic." Amy said from the computers, pouting slightly, "She needs it, otherwise she won't be able to fight."

You swear you could hear a twinge of jealousy in her voice, as if she was trying to get him away from you.

"Right, sorry Rookie. You can lay back down if you want."

You sighed and nodded, slowly taking a seat. That hurt more than the standing, and your eared pressed against your head. You could feel Sonic watching your every move, and you couldn't help but flush slightly. Why was he still watching you?

"Are you heating up again? I can get you another ice-pad." He said. You shook your head, smiling slightly at his kindness.

He gave a small chuckle, before sitting next to you. You were very conscious of how close his body was to yours.

"I have a feeling you want to be caught up on what happened since the fight?"

"That would be a wise thing to do." Silver said from where he sat, eyes scanning another screen, "We can't have any confusion here."

"Right well, in that case." He turned to face you, "It's only been about an hour or so since we sort of failed, but everyone is taking it as a serious blow."

You nodded. Only an hour? Then you were recovering quickly. How long until you'd be able to fight again?

"Anyway, we're waiting for Tails to find more information about, well, anything at this point."

You nodded once again.

Knuckles huffed, his arms crossed, "I don't like sitting on the bench, but there's nothing to do till Tails gets back."

Suddenly an alarm went off, and Amy glared at the red echidna, "Way to jinx it! Metal Sonic has been spotted in the city!"

"Is it another fake?" Shadow asked, unamused.

"Why would they bother making a fake out of something that already isn't real? Couldn't they just build more? Either way, it's getting wrecked! Let's go, partner!" Sonic smiled at you.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Shadow asked, "She's still injured."

"Well, I mean she is already able to walk again, plus I'll do most of the work." Sonic chuckled, "We do need to see if she can fight, because I have a feeling we'll need her soon."

"Yes well... Be careful." Knuckles stated.

"Wow, you do care." Sonic chuckled, before giving you the thumbs up and running out of the room. You smiled and stood slowly, before following after him.