(Author's Note: This story is based off the setting of Sonic Forces, and will contain spoilers to the main story of that game. This story will have it's own twists to it, and won't follow the same route as the game. That being said, enjoy the story.)

"Be sure to take good notes." Knuckles was briefing the resistance on a mission to find one of the Phantom Ruby prototypes. After a good couple hours of mapping and planning, a few members were sent off to search, and Gadget just so happened to be one of them. He grappled up to half of what used to be a building to look over the city. Eggman's robots completely trashed the place, and they'd clean it up, if it weren't for the fact that they were probably going to send some mercenaries to finish off any remaining survivors, and it wouldn't be smart to just hang out in the open waiting to die. After some searching, Gadget felt something nearby, some strange energy. He went to investigate. He found it! The Phantom Ruby prototype! A pal of his, a black rabbit with a mask over his mouth, and some spiked gloves came over to congratulate him.

"Nice work, Gadget. Knuckles will be pleased." Gadget grinned and nodded.

"Thanks, Grey! We should hurry though, before somebody-" Gadget's words were cut off as a black blur knocked him down, and took the Ruby.

"What the- Hey!" Grey was angry, and he pulled out his Nega-Wispon and grappled after. Gadget fumbled, trying to get up, and chased after both of them.

"Excuse me! Would you please give back the stone?" Gadget politely requested grappling by the flying entity. The entity looked Gadget straight in the eye, it was Infinite!

"Ah, Gadget. Good to see you chasing after what you think is yours. Gullible, it'll get you killed." Infinite stopped in his tracks, having Gadget, and Grey stop in theirs, causing them to drift in the dirt. Infinite quietly chuckled, holding the ruby.

"Well? Don't you want to please your team, child?" Gadget clenched his fist, and held his Burst-Wispon in hand.

"That's it. Give in to your rage, that's what will get you the precious stone." While Infinite was talking, Grey rushed and shot black holes at Infinite. Infinite had no problem escaping them, and he kicked Grey in the back, before rushing to his body, grabbing his foot and throwing him at Gadget. Gadget and Grey both get knocked back pretty far. Gadget fixes his glasses and looks up at Infinite. Infinite was at first quietly chuckling, but it broke into a louder laughter, as he used the power of the ruby to summon red powerful orbs, and shot them right at Gadget.

Before Gadget could take the hit and suffer hallucinations, Grey jumped in front of him, suddenly groaning. Grey shakes his head and grapples away.

"N-No, Grey, come back! I can't fight this guy on my own!" Infinite laughed.

"Your friends don't seem to care for you that much, child. Welcome to your end." Suddenly a Phantom Zavok appeared.

"Zavok. Take care of this pest, I'm going after the hopping rabbit." Infinite flew off, as Zavok picked Gadget up by his skull, easily overpowering him.

"Poor child. You are no match for the ruby's power. Oh well, time to paint that red fur with some more red." Zavok says, slowly crushing Gadget by his head. Gadget squirms and kicks Zavok, causing him to drop. Gadget quickly grabs his Wispon and starts burning Zavok with it.

"Graah! You ungrateful little-!" Zavok then punches Gadget so hard, he gets crushed into the ground.

"Ughh... N-No..." Gadget is almost out for the count. Zavok charges up one last finishing blow before he's suddenly hit in the back with an electric whip. It's a pink cat, with a Lightning Wispon, slicing Zavok's back.

"Damn! Why can't any of you rodents just leave!?" Zavok turns, about to punch the cat, before suddenly Gadget grapples Zavok by the shoulder and tugs hard enough to make him fall backwards. Gadget gets up while he can, and slowly backs up, limping slightly.

"Thanks for the save, Fuchsia." Gadget grins at Fuchsia, the cat smiles back.

"Well, you were about to become a mix of red jelly! Infinite is looking for the base, and he's really close. Too close. If we don't warn them, I'm most positive our entire team will be obliterated!" The Zavok clone slowly turns into Ruby particles, the fight over. Gadget fixes his glasses, which are slightly cracked.

"You're right, but if we go to base, we'll most definitely be found! How do we sneak in?"

"Well..." Fuchsia picks up Grey's Nega-Wispon.

"If we get enough Void wisps, we should use their power with the Wispon to teleport into the base!" Gadget nodded and went off without question. While Fuchsia went on her own path. Gadget looked in the Mystic Jungle, and found a couple. But they'd need 10 to teleport such a distance. Suddenly his ears perk, and he looks around, as he hears footsteps, fast ones. He charges his Burst Wispon, ready for a fight.

But then, Sonic hops out of a bush! Er, the little one does.

"Oh, phew.. It's just you... Hey Sonic! Have you happened to see any Violet Wisps?" Sonic gestures to where he came from, and smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks! Oh, and be careful, Infinite is out looking for the base, so don't give away any positions. I'm gonna use the wisps to teleport me, you, and Fuchsia into the base, okay?" Sonic nodded. Gadget then hopped into the bush, and found a ton of Violet wisps.

"Perfect!" He grabs them, then heads back to where Fuchsia was. She had a good amount, and Classic Sonic was with her.

"Nice! We'll put this in the Wispon, and we'll be good to go!" Fuchsia uses the wisps to absorb their power into the Wispon. Once it's charged, it's starts shaking a bit strangely, but the Nega-Wisps are a bit hyper for Hyper-Go-Ons, so it's not a big surprise. She charges the gadget, and the three get sucked into a black hole, which teleports them into the base. Amy welcomes them.

"Welcome back! But er, where's Grey?"

"..I thought he was with you... We saw Infinite out on the prowl, and we had to use Grey's Wispon to get here, so that we wouldn't reveal the base's location." Amy sighed in worry, and Vector chimed in.

"It's awful that we've had so many casualties lately... But one is better than all of us... Thank you, you three." As Fuchsia was about to say something, the door opened. It was Grey, he didn't have his mask, and he looked completely beaten.

"Grey! What happened, are you okay?" Amy said, worryingly.

"I-I.. Infinite... He has... The ruby... And he-" as Grey was about to finish, the entire wall behind him gets taken down, as he gets knocked down, Infinite is floating, with a ton of his hypnotizing cubes by his side.

"Ahahahaha! Oh, it's adorable... All of these ants tried so hard to hide in their hill... But it's not enough... Such a shame Sonic is busy at the Chemical Plant to bother saving his worthless friends! Hahahahaha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Infinite shot the cubes, and Gadget passed out in the battle. The last things he heard was the screaming and battling of his confused allies.

Darkness. Just darkness.

Gadget woke up in a completely destroyed base. None of his friends to be seen.

"G-Guys...? Oh sweet Mobius..." Gadget turned around to a world of destruction. The eggman robots were back attacking and destroying the city, and he recognized a few faces being tormented by Chaos, Metal Sonic, and others. He stumbled, falling on one knee, and fixing his cracked glasses.

"I-I can't believe it... Eggman's gonna wipe out the Resistance... This... This can't be it though... There has to be hope..." He picked up a Cube Hammer, and stumbled out into the battlefield. He grappled up to a building to get a better glance. There's Knuckles! Oh no, he's surrounded! Gadget hops down, and turns the robots into cubes.

"Thanks, rookie. You really saved my bacon. Glad to see you're alive. Look, right now, it's utter chaos. If you want to find Infinite, he's in Station Square, but I know how close you are to Fuchsia, and she's fighting Chaos a few blocks down. Hurry, there's not much time!" Gadget nodded, and grappled from building to building, and he spots Fuchsia. Right as he's about to jump down, a Death Egg Robot lasers the building, and has it collapse. He quickly climbs up the side, and grapples off before it's destroyed. He slams the hammer down on Chaos, and turns him into a puddle.

"Gadget! Oh, I'm glad you didn't get killed by Infinite back there..." The two hug, and right as Gadget is about to return the happy thoughts, they both get punched by Chaos, and knocks them back. Gadget holds his ground, and swings the Wispon at Chaos, eventually getting it grabbed out of his hands, and then getting socked right in the face. He falls on one knee, and Chaos is about to deliver the finishing blow, before Fuchsia, uses the Hover Wispon to blast him away, turning him into little water drops.

"Seems like I'm the one always saving your clumsy butt, Gadget!" Fuchsia giggles at him.

"Yeah, well, I mean who else is gonna look cool while getting his butt whooped?" They both share a laugh, before Infinite shoots a laser in between them.

"Isn't that adorable... Two rats sharing their last moments with whatever happiness they have left. Now, I'd love to watch you two sit in joy, but I suppose I'm just a buzzkill, aren't I?" Gadget looks gruff as he picks up his Cube Wispon.

"Hmph, and you will be too." Infinite says, before charging straight at them, picking Gadget up and flying high in the air. Gadget reacts, and and punches him, but all it does is just bruise his hand against Infinite's helmet. They're up fifty feet now, and Infinite grabs Gadget's wrist, and rips out the grappling hook, so he can't save himself.

"Let's see how good your friends are at playing catch." Infinite drops Gadget, and he suddenly starts squirming and freaking out. Fuchsia looks up as Gadget falls, she grapples up to a building, and jumps off of it, Gadget in her reach, before Metal Sonic interrupts, and smacks Fuchsia out of the way, Gadget falling faster, and faster before-!

Tails catches him in the nick of time and sets him down.

"Close one there, Gadget! Can't have any more casualties than what we already have..."

"Thanks, Tails! But-Wait, behind you!"

"Huh?" Tails turns around, and Infinite stabs Tails in the gut with a paralyzing claw, Tails suddenly going limp. Infinite slams his lbody hard on the ground.

"This is what happens, kid! You bring your friends into this mess, and I take care of them. I take care of them for good. Is this what you're afraid of?" Infinite then summons the cubes and shoots them directly into Gadget. He falls on his knees, and when he looks up, Infinite's cubes were spiked sharp, and the robots looked more menacing, and Metal Sonic had a red tint to him.

"N-No... Get away!" Gadget crawled back from the terrifying robots. They picked him up by the limbs, and Infinite floated closer.

"Welcome to your end, kid. Or in other words, my special paradise.." Infinite grabs Gadget by the neck, slowly choking him, before suddenly he's saved by Classic Sonic, and his vision goes back to normal, the robots not there anymore, he gets up and off his knees, and slams the hammer across Infinite's face.

"Arrgh! Heheheh, your friends don't matter now..." Infinite's about to dose Gadget with more cubes, before Classic Sonic goes into a spin dash, and launches right into Infinite's shoulder, spiking him and doing some damage. Gadget then slams the ground with the hammer, slowing Infinite down with the blue cubes.

"Hmph! This game is over!" Infinite kicks Gadget back hard enough to make him fall on his back. He then grabs Sonic by a choke hold, making him squirm, and flail.

"Aah, the little blue savior... Your saving won't last." Tails was unparalyzed, but he was too late. By the time Tails got up, Infinite threw Sonic on the ground hard, and stomped on him, Sonic going limp. Classic Sonic was dead.

"NO!" Gadget and Tails both screamed.

"Gadget... Consider this your greatest mistake... Unless history repeats itself." Infinite charged at Gadget and paralyzed him, and then punched him hard enough to knock him out for good.

The last things Gadget saw before passing out was Sonic's body, and Tails and Fuchsia being held captive by Metal Sonic and Chaos.

Operation Rebellion: Critical Mission Failure

400+ KIAs, 50+ MIAs, 250+ WIAs

Tomorrow is another day.