Sonic Crisis
Episode 2: Infinite Nightmare
Written by Avernale(Tumblr, DeviantArt)/DesperadoCoyote(FurAffinity)/CrisisRobo( )

I know I said my dreams regarding Infinite had changed, but by no means were they gone for good. I've been fighting him ever since I began focusing on my training. I suppose the best path to victory begins with visualizing it, but how do you picture beating someone who can do literally anything? I don't always die, but I never seem to win, either.

I guess I have a ways to go before I can even dream of beating him…

Sonic, of course, was a lot more confident than I was. As soon as he heard Silver had encountered Infinite, he ran all the way to Mystic Jungle to fight him. You wouldn't think he'd fare much better than last time, when he was in peak condition, and to be fair he didn't, but even Infinite seemed surprised that six months of torture and confinement had only made him stronger. I suppose being stuck on your arch-enemy's space prison is no excuse to skip leg day.

I know I sound like I'm making light of this, but to tell the truth I was scared of losing Sonic again. It was a big risk to confront him and just demand the secret of his power. I'm just thankful that Infinite was so arrogant as to not just finish off Sonic for real this time. That's the thing with Infinite; People's fears feed his ego. He leaves survivors to teach others to be afraid of him, but if he had half a brain he'd take out the major threats before they could mount against him. Then again, with power like that It's hard not to think he's justified in his hubris.

I myself managed to pull off a rousing victory in the City. Eggman was attacking with his giant Death Egg Robot sentinels, and we needed evacuate the civilians. With Sonic and Silver still healing from their battle with Infinite and our remaining forces occupied with other battles, it was up to me to lead the charge. I pretty much just made a commando run up and down Park Avenue, destroying every robot I could find, but I managed to make a huge impact. We were not only able to rescue the citizens who couldn't make it out before the battle started but we actually turned back the invaders!

Everyone was rather impressed with my performance. Vector was even a little jealous of my skill. To be honest, after Sonic and I took on Arsenal Pyramid together, I was riding pretty high. I felt like I could do anything, and this victory did little to ease the swelling of my head.

Even so, I couldn't help but think of the "little talk" I had with Amy after we got back from the pyramid.

"Look, honey, don't get the wrong idea," she said. "But Sonic's mine, alright?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told her. I honestly didn't have those kinds of feelings towards Sonic, and I couldn't imagine what gave her that impression.

"Not that I blame you or anything," she went on. "Sonic's just got that kind of effect on women. But don't think you got a shot just because you Double Boosted with him one time."

"Seriously, it's not anything like that!" I insisted. "I just… want…" I faltered a little. "…To run with him. That's all…"

Okay, admittedly, that did sound a little like a romantic notion. I'd run beside him forever if I could, but I think I'm more addicted to the speed from the Double Boost more than anything else.

"Uh-huh?" she said incredulously. "Can you honestly say you couldn't possibly imagine being with him?"

I tried imagining it. Him holding me in his strong arms. Me gazing lovingly up into his eyes.

"Sonic-sempai," I'd say.

"Crisis-chan," he'd say.

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, but I shook my head. "No, no, no! It's just too weird! He is Sonic the Hedgehog, but… I don't know… I mean… If he wanted to, I guess. I don't know if I could refuse him…"

I suddenly imagined him holding me down on a bed.

"No, Sonic-sempai!" I'd say, struggling in vain to break free from his iron grip. "This is wrong! You're a married man!"

"But I love you, Crisis-chan!" he'd insist. "I must have you!"

I covered my face with my hands as it turned beat red. "Gah! Stop it! You're putting weird ideas in my head!" Another one suddenly occurred to me and I busted out laughing.

"What?" Amy asked. "What's so funny?"

"I just… I'm just…" I paused to take a breath and wiped a tear from my eye. "I was just thinking… You know how prison changes a man."

"No, no, no, no!" Amy shook her head. "That's not possible! Not my Sonic!"

"We might not even have a chance anymore," I said, nodding sagely. "Shadow's probably more his speed."

"Don't even joke about that!" Amy interrupted. I think her nose started bleeding. "That's not even funny! Sonic isn't like that!"

"Alright, alright," I said. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I don't think I could date Sonic anyway. It would violate my OTP."

Amy smiled at me. "Oh, wow, really?"

"Yep," I said. "Sonally all the way."

Amy blinked in confusion. "What?"

…Okay, maybe it didn't go quite like that…

Anyway, after I repelled the invaders in the City, Rouge said the instruments were detecting lifeforms near the lab in Mystic Jungle where Sonic had fought Infinite. A jungle ought to be teeming with lifeforms, but the sensors wouldn't be worth much if they couldn't tell common bugs and reptiles from more novel creatures so Knuckles sent me down to check it out.

Navigating the massive water slide that was Aqua Road was a harrowing experience with insane twists and turns. It took everything I had to keep from being thrown off the side. Knuckles seemed to think it looked like a lot of fun, though. I guess it takes a special kind of person to enjoy being knocked around by Motobugs like bumper cars in a mosh pit.

I found a strange stone with black and magenta stripes just lying on the ground once I reached the lab. I didn't even have the faintest inkling of its significance then, and I had pretty much forgotten about it after the next discovery an instant later. The two lifeforms Rouge had told me about were Tails and… Sonic? This was a different, younger Sonic that I later learned was from another dimension that was roughly five years behind ours. Tails must've caught me staring, since he asked if we've met before.

Tails was pretty happy to see our Sonic after all this time. We all were, but the two of them were practically brothers. I was a little surprised no one else seemed as weirded out about there being two Sonics as I was, but the two of them apparently met before so maybe I was just the odd man out. I'm sure Amy was in Heaven, though.

It wasn't all good news, though. Apparently, Tails learned that Eggman was planning to destroy us all in three days' time. Unfortunately, that was all he knew. Three days didn't seem like a lot, but Sonic was confident that it was more than enough time to turn things around.

There wasn't any time to speculate, anyway. Eggman's forces had returned in unreasonably large numbers, led by that turncoat Shadow. It was only later, after Sonic went out to face him, that we learned that this Shadow was a copy. The real Shadow arrived to take out the copy and revealed that it was a virtual reality projection created by Infinite using the power of the Phantom Ruby. Zavok, Chaos, and Metal Sonic were illusions as well, and with the Ruby's power they were just as strong as the real thing. Worse yet, there was no limit to the number of replicas he could create with it.

I would've loved to go out and knock that knock-off's block off, but Knuckles had other plans for me. It seems that with the overwhelming force knocking at our door, Eggman's Metropolis HQ was working with a skeleton crew. Knuckles wanted to return the favor with a full-on frontal assault he was calling "Operation Big Wave." He probably put more thought into the name than the actual plan itself, but Tails thought the plan had merit and who am I to argue with a boy genius? With an extra Sonic and the Resistance's star rookie, what could possibly go wrong?

There's an old saying that goes, "The first casualty in battle is the plan." When your entire plan is the military equivalent of "Punch it in the face until it dies," that's a major problem. It was going so well until Infinite showed up and literally turned everything upside down.

During my typical commando run I used my grapnel to swing into the air high above the ground and went sailing. Before I knew it, he was flying right next to me. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and my blood ran cold. Even counting the time months ago when he spared my life just to watch me cower in fear, he had only ever been this close in my nightmares. Did he single me out? Why? Did he know who I was, or was I just unlucky? Or did he use his virtual reality powers to give everyone their own personalized vision of his countenance?

There wasn't any time to think about it. He wasted none of it activating the Phantom Ruby and plunging Metropolis into chaos. I could hear Knuckles in my ear reminding me that none of what I was seeing was real, but I was too busy running on the ceiling and dodging giant Infinites to really pay attention. Not just me; Everyone was having a bad trip. Before we knew it, 80% of our forces had been taken down and remainder was MIA. As far as anyone knew, I was the only one still capable of putting up a fight. It was up to me to finish the assault. No pressure, right?

Try as I might, though, I couldn't make any head way. Infinite was just too powerful, and the enemies too numerous. Before long, the order to retreat came in and I was forced to flee the city.

I thought I was home-free, but in the chaos and confusion sown by Infinite I got turned around. Once I realized my mistake, I had to backtrack across the city to the rendezvous point. Things had quieted down already, so I thought I wouldn't be spotted if stuck to the rooftops.

But I was wrong.

"More ants to crush." I had heard Infinite before I saw him. "I wonder if this world can offer me a real challenge."

He was standing on the edge of the roof, gazing out at Metroplis. I don't know how I got this close without noticing or being noticed, but I was thankful for that bit of luck. Just seeing his back filled me with such dread it felt like my heart stopped beating. Perhaps it realized what my mouth didn't. If I hadn't gasped at that moment, I might've been able to sneak away unnoticed.

"And as if to answer, the world sends me a trembling child," he said.

He wasn't wrong. I could feel my body shaking as he slowly turned towards me. If I could have willed my body to move in that moment it would not have made a difference. In less than an instant, we were standing cheek to cheek. He smelled like a hot, desert wind and reeked of burnt ozone.

"Are you going to fight and die here?" he said into my ear. I thought he had a hand on my throat, but I was instead choking on my own heart. "Or run away in fear again?"

I shrank away from the jackal. I felt terrified, but also… also shamed. As he said, I was a lost, frightened child. I joined the Resistance to fight Infinite, but I was mere inches from him now and could do nothing but hold back tears of panic. This war could be over in a flash, but all I could think of was…

What would Sonic think? What would he say if he saw me for the coward I am?

"Hey, don't be scared!" his words echoed in my mind. "This is your moment to shine!"

That's… That's right! Sonic would believe in me just I believed in him! I shouldn't have doubted him for a second. Even if I didn't believe in me, I would believe in the me that Sonic believed in!

"Keep going," he would say. "Don't let your fear own you!"

I swallowed my heart and grit my teeth.

"For the sake of the world, I will know no fear!" I declared. "Fear is an illusion, and so is your power, you trickster!" I brandished my Drill Wispon. "What is real is this drill! This is the drill that will pierce your sorry butt!"

"Fine," he said as he pressed a couple fingers between the eyes of his helmet as if it were a pair of glasses. (I swear, he does that just to look intellectual) "I will teach you fear, then pain, and then... " He crossed his arms and rose into the air. "Well, at least the fear and pain will end."

The world distorted, and suddenly we were inside the building.

"You must be a straggler that got left behind," he said as swarms of voxels emerged and swirled around me. "The strong will always vanquish the weak. You only have your own frailty to blame."

The voxels swallowed me, despite my best efforts. I found myself in a distorted world, my vision dyed a vicious red. It was hard to breath. Missiles came at me from every direction as cannons materialized and dematerialized around me.

I had to focus. This world wasn't real. I revved up the drill and thrust it into one of the cannons. The red vanished as the virtual world fell away, leaving me back in the room with Infinite.

"Well, well. It seems behind that fear is a spark of defiance." He dove towards me, shrouded in a blazing, red aura. I thrust my drill at him, but he caught it with one hand. Sparks flew as it ground against his aura. "And those eyes… I feel like we've met before."

He retreated back into the air, but I caught him with my grapnel and slammed bodily into him. We bounced off a wall and tumbled across the floor.

"You've put up quite a fight," he said, rising to the air. "I underestimated just how desperately the feeble cling to life."

I scrambled to my feet and revved up the drill again. "That's a funny way to say you got your butt kicked."

He threw some energy blasts at me. As I rolled out of the way, I realized I dropped the strange stone I picked up in Mystic Jungle. In all the excitement, I had forgotten I even had it. Funny how I hadn't noticed how much it looked like the crystal on Infinite's chest.

"I remember you," he said as I picked the stone back up. "You ran from me before. You survived then, but you throw it all away now." With a single pulse of energy, we were back in the virtual world. "Curious." At the same time, cannons materialized all around me. "This will be good bye."

I was backed into a corner with nowhere to run. As I braced myself for the end, I realized I wasn't so much afraid as I was frustrated. I was so close to ending the war I could taste it. All that stood between him and me was a rapidly-encroaching wall of cannon balls. If those cannon balls weren't there…

In an instant, my vision cleared. The air was easier to breath. I was in the real world again. There were no cannon balls, just me and Infinite. The moment of clarity ended as suddenly as it began and the cannon balls exploded behind me.

"What?" Infinite exclaimed, just as surprised as I was. "How is this possible? It can't be… How did you?"

I chuckled. I thought I had him figured out. As long as I didn't believe in his power, it couldn't affect me!

"Hey, Infinite," I remarked as I revved up the drill again. "What's a god to a non-believer?"

I leaped at him, easily clearing the cannon balls fired at me. I thought I had him dead to rights, but just swatted me away like a fly.

"No matter," Infinite said as he turned away from me. "They only have two days left. Let them contemplate the inevitable until I end this once and for all."

And then he just left, as if I didn't even matter! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to scream at him, tell him to come back and fight me like a man! I thought I was so cool up until that point, but I was just as arrogant as he was. But despite my anger, I didn't have the energy to go after him. I just sat there, stewing in my own juices until Knuckles called my phone.

"Rookie, come in!" he said. "Where are you?"

"Rookie here," I sighed. The title left a bitter taste in my mouth, but it was apt. I was no hero. Just some rookie who got in over her head. "I just… had a run-in with Infinite."

"Oh my gosh!" Amy was on the line now. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine," I said, a little surprised Amy was showing concern for me. "I'm just… I'm just…" My head and my Wispon hand slammed into the wall and floor, respectively. "I almost had him!" I sniffled and rubbed my eyes with my forearm. "I thought I had him figured out, but…" Even though they couldn't see me, I tried not to cry but the tears came anyway. "I'm just useless! He doesn't even bother killing me! I'm useless!"

"Crisis, it's fine." Silver this time. "That arrogance of his is just another tool we can use against him. Now where are you?"

I dragged myself to my feet and pressed my forehead against a window. "I dunno. I'm in a building in the middle of Metropolis? There's those weird fake trees outside? I think this might be a factory or something?"

"Okay, try to get to the roof," he said. "We'll come pick you up."

"No, it's fine, I can walk," I said.

"Don't," Silver insisted. "Get to the roof and stay put. We can't have you wandering around right now."

"Hey, Crisis?" Amy again. "You wanna stay on the line so we can talk?"

I didn't think there was much more to say, but… "Sure."

Amy's surprisingly cool once you get to know her. I can see why Sonic hasn't kicked her to the curb already despite her creepy stalker-crush. It felt good to get stuff off my chest, and Amy shared a few things, too. Nothing I would repeat here, of course. That would be telling. I was feeling a lot better by the time the extraction team arrived and we managed to escape from the city without much incident.

Still, I had a feeling my Infinite nightmares were far from over.