One night, the blue hedgehog witnessed an unpleasant sleep. His body stirred around the bed, sleepy groans following along. In his dreams he could see the silhouette of a tall, dark figure. Nothing about it was ever revealed. Nothing but an eerie whisper.
Another groan, and the hedgehog snaps awake, sitting up. He afterwards held his head. Tails soon noticed and got up to help.
"Are you okay, Sonic?"
The hedgehog gave his friend a brief look. "Yeah. Just some bad dream. Nothin' to worry about." He winked at him.
"What was it about?" The fox wanted to know more.
"I dunno', man. Some crazy faceless people trying to scare me. Heh. That whole Eggman Empire-Resistance war must have made me grow some anxiety."
"That's strange. That happened many months ago, and concluded with Eggman's defeat."
"Yeah, but this time there's something odd about Eggman." Sonic laid back down, stretching his arms to the back of his head. "He's still fighting, but he has little power, and those gooey slime monsters are one more weight on our backs. Him and those things going after our friends is kind of weird. I mean, what would they want from them?"
Tails jumped to the bed and sat next to his buddy. "Wish I could figure that out."
Again, Sonic looked at his buddy and smiled. "Hey, chill. We'll get to that, like we always do."
The fox stared at the ceiling. "I'd give all for a nap in Green Hill zone right now."
Sonic sighed, a cute smile still on his face. "Yeah. Wish that dream was about chilidogs too."
Tails giggled.
Soon both fell asleep, and the moon began falling...
At J.J.'s apartment, the day after...
The sun shimmered in the late morning skies, and birds chanted a harmonious melody. Everything seemed normal in the city, as if no Badniks attacked or any evil scheme ever happened.
The slender jackal stretched his arms, ready to start that day with a right foot. He almost let out a tiny whimper (A/N: like when dogs yawn) as he stretched his tiny body. Getting out of his blankets and standing from his cozy bed, he went to J.J.'s side He looked at the time, and realized it was almost noon.
Infinite's eyes glanced at the girl in her sleep, and saw as she took every breath. He narrowed his eyes down, but shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Wake up, sloth." He shook her. After a few minutes, he understood that she'd prank him with a scare, something she sometimes did to amuse herself. The jackal hated it.
Infinite shook her again. "Don't come with your stupid scare jokes around me. Wake up."
Again, no response from the girl. She didn't even move.
"J.J., get up!"
His first thought was fear, and his eyes shrank. He then dug his large ear to her chest, but her system was as if there was nothing wrong. She was just as fine, but didn't seem to wake.
The jackal held his commune and contacted the only people he knew.
"Get over here, NOW!"
Later...
The Miles Electric scanned the Medallion for any malfunctions that could possibly affect its host.
"I don't know what's gotten into her, but she won't get up."
Tails pushed a few buttons on his device. "That's funny. The Powers are not emitting any more energy radiation. It's almost as if something flicked them off like a switch."
"Has this happened before?" Asked Sonic.
"If I knew anything you'd never believe me." Infinite answered almost coldly.
"Why is it that you jackals always have a cold shoulder?" Sonic responded back.
Infinite confronted Sonic with a clutched fist. "It's the same as YOU hedgehogs have spines on your brains!"
The device suddenly beeped repeatedly, calling their attention.
"Sonic, this is bad! There's a large energy signature that equals that of a Phantom Ruby! It's messing with my readings!"
"What?!"
The jackal noted a growing magenta light under J.J.'s bed. As expected, he found the ruby they spoke of, and showed it to the heroes, though he just stood there grasping and looking at it.
Sonic raised a brow. "How could someone like J.J. get her hands on that?"
"I have a better question, what the heck is this and why is it with her?!" Infinite shook his hand holding the ruby.
Tails acted odd for a second. He fully recognized the ruby as the jackal's former source of power, but he never knew about what happened to him afterwards. "Sonic, doesn't he...?"
The blue hedgehog had a small flashback to the moment he met the former villain, unmasked.
"Wait a second! You're friends with the guy who tortured me for six months?!"
"Heh. Like I'd remember anything like that."
...
"I'm afraid so, buddy." Sonic muttered.
The fox looked at the jackal with the corner of his eye before fully turning to him. "Infinite, do you know who I am?"
"I barely see you every day. Why is that so important?!" The jackal pouted.
"Never mind." Tails sighed. "If we only had access to the Powers we could see what's with her, but the ruby's not letting me see anything."
The hedgehog gave his buddy the best support possible. "Just do what you can, buddy. We'll still be able to solve this, one way or another."
"Well, you better." Said Infinite. "Because if we lose J.J., both of you are to blame."
Sonic rolled his eyes at him. "Just ignore him." He muttered to Tails, but he seemed to pay no heed.
Tails grew a feeling of worry. "Uh oh. Sonic?"
The blue hedgehog leaned beside the fox to see. "What is it?"
"These signatures aren't the same as the last time I scanned-"
Almost as if it knew, the ruby soon resonated, creating a distortion around the heroes, and a bright light blinded the area. Once the light faded, Tails saw that Sonic and Infinite disappeared, and the ruby fell next to J.J. in the bed. Tails gasped.
"Uh... guys?!"
WHAM!
The same light brought them to the inner world of the Phantom Ruby, a dark, null space with nothing but pixels and firewalls that constantly changed in shape and form.
Infinite looked around. "What the heck?"
"This must be the virtual world inside the ruby." Sonic walked, gazing around the virtual room. "It's all... distorting. It's like it's playing with my head!"
"You don't say."
Suddenly, all matter that chaged disappeared. There was but the pixelated floor and the empty space.
"Sonic, can you hear me?" They both heard Tails's voice.
"Tails?"
"I've equipped a special device so I could be able to hear you guys. I finally figured out that the ruby's linked with J.J.'s body, so I can communicate with you through her. This one's different than the other prototypes. Its energy can be disrupted for a brief period, though there might still be frequent interferences, so I can't make any promises."
"Well, we can't waste our time!" Said Infinite.
Right afterwards, the shape-shifting matter began appearing once more.
"Tails?!" Sonic called, but received no response.
"Let's go!" Infinite called. Sonic just nodded and followed the jackal.
Both traveled through many halls that changed their course every few seconds, something they considered worse than a labyrinth. This brought the jackal to a mild level of insanity that he ended up slicing those changing materials with his sword. But it all ended when they came across a darker hall.
Walking past it, Sonic and Infinite heard the resonating sound of a fast, rhythmic thump, and stopped on their tracks.
Infinite's ears perked up. "A heartbeat. It's hers! Does this mean she's trapped inside this thing?"
"She must be terrified." Sonic said, somehow sensing what would be fear from J.J.'s trapped soul.
"Sonic, can you hear me? The Powers are stuck inside the Phantom Ruby's matrix! You're heading right for it!"
"Then that's where she is!"
"Run while you get the chance! It'll take five minutes for its energy to come back up!"
Without hesitation, both took a good run, but a familiar whisper stopped them.
"Uh... did you hear that?" Sonic asked.
"Not a thing. Now let's move!" Responded Infinite.
"Right." The hedgehog was to dash, but a skeletic hand stopped him, and a cloaked figure looked into his eyes, bringing back the vision he had the night before. The hedgehog's eyes shrank as he saw that the figure in a black cloak he once saw in his dreams had no face, and was whispering eerily to his ears.
But the creature was virtually destroyed by Infinite's sword.
"Are you deaf? I said let's move!"
Sonic held his head. "Rrgh."
Infinite threw his arms down. "Now what?"
The hedgehog shook his head. "Nothin'. Let's go get J.J." He said and run.
The two were soon encountered with a gigantic red cube that stood by the end of that hall. Inside was J.J. Her human body floated inside the cube, and she was not conscious.
Infinite got closer and banged his fists at the cube. "J.J.!" He gritted his teeth.
The cube glitched as an effect of the hit. Infinite could see the girl struggling to stir and wake, but every glitch brought her down to her sleep. He banged again and again, but his fists alone did nothing, so he took a good grasp on his sword and sliced through the hard texture of the cube, which was similar to that of the gemstone itself.
His sword was effective, in fact, that with every slice the cube began tearing apart. And as it did so, a light emerged until everything around them turned white.
...
Back in the real world, Tails saw that the disruptive signatures faded, and a signature began rising. Soon, a light blinded the scene, then faded, revealing Sonic and Infinite.
"Nice job, Sonic! Now I'm able to read the radiation signature."
"Still asleep?"
"Yes, but she'll be up in no time."
Just as he finished, J.J. began to stir and moan. "Hm...?" She opened her eyes to the three. Infinite placed a hand near her head on her large pillow.
"Hey there. You okay?" Asked Sonic kindly.
J.J. sat up and clutched her head. "Oh. I had a crazy dream. Some kind of people in dark cloaks... Ah, my head...!" When she looked up, she took note of her friend, who crossed his arms at her. "Infinite?" She tilted her head.
"You and I need to talk. Alone." He frowned at both Tails and Sonic, who nervously smiled.
"Well, I guess it's time for us to go, huh, Sonic?" Said Tails, nudging the hedgehog.
"Uh, yeah. Catch ya' later, J.!"
"Thanks for everything." J.J. replied.
Sonic waved cowboy-style and walked out of the apartment with his best buddy. Once the door shut closed the jackal clutched his fists. J.J. jumped out her bed and changed to her rabbit form.
"Infy, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly and touched his shoulders. She felt scared then, because he was shaking. And she knew what would happen when he behaved like that.
"J.J., why didn't you told me about this?!" He growled, not looking at the girl.
J.J. raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? About what?"
The jackal finally turned to her and slightly pushed her back from her shoulder with his index finger. "Don't make me look like a fool, kid! What is this?!" He showed her the ruby.
J.J. remembered. She found it once and wanted to keep it from him for a reason. Her entire body began shaking. "I-Infinite, listen. I wanted to tell you, but-"
"NO! Before we became friends we promised to keep NO SECRETS from each other! And you broke that promise!"
"Infinite, please listen-!"
The jackal violently pushed the poor rabbit back, not wanting to hear any more words from her. The girl hit her bed and fell on her knees next to its edge.
"I've listened enough, kid. And all I've heard from you was nothing but lies. I should've thought twice before counting on you."
J.J. gasped. Her heart sank deep at his words.
"Infinite..." She got up, wanting to hold his hand, but he snatched it off naughtily.
"Don't touch me! I'm sure your parents would've taught you manners if they could."
J.J.'s eyes shrank and her heart sank deep. Infinite had no idea of what became of her parents. She began to sob.
"H-how could you say such words... to me?" She whimpered. "Do you even know me well?"
The jackal gazed at her confused. "What?"
The girl held his shoulders and shook him violently. "Do you KNOW what became of my parents?! Do you know the name of the bastard who KILLED them?!"
For a moment the jackal felt a sense of fear and regret as he became aware of his actions. He sighed, some coldness still remained in his heart despite that.
"Goodbye, J.J." The jackal turned his back to her and walked, but J.J. grasped his shoulder to stop him.
"Infinite! No! You can't leave me-!" She cried. Her attempt was in vain as he dropped her reluctantly and walked out the door, leaving the poor rabbit on her knees.
"INFINITE! COME BACK!" The jackal heard her faint shouts after having slammed the door. He tried to ignore her cries, but shut his eyes and gritted his teeth as he walked away, feeling the same pain she felt.
And for the first time in months... he felt weak on the inside.
...
Inside, the rabbit threw her fists to her bed and a rain of tears, followed by a pained cry.
...
The image of Infinite walking away could be seen from the witch's orb. Eggman relished over such scene.
"How about that for a start, huh, mistress?"
"To you it's your imperial eminence." Said a cold Black Sorceress. "But I must admit the effectiveness of your plan. Now we must make sure they both don't see each other again, but since I'm new to this repulsive world, I will leave that task entirely to you."
The evil doctor rubbed his hands and grinned. "And I've got just the plan to get rid of that pipsqueak..." He muttered.